Nando's @ Westfield Marion

We were waiting for the Tin Tin movie which was showing at 8.30pm so while looking around for places to eat we decided to try Nando's which is famous for it's Peri-peri sauces and spice. It was conveniently near the Event Cinemas. We ordered the Extra hot Peri Peri chicken, coleslaw and peri peri chips. The extra hot chicken wasn't actually that hot but it does tickle your taste buds. The chicken was actually flavourful, well marinated and tender. The peri peri chips were OK. I'd go back for their chicken. Service was average to bad.

Nando's 
Shop 3004 Level 3 (Outside Event Cinemas)
297 Diagonal Road
Oaklands Park SA
08 8358 5882

Chinese New Year Banquet 2012

Hi everyone! As you may or may not know it's Chinese New Year, this year it's the year of the water dragon. I would like to wish everyone good luck, good health, wealth and happiness. This year unfortunately I didn't get to go home and I had to work on New Year's eve and day as it's not a public holiday here. My hours are very long so I didn't get to have a reunion dinner. Last minute on Friday night in Chinatown I decided to put on a 10 course banquet for a small group of people on Saturday. As soon as the invites were out I instantly felt nervous. I'd never done it before and it was quite daunting. We got home late that night but got up first thing the next morning to go to Central Market and Chinatown for all the ingredients and fresh seafood.

This is only half the ingredients

Kung pao chicken

Coffin Bay oysters steamed with ginger and shallot

Crab meat shark fin soup (without shark fin)

Scallops topped with minced meat and a chilli sauce

Chinese broccoli "gai lan" with braised Shiitake mushrooms

Fried long life noodles

Buddha's vegetarian delight

Prawns with XO sauce

Sweet and sour fish and pineapple stew

Egg tart and "lucky" biscuit

The meal was thoroughly enjoyable and everything turned out well. I felt pretty good about it at the end of the night despite complete exhaustion. We started at 7pm and finished at 11.30pm. It was all laughs and fun, good food, good wine, good company. I'm glad my guests enjoyed the meal too. Happy Chinese New Year everyone!! 

Caffe Buongiorno @ Hawthorn

We were going to Wallis Cinemas at Mitcham Shopping Centre so we decided to dine here at Caffe Buongiorno. The last couple of visits I've always gone for their crab meat pasta and despite the wide variety on the menu I found myself going for that old favourite that I can't particularly get everywhere. This place has never been empty and  provide a diverse menu along with coffees and desserts. Walking through the main door you are greeted by their cake and biscuits display which is very tempting and mouth-watering. I didn't actually get to try anything though as I was full from the huge portions they gave us.

I went for my favourite Fettuccine Granchio - Crab meat flamed in brandy, butter, garlic, chilli and spring onion in a rose sauce. It was flavoursome and delicious as I remember it. You can of course choose any type of pasta you wish. 

Fettuccine Granchio $17.90

We decided to try their Salt and Pepper Squid as my partner wasn't overly hungry. It was served with salad, chips and a lemon garlic aioli. It was tasty and the aioli was nice.

Salt and pepper squid $16.90

Overall a nice meal and I definitely will be going back for their Granchio again. Meeting up with my girlfriends for lunch there on Tuesday. Look forward to it.

Caffe Buongiorno

212 Belair Road

Torrens Park 5062 SA

08 8272 8877

T.G.I. Friday's @ Westfield Marion

It's finally here. T.G.I. Friday's has finally landed itself in little old Adelaide at Westfield Marion shopping centre. We went there on opening week to see what it was like and if it is really good. It's been a very long while since I went to any T.G.I.Fs. They're not bad but also not great. True to it's motto of "In here it's always Friday", the place was well set up and had a fun theme. When you walk straight through the door it's a hallway down to the main bar where all the excitement seems to be. We were told it was going to be a 15 minute wait for a table and to wait at the bar. Sure enough we ordered drinks, they had some good happy hour specials on cocktails and the lot. We were given this buzzer device that buzzes when our table is ready. We were at the bar for a good 20 minutes watching empty tables and when we mentioned that amongst ourselves, the bartender signaled one of the waiters and our device was buzzing! Surprise surprise we were brought to the table we've been staring at for 20 minutes. It's a great business idea to get people spending money at the bar upfront and totally innocent to those who are none the wiser but my party found this deceptive and were unimpressed.

Looking through the menu, it does offer a fairly big variety of American diner style meals mainly steak, pasta, salad and burgers. My eyes went straight to their Buffalo Wings and so the order was placed instantly for a full serve! It read "Traditional upstate New York-style chicken wings marinated in our own spicy sauce, then deep-fried. Served with crisp celery sticks and tangy Bleu Cheese dressing". The buffalo wings were tasty and finger licking good. Great way to build up the appetite with that spiciness.

Buffalo wings $19.95 full serve $15.95 half serve

New York Strip - Char grilled 300g porterhouse steak with choice of sauce and 2 sides @ $32.95.

We chose Wild Mushroom Butter, Corn on the cob and Onion Rings. Gotta have onion rings. The steak was cooked well and tender but doesn't compare to restaurants or steakhouse quality. For the price, I could go elsewhere to get good steak. Wild mushroom butter needed a bit more seasoning and the onion rings were just ok.

New York Strip with Wild Mushroom Butter and Corn Cob $32.95

Onion Rings

I went for what sounded like the most amazing burger ever. Mushroom Onion Swiss Burger - Beef burger patty topped with sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions, melted Swiss cheese, mayonnaise and pickles served with crispy fries. The burger looked incredible but didn't have the aroma you would expect from that sight. The burger was unfortunately a bit bland and left me with an unpleasant rough tongue which usually results from too much salt. Oh, the irony. 

Overall it's a fun place to be but I think the quality of the food doesn't match the price. It's a fun diner style restaurant and a successful chain and yet, I still haven't found that great tasting meal.....did I mention it's been a while since I've dined at T.G.I.Friday's before this visit? I'll give it another go with different menu items. Stay tuned!

T.G.I. Friday's

Westfield Marion

293-297 Diagonal Road

Oaklands Park SA 5046

08 8296 5777

Hub Pizza Bar & Cafe @ Aberfoyle Park

Hub Pizza Bar is probably our most frequented local for a quick and reasonably priced eat. This place is a casual pizza/pasta place where you can dine in or get takeaway. Most people come to get takeaway pizza. The food is pretty good overall and service is great.

Spaghetti Pollo

Spaghetti Pollo - Chicken, sundried tomatoes in a creamy white wine sauce. I always ask for parmesan and chilli flakes with my pasta! I just love it. the American Pizza (Hot) is another favourite of ours. It's basically pepperoni pizza but they just do this one so well. 

American Pizza (Pepperoni hot or mild)

The Surf and Turf is on their specials board for a decent price. The potatoes, prawns and sauce were nice but the steak itself was dry and tough.

Surf n Turf

Beer battered flathead served with chips, salad and tartare sauce was a good feed.

Beer battered flathead

Hub Pizza Bar & Cafe
Hub Drive Shop 65
Aberfoyle Park 5159 SA
08 8270 4460
08 8270 

Prawn salad

I decided to spoil myself for lunch at work so I brought my big bag of goodies and ingredients and whipped this Prawn salad with chilli and lime dressing up. How so very fresh. Bit of lettuce mix, cucumber slices, tomato, crunchy noodle and the all important prawns. Easy!

Summer drinks

By now I'm sure we all feel that summer is well and truly here with all the hot days. On one of my rare adventures to Dan Murphy's I found the Monteith's Summer Pack. Monteith's is a New Zealand brewery that produces, in my humble opinion, one of the best beers in the world. This was an 8 pack with 2 of each type: Radler, Golden Lager, Crushed Pear Cider, Crushed Apple Cider. We've since tried them all and they are superbly refreshing!

On most days I just have iced lemon and mint tea as I have an abundance of mint in my garden. Definitely refreshing. Happy summer everyone!

Billy Baxter's @ Mitcham

It was that time of the year and we were having our annual work breakfast again. This time it was my day off so I could leisurely have my coffee and breakfast without rushing for a 9am start. It was lovely catching up with everyone without work interruptions. Our dining options were fairly limited as we had to eat somewhere close by so this year we opted for Billy Baxter's at Mitcham shopping centre. Billy Baxter's is an Australia wide franchise serving breakfast and cafe style food and drinks. 

Now, there's one thing you need to know about me. I LOVE HASH BROWNS! So when I saw the  menu item that wasn't there last year, I shrieked and put my order down for it straight away. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I had the Hashbrown Mountain. The description read "Hash browns topped with bacon, grilled tomato, fried eggs finished with hollandaise and scallions". That to me, sounded heavenly. When it arrived, this is what it looked like.

I had to hide my disappointment. It was a messy pile of slop and they couldn't even squeeze the hollandaise sauce properly. Presentation was a huge fail. The micro scallions were burnt and unappealing, one of my egg yolks was starting to run and I hadn't even touched it. My appetite was somehow suppressed. I wonder why.

I started digging through it and underneath the egg flap I discovered my bacon, tomatoes and soggy hash brown. It wasn't crispy, just greasy and squishy. Don't think I'll attempt that again.

Billy Baxter's

Mitcham Shopping Centre

Torrens Park 5062 SA

Mamak Corner @ Bank St Adelaide

My first food post of the year! Finally I made it to Mamak Corner. Twice in fact (just so you don't think I'm a pig with all the food I'm about to post!). A few other bloggers and friends had already been there and as you know, I don't venture into the city that often so on a fine Friday night we happened to be there on other business, I just had to go and try it out. Coincidentally, exactly a fortnight later I ended up in the city on "other business" too. So what is Mamak you ask. Mamak is actually a term for Indian Muslims and also the food stalls that are found in every corner of Malaysia often open 24 hours a day (I've seen one open for 23 hours. I guess they must close for cleaning).  Here you go to a cafe like Cibo's for coffee, in Malaysia we go to a Mamak Stall for hot food and a variety of drinks. Over time some of these stalls have evolved into cafe or coffee shops with proper tables and chairs and some are even air conditioned. Anyone and everyone goes there at anytime of the day and is quite a popular place to hang out and watch football matches or just to catch up with friends as it's quite cheap. The food served there are Indian Muslim food which consist of roti, variety of curries, tandoori, naan, nasi lemak, nasi goreng, mee goreng etc. Some modern ones also serve fish and chips!

I was quite excited to hear about Mamak Corner and really hoping it would be good and that it would satisfy my cravings. It's a little well lit and clean place that also does takeaway. The staff are very friendly and efficient and definitely give good service. They even checked to make sure the curry is not too spicy for Carl.

After perusing the menu we went up to the counter to place our order. Straight away I noticed the old fashioned ice shaver in the back and I got excited for some reason! That green thing! Over the course of our two visits we had tried nearly everything on the menu. There isn't a huge variety and it really is more of a lunch style place where you get your dish with rice so don't expect fine dining because that's not what Mamak is. Food comes out quick which is good when you're really hungry. 

Carl had to have Milo ice! I just knew it. It was thick and sweet and pretty darn close to home. I just had Limau Ais which is iced sweetened lime drink. The second visit I ordered Cham which can be had hot or cold. It's a Malaysian style coffee and tea blend which will keep you awake if you are not used to it. Similar to the Hong Kong style YinYeong. 

Milo ais

We tried their Roti Telur and Roti Planta. It was actually quite delicious and satisfying. Roti telur  is roti canai filled with egg. It is more filling and also rather fragrant. Roti Planta is basically roti canai base with extra margarine and a bit of sugar. It's called planta because of the brand of margarine used in the mamak stalls in Malaysia. Roti Planta tends to be more crispy and of course greasy but oh so tasty and fragrant. All rotis are served with sugar, dahl and I believe fish curry. 

Roti telur $5.50

Roti planta $5.50

Nasi lemak was something I just had to have. It's a dish of fragrant coconut rice served with in this case, curry chicken, fried anchovies, peanuts, sambal, boiled egg and cucumber slices. It was tasty and the serving was quite big. I couldn't finish the rice as I had already had some roti. The only thing is the coconut rice wasn't quite fragrant enough. I don't know if it's lacking more coconut or pandan leaves. 

Nasi lemak with  curry chicken $9.80

Over our visits we have also tried the other curries. Fish curry was one of my biggest highlights. It was a beautifully fragrant and rich flavoured curry with succulent pieces of fish fillet and eggplant. I don't normally go for fish curry but this is really up there. The beef curry was also up to standard with tender pieces of beef that fall apart in your mouth. The chicken curry does come with chicken on the bone and potatoes so if you are particular about that, may I suggest you avoid the chicken curry. Mind you the meat just falls off the bone anyway. And before you ask,  no, the curry bases are not all the same. The essential paste I would imagine is the same but they do all taste different and have slightly different spices.  

Fish curry $10.80

Beef curry $8.80

Chicken curry $8.80

Finally we had to try one dessert from that green machine! The old fashioned manual ice shaver. We went for the good old Ais Kacang. It's a shaved ice dessert topped with red beans, corn, grass jelly, flavoured jelly, rose syrup, Gula Melaka (palm sugar) and evaporated milk. I'm not sure if they used Gula Melaka as that sugar fragrance wasn't quite jumping out at me and believe me, there's nothing like Gula Melaka. It's not just any palm sugar.

Ais kacang $6.80

Overall it was a good experience. I've had some comments that they're not quite authentic but that really depends on individual experiences and taste. There's also a lot of bad Mamak stalls in Malaysia. Personally I enjoyed my meals and it reminded me of home. Can't wait to have Cendol and Maggie Goreng!


Mamak Corner
8 Bank Street
Adelaide SA 5000
08 8410 9888