Random Musings: Scent of Spring

I don’t know what spring has been like in your part of the world but it has been weird in mine. Much warmer and wetter than usual which has resulted in the most lush green look I’ve ever seen Canberra sport.

This last week has been a bit cooler with a lot of rain. Yesterday it truly poured down, areas around me were flooded and rooves caved in. But today the sun broke through the clouds to make for a warm, humid atmosphere, something we aren’t used to in the nation's capital.

I try to get out for a lunchtime work most days. Today was the first day I’d managed this week, but what a day to get out and about. The warm, humid air made the scent of nature around me truly profound. As I walked along I could smell the rich, dark earth, the fresh growing grass, the sweetness of honeysuckle.

We rely on our eyesight as our primary sense, sometimes to the detriment of the others. However, as I walked along today I was so aware of how the world smelt it was almost overwhelming. 

I paused for a moment, closing my eyes and drew in an even deeper breath to fill my head with the heady scent of spring. It was a small perfect moment in an otherwise unremarkable day. And sometimes that is all we need. One perfect moment to make a whole day a good one. 

Restaurant Review: Kinn Thai

A warm Friday night, some spicy Thai food and a tasty cocktail is pretty much my idea of bliss and I had the great pleasure to enjoy it at  Kinn Thai.

If you haven't come across it yet, it has replaced Wagamama between Sammy's Kitchen and Wood and Coal in the North Quarter of the Canberra Centre. Wagamama had languished, mostly empty for quite some time. Kinn Thai couldn't be more different. On the Friday night we visited it was packed and we watched the rapid change over of tables. I'm sure they did at least three seatings at most tables.

We had no booking but being just two us and quite early, about 6pm, we scored a table straight away. By the time we left at 7pm however there was a queue and I could see our table being snapped right up.

The menu offers lots of the usual favourites but one option I like is that for most types of dishes - eg stir fry - they offer a base and you choose your protein. Being our first visit we went with our benchmark Thai dish - pad thai which we had with chicken - plus an entree of duck pancakes and a second main dish of a crying tiger salad.

We also ordered cocktails. I ordered a Ho-Ra-Pa ($14) which is Don Julico Tequila, Thai Basil with a hint of raspberry and ginger ale. S ordered a caprioska ($12) made with cachaca, brown sugar and lime. Both were delicious, although we each liked the other's better and ended up swapping. My only comment was that the Ho-Ra-Pa came out in a glass like a mini fish bowl which was a bit difficult to drink from.

The pancakes came out incredibly quickly - they actually beat our cocktails to the table. The pancake itself was very tasty, quite different to the Chinese style ones I'm used to, more chewy and tasty. It was filled with generous chunks of duck, spring onions and cucumber and accompanied with hoisin sauce. At $10 for 2 pancakes it is on the expensive side for a small entree but we both loved them and would order them again.

Next dish out was the crying tiger salad ($23). It gets a 2 chili rating on the menu and deserved it, my first mouthful had a big chunk of chili which got me right in the back of the throat. But if you like chili I think you will love this dish. It was fresh and flavourful with the taste of the herbs and a generous amount of lemongrass. The beef was incredibly tender, you could cut it with a spoon and while this is quite a decent serve the two of us had no trouble finishing it.

Finally we had the pad thai. We had chosen chicken ($16.50) but it also comes in vegetarian, beef and prawn options. I would definitely rate this as a good and tasty pad thai. It was slightly heavy on the tomato for me and S would have liked more peanuts but that was really nitpicking. Again a very generous serve disappeared fast, although with so many other interesting things on the menu, I'm not sure I would order it again.

All up our meal came to $75 which given that it included two cocktails I thought was pretty good

Service was great. The food came out promptly and the wait staff were attentive if, it seemed, slightly inexperienced with the iPad ordering system.

Every dish we saw going past looked and smelled great. S who isn't big on going to the same place twice commented that he would be keen to return and try a few more dishes.

Overall we really enjoyed our dinner. I can't wait to go back with a crowd and try some of the seafood dishes (S doesn't eat seafood) as I've heard great reports about the crispy soft shell crab.

Kinn Thai Restaurant
125 Bunda Street
Canberra City
http://kinnrestaurant.com.au/canberra/

The Australian Women's Weekly High Tea Tour

My showbag contents and flowers from the event

Today I had the great privilege to speak in my role as Ambassador for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation at a high tea hosted by The Australian Women's Weekly and sponsored by L'Oréal, Dilmah Tea and AAP Tours. They have been hosting them around the country raising money and awareness for the OCRF.

It was a fantastic event. We learned about how we should be drinking tea - black - and how to make it into cocktails! We got some amazing insights into the Australian Women's Weekly from Helen McCabe and we all left with fabulous showbags full of L'Oréal and Dilmah products.

The following is my speech from the event. I hope it gives you an insight into the day.

Thank you. It is a real honour to be asked to speak today, not only because it gives me an opportunity to talk about the great work of the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation but also because the Australian Women’s Weekly has always been a part of my life. We are one of those families that are probably terrible for the circulation figures because one copy gets shared around the lot of us. It has kept us up to date with the latest celebrity news and fashion trends. It taught us how to put on makeup, and particularly importantly how to cook.

My Mum is a great cook. Her mother was not such a great cook and was generally limited to quite old fashioned recipes from her German background. So Mum taught herself to cook from the Australian Women’s Weekly and their fantastic triple tested cookbooks. Mum passed that love of cooking onto me, along with a whole shelf of the cookbooks and the kitchen is most definitely the centre of my home. And in the centre of my kitchen, in pride of place, is a beautiful grey and white marble rolling pin. It is a lovely object, with wooden handles and its own wooden cradle to rest in. And it is as useful as it is beautiful because making pastry is one of my favourite things to do, so it is a cherished possession.

But as much as it is cherished, I wish I did not own it. If there was anything in my life I could return its owner would be that rolling pin. You see, the reason I own it is that it was passed to me following the death of our beloved family friend Aunty Sue from ovarian cancer.

Before Sue’s diagnosis I didn’t know much about ovarian cancer, but since then I’ve become all too aware that while it may not be the most common cancer in women, it remains the leading cause of death of all the gynaecological cancers with a lower survival rate than both breast and cervical cancer. In fact, every 10 hours a woman dies from ovarian cancer in Australia.

Sue’s story is typical of so many women affected by ovarian cancer. She dismissed her symptoms as stress, gaining weight, menopause, the aches and pains that come with being the primary carer to someone in a wheelchair. Like so many women, she just soldiered on. I don’t think that I knew it was possible to have a terminal illness and not know before Sue’s diagnosis.

So let me tell you a little about the wonderful woman who was my Aunty Sue. Sue Gane was one of those genuinely lovely people. She was a volunteer in her local community. She worked with children with disabilities. She was a passionate quilter. For me, Sue was my Mum’s best friend, but she was as much an Aunt to me as my blood relations and she was there for every major life milestone. It was following one of those milestones, my sister’s wedding, that Sue was diagnosed.

Sue didn’t have children of her own so she was as excited about the wedding as any of us. She spent about twice as much on her outfit as my Mum did on her mother of the bride one. She got ready with all of us, having her hair and makeup done and she sat in the front pew, holding my Mum’s hand as Dad walked my sister down the aisle.  

One of my absolute lasting memories of Sue will be her burning up the dance floor at the reception long after us young ones had grown tired.

Fast forward couple of weeks and Mum and Sue had a girls week away at the coast to recover from all the wedding excitement. It was then that Mum discovered Sue was having some abdominal pain and when she had a massage the masseuse suggested she get her ovaries checked out. It didn’t seem right, so Mum insisted Sue go to the doctor.

Doctor’s appointments followed. On the 6th of July Sue had a scan which showed metastatic masses in both ovaries. By 13 July we found out that she had tumours on her liver and in her stomach. On the 2nd of August she was admitted to hospital for surgery. She never went home, she never ate another meal. After several weeks in the hospital and some very difficult decisions about what treatment to have or not have, Sue was moved to the hospice Claire Holland House.

Sue died on the 17th of September 2010. Just two months after she was diagnosed.  She was laid to rest in the dress that she had worn to my sister’s wedding and danced the night away in without a care in the world just four months earlier.

The fact that Sue died just 2 months after she was diagnosed wasn’t because the cancer spread rapidly it was just that with symptoms like back pain and weight gain, Sue literally didn’t know she was dying until it was too late. And this is the story of ovarian cancer.

There is no early detection test for ovarian cancer. Contrary to popular belief a pap smear does not detect it. If detected and treated early, 80-100% of women will survive beyond 5 years compared with only 20-30% when diagnosed at a late stage which is the majority of women.

The Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation is Australia’s leading independent body dedicated to national ovarian cancer research. The ultimate aim of the foundation is to develop a test that is non-invasive and cost effective so that it becomes a habitual part of every woman’s regular health check-up regime along with mammograms and pap smears.

The OCRF receives no government funding and relies on the financial support of corporate Australia and the broader community. Everyone in this room today is supporting the OCRF and I would encourage you all to continue to find ways to support their important research. 

The next major fundraiser coming up is Frocktober, where all October you will be able to be sponsored for wearing a frock. I wear a frock every day of the month, but you could have a frock party, wear frocks on Fridays, really it is up to you and all the details will be on the website frocktober.org very shortly. I will also be hosting another high tea in October if today has got you interested so see me after for the details.

It has been 5 years since Sue’s death and it still seems completely surreal that she is not here with us. Recently I was looking for family photos and my first thought was the Sue would have some great ones, I just can’t get used to the idea that she isn’t here with us. Each time I speak about her, I know that I keep her memory alive and if her memory can help raise the awareness of ovarian cancer  and funds that will find an early detection test for it, then she will continue to be the positive influence on the community that she was in life.

Ovarian cancer affects women of all ages. It could be your mother, wife, sister, aunt, friend or even your daughter. You don’t have to be scientist to make a difference, all of us have the opportunity to support the work of the ovarian cancer research foundation and find that early detection test which will keep wonderful women like Sue, here among us.

Thank you.

If you would like to know more about ovarian cancer, the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation or want to make a donation visit: http://ocrf.com.au/

And if you wish you had been there, I'm hosting a high tea for the OCRF in October! All the details are at: https://spring-high-tea.eventbrite.com.au

Restaurant Review: High Tea at the Burbury Terrace

The current popularity of high tea is something I whole heartedly endorse. For me it is an ideal indulgence. A meal that isn't necessary. Is comprised of tiny portions of a multitude of items. Must be enjoyed with at least one other person. And, that can be enjoyed at your leisure mid-afternoon. Really what could be more delightfully unnecessary and completely indulgent?

Our latest venture into the world of high teas took us to The Burbury Hotel. Each weekend they host high tea at the Terrace, their 7th floor restaurant from 1pm - 4pm. I would definitely say it is the high tea with the best view we have tried. The Terrace has sweeping views across central Canberra from its elegant and paired back dining room.

We arrived just after 1pm at the start of the service. Only a few other tables of people had arrived and we were promptly seated. We chose the Traditional High Tea for $45 instead of the Champagne High Tea for $55 as neither of us are particular fans of the bubbles. However if you do like them, it is a very nice glass of NVG Mumm that you will be enjoying.

S decided to further buck the high tea trend and ordered a cappuccino to accompany his food, I chose the Napoleon tea from the TWG tea menu. One of my bug bears with high teas is when you only get a single drink included to accompany what is actually quite a large meal, however The Burbury High Tea comes with unlimited tea and coffee which is fantastic.

Shortly after our drinks arrived, our three tier high tea stand was presented to the table. In traditional format, the lower tier comprised sandwiches, the middle tier scones plus a creme brulee and the top tier cakes and sweets.

Being a stickler for tradition, I started with the sandwiches. They were: tomato, basil and gruyère on sourdough, Tasmanian smoked salmon and herb slider and cucumber and cream cheese on white bread. The fillings were all lovely but the bread for the first and last sandwiches tasted like standard supermarket pre-sliced loaves and the brioche slider was just a little sweet for the salmon.

I wasn't impressed on first glance at the scones as they looked rather flat which I thought might make them too dense. However they were probably the best scones we have had at a high tea. Tasty with a good crumb. The accompanying preserve was quite runny but that just meant it sank into the scone beautifully and had a rich delicious flavour. We probably could have done with a little more cream but that is because S is a cream lover and can eat vast amounts of it. The only disappointment was that while the menu promised two varieties of scone, strawberry and vanilla, all of our scones (there are 2 per person) were plain which I guess meant vanilla. That said, they were so good we didn't really mind.

Finishing off the second tier was the white chocolate and passion fruit crème brûlée. It had a beautiful crunchy layer of toffee on top but was a little too creamy and sweet for me. S quite happily finished mine but said that he didn't think the passionfruit worked as well as it could have and found the seeds a distracting texture in the otherwise creamy dessert.

After a short pause to get a second coffee for S and a pot of the silver moon tea for me we attacked the final tier.

It was a beautiful array of tiny cakes and sweets. However the first two we tried, the pistachio financier with rum pineapple and what appeared to be a friand topped with a blueberry that wasn't on the menu were our least favourite. The texture of both was a bit glutenous and they were just too sweet.

Next up was the bittersweet brownie topped with praline gânache and caramelised salted popcorn. This morsel was truly delicious, almost fudge like in texture and with a rich but bittersweet flavour. The dark chocolate had coffee undertones and was really well matched with the toffee like toppings. It was a great break in the sweet course and a good balance for the palate.

Next up was the buttermilk pana cotta, strawberry and basil gelée. The pana cotta was fantastic but the strawberry sauce was overly sweet. We would have preferred it if it was a simple strawberry puree so that the acid in the strawberry could be a counterpoint to the creamy pana cotta. And the same comment applied to the lemon curd and meringue tartelette we tried next. Again this was delicious, but we both agreed the curd could have used some more acid from the lemon to balance out the sweetness.

By this stage we were both flagging. High tea is a pretty full on meal and despite the fact that we had minimal breakfasts, we were getting full. However we were not to be defeated.

The second last item was the macaron. Although advertised as nutella flavour, it appeared to be raspberry and caramel. To be honest, very few macarons in Australia do anything much for me. They don't have the melt in the mouth quality that we fell in love with in France as the shells tend to have a chewy quality. This was a good Australian macaron, it just didn't have that French amazingness.

The final item was a profiterole filled with expresso cream. I don't like coffee but I had a bite to try it before handing the rest to S. It was excellent. Beautiful choux pastry, silky flavourful cream only let down by not fantastic chocolate decorating the top.

Overall the service was good, although we did notice that most people arrived at about 2pm and it got a bit chaotic at that point. We tried to leave and pay at about 2.30pm which was probably the moment of peak activity so paying the bill took some time. I would certainly recommend booking either a bit earlier or later than 2 to avoid the rush.

Bookings are essential as they often book out up to 3 weeks in advance, particularly for large tables and we saw a couple of disappointed people being turned away.

We really enjoyed our high tea. The venue is gorgeous (although S remarked that once it was full of women - and there were literally only 5 men in the place - it did get quite noisy), the view spectacular and the food on the whole, delicious. It gets a big tick from me for the continuous tea and coffee, the attentive service and the quality and quantity of food.

High Tea at The Burbury Terrace
1pm-4pm Saturday and Sunday
Burbury Close
Barton
http://burburyhotel.com.au/functions/high-tea/#!high-tea

And if you love high tea as much as I do, set 10 October aside as I will be hosting a fundraising high tea for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation at the Canberra Institute of Technology. You can find the details and book tickets here: http://rockyourfrock.blogspot.com.au/

Random Musings: Keeping Cozy

In news to no-one who lives in Canberra or the east coast of Australia, it is a COLD winter. Ok, winter in this town is always cold but I've really been feeling it the last few weeks and when the snow starts falling in Queensland you know it is a bit out of the ordinary.

So even if it isn't the start of a mini ice age (if you missed that amusing news last week just google it), it is pretty cold and  I'm just craving all the traditional forms of coziness. I can't tell you how many times I've said to S that our next house will have an open fire.

While we may not have an open fire, we have been indulging in all the other traditional forms of winter warmth. I'm blogging while wearing ugg boots and my snuggly dressing gown. There is a pot of potato and leek soup on the stove and I have a steaming cup of tea by my side.

Soup has been the mainstay in the house. I cook up big pots each weekend to keep us fueled for our lunches during the week. My recent foray into bread making also means that each Saturday we have the bonus of oven heat and there is something about the smell of freshly baked bread that just screams cosy.

Our house is strewn with doonas, blankets and cushions, from our deliciously warm bed, to the couch where we snuggle up in front of the telly. And speaking of the telly, the cold weather lends itself perfectly to snug evenings of binge watching all the great shows that are on.

So while I may not love the cold, I do adore this season of cosy. How are you keeping warm this winter?

Restaurant Review: Ona on the Lawns

Another weekend, another brunch! S and I found ourselves in Manuka mid-morning on a Saturday so it seemed only right that we would get something to eat and given that he hadn't managed to have a coffee yet, Ona on the Lawns felt like the right place to head.

In case you haven't heard, back in April, Sasa Sestic the founder of Ona Coffee won the title of world's best barista. Ona Coffee has had a great reputation as brilliant coffee for quite some time now, with many cafes stocking their beans. In addition to stocking the cafes of Canberra with quality coffee, they have three restaurants, Ona Coffee House in Fyshwick, The Cupping Room in the city and Ona on the Lawns in Manuka.

Manuka was buzzing but we were lucky to score a table right away. We sat outside, but they have tented the area with plastic screens and had heaters on so we were quite toasty despite the very wintery weather.

S quickly ordered his coffee but to my disappointment they were out of their hot apple pie drink, so despite the cool day I ordered a dark chocolate and rose milkshake.

The drinks quickly arrived and S immediately got stuck into the coffee which he said was excellent. My milkshake looked gorgeous, a dark brown topped with pink persian fairy floss and the taste was great. I presume they add rose water and they have the proportions down pat. It has a lovely rich dark chocolate taste (complete with flecks of real chocolate) but is lifted with a gorgeous hint of rose. It is sort of what I imagine a chocolate turkish delight would be - no reference to that hideous stuff Cadbury makes. It was very rich though and I was pleased that S helped me finish it.

I'm sure you will all be shocked and amazed to discover that S had the Ona Roll. They do actually have traditional burgers on the menu but we were in brunch mode so he went for their version of an egg and bacon roll. Two eggs, plenty of great bacon, cheese, a delicious BBQ type sauce and avocado which he scrapped onto my plate as he doesn't like it.

In contrast to the roll at Mood Food & Co last week, this one ticked all his boxes as a great roll. Generous tasty fillings which balanced each other well - but did up the eating difficulty. His fatal words were "lets see if I can eat this without getting it all over me" before he bit into it and promptly shot egg yolk all over his hand and sleeve. If you order this, consider your yolk location to ensure the bun catches the perfectly cooked, still runny yolk!

I ordered the Mexican Avocado. It was two pieces of sourdough toast topped with smashed avocado, two perfectly poached eggs, a chargrilled corn salsa and a side of bacon. Again in contrast to last week this was a fantastically balanced meal. The corn salsa was deliciously dressed with a tangy dressing. The poached eggs were topped with grated parmesan and the whole dish just held together. There was the perfect amount of avocado, to corn, to eggs. The bacon was delicious, but it was a BIG meal when accompanied by the filling milkshake, so S ended up eating the last of it with my second slice of toast.

We both loved our meals, the service was great and both our food and drinks arrived promptly despite the packed cafe. We also really liked the 80's themed sound track. I'm sure we will be back!

Ona on the Lawns
Shop 4 Palmerston Lane
Manuka

Resturant Review: Mood Food & Co

I love brunch. I know what you are thinking, this girl loves every meal. But brunch is a real favourite of mine. I think it is the combination of the opportunity to eat things that I don't usually make, with the inevitable catch up with friends that brunch heralds and the fact that it makes the day seem longer because by lunch I've already socialised and eaten out.

On a freezing Canberra morning we headed to Braddon to meet friends at Mood Food & Co. It was full, but we agreed to wait outside under their heaters for the next available table and 10 minutes later as our friends with impeccable timing arrived, we were beckoned into the warmth.

Drinks orders were quickly taken and it wasn't long before we were ready to order.

S, true to his burger roots, ordered the breaky roll. While the filling was tasty, good bacon, nice egg, delicious onion relish, he said that the bun was wrong. Too big, so the balance was out and not the kind of soft bread that easily soaks up the egg yolk and bacon grease so that it doesn't drip.

One of our friends ordered the french toast which came with caramlised pecans and a banana marscapone. If it wasn't for the banana I might have gone for it but I just don't like banana. She does though and really enjoyed her dish.

The other friend had fried eggs with avocado and mushrooms. He didn't have much to comment about it, I guess there isn't much anyone can really do with an order that simple.

I ordered the "one pan". In my pan was herbed potatoes, Italian sausage, chorizo and tomato topped with a poached egg. Each of the elements was delicious BUT it didn't hang together. Maybe if there had been a second egg so there was more gooey yolk, or more tomatoes to create a kind of sauce it would have worked but it just ended up being a random pan of stuff rather than a complete dish. It was accompanied by two lovely pieces of sourdough toast but with no sauce to soak it up I had to get some butter to enjoy it.

By the time we finished eating the restaurant had quietened down and the staff were happy to let us sit talking for probably another hour. It is always nice to not feel rushed out of a restaurant or hounded to order more.

Overall there were some great elements and we had a lovely morning but each dish just seemed to lack a final finesse that would have taken it to the next level.

Mood Food and Co
132/24 Lonsdale Street
Braddon
http://www.moodfoodco.com/ 

Restaurant Review: Grease Monkey

I really like a hamburger, but S loves one. He rates a place on their ability to create the perfect patty, with appropriate juiciness, good accompaniments and a balanced bun. If there is a burger on the menu, you can pretty much guarantee that is what he is having. So when my Instagram feed began to fill up with pictures of burgers from the new kid on the block, Grease Monkey, I knew we had to give it a go.

Grease Monkey is the latest addition to Lonsdale Street in Braddon. I used to work in Braddon when it was home to a bunch of dodgy takeaway joints, saved only by the pizza at Debacle. I remember the excitement when Zamberros opened there. These days however it is filled with quirky, innovative and original eateries. Grease Monkey joins the throng with a very specific menu, there are burgers, a few sides (chips, coleslaw, mash and gravy) and fried chicken - think American burger joint.

The fitout has had a lot of write ups and after being there I can see why. They have managed to retain the feel of the old mechanic's shop that used to be on the site while also creating a funky, buzzy space. We sat inside at the bar and I have to say the bar stools are a little short. We are tall and sitting there the bar was at chest height so you wouldn't want to be much shorter. I think the outside courtyard will be a big hit when the warm weather returns.

Grease Monkey burgers are traditional American burgers. Yes they have a vegetarian burger but I wouldn't class these as "gourmet" burgers, the like of Brodburger or Grill'd, they are much more of what pops into my mind when I think of a traditional burger. We actually commented that this was a McDonalds burger done right. I don't mean that to sound at all derogatory, what I mean is that with their slightly sweet bun, pickles, special sauce, and fresh ingredients they have the balance that McDonalds spent so long perfecting but with fresh, flavorful, tasty ingredients.

In the interests of a good review we should have each ordered a different burger but in the interests of what we wanted to eat, we both got a "full service" - beef patty, bacon, egg, cheese, pineapple, lettuce, tomato, beetroot, onion, GM ketchup - $17. I had mine minus the pineapple and onion, S had his minus the beetroot. The GM ketchup is their own special sauce, a mayonnaisey, mustardy take on ketchup that is finger licken good.

We found the burgers to be a good size, they filled you up without stuffing yourself silly. I always feel too full when I finish a Brodburger or London Burger Bar burger - not that I ever don't finish them. The burgers came with chips that had a great seasoning on them and they disappeared very quickly, I loved them.

Service was good, it was only a 15 minute wait for our meals and the place was pretty full. We overheard someone say that they did 240kg of beef on their first day, so they have managed to get the kitchen up and functioning really well remarkably fast. It was busy and we were lucky to score seats but we noticed that patrons turned over fairly quickly (the fast service no doubt helps) so the wait for a table shouldn't be too long.

Overall we really enjoyed our burgers and would happily come back again if friends wanted to but probably wouldn't go out of our way to get there. But if you like a good, traditional burger then I would say, you will be well satisfied by Grease Monkey.

Grease Monkey
19 Lonsdale Street (cnr Lonsdale St and Elouera St)
Braddon

Restaurant Review: Pod Food Degustation Breakfast

One of the brilliant things about having a bunch of foodies as friends is that the moment will invariably arrive when someone says something along the lines of "I've heard of a place that does a degustation breakfast" and shortly thereafter you will find yourself sitting down to such a breakfast.

The location for our 4 course breakfast was Pod Food, the little restaurant tucked away behind the nurseries at Pialligo. I've been there previously for one of their chef's favourites degustation dinners. That occasion was a balmy summer evening with a riotous table of 14 on their deck. This time a slightly more sedate group of 6 were seated inside in the heating which was a good idea on a cold, yet sunny Canberra morning, although I did walk through the deck to the toilet and noticed that it was quite warm out there with the plastic walls down and the sun shining in.

We were treated to 4 delicious courses for $40 plus drinks. As it was truffle season we could have upgraded to include truffle but we chose to stick to the regular menu this time.

First up was pearl barley porridge served with spiced date gel and poached pear and quince. Being a cold morning I was glad it was a warm starter and despite an appropriately degustation small size it was still quite filling. I personally don't love pearl barley, I find it a bit "grainy" but it did taste great matched with the date gel and poached fruit. The freeze dried orange that topped it also added some nice texture but surprisingly little flavour.

Our second course was for most people the pick of the meal. New to the menu, the pan fried gnocchi with pork belly, wilted cos lettuce, peas and a 65°c free range egg cracked to order, was divine. The salty, crispy pork belly perfectly complimented the gooey but not runny egg. I'd never thought of having gnocchi in a breakfast but it was ideal to soak up excess egg yolk and the peas and cos added a note of sweetness and freshness. I probably had the least photographic dish at the table, I should have stolen my brother in law's dish but it was also extremely visually appealing.

It was a hard dish to live up to and for me our third dish while still super tasty didn't quite make it. The third course was scrambled eggs with chorizo, pecorino and pearl onions on white sourdough. Again incredibly tasty, the eggs were just right which is hard with scrambled eggs that I often find are over done. The chorizo was tasty, the onion sweet and caramlised and it all worked well with the bread, it just didn't quite have the zing of dish two.

To round out our breakfast, the fourth course was a breakfast dessert of a ricotta hotcake topped with rhubarb, freeze dried mandarin and vanilla bean icecream. While definitely enjoyable, this was probably the weakest dish for me. When it first came out I thought the freeze dried mandarin was honeycomb and I wish it had been as the mandarin didn't have a strong flavour and I thought the dish could have used that extra element. However the hotcake was nicely spiced, the rhubarb delicious and the icecream was lovely.

We accompanied our breakfast with a range of teas, coffees and Belgium hot chocolates. A few people also tried the locally cold pressed apple juice which comes out almost clear like water but with a strong, crisp apple flavour.

The breakfast degustation is only available for bookings until 10am as it does take about 1.5 hours to enjoy but that leaves you finished in enough time to have a lovely wander through the nurseries or like me provides the opportunity to pop down the road to Bison Homewears to stock up on a few non-essential but utterly beautiful items.

Overall I loved the breakfast. I think that the price is great, the portion sizes were perfect, the food interesting and inventive and I would certainly be happy to return to see how the menu changes through the seasons.

Pod Food
12 Beltana Road
Pialligo
http://www.podfood.com.au/

Restaurant Review: Welcome to Winter Degustation Dinner at Parlour Wine Room

I do love a degustation dinner - basically because I really love food and it is an excellent excuse to try lots and lots of different dishes in one meal. Luckily I'm blessed with a group of friends who think the same way so when I heard that Parlour Wine Room was putting on a special Welcome to Winter dinner it wasn't hard to find people to go with me.

It was my first visit to Parlour since it reopened 18 months ago after the fire that destroyed it and Flint Dining Room (home of the best pancakes in the world that I still miss) in 2011. That meant that I had to wander about for a bit as the door has changed to a completely different side of the building! But once in, it was lovely to see how the redesign has quite transformed it, yet it still has the feel of a cosy and intimate space that was one of the characteristics of its first inception.

But onto the food. We were treated to 6 delightful courses.

First up was a Jerusalem artichoke soup with truffled hazelnuts. Everyone immediately commented on the gorgeous smell of this soup. It was rich and creamy, perfectly winter warming but also refined with the touch of truffle oil and roasted hazelnuts.

Second course was grilled Freemantle sardines, fresh horseradish, pickled sobrassada with sauce vierge. This one divided the table as we had a few people who found the sardines just too fishy for their tastes. I adore sardines and loved this dish. The cripsy croutons, spread with salty sobrassada which had been made into a paste really complimented the sardines and the sauce had an acidic note that cut through the richness perfectly. That said, I could hardly taste the horseradish and wondered if it somehow missed my plate.

Next was braised oxtail with wild garlic and spinach mash. I think of oxtail as an intensely rich dish, generally something you would have as the finale. In this case, the oxtail had been braised in white wine rather than the usual red which meant that while it was still rich it didn't have that coat your palate quality it often does. A few people found it too fatty but personally I love that unctuousness.

Wild mushrooms, cauliflower and blue cheese risotto, cauliflower carpaccio and nettle gel came next. I was so excited by the prospect of this dish as mushrooms, cauliflower and blue cheese are three of my favourite things which S doesn't like so we rarely have. It was great. The risotto balanced the cauliflower and blue cheese perfectly - although it was ever so slightly overcooked for my taste. The cauliflower carpaccio was wafer thin slices of cauliflower stem which added a nice crunch. The mushrooms were meaty but a bit lacking in flavour for me and I could take or leave the nettle gel.

The final main was roast haunch of wild venison, celeriac puree, quince jelly sauce grand veneur. OH MY GOD. I loved this. The venison was perfectly rare. The celeriac puree rich and indulgent. The crispy root vegetable chips gave crunch. The quince jelly offered a sweetness that countered the other flavours and the sauce grand veneur, well I could have licked it off the plate. I glanced around the table as we were finishing this course and noticed that everyone had absolutely scraped their plates clean.

Dessert was dark chocolate and coffee terrine, dulche de leche, peanut shortbread, vanilla bean ice cream. Ahead of its arrival there was some discussion on the table about how people weren't that excited because they didn't love dark chocolate and/or coffee. One tiny bite however and all those views changed. The intense dark terrine somehow managed to avoid the bitter note that people had indicated they didn't like. It contrasted beautifully with the peanut shortbread crumbs and dulche de leche sauce and the vanilla ice cream provided a sweet foil to the intensity of the rest of the dish. Again plates were super clean at the end.

The boys at our table had the matched wines. Each was unusual, either varietals or techniques we had not previously heard of but they all commented how each was a brilliant match for the food. The staff were also great at explaining what we were eating and why the wine had been chosen to match it.

The biggest downside to the evening for me was that it was a very late night. The time had been advertised as 6.30pm for 7pm but our first course didn't arrive until about 7.20pm and with a few delays in between that meant we got our dessert at about 10pm. While that might be ok on a Friday or Saturday night, the dinner was on a Wednesday. Allowing for a little digestion time made for a very late night and not so happy Lisa at work on Thursday.

We did sense that the kitchen struggled at times to feed an entire restaurant at the same time. Function catering is quite different to running a usual staggered restaurant kitchen and there were moments where some of the plating suffered, the ox tail was a good example where half of the table (including me) had beautifully presented plates while the other side of the table looked a little more rushed out.

But overall it was an extremely enjoyable evening of very good food and I'd be keen to go back and try their a la carte menu and a few of their famous cocktails.

Random Musings: Autumn in Canberra

Today is grey, cold and windy. A shot of winter as autumn draws to a close in Canberra. But overall it has been a gorgeous autumn, with plenty of clear blue skies, warm days and cool nights.

I love the fact that we have 4 seasons in Canberra and I really can't pick any as my favourite because they are all glorious in their own way. However I do believe that Canberra looks its best mid-Autumn when all our trees are putting on a stunning display of colour.

My Instagram feed has been packed with beautiful photos of Canberra, the autumn trees and particularly glorious sunsets we have had of late. We have enjoyed walks on warm afternoons under multi-coloured trees. Moving around the city has been a journey through a landscape filled with colour.

But the weather is changing. Today is a sign that the season is wrapping up. The leaves are dropping, bare branches form beautiful silhouettes against the sky, it is time to transition to winter. And as I say goodbye to the divine colour of autumn, I'm already looking forward to open fires, slow cooked meals and an excuse to wear my extensive scarf collection, because if autumn is the season of colour, I think winter is the season of comfort. Bring it on!

Review: Hot Cross Bun Roundup

And so it is a wrap. It has been a great few weeks of fruity, spiced bun goodness with a major flurry at the end to try as many as we possibly could. There have been some disappointments, many middle of the road buns and there have been some standouts.

It was a hard fought battle. Honourable mentions must go to Flute Bakery and Whisk Bakery and Patisserie for standout buns but there can be only one winner. Drum roll please ... the winner is Silo Bakery!

They may not be the prettiest buns (top middle), but they sure are delicious. Full of fruit, dense and spicy. They were close to perfection. And if you don't like a small bun, they make them in loaf size as well!

But in case you can't get to Kingston (and in case they are sold out when you get there) here is the wrap including a last few reviews:

Aldi Fruit Indulgence Hot Cross Buns: These hot cross buns have great flavour, good spice, really nice fruit and no peel however the texture is a bit doughy and gluggy.
S: 7/10
L: 7/10

Baker's Delight Traditional Fruit Hot Cross Buns: Another tasty hot cross bun. We thought they were very similar to the Aldi ones, they had a good level of fruit, but again it was limited to just sultanas and currents. The texture was good, light and fluffy but I felt they were lacking in the spices, the overarching taste was the fruit. We did particularly like the sweet, sticky glaze. It is yummy if finger coating.
S: 7/10
L: 7/10

Brother's Oven: Good texture, not quite enough fruit, huge size.
S: 6.5/10
L: 7/10

Coles Fruit Hot Cross Buns: a nice light fluffy texture and really juicy fruit but while they smelt really good, on tasting I thought there was something off about the balance of spices with a slight bitter note.
S: 7/10
L: 6/10

Erindale Cakery Bakery: These buns were seriously lacking in fruit. I thought they had good spice but S didn't agree and he also thought the glaze was pretty hit and miss. The texture is good, light and fluffy but they really needed more fruit.
S: 5/10
L: 7/10

Flute Hot Cross Buns: Truly delicious. A brioche bun with a citrus flavours but packed with fruit and a very yummy glaze.
S: 8/10
L: 8.5/10

Knead Patisserie: Disappointing. While they do had a light and fluffy texture and the apricot glaze is delicious, there was no where near enough fruit and it was totally lacking in spice.
S: 6/10
L: 5/10

Silo Bakery: This was close to perfection. Packed with fruit including peel (!!) great spice, dense but with a nice crumb. What an amazing hot cross bun. The only thing we could fault was that it wasn't the greatest glaze and the cross was a bit haphazard.
S; 9/10
L 9/10

Wanniassa Bakery: A great hot cross buns. Loads of fruit (sultanas, raisins, currants) and great spice. I quite liked the dense texture but agreed it got a bit doughy at the base.
S: 7/10
L: 7.5/10

Whisk Bakery and Patisserie: Excellent fruit, loads of it and really juicy plus super spices. We liked the glaze and even really liked the cross!
S: 7.5/10
L: 8/10

We hope you have a very happy Easter and get to enjoy a few hot cross buns yourself.

Restaurant Review: Akiba

Sometimes things don't quite go to plan. But when plans not working out ends up with delicious food and cocktails, you can't say they went too wrong.

We had headed out intending to go to the Night Noodle Markets that are forming a part of the Canberra Enlighten Festival. But it was really hot, things didn't seem that different to the Multicultural Festival a few weeks ago and there were queues. I have no problem with queues but S has the patience of a sleep deprived toddler when it comes to lining up so we decided it was not the venue for us.

Instead we headed into the city and being relatively early managed to get into Akiba without a booking. We sat at one of the benches that face the window. The view of Bunda Street may not be one of the great views in Canberra but it does make for excellent people watching.

Akiba's menu is designed for sharing and you are warned that things will come out as they are ready, not in any particular order.

First up for us was the soba noodle salad, bamboo shoots, yellow bean, sweet and sour ($12). This was very tasty, light and refreshing and I loved the crispy bits on on top, however I would have liked a few more of the tasty herbs.

As we were eating it my pork belly bun, char sui, asian slaw ($8) arrived. S had elected not to get one so I offered for him to have a bite. I always make this mistake. The man is essentially a shark and in two bites well more than half of my bun was gone. What was left was delicious. The bun was soft and fluffy, the pork tender, not at all fatty and smothered in delicious char sui sauce which was nicely countered by the mayo in the Asian slaw. I very nearly ordered a second one to make up for it but needed to save space for the rest of our meal.

Next up was Japanese fried chicken, lemon braised onions, parmesan ($16). The chicken was perfectly cooked with a fantastic crumb but I felt it was really lacking a sauce. I would have liked more of the mayo from the Asian slaw in my pork bun. However this might have been because I'm not a huge lover of onion, S ate his chicken with the lemon braised onions and said it was a great combo although he would have liked a sauce too.

Finally, we had an order of steamed prawn and chicken dumplings, ginger and black vinegar dressing ($10). The dressing is super yummy and eating these with a spoon to get as much dressing as possible was a great idea. However I felt the dumplings themselves weren't the greatest. The ginger was a bit strong and I could barely taste the prawn.

We chose to wash our meal down with a couple of Akiba's cocktails. S had the El Diablo - Calle 23 tequila, ginger beer and lime, served over mixed berry, black current ice block ($15) which he really enjoyed.

I had the Clover Club - gin, raspberry syrup and citrus ($16). This pretty much includes my favourite flavours of all time and they are perfectly matched here. Just delicious. 

Service was super prompt, we were in and out in 45 minutes without feeling rushed at all. All in all this was a delicious meal and I'm looking forward to a repeat visit. 

Akiba

40 Bunda Street

Canberra

http://www.akiba.com.au/

Restaurant Review: Yarralumla Turkish Halal Pide House

Fine dining is one of the great pleasures in life. I just adore a plate which comes out beautifully arranged. Eating something as beautiful as it is tasty takes the dining experience to a whole new level.

But not all great food comes in a photographic package. And not all memorable meals involve starched linen tablecloths and silver service. There is a place, and a well deserved place, in life for truly tasty, lip smacking fast food. And it is a place that usually attracts a cult following.

The Yarralumla Turkish Halal Pide House is one of those special places. A tiny shop front, in a small suburban shopping strip where each lunchtime there is a queue out the door and no parking anywhere close. And I'm not exaggerating, every time I've been I've joined the wait well outside the front door, one memorable time it was halfway down the block.

For those who don't live in Canberra, Yarralumla is one of our most expensive suburbs. It is the realm of luxury cars and embassy residences, but at any lunchtime you just need to follow the line of tradies utes and high-vis shirts to find the queue for what is arguably Canberra's best kebabs. They also make fantastic pide and have a further wide ranging menu, although I will admit I've never been able to go past the pide and kebabs.

If you head there at a standard meal time you will find yourself in a queue, but they are organised and it moves fast. Stepping up to the counter you order the salads for your kebab. Stepping to the left you specify meat and sauce. A short wait later (as your kebab is heated to final perfection) you are presented with a truly delicious all in one meal.

It may sound a bit "Soup Nazi" but the system works well. On my most recent visit there were 4 people ahead of me in the queue before we even got in the shop (and who knows how many in the queue in total) but it only took about 15 minutes from when I arrived to when I left, deliciousness in hand.

But onto the kebab. For $10, you get your choice of salad, meat and sauce wrapped in an amazing flat bread, all in a quantity that I have never been able to finish. A couple of people at my office regularly share one, having half each for a good lunch. Another of the guys asks them to do half amount of meat in an attempt to eat it all. My tactic is to eat as much as I can, then just eat the filling, sadly never being quite able to finish the delicious flat bread.

My standard order is chicken with garlic and BBQ sauce. It also contains super fresh salads, I like tomato, tabouleh, lettuce and humus. Other options are lamb, falafel or kabak (zucchini fritters), plus a few extra salad options and heaps of different sauces.

The result is not photogenic. It is not date food, I tend to end up with it all over my face. But what it is, is a delicious, quite healthy and relatively inexpensive meal that will fill you up.

Yarralumla Turkish Halal Pide House
47 Novar Street
Yarralumla
http://www.halalpidehouse.com.au/