Archive for January 2014

Home Archive for January 2014

Taste Gallery | Market Square, SUNNYBANK QLD 4109

My dad arrived from China on Tuesday. As he only flies over to Australia to visit twice a year, the other travel bunnie and I were extremely excited about taking my parents somewhere for dinner to welcome him.

Perhaps it was my baby bump talking but I had massive cravings for Peking Duck and feeling lost as to where to go for it, I picked up the phone and made a reservation at Taste Gallery. The other travel bunnie and I had been to Taste Gallery a long time ago when they first opened and neither of us were too impressed with the experience. I was hoping that that would change.

Unfortunately, it didn’t.

The Peking Duck Three Ways, albeit extremely cheap at $48.80, was nowhere near as nice as what a properly cooked Peking Duck is supposed to be. To start with, the duck was not sliced in front of us at the table. The pre-sliced skin were placed on prawn crackers and brought to us with chunks of unevenly sliced cucumbers. The waiter that took our order had little knowledge about the dish and didn’t even know how many pancakes were supposed to come with the order. The noodles were really oily but the soup was tasty (and it was perhaps the most popular dish of the night). In addition, we also ordered braised chicken fillets with super spicy sauce ($14.80), stewed eggplant with Szechuan sauce ($15.80) and lemon chicken ($15.80).

The lemon chicken was the worst of all. It was bland, covered in a thick layer of flour and for the price that we paid I was expecting more than just food-court quality lemon chicken. Having said all that, I did enjoy the braised chicken fillets with super spicy sauce. The chicken fillets were extremely tender and the fiery sauce left me wanting more.

The service was unfortunately equally as disappointing as the duck and the lemon chicken dishes.

I can’t see myself going back there ever again.

Total Bunnie Dollars Spent: $110.40

Billykart Kitchen | 1 Eric Crescent, ANNERLEY QLD 4105

We decided to have breakfast at Billykart Kitchen last Saturday as it was on the way to the Gold Coast. I had been wanting to visit there for a while, but given its location is slightly out of the way for us, we hadn’t been motivated enough to venture out to Annerley.

Located at the corner of suburban streets, we were lucky enough to find a parking spot right outside of the eatery. It was buzzing at 9:45, with a quick glance at the menu, we wasted no time in ordering our food. They had no avocado on the day, so avocado was replaced with an egg and baba ghanoush for the fried corn fritters ($16). They were very accommodating in having my egg fried on both sides. The other travel bunnie ordered free range eggs ($6) with double smoked bacon ($4.50) and roasted Portobello mushrooms ($4.50). The wait for the food took a long time, so our cappuccino ($3.70) and mocha ($3.70) were long finished and there was still no food. In fact, the two tables next to us who arrived well after us had received their food before we did, so I figured that it was appropriate to follow up on our order, forty-minutes later.

When the food finally did arrive instead of mushrooms, the other travel bunnie was given tomatoes. In all fairness, one of the staff did come over to apologise for the mistake and offered to replace the dish, but we were too hungry to care and we feared that it would take too long for the replacement order to come out.

The food tasted good. I really enjoyed the fried corn fritters and thought that the flavours of the dish were balanced really well. The fritters were so tasty that I wished I got more than just two of them. I think the other travel bunnie was slightly disappointed with his meal but judging by the fact that nothing was left on his plate, I think it was definitely satisfactory.

I like the sound of their lunch menu as well, it sounds yummy yet really reasonably priced. However given our recent experience with the service and speed, it will be a while before we head back again.

Total Bunnie Dollars Spent: $38.40

The Great Ocean Road | AUSTRALIA

The other travel bunnie and I had been talking about the trip to Melbourne for a long time, and every time we mentioned it, we always talked about doing a road trip along the Great Ocean Road, as neither of us had done it before.

So on the third day of our recent Melbourne trip, a MiniCooperS was hired and off we went. Besides being a little windy, the weather was picture perfect as I had hoped for. The scenery along the way was beautiful, which made the long drive a rather pleasant one.

The Bottle of Milk | Lorne, AUSTRALIA

The road trip to the Twelve Apostles along the Great Ocean Road takes around four hours or so, depending on the traffic. So we thought it was completely necessary to get some food into us along the way.

We made a quick stopover at a small seaside town called Lorne to have an early lunch at The Bottle of Milk.

It’s hard to miss this popular eatery located right on the Esplanade where you can get a gorgeous view of the ocean and surf. For $40, we got The B.O.M - prime beef, tasty cheese, bacon, free range egg, lettuce, tomato, onion, beetroot, house mayo & relish and What Everybody Gets - chicken schnitzel breast, lettuce, tomato, onion, coriander, house mayo & homemade chilli paste, plus a side of kick-ass hot chips with house-made chilli mayo (which I totally recommend) and coke.

The burgers were pretty awesome in terms of their size and taste. I struggled to finish mine but it was too good to leave any behind.

I’m glad that we paid a visit to The Bottle of Milk as it made our journey along the way far more satisfying.

Total Bunnie Dollars Spent: $40

View Larger Map

Cumulus Inc. | Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

A simple breakfast at Cumulus Inc. was all we needed to get energised for a long day trip along the Great Ocean Road.

We got there bright and early, and there were plenty of empty seats for us. We had a look at the breakfast menu the night before in order to minimise the time spent on decision making due to our tight schedule for that day. For me, it was a simple Bircher muesli, grated granny smith apple and almonds ($10) and the other travel bunnie ordered the Grilled Lyonnaise sausage, smoked hock, braised beans & 65/65 egg ($16).

Although the bircher muesli was delicious, I somehow regretted ordering a healthy breakfast choice when I saw the other travel bunnie's warm and hearty breakfast. The egg was cooked at 65 degrees for 65 minutes and when he cut it open, gooey egg yolk slowly covered his baked beans. Yum. The other travel bunnie commented that the meal reminded him of a breakfast he used to have when he was little, and to me food that brings back your childhood memories is definitely worth having.

Before we finished our breakfast at Cumulus Inc, a fantastic eatery with minimalistic décor, we tried their Madeleine filled with lemon curd ($2.5). The Madeleine takes 15 minutes to make, so we ordered them before we started. When they were brought out, they were still warm. Although they weren't exactly amazing, the sweet filling was the perfect end to breakfast and went down nicely with my pot of earl grey.

Total Bunnie Dollars Spent: $40.50

View Larger Map

Newer Posts Older Posts Home

Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )