Assiette

To celebrate our anniversary I decided I wanted to share a beautifully executed gastronomic experience with Spensley in Sydney. With Quay is booked out for dinner until March, would it be possible to find a restuarant with amazing food, a relaxed environment and didn't cost the first born child? After a lot of research, I decided to settle on a modern French restaurant in Surry Hills called Assiette. For us, non-Frenchies Assiette means 'plate' which is the perfect name for this no fuss modern French diner by Warren Turnbull. Once we were welcomed at the front door, a friendly staff member showed us to our table. Crisp linen, a room of clean lines broken up by a sexy peak into the kitchen and a trio of artwork depicting a playful woman's expressions. After a quick peak at the menu to ensure we weren't missing anything we proceeded with the degustation beginning with hiramasa (Kingfish) ceviche with coconut, heirloom tomato, jalapeno and yuzu. The challenge of ceviche is always taking the best fresh raw fish marinating it with citrus juice and a touch of spice but ensuring the fish isn't overpowered and this dish does it. The hiramasa was the star with uplifting citrus notes and the coconut milk balanced beautifully against the blanched tomato.  

The next dish that followed was Jannei goats' curd, vinocotto, figs, golden beetroot and cereal. I love all these flavours but the magic touch was the toasted cereal which added texture and additional sweetness.

The third dish was Glazed Silver Lake smoked eel, black sesame, grilled leek and onion puree. The black sesame and onion purees worked well with the smoked eel but I found the texture to be quite dense dense and the baby leek was challenging as even in gourmet food death it fought against being consumed. But I didn't mind as leek has never been one of my favourite vegetables. 

After the first three meals were served in quick succession we took a small break before moving onto Bass grouper with saffron parsnip, mussels, dulse and candied lemon. Though the bass grouper was lovely the most incredible component of this dish were the silky mussels so delicate that they came apart violently with a fork and dissolved in the mouth.

Crispy-skin quail, picked carrot, Szechuan salt and ginger vinegar signaled the end of the seafood dishes. Well presented, the quail was beautifully moist, tend and the picked carrot made for an easy flavour transition.

The Milly Hill lamb loin, aubergine puree, baked Jerusalem artichokes and balsamic jus was probably the most traditional dish featured on the degustation. Every component was beautifully cooked and I was almost fooled into thinking the Jerusalem artichoke was a potato. Delightful. 

Pre desserts are always a great way to cleanse the palette as even with the perfectly balanced portion sizes, moving from the rich lamb to a chocolate marquise would have been death. So we lingered for a while with this refreshing pana cotta with blood orange foam.

Our final dish was this ultra decadent Chocolate marquise and sorbet with salted caramel ice cream and cocoa nibs. It was gorgeous but I will admit I was judging it against the one I had earlier in the week at One Eleven. The One Eleven version was a little more tuned to my personal tastes with the fresh raspberries but if you like chocolate on chocolate, then this is heaven. Though I've given some personal thoughts on the flavours don't be fooled as the experience was impeccable. The venue is comfortable, staff are friendly and warm, food is divine but you only have until 22 December to enjoy Assiette as they will be closing their doors. Warren Turnbull will be relocating to New Zealand to focus on his more casual dining offerings. A true loss to Sydney, so if you have the opportunity try to sneak in while you still can!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Address: 48 Albion Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010.
Open: Lunch, Thursday & Friday (12pm - 3pm), Dinner, Wednesday – Sunday (from 6pm).
Phone: (02) 9212 7979.
Price: Degustation $105 per person. Matched wines $65.

Tartufo: Tony's Italian Table

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of being invited by Karen Reyment (TheWordOnFood) to join her and a few other bloggers at Tony's Italian Table. Tony's Italian Table isn't the name of an event but a gorgeous new offering at Tartufo which allows groups of six or more to enjoy a multi course Italian feast. This offering is changed daily based on seasonal produce and naturally the whim of Tartufo Head Chef, Tony Percuoco. As a native of Naples, Tony is absolutely passionate about his food and this is evident from the care he takes to ensure special dietary requirements are met and the passion in his voice when he describes the source of his produce. All of the bread and pasta used in the restaurant are made on site and while the majority of the Tartufo produce is sourced from growers within a 200km radius of Brisbane, Tony can't ignore perfection so you will see the occassional distant treat such as Gippsland Veal or buttery Italian Proscutto. 

 

Our Italian feast opened with beautiful crusty housemade bread served with organic extra virgin olive oil, marinated mixed Italian olives and platters of traditional antipasto. If you have a favourite item then I recommend you get in fast as in the tradition of a family feast it is first in best dressed. However Tony is aware that occassionally we have our favourites so each guest was served their own individual arancini ball. The recipe for the arancini are just as Tony's Mother used to make and filled with peas, parmesan, mozzarella and tomato. Absolutely delicious, fresh, balanced like all the dishes in this feast but for me the stand out dishes were:

• Insalata Caprese
  Fresh sliced tomatoes topped with mozzarella, basil and extra virgin olive oil.
• Vitello Tonnato
  Braised Gippsland veal served cold, thinly sliced, topped with a tuna mayonnaise of capers, anchovies and served with cornichons. 
• Gnochetti Sardi Ai Piselli
  House made small shell pasta with onion, pancetta, fresh peas and pea puree, pepper and pecorino cheese.  
• Semifreddo Al Torrone
  Hazelnut, nougat semifreddo (house made ice-cream terrine) served with crostoli and espresso sauce.  

Parking and public transport is highly accessible at the Emporium, the space is welcoming, the food was divine and service impecable. But apart from a huge thanks to Tony and his wife, Gordana, I wanted to also thank Karen for being such a warm host and the other bloggers on the table for their company: 

• Eat, Drink and Be Kerry
• Itty Bitty Bites
• Miss Lolly Loves Food
• Rhubarb Whine
• Tiffin

So might I recommend that you grab a bunch of six or so of your closest friends and take on the impressive feast that is Tony's Italian Table. You won't be disapppointed.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Address: 100 Ann Street, Fortitude Valley, QLD 4006.
Open: Lunch and Dinner 7 Days.
Phone: (07) 3852 1500.
Price: $50 per person.

Beer Stalker

Thanks to a random number generator and the lovely Renee at the Pantry Review I managed to win a double pass to the Lifestyle Maggie Beer Chefs Table at the Brisbane Good Food and Wine Show but never has a prize been so difficult to claim! 

I was informed by Renee on Saturday that the ladies at Square One PR would mail out the passes and without any sign of them by the Thursday I was growing concerned so I called the company. They assured me that the passes had been mailed but to call them if there were any problems so they could arrange collection from the Box Office. There were times when I was ready to cry but honesty there were that many errors that in hindsight it was hilarious: 

• The passes arrived 2pm on Friday for the 1pm Friday session. I didn't make this discovery until I opened my mail at 6pm and frantically called and twittered Square One PR. The ladies picked up and said they wouldn't be able to correct it until the next day.
  
• I was contacted the next day to say that unfortunately the Maggie Beer Chefs Table's allocation was exhausted and to make it up to us, they booked us into the Celebrity Theatre that afternoon and arranged for a meet and greet at 3.30pm.
  
• I arrived at the Good Food and Wine Show to pick up the tickets from the Box Office to find the Celebrity Theatre session was 11am. I called Square One PR in a panic and they confirmed the meet and greet was still on but they had booked me into the Chefs Table with Anna Gare at 5pm.
  
• Come 3.30pm and I'm ushered into the VIP lounge with Spensley. We're treated to some canapes, a comfortable chair and a cool drink. We wait for an hour and Maggie Beer never shows. However my brother who was mixing it up with the great unwashed managed to score a photo with her. The time stamp on the photo out of interest was 3.30pm. 

But I can highly recommend Anna Gare! She is as lovely and bubbly as she comes across on television and I came away with a solid respect for her cooking. The Lifestyle Food Goodie bags were also extremely generous, chock full of numerous food and kitchen products and I'm pleased to say that I am now the proud owner of one KitchenAid product ... a spatula! On a whole I loved the Good Food and Wine Show from the passionate and bustling cheese alley (I highly recommend Bruny Island Cheese Co and Banglow Cheese Co) to scoffing icecream sandwiches and running into what seemed like half of Brisbane. This foodie event is still the must see event of the year ... oh for those wondering we never did get to meet Maggie Beer. There's always next year.          

Kettle and Tin

If you're a regular at Anouk or Eurovida, you couldn't help but notice the haphazard colours of the former Pandemonium Cafe dissolve and give up to an elegant gunmetal gray shopfront. But what is? So when I heard along the grapevine that this site has been acquired by the owners of the New Farm establishment, Ponycat I started actively counting down and was even more excited when I heard it was open. So I grabbed Spensley and we made our way through the bracing cold to Paddington. Perhaps I had built up Kettle and Tin too much in my head because we entered the gate, we were stopped by a gentleman who automatically intoned, "we not ready for another 15 minutes." Maybe it was the lack of greeting, the hunger, the cold, the lack of coffee or a combination but I was annoyed as their Facebook page advises a 6.30am start. So after killing some time in the newsagency, we made our way back to the cafe and we greeted with a rustic but modern decor. The metal chairs are a tad cold on ones' backside in the morning, but I can assure you the coffee is taste, warm and the menu hearty.  

The photo doesn't do it justice but Spensley ordered the Parmesan and Spinach Egg White Omelet. This dish will keep the health conscious pleased with three parts egg white to one part whole egg. My partner is fond of sides, so disregard the mushrooms as they are just one of the optional extras you can add to your plate to fortify your stomach before you start your day.

I on the other hand was keen to try out the Eggs Benedict which was perfect. Crisp english muffins, a layer of caramelised leeks, house cured gravlax, running eggs and home made hollandise made for perfection. I would be delighted to have this dish as my last meal and despite my little service grumble, the food has me worshipping their feet. So visit!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Address: 215 Given Terrace, Paddington, QLD 4064.
Open: Tuesday - Saturday 6.30am-4pm. Sunday 6.30am-2pm.
Phone: (07) 3369 3778

Ten Foods Toxic To Your Dog

Thanks to a long running Oreo campaign, we all know that chocolate is bad for dogs. But have you ever wondered what else is bad for your faithful companion? Some of these will surprise you.

• Alcohol
• Chocolate
• Garlic
• Green Potatoes
• Sugar
• Peach/Apricot Pits
• Onion
• Grapes/Raisins
• Mushroom
• Yeast Dough

Attachment: Ruby Cafe June 2012 Menu

Please note this article was last updated Tuesday, June 5 and is an attachment to my January 2012 review of Ruby Cafe. 

Ruby Cafe has a new menu for June and Spensley and I, are eager to work our way through all the delicious combinations which capture the best of the season. I must say I had breakfast envy when Spensley's choice of salmon, baked eggs, caramelised leaks arrived. The gorgeous were generous and they were served with crusty sourdough. 

My dish also came with crusty sourdough but I admit the gamble of Breakfast Peas did not pay off. I love peas but admit I was tad disappointed to find the dish was a bowl of frozen peas with mint and batons of speck, topped with an egg. Perhaps Gourmet Traveller has spoilt me, but I had visions of pureed peas and mint, spread over crusty bread, with a poached egg and generous waves of crispy bacon of crumbled speck. The flavour combination has potential but you shouldn't have to chase your breakfast with a fork at 6.30am!

Formatting

One of the greatest challenges of food blogging is the fact that restaurants are an ever changing entity from the mood of the staff to the release of a new menu to capture the best of the seasonal produce. In my attempt to be accurate, I will now be adding additional entries and attaching them should I return to an establishment after I've reviewed it. Pip pip carry on!

What's for School Lunch?

I've been bumbling around this planet for almost three decades so I'm bound to meet amazing people. One of them is Amy who is witty, well written and if I was a quarter the improviser she is ... well that would be amazing! Anyhow she recently posted on Facebook a blog named 'What's for School Lunch?' Though school lunches will never represent the best food a country has to offer, it is certainly is interesting what parents pack their children off with. Check it out.

A-MAIZE-ing

Anyone who has travelled with me will know just how jazzed I get when I find a corn vendor at a market. There are few things nicer than a stick of sweet corn with a generous dab of butter and seasoning on a brisk winter market morning. But did you know how a-MAIZE-ing (see what I did there? I'm so punny) corn actually be? Check out these amazing heirloom corn images.

Paella

Yesterday I received a beautiful paella pan and as today is Mother's Day, I could find no better excuse than to break it with this Taste.com.au Paella recipe. To begin I prepared the following sets of ingredients (1) finely dice one brown onion, one red capsicum and one green capsicum, (2) two cups of medium grain rice, finely dice one ripe tomato and two tablespoons smoked paprika, (3) peel ten green prawns leaving heads and tails, (4) thickly diagonally slice two chorizo sausages, (5) cut two chicken thighs into 3cm pieces, (6) bring to a boil five cups of chicken stock and 1/2 teaspoon of saffron threads and (7) one cup of frozen peas.

 I then popped the paella pan on a medium heat and separately cooked the chorizo, chicken and prawns until they were golden and returned them back to their bowls. I then cooked the onion, red and green capsicum mixture until soft, combined the rice, tomato and paprika mixture added the one third of the stock and continued to add stock as it was absorbed. After all the stock has been absorbed, add the peas and prawns and set aside for ten minutes for the dish to form a crust.   

Then serve to your eager guests. This batch serves at least six and if you can't finish it, I strongly suspect that it will freeze well. But I'll let you know in a few days.

Feijoa: Fruit not Obscure Mexican Cuisine

The other day Miss Charlotte posted on her Facebook that she had exploded with excitement upon finding Feijoas at the Queen Street Markets. In my pre-coffee state, I assumed it was some kind of Mexican cuisine and was rather surprised and thankful to find that (a) our fabulous office assistant hadn't literary exploded and (b) the Feijoa was actually an green egg shaped fruit.

The Feijoa (occasionally referred to as the pineapple guava) is a part of the myrtle family and native to the highlands of South America and widely cultivated in New Zealand. Though this flowering evergreen shrub is widely grown as a landscape plant, fruit is rarely seen outside of its cultivation area due to the fact the plant requires at least 50 hours of winter chill to fruit. If you're lucky enough to come across a Feijao seek out fruit that gives slightly when you apply a light pressure and cut it half like a Kiwi Fruit to enjoy the sweet pulp. The pulp is extremely aromatic, unique and as you inch closer to the skin an enjoyable gritty texture. If you see one, they are well worth trying and I expect to see an increase of this fruit in Queensland as an orchard has been recently established on the Sunshine Coast.   

The Poet's Cafe

Based on a tip off from one of my lovely Twitter Followers, Spensley and I decided to head home via The Poet's Cafe, Montville. The Poet's Cafe makes a visual impact from the moment you arrive with the stained glass windows, honey toned interior walls overlooking a lush green garden. The dish above is Spensley's Poet's Egg Benedict with avocado which comprised of sourdough, roast tomato, crispy pancetta and truffled hollandise sauce. I didn't try any of this dish but eggs were bright and runny and Spensley praised the hollandise sauce's flavour.

I decided to order a rather hearty slow cooked beans with toasted sourdough, a thick lamb and fennel sausage and poached egg. This dish is not to be consumed in polite company as you'll need to balance the beans and the poached egg on your thick slice of sourdough and then pick the beans from the flavoursome sauce. The sauce had nice large chunks of cooked tomato and was creatively flavoured with star anise and cummin. Very interesting but by George it worked! While we both really enjoyed our meals, the portions were generous, I won't lie as I thought the whole experience was overpriced with a mocha or hot chocolate at $6 a pop and any additional sides adding up. So just be wary of your selections.

Rating: 3 out of 5. 

Address: 167 Main Street, Montville, QLD 4560. 

Open: Monday - Thursday: 9am - 6pm. Friday - Saturday: 9am - 9pm. Sunday: 8.30am - 6pm. 

Phone: (07) 5478 5479. 

Thomas Corner Eatery

Spensley and I keep extremely full schedules but after lengthy discussions we came to the conclusion that we ought to take a holiday during the May long weekend. So after shooing out all the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern actors and patrons with a long handled broom from the Brisbane Art Theatre courtyard, we jumped into the car to Caloundra. In return for Spensley doing the driving, I offered to buy him dinner and after some research and decided to book us in for dinner at David Rayner's Thomas Corner Eatery. Thomas Corner is stylish establishment but has a relaxed atmosphere helped along by the friendly but efficient staff who quickly seated us despite running late.    

We had a late lunch so we decided to start with mains. Spensley selected the papardelle with cultivated mushrooms, shallots, english spinach, pecorino, topped with a hot poached egg and dressed with olive oil and parsley. The pasta was perfected cooked and aromatic as the smell of the pecorino instantly perked up the appetite upon arrival. I was also impressed to note the inclusion of enoki in the mix. These delicate mushrooms have a wonderful crispy texture and are amazing stir fried.   

While I was disappointed to learn that the rabbit was unavailable, this was quickly dissipated by the arrival of the grilled Bangalow pork chop, celeriac, apple and fennel remoulade, crackling and white wine jus. The pork was rich, fatty and tender and offset by the celeriac, apple and fennel remoulade accented by pieces of crackling. 

For dessert we both selected the poached pear, chocolate sable, pistachio cream and chocolate sorbet. While we were both were expecting the pear to be warm as it was a fairly cool evening, but it was served ice cold which we believe was intentional. The chocolate sorbet was strictly for adult tastes with a rich, deep 80% dark chocolate accent and the pistachio cream bordered on savoury with pieces of roasted nuts. It was a lovely meal and it had to be as I had asked Spensley to drive an hour from Caloundra. On the way home he asked me, "did you have any concept of the distance when you made the booking?" I replied, "not really, I assumed the Sunshine Coast was all together." "I thought was much," he said. So, now I know.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.
Address: 1/201 Gympie Terrace, Noosaville QLD 4566.
Open: Monday - Friday: 11.30am, Saturday: 9am, Sunday: 8.30am. Breakfast/lunch/dinner.
Phone: (07) 5470 2224.
Price: Entree: $16 - $24. Mains: $29 - $35. Dessert: $3.50 - $14.

Almond Butter Drops

When I was young, holidays seemed to stretch to place beyond infinity and I would almost be begging to head back to school. Fast forward to the year 2012 and sometimes time is moving so quickly that I don't know if I'm coming or going and occasionally pat myself down to ensure I am wearing pants as I run through the door.

So in these modern times, it's handy to have a few recipes that are minimal fuss but high impact. These Almond Butter Drops from the ancient ye old 'Womens Weekly Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits' are fantastic and to make them you need to take a food processor and blitz 250g of gingernut biscuits until roughly crushed and then add 90g of lightly roasted flaked almonds, 1/4 cup of coconut and 60g of chopped preserved ginger until fine. Then combine this dry mixture with 60g melted butter and 1/4 cup of golden syrup, press into your desired shape (I used a tablespoon and made them into nice dome, half spheres) and chill in the fridge on a greased tray.

Once they are firm, melt 90g of dark chocolate, dip each biscuit, top with a flaked almond and chill. Dead easy, but they'll make you look like a domestic goddess at your next social gathering. Take that Nigella! ... Actually, I don't mean that ... for all of Nigella's adjectives, I still love her. A complete wonder babe. Sigh.

Blind Fortuna Smiles

Blind Fortuna has smiled upon me and I awoke this morning to collect a Pecan Roulade from Jocelyn's Provisions. On a Saturday this gorgeous New Farm establishment is open from 7am and it is a wonderful time of day to explore the shelves of fine ingredients and stunning prepared treats. There are savouries, biscuits, pastries, cakes of all shapes and sizes. I really like the the bar cakes as they are a great size and extremely economic for those work morning teas.  

But we're moving off from the subject which is this luscious Pecan Roulade. This amazing creation easily fed a rehearsal of 10. Feather light sponge, contrasted with a pecan and espresso cream and finished with icing sugar. Ladies and gentleman, I think it's time for you to pay a visit.   

Smidgins: Aja Coffeehouse $10 Sweet Treats

So after our Kodoya adventure, we all decided it was time to sniff out some dessert so we decided to head back to the stylishly dark, Aja Coffeehouse (we stumbled across this venue on our last adventure). When we arrived there was a sign outside advertising three desserts for $10, how convenient we thought as we placed the order. As the minutes started ticking away we started to wonder how long it took to put a biscuit on a plate, but we well and truly shut up when these three works of stunning art appeared. Above is the meringue finished with passionfruit, chocolate and fresh strawberries.  

Beautifully crisp and dense shortbread with strawberries and cream. Garnished with delicate mint leaves.

The final piece we selected with this orange and almond cake. A little more dense than the others, but again beautifully presented. There were a couple more options on the menu but this was truly bang for the dollar and a great way to finish up a Friday night in the city. So make the time to suppose this new Elizabeth Arcade establishment which opens Monday to Thursday (7am - 4pm) and Friday (7am - 9pm). I've already decided to return for dinner, so will be back with a review soon.

Kodoya

Though it has now been a number of months since I finished my project at the Cancer Council Queensland, I still catch up with Carmen and Tania. So on Friday night, we left the boys at home to have dinner a Tania's ye old faithful, Kodoya. As you can gather from the name, Kodoya serves Japanese cuisine and is cluttered amongst all the cheap and cheerful Asian eateries in Elizabeth Arcade. The Chicken Katsu Curry that Tania and Carmen selected set them back $9.80 and you can customise the amount of chili included in your meal from a basic one to a challenging champion level for $5.  

I decided to get my naughty katsu fix via the Tokyo Ramen at $8.90. The dish comes with the egg noodles, nori and half a boiled egg. Though it isn't Taro's beautiful handmade ramen, it is extremely serviceable with its chewy texture and the speed that the meal was delivered was extraordinary which more than makes up for the establishment's basic layout.

Tania also ordered these morish Crab Cream Croquettes which were amazing but at some point I must return with my little brother as I spotted the Takoyaki. We both have fond memories of street food and Takoyaki is a favourite. Will you beat us to it? Let me know.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Address: Shop 29-30, 99 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000.
Open: Monday - Saturday, Lunch and Dinner.
Phone: (07) 3229 3993

Strawberry Lemon Puffs

My little brother is a gentleman of fine taste, so at Christmas he gifted with an Annabel Langbein cookbook and I'm absolutely in love with the simple, tasty but extremely stylish things that she has chosen to include. But as you know like breeds like and from that love, I've also grown extremely fond of making choux pastry. I know what you're thinking, isn't it difficult to make? No, it's actually dead easy, but you need to be prepared to (a) make and consume the item on the day, (b) double the amount outlined in cookbook and (c) pipe or mould the pastry into a shape close to the final product as the dough really doesn't swell much.

To begin I preheated by oven to 200°C fan-forced (this setting is important) and placed 1 cup of water, 120g butter in a saucepan and brought he mixture to a boil. Once it had reached this point I added 1 1/2 cups of plain flour and stirred the mixture with a wooden spoon until it left the sides of the pan and a light crust formed on the base. This process takes approximately a minute and I then removed the pan from the heat and added 2 tbsp of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the mixture with a hand beater. Once it was well combined, I then added four large eggs, one at time. Note the mixture should still be thick enough to fall from a spoon in clumps and form into shapes on a greased tray. As you can see I made small rings and lightly dusted them with flaked almonds.

I baked these rings for 12 minutes before reducing the heat to 180°C and continuing to bake for a further 15 - 20 minutes or until the puffs are golden and feel firm with tapped. Once this occurs, turn off the oven and leave the puffs inside for another 15 minutes before cooling on a baking rack. During this time I sliced a punnet of strawberries and made the lemon curd cream. This comprises of 1 cup of lemon curd (Annabel does have her own recipe but I returned to tried and true recipe) folded into 2 cups of whipped cream.

Take each puff and slice them with horizontally with a serrated knife and layer them with the lemon curd cream, strawberries, dust them with icing sugar and serve within the next few hours. I'll guarantee these little pieces of food porn won't last long, so take the plunge and make some choux pastry. You'll be addicted! 

Parkland Chinese Restaurant

April always signals to me the coming of Ching Ming (also known as the Clear Bright or Tomb Sweeping Festival) which means a trip to Mt Gravatt to attend to my Father's grave site. You may assume that this would be a simple process of cleaning the tomb but also involves preparing ceremonial food (which may include a entire chicken with head and feet intact, fish, roast pork, vegetarian cuisine and rice), drink and paper offerings (including clothing and paper money). As the journey takes some time, the family often continues onto yum cha and during this year's journey we choose 'Parkland Chinese Restaurant.'

Parkland is a relatively new venue having opened a year ago and is a sister to Landmark. The restaurant's furnishings are clean and I was impressed to be quickly presented with a pot of tea and a large hot water thermos to ensure the tea remained free flowing. As you can see from the images the items we selected were of a more traditional nature and the family was extremely impressed by the Pig's Blood. It was fresh, silky smooth while maintaining its shape. The chef's inclination appears be towards chilli as the Tripe and Chicken Feet Rice were quite spicy which was a nice change towards the gentle nature of the Salted Pork and Preserved Egg Congee. As a child of a chef who specialised in yum cha, I admit to being an extremely hard marker but I was quite impressed with the taste and offering. I recommend taking a group of friends to fully enjoying this establishment.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Address: Sunny Park Shopping Centre, Cnr of Mains and McCullough Road, Sunnybank, QLD 4109.
Open: Seven Days a Week, Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

Phone: (07) 3345 4588.

The Art of Burping

Occasionally I get bored and to shake things up one afternoon, I laddishly announced to my unfortunate colleagues, "you know when you internally burp, sometimes it's like re-eating your meal all over again!" The girls groaned but being the curious cat that I am, it prompted further research.

Burping (also known as belching, ructus and eructation) is caused by the intake of air as you eat or drink and the subsequent need to expel it as gas. This expelled gas contains nitrogen, oxygen and stomach contents as the gastroesophageal junction does not produce a tight seal. So yes, ladies and gentleman by producing that internal burp, as opposed to vibrating your upper esophageal sphincter, you are indeed re-eating portions of your meal. Bon Appetit!

Spoon Deli: Paddington

Spensley and I make time to have breakfast once a week, which feels like an excessive indulgence to me but if we didn't we simply wouldn't see each other due to the busy working and extra curricular schedule we both maintain. We were both desperately hungry when we reached Sassafras' door only to find it closed so decided to head across the road and chance Spoon Deli. The establishment has ample alfresco dining which makes it a perfect stop for cyclists, the cake cabinet hosted a drool worthy red velvet cake, my coffee was passable but that's where the positives end.

Spensley decided to selected the Eggs Benedict with Salmon. It was the better choice out of the two dishes as the yolks were beautifully runny, wilted spinach and a bright hollandise sauce.

I selected the Pumpkin and Zucchini Fritters and was rather disappointed. The fritters consisted of two triangles of flour, it was difficult to find any traces of vegetable and it was bland even with the selection of sauces on the side. I found the Spoon Deli experience overpriced, underwhelming and would recommend avoiding this establishment and rethinking your options.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.
Address: 107 Latrobe Terrace, Paddington, QLD 4000.
Open: Seven Days a Week, Breakfast and Lunch.
Phone: (07) 3367 0722.