Wagaya

Eurovida's Bastille Day dinner

Amuse-bouche of salmon in pastry cups

French onion soup with cheese toast

Scallops with a green pea puree

Grilled fish with a buttery almond sauce and green beans

Cassoulet

Creme brulee

As a group, we agreed that the scallops were the best. The cassoulet was a bit too strongly spiced for us, and a few of us found it hard to digest. Soup good, fish good, creme brulee too firm and cold, but with a good crunchy top. Service good. We had a nice table, but when staff kept going in and out of the back door and letting in huge gusts of icy air, that was not nice. Ditto when they brought in the industrial mop bucket and cleaning gear while we were still having dessert.

Pho at Trang's

Trang's Vietnamese Restaurant, Hardgrave Rd, West End. This is the rare beef pho, with lemon, bean sprouts and mint. Perhaps this is my favourite pho in town.

MOS Burger at Sunnybank

MOS Burger has arrived! Menu photos from Urbanspoon are here. The best bit about MOS Burger was a) the tastiness of the beef yakiniku b) the smallness and neatness and cleanness of everything c) the green tea (unsweetened! IN A GLASS!) and d) the complete lack of bogans anywhere. Megalove. Am going back soon.

Lady date

French Twist at the Barracks: coffee, tea and a beautifully mini apple crumble to share. Lovely chinaware, lovely company, lovely position.

Our Haus Cafe

Popped down to Our Haus, Riding Road, Hawthorne, for a spot of lunch. Overwhelmingly good feedback from the interuniverse, so I was looking forward to something interesting and tasty. Pictured here is the cheese and tomato toasted sandwich with salad, the Caesar salad and some fries to share. Toastie was well recieved and the chips were a winner (note to cafe: serve aioli with them next time please), but my salad did not please me so much. Sure, all the elements were there, so A for effort but execution gets a C- at best. Poached egg on Caesars are great, but this one was a fridge-cold poachy and so did not ooze satisfactorily. Salad leaves were only one layer thick, and croutons, while made from your excellent house sourdough, were over-baked and really hard on the teefs. Anchovy good. Dressing good. Feel free to toss the dressing through a little more and even add some water to thin it slightly, get that coaty, crispy, juicy effect on your salad leaves. Just a suggestion. Coffee was lovely. Interior decor was also lovely- I was a big fan of your bright fuschia banquette seating and your quaintly decorated inside room, even if there were too many people jammed in there for a simple weekday lunch and even if half of them were annoying wannabe yuppie women who shop at Marg Kaye. Bit squishy at times to get through to a seat. Also think about getting rid of that INCREDIBLY LOUD AND ATMOSPHERE-DESTROYING JUICER or blender or whatever it is. Surely someone must make a quiet one these days. Or just shove that one out the back, and send the work experience kid or the most hated member of staff out there to be on Juice Patrol. Speaking of staff, our waitperson was very friendly and very lovely and very sweet, even if he did seem to be a bit Special Ed at first, when he brought us two forks, then took them away, then came back with one fork, then a second fork, then went away, then returned and took the second fork away again and replaced it with a butter knife. One butter knife. Lucky it was only for a toasted sandwich; or maybe that was the point. Anyway he was very nice and it seemed like all your staff are like little shining Happiness Fairies. Good on them. Unfortunately though, if I return, I won't be having a salad. Maybe work on those- in the meantime I'll order a sandwich or something.

Grub St Cafe

Had heard really good things about Grub St. The interwebs were all a-flutter and people were saying it was totally worth the trip to Gaythorne, which isnt really even that far out of the way for anyone, unless you live at Mt Cotton, in which case you've got more problems than needing some good coffee anyway, so we decided to go check it out.

Cons: A bit hard to see / find as you're driving past, but once you know where it is, you're set. The outdoor seating is basically in a driveway, but that's OK cos the inside is fairly cute. When we went in, the waitperson was a bit surly and a few of the tables needed to be wiped down, so options of where to sit were limited. Screaming local children and some fairly insane other customers, but that's not their fault. Pros: Good coffee. Food was delicious, nice and hot, except my plate had a few grimy specks on the edge. It was fine though. We had the bacon and egg burger, and the corn cakes with chorizo and poached egg. Very tasty, not over-salted. Everything got completely polished off and the plate juice was mopped up with bread scraps. And good prices- $30ish for two people with coffee. Very good. Well done Grub St: I wish you all the best and my only advice is to friendly up your wait staff and create a soundproof fenced and electrocuted area in which to corrall the local offspring.

The Cliffs Cafe

Relatively new cafe at Kangaroo Point. I dropped in today with a friend for lunch. We ordered the prawn salad with caviar, and the lamb burger with tzatziki and fries. The prawns were the best: the burger bun was stale-ish and uninspiring and the fries were floury and not hot. Both dressings were nice though, and the coffee was not bad. We were lucky to be there at an off-peak time, but I think perhaps a little more attention to detail might go a long way.

Belle Epoque, May 2010

My birthday dinner at Belle Epoque. Top to bottom:

Escargots (1/2 Dozen)
French imported or Glasshouse Mountains
　
Breaded Lamb Brains
sauce soubise, parsnip, chanterelles

Gravalax of Ocean Trout
watercress jelly, crème fraîche, salad of grapfruit & watermelon
　
Belle Epoque Salad
house smoked duck breast, walnuts, zucchini flowers w chèvre

Soupe à l’Oignon
French onion soup
　
Grain Fed Rib Fillet
John Dee Super Gold, Warwick 350g, house frites, béarnaise
　
Assiette de Fruits de Mer
daily selection of hot and cold seafood

Bouillabaisse
saffron, rouille, baby spinach　

Munster Gerome
Vosges Mountains, France, cow’s milk, strong smell, sticky, sweet & full of rich milk
　　
Saint Siméon
Ile de France, France. Cow’s Milk. Double cream white mould brie style cheese w/ a mild, supple interior & well balanced salty & slightly caramel notes.