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Thomas Corner Eatery, Noosaville, QLD

13 05 20

We popped in to Thomas Corner Eatery for breakfast on a rainy Noosaville day. We were seated fairly quickly – the restaurant is large and airy with indoor and outdoor tables. The menu was quite extensive with lots of nice choices. I settled for the locally hot smoked salmon, poached eggs, horseradish, lemon, capers, and watercress. The eggs were perfectly cooked and the salmon was very tasty, but I couldn’t detect the horseradish and I suspect that it was missed. It was still very nice, but I love horseradish, so I was a little disappointed not to taste it.

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My companion chose the Farmer’s Market breakfast. This was attractive to look at and tasty, but he would have preferred traditional pork sausages instead of the Bangalow pork sausage that was provided.

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Thomas Corner Eatery has a nice menu, friendly staff, and uses high quality ingredients. Definitely a decent spot for breakfast.

Visit Date – May 2016

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Restaurant review, Vegan/Vegetarian

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The Mint Asian Cafe, Perth CBD

13 05 20

The Mint is a canteen style Asian cafe on Hay next to Perth Mint on the corner of Hill Street. On a rainy day I was given a lovely welcome and I perused the menu for something warming.
Tempted by pretty much all of the options – laksa, fried rice, gyoza, salt and pepper prawn etc. I eventually settled for a fried chicken kway teow.

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It was really nicely cooked with the charred wok flavour running through, and a perfect mix of chicken, onion, egg, beansprouts and greens. I loved it and was quite happy with the $11 lunch price tag.

The Mint is a Hay Street winner. They are also happy to cook veggie versions of most dishes – veggie pad thai is a particular favourite.

Vegetarian pad thai:
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Salt and pepper chicken:
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Last visit – November 2019

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Matthew Thomas, Sandgate, QLD

13 05 20

Matthew Thomas is a lovely little art cafe on the coast road overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Sandgate.

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We arrived for brunch on a Sunday and it was fairly busy. The menu was full of nice choices and it was difficult to decide, but I opted for a mt classic which is eggs, bacon, tomato and sourdough while my companion chose the grande breakfast. Other options on the menu included pancakes, waffles, muesli, salmon, and eggs benedict. I had an almond and nutella shake which was delicious, and the coffee was also very good.

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Every element of the MT classic was done well. The bacon and eggs were full of flavour, the sourdough nicely made and not too crunchy like some sourdoughs can be.

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The grande was equally flavoursome with delicious corn and vegetable fritters, succulent mushrooms, eggs and bacon.

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This is a nice location and everything is served well and nicely presented.
Matthew Thomas was a Brisbane brunch favourite for me.

Later photos from Matthew Thomas (yes we went back regularly):

Salmon with corn fritters:
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Bean dream with cheese toast:
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Last Visit – August 2016

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Coffee shop review, Restaurant review

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Typika Artisan Roasters, Claremont

12 05 20

Typika is nestled in the Claremont shopping complex just off Stirling Highway. There is plenty of parking but it can get busy and Typika is definitely a hit with the locals.
The cafe is airy, buzzing, with coffee roasting machinery on view. Unsurprisingly, the coffee is excellent. They roast the beans in house which makes for optimum freshness as old beans can give coffee an overly bitter taste. They also refuse to take bookings, so sometimes there is a bit of a wait, but when we visited for Saturday brunch we were seated straight away.
The wait staff are helpful and friendly, and happy to point out the specials of the day. I chose an iced mint tea with apple sorbet float which was quirky, refreshing and delicious.

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The menu has something for everybody with a selection of breakfast and brunch
favourites that are all very tempting.
I fancied something sweeter so chose the poached pear, strawberry, nut and buttermilk pancakes. They were nicely balanced, not overly sweet and felt quite nourishing to eat.

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My companion chose the Eggs Benedict with bacon – a brunch staple – and he reported that everything was nicely flavoured and that the ingredients were good quality.

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Other items on the menu included: Angry Bird, which sounded quite tasty – fried chicken with guacamole, corn and a waffle; Char siu pork belly buns; Pulled pork quesadillas; Caramelised pork ribs; Vietnamese pork and prawn meatballs.
My only criticism of Typika is that for the prices, the portions are a bit on the small side. Almost $20 for an eggs benny consisting of one slice of bread, two small eggs and two slices of bacon is a bit expensive. I observed another diner who had ordered two breakfasts – maybe he already knew about the portion sizes. All in all, it was very tasty, and I will be tempted to go back, but I will also bear in mind that it’s not the place to go if you are ravenously hungry. The ingredients are top quality, and the staff are great.

Last Visit – December 2016

Coffee shop review, Restaurant review

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Vat 2, Bunbury

12 05 20

Vat 2 is a restaurant with a lovely outlook across the jetty at Bunbury, and the menu is quite exciting with a combination of cocktails, share plates and larger dishes. It’s a nice big area with a variety of contemporary artwork.

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I started with a blue cocktail containing galliano and blue curacao – very nice.

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We chose our dishes from the tapas style sharing menu.
The first one to arrive was a tray of asian prawn dumplings, and they were delicious, topped with tobiko (flying fish roe), a really nice umami start to our meal.

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The second dish was pork belly. I generally love pork belly when it is cooked well – it needs to be cooked so that the pork is really tender, and the fat either melting or beautifully crispy. I found myself separating the pork from the fat and the crackling and felt that it could have been prepared with more care. The pork was nice, the crackling was nice, but there was a chewy layer of fat in between that was unpleasant, and I left the fat on the plate.

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We also ordered a salad which was a nice contrast to the meaty dishes. The dressing was good, and there was plenty of capsicum, cucumber and tomato.

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The next dish was a Japanese fisherman’s basket. Fish, squid and soft shell crab in crispy tempura batter with mayo. What a disappointment. Not a massive portion for $26, and it was soggy where it had been cooked in oil that was not hot enough. After eating a few pieces of fish and attempting to cut the crab (which just oozed oil everywhere), we left it.

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Lastly we had BBQ chicken ribs which were cooked nicely and had a lovely crispy coating.

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So what did we think of Vat 2 ? It’s quite an expensive restaurant and the menu is full of promise. The food is generally nice but doesn’t deliver on all fronts and not worth the price tag. The waitress did offer a part refund (10%) for the fisherman’s basket but to be honest, taking $2.60 off the bill didn’t really make us feel much better. The dumplings were definitely the star dish, the BBQ chicken was nice, but quite a safe dish, and the rest wasn’t really cooked with the care that you would expect from a restaurant with a sophisticated menu.
It was a Friday night and the place should have been buzzing, but it wasn’t very busy, and I think I know why.

Visit Date – September 2017

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Chakra, Inglewood

12 05 20

I’ve been meaning to try Chakra for a while, it’s one of those restaurants that keeps popping up in my newsfeeds, and I was intrigued by their modern take on Indian cuisine.

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It’s an impressive modern restaurant on the corner of Beaufort Street and Seventh Avenue, with tables inside and out, and gas heaters for winter. The fit out is very stylish, with low lighting and candles – lovely for a romantic dinner. We were warmly greeted by the manager who seated us by the window, and it was nice touch to have a place card set up for me.

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We chose a glass of Jim Barry JB Clare Valley Riesling while we perused the electronic tablet style menu, and a very nice drop it was too wit citrus and ginger notes.

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Everything can be ordered by the hand held tablet, or you can order from the wait staff. We found the tablet quite easy to use, but did have to order everything individually rather than building up a menu and just pressing the ‘order’ button once.

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We were also given some crispy nibbles to start with a tamarind dip, and they were quite moreish.

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The manager explained that Chakra make everything fresh and are ‘not like other Indian restaurants’, then he went on to explain the menu and pointed out some of the signature dishes. We chose a signature Pav Bhaji Fondue to start – a spicy vegetable mousse with olives, crispy bread, onion and tomato.

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It was tasty, but a little gimmicky in the fondue format, and we soon ditched the fiddly fondue forks for regular forks.
Next came the main courses, including a chicken biryani which was the star of the meal. I have had a similar biryani before in a pot with a naan style dough topping, but this one was outstanding – really separate grains of rice, great curry flavour, tender melting chicken – just wonderful. When we tapped through the dough crust, the aroma was amazingly good.

It came with a raita dressed with beetroot.

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We also chose a prawn madras which was a good standard curry with lots of sauce to dip our naan.

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Our side dish was bhindi masala – well cooked and tasty.

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All in all it was a good meal and we will definitely return for the great biryani. I like that Chakra are doing something different, and the menu is also very vegan/vegetarian friendly.

Last Visit – November 2019

Restaurant review, Vegan/Vegetarian

Here are some pictures from vegan supper club Sunday:

Cumin infused lemonade (a bit of an acquired taste):

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Vegan onion spinach fritters:

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Butter tofu kulcha:

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Pani puri:

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Aloo Gobi sabzi:

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Vegan vegetable korma

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Okra/bhindi:

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The Swan, Lavenham, UK for afternoon tea

11 05 20

The Swan is a hotel in the beautiful mediaeval village of Lavenham in Suffolk. The whole village is quaint and picturesque and the inside of the Swan has a sense of old world charm and splendour. This afternoon tea was a birthday treat for a relative and it certainly did not disappoint.
The Swan offers three types of afternoon tea – traditional, savoury and high tea. The high tea includes a substantial savoury starter such as scotch egg with crushed peas or smoked salmon and chive omelette, followed by two different scones and a selection of cakes. The traditional afternoon tea features finger sandwich slices followed by two different scones and a selection of cakes. The savoury afternoon tea features finger sandwiches, two savoury scones and a selection of savoury pastries such as smoked salmon and crab blinis
and coronation chicken tart. There is also a tea menu, offering a variety of different teas including English breakfast, Earl Grey, fruit teas, lapsang souchong, darjeeling and oolong.

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The finger sandwiches included traditional cucumber, dill and black pepper, maple roast Suffolk ham, egg and light mustard mayonnaise, and smoked salmon with creme fraiche served on a beetroot bread. When we had finished, the waitress asked if we would like a further round of sandwiches for the table, quite a nice touch when other establishments seem to have strict portion control. We were also offered more than one pot of tea, and as much jam and cream for the scones as we liked – it was nice to know that we could really
enjoy the food on offer.

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Two types of scone were offered – walnut and fruit – and they were both delicious. the cream was clotted cream and the jam seemed to be freshly home made, offered in both raspberry and strawberry flavours.

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Because it was Wimbledon fortnight, the cakes had a Wimbledon theme. This included a battenburg that was designed to look like a tennis court, strawberry and cream panacotta, a Pimms jelly cup with a green pistachio tennis ball macaron, and a victoria sponge with a chocolate decoration.

Every item served was beautifully presented and tasty with quality ingredients. We were allowed to take our time, and the setting added to the whole experience. Of all the high teas I have tasted this was definitely one of the best and when I am next in Suffolk, I will definitely return.

Visit Date – July 2016

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Candlenut, Tanglin, Singapore

11 05 20

Up on Dempsey Hill in Singapore, there’s a nice little hub of restaurants and a gourmet grocery store – it’s a really chilled place to spend an evening.
In amongst them is Candlenut, a one Michelin star establishment specialising in Peranakan cuisine. It’s a place that although sophisticated, feels comfortable – not too stuffy like some of the other cheffy restaurants.
We started with a glass of Chilean sauvignon blanc while we perused the menu.

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We were also given some yummy crispy nibbles and dipping sauce:

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It was really hard to choose with lots of tempting options like swimmer crab and chicken balls, crab curry, and beef rib rendang, but we eventually opted for ngoh hiang and pork neck satay to start.
The pork neck satay came first and it was sublime – there was so much flavour in the tender melting pork, and the satay sauce coating was perfect.

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I did wonder how good ngoh hiang could be, but this version was amazingly good. The combination of pork, prawn, shiitake mushroom and water chestnut was just right, and I would have been in heaven with several plates of these and nothing else.

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For mains we chose the chef’s mum’s chicken curry, “four heavenly kings”, and a king prawn gula melaka. Sorry the pictures are not great – the lighting was dim, and I must have been keen to eat!
The curry was lovely, warm, and rich with potato and kaffir lime, very nice with the brown rice that we ordered.

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The four heavenly kings was a combination of eggplant, wing beans, okra and taro, garnished with crispy whitebait. Absolutely wonderful. I could have again eaten several plates of this dish – the perfect vegetable accompaniment.

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The king prawn gula melaka was where curry meets dessert – a sweet coconut based curry with beautiful fresh prawns – again a perfect dish.

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We didn’t have room for dessert, but this meal was every thing we could have wished for. When we are back in Singapore we will definitely return for more goodies in this sophisticated dining room. A great meal, great service and wonderful atmosphere.

Visit Date – April 2019

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Chester’s, Henley Brook, Swan Valley

09 05 20

Chester’s is in the heart of the Swan Valley – right here on our doorstep in Perth. The Swan Valley has so many cool things to do – you can wine and dine, there are breweries, you can buy German sausages and deli items, you can go cheese tasting, coffee tasting, nougat tasting, and chocolate tasting, and you can even play crazy golf. I haven’t had any really good wines in the Swan Valley – they all seem a little too acidic for my liking, but I know that they are quite popular, so if anybody can give me some Swan Valley wine recommendations, I would be happy to try them. Chester’s was no exception, we did some wine tasting before dining, and I didn’t find anything that really made me want to buy a bottle.

The occasion was a work Christmas lunch, and there must have been 30 people on
our long table. The rest of the restaurant was full – also with work colleagues from other departments, so there were approximately 80 to 100 people to be served. The measure of a good restaurant is one that can serve all of those people a meal that is hot, cooked well and tasty.
I chose the wasabi seafood salad to start which contained poached prawns, scallops, baby octopus and Shark bay snapper with wasabi mayonnaise, some crispy fried whitebait and lime and vanilla infused extra virgin olive oil. This was delicious – a very good start to the meal, and they didn’t skimp on the good ingredients.

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For main I chose the seared and roasted pork fillet with a chestnut and caramelised onion stuffing, a sage and purple potato rosti and apple and verjuice jus. This was accompanied with perfectly cooked mixed vegetables – broccolini, button squash, mangetout, carrots and cauliflower. The pork was very tasty – my only disappointment was the rosti which didn’t go well with the dish – the flavour of the rosti seemed a bit strange.

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For dessert I chose the sticky date pudding because it had the least amount of dairy ingredients. Sadly I had to give away my sheeps milk yoghurt ice cream, but the pecan toffee sauce was delicious.

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Well I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch, and I think that my colleagues did too. The
coffee afterwards was also good quality, and they had soy milk for my dairy free diet which I found quite pleasing (not everybody caters for this).

Visit Date – December 2012

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The restaurant is now called Abbey

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