Anyone want to join me for lunch?

So it's been a while since I last blogged or even visited King Street, mainly because I am hopless but a little because I've had other priorities this month. I'm on my lunch break at work thinking I really need to get my shit together or I am never going to accomplish this challenge. Not that I really care though, am having heaps of fun cathing up with my mates and there's always next year lol

Anywhoo, I'm thinking lunch on Sunday 3rd April @ Buzzbar Cafe around 1230-1ish, anyone interested in joining me? We can celebrate Sunday, the eve of Wrestlemania,the end of daylight savings, or comiserate even if that's how you roll, whatever, i'm easy (tell your single deaf dumb and blind male friends). Let me know if you wanna come along and I'll organise.

Ok, so I'm off to google pics of TIG from Sons of Anarchy (BEST SHOW EVER!!! even better than 21 Jump Street, NOW THAT'S SAYING SOMETHING!!!!!)

VS

I  rest my case

Love youse all, especially YOU and you're ok too
XOXO
Mel

CHURROS versus CHURROS

Can you have bad Churros? I don't think so but one can definitely be better than the other!

The Churros at The Marlborough Hotel was the first time I'd ever had Churros, so when it came out I was suitably impressed. Served with Hot Chocolate dipping sauce and Strawberry coulis it looked heavenly. OK so it looked a little over cooked but it tasted pretty good. I decided I was most certainly going to order it every time I came across it on a menu, that's how much I liked it.

Now when the same dish came out at Madame Fling Flongs it didn't look anywhere near as special. Firstly there was no Strawberry Coulis, it was covered in sugar granules not icing sugar and it was all goldeny too. The difference in the taste was insane, crispy on the outside, all soft and doughy in the middle. Absolute Perfection. If you are ever there ORDER IT!!

There was no doubt who the winner in this bout was. Madame Fling Flongs by a country mile. Orgasmic is the best way I can describe it, the only way.

On that note I'm off to dream about Churros and other things smothered in Hot Chocolate Sauce.

Sweet Dreams
XOXO

Happy Birthday Tahuaka Fahey!!!! (Part 2)

Off to Madame Fling Flongs we go for part 2 of Tahu's Birthday celebrations. This was my first time going so I was most pleasantly surprised when we walked upstairs. The place is just too cool, cosy couches and armchairs, mood lighting and retro decor. Me likey a lot!

We found ourselves a corner to sit in; the place was packed so we got there just in time to grab the last of the bigger spots. Tapas were the order of the day or night if you look at it literally. We ordered a bunch of stuff and every single thing that came out was FUCKING UNREAL!

We really ordered a lot, and luckily for us the boys didn't seem too interested. NOM NOM NOM

Patatas Bravas - Crispy potato chunks with a garlic, chilli and tomato salsa

Haloumi Nicosia - A traditional Cyprus haloumi, grilled and served with oregano and lemon - no pictures, sad panda but it was really really good.

Polenta de Marseilles - Roast polenta rounds topped with goat's cheese and toasted pistachios

Melanzane Fritti - Eggplant rounds dusted in cumin, deep fried and drizzled in honey

This is about when/where Mrs Brooks aka Sarah & her hubby Adam turned up, but Adam god love him decided the football was more important SO HE LEFT to watch the game at the Marly! WTF is that about, such a typical boy. Hope Sarah gave him an earful when they got home, he so deserved it. Not cool dude!

Back to the food

Kordeles Kreatos - Kangaroo loin strips with chipotle jus

Manzanilla Prawns - Pan-fried king prawns in a garlic, lime, and saffron and Manzanilla sherry sauce topped with fresh tarragon

Kalamari Zesto - Flower-cut and chilli dusted whole baby squid, deep-fried and served on a bed of rocket & lemon

Meze Plate - Chef's selection of tastes which include hot & cold nibbles, dips, cured meats and pickled veges (you can sorta kinda see some of the haloumi in there)

There are some seriously awesome cocktails you can get there, I myself ordered 2 (if you knew how little I drank you'd be sooooo impressed) How hot do the ladies look? And so happy too, Cocktails will do that to you.

I ordered the Madame Coco and the Raspberry Truffle, they were beyond yummy!

Oh we also ordered Churos with hot chocolate dipping sauce but that's a whole other blog!!

Hope you had a fantastic day Tahu, I loved spending the day with you and celebrating with all your friends. Big love from me to you MWAH

xoxo

Happy Birthday Tahuaka Fahey!!!! (Part 1)

Saturday 26th of February found us at The Marlborough Hotel on King St of course to celebrate the lovely Miss Tahuaka Fahey's Birthday. I won’t tell you how old and I won’t post the pic of her in her groovy hat (she hates it, i think she looks adorable) coz I'm not a cunt like that.

She and I were the first ones there, we settled into a nice corner table @ Bar Prego (it was too frikken hot to sit outside outside) and waited for the other guests to arrive. Vikki and Arne were the first to join us; we quickly ordered drinks (they apparently don't serve the Birthday Girls fave cider - big NO NO) followed by Sheena & Sue and their brood Charlie, Sofia and Oliver. The party was in full swing, many drinks and laughs were shared, at one point Vikki had me laughing so hard I snorted 7 times in a row, it was a heart-warming story about a woman’s humungous va-jay-jay on Embarrassing Bodies that set me off.

We ordered food at the bar, the girl was lovely and the service was prompt, although the tables could have used a wipe down after the people before us left, just saying.

Sue ordered the Crying Tiger - tender beef marinated in herbs served with homemade spicy sauce and garlic fried rice. I have to say I found the salad on the side a little unusual, not at all Asian looking, but then I didn't have to eat it so whatever.

Her Mrs, Sheena, ordered the Garlic Prawn Salad - garlic prawns, baby spinach, apple, celery, capsicum, parmesan & pine nuts in a Thai summer dressing. Sheena reckons it was pretty good. It smelled fabulous too.

Their gorgeous girls Charlie and Sofia shared a Marlborough Platter (small) - garlic chicken balls, calamari rings, Cajun crumbed prawns, spring rolls, octopus balls and pork wontons. There was nothing left on the plate so it must have been good.

Vikki and Arne both ordered the garlic & Chilli Prawn Linguine - served in napolitana sauce with mushroom, olive and basil topped with parmesan. They both agreed it was pretty ordinary which is a shame because it looked pretty yummy.

The Birthday girl originally wanted the Grilled Cajun Chicken Breast but because of her gluten intolerance (yes she's one of THOSE!) had to settle for the Grilled Lemon Pepper & Cajun Chicken Salad. It looked pretty frikken good when it came out but I couldn't understand why she could have that and not the Cajun Chicken breast she originally wanted. I think the girl that took our order may have been a bit "special"

I chose the Baked Barramundi Fillet with Chilli, lime and ginger served on a bed of garlic mash and wilted spinach. It didn't look that crash hot when it came out, for one thing there was no frikken wilted spinach but once I opened the little package the smell was so delicious any disappointment I may have felt disappeared into the ethos. And it tasted as good as it looked mucho yumminess.

So Sheena and I decided to order dessert, Churros with Chocolate dipping sauce and strawberry coulis. Sheena also decided to order a coffee. Our "special" waitress had no idea how to make a long black SERIOUSLY! And then when she brought the coffee over she had the saucer in one hand and the cup in the other, and was practically staggering to the table. And if that's not bad enough, Sheena had to go all MacGyver and use a knife to stir her coffee because the fucktard serving us didn't bother to bring one lol. To quote Sheena "it's a Pub not a cafe"

After Sue took the kids home and Arne left to pick up his olds from the airport we moved outside into the courtyard. It's rather nice out there when the suns not blistering hot, plenty of shady spots which is always good. I finally decided to order a cocktail, a Smooth Operator so very good and it looked pretty too. Not bad for a $10.50 pub job if you ask me.

Tahu's mate Jeremy and Vikki’s man Anze turned up later in the day, Jeremy ordered the Thai Beef Salad marinated beef served medium rare with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, casher nuts and mixed herbs with a Thai herb dressing - now that was one gorgeous plate when it came out!

The food was fantabulous and the company was great. I met a few new people which is always good, and they knew who I was! You gotta love friends that talk about you, I felt almost famous lol. And most importantly Miss Tahu had a wonderful time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART!!!

See how nice I was, I didn't post any pics of you.........yet :-)

XOXO

All Fattoushed Out

Thursday night found us at Arabella Restaurant and Bar. We were seated at a lovely table up front with a fantastic view of king Street. The view itself was not so spectacular but a perfect location for people watching if that's your thing. (It is mine, but then I'm a perve)

The girls, Christine Edel and Briony ordered a bottle of wine (to share, not each they're not booze hounds for goodness sakes and it WAS a school night lol), and we ordered a couple of mixed dip plates to kick things off. The mixed dip plates were divine: Hummus, Babaganouj and Garlic Labneh. OH MY GOD I have never seen a Hummus so silky looking, it was glorious. And they all tasted frikken awesome! At first I thought the $18.00 price tag (per mixed dip plate) was a bit steep, but then I saw the dips and how yummy they looked I stopped caring about the price.

We also ordered Ladies Fingers: Gorgeous pastry filled with feta cheese herbs and parsley. So dainty and oh so yummy, Fattoush: the MOST AMAZING salad I have EVER had in my life!!! It doesn't sound that flash, I mean it's just tomato, cucumber, shallots, radish, capsicum, lettuce and fried crispy bread but combine all of that together and dress it and its fucking genius. We also ordered the Grilled Eggplant Salad: Grilled Eggplant, capsicum, shallots, parsley, tomato and lemon. So delish!
Best part of the night, 4 chicks that work together talked about pretty much everything other than work! So excellent.

The wait staff was very friendly and we didn't wait too long between courses. The food smelled AMAZING and the portions were huge!!

Edel ordered the Shish Tawouk, oh so good marinated chicken breast served with pickles, salad and yoghurt. Is it just me or does the chicken look like the head of a penis? Just asking.

Briony ordered the Lamb Schwarma, marinated lamb strips served with salad, yoghurt and pickled beetroot. The pickled beetroot looked soo good; I don't know what shade you would call it though; kind of a cross between hot pink and magenta looked lovely on the plate.

Christine ordered the Mansaf Lamb: rice with minced meat, mixed nuts, herbs and spices; topped with strips of lamb and a side of yoghurt. It didn't look like much when it came out but it smelled like heaven.

I got the Mansaf Dejaj: Rice with minced meat, mixed nuts, herbs and spices topped with chicken strips and a side of yoghurt. I was a bit weirded out by the nuts in the rice when it came out but one taste and I was hooked. It was, for me, phenomenally good. Oh so frikken good.

Everybody left something on their plates, not because it didn't taste good but because we were so stuffed. I was seriously tempted to do the Al Bundy and unbutton the top button of my trousers, but civilised people can't do that shit in public! Oh and Edel had her leftovers at work today and OH MY GOD the amazing smell was wafting across the office and making me drool, I was so jealous.

A great night was had by all, at least that's what I was told (they could be humouring me lol) Oh and the whole bill (wine included) came to $199, so a very affordable night out.

Shaken not Stirred

Saturday morning 1030 am Brunch with the girls at Martini Cafe 529 King St, Newtown NSW 2042. When I first walked in I have to admit I wasn't too sure about this little place, but that may have been because I stepped in a very soft and spongy spot on the floor and thought I was going to fall through LOL.

We were seated upstairs in the "playroom" a large room upstairs with ample space for 8 adults to sit and eat in comfort, couches to lounge on and heaps of books and toys for the littlies to play with. And the best thing, Ollie couldn’t escape or fall down the stairs due to the massive gate!

It was so good to just sit and catch up over coffee’s with the girls (man free zone, well except for Ollie) before we ordered our meals. The iced coffee was frikken good, they use real espresso shots, and no syrup!!! A little strong for my tastes but stirring in the ice cream helped add that bit of sweetness, I can highly recommend.

I ordered the chat potato rosti with poached eggs & baby spinach served on a field mushroom and a side order of corn fritters.

Tahu ordered the gluten free toast with spinach, mushrooms, grilled tomato and bacon.

Stella ordered the poached eggs on rye toast with baked beans, mushrooms and spinach.

Sarah ordered the eggs benedict.

Jess ordered the bacon, poached eggs, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms and toast.

Sue ordered the corn fritters with bacon, spinach, mushrooms and tomato relish.

And Sheena ordered the vegetarian monstro which consisted of roast pumpkin, mushrooms, hash brown, baked beans, relish, eggplant, grilled tomatoes and toast - hold the eggs. This meal comes in a half and full size, with the full size $16.00 definitely looked the best value.

Everything was served at the same time, so no one was sitting around waiting which was fantastic. The service was great, very friendly staff. So the verdict? We all had poached eggs, and not one person’s were cooked properly. They were all over cooked, an utter disappointment. And the corn fritters were like rubber, which just about broke me as I had been craving them since the moment I heard they served them, which was well over a week ago. Maybe holding off serving everything all at once was why the eggs weren't up to par? Who knows.

Everything else however was BLOODY BRILLIANT! I don't know what they did to the mushrooms, but fuck me they were yum. Sarah reckons the sauce on the eggs benedict was delish, shame about the eggs though. Everyone was happy with everything but the eggs and to top it off, Brunch for 8 adults in inner city Sydney $140, a bargain if you ask me.

Kudos to Sue who looked green and still manned up and came. Poor love was not feeling the best but came anyway. Talk about a trooper! Love you Zuzka, you are one tough bitch, I'd have been crying at home LOL.

We all had a wonderful time, the atmosphere in the place is great upstairs and down. The staff really are lovely (not sure about the guy cutting the neck out of his shirt but his coffees were superb and he was a darling as we were leaving) I would definitely recommend this place for people with young kids, the mammas were able to sit back, relax and enjoy a meal out.

And if there are any doubts about how great a day we had, check this little face out, licking his lips and all

xox
Mel D

I am the Worlds Laziest Blogger

I am without doubt the laziest blogger on the planet. We went to dinner on Tuesday as part of The King St Challenge and I am only getting around to blogging about it now (Sunday). My excuse: it's too frikken hot to type, and think for that matter. Sydney has been going through a bit of a hot streak and I am not coping well at all. I honestly don't think humans were designed to withstand 45+ degrees, especially ones as pleasantly plump as me :-) ,that's my oh so polite way of saying that I am on the Fatty-Bomb-Bastic team.

So on Tuesday night in approx. 40 degree heat, Sheena, Sue myself and young Master Oliver drove down to King Street. We managed to find a parking spot, ON KING STREET, and less than a block away from our destination! When does that ever happen? I'll tell you when, when it's hot as hell and all the sane people are at home with air-con that's when!

Luckily for us, Alberto's Pizzeria Restaurant had air con, so we decided to eat in, instead of getting take-away and eating in front of the one shitty fan at my place, which basically moves hot air around and around in circles until you convince yourself its cooler (it's not).

We started with the Garlic Cheese Bread, 2 serves @ $4.00 each. The waitress informed us that Alberto himself said 2 baskets were for 3 people, too bad if we only wanted one I guess (we had left overs). It was pretty good though and even Ollie was enjoying it, who knew toddlers liked garlic?

Inside, Alberto's is exactly what I’d imagine a 70's pizzeria in Sydney would look like: pictures of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra; a few family photos; Football jersey on the wall and of course an Italian Flag. A nice change from some of the upmarket la-di-da pizzerias we are subjected to these days. And did I mention they had air conditioning?

We ordered Pizza's even though they have a selection of pastas and other dishes; it was the pizza I was craving. I figured the guy had been there 30 years so it had to be good, right?

Sheena ordered the Rusticana (Medium $19.50) a vegetarian pizza with Marinated eggplant, artichokes, roast capsicum, sliced tomato, onion and olives. She enjoyed it a lot. I tried a slice and thought it was nice, but not worth the $19.50 we were charged. Some of the toppings felt rubbery in my mouth, but maybe I just got a bad slice.

Sue went for the Madras Chicken (Medium $19.50) a chicken pizza with Marinated Chicken in a spicy Madras curry with onion, cashews, cucumber and yoghurt. Sue really liked it, Sheena wasn't having a bar of it and one slice was more than enough for me. To quote Sue "So much for the fire ban, there's a fire in my mouth" It was waaaay too hot for me, I think I gulped 2 glasses of water after my first bite. Maybe Alberto's need to throw in some chilled dunny rolls to go with this pizza, it's always twice as hot coming out as it was going in. just saying.

I ordered the Four Seasons (Medium $17.00) old school style with mushrooms, ham, cabanossi and pepperoni. It tasted pretty good but how bad can you really go with only 4 toppings, and I've had it a hundred times before in many different places so I had a pretty good idea what I was getting. It was however overpriced, at least I that's what I thought. Or I could just be a tight arse.

A few odd things to note: a meat lovers pizza is apparently an Exotic Pizza (WTF?) as are the pizza's Sheena and Sue ordered, which I guess is fine for the Madras Chicken, but the Rusticana? Really? Surely it's more of a gourmet than exotic? And what I thought was a traditional pizza, my four seasons, was in fact a gourmet pizza. Such weirdness. Oh and while we were there, 2 chicks walked in, sat down and left like 15-20 minutes later. They never ordered a thing, not even a drink, they just came in for the air con! Now I totally get wanting to escape the heat, but seriously you don't do that in a restaurant, a convenience store, a take-away or a proper shop for sure, but not in a restaurant. The poor waitress didn't know what to do with them, I would have thrown them out!

The food was average, the service was good, even Alberto came out to say hello, but it was the company that was the highlight of the night. Sheena and Sue have become two of my closest friends since we met and over the years have evolved more into family than friends really. These ladies are smart, fun, beautiful inside and out, amazing mums and they love me for me, what more can you ask for? Thanks girls not only for dinner and a great night out, but for being who you are!

If the best or most notable part of your dining out experience is the food, you are so doing it wrong! This challenge has sweet fuck all to do with the food and everything to do with spending time with the people I love most, my family and friends.

Til Next Time
xoxo

P.S.
We topped the night off with paddle pops for dessert at my place. Great way to end the night if you ask me :-)