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 :-)

Sweet, Sweet Gluttony

Definition:
1. Habitual eating to excess.
2. Eating to excess (personified as one of the deadly sins).
3. Excess in eating; extravagant indulgence of the appetite for food; voracity

Today was the big day, a double header!!! Brunch at 10am followed by Lunch at Noon. Today I was a GLUTTON and I refuse to apologise for it! There is nothing more gorgeous than sharing a meal with the people you love most, your family and friends. And today, I got to do it twice.

Brunch was at New in Town with the fantabulous Miss Sheena and her and Sue's adorable kidlets, Charlotte Sofia and Oliver.

The breakfast menu looked good, had to do a quick double take on the pricelist though as there was no way I could be reading it right (I was!!!)

I ordered the Big New in Town Breakfast, for $13. You get 2 eggs (I ordered mine poached and they came out perfect! Getting poached eggs perfect is a true talent, they were super gorgeous); bacon; polish grilled sausage; sautéed mushroom and spinach; grilled tomato; hash brown all served with toast. $13 frikken dollars = FRIKKEN AWESOME

Sheena and Charlotte both ordered the BLAT for $8 - Bacon; Lettuce; Avocado and Bacon on Turkish and Sofia had Bacon & Eggs for $7.

If you're looking for a relaxed, family friendly cafe that serves good food at great prices, you have to check this place out. And the staff are so nice too, none of that inner city snobbery and bullshit! And they have magnadoodles for the kids, truth be told I wanted to play with it too :-)

What a heavenly way to spend the morning: great company, great conversation and great food. And the bill came to less than $42, that's a good morning out if you ask me!!

THESE GIRLS ARE SO TALENTED AND I REALLY WANTED TO PLAY TOO, MAYBE NEXT TIME

YOU KNOW THE PLACE IS OK IF THE TODDLER IS SMILING

After a short stroll with the girls and Ollie we parted ways and I made my way to destination no 2 - The Botany View Hotel. I met Mrs Sarah outside, it honestly looked like we were the only people in there, apart from the staff - never a good thing. Now the downstairs bar is not at all impressive, but it gets better as you move further back. We chose to sit outside in the upstairs courtyard which was a surprisingly pretty spot, thank god for the shade cloth though.

Soon after Miss Tahu and Miss Nat, with hubby Anthony in tow joined us and we got to the business of drinking (usually this is the part people would discuss the beers on tap and the offerings from the wine cellar, but as I drink neither and know sweet fuck all about either I'll just tell you the lemonade I had was just the right combination of syrup and soda)

The breeze was lovely as we chatted, lots of interesting people coming in and out, the couple behind us seemed to have no problem with PDA, and I honestly didn't know you could get your tongue that far down someone’s throat. It looked almost painful at times, I had to stare straight at Tahu at one point as it was making me physically ill. Oh and Gav came too. YAY

The food was a little pricey for a pub, but FUCK ME it was GOOD!!!I don't think I've ever had food so good in a pub, BLOODY BRILLIANT. I took photos of almost everyone’s meals, but I had a brain fart and forgot to take one. Sarah got served first and finished eating before I remembered. It's such a shame too, it looked and smelt amazing. She had the Pumpkin and Goats Cheese Ravioli with baby spinach and roasted capsicum. Mass Bloggers FAIL on my part. It must have been good though, there was not a scrap left on the plate

Nat had the Chicken Burrito ($17) which looked sizeable and smelt really yummy

Anthony had the Chicken Burger ($12) served with fries, it was HUGE.

Tahu had the Greek style Chicken with parmesan mash and grilled haloumi, drizzled with Chilli oil ($25). Can I just say it looked and smelled insanely good.

Gav had the Coconut Battered Bugs with Rocket and baby beets ($23) I almost wished I had ordered it when it came out. Almost.

And I had the Lamb Rump rolled in rosemary salt with creamy mash, grilled haloumi and red wine jus ($25). It was possibly one of the prettiest plates I've ever seen! I am pretty sure I had a mini orgasm with the first bite, the lamb was so tender and the jus was bliss. Without doubt the best pub food I've EVER had.

A bloody good day out with wonderful people and frikken brilliant food. If I had worn jeans I would have had to Al Bundy it on the way home, coz my belly was full. Once in a while a little Gluttony is OK, maybe even necessary. A BIG THANK YOU to Sheena, Charlie, Sofia, Ollie, Sarah, Gav, Tahu, Nat and Anthony for a FANTABULOUS DAY! Cannot wait for the next instalment, possibly late Feb as I am a broke arse bitch til then.

xoxo

Big Plans, Itty Bitty Budget

So I've decided Saturday is going to be a double hitter.

Brunch with the super awesome Lawrance-Virago clan @ the New In Town cafe (once The Chocolate Dog) followed by lunch @ The Botany View Hotel with Miss Tahu and Miss Sarah.

My budget is fast running out and pay day is almost a month away, but Fuck It life's too short to care about that crap. I'll think about it tomorrow... or the next say

PS If in future I have any more hare brained schemes, someone please slap me

The Sri Lankan Affair

After a long day at work, caught up with the delectable Miss Tahu and off we went for the first of many, many, many meals down King Street.

While I was looking for something familiar and un-exotic (is that even a word?) Tahu pointed out Kammadhenu - located at 377 King Street Newtown. I was hesitant at first, it looked like a hole in the wall and frankly I've never been that adventurous when it comes to food (didn't really think about that when I came up with this frikken idea now did I?) But as Tahu pointed out, I was going to have to eat there eventually, so I might as well do it now.

In we went, seated by the lovely Rahul who was very nice and attentive during the course of the meal. We checked out the menu, there's heaps to choose from and I had no idea what 98% of it was but in the end with Rahul's help we chose a mix of Gobi and Onion Pakoda (Gobi =  Cauliflower - woo hoo I'm learning Sri Lankan) as a starter. So yummy.

The Lamb Saag I ordered was A-MAY-ZING; it just melted in my mouth such yummy goodness. The Chicken Chettinad Tahu ordered almost burned the inside of my mouth; I was forced to pathetically beg for more water, I'm such a frikken lightweight!

In the end, we had a great night, good food, great conversation, lots of gossip and best of the entire bill came to less than $60.00, $12.00 of which was for 2 glasses of wine. Now I love a great meal but if I can get it for a good price now you just can't beat that shit!

1 down approximately 69 more to go (mind out of the gutter, you know who you are)

A Lightbulb Moment

It was a Thursday morning and I was travelling down King Street in Newtown on my way to work with Christine and Bec when an idea came to me. I don't recall how the conversation started but somewhere between the Princess Highway and Sydney Uni it was decided that in 2011 I would attempt to dine at every eatery on one side of King Street from The Botany View Hotel all the way down to Rowda Ya Habibi.

I have no idea where I am going to get the time or the money for that matter to do this but I'm gonna give it a good go, and with the help of my many friends who have all volunteered to join me on this adventure it will get done. I think. I hope!

If I don't get to every place then so what! It's going to be an awesome year regardless, because what's better than sharing a meal with the people you love most, right?

Wish Me Luck

:-)