Date for your diary – do NOT miss the Good Food Show. Three halls of foodie heaven – samples, new products, great value showbags (unlike the easter show!), and your chance to buy cheap subscriptions to magazines! Last year I got two years’ worth of Donna Hay Magazine for $40 – that’s half price!!
What can I say… chocolate….. chocolate…..
…..chocolate….chocolate….
chocolate….
Before you think this is my most profound blog yet – just a few points – the cakes are really expensive (ie average $9.50), but they are so rich you don’t need much and it’s good quality; the drinks are supersweet, the handmade chocolates are super good. Oh, and try the ice cream. But don’t look at the fat content… There is PLENTY of outdoor sitting – bring your friends – and you won’t get shoo-ed away either. Open late.
One pot cooking for 15 friends? Go for a paella. I must admit I’ve always been scared off because a) it uses saffron – so expensive and how do you use it b) seafood – and lots of it – how do you time it correctly and c) well it’s kinda exotic. Well thanks to a SunRice recipe and also Donna Hay, I’ve come up with a hybrid of the two recipes that seemed to please the crowd I had over. I served it with sangria too – as long as there’s red wine, vodka, chopped fruit – the variations are up to you!
Ingredients (for 15)
As you walk into the dark entrance that leads to the dark dining room, let me warn you that someone will shout at you – loudly. “Welcome”!! I have been dying to come here ever since I sampled some of their teriyaki salmon (the dish that overcame my dislike of this fish) at one of the SMH Good Food Month events. Described as modern Japanese with a twist , I went with open mind and very high expectations. Let me say first up that the service is FAST, and not to please you, but feels more like they want your table! We were in and out within an hour – helped by the fact that our mains appeared before we finished our entrees! (more on that later).
The food was good, but the presentation varied alot. The prawns tempura ($16.50 for 4) were flawless – light, crispy and not oily, and very large. I had trouble finding a sushi roll without raw stuff in it (I don’t understand why one would eat raw fish when cave man discovered fire 
) Anyway – I found the crunch roll – $16 for 8 bites of tempura prawn with crab salad and cucumber layered with tempura flakes and smelt roe. A bit small for its price, but good none the less. It’s garnished with a thick BBQ sauce.
Baked Dynamite Scallops – $15.50 sounded intriguing and looked amazing – a baked mountain topped with like flakes of bonito. Sadly, I suspected and was right that this dish was slathered in mayonnaise (my worst nightmare!), and cheese stirred through the rice – eww eww. But I was told it wasn’t bad, and had alot of scallops for good value. As mentioned, as I was still munching on my crunch roll my main (just mine, not any others), and without anyone assisting in moving my set up around to place it in front of me!! Very very annoyed – they didn’t even bother bringing all the mains at once! I pointed this out to one of the waiters who tried to explain that this is usual practice and didn’t my waittress ask me how we wanted it served? Nope. Anyway, annoyance aside – the salmon was a generous two person sized serve which I could not finish. Cooked perfectly, served with rice and stir fried chinese veges (weird combo – this must be the twist!). Sadly, it came ungarnished.
