Rockin Ribs

When heading down to Tuggeranong to try out Rockin Ribs, I was imagining the sort of ribs you get at the supermarket, with minimal meat and maximum bone. If that’s your expectation, throw it out now! We ordered the full rack of ribs ($38), which comes with a little basket full of sweet potato fries and a small bowl of salad, plus a plate of onion rings ($8) from the specials menu. The food took a while to come out but when it did we got stuck right in. The fries were nicely seasoned and had a lovely sweet flavour – I would come back for these alone. The onion rings are house-made and are real rings of onion, not reconstituted. The batter was light and not overly oily for something deep fried. But really, it’s all about the ribs. The BBQ sauce on slathered on top was a perfect mix of sweet, BBQ and vinegar – we would have liked just a bit more, but it was by no means dry. The beef itself was plentiful and we each ended up with 6 ribs – the meat fell off the bone and melted in your mouth – tender and full of flavour. Yes, yes, yes. I’ll be back.

Rockin Ribs, 38-70 Gartside Street, Wanniassa ACT, no website

Ekibenya

There’s really nothing like grabbing an obento and going on an adventure. We picked ours up at Shinjuku station and took them out to the lovely Inokashira-koen in Kichijoji to soak up the sunshine in the park. I remembered that Ekbenya, near the JR line exits close to the South-East exit, had some delicious options, so that’s where we went. I picked a square bento with a big range of ingredients (to try as much as possible), and was really happy with this choice. I love being able to mix between the fish (which flaked perfectly and went really well with the steamed greens), three serves of rice with different flavourings, veggies (pumpkin, lotus root, carrot), and pickles. All bento are served cold, so the different textures are really important for variety. This one ticked all the boxes, although I was sorely tempted by the kid’s one shaped like a bullet train! Surprisingly, the highlight of the bento was the dessert – a little yuzu jelly, which was so juicy and deliciously citrusy that I would have gladly eaten another handful. Whilst there are so many great restaurants in Tokyo, don’t forget to try the local, humble bento!

Ekibenya, Shinjuku JR station, near South-East exit, Shinjuku Tokyo      http://www.nre.co.jp/shop/brand/ekibenya/

The Knox

I heard about The Knox opening on Instagram and stopped by to check it out after visiting the Capital Regional Farmer’s Market on a Saturday morning. On arrival I went to photograph their sign and a lady seated nearby started chatting with me – turns out she’s responsible for the beautiful pots of herbs and veggies dotted around the courtyard! The vibe here is casual and comfortable, with fun, modern decor and a kid-friendly space. We only had stomach space for a snack, but the brunch mains looked fabulous! I ordered a muesli bar ($2.50) from the display cabinet and a watermelon, orange, apple and kiwi fruit juice ($7), and Dad picked the Portuguese tart ($3). Impressively, all the bakery items are made in house. The juice arrived first in a large milk bottle – there had to be at least 500ml of juice in there, making it great value. There was minimal ice and fresh mint and it was basically spring in a bottle. Absolutely delicious. The muesli bar was exactly what I wanted – a healthy-ish, slightly sweet snack, packed with pepitas, dried apple, honey and other good bits in a perfectly-sized bar. Dad devoured his Portuguese tart and we both agreed that another visit is essential for breakfast soon.

The Knox, 1/13 Watson Place, Watson ACT

Autolyse

When the gentleman behind the counter at Autolyse told me the cake I was pointing at was a “parry breast”, I probably gave him a very odd expression. After futher explanation, I realised he’d said “Paris-Brest”, referring to two cities in France, which developed this cake to celebrate a bicycle race between the cities. Points to the Autolyse guy for knowing his pastry history! The pastry in question is a choux piped into two rings, sandwiched together with hazelnut cream. Obviously I had to order it, despite it being large enough for at least two, maybe even three. My friend grabbed an eclair so no luck trying to share. We managed to get a table inside and I got straight into it. The choux pastry was lovely and light – it broke nicely without crumbling too much and had a light dusting of icing sugar on top. The flecks in the pastry made me wonder if there was hazelnut in it as well? Mmm. The cream inside was just the right consistency, and the hazelnut flavour was subtle, so that it didn’t overpower the flavour of the choux. I would happily order this again, but definitely to share!

Autolyse, Lonsdale Street, Braddon ACT  http://autolyse.com.au/

Spats Coffee Lounge

I’d never heard of Spats when my friend suggested we stop in, but was happy to roll with it given how similar our tastes are in dining venues. Spats announces itself as ‘Adelaide’s first and finest dessert lounge’, and not having a point of comparison, I’m inclined to agree. The store is wonderfully cozy, with dim lighting (chandeliers, candles!), red walls and velvet drapes creating a sense of quiet buzz that is rare in this world of wood and tile-floored restaurants. We were seated on couches under the stairs – despite being a small place, there’s plenty of space between tables for privacy. We ordered a sticky date pudding to share and couldn’t have picked a better dish on a chilly night. The slice of cake was just the right size to share, served with a large scoop of vanilla icecream and a jug of butterscotch sauce. The cake itself was so fluffy and was served warm, as was the rich butterscotch sauce which was quickly absorbed into the cake. I was delighted that the cake was light rather than dense and the chopped dates inside were divine. Great service, atmosphere and cake? Definitely a winning combination.

Spats Coffee Lounge, 108 King William Road, Goodwood SA, no website

Sublime Gelato

This will be the last #icecreamthurs post for 2015 – thanks for playing along and I look forward to sharing more icecream discoveries in 2016. Westside Acton is one of my favourite places to have lunch – I haven’t had a bad meal there, and now that the weather is warming up, it’s a great place to laze and enjoy the sunshine. I met up with a friend for lunch, and after eating we didn’t really want to leave, so we picked up gelato from Sublime, which has recently opened (yay!). The range of flavours is quite broad for such a small stall, and whilst the $5 per scoop isn’t quite a good value as say, Frugii ($5 for two scoops), the gelato here is good quality. After considering the rather tempting Belgian chocolate and the white chocolate and raspberry coulis flavours, I went for the dairy-free option and picked a single scoop of the strawberry sorbet. The cup was a standard scoop size, and we found seats out in the sunshine to enjoy our gelato. The strawberry flavour was very sweet was consistent throughout. Although a bit melty, I would happily order it again.

Sublime Gelato, Westside Acton, 3 Barrine Drive, Acton ACT

Floresta Nature Doughnuts

I’d seen adorable animal doughnuts on Pinterest and Instagram, so did a bit of a search before we went to Japan to try and find them – I felt a quest coming on. In fact, it took a while to find the store – given a bum steer from an English website, we ended up at Kyoto City Hall where the map said the doughnuts were inside… They weren’t. Luckily, when we did get to the stall they had plenty of animal doughnuts – I picked three to try. The cat was first up – it was chocolate-flavoured, and had almonds as ears (so cute, and tasty too!). The doughnut filler was quite dense and didn’t have as much flavour as I expected, but the actual doughnut was much nicer, with a spongy texture and a nice richness in the chocolate icing. Next was the pumpkin-flavoured rabbit – sadly I couldn’t taste the pumpkin at all, but the strawberry-flavoured frog was very clearly strawberry. The doughnuts were quite heavy so we ate them over the course of a couple of days. Worth the adventure, maybe a bit more for the photos than the flavour, but fun nonetheless.

Floresta Nature Doughnuts, Shinkyogoku street at the intersection with Shijo street, Kyoto Japan http://www.nature-doughnuts.jp/index.htm