Terrace Cafe

On the hunt for a close by, warm place for lunch, my colleagues and I stopped in at the newly refurbished Terrace Cafe at Old Parliament House. Their menu offers great value, with most items between $10-$15. There are some fabulous new artworks up of the building, including a striking one taken at night, and little terrariums on the indoor tables. I ordered the curry of the day for lunch, which was a lamb Indian curry. Our food came out quite quickly and it looked beautiful – the curry was full of meat in a bowl, and the serve included flatbread wedges, rice and yoghurt, as well as some finely julienned carrot. The lamb was melt-in-your-mouth tender and had clearly been slow-cooked to perfection. I found the curry had just the right amount of heat, although it was a little bit oily for my preference. The sauce had a tomato base but I couldn’t quite pick the type of curry. The flatbread was great for mopping up the sauce and whilst I didn’t eat much of the rice, it was good to have on the plate. I also really enjoyed the fresh carrot and would have liked more! Looking forward to trying more of the menu next time.

Terrace Cafe, Old Parliament House, 18 King George Terrace, Parkes ACT http://moadoph.gov.au/visiting/cafe/

Little Ramen Bar

There really is nothing like a steaming hot noodle soup on a chilly night, and of all the noodle soups, ramen surely must be the most comforting. On an overnight visit to Melbourne I braved the cold to seek out ramen at one of Melbourne’s quaintest little establishments, Little Ramen Bar. I had about a 10 minute wait for a seat, but my order was taken while I waited so the food came out quickly once I was inside the cozy nook of a restaurant. I had the ‘most popular’ chashu tamago with a shoyu broth, and a glass of umeshu (plum wine) on the rocks. The ramen arrived quickly and was exactly what I felt like. The tamago (egg) was still gooey in the middle and the pork slices were tasty, although marbled with quite a bit of fat. The broth itself was fattier than I expected, but it wasn’t overly salty and I ended up drinking most of it as it had such a beautifully rich flavour. The noodles had just the right amount of bite and my craving was completely satisfied. Definitely a spot to come back to.

Little Ramen Bar, 346 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC                                 http://www.littleramenbar.com.au/

48 Flavours

I recently spent a long weekend in Adelaide and was amazed to see how many new places have opened on Gouger Street since my last visit. 48 Flavours is one of those. The franchise has grown from Mildura and the Adelaide store is the second outlet. As the name explains, the store offers 48 flavours of icecream/sorbet, including fun flavours like blood orange, black sesame, and limoncello. Whilst not all of the sorbet flavours were on offer when I visited (I would have loved to try the pomegranate or peach flavour), they did have a good selection, including lychee, green apple, mango, lemon, Red Bull and pineapple. I ordered a double scoop in a cup ($5.50) with lychee and my staple favourite, raspberry. The serving size was very generous and there was an even amount of both flavours. The lychee was really refreshing and the more genuine of the two flavours – yes, it was sweet, but the flavour was somehow juicy like a lychee, which I enjoyed. The raspberry flavour was a bit more synthetic – it reminded me more of a Redskin lolly than of fresh raspberry – but was still lovely. Both sorbets had a grainy texture, but I’d go back to try more of their impressive flavour range.

48 Flavours, 78 Gouger Street, Adelaide SA                     http://www.48flavours.com.au/

Spicy Ginger Cuisine

So, it turns out Mr Shabu Shabu isn’t open for lunch on weekends, but luckily Spicy Ginger is, beause my friend and I were very hungry by the time I realised my mistake! Unfortunately the staff forgot about us after we were seated, but once they realised our order was taken quickly and we were given complimentary soft drinks with apologies. We started out with the san choy bao, which was utterly delicious – the crispy lettuce was packed with filling and every bite was perfection. I would come back for this alone, and I think it was the dish we both enjoyed most. Next up was the mongolian beef, which was a large serving packed with tender beef in an unctuous, salty sauce. The portion was quite large, but we had also ordered the braised eggplant in hotpot. I have a weakness for eggplant, and this was a really excellent way to serve it. The eggplant was soft and incredibly tasty, with another amazing sauce (hoi sin?). Three dishes definitely stopped us, and the staff kindly gave us takeaway containers so nothing went to waste. Just lovely.

Spicy Ginger Cuisine, 25 Childers Street, Acton ACT                           http://www.spicygingercafe.com/

Mos Burger

Sometimes you just need a burger. After a long day of sightseeing, we ended up at Tokyo Tower for dinner and treated ourselves to Mos Burger – Japan’s native burger chain. Playing on the novelty of a store at the Tower, Mos Burger only offers the ‘Tokyo Tower Burger’ at this location – a 14 layer beast that apparently is the chain’s tallest burger. Obviously we had to try it. I was quite impressed when the burger came out that it actually looks like the advertised picture, something that fast food rarely does in Australia. The layers included two buns, onion rings, lettuce, two beef patties, mayonnaise, tomato, two layers of chopped onion, ketchup, bacon and two layers of a hot sauce that added a really nice kick to the whole thing. The patties were thin by Australian standards, but had good flavour for a non-gourmet restaurant and the onion rings added some great texture. The toughest part was working out how to eat it – there was no way to squish it down and get a taste of all layers at once without some serious oozing. Not elegant, but tasty and very filling, plus the added novelty factor, of course.

Mos Burger, 4 Chome-2-8 Shibakoen, Minato, Tokyo Japan                  http://www.tokyotower.co.jp/eng/foottown/2f_food_07.html

Ladurée

I’ve been to a Ladurée salon de thé in Paris, but when I tried to visit the Ginza one while living in Tokyo in 2009, I couldn’t get a table (they don’t take reservations). On this visit, I was very strategic about when we went (5pm on a weekday) and we only waited 10mins to get a seat – winning! This was Mum’s belated Mother’s Day gift – we started out with a pot of Thé Eugenie each, served in silver teapots with pastel coloured cups and saucers. The black tea had a fruity fragrance, with strawberry, cherry, raspberry and redcurrant part of the blend. It wasn’t as overpowering as some of the other options (there are samples to sniff while you wait for a table) and we enjoyed every sip. For cake, I picked the Ispahan – a large macaron filled with fresh raspberries, lychee and rose-flavoured cream. The flavours all worked so well together and every mouthful was delicious – the macaron shell was crisp, the raspberries were very fresh and the cream spiked with lychee was just as decadent as you would expect. If you get a seat by the window you can people-watch while enjoying your luxury sweets. Swoon.

Ladurée, salon de thé, 4-6-16 Ginza, Chuo, Tokyo Japan                                             http://www.laduree.jp/

The Cupping Room

I am a firm believer that we eat with our eyes. As a general rule, I try to avoid eating sweet things for breakfast, especially before going to work (hello food coma!), but on this visit to The Cupping Room, I really couldn’t go past the incredibly beautiful ricotta hotcakes. If a plate looking like that went past you, would you be able to resist it? I didn’t think so. I was blown away by the flavours on this plate. First up, the burnt honeycomb was to die for – it added a sweet but burnt flavour with an almost sticky texture, which helped cut through the sweetness of the rest of the dish. As did the pomegranate seeds scattered atop the hotcake pile. I particularly liked the fresh strawberries and would have liked more to enjoy with each mouthful, but the stewed rhubarb was a nice addition too. Down to business – the hotcakes were incredibly light and fluffy, although surprisingly filling. The creme fraiche was a bit much for me, but I loved the citrus syrup drizzled over the top of everything (more please!). Overall, I would suggest eating this only if very hungry. But eat it. It’s delicious.

The Cupping Room, 1/13 University Ave, Canberra ACT  http://www.thecuppingroom.com.au/