Back from MIA: Straight to HAAN-SSIE

Bonsoir bons vieux amis!

It has been a while and I have missed writing in my food blog! I will try and improve the ways in which I write so that it will minimise the amount of time I require for editing! Food reviews will have a similar layout so hopefully you will get reviews more frequently - i.e. this means more food-ography!

When I don't have food reviews, I might be discussing more on the nutritional values of food, the importance of a well balanced diet, as well as some more general food topics - so stay tuned!

Date: 24 March 2012

Restaurant: Haanssie 

Cuisine: Korean

Location: Adelaide CBD East End

Pictures:

Galbi Jjim: Beef Short Ribs Stew

Gochujang Bulgogi: Mixed Seafood

Yangnyeom Tongdak: Korean Style Sweet & Chili Fried Chicken

Review: 

The staff were all extremely friendly and nice (definitely a bonus when you first walk into any restaurant). The positioning between tables were good - not too close together, therefore giving patrons between tables some privacy! From a quick glimpse around, the food looks extremely appealing and delicious! 

The waiters/waitresses gave us ample time to have a look at the menu, but came over very promptly when we had questions/decided to order. The menu was quite extensive and there were so many choices to choose from! 

Favourite dish of the night has to be the beef stew (first picture above) - it was sweet from the corn syrup and jujube (red dates), and the beef ribs melt away once it reaches your mouth. I couldn't stop eating it!

The fried chicken is definitely 500% better than any KFC I have ever eaten. The sweet chilli sauce gives it the slight sweetness that makes this dish delicious with a swig of beer! It was so crispy on the outside, yet the meat is moist and tender - definitely an impressive technique in cooking those chicken pieces ~!

Finally the seafood bulgogi, which is also very nice! The slight sweetness of the dish and the slight spiciness makes it very pleasant to eat (without too much of a spice, but I would've loved it a little bit more spicy, nevertheless, flavours were still there). The combination of seafood seems to be just right and nothing was overcooked - they were just right. 

Recommendation: Yes / Maybe / No - definitely heading back there to try more of the other dishes out.

Talk of the Town at the Press

Bonne soirée chers amis...

Around a week ago, I went to the highly recommended new-ish restaurant in Adelaide (the new talk in town!). The Advertiser gave them a really good review, and a few friends of mine (along with some harsher critiques) also gave good recommendations. If you do intend to dine here, I highly recommend that you book (I went on a Tuesday night with another friend of mine, booked approximately a week ago, and they only had a few tables remaining, and I could see why when I got there!).

The decor of the place is very nice and dimly lit (gives it that chic and cosy feeling). There are two levels, with the top level mainly as dining tables, whereas the bottom level (where you first enter) has a few more longer tables. This time around, my friend and I decided to try something out of the ordinary. We were quite impressed that this place actually serve offals, so that is in fact what we decided to go for. We did order 3 dishes with a dessert to finish off.

First up was lambs tongue:

Grilled lambs tongue, beetroot & horseradish

At first, I was a bit hesitant as this was definitely NOT an ordinary dish for my tastebuds, however, I did actually enjoy it! My friend said this was her favourite dish for the night, but mine is the next one coming up. The texture of the tongue was slightly chewy, but soft. The grilled flavours were quite nice and the beetroot was very nice; I wasn't a big fan of the radish though as some parts were slightly raw and there was evidence of the 'green taste'.

Next was my favourite dish!

Honey & anise roasted sweetbreads, turnip purée & parsley sauce

Absolutely loved the combination of flavours of the sweetbreads! The sweetness of the honey and slight spiciness of the anise, along with the sauce is just amazing! I could eat lots from this dish. The beans were nice and fresh as well (not overcooked), but my only criticism for this dish was once again, the slightly 'green' tasting turnips (not all, but some). 

The final big dish was the Press* mixed-grill:

(From top to bottom) - liver, caramelised onion, minute steak, poached egg, house-made sausage, apple slaw, brains

The liver was nice, but extremely rich in flavours (there should have been some sort of fresh salad or something light to go with it instead of more of the apple slaw). The minute steak was over-cooked in some parts, but not bad (could have better flavours). Poached egg was done perfectly, but it wasn't seasoned properly - having it with the apple slaw did improve it, but it could be better, and also would've preferred it slightly warm rather than cold. The house-made sausage was average; it was a bit fatty in some parts which created a nice soft texture, but I would have preferred if it has a bit more flavour rather than the "common" sausage flavours. I must say, I was a fan of the lamb brains - although the texture was a bit 'off-putting', the flavours of the coating of the brain and the apple slaw worked really well. I think the brains could be better if it was a bit more crispy, but I did like it. 

Finally the dessert:

Raspberry ice-cream and raspberry soufflé 

I must say, throughout the night, I did enjoy the dinner, but the dessert was a bit of a let down. The coffee I ordered (short black) did take a LONG time to arrive, AND the temperature must've been too high as the flavours of the coffee were distorted and unpleasant (coffee-drinkers would know what I'm talking about...the semi-sourish flavour if the water is too hot). The soufflé looked amazing, but it wasn't great; the bottom was moist and wet which ruined the fluffiness texture of what soufflés are supposed to be like. The ice-cream was refreshing, but they could make things more interesting if they played up the raspberries a bit rather than just using ordinary raspberries (e.g. honeyed raspberries or gin-infused raspberries).

Apart from the dessert, it was a really good night. The waiters and waitresses were all really nice - excellent service I must say. I'd definitely be returning back there to try some of their mainstream dishes (as they did look amazing). The plating was pleasant and the price wasn't anything ridiculous. The place wasn't extremely upper class, but it was really quite nice (good place to bring dates, few friends, close family, small dinners). Highly recommended ;)

Man Date at Fancy Burger and Ended with Gelato?

Bon soirée mes chers amis. Hope all of you have been keeping well and enjoying the beautiful (and often dramatic) weather in Adelaide.

A week or so ago, group of guys (i.e. men date) decided to try out a burger joint that many people are raving about. For me, this will almost be a "battle of the burgers", or "burger off" between Fancy Burger and Burger Foundry (refer to the blog ~ Burger Foundry has been Founded by Me). These 2 burger joints are definitely not close to each other (distance wise around 1 hour apart); Fancy Burger (FB) is located in Blackwood (refer to address below post), whereas Burger Foundry (BF) is in Magill.

One thing about 'gourmet burgers' that the majority would agree upon is that once you've had them, you usually wouldn't turn back to "normal" fast food (well I certainly wouldn't!); the green leafy vegetables are ACTUAL green and fresh salads (compared to pre-chopped iceberg lettuce that is often frozen and wilted which the majority of fast food places use), and the quality of meat is usually top notch in gourmet burgers - the fat content therefore is often less compared to common fast food places...not even exactly sure as to the meat they use. Anyways, if you haven't already tried gourmet burgers, I do highly recommend you try them (and its an effective way to cut down your junk food intake as well I'm sure).

Back to FB, I decided to order The Biggy and tall hot chips with smoked chilli mayo to go with it. I really do like beetroot and egg in my burgers, hence why I ordered The Biggy (plus it also allows me to make a comparison to The Aussie from Burger Foundry). So with the actual burger, there are positives and negatives:

The Biggy (from bottom to top): relish, cheddar cheese, herby mayo, crispy bacon, 100% South Aussie Beef, free range egg, salad, beetroot

What did I like about it? Well for starters the smells wafting from the burger was amazing. The beef was pretty juicy and the bacon was crispy enough; would've liked a bit more "salad" and relish (which was pretty tasty), but hey, overall it was pretty awesome. However, I do prefer BF's beef (it may be a bit drier, but there is much more flavour in the meat), the bun is better than FB's burger, and their beetroot relish instead of slices of beetroot is also a better idea; their mesclun greens also did win me over with their burger, but having said all that, The Biggy at FB is still very decent (oh and size wise, the burgers are actually bigger at BF as well). 

Next is the comparison of the chips:

Hot chips

Smoked chilli mayo

Now these were pretty awesome chips and that was one MEAN dip (it was A-W-E-SOME!). The chips were a bit more 'fancy' as well; they were sprinkled with rock salt and rosemary as well. For me, it could do with a bit less salt in some instances, but overall the taste was pretty good. The mayo was just....wow...really. It was playful and light and tasted incredible with the chips (not sure of the health content but let's not even go there). The chips at FB would be a winner compared to BF (yes, the chips at BF taste pretty good, but they are DRENCHED in oil!).

So overall, Fancy Burger is a neat lil burger joint located in Blackwood. What I like about them is that they do also sell cider/beer (which does go down pretty well with the burgers), so if you live close to that side of town, drop in for a bit. Oh and also, the service was great!

Next stop was ice-cream, or gelato rather at the east side. We dropped into Gelato Bello located on 87 Glynburn Rd, Glynde SA 5070, a bit closer to my side of town. They do have heaps of wicked flavours and also, they open till later at nights compared to most other gelato places and ice-creameries.

They have so many different flavours, and not only that, they have sorbet as well (for those of you who are lactose intolerant or trying to avoid dairy products). Also, they serve them in quite a few different ways such as in waffle cones (thank my model, ML, for the side profile of the waffle cone licking shot on the right), or just simple cups (in my case) ~ quite sure they do sundaes and lots of other things as well.

The choice was so hard, but in the end I decided to do all dairy gelato:

Baci, pistachio and cassata

Even though it was only served in a foam cup, that is not important... the gelato was REALLY good. The cassata was light and loved the candy jellied pieces in them. The pistachio gelato is fantastic! You can taste and bite into "actual" pistachios and the flavour is evident, not JUST from artificial flavouring. Now Baci, who can forget the beautiful taste of Baci! Definitely recommend this place. 

So the mandate was pretty chilled. Maybe YOU should go on one too?

Au revoir ;)

España Por Favor...

Amis bon après-midi.

It is a B-E-A-utiful day today, so all of you should hopefully be reading this blog somewhere out in cafes, or parklands on your mobile phones or laptops. Few weeks ago, few friends and I decided to have a voyage en Espagne, well not entirely true...rather it was Spanish desserts that we were craving for. We went to this Spanish restaurant, España on Melbourne St (refer to location below post), recommended by a friend of mine. To put it bluntly, he said the food there is terrible, i.e. rubbish (many dishes were not seasoned properly, which is rather unusual as one of the first thoughts that come to mind about Spanish food is that it is high in salt!).

However, he highly recommends the dessert so that is in fact what we did go there for! We ordered several servings of two types of dessert (as well as coffee which is normally to be expected in desserts).

Churros - "traditional Spanish style crispy dough, dusted with sugar and side of melted couverture chocolate"

The churros here were rather chunky, yet extremely fluffy and light! It was almost like eating AMAZING donuts, except not as greasy or sweet. The churros was not the 'crappy' type of chewy lil pieces of dough that you get at 'amateur' restaurants or dessert joints, but rather they were generous servings and the way its presented on the brown porcelain plate gives it that homely feel. What I absolutely love about this is the fluffiness that you get when you first bite into it, and then the cinnamon flavour explosion hits your tongue along with the amazingness of the melted chocolate, as well as the cocoa sugar! That's right, not only is the outer layer coated with sugar, but cocoa as well (that's what makes it so amazing).

Pan con chocolate - "chocolate with thin bread wafers, sprinkled with salt flakes and sweet olive oil"

This was another unique dessert. I have tasted something to this, however the version that I've had before was somewhat more similar to a bread-pudding style. I definitely did like this dessert, but be warned, it is not to everyone's liking. What I like about it is the saltiness which breaks the sweetness of the chocolate mousse (which I can have LOTS of). The crunchy bread dipped in the mousse with the saltiness coming through with a cup of coffee - pleasures of sharing desserts with friends and having an easy evening out. Highly recommended ;)

...and into the Lion's Mouth We Go!

Désolé my dear readers, for I have been lazy (and my honours project isn't very light on me, and I am also trying to train with 2 weeks notice for a 12km run!). 

I'll make this post short and snappy, and if I have time, then I may put up another post later in the evening.

So a couple of Saturdays ago (not the one that just went past), a whole group of us went to The Lion for a birthday dinner. I've been there a couple of times, but I'm trying different things each time. There are two sections to The Lion dining area: the 'proper' dining area which is right beside the pub/bar area, or the 'pub' dining area which is more informal. 

Their pub dining menu still had some pretty "proper" dishes, but as to how well done it was, that will come later in the review. People usually go to The Lion for their burgers, steak, i.e. basically their meats. Before I went there, an awesome friend, LP (who is THE dessert queen), recommended that I try out their beef bourguignon which is only available in their pub dining section. It was a struggle to find as it wasn't written on the menu, and there wasn't really a 'specials' board. If you head up to the counter where you order, it is actually hidden tucked away at the top corner in the dark where it says "Winter Warmers". It was an extremely inexpensive dinner (approximately $15AU) AND it came with a free glass of Jacob's Creek cab. sav. (alternatively you can have a beer with it, but I'm not a big fan of beer). 

Winter warmer - beef bourguignon with soft polenta and gremolata

This dish is not only inexpensive, but an absolute flavour explosion in your mouth! The beef was so soft and tender. The polenta was done incredibly - it was soft and creamy, cheesy, yet not sickening...it was amazing; and the gremolata (can't see it very well sorry!) went really nicely- the nice tang and the herb-iness was fantastic.

The Lion Burger - beef, with french fries

WG ordered this and he said was really good (it does look nice). I'm not too sure if it is able to beat the burgers at Burger Foundry, but perhaps next time... 

ML ordered lamb shanks with confit garlic mash, gremolata and glaze which looked pretty good, and he said the shank was done pretty nicely. Unfortunately I did forget to take a photo of it, but the presentation was very decent. There was one dish however that many people who ordered were not happy with - TMN ordered the panfried atlantic salmon with toasted cous cous, green beans, almond figs and cider vincotto, which sounds really lovely, but the taste is another matter. The skin was not crispy at all (very easily fixed by salting it a bit more!), and the salmon was not seasoned properly, i.e. it was pretty much tasteless. If you do happen to feel like seafood, I recommend that you best avoid that dish!

However, I was quite pleased that night with the meals. The dishes were whipped up extremely quickly and there is a vast selection on their menu (considering it was such a big group) ~ they didn't modify the menu at all which means that the whole pub dining menu was available for selection. I would definitely recommend The Lion if you feel like a burger, a winter warmer, or if you have a large group booking you need to make.

Good Life..Good Pizza

Bonjour! It has been over a week since I last posted now! Things are getting a bit busier as it gets closer to the end of the year.

Last week, my friend, LT, and I went to Glenelg to buy some sports gear, but then I was feeling rather peckish from the money spending! As we haven't had pizza for a while, we decided to try out Goodlife Modern Organic Pizza - a lot of people have been talking about them, giving rather positive feedback. There are 3 different locations in total; one in Glenelg (which is the one that this review will be based on), one on Hutt Street and the other one in North Adelaide.

The first time around, we actually walked right past the restaurant without realising where it was. The tricky thing about this particular joint is that it is located on Level 1 (so that yes, there are stairs involved ~ I guess it gives you a slight workout before reaching there =P) and the name isn't that particularly obvious. The bottom of the stairs is quite dark so you really need to keep an eye out, otherwise you will miss it.

As we weren't  overly hungry, we decided to order one large pizza (a 2-person pizza, i.e. 12-inch) to share. Unfortunately, they don't do half-&-half pizzas (i.e. two flavours on one pizza) - there were a couple of different ones I definitely wanted to try. We ended up ordering a duck pizza:

Free-range roasted duck with shitake mushroom and spring onion ginger jam

It was absolutely mouth-watering and delicious! The smell wafting from the pizza as it was brought to our table already awaken our tastebuds, sending them to overdrive. The duck was really nice ~ soft and tender. The crust on the pizza is done very well; it was thin and the outer crust was very crispy and has a very nice texture contrasted to the soft delicious centre-filling. My favourite thing on the pizza though was the spring onion ginger jam! If any of you have tried Hainanese Chicken Rice before, the jam reminds me of the flavours of the spring onion and ginger dip that comes with the rice, except the one on top of the pizza is slightly sweet, making it very nice. After having one bite, it leaves you wanting more.

Overall, the service was good - the waiter and waitress came back often enough, checking orders, drinks and asked how everything was. I definitely recommend that you try this pizza joint out; I will certainly be back to try the others.

Saturday at SQ

Good evening mesdames et messieurs. I recently went out with a group of people for a dinner on Saturday night and I've come to realised that it is in fact very challenging for such a big group of people to go out to a very decent and nice place without alterations to the menu (in total, there was around 20 people).

This review was going to be about Culshaw's Grill at the Majestic Hotel on Frome Road but because of the change to a-la-carte menu, I decided to change the venue of the dinner gathering. I was just browsing around for different places, trying every single site or book I could find, from Google to Entertainment Book to the papers for places to go. At the end however, I managed to find SQ Restaurant (part of Mantra Hotel in Hindmarsh Square in Adelaide's CBD).

The staff were very nice and the service was definitely top notch. It is a nice little hidden place, yet still located right in the heart of the city. From the start, the tapas and the starters menu looked very intriguing, but I was not extremely hungry so I did not order any. My friend LK however, did decide to order bread which came with an olive oil dip and dukkah (the typical) - the only let down was the bread; it would have been a lot nicer if it was warm.

Most of us went straight into the mains. Being such a huge crowd meant that there were a variety of dishes, but I unfortunately could not take a photo of all of them. So here are the ones that I did manage to snap up:

Duo Beef served on Vegetarian Risotto

This dish was part of the specials on for the evening. The combination of beef was cooked beautifully. The Wagyu brisket was absolutely amazing - so tender and literally a "melt-in-the-mouth" moment. The steak was a bit over-done on the edges, but the middle is cooked to perfection (I like them medium-rare). The risotto on mine was cooked very nicely as well - creamy, yet not very gluggy (the way it is supposed to be done!). The platting could be a bit nicer though, but the food was good at least.

Side dishes: House Fries with Lemon Salt and Roast Onion Aioli and Rocket, Pear & Parmesan Salad

The fries weren't crispy which was a bit disappointing (double-frying could crisp them up) and there wasn't enough lemon salt in the chips, but the aioli made up for it - very addictive dip.  The salad was as expected, nothing too grandeur; it was just as it should be, a rocket, pear & parmesan salad. 

Snapper (I think) and seafood cous cous served with wakame

This was another dish which was on the specials menu. I am not too sure in regards to how the fish was done. The wakame addition to the top of the seafood cous cous is interesting - two people ordered it and one definitely did not like it, whilst the other thought the combination as odd. I quite agree that this was an odd combination; instead the wakame should be served on the side, almost as a starter if it was going to be utilised in the dish.

Angus Coorong Sirloin Steak on Shallot and Roast Garlic Rousti and Cabernet Jus
Side dish: Potato Mash with White Truffle Oil

My friend, TN, said that it was done perfectly (I'm pretty sure he wanted it medium-rare as well), and the meat did look extremely tender, beautiful and juicy. I think it is quite safe to say that it was a winner.

From the overall experience, it was quite positive. The let-down for the evening was actually the plating of the dish. The same dishes were plated inconsistently. For example the snapper which was ordered by a couple of people looked extremely different - the cous cous wasn't plated in a round circular manner and the size of the snapper were extremely different. The Duo of Duck, another popular dish for the evening was again plated extremely inconsistently - some plates had more duck pieces, whilst others had a mixture of big and small pieces. For the amount you have to pay for each dish, you would be expecting them to be plated very similarly, if not, exactly the same. However, it was still an enjoyable evening with lovely food and wine (I can't remember the exact one but it had a combination of Shiraz/Grenache/Viognier — highly recommended). 

Nothing Like a Good Ol' Breakky to Break the Fast

Bonsoir!  Recently (i.e. on Saturday), I have finally decided to take a day off — no work, no worries, just friends, retail therapy and nice food; it has been a while since I last had a proper day break. It was a nice cool day, where the sun was shining bright in the morning even though it is still winter. So the morning was started off with breakfast with a couple of friends at ETC (East Terrace Continental) on East Terrace - see address below.



First thing is of course, coffee.

Left to right: Cafe latte, flat white, cappucino 

The service wasn't slow (which was good as we were starving). A few minutes later, the mains started arriving. I was feeling rather peckish that morning, especially after my gym workout so I decided to order 2 dishes to really break the fast and satisfy the hunger.

Eggs Napolitana - still beautifully runny upon cutting in

Single serving of banana pancake served with cream

Eggs napolitana was an absolute simple dish to wolf down - the light tomato sauce goes very well with the poached eggs (perfect for post-workout) and the toasted bread seems to go nicely too. The banana pancake was light and fluffy; obviously I would have liked more bananas in the pancakes but due to the current circumstances with banana shortages and ridiculous prices, it is understandable that they are not extremely keen on overloading with bananas. Although the pancakes may be deemed 'unhealthy' after a workout (especially with the caramel-y butter-y banana sauce), I justified it by saying that bananas are healthy...

Anyways, my friends ordered a couple of different dishes which seemed really nice as well:

Eggs Florentine

Fruit muesli with seasonal fruits

The poached eggs with the Eggs florentine were also beautifully cooked on lovely pieces of English muffins. The radiant colours given off by the fruit muesli was enough to get the salivary glands working - it was a visual colour overload along with the fragrance of fresh fruits in the air. 

That's all for this post and remember, its not always about the quantity, rather it is the quality that you should seek ;) 

Au revoir!

Four Seasons in One Day...Ending at the Aviary

Bonsoir mesdames et messieurs.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, experiencing all four seasons in one day. It started off with an early sunrise, beautiful and warm, springlike weather, then developing towards a warmer afternoon - it did reach a top (of 25 degrees I think), then by late afternoon, clouds were coming in and we definitely enjoyed some light showers with some lightning shows in the sky.

So overall, it was a very pleasant day. What else could be better? Catching up with an old friend (haven't caught up for a good number of years since high school!). So the night was enjoying strolling down Norwood Parade with a slight tinge of coldness in the air, reminding us that it is still indeed winter.

We enjoyed some dinner, but then the night just ended off beautifully at the Aviary. To start of with, a couple of warm drinks to warm us up:

Chocolate chai

English breakfast - a classic all-year-rounder tea

After we got started on the teas, the main desserts arrived and we were definitely ready to tuck in:

Orange and almond cake with slice of ice-cream topped with pistachios

Sticky-date pudding

This was a very lazy visit, really just a catch-up with a good old mate of mine, so it is not a true review per se, but rather, just a lazy night out with a quick dinner, finished off with warm desserts. I mean the orange and almond cake was nice - perhaps do with a bit of orange syrup drizzled on the cake, a bit of vanilla specks in the ice-cream with the pistachios candied lightly in caramel (chocolate crumbs don't really need to be there). The sticky-date pudding wasn't too heavy which is good (the serving size was very generous) - to make it a bit more unique, perhaps date-infused butterscotch sauce (though the sauce was quite nice) or ice-cream churned with dates, and to make it really rustic, include roughly chopped dates in the actual pudding itself. 

However, like I said, this wasn't really a review, but just a lazy post about four seasons in one day with the night concluding at the Aviary dessert kitchen ;) 

à toute à l'heure... 

Burger Foundry has been Founded by Me

Bonsoir readers! Sorry for not posting again on Sunday (like I said I was going to, but cooking got the better of me and I ran out of time - I will post up the recipe another time for that).

Anyways, new joint I have to talk about. It's called Burger Foundry on Magill Road (below the post). Went there on a cold Saturday night, and though it is only a small joint, it was certainly busy! What can I say? It was definitely worth waiting for. The shop was quite easy to miss, but if you are heading away from the city up Magill Road, it is on the left - park on the side of the road or any side streets are fine.
The menu was written on the wall (I love the simple decor and how the menu is written with chalk on the blackboard), and there were numerous choices. It was a hard decision with either choosing beef, chicken or vegetarian option initially. Twas' a great pity that they ran out of the hand cut chips, but nevertheless, definitely a next time I say. It was around a 20 minute wait, but I didn't mind as the smell was fantastic. I also really liked how the chef was cutting up the vegetables and dressing up the burger literally in front of the joint (shows the freshness of the ingredients which is what makes a tasty and delicious burger).

I ended up ordering the "Rocky Mountain High":

Rocky mountain high - amazing beef burger

Visual presentation of the freshness of the ingredients

From bottom to top: tomato slices, crisp bacon, melted cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, char-grilled beef, mesclun greens all handcrafted in an amazing fresh toasted bun

The burger was huge — extremely satisfying. From the first bite, the cheese and beef just oozes onto the tastebuds leaving you hungering for more. The burger was pretty much perfect, with just the right amount of saltiness from the bacon and the greens to balance them out, and that beef was beautifully chargrilled - not dry at all! Highly recommend the Burger Foundry, especially if it hasn't founded you already ;)

Bon app étit ~~

Belgian Beer Goodness

Amis bon aprés-midi. A long week has passed and a new week is about to begin (again). Once again, my apologies for not posting as often as I should be. I will be trying my best to to be as up-to-date as possible.

My first post for the day is about Friday evening and the trip to Belgian Beer Cafe Oostende in Ebenezer Place off Rundle Street (refer below for the specific address). It is always a busy joint on Friday nights as it is an awesome place for afterwork-drinks! There is quite a wide selection of imported beers (which I will be talking about a bit later) and they are of course also popular for their chips (in cone cups) and mussels. This is also a good place on weekends if you are up for some drinks with a few mates, just to catch up and chat - or get up to some mischief ;)

The first beer which I ordered was the Hoegaarden (according to the menu: ...refreshing, spicy beer with only a slight bitterness & a hint of coriander & curacao). Normally, I don't drink beers if I had a choice, but this beer is one I definitely liked. I ended up ordering a HUGE pint of it (500mL to be exact - refer to the picture below). It was easy to drink and didn't really bloat me unlike other 'typical' beers. The next beer I tried was very different - called the Rochefort 10, it is a dark beer with a complex aroma of malt, elderberries, chocolate, prunes and raisins. The first sip was "OH SO BITTER", but the more you drink, the better and sweeter it started tasting. It is also a nice complement to salty dishes (e.g. their les moules!).

Hoegaarden (look at the size of the pint compared to the hand!)

Rochefort 10 (beware - it has a very high alcohol content of 11%!)

Then comes one of their signature dishes: 1kg Les Moules (mussels; refer to picture on right). I have been there numerous times to try different flavours and this time round, I tried the Moutarde, which comprises of mussels steamed with French whole grain mustard, chives and cream. The mussels were a bit small this time round, but the flavours were quite nice. The mussels typically arrives with a serving of their chips with mayonnaise (which is always quite tasty - never mind the calories at this stage!). 

Les moules - Moutarde (the cream soupy-base is not very creamy which makes it pleasant to eat)

Chips with mayonnaise (I recommend getting tomato sauce and dipping in both mayonnaise and tomato sauce)

As always, the broth of the mussels is very salty. This is where the beer comes in very handy, washing the saltiness away (I suggest the Rochefort if you are keen for an interesting combination). 

If you intend to come here for dinner with a group of friends on Friday nights or weekends (which I highly recommend), then I suggest that you make a booking as early in the week as possible as they are booked out very quickly (unless the group is very small and you don't mind eating in the bar area which is also nice).