THE GROUNDS OF ALEXANDRIA - ALEXANDRIA

The Grounds of Alexandria
Building 7A, 2 Huntley St
Alexandria

The Grounds of Alexandria is huge yet doesn't scream at you. In fact its not glaringly signposted and you could possibly miss it - even though its a really big place both indoors and outdoors. Inside you first see the take away counter with a huge array of very appealing cakes and pastries.

There are shelves acting as a barrier to some indoor seating but behind the servery there is more seating too.

You instantly notice that the place has a kind of warehouse/industrial feel to it without seeming cold or impersonal. You also notice that everything there has "The Grounds" printed on it - cups, bread boards,

staff - sit there to long and it may be on you! I didn't mind this though - it again wasn't in your face or gaudy.

The breakfast menu is brief but interesting. There were a few options that caught my eye but in the end the bacon and egg roll won out. It was described as having crispy bacon, two eggs and tomato relish on a
bun. It was huge, very tasty and came well presented on a bread board.This is a big roll and at only $9.00 I thought it was very good value.

The coffee here is good too - in fact its a passion of theirs. My coffee arrived very quickly after placing my order and was excellent.

As the coffee arrived so quickly I was surprised I wasn't asked if I wanted another one. I didn't want more - but may have said yes if asked! At $3.50 it again wasn't expensive.

Behind the rear indoor eating area is the real business end of the coffee side of their enterprise. You can see machines there behind a glass wall - a nice touch that's both interesting and impressive.

The Grounds of Alexandria is a busy place with good food, good coffee,

good decor and good service. The one downside is that parking is hard

to find but it still ticks all the boxes.

REUBEN HILLS - SURRY HILLS

Reuben Hills
61 Albion St
Surry Hills

Reuben Hills is a quirky place. It doesn't have huge signs out the front and it doesn't scream at you yet there are always plenty of people heading inside this long lean cafe to sample their food and sip a coffee. So I ventured in (after initially walking past it on the other side of the road) and managed to grab the last available seat - in the front window.

The service here is excellent. I was welcomed and seated promptly. Others after me had to wait but bottled tap water and glasses were brought to them - even to the people waiting outside! I ordered the sourdough with avocado, coriander and lime. I love avocado but this was such a simple and elegant combination. It tasted great. The avocado was ripe and soft, the coriander fresh and the lime charred and warm. I loved every mouthful.

The coffee was very nice too. Strong flavours and nice bite to it without being bitter.

My coffee and meal came to $16.00 - which was a bit more expensive than some places but reasonable considering how nice it was.

I enjoyed Reuben Hills - but the crowd there shows I'm not the only fan of this place.

OPERA BAR - SYDNEY CBD

Opera Bar
Lower Concourse Level,
Sydney Opera House

Often trendy places are somewhat tacky - but not this place. The million dollar views absorb you. On a cold evening its still nice - they crank up a multitude of heaters and its actually quite pleasant.
 

 I wasn't actually eating on this occasion - although I have eaten here a few times and the food is actually quite good - decent quality and decent sized servings - at a decent price for the location.

The menu is shown here to give you an idea of the options. This time I was just having a drink in a nice place while I killed some time before another engagement. It's not a bad place to kill time at!

You can easily lose track of time here just looking out over the harbour bridge and the opera house. It's a magical view. The place is very popular. Tables get grabbed quickly and even on a so called quiet night it still has plenty of people there.

If you want a nice meal with amazing views this is the place to go. If you just want a drink with amazing views it's also the place to go. The common feature is of course the views!!

LA SCALA - CANBERRA CBD

La Scala
Shop 7 Bunda St
Canberra CBD

La Scala is a nice place for a decent quality meal. The food is good, the service very good and the decor is very nice. Prices aren't cheap but its a quality restaurant.

I had the veal medallions with prawns. The photo quality isn't great here because I had to use my phone - so it doesn't do the meal justice. We dined with a group. Generally everyone said it was a decent meal - possibly not the best they had ever had but still good. The wine was ok as well - but again not awesome. La Scala has always delivered good quality food in pleasant surroundings and this meal was no exception.

HOME THAI - SYDNEY CBD

Home Thai
Shop 1-2, 299 Sussex St
Sydney CBD

This place has been on the radar for a while now so it was good to finally get there and test it out with D, N, Z, W, T and M. We started with fresh spring rolls that were filled with cucumber, tofu, bean sprouts, egg and chinese sausage served with sweet tamarind sauce and shredded crab on top. Wow - these are amazing and were only $9.90 a serving.



Next came the Thai fish cakes. These are a standard Thai dish but they still tasted great. They had the usual blend of fish and red chilli paste and they came garnished with cucumber, peanut, onion and chili sauce. They disappeared quickly and were only $8.90 a serving.


We also had a serving of pad c ew. The spelling is different to how I've normally seen it but the dish was very tasty. It consisted of fresh rice sheet noodles wok tossed in a soy sauce with chinese broccoli. At $8.90 its a steal.

We then moved on to the pla goong. This was unique and tasty. The dish is made up of prawns, onion, shallot, mint, coriander, lemongrass, lime leaf, chili jam with special chef’s dressing (the dressing that is - not the chef). It looked unusual but tasted fantastic. This one cost $13.50.

 

The kao rad pik khing - or crisp pork belly stir fried with chili, lime leaf, green bean and pik khing sauce on rice - was amazing. For me this was the pick of the meals (and not just because I chose it!). I just love crisp pork belly - and this was delicious. It came with rice (I would have liked more pork) but at only $9.90 it was a bargain.

Another must have dish at any Thai restaurant is of course satay chicken skewers. These were marinated in curry powder and served with cucumber and the must have peanut sauce. At only $9.90 a serve it was again good value for a tasty treat.

 

You really cant go to a Thai restaurant and not get pad Thai - so we got it! We had chicken pad Thai which was described in the menu as a traditional Thai wok tossed noodle dish, with rice noodles, prawns or chicken, egg and tamarind sauce. Served with fresh lemon, peanuts & bean sprouts it costs $9.90. We all liked it but didn't think it was their best dish - there are better pad Thai's elsewhere even though it was still fine here.

The unusual and very tasty sai groog isan was great. It was described as a homemade Thai sausage traditionally from the eastern part of Thailand, grilled and served with fresh ginger and vegetables. The sausage was very tasty with a unique flavour that was very morish. At $9.90 a serving it was again decent value.


The very tasty pu nim yum mamuang added some crunch to the meal. This delicious deep fried soft shell crab was served with a tangy and oh so tasty mango salad. It was a clean crisp combination that went so well - and went so quickly too. At $15.50 it was well priced for soft shell crab - particularly as there was plenty of crab on the plate.






The decor here is nice. It has a feel to it that is very similar to Chat Thai - and perhaps that's what they were trying for anyway. If it was they succeeded. It does seem a bit less crammed than Chat Thai though.

A bottle of Two in the Pouch Shiraz Cab Sav disappeared quickly and at only $28.00 it was decent value as well.

Home Thai is great. The food is excellent, the service fast and friendly and the prices cheap. Its a hit in my books!

'

CAFE ESSEN - CANBERRA CBD

Cafe Essen
6 Garema Place
Canberra CBD

Tucked away in a laneway in the CBD of Canberra is a plethora of cafe's (sorry I always wanted to use the word plethora!). Cafe Essen is one of them and it has some interesting things for breakfast and lunch - as well as some decent coffee too.

It had to be a light breakfast after a big night so I reluctantly stuck to some raisin toast and coffee instead of the more exotic options on offer. It was a cold morning too but the heaters here make outside dining not only an option - but an attractive one. The order was taken promptly, the food arrived quickly and the decor was pleasant. Its hard to have bad raisin toast - and this serving was nice.

The coffee here is good too. It came first, ahead of my toast, as it should. They also brought a bottle of water and a glass too - without me having to ask for it. These little things do make a difference and people notice them!

I like the look of this place. It has a nice feel to it. Its small and personal. The service is good, the menu options seem good and I'll certainly try it again for something else.



THE LITTLE SNAIL - PYRMONT

The Little Snail
50 Murray St
Pyrmont

We've eaten here before and enjoyed it so when a voucher came up for a three course dinner for two for only $69 - with two French cocktails as well - we jumped at it. This place has a nice feel to it, good service, nice food and excellent prices too. You can get a three course lunch for only $36.00 or dinner for $59.00 with anything from the menu!

We started with entrees of salt and pepper calamari and salmon roulade. Both were extremely tasty and well prepared. The calamari was tender and succulent and the aioli that went with it was lovely. The salmon roulade was delicious too with salmon wrapped around light cream cheese with a potato nest on top (which really looked and tasted like very fine fried noodles).

Main number one was the citrus marinated Tasmanian salmon. The menu didn't say what citrus was being used but it was well prepared and extremely tasty. It came out with  broccolini fritto (broccoli fritters) and bois bourdin sauce. Yummo.

The seafood plate - whilst not really sounding French - still sounded very good. It consisted of grilled salmon, garlic prawns, salt and pepper squid, chilli mussels, beer battered soft shell crab and mesclun salad. The aioli and chilli sauce on the side went well and lifted the food. Each part was well prepared. The prawns were juicy, the mussels and calamari tender and the soft shell crab was crisp and tasted good.

Its hard not to have a creme caramel when eating French food. Theirs was very nice. Light and almost fluffy it was a good option to finish the meal with if you were close to full!

But if you want to finish with something a bit richer try the banana liqueur crepe. It comes as a ball of crepe (with the edges tucked underneath) filled with mascarpone and drizzled with chocolate. As a bonus there's even a chocolate garnish too. It looked great and tasted just as good. The Little Snail is excellent value for a really good meal, friendly efficient service and pleasant surroundings. We've been a few times and will be back again.

BLU GINGER - CANBERRA CBD

Blu Ginger
5 Genge St
Civic, Canberra CBD

Dining in groups at an Indian restaurant always gives everyone so many more food options to share doesn't it?

Blu Ginger has had a few ups and downs recently but we'd always liked their food before so we gave them another shot. It was certainly a good decision.

We started with the seekh kebab. A single serve of this is three pieces of charcoal grilled lamb mince marinated with exotic herbs and spices served with mint sauce and costs $10.90. Very tasty and juicy. We then moved on to the old favourite of chicken tikka. This comes with three pieces of tender chicken fillet (and it was tender too) marinated in yoghurt, tandoori spices and cooked in the tandoor. This costs $11.90.

Next up were some very interesting steamed dumplings - not something I've normally seen at Indian restaurants. They were a special and had pork mince in them and came in a serving of six for $12.90.

For our mains we started with the tried and true butter chicken. The meat dissolved and the sauce was succulent. It was very nice. The butter chicken costs $17.90.

We then moved on to lamb rogan josh - a mild lamb curry that comes from North India and  has a thick rich gravy with fresh tomatoes and a garnish of coriander. This was again very tasty and cost $18.90.

The Bombay beef looked like a good choice and it was. This is a house special of mild beef curry cooked with potatoes. It has a hint of fenugreek leaves (but I couldn't taste this) and cream. This dish costs $18.90 .

Our final main was a vegetarian option. We chose the kadai paneer - also from North India. This tasty serving is cooked roast capsicum, tomato and onion. It also has a semi dry masala sauce - but its hard to pick the masala over all the flavours it has. The dish costs $16.90 .

Naans and roti's cost around the $3.00 to $4.00 range depending on which ones you get. They were all tasty - and we tried plain naan, garlic naan and the plain roti.

Of course you have to have rice with Indian food to soak up all the lovely curry sauces. We had basmati safron rice which cost $3.00 per person.

Papadums are also $3.00 per serving and the accompanying cucumber yoghurt sauce (if you order it) is another $3.00 per serving. Many places give you the raita free with your meal.

Blu Ginger provided a very tasty meal. The surroundings are impacted by the HUGE ceilings but are nice, the service was fast and friendly and the value was solid too.