Tag Archives: Australian food blog

Brighton Beach

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Brighton Beach was a place I have desperately wanted to visit since reading Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock earlier this year.

It was exactly how I’d imagined it to be, and more.

It was colourful, kitsch, nostalgic and fun.

We ate fish and chips on the pier and drank Pimms by the jug.

The fish we chose was called Plaice, which I had not heard of since coming to England. It is a very fine fleshed fish, that doesn’t really lend itself well to being heavily battered and deep-fried.

They seem to serve everything here with peas. But I don’t mind, I love peas. Even mushy ones.

I shall be sharing the Pimm’s drink with you all in a later post.

But in the meantime, you’ll just have to drool over this plate of deep-fried merriment.

Flying Fajita Sistas

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I am a huge fan of Mexican food but I am usually disappointed whenever I go to a Mexican restaurant.

I have been to my fair share of Mexican eateries and often find them over priced, miserly with their portions and lacking in ambiance.

Until I discovered the Flying Fajita Sistas in Glebe, NSW.

I can’t even remember how I found it, a friend I think and I remember taking my playgroup mums there for our end of year party.

Needless to say it was a huge success and I have been back many times over the years.

It is a stand-out establishment for many reasons. It has a wonderful ambiance. The waitresses wear pretty, Mexican tunics and the decor is typically colourful and cheery but not in any way cheesy or contrived.

I just get the sense that when I enter this place, it is run with love and care and this makes all the difference.

Of course the food is excellent, consistently so. Every time I go I get the same quality food and every time I enjoy it with relish.

Stand-out choices on the menu are anything containing the Achiote pulled pork.  It is so tasty and succulent….

The Queso fundido dip  of charred tomato and ancho chile salsa melted with cheese is amazing.

The corn chips are specially made and super crunchy and they go so well with all the dips.

All of the dishes are generous portions and priced reasonably.

But wait there’s more…they serve THE best margaritas, here’s a taste;

The Sistas – Traditional margarita; house tequila, triple sec, lime juice shaken or frozen

The Classic – Sour Margarita with 1800 Blanco Tequila, shaken only

Top Shelf – Patron Silver Tequila, Patron Citronage, Fresh Lime, a bit of Lemon and some sweetness

And the desserts are also worth trying, if you can fit them in.

I am terribly sad that I won’t be visiting The Flying Fajita Sistas any time soon… this is definitely something I miss about Sydney.

Flying Fajita Sistas
Open 7 days 6pm until late
p. 9552 6522 f. 9552 6855
65 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe, 2037

Secret Tea Room

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AT and I got a night out on Friday night and after much speculation about which area, which pub, good food or good atmosphere, we decided to eat at a well reviewed pub.

I don’t mean a gastro pub (which is like fancy foodie pubs) I mean a normal pub that serves decent food.

We chose the Coach and Horses Pub on Greek St, Soho.

We had no idea that in fact we had picked a famous London pub, with a rich history and celebrity culture!

At first we were unsure because it was full to the brim with Friday’s after-work crowd and we couldn’t see any free tables. So we asked to sit in the upstairs dining room.

Up a rickety flight of spiral stairs we came into a lovely dining room with tables dressed in white linen and flowers on every one in a random asortment of vases and teapots.

There was love in this room. I could feel it. And three-tiered cake stands…was it tea time?

Apparently we had stumbled into Soho’s Secret Tearoom. And they serve tea and cakes until 9pm.

Something to keep in mind for the future.

Lucky for us they were also serving dinner. And while they didn’t have the beef burgers we had chosen from the small menu, they had my second choice; fish and chips.

A small menu in my mind is always a good sign. It means they might not do a lot of dishes, but the ones they serve are made well.

The Coach and Horses was no exception, serving up possibly the best fish and chips I’d had since coming to London.

It looked a bit over cooked but, it was all just fine. The batter was incredible, the fish was perfect and the peas were fresh. Just lovely.

As we dined, we looked out our little window, past the fushcias and into the street scene where men and women were de-briefing from a busy work week with beers in their hand.

After dinner we moved on to our favourite watering hole, The Bear and Staff in Leicester Square.

We love this pub because it’s in a great spot, that’s perfect for people watching, with crowds zig-zagging in and out of streets and cabs, coming out of the theatre and looking for a good time in Soho.

They play the best music and have a decent selection of ales and lagers. The food is nothing special, but it’ll do.

 

Harrod’s

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I went to Harrod’s yesterday with VC.

After spending a curiously long time man-handling shoes, furs and evening gowns we moved into the jewellery department. There we oggled De Beer’s diamonds and extravagant pieces of coloured jewels. We then moved on and spent the best part of the entire Harrod’s experience in the Christmas section, gleefully shaking snow globes and pointing out all the strange and wonderful objects.

All of our fruitless browsing led us to the most important part of the store.

The food court of course.

After a quick coffee and some scones we wandered the food halls.


New Wiki Project looking for Contributors

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I was approached by MyCityCuisine to promote their search for contributors for their new Wiki project.

A wiki site is a like a user-defined information management tool, the most famous being Wikipedia of course.

You know me, I’m always keen to lend a hand when it comes to food related things and I really like this idea of MyCityCuisine.

Here’s what one of their contributors had to say;

The project’s goal is to help travelers discover local foods from all over the world.
Food is an integral part of the local culture so naturally tasting local food is high on most traveler’s to-do list.
However, until now there has been no single comprehensive source for this information.
 The MyCityCuisine project aims to fill this void.  If you’d like to learn more about the project, please take a look at MyCityCuisine.org

There’s also a cool free app available for the project, so you can find out what the local bests are from your iphone. Super cool.

Cranachan is a traditional Scottish dessert. In more modern times it is usually made from a mixture of whipped cream, whisky, honey, and fresh raspberries topped with toasted oatmeal. It is sometimes called Atholl Brose (which is more properly a drink using similar ingredients). Earlier recipes used crowdie cheese rather than (or as well as) cream, and were sometimes called cream-crowdie.

Feeding Time’s Banana Bread goes to Print!

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As you know, I was invited to be a ‘Friend of Lurpak‘ for their recent Australian campaign to promote the product.

Unfortunately I was unable to join in the judging for the Lurpak Challenge because I had moved to London, but I was lucky enough to join them for the next promotion.

Lurpak is giving away a baking tin and recipe booklet in Woolworth’s supermarkets from today.

The recipe booklet features recipes from each of the 5 Friends of Lurpak (all local food bloggers).

My offering is the Banana Bread recipe that I have featured on Feeding Time Blog before.

I chose it because it is a simple, time-tested recipe…and happens to taste great spread with butter. Lurpak butter indeed.

It was such a thrill to receive my copy of the booklet before it hit the shelves and I’m so glad that I can now tell you all about it.

I expect all my Aussie readers, friends and family to go out there and buy the baking kit ASAP as the promotion only lasts for 2 weeks.

The tin is PERFECT for my banana bread and the booklet contains some more mouth-watering recipes including Orange Scented Brioche and Sticky Toffee Pudding….

Bolzano Apple Cake

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This gallery contains 2 photos.

First of all, let me apologise for the plate that has appeared in my latest blog photos. I bought them thinking they would look great with food and in photos. I was wrong. So bear with me until I get … Continue reading →

Who is Gumbo?

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KT (now 6yrs old) had been asking about Gumbo. He had seen it in a movie he watched lately and was full of questions.

So being a good dad, AT thought he would look up a recipe and get KT to help him make dinner and give me the night off.

The two had been talking about Gumbo for days now, and little LT (now 4 yrs old) asked once or twice ‘Who is Gumbo?’

To which we replied it’s a dish… food. But he didn’t seem to understand or to care, as is his way.

So it’s dinner time (5.30pm in my house) and we sit down to a lovely Gumbo meal that KT was taking great pride in sharing.

And it tasted great. Really, it did. I wanted seconds…and thirds, but held back. AT loves left overs.

As I tucked into my meal with LT sitting next me at our little table looking out into to the streets of Battersea asked ‘Does he have a mouth?’

I wasn’t sure I’d heard correctly.

I looked at him as he poked his meal with a fork.

Then I looked AT, who mustn’t have heard.

So I looked at KT who was grinning from ear to ear.

It seemed he had heard it too, and what’s more, his reaction confirmed what I had suspected.

So I asked him ‘What did LT say?’

To which he replied- trying not to laugh, ‘He thinks Gumbo is a person’.

At which point we both cracked up laughing.

LT never knew we were even having a giggle at his expense, I think he was probably still trying to figure out what exactly happened to poor old Gumbo and why we were eating him!

I didn’t know what I found funnier, the fact that LT thought Gumbo was a person; or that he wanted to know where his mouth was; or that his big brother had thought this adorable little faux pa was as funny as I did.

Anyway, if you want to make this delicious gumbo recipe, AT found it at Gumbo City, and it was this recipe we used: Easy Chicken Gumbo.

And can I say it any more times?

Gumbo, gumbo, gumbo.

Here is a little photo of LT. Just in case you didn’t know how cute he was.

The loneliest little man in Kensington Palace.

Summer Berries

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Couldn’t resist objectifying these fine examples of fresh, summer berries.

The red currents are a little more tart than I expected, so I am thinking I’ll make jam.

Who doesn’t love jam?

Equal measure of berries and sugar in a pot, simmer till lovely and bubbly. Till it looks like jam really.

I had about 200g of red-currents and blueberries (so obviously I used 200g of white sugar).

This yeilded about 3/4 of a jar of jam.

I did however over cook mine so it was more like sticky-toffee candy…ha ha ha

But I mixed a little boiled water in and we were none the wiser.

This made a lovely tart jam, perfect for scones.