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The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton

Friday 29 July 2011

Seafood @ Georges Steak and Seafood on Broadbeach, Gold Coast (Australia)

I love seafood. If seafood wasn't so dear on both the wallet and the environment, I could quite happily live on seafood. I'm glad that hubby also loves seafood, even though many in his family aren't keen on fish and seafood. Our boy also has expensive taste; he would literally pounce upon a prawn dish and make it disappear quicker than I can say "Please eat your food". After briefly checking out Surfers Paradise during our recent trip to Australia, my father-in-law and his family brought us to lunch at Georges, a steak and seafood restaurant on Broadbeach in the Gold Coast. it's a fairly upmarket restaurant with adequate service, and the food is good. The menu is quite extensive, offering not only seafood and steak, but also pasta, veal and chicken options. There is also a Kids Menu, but we would never subject our boy to the unhealthy crap that are usually featured on it (think fish and chips, chicken nuggets etc). An entrée-sized dish costs only a little more than the kids' menu, and tastes better by far.

For the 2.75 year-old: entrée-sized Garlic Prawns - king prawns flamed with brandy and finished in a garlic cream sauce on some rice. This was so good! It took a lot of my will-power to resist eating more than a tiny taste. The creamy sauce was not overly garlicky, but full of the umami flavour of seafood:

Rob and I were eyeing the Special Seafood Platter for 2, and when we found that it was AU$120, we were going to change our order, but hubby's dad and his wife insisted we get it (they were paying for the meal). It was a good thing that we didn't get any entrées because the platter was huge!

The Special Seafood Platter, which included a half gratinised lobster, grilled bugs (crustaceans, not insects!), oysters done a few different ways (au naturale, kilpatrick and gratin), scallops, boiled and grilled king prawns and barbecued baby octopus, all served on top a bed of rice and garden salad. Very good and very satisfying:

The platter from the other side:

Good seafood and steak here!

Georges Steak and Seafood Restaurant Broadbeach
27 Victoria Avenue
Broadbeach QLD 4218
Australia
Tel. +61 7 5570 1222

George's Steak and Seafood on Urbanspoon

Wednesday 27 July 2011

Indian @ Jaipur Palace, Brisbane

After spending the day at Dreamworld during our recent Brisbane trip, we were brought to Jaipur Palace for dinner, an Indian restaurant located near the coast due east of Brisbane's city centre. It's a fairly nice restaurant with friendly service, but we felt that the food took a long time to come out. We were there on a weeknight, so the restaurant wasn't operating at its fullest capacity, but we did wait quite a while for our orders to arrive at the table. The food was delicious, and I was glad that the chef was willing to accommodate my son's food allergies. My step-mother-in-law found it amusing when our waitress came back to our table with the chef's suggestion of another dish for our 2.75 year-old boy because she was concerned that the biryani would be "too much" for my son to handle. I assured our waitress that our boy loves biryani, with the spices and all. I guess there aren't many people who would give their young toddlers spicy food to eat!

Here are pictures of what hubby, the boy and I ate (no shots of what the others ate because I didn't want to hold up everyone else from their dinner).

Vegetable Samosa- spiced potatoes with peas, onion and coriander filled in pastry and then deep-fried:

Mango Lassi, which was satisfyingly flavourful:

Chicken Biryani minus the cashews (for the allergic toddler) - spiced basmati rice with chicken, vegetables and sultanas. The boy ate well that night:

Two types of naan - Garlic Naan and Peshwari Naan (sweet naan bread filled with nuts and dried fruit). Hubby and father-in-law particularly enjoyed the sweet bread:

Rob ordered the Mango Chicken - boneless curried chicken pieces cooked with ground cashews in mango sauce. This was delicious with the unmistakable mango flavour. Hubby'd ordered hot, but it was not that spicy:

My tummy wasn't feeling 100% after the bad lunch we ate at Dreamworld, so I opted for a Mixed Vegetable Curry at medium heat. This one was definitely more spicy than Rob's mango chicken at the hot level! I really wanted to like it, but the vegetable curry was rather ordinary. I guess I won't do so well as a vegetarian! I love my veges, but I think meat proteins go much better in curries for flavour and body:

Lovely Indian restaurant with delicious food.

Jaipur Palace
3/379 Main Road
Wellington Point QLD 4160
Australia
Tel. +61 7 3822 4044

Jaipur Palace on Urbanspoon

Tuesday 26 July 2011

Three days in Brisbane: Dreamworld, Surfers Paradise and South Bank

Prior to our recent trip to Brisbane, we'd been there only once before, during which time we'd been busy helping with the preparations for a wedding, so we didn't have any chance to go around Brisbane or to the Gold Coast. My father-in-law and his wife felt bad for that fact, but they more than made up for it this trip, bringing us to Dreamworld, Surfers Paradise and the CBD area, in addition to some of their favourite eats. Though our Brisbane schedule was not as hectic Sydney, it was quite impressive work for only three days. We are grateful to my FIL and his family for making this trip to Brisbane quite memorable and fun.

Dreamworld

This is Dreamworld Australia's largest theme park with many thrilling rides, but our toddler's favourite is the Wiggles World. The Wiggles is quite possibly our son's favourite Aussie band (Hi-5 is a close rival) and he was excited to see all the familiar characters and props in real life. The rest of us adults enjoyed the rides much more.

At the Wiggles World in Dreamworld:

With Captain Feathersword, Wags the Dog, Dorothy the Dinosaur, and a fairy:

At the Wiggles Show, which the boy enjoyed a lot, despite the fact that it was merely a performance by dancers in costumes to pre-recorded dialogues and songs. I was too distracted by the fact that three of the performers in the Wiggles costumes were actually females, given away by how they danced. The costume paddings also weren't enough to hide that fact:

Surfers Paradise

Queensland is blessed with such gorgeous weather during winter. Beautiful blue skies and sunny days, there were many who thought it was warm enough to don a bikini and head to the beach at Surfers Paradise (I, on the other hand, was quite happy in my turtleneck top and jeans).

The overhead sign for the main entrance to the beach, which was closed off:

Crossing the Esplanade:

Performers strolling by on stilts in cool costumes:

The boy having loads of fun with Granddad:

Brisbane CBD and South Bank

The CBD of Brisbane is pretty small, and reminded us of Perth's own CBD. The South Bank is a beautiful cultural and recreational area just across the river from the CBD. There's a free man-made swimming area, a playground, a museum, the Queensland Cultural Centre and lots of restaurants and cafés. Oh, and there's also a ferris wheel for those who would like to enjoy a leisurely ride.

Brisbane City Hall, considered one of Brisbane's finest buildings:

About to cross Victoria Bridge to the South Bank from the CBD for dinner:

View of the South Bank from the bridge at twilight:

View of the Brisbane CBD skyline at twilight from the South Bank:

A second view of the South Bank from Victoria Bridge, this time at dusk. My father-in-law was wondering why I took two shots of the same view. I just like the different lighting:

Brisbane is lovely, and I imagine it's a nice place to live. The food was yummy too, and stay tuned for more on what we ate in Brisbane!

Friday 22 July 2011

Greek @ Goodfillas, Brisbane

After spending four days in Sydney, we hopped on the plane again to fly over to Brisbane, where we spent three days with my father-in-law's family. We were very well-looked after, and we are grateful to my FIL, his dear wife and son for their hospitality and showing us around. We arrived in Brissy around lunch time, and after running some errands, my FIL brought us to Goodfillas for a late lunch. I do wish I have more opportunities to eat Greek food with my Greek step-MIL and her relatives and friends so that I can learn more about this eating-obsessed culture and food. I still fondly remember their wedding, my first - and so far, the only - time attending a Greek wedding and being amazed by all that Greek food. I learnt more about Greek dishes that night than I ever did in my lifetime before or after, and there's still more room for learning! The aptly named Goodfillas is a smallish, casual eatery that serves Greek and other Mediterranean food in the south-east suburbs of Brisbane. FIL and his wife comes here often enough, and my step-MIL likes the food, so it must be authentically Greek. The Goodfilla Platter for 2 was generously sized, and a half portion that platter was probably more than what I can handle in one sitting. Rob and his dad did just fine finishing it all. I had a taste of everything, and all was delicious. The 2.5 y/o enjoyed the calamari very much (but only after verifying the dish didn't contain any of the ingredients he is allergic to).

The Goodfilla Platter, which included tzatziki, skordalia (tasted like garlicky mashed potato), Greek salad, pitta bread, lamb cutlets, haloumi (grilled, which is the best way to have the cheese), chicken and lamb souvlakia, Greek Sausages, meatballs, BBQ octopus, calamari, prawns:

The Horiatiki (aka Greek Salad). Pictured is the undressed salad, additional to the one that came with the platter, ordered for me because my tummy was not doing great after the previous night's dinner (apparently I had eaten too much of the yummy chilli crab sauce):

Despite the fact that both Rob and his dad said they weren't that hungry, two desserts were ordered ("There's always room for dessert", they say). I'm fine with that, so long as I get to have a taste and not be expected to eat at least half (I'm usually too full by the end of a meal to have room for dessert, especially the rich ones that hubby always gets).

Galaktoboureko, a semolina-based custard-filled phyllo pastry. This one wasn't actually that great (FIL was pretty disappointed), but I know that galaktoboureko can be a delicious dessert because I've had good ones before:

Bougatsa - warm phyllo pastry filled with Goodfilla's special cream and cinammon sauce. I quite liked this one:

Good food at the Goodfillas!

Goodfillas
Shop 6 Samuel Village
11 Samuel Street
Camp Hill QLD 4152
Tel. +61 7 3395 2223

Goodfillas on Urbanspoon

Thursday 21 July 2011

Interview by The Travelling Tastebuds

The lovely girl behind The Travelling Tastebuds recently requested an interview with me, and she has featured the Expat Gourmand on her latest blog post. She asked the questions and I answered! Check it out if you're interested to find out more about the Expat Gourmand.

As she mentioned in her introduction, we are both quite similar in our backgrounds and interests. I do love reading her posts on food, travelling and fitness, as it gives me an insight into everyday life on the other side of the globe. Blogging and the internet certainly make the world a bit smaller :)

Wednesday 20 July 2011

Other Sydney eats: Chinese takeaway and Gelatissimo

Everyone in the western world is familiar with "white man's Chinese" food which is quite possibly more readily obtainable than authentic Chinese food. Now to be clear, I don't mean any racial disrespect to my fairer-skinned friends when I label this food as "white man's Chinese"; in fact, this term was coined by my white Aussie husband to refer to the westernised Chinese food easily available in Australia. This is a pseudo-Chinese cuisine based around western tastes that can differ quite significantly from the original Chinese cuisine. Having been exposed to what real Chinese and other Asian dishes actually taste like, hubby obviously prefers the authentic stuff, hands down. However, "white man's Chinese" food has a special place in his stomach because of the simple fact that he had grown up eating the stuff; however I, on the other hand, have no such fondness for that kind of food. Poor hubby hasn't had many - if any at all - opportunities to get nostalgic by eating that kind of food since we moved away from Australia. It was no surprise then that when we went to the Market City food court with my family for dinner one night during our short trip to Sydney, Rob got a "combination plate" from one of the Chinese stalls, which is as typical "white man's Chinese" as you can get. There was fried rice and fried noodles, and his choice of three dishes from the bain marie: sticky honey prawns, chicken curry and Peking-style pork (or perhaps it was sweet & sour pork?), all for under AU$8. He said he quite enjoyed it, but I honestly didn't see any appeal (the honey prawns and pork were too sweet, and I can make better curry - without MSG too), so he happily ate most of the plate. Chicken and corn soup was included in the combo special that night, but it wasn't that great, and barely even warm. I did enjoy the prawn crackers that I'd bought from the same shop, and so did the rest of my family.

Combination plate of fried rice, fried noodles, Peking-style pork, curry chicken and honey prawns. Chicken and corn soup and the bag of prawn crackers in the background:

No trip to Sydney is complete without a visit to Gelatissimo (for us, anyway). Rob got a double-scoop cone of the Cherry Bite (chocolate and cherry) and Choc Orange flavours at the Circular Quay while waiting for the next ferry to Taronga Zoo. We all preferred the chocolate orange combination, but Zak re-affirmed his dislike for ice creams when he had a lick (he's never been very keen on cold stuff ever since he first had an ice chip at 9 months old). Hubby commented that the quality wasn't as good as he remembered, although I believe it's not that the quality has declined, but that Gelatissimo's gelato doesn't measure up to the real deal that we ate in Italy. Still, I think that Gelatissimo is anyone's best bet at getting good gelato that is relatively easy to obtain (in eastern Australia at least; the Perthies have Il Gelato).

The cone after a couple of licks had already been taken. That's our boy in the background wondering why Dada likes the cold stuff:

Monday 18 July 2011

Big Family Dinner @ Harry's Singapore Chilli Crab, Sydney

What do you do with a family who gathers in one place for the first time in years? Have a large banquet, of course! As anyone with a Chinese background or knowledge would tell you, no reunion is complete until the family shares in a large banquet-style meal. The Japanese dinner we had to celebrate my mum's 60th was delicious, but taking a dainty piece of sushi, sashimi or tempura to your plate isn't quite the same as tucking in messily to several large dishes of Chinese-style food. One of my Sydneysider sisters suggested Harry's Singapore Chilli Crab, and this was where our big family group went for our final dinner together before my little family flew to Brisbane the following morning.

Large live mud crabs greet customers near the upstairs entrance. Hand courtesy of brother, who was glad to provide a scale reference:

The restaurant looks like any other Chinese restaurants, except with a more tacky outdated decor. Service was good enough - there are certainly other Chinese restaurants around with worse service (but I can ignore bad service if the food is good enough). Harry's seems like a popular place for corporate dinners, and there was a large group of collar-shirted men feasting on chili crabs when we arrived for dinner. The scene was slightly amusing because these men had donned the disposable apron that the restaurant provides to protect clothing from the messy affair of eating chilli crab. Don't get me wrong - I myself would rather risk looking ridiculous than staining an expensive top that requires expensive dry cleaning. Note that this is not a cheap restaurant. Let's just say that the dinner bill would be a better fit for a corporate's pocket than the average Joe. With that said, you do get what you pay for; we would all have felt ripped-off otherwise. The 2kg mud crabs cost about AU$120 each, and we'd ordered three - but you should've heard the silence that fell upon the table when everyone dug into the crabs with the busy-eating-can't-talk mode on. It's hard - and messy - work cracking shells, extracting the flesh and then finally savouring the crabmeat. The non-crab menu is also quite expensive, so unless you have your heart set on chilli crab, you'd be better off at one of the many Chinese restaurants in Chinatown.

Singapore Roti, which was supposed to be eaten with the chilli crab sauce, but it had been brought out at least 10 minutes before the crab dishes showed up:

Sambal Kangkung - my favourite green leafy veg, but talk about overpriced! This plate was almost AU$16!

Harry's Black Pepper Beef. Tender and tasty with salty black beans:

Dining at a Chinese restaurant with my brother anywhere will ensure that Peking Spare Ribs will be on the table. Actually, I think this dish is a family favourite because the sisters and hubby have ordered this dish without my brother around:

A decent version of Char Kuey Teow, but overpriced:

Crispy Chicken - not too dissimilar to salt-and-pepper squid. Son loved it (obviously after I checked that it didn't contain any of the ingredients he's allergic to):

Finally came the three large plates of Harry's Singapore Chilli Crab. I can't lie - these were good! Even the sauce was finger-licking good:

The table after all the food had arrived. Apologies for the skewy shot - I was very eager to get back to eating! My mum suggested I take an "after" shot too, which I did, but empty dirty plates aren't very great-looking, so it's not going up on my blog.

Hubby got one of the large claws, which he enjoyed very much!

That was a feast. An expensive one, but a satisfying one.

Harry's Singapore Chilli Crab
Level 1, 198 Elizabeth Street
Sydney NSW 2010
Australia
Tel. +61 2 9281 5565

Harry's Singapore Chilli Crab on Urbanspoon

Friday 15 July 2011

All in two days' work: Sydney Wildlife World, Aquarium, Harbour Cruise and Taronga Zoo

Although we have been to Sydney many times before, we still managed to pack in a few things we hadn't done yet. We were in Sydney for only 4 days this time, and I am impressed with how much we managed to squeeze into that little time, especially considering the fact that hubby, toddler and I were running on sleep deficit due to the red-eye 9-hour flight we caught from Hong Kong to Sydney. Our busy schedule began less than three hours after our flight touched down on the morning of our arrival in Sydney, and the first two days were reserved for my mum's 60th celebrations and a family photo-shoot with a photographer. We also had recently purchased a Sydney Scoopon deal that gave us entry into three attractions, and most of my siblings had also purchased the same deal so we could do a family outing together. However, we'd also planned to visit Taronga Zoo so that Zak could see the elephants and the big cats, which meant that we had to do ALL THREE attractions in one day! I'm still surprised we managed to achieve that, even with two boys in our care (my 8.5 y/o nephew tagged along, much to my own boy's delight). I think it helped a lot that we stayed near the Darling Harbour where the Sydney Wildlife World and the Sydney Aquarium are situated.

On Pyrmont Bridge in Darling Harbour. We have the same shot at the exact same spot, except here we are 5 years older, not as slim and with a kid:

Along one side of the Pyrmont Bridge. Shot taken just prior to its scheduled 12pm bridge opening:

We happened to be on the Pyrmont Bridge around its scheduled opening, and here it is as it is swinging open. Apparently it takes about 1 minute to open completely to 83 degrees:

Sydney Wildlife Centre

A life-size Lego creation of a kangaroo in a boxing ring at the Wildlife Centre. The Lego models are on display at both the Wildlife Centre and Aquarium until the end of 2011:

Meet Rex, the huge 5m long resident croc at the Wildlife Centre:

There were koalas too, about 7 in total, but this cutie was the only one awake. The backdrop of modern apartments in the background says nothing about koalas' natural habitat, but I'm glad Zak could see koalas without having to leave the city:

I saw a live cassowary! These endangered birds play a very important role in seed dispersal and germination of several hundred rainforest trees including rare species. Unfortunately this is the only clear shot I managed to get of this bird who ran away from the display window shortly after:

Sydney Harbour Cruise

The two most iconic structures of Sydney in one image: the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, taken while aboard Magistic Cruises on their 1-hour cruise tour of the Sydney Harbour:

Sydney Aquarium

Look at my son's expression when he saw a dugong swimming by at the Mermaid Lagoon exhibit inside the Aquarium. Legend has it that these creatures were often mistaken for mermaids by the first European sailors to arrive in Australia's coastal waters:

The underside of two sharks:

That whale model is made completely out of Lego blocks! Must have taken a while to build:

Taronga Zoo

With my younger sister at Taronga Zoo with the Harbour Bridge in the far background (she's the prettier and more stylish one in the photo). She spent almost a year living with us in Japan (helping us with taking care of Zak between his 1st and 2nd birthday), and she came with us to the zoo to spend quality time with her nephew. It was a very windy day hence the hair in our faces:

Getting up close and personal with a real live snake!

Interacting with a chimp behind the glass:

Zak's first time seeing elephants in the flesh:

Beautiful giraffes eating (and fighting over food):

This Sumatran tigress was pacing up and down right near the window, giving everyone a close up view of a tiger in action (versus lounging around or hiding from the public). It was quite difficult taking a clear shot of this tiger, and I saw many people taking and re-taking photos of this beauty without much success. I guess not many people know of the panning technique:

She was quite restless, seeming anxious about something, but she stopped a couple of times right in front of me, giving me a clear shot of her:

Phew, we sure got lots done in such a short time in Sydney! Stay tuned for more on Sydney eats!