I’m not much of a thief, stealing hotel pens and slippers from nice establishments is about the extent of it. Last year Queen Viv and I drove through the town of Berry and knowing of the awesome reputation of the Berry Sourdough bakery I beseeched her to stop. And unlike Mr NQN who never stops as he knows that a stop means shopping and/or more food she readily agreed.
However when we got there it was some time into the evening and the place was dark. Except for one staff member. “Yoohoo!” Queen Viv said in her authoritative voice “Can we have a look inside?” He looked us both up and down and somehow decided that the two of us were less Thelma and Louise and more two curious and harmless individuals. He let us in and we took a look around and I made a mental note that I simply had to come back at some later stage. And that later stage happened to be over a year after.
The smiling waiter says that we can take a seat wherever we like and so we take one of the few tables left. Some have commented about the service at the cafe being rude but there’s nothing but smiles and courtesy for all of the customers (and if they read those reviews and improved on it then bravo to them). I watch a young boy holding a spoon in his mouth looking at the pastries with longing, his eyes as wide as saucers. We dither, the initial rumblings for the brioche French toast are quashed when the waitress tells us that they have sold out but we find another item that takes our fancy.
Long black $3.50
Sauteed mixed mushrooms on sourdough with roast garlic and lemon ricotta $16.50
I adore the mushrooms with creamy lemon ricotta spread on top of their wholewheat sourdough. There is an varied selection of exotic mushrooms along with Swiss browns, enoki, oyster and shiitake and it is generously portioned. The ricotta is wonderfully creamy like a good Paesanella ricotta and with a judicious amount of lemon and the bread, well it is pretty fabulous.
Smoked tomato and manchego omelette with chilli jam$16.50
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| September 25th, 2011 by Not Quite Nigella
“If you can answer this question correctly, you are the smartest person in Australia” Mr NQN said looking at me over the top of the iPad. As a child of Chinese parents that was subjected to flash cards before I could talk it is pretty much a given and an imperative that I will jump when asked a question (and cringe when asked to do a physical challenge-true).
He cleared his throat. “OK so in Australia on the census, most people ticked that they are of “no religion”. Can you tell me what the next two religions are?”
I thought about it for a moment and answered, “Catholic and Anglican” and he shook his head. Apparently the next two most popular religions in the last census before this year’s was Catholic and then Buddhist! Who knew? I mean I knew plenty of Buddhists although neither of us are but I didn’t think my motley sample pool of friends represented a portion of Australia as a whole. But this little tidbit reminded me of a Buddhist temple that we had driven past many times.
The Nan Tien Buddhist temple is an enormous sky high temple and never fails to catch our eye and a friend had mentioned that they do a yum cha or tea of sorts in their tea room or the “Dew Drop Inn” (pun perhaps intended). Well yum cha in the fact that they serve dumplings but there aren’t the trolleys whizzing past or a huge choice of items like a typical yum cha. Nevertheless we were intrigued to stop there and not just to see what the temple looked up close. Call it a temple version of checking out someone’s house!
We arrive through the enormous grand arch way and flapping in the wind are flags that signify us to “Do good things, Speak good words, Think good thoughts” and we immediately try and banish thoughts of swearing about how cold it is and how we just hope we get a parking spot really close to the tea room.
There’s a pagoda in a separate building but the main building houses the tea room. Some brave souls are sitting outside but as it is a freezing cold Winter’s day where the sun fails to ignite any sort of bodily warmth due to the wind chill we take shelter inside. We grab a wooden table, they are mostly all taken but there are all sorts of nooks and crannies here, and I go to the counter to order. I take one of the large laminated A3 sized menus and peruse it. On one side is a list of drinks from regular coffees to pots of tea. On the other side are a dozen or so dumpling and noodle dishes to choose from. All of the dishes are vegetarian and there is a good range of exotic teas. The prices aren’t as cheap as yum cha but the funds go back into the temple and it’s quite a nice setting to eat in.
Lotus tea $6.50
My first choice of “cam quat” aka cumquat tea is not available so I choose a lotus tea instead. It’s lovely and warming and helps warm us up from the inside.
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| August 17th, 2011 by Not Quite Nigella
I love a driving holiday. A flying one is of course with its perks but driving somewhere always allows you to to stop and take a look whatever your eye may have caught and of course it is much better for one thing that I particularly like-shopping. Which is why one weekend Mr NQN and I found ourselves piling Purdie the Prius high with luggage and leaving plenty of space for shopping. We headed down to the South Coast, a place that we have visited numerous times with friends and family. This time it was just us, Purdie and a lot of room for shopping 
It’s a four hour drive including pit stops and shopping stops but we have a little treat in store for our first stop once we get there. It’s always nice to unwind after a long drive and if unwinding was at a spa then all the better. And you certainly wouldn’t know that from the outside of this white and light yellow building would house a most intriguing spa. Go on, guess what the theme is…I dare you!
Follow me through the doors. It’s an Egyptian Spa! In the midst of tranquil Burrill Lake no less. The inside is so completely, decadently decked out and there are Egyptian statues everywhere. A cat sits on one of the lounges licking its paw. It seems to think that it is part of the decor. One of the white uniformed therapists Prue greets us and welcomes us to the Isis Spa. We fill in the requisite forms and take a seat in the waiting room. Mr NQN and I are about to embark on a little trip to Egypt and experience one of their signature treatments the Abyhang treatment which is a two hour Indian massage that starts with a foot soak and scrub and face compresses and ends off with every part of your body massaged including your eyeballs!
The idea of having an Egyptian spa reportedly came to the owner in a dream and there are four therapy rooms from the Isis to my favourite the Lotus room. The products are by Subtle Energies and there are also creams and candles by Ecoya and makeup available for purchase. We sit back while our feet are tended to and then make our way to our respective rooms. I have the Lotus room which I am pleased to see.
My therapist Rochelle explains the treatment to me. It is different from many other massages and they focus on the marma which are like pressure points. It’s different from reflexology but that is a close comparison. She starts off on my feet with a dry massage and then I get to choose between a revitalising or relaxation-I choose relaxation. She uses the oils and there are all sorts of interesting techniques that I’ve never experienced in a massage before. There is some gentle shaking and some deep breathing accompanied with pushing and pulling. And in the two hours there is nothing left untended to.
We emerge from our rooms and there is a cup of tea waiting for us, a most interesting blend it is strong in cumin and is sweet with honey and reminds us of a sweet curry. Now that is the way to start a Winter weekend away!
We start driving to our accommodation for the weekend, Meadowlake Lodge. Intriguingly, the instructions sent to us read: “At the top of the seventh rise, you sometimes need to take caution – peacocks!”
It’s like a fairytale map of sorts. Meadowlake Lodge is one of Milton’s top spots to stay at and is 5 star country luxury with its own area for landing your own helicopter-well if you have that sort of thing. We arrive through the gates and the house is enormous. Now I admit I’m not normally a B&B person. I like privacy and sometimes you feel like you’re staying at a relatives house they’re so close. And relatives you hardly know too. But the house here is so enormous and divided into two wings so you do feel like you have a lot of privacy.
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| July 29th, 2011 by Not Quite Nigella
I look back at bad meals with a degree of anguish. When my good friend Queen Viv took me to Wollongong she did so on a wisp of memory of a good meal seaside. Not quite remembering the name she didn’t call to see whether it was still open and sadly it was no longer and so we settled on a meal at a place that replaced it. It was fine but not spectacular. But I felt reader’s pain when they told me of the other places we could have eaten at. I could imagine them saying to themselves “What a wasted opportunity!” but of course they ere too polite to say so. One reader Jen recommend Fireworks Cafe in nearby Austinmer and another reader Lulu recommended the homemade gelato at Austi beach cafe so one afternoon during the Christmas break Mr NQN and I took the drive there.
Fireworks Cafe is on a side street away from the main street and the minute you walk into the converted butcher shop the first word that you think of is quirky. The menu is written on the walls and there are mismatched, colourful lampshades that hang from the ceiling as well as woollen knitted pink balls that look like furry lanterns that trail the front window.
Orange, watermelon and ginger juice $6
We start with some refreshments after the drive. I start off with an Earl Grey tea and Mr NQN starts with a juice with orange, watermelon and ginger which is refreshing and warm with ginger.
Earl Grey tea $4
I didn’t want to stare too long at the menu-there was a table of people right next to it that perhaps thought that I was busy staring at them so I honed in on the words “pork belly” and “ocean trout” and ordered these at the table.
Pork belly salad $16.50
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| January 26th, 2011 by Not Quite Nigella
Thelma and Louise hit the road again! Ahem I mean I am hitting the road with Queen Viv to attend the Narooma Oyster Festival. When Mr NQN wasn’t able to get time off work I knew who to ask immediately-the woman who had driven for an hour to get some oysters and champagne. So on this chilly autumn day we set off for a the drive to Narooma. We pass through small towns-we can’t really stop as we need to be at Moruya for lunch and we pass location names such as Cockway Creek, Wheelbarrow road and Mount Agony road and after a 4.5 hour drive and one very ordinary, forgettable sandwich along the way, we arrive for lunch at The River restaurant where we meet Cath.
The restaurant is owned and run by three chefs originally from Melbourne called Toby, Tim and Peter. The building was built by an architect who moved here from Sydney as he wanted a venue where he could entertain his friends. The three young chefs worked here for a while and then returned to Melbourne but missed it so much that they bought it from him a few years later. The menu changes every season and on the first Friday of every month they host a producer’s dinner for $60 a head where the producers themselves come in and discuss their produce with the diners. The produce is mostly local and organic where possible and there is a slow food movement here.
The service is friendly and there is the a la carte menu as well as a set menu which is great value with 2 courses for $40. Queen Viv eyeballs the eel while I like the idea of the lambs brains-apparently this is always on the menu as diners won’t allow them to take it off!
Lambs brains $18
They assured us that they wouldn’t come out looking too brain like as Cath has never tried them and is hesitant. Instead they come out resembling croquettes with a pool of sauce gribiche which is like a tartare style sauce with pickles and boiled egg. The lambs brains are crumbed in herbs and parmesan. Cutting into them, they’re soft and spongey and rich (and incidentall a reader told me that brains are very high in cholesterol). They actually seem like the perfect filling for a croquette and I wonder why we haven’t seen this done more. Indeed the waitress tells us of a diner who comes in with his wife and he orders brains for an entree and then a main and while she has dessert, he orders another serve of brains!
Mille Feuille of smoked eel in toasted pumpernickel, cucumber and cornichon salad $19
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| July 11th, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
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