Eating & Dining Out @ Not Quite Nigella

Category Archives: Eating

The Stuffed Beaver For Valentines Day!

the stuffed beaver, bondi

From: ”Not Quite Nigella”
To: “Queen Viv”
Sent: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:04:48 +1100
Subject: Valentines Day tomorrow

Hello!

Are you still ready for our Valentines Day adventure tomorrow night? What time suits you best? The earlier the better as they don’t take bookings-and I should warn you, it’s not a dress up sort of place

Lorraine
x

the stuffed beaver, bondi

Queen Viv as the Stuffed Beaver

From: “Queen Viv”
To: ”Not Quite Nigella”
Sent: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:37:40 +1100
Subject: Valentines Day tomorrow

“What have you got in mind, you little devil? Not a food fight I hope!
I’m psychologically prepared this time… I think”

the stuffed beaver, bondi

From: ”Not Quite Nigella”
To: “Queen Viv”
Sent: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:42:55 +1100
Subject: Valentines Day tomorrow

“No, no, it’s quite civilised and no jelly wrestling I promise…”

She’s a trusting soul at times our Queen Viv. The last time we kidnapped her for Valentines Day we took her on a social experiment where we wanted to see who on earth visits Hooters on Valentines Day. We were treated to buxom waitresses shimmying in tiny orange hot pants and industrial strength shiny pantyhose and doing ”The Nutbush” on chairs.

the stuffed beaver, bondi

Thankfully, Queen Viv has a short memory. When Mr NQN and I walked past The Stuffed Beaver a couple of months ago our eyes met and I said to him “I have to investigate this place on the name alone!” It turns out that this Bondi Beach favourite is a bar and dining parlour serving Canadian goodies and rumour had it that it serves poutine. Not familiar with poutine? Well it is a delicious calorific concoction of piping hot fries smothered in gravy and then melted cheese curds.

the stuffed beaver, bondi

On the drive there Queen Viv laments that romance is dead. Oops and she doesn’t even know that our Valentines Day dinner is at a place called The Stuffed Beaver… We walk into the bar and it’s already busy-the waitress shows us to a booth in the back room. When I rang to make a booking a few days ago I was told that there were no bookings but that if we showed up before 7:30pm we should be ok. The woman also added “We’re not really a Valentines Day kind of place” but there are plenty of couples dining here. To the left of the back room there are timber booths and to the right are tables for two. Murals adorn the walls and on the table there’s a bottle of hot sauce as well as ketchup, mustard and napkins as well as laminated menus, a beaver on one side, food on the other.

the stuffed beaver, bondi

Everything on the menu is “Dam nachos!” “Dam pommes frites!” etc and the beaver and Canadian theme carries through to the menu items. A hot dog is called Celine Diog and my eyes dart to the one item that I was looking for. There it is: poutine in all its glory and not only that, but in two variations: classic or lumberjack, the latter with bacon pieces on top. Queen Viv, Miss America and I are delighted to see that there’s a Whitney Houston tribute on of each of the many tv screens on the wall and a sign says that whoever has the highest tab gets to choose the channel.

the stuffed beaver, bondi

Frickles $6

The food comes thick and fast and we barely have enough time to contemplate Whitney’s brilliance before the food soon covers our table. First up is the “Frickles” aka battered and deep fried long green chilli pickles, tangy and juicy on the inside with a piping hot crunchy batter with spongey layer inside. These are served with a ranch dressing although I like these even more with the Mexican hot sauce provided.

the stuffed beaver, bondi

Happy Pig burger $13

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72 comments | February 15th, 2012 by Not Quite Nigella

Iron Chef, Cabramatta

iron chef cabramatta

Dear Reader, I know the title suggests that I was hanging out with the chefs from the television show Iron Chef but alas my visit to Cabramatta with my friend Christie and her baby Poppy to buy ingredients to make Pho didn’t involve either Chen, Sakai or Michiba. After shopping, the hot summer weather meant that Christie, baby Poppy and I sought the relief of air conditioning, high chairs and yum cha food at the Iron Chef restaurant.

We’re shown to a table and given a high chair and then the wonderful, gratifyingly fast ritual of yum cha ordering begins. A woman suddenly appears with her trolley of steamed goodies and gives us a hearty “Good morning!” She lifts up the lids of her selection and we’re happy to see our favourites here. We pick and choose the ones we want and bypass the ones that don’t thrill, she stamps our card and we commence one of our favourite rituals.

iron chef cabramatta

Chinese New Year Soup Dumpling

We ordered this dish because she had made a special mention that this was available just for Chinese New Year. It came in a steamer but inside is a glass bowl filled with clear broth, strands of coriander, an enormous pork and seafood dumplings and slippery, clear mung bean noodles underneath the dumpling. The broth was just what we needed in this heat-I always thought that eating hot soup or curries in heat was counter-productive but it refills our energy reserves nicely. The pleated dumpling, and you can perhaps see that it is a Titanic sized specimen floating in the sea of soup, is filled with pork mince and prawns as well as some bamboo shoots to give it crunch.

iron chef cabramatta

Seafood dumplings

Christie and I both adore seafood-we have such similar food tastes and we first bonded many years ago when we started talking about our mutual love of cream. Seafood is another item that we gladly snaffle up and this is a goody. Sometimes I find seafood dumplings have those bits of peanut which I do not like at all as they taste soggy but this is full of prawn and scallops with a thin, translucent dumpling skin.

iron chef cabramatta

Har Gow prawn dumplings

My favourite dumplings, these were very good indeed the large prawns having a wonderfully fresh texture to them. My kingdom for a tower of steamers!

iron chef cabramatta

Yam dumplings

This was the first time that Christie had tried these and she was curious about them. They’re deep fried dumplings filled with pork mince, pork pieces and vegetables and then covered in pureed purple yam which is then coated in super fine, delicate crumbage that melts on the tongue. They need a little more seasoning but the texture of these is what wins us over.

iron chef cabramatta

Chee cheong fan

We weren’t won over by these at all-even Poppy who loves these rejected them summarily. The prawn texture wasn’t as springy as the ones in the har gow and they tasted a bit flat and over steamed.

iron chef cabramatta

Prawn and mushrooms

“Ooh what are those?” I say spotting some dumplings. I’ve been wanting to try some yum cha fare that is a little different from the norm. These were round balls made up of seafood mince on top of whole shiitake mushrooms. The texture for this dish was good although I did find that these needed a little seasoning too.

iron chef cabramatta

Seafood dumplings with fish roe

By now we were getting quite full but I saw these at another table by on my way back from the restroom so we ordered a serve of these with the restaurant manager as we didn’t want to bother the yum cha ladies with opening up all of their baskets if we were only after one dish. We asked the restaurant manager what was in them and he thought about it for a second before suggesting that he try one of ours and let us know! They’re very friendly here and I think Poppy had them wrapped around her little finger. These ended up being seafood dumplings containing prawn, scallops and little tendrils of octopus and finely sliced Chinese greens all topped with fish roe which we both enjoyed (although the Adrian Monk in me thinks that they could have distributed the fish roe a bit more evenly).

iron chef cabramatta

Oh Poppy!

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50 comments | February 12th, 2012 by Not Quite Nigella

Restaurant Toshiya, Cremorne

toshiya cremorne

It was Saturday afternoon and I was hunting for a place for Mr NQN and I to have dinner with Queen Viv and Miss America that evening. The latter is very easy going but Queen Viv always needs convincing so I texted Queen Viv ”How about Toshiya in Cremorne? They have sashimi tacos.”

“That sounds interesting and possibly revolting, let’s give it a go” she answered back straight away. A shrinking violet Queen Viv is not

Which is how we found ourselves in her car driving at what seemed like warp speed with Queen Viv at the wheel. I had already stalked the menu online and from all reports the food was delicious and good value so I wasn’t in the slightest bit worried about Queen Viv’s foreboding text.

toshiya cremorne

There are all of the usual items on the Japanese menu but what really caught our eye was the page with the sushi specials. With items like the aforementioned sashimi tacos as well as 3 way salmon, tempura sushi and scallops, hi -ha rolls and pari pari chicken. “Let’s try the weird stuff” Queen Viv said and Miss America agreed and they reminded me of why I enjoy dining with them so much. The only criticism that I had read of Toshiya was that dishes seem to come out with gaps between them but that to me isn’t a problem as we share everything. There are also add ons like Hon Wasabi (freshly grated real wasabi) and their home made soy sauce.

toshiya cremorne

Sashimi tacos $13 for two

The salmon sashimi tacos came in a deep fried gyoza wrapper curved around like a taco and filled with diced, marinated salmon sashimi. I find that there’s a bit too much dressing in there and it makes the taco shell a bit wet if you waited much longer and I actually prefer the sashimi outside of the shell but Queen Viv and Miss America love it and Queen Viv rescinds and literally eats her earlier words.

toshiya cremorne

Wakame salad $7.50

The wakame salad comes out in a beautiful bowl and features seasoned wakame salad, salad leaves, tomato and red onion with a home made sesame dressing. There is also some dried, shredded laver seaweed on top which provides a nice contrast.

toshiya cremorne

Tempura sushi?! and scallops (6pieces) $15

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51 comments | February 7th, 2012 by Not Quite Nigella

The Corner House, Bondi

the corner house, bondi

I have to mentally prepare myself when entering hipster joints. I have to tell myself that they’re just hipsters and they mean well enough and that they don’t harm anyone really. For good measure I remember the quote from Seinfeld when they referred to Kramer as the “hipster doofus” and realise that being a hipster is not a state of being for most people. And when I was warned by many that The Corner House was hipster central, well I braced myself. Mr NQN and I were on a date night, just the two of us.

Mr NQN and I walk into one entrance of The Corner House in Bondi which takes up residence where the Old Castile pizza joint used to sit. We’ve dining early at 6pm and we are shown to the empty back room. The maitre’d is brusque and seems as if he has a thousand other important things to do other than seat us. Thankfully the Arctic chill ends there and the waiter and bartender are lovely and everything settles down just nicely. We take a look at the menu (a sheet of paper wooden pegged onto an A4 sized piece of box cardboard) and the waiter gives us some recommendations. Prices are excellent here with most mains hovering around the $30 mark.

the corner house, bondi

This drink is a riot in London $18

The cocktail list has a fun list of names including this one which caught our eye called “This drink is a riot in London” and has Tanquerey, St Germain, Campari, apple and cucumber and is sweet and refreshing and summery. The description reads “All the elements of an English Summer: fresh, floral and a hint of bitter lawlessness.” The bartender that conceived the idea was in London during the riots and was inspired to make this cocktail.

the corner house, bondi

Bread

The bread, two fresh fat fingers, is drizzled in olive oil and salt with roasted pepitas and sunflower seeds.

the corner house, bondi

Crowded House Pizza $23

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55 comments | February 1st, 2012 by Not Quite Nigella

Honeycomb, Darlinghurst

honeycomb darlinghurst

Some may call it gossip, I prefer to call it a catch up and when you haven’t seen a girlfriend in weeks or even months, well I think that the polite thing to do is avail yourself of all of the girly gossip ahem…current affairs you can.

Except of course if you’re sitting elbow to elbow to the table next to you which happens to be the position Christie and I happen to be in. We’ve got a booking and we are the first customers at 12 noon at Honeycomb, the already popular new place from Cafe Sopra’s Andy Bunn and we take a seat at the banquette against the window of the restaurant. Within seconds, two tables of two sit down right next to us and then suddenly all juicy bits of information disappear from our lips as we feel like we’re sharing them with the other diners so we zip our lips and concentrate on the menu.

honeycomb darlinghurst

The menu is tighter than the sprawling chalkboard menu at Cafe Sopra and seems to be more hand picked favourites which makes choosing easier. The waitress is friendly and recommends some dishes to us-the specials also sound good and we choose quickly. Unlike Sopra where there is a no photos policy, they seem a bit more lenient here at Honeycomb and when I ask if it is ok to take photos the waitress asks if it is for a blog, I nod yes and assent is given.

honeycomb darlinghurst

Vitello tonnato $20

I’m an absolute fiend for vitello tonnato, the Italian dish made with thinly sliced veal, tuna and a creamy sauce. It’s a doppelganger of the Cafe Sopra version except there’s added flavour from the plump white anchovies, baby capers and paper thin sliced lemon. It’s the kind of dish where we wish we had some bread to mop up the sauce (noticed by the waitress who brings bread with the mains).

honeycomb darlinghurst