The Missing Brontosaurus
“What number is it? Mr NQN asks and I had forgotten to write down the street number for La Piadina. I know that it’s somewhere in the hundreds. It’s not a glorious sunny day the Sunday that we visit La Piadina. The rain has settled in and we’re driving up and down Glenayr Avenue in Bondi Beach looking for what was described to us as “a little hole in the wall”. We drive up and down and up and down before I google it on my phone. Ahh 106. We drive past number 106 and there it is, it was there all the time but like Platform 9 3/4 at Kings cross station in Harry Potter we just didn’t see it. Subtly signposted and with a open glass and wooden frontage it’s a small restaurant and one that sells piadinas. “What are piadinas” you may ask? They’re flat, unleavened soft bread rounds that originally hail from Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy. Reportedly the poet Pascoli described it in one of his poems as “Simple, holy bread of the poor” and “Nothing speaks more of Romagna than this bread of ours… it is a symbol that speaks of devotion to our land”. M’s friend Hans described it to us as “a flat bread that has been folded over”. “Do you mean a calzone?” “No not quite” he says. We were intrigued by the concept and this is the only place doing piadinas here in Sydney.
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March 11, 2010
by Not Quite Nigella
I’m confused and wandering around the Botanic Gardens. I want to ask someone directions but everyone else looks like a tourist. My phone rings and it is Christie. She too is lost too. Joggers are everywhere with earphones so I am loathe to stop them although I figure they are locals. I stop one that has no earphones and ask him directions. “Oh I’m sorry” he says with a friendly American accent “I’m a tourist”.
“Are you lost?” an English voice chimes in behind me.
“Well…yes I am” I admit.
“What are you looking for?” I tell her the Andrew Boy Charlton Pool and she is amazingly headed in the same direction. Even though I was born and bred here, I am directionally challenged and it takes a friendly visitor from overseas to lead me to the door where I find my fabulous blogging buddy Christie.
We’re about thirty minutes late for our booking and it’s pretty crowded. Downstairs, swimmers are bathing and doing laps . There are families still on holidays with their small kids and tanned gods (yes it’s said to be a popular gay haunt) strutting around in very small swimmers. Upstairs is the cafe and we take a seat on the bright orange seats. We’re hot after our little traipse across the Botanical Gardens and all I want is a cold drink and the lukewarm tap water does little to cool us off.
We take a quick look at the menu but are too busy catching up. It’s been over six months since we last saw each other and the waitress really seems to want to take our order so we have a quick look. We’re both trying to eat healthier so we choose frappes and salads. There is a breakfast menu which we presume is available now as they’re presenting us with it and a lunch menu which is broken up into small plates with items such as Manzanillo olives, artichoke dip with crostini, zucchini flowers and lamb cutlets and then there are the mains which features salads, a prawn spaghetti and battered flathead fish and chips. Prices reach up to the low $20’s for a main.
very good looking men
Lychee, Strawberry and Cloudy Apple Frappe left, Blood Orange and Mango Frappe $6 each
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January 28, 2010
by Not Quite Nigella
“Are you from a blog or something?” the tattooed gentleman asks me as he is clearing up the tables having spotted our camera work. The tattoo work is echoed on the walls with tattoo swallows although it doesn’t quite match his arm art. He’s friendly though and the question is asked with interest rather than suspicion. Around us are families with young children and babies as well as couples. Prices are very reasonable and the menu, although not American diner style is more Australian cafe style.
Sparkling Black $5
The Sparkling Black is a bit of an inauspicious start. We enquired as to whether this was just a fancy name for saying Coke and the waitress tells us that it’s a coffee drink with sparkling mineral water (although she doesn’t admit to liking it herself). Envisaging those slightly bitter Italian drinks like Chinotto we’re instead presented with a glass with a foamy Guinness type head on the top. It’s an unsweetened long black with sparkling mineral water and is not popular with the table at all with each of us trying some and passing it on quickly. “Worth a try” some of us say whilst Queen Viv is less enamoured “No it wasn’t” she says grimacing.
Belgian Chocolate milkshake $6
The milkshakes are made with homemade syrups. You can taste the Belgian chocolate but it needs a touch more syrup and a bit more richness via some ice cream as tastes more like chocolate milk.
Organic Cloudy Apple juice $5
I do like organic cloudy apple juice as it’s sweet and delicious. I find cloudy apple juice to be like drinking the juice from a freshly bitten apple.
Sourdough rolls
We’re given complimentary sourdough rolls and they’re deliciously soft and fresh.
Chickpea salad $14
My chickpea salad was one I ordered because I was hoping to eat a bit healthier. It comes with roasted carrots, rocket, tabouli, chickpeas , mint and parsley and is tasty with a light and zingy preserved lemon dressing and fresh herbs and I happily finish every morsel.
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January 26, 2010
by Not Quite Nigella
My little black book is full. Not full of numbers from various men that I’ve met – I’m married after all, but full with restaurants and shops that I want to visit and notes that I take from visiting these places. There was one place that I was determined to visit and that had stayed asterisked for a while. I saw it on the lovely Ja’s blog Beansprouts cafe and her photos sealed the deal so to speak and that was why I had positioned an asterisk next to it.
I walk past and there’s a man at an outside table with an adorable dog and they’re bringing it a container of water. I walk in to meet Myriam who I’m hoping will love it as it’s said to be decorated in a French apartment Louis XIVth style (although I should have probably forethought that she might be able to spot the difference between the real thing and just an emulation of the style). It’s very dark inside, even though it’s day time and my first thought is “Oh the photos!”. Service is very friendly and they don’t mind that we’re taking ages to order, after all, we have some catching up to do.
No. 9 Decadent Eggs Benedict $15.50
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January 20, 2010
by Not Quite Nigella
When M, her boys and I took a walk after our little stint at Bondi FM Cafe we walked all the way up to Notts Avenue at Bondi Beach. For some this is where you go upstairs to Icebergs, the bar and restaurant or those eager for a swim can go downstairs to the Bondi Icebergs Swimming Pool. Someone had once told me that membership here cost a mint and so being a very incompetent swimmer, I never thought much more about it. Until that day when we go downstairs and have a stickybeak. For just a few dollars you can bathe and play in the famous Icebergs pool along with other Bondi bodies. We make a plan to go back that coming weekend now that we finally have some clement weather.
Somehow we manage upon a miracle park – one on Nott Avenue just outside the entrance and we walk in and pay for entry to the pool ($13 for a family 2 adults and up to 3 kids, $5 adults, $3 seniors and children). There’s so much to see here, from the two pools, one for laps and one for frolicking and then there’s the human scenery. Bronzed gods and goddesses with some refreshingly normal looking people all in a colourful variety of bikinis (and make no mistake, it’s all about the bikini here, no matter what end of the size scale you may sit on). There is a gymnasium, sauna and massage section which appears to be busy.
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January 18, 2010
by Not Quite Nigella
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