Eat Like Ushi

The Kingston Foreshore is really starting to heat up. Considering the incredible number of apartments being built that will eventually surround the place, I can only imagine getting some early real estate for food business must be a good long term investment. Up until relatively recently the only pub was Walt & Burley. The food there is extremely average and quite pricey. The drinks are similarly high. Rum Bar serves decent drinks but the food is limited and also expensive.

This made way for The Dock, a sports pub with decent drinks, live music on certain nights and something new to try. For a very short time they were listed in the Entertainment Book but I suppose after realising how much business they got, this was then unnecessary.

The Beez Neez Beer Battered wild caught fresh Australian Barramundi ($25) and Full rack of American Pork Ribs ($46) were really quite expensive but adequate. A few days later I took advantage of their 2-for-1 pizza Mondays (there are also 2-for-1 rib Tuesdays and burger Wednesdays) - a little expensive on their own at $20-24 each but for half price a serious bargain. Sure the weekday atmosphere doesn't quite match the hustling weekend, but you can't have everything.

It's better than Walt & Burley in my mind. Otherwise eat elsewhere on/near the foreshore (eg. Brodburger) and have a drink with company here.

I had seen Vitis Eatery a few times walking through Braddon but only when I saw the incredibly good value deal on Livingsocial did I book in. It was a quiet weeknight with intermittent rain and the casual setting made for a nice dinner. After the initial bread starter (which I'd now recommend not eating much of given the quantity of food that followed), the set menu commenced.

- Batemans Bay Oysters // Champagne Granita & Lime - I still prefer my oysters natural;
- Scallop tartare on toast // Avocado & wasabi
- Caramelised Pork Belly - tender pieces of meat with a thick fat layer on top (which I removed);
- Twice cooked Lamb Ribs // Grain Salad Honey & Garlic yoghurt - a good salad that reminded me of Hellenic Republic's and a fatty rib on top;
- Whole-roasted Quail - a delicious bird well cooked and complemented well by the sweet grapes. My stomach was struggling by this stage but I persevered;
- Italian fried doughnuts - ended up taking some home and couldn't eat them all. Crisp outsides and doughy interiors. A little plain on their own.

Considering the price at $79 for 2 people, the amount and value of food was superb for the quality. Thanks Livingsocial and Vitis Eatery for such a good showing.

Next time I would order (based on the current online menu) the lamb ribs with grain salad, quail dolomades and braised rolled lamb with falafel.

One of my favourite outdoor (undercover) eateries in London was Yalla Yalla (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/yalla-yalla-london-02-2013-03-2013-05-2013-10-2013). I am yet to find an equivalently good place for meat on spits, falafels, salads, prices and atmosphere.

I'd read about the charcoal roasted meats at Habibiz in Westside Acton Park. The shipping container food setup has some live buskers which add to the atmosphere under the weekend sunshine. There's several places to get food but the aroma at Habibiz had the most appeal and my search to replace Yalla Yalla began.

After a short 15min wait the falafels, half chicken and salad arrived. The chicken was tender and delicious, the falafels crisp and the dips acceptable. I would have preferred thicker breads and a salad more reminiscent of tabbouleh. Nonetheless I'll be back to enjoy the Westside, eat the grilled meats and try the Indian place that looked interesting also.

I wandered down Hardware Lane in search of Hardware Societe, a cafe I hadn't been to before with its ridiculous 4.7 rating. For reasons unknown (perhaps it was hunger) I saw a place with a sign # and assumed this was it. Hash does have it's own charming interior so I'm not overly disappointed I ended up here. In fact I didn't realise until I left after paying the bill and walked further down the street to see the real Hardware Societe. The lessons we learn.

In Hash I was given a nice solo seat squeezed next to a narrow staircase. Considering I like being antisocial and indistinct when dining alone, this suited me perfectly.

Chai latte was creamy and not overly sweet. Chorizo & seared scallops on toasted sourdough with a fried egg, chilli & white bean spread ($20.5) had nice flavours but serving size was a bit small. I always like getting a side of black pudding but $5 for a few narrow slices is really quite ridiculous.

Next time I would order from Hardware Societe (considering it was my initial intention, is very near Hash, has ridiculously high ratings, and hopefully better value).

I dreamt of opening a smokehouse myself in Melbourne. This came after the London rage initially lead by the exquisite smoked meats at Pitt Cue Co. (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/pitt-cue-co-london-08-2012-12-2012). I even bought the cookbook to complement the massive 22" Weber Smokey Mountain imported from the USA (which I haven't had a chance to use yet). One day I will smoke my own ribs and briskets and my world will be a better place.

In that time Melbourne has seen a few smokehouses open recently to fill this void. Of the few I've tried, none have particularly wowed me and I still persevere on and hope for the best. I must admit the menu at Meatmaiden has been one of the more impressive I've seen, and I've been meaning to try it for a while (not only because the name reminds me of some of my favourite burger experiences at MEATliquor and MEATmarket).

The place has nice decorations on the walls (think female models holding axes), a dimly lit industrial setting, and a glass window showcasing drying slabs of meat. It is good that the dining area doesn't smell of overwhelming smoking and cooking fumes, for although that would be a nice aroma, the smell imbedded on clothing would be less so.

Tangy chilli and sweet BBQ sauces are found on the table to complement the flavours of the dishes. Smoked Old Fashioned (classic old fashioned, Buffalo Trace Bourbon gunned down with applewood smoke, sugar syrup and bitters) $18 was an intensely smokey version with a touch of other flavours to make the whiskey more easily palatable.

- Burnt ends $11 - trimmed ends of beef ribs, reasonably tender and flavoured;
- 20-hour Rangers Valley, Wagyu brisket, Tasmanian pepper berry rub (200g) $25 - nice meat and decent tender texture;
- Lamb ribs, lemon crumb $20 - very fatty (a bit too much) meat with standard lamb flavour but minimal other seasoning;
- BBQ eggplant & roast tomato $19 - piping hot simple eggplant. For some reason I expected this to be smoked but it wasn't;
- Shaved fennel, pomegranate salad $8 - very delicious mix of textures and flavours showing how good raw fennel can be.

I'll still come back to eat these dishes again (except the lamb ribs) and try the beef short ribs, brick chicken, lobster mac & cheese and grilled Sher F1 Wagyu ribeye (1.1-1.2kg), the last one of which particularly sounds like a dream. It hasn't replaced Pitt Cue Co. for me but until I can capably make my own or find better in Melbourne, it'll be fine.

One of the good things about movies at Palace (other than the general lack of kids, teenagers, crowds etc.) is the food options. I had a great meal at A. Baker once and Mocan & Green Grout is still on my list. I'd heard that Parlour was a very nice tapas place but the servings were tiny and expensive. Despite this I somehow ended up here before watching a Friday night movie.

For reasons I can't explain, Parlour occasionally has a Friday afternoon special where food ordered prior to 6pm is 2-for-1. Maybe it's a special ploy to get people in on a Friday night and spend more on drinks. Who knows, but it seemed a very fortunate and great value deal.

The serving sizes are reasonably sized and for half-price exceptionally valued.

- Confit organic garlic, lavosh, Canberra cows curd, pickled vegetables $17 - this was an unusual dish recommended by the waitress consisting of creating a small mouthful of bread, plain cheese and nicely burnt garlic. Overall it was ok but not really to my taste;
- Mushroom, manchego & rice croquettes, mojo picon $17 - a good mix of rice, mushroom and cheese but the outside could have been a little crispier with the frying;
- Dusted calamari, black garlic, squid ink, almonds $19 - calamari rings with one token baby legs excellent seasoned and fried to a soft fleshy perfection;
- Chili & garlic Australian prawns, piquillo pepper & coriander salsa $21 - 5 prawns with a salsa. Decent quality prawns that were a little softer than crisp but maybe not the value at full price;
- Slow roasted paprika lamb, baby nicola potatoes & dressed leaves $25 - a nice large serving of tender meat around the bone with potatoes and lettuce;
- Pan roasted free range duck breast, Patatas Riojanas & morcilla $28 - extremely tender medium-rare duck meat on some rounded potato slices and some black sausage.

I went back recently and paid full price. I suppose I ate more conservatively this time and so the price wasn't too exorbitant. The setting and decor are nice, and it's definitely a good option for pre-movie food and drink. The Facebook website lists occasional deals so might be worth timing the visit.

Hammer & Tong has been on my list for months and months. Enough time had elapsed such that I couldn't quite remember why, but after coincidentally walking past the Soviet-looking logo off Brunswick Street, I ended up going the next morning. Funnily enough for a Sunday mid-morning I expected queues but was met with several empty tables including the window bench with people watching ability.

After looking at the menu I remembered why - breakfast ramen. I admit the thought of it months ago initially seemed a little odd, but one couldn't come here and not try the most interesting dish of all.

- Golden Gaytime milkshake $6.5 - considering the Gaytime (and probably Bubble O Bill) are my favourite childhood icecreams, how could I resist this milkshake? It certainly had the flavour and some crumb texture, but it lacked the thick texture of the classic. I suppose it was simply a thin milkshake as advertised whereas I'd have preferred a thickshake that used icecream;
- Breakfast ramen (62c hens egg, bacon, mushrooms, spring onion w bacon dashi) $19.5 - nicely cooked ramen in a ham hock broth (but nowhere near the smoked intense David Chang Momofuku version I didn't like) with some good quality ingredients. Overall very nice and different to a standard cafe breakfast;
- Duck egg & candied bacon waffle (sriracha caramel icecream, toffee popcorn, maple & seeded mustard syrup) $21 - Sriracha icecream? It tasted like it sounds with a hint of spicy and a slightly odd taste. It was a quite sweet breakfast which generally isn't my thing, but I can appreciate the concept.

There's so many things I'd like to try here. Ox cheek benedict, krispy fried chicken sandwich, lamb ribs, soft shell crab burger, briostie - or just go for the breakfast ramen again.

I thought I'd heard from my dad that this pizza place had won a world pizza championship in Italy. I was a little disappointed to find they competed but didn't win - nonetheless that's a pretty incredible feat.

As the reputed home of pizza I remember my first (and only) trip to Naples back in 2005, where pizza was apparently born. We spent the whole time going from one pizza place to the next as recommended in the Lonely Planet. We barely ventured out at night due to safety issues but during the day I could appreciate the old buildings and the incredibly bad (or is it tactical?) car parking on the streets. One of the Zero95's pizza makers is from Naples and he even offered to allow me to come back sometime and make my own pizza... how exciting that would be.

But for this trip I remained solely on the eating side.

- Fried calamari - wickedly soft, tender and extremely well cooked without any hint of rubber;
- Pizze Frutti di Mare $24 - exceptional soft and chewy crust topped with cheese and good quality seafood. It's definitely better for presentation with the shells on but I'm not sure if I'd prefer to eat it without having the remove them;
- Calzone Buffalo (stracchino, prosciutto, rocket, yellow cherry tomatoes, black buffalo cheese) $27 - the typical calzone is filled (this with prosciutto and black buffalo cheese) but also this had a beautifully presented exterior to the toppings laid.

The ingredients are high quality, the dough is exceptionally good (could it be better than Franco Manca? - http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/franco-manca-london-10-2013) and the staff are so friendly and so passionately Italian. I adore it all and will be back to try each of the pizzas and calzones.

I arrived at my hotel around 730am. That's one of the issues flying from Canberra - there's only two direct flights per day at 6am or 7pm. The hotel had a check-in time of 2pm which left a solid amount of time to sit around before deciding that sitting elsewhere than the hotel lobby may make time go faster.

After a quick search of the Rundle Mall area, I came across high reviews for L&L especially for coffee and toasties. I found it after a short 10min walk (tempted by other coffee places and a food court along the way). It's located in a stylish looking arcade and has a definite hip feel about it. There's sitting space both inside and outside to enjoy relaxing and chatting, using your phone, people watching or pulling out the iPad/MBA.

The coffee looked well constructed, but as a non-drinker I settled for a soy chai latte which was good - not overly sweet, not syrupy, not too heavy in cinnamon, nice. I'd also read about the Bolognese & Bechamel Toastie ($7) which was thickly sliced pressed bread with some nice cheese and meat sauce. I think it could have used more sauce overall as some bites had a bit too much bread and dryness (especially the crust areas) but it wasn't a big deal.

The menu prices are excellent too. A reasonable sized bircher is $5 for a healthier breakfast option. 

If I ever find myself straggling during an Adelaide morning, I'd definitely come back here.

In quite possibly the funkiest decorated cafe I've ever seen, this place would have been fantastic to have more time to sit, read a newspaper, scroll through a phone and enjoy the atmosphere.

The menu is quite limited with the specialty being pies, sausage rolls and a handful of sandwiches.

My first day there I felt like bircher muesli. They didn't have this but accommodated by making me a takeaway cup of yoghurt with granola. It was adequate but nothing special. Some fresh fruit would have probably made all the difference.

The second day I sat for a bit longer and had a croque monsieur. The cheese was nice, the ham was fine, but the bread quality could have been more exciting than plain wholemeal. I suppose I would've preferred something seeded or even slices of a sourdough loaf.

To takeaway I had a homestyle sausage roll and a famous neufchatel (cheese) chicken pie. Both were eaten 3 days later and remained quite delicious. The pastry was more flaky than buttery, but that could be attributed to the delay and rewarming in the microwave then oven at home.

Overall the setting, friendliness and more time to enjoy would bring me back here. I'd settle for a fresh sausage roll or chicken pie or try their roast beef on sourdough.