A beautiful view from Canberra Airport

Sage – Just some amazing photos!

For a team celebration lunch we were lucky enough to go to Sage.  I have just got a few photos to share.  The food was just amazing and so pretty to look at.

 

Spring Time Strawberry Cake

I was getting ready to visit a good friend of mine for the long weekend. I always like to take something so I decided that I’d bake a cake. I’m not particularly good at baking so it’s been a mission of mine to learn how to bake. I’ve had a couple of successes with a rhubarb crumble cake.

The original idea was to bake a caramel apple tea cake but when I went to Woolies to buy the apples I saw beautiful strawberries on sale at a ridiculous price. It’s very rare that strawberries become quite this cheap and I totally want to take advantage of it.

It was so pretty before I baked it,  but it was totally worth baking it.  The recipe is so good and easy to make.  Especially with the lemon cake mixed with the gooey, jammy strawberries.

Ingredients

• 125g  unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the cake tin
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 300g strawberries, hulled and halved
• zest of a lemon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Butter a spring form cake tin. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.
2. Put butter and 1 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low; mix in egg, milk, and vanilla and lemon zest.
3. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Transfer batter to cake tin. Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.
4. Bake cake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 170 degrees. Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour. Let cool in pie plate on a wire rack. Cut into wedges. Cake can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, up to 2 days.

This cake is great for an afternoon tea party!!!!

Charlie Black – Manuka

My workmates and I went out for dinner a few weeks ago.  The idea was that we would have a great bonding experience.   We decided to go to Charlie Black in Manuka because it was central and the menu seemed to cater to most palates and budgets.  I had been to Pangaea for hot chocolate when Charlie Black was Pangaea many a time with girlfriends during wedding season to check out all of the wedding ceremonies out the front of   St Christopher’s Cathedral.

We went there for the first and I was surprised at how much like a pub it felt.  I should really start taking photos of the places and food in future!  So that you don’t get a whole bunch of food shots 🙂

Here are a few shots of what we ate.  There was a 2 for 1 pizza deal on the night we were there so a couple of us got pizza.

2 for 1 Pizzas at Charlie Black

I had the Caesar Salad which was good.  Not the best I’ve had but it was good for what it was.  One of my colleagues got the Chorizo Pasta and I had food envy!

Penne Chorizo w chorizo, olives, chilli, napolitana sauce

I think overall Charlie Black is nice but I’m not sure I’d take my work team out there again.

 

Urban Pantry – Manuka

Corinne and I met in Manuka for a quick and early lunch on a Monday and found that all of our usual haunts are closed on Mondays.  So we decided to try out the very trendy looking Urban pantry.  I had been there before for their burgers but never been there for anything else.

We had a look at the menu and there were so many good things that it took us ages to choose.  Corinne chose the Mushroom Bruschetta and I chose the Nicoise salad.  Both of which were excellent choices.

 

Thyme scented mushrooms bruschetta topped
w/ persian feta

This was so good!  The creamy sour/salty feta, was a great combination with the different types of mushrooms on the plate.

nicoise style salad w/ seared salmon & olive tapenade

this was great too.  It felt a little oily but the flavours really complimented each other.

The service at Urban Pantry was great.  The waitress was very attentive and knew what was on the menu well.

 

Urban Pantry on Urbanspoon

Caffe Ravello – Dickson Shops

Josh and I met over the long weekend for an overdue catch up.  I live in Ainslie so we thought it would be nice to meet somewhere close by and not take the risk of going somewhere that is likely to be closed during the Easter long weekend.

Josh had been to Caffe Ravello before but I hadn’t and he had said reasonable things about it so we decided to sit out in the sun on a very windy Autumn day.

When we went inside to order we were told that there would be a 20 minute wait on the food.  Neither Josh or I were starving so we were happy to wait.  We also really appreciated that the waiter told us in advance that the food was going to take a while.

Salmon, brie and shallot scrambled eggs with turkish toast

I ordered the above and I thought that it was pretty good the eggs could have been seasoned more but there was plenty of smoked salmon through the dish.  I thought that maybe the brie and other components didn’t go that well together but it was really tasty nonetheless.  The coffee was really good too.

Spinach, Mushrooms, Chorizo, Parmesan and poached eggs on Sour dough toast. and a side of champagne and mustard hollandaise

Josh ordered the mushrooms and chorizo breakfast.  He really enjoyed his dish.  I tried some of his hollandaise and it was really good.  Not like the stuff that comes already pre-made.

Caffe Ravello – 20 Challis St  – Dickson

Bean & Grain – Fyshwick Markets

Bean & Grain is new cafe that has opened up in the new revamped part of the Fyshwick markets.  It adds to the growing cafe culture that the markets are trying to build.

My friend Corinne and I had passed by this place one day when we had gone to the Fyshwick markets for lunch.  We popped out heads in because the decor was really warm and cosy and when we had a look at the menu we vowed to come back.  The menu was full of amazing things like a Salmon Gillette with creme fraiche and caviar. Every breakfast comes with a free breakfast smoothie shot.   Click here for their full breakfast menu.  Their staff are friendly and super enthusiastic about the food and the service.  Everything is made onsite using organic ingredients.  I can’t wait to come back here for lunch one day.

Corinne and I got up super early one morning and sat down for an amazing breakfast.  I had the Salmon Benedict and Corinne had the Gillette.  We were both very impressed with the quality of the food and the service.  The food was well priced and perfectly cooked.  The chef was really friendly and came out to say ‘hi’ to us.

Salmon Benedict poached free-range organic eggs, house made English muffin,cured salmon, shallot chilli sambal, fresh made lemongrass hollandaise - $15

The lemongrass hollandaise was a really interesting flavour with the salmon I wasn’t quite sure I liked it or not the start, but then in the end it started to grow on me.

Gillette - Potato & smoked fish gillette, poached free range organic egg,
tomato concasse, herb crème fraiche & caviar - $16

I will definitely come back to try some of the things on the bagel menu.

Bean & Grain – Fyshwick Fresh Food Markets – 12 Dalby St – Fyshwick –  02 6295 9220

Sculpture Garden Restaurant – National Gallery of Australia

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of taking one of my client out for lunch. It just happened to be her sixtieth birthday. We stopped at the National Gallery to have a look around and I realised that the newly refurbished Sculpture Garden Restaurant was there. So we stopped there for lunch. We sat right by the water and ordered from the Fixed price lunch menu, we decided on 2 courses, entree and main because we were  pressed for time.

Caprese salad: heirloom tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, baby basil and extra virgin oil

This dish was beautiful with the heirloom tomatoes sweet and sour and the mozzarella was creamy and all the flavours were balanced out beautifully.  I only wish I had taken some photos of the sculpture garden just so that I could show you how peaceful and unique this restaurant is.

Cured trout with compressed apple, parsley and lemon balm

My client ordered this and she seemed very pleased with it.

The food and the service at the Sculpture Garden Restaurant was fantastic and I would love to go there again when I have more time to sit and savour every morsel.

 

 

20 Best Restaurants in Canberra

According to the Canberra Times the 20 best restaurants in Canberra are as follows:

Artisan
Le Tres Bon
Aubergine
Mecca Bah
Courgette and Water’s Edge
Mezzalira
Dieci e Mezzo
Ottoman Cuisine
Ellacure
Pistachio
Grazing
Pulp Kitchen
Iori
Rubicon
Italian and Sons
Sage
Jewel of India
Silo 
Lanterne Rooms
Thirst

My mission for 2012 is going to be to get through all 20 of those restaurants before the end of 2012.

Quickest Laksa Ever

I love laksa it is one of my staple comfort foods. I particularly love the combination of hot, sour & salty in food. I like being able to work my way through a bowl of spicy soupy noodles. YUM!  I think the best place to buy a laksa in Canberra is the Dickson Noodle House.  They have the best soup and the best quality soup ingredients.

I’m going to post about the Laksa I make at home it’s super quick and easy and you can customise it to the your taste and that of  your guests.

Chicken Laksa

3 tbsp oil

1 Onion diced

3 tsp crushed garlic

1 jar of prepared laksa paste (I generally use an Asian brand as it usually gives a better flavour)

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar or palm sugar

2 bird’s eye chillies (optional if you like your soup hot)

1 can of coconut cream

1.5L of water

2 small Chicken breasts chopped

1 bunch of  baby bok choy

1 pkt of fried tofu

1 cup bean sprouts

2 cup chopped coriander leaves

2 Cups Cooked Egg Noodles
2 Cups Cooked Rice Noodles

2 Limes

1) Heat oil in a big heavy based stock pot.  Add onion, garlic, laksa paste and chilli and stir fry until the paste has browned all over.

2) Add chicken and stir until cooked through.  Add the coconut cream and water and bring to the boil.  Add fish sauce, brown sugar and lime juice.  Turn off heat.

3) Cut up Bok Choy, Coriander leaves, cut up Fried Tofu. Cook noodles and set aside.

4)  In individual bowls divide up the noodles, bok choy and tofu,  pour over soup and chicken top with coriander and bean sprouts.  Serve with a wedge of lime

Serves 5 for dinner