Daily Archives: 2012/04/01

When @Nigella_Lawson meets @donnahay_tweets, well sort of…

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Tonight Bron prepared a lovely crispy skin duck breast with a cranberry and citrus sauce. It was served with a really nice stiff mash of potato and sweet potato along with some greens.

Crispy skin duck breast with a cranberry and citrus sauce

For dessert Bron combined a Nigella Lawson pavlova recipe with a Donna Hay idea for layering the chocolate filling between pavlova slices.

The complete cake. Sorry the lighting wasn't right for the image.

My first piece, yes I had more :-)

I won't say how much more I ate...

It was delicious.

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Seasalt Dining in Bruce

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Last night we ventured out with friends to a newish restaurant in Canberra. Seasalt Dining in Bruce is in The Hub apartment complex in Bruce new The Canberra Stadium and the Australian Institute of Sport.

Last night the Brumbies were playing the Sharks at Canberra Stadium so we were a little nervous about parking. In the end it turned out well (the Brumbies were defeated too). They have dedicated parking and from the kitchen the chefs and wait staff can monitor the car park.

The service was really very good. The wait staff were cheerful and helpful. Nothing was too difficult for them and they enjoyed a little playful bantered when we “complained” our desserts weren’t big enough. The menu is pretty good and the place opens for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I elected not to have an entrée while my dinner companions enjoyed Thai fish cakes and seared scallops. I waited instead for the seafood platter, which according to the menu looked like a collection of entrée dishes plus a piece of fish (salmon last night). That’s what it turned out to be. It was very nice, although, compared with our recent Maestral experience, this was not a seafood platter for two. I ate this easily by myself without any discomfort. The fish cakes were a little rubbery compared with the excellent fish cakes from Lemon Grass. That said, the seared scallops were divine.

The restaurant has a nice cake cabinet and I chose white chocolate cheese cake with cream and ice cream.

I would recommend Seasalt Dining in Bruce to anyone living in Canberra. It will soon have its own dedicated website and all going well my fat face will appear after a photograph was taken of me last night with my seafood platter :-)

I kept a parking spot for our friends.

Fish cakes

Seared scallops

Platter plate 1

Plate plate 2. Oysters natural and Kilpatrick.

It came with really nice potato chips (Fries for friends in the USA).

All together. I also got a plate of Thai fish cakes.

White chocolate cheesecake with ice cream and whipped cream.

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Corned beef sausage roll

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Not much needs to be said. This was yesterday’s lunch. I sauteed onions and warmed the corned beef. I mixed in some Clive of India curry powder and made a sausage roll with puff pastry.

The picture tells all. It was good, very good.

My curry corned beef and onion sausage roll

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Maestral and Max Brenner

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On Thursday evening we met with friends and enjoyed dinner at Maestral Mediterranean and Seafood Restaurant in Cooleman Court in Weston. Our friends had not been there before, however, as thorough seafood lovers we couldn’t get past the Maestral seafood platter for two. Given there were four of us we also asked for the Stubica (Pan fried pork fillet stuffed with sweet dried prunes and served with a plum brandy cream sauce) and Cevapcici (Mixture of minced meats and Adriatic spices served with feta cheese/onions). The menu from my Evernote notebook can be found here.

After the main course we persuaded our dinner companions to have dessert at Max Brenner in Belconnen.

The service at Maestral is good. It’s warm and friendly. This is very popular restaurant in Canberra and so at times, the wait staff are run off their feet. It’s a smallish restaurant so the bathroom facilities are separate and you need to ask for a key. I would highly recommend Maestral to anyone living in or visiting Canberra.

The service at Max Brenner is variable and a lot depends on your timing. The local Hoyts cinema complex is situated close by. If a movie ends as you arrive finding a table can be a challenge. The service on Thursday night was mediocre. The person taking my requests was fine, she was happy and cheerful. The problem was the delivery of the four dishes. They came out one by one so that by the time the last dish arrived three of us had finished our dessert. That does not make for an enjoyable experience.

Stubica Pan fried pork fillet stuffed with sweet dried prunes and served with a plum brandy cream sauce

Cevapcici Mixture of minced meats and Adriatic spices served with feta cheese/onions

The platter for 2

My plate loaded up. The soft shelled crab is amazing.

My toffee waffle with chocolate and ice cream

Max Brenner Chocolate Bar on Urbanspoon

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