Tag Archives: Beef

Dinner at Eat 86 | @eat86 @EatShootBlog @hercanberra

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On Thursday evening Bron took me to dinner for my birthday (which was last week). We went to Eat86 in Braddon. This is relatively new and a new venture for the people who run Ellacure in Bruce.

Having enjoyed previous meals at Ellacure and hearing great reviews from work mates plus reading a blog post on Her Canberra by Trish, I was really looking forward to a nice meal and night out with Bron. Bron had heard good things so we were pretty confident of a great night out.

On walking in you can feel the vibe of the place. The staff are friendly and helpful. We had a table reserved near the bar and fairly central in the restaurant. The menu is written in chalk on the wall and as items run out they are rubbed out. We were advised to try a couple of cheaper meals and one large meal as a guide for the evening. We went for the ceviche, pulled pork terrine and ghetto beef.

These were all delightful. The ceviche was amazing. It was refreshing and full of heat but the chilli didn’t linger and was certainly sharp but not unpleasant. It was a perfect entrée to the evening. I love terrines and the pulled pork was pretty special. I’d happily eat more of it. Finally, the ghetto beef was perfectly cooked. The beef was tender and tasty and chewy in a really good way.

All these images are from my Instagram feed. Click on the image and read the comments.

#dinner ceviche #yummy

The ceviche was a perfect start to the meal

#dinner pulled pork terrine #yummy

The pulled pork terrine broke apart and could be scooped up on the bread

#dinner ghetto beef #yummy

The ghetto beef is a must have

The serving sizes are modest and so by the end of these dishes dessert was not an option but a viable proposition. I chose a caramel popcorn sundae and peanut brittle. The restaurant was pretty dark so my iPhone photography wasn’t too flash. That said, the Instagram comments were pretty good. Click on the image to see the number of likes and comments.

#dessert caramel popcorn sundae with peanut brittle #superyummy

Dessert. Nothing more needs to be said.

Okay onto other things.
It was noisy. My tinnitus was bad that night. I had to concentrate on looking at Bron’s lips the whole night. Not a bad thing :-)
Dunny score was 4.5+ out of 5. The music is piped into the dunny. The pedestal was of high quality. The towels were paper. The + comes because of the Aēsop hand products provided. This was a very good touch. If there was a Dyson air blade in there it would have received 5+/5
Nakpin score was fail. Bron believes I’m too harsh in having only a pass/fail for napkins. To me cloth is pass and paper is fail. Fair enough, these were thick paper napkins and better than most. What do you reckon?

Would I eat at eightysix again. Most certainly I would. I’d like to try a seat at the bar looking into the kitchen. If not for anything else, the lighting would be better for my iPhone camera. I feel embarrassed my images do not do the food justice. This is a great place to eat and I look forward to returning again and again.

———-

Eightysix on Urbanspoon

Eat86 http://www.eat-86.com/
Trip Advisor http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g255057-d4162515-Reviews-Eightysix-Canberra_Greater_Canberra_Australian_Capital_Territory.html
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eightysix/480462502008403
Instagram http://instagram.com/eateightysix
Twitter https://twitter.com/eat86
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/09dbS


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Her Canberra http://www.hercanberra.com.au/
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Fekerte’s Ethiopian Cuisine

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Last night we went out for another birthday celebration. It was M’s birthday, that is last night was the designated birthday celebration as opposed to the impromptu birthday celebration we had a few weeks ago. Apparently M has wanted to eat at Fekerte’s for a long long time.

Fekerte’s has a long Canberra tradition. I recommend reading the introduction to their menu which is very informative and explains a lot about the food there.

Last night we selected a banquet (banquet three) which consisted of:

Entrée
Samosa
Pastry filled with a mixture of whole lentils or lean minced beef, coriander, shallots and other fresh herbs served with sauce

These were amazingly good samosas. Full of meaty goodness.

Kita
Ethiopian pan bread brushed with olive oil and spices

This bread came out first and at first I didn’t know how to attack it. It was nice with a pancake consistency.

Cauliflower Fritters
Finely cut cauliflower and fresh herbs mixed with chickpea flour and egg deep-fried and served with a yoghurt sauce

These fritters were really very good.

Main
Lega Tibs
Lamb marinated in white wine and Ethiopian spices sautéed with rosemary, onions, and green peppers

The lamb was tender and very tasty. The green chilies weren’t too hot.

Key Wat
Diced beef gently simmered until tender in a blend of onion, exotic spices and berbere

The beef was tender and the sauce was great on rice and with the enjera

Zilzil Alicha
Diced lamb and seasonal vegetables slowly cooked in a green pepper sauce and seasoned with ginger and jalapeno pepper

This lamb was a lot spicier and the sauce was great.

Ater Alicha – Mildly Spiced Pea Stew
Yellow split peas cooked with garlic, turmeric and basil

Nice and spicy and full of fibre.

Assa Curry
Nile Perch fillet lightly curried with garlic and coriander

The Nile Perch is a nice flaky fish. A little mushy though. The fish tasted great.

Salad

Mixed with the sauce from the fish curry and this rocked.

Served with enjera and rice

This had a lovely citrus sourness alone and amazing with the sauces.

Traditional Spiced Tea or Traditional Coffee

This tea was great. With a little sugar it was sweet and spicy.

The entrée selection was really good. The samosas especially. They were full of meat and full of flavour. Each of the main meal dishes had its own distinctive spice mix and when eaten with rice and enjera the sauce was nicely absorbed and oh so delicious.

For dessert Bron brought along a little container of poppy seed orange biscuits with chocolate and nutella filling. These were amazing little packets of flavour. So yummy. Bron also brought a couple of pecan brownies which were fantastic.

These were full of buttery goodness.

This brownie had a nice pecan crunch and flavour.

Fekerte’s is definitely worth visiting.

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Beef, curry mince, asparagus, savoy cabbage and brocolli

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I’m on a roll. More steak tonight and a little left over curry mince from lunch with a heap of cabbage and some extra greens.

Click on the image for a higher resolution view

Beef with greens (Nikon D90 and Diptic)

A big day for Chinese food | Noble Palace | Dumpling Inn

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Yesterday was a much better day at work compared to Wednesday. I woke up feeling ill with a sore throat and a headache yet I was euphoric because Queensland had defeated NSW in  the first game of this year’s State of Origin series.

For lunch we went to the Noble Palace in Phillip. Seven of us enjoyed lunch to thank a dear work friend who had acted up for an extended period of time and performed superbly. We enjoyed Hong Kong roast duck, Crispy skin chicken and plum sauce, Sizzling Mongolian lamb, Peking shredded chilli beef, Pork fillet with chili lemon grass, and rice (I could have forgotten a dish). One of our party also had a vegetable and noodle dish which she generously shared. The Noble Palace is a well known Chinese restaurant in the Woden district and consistently produces high quality meals. They also do wonderful yum cha.

Duck, beef and lamb (iPhone)

Last night Bron and I went to the Dumpling Inn for dinner. This Chinese restaurant is a fantastic suburban venue. It’s relatively small but like the Noble Palace consistently produces high quality food including yum cha on weekends. Last night we enjoyed duck pancakes and fried flounder with rice.

Preparing a duck pancake (iPhone)

Finished duck pancake (iPhone)

Left over duck (iPhone)

Deep fried flounder (iPhone)

After dinner we had dessert at Bron’s. This was some leftover vanilla cheesecake with salted caramel sauce and berries.

Vanilla cheesecake with salted caramel sauce and berries (iPhone)

Because I can’t help myself I’ll share an image from a friend at work from today.

 

Enough said for now :-)

 

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ANZAC Day post

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To those who have served Australia,
THANK YOU.

To those who have lost sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters to protect our country,
THANK YOU.

To those who have mourned the loss of loves ones as they fought for freedom,
I feel for you and THANK YOU.

To those who are serving Australia today and making a difference to countless lives around the world,
THANK YOU.

I will not forget.

Today I wanted to do something that involved a product of New Zealand. However, there has recently been some controversy in the news because a journalist from New Zealand called Australian soldiers lazy bludgers (http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/last-post-first-light/6792303/No-apology-over-dig-at-Aussie-soldiers). That gave me a reason to pause and reconsider. Rather than something obvious like lamb I chose tinned beef. Bully Beef (bully beef; from the French bouilli “boiled”) is the name of a tinned meat that soldiers ate in the field. Soldiers’ only food was whatever they had carried ashore in their packs. Apparently for several days on end all they had to eat was a little bully beef, some tea, sugar and a few very hard biscuits from the ship. (Reference http://www.anzacday.org.au/education/afor/afor-b.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corned_beef)

Now who can forget some of my special corned beef dishes? My Man versus Food version and my previous sausage roll.

New Zealand Corned Beef (Nikon D90)

New Zealand Corned Beef (Nikon D90)

For lunch I made myself a sausage roll with the corned beef. I added a little flavour with GOA beef curry powder and an onion. I also added a little Worcestershire sauce (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcestershire_sauce).

 

Corned beef sausage roll (Nikon D90)

Corned beef sausage roll (Nikon D90)

One of the other flavourings for today is rosemary. I didn’t realise until recently what the significance of rosemary is for ANZAC day. A sprig of rosemary is worn on ANZAC day. It is an emblem of both fidelity and remembrance in literature and folklore. It is found growing wild on the Gallipoli peninsula. (Reference http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/customs/rosemary.asp, http://www.theradish.com.au/rosemary-for-remembrance-677/, http://www.anzacday.org.au/education/tff/rosemary.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anzac_Day). Today I acquired my rosemary outside of Swimming Australia on Beissel Street in Belconnen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimming_Australia). This is particularly apt given it’s an Olympic year and my favourite sport is swimming.

Dinner was a surprise and by surprise I just put stuff into a saucepan and hoped for the best. It was surprisingly good. I did the usual sauteing of onions, garlic and ginger. To this I added some diced tomatoes and then diced chicken thigh meat. After everything was soft I added Mudgeeraba Parsee Chicken and Potato curry powder. I added some sliced potato and sweet potato and then put the lid on the saucepan and kept it simmering for three hours. With half an hour to go I added some beans, corn and mushrooms. I served it with noodles.

Curry chicken and beef (Nikon D90)

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GOA Beef curry

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Curry beef and noodles

It’s the usual routine of frying off some onion, garlic and ginger. Add some tomato and simmer. Add the curry powder. Brown diced beef. Add to the wok. Add sliced potatoes, carrots and beans. Simmer for about 30 minutes and then add some coconut cream. Prepare the noodles and serve.

This was purchased this year at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney (Nikon D90)

Simmering in my wok (Nikon D90)

Served with noodles (Nikon D90)

 

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Black Friday

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I’m not a superstitious person. Today was just another day. I went for a walk at 0445 AEST and as usual was listening to 2UE via 2CC on my 2CC iPhone app. Tim Shaw does the overnight program. He’s okay, he’s certainly not my favourite radio host. He was banging on about Black Friday like most radio presenters would be today. It got me thinking, will today be a bad day or a good day. Each day is what you make it. Sometimes things happen that we don’t like, it’s how we react that determines how we feel.

I got to work and on my walk to the post office the view of the sky was magnificent. Anyone who knows me knows how often I bang on about how much I dislike the weather in Canberra. It is too cold and dry in Autumn, Winter and Spring and too hot and dry in Summer. I much prefer tropical and sub-equatorial weather like in Darwin. The only glorious thing about Canberra though is the bright blue clear sky on most mornings.

From the Woden Wind Tunnel Check out my instagram post http://instagr.am/p/JVbX5ERNMP/

This morning at work was busy but profitable. By profitable, I mean it was a good morning. More importantly I had lunch with Bron at Thai Spice. The menu is pretty good. we started with (#10) coconut and almond prawns (Deep-fried King Prawns coated with shredded Coconut and Almond flakes served with Sweet Chilli Sauce). You get two of each, that is four per serve. These were delicious.

Coconut and almond prawns

One of the great things about this restaurant is the quirky attitude they have to serving drinks. We simply had diet coca cola, yet each time we have a drink they are served in different styled glasses. Sometimes wine glasses, sometimes dessert bowls, and often with odd fruit. Today our cokes came with apple wedges. We’re assuming is deliberate and not cluelessness.

My diet coke served in a wine glass with an apple wedge.

For mains we each selected a curry. Bron chose a delicious (#19) Gaeng Mussa Mun Nuea/Gai (Beef or Chicken Curry with Peanuts & Potato in Coconut Milk). I chose a reasonably nice (#18) Gaeng Phed Nuea/Gai (Red Curry with Beef or Chicken in Coconut Milk). I say reasonable because the beef was a little tough. The sauce though was heavenly. It was rich a spicy and went well with steamed rice.

Gaeng Mussa Mun Nuea

Gaeng Phed Nuea

I like the Thai Spice in Woden and happily recommend it for anyone who wants a lunch time meal near a big shopping mall.

This afternoon was really good at work. There were some last minute urgent things, but mostly a good afternoon.

I have wanted to try the take away place in Jamison for a while. There is also a foursquare entry.

I wanted battered fish and potato scallops. They serve them in a cardboard box that gets wrapped in fish and chip paper.

Fish and potato scallops in the box

When I got to my place I ate from a plate. The meal was pretty good and I’ll happily go back. As one twitter friend says though, this is nothing like the Stokes Hill Wharf in Darwin.

Fish and potato scallops on a plate

For dessert I had ice cream.

Ice cream with cream

So my Black Friday has been a good day.

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My first Wagyu beef cooking experience

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Yesterday we went to Costco and bought some Wagyu beef.

Wagyu steak from Costco

This morning we started with homemade Eggs Benedict to prove a point about the niceness of runny yolks and a smooth Hollandaise sauce. While yesterday’s breakfast was nice, this was better.

Bron's Homemade Eggs Benedict. Runny yolks are good.

A lot of thought and some research went into preparing for this evening’s meal. Wagyu beef is an expensive investment. The returns in terms of delicious flavours need to be maximised through careful cooking. The last thing we wanted was for the meat to be mishandled in any way.

After reading many websites and articles, we agreed on this method http://www.evernote.com/shard/s183/sh/6d02cff7-25f4-4a37-84ad-453bfa366032/72e8c7be756eac09e6fe4edc9b06a67c This is a method advocated by the Internet Chef.

Without an induction stove top we worked out our plan of attack. The meat was chilled and then the board dressed Jamie Oliver style to apply the seasoning. One side was cooked for 90 seconds and the fillet was turned and placed on a low heat hob with the lid on for 45 minutes. After cooking it was rested for 10 minutes. During this time Bron prepared a Jamie Oliver horseradish mash and we also had asparagus and peas.

Just look at how beautiful this piece of meat looks. It's good enough to cut thinly and eat raw.

The rib eye fillet looks gorgeous. Unctuous, gorgeous, beautiful, YUM…

Seasoned after seasoning the board as per Jamie Oliver

Don’t worry, this is not too much salt.

Bron's plate

I dissected the lean fillet from the fatty deckle. Bron prefers the lean fillet and I love the fatty deckle. The lean fillet was delicious and went well with the horseradish mash and peas.

My plate

I love the fatty deckle and all its succulent juiciness. The sauce was simply a white wine reduction with a little Dijon mustard and cream in the beef’s pan juices.

The tastiest meat and fat I've ever had

The deckle meat is on the left. It was separated from the lean fillet by a nice piece of fat. The fat tasted amazing. It was not a ‘fatty’ texture at all. It melted in my mouth and was full of flavour.

Steamed pudding with chocolate cherry sauce

This is a Jamie Oliver recipe.

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Dinner at Lemon Grass Woden and Max Brenner Belconnen

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After an afternoon of shopping at Costco and DFO we’d worked up a hunger for Thai food and chocolate.

I’ve been to the Lemon Grass restaurant in Woden a few times. The food has always been nice. Last night was no exception. The service though was a little quirky. At one stage we had food and no plates and at other times plates and no food. All the servers looked unhappy and it appeared they didn’t have designated tables to wait on.

For starters we had Taud Man Pla (Thai fish cakes) and Goong Taud (deep fried King prawns coated in almond flakes).These were tasty morsels and certainly made me hungrier for more food.

Taud Man Pla Spicy Thai fish cakes

Delicious

Goong Taud Deep fried king prawns covered with almond flakes

A little over cooked.

For a main course I had the beef Gang Panang (creamy red curry with crushed peanuts and kaffir leaves topped with crispy egg noodles). Along with the rice to soak up the amazing creamy curry juices, this was a light spicy and tasty meal.

Gang Panang Creamy red curry (chicken or beef) with crushed peanuts and kaffir leaves topped with crispy egg noodles.

I’ve never really appreciated Thai desserts, so instead we went for a drive north to Belconnen to Max Brenner to enjoy some chocolate, viz., in the form of chocolate fondue (Pure melted milk and dark chocolate served with strawberries, bananas, marshmallows and banana bread).

Chocolate fondue with melted dark and milk chocolate.

In the end there was melted chocolate left over. I didn’t want to waste it.

I think this is an acceptable way to finish the melted chocolate.

The Lemon Grass menu can be found at www.lemongrassthai.com.au/Images/LemonGrassMenuWeb01.pdf

The Max Brenner menu can be found at http://www.maxbrenner.com.au/menu/menu.pdf

Max Brenner Chocolate Bar on Urbanspoon

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My own Man v Food challenge or something I really like from New Zealand

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Monday nights mean Man v Food on 7mate. I’ve only just discovered this show and some of my twitter friends watch and tweet along the way.

Tonight I went into overboard indulgence on ghastly food (well according to those close to me). The dish was centred on a 326 g can of New Zealand corned beef. This is premium quality meat and I am so happy to have found it at CostCo.

One of my favourite things from New Zealand

I used a 200 × 160 mm Pyrex dish and laid out two pieces of bread on the base to absorb all the oily flavour. I sauteed a finely chopped medium onion and three cloves of garlic in a non-stick wok. Once they softened I added a little white wine and the 326 g of corned beef. After the beef softened I added Clive of India curry powder, mixed dried herbs and some Worcestershire sauce. To this I added some coconut cream for flavour.

The topping consisted of two grated potatoes which I ‘dried’ with a salad spinner. I kept the potato water to thicken the beef. To the potato I added 100 g of Parmesan cheese plus a few crushed garlic cloves and an egg to bind it. I laid the beef on the bread and spread it out. I then added the potato and cheese topping. I grated a little more cheese on top and then popped into a moderate oven for 45 minutes.

When it came out it was nicely browned and cooked through.

Corned beef heaven

The bread did the job and soaked up all the oily goodness and a lot of flavour.

Plated up with avocado.

So this is what my plate looked like. What you didn’t see is that I polished off the entire dish in true Man v Food style. It was awesome. I fear every pore will emit garlic tomorrow. I will stay pretty much to myself except for a big meeting in the afternoon. Oops. :-)

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