Tag Archives: Fritter

Dinner at Elk and Pea

12 Replies

It’s not often I eat somewhere twice within a week. On Sunday morning I enjoyed breakfast at the Elk and Pea for the first time.

Saturday night’s dinner had been planned for a few weeks. After our Smoque outing it took about a week to agree to dinner at Elk and Pea. Funnily enough I suggested Elk and Pea because of the review that T1 had written for In The Taratory. In my mind (poor memory) T1′s review was for dinner and I recall her writing a good review except for the knives.

Don't mix these up

I didn’t want to mix up my water and the hot sauce.

For dinner I chose two dishes. I started with the corn and zucchini fritters and then the goat enchilada. The corn and zucchini fritters consisted of spiced fritters, plus a sweet and sour pepita sauce. The enchilada had slow braised goat wrapped in corn tortillas, corn puree goats feta. As a table we asked for two serves of the corn and zucchini fritters so we could share them.

#dinner Corn and zucchini fritters #yummy ping @chat2tb @macjam1 @natmcb

The corn and zucchini fritters were really very nice.

#dinner Goat enchiladas #yummy Ping @macjam1 @chat2tb @natmcb

Two of us asked for the goat enchiladas. Each serve has two enchiladas and this plate had three. They ran out of enchiladas so they gave us one for free and suggested we order another meal. This meant that others like twitter friends James Connor @DocConnor and Frala Fontaine @frala_fontaine who were at another table missed out. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to chat. Maybe another time at a tweetup.

#dinner Soft shelled crab #yummy

We asked for one of the specials, viz., soft shelled crab with plantains.

I enjoyed the Peruvian pine for dessert. The dessert consisted of cane sugar, pineapple, coconut cream, pine crisps.

#dessert Peruvian Pine #yummy Ping @natmcb @macjam1 @chat2tb

You can see the large pineapple ring with coconut cream and the smaller core of cane with berries and pomegranate seeds. I was given a tea spoon to eat it. I ended up chasing pieces of pineapple and sugar cane around the plate until Meredith found a fork for me.

Hey @natmcb I'm glad you liked the pus from my ring. Ping @macjam1 @chat2tb @elkandpea

The custard had a smooth runny consistency. It was delicious. Click on the image to see the Instagram banter. Apologies for those with weak stomachs.

All in all it was a pretty good meal. As usual the company was exceptional with lots of laughing and stories to tell.

Who was this? Ping @chat2tb @macjam1 @natmcb

Danny couldn’t make it and sent Nat an image of his lamb shank dinner. Nat was a little jealous and this image was sent to Danny.

The evening was interesting in many ways. We had a good sturdy table setting. No wobbly tables. We were seated next to the front door. The weather was cold (yes welcome to a Canberra summer evening) and the breeze was bracing. I don’t know how the people seated outside enjoyed their meals. The wait staff were polite and friendly although they weren’t really that attentive. The person who took our main order memorised the entire order which was pretty impressive, however, the story about the shortage of enchiladas wasn’t communicated with us until the plate had been served and we had asked for the second plate. This really confused me.

The main meals came out pretty quickly although in an odd order. We had asked for the corn and zucchini fritters to come out first so we could share them. The mango and chicken salad came out first for Tanya and then after about ten minutes the corn and zucchini fritters were served. There was about a thirty minute delay between the main meals and dessert. This wasn’t a problem but seemed to be a long time given the experience earlier with rapid delivery.

Would I go back? The food was really nice. I’d go back for the food. The restaurant was noisy and I could hardly hear what was being said. The confusion with the enchiladas was disconcerting. The service was okay and they get points for not taking away our plates while we were still eating. I don’t know, it’s not going to be a favourite place. I may go back but it wouldn’t worry me if I didn’t.

All in all I enjoyed a good night out. I’m glad I ate at Elk and Pea for dinner.

———-

The Elk & Pea on Urbanspoon

———-

Elk and Pea dinner menu PDF
Elk and Pea drink menu PDF
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/KwzNX


View Larger Map

Pepita
Pepita sauce http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/25263/pork+with+corn+sweet+potatoes+pepita+sauce | http://www.yummly.com/recipes/pepita-sauce

In the Taratory’s Twitter account

Related articles

Fekerte’s Ethiopian Cuisine

5 Replies

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.

Related articles