Tag Archives: Hollandaise sauce

Taze Mediterranean Cuisine Canberra City

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Taze in Civic boasts exquisite tastes from around the Mediterranean.

It’s located at Shop 4 in the ATO Building at 21 Genge Street, Canberra City ACT 2601. Google map http://goo.gl/maps/K0a1G


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Last night (ACT election night) we went there with friends for a meal. All in all it was an okay night. The place is packed with tables and it was a little like being in a sardine can. The table we had had a chair combo with two seats being a lounge cushion thing and the other four seats stand alone units. It wasn’t great and our friends who ended up with the lounge cushion thing weren’t that happy. The place has two levels with the mezzanine being largely out of sight. Because of my deafness and tinnitus I like to sit with my good ear in the best position. That doesn’t always help if the place is noisy. This place is pretty noisy. Not their fault I know, but some sound baffling can help people with a hearing disability.

While I enjoyed my meal, one of our friends asked for the seafood risotto and it came with whole crab pieces rather than crab meat incorporated into the risotto. This made it pretty messy and unappetising. In addition, it didn’t taste too good. Bron and I both noticed the snapper a couple of friends asked for smelt pretty fishy which is something that would put us off asking for it.

Onto the good things. I had an entrée of lamb sausages which were delightfully spicy. I could eat much more of these sausages. The serving size was pretty good for an entrée. I also had a fillet steak cooked rare on a bed of mash. For $36 I expected some greens too. Oh well, not a big deal. The steak was well cooked and very enjoyable. If I compared it to Tommy’s Bistro from last week though, I’d go for Tommy’s. I finished off with the Crème brûlée which contained white chocolate and raspberries. It was pretty good.

Taze lamb sausages

Taze fillet steak [rare]

Taze white chocolate and raspberry Crème brûlée

We had a good night out. Civic is the place to be on a Saturday night if you’re young and want a good time. With Spring developing everyone seemed to be wearing suitable bright coloured clothes and revealing a heap of pale skin.

On paying the bill, the manager removed the price of the risotto which was very nice of him and for me would be a positive to come back and try some different dishes from the menu.

I’d say Taze is worth a go. Their website has all their menus. I’ve listed the two main ones here. Ala carte menu http://taze.com.au/assets/alacartemenu.pdf  | Dessert menu http://taze.com.au/assets/dessertmenu.pdf

 

After a good night’s sleep we went to Ricardo’s Café for breakfast.

I enjoyed my poached eggs with a side of Hollandaise sauce.

Ricardo’s Cafe Poached eggs

Ricardo’s Cafe Poached eggs

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What happened to Pizzazz in Kingston? Discovering Urban Pantry

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I got back to Canberra last night after a few days in Sydney watching Miss15 compete in the Australian Gymnastics Championships. She was pretty happy, she got a bronze medal for the uneven bars and did quite well overall. The drive was tiring because it was raining pretty heavily and the roads at night when they’re wet have the occasional bad driver. It’s a roughly three hour drive and I was going to stop at Goulburn for something to eat but in the end just drove through.

I’d spoken with Bron and we agreed on a breakfast at Pizzazz. We’d been there many times before and enjoyed the breakfast menu. They make fantastic waffles. When we arrived we noticed the doors were closed and the windows were papered up. After circling the block once we drove to Manuka and walked around until we came across Urban Pantry. We looked in the window and noticed the bread. On inquiry the Sonoma organic sourdough bread is delivered from artisan bakers from Sydney. The menu was pretty standard for a fancy Canberra café. We both chose the Eggs Benedict with bacon on sourdough bread. Out of interest, Bron asked what is the minimum requirement to call something Eggs Benedict when it’s not just poached eggs, hollandaise sauce, with ham on a muffin. If anyone has an opinion let me know (I know I could run a WordPress poll but I couldn’t be bothered at the moment). Does anyone know what’s happening with Pizzazz?

The coffee was good. It was rich and aromatic. The meal itself was mostly good. My bacon was crispy with burnt pieces. The burnt pieces left a slightly acrid taste in my mouth. The bread was delicious and the organic free range eggs and hollandaise were really very nice. At about $20 a plate, it was more expensive than many other places but it tasted very good. We sat outside but it was plastic sheeted in and the heaters did a good job. The tables were a good size and the chairs comfortable.

Eggs Benedict from Urban Pantry (iPhone)

Today I spent a good portion of it preparing for a rental inspection. While I was doing that I prepared some meals for lunches at work this week. I prepared some belly pork in a new saucepan I bought from Ikea on Friday and then prepared some vegetables. I loaded up a casserole and cooked the dish in a low oven for three hours.

Pork curry (iPhone)

This afternoon I watched Iron Lady with Bron and ate some of her homemade Cinnabon classic.

Cinnabon (iPhone)

Tonight Bron made a Thai red beef curry. It was really good.

Thai red beef curry (iPhone)

It was a good day :-)

 

 

 

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Seasalt Dining for Sunday breakfast

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This morning we went to Seasalt Dining for breakfast. We’d been here before for dinner and quite enjoyed it.

This morning was reasonably cool in Canberra so a warm place and a good breakfast was called for. I was keen on eggs and posted this on instagram as soon as I saw the menu.

Bron and I had Eggs Benedict with bacon and coffee.

Eggs Benedict with bacon (iPhone with filter for instagram)

The eggs were soft and the yolk ran free on cracking the white membrane. The toast was nice and not too stiff.

I’d rate the experience 6.5 out of 10. The service was friendly but a little disorganised. The orders didn’t come out together and there was a sense of confusion to the place. The food was okay but the menu was a very standard breakfast/brunch list. There was nothing special to it. I’d go again with a crowd if better Canberra venues were not available.

As I said to Bron, her Eggs Benedict are close to an order of magnitude better.

 

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Maestral Mediterranean and Seafood restaurant in Weston

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Yesterday was a slow kind of day. We started with brunch at Black Pepper in Belconnen. This is a local café that does a good breakfast and brunch on weekends. It is very popular amongst locals and especially cyclists and walkers who exercise around Lake Ginninderra.

Bron asked for Eggs Benedict on Turkish bread and I asked for the Black Pepper big breakfast with Turkish bead. Black Pepper Menu July 2012

When our meals arrived, the Eggs Benedict were sitting on a muffin. Rather than waste time and send the dish back, I shared my Turkish bread.

Beautiful eggs Benedict

The plates were cold and the bacon was also cold. The eggs were slightly over cooked. The yolks were still soft but they weren’t really runny like we like them. Otherwise, the Eggs Benedict and Black Pepper Breakfast were very nice. As you can see I also asked for a bowl of hollandaise sauce to go with my breakfast. Along with our coffees, it was a good start to the day.

The day got better with a visit to Costco. I wanted to see the optometrist, although I didn’t realise I needed an appointment. I’ll be returning next Saturday. To compensate my disappointment we went to look at the meat section. There is a whole cold section dedicated to Australian produced Wagyu beef.

Costco's Wagyu cabinet

I will blog soon about cooking Wagyu beef.

The Maestral Mediterranean and Seafood restaurant is on 13 Trenerry Street in Weston. The menu is a combination of Croatian, seafood and beef. The surf and turf/reef and beef options look amazing.

We started with baby fried calamari and then went onto a Maestral seafood platter.

Baby fried calamari

The calamari was perfectly fried. It was juicy and tender.

The Maestral seafood platter. The soft shell crab was the highlight.

The platter had a combination of oysters (natural and oysters Maestral [see menu]), scampi, prawns, fish, soft shell crab and fried potatoes.

Me smiling because I love seafood platters

I would definitely go back and try other dishes on the menu. It’s a very popular restaurant. We saw a number of familiar faces and friends there last night.

After the Maestral we thought we’d enjoy dessert at Max Brenner in Belconnen. I chose the waffle with strawberries and vanilla ice cream.

Max Brenner waffle with strawberries and vanilla ice cream

And so finished a pretty good day.

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