Restaurant reviews

Restaurant reviews blog posts

My first Jack in the box meal

Posted 2015-04-18 by Gary

The Yummy Lummy Cooking for one podcast

My first Jack in the box meal

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I was reminded by a friend today that Jack in the box is best known to microbiologists because of an outbreak of Escherichia coli infection caused by the O157:H7 strain in 1993 which infected 732 people. I’ll let you know if I feel crook.

We started with a quick breakfast at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Honolulu. I had a smoked salmon bagel with cream cheese. It was pretty nice.

We left Honolulu today with this view from the Aqua Waikiki Wave hotel. It looked cloudy but it was a beautiful day. #warmandmoist

Morning view from Aqua Waikiki Wave hotel on Friday morning.

After picking up a Hertz rental car (Chevrolet Impala—please don’t tell my Holden loving friends that we were forced to drive a General Motors heap with a 3.6 L V6 which I assume is used in commodes back home) we drove up the scenic east coast of Oahu. It was a beautiful drive punctuated with great spots to stop and take in the view.

The view from the Hãlona Cove Blowhole lookout

For lunch we stopped in at Waimãnalo and ate at a Jack in the Box. I had a Jack’s spicy chicken sandwich and some delicious stuffed jalapeño peppers. Despite bad history with Escherichia coli I was pretty happy with my meal. The staff were really very friendly.

Jack in the box Jack's spicy chicken burger — Jack in the box Jack’s spicy chicken burger

Jack in the box Stuffed jalapeño peppers

We kept driving north and stopped at the Foodland in Lã’ie for supplies. You can tell what I aimed for.

I periscoped this short movie clip. I’m sorry about the poor quality. I was so excited to see so much spam and corned beef. Did you see the size of the can of corned beef.

LIVE on #Periscope: Spam heaven https://t.co/Zxx8SSLqGN

— Gary Lum (@garydlum) April 18, 2015

I did buy some spam. I leave it as a surprise what flavours I bought. I only got two cans.

If you love eggs like I do I reckon 18 eggs in a carton is brilliant. Gee I love America.

Yay for Plastic bags. hawaii is not a nanny state like the Australian Capital Territory. Plastic shopping bags are so useful and can be used multiple times.

I nearly bought this Spam T-shirt. I may go back and buy it.

After we settled in to our condominium we went for dinner at Kahuku Grill in Kahuku. This place was really good. It was laid back and the staff were extra friendly. The meals weren’t too big and definitely not too small. I had a delicious “Deep bleu” burger with extra pineapple. The beef was juicy and tender, the cheese had a great tang to it. I love pineapple on a burger. The only thing that would make it fair dinkum would be some beetroot and a fried egg.

The only negative was the lack of lighting. I had to turn the ISO up to 128,000 and shoot wide open at f/2. I kept the shutter speed at 1/40 seconds. It’s a grainy and blurry and the depth of field is way too narrow. Trust me when I say it looked really good and tasted even better

The Deep Bleu ay Kahuku Grill, Kahuku Oahu with added pineapple.

Have you eaten Jack in the box? Do you like stuffed jalapeño peppers?

Hawaiian holiday day 1

Posted 2015-04-17 by Gary

We arrived at the Honolulu International Airport yesterday for our Hawaiian holiday aboard Qantas QF3 SYD to HNL. The flight was comfortable and smooth on board the Airbus 330. If you want to see photographs of the meals prior to, during the flight and last night please check out YummyLummyBlog on Instagram.

Today we got up early because we had a tour going out to Pearl Harbor to see the USS Arizona memorial, the battleship USS Missouri and the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl).

For breakfast I sought out and enjoyed spam and eggs.

For lunch I had a chili dog with sauerkraut and pickled jalopeño pepper.

For dinner we found a Japanese noodle restaurant known as the Ringer Hut and I had pork and kimchi hotpot.

I’ve added some of the photographs from Pearl Harbor into a slideshow gallery. When I get more time I’ll process as many of the photographs as possible and post them. You can see some on my main instagram account garydlum.

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So this is the beginning of our Hawaiian holiday. Have you ever been to Hawaii? What did you do?

A weekend eating adventure in Brisbane

Posted 2015-03-01 by Gary

Some might say every weekend is an eating adventure for me

I spent the weekend in Brisbane to visit my parents and daughters. This week Miss13 becomes Miss14!

Saturday morning we enjoyed breakfast at Groove Train Chermside. I enjoyed the granola.

For lunch Miss19 and I made Mum and Dad a simple salad for lunch.

I taught Miss19 how to extract Pomegranate arils

I love coleslaw

The final product. Gee I love streaky bacon and avocado in a salad.

Coleslaw with avocado, pomegranate arils and streaky bacon

For dinner we celebrated soon to be Miss14’s birthday at Hog’s breath cafe. I had a lite cut prime rib with avocado and a side of calamari to enjoy a surf and turf or reef and beef meal

Hog's Breath Cafe Aspley with Lite cut prime rib and salt and pepper calamari (reef and beef, surf and turf) with avocado plus Béarnaise sauce on the avocado and cheese sauce on the vegetables. Served with curly fries. — Hog’s Breath Cafe Aspley with Lite cut prime rib and salt and pepper calamari (reef and beef, surf and turf) with avocado plus Béarnaise sauce on the avocado and cheese sauce on the vegetables. Served with curly fries.

After the main meal we came home and enjoyed Mum’s beetroot chocolate cake. Yes this was made with a large tin of beetroot. No taste of vinegar or beetroot at all.

Beetroot chocolate cake for soon to be Miss14

Beetroot chocolate cake and ice cream for soon to be Miss14

For Sunday breakfast we went to Cafe 63 Wilston and I had fruit. Who would believe it, I ate fruit while my daughters has poached and fried eggs and waffles and similar

Please say hello to the snake

Yatala Pies vanilla slice fail

Posted 2015-01-15 by Gary

I’ve spent the weekend in Brisbane visiting Miss13, Miss17 and my parents. We have some activities planned and I’ve taken Monday as recreation leave so we could fit things in. I’m writing a series of short posts about the food we ate on this visit.

It’s Sunday morning and we’re on our way to the Gold Coast for the day. Part of the journey is breakfast at Yatala Pies which is a bit of an institution in God’s own (i.e., Queensland).

Miss13 and Miss17 had no qualms about pastry for breakfast. We were on the road at 7.30 and by the time we got there a little after 8 we were all pretty hungry.

Miss13 asked for a caramel tart sans cream, Miss17 went for a vanilla slice as did I. I also asked for a jam and cream doughnut that we could share.

There were no vanilla slices on the counter when we arrived and when the lady went out the back to investigate if they had any my heart sank when she emerged with two slices that looked like they’d been in the cold room.

Long time readers will know of my devotion to the good old Aussie vanilla slice which Mexicans (aka Victorians) call snot blocks. If you want to know what I reckon makes a good vanilla slice here is my review. It’s become such a thing I regularly have conversations with a couple of very senior colleagues at work. So much so we send text messages to one another along with photographs when we come across a new vanilla slice we haven’t tried.

This vanilla slice had multiple problems. The icing was too thick and the pastry was too stiff. The custard while tasting nice was also a little gelatinous.

The jam and cream doughnut on the other hand was delicious. It was light and fluffy and not at all doughy. The cream wasn’t too sweet and the jam wasn’t either. Miss17 thought a little more jam would have made it just a little better.

Please don’t get me wrong, Yatala Pies make great hot pies. I’ve enjoyed them over the years and they’re consistently good. My advice though is steer clear of the vanilla slice and have a jam and cream doughnut instead.

Have you had a Yatala Pie? What did you think?

Groove Train Chermside @GrooveTrainAU

Posted 2015-01-13 by Gary

To get things started we needed a good breakfast on Saturday. Miss13, Miss17 and I headed to Groove Train at Chermside.

Miss13 asked for French toast, Miss17 asked for the Spanish eggs and I asked for corn fritters.

Miss13 also asked for a guava juice while Miss17 wanted a chai latte and I needed a long black.

Corn fritters with poached eggs, smoked salmon and lime yoghurt SONY ILCE-7S with E 35mm F1.8 OSS at 35mm and f/4, 1/100sec, ISO 100

The corn fritters came with poached eggs with runny yolks, smoked salmon and lime yoghurt. The corn fritters at Groove Train are filling and full of flavour.

I’d happily recommend them to anyone who has a hearty appetite.

Restaurant reviews

My first Jack in the box meal

Have you eaten Jack in the box? Do you like stuffed jalapeño peppers?

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Hawaiian holiday day 1

So this is the beginning of our Hawaiian holiday. Have you ever been to Hawaii? What did you do?

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A weekend eating adventure in Brisbane

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Yatala Pies vanilla slice fail

Have you had a Yatala Pie? What did you think?

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Groove Train Chermside @GrooveTrainAU

Do you have a favourite ‘local’ you visit for breakfast when you’re visiting family and friends?

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Have you eaten Jack in the box? Do you like stuffed jalapeño peppers?

I'd love it if you shared

Like this:

So this is the beginning of our Hawaiian holiday. Have you ever been to Hawaii? What did you do?

I'd love it if you shared

Like this:

I'd love it if you shared

Like this:

Have you had a Yatala Pie? What did you think?

I'd love it if you shared

Like this:

Do you have a favourite ‘local’ you visit for breakfast when you’re visiting family and friends?

I'd love it if you shared

Like this:

Recent posts

Post archive