REVIEW: La Quinta

La coo ca raa cha! La coo ca raa cha! La quinta la la la!

It's been a while since we visited La Quinta so it was high time we got back. La Quinta is the older sister of the American restaurant directly next door, Southern Attitude, which I reviewed early last year. And while usually older sisters are just the warm-up for the smarter, prettier, better at cooking and shut up Tegan for the younger sister, in this case, the original really is the best.

La Quinta is always pretty busy of an evening, so lunch time is the best time to go without making a reservation. Although one time we made a reservation and they didn't have a table for us but for this review, that's neither here nor there.

We went to a restaurant "to celebrate the jobs they hadn't actually performed, with money they hadn't actually earned"

La Quinta have a fantastic ordering system. When you wish to have the attention of the waiter, you place a little flag atop a wooden cactus. The staff are really quick at noticing the flags and the whole system is very efficient. Drinks arrive very quickly. We kicked things off with some ice cold Coronas ($7.50 each) and a frozen margarita ($12) which went down an absolute treat on a steamy hot Saturday afternoon. To see exactly how it went down, check out my flip book on Instagram.

Pro dip combo right there.

We ordered a few starters to go with our icy cold beverages. We choose the Trio of Dips ($16) with Corn Chips and Tortillas, and since we're flipping pros by now at La Quinta, we choose the creamy Guacamole, the cheesy Queso and the LQ Fire Roasted Corn Jalapeños. Can you see how that combination works? Amazingly.

Dang, yo. Mexican food does not photograph well.

Our next starter to share was Smoked Chorizo with Sofrito Paste ($10.50). Sofrito paste sounds pretty unappealing but don't think so hard about it cos it's delicious. It's a tomato based sauce and pro tip: get a bit of the chorizo, with a scoop of the sofrito and pop it in a bit of tortilla and a dollop of the queso. Your mouth is now in party town.

I'm gonna have to do this..."If you like pina coladas..."

A piña colada was now in order to take the heat down and La Quinta's Original Puerto Rican Piña Colada ($12) was simply too good. I smashed it in about 30 seconds. So then we followed it up with more coronas! This was turning into a most enjoyable fiesta!

Those beans look like mice poops.

The first main was two tacos for $15, one taco with Hickory Smoked Chicken, Avocado, Pineapple, Chipotle Mayo and one with Refried Black Beans, Pico De Gallo, Cheese taco. The chicken taco was tasty and full of Mexican flavour however the refried bean taco left a little to be desired, with no cheese or pico de gallo to be seen. So a bit of a miss on the tacos.

They're not the prettiest, but ugly is tasty.

Next up, a serve of Beef Enchiladas, topped with Ranchero Sauce and Jack Cheese ($22.50). Though not the prettiest of dishes, the enchiladas were saucy goodness, wrapped in La Quintas chewy, fresh tortillas. The accompaniments were huge, and went some way to improving the lacking tacos.

Look at those bubbles of crispy goodness. This is by far my favourite dish.

Finally, although my eyes scanned the menu and my mind turned over many options, I returned to my old favourite: The Tostada El Grande ($24.50). It sounds suitably grand, doesn't it. The tostada el grande is a moreish and crispy fried flour tortilla bowl, filled with pulled chicken, lettuce, tomato salsa, cheese, refried beans, rice, guacamole and sour cream. I don't think there's been one occasion that I haven't ordered this, and trust me, if you are at a table with friends, and you don't order this, you'll be very jealous. Luckily, it's so huge, you'll probably end up getting to try some as even I can't finish it.

La Quinta is a great, casual restaurant with a fun vibe and unique ordering system which is a novelty. It's been around for years and it's easy to see why. The food is fresh and generous, I always recommend La Quinta for a casual meal out.

Food: 3.5/4
Service: 4/5
Price: 3.5/4
Atmosphere: 3.5/5

REVIEW: Paleo Cafe Bulimba

 

I think the cow should be in the centre, rather than the apple.

I'm pretty much always trying - and failing - to eat healthier. Given that I frequent restaurants regularly, I appreciate when there are lighter options. However, lighter options mean squat if it doesn't taste good. The paleo movement doesn't seem to be going anywhere either and with those two facts in mind, we decided to try Paleo Café.



The bright, industrial interior.

Paleo Café is local to us, sitting at the start of Oxford Street in a fairly new complex, The Avro. We visited one Saturday, and given the popularity of the Oxford Street Area, I expected the café to be a hive of activity with a line out the door. To the contrary, there were plenty of tables so we choose a table outside.

The smoothies, icy and not so icy.

Along with the coffees, we ordered a few cold drinks. The Signature Iced Chocolate ($8) sounded pretty appealing with cacao and honey syrup mixed with almond and coconut milk, but it felt like a berry sort of day. I went with the WOD Warrior smoothie for $8, made from strawberries, mango, granola and coconut milk. Mr Cakes ordered the Piña Colada smoothie for $9, a coconut, pineapple and lime concoction. Both smoothies were nice, I could have done with more ice in mine. I like my smoothies to be cold and icy.


Sweet Chilli Eggs, poached, with bacon.

For meals, two of us ordered the Sweet Chilli Eggs - Soft Poached Eggs Served on Savoury Bread with Fresh Spinach Leaves, Avocado, Crispy Bacon and Topped with a Sweet Chilli Capsicum Jam, Fresh Coriander Sprigs and Lime for $16.50. I ordered mine without bacon, as I'm cutting down on meat consumption and eggs fried, cos I hate undercooked whites. So often poached eggs are undercooked.

Damn you, slimy whites! Scourge of my breakfast days!

Unfortunately, ordering fried eggs did not allow me to escape my fate and the whites of my eggs were a little translucent. The bread was fairly unique, being paleo and made from coconut flour. It was not dissimilar to that of banana bread. Still, for a wheat free option, it was okay. Not sure I'd be running back to consume the bread. We both enjoyed the chilli jam and the avocado was nice and ripe. 

So much meat.

Not everyone is concerned about cutting down on meat so next up, we had the Caveman Big Breakfast - Free Range Eggs, Steak, Veal Sausage, Bacon, Mushrooms, Oven Roasted Tomato, Sautéed Baby Spinach, Savoury Bread and Chunky Tomato Relish ($22.50). And if that sounds like a lot, it was. The steak was a particularly nice steak, it appeared to a fillet of some sort. It was mostly meat and there was no "bread" with the meal. This makes it a very low carb option. Any committed meat eater would be very pleased with this choice, Mr Cakes was extremely jealous of the Caveman Breakfast.


I see you, yucky white bits! Nice yolk though.

Mr Cakes got what he felt was the consolation prize of the Bacon and Free Range Eggs - Free Range Eggs with Sautéed Baby Spinach, Savoury Bread, A Golden Sweet Potato Rosti and Double Smoked Bacon ($14.50). Even though he was very envious of the steak on the Caveman Breakfast, he did get a decen amount of bacon. The spinach couldn't really be called sautéed and looked more to be slightly wilted. The rosti was nice and very crispy. Mr Cakes was happy with the eggs too, but they looked similar to mine with a bit of the whites undercooked. That of course is just my opinion on eggs though. Mr Cakes was not the biggest fan of the bread either.

Paleo Café was pretty good, and a few of the things I didn't like about the food had to do with paleo food itself, not the café. Don't go to a paleo café if you want a big, doorstop piece of white sourdough. The staff were nice and the owner has a great passion for the lifestyle. It wasn't quite enough to turn me but I did leave feeling guilt free and satisfied.

Food: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Price: 3/5
Atmosphere: 3/5

REVIEW: Southern Attitude

Mmmm steaks. Nice ring, mysterious menu holder.

On a particularly warm Saturday night, we decided to go down to Southern Attitude on Oxford Street for dinner. Southern Attitude is fairly new, opening in 2014. The restaurant is the north of the border sister to the Mexican restaurant next door, La Quinta. We've been to La Quinta many times and always had good experiences, except for once when we made a booking and yet didn't get a table. At the time, I remember being reminded of a Seinfeld episode - "You know how to take the reservation, you just don't know how to hold the reservation. And that's really the most important part of the reservation".

Delicious apple pie cocktail. Get in my mouth!

Fortunately that didn't happen when we visited, although our request for an outside table went unfulfilled. We were seated at a booth inside and it was warm, but seemed bearable. The ordering system is the same as at La Quinta, you place a small flag atop your table number to get attention and it works really well. We ordered a few drinks, some soft drinks, a Pabst Blue Ribbon, of course and Sweet Apple Pie cocktail which was tequila, butterscotch schnapps, apple cider, lemon juice and cinnamon sugar for $13. The Sweet Apple Pie was delicious. Could easily have had a few more.


Wings are always a good idea.

After drinks, we ordered starters to share. First up we got a serving of 8 wings in Original with Blue Cheese Dip and Celery ($18). These were pretty good, and I liked the full wing being served. The flavour was good with a tasty mix of spices, and so was the texture. Often wings are drowned in sauce and they lose the crispiness of the fried batter but this was not the case with these wings.


Oh crab cakes. What would Mr. Krab say?

Next we got a serve of Crab Cakes ($9). There was a definite taste of crab in the crab cakes but the size was a little disappointing. They were okay. Finally, we got the Baked Chili Cheese Fries for $10, which was a generous serving of chips with beef chili, sour cream and shallots. Personally, I wasn't a huge fan of these fries - they were very meaty, which for most people would be a good thing but I'm a bit meh about these kind of chips. They're too much! But they all got eaten, and they're very much up Mr. Cakes' ally.

They look good. And they were good, for those who like them. Totally making perfect sense.

The mains came out before we'd finished the entrees. There was a slight feeling of being rushed, the restaurant by this time was getting busier and maybe it was because of the bodies in the room or the hot food in front of us but I was starting to feel the heat now. We made room on the table for the mains. First, there was the Kentucky Pulled Pork Sliders served with Rocket, Apple Cider Slaw and Chipotle Aioli for $14 with a serve of Blackened Corn for an extra $4. The sliders tasted really good and the meat wasn't fatty. The bread wasn't the greatest and I didn't think the corn was worth the extra $4, it looked a bit sad.


Mmm less than impressive. That little sauce drip is though.

Next were two Smoked Double Bacon Cheeseburgers ($14), each with a Wagyu Patty, Smoked Bacon, Cheese, Pickles, BBQ Sauce and Ranch dressing with Onion Rings and Fries ($4 each). The burger was good, the meat had a bit of a taco seasoning flavour to it, which was a little odd but not horrible. The chips were a lot better without the chili on top but the onion rings weren't cut up properly so some bits of onion were a bit thick.


So much fried goodness.

Finally, for my main, I ordered the Chicken Fried Chicken which was Southern Fried Breaded Chicken Breast with SA Seasoning, Fried and Served with Maple and Mustard White Gravy. It came with two sides, I choose Coleslaw and Sweet Potato chips. What came out was not what I expected. Instead of a whole bit of chicken breast, a flattened, breaded schnitzel type chicken breast was served. It wasn't terrible, but with the thoughts of my mothers southern fried chicken in my mind, I can't say that I wasn't a little disappointed. However, the chicken was good and the sweet potato chips were really good.


See what I mean about the chicken? It was good! Just not what I expected.

By this time though, it was sweltering. I literally had sweat dripping down my legs. I wolfed down my meal and escaped to the night outside, leaving Mr. Cakes to settle the bill with our dining companions.

PBR. Of course.

Southern Attitude was okay, I didn't hate it but I don't think I'll be rushing back. Southern Attitude do have a take away option so I think if I do eat there again, I will be eating it at home in the comfort of my air conditioning and with puppycakes at my feet.

Food: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Price: 2/5
Atmosphere: 2/5