REVIEW: The Book Kitchen

See the black dog on the left there? He's a groodle and his name is Gus and he's a good boy.

Oops! How can it be two weeks since my last post? I'll tell you how. I went to Sydney! And then I got sick. But...I went to Sydney! For my birthday! And I had one of the best birthdays of my 20 something years. That's right, 20 something. That gives you an indication of how old I might be, since I'm not willing to say outright what something in the 20's I am. But you shush your mouth! I'm 20 something, goddamn it!

The wonderful industrial yet cosy interiors.

As far as chronology goes, this is the second restaurant I have to review from my Sydney jaunt but I wanted to do this one first. The morning after the night before, we were a touch shady and boy, was I looking forward to breakfast. Hold up..."boy"? What am I, a mid-western choirgirl? Um, no. Anyway, moving on.

Book lined walls.

My lovely friend who lives in Sydney took me to one of my favourite Sydney suburbs, Surry Hills. Alliteration for the win! Surry Hills is full of so many lovely cafes with a great food scene and this little café was no exception. The Book Kitchen sits on Devonshire Street, which is pleasantly busy, making it great for people watching from the tables outside. A table inside also seemed a great place to sit, with the book lined walls and great bustling atmosphere but on this sunny Saturday, we nabbed a seat in the cool winter sun.

Action shot.

Service was prompt with water and menus delivered quickly and drink orders taken swiftly. We ordered a hot chocolate ($4) and a pot of TBK Chai Leaf Tea ($5.50). There were tragically no marshmallows for my hot chocolate and after Felix, few other hot chocolates please me without marshmallows. What's the bloody point. Still, it wasn't horrid and it did the job. The chai tea was delightful - wonderfully spiced, milky and sweet - it hit the spot.

Looks the goods...wasn't the goods.

After drinking our hot drinks, we were ready to order. The waitress was so accommodating and thoroughly knew the menu. There were many tempting choices with lots of vegetarian options, which I'm really learning to notice as I move away from such meatcentric eating. We ordered two dishes and decided to share. There was a caramel milkshake on the menu however the kitchen was heartbreakingly out of caramel, so I got a chocolate milkshake ($7). The texture was very thin and the flavour was not very strong but the canister was cold and the serving was big. Check out where it ranks on The Cassie Cakes Milk Bar.

The meals arrived quickly and together and were presented invitingly! First, the Trio Corn Fritters - Poached Edd, Avo Salsa, Rocket with Roast Tomato ($20), plus we got extra Haloumi ($6). The haloumi was good and I'm glad we ordered it, but it was nothing on the Greek Festival haloumi. But for café haloumi, very good. Maybe the haloumi tempted comparison but the fritters...stand aside! No comparison came close. These fritters were so tasty, the corn was juicy and sweet, they were friend well and along with the avocado salsa and egg poached to perfection...mouth party. Please get the fritters if you come to The Book Kitchen.

For our second meal, we ordered the Slow Cooked Greek Beans - Rich Tomato Sauce, Poached Eggs, Salsa Verde, Pancetta and Sourdough for $19. The waitress kindly got our beans sans pancetta. The beans were tasty and firm to the bite, as though al dente. The toast was delightfully buttery, scooping up the beans with a hunk of buttery sourdough was an absolute treat. The eggs were also stellar and as with the Corn Fritter, just perfect. I love a well poached egg - the whites firm and the yolk runny.

The food at The Book Kitchen was top, everything was well cooked and well seasoned, balanced and tasty. The drinks were okay, not the best milkshake or hot chocolate but the chai tea was spot on. With such great food, backed by friendly and quick service, The Book Kitchen is really a wonderful brunch spot. It was such a pleasant café. Highly recommended.

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

REVIEW: High Tea at Lab



The heritage Treasury Hotel.

I am back from my holiday in Thailand and ready to share with you our experience at The Lab Bar & Restaurant at the Treasury Casino. I have been to high tea before with my mother and sister and had a lovely time. The dainty sandwiches, the pretty pastries, frilly doilies - the whole experience is traditional and wonderfully feminine. So I was a little surprised, delightfully so, when the masculine and hairy Mr. Cakes expressed his desire to accompany me to high tea! He explained it, tiny sweets and scones...why wouldn't he like it?! 


Champagne and tea and everything nice!



We both got dressed up and made our way in to the city. The Lab Bar & Restaurant is situated in the Treasury Hotel, away from the main casino building itself. The history and architecture really makes the experience special, the polished timber bar that dominates the room is beautiful and really makes you want to have a drink.

 

The vintage bar...very well stocked.

The high tea is available on the weekends from 2 - 3:30pm for $45 per person.We started off with a glass of champagne Chandon NV Sparkling Brut for $12.50 then choose our tea from the La Masion Du Thé (which means the house of tea, thank you less-than-basic-French-skills) selection. The tea choice is bottomless so if you could drink $45 worth of tea, you'd certainly be getting your money's worth.


Look how handsome Mr. Cakes looks in his blue shirt. Trust me, the rest of his is very handsome too.

After we were served our tea, the tower of afternoon delicacies were presented. I really liked all the decorative charger plates and crockery. It made the setting feel particularly fancy. Traditionally, one should eat the high tea from to top plate down, starting with the scones on the top tier then savoury items then sweet pasties. On the top tier for our high tea, we had 2 scones each, one plain and one sultana scone as well as a petit quiche and frittata each.

The scones and quiches and frittatas - oh my!



The scones are now dressed up and ready for eating!

We were given individual pots of jam for the scones along with a serving cream. The scones were really nice, perhaps not as good as Mr. Cakes'...have I not told you how good Mr. Cakes' scones are? They're amazing. He must have had lessons from Margaret Fulton. The quiche and frittata were okay, they were a little underwhelming.

Nice and appropriately moist.

The next tier was the savoury level which in this case, were finger sandwiches. There were chicken salad, tomato and cheese, roast beef, egg salad and lastly salmon. They were all fresh and moreish. And they were all the right level of not-wet until Mr. Cakes dropped one in the water, which was adorable and hilarious.


The sandwich going for a swim.



The final layer was the sweets. We had opera cake, which was my favourite, glazed fruit tarts, mini lemon meringue tarts, a macaron (yes, one 'o' in macaron) each and lastly, an adorable cream puff in the shape of a swan. Unfortunately the cutest of the desserts was the least impressive. The puff wasn't very crisp so the texture was a little stale. None of the desserts blew me away, although the presentation was lovely.

The ornate swan cream puff and friends.

The high tea at Lab was nice however although I've not been to that many high teas, this ranked No. 2 in the two I have been to. It was nice though and we had a lovely time. The best thing about it though was watching Mr.Cakes try to use the dainty serving-ware. Absolutely adorable.

Food: 3/5
Service: 3.5/5
Price: 3/5
Atmosphere: 4/5 

REVIEW: Plenty

It's amazing what people can do with pallets these days.

A hangover made the prospect of facing the day without an indulgent breakfast impossible and yet the task of cooking one seemed equally insurmountable. What choice do a group of dusty ladies have but to go out for breakfast?

 

There's a warehouse feel to Plenty, that seems to be very popular in restaurant/café décor.

 Plenty has been creating buzz amongst Brisbane breakfast connoisseurs since they opened their doors late last year. They tout organic and farm fresh food in their pared back, warehouse surroundings from Montague Street in West End.

Plenty also sell a range items such as condiments, teas, ice creams and lovely, fragrant soaps!

With the West End markets doing their best to operate on the rainy weather just across the road, parking was a little hard to find. I imagine it would have been more difficult had the weather been sunny!

There was a small collection of people waiting to get a table and we got some drinks to warm us as we waited under the slightly inadequate umbrellas. There was some confusion as to if we had to collect the drinks at the counter or if they would come find us, however the drinks found us in due course.

I can't remember what this tea was, I think ginger and mint. It was nice anyway!

Before we had finished them, we were called to our table and it felt like Beyoncé herself had summoned us, I was so excited. Unfortunately, she hadn't but we did get a table inside so swings and roundabouts, really.

Plenty has counter service so we went up in pairs to order. There were pikelets on the menu which sounded very alluring but ultimately I went with the Braised Steak and Onion Melt with a Fried Egg on top ($14.50). Two of our party chose to order the Poached Eggs on Potato Hash with Carrot Jam, Persian Feta and Bacon ($16.50) and lastly, an order of Avocado on Toast with Fassifern Valley Tomatoes, Basil and Buffalo Mozzarella ($13.50) with a Poached Egg ($3.50) on the side.

One half of the chocolate milkshake.

Milkshakes were the order of the day, in terms of drinks anyway with two salted caramel milkshakes and one chocolate milkshake which was kindly split into two. I had a sip of the chocolate, and although it was nice, I would have been dirty had I not got the salted caramel milkshake. Because it was very good. The texture was pretty good, could have been thicker but I think I always say that, but the flavour knocked it out of the building. There were flakes of sea salt at the bottom of the canister! And can I just say that serving a milkshake in a steel canister is the best way to serve a milkshake? It just feels right! Well done, Plenty.

The salted caramel milkshake. It would bring a few boys to the yard.

Meals arrived and I had more than a little bit of order envy over the Poached Eggs on Potato Hash as it looked gorgeous! It was mentioned to us that the chef has been preparing this particular dish for years, exactly how many escapes me know but the love put in showed. The plate was beautifully presented and the ethos of Plenty was evident - fresh, flavourful and lots of vegetables! By all accounts, it was a winner.

Look at that presentation! And I mean the artful placing of the fork.

The Avocado on Toast was also visually appealing with a mix of red and green tomatoes with freshly torn herbs. My waifish dining partner was more than happy with the serving size but had I ordered it in my rough, ravenous state, I would have been left wanting. No complaints from the recipient though and it looked wonderfully appealing.

I really think I hit the ordering nail on the head with my brunch choice. There was buttery bread, there was cheese, there was meltingly tender steak and sharp onion. And literally on top of all that, there was a fried egg! If that's not a hangover cure, then I don't know what is. Some may be put off by the indulgent nature of the melt, but they would be missing out. Highly recommended to remedy a sore head.

 The hangover cure! *Angels singing*

There was a great atmosphere at Plenty, which in part could be contributed to the fantastic company I enjoyed but also from the buzzing ambience. Service was a little stilted at times, such as our table getting a little crowded from dirty dishes but given the high quality of food and earnest effort from the staff, this is easily forgiven and overall, I would highly recommend Plenty. I look forward to returning and trying the pikelets! 

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