Archive for the 'food' Category

Seasonal menus

Published on 30 April 2008 in diet and food. 2 Comments

It’s going to be an interesting challenge finding good meals for the coming colder months. Fresh fruit and big green salads are wonderful when it’s warm and sunny, but not so satisfying when it’s cold and rainy.

I have been slowly collecting appropriate vegetarian/vegan recipes while trawling through the blogosphere, like this vegetarian split pea soup, which sounds divine. Am currently keeping my eyes open for a good dahl recipe. And anything involving chickpeas in a stew.

And, thanks to the ’sphere, I have recently been introduced to the wonders of steel cut oats. I always found instant oats okay but somewhat like eating white bread - quick, easy but like something’s missing. Not so with the steel cut variety. Simple recipe here. Deliciously warming.

Mixed review

Published on 11 March 2008 in anniversary, restaurant, review and food. 1 Comment

Amusé?

We had a good night, but with a few reservations.

Firstly, the restaurant was way too dark. Q: How do you know a restaurant is too dark? A: When the waiter has to hand you a penlight so you can read your menu!

Secondly, the food. It seems almost churlish to say anything negative about the food, which was very good. The problem? The flavours were really really strong. This was especially so for our main course, which was a vegetable tagine complete with artichokes, figs, baby carrots and a few other things I could not identify. Strong flavours are not normally something I’d criticise, but in this case they were so strong the flavour of the vegetables was overwhelmed. And, because it was so dark, I couldn’t see what I was eating!

Thirdly, the waiters. Oh, they were attentive and unobtrusive, but if I may make one suggestion, it’s that as a waiter one should enunciate clearly and take one’s time when serving, and not rush one’s description of the dishes. Especially when it comes to dishes that are not listed on the menu - I can’t quite tell you what I had for our amuse bouche - I think it was a grapefruity gin and tonic inspired cold soup (the chef is probably cringing at my poor palate and poor description). I could have called them back and asked them to repeat their descriptions, but they always moved away so efficiently I would have had to raise my voice or gesture to call them back (and they were always standing at the opposite side of the room!).

However, I thought the quality of the food was excellent. The butter was beautiful. I always enjoy it when we eat out and there’s real butter. Because I seldom eat it I have no guilt about slathering it over my bread when I do have it. My entree, a mushroom risotto, was very good (where can you buy porcini mushrooms in Perth?). In fact, I might have enjoyed the risotto better as my main course, the flavours of the tagine were so strong I couldn’t actually finish it. The deserts were good - the pre-desert, a coffee mousse, was very light and very good, and we had a very lovely blood plum frangipane tart with peach ice cream.

And I think it’s great that they cater for vegetarians.

Three cheers for Jacksons!

Published on 7 March 2007 in anniversary, restaurant, wedding and food. 6 Comments

Jackson’s was wonderful.

For starters, it was a relief to step into the nicely cool dining room. Yesterday was a scorcher of a day, with the temperature reaching 42.4° C (108.32° F) at 4:48pm. When we got into the car to go home the car thermometer indicated that it was 44.5°C (112.1°F) - the steering wheel burnt the hands and I imagined I could hear my perspiration sizzle when I sat down.

But back to Jackson’s. The service was good throughout. Our waiter was attentive and friendly. I don’t know about you but I always find restaurants where the waiters seem to think they are better than the whole world, a tad uncomfortable. None of that arrogance at Jackson’s. They were efficient, too. They never needed to ask who’d ordered what - I always like it when they make a note of this and don’t need to ask what you’ve ordered when they bring you your courses. A small touch, I suppose. Our waiter also noticed me begin to make notes and when I told her I was particularly interested in the vegetarian options, informed me that the menu is always up-to-date on their website (indeed it is!). Also, Kathryn, if you’d like to try the degustation/tasting menu, if you give them enough notice they will happily prepare something special for you.

The food? I really really enjoyed my meal. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it was the best I’ve had in a while. Just a really lovely combination of flavours, textures, smells… the whole works. Even the bread was delicious, and we really liked the butter. While we were waiting for our starters, the waiter brought us a complimentary shot glass of gazpacho infused with truffle and a thin cheesy cracker. The gazpacho was very good. I almost thought the truffle would be overwhelming when I lifted the glass to taste the gazpacho, but the truffle flavour added a wonderful savouriness to the very fresh-tasting gazpacho.

Our starters arrived not long after this. M had gold band snapper (from Broome, the waiter said), served with vegetables and ginger and steamed in beer, while I had the “Joselito Iberico” gran reserva ham (reputedly the Best Ham in the World ; bought from the Perth butcher Mondo’s, perhaps?) served with a perfectly poached quail egg and potato. It was very tasty, the ham melt-in-the-mouth and very flavoursome.

As a palate cleanser we next had some mulled wine sorbet. This was refreshing but very strong, so strong that after a few mouthfuls we’d had enough. I noticed that the people at a table near us barely touched theirs. This didn’t spoil the meal - we just couldn’t eat it all.

M had chestnut stuffed rabbit in prosciutto, fettuccine & mushroom sauce as his main dish, while I had steamed Manjimup marron, béarnaise sauce, asparagus, truffle & parsley potato. The marron was divine. Perfectly cooked and wonderful to eat, taste and texture wise. It came served in the approximate shape of the crayfish, with the tail and leg shells daintily arranged on the plate - but all the meat removed from the shells, of course. M’s rabbit was very tasty, too, and I especially liked the mushrooms - chanterelles, I believe.

Whenever we go out for dinner I am usually too full to have dessert, but last night our meals were light enough that we found we actually had room for a third course! I had summer pudding with lavender icecream, while M had mango meringue with sugar syrup and coconut sorbet. My summer pudding came on a long rectangular plate with a bold brushstroke of berry reduction (or something like that, I’m guessing) underlying the berries and the lavender icecream. There was also some gauze-like cotton candy garnishing my summer pudding. The lavender icecream? Amazing! It went very well with the berries. M didn’t like it very much, saying that the lavender scent reminded him too much of the hand lotion I use. He really enjoyed his mango meringue, which came with slices of fresh mango. This was unusual for M who is not usually a mango fan.

M drank some Coonawarra Mildara Cabernet Sauvignon 2003, while I had a couple of gin and tonics.

I left feeling sated - not over-full - and very happy.