One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. -Virginia Woolf

Just found this new little hot spot, near the beach, in Casuarina which is just past Kingscliff on the Tweed Coast.


It's called Cafe Sandbar and Grill! It has the al fresco outdoor area which is great for families and outside dining OR there is this inside gem of a restaurant with eclectic wooden decor, chandeliers,  a wine room and a huge bar. The well stocked bar is the centre of the action and serves up a good range of local beers including the Burliegh Heads Brewery, My Wifes Bitter and the excellent  Stone & Wood range of hand crafted ales. Cocktails, spirits and wine also feature on the menu. Meanwhile next door they have a general store selling some of their produce and making great fast food as well.


They have this inventive set lunch for menu if you're interested. Its a four course meal that changes all the time and prides itself on being seasonal and fresh, so fresh some of it comes from the back yard. It also can be accompanied with matching wines.



We however ordered off the menu. Next time perhaps the degustation?








I had the crispy skinned duck maryland sitting atop a grape, hazelnut, red onion and orange salad with lashings of home made mayonnaise. Exactly what it said on the menu came out and I enjoyed each mouthful. 

Particularly as on the side it came with kipfler potatoes fried in duck fat- very naughty but nice. Maybe because I am so impartial to carbohydrates!!!!

The husband ordered a carnivorous feast that came out on a plank of wood: roasted juicy lamb ribs sitting on a fresh salad with artichoke chips on the side. He too enjoyed his, though he did keep swiping some of my potatoes!!

Great prices and fantastic warm  friendly service make this a little unpretentious hot spot with the locals and the tourists staying in the area. If you're staying close by be sure to not miss this bistro!

Food in my belly on a Sunday Arv.....GC food authority

The belly rules the mind. -Spanish Proverb

Not too many creative Spanish eateries on the GC so if you're feeling like some Sangria and Mediterranean tapas then you must head to Espana in Broadbeach.
This is a tiny bar, with a few bench like tables, so its cosy and al fresco dining on Broadbeach mall. It's turn up only so expect to wait a little while during the summer months. In saying that they take your name and number and you can go and have a few drinks at a nearby bar.

The whole concept behind the restaurant is "sharing plates." You can start with a few and order others as you go, all the while sipping on Spanish Tempranillos or Spanish beer and watching the chefs cook, especially if you are seated at the bar.

You can choose form the specials on the board (which constantly change) or off the  small menu.


They have the classic  patatas bravas dish: grilled potatoes, topped with a tomato and herb sauce. If you've been to Spain then this is a classic favourite.

Other classics that are equally great are the ham and cheese croquettes and you can get manchego cheese plates and cured meat, serrano ham and prosciuttos. We had one of the specials that was sourdough bread with freshly carved cured ham and drizzled with olive oil. It was like being back in Europe. They also have the lovely thick white anchovies that I love so much too. It's European flavours at its finest.









Then there's beef cheek slow cooked in a bean and chickpea tomato sauce…if you love meat, then this dish will satisfy you as it is hearty and tasty- a great winter tapas.  The chorizo with black-eyed bean dish is one of our favourites, just because it has chorizo and we love it.

This time we also tried the quail- not one of my favourites. It was lemony and I think there are better dishes on the menu, such as the meatballs. 

Our absolute favourite is the octopus on a pomme puree, drizzled with oil. Its thick pieces of octopus leg that is incredibly moist and juicy.

We sat at the bar and so due to the red lighting the photos are quite red. The servings are small and a little expensive so be prepared to spend around 100 for 2 with wine.

If you have a comment you'd like to leave please do so.

GC food authority eating her way around the Gold Coast again.

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relatives. -Oscar Wilde

If you've been to Thailand and are looking for those Thai flavours here in Australia then you MUST visit the Sunshine coast!!
The Spirit House is a restaurant on a large piece of tropical land, in amongst the lush rainforest, with tranquil ponds and creeks, wooden bridges, Thai huts and even water lizards.

We sat right near the pond, watching a lizard sun itself and a duck glide across the pond. It was just a truly beautiful ambience and one felt away from it all, even though its not that far from the highway.
I had heard fabulous reviews about the crispy pork belly in a caramel sauce and this did not disappoint. The herbs of on top gave it a Thai sweetness and freshness. We also ordered the coconut fish salad that had this chilli throughout which gave it some zing, with fresh Thai basil and mint mixed through. There also a pork floss that just added a different layer of texture and taste to the dish. A little saltiness.

Got so carried away with the flavours and eating that got half way through the special of Crispy Fermented Pork with a Mango Sum Tum Salad and Num Choc Sauce before taking a proper photo. The pork was fermented in yoghurt first and then double fried. It was delicious. So crispy and like nothing I had ever had before- think of a rib but so much better. This was complimented with crunchy green beans and organic juicy tomatoes. It actually felt healthy eating it.

If you don't like HOT then don't get the chicken Jungle curry with crispy paw paw and lime leaves. My husband loves Spicy so the perfect curry sauce dish with noodles soaking up the heat. He was sweating crazy.

I've also heard that the salmon coconut soup is amazing- will have to go back to try all the other dishes we saw going past.

For those who are extra adventurous there is a Thai cooking school on the premises that you can sign on for and maybe even attempt a little at home yourself.

You'll rave about this One hat magical experience to your friends. Take some extra cash as it is a little pricey and when you add wines and soak up the atmosphere and order more wines then the bill grows.
Highly recommend. Let us know what you tasted and liked. I need to decide for my next venture there.

Food authority on the GC signing out.

Hunger sharpens the wit

This girl has been doing a lot of eating and so here come a series of local eating haunts you may want to try. Let me know what you think. Comments are always great.

Had a wedding in Byron this week. A beautiful place if ever there was. And there are some great eating places to go to, away from the tourist hub, if you know where to look. 
Try St Elmo's off the main drag, a Modern Spanish influenced restaurant. It's cosy, has a great bar with a wide selection of wines and 'real sangria' otherwise known as Tempo de Verano. 
It's laid back, with a casual vibe wether you sit facing the promenade or near the pool. Either way its all about sharing innovative plates and boy do you want to share.

Firstly, we had some Empanadillas filled with prawn and pork. Beautiful crunch puffs of pastry ready to dip into the aioli and vinegar.








This was followed by some ham and cheese croquettes. Having been to Spain, these are the real deal. They have this golden crunch on the outside but the cheese is mushy and gooey inside. 

Also had the pork belly skewers topped with a roasted capsicum, stuffed with chorizo and risotto. Equally delicious. And the peppers are the real puiqillo peppers.

The food is So delicious and reminded us of our Spanish honeymoon that we had dates stuffed with chorizo and somehow forgot to take a photo. DOH!

The great deal with all these tapas are that you can buy each piece individually so that you can get one or more etc.... I even tried the oyster (just ONE) with gin, cucumber and tonic jelly. The husband is not a fan of seafood so this was a great way to get a little taster, on the cheap side too.

His favourite dish were the small soft shell crab sliders, with chilli aioli and a piqiullo salad. These were divine and so flavoursome.


Feeling a little full we ordered one main to share and a side dish, all the while sipping on some Tempranillo. We couldn't go past the  roasted Jerusalem artichoke, with pea, pancetta and a parsley butter sauce to have with beef cheeks in caramelised wine and cauliflower puree.

The negative was that the other dishes looked equally as tantalising- chorizo and steak and just check it out.

This is the second time we have been to ST ELMO's and we have not been disappointed. It's popular with the locals, makes great cocktails and the service and food are of excellent quality. We are willing to make the 40 min trip just to eat here.

If you don't want a bite just sit at the bar and have a drink. It won't disappoint.

Signing out
To eat or not to eat!!!

“Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting” J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Year 12's last day in class today so I thought I'd make something that represented the four years we had together- a visual representation of some sort. So I decided to make my melting moment biscuits (see recipe on recipe page) but with a twist.

Bought some marzipan and fondant and created some books to represent our love of literature, all things English and all the books we read during those years.

It was extremely fiddly- I dyed some of the marzipan in different colours (aka green and pink  food dye and kept left overs for the cream pages).


Got the hubby to find images of the book covers and shrink them to size and print (not edible). 

Then I basically moulded the outside of the book to the picture and slotted in some pages. Finishing touches were stick paper on with butter cream and add some spine indentations.





Not bad for a first time. And I made a play list to go with it all!!!

yr 12 with their books

And they were much appreciated!!!! It was all oooohh and aaahhhhhhhhh! Everyone fought over their favourite book. Another success methinks, for food and literature.

Good luck in your exams!!

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom Isaac Asimov

Been so busy marking...(it's that time of year) that I haven't had a chance to get in the kitchen and whip us some sweet yum yums! So with my Yr 12 English Extension class about to leave school forever i thought I'd make them a little parting treat- so that they can remember our class fondly (hopefully!)
We have been studying Science Fiction for a whole year so I thought I'd carry the theme by making these alien monster cupcakes ( and yes they understood the reference and thought they were cute). Quite appropriate methinks.

Basically I just got a basic cupcake recipe (You can buy the pre-mixed packet) if strapped for time.
Then I made a butter cream frosting, which is basically 100g soft butter (whipped) and then add 250g icing sugar and beat together, and then add the food dye for your desired colouring.

Spread this on top. Buy some green spearmint leaves for the ears, a sour green strip for an antennae and some menthos for the eyes. I then grabbed the ice magic chocolate and dipped a chopstick in and made the dots on the eyes and mouth with this, as it then hardens. I also cut in some mouths for a different effect.

Result= no left overs and plenty of photos were taken so success!!!

"The vasty fields of France, or may we cram in here" Henry V

I love French cuisine. I think this may have started when I first went to Paris. Before that I didn't hadn't really known what French was. Then I was hit with the simple dishes filled with bold flavours, working together to create a dish rich in taste. Recently I took my husband over there  and he just could not get enough of the quality produce. For example the taste of a tomato. I know you're thinking a tomato?? But they are so red and full that they burst in your mouth and juice dribbles down your chin. This is what we had to contend with when looking for a French restaurant to remind us of our french experience.

And we found one.

Escargots

An excellent French restaurant on the coast......which we didn't think possible.
If you haven't been to Allure, in Currumbin, then you must pay this elegant restaurant a visit, and you might want to bring your credit card. You will want to try everything!

Allure is all things modern French.  A waitress with a beautiful French accent just rolling of the tongue. The decor is modern chic with vintage pieces oddly placed. It's a classic black and white, with polished silver frames, an odd assortment of lamps, vintage time pieces, hanging crystal chandeliers and silver ornate candles sticks glimmering in the ambient light. You won't know where to look it's so pretty and there is such  an attention to detail.
You can sit inside or outside, beside the heaters and potted cottage plants. Either way you'll be surrounded by candles, flowers and romance. A perfect place to come for a special occasion or a loved up dinner. Get into the good books perhaps?

Crumbed camembert

You will be given a palette cleanser to begin. We had a zucchini and asparagus cream shot that tasted delicious and prepared our gastronomy for what was to come. Richness. For our entree we chose the snails in garlic butter, underneath a layer of golden puff pastry. It was just like being in Paris again, except everything is so much cheaper over there. The snails were perfectly cooked and we couldn't get enough of the butter sauce. We have been here a number of times and other entrees worth recommending are the: crumbed camembert with chutney and the seared scallops served on bits of pork belly on a little spoon.

In between our meals the waiters then brought out a granita to prepare our taste buds for our next course.

The fillet mignon

For mains I ordered the duck in a cherry sauce, which came with crunchy snow peas and asparagus that still held all their flavour and colour and sauteed potatoes. The duck was a huge piece, with no bone, that melted in your mouth and had this crispy skin texture to it. It was perfectly cooked. The chef is so fussy here that he will make people wait if he is not happy with the dish he is creating and will start again, so you know you will always get quality and quantity. My husband ordered the fillet mignon, cooked medium rare with a crispy round of kessler bacon sauteed in a red wine jus with a side of potato gratin, mushrooms and broccolini (steamed to a bright green).

We have also had the lobster thermadore (an expensive special but such a classic french dish) and the chicken filled with lobster and prawn  in a creamy sauce. There is also a beautiful lamb rack.

The duck

Whatever you choose you will not have food envy!




Mains are roughly 30- 40 dollars each and so with an entree you are looking at 80-100 dollars, without wines or drinks added to that. I personally don't think this is expensive but everyone is different and it is worth it and it does really depend on what you choose to eat. We tend to get excited with the wine list and splurge, but I think you can also 'Bring your own wine too."

We have always been so full that we have not tried dessert but the profiteroles going past looked like the authentic french patisseries. I might need to try for that next time.

This restaurant has recently won a number of awards (Chef's hat) and is extremely popular so you will have to book.

Palette cleanser

If you have been here I would love to hear what you have thought of it!!  GC food authority