Cookie Puffs and Bubble Tea (A trip to Sydney)

Ruku and I went to Sydney on Saturday. As usually happen whenever I go someplace that has a larger range of food options available to me, I tend to get a little giddy, or a little crazy, and on more than one occasion, this crazy giddiness has led to me overeating myself past "Beyond Full" and into "Put anything else in here, and your stomach will recreate Chernobyl" territory.

You'd think I would have learned by now, wouldn't you?

We started in the World Square shopping centre, where we got Bubble Tea and cookie puffs. Normally I am not so much into tea (when I first tried commercial bottled iced tea, i got a horrible migraine soon after drinking it. Needless to say, I was a bit put off tea in general after that), but I got chocolate milk tea, and it was incredible! However, I shouldn't have let the clerk convince me to get a large; combined with the cookie puffs, the tea came across very sickly sweet, and I felt sick pretty quickly. Luckily, dear Ruku obliged me by not only drinking his large tea (he got coconut milk tea, for those interested), but finishing off the half of mine that I couldn't get through.

Perhaps I'm easily amused, but I giggle every time I read these warnings (for clarification, it says "Caution: Beware of choking on toppings")

This is a cookie puff. It's kind of like a profiterole in construction, but the outer shell is crispy and sugary, and not very choux-pastrylike. The custard is also runny, and can be pretty messy if you're not anticipating it. Cookie puffs defintely need to be eaten sitting down! They are also available with chocolate custard, and according to a new sign at the stand, ice-cream filled cookie puffs are now available. I say hoorah, while my arteries weep.

While we were in Sydney, we also went for stroll down Pitt Street, where we re-aquainted ourself with an old friend, and made a new one. Mr Dduckbocki & Miss Kkochi which has been summed up better than I could here, is across from Games Paradise, and down the street from Kings Comics, and as we're big nerds, we like to make a stop at these stores whenever we're in Sydney. So we're well aquainted with Mr D & Miss K, as eating Korean street food is a cultural experience. At least, that's what we tell ourselves, as we nom delicious skewered food like these vegetable dumpling things:



And here is Ruku enjoying a dduckbocki, as you can tell because it's half eaten



Dduckbocki appears to be some kind of rice dumpling that resembles a sunbed, covered in chilli sauce. The texture is chewy, and all I ever taste is chilli sauce. If anyone is more enlightened about the subject, please comment and let me know!

And now on to our last stop. A place where I may never be allowed again.

Cupcakes on Pitt.

The cupcakes are $2. I bought four. All were delicious. (for reference, I bought chocolate strawberry, honeycomb, tiramisu and dark chocolate)

I don't think there's much more I can say without causing drool-induced damage to my keyboard, so instead I will cap off this post with pictures that do these delights absolutely no justice (I really do need to start carrying a camera with me, instead of relying on the camera in my mobile phone).

Enjoy fooderinos!

The Quest for Food in General

So Tess touched on our recent experience at the Spur Steak Ranch at Macarthur Square in Campbelltown (or Ambarvale, if you want to be picky).

I won't say much about the service, Tess already mentioned how excruciatingly slow it was. But I'll say it again anyway: The service was excruciatingly slow (especially considering the place was pretty much empty). The only thing saving me from getting greatly annoyed with the situation is that I bought my Sony Pocketstation with me on the trip up (which Tess stole any time there was an event on 'Chocobo World').

Onto the food! I ordered what the lads and ladies at Spur called "Bambino Nachos". I'm not sure what a Bambino is, but I'm sure it's entry at Dictionary.com would read something like this:

Bambino (noun):

- A phrase to fancy up a pseudo-mexican dish that would otherwise be something you'd find at your local RSL, faults and all.

In all honesty, I only picked the dish because I'm too much of a tightarse to order the $22.95 Tex-Mex nachos. That, and the idea of Tex-Mex scares me.

So the meal comes out and I'm initially impressed. I mean, it's hard to screw up what essentially is corn ships, cheese, salsa, and guacomole slapped onto a plate with reckless abandon. I'm pretty sure 'Nachos' is Mexican for 'edible clusterfuck', but I digress.

All in all my meal was pretty tasty. The corn chips could have done with a bit of toasting, but other than that, I was pretty happy with what I got. It's just a shame the service was slow, which really bought down my overall opinion of the place.

Spur as a whole is a place I'd probably go back to. It deserves a second chance and hopefully, my next review of them will be a tad more positive.

The Quest For Chicken: Introduction and Part One: Spur Steak Ranch

A few years ago, while I was still in high school, I went to a pub that had renovated to make their eating area nice and fancy like, in a bid to entice people other than drinkers into their establishment to eat (it worked marvellously well for them, I'll add). I was there for a friend's 18th birthday dinner. For dinner, I ordered chicken schnitzel with mushroom gravy, and the only thing I can really remember about it now was that;

1. It only cost me around the $10 mark.

2. It was impressively large. Memory tends to blur things into exageration, but I honestly swear that the schnitzel alone took up the entire plate...

3. It was incredibly delicious.

Ever since, I have longed for a chicken schnitzel to compare, but alas, I have yet to find it (granted, I've not been searching very hard). This has changed, because in the last three months, I suddenly have chicken schnitzel on the brain. All. The. Freaking. Time.

Logic would dictate that I return to the pub I first had this delectable chickeny goodness at, but unfortunately, said pub is about 1400km away. Across two state lines. Because the chicken of my dreams is 40 minutes north of Adelaide, and I am currently located 90 minutes south of Sydney, I have to find an acceptable alternative.

Sick of hearing me whine about wanting chicken schnitzel with mushroom gravy, my best friend and co-blogger Ruku dragged me to Spur Steak Ranch at Macarthur Square for lunch today.

In a few words, Spur Steak Ranch (or as I came to refer to it, "El Rancho Steako") utterly failed all three criteria. Well..... I'll be fair. It gets a passing grade on #3, but any points for taste are immediately docked for the negligent and downright slow service.

As for criteria #1 and #2? Well, the chicken schnitzel was $22.95, I paid another $2.95 for lumpy gravy sans mushroom, and as for size, well, for a supposed Tex-Mex inspired place, they have chosen to ignore what seems to be the unofficial motto of Texas. I got two little bits of schnitzel, that put together, would probably just be the size of my hand, including fingers. And I know that's more chicken than a healthy size should be, but damn it, I have little hands, and a big craving for chicken!

Also, the sides sucked. Small serve of over-seasoned, and very soggy chips, and "salad".



According to El Rancho Steako, this is salad. I have unfortunate news. That is not salad. That is a big pile of shredded carrot, next to a big pile of shredded lettuce. Putting an inexplicable lemon wedge does not give you salad brownie points either.

To summarise: Not even CLOSE to what I wanted (and I feel really ripped having paid a total of $25.90 for that). But a fun diversion to post here. If you disagree with my opinion on Spur Steak Ranch/"El Rancho Steako", go ahead and tell me why you think I'm wrong (and I do concede, that aside from the service, the rest of the menu may well be worth checking out. But this isn't a normal review. This, is a chicken review.)

The quest, for better or worse, continues!

Greetings!

Quick word from the other author of this so-called "Blog".

Okay, so it's quick, because I actually have nothing to write :P Tess already summed up everything in a neat little package.

All in all, hope you enjoy reading this and PLEASE give us feedback! We love attention.

Who knows? you might actually learn something.

Coming Soon!

This isn't a blog about "gourmets" or "foodies". This is a blog, about food, by people who like to eat (and have a lot of extra kilos to show for that). And I mean, we *really* like to eat.

Expect to see recipes, food reviews, restaurant reviews, rants, raves, and occasionally "Ewww...... I just ate that!?!".

And as our love of food has made us lardy and lumpy, you can also look forward to our thoughts on a variety of "weight loss" foods, and how they scale up to the real thing...... or don't.

Hopefully you enjoy reading this, as much as we will enjoy writing. Once we've created a fancy new layout, and smoothed some kinks (read; egos) we will be good to go, so wach this space!