Lorne Hotel

176 Mountjoy Parade
Lorne
Victoria
3232

Situated in the heart of town the Lorne Hotel overlooks the beach, from its perch you reach by heading up the ramp like entrance from the street. We arrived ordered inside before heading outside and finding a table, in the unseasonably warm autumn evening.

The bruschetta was basic and sated our immediate hunger following the drive from Melbourne after work.

It was good to have a grilled option for the King George Whiting with chips and salad, battered was also available. The fish was fresh and the chips good too.

I had the the seafood and chorizo spaghetti, featuring good prawns, mussels and scallops, in a tomato and chorizo sauce. The pieces of sausage weren't so impressive.

The meals came to around $70, which seemed a little expensive for the dishes we had. It was quiet when we were there and the service was pretty swift and friendly. I wouldn't go out of my way to rush back, but would be happy yo pop in if in town again.

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Jellyish, Brisbane

123 Eagle Street
Brisbane
QLD 4000

Jellyfish has a great location on the river in Brisbane and the covered outdoor set up makes the most of the location.

From inside you still get good views even on a showery overcast evening.

I visited with a couple of work colleagues and once we sat down the menu was explained to us, with the fresh fish and the style of cooking changing daily. There are also some 'regular' dishes.

We were offered an amuse-bouche triple cooked chips with a chilli mayo, which were crunchy outside and soft inside, nicely setting the tone for the meal.

The tempura soft shell crab with wasabi mayonnaise and spring onion had plenty of the visual wow factor, and seemed to be a winner.

I had the chilled local tiger prawns & avocado tian, crab and celery remoulade which didn't look bad either and was full of smooth textures. The combination of flavours was somehow reminiscent of '80s prawn cocktails in a very good way!

I requested my grilled yellow fin tuna with Japanese soy and wasabi rare, but it seemed more medium rare to me, but that wasn't a huge problem. The fish was fresh and nicely complimented by the dressing.

The sesame crumb coral bream was super fresh and moist and complimented nicely with the saffron mayo.

The citrus and dill looked good on the barramundi.

We shared a few sides including some fries, asian greens (not snapped) and a great roast pepper, corn and tomato salad.

The service was great throughout, friendly and efficient. The bill was around the $65 a head mark, which seemed like fair value given the quality of food on offer and the location.

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Pane e Vino, Brisbane

124 Albert Street
Brisbane
QLD 4000

I arrived in Brisbane in the early evening on a work trip, and chose Pane e Vino based on it's convenient location and good feedback on urbanspoon. The restaurant is on the corner of Charlotte and Albert streets in the same building as Gilhooleys.

Inside the decor was fairly basic with a cafe kind of feel. I scanned the menu, which had a range of salads, pasta dishes and mains, specials were up on the board.

I just had some 'Pane' to start, Italian Bread with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Unfortunately the bread plate was a little dirty the crust on the ciabatta had gone soft, the oil and balsamic serve was pretty small too.

The spaghetti 'alla Marinara' was a lot better, good prawns, calamari, mussels and octopus with a solid napoli sauce all working well together.

The service was quick and friendly, the bill was $31. If I find myself back in Brisbane, I wouldn't object to returning, but I won't be ordering the bread again.




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Basecamp Eatery, Halls Gap

109 Grampians Road
Halls Gap
VIC 3381

We hadn't visited Halls Gap before, so after an afternoon stroll with the Kangaroos we headed in to the center of town to check out dinner options. After checking out a couple of places we ended up deciding on the Basecamp Eatery, which offered pizza's, burgers and wraps among other options.

We were thinking about eating in, but decided against it in the end, as with some of the other places we'd looked at the atmosphere wasn't right for us. The fish burger wasn't the most impressive looking we'd seen, using half a Turkish bread was an odd choice and apparently it wasn't that great overall, the chips were fine though.

I had the kangaroo wrap, is that bad after photographing them a few hours before? It certainly looked a little better along with a salad.

The kangy souvlaki style wrap actually worked well and was pretty satisfying.

I'm not going to be rushing back to basecamp, but the wrap wasn't bad for around $14...

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Indian Delights, Adelaide

445 Pulteney Street
Adelaide
SA 5000

Back in Adelaide, we had the final South Australian meal of our sojourn across the border at the well advertised Indian Delights on Pulteney Street.

The decor inside was functional and clean with some sparkle and pictures from south Asia on the walls. The menu covered pretty much all of the 'classic' Indian dishes with a few specials also available.

We ended up going for an all veggie dinner, including the channa masala, with the chickpeas being served with lots of the mildly spiced tomato and onion sauce.

The chef's special of eggplant and potato was a winner being more flavoursome than you might expect, with the aubergine developing that super silky texture.

The dahl tarka was served in a small decorative metal bucket! The yellow lentils were nicely cooked with a hint of cumin seed & garlic and the nutty flavour came through.

The naan did the job with out being standouts.

The whole meal was both fresh and fairly light for Indian food, there wasn't too much oiliness or evidence of too liberal use of the ghee... The service was friendly and efficient and the bill came to $60 with a couple of drinks. It's a solid option if you fancy some Indian cuisine at this end of town.

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The Oysterbeds Good Food House

61 Esplanade
Coffin Bay
SA 5607

While we were staying Port Lincoln, we made the trip over to Coffin Bay on the other side of the Eyre peninsular, and while we were there we headed to the 'Oysterbeds Good Food House' for some lunch. We arrived around 1pm, and there seemed to be a sudden rush of diners, but we still found a good spot out in the sun.

Given the fame of the region's oysters, it was inevitable that we'd have to try some of the local produce. The Kilpatrick versions were good examples of the form and the ingredients.

My favourite though was the soy and wasabi dressing which nicely complemented the oyster without overpowering it.

I ordered the the fish and chips, the serve was meant to be main sized, but wasn't that big. The fish was good, the chips fine.

The chilli bean wrap looked fresh, full of pulses and went down well.

Our share of the bill was around $45, our meals took a fair while to appear and the service did seem overwhelmed at times. The reviews and votes on urbanspoon are pretty negative, and I can see with the prices charged, portion size and standard of service it isn't a standout. The oysters were good, and with good views and a nice location, it is probably worth a try.




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Roti Road

189-193 Barkly Street
Footscray
Vic 3011

After reading Lauren's post about Roti Road (and more on Facebook) when we felt like a a bite in Footscray for lunch on Sunday we decided to give it a try.

We'd only been to the former incarnation Yummie Yum Cha once or twice and I'd noticed there was a refurbishment under way, but hadn't been around town to witness its completion.

I couldn't find the menu online so here you go... there are still some Yum Cha options available until 5pm, and beyond that there are plenty of Malaysian options.

We started off by sharing the roti canai. The roti was great, super light and fluffy, and hot when it arrived. I didn't get much of a chance with the curry sauce, as it was the better half's favourite, the sambal and dhal were good to though.

Soon after we scoffed our way through the roti, the 'background' dance music was turned down and a new tune pumped up...

Out came one of the flying roti chefs with a fantastic display of roti spinning and throwing whilst moving all around the restaurant. There's no need to stand up to watch, he makes his way to most corners!

We were sat right outside the window into the kitchen and the chef's all seemed to be having a good time throughout our meal, and were spinning the roti in there some of the time too. As you can see there have been a few changes to the decor since the Yummie days with a modern look with a bit more wood and plenty of roti road branding.

We didn't have to wait much longer for our mains arrived. The vegetable curry laksa was packed with tofu, eggplant, tomato, broccoli carrot and beans sat atop the noodles and bean shoots.

I had the chicken laksa which also featured tofu and eggplant with thin strips of chicken breast which were easy to eat with the chop sticks. The mint and gave some extra brightness along with the lime, and the shrimp paste which came in a separate little dish which added depth to the already tasty broth.

It was pretty busy on the Sunday lunchtime after the Friday grand opening, but the team seemed to have things under control. The bill came to $27.90 although there's currently an opening 10% off! It's great to have more variety in the 'scray and I'm sure we'll be regular visitors, the question is will it stop our occasional forays to Flemmington?

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