Plenty in West End

Plenty
284 Montague Rd, West End

I've always been a fan of the West End dining scene but in some regard, it's sort of tiresome because I do mean I've always been a fan... since my prepubescent days. As such, most of the spots around here are tried and true rather than groundbreaking. When I do read about a new venue that also happens to be in my neck of the woods, it's doubly exciting. Even more so when it's walking distance from my nest.

I read about Plenty on The Urban List but it took me a while to piece together that it was literally down the road. I drive past at least 4 x a week and one of those times, I looked up and thought "hey, that's that cafe I read about!" One Saturday morning, I woke up early and there was no prospect of Marc getting up so I decided to go for a stroll.

Plenty is a lot bigger than I first gathered from driving past. There are a few tables outside but there's much more action inside the ample-spaced building. There's a large counter slash open kitchen around which there are an assortment of tables and chairs. At the back of the building is a separate room with long dining table. I heard someone mention 'upstairs' too but I haven't yet investigated.

Peel Street Kitchen for Dinner

Peel Street Kitchen
http://www.peelstkitchen.com.au/

Continuing on with my theme of online coupon shopping, I was thrilled when I found an offer for Peel Street Kitchen. The excitement stems from the fact that Marc used to live right around the corner from Peel Street and even though it's no longer a neighbouring building, it still sorta feels that way. The new kid on the block, so to speak.

I made a booking for Monday night this week and remind me to never organize dinners out on Monday ever again. It's the most unromantic night of the week and we both had work/tonnes of other things to do so it felt stressful to have to go out rather than nice and fun. Luckily, our dinner itself more than made up for this.

Pawpaw Cafe for Lunch

Pawpaw Cafe
898 Stanley Street, Woolloongabba

I'm developing a theory that friendship ismay be built on rituals. The daily texts. The weekly coffee sessions. The monthly girls night out drinks. Or, in mine and Nina's case, the brunch/lunch dates in one of Brissie's best whenever she's in town. Ever since my most faithful dining buddies have decided to move on to other parts of Australia (Mochi, I'm looking at you :p), I'm finding it more and more difficult to bother checking out new places. I can't drag Marc up that early and while I used to find motivation to visit cafes alone, I seem to have (at least currently) lost that drive.

Nina's trips back home have become something I really look forward to. I gave her a list of cafes I wanted to try and she selected Paw Paw, based on their menu. I've been to Green Papaya many years ago and Pawpaw is the casual, cafe project by the same people. I parked down the street but then discovered they had a parking lot adjacent to the building. It was easy to find street parking anyway.

The most magical thing has happened...

I might just start believing in miracles.

After I got back home from a 3 month trip in Europe (May-Sept 2013), I accidentally reset the iPhone I'd been using to take all my holiday snaps and subsequently lost ALL MY PHOTOS.

Yes. It was devastating. I had actually drafted tonnes of country-specific food posts to publish on this blog but without the corresponding photos, there was no story. Needless to say I felt like a huge booboo.

I've had nothing but bad luck (stemming from irresponsibility, I admit) with the new phone since, resulting in not one but TWO new phone swaps at Apple. The most recent replacement was just received yesterday.

Somehow, stumbling around with the settings, I discovered a lost iCloud backup from right after I got home from Europe. Fingers crossed nothing goes wrong but AS I TYPE, Europe photos from Switzerland onwards are downloading onto the phone.

I still don't have anything from our Shanghai and UK dining escapades (which sadly involve Heston's Dinner and Lobster & Burger, both of which I enjoyed immensely and wish I could share) because I had yet another phone incident in France (gypsy theft) but that's a whole other story.

Hopefully, after x hours of downloads, I can FINALLY document my European food travels. Marc and I ate so much on our trip. Even though we were active and incorporated many hiking trails, I put on 5kg. And I don't even regret it! We did a number of food tours and cooking excursions too. I can't wait to share our experiences with you guys, 5 months after the fact.

REMEMBER TO ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR PHOTOS.

Tibetan Kitchen for Dinner

Tibetan Kitchen
http://www.tibetankitchen.info/

I recall the first time I saw a Tibetan Kitchen (in Fortitude Valley), I was 16-17 years old, completely unworldly and couldn't believe how exotic that sounded. Even in 2014, Tibetan and Nepalese cuisine is hardly widespread. I have tried a few different restaurants offering this style of food and would describe the flavours as a cross between Indian and maybe Thai. Since Indian and Thai are two of the most popular styles of food in Australia, I'm surprised not more people are jumping onto Tibetan fare.

Recently, I found an online coupon to try three courses at the Tibetan Kitchen in West End. Marc and I actually ordered takeaway from them on one of the first nights we were living in our new place. It was a messy ordeal eating runny curry dishes with hardly any cutlery and no tables or chairs. We sat on milk crates and ate off beer cartons. Despite all that, the food left a good impression on me so I was looking forward to tasting it again in a nice, restaurant environment.

Moga Izakaya for Dinner

Moga Izakaya
http://www.moga.com.au/

I was getting frustrated by the lack of date nights so I booked Marc and myself in for dinner at Moga Izakaya last week. In a freak occurrence, we couldn't drive out of West End because every road we went onto was backed up with traffic. Mind you, this was lateish at night so there was no obvious explanation. After a few frustrating attempts, Marc and I headed home in a huff. I then got drunk, fell asleep and dreamt that I rescheduled the booking at Moga but when I woke up the next day I realised this wasn't the case.

Not one to be defeated, we ended up heading there Monday night for dinner. I was worried we couldn't get in without a booking (and I was too embarrassed to book again) but the restaurant is much bigger than I expected. It's located in Rosalie, opposite Gelataria Cremosa and it covers a big corner block.

Masala Art Indian Restaurant

Masala Art Indian Restaurant
http://www.masalaartoz.com/ 

One becomes very money-conscious after committing to a home loan. As much as food is still an interest of mine, I notice I'm a lot more focused on coupons and online deals than I was before. I found a great three course feast coupon for Masala, which is conveniently located to us, so it was a no-brainer to pick one up online.

We used the deal last night for dinner. Masala Art Indian Restaurant is located opposite the Barracks in Paddington. Parking around there is always a challenge so we looped around and got lucky in a side street. The restaurant is bigger than we first thought. There's a long inside dining area, outside tables, and a takeaway section.

Caramel Cookie Slice

Caramel Cookie Slice
Home Cooking 

I would be in no way exaggerating if I said that I've done more cooking in the past few months than I have in all of 2014. That's the Christmas period for you. Not that I'm complaining. Unlike people who have to cook for a household out of necessity, I only do it when I find a recipe I want to create. Cooking is a only a hobby on the side for me and because of that, I thoroughly enjoy it. I know that if it became a daily chore, the novelty would grow old fast.

Marc's workplace had a Christmas morning tea a while back so I was given the task of baking a contribution. I shuffled some mad scientist creations in my head (rum and raisin slice with coffee buttercream frosting was tossed up at one point) but ended up going with something easy and safe. I found this recipe for caramel cookie slice in Nick Malgieri's "The Modern Baker" one of my favourite, most used cookbooks of all time. Unlike some of the adventurous recipes in the book, this seemed exceptionally easy.

Baalbek Lebanese Restaurant

Baalbek Lebanese Restaurant
http://baalbakrestaurant.com.au/

My favourite thing to do on lunch breaks at work is online shopping. That includes online coupon shopping. Brandsexclusive is now my most used iPad app and a day is not complete without a scan through the offers on Allthedeals.com.au. Earlier this week I spotted a meal deal at a Lebanese restaurant in Morningside and I jumped on it. Marc and I ended up going last night for dinner.

The restaurant is called Baalbak located along Junction Road. The premise was more casual than I expected with an almost takeaway store vibe but the menu is comprehensive. Our host (the owner?) was extremely friendly and accommodating. I had a bit of trouble deciphering the menu and choosing what mezze plates to try but he made the process easy and painless.

Chop Chop Chang's

Chop Chop Chang's
http://www.chopchopchangs.com.au/

We caught up with our lovely friend Lilly last night and decided to have dinner and chats in Chop Chop Chang. I don't often insist on any one particular restaurant but it's common for me to get cravings for a certain type of food. Last night, it was for anything Asian. I had a mind blank over where to go but Lilly remembered that a friend of hers had tried Chop Chop and recommended it. It's a newish restaurant that I filed away to try out when I first saw it but then forgot all about. Luckily someone has a better memory than me.

Parking around that part of West End is a nightmare to put it lightly. We ended up about 10 minutes away up and over a large hill. I was worried that being Friday night, we would be turned away without a booking. Luckily that wasn't the case and we were led to one of the large share tables.