Utopia

If I had to pick an idyllic spot to live somewhere in the South-East Queensland/Northern New South Wales area, it would be in the lush green hills around Bangalow. It's such beautiful countryside - amazing views out over the ocean, only a short drive to the beach and best of all the town of Bangalow would be the local "metropolis". The town itself is fantastic - a really unique range of shops, some great restaurants & cafes, a butcher that sells Bangalow sweet pork and a small grocery store that stocks a quirky range of food that covers all the essentials.

Very very sadly, my bank balance doesn't allow me relocate to Bangalow just at the moment, so we have to make do with short visits instead. I've already written an earlier post about Utopia, but we popped in again on our last trip and had such a memorable morning tea that it would be mean not to share it with you.

One of the reasons I keep going back to Utopia is because they always have a selection of gluten free cakes. So many cafes around Brisbane mistakenly seem to think that having a couple of friands or a Byron Bay gluten free cookie is all you need to keep gluten free customers happy. Luckily places like Utopia are 10 steps ahead of the pack, always offering a good selection, which usually makes my job of ordering pretty tough. Not only are there always a good selection of cakes and pastries, but they are all cooked on the premises.

On this occasion I couldn't go past the lemon curd boat. As you'd guess from the name, this was a pastry shell in the shape of a boat, filled with lemon curd. The pastry was lovely & crisp, but held together well (a rarity for gluten free pastry). The filling was the complete opposite - slightly runny and very tangy. The pastry boat was served with a slice of lime and some creme Anglaise. I'd have to say that the lemon curd boat was the best gluten free pastries I have eaten for a long, long time. After it disappeared off my plate and I'd cleaned up all the delicious creme Anglaise, I seriously thought about ordering another. I only stopped because I knew we were driving down to Byron for lunch, and wanted to leave room for a serve of nachos from Ozymex (which are my favourite nachos anywhere).

My wife ordered a mascarpone tart with passionfruit curd, which looked equally as impressive as the lemon curd boat. The base of the tart contained plenty of coconut, and was filled with a lovely light, tangy mascarpone. The tart was generously drizzled with passionfruit curd and was another memorable morning tea staple. Of course my lemon curd tart was better, but I'd happily eat one of these any day (even if I couldn't eat the base).

We each had a flat white, made with Zentveld's coffee. They were both good coffees, and were served with a little biscuit on the side of the saucer.

If you've never been to Bangalow, make a trip there one of your new year's resolutions. You can start the day with coffee and morning tea at Utopia, wander around the shops for a few hours (make sure you visit the very cool Japanese gift store) and then have a late lunch at Ate or Fresca on the deck of the Bangalow Hotel. High on our travel agenda this year is a weekend at Bangalow. Not only would I love to have morning tea and lunch at Utopia, I'm very keen to try out the degustation dinner at Satiate, which sounds like an absolute bargain at $65.

In the meantime, if anyone's selling any cheap properties in the hills of Bangalow, please think of me...

Utopia
13 Byron Street
Bangalow NSW 2479
P - 02 6687 2088
E - utopia.bangalow@gmail.com
W - http://www.utopiacafe.com.au/

Choux Box

I've just come back from our annual relaxing beach trip to Kingscliff, where once again we enjoyed some terrific food.

Choux Box is one of the cafes on Marine Parade at Kingscliff that is perennially busy. That's because it is an excellent cafe.

On our first visit, we ambled up for morning tea after a swim at the beach. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling the best, so I couldn't enjoy any of the scrumptious looking cakes sitting in the display cabinet. My wife on the other hand was only there for the cakes.

Part of the Kingscliff experience is walking past cafes like Choux Box every day, checking out the range of cakes they have on offer every day. On this visit, the daily specials were chocolate eclairs or a variety of friands. One of those cakes and a coffee or tea was only $7.50, which was a great deal. I had to settle for a black tea, while I watched the chocolate eclair vanish off the plate in front of me.

Next time round though I was over the stomach bug and was looking forward to a tasty beach breakfast. Tables at Choux Box fill up quickly for breakfasts on the weekends, so it can be a bit hit and miss if you show up at the wrong time. Luckily we were a little bit later than peak breakfast hour, so we snagged a table out the front.

The breakfast menu at Choux Box isn't huge, but it's very tempting. After a bit of indecision, I fell back to my old favourite, bacon and eggs. It turned out to be a good choice. The eggs were perfectly poached, with the whites straggling across my plate. There was also loads of bacon, which just so happened to be crunchy, exactly how I love my bacon to be cooked. It was the biggest serving of bacon I've come across on a breakfast plate for a long time. I also had half a cooked tomato and some good gluten free toast. Sometimes a simple breakfast, cooked well, takes a lot of beating. I washed this heavenly breakfast down with a good strong flat white.

We also ordered a corn fritter with avocado and tomato. When this dish arrived at the table, it turned out to be a large, almost pancake sized corn fritter, that had been drizzled with basil pesto. It was topped with half an avocado, some cooked tomato and a bit of rocket. I was too busy wolfing down my bacon and eggs to try any, but I was assured that the corn fritter was one of the best vegetarian breakfasts my wife had eaten for a long time. The corn fritter had a good, light consistency, the pesto was obviously freshly made and the avocado was perfectly ripe. I did manage to steal a bit of avocado and immediately made a mental note to order more avocado for breakfast.

As well as the flat white, we had a coffee frappe. Although we were expecting it to be an icy frappe, it turned out to be more like a coffee thickshake. But it was a good coffee thickshake, with a proper coffee bitterness to it. Miles better than the sweet iced coffees that tend to be the norm in the cafe world.

All up our breakfast was $37. Service was very snappy, and we hardly waited at all for our breakfasts to arrive (not that we were in any kind of hurry). Heading back to Brisbane after a swim and such an excellent breakfast sure was hard to take. I could easily be convinced to have breakfast at Choux Box every weekend.

Sorry there are no photos, but my excuse was I was on holidays.

What does all this mean? Excellent breakfasts, cakes and coffees served in a casual beach-side atmosphere.

food bling ratings
Food - Great
Service - Great
Ambience - Relaxed, beach feel with outside tables on the footpath
Value for Money - Good
Vegetarian - Good
Gluten Free - Good selection

Choux Box
94 Marine Parade
Kingscliff NSW 2487
P - 02 6674 1993

Ferran Adria

I know it's probably a bit late now, but The Weekend Australian Magazine had its yearly food issue last weekend. If you can still get your hands on one, it's worth tracking down. I think it's the only edition from the whole year that I (almost) read from cover to cover. It usually takes me a few weeks to get right through it, but I'll get there in the end.

Anyway at this early stage the only article I've read is the one about Ferran Adria on page 31. Ferran Adria is widely regarded as one of the best chefs in the world at the moment, if not the best. His restaurant in Spain, elBulli, is apparently impossibly difficult to get a table at. But every time I read about elBulli I want to jump on the next plane to Spain. Fancy a cherry dipped in Iberico ham and raw egg yolk wrapped in caramel or a parmesan and ice cream sandwich? Then try and get a reservation at elBulli.

Anyway we are in luck because the great chef is coming to Australia to promote his new book, A Day at elBulli. Unfortunately though he's not making it to Brisbane. But if you're looking for an excuse to get to Melbourne or Sydney, then I've found you a darn good one. Ferran Adria is in Sydney on 17 October 2008 and in Melbourne on 19 October 2008. You'll need to pre-book tickets through Ticketmaster. A copy of his new book and a ticket will set you back $75. He hasn't been to Australia since 2002, so I don't think tickets will last for long.

Gordon Ramsay

You've probably heard, but Gordon Ramsay is coming to Australia in June. As far I as I can find out though, he's not coming to Brisbane. So if you want to see if he really does swear as much as he does on tv, you'll have to jump on a plane to Sydney. You can grab tickets here to see Gordon at the Good Food & Wine Show, but I don't think they'll last long, as he seems to be the bees knees of celebrity chefs at the moment.

Red Hot Thai

Red Hot Thai at Kingscliff is one of those restaurants that always seems to be busy. Usually that's a good indication of the food quality, and its certainly the case here.

Although Red Hot Thai covers the usual Thai suspects, there are also a few dishes that you don't always come across on your standard Thai menu. Their starters include crab and chicken steamed dumplings ($8.50), deep fried spicy fish cakes served with sweet chilli or plum sauce ($8.50) and spring rolls ($8.50).

I ordered the satay gai to get the evening going - chicken marinated in Thai herbs, served with peanut sauce ($8.50). I really am a sucker for Thai chicken satays and these ones were great. Over the years I've come across a lot of chicken satays where the chicken was so overcooked that the resulting satays were chewy and tasteless. These, on the other hand, were tender, covered in herbs and had a lovely delicate flavour. They were delicious, served with both a mild peanut sauce and a tangy, clear Thai sauce. They were quickly demolished.

We also ordered a serve of the pak tod for entree - fresh vegetables in tempura batter, served with sweet tamarind and ginger sauce ($8.50). Again these were great - fresh cauliflower, broccoli, beans, mushrooms, capsicum, zucchini and shallots fried in a light, crunchy tempura batter. The tangy sauce was also a winner. Admittedly these were more Japanese than Thai, but they were fresh and tasty.

When it comes to mains, the menu covers curries, soup, salads, seafood, stir fries and noodles. Some of the salads sounded particularly tempting - like the yum nua (char grilled beef with fresh lemongrass, lime juice, coriander and chilli) and the larb gai (spicy minced chicken, Thai herbs, lime juice and ground roasted rice).

We were at the beach, so I went for the gang penang prawn curry ($22) as a main course. This was a creamy red coconut milk curry, which was served with broccoli, carrot, fresh kaffir lime leaves and roasted peanuts. It was a beautiful dish, in the fragrant, lighter style of Thai curries. There was a generous amount of prawns in the dish and the sauce was so good I ended up dunking loads of rice into the bowl to soak up all the delicious flavours.

We also had the vegetarian Red Hot Thai noodles as a main - wok fried egg noodles with tofu, chilli, shallot and basil ($15.50). Although there were plenty of fresh, crunchy vegetables in this dish, it was a bit bland, and could have done with a bit more of a flavour kick. There were a few red chilli bits through the noodles, but not enough to really give them a distinctive taste.

Red Hot Thai is both licenced and BYO. Corkage is $2.50 per person if you do take your own wine. Although we had to ask about 3 separate waiters for a wine cooler and some glasses at the start of the night, after that small hiccup the service was good. Red Hot Thai does get very busy during school holidays and on weekends, so it's always a good idea to book ahead.

What does all this mean? Well priced, tasty Thai food in a relaxed, friendly setting.

food bling ratings
Food - Great
Service - Good
Ambience - Relaxed indoor & outdoor seating
Value for Money - Good
Wine - Licenced & BYO
Vegetarian - Great

Red Hot Thai
80 Marine Parade
Kingscliff NSW 2487
P - 02 6674 5299

Cafe Sbiza

Cafe Sbiza is a busy cafe on Marine Parade, the main food street at Kingscliff.

Most of the seats are outside, and it's a relaxed, casual atmosphere for most of the week. Come the weekend however, and Cafe Sbiza gets packed for breakfast and lunch. So busy that if you don't make a booking for breakfast, you're going to have to wait a while.

We'd been at Kingscliff all week, and after having a coffee at Cafe Sbiza earlier, we took their advice and made a booking for Saturday breakfast.

When it comes to breakfast, Cafe Sbiza has a two page menu, that is loaded with all kinds of breakfast options - sweet, savoury, vegetarian or fruit - they've got it covered. It's one of the biggest and best breakfast menus I've come across.

After working our way through all the amazing sounding breakfasts (and the four specials on the blackboard) it was time to order. I went with the eggs benedict. I ordered it with their gluten free corn bread, which they were happy to substitute. This was two poached eggs, good thick slices of black forest ham, roasted cherry tomatoes, thick hollandaise sauce and tasty, crunchy corn bread. This was pretty much my perfect breakfast. The eggs were perfectly softly poached, the hollandaise sauce was thick and tasty, but didn't overpower the eggs, and the ham, roasted tomatoes and corn bread were terrific accompaniments.

The other breakfast we had was pancakes with yoghurt and fruit salad. This was a huge breakfast made up of two fluffy pancakes, a side dish of maple syrup, banana, rockmelon, honeydew melon, pineapple, watermelon, strawberries and natural yoghurt. The fruit was fresh and plentiful. This really was two breakfasts in one, but we weren't complaining.

The coffee was Merlo, and was very good. As with most of the places we ate at in Kingscliff, the service was friendly and attentive.

All up, this really was a fantastic breakfast. Both our meals were excellent. With the huge range of options on the breakfast menu, you could go every day for a week and eat something different every day. Next time you're in Kingscliff, you really have to pop in to Cafe Sbiza for breakfast.

What does all this mean? Excellent breakfasts, a huge menu and friendly service - the perfect breakfast cafe.

food bling ratings
Food - Top Shelf
Service - Great
Ambience - Outdoor cafe setting
Value for Money - Great
Vegetarian - Good
Gluten Free - Good selection

Cafe Sbiza
Shop 2, 86 Marine Parade
Kingscliff NSW 2487
P - (02) 6674 4140

Kingscliff Beach Club

The Kingscliff Beach Club is not, as you might expect, a surf club, but is in fact the Kingscliff bowls club. It's right on the ocean though, and has views of the beach out the window.

The club is enormous and the restaurant only forms one part of the buidling. If its big meals at good prices you are looking for, then the Kingscliff Beach Club hits the spot. The club is popular with both locals and families visiting Kingscliff on holidays.

The menu covers seafood, steaks, pasta, salads and roasts. In keeping with "club" style, some of the dishes are already prepared, while other items are cooked to order. There are also specials on certain nights of the week. If you head down here on a Monday night, for $10 you can have a roast, a rump steak, fish & chips or an Aussie steak with bacon and egg.

I ordered the roast pork, which was $15.90. As I was pretty hungry, I orderd the large serving. This turned out to be a big mistake. When our meals arrived, my plate of roast was enormous. I counted 9 big slices of pork on the plate, together with some roast potatoes, broccoli, beans, carrot and gravy. The pork itself was good. As much as I love roast pork though, I just couldn't get through it all. Unless you've just jogged to Cabarita and back, you're unlikely to get through a large serving of a roast at the club - order the small instead and save a few dollars. As for the accompanying vegetables, they were ok - the potatoes had been cooked a fair while earlier - but it was a solid roast.

We also had the pumpkin salad, which was again a huge serving. It was a delicious dish - plenty of big pieces of roast pumpkin, with cos lettuce, red onion, good tomatoes, snow pea sprouts and julienned raw beetroot. There seemed to be two dressings - one a balsamic and the other a garlic aoli. This was a good salad, made up of lovely fresh ingredients and much improved on vegetarian options we've had at the club in previous years.

Other than the view, the other great attraction of eating here is the great drink prices. Two glasses of their house red were only $4.80. Sure it wasn't Grange, but it was fine with our two meals.

If you are looking for a hearty roast or steak next time you're at Kingscliff, give the Beach Club a try. Its the perfect place for a quick holiday dinner with the family on those nights when you just can't bring yourself to whip something up in the kitchen.

What does all this mean? Hearty food, giant servings and cheap drinks right on the beach.

food bling ratings
Food - OK
Service - Its pretty much self service
Ambience - Modern style bowls club
Value for Money - Great
Wine - OK (but priced very well)
Vegetarian - OK

Kingscliff Beach Club
Marine Parade
Kingscliff NSW 2487
P - 02 6674 1404

Kathmandu Kitchen

We have been holidaying at Kingscliff for a few years now, but have never eaten at Kathmandu Kitchen until a couple of weeks ago.

Kathmandu Kitchen is at the Northern end of the strip of shops on Marine Parade at Kingscliff. There are tables inside and out. It was a lovely summer evening on our visit, so we made the most of it and sat outside.

The menu is pretty compact and there are 4 entrees to choose from. We ordered a serve each of the Nepalese samosas ($7.20) and the sekuwa ($9.20). The other entrees are Tibetan spring rolls ($5.90 for 2) and momo - steamed Tibetan spiced beef mince dumplings with fresh tomato and coriander sauce ($8.50).

The sekuwa, a Newari special, was a great start to the night. The menu lists these as char grilled tender pieces of lamb, marinated in yoghurt, ginger, garlic and coriander. The lamb was tangy and rich, matched perfectly with some raita and a small salad. It was so good, I had to clean up the whole plate. It's always good to stumble across something as tasty as this to kick off a good meal.

The samosas were tasty and served with a sweet chilli sauce, which did actually have a bit of a kick to it. Although the samosas tasted good, they would have been even better if the pasty was a bit crunchier. Nevertheless, so far so good.

There are some tantalising options for mains here, including the duck curry (duck breast in star anise & lime with vegetables - $23.90), jhinga machha ra masala (fresh green prawns, lightly sauteed in a spicy coconut cream sauce - $22.90) and goruko masu (Kathmandu spiced beef - $17.50).

The menu also has a vegetarian section, covering mismasko tarkari (lightly wok fried vegetables, spiced and served with cashew nuts and a creamy curry sauce - $14.90), dhal ($10.90) and stir fried organic tofu and vegetables with ginger, garlic and herbs in a sweet chilli or soy sauce ($15.50).

If you are feeling particularly hungry, or really want to get the full Nepalese/Tibetan experience, you can order one of the three naan breads ($3 to $4.70), cucumber & yoghurt raita ($4.50), mango chutney ($3.60) or sambal ($2.20) to accompany your meal.

I had the kukhurako masu (chicken curry - $17.50) which was described on the menu as boneless chicken cooked in the traditional Tibetan style. This was a rich curry, with tender chicken pieces. Although I'd ordered it with medium heat, it was pretty mild on that front. It was a good dish, and I couldn't stop soaking up the sauce with rice - it was so tasty.

However good the chicken curry was, the saag ra chij ($15.90) was in a different league altogether. This was wok fried spinach with feta cheese, spiced with garlic and nutmeg in a creamy curry sauce. Its presentation was amazing - a bright green colour that can only come from fresh spinach. The sauce was perfect - fragrant, fresh and light, with hints of nutmeg and chilli. The best part of the dish though was that the sauce complemented, rather than overpowered, the spinach. Needless to say, this all disappeared off the plate. It was one of the best spinach based dishes I've tasted anywhere.

Kathmandu Kitchen is byo, and there is a bottle shop about 20 metres down Marine Parade at the pub, so you don't have to walk far in search of a few beers or a bottle of wine.

Service was friendly and attentive throughout the night. All up, we had a great meal, with the sakuwa and the saag ra chij as the standouts. As with all the good Kingscliff restaurants on Marine Parade though, it's a very good idea to book on a Friday or Saturday night, or you might have to settle for take away.

What does all this mean? Delicious, tasty Nepalese and Tibetan food with relaxed, friendly service.

food bling ratings
Food - Great
Service - Great
Ambience - Relaxed and casual - inside or out
Value for Money - Good
Wine - BYO
Vegetarian - Good

Kathmandu Kitchen
2/106 Marine Parade
Kingscliff NSW 2487
P - 02 6674 5746
W - http://www.kathmandukingscliff.com.au/

OzyMex

I know there are loads of great places to eat in Byron Bay. But everytime I go there, I can't go past the fantastic nachos at OzyMex.

OzyMex is a hole in the wall type place serving nachos, burritos, tacos & enchiladas. It has been set up by the Byron Bay Chilli Co, which is probably why the salsas and other sauces taste so good.

On this trip, I had the small nachos with shredded beef ($6.50) which are served with pinto beans, cheese, sour cream and guacamole (which I ordered as extra). You also get a choice of the Byron Bay Chilli Co salsas to top off the dish. Since I've been buying nachos from OzyMex, I've never been disappointed, and this was no exception. The nachos were fresh, tasty and filling. On this day, it was the perfect lunch.

We also ordered one of the flour burritos ($7) with pinto beans, lettuce, cheese, sour cream and salsa. It was an enormous serving, wrapped up like a kebab. Again, the burrito was delicious but very filling.

Extra toppings are a bit regimented, and are all charged extra. But the food is so good, you quickly forget about paying an extra dollar or so for a few more toppings.

There are only a couple of seats inside, so unless you time your visit well, this is a takeaway option. If you're looking for a quick, tasty cheap lunch or snack next time you're at Byron Bay, then give OzyMex a try.

food bling ratings
Food - Great
Service - It's take away
Ambience - Hole in the wall
Value for Money - Great
Vegetarian - Great
Gluten Free - OK

OzyMex
Lawson Street/Jonson Street roundabout
Byron Bay NSW 2481
P - 02 6685 7157

Tweed River Seafood

Tweed River Seafoods is the place to buy any kind of seafood if you're in the Kingscliff area.

It's actually just up the road at Chinderah, but it'll take you less than 5 minutes to drive from Kingscliff, and its well worth the trip.

Sure, it doesn't have a massive range, but what it does have is excellent. If its cold seafood you're after, then there is a range of fresh fish, prawns and crabs, together with Balmain bugs, squid, oysters and scallops. The seafood is helpfully marked, so you know if what you're buying is fresh or frozen.

Of course, you can also get cooked fish and chips here too. It's very popular with the locals, so pick your visits carefully or you might be in for a bit of a wait.

Tweed River Seafoods also sell a selection of their own home made seafood sauces, which are delicious. The tartare sauce in particular is completely addictive once you start dipping hot chips into it.

On my most recent visit, I picked up a Balmain bug, a dozen Sydney rock oysters and 300 grams of headless fresh king prawns for $26. The prices here are excellent.

So if you're after a feast of fresh seafood, or just some fish and chips for lunch, pop into Tweed River Seafoods next time you're at Kingscliff.

Tweed River Seafoods
78 Chinderah Bay Drive
Chinderah NSW 2487
P - 02 6674 1134

Utopia

I was recently down in Northern New South Wales on holidays and a friend suggested a trip to Bangalow, with a recommendation to pop into Utopia.

I've never been to Bangalow before, but the main street is made up of some lovely heritage buildings. Park yourself at either the top or bottom of the main street and spend a lazy few hours wandering up and down, browsing the great array of shops, cafes and restaurants.

We did exactly that, and it didn't take us long to find Utopia. It's on the main street, and occupies a very large renovated room, with a bit of an industrial, modern feel. Once we'd plonked ourselves down at a table and ordered, I was reading through a magazine with Gemma Ward on the cover, only to be told by the waitress that she'd been into Utopia a couple of times on the weekend. Unfortunately she didn't make an appearance while we were there.

Anyway, back to the food. We were just there for morning tea and I ordered a slice of the chocolate hazelnut torte ($8.90). I know that sounds like a lot for one slice, but this was the best gluten free cake I've ever come across. It was so good I almost ordered another piece. The torte was layers of hazelnut meringue with chocolate mousse, served with creme anglaise and raspberry coulis. I really can't put into words just how delicious this cake was. All of Utopia's cakes are made freshly on the premises, and there were more than a couple of gluten free cake options.

Other morning tea snacks that sounded tempting were the freshly baked scones, Lindt dark chocolate rocky road, baked cheesecake with pralines and an amazingly rich looking chocolate tart. It would be pretty easy to find a table, pick up a magazine and just work your way through their cake cabinet. Forget lunch, just keep going on the cakes.

The coffee was Zentfeld's, an Australian grown coffee, which I'd never tried before. Both of our coffees were very good, and service was efficiently friendly.

Utopia is also open for lunch and dinner, and the menu looked great. We'll definitely be back next time we're in that neck of the woods.

Bangalow is definitely worth a visit if you are nearby (it's about 15 minutes drive from Byron Bay). And if you do drop in, don't walk past Utopia without trying some of their beautiful cakes.

Utopia
13 Byron Street
Bangalow NSW 2479
P - 02 6687 2088
E - utopiacafe@bigpond.com
W - http://www.utopiacafe.com.au