Pho Vietnam

On a hot summer's day, there's nothing more I love for lunch than some really good Vietnamese food. That's why on most trips to the Gold Coast I usually end up at Pho Vietnam for lunch.

I don't normally have time to post about food court eateries, but Pho Vietnam is so good, it's more than worthy of a mention. Although it serves plenty of very reasonably priced noodle dishes, their rice paper rolls are king if you ask me. For $6 you get 3 big rice paper rolls and there are plenty to choose from - prawn, prawn & pork, chicken, chicken & avocado, tofu, vegetable or avocado. Team up your favourite flavours with one of the dipping sauces and its happy days.

These are some of the best (not to mention cheapest) Vietnamese rice paper rolls I've ever come across at a food court. So next time you are wondering what to have for lunch at the coast, head along to Pho Vietnam for fresh, tasty rice paper rolls. And there's a great Asian grocery store (Ming Mei Asian Supermarket) just next to the food court, which is definitely worth a visit.

Pho Vietnam
Fig Tree Foodcourt
Australia Fair Shopping Centre
42 Marine Parade
Southport 4215
P - 07 5591 5746

Butterfingers Shortbread

I try my best not to harp on too much about gluten free food. But every now and again I come across a new gluten free product that I've really been missing. The first one was of course beer. This time it's shortbread. I used to love shortbread. But unfortunately its been off limits for the last couple of years.


That is until I came across Butterfingers gluten free shortbread. You can pick up a packet at most supermarkets around Brisbane. Unlike some gluten free products, it tastes pretty much like any normal shortbread. And best of all, the company is Australian owned & operated. So it ticks all the boxes. I'll be buying a box or two to help me through the Christmas break.

MasterChef

I got an email the other day from the director of a new show called MasterChef, which is going to be on Channel Ten. Here is the blurb:

The search is on to find Australia’s first true MasterChef. Network Ten wants every kitchen wannabe from amateur chefs to budding foodies to toss their chef's hat in the ring…each hoping to become…Australia’s next super Chef. A real life drama will play out as the contestant’s kitchen courage is put to the ultimate test. From the lows of failure to the highs of success, our cast of characters will be catapulted from starters to mains then desserts and back again. IN 2009 WE ARE ABOUT TO SEE WHO CAN TAKE THE HEAT…AND WHO HAD BETTER GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN! To apply, go to http://www.masterchef.com.au

Hopefully it will be a good show. People with tertiary or catering qualifications aren't allowed to enter, so that should even up the playing field a bit.

I've seen the ads on Channel Ten, so we'll just have to keep our eyes peeled for the new show next year.

Christmas Drinks

One of my favourite activities in the lead up to Christmas is finding some great wine to enjoy over the break. If you need some inspiration in tracking down a few special bottles, here are my favourite wine shops in Brisbane:

The Wine Emporium
I'm the first to admit that The Wine Emporium isn't the cheapest place to buy wine in Brisbane, but they have an amazing range of wines from all over Australia and the rest of the world. The staff are friendly and helpful, whether you're looking for a $25 bottle of riesling or a $500 bottle of Champagne.

Shop 47, Emporium
1000 Ann Street
Fortitude Valley 4005
P - 07 3252 1117
E - thevalley@thewineemporium.com.au
W - http://www.thewineemporium.com.au/

WINE@Era
Although WINE@Era doesn't have a range as big as The Wine Emporium, you'll find some great wines here that you just won't come across anywhere else. I think it's a fantastic selection, with some excellent imported wines. And once you've stocked up on your Christmas beverages, you can pop into Era for a delicious lunch or snack.

102 Melbourne Street (Corner Merivale Street)
South Brisbane 4101
P - 07 3255 2033
W - http://www.erabistro.com.au/index.php?MMID=200

Stewarts Wine Co
Stewarts Wine Co have three stores across Brisbane. Every time I walk into one I'm impressed with the range and inevitably end up walking out of the store with a few bottles I've never tried before. They also have a good range of well-priced Champagne, if you're looking for that special bottle for Christmas lunch or dinner. I think that the Stewarts store in the city is the best place to buy wine in the CBD if you're ever in need of a last minute bottle on the way home.

Stewarts Wine Co stores are located at Ascot, Portside Wharf and the City
W - http://www.stewartswineco.com.au/

Champagne Gallery
Champagne Gallery is a Brisbane based website that specialises in Champagne (as you probably guessed by the name). It really has an unsurpassed range of Champagne, including houses like Benard-Pitois, Jose Michel, Veuve Fourny and plenty of others you've probably never come across before. They are still selling a few 1996 vintage Champagnes at reasonable prices, so check out the website if you're after a bottle of bubbles to accompany your prawns or scallops on Christmas day.

W - https://www.champagnegallery.com.au/

Cru Bar + Cellar
If you can find a park at James Street, it's worth popping in to Cru Bar + Cellar. I'm always impressed with wines I come across at Cru that you just can't buy anywhere else. With Christmas just around the corner, Cru is also very handily placed right next to the James Street Markets.

James Street
Fortitude Valley 4006
P - 3252 1744
E - cellar@crubar.com
W - http://www.crubar.com/cellar.html

Dan Murphys
I know Dan Murphys is an enormous Australia-wide chain, but when it comes to great prices, it's hard to go past them. Particularly now summer is in full swing, Dan Murphys is the perfect spot to stock up on all your favourite rieslings, sauvignon blancs and pinot grigios. There are Dan Murphys stores all over Brisbane.

W - http://www.danmurphys.com.au/

Christmas Lunch

I was going to post up a list of places that are serving Christmas lunch in Brisbane, but then I found there was already a pretty good list at ourbrisbane.com. So if you're looking for a restaurant for Christmas lunch, here is the list. Hopefully between all of them, there will still be a few tables left.

Suspiro de Limena

Without a doubt, the best dessert I came across in Peru was Suspiro de Limena. If you translate the name of this dessert to English, it means something like "Sighs of a lady from Lima". As soon as you take your first mouthful, a sigh will pop out, along the lines of "how will I ever finish this?"

I don't normally post up recipes, but I enjoyed this dessert so much, I just had to put it up. I should warn you though, it's very rich and very sweet, so you don't need much. We made a giant batch of about 35 for our housewarming party a couple of weeks ago, and they all disappeared, which is always a good sign. The recipe is pretty simple, so there's no excuse not to try try it out.

Suspiro de Limena

(Serves 6)

Ingredients

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can evaporated milk

6 egg yolks

4 egg whites

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 small glass of port

1/4 cup sugar

Cinnamon power

Preparation

1. Empty contents of both milk cans in a medium sized, non-stick, heavy saucepan and stir constantly with a wooden spoon over medium/low heat, watching carefully to avoid sticking or burning. After 20-30 minutes, when the milk thickens and coats the spoon and the bottom of the pan can be seen while stirring, remove from heat (the cookbook actually says fire) and let cool for 10 minutes.

2. Add vanilla and beaten egg yolks, stirring briskly, until smooth. Pour in individual dessert glasses.

3. In a separate small saucepan, make a light syrup by melting sugar and port, swirling pan until sugar is completely dissolved.

4. Beat egg whites and gently pour syrup in a thread until meringue holds stiff peaks.

5. Top individual servings of suspiro with meringue (use a piping bag), sprinkle with a dash of cinnamon powder and serve at room temperature.

The recipe comes from Peruvian Cooking - Basic Recipes by Annik Franco Barreau, a terrific Peruvian cookbook which I picked up in Lima. If anyone is keen to get your hands on some more Peruvian recipes, please let me know.

Once you try this, you'll be hooked, believe me.

Food Safari

Food Safari is my favourite Australian food show. I think the reason I enjoy it so much is because you can sense that Maeve is having such a good time with every single episode, no matter what country's food is in the spotlight.

So I was really happy to read today that a new season of Food Safari kicks off on Wednesday night. Apparently the first episode is all about South America, and it looks like Peru will get a mention.

If you haven't watched Food Safari before, put it in your diary for Wednesday night. Maeve O'Mara is a terrific host, and the food is always tantalising.

Food Safari
7.30pm Wednesday nights, SBS
http://www.sbs.com.au/food/show/food-safari

Stewarts' Champagne Tastings

If you haven't already noticed, I'm a big fan of champagne. It's great to see more and more champagnes making it to Australia these days, and a few places in Brisbane now have a fantastic selection.

The good people at Stewarts have one of the better selections of Champagne in town. Luckily for all of us, they are putting on a few free champagne tastings in the lead up to Christmas. The tastings will be held at their Portside Wharf store over three Saturdays in December. Here are the wines that will be on offer:

Saturday 6 December 2008
Dom Perignon 2000
Krug Grande Cuvee NV
Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 1998

Saturday 13 December 2008
Pol Roger Brut Reserve
Pol Roger Brut Vintage
Pol Roger Rose Vintage

Saturday 20 December 2008
Laurent Perrier Non Vintage
Laurent Perrier Rose Non Vintage
Laurent Perrier Brut Millesime 1999

The tasting on Saturday 6 December covers some pretty awesome wines. It's not often anyone gets the chance to try Dom Perignon, Krug & Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame all at the same time, so it will definitely be worth your while to pay a visit. As luck would have it, I'm going to be down the coast.

The tastings start at 2pm. If you're not there at 2pm, there's a good chance you'll miss out on the best champagnes.

Stewarts Wine Co Portside Wharf
Shop 7/39 Hercules Street
Hamilton 4007
P - 07 3216 4444
W - http://www.stewartswineco.com.au/

Christmas Markets

Well Christmas will soon be upon us. As far as I'm concerned, the best way to stock up for days of non-stop eating is a trip (or two) to the markets. Usually you can find fresh, local produce at great prices. And while you're shopping for your favourite fruit, sausages or cheese, you're bound to come across something you've never tried before (which is my favourite part of any trip to the markets). I'll be dropping in to the Christmas Twilight Markets at Mitchelton to pick up as many Christmas supplies as I can carry.

I've listed below a few of Brisbane's regular food markets which are running in the lead up to Christmas. As I come across any other special Christmas markets, I'll add them to the post.

Fair Trade Christmas Market
Saturday 6 & Sunday 7 December 2008 - 10am to 4pm
Marymac Community Centre
616 Ipswich Road
Annerley 4103
http://www.qldfairtrade.org.au/

Green Flea Community Market
Saturday 6, 13 & 20 December 2008 - 6am onwards
Davies Park
Corner Montague Road & Jane Street
West End 4101

Jan Power's Farmers' Markets
http://www.janpowersfarmersmarkets.com.au/

Mitchelton Farmers' Markets
Sunday 7 December 2008 - 6am onwards
Tuesday 23 December 2008 - 5pm onwards
Blackwood Street
Mitchelton 4053

Powerhouse Farmers' Markets
Saturday 13 December 2008 - 6am onwards
Sunday 21 December 2008 - 6am onwards
The Brisbane Powerhouse
119 Lamington Street
New Farm 4005

Manly Fresh Food Markets
Saturday 20 December 2008 - 6am onwards
Manly Esplanade (between Cambridge & Cardigan Parades)
Manly 4179

Kelvin Grove Urban Village Markets
The Village Christmas Market
Saturday 20 December 2008 - 6am to 1pm
Blamey Street (between Musk Avenue and Victoria Park Road)
Kelvin Grove 4059
www.kgurbanvillage.com.au/news/events/2008/dec/index.shtm?eventnum=0

Organic Growers Market
Sunday 21 December 2008 - 6am to 10.30am
Northey Street City Farm
Corner of Northey and Victoria Streets
Windsor 4030
http://www.nscf.org.au/Market%20And%20Cafe/organic.htm

Saturday Fresh Market
Saturday 20 December 2008 - 6am to 12pm
Brisbane MarketPlace
250 Sherwood Road
Rocklea 4106
http://www.brisbanemarkets.com.au/cms/index.php/BMP-Saturday-Fresh-Market.html

Queensland Cricketers' Club

The other day I was lucky enough to score a ticket for the first day of the test against New Zealand at the Gabba. Even better, it was a ticket to seats in the Queensland Cricketers' Club.

The tickets included a 3 course set menu lunch at the Cricketers' Club. I usually think of club food as being a bit stuck in a time warp, so my lunch expectations weren't particularly high. Boy did I turn out to be wrong. The lunch we had was excellent.

Things started off well when our table was right against the glass. It was floor to ceiling glass, so we had an amazing view of the entire field. It feels a bit surreal having someone serve you a delicious lunch while the cricket is going on out the window, but I got used to it pretty quickly.

Our entree was a delicious prawn & fennel salad. This was probably the best dish of the whole lunch. It had already been plated up on our table when we sat down, so again I was a bit sceptical. But the prawns were fresh, sweet and tasty. They were a perfect match with the fennel salad. A bottle of 2005 Jim Barry "The Florita" Riesling ($79) made this probably the best start to any meal I've ever had a sporting venue. It sure beats a box of tired old chicken & chips.

By this stage my expectations of lunch had risen remarkably and I was looking forward to the next course. The main meal turned out to be a very generous chunk of medium rare beef, served with asparagus, grilled tomato and a slice of a potato dauphinoise type dish. Although it wasn't quite in the league of the prawn & fennel salad, it was very good. After finding a bottle of 1995 Katnook Estate cabernet sauvignon on the wine list for $99, we couldn't pass it up, and it turned out to be a lovely match with the steak.

Dessert was a baked cheesecake. I'd already had a few drinks by this stage of the day, so I can't actually remember what flavour it was. I do remember though that it was good. We rounded off a great lunch with one of Australia's classic dessert wines - De Bortoli Noble One botrytis semillon ($33.50).

It really was a decadent way to watch a few hours of cricket. If you're ever offered a ticket to the Cricketers' Club, grab it with both hands - you'll have a brilliant day.

Queensland Cricketers' Club
411 Vulture Street
East Brisbane 4169
P - (07) 3896 4533
E - qcc@qldcricketersclub.com.au
W - http://www.qldcricketersclub.com.au/