Chopping Block Cafe, Buderim - Sunshine Coast, QLD

(Degusted 8th August, 2011)

One thing we've noticed about the seaside towns in the Sunshine Coast – especially Mooloolaba and  Maroochydore – is that there is a real shortage of cafés. Maybe it's because we're spoilt from the huge variety available in Melbourne, or maybe it's just the areas that we're visiting, but things in the caffeine dealing business seem really quiet around the Sunny Coast. Of note was that in Mooloolaba on a Sunday night, there was only a Gloria Jeans open (and there was about 30 people crowding around to get their coffee fix) – surprising that there's so few good, independent options in such a tourist-focused place.

As we drove out of the little town of Buderim after dinner at the Tavern the night before, we discussed how we thought we'd like to come back to this cute little town and check it out by day.

The main street of Buderim gives a really friendly, small-town community feel.  We found The Chopping Block Café by chance – it looked open and inviting, and – famished after our early morning beach-side run of foolish insanity – we stopped here for brunch.

Vegetarian

We degusted the Artichoke, pumpkin, basil and feta fritata and an asian-style chickpea salad. The fritata was unashamedly a pre-baked window-displayed item, which we were fully aware of. Originally we were just going to get the fritata part on it's own, but the waitress suggested getting it served up with salad. The salad had a lovely sesame dressing, snow peas, pak choy, julienned carrots and cashews – so there were a lot of different textures and good flavours going on. The fritata was good enough on its own, but made into a good meal with the salad.

Artichoke, pumpkin, basil and feta fritata, with asian-style salad

Eggs and trimmings

We also tried the green eggs (scrambled eggs with pesto), which comes with spinach leaves, grilled tomato and sourdough. We supplemented this with some sides – chorizo, and smoked salmon. The Chorizo was good – nice and spicy, and the amount was quite generous – and would have been enough for two to share.

Green Eggs and no ham.. The yummy spicy Chorizo and
smoked salmon made this really quite filling.

Interior shots. A pretty cruisy place,
-tables and chairs on the footpath complete the look.

Drinks

We had the straight-up orange, and a mixture of orange, pineapple and ginger juices. All juices were freshly squeezed and were of generous proportions. The espresso could easily have come from one of the better cafés in Melbourne: commendable, given the lack of coffee shops around this area -  we had expected the quality might be a bit "hit and miss", but it wasn't to be... If I had to be picky in 'Master Chef' style, I'd say it was a fraction watery and there were some residual grinds in my cup, but neither of these would be a deal-breaker - It was good coffee!!

An espresso of which this place should be proud.

Overall, we think this is a good enough place to eat - and on our visit the coffee was great. That said, we don't normally judge on price or value - but on this occasion we must note that we've read reviews on this place and surrounding places in which those reviewers thought the Chopping block was a bit too pricey. For us it was not a bargain, but nothing more than we expected.



Rating:  Nom(x1)

Meh                      It’ll Do                   Nom(x3)                              Must go back!

Done and Degusted @ The Chopping Block Cafe, Buderim

-Green Eggs, with sides of Chorizo and smoked Salmon

-Artichoke & pumpkin fritata

-Asian style chickpea salad

-Orange juice (freshly squeezed)

-Orange, Pineapple and Ginger juice (freshly squeezed)

-Espresso

Address: 70 Burnett Street,
Buderim QLD

Cuisine: Modern Australian   Seats: 60

Price: Main $8.50 to $18.50,   

Phone: (07) 5476 6411  Fax: (07) 5450 1451 

In the area for dinner? There are steaks available with some amazing views, at the Buderim Tavern - Check it out here

Buderim Tavern - Sunshine Coast, QLD

(Degusted 7th Aug, 2011)

Up in the hills, just a 10 or so minute drive inland from Maroochydore, you can reach this lovely little town of Buderim. By day you can get some pretty good views over the southern end of sunshine coast, and cooling breezes make it a pleasant place to be. To capture those views, the Buderim Tavern is perfectly poised (for Victorians, think of The Wheeler’s Hill Hotel). The tavern is predominantly what we'd call a steakhouse or grill. There is no table service as such – orders for drinks and food being made at the bar or the kitchen servery. There is an open plan dining area with windows all along to capture the views– although being night time, we only had the twinkling lights of the urban sprawl below. 

(We came back to Buderim the following day for brunch and took some photos from nearby to the Tavern to see what this view was like during the day. Not bad at all!)

For starters, we went for the Szechuan calamari, which was not really peppery at all – there was a little bit of spice in the crumb on the thin strips of calamari, but nothing like what we expected of a "Szechuan" flavour. Good finger-food nonetheless, but not up to the flavours we expected.

Szechuan Calamari

There were a number of steaks available – rib eyes, rumps, wagyu – ranging from 180 to 600 grams. Several choices of sauce – mushroom, peppercorn, dianne – but we went with the red wine jus, wanting to let the steak shine..

Ordering the wagyu medium-rare, we expected it super-tender and a little red – unfortunately, in our opinion, the meat was taken to a little past medium, which was a shame for such a good piece of meat.. I think most people going to a place like this would be happy with the cooking, but for us it was a bit of a waste of such a good steak -let down by the over-cooking.  The chips that came with the steak looked great, and were good enough, but we've had better (could have been crispier on the outside). The salad that comes with all steaks is a small ceasar salad, which had really nice bacon pieces (mmmm bacon). At our table was our young nephew (a salad-dodger extraordinaire) who demolished his ceasar salad on this occasion – enough said.

Wagyu - sides of ceasar salad, chips and optional mushrooms.
Red Wine Jus (as with other sauces) served on the side.

The other main we degusted was a spiced lamb rump with sweet potato, roast tomato and broccolini. Again, the lamb was a little over-done, though still pink in the centre. In this dish, there was plenty of meat served up, almost too much for one person. Some might say that’s a good thing!  It was an okay dish – nothing incredibly fancy, but certainly good enough to be on the menu in this style of restaurant.

Spiced lamb rump w/sweet potato, tomato and broccolini.

For the price and the style of restaurant, the food was good enough and will probably keep the carnivores happy, as long as they’re not too fussy about the cooking. If you like it “well done” you’d be in heaven here...

Rating:  It'll Do

Meh                      It’ll Do                   Nom(x3)                              Must go back!

Done and Degusted @ Buderim Tavern

Szechuan calamari

Wagyu rump with red wine jus, chips and ceasar salad.

Spiced lamb rump, sweet potatoe, broccolini and tomato

 
(note that the address says Maroochydore, it's definitely in Buderim!)

In the area? You might like to grab some coffee and breakfast at the Chopping Block.

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Photo ban in Melbourne restaurants?

So it appears from popular media that some Melbourne restaurants - including the likes of Grossi Florentino's - are hesitant about patrons taking photos of their food.  We guess that if they were to allow picture taking, then every dish they send over the pass would have to be perfect....
Think that through... Yeah, exactly my point... So then, what do the good restaurants have to fear?
We can understand that patrons need to be considerate of others, and flash-photography or staging plates and making a fuss over picture taking is not nice for anyone nearby trying to have a quiet romantic meal. That said, mobile phones on silent being used to take a quick snap of a plate are no more intrusive for others at nearby tables than the "fb check-in" process, or a quick call to a mate, or heaven forbid the singing of "happy birthday" to someone...

Photography in a clothes store? That's a whole different story, and depends on the intention of the photo. Being cynical, shops probably don't want you sending photos of you trying on clothes to your friends, in case your friends might actually tell you the truth about how large your posterior looks in that dress (and perhaps you won't buy it).
In terms of protection of intellectual property, it is understandable that many clothes shops don't want you to copy their designs - which for a good tailor is quite easy to do from a photograph (visit Hoi An in Vietnam and pop into any of the many tailors to see this process in action). The shops say this, and then put out full-colour glossy photos of their best designs in fashion magazines.. Hypocrisy much? Accepting this line of argument that you might 'copy' the item, the big issue then becomes: if you buy the clothes, are you obliged to NEVER have your photo taken in those clothes, and never allow a tailor to see those clothes, in case they make a copy? We would argue "No", because your purchase of the item entitles you to its fair use.

And so we come back to the food. Purchase of the meal should entitle you to enjoy it in any way you see fit. Eating it, smelling it, looking at it, smearing it all over your hairy uncle's back, should you so desire. How long you look at it, how slowly you chew it, whether you expose it to film or a CCD, should not matter. To copy a dish would require the recipe - a list of all the ingredients, which can only be determined by taste and smell (admittedly it helps to be able to see the dish for the dead give-away items on the plate, too). A photo tells a thousand words, true, but to be able to copy a good dish you really need to taste and smell it. I'll spell out that glaringly obvious next ridiculous step of logic to avoid copying dishes: perhaps then nobody should be allowed to taste any of the dishes in a restaurant, because this is the one way that the ingredients might be copied.... Come on, guys.


JustDegusting will continue to snap away, and be sure that if any restaurant objects, we will - in no uncertain terms - make it known through our blog and review web sites that the pic ban is in place at that eatery, perhaps because food quality is not consistently up to par.
Could we be forced into a first ever walk-out?!!  Now THAT would be an interesting story!

The Future of grocery shopping?

OK, so this is obviously not a restaurant review,
so this post may be a bit out of trend from the rest of this blog

- we hope you dont mind the diversion...

Almost everyone buys groceries (except those who still live with their parents), and many of us get annoyed with waiting for a plane, train or bus.. So why not shop while you wait in a "virtual" Woolies or Coles- kind of on-line, but offline, on your smartphone...
I guess that while the prices could be "down, down", the target market - the tech savvy in the community- are mostly Gen Y'ers who may actually prefer to txt their mum to remind her 2 grb a 6pk of rdBll cans, thx.


Anyhow, check out this video (and keep your eyes peeled for what looks like a sad-face created with fish at around the 1 minute mark)..
http://youtu.be/nJVoYsBym88?t=30s


Would it work? Would you use this if it came to a train station near you?  Leave a comment below or tweet @justdegusting    It would be tempting for us - but would prefer if they had immediate delivery of refreshments!!








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The Boathouse on the Maribyrnong

(Degusted 16^th July, 2011)

We've degusted out in the West a little more than usual lately, and we were impressed with some of the offerings out this way. The food at the Boathouse in Moonee Ponds is one such example. Only a few kilometers out of the CBD, this is another of Gary Mehigan's restaurants –  a sister to Fenix in Richmond. Apart from the pop-cultural link to the owner, The Boathouse has a lot of things going for it – prime placement on the banks of the Maribyrnong river which affords it some pleasant views – and a welcoming, open-plan space inside supplemented by a nice outdoor deck space, which one could imagine would be delightful in summer.

Fish Pie. Served on a thick, chunky wooden board.
This was 'food presentation 101'

The lunch menu has a predominance of pizza options – and these are some serious contenders. The pizzas are the thin-crust, sparse topping type – the authentic kind of pizzas one would expect in Italy.. There are a number of other cafe-style meals to choose from, and you can be pretty sure that with Gary calling the shots, these are not going to be your ordinary “run of the mill” bar snacks.

Service... or lack of.

The service to our table was pretty slack – we were offered water and glasses to start with, but that aquatic refreshment was never topped up, despite draining the reservoir after one round... In addition to this, we had to flag down the waiter every time we wanted anything – there was never any pro-active offers of assistance from them. Disappointing to say the least - and the place was not even full.

Eggplant chips are a must-try.

Food... Excuse me while I stuff my face...

We started off with the famed Eggplant chips- (they looked more like croquettes)- and they were a great balance of crispy fried exterior and that slightly gooey cooked eggplant texture inside. Yum.

When the mains came out, the first impression was that the presentation of the food was terrific. The fish pie looked beautiful and tasted every bit as good as it looked, and most importantly, not too “fishy”. 

The burger and chips – ordered by a friend – was a stand-out for presentation; oozing an old-world rustic charm.  The pizzas looked good – yet they were oozing as well (perhaps a little bit too liberal with the olive oil?). We had the pizza with lamb, mint and and mushy peas – and were more than pleased with it. The pictures speak for themselves, but suffice it to say that the promise of thin, traditional-style pizzas was upheld with aplomb.

How is this for presentation - Burger and chips
- food envy much?

Lamb, Pea and Mint pizza. A little oily perhaps,
but otherwise an unexpected triumph.

Drinks.. stay true to the bean

Hot chocolate looked good, but tasted, ummm.....
a bit like muddy water drawn from the Maribyrnong.

The Soy hot chocolate was – in a word -  a failure. Served in a low-slung “cappucino cup” it looked the part, but really didn't come through with the goods in terms of flavour.

The espresso was, on the other hand, an absolute delight. This shorty was obviously made with good coffee, by a barista who knew what they were doing – the right grind, the right temperature water -  it was all over “just right”. Stick to coffees here we reckon.

An excellent little shorty. Not good, GREAT.

Views of the river from the dining area.

One can imagine that The Boathouse would make a great function venue – especially during summer – when you can take advantage of the outdoor decking to soak up the rays and the views..

There's plenty of parking around the football oval – just bear in mind that the area can be crowded by footy families if there is a game on... then again, why not park your car around the nearby Aberfeldie or Fairbain parks and stroll to The Boathouse along the banks of the river. Very pleasant.

To sum up:

The food was great, as was the coffee. Our hot chocolate was average, and the service was a bit slow (especially considering the dining room was only about 60% full). Location and setting is as good or better than you can expect for a quiet cafe/ restaurant. 

Child-friendly, but no "play area" inside, but a really good playground right outside though - with slides, shade sails etc !

             Out this side of town? you might also like Nosh @ Newport

Rating:  Nom (x1) 
out of the ranking:
Meh                      It’ll Do                   Nom(x3)                              Must go back!

Done and Degusted @ The Boathouse (in Moonee Ponds)

Eggplant chips

Lamb, mushy pea and mint leaf Pizza

Fish pie

Espresso

Soy hot chocolate

The Boathouse
3 The Boulevard,
Moonee Ponds

(03) 9375 2456

PS:

home-made cupcakes,
not actually available at the boathouse...

If we may say so ourselves, the stand-out were the cup cakes... Actually, the Degusters baked themselves and brought along for our friend's birthday, for which the waiter was happy enough to provide a plate for us to serve them on.. 

Cheers, A.M.   :-) 

Fenix restaurant - functioning great

(Degusted 22^nd July, 2011)

When it was discovered that one of The Degusters was heading off to Fenix for a function, it was with some excitement... There are mixed reviews about Fenix on the internet - some seem to love, and others to loathe - the sometimes 'arty' way that food is plated, or has been re-interpreted.
This riverside eatery on Melbourne's outskirts seems to have become more and more popular for people to try – presumably for the pop cultural value – as many will have watched Fenix owner Gary Mehigan as he judges, comments and gives “master classes” on the TV show MasterChef. For The Degusters, this was the second Mehigan restaurant in as many weeks – having degusted at The Boathouse on the Maribyrnong river out in Moonee Ponds the week before. Unlike the Boathouse with lovely views over the Maribyrnong, the promise of views over the Yarra River were unfortunately not met on our visit to Fenix –  but such is often the case with fading light when dining on a cold and dark winter's evening...

Scallops with leek and bacon.

A good dish with delicate flavours

The Harvey Bay half-shell scallops w/ leek and bacon were – as you would expect – perfectly cooked, and most importantly, tasted good. The flavour of the leek and bacon was quite mild, and the bacon was not overly salty – together they were probably just right to accompany the delicate flavours of the scallops.  If we (as kitchen hacks) were going to make the dish ourselves we'd probably have gone for a more of a salty bacon flavour, rather than the mild 'ham' flavour– but then you'd probably risk losing the flavour of the scallops, which ultimately is what this dish is all about.

The main was a Lamb done two ways (shank and rack), with moroccan spices (or 'ras el hanout' according to the menu), baby carrots and artichoke puree. The lamb was simply delicious, the jus gras was perfect, linking all plated elements together with the meat. The artichoke puree seemed to be a little too sweet, but that -like our bacon preferences - was personal taste and the sweetness in no way detracted from the enjoyment of the dish overall.

Lamb two ways, with artichoke puree

Raspberry soufflé with rosewater coulis

Last up was the Raspberry soufflé with rosewater coulis – the soufflé itself was so very light and fluffy – with a strong tartiness of raspberry that really packed a punch. The coulis helped to balance it out though, and overall this dessert left us with a smile on our face.

Though it was cold and dark outside, the quality of the food shone through. Overall, to put out dishes of this quality for a catered event is impressive, and on this basis we would have to give it a “highly recommended” for anyone considering this place for a function or a wedding. We will still need to get back and test out the a la carte dining to see what the sit-down service is like for the punters off the street - or perhaps we'll even manage to do a Sunday lunchtime degustation to take advantage of the view... We just need a good excuse to get out there and no other concurrent better offers to get in the way. Stay tuned!

Rating:  Nom(x3)

 Out of the ranking:
Meh                      It’ll Do                   Nom(x3)                              Must go back!

Done and Degusted @ Fenix

Harvey Bay half-shell scallops w/ leek and bacon

Lamb two ways, ras el hanout, baby carrots and artichoke puree

Raspberry souffle with rosewater coulis.

Nosh @ Newport - a neat little cafe that is usually pretty good

 (degusted 23rd July, 2011)

Chai Latte at Nosh

The critical function of a good local café on the weekend – we reckon – is to serve up all-day breakfasts (or brunches) to the sleepyheads and the party-goers who shun the thought of facing the world at any time before midday. During the week, the local café serves as the local caffeine dealer – keeping the shakes at bay for the zombie-like hoards who make their way to the daily grind. For both these functions, a good local cafe needs to have a kitchen that pumps out quality breakfasts, and a barista or two who are passionate about pulling a good shot. It helps to be located in a handy spot for access to public transport. In these three regards, the Newport stalwart “Nosh” seems to have the essentials covered.

First up we must admit that this was not our first visit to Nosh, and our friends have made this place something of a regular stop-off. On this particular occasion we decided to sit outside – the fresh air was working wonders for the hangover. Perhaps this was our first mistake.

Service please!

After taking our own seat, we had to help ourselves to the menus, and water and glasses...After waiting 10 minutes, and still no love from the staff, we went inside to alert them to our presence, and the waiter came and took the orders. Shortly after our orders had been taken, the wait staff were quick to pounce on a table with father + 3 kids + dog, who – although ordering after us – received their meals well before us. Service was poor for our table on this occasion, and this was out of the norm for Nosh…. A real shame - especially as this was the visit about which we were going to blog!

The food...  NB: Nosh do an all-day breakfast - winner!

 First up, we ordered the breakfast paella. Now, if there's anything that comes close to our love of bacon, it's paella. (I really like saying “paella”, too).. "Paella".

Breakfast Paella. Does it get any better?

The breakky paella came served in the pan – all saucy and flavoursome. Chunks of chorizo, flavour hits from paprika and the golden molten cheese over the top were the king ingredients that made this dish “pop”.

The other dish for the table was a special item - the scrambled chilli eggs and bacon with avodaco in roti bread roll. It was a simple way of packaging up the good old Bacon and Eggs – (ordered on this occasion without the chilli) the meal was good enough – but with the chilli included - and the consumer feeling a bit less hung over – this might be a delicious dish.

Egg & Bacon Roti wrap.

 

Mocha @ Nosh

The Drinks:

In terms of the drinks – the essential café ingredient, we would argue - well, we almost didn't try them out. Not for lack of trying though.... Thirty minutes had passed before we got our drinks delivered to the table. Yes, you read correctly - 30 minutes. Now, just let that sink in for a few moments while your brain explodes...and pieces itself back together... Okay, so most people would not wait this long without complaining, so perhaps such a wait would never happen "in the real world" for anyone else, but we wanted to see how long the wait would be sans intervention. The soy mocha and chai latte were good enough, but after half an hour the latte should have been filled with gold leaf and the mocha oozing with the finest Belgian chocolates; which they weren't... Hmmm.

Overall this one-off experience was really disappointing, and completely out of character for Nosh. As mentioned previously, we've been there before and friends have been many times – without a doubt this was the worst service ever and was not the norm. Perhaps it was 'out of sight, out of mind' and a result of our seating outside and beyond the gaze of the wait staff...Perhaps the waiters were new or having a bad day. Neither reason is an acceptable excuse, and this poor service is amazing when everyone is a potential reviewer and (potentially angry) posts and tweets spread those reviews far and wide.. 

Despite the poor service on this occasion, we note that this is still an exception rather than the rule, and in the past we've been impressed here. Other tables nearby to ours were getting considerably better service, so it could have been the table location, being a little out of the way. The food is good enough that we'd risk another visit and hope that next time the service might be back to normal (or at least we'd make our plight known). Nosh is far enough away from the Williamstown clutter, but close to the Newport station which makes this place handy, if nothing else. Furthermore, there does not seem to be any shortage of locals lining up for a good “Nosh” - so perhaps one should join the herd and enjoy a breakfast here. 


You might also be interested in breakfast at: Main St Cafe, Mordialloc

Rating:  Nom (x1) - good food, but inconsistent service.

on the scale of:
Meh                      It’ll Do                   Nom(x3)                              Must go back!

Done and Degusted @ Nosh@Newport

Breakfast Paella

Scrambled egg and bacon roti roll.

Soy mocha

Chai latte

Nosh@Newport
24 Hall Street, Newport 
   - just near the train station

Splendid :)