#103 Let's Play with Food 🥐☕️🇦🇺 来点黑暗料理 + 聊点澳洲咖啡

What's up fellow Steemians! Today I'm going to ramble a bit about food. As a Chinese having lived in Asia, Europe, South America, the Caribbeans and Australia, my food experience is pretty extensive, and I enjoy a wide variety of food. I don't want to say "East or West, home food is the best", too narrow-minded, isn't it? ;) There are so many delicacies all over the world. But still, Asian food is something I cook and eat the most often, not because it's the best, but because I'm more familiar with its cooking.

By Asian food, I don't mean Chinese food or Cantonese food, but food I tried in Asian countries. 🍛🍲🍜 And I have to point out that Cantonese food is always mistaken as typical Chinese food, just because there is a large number of Cantonese immigrants overseas. Look at the strange mushy meat wrapped in dark soy sauce, sometimes even with broccoli, yuuucky...😆 no it's not Chinese food, not even genuine Cantonese one. In fact, there are so many different cuisines in China besides the Cantonese one. 😃

So when I occasionally miss Asian food in a Western kind of country, what do I do? Aha~ I play with the food:

And I burn the bread (look at the head picture)! Too much bread in the Western diet! 😅
Haha, just kidding! So what's the black stuff? No worries, it's black garlic bread, and what next to it are brown butter and burnt vanilla. You see there's really something burnt! 😜 They look a bit like a devil, but taste divine. The multi-seed bagel with pastrami and fried egg is also delectable. 😋

下面是澳洲布里斯班/本南岸一家名为Gauge的餐厅吃的brunch，很黑暗有木有？

友情提醒：中英文是互补不是互译的，因为想说的太多，而且受众不同（说得好像真有多少人看一样），哈哈

This place - Gauge was recommended by a local friend from Brisbane. Located just across the street from the South Bank’s art precinct, it is café by day and restaurant by night. According to the AU Review:

It is a small and unassuming cafe/restaurant that produces a Michelin-star quality food at reasonable prices. Jerome Batten is the man behind Gauge, a role he juggles while also helming Sourced Grocer, a cafe and grocer in Newstead. For both, the focus is on local, quality produce – with each kitchen’s own flair for originality.

From their menu, you can see lots of creative options with Australian ingredients, such as kangroo consommé and quandong (one of the best known bushfoods - a native peach widely dispersed throughout the central deserts and southern areas of Australia).

当地朋友推荐的这家食肆还是挺赞的~ 新鲜的季节性原料，创新的烹饪手法，浓郁的本土特色，有袋鼠肉汤、澳洲特有的丛林食材 -- 框档果（曾是土著居民的主要食物，被文玩商引入中国时炒作为佛螺菩提太会掰了）等很多选择。点的几个小盘不说色香味俱佳，起码口感不错，尤其黑色蒜香土司抹上黄油、配上烤焦的香草，吃起来唇齿留香，意犹未尽。旁边的改良贝果面包搭着五香酱牛肉末和鸡蛋，味道也很独特。有专业评论称这家是“米其林的品质，平民的价格”。

Their dinner menu(it's seasonal, so it can be different):
他家晚餐的菜单（随季节变动）:
他家晚餐的菜单（随季节变动）:
他家晚餐的菜单（随季节变动）:

A great cuppa coffee afterwards:
吃完来杯咖啡，味道不错哦:
吃完来杯咖啡，味道不错哦:
吃完来杯咖啡，味道不错哦:

The quality of coffee and the barista culture is a big thing in Australia. Aussies love their coffee. So when a place takes coffee seriously like this one, plenty of locals are willing to wait from its opening time. Some Aussies love to laugh at Starbucks that can't live up to the high-quality coffee standards they hold, like the same brand didn't stand a chance to break into the Italian market (It's said the first Starbucks shop is finally due to open later this year in downtown Milano).

澳大利亚，尤其是墨尔本这样的地方是以注重咖啡品质而闻名的，个中原因又可以另写一篇。你可能要问，澳洲早先是英国佬的地盘，这帮人不是喝茶的主儿吗？长话短说，就是1928年，墨尔本的一家咖啡厅率先配备了意式浓缩咖啡机，从此，曾经沧海难为水，除却espresso不是咖，☕ 一切都不一样了。接着咖啡机又传到悉尼，喝浓咖啡的习惯渐渐在澳洲社会流传开来。

二战后，政府放宽了咖啡进口和移民政策，于是乎，不仅大量的咖啡豆，还有大量的意大利和希腊移民涌入这块广袤荒芜却又闪着希望的大陆。有了这群酷爱咖啡的意呆利人和希腊人（冰咖啡frappé就是希腊人在1957年捣鼓出来的），一家家南欧风情咖啡馆便在悉尼等地的郊区遍地开花。

咖啡豆要现磨，咖啡要汽压煮，咖啡师要经过专业训练来掌握这门艺术，想不好喝都难。就跟意大利人一样，澳洲人也热衷于嘲笑美国的星巴克，说人家达不到自己对咖啡的高标准。2000年，星巴克雄心勃勃地在全澳开了84家，结果用不了十年几乎全部关停。在这个全球泛滥着星巴克咖啡的时代，意大利硬是抵制这美国品牌直到今天，但据说今年晚些时候会在米兰市中心的邮政大楼里开张第一家，我还去过那座古色古香的邮政大楼，不禁想到当年故宫星巴克的去留之争，呵呵，只能边吃瓜边拭目以待啦。

除了对咖啡很讲究的意大利法国葡萄牙等欧洲国家，我还有幸访问过巴西、越南、哥伦比亚这世界前三大咖啡出口国，也在加勒比、埃塞俄比亚等有名的咖啡产区尝过不少咖啡，希望遥远不久的将来也可以和大家分享这些经历。不知不觉竟然又扯了这么多，吃货的真爱啊~ ❤

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The head picture also serves as an entry to Foodboasting Photo Contest by @karenmckersie. Check out her page and join the fun! Actually she only asks for one food photo, so apparently there’s too much ramble in my post this time. =)

Like what I said in my intro post:

I do, like many of you foodies there, take great pleasure in eating and cooking. And I try to learn cooking from different cultures during my travels, to spice up my own experiments on food fusion. I’d love to share these experiences in my future posts too, such as the fun culinary workshops in Mexico, Peru, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, etc..

Check out my food posts and follow me for more:

• Cook with Donica - Braised Pork with Tofu and Shiitake 🍲 跟我一起做香菇豆腐红烧肉
• Cook with Donica - Satay Fried Rice 🍛 一起来做简单美味的沙爹炒饭
• Vietnamese Street Food - Mini-Pancakes🥞 🇻🇳 越南街头美味的迷你煎饼
• Dirty Duck Restaurant in Ubud, Bali 🦆 🇮🇩 脏鸭馆的美食故事
• Come Visit the Rotterdam Market Hall with Me 🧀🇳🇱 全球颜值最高的菜市场长什么样？
• Foodie’s Photo Journal of Sydney Fish Market 🐠 带你逛悉尼海鲜市场
• 图说万州烤鱼 🐟 Szechuan Style Roast Fish Recipe and the Legend Behind It

All content by @itchyfeetdonica
图文 by Donica多

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Thank you for reading. Please tell me what you think in the comments. Until next time! =)

感谢阅读！你的关注/点赞/留言/转发就是对我最好的支持~ 下次见！:)

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Here are some screenshots from my Instagram. Follow @ItchyfeetDonica for more adventures around the globe !

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!steemitworldmap -27.473492 lat 153.017678 long 77 Grey Street, South Brisbane d3scr