My last week in an increasingly less brief thread - part 3

last time out we finished off with Wednesday and swimming. I left that early and had Souvlaki from a local place that I was pleased to see was sponsoring some local sports club (They were working on the initial deal while I was there and he was very supportive of the idea). And quite happily the one I ordered (Theo's special - Chicken, Lamb, Chips, Onion, and a couple of sauces) was pretty damn good. They also wrap it in foil before wrapping in paper and a bag, so it stays hot until you get home too, which is great.

Thursday was mostly a lazy day. Catching up on some of my different subscriptions online and went out for lunch with Darryl and the kids. I had a bowl of Kimchi Chicken Don, which was very good, and quite a bit more spicy than I'd anticipated. After Jade got home we headed out to Atsav Indian Restaurant.

They brought pappadums to the table along with water before we starter. We ordered Vegetable Pakoras (described as "Cauliflower, potato and spinach deep-fried") to start with, which was not what I expected, but was still quite nice. I'm used to pakoras being pieces of battered vegetable, but these patties were certainly tasty.

^{Nice to have an evenly divisible amount too since the 2 of us were sharing these}

Following this, was the main components of the meal. We ordered Daal Gosht (Menu description "Boneless lamb and yellow lentil’s cooked together with oriental spices"), Dum Aloo Kashmiri (Menu description "Selected garden potatoes, stuffed with dry fruits and homemade cottage cheese, cooked in smooth gravy") and Pulao Rice (Menu description "Basmati rice cooked with cumin seeds and finished with saffron"). I was disappointed in the Gosht, as 2 of my 3 pieces of lamb were quite tough and chewy, however the other 1 was brilliantly tender, and so were the 2 in the leftovers and all the bits Jade had, so I just got unlucky I guess. It wasn't hot spicy at all, which can be good to know if you can't deal with chilli heat. The Dum Aloo however was spectacular. Incredibly tasty filling surrounded by nice tender potato in a very nice gravy that reminds me a bit of a good butter chicken, both in colour and taste. If you order a vegetarian dish, I'd highly recommend this as a first choice.

^{L-R: Rice, Daal Gosht, Dum Aloo Kishmiri. all after Jade had taken her serve as I was slow}

Because we have to have it, we also ordered Keema Naan and Cheese & Garlic Naan. Both were very good. I also ordered a Mango Lassi which was pretty decent.

^{Keema naan was quite red inside}

I'd definitely go back again, and try some of the other dishes that looked good.

Friday started lazy, but then a friend got back to me and we decided to meet up in the city to catch up. So I went in a bit earlier and had lunch at Simply Spanish at Queen Victoria Markets. They've been on my list of places for a while and it was great to try their Big Pan Paella. The place was quite busy, with every inside table being full the entire time I was there, and a couple sat outside where it was a bit cool for my liking. The Paella was very tasty, and the calamari was one of the stand outs for me with every piece being super tender and perfectly cooked, which is tough enough in a small pan, so they really know what they're doing. The menu description is "Spanish chorizo sausage, diced boneless chicken, tender calamari + local mussels cooked in huge pans with our own blend of herbs + spices. Made fresh daily and served from our giant paella pans", and from talking with one of the staff members, on the weekend they'll have the outside cooker set up with 2 pans going at once on it and they'll go through 4 or 5 pans of just the big pan paella. It's very good, although it's no longer $10 at lunch like their website says, it is well worth the $14.50 that it now costs.

^{only improvement I'd make is a couple more mussels on each serve}

After meeting up with my friend, we went to Betty's Burger & Concrete Co.. I only had onion rings and a cider, since I was kinda full, but we sat there for an hour or so chatting over our drinks and food (My friend had a classic burger). Pretty nice atmosphere. We followed this with a walk up to the markets through Hardware Lane looking at the food shops in it. Was a good day out.

And I'll leave this edition here as this is getting kinda long again.