One of my NY 'essentials' was to eat soul food in Harlem - and JB obligingly found Creole - a jazz venue and restaurant. Couple of subway hops and we were there...We were escorted to our table by the lovely softly spoken snappily dressed elderly dooman, and then our waiter introduced himself, promising "the best service possible". The restaurant is small (about 20 small tables maybe) and is set so each table or bench has a view of the front stage.

http://www.harlemonestop.com/organization.php?id=200 

I was desperate to be as 'southern' as possible in our ordering - so we started with the Lousiana Crab Cakes with wilted lemon spinach and mustard sauce ($12.95)  - these are made using fresh 'lump' crab meat and certainly didn't disappoint! The crab cakes were soft, sweet and deliciously crabby - the buttery lemony spinach was delish and the sauce a perfect complement to both.

For our 'entree' (mains) we (I) wanted the Gator Etouffe (I decided alligator was seafood...) but they were out. Sad times! We ordered the Shrimp Creole and the Blackened Salmon. Good choices! The shrimps were huge and sweet, nestled in sweet and spicy creole flavoured tomato based sauce with green peppers and onions over rice and with sauteed greens on the side - this was JB's choice of side. I thought 'BORING', but...it was very nice, and good to have at least one lighter food choice with a meal, I guess.

The blackened salmon was fantastic, and just tasted like good, well cooked salmon should. Sadly (as it proves was a buffoon I am), for me the main event was my choice of sides - black beans and FOUR CHEESE MACARONI. Shit...that macaroni was the cheesiest and the best thing I've ever had. It had so much cheese in it, it stood up by itself in a little cheesy balled scoop of comforting oozy goodness, with the macaroni just present as it they'd fallen into a molten fondue pot and been distributed around at random. The texture was like a firm brie, and the taste was superb! JB kindly let me have more that my share of the Mac, and I let him eat more creole shrimp.

Even though we were stuffed, I wanted to try the desserts (of course) and so we decided to order one and share it. We couldn't agree though and so we got the Sweet Potato Bread pudding with caramel and peacan sauce (JB) and the deep fried goodness of an Apple Cinnamon Beignet, served on top of creamy ice cream. The desserts were superb - I now think all pastry based desserts should be deep fried. Baking is for losers. Jb's choice (the bread pudding) was phenomenal - neither of us had ever had anything with a similar texture. It had a rich, brown sugar/butter caramel flavour, and the texture was somehow like a cross between a caramel mud cake and a mousse. It was so dense and rich and chewy and soft, yet also light anf fluffy, all at the same time. The rich sauce just added to the goodness of it all.

By the end of the meal, I was sad to be a white girl and wished I'd been grown up in Baton Rouge...dining on soul food and singin' the blues.

Oh, and the blues were certainly sung that night too! Two gorgeous soul sisters from the audience took turns accompanying the band, and both had personality plus. As well as massive voices, smiles and boobs. It was awesome. Next to me, on my right, a tiny little well - dressed gent was eating his fried chicken. Earl Speedo Carrol, from the Cadillacs! YES! Well, I'd never heard of him - but he looked so cool, and the ladies gave a shout out to him - and he amusingly bantered with them throughout. Even thought I didn't know who he was, I felt a bit starstruck 'cause he was just so damn cool - and now I've googled him: http://www.nealhollanderagency.com/Speedo/speedo.html 

Yeah, I should have got him to autograph me somewhere special.

 

There is something to be said for just wandering out of your hotel and stumbling upon the first restaurant you find.  But we probably would never have found Ahrarn Thai if we had done that.  Instead we downloaded one of those "make sense of the big city" apps to my I-Phone and it threw up this place as the only recommended restaurant in our hotel's vicinity. 
Ahrarn Thai is an unassuming place, it does takeaway as well, and we enjoyed a few Singha Beers at great prices over our meal.
We started with seafood spring rolls.  Those tasty babies were nothing like what we were expecting.  The usual pastry wrappers were replaced by an interweaved net of light noodles.  This removed the oily and fatty flavour that sometimes accompanies spring rolls.  And the usual moist inside was instead a mix of cooked and dried seafood.  Served with a tasty sweet sauce these kept our attention from the Thai salad we also ordered.  But once we discovered the salad with the bean cake and the fresh lettuce and bean sprout we kept it to finish with our mains - despite the waitresses' attempt to take it away from us.

One of the joys of vegaquarianism is that you can define the boundaries of your diet.  We eat seafood and get to choose what is included in the definition of seafood.  Is crocodile seafood?  What about duck?  How about Kimberley beef (it gets pretty wet in those parts)?  We had previously decided that crocodile is seafood, as long as it was the saltwater variety.  But what about frogs?  After surveying the menu I decided it was perfectly fine for us vegaquarians to order the Gob Panaeng - frog's leg's fried with panaeng paste and coconut milk.  They were served with Thai Basil which added a complementary anise flavour. 
It was only when Cassy had picked off the meat from the bones and was contemplating what to do with the bones when it dawned on her.   She had forgotten the need to decided whether frog's legs were in or out; due mainly to her excitement at seeing them on the menu.  She avoided the inner turmoil that I (briefly) experienced and instead suffered a delayed bone crunching horror which I quickly dispelled by reassuring her that frog's legs were definitely in.

The soft shelled crab was presented with  a more traditional basil, chilli pepper and onion smothering (Koong Kra Prow).  The spiciness of this dish kept us reaching for our Singhas, the Thai salad and the large glasses of iced water which were regularly topped up.
Our I-Phone app didn't let us down - it still hasn't actually!  So maybe download "The Best of New York City" if you are planning a trip this way.  And definitely catch a train to Queens and check out Arharn Thai.  And then head out for a few beers at nearby Veronica's bar.  We enjoyed a great Saturday night in this little 'hood.

Six Acres is in Gastown, Vancouver - and after a very chilly stroll on our first night in town, Mike, Jamie and I were extremely glad to sneak into its dark, warm, funky candlelit interior.

The extrerior is modest, even discreet, and the interior is understated cool - with exposed piping and dark brickwork (forgot to take photo...oops) and the menus set inside classic vintage childrens' story books.

The staff were uber cool (funky hair, well dressed etc) but luckily also friendly, and the dining is tapas style, and was...simply fabulous! A huge beer, wine, cider, cocktail and whisky selection kept us happy while we smashed down foods.

We almost missed these gorgeous little guys (left)  as they were called 'sliders' - which of course meant nothing to us. Luckily we spied another diner with the tiny little (about 2 inch diameter) burgers and we worked it out. We got the vego version - with cheddar. JB had an amusing moment where he completely freaked out about forgetting to order cheddar on our sliders (I've coaxed his cheese addiction along well)...which wasn't a problem really as we hadn't yet ordered at all. Delicious little guys, and so fun to eat something so tiny!

This was the best nicoise salad any od us had ever had - organic eggs, rare local salmon, organic baby potatos, fresh leaves and a light balsamic dressing. Delish!

Ok...this may be one of my favourite meals EVER - it was a little dip of gorgonzola and garlic - basically a tiny fondue in a bowl. It was creamy, warm and piquant - deliciously flavoured with the stong cheese but not too stinky. I was in heaven and the lads were not overwhelmed. There were big soft chunks of garlic too - which was LUSH. The toasted bread was the perfect complement, but so was the salad, the burgers, the mac cheese...and scooping it straight from the bowl was divine too. I could feel my pants getting tighter while I smashed it down, so I tried very hard to stop, but failed. I figured I'd need the extra energy due to the cold any

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Mac cheese. Al dente macaroni elbows. Gruyere. Parmesan. Cream. Cheedar. Cheesy bread crumb topping. Enough said. I could have eaten 5 of them and had to force self to remember it's not polite to hoover up all of the shared food to oneself. I wish I had ordered it secretly though and eaten it in the toilets.

We had various ales with dinner, and if it needed anything to make it even better, those ales fit the bill.

Cheap as chips too - $6-8 for gourmet beers (the same ones you'd pay $11+ for in Aus) and the foods were also well priced.

Six Acres...yeah, go there. It's fantastic.

Our dodgy overnith airport hotel in LA was on a busy street in El Segundo.  We could see the flouro lights of a takeaway Mexican restaurant through our window.  When we crossed the road we spied the sign to Maristos and decided it would be a better bet than the unnamed flouro restaurant.  Good decision.

The service was ... Mexican.  Cute Spanish speaking staff kindly served what we ordered by pointing at the menu.  Everything was served quickly, mostly becuase we were the only people eating at the restaurant. 

The food arrived after a wait, spent sipping Sprite, and was a revelation.  It is without a doubt the best mexican I have had.  I had a dish with two types of prawn salad, one cooked and one raw.  The raw prawn was drowned in lime and came with a concoction of tomato, cucumber, avocado herbs and light spices.  The cooked prawns were fine as well - perfectly cooked but lacking the bite of the lime.  The salad stuffs on both prawn selections were fresh.

Cassy had a wet grilled fish burrito. We always share everything we eat at restaurants.  This is the best burrito I have ever tasted.  The fish was grilled and served with the standard sauce, rice and beans.  The flavour and texture was sensational and we polished off the entire burrito.  I can still taste the flavour and want some more even though I am writing this review at breakfast.

Dinner cost us $30 including a tip and a free beer courtesy of the local mexicans perched at the restaurant bar.  I am not sure why we were the only people eating there.  We were made so welcome with fabulous food and free beer. 

J

This was meant to be a dinner review of Pinctada's Selene Brasserie.  However, a looming cyclone forced us to bring our flights forward meaning dinner became a long lunch. Lunch was with our gorgeous friends Sam and Ayesha, who were kind enough to take us on the wet two hour drive to Broome, even though dinner and an overnighter were off - thanks again to the lovely team for driving us down and sharing lunch prior to starting the return drive to Derby town.  

Brizo has a tapas style sharing menu, complemented by a selection from the wood-fired oven. We started with...everything. The boys had a few white wines, I had a cheeky cider (or two), Ayesha was on the juice (even though the promised guava jiuce was a non starter) and we ordered a selection including: goats cheese with ouzo olives, fat potato chips, oysters baked with spinach and cream fraiche, swordfish salad, smokey eggplant whipped with cheddar (!), taramasalata with radish and a gruyere and spinach Turkish Pide.

The oysters were delish - soft and fat, swimming in a tangy and creamy spinach sauce. We ordered 8, and Ayesha is vegetarian, but I could have quite happily put away more. The taramasalata was superbly creamy - but so mild that the caviar flavour hardly came through. The goats cheese and olive combo was a real winner - with smooth, creamy and tangy goats cheese nestling around the softly licorice flavoured olives.

I think the highlight of the meal was the swordfish salad, with big smokey chunks of fish perched amongst crisp lettuce varieties, grilled flat bread squares, and with a creamy mild sauce. This was such a highlight we ordered a second, and it was hoovered down post haste! Another surprise winner were the fat chips (I think they had a fancier name, but it escapes me - blame the cider). The chips were SO fat, and were stacked up in a little Jenga tower. They were deliciously golden and crisp on the outside, and so creamy and soft inside our table idly wondered if they had been somehow mashed and reassembled into golden perfection.

The only low point of the evening, sadly, was the service. Our original waiter understandably proferred a Turkish pizza instead of the desired Turkish pide...but less understandably brought out a random unordered pizza with some kind of meat all over it - after we had discussed how our table was vegetarian. Amusingly, when I mentioned we definitiely didn't order the meat pizza, and jokingly reminded him we were vegos, he felt he needed to ask if I was sure. All of this was not so terrible, but the rather cranky more senior female waitress need not have admonished him at the table in front of us - never a good look.

The staff also neglected to offer or bring us any water until towards the end of the meal, and forgot my cider at one point.  Perhaps that was because I chose to impatiently  yell my order across the restaurant as the waiter departed. This also is apparently not a good look.

All in all, a very good meal - and even though some of the dishes seemed expensive for the size (the tiny one-lady entree sized pide was $18, for example...) we were all well fed, suitably dehydrated and dinner was a bargain.

Pinctada is always a safe bet - Selena's is excellent, Brizo was lovely and you get to eyeball guests enjoying the stunning pool biking style as you chow down - if that floats your boat.

Thanks again Sam and Ayesha for everything! And JT and Kadir - your cameo appearance at lunch added to the fun.

C.

Remains of swordfish salad.

Creamy eggplant above...

The chunky chips, or...chip.

The perfect table consists of many elements combined seamlessly.  Food, crockery, wine, glasses, service, water, ambience and setting.  Many restauranteurs spend their lives endeavouring to weave the elements into the ideal experience.  Few succeed, some make a good hash of it,  others, it seems, don't even try. We have eaten at many tables and have developed a habit of picking at the seams of their efforts.  So is it unfair that our first review is of Sam and Ayesha's table at Chateau Hungry Giggles?  Not at all, as they presented five amazing courses on a seamless table.  Well almost five courses, more of that later. 

This table had its origins at Derby Hash House Harriers.  The name of the Chateau is a combination of Sam and Ayesha's hash names.  And we won the right to eat at the Chateau in a charity auction at Derby Hash.  Sam and Ayesha donated the dining experience to the auction, we made the highest bid and the wet people of Queensland benefited from all of our generosity.

We were greeted on arrival with a bubbly drink and led to chairs at the outdoor bar, with a stunning view across the table to the marsh and the blazing Kimberley sunset.

From the moment we arrived the service was ideal.  The waitstaff took a keen interest in us and made us feel instantly comfortable.  They managed to smash through the fine line of overfamiliarity and we were soon chatting as if we were best friends forever. Funny that. 

With the arrival of our first course imminent, we were led to the beautifully set table with a candle on each corner twinkling against the fading sunset.

The menu was a five course degustation with matching wines for each course, or thereabouts.   An earthy organic cabernet sauvignon was carafed to accompany a luscious French onion soup.  Perfectly caramalised onion fused with flavoursome stock to create a delicious broth.  A chunky slice of dense home baked bread broke under the pressure of the spoon.  Shaved gruyere draped lazily from the bread into the broth providing depth to the taste and aroma.  An ideal and very tasty dish to start a French feast.

The bread made a welcome reappearance with the second course.  Smothered with acreamy molten goat cheese, two pieces rested on a salad of baby spinach leaves and walnuts.  A light, zesty red wine dressing completed a refreshing second course.  This course was matched with an Oomoo shiraz, the spicy depth of the red a perfect counterpoint for the smooth, light dish. 

Our hosts had clearly invested much thought into preparing a dining experience unrivalled in the Kimberley.  Water glasses were kept full from a jug of cool water, essential for people quaffing wine in these humid climes, layered with cucumber slices. This added a refreshing melony flavour to this simple but crucial dining element.

The main course was a revelation and would be a welcome instructional dish for every restaurant in the Kimberley.  Fillets of local barramundi, freshly sourced the Derby Wharf, were individually baked with lemon slices.  Accompanied by a creamy mash and a light yet creamy herb sauce the plate was a delight to the eyes and the tastebuds.  Local barramundi is too often battered or drowned in complexity.  This simple dish displayed all the hallmarks of a chef confident in their mastery of a local delicacy.  The fish was perfectly matched with New School, a fruity Margaret River SSB.

Coming after a triumvirate of beautiful dishes, dessert had a reputation to uphold.  The duo of a berry tart and semi-freddo went beyond upholding the Chateau's reputation, enhancing what was already a delicious night.  The berries sat atop a sweet tart, encased in a crust that had a beautiful balanced texture of crunch and crumble.  The sweet tart and zesty berries combined perfectly.  A rich mixture of cream and chocolate, the semi-freddo was an equal distraction to the tart.  Not one of us managed to finish dessert, with each of our plates having equal portions of the tart and the semi-freddo left untouched.

Fifth course was to be a cheese platter.  However, dinner was so good that even Cassy refused the cheese platter.  And that is the only (partial) criticism of the night, that maybe the portions were too large.  But even that is a compliment.  We felt unable to refrain from finishing each course, even in the knowledge that fresh delights were yet to come.

When we were getting ready on our way out to this meal, we were commenting that it felt so unreal to be preparing for a traditional date.  Getting dressed up for a gourmet dining experience is impossible in Derby.  Even if there was a venue that qualified as fine dining, you would inevitably bump into half a dozen of the regular locals and the romantic night would be less than ideal.  Chateau Hungry Giggles felt exactly like a romantic date at a fine restaurant.  Sam and Ayesha presented the perfect table, and were such gracious hosts that they even left us alone at various moments during the night for a cheeky pash. 
Romantic dining at its best!