Japan: good, bad, etc

Because it amuses me, here is a list of stuff. My impression, obviously. 

Good/cheap:

Fish
Eggplant

Cucumber
Tomato

Spinach (though kind of sweet)
Alcohol (particularly spirits, excluding whisky.)
Cabbage
Salads
Seaweed

Bad/expensive:

Bread
Celery
Cheese
Fruit (when mouldy - not joking, a mouldy peach was discounted to about $2)
Okra (DISGUSTING)
Peanut butter

Good + expensive:

Fruit (fresh)
Rice (!!!!!!!!!! Japanese short grain)
Butter
Chocolate

Unavailable/insanely expensive:

Oats
Rice (non-Japanese)
Wholemeal anything (though I did find some brown rice in a little backwater town.)
Goat cheese, haloumi
Dips (not made of cream cheese)

Also, chicken breast is pretty well the cheapest part of the chook, because it has the least fat.

Leavain Bakery

I haven't actually been there yet, but this post is basically an ad for Leavain and their wonderful wonderful bread (and brownies). I really particularly enjoyed a spelt and walnut roll.

I've discovered Leavain through Jan Power's Farmers Markets in the city on Wednesdays. If you go there, you might see the Russian-seeming man that preaches something that sounds a bit like communism. I've also seen him at Central station.

Anyway, here's a link to a decent post on an interesting site - by someone that has actually been to Leavain. With a photo. :)

soul bistro

I found this place at http://www.yourrestaurants.com.au/guide/soul_bistro/ and walking in, didn't expect too much.

WIN (as they say)

Here's their website. Do yourself a favour, Brisbanites, head over there sometime soon. Great service, delicious food (bread, not on the menu, OMG) (and apple crumble sundae, [gf] sounds weird I know but is anything but)!!!! The decor is not amazing and to use the toilet you have to get the key and go over elsewhere, but you win some, you lose some, this is excellent value. And they have a $28 three-course meal.

If you're too lazy to click on the link, it's BYO, it's at 5/16 Baroona Rd Milton.

she bringeth good tidings to Brisbane

Not only is the Messiah being played on at least 22 sets of speakers around Brisbane, and to be sung/played in extremely fine concert at St John's Cathedral on Ann St at 7:30pm this coming Saturday the 29th of June, *ahem* but..

Thanks to a friend of a friend, I've discovered Sol Breads in Toowong. An organic sourdough place. This is real bread! In Melbourne I always wished we had a bakery near us that made decent bread. There were a couple of chains, and that was it. To get better stuff, I didn't know of anywhere closer than.. well, I guess I could have gone to the deli. I like Phillippa's.

Anyway, Sol is more expensive than your average supermarket bread, but also highly superior. I paid $6.50 for a very decent fruit loaf, which is cheaper than at the Bean Scene (quite a different sort of bread), my choice source of fruit bread, which probably merits a post of its own, and I'll take some photos.

Sol is also a cafe (yay), with sandwiches and cakes and such. Coffee, of course. All looks good. And did I mention, it's tiny. Like an overgrown cupboard. Made me feel very cool going in there, though also means you can't escape the notice of the shopkeepers, and I thus felt compelled to buy something. It's probably a clever design in that way.
I have no regrets.

8/23-29 High St, Toowong
http://ishop.solbreads.com.au/

more from december: bakery tour no. 2

Well! Guess what I forgot to mention before going on holiday in December.

Early in the month, it was a very wet day for a walking bakery tour, but we'd already postponed so many times that it HAD to run. So I brought my car, and the 5 of us ventured (..rolled) across to Fitzroy, its north, and Collingwood.

Stop no. 1 was the French Lettuce, Nicholson St. I can't vouch for all the vanilla slices in Melbourne - probably have only tried three or four in my life, but this was very good. Better than Louttit Bay's? I can't say, but on par. It was about $5, slightly more expensive than LB, and served with a raspberry coulis that it was really better without. Delicious, anyhow.
Apparently their quiche was excellent. The pastries all looked appealing.

Next stop was Nicholson St Baker, up in eastern Brunswick. We were also looking for Inferno Cakes next door, which turned out to be upstairs because it was the same shop.
I didn't get many photos, but we tried a vanilla cupcake with lemon icing that was heated up, which was buttery, smooth and not too fluffy - divine!! and there was a date and caramel slice that I thought was pretty standard. Also a decent sausage roll, I think.
Then we drove around in circles for ages making wrong turns, parked off Smith St and crossed Alexandra Pde to get back to Sainsbury's. Hooray for the little green man! *eeooooobupbupbupbupbupbupbupbupbup*
It was worth the trip. Not for M.M's chicken pie, which was perfect other than being too heavy on the pepper, or for the reportedly average coffee, but for my loaf of Norwegian Rye. There it is in its little bag down there.
I had this with pesto, marinated fetta and cherry tomatoes about a year ago at Doctor Java, fell head over heels, and then like a shy fool, left. But the next time I was there having coffee, I plucked up the nerve to ask what the bread was and have since then been on a mission to Sainsbury's.
This with avocado makes me a happy toast eater. I had some for lunch at home the next day. The rest of the loaf went into the freezer, where I expected to find it on return from Brisbane. Not so! Mum and Dad had polished it all off.
The portuguese tarts are apparently famous and delicious. Next time I'll have to sample one.
En route down Smith to Gertrude St, we passed a couple of nice-looking bakery cafes. We stopped for a late lunch for some of the party at Upper Crust, 206 Smith, where we found a chicken sandwich that by all accounts of its eater hit the spot.
I wished I'd had room for something from Melissa, but you can't eat everything.
And last on the list: Fatto a Mano, on Gertrude St, just off Smith - a couple of doors up from Birdman Eating.
I can't wait to come back here for lunch!
This time we came for $3 (thievery!!) brownie, on recommendation from my sister. Very generous, and not bad at all.
I wouldn't come here for the atmosphere, by the way. It reminds me of a fish and chip chop à la eclectic Fitzroy. But the people running it are lovely and the food honest and good.

Finally, about the same time - the day before heading off to Bris - raspberry yoghurt cake, chez moi. Recipe courtesy of Clotilde at C & Z, the blog that made me want to food blog. She actually has a recipe up for a raspberry yoghurt cake but I just used the plain one and chucked in about 250g of raspberries. And then cream cheese icing with a fair dose of lemon juice.
My sister said this was the best cake she had ever had!

spring eating

Never mind cleaning. That's for later, when there is not quite so much to do.I didn't get to Dali. I don't really mind, at the moment.

Oh, Babka. I may not have loved your dumplings nearly a year ago, but still you have such a special place in my heart. In my mouth.
Luscious casual arrangement of green divinity!!

In case you're blind, or you'd like to blame my (admittedly not finest) photo, or it's not self explanatory for any other reason: Asparagus. Perfectly. Broad beans and fresh peas, likewise. Croutons obviously, ricotta, refreshing cos, and roasted hazelnuts. The dressing was subtle, and totally apposite.

For some reason, even though this was my first meal of the day, my appetite was haphazard and I had to eat slowly. All the longer to savour for. Oh, it was gorgeous.

And the chai at Babka = my benchmark, although Kallista Tea Rooms is pretty high. I also love the complimentary bread and butter, though being the wonderful euro place that it is, the butter is unsalted. I wonder why in Europe, unsalted butter is normal, and in Anglo countries we salt it?
Perhaps it was bastardising it, but I ate some and then sprinkled salt on my butter. I felt like it.

PS If you're an eggs and bacon for breakfast person, which I'm generally not, apparently it's pretty good. And they juice the oranges fresh. Tick.