Eat, Pray, Love: Adelaide North

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O'Connell Street is known as the food street in North Adelaide. Along the stretch of the street, you can find international cuisines, ranging from Indonesian, Australian to Thai food. The newest kid on the block is Koko Thai, specializing in authentic Thai cuisines.

I was invited by Adelaide Food Central to sample dishes at Koko Thai. All the food and drinks were complimentary.

Upon entering the entrance of Koko Thai, I was greeted by friendly waitress gracefully dressed in traditional Thai clothing. The ambience was relaxed and the interior was dressed with lights surrounded by netted coverings on the ceilings. Our tables had already been set up with tealight candles and flowers lining the center of the table. I felt as if I was transported to Bali for a meal at the resort.

Table decor

We ordered a few drinks before deciding on our main meals. I ordered the Coconut Juice which came with coconut pulp. The coconut water was refreshing but I felt that nothing can ever beat the water coming from freshly opened young coconut. Since Australia is not a tropical country, this could do! The pulp however, was enclosed with ice and I had to break open the ice to get access to the pulp.

Coconut juice

I also ordered Lemon, Lime and Bitters after finishing my coconut juice. This good old drinks can never disappoint me. I also noticed that it is an Australian thing to order this soft drinks with minimal alcohol content.

Lemon, lime and bitters

Before our main dishes arrived, we were treated to various entrees. The first one was Snow Pea Salad. It was a great start of the meal with the crunchiness from the snow peas and light tartiness from the lime.

Snow pea salad

Next up was Miang Kum. It was roast coconut, prawn garnished in lime served with ginger and cashew nut, wrapped in betel leaf. Different from Miang Kum that I had tried before in Malaysia, Koko Thai had already wrapped all the ingredients with betel leaf. I loved the combination of the roast coconut and betel leaf. I always thought that they are the highlight of the dish. Another great way to start your Thai food adventure!

Miang Kum

Another classic Thai dish is the Green Papaya Salad which was served next. The green papaya was sliced thinly, garnished with dressing and cashew nuts. This can be a healthy dish to start off your meal.

Green papaya salad

Enough with all the vegetable dishes, we moved on to meat entrees. We were served the Pandan Chicken. The chickens were deep fried to perfection with retained juiciness, then wrapped in aroma pandan leaves. Besides that, the homemade sweet chilli sauce dipping sauce also accompanied the chicken well, with the extra sweetness and zing.

Pandan chicken

The last entree tasted was Sea Star. Shaped as sea star, this was the prettiest entree of the night. They were homemade dumpling with minced chicken, squid and prawn filling. The fillings were well seasoned and dressed with tasty mild red curry sauce.

Sea Star

We were half full after having all the entrees and the main dishes came after that. For main dish, I ordered the Red Duck Curry, my favourite curry of all. It was a lovely dish, though I preferred a slightly sweeter version of the curry. The duck was roasted in the house and then cooked in red curry sauce with lychee, pineapple, eggplant and fresh basil. It was slightly dry due to the cooking process but still pleasant to the mouth. The red curry was full of flavours and I definitely loved the basil which added freshness to the curry.

Red duck curry

Besides that, another food blogger ordered the Green Chicken Curry which was slow cooked chicken pieces in coconut milk with green curry paste, green bean and bamboo. Pad Prik King Chicken, stir fry chicken and vegetables with fresh ginger was also ordered.

Green chicken curry

Pad Prik King Chicken

Another dish which had received rave reviews was the Coo Chee Curry Prawn. The prawns were cooked with Thai mild curry sauce with capsicum and fresh basil. Looking at the creaminess of the dish, it was truly hard to control my salivary glands.

Coo Chee Curry Prawns

How could Pad Thai be missed in a Thai feast? There you are, the favourite stir fried rice noodles with chicken, prawn and egg with ground peanut, spring onion and bean sprout.

Pad Thai

Koko Thai was really generous in serving us loads of food. We were also treated to two more seafood dishes, including Pad Cha seafood and Barramundi with Green Mango. The Pad Cha Seafood was the combination of prawns, squid, mussels and snapper fillet stir fried in coconut milk with young pepper corn and red curry paste. I loved the base of this dish as it was bursting with flavour. The seafood were also cooked well.

Pad Cha Seafood

I was so full by the time they served the barrramundi. It was such a shame that I didn't manage to try this dish as the barramundi did look very inviting and crunchy! Next time probably!

Barramundi with Green Mango

There is always a second compartment in the stomach for dessert. Hence, we decided to treat ourselves to desserts even though our stomachs were exploding. Some of the dessert offerings were Banana Split, banana fritters and homemade coconut ice cream.

Banana Split

The Banana Fritter was fantastic with its crunchy batter and cooling vanilla ice cream. The drizzling of chocolate sauce definitely added some vibrancy to the fritter.

Banana Fritter

I ordered the homemade Coconut Ice Cream. The ice cream was distinct with its coconut flavour, but it was not as creamy as what I thought it would be. It was quite icy. Nevertheless, it was still a nice dessert to end the night.

Coconut ice cream

It was a great Thai feast with everyone going home on a satisfied full tummy. Do visit Koko Thai when you are thinking of having Thai food or experiencing a slice of Thai heaven.

Website: http://www.kokothairestaurant.com.au/

Address: 147, O'Connell Street, North Adelaide

Trading hours: 6pm-late (Mon-Sun), 12pm-2.30pm (Wed-Fri)

Love, Victoria

It was a beautiful Sunday with sun radiating its warmth through this autumn day. It was also a great day hanging out with Maddy at Queen Street Cafe in Croydon.

I ordered the Braised Lamb Leg on the specials board. It was served with chorizo, roast sweet potatoes, potatoes, black rice and mascarpone. The lamb leg was well seasoned and full of flavour. It was also tender and fall apart as I dig into the dish. Besides that, the potatoes were roasted well but I found the addition of mascarpone contrasted the hot dish. I quite enjoyed it but Maddy found this to be confusing as there were too many components on the plate.

Braised Lamb Leg

Maddy ordered the Shakshuka with carcciatore, baked eggs and salad. The tomato components of Shakshuka was pretty prominent and the egg was baked well. It was a lovely dish.

Shakshuka

Queen Street Cafe is a lovely spot in the suburb for brunch all week round. I especially loved the seat by the window because that was a good spot for 'sunbathing' and food photography.

Address: 12, Elizabeth Street, Croydon.
Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Queen-Street-Cafe/160196257345095
Trading hour: 8am-4pm (Mon-Sun)

Love, Victoria

Can you have Indian food for lunch, dinner and supper? You certainly can, with Indian Temptations! Situated along the stretch of Main North Road is this popular Indian restaurant, specialising in North Indian food. The aroma of spices and spiciness of curry can be smelt from far as we walked from our car to the restaurant. Our taste buds and stomachs get stimulated and ready for a mouth watering experience even before we ordered. This blog post encapsulates 3 different visits over 3 years.

Samosa Chat is a good option if you want to have saucy samosa dish. The samosa is cut into smaller pieces, and served with mint chutney, tamarind chutney, chick peas, yogurt and diced onions. A tangy savoury snacks to spur your taste buds into their fullest swings.

Samosa Chat

The flaky yet delightful pastry of Delhi Samosa can bring a great start to the dining experience in Indian Temptations. With $5, it comes with 2 generously big servings of samosas which are filled with potato, peas and ground spices. The dipping sauce which is made of tamarind, accompanies the samosa well. I really love the pastry, as it brings forth a tinge of honey-like sweetness when I crunch on it. Hallucination or not, I have no idea why I taste the sweetness as the pastry dough recipe has no sugar or honey in it.

Delhi Samosa

Not a fan of samosa? You can get the onion bhaji, fritters of sliced onion in chickpea batter as entree. This filling entree comes with the tamarind sauce as well.

Onion Bhaji

The garlic naan is a must-order-item to go with the curries in Indian Temptations. It is fried to get the crispiness on the surface and topped with garlic powder. It is not too floury as naan in Malaysia but can still be very filling as the serving is huge.

Garlic Naan

Butter chicken and Lamb Roganjosh

Curries are essential to Indians and plenty of spices are being put into them. To get a perfect balance between the spiciness, sweetness, creaminess and savouriness of curry, the technique of cooking involved has to be up to par. Indian Temptations has done a great job in this. Among all the curries, butter chicken is one of the famous items in this Indian restaurant. It is suitable for those who can't stand spiciness as this curry is mild, filled with marinated chicken cooked in tandoori spices, tomatoes and cream.

The lamb roganjosh exudes medium spiciness which has tender lamb cubes cooked in a rich herbed oil and Indian spices. The lamb is falling apart as we delve into it, together with the naan and curry, you can be assured that you are brought to Northern India.
Fish curry is another popular item on the menu. The level of spiciness is hot but still tolerable. The curry is not as thick as the one in butter chicken or lamb roganjosh. However, it still provides our taste buds a delightful memory, in which you will scoop more curry onto your naan and gallivant on it.

Fish curry

Goat curry is served together with the bone. Tender goat meat it has and the curry tastes better when you suck on the bone.

Goat curry

There are a few vegetarian curries available on the menu, but the spinach paneer is the popular one. It is made up of spinach and potato simmered in a creamy sauce. Cubes of cheese can be found in the curry and the flavour of spinach is amazingly thick. Every single mouthful is full of spinach. Highly recommended for those who love spinach (like Popeye).

Mango Lassi

To cleanse your palate with something sweet after the spiciness, opt for mango lassi. It is the combination of mango, milk and yogurt, blended to produce a thick drinks.

The pricing of Indian Temptations is considerably cheap, when compared to its servings. One of the plus point is that you can phone them up to order and get a takeaway later. So why not have a try soon?

Website: http://www.indiantemptations.com.au/
Address: U3/490 Main North Road, Blair Athol
Trading hours: 11.30am-2am (Mon-Sun)

Onyx Dessert Lounge is a fairly new dessert spot in Adelaide for around 5 months, as I am writing, now. It is a lounge situated at one of the famous dining street, O' Connell Street. Its feature is desserts and cocktails as well as the ambience. Cocktails and desserts make a good combination as both flavours blend together to provide a balance for our taste buds.

I passed by this place out of random and I was deeply attracted by its colourful interior (scroll down and you will get to see it!). That was how I was strongly motivated to visit this lounge. And so, me and my friends went there for her graduation and birthday celebration. Food journey starts NOW!

We were greeted by a friendly Onyx team member and the contemporary decor as we entered the door. The decor is simple yet trendy, oozing out the playfulness through the mix and match of bright colour from curtains, sofa, wall and bar.

The interior decor

There is a multi coloured semi-glass panel near the kitchen area. Onyx team has been wanting to create an European ambience for its customers in embarking on their food journey.

Bar area

We were assigned to a private seating area which is suitable for big group of people. It looked like a giant fitting room, being surrounded by transparent curtains. I really liked the settings as it provided intimacy within our group of friends.

View from my seat

Apart from its contemporary setting, Onyx is standing out uniquely from its peer by displaying its menu on a TABLET! It consists of 13 pages, including desserts, cocktails, snacks, wine and main meals. This could mean that you can have your dinner all settled in a dessert lounge not to mention treating yourself to a dessert feast.

For the cocktails, Onyx has catagorised them into 4 different sense of taste. Reference to the waiter regarding the matching of cocktail to certain dessert is highly recommended. As we choose what to clothe, desserts do match well with certain type of cocktail. That would bring out the best of both.

The table menu

The waiting staffs were really polite and professional in ensuring their customers to have a five-star service. The drinks and desserts were served shortly after we ordered. A napkin folded in a tower shape was provided for each of us.

Napkin

Can't wait to see the presentation of cocktails and desserts? I feel you! So, here you go!

Cocktails

Snickers Martini

It is a liquid snickers being served in a martini glass with nutty caramel sheet. The nutty caramel tastes like chinese nutty sugar bar. The smell of alcohol is strong with a tinge of sweet snicker within. The bottom of the glass is filled with caramel where the sweetness originates. This can be ordered in combination with Cuban Chocolate Square or Lemon Mascarpone Cheesecake.

Snickers Martini

St Germain Sour

It lies in the sour section of cocktail. It is a combination of elderberries, lemon, mint, and passionfruit which will give you a refreshing start to your dessert. The passionfruit sorbet is not too sweet, whereas the addition of mint further enhances the cocktail. There is not much alcoholic element in this, hence it is recommended for those who can't stand the smell of alcohol and yet want to have a try.

St Germain Sour

Onyx Expresso Martini

A coffee enthusiast? This can be your choice. Onyx's style of mixing vanila vodka, frangelino, fresh coffee and creme de cacao together has produced this martini where you can taste both coffee and alcohol. Interestingly, the foamy layer will still remain even after you drink till the bottom of the glass. This was ordered in combination with Chocolate Fondant.

Expresso Martini

Cocktails

Desserts

Chocolate Fondant

with Poached Pear, Creme Angalaise (light pouring custard), Nutmeg Chantilly (whipped cream) and Honey Honeycomb

Instead of being gooey, the chocolate fondant is a little bit dry and not too sweet. There is only a little amount of melted chocolate in the middle of fondant, which makes it not too surprising. The ginger ice cream is special as it exudes sweetness and spiciness at the same time. Worthwhile to be mentioned, Onyx has incorporated gold leaf on poached pear, which makes this dessert an exquisite one. Its effort of making the honeycomb is applaudable too as the strands are pretty even in texture.

Chocolate fondant

Cuban Chocolate Square

with Burnt Milk Gelato, Praline Cigar and Hazelnut Praline

This is another top effortful dessert in Onyx as it is full of creativity. Do you notice the long radar which is radiating from the caramelised sugar blob? You will be surprised that it is quite stable and sturdy. In addition, the cigar which is made up of praline has soft fillings within the harder covering. It tastes like Magnum Ice Cream. For the chocolate square, you can taste the rich dark chocolate before the rum kicks in as it contains alcohol. However, the ice cream is pretty normal and tastes like vanilla ice cream instead.

Cuban Chocolate Square

Lemon Mascarpone Cheesecake

with Balsamic Ice Cream, Fig Jelly, Caramelized Fig, Grape Gel and Cinnamon Lavosh

The cheesecake has a subtle flavour instead of being cheesy. I still prefer a rich cheesecake though. The knife which is biscuit-like is really unique as you can eat the whole knife without hurting your throat. The fig jelly is indescribable, probably because fig is one of the incomprehensible fruits for me.

Lemon Mascarpone Cheesecake

Sticky Date Pudding

with Caramel Sauce, Orange Peel Ice Cream and Blood Orange Jelly

Sticky date pudding tastes pretty good aside from the more-buttery-than-usual texture. I really like the orange peel ice cream as it gives us the summery feeling where our taste buds are further stimulated for further degustation. Blood orange jelly is being decorated by gold leaf too.

Sticky Date Pudding

Lemon Sugar Caramelized Vanilla Creme Brulee

with Chocolate Ganache and Palet Breton

The creme brulee is soft with caramelized top layer. Chocolate ganache is more rich than the Cuban Chocolate Square. Besides that, the palet breton which is a french biscuit has a crunchy texture.

Lemon Sugar Caramelized Vanilla Creme Brulee

Yours truly blogger

The dessert team

On overall, Onyx provides its customers a tip-top experience in regards to its creativity and effort in presenting the dessert, not to mention the variety of self-created mixed cocktails. The ambience and customer service which are excellent have contributed to my pleasant dining experience too. However, the desserts and cocktails are pretty expensive, ranging from $16-$22. The desserts are pretty subtle in flavour. This would be a great place if you are looking for a special hang out event and birthday celebration.

It is an Easter weekend. What does Easter mean to you besides the long weekend? To me, it is a time of gratitude and appreciation of what Jesus has done on the cross for us. Have a blessed Easter!

Love, Victoria

Website: http://onyxdesserts.com/lounge/

Address: 163 O'Connell Street, North Adelaide, SA 5006

Trading hours: 6pm-12pm (Wed-Thurs), 5pm-1am (Fri-Sat), 4pm-10pm (Sun)

Eat, Pray, Love

Cocktails

Snickers Martini

St Germain Sour

Onyx Expresso Martini

Desserts

Chocolate Fondant

Cuban Chocolate Square

Lemon Mascarpone Cheesecake

Sticky Date Pudding

Lemon Sugar Caramelized Vanilla Creme Brulee

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