Martin's

I always enjoy stopping in at Martin's Cafe on my way to work, feeling like I've stolen time (I usually have), slipping round the corner near the clocktower into my carpark out the front of the hydrotherapy centre. It's always cool and quiet and vaguely hippy-feeling...Martin is always beavering away alone trying desperately to get everything ready before the rush.. I love the neatly stacked piles of dhal and rice, bali curry, beetroot curry in the fridge. This morning I stopped to grab one of his vegan salads. I can't remember if I've ever talked about them before but they're a wicked option if you're looking for a healthy lunch. Big chunks of roasted veges (carrot, pumpkin, beetroot), crunchy red capsicum, green olives, hummus, kidney beans, sunflower seeds and lettuce - lots and lots of lettuce, which I'm not so much a fan of cos I reckon it's one of those fluff items that canny retailers use to bulk out salads to make them seem like you're getting a lot when you're not. And occasionally - just occasionally, if you come too late in the week, the lettuce in these salads can be little, how you say, BROWnish around the edges. Martin usually makes them fresh on Monday mornings so they're ready by lunch time, so I reckon getting one on Monday or Tuesday would be your best bet.

Martin's Cafe, Coconut Grove

Cawfee - next day

Coffeenut

I've been bagging out Coffeenut ever since it first opened. Fair? Definitely not. Never had a coffee there ever. Completely unreasonable. Stopped in there the other morning to try a short black with a mate and it was gooooood!!!!Admittedly the boy on the machine had to ask how long she wanted it, but at least he asked. It was black. It was tasty. It had golden crema. Even though that word *crema* makes me feel sick, even i know it's one of the hallmarks of good coffee.

Coffeenut (all they do is coffee) - open in the mornings in Smith St, Darwin (next to Manoli's)

Cawfee

Jays Coffee - Take 2.

I really like the fact that after my fish and chips (they must be good for you, the Health Minister was lurking in Finnegans kitchen with a beer) I could stroll over, get a coffee from Jay's and take it out on the jetty. How cool is that!!!

First impression - he looks STRESSED. Of course this may be because, coffee wanker that I am, I'm (after asking of course) SNIFFING his single origin coffees. *shrugging* Anyway I end up opting for a very delicious smelling Brazilian Coffee, but disappointingly, it tastes weak - good but weak. One of my friends tastes it, if anything a bigger coffee wanker than I am - and pronounces her theories:

1) the beans have been slightly over-roasted and that's why the flavour doesn't have as much depth as it should

2) the cup is too big and therefore the ratio of milk to coffee is too high

And promptly dumps her short black (also Brazilian and very tasty, if a tad long) into my latte and LO! the coffee is perfect. Problem solved.

My advice? Go for a small coffee. It's only $3 bucks.

Spread the word ....

a tip from a source:

Sari Rasa is now open for dinner from Tuesday to Saturday nights: more or less the same yummy bain marie gear* as they serve at lunchtime, cheap as chips, BYO.

Tell all your friends – there was hardly anyone there last night, which is almost criminal.

*There was a prawn and potato dish I hadn't seen before.

hark! THE GOOD BREAD HATH COMETH!!!!

How long have I been saying ad infinitum (and ad nauseum my loved ones would say) that Darwin NEEDS GOOD BREAD?!

Well it's here. Nigel is a German baker and he is turning out a range of organic breads that just beg to be eaten. Dark, chewy Rye, Baguettes and organic Sourdoughs - they are just GORGEOUS. You can find his breads at Greenies (Shop 12, Rapid Creek Shopping Centre) and at Parap Fine Foods (40 Parap Rd, Parap). Fresh on Tuesdays and Fridays @ Parap and fresh on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday? (I made up Sunday, it just seems logical cos thats when the Rapid Creek Markets are on). Yeah!

FULL BALL!!!!!!! Glenti or bust (and I nearly did)

Went(i) to Glenti this weekend! LOLOL For those of you that don't know, every year Darwin's Greek community has a massive Glenti festival down on the Esplanade in town. I realised that I've been in Darwin for over 3 years now (eek!) and I'd never been, so I talked Director Chick into coming downwith me. Shit was it FULL. ON. People swarming everywhere. Masses of greek specialites on sale, loads of calamari, souvlaki's, honey puffs - even a dessert tent. To be completely frank about it, I wasn't paying as much attention as a food blogger should cos I was so overwhelmed I ran in to get food for everyone and then ran out and retired to a shady tree to have a picnic away from the fray!! By the time I had eaten 5 little rice and mince filled vine leaves, some delicious and very special pork sausages from Crete containing bits of onion and herbs, loadsa dip, some chips (curious), calamari and about 8 of those honey puffs, I was fit to burst! And yet, foolishly, I persuaded Director Chick to come with me on an adventure to check out Jay's Coffee Van..... *flourish*

Jay is an obvious coffee afficianado who has set himself up in a cool little position down on the lefthand side of the Nightcliff Jetty. After hearing about him 3 times in one weekend, I persuaded DC to head over there on the way home from Glenti to get a coffee to share (sample the goods) and to check out his set-up. There he was, surrounded by old folk sitting on foldup chairs enjoying the sunset, struggling with a line of small children clamouring for icecream and trying to make coffees on his little coffee machine. The set up consists of a trailer containing said machine, a Logastro icecream freezer, a little fridge selling cool drinks and water, sink, stereo etc. I also noticed that he offers 6 different types of coffee (I'll have a better look next time) which from recollection were offered as a single origin coffee. He also sells bags of freshly ground coffee. His permit says that he is able to operate on weekends and public holidays from 6am - 8pm, but the covert intelligence I've been able to gather tells me that he is most likely to be found at the Jetty around the 2pmish mark, Friday to Sunday and public holidays.

So - the coffee. Well for all the hype it wasn't a bad coffee - it was much better than the swill that Box Jellyfish are offering in their similar operation located at the Nightcliff Swimming Pool carpark on weekend mornings. Creamy and hot - and cheap! $3 for a small and $3.50 for a medium - 50c for extra shots or soy milk. It tasted okay, but in my limited knowledge of coffee, I would say it lacked a depth of flavour - it sure didn't make me go WOW! What's that coffee! I MUST buy some! But nice enough for the foreshore. My only criticism would be the size of the coffee machine - he was really only able to comfortably make one coffee at a time and what with the icecreams and the soft drinks and the taking of orders and money you really need to have two people on board making it all happen.

Anyway - good to see another small operator and coffee freak creating another option around town!!

Jay's Coffee

Left-hand side of Nightcliff Jetty

Weekends from Friday to Sunday from 2ish - 8ish

Bahn Me?

It was a tough day at our place yesterday and it only allowed for a quick trip to the Nightcliff Markets - luckily though, the sissy went back later on a food run and picked up a Bahn Mi for .. me! From that stall - the one with the best pork sausage ever - comes the Bahn Mi - one of THOSE pork sausages, tucked into a crispy Vietnamese roll, lots of coriander, chilli, cucumber and carroty bits.. the sauce (what is it!!) oozes into the roll.. yum yum yum. I could eat 3. *burp*

i've been called a slacker before y'know!!!

It's been brought to my attention that chickwithguts has been VERY slack lately. it's not like i didn't know that, its that ive been working really really hard at work (not slacking off) so have slacked off in the area that previously i wasn't so.. well... slack in! Plus my phone died which meant that my super dooper photos suffered cos i had to go back to my old phone.. anyway none of this means that i haven't been thinking of food, obsessing about food, EATING food (altho this has suffered too from recent tummy bug action, which has just meant a lot of miso) and taking photos of food, it just means that none of it has made it's way onto my blog...

Anyway.

A round up of the past month. I went to Perth. Had some GREAT food there. My standout would have to be Divido in Mount Hawthorne http://www.divido.com.au/index.htm Check out the dinner menu and you will find the thing, the dessert, the ONE if you will - my new grrlfriend, Croatian Doughnuts with almond and vanilla custard and summer berries - although on the nite I had it, it was served with roasted rhubarb!!!!! Words cannot express how i loved this dish - it had everything i love in a dessert - it was comfort food with great flavour and flair ... it was divine..it was divino! Sadly I was too taken with my new love to take any photos of her....Croatian Doughnuts - will you marry me?

Old Bud (OB) and i checked out Voyage Kitchen and Deli at 128 West Coast Drive cos a friend had said it had great coffee - the brekky menu looked good and it was PACKED - old bud and i got take away coffee and lunch and sat in the sand on the beach opposite - so it could have been the general ambience of gorgeous sunny perth day on white sandy beach with sea lapping at stuff, but the coffee WAS rich and yummy and my ham and cheese panini (which i swore off years ago cos perth got completely panini obsessed and i decided that panini was the foccacia of the 00's) did seem to be particularly tasty.

Went to Cimbalino in Dalkeith too - last time i couldnt taste anything, this time i could taste too much! the coffee always rocks here, but the bircher muesli was too sweet for me and the croissant i ordered came out cold, not warm and flaky - i was only consoled by OB, who told me in no uncertain terms that in Paris croissants did not arrive all flaky and warm...? Still not convinced by that, but it worked for me at the time.

I had two brekkys at Sayers at Shop 1, 224 Carr Place Leederville (swapping my old haunts for new this trip). OH. MY. GOD. So good!!!! I went to Sayers when it first opened, drawn by the tenuous link to Tarts in Northbridge. I was unimpressed by the froufrou cushions, the massive gilt mirror on the wall and the businessy clientele - but this time.. well maybe i've just chilled the fuck out. It's 2 years on and the mirror is still there, so are the cushions, but the music was good, the ppl a mix of business types...hipsters and well...us! The first brekky i opted for some savoury bizness - poached eggs, home made beans, rocket and parmesan, potato cake - again, my words fail me.. it was all just so and tasted amazing. The second brekky i opted for sweetness and being partial to a pancake, i ordered the ricotta pancakes with strawberry compote, double cream and maple syrup. well. pancakes - light, fluffy, just a HINT of ricotta oozing from the centre, fresh strawberries, dusted in icing sugar. And MAjor brownie points for all the rest of the things on the plate coming in little individual pots so that you can mix and match everything until its just how you like it. PLUS the woman who took our order recognised us from another cafe we used to hang out at all the time and was very enthusiastic about it, which stroked my pathetic ego. Only drawback - the coffee. Looks promising, not unpleasant, but fails to really drive it all home. Nevertheless, double thumbs up to Sayers.

My last night in town i went to Jessies Curry Kitchen, which has had a number of really flattering writeups including respected Perth blogger Abstract Gourmet and the Beaufort St Bloggers:

http://abstractgourmet.com/2009/04/jessies-curry-kitchen/

http://www.eatingwa.com.au/articles/186/

In fact these were what led me there - that and the fact that when OB and i went on a reconnaissance mission to check it out, Jessie told us that she cooks fresh every day. Twice. Frankly, this shows the kind of foolhardy dedication to quality food that will suck me in every time, so we invited everyone down for a goodbye Jay, hello Jessie dinner. All that needs to be said is in the two links above really. Cheap as chips (cost $130 for 9 of us), yummy, good sized portions, personable service (Jessie's partner Jeya runs the floor), the best Teh Tarik i've had since Singapore (hurrah! Jeya told me you have to use Boh tea ONLY and he lugs it in from Malaysia packed into a suitcase LOL). Check it out.

http://www.ozeating.com.au/restaurants/dim-sim-cafe/

Last but not least, I had yum cha twice. Now you'd be hard pressed to find better dim sum than at Darwin's Tasty House, but in Perth the benchmark used to be Hoi's Kitchen (RIP). When i was informed that the chef from Hoi's was now at a new place, Dim Sim House on William St in Northbridge I had to check it out. The cafe is a new style cafe rather than an old school dim sum house, but the food rocked. And the SQUID! It brought a tear to my eye. Service was great. And they serve shanghai dumplings which made OB and Tables very happy. Ate a variety of dim summy type stuff and it was all delicious. So if you like it - get on and eat it.

ok nuf from me now.

:-)))

Manoli's (again), happy greek easter, the best bbq pork sausage EVER and thailicious!!!!!

In case my pics come up all skewiff, they're of the Thai Food Fair here in Darwin. One day i'm gonna figure out the photo thing with this blog!!!!

Things have been a little slack at chickwithguts lately - the sissy has arrived from Perth and has been settling in, plus a bit of generalised anxiety and a mother-in-law visit have all been taking up a bit of time and space in my head. If i was a different person i would be furiously blogging away regardless, but i'm not, i disappear up my own ass. So i'll do a quick catch up instead:

Took the sissy to Manoli's for lunch last week, our first lunch visit - lunch very different to dinner. Some offerings on the menu that don't appear on the dinner menu - a home-made moussaka, spanakopita, all served up with a bit of uninspiring greek salad on the side. I don't know whether it was the lunch time ambience, my head, or WHAT, but it lacked the usual Manoli's magic. But then everything has lacked magic for me lately, so I won't hold it against them.

This weekend was Greek Easter, so we decided to do a bit of a greek-themed dinner party on Saturday night - everyone got very inspired, Hungry whipped up a very spinachy spinach and ricotta pie, the sissy a bit of her own made-up-recipe Tzatziki, I made a Horitiaki salad and the Dessert Doc made a greek rice pudding with some little citrussy orange shavings that rocked my world .... then we sat outside in the tropical humidity clutching our stomachs, pouring with sweat, so very very far from the Greek islands... MMM!

Sunday I took the sissy and the wee grrl to the Nightcliff Markets. I know I've talked before about a vietnamese stall there that does a lemongrass fish salad which is fresh and minty and perfect for Darwin.. well I was standing in line waiting to order it when the woman next to me ordered the BBQ pork sausage salad. An odd combo you might think, but this stall does the best BBQ pork sausages. Simple rice paper rolls are elevated to new heights when you stick one of these babies inside. So I decided to branch out. Try something new. Create a new neural pathway. God it was good. SO good. Fresh. Cool. Minty. The sausage sliced into big rounds of porky goodness, nestled into the rice noodles. Meaty, but not unpleasantly so, and very very tasty. I have absolutely NO regrets about this decision, the sissy was so taken by it she had to get one too.

Later Sunday afternoon we joined all the other adventurous Darwin locals looking for a bit of Thai and Laos food fair action. These food fair fundraisers are held a couple of times a year at a civic hall in Malak (?) and they are sweaty stinking hot affairs where you can get Thai and Laotion specialties that you wouldn't find anywhere outside well, say, Thailand or Laos. There are always safe options like Pad Thai for sale, or things sitting in Bain Maries (yuk) - but the more adventurous souls cruise around sampling the real deal - like the steamed prawn and chive dumplings ... the fried chilli mussels... fish maws... the fish soup so hot that when i ate it my lips swelled up like i'd done a quick round with the botox doctor... yup. If you are ever in Darwin and see that one of these is on, you need to get down. The sissy and I spent a minimal amount of money for great food and then perched on the wall with what looked like the whole Asian population of Darwin and tucked in. Good stuff.

i really should be famous for my shitty photos by now

A Precis.

Istanbul cafe - eagerly anticipated (not by me, I reckon this AusTurk stuff is way overrated), newly opened, turkish music wafting forth, iron tables under the shade in the park outside the cafe in the stinking hot Darwin weather, they offer pide, meaty extravaganza's, kebabs, with some homemade desserts and cakes - the usual turkish stuff you'd expect. I had felafels with rice, salad and dips = $9 (score!), in a peculiarly Australian touch they gave me chips to have with my dips instead of turkish bread cos they'd run out - I had to refuse. Felafels were of average size, yummy, crisp, but only got 3 to a serve, rice was fluffy with mystery brown grains, the salad was more pleasing than the average salad, with mint and roasted red capsicum to offset the usual greens, fresh red capsicum, lettuce, cucumber and tomato, dips - well there was some weird dip that i didn't even bother tasting (it had a yellowish tinge and contained carrot so that was enough to put me off) and a mint, garlic and yoghurt dip that was yummo and i threw all over my lunch.

An update: The sissy and I ended up at the Istanbul Cafe for a quick dinner before a movie and ordered chicken kebabs - they were really really good! About $10. Yummy. Then I cried "your most turkish dessert if you will" and ended up taking away some minty rice pudding which I devoured at the movies - in my minds eye I could see myself sitting in Istanbul with a gritty Turkish coffee and my rice pudding. Not that I tend to romanticise or anything :-))))

Istanbul Cafe - Knuckey St, Darwin.