Bloodwood, Newtown

Niecy Poo and I first attempted to go to Bloodwood in Newtown for her birthday about 18 months ago. As they don't take bookings we put our name down at the door and went and had a drink. By the time they called us two hours later our stomachs had gotten the better of us and we've found sustenance else where.

This time around Niecy Poo, Mr Scotland and I agree to meet up for a Saturday lunch. I arrive bang on the dot of noon - before Bloodwood is even properly open. There is no way I'm missing out this time, no way! Mr Scotland suggests perhaps we go for a wander and let them open up properly. Ah, no way mister. I'm convinced the moment I turn my back a queue will rapidly form with me at the end of it. Plus I'm starving...I'm not going anywhere til I've eaten.

Of course we are the first people in the restaurant and there are still a few empty tables when we leave an hour or so later. Maybe I need to learn how to relax...but that could mean missing out on a table somewhere so it's never going to happen. Ever!

We start things off with a Bloodwood Mocktail ($8.00) and let the barman concoct his favourite mocktail for us. We end up with a refreshing blend of apple and lime juice, fresh limes and a splash of ginger beer.

After falling in love with the Polenta Chips at Jamie's Italian I could not go past Bloodwood's offering - Polenta Chips with Gorgonzola Sauce ($9.00).  Pretty darn good - the chips have a super crunchy outer shell with soft fluffy innards. The Gorgonzola sauce is wickedly rich...a moment on the lips and all that business.

Next up is a beautifully fresh and flavoursome Kingfish and Ocean Trout Ceviche ($16.00) which is definitely the highlight of the brunch for me. The plump Kingfish and Ocean Trout pieces were molded together in a perfectly delicious oval of Ceviche. The dish was served with a side of crunchy crackers and a smooth avacado dip, both of which added a textural element to the soft Ceviche.

And last but not least Spanner Crab with Green Asparagus ($21.00). On first viewing the Spanner Crab looks like scrambled eggs, but one mouthful sets that misconception straight.

I could've easily eaten one (or two) more dishes but the others had committed the fatal error of eating breakfast before brunch - d'oh (though so had I but I've had more practice in competitive eating/food blogging outings so I was in for the long haul).

Bloodwood is at 416 King Street, Newtown.  Phone them on (02) 9557 7699.

Machine Laundry Cafe and Doctor Coffee, Hobart

Our brunch at the groovy Machine Laundry Cafe was our only brunch/breakfast during our entire stay in Hobart. For the rest of the time we dined on English Muffins from Coles and hotel coffee in our room in an attempt to save some money...and some inches off our waistlines (I failed at both I'm said to say).

And with only one brunch to our names I think we picked a winner with Machine Laundry Cafe.  The cafe shares its space with a Laundromat, though I wonder how many people sip their coffee whilst watching their smalls do a few laps in the dryer?

The cafe is really popular so it's a short wait before we can nab ourselves a table. We start things off with coffee - a soy cappuccino for me which was perfect.

The cafes interior is quite quirky - a mix of retro decor (laminate tables, vinyl chairs and the like) and industrial chic - hard concrete floors in keeping with its second job as a Laundromat.
 

The Boy opts for an Eggs Benedict ($15.00) - his other great breakfast love when a Big Breakfast isn't what he's hankering after. We're both pretty impressed by the ooziness of the eggs - perfection.

I'm swayed by the Thom's Thing ($14.00) breakfast and the promise of grilled haloumi cheese!  As far as vegetarian breakfast offerings go this is great - garlic sourdough toast, squeaky haloumi cheese, tomato, basil, chic peas, baby spinach and an avocado salsa. This was a really filling breakfast that kept me going until mid-afternoon.

Later that afternoon - after a visit to the Farmgate Markets and wandering about Hobart - we find ourselves back at Salamanca Place and feeling a bit peckish.

We decide to rest our weary feet at the cute Doctor Coffee which is located in one of the many arcades at Salamanca Place.  The Boy orders a coffee and I go for a Charlie's Blood Orange Juice - a great thirst quencher.

The Boy opts for a HUGE Tuna Sandwich.  I was keen for one of these too but The Boy nabbed the last Tuna Sambo of the day - d'oh!

In the end I choose a savoury muffin - cheese and herbs. It's pretty tasty and fills the spot nicely.  The food at Doctor Coffee is fairly simple, but tasty - great flavours.

We finish off with a delectable meringue that is topped with a berry coulis and cream. The Boy is a huge meringue fan, me not so much - but the addition of cream and coulis is fantastic. The coulis has a slightly tart taste that helps cut through the sweetness of the crispy meringue.

These are just two of the many cute cafes that Hobart has on offer. If you ever get to Hobart I'd highly recommend both of these places...but also make sure you visit North Hobart - we didn't eat there, but there are SO many great cafes and restaurants in this quirky, slightly alternative suburb.

Salamanca and Farmgate Markets, Hobart

Last week I was lucky enough to go to Hobart for a conference. I dragged The Boy along with me so I'd have someone to hang out with in my spare time (plus he needed a holiday).

We arrived in Hobart just on noon on Saturday morning, raced to the hotel along with my work colleague Ms Irish, dumped our bags and raced back to Salamanca Place to ensure we didn't miss out on Hobart's legendary Salamanca Markets that are only on til 3pm each Saturday.

The markets are located on the street in front of historic Salamanca Place (which I believe once served as the hub of Hobart's whaling operations).  Traffic is diverted and the street is given over to 100s of fantastic market stalls selling everything from antiques, bric-a-brac, organic fruit and vege, souvenirs, homemade jams and sweets, crafty stuff, socks, clothes, doughnuts...the list goes on and on.

Within five minutes of hitting the markets I blew all my cash at the first stall we saw - an amazing stall selling antiques and bric-a-brac. I bought the cute little birdcage clock (in the picture below) and bargained with them to throw in a small plate for free as I was blowing all my dosh on the clock but REALLY wanted the plate as well.  Don't be afraid to bargain at the bric-a-brac stalls.

Given that I had no cash left and about 2 hours of wandering to embark on I joined the lengthy ATM queue to replenish my wallet. TIP: bring lots of cash if you plan on spending (and even if you don't as you're sure to find something that simply must have).

Don't fear food lovers, there are plenty of stalls selling food and snacks to replenish your grumbling tummy.  Whilst it was too cold for snow-cones The Boy enjoyed a Bratwurst sambo - a fancy version of the Sausage Sandwich.

I've cut read meat, chicken and pork out of my diet so hunted down a stall selling something Miss Piggy friendly. I ended up with a delicious, but super messy to eat, Eggplant Roll from a Persian food vendor.

And of course lunch isn't complete without something sweet to finish. The Boy seems to have a homing radar for Doughnuts and quickly sniffed out this Doughnut stand. These were hot off the press and perfect for warming us up as the weather was getting cool.

The very last stall we visited in the markets was without a doubt my favourite. A lovely Hobart lass, Holly, has created a series of stuffed toys, t-shirts, brooches, necklaces and pins around a fantasy army called The Hiiragi with which she hopes to take over the world (insert *evil laugh* here).  It sounds kooky, but the toys are uber-cute and her enthusiasm for her creations is infectious. I walked away with two brooches and two tie-pins, and somehow convinced The Boy that I must have a stuffed toy for X-mas!  Just looking at the pictures below puts a smile on my face - I wish I had an imagination and creative talent half as amazing as Holly's.

The next day, Sunday, we decide to visit the Farmgate Markets, a local farmers market showcasing some amazing Tassie produce.  There is everything from fresh fruit and vege, free range pork, goat meat, cheese, bread, jams, nuts and a cafe selling coffee and snacks.  If I lived in Hobart this would definitely be a weekly pilgrimage for me.

We didn't walk away with much from these markets - mainly as we were full from our breakfast and also a lot of the food was perishable and we were staying in a hotel without a kitchen.

So there you have it - two amazing Hobart markets that rival anything we have in Sydney.

Salamanca Markets are on each Saturday, 9am - 3pm and can be found at Salamanca Place. 

The Farmgate Markets can be found at the Melville Street car park (corner of Elizabeth and Melville Streets) every Sunday 9am – 1pm.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co, New York

I know what you're thinking. Really, I do. Why would we fly all the way to New York just to eat at Bubba Gump Shirmp Co. when there are literally a million great places to eat in The Big Apple. Why descend on a rather pricey chain restaurant?

Well, when you've been touring the city on The Big Red Bus like we had for four hours and you're dumped off at Times Square, crazed with hunger and being bumped around by the crowds your eyes just fix on the first thing they see. And for us that was Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

To be honest the place is kind of fun, especially if you're a fan of the movie Forrest Gump. There's a lot of paraphernalia about reminding us of the restaurants founder "Forrest Gump". There's no mention however of who really owns this joint. Curiouser and curiouser.

Miss M and I both start with a bowl of New England Clam Chowder ($5.99) which the menu helpfully (or regretfully) tells me has 320 calories - I have no idea if that's good or bad?  The soup is great and hits the spot after the windy, cold weather we encountered on the top deck of our Big Red Bus.  I really LOVE New England Clam Chowder - I bought four cans of the Campbells offering to bring home with me but they were sadly left in my bag in the back of a taxi *sobs*.

After the soup we decide to share a Dumb Luck Coconut Shrimp ($19.29) that is served with an uber sweet Cajun marmalade and french fries. This deep fried extravaganza hit us up for 1000 calories, but we're sharing so it's only 500 calories each *phew*. The menu tells us that this is a favourite meal of Forrest. 

Our lunch at Bubba Gump was quite enjoyable - most of all for the amazing view we had over Times Square.  If you can get a window seat it's well worth it.

Pepe Saya, Booza and Pat and Stick, Tempe

There's a guy in my office (let's call him Mr Smooth) who has a "supplier" for just about everything.  Ask him where he got his snazzy umbrella and he'll tell you about a deal from "his supplier" in Mascot - 10 golf umbrellas for $10, that sort of thing. For ages there were jokes about his "suppliers" and things falling off the back of trucks.

For the last few months we've been hearing him wax lyrical about his "butter supplier" in Tempe. Yeah yeah - who the heck makes butter in Tempe I ask you...pfft. And then I started to really listen (something I not really that good at truth be told) and it turns out his butter supplier is Pepe Saya - the artisan butter makers who supply a raft of Sydney's top restaurants with luscious, unctuous cultured butter.

And then Mr Smooth started making rumblings about a lunch time expedition to the Pepe Saya factory in Tempe...would I perhaps be interested?  Would I ever!  What really twisted my rubber arm is the fact that Pepe Saya also shares its factory space with Pat and Stick (makers of homemade ice-cream sandwiches that will literally blow your socks off) and Booza (an Arabic style mastic {aka tree gum} ice-cream).

Not only was Mr Smooth chauffeuring myself and two butter-lovin' colleagues to Tempe to see what the factory outlet had on offer he'd also arranged a tour of the butter making factory with Pepe Saya owners Pierre and Melissa.

The butter at Pepe Saya is cultured butter which doesn't mean it likes Opera or Shakespeare, it means that "lactic culture is added to encourage ripening and to add flavor to the cream. Because it is ripened, cultured butter contains an extra dose of microorganisms making it a probiotic food" (sourced from pepesaya.com.au).  Basically this is butter that is good for you. Sounds good to me.

When we first enter the factory area the first thing I notice is the lush, creamy smell (probably helped along a bit by the Pat and Stick ice-cream maker in the corner) and the GIANT mound of butter sitting on the bench being hand moulded by the Pepe Saya staff.  

A mountain of butter just waiting to be packaged

Hand rolling the butter for restaurant deliveries

Look at all that butter - oh my!

For sale - the butter at the factory is a bargain! I went home with three of these pads, plus some other stuff...oops.

Pat and Stick doing some ice-cream making.

Ice-cream and butter unite - Pat (from Pat and Stick) and Pierre (from Pepesaya).

After our tour of the factory  it's now time for the good stuff...a tasting. Let's just say that Pierre is not at all stingy with letting us sample the butter - he layers it on like cheese and jokes that if you can't see your bite mark in the butter than it's not spread thick enough.

Pepe Saya make two types of butter - a salted and an unsalted and Pierre dishes up a sample of both for us to try. The salted butter is divine with an obvious hint of salt with every mouthful.  The butter is also so creamy having less moisture content then the butter you'd buy in the supermarket. I also really enjoyed the unsalted butter as flavour of the cream really stood out - it had a very different flavour to the salted offering.

Sonoma rye bread; salted butter (top) and unsalted butter (below - which is sliced as it's fresh from the fridge thus hard).

As well as butter Pepe Saya also had a raft of other products on offer (both under the Pepe Saya label and their other brand Homemade Fine Foods). Let's just say I went home with more than just three little pads of butter - garlic sauce, custard, rice pudding other desserts... just to name a few.  Let's just say their rice pudding, custard and Bread and Butter pudding are TO DIE FOR!

Deliciousness everywhere you look.

More samples - best lunch break I've ever had!

Of course, lunch isn't complete without dessert. This is my first Pat and Stick experience and I can assure you it won't be the last. I bought a Vanilla Lace and Ben from Pat and Stick insisted we also try the Espresso Lace. OMG! The ice-cream is amazing and the oat and almond lace cookie sort of caramelize during the cooking process so they have the texture of toffee.

I didn't try the Booza this visit, but I have tried it before and it's very different to the Streets ice-cream we grew up eating.  The flavour of mastic is quite strong - definitely an unusual flavour.

You can visit the factory warehouse at Unit 4, 3 Wood Street, Tempe (first left after the new IKEA - I sure know where I'd rather be)!

They are there most days, Saturdays and Sundays included. I'd call ahead before visiting to ensure there is someone there (9519 2793).  The prices at the factory are at least a third cheaper than other retails outlets or the farmers markets - bargain central!