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Cafe China Cafe Noodle Bar & Restaurant (Cairns, Australia)
by koshkha
~Tasty Treats for Tired Travellers~
On our first night in Cairns in July 2009 we'd arrived in the evening after a 26 hour flight from London to Sydney and a further 3 to 4 hour flight from Sydney to Cairns. Our body clocks were pretty confused by that point so we decided the worst thing we could do would probably be to go ... straight to sleep. We owed it to ourselves to get out and wander around, get some dinner and then go to sleep.
Our wanderings brought us eventually to the Cafe China noodle bar. This was located on Abbott Street between the art museum and the casino. I loathe gambling and if I'd realised the business was connected to the casino I probably would have gone elsewhere but I was so tired and disorientated that I didn't realised which is probably a good thing because I loved the food we had.
Two things attracted me - the outdoor terrace and a near overwhelming urge for noodles. If you ask me to characterise the culinary highlights of two weeks in Australia then noodles play a large part in all of the more memorable meals.
~Heritage is Relative in Cairns~
We headed up a few steps, across the verandah and into the noodle bar. It was one of the least fancy looking places in the city and that's probably partly why I didn't spot the casino connection. The building is known as the Customs House and is classified as a heritage building - mind you in Australia, anything as old as your grandad will be. The noodle bar is located in the lobby of the building. There's apparently a fancier Cafe China restaurant inside the casino that's much more expensive and more swanky but we were more than happy to keep things simple.We chose our dishes off a large board fixed to the wall behind the serving lady which listed the available dishes. We ordered two seafood laksa at just under AU$12 per person and added a beer for my husband and a glass of white wine for me which together added another $9 to the bill. A 'help yourself' set up allowed all diners to take as much free iced water as they wanted so we also filled up with a couple of glasses.
Whilst the food was being prepared we took our drinks out and found a table on the verandah. Looking across the street we admired the old cast iron balconies on the buildings opposite and started to soak up a bit of the atmosphere of Cairns.
~Everything's Big in Oz~
We had ordered the 'regular' size dishes and 'small' had been available for a couple of dollars less. When our noodles arrived I think we realised that small would have been plenty and that regular could probably feed two people. Thank goodness we'd only ordered one small portion of prawn toasts as a starter although it arrived at the same time as the noodles so we'd rather failed on the idea of having two courses. The toasts were small and fat with a thick layer of minced prawn and sesame seeds on top but we could easily have done without starters completely due to the speed of the service and the size of the dishes. Digging around in my bowl I found green lipped mussels, three or four giant shell on prawns, lots of juicy fish balls and surimi sheets. The sauce was a mild creamy curry sauce which was good but not as spicy as I'd hoped it would be. The creaminess showed that it contained a lot of coconut milk and I hate to think how much fat there was in the dish. I reassured myself that I'd be off diving for three days and could worry about burning it off some other time. There were two types of noodles in the dish; thin rice noodles and thicker egg noodles.
It was a hot evening (by English standards) and we took a long time to get through the dishes before eventually admitting defeat with quite a lot of noodles and sauce still in the bowls. We took another glass of water each and then paid our bill and headed back to the hotel. The meal of one portion of prawn toasts, two seafood noodles, a wine and a beer came to a total of $38.50 which at the July 2009 exchange rates was just under £10 per person. I liked the food enough that I'd have been happy to go back and try some other dishes but Cairns was just so full of great inexpensive food that we found new places to go each time we ate out.
~Details~
Cafe China Noodle Bar
Customs House
Abbott Street
Cairns
You can check out the menu at http://www.reefcasino.com.au/pdf/cafechinanoodlemenu0710.pdf
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Noodies (Magnetic Island, Australia)
by mizzy
Noodies is a great Mexican restaurant in Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island.
They are currently starting a membership deal which is free to join. You get buy 1 get 1 free meals once a month, money off cocktails and it generally makes it a lot cheaper which is great for locals.
I like Noodies not only because the food ... is good, but because they have a nice courtyard which is all spanish in style, and catches the sun all afternoon. Its also a great place to watch the sunset from.
Some typical dishes are nachos with beef or chicken, spanish omlette, tacos, burritos, and fajitas. They also serve great pizzas and burgers.
The best thing about this restaurant are the jugs of cocktails, with each jug you get a very loud sombrero to wear which is always fun as more jugs arrive. Each jug costs around $35 but they are very strong and can be easily shared between large groups.
Meals cost between $8 - $18, so it is affordable and tasty. The staff here are so nice, it is family run and the service is quick. The restaurant is popular with both locals and tourists. They also run theme afternoons with live music now and again which is good fun.
If you like spanish and mexican food and a good time then visit Noodies. Its closed on thursdays.
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Bird Cow Fish (Sydney, Australia)
by iallan
Sydney has more than its fair share of great restaurants and Crown Street in Surrey Hills has more than most. With the like of TV chefs Bill Granger and Kylie Kwong having restaurants on this strip chef Alex Herbert is in good company with her Espresso Bar and Bistro - Bird Cow Fish.
Now I am lucky enough to have friends stay ... in Surrey Hills in Sydney so when I was visiting them recently I requested that we take a trip to Bird Cow Fish, knowing full well it was within easy walking distance of home. I had become a fan of the recent Australian Masterchef shown in the UK on channel Watch. One episode pitted a Aussie renowned chef against a contestant both had to produce a signature dish of the chef and whoever was chosen by the judging panel in a blind taste test either kept their reputation as a chef intact or won a ticket though to the final week of Australian Masterchef (their programme is more a mix of The Apprentice meets Masterchef).
Anyway back to Bird Cow Fish, Alex Herbert the restaurant's chef had produced one of the dishes and I was sold. The dish in question was Potato Gnocchi with Prawn Meat Sautéed in Burnt Butter, Verjuice, Capers and Crispy sage. On TV it looked amazing and made me immediately hungry (a sign of a good cooking show).
Everything in the dish was made from scratch and really tantalized my taste buds, so I was hoping that on our visit this would be on the menu.
I wasn't to be disappointed as we were shown to our seats in the light, fresh and air restaurant and handed the menus into our grubby little paws I spotted the fateful dish straight away that brought us here.
Crown Street is a nice leafy tree lined street with fab restaurants, cafes, bars and shops on both sides. Bird Cow Fish is set on a corner and has floor to ceiling windows that are great for people watching and add to the airiness of the restaurant. It is split into 2 separate parts - The Bistro (which takes up two thirds of the place) and the Espresso Bar (which takes up the other third).
The opening hours are:
Espresso Bar:
Mon - Fri: 12pm - 4pm & 6pm - 10pm
Sat: 9am - 4pm & 6pm - 11pm
Sun: 9am - 3pm
Bistro:
Lunch: 12pm - 2.30pm Mon - Sun
Dinner: 6pm - 10pm Mon - Sat
(Check opening hours if it is a public holiday or special occasion)
It was a Monday lunch that we visited on so we were lucky to get a table straight away, however they do advise you to book and if you turn up and its full you can always put your name on the wait list and pop to one of the bars close by and get called when the next table becomes available. Even for a Monday lunch it was busy.
The menu is not too long and has starters like Roquefort Salad or marinated Yarra Valley Feta with crisp breads. You have a choice of about 5 starters or so, on this occasion none of chose to have a starter and went straight to the mains.
Mains are a mixture of dishes from fish and steak to salads and the gnocchi or pasta. The fabulous Gnocchi was my pick of course with two of the others at the table choosing the thinly sliced pasture fed Coorong Hanger Steak and my other friend choosing the rag pasta sheets with sautéed wild pine mushrooms, pangratatto, currants and parmesan. The pasta, salad and gnocchi dishes came in at the $19 dollar mark with the meat and fish dishes in at around the $35 dollar mark. (There is about £1.70 ish Aussie dollars to the £).
Well did the Gnocchi live up to its billing - absolutely. It was fab the gnocchi itself was like little pillows very light and tasty and the prawn meat was fabulous and succulent. I was so please that the dish was firstly on and that it lived up to my expectations. The other guys all loved their dishes, the steak was beautiful and tender.
The meal all round was very tasty and a real success, we chose not to have any desserts although they did sound fab and included a meringue with mascarpone pineapple and caramel passion fruit sauce. They also had a great selection of Aussie cheeses which is served with pink lady apples and croutons. We had a glass of wine each (as we couldn't decide on red or white) which was around the $10 - $12 dollar mark and they had a good selection of glasses and bottles on offer, as well a nice selection of beers and of course soft drinks and fruit juices.
I thought this was a fab restaurant and it was even better when we saw the chef Alex Herbert in the kitchen and restaurant speaking to the diners. I would certainly recommend a visit here, the atmosphere is casual stylish with a laid back feel and the food is spectacular. All is all we enjoyed a fabulous meal and will certainly be returning on our next trip down under, fingers crossed the Gnocchi is still on the menu!
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