Grand Trailer Park Taverna had been on my wishlist for a while. We had tried on a previous occasion to go there for a quick dinner before an evening show, but unfortunately it had been too full to get a seat and we weren’t prepared to wait. This time, having learnt our lesson, we arrived nice and early before we went to see Cats The Musical.

The restaurant is located at the top of some dimly lit stairs, a complete contrast to the surroundings outside. It is actually set up like a trailer park! There are camper vans that form part of the décor, and an American diner style set up to capture the theme.

The menu focuses on burgers with names that pay homage to Hollywood. There are a large range of beef burgers and also the token vegetarian burger.

Naturally I chose the vegetarian burger, the Cynthia Benson, which had the most unique patty. The description told me it would be a mushroom patty, which I assumed would be a grilled Portobello mushroom but I was totally wrong. It was infact a patty that was made with minced mushroom (instead of minced meat) which was crumbed and fried. It was a concept I had never thought of, but it was amazing. There was also American cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, special sauce and American mustard all on a brioche bun. I am not usually a fan of the brioche bun, but on this occasion it worked well. This was definitely one of the best vego burgers I have had.

The other half decided to have the Atomic burger. This burger contained a beef patty with American cheddar cheese, caramelised onion, chilli cheese kransky, streaky bacon, BBQ sauce, cayenne truffle mayonnaise on a brioche bun. It was only until he was about half way through the burger that he realised that there was no salad element to his burger! No lettuce or tomato! He wasn’t sure if this would make the burger better or not, but he too deemed his burger one of the best he had ever had.

We also had some chips to share, beer battered, thickly cut chips that were crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. Yum.

Trailer park also has a section on its menu dedicated to milkshakes, spiked milkshakes to be specific. You can have a Kinder Surprise, Nutella and Frangelico milkshake, or a crème brulee, vanilla, brandy and toffee top milkshake just to name a few! We decided it was a bit early in the week to be having such an indulgent drink and instead opted for the virgin version of the crème brulee milkshake. It was still delicious, and such a treat! There is also a bar with rotating beers on tap, so you can have traditional alcohol too.

Grand Trailer Park Taverna certainly lived up to the hype I had heard about. I had gone in with pretty high expectations and they were delivered upon. Melbourne has well and truly caught on to the burger craze, and Grand Trailer Park Taverna is a worthy member of the scene.

This year I’ve decided to join the monthly In My Kitchen posts hosted by Maureen from The Orgasmic Chef. It’s a lovely way to document the things that are happening on the food front, and it is always interesting to see what other people are up to. Usually the posts have to be done by the 10th of each month, so I’m obviously a little late for January, but I will pick up my game from next time now that I’ve got myself organised!

Santa brought me lots of lovely things for my kitchen. Everyone that knows me, knows that food is a massive part of my identity. Whether it be eating, cooking, or talking about food, it is a topic that dominates my personality and who I am. I often say that I really can’t be friends with someone that doesn’t like food!

Anyway, onto the crux of this post…

In my kitchen there are a lovely trio of jams and jellies. I love condiments, although I rarely buy them for myself, but I received this gift for Christmas from Jenny! I haven’t opened them yet, but it won’t be too long… That chilli jam is calling out to me!

We also received this Moroccan spice from Treeze. It is a blend of cumin, coriander, garlic, cayenne pepper and other delicious things, but I’m not quite sure what to use it on. I imagine the traditional use would be to sprinkle it onto some meat or chicken and grill it, but I need to find a vegetarian use for it! I’m thinking it may work on a tofu steak, but I will have to do some experimenting!

Jenny also gave me this fabulous cookbook from Emma Galloway, the author of the My Darling Lemon Thyme blog. I have often used her blog to find recipes, and this book follows in the same steps. There are some great ideas that take advantage of fresh produce and healthy (but tasty) eating, and I can’t wait to get cooking from it. There is a breakfast recipe of baked eggs in pits bread cups that I really want to make!

Whilst I try to make most of my food from scratch, there is the odd occasion when I just don’t have time, or I’m not feeling up to it. In such cases, the range of frozen Vegie Delights foods are a lifesaver. There are burgers, falafels and other mock meat products. I know that these are processed, and really not that great for you, but for the occasional emergency food they are brilliant, and I think they taste great! Coles had a big sale on them where the whole range was 50% off, so I stocked up, and the freezer is full of them! We’ve already eaten a box of the burgers for lunch, and we had chickpea falafel wraps for dinner tonight, yum!

And in stark contrast to the processed foods, I also have some super fresh produce in my kitchen. There are fresh eggs from backyard chickens, home grown lettuce, home grown cucumber and home grown basil. I love fresh produce, and when you eat it regularly, you can taste the huge difference.

I now always say that I have been so spoilt, that I couldn’t go back to store bought eggs. The backyard chickens (and ducks, don’t even get me started on how good duck eggs are) produce the best eggs with the yellowest yolks, that anything else just seems sub-standard. It is also important to me that the animals are treated well, and I know that this poultry is living the good life. Whilst supermarkets may make claims to stock free range eggs, a little research reveals that ‘free range’ chickens can be stocked with a density of 5 birds per square metre and up to 2500 birds per shed. It’s a far cry from the 4 acres that the 50 or so poultry that I get my eggs from have. I know that not everybody has the luxury to have access to poultry like this, but I think it’s important to be aware of what is going on, rather than turning a blind eye.

The fresh lettuce and cucumber will go into a salad, and I used a lot of the basil yesterday in a simple but delicious pasta sauce of garlic, cherry tomatoes and basil. These flavours combine well together, and this sauce tossed through some spaghetti and topped with freshly grated parmesan makes for a perfect meal.

And that’s about all from my kitchen this month! It’s heating up a bit now, so we’ll have to see what summer treats are happening in my kitchen in February!

For over 20 years, Bharatha Natyam was a huge part of my life. Bharatha Natyam is one of the ancient Indian classical dance forms that originated in the temples of South India and these days is showcased around the world. I was lucky enough to be a student of Bharatha Natyam, and whilst in the early days going to class seemed more like a chore than a pleasure, these days, I am ever so grateful that I had the opportunity to learn about my heritage and culture through this beautiful artform.

The friends I made through dance class are also formed some of my most long lasting friendships. Rehearsing for performances can often be extremely stressful, and the dance studio becomes a pressure cooker of emotions, so the people you spend time with in these situations often see you at your very worst - angry, frustrated and in tears, but they also see you at your very best, the elation of finishing my arangetram (dance graduation) was a moment I am still immensely proud of today. These days I rarely perform, or even attend classes, but I still love to be involved with my dance school, whether it be through co-ordinating the lighting at a dance concert, or helping behind the scenes. And most importantly, I love catching up with my old dance friends.

As time has passed, many of us have moved onto different phases of our lives. There are engagements, weddings, babies, toddlers, some of us have moved interstate, and some of us have even moved overseas, so catching up doesn’t happen that often. Still, when it does, it is always fun, and we always manage to reminisce about our crazy times on stage or in class.  Just before Christmas an old dance friend was visiting from Singapore. She was ridiculously organised, so had planned a catch up via Facebook long before she even arrived! The restaurant we chose was Shakahari Too. I was actually pretty keen to try this place, given that I had only ever been to the original Shakahari in Carlton, which has become a vegetarian stalwart in Melbourne.

We all had varying degrees of hunger, so we decided to order individually rather than share. Some of us ordered entrees, some entrees and mains, and some had their eye on dessert too! Surprisingly, I opted for just the main, but with so much food on the table, it meant that I got to hear the opinions on lots of items! Some of my friends had also just discovered that I was a food blogger, so they were very obliging, letting me take photos of everything before they started eating!

The entrée that a few people chose was titled Avocado Magic. This was a very pretty dish to look at, and upon reading the description it sounded quite interesting. It was explained to be wedges of avocado and red capsicum rolled in thing eggplant slices and then fried in a rice batter like tempura. Served with it was a coriander and sesame puree. I didn’t try any of this dish, but everyone that did was quite impressed. They were all avocado fans, and they agreed that if you didn’t like avocado, then this dish was not for you. I am a fan of avocado and I love things deep fried, so I’m guessing this dish would have been a winner for me.

For mains, most of us chose the Green, Green Laksa. Laksa paste is traditionally made with various fishy ingredients like shrimp paste, when then the opportunity arises to have a vegetarian laksa, I always pounce on it. The laksa at Shakahari Too didn’t disappoint. The bowl was packed full of ingredients and it looked to be a filling meal. There was Japanese udon noodles, baby spinach, mushrooms, bean sprouts, fried tofu and tempeh. The soup broth was flavoured with Thai krachai (which I learnt was a weak version of galangal), basil green curry coconut stock and lots of Asian, fragrant herbs. The soup was wonderfully warming, and so full of flavour. With every mouthful I could taste the subtleties in the herbs and spices, and combined the result was a flavour explosion in my mouth. I had definitely made a smart decision in choosing the laksa, I was on a winner.

Around the table, a friend had chosen to have Nonya Lodeh, which was a lemongrass and spice flavoured brown rice, served with a turmeric galangal coconut curry with blanched cashews, a mix of vegetables including snake beans, okra, potato and cauliflower, some pickled vegetables and a pappadum. She too was satisfied with her dish.

It was then time for desert, and whilst I was full from my laksa, a couple of us chose to have the Raw Avocado Chocolate ‘Cheese Cake’ and the Tofu Caramel. Both these desserts were vegan, and I am not a big fan of replacing dairy in a predominantly dairy dessert.  I tried both of these plates, but neither were to my taste.

The ‘Cheese Cake’ had an interesting, but nice base. It was made from crushed walnuts, dates and coconut oil. It was very different from the usual cheesecake base, but the flavour of the nuts with the dates worked well. My issue was with the ‘cheese’ bit of the cake. Avocado cannot replace cheese, regardless of how much chocolate you put in it! I love avocado, but I’m not sure I like it in a dessert like this. Whilst there was coconut sugar added, it simply wasn’t sweet enough. I understand that this was definitely not meant to taste like a normal cheese cake, but I just didn’t like it.

I had much the same opinion of the tofu caramel. It was obviously modelled on a crème caramel, and whilst the textures were replicated quite well, it tasted completely different. The smell of the tofu was very overpowering, and again, it simply wasn’t sweet enough.

Despite the fact that both the desserts were a fail, the mains at Shakahari Too were delicious, and I would definitely go back to try the rest of the menu. But most importantly, it was a great night, catching up with old friends, and a catch up that hopefully we can do more often.

2016 has arrived, and I’m frantically trying to catch up on my blog posts from 2015! December involved a lot of eating (A LOT), and quite a bit of it was done at restaurants, so I have a fair bit to write about.

The month started with a trip to Pomodoro Sardo. Rarely does my mum agree to go to a non Indian restaurant, so when she agreed to be my date to an Italian restaurant, I was excited! I think it’s an older generation Indian thing, they prefer to eat at places where they are familiar with the food, and rarely venture out of their comfort zone, but I was proud of my mum for giving Italian a try, other than the usual takeaway pizza, which can barely be classified as Italian food.

Located in the heart of the Melbourne CBD, Pomodoro Sardo was a little piece of Italy that I was surprised to have not seen or heard of before. Nevertheless, I went in with an open mind, and an empty stomach, ready to be impressed on both accounts.

The interior of the restaurant is decorated with Italian essentials, red wine glasses, bottles of red wine, and even can of tomatoes! Very practical indeed!

We decided to indulge, and opted for a five course degustation meal, with the only requirements being that we vegetarian and that my mum wanted one of the courses to include a vegetarian pizza. The staff were more than happy to cater to our request, and so the meal commenced.

As with any Italian meal, it began with some complementary focaccia bread. Unfortunately the bread was a little tough, but the olive oil provide for dipping was of a beautiful flavour. Nevertheless, the bread was a mere starter, and we were more interested in the actual menu items!

We started with a couple of small dishes to share. First was the burrata cheese, served with crumbled pistachios, confit cherry tomato, rocket, and dressed with balsamic and olive oil. The first time I had burrata was at Tipo 00 and it was amazing. Unfortunately this has probably set my benchmark for burrata way too high, and Pomodoro Sardo struggled to reach the lofty heights that I had etched in my memory. Don’t get me wrong, it was good, after all, all cheese is good, it was probably even very good, but it wasn't the amazing that I hoped for. The cherry tomatoes were not great, and I would probably prefer them roasted, rather than confit, but you could leave them to the side, and the dish would still be acceptable.

Our next entrée was Pecorino Guttiau. This was amazingly rich, warm cheese sauce, served with crisp flat bread. The bread was dipped into the cheese and the result was amazing. If the burrata from the previous course didn’t meet my expectations, this second course more than made up for it. It did feel very rich and heavy, and I was possibly edging closer to a heart attack with the amount of fat content in the cheese, but it didn’t matter because it was far too delicious to stop eating.

We then moved on to the Melanzana al Forno, otherwise known as eggplant parmigiana. But beware, this is not the humble eggplant parma that you may be expecting, instead it is a delicate dish, with lots of flavours that all work wonderfully together. At the base of the dish as beautiful pieces of eggplant, that have been cooked perfectly so that they melt in your mouth. With this is a rich, sweet tomato sauce and to top the dish a mix of garlicky breadcrumbs and some more delicious cheese. The dish is cooked in a wood fired oven, and that probably made all the difference. It was our favourite dish for the night.

We then moved onto the mains but unfortunately these started off a little lack lustre. Our first main was the Culurgiones. These were little Sardinian pasta parcels, in the same vain as ravioli, but shaped more like dumplings. They were filled with creamed potato and (more) cheese, and served with mint pesto and caramelised walnuts. Unfortunately the pasta was very dense and chewy and nothing like the pasta I would expect from an Italian restaurant. Both my mum and I are also not big fans of mint, and having the mint in the form of a pesto was just too strong. It also didn’t really work with the flavours of the caramelised walnuts. Overall the dish was very heavy and not very tasty, which was disappointing given I thought that pasta would have been one of their fortes.

We also had another pasta dish, this time made from a semolina pasta, the Malloreddus Caccio e Pepe. The dish was served with a plain sauce of pecorino cheese, egg yolk and pepper. Again, this dish was also very dense, and whilst I often appreciate a light sauce to bring out the best qualities of the pasta, if the pasta isn’t up to scratch, a plain sauce is really not going to work. Again, this was another disappointment.

We received our specially requested vegetarian pizza. The pizza was cooked in the wood fired oven, and it was a definite highlight! There was a thin crispy base, and the toppings were fresh and flavourful. We were glad that we had asked for this dish, because it boosted an otherwise substandard main course.

Next we were onto dessert. We were so full, but forced ourselves to activate our dessert stomachs, and indulge in some sweet treats.  Our first desert was a tiramisu. This tiramisu was amazing. Layers of chocolate, cream, coffee flavours and soft sponge cake filled each bite, and I was in heaven. The balance of flavours was perfect, and unlike other tiramisus that I have tasted, the coffee flavours didn’t overpower the palate.

We also had a selection of Sardinian sweets served with ice cream. The sweets were little parcels of pastry, filled with a variety or nuts or custards and they were all delicious. It was the perfect end to the meal.

The staff at Pomodoro Sardo were extremely attentive. I’m not sure if it was the big camera I was wielding, or whether that is just their normal practice, but I felt like I was getting special treatment! They always refilled our water glasses, came out to check that everything was OK, offered more bread on multiple occasions, and even came to apologise if a dish was slightly delayed. It definitely made us feel welcome, and we appreciated the attention.

Overall the food was a bit hit and miss. I think next time, I would order a selection of entrées and pizzas, and share them, rather than order any pasta dishes. And make sure you leave room for dessert, because that tiramisu is a necessity for any diner!

Disclaimer: I dined at Pomodoro Sardo as a guest of Zomato and Pomodoro Sardo, however all opinions are my own.

This post is brought to you by Nuffnang and Cats The Musical.

I remember back in Year 7, we studied the poetry of T.S. Elliot and some of the music from the musical Cats. I recall the poetry being slightly quirky, and our drama teacher went as far as to give us a task to create a performance around one of the poems. It was a lot of fun, and one of my few memories from my first year of high school. Fast forward a few decades, and T.S. Elliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats has been adapted to a stage musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and has come to Melbourne for a strictly limited season.

I was lucky enough to be invited to go and see the show just before Christmas and needless to say, I was just a tad excited. Whilst, I knew the trademark song, Memory (who doesn’t?!), and I had a vague memory of some of the poetry, I really had no idea what to expect from the show. This was just the way I liked it though, no expectations and all anticipation is the perfect formula to enjoy most things for me!

After a delicious burger at Grand Trailer Park Taverna (more about that in another post), we made our way to the Regent Theatre. The Cats production which is in Australian is the 2015 Olivier award nominated hit revival, which was reworked for the most recent season in the West End by the original creative team. It received excellent reviews and extended its season due to overwhelming demand, so it was quite a privilege to be able to see it in my home town.

Sitting in the grand Regent Theatre, the stage was set up in an elaborate manner, and as the lights went down and the music started, a stream of cats flooded the aisles, purring to audience members, jumping on the seats, and generally creating a hushed excitement through the crowd. It was one of the few times I have been grateful for an aisle seat!

The show begins by introducing the Jellicle cats who are preparing for the Jellicle Ball. Who or what are the Jellicle cats? You will just have to watch the show to find out! Amongst the Jellicle cats are a variety of characters, and as the show progresses, we get to meet them and learn about their characters.

The dancing in the show is one of the highlights. From acrobatics, to tap dancing, the dancers are all high class, and the co-ordination and timing is impeccable. As a dancer myself, I always pay particular attention to dancing of any kind, and on this occasion I was more than impressed. Two of my favourite dancing cats were Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer. They performed as a fun duo, and as they co-cartwheeled off the stage the audience broke into rapturous applause.

Delta Goodrem was cast as the ostracised, old cat, Grizabella. Her first song, Memory, coincided with the half time interval, and the theatre was awash with an eerie solemness as the power of her voice filled the space. She had, by far, the most impressive voice in the whole cast, and the part suited her perfectly.

Cats the Musical is playing for a strictly limited season at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre, and the touring to Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. For further information, or to purchase tickets, you can visit the Cats The Musical website.

Disclaimer: I attended Cats The Musical as a guest of Nuffnang and Cats The Musical, however all opinions are my own.

One Saturday, just after picking up our City2Sea race packs, myself, the other half and the other half’s cousin, J, were wandering down Gertrude St trying to find a place for brunch. Generally when we go out, I have always done my research and have a place in mind, but this time I had no idea where to go.

As we meandered down, we passed numerous cafes that were either too full to get a table at, or too empty for us to have any confidence in them. Eventually we stumbled upon Arcadia. It had a reasonable crowd, but there were still some empty tables, and the menu looked interesting enough for us to give it a go.

We sat down, and grabbed some water from the table behind us. Not long afterwards, menus were handed to us and we set about deciding on what to have. We decided against coffees. We were running the next day, and it was probably a smart decision to stick to water for maximum hydration. Plus it was basically lunch time, so coffee really wasn’t necessary.

J stuck with his standard choice of a muesli variation. We always laugh when he goes out and orders muesli, but he loves it, so who are we to judge! This time he chose a porridge. It was an eclectic mix of oats, quinoa and chia seeds, combined with pepitas, sunflower seeds and almonds and topped with a poached pear, cranberries and pomegranate molasses. He was very impressed with his dish, even going as far as to say it was pretty close to his own muesli mix which he makes, and prides himself on. The serving was huge too, which was appreciated.

Whilst J’s choice was a traditional breakfast choice, the other half went the opposite way and chose a clear lunch option, the Arcadian burger. This burger was described with lots of flowery language on the menu: a Angus beef burger infused with spiced basil and tomato salsa, topped with cheddar on a bed of leaves and tomato, drizzled with baconnaise and served with pickles and hot mustard. The other half pretty much stopped reading when he came across the word baconnaise, because according to him, nothing could go wrong if it had baconnaise. He had never had this mystical baconnaise but the knowledge that bacon and mayonnaise were two of the greatest ingredients on earth gave him confidence that baconnaise must be amazing.

Alas, when his burger arrived, he tasted it and the baconnaise was really that much of a key ingredient. He commented that his burger was good, but not amazing, and definitely not at the lofty heights he had hoped it would reach.

I decided to order fried eggs with red and green salsa and spicy beans on stuffed cheese and jalapeno corn tortillas. Firstly the dish had us somewhat confused. It was listed on the menu as ‘Huevos (fried) eggs.’ Now, huevos is Spanish for eggs, so was I going to be having Eggs (fried) eggs? Perhaps double fried eggs? Or maybe an egg wrapped in a fried egg? It was confusing. Nevertheless I put a stop to the questions in my head and ordered the dish anyway.

What arrived was infact fried eggs on stuffed tortillas with beans and salsa. Just standard fried eggs. Not that I’m complaining, I love fried eggs and these eggs were good. The beans were also OK, but they definitely didn’t reach the spicy heights that I was hoping for.  But the real problem of the dish was the tortilla. As I attempted to dig in, armed with a knife and fork, I realised there was no chance I was going to be able to cut my tortilla. It was as hard as a rock. I think would have struggled to make a dint in it, even with a steak knife. As a result, my meal was a bit of a disappointment. Having to struggle so much to even eat my meal, meant my level of enjoyment was seriously hampered.

Other than the food the café was quite nice. The décor was pleasant, the staff were friendly and the service was prompt. It was unfortunate that the food didn’t hit the mark for me, although J was impressed and the other half was satisfied. Perhaps I had just picked a bad dish. Oh well, there’s always next time!

Thai restaurants have become very popular in Melbourne, popping up all over the place, but it is often tricky to find a good one. On our explorations of the Northcote food scene, we decided to try and nail a trusty Thai option. Some Zomato research led us to Inthanon Thai, and so together with the other half’s cousin, J, we decided to see if it was worth the high reviews.

Located almost directly opposite the Northcote Town Hall, the restaurant is set slight away from the main strip. This possible means that it gets less traffic that the other places, but don’t let that deter you, it’s obviously a very well kept secret.

We went on a Sunday evening, and the restaurant was very quiet. We were seated immediately and as our menus were handed to us, I stopped to appreciate the décor. The interior of the restaurant was not overtly filled with Thai knick knacks, but there were a few pictures on the wall, and a rather grand light fitting hanging from the roof.

With both J and I as vegetarians, we decided to exercise our balance of power and opted for a full vegetarian meal. The menu had a whole section dedicated to ‘Vegie Lovers’ so we were spoilt for choice. As a vegetarian, I am used to only having to choose from one or two dishes, so when faced with two pages of options, I didn’t know where to start! On top of that, as the food blogger, I was entrusted with the responsibility of ordering for the table. Talk about pressure!

Eventually we settled on a selection of dishes to share, so that we could all try some different things. The items are all listed with their traditional Thai names, so ordering was a fairly comical affair. The staff are very friendly though, and after a few mispronunciations and lots of laughs, we eventually managed to explain what we wanted!

We were all pretty hungry, so the wait staff were given instructions to not worry about what order the dishes were made in, and to just bring everything out as it was ready, so it wasn’t long before the food started to arrive at our table.

The first thing to arrive was some complimentary prawn crackers. Probably not the best choice when you have a table ordering a vegetarian meal, but nevertheless the other half was happy to munch on these as a starter! The food came almost immediately after, starting with Pad Thai Jay, or vegetarian pad thai. Full of bean curd, egg, vegetables and flavour, this was a good dish. Our pad thai standards are pretty high. I’m not sure if what we like is even traditional, but this version was good. If I had one criticism though, it’s that I felt that the dish was slightly too sweet. The other half disagreed though, saying that he thought it was perfect, so I guess it just depends on each individual’s tastes.

We also ordered a Gang Dang Puk, or vegetarian red curry. This curry was wonderfully creamy, with the slightest hint of spice. I wouldn’t go as far as to say it was spicy, but it was fragrant and flavoursome. This curry was probably my favourite dish, and also a favourite around the table.

To complement the curry, I decided that we should also have a wok tossed dish and had ordered Pad Ruammit. This was a dish of stir fried vegetables and bean curd with garlic and soy sauce. This is a fairly classic combination of flavours and whilst it was nothing exciting, everything worked well together and it was a welcome addition to our meal.

Our last dish was actually an entree! Taw Hu Tod involved battered, deep fried pieces of tofu served with chilli sauce. It is no secret that deep fried food is my weakness, and this dish was no exception. The tofu itself had little flavour, but the batter was so crunchy, and the sauce sweet, and everything combine made a great little dish to go with the meal.

Our meal at Inthanon Thai was great and we all agreed that this was definitely a great Thai option in Northcote. While we were there having our meal, the restaurant slowly filled up, and there was a regular stream of takeaway customers, so it was clear that the locals knew how good the place was!