Lunch and a day trip out of Seminyak
When I was visiting Bali last year, my friends and I decided to have a champagne brunch and chose the most fabulous restaurant at the Melia Hotel in Nusa Dua probably about a half hour drive from our hotel in Seminyak. On our way we saw a parade of lovely Indonesian women…
We arrived at this absolutely amazing resort with a magnificent open foyer area which we walked through and saw large structures throughout the gardens.
The views over the swimming pools, beach and ocean were beautiful…
We walked down towards the beachfront to the restaurant and because we were so keen we had arrived about fifteen minutes too early. We waited [hungrily] in the shade and soon were seated at a round table near the window.
I have to say that this was probably the ‘best’ buffet I have ever seen and believe me I have seen a few!! The food displays were incredible and all beautifully presented. Near us there was a large range of fresh seafood; prawns, lobster, salmon, oysters, mussels and every other kind of seafood you could think of…
Our waiter informed us we could eat from the buffet and we could also order anything from the menu – all included in the one cost ($100 AUD). And of course we could order any drink we wanted…
I stuck with my usual sauvignon blanc and the other girls ordered espresso martinis, the resort’s signature cocktail and mojitos.
There was a roast station, hot quiches, pizza, pasta with a large array of sauces and Asian food including all sorts of hand made noodles. I saw more bread and cheeses than I think I have ever seen. My photos absolutely do not show how incredible the food was unfortunately and I didn’t take photos of all stations.
I had become a vegan two months prior so there was so much food I could not eat. But there was so much I could. Tempura/lovely breads/amazing salads/warm vegetables/pasta/noodles just to name a few. I did order an open falafel burger from the menu which was very nice.
Then it came to the dessert area – oh my goodness! Anything you wanted was there and like the entrees and main meals you could also order from the menu. My friends ordered one dessert which was a chocolate ball which when arrived, hot chocolate was poured over. The outer layer of chocolate then melted onto the plate and inside was more chocolate; mousse – incredible! 
And this chocolate cake looked incredible and the chocolate fountain was a hit with the girls, well with all other diners really.
As we were eating dessert (I enjoyed some sorbet), the waiter came around with warm doughnuts and a hot chocolate sauce for those who wanted them…
By this stage we had been at the resort for about four hours and eaten our weight in food…time to say goodbye – what a day!
A couple of weekends ago, I travelled about two hours from Canberra to the south coast of New South Wales to stay with friends Sharon and Brenden. I hadn’t seen these friends for some time so with my little dog Axel we set off around lunch time on a Friday and stayed until mid morning Sunday. Driving along their street is wonderful as there are many kangaroos that come to the front lawns of homes to eat every afternoon and early morning.
We arrived at St. Isidore and wow what a place. A casual feel inside, tables presented nicely and lovely views of the gardens from all windows.
The grounds really are gorgeous, service is great and food very good. We were seated at our table by a very friendly waiter and I took a walk around the grounds to take some photos.
We ordered our drinks and took a look at the menu. I had already checked out the dishes on-line as wanted to make sure there were vegan options; there were!
I ate very healthily. I ordered a pasta dish with broad beans and an olive oil dressing for entree and a tofu and vegetable dish for my main course. My main had grilled eggplant and I love eggplant but definitely not grilled so that was left in the bowl.
My friends ordered an array of dishes which they said were all delicious.
All in all it was a very lovely evening…
I had read about the Chinese restaurant at the Canberra Casino which had very good reviews but had not particulary wanted to go there as it was located inside the casino and guess I didn’t think it would have great ambience being next to gambling tables. But… recently I read another review at the beginning of Chinese New Year (gong xi fa cai to my Chinese friends) which again mentioned how good the food is…so knew I had to go especially over CNY.
We were the only people in the restaurant which had lovely Chinese lanterns all throughout and was served by a beautiful girl who was born in Japan and moved to Australia to be with her partner; an Aussie boy – lovely chatting to her I must say.
I am not sure where the name Natural Nine comes from but all the colourful paper place mats have the Chinese character for the numeral nine on them and also the same character is on the walls. They all look fabulous.
The menu is extensive and great for vegetarians and I think that is why we ordered so much food. 
First up we ordered the steamed mushroom and water chestnut dumplings with black garlic dressing and as Jon loves spicy food and chicken wings he ordered the Sichuan pepper and lime chicken wings. Both dishes arrived pretty quickly which made me think they are part made and heated up when ordered but my dumplings were still very good and Jon said the wings were extremely tasty.
Our next dishes were the sweet and sour plum eggplant with handmade egg tofu – best dish ever!!! I loved it. This came served with a bowl of steamed rice but as we had ordered another rice dish we did not touch it.
We also shared a bowl of exotic mushroom and burnt onion wild fried rice; so delicious and such a big bowl, so we only were able to eat about half. Shame we were so full as it really was very good.
This restaurant is well worth visiting; such good food. After lunch we head to the Casino and watched a few people start with a huge pile of chips and end up with none!! I guess that is why I never gamble!!
When I spoke to the waitress, I had mentioned that the paper place mats were fabulous, so when we went to pay she gave me two to take home…very kind!!
You know when you have heard and read about a particular place and you feel you really need to visit there?? Well the place I had heard about and wanted to visit was the restaurant at Canberra’s Botanic Gardens.
The restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch and I recall thinking the breakfast menu looked a little better than the luncheon menu; more choice! But funnily enough I just took a look on-line to see the menu [to remind myself what we ate] and the luncheon menu looks better than when we visited. So perhaps another visit after a stroll around the gardens.
We sat inside but had lovely views of the rainforest area outside. Inside is really quite lovely too; rather old fashioned which is very sweet.
I think I would probably call this more a cafe than a restaurant as you receive your menu but have to order at the counter. Meals and drinks are brought over to you though by the waitress which is so much better than those cafes where they call out your number and you have to return to the counter to pick up your meal.
My friend Jane’s husband Paul ordered a burger from memory which I forgot to photograph and Jane had the salmon nicoise salad which was a huge plate of salmon with sugar snap peas, sweet potato, olives, a poached egg with cherry tomatoes and Spanish onion then with a drizzle of green goddess dressing! As you can see pretty big meals for a Sunday lunch…
It’s a lovely little cafe and nice for a casual breakfast or lunch and must say the flower display near the front door was stunning!!
Today I also thought I would also introduce my beautiful little rescue dogs Axel and Bindi, who have lived together since they were born. I bought them from a rescue organisation about six weeks ago and we have fallen in love with each other. They are so [so] sweet and really quick learners.
Axel has a very funny little smile with crooked teeth, which he likes to display and sit up when he is allowed on the lounge (after the blanket is put down of course)…
And Bindi has had a nice hair cut for twice daily summer walks.
At the beginning of this month, my friend Jon and I went to lunch at a restaurant I had not been to. Other friends had been and recommended it for breakfast but we thought we would try its lunch menu. The restaurant is located at the National Arboretum and features ninety-four forests of rare, endangered and symbolic trees from around Australia and the world as well as a cafe and restaurant. 
The Arboretum’s website says that many of the trees are still young but two of the forests are nearly one-hundred years old. Over 44,000 trees from over 100 countries are growing across the 250 hectare site, making it one of the world’s largest living collections of rare, endangered and significant trees. (I did not know that!)
Prior to the early 2000 Canberra bushfires, the Arboretum site was mostly covered in pine plantations and after those fires the local government consulted extensively with the community and experts about the best use of the large areas of land occupied by burnt-out pine plantations resulting in the Arboretum…
Both the cafe and restaurant are located inside the main building and we had booked the restaurant which has wonderful views of the local area and parts of Lake Burley Griffin.
The restaurant is very much open plan and has a small menu which did come along with a specials page. We decided on sharing some thick sourdough bread and butter and my staple; a bowl of fries – must say these were delicious so I probably ate too many.
Jon decided to order from the specials page. He had the chargrilled lamb backstop on a mushroom risotto with a lemon thyme jus followed by Eton mess with brown sugar meringue, whipped coconut and raspberry compote. Both dishes looked really good and Jon said they were very tasty- he hadn’t tried Eton mess before so enjoyed something new.
I chose from the regular menu and was a touch disappointed; actually rather disappointed! I chose the vegan tasting platter and I thought I would see a plate with all different types of vegan bites, but it was nothing like that – it really was just a large plate of vegetables with a little bit of tomato salsa on top. I mean I enjoyed the snow peas and fennel and the broccolini but must say it was a little tasteless. Anyway I ate about half of the vegetables and some more fries!!
About half way through our meal, a group arrived for High Tea which when served looked great, so I think if I had any visitors to Canberra I would return for the High Tea rather than the restaurant meals.