Chiangrai Thai Restaurant

I posted about our visit to Chiangrai Thai Restaurant the other week, but I didn't have photos. We've visited again since then (a few times) and it has been consistently wonderful. I even took some photos!

Pad Thai: stir fried noodles in Thai style with chicken and egg, bean sprouts, shallots and peanuts ($10.90)

Gang Massaman: finely sliced beef with panang curry paste, green beansm zucchini and lime leaves in thick coconut milk topped with chopped peanuts ($11.90)

Pad Kapao: stir fried chicken with green beans, bamboo shoots, onion and capsicums with fresh chilli and basil leaves ($11.90)

Soy-Simmered Chicken

This is another fabulously easy recipe from Donna Hay. It takes perhaps 10-15 minutes from start to finish, and it's very tasty. The Asian flavours are really nice and pronounced and the sauce is perfect over boiled rice. It smells amazing too.

Soy-Simmered Chicken
from Modern Classics Book 1 by Donna Hay

2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbs shredded ginger
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbs brown sugar
1/2 cup Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
4 chicken breast fillets

Place the sesame oil, ginger, soy sauce, sugar, Chinese cooking wine, star anise and cinnamon stick in a frying pan over medium-low heat and bring to a simmer. Add the chicken and cook for 6-7 minutes each side or until cooked through. Serve on plates with sauce from the pan, steamed greens and rice.

Open Roast Sweet Potato and Feta Pies

A friend brought in a batch of these wonderful Open Roast Pumpkin and Feta Pies for a morning tea at work and they were absolutely delicious. She gave me the recipe and I gave it a go. A's were much much tastier than mine, but mine didn't turn out that badly.

I cheated a bit by using pre-made coq au vin cases and I substituted sweet potato for the pumpkin. I also think I put a bit too much of the egg mix into the cases because there was an slight element of runniness. They still tasted nice though.

The recipe for these came from BestRecipes.com.au.

Open Roast Sweet Potato and Feta Pies
Adapted from Lady_Greenfingers recipe on BestRecipes.com.au

350g sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
2 tbs olive oil
2 eggs
100ml light thickened cream
100g low-fat feta, crumbled
pre-made coq au vin cases

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius.

Place sweet potato on a baking sheet lined with baking paper, drizzle with olive oil and season.

Roast for 20 minutes or until cooked.

Whisk eggs and cream together.

Divide the sweet potato amoung the rounds, top with 1 tsp of egg mixture and then sprinkle with feta.

Bake for 20 minutes until set.

Cool slight, then turn out onto a rack.

Tiramisu

I had this really odd hankering for tiramisu last weekend. It was very strange as it just came out of the blue. I thought that tiramisu would be a nice light change to the cupcakes I've been making lately, so we made sure to pick up some marscarpone and savioardi biscuits on the way home.

I chose a recipe from Food Safari. I haven't been cooking from it much lately, but looking at the website made me realise just how much I enjoyed the show. Although, trying to pick the places where they are shopping for supplies from the really small credits is pretty hard.

It was so easy! The mixer did most of the work, and although I didn't quite have the patience to beat my egg yolks until they were really really white, the marscarpone/egg yolk cream tasted amazing. In my coffee mix I cheated a bit as I don't have an espresso machine and I didn't have any espresso-strength coffee, so my coffee was good quality instant. I used marsala and kahlua as my liqueurs.

I didn't add much of either alcohol as I'm a not a big drinker, but there was enough there to make me a little tipsy as I layered my tiramisu. I love sovioardi biscuits and I had put aside a few for me to snack on. I dipped one in to taste the coffee and then things deteriorated to a point where I was picking up the biscuit, dunking it into the coffee and then spooning some of the marscarpone over the top. Luckily I had assembled my proper ones before this happened, but it still wasn't really a flattering look. I enjoyed myself immensely though.

Before this happened I had already decided to make a "chef's treat" in the form of a very small tiramisu assembled in the marscarpone tub.


This one got a chance to set in the fridge before I got to it the next day. I love tiramisu.

Tiramisu
adapted from Italian Food Safari

3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup caster sugar
250g mascarpone
Hot strong coffee
A splash of Marsala and Kahlua
Savioardi biscuits
Chocolate flakes

Beat egg yolks with sugar until thick and white. This will take at least 15 minutes. Add the mascarpone and beat until just combined and smooth.

Combine coffee with liqueurs. Quickly dip biscuits, a few at a time, into coffee mixture. Set aside on a plate to cool.

In a clean bowl, whisk egg whites until thick and stiff and gently fold into the mascarpone mixture.

Layer biscuits into individual glass bowls, alternately with the mascarpone cream. Refrigerate for 2-3 hrs or longer, preferably. Finish with a sprinkling of good chocolate over the top.

Chiangrai Thai Restaurant

For the last three years we have had to drive down Wynnum Rd to get to work and we've always meant to try some Thai food at Chiangrai Thai Restaurant, because every night it's so busy and we want to know what the fuss is about.

We tried some last night and I forgot to get photos, but it was so good I had to post. We ordered:

Pad Kapao: stir fried chicken with green beans, bamboo shoots, onion and capsicums with fresh chilli and basil leaves ($11.90)

Gang Massaman: finely sliced beef with panang curry paste, green beansm zucchini and lime leaves in thick coconut milk topped with chopped peanuts ($11.90)

Pad Thai: stir fried noodles in Thai style with chicken and egg, bean sprouts, shallots and peanuts ($10.90)

Coconut rice: steamed jasmine rice with coconut milk, lemongrass and lime leaves ($3 per person)

It was delicious. All the flavours sang! We'll definately go back and we won't leave it this long next time.

Chiangrai Thai Restaurant
227 Wynnum Rd
Norman Park
Ph 3899 1071 / 3217 9528
www.chiangraithai.com.au

Purple Gorilla Burger Sensations

DD caught a different bus to work one morning last week and noticed a bright purple and yellow store called Purple Gorilla Burger Sensations. Apparently, it just jumped out at him and it was all he noticed. We like our burgers, so we decided to give Purple Gorilla a try.

Purple Gorilla is in the new Gabba Central complex opposite the Gabba. Parking there on a Friday (non-game) night is a little iffy, but there is a Coles in the complex so there must be specific customer parking somewhere that I didn't notice. We went after DD had some after work drinks, so I was driving as he was a little tipsy.

They were fairly quiet, but since they are pretty new the word must still be spreading. According to their menu, they have a range of gourmet burgers all served on fresh "Wildbread" buns seasoned with the Gorilla's own rosemary infused olive oil and all sauces and relishes are made in-store to secret Gorilla recipes. This intrigued me, I'm a sucker for a good relish.

The staff there were really friendly and enthusiastic. They were very lovely. DD, in his slightly inebriated state, was inspecting a special board and was asking what the asterisks in "f***" stood for in the phrase "Harden the f*** up!". She happily joked along with him.

Our dinner was ready in about ten minutes. The burgers are huge and the quality of the ingredients is really apparent.

Spicy fire eater: spicy prime beef pattie, chorizo sausage, the Gorilla's own chilli apple chutney, tomato, baby rocket mix and aoili ($10.90 ea)

DD and our flatmate both tried the spicy fire eater. It was a really nice combination of flavours with a subtle heat. It wasn't too hot or strong. I liked it.

Purple Gorilla Burger: prime beef pattie, bacon, Mamma's relish, tasty cheese, tomato, beetroot salsa, dill pickle, baby rocket mix and aioli ($10.90)

I chose the Purple Gorilla Burger minus the beetroot salsa and pickles. The patty is really nicely spiced and has a flavour all of its own. There was an excellent burger to cheese ratio and everything worked together really well. My only problem was that it was too big to finish.

We also shared a serving of potato planks (beer battered potato chips sprinkled with the Gorilla's own rosemary infused seasoning $3.90) with a side of garlic aioli. The chips were perfectly cooked and they were drowned in seasoning like the chips from Grill'd. The seasoning was subtle and it didn't taste artificial. The garlic aioli was one of the best I'd tasted as well.

Next time we visit I want to try the Raving Sweet Chicken burger: flame grilled chicken breast, melted camembert, spicy cranberry sauce, Mamma's relish, tomato, cucumber, baby rocket mix and aioli ($11.90). You could also try the Bush Tucker Roo burger - bush spiced kangaroo pattie with relish, bacon, spicy cranberry sauce, tomato, rocket and aioli ($11.90) or the Magic Mushroom - a whole Portobello mushroom flame grilled and seasoned with basil pesto, relish, feta cheese, babaganoush, olive tapenade, rocket and aioli $12.50).

The burgers were excellent and the service was great. It was very enjoyable and we are really happy that DD caught that bus that day.

Purple Gorilla Burger Sensations
Shop 19A Gabba Central
Cnr Ipswich Rd and Stanley St
Woolloongabba Qld 4102
Ph 1300 GORILLA (1300 467 455)
www.purplegorilla.com.au (at the time of this post, the website isn't up and running)

Smoky Grilled Chicken and Crispy Fennel Salad

I decided to go through a lot of my old magazines refreshing my memory about recipes I wanted to try back then and looking for new recipes I want to try now. I have only recently got into Donna Hay, but I found two of her magazines from last year, both of which are full of recipes I want to try.

This recipe comes from the "crunchy salad" section, but since DD isn't too keen on salad, I cooked some chips for him to have on the side.

The chicken and dressing were very nice, but they were completely overshadowed by the awesomeness that was the fennel. I loved the fennel so much that the rest of the meal was completely forgotten. Fennel is amazing fried. Absolutely fantastic.

Smoky grilled chicken and crispy fennel salad
from Donna Hay Magazine Oct/Nov 2007, p 128

500g chicken breast minute steaks
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp smoky ground paprika
2 tsp fennel seeds
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup rice flour (I used cornflour)
2 eggwhites, lightly beaten (I used one egg, lightly beaten)
vegetable oil for shallow-frying
2 baby cos lettuces, cut into wedges
sherry dressing
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp caster sugar
sea salt and cracked black pepper

To make the sherry dressing, place the vinegar, oil, sugar, salt and pepper into a bowl and stir to combine. Set aside.

Place the chicken, garlic, paprika, fennel seeds and oil in a bowl and toss well to combine. Heat a large nonstick frying pan over high heat and cook the chicken for 2-3 minutes each side or until cooked through. Set aside and keep warm.

Place the flour, salt and pepper in a bowl. Dip the fennel into the eggwhite and press into the flour mixture. Heat 2cm of oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Shallow fry the fennel in batches for 2 minutes or until golden. Drain on absorbent paper. Arrange on plates with the chicken and baby cos and spoon over the sherry dressing to serve.

Beef and Guiness Pie (minus the pie part)

I'm trying to broaden our slow cooking horizons with different flavours. This time I tried to do a beef and guiness pie filling, in a stew style (does that make sense?). I did use a recipe from Australian Table as a guide, but really it was quite simple to make up as you went along.

It turned out quite well. I would have liked a richer darker gravy sauce than the soupy sauce we ended up with. I tried to strengthen the flavour by adding vegemite and soy sauce, which made it better but it wasn't the silky rich flavour I was hoping for.

Beef and Guiness Stew
Adapted from Australian Table July 2008, p 88

1kg chuck steak
2 tbs grapeseed oil
1 onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 can Guiness
1/2 cup beef stock
1 tbs tomato paste
1 tbs vegemite
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 sweet potato, cut into small chunks

Place all ingredients but the vegemite, soy sauce and sweet potato into the slow cooker and turn it on. Using my Breville, it took 6 hours on Auto.

1 hour before serving, taste the sauce for seasoning. If it needs it, add vegemite and soy to taste. Add sweet potato and cook for a further hour.

Serve.

Crazy Cupcake Sunday: The Aftermath

So many cupcakes!

I had to pack the cupcakes into five different containers for transport to the morning tea. The obvious answer to my too many cupcakes problem is to not make so many, as these three batches ended up feeding a majority of my workplace. But where's the fun in that?

Luckily, the lovely Not Quite Nigella and the lovely people at The Cupcake Courier have enabled my crazy cupcake making by making me the winner of one the fantastic Cupcake Couriers!

Thank you very much! I promise to fill it with yummy cupcakes as often as I am able.

Pictures of my new cupcake courier!

Crazy Cupcake Sunday: Chestnut Cupcakes and Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

To round off my trio of cupcakes this particular Crazy Cupcake Sunday, I wanted to make something a little different. I had a strange hankering for chestnut puree, so I decided to try these Chestnut Cupcakes from Tartelette.

I was not skilled enough to do the swirled chocolate frosting, and it was late so I didn't really want to pull out the piping bag. So I just mixed the chocolate and cream cheese frosting together to make chocolate cream cheese frosting. It's not the best idea, so I don't think I'll try it again. Maybe next time I will try swirling in some leftover chestnut puree to keep the chestnut theme going through the entire cupcake.

I loved the cupcakes, they were amazing. Unfortunately, the icing didn't really work and it really let the cupcakes down. I'll make these again because I love chestnut puree and I love finding new things to do with it, but I'll try something different to ice them.

Chestnut Cupcakes and Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Tartelette

(I halved the recipe below and made 18 small cupcakes)

1 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
113g unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
85g chestnut puree
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting:
115g cream cheese, softened
25g butter, softened
1/4 cup icing sugar
115g melted chocolate

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Line trays with cupcake liners.

In a small bowl, sift together the flour and baking soda.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the chestnut puree. Mix well.

Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla.

Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

For the frosting: mix the butter and cream cheese in an electric mixer until smooth, add the icing sugar. Beat well until smooth, mix in chocolate. (Once again, don't do what I did, I really ruined the icing playing with this)

Crazy Cupcake Sunday: Caramel Lovers' Cupcakes

It was a friend's birthday last Tuesday and we had a morning tea at work to celebrate. She is a caramel fan, so I made her these Caramel Lovers Cupcakes to celebrate. I also brought in the chocolate cupcakes and some chestnut cupcakes for a bit of variety.

I find caramel to be really really sweet. I'm not a big caramel fan because of this, I need something to offset the sweetness, like salt in salted caramel. I did sneak a (very small) pinch of salt into the icing on this cupcake, but it wasn't enough to cut through the sugar. That being said, they were very nice. It was just that you could only have one.

In the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook, they include directions to do the Crabapple "signature swirl" with the icing. I've been trying to get this on every non-buttercream-iced cupcake I've made and I still have no idea how it works. I want my icing to be swirly! The sad thing about that is that there's even pictures in the instructions and I can't get it.


Caramel Lovers' Cupcakes
from Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook by Jennifer Graham, p 109

(I halved the recipe below and made 12 small cupcakes and 12 muffin sized cupcakes)

3 1/3 cups plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
100g butter
2/3 cups soft brown sugar
1/4 cup golden syrup
1/2 cup cream
2/3 cup water
150g softened butter
1 3/4 cup castor sugar
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Line trays with cupcake liners.

Sift the flour and baking powder together.

Combine 100g butter, brown sugar, golden syrup and cream in a heavy based saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally with a flat bottomed wooden spoon until the sugar has dissolved. Turn the heat up to high and boil for at least 5 minutes. Take off the heat and cool to room temperature.

Once the caramel sauce has cooled, whisk together with water until well combined.

In another bowl, cream the butter for 1-2 minutes. Add the castor sugar a third at a time, beating well after each addition. After the last addition, beat until the mixture is light and fluffy and the sugar is almost dissolved. Add eggs one at time, beating for 1 minute after each addition or until mixture is light and fluffy.

Add a third of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add half of the caramel mixture and beat until combined. Repeat this process. Add the remaining third of the flour and beat until thoroughly combined; do no over-beat as this will toughen the mixture.

Spoon mixture into cupcake papers, filling each to just over half full (this mixture rises a lot). Bake for 18 minutes or until a fine skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from the trays immediately and cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before frosting.

(Initially I did not read the second page of the recipe and just started filling to three quarters full and I was only making 12 muffin sized cupcakes. When I turned the page and saw the warning, I took out my smaller cupcake tray and removed a full teaspoon from each of the big ones into the little ones. This is how I ended up with 12 big ones and 12 little ones.)

Real Caramel Sauce Frosting
from Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook by Jennifer Graham, p 147

(I halved the recipe below, but only used 2 cups of icing sugar instead of 4. I also needed to add a small amount of extra cream to make it spreadable)

100g butter
2/3 cups soft brown sugar
1/4 cup golden syrup
1/2 cup cream
8 cups icing sugar

Combine 100g butter, brown sugar, golden syrup and cream in a heavy based saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally with a flat bottomed wooden spoon until the sugar has dissolved. Turn the heat up to high and boil for at least 5 minutes. Take off the heat and cool to room temperature.

Add half of the sifted icing sugar to the cooled caramel mixture and use an electric mixer on medium speed to beat for 3 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the remaining icing sugar and beat for a further 3 minutes opr until the mixture is light and fluffy and of a spreadable consistency. Add extra cream if the mixture is too dry or extra icing sugar if the mixture is too wet.

Crazy Cupcake Sunday: Dinosaur Rock Cupcakes

With all the cupcakes I have been making recently, DD has requested that I make a chocolate cupcake for him. I chose a recipe from the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook which the author says is her favourite chocolate cupcake recipe.

It was so much fun to make. The science of cupcakes is starting to make sense to me now, and I understand the process so much more than I did a little while ago. The chocolate flavour was lovely and deep. It wasn't too rich but it was definately chocolatey. I swirled some small chocolate bits through the mixture before baking to give it a little bit of an extra chocolate hit.

They were delicious un-iced and straight from the oven.


I wanted to give them a nice and light icing. The recipe book suggests a vanilla buttercream with food colouring, but I loved the Swiss meringue buttercream used on the creme brulee cupcakes so much that I didn't really want to go with the standard buttercream icing. Luckily, How to Eat a Cupcake came to my rescue (again) with her Swiss Meringue Buttercream instructional post found here.

They were amazing. So very very good. I think they are now my favourite cupcakes of all the ones I've made. Yum!

Dinosaur Rock Cupcakes
from Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook by Jennifer Graham p27

(I halved this recipe and ended up with 24 small cupcakes and 4 muffin-sized ones)

3 cups plain flour
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 tbs instant coffee granules
1 cup hot water
1 cup cocoa
1 cup cold water
200g softened unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups castor sugar
4 eggs
1 tbs vanilla extract

Preheat ovent to 170 degrees C. Line your trays with cupcake liners.

Sift together the flour, bicarb soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the coffee, hot water and cocoa until smooth. Add the cold water and whisk until evenly combined.

In another bowl, cream the butter for 1-2 minutes. Add the castor sugar a third at a time, beating well after each addition. Once all the sugar is added, beat until the mixture is light and fluffy and the sugar has almost dissolved. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addtion until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combine.

Add a quarter of the flour to the creamed mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add a third of the cocoa mixture and beat until combined. Repeat this process twice more. Add the remaining quarter of the flour and beat until thoroughly combined; do not overbeat as this will toughen the mixture.

Fill the cupcake liners approximately three quarters full. To prevent the cupcakes cracking on top, allow the mixture to sit in the papers for 20 minutes before baking. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from the trays immediately and allow to cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before frosting.

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
from How to Eat a Cupcake

4 large egg whites
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup (227g) unsalted butter, at room temp
1/2 cup melted and cooled dark chocolate
3 tbs unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put egg whites and sugar into the top of a double boiler over a pan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, cook until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm (about 70 degrees C).
Pour heated egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg white mixture on high speed until it forms stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until fluffy and cooled, about 7 minutes.

Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low, add butter two tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. Increase speed to medium-high and continue beating until frosting appears thick, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low; add chocolate, cocoa and vanilla extract and continue beating 2 minutes to eliminate air bubbles.

This buttercream was the first time I was using my new candy thermometer. While I was whisking the egg whites and sugar over the double boiler, I whisked too close to the thermometer and knocked it off the pan and onto the stovetop, where it shattered. My newest toy lasted me about 5 minutes. Oh well, I ended up trying to convince my meat thermometer to tell me how hot my mixture was. It was quite funny.

Spiced Soda Bread

Whenever we go out for dinner at out local Irish pub, I love ordering soda bread. I love damper too, so I'm a big fan of breads using baking soda as the leavening agent.

The recipe was originally written with caraway seed as the spice, but it also suggested cumin seeds as the substitute. When I went to make it, I couldn't find my caraway seed so I did go the substitution route. It made the bread go a rather interesting shade of yellow, a bit like a pumpkin scone colour.

I halved the recipe and ended up with a really really wet dough. I had to add a lot of flour to it to make it workable, and even then it was still very sticky as I shaped it. I was scared to add too much flour, so I tried to only add as little as possible to make it handle-able. I think the wetness of the dough also meant that my crosses didn't cut very deep. I'm blaming the wetness of the dough anyway.

The bread turned out quite dense and I really wasn't a fan. I am not sure if it was the cumin seed or if the loaves were underbaked, but I didn't really like it. I think I might try a few unflavoured soda bread recipes first before I try this again, because I do want to try it with caraway.

Spiced soda bread
adapted from Australian Good Taste Magazine July 2008 p68

2 cups (300g) plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tbs cumin seeds
30g butter, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp white wine vinegar

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius. Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and 1/2 tbs of the cumin seeds in a bowl. Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture. Add the milk and vinegar and use a round-bladed knife in a cutting motion to mix until the mixture starts to come together in the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and gently shape into a ball. Use your hands to roll the dough into a 20cm long log. Cut into 4 equal portions.

Shape each dough portion into a ball and place on a large baking tray. Use a sharp knife to score a cross into the top of each ball. Sprinkle with remaining caraway seeds. Bake in oven for 25 minutes or until the bread is golden and sounds hollow when tapped on the base. Serve warm with butter.

Lunch at Pane e Vino

Three of us decided to go out for a catch up lunch on Friday afternoon in the city. Because we had left things until the last minute we really weren't sure where we wanted to go and had resolved to meet in the city and just see what was around as we walked the streets.

We decided to try Pane e Vino. I had been there a few times for dinner and I've enjoyed it a lot but DD isn't a big fan. On this day they were quite busy with only a few available tables. We sat on the street, comfortable on a chilly day next to two happily burning braziers.

Unfortunately, their service suffered a little in the lunch rush. It was a long time before we were approached for our order and it ended up taking about an hour to get our food. We were watching other people who arrived after us getting their meals before we had even ordered. We discovered as we were paying though that Pane e Vino take phone orders at lunch time and this is why everyone seemed to be getting served before we did. I highly recommed the pre-ordering, it was clear that the number of pre-orders was pushing back the orders taken from diners in the restaurant.

Anyway, once our food did arrive it was very good. We ordered:

Ricotta and buffalo raviloni with dill, parsley and marscapone cream sauce (pasta special)

Insalata Cesare: sweet cos leaves mixed with diced crispy bacon, egg and traditional caesar dressing finished with shaved parmesan and crisp foccacia croutons

Tortellini Primavera: ricotta filled tortellini tossed with seasonal fresh and marinated vegetable, served in a napoli sugo

I had the special pasta (ricotta and buffalo raviloni) because I was in the mood for something soothing and creamy. The dill flavour really permeated throughout the sauce and it matched the gentle flavours of the ricotta and buffalo. The serving was so big but I enjoyed it so much that I ate it all.

My lunch dates also enjoyed their meals. The food was lovely and we now know how to avoid the service delays if we go back in the future. I'd be happy to go there for lunch again.

Pane e Vino
Corner Albert and Charlotte Sts
Brisbane 4000
Ph 07 3220 0044
www.paneevino.com.au

Easy Thai Yellow Curry

This dinner was created out of me being very tired and very very lazy. It's simply chicken breast minute steaks cooked in some Thai yellow curry paste and garlic with some light coconut milk and sugar snap peas added at the end.

Very simple, very nice. It really needs an extra kick so I've bought some sambal to add next time.