date of visit:  Sat 28 August 2010

Yakumi, a tiny Japanese restaurant on Jetty Road, Glenelg has been something of a favourite venue amongst my extended family for quite some time.  So much so that my uncle and aunt actually booked out the whole restaurant for my cousin’s 21st birthday.

So you might be thinking that you’re about to read about the family’s latest, greatest experience, eating fabulous Japanese food and enjoying an all round top night out.

You could not be further from the truth.

There aren’t many seats at the Yakumi as it’s popular and, as we were planning a Saturday evening sortie, my father rang the Tuesdsay beforehand to book a table for 6 people for 7:30pm.  The phone was answered, the booking was taken (including name and contact number) and the family promptly put the date in its collective diary.

And when we arrived at the restaurant on Saturday night we found my uncle and aunt on the footpath … apparently not a record of our booking in sight.  With a full restaurant there was nothing that could be done except leave and find somewhere else to eat – always a handy thing to do as it pushes 8pm on a Saturday night.

So there’s no raving about the food here, just a comment on how truly awful service is at the Yakumi.  Taking a booking isn’t rocket science … 6 people, 7:30pm, Saturday … I’m pretty sure even I could manage it.  And if I ran a restaurant, I’d want to keep both potential customers happy and I’d be making sure that repeat customers keep on coming back – and that starts by not messing up bookings.

I’m prepared to accept that mistakes happen and bookings do get lost … but this isn’t actually the first time my family has had this experience so we can only conclude that while whatever happens in the kitchen at the Yakumi might be good, front of house leaves a lot to be desired.

Perhaps you won’t mind the embarrassment and hassle that a misplaced booking causes but for us, it’s more than a good enough excuse to check out some of Adelaide’s other Japanese restaurants.

date of visit:  Friday 20 August 2010

Our previous trip to the Taj Tandoor, on Rundle Street, was towards the end of last year, quite late on a busy Saturday night. On that occasion we enjoyed our food but were left underwhelmed by the service.

We headed for a return visit on Friday night – this time very early in the piece (around 6:30pm) and the restaurant was easily half empty. It filled up rapidly in the hour or so we were there, so if you want to eat slightly later on a Friday night then booking is recommended.

Actually, booking isn’t recommended (by me, at least) – because the sloppy service we experienced last year hasn’t improved and our experience on Friday night was (and I’m being kind here) laughable.

We arrived without a booking and, despite the large number of empty spaces, finding us a table turned in to a two man operation. This kind of redundancy was evident throughout our meal … if a job could be done by one person you could pretty much guarantee it would be done by two or more. There appeared to be a clear hierarchy which meant that staff wasted time deferring to at least one other person before making decisions.

This is particularly frustrating when you’re waiting for a drink and pappadums! We were actually given menus while waiting for a table but, when seated, had to wait a surprisingly long time for a drinks order to be taken. Naturally, we weren’t surprised when our drinks took a while to turn up …

The icing on the bad service cake was that, at the point we were about two thirds of the way through our entrées, literally, still with knives and forks in hand, we were approached by a waitress who asked if we were ready for our main courses. What? Mid mouthful am I really expected to answer that? What made her think that we would be ready?

It struck me as odd that, in a restaurant so eager to turn tables we would have to wait to pay our bill. But wait we did … as two people doubled up on register work, sorting bills, dockets, receipts … This meant that neither paid very much attention to us as the restaurant took our money. What an excellent way to make your customers feel valued.

You’ve probably realised that we won’t be rushing back, but clearly this is a popular Adelaide eatery, and if you can forgive bad service you might be interested in the food, which we feels falls in the ‘pretty good’ category.

I started with a very nice mango lassi, which I scoffed before almost any food arrived. I began my meal with the vegetable pakoras and Andy with the fish tikka. Both of these dishes suffered from being reheated – in the case of the fish, very much so, as it was really quite rubbery – the knife was keen on bouncing off the flesh than separating the flakes. The pakoras were in a lot better shape – a little tough but tasty nonetheless.

For main course I had a plate of the dahl with a buttery, buttery naan and Andy had the lamb rogan josh with pulao rice. The dahl had a good heat to it and was rich and creamy (and was perfectly mopped up by the naan) and Andy really enjoyed his lamb – it was tender and the sauce was rich, redolent with cloves and finished with a lovely sour tang.

But that’s not enough for me to put myself through the sloppy service mill again.T here are many good curry restaurants in Adelaide with service several notches above that at the Taj Tandoor. And, of course, there’s always the problem that an excellent curry can be produced at home – a restaurant really does need to offer something a bit extra whether it sits on Rundle Street or not.

I doubt we’ll be giving the Taj Tandoor the opportunity for third time lucky for a while …

Wow. That sounds like an exciting and different thing to cook and eat … but before you skip to the next recipe give me a chance to sell this one to you!

We eat Chinese food quite rarely (that’s my fault – I have found relatively few dishes that I actually like) but while in Sydney recently we both enjoyed a Szechuan dish which involved beef and a lot of chilli and cumin. Flicking through Ching He Huang’s Chinese Food Made Easy* in search of dinner inspiration we came across the wordily named “spiced beef stir-fry topped with spring onion and coriander” that sounded like it came very close to the Sydney original.

The recipe calls for beef fillet – which, at our butcher, was just $42 a kilo. Ouch. For a stir fry, laden with chilli? We quickly changed our minds and opted for one large chicken breast (around 200g) as a fiscally sound substitute. The only other things we needed to pick up on our shopping trip were some fresh coriander and a bunch of spring onions.

This super tasty dish is perfect for a quick supper because there’s no marinading required. When you’re ready to eat, beat the chicken breast flat and then slice very finely before coating with a mix of 1 tbsp of ground cumin, 1 tablespoon of chilli flakes (go gently here if you, or your guests, aren’t in to really spicy food), half a tsp of black pepper and a sprinkle of sea salt. Ensure the chicken is well coated. You can always do this in advance if you want but if you’re hungry, heat some oil in a wok and add the chicken. Have the oil hot and quickly stir fry the chicken (you’ve sliced it really finely, haven’t you?), so it starts to brown. Then add a splash of rice wine vinegar and a splash of soy sauce. This dish isn’t saucy – you’re just adding a bit of seasoning.

Take the wok off the heat and mix through 2 finely chopped spring onions and a very generous large handful of roughly chopped coriander.

We served with a generous portion of plain rice and a simple side of green beans, steamed and fried off with some onions, garlic, chilli, sesame oil and pepper. Also very simple and tasty. But it would work just as well in a tortilla or pita bread …

So often with cooking, I need to refer to a recipe to stop me from adding the entire contents of the spice drawer to a dish. This is a perfect example of this – it’s almost a store cupboard recipe but it has loads of flavour and, as you eat it, the chilli heat builds and builds.

One we’ll definitely be having again and again and we’d even be happy to share it with guests!  Absolutely delicious.

*Also available from Amazon UK, Amazon US or Fishpond Australia.

One of the things I miss about England is the monthly magazine that almost every supermarket produces. Mostly, these magazines are free (although the ones you pay for are usually well worth it – quite a few Waitrose Food Illustrateds and Sainsbury magazines are still in my collection): they consist of a lot of advertising in various guises but almost always have a good selection of recipes.

This recipe for steak and ale pie is based on one that originally appeared in such a magazine, produced by the now defunct supermarket, Safeway. It’s really easy (so don’t be frightened if you’ve never made a pie before!) but very tasty – make extra and any that doesn’t fit in pie dishes works just as well with some mash as a stew.

The only thing you can’t do here is rush. You want to simmer the mixture for at least an hour and a half so you may prefer to make the filling one day and construct the pie the next …

This take on things produces enough filling to make two (generous) one person pies as well as a more normal sized two person pie.

Start with 750g of diced beef (I used blade), toss it in seasoned flour and brown, in batches, in olive oil over a moderate to high heat. Set the beef to one side, reduce the heat and then add two onions cut into wedges, two peeled, sliced carrots and some whole, but peeled, garlic cloves. I say ’some’ because you know how much garlic you do or don’t like. Because it’s braised along with the beef it’s not a super strong flavour.

Allow this mix to soften for a few minutes, before adding 375mL of real ale (I used Black Sheep, bought at vast expense from a local bottle shop – but you do need to use a good quality beer with plenty of flavour), 200mL water and 2 tbsp of tomato paste. Bring this to the boil, then add some thyme and bayleaves before covering and simmering for at least 1 &func12; hours. After this time, when the meat is tender, you may wish to increase the heat and remove the lid to thicken up the sauce.

And that, with just a handful of ingredients and hardly any effort, is your pie filling.

Allow the filling to cool and, if necessary, reserve some of the gravy. If you like lots of pastry (and yes, we do!), grease your pie dish(es) and line with shortcrust pastry. Brush the edges of the pastry with egg, add the filling and top with puff pastry, sealing the edges well. Finish by ensuring there’s an air vent (if you have a pie funnel, even better) and glaze with beaten egg.

Bake at 200°C (non-fan) for a good 45 mins (longer if you’ve made one massive pie), until the pie is golden and you can’t wait any longer.

You may wish to serve with vegetables or salad on the side or you may wish to just scoff the rich, warm, pastry goodness!

I have just ended up with a pile of lemons and a surfeit of eggs. I’m working my way through both … slowly.

I spotted this recipe for a lemon and thyme cake about a month ago and I invariably find Nigel Slater’s cake recipes flawless (his chocolate brownie recipe is fantastic). I am also a sucker for cakes using ground almonds and cakes dredged in syrup when they come out of the oven … Of course, being a lemon and thyme cake … I now have an excess of thyme hanging around the house.

As I was using my trusty Magimix I took some short cuts with Slater’s method … but if you don’t bake a lot or you’re doing the hard work by hand, I’d defer to his recipe rather than what follows …

Preheat oven to 160°C. Slater doesn’t specify if this is normal or fan forced but, as I opted for normal bake and had to cook the cake for a lot longer than suggested, I think it’s fan forced. Grease a 1lb loaf tin and line with baking paper (yes, actually do this!).

Cream 200g butter with 200g caster sugar, and then add 100g plain flour, ½ tsp baking powder and 100g ground almonds. I always mix between each addition. Then add 4 large eggs. Finish by adding the finely grated zest of one large lemon (depending on how much you like lemon) and approximately 1 tsp of finely chopped fresh thyme leaves (you really can’t go the dried route here).

This makes a really thick batter so you’re going to have to spoon it in to the tin, rather than pour. Don’t be alarmed.

Slater says to bake for 45 mins. At 160°C, no fan, this wasn’t long enough and I ended up baking for just over an hour. If you can, opt for 160°C fan forced, or try 180°C in a normal oven.

Just before the cake finishes baking, make the syrup. In a pan over a moderate heat, dissolve 4 tbsp of caster sugar in the juice of 2 large lemons, adding in ½ tsp of thyme leaves. Make sure the sugar dissolves but don’t bring the mix to the boil. This did make a generous amount of syrup (not that it worried the cake) so don’t be too fussed about sourcing huge lemons!

When the cake comes out of the oven, take a long skewer and poke holes all over the cake, all the way to the bottom and then drizzle the syrup over the cake evenly, before allowing to cool in the tin.

Because you did use the baking paper to line the tin, when the cake is cool simply pull it out of the tin and cut in generous slices. Slater suggests serving with thick yoghurt but you don’t even need that.

Absolutely delicious – and I think it took me longer to do the dishes than put the cake together!

If you’re keen on a drink or two, you may well be interested in a forthcoming dinner at the Edinburgh Hotel, in Mitcham.

On Tuesday 22 June, Eurocentric Wine (with some help from Wine Academy) will be hosting a meal in the hotel’s High Street Bar, featuring a selection of red and white Burgundies.

Burgundy is never cheap and some of the wines that will be tasted on the evening retail well in excess of $100 (and the remainder hover dangerously close to the $100 mark).

White Burgundy is Chardonnay – but not as you know it. Unlike the ripe tropical fruit flavours, laden with vanilla that you might be familiar with, Chardonnay from Burgundy has more green apple like flavours (that’s due to the cooler climate), and much more restrained vanilla and buttery characteristics (that’s due to how oak is used).

Red Burgundy is made from Pinot Noir, a grape which is notoriously difficult to grow and almost always results in highly priced wines. The chances are you’ve enjoyed Pinot Noir from areas like Tasmania, the Adelaide Hills or parts of New Zealand. Pinot Noir from Burgundy is something a little bit different (and special) and if it’s a wine you haven’t experienced before, this is a great opportunity to try a whole pile!

Seating is limited to just 40 people so you should book sooner rather than later … The best thing is that you can book online … you don’t have to move, find a telephone or anything … just head over to Eurocentric’s online store.

We eat pasta at least once a week and, often, it is an emergency meal.  We get home late from something and throw some frozen filled pasta in boiling water and mix through some bought pesto.  Proper lazy food.

But then there are occasions (all the time, really) where there is no excuse for such laziness.  As Susan, at the Well Seasoned Cook, is hosting Pasta Presto Nights this week I took this as an opportunity to NOT crack open a jar but instead use up what was in the fridge.

Fortunately, the fridge was well stocked for pasta making.  We had half a jar of passata – absolutely essential for a fast pasta sauce, as well as half a small pot of tomato paste.  An excellent start.

If you’re using dried pasta, start cooking it before you start on the sauce.

I started by heating some olive oil in a pan, and crisping up a couple of rashers of bacon, chopped up.  Then I added a roughly chopped leek and 3 minced cloves (large!) of garlic.  Once the leek had softened, in went the passata, and I rinsed out the jar with some of the red wine that was open.  Then I mixed through the tomato paste, and added a teaspoon of oregano and a tiny scotch bonnet chilli (the first of what is looking like a very large harvest), very finely chopped.

And I just let that all very gently simmer while the pasta cooked.  Shortly before the pasta was ready I stirred through the remnants of some mascarpone (probably about 75g worth).

Mix the pasta through the sauce, and serve, topped with plenty of parmesan and black pepper.

From start to finish, this took less than half an hour (in fact, the sauce was finished before the pasta had finished cooking) and it was absolutely delicious.  The tiny chilli added a lovely background heat that built up as we ate and the mascarpone and tomato paste both enriched the sauce and made it fabulously creamy.

The only problem?  We don’t always have a fridge so conveniently stocked for pasta sauce making!

Entertaining on a weekend is always easy.  And by easy, I mean that, as a rule, I am able to get organised and spend time fiddling about with complicated, multipart recipes.  That all makes me extremely happy.

However, there are always occasions where food needs to be put together in a hurry and it’s useful to have a few familiar recipes that I know can be made without too much fuss, too many ingredients, and with very little time.

This is my standard ‘dessert in a hurry’ recipe.  Originally, the recipe comes from Gordon Ramsay’s Sunday Lunch*, where it appears as Coffee and Chocolate Mousse Cups.  This version is thanks to Almost Bourdain.

The recipe is both egg free and gluten free.

Note that it’s important to beat the mascarpone and icing sugar well.  Some mascarpone can be a little grainy (I think this might be a quality thing) and the beating helps reduce this.  Also, the (cold) mascarpone and sugar mix is very stiff.  I find my (good quality) plastic whisk is not quite up to the job.  Of course, using a mixer (such as a KitchenAid) makes this easier but adds significantly to the washing up load …

Also, this is not really a mousse in the way that I think of mousse.  It’s more a very dense, but hopefully smooth, chocolate and coffee cream.

Begin by beating 125g of mascarpone with 2 tbsp of icing sugar.  Beat well, until the mixture is smooth.

Mix in 4 tbsp of strong espresso coffee and 100g of melted, good quality dark chocolate.

Melting chocolate in a microwave is quicker than on the the stove top but I think it requires a little more attention.  Break the chocolate into pieces and microwave (I use med-high because I worry) for just a minute.  Stir.  Another minute in the microwave.  Another stir.  That should be just about done …

Finally, whisk 150mL of cream to soft peaks and fold this into the chocolate/coffee/mascarpone mixture.  Try to avoid buying ‘thickened cream’.  Almost all the cream in my local supermarket appears to have thickening agents of some type in it – you need to look out for something labelled ‘pure cream’.  If you’re in the UK, use double cream.

Spoon the mixture into small containers.  I’ve used small martini glasses and shot glasses.  You could also use espresso cups.  It won’t look like a lot but the mixture is dense and rich so no one needs a massive bowl full!

Refrigerate for as long as possible.  Overnight is ideal but you can get away with a couple of hours.

Serve with cream or icecream.

See!  I said it was easy!

*Also available from Amazon US or Amazon UK.

date of visit: Friday 30 April 2010

We were tootling around town doing a bit of after work shopping and decided to grab something to eat. Andy nominated Indian and we headed down to The Village, on Gouger Street (close to Morphett Street).

The decision was driven by the fact that we’ve eaten at The Village once before, with a group of friends and possibly after more than one beer, but the overall impression had been positive.

At The Village there’s no specialisation in one particular area of Indian cuisine and every dish on the menu is annotated with its area of origin. There are plenty of dishes you’ll recognise (such as butter chicken and chicken vindaloo) and others that may be new (chicken 65 – chicken fried with coriander seeds and pepper which was on our list to try but was unavailable).

In typical curry eating style we over ordered …

We started with pappadums, which were served with mint and tamarind chutneys. I always say that I make my mind up about a curry house based on the mint chutney and/or the hot lime pickle. The Village’s mint chutney definitely passed muster.

For entrée, I chose, unimaginatively, the vegetable pakoras while Andy opted for the chutney chicken kebab. We were going to share but I didn’t like the sound of this … Actually, I would have been perfectly happy with the kebab but I did prefer my vegetable pakoras. They had a good heat about them and, laced with the mint chutney, they were absolutely delicious. It was a large serve, of four big patties. If you were expecting individual pieces of battered vegetable (as pakora sometimes appears) you would be disappointed but there were enough distinct pieces of vegetable in the patties to keep me happy.

For main course, with no chicken 65 available, I opted for the lamb dhansak and Andy chose the chicken kadai. The dhansak came on a large tray, with the lentils (dhal makhani) on the side, rice and even a piece of chicken tikka. I accompanied this with a really good paratha – flaky and super buttery. The sauce was tart and spicy. Andy’s kadai sauce was also reasonably spicy and very tomatoey. In both cases, the meat was tender and juicy, well sized and nicely proportioned.

As usual, after stuffing myself on entrée and pappadums, I struggled a little with my main course bit I made sure to finish the paratha!

A standout feature of The Village is the cheerful, attentive service. My water was kept topped up, after our entrées, both our waiter and front of house checked we were enjoying our food, and at no point did we feel either forgotten or suffocated.

At the end of the evening, we left feeling extremely well fed for around $80 (this included a couple of beers). And obviously, we have to go back again to check out that Chicken 65 …

The Village, 125 Gouger Street, Adelaide, SA, 5000
phone: +61 8 8212 2536

date:  April 2010

Pad thai is such a staple of Thai restaurant menus that it’s something I’ve never thought of making at home.  To be honest, I very rarely even order it.  But we had some prawns in the freezer and I found a simple pad thai recipe on the UK Delicious website.

At short notice we weren’t able to pull together all the ingredients from the local supermarket, so you may want to consult the original recipe.  However, we were really impressed with our finished product so don’t panic if you can’t rustle up all the ingredients.

I started by soaking some rice vermicilli in hot water.  I suspect that I either did this for too long (or the noodles spent a little too long in the wok) because they ended up rather short and clumpy – so I advise you to read the instructions for whatever noodles you use!

Make a dressing by mixing together 1½ tbsp fish sauce, 1½ tbsp palm sugar (we found this in our small local supermarket and I really recommend seeking it out – the taste is amazing and distinctly caramel like), and 1½ tbsp of rice wine vinegar. This is the sweet/sour/salty combination that Thai food is well known for.

Heat some oil (we use peanut) in a wok and add chopped garlic (to taste) and one chopped onion. Cook for a few minutes and then add chilli flakes (also to taste – I opted for hot!) and then the drained noodles. Stir fry for a couple of minutes and then push to one side. Now, tip a lightly beaten egg into the wok and scramble, before mixing in to the noodles.

Mix through the dressing before adding your prawns (or chicken, or vegetables – no reason why you can’t turn this into a vegetarian pad thai!). Toss well to ensure prawns are cooked (if green) or warmed through (if already cooked).

Finish with chopped spring onions and serve dressed with chopped coriander.

How easy is that?

Make more than you think you’ll need – I was expecting leftovers for lunch the next day but we scoffed the whole lot in a single sitting!