20190830 Payneham Tavern & Brunelli

Stephen had been in town all day at the Toastmaster meeting rooms trying to get the Karaoke working for our special SprachenFest on 30 October. We met for a coffee at lunch time. It was a cruisey day today. On Monday and Tuesday I wasn't receiving emails at work - due to the email server settings blocking out spam - just happened to delete all my other emails too!

I was glad to get in out of the cold at the Elephant to our usual pre-booked table. Chad was telling me that he also has a key-ring now for the Elephant - another VIP member!

Because we are going to the Payneham Tavern, (it's Richard's turn to choose), Stephen thought it would be a good idea for him to drive there. That meant he couldn't have more than 1 1/2 pints of beer. He regretted his decision as he saw the jugs over-flowing with beer :-)

Tonight, at the pub, there was Stephen, me, Chad and Con. Chad decided to have a look at the reviews for the Payneham Tavern! In hindsight, I wish he hadn't. There were some pretty awful things said about the hotel. The food stank, the service was abysmal... one reviewer even likened the Tavern to Faulty Towers with its comedy of errors. I forced Chad to also read out some of the good reviews to prep us in the mood for the journey.

We were meant to meet Richard and Albert at the Tavern at 6.30, but we didn't end up leaving the Elephant until about 6.25. It was a brisk walk to the car parked on Hutt Street and Stephen expertly navigated us to the Hotel.

It looked like a NSW RSL club from the outside. Lots of lit signage with flashing 'Pokies Here' signs. The car park had plenty of spaces and we were able to park near the entrance. On walking into the place, we could hear and see the boop, blipp of the pokie machines buzzing away. The dining room and games room was off to the right hand side.

We went through the glass door and into a very large dining room with lots of large round tables. The bar was off to the right hand side. We saw Richard and Albert queuing at the bar. Richard said that he had been waiting 10 minutes to be served. It was definitely  RSL-like in its modern facilities catering to large groups. However, tonight it wasn't busy at all.

We were seated at a round table right next to the entrance, by the toilets and by the large television screen on which the quiz was going to be played. We were also in front of the games room with its 3 darts boards, pool tables and betting screens. Lovely! :-)

Albert is looking frail and a bit tired from his dislocated shoulder. He showed us X-rays of his bones. He still had his arm in a sling. His walking is getting worse and he said that the phsyio wouldn't give him a pass to return to work, so he was at home. He had used up all his sick leave. I hope things work out for Albert. He's a gentle soul.

Albert has taken over the paper folding duties from Craig and created a lovely fan which he kept and didn't share with anyone else :-)


So... we had just heard some shocking things said about the food. Was it really that bad?

Stephen and Chad started it all off with beers - Stephen had the Furphy beer which he said was nice.

We had our crusty breadrolls to start which were sitting on the bar - unusual, but functional. Many of us ended up having 2 - 1 before the meal and 1 after.

Chad had the burger and chips with fried egg. I had the salmon with veggies, hollandaise sauce and chips, Stephen had the schnitzel with veggies and chips with mushroom topping AND pepper sauce. Albert had the seafood basket with chips. Richard had the chicken curry with rice and salad. Con had the bangers and mash with gravy.


It all seemed to look ok. Mine was a bit on the small side and I polished it off in 3 minutes. Albert tinkered with his food and left over half of it.

Scores:
Me - 6 (I felt queasy afterwards)
Stephen - 7 1/2 (not bad)
Chad - 6
Con 4 (his comments was it was bland...)
Richard - 8 - the salad was a bit unusual with the curry, but hey he enjoyed it.
Albert - 3 (not sure whether it was the food or Albert not feeling well)

When it came to the quiz we had a bit of Tracey Chapman playing in the background. We had a QuizzaMe button control which Richard was given charge of. There were about 10 groups playing - we were under the banner of 'Bucket of Doom'!


The way the quiz worked was like this... the quicker you press the correct answer the more points you scored. If you abstained from choosing you didn't lose any points, but obviously didn't gain any either. If you got a question wrong you got points taken away.

There were about 8 rounds altogether. We actually won one of the rounds, but ended up coming 3rd overall. It was fun enough. I think Richard got the most pleasure out of it as he loves these sorts of things. The first prize was a $100 voucher and second prize was a $50 voucher. Assuming, you want to come back to the pub!

Richard asked Stephen and I if we wanted to go and see Kasey Chambers for free!!!! YES PLEASE! was my answer.

So, after the horrible (and very funny) reviews on the Tavern, what did we think of it in the end? It was clearly struggling to get numbers, hence, the free quiz, but the place itself was fine if you like RSLs. Clearly, the food had mixed reviews from the group. The venue looked clean (it had been refurbished recently). Still, it wasn't our kind of place.

One small thing... it took about 20 minutes for the staff to clear the tables away. I am assuming, since they were one of the groups playing the quiz, they were too busy for actual service :-) They scored -441 and came last - is this an omen..??

Richard took Albert home as he was feeling tired. He was really struggling with his walking going to the car. Chad, Con and Stephen and I went to Brunelli in Glynde to wait. We waited for Richard then ordered coffees. Richard had an apple cheesecake and Stephen had a Vanilla Slice which he didn't think much of and left a third.

Richard made the comment that he didn't recognise any of the service staff at the cafe. How things change so quickly these days. From my perspective, it looked like the staff get younger by the minute.

20190823 Brklyn and Steven ter Horst

We're all back on deck this week! I pre-booked the booth at the Elephant but apparently could only have it until 7pm as there was another booking. It turned out that we were able to stay there until we left at about 7.30 - no dramas.

We all bought a round of jugs. Stephen was there first today - a rare happening. I got there about 5pm and Con turned up shortly after that. Chad and Jen came not long after and Richard was last to show at 7pm.

It was Chad's birthday last week and Con and Jen had come bearing gifts. Con bought Chad a Pancake Kitchen tee-shirt and 4 ornament Monkey characters. They looked great and Chad was able to pick which characters they were. Jen bought Chad the Bucket of Doom - a card game which Chad promised we would play next time we came around to his place. We were teasing Richard that this should now be our new team name - the buckets of Doom! Richard wasn't impressed.

The alley way outside had a fire going as it is still cold, however, it is getting slighter warmer than the 8 degrees of the past couple of Friday nights.

Richard was wrapped up in the footy match and had his phone on the table watching the game. He didn't say much.

Jen overheard Stephen saying that I was 'switched on and intelligent and that is what's attractive'. I missed hearing it, so I asked him to repeat it! I don't get compliments too often.

Jen made a comment that the Welsh barman was attractive - 'beautiful voice and nice eyes'... mmm...

Jen bought a jug for the guys (a guiness for herself). That meant that Stephen had over 4 beers - whoa... trouble in the making...

It was Chad's turn to choose tonight and he had already let us know a couple of weeks ago that he was going to choose Brklyn. No-one had been there so it was interesting to see what it would be like. It was next to Schnithouse and upstairs. We went into a dimly lit 'nightclub like' atmosphere. The New York Fold - the pizza cafe was on the right hand side.

We made our way out to the balcony and pushed 2 round tables together. Richard, Chad and Jen sat on one table and Con, Stephen and myself was on the other. You couldn't really talk across to each other as it was a bit noisy.

Chad had a cocktail - a Yuzu Highball - it looks like a lemon, lime and bitters in a tall glass. Jen also had a cocktail - a breakfast Martini. The rest of us had water.

We all ordered pizza except Richard. Richard had Truffle mac and cheese balls for entree with burger and chips for main. The burger and chips was $18 and the entree was $10. Jen also had an entree of mozerella sticks. Chad had a half of one to taste.

I had 2x B3 pizza slices. Stephen had a Hellboy and Bunnos. He complained that the Hellboy had no 'Hell' in it - it was sweet rather than hot. The other pizza didn't taste like anything. There were no chunks of vegetables on our pizzas it looked like puree. Chad and Con also had the Hellboy slices.

Richard gave his meal a 7 out of 10.
I gave my meal a 5 1/2 out of 10. The 2 slices weren't enough to fill me up.
Stephen gave his meal a 5 out of 10. Not enough and no taste.
I forgot to get Chad, Con and Jen's rating.

The pizzas were supposed to be 'New York style' but Chad showed me pictures of the actual New York pizza slices he had in New York and they looked much larger with lots more toppings on there.

I think it was nice to go to Brklyn for the experience to say we've been, but we won't be going back there in a hurry. Jen pointed out that we weren't exactly the demographic of the place - she thinks they were targeting a much more hip, younger crowd.

I couldn't help but think of the landfill that was created by having our pizzas in cardboard trays. I wouldn't go back purely because it is wasteful to not have plates.

The view from the balcony was lovely. It was similar to the Exeter's view, but because it didn't have the plastic windbreakers down, it was more open.

We went to Steven ter Horst for dessert - Jen's choice because it is her birthday next week. I bought Stephen a chocolate and nut cheesecake with a mug of hot chocolate and had the same but with lemon cheesecake. Chad bought Jen a baked cheesecake and Richard had the same.

It's been a lovely night out tonight - Happy Birthday was sung to Chad and Jen and Jen even got a Happy Birthday from the next table.

Who's turn is it to choose next week?? Well, it's Richards turn and that is almost guaranteed to be Italian of some sort...

20190816 Bun Cha

The 16th August 2019 - Stephen and I were in Sydney visiting his elderly mum and dad. His dad has just gotten out of hospital after a fall and we were there with him to relocate him to a nursing home. Currently he is bed bound. Tonight we were in Sydney and having home baked pizzas with Stephen's brother and wife Gunda. We had a garlic pizza and a veg pizza and 2 meat pizzas. They were delicious and I would give my meal a 8 1/2 out of 10.

We had individual chocolate mouse for dessert. The next day I reminded Stephen about how drunk he was (4 bottles of wine!) and he forgot that he even had dessert.

Anyway back at the ranch - what was happening at the Elephant?

Chad and Con were the only 2 to meet up this week. They found it quite busy downstairs in the pub so they sat upstairs in a booth. They talked about Chris and his overseas trip. He has posted photos on social media. They also talked about the fact that there was no Barmy Army for the Ashes in the Elephant.

They decided on Bun Cha - I suspect Con had a hand in this decision :-).
Chad had the Chicken Green Curry which he gave a 7 out of 10 and Con had the meatballs chef special and also gave it a 7 out of 10.

When asked for a quote from the guys on the dining experience at Bun Cha they replied that 'they would go back in an eyeblink'.

No dessert tonight for the guys.

Chad... feel free to add to this post if I've missed anything...

20190809 Schnithouse and Steven ter Horst

It's in the depths of winter and we are truly rugged up against the bitter winds and rain. The last few days it has poured down. Definitely needed our umbrellas.

I was the first in the pub as usual - the pre-booked booth works well. Stephen wasn't far behind and in came Con and Chad around the same time. Richard was a little later. Because he is usually the last to come, he has to get a chair and sit on the end of the booth.

The pub was packed tonight. I had one drink and then went onto the orange juice and water. Richard was also drinking water. It was also lovely to see Jen. She made a surprise visit. It's always lovely to see her.

Chad brought 2 books for Stephen - it's funny how things come around. A couple of years ago, we had a Christmas in July and I bought all the crowd a small something from the second-hand bookshop. Well, that same book turned up. Chad had read it and was ready to pass it on.

Richard was asked if he was a VIP member when he bought his drink. He replied no, but was told that if he had been a member he would have saved a couple of bucks on his drink. The next day, I emailed the Elephant and let them know that I've been coming every Friday for the past 7 years. They offered me VIP membership! Great stuff. I will go into the pub during the week to pick up my prized key-ring.

When we were coming out of the Elephant and making our way to Schnithouse (Stephen's choice) we passed a busker next to a log fire in the alleyway. It was a lovely setting despite the cold.


We all shuffled into Shithouse (as we like to call it) and we were escorted to a table at the back corner. Perfect - away from the cold of the door. We all had to go up and order which is great when you're in a group - no need to worry about splitting the bill later.

It was typical pub type food and we didn't disappoint in the ordering of the fare.

Richard had the Roger Federer - a chicken schnitzel with avocado and Swiss cheese. He complained that it was a bit tough and gave a 7.5 out of 10 to reflect this.

Jen has the Schnitt hot pork. She admitted that she is hard to impress and ended up after the meal with a score of 7.5.

Another 7.5 was given by both Stephen and myself. Stephen had the Lazy Schnitzel with pepper sauce - nothing can really go wrong with a basic like that.... and I had the Fish O'Fillet - Barramundi burger and chips. It was deep fat fried and crumbed. It was lovely and crispy but a bit too heavy on my stomach.

 Chad had the highest score of the evening. He had the same as Jen (except chicken) and gave his meal an 8. He liked the hot chilli sauce and smothered his schnitzel with it, whereas Jen was dipping her meat into the sauce, pacing herself.

That only leaves Con. What to say about Con's meal? He had the Schnitt House special pizza. It looked lovely. Nice thick crust and lots of toppings. However, Con wasn't impressed with it at all and could only give it a 5 out of 10. His comment was 'it's nothing special, a bit thick and stodgy'.

We all went to Steven ter Horst for a hot chocolate, but Richard only had 10 minutes so ordered his Mocha straight away. We were all sitting in the cafe with our beanies on - sitting right by the door so every time someone came in, a blast hit us. Never mind, the hot chocolate made up for it. Jen had another single chocolate with her meal. That was it. No-one else had desserts.

I was telling Con about how much I like listening to Willie Nelsen and we had a rendition from Stephen on what country music really sounds like... boom, boom, da, da.. yeeee-haaaa. His impression was nothing like Willie Nelsen but I can't convince him to listen to my style of music. Sigh.

Stephen and I will be in Sydney next week - visiting his father. I think Chad said he won't be there either. And Richard is doing something else. It may be a quiet one then. Con will have to let us know what happens....

Until next time... safe travels and keep warm...