20190927 Piatto and Steven ter Horst

Even though I booked the booth on Tuesday, when I arrived at the pub, there was no table reserved for us, so we sat in a booth that was reserved for 7.30 knowing we would be gone by then. Stephen, Con and Chad all came in relatively quickly. We ordered our usual round of jugs. Jen surprised us by dropping by too.

Between us tonight, we had 3 bowls of crisps and 1 bowl of hot potato wedges.

It was my turn to choose tonight and I had already booked at Piatto. Richard was at an event and told us he would meet us there.

When we arrived at Piatto, we saw Rob Kulkarni, a fellow Toastmaster sitting on the table by the wall. He was with a 'girl' friend.

One of the reasons for choosing Piatto this week was because on reviewing our previous restaurants visited we actually gave Piatto a high score last time we visited. And besides which, I felt like pasta.

I had vegetarian fetticuine. They didn't have spinach ricotta pasta. I was really happy with my meal and gave it an 8.5. The sauce was rich and there was plenty of it. Unfortunatley, because I had filled up on crisps and chips earlier I couldn't eat it all and got a doggy bag for the remaining half of the meal.

Jen had chilli and honey prawns with rice. It looked amazing. Just as an aside, Jen asked if the prawns were shelled and the waitress said there was no shell on the prawns. However, when the meal came out it had the tail shell. No big problem but just a bit misleading.  Jen gave her meal a 9 out of 10 - high praise! Jen said the dish had the perfect balance of flavours.


We know Jen likes alot of chilli on her dish so I think Chad asked for extra chilli. It didn't come in a sauce but just the dried chilli that you buy in the shops. Not the most appropriate condiment to put on your meal because the hard chilli flakes haven't had time to soften in a sauce.


Richard has a veal dish with fish and thick creamy sauce with vegetables. He complained afterwards that there was nothing to mop up the juice and sauce. He decided to give his meal a 7.5.

One of the downsides of Piatto is that they don't serve bread with pasta. A comment I made on our last visit.

Both Stephen and Chad had the special meatballs and spaghetti. Chad was much more impressed with the dish than Stephen. Chad gave his meal a 8.5 and Stephen gave his a 7. He was going to give it a 7.5 but thought it should have had more meatballs. He complained he only had 3 small meatballs.






Finally, we had Con's meal which was the calzone and what a meal it was - it was enormous! He tried his best to get through it all but in the end Chad had to help him out with the last bit. Con said that the meal was too much and gave his a 6 out of 10.



Jen talked about his playlists that she has on Spotify. We talked about favourite artists and I said that my first love was Bob Dylan. She has a few Bob Dylan songs on her playlist and she says that one particular song makes her cry whenever she listens to it.

We talked about her writing and one of her characters - the invisible woman. A great premise for a detective story I think!


We went to Steven ter Horst for hot chocolate and we squeezed on the end of the bench. Richard had a chocolate muffin with his drink. Jen had a very dense, rich chocolate slice which looked amazing. The guys helped her out in finishing it because it was so rich. Perfect with peppermint tea.

Jen said that she would come along next week so it will be her turn to choose.

20190920 Mekong and San Churro

It's raining today. I didn't get my umbrella out as I walked to the pub. I was glad to get in out of the wet weather. Stephen had been at the Toastmasters meeting rooms all day today and joined me shortly afterwards. We ordered a jug of beer and a bowl of crisps. I am busy preparing my speech for the International Contest next week - I'm calling in 'Being Nobody, Going Nowhere' - a great title to reflect the Friday nights :-)

Joking aside, we had Con join us about 5.45 and he let us know it was his birthday, so Stephen bought the next jug in honour of such an ocassion. I gave Con back his USB with Kung Fu Pandas movies (all 3 of them) and the Japanese series Midnight Diner - I hope he likes them.

Richard didn't come until about 7.15. He had been babysitting his great nephew. It's lovely to see how excited Richard gets when he shows us photos of his beautiful nephew.

In honour of Con's birthday it was his turn to choose which restaurant we ate at tonight, but he was open to suggestions. We agreed to go to Mekong. I often go there lunch time and the same waiter was there when we showed up.

This is only the second time we've been to Mekong this year as the Friday Night group. Tonight it was $14 for a meal - a great special!

Richard and Con has the Special Mekong Spring rolls. Stephen and I shared a serving. They were delicious! Full of seafood, corn, carrot and yummy flavours.

Richard had Singapore Noodles - an average 7 out of 10. He later said that it could have done with some lemon/lime. Con had hokkien noodles and also gave his meal a 7 out of 10. I had Seaford Laksa and gave mine a 6. Stephen had the chicken Laksa and gave his meal a 5 out of 10. His complaint was that the vegetables weren't cooked - they were raw, the soup was bland - no kick of chilli and coconut cream. I have to agree with him that the laksa wasn't that nice today. Richard paid for Con's meal as a gift for his birthday.

We were a bit slack with taking photos today. Stephen took them when we had half finished our meal!

We didn't stay long in the restaurant - we were the only ones in there - a very quiet night on Rundle Street this week.

We went to San Churro for hot chocolate. I bought the round. There were free caramel dots at the front counter. They tasted sweet. Richard had dark Mocha and Stephen had dark chocolate. Con and I had milk chocolate. Mine was way too sweet. The sweetness stuck at the back of my throat. I could only drink 3/4 of the cup.

Stephen was very sleepy in San Churro. I was concerned for him because it wasn't usual for him to be putting his head down on the table. I think the food was reacting against him. I was in a hurry to get him home

Luckily, he was ok later although I found him sleeping in the chair. It had been a long day for him :-)

20190913 Midnight Spaghetti and Steven ter Horst

The weather is definately getting warmer - it reached 24 degrees although the mornings are still nippy. Stephen and I had dramas at the Toastmasters club this week becuase of an altercation between 2 members. Little did we know that the altercations wouldn't end there.

The usual spot - the Elephant back booth. Richard, Con, Stephen and myself. Stephen picked up Albert from home and dropped him off outside so he didn't have to walk.

Albert was told today that he was going to be let go from work. Obviously, upsetting news. He left at around 7pm in anger about something. Not sure what caused it, but he left the pub and sent Stephen a text to cancel the clean up at his place on Sunday.

Richard ate at the Elephant - chicken salad. He said that the vegetables weren't cooked enough. There was a lot of spinach in his salad.

Richard left to go to a concert - the Birds of Tokyo with family. That left Con, Stephen and me. It was Stephen's turn to choose tonight and he had already booked at Midnight Spaghetti - the upstairs restaurant at the Crown and Anchor. We were supposed to be there by 7.30 and they rang Stephen at 7.50 to see where we were. Stephen finished up his drink and we headed over there.

We passed the outside of the pub, which was very grungy. We walked into the downstairs pub area and it smelled of sweat and beer. Not a good sign. I had to ask one of the barmen where the restaurant was because we couldn't see a set of stairs. He led us through a passageway and pointed out the stairs for us.

Well, we weren't expecting what we came across. Upstairs was a vibrant, buzzy restaurant with a great atmosphere. We were led out onto the balcony that was very reminiscant of Brklyn and the Exeter. It had small fairy lights and had plastic sheeting to protect from the wind. It was very lovely. I saw my manager's manager, Wayne with Richard the assessor at the next table. He said hello and left shortly afterwards.

The menu is very simple. Not too many choices. Con and I had the Midnight Spaghetti and Stephen had the Ragu spaghetti. Stephen and I also shared a bowl of spuds in creamy sauce. Lovely. They served complimentary olive bread and 3 dips - parmasen, chilli and oil. All very nice.




Stephen gave his meal an 8. Me a 7 1/2 and Con a 7. A success I think. It was totally different from what we imagined it would be. Much nicer than the grubby exterior below.

We went to Steven ter Horst for hot chocolate. Stephen had a mug and me and Con and a cup of hot chocolate. We talked about the idea of misunderstandings and conflicts and thought that this week was definitely one to put behind us.

We gave Con a lift home.

20190906 Yumi and Brunelli

I have to work with what I'm given... the first picture tonight is a mystery! A row of chairs... I am assuming this is from the school in which Chad works. I'm sure there is a story behind this picture... maybe Chad can enlighten us

Contrary to the picture, the actual evening started off in our usual spot - the Elephant - with us sitting in the back booth again.

Stephen and I get there first and sit opposite each other. I only reserve a spot next to me for Con now (Chad is not allowed to sit next to me anymore because he won't let me up to the bathroom when I ask to pass).

Con is always good value and is always in good spirits. Nothing seems to get Con down. His happy-go-lucky attitude is inspiring.

Chad had a present for Richard tonight - an associate card for the Cricket. Needless to say that cricket will have a theme for the group tonight as it determined where we had coffees later... but before we get onto dessert - what about DINNER!

It was Con's turn to choose tonight and it is clear that we are running out of ideas... we've now visited most places on Rundle Street. There is, however, one place that I wasn't looking forward to - the Japanese place - Yumi.

I really didn't like my experience the last time I went to a Japanese Sushi train, but after watching the movie Tampopo I was at least willing to give the Ramen a go. Noodle soup with veggies and tofu doesn't sound half bad.

We strolled across the road to the venue and easily found a table for 5. It's a tiny restaurant with no more than 20 seats I think.

Drinks.... Chad had Sake and Stephen had a Pinot Noir. Chad's Sake was warmed and served in a pottery jug - it was very ceremonial. Chad said the Sake was very smooth. When he finished the Sake in the container, he asked for the rest to be warmed too. A winner I think.


Chad, myself and Stephen ordered the Miso soup. It came in a cute small bowl - a cloudy mild flavoured soup with tiny cubes of silken tofu and slithers of seaweed. It looked the part and I enjoyed it. Stephen added soy sauce to his because he said it was too bland. Con also had the Miso soup but with Crab. He enjoyed his and said that it was reminiscent of the movie Tampopo. High praise indeed.

As part of the entree serves, Stephen and Richard also had their Terriaki chicken served. Richard would have liked the 'Side' to have been served with his main dish and was quite annoyed (nearly tipped the table) and had a word with the waitress that he wasn't happy. Stephen, unusually, was relatively quiet on this matter and was happy to munch away at the chicken until the mains came out.

There was only 1 chef in the kitchen, and he was struggling to get everyone's food out on time. That was the biggest down-side to the service. However, Chad, who had to wait the longest for his food, said he didn't mind the wait. Neither did I.

Stephen had Yaki Tori Udon. Thick wide bands of udon noodles with shavings of chicken and other stuff.  It looked great, but Stephen said it was just too noodly and tasteless. Unexciting. It smelled of pork which he didn't like. Stephen gave his food a 6 out of 10 (terriaki chicken side dish 7.5).

Con had the pork Katsu curry. He originally asked for chicken but they didn't have any. You wouldn't normally think curry and Japanese food, but it looked amazing. Con gave his meal an 8 out of 10.




With Richard, Chad didn't take a photo of his food, but Richard had the Yaki Tori Special XO Sauce fried rice. He put a little soy sauce on his rice but overall he said it wasn't bad. His score was a 6 out of 10.

My dish looked amazing. I had the chargrilled spicy calamari doburi as a main. It was a rice dish with calamari and a fried egg on top. The flavours were certainly there. It wasn't too foreign for me and I ate all of it. I said at the time I would give my score an 8 out of 10 mainly because I was so surprised I enjoyed it as I did. Later, I would downgrade it to a 7.5 because there are more tastier meals that I have had.

Chad's piste de resistance.. was the Deluxe sushi and what a dish it was! Amazing delicate raw fish wrapped in sushi. Chad loved it all and dipped them in the wasabi sauce not touching the soy sauce at all saying it didn't need it. He initially gave his meal a 9 but later upgraded it to a 9.5!!! I think this is the highest score so far.


When it came to the bill, Stephen and I gave Richard $60 for our portion - Con gave $20 and Chad paid separately on his card, leaving Richard to pay the remainder of the bill. 

One nice touch... the chef came out and apologised for the delay in getting the food on the table (and the mix up with chicken being an entree). I thought it was lovely of him to do this. He looked like he had had a hard life and took great pride in his work. Chad and I assured him that there was nothing to worry about.

Even though it was Con's turn to choose where we go for coffees, Richard had a hand in it by suggesting Brunelli - mainly because it had the television screens for the cricket. Australia were playing England.

Richard bought the coffees and got himself a triple layer chocolate cake to go with his coffee. By this stage, I was full and couldn't eat anything else. We sat to the left inside but there was a draft from the door and it was freezing!! I've always associated Brunelli with being cold in winter and today was no exception.

Another lovely night. It's so important to appreciate friends and to savour these moments when we can share a meal together and enjoy the end of the week.