20191025 The Elephant and Wynn Vale Quiz

It's that time of the year when it's the Quiz at Chad's school. Chad was going to meet us at the school and Richard picked up Ann and met us at the school.

Stephen, myself and Con met at the Elephant at our usual time. We had another mix-up with the booth booking and a bar staff put a sign on our table to say that it was booked from 7pm. I let her know that we had already booked it, but no matter, we would be leaving by 6.30pm.

We had a couple of jugs of beer and Stephen and I argued who would be driving. I ended up saying that I would drive.

It wasn't anyone's turn to choose this week we decided.

I had the Salt and Pepper Squid - there was loads of food on the plate. I ordered an extra mushroom sauce. It was delicious. I gave it an 7.5 out of 10.

Con had the bangers and mash and gave his meal a 7 out of 10.

Stephen had the chicken, leek and bacon pie with chips and peas. He said that he should have ordered the pepper sauce to go with it because it was too dry. He borrowed my tartare sauce to have.

We drove to Wynn Vale and found the place easily enough, remembering the last time we went there. We had a table right at the front of the room, which as it turned out was very convenient for one of the games that we played.

As usual, Ann and Richard were very much in control. We had a Lego movie images sheet, we had a re-arranged word Song Sheet. As usual, Con, myself and Stephen only contributed a small amount with the weight being on the shoulders of Ann and Richard. Stephen liked the pictures on the wall - which were close up shots of objects. I liked the musical chairs game - I got down to me and another person - who eventually won - all on finding a lipstick!!

I think I must have ate for about 10 people. We brought Barji mix, cheeses and crackers, tomatoes, olives and the others also brought a mass of food. We just kept eating the whole time! I must of drunk 4 cups of water to wash it all down with.

Overall, an enjoyable evening. I think we came 5th or 6th overall - not too shabby. We gave Con a lift home.

Sorry for the woeful photos! That's what we get when Chad isn't around. By the time I remembered to take the photos the meals were all but eaten!

20191018 The Exeter and Sir Cafe

We started off in our usual back booth at the Elephant. I gave Con 2 movies - Extreme Job and Veteran - both Japanese movies - I hope he likes them!

I couldn't resist putting this picture first of our illustrious pair - the photo was taken later on in the evening but doesn't Winnie the Poo win the photo!

It was Chad's turn to choose tonight and he was going to chose the new Mexican place (La Taberna) but when we got there it was fully booked. Hence we walked down the street and Chad decided to duck into the Exeter. Rrrrr! I'm not a fan... but I'm open-minded. Let's see what the dinner experience is like tonight?


We had our choices of where to sit in the dining room. Nobody to bother us.







Con ordered the Beef Burger and Chips and his review at the end was... ah' it's alright. His score of 6 out of 10 reflects his ambiguous attitude.

Stephen had the beef pie and mash. The mash looked like a small dollop underneath the pie. There was no vegetables with it. He gave it an average 7.5 out of 10.





Richard had the chicken schnitzel with mushroom sauce and chips. He thought it wasn't half bad and gave his meal an 8 out of 10.








Both Chad and I had the Seafood Curry. It was so runny that it looked like a laksa. I would classify it as a Cambodian curry. It wasn't Thai style nor Chinese. It had the spices of Cambodia. Both Chad and I were unanimous with 7.5 each for our meal

Chad's turn to choose dessert and we went to a new venue - Sir Cafe. None of us had been there before. We went up the very steep stairs and sat down on the sofa (pictured in the first photo). It was very quirky. I liked the atmosphere immediately.

The only problem with this cafe was the abysmal service. They brought out the hot drinks one at a time. I was going to have the Napolean on the menu at $15 to share with Stephen, but then realised it was just 3 flavours of ice-cream - too steep a price for me!

Stephen ordered a hot chocolate, myself and Con ordered a Cappuccino and Richard ordered a Mocha. (I can't remember what Chad had now). Richard also ordered the waffles with maple syrup and cream. He decided to fill every hole of the waffle with syrup then a tiny dollup of cream. It drove me nuts just watching him to do. We decided to take our leave and say goodbye.

Stephen is now working so we walked to the car-park.

20191011 Mekong and Golden Wattle

Tonight was a strange one. Only Con was at the pub, with Richard turning up later. They went to the Mekong for dinner just the two of them. Sorry... no pictures tonight.

Stephen and I went to the Toastmasters meeting room where we had an impromptu karaoke session. Stephen was meant to get his contract through today for his new job (it came through on Saturday intstead), so we had a few drinks and were merry.

It was great fun testing out the new Karaoke Mixer with 2 wireless microphones. We ripped through the most popular karaoke ballots and Stephen had a bit of Cold Play and U2 added to the mix although he couldn't get to the high and low notes (especially after the alochol!).

Stephen, myself and Andris went to the Golden Wattle. We sat outside - I was freezing! Andris had the chicken wings to start followed by a schnity. He always loves a schnity! Stephen and I shared a fried dim sim entre which was delicious. Stephen had chicken with mashed potato - I know he doesn't like the chicken on the bone and would have preferred breast meat instead. I had the cauliflower curry and rice. It was bland with no back flavour just a mild curry spice. I would give my meal a 4 out of ten.

Stephen and Andris polished off another bottle of red - 3 in total and I sipped on my lemon, lime and bitters.

We walked back to the Toastmaster rooms to get Stephen's bag then caught the tram to the outer parklands where Stephen had parked.

20191004 Midnight Spaghetti & Steven ter Horst

It's a wonderful spring day today - hitting the 30 degrees mark. I was in my heavy woolen coat and had to take it off - I felt completely overdressed in the warm weather.

This is the second time I've booked a booth in the Elephant only to not have a booth reserved. The waiter behind the bar had put a RESERVE sign on a booth, because he thought I might come in - that's very nice of him!

Jen came in with Geraldine. Jen looks well rested after being on holidays for a week. Chad came in slightly later and Con brought up the rear. Con had to scour for a chair. He gave me a USB with the 2 Midnight Diner movies on there. I'm looking forward to watching them.

We had 2 bowls of crisps whilst at the pub - Stephen bought a bowl and Jen bought a bowl. Needless to say, they were quickly eaten up. I tried to pace myself because last week I couldn't eat my main meal because of them.

Richard dropped by for about 20 minutes and Colin popped in to say hello. We were primarily taking with Jen in the booth section and didn't get a chance to say much to Richard and Colin. They were off to see Kasey Chambers play - that would have been a great night!

But... the big question... this is Jen's first time in choosing a place to eat. Where to?

It's.... MIDNIGHT SPAGHETTI!! Great choice. Even though we've only been there 3 weeks prior we were all happy with the choice. It's such a shame though that Richard missed out on going again as I'm sure he would love it.

We strolled across the road and up the alley. Up the stairs and onto the very pretty verandah. As I said last time it is reminiscent of Broklyn and The Exeter, although it has it's own quirky feel. It has a big wooden bench down the centre of the verandah with wooden tables spread around the back of the place.

It has a lovely view. Becuase of the warm night, the plastic was rolled up and we could see directly onto the street. I could see my workplace directly opposite.






















We had a few alcoholic drinkers at the restaurant. Stephen and Jen had a glass of red wine and Chad splurged on a cocktail.

























One of the negative comments I had about Piatto when ordering pasta is that they don't serve you bread. No fear at Midnight Spaghetti - we had a lovely dense olive soaked bread served to our table. We all couldn't wait and tucked in. We had all taken a bite when Chad reminded us he wanted to take a photo of it.

The speciality dish of the restaurant is that dish of the same name - Midnight Spaghetti - it even has it's own special bowl.

Chad (8), Con (8), Me (8.5) and Jen (9) all loved the Midnight Spaghetti bowl. It was the perfect balance of fishy flavour of the anchovies with the salitness of the olives. Jen also liked the little kick of chilli behind the flavours.

We all mopped up our bowls and left the dishes clean.













Geraldine had the carbonora and wasn't too impressed with it. She thought the flavours were a bit too plain and gave her meal a 6.






Stephen had the same dish as what he had last time - the ragu. He gave his meal an 8.5 and said all the flavours were there.

All in all then a great success. We chatted for a while after the meals - just content to be a part of the buzzy atmosphere.


We all paid individually, with Jen paying the remainder of the bill. Definitely a place to come back to in the not too distant future.

It was Jen's choice for coffee/dessert and she choose our now usual haunt - the Steven ter Horst chocolatier. We managed to have a whole table to ourselves and Jen and Geraldine had 3 chocolates each with their hot chocolates.

 It was the perfect way to end a good week.

Who knows... Stephen might hear about a potential job next week and we might be celebrating then! I think it's Richard's turn to choose next week. Chad will be absent.

Until then... keep safe