20191122 Dumplings R Us

Chad and Con went to Dumplings R Us - Stephen and Elizabeth were in Brisbane.

20191115 San Giorgio la Molara community centre and Caffe Buongiorno

Richard had spent a bit of time organising this evening. He had created a Facebook event and invited (besides the regulars), Patrick, Albert and Jen. Unfortunately Jen was an apology.

Chad was at a work function in Norwood in the afternoon. In hindsight it would have been good to meet up with him there, but we didn't get the message in time.

Hence, Con, Stephen and myself sat in the usual booked booth and had our round of jugs and a couple of packets of crisps.

I had some good news today in that my manager, Chris, told me he has a new job and he'd like me to step up to his role. We were meant to talk about it this afternoon but I had a dentist hygiene appointment. We'll probably talk on Monday. I'm in 2 minds about the role. On the one hand it will mean more money and prestige but on the other hand it will also mean dealing with the fruit loops!


We didn't leave the pub until after 7 and when we arrived at the restaurant Richard wasn't impressed. He said 'not good enough'... as he had wanted us to be there by 7pm.

The location of the restaurant had changed since last time we went there. We weren't in the big ballroom area, we were next door. I think it was more cosy. It looked very clean and new.

Chad got Albert a present. A lovely Trump - let's make America Great again cap. Albert didn't blink twice and was happy to wear it. Albert had left the cap at Chad's place last New Year and Chad was returning it.

Let's start with my meal. Not a good start. I had the Fisherman's Basket. It looked like they had slapped the food on the plate - it was one big plate of greasy deep fried fish, prawns and squid with re-fried chips. Not appealing at all.

Stephen saw on the menu that it should have come with salad, so after telling the waiter, he brought out one of the smallest bowls of salad I've seen - 2 lettuce leaves, one eighth of a tomato and half a cucumber slice!

There was no tartarte sauce or any other sauce for that matter - very disappointing - 4 out of 10.

Patrick had the vegetarian pizza. His comment afterwards was that there wasn't enough vegetables on there. As was my comment on our last visit, the vegetables are in the middle of the dough so the outside is plain. Patrick did like the slices of potato. He was kind enough to give me his crusts - which I ate with relish! Patrick also made the comment that the service was not great. 6 out of 10.


Stephen and Con shared the San Giorgio Special - 1/2 with anchovies. They both seemed to chomp their way through it reasonably well. Stephen and Con's comment afterwards was that it was nothing outstanding. A 6 from both of them.


Albert and Richard shared a supreme pizza and both thoroughly enjoyed it. Richard had double anchovies on his pizza! Both Albert and Richard gave their pizzas a 9 out of 10.

Chad had a LARGE supreme pizza to himself. He gave it a 7 out of 10 and had a take away for the remaining slices which he couldn't eat.


Chad and Richard had coffee at the restaurant and Albert had a hot chocolate. Patrick had the cake - I can't make out what type of dessert it is.

I was talking with Louis, Richard's cousin, who had stopped by to pick up a take away vegetable pizza. He decided to sit down and have a few chomps on a couple of slices and chat for a while. We talked about travelling and planes (especially after my Sydney trip this week with the bumpiness of the plane ride).

Con, Stephen and I went for a coffee at Buongiorno. I've never seen Con drunk before, but he was wobbling a bit and slurring a bit! Too many shandies :-). We had coffee sitting outside because the weather was nice. Lots of noisy exhaust cars driving up the main drag.










With regards to the last photo of the statue - I've no ideas what this is - enlighten us Chad...

20191108 Yumi and Brunelli

Another Friday - another week flown by. Both Stephen and I are working in the city and look forward to chilling out on a Friday night with the guys.

I had a program running in Adelaide this week, so I had a vegan roll for lunch (as leftovers from the program).

When I got to the pub I ordered a bowl of crisps and a jug of beer. Stephen and Con came in not long afterwards. Stephen ordered a bowl of chips with mayonnaise which were lovely. Chad and Richard came in around 6pm.

 Con and I talked about the documentaries I had given him. He wasn't impressed with them! Too much misery for him. He gave up watching Dear Zachary but I explained what the whole story was and he said, he was glad he didn't finish it!


It was Con's turn to choose tonight and he had already booked at Yumi. I was happy enough as last time we went many of us enjoyed the food.

Chad had just come back from camp and said he had a great time away. The quiz we had last month helped support teachers like him to go on the program.

























 Chad started off with a chai tea.









Con was served a little teapot of soy sauce and a saucer - very traditional!






Con's entree was Hokkaido Scallop. It was a lump of wasabi that Con ate in one gulp. The face and cough he did afterwards was priceless. $4.50 for the entree. Con said it was 'great' - high praise coming from the meister.




Stephen and I had the miso soup with blue swimmer crab meat - $5.90. It was very spicy and the silken tofu tiny cubes were delicious. It had a touch of seaweed. Absolutely delicious - Stephen gave his entree an 8. He said it was very moorish. I would go so far as to give mine a 8.5 out of 10. Perfect soup!


Richard had Roasted Pumpkin dumpling and the Special X.O. sauce teppanyaki fried rice. $16.50 + $9.80. His comment afterwards was that it was a bit dry and could have done with some sauce. He said it was very filling - 8 out of 10.




I had the Donburi Spicy Calamari Don - $17.90. My main meal had a rich sweet and sour sauce that was perfect. The egg was a bit runny so I turned it upside down and cut it up into the rice. The dish was very filling - especially after the crisps and chips at the pub. The calamari and mushrooms were delicious - 8 out of 10


Chad had the lobster and blue swimmer crab full moon dumpling dish - $19.90. I wasn't expecting it to be in a runny creamy sauce. There were only 2 dumplings there - however, Chad liked his meal and when I asked him for a comment afterwards, he said jokingly that the food was 'edible' - he eventually gave it a 7 out of 10 - his comment was it was 'baseline'.


 Both Stephen and Con had the Chicken curry and rice ($14.50). The prices are surprisingly cheap for the quality of the meals overall.

 Con liked his dish a little better than Stephen. Con gave his meal a 'thumbs up' and an 8 out of 10. Stephen 'wasn't blown away' but still gave his meal a 7.5.


Richard thought that Stephen and I might like a concert from the Adelaide Festival, but when he read out the show, we said we would probably give it a miss.























 It was Con's choice to go to Brunelli for coffees. We haven't been in a while. I must admit I encouraged him a bit to go there as it is right next to the carpark :-)



Stephen had a chocolate eclair with his coffee and Chad had a rich, creamy Tiramisu. He ate it with the wrapping on because it was so delicate, but eventually unwrapped it and scooped out the rest of the filling.

Richard had a poppyseed muffin and had asked for it to be warmed up but when he had it served it was cold. Is this a reason for some table flipping you may ask? Almost... but not quite.

The coffees weren't half bad today.

 We noticed that the televisions were still working - always good to know for Richard when he wants to see a footy game or cricket.

Christmas is just around the corner. We'll have to start planning for those weeks. I only get a week off from 25 December to 2 January. Stephen will probably get the same time off.

I am assuming we'll have New Year's eve at Chad's place, but we'll talk about that next week.

Until then... keep safe :-)

20191101 Bun Cha and Steven ter Horst

It was a full week this week. Stephen and I had our special Toastmaster meeting on Wednesday, SprachenFest! which involved much merriment and sore heads the next days. I was happy not to drink tonight.

We met at the Elephant. The barman knows me by now and as I got served my beer, he had already told the people sitting in our booth to move because it was already booked. Now that's service for you!

Chad, Con and Richard came in at various times. I gave Con 5 documentaries to watch - the Louis Theroux top picks - I loved watching those documentaries this week - very revealing. I hope he likes them. Con also gave me a USB with a Japanese movie on it.

It was Stephen's turn to choose tonight. He was tossing up between Yumi and Bun Cha. Eventually, Bun Cha won out. Richard had to leave to go to a concert by 8.30 so we strolled across to Bun Cha at about 7.15.

As usual, there were only a sprinkling of people in the restaurant.

• Stephen had chicken laksa - and ate it all - 7 out of 10.
• I had the veg laksa and left a lot of the sauce which Stephen had some of - 7 out of 10
• Con had the Mongolian beef sizzling plate with rice - 7 out of 10
• Richard had the green chicken curry and rice - 7 out of 10

Can you get the picture? There's a bit of a theme with the food - it's edible and tastes ok, but not amazing.

Chad had the beef hot pot and gave his meal a 9 out of 10. Stephen said it smelt amazing. Chad also had dessert which was the vanilla deep fried ice cream with chocolate topping.

All in all - a very pleasant meal. Richard said his farewells.

We left to go to Steven ter Horst and managed to score a whole table - people were leaving as we got there. We all had hot chocolate. It was a surprise because it was raining. It was still warm, but wet.

Stephen was a bit restless and no sooner than we'd drunk our hot chocolate he was wanting to leave.