20190424 Curry Night The Exeter and Steven ter Horst Chocolatier

 We started this Wednesday night in the usual way. At the Elephant. Stephen had a job interview in the city at 2pm and we met for a coffee afterwards. We met in the Elephant at 5pm. Chad was there followed closely by Con. We had our usual chips with the jugs of beer.

Chad had a surprise because he found out that the Coopers Pale Ales were now in jugs for $10 - a bargain - a whole $1 cheaper than the Young Henry jugs. I think this is only a Wednesday night promotion though.

Stephen was keen to get in another jug before we went to the Exeter at 6pm and we were close to being on time - just 10 minutes late. When we arrived at the Exeter the upstairs had a 'Staff Only' sign on the stairwell, but we went up anyway. We were the first ones there and could choose our option for a table. We choose the one on the right hand side - near the heater, even though it wasn't particularly cold.

Stephen and Chad went halves in a clear skin bottle of $29 wine. The el cheapo end of the price list, but it tasted ok. I smelled Chad's glass of wine and thought that I could detect hints of liquorice, peach and walnut along with blue cheese. He said that was exactly what it tasted like :-)

On to the serious stuff... what did we have to eat on the curry night at the Exteter?? Well, Stephen and Chad had chicken curry, I had Cambodian Seafood curry, and Con had beef rendang. We ordered a side of daal to share. The meal came with poppadoms. I managed to spill my seafood curry from the plate onto the table. There was a slight angle to table and the sauce came straight off my plate and onto the paper that was covering the table - oops!

Now to the serious end of town... what to score the meals? Well, we'll start with the highest praise first. Chad gave his curry an 8, Con a 6, me a 6 and Stephen a five. Stephen said he doesn't particularly like the curries at the Exeter because they don't have a depth of flavour. He had to ask for salt and pepper to add to his meal. It was all chicken, no vegetables, which was the complaint I had with my food. Chad on the other hand really enjoyed his curry.

 Did you know that Chad has been to America? We were so convinced that he was lying that we asked him to sing a few bars of New York, New York which we joined in on. We were talking about how Adelaide is such a perfect city and that someone should write a song about it - just like someone had written about New York.

 We talked again about Game of Thrones and how the series is being released each week. Stephen asked Chad not to tell him what happens - he wants it to be a surprise when he sees the episodes with Andris. Spoiler alert! The dragon kills everyone and there is a nuclear explosion!!!! John Snow dies again as well as the rest of the cast. Oh well, not worth watching it now.

Con gave me some more films to watch. I can't wait to see them. I think Con's and my taste is similar in movies so I'll relax and watch them at my leisure.

Stephen spent quite a bit of time talking about uranium and copper and how they use nuclear bombs to explode the rock. I didn't quite follow the whole of his rendition, but it ended up him talking about how BHP used to spend trillions of dollars on their 'team bonding' sessions. In particular, a trip to the vineyard.

Besides the meals varying in quality today, we were all united on one front - the atmosphere in the upstairs balcony of the Exeter deserves a 11 out of 10. There's something about sitting up on high looking down at the main street and watching the world go by. Lovely.


I felt like having a hot chocolate so we were debating about where to go. I suggested San Churro, but Chad thought there was another chocolate place on the opposite side of the road. Stephen suggested a chocolatier on the left side of the road. We walked up and saw that it was open and went inside. Luckily we found a table for 4, albeit with stools instead of chairs.

 Stephen, Con and I had the hot chocolate - a lovely dark chocolate flavour rich and creamy. Stephen's only comment was that it could be hotter. Chad, as usual, had something different. He had the Aztec Chilli - a spicy aroma drink which Stephen likened to Chai. Not only that, he had ordered the waffles with salted caramel! - Yummm. He was generous enough to give Stephen and I a taste. Again, lovely!

A couple of points about our new found chocolatier place... it was a bit bare inside - it lacked warmth. However, there was artwork on the walls - Paws and Pose - a series of pictures of dogs - they were beautiful photos.

If you EVER want to see the most gigantic bowl of sugar EVER on a table, then go to Steven ter Horst Chocolatier - it was ginormous!

It has been a lovely day - the day before ANZAC. Chad is getting up early and coming into the city for the dawn service. A great way to pay respects. For Stephen and I we are having a BBQ with Andris and Emma. It should be another relaxing public holiday.

20190418 Bun Cha and Brunelli + Life of Brian

We were eager to meet this Thursday, the day before Good Friday. It was a good feeling for me to have this as the last day of work before the long weekend.

Stephen, myself, Chad and Con all met around 5pm in the Elephant. Richard was close behind.

Tonight was a big night because we were off to see the 40th anniversary of the movie, 'Life of Brian'. To be honest I had forgotten most of the movie and was keen to view it again.

It was Con's turn to choose tonight. Richard was off to the footy but he was available to come to eat with us and was happy to come along to Bun Cha. It's a quirky restaurant tucked away in the alley. It usually doesn't have many people in the cafe when we visit. I really don't know how they survive with so few people eating there at night.

Stephen and I ordered Laksas - chicken and vegetarian. Con had a pork and noodle dish. Chad had green chicken curry and Richard had chicken and cashew nuts. The famous Bun Cha brown sauce came in handy as Richard used a bit on his meal.

So... what did we think this time around? Richard, as usual, wasn't too impressed with his meal and gave it a 6. Con, Stephen and I gave our meals 7 out of 10. I only gave 7 because despite the flavours being there, it didn't have many noodles or vegetables. I was left wanting more. It was mainly the soup. Stephen ate all of his Laksa, slurping up all the soup. Chad gave his meal an 8 out of 10 - very happy with it (sorry Chad I forgot you) :-)

We were graced with Albert's presence tonight. We met him outside the Elephant on our way to the Palace Nova.

The theatre was buzzing and the queue for the movie snaked down the hallway and around the corner. Quite a few people dressed up for the occasion - as Judeans or beard wearing women!

We had a quiz before the show and a give away for the best dressed. It was all a bit of fun and I learnt some trivia about the movie whilst being entertained.

The movie itself is - you've guessed it - a classic. There are wonderful classic lines that never age.... Blessed are the Greeks and Cheesemakers... What have the Romans ever done for us...

Wonderful stuff - thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

We decided to go to Brunelli for our usual coffee afterwards. We slowed our pace to the cafe to keep up with Albert who had his walking stick.

Stephen bought a chocolate mousse cake and was reluctant to share it with me, but in the end did. The coffees took ages to make - there was one waitress doing everything behind the counter and we had to wait a good 15 minutes for the coffees as they came out in stages.

Albert talked about losing it at work the day before. We talked about the dangers of motorcycles and we even touched on politics! Yes, politics - how surprising for both Stephen and Albert to engage in conversation about the political system :-)

It was a pleasantly warm evening and we enjoyed just sitting around and gas-bagging about the world. I asked Con for more Asian movies as I thoroughly enjoyed the ones he gave us a couple of weeks ago. For anyone out there, see Tampopo - a Japanese film about food. All I can say is watch out for the egg yolk scene :-)

20190412 Brunelli x 2

 We started off, as usual, in the Elephant. Stephen had texted everyone at 4.30 to say he was on his way. He hadn't left home by that stage! I was there by 4.35 and Con and Stephen got there around 5pm. Richard got there around 6 and Chad a little later. It was the last day of school term and Chad had a few bits and pieces to tidy up before leaving work.

 Richard was going to a footy game - some unknown football team :-) - so had had a chicken salad at the pub. It looked rather nice with plenty of salad variation and thick pieces of chicken.

Chad's turn to choose and he was geared up for Betty's Burgers. He was so convinced that we would go to Bettys Burgers that he took a photo of the sign on the way to the pub! That's confidence for you... it turns out that his confidence was unfounded. By the time we got to the cafe, the queues were spilling out onto the street again. With a quick change of plan, at Stephen's encouragement we were making our way to the Sushi cafe instead. But as we stood outside Brunelli's waiting to cross the road, Chad made his final decision - BRUNELLI!


 I warned Chad about going to Brunelli without Richard - after all it was his favourite place there for a while - but no, the decision was made - Brunelli it is! Would we be disappointed? What would it be like after all this time? Would the food be up to scratch?

We didn't have to fear. The meals were delicious. Chad had creamy pasta spagetti, Con had tomato based spagetti, I had the Con Verdure ravioli and Stephen had the Brunelli Pizza. Stephen grumbled a bit about the lack of meat on his pizza but apart from that gave it a 7 out of 10. It got better from there. Chad gave his a 7 1/2 out of 10 with Con giving his a 8 out of 10. I also gave my pasta a 8 out of 10. It was lovely. It was the right heat, the right flavours, the right amount on the plate - everything was balanced and deserved high praise.

Even though Richard wasn't with us in person, he was there in Spirit. Chad sent Richard a text showing him the photo of him on the phone - proving to him that he was here with us.

Most of the conversation revolved around the new series of Game of Thrones. Con and I tuned out because we havn't watched any episodes, but Stephen and Chad were on fire to know what will happen next. Stephen has made a pact with his friend Andris to watch all 6 episodes in 1 super mega marathon day of tv watching.

Talking of televisions, we didn't expect the televisions to be working at Brunelli and indeed they weren't. They were actually switched off.

We didn't have far to go for the $2 coffees, Stephen ordered them for us - nice enough. Overall, a pleasant evening.

20190405 San Giorgio and Brunelli

The Elephant! It was so warm we sat outside. The fencing had been put back up and there was a rowdy crowd on the table in front of us who seemed to know the crowd from the table across the lane. They were singing on the tops of their voices intermittently throughout the night. A good time by all!

Con was on fire tonight with his matching turquoise shirt and glasses - you couldn't pay to get that colour match! Chad and Richard were also on form with matching shirts. Chad had triangles on his black shirt reminisant of the 'play' icon on a video recorder. Richard had a similar navy shirt with 'play' icons together with stop circles and the 'pause' symbol.

We talked about going to Melbourne together as a group and watching a footy match. Stephen and I are up for it - Chad is too - and Richard is going to be there anyway. Con is a bit hesitant but we might swing him around.

Because it was my birthday on Tuesday, I got to choose tonight even though it was Chad's turn. I suspect Chad was going to choose Betty Burgers so I got in quick and choose San Georgios. I'm inspired by the Italian fare after visiting Amalfis.

We managed to get a table fairly easily at the restaurant. I had the linguine salmon, Richard had chicken in a creamy sauce with potatoes and veg, Chad, Stephen and Con all ate pizza.

The atmosphere was pleasant enough. The televisions were buzzing away in the background without too much interference. The doors was pulled back because of the warm night.

I was a bit disappointed with my pasta as it was too 'fishy'. It should have had vegetables to make it more varied, but it just had the salmon with the odd small section of mushroom. I would give my meal a 6 out of 10.

 The pizza eaters gave their meal a 6-7 out of 10 and Richard gave his a 7 1/2 out of 10. His meal certainly looked the tastiest out of the lot.

We all paid cash and Richard paid by waving his phone app. A way of paying that I've seen alot of lately. The bill came to exactly $125. The right amount that Richard had calculated. Whew!

We agreed to go to Brunelli - Chad said that it was my choice and I could choose anywhere. I was happy to have my $2 coffee. Stephen and Con had eclairs and Richard had a chocolate cheesecake. All looked too rich for me.

We talked about going to see the Book of Mormon and that Richard was going to try and get a free ticket by reviewing it. We'll hold off from booking our ticket until we hear from Richard then.

Stephen and I were yawning and we excused ourselves after the coffee - time to go to home to watch a movie and bed... it's been a long week!

20190402 ** Amalfi **

It is my birthday today and even though it's not a Friday night (it's a Tuesday night) I'm posting about the amazing experience we had at Amalfi tonight!

Stephen and I met in the Elephant and had 2 jugs for beer before heading off to the Greens School on Pirie Street. It was an introduction to the Greens Party and talked about how a volunteer and member can get involved in the Green Party.

We finished early - about 7pm and then went to the restauarant.

I had my usual (Zingarella) and Stephen had the Amatriciana (spicy spagetti). We had the same waiter again and he was very pleasant.

Love Amalfi! Such a perfect Italian place... I can see that it won't be the last time we go here this year...