Leena Eats, Gourmet Communication ... Food, Travel, Gastronomy

Good Friday was our 6 month wedding anniversary, and never one to pass up an excuse for food; we took full advantage of it. We hit up a new Ethiopian restaurant, Abyssinian, in a nearby town called Torrensville. The place was packed, which means it is probably pretty good, and it was?after we waited 45 minutes for our food with no appetizers. At one point, I think I saw the chef go behind the building to slaughter the cow they used in Adam?s dish. Gotta love that Aussie table service! The food was still great; I had a veggie combo as usual with spicy mesir watt, dinich alicha, and other things I cannot pronounce.

Adam had the steak tibs, which were also great, but I am always shocked when you pay $15 for a meal and they don?t give you any sides, like with Adam?s dish.

Ah well. It was still Ethiopian and we still got to eat it?and the leftovers the next day! Man, this stuff is addicting? ~LTG

The closest I ever got to a fig before Australia was in a fig Newton (if you don?t know, it?s a cake-like cookie filled with fig jam?not too popular. I always felt like I was getting punished when they appeared in my lunch box).

After my trip to the fig farm, I am convinced of their kick-ass-ness. Read the rest of this entry »

Remember the pink rice krispy treat? Well, the class liked the idea of everyone bringing in a birthday snack that is specific to their country,and so one of our Aussie students, Diana, brought in fairy bread for everyone on her birthday last week. I really wish I took a picture of it…it was so colorful! Basically, it is good old white bread with a touch of butter and a ton of sprinkles on top. Apparently, all little Aussies kids have this at their parties, I believe in addition to cake. A birthday sweet with no cooking? My kind of treat. ~LTG

Just a quick note?a few of my classmates, Adam and I went to a local Ethiopian restaurant for dinner the other night! It was a great place, run by one little really happy woman whose name I cannot pronounce nor remember. But she cooked, waited tables, ran the register, and was great at it all. Sort of like the Ethiopian Martha Stewert, minus the jail record. We started with these meat filled spring rolls, which I think was the Australian version of sambusas (the wonton wrappers may have been the Asian influence that is so heavily spread over Oz).

We had the usual favorites, like yemisir watt (they called misir watt, basically spicy lentils), altkilt wat (a potato and carrot dish), along with some new favorites, like a garlicky lamb dish, and this AMAZING beef dish that had a sauce as dark as a mole and just as rich and haunting?it had something in it I couldn?t put my fingers on, but I want to say it was cocoa powder?the injera was great too, but thicker than the kind in the U.S. I think this is because they might actually be able to get teff grains over here! In the U.S., they usually had to make due with what was available, and as a fellow chef who used to work in an Ethiopian restaurant once told me, that could mean using Bisquick. And it all ended with fragrant coffee that was served with this heady incense stick…but thanks to my amazing stomach pyrotechnics, I could only smell the stuff.

Look how happy we are!

~LTG

Gimme some brekky!

Urban was recently voted the best breakfast in Adelaide, so our course, my fellow Gastronomy students and I had to put them to the test. Read the rest of this entry »

What is Australian cuisine? If you ask your average American, they are likely to answer ?a blooming onion!?, referring to the popular deep fried battered onion sold at the Outback Steakhouse. The menu includes such delights as steak, steak, and ?more steak. Shrimp on the Barbie is another popular dish (even though they are called prawns down under), as are the different variations on chooks, or chicken dishes, such as Alice Springs chicken, chicken breasts topped with mushrooms, bacon (American bacon), cheese and served with a honey mustard sauce. Top it off with a giant can of ?authentic? Aussie beer, Fosters (I have yet to see an Aussie drink one here), and you have yourself America?s version of a proper Aussie meal. Read the rest of this entry »

Australia pizza just doesn?t do it for me. Too many toppings, flavorless, soggy crust, there is nothing memorable about it at all and it is starting to give cheap food a bad name here in Adelaide, at least among the foreigners. I mean, I come from Chicago, home of the stuffed pizza, and maker of several very decent cheap pizza pies. In all fairness, Adelaide has a lot of live up to. Thankfully, Adelaide has produced a pizza worthy of my seasoned palate. Farina is a brand spanking new bar and restaurant in Grenfell Square. I first tried Farina a few weeks back with peeps from my class, sampling various wines and exhausting their impressive looking pizza menu. They have Moscato D?Asti by the glass. They make a killer gourmet pizza. Thus, they have my heart.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is not a post about why I am not a fan of Burger Time. I already wrote a post that explained my first underwhelming experience there. Instead of writing yet another post on my most recent visit(because I?ve recently had moral issues with the whole concept of restaurant reviews and negative reviews specifically–more on that later), I would like to show you this: Read the rest of this entry »

After eating some amazing pan fried dumplings in Sydney, Adam and I were on the hunt for the next best thing in Adelaide. A hunt that started and ended in one single trip.

The Dumpling King sits at the front of Adelaide?s Chinatown, just behind the entrance gate. I assumed since they are the ?king? of dumplings they would have to kick ass, so that was our first stop. It had a lot to live up to to beat the Chinese Noodle Restaurant. Read the rest of this entry »

Yup, thats me. The girl that goes to the cheese counter and orders ONLY 20 grams of feta and 30 grams of Camembert. Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone, meet Bec. Bec is a keen lady. Bec went to camp in the States with my food twin, Bobby, so Bobby put us in touch with her when he found out we were moving to Oz. We have officially elected Bec as our Australian ambassador, that is to say, she rocks. Read the rest of this entry »