Saturday, February 27, 2010

Sizzler







I'll be the first to admit it, i am one greedy customer. I can't just order one thing, i have to get EXTRA this or a side of that or, if i'm feeling peckish, i'll order two meals and eat them simultaneously (much to my eating partners horror/embarassment). The vietnamese have a saying that 'ones eyes are bigger than ones belly'. Not me though, i think my eyes and stomach are pretty much neck and neck. i pride myself on being able to finish everything on my plate. Overeating, yes, but over-ordering, never. That was until i went to Sizzlers, Kogarah. There used to be a lot more sizzlers in Sydney back in the day, i guess people became fussy and were after a more sophisticated dining experience. Still, there are some of us that actually like to eat out of troughs, so there remains a couple of strategically placed sizzlers around. I'm not unfamilliar to how it all works, you order a main (smokey bbq ribs), get your bottomless softdrink and the all important Salad Bar. I won't go much into how the food was, the ribs were nice enough, but it's all slop really, you go for the quantity not quality (and for the thick cut cheesy toast, sooo good). My biggest mistake was that i didn't pace myself. I'd already polished off two trips to the salad bar by the time my ribs landed. And by 'salad' i mean 'carb-loading crap'. I had had potatoes 6 ways, pasta, rice, rolls, "crab" sticks, corn chips, "bolognese"... i was in whitey central. So by the time i had sucked my last pork rib bone dry, i was starting to get a little full. "I'll just have a couple of soups" i then thought as i ladled me a pea&ham soup AND a pumpkin soup, "it's all water really.." and boy it sure was. By then my friends were begging me to stop, but what's a trip to sizzler without sampling the delights of the dessert bar? Okay, i could have excercised restraint and pulled myself a more sensibly sized soft serve, but those machines are just too much fun. And the toppings! Needless to say, and it's the thing to do i notice as i look at other (kiddy) tables around me, after just two bites, i ended up childishly playing with my ice creamy leftovers. I just couldn't eat the rest, i was FULL. I have to say though, it was a bloody good effort. The only things left were that ice cream and the baked potato that came with my main. I didn't feel toooo bad for all the starving peeps in Africa, but what i did feel was paralysed from ingesting essentially enough food for five (starving people in Africa). No joke i was in pain for the rest of the night and vowed never to put myself in such a dangerous situation again. All-you-can-eat, for me=death trap.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Bar Mattino


I took a real gamble ordering this PlOUGHMANS PLATTER for lunch one day. (White)Friends think i'm adventurous when it comes to food because of all the "weird asian shit" i seem to always order, when really, its just what i've grown up eating. So this classic english fare is pretty much the polar opposite of what i'm usually in the mood for. But i figure, i like cheese, i like ham, i like buttered bread, so why not? Turns out it was a risk that didn't really pay off for me, probably because i'm used to all of the above things in the context of a sandwich. It was really, really nice to look at, but i didn't really know where to start eating. Do i just take random bites of everything? Or do i try to assemble a sanger? Made me quite nervous. I ended up just eating the ham as is, then all the cheese, then the cold pork pie(a first for me! It was alright), then (save the best for last)the half egg. I couldn't be bothered with the bread in the end so i left that along with all the relish, pickled onions (it's weird, i hate anything pickled except for pickles themselves) and what not. Looking at my half eaten plate in the end made me feel quite...ignorant, and i get enough of that already in a normal course of a day, i don't really want those feelings cutting into my treasured eating time, my happy time, so yeah, even though i'm sure it's a very fine example of a classic PLOUGHMANS PLATTER, and it sure was pretty, i won't be ordering it again anytime soon. Ignorance is NOT bliss.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Sussex Street Food Court, BBQ House


The one of the advantages of having a bestie who is tiny and eats like a pigeon (mmmm...pigeon) is that you're almost guaranteed leftovers that you are then free to help yourself to. I always try to influence his choice based on whatever it is that I cant choose between. James wised up to it years ago. Tonight, I was hankering for some COMBINATION ROAST PORK AND BBQ PORK WONTON NOODLE SOUP. I was also in the mood for some Hainan Chicken but James had other ideas. He basically ordered the same as me (a waste of an order in my books), but on rice. How selfish.
Note the house soup - ask for extra bones, it's worth it.

Sussex St Food Court, Happy Chef



Somehow, the dude at the Happy Chef knows what I'm in the mood for whenever I rock up. Can't be that hard really, it can only be one out of my three "usuals". Today, my face must have been screaming 'COMBINATION WONTON LAKSA WITH THICK RICE NOODLE, EXTRA TRIPE, EXTRA TENDON AND NO BEAN SPROUTS!!' Bless him.