Songbirds in the Forest

Eating out:
The day my mom came to visit, we went to Songbirds Rainforest Retreat, a luxurious rainforest spa retreat on Mount Tamborine in the Gold Coast Hinterland. We had no intentions to stay, or to pamper ourselves with indulgent massages or the works. We were purely there to sample the highly acclaimed and awarded food at the restaurant, Songbirds in the Forest.


The retreat was a good 20 minute drive from the Pacific Motorway exit, but it was a drive worth the while.

Upon entering the sprawling grounds of the retreat, one immediately feels a sense of lightness and peace. The crisp mountain air, combined with the exotic balinese decor and landscaping, plus the surrounding tranquility all culminate to send positive vibes through one's bones. We just knew that it; we were in for something good.

Sure enough we were!



The restaurant is flanked on both sides by ledges spilling over into lush tropical gardens, where the resident bush turkeys and a whole array of other wild birds come to nest, thus the name of the establishment. It's almost like an open-concept aviary of sorts, where birds from the surrounding forests can be seen mucking around in the day. Outside of the main dining area, there are shelterd pagodas where wicker outdoor tables and chairs are set, as can be seen in the picture below. I half-wished we could have spared the time to stay on till evening to sip cocktails there. Next time perhaps.



The food was equally as good to boot, and thus stood up to the exceedingly high expectations that we had built since entering.

For starters, we ordered the:


Parmesan custard with cos lettuce, parmesan crisp, and anchovy sauce.
This dish did not leave much of an impression on Bev. She found that the different components did not compliment each other. It could have done with a little more refinement. The saving grace, to her was that the warm weather made this cold entree highly appropriate and welcoming.


Green pea and ham soup, panko crusted crab cake and crispy wakame seaweed.
The soup was poured into the plate at the table by the waiter, thus keeping the crab cake and fried seaweed as crispy as can be. I highly applaud this kind of attention to detail; to me, such a gesture sends a message to diners that the chef actually takes some bloody pride in his food (unlike in many other restaurants that I've patronised).



Confit Bangalow pork belly, roast Moreton Bay bug tail, pineapple and ginger chutney.
Apart from the dry and over-cooked bottom layer of the pork belly (it was probably confit-ed on the bottom shelf of a too-hot oven), everything else came together nicely. There was, surprisingly, a lot of 'harmony' among the many components this dish.


Similarly, the main courses that we ordered were a notch better than most of those that I've had around here:



Tempura coated soft shell crab, green mango and papaya salad, yellow chilli nahm jim.
The portion was HUGE! And the salad was pretty decent too; one of the better thai papaya/mango salads I've tried outside of a Thai restaurant.



Roasted fillet of pork, red cabbage, crispy potato rosti.
Bev's favourite dish. The pork was cooked perfectly, pinkish and juicy in the middle. I reckon too few restaurants do a good job cooking pork to that precise internal temperature.



Beef tenderlion, potato and bacon gnocchi, prawn dumpling, fried potato strings.
This was a very 'safe' dish. However, it was like everything else, pretty well exectued. Intrestingly, the gnocchi came in the form of a square patty sitting beneath the steak. My only quip about the dish was the odd prawn dumpling: it was nice, but it just didn't quite seem to fit in with the rest.

All in all, lunch at Songbirds was very pleasant and memorable. It scores pretty well in terms of food, but as far as ambience goes, 10/10 wouldn't even do it justice. Oh, and having said all that, did forget to mention that the restaurant actually clinched the coveted title of Queensland Restaurant of the Year 2006?

Songbirds Rainforest Retreat
Tamborine Mountain Road,
P.O. Box 275,
North Tamborine
Tel: 07 5545 2563

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Sprout Cafe

Eating out:
This is one of the more back-dated articles that Bev and I have been holding off writing for a while. We visited the very quaint and charming Sprout Cafe in Auchenflower several months ago with rather high expectations in mind, given that it is a 1-star rated restaurant in The Courier-Mail GoodLife Restaurant Guide 2006. Service was prompt and courteous, but tragically, the food that we received left much to be desired, to put it very politely and politically.

Here's why:


Sauteed duck livers, mushroom puree and caramelised onion.
The duck livers were rather well cooked, with the middles still juicy and pink as they should be. However, the crouton that they sat upon was dry and stale, suggesting that it had been cut a considerable time before service and left out in the open to become stale, rather then freshly cut and toasted. The puree was earthy and flavourful, but just couldn't save the rock-hard crouton from blemishing the entire dish. Furthermore, the onions could have been further caramelised to render much more flavour and sweetness accociated with caramelised onions.



Crispy soft-shell crab with a Thai style salad of apples and wood ear fungus.
I have to compliment this one dish; it was the only good dish that we sampled on the day we visited. I particularly loved how they ingeniously incorporated crunchy wood ear fungus into the tart salad. That was a first for Bev and myself, and we truly appreciated that addition. Other than that, it was a perfect example of a well executed but run-of-the-mill dish which I feel that food establishments here do way too much of.



Grilled crispy skinned snapper with pumpkin gnocchi, string beans and saffron cream sauce.
It really pains me to say something ugly about anyone's cooking, considering I myself have what people in the industry term "the cook's pride". But when it came to this dish, it almost seemed as if the chefs had completely abandoned the restaurant, leaving behind god-knows-who to do the cooking.

For everything that I could possibly fault in the dish, I actually did. For starters, the skin on the fish was far far far from being crispy. To top things off, there were actually scales left on the skin of the fish; not one or two, but a whole mouthful! It was almost impossible to eat. Then came the string beans; the tough, fibrous 'strings' were not even removed, and I had to embarrassingly spit out a wad of half-masticated fibre to avoid consuming it. Then the sauce: it was watery and completely unseasoned. Yes, I know 'completely' is a very strong word, but I stick to my guns when I say that the sauce was completely unseasoned. At that point, I didn't even bother trying to rescue it by spiking it with table salt. I ended up finishing less than half of it.



Crispy duck leg confit with lentils and sweet potatoes, eggplant chutney.
Again, what was claimed to be crispy was not crispy, and by now we were pretty certain that god-knows-who was indeed cooking in the kitchen. The lentils were obviously made in bulk, and tasted 'over-overnight'. The eggplant chutney was bland, and so was the rest of the dish to be honest. The duck itself tasted as if it was, dare I say it, microwaved.


Usually when a nice waitstaff comes along afterwards and asks "How was the meal?", I would normally reciprocrate the kindness and reply with something positive that I can think of. However, on this occassion I simply looked disappointingly at him and pointed out the fish scales and bean 'strings' left on the edge of my plate. I think he got the hint.

Sprout Cafe
111 Haig Rd
Auchenflower
Brisbane
Tel: (07) 3870 3030

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Happy St Patty's!

It was rather spontaneous, this one. The initial intention was a gathering of sorts, with friends for a catch up plus a games session and of course, some home cooking. But why not incorporate St Patrick's Day at the same time? Afterall, both occassions fell on the same day!

Thus the menu was set; Irish Lamb Stew with Irish Soda Bread and sides of fried cabbage and bacon, and buttered corn kernels for 12 persons. We tried to keep it authentic; but because neither of us are of Irish descent, 100% authentic is something we can't quite guarantee for now! Needless to say, we winged it once again, and eventually came up with a pretty decent meal.

Making Irish soda bread was a first for us. We got the recipe off one of Bev's baking books and immediately got cracking. The texture of the bread was wonderfully dense and crumbly at the same time; the result of yeast-less-ness and a very short kneading time (5 mins).

The recipe for the Irish lamb stew was an adaptation of the recipe at this link. I have to say, the addition of red wine (I used a Merlot) and Guinness certainly did add a distinct heartiness to the final dish. Two thumbs up for this recipe!

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Braised Duck with Rice Macaroni and Ginger Coriander Paste

Just a quick shout out to all you good people visiting our blog... Its been a while since our last update. Hence, we're glad to tell you that we are back in business; and what a better way to kick things off than with a series of articles on original, exotic noodle creations that Bev and myself have decided to embark upon.

This one here is a fantastic dish that we contrived out of pure fascination of a special ingredient: rice macaroni.

We first stumbled upon rice macaroni at an Asian grocery store in Sunnybank Hills. Bev and I have always been tantalised by noodles in every shape and form. Rice macaroni, for one, was a noodle that neither of us had ever tasted or heard of before. Freaking out like kids in a candy store, we bought the packet of dried rice macaroni, and rushed home to think of ways in which we could tackle, and do justice to this new epicurean discovery.

After much deliberation, and the golden stamp of approval from Bev, I proceeded to ‘construct’ the dish.

Braised duck with rice macaroni and ginger coriander paste

Braised duck
1 duck
Chinese five-spice powder
Salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup light soy
1/3 cup dark soy
1 cinnamon stick
5 cloves
3 star anise
1 onion peeled, left whole
1 head of garlic, left whole
Handful of peeled, sliced ginger

Rub the cavity of the duck generously with the five-spice powder and salt. Leave aside.
In a heavy-bottomed pot, combine sugar with a splash of water and place on medium heat. Do not stir. Within a few minutes, this mixture will begin to bubble. When it changes colour to a deep golden brown (reaches a caramel-like stage), take it off the heat and very carefully pour in the soy sauces and 4 cups of water.

After the splattering has subsided, replace the pot onto the heat and add in all the spices and vegetables. Place duck breast side down in the pot, and top up with as much water as necessary to fully submerge the duck. Braise for 2 hours till leg meat is fork tender. Skim regularly to remove particles from the braising liquid.

Remove from heat once cooked, and let the duck cool to room temperature in its braising juices; this is an important step in maintaining the juiciness of the meat (braised meats reabsorb moisture when they are cooled to 50 degrees Celsius and below!) Once cooled, it can be kept in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. When required, remove the duck from the braising liquid and de-bone. Slice thinly for maximum eating pleasure. The braising juices can then be strained and further reduced to make a scrumptious sauce to accompany the duck meat.


Braised shitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
7-8 large, fresh shitake mushrooms
1 small can of bamboo shoots, cut into thin strips
½ cup Chinese rice wine
2 cups reduced duck braising juices
Splash of sesame oil
White pepper

Fry garlic in oil till fragrant. Add mushrooms and bamboo shoot. Stir-fry for a minute then add rice wine. When wine has more or less fully evaporated, add in the reduced braising juices from the duck, and let simmer for 2 more minutes or till mushrooms are cook through. Season with white pepper and splash generously with sesame oil to taste.

Ginger coriander paste
2-3 bunches of coriander, inclusive of roots, washed and dried
1 good knob of ginger, peeled and chopped roughly (use more if desired)
1 clove garlic, sliced
Vegetable oil
Sesame oil
Salt
White sugar

Cut coriander into short lengths and place into a blender with ginger and garlic. Top up with enough oil to cover and blend till smooth. Add more oil as necessary to facilitate smooth blending. Season to taste with salt, sugar and sesame oil. Leave to steep for at least 1 hour before use.

~

To assemble: Cook macaroni as per packet instructions. Place in serving dishes and top with duck slices and spoonfuls of mushroom and bamboo shoots. Drizzle more duck sauce if necessary. Paint tops with ginger coriander paste, and garnish with extra coriander and sliced red chillies. Serve with chilli oil (available in glass jars from Asian stores) for extra kick.

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