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Richard

@gourmandorc

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🇦🇺 Just posts about food and drink and fun.
"Your body isn't a temple. It's an amusement park. Enjoy the ride!" Anthony Bourdain RIP

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An Indonesian feast: Finally got to Brisbane's Sendok Garpu to try some of their highly recommended Indonesian dishes. Everything was so tasty, but the highlight was the Beef Rendang. The Indonesian style is a dry rendang but just so full of deep rich flavours - thanks @just_in_travels for the tip
@sendok_garpu_brisbane #indonesian food by @gourmandorc

Another great Saturday afternoon Thai feast at Big Boy Bangkok in Newstead. We got to have some of our favourites from our first visit again - like the deep fried king prawns with tamarind, coconut sugar, dried chillies and fried shallots (Kung Tod Sauce Makham) - but also to try some different things - Roti Mataba with chicken mince and the smoky wok-fried Pad See Ew (sorry for crap photo). The photos also show the thai prawn and pork cakes, a crispy pork belly dish with spicy curry paste and green beans (Pad Prik Kaeng Moo Krob) and a Beef Massaman, which of course we had roti with to mop up the sauce.

And there is still so much more on the menu that we want to try. Luckily we will be back there in two weeks time, with two other couples, so should be able to try an even bigger range of dishes.

The service was again exceptional. It was only our second visit but the owner treated us like we had been regulars for years.
@bigboybangkok.au #thaifood #brisbanethai by @gourmandorc

Was impressed with our lunch at Mackay's Roshni by Raj yesterday - the food (photos attached), service and ambience was excellent. Everyone here has been telling us about this place and it lived up to its reputation.
The lunch menu has some interesting takes on traditional Indian food like the Butter Chicken Sliders and the Bunny Chow (your choice of curry served in a bread/toast bowl).
But they also serve traditional curries (and rice and naan) - with "half serves" on offer at lunch time - though they are by no means a small serve. The good thing is that each different type of curry tastes very different - as they should, but which is often not the case - and you can still taste whether the meat in the curry is chicken or lamb - or whatever you order. And if you ask for a curry to be hot it is more like "Indian hot" than "Australian hot" - which is a good thing.
Even the decor is impressive, avoiding traditional Kitsch Indian scenes found in so many Aussie restaurants, with a light bright fitout and a colourful modern take on Indian motifs on the mural on the main wall (photo also attached)
We are looking forward to going back and sampling the dinner menu, which has a greater range of curries (and other dishes) including what is said to be an excellent goat curry.
There is also a great looking breakfast menu - Aussie staples but also a range of Indian treats that really appeal (unfortunately doubt we will get back there for a breakfast on this trip).
@roshni_by_raj #indianfood #mackayindian #mackayeats by @gourmandorc

Who knew Vegemite was made* in Sarina Qld for many decades? Not me!
Well, from the 20s, some of the yeast for Vegemite came from an ethanol distillery (a by-product) at the Sarina Sugar Mill, as well as from breweries in Victroia and elswhere.
But then in the 50s and 60s, all Vegemite started off with the base paste made from yeast at the Sarina Distillery before being sent south for "refinement" - Southerners always think things from Qld need more refinement 🙄
#vegemite #sarinasugarmill
*maybe not 100% "made", but this is where the base product came from by @gourmandorc

The good news: Today is the first day of Negroni Week.
The bad news: This is the last bit of my pre-mixed negroni that has been part of my travel pack. And there is not a bar anywhere near here where I will be getting one served to me.
So this is my first, and probably last, negroni for Negroni Week 2026😒. I will be having less negronis this week than I have ever had in Negroni Week since I started drinking them in 2017. Probably won't hurt me though 😁
#negroniweek #negronitime by @gourmandorc

OK, I'm about a week late for International Canned Cocktail Day (yes, it is a thing), but this Curatif Pina Colada seemed an ideal cocktail to take up to our short stay at Cape Hillsborough - where there is not even a bar, let alone one serving proper cocktails.

Curatif are my #1 favourite maker of serious RTD cocktails, but I have never had their Pina Colada before. In fact, I am not sure I have ever had a straight Pina Colada anywhere - at least since the blurry memory of my youth.

As the with all the Curatif products, this one is made with quality ingredients, not the house made ethanol concoctions used in many so-called RTD cocktails. Curatif uses a blend of Appleton Estate Signature Rum and Ron Colon Salvadoreno Rum, plus coconut and fresh pineapple. A perfect sundowner on spring afternoon up here.

Apologies to the purists for not having the correct glass, for no pineapple garnish (a kookaburra stole the garnish on my last cocktail) and for not using crushed ice. Beggars can't be choosers when you are limited to what's available in your cabin at the Holiday Park 😁
@curatif #cannedcocktails #pinacolada #cocktailinacan #internationalcannedcocktailday by @gourmandorc

Chicken Sto Fuorno - a Greek style baked chicken dish that is the current centrepiece of The Daylight Banquet at Dark Shepherd. When we saw that this had replaced lamb as the main dish, we were initially contemplating not going there. But after seeing some photos of this online, it looked really good. And it was - a highlight of a leisurely Saturday afternoon of grazing through this excellent value banquet
This baked chicken, with lemon, garlic, oregano etc, had good crispy skin and really moist tasty meat. And there was a lot of it. The picture is a serve for 3. The chicken, plus the accompanying red potatoes and salad would have probably been worth the $57 per head of itself (or would have been what you would pay in most Brisbane restaurants like this).
But for that price (plus weekend surcharge plus credit card surcharge 🙄), you also get freshly cooked pillow bread plus taramasalata, oysters (which were very creamy/tasty) zucchini fritters and haloumi chips (neither of which were as expected - they were better) and desserts - which were slices of walnut cake and a biscoff cheescake (there were three of us, so we were given two slices of one and one of the other).
@darkshepherd_bne #brisbaneeats by @gourmandorc

Can't go past a good Spanish tapas feast when it is on offer, especially on the oceanfront at Palm Cove. Miguel's has it all - good tapas (and more), Spanish wines, fantastic location and excellent service. We did not get past the tapas menu and even then there were so many more tapas we would have liked to have tried.
First picture is sauteed chorizo in garlic, red wine and a touch of honey. I have also added some photos of the Jamon, Salamanca (paprika salami) and the grilled garlic bread. There was more (of course) but no other photos. And these photos do not do the food justice in any case - outside tables at night do not exactly provide great lighting for photos for "the 'gram" 😁
@miguelspalmcove #cairnseats #palmcove #tapastime by @gourmandorc

The Salted Desert - a dirty Aussie gimlet/martini hybrid based on the Salted Lime Gin from Backwoods Distilling Co @backwoodsdistillingco
The gin is a zesty dry gin made using desert limes, finger limes, Old Man Saltbush (yes, that's the name of the plant) and Murray River Pink Salt. So the salt, saltbush and desert limes give you what might otherwise come from olive brine in a classic dirty martini.
The Regal Rogue Daring Dry Vermouth adds some crisp sharpness to the drink @regalrogue
And the other two ingredients were a small amount of lime juice (hence the gimlet reference) and a couple of dashes of celery bitters, adding some herbaceousness and more crispness.
It was very easy to drink - almost too easy for a drink with 60ml of gin in it.
We picked up this gin on our recent travels in regional Victoria. The distillery is in Yackandandah (can't get a much more Aussie name than that), though we picked up the gin from a great little bottleshop in Bright which promoted a lot of regional products (where "promoted" includes generous free tastings!) @liquidgoldcellars_bright
#aussiegin #saltedlimegin #martinitime by @gourmandorc

The Barossa Stinger - a gin version of a spicy margarita, made using Hot Honey Gin from Laneway Beverage Co's distillery in (you guessed it) the Barossa.
This is not a novelty gin but a spirit made "to add structure to cocktails, not overpower them". Infused with Adelaide Hills honey, layered with jalapeno and Carolina Reaper chilli. As the distillery says "warmth with control". It certainly has some heat, but doesn't burn.
For those friends of mine who think they do not like tequila (because they have never had the good stuff) I could introduce you to the spicy margarita via this great little Aussie product.
Just for something else different, instead of using Cointreau, I used Choya Yuzu Liqueur for some extra zing. And then some Taijin on the rim. [Hey, that rhymes - sort of]. My sort of sundowner 👍
@lanewaybeverageco #aussiegin #hothoneygin #spicymargarita by @gourmandorc

It's National Spritz Day, celebrating the northern Italian aperitivo which originated when the area was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Evidently Austrian soldiers staying there watered down the local Italian wines with sparkling water, as the wine was too strong (what sooks) compared to the beer they drank at home 🙄
So original spritzes mostly had local still wines, often Pinot Grigio, as the base. Here I've used Vermentino, a zingy white variety from northern Italy, formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. But this is a great Aussie version, from Billy Button Wines, with the grapes grown by Italian farmers in Victoria's Alpine region.
Over time, local bitter liqueurs such as Campari or Aperol were added to the spritzes. Again, I've substituted an Aussie bitter aperitivo, Maidenii's Roselle Bitter (also Victorian)
Traditionally, spritzes were not served in the stemmed goblets so common commercially today. Nor are goblets used in the traditional northern Italian bacaro or osteria even today. Rather, they are served in stemless tumblers, being more robust to handle crowded busy little bars.
And for this spritz, the fizz comes from soda water. Letting the vermentino shine.
@billybuttonwine @maidenii #nationalspritzday by @gourmandorc