Riverbank Estate - Swan Valley

Helllloooo readers,

Chow-Chow & I visited Swan Valley today as we realized that we hadn't used our ebook for quite a while. We were planning on having lunch at Sandalford, but it turned out that there was an event happening, so we couldn't dine in. Our second choice was Riverbank Estate. We had never been there, and granted the place wasn't as grand as Sandalford, but the dining area was actually quite nice and cozy. We were seated outside, with the view of the vineyard, accompanied by annoying flies and humid Swan Valley weather.

I love the design of the menu, so I took a photo of it. Forgot my camera (again) today, so had to rely on blackberry.

We ordered a glass of classic sweet white and were given complementary bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I ordered 5 spiced duck with something something. I honestly can't remember the full description of the dish as it was a special of the day, so the dish wasn't on the online menu. But it had cherry tomato and yummy creamy mashed potatoes. I just loved the whole thing. The food was amazing.

Chow-Chow ordered a herb crusted best end and confit shoulder of lamb, coicannon mash, garlic crisps, beetroot fondant, and basil juice. I loved her lamb too, with the meat was so tender and the rest of the components gave a perfect balance.

We also ordered a side dish of shoestring fries with sweet chilli sauce and grained mustard mayonnaise.

A meal wasn't perfect without dessert, so we ordered a sticky marmalade pudding with butterscotch sauce and, almond tuille, and cinnamon ice cream. The dessert was ok, but certainly not to die for. The butterscotch sauce was a bit too thick for my taste, although the cinnamon ice cream was nice.

RiverBank Estate is having a special, where you get a bottle of wine free when you purchase 2 bottles. So we bought a bottle each of classic sweet white and red, and get the 2007 celebration white free. It's really worth it. We spent $38 and got 3 bottles of wine. Pretty good, hey?

After that off we went to Margaret Rive Chocolate factory because Chow-Chow is a big fan of the fine champagne chocolate. She just bought a piece tho (a very small piece indeed) because she claims that she's on a diet (as I'm writing now at least). On our way home, we stopped by to buy white and black seedless grapes.

aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh....life is good :) bye for now... xoxo

The MIA FDQ is back

Hello hello helloooooooooooo!!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011, HUNNY BUNNY SWEETIE PIESSSSS...
After what seems like FOREVER n EVER, FDQ is back in action (well, sort of).
I'm reporting live from Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. If you ain't quite sure where this food-wonderland is location, feel free to Google map. It's somewhere at the tail of the dog, if u even understand what this means. (Well, literally the East Malaysia resembles a (cacat) dog with Sabah being the dog head and Sarawak being the body of the dog). Kuching is the capital city of Sarawak which is saturated with delicious local delicacies from kolo mee to laksa, kueh chap, satay, ice kacang, beef noodle to CHICKEN RICE!!! Not the Singapore chicken rice, it's the deep fried chicken type of chicken rice. Nevermind if you don't get what I meant, because I know you know what I meant. XD See, isn't our blog informative? You get FREE GEOGRAPHY LESSON for free! =) Tourism Board of Malaysia should consider me to be their ambassador instead. *blows nails*


Anyhooo..I just got back from Johor Baru (the Malaysian state closest to Singapore). After 6 days of constant feasting, 5 x crabs, 3 x bak kut teh, 3 x fish, 2 x stewed pork, 2 x prawns, 2 x lobsters n 4583845 mouthful of junk foods, I OFFICIALLY DECLARE THAT FDQ NEEDS INTENSE DIET ROUTINE NOW. Pftt... But twas a good trip. Pls dont get me started on the massive shopping Mummy FDQ did in JB. She was <---------------this-----------> close to bringing the whole JB back to Kuching. -_______-"

Before I start to bore anyone, it's time to seal this post with a kiss. Well done if you managed to read my post this far! This means we are such boring ppl, we desperately need more things to do before we got covered by moulds.

Sorry ppl, was trying to upload some photos of the foods I've tried in JB but stupid dumb dumb blogspot doesnt let me to do so. My apologies. Let's just imagine the yummy creamy salted egg mud crab...




Much love,
FDQ
*big barney hug*

Crumpet - Cinnamon Club - C15 Espresso

Happy New Year to our dearest readers :)

Miss FDQ is still on holiday (geez, it's been more than a month, she must have been living life to its fullest atm), so that's left me, Chow-Chow, and Stewie in Perth.

CC & I went to crumpet for lunch and the place was deserted. I LOVE IT. Try to go to Crumpet on Saturday morning, and you'll be lucky to find a table. It's always crowded from 8am onwards up to, idk, 11ish? We went at 12:30 tho, so we literally owned the place. Anw, we realized that they have a new menu, so CC decided to try the corn fritters while I tried the eggs benedict. CC's corn fritters looked sooo yummy when it arrived, and tasted even yummier. My eggs benedict on the other hand tho wasn't disappointing but wasn't wow either.

We didn't have any plan for the evening, but decided to have Indian. Honestly, I'm not a fan of Indian food, but CC & Stewie seemed so keen on having Indian. According to Stewie, she's a sucker for Indian (but then, she's a sucker for everything). Off we went to Cinnamon Club in Applecross. We didn't order much food, just a slice of garlic naan, and a slice of plain naan. We only had 3 mains: Butter chicken, lamb rogan josh, & palak paneer. At the end dinner, we were quite full already, but weren't quite satisfied without desserts. Then we went to C15 espresso cafe across the restaurant, which we had been eyeing for a while but hadn't had a chance to try.

We were quite dissapointed when we saw the cakes selection. It wasn't too many to choose from, and if miss FDQ were here, she would describe the cakes as "too commercial". So we just ordered hot chocolate, and a big slice of bacci cake. The cake wasn't warmed up, thus a bit too hard for our taste. And hot chocolate was just standard. But it was a lovely night nevertheless.

Left: Crumpet's corn fritters. Right: Crumpet's eggs benedict

Cinnamon club's: garlic & plain naan, butter chicken, lamb rogan josh, & palak paneer.

C15's hot chocolate & bacci cake.