All good things must come to an end, and this is it, the last Soundwave post. I had a hell of time playing down under again, and just as much of a hell of a time eating. Australia knows how to dish up some great noms, and I’m going to end this batch with ironically what was the first place Set Your Goals ever ate at in Australia on our first trip there, Utopia. Utopia is a vegetarian Chinese place in Perth and it’s so great we went there twice on this trip.
On our first visit I had the spicy crispy chicken, which was already my favorite dish of Utopia’s and I can safely say it still is. It’s actually not super spicy, but it’s a bit sweet and the veggie chicken is great. I washed it down with some honey milk tea with sago, which are those little black tapioca pearls. Greatness.
We came back the next day with some of the Motion City Soundtrack guys before our show.
This time I had the mushroom duck. I had never had it before but upon first bite I became a fan. The veggie duck was great, nice thick pieces and the gravy it was all covered in was delicious. I love mushrooms and Utopia spared none on this dish. What really sealed the deal though was the bed of bok choy all this was laying on. Bok choy is without a doubt my favorite vegetable in Chinese dishes so instead of being a garnish it was like a bonus on this dish.
I had more honey milk tea again, but this time I had it with chocolate sago. It was so good! Sometimes normal sago can be cumbersome and I try to drink around them if I get too much, but the chocolate ones just gave me extra incentive to eat them. Definitely going to be adding that everytime I can from now on.
Cheers Australia, you are definitely my favorite country to visit and to stuff myself stupid in. Your noms are always top notch and I can’t wait until I’m in you again so I can gorge like a fool. G’day!
Upon our arrival in Adelaide, Mikey, Joe, Lewis and our tour manager Tyson stopped at Sushi Train, an Australian sushi restaurant chain. I didn’t know what to expect when Lewis told me it was a chain, but in the end it served up some pretty tasty and interesting sushi at a decent price.
I started with these salmon-wrapped pieces. I honestly don’t remember what the white stuff it was filled with was, but I do remember it was good.
Unagi, or eel, is my favorite sushi hands down.
Cuttlefish. Extra tentacle-y for extra goodness.
The grand finale was this avocado-wrapped unagi and soft-shell crab roll. Fuck yeah.
And for dessert, a bit of green tea gelato. Perfect way to finish a good meal of sushi.
Blue Fire Grill in Melbourne is one of those uber-fancy Brazilian style grills, you know the ones where the meat comes out on those big skewers like this:
Well as of now it’s definitely the classiest and most expensive joint I’ve blogged about. But this night’s meal was on the good people who promote and own the Soundwave Festival, who had already done so much to accommodate and take care of us, so who was I to turn what was to be such a great meal down? Best believe I’m gonna Road Nom it though!
So anyways, Blue Fire is one of those all-you-can-eat spots. Not like a buffet though; instead there’s about 15 waiters all at one time running around with huge skewers of meat and food. Want more? All you gotta do is have this card showing:
and one of those fine gentleman will come to your table and serve up various meats. We had:
steak,
sausage,
chicken legs,
pork,
and even some calamari.
Along with some nice sides of flat bread with tasty dipping sauces and potatoes, corn and carrots we were definitely eating well. And by we I mean about half the bands on the package. (I’m sure the other half went to an equally awesome restaurant.) Obviously the Soundwave folks now how to show their guests a good time and some good food. I was in carnivore heaven. So much meat flying by me all at once I had a hard time keeping up, but you know I was able to handle myself.
Of course I had to down all this greatness with an equally great vodka martini. That’s just how I roll.
But even a self-glorified meatetarian like myself has his limits with all delicious and succulent meat and knows when to call it quits:
Blue Fire’s version of the white flag. Underneath “…No More…” it should say “You have successfully stuffed my stupid self with so much meat that I think my body has become 2% cow and I’m now going to need a forklift to get me out of the building.”
Thank you Soundwave for the great meal I will never forget, even if I wanted to. Which I don’t. Ever.
On one of our days off in Melbourne, Junior, Mike, Lewis, Joe Huh, Joe from Four Year Strong and I went to the Richmond Hill Cafe on the advice of our good friend and previous Australian tour manager Charney because she rules and she’s from Melbs so I figured she’d know where the good nom spots are. Not that I had doubts, but she did indeed prove herself to be knowledgeable, because we all ate well there.
I had this dish of buttermilk pancakes that had raspberries, pistachio brittle, vanilla mascarpone with toasted coconut and a lemon caramel syrup to top it with. Sounds special, right? Trust me they were. They were also delicious. Pistachio brittle? I’ve never even thought of that, much less had it in pancakes before but sure enough it was there, and it was great. But that syrup, that’s what made the dish. So sweet and tangy at the same time. I wanted a whole jar to douse the pancakes with, but I only needed the small bit they came with, it was so powerfully sweet.
Thanks for this one Charn! And thanks Richmond Hill Cafe for making me drool all over myself while I type this review up.
Thinking back, I’ve had a few excellent pancake dishes in Australia. Before this was Pancake Manor and last year one of my Top Ten Noms, A Little On The Side. I’m starting to think Australia is showing up the USA in good pancakes!
Harajuku is a sector in Tokyo renowned for being that city’s epicenter of outlandish fashion. It’s also home to a plethora of spots that serve up crepes filled with all sort of fruits and sweets like ice cream and custard, and Harajuku Crepes in Melbourne has brought that style of crepe down under.
Our friend Pees took me, Matt and Lewis there on our first day in Melbs and I got the cheesecake deluxe. (I took a picture of the acrylic model because when it’s all wrapped up the finished crepe doesn’t look too special.) As you can see it had a slice of cheesecake topped with strawberries, whipped cream and blueberry sauce. Once I got down to the center where the cheesecake was it was pure heaven. I liked it so much I went there again a couple days later.
This time I got the strawberries with all, or strawberries with whipped cream, ice cream and custard. But I mixed it up a bit and got cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream and topped it all with some chocolate sauce. So good!
The worst part about this spot is that it’s right next door to the Lord Of The Fries. Next time I’m in Melbourne I’ll probably just be camping out in the little alley that both of these places are in and I’ll most likely not be leaving.