It’s cheat day and so I decided to help myself to an American classic – macaroni and cheese. Except I made it better by baconising it, because everyone knows that everything tastes better with bacon in it. You can skip the baking part at the end but the crunchy texture really adds to the dish.

It’s not a particularly difficult recipe so I’m going to write the recipe off the top of my head whilst I watch a movie in front of the TV.

Cheesy, creamy, crunchy bacon baked macaroni recipe

Serves: 3 – 4
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 400 grams macaroni
• 1 and 1/2 cups of shredded strong cheese of your liking, I used extra sharp Tasmanian cheese
• 250 grams bacon, diced
• 1 and 1/4 cups milk
• 3/4 cup cream
• 100 grams butter
• panko bread crumbs
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp oil

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Cook macaroni according to packet instructions.
3. In a big pot, sauté bacon in a little bit of oil until golden brown, remove bacon and set aside.
4. In the same pot heat milk, cream and butter, stir constantly until boiling, reduce heat to low and stir in one cup of cheese and continue stirring until the cheese has melted. Take off heat.
5. Add the pasta and bacon to the pot and stir through until coated with the cheesy goodness.
6. Pour everything into a baking dish, sprinkle the top with remaining cheese and panko breadcrumbs and bake for 5-10 minutes until the top is golden brown.
7. Eat it.

Venturing past the Berrimah line for this review, I’m at Outback Jacks in Palmerston for some steak action. It’s in the Hub Complex, meaning looooads of space in the dining area. It’s quite a nice place to eat, very relaxing and laid back. There weren’t too many diners here considering the number of tables available, perhaps because it was Tuesday or maybe it’s not a very popular place. Only one way to find out!

We had medium spicy chicken wings and bush spiced calamari to start and probably the best value item on the menu at $1.50 each. The wings were great, I could probably down a bucket of these and be happy with that. I wonder what the hottest sauce would be like because the medium strength had a good kick to it. The calamari ($13.95) was borderline rubbery-tough and the bush pepper barely there, nowhere near the similar dish that can be found at The Precinct Tavern.

The ribs were very tempting but for journalistic reasons I had to try the so called best steak on the menu – 400gm prime rib on the bone ($38.95). It looked pretty when it arrived with a nice char grilled pattern, but that’s where the compliments end. It was overcooked unfortunately, a quality piece of meat would have still tasted OK, but this was dry, tough and with a not so pleasant burnt taste on the edges. If this is the “champion of steaks” on the menu then I wonder what the cheapest one tastes like. Light years away from the last steak I had at Pavonia Place. The chips and mushroom sauce were the best thing on the plate.

Not medium rare like requested

My mates 600gm T-Bone steak was similarly bad ($39.95), also overcooked and from the way he was hacking at it, a chainsaw  looked like a more appropriate cutting device than a knife.

My wife thought her chicken breast was a bit dry ($26.95), but I liked it, particularly the creamy mushroom, bacon and garlic sauce. This coming from a guy who doesn’t like eating dry flavourless breasts.

The desert was nice, but perhaps overpriced. We joked that it would be a better idea to go get 10 soft serve cones from Hungry Jacks across the road and we’d still have plenty of leftover change. It wasn’t so funny after we finished though.

Well that explains the relatively small crowd at dinner tonight – Outback Jacks Palmerston is rather average for what you pay. For a steak house they don’t do a very good job of their signature ingredient. If I ever go back, I think I’ll just go with the slow cooked ribs instead.

Jacob Sheldon eats like a boss.

Contact details

Darwin

1/28 Mitchell Street
Phone: 8941 5554

Palmerston

HUB complex, 3 Maluka St
Phone: 8932 4222

Lamb shanks with mash potatoes and greens

Ever since the demise of The Casuarina Club as a barely passable eating destination, I’ve been searching for a casual weeknight bistro dinner in the suburbs. Well the Airport Tavern (formerly the Airport Hotel bistro) invited me for dinner and reckoned I had better bring my appetite. Challenge accepted.

Apparently the food here has had a bad reputation in the past, I can’t comment on that not having been previously, but there’s a new team behind and in front of the kitchen looking to spruce things up (there’s a new menu coming soon too).

The interior is spacious with lots of seating available as well as an outdoor beer garden. The atmosphere is casual and family friendly, I felt right at home with my pram and mid-range thongs/slip-ons. I wouldn’t walk in with a pair of el cheapo double pluggers though.

A gander at the menu reveals the regular bistro offerings plus a couple of slightly fancier items (pork belly, oven baked chicken breast, oysters) and all at curiously low prices which makes me wonder why it’s so cheap. I don’t recall seeing anything above $30 except for the gigantic seafood platter which comes on the world’s biggest plate. Most are under $25 in actual fact. There’s one token vegetarian dish there too, something about a stuff capsicum.

So I get the lamb shanks as I’m in the mood for some comfort food and the wife gets the oven baked chicken breast.

The meat on my lamb was fall off the bone and moist, there didn’t seem to be any extra flavour infused in to them but it was quite nice and for $22.90 one cannot complain. The mash was smoothilicious too. Lovely dish.

Grilled salmon with roast potato and sauteed spinach

The oven baked chicken breast, similar to the lamb didn’t have any special treatment done to it, but was cooked perfectly and harmonised with the rest of the elements on the plate beautifully. One of the roasted potatoes was half cooked and inedible though.

We had some onion rings and chips on the side – the former was perhaps a little too oily and the latter was OK without being great or bad, might have been because there was no detectable amount of salt on the chips.

So my first visit to the Airport Tavern was quite enjoyable. But as whenever I get thrown a free meal I of course wonder if it’s the true experience, so I went back a few days later – this time with the in-laws in tow who are possibly the toughest food critics on the planet.

Twice cooked pork belly with potato puree, greens and baby corn

I go the pork belly with potato puree, mixed greens and baby corn this time around ($23.90), I honestly didn’t think it would be any good given I was in an Aussie bistro, but I was pleasantly surprised. Nicely cooked and with good flavour, the hoi-sin glaze was delightful – I wished for a bit more on the plate, and the potato puree was light and sexy. A crispy skin top would be have elevated this dish to lofty heights though.

The rest of the table all had the same dish (oddly) – grilled atlantic salmon (local) with dried tomatos, sauteed baby spinach with hollandaise ($21.90). It got the thumbs up all around, the parents in-law saying it was quite nice. Anything better than a “good” from a middle-aged Chinese couple is high praise indeed. For some reason the crispy skin was plate side down, that’s the best bit and I’d put it face side up so that it both remains crispy and it just looks better.

I’m not sure what happened the first time around but the chips and onions rings were much better. In fact, I’m pretty sure they even had zero calorie count as well so we finished the whole lot….

Oven roasted chicken breast

Well after two visits I reckon I’ve had enough info to go by and I’m liking the Airport Tavern. Sure the food isn’t high end quality, but that’s not what it’s trying to do. It’s all about good food at great prices in a relaxed family friendly casual environment and in that respect it’s a winner in my books. I’ll definitely add this to my weeknight I’m-too-lazy-to-cook destinations.

Say hi to the security guard too, she’s super friendly.

Contact details

Address: 227 McMillans Road, Jingili NT 0810
Phone: 8985 4555
Web Site: www.airporthotel.net.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/darwinairporttavern

So I got myself a slow cooker from Kmart on the weekend. I’ve always wanted one as the whole concept of slow tender cooked meat appeals to me greatly, and when I saw a 5 litre model for only $35 dollars I didn’t have to think twice before tossing it in the trolley. Before I was even past the checkout I was already thinking pork belly dish of some kind, because that’s what all the cool kids are eating these days.

An Asian inspired soy braised pork with some boiled eggs perhaps? Nah too obvious a choice.

So determined to try something new, I flip through a recipe book and stumble upon a really simple dish made with coriander, red wine and a bit of seasoning. I do some background research and I find that it’s a classic staple dish from Cyprus called Afelia, and with a few tweaks to make it slow cooker friendly with the Darwin Foodies touch, I had a delicious dinner on the table.

Whilst a big mound of brown meat may not look all the pretty, I can assure you this slow cooked ball of fatty protein is the goods. I served it on a bed of mashed sweet potato to mop up all that lovely sauce, rice or regular mash potatoes would also work well.

Note: Photo from a previous review

Guest review by Michelle Henson

When I heard that Buzz Café at Cullen had a new menu, I got excited. Sure the menu was good before, but there’s nothing like a new menu to stimulate the taste buds, or give me an excuse to dine out.

Hubby and I were in the pool when we decided to go, so we first tried to check out their new menu on Facebook – no not there and then tried online. But for some mysterious reason their website doesn’t load – so no pre-stalking the dinner menu.

The reservations lady who took our booking was very friendly and when we arrived were seated at one of the best tables overlooking the marina. These seats are the best in-house so make sure to ask for one of these.

On the night we went they had some really interesting specials, one included sumac encrusted crocodile. We left that one for the tourists. Now not being overly hungry we bypassed the yummy but large sounding entrees, scallops with pork belly, and quinoa with haloumi and caramelised pumpkin. Instead we opted for the confit of garlic and Turkish bread. From the description we assumed that this would be a whole roasted garlic head and Turkish bread as separate items. No, they were one – however this would have to be the best garlic bread I have ever had in a restaurant. Location, tick, garlic bread tick tick.

Feeling in the mood for seafood we opted to share the Atlantic Salmon with Sweet Potato and asparagus and the Of the Sea Bushel. On paper this sounded really interesting; scallops, tiger prawns, barramundi wings and some other type of white fish.

These mains were extraordinarily disappointing and both for different reasons. Salmon and sweet potato maybe is not a good combination and the sauce did not tie it together. But worse was the Of the Sea Bushel. Absolutely everything on the plate was done in tempura batter. Nowhere on the menu was it mentioned this would all be fried, and when I spoke of my unhappiness about this the waitress said – it says it on the menu – and so I asked her to check and it wasn’t. This is a major let down – unless you really wanted a fried plate of seafood. Other points about this dish – on the plus side; it came with soft shell crab – which was not on the menu, and the Barramundi Wings are like KFC barramundi. However it does says prawns, and there was only one prawn on the plate.

Overall it looks like their new menu needs some kinks ironing out, and potentially you would need to ask the waiters to clarify every dish on the menu. We left disappointed – it’s a bit sad to say the best meal you had that night was garlic bread.

Contact details

Address: Cullen Bay Marina, 48 Marina Blvd Cullen Bay, Darwin
Phone: 8941 1141
Facebook: www.facebook.com/buzzcafedarwin
Open 7 days, fully licensed

There’s a new restaurant that I’ve been hearing lots about and that would be Pavonia Place in Nightcliff. I finally got around to stopping by for dinner – I sure took my time because it is only a few minutes drive from my place in Coconut Grove.

The theme is modern Australian with a few hints of Asian and Mediterranean flavours creeping in. Of particular interest on the menu is the oriental spiced quinoa, polenta and lemon myrtle dusted calamari, seared kangaroo loin, polenta crusted parmagianas and finally the lemon grass panna cotta. They all sound great to me!

We begin the night with the home made dips – smoked salmon and the other eggplant, along with finely cut and grilled turkish bread ($12). Attention to detail is apparent off the bat – usually dips aren’t very pretty but this was a work of art. Most importantly it was delicious and I reeeally liked the crunchy bread.

The other entree was polenta and myrtle calamari ($15). I’ve never come across anyone using polenta on deep fried goodies before so this was rather intriguing. It was very good too – the polenta giving a firm crunch and a hint of corn flavour. Great job again.

Which brings us to the mains. There isn’t a huge selection to choose from, but that doesn’t bother me as I believe that leads to better quality overall.

I select the locally sourced 400 gram eye fillet steak with mushroom sauce ($42). Big, fat and chunky, I couldn’t wait to see how it looked on the inside. The first cut went through amazingly easy – I swear a spoon would have done as good a job as a steak knife. The taste was divine – if only vegetarians knew the awesomeness that is a beautifully cooked piece of moo cow. Probably not as epic as the scotch fillet I had at The Cavenagh, but then again they are two different cuts of meat with different flavour profiles. But it definitely poops all over the eye fillet I ate at  Buzz Cafe a while ago and Char Restaurant could only dream of cooking a steak like this.

My wife had the chicken breast polenta crusted schnitzel topped with Napoli sauce and mozzarella ($25). There’s that polenta stuff again! And it works too, again providing beautiful crunch and extra flavour over regular breadcrumbs. Wifey loved it – I could tell because that tiny bit I managed to sneak was all I was got as the rest was polished off very quickly. The faster she eats, the better the score – she broke the lap record on this occasion.

On the side we had a garden salad and some wok tossed vegetables (both $6 each). The former was just leafy stuff so not much to say about that. The latter was cooked in a little butter and seasoned – simple yet tasty and has inspired me to try the same at home one day.

The desert looked interesting but we had no room left to fit it, I guess the lemongrass panna cotta will have to wait until next time to party in my mouth.

Owner Renee runs the front section of the restaurant with energy and enthusiasm whilst the second owner Isaac is out the back manning the kitchen. I’ve heard on the grapevine Renee was the Fairy Godmother before retiring to run Pavonia Place. It works well as everything runs smoothly without fault. The service is polite and unobtrusive but is there when you need it. Can’t really ask for more than that.

The interior is a lovely red, white and black scheme with a modern and arty feel thanks to the  local artwork adorning the walls. The tables are topped with paper and a cache of coloured pencils so you can get your creative juices going. I’m a terrible artist so I won’t dare show my pathetic photo of a cow atop a dinner plate on a grassy field. But whatever your skill level with the pencil, I’m sure you’ll come up with something cool. The staff are probably still laughing at my 2 year old level drawing.

Overall I was quite impressed with Pavonia Place. A charming and funky restaurant in Nightcliff of all places. The prices are on the higher end of town but I think it’s certainly justified given the level of food, service and presentation. Definitely a place to take your partner  for a romantic date or if you just want a great meal.

There’s a new menu coming very soon I’m told so keep an eye out for that! Also take a gander in the men’s toilets for the cool famous rock star decals. Not sure what was in the ladies rooms, but I dare not enter….

Contact details

Address: Pavonia Place (on the street behind the Nightcliff Markets/Post office building)
Phone: 8948 1515
Website: www.pavoniaplace.com.au
Open: Mon – Fri: 5:30pm – 10:00pm (last orders 9.25pm)
Sat: 8.00am – 12:00pm / 5:30pm-10pm
Sun: CLOSED

It’s time to go breakfast hunting again and we’ve ended up at Coffee Beanz on The Avenue (well we were invited along for a free meal). They’re in a temporary shack at the moment until their final home at The Avenue is complete – the most whizz bang ecologically friendly high end residential and commercial apartment village/complex Darwin has ever seen.

So I won’t comment on the decor, but just be aware that it is temporary and if you’re looking for air conditioned comforts then you’re out of luck.

A while ago I did a review on Coffee Beanz on Cavenagh Street, a tiny corner shop in the Australia Post building with great coffee and the most epic gourmet pies in all of the Northern Lands. The owner also happens to run Event Solutions Darwin - a fancy event catering company. Expectations are right up there then.

It’s early morning and it’s already buzzing. Mostly due to the large number of construction workers getting their morning feed, but there are also a few couples who must live nearby. Despite the temporary digs, there’s a few staff out the front and a couple in the kitchen doing their thing. I get a big breakfast with the works and a latte and the missus opts for eggs benedict.

It’s busy and the waiter apologises for taking so long, I didn’t really notice and I’ve certainly waited longer (apparently The Boat Shed in Cullen Bay takes the gong for the longest wait by a galactic light year). Whilst my big breakkie isn’t a marvel of culinary sophistication, it at least is a good test of a cooks multitasking ability. Indeed everything was done just right and freashly hot off the grill. I particularly loved the chunky hash brown and fat sausage, the bacon also quite nice with bits of crispy charred goodness. The poached eggs perfectly gooey on the inside. I didn’t finish because there was so much on the plate – it could easily feed two.

My latte was good as expected. Medium strength with a little bite. It was hot as heck this morning, too hot for a cuppa but one does not simply go to a place named Coffee Beanz and not try the coffee! Perhaps an iced coffee would have been more appropriate given the shocking weather.

Now as for the eggs benedict, one can gather from the photo that it was a bit on the runny side, evidently something went wrong back there in the kitchen. The waiter/chef came out and apologised knowing I came here for a review. Apparently the uber epic batch that was made the night prior went kaput come morning and the chef  had to madly whip up a new lot on the go. Ah well, shit happens to the best of us sometimes. Despite the stuff up it wasn’t too bad, sure it wasn’t as balanced as it could be, but better than anything of that shit from a bottle that some places around town are serving up for a higher asking price. The eggs were spot on poached and the ham and english muffin up to standard.

Despite the little hiccup with the hollaindaise sauce, I thought it was a lovely breakfast. If they can do a decent job in the poverty shack they are in now, then I can’t wait to see what they have in store when The Avenue is finished and Coffee Beanz moves in to their fancy new home.

Contact details

Address: Salonika Street, Parap
Opening hours: 6.00am – 3.00pm Monday to Friday, and 6.00am – 2.00pm Saturdays
Website: Facebook page

I love Japanese food. It’s light, healthy and relies on fresh ingredients and delicate natural flavours to do the talking – you certainly won’t find 5 inches of starchy sweet and sour sauce on top of your food. So I was rather pleased then to see Hana Sushi open up in the Anthony Plaza Arcade a few weeks ago.

I’ve been diligently scoping the place out for two weeks now, I like to be thorough with my research after all (Well not always…).

First up is the sushi. They’ve got the usuals plus some other nice ones like the popular chilli chicken and some vegetarian friendly options as well. The rice lovely with just enough seasoning mixed in. I’ve tried half a dozen or so types of sushi so far and I found them all to my liking. The teriyaki chicken was perhaps a bit on the salty side if I have to be picky. Prices are cheap too at around $3.50 to $4 per roll which is always a great thing.

Next up is the bento. Quintessential Japanese style lunch – a few bits of cold items with something warm and meaty, rice and then some miso soup on the side. I like having lots of different, distinct tastes to pick from when eating so this is right up my alley. It’s a relatively simple dish so its appeal will probably be lost on a lot of people used to Thai/Chinese style lunches with thick lashings of gooey sauce and who knows what else. For anyone else who likes to be able to taste what they are eating and appreciates natural flavour, then this is for you. Picture above is the chicken karaage (Japanese version of fried chicken, $17), nice and crunchy but not as good as the one at Rapid Cafe. The egg was my favourite of the sides, followed by the mushroom and pickled radish.

Which then leads me to the donburi. I tried the crumbed chicken and egg ($13) because I like chicken and I like it fried baby! The chicken and the egg underneath were both great, however the rice was lacking the dashi based sauce one usually associates with this dish causing it to be a bit dry. There are are a few other donburi on offer at Hana Sushi as well so I’ll certainly be trying them at some stage.

Interestingly the place seems to be run by Koreans…. nothing wrong with that of course because I love doing the Gangnam style crazy horse dance . The reason I bring that up is because I would be veeeery excited to see some Korean dishes on offer – can we get some bibimbap, bulgogi and japchae up in here folks?!

Anyways, Hana Sushi – so far so good. A nice place to get a healthy lunch fix, take away or dine in. It’s also a lot closer to my office than the other three places that offer sushi in the Darwin CBD, extra brownie points for that one.

Contact details

Where: Anthony Plaza, Smith Street Mall, next Mocha coffee shop.
When: Weekedays for lunch

It’s early morning and I’m on the hunt for some breakfast. I take the short route from home and head for Cafe Bellissimo at Jape Homemaker Village. I’ve reviewed lunch here previously – quite nice I thought with fresh ingredients and solid flavour. Let’s see how the breakfast here holds up.

After last outings disappointing eggs benedict at Hom Cafe, I was eager to see if Cafe Bellissimo could do a better job (well the wife was – this was her dish this time around). Well I can confirm that they can, but not without some minor flaws. The non-traditional turkish bread was nice and the ham satisfactory – I guess nothing can really compare to the huge chunks of shaved ham from The Roma Bar. One egg was perfectly golden goo-ey whilst the other slightly over, but not a deal breaker. Also, the hollandaise sauce was a bit too eggy and could have done with some more butter.

I went for something different this time around – the French toast “with a twist”. The twist being additional ham and cheese in between the layers of toast. Sounded good to me! The first bite was delicious with both sweet and savoury flavours working in tandem to pleasure the taste buds.  The sweetness got a bit much after a while though, I’m not much of a sweet tooth and had to leave a few bites behind. That is not the dishes fault though as the blame is mine. It looks so pretty too, snowed upon by all that caster sugar.

The pancakes on the side were plain. But that’s what a pancake is I suppose. Flour, milk and bad carbohydrates. You can bet your bottom dollar I worked my ass off in the gym later that day.

P.S. Still annoyed that the table next to us, who came and ordered after us, got their meals first! First in first served I reckon!

Contact details

Address: Shop 18, Homemaker Village West, 356 Bagot Road
Phone: 8985 6620
Trading hours: Tuesday to Sunday, breakfast to late afternoon.

I posted a question about favourite breakfast places over on our Facebook page and Hom Cafe Restaurant got a few mentions with recommendations for the scrambled eggs and eggs benedict. Well then, after a morning workout at the gym, I figured what better way to undo all my hard work then to go check it out for myself.

I’ve reviewed the lunch here before and it was OK, nothing to write home about but not bad either. The lunch and dinner menus are a mix of Thai and Western cuisines – it’s hard enough getting one right so two is pretty ambitious. The breakfast menu however, is all Western food.

I take my order at the table – eggs benedict ($12.90) with scrambled eggs on the side ($4). I knew it was a lot but I figured I might as well check out both now to save me a later visit. Plus my man boobs were starving from doing my 20 push ups earlier in the morning. I ordered a latte as well – I let it sit for a while, apparently it will give you greater flavour when doing so.

So the food arrives and I’m all hyped up after all the positive mentions the breakfast here had. But alas I’m afraid to say I was given a bum steer. Whilst the eggs were perfectly poached and the ham and muffin adequate, the over zealous lashing of non home-made hollandaise sauce give this dish an epic fail over all. I expect that crap from McDonalds and not from any decent self respecting cafe/restaurant. I’d rate it a slight notch above the abomination at Cafe 21 as they probably use the same chalky sauce.

The scrambled eggs were good. I like the garnishing of spring onions as I love having them with eggs or omelettes. Not anywhere near my current favourite scrambled eggs in Darwin though – you’ll find it at Xtreme Caffeine funnily enough. Sweet old lady in the kitchen does a fantastically fresh 3 eggs, tomato and toast.

So the coffee had been flavouring itself up for a while now and it was actually quite nice. Good medium strength, milk nicely done. No complaints there.

I was expecting more from what ended up being an average breakfast – perhaps I should have tried the french toast with bacon and maple syrup. Oh well, the breakfast journey continues, next destination…?

Contact details

Address: Darwin Transit Centre, 69 Mitchell St, Darwin
Phone: 8981 2922
Licensed, indoor and outside dining.