Ruby Red Flamingo

Ruby Red Flamingo has been on my list for years.  I think.  I’m not sure how long it’s been open but it feels like it’s been beckoning to me for far too long.  Now that we’ve been there, that silent subtle beckoning has turned into a full blown stalker-like yelling.  I think about it all the time, and I’m telling you, it wants to me to go back.  Actually, maybe I’m the one with the stalker vibes.  

If you know me, you probably know how much I love Golden Boy, and suggest it for any birthday, anniversary, Friday, Saturday… any day.  Thankfully, Golden Boy and RRF are at different ends of the date night world, otherwise there would be some stiff competition.  Golden Boy is the forever fun friend who shouts for more food, shots, conversations, and is generally a wild clang of activity (in the best way imaginable), RRF is a warm, strong embrace on a cold night that just wants to hold you.  It is the perfect date night destination.

I’m glad we saved RRF for a celebratory date night, because it gave us an excuse to go all out.  What’s wrong with 2 serves of bread, 2 entrees and 3 mains between 2 people?  Nothing.  We did go to the bakery afterwards though, so I will accept some judgement on that.

It filled up about 20 minutes after this - we were there as soon as it opened!

We started with the Manzo Tonnato which was thinly sliced scotch fillet with tuna sauce and little hidden tuna nuggets.  This was 100% out of my comfort zone, and tasted 100% like tuna.  I’m glad I gave it a go, but it just wasn’t my thing.  If you’re a big tuna fan, this one is for you.  Contrary to that, Paul isn’t much of a tuna eater, and he absolutely loved this dish.  So basically, surprise yourself. 

We obviously had to get a pasta, and we finally decided on the Cappellacci, which is a tumeric infused pasta filled with spinach, pumpkin, gorgonzola with leek veloute sauce and a touch of sticky balsamic (I’m reading this from their website - as if I could remember that without cheating).  It tasted like heaven.  It was the most melt in your mouth plate of incredible that I’d ever eaten and I had to genuinely hold myself back from picking up the plate and licking it.  It was at this point that they bought us more bread because they could see us desperately scraping up all the sauce.  I wasn’t even embarrassed.  If you could eat a melody I’m pretty sure that’s what this would taste like. 

The second main I unfortunately couldn’t find a technical description of, but it was a saffron veal osso bucco risotto.  I’m a sucker for a rice dish, and this did not disappoint.  The only disappointing thing about it was that I had to share it.  Paul and I were subtly trying to scrape more and more onto our own plates, and it very nearly turned into a firm discussion about who chose the risotto and therefore should get more of it.  A bullshit argument, but it was desperate times.  I went full Nigella eating this dish, and while I’m ready to string together very suggestive sentences of how this food made me feel, I won’t, because it might make people uncomfortable.

In saying all that about both of these meals, as amazing as they were, they were equally as rich.  I’m glad we went halves in both because I don’t know that I could eat a whole plate of just one.  It  worked out perfect for us because I always end up looking longingly at Paul’s meal until he lets me eat some, so this way I didn’t have to bother making eyes, I could just go right along and take it. 

I mentioned three mains.  The third dish was slow cooked beef cheeks.  Now, I’m not really a fan of beef cheek because it’s flavour is so strong and just down right meaty, but I feel like if you were a fan you’d go to town on these.  Paul hadn't tried them before and figured that if he was going to try them, this would be the place to do it.  They were fall off the fork kind of tender and everything that you would want in a cut of meat like that.  I assume.

All in all, Ruby Red Flamingo is now the equal love of my life with Golden Boy.  Paul understands that he comes a very close third.  I know he understands because on Valentine’s Day he went to the O’Connell Street bakery and got me my favourite baked goods, because what better to say I love you than with tasty treats?  Which is the exact reason you should be at Ruby Red, now. 

 

Jamie's Italian

It was a Friday night, we made an online “reservation” for in 70-80 minutes (which was about 6.30 - we had met straight from work), sat and had a couple of pre dinner drinks until 6.30, and that counted as a “walk in”.  Perfect.

You know what they say about location, location, location - Jamie’s nailed it.  The old bank building is just stunning.  The super high ceilings, big antipasto station (that’s right – an entire station dedicated to it - actually that's where they do the desserts too), mood lighting, an open kitchen to have a sneak peak at the chefs, and a less obvious but very, very important feature - the prison-bar toilets that were previously the bank vaults.

If you’re not already sold here’s a hot conversation piece for you - Kim and Kayne dined there and apparently one of them was very rude and difficult and it was not Kayne.  Feel free to use that one to fill a conversation void/win over your date with some Kardashian knowledge.  Don't blame me if it goes the other way for you though.  

We were seated as soon as we got in and being there on a Friday night in the comfy romantic, dim lighting with a male friend we got asked “so are you celebrating anything tonight?”  Fair question.  Apparently “yeah, he’s leaving” was not the best answer.  To clarify, we weren’t celebrating his soon coming six-month hiatus from Adelaide, but I panicked. 

Andy had been to Jamie’s twice already so he took the reins.  We ordered three items from the “Plates” menu and an entree sized pasta dish each.  If I’d ordered a main pasta I probably would have finished it, just hated myself after… It was a tough call because I’m pretty sure it would have been worth it.   We started with the Italian Bread Selection - which is a must do.  It’s a great little starter with a selection of three different breads and olive oil/balsamic and for $1.50, your wallet and taste buds are winning.

From the Plates (not Planks - which I will be trying next time I’m there) menu we shared the Sweet Mini Capsicums, Fried Three-Cheese Gnocchi and Crispy Squid.  I thought Andy was exaggerating when he said the squid was the best he has ever had, but after I had that melt in your mouth deliciousness, I had to agree that it’s definitely up there.  Personally (and totally personally because Andy loved them) didn’t particularly rate the mini capsicums, but I’m not a huge ricotta fan so I wouldn’t listen to me.  The Gnocchi – oh my lord.  Cheesy, with a tomato relish-type sauce, crunchy on the outside but so soft once you’d broken that crisp barrier.  I found it difficult to share those.  

The service was brilliant.  They were on the ball the entire time we were there, even when all their tables were full and the line to be seated was at the door, our drinks and food were coming out at an ideal pace, nothing was rushed and nothing lagged.

After hearing again and again about the daily made pasta, I obviously couldn’t go past a pasta dish for my main.  As a kid, I loved prawns.  As an adult, I didn’t.  Actually, it was probably the moment I had to start peeling them myself that I stopped eating them.  Anyway, I had tried them again and remembered why I used to chow down on them so much, so here I got the prawn linguine.  It did not disappoint.  My general aversion to seafood is that "fishy" taste that can sometimes go through a meal, I know it sounds weird because why would I buy a fish dish if I don't want the fishy taste, but I hope someone out there gets what I mean.  Anyway, it was definitely a comfort food.  It made me warm.  While it was just a tad salty for my liking, it was a decent sized bowl of flavoursome goodness. 

For our three Plates, two entrée pastas and two beers it came to around $80, which with the service, atmosphere and quality/amount of food, we definitely paid a more than reasonable price.  Without a doubt I will be returning.

 

Walker's Arms

I remember as a kid getting so excited about getting to go to Charlie's all you can eat diner.  Not because I ate a lot (although I may or may not have absolutely filled myself to the brim) but because the idea of being able to pick from all these different foods, and go around a couple of big long tables and pick the food that was bad for me then eat two bowls of swirly ice-cream was just aaaaah-mazing.

Please don't take this as a reflection on my parents parenting.  They didn't let me eat anything that I wanted… buuuuut at the same time we were usually there for big family do's and I was with other kids and it was hard for them to control my servings.  

As a kid I guess I didn't have a wide "pallet".  All the high fat food made in absolute bulk tasted wicked good to me and I was quite happy shovelling it in.  I didn't look around at it all and think, hmmm, I would rather have spent that money on a really nice meal - oh how times change! 

Walker's Arms is a place we frequent with friends for drinks.  I'm sure most of you have heard about the award winning beer garden and the imperial pints they serve (as well as the tasty schnitzel … I think it was tasty, those imperial pints get to you quick!) …but you MUST have heard of the buffet. 

I had been mentioning it to Paul for awhile that I wanted to go there because I still have the eat all the food memories as a kid and just imagined it would be this delicious, quality buffet where I could stuff myself full more than when I was a child because who was going to stop me, and I was grown therefore could fit more in.  His sister's boyfriend went and said it was pretty good and end of discussion. 

We made the reservation (FYI you have to make a reservation for the buffet) and the next night we were on our way!  We drove around a bit to find a park and then we headed in the wrong way.  There's a particular "buffet" side of the building and we ignored the signs that said to go through that way and instead we around the "beer garden" side.  Follow the signs people, it will save you some hassle.  There are two booking times for the Buffet, being 5.30 and 7.30.  We opted for 7.30 and were casually herded into the eating area once the 5.30 lot were truly done. 

The animalistic feelings didn't stop there.  I mean the crowd wasn't aggressively trying to get to the food or anything, but there was a growing impatient line of people all wanting to eat from troughs.. I mean... from plates.  Over flowing with dirty food.

 (taking sneaky pictures of the buffet - scuse the dodgy shots!)

I'm not making it sound great, but that's not my intention I swear!  It wasn't dirty food, but it was like food court food, and I don't always feel entirely satisfied/clean/healthy after a food court meal.

The variety of food was awesome.  Pizza, all your standard asian, a couple of curries, roast and veggies, lots of prawns and a huge salad bar.  But you don't need that variety to make the trip worth while.  

my first and second plates - chicken nuggets, spring roll, honey chicken, fried rice, dim sim, potato bake, calamari, veggies, pizza, bread and prawn cracker!

Paul's first and second plates - veggies, bread, pizza, potato bake, fried rice, dim sims, honey chicken, calamari.... we have similar tastes!

What did it for me was the dessert bar.  Chocolate cheesecake, lemon slice, mini sticky date puddings, apple crumble, fruit, fresh cinnamon donuts and of course, self serve ice-cream.  It was off the chain.  After my first plate of food I inspected the dessert bar and only had a tiiiiiny second plate because there was no way I was going to be too full for dessert. 

If you rate date night on a scale of 1 - 10 on how badly you need to unbutton your pants/ unzip your dress at the end of the night, it was a successful date night! 

Chenzo's Italian Restaurant

It's great on a winter date night when you find yourself in a small, warm and cosy atmosphere for dinner.  This particular date night I was a bit sick and feeling a bit sorry for myself, so I just wanted a hot yummy meal before I cuddled up with a blanket, movie and some bad food.  And Paul of course.

Paul booked Chenzo's and we were off!  I was happy because it's in Greenwith and I really didn't feel like going back into town after work.  I really felt like a pasta meal so tonight I wasn't particularly fussed about trying new things.  I just wanted food and warmth.

Walking in it was lovely.  It had dimish lighting which for me made it look warm and inviting.  I loved the yellow light covers which gave it a glow and liked how small and quiet it was.  There was only a few other tables full - one with a couple of kids which made it seem that little bit more full with them running around the place.  At one stage a little girl started peaking over her chair at Paul then hiding whenever he would notice.  It was hard to get his attention back for a little while haha. 

The service the second we stepped in was really really good.  When we didn't want to sit on the table that was super close to another couple, they made up another table next to the original one without a bother (people had just left that one so it didn't have knives forks etc).  They were friendly about it and were all "of course this will be a better table for you, more space" etc.  It was just something that made me appreciate the staff straight away.  There was no eye rolling, no sighs, no looks of "are you serious", just flat out helpfulness. 

When we were ordering our drinks the waiter (who had helped us change tables) wasn't just about the ordering, he asked us if we had a good day, had plans after dinner… just general small talky stuff.  But it was general small talky stuff that we don't usually get!  I'm not saying other places have been rude or anything, most situations they've been far from it, but it's not usually the next step like Chenzo's did.  It's certainly not a big deal, it was just nice.  It's not like I would have wanted to sit there and have a big conversation about my day or anything… You get the jist. 

We decided on our meals pretty quickly.  Paul has developed a taste for gnocchi now so as soon as he saw that option on the menu he was there.  I'm a sucker for chicken and bacon in pasta so my choice was pretty easy too.   We also went the garlic bread.  Which was buttery and herby and greasy on my fingers - so perfect garlic bread really. 

Then the mains came out.  Surprisingly it didn't feel like the garlic bread had really made a dent in my belly so I was plenty hungry still.  There was a monster of a meal put down in front of me.  For whatever reason, even with my belly rumbling it didn't smell/look that appealing to me.  I was certainly happy I didn't have Paul's meal.  The bowl was way over filled and looked kind of slopped.  They were huge bowls too.  But that's just me being picky - who am I to judge how a restaurant plates up their meals?  I'm no chef or restaurant owner. 

Just from looking at my pasta I could see heaps of bacon and onion and chicken and spinach.  I was certainly looking forward to digging in.  The main thing I remember is the sauce being really salty, which may have been because of the bacon… or the amount of salt they put in haha.  The first bit of chicken I got was tender and juicy, the next was dry.  It went like that for each bit I got but hey, it kept me on my toes wondering what the next bite was going to taste like.

I stopped eating the bacon because nearly all of it was stuck together and looked like this:

and I had to rip it apart with my teeth (it was just too much eating it all lumped together) which made me look like a slop and then most of it would stay clumped anyway.  Wasn't worth it.  As I said before it was very salty and wasn't something that made me want to keep eating once I was full.  And I didn't get it take away because I knew I wouldn't eat it at home. 

Paul didn't particularly enjoy his either, but that was more because (as he found out) he prefers creamy sauces to tomato.  He said the gnocchi itself was good, just not the sauce. 

As we were finishing up a couple came in who appeared to be regulars.  By that I mean they were greeted by name and given a dessert menu straight up (eavesdropping whaaaaat?).  They got asked if they wanted the "usual".  It made me sad that I was too full for dessert because obviously they're awesome. 

I've heard great things about this place, and it has a fantastic rating on Urbanspoon.  It's family friendly and had a good number of people coming through for a cold winter night.  Being to a few italian places now I think we're spoilt for choice.  Plus I'm a bit of a picky eater and Paul prefers creamy to tomato-y so we can't really give a proper guide on the gnocchi either.  I personally wouldn't go back, but I'm sure there are plenty of people who would.  As always, don't take our word for it, if you're in the area give it a go yourself! 

Belmondo Ristorante

It started with a recommendation.  It became a consideration when we found out it was Italian food.  It was a definite when it was in the north eastern ‘burbs – close to home.

I hate being late.  Usually, if I’m only a couple of minutes early, I feel like I’m late.  I don’t like it when others are late either, but sometimes it’s uncontrollable and things just get in the way and you become late.  This was not one of those times.  We were literally both ready and just hanging around and for whatever reason left a little late and by 7pm (the time of our reservation) we were still 10 minutes away. I hated to be that customer buuuut we called and said we were late and changed the reservation to 7.15 so it’s not that bad.  And then we got there at 7.08 so in the end we were early! Fantastic.

It was my favourite kind of restaurant, warm with a mix of smells that just go together, and not too crowded (though it would have been if it was full).  I liked our spot; it was against a wall out of the jumble of tables.  I’m not really a fan of sitting right in the middle of a restaurant, like when everyone is either shuffling past you to get to the bathroom or to the front door. And from where we were I could just hear other people’s conversations so that was a bit of fun too.

I should also mention – no vouchers or discounts of any kind this evening!

my hair clashed with my surroundings

We got an entrée.  I wanted something different and was seduced by the deep fried camembert.  I knew it wouldn’t be good for me, I went into it with that in mind and an “it’s date night so I don’t care” attitude.  Little did I know the deep fried cheese goodness was a whole round of camembert.  I was thinking it might be a couple of bigish slices.  No.  It was the whole thing.  It wasn’t something that turned my tastebuds on enough to keep eating it, but I definitely had more that one slice.  The jam that was served with it was black currant and while that was generally wonderful and flavoursome, the texture of it was very bitty.   But it wasn’t grainy as such, but it certainly wasn’t smooth.  Anyway I didn’t like it too much purely because of the texture, but at the same time I couldn’t eat the camembert without it.  It was good.  It wasn’t all I had dreamed of and more, but it was something different and we went for it.

our wheel of deep fried cheese

For a main I wanted pasta.  I wanted pizza.  I wanted something different.  I had to go for something different but not too different.  Lamb shanks.  Oh my goodness lamb shanks.  Melt in your mouth, barely need to use a knife kind of lamb shanks.  I figured the meal was kind of healthy because it was lamb and shiraz and tomato sugo and mashed potato and vegetables. What isn’t health about that?! (The coke I had with it probably wasn’t too healthy… or the deep fried camembert before that… but anyway…).  It tasted so homemade and was such a great hearty winter meal that I was happy to pay the $29 for it.  However as a side note my mum makes awesome lamb shanks and they cost me nothing so I wouldn’t make a habit of it. 

Paul had the Gnocchi (with sundried tomatoes, ham, garlic and spinach in a cream sauce) aaaaand basically didn’t speak until he was done eating.  

I’ve never been a huge fan of gnocchi, when I feel like pasta it’s not something I think of.  But Paul loves the stuff and from what he said – or didn’t say – it seemed like Belmondo had it right.  It was a really creamy dish, so after Paul had finished most of the camembert and then this calorific, creamy masterpiece he was done and dusted with food for the night.

Nonna's Kitchen

Scoopon city, once again.

We made our way up to Mt Barker for some "authentic italian" at Nonna's Kitchen.   Paul gets his tattoo's done at Frontyard Tattoo in Mt Barker, and last time I had gone with him on a Sunday I was walking around and happen to stumble upon Nonna's Kitchen.  With an excited little thought "oohhh that's where we're date nighting!" and gave the place a quick once over :)

Lucky I had stumbled upon it because I knew exactly where to direct Paul once we were in that fine town.  It was 7pm on a warm Saturday, I was expecting the place to be busy, but it wasn't in the slightest.  There was a table of 3 out the front (I assume one of the guys worked there/owned it because he gave us the "how's it goin? as we walked in) and a couple inside.  I like it when it's quiet.  The waitresses are less rushed and more relaxed, not busy trying to get from one table to the next and back to the kitchen then back out again then greeting people… you get the jist.  

Inside was gorgeous.  Lots of wooden tables and just simple.  Tables and chairs and a fireplace and a fridge with desserts.

With our scoopon we could get 2 drinks, garlic or chilli cheese bread and 2 pasta dishes.  We got our menu and reading it (the non pasta dishes especially) made my mouth water.   It was hard to keep my eyes on the pastas!  

There was a delicious creamy white wine sauce one with chicken and bacon and mushroom that I definitely couldn't go past

and Paul's… well I didn't try any and I just asked him to explain what it had in it and I got a "it was tomato-y and had chicken in it"… but I hear it was delicious. 

Lets just say, going from fasta pasta to this… there is no comparison.  I'm not italian and haven't had "authentic" italian to my knowledge… but I think this had it pretty right.  It tasted so fresh.  I really don't know how to explain it better than that.  The meal blew my mind, I couldn't talk because I was so busy eating and had to mentally pull myself back from stuffing myself too much.  Paul cleaned his plate up :) (and look how happy he was about it!)

There's no dessert "menu" but there is an assortment of cakes and the like in the fridge at the counter.  I would love to come back here for a non-scoopon date night to try some of the other food on their menu.  If there pasta was that good I can't even imagine how good their other stuff would be.  And the pizza smelt amazing.  

After Nonna's Kitchen it was still early so we heading down to Glenelg for ice cream.  It was packed and Paul wanted Boost Juice.  There was a new boost I wanted to try.  I had it.  I was too full for ice-cream.  So Boost Juice + hot weather + big crowds + super full belly after ridiculously delicious meal = end of date night.

Salsa

So I had heard about Salsa from a few ladies at my previous work, and they had taaaaalked about it and talked it up so much we had to date night there. Simply could not say no after hearing about this amazing place. 

It's possible we didn't go at the best time, it's near the beach and it was winter. It was on a dark street that didn't really have a lot else on there, maybe a fish & chip takeaway shop and the front was lit up with florescent lights which I think were all the rage in the… 80s? Also a lot of palm trees. Anyway, it was a bit cool and hip, and very very different to what I was expected from a place called "Salsa". I hear that and I was thinking mexican. I don't know what Salsa was, it definitely wasn't mexican. I'm thinking italian. 

The inside matched the outside, it was very dark inside. Not like mood lighting, it was darker than that. Like a struggle to read the menus dark… but that's okay! Especially where we sat kind of in the corner. Furniture looked like it was from the 80s as well, which I have nothing against it was just a different kind of date night.  Actually thinking about it - whatever era "Grease" was in… that's what it was like. I thought of the diner they have the shakes in and Danny and Sandy hid behind the menus and giggle. Yeah that diner, it was like that. But smaller. And a lot darker. And in Australia… etc.

The menu is very limited and it's all a bit.. different. Which is great, but personally didn't leave me with a lot that I like the sound of. Paul had a chicken dish, which was chicken breast, potatoes and another vegetable in a sauce and I went for definitely the most basic thing on the menu - margarita pizza. 

Don't mind the poor quality photos... it was dark :)

Paul cleaned his plate up :)

I wish I wrote this closer to that particular date night, but I didn't… So this is what you get!