Sunday, May 16, 2010

City of Jetties - South Australia


It's time again for Family Shanks to take another holiday. Our destination this time was semi-decided as we had already planned to visit friends that have moved to the city of churches/jetties. They call it the city of churches but where we were staying every suburb had a jetty with an adjoining Jetty Rd, hence my slant of the state's moniker.

MS.Glutamate, a former resident of the city of jetties gave me an extensive list to keep me busy. Due to time restraints and diet restrictions here's what I could rustle up...

Yiros - Sovlaki Brothers - Glenelg.

Forget Kebabs...there's no such thing in SA - it's all Greek baby!! And the Greeks make Yiros. Similar concept to kebabs using super tasty meat off the spit, only using a slightly thicker wrap. The one I had in Mykonos a couple of years ago had the whole happy meal in the Yiros, where the salad, meat and fries was all wrapped up together - yes it was a happy meal :)




















When seated I found it puzzling to find two massive holes in the middle of the table. I thought maybe cup holders for our drinks? but they took up valuable real estate on the dining area. All was revealed when our chips came out, served in cones.




















Souvlaki Brothers' Lamb Souvlaki Salad & Yiros


The photos do this meal no justice as the salad and the yiros look like a messy pile of lettuce and meat. But it was a very tasty pile of salad and meat smothered in Souvlaki sauce - Yummo!!
The chips were freshly fried, super crispy and mighty tasty when dusted with chicken and herb salt.



They also had a "Wog Dog" which was similar to the Yiros, only served hot dog style in a regular bun. I was intrigued at first, but didn't see the point. I also wasn't game to ask a big burly Greek man wielding a machete for a "Wog Dog" :)

Subway Wagyu ... sort of :( - Victor Harbour

Although Victor Harbour was beautiful, there were three disappointments on our trip to this pretty little town:

Subway salad with Wagyu patties
  1. We hung around Granite Island for over 3hrs only to find that the penguin feedings were not on. I guess the penguins go hungry that day.
  2. The local German Cafe was closed on Wednesday - strange but true!!
  3. Due to point 2 above, I opted to try Subways Wagyu beef - wrong choice again!! I'm not a fussy eater and did enjoy it but it was nothing special. Also, just the thought of two frozen patties being defrosted in the microwave is sacrilege to the Wagyu name.

Melba's Chocolate / Confectionery Factory - Woodside

After two attempts, many wrong turns and a major U-turn we finally found the elusive Melba's Factory. Signage to this place is very minimal and the mileage shown on the brochure is deceiving. Even after finding the place it was hard to find the entrance as the car park was to the rear of the building and the whole place looked like an abandoned old brewery. But looks can be deceiving!!

As we grumbled our way through the entrance our frustrations were rapidly mellowed by the glorious display of mound after mound of sugary treats. We felt like kids in a candy store - well I guess we were, especially MiniB who had a ball touching everything.


Melba's famous Chocolate Cow Pat

The signature treat at Melbas would have to be their famous Cow Pat chocolate. A thick slab of chocolate splatted into the shape of Mr Chocolate Cow's you-know-what... They come in all different flavours, colours, and textures; smooth or chunky. I guess it depends on what Mr Chocolate Cow ate the night before LOL. An awesome gag which we just had to buy as souvenirs.

The Lobethal Bakery - Woodside

We found this bakery by chance in the quaint, little country town of Woodside after getting lost trying to find Melba's Chocolate Factory.

The Bee Sting Cake was more like a honey sweet bread filled with cream. I'm not a fan of sweet bread as they always look too dry, however, Momma Bear gave it the thumbs up.

Cream filled doughnut. Now here's something for me to get excited about. I reckon you could DIY this by getting Krispy Kremes and filling them with whipped cream.

Wheels&Barrow's Gigantic Coffee Mugs & Lemon and Strawberry Sorbet

The novelty highlight of the bakery were these gigantic coffee mugs. I think they would be 600mls or more. The W liked them so much that I, (on behalf of MiniB) got some for Mothers Day. These can be found at Wheels & Barrows and also come in red and black.

MiniB eyeing the handmade chocolates @ Bracegirdles - Glenelg

Finally, Bracegirdles House of Fine Chocolate. The name sounds like some type of lingerie rather than a place of fine chocolate. Strange by name, but awesome by chocolate. We picked up many souvenirs here as well such as cappuccino coated coffee beans and chili chocolate. Their hand-made chocolates are similar to Boon chocolates.

Bracegirdles Cuppaccino

I tried the chili hot chocolate which packed a punch at first taste with a hint of cinnamon. Unfortunately it was too milky and should have been more chocolatey but not a bad drink on a chilly sea-breezed morning in Glenelg.

Bracegirdles Chili Hot Chocolate

SA you have impressed us and smashed all generalizations that most Sydney-siders make of you. You have marvelous produce and some awesome restaurants (blogs on these to come). I miss you already...probably cos I'm back at work.

Till next time ... we eat!!

Shanks.




10 comments:

  1. That cream filled donut is a stroke of genius! It would be so good with a fresh KK! :)

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  2. Gorgeous, gorgeous photos! The chips, MiniB, THAT donut and the sunset! I also love my sugarfree licorice flavoured chocolate - it really tastes so GOOD - thanks for the pressie from Adelaide! I'm impressed that the Subway there even considers offering wagyu even if it doesn't taste that great!

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  3. Love when they put the fries at the opening of the yiros. They did that in Prague too. Def. something that needs to be introduced to aussie kebab stores.

    MiniB drooling over the glass cabinet of chocolate. I would have been right next to her in the same position!

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  4. The Bee Sting cake caught my eye! And working with a bunch of wannabe baristas who have made it their personal challenge to make the best fern on top of a capuccino, that image made me laugh too! And surely that last photo couldn't be natural! It's too beautiful! Sure puts Adelaide in a new light!

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  5. Hi Lorraine, Its amazing what a little (or a lot) of cream can do to a dish :)

    Hi HB. Thanks! When are you getting back on the bandwagon? Hope you're getting over the flu :)

    Hi Yaya. I'm glad you liked it. How was the Piano Bar? I didn't realise they weren't doing the Wagyu in Sydney Subway. :)

    Hi Lobo, Yeah bring on the all-in-one happy meal to Aussie Kebabs!!

    Hi GB, LOL - Bracegirdles do run barista courses on weekends. No photo-shopping involved, just a gorgeous western facing sunset :)

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  6. Beautiful shot of the jetty. The souvlaki treats look good too.
    Sydney - City and Suburbs

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  7. Hi Jim, Thanks it was gorgeous lighting that day. Btw really like your blog - you have a great eye for photography :)

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  8. We went to many of the same places as you in Glenelg! We had a kebab with haloumi at Souvlaki Bros and it was fabulous! Sigh, I loved Adelaide. Can't wait to go back.

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  9. Hi Lisa, Yeah Glenelg is a fab place. Now that our friends have permanently moved there I can't wait to return and try kebab with haloumi - thanks for the tip :)

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