Rate My Steak, Blue Smoke BBQ

I took my parents to Blue Smoke, I was sure I said.. “It’s a ribs place, famous for ribs… ribs.. ribs.. drool”. Mum got the pork belly and Dad got an eye fillet, I went for the classic Texas beef short ribs.

The pork belly looked amazingly good, dry rubbed and really juicy, and if I get to go there again twice, I’ll try it. Twice because I’ll go the beef ribs again as it’s too hard to get past on the menu.
My Dad is pretty serious about his steak and he ordered the fillet blue but warm, which was exactly how it came out, impressive. Meat scored 10/10, it really couldn’t have been done any better.

Mum ordered the pecan pie for dessert which came with some ice cream that was larger than the pie, and it was very win. I wanted a coffee but the coffee machine was out, a few hints to the waiter about getting one from a neighboring shop didn’t sink in and he kept saying we were welcome to get one somewhere else… um… get our own?.. We also did not get any corn bread with honey butter. lose. Service 7/10, he knew what blue but warm meant.

Polished off my last bottle of 1988 Heggies Cabernet, I bought a case of these 15 years ago and I had one stashed in the back of my parents storage cupboard. They found it, and it survived, yay. No doubt the best red wine I’ve ever had.

Overall 8/10.

Rate My Steak, Kingsleys

Just had to try this place after John kept ranting on about it.

Entree’s – The soft shell crab was by far the largest I’d ever seen, looked like a sand crab and tasted incredible. Got a dozen natural oysters which were perfectly fresh.

Mains – I got the Reef and beef rib, I forget what the other guys got now *blush*. Perfect steak but they didn’t de-vein the prawns which let it down a little. The mushroom sauce was by far the best I’ve ever had. Had the grilled artichokes, roasted root vegetables, and potato bake for sides. All very delicious.

After the last bottle of Heggies I chose the 2005 Heggies Merlot which was also memorable, looking for someone with a case for sale, but I’ll have to resume my search when I get back. These guys had a working coffee machine, yay.

Service, they stuffed up one order but were quick off the mark to resolve it, the girl was a bit nervous and dropped a knife on a plate, but handled it well and spoke to us to get off the subject.

Overall 9.5/10. I’m going back. Maybe we can convince John to eat seafood and drink wine next time. I gave them a half point for stocking Heggies wine.

Rate My Stay – Saville Executive Suite, 2 Bond St, Sydney

So I’m a bit of a nomad right now, My home is in Brisbane, primary office in Sydney, secondary offices in London and Stockholm. Due to the circumstances my employer is supplying a studio near work right now.

Very nice, good staff, nice apartment. But.. No foxtel and the restaurant menu could do with some work. I’d stay here again for sure. The guys at the office called this the second choice, wonder what the first choice is?!

Rate My Gig – OMX Sydney

I was lucky enough to score a window seat.

The other side of the building is marginally better as it looks out over North/South head. But I’m not one to complain. Also I’m very happy with my new Lenovo X61 laptop and Blackberry curve phone. Salary is very competitive and conditions are obviously designed so no one will ever complain. The highest global health insurance possible, 10.6% superannuation and a very generous per diem when away from home. 10/10 employer, I’m very happy there.

So I’m off to London and probably Stockholm as well, leaving tomorrow. I guess I’ll have to Rate My Flight, Hotel and Offices over there.

Leaving the wonderful people at VB and Brisbane (well I’ve only half left Brisbane) was a bit sad, but things are going well which takes my mind off it. Looking forward to getting back from Europe already so I can find somewhere to live that isn’t a hotel or executive studio apartment.

A couple of pics from the VB 7th Birthday Party……

Before:

After:
(1st pic is wet marinated, steamed in wild turkey and mesquite liquid smoke, mopped and grilled)
(2nd pic is dry rub, steamed in mesquite liquid smoke, mopped and grilled)

Still not as good as being smoked for 12 hours ala Blue Smoke BBQ… but close enough for me!

Rate my steak – Fridays hot dog van.

Always love Fridays, it is a great perv, and it’s really warm so there is lots of skanks showing lots of skin, and when mixed with alcohol it ends up for a good time. Nothing finishes off a really good time quite as well as a hot dog from the guy that parks out the front.

The bun – fresh and soft, but not too soft.
Hot dog – perfectly cooked, firm, no skin peeling off or crap like that.
Onion – just caramelising, not burnt.
Bacon – oh yea.
Cheese – just the right amount.
American mustard – tomato sauce doesn’t cut it on quality food like this.

Portion control is the key and they have it, not too much, you dont get crap over your face, or drop any, it fits in your mouth. 10/10.

Rate my steak – Chimiburger @ Chimi’s Burger Bar.

We had to try this bad boy out. Take a massive double patty hamburger, batter and deep fry the whole thing. Yes, it is bad for you, yes, it takes about 8 hours before your stomach works again, no, I don’t want another one for a while. The helpdesk at my current job has a record of 4 minutes 15 seconds to eat one. The Chimi guys say someone once ate 2 1/2 of these in 1 sitting. ouch.

Can’t say much about it really that isn’t obvious, it’s big and fried, the buns taste like KFC. The only way to better this burger is to get rid of the bun and use 2 snitchels instead. 9/10 coz it hurt.

The Ekka and other non related crap.

The Ekka is on and I didn’t go, again, it is one big flu pit. Nothing destorys peace and quiet like planes and fireworks. Jedi got me a bertie beetle bag (thanks Jedi), which is as much Ekka as I can handle.

I’ve discovered how good pork ribs are when you pressure cook them, tender falling apart bbq porky goodness in under 30 minutes!

I was rudely awoken this week by an invasion on my airspace, I need to find out if I am legally allowed to defend my airspace. Nothing ruins sleeping in like hot air balloons above your house.

That is enough for now, more exciting news to come this week. Stay tuned.

We flew Virgin Atlantic, which was by far the best airline I have ever travelled on to date, awesome in every way, although the English hostesses were nice until they opened their whiney mouths, the Asian ones seemed nicer because the whiney English accent wasn’t as obvious to me when they spoke Cantonese.

The hotel we chose was right in the action, smallest room possible, but large enough to crash in, and $85 AUD a night for 2 it was a bargain, smack in the guts of Mong Kok.

There is a serious lack of pubs in Kowloon. You can just go buy some beers at 7-11 and walk around with them, go to a resturant, Karoke bar (beware some are dodgy – we found out.)… but getting a nice seat and downing a few beers watching people walk past isn’t much of a passtime over there. We found a couple of places that were aceptable, but if you want pubs (pubs are a western thing) Wan Chai was the place, just dont make eye contact with the freelance asian (everything except Chinese) hookers everywhere, they’ll still poke your ribs and try to get your attention.. uhhh.. and if yer drunk they will all look about 24/28, but that means they are 40 :P My apologies for the first image here, I was quite drunk, the place is called COCKEYE. buahahaha.

Food was the best thing about Hong Kong, it’s good and cheap, it’s everywhere, and if you like Chinese you’re in luck. Had some bbq goose, which I am struggling to find over here, and some bbq pidgeon, both awesome. The usual assortment of pork and chickens feet, and more pork in several different ways. The scampi we had looked nothing like a prawn or crayfish, and I didn’t get a photo, I hope Whopper did.. but they tasted like bug.

Macau rocks, the Portugese architecture is stunning after spending time in downtown Mong Kok, the place is much cleaner, less crowded. The Casino’s are stunning. The driving is bad, pedestrian crossings are a lure to get you to step onto the road and get run over, it appears they are just there so the ambulance knows where to go. I’ve never seen so many scooters anywhere. There is really no reason to own a car there, cabs are stupidly cheap, and it’s only about 24km² anyway. We had some African Chicken (pictured above) which is a local speciality, and incredible, well worth having if you go, along with some local Macau beer (you’ll need a few to wash it down). The ruins of St Mary were everything you’d expect and a walk around the top of the hill to see the view from the old cannons is well worth it. Overall I’d go for 2-3 days if you can make it, then you’ll be out of options except gambling or eating.

As for the Crown Casino, it’s pretty average compared to Wynns or Sands. Just another casino, also so far from any other action that you may as well find somewhere else to stay. Sorry James.

Here’s before and after shots of Whopper :) This should sum up what 10 days of Honkers will do to you..

My photos are HERE as per usual, I’ll link to Whoppers when I find out where that is.

Guru would have been happy (if he’d come – sand allergy, go figure…) that everyone made it on time at 5:30am to depart, It’s been a long time since I’ve been on the road at 5:30am and Kingsford Smith was bumper to bumper. What’s with people these days? what’s with traffic? bah!

Minimum fuss once we were on the highway, we were straight onto the barge and starting to play up…

It was a fantastic drive up the coast as usual, until we got to Indian Head where not one, but TWO busses were bogged, a lot of people were waiting and looking but we decided to cut through and go around..

Stopped in a the Orchid Beach servo and then on to the South Ngkala Rocks bypass.. Cres I went first and then ended up getting 3 beers in before anyone else came through.. Che5ter came out with 2 cars attached with snatch straps behind him! Show off, alas there was no photo!

We arrived to disturb the peace for IP, Jedi and Wayne (Jedi’s bro), who had been there for a few days in advance and were visibly over-relaxed. I named them the Read Only Crew as they just sat around and watched the green campers destroy the view and peace with little to no movement or facial expression. We packed the weber (thanks to fatty), and didn’t take long to get cooking.

I suppose what goes on tour stays on tour, and I’m sick of writing this blog post… The next tour is Hong Kong from the 17th to the 26th, and the next post after that!

My photos HERE, Jedi’s HERE, Siq’s HERE, more when I find them…

Fraser Island is still there, we confirmed it had not moved far. The advertised departure times were a bit misleading, IP had to see the meat mechanic so they were delayed a little, I had some small grief I suspect from dodgy diesel but Angry and I had the lead by about 24 hours, so we agreed to meet up with IP and MK up the cape.
We hit Orchid Beach and Waddy Point for 2 days, Iron Chef Bronco took the lead with some Chicken soup hybrid stew and I followed up with some battered deep fried tailor caught fresh from Orchid Beach.

The west coast beaches are awesome, we were the only people around, we tried out some of the beach, which has some soft bits but with a bit of caution seems like a good mission for another time, Moon Point to Wathumba? hmm, maybe I should get a winch as well :)

Some investigations on the internet have shown this to have potential and my experiments have proved sucessful.

Initally these toasted then grilled kimchi and cheese on rye have provided a positive indication that there is many cheesy delights in store yet.

It kinda looks like brains and goo, but relax it is just cabbage and chilli…. and stuff. My next experiment is adding it to a Black and Gold Ham and Cheese pizza I picked up at ACTION Super IGA for $1.89.

Burritos seem to be popular also, watch this space.

[update]

The ghetto pizza w/ kimchi went off.

If you want to ask what kimchi is check the video below;

I also lashed out on a new esky today as I realised my old one was given to me on my 18th birthday, 15 years ago I think, damn that esky has seen a lot of meat, and beer :)

I hope it serves me as well as my old one, which is now designated to partys and overnighters.

Next post after Fraser!

Brendan, Andrew, Leigh and myself were the only people that bothered to go, we were missing the Head Monkey himself who decided not to go at the last minute leaving us in doubt if there will actually be a Brass Monkey III event this year.

The camping sites are very nice, and there is cattle in the camp sites so there’s a lot of land mines about, which are slippery when wet, so take a shovel :)

We had driven through some storms that left a bit of mud around, so the rainforest tracks were nice and wet, we managed to do some recoverys to get past this little bit which was surprisingly deep and off camber at the exit.

Enough with the mud there was a lot of nice scenery there.

And we ended up cooking a whole leg of lamb, which turned out a treat :)

IP’s photos are up HERE. I have left a few HERE.