Australia Twelve - Australian Fabulous Food

a) Traditional "Rum Baba" dessert- cake with rum soaked dried fruit, with a shot of rum to pour over it and vanilla ice cream at Fish D'Vine, a seafood and rum bar in Airlie Beach.
b) French toast with strawberries and maple syrup for breakfast at Capers, Airlie Beach.
c) Mark's eggs benedict at Capers, Airlie Beach.
d) Pan-fried barramundi in garlic butter, with new potatoes and salad that we cooked in the apartment, Airlie Beach.
e) Banana pancakes with strawberries and syrup- my breakfast speciality that I whipped up on quite a few occasions!
f) Fish platter with battered fish, crumbed prawns, calamari, scallops and chips that we shared from a little fish & chip place in Airlie Beach.
g) Prawn salad with avocado and toasted cashews, sweet chilli and balsamic dressing at a café on the esplanade, Cairns.
h) Hawaiian pizza at Sorrentos, Abel Point Marina in Airlie Beach.
i) BBQ kangaroo steak, with roasted pumpkin, sweet potato and new potato and salad- another home-cooked meal at Airlie Apartments
j) Caesar salad at Sorrentos, Abel Point Marina in Airlie Beach.
k) Grilled barramundi with macadamia nut pesto, on steamed bok choi with fried sweet potato ribbons, at Fish D'Vine

One of our favourite places that we ate in whilst in Airlie Beach was "The Village Cafe" where we experienced hot rock dining!

This interactive experience is based around volcanic rocks which are heated for a minimum of 10 hours in a special oven. The rocks are then placed onto a plate and brought to your table where you cook your choice of main course on them! This locks in nutrients and flavour, and means you can cook your food exactly how you like it. Plus it was a really fun thing to do and makes an ordinary evening meal a lot more exciting!

Mark opted for the Black Angus rump steak with potato wedges and a mushroom sauce...

And I went for the Whitsunday seafood platter, which consisted of tiger prawn cutlets, calamari, local reef fish and a Moreton Bay bug!

I didn't know what to expect with the bug, but it ended up being a cross between a large prawn and lobster- it was yummy anyway!

All in all a great experience 🙂 The only criticism I would have would be for more seasoning or dipping sauces to be provided. I had a mango salsa with my fish, and lemon slices, but some different herbs or spices for cooking would have been nice.

Sydney

a) and b) Chocolate covered strawberries from The Rocks Markets- yum!
c) and j) Garlic bread and carrots, our sides with dinner at the Sydney Cove Oyster Bar
d) and i) Breakfast at The Fine Food Store, The Rocks
e) Fish and chips on the beach in Manly!
f) Barramundi with lentils at the Sydney Cove Oyster Bar
g) Petit fours dessert plate- different filled chocolates- passionfruit, ginger, toffee and dark chocolate, Sydney Cove Oyster Bar
h) Pear and rosemary tart with ice cream, Sydney Cove Oyster Bar
k) Sydney Cove Fish Pie, Sydney Cove Oyster Bar*

*This restaurant in Circular Quay was in an awesome location with great views, but we had a few issues with the food. My fish pie was cold and Mark's barramundi wasn't cooked so we had to send them back. However the waitress was very apologetic and offered us complimentary desserts as well as rectifying the problems. And the food was really nice when done properly!

Sushi and noodles

Some of the best food we ate on our trip was at two little places in Kings Cross. We both love Asian food, and were so happy to have found somewhere that did amazing sushi and noodles. In fact, we went back to the sushi place twice it was so good!

a), b), e), f) and h) - Tempura vegetables, chicken katsu, salmon sashimi, chicken teriyaki and mixed nigiri, edamame beans and miso soup at Juju Japanese Tavern
c), d) and g) - Enjoying our create-your-own noodle dishes! (I haven't been able to find the name of the place, but it was a little noodle bar on Victoria Street, Kings Cross) EDIT: Mark says it was called the Paper Box Thai Noodle Bar 🙂

Coffee!

We also consumed a lot of lattes, cappuccinos, flat whites, chai lattes etc etc...

So many places, so little time! 🙂

Beki x