A Tale of Two Sandwiches - New South Wales, Australia

Managed to find some tasty eats on a coastal road trip from Tathra to Sydney.

Like all good days, it started off with gluttony.  In this case it came in the form of a deluxe breakfast megalith at Tilba Teapot Cafe on the quaint high street of Central Tilba.  I wasn't even that hungry, but couldn't pass up this bad boy.  Replete with bacon, avocado, hash browns, more bacon, aioli, chilli jam and two eggs - this was pretty much the most food I've seen between two buns outside of the USA.  And aside from the impending heart disease, it somehow worked. The mix of textures was perfect and the chilli jam was an especially a nice touch to offset the heaviness of it all.  It probably didn't need the eggs.  I probably didn't need a (second) breakfast in the first place.  But hey, the mountain air messes with your head!

Tilba Teapot Cafe's Deluxe Breakfast Sandwich 

Aka The Monster

Apart from gluttony, the little town of Tilba is apparently famous for its milk, and has some local solutions for peace on earth.  So if you ever find yourself there, grab some gluttonous grub and enjoy the sights!

Right, back on the road and of course the food.  Decided on a late lunch in Milton at Pilgrim's Restaurant, famous for its vegetarian food and the perfect antidote to artery-hardening breakfasts.  Pilgrim's has an amazing variety of homemade vegetarian burgers, which today were grain-based or indian style.  They were scrumptious!  I skipped the bun and went for a grain & rice  burger on a salad platter with houmous and tabbouleh, made all the tastier eaten outside in the Australian winter sun.

Pilgrim's Salad and Burger Platter

Don't forget frequent stops for flat whites!

Watch out for the local wildlife on the roads...

 

 

Infinity Bakery, upon arrival in Sydney

Tilba Teapot Cafe

17 Bate Street 

Central Tilba

New South Wales 2546

Australia

Pilgrim's Restaurant

Shop 8/9 The Settlement

Milton

New South Wales

Australia

Tim Ho Wan - Hong Kong

It would be sacrilegious to miss Dim Sum when in Hong Kong, so when I heard there was a Michelin-starred option for under £5 a head I was on the next train to Olympic Station for my fix.  

Run by the ex-dim sum chef of the Four Seasons, Tim Ho Wan has four outfits around Hong Kong which are inconspicuously located in shopping malls and train stations.  We came for lunch to avoid the long dinnertime queues.  When you get in, simply tick whatever looks tasty on a paper menu and then wait for your treasures to arrive.

The food started with the baked BBQ pork bun.  This was pretty much heaven in every bite (pardon the piety!) - rich pork and red bean filling, with a sweet but savoury pastry.  I think this was actually deep-fried rather than baked, not that I'm complaining!

"Baked" Bun with BBQ Pork

After that, it was pretty much a dim sum free-for-all.  Highlights were the steamed dumpling chiuchow style with big chunks of daikon, steamed beef balls with bean curd skin, steamed ginger + beef dumplings and pan-fried lotus, water chestnut + pork.  May have over-ordered, yum!

The (dim) sum of it

Steamed Beef Ball with Bean Curd Skin

Steamed Ginger and Beef Dumpling

Chiu Chow Steamed Dumpling

Pan Fried Lotus and Water Chestnut with Pork

My one gripe is that the eggplant (aubergine) stuffed with pork was a bit bitter for my liking.  I'm a complete eggplant fanatic, so this one slightly missed the mark.  Andrew disagrees as he loved it.  Decide for yourself!

Steamed Eggplant Stuffed with Pork

Overall, an amazing lunch.  Come for the food.  You definitely won't find a Michelin meal cheaper than this.  

One of four locations:

 

Tim Ho Wan

Shop 72 G/F, Olympian City 2

18 Hoi Ting Road

Tai Kok Tsui

Hong Kong

Awesome Fish and Chips - Lakes Entrance, Australia

Yes, it's actually called Awesome Fish & Chips. Found this great local spot while road-tripping from Melbourne to Sydney.  August being mid-winter in the southern hemisphere, the resort town of Lakes Entrance on the Bass Straight was very quiet! Luckily we followed our noses to find this place still open.

The best thing about this place was, well, the fish!  It was nicely laid out on the counter and the choice of species was exotic to a northern hemisphere dweller like myself.  

I opted for blue grenadier, which was darker and tuna/swordfish like.  Andrew and Mary had the local gummy shark, which was much lighter and flakier.  All came with heaps of chips, which  had a nice bite to my liking, though not properly 'soggy' as true British chips should be, to Mary and Andrew's disdain.  Oh well!  

Blue grenadier and gummy shark fish & chips

Served on gigantic paper and washed down with some sarsaparilla root beer, we were ready to get back on the Aussie A1.

 

Awesome Fish & Chips

337 Esplanade

Lakes Entrance

Victoria 3909 

Australia

Albergue 1601 - Macau

Macau is a crazy mix of China meets Lisbon on the South China Sea.  After a short but surprisingly choppy hydrofoil ride from Hong Kong, we decided to sample some traditional Macanese food - and what better place then Albergue 1601, hidden in a colonial era courtyard in the backstreets of the city centre.   The massive camphor tree is an added bonus!

To start came the bacalau (codfish) fritters.  Moist inside and perfectly crisped up, these reminded me of sitting in a cafe in Porto.  The salad was nicely dressed as well, and actually much appreciated as we managed to have little fresh veg over the past few days in Hong Kong.  

Bacalau Fritters

For the mains, we shared African Chicken and Duck Fried Rice, two Macanese specialities.  Think BBQ meets peri-peri and spicy curry for the African Chicken, a tribute to Portugal's days of empire.  This came with a tasty hot-sauce (not overly hot in my opinion, but I'm a spice fiend) and some nice sweet potatoes. 

African Chicken

Duck-fried rice is incredible.  It's like a Chinese paella, with shredded duck in a rich tomato flavoured rice and a few slices of 'chorizo' on top to bring you right back to the Iberian peninsula.

Duck Fried Rice

If you ever find yourself in Macau, lose the crowds and definitely make your way here.  It's a complete jumble of worlds and cuisines that somehow works perfectly.   Come even if it's just for the courtyard!

 

Albergue 1601 

8 Calcada da Igreja de S. Lazaro

Macau

China

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