Whipped Bake Bar Cafe

Headed down to Semaphore for breakfast with friends at Whipped Bake Bar Cafe. Had been eyeing off the cupcakes here for a while after seeing some photos on Urbanspoon and was looking forward to giving them a try. Breakfast is always the easiest meal to go paleo with, at least for me. Most places offer a big breakfast type meal which is easily modified to be paleo friendly. At Whipped I went for the Whipped Breakfast, it included eggs, bacon, tomato, mushrooms, avocado, feta and toast. Now because I was planning on offroading with a cupcake I wanted to make my main meal as paleo as possible so we asked for them to hold the toast and feta. Oddest thing... they said we 'had' to have the toast but they could take the feta off? Very strange, I mean it's not like removing the toast would be that big of a  change to the dish, plus because I didn't eat it...it was wasted. Aside from this though the food was great, poached eggs gooey in the middle, not greasy (which can sometimes happen with big breakfast meals) and the avocado smash was really good. My friend had the 6 minute eggs... hard boiled eggs, sour dough soldiers, a pink salt and bacon crumb...nice concept but eggs were just a little overcooked so you couldn't really dip the toast into them.

Drink wise I had a green apple tea, Barossa Scullery branded. This company is really starting to become a staple in many Adelaide cafes, the apple flavour isn't strong but it's a refreshing tea which complemented my breakfast choice.

On to the cupcakes!!!! This place had some pretty amazing looking cupcakes, they were all so pretty it was hard to choose. In the end we had the cookies and cream white choc and the caramel. The cookies and cream was decorated with white chocolate curls, a chunk of cookies and cream chocolate and some Cadbury white chocolate squares. The cupcake itself had a very small amount of icing..more of a glaze to hold the decoration and was a vanilla base. It was really fluffy and light, and not dry at all. The icing decoration balance was good as well.. a thick icing would of been sickeningly sweet. The caramel was decorated with Twix (which was a nice surprise... usually caramel is Mars or Snickers) caramel curls and a square of Cadbury milk chocolate. The cupcake had a chocolate glaze type icing however was a dense rich chocolate cake, almost muffiny. If your a cupcake fan (especially of pretty cupcakes) I'd highly recommend getting to Whipped and trying these out. Overall a decent breakfast outing with high quality well cooked food. Shame about the toast issue but other than that the service was good; quick given how busy the place was.

Royal Copenhagen Brighton & The Jam Room Cafe Series

Somewhere on Facebook I saw a post for the Jam Room Cafe Series and decided it was something I had to go to. Organised by Alice from The Jam Room the concept is fantastic, cafe's hosting musicians for intimate gigs in the CBD and suburbs. The line up isn't announced until you arrive which means your always going to get a range of artists that you may not have seen otherwise. To top it off tickets are only $5 a head... what a deal! A great way to support a local business/promoter, musicians and local cafes.

 Me and hubby headed down to the session at Royal Copenhagen Brighton. This venue was amazing, brick walls, gorgeous industrial type lighting, candles, flowers and funky furniture gave the whole gig great atmosphere. The area was set up well, not to squishy but still a real intimate feel to it. Royal Copenhagen cafes normally have quite an extensive menu but for this night they'd chosen to do a set menu with choice of waffles, fondue, cakes from the display, ice-cream and two savoury crepes. I went with the choc berry waffle and hubby had a brownie with ice-cream. I'm going to say that this is probably the best waffle I've had in Adelaide to date. It was crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, it wasn't soggy from the toppings and was just the right size. So far in Adelaide I seem to have only come across stale/soggy microwaved waffles so this was a really great dish! It came with chocolate ice-cream which was creamy and rich (although I'd expect nothing less from Copenhagen), strawberries and a chocolate drizzle. 

Hubby liked his Brownie, but we weren't sure if 'Brownie' was the right label for it. It was more cakey, it didn't have that chewiness a Brownie should have, it also had a really thick layer of ganache/icing so it seemed more like a slice/cake.. still very tasty though. 

Drinks wise I had a tea drop honeydew green tea... this is one of my favourite teas, it has a great fresh flavour. Presentation was amazing, they brought it out on a wooden board with a shortbread biscuit (exactly the same as St Louis's Fine House of Ice Cream and Dessert interestingly) with a small packet of honey. It was a nice touch given they were so busy. Hubby had an iced coffee, he gave it a 6 out of 10,  he likes a pretty strong coffee flavour and this wasn't strong enough for him. The savoury crepes and fondue other people were eating looked great, and the girls serving were all super friendly even though they were under the pump! Overall Copenhagen didn't disappoint and we will most certainly be back to sample the standard menu.

Gig wise, the show was amazing. The artists we had the pleasure of enjoying were Causing Hammock, Anna Smyrk, Timberwolf, Maggie Rutjens and Banjo Jackson. They each did five songs, four originals and a cover. My favourite had to be Timberwolf check him out on Facebook!   I really believe in supporting local and up and coming artists and this is a great way of doing it. Big huge thank you and well done to Alice from The Jam Room for organising such a great series of events. I seriously hope I can get to another one in the near future and recommend you do too!

Sir Cafe

Headed to Sir Cafe for a late night dessert on a Friday night. This newbie on the Adelaide dessert 'bar' scene is located on the next floor up from the iconic 'Vego and Lovin It' in Rundle Street.  A cute moustache logo is branded on everything and the place has fantastic decor, although is on the small side. We were lucky enough to get a table straight away, but they do have a list system where they'll call you when a table is free (like Eggless for those who have been there). The menu isn't extensive but has a good range of options. A lot of people were eating the signature 'cubes', loaves of honey bread stacked with ice cream, chocolate, fruit and more... however me and my company were on the full side after dinner so opted to try some of their other offerings. I had the chocolate mousse and an apple tea whilst my friend had a Bailey's cheesecake and coffee. I'm always hesitant to order mousse, often it's  powdery/grainy/been sitting prepared for hours. This mousse did not disappoint in anyway, it was rich and chocolaty, had a smooth texture and was fresh with no skin forming on the surface. It was a nice sized portion and was presented in a moustache shape which was uber cute! The almond biscuits were a nice touch and helped cut through the rich chocolate, which reminded me of a kinder surprise. My tea was really... unusual, in a good way. Normally when I order apple tea it's a black or green tea with dried apple chips, I always want a good apple kick and am often disappointed. At Sir the tea seemed to have been mixed with an apple juice, it had a strong sweet apple taste, and was at the perfect temperature for drinking. Reminded me of a warmed apple cider in some ways. My friend's cheesecake had a real coffee taste to it, and was actually a pretty large serve! Sir Cafe has done a good job of offering a unique range of menu options in Adelaide's almost saturated dessert scene, along with providing a good atmosphere and friendly service. They have EFTPOS which is also a positive as many of the small dessert places don't. I definitely plan on going back, I have my eye on one of the the signature cubes ;)

Elana's Pantry Muesli Scones

Decided to give these muesli scones from Elana's Pantry a trial this week. I changed it up slightly, subbing the pistachios for almonds, raisins for the cranberries and adding in some pumpkin seeds. As with Elana's bread recipe I had to add a few minutes to the cooking time as they were still a little too soft at the recommended time. Mine also didn't rise as much as the ones pictured on her website. Taste-wise they were fantastic, I'd describe them as a cross between a scone and a biscuit. I got a few people to try them (including non paleo friends) and they all loved them so I would consider this recipe a success. As a note, just like the bread these are quite high calorie for a small serve (I did 16 serves at 155 calories each) so I would keep them as a treat. Additionally they froze really well, so a good item to have on hand for an emergency paleo friendly snack or afternoon treat.

Quick and Easy Chicken Soup

When I feel run down, or it's cold... or when it's a combination of both which was the case last week I crave chicken noodle soup. This is my recipe for a quick, simple and really huge serving of soup that can be thrown together in under 20 minutes. This recipe has Konjac noodles, which don't fit with everyone's version of paleo. I include them in my diet and the type I use only has Konjac, water and calcium hydroxide. But just as a note some do have rice flour, so I avoid those brands. I find these fill me up, give me that comforting feeling of noodles or pasta and as a bonus are low calorie.

Serves 1

1 X Chicken Breast
2 X Medium Carrots
2 X Stalks Celery
1 X Small/Medium Onion
1 X Leek
1/2 X Tablespoon coconut oil
2 X Cups Chicken Broth
1 X Cup of Water
Salt, Pepper and Herbs to taste.
1 X pack of Konjac Noodles

Method

Sauté vegetables in coconut oil until onions have started to go translucent, season with slat and pepper. Add stock water and herbs, then bring to boil.
Turn to a simmer and add whole chicken breast, poach until done (around 15-20mins on a very low simmer for me). Remove chicken and place rinsed Konjac noodles into pot with stock and vegetables for 2 minutes. Shred chicken add back to pot and serve :)

Approximate Nutritional Info

Calories: 462
Fat: 12.8
Protein: 59.1
Carb: 17.7

American Cupcake Candy Stand

So the American Candy Stand Cupcake Cafe has been on my radar for a while. They specialise in American food and cupcakes- i.e there is nothing paleo about this place. This was a planned offroad for me, I trained hard all week to accommodate the extra calories and kept carbs on the lowish side so my macros remained balanced.
The cafe is pretty small, but has a cute decor. Menu prices are really reasonable and they have a decent range of food to choose from. Not to mention lots of gluten free options.

I'd checked out the menu before hand and knew I wanted to have the Mobster hotdog (hotdog with bacon, onion, cheese, tomato sauce and mustard) with added pineapple. They serve the hotdogs with 'crisps' rather than hot chips, I passed mine on to hubby and just had the hotdog. It was really good. Not too greasy, bun was toasted right (I'm not a fan of overly toasted buns!) and the cheese/onion/bacon ratio was good... but I did struggle to bite into it due to the overall size. Hubby had the Lord of the Rings hotdog (hotdog with American bacon, cheese, onion rings, ranch dressing and BBQ sauce). Our friend had the Lord of the Rings burger, pretty much the same concept but the burger's come with hot chips (thin fries) he said it was pretty tasty :)

Drinks wise the boys had an iced coffee (hubby gave it a 6 out of 10) and a root beer float. Our friend couldn't finish the float because he said it was really sweet, but he thought it was good (just a sugar overload by the time he'd had dessert as well!)

And then comes the big finale...dessert. Although this is a cupcake place we had been hanging out to attempt the 'everything but the kitchen sink' sundae. Me and hubby shared the delicious over sized mug of fresh banana, chocolate & peanut butter cup ice cream, Reese’s peanut butter topping & peanut butter chips, chocolate & raspberry brownie, cookies & kisses ice cream, Hershey’s chocolate sauce, fresh strawberries, white chocolate & raspberry ice cream, Hershey’s strawberry topping, whipped cream and a cherry on top. Although it sounds ridiculous it actually didn't end up being that much between two people, especially when compared to our friends hot chocolate and brownie sundae (chocolate & raspberry brownie, white chocolate & raspberry ice cream, Hershey’s hot chocolate fudge sauce, whipped cream & Hershey’s chocolate kisses) which was probably just over half the size of what we shared! The sundae was good, but the ice cream was pretty melted by the time it got to us. The Reece's Peanut butter cups mixed with the ice cream were still pretty tasty though  ;) 

Everything but the kitchen sink!

We visited again a few weeks later, and tried a cupcake each. I had a white chocolate and raspberry, hubby had a cherry ripe. Mine was really nice, but hubby said he found his a little on the plain side. We will probably visit here again to try some of the other cupcake flavours, plus they have some nice looking pies and cakes in the cabinet as well.

The Howling Owl & St Louis House of Fine Ice-cream and Desserts

Me and hubby headed to the The Howling Owl on Frome Street for a lunch date. This place sounded right up my alley, a small cafe/speciality gin bar. My understanding is that it's run by the people that run the Rhino Room (next door). The decor of this place is gorgeous, kitsch, full of owl knick knacks and unique art/craft work for sale (The cafe is joined to a shop stocking SA jewellery, housewares and art, I could spend a fortune here!). We sat in a booth which had a curtain which was really intimate, a perfect date spot. The cafe was quiet, but it had only just opened, I can imagine you would want to get in early in the evening especially for happy hour!

The gin and cocktail list is pretty extensive and includes local and international options. I chose to enjoy a Pimms No.1 World Cup, while hubby had a Swell Pale Ale. Cocktail was nice, I rarely drink, so the alcohol taste was strong to me, but it had a nice balance. Hubby enjoyed his beer, which was a local brew, normally he is a Cooper's man but he said the Swell was something he would purchase again. If your a gin person I'd highly recommend checking this place out. Foodwise they have a small menu of light items and some sweets. We shared a grazing board of Barossa salami, chargrilled zucchini, marinated mushrooms, beetroot dip and Adelaide Hills organic blue cheese. We swapped out the blue cheese for a cheddar as neither of us are really 'blue cheese' people, the lady who served us was super helpful, and did this with no worries. Great service always makes a difference :)  Everything on the board was yummy, I particularly enjoyed the marinated mushrooms. Hubby loved the salami and we had to go buy some later in the week because he couldn't stop thinking about it!

Next up we headed to one of the newest dessert places in Adelaide, St Louis House of Fine Ice Cream and Dessert (I know, I know, heaven forbid alcohol and dairy in one day). Located on the Victoria Square end of Gouger Street  this place has a modern intimate feel. The menu's are printed in a book format which was a nice touch and the staff were all really helpful, offering samples before we ordered and answering questions about the menu items. I sampled the signature ice cream, the St Louis. AMAZING! I think it was a vanilla with caramel and chocolate biscuit type things in it, anyway whatever it was it was delicious. I ordered the banoffe sundae, which normally comes with vanilla ice cream but the staff let me sub it with the St Louis, again great service makes or breaks a place and everyone here was great. This desert was divine, it had caramel bananas, brownie and ice-cream. The bananas were fantastic and the dessert was just the right size to not be sickeningly sweet. Hubby had the Oh La La Chocolate, which was a Brownie with a thick fudgey topping, vanilla ice-cream and a mini chocolate shake. Both of us thought our brownie's were nice with a good texture of chewy/soft, hubby's which had the fudge topping was super chocolaty and rich. The shake also had that real chocolate shake taste to it, not the powdery/packaged taste you often get with 'side shakes' at dessert shops. Drink wise I had a Teadrop English breakfast tea, this brand never disappoints me . Hubby had an iced coffee which he rated an 8 out of 10, pretty high marks from an iced coffee fanatic :) Bonus marks for this place as they provided a little shortbread biscuit with each drink which was a nice touch. I'd say if your on Gouger Street and want somethings sweet stop in on St Louis, (and try the signature ice-cream for sure!!)

Adelaide Show-ground Farmers Markets and From Scratch Patisserie

Me and hubby dragged ourselves out of bed early on a Sunday morning to head down to the Adelaide Showground Farmers Markets. If you haven't been these markets are worth losing a sleep-in for they have amazing local produce, fresh in season fruit and veg, grass fed meat and dairy and great food stalls to top it off! It's like paleo heaven. On this occasion we picked up some fresh eggs and some vegetables I haven't been able to get at Adelaide Central Market which is where I usually shop. We bought kohlrabi for the first time and later in the week I roasted it, both hubby and myself loved it! I think it will be perfect to add to stews/soups as well, and possibly mashed together with cauliflower! Speaking of cauliflower... I finally got my hands on a purple one for a decent price.... not that it tastes any different to white/green cauliflower but it's a pretty colour and eating different coloured fruit and veg means your getting a different range of nutrients.

As my treat for the week we planned to have breakfast at From Scratch Patisserie This stall appears every weekend at the markets plus they have a pop up stall at Leigh street on Fridays. Having read plenty of reviews online I was looking forward to trying out this place. Everything looked amazing, and we both had difficulty deciding what to get, in the end I had the ugly raspbettie (one of the more well known items) and hubby had a vanilla custard filled croissant. We also got a macaron each, golden gaytime and a rocky road. In all honesty I haven't had a croissant since before my surgeries in 2011, and only because when I was having gall bladder/Sphincter of Oddi attacks some of them were straight after eating a chocolate croissant ( I ate way too much junk then, croissants were considered an everyday snack item, not a special occasion item like now). I've been hesitant to have pastry since because of the fat content, as high fat foods can still trigger an attack for me. The ugly raspbettie was a flaky croissant like pastry with custard and raspberry, and it was amazing. It was just the right size to satisfy my desire for an off-road without going crazy, was fresh and unique and probably one of the best pastries I've ever had. Hubby raved about the croissant as well, and was asking if we could come again the following week. Best of all... no attack. The stall workers were super friendly as well which was nice. The macarons were yummy, both me and hubby are really starting to enjoy trying macarons at different places., especially unique flavours like the golden gaytime which was super caramelly. The rocky road was just like eating pink marshmallows.

If your at the markets, or in Leigh Street definitely pick something up from these guys but get in early as they sell out! Everything looks amazing, I don't think you could go wrong with any of the items. As a bonus they are a local business making great local food, most worth making an exception to paleo for. The rest of my day was super paleo, plenty of fresh veg and a chicken/pork muffin and I didn't feel to bad the next day which was nice :)

Ugly Raspbettie and Vanilla Custard Crossaint

Elana's Pantry Paleo Bread Attempt One.

Being Paleo I don't eat grains, which means I don't eat bread (unless it's a special occasion, planned off-road). One thing I've missed since dropping grain is poached eggs with toast, so when I discovered that there are a whole array of paleo 'bread' recipes out there I was pretty excited. I decided to give one of the most well known a go. The recipe, from Elana's Pantry is easy and clear, and I was able to access all of the ingredients in Adelaide (even if some were on the pricey side). There was a lot of feedback on this recipe online, people had issues with it being squishy in the middle, not rising, being dry etc etc so I wasn't too confident (never have been the greatest baker). However, my pessimism was unwarranted! It came out perfectly, I gave it an extra 5 minutes as it wasn't quite done at the 30 minute mark but other than that not a single problem. Of course it didn't rise as high as a normal loaf of bread, but I think sometimes paleo people forget that paleo recipes are a replacement/alternative, not an exact copy of traditional grain based foods. Taste-wise it was delicious, denser then traditional bread, slight almond taste but still bread like and not sweet, (which after sneakily taste testing the batter I thought it might be). I had it as part of my breakfast and it toasted well, which meant I could indulge in eggs on toast once again! It also kept for 7 days in the fridge, and although I didn't try it I think it would freeze well. Calorie wise this is a pretty energy dense food, I got 12 servings from it, which according to calorie king equaled 173 calories per piece, plus it was quite high fat. So if your watching your intake just keep that in mind. (As a side note I know most paleo people don't calorie count, but it's something I've been doing since I started my weight loss journey and I find it useful in managing my weight and fitness. Where possible I will include approximate nutritional values for recipes for those that are interested).

The finished product!

Fork on the Road 28th April 2013

So this post is a little belated, as will be the next few posts. I had all intentions to put reviews up straight after going places, but evidently I've epically failed at that.

Fork on the Road. I've been to three of these now and loved every single one. The atmosphere is great, the music is great and the array of food on offer is overwhelming! On this occasion I took a friend with me and we opted to share all our food choices (good way of getting to try all of the things!) This time it was held at the Festival Theatre in conjunction with the Oi You! Adelaide urban art exhibition (which was awesome if you like that kind of thing). I have to say I didn't like this venue as much as the Depot or Light Square, plus there were less food trucks and no music whilst we were there :(. 

Anyway..on to the food. First up... a kangaroo burgers with native mint and spices, quandong & chilli sauce, caramelised onion and saukeraut salad on fresh-baked spelt sourdough from Conscious Lifestyles This was amazing, and healthy and pretttty paleo (bread had grains obviously). I love kangaroo, and this burger had such an awesome lemon myrtle taste to it! 

Next up, a pulled pork toasted sandwich from Little Big Cheese Co. I haven't eaten a cheese toasted sandwich in over a year. Since having some surgery in 2011 dairy upsets my digestive system, also tends to make my skin go crazy. (plus dairy and bread = totally not paleo!) So if I decide to 'off-road' with dairy it had better be amazing! Well, Little Big Cheese Co did not disappoint! Pulled pork, King Island Cheddar and a homemade slaw which was the perfect way to offset the expected oil factor from the other ingredients! I ate half of this, and it was almost life changing! 

On to food item number three (yes i did eat a lot!), half a burger from the infamous Burger Theory Van. These guys always have a huge queue, but they have a pager system which is a really smart way to manage the orders. We shared the number two burger, which was made up of a Coorong Angus Beef patty, crispy pancetta, onion confit and Adelaide Blue cheese sauce (again with the dairy :/ I didn't feel very well later that night). Burger was great, not to greasy, perfect size (I'm not a fan of huge oversized burgers you can't fit in your hands/mouth) sauce was full of flavour and the pancetta added the right amount of crunch! For me, Burger Theory definitely live up to their reputation!

Beverage wise I indulged in a pink lemonade from the The Little Van That Could. Soft drink is something I never have, but I made an exception for this homemade version and it was lovely, fresh and not overly sweet.

On to dessert. I'd heard that Four Seeds made some pretty epic brownies, and they had been on my food bucket list for a while. Me and my friend shared half a dark chocolate brownie (no photo...it was demolished before we remembered!). It was perfect, in that chewy but soft but crunchy way only an amazing brownie can be. I have partaken in another brownie from four seeds since then (the peanut butter flavour) and hubby has tried the salted caramel and I have to say they have yet to disappoint. Possibly the best brownie I've had. Hubby also ranks them pretty highly.

Next up was macarons from The Macaron Man. We tried bubblegum, cookies and cream and peanut butter I think... Flavour-wise all were great. The bubble gum was exactly like eating Hubba Bubba! However the peanut butter wasn't as good as similar flavoured macarons I've had elsewhere.

And that was it foodwise. I ended up not eating dinner I was so full. Plus my stomach was pretty grumbly from the dairy/grains. Definitely had an off road hangover the next day. But I think for events like this, where your sharing experiences with friends, and its not an every week thing it's worth it. For me paleo is a long term lifestyle choice, which means it has to accommodate me enjoying life, not just being a paleo perfectionist. 

We also checked out the urban art exhibition and went on the paddle boats (first time since I've ever done it, plus I got to burn off a few calories at the same time). Overall had a fantastic day, Fork on the Road is a great concept, and I hope can keep happening with Adelaide's support!