The Bended Elbow

Today we bid farewell to the artist formerly known as Boo Radley, who is moving to Melbourne for a new job and to be with his gal. Lunch was held at The Bended Elbow bistro pub in Albury downtown. This place is a pub with an amazing beer garden on the top floor. I was in love!! This is what I dream for my backyard to be. There were plants everywhere. 

As with any pub lunches, we ordered and paid at the counter and the wait staff brings out our food to the table when it's ready. The menu was varied, catering to appetites big or small. You can have a steak if you are famished or some appetisers like sliders which will tie you over till dinner time, if you are not hungry.

I had the Cajun Chicken Salad, it was a very simple and basic salad with the smallest amout of mango that I almost cried! It took me all week to decide what to have and I chose that because I wanted some mango salad with my chicken. You can't really call that a salad! It's more like a garnish!

Am I right?

My friends had the pork belly, chicken parmagiana, steaks , the usual standard of pub meals. Golly gosh, a lot of my meal choices lately had been a hit and miss. This upcoming Xmas luncheon had better be good. I am so sick of mediocre! (Our last outing at The Beer Deluxe was the same, dissapointing.) This place was definitely a step up from there. At least, The Bended Elbow had a gorgeous beer garden and the wait service was good. No meals were late or missed. 

I wonder if there are ninety nine beer bottles up there???

The Vic Hotel, Wagga

This is not a paid advertorial, the blogger dined at The Victoria Hotel at her bosses's expense...hehehe;)

So this week, we finally had our Xmas party lunch. It kinda became our "Xmas/Easter" breakup lunch get together. Our Xmas party got "postponed" because of work commitments and deadline last year.

For this function, the Bandi guys travelled up to Wagga and we chose The Victoria Hotel because it is affordable, value for money, has the room for us and is pretty consistent with its menu and service. We've been there before several times and loved it. You can't fault the steak here.

I didn't feel like a big lunch this time as I am still on my so called diet which is going pretty well, except for days when I craved carbs and then I hate myself when I feel bloated! Hahahaha. I need to lose some inches before Bangkok so that I don't get squashed in the cattle class on my flight. Argh!! Hate economy.. when am I going to ever travel J class???

So I ordered the Thai Beef Salad, it was a good portion, well balanced, lots of different types of greens in the salad. It does have an interesting dressing though! I do not believed that, this is Thai Salad as the dressing was all wrong, it was too sweet, someone had gone berko with the "kicap manis" ( dark sweet soy sauce) and there was no spice at all. It was not tangy nor spicy. A total let down. I think that if one wants to do an Asian dish, you should at least do it right. Don't bastardised a dish and called it what it is. The presentation was good, plate was neat and tidy. Being from a hospitality background, I look at the plating for marks and thumbprints, smears or drip of sauces. Nothing I hate more, than a dirty plate.

Here are what my workmates ordered. As you can see, beautiful plating, right? No one was allowed to start eating till I had taken a snapshot. You can't take me anywhere. As you can see, nothing wrong with the typical western pub meals. You can't do wrong in this category. The service was excellent, we didn't have to wait long for our meal. The plates were also cleared as soon as lunch was finished, the friendly waitress cleared as many glasses and plates as fast as she could.

Salt and Pepper Calamari

Chicken Parmagiana

Chicken Schnitzel

Steak Sandwich

Rump Steak with mushroom sauce

Beer Battered Chips

Lemon Tart

I was too full to have desserts. I took a photo of the Lemon tart because I thought that it look lovely. The chocolate cake that my other colleague had looked dry. I commented to my friend that it should be rich and moist, not dry and hard... served with lots of cream and icecream. The sticky date pudding looked so good. I really wished that I was not on a diet! Sigh! Must be strong and think of Thailand holidays!

And that concludes my "Chreaster" lunch and this old gal had to have a lie down in the arvo after two ciders.

__________________________________________________


Victoria Hotel
55 Baylis St Wagga Wagga
Telephone (02) 6921 5233
http://www.vichotelwagga.com.au/



__________________________________________________

Crust Pizza

Hey all, I just had to brag about the best lunch ever today, we had gourmet pizzas downtown after a work assignment and I must say, it was most delicious. Thanks to the boss lady Nicole for a lovely lunch and it was a very good surprise ;)

It was gourmet style and pricey but oh sooooo good! Nic has always been harping about these pizzas since like forever and I would always say to her, "No way... $20 bucks? You're mad"

Today, I found out why she is so mad about these pizzas. They were bloody freaking awesome!!! Best pizzas, I have ever tasted! Generous toppings, flavoursome and lovingly made!

This was my lunch today...it was so yummy... at the time of writing, six hours later, I am still full ;) I love the Peri Peri chicken and Mexican. We also ordered Sausage Duo and Garlic Prawns in halves as we wanted to try out the menu. Nic is a fan but Brenton and I have never had Crust pizzas before.

Doesn't it look fantastic? Taste real good too. It was not busy, we were happy to sit down to eat our lunch there. There's tables and chairs in there and not a bad spot to have lunch and people watch the main street.

The End

Crust Pizza Wagga Wagga is located at

Address: 59 Baylis Street, Wagga Wagga NSW 2650

Phone: (02)6931 9911

The Swissotel Sydney

My trip to Sydney was planned, it was decided ahead of time because I had wanted to attend the Night Noodle Market as I had never been to one of those event. Every now and then, you gotta treat yourself, this was why I booked myself into this luxury hotel. "Damned the cost, I said !!!" Hahhaha ;) Might start saving now for Sheraton on The Park for next year ....lol

So it was only natural that I would choose and book into a hotel closest to Hyde Park, which was within walking distance to the event. It was also right next door to Westfield Shopping Centre and across from Topshop which had the longest line. It would seemed that everyone in Sydney was queuing to get into the clothing store on the first day of opening.

The shuttle bus from the airport dropped me right outside the hotel. The entrance was via the concierge, to get to the lobby, one has to get into the elevator and take lift to the 8th level.

OMG!!! I just remembered whilst writing this posts that I did not checked for Fire exits out of building as one cannot use the lifts during a fire. It had just occurred to me right now, that I should have checked. Oh, how silly of me! You should ALWAYS checked your FIRE exits when you checked into a hotel. {Smacked} I think I left my brain behind as I even forgot to go to the newly opened Laduree in Sydney. I only remembered Laduree when I got home to Wagga. Sigh!

I was early getting into Sydney, so my room was not ready when I arrived. Check-in time is 2 o'clock. The nice receptionist checked me in and said she will call me on my mobile when the room was ready. It was noon so I decided to go for a drink and a wander next door, Westfield Sydney. I had lunch at the food court and had Thai food for lunch, it was yummy. And would you believe it? I forgot to go to Laduree!!! Argh!!!!

When I came back, I found that I had been upgraded to the Premier Room and my suitcase had been delivered upstairs. I booked a Classic room but I had joined the Swiss Circle members club when I did my booking. I was told that as a new member, I was given a free upgrade. I think this was only a one time thing like a Welcome gift. It was a nice room with balcony and I had the city skyline view. My room was at the corner of the hotel, so I had view of both directions.

It took me ages trying to work the Nespresso out because I am an idiot. The room does have a a kettle for tea facilities. When I did worked out how to use this thing, the coffee was so good! I am going to miss the Nepresso machine.

This was in my closet, there was two of them. I love hotel robes, so warm and fluffy and great to wear when going to the pool. There was also a couple of pool towels in the closet, should you feel inclined to go to the pool.

My room was actually a Premier room at the corner of the hotel so I had the city view of both directions. I forgot to take an evening photo of my room but feel free to check out their website for a gallery of images. Not quite sure why I took a pic of my messed up bed the next morning..... which I am not going to share here, LOL

I went to the pool in the afternoon. The Amrita Spa is just next door to the swimming pool on Level 10. There was also a gym on that level but there was no way I would go into there ;) This was my foodie weekend trip!

My favourite part of staying at most hotels are the pool, then the toiletries set in the bathroom, then the lobby bar. All in that order. Yes, I judge you in that order too ;) These are pretty amazing. I love the scent. The pool was a little small, but then that is normal for its location. I was not expecting beach resort style free form pool. This was inner city in a shopping complex.

See, they even give you a toothbrush/paste set just in case you forget to bring that along ;)

My gorgeous bathroom and shower. It was a pity that the shower head was not a rain water shower head but it was powerful and it didn't run out of hot water. I thought that the power point to the hairdryer was at a ridiculous spot. It is not suitable for the oldies ( like me...heheh ) to get down on our knees to plug it on.

I especially love the turn down service and it was accompanied with a chocolate on your bed and it was nice that housekeeping had adjusted the air-conditioning and turned on the soft music with the service. The room was nice and cool and look so romantic in the evening and I am still kicking myself for not taking a pic of my entire room.

Would I stay in this hotel again or recommend it to friends? Yes, I would. Totally. Your best assets are your crew. They are not intrusive, everything was done and thought of. Really appreciate your hospitality and many thanks to the concierge, reception and housekeeping and bar staff.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The writer stayed at Swissotel Sydney at her own expense and this is not a paid advertorial.

Swissotel Sydney is located at
68 Market Street ▪ Sydney 2000 NSW ▪ Australia

Tel: +61 (2) 9238 8888 ▪ Fax: +61 (2) 9238 8899 ▪ sydney@swissotel.com

Qantas, Wag to Syd

To be honest, I have never liked Alan Joyce since he gave himself a pay rise amidst all that Qantas troubles, and so I was surprised that I booked myself on a Qantaslink flight to Sydney. I had sworn that I would never EVER fly them after my very bad experience flying with them in the 90s.



I was not expecting much from this flight. An hour, each way, what can go wrong? I said to myself, "OK, no eye contact and no interaction, just get on the plane and get off." I think I was a little surprise when the cabin crew greeted and smiled genuinely at me when I was boarding the aircraft. It wasn't one of those, yup smile, next, smile, next, smile... kind of smile. Her eyes actually sparkled!



I went to my seat, thinking " Meh, that can't be right.. they are usually grumpy, maybe this girl is from the country, not an uppity city girl at all and she is genuinely warm". Still unconvinced, I told myself, in any case they are QantasLink, so it doesn't count, they are not really the other QF crew.





I was so wrong. On my return trip, I had gone to the wrong terminal. I spoke the "other Qantas" person and she was really friendly, polite and nice. She gave me directions to get to T2. So, a lesson learned here, I had one bad flight in the 90s, I still wouldn't spit on that stupid steward if he was on fire but I am thinking, I am going to give Qantas a chance to win me back. After all, everyone deserves a second chance, right?

Bad, so bad of me for painting them all with the same tar.



Overall, the service was okay. I did enjoy the banana cake and cute little water bottle given.





The flight was smooth, the sky was blue and Sydney was waiting for me. It was a great flight. Although, coming back from Sydney was another story, I had this big-assed lady that practically squashed me to the window screen, she hogged the armrest and coughed all the way without covering her mouth. I had to force myself to go to sleep just to shut her out from my world. True story!!!



The landing was so smooth. I was impressed! Hardly felt a bump. Landed in Sydney on time, yay!

Wagga's Farmer Home Hotel Bistro

A very sad on Friday....it was an emotional day, not just about the five Aussie diggers that died in Afghanistan but I am also losing my work buddy who is leaving us to go to Western Australia.

Aargh! How will I cope? Oh well, wishing him the best in his future endeavors and will keep in touch on Facebook.

So, we went to Farmer's Hotel for his farewell. A big juicy steak will make everything better. The bossman came down from Bandiana and he shouted us lunch. What a good man! Told him I could have kissed him but that would be in appropriate ;) hahhahaah!

We've been to the Farmer's bistro plenty of times, closest to work actually and they do good meals there. So I thought I might blogged about it this time. Was feeling melancholy. For the five brave soldiers and all those that have died, we salute you and condolences to the families. I can't talk about this business of wars, but it upsets me and saddens me. I am not trivalising their deaths with a blog post. Not at all.



This is a scotch fillet steak with peppercorn sauce, served with salad and chips. It was delicious. The rainy and dark day matches my mood. As you can see, even the sky was crying.







Alright, enough said. Let's get back to more photos of steaks.



This is scotch fillet steak with Diane sauce. I was told Diane is a redhead, hence why the sauce was reddish ;) Just joking!



Nicole had the scotch with peppercorn too and Ben had the scotch with mushroom sauce.





Cheers and good luck Woody in WA, hehehe, will miss you heaps. For crying out loud, get on Facebook already, will ya?



This is our favourite regular diner, good place for steaks and all Aussie fare. Photos are taken with my new Samsung NX1000. All Rights Reserved.