My previous post mentioned the delicious banana split enjoyed by my dining companions at Coast Restaurant in Hervey Bay.
In this video, Pastry Chef Krista Graham shares the secrets of Coast’s banana split!
Category: Eating & Dining
Cafes, restaurants, eateries, eating in, dining out.
Dinner to die for
The first thing I thought when I saw the bar / restaurant Coast was that it brings a bit of big city chic to the Fraser Coast. Its environs and atmosphere most-certainly rival that of the trendiest cafes in Melbourne, Sydney or Noosa.
I’ve been there a few times for drinks and the service is always stellar.
And as for the Sunday afternoon sessions: listening to some fabulous acoustic music on a warm summer’s day with champagne in hand… well, it doesn’t get much better.
Everyone – locals and visitors alike – RAVE about the menu and food, something I hadn’t experienced until recently.
Last Friday I found myself there enjoying a pleasant glass of champagne or three when my fellow drinkers decided they’d love to stay on and dine.
It was my first evening there and I was pleasantly surprised that the place was just pumpin’ (in a good way). Lots of nicely dressed diners were arriving and I realised it is most certainly one of THE places (if not THE place) to go in Hervey Bay.
As a coeliac I often struggle to find suitable options. The team at Coast however advised they could adapt recipes to suit my needs as required.
Which meant that my main dilemma when it came to the food at Coast (and many other restaurants) is that… I don’t eat shellfish. In fact I have a bizarre aversion to any food which looks like it did when alive. Even eating meat off a bone is problematic if you’re slightly screwy in the head – which it seems I am.
Given my fussiness and gluten-consumption issues, we decided on one of Coast’s famous shared plates; going for the slow-roasted shoulder of lamb with sides of crushed chat potatoes and a kale, corn, spring onion and chilli mayonnaise dish.
And… Oh. My. God. I forgave the lamb its bone. The more culinary-gifted of my friends went to carve the meat and it just fell off the bone.
It was melt-in-your-mouth delicious. The potatoes were great, I’m not sold on kale, even though it was part of a very tasty combination of flavours, but I did try some (there’s a first time for everything!).
We stuffed ourselves beyond full, though after a short respite my friends decided to share a dessert.
I was horrified when they went for the ‘banana split’ imagining some American diner version of the popular dish. No sirree… this banana split was infused with all sorts of stuff and well, was apparently just amazing. I was offered a taste but turned it down, thinking of my waistline. Well, that and the fact that I don’t actually eat fruit. (Yes, yes… I know…)
People rave about Coast’s Sunday afternoon $10 buckets of prawns ; or the Friday Happy Hour $3 pork buns; but I am well and truly a convert to the shared meat dishes and will certainly be going back for more! In fact, I should probably peruse the menu now to decide what I’ll have next time…
Sem gas
(First published in Debbish.com on 31 January 2013)
I’ve been struggling with cravings since last week. Hot and sweaty and enroute home from a Zumba class in my new hometown I decided I was too lazy to cook and stopped at the first ‘Asian’ takeaway I came to. Thai and Chinese are my favourites and the place I found chose was Thai. After a few false starts I discovered which dishes could be made gluten-free (for I am coeliac) and left 25+minutes later (having been told 10mins) with two dishes and rice in hand.
I scoffed most of the meal that night and had the rest for breakfast the following morning. The garlic and pepper chicken was TO DIE FOR!
It kills me that I cannot cook Thai / Chinese food that tastes as good as the stuff I buy.
As so often is the case, it gave me a taste for something delicious and spicy and I’ve pondered the idea of takeaway almost every day since.
However, earlier this week I convinced myself I would be satisfied with a more logistically-simple option, available at a cafe just a few hundred metres from my apartment.
When I first arrived here I indulged in Salt Cafe‘s steak sandwich on gluten-free bread and served with chips a number of times. In fact, the friendly waitress who served me the day I hung out waiting to get into my apartment (while I waited for settlement and the removalist) remembered me each time I went back.
And before I knew it I was imagining myself biting into the sandwich, onion relish dripping down my chin.
For various reasons I didn’t get there yesterday so while phaffing about this morning I texted my aunt and uncle who live nearby, asking if they were keen to meet for lunch. Fortuitously we agreed on Salt and I sauntered down in the oppressive heat eager for my steak sandwich.
Once settled however, I was greeted by a waitress I didn’t know and handed a dodgy one page menu aptly named “Emergency Menu – available all day” and listing cereals, bread rolls, a couple of salads and chicken or ham toasted sandwiches. What. The. Fuck?!
“The gas is out,” the waitress explained.
Not convinced she wasn’t conspiring against me to avoid offering me the fulfillment I needed (ie. steak sandwich and chips) I turned to Twitter and Facebook to have this confirmed. And sure enough… my Facebook feed was full of local cafes and restaurants either announcing their reduced menus or sprouting that they use electricity and were offering their full array of food.
Apparently a gas pipeline was damaged a bit further north during our recent storms and until flood waters have receded it can’t be fixed… and there’s no gas. (I have to confess I’ve never really thought about where the gas comes from or how it gets here!)
I’m not a gas-y girl you see. I’d love a BBQ but only gas makes sense and the notion of a gas bottle freaks me out. I’ve always bought places which have electric ovens and stovetops rather than gas cos of the whole ‘freaking me out’ thing. And… I always thought I would be the one to suffer – during an electricity outage; that I’d be regretting my no-gas decision.
And yet… here I am, still with electricity with which to cook, while the cafes and restaurants of Hervey Bay serve cereal.
Are you a gas or electricity person? Or perhaps both?
* Sem gas = without bubbles (in Portuguese and possibly similar in Spanish and Italian!)
Fraser Coasting 