Friday Food Frenzy - Osteria del Toro

The new Monday Meal Madness!

This trip was out to Osteria del Toro, as part of the first Wellington on a Plate event that has run for the last two weeks - $25 for a set lunch of entree, main and glass of wine.

You walk in, and the interior is amazing! Loads of space, high ceilings with black patterned wallpaper and gold curtains - it looks a lot bigger than you would think from looking at it outside. Very classy :)

The food was brilliant. The entree choices were either hummus with pita bread or Bruschetta; we had one of each. We both opted for the Sicillian meatballs for the main, and there was enough there to be full (too full for dessert!) but not stuffed. The wine was nice too.

The full menu looks interesting with lots of different choices. Will definately be going back again!

Monday Meal Madness - Ghengis Khan

MMM-GK, originally uploaded by Ballatrina2008.

Monday Meal Madness continues! This time we went to Ghengis Khan - a Mongolian BBQ restaurant - with a friend visiting from down south.

I love restaurants where there's a process for getting your meal, rather than just ordering off a menu. At this place, you grab a bowl, make your way along a bar of noodles, veges and meats - gathering whatever you want - then you add sauces and spices, and they throw it on a flat top BBQ and cook it in front of you! Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of this process, but it was really good :)

The desserts were amazing too - Matt had a 'smoking chocolate sundae', much to the amazement of the others in the restaurant. It was dry ice in a glass set off with the appropriate liquid, then another glass set on top with the icecream, so the 'smoke' from the dry ice came out between the glasses. Very impressive!

Monday Meal Madness, and new books!

The end of an era - we had our last Monday Meal Madness this week. Bec is off on her big trip in a couple of weeks, and Shorty is off to Oz before that. We decided to try a cheap new Thai place for our last time out - A-Roy Thai Restaurant in Cuba Mall - and it was great! I'd been there a few days before and had my standard chicken satay skewers (and they were fab, definately makes my top 10 for Wellington satay! Shorty had them this time) so I tried something different this time around, chicken and mushroom with rice. Bec had the chicken cashew which was tasty too.

Overall highly recommended if you want something quick and tasty with great prices! I believe they do takeaway too, must try that one night. (And for dessert, of course, we ended up back at BK again for their chocolate pie. A good end to a good night.)

I promised I would do another book reivew soon, and I have good news! While we were still in town and waiting for a ride home we popped into Arty Bees Books for a look around (by far the greatest second-hand book store in Wellington!) and I picked up some new books to read:

A real mix - Pride & Prejudice, 7th Heaven, Les Miserables, and Violets are Blue. I've started reading P&P in my spare time, and so far i'm finding Mr Bennet has a most agreeable sense of humor! I can see why people enjoy Jane Austen :) So look forward to my review on that one in a few weeks. Not sure what to read next though, perhaps Violets are Blue? The size of Les Miserables is putting me off a little, although I was inspired to buy after watching my old high school perform it as their latest production - its been years since I first saw it, but they did a brilliant job!

Up next: some more FO pictures!

~Happy knitting!~

Monday Meal Madness - Oaks Satay Noodle House

The new tradition continues - last night we went to Oaks Satay Noodle House on Cuba St last night for dinner.

The aim was to find somewhere quick and cheap to eat, and it certainly was! Our meals were delivered within 10 minutes of us sitting down, and mains were around $10 each. My chicken satay kebabs were certainly tasty, although the rice wasn't that hot, and the chicken was a bit stringy - you get what you pay for, so I can't really complain, but it has been nicer in the past. Here's hoping it was just an off day for the cooks...

Because we had sweet tooths (and Oaks don't have desserts) we popped across the road to Burger King for some chocolate pie :) A nice way to end the night!

Monday Meal Madness: Flying Burrito Brothers

Its turned into a little tradition now with my sister and another friend, to try different restaurants in Wellington for dinner on a Monday night. So far we've tried Hede (Japanese), and Harem (Turkish), and last night it was time for Mexican at the Flying Burrito Brothers.

(Click to check it out in detail!)

The food was AMAZING and the decor was perfect. Margaritas are a must - the pear and guava one that B had was quite tasty. We were seated right away, and they took our order promptly, but then it took ages for the meal and drinks to arrive, and we had to wait a while for them to clear our plates and order dessert, which also took some time coming (although I recommend the tequilla and lime pie!).

After much discussion in the car on the way home we gave it an 8.5 out of 10 (B's comment: it would have been an 8, but because of the cute waiter, it's 8.5!)

Stay tuned for our next dining adventure!