Tag Archives: #southaustralia

Milano Cuccina, Adelaide – A taste of Italy

January 15, 2017 OurWorldinReview 2 Comments

Another early morning saw us driving into the city, where we had to make a drop off to the central bus station. Since we left before breakfast, we made our way to the eastern side of the Adelaide city centre to have a hearty meal. With many fabulous choices available we opted for the family owned and run café restaurant called Milano Cuccina.

Milano Cuccina is located on the corner of Hutt Street and Wakefield Street on the bottom floor of the channel 10 building. The cafe restaurant offers diners a traditional casual breakfast or an Italian influenced lunch and dinner service.

Upon entry into the establishment we were warmly greeted by one of the staff and offered multiple tables to sit at. We decided to sit at a comfortable looking booth and started by ordering some smooth creamy and delicious coffees.

Lattes at Milano Cuccina — Two Lattes and a Cappuccino

The waitresses were friendly and efficient and have some of the nicest Italian accents around. Not what you expect in little old Adelaide. Personally I liked their accents, because I could imagine myself sitting in a cafe in northern Italy ordering a meal from a local. The breakfast menu is fairly traditional with most of the dishes commonly found in most cafés around the city. I didn’t mind this because it was quite easy to come to a decision when choosing what to have.

We ordered the Milano Big Breakfast; the Eggs Benedict without ham for our vegetarian and some plain toast with that all important Vegemite.

My Milano Big Breakfast consisted of two poached eggs on a couple of pieces of toast, bacon rashers, a pork sausage, fried tomato, a field mushroom and wilted spinach, served with a hash brown. The serving was quite large and filling, with the majority of the dish nicely cooked. My only concern was that the pork sausage was a little dry, a tad bit overcooked and I was unable to finish it.

Milano Cuccina Eggs Benedict — Eggs Benedict without ham, served with two hash browns

The Eggs Benedict arrived at the table and looked rather plain on the plate. Our resident vegetarian was still happy with the dish, but couldn’t complete the whole dish (she’s quite little, and not a big eater). As for the toast, it is what you should expect. Simple, warm and easy to spread.

The interior of Milano Cuccina is quite comfortable. They have a couple of booths, a main seating area and al fresco dining for those perfect Adelaide days. The interior is colour coordinated and decorated nicely with photos and sport memorabilia hanging from the walls. They also show their support of upcoming Adelaide events with promotional material available near the front door.

Overall Milano Cuccina is a friendly everyday cafe restaurant. Their breakfast is quite common but good. The servicing staff is pleasant and the strong Italian accents are nice to listen too. They are also available in the Entertainment book for a dining discount. For the full Italian dining experience I recommend trying their Italian influenced menu for lunch and dinner. So when you’re in Adelaide pop into Milano Cuccina and tell them Simon from Ourworldinreview sent you!

Additional Information

80 Hutt Street, Adelaide SA 5000
Ph: (08) 8227 0961
Website: www.milanocuccina.com

Main Meal Price Range AUD$18.00 – $30.00

Trading Hours

Weekdays: 7am – 10pm
Weekends: 8am – 10pm

Milano Cuccina rating: 1-10 (1=very poor, 10 = excellent)

Decor =7
Atmosphere =7
Service =8
Price =8
Food =7

Overall = 7.5

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Australia, Hotels and Accommodation

Heading out for a night at the Hilton Adelaide Hotel

January 2, 2017 OurWorldinReview 2 Comments

I know I might be biased but the city of Adelaide and the surrounding wine areas are a fantastic place to visit and live. This has been endorsed by travel reporting mega giants the Lonely Planet with Adelaide and South Australia being ranked number 5 in the best regions to visit in the world (woo hoo, home town pride). This fabulous endorsement means additional visitors to Adelaide and with many good hotels in Adelaide, where should you stay? Our team headed into town to see what the Hilton Adelaide Hotel has to offer.

When you know where you’re going and are considering booking a hotel, what are the things you look for? Do the hotels need to offer other facilities like, gyms, swimming pools, restaurants, health spas, business centres or bars? Or are you just looking for a clean room to sleep in free of those pesky bed bugs? Are you a hotel shopper, looking for the best price, or are you loyal to a particular hotel brand?

Hotel loyalty may be new to many of you, but like airlines, hotels offer their customers the option of joining their loyalty programs. If you tend to spend a lot of time in hotels, then remaining loyal and amassing your stays or nights within a certain hotel chain is the way to go. The Hilton Adelaide Hotel is such a hotel that offers its customers earned benefits when staying at any Hilton branded hotel. Their Hilton Honors program allows qualified customers chances for room upgrades, complimentary breakfasts, and access to their executive lounges to name a few.

Hilton Hotel Adelaide — Victoria Square Water Fountain

As recent Hilton Honors Gold members, we thought we’d experience the benefits for ourselves. We decided to book a King Hilton Guest Room and made our way into the city. The Hilton Adelaide Hotel overlooks Victoria Square in the heart of the city.

Adelaide Hilton Hotel — Reception Desk – Welcome to the Hilton Hotel Adelaide

Upon entry into the hotel the reception desk is located to the left and the Collins Bars is down a short corridor on the right. On check in the hotel staff were very friendly and we were immediately upgraded to a King Hilton Executive room.

King Executive Room at the Hilton Hotel Adelaide — King Executive Room

We were soon in the elevator and making our way up to our room. The King Hilton Executive Room are quite spacious with plenty of room to swing a cat (no animals were harmed during the review of this hotel). There are complimentary magazines and water available in the room and the Wi-Fi is easy to access and free. The King sized bed is very comfortable with your choice of pillows, based on your preferences.

Rooms offer the usual features like a television with local and paid channels. There is also a selection of in-house movies available. Coffee and tea is also provided and the extremely old bar fridge is fully stocked. The room also has a safe for the security conscious, an iron and ironing board, and a hair-dryer for the large bathroom.

The bathroom is large and contains a bath tub and a separate shower cubicle. Bathroom amenities and towels are refreshed with the room serviced daily.

By booking the King Hilton Executive room or having enough hotel status provides access to the executive lounge on the sixteenth floor. The comfortable lounge is a good place to relax, catch up on some reviews on your laptop or at the desktop computers provided. You can help yourself to the complimentary drinks or snacks like these beautiful macaroons.

The Hilton Adelaide Hotel offers many other facilities for their customers. Their small Swimming Pool is located on the first floor balcony. Amazingly, this balcony area is a little stark, one end of the balcony has the pool and the other half is just a large empty space. This large area could be utilised a lot better to give the hotel added value, something like a balcony bar or outdoor dining area.

The Gym is also located on the first floor which looks out across the pool. This fully equipped gym with an attached spa and sauna area is immaculate, well presented and everything you want from a gym.

If you don’t want a full gym workout then the hotel also has a tennis court and small running track.

If you are getting hungry or thirsty then head to the ground floor and get comfortable in the popular Collins Bar, or feast at Coal Cellar + Grill the Hilton’s on site restaurant. Breakfast, lunch and dinner is served at Coal daily. We decided for breakfast at Coal and with an enormous selection of food options, you will not go hungry eating here.

Overall the Hilton Adelaide Hotel provides good service to its customers, with comfortable well maintained rooms. Some of the furnishings and facilities like the tennis court and pool area are out-dated but the hotel is working to rectify this. The hotel has an excellent restaurant in Coal Cellar + Grill and the popular Collins Bar is always good for a relaxing nightcap.

The Hilton Adelaide Hilton experience was definitely worth it, and they have rooms available from the standard guest room to executive room and suites. So book a stay today and tell them Simon from Ourworldinreview sent you!

Additional information

233 Victoria Square, Adelaide SA 5000
Ph: +61-8-8217-2000
Website: www.3.hilton.com

Rooms available from approximately AUD$150 – AUD$400 per night

Restaurant bookings and menu for Coal Cellar + Grill

Book your stay today at the Hilton Adelaide Hotel

Join Hilton Honors Loyalty Program

Hilton Adelaide Hotel Rating: 1-10 (1=very poor, 10 = excellent)

Service = 9
Comfort=9
Cleanliness = 9
Price = 8
Facilities =8

Overall = 8.5

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Australia, Restaurants

Silk & Spice, Adelaide – Don’t judge a book by its cover!

December 17, 2016 OurWorldinReview Leave a comment

Since childhood you would have heard the phase “Don’t judge a book by its cover” and nothing can be truer when describing The Silk & Spice Thai restaurant at Torrensville.

We recently attended this restaurant and I must admit from the outset I was a little wary about what we were getting ourselves into. The first impressions of the restaurant from the outside weren’t good. In fact we nearly missed it while driving past due to the exterior being quite dull. Silk & Spice is located in a re-purposed family home with two signs indicating it as a restaurant. Silk & Spice has approximately 16 off street car parks around the back of the restaurant; otherwise you may need to try finding a park on busy Henley Beach Road.

Once inside the restaurant you can’t help but be a little surprised at how nice the interior is. The owners have segregated the main rooms into small intimate dining areas, so noise from other guests is kept to a minimum.

Entry interior of Silk & Spice Thai Restaurant

The rooms are nicely furnished and have plenty of space to move around without having to bump into other restaurant guests.

Silk & Spice restaurant interior — Look at the space between these tables. No bumping into other customers here.

Upon entry we were immediately greeted by their friendly staff who quickly guided us to a corner table. The menu presented was quite large with all the usual Thai cuisine dishes available. Likewise the wine list was also well stocked with popular favourites, so finding that accompanying drink won’t be any trouble.

Dining areas at Silk & Spice — The rooms have been converted into small dining areas

We decided on our food selection and once the waitress arrived we ordered an entrée serve of Chicken Satay. For our main courses we ordered their chef suggested Lemon-grass Lamb and a Thai Crispy Chicken. We accompanied this with a serve of steamed rice to soak up those fragrant spicy flavours. Then for dessert we decided to try their Thai Sticky Rice with Banana and a Coconut Panna Cotta with mixed berries.

After some light conversation and photo taking our food arrived pretty quickly. The chicken satay was the first dish presented and was covered in a thick layer of tasty peanut sauce. The chicken was nicely cooked providing a good appetiser.

Chicken Satay at the Silk & Spice — Look at all that peanut sauce covering that chicken satay

Our main dishes arrived soon after and the Thai Crispy Chicken was coated with a tangy and spicy sauce that was delicious and gave the dish a little chilli kick. The meal came with a refreshing papaya salad which assisted in quenching the palate.

The chef recommended Lemongrass lamb once again was nicely presented with well trimmed lamb slices. The meat was cooked nicely and covered in a spicy curry sauce with quite a lot of bite to it. As a suggestion, try ordering the medium heat dish if mouth burning spice is not your thing.

Once the mains were polished off we waited for our highly anticipated desserts. My Thai Sticky Rice with Banana came with a side serve of coconut ice cream. The texture and consistency of the rice was smooth, with a mixture of crushed banana. Their coconut ice cream was fantastic, a beautifully presented and delicious dessert.

Sticky rice with banana and Coconut ice cream

Our Coconut Panna Cotta was served in a cocktail glass and topped with fresh berries. The sweet creaminess of the Panna Cotta was sensational and once finished, we definitely thought about ordering another.

Overall the Silk & Spice is an excellent place to eat, their location, outside exterior and advertising exposure needs a lot of work. As a customer, you could easily drive by this restaurant without knowing. Our recommendation is to stop and enjoy their good quality food. The serving staff is excellent, extremely friendly, and happy to have a quick chat with you. So give them a try and tell them Simon from Ourworldinreview sent you.

Additional information

211 Henley Beach Road, Torrensville SA 5031
Ph: (08) 8352 8888
Website: www.silkandspice.com.au

Main Meal Price Range AUD$12.90 – $27.90

Trading Hours

Lunch: Wednesday – Friday 11:30am to 2:30pm Dinner: Sunday, Tuesday – Thursday 5:30pm to 8:30pm (kitchen hrs) Friday – Saturday 5:30pm to 9:30pm (kitchen hrs)

Silk & Spice rating: 1-10 (1=very poor, 10 = excellent)

Decor =9
Atmosphere = 9
Service =9
Price = 9
Food =9

Overall = 9

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Australia, Restaurants

Cafe Bavaria – Last Morning in Victor Harbor, South Australia

November 17, 2016 OurWorldinReview Leave a comment

It’s our last morning in Victor Harbor, the birds are making their morning calls, and there’s a slight chill in the air. Encounter Bay is calm, and George the friendly Pelican is sitting on his rock. He’s patiently waiting for a local fisherman to come along and give him some breakfast. Unfortunately there’s no fisherman today and like us George has to hunt down his own breakfast. He heads off to fish and we make our way to Café Bavaria.

Located in the heart of Victor Harbor, Café Bavaria offers their customers indoor or al fresco dining and from the number of people situated at the tables you can tell it is quite popular. There are some workers in uniforms having breakfast together and some tourists like us looking for a good nourishing start to the day.

As it is still a little cold, and I’m a little precious, I convince Josie to sit inside at one of the small tables. As the name of the café suggests Café Bavaria is German influenced and the menu reflects the same, with some German dishes. The interior of the cafe isn’t fancy; there are a few scattered tables, a service counter and a full cake display.

Café Bavaria cake display — Look at all those fresh cakes! I wonder if I’ll be able to fit a slice in?

As I’m feeling a little hungry we select their “Full Monty” breakfast option, a serve of pancakes and two café lattes for that coffee fix.

Café Bavaria cafe lattes — The morning coffee fix

The pancakes were served with cream, maple syrup and blueberry compote. The three perfectly round pancakes were light and fluffy and the cream, maple syrup and blueberry compote gave them a sweet delicious finish.

Sweet pancakes with cream, maple syrup and blueberry compote

The aptly named dish the Full Monty comes with eggs of your choice. In this case poached, bacon, knackwurst sausage, grilled tomato, mushrooms, a hash brown and continental toast. The food was good and piled up of each other and we were unable to finish the entire meal. This would definitely be my go to meal if I was suffering from a hangover and in need of a large breakfast.

Café Bavaria Full Monty — Now this is the Full Monty

Verdict

Café Bavaria is a good place to have breakfast. The meals are quite large so make sure you bring your appetite. Service is quick and efficient and the coffees are small but very good. In regards to price, the meals do give you value for money. The shop may become busy quickly, so make sure you time your visit carefully. You may have to do some sightseeing around the foreshore before a table becomes free. So if you are looking for a good hearty breakfast in Victor Harbor try Café Bavaria. Enjoy the large meals and remember to tell them Simon from Ourworldinreview sent you!

Additional information

Café Bavaria 11 Albert Place, Victor Harbor
Ph: (08) 8552 7505
Website: www.cafebavaria.com.au

Business Hours: Daily 08:30am -03:30pm

Price Range: AUD$4.20 – $21.90

Café Bavaria rating: 1-10 (1=very poor, 10 = excellent)

Decor =6
Atmosphere = 7
Service =8
Price = 9
Food =8

Overall = 7.5

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Australia, Restaurants

Exploring Baudins Restaurant at McCracken, South Australia

November 15, 2016 OurWorldinReview Leave a comment

After a busy day of having fun in Victor Harbor, you just want to have a nice relaxing meal. Maybe you’ve been exploring the local sights and enjoying that Fleurieu Peninsula hospitality. Hopefully you’ve jumped on the Cockle train to Goolwa or visited the educational South Australian Whale Centre. Now, you just want to rest have a good meal, a glass of wine and recap the days events. Well my advice is to make a night of it at Baudins Restaurant at the McCracken Country Club.

The Cockle Train from Victor Harbor to Goolwa

Baudins Restaurant is a part of the McCracken Country Club. The country club offers accommodation, an 18 hole golf course, bistro and Baudins Restaurant for a fine dining experience. To the left of the main entrance McCracken Country Clubs patrons enter a bar area which leads towards Baudins Restaurant. You are greeted at the main restaurant door by a waitress, and if your table is not ready you can make your way back to the bar for some pre dinner drinks.

Entry into the Baudin Restaurant — Entry into the Baudins Restaurant

The restaurant is in a large function room overlooking the picturesque golf course fairways. The tables are nicely spread out and consist of a mixture of booth tables and standard settings. Once our table was ready our waitress showed us to our booth table and we quickly settled in.

Baudin Restaurant dining area — Baudins Restaurant dining area

By comparison to other restaurants, the table was pretty bare. We didn’t have any place-settings, no cutlery, no side plates, just a stark table. It took about ten minutes before we were handed menus, which was not a good start. I could tell they were quite busy and with only two waitresses serving the room, you could see they were doing their best. It took about twenty minutes before we were served again to order food and some drinks and another 10 before the drinks arrived. Luckily the waitresses were friendly and we weren’t in any rush to leave.

The restaurants menu offers a good selection of meals created with locally sourced produce. We opted for the Chicken and Asparagus filled Filo pastry on a Napolitano base and the Twice cooked Pork Knuckle for our mains. For an entrée we chose a half a dozen Kilpatrick Oysters and for dessert we couldn’t resist trying the Eton Mess. Baudins restaurant also offers an excellent range of local wines to accompany your meal.

Some of the best Kilpatrick Oysters I’ve had in a long time

The meal started to arrive about twenty minutes after we ordered, which was a huge improvement from the initial service received. After eating the Kilpatrick Oysters all I can say is wow! The oysters were cooked to perfection and the balance of flavours was sensational. I must say these oysters were some of the best I’ve had. And do you know what, the food only got better from there.

Our mains arrived shortly after that and the chicken and asparagus filo was crispy, providing that crunch with every bite. The chicken and asparagus filling was not dry or over cooked. The filo encapsulating the moisture of the filling without it seeping through. Additionally ,that Napolitano puree added an extra smooth texture which enhanced a good meal.

What can I say about the twice cooked pork knuckle except it was a good size and the crackling was…. Awesome! It was served with creamy mashed potato, some braised cabbage and a spicy plum and ginger sauce. Full of flavour but a little hard to cut, more because I just didn’t know where to start. Do you go, crackling, meat, crackling, meat or do you have the vegetables first. Once I’d made my choice it was delicious and extremely filling. The plum and ginger sauce combined with the pork was always going to be an absolute winner.

With the main courses out of the way we patiently waited for our Eton Mess. Again we weren’t disappointed with the product placed in front of us. Unfortunately with no spoons available we had to wait while the staff searched for suitable spoons. It was a case of, do I need a spoon to eat this? I’m sure the other patrons would understand! It is Eton Mess! Although they returned with two different spoons it didn’t matter, as the Eton Mess was fantastic. The folding of meringue with the smooth cream and raspberry coulis was tantalising on the palate. Baudins’ Eton Mess was a perfect way to finish off a quality meal.

The Verdict

In my honest opinion Baudins Restaurant has a lot of potential to be an elite restaurant. I’d say the kitchen cohesion and food preparation must be excellent, because it reflects on the food that they produce and present to their customers. I cannot fault the food, the flavour, the menu options, they were all excellent. My main concern is the main room floor management needs a little improvement. The staff is friendly and helpful but the lack of room control, makes them look a little overwhelmed. A little thing like showing your customers to their tables with menus in hand gives the service some efficiency. Pre-setting tables so your customers aren’t waiting for cutlery, all reflect a well thought out service. With quality food on offer these minor front of house issues should be easily rectified.

When you are in Victor Harbor, I recommend making your way to Baudins Restaurant, their food is excellent and you must try their Eton Mess, over and over again. Have a great evening, drink some good local wines and tell them, Simon from Ourworldinreview sent you!

McCracken Country Club’s Baudins Restaurant additional information.

For Bookings, Baudins Restaurant is located at the McCracken Country Club, McCraken Drive, Victor Harbor. Phone: 08 8551 0200

Book your McCraken Country Club Accomodation here

Baudins Restaurant is open for dinner service Tuesday – Saturday nights

Entrée Prices range from AUD$6.00 – $16.00 Main meals AUD$18.00 – $44.00 Dessert prices AUD$9.90 – $16.90

Baudins Restaurant rating: 1-10 (1=very poor, 10 = excellent)

Decor =8
Atmosphere = 8
Service =6
Price = 8
Food =10

Overall = 8

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Australia, Hotels and Accommodation

The Bluff Resort Apartments

November 9, 2016 OurWorldinReview 1 Comment

One of the hardest choices when travelling is finding the right place to stay in. With so many hotels, resorts and Airbnb apartments to stay in it all comes down to location and cost per night. On our recent trip to Victor Harbor we planned to Quad Bike at Waitpinga Farm and spend time in the main tourist area of Victor Harbor. After some research we decided the Bluff Resort Apartments would fit the bill nicely, so I quickly organised a room.

The Bluff Resort Apartments is situated on the side of Rosetta Head. Rosetta Head overlooks the entrance to Encounter Bay and has spectacular views of the ocean. The Bluff Resort boasts a history going back to 1836, with it currently located on the old whaler’s station site. The resort contains 42 apartments on various levels. The first level has balcony views of the bay and township. Whilst the rear offset level studio apartments have limited views. Each apartment has one car park per room. Seaside apartments having access to undercover parks whilst other rooms only have open parking.

The reception is located between the two main buildings next to the resorts sparkling clear blue pool. Due to our expected late arrival we were offered an after-hours key drop service. Although not needed it was nice to know that we didn’t need to rush to ensure we could check in.

Queen bed in a offset rear room at Bluff Resort Apartment — Queen bed in a suite

After the friendly check in, we were allocated one of the rear suites. These rooms are fairly large and capable of accommodating a family of four. The suite contains a queen bed for the parents and a fold out lounge for the kids.

Bluff Resort Apartments — Fold out lounge for the kids to accommodate four people

The rooms have a self-contained shower cubicle and a separate toilet. Both rooms are tiled from floor to ceiling and would get pretty cold on a frosty morning. Luckily the room does have a working heater/air conditioner so you can set the room to your own comfort level. Other room accessories include, an iron, cups, crockery and that all important hair dryer.

Each room comes with an in-room coffee supply and a fridge containing milk. Not your measly little pod milks that you get in major hotels, but a 250ml fresh bottle. Hallelujah! The rooms also have local television with 8 other satellite channels featuring sport, films, news and children’s programs. Rooms also come with free Wi-Fi in case you need to log onto that device.

Bluff Resort Apartments Coffee and Tea Selection — Coffee and Tea Selection

Bluff Resort Apartment Features and Information

The facilities solar heated swimming pool is located out the front of the hotel overlooking the bay. Opening hours are 8am – 9pm during the summer. 8am – 8pm during spring and autumn and if you’re daring enough you can swim in the winter from 8am – 5pm.

Bluff Resort swimming pool — Crystal clear swimming pool. Still too cold to go for a swim. Maybe next time.

BBQ facilities are also located next to the swimming pool and are available during pool opening times. The only condition is that you leave the area tidy after use.

BBQ Area Bluff Resort Apartments — It’s time for a BBQ

The resort is located right next to Eat @ Whalers and although adjoining the resort it is a separate business offering breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Reception is manned daily from 8am -5pm Sunday to Thursday and 8am – 6pm Friday and Saturday. Snacks and some personal products are available to purchase if you can’t make it to a local shop. The resort also has a guest laundry located next to the pool that is open 24 hours. Laundry powder is available to purchase from the reception.

Check in: 2pm Check Out: 10am

Price Range: AUD$155 Suite – AUD$385 3 Bedroom Apartment

Verdict

The Bluff Resort Apartments are a comfortable clean resort that has a lot going for it. Currently their views of the bay are outstanding, but with a new development occurring in front of the resort views may possibly diminish. We did enjoy our stay here and was chuffed by having enough real milk in the room to both enjoy a in house coffee. You know, the little things! We would happily stay at the Bluff Resort Apartments again and believe you would too. So book a night or two and remember to tell them Simon from Ourworldinreview sent you!

Rating: 1-10 (1=very poor, 10 = excellent)

Service = 8
Comfort=8
Cleanliness = 8
Price = 8
Facilities =8

Overall = 8

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Australia, Restaurants

Whales, Penguins and the Hotel Crown at Victor Harbor, South Australia

November 6, 2016 OurWorldinReview Leave a comment

I have always liked going to Victor Harbor. The relaxed lifestyle with the possibility of seeing whales frolic and socialise or visiting Granite Island’s local penguin colony, has always held some amazement. Usually after exploring the conservation areas, we seem to always end up in one of the pubs for a drink and a quick meal. This trip we ended up at the Hotel Crown for lunch to see what they have on offer.

Warland Reserve Water Fountain — Whale Tail Fountain in Warland Reserve

The Hotel Crown overlooks Warland Reserve and the causeway that leads out to Granite Island. From the outside it is a beautiful historic two storey building. Once you enter you find yourself in a large dining area. We end up sitting next to some glass windows that lookout into a water featured pond and check out the sizeable menu.

The Hotel Crown offer an average range of pub fare. This includes salads, burgers, schnitzels, seafood and other meat dishes. Food prices range from AUD$12.90 for a plain small schnitzel or roast to the Seafood for 2 platter for AUD$49.90. They also provide a good selection of wines with a per glass cost of AUD$4.50 – AUD$10 and bottles ranging from AUD$20 – AUD$50. Each meal comes with access to the salad bar and daily soup.

Salad Bar — A well stocked salad bar, all fresh and delicious

We couldn’t resist the sensational value of the Seafood for 2 platter option. It consisted of Natural Oysters, Grilled Scallops, Baked Mussels, Crisp Fried Squid, Grilled Prawns, Crumbed Salmon, Chips, Aioli and a Bottle of Morgan’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc or Shiraz – Cabernet. Exceptional value!

We help ourselves to the salad bar and tried their chicken and sweet corn soup. The salad is fresh and the options are very good, which is a positive for any vegetarians as I could find only one vegetarian main course, their AUD$17.90 Falafel Burger. It isn’t too long before our Seafood for 2 platter is brought out and from a visual inspection it looks good.

The natural oysters are a perfect start with a squeeze of lemon juice. Next is the grilled scallops, which are covered with a crumbed baked, and immediately on taste you lose the subtle flavour of the scallops as they are simply overpowered by the seasoned crumbed bake. We follow that up with the baked mussel, which again is covered with a crumbed seasoning, but this time it works, the strong flavour of the mussels isn’t drowned out by the topping.

The grilled prawns are fantastic, they hold in the moisture and are not dried out and are excellently cooked. The crumbed salmon is fine, it’s like you get in most fish and chip shops minus the litres to oil. The chips are a good size and the tartar and aioli sauces are also okay. Unfortunately the big loser of the dish is the crisp fried squid, it had a burnt oil flavour. It was like it started out as a salt and pepper squid. It was then deep fried and overcooked leaving the taste of burnt oil and seasoning. We had to leave the squid mainly untouched. My recommendation is for the Hotel Crown to reconsider their presentation options of some the the platters elements. The Morgan’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc was young but a good quaff.

Morgan's Bay Sauvignon Blanc — Morgan’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc

The Hotel Crown is good pub, and from the amount of patrons visiting at lunchtime it is a popular one. Its location is fantastic and their dining area is large with tables dotted around the room with plenty of mobility, so wheelchair access is favourable. Like most pubs in Australia they have counter service and except most major credit cards. They are also in Adelaide’s entertainment book which offers 25% off the total bill up to AUD$35.

Overall the Hotel Crown is a friendly pub, which offers average pub fare. Honestly, we were a bit surprised by the Seafood for 2 platter, because it is exceptional value. They have plenty of things going for it, like a play room for children. Thankfully young parents can have a bit of a rest while their children entertain themselves. Another generous offer is that from Monday to Friday, children eat free for lunch and dinner. All we can say is give them a chance but don’t expect too much and if you do visit, tell them Simon for Ourworldinreview sent you!

Booking Information

The Hotel Crown is located at 2 Ocean Street, Victor Harbor.

Victor Harbor offers various affordable options for accommodation.

Hotel Crown rating: 1-10 (1=very poor, 10 = excellent)

Decor =6
Atmosphere = 6
Service =6
Price = 9
Food =6

Overall = 6.5

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Australia, Tours & Attractions

Quad Biking at Waitpinga Farm, South Australia

October 28, 2016 OurWorldinReview Leave a comment

After a long week you just want to recharge your batteries, let down your hair and have a bit of fun. With so many interesting places to go in South Australia the Ourworldinreview team packed up the car and headed for the quiet beach town of Victor Harbor. To be honest with you, I’m not really into adventure sports, but I was extremely keen to try out quad biking at Waitpinga Farm.

Victor Harbour Township — Looking back to Victor Harbor township from the foreshore

Victor Harbor is located approximately 83 kilometres south of Adelaide’s CBD. It is a pleasant drive, so I recommend hiring your vehicle here and doing the lovely scenic drive. Waitpinga Farm is about 15 kilometres from the main street of Victor Harbor and is situated at 1161 Waitpinga Road, Waitpinga, South Australia. With mobile phones having GPS, we found it easy to let Siri guide us there.

Waitpinga Farm Quad Bike Adventures caters for people from 12 years of age. To give this a go you don’t have to be an experienced bike rider. I have ridden a quad bike once before so I definitely wouldn’t call myself a quad bike expert. Waitpinga Farm offers two quad biking experiences, the Scenic Quad tour and the Adventure Quad Tour. The Scenic tour runs for an hour and takes in the surroundings of Waitpinga Farm from the Southern Ocean to popular Waitpinga Beach. This tour is available at $70AUD per person. Our team opted for the 1.5hour Adventure Tour, priced at $90AUD per person. This tour takes in all Waitpinga Farm has to offer, from grassy plains, winding sandy tracks and water crossings.

Upon arriving at the farm we popped into the office for registration, bike familiarisation, equipment fitting and the all important safety briefing. Our guide for the day was Terry and his assistance and information throughout the adventure was welcomed by all. Terry was very clear that the quad bike has become the most dangerous piece of farming equipment in use today. This is because if they are not ridden correctly they have the tendency to roll over. After going through the safety instructions participants then have the chance to ride around a practice track. Here the guides can give tips and ascertain the riders ability. If you are unsure about Quad bikes, this is the best time to ask for advice as they will make sure you are feeling comfortable before you hit the open expanse.

Once through the practice track Terry guides us through fences and gates to the main farm area. He allows us to open up the accelerator to a comfortable fast speed and guides us through creeks, winding sandy areas, inclines and descents. At certain points throughout the tour Terry would pull us over and discuss the native fauna living on the farm and speak about the history of the farmstead. This is a good time to take those breathtaking photos and learn about Waitpinga Farm.

Waitpinga tour guide — Terry showing us what native animals are on the farm.

The tour took us to all parts of the farm and was an incredibly enjoyable experience. I would not hesitate to recommend doing this quad biking tour. We unfortunately had a mechanical failure with Josie’s bike running out of petrol. Terry’s quick response to get back to the quad bike park to pick up a new one was done very efficiently and the tour was extended to accommodate this lost time. A perfect tour is good, but the true measure of a great service is the way issues are dealt with. In this case, it could not be faulted.

Overall the Waitpinga Farm Quad Bike Adventures was great fun. Make your way down to Victor Harbor and visit this beautiful part of South Australia. Stay a night in Victor Harbor, stop in at Waitpinga Farm, do a quad tour and tell them Simon from Ourworldinreview sent you!

Most importantly make sure you follow all directions from the experienced guides and ride within your capabilities. That way you should have an awesome and a safe time.

Tour Information

You can book your Waitpinga Farm Quad Bike Adventure via their website here.

Various accommodation is available at Victor Harbor or Encounter Bay. Book you stay here.

About to Quad bike — Look I’m trying to look serious on that red quad bike

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Australia, Restaurants

My Tho City Restaurant, Adelaide – Not just a drive by!

October 24, 2016 OurWorldinReview Leave a comment

I probably drive to the city once or twice a week. I head down busy Port Road which seems to always have road works happening. During these trips I pass My Tho City Restaurant and wonder how much business they get and if the food is good. The My Tho City Restaurant is a lone restaurant located on a busy section of Port Road within a business area. Every time I drive past, I’m either in bumper to bumper traffic, or accelerating to get away from the traffic lights to get ahead of the traffic flow following.

During a recently planned family get together, it was suggested by Josie’s cousin that we give My Tho City Restaurant a try and we jumped at the chance. The restaurant is a located at 199 Port Road Hindmarsh and offers its customers Vietnamese cuisine. It is situated in a renovated house between two buildings which looks a bit out of place. Once there we had no trouble parking with various choices available along Port road or if you feeling healthy you can park in the Adelaide Entertainment car park and walk the 5 minutes back to the restaurant.

The converted home has an outside undercover dining where the front verandah would normally be and the interior has been opened up to allow a large dining area. The main dining room is decorated with various traditional Vietnamese items, a large fish tank and a bar area.

Vietnamese rickshaw — Anybody up for a ride?

Bar area — Drink anyone, they have a good selection of wines to choose from.

The menu is fairly extensive with a large selection of traditional Vietnamese dishes and a good selection of local wines. If you can’t choose a wine they do allow BYO with a AUD$15 corkage fee. With so many good dishes to sample we noticed that they offer four banquet options that give you the chance to sample a variety of different dishes. We opted for the AUD$34 per head banquet called “The Gourmet”. The gourmet banquet consisted of six dishes with tea or coffee to finish. The first dish was the My Tho mixed entrée plate, which contained chicken skewers, golden spring rolls, fried wonton and crispy sesame prawn toast. We all had a decent share of the plate and each sample was a perfect starter to a long meal.

My Tho Entree Mixed Plate — This entrée mixed plate was the perfect starter to a good meal

The next dish to arrive was their beef salad sensation, a fresh cos lettuce leaf, cabbage, onion and beef, topped with a savoury dressing, coriander and broken peanuts. The salad was refreshing and the subtle flavours cleansed the palate.

Our third dish for the evening was their salt and pepper squid in light spices. They were lightly battered, salt and peppered portions which were cooked to perfection. The soft texture from the lightly oiled batter and the perfectly cooked squid lightly sprinkled with salt and pepper was delightful.

Soon the grilled chicken in herbs and spices arrived and was once again topped with a crumbled nut. The chicken was good without being exceptional. It was nicely cooked and the chicken skin was covered with various herbs and spices, but the flavour was a little too delicate to make it memorable.

A combination chicken hot pot with roasted cashew nuts and a large serving of special fried rice, were the final two dishes of the banquet. The combination hot pot, was full of chicken, prawns, bok choy, baby corn, capsicum, carrot and green beans. The hot pot had a good balance of textures and flavours. The large serving of special fried rice was not fancy. You can get the same dish from any Asian restaurant, but it was filling and rounded off the perfect meal.

Combination chicken with roasted cashew nut hot pot

After the meals are complete and the dishes are cleared, we finished it all off with a final cup of tea or coffee.

Overall the My Tho City Restaurant wasn’t what I expected. This nice comfortable restaurant isn’t in the best location on Port road, due to the volume of traffic that can bank up. But I could happily go back and do it all again. The service staff were attentive and welcoming. There also weren’t too fussed with me walking around taking photos, so that’s a bonus. The My Tho City Restaurant is well worth the stop, so don’t be like I was and drive by saying “I’ll might try that one day”. My advice is don’t just say it, do it, and when you do, tell them Simon from Ourworldinreview sent you!

My Tho City Restaurant rating: 1-10 (1=very poor, 10 = excellent)

Decor =8
Atmosphere = 7
Service = 8
Price = 9
Food =8

Overall = 8

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Australia, Restaurants

Zuma Caffe – Adelaide Central Market

October 14, 2016 OurWorldinReview Leave a comment

About a week ago we posted a popular blog report on the Adelaide Central Market. With all those scents, sounds and fresh produce stalls offering beautiful food and flavours to its customers we had to make sure we tried one of their cafés. After walking around the market we decided that Zuma Caffe was going to be our lunchtime stop.

Zuma Caffe is at 56 Gouger Street Adelaide, and the store’s rear backs into the Adelaide Central Market. The shop has seating inside the market, along Gouger street and around ten small tables inside the café. Zuma Caffe is popular with the patrons that attend the markets and it is usually difficult to get a table. Some patience may be required.

Zuma Caffe interior — Zuma’s a small shop with a few tables inside, with photos on the walls

The inside of the shop is two colours, bright yellow above and blue below which gives the small shop a feeling of a brighter larger space. There are various photo frames on the wall and a nice art piece above the service counter to give it an urban flavour. The tables are small so some repositioning of drinks and food may be required to fit everything ordered.

Wall art above the service counter — Art above the service counter

Zuma Caffe has breakfast and lunch menus available. Breakfast is served Monday – Friday from 7am to 11:30am and Saturdays from 7am to 3pm. The breakfast menu has a good selection of food ranging from AUD$4.90 for a piece of toast to AUD$17.90 for a “Full On”. Their lunch options are a little more limited. The day we were there the Braised Pork Roll and the Chicken Schnitzel were unavailable. Although the selection is limited there was still enough dishes to choose from. Lunch meals range from AUD$12.90 to AUD$19.

Today we selected the Caesar Salad with Chicken, which contained Cos lettuce, crispy bacon, gluten free croutons, parmesan, anchovies and poached egg, topped with Zuma’s house made dressing. The Caesar salad was large and filling, with nice sized chunks of chicken. The dressing had a nice flavour and the egg was poached well. I had trouble locating the anchovies and the croutons were a bit hit and miss. Some were very hard, so hard that I was worried I’d break a tooth, whilst the others were nicely crunchy. I would have no trouble ordering the dish again, but next time without the croutons.

The other selection for the day was the mushroom, spinach and roast capsicum frittata with fetta on their specials board. The frittata came out with a lovely Greek salad which was quickly consumed. The frittata itself had good flavour and although reheated and a little spongy, it was still a nicely presented vegetarian meal.

Overall Zuma Caffe is a small, thriving eatery in the Adelaide Central Market with decent food. They make do with the space they have and the service is quick and efficient. The store is clean and the staff are friendly. The café is licensed so if you would like a glass of wine or beer with your meal then that’s also fine. It is a busy café, so you may need to time your meal to avoid the lunchtime rush.

We liked Zuma Caffe and we are sure you will like them too. So have breakfast or lunch and tell them, Simon from Ourworldinreview sent you!

Zuma Caffe rating: 1-10 (1=very poor, 10 = excellent)

Decor =6
Atmosphere = 7
Service = 7
Price = 8
Food =7

Overall = 7

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Our world is an amazing place, so go out there and enjoy it!