Vaalia Yoghurt

Taste

It's been awhile since I've had Vaalia, as my last experience wasn't that good, and of course it took me a long while to come back, but on this try, I was pleasantly surprised. The passionfruit and mango - was a bit light on the fruit, with it all tasting a bit artificial. I was impressed with the great consistency of the smooth and creamy yoghurt. The vanilla blueberry was better, the blueberry being less sweet (although not that juicy) and allowing the natural vanilla taste to shine though.

They are low GI and contain live cultures.

Rating - 6

Look

In the distinct green and cream packaging, they can't be mistaken for any other yoghurt on the shelf. The twin-share packs are quite handy for traveling or to consume in one sitting.

Rating - 2

C-factor

4 * 150g packs for $4.19

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 9

Ingredients

vanilla blueberry

skim milk, milk, milk solids, sugar, water, blueberry (3%), insulin, maize thickener, gelatin, flavours, food acids, live yoghurt cultures

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Jarrah Chocolatte

Taste

I thought this might be another one of those watery chocolate mixed drink. Well, yes and no. Yes - the texture was thin, not like the thick creamy velvety feel of real hot chocolate. No - there was a rich chocolate taste, with little chunks of chocolates. I was surprised that this only contained cocoa powder.

Rating - 6.5

Look

Great. Lovely package, easy to use. Rip and mix, no mess and no fuss. The end result was creamy and

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

1 serve of 11.5g

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 9

Ingredients

milk solids (49%), glucose solids, cocoa (17%), vegetable oil, mineral salts, salt, vegetable gum, sweetener, flavour, antioxidant

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Fresh cuts Baby Mesclun Blend

Taste

We got on a "seasonal" mix, some baby spinach and various lettuce. Not that much variety, but at least it was fresh. Taste itself, both of these leaves are more of the tasteless variety. They hold dressing quite well, and it was all bite sized.

Rating - 5

Look

All cleaned and sealed in a plastic bag, just cut open, pour, add dressing, toss, and serve. It looked fresh in the pouch.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

120g for $5.99. You pay for the convenience I suppose, but I don't think my time is worth that much, considering you can pick up salad mix for $16/kg at Harris Farm.

Rating - 0

Swiss Points - 7.5

Ingredients

selection of seasonal salad vegetables

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Centre Bakery

Taste

Our first 2 choices weren't available, and everything else didn't sound very appealing, but because we'd already started to order and I was extremely hungry, I had to get the vegetable pastie ($2.90). The pastry was soggy and the filling was extremely dry and tasteless, I had to force it down with some artificial tasting tomato sauce. The mexican pie ($3.20) was at least a bit wetter, with some sort of beans and cheese filling, but it suffered from having the same dull pastry.

The only good thing about this place was the iced coffee ($3.90) because they put in a scoop of real ice-cream and it wasn't sweetened.

Rating - 3 (only 'cos of the coffee, otherwise it would be a 1)

Look

The bakery is situated in the old Methodist Sunday School and the outside looked really nice. Inside it's a traditional bakery selling your sliced bread and cakes.

Our pie and pastie looked like the machine made variety, everything was very uniform.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

It's kinda expensive for that quality but on par with the local bakeries I suppose.

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - 5

Available At

103 Cunninghame St
Sale
VIC 2131
Phone (03) 5144 1202

Port Albert Seafoods

Taste

This place sell fresh seafood caught from the boat. Their fish & chips menu is limited compared to your normal fish and chips, as in they don't have your fisherman's basket and combos. I think that is better, as you can pick and choose what you want. We went for the basic flathead ($5.50) and added chips ($2). The flatheads were extremely fresh, and the batter was not too thick and had a nice texture. The chips were creamy on the inside and crunchy on the outside. The wait was certainly worth it.

Rating - 7.5

Look

Right by the wharf, on the tip of the island, with 270 degree water view. You can pick up your food and eat by the water on one of the many tables around. It certainly has that holiday charm.

The packaging is white cardboard boxes and with brown paper bags over it. It was too hard to see what the food looked like.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

For this quality, the value was excellent. We got 2 pieces of small fish and enough chips for 2, or 1 Slokky.

Rating - 1.5

Swiss Points - 11.5

Available At

The Wharf
Port Albert
VIC 2131
Phone (03) 5183 2432

John West Tuna Tempters

Taste

Ahhh, tuna, a travel stable. These days, they have so many different varieties available, you won't get bored. I have already tried a couple of flavours of the tempters from John West. The

• light chilli - actually had real bite. I was surprised to see real chilli, including one whole one. There was a strong chilli heat without the oiliness. It's quite good if you can take hot, except it masks the taste of tuna a bit.
• sweet seeded mustard - was wonderful, a bit sweet, with the wonderful texture of little mustard seeds. This complements the natural tuna taste very well.
• oven dried capsicum and Chilli - was very good. Sweet capsicum with a little bit of spice.
• light springwater with lemon - quite mushy and just sour, disappointing
• light lemon and cracked pepper - yummy. Funny that with added pepper, the taste of the tuna really sung out.
• light onion & tomato - yummy. This was beautiful. The tomato was sweet and the onion added aroma, tasted just like the "full fat" version.

Rating - 7.5

Look

In handy ring pull cans, although I always find them a bit hard to open all the way, and once you do, a bit hard to get all the stuff out of them...

Rating - 2

C-factor

100g for $1.70. These are really cheap.

Rating - 1.5

Swiss Points - 11

Ingredients

light chilli

Flaked tuna (53%), springwater, sugar, chilli (3%), salt, spices.

sweet seeded mustard

Flaked tuna (49%), Springwater, Canola oil, Seeded mustard (10%) [Water, Mustard seeds, Salt, Sugar, Food Acid (acetic), Herbs, Spices], Vinegar, Natural flavours, Lemon juice, Sugar, Spices (contains wheat), Mustard powder

oven dried capsicum and Chilli

Flaked tuna (61%), Springwater, Canola oil, Oven-dried capsicum (2%), Chilli (2%), Spring onions, Garlic, Salt, Spices

light in springwater with lemon

Flaked tuna (70%), springwater, lemon juice (2%), salt

light lemon & cracked pepper

Flaked tuna (53%), springwater, lemon juice concentrate (1%), salt, sugar, spices, cracked pepper, food acid, natural lemon flavour.

light onion & tomato

Flaked tuna (45%), onion (24%), springwater, vinegar, tomato paste (3%), sugar, spices, salt, garlic powder

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Darrell Lea Milk Chocolate Soft Nougat Egg

Taste

I'd never been a fan of Darrell Lea, but lots of people are, I always found their products a bit sweet. This egg, I have to report, was exactly that. The chocolate was the milk variety, a bit sweet but not of bad quality. The nougat actually would be great if there was less of it, but because it had to fill the inside of half an egg, there was too much nougat compared to the amount of egg available.

Rating - 4.5

Look

Mine was a pink foiled wrap 1/2 egg in a pink cardboard container, with a little yellow chicken attached to the box? The inside of the egg is filled with a white and yellow nougat filling, like an egg right? A bit different I suppose

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

150g

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 8

Ingredients

cane sugar, milk chocolate (24%)[cane sugar, milk solids, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, emulsifiers, flavours], wheat glucose syrup, desiccated coconut, water, egg albumen, honey, flavour, salt colours, food acid ,mineral salt

Available At

Darrell Lea
Website

Arnotts Dark Chocolate Wheaten

Taste

I'm not a big fan of digestive/wheat biscuits, but I found these quite pleasant, probably because of the dark chocolate coating. They only used a thin layer, a perfect amount.

Rating - 6

Look

4 rows of biscuits are separated in a plastic tray. The biscuits don't look very attractive at all, and neither is the packaging, but it's the taste that counts right?

Rating - 1

C-factor

R.R.P is $2.79 for 200g.

Rating - 8

Swiss Points - 8

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Arnotts Quattro

Taste

• hazelnut delight - a very pleasant hazelnut taste, with fresh roasted nuts, and a good ratio of chocolate too. It's a little too sweet but it's because of the quality of the chocolate.
• fruit & nuts - tastes just like the chocolate bar except with a bit of crunch coming from the biscuits. I think it's an improvement on the chocolate bar. The fruits (only raisins as far as I can tell, why do they call it "fruit & nuts" and not "raisin & nuts"?) were plump and juicy

Rating - 7.5

Look

It looks rough rather than polished. Again, the biscuits are divided into compartments so they travel well.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

You don't get that much in a pack, about 8 biscuits in all, but I guess the biscuits are big as they weight 200g, which is the same as a pack of Tim Tams

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 10

Ingredients

hazelnut delight

sugar, wheat flour, vegetable oil, milk solids, hazelnuts (8.5%), cocoa butter, rolled oats, cocoa mass, vegetable oil, golden syrup, cooca, raising agent, emulsifiers, salt, flavouring

fruit & nuts

sugar, wheat flour, vegetable oil, fruit (sultanas (5%), currents (5%)), peanuts (4%), milk solids, cocoa butter, rolled oats, cocoa mass, golden syrup, cocoa, raising agent, emulsifiers, salt, flavouring

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Oak Iced Coffee

Taste

Considering Oak and Moove are both produced by Dairy Farmers, I expected this to be very sweet like the Moove, but I think Oak is aimed at the "grown-up" market, so the sugar is much more restrained, and the coffee flavour more intense. I found this quite pleasant, but doesn't really replace an iced coffee.

Rating - 5.5

Look

Retro packaging, a smooth light brown colour.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

370 ml

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 8

Ingredients

milk, sugar, coffee extract (5%), flavours, colour, vegetable gum

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Australian Fresh Apple & Passionfruit Juice

Taste

This beauty from Australian Fresh is more apple juice than anything else. However, if you add more passionfruit it would be too overpowering. The apple is of the cloudy variety, although I would like to know what the other 0.1% is made up of?

Rating - 6.5

Look

I really like their packaging, it's bright and happy. The screw-top lid ensures that this is easily kept in the fridge.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

1L for $3.59. Great for fresh juice.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 9

Ingredients

apple juice (95.4%), passionfruit juice (4.5%)

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Arnott's Coconut Slice

Taste

I am definitely a fan. I've been a fan of the Mint Slice and the Mandarin Slice for ages. I was a bit comprehensive about this, as most things that contain coconut are usually overly sweet and wreck the taste of coconut - case in point, Bounty. I am glad I gave this a go though, as this was absolutely luscious. The coconut lend a fragrance to the chocolate instead of overpowering it.

Rating - 7.5

Look

Lovely and delicious. It's packed in individual portions.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

200g for $2.79. At least they don't try to rip you off like the Tim Tams

Rating - 1.5

Swiss Points - 10.5

Ingredients

sugar, wheat flour, vegetable oil, cocoa mass, milk solids, coca butter, cocoa powder, coconut (1.5%), emulsifiers, raising agent, salt, colour, flavouring

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Aji Ichiban Dried Mango

Taste

Aji Ichiban is very popular in Asia, with several stores selling dried goods and lollies. One of my favourites is definitely the mango. They are juicy, chewy but not hard, although they are artificially sweetened.

Rating - 7.5

Look

I love Asian packaging, this comes in a resealable bag. The mangos are projected by a plastic tray. The mangos are very orange compared to the ones here, and I don't think they are artificially sweetened...

Rating - 2

C-factor

500g packs are quite expensive. Luckily I usually get them as presents!

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 10.5

Ingredients

mango, sugar, preservative

Available At

Asian countries

Koala Brand Original Macadamia Butter Shortbread

Taste

Koala Brand is basically what greets visitors in Australia. It's not too bad for a shortbread, it doesn't offend anyone. Moi on the other hand, likes something with a bit more butter and a bit more macadamia, bring the fat on, I say.

Rating - 6

Look

More Australian than most in its packaging I suppose, it doesn't say very good things for Australian designs though. The biscuits themselves? Pale cream and uniform, that's about it.

Rating - 1

C-factor

20g packs a handy as a snack.

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - 7.5

Ingredients

flour, butter 28%, sugar, macadamia nuts

Available At

Hotels, airlines and other tourist places

Briciola

We wanted to go to Zenja again for brunch, but the place was so packed that we didn't get any service for 10 minutes, so we decided to head to the Cafe Strip at Concord again.

Food

This offered the usual cafe fares. I decided to test them out so got the Eggs benedict - poached eggs on toast with tomato and spinach ($11.90). This looked like an almost exact replica of yesterday's eggs.... Taste wise, the eggs are cooked through rather than just set, but the muffin was better. The hollandaise was pretty good but just below MBC. But.. I got spinach and tomatoes as well to liven it up a bit!

We shared a plate of banana bread with butter and honey ($4.90). This was just how banana bread should be, sweet, warm and toasted, dusted with icing sugar, with butter and honey on the side. The three of us couldn't finish the 2 generous slices.

When my cappuccino ($3.50) finally arrived, it was beautiful, passing that all important test of not being bitter! The beans are from Danesi caffe.

Rating - 6.5

Atmosphere

The place was a bit less busy than Majors Bay Cafe (MBC), with more than half the tables filled. The weather wasn't too good but they had put up some clear plastic to shield against the wind in the al-fresco seatings. The inside area looked warm and inviting too.

Rating - 2

Service

The service was SLOW. Our drinks order took so long to arrive, and they didn't all arrive at once either! We had to remind them again to bring us water. It took at least 20 minutes before our bill arrived. It was lucky that we were there for a leisurely brunch so we didn't mind waiting, still, it's unacceptable, especially considering the place wasn't that full. They should really take a leaf from MBC, maybe that's why they charge more there?

Totally unrelated to the service but I thought I would mention, one of their guy waiters was wearing very heavy eye makeup. I guess it shouldn't be that unusual nowadays...

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

It worked out to $17 p.p. It's cheaper than MBC but the food is comparable, the only thing worst was the service.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 11

Info

82 Majors Bay Rd
Concord
NSW 2137
Phone (02) 8765 1414

Majors Bay Cafe

We decided to venture to the Mediterranean side of our backyard for a leisurely Saturday lunch. Our venture led us to cafe hardland, Majors Bay Road Concord, but it seems that half of Concord also had the same idea. Never fear, there are enough cafes here to cater for all.

Food

Well, you'll be spoilt for choice here, as well as the standard lunch and all-day breakfast menu, there are also specials on the board. You can have a pasta or salad and a glass of wine for $15 at lunch.

We decided though, to try out their breakfast menu, it was one of those Saturdays. Slokky ordered the Egg Royale - poached eggs with smoked salmon and MBC's own chef hollandaise sauce on toasted English muffins ($15.50). We expected more wow factor than what arrived on the plate, exactly as the menu described, English muffins topped with eggs and salmon, with yellow hollandaise sauce... and nothing else! Granted, it was very well executed, the muffins toasted, the eggs cooked until nearly set, and a divine sauce.

I ordered the Savory Pancake - sandwich stack, baby spinach, onion, smoked salmon and cheese with hollaindaise sauce ($15.50) which was a bit more unusual than the standard offering. Again, the plate was not adorned, the food was plonked down, but this tastes divine too! The cheese binded all the other ingredients together, and the pancakes were light and not too fluffy.

This was all washed down with a super fresh banana smoothie ($6), with real banana taste, even though it was ultra expensive.

The food was executed well, but it was more boring than I imagined. Looking at some of the other patrons' orders though, I think lunch would be the go next time around.

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

The usual people were out for breakfast, lots of family groups and friends catching up. The feel is very buzzy and friendly. There are plenty of newspapers and mags on offer. My only gripe though, the flies that swamp around the al fresco area. Maybe I should have sat inside afterall.

Rating - 1.5

Service

It did take us awhile to get served at the beginning. We weren't really shown a table, but we nabbed one of the outside ones ourselves. The waiter came quickly to apologise and cleared the table for us. We were handed menus, delivered water, and they gave us good time to consider our orders. We had a hard time choosing though so they had to come back again.

It's a casual kinda place so the service wasn't that professional, but our waiters were very friendly and smiled a lot, making us very welcomed. The bill was settled very efficiently too.

Rating - 3.5

C-factor

It's definitely on the upper side of cafe fare, but the food is good and so is the service, so it's reasonable.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 13.5

Info

80 Majors Bay Rd
Concord
NSW 2137
Phone (02) 9743 1060

Barambah Organics Fresh Milk

Taste

Well, it wasn't as good as that milk I had in Tassie, years ago, but it's the second best milk I've tasted in my life. It doesn't taste like water, actually has some sort of crema, and that milk taste.

Barambah Organics won the Silver Award from the 2005 Dairy Association.

Rating - 8.5

Look

Like ordinary milk, except this has a cream top. It is also unhomogenised, so you have to shake it before use.

Rating - 2

C-factor

This is exy, at $ for 2 Litre. I don't know if I can justify paying double the amount for an everyday item, maybe I will splash out occasionally...

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - 11

Ingredients

pasteurised full cream milk

Available At

Organic grocers

Tasmanian Gourmet Sauce Company Olive and Capers Pasta Sauce

Taste

This is a very divine pasta sauce. The tomatoes are top quality, tasting sweet and juicy. I really love the olives and capers in this, adding a saltiness that is quite complex. It's not too thick and is smoother than those chunky sauce you usually get.

Rating - 8

Look

It's a beautiful vibrant colour, in a pretty jar.

Rating - 2

C-factor

550g for $12.50 is quite pricey, but it's top quality stuff.

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - 10.5

Ingredients

tomato, onion, olive oil, olives (5%), celery, carrot, capers, garlic, tomato paste, spice

Available At

174 Leighlands Road
Evandale
TAS 7212
Phone (03) 6391 8437
Website

etc Bakery Cafe

Taste

When you're in Tasmania, you have to have scallop pie, so we tried out the curry scallop pie ($6). It was not as good as Jackman and McRoss but it's a close second. The pastry was glorious, thick and buttery, I only wish it was a bit more flakey. The pastry encased some juicy scallops in a slightly sweet curry sauce. They were pretty generous with their scallops.

We washed this down with a cappaccino ($3.50) and a mocha ($3.50). There wasn't that much difference between the two coffees, but they were well made, not too hot or too bitter, with the added touch of a jaffa! They use Grinders beans.

Rating - 7.5

Look

It's a huge space and a welcome relieve on the highway. There's a huge deck area you can look out to the surrounding forests, all the food is displayed under glass counter, and you can spend a few hours reading the paper.

The food were all presented with care. The service is casual, you pay at the counter, get a buzzer, and collect the food when it rumbles!

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

Excellent service and Sydney prices, I think they're ok.

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - 9.5

Available At

5783 Bass Hwy
Elizabeth Town
TAS 2131
Phone (03) 6368 1350
Website

Wagamama TGV 2

Yes, Wagamama is not my favourite restaurant, but when you are in a big group and want somewhere quiet to eat without the crowd, this is the place to go.

Food

I tried very hard to order something I haven't tried on the menu that I haven't written off for tasteing terrible, but I couldn't, so in the end, I got a mix of dishes I tried before I had the blog and can't remember what it tastes like, and dishes I haven't tried.

The teriyaki steak soba - teppan-fried soba noodles with bok choi, red onion, snow peas, beansprouts and chilli. Garnished with
grilled sirloin steak marinated in teriyaki sauce ($17.50) was pleasant enough. A big plate of so-so soba noodle was delivered, in a sweet sauce. I didn't taste any hint of chilli though. When they said "garnished", they really mean it, only 4 thin strips of steak rest on top of the noodles, so the dish is almost vegetarian. The best thing about the dish is the super crunchy vegetables.

Slokky went back to the chicken katsu curry - chicken fillet fried in crispy breadcrumbs, served with a light curry sauce and japanese-style rice. Garnished with mixed leaves and red pickles ($15.50) as his first choice was not available. It wasn't the best katsu curry. The sauce was sweet and simple, there was nothing else in the sauce. The chicken strips were a bit dry and tasteless so you really have to drown it in sauce. The bowl of rice was really big though.

We also shared a atsui chicken salad - salad of mixed leaves and cherry tomatoes with marinated lemon pepper and wasabi chicken ($15.50). The salad is not that spectacular, but it did provide a lot of greens to accompany the light on vegetables dishes.

Rating - 5

Atmosphere

All wagamamas are the same, and I've described this before. I would like to say that I rang to make a booking for 8 but they were quite rude to me on the phone, saying that they don't usually take bookings for less than 10 people after 12:30pm, so when we walked into a half-empty restaurant, I was not pleased. They also sat us right next to a couple, even though there were empty tables, so I would hear their conversation very clearly. Luckily they were almost finished with their meal and left.

Rating - 1

Service

I'll give our server, an English girl obviously on a working holiday, points for trying. She was quite frustered when we ordered, as a couple of us wanted the kare lomen - a spicy soup made from lemongrass, coconut milk, shrimp paste, chillies, fresh ginger and galangal, served with ramen noodles., but it had run out. She wanted to give us more time to think about our order so she would take our drinks order first, but we had already all decided on our second choice, and she got confused about that.

One of our parties wanted a prawn dish since the kare lomen prawn wasn't available, and she actually recommended the yaki soba, with not a hint of prawn, and told him that it had lots of prawns. She also didn't mention the ginger in the dish...

Service was pretty slow today, there was a 10 minute gap at least between some of the mains. The bill also took forever, and she couldn't figure out our 2 for 1 vouchers...for a restaurant that was only half full, not good enough.

Rating - 2

C-factor

Yada yada yada, I would only consider coming here if I had a voucher.

Rating - 0

Brownie Points - 8

Info

level 1,
TGV
500 George St
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9264 9155
Website