True Blue Australian Dinner....

My mom came to visit in March 2009, and my cousin Shaun said no visitors should leave Australia without having a true blue Australian dinner.

Hence, after spending a day at my Aunt's place on 13 March 2009, we set off for Tukka Restaurant at West End.

What's so special about a true blue Australian dinner you ask? Isn't it the same as any other western food?

Well, how the food was cooked and presented is no different to other western food. However, it's the ingredients that matter...

What special ingredients made it so special? So special that the two animals appearing on the Australian coat of arms ended up on our dinner plate.


Yup... the kangaroo and the emu and some of their friends as well...

Before everything began, we were each given complimentary appetizers...



First up, entrees - the Native Platter...



It is one of Tukka Restaurant's signature dish and the platter contains a selection of game meats, native berries, nuts, fruits and spices, home-made damper and native dips. The smoked game meats (emu & kangaroo) taste a little like bacon only less salty and more gamey... the berries were another matter... they were nothing like the usual ones that we taste... some of them actually tastes like spices!!!

We also had another entree (forgot the name) but it was made out of crab meat, prawn into a mousse / patte like texture....



Then came our mains....


Skippy the roo....


Skippy's friend - the emu....



The malicious looking 'buaya' / crocodile....

And their more normal friends....


Chicken little the chook....


The barramundi....



Last but not least, Porky the pig....

Much to Esmond's disappointment, the Possum was off the hook that night...

I must say it is quite an experience and not many people can lay claim that they've gobbled down the country's animals in one sitting... The roo and the emu are like red meat, like beef... The croc taste a lot like chicken, kinda perplexing to see that the emu's meat is actually red and the croc is white meat!

Though the portions weren't the size of usual Western dishes, they were sufficient to put us off dessert....


Thanks Shaun, for the wonderful gastronomical experience......

Surprise surprise boys...

Esmond turned 31 on 20th Feb, while Haw turned 32 three days later...

So I took the opportunity to organise a little suprise get together dinner at The Tibetan Kitchen at West End...

There were emails flying everywhere, organising the details, even down to who goes where and when...

The plan was to let Esmond believe that we were only going to celebrate his birthday with Kin Onn and Gladys. Everything went well until he asked if we need to make reservations. He got suspicious when I said I had already made the booking.

But the cat got given away when we were looking for a parking space near the restaurant. He saw Oi Hung coming out of their car, then Rey's car, then Danny's car....

The one thing that he didn't expect was the number of people that turned up.

There were Peter, Oi Hung, Rey, Jennifer, Kin Onn, Gladys, Haw, Yan, Danny, Sheau Lei, David, Michael Chan, Sabrina and Megan.



We had the buffet...

And when we've had our fill, it was time for the cake.

Haw was led to believe that this was only for Esmond. There were 2 cakes. So when they were brought out, one was put in front of Esmond and the other for Haw....

Haw was also presently surprised, but he smelled a rat when on his way to the restaurant, he asked Yan why she had bought a cake... Apparently she couldn't manage to keep a straight face so he smelled a rat....



Thanks for coming to Esmond's and Haw's surprise birthday dinner guys and girls (and on short notice too!)....

Hope you had enjoyed yourselves birthday boys...