The Crazy Canuck, Waterloo

I recently spent 2 days in Waterloo, Ontario.  Not exactly a destination for most, but I was actually en route to Buffalo, NY for a wedding, and decided to visit our Waterloo office on the way, to make a bit more of a trip of it.  Who wants to fly across the country for just one night anyway?

I was kinda excited.  Not because Waterloo is known to be an amazing destination or anything, but because ... Canada!  An exotic, far away land!  Yes, I grew up in NH, just 2 hours from the border, and I somehow never went to Canada when I lived there.  And this was before you needed a passport to pass back and forth too.  I also went to college in upstate NY, even closer.  And yet ... I never visited.

Prior to this visit to Waterloo, I had been to Canada exactly once before, on the West Coast, to Whistler for a snowboarding trip.  And all I did was fly into Vancouver and head directly to the ski area.  I can't say I experienced "Canada" in any way.

This means ... I've never had poutine.  Or BeaverTails.  Which my internet research tells me, are THE Canadian foods to try.  I asked my co-workers for recommendations on where to get these amazing "delicacies".  They didn't really have any.  "Go to a nearby Irish pub?" was about the best I got.

Thus, I began some research.  And quickly found my place: The Crazy Canuck!  It was a 15 minute drive from our office, which apparently was quite far, to the locals.  None of them had ever been there.  Nor had they even heard of it.  They didn't really seem to care.  Why? Because places where one can get poutine are numerous.  Basically any pub.  Or even at McDonald's in Canada.  Why would we go all the way to The Crazy Canuck, so, so far away?

Well, because the reviews were solid, which is more than I can say for most other places I looked up.  And, they even feature an upscale take on BeaverTails too.  Yes, both of the items I was seeking out, in one place?  My mind was made up, and it didn't take too much convincing to drag a group of 6 co-workers (plus one of their families), to the Crazy Canuck.

I stand by the decision.  I'd go back, if I wind up in Waterloo again ...

The Space

Menu Board: Part 1.

I mentioned that they make an "upscale BeaverTail", but, please don't take that to mean this was an fancy place.

You order at a register and are given a number.  Food is delivered to your table.  The menu is a chalkboard behind the counter (plus a separate one on the side entirely devoted to poutine, and another with daily specials).

The menu of course has more than just poutine and the aforementioned dessert, since not everyone goes there with the same two-track mind as me.

Assorted starters are available, such as salads (greek, caesar, house), soup, and "canuck bread".  We didn't bother with any of these.

Next up are burgers ("the best burger in town", they claim), and a bunch of other entrees, generally bbq-esq (pulled pork, ribs, chicken club).  Vegetarians also have a surprising number of options, including ratatouille, grilled portobello burgers, and even a quinoa burger that gets great reviews.  But no one in our group ordered these either.

Finally, of course, is the poutine.  I quickly found that no where sells just classic poutine.  They all have entire poutine menus, basically, whatever they want to put on top fries, they call poutine.  I even saw places with perogies ... on the poutine.  Um, what?

The Crazy Canuck doesn't quite go that far, but in addition to the classic gravy and curd version, they also offer up a baked mozza version that replaces the curds with mozzarella cheese (ok, not too crazy, just a different cheese).  Plus versions with meat sauce instead of gravy (and the mozzarella), with or without pepperoni, like pizza (still not too strange to me).  Then there is the "Greek Tzatzik" with red wine vinegar, tomato, red onion, olives, feta, and tzatziki.  And  ... "Curry Goat Cheese"?  But the most crazy sounding is the Po Boy, with corn meal fried prawns, cajun corn cream sauce, cajun slaw, and cheese.  Since this was my first time having poutine, I had to go classic, but, if I were to get a chance to return, the Po Boy has my name all over it.  I think their most photographed version is the "smoked meat poutine" with gravy and cheese curds, plus pulled pork, bbq sauce AND 2 huge bone-in ribs.  Like I said, whatever you want to throw on top of some fries counts.

We let our Canadian co-workers take the lead in ordering.  The first ordered classic poutine and stepped aside.  The second ordered classic poutine.  At this point, I interrupted, a bit confused, "uh, wait, is that your ... dinner?  I thought we'd get some poutine to share and all get our own mains?"  I clearly didn't understand how this was done.  Fries covered in gravy and cheese is ... a meal?  Hmm.  But I wanted to try some main dishes too!  (Which, don't worry, I could.  It turns out, all of the mains come with one side, normally just salad/soup/fries, but you can upgrade to poutine for $3, so I could get both, without sharing with the whole group).  These folks just wanted poutine for dinner, so, ok.  The final person in our party opted for pizza instead.

Speaking of pizza, as with the poutine, the selection was a bit crazy, like a "Taco Pizza" with salsa for sauce, ground beef, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and sour cream, among many others.

The drink selection wasn't too interesting, just canned soda, bottled water (no sparkling), and a couple beers.

Inside Seating.

The restaurant is fairly small, with just a handful of booths and tables.  On each table was salt and pepper, and packets of mustard, ketchup, relish, and vinegar.  It sorta reminded me of a pizza parlor you'd find in small town America.

Outside Seating.

But we opted to sit outside, as it was a warm summer night, a rare treat for those of us visiting from San Francisco.

Outside was a covered area with large wooden picnic tables.  We settled in and waited, eagerly.  The first of our food came out after about 10 minutes, all the orders of original poutine.  And .... that was it.  Nothing else seemed to be coming, so we urged those who ordered this "dinner" to dive in.  A bit later, the sole pizza came out.  It seemed hot and fresh.  Finally, about 5 minutes after that, my entree, with poutine on the side, finally arrived.  I assumed that since things were arriving at these intervals that they were bringing things as they were ready.  But mine, sadly, wasn't hot and fresh.  I think it was probably ready much earlier, just waiting for the server to have a chance to bring it out.  Doh.

 Savories

 (1/2 portion) Baked Hot Dog $11.75 + Side of Classic Poutine $3.

"Jumbo foot long on a soft toasted baguette, baked with cheese, bacon and tomato with jalapeño mayo on the side - choice of side."

So yes, I went for an entree, rather than getting just poutine for my meal.

I had my eyes on one entree in particular: a baked hot dog!  I'd seen photos and knew it was huge (full foot long!), as was the serving of poutine on the side, and I knew we were also getting dessert, so I got Ojan to split it with me.  The kitchen nicely split it for us, bringing out a platter for each of us, but that does mean I don't have a fun photo to show of the full foot long hot dog.

So, yes, the hot dog.  I saw so many photos of this thing, and read so many reviews.  You may laugh, but sometimes, wow, I can really like a hot dog.

And this was a good hot dog.  The bun was really soft and fluffy, although there really was a ton of bread.  Imagine this thing as a full size!

Under the dog was slices of raw tomatoes.  Now, that didn't really make sense to me.  Why?  They weren't particularly ripe either.

On top was melted cheese and crispy enough bacon.  Oh yes.  These components would have been good, except the cheese was really congealed.  It seemed like it had been sitting for quite a while.  Boo.

But the dog itself was pretty great, my photo doesn't show it, but it was slit and crispy on top, juicy on the inside, just how I like it.

I realize now that I never received the jalapeño mayo.  It normally comes on the side, and, perhaps when splitting the dish, they forgot it?  I too forgot it, as I was too busy discovering my poutine, but I love mayo and would have really appreciated it.

Overall though, I really liked the dog.  Slightly less bread, lose the tomato, and serve it hot, and it would be a contender for best hot dog ever.  It was pretty delicious even with these flaws.

And then ... the poutine.  My first poutine.

"Fresh cut fries, gravy & Quebec Cheese Curds."

I dug in cautiously.  The fries looked kinda soggy.  And were totally soaked in gravy.  This was strange.

I'm used to evaluating a fry based on its crispy nature.  I couldn't do that here.  But, the fries were good.  Not too oily, good flavor. Not that you could really tell, as they were absolutely smothered in the gravy.

The gravy was a classic brown gravy.  It was salty.  It was really quite flavorful and good, but so strange to have on my fries.  Then again, I slather mashed potatoes in gravy, so, why not slather other potato products?  It makes sense, it just isn't something I'd ever had before.  That all said, there really was too much gravy.  I wanted an occasional plain fry as some relief from the high salt content and strong flavor, and I really couldn't find any.  Others agreed that theirs had too much gravy as well, but I have no idea if that is normal for poutine?

And then ... the cheese curds, the final essential element of poutin.  This is where I just wasn't a fan.  I had quasi-warm fries, with cold lumps of cheese curd.  Why would I want cold cheese lumps?  I commented on this, and was told that normally the hot fries and hot gravy melt the cheese.  That didn't happen here.  So perhaps this was just an execution problem, not a problem with the entire concept?  I do like cheese curds after all.  Amusingly, Ojan really liked the cheese curds, and kept commenting on how he couldn't stop eating poutine, that is, until he ran out of curds.  To each his own.

So if I were to return, yes, I'd get the hot dog again, except I'd leave off the tomato, make sure I got my mayo, and hope it came out fresher.  The baked dog, with its bacon and cheese, really is a great idea.  And yes, I'd get the poutine again, although, I kinda think I'd just prefer fries with gravy on the side, so I could control how much gravy there was.  Or, maybe, just maybe, I'd try that crazy po boy version, but then, I really would consider my fries "dinner".

Classic Canuck Pizza. $12.

"Three kinds of pig! Our very own pulled pork, ham and bacon with mixed cheese."

As I mentioned, one person opted for pizza, and went for the classic.  It was clear that this is normally intended to be split.  She barely made a dent in it.

Ojan decided to try a slice, and thus, I snuck a bite.  I really didn't like it.  The cheese tasted exactly like the cheese from the pizza place in my hometown that I never like, and my family always gets pizza from.  As did the sauce.  I couldn't appreciate the toppings, nor the crust, since I was instantly transported back to that pizza I always hated.

Ojan however loved it.  Even after eating most of his entree, and knowing we had dessert on its way, he still went back for another slice (which, he did later regret).  He raved about the pizza even later and said he'd gladly return for the pizza.

The $12 price was great for a full size meat loaded pizza.

 Dessert

And then, the other reason we were there: dessert of course!  You know me, I'm a dessert girl, through and through.

Of course, I was stuffed at this point.  I was full of carbs, cheese, and pork products.  And I was really happy, and satisfied.  Yes, there were flaws with each of my dishes, but, I really found them quite delicious.

But, we had to try the dessert, right?  The dessert menu was pretty simple.  Plain ice cream or ... "The Snowshoe".  This is their version of a BeaverTail, which, as I understand it, is Canadian fried dough, topped with assorted toppings.

Um, yes?

Snowshoe #1: Caramel. $4.25.

"Warm, fluffly dough topped with homemade berry sauce, vanilla ice cream and cinnamon sugar."

We opted to order several Snowshoes for the group.  The server cleared our other plates, taking away most of the silverware.  I held on to mine.  I was the only one.

She brought out the first one when it was ready, and walked away.  She didn't bring any silverware or share plates.  I figured she'd be right back with those, and the other Snowshoes.

I waited a few minutes, politely, fork in hand, watching our hot fried dough quickly getting cold!  Sigh.  Like the savory food, the other orders were no where in sight, nor was our server.  I finally dug in, apologizing to the group.  I just couldn't take it any longer.

It was ... ok.  Yes, fried dough, with some cinnamon and sugar, but you could barely taste the cinnamon and sugar, since it was drowned out by a berry sauce, sorta like the generous amount of gravy on the poutine.  I didn't really like the berry sauce.  I can't say why exactly, it just wasn't for me.  And, like the poutine, I just couldn't escape it.  Just like I couldn't find a plain fry, I couldn't get a bite of dough without it.

The ice cream was just generic vanilla on top, two big scoops.

When we ordered, our server asked us if we'd like "chocolate, caramel, or strawberry".  We thought we were choosing the topping, but really, we were just choosing which sauce was drizzled under it, so this wasn't actually the strawberry one, it was the caramel one.   I didn't really taste much caramel, and I think it was just standard sundae sauce from a squeeze bottle, nothing house-made.

Snowshoe #2: Chocolate.

Eventually, another one came out.  This was the "chocolate" one.  Again, just generic chocolate sauce under it.  The ice cream on this was a single jagged blob, rather than two scoops like the first.  The fried dough itself was also more jagged.  I actually liked this one more, as it was more fried, more crispy.  But it still had the awful berry sauce.

Snowshoe #3: Strawberry.

And finally, the third one, "strawberry".  It had a thin red sauce under it, different from the housemade berry sauce on top.  And a totally different shaped blob of ice cream on top.  Plating consistency is not there strong point.

I tried all the versions, and had far more than my share, since no one else was able to really help out at this point.  Everyone was stuffed.  And I was too, but, well, I can't resist dessert.  I rather wish I had though, because these just weren't that great.

If I were to return, I'm pretty sure I'd, gasp, skip dessert, and just devour more poutine.  Or I'd have them leave off the berry sauce (and the ice cream too ...).  I really just wanted the fried dough with whipped cream perhaps, but that wasn't an option.

Each order is normally $4.25, but they brought these to us on the house.  Thank you Crazy Canuck!

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Dolfin Chocolate

Dolfin is a Belgian chocolate maker, producing a variety of pure and flavored bars, the later mostly  52%.  They are expensive, quality chocolate, but I haven't found myself running out to buy more, which kinda implies they haven't made that much of an impression on me. 

Noir 70%.

"70% Dark Chocolate".

Smooth, dark chocolate, but flavor not that complex.  Strange sweetness to it.  Almost chalky texture.

Noir Nougatine.

"A distinctively gourmet combination: dark chocolate, with tiny pieces of nougatine."

Again, decently smooth dark chocolate, but not particularly interesting.  I did like the little candied bits of nougatine.

I also tried the milk chocolate version, Lait Nougatine, and felt similar: smooth, creamy milk chocolate but otherwise boring, yet I liked the bits of nougatine.

Noir au Poivre Rose.

"52% Dark Chocolate Bar with Pink Peppercorns".

More smooth, dark chocolate with a decent snap.

But this one was not about the chocolate.  It was about the Poivre Rose, er, Pink Peppercorns.  Since I didn't read the translation before trying it, I just saw "rose", and expected something floral.  Instead I got punched in the face by serious peppercorn.

Once I recovered and expected the peppercorn, it was still strange.  Pepper and chocolate are not flavors I normally associate together, even though pink peppercorn is a bit sweeter than black, so it sorta works.

Very unexpected, not subtle at all, and not really sure I like it.

Noir The Earl Grey.

"52% Cocoa Dark Chocolate Bar with Earl Grey Tea".

This was a lovely bar.  The earl grey flavor was subtle, and not something I'd ever think to combine with chocolate, but I really liked the result.  Quite nice, my favorite of their bars.

Amandes Salées.

"Dark chocolate with salted almonds."

Another one I didn't really like.  70% dark chocolate, but I didn't taste or find any almonds, nor salt.

Noir 88% de Cacao.

"88% Cocoa Extra Dark Chocolate Bar".

Fairly bitter, good flavor, but strange texture.  It did get heat exposed, so we think that could be why it was gritty.

[ No Photos ]

• Noir au Gingembre Frais: "52% Cocoa Dark Chocolate Bar with Fresh Ginger". Tasting notes: Nice ginger flavor, quality chocolate.
• Noir Lavande Fine de Haute-Provence: "Refined Belgian dark chocolate infused with delicate lavender from Provence".  Tasting notes: Again, smooth dark chocolate, with subtle lavender notes.  But ... I don't like lavender.

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Palomino

Update Review, November 2015

As you may recall from my review last year, Palomino is the restaurant located, literally, in the same building I work in.  It doesn't get more convenient than this, right? Yet, as I said last time, I never go.  Why?  The food is just not good.  The cocktails are not good.  The service is not good.  There is no reason to ever go here.  Go ahead and read my previous review for full details.

Except I recently did, two nights in a row. Just like last year, my work group had a large event hosted there, so, I went, both nights.

I tried to give Palomino another, chance I really did. But all my comments from last time are still true. The cocktails were all awful. The staff acted like they'd never hosted a large event before, again, no serving utensils, nothing labelled, running out of plates and forks, etc. Such a mess.

A couple of the appetizers were passable, and I found one that I really did like, but that is not enough to draw me back in.
Drinks 

Palomino has a large speciality cocktail menu. Many options sounded great, but they were all totally unbalanced. Over the course of two nights, I tried a number of drinks, but could barely find any that I wanted to finish, let alone order another of.

The "Candied Apple Drop" was strangely bitter, not "candied" and sweet as expected. The Cranberry Mojito tasted like rubbing alcohol. The Pomegrante Margarita was mediocre, but not as offensive as some of the others. I don't remember all the drinks I tried, but I assure you, none were worth getting.

Supernova. $10.

"Grey Goose Vodka, Strawberry Puree, Prosecco Float."

This drink was very unbalanced. Crazy sweet, way too much strawberry puree. Not good at all. I couldn't finish it, even when I tried to water it down.

Blueberry Smash. $9.

"Stoli Blueberi Vodka, Blueberries, Fresh Sweet & Sour."

This actually wasn't a bad drink. Lots of muddled blueberries, cute swirl lemon peel garnish, almost balanced between sweetness, acidity, and alcohol. I wouldn't get it again, but I did at least finish it.

Appetizers

Food Spread.

On both visits this year, just like last year, Palomino acted like they had never hosted a large group before. No serving utensils provided for anything. I can somewhat understand thinking that people can just grab pizza, but bowls of cheesy cooked cauliflower without a spoon to serve it? Bowls of meatballs to just grab with our hands? Seriously? In the photo above, we stuck a couple forks in, as we had no other choice ...

Also, they didn't really have small plates or utensils with which to eat the food. They set out a handful of small plates and forks, but they ran out immediately (the forks almost all went into the serving dishes), and they never replenished anything. I don't understand, as they hold large events all the time. Aren't these basics? Also, nothing is ever labelled, so even simple things like figuring out what is vegetarian was impossible.

Anyway, our hosts pre-ordered an assortment of apps and pizzas, none particularly interesting. I skipped a few, like the hummus and flatbread, and the bruschetta. I tried everything else though. Like last year, the apps were indeed the highlight.

Caramelized Cauliflower.

"Fresh Herbs, EVOO, Herbed Mascarpone."

I actually really enjoyed this. The cauliflower was nicely cooked, roasted yet still soft. Underneath it all was a cauliflower puree, flavorful, tasty. I loved dredging it in the herbed mascarpone that melted into the cauliflower.

I went back for more and more of this, both nights. This was, hands down, the best thing I've ever had at Palomino, and the only thing I really would consider ordering myself.

Crisp Calamari.

"Hot Chiles, Smoked Pepper Aioli, Marinara, Fresh Squeezed Lemon."

On my previous visit, the calamari was the only decent dish. It was again just that: decent. Not rubbery, nicely fried, crispy, and I really liked the spicy jalapeño bits.

The marinara was incredibly lackluster, but the aioli wasn't bad.

Overall fine, but not worth going out of your way for.

Pizza

Our hosts ordered a ton of pizzas for the group. I recalled that last time I didn't like the pizza, but it looked really good, so I dug in again. Wrong move.

The pizza always looks much, much better than it is. The best was the Prosciutto Crudo, with a decently flavorful basil pesto, fresh housemade mozzarella, and a soft egg in the center. But still not good pizza, by any stretch of the imagination.

Pepperoni Pizza.

The pizza just tastes like nothing. Thin crust, boring sauce, boring cheese.

Dessert

You know me, I'm not complete with dessert, and the crazy sweet drinks didn't count.  So we got permission to order dessert, even though not normally part of the large group experience.  At the urging one of the servers, we ordered tons of the donuts for the group.

Sicilian Donuts with Mascarpone.

The donuts are normally served with 7 donuts and a small bowl of mascarpone and whipped Nutella on a plate, but they just made massive portions for us. Ours came on two platters, one with the mascarpone, one with Nutella.

The donuts were fried balls, sorta like donut holes, but crispier. Hot and fresh. They do seem to do a decent job of frying things here (donuts, calamari). Not too oily. But not particularly exciting either.

The donuts were rolled in cinnamon and sugar, and plenty of it. I liked that aspect.

I did enjoy the mascarpone, but, I love mascarpone in general (see cauliflower above).

Overall these were fine, but not really worth ordering again. I didn't even go for a second one.

Sicilian Donuts with Nutella.

Everyone else went nuts over the Nutella, but, really, it was just Nutella, no different from any other.

Original Review, July 2014

Palomino is the restaurant and bar located in the same building as my office, which just happens to be across the street from my house.  You'd think that in the years of living and/or working here, that I would have actually gone there.  There really is not a more convenient place to get food, or even a drink.  They are even open on Sundays, a rarity in this neighborhood.  And they serve brunch.  Yet .. the place has somehow never struck me as worth setting foot inside of.

Palomino is actually part of a small chain, and the restaurants are described as "Urban Italian", "famous" for their hardwood fired Mediterranean cooking.  I think that means pizza.

I still haven't been for a normal meal, but I did attend an event hosted there.  It was obviously picked for the location, since we were coming from a conference right upstairs.  We had the back area reserved to be somewhat private.  The tables were all removed, so the area was open, save a few tables that were set up for buffet style food, as the host arranged for assorted appetizers and pizzas, along with a few specific cocktails that we could choose from.

I can't comment on the regular restaurant, and I usually don't like to review a place just based on catering or special event experience, but I doubt I'll be returning.  So, take this all with the knowledge that it was large, special event, and may not be indicative of their standard offerings.

The appetizers were actually fine, but the pizzas were not very good, nor were the cocktails.  But where everything really fell apart was with the way they handled the large group catering.  They laid food out randomly, without any signs or labels of what anything was.  Some items came out as only one batch, consisting of say 10 pieces, for our group of 160+.  All the food came right as the event started, and was never replenished, even though we had the space for several hours.  Maybe this was the fault of the organizer on our end, who just made a strange order?

There were also no serving utensils provided for many of the dishes, even though it was buffet style.  And, no forks for us to eat with.  The placement of the dishes seemed totally random, with dips on one table, without anything to dip in them, and the bread that was supposed to be used with them just off on another table.

It was really just a mess.  I certainly would not recommend hosting an event there.

Drinks

Candied Apple Drop.  $5 HH.

I started with the very tasty sounding Candied Apple Drop.  Unfortunately, there wasn't anything remotely candied, nor apple, about it.  It had no distinguishable flavor and was highly unremarkable.  The only thing I liked was the cherry in the bottom.  $5 for a cocktail at Happy Hour is a fine price, but I certainly wouldn't it this again.

Whiskey Sour.  $5 HH.

I moved on to a more classic drink, a Whiskey Sour, hoping they would do it justice.  It was very unbalanced, acidic, and way too bitter.  Again, price was fine, but the drink was worse than the previous, and I didn't even bother finishing it.

Cranberry Mojito.  $5 HH.

I actually ordered a pomegranate martini, but received a cranberry mojito instead.  Turns out, I was quite happy with the error.

This was the best drink of the night, by far.  It was refreshing, yet fruity, minty, very balanced.  I really enjoyed this, and would get another.  $5 price was again great.

Appetizers

Crisp Calamari with Smoked Pepper Aioli and Marinara Sauce. $9.95 HH, $13 regular.
Tomato Basil Bruschetta. $5.95 HH, $9 regular.

The first appetizer set out was tomato basil bruschetta, with "herb oil, roma tomatoes, pesto, fresh basil".  I did not try it in the first few minutes since I wanted to see what else was coming, and when I looped back to get a slice, it was long gone.  They never brought out more of it.

Soon after the bruschetta arrived, a couple platters of calamari were set out.  There were no serving utensils provided, but we were able to find a few forks.  Most people still just grabbed them with their fingers, touching numerous other pieces, and would then dip them in the sauces, usually getting their grubby fingers in the sauce.  I was fairly grossed out by this.  But anyway.

The calamari was described as coming with "hot chiles, smoked pepper aioli, marinara, fresh squeezed lemon".  It was decent calamari, delivered fresh out of the fryer, nice and crispy.  It had just the right amount of batter, not too heavy, but enough for crunch.  The calamari were mostly rings, not chewy.  There were also some battered pepper rings, that I wouldn't have known were supposed to be "hot chiles" if I didn't read the description.  Served with two dipping sauces, neither of which were remarkable.  The marinara tasted like it was from a jar.  The aioli wasn't really creamy, and certainly didn't taste of smoked pepper.  Besides the sauces, this was better than I expected.  I would have had more, but like the bruschetta, after this initial offering, no more was ever brought out, and I'd only taken a few pieces so I could sample everything else first.

Both dishes were $3.05 cheaper at Happy Hour than on the normal menu, which doesn't really make sense to me, since one dish was $13 normally, and the other $9, so it was a totally different percentage of the original costs.  Prices were about what I'd expect.

Curried Chickpea Fritters, Onion Jam Gastrique,  $5.95 HH, $6 regular.

Next they brought out a single order of the chickpea fritters.  A party for 160 people, and only 10 fritters?  That was really strange.

Anyway, since nothing was labelled, I had no idea what these were.  I could tell they were fried balls, and they had some parmesan cheese on top, and had what looked like an onion jam beside them, so I thought they might be filled with cheese or something.  It turned out that they were "chickpea fritters", which I'm still not really sure how they are different from falafel.  They were fried balls of chickpea.  The crust was nice on them, but I don't really like chickpeas, so I didn't really enjoy them.  Cheese sprinkled on falafel is also a bit strange.  The onion jam was flavorful, but again, there were no serving utensils, and it was thick and these weren't really dipable.

Amusingly, the regular and Happy Hour prices on these were only $0.05 different.  What?

French Onion Dip.  $5.95 HH, $6.50 regular.

Next came some dips.  Again, none were labelled, so it was a bit interesting trying to guess what they all were.  At least this one came with a spoon (although, subsequent batches would not).  They also did bring several batches of this out throughout the night.

This was apparently the "French Onion Dip", although it did not resemble any onion dip I've ever had before.  Rather than sour cream, it used cream cheese for the base.  And had pancetta bits in it (sorry vegetarians, I'm guessing you thought the onion dip was safe?)  For the onion components, there were caramelized onions in the dip, and fried onion strings on top.  Served with "brick-oven flatbread crisps" on the side, which, more often then not, were set out on different tables than the dip.

I wish I had photos of the flatbreads, as they were ridiculous.  They were slathered in butter, just dripping.  Yes, the idea is to coat super buttery bread with sour cream, pancetta, and fried onion rings? Yikes.  No worry, as they didn't actually put the bread out anywhere near the dips anyway, so people ended up just dipping their pizza crusts in it, or eating it by the spoonful.  But back to the flatbreads. They were completely burnt.  At one point, someone asked me, not jokingly, where I found dessert.  I was confused, and he said, "aren't you eating a brownie?"  Yes, the flatbread was sooo charred that it looked like a brownie.  And the dip looked liked cream cheese frosting.

Speaking of the dip though, it was tasty enough.  It came out very hot, and held temperature well.  It also tasted good cold later on.  By far my favorite of the dishes, although I'm still not sure I'd actually order it myself.  It was very, very creamy, and really had way too much cream cheese and too little anything else, but ... the onion flavor was good, and I really did enjoy the crispy onion strings on top.  The little pancetta bits added additional smokiness and salt.

Again, an amusing Happy Hour vs regular price difference, this time of $0.55.  This seemed like a really good price for a dish this size.

Crab and Artichoke Dip. $9.95 HH, $15 regular.

Along with the onion dip, another hot dip was set out.  I'm glad I'm not vegetarian, as I could have easily thought this was just a cheesy artichoke dip at first glance.  But, it was crab and artichoke, which I realized the moment I took a bite.  Well, I didn't realize it was crab, but it tasted really fishy.  In a not good way.  Like, in a very bad old seafood way.  It was topped with breadcrumbs.

Like the onion dip, it came out hot, and several more were brought out throughout the night.  And like the onion dip, the flatbreads it was supposed to come with were no where to be found.  And, this was the only batch that came with a spoon.  I didn't care, as I stayed far away from it the rest of the night after that initial very bad bite.

My least favorite of all of the dishes, which is sad, since I do love crab.  And hey, look at that, Happy Hour vs regular price difference of $5.05, both of which seemed overpriced compared to everything else.  I guess you pay a lot for smelly, fishy crab ...

[ No Photo ]

Moroccan Hummus & Tzatziki with Grilled Pita $5.

The final dips were a cold duo: hummus and tzatziki.  We were given a single order of this.  No spoons.  And the pita?  On a different table.  Seriously, what did they expect people to do with it?

The pita was much better than the flatbread that came with the hot dips.  It was nicely grilled, not burnt.  It wasn't drenched in butter.  But neither dip had any real flavor to it.  I wonder if they would have been good with the falafel, er, chickpea fritters.

Pizzas

And finally, pizza.  Palomino has a large pizza menu, and I think is their biggest seller.  Described as "featuring our hand-pulled fresh mozzarella and the freshest ingredients on a crisp brick-oven charred crust".

We received tons of pizzas.  While I was grumpy about mostly just getting a single batch of most of the apps, the pizzas did keep replenishing.  We received all 3 of the Happy Hour special pizzas.

Fresh Roma & Mozzarella Pizza.  $7.95.

I started with the simple roma and mozzarella.  As promised, it was indeed served on a "brick-oven charred crust".  The crust was super thin, super crispy.  I think a bit too charred, but no where near as bad as the flatbreads.  Plus, I know that is trendy these days.

The red sauce was totally unremarkable, just like the marinara for the calamari.  It could have been any generic canned brand, and it was spread too heavy for my taste.  The cheese was equally unremarkable, certainly didn't seem "hand-pulled" or fresh, but I'll take their word for it.  I thought there was too much of that too.  The tomato slices were soggy and didn't seem properly ripe.  I appreciated the large torn chunks of basil.  In fact, the pizza LOOKED really good, it just didn't really taste like much of anything.

Only offered on the Happy Hour menu, $7.95 price seemed fine.

Hot Italian Sausage & Mushroom Pizza.  $8.95.

I moved on to the next pizza, one that is far my more style anyway, sausage and mushroom.

The crust was about the same, thin and crispy, and this one was less charred.  The sauce and cheese were again unremarkable.  The sausage was ground, and the mushrooms were cut into tiny chunks.  There was a good amount of toppings, and I love the mushroom and sausage combo, but again, this pizza just didn't taste like anything.  $1 more than the basic pizza, seemed fine for the generous toppings.

I didn't get a photo since my phono battery died, but they also had a pepperoni, with large slices of pepperoni.  I didn't try it, but it was Ojan's favorite of the dishes.

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Sailor's Thai Restaurant: Updated Format

You may recall that on my last visit to Sydney, my favorite thai adventures took place at Sailor's Thai, both the casual Canteen and the formal Restaurant. When making plans this time around, a co-worker had one request only: he wanted to go to Sailor's Thai.  I looked at the website out of curiosity, just to see if there were any new menu additions or changes, and was very confused. Why was there only one menu now, rather than one for the Canteen, and one for the restaurant? And why did it seem to be a hybrid of the two previous menus?  I asked the restaurant and was told that they have changed their concept, serving a new menu format, in both locations.   Hmm.  I wonder if their business wasn't going well?  Anyway, this made it easy to decide where to go.  If the menu was the same, we'd go to the restaurant, since we had a group of six, and the Canteen doesn't take reservations.

I was amused by the fact that for all dishes that remained on the menu from before, the Thai names were replaced with English equivalents, aka, gone was "ka nom hua lan" and in its place was "caramelized coconut dumplings".   I guess the thai names were too hard for people?

As for our visit ... not so successful.  The food was poorly executed and the service was horrible.  It was incredibly awkward throughout.  The server came to take our drink order within seconds of us sitting down, but after that, I had to flag him down to order anything.  Our water ran out and was never refilled.  Our wine glasses went empty and no offer of more wine was made.  Dishes we ordered to share were brought without any share plates or even cutlery for the individuals, let alone for serving.   Getting the bill took absolutely forever.   We had to flag someone down to ask for it, but even once we had it, getting someone to come take the credit card was actually incredibly difficult, and again, took physically getting up from our seats to get attention.  They never looked our way again after delivering the bill.

I didn't take a photo, but I had a glass of chablis, since I remembered liking the one I had last time.  It was again a tiny pour.  It was warm.  It was clearly not the same wine, and had an awful acidic finish.   Since the server ignored us the rest of the meal, I wasn't ever able to order something different.

I think Sailor's Thai may have gone the way of Bill's for me.   It remains a great Sydney memory, but, I'm not eager to return.

Starters

When we visited the Canteen before, the menu had only three choices for starters, all very simple, including the spring rolls that we didn't like, plus chicken satay and curry puffs.  The Restaurant had both "appetizers" and "starters" on the menu, all far more complex, like the intricate flower shaped dumplings, that we also sadly didn't really like.

Now the merged menu has 7 starters, all somewhere in-between the simple offerings from the Canteen and the fancier offerings from the restaurant, including scaled back versions of the crispy vermicelli noodles, betel leafs (now with prawn instead of salmon), and grilled scallops.  The dumplings and pineapple bites that we got last time are gone, as are all of the selections from the "starters" menu.

Starter: Prawn cakes w/ plum sauce. $10.

The restaurant had fish cakes on the menu before, but now offers up a cheaper alternative: prawn cakes.  You can tell they are trying to arrive at a menu that is not only a hybrid in terms of the presentation style, but also the price.

The cakes were crispy and hot, clearly freshly fried, but incredibly oily. They didn't seemed to have been drained at all.  Inside the cakes was big chunks of prawn plus a lot of filler that I couldn't identify.

The sauce on the side was light and sweet, and actually tasty, but, I wanted something more like an aioli to go along with the fried food.  The $10 price was reasonable for the portion.

Starter: Chiang mai pork sausage w/ green chili relish. $20.

One diner wanted the sausage. Not something I'd normally pick, but, I do like sausage from time to time, so I wasn't opposed.

The sausage was served a room temperature rather than hot.  It had a really bitter skin.   I didn't like it.

On the side was a huge pile of cilantro.   What were we supposed to do with that?  And slices of cucumber, which were refreshing and a nice compliment the heat from other components.

The heat I speak of came from the green chili relish, which was really quite spicy.   I actually really liked it and found it quite flavorful.  I ate it by the spoonful at one point, since I didn't really have anything else to add it to.

My least favorite dish, and it seemed pricey for $20.

Mains

The main dish menu is broken into Salads, "From the Grill", "Stir Fries", and "Curries".   We got at least one from each category.

For the new menu, none of the mains from the restaurant remained, I guess they were all deemed too fancy, so most of the menu for mains came directly from the Canteen, plus a few new additions.

Dishes were delivered as they were ready, which was appreciated since they were hot and fresh, but it was a bit strange to get our salad so late into the meal.   I guess I'm used to salads as more of a starter, and less of a main?

We also ordered rice, which is served per person.   We had six people, and I didn't want rice, so I ordered rice for five.   When our first dish came, the server also had a big bowl of steaming rice, and he then proceeded to walk around serving it to each person.  This made no sense to me.  Why not leave it on the table?  Once he scooped out a little bit for each person, he left with it, so when our later dishes arrived, we couldn't pair them with rice.   No further offer of more rice was made.  I wonder if we could have asked for more?  Of course, that would have required someone noticing us.   It was also annoying because it took him a long time to serve each person, and our precious first dish got cold while we waited.  Grumble.

Crispy Pork Belly. $26.

"in a sticky sweet and sour sauce."

We started with a selection from the "Stir Fries" section, the crispy pork belly.  It was the dish I was most excited for.  On our last visit to the Canteen  it was my hands down favorite.  I adored the sweet sauce and the perfectly chewy crispy pork.

This time it was ... fine.  The sauce was ok, but not as sticky, nor as sweet, as I remembered.  The pork belly didn't seem as well prepared; the edges were super chewy, almost too chewy, and the interior was just fat that didn't render out.  I don't know enough about cooking to understand this, but it seems like it wasn't done at the right temperature?

This was quite the disappointment.  I found that I didn't even want to bother soaking up the sauce, which, last time, I ended up dipping anything I could find into the sauce to get more of it.  Still, my second favorite dish of the night, which, might give you an idea the direction this review is going.

Crying Tiger. $29.

"Marinated wagyu beef served with a tamarind and chilli sauce."

This was our selection "From the Grill" (the other option was spatchcock).  I would normally just skip the grill section, since for me Thai cuisine is all about the spicing in the sauces and curries, but, one diner wanted this.

The beef was fine, obviously decent quality, nicely grilled, but certainly cooked well done.  We weren't given an option, perhaps we could have asked for it less cooked?  It seems like such a shame to cook wagyu well done.

It was served with a huge chunk of cabbage on the side.  It sounds silly, but I adore the cabbage at Sailor's Thai (normally with the papaya salad, more on that below).  It is always so fresh and crispy, and the perfect compliment to cleanse the palette and tone down the heat from the spicy dishes.

As you might expect, I did actually really like the tamarind and chilli sauce, and dunked my cabbage in it.  Eventually I just ate it by the spoonful.  I have no shame.  It had excellent flavor.

Neither Ojan nor I would get this again, but I did enjoy the sauce.  The portion wasn't huge, but the $29 price didn't seem too high for quality wagyu.

Green curry of slow cooked wagyu beef w/ roti. $29.

Next, moving on to a curry selection, we opted for the green curry.  Other options were red curry of chicken or jungle curry of barramundi.
I don't really care for green curry, but I wanted this dish for one reason: the roti!  Last time, I fell in love with the roti.  I ate more than half of it.  We even managed to order a second serving of just the roti, even though it is not on the menu, because we loved it that much.

This time, the roti wasn't very good.  It wasn't hot.  It wasn't crispy.  It was just thin and greasy.  Meh.  I slathered it in sauces, and even then, I didn't want it.  I was a bit heartbroken, since I really loved it so much on my previous visit.

The curry sauce was ok, but, as I said last time, not really my thing.  The beef was really tender and flaked apart easily, and this was Ojan's favorite dish of the night, and he said he'd still return to Sailor's Thai for this.

Som dtam. $24.

"Green papaya salad with peanuts, dried shrimp, spicy & sour dressing and sweet pork."

This was the only dish that still had its Thai name.  Guess papaya salad is just that well known.

It came from the salad portion of the menu, one of three choices, and always our number one order from Sailor's Thai Canteen.  It was this dish that made us become repeat customers in the first place, so I was glad that it remained on the merged menu (the banana blossom salad from the restaurant also remains).

And while I say it was weird to get our salad at this point in the meal, as you can tell, like always, this is not a skimpy little salad.  Served on one side was a bit of steamed rice with crispy bits on top.  I don't really eat rice so I could care less about this, but it did nicely soak up all the juices from the salad.

The salad is served atop a huge chunk of cabbage that Ojan used to always devour.  The first time I saw him do this, I made fun of him, until I realized how awesome it was.  The papaya salad has so much heat that you need something refreshing to cool your mouth.  The cabbage is crispy, fresh, and delicious.  And if you can handle the spice, the layer that gets soaked in the salad dressing is my absolute favorite.

And then ... the magic.  On the side is the sweet pork.  Pork candy.  Sweet chunks of chewy, delicious pork.  I absolutely adore this stuff.  On our last visit, I wasn't quite as great previous visits, but, I did love it again this time.  It just has the perfect level of chew and sweetness to it.  So good.

Honestly, I could do without the papaya salad, and just take the candy pork.

Som Dtam: Close Up.

Speaking of the papaya salad itself.

The execution wasn't great, which seemed to be the theme of the meal.

The base was standard shredded green papaya, and that was fine.  The green beans weren't properly cooked, too crispy, and not in a good way.  Bits of peanut are bits of peanut, unremarkable.

But ... take a look at the little shrimp here.  They were gross looking, with really, really visible poop tracks.  Now, cleaning little shrimps is rare, but these looked particularly bad.  I had a few of the nicer looking ones, but they tasted really fishy, really old, really off putting.  The description says they were dried, but, they really didn't seem it.  Either way, they were really quite nasty.

And, look at the cabbage.  See the black on there?  While I loved the cabbage, it didn't seem washed.  There was a lot of dirt and grit on it.

The sauce was good though, great flavor from the fish sauce, and spicy enough.  The bits of pork from this salad were my favorite bites of the evening, but the rest of it I could do without.

Spicy Minced Chicken.  $26.

"With chilli, garlic, lemongrass and wild ginger."

Our final selection was another from the Stir Fries section, ordered by one of my fellow dinners.  It is not a dish I would normally order, since I don't like chicken.  I was full, so I didn't bother try it.  It was only about half finished, which could have been because it came last, or because it just wasn't great.  I didn't get a good read off my fellow diners to find out.

The $26 price tag seemed pretty high for a chicken dish.

Desserts

The Canteen never really had much of a dessert menu, just coconut ice cream and sorbet of the day.  The new merged menu kept these, and kept just one dessert from the restaurant menu.

Caramelized Coconut Dumplings. $14.

"in pandanus pastry with cream."

I didn't care for these last time, and I didn't want the ice cream or sorbet, but others seemed a bit unsatisfied and wanted dessert, so we got it.  No drink menu was provided at dessert time, otherwise I'm sure some after dinner drinks would have been ordered, perhaps some dessert wines or tea/coffee.  We probably could have specifically asked, but, we were pretty defeated at this point, and just didn't bother.

I also didn't bother try a dumpling, since I knew I didn't like them before, even when the rest of the meal was better.  Everyone else split them in half.  No one liked them.  No one wanted the final one, and it went unfinished.  Even me, the girl who loves dessert, and hates for food to go waste, still didn't bother.

The dumplings took a long time to arrive, so I think they were freshly made, since they were served warm.  I lapped up the coconut cream, but even that wasn't good  Seriously, how do you make coconut cream not taste awesome?  I certainly wouldn't get this again.

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Chex

I adore Chex mix.  Well, specifically, I adore homemade Chex mix.  Every year at Christmas, my mom and my grandmother make a great classic Chex mix, but the one I really love is "muddy buddies", aka, Chex coated with chocolate and peanut butter, rolled in powdered sugar.  You may also know this as "puppy chow".  Don't judge it by the name, I promise you, this stuff is sooo addicting.  I'm also generally a fan of whatever other sweet varieties my mom makes, and, she likes to experiment with these, so I've tried quite a few.

In fact, I'm pretty sure I never had commercially made Chex mix until recently.  Conclusion?  The ones my mom makes at home are much better.  Oh, and Chex Chips?  Also not a winner, but, interesting.

Chex Chips

Did you know that Chex makes ... chips?  I didn't either.

They are marketed as a healthier alternative to classic potato chips, made from wheat.  Available in 3 savory flavors (caramelized onion, cheddar jalapeño, and wasabi), and one sweet (cinnamon and sugar).

Cheddar Jalapeño.

I opened my bag and was a bit surprised.  They did indeed look just like Chex, except, super sized.

The texture however wasn't like classic Chex, they were puffier, lighter.  They reminded me of Bugles (which, interestingly, is made by the same parent company, General Mills).

I almost liked these.  The flavor was actually pretty good, cheesy and spicy.  The flavor lingered, not in a bad way.  But ... at the end of the day, I wanted either Chex mix, or I wanted chips, not this strange hybrid in the middle, that was just a little too light to be interesting.

Traditional Chex

Traditional Chex Mix.

This is your classic Chex mix, containing pumpernickle chips, wavy sticks, two shapes of pretzels, and two varieties of Chex.

The pretzels came in two shapes, a ring or a grid, but tasted the same, generic, kinda buttery, not interesting.  The chips were my favorite part, crunchy, but there were not many of them.  I have no idea what the wavy sticks were, but they were an interesting shape at least?  They seemed perhaps garlicky?  The Chex was … just Chex.

Overall, this was really disappointing, it was salty, but otherwise had no flavor.  I love Chex Mix, but a classic homemade mix with Worcheshire is just so much better.  Maybe I'm just more used to the versions my Mom and grandmother each make, but this just seemed soooo plain!  I really wanted more flavor.

Simply Chex

Simply Chex® is their healthier line of products, boasting 60-70% less fat than potato chips.

Simply Chex: Chocolate Caramel.

The chocolate caramel is a mix of, you guess it, chocolate covered and caramel covered Chex pieces.  There was an even distribution of both flavors.

I was excited for this mix, and it sounded quite decadent, but actually, it was far more restrained than I expected.  While the Chex pieces did have both caramel and chocolate coating, the coating was very light.  There was a slight chocolate flavor to the chocolate version, a slight caramel flavor to the caramel version, but overall, it wasn't nearly as sweet or coated as I wanted.

I guess they are trying to make this a bit healthier than the versions I'd make at home, as package was only 120 calories. But uh, I wanted a decadent sugar bomb, not a healthy treat!

Simply Chex: Strawberry Yogurt.

Next up, another sweet one: strawberry yogurt.  The strawberry yogurt mix contains 3 different types of Chex: a light and a dark colored one, each with slightly strawberry seasoning, and a third white one, actually coated in strawberry yogurt, like the ones pictured in center of the photo on the bag.  That final one was the only one with real flavor, and was my favorite, but my bag contained exactly 2 of them.  2!

The mix was overall very disappointing.  I like the crunch, the strawberry flavor was nice when I was able to taste it, but overall, there was just not enough flavoring, and it was not nearly sweet or decadent enough.  Again, healthy Chex mix just isn't my thing I guess.   

Simply Chex: Cheddar.

A finally, I tried a savory version: cheddar.

This mix contains two different types of Chex, each with a slight cheddar coating.  Like the others, I wished there was more coating, but the cheddar was much stronger than the sweet coatings.

I tend to like all varieties of Chex mix, sweet or savory, but this one didn't quite do it for me.  It was crunchy, it was fun to nibble on, and the cheddar flavor was actually pretty good, but somehow cheddar on Chex doesn't quite work for me.  I didn't dislike it exactly, and easily finished the bag, but I wouldn't get it again.

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