Rump and Ribs (Townsville and Rockhampton) 12/2018

This franchise restaurant has about half a dozen venues, almost all in Queensland. Almost by accident I tried two of them on two successive days, the first in Rockhampton and the second, apparently the most successful one, in Townsville. They have some variations but work to a pretty good formula.They both offer inside and outside dining.

 

They both have bars 

and minimal decoration.

I had a half side of lamb ribs at Rockhampton. It was late in the evening and I suspect they gave me a bit extra because they were closing soon. Anyway it was a handsome serve and I loved every bit of it. 

Tender, succulent and sweet it was as promised with a choice of potatoes - mash, wedges or roast with herbs, a little coleslaw and a creamy sauce.
At Townsville I had the beef ribs. A much smaller serve

They were also tender and tasty. The accoutrements were a bit fancier here. I was offered a plastic bib,

a branded serviette,

and slightly more attractive table settings.

They do have a full menu. 

Score: 14/20

Camden Hotel (Caulfield) 11/2018

All this signage might give one the idea that this is a drinking place, which, of course, it is but it's also a place that serves fairly decent food at quite modest prices.

 It's unpretentious with basic table settings

 in a large open room with a central bar.
We'd heard that their large flounder was particularly good so that had to be top of our choices. 
What sort of soup do you have we asked. Surprisingly soup is not available, it's not on the menu but there's enough to chose from.
So, first the flounder. It comes with chips 

or mash and a small salad on top of it.

It was not very big but it was plump moist and very tasty.  

I decided on a porterhouse steak. As usual I requested it be served 'blue' that is seared on the outside and just warm in the centre. 

Not as usual that was exactly how I did get it!! Served with mash and a mushroom sauce it was as good as it gets. 

 We were not sure they could do this well again but we thought it well worth a try. Sandra had the flounder again which was pretty well identical to the first one and I chose a veal cutlet with potato Gratin.

I have a particular aversion to eating charcoal and sent the gratin back to be replaced by chips.The veal was excellent. This time we tried the desserts.

The lava cake 

was overcooked, slightly burned and dry. Very disappointing. 

The apple and rhubarb crumble was a bit sour 

but quite acceptable. 

As the famous Greek philosopher rightly said 'You can't step into the same river twice" and that proved right here.

Will we go there again? Sure we will. 

Score:13.75/20

Sapphire (Newcastle, NSW) 08/10/2018

We don't often go to Indian restaurants because Sandra has a sensitivity to chili, perhaps even an allergy, but arriving in Newcastle alone at dinner time after only a scanty snack  on the plane I was happy to take the opportunity to try Newcastle's reputedly best home style Indian cuisine. 
Sapphire, a precious gemstone, often worn by Royalty, especially the brilliant blue as seen in Kate Middleton's wedding ring, found in Eastern Australia, Sri Lanka, North Africa, Madagascar and a few other places including Thailand Vietnam, China but rarely does India get a mention! Did you notice it's spelt with two p's?
On a corner with windows looking out onto the street, 

there was no problem getting a table. The place is simply furnished, 

tables have, easy to clean, plastic cloths and comfortable soft high backed chairs.

There is a bar as you enter but 

BYO is fine too.
Before anything crisp papadams were served with a mint sauce.

If there was a problem it was due to the extensive menu.Chicken 65 looked intriguing - supposedly chicken in 65 spices. Not too hot that looked like the place to start.

Probably there were eight or even 10 spices but they were indistinguishable and unidentifiable. (I might add that the average reader probably knows more about Indian food than I do!) Regardless it was very pleasing, quite a big serve and hard to stop eating but there were other things I wanted to try.
They had a lot of vegan, vegetarian and gluten free meals but the goat dishes (with bones) looked appealing and I settled on Khadai goat. 

It was full of ribs, surely cooked for hours  to make the meat so tender. It was a fine dish, quite mild and, with a great bowl of Basmati rice, 

and more mint sauce.  I loved it.
I had a mango khulfi for dessert at a ridiculous price $4.50

Comments: Would I come back again? You betcha 
Score: 14.5/20 

Santa Lucia (Milan) 08/2018

 A local resident suggested that this restaurant, near La Scala, the renowned Milan opera house and an art area had the best spaghetti vongole in Milan. Vongole are small, edible bivalve molluscs. Sounded good.
As with almost every restaurant here they offer both inside and outside dining areas
The walls of the venue are covered with photo's of people, presumably artists, who have eaten here
An aggressive salesman, posing as a waiter, tried to get us to indulge in a variety of anti pasta 

but they looked particularly unappealing.
We did have some deep fried crumbed mozzarella which was thoroughly enjoyable.

We headed straight for the spaghetti vongole for main course. 

The pasta was al dente in the Italian manner, bathed in olive oil and covered with a sprinkling of small clams, vongole, we called them limpets when we found them on the sea shore in Melbourne. Unfortunately the vongole were tasteless and did nothing for the dish. Bread was crusty, 

and plenty of it too. Our waiter tried to get us to have a chocolate cake 'Temptation' 

but we resisted in favour of an classical Italian dessert. 

Bad choice.

Score: 13.5/20

Joe's Cafe (Yehud Israel) 07/2018

This is another franchise which we ate at several times in the Canyon Mall. 
The mall is particularly pleasant with very good quality shops. It has an open clean feeling, not too crowded and not too noisy although there are always children running about. Joe's is very popular and we sometimes had a short wait to get a table. They seem to have an endless number of young, attractive wait staff with cute aprons

.

It's light and airy 

and quite decorative.

Food is typical Israeli café style with dips,

pizzas omlettes, salads

and cakes

Score: 13.5/20