Best of Ballarat: Where to Eat & When

Best of Ballarat: Where to Eat & When

With Ballarat Heritage Weekend close at hand, and 20,000 vintage enthusiasts converging on the charming historic city, we’re sharing our best tips for making the most of your visit.

So we’re dedicating part one of our special five-part “Best of Ballarat” series to those most critical biological needs: fine food and coffee.

Whether it’s before, during or after our Vintage Current Fashion Fair, here are our top picks for treating your palette right around the city …

Breakfast Pick: The Unicorn

The Unicorn Ballarat

The Unicorn is my pick for breakfast in Ballarat. The menu is full of unexpected and delicious choices (including vegan) and the artistic vintage vibe gives this venue a feeling of community. Situated in a stunning heritage building, the decor alone with its collectible vinyl is worth the trip. Be prepared to spend an hour or two simply reading the walls and taking it all in.

Verdict: A feast for all the senses! Make sure you take the time to visit the Ladies room, you’ll know why when you get there.

Lunch Picks: The Hop Temple, Golden City Hotel

With warm open fires, delicious craft beer and juicy burgers, The Hop Temple is a no-brainer for me. This is exactly the type of place that you can settle into for lunch and also make a night of (the next day, of course). The selection of craft beer here is something you must take seriously, none of this “just pop in for a pint”, no sir. Carve out some time to exercise your palette, bring your note book and get stuck into some serious tasting.

Verdict: Come for the beer, stay for the food and teach your palette a thing or two about the heady appeal of hops.

golden city hotel ballarat

Right across the road from the Vintage Current Fashion Fair at St Patrick’s Hall, is the Golden City Hotel. Large, light filled and plenty spacious for big groups, this spot delivers on both the food and drinks menu. I thoroughly enjoyed the lamb wrap, as my partner made short work of the spring rolls. They have an excellent range to please every patron, plus great selections for kids, too. If you get in early you may even get a group spot on the sofa by the open fireplace!

Verdict: Try the warm thai beef salad or lamb wrap for something healthy and hearty.

Afternoon Tea Pick: Little Bird

Little Bird Ballarat

There’s one cafe that reminds me so much of having afternoon tea with my Nana. Little Bird has become the go-to place for coffee meet ups for vintage fiends in Ballarat. Formica tables and chairs, old school cakes that look like they were lifted directly from the pages of the Australian Women’s Weekly Cookbook circa 1958, and a cozy diner feel set the scene. But the coffees and homemade sweets and delicacies are where you’ll find the most win. 

Verdict: Perfect for catching up with coffee, cake and retro selfies.

Dinner Picks: Cafe Merkama, Craig’s Royal Hotel

cafe merkama ballarat

Cafe Merkama may be one of the best kept secrets in Ballarat. Even many locals I’ve talked with had never heard of this little place. Opened only a couple of years ago by an Ethiopian refugee, Cafe Merkama serves simple, hearty dishes that encourage sharing and introduce your palette to an entirely new range of flavours.

Verdict: Perfect after a long hard day when you want comforting exotic food and a good chat with friends.

craig's royal hotel ballarat

A beautiful heritage hotel that you’ll want to do a bit of swanning about in, Craig’s Royal Hotel offers an impressive dining experience. Often a bit of a roulette, gnocchi has never been high on my menu choices when dining out, but this one was so impressive we’re still talking about it a month later! The grilled gnocchi at Craig’s Royal Hotel Restaurant (“The Gallery”) recently took out the title for Best Gnocchi at the Ballarat Rural Lifestyle expo, so there’s even more proof. I highly recommend you put this one on your list.

Verdict: Make a booking for this one and check out the menu ahead of time to give you plenty of time to make a selection, as it’s so hard to pick a favourite. Finish off your meal with what I personally believe may be the best coffee in Ballarat. It’s so good in fact, that I asked the Barista to pose for a photo so you can find her!

Readers’ Choice: Share Your Ballarat Foodie Picks

We’d love to hear about your favorite dining spots as well, while we prepare for the big Ballarat Heritage Weekend 2016 (and many other visits). Where will we see you?

Please share your personal favourites and insider foodie tips in our Vintage Current Fashion Fair Facebook group, and let’s all enjoy and support the local winners!

 

Smurf themed Halloween Dessert

Smurf themed Halloween Dessert

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Last year, I showed you how to make the Scrambled Zombie Brain Halloween dessert. This year, I want to show you how to do a Smurf themed Halloween dessert – “Gargamel’s Scrambled Smurfs”.

With 3 main ingredients – sponge cake, blue jelly and custard, you can make this so easily. Add to this version some blue food colouring and candy eyeballs, to make it gruesome (poor Smurfs!)

Gargamel’s Scrambled Smurfs

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A few handy notes on the ingredients:

  • Pre-make the jelly ahead of time – it requires 4 hours to set. Using a fork, break up the jelly into blobby chunks.
  • You can either make your own plain sponge cake, or buy it from the supermarket. Cut the sponge cake into bite size pieces (don’t worry about being neat).

Assembly of Gargamel’s Scrambled Smurf Trifle:

1. Scoop a layer of jelly into the bottom of a glass or clear dessert dish.

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2. Add the candy eyeballs. Use a teaspoon to hold the eyeball and push the spoon into the jelly, where you want the eye to sit.

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3. Add blue food colouring to the custard and mix until marbled through.

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4. Scoop a layer of thick vanilla custard next.

 

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5. Then a layer of cut up sponge cake. Adding the layers in this order means that the sponge cake gets scooped up with enough custard so it’s moist to eat.

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6. Now, I’m not sure what colour Smurf blood is – but I’m going to go with blue! You could make it red or even purple. Add a drizzle of blue food dye around the rim of the glass and let it ooze down into the cake and custard.

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5. Last of all, top with more custard and jelly – half on each side of the glass so you get to see them both when looking into the dessert. And add a couple more candy eyeballs, so they look at you when you go to take the first bite!

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A Christmas Cocktail Recipe – The Ginger Swinger

A Christmas Cocktail Recipe – The Ginger Swinger

Time for your tastebuds to feel the light and the dark side with this new cocktail recipe.

Here’s my new Christmas Cocktail Recipie creation; The Ginger Swinger!

 

You will need

  • Martini glass
  • 1Tbsp Nutella
  • 1 measure of ginger cordial
  • 2 measures vodka
  • crushed ice
  • coconut water
  • 1 tsp lime juice

 

Method

  • Coat the bottom half of your glass with the tbsp of Nutella or other hazelnut chocolate spread
  • Add 1 measure of ginger cordial
  • Add 2 measures vodka
  • Crushed Ice and lime juice
  • Serve separated, stir before drinking

 

Christmas Cocktail recipie The Swinger

Having Christmas in Summer means that entertaining takes on a different twist and we need to come up with catering ideas that help us cope with the heat.

This Christmas cocktail recipie has both the sweetness and freshness that gives it a decadent, yet light finish.

Perfect for impressing your guests in no time at all!

A great summer cocktail recipe – Papaya Pleasures

A great summer cocktail recipe – Papaya Pleasures

Vintage Current Papaya cocktail recipie

The perfect summer cocktail recipe for a tropical moment.

Dear tastebuds, you need a holiday. You need a new Summer cocktail recipe!

Here is one I prepared earlier….

 

You will need

  • Martini Glass
  • 1 tbsp Papaya – Fresh or tinned
  • 2 measures Cointreau
  • Crushed Ice
  • Coconut Water
  • 1 tsp Lime juice

 

Method

  • Muddle the Papaya into the base of the martini glass.
  • Add two measures of Cointreau and allow to rest for five minutes so the Papaya can absorb some of the liquor.
  • Add crushed ice.
  • Top off with Coconut water and lime juice.
  • Garnish

 

Food Ideas for Christmas – a twist on making Olive Bread

Food Ideas for Christmas – a twist on making Olive Bread

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Here’s a couple of food ideas for Christmas – that will be visually appealing and tasty!

A while ago I posted about making Olive Bread, which by the end would get you two cobs of bread. For Christmas, how about putting a twist on this recipe – and change up the last step of making the Olive bread?

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Step 4: Punch Down, Divide, and Shape the Loaf.

A. Instead of dividing the loaf into two cobs – split the dough into 3 equal parts.

B. Once you have your 3 parts, lightly roll them and pull them out to make lengths (about 50-60cm).

C. At one end, attach all parts together, but pushing the dough down at the tip.

D. Then start plaiting the dough!

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E. Once you get to the end, shape the plait into a wreath and neaten off the loose ends by tucking and hiding them in with the beginning of the wreath.
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You can see my creative effort at joining the dough strips at the top of the wreath.

At this point, you are up to Step 5: Proof the Dough (Second Rise) and continue on making the bread as per recipe. This little twist on making olive bread, can be done with other bread recipes too. Do you have a favourite bread recipe you like to use? If you do, give this idea a go for Christmas, and see your family and friends stare at your edible table decoration!

Another Christmas themed idea for the table, and a perfect accompaniment to your bread wreath – is creating shaped butter. This was covered in an earlier post as well, and you may have noticed these cute little fellas made an early appearance:

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For something a different, why not add to the Christmas colours of your decor, and make your shaped butters green. You can do this by adding either basil and garlic or parsley and pepper to your butter. Use a mortar and pestle to grind your green leaves, which will help colour your butter.

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Olive bread and basil butter. Not just good looks, but great taste!