Mex Out: Life is a combination of magic and tortilla chips

Mex Put is a Mexican restaurant in Singapore with the most divine design. If I had a restaurant, I would want it to look something like this. The food also looks heavenly. Another reason to visit Singapore, no?

Photos found on Mex Out's Facebook page.

Lucky Bread Company: Capitalising on the smell of freshly baked bread

There's nothing like the intoxicating aroma of freshly baked bread wafting through the air. It's undeniably comforting and homely. When Tribeca and The Bread Gypsey decided to team up to form Lucky Bread Company, they must have known that the enticing scent would pull in customers doing the rounds of Brooklyn Mall. The menu is quite small, limited to mostly sandwiches and delicious baked goods like scones, muffins and tarts. I had the brie, olive tapenade, dried cranberries with fig and nuts sandwich on a baguette and my, oh my, it was heavenly. Possibly the most mouth-watering sandwich I have ever had. Their freshly squeezed apple and mint juice is also a must. The nice thing is that you can also buy some bread to take home. Try resist the temptation, I dare you. 

Brie, olive tapenade, dried cranberries with fig and nuts baguette.

Joburg City #1: The Good Luck Club

I've never lived anywhere other than Pretoria. It's perhaps the reason why I have always had a bit of a love/ hate relationship with dear ol' P-Town. Even though I'll always call it home, it's always struck me as a big city with a stifling small town mentality.  That's why my brief sojourn in Joburg while interning at the SABC has been quite the adventure. The traffic drives me batty but there's something enthralling about finding yourself in a new city. Joburg, with it's palpable verve and colourful cosmopolitan culture, has grown on me so much that I find myself entertaining the idea of moving there when I'm done with Honours next year. I may be married to Pretoria, but Joburg is my lusty lover.  Until then, I'll be sharing a few of the places I've discovered on my escapades through Jozi every so often.

***

Corlett Drive in Illovo became somewhat of a hipster-haven after Shane and Angie Durrant opened Wolves, and later The Good Luck Club. Christi and I, along with our mutual new-found love for spicy food, went to see what all the hype around The Good Luck Club was about. Christi had the Chicken & Pineapple Curry, while I had the 5-Spice Tofu Stirfry. It was one of the few times I've had tofu that doesn't taste like rubber. Well done, Shane and Angie, well done. I'll be back for more soon soon, promise. 

Honey Badger Bistro. Again.

I had a quinoa burger at Honey Badger Bistro this week. It was so good that it almost (but not quite) made up for how long it took to make. I still recommend going to eat there though. It's delicious. Also, they have this hanging on the wall. I want it.

Weekend in Instagrams

1. Once a month the Perdeby staff congregate at Aandklas to see just how far we can stretch our lovely little bar tab. It is here that I am often reminded that I write for a newspaper that is in fact a haven for psychotic, borderline alcoholics. Bless. How we manage to bring out a decent newspaper every week is beyond me though. 

2. On Saturday night I made my way to Arcade Empire, which was teeming with loud, hair-flipping, prematurely drunk kids. The lovely Laurie Levine kicked things off with Peter Auret on the drums. They deserved a better crowd but you can't expect kids, who were later slurping up Kinky Robot like a celebratory ice-cream after a good report, to appreciate good music. Sigh.

3. December Streets. The reason all the young ones stayed out way after their bedtime. The band were launching their new album, This Is. I won't say too much about it because I am reviewing the album for an upcoming edition of Perdeby but wow, lead guitarist Nico van Loggerenberg's mad guitar skills blew me away. 

4 & 5. Lisa van Leeuwen and Mathius Janmaat from Bombay Show Pig, an indie rock outfit from the Netherlands. The reason I joined the playground party on Saturday. I'll be doing a post on them tomorrow but just know that if you are making your way to the festival on the hill next week it would be quite a smart move to go see Bombay Show Pig perform. You won't regret it.

6. It's become somewhat of a tradition for my mom, Christi and I to go for breakfast on a Sunday morning. This week it was Vovo Telo in Woodlands. 

7. I had the corn hotcakes with a poached egg, rocket, basil pesto and roasted rosa tomatoes. Delicious. 

8. Pastries, cakes and fresh bread. Drool.

9. My mumsie had the toasted brioche with fig jam, roasted almonds and marscapone cheese. I snuck a bite and my taste buds did a little jig of joy.

Hope you all had a good one too!

Lucky Rodrigo

I love all these fantastic little restaurants that are popping up around Pretoria. I've been hearing a lot of buzz about Lucky Rodrigo, so today I went there for lunch today to see what everyone has been talking about. I had the vegetarian burger, which was easily the best vegetarian burger I have ever had. It consisted of a hash brown, a tasty mushroom sauce, haloumi, brinjals and a whole bunch of other delicious things that made my belly mother flippin' excited. I also had a glimpse of their new menu which looks like a number of other delicious things will be available at Lucky Rodrigo soon. Visit their Facebook page here for more information. 

Honey Badger Bistro

Last week I caught up with an old friend at Honey Badger Bistro, a new quaint eatery on Pretorius Street. I quite adore this place. It's got everything that you could ask for in a restaurant. The menu, although small, is loaded with some of the most delicious food I have tasted in ages. I think what gives Honey Badger Bistro the edge is that there is so much attention to detail. The beautiful menu, the presentation of the food and the simple decor all combine to make this little bistro one of my new favourites. 

Visit Honey Badger Bistro's Facebook page here for more information.

Cauliflower soup

Chicken pie

Spinach and ricotta muffins

To Durban we shall go

Hello, I'm back in P-Town. Quite reluctantly, I have to admit. My little holiday was that great. I have  good news though, my little Charlie seems to be cooperating with me again. Good blog, keep it up. 

Here's a few of the highlights of my trip. Hope you all enjoyed your long weekend too! 

 

The beautiful scenery. I'm a sucker for pretty landscapes.

 We hired bicycles and rode on the promenade till we got to Moyo, a cocktail lounge right by uShaka. This is probably one of my favourite things I did on this trip. I think it's time I invested in a bicycle. It really was pure bliss riding along the beach. 

 

 

In Margate we had lunch at an incredibly popular restaurant called The Waffle House. Now I'm not usually a fan of waffles (I'm more of a pancake kinda gal) but the hummus and fried brinjal waffle I had just may have changed my mind. 

I had my first macaroon at Gloria Jeans. Yes, you read correctly, my first. Unheard of in the blogging world, right? Does this officially make me a cool kid now? Nah, I didn't think so either.

On our last night in Durban we had dinner at Palki, a restaurant that serves the most delicious authentic Indian food. I had the Palak Paneer, which was what I imagine heaven to be. No, really. I would totally go back to Durban every fortnight just for this restaurant. 

And lastly, in case you didn't already know... 

Ok, so when are we on holiday again?

Gautraining

Yesterday Christi and I went on a little adventure of sorts. We took the Gautrain from P-Town to Joburg and had a look at all the lovelies that Jozi has to offer. We had lunch at Vovo Telo in Parkhurst and what a delicious lunch it was. The service? Not too great. But it can almost be forgiven when you walk away with a happy stomach. Special thanks to The Film Fundi for driving us around. You are too kind. 

I took this picture of Christi on the Gautrain. Cool, yes?

21 Part III: Tashas

When I said I celebrated my birthday non-stop for 4 days, I really wasn't kidding. On Saturday night, I went to Tashas with my close friends from high school. We are hardly ever in the same place at the same time, so it was really special to be able to share a divine meal with them. If you are keen on cocktails, try Tashas' strawberry daiquiri. It's amazing. And so big. Just wow.