things i've eaten recently (part 1)

top middle: ceviche de yucatan (white fish, green  tomato, chilli, mint, lime, and coconut milk); top right: tostaditas de carnitas (slow braised pork shoulder, jalapeño, and a tapioca chip); bottom left: tacos de camarones (prawns, habanero chillies and chipotle almond salsa); bottom middle: quesadilla de huitlacoche( mexican truffle, mushrooms, roasted corn, epazote, and cheese); bottom right: mole poblano con pollo (black mole with confit chicken maryland) with baked black beans, sweet corn, and rice

A school friend from NZ popped into Melbourne for a night, so me and D took her to Mamasita, one of our favourite restaurants in Melbourne.

It was mostly delicious. The prawn tacos, the mushroom quesadilla, and the ceviche are particularly phenomenal. The only thing which continually disappoints me is their comida para la familia. The mole poblano con pollo was just OK, but maybe it’s just because I’m neither a fan of mole nor chicken on the bone. The side dishes again were OK, the corn was yum but the beans were a bit meh, and the rice was ridiculously overpriced.

The desserts looked interesting, but we were too full to try them.

left: marry me marge onion ring (dark ale battered onion rings, made to order and served with American mustard and ketchup) and slap-happy cracklin (mexican style crispy fried pork skins served with lime and chilli). middle: rio grande beef ribs (beef ribs, grilled and slow cooked in smoky south-western tequila sauce) and so sweet potato fries (sweet potato chips with moroccan spices, cucumber and hendrick's yoghurt) right: buffalo wings (crispy chicken wings tossed in american hot sauce, served with blue cheese dipping sauce and celery sticks).

I met some friends for dinner and drinks at kodiak club, a bar that specialises in American-style bar snacks, meals, cocktails, and liqueurs.

I don’t usually eat animal fat or skin, but I didn’t really have a choice here.  The food was super fatty and salty in a really delicious but artery-clogging way. For the first time in ages, I ate pork crackling and liked it. It was soft and crispy and really flavourful. The sweet potato fries were really tasty and a bit soggy, but I happen to like soggy chips so that’s OK. The meat was really tender and flavourful, but were cuts that had skin or fat on it.

It was good, but thinking about it makes me feel a bit sick.

chicken and mushroom pie


It was 3 am. Al ate my burrito dinner and my belly was full of cider, barcardi, and lychee liqueur. I had to eat something and pie face pie face was tantalisingly close.

I’d been obsessed with pie face for sometime, mostly really just because of the novelty of the faces, but never actually eaten one.

Verdict: it wasn’t a drunk person’s pie. There were actual chunks of chicken and mushroom in it which I think a sober person would have appreciated more.