Fresh Bites, Citi Centre Arcade

Today I picked up my #CookbookThursday twitter prize from Dymocks Adelaide. Thanks guys!



I'm totes going to get my CWA bake on this weekend.

More importantly, I thought I'd check out how Fresh Bites in the Citi Centre Arcade was kicking along. Their karaage chicken roll was almost the roll of my dreams... almost.



The roll of my dreams has the following qualities:
- crunchy yet chewy and moist roll
- lots of crisp, fresh veggies and herbs
- kewpie mayonnaise
- Crispy, crunchy but still juicy chicken.
- I'm talking flavour and texture here people!

What let this roll down was the chicken - while juicy and plentiful the karaage chicken was neither crispy nor crunchy. The chicken had obviously been sitting under lights for too long.

This is a roll worth returning for though - every other element was well executed.

Can anyone help me find the roll of my dreams?

Fresh Bites, Citi Centre Arcade

The food court at Centre Arcade is badly in need of a facelift. Some of those shop facades have been around since at least the 90s and many are probably older than I am. Think places like The King of Sandwich and Mangia Mangia. That said some new blood is slowly starting to seep in - the spud place has closed down and banh mi / Japanese eatery Fresh Bites has opened in its place.

A teriyaki chicken wing was my sneaky lunch entree. The meat was firm, juicy and flavoursome but had lost a little of sweet glazed char flavour that the exterior flaunted. Tasty, but not super value for nearly $2 bucks.



Banh mi / Japanese fusion rolls really makes sense me and the one from Fresh Bite bought together the best of both worlds - sticky sweet teriyaki chicken from Japan; the baguette style bread and crunchy fresh salad from Vietnam; a dollop of kewpie mayonnaise for extra richness; and fresh coriander, spring onion and chilli to provide some cut through.



Hopefully newcomers like Fresh Bites will provide the impetus and bring in the new stalls and customers needed to make renovations at Citi Centre a reality.

Totally Fresh, Gawler Place

I think I've finally found my soup joint this Winter. Unfortunately for me, it looks like most of Adelaide had already found it.

I was walking down Gawler Place and noticed that the line for Totally Fresh was just about the door. Being a human sheep and knowing that the taste buds of most South Aussies are generally good so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

After a short wait a chalk board listing 5 or 6 different soups including minestrone; chicken and corn; tom yum; and tomato and bacon greeted me once I reached the front of the line. I ordered the minestrone. The soup tasted truly of tomato and had plenty acid to get the salivary glands going. Vegetables were plentiful and tender but held their shape well and the chopped herbs added an uplifting freshness. You may have noticed that I'm finding it a little difficult to sell this soup. What can I say - it's soup. I'd be the first to admit that I have trouble getting excited about soup - but it was really excellent.




The following day I returned and ordered a Cajun chicken roll. Bizarrely, in addition to the spicy chicken, carrot, capsicum and lettuce the roll also had warm rice noodles. I didn't think rice noodles were particularly Cajun but they added a warm slippery texture that really worked. This was a fresh, tasty roll.



A day later I purchased a Caesar salad pizza for lunch.The great flaw with this pizza was the base. Neither thin and crispy nor thick and chewy the base was somewhere in the middle. In fact, it was more like shortbread than anything else and needed some more salt and some more char. And despite the over generous salad dressing the toppings were pretty good. Particularly impressive was the still runny baked egg.



Totally Fresh promise fresh, nutritious and fast lunch and on those they deliver. The soup is excellent and rolls are good but the pizza is let down by its base.

Dozo Sushi Expess - Katsu Pork Roll, Pirie St

Just a quick blog one this time. I went back to Dozo Sushi Express (see my other reviews here http://theofficeeater.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/dozo-sushi-express-pirie-street.html and here http://theofficeeater.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/dozo-sushi-express-pirie-st.html) to try the katsu pork roll.



I was hoping for some mega crunch and more thoughtful fillings but I was to be disappointed. Same roll, same tomato, same cucumber, and because the sauce penetrated every bite and soggy-ed up and overpowered the katsu - the pork tasted practically identical to the chicken I had last time.



These rolls should be excellent so I'll return to Dozo to try another but I feel as though I'm destined to be underwhelmed.

Dozo Sushi Express - Tempura Chicken Roll, Pirie Street

Last week I promised myself that I'd return to Dozo Sushi Express to try out a mysterious menu item - the Japanese sandwich. Ordering the the tempura chicken sandwich I hoped that I'd end up with some mega-crispy chicken on soft white bread - something to rival the oyster po' boys and southern fried chicken sandwiches of the United States. I didn't quite get that but I did end up with a pretty tasty roll.

Let me start with the most defining element - the sauce. Teriyaki sauce and Japanese mayonnaise were applied liberally and amalgamated to penetrate every mouthful with its rich, savoury creaminess. The bun (light, soft and white as hoped incidentally) barely stood up to it and would most likely have drowned if I weren't such a fast-eating guts. The sauce also turned the once crispy chicken soggy. Don't get me wrong - sauce soaked batter is delicious but didn't provide the crunch I had hoped for. The cucumber and (out-of-season and therefore a little mealy) tomato were seemingly added as an afterthought.



This was a good roll but it could have been - and I think wanted to be - so much more. Had the integrity of the crunchy chicken remained intact and had the other fillings been give some more thought and attention (some pickles to cut through the richness for example) this have been truly excellent roll. Instead, it was just another sandwich at $7.50 price point. That being said, Dozo offers some interesting fillings (like potato salad or katsu pork) that have piqued my curiosity so I'll no doubt return to test these.