Viva Espresso - Ham Sandwich, Pirie St

A friend of mine recently raved about the sandwich at Viva Espresso - and particularly about the multi-grain bread. This is fortunate because Viva Espresso wasn't really on my lunch radar (and it probably should have been). We made a date and had lunch there today.



I reckon this is one of Adelaide's great sandwiches. Great quality ham; sweet crunchy pickles; tangy Dijon mustard, sharp cheddar cheese; cucumber; tomato; and a selection of lettuce leaves. A thoughtful and well balanced sandwich indeed.

You know that bread you get when you go to really good Baker's Delight? Not the flavourless doughy stuff but the kind with the thin almost crackling crust and soft fluffy interior. Well, two thick multigrain slabs of that sandwiched the filling. Probably not baked on site but pretty damn good.

I also ordered a regular serve of pommes frites. These were the best chips I've had for a while - crunchy on the outside and cloud-fluffy inside. Make sure you have a couple of friends to share them with because even the regular serve is massive.



Unfortunately I only realised that empty ramekin half-concealed behind the massive cone of pommes frites was for the sauce bar - yes, I said SAUCE BAR. Mayo, tomato sauce, bbq sauce - you name, it's all there for your chip dipping pleasure.

Viva Espresso is a little on the pricy side but the serves are generous and the quality excellent. And despite the fact they were wall to wall with customers the service was friendly and efficient.

Taste of China and Obun Chef - again, Adelaide Central Market Food Court

I know I usually review luncheon locations but 'cos you can eat in the Adelaide Central Market Food Court at pretty much any time I thought I'd take quick snap of what I'm eating and tell you a bit about my dinner - fragrant pork with rice.

The main reason I want to share my dinner is because Taste of China can do no wrong in my eyes. Served with creamy tofu, boiled egg and a really salty, rich sauce the fragrant pork was beautifully fatty and tender while the chilli flecked sweet vinegar dipping sauce added some sharpness that cut through the rich pork. Likewise the quick pickled carrot and radish.



I've mentioned before that I'm ambivalent about obun but I'm pretty easily talked into them. Tonight I ordered the red bean filling. The obun was obviously fresh but didn't have that tooth-achingly sweet caramel flavour I usually associate with red bean - underwhelming unfortunately.



Again, I know this is technically a dinner review but you could order this stuff for lunch too, so suck it up (both the food and your 'tude (that's gangsta for attitude) towards me reviewing outside my usual reviewing hours) - this was a pretty succinct posting.

Dozo Sushi Express, Pirie St

A conversation with a fellow twitterer (have we come to consensus on what we call people who tweet? Twitterers? Tweeters? Twits?) made me realise that Pirie St is a bit of a blind spot for me. To restore my eating vision I ventured off to Dozo Sushi Express for lunch.

Armed with the knowledge from a colleague that I should get a bento box and skip over the sushi I ordered the Japanese curry bento. Served with dumplings, potato salad, rice and pickles this was I promising looking lunch.



The easiest way to describe the Japanese chicken curry is to take you back to an Australian 1970's dinner party. In those days curry was virtually unknown to Australian diners and our attempts at cooking curry were clumsy - gritty and sickly sweet with a pinch of Keens Curry Powder more for colour than flavour (but no more than a pinch! For all we knew foreign spices could lead to... dancing), no chilli (dancing again presumably) and dotted with sultanas. The Japanese curry was just like this - except much, much better. No grittiness, the sweetness was handled with a deft touch, there certainly more flavour than a pinch of curry powder and more than a suggestion of heat, and no bloody sultanas. An excellent curry.



I love Japanese potato salad and this was a good one - rich, creamy and dotted with peas and corn. The crunchy yet creamy texture of the pickle was a pleasant surprise - I don't think I ever described a pickle as creamy before but this one definitely was. The miso soup was hot, salty and riddled with creamy tofu and seaweed.



The dumplings were a real disappointment. They were dry and cold and flavourless. The dough had the texture of cardboard and withered lump of meat inside had nothing to recommend it. There is no excuse to serve a dumpling this awful.

For 10 bucks a bento box at Dozo is a reasonable price for pretty tasty food - except for the awful, awful dumplings. The seating space is limited at Dozo so be prepared to either squish in, wait for seating or take your lunch away.

I noticed that Dozo has Japanese sandwiches on the menu. I have no idea what this would be but I'm curious enough that I'll be coming back to try these soon.

Taste of China and Obun Chef, Central Markets Food Court

After my wildly successful first trip to Taste of China (review available here: http://theofficeeater.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/taste-of-china-central-market-food.html) I wanted to share their delicious food with friends and family. Today I had lunch with a close mate whom I hadn't seen for some weeks. I suggested we have a taste of Taste of China for lunch.

On the the strength of my glowing recommendation he ordered the chowzhou style fried egg noodles (which, I should add, he loved). Remembering how juicy and tender the BBQ pork was last time I ordered the twice cooked pork with rice hoping for a repeat performance. I wasn't disappointed.



The twice cooked pork WAS my beloved BBQ pork - tender, juicy and sweet but stir-fried in a slightly spicy, savoury bean sauce with loads of crunchy celery, carrot, beansprouts and spring onions. Usually I don't eat all of the massive mountain of rice served up with most food court dishes but I didn't want to leave any sauce behind so drizzled it generously over my rapidly disappearing rice. I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I licked up the rest of the sauce with my fingers.

The sauce was quite rich so the crunchy pickles provided a refreshing contrast to the pork. Although my friend declared the lettuce broth to be delightful I once again rated it bland rather than refreshing.

This friend of mine has a weakness for obun. When he dines in the Market Food Court he likes to have a sweet obun to finish his meal. I'm not too fussed about them but there was a new flavour on offer at Obun Chef - lemon custard. Now, I do have a real weakness for lemon curd so I ordered an obun in the hope that the custard would have big citrus punch.



It didn't - it had a slight lemon tang. Not what I had hoped for but much better than the great ham and corn obun disaster of 2011 and certainly a flavour I'd order again.