Treehouse – Byron Bay

Another day, another Byron Bay gem.

This is the way we walked to the treehouse…

It’s actually quicker than walking through town a whole lot prettier.

The restaurant looks quite big but the actual inside isn’t huge they just have lots of beautiful outside space under the shade of parasols and trees.

The treehouse is famous for pizza, and even thought that’s what we went for and my Husband is obsessed we didn’t manage one. The breakfasts are also supposed to be great.

Like I have already mentioned we ate very well in Australia, so this we really wanted a light dinner. We ordered some dips to snack on, but the sourdough bread was so delicious we ended up eating quite a lot of it.

We also shared this amazing goats cheese salad with butternut squash and lots of pine nuts, very much like one I eat a lot at home. And then we were done!

But do go to Treehouse if you visit the Bay… and have a pizza for me. And definitely walk along the beach.

***Have just been informed that at the moment it is closed due to a fire, bad news! Hopefully by the time you visit they’ll be open again, I wish them luck***

St Elmo – Byron Bay

After leaving Brisbane we took a bus down to Byron Bay, after a quick 2 hour pain-free journey we arrived in the cutest town. I had never been here before but my husband has and I gather it has changed from a sleepy hippy backpackers beach spot into what it is today, a town that has that undercurrent but is full of swish bars, restaurants and chi chi boutiques.

Needless to say I loved it.

We arrived late in the afternoon starving and walked out to find dinner, stumbling across St Elmo I wish we had saved it for a night when we weren’t exhausted because we literally ate one course and left.

It’s a really cute open place, serving tapas as well as their a la carte and had a great wine list and a lot of glamorous girls were drinking delicious looking cocktails.

I had an amazing lamb dish, it was served so pink I had to send it back but the waiter dealt with this so well, and was so great at recommending a delicious glass of Australian wine.

My husbands steak was served with these amazing French inspired rustic potatoes with olives and rosemary. I of course had to steal one or two.

St Elmo - I later found out that Sarah Wilson, one of my favourite Australian bloggers lives near here and this is a spot she also recommends for a special dinner, and mentions the staff know their stuff. They really do. You should definitely put this on your list if you visit Byron Bay.

Salt – Brisbane

One of my resounding memories of the food in Australia is its freshness and slight differences in similar dishes made for the sunny life…

Like this breakfast which I have been recreating. Instead of a fry up and very filling and tasty eggs, bacon and avocado. Amazing.

Salt is one of those places that make you want the lifestyle here, very open you sit out on the deck or inside the airy restaurant on hot days drinking huge glasses of juice, or wine and just enjoy the sunshine.

On a very hungover morning we made it here and I had so much trouble deciding as all the breakfast dishes sounded amazing.

Breakfast pizza anyone? Some great ideas on this menu, and nothing you need a recipe for.

Amazing strawberry smoothies.

In the end I just copied everyone else.

It was so amazing, the best avocado I ever tasted. And ordinarily I don’t like hollandaise but this little drizzle of light sauce was great, no gloopy think stuff here.

Some weirdo’s got salmon, I used to be a person who chose salmon over bacon… that doesn’t happen anymore.

 
 Salt – Brisbane

Putahracsa – Hua Hin

Our next destination was Hua Hin, and our hotel was Putahrasca one of the best places we stayed in.

The food had a lot to do with this.

This was their beachside restaurant, a lovely cool and breezy place to eat lunch.

I ordered a crab and avocado salad on our first full day, simple and not Thai food but so fresh and perfect.

Another dish sampled was chicken with papaya salad. Again freshness and so well cooked. They make everything fresh to order so the food doesn’t fly out but it was always amazing.

Another recommendation was the stir fried chicken with chilli and basil, made super hot my husband loved this. I also highly recommend the prawn caesar salad eaten on our last day… it was so good there is no photograph. Huge juicy prawns and a light salad with a little of the perfect sauce.

The second restaurant was near our room and in the sheltered pool area and where breakfast was served.
  
One particularly sweltering day I refused to move from the pool side and ordered to my sun lounger.

My husband ordered a Pad Thai, and like I have mentioned measures a place against it. He did say it wasn’t the best he had eaten (or the biggest) but it came with all the right components and was good.

I ordered a club sandwich, fries and a sprite, boy was that a happy 15 minutes if I could transport myself back to that moment right now I would; poolside with french fries and sunshine.

And breakfast… well breakfast ruled. If I ate like this every day I would be living in the gym.

So I am gushing again, but I did love it here. You can eat in the restaurant by the beach even if you are not a guest and it is a great place to spend an evening, drinking cocktails on the huge day beds and then watching the sun go down while you eat… Putahracsa 

Check out my full post here

A Big Brunch, Potato Cakes with Smoked Salmon and Poached Eggs, Crispy Mushrooms and Roasted Tomatoes

My longest blog title ever.

In order to give you all a break from Thailand posts (I am nearly done I promise) and because we have a long weekend coming up I thought I would share some ideas for a big brunch.

I made this for my Husband and Mum on mother’s day and both dishes are easy and can be prepped in advance.

So quantities here are rough, I made double the potato mixture and ate them again the next day.

Potato Pancakes
You need for 2
2 medium potatoes
50-100 ml semi skimmed milk (add as little as this or more if you need it)
glug of olive oil
4 spring onions, chopped
seat salt and cracked black pepper

1. Boil your potatoes, I like to leave the skin on, until they are cooked through then mash with the olive oil and get them as smooth as you can. Warm your milk and add little by little mashing more as you go, this will give you even smoother mash (despite having skins in there), finally season and add the spring onions.

At this point I popped the mash in the fridge until the morning of the brunch, where I then shaped into little pancake shapes ready to fry.

2. Heat your frying pan with a little olive oil and fry for 3-4 minutes each side.

Done… easy!

I served these with some smoked salmon and poached eggs… I know I have talked about this before but these are Burford Brown eggs and they really are amazing.

One of my egg yolks actually separated from the white, but it still came out running and didn’t break. This so wouldn’t happen with normal eggs.

I served them with some Portobello mushrooms and tomatoes which I roasted in the oven for 25 minutes.

To make the mushrooms a little special I just sprinkles some herbed breadcrumbs on top. I mixed some dried oregano and basil in with the crumbs. Again simple, simple but something different to make the brunch feel special.