Valentines' Day 2015

Valentines' Day 2015, our first as Husband and Wife, was a simple and quiet affair. We had a nice dinner at The Kettle & Tin, a quaint little shack of a cafe at Paddington. 

Photo credit to behance.net

Photo credit to kettleandtin.com.au

We were so glad that there wasn't a cheesy Valentines' Day set menu or overpriced crap like that, just a normal every day menu. I remember one Valentines' (I think in 2012 or 2013), we were in Singapore and made the mistake of dining at Dozo, a Japanese fusion food restaurant in Singapore, without first checking the price of the set menu. The bill came up to something like $200 or $300! Just so ridiculous. The food was total crap, not worth the amount we paid for, and the service was nary a hoot too.

So anyway, we left home at about 6pm to make our appointment at 6.30pm. We were pretty much the first customers for the evening, which was great because we didn't have to wait too long for the food to come. 

My OOTD of the night- something really simple for the casual night out:

Paired my monochromatic geometric top ($9.90 from Valleygirl) with my black go-to drawstring denims ($24.90 from Uniqlo) and a pair of Valentino-inspired rock studded white pointy pumps. My studded bag was from eBay, I think I paid about $10 for it. Love my dangly white shell earrings, I don't usually wear them because they're a little too dressy for everyday use.

We ordered 4 dishes- 3 mains and 1 dessert.

The first dish was:

"Twice-cooked pork shoulder with wombok slaw, miso, enoki, radish and sesame seeds".

This dish was okay but I found the pork quite tough and very overcooked. The meat was quite dry and the skin was quite chewy and difficult to cut through. The wombok slaw was also nothing to rave about, it tasted like just mayo and wombok simply put together. I probably wouldn't re-order this if I were to return.

The second dish was:

"350g Scotch fillet with cafe de paris butter, sweet potato fries and smoked mayo".

Now this dish was a game-changer. We had the fillet cooked medium to well-done but it was still moist, tender and juicy. For a non-beef eater, I really liked it! The sweet potato fries and the smoked mayo went really well with the meat. We would definitely come back here just to have this again for sure!

Pardon the bad picture, the sun had set by the time this got to our table. The beef in reality wasn't that pink. I made sure of it.

The third dish was:

"Crispy skin salmon with beetroot puree, asparagus, carrots, herb foam and petite herbs".

This was the worst dish out of the 3 that we had, and it was the most expensive too. The salmon was alright but I've had better (I prefer the salmon at Summit Restaurant at Mt Cootha, Toowong). Not only was it a small piece of fish, it just wasn't tasty at all. The bed of vegetables it was on, was nothing to rave about either. The beetroot puree was alright but the asparagus and the carrots were pretty nondescript. The saving grace of this dish was the herb foam, which is something unique- I've never had it before. It was light and fluffy with a hint of mint? I'm not sure what herbs are in there but it was pretty good. It actually tasted better with the beef fillet than with the salmon itself!

The last dish we had was dessert- we had the Sticky date Pudding. No pictures for this one though because it was really dark outside and as you would know, sticky date puddings are dark colored, so I couldn't get a decent shot of it. I didn't really like this dish, maybe others would appreciate the texture of the pudding but for me, I like it a little cake-like. This one tasted a little too chewy for my liking. They served it really piping hot so the 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream they put beside it melted into goo pretty quickly. That was a bummer. I think the best sticky date pudding I've had thus far is the one from Hurricane Ribs down at Surfers' Paradise.

Overall, I think the experience at the Kettle and Tin was pass-able. The service was top-notch, the waitresses were really friendly and attentive. Us being Asians, we usually don't get the same level of service that the Whites do in their country. I get that Asians can sometimes be a tad rude so sometimes, I find it hard to blame the Whites completely for looking at us through rose-tinted glass. Anyhow back to topic, I don't think it was so much the food here that made me give it a passing score, but the company of Mr. C that made the whole experience better. 

The scotch fillet, however, is enough to make me want to return.