Roses Family Restaurant (Lebanese), Cooma

Kebabs and fattoush, Roses Family Restaurant, Cooma

The Style: The style at Roses Family Restaurant is mercifuly under-done. Unlike some Lebanese Restaurants  where there are so many plates, carpets and other artefacts hanging from the walls that you are put off your meal by the clashing cacophony of colours, Roses has mercifully few - just enough that there are some nice splashes of colour and character.


The Taste: Oh, the flavour! Roses Family Restaurant provides classic Lebanese meals that pack a huge flavour punch. The salads are fresh and zingy, the meats are tender and marvellously seasoned, the dips are like little bowls of heaven. The tasting plates provide a good overview of the menu but if you order one, make sure you have a big appetite as the servings are very generous. Make sure you save a little bit of room for dessert too - my favourite is the velvety delicious kunefe but the restaurant also has a special signature dessert - the drunken soldier - which is popular with the locals.

Kibbeh, fattoush, bean salad and dips, Roses Family Restaurant

Roses Family Restaurant, Cooma

Kunefe, Roses Family Restaurant, Cooma

The Service - When you eat at Roses, it  is really like being part of a big family - Tony and the team will make you feel like nothing is too much. The hospitality is almost as amazing as the food! Roses also has a belly dancer perform occasionally which adds to the fun of it all. (A word of warning - if you visit on one of these nights, be prepared to get up and shake your booty between courses!)


The Location: Roses Family Restaurant is located on Massie Street in Cooma (opposite the park).

Vegetarian tasting plate, Roses Family Restaurant, Cooma

Lebanese Coffee, Roses Family Restaurant, Cooma

Baklava and Turkish Delight, Roses Family Restaurant, Cooma

Pha's Thai Kitchen, Cooma

Chicken laksa, Pha's Thai Kitchen, Cooma

Thai beef salad, Pha's Thai Kitchen, Cooma

The Style: Pha's Thai Kitchen is perched on the second floor of a building and the experience starts as you get to the top of the stairs - there is a water feature and a welcoming red door which gives a little glimpse of cosy lights that entice you in. The decor is understated but has some nice Thai touches and the lack of gaudiness is refreshing - it definitely doesn't try to hard and lets the food do the talking.

Interior, Pha's Thai Kitchen, Cooma

Massaman curry, Pha's Thai Kitchen, Cooma

The taste: If you go to Pha's, be warned - you will want to keep on coming back! It is absolutely delicious and it is great to see such good Thai food being dished up in country NSW where far too many places serve up processed meat and canned veges floating in fluorescent sauce. Pha's is far removed from that with the smells and flavours seriously bursting out of the food. My favourite so far is the laksa but there has not been a disappointing bite - a deep, earthy massamum curry, fresh vibrant green curry and a Thai beef salad that sings on the taste buds... 

Green Curry, Pha's Thai Kitchen, Cooma

Cashew nut chilli jam chicken, Pha's Thai Kitchen, Cooma

Mixed entree, Pha's Thai Kitchen, Cooma

The service: The service at Pha's Thai kitchen most definitely comes with a smile - nothing is too difficult for the staff and rather than making everything bland, they accommodate different heat levels to suit your taste buds. The food comes out reasonably quickly but being anew kid on the block, it can get quite busy.


The cost: Entrees at Pha's Thai Kitchen are from $8-10 and mains range from $13.90 - $20.90. The serving size is reasonable.


The location: Pha's Thai Kitchen is located at 121 Sharp Street, Cooma (upstairs next to the Visitor's Centre).

Pha's Thai Kitchen, Cooma

Pha's Thai Kitchen, Cooma

Useful links: Pha's Kitchen website

Kettle and Seed/Snowy Mountains Coffee, Cooma

Banana bread fresh-baked at Kettle and Seed, Cooma

The Style:Kettle and Seed manages a unique combination of edgy and quaint. There are really cool touches like a string of coffee cups hovering gamely above the front window as well as some great art on the walls and charts explaining different coffee flavours. The sweetness of the place comes from touches like the type of coffee ordered being handwritten in flowing script on your saucer and sugar bowls and spoons just like something straight from nanna's kitchen replacing the less appealing glass stuffed with sugar sachets. There is a real focus on eco-friendliness refelcted not only in the sugar bowl idea but also the re-usable cups on sale and the 'green' takeaway cups. The back of the cafe is dominated by a huge roaster which serves as a reminder that the coffee at Kettle and Seed is brewed and roasted on-site. It is sold as SNowy Mountains Coffee so if you love it (which you most certainly will!) you can take a bag home with you.

The Taste:The local flavour continues not only with the coffee roasted on-site but also the muffins cakes and other sweet treats baked in the kitchen daily, the bread brought in from the nearby Berridale Bakery and the house-made lemonade and iced tea. Nothing here is short on freshness or flavour.

Oh-so-chocolatey muffin baked on-site, Kettle and Seed, Cooma

Snowy Mountains Coffee roasted right here, Kettle and Seed, Cooma

Sugar bowl and coffee beans, Kettle and Seed, Cooma

The Service: The staff here know and love their products and they take the time to chat without being overbearing and pushy. The service is slick and comes with a smile.

The Price: Considering the quality and care that goes into what you get at Kettle and Seed, the prices are great. It is right on par with other cafes in the area for pricing.

The Location: Kettle and Seed and Snowy Mountains Coffee is located on Vale Street in Cooma (just off the Highway).

Home made lemonade, Kettle and Seed, Cooma

To see more reviews of Kettle and Seed and other restaurants in the area, use the urbanspoon spoonback link.

Seasons in the NSW Snowy Mountains

Snowgum blanketed in snow, Charlotte Pass, Kosciuszko National Park

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be strolling through the mountains as a huge storm slowly crowded out the bright blue summer sky. There was the smell of electricity in the air and the sound of thunder rattling through the peaks rustling up the thick blanket of grass which carpeted the hills.

What a difference a few weeks in the mountains makes! Autumn has arrived with a shiver and as the leaves are blazing red, orange and yellow in town, the fashionable colour in higher altitudes this week is definitely white. 

I had a facial that money can't buy courtesy of the mountain winds blowing sleet into my face (strangely invigorating!) and haven't felt so alive in a long time. The snow gums were doing their best to brighten the view and certainly didn't disappoint in their fluffy blankets of fresh snow. 

What an amazing reminder of how beautiful this little corner of the world I call home is! 

Snowy outlook from Charlotte Pass toward the Snowy River

              

Snow clinging to boulder, Kosciuszko National Park

Sydney Writers' Centre Best Australian Blogs 2012 Nominee!!

Just a little note to let you know One Hungry Hen is a nominee in the Sydney Writers' Centre Best Australian Blogs 2012 competition.


As an absolute beginner in the blogosphere, I see this is a great chance to look at what all of the other clever Aussie bloggers are up to and get some ideas on how to refine what I am up to. I am hoping to re-focus and rejuvenate my little project to keep it interesting and relevant.


If you want to vote for One Hungry Hen (PLEASE!), I have attached the link here.


Once you get there, hit next. There is an alphabetical list of blogs so to find me, you will have to skip through to the O page. Once done, keep hitting next until you get to the end where you need to verify that you are actually you, not just me voting for myself over and over. Don't forget to hit 'done' at the end so your vote counts! The whole thing takes about a minute so a pretty painless way to stay on my Christmas card list.


While you are there, there are another 1023 blogs listed so if any jump out, why not pay them a visit and if you like them, send a vote their way too! 

Your votes make me this happy!

Cooma Show

Cooma Show champion ribbon

I'm a real sucker for shows. I think it stems back to my childhood when my mum and my aunty took me to the Sydney Royal Easter Show every year. I can remember spending hours trawling my way through mountains of sugary, fatty once a year treats (I still think deep fried cheese on a stick has to be one of the all time best bad foods!), looking at the animals all sleek, shiny and ready to be judged then, right at the end of the day, wandering around the gargantuan show bag hall. Through the eyes of a child, the bright plastic trinkets and lollies pinned to the display boards became immediate must-have items and luckily, mum usually gave in and obliged.

While the country shows I have stumbled across since moving west are on a much smaller scale, they still offer the chance to be a kid again even if it is just for a few hours.

Each country shows also offer a little window into the community which is hosting  it - you get to see the beady eyed stalwarts guarding the exhibitions and casting a critical eye over the entries as well as some of the talented and creative local people proudly hovering around their animals, crafts or cakes in the hope that they might get a ribbon or two.

So in the spirit of the shows, here are a few pictures from the recent Cooma Show - it fell right in the middle of some absolutely terrible weather so a lot of the exhibits were cancelled but there was still plenty to see and do. Enjoy.

Prize winning ram, Cooma Show

Floral display, Cooma Show

Champion eggs, Cooma Show

Australian Federation Guard, Cooma Show

Her Excellency, Governor General Quentin Bryce, Cooma Show

Fruit and vegetable display, Cooma Show

Champion Fleece, Cooma Show

Showbags galore! Cooma Show

Sideshow alley, Cooma Show

Tasty treats?? Cooma Show

Cooma Show

Best seat in the house, chicken snuggling on a sheep, Cooma Show

Ram, Cooma Show

Bacco Italian Restaurant and Bacco Pizzeria, Jindabyne, NSW

Rocket and prosciutto pizza, Bacco, Jindabyne

The Style: Bacco Italian Restaurant in Jindabyne is a cosy, simply furnished restaurant although it does have a pretty eye-catching replica of Michelangelo's 'The Creation of Adam' which dominates the area above the bar. There is warm wood panelling and some coloured glass in the rear windows but other than that, the food does the talking rather than the interior.

Tacky or terrific? Artwork at Bacco Italian Restaurant, Jindabyne

Bacco Italian Restaurant, Jindabyne

The Taste: There are two Baccos - one is a more casual pizza restaurant, the other has a fuller menu. The food comes in portions which are huge - my salad entree could have easily held its own as a main. The food here is laced with lashings of dressing, garlic, salt and other yummy things but in a couple of the dishes it bordered on being a bit too much.


The food is not served in delicate, fussy portions. It is more homely and hearty which bodes well on a cold winter day. Come to Bacco if you are after generous, no fuss food, probably steer clear if you are expecting a flashy meal.

Seafood chowder, Bacco Italian Restaurant, Jindabyne 

Pear and prosciutto salad, Bacco Italian Restaurant, Jindabyne

Marinara Pizza, Bacco Italian Restaurant, Jindabyne.

The Service: The service at Bacco in Jindabyne can be SLOW. On my most recent visit, there were only three occupied tables but we waited almost an hour between courses. The plus was that the waitress came and explained the reason for the delay and offered a complimentary drink while we waited.


The price: Meals at Bacco are priced around $15-$20 for a main course, slightly less for entrees and desserts.

Passionfruit pannacotta, Bacco Italian Restaurant, Jindabyne

Brandy snap basket, Bacco Italian Restaurant, Jindabyne

The Location: Bacco Italian Restaurant and Bacco Pizzeria are located in the Nuggets Crossing complex in Jindabyne. Nuggets Crossing is off Kosciuszko Road, Jindabyne.