WARNING! Do not read without having anything to munch on at hand!
When the boys got back, they headed straight for SAB. I stayed back to rest some more.
I have it on good authority (my doctors’) that the best thing you can do when you’re sick is to rest, stay in bed and dose up on chicken soup. It’s such a pity that I’ve never been good at following advice! I figured that I still had to eat and there was no sign of good chicken soup around.
So, after their swim, we decided to head out and check out the Boardwalk.
We walked round Crescent Lake.
And were pleased to find signs of local wildlife.
And there were even some along the lake.
The Boardwalk promised another fun-filled night of discovery ahead for us.
And it didn’t disappoint. We enjoyed going in all the shops and watching the street entertainers at the Boardwalk, whilst we were checking out an appropriate place for us to eat.
It was a close call with the Flying Fish but we decided that we wanted to hob-nob with the celebrity Iron Chef tonight.
We had been advised that there would be a 30-minute wait for the table and were handed our buzzer.
It ended up being less than 10 minutes.
We were seated where we could see the kitchen flames.
After checking out the Dessert Menu first, we ended up deciding on ordering Appetizers and Entrée.
DH stuck with his vegetarian diet and chose Spiro’s Greek Salad.
Easily the best salad we’ve had on this trip. Such a shame we didn’t get to meet Spiro to thank him!
DS was happy with the Kouzzina Spreads of pita bread, harissa yoghurt, kalamata fig and chickpea hoummus dips.
We were pretty pleased to share in the leftovers!
I picked the Saganaki….only about 1/3 of the serving is shown here.
Melbourne (Australia) is arguably the food capital of Australia and we are spoilt for food choices. There is a pretty large Greek population in Melbourne and we’ve had saganaki - not just in Greece, and the Greek restaurants in Melbourne, but also homemade by our Melbourne Greek friends. So, we know that Saganaki is all about the cheese and the blend of lemon juice and herbs used for balance and flavour to go with a mouthful of salt! On the All-Ears menu, it states that the dish is comprised of seared Halloumi Cheese with Lemon and Oregano.
Our CM at Kouzzina told us that the kitchen had been experimenting the Saganaki and was using Kefalograviera cheese (which is the cheese that our Greek friends use); and, as well as lemon juice and oregano, they had also added capers to the dish.
Although the bread was a little tough, this Saganaki was the best individual dish we had on this trip. It was really delicious!
We could have easily left the restaurant at this stage. The appertizer servings had been huge….and then entrée was served!
DH ordered the Spiced Briami; Oven-roasted Vegetables, Oregano, Mazithra Cheese served with Herbed Orzo.
This was excellent and full of flavour.
DS ordered the Pastitsio; Greek-style Lasagna with Bucatini Pasta, Cinnamon-stewed Meat Sauce, and Bechamel.
Easily the pick of the night and it was such a big meal that we boxed roughly 1/3 of it to take back with us. The meat sauce was delicately flavoured by the cinnamon and there was an unctuousness about the whole dish that just left you wanting more.
I had the Wood grilled Flank Steak - with fresh Herb Saltsa and Kouzzina Potatoes. I order the meat medium rare.
I hadn’t had much meat to date and looked forward to my steak. Unfortunately, the steak didn’t quite match my expectations. You may not be able to tell from the picture but the outside of the steak was a little bit burnt (perhaps they might need to tone down the flames in the kitchen) and I ended up with a medium/well-done steak. The herb saltsa was delicious, although it had a little bit too much garlic for my tastes, and it was a perfect accompaniment for the steak. The potatoes were not cooked to my taste; I thought they were a little soggy (I don't know how you make soggy potatoes but they were!), so I didn't end up eating them.
We walked back to the BCV whilst taking in the sights of the Boardwalk lit up at night.
We enjoyed the ambience and theming of the Boardwalk.
(That’s our leftover boxed dinner in DS’s hands.)
Whilst not as green as POR, there were still patches of grass at the Boardwalk.
We also checked out the entertainment on offer at the beach…
G-Force was showing on this night.
For us, the highlight of the BCV is the 2 acres of real estate dedicated to Storm Along Bay, with the sand bottom pools.
It was such a shame that the main slide was closed for refurbishment. This baby slide just didn’t cut it with DS.
But, we loved the lazy river and ended up spending 2 or 3 afternoons here.
We also tried very hard not to get sucked in by the whirlpool, without much success. We just kept going round in circles!
And in the quietness of the night, this resort also felt like…home.
[Up next – Whoops! We forgot the Mother's Day and Birthday presents…and another DisMeet]