Useful eating plans for a healthy weight

There are plenty of useful, well balanced eating plans around to help plan meals and snacks for a healthy weight, but a few free and easy to use plans from Meat and Livestock Australia are the Look Good, Feel Good plan for young woman, the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet and the Live Well Plan for adults up to 50.

Fish & Chips at Pickled Octapus Cafe, Tuross Heads, South Coast

The Pickled Octapus Cafe at Tuross Heads on the South Coast offers a good casual fish and chips option with a great view and lovely setting.

Upstairs is a more upmarket dining option (mains around $24, corkage $10) which is lovely, but it’s also good to have an equally nice, more relaxed and less expensive option, especially if dining with kids.

Downstairs you can grab a table from 6pm to about 8pm (it finishes earlier if it’s busy) and order take away which includes..

…two yummy pieces of fish with chips for $12.50…

…very nice calamari (although not as good value as the fish and chips) for $10…

….and a Greek salad for $8.

…downstairs BYO is $6 per bottle and glasses are provided.

Prices are similar to Obriens Boatshed next door, although Obriens has a wider menu, ice creams for dessert and doesn’t charge corkage (take your own glasses though). Obriens is also open earlier, from 7am but also closes about 8pm.

Neither spot is book able so go early if it’s a busy time at the coast.

Fox and Bow, Farrer, a top Woden lunch spot

Fox and Bow is a new-comer to the southside dining scene, having only opened four months ago at the Farrer shops but quickly making it’s mark as a top pick.

It’s a delightful addition to the Woden weekday lunch options, offering a lovely open and stylish setting that is particularly nice in good weather, but certainly will be cozy and welcoming when it becomes colder.

The welcome and hospitality of host Alex is warm and memorable. He is keen that you try his carefully prepared coffee, so much so that it’s not unusual for him to even provide a complimentary cup so you don’t miss out.

The all day brunch menu is full of well priced interesting, creative and original dishes that combine flavours, textures and colours beautifully.

Serve sizes are generous and easily shared to try a wider range of taste experiences.

There are also some good value smoothies and shakes on offer that sound and look amazing and a range of slices and cakes.

Within easy driving distance of the Woden business precinct, it is obviously already immensely popular so it’s a good idea to book ahead.

Open daily, 7am-4pm weekdays and 8am-3:30pm weekends.

El Cubano $13 – Cuban sandwich of slow cooked mojo pork shoulder, shaved ham, raclette cheese, American mustard and pickles served with a side salad – a truly delicious combination of flavours, that is way too good to only order once.

Many thanks Sweet Little Pecan $14.50 – Honey roasted sweet potato, avocado, grilled haloumi, BBQ’d corn, roast peppers, toasted pecans and lime – a wonderful combination of textures (especially the corn and pecans), flavours (particularly the haloumi) and colours

Chong Co, Westfield Woden

There are two Chong Co restaurants in Woden, one in the Southern Cross Club and one of the Corinna side of Westfield. The Westfield option is cheaper,and while the atmosphere is nice as nice as the SCC, it is still very pleasant and has outdoor seating that is especially nice in the good weather.

Serve sizes are particularly generous and great for sharing.
Three dishes from the main menu and two serves of rice ($3 per serve) is plenty for six ( about $10.50 each).
The Pork with Prik Khing is especially good $17.90 but chicken is probably a better meat to pick.

Chicken with Malay Sauce, $17.90, is also good.

Mixed seafood with lemongrass, $20.90, includes two prawns, two calamari tubes, two mussels and one scallop, but is not as good as the other two dishes.

A takeaway container is happily provided for leftovers.

Akiba, Canberra City, weekend Yum Cha

Akiba, Canberra City has an a la carte menu with some delicious choices, but on weekends a short version is still available, but it complimented by rotating options on the Yum Cha trolley.

Around 9 different types of dumplings ($10 for 4 pieces) are offered along with a small range of other dishes.

The creative dumplings are complimented by some very flavourful and wonderful dressings. Possibly the best could be the Chicken Shumai with Yauzu mayonnaise.. also available steamed

..but the Shitaki mushroom and water chestnut dumpling with red vinegar and chill oil are very good too.

Other options include the Satay pork dumpling with Satay sauce (very delicious)

Fried prawn Wontons

Lamb and mint dumplings

The mango and coconut sticky rice with macadamia and palm sugar ice-cream is a delicious way to finish.

Jasmine tea is complimentary.

Akiba is also much quieter and less busy on Sundays than during the weekend when it very popular with city workers.

Akiba, Canbera City, a la carte has some delicious picks

Akiba on Bunda Street in the City, is a relative new comer, having only opened it’s doors late last year. Connected with Sage Restaurant in Ainslie, it is hugely popular for lunch during the week and it pays to book (which is easiest on-line).

The fit out is appealing, casual with style. Service is slick and attentive (you need to be a bit assertive if you want to linger and savour tastes, pacing dishes more slowly).

Both the indoor and outdoor seating are good choices.

Staff and management are very keen to get customer feedback and the benefit of this is that they are very knowledgable about what is popular (and good). Their recommendations are trustworthy.

The Asian themed a la carte menu covers a range of ‘snacks and street food’, ‘raw’ (Japanese styled) dishes’, ‘share plates’ and desserts ranging from about $8 to $28. There are lots of choices in the $8-$12 range. The menu is designed for a number of dishes to be ordered and combined/shared.

This is handy as it gives you flexibility to order according to your appetite and budget and to just pick out your favourites. However, it can be expensive if you are very hungry as serves are not so large. There is also no BYO option.

Excellent choices (with exquisite flavours) are ….the soft buns…

Soft shell crab bun with pickled baby gem and creamy ponzu $9 each

Pork belly bun with char sui sauce and asian slaw $8 each ( a little like a traditional steamed BBQ pork bun)

…and the mango and coconut sticky rice, macadamia and palm sugar cream $9 (this is just so good)

other good a la carte choices are..

…indian spiced cauliflower, tea soaked raisins, baby spinach $10 (which has a delicious smokey flavoured dressing)

…and the shiitake and water chestnut dumplings with ginger and black vinegar dressing $10 for 4 pieces.

I suspect the other (well priced) desserts are delicious too (and certainly other seemed to be loving the chocolate coffee tart with shiso pickled strawberry $9.

The kimchi and angasi pancake with kewpie mayo, sriracha and itogaki ($8 for 2 pieces) sounds inviting too.

However, the korean sticky lamb ribs with sumac, while having a delicious flavour, are very fatty $14.

Yum Cha is available also on weekends 11-3pm for about $10 per 4 dumplings and sometimes the trolley turns up on weekdays too.

Mandalay Bus, more great sharing options

While evenings are still warm, it’s still hard to beat the Mandalay Bus for a very casual, great value weeknight meal.

Take a candle along with wine, glasses a few extra sharing plates, some folding chairs and a make shift table and you’re set for a relaxing evening.

All options on the menu are great and suitable for sharing if you also bring a sharp knife, but a few worth considering are the… (again) spicy pork tortilla $10

Prawn twisters (7 for $9) (great with ranch dressing and sweet chilli sauce)

Burmese Calamari Salad $10

Don’t forget to add the yummy sauces that are available.

..and sharing a crepe with marshmellow, Nutella, peanut butter and banana $6 is a perfect end to the meal (unless of course you are planning to head across to the Frugii Dessert Laboratory).

‘Don’t miss’ Wat Phra Doi Suthep Temple Chiang Mai

One of the best things to do in Chiang Mai is to visit the Wat Phra Doi Suthep Temple. While it’s only about 40 mins away from the centre of town it’s good to take a taxi for around $30US return and allow around four hours total travel and exploring time. If you can time it to be there are sunset, the temple is most beautiful as it’s lights come on.

Cooking at home cooking class

Cooking@home cooking classes in Chiang Mai are well run by two engaging sisters who first start with a market tour. The rural location is a gorgeous setting to enjoy your meal and the hands-on facilities are excellent.