Ice and Slice

We found a fantastic gelateria et pizzeria called Ice and Slice, located at 135 King St (Broadway end), courtesy of the entertainment book. Coming with no expectations, we were overjoyed and delighted to see the many flavours of gelato on display at the entrance, and instantly knew we will have gelato for dessert.

We were led into the back room of the cafe where they had to clear a newly finished table for us because they were busy. We were hungry, therefore quite annoyed that we didn't get any table service. Then Peter realised we've got to order and pay at the counter. So we picked our pizza and gelato flavours (after long deliberation on flavours), and we impatiently waited while salivating at the steaming pizza at the table next to us.

After a short wait we got our prawn pizza (called The Queenslander) and Quattro Stagione which has ham salami olives cheese and mushrooms all mixed up. The pizzas, I swear, were up there with Napoli in Bocca standard. Thin, soft but chewy crust that wasn't charred and crispy like Gourmet Pizza Kitchen (which any pizza purist will never go near), and the toppings were fan-tabulous. The Queenslander is an off-putting name unfitting for the delicious pizza - Prawns were big sweet and fresh, quite unlike most of the seafood pizzas elsewhere (even Dolcissimo's seafood pizza used frozen prawns!!), and our Quattro Staggione was equally satisfying and mouth watering. And the cheese that just drags and clings and made our mouths water uncontrollably as we try to cut the stringy mozzarella away from the neighbouring slice (break, damn it, break!)

Made us think maybe we could have had a pizza each. Then again, we wanted to save room for gelato.

The gelato. Oh the gelato. I haven't had these flavours for years and I'd almost forgotten how yummy they tasted. Silky smooth, rich in flavour but not heavy or overly sweet, aromatic hazelnut, rummy rum and raisin, and the pistachio, oh that pistachio, no wonder pistachio is one of THE gelato flavours to have. And it left us wanting more despite feeling rather full already.

Pizzas were about $15 on average and gelato was $6.10 for 3 scoops. They also do sundaes ($7.90) such as banana boat and peach melba and other tantalizing mix of flavours (one of them a "vanilla bean gelato spaghetti"). They also do desserts such as tiramisu and baked cheesecake. The waffle with maple syrup and vanilla gelato looked attractive too but not sure how good the waffle is considering its not freshly made. Only trouble is finding parking, so car pool or try public transport. But it doesn't matter. This place is excellent value, hugely satisfying, and I would definitely come back for more.

Sorry, no photos as we weren't expecting fine dining. Besides, it'll be impossible to photograph a fantastic pizza while you're starving. I'm sure you understand.....

Blue Eye Dragon revisited

Back for a late supper after salsa - and we ordered a scallops stir fried with XO sauce and fried chicken with basil and five spices again, simply because it was light and delicious. The scallops were huge, plump and tender, flavour was light and nothing like the usual XO sauce flavoured dishes that are often too spicy and greasy. This dish was simply cooked to perfection. Although in my opinion the presentation of this dish was too simple, it tasted better than it looked. The chicken was as good as we remembered it. And we couldn't resist the smooth and creamy Movenpick ice cream - fantastic way to end the meal.

Thai Princess

The usual Friday night, post-salsa hunger. Where to tonight? "Lets go to that Thai place next to Cindy's friend's restaurant!" (http://www.thaiprincess.com.au/)

Alright I wasn't particularly hungry thanks to my cuppa soup before leaving uni (ahh the simple pleasures of artificial flavouring in a cup), and neither was Jean, so we only ordered 2 things among the 3 of us. Pad Thai with tofu, and stir fried chicken with chilli and basil.

Fabulous Pad Thai. The tofu is still soft and moist on the inside and crispy and flavoursome on the outside, while the noodles were 'al dante' (eh, in want of a Thai version to describe the perfect noodle texture!!) and flavour not just your usual take-away sweet-tangy Pad Thai. Chilli basil chicken was also more than satisfactory - I would have soaked up all the sauce (spicy but not firey, thank heavens) with more rice if I were starving... And we enjoyed the piles of basil buried under the piles of chicken too. And, although it didn't seem like a lot of food when it first came, we were STUFFED at the end because the portions were deceivingly large! They really packed it onto the plates!

Our friendly waitress was very attentive and chatty (probably because we kept asking her how hot our dishes are) and walked us to the door - very nice! She also reminds me of a dear friend who's soft spoken, petite and very friendly, so we left the restaurant with that "we'll be back" mentality! And they didn't mark the Entertainment card so we get to use the discount again! YAY!

(I promise to return to La Brasserie, which is right next door, I promise... some day....)