Race, Brunch, Repeat

Monday - HuRTS MLR

Finally my bike is back in one piece. Thought myself clever enough to remove the wheel, replace the tube. Couldn't figure out how to refit the back wheel and called in the missus to help.

Worked a charm, meaning I enjoyed a double commute on the saddle.

Fairly solid turnaround for the HuRTS wharves run at lunch. Pace was expectantly easy. Good to see a few familiar faces including Brendan, John B, John W, Erika and Darren. Passed Renee and James on the return around Opera House.

Tuesday - Bay Run

Enjoyed the luxury of the Bay Run (rather than running to work). Grabbed the dog Molly for her 2nd ever run. She survived remarkably well for 8km. Good potential as a long run partner I think.

Didn't realise Cavoodles had good endurance genetics.

Adding the 6km run home, 15km for the day.

Molly at the Bay Run

Straddled on a T-intersection along Bondi North, this corner carries many demons. Each August in the City to Surf, you're fighting a 14km losing battle starting from Hyde Park. Heartbreak Hill has just stabbed you in the chest with a fork.

Roaring crowds, salty smell of the beach ...the tape must be 200m away!

Sadly that thought is as premature (and sinful) as 9 year old wearing eyeliner. Still 2km of pain before that celebratory sausage sizzle at the finishing chute.

Porch and Parlour

The young crowds swarm Porch and Parlour early on a Sunday. Indifferent staff, 30 min table wait plus 40 min for the food. Hanger-ridden heartbreak.

Porch and Parlour - camera shy patrons

The missus and I, joined by dog Molly start with a Chai tea. Just like Matt Hayden (in Cricket), a tried and tested opener.

Honey-infused chai tea with almond milk - $4.50

Limited menu, quality produce, lots of eggs and prepared with a twist. Our pre-agreed mandate is to critique the legendary Pea Pancakes and Devil's Breakfast.

Green Pea Pancake with egg, avocado, feta and salad plus grilled trout - $17 + $7

Adding trout to pancakes is on good authority. Here's a fact - eggs, trout and avo is a guaranteed menage et trois in the mouth. Add richly stock-seasoned peas and this is happiness.

Pancake rating? Great colour, pleasing crispiness and an unexpected rough interior. A high density almost left me craving fluffy pancakes in the aftermath.

Despite being well balanced and an optical pleasure, I became emotionally disengaged with each bite. No where near magical enough to repay 3 months of anticipation.

Egg yolk oozing onto the trout and pea pancake

Though the poaching job was solid, the twin shame was just one lonely egg and a hobbit trout (i.e. too small).

Devil's Breakfast - paprika and chilli coated eggs, chorizo, beans, potato and toast - $22

In essence, this was a heavily spiced chorizo-infused baked eggs dish on steroids. The oils from the sausage carried into the beans and sausage.

Only negative was fried potato under-delivering on crunchiness. At $22, I can't excuse the chef thinking one sourdough slice was acceptable.

No doubt a tasty dish for a stomach craving a warm hearty meal with a matching palate that likes a kick.

Other interesting choice was the Green Breaky Bowl. Didn't get to try but the adjacent table did.

Green Breaky Bowl - kale, spinach, quinoa, eggs and avocado - $16.50

Overall this brunch was certainly pleasant, healthy and satisfying enough. Now add the ridiculous wait time, poor service quality and premium pricing.

Very rustic fitout - highly appealing to the Bondi hipsters

My score summary speaks the truth:

Food - 8/10 - winning brunch staples combined with freshness, seasoning and technique.
Value - 6/10 - adequate servings but not impressive enough to warrant >$20.
Other - 6/10 - the service, wait time and awkward outdoor seating compromised the pleasure of a lazy Sunday brunch.
Overall - 7/10 - left mildly happy. Worth a visit only if you're a local.

Will I be returning?
Not for the food. Possibly only for a post City to Surf feed.

With a pending brunch in Bondi, I was highly motivated to work up a serious appetite. Food tastes best when one is hungry. Fact.

Wanted to join the HuRTS 7am group starting at Kiosk. Leaving the house at 6:27am left me 33 min to get to the Kiosk (8km away). Hence the precedent was set for an unusually hard run, with pacing moving to sub 4:30 min/km once I hit Paramatta Road.

Arrived 3 min late, no one to be seen! Where did they go? I set out solo on the initial clockwise course squinting the eyes. Pace quickened to perhaps 4 min/km in the hope I'd catch the crowd. No luck, and the remaining 20k was fairly uneventful.

The beauty of Centennial is how little time is spent on road.... great for the legs.

Centennial Park

Wandered around Centennial, Queen's Park and dirt track surrounds as the km's ticked over. Some good splits for a 'lazy Sunday'.

32km all up in 2:17, or 4:15 min/km. 

I'd say Thursday's speed left a few niggles in the left foot again. Yesterday I linked up with Conway for a Hickson easy run. Looks like he's back from PF issues.

So this morning it was hard to say no to a lazy Bay Run recovery. Threw in a few sets of push-ups along the way, but finished the 12km in 69 min.

Long run tomorrow, likely Centennial or Striders (Concord).

My initial visit to Shenkin Kitchen was a resounding success. They say don't fix something that is not broken; hence a revisit (now with 6 mouths to feed) was due.

Photo journey below and the 9.5/10 was reconfirmed.

Shenkin clipboard menu

 Had The Bite last time. Falafel crust giving way to a creamy centre is magic.

The Bite - avocado falafel ball with roasted mushroom and sourdough - $16

 Chicken plus baked/grilled eggplant. Very filling, tasty but not life changing.

Twice cooked eggplant with chicken and Israeli salad - $17

Egg, eggplant and filo pastry....no surprises to the flavours. Solid execution.

First session in 6 weeks and I came away feeling extremely proud.

I've been avoiding proper intervals / quality since Feb using every excuse in the book - taper, reverse taper, niggles etc. Lucky Charlie D dragged me along else I'd be doing 6 min/km around Hickson Wharves.

20 min of hill reps on the grass near the Art Gallery. Big turnout of maybe 25, including Bruce, Steve, Champ, Pete W and Renee. None of the faster guys turned up so this left me to set the pace. Felt stronger and stronger as the minutes ticked. Great motivation always having people to chase.

Post 6FT and my TAS running, I'm really starting to embrace hills. No signs of quad fatigue, implying improvement vs 6 months ago. Covered 5.0km in the 20 min.

2nd half is a 5km tempo around Mrs M Chair. Started at an easy 3:50s pace and progressively finished at 3:30s. The only company I had was Tom Tom from Manly. Again no signs of leg fatigue.

6km run into work plus 12km at lunch. Feeling great.

Monday - LR via Lane Cove

With the folks back in town, I decided half way through a morning Bay Run recovery to head over to Artarmon for an overdue visit. For me of course, this means via foot (not car). Covered exactly 21.1km crossing Gladesville Bride then some back streets through Lane Cove.

The perfect half distance was completed via bizarre-looking zig-zagging outside the house. Simply wanted to complete the Strava Half Marathon challenge for April.

Tuesday - Rushcutters

What started as a pretty mild 'easy' run with Wooey down to Rushcutters turned into something quite different. 3 sets of 10 double push-up burpees before we cut the run short directly across the Domain. Weather deteriorated in matter of minutes and so did my enjoyment-level.

Left soaked, shivering and miserably after completing the 12km. With the 6km run to work, it was 18km for the day.

Thursday - Swansea farmland

Out at the crack of dawn for my last chance to explore Swansea. Did a lazy 12km south of the sleepy town. Hit several dead ends, found a few little hills and applied corresponding surges. Left foot felt a little funny again. Hence the low mileage day.

12km all up at 5:35 min/km.

Friday - Launceston Cataract Gorcge and Cradle Mountain

First observation in Launceston is this is one bloody hilly town. Today's run started along the pier walkway before diving straight into the trails of Cataract Gorge.

Launceston

Found a track to a hydro power station saying '2.5 hours return'. After many stairs, rocks and hills I found my way back in 35 min. 500m elevation change over 17km.

Cradle Mountain - Dove Lake walk

Did the double by driving out to Cradle Mountain with Lorie and strolling around Dove Lake. Tempting to have a go at climbing Cradle Mountain itself, but not fair to the missus. The 8 hour full day walk might still take me 2 hours.

Saturday - Launceston hills

Last full day in Launceston and I ran southwards into many unknown hills. The 300m elevation change felt a lot worse. Got back having covered 12km at 5:30 min/km.

Tasmania has bred several quality runners over the years. Having been 'chicked' by a local just two weeks ago (Six Foot Track), I was intrigued. The hills, the food, or both?

I flew down to Hobart just to investigate; armed with fresh legs, an empty stomach and a generous food budget.

Machine Laundry Cafe, Hobart (29 March 2015)

Machine Laundry Cafe, Hobart

Brunch #1 is crammed into the corner of Salamanca Square. Per the name, Machine Laundry Cafe combines a laundromat and cafe. Just like a Thai Ladyboy, this is the Tassie take on functional confusion.

Blackboard specials

Choices are breakfast staples with a twist. Whilst rare to see a non-vegetarian non-burger joint cook a decent lentil pattie, this is the risk I take.

Spiced lentil and vegetable pattie on seeded sourdough - $17

Picture a 150kg man riding a kid's tricycle or alternatively, a sub-40kg woman giving her husband (almost 2x the weight) a piggyback up a flight of stairs. Though the later has happened twice, neither ended in divorce. These images speak to the relativity of a monster pattie to the sourdough. I had to eat fast to rescue the poor bread.

Pickled veggie garnish on top of the lentil pattie

Lucky it tasted excellent. Centre was as warm and silky as mash potato and the sweet kick from candied chillis combined with salty capers kept each mouthful entertaining. In short a well spent $17 remedy for long-run-induced hunger.

With two pancake options, Lorie's next move is laughably predictable.

Parmesan pancakes with pancetta and chiili tomato salsa - $16

A 'bacon-effect' is delivered via pancetta, which avoids making this dish too heavy. Crispy outside but very fluffy inside. Well executed again.

Dunking bite-sized pieces into the chilli salsa ensured full body coverage and helped overcome the dryness of the pancakes.

Pancetta, parmesan and chilli salsa a deadly combination

This brunch spoke serious truths to the premise that Tasmanian's know how to eat. Biggest shame was a satiety level so high I missed out on lunch.

Score summary below.

Food - 8/10 - genuinely delicious dishes with the 'quirks' executed well.
Value - 8/10 - mid teens prices, generous servings. Amazing not to see more local cases of morbid obesity.
Other - 7/10 - very miserable and disengaged waitress. No synergy between washing machines and food, aside from stained pants.
Overall - 8/10 - highly memorable, no regrets.



Will I return?
Most likely.

Disclaimer - as the wife washes my pants for free, I didn't actually try the laundry service.

Pigeon Hole Cafe, Hobart (31 March 2015)

Excellent choices of bread

There's always a cafe that plays the 'fresh, locally harvested' card. In Melbourne-like style, Pigeon Hole adds this to a rustic decor and clipboard menu. This place was on the planned food bucket list courtesy of a colleague.

Pigeon Hole clipboard menu

Puffed quinoa salad with tomato, eggplant and raclette plus baked eggs - $14 + $6

A very delicate dish highlighted by crunchy pops of quinoa scattered amongst some leaves. Tasty, unremarkable and very unsatisfying. Raclette is a fancy soft cheese that I found too overpowering.

Kitchen turned down my poached eggs add-on request, and instead offered me for two baked eggs for an exorbitant $6!

Even with the eggs, I STILL felt this was an entree for an entree. Couldn't enjoy any of my five bites knowing that Farmer Weston's farm is probably a balcony herb garden adjoined to a CBD studio apartment.

Baked beans and raclette on malt & linseed toast with baked eggs - $14 + $6

Baked beans are never easy on the eyes. Nonetheless, beans and bread is a match made in heaven and one this kitchen nailed. 4x the price of Ikea beans on toast, but 5x more tasty. Any vendor that beats Ikea in value for money gets my nod of approval!

Lorie's decision to also add baked eggs is exactly why I married her ... genius.

I can tell the chef lovingly slow cooked fresh tomatoes and the good seasoning came through instantly. The chunkiness helped wrap each bean with flavour and saturate the underlying toast.

Excellent baked bean texture

Having eaten the majority of both dishes, I walked away with mixed emotions.

Food - 7/10 - fail salad (5) but best beans on toast I've ever had (9).
Value - 6/10 - not cheap and I was seriously hurt by such an insulting salad.
Other - 7/10 - great staff, space a little cramped.
Overall - 6.5/ 10 - love the flavours, like the produce, dislike the size of Farmer Weston's garden.

Baking the eggs in the Pigeon Hole kitchen

Will I return?
No

Produce sourced from Weston Farm

Wednesday - Beach Run then Freycinet National Park