Reviews and Observations from an Aussie

Hello! LTHForum.

I have spent a total of 6 months in Chicago over the past two years eating all your food. I am a crazy foodie who once hired a car to drive 300 miles across Thailand just so I could order cotton fish with mango salad. I catch a train 2 hours just to get the freshest basil. I generally do not think that expensive restaurants are worth going to so try to spend my time eating at places that are authentic, cheap and unique. I do not give a toss about service as some of the best food I have eaten was served off a fly blown hub cap in Leon, Nicaragua. My standards for food are so sky high that what others may consider amazing I would not feed to my dog. I am also an opinionated a**hole .

Anyway I have been lurking on here and working my way through a pile of recommended restaurants. I want to add my observations to help any of you who may have a visiting Aussie you want to impress. As a quick summary here are the places I found to be top class rated in order of preference:
1. Double Li - black pepper garlic beef tenderloin and the szechuan octopus.
2. Deta's Cafe - eat whatever she is serving.
3. Hopleaf - duck ruben.
4. Little Three Happiness (not the massive one on the corner). - shrimp toast and Gary's chilli oil. baby clams.
5. Mixteco Grill - anything with mole in it.
6. Wiener Circle - char dog. double if you are a fatty.
7. Agami Sushi - crispy tuna roll.
*if they need a coffee take them to Intelligentsia and order a small latte. Anywhere else and you will offend them.

Firstly I want to point out a few differences between Australian food and American food which will help you to understand my likes and dislikes.

Lamb vs Pork
Australians eat a massive amount of lamb. If you go to our supermarkets you will notice the pork section is about the same size as your lamb section here. I have never been a fan or pork chops or American bacon due to the large amount of fat which to my palate makes it taste rancid.

Grass Fed vs Grain Fed
Most Australian beef and lamb is from grass fed stock. Most American beef is grain fed which I find to be very tender but completely tasteless. This is why I think you cover you steaks with rubs and sauces whereas Australians usually have nothing but some salt. Tall Grass Beef is a local producer of yours who does a very good but expensive grass fed beef. Try their New York fillet which is comparable to the Australian scotch fillet and you will see the difference. Grass fed tastes like the smell that a bloody steak makes when it first hits the pan.

Portion Size & Cost
Like most visitors to your country I am amazed at the massive portion sizes that your food is served in and how cheap it is. A Caesar salad here is roughly 3-4 times larger than you would get in Australia. A rough rule is that your small is our large and your appetiser portions are often the same size as our mains. I often feel like this at your restaurants

Corn Syrup vs Sugar
From what I read your heavily subsidised corn growers can supply corn syrup cheaper than sugar which I think is why it is in so much of your food. I find the taste of corn syrup absolutely repulsive and spend hours at the supermarket trying to find items with sugar instead of corn syrup. In Australia you will find that anything which requires sweetening will have sugar not corn syrup as we have huge amounts of sugar cane growing everywhere.

Junk Food
In Australia healthy food has no sales tax which makes it cheaper than unhealthy food. Also most Australian's will play some type of competitive sport their whole life and as most of us live near a beach it encourages everyone to be fairly healthy. We do have junk food in Australia but it is not really as cheap and ubiquitous as it is here. You will rarely see any morbidly obese people in Australia but there are plenty that are overweight. I am 6' and 220 pounds and that makes me the fattest guy amongst all my friends. Most Australians will roast, grill, or steam instead of fry so they will not like oily or mass produced foods. Chain restaurants in Australia are looked down upon and considered mainly places that you go if you have young kids who are picky eaters or you like to punish your taste buds.

To give you an idea of how healthy many Aussies are this 52 year old guy is probably going to be our next Prime Minister.


Coffee
What you guys call espresso the rest of the world just calls coffee. I was a 5 coffees a day man before coming to Chicago and had to cut back to nothing as I could not find a decent coffee anywhere. Australian's are coffee addicts and will have favourite coffee shops and sometimes if they are complete coffee crack addicts their favourite barista who they follow from shop to shop. Starbucks is considered only for teenagers and had to shut down 61 stores in Australia as they just could not crack the market http://www.theage.com.au/national/hundreds-of-jobs-lost-as-starbucks-shuts-61-shops-20080729-3mvb.html. I think the main issue here for me is the massive size of the cup with far too much water and milk and just plain non-existent barista skills. My Italian friend calls American espresso "coffee soup". Go to Intelligentsia and order a small latte and you are getting close to a good Australian coffee.

Street Festivals and The Taste
Please do not take visitors to any of these as an example of how good your food is. I went to a pile of them thinking that the restaurants would be cranking out something amazing but it was uniformly horrid junk food. You guys have some great restaurants and these mock food festivals just do not do it any justice. I had about 10 wtf moments attending these before I realised it is all about the drinking and the food must just be there so they can get a liqour licence.

OK now that I have stereotyped both countries I will get into my reviews of the food and other bits I have had in Chicago:

LTH
Baby clams were excellent although a tad heavy on the MSG. Oysters with ginger and scallions were massive but very tasty. Salt and pepper squid was good but I have had much better. The onions were not cooked enough and there was too much oil. Prawn/shrimp toast was really good and something I have never had before. With some of Gary's yummy chilli oil (only 20% left) and a little soy these things are addictive. I will be back to sample more of this food soon as there was some awesome stuff coming out out of the kitchen.

Double Li
The Szechuan baby octopus was served sizzling in a crock pot. Eating it was a semi-religious experience. The Black Pepper Garlic Beef Tenderloin is a dish I had once in Hanoi but could never find again. Simply an amazing dish. For me I felt Double Li has the edge over LTH but I want to try more food from both before I decide for sure.

A Tavola
I had three courses here and nothing was that interesting. The gnocchi had a light texture but tasted of only oil and parmesan cheese. I have not eaten gnocchi enough to decided if it was authentic or good but I would not order it again if this is as good as it gets. My overall feeling was that the place was a waste of money.

Agami Sushi
I know that Chicago has a different take on sushi which is more about the ingredients than the fish. The crispy tuna roll was fantastic. I should go back as the atmosphere was very cool. Shame about the odd location. Give Toro a miss and come here.

Andalous Moroccan Restaurant
This place is packed with people and I cannot work out why. First time I got some fish dish which took 1.5 hours and tasted like nothing. Second time I got something "royal" which was a mix of a heap of tasteless meat. I doubt you could have made that dish any blander if you tried. I took two bites and that was it. I will eat roadkill before I go back here.

Ban Le Bakery
I can't remember the sandwich but it is the first one on the board. We call them pork rolls in Sydney or "pok ro" if you want to make fun of how the Vietnamese say it. Awesome stuff.

Deta's Cafe
What an awesome little find. We had three courses for $15.00 per person. The burek was good and reminded me of a maltese pastizzi. The appetiser salad and the stuffed capsicum were awesome. The atmosphere here is perfect and to me is always an indicator of a religious food experience. I took a gay friend of mine who has been back about 5 times with his assortment of gay friends. She must be wondering how the hell she got onto the gay foodie circuit

Ginza Restaurant
This place was OK and much the same as any average Japanese joint you find in Sydney. We have sushi joints as often as you have starbucks in Sydney. The sushi is far superior to the crap I had at Toro's.

Harry Caray
Um $35.00 for lamb chops? At that price I better get to eat them off a naked cheer leader. They were good but salty as hell. Everything else my group ordered was dog food. Chicken Vesuvio which they are apparently famous for must have been sitting under the heat lamp for a month.

Honey One BBQ
To be fair I am not a rib man. These were ok but I just have trouble when I get a mouthful of fat. I liked the ribs here better than Smoque. I had better ribs at Rib Fest but cannot remember who they were from.

Hopleaf Bar
Way too many people and a huge wait for a table but I had my birthday party here. Mussels were excellent, the duck ruben was crazy good, the fries with mayo damn tasty. The duck ruben is a must do for any visitor.

Manny's Coffee Shop & Deli
Expensive and tasteless cafeteria food and so far the worst place I have visited on the GNR list. Based just on the food I really can't see why people go here. I tried the corned beef sandwich and it was so dry and tasteless I felt like I had eaten concrete. Everything else we got was luke warm. I loathe food that is not cooked fresh so maybe it is just me. My American Girlfriend is a local and she said that is what corned beef is meant to taste like. In Australia ours is sliced thicker and is much more juicy.

Papa's Cache Sabroso
Australian's are big on roast chicken. Papa's chicken was fine but nothing I would really rate. It was definitely a bit too dry but the seasoning and garlicy taste was great. Also tried the jibarito which was ok but too oily for me. My girlfriend really liked it.

Mixteco Grill
The mole is fantastic. I have never had mole before. This is a restaurant I would highly recommend for any visitor.

Smoque BBQ
Brisket was very good. Ribs were dry. To be honest I preferred the brisket at Wishbone.

Sun Wah Bar-B-Que
I tried a few things off the menu but nothing really stood out. I had a BBQ combo plate which was ok but really nothing special.

Shan Grocery
So ordered some dish which ended up being chunks of fat and some spine sections in soup. Binned all of it. Noticed it got dumped off the GNR list which is not surprising.

Tai Nam Market
This is a Thai cooks paradise. I never order Thai food when I am out as it never tastes as good as what I can make or what I have had in Thailand. I am not sure why but every Thai restaurant seems to leave out key ingredients. Galangal is an essential part of many dishes and I have never seen it in a dish prepared at a restaurant. Anyway if you want some fresh fish and all the ingredients to make any Thai dish you can imagine this is the place. They have a recipe for Pad See Yew on their website. It is easy as hell to make and everyone will think you are a genius. Don't forget they have MILO!

Toro Sushi
I love sushi and to see the horrors that are performed on sushi here really makes me mad. This is not sushi it is pizza sushi. The quality of the fish is very poor and you can taste that it has been frozen and then thawed. The chef passed me a sample piece of fatty tuna he was obviously proud of and it was grainy and had a bone in it still.

Wiener Circle
Char dog is awesome and the best dog type thing I have eaten. The fries are filthy. Staff are crazy

Overall I am very impressed with the Chicago food scene. It has obliterated a fair few stereotypes that I held such as Americans only eat deep fried crap and burgers from chain restaurants. I have had a number of crap meals but many more amazing ones. This website was like finding the holy grail for a fanatical foodie like me and enabled me to "cheat" my way to some great food discoveries.

If anyone is heading to Sydney feel free to drop me a line or if you are a pauper you can possibly stay at my place so we can go on a food safari. Check out fattyfatfat on http://www.couchsurfing.com

Was a blast guys.

Now that's a first post!

Good on ya!

Great first post. Opinionated, but with the detail to flesh it out(so to speak). Cool. More, please.

Definitely hope to be hearing more from you soon! Interesting points about the fat (I think most Americans are looking for relatively fatty ribs, btw.) I'd been a lamb hater my whole life, until I was in the UK and ate New Zealand lamb and was converted - but the reason I hated it was the fat tasted like candle wax to me. I really enjoyed reading the opposite perspective.

Don't feel that you have to write exclusively about Chicago - come let us know where else you're going!

Welcome to LTH and Chicago! You certainly have been a busy boy to have covered all of that food territory in a mere six months. You obviously have some strong opinions about your food, but I wonder, are they in line with the average Aussie's opinions, or would you be considered a bit of extremist in your own realm? I agree with your observations about grass/grain fed beef, portion sizes, corn syrup, and junk food. I think they jointly are curses that have been visited upon our society. And the main reason the average American has trouble fitting in an airline's coach seat. How long will you be staying with us?

Truly great report - I'm amazed that you didn't like Manny's, but I suspect you might have appreciated it more with a guide. You can get the corned beef sliced thicker fattier there.

That being said, I really want to know where you went in Thailand for the cotton fish with mango salad. And what was so great about it. I'm more than a little bit intrigued. And did you have multiple versions of the dish with one being a standout which made you drive so far for it. I need to know!

Fattyfatfat,

Terrific first post, makes me proud to be an LTHer.

Glad you liked my chili oil, down to 20%, I best think about restocking.

Enjoy,
Gary

Hooray for lurkers! Impressive post.

My family is majority Aussie, and they're descending on Chicago in just a few weeks for a wedding. I am charged with making sure they eat good food for the three weeks they'll be here. I already know they share your general sentiments about food in the US versus food in Australia, but I will send them your report in advance!

Thanks, fattyfatfat. Perhaps one day you can show me how to eat in Sydney. I've had plenty of good food in Melbourne, where my family mostly lives, but truly delicious food in Sydney has eluded me.

Welcome aboard. I'm curious on your views of seafood and also local produce as I understand Australia has wonderful examples of both.

I pretty much agree with your views on coffee around here EXCEPT if you do like me and drink most of your espresso on or near Harlem on Chicago's Northwest side. From Grand on north, the street is lined with various coffee shops some very welcoming, some skeptical but open and some you're really gonna be stared out; take your time, find one that works for you, and you just might be satisfied.

Just don't try to do it all in one day!!*

*Several of the places referenced are no longer operative, but the gist of what's there exists.

G Wiv wrote:Terrific first post, makes me proud to be an LTHer.
Glad you liked my chili oil, down to 20%, I best think about restocking.

Thank you for the site. I plan on setting something up similar in Australia when I get back as all we have are sites like http://www.eatability.com.au which have a large portion of fake reviews. Serious foodies in Australia seem to be mostly lone wolves who don't like sharing their finds lest they get invaded by the herd.

BR wrote:Truly great report - I'm amazed that you didn't like Manny's, but I suspect you might have appreciated it more with a guide. You can get the corned beef sliced thicker fattier there. That being said, I really want to know where you went in Thailand for the cotton fish with mango salad. And what was so great about it. I'm more than a little bit intrigued. And did you have multiple versions of the dish with one being a standout which made you drive so far for it. I need to know!

With Manny's I had high hopes but on arrival I could tell it was just not my style. I think it is just because everything was pre-cooked and luke warm. A corned beef sandwich in Australia would be just one 3mm slice of corned beef with buttered bread and a white cheese sauce or English mustard.

For the cotton fish go to Prachuap Khiri Khan which is a beach town in Thailand. This is where all the fishing boats come in. Apart from wild monkeys running around everywhere it is still a cool place to chill out. The beach is a disgrace but the food is exceptional. I honestly cannot remember the name of the restaurant but if you keep the fishing pier on your left and drive down the beach and go past the pier it is one of the restaurants on the right. I think it was called Maprow. I had never had it before until I tried it here in 2001 and when I was back there last year I hired a car and drove there to get it again. As with any amazing food it is hard to describe but it was a perfect medley of salt, sour, sweet, spice and texture. I have never seen it in any other restaurant cooked like this as it was just one huge fillet an inch thick instead of a whole fish.

This is what the fish looked like and under it was the normal finely sliced mango salad you get everywhere.


The other amazing food I had in Thailand was at Chiang Dao Nest Number 2 which is a hotel with an awesome restaurant. I had 6 dishes in a row that were home runs here. Another is Doi Mae Salong which is a tea growing town in northern Thailand. Just as you arrive there is a huge red building on the left which has a big tea tasting area and a very good restaurant. Anywhere you can get blue swimmer crab in glass noodle in Thailand give it a try as it will blow your mind. Make sure you can see the crabs swimming around in their tank first.

Cogito wrote:You obviously have some strong opinions about your food, but I wonder, are they in line with the average Aussie's opinions, or would you be considered a bit of extremist in your own realm?

Yes. I would agree that my opinions are extreme. I have been on an extended food safari trying to find the best version of everything for the past 12 years so my standards just keep going up. For me there is nothing worse than having a meal that is not as good as another version I have had before. Cooking amazing food is not that hard if you can fill your restaurant full of people who are happy with your average versions why would you bother trying to improve?

I expect you will find that most Australians will find massive portion sizes disgusting and will start taking photos of their meals or laughing at it before realising you are seriously serving them a bucket of salad. Any regular espresso drinker from Australia will probably be ok with American espresso but I would not take them somewhere and say "hey this is the best coffee in Chicago" and expect them to be blown away. Most Australians will enjoy being naughty and eating junk food for a few days but the novelty wears off quickly when you start feeling rundown.

Mhays wrote:I'd been a lamb hater my whole life, until I was in the UK and ate New Zealand lamb and was converted - but the reason I hated it was the fat tasted like candle wax to me. I really enjoyed reading the opposite perspective.

I have never had lamb that tasted like candle wax. I think this may be from having grain fed instead of grass fed lamb as I have noted the same issue with beef fat that is grain fed tasting like candle wax. The older the lamb the stronger the flavour. If you want to go crazy try to track down some two-tooth grass fed mutton which is an older sheep with a very powerful flavour.

happy_stomach wrote:Thanks, fattyfatfat. Perhaps one day you can show me how to eat in Sydney. I've had plenty of good food in Melbourne, where my family mostly lives, but truly delicious food in Sydney has eluded me.

The Melbourne food scene is the best in Australia. The food cranked out of the cafes in Melbourne is better than what you get at most restaurants in Sydney. Sydney has some amazing food but you have to dig real hard to find it. Always happy to show food tragics like myself where the good food is .

--------------
I will be leaving Chicago in a few days but will be back next year when the place has thawed out. Next food trip will be to Italy, Spain and Greece.

Vital Information wrote:Welcome aboard. I'm curious on your views of seafood and also local produce as I understand Australia has wonderful examples of both.

Australia being one massive island with a tiny population has a stupid amount of seafood. The main issue is that we sell most of the top quality stuff to the Japanese so unless you go out and catch it yourself it is hard to get good fish. Tasmania has the best seafood in Australia but some of the worst restaurants so best to cook for yourself as no matter how good the fish a poor chef will ruin it.

I was quite surprised at the quality of the seafood at Tai Nam and have purchased a large amount which was always very good. I checked a heap of the supermarkets like Dominicks and Wholefoods and I did not see any fish I would buy there. I also do not buy fish from Australian supermarkets as it is always very poor quality. We have fishmongers who sell nothing but fish and usually locally caught so you always go there for good seafood.

I don't think you will find our produce any better than what you have here although we do not have to use many pesticides due to the lack of many diseases. I have had excellent nectarines, watermelons, grapes, cherries, and apples in Chicago. Many people in Australia grow their own fruit and vegetables, especially in Tasmania, so nothing from a supermarket will ever compare to something you can pull out of your own backyard.

Enjoyed your post. I had the pleasure of spending three weeks in Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Uluru, Tassie) in 2008, although I battled a nasty bronchial infection most of the time and was with my relatives for much of my Melbourne stay and thus eating more in homes.

I probably drank more coffee (flat white) in three weeks in Australia than I did in an average year in Chicago. And I had better tasting lamb and scallops, for certain, especially in a couple of small towns in Tasmania. Portion size is definitely a difference, although I found it more pronounced at breakfast and lunch than at dinner.

Now if Americans could figure out the chiko roll, we'd start to be in business!

Great post, fair dinkum. I lived in Oz from '84-85 as an exchange student. Have been back 3x since and my "mum" was just here last weekend. I wished I'd read this before she came . . . especially on the bacon comment, she was choking through a piece of bacon and I wasn't quite sure why. I do have one particular quibble: that fried food bit. When I was living near Avoca beach (on the Central Coast) the first thing I ever ate was a chip roll. That would be french fries on a roll with tomato sauce. And that's it. A french fry sandwich! (I was 17, I thought it would be vile, I actually enjoyed it rather much.) And then there's the fish and chip shops that do a pretty cracking business and the sausage rolls (I believe these are fried) oh how I miss them. And isn't there a fried hot dog too?

Oh well, I miss the snags and the lamb (except the fried lambs brains) and the meat pies and the mashed potato and pumpkin and proper sconces with clotted cream.

I have more family coming in winter, one who is hyper opinionated about food and thinks Aussie grub is much superior to ours-- so I will make sure to have this on hand.

thanks!

bjt

threadkiller wrote:I had better tasting lamb and scallops, for certain, especially in a couple of small towns in Tasmania.

Now if Americans could figure out the chiko roll, we'd start to be in business!

Tasmanian scallops were in such huge demand by the French we nearly fished them out of existence. They closed the scallop beds for a few years and now they are back on the market. They are easily the best scallop anywhere in the world but due to being off the market for so long many people have not heard of them. If you can get them dry shucked or unshucked you will get the full flavour. Most shucked scallops are wet shucked which means they open the shell and then wash it with sea water to get any shell grit out. Dry shucked means they skip the washing bit so the natural liquor is still intact.

Chiko roll. Good god that would have to be on par with the deep fried burger I saw at a place in Chicago for heart attack material. I have never discovered what is in a Chiko roll but I doubt it is actually food.

bjt wrote:Great post, fair dinkum. I lived in Oz from '84-85 as an exchange student. Have been back 3x since and my "mum" was just here last weekend. I wished I'd read this before she came . . . especially on the bacon comment, she was choking through a piece of bacon and I wasn't quite sure why. I do have one particular quibble: that fried food bit. When I was living near Avoca beach (on the Central Coast) the first thing I ever ate was a chip roll. That would be french fries on a roll with tomato sauce. And that's it. A french fry sandwich! (I was 17, I thought it would be vile, I actually enjoyed it rather much.) And then there's the fish and chip shops that do a pretty cracking business and the sausage rolls (I believe these are fried) oh how I miss them. And isn't there a fried hot dog too?

The old "chip sandwich". This type of food is what our surfies eat after they have been in the water for 4 hours. $2.00 chips and a loaf of bred and some sauce can feed 4 people easy. I suppose my comment was more related to home cooking and restaurant food instead of take away food which is heavy on the frying. It would be rare to find an Australian who every fries food at home whereas I have been to plenty of places in Detroit and Chicago where they had fried chicken and other fried items.

Sausage rolls are baked not fried but they contain about 40% lard. My family used to own a bakery and after seeing how these things were made I have not eaten one since.

Most of our corner stores are owned by Greeks and they love frying all sorts of things. I know one place does fried ice cream and fried snickers bars. The dagwood dog is the fried hot dog you are thinking of. People only eat these at festivals.

Most relevant post on LTH for a long while. Here you have an informed critique from a land where everyone is cool, smart, attractive and eats well, yet so remote, isolated and small, with a short history (and thus less cultural baggage and presuppositions) that they possess a unique clear-eyed vantage. Great observers, like Americans were in Twain's time. Everything the guy says makes sense to me. Even the Manny's crack, though I love the place. It's like the Michelin guide that I care about. Thanks, fat man.

PS, Happy to read, but not truly surprised to hear good things about Asian and fish from someone who should have high standards for both. The common crap that Chicago can never be good at either is inane. I bet Ginza is like any corner Japanese in Sydney. Thank God for that.

JeffB wrote:Most relevant post on LTH for a long while. Here you have an informed critique from a land where everyone is cool, smart, attractive and eats well, yet so remote, isolated and small, with a short history (and thus less cultual baggage and presuppositions) that they possess a unique clear-eyed vantage. Great observers, like Americans were in Twain's time. Everything the guy says makes sense to me. Even the Manny's crack, though I love the place. It's like the Michelin guide that I care about. Thanks, fat man.

PS, Happy to read, but not truly surprised to hear good things about Asian and fish from someone who should have high standards for both. The common crap that Chicago can never be good at either is inane. I bet Ginza is like any corner Japanese in Sydney. Thank God for that.

I always forget to preface my posts with an explanation of the Australian habit of "taking the piss". If you have travelled to Australia and got off the tourist trail you will instantly be abused by an Australian who will expect to be abused in return. A good initial response is to accuse them of having "a face like a bucket of bashed crabs". Read more about it here http://www.convictcreations.com/culture/socialrules.htm.
"Taking the piss" is the term given to making a joke about someone or an ethnic group, when that person or ethnic group is present. If an American lady married an Australian man, she should expect to hear lots of her husband's friends and family asking her why she would want to marry such a low-life bastard. They don't actually mean that he is a low life bastard, they are just trying to say that they think he is a good bloke.

I read a similar post about Australia written by an American which was hilarious as he pointed out or complete lack of culture (people who live in England have cow sheds older than our country) and the appalling service you get. Until the 70's in Australia boiling beef was considered the height of fashionable cooking. The reason service is so bad in Australia is because our minimum casual wage is about $18.00 per hour with double time on Sunday so nobody cares about tips or giving good service.

There is definitely an American cognate to "taking the piss." We call it ball busting, good natured insults and ribbing. There is an African American version too, called running the dozens, an exchange in which one needs to give it back as good as one receives it. Fair dinkum, cobber!

less cultual baggage

sundevilpeg wrote:

less cultual baggage

Only the most traditional and typical of Chinese glonous history and.

edit: taking the p*** indeed.

fattyfatfat wrote:In Australia healthy food has no sales tax which makes it cheaper than unhealthy food. Also most Australian's will play some type of competitive sport their whole life and as most of us live near a beach it encourages everyone to be fairly healthy. We do have junk food in Australia but it is not really as cheap and ubiquitous as it is here. You will rarely see any morbidly obese people in Australia but there are plenty that are overweight. I am 6' and 220 pounds and that makes me the fattest guy amongst all my friends. Most Australians will roast, grill, or steam instead of fry so they will not like oily or mass produced foods. Chain restaurants in Australia are looked down upon and considered mainly places that you go if you have young kids who are picky eaters or you like to punish your taste buds.

To give you an idea of how healthy many Aussies are this 52 year old guy is probably going to be our next Prime Minister.

Talk about taking the piss!

If you're going to look at politicians, have you seen the president of the United States?



Australians in general don't seem to be following their leaders any more than Americans do.

Forbes wrote:Australian Bellies Bulge Past America's

Quietly but surely, more than a quarter of the Australian adult population, 26% of its 15.1 million, has become obese, compared with 25% in the United States, according to a comprehensive survey, titled "Australia’s Future Fat Bomb," released Friday by the Melbourne-based Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute. That would put Australia, a nation associated in the popular imagination with sports and outdoor activity, ahead of America as the world's fattest major country....

There is plenty of fatty junk food in Australia. You just don't think of it that way. Chip rolls, sausage rolls, meat pies (pie floaters!), lamingtons, fish and chips, Tim Tams, Violet Crumble, etc. And I doubt Aussies look down on chain fast food any more than Americans do, judging by the ubiquity of Red Rooster, Chicken Treat, Eagle Boys, Pizza Haven and other such chain outlets, not to mention multinational chains serving food tailored to Aussie tastes. (Maybe you can claim it makes a Big Mac healthier to put beetroot on it.)

Australians also drink far more alcohol than most other countries, with high levels of binge drinking. (When I was planning a series of hospitality events for an Australian group in the U.S., I asked if there were a typically Aussie soft drink we could serve along with the beer and wine. My Australian counterparts looked absolutely blank. "Why would anyone want such a thing?" one asked. We finally made up a fruit drink and called it "platypus punch." None of the Aussies would touch it.)

Most Americans don't eat fried junk food at every meal, either, and they will certainly claim not to approve of chain restaurants.

Don't be taken in. When I visited Australia, my hosts across the country tried to make me think that the Aussie diet was all witchetty grubs, kangaroo tail and wattleseed. (I do think back fondly on the emu-liver pate studded with bunya bunya nuts.)

What I wish we could get here on an affordable basis is Moreton Bay bugs. And Australian cheese.

LAZ wrote:There is plenty of fatty junk food in Australia.

Australians also drink far more alcohol than most other countries, with high levels of binge drinking. (When I was planning a series of hospitality events for an Australian group in the U.S., I asked if there were a typically Aussie soft drink we could serve along with the beer and wine. My Australian counterparts looked absolutely blank. "Why would anyone want such a thing?" one asked. We finally made up a fruit drink and called it "platypus punch." None of the Aussies would touch it.)

What I wish we could get here on an affordable basis is Moreton Bay bugs. And Australian cheese.

I would have to call bulls**t on that Forbes survey. When it came out in Australia everyone was scratching their heads wondering what they are talking about? Where were all these hidden fatties? I think they are trying to say we have more obese people but less overweight and America has more overweight and obese combined which is what this chart shows http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/07/worlds-fattest-countries-forbeslife-cx_ls_0208worldfat_2.html Have a wander around Sydney or Melbourne and try to find the massive waddlers that you see in Chicago. I can only guess that our morbidly obese stay at home as Australia definitely has a very low tolerance for morbidly obese people so they are often the subject of ridicule.

Australians do love their booze but it is not anywhere near as bad as many countries. At one stage they were trying to say that 4 glasses of wine per night was binge drinking. I think the last stat was we drank 9L per person per year in 2003 compared to 8.6L for the USA. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption We drink a heap more beer than most http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_beer_consumption_per_capita and it is almost all full strength beer. Drinking a light beer is slowly becoming acceptable if you are driving but if you are not driving ordering a light beer would have people asking what is wrong with you.

I noticed in the club scene here there is a lot more drinking of shots than we do in Australia so I tend to get wasted much faster here than I would at home. Australian's do not drink straight spirits as much as Americans seem to. In Sydney after midnight bar service is stopped for 15 minutes per hour, you can only order single shot drinks with a mixer (no straight shots), and in some places you can only get your drinks in plastic glasses to stop people glassing each other. The bar staff get a massive fine if they serve anyone who is drunk and they have to use a special shot measurer as pouring straight into the glass is illegal. When you drive home it is almost guaranteed you will get stopped for a random breath test by the police every other week. When my girlfriend told me you could order a whole bottle of spirits and have it on your table in Chicago I was flawed. If we could do that in Australia they would be carting everyone out of the bar in coffins.

Punch is definitely something nobody would drink in Australia it is roughly equivalent to you getting a group of American footballers to drink cocktails with little umbrellas sticking out of it. Most Australian women are paranoid about drink spiking due to a heap of urban legends repeated by the press so they will usually only drink champagne, wine or premixed drinks in bottles.

I suppose I felt there was more frying going on at home as I have been hanging around with African Americans in Detroit who are big fans of fried chicken and fatty pork chops. In Chicago I they have hauled me along to Pot Bellies (EDIT I mean Pop Eyes) once per week easy. Most of our chicken places are roast or Portuguese BBQ chicken places. The only place I can think of where you get fried chicken is at KFC.

If you get enough LTHers together for a group buy I can investigate shipping bulk wheels of Australian (especially Tasmanian) cheese over cheaply which you can then divide amongst you. I have contacts with some of the cheese makers in King Island, Tasmania where most of our top cheese comes from as I have done it before as presents for clients in Sydney.

p.s. you are still all fatties who only eat at Olive Garden

lots of stereotypes and generalizations being thrown back and forth.

gotta say I take each person as they are and dont live/think in a world of sterotypes and painting with a broad brush.

i did like your feedback on the variety of places you ate at.

glad you have had a good time in the U.S., but with all due respect you need to get exposed to some new folks if you think all we eat is fried food, fast food & chain food.

slainte

jimswside wrote:lots of stereotypes and generalizations being thrown back and forth.

gotta say I take each person as they are and dont live/think in a world of sterotypes and painting with a broad brush.

i did like your feedback on the variety of places you ate at.

glad you have had a good time in the U.S., but with all due respect you need to get exposed to some new folks if you think all we eat is fried food, fast food & chain food.

slainte

Not many people get or appreciate the Australian sense of humour I have got myself in trouble in your fair city far too many times baiting people. That said I have to go wrestle some crocs and chuck some prawns on my barbie.

fattyfatfat wrote:In Sydney after midnight bar service is stopped for 15 minutes per hour, you can only order single shot drinks with a mixer (no straight shots), and in some places you can only get your drinks in plastic glasses to stop people glassing each other.

Glassing? Does this mean what I'm guessing, people breaking glasses to use as sharp weapons?

Cogito wrote:

fattyfatfat wrote:In Sydney after midnight bar service is stopped for 15 minutes per hour, you can only order single shot drinks with a mixer (no straight shots), and in some places you can only get your drinks in plastic glasses to stop people glassing each other.

Glassing? Does this mean what I'm guessing, people breaking glasses to use as sharp weapons?

Yes. Guns and knives are not that common in Australia so dirty fighters (men and women) will smash the beer glass or bottle and use it as a weapon. Any pub or club that has had any issues with violence is forced to use plastic glasses or they lose their liqour licence. I have never seen it happen but the media goes crazy over it as the photos of someone who has been glassed are pretty grotesque. I actually don't mind plastic as the dance floor does not get covered in broken glass so you don't have to worry about the girls getting cut tootsies with the open toed shoes.

jimswside on August 29, 2010 wrote:gotta say I take each person as they are and dont live/think in a world of sterotypes and painting with a broad brush.

Really?

jimswside on May 31, 2010 wrote:I also noticed a few steak and lemonade places as we cruised down 87th street to get to the Dany Ryan, Ill need to check my gang affiliation & life insurance and hit a few of these places for a Chicago style philly.

Fattyfatfat, outstanding post. Best first post I've seen on this site. Strong opinions, well articulated, and when challenged, argued convincingly. Thanks for posting!

I did another two restaurants yesterday.

Birreria Reyes de Ocotlan
Went for lunch and got the consomme and three goat tacos. Consomme was good but I should have ordered plate with all the chunks of goat in it. I was not really paying attention to the menu. The tacos where nice and fresh and the goat meat was moist and tender although I kept getting little bits of bone in my meat. Anyone else had that issue? Not as much flavour as I remember from eating goat in the past but with a little salt and the salsa picante it was damn tasty. I have spent a fair bit of time in Mexico and this place is pretty authentic.

Slightly sketchy area with a few meth heads hanging around but nothing worse than some of the stations on the redline I have gotten off at in the middle of the night.

Carnivale
Dinner for 4 and some drinks ended up at $275.00 inc tips which is about $268.00 more than I spent for lunch. I ordered the meat tasting platter which was odd tasting and a rip off. The hiramasa ceviche appetizer was very tasty and similar to the hiramasa and ocean trout entree at China Doll in Sydney. The ropa vieja was good. Flores y Camarones was ok but needed more bread or maybe the crackers that come with the meat taster. The arepa was ok but a bit muddy tasting. It really needed a citrus sauce. The fried plantain side was not worth ordering. Overall I would not going back as I had a better food experience for lunch for $9.00 but I do hate expensive restaurants as I only care about the food not the ambience.

Alls I need and want learn about Australia I can get by re-watching Crocodile Dundee uno and dos.

"Now THIS is a knife."