Meet me there is Growing!

[Selina]

Hi there James!!

Haven't been back here for a while was surprised and excited to see that NSW and QLD are now in the lists.

My question is, when is SA going to get a look in?

Cheers!
Selina

[James]

Hey Selina, great to hear from you again! Good to have a couple more reviews from Western Vic too.

South Australia is on the list for expansion this year, but it's currently a matter of finding the time. Pretty busy with life! How are you going?
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“Blessed are the Cheese Makers!” - Jesus, in the Life of Brian

[Selina]

Really good thanks! Glad to be back online after a month long forced computer absence and making the most of it!

I recentally went on a journey to the districts of Swan Hill and Mildura via Robinvale on a bit of a mini resteraunt crawl (don't believe in fast food joints on holidays)and I was really impressed with the quality of the produce and meals everywhere we went. You expect to have top notch tucker in Mildura with everyone trying to vie with Stephano's daunting reputation, but Swan Hill was surprisingly excellent as well.

There is a wonderful Pizza resteraunt/takeaway shop(we took the sit down takeaway option as we were straight out of the pool and in the usual thongs and t-shirts)in the main street of Swan Hill that we went to and it is THE most sensational pizzas I have ever had the pleasure of tasting in my entire life. I can't find the name of it in your list James, and I can't remember the name of the place, but it was fantastic and I am not being over the top when I say that. I don't even know why they have "the edge" but they do.

Just down from the pizza place is a little shop which has a massive local following. The husband and wife team who run the shop make the most lucious home made Gellati. At any given time they have upwards of 20 flavours to choose from and you can have them in a waffle or in a cup which can hold up to 4 flavours! they use local produce as their inspiration and you can find unusual flavours as they are really into experimenting with new ones. Such wonderful tastes as peanut butter, boysenberry, peach, cherry (locally grown of course), marshmallow, custard, and my personal favourites, malteezers, tiramisu, chocolate, strawberry sorbet and iced coffee. We were spoiled as our holiday host is a bit addicted to them and brought home a litre case of three flavours one night and we managed to duck into town most days to try a different one! You would have been surprised how many people I saw carting the same 1 litre carton down the street on their way home. I would have these over any generic icecream anyday!!!

On our way to Mildura we dropped in on a family favourite, namely the Robinvale Winery. Robinvale Winery have a really lovely and unique range of non alcoholic wines. I haven't had any of their wines since my wedding and I made the most of my visit and bought a box full.

In Mildura we found the Mildura Brewery and THAT was the highlight meal of the whole trip. The resteraunt has the stainless steel vats as a backdrop and the service... and the food... WOW!!! Forget Stephanos, go to the brewery! My husband tried their tester which is a sample of the six boutique beers that they brew each with an individual write up of what they are, their alcohol content, why they were made and what they were aiming to give the taster which was downright fascinating. My husband is a down the line VB man so he wasn't really thrilled with what he tends to dub "yuppy $%&*@" (no offense intended ) but even he admitted that it was interesting to try them, although he thought most of them would be a bit hard to swallow if you were asked to drink a pot. Our waitress made a point of coming over after we had sampled them and asking our thoughts on them and Simon tried to be nice about the fact that they weren't really to his taste and her reply was "well at least you tried them, most VB men won't". A truly interesting experience, Highly recommended. Then there was the food and WOW AGAIN! Simon had fillet garfish in Mildura beer batter, just lovely! My sister who was with us had carbonara and that was sensational, I had their chicken ceasar salad and it's one of the nicest I have ever had (only topped by one I had in the Mount Gambier pub one day tell you about that one another time!) and my two children had the special split into two serves and that happened to be italian style meatballs with linguine and oh my gosh!! That special topped the lot for taste I tell you! I'm salivating just thinking about it. If you're in Mildura, try the brewery.

Apart from that we tried Murray Downs, which was OK but like all places that cater for really big crowds, the food was over cooked and just so so. There's a tiny little cafe in Ultima which is one of those who have a bit of everything, some groceries, the paper, the local post office and eatery, and I had the great pleasure of eating a chicken schnitzel burger which was massive and really really nice. Simon grossed me out there by ordering a bowl of hot chips with gravy and cheese told him it would serve him right if he had a gall bladder attack right there and then! He loved it though... yuck!

So that was our gastric holiday joys! back home now and should be trying to clear the backlog of work which my computer backfire made. So I'd better get back to it!

Cheers!
Selina.

[James]

Wow, sounds fantastic! I remember the Mildura pub with fondness as well, it's got some of the best alcoholic apple cider on tap that I've ever tasted. I also had my first stone-grill experience in Mildura, I can't remember the name of that restaurant but it was fun

It's amazing how many quality restaurants are being established in rural areas. I mean there's a lot in places that are easily reached by Melbourne day-trippers, but even in towns that are several hours drive away from any major city there seems to be new and exciting gourmet venues popping up - and usually with much better prices than their city counterparts!
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“Blessed are the Cheese Makers!” - Jesus, in the Life of Brian