back with the gang

Two weeks ago, Malc & I received an email from Dr Reiko saying that her & Stef will be in Sydney and wanted to know if we were free for dinner. Early last week, we got an email from Dr Miwa saying she will also be in town. What fantastic timing, our old Canberra gang (minus Dr Shogo & Peter-san) were in town . . . and it's definitely a good excuse for a celebration.

Dr Malc consulted his tastebuds and they decided that the venue for dinner will be Viva Goa (2 Scott Street, Pyrmont NSW 2009 ph +61 2-9566 1311). Viva Goa is one of our old favourites in Pyrmont, but we have not been back for awhile because it's not really that exciting to have only 2 people eating because we can't really order more than 2 dishes and we miss out on all the other choices on the menu. So with a big group, we can now sample more dishes.

So after a some catching up, we studied the menu and with a lot of prodding from our waiter, we decided on a banquet meal of 3 appetisers and 4 main meals.

For appetisers, we selected: (1) galinha arambol (herb and spice crusted chicken morsels and sweet and sour yoghurt; (2) parco empregado (roast pork belly in a spiced star anise & shrimp paste; (3) panjim panrolls (semolina crumbed vegetable panrolls with tomato relish, light garlic sour cream and coconut chutney. The picture of the dishes on the right also shows Dr Reiko, Dr Miwa and Stef's fingers making the peace sign especially for Dr Shogo. The plate was cleaned out in record time as we enjoyed the pleasant mixutre of spices and texture of the entree plate.

Then came our main dishes, I'm copying the descriptions off the menu as they were quite spot on.(1)Paneer & peas caldeen (fragrant mild yellow delicate coconut, tomato and tangy kokum curry, tempered with mustard seeds & curry leaves; (2) okra amotik (red, hot & sour, spicy tamarind curry); (3) chicken peri-peri (chilli garlic paste, dervied from the peri-peri chilli; (4)sorpotel (roast, finely-diced port, simmered in a rich chilli, pepper & garlic sauce, with a dash of cashew feni).

And then finally, after several previous visits of ending our meals with the mains because we were too full . . . we made it to dessert. We shared among us 3 fantastic desserts (1) pudim de banana (warm caramelised banana, palm sugar & fresh coconut pudding with vanilla ice cream; (2) ale belle (date & fresh coconut filled, sweet fennel pancake with ginger preserve and vanilla ice cream; and after reminding our waiter (he forgot to put the order in), Dr Miwa's dessert choice of orange & coriander sorbet.

We were all pleasantly full when we left the restaurant and it was great to catch up again with the Canberra gang.