As full as Fondue

There is a scale by which fullness is gauged in our house it is “Fondue Night”. This refers to a night when hubby and I were on our Honeymoon in Canada and dined in a Swiss restaurant at Chalet Lake Louise. On this particular night I was so excited by the food on offer, as usual I ordered too much, we had cheese fondue, meat and seafood fondue and chocolate desert fondue. Everything was delicious and therefore my brain did not register that I was full, so I kept eating. When we got back to our room we both quickly discovered that we may have over-eaten and both felt ridiculously full. I can assure you there was no romantic honeymooning after that, lying on our respective sides of the bed like beached whales, it hurt to touch my stomach, there was lots of moaning and groaning about how full we were. It was very unpleasant and uncomfortable.

Last night hubby and I had a rare child-free, grown-up night out at a Pop-Up Restaurant in our local area, 13 courses with matching wines (yes I’m pregnant and had a few sips, don’t judge me). Pop-up restaurants apart from Reality TV show types ie Masterchef are a rare thing in Australia but are common overseas.

All dressed up for a grown-up night out.

All dressed up for a grown-up night out.

Azarak Experimental Restaurant is, as its name suggests is experimental, but I can assure you all the experimenting must be done well before time because every course was a hit. It is food done differently and ooooh so tasty.  Invitations are only extended to people who express interest on their Facebook page and then you are randomly chosen and given a “Golden Ticket” to the event. You are told of the suburb where the dinner will be held but not the exact location until 24 hours before, so it adds to the excitement. They also taunt you with fabulous pictures of their food on their Facebook page leading up to your night. Now I can be a bit of a bogan when it comes to food and I would say this is only the 2nd time I have lashed out and tried what I would consider “fancy food” or fine dining so not being a “foodie” my review may be a little simpler than the actual dishes.

Round 2 - Bitter chocolate espuma, basils, marigolds.

Round 2 – Bitter chocolate espuma, basils, marigolds.

beets, tea-smoke labneh, purple clover, nasturtium pods

beets, tea-smoke labneh, purple clover, nasturtium pods

 

Eating my Curds and "Whey"

Eating my Curds and “Whey”

This dish makes my No 2 of the night, Carrots and their earth. Apparently slow cooked for 7 hours in earth. The chef then recreated the bed of soil using nuts and coconut, like a crumble to serve, delicious!

This dish makes my No 2 of the night, Carrots and their earth. Apparently slow cooked for 7 hours in earth. The chef then recreated the bed of soil using nuts and coconut, like a crumble to serve, delicious!

I started eating before I took a photo - Confit salmon, sea forages, shaved bonito. Mine was cooked well because I'm pregnant.

I started eating before I took a photo – Confit salmon, sea forages, shaved bonito. Mine was cooked well because I’m pregnant.

Called "V6" this is purple potato with vanilla oil and vanilla salt.

Called “V6” this is purple potato with vanilla oil and vanilla salt.

Pork belly - need I say more

Pork belly – need I say more

I was getting full with 5 courses to go and I pushed on, admittedly I tasted each of the final plates but didn’t finish them, mostly because I was saving myself for Dessert. The thing I should have done differently is “NO BREAD”. They had freshly baked focaccia and sour dough which came around twice in the early courses and because at this point you are still hungry, saying NO was not an option and I enjoyed every mouthful.

Fat duck and popcorn - this is their signature dish.

Fat duck and popcorn – this is their signature dish.

Fillet, wild garlic, wild forages

Fillet, wild garlic, wild forages

 

Round 1 of desserts - Un-fried egg, sorbet yolk with sweet gooey goodness as the egg white.

Round 1 of desserts – Un-fried egg, sorbet yolk with sweet gooey goodness as the egg white.

Named "Eat your damned vegetables" this was a mostly vegetable dish that tasted like a dessert, very tricky.

Named “Eat your damned vegetables” this was a mostly vegetable dish that tasted like a dessert, very tricky.

 

 

This was the reason I wanted to go along to sample the goodness - "Ultra" Violet Crumble - a delicious mix of pannacotta, honeycomb, violet meringue and then turned into a production with a live display of violet and milk sorbet churned with dry ice. Sitting to dine under UV/black lights with your dessert glowing at you, truly amazing.

This was the reason I wanted to go along to sample the goodness – “Ultra” Violet Crumble – a delicious mix of pannacotta, honeycomb, violet meringue and then turned into a production with a live display of violet and milk sorbet churned with dry ice. Sitting to dine under UV/black lights with your dessert glowing at you, truly amazing.

Check out the YouTube video of the dry ice display here.

The night finished off with a fun creation of a "Rorschach" which in this case was making a creation out of coloured tempered white chocolate. I was too busy licking the spoon between colours an was too slow to fold mine in half and my chocolate had set into a gooey mess but hubby's turned out well.

The night finished off with a fun creation of a “Rorschach” which in this case was making a creation out of coloured tempered white chocolate. I was too busy licking the spoon between colours an was too slow to fold mine in half and my chocolate had set into a gooey mess but hubby’s turned out well.

 

You should treat yourself at least once in your lifetime to dine outside your comfort zone, warning it could become addictive.

Apart from bragging about eating delicious food the other purpose of this story is about overeating, it is still difficult over 5 years on from Fondue night and 3 years on from Lapbanding to stop overeating. The challenge with eating with a lapband is I would love to have the freedom on a fine dining night to be able to consume everything but day-to-day be restricted, you know, the best of both worlds.

Over the last few weeks I seem to have issues with over-eating and have had sickly full feeling a few too many times, it could be the baby pushing on my stomach, but more than likely it’s my food intake causing the problem. I need to get my head back in smaller portion mode.

Are you a serial over-eater or do you go overboard rarely on a special night out?