The Grounds of Alexandria Take 2

my mum said that when my grandparents would came over we would take them here. i said i'll go when they open up their new venue, but this place is just too good to not go again. i don't normally "repeat" places i go to eat, but this is an exception. i still have to come here for breakfast one time, or on a market day.

there wasn't as much "vibe" today. maybe because it's a thursday and the lemonade stand doesn't open. well, it kinda does but they don't display it as nice as they normally would on a friday/weekend. we went there at around 2.30 with only 10mins to order. still had to wait around 10mins for a table, but we got this massive round table we could easily first 10 even though we had 5 people. the smaller tables were still occupied. the positive was that we missed the crazy parking. there was a street spot right outside. i didn't bother going into the car park. 

                                   

The Potting Shed. they had some award function in there today. not open to the public yet.

apple, pear and mint juice-$7.50 

it was so hot today, so i avoided ordering coffee. ordered this juice that my mum had last time. refreshing as always (: i still have yet to try the takeaway mango smoothie. last time i was full since i already had two drinks so taking it away was pointless. this time i was full from last night, and not really hungry so one drink is enough.

regular cap-$3.30

clockwise: The Grounds Schnitty-$18, Blistered Tomato Salad-$17, Salmon Salad-$17, Lamb Shank-$19, and of course chips w/ chilli mayo and salt-$6

the plan was to order stuff which mum and i didn't have last time. the schnitzel actually felt healthy, it wasn't downed in a lot of oil and it was a good solid piece of chicken breast. not dry and over cooked, and the crumb wasn't burnt either. heaps of aioli, and i loved the little currants in the salad.

the tomato salad was ordered since it was new and it's vegetarian. it has witlof, roman beans, buffalo mozzarella and green olives. the salad kind of tasted like shallots, but it was very refreshing and again tasted very healthy. lots of olive oil, but that's healthy stuff. 

the salmon salad is new on the menu as well, but this was the most disappointing dish i've had so far at the grounds. it was just some 3 pieces of cured salmon, cucumber, beetroot w/ dill, creme fresh and crosstini. should've ordered the NZ kind salmon for $2 more. couldn't really taste anything special with the salmon. i still prefer smoked salmon in salads.

the lamb shanks were to die for. beautifully braised and fell off the bone like it should. i normally don't order lamb shanks at cafes, but i think this one is really worth it. massive serving, with heaps of rice which was cooked quite nicely (usually white people rice is very hard) and the spices and herbs just lifted the dish, and it wasn't spicy (the menu said "Middle Eastern" infused stuff). don't normally have greek yogurt with rice, but this is surprisingly nice in this dish. salad was nice and herby (like the herb salad yday, but yday one was better).

mixed berry tart-$6.50, apple toffee tart-$6.00

nooo, they didn't have the creme brûlée tart. i don't think they made it today, but hopefully they continue making it like they do with their strawberry tarts. quite a lot of new tarts compared to last year. i love berries, so when i saw that i thought why not? the berries are slightly sour, but the tart is coated with a think layer of chocolate inside so it was really nice to eat. for my grandma who has a massive sweet tooth, this was way too sour for her. the 

3 for $5-mango and coconut muffin, blueberry pastry, frangipani sugar coated bread/bun thing.

my cousin was right (again). at the end of the day, they have "specials" since they want to get rid of their baked goods/pastries as they won't be fresh to sell the next morning. these baked goods aren't the most hygienic since they've been outside and possible a flea or two may have landed on them, but who can resist a good bargain? i think they're normally at least $5 each, so 3 for $5 is cheap! 

i'm not going to lie, but these baked goods are no where near healthy. we ran out of mangoes at home, but yay that the muffin had mangoes in it! the muffin is very buttery and big. the pastry with blueberries had a good "crunch" outside, but inside was very buttery and soft, and not toow sweet either. i'm not even sure what the third baked thing is, the guy just said frangipani and i missed out the last part. this one i think is the most butteriest, even though it was the whitest (if that makes sense). it smelt good though. 

started on 11% battery since i forgot to charge my phone last night., and it lasted long enough to make phone calls, snapchat and take photos from until i got home. (i did turn of 3g, location services etc when i didn't need them). slept in so didn't have time to charge it, and then went to my local GP, turns out he closed because CNY, then went cherrybrook shops and went to the doctor there who i think personally took more time than necessary. also, turns out the in car system doesn't have a usb port. it's times like these i want a car charger for my phone, but not bad my dear iPhone battery.