What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Australia? Crocs? Shrimps on the barbie? Koalas? Whatever you think of, kangaroos can’t be far down the list.
I recently took a vacation down under and the bizarre food eater in me had a craving for unique food experiences. In Australia, weird food means bush meat like croc and emu, but the most common and widely available game there is kangaroo.
Polkadots Cupcake Factory (Menu), now fast approaching its 2nd anniversary, was one of the first cupcake shops to open up in the Austin area. We’re glad to see them thrive in an increasingly crowded Austin cupcake market, and the TastingBuds are fans of Polkadots, as shown in our Austin Cupcake Comparison Test from last year.
Peter recently visited the Polkadots kitchen to chat with Olga Lee, one half of the couple that owns Polkadots. She was hard at work, but had time to chat at the store, which specializes in custom cakes, cookies, and of course various types of cupcakes.
Click through to read the full text of the interview with Olga Lee of Polkadots
Hello Friends and Lovers! As you probably already know, South by Southwest 2010 rolled through Austin like a freight train filled to the brim with free food and booze. Of course, the TastingBuds took full advantage.
Other perks of being in Austin during SXSW include catching amazing concerts and spotting celebrities in town for the week. This SXSW, Peter caught up with Thu Tran from Food Party, who just happens to be one of the TastingBuds’ favorite food show stars.
A few days ago, Peter was invited to the Community Table at the Southwest Bistro (SWB) in the Austin Hyatt for a tasting, which was perfect for this installment of Food Photo Friday because the food was beautiful!
The Bistro, despite turning out quality local food, might get overlooked because of the lack of visibility from the street level. So, keeping true to our mission statement, this post will hopefully help you discover tasty food, one delicious bite at a time by highlighting some of the dishes at the Southwest Bistro!
Click here to check out some tasty food photos from Southwest Bistro
Food Photo Friday is back, and this week’s installment is all about Austin Food Trailers and Food Trucks. Everyone knows that Food Trailers are all the rage in Austin now, and I’d wager that if you are downtown or on South Congress, you’re probably less than 3 blocks away from a food trailer or 5.
Over the months the TastingBuds have visited many of these hidden gems around town, and we’d like to share some of the photos we’ve taken along the way:
Everyone likes pretty pictures, and everyone knows that a picture speaks a thousand words. When out enjoying the Austin food scene, we’re often taking cool photos of food that don’t necessarily justify an entire blog post… until now. We’re starting a new series called Food Photo Friday, where we can share lots of mini food adventures that we’ve been having and just let the pictures do most of the talking.
The Tastingbuds were honored to attend the grand opening luncheon of Maggiano’s Little Italy on Monday, March 1st at it’s new location in the upscale Domain. While it is new to Austin, many of you may already be acquainted with Maggiano’s – there are more than 40 locations throughout the US.
I grew up in Atlanta, home one of the older Maggiano’s… where everyone knows it as a nice, Italian inspired restaurant that is a safe go-to place to take a date or to celebrate a special occasion.
How does the Austin location stack up, and how do we think Maggiano’s will fare in the already crowded Austin Restaurant scene? Click on through to see what we thought and to see tons of mouthwatering photos
Hawaii is known for being a tropical paradise with amazing beaches and beautiful natural surroundings. However, a Hawaiian vacation is also known for holding tourists upside down by the ankles and shaking all the money their pockets. The main issue is that stores and restaurants in touristy areas charge sky high prices for necessities such as food – which is a bummer for foodies like us.
Everyone knows that once you leave the touristy areas you can get some reasonably priced grub, but most people don’t know how the locals manage to keep expenses in check. Here are 6 tasty, unique, and inexpensive local options we discovered in Hawaii that will help you have fun and save money at the same time.
Here’s a fun and delicious ingredient that you might not have encountered before, Okinawan Sweet Potatoes, AKA Hawaiian purple potatoes, or purple sweet potatoes. They are known for their distinct purple color and unique sweet yet earthy taste, and I think they are way better than a regular sweet potato.
I discovered this culinary delight on my recent trip to Hawaii and have been hooked ever since. Because it was so delicious in all of the forms I tried, I had to experiment with this ingredient once I got home and I decided to make something from it for Thanksgiving.
Congrats to Seth Mazow for pulling off another victory in the Hands on an Eggplant Sandwich competition at local favorite, Home Slice Pizza. This year’s time on a sub was approx 31 hours – but the payoff was great… a year of free pizza. If you don’t know what the heck we are talking about, check out Seth’s website Year of the Pizza, or read the Tastingbuds interview with Seth here.
