Mövenpick Ice Cream Parlour, Cairns

Regardless of time, place or occasion, I’m always naturally inclined towards ice cream. Live with me for a week and you’ll no doubt hear me yelling down the stairs “I want ice cream for dinner!” When asked what my favourite food is, I can never decide on an answer (being enthusiastic about so many foods), but if actions speak louder than words, then maybe, just maybe, it’s Ice Cream.

In Sydney, I like stocking up on tubs of Serendipity Ice Cream but where would ChocolateQueen, Daisy Moo and I go to satisfy a late night sweet tooth in Cairns? The Mövenpick Ice Cream Parlour of course! Sitting at the northern end of the Esplanade, we were lucky enough to find parking straight across the road. I was first introduced to Mövenpick ice cream while in Geneva by Herr Mouttard while choosing a movie in a video store. It’s a common product/brand over there (being Swiss), with the ice creams available in supermarkets and even Mövenpick branded restaurants.

Iced Chocolate

So pretty! Our iced chocolate is served in an impossibly tall glass. I’ve put the sugar container there in an effort to do it justice. I am not exaggerating, to get to the straw I had to Stand Up (No laughing at my petite stature please lol). If you order this, I recommend leaving it for a few minutes to let the chocolate ice cream sink to the bottom, otherwise, your first few sips will taste only of plain milk. Overall, it’s a darker/bitter tasting iced chocolate and quite rich – it took all three of us to finish it lol.

Belgian Waffles
Served with Crème Brulee and Tiramisu ice cream

You can choose any two ice cream flavours you like:) The Crème brulee was sweet with only a slight caramel flavour (there’s also a caramel ice cream flavour available) I was particularly impressed with the Tiramisu ice cream. Normally, I find tiramisu ice creams heavily laden with coffee flavouring and not much else, but this particular version had a finely balanced mix of coffee and liqueur – I could have eaten it (and the waffles) all day!. The waffle was warm and fluffy, dense enough for me to feel like I was getting a carb hit, while still light enough for me to keep wanting more. The designated waffle connoisseur in our trio, Daisy Moo, commented that she preferred the waffles at the Guylian Café, simply because they had a crisper edge to them.

Romanoff Coupe
Vanilla Dream and Strawberry ice creams, served with fresh strawberries, berry sauce and whipped cream

Underneath the mounds of ice cream, we found a generous serve of fat, juicy strawberries coated in syrup. While the strawberry ice cream was nice, the vanilla really stole the show.

Many people will label vanilla ice cream as the most boring ice cream flavour. I whole heartedly disagree. For those who need some convincing, I dare you to try the Vanilla Dream ice cream:P I was simply blown away. With it’s tiny black vanilla specks and gorgeously thick, creamy texture, we all found ourselves gravitating towards the white blobs in our glass.

Overall, the ice cream was rich and creamy – just the way I like it. I’ve never been to the Mövenpick ice cream at Manly back in Sydney, but if it sells little tubs of the Mövenpick icecream like it’s Cairns counterpart, I might just have to give it a quick visit:)

Movenpick Ice Cream
Shop5a/ 95 -105
The Esplanade

Cairns City, QLD, 4870
Phone: (07) 4041 3555
http://www.moevenpick-icecream.com/en/home.html

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OCha-Cha, Cairns

With Japanese gossip magazines and tabloids lazily draped over the lovely hardwood furniture, lower tables for those wishing to sit on the floor and an order at the counter/pay before you eat system, this intimate and unpretentious Japanese restaurant is hidden gem, tucked away upstairs at Palm Court. The serenity inside belies the large, bustling and noisy Blue Sky Brewery which has recently taken the lion’s share of Palm Court square footage downstairs.

Barley Tea

Complimentary and self serve barley tea and water is available to all patrons.

The menu is written simply, no elaborate descriptions with items listed in both English and Japanese. We choose to start the meal with some edamame to share.

Edamame

The edamame arrive after a short wait. Oddly the soybean pods are very cold, hinting or blatantly telling us, that they’ve just been taken out of the fridge. There aren’t very many of them either, barely managing to cover the bottom of the bowl.

Grill Set Tray

We all opt for a grill dinner set option, which all arrive on trays, served with rice, a bowl of miso, a little portion of tofu and fruit.

Rice

Tofu

The tofu is silky and soft, served with a sweet soy sauce.

Grapes

Chicken Teriyaki

I was quite happy with my choice, the succulent morsels of chicken drenched with the teriyaki sauce. The meat was topped with finely shredded cabbage.

Japanese Hamburg (not a typo)

When Daisy Moo ordered this, I was pretty excited – I was almost going to get this myself and expected it to be a hamburger with rice patties substituting bun rolls. The hamburg itself is actually a giant beef burger. Unlike other burgers, which I would describe as heavy and dense, this burger was light and moist despite being cooked though. The meat was so tender it melted in the mouth and was served with some vegies and seaweed on top. Again, a side of finely grated cabbage was provided.

Grilled Salmon

ChocolateQueen went for this fish option. The fish pieces were quite fat, but seemed a bit dry to me. The fish was served with lemon and the obligatory finely shredded cabbage.

I found this place to be of outstanding value (all meals were around $10), and quite enjoyed the simple food combined with the relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

OCha-Cha
Shop F7-F8, Palm Court
34 Lake St
Cairns, QLD, 4870
Phone: (07) 4051 7055


View Larger Map

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Rusty's Markets, Cairns

Located in the heart of Cairns city, Rusty’s Markets offer a large range of fresh local produce, whilst attracting vendors from Greater Far North Queensland. My earliest food market memories were in Rusty’s Market so I was extremely excited to revisit and do some grocery shopping:) Whilst it’s undergone a major renovation since last time I was here, the spirit of the markets remains the same. Queen Bee, Daisy Moo, Chocolate Queen and I always look forward to market day:)

The first distinctive feature of the markets would have to be the presence of various tropical fruits. Scattered amongst the regular fruit choices are jackfruit, soursop and sapodillas.

Pretty strawberries

Being able to pick my own strawberries leaves me feeling liberated from the punnet.

Chocolate Pudding Fruit

I know this fruit as Jackfruit. It’s filled with little parcels of sweet yellow flesh, each encasing a nutty seed.

The start of Mango season

I miss Cairns when I’m down in Sydney sometimes, for a number of reasons, mangoes is one of them lol.

A Daisy Moo favourite – pineapple


Sapodillas

Paw Paw

Soursop

I’ve only ever had a soursop once, and I remember that even though it was a little bit sour, the flavour just tasted “tropical’ to me, and the flesh was white and velvety.

For thirsty shoppers, there a many great things to try:

Fresh coconut juice

This lovely guy opens up the coconuts for you:D After I snapped him doing his thing, he jumped at me and screamed BOO lol. Those who know me can imagine the shriek that came from my mouth lol.

Sugar Cane Juice

Coconut juice man also runs this sugar cane juice stall (conveniently right next to eachother lol). There’s a machine that squeezes out the juice from the sticks of sugar cane. Queen Bee makes a great sugar cane drink so this really appeals to me:)

Fruit wine from Pacific Blue

On a more adult note, I found a cute range of fruit wines! Flavours included mango, lychee, feijoa, and lime and chilli. The lady at the store took quite a liking to Queen Bee and I, and plyed us with samples of wine for an extended period of time:) (No doubt to coax a mass purchase lol)

Soap stall

I find these markets quite diverse, with products such as soap, jewellery, clothes, massage and antiquities for sale plus the regular food and drink stalls, there’s even a local clairvoyant!

After meandering through the maze of stalls, we came home with bagfuls of food, including kipfler potatoes, purple sweet potatoes, a pineapple, a rockmelon, a range of asian greens, some baklava and mango wine:D I love these markets!

Rusty's Markets
Open 6.00am Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Sheridan St

Cairns QLD 4870
Phone: (07) 4051 5100
http://www.rustysmarkets.com.au/
http://pacificbluewinery.com/index.html

Waterbar and Grill, Cairns

I escaped the awful weather in Sydney with a short trip to tropical, sunny Cairns! Great weather also means…outdoor dining, so taking advantage of this situation, we headed to Waterbar and Grill, on the decks of the local wharf.

The atmosphere is relaxed, with one side of our table allocated a couch, and service is warm and friendly.

We started small, with a plate of dips to share.

Mixed dip plate

The plate consisted of roasted beetroot dip, hommous and a semi-sundried tomato pesto dips, toasted sourdough bread and slices of flat bread. The dips were rather small and the semi-sundried tomato tasted alarmingly similar to a bottled tomato salsa. Not that we minded too much, we were there for the next course – Meat!!!

The choices for our next course are dominated by Prime Rib Eye Steak :) At Waterbar and Grill, this a 250g piece of meat served cooked to your liking, with either chips or mash and a choice of sauces. All steaks come with a side salad – how health conscious lol.

Prime Rib Eye 1

Queen Bee accompanied her steak with the buttery mashed potatoes and Red wine and chilli sauce. She was very pleased with her choice, and rather impressed with her sauce, which was a yummy combination of sweet and hot.

Prime Rib Eye 2

I chose my to have Blue cheese and caper butter on top of my steak. It was divine, the capers cutting beautifully through the creamy blue cheese. I loved the mash too:)

Prime Rib Eye 3

Daisy Moo opted for the Porcini and Tarragon butter sauce with a baked potato. The baked potatoes are served with a large portion of sour cream, large enough for me to sneak some too! While the steak was cooked to perfection (medium rare), the sauce tasted nothing like expected. Despite many tiny pieces of what appeared to be porcini mushrooms, the overwhelming taste coming from the sauce was simply…sweet. Puzzled, I had a taste and I couldn’t taste any mushroom or tarragon either... Whatever the flavour was, Daisy Moo still enjoyed her meal and finished her steak the fastest!

Lamb Ribs

Chocolate Queen ventured out of cow territory to sample the lamb offerings with a rack of ribs. She thoroughly enjoyed the sticky ribs, which were generously basted with a sweet, smoky sauce.

T-bone

Mr D had the 500g T-Bone steak with pepper sauce and chips. After devouring the massive steak, he shared his chips – yum!

There were many scrumptious dessert offerings on the menu, but none of us felt like we could fit in anything more!!

I love outdoor dining, and eating by the water is a pleasure I will never tire of. I have no doubt I’ll be back here next time I’m in Cairns:)

Waterbar & Grill Steakhouse
Pier Point
Cairns, Queensland, 4870
Phone: (07) 4031 1199