TL;DR: Even in the busiest hubs for gourmands, one of the best finds is when you stumble upon something just off the track. That is a bonus for the keen travellers - and when you strike gold, you bring people back. The Lazy Dog is sort of like that, lovely, and relaxing - plus a stone's throw away from the Gasworks. Additionally, with that subdued, hidden nature, they go decidedly down to earth, and it works.
Coming around here was the result of the usual weekend business. It is Sunday time, time to hit up a new spot for breakfast. Newstead is always full of great choices, this being one of them. I stumbled upon it when reading about the staff picks on Zomato one day, and a couple of them were nearby in this nape of the woods. This find was a case of it falling right into my lap, and in that circumstance, I will take it - put it in my pocket, and find a place to store it because that is how I am.
When it was finally morning time, the dog was hounding me awake, which more or less had me up before I knew what to do. With little dilly-dallying, it was not long before the housemate, and I was heading to the funky side of town once more. In the end, the experience is one that ranked solidly and proves that Newstead has a solid batting average.
If you were not actively looking for this place, or even searching for somewhere to eat, you would bypass it without knowing. The way that my housemate knew it was near was a sign with its name on it, a sign that was a list of businesses within close vicinity. From the central road, you have to walk behind the building to find the Lazy Dog. That outlay works well to their advantage. Around half of the tables are al fresco, soaking up the sun; though to mitigate it, a few umbrellas above the tables might do well. The view is of the park, which makes it suitable for people with either dogs or kids - plenty of play while you enjoy your coffee.
With how they approached customer service, it was reasonably straightforward. You walk up to the counter and place your order. After that process, they give you are table number and direct you to an empty table. It should be said now, on this day, there were several reserved tables; however, the reservations were not for at least another two hours. Because of that factor, the two of us were allowed to take a seat - provided everything was clear and ready by the time the reservation rolled around.
Already that is a good sign. After placing the order and taking a seat, it was not long before the food was right at our table piping hot and ready to eat. There must have been a quick brown fox working in the kitchen, being the efficient fella that he is. That goes to show how well they are operating, and even when it is a sort of slow day efficiency goes a long way.
For the menu that is on offer, for the most part, it is standard kind of fare for breakfast. That is on top of a slight Asian influence, with a couple of classic dishes on the menu. This focus is on top of a weekend special, where the creative juices start to flow. It is there that the Asian influences begin to breathe. For something to drink, that selection is also generous. On offer is the usual tea and coffee, though they have that added benefit of more experimental drinks - especially for the hot days, with plenty of iced options.
Starting with the essential, that is coffee. Already with the choice of bean, the folks at the Lazy Dog are already off to a good start. Beans get sourced from Veneziano, a roaster that is worth the praise that it brings. The flavour profile is broad, and the brews are frequently strong - as it was the case right here today - often providing a pleasant beverage. For where you can be in the coffee-drinking game, it is around that period that you can take your training wheels off. Strong, but not that it would resurrect a zombie. Flavour and notes usually are fruity and maybe some brown sugar, but nothing too overt making it an easy transition.
For the meal, it was a classical nasi goreng. It makes plenty of sense for this to be a breakfast food. The dish starts with a fried rice base, and the cook essentially goes from there. On the side were the garnishes of carrot, daikon, and fried shallots, with sambal to mix through the rice. With the choice of meat, I went with trusty old chicken, and this was all finished off with a fried egg on top.
Everything was decent quality, though if there was a slight gripe, it was a bit bland in parts. It was easy enough to mitigate that by mixing the sambal through the rice - but a bit more of something spicy on the side would have done the deal. Other than that, there is little to complain about the meal. The rice had a nice amount of seasoning; when it came to the meat of the meal - the chicken - was a generous portion, cooked well and was tender. It could have benefited from a bit of seasoning before cooking to spice things up - I'm the kind of guy who would take on scorpions from Trinidad, but that comes down to horses for courses. That egg on top was a lovely touch, chiefly since it was a soft-cooked egg. Prick these suckers with a fork, and the yolk runs down the rest of your meal and makes a creamy, one ingredient sauce, which is all that you need.
From my housemate's plate, I got a bite of the fried corn cakes. There was also some avocado and bacon to go along with it. Corn cakes are always lovely to get, but after so long, they seem somewhat overdone and a bit of a basic standard. However, beauty in being ardent with cooking is finding ways to tweak the old recipes and present them in whole new ways - sometimes into entire other cuisines. That was how it went with the corn fritters.
In all this time, I would be surprised if I had not run into a fried version of corn cakes. That would have been among the first variation with recreating the dish in thinking about it. The batter was a light one, similar to how a fish and chip from in England would prepare it. That consistency allowed the corn fritter to be trapped inside, thus slightly steaming it in the process. In addition to that, I also received some of the avocado and bacon. Not too much new can be said aside from them being ideal accompaniments to any hot breakfast.
Simple was as simple does. Many of the hotspots in this nape of the woods have a showy flair to them, which makes Lazy Dog even more characteristic. Everything about it is straightforward, plus each aspect works well in its favour. A lot of the time, it is not about what the restaurant serves or even what the restaurant is - at the end the day, it boils down to an essential rule. It is how the restaurant goes about its food and its modus operandi that matters, and Lazy Dog is just as good as any of the top places in the nearby Gasworks.
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