Eateries - Zambrero, Fresh Mex Grill

I meant to write about this a little while back when Roxy and I popped in here for lunch the other week. We were supposed to be going to this little vegetarian restaurant that we keep meaning to check out. It's one of those hole in the wall places. Just a yellow door that leads up a flight of stairs to a very small and over crowded room that apparently does very excellent food. I say apparently because it's only recently that we managed to find the place, and when we finally got up there it was way too crowded for us to get a seat and we were in the middle of a lunch break so we couldn't stand around waiting.

Instead we went to a new Mexican place on Rundle Street called Zambrero. I'd walked past it on my way to the vegetarian and it caught my eye (in case you haven't picked up on it, I love Mexican food of any kind whether the genuine or the tex mex sort)

It was a really interesting place, similar to burp in the way that you choose your meat, choose your fillings and then eat an incredibly overstuffed burrito but there were some interesting things about it too. For starters the tortillas were different, I'm not sure if they were more of a traditional style tortilla or not but they seemed to be more like roti to me. Not that this was a problem, they were delicious and freshly made as well. The ones at burp (not that I'm complaining, I'm just still a bit sore over the whole guacamole fiasco) seem just like the ones you get out of the packet. They're tasty but they don't have that fresh taste to them. The chicken we had was also interesting, once again I could almost taste Indian flavours to it. At the end they also offer you a choice of sauces which helped add a bit of zing to the whole thing. 

There were only two dissapointing things about the whole place. Firstly there was so mango salsa and I love having mango salsa on my wrap at burp. Secondly they make you pay 50¢ extra for guacamole, that was all a bit too subway for me. Although speaking of quacamole, I did love this:

At least I know that they think guacamole is a very important addition to any burrito, and maybe the extra 50¢ I pay them will go to ensuring that I never end up with a guac-less burrito. 

(Their website is also very cute, they even have a game where you shoot flying tacos, burritos and corn chips!)

Adelaide Life - End of the Festival Season

The 14th of March signaled the end of the Fringe and the Adelaide Festival, and just like every other time it comes to an end I find myself wishing I'd gotten more involved. This year I actually went to more things than I ever have before. I saw Adam Hills, Josh Thomas, Josh Earl and Ross Noble. They were all great and very funny but they were only the tip of the Fringe iceberg that I could have experienced. So here is a list of the things I wish I had seen. 


The Garden of Unearthly Delights
I did go to the garden, twice, but I spent my time lined up to see Josh Thomas or Adam Hills. I didn't go trawl through all the hippie stalls. I didn't buy corn on the cob (delicious, delicious corn). I didn't go through the freak show tent. I didn't sit down and have a drink and take in the beautiful place that the garden is transformed into. This is one of my favourite things about the Fringe and I'm kicking myself for not spending a night just to take it in. Especially since Kirby has never been before (except for our line experience) so that would have been a great excuse to go!


The Northern Lights
Once again, something I've already seen before but stuff that I can always go again. I didn't actually see the lights until Tuesday night when we were driving past the festival centre and I noticed them on one of the buildings. So apart from witnessing the giant black boxes out the front of uni I really missed out this year. The lights completely transform the buildings on North Terrace and while they aren't too exciting it would have been nice to just take some time out and have a look at them.


Plays
I don't even know if there were any plays in the Fringe that I would have wanted to see in particular, but the Fringe is a great excuse to go see some acting and I didn't even bother. My goal in general is to go see more theatre productions but I going to see some during the Fringe would have been really great.


Writers' Week
I did go to writers week, for the first time ever, but I just wish that I'd seen more writers. I missed out on Richard Dawkins and Irvine Welsh and lots of other authors I'd never heard of but who would have probably been interesting to hear speak. It's a lovely atmosphere just sitting on the lawns listening to people speak, so next year I'm definitely filling up my writers' week schedule!


Format Festival
I've never been to the Format Zine Shop, but I think I'll have to get there soon, and truthfully I don't know a lot about what they do but I really wish I had gone to something to try and get a better idea. This is what Format say about themselves "We put on arts events in and around Adelaide such as the annual Format Festival (including the Academy of DIY, Adelaide Zine Fair & the Street Dreams urban art festival), the art show Big! and Renew Adelaide. We are now also running the Format Zine Shop in the centre of Adelaide city." They sound pretty cool right? Well I just wish I'd had a look and seen what they were all about rather than just constantly getting updates on facebook telling me that I really should be checking out what young creative people in Adelaide are doing. 


Rundle Street
It's not really a particular even of the Fringe, but I just wish I'd spent more time down there. It's a completely different atmosphere down there when they close off the road to the lower half and it's almost impossible to move along the sidewalk. It's just really exciting being amongst so many people who are in town at night not to get drunk but to have coffee or gelato or to eat tea or just to go see a show and it's something that you don't actually get to experience in Adelaide very often.


So that is my list, and there are probably more things. I just wonder does anyone else find themselves at the end of festival season wishing they'd gone to so much more?