Para Hills Hot Bread Bakery - Adelaide, South Australia

A diamond in the rough, a needle in the haystack, an awesome bakery in the Para Hills Bridge Road Shopping Centre. It's not the kind of place you're likely to stumble upon, but it's well worth seeking out. Thuy Vu is the owner of Para Hills Hot Bread Bakery and she is clearly passionate about baking. After migrating to Australia from Vietnam on a refugee boat at age 18, she worked in a Salisbury bakery before later starting her own business in 2002. She's won numerous awards, some of which are proudly listed on the sign above the shop.



Front and center as you walk into the shop is a glorious display of savoury pies, pasties and sausage rolls. The selection is quite impressive with all of the usual suspects and a few originals as well.



Look left or right and you'll see sweets galore. Cakes, tarts, lamingtons, slices and more. How's a girl to choose?



The plain meat pie is generally a good indicator of bakery standards. This one looked good on the outside. Nice flaky pastry and beautifully golden in colour.



Biting into the Meat Pie ($4) and it's clear this is no ordinary bakery. It's not just good, it's great! Nice, quality beef in a smooth and tasty brown sauce.



As an awesome twist on the great South Aussie pie floater, you'll find the Mushy Meat Pie ($4.50).



It's basically a Meat Pie but with mushy peas on top of the beef. Genius!



The meat pies are excellent, but my favourite pie from Para Hills Hot Bread Bakery would have to be the Tuna Mornay ($4.50). Bonus points for the fact that it comes with a little pastry fish on top.



This pie is so ridiculously creamy, cheesy and delicious. If you like tuna, you will LOVE this pie!



The Chicken Pie ($4.30) is my second favourite because it reminds me of chicken pot pies from my childhood. Hearty, warming and full of chicken and veggies.



The best of the sweets that I've tried so far is the French Vanilla Slice ($3.50). The custard has a beautiful creamy smooth texture and a good strong vanilla flavour. The pastry is crunchy and flaky. This is a must try.



If you're looking for a great bakery in Adelaide's northern suburbs, look no further than Para Hills Hot Bread Bakery. They're open 7 days from 6am. If you want a particular item, I recommend getting there as early as you can or pre-ordering because they do sell out.

P.S. The chocolate doughnuts aren't bad either.

Wheat Thins (Coles brand) - Australia

Anyone who's been away from foods they grew up with would understand my excitement when I discovered a Coles brand version of Wheat Thins here in Adelaide, South Australia. The Wheat Thins I know and love from North America previously had to be sourced from places like USA Foods in Australia. Not anymore! Granted, the Coles brand version isn't exactly like Nabisco's... but it's close. And at only $1.79 for 250 grams, not bad value either.




I'm also pretty happy with the list of ingredients. Definitely not the most unhealthy snack food on the market and I'm glad to see there are no monoglycerides on the list. Interestingly, they are made in Canada. Coles also sells a Vegetable Wheat Thins variety (green box) which are good too, but the plain ones (orange box) are definitely my favourite. Give them a try and let me know what you think!

Nordburger - Norwood, South Australia

Burger bars have been popping up like crazy around Adelaide lately. One of the most recent additions to Adelaide's growing burger scene is Nordburger (168 The Parade, Norwood), which first opened its doors on the 4th of July 2013. Parking is easy since it's so close to Norwood Mall. Off street parking is available in the Coles carpark or across the road at the Foodland carpark.



Though it may sound Scandinavian to some, the name "Nord" is also short for Norwood.



Inside, it's a long and skinny shop with orders taken at the register near the entrance and a few stools for those choosing to eat in.



If you can't find a seat along the main counter, there are a couple more seats as well as a couple of stand up tables at the back. Of course, take away is an option as well.



We managed to snag ourselves a couple of stools and enjoyed watching the hustle and bustle of the kitchen, which included MasterChef 2011 runner-up Michael Weldon working the grill.



If you're after a cold drink, try a Dr Pepper, A&W Cream Soda, Cherry Coke, or TAB. Or choose from one of the milkshakes...
Classic: strawberry, vanilla or chocolate ($6)
Specialties: pretzel, cornflake, salted caramel, or peanut butter & jelly ($7)
We tried the salted caramel and loved it. I noticed they use Tweedvale milk too - great stuff!



On to the main event...the burger! We ordered a Nordburger ($7.80) which comes topped with pickles, tomato, lettuce, mustard, ketchup, and Nord sauce. We also added cheese ($0.70). The beef patty was seasoned and cooked perfectly and seemed a little bit thicker than some skimpy patties I've had elsewhere recently. Bun was fresh, toppings and sauces were all very tasty. This was an excellent burger!

For sides, the choices were tater tots, crinkle cut fries or crinkle cut fries with chipotle seasoning (small $2.50/large $3). We ordered the crinkle cut fries (small) and Nord sauce ($0.50). When I saw the fries from a distance, I wasn't overly excited. Upon closer inspection however, they were nice and crunchy and not too heavy on the salt - very moreish. The Nord sauce is almost identical to Shake Shack's shack sauce (delicious) and was well worth the extra 50 cents for an excellent dipping sauce.



We decided to try a hot dog as well, the New York ($5.90). Isn't it pretty? It's a Vienna sausage topped with pickled red onion, everything bagel (I think this is a reference to the poppy seeds & sesame seeds), mustard & ketchup. The bun was sturdy but soft. The sausage and toppings were well matched and very enjoyable.



So far, we've thoroughly enjoyed everything we've consumed at Nordburger and we're looking forward to our next visit in the near future. Check them out if you can, but try to avoid peak meal times unless you're happy to line and up and possibly choose take away. Space is quite limited in the shop.