The Duck’s Nuts
Shop 23, Sorrento Shopping Village
40 Bundall Road
Bundall QLD 4217
+61 7 5538 6572
The first meal I had on my week-long holiday in Gold Coast was a home-cooked meal lovingly prepared by my awesome boyfriend, Marty. Now earlier that week, I had originally booked a table at Bazaar so we can have dinner on my first evening in town. Unfortunately, I was so tired from having to work that day as well as having to fly up. Combine that with having to deal with a nagging mother who kept shoving stuff in my bag – paracetamol, fish oil tablets, vitamins etc – “just in case” and a 50 minute delay at Melbourne Airport (thanks, Jetstar) – can you blame me for not being in the mood to pretty myself up for a nice dinner in town that night? Instead, Marty ended up making me a delicious Jamaican jerk chicken with mango salsa dinner which I enjoyed before retiring to bed for some pay-TV viewing like the party animals we are. Snort. This, of course, meant that we were awake at a reasonable hour the next morning – just in time to grab some breakfast.
In Melbourne, cafés are crazy-busy on weekends… but usually only after 10am. Thus, if you rock up at say, 8am on a Saturday morning all bleary-eyed and hungover, chances are that you’ll get a table. In Gold Coast? Rock up to The Duck’s Nuts in Bundall at 8am, however, and you’ll discover no empty tables, a queue for take-away coffee this long and tables full of hardcore cross-fitters who had just finished a Saturday morning dawn session at the beach. Fark me. Thankfully, the people at ‘Duckies’ have a fantastic partnership with Horner’s bakery next door (they supply their bread to the café) so we were able to use their tables and chairs that morning. Seriously, who would have thought that you can get one of Gold Coast’s finest breakfasts at a random shopping arcade in not-exactly-foodie-territory Bundall, of all places?!
I ordered a latte ($3), my first one for the year. Duck’s Nuts uses Merlo coffee beans which, I guess, is the Queensland equivalent of Victoria’s DiMattina’s. Coffee in Gold Coast is usually overpriced and of poor quality so I was surprised to see that it was cheap – and actually tasted alright. Okay, so it was a little bit weak and could have done with a bit more volume and taste but eh, you pay more at other places around town for crap coffee so I’ll take it. Meanwhile, Marty went caffeine-free with a bottle of Phoenix organic apple and pear juice ($3.80).
On Marty’s recommendation, I ordered the corned beef hash breakfast ($15.50). A CD-sized shredded potato disc was fried to a crisp, with the inside of the disc remaining soft. Bits of corned beef created a nice textural balance and prevented the whole thing from being boring (there IS such thing as too much potato, in my opinion!). I’m not sure why there was a random wedge of tomato there (probably to keep things healthy, I guess) but I quickly ate it before moving onto the two fried free-range eggs, cooked sunny-side-up. At this point, I had not touched the slices of baguette (I’m a bit of a bread snob in that I generally don’t eat white bread unless it comes in Vietnamese pork roll form) but I was starting to get full. Damn, this was THE breakfast of champions – I can certainly see why the cross-fitters love it so much! Eventually, curiosity got the better of me so I decided to take one bite of the bread. One bite then became two bites and in the end, I ate both slices. Oops. I couldn’t help it though – it was so friggin’ good. I’m not sure whether it was because of all the butter on top or whether this was just awesome white bread, or both. Either way, I think I’ll be making a trip to Horner’s bakery next time I’m up…
Marty ordered the smoked salmon with free-range poached eggs and Hollandaise ($14.90). To be honest, I wasn’t wowed by the presentation of this dish. The whole thing just looked like something that you’d get at one of those dime-a-dozen sub-standard cafeterias that you can find in Melbourne and again, a random piece of tomato appeared on the plate. The eggs, however, were fantastic – they were perfectly poached and the Hollandaise sauce was beautifully creamy and rich. I didn’t eat any of the salmon but I did pinch a bit of spinach to boost my vegetable intake.
All things considering, Duck’s Nuts do a decent breakfast for a town that isn’t renowned for its café culture. Obviously, it’s not the best breakfast I’ve ever had but if I was a Gold Coast local, I can see myself coming here every now and then after a morning surf (well, if I ever take up surfing and get over my fear of large pools of water). The service may have been as slow as a Gold Coast motorist driving down the Robina Parkway but the waitresses made up for it with a level of friendliness that is rarely seen in Melbourne cafés and restaurants. This was my first breakfast at Duckies and it certainly won’t be the last. Of course, this wasn’t the first time I had been here…
Locals will know that Duckies also serve lunches as well as do catering services. In the fridge right by the counter, there are tidy rows of ready-to-heat pasta sauces, curries and soups – all which look pretty damn good. Duckies are also famous for their salads. To avoid the daytime crowd, Marty likes to rock up in the middle of the night on a regular basis to pick up a take-away salad for lunch the next day as well as beg Steve, one of the owners, for salad recipes. No, this place isn’t open all around the clock but late at night, you can see Steve hard at work preparing salads and whatnot for the next day and if a random customer happens to walk by, Steve is usually happy to sell them whatever’s ready. Recently, I’ve made a tradition where I’ve made Marty stop by Duck’s Nuts en-route the airport where I’d order a large (or extra-large, if I’m feeling especially greedy) box of salad to take home to Melbourne.
Before my flight home, I ordered a large box of half a chicken salad and half a Thai beef salad to bring on the plane with me (normally $11.80, but because of the effking public holiday surcharge, I paid $14.20). There are other salads available such as lamb and pine nut, tuna Niçoise and chicken pasta but I usually just stick to the above two. All the salads are always ridiculously fresh, light yet filling at the same time. There is also a choice of dressings available. I normally get the basil dressing but this time, I chose a lemon dressing as well as a honey mustard one. The honey mustard dressing was amazing – it was smooth, creamy with the perfect amount of sweetness to bring out the sherry that the beef skirt steak strips had been marinated in. The dressing also tasted fantastic with the tender pieces of chicken thigh strips. Unfortunately, I didn’t really like the lemon dressing – it was too sour, and would have probably worked better as a dipping sauce for fried Asian nibbles or something. But that honey mustard dressing… Oh man, it is THE duck’s nuts.
Actually, this whole place is.
Thus, I wasn’t surprised when I paid $4.90 each for a hot chai latte and an iced chai latte late one night. I can’t say much for Marty’s iced chai latte, but mine was sweet beyond recognition and the milk, cooler than the night’s air temperature of 21 degrees. Forget proper chai leaves, honey and all that jazz – all the flavouring came from a bottle. I hate to say this, but I would have been happier at Starbucks.
But anyway.
A lovely corner table sat prepared for us as Dave and I walked into the dining room, only to find that it was set for three people and not four. The waiter was initially embarrassed but quickly rectified this situation by arranging the cutlery around deftly before adding an extra chair, cutlery and a napkin for the fourth person. Nicely done. Once Dan and Marian arrived, our water glasses were filled, alcohol was presented (a Shiraz for Dave and I, and Gypsy pear cider for Dan)… and bread was provided though mostly ignored, as we didn’t want to pre-fill our tummies up too much.
I’m so used to sitting in Spanish restaurant that are often noisy, filled with loud and cheery music, hot and dimmed for atmospheric purposes. Although I don’t have an issue with them at all, I must admit that I did like the fact that The Aylesbury was different in terms of atmosphere. There was no music, it wasn’t hot, and the blinds were wide open so that you can actually see what you were eating. Of course, it’s not to say that the dining room was stilted – there were a comfortable level of laughter and conversation that permutated throughout the room… and an adequate amount of eye candy for my viewing pleasure as evident in the photo above (I may/may not be talking about Dan and Dave and/or the cuties behind them, or both, heh).
One thing I found amusing about The Aylesbury was the way they wrote their menus – most of their dishes are only described by the main ingredients that make up said dish. For example, this dish of paper-thin lomo (cured pork tenderloins) and figs was simply called ‘pig, fig’ ($12) on the menu, which Marian and I thought was extremely cute. Although I love eating jamon on its own, I liked that the sweet figs created a lovely contrast in flavours.
The others also enjoyed the cold smoked kingfish, dry olives, lemon ($16), though it didn’t really float my boat. I thought that the kingfish was salty enough as it is, and the fact that the dry olives made it even more salty meant that it was just too much for me. And this is coming from someone who loves her salty food. That said, everyone else on the table liked it so I happily let them take the rest of my portions.
The larger dishes took a while to arrive but when they did, we all ooh-ed over how pretty the wild boar, plum dish ($37) was… and WTF-ed over how tiny it was for the price we paid. Both Marian and I thought the meat was way too tough which made the pairing of the boar and the plums a tad awkward. There was no taste, no cohesion, no nothing. Had the meat been a little more tender, though, it wouldn’t have been as bad.
Thankfully, the dry-aged dorset hogget ($37) was kinder to our senses. A hogget is a sheep that’s been slaughtered after a year (so, older than a lamb but younger than mutton), so don’t go expecting meat to fall off the bone just like that should you decide to order a hogget at any restaurant. I thought it was odd that they’d even have this on the menu – to me, it just screamed out, ‘Stodgy British cuisine’ and ‘Lame-o Kiwi kitchen.’ But you know what? It wasn’t bad at all. Sure, the hogget pieces might have spent a little too long on the BBQ but it still tasted good. Marinated in an intoxicatingly Moorish mixture of ingredients, with chilli and cumin being the most dominant flavours, each piece was finger lickin’ delicious.
We also shared a side of duck fat potatoes ($8) – that’s potatoes cooked in duck fat, peeps. Although the potatoes could have done with a little more crunch on the outside, the insides were beautifully fluffy.
My Michel Cluizel maralum chocolate bar with saffron ice cream ($14). I don’t normally go for chocolate desserts, especially something as rich as this. The reason why I ordered this dessert, however, was because I’m a sucker for unusual (and in particular, savoury) ice creams so the saffron ice cream piqued my interest. The chocolate bar was a neat and tiny three-layered dense mousse which was oh-so-rich but yummy for what it was worth. The saffron ice cream, however, failed to woo. Its distinctive flavour was too overpowering and just clashed horridly with the chocolate bar. Saffron, stay out of desserts forever, please.
Dave’s peach, strawberry, cava ($14) fared a little bit better. On his plate were slices of poached peaches and fresh strawberries. A waitress then poured a generous amount of sweet cava wine onto the mound and we ooh-ed and aah-ed as the fruits fizzed upon contact with the alcohol. The dish struck a fair balance between delicate and bold – and it was fun to eat.
Dan and Marian shared a plate of petit fours in the form of a honey sponge cake, a chocolate truffle and a passionfruit meringue ($7). I managed to nibble on the chocolate truffle which was probably richer than my chocolate bar (yes, it was possible!) but nevertheless still delicious. Better was the honey sponge cake that had a lovely dense texture that was moist all over, while the passionfruit curd in the meringue was probably more sugar than actual passionfruit.
To say that the food was a hit and miss was certainly an understatement. Some dishes were below average while others were good, but none of them were particularly worth a second try. Both Dave and I, having already nibbled on some (much better) snacks upstairs at The Aylesbury rooftop bar, were adequately full (though not bursting) whereas Dan and Marian were still hungry, but not keen on ordering any more food from here. Plus, it was almost 8:15pm anyway, which was the time the 6pm session-ers had to leave the premises for the next lot of diners.
We started off with a serving of Joselito Gran Reserva Iberico jamon (20g for $18). This type of jamon comes from Iberican pigs which have been fed acorns. The result is dark, rosy-hued ham that’s as sleek and as oily as a muzza’s hair. At first bite, the ham is firm but it then gives way before melting into your mouth like a very, very salty butter. I loved it.
We had a prawn roll each ($8 each). While they weren’t enormous by any standards, they certainly did pack a punch – and Dave even went as far to say that they were better than the apparently OMG-SO-GOOD lobster rolls that they serve at Andrew McConnell’s Golden Fields. Having not been to Golden Fields prior to this point in time, I couldn’t really verify Dave’s claim (he’s probably the only person who hasn’t food-gasmed over these bloody lobster rolls).
I can, however, say that these prawn rolls were pretty damn good. Two small bun halves secured thick chunks of juicy Shark Bay prawns, bits of lettuce, fennel, parsley and aioli. Meanwhile, a squirt of lemon juice helped balanced things out and also brought out the prawns’ natural sweetness. Ooh yes, more please!
The last savoury nibble we tried were the smoked eel and horseradish croquetta ($3.50 each). I’m a sucker for croquettes, and even more so when they have fancy, Spanish names. They were beautifully crunchy on the outside, and amazingly silky on the inside. Neither Dave and I could taste the horseradish and the smokiness was only subtle at best, as the cheese drowned out much of the flavouring. Nevertheless, I still thought these were pretty tasty and I wouldn’t hesitate to order these again.
Now for desserts. First up, a granita, citrus and yoghurt ($7). For some reason, the menu description for this dish was really vague. What on earth was so hard about telling us what FLAVOUR the granita was, and what sort of ‘citrus’ they used?! Upon tasting the dish, we discovered that it was a grapefruit granita (like they couldn’t tell us?) which was then placed on top of a dollop of creamy yoghurt before being garnished with a slice of nectarine and shredded mint leaves. The whole thing worked very well, and although it wasn’t a terribly hot evening when we had it, it melted faster than a Fernando Verdasco serve.
Finally, we had churros with chocolate sauce ($10). Unfortunately, I couldn’t say I liked them much. Yeah, they were crunchy on the outside but the insides were pretty dense with overcooked dough, and not light. They were also coated with so much sugar that dipping them into the very rich chocolate sauce was unnecessary – I spent quite a lot of time trying to dust off as much sugar as I could from the donuts. It goes without saying that they were not even half as good as the Spanish donuts they serve at Queen Vic Market *sad face*
I ended up getting a 500ml can of Kepplers Irish cider ($9), a tall, dark and well-balanced formula that was also rough around the edges – like Colin Farrell. My Huxtaburger ($8) arrived on a tin plate, looking admittedly a little squishier for wear. I was expecting something, well, with a better posture and when I grabbed the damn thing with both hands, it deflated like a Swiss ball that gave way to a 150kg woman sitting on it. The bun was also a little oily, too. Thus, I was surprised when I bit into it … and saw that it tasted fantastic. The sweet bun held together a wagyu beef pattie that was so buttery and tender that it literally melted in my mouth, slices of tomato, lettuce, cheese and pickles. A generous squirt of mustard, mayo and tomato sauce completed the burger, which was only slightly larger than a Big Mac and cost twice as much. What made the burger especially awesome (and worth the price) was the bun. The slapped on a bit of butter all over the white non-crust bits, before letting the halves sit white-side down on the grill for a bit. As a result, it was not only crispy on the outside (despite the buns halves looking as limp as hell) but also on the inside – a lovely textural contrast when consumed in one bite with the fillings and it also made the burger taste that much better.
The restaurant opens for dinner at 5pm, great for early diners like us (which is essentially another way of saying that we’re old *sob*). They have, however, decided to extend their hours to cater to the lunch time crowd so I’m guessing that those with a craving for ramen at 3:30pm would be sated.
After ordering at the counter (but not waiting patiently behind a pair of teenyboppers who took FOREVER to make their selections), we made our way back to our table and waited patiently for our food to come. It wasn’t long between our shared entrée of 10 gyoza ($5.50) arrived. For $5.50, the gyozas were definitely a steal. I loved their delicate yet sturdy, paper-thin skins and their ultra-crispy bottoms as well as the soy dipping sauce that had a small hint of chilli in it. What didn’t impress me as much, however, was the filling for it lacked in pork but had a motherload of cabbage and garlic.
I ordered a tonkotsu shio (pork bone and chicken base with salt) ramen with chashu ($12). In hindsight, I should have ordered a ramen with a tonkotsu shoyu (soy) base for I felt that this soup was too salty. This was surprising given how I am normally a sodium fiend. That said, I did appreciate the clarity of the soup which had very little, if any, MSG though others would probably say that it was verging on the edge of blandness – something that I would have agreed to if I was in a grumpier mood that night.
Elsewhere, the hand-made noodles were surprisingly thinner than what I’m used to. Whether they’re actually of this width in Japan, I’m not sure. They were amazingly chewy and firm, giving way to a bite that’s bigger than Bill’s from True Blood. They were also generous with the slices of chashu (roast pork) which were thick and the edges, appropriately fatty. I also give props to the tea-smoked egg which was still gooey in the middle (though it has nothing on the tea-smoked eggs that they serve in ramens at 
Dave chose better with his tonkotsu miso (pork bone base with soybean paste) ramen with butter and corn ($14.50). There was a civilised balance between the levels of nuttiness and spiciness which already meant that it was better than my ramen. The sweet corn kernels also brought out the beautiful flavours, and the melted slabs of butter gave the broth a slightly creamy texture. They also popped in a couple of slices of charshu in the mix, too.
It goes without saying that dumplings rule the very modest roost here. In addition to staples such as pork and cabbage, and chicken and chive dumplings, more unusual offerings such as lamb dumplings are offered. On the day I went, I choose a plate of fried pork, prawn, egg and leek dumplings (12 pieces for $11.80, or 16 pieces for the same price if you decide to have them steamed).
They weren’t bad. There was an even spread of pork mince and chopped prawn in each dumpling, intertwined with bits of egg and chives (which they called ‘leek’). The skins were thin and crispy, but lacked that little bit of puff that I like to see in my dumpling so I’ll take minor points off for that. They also didn’t have chilli oil available (which would have made the pork and prawn filling taste Michael Clarke triple-century-OMG-amazing) so chilli sauce and vinegar had to suffice.
We ended up trying Pho Dzung Tan Dinh, otherwise known as the ‘cock and bull’ phở joint. There’s one in the city and I think there is one in Box Hill too, so it’s definitely made its mark around town. The place was packed when we walked in from the 34 degree midday heat. Yep, quiet it ain’t. Luckily though, there were a few spare tables in the (thankfully) air-conditioned restaurant.
I’ve been good to stay away from coffee but the weather and my general tiredness meant that there was no way I couldn’t NOT order an iced white coffee ($2.50, a steal even for a Vietnamese restaurant). The coffee might have lacked that jaw-punching sweetness that I’m used to (they went skint on the condensed milk), but they certainly made up for it in the bitter stakes for they did their best not to over-dilute the damn thing with too much ice. It was great and if Marty’s mid-morning snores didn’t wake me up beforehand, this coffee certainly did. Meanwhile, the man himself ordered a traditional Vietnamese three-colour drink which was a bit on the ‘OMG so bloody sweet!’ side – maybe that’s where all my condensed milk went? Either way, though, he loved it.
I ordered a small brisket and rare beef phở ($7.50). Despite being in such a small bowl, the contents did extremely well to fill me up. The soup was pure and clear, with very little MSG while the pieces of beef sitting prettily on top were actually of decent quality and cut very thickly. I also liked that they actually used nice, meaty bits of brisket unlike other places where you’d be lucky to find a little sliver of meat amongst all the brisket fat. Unfortunately, I didn’t particularly like the noodles. Obviously the dried noodles, as opposed to the fresh ones, were used and they were nowhere near as chewy as they should be. Instead, they crumbled in my mouth when I chewed them.
I didn’t take a proper photo of Marty’s large beef and tendon phở ($9.50) but thank goodness he’s a wannabe hipster who is crazy about Instagram at the moment so I’ve crabbed this photo from him. I should probably get him to take my food photos from now on, hey? Anyway, he was disappointed with the size of his bowl – he expected a birdbath-sized bowl, especially since I read a blog that said that the bowls were gigantic, but ended up with a bowl that would have been classified as a ‘medium’ at other phở restaurants. Like me, he enjoyed the broth and the thick, juicy strips of beef but thought the noodles were ‘meh.’
I started off with a cocktail, an apple, mint, lime, lemonade and vodka one ($11.50), perfect on a balmy summer evening. I apologise for the fact that only a fraction of the cocktail glass appears in the frame – the only other photo of the cocktail (i.e. a FULL glass) happened to have Marty’s face in the background and he’d get sooky if I posted that pic up so unfortunately, this would have to do. Although they were a little tight on the alcohol content, my cocktail made up for it in taste. So fresh, so light and so zesty – it was the perfect drink for a balmy summer evening. I’m definitely going to be making this at home all summer long. Meanwhile, Marty ordered a one litre glass mug of Hofbräu Dunkel ($22), a dark beer which existed in Munich long before the arrival of light-coloured beers. Marty and I were just as wowed by the impressive, thick, creamy head that was formed during the pouring process as we were by the beer’s beautiful balance of spiciness, maltiness and sweetness. It was also surprisingly very light to drink, though drinking a litre of it is certainly no easy task!
We also decided to share an apple strudel ($12.50), just because. A generous slab of strudel arrived, surrounded by a custard-y vanilla cream and a scoop of vanilla ice cream and berries. Meanwhile, pistachio crumbs and chocolate flakes made it pretty. Although the strudel filling was delicious, the pastry lacked the required crispiness that I’m accustomed to (trust me, you have NOT tasted a good strudel if you’ve never tried a Corica apple strudel from Perth) so it wasn’t fantastic. That said, I’ve yet to come across a better-tasting strudel in Melbourne so I’ll give fair props to this one.
