Saturday, August 28, 2010

Chicken Caesar Salad, Castaway Bar and Restaurant, Dili


So, this dish was a bit of a gamble: Was Castaways going to be able to pull off the chicken Caesar? In my opinion, the Caesar salad can be a wonderful adventure in both flavour and texture, combining the smoky, salty flavours of bacon and anchovy, the crunch of lettuce and croutons and the creamy eggs and dressing. Or it can be really, really crap. (We’ve all been there.)

Despite the fact that this was the second meal of my day that involved bacon, I enjoyed it immensely. The lettuce and bacon were crispy, there was a mere suggestion of anchovy every few mouthfuls and the chicken was pretty darn succulent. The dressing was nice and creamy with a good hit of zing. My only complaint about it was the croutons. They were quite stale and a bit difficult to chew. Oh, and I think perhaps a nice soft-boiled egg would have rounded out all that salt nicely. But I won’t get too fussy on the balancing of flavours thing. I got the entree size, which was enough for me, given I’d gorged myself on French toast with bacon and maple syrup just a few short hours beforehand.

Afterwards, I was close to shrivelling up with all the salty pig I’d eaten, so luckily my beverage was rehydrating. I asked for a soda water with lime, and my goodness, did they take the lime seriously!! My ice-filled glass came with a shot of fresh lime juice in the bottom to make a delightful, citrus refreshment on a sultry Dili afternoon. It was fantastic! It looked like this:



Wade ordered a Napolitana pizza, which looked like this...


...and tasted pretty darn good too. Simple yet effective: black olives, capers, anchovies and mushrooms. Nice.

His drink was a “Banana Macadamia”, taken off the Castaways’ fun and exotic juice and smoothie menu (items on which often aren’t available due to missing ingredients). It tasted as good as it looked:



Yoghurtie, banana-ie, nuttie, smoothie. Yum-ie.

Castaway Bar and Restaurant, Dili

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