Saby's 22nd - Red Lantern

Hoorah. Special occasions baking time!

Saby kindly allowed me to be her be-lated birthday cake maker for another year. How to decide what flavour to go for this time? Easy. Chocolate is compulsory and bananas are highly available, therefore Banana Chocolate cake it was.

The icing makes the cake look so heavy and indulgent, but there actually was only about 2mm of icing. This may seem a bit sparse but its good for minimising on the kilojoules without compromising on the appearance. It was served with ice-cream anyway. ($3pp cakeage) And I loved the contrast of the light colour and density of the actual cake to the dark icing.

I had another idea for decoration but thought shoes were definitely Saby's thing, so pretty pink heels were the way to go.

Dinner was had at Red Lantern in Surry Hills. It was mentioned in the Good Food Guide and seems to have quite good reviews from many places, so yeah it was good. Apparently they get booked out really quick and it's no wonder, it's a tiny place, the width of a terrace house. I liked the rich red walls, open front and their funky colander-covered lanterns out the back. Friendly service, fast-arriving tasty flavoursome food. No complaints from me.

Char grilled pork cutlets marinated in honey and shallot oil. Mmm sweeet

Red beef curry braised in Southern spices