Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Gold Coast : Paradise Country

Visited Paradise country on our 3rd day at Gold Coast.

It's generally a very touristy Aussie Farm where we can see many of the popular Aussie creatures like the koalas, kangaroos, emus and others like sheep, Llama, camels, horses, cows etc. Yes, we city folks are very much deprived, hence visits to places like this makes us pretty excited.

We bought our tickets at a tourist booth in Pacific Fair Shopping Centre and we were told about the package price where we only pay AUD32.99 for entry + lunch. However, we were apprehensive about what food will be served there so we opt to buy the tickets only.


dining hall

I call this 'the tuckshop' (the benches remind me of my school canteen). Very country. Very cowboy-esque.

They have 6 different shows; which, if you follow in sequence, you will find that everyone end up having their meal break at the same time. Right at 1pm, all the people will flock here for their BBQ lunch & buffet.

We took a look and discovered that they served a pretty simple fare here. BBQ meats are only beef steak, roast chicken and grilled barramundi fish. That's all. It cost $15 per person. Guess we paid a little more than the AUD32.99 package. Tix: AUD19.99 + meal: 15 = 34.99.


the sides buffet area
(pic courtesy of my colleague, Roza)


spaghetti & potato gratin
(pic courtesy of my colleague, Roza)

The sides seemed suited for vegetarians and are served buffet-style. They include carbs like plain spaghetti, white rice, bread rolls and potato gratin. Yes, potato gratin! Check out those crispy, charred edges! Yums!


other sides
(pic courtesy of my colleague, Roza)


other sides
(pic courtesy of my colleague, Sri)

There were also veggies like salad greens, coleslaw and cut fruits. Some beverages are free-flow. There were varieties of tea bags available, coffee and iced water.

Soft drinks need to be bought, though.


grilled barramundi
(pic courtesy of my colleague, Roza)


grilled barramundi
(pic courtesy of my colleague, Sri)

Since we didn't take up the package, they didn't have our advance order; so we have to wait around 10-15mins for them to prepare our grilled barramundi.

My mum was pretty excited by then, as she's been looking forward to eating barramundi; since it's Australia's specialty. It's actually freshwater seabass. And can be pretty big in size.

When the fish arrive, well, in all honesty, I thought that it looked really boring. Well, I just squeezed that lemon slice and took a bite. Not bad, actually. The flesh is flaky and pretty firm and it's not that fishy. Even my 13 month-old boy loves it.

What more when paired with the potato gratin... Bliss!

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