Full time employment and summer were never friends. There is nothing worse than sitting in an office breathing in re-filtered 22.3 degree air while staring out the window and seeing a sun soaked city ripe for the picking. And this particular January may be even more difficult to be cooped up in the sky prisons, with most professionals returning to much quieter economic conditions than previous years. So what should you do? Dip into your precious annual leave and make the most of the glorious weather - not only will you be thankful, but your employer will be too.
That is what I decided to do this week, having just returned from a few glorious days in the Torquay / Jan Juc region. This is another fond place in my heart because it was where our family used to come for weekends to on the beach. A lot has changed since then (not least of all I've dispensed with the fluro coloured rashy). On the development front, some looks passable, others atrocious, note the monolithic Torquay golf club development towering over the course and no doubt obstructing some previously magnificent views. 
But on the plus side, and in addition to the stunning beaches, there is some incredible food available around this region so I strongly recommend a visit. The lovely mother of our very hospitable 'host family' recommended 2 almost diametrically opposite culinary items - (i) the deep fried dim sims at Torquay fish & chippery Flippin Fresh (a great hit but definitely not one for the calorie conscious) and (ii) the duck pies at the more up-market Scorched (outstanding - see below).
Scorched is the kind of place you walk into and pray the signature dish isn't Oyster Kilpatrick. By this I mean, the aesthetics here don't give anything away - it could be an incredible beachside restaurant sourcing exceptional local produce or it could be a run-of-the-mill gastro-bistro under new management. Thankfully for us, it was the former. On a sultry January evening, the extremely well thought-out middle eastern inspired menu made for much selection anguish amongst our team of 7.
Here is the run-down of some of what we had:
- Octopus salad, white beans, picked red onion & dill (photo 1)
- Beetroot & pistachio salad with whipped goats fetta (photo 2)
- Bastourma & baby tomato salad, housemade and ricotta & sumac (photo 3)
- Little duck pies, sweet cinnamon (photo 5)
- Dessert tasting plate (photo 6)
Although it might sound obvious and simple, we really appreciated that even though we ordered everything together, the dishes came out in 3 waves, the more meze lighter dishes first, the heavier meatier dishes second and the dessert last. The highlight was by far the duck pies - they were the perfect segue between main and dessert with the light pastry and rich, almost pate like duck filling, covered with sweet cinnamon icing. The highlight of the dessert was definitely the vanilla fairy floss. Our group also made special mention of the service which hit the sweet spot of being attentive and friendly without being annoying.
Overall in terms of middle eastern food, I recently ate at Maha in the city and a while back at Rumi in East Brunswick. There is no reason at all why Scorched couldn't sit at the same table with these Middle eastern super powers. 
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