Restaurant Review: Lime on Chevron, Gold Coast

Another tip from Tracey was Lime on Chevron located two doors along from Duo Deli Café. We decided to visit for lunch before I had to fly back to Sydney. Taking up seats in the window and it was a good feeling to have the warming sun on my back.

There were lots of fresh and enticing sounding things on the menu, particularly the salads. I decided on the homemade tart of the day, which was a pumpkin and spinach quiche. I was a little bit underwhelmed by my lunch. The salad tasted like it had just been dressed in oil and was crying out for a flavoursome dressing. The tart was nice, but could have done with some more oomph.

We ordered a side of handcut chips. They were crunchy, moorish and went well with the aioli. I was able to have a quick taste was the special of the day, a crispy skim barramundi with risotto. The barramundi tasted, well, quite fishy. I'm not a seafood expert, but barramundi usually has a much more mild flavour. The accompanying risotto was good.

It was great to see all of the food being prepared fresh in the kitchen and it was all beautifully presented. However, three of the four of us thought our lunches just missed the mark, even if they did look great. With a few tweaks so that the flavours lived up to the presentation and the portion sizes matched the prices, Lime could be fantastic.

I'd have to be honest and say the next time I'm on Chevron, I'll be popping back next door to the Duo Deli Café over another visit to Lime.

64 Thomas Drive
Chevron Island
Gold Coast
Queensland

Restaurant Review: Duo Deli Café, Chevron Island, Gold Coast

Checking out my marathon time in the paper

Researching where to eat on the Gold Coast was a tough gig. As I suspected from everything I'd heard about Surfers Paradise it was full of fast food, chains and restaurants where competing on price for the $10 lunch trade takes precedence over quality.

I managed to find one fellow food blogger and she was kind enough to give me a few tips. A couple of suggested places were close to where I was staying on Chevron Island, a little bit inland from the main tourist drag.

It was tough deciding what to eat for my post marathon breakfast. I eventually opted for the sweetcorn fritters with asparagus, avocado and a tomato and chilli salsa. The sweetcorn fritters we nice and moist, which is always the first test for me. The asparagus went surprisingly well, despite not being a combination I would have thought of. The generous amount of ripe avocado was a nice touch. While the tomato salsa was good I thought it could over power some of the more delicate flavours.

The quinoa porridge kept my gluten free companion happy. I only managed to sneak a quick taste.

The café come deli would probably struggle to stick out from the crowd in Sydney where we are lucky enough to have a multitude of independently run cafés serving up good breakfast options. However, all you can do is beat the competition and Duo Deli Café seems to do that on the Gold Coast. It was a great place for a marathon recovery breakfast.

58 Thomas Drive
Chevron Island
Gold Coast

Off to the Gold Coast

I'll eat five of these before breakfast.

I recently had a letter from my grandmother instructing me "no more marathons". It's a good job she doesn't read this blog.

I'm flying to the Gold Coast tomorrow for my third marathon in the last twelve months. Last year I joined the running club at my gym half way through their training for the Gold Coast marathon. It was their infectious enthusiasm which inspired me to take up this crazy sport.

Gold Coast is known for being a flat course and one where it is possible to set a personal best. I'm aiming for 3hr 30mins, which is nine minutes off my Sydney time last year. It might not sound like much, but fourteen seconds faster per kilometer for all forty two is quite hard to do!

I started out on an advanced training program back in January. It made me feel fitter, stronger and faster. But unfortunately had me peaking at the Great Ocean Road marathon seven weeks ago. I've been on a multiple marathon program since then and don't feel like I've been pushing that hard. I'm concerned I've lost a bit of fitness.

If I got out too quickly I'm likely to burn out. However, too slow and I won't be able to catch up the required time. I'm aiming to run behind the 3hr 30min pace group, allowing them to get away from me. At around the half way I'll try to start reeling them in. I think there will be a lot of mind of matter to get me to the finish line.

Fingers crossed.