Kettle & Tin - 2nd Annual Chilli Cookoff

http://kettleandtin.com.au/

**I was a guest of Kettle and Tin for the Chilli Cook-off

In popular culture, there is one television program that, for me, articulates what the latter part of the 20th and early part of the 21st century is all about.  That show is The Simpsons and for SC and I, there is no other show that better represents the key highlight of the last twenty five years.  So many of the catchphrases have made their way into my everyday language and I can always tell another Simpsons fan, who will instinctively know what I'm on about when I start sprouting my Simpsons quotes.  To a large extent, The Simpsons has influenced pop culture to such and extent, that it's become a parody of itself.

You might be asking why I'm talking about The Simpsons, when I should be talking about the 2nd Annual Kettle & Tin Chilli Cook-off, and if you are, then I know that you're not a Simpsons fan.  There are many, many quotes that I've used to reflect a situation but there is one key Simpsons quote that I'd been dying to use and it wasn't until the chilli cookoff that I've finally been able to get it out.

'Sniff, sniff, what's that smell?  Onions, chilli powder, cumin, jucy brown chuck!!  IT'S CHILLI!  Oh my god, I'm missing the chilli cook off.... I'm missing the cook off'

Casual Dining - The Fox Hotel

http://www.thefox.com.au/

**Please note, the all you can eat mussels offer has now finished - sorry

I'm not really a pub kind of guy and I'm definitely not going to head over to a public bar and sit down to have a few beers.  I get the concept of a pub/bar/hotel, it's a place where you go and hang out with mates, sink a few beers and quite often, get on the punt. Yeah, there is a list of things that just does not excite me.

That doesn't mean that I don't love having pubs around, I think they are essential to the vibe and the life blood of a city.  Architecturally they can be amazing and given that many hotels and pubs around have been built in the 1800's they often have a long and interesting history.

The Fox Hotel is one of the original pubs to be built in Queensland and was constructed in the late 1800's and was originally known at the Terminus Hotel, ostensibly as the end of a tram route.  Like many old buildings in Brisbane, the old Terminus Hotel has had its fair share of good and bad fortune, including almost burning to the ground during the 1920's.  Over the years, it's also had many facades and taken on many different forms, including a stint as a backpackers hostel.  Not too many of the ventures have lasted too long and as a consequence, the Fox Hotel has been through renovation after renovation, trying to hit the right market.

I'd been to the Fox Hotel to check out one of it's more recent ventures, the Meatball Company (see post here) and thought it was not too bad, but as fortune would have it, the Meatball Co has made way for a new restaurant - Fish Lane Bistro.  But this post is not about a pretty cool looking new bistro - it's about quite possibly the most amazing food offer in Brisbane, the all-you-can-eat Mussels deal.