Sofitel food was good

Fresh from watching the Champions League final this morning, I left home (not feeling great because of the result) & headed for a whole-day seminar at Sofitel Brisbane. I attended the seminar as a very last-minute replacement for a colleague who was originally scheduled to attend, but couldn't due to illness (it's the Christian colleague, JC, whose workstation is next to mine). I didn't want to attend, but felt compelled to because no one else seemed willing to. Huh, I really need to learn to say "no" to people's faces, or at least people at work. Next time, next time......

The seminar? It was the second of a 2-part seminar. A different colleague attended the first part the previous day. It was a financial accounting workshop, so it covered financial accounting, financial reporting, audit, ASIC's new developments (the corporate regulators in Australia)....all of which made me feel zzzzzzz. Both speakers were reasonably good (first one more so than the second); I had no issues with them, & they seem obviously knowledgable. It's the seminar content that I didn't enjoy. The workshop had nothing to do with tax (income tax, GST, FBT etc), which I prefer to that financial reporting, audit, ASIC regulatory mumbo jumbo.

Anyway, the brightest thing today was lunch (which came as part of the cost of the seminar, which work paid for) - the food was pretty good. We had lunch at the Thyme Restaurant within Sofitel. It was a buffet. I was told before seminar started that the buffet was good & I would really love it if I love my food. And so it proved.

First plate was seafood - oysters, mussels, prawns, raw fish (similar to sashimi, or maybe it was sashimi). Nice, loved it, fantastic - although a bit saltier than similar seafood that I had at other places. Never mind. So walked to the bar to grab some more, but then I noticed the Indian food on offer. So, forgetting the seafood, I filled my second plate completely with papadum, garlic naan breads, Bombay potatoes, pork vindaloo, & some chutneys. I also took a small bowl of French onion soup. I heard one of the chefs telling another patron that the vindaloo was spicy. The patron was deterred on hearing that. But not me - I just smiled, because that is how I love my curries. The Indian food was delicious. The naan was soft & nice. Rubbing it with the chutneys, potatoes & vindaloo gave something really tasty. Onion soup was good, too. For third plate, I had a roasted lamb skewer, char siew pao (Chinese pork bun).....& more Indian! (this time, minus the papadum, & with different chutneys from previous plate). Yep, I really love Indian food, that I went for more instead of trying other dishes.

Then onto dessert, where I filled a plate with orange & chocolate truffle, caramel & macadamia tart, & chocolate fudge cake. I also had 2 bowls of chocolate ice cream, oreo cookie ice cream & fruit salad with mint sauce. Dessert was good, too - though I couldn't really taste the mint sauce, as it was probably muffled by both ice cream flavours.

So yeah, I did have quite a bit for lunch. And on top of that, I had stuff for morning tea & afternoon tea, too. I liked the food at Sofitel/Thyme Restaurant. Hmmm, it would be good if all seminars could be held at Sofitel......