15th March 2011

So we ordered dip, which arrived in a type 3 bowl, and we discovered the distinguishing feature about this weeks cheese:

It's incredibly thick. Look at that thing, it peaks a full centimetre above the bowl and the surface tension is holding it with ease. I'm pretty sure we could have held the bowl upside down without risking our precious dip.

After staring in shock for  a while, we tasted it...it was delicious, spicy, and the chips were mostly crispier than normal. But the distinguishing factor is the thickness. Let's have a few progress shots.

It took a lot of effort to hack through the skin so we left it alone after that. The cheese dip refused to deform even slightly as we ate it, to the point that I'm not sure you could call it a liquid at all. It might have just been a spicy block of cheese.

And now, to the rundown:

Consistency: Rock solid but slightly soft to the touch.
Spiciness: Deliciously Spicy
Appearance: Type 3 bowls, which it was GROWING OUT OF.
Temperature: Hot.
Flavour: Delectable
Chips: Mostly crisp and recent, they must have just topped up the chip barrel.
Chip-to-dip-balance:Really quite accurate.

In conclusion: I'm starting to worry that Santa Fe might have come to grips with the idea of 'cheese dip', and we'll have a lot less to write about in future.

8th March, 2011

This week saw only three of us dine at Santa Fe. The hard question was whether to get one serving of cheese dip between three or two serves between three.

We went for two serves.



As you can see from the pictures the cheese chef decided to fancy up the chilli powder. Rather than the usual line, this week we were graced with crosses.


Onto the dip. This week it was hot, spicy, and incredibly thick. This would normally be a cause for celebration, but note that this week we were served with a Type 2 bowl, which holds about three spoonfuls of cheese dip. This was a huge disappointment after seeing other tables served with Type 1 bowls.

In direct contrast to last week, this week we had too many chips. The thickness of the dip and the Type 2 bowl resulted in a significant discrepancy in the chip-to-dip ratio.



We didn't have a repeat of last week with chips that were possibly older than the collective age of the table, however, there were a large number of semi-stale chips. This is further proof of our Chip-Barrel Theory.

The breakdown:

Consistency: Thick, like your mum.
Spiciness: Quite spicy.
Appearance: Type 2 bowls, with fancy chilli crosses.
Temperature: Hot.
Flavour: Tasty.
Chips: Similar to a lucky dip where you have a 50/50 chance of getting something good.
Chip-to-dip-balance: Too many chips. WHY CAN'T YOU JUST GET IT RIGHT SANTA FE?

To finish, please observe the tacos we received after the dip. It appears that we are now expected to arrange the filling ourselves, as the taco chef clearly doesn't understand that lettuce and tomato are not meant to be served in separate tacos.

1st March 2011

As you can probably tell, we've been on cheese hiatus for a month. I'm not going to make excuses, but I would like to say IT IS NOT MY FAULT I BLAME THE REST OF THEM COMPLETELY.

It seems that when Santa Fe is deprived of our constructive reviews, their cheesologist starts phoning it in. Our three rounds of Cheese arrived in a type 3 bowl with the usual mismatched array of chips.

The dip itself was Spicy, on the thin side, a good temperature and with a skin so thick I had to break through it with an icepick. The distinguishing feature this week was the chips. They conformed to The Chip-Barrel Theory remarkably well, with some fresh and crunchy and some chewier than week old bacon.

Look at that thing. That's a chip so stale it was impossible to chew. I'm so disgusted by the sight I'd put it behind a cut if anybody actually read this.


Next up came the tacos. Aside from their usual quirk of serving food before the drinks, the tacos deserve special mention today...because they weren't really tacos. There was a tiny spoonful of something possibly meat in the bottom, and then half a lettuce leaf on top of that.

That's not a trick of perspective, my thumb really is bigger than the filling in the taco. I know they're only two dollars, but I can get at least two empty taco shells to the dollar from Coles next door.

I hope their taco chef is crying himself to sleep right now.


Getting back on topic:
Consistency: Slightly thin
Spiciness: Very nice
Appearance: Average, and type two bowl
Temperature: Quite good
Flavour: Decent
Chips: I can't think of an analogy to describe how stale some were. I mean, I eat Biltong and even that isn't in the same class of chewiness as this.
Chip-to-dip-balance: Too few chips due to thin dip.