F o o d F o r L i f e

Marcus Brau, Berlin

2008-05-15T20:54:00.004+10:00

We stumbled across Marcus Brau while wandering through Berlin in search of a place for dinner. It's an unassuming little pub that serves your typical(?) German meat-and-potato-type dishes.

To start we had frisches bauernbrot, a dense German bread served with cheese, gherkin and dripping (yes, lard!). Once you get over the fat-factor, this is actually quite nice, similar to butter but with more flavour.

Frisches Bauernbrot

Andy, always up for a meat challenge, ordered the geschmorte schweinshaxe (roasted pork knuckle) which came with potatoes, sauerkraut and a huge dollop of mustard.

Geschmorte Schweinshaxe

I had the thuringer rostbratl, a more modest serve of panfried pork with onions and potatoes. The pork was a little boring on its own but not bad with the fried onions and potatoes - goes to show that everything tastes better fried! :D

Thuringer Rostbratl

Irene went for the Flammkuchen, a German style pizza, this one topped with sausage and cheese.

Flammkuchen Marcus Brau

All in all, Marcus Brau lived up to our expectations of meat-and-potatoes German food!

Munchings in Berlin

2008-05-14T20:42:00.009+10:00

Apart from meals, we did a fair amount of snacking in Germany.

On our first day in Berlin, we came across a festival/fair at Alexanderplatz. Food stalls were set up around the square, mostly selling various kinds of sausage. The currywurst tasted like a typical frank doused in McDonald's curry sauce (that you get with the chicken nuggets). It's not exactly bad, but kinda goes into the same genre as a kebab.

Currywurst

The riesenboulette was like a patty version of a sausage with a bit more texture - not bad with tomato sauce and mustard.

Riesenboulette im brotchen

Rostbratwurst im brotchen

Something our friend Andy was told he had to try was the Berliner Weisse mit schuss, and he was specifically told that he had to have the "schuss". As it turned out, this was a German wheat beer flavoured with an incredibly sweet syrup (schuss). It came in both the red and green varieties. Although I'm not a fan of beer, this additive did not win me over.

Berliner Weisse mit Schuss (green)

Also spotted at this fair was a half metre long sausage although we were not game enough to try it!

Stand selling 1/2 metre long sausages

Along a similar vein was the frikendel (deep fried sausage) with chips and mayo from Frites van Holland (sausages and chips take away stand). Once again, dubious meat content but the mayo is soo beautifully creamy!

Frikendel

We stopped for coffee and le marc de champagne cake at Peter's Konditorei. The cake was light and spongey and filled with lots of cream and a splodge of fruit.

le Marc de Champagne

From Karstadt supermarket, Erdnuss-Flips, which I'd best describe as rice puffs covered in peanut butter. Quite morish!

Erdnuss-Flips (Peanut chips)

Lastly, an apple donut from one of the numerous bakery/coffee places in Berlin - sweet, sugary and delicious!

Apple donut

Next post: the meat fest!

Borough Markets, London

2008-05-14T14:18:00.009+10:00

Borough markets is every foodies dream and my favouritest place in the world! It is mostly a growers market, selling fresh produce, cheeses, olives, breads, cakes and a plethora of other edibles. Best to visit on an empty stomach as all the samples are sure to fill you up! If not, its easy to be tempted by the fish and chips or venison burger or the raclettes (potato with melted cheese and pickles) or the brownies...

I think the pictures speak for themselves...

More types of olives than you can imagine!

Apples and juices

Cheese, cheese and more cheese!

Salami

Raclettes: The block of cheese is melted under a grill then scraped onto a pile of potatoes. Served with picked onions and gherkins - yum!

Cakes

Baklava

Artisan bread

Huge brownie stack - this was mostly gone after a round of the markets!

Beautiful tomatoes!

Tarts

Spices

Mushies

I found this sign amusing :)

The only drawback is that is has ruined me for all other markets!! I love Borough markets!

Fifteen, London

2008-05-14T12:41:00.007+10:00

What a break! With my thesis submitted and refreshed from my UK/Europe holiday, I finally have some time to blog. Not to say that the eating had stopped over this time, if anything I have been eating more than ever (it's tough being overseas - sigh!).

The first thing on my list for London was a visit to the Fifteen Trattoria. All I can say is that I loved it! The food was delicious, the restaurant had a lovely rustic feel, the service was fantastic and I love what the restaurant is all about.

We started with various entrees. The pasta for my ravioli was fresh and al dente and the beef filling was meltingly tender.

Beef stew ravioli

Lamb ragu tagliatelle

Risotto 'ai frutti di mare'

Potato gnocchi with Italian sausage ragu

We got some sides for the table: roasted potatoes with rosemary and garlic, leafy salad with parmesan and balsamic and green beans with chili and garlic.

Roast potatoes

My lamb was an impressive chunk of meat, tender and moist, and served with fennel and chard.

Pan-roasted leg of lamb

Pan fried rainbow trout

Chicken with pesto and pearl couscous (?)

Although we were all stuffed after our mains, the waiter somehow talked us into ordering dessert. These finished the meal perfectly. The cranberry tart was a little tarty and a little bready and delicious with custard. The creme brulee was velvety smooth with an aromatic coffee flavour.

Rustic cranberry tart

Espresso creme brulee

Not a bad way to start my foodie holiday!

Stra Pocha

2008-02-05T21:58:00.001+11:00

This place is HOT!! And I mean literally. For once we decided to stray from Ceci and try out this infamous restaurant in Strathfield known for its spicy chicken. A Korean friend of ours was warned upon ordering this dish that it was extremely spicy and she might not be able to handle it.

Whole BBQ chicken with special hot sauce

So did it live up to the hype? You bet! This dish is easily one of the hottest foods I have ever tasted. The heat starts as a warm burn in your mouth and keeps on building until you just have to give in to the water. For those who don't have taste buds of steel, there are other less spicy dishes on the menu, rated by the number of chilis next to the name, but definitely give the chicken a try - it's soo good!

Pony

2008-02-04T12:14:00.000+11:00

Pony is a funky little restaurant right at the centre of the Rocks. The food is described as a "fusion of traditional Mediterranean and modern Australian cuisine". They have a range of tapas style dishes which is what we decided on that night.

Grilled Italian flatbread with smoky eggplant and white bean dip; Artisanal hand made salami, grissini; Baked eggplant, basil and feta rolls, tomato sugo; Crisp fried prawns, sichuan spice, sweet soy; Wood fired chipolatas 'le saveur de romeo', tomato relish; Salad of wild baby rocket, pear, fennel and parmesan; Chicken skewers, rosemary, lemon and mustard marinade; Seared scallops, green pawpaw, cucumber, cashews, lime and palm sugar; Pumpkin and ricotta tortellini, burnt sage butter.

All the food was exquisite! Highlights included the eggplant dip, garlicky, tangy and chunky; the eggplant rolls with a creamy feta centre; the chipolatas, smoky and meaty; pumpkin tortellini with a sweet and creamy filling.

The staff were attentive and helpful and the restaurant had a bustling atmosphere. An overall wonderful dining experience.

Outback Steakhouse

2008-01-14T18:01:00.001+11:00

Sometimes you just gotta have meat! The Outback Steakhouse at North Strathfield is part of an American chain of Australian themed restaurants and fitted the bill perfectly. It was a busy friday night and without a booking, we had a half our wait for our table.

All the mains here are ginormous and come with a side salad/soup and your choice of baked potato, mash potato, sweet potato, chips or steamed veggies.

Pumpkin soup, house salad and bread

Drover's Platter: Ribs and chicken breast with mash potato and cinnamon apples

I ordered the smaller portion (8 oz) of the Kakadu Prime Rib Roast with an extra half rack of ribs. The ribs were smothered in smokey BBQ sauce and were incredibly tender. The steak was was perfectly cooked to medium but was a little on the fatty side.

Kakadu Prime Rib Roast with half rack of ribs and potato mash

I didn't ask how my friends found their meals but seeing as they all finished with empty plates, I took that as a good sign.

The Nullarbor with baked sweet potato

Victoria's filet with chips

Barbie Chook 'N Bacon burger with chips

Torsten and Tanja's Wedding

2008-01-13T16:24:00.000+11:00

Our friends Torsten and Tanja recently wedded on the cliffs of South Head. Although the sun was a little indisposed that day, the ceremony was beautiful - even the bits in German that we couldn't understand!

After the ceremony, we were water taxied to Clonny's for the reception. This is a quaint waterside restaurant overlooking The Spit in Clontarf. The tables were decorated with green satin table runners, sand, pebbles, shells and scented candles and in keeping with the green and cream theme of the bride and groom.

Served alternately, these were the entrees:

White cut chicken with wasabi noodle salad

Spiced chicken flatbread with chili jam and yoghurt relish

Mains:

Roast sirloin of beef with gratin potato, beans and mushroom glaze

Pan seared barramundi with gratin potato and veggies

And dessert:

Panna cotta with summer berry salad and savioradi

Tiramisu with raspberry coulis

Overall the food was delicious. I was only a little disappointed with my tiramisu which tasted like the panna cotta base with an added layer of sponge and cocoa. This was remedied by second dessert - wedding cake! This was three tiered with chocolate mud on top, strawberry in the middle and lemon curd cake on the bottom, representing the three colours of the German flag.

Wedding cake

Congratulations guys!

Carrot and Orange Cupcakes

2008-01-11T12:22:00.001+11:00

And so the baking begins... More thesis writing means more baking! This time, carrot and orange cupcakes from a little cheapie I picked up in a Myer sale.

Ingredients:
115 g butter, softened
115 g light brown sugar
juice and rind of 1 small orange
2 large eggs, beaten
175 g carrots, grated
25 g walnuts, chopped (I doubled this)
125 g plain flour
1 tsp ground mixed spice
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Beat the butter, sugar and orange rind until light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Squeeze any excess liquid from the carrots and add to the mixture with the walnuts and orange juice. Mix well. Sift in the flour, mixed spice and baking powder then fold into the mixture. Spoon the mixture into 12 paper cases. Bake at 180 degreesC for 25 minutes.

For the icing:
280 g mascarpone cheese
4 tbsp icing sugar
grated rind of 1 large orange

Beat all the ingredients until well mixed. Spread icing on cold cupcakes.

These cupcakes are a little on the small side but deliciously moist and the creamy icing is divine!

Seafood Orgy at the Fish Markets

2008-01-10T21:10:00.000+11:00

The Sydney Fish Markets never seem to have a lull period. Even after the xmas rush it seemed as busy as ever. As always, we went straight to Christie's Seafood and luckily arrived just in time to grab a much coveted table.

On the menu was seafood, seafood and more seafood!

First up, plump, juicy, briney oysters with a squirt of lemon.

Oysters naturale

This was followed by salmon sashimi, cut from near the belly so it was nice and oily.

Salmon sashimi

The baby abalone was cooked to perfection, tender and with a bit of bite.

Baby abalone steamed in ginger, green onions and soy

The scallops were topped with a delicious mix of garlic and chili.

Scallops with garlic and chili

To finish, mud crab flavoured with salt, chili, fried shallots and green onion. This was deep fried and so crispy that you could just crunch into the smaller bits of shell.

Salt and chili spiced crab

Nothing beats fresh seafood direct from the fish markets!

Mango Bread

2008-01-10T20:59:00.000+11:00

Having gotten the idea in my head to make mango bread, I hunted down a recipe from the interweb and found one on the ABC website. I used slightly more than one cup of mango puree and also drained it somewhat as the mangoes were really juicy and I didn't want the bread to end up soggy. I also left out the sultanas.

The result was a deliciously moist and springy bread with a subtle mango flavour. Next time, I probably would add a bit more mango to boost the flavour and maybe add some passionfruit as the two go so well together!

Barmuda Cafe

2007-12-16T16:47:00.000+11:00

Sleepy, sunny Saturday mornings are the best for brunch with the girls. Barmuda was our objective for today, a cosy little cafe just off King St.

Tess and I were torn between the corn fritters and the potato stack so we decided to get both and share. The corn fritter stack had three large corn fritters layered with three enormous pieces of bacon (extra) topped with roasted tomato. There wasn't enough batter to the fritters so the sweet juicy corn kernals went tumbling all over the plate every time I tried fork a piece. Nonetheless, it was delicious with the pesto sauce.

Corn fritters with bacon

The potato stacks were served with with scrambled eggs, rocket, aubergine and tomato relish. Although the potato was a little too fried and crispy, the combination with the tangy relish balanced it out a bit - if only there was more relish!!

Potato stack

Rushie had already decided on the vanilla rice before we got there so I'm guessing it's a winner.

Vanilla rice

What a great way to start the weekend!

A Visit from Kris Kringle

2007-12-11T20:58:00.000+11:00

I had a visit from Kris Kringle today - yay!

This will definitely come in handy!

Something seems to be missing...

...cupcakes? :)

Thanks KK!

Rise

2007-12-10T21:53:00.000+11:00

Described by SMH as "Sydney's best-value degustation menu" and I would have to agree. Where else can you get a 7 course degustation for $60 and 30 % off on Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This was my third visit to Rise and the occasion? FFL's Xmas dinner!

The food was as much a feast for the eyes as it was for the stomach. I'm not usually a fan of tomago but the rice paper rolls were entirely different in taste and was well complemented by the blobs of tomato and spinach sauce.

Appetizer: Rice paper rolls with cured salmon stuffed with omelet and hummus

The soup was a subtle version of the traditional Thai tom yum. At the bottom of the bowl was a scattering of tapioca balls, cherry tomato wedges and the succulent prawn tortellini.

Soup: Tom yum style soup with prawn tortellini

The sashimi was fresh and the delicate flavours enhanced by the sauces.

Sashimi: Trio of salmon, oyster and kingfish

The duck salad was meaty and crunchy with a flavour similar to that of hoi sin. The sushi was filled with pickled ginger and topped with a piece of deep fried soft shell crab. The silky tuna tartare was flavoured with the Korean gochujang which contrasted well with the crispy fried wonton shell.

Seasonal plate: Duck confit salad with sesame miso sauce
Soft shell crab sushi roll
Spicy tuna tartare in wonton cup

My favourite of the evening was the oyster tempura with the tangy soba noodle salad.

Pasta dish: Oyster tempura and soba salad with soy black vinegar sauce

Although the chicken was fried, it was tender and juicy, on top of a mound of ratatouille and served with rice.

Main course: Pan fried marinated chicken with Asian miso ratatouille

To finish off, creamy almond jelly topped with fresh mango and almond granita.

Dessert: Almond jelly, fresh mango and Amaretto milk granita

Now I wouldn't say that we stuffed after 7 courses, but what it lacked in quantity, it made up in quality - all the dishes were beautifully presented, the seafood was fresh and the flavours were exquisite!

Bread Bake-a-thon

2007-12-10T16:03:00.000+11:00

Our friend Patrick has recently gotten himself hooked on bread making. So much so that he invited me over for a bit of bread making 101. The thing is, I've always been a bit scared of making bread. I mean, yeast is alive! True, I play around with bacteria all day but cooking with yeast is an entirely different story! So after several hours of kneading, rising and baking, this is what we ended up with:

Bread #1: Flax Seed Wheat Bread (2 loaves)
This first one was quite easy and a good one to start off with. It basically required all the ingredients to be mixed together without too much kneading. We used slightly more water than stated in the recipe and the loaves turned out beautifully! The bread was surprisingly fluffy, despite the fact that the loaves didn't rise very much.

Bread #2: Pain de Provence (1 loaf)
The second bread was absolutely delish! It was essentially a crusty herb bread (we used rosemary and oregano) that was deliciously fragrant on its own or in a sandwich.

Bread #3: Mixed berry cream cheese braid (4 braids)
This last one was the most fun to make. The original recipe used blueberries but we replaced them with mixed berries. The bread had a subtle sweetness that contrasted well with the tartness of the berries and cream cheese. The best part about this one is that we can play around with the fillings now that we know the basic recipe works so well. Hmm... the possibilities...

We also planned to make banana bread (and a mango version because I don't eat banana) but we ran out of time because of dinner plans. Saving it for next time! Looks like I got over my fear of break making though! :)

Well Connected Cafe

2007-12-09T11:40:00.000+11:00

For a pre-Homebake fuelling, we stopped by the Well Connected cafe in Glebe. To feed our hungry bellies we all had decently sized breakfast/brunch dishes.

The breakfast bruschetta consisted of two slabs of grilled bread topped with tomatoes and two poached eggs.

Breakfast bruschetta

The casablanca eggs were a creamy mixture of eggs, fetta and mint, served with two pieces of toasted bread.

Casablanca eggs

The massive breakfast was surprisingly un-massive considering I could finish the entire thing! The scrambled eggs were nice and creamy but also quite ordinary. The portion of mushrooms was generous but not enough to warrant the "massive" label. Together with the roasted tomato (half) and single lettuce leaf "salad", I wasn't entirely impressed with this one.

Massive vegetarian breakfast

Alas, it did not quite get us through to the evening...

Devil's Food Cupcakes

2007-12-05T21:50:00.000+11:00

Another goodie from the cupcake bible... despite the name, these are actually quite light and fluffy and incredibly rich. Also wanted to try out a new product I found at the supermarket this week - Multix disposable piping bags and nozzles. No washing up - woohoo!!

For the cupcakes:
225 g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
225 g light brown sugar - I used 200 g but you can probably get away with 180 g as they are quite sweet
225 g unsalted butter, softened - I used 200 g
2 eggs, separated
100 g dark chocolate, melted
1 tsp vanilla essence
115 ml milk

Sift flour and baking powder and set aside. Cream the sugar and butter then add egg yolks and beat well. Add melted chocolate and vanilla and mix. Add the flour and milk alternately, beating after each addition. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form and gently fold into the batter. Divide into 18 paper cases and bake at 170 degrees C for 20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before turning out onto rack to cool completely.

For the icing:
115 g unsalted butter, softened
1 tbsp milk
115 g dark chocolate, melted
1 tsp vanilla essence
90 g icing sugar, sifted

Cream the butter, add milk and beat until smooth. Stir in chocolate and vanilla. Beat in the icing sugar until thick and creamy. Spread over cupcakes. Being a noob at cake decorating, I road tested the piping bag with just a few blobs :).

Poporo

2007-11-26T21:34:00.001+11:00

Poporo is one of the new places that has opened up where Mama's Kitchen used to be in Market City. The food is "Japanese modern cafe", the decor funky and the staff friendly.

Along the front of the restaurant are row of touch screen computers where you put in your order - great novelty value!

The service was quick, our seaweed salad arriving minutes after our order was put in. This had an eclectic mix of purple, green and white seaweed on top of a garden salad, dressed with an olive oil and soy dressing.

Assorted seaweed salad

The squid ink spaghetti had a rich tomato flavour, despite the inky looking sauce.

Squid ink spaghetti

The huge Poporo burger stack consisted of a crumbed and fried beef patty with bolognaise and white sauce, bacon, Italian leaves, tomato and parmesan cheese.

Poporo burger

A bit of an Asian take on your average cafe food - some interesting combo's I wouldn't mind trying include the teriyaki tofu and vegetable burger and the crabmeat and eggplant doria (oven baked white mornay sauce and melty cheese in tomato rice) - there's always next time!

Election Night Dinner

2007-11-26T09:30:00.000+11:00

Once upon a time there was an election. On election night, Lynn says to Patrick, "Go into the kitchen and make us some pizza!" And he did. Patrick slaved away for hours and hours, making the pizza dough (from scratch)...

...and made us three delicious pizzas. The first pizza was topped with ham and artichoke hearts.

Ham and artichoke pizza

The second, tomato, basil and mozzarella. And the third pizza was the bestest pizza in all the land with pepperoni, olives, sun dried tomatoes and oven roasted chilis.

Pepperoni, sun dried tomatoes, olives and chili pizza

And for dessert? Chocolate creme brulee and cherry friand slice!

And we all lived happily ever after when the wicked witch of the (north) west lost his seat and the election!

Chocolate Creme Brulee and Cherry Friand Slice

2007-11-25T18:53:00.000+11:00

Two seemingly unrelated desserts but it will make sense...

This is an incredibly easy recipe for creme brulee (chocolate is optional):

Whisk together 2 cups of cream, 5 egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tbsp vanilla essence. Divide into ramekins and place in baking tray filled halfway with hot water. Bake at 180 degrees C for 45 min-1 h until set. Chill in fridge overnight. To serve, sprinkle with sugar and caramelise with blowtorch for a sugary crust.

For a chocolate version, heat chocolate and cream over a double bioler until melted then mix in other ingredients when chocolate/cream has cooled a bit.

So this brings me to the second part... what to do with all the egg whites after you've used the yolks for the creme brulee? Friands! Or this slice version (from AWW cakes biscuits and slices)...

Mix together 4 egg whites (1 left over!), 100 g melted butter, 1 tbsp milk, 1/2 tsp vanilla essence, 1 cup almond meal, 1 cup icing sugar (sifted), 1/3 cup self-raising flour (sifted) and the seeds from 1 vanilla bean until combined. Pour mixture into slice pan and sprinkle with 100 g frozen cherries, roughly chopped. Bake at 170 degrees C for 30 minutes. Serve dusted with icing sugar.

Of course you can freeze the egg whites for later but where's the fun in that?

Longrain

2007-11-25T17:25:00.000+11:00

Recently we went to Longrain restaurant for a bit of a celebratory dinner. Arriving at 20 to 7, we were lucky enough to get the last "table" for four. I say "table" because one side of the restaurant has three large mess hall-type tables and so we were actually just slotted in between two groups of diners on the middle table.

To start we had the betel leaves topped with smoked trout, shredded herbs, chili and fish roe. Such small delicate servings with a wonderful combination of sweet, salty, sour and spicy flavours leaves you wanting more.

Betel leaves topped with smoked trout

The eggnet salad arrived beautifully presented, with literally an eggnet covering a salad of mostly beansprouts and a few greens. The salad was served with sweet vinegar on the side, but this was a little too sweet for my liking.

Eggnet with bean sprouts, peanuts, pomelo, coriander and sweet vinegar

The highlight of the dinner was probably the deep fried soft shell crab in a mild red curry with pineapple pieces and topped with betel leaves. The curry was surprisingly not creamy and not too sweet - one of the best red curry I've had.

Soft shell crab and pineapple red curry

The grilled beef had a great blend of flavours - sesame, lime and tamarind. The only downside was the beef itself which was a little overcooked and slightly tough.

Grilled skirt steak with sesame, lime and tamarind

The chicken was lovely and crisp, covered in a sticky blood plum glaze. This was served with lemon and szechuan pepper which provided a good contrast to sweetness of the sauce.

Crisp fried barossa chicken with blood plum sauce and szechuan pepper

Overall, not a bad dining experience - the service was excellent, the atmosphere was lively and the food was generally good but tended to be a little on the sweet side.

Lamrock Cafe

2007-11-18T17:37:00.001+11:00

What a beautiful weekend! To make the most of it and the fact that our friend Ade was visiting from Melbourne, we went to Sculpture by the Sea in Bondi.

Before our walk from Bondi to Tamarama, we stopped by Lamrock Cafe for a bit of fuel. I was ravenous (as usual) and went for the hearty Cajun chicken burger, served with (salty!) fries. Tender spiced chicken pieces, lettuce, tomato and mayo on a crusty burger bun.

Cajun chicken burger

Ade was in the mood for something sweet and ordered the pikelets from the breakfast menu. This came with orange slices and maple syrup.

Pikelets

Em went for the vegetarian lasagne, a huge serving of pasta with a chunk of feta on the side.

Vegetarian lasagne

Content with our lunches, we leisurely made our way along the coastal walk, along with hundreds of other people who also realised this was the last weekend of the exhibition! Oh well... maybe we should go earlier next year :).

Peanut Butter and Choc Chip Cupcakes

2007-11-16T17:28:00.001+11:00

One of the recipes from the 500 cupcakes cookbook (of course). The original recipe was for peanut butter cupcakes and this was one of the variations - like I've said, can't really go wrong with chocolate. Although from the looks of the split open cupcake, there doesn't seem to be enough! :O

Used one of the nozzles from the cookie gun set to pipe the icing - soo much fun! And easy too!

My New Bible...

2007-11-16T17:16:00.000+11:00

You may have noticed a few cupcake posts recently (and more to follow). This is all thanks to my new cookbook...

Quite an impressive collection of cupcake and muffin recipes - all have variations on the basic recipe, which is how they get to 500 I suppose. Good if you're looking for a variety cake recipes (rather than ways to decorate a cupcake) and includes a good selection of savoury recipes.

Roast Pumpkin, Onion and Feta Tarts

2007-11-11T11:16:00.000+11:00

Found this recipe in the cafe food book that came with this months Delicious magazine. Being a huge fan of pumpkin, I'm always willing to try out new pumpkin recipes.

To start off, pumpkin and onion was roasted with some thyme, cumin and olive oil. The tart shells were made from puff pastry baked in a muffin tray until puffed and golden. The tart shells were filled with the roasted pumpkin and onion and some feta cubes. A mixture of egg, cream and chives was added to the tarts and baked until the egg was set.

The pastry stuck to the tray a bit (arrghh!) but the rest was ok. The tarts were served with tomato chutney and a side salad.

Chocolate Jaffa Tart

2007-11-09T10:21:00.001+11:00

What to do on a rainy afternoon when work does not look appealing? :)

Flipping through my Wicked Sweet Indulgences cookbook, this chocolate jaffa tart recipe caught my eye. Looked easy enough and you really can't go wrong with chocolate, cream, sugar and eggs.

A bit of mess later, I had a rich chocolatey tart finished off with a silky ganache layer. Definitely one I'd make again.

A Taste of San Churro

2007-10-28T21:59:00.000+11:00

We've been meaning to try San Churro for a while now but just haven't gotten around to it. So despite being full from dinner, we couldn't resist stopping by for a little preview.

San Churro seems to be the latest of the chocolate themed cafes (i.e. Max Brenner, Lindt Cafe). Their specialty are of course the churros, served with your choice of white, milk or dark melted chocolate for dipping.

Churros with dark chocolate

We also tried the Azteca hot chocolate, thick, rich and spiced with cinnamon and chili. The chili is quite mild but it leaves a nice warmth at the back of your throat - heaven!

Azteca hot chocolate

We were on a bit of a chocolate high from this little "sample" and will definitely be back to try out their other chocolately goodies!

Bacon Muffins

2007-10-25T16:30:00.001+10:00

Who says you need a reason to bake? :)

Good Food Month Sugar Hits

2007-10-25T11:30:00.001+10:00

We were quite impressed by the sugar hits from last year's Good Food Month so we were eager to try several of them this time round. Much to our dismay, the price had gone up to $20 (from $15) and many of the options only included one dessert. Nonetheless we soldiered on...

Sugar Hit #1: One on 1 Brasserie, Radisson Hotel
We got off to a pretty good start with our first sugar hit at the Radisson Hotel. They had a nice selection of desserts with an interesting variety of flavours. The mixed berries were fresh and fruity, the creme brulee chunky and creamy and while the five spice panacotta was bit strange at first, the flavour really grew on you. The glass of dessert wine was a little on the small side but generally thumbs up all round.

Roasted macadamia nut and Quandong Creme Brulee, Mixed Berry Crepe Stack & 5 Spice Panacotta with Palm Glaze

Sugar Hit #2: Botanica Brasserie, Sheraton on the Park
We were also quite pleased with the sugar hit offered by Sheraton on the Park. The Alaska had chocolately ice cream centre covered with fluffy meringue. The pear was sweet, refreshing and o so cute! The only criticism was the size of the creme brulee. No sooner had the spoon cracked the toffee layer than it touched the bottom!

Baked basil scented Alaska, rose wine poached pear and Sheraton signature vanilla bean creme brulee

Sugar Hit #3: The Bar, Four Seasons Hotel
This one was a disappointment being more of a sugar poke than a sugar hit. Not only were the desserts incredibly small, but the quality was a bit lacking. The parfait was bland and the poppy seeds were a bit stale. The strawberry and basil gelee tasted like strawberry jam in a pre-made shortbread case. The pine nut and orange cake was nice but not good enough to warrant the $20 price tag.

Pine nut and Orange confit "cake", Strawberry & Basil gelee in shortbread crust and Frozen Poppy seed parfait in dark chocolate cup

So a disappointing end to this years sugar hits. Will we do it again next year? Maybe...

Choc-Cherry Mud Muffins

2007-09-25T10:04:00.000+10:00

Just had to use up some frozen cherries left in the freezer so I made these...

Chocolately... muddy... muffiney...Hmm...

Canh Restaurant

2007-09-11T21:36:00.001+10:00

Vietnamese food is something we have quite often and Canh Restaurant in Canley Vale has to be one of my favourites. With neon lighting and customers crooning to Vietnamese karaoke, this place is pretty hard to miss.

They have your usual menu items of pho, vermicelli and rice but we always come for the goi (salads) and grilled dishes. We had the paw paw salad and the pork and jellyfish salad. Both are similar in taste, herby, tangy, spicy and yum!

Paw paw salad

Pork and jellyfish salad

The main event consisted of various dishes for wrapping in banh trang (rice paper sheets). First was venison which is cooked on a hot plate at your table. This is accompanied by a big plate of veggies: lettuce, herbs, bean sprouts, cucumber, pineapple, unripe banana (yuck!), carrot and grated apple.

Marinated venison

Veggies for wrapping

You assemble all the stuff on the banh trang which is softened in warm water, roll it up and eat it with nuoc mam (fish sauce) or mam nem sauce (anchovy and pineapple-stinky but soo delicious).

In addition to the venison we had bo la lop, minced beef wrapped in leaves, and chao tom, minced prawn grilled on sugar cane.

Bo la lop

Chao tom

The photos just don't do the food justice... sigh.

Simply Italy Part 3

2007-08-28T20:56:00.000+10:00

In Venice, we were in for another Italian feast, starting with a platter of cured meats and pizza base...

followed by a vegetarian lasagne and pesto linguine...

beef stew with beans and potatoes...

and tiramisu (although, not the best we've had on the trip).

In San Marino we couldn't go past the pizza/pasta restaurant perched on top of the city.

Did I mention that Italians love their Nutella? We saw this 5 kg tub in San Marino (so not technically in Italy, but still...).

And of course every holiday is not complete without a trip to Maccas.

We were warned to stay away from restaurants with a "tourist menu" but we didn't listen did we? This place near St Peters wasn't expensive but lets just say food wasn't too crash hot. The tuna salad was alright (how can you stuff up salad?) but the lasagne was this big dense lump of cheese and pasta... never again!

To finish off my foodie experience of Italy, I had to go snappy happy in one of their supermarkets. The thing that struck me was the vast majority of the aisles contained what I refer to as pasta ingredients, including tomato sauce...

olive oil...

dried pasta...

fresh pasta...

and cheese...

...cheese...

... and more cheese...

Did I mention cheese?

And also a (not so) tiny cured meat/salami section.

Towards the end of the trip, we were a little Italiano-ed out and went to Planet Kebab for something a little different.

Last meal at the airport was half a pizza and some fritto's. Hmm... overpriced airport food...

So is Italy all pizza, pasta and gelato? Well... yes...but its also so much more!

Simply Italy Part 2

2007-08-27T18:40:00.003+10:00

As we were on a tour, some of the meals were included, although these were quite "basic". This particular dinner consisted of salad, pasta (choice of tomato or pesto), chicken and chips and a nectarine.

Pasta with pesto

Chicken and chips (Can you find the chicken?)

There was also the obligatory snacking while travelling so we tested out some of the "Italian" junk food... Paprika flavoured chips...

Lemon filled cookies...

Chocolate with hazelnuts...

and Grisbi biscuits with a Nutella-like filling.

Being, the middle of the Italian summer, we had gelato practically everyday. This one of guava and passionfruit was soo refreshing and really hit the spot.

In Sirmione, we were pressed for time and picked up a quick bite from this pizza place. Not bad for take away!

Something we spotted everywhere was these giant lemons which they use to make limoncello.

One night while we were in Venice we were too lazy to venture out for dinner so we tried out the 12 euro buffet at our hotel. There was a selection of antipasti, salads, pasta, veggies and seafood-gotta love a good buffet! :)

Simply Italy Part 1

2007-08-27T13:40:00.000+10:00

Prior to my whirlwind three week trip to Italy, my ideas about Italian food consisted mainly of pizza, pasta and gelato. Do I still think this?

Well... here is a quick run down of some of the food highlights of the trip.

My first "meal" in Italy was at Roma Termini, the major train station in Rome. It consisted of a toasted baguette with ham, mozzarella, tomato and lettuce - simple but tasty.

For the duration of the conference we frequently visited a local pasta/pizza restaurant - not because the food was particularly good but because we were in Tirrenia and the "town" was just that little bit too far to get to by foot. They served your typical selection of pizza, pasta and mains.

Fettucine with "porky" mushrooms was the English translation on the menu

When we did manage to muster up the effort to walk into town, we visited this pizza place where I had my first experience of Italian pizza. The base was quite thin and crispy (not like what you get at Pizza Hut or Dominos) and overall was light on the toppings. Surprisingly I was able to finish most of this!

Capricciosa pizza

Back in Rome, we sampled some gelato at a cafe near the Trevi fountain. This place also had a mouth watering selection of tarts, biscuits and cakes (please excuse the reflections!).

Ice cream cone display

In Capri, was Le Grottelle, a restaurant on the side of a cliff with stunning views - but also incredibly effortsome to get to. The food was fresh and delicious!

Linguine with shrimp and zucchini

Spaghetti with scampi

My first experience of a full Italian meal was in Sorrento. First up was the antipasti...

followed by the prima piatti (pasta)...

then the second piatti (usually some sort of meat)...

and finished off with dessert...

and a spectacular view of Mount Vesuvius!

Once again we feasted in Florence, sampling local produce including the olive oil...

and featuring our main as bonus entertainment!

Musashi

2007-06-15T15:08:00.000+10:00

For a post Chaser studio audience meal we went to Musashi on Lynn's insistence. It was already after 9:30 pm (last orders) but they still took us in - yay! After a few quick decisions we were eagerly awaiting our meals.

For entrees: Takoyaki balls on a base of fried egg...

Takoyaki

and deep fried Spicy Karaage Chicken in a pool of spicy chili sauce.

Spicy Karaage Chicken

Jangers had the Unagi-don, BBQ'd pieces of eel with a sweet soy glaze on a bed of rice.

Unagi-don

Patrick's Sashimi main looked impressive but he was disappointed to find that the upturned oyster shell lacked the creamy morsel of oyster.

Sashimi main

Both Lynn and I went for the Dinner Box, fearing that a regular main would not be sufficient. Once again our eyes were too big for our stomachs as we both struggled to finish the sushi, sashimi, spicy chicken, potato mash and selection of deep fried items.

Dinner Bento Box

We were in and out within 45 minutes, stomach's full and ready to brave the roaring winds on our way home.

Steam Boat

2007-06-03T10:47:00.000+10:00

I must say that when Janger's mum invites people over for dinner, she really does go all out when it comes to the food. On this occasion, it was his dad's birthday and steam boat was on the menu. The centrepiece was the broth, surrounded by plates of seafood including crab, prawns, mussels, squid, fish cake, fish balls, seafood balls, crab sticks. We also had beef, tofu, dumplings, rice cake, varieties of mushrooms and a mound of leafy greens and snow peas for dunking in the broth.

While it might not look like much picture, there were more than ample reserves waiting in the kitchen for whenever anything ran low. To finish off the meal we added rice noodles to the hotpot to soak up all the sweetness from the seafood and meat infused into the soup.

Russian Club

2007-05-29T20:11:00.000+10:00

It was a tough choice but Lynn made the call to go to the Russian "restaurant" inside the Russian Club instead of having Korean hotpot for her birthday dinner. I use the term "restaurant" very loosely as it was more like a partitioned room at the back of the club rather than a proper restaurant.

After we seated ourselves, we had to wait about 10 minutes before the waitress appeared. When we requested the menu, it turned out there was only one which another table was using.

We had limited options as only half the menu was available so to start, we shared some fried dumplings that had a springy pastry filled with a smashed potato mixture and beef mince and onion. This was followed by some hot fluffy pancakes topped with mayonnaise and smoked salmon.

Meat and potato dumplings

Pancakes with smoked salmon

We tried a variety of mains: I had the Neptunes feast consisting of a deep fried piece of fish stuffed with mushrooms; Patrick the Pelmeni Russian dumplings; Lynn with the grilled fish; and Ken with the chicken schnitzel. All the mains (except for the Pelmeni) were served with veggies sauteed in garlic/and home made fries.

Neptunes feast

Pelmeni

Grilled fish

Chicken schnitzel

While this place is definitely not gourmet, the food was good enough and not too expensive. I'm just not sure if there's enough that's worth going back for...

MilkyWay vs MilkyWay Smackdown

2007-05-18T17:11:00.000+10:00

"MilkyWays have caramel?!?" was my initial response when a friend from the States mentioned that she loved the caramel in MilkyWays. This of course prompted us to conduct a thorough taste testing and comparison of the Australian MilkyWay vs American MilkyWay. This said friend had also conveniently just returned from the States with a bag full of confectionery goodness so this was a good excuse to carry out this "scientific investigation" :).

First we have the Aussie MilkyWay: a milk chocolate bar with a lightly whipped nougat-ey centre.

The US version comes in two varieties (at least), regular and "Midnight", both containing caramel. The US MilkyWay felt more dense than the Aussie version although that may have been due to the caramel which comprises almost half the filling. The MilkyWay Midnight was suprisingly better than the original, having a dark chocolate coating and a stark white milky centre.

Although different to the Australian MilkyWay, the US version looks awfully familiar...

And so does the 3 Musketeers bar from the States...

The verdict: Same thing different smell...it's all chocolate!

Mimiito's Photos

2007-05-15T21:27:00.000+10:00

Stumbled upon this site http://www.flickr.com/photos/mimiito/ via an SMH article. This woman posts photos of her kid's lunch boxes - cool!

Sussex Thai

2007-05-13T11:23:00.000+10:00

Some people consider Mother's Day to be too commercialised. Personally, I think of it as a chance to try out a new restaurant. For this Mother's Day Thai was on the menu. Sussex Thai is a relatively new restaurant that has sprouted on Sussex St and it was apparent that they were still going through some teething problems. After a few issues with reordering drinks because of things being unavailable, the waiter that brought the drinks to us was unable to tell us which drink was which and could only offer us "I don't know".

Ordering the food was a little more straight forward. We started with deep dried prawn cakes served with a sugar syrup followed by spice marinated chicken cooked in banana leaves.

Prawn cakes

Chicken wrapped in banana leaves

For mains we had the deep fried snapper with three flavours. I'm not sure if we had ordered wrong but the only flavour I could see was sweet chili sauce. This was nice nontheless but I was expecting something different...

Fried snapper with three flavours (?)

The red curry was gorgeous! Thick and creamy - just the way I like it. The grilled pork neck was smokey and served with a lime, fish sauce and chili sauce. The stir fried beef and eggplant was surpisingly spicy from the pepper but had well balanced flavours.

Red curry with pumpkin and chicken

Grilled pork neck

Stir fried beef and eggplant with garlic and pepper sauce

Overall the food was pretty good and the service was patchy - but then, who goes to an asian restaurant for the service?

Janani

2007-05-06T18:21:00.000+10:00

Where to go for cheap and tasty Indian and Sri Lankan food? Janani of course. They claim to be open "continuously 7 days a week" and seem to be a good substitute if you can't find that kebab shop at 4 in the morning (or in Patrick's case, if you want Dosai for breakfast). The thing that sets this place apart from your run of the mill Indian restaurant is that they serve more than just curries and naan (although they have those too).

We started off this meal with guava and woodapple nectar. The guava nectar was refreshing but the woodapple nectar was a bit too sickly sweet.

Guava and Woodapple drinks

We also ordered a Marsala Dosai, a large crepe-like roll filled with curried potato and served with sambar and chutney...

Marsala Dosai

A Puri Pack, three large pieces of greasy puri bread accompanied with sambar, curried chickpeas and potatoes...

Puri Pack

Vegge String Hoppers, vermicelli-like noodles with chickpeas and veggies and lots of chili...

Vegge String Hoppers

And the Butter Chicken Package which consisted of a selection of five curries in addition to butter chicken, rasam, rice and a pappadam.

Butter Chicken Package

And dessert? They do have quite a few on offer but we were way too full... maybe next time.

Recreo

2007-05-01T21:11:00.000+10:00

Hmm...??

Masuya

2007-04-25T18:34:00.000+10:00

Two of our dear friends Irene and Andy will soon leave our sunny shores for a bit of a stint in London. As a final FFL get-together with the Cheungs, we went to Masuya Japanese Seafood Restaurant.

We started off the evening with a bit of sushi and sashimi. The Spicy Tuna Avocado Roll and Eel Bo Sushi were your typical sushi rolls and delicious. The Sashimi Boat was impressive in size and content, filled with fresh salmon, tuna, kingfish, oysters and prawns on top of a bed of seaweed and shredded daikon.

Spicy Tuna Avocado Roll

Sashimi Boat

The entrees that followed the sushi and sashimi were equally delicious.

Agedashi Tofu

Nasu Dengaku

Tempura Seafood

Spicy Karaage Chicken

For the main event, we ordered two hotpots. The Chanko Hot Pot had a variety of seafood, juicy chicken, pork and seasonal vegetables cooked in a dashi soup. The Sapporo Hot Pot consisted of Tasmanian oysters, crab, salmon, scallop, chicken, deep-fried tofu, udon noodle, coriander and vegetables in soymilk and dashi soup with fresh chilli and garlic. The contents of the two hotpots arrived separate to the soup which the waitress prepared at the table. While the Chanko Hot Pot was a little on the salty side, the Sapporo Hot Pot had a creamy soymilk base that was pleasantly enhanced by the seafood.

Chanko Hot Pot

Sapporo Hot Pot

While the food at Masuya didn't blow us away, it's still a pretty good place for traditional Japanese cuisine and fresh seafood.

Bon voyage Cheungs - we will miss you!

Lindt Cafe

2007-04-07T11:40:00.000+10:00

To me Easter only means one thing: CHOCOLATE! So to kick off the Easter long weekend we visited the Lindt Cafe in Darling Harbour. This place is every kid's (and adult's) dream with walls of Lindt chocolate bunnies, a huge column filled with Lindt balls, Lindt ice cream, Lindt delice (meringue yo-yo's), chocolate truffles and cakes.

Chocolate truffles

Cake display

The chocolate truffles were rich and creamy and only a small nibble was sufficient for enjoying the flavour.

(Clockwise from left) Champagne, Milk, Madagascar, Grand Marnier, Dark and White chocolate truffles

The hot chocolate came in little pots containing warm milk and melted chocolate to be mixed before drinking.

Lindt hot chocolate

The chocolate sundae was a monster of a sundae, consisting of scoops of 70% cocoa ice cream atop a chunk of chocolate brownie drizzled with chocolate fudge, chocolate shavings and whipped cream.

70% cocoa hot fudge sundae

The four little profiteroles perched on a biscuit base were filled with a light creamy filling and smothered in chocolate. The profiteroles were delicately portioned but satisfyingly sweet.

Chocolate profiteroles

The not too sweet iced chocolate was a perfect follow up to the desserts and finished off everything nicely.

Dark iced chocolate

Ichi-ban Boshi

2007-04-07T11:35:00.000+10:00

After a stint of late-night shopping we headed over to Ichi-ban Boshi for a late dinner and some ramen-y goodness. As usual, the crowd waiting for tables filled the entire foyer area outside Kinokuniya. After several groups were seated, our number was called and after being seated we quickly scanned the menu to reaffirm our choices picked while waiting in line.

The Aburi Chashu Ramen was exactly as pictured on the menu board outside the restaurant. An enormous bowl of ramen topped with three fatty pieces of pork belly and some greens. The pork had a wonderful smoky flavour that was infused into the broth. A first for me but definitely not the last.

Aburi Chashu Ramen

Patrick ordered the Kimuchi Ramen, a Japanese twist to the Korean pickled cabbage side dish. The kimchi was perfectly balanced with chili and fermented sourness and great with the ramen.

Kimuchi Ramen

Lynn had the Hiyashi Chuka, a special menu item available only during the summertime. This is a ramen salad served with a tangy dressing and a dollop of hot mustard to add spice.

Hiyashi Chuka

Three hits and no misses from this trip to Ichi-ban Boshi and definitely worth the wait.

Sussex Centre Food Court

2007-03-28T20:37:00.000+10:00

Sussex Centre food court in Chinatown is a great place for quick, cheap Asian food. What more could you want?

Bibimbub from Woree BBQ

Gyoza from Mr Don

Spring rolls from Saigon Pho

Goi coun (rice paper rolls) from Saigon Pho

Cumin

2007-03-23T13:13:00.000+11:00

It wasn't easy chosing which Indian restaurant to eat at in Crows Nest. After walking past several Indian restaurants, we finally settled on Cumin. The thing that attracted us to this restaurant was the aroma of curries wafting down the street as we wandered along, trying to decide where to eat.

The dishes we ordered were all relatively mild in heat but rich in flavour. The Kesar Kasturi Murg was a dish of juicy chicken pieces in a saffron and sundried fenugreek leaf marinade served with mint yoghurt.

Kesar Kasturi Murg

Being huge fans of butter chicken, we could not go past the Murg Makhani, smoked marinated chicken cooked in a rich creamy tomato sauce subtly flavoured with fenugreek leaves. For a veggie dish, we ordered the Palak Paneer, a curry of cottage cheese cubes tossed in spinach, finished with garlic and cumin.

Murg Makhani and Palak Paneer

To accompany the curries, we ordered butter and garlic naan, Pudina Paratha (a wholemeal bread flavoured with mint) and rice. These were all perfect for mopping up the thick curry sauces from the Murg Makhani and Palak Paneer.

Garlic Naan

For a restaurant we accidentally stumbled upon, this place was definitely a winner and I'm looking forward to going back.

The Apprentice

2007-03-23T12:43:00.001+11:00

It's always sad to farewell someone who you've been working with for a while but the silver lining is that it's a good excuse have a 2 1/2 hour lunch.

For our most recent farewell outing we went to The Apprentice, a restaurant run by the students at Ultimo TAFE. Upon arrival at the restaurant, we were greeted by some very timid looking students and shown to our tables.

The menu was quite varied with items ranging from kangaroo to quail to rabbit. The Caponata and Provolone Tarlet with baby salad leaves was probably the best of the entrees sampled with a sweet oniony flavour and a tang imparted by the balsamic dressing. The Pork Rillettes with cornichons and lavoche bread had the texture of tinned tuna and was rather uninteresting (i.e. bland).

Caponata and Provolone Tartlets

Pork Rillettes

French Onion Soup

The presentation of the mains were quite impressive: Suateed Boudin Noir Stuffed Rabbit served with rabbit jus, braised red cabbage and parnip puree; Roast Quail Stuffed with Pistachio with game jus, sauteed mushrooms and potato dauphinoise; Char-grilled Scotch Fillet with red wine jus, buttered English spinach and soft polenta; Pan-fried Bream Grenobloise with braised fennel and sauteed potatoes. I had the rabbit which was a little dry but the flavour of the dish was great, a little spicy from the black pudding and tangy from the red cabbage.

Sauteed Boudin Noir Stuffed Rabbit

Roast Quail Stuffed with Pistachio

Char-grilled Scotch Fillet

Pan-fried Bream Grenobloise

The dessert was the highlight of the meal (as always). Unfortunately the Quince Souffle didn't quite make it and continued to collapse as the rest of the desserts arrived. The Chocolate Fondant Cake with Passionfruit cream was lovely and chocolately with a bit of bitterness from the cocoa. The figs and ice-cream was the clear winner, fresh juicy figs with a sugary crust accompanied by creamy ice-cream with a hint of ginger.

Quince Souffle and Lime Sorbet

Muscat-Poached Beurre Bosc Pears

Chocolate Fondant Cake with Passionfruit Cream

Pan-fried Figs with Brandy and Ginger Ice-cream

At $20 for a three course meal (lunch) plus a welcome drink and tea/coffee, this is place provides swish food at prices povo students can afford. The major disappointment with the meal was having to go back to uni afterwards. Bummer!

Ceci

2007-02-26T10:10:00.000+11:00

We love Ceci! There was a time not too long ago when we used to come here about once a week. We visited Ceci again recently after quite a long hiatus and were greeted with the usual abrupt service and waitresses that don't speak much english - ahh good times! We were seated after a relatively short wait and ordered quickly as we practically knew the menu off by heart.

We knew the food was arriving soon when the waitress brought us the side dishes - small dishes of pickled stuff traditionally served as an accompaniment to the main meal. There was the usual sweet potato, acorn jelly with a slightly spicy soya sauce with green onions and sesame seeds, kimchi and radish kimchi. We were surprised to see they had replaced the pasta salad with a bean sprout side dish - not a bad change.

Side dishes: Sweet potato, acorn jelly, kimchi and soya sauce

More sides: radish kimchi and bean sprouts

I had chosen the cold spicy noodles which has a base of thin, elastic-y, slippery noodles topped with shredded veggies, egg, sesame seeds and a few ice cubes to keep the dish extra chilled. The noodles are tossed with a spicy chili sauce, similar to what you get with a bibimbub, before eating.

Cold spicy noodles

Patrick was craving the beef with rice cakes which is quite similar to jap chae but with the addition of rice cake sticks and quail eggs (and maybe a few other things).

Beef with rice cakes

Lynn's (and everyone's) favourite is the spicy chicken consisting of deep fried pieces of chicken fillet coated with a sticky, sweet and spicy sauce.

Spicy chicken and side dishes

For a little more than $10 each plus some doggy-baggy-ing Ceci is great value for consistently good Korean food.

My New Kitchen Gadget: Cookie Press and Icing Set

2007-02-11T11:38:00.000+11:00

Having an appreciation for food means that I'm an obvious candidate for receiving food-related gifts for Christmas. Last year I got an Avanti cookie press and icing set from my Secret Santa and it has been sitting in my kitchen cupboard until last weekend when I decided to give it a test run.

The set includes a piping gun and a plethora of attachments for piping icing and making different cookie shapes - very swish!

Following the recipe included in the set, I made half a batch of buttery cookie dough which was used to fill the piping gun. Using several different cookie moulds, bits of shapely cookie dough were ejected onto baking paper for baking. This was incredibly fun to do.

The result: perfectly shaped cookies (that are even better dipped in chocolate).

Doy Tao Thai

2007-02-04T11:30:00.000+11:00

Doy Tao Thai is one of the many Thai restaurants spotted along King St in Newtown. This little gem is located towards the quieter end near St Peters, although the restaurant itself is lively and full of activity as waitresses zip around the crowded restuarant. The food is delicious and great value and the service is friendly and surprisingly good considering how busy they are.

We visited Doy Tao for a small farewell dinner for one of our lab members. Having a vegetarian amongst our company, we ordered the vegetarian banquet for 4 and banquet A for 4. After waiting not too long, the entree's started arriving. First up were the crispy pastried curry puffs and satay chicken. Then came the vegetarian spring rolls and satay tofu which was smothered in a chunky, tangy satay sauce. Thinking that was it for the entrees, out came another plate of curry puffs and a plate of sweet, sticky honey soy chicken wings. The satay (chicken and tofu) was the highlight and some of the best I've tasted.

Curry puffs

Spring rolls

Satay tofu

Chicken wings

Included in each banquet was a soup, a salad, fried rice/pad thai and a few stir fries/curry. The seafood soup was a tangy and spicy clear broth, somewhat like a tom yum with a less intense flavour. It was packed with scallops, prawns, calamari, fish and mushrooms and was practically a meal in itself. The vegetarian version was similar in flavour but lacked the sweetness imparted by the seafood.

Seafood soup

Thai salads are always a favourite of mine, combining the flavours sweet, sour, salty and spicy on a crisp vegetable base.

Beef salad

Vegetable salad

The pad thai and fried rice were generously portioned as were each of the stir fries: chashew nut-chicken and vegetarian, chili and basil with tofu, mixed vegetable.

Pad thai

Vegetarian fried rice

Vegetable and chashew nut stir fry

Chili basil stir fry

The red curry was thick, rich and coconutty with and abundance of duck and veggies. However, I was disappointed to find a lack of lychees.

Red duck curry

Just when we all though that we could not eat another thing, the waitress offered us dessert. Sweet sticky rice cooked in coconut milk topped with steamed egg custard. Only four of us attempted dessert, sharing two portions between us. However, we were totally defeated after only getting through half.

Sticky rice and egg custard dessert

While clearing our table, the waitress suggested we try the sticky rice with mango next time - looks like we'll just have to come back again!

Temasek

2007-01-28T11:26:00.000+11:00

This place is beginning to be a favourite of ours. We once again ventured out to Temasek to welcome back Jangers from his overseas travels. Initially expecting five of us for dinner, we ordered a set menu for 5, only later to find out that Ken was having dinner at home. Grrr! The waiter was suprisingly accomodating, allowing us to keep the dishes that the kitchen had started preparing and remove excess items from our order.

To start, we had the spring rolls and curry puffs. The spring rolls were fairly average with a nice and crispy pastry and served with a sweet and sour sauce. The curry puffs had a firm shortcrusty pastry filled with a curry spiced potato mixture.

Spring rolls

Curry puffs

The mains were a bit more spectacular (in taste that is). The Singapore chili prawns had a wonderful chili aftertaste that lingers in your mouth for the rest of the meal. Andy and Irene, being soft(!) could only handle one prawn each. More for us! The balacaan french bean had a nice fermented salty flavour although it lacked a bit of wok "breath" (wok hay).

Singapore chili prawns

Balacaan french bean

We of course had to order beef rendang - Andy's favourite. The beef was quite tender and the thick curry sauce had a nice tang from the lemongrass (?). The chili oil floating on top of the curry was quite potent, something best to avoid if you want a little less heat. Lastly, to interspace the spicy dishes with something a bit more mild, we had the serai (lemongrass) pork - pork pieces stir fried in a sweet sauce. It seemed to be lacking in any lemongrass flavour but was tasty nonetheless.

Beef rendang

Serai pork

Having missed dinner, we asked Ken to bring us ice cream for dessert. Ken being Ken went over the top and bought 4 boxes of Weis bars: mango, mango and macadamia, rasberry and passionfruit, banana and pineapple.

Weis bars galore!

Sweet!

Belfield Charcoal BBQ House

2007-01-22T14:13:00.000+11:00

Both Lynn and I had been having intense cravings for Korean BBQ all week. To remedy this, we went to Belfield Charcoal BBQ House (aka Seoul Hoikwan). Having "trained" all day for the all-you-can-eat pig out with shopping and regularly spaced meals and snacks, we were ready to eat ourselves silly by the time we arrived at the restaurant.

When we got there, the staff were fairly slow in seating us as a large group of diners were just leaving and another large group had just arrived. We probably would have been seated more quickly if we had known Korean but unfortunately neither of us speak the language (despite Lynn considering herself to be pratically Korean).

This was forgotten when we spied the dishes on offer for the buffet. Having been to several all you can eat Korean BBQ's, I must say that this one is the best hands down, mostly because of the selection of Korean sides, salads and noodles they have in addition to the BBQ meat.

Displayed on an L-shaped bench against the wall were big bowls of spicy red kimchi, pickled veggies, deep fried sweet and sour chicken wings, japchae noodles, Korean pancake, kimbup, Korean sausage, potato salad, mushroom salad and tempura. Around the corner were bowls of soba noodles, a big rice cooker filled with boiled rice and huge pot filled with miso soup.

Kimchi, picked radish, pickled veggies, fried chicken wings

Kimbup, Korean pancake, japchae

Potato salad, tomato, mushroom salad, fish and asparagus tempura

Soba noodles

In a largely overlooked corner was a bain-marie with a small selection of hot foods including noodles with blackbean sauce, tofu and a few other things that we didn't really take note of. This was because we were too distracted by the main event: the marinated meat that you cook at your own table. There was a variety of beef (bulgogi, galbi, chuck steak), spicy pork, marinated chicken, baby octopus and mussels.

Meat!

Sauces and condiments

Having amassed enough food to feed a small-medium sized country, we started on grilling our meats. Despite the slow start with the service, the staff were suprisingly diligent in changing the grill whenever it got too charred.

An hour and a half and 3 plates of meat, 3 plates of sides, 2 plates of salad, 2 bowls of rice, 1 miso soup and a plate of watermelon later, we emerged from the old Pizza Hut building smelling of smoke and bellies filled.

My New Kitchen Gadget: The Blowtorch

2007-01-14T14:47:00.000+11:00

The blowtorch. Every kitchen needs one. You can use it to make creme brulee, melt cheese really really quickly... make creme brulee...

The torch came in a set with four little ramekins, so of course I had to make use of them and make creme brulee.

The recipe I used required caster sugar for the crispy top but because we only had white sugar and brown sugar, I did a little experimenting.

So apparently, brown sugar burns quite easily and can actually set alight - oops!

White sugar was much better but took a little while longer to melt and caramelise.

I guess the recipe uses caster sugar for a reason... The creme brulee didn't turn out too bad but the texture wasn't very smooth. Hmm... I guess I just need more practice!

Don Quixote

2007-01-10T17:19:00.000+11:00

Having finally reached the quarter century milestone, we went out to celebrate with dinner at Don Quixote whish is located amongst all the other Spanish restaurants in the Spanish Quarter.

The food was fairly average. Nice, but not spectacular.

The Cheungs went for the Paella Valenciana, a generous sized paella for two, packed with a good selection of seafood and a tonne of rice. It seemed to me that some of the rice was a little undercooked, but maybe it's just my personal preference.

Paella Valenciana: Spanish national rice dish cooked with chicken, prawns, mussels, scallops and blue swimmer crab.

Smelly nerd couldn't resist the suckling pig, a slab of tender pork covered with crispy crackling. Not bad, but doesn't beat the suckling pig from Chinese BBQ shops.

Toston Sancho Panza: Suckling pig, basted and stuffed with a traditional seasoning.

Patrick's seafood stew was similar to the paella minus the rice. In his opinion, the best dish of the night.

Cazuela de Mariscos: Seafood caserole with fish, prawns, mussels, scallops and fresh herbs.

With all the house specialties claimed, I opted for the the steak which was suprisingly cooked to medium rare, as requested. This was accompanied with steamed/baked veggies and mushrooms - yum!

Tornedor Don Quixote: Pan fried eye fillet garnished with bacon, mushrooms and onion rings

We decided to forgo dessert from Don Quixote and instead went to the Festival Cafe in Darling Harbour. We ogled at the cake display before deciding to share the baked cheesecake and tiramisu.

Baked white chocolate cheesecake

Tiramisu

A sweet finish to a food filled evening... bliss!

A Foodie Snapshot of our Port Mac Holiday

2007-01-07T12:53:00.000+11:00

FFL (minus Rush and Jangers) recently took a break from life and everything with a trip up the coast to Port Macquarie. It was a fun filled week consisting beaching, cosmic bowling, putt putting, aqua golfing, monopoly (single and double), bop-it, shopping and of course, eating.

There was a little noodle shop on the outskirts of town that served a variety of noodle and rice dishes. Overall, the food was quite average but they had a kick arse Nasi Goreng which was a little on the greasy side but grease = flavour! It was so good that a few us went back there for our last meal in Port Mac.

Singapore noodles

Laksa

Nasi Goreng

Noodlers

Over near Flinders Beach was the Pasta Place (Palace?), a restaurant Ken had previously visited on one of his touch footy trips. A typical pizza and pasta place with the regulars.

Tortellini cabonara

Fettucini bolognaise

Non-descript pizza slice

Andy, with his on-going craving for pluto pups, couldn't resist temptation from the carnival which seems to visit Port Mac around this time of year.

Pluto pups

After several days of eating take-out and hamburgers we were all craving a home cooked meal and some greens! For a quiet night in, we cooked some bangers and mash and had it with a massive green salad and prawns.

Bangers and mash - yeah! With prawns and salad

Following the success of the previous nights cook off, Patrick cooked us a seafood feast consisting of battered fish, salt and pepper calamari, oysters, blue swimmer crabs and another massive salad.

Salt and pepper calamari with deep fried chilis

Fresh oysters from the Big Oyster - yum!

Blue swimmer crab

Seafood feast: Deep fried fish and calamari, blue swimmer crab, oysters and side salad.

Early one morning while everyone was still asleep, Irene and Andy snuck off for a romantic breakfast for two. Awww...

Patrick loves his tea...

Tea-bag(ging)

All in all, a fun but exhausting holiday with a great bunch of people - I love you guys!

A Deep Fried Xmas

2007-01-07T12:37:00.000+11:00

Our christmas dinner:

Softshell crab tempura served with sweet chili mayo.

Mushroom, eggplant and sweet potato tempura.

Lamb cutlets with a garlic, red wine and Italian herb marinade.

Some greens to balance the grease.

The Xmas feast... for three :)

Quest for Pasta Pefection #2: Lasagne

2006-12-03T17:09:00.000+11:00

We embarked on another cooking adventure when the Cheungs invited us over for a night of gluttony and bad music a.k.a. an Idol dinner party. We made lasagne as our contribution to the pot luck dinner. This recipe was adapted from a Jamie Oliver cookbook.

For the pasta sauce:
olive oil
6 rashers of bacon, sliced
a pinch of cinnamon
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
2 handfuls of herbs - sage, oregano, thyme
500g beef mince
200g pork mince
2x400g tins of peeled tomatoes
2 glasses of red wine
2 bay leaves

Fry the bacon and cinnamon until golden before adding the onion, carrot, garlic and herbs.

Add the meat and cook for 5 minutes, then add the tomatoes and wine. Simmer for about an hour (This sauce is great on its own with pasta and I think it tastes better the longer you leave it).

Butternut pumpkin: Peel and roughly chop one butternut pumpkin and rub with olive oil, salt, pepper, ground coriander seeds and chilli flakes. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes at 180 degrees celsius.

For the white sauce mix together:
500 mL sour cream (Soo bad but soo good! I guess you can subtitute low fat sour cream...)
2 handfuls of grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
milk to lighten mixture

To assemble the lasagne:
Start with a layer of lasagne sheets and cover with meat, white sauce and some parmesan.

Top with another layer of pasta and subtitute the meat with a layer of pumpkin that has been smashed. Sprinkle with white sauce and parmesan. Repeat the layering with lasagne sheet, meat sauce, white sauce and parmesan, finishing with a layer of pasta covered in white sauce. Sprinkle mozzarella and parmesan cheese over the top.

Bake in a 200 degree oven for about half an hour or until golden on top.

Dinner consisted of our lasagne, roast chicken with a fig and walnut bread-chunk stuffing (from the Dang's i.e. Patrick) and the Cheungs provided a mixed veggie salad to balance out all the meat, carbs and grease.

Our feast in front of the telly.

For dessert we had year-old wedding cake that the Cheungs kept for their one year anniversary (awww). Keeping true to the FFL mantra we had more food than we could eat and spent the night like beached whales on the Cheung's couch commentating on the atrocious outfits worn by the Idol contestants.

Quest for Pasta Perfection #1: Spicy Prawn Mexicana

2006-11-22T20:55:00.000+11:00

I love pasta. As a pasta aficionado, I decided to document my pasta cooking adventures to share my discoveries on the intricacies of pasta perfection..........mmmm..........I love pasta......did I mention that before??

Anyway, Pat got me a pasta cookbook recently and to show my appreciation, I cooked her a pasta lunch. As my cooking experiences aren't exactly extensive, I chose the relatively easy Spicy Prawn Mexicana. This is a bit of a cheat's recipe since the sauce is based on store bought salsa. All you need is:

700g prawns, shelled and deveined
1 chilli, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 green onions, sliced
1 jar of hot salsa
1 cup of cream
500g rigatoni
parsley to garnish

Ingredients for Spicy Prawn Mexicana: prawns, chilli, garlic, spring onion, parsley, hot salsa, rigatoni pasta and cream.

To make the sauce, fry the chilli, garlic and green onion until fragrant.

Add the prawns...

then the salsa and cream...

and cook until the prawns are done. Serve with al dente rigatoni pasta and garnish with parsley.

The sauce was surprisingly good, even though it tasted mostly of salsa. I'd consider making my own salsa next time but seeing as the kitchen did not set alight and nobody keeled over from food poisoning, I'll count this as a success :).

Temasek - Singaporean Delights!!

2006-11-22T19:31:00.000+11:00

My recent burst of wealth generated by the long and tedious hours on the GIO phones have continually disappeared from my coffers with the distribution of these funds heavily skewed towards my trip to SE Asia. Regardless of this communistic and centrally controlled budgeting system, I always wanted to do something for Pat's parents for their generosity, hospitality and their tolerance towards my juvenile table manners and ceaseless fridge raids.

A few weeks ago, I finally took the initiative to book a table for four at Temasek on the evening of the 18th of November. This highly anticipated visit was about to be fulfilled with a night full of exquisite and exotic Asian cuisines that would leave all food lovers salivating after the trailing scent of aromatic spices and herbs.

The atmosphere upon arrival set the tone for the whole evening. As we approached the congested alleyway which harboured the entrance to the west wing of the restaurant, our passage inside was obstructed by a group of people inquiring about their bookings and availabilities. After scurrying about looking for the very few vacant seats remaining for these customers, the waitress eventually noticed my feeble attempts to catch her attention. After a rapid scan of the restaurant, the waitress shoved us into one of the 'cosy' corners of the restaurant and scurried back to the entrance to accommodate the growing queue of hungry customers. 'Finally, a table!!' we thought. This excitement was short-lived as we were shipped to the other side of the restaurant to make way for a larger group of people who had just arrived moments after us. The restaurant was like a Bangkok marketplace!!!

After the hustle and bustle, we immediately analysed and dissected the menu for meals that would satiate our hunger. Luring our attention were the 'Special Set Menu for 4 person' deals which offerred an excellent assortment of dishes covering a flexible price range from $46 to $66. Having already tried some of the set menus during previous visits we opted for the most expensive one of all which was populated by the following dishes.

The first dish from the set menu was the Serai pork: pork slices marinaded in a succulent and sweet lemon grass marinade sauce. The lemon grass accent was definitely the highlight of this dish, however, when eaten together with rice, this subtlety quickly diminished, leaving only the sweet caramelised flavours teasing away at the taste buds. I personally would have liked a more stronger lemon grass appeal but overall this dish was worth 3 YUMS.

Serai Pork

Next on the menu was the Sambal fish: fish drenched with a sweet onion and red chili sauce. This dish is a must for all spice lovers. The wonderful aspect of this dish is the strange sequence of flavours upon its encounter with the taste buds. The initial sweetness of the onion sauce leaves a pleasurable taste lingering in the mouth, however, this is soon overcome by the rush of spices accentuated by the chili seeds scattered throughout the dish. You will definitely need rice, water or a firetruck to cool this baby down! Overall a great dish - 4 YUMS.

Sambal fish

The Assam Prawns.....hmm......what can I say about this dish?? Does Tom Yam Soup ring a bell to anyone??? I don't know who stole what from who but the Singaporeans or Malaysians certainly took a leaf out of the Thai cookbook here (or maybe it was the other way around). Anyway, disregarding the origin of these flavours, this soup is fantastic. I've always been a fan of Tom Yam Soup so anything that resembles it can't really go wrong. For those that don't know, Tom Yam is a subtle blend of hot and sour with citrus overtones. This version definitely has that plus tomotoes which adds an extra element of viscosity to it. The disappointing thing about this dish was the time it took to get it out. The service was quite poor at this restaurant with stressed out waiters forgetting about requests and orders. It took them almost 30-40 minutes to bring out this dish out (after reminding them about 3 times!!!). 4 YUMS.

Assam prawns

Cabbage that grows in a swamp........or swamp cabbage........is the main ingredient of the next dish. The Balacan Kang Kong combines this ingredient with a shrimp paste/sauce which provides a.....well....shrimp paste flavour funnily enough. Despite the simplicity of this dish, its flavours complemented the other dishes very well. 3 YUMS for this one.

Balacan kang kong

Last, but definitely not least, is the Hainanese Chicken. Looking at the picture below you might think that the chicken is bland as a rump steak cooked on a BBQ with no hint of seasoning (that one is for you Patrick). Ah hah! But do not be fooled people! Notice its three colourful companions adoring and hugging the chicken flesh - we named these kecap manis (far left), ginger (center top) and chilli sauce (far right). Combining these three sauces with the slices of chicken added an array of flavours that blended well with each other. The kecap manis added the saltiness, with the ginger and chilli ameliorating and complementing the chicken with subtle spices and flavours. I'll give this one 3.5 YUMS.

Hainanese chicken served with pickled chili sauce, kecap manis and ginger

By the end of the night we were all stuffed. Great food and poor service, but what can you expect from a busy restaurant. Overall this was a pleasurable experience and I'll give it 3.5 YUMS for the food only (If I considered the service, it would be significantly lower).

Ichi-ban Boshi

2006-11-21T22:43:00.000+11:00

After pushing through crowds of people, lining up in queues for absolutely everything (i.e change rooms, cash registers, escalators) and sampling yummy Lindt chocolate at the Myer Special Christmas night, Pat and I decided to walk to Ichiban Boshi for some ramen goodness. Plus, it was the only decent joint opened at eight pm on a Tuesday night that was conveniently located near public transport.

The queue was peculiarly short (hurrah!). We already knew what we wanted so this was what we ordered:

Gyoza

Very Hot Ramen

Hiyashi Chuka

Just the thing to hit the spot after a long, tiring night of shopping.

Jangers' Birthday at The Malaya

2006-11-07T10:49:00.000+11:00

After a failed attempt to book The Malaya for Ken's birthday, we decided to try again for Jangers' birthday. We arrived at the restaurant on a wet, dreary sunday evening with pretty high expectations of the meal to come. The restaurant was not too busy and dimly lit with a chilled atmosphere. While we waited for the others to arrive, we started leafing through the menu, settling on the set menu section, being too lazy to make the decision of which dishes order. A tease of intense spicy smells emanated from the open kitchen so that by the time the others had been seated, we felt we could eat everything from the menu. We opted for the set menu 2 as we were all intrigued by the Malaya Chef's Hat and it seemed to have a better range of dishes than the others.

First up were the scallops. Sweet, juicy scallops steamed in a light soy sauce and cooked to perfection. Patrick thought this dish was a little ordinary but both Irene and I though the natural flavour of the scallops was the centrepiece. Although they were a little on the small side, it was a great start to our dinner.

Steamed Scallops: Scallops in the shell steamed with fresh ginger, shallots, chilli and soy sauce.

One disappointing point of the evening was that two dishes from the set menu weren't available. Instead of the Barbecued Atlantic Salmon, we had the Prawn Paggang and the The Malaya Chef's Hat was replaced by Salmon Rolls. Boo! However, both the replacement dishes were surprisingly good. The prawns were firm and fresh and were topped with a creamy, nutty sauce. The salmon rolls (which I can't seem to find on the menu) were a hit with almost everyone on the table.

King Prawn Paggang: Marinated king prawns skewered, barbequed and served with a spicy cashew nut, peanut and coconut sauce.

Salmon roll: Salmon sashimi and vegetables wrapped in a thin pastry skin and served with sweet chili sauce (foreground). Malaytini: Lychees crushed with gomme, panama passionfruit, Skyy vodka and Soho lychee liqueur. Fruitasia: Fresh strawberries, lychees and passionfruit with gomme, red grapefruit, apple & cranberry juice (background).

The dish that scored five yums from everyone was definitely the Satay Beef. The beef was tender and the sauce was incredibly tasty - not your run of the mill "peanut butter" satay sauce.

Satay Beef: Singaporean style marinated pieces of beef fillet skewered, barbequed and served with Malaya Satay sauce made from fresh ground peanuts and chilli.

By the time they cleared our bowls and plates, we were all smiles and we'd only had the entree's! We didn't have to wait long for the mains with the vegetables, prawns and chicken arriving in quick succession. Each dish had its own unique flavour - the vegetables light and fresh, the prawns creamy and the chicken sweet and spicy.

Fresh Seasonal Vegetables: Asian green vegetables stir-fried with garlic, soy sauce and fresh chilli.

Kapitan King Prawns: Penang style curry sauce made with fresh chilli and coconut milk served with lightly battered king prawns.

Szechuan Chicken: Marinated pieces of chicken thigh fillet stir-fried dry style with shallots, cashew nuts and dry chillies. Served on a bed of English spinach.

After the three mains, we all wondered whether there were any more courses to come when this arrived:

Lamb Bali with Roti Canai: Indonesian style red curry lamb cooked with a tomato base. Served with pan fried crispy Malay bread.

Patrick's face said it all...

We were completely stuff by the end of the 8 courses and not even the slightly slow waiter nor the sunday surcharge spoilt our experience. Overall, The Malaya was great value ($48 p.p. for set menu 2) for its waterfront location and quality of dishes. We rate it 4 yums!

Yum Cha @ Marigold

2006-11-06T20:43:00.000+11:00

How could anyone not love yum cha? Steamed dumplings, savoury dishes and desserts paraded in trolleys weaving around a busy, noisy and packed restaurant. Yum cha dishes are normally strongly flavoured, served in bite-size portions (similar to that of hors d'oeuvres) in metal or bamboo steamers and complemented with chinese tea. Due to the variety of dishes, everyone can enjoy assorted food with different ingredients, flavour and taste in one meal.

FFL are such devotees of yum cha that we decided to forego the GFM Sydney Food & Wine Fair and headed to the hustle & bustle of Chinatown for a Saturday brunch at Marigold instead. We rate Marigold as our Yum Cha restaurant of choice in terms of quality and price. As we patiently stood and waited in the cramped little lift to Level 5, we started salavating at the enticing smell of the familiar classic dishes such as har gow & fung jao, to more intriguing dishes like clams with black beans. We were surprisingly seated almost immediately and therefore, did not have to endure the agonising wait for other patrons to leave quickly!

(Note: when heading to Marigold, avoid being seated on Level 4, Level 5 is where the action is! On Level 5, it is seriously about a minute's lapse between the time your morsel of choice leaves the steamer, the sauté pan or the deep fryer and the moment it lands on your table and inevitably, in your mouth)

As we sat there sipping jasmine tea, we started excitedly waving down passing trolleys and loading our table with crowd favourites like:

Cha siu bao (BBQ pork buns), Gai lan (chinese broccoli in oyster sauce), squid and Fung jao (chicken's feet)

Fung Jao (literally "Phoenix claws" but we call them chicken's feet)

Fried rice noodle with hoi sin and peanut sauce

Sticky rice with chicken

Har Gow (Prawn dumplings) and spinach dumplings

Fish balls

Mango pancakes aka mango weiss bars!

Other than the weirdo salty sauce for the fishballs, everything was delicious. The fung jao and har gow were of exceptional standard (those are my staples for measuring quality of yum cha). Marigold offers a wide selection of dishes, the food is incredibly tasty & satisfying, and the service is good (well about as good as it can get for yum cha!).

Sugar Hits: Sofitel v Swissôtel

2006-10-31T21:47:00.000+11:00

Every night during Good Food Month, selected Sydney hotels were offering a dessert plate and glass of Brown Brothers' dessert wine or Dewar's 12-year-old whisky for $15, 9-11pm. Food For Life (FFL) were able to attend two of these prestigious dessert indulgences. We chose Sofitel Wentworth for our first venture (who can go past crème brûlée?) and the Swissôtel as our second (and final) after a glowing recommendation from Timbo Kwok who confidently agreed to refund all our money (all 8 of us!) if we didn't find it up to standard. Suffice to say, expectations were quite high for both dessert plates.

Sofitel Wentworth

As we were shown to our seats (after being 30mins late), we marvelled at the beautiful glittering bar and the intimate ambience created by sparkling warm lights, the tinkling of piano keys and the soft murmur of conversation inside the elegant Sofitel lounge. Our wonderful waiter, Benoir, promptly asked if we were all having the dessert plate, to which we all replied heartily "of course!" This was what was on offer at the Sofitel:

Chocolate assiette - a delicious tasting plate consisting of white chocolate crème brulee, Valrhona bitter chocolate parfait and praline and a berry & milk chocolate terrine. With Brown Brothers Botrytis Reisling

The bitter parfait was a delicious hit with most of us - it was the perfect combination of dark and creamy. The berry and milk terrine was more of a miss than a hit with everyone but I personally, loved it. The berry complemented the milk chocolate giving it this extra kick of berry-sweetness but everyone else preferred less of the berry and more of the chocolate. (I must confess my love for all things berry-licious at this stage). When it came to the white chocolate crème brulee, the decision was unanimous. It was by far, the most sublime dessert on the plate, with some of us proclaiming it as one of the best crème brulee to have ever past our lips. We ate it slowly, savouring every morsel of this heavenly caramel-crusted goodness. The verdict: a huge thumbs up around the table and the night ended on a sugar high!

Swissôtel

After finding out the disappointing news that the Park Hyatt was pretty much booked out for the rest of the month and hearing the rhapsodic praises heaped on the Swissôtel from Timbo, I tentatively made a booking for eight. Tentative because it appeared that few, if any, food blogger had tasted this plate and given their verdict and also, we had no idea what quark mousse was. However, venturing into the unknown and taking calculated risks (ie. Timbo paying us all $15 back if it totally sucked) are mandates in the Food For Life Charter.

First disappointment of the night, we were led to the restaurant partition of the hotel as the Crossroads Bar was packed. Second disappointment- incompetent and slow wait staff. Third disappointment- the dessert plate. This was what was on offer:

Warm Lindt Ecuador Chocolate Torte with Wattle Seed-Quark Mousse and a Strawberry Shot Wine: Orange Muscat Aperitif: Dewar's 12 year old scotch whisky.

Our first visual impression was positive: a great-looking arrangement with perfect quantities. Now on to the quality side of the equation. The mousse (a cross between a cheesecake and a pannacotta) was, for lack of better adjective, tasteless. It was just a boring dessert leaving a blandness in your mouth that not even a yummy blueberry could amend. The strawberry shot wine was surprisingly delightful. Now before you start questioning that my bias for berries makes me inept at making objective observations, rest asured, that the other 7 agreed with me. The torte (aka fondant) was a hit with Patrick and a miss with everyone else. The rest of us complained at its bitterness enhanced by its dry centre, which we expected to look like this :

a yummy gooey Lindt centre that was only apparent in Patrick's and no one else's. It was such a shame, look at that photo, look at the potential that was not realised. And that sums up the Swissôtel Sugar Hit perfectly. Don't let appearances deceive you, the potential was there but they really should have spent more time polishing up the dessert plate. And not to mention, the service. Harsh but fair.

The verdict:

This is a bit of a no-brainer really, Sofitel hands-down. Each dessert complemented one another and the stand out was the divine mouth-watering crème brulee.

Making Kimbup

2006-10-30T20:10:00.000+11:00

A friend was having a Halloween party and we were asked to "bring a plate of something." My first thought was "Oh goodie, I get to cook!" (Yes I do live at home and I don't cook very often :D) The hardest part was choosing what to make - something not too messy and easy to share... I had always wanted to make sushi and have seen them do it on TV but never got around to trying. Jangers volunteered to help me out and since he had watched his mum make kimbup (korean sushi) dozens of times before, he was practically an expert!

To make kimbup, you will need:
Rice - Shortgrain or Koshihikari
Seaweed (aka laver)
Sesame oil
Salt
Sushi mat - Not essential if you are really good

The good thing about kimbup is that you can use almost anything for the filling. We stuck with fairly traditional ingredients:
Egg
Pickled radish
Cucumber
Carrot
Avocado
Varieties: Tuna and corn, fishcake, beef bulgogi

Cook the rice according to instructions on the packet (2 cups of uncooked rice will be enough to make four big rolls). Season with sesame oil and salt.

To prepare the egg, fry a thin layer in a large pan and cut into strips.

Egg pancake

Pickled radish

Cut all other ingredients into long strips.

Kimbup filling consisting of carrots, cucumber, egg strips and pickled radish

Flavour tuna and corn with mayo and fry/grill the beef bulgogi. Pan fry fish cake strips and season with soy sauce and sugar to make a caramelly teriyaki sauce.

Fish cake

All the fillings including tuna and corn, avocado, fish cake, beef bulgogi

Once all the ingredients are prepared, we're ready to roll!

First, place the seaweed shiny side down on a sushi mat and spread about 1 cup of cooked rice over the bottom 3/4 of the sheet.
Place the filling in the middle of the rice...
and use the mat to roll up the seaweed, making sure you squeeze the first roll tightly.
Continue rolling until you reach the end of the seaweed and voila!
Slice it up and you're done!

All I need now is a benriner slicer to make some garnish...:D

Needless to say the kimbup was a big hit at the party and I can't wait to try it again.

Ken's Birthday at Bel Parco

2006-10-26T21:13:00.000+10:00

These were the suggestions from Ken as to where to go his birthday: 1. Sussex Centre food court - normally yes, but not for a birthday dinner... 2. Hooters - NO! 3. The Gentleman's Club - DOUBLE NO!!!

So Irene made an executive decision and chose Bel Parco, an Italian restaurant in the middle of Bicentennial Park. There was also a small wedding reception being held there that night so we were relegated to the "outside" tables. It was a cold night and we were all starving so we started off with some pizza crust to keep us going while we decided about our mains.

Pizza crust with garlic, rosemary & black olive paste

We all decided to go for mains and dessert with Patrick opting for entree and main.

Patrick closely guarding his freshly shucked Sydney rock oysters with eschalot vinegar and lemon

Between us we tried the lamb...

Wood roasted lamb rump with spinach, mushrooms and celeriac dumplings

the beef...200g aged beef fillet with potato gnocchi, spinach and porcini sauce

the quail...

Skewered quails, prosciutto and croutons with soft polenta and marsala, honey and lemon dressing

the salmon...

Wood roasted Atlantic salmon with cucumber. pink peppercorns, chervil and sabba

and pizza...

Hot salami, proscuitto, garlic, mushroom and onion

Although we were all stuffed by the time we finished the mains, we couldn't say no when the waiter offered us the dessert menu. Lynn and Ken both ummed and ahhed about which dessert to choose and they both ended up getting the (eggy!) berry gratin...

Summer berry gratin with vanilla gelato

Irene and Andy and Rush and I shared the dessert plate...

Bel Parco dessert plate for two with Chocolate & hazelnut torte with macademia and caramel gelato, Vanilla panna cotta with strawberry soup and berries and Traditional tiramisu

Yum!

...And we finally have a blog

2006-10-24T20:11:00.000+10:00

After months of saying we should start a blog for FFL, we have finally gotten off our arses and signed up with Blogger. Thanks to smelly nerd, we now have a lovely (*cough* hideous *cough*) pink and green backdrop to write about the thing that brings us together - food, food and more food.

Stay tuned for more foodie posts...