I have moved!!! Follow me!!! (http://msihua.com) 9 Jan 2011 3:28 AM (14 years ago)

To all my dear readers, new and old... Thank you for following me for the past 3 years. As part of my new year resolutions for 2011, I have finally cleaned up, reorganised and moved this blog to a brighter, prettier and better organised home.

Please update your RSS feeds, bookmarks, subscriptions (etcetra) to the new website:

http://msihua.com

Let me know what you think, feel free to email me and update this new address to your blogroll!!

I can still be contacted via msihuablog[at]gmail[dot]com

and via Twitter

@msihua

We are still working out some kinks in the new website and appreciate your patience whilst we go about finalising the changes.

Bubur Pulut Hitam (Black Glutinous Rice Porridge) Dessert Recipe 5 Jan 2011 4:15 PM (14 years ago)

Bubur Pulut Hitam... (an ode)

Bubur Pulut Hitam
How I love thee
Thy silken smooth
Texture of gleaming black

Bubur Pulut Hitam
How I love thee
Thy so rich and
Generous with flavours I adore

Okay... that's enough... if you have met anyone from Malaysia (or South East Asia), it's more than likely you would have been introduced to our many myriads and fantastic desserts... one of them is the Bulut Pulut Hitam (Black Glutinous Rice Porridge)...

It was a cold summers day and I felt an inkling to serve some of this sweet dessert... so jumping online, I came across a few recipes from A Table For Two and Foodlicious... so here is a concoction of sorts and what I made...

It is a fairly easy dessert to make, it just takes a while to get it cooked and ready for serving...

Ingredients:
1 cup of black glutinous rice (pan roasted on high heat until it starts dancing around) and then soaked in a bowl of water for an hour or so to soften)

Half a cup of grated palm sugar
2 screwpine leaves (Pandan Leaf)
1.5 litres of water (or more)
1 can of santan (coconut milk) to serve

Method
In a large pot, place the rice (drained and washed) together with half a pot of water.

Boil on a high heat. Once it starts bubbling, lower the heat and stir continuously (this usually takes about 2 hours at the minimum)...keep adding the water to get a porrdige like consistency...

Once the rice has been boiled down, add in the palm sugar and screwpine leaf for the last 40 minutes of cooking time.
Some recipes recommend you to add in some white sugar, but I feel that the palm sugar adds a robust enough sweetness and flavour to this dessert.

Remove from heat (after simmering for 2 hours) and remove the screwpine leaves.

Serve immediately with a splash of santan (coconut milk)...

Swirl it around and start feasting... I'll guarantee that you will start singing an ode to this dessert in no time! Enjoy!

So tell me, my friends, what is your favourite home made dessert and does it remind you of home? This dessert certainly brings back childhood memories for me :)

Embrasse Review - A Sunday Lunch Part II @ Carlton 2 Jan 2011 3:00 PM (14 years ago)

One Sunday afternoon, the Boy and I were again wandering lost without a plan in mind. I jumped on Twitter to check what was the menu at Embrasse for their Sunday lunch, and to my delight, it was chicken and fish! (I can't eat beef you see...)...

And as a plus, if we mentioned we had come to dine on that day because of Twitter, we get a free cheese platter included in our meal... So that decided it! We were on our way!!!...

As we got there, Camm (FOH manager) greeted us with a twinkle in his eye... sat us down next to the window (fantastic!) and proceeded to tell us what the lunch would consist of..

The bread and butter arrived, with Chef Nic's version of smoked bread... quite an interesting concept with a slight smoky aftertaste...I'm not too sure if I was a fan though... I'm not saying I didn't like it.. but it's an acquired taste to this bread...

The first course consisted of French Smoke House smoked salmon, avocado, grapefruit, with a beautifully toasted home made brioche...

I absolutely loved that brioche! Full of butter and sooooo ... toasty if you know what I mean ...

Next up, was a salad of organic radishes, turnips, squash, grain, farm egg, curd (decorated with edible rose petals or at least I hoped they were edible, because I ate some!)...

It also had edible garlic flowers, which I felt were delicious.. made me feel a bit like a herbivore... this dish was extremely pretty to look at! (and healthy to boot!)

For the main, we were served Roast Baby Chook, heirloom carrots, spiced cauliflower, sweet potato purée, roasted spring onion, jus gras...

This was very similar to my first Sunday lunch here, albeit a different part of the chicken was used, and the presentation differed somewhat, but it was essentially the same dish... still good... and the gravy was heavenly!

Full to our lungs, the complimentary cheese arrived with home made crackers (which kind of reminded me of toasted chappati or naan bread)

Dessert time! Kiwi and custard tart, coulis and passion fruit sorbet... which was delicious! I am not a big fan of the kiwi fruit, yet paired together in a custard tart and passion fruit sorbet, I could almost forget that I was eating it...

We still drool at when we look at this picture of the tart!

Sunday's lunch menu: $ 62- 4 courses (and if you check Twitter and if it mentions free cheese, you'll get that free cheese!). Also served by choice is a wine carafe from different estates/regions $19

Again, I had a fabulous time at Embrasse and would love to return in the New Year (Embrasse is on holidays and will reopen after the 7th of January 2011)

I have to make it a point to dine here during their dinner service!

*Disclaimer: All food ratings are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality

Food/ Cuisine: French
Dining Style: Restaurant (Fine Dining)
Overall Food Rating (Based on the Dining style): 8.5/10
Restaurant ambiance: 85/10
Service/ Attitude: 8.5/10
Value for money: 8/10

Address:
312 Drummond Street
Carlton VIC 3053

Tel:(03) 9347 3312

Email: http://www.blogger.com/info@embrasserestaurant.com.au

Website:http://www.embrasserestaurant.com.au/

Embrasse is open
everyday except Monday and Tuesday
Brunch: Sunday 9.30am-2.00pm
Lunch: Thursday - Saturday from noon
Dinner: Wednesday - Sunday from 6.30pm

How to get there:

View Larger Map

Tiramisu Cake Balls 1 Jan 2011 3:00 PM (14 years ago)

Cake Balls have become all of the rage now these days (in internet cooking terms)... I first heard about it from the fantastic Bakerella...

So for one pot luck dinner we recently had (the theme was Italian)... I put my hands up for dessert...and decided to make Tiramisu Cake Balls :) A deconstructed version of the classic Italian Tiramisu Cake

This was a fairly easy and fun process... I used a regular Tiramisu cake recipe (found on the web) and incorporated that together with the Cake Ball recipe (from Bakerella)... this is one fun (and messy) project for the whole family to do!

Tiramisu Cake Ball Ingredients
100 grams of caster sugar
1 Capriccio Nespresso capsule (or 5 grams of fresh espresso coffee powder)
40 ml Kahlua
250g mascarpone
45 grams of brown sugar
45 grams of icing sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla bean essence
Crushed oreo cookie crumbs
Whipped cream
2 unfilled sponge cakes (I just bought ready made ones from the local supermarket)

Ingredients are for Cake Balls and Cake Pop Recipes

Method:

To make the Tiramisu mixture, combine the coffee, Kahlua and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Place the mascarpone, icing sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl and stir until well combined and the mixture thickens slightly to a smooth creamy consistency. Set aside.

What do you do with the sponge cake, I hear you ask? Simply cut the sponge cake and crumble it up.

How do you crumb the sponge cake you next question?

Easy, just follow what I did below (or alternatively you can view the video from Bakerella's website)... simply take two halves of the cake and rub it together in a grinding motion, voilà! Crumbed sponge cake!!

The next step is where it starts to get messy :D

Combine the Tiramisu mixture with the crumbed cake and mix throughly. I used my hands here... and then licked each one of one by one .... (at the end of course, and then washed it before proceeding to the next step! What do you think I am??!)

Roll the mixture in little ball shapes with the palms of your hands and place on a baking sheet.

Chill in the fridge for a few hours (2-3 at least) before serving.

I served them just is, in a Martini glass, topped with whipped cream and the crumbed oreo biscuits (for that extra crunch)...

Note:

You may want to play around with the recipe (i.e. sugar and liquids) as different quality sponge cakes will require slightly different variations to the measurement... I originally started out with 80 mls of Kahlua and found that it was much too wet (Hence why, I changed it to half)... if the cake balls are too dry, it still works, if it's too wet the texture will just feel like mush.

So tell me fellow cooks, have you attempted cake balls or cake pops before? Or any other version of deconstructed cakes? Do share :)

The Best of 2010 for the Chronicles of Ms I-Hua 30 Dec 2010 4:00 PM (14 years ago)

It's that time of the year (or end of the year, I might say!)... I can hardly believe it... 2010 has come and gone so quickly, faster than you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

The Sphinx, The Pyramid and the Asian Girl

At the start of 2010, the Boy, Madam Mummy, Big Sis and I had just returned from our glorious Egypt trip! We went, we ate and we conquered the knowledge and history of the ancient Egyptian past. You can read all about it here (9 days split into 13 parts)...

Madam Mummy and I at the Porcelein Temple in Thailand

The Boy and Sis had to return to the land down under as their holiday ended, wheares I, happily unemployed (I had finished my contract in November and wanted some time off work), and Madam Mummy decided to take on the streets of Bangkok. We had an amazingly fabulous time... just the both of us, shopping and eating up a storm!!!

And then along came Easter, Big Sis and Big Bro came down for a visit! And it couldn't have been a visit if it wasn't an eating fest! Together we traipsed around Daylesford for the weekend at the Lavendula Farm, visiting Chowder House and the Lake House!!

Dessert Platter for two at the Lake House, Daylesford

We went to Attica, we went to Jacques Reymond, we went to Cutler & Co, we went to Maze (Gordan Ramsay), we went to Embrasse.

Salad of Mr Donati's Crumbed Pork, Purple Congos at Embrasse, Carlton

From Duck Duck Goose to Spice Temple, we went to them and filled our bellies with much love!

Chilli Squid at Spice Temple

We found our favourite Breakfast Spot - Pope Joan! Our favourite chill out place - Il Fornaio (which has now sadly closed)...

The famous Snickers Dessert from the now defunct Il Fornaio

I found my favourite macaron! Kaya Toast from Luxbite..!

Beautiful macarons from Luxbite

I discovered Cocktail Nights at Cafe Vue...
We attended a few shows and cooking masterclasses with Jamie Oliver, Frank Camorra, Martin Boetz.

We ate like crazy at the Good Food & Wine Show in June (and saw Manu Feidel, Matt Moran, Gary Mehigan and George Colambaris) and the Taste of Melbourne in August!!

We attended a few concerts, some of which I even wrote about(there's more to come, isn't it glorious with a lagging blog??!)... Lady GaGa...Paramore... there's a few more.. I promise, they're coming up!!! (Jack Johnson, Linkin Park).. and a few more which I won't bother just because it's been too long a gap... Katy Perry, Powderfinger (which was awesome!), Jason Derulo, and a few more.. I'm getting old and my memory fails me all the time now...

Lady GaGa!!

Paramore!!!

Musicals! Wicked! West Side Story and the fabulous Mary Poppins!
And of course, the Boy and I cooked up some spectacular dishes!

Fleur de Sel Caramel Ice-Cream

With our favourite being the Halloween Special!

Sleepy Hollow - A Halloween Special

So shout out "Cheers!" to a wonderful year, let bygones be bygones, smile and seize the New Year! Don't waste it and have an awesome busy year!!!

I can't wait for next years events and highlights!! Bring on Vue De Monde, Grossi, Loam, Quay, Provenance! We're coming!!! So hang on tight!

Happy New Year!! *cue fireworks*

Lobster Risotto Recipe 26 Dec 2010 4:00 PM (14 years ago)

Lobster Risotto... sounds superbly grand does it not?

"What did you have for dinner last night? I had a delicious fried rice!"

"Oh, you know, I had the usual. Nothing fancy..."

"C'mon, what did you have?"

"A lobster risotto, that's all!"

And that's precisely what we had. If you've been following the news recently, you would know that the price of lobster has decreased tremendously (although reading another article this week, it is said that China is once again buying our crayfish! So there goes affordable lobster!)

The only reason why we had this, was because our local Woolies (Woolworths), had half a cooked lobster left going for AUD$6!!!... So we thought, why not?

The recipe for this dish is super simple. Anyone can do it, and the dish is incredibly delicious (it is lobster after all, dah-ling!)

Ingredients:
1 cooked lobster tail (flesh removed)
Half a chorizo (thinly sliced)
1 cup of arborio rice
1 litre of prawn stock (we used raw shells [including the heads] from prawns, some aromats [onions,garlic])
1 tablespoon of olive oil
30g unsalted butter
1 onion (finely chopped)
200ml dry white wine
1 pinch of saffron (5-6 strands)

Method:
Remove the meat from the lobster tail (cut into bite size pieces, keeping the shells --> for the stock)

In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil on a medium to low heat. Add the prawn shells and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the lobster shell and cook for another 2 minutes. Add in the aromats and fry until fragrant. Once done, add in a about 1.5 litres of water (the stock will reduce) and let simmer for 20 minutes. Strain and keep aside (This is your prawn stock done!)

In a frypan, heat the butter and add in the saffron strands. Add onions and cook for 1-2 minutes until it softens. Add in the chorizo and fry until crisp.

Add the rice, making sure to coat the grains (Do this by stirring it constantly as to agitate the rice --> this produces the creamy texture of the risotto). Pour in the white wine and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the flavours have been absorbed.

Add a ladle of the prawn stock at a time, allowing the liquid to be absorbed before adding the next ladle (this will prevent your risotto from being gluggy and turn out like congee!

Do this continuously for about 20-25 minutes (until the rice is cooked)

Turn off the heat and stir through the lobster and some fresh herbs (if you have any). Season with some sea salt (we used the pink version) and cracked black pepper.

Serve hot!

We are still suffering from post Christmas dinner (very happy sufferers indeed!)

Hope the rest of you are still enjoying the holidays!!

Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!! 24 Dec 2010 3:59 PM (14 years ago)

Happy Yuletide season to all my lovely readers! I hope you have had as much fun as I have in reading my posts (as I have in eating on your behalf!)

Last night for Christmas Eve, the Boy cooked up a romantic dinner for two... and I've got the pictures below!

Many thanks for sticking by this blog through its infrequency in postings... and here's to many more food related (and some other reviews) posts in 2011!

For starters, we had an onion stew... with loads of thyme and butter! It definitely packed a punch!! My favourite soup of 2010 :)

Served alongside the rich soup, we had super sweet corn, steamed and sprinkled with pink sea salt! Divine!!

And for the main, the Boy roasted a pork shoulder (for 3 hours no less), served with mushrooms and fresh thyme, and a beetroot fluid-gel.

Obviously, this dinner would not be complete if there wasn't any dessert. So what did we have? Peach and Amaretto jelly served with a Frangelico infused cream.

Needless to say, it was an absolutely fabulous meal, which I attacked happily :)

Then on to the the Christmas Tree with our lovely presents :)

So tell me lovely readers, how did you celebrate your Christmas Eve and what did you have for the dinner?

I'm looking forward to tonights Christmas dinner with family... Food coma here we come!!

Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year to you all!!!

International Incident Colour Party - Tomato Salsa Verde - Aiiiiii!!! 18 Dec 2010 3:00 PM (14 years ago)

This is the last International Incident Party of the year!! Considering I am fairly new to this food party, I've had a hell of a fun time putting up my posts for the Lavender Party and the Salt Party!

Thank you again Penny for being such a great host in 2010! Here's to another fun filled year ahead of us! (it is nearly Christmas and I'm easily excited so please bear with my over excessive use of exclamation marks!!!!!)

The theme for December is Colour! And I had been really eager to bake a number for this... I was tossing between macarons, cake pops (which I tried and failed), and even a yule tide log!... BUT... seeing as my last two IIP posts were related to desserts and seeing also that the Australian Christamas Parties usually revolve around the BBQ... I thought to myself, "Heck... let's do a traditional salsa verde!"

It's healthy, it's easy, and it's bloody tasty *ahem* You can also eat it anytime, anywhere, with anything (I do... I LOVE IT!)

So here's my Colour Party post! Enjoy :)

Tomato Salsa Verde
Ingredients
Basic Ingredients
1 red chilli (finely diced)
3-4 red tomatoes (deseeded and finely chopped)
2 garlic cloves (finely diced)
1 red onion (finely chopped)
Half a juice of freshly squeezed lemon
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
A pinch of salt
A pinch of pepper
A pinch of brown sugar (optional)

Here's where you get creative (and this Salsa is such a versatile dish, you can add any fresh ingredient to it, and it'll rock in another dimension!)

Extra Ingredients
Half a cucumber (finely chopped and deseeded)
2 celery sticks (finely chopped)
Mint Leaves/ Basil Leaves (roughly chopped)

Method
The key to this dish is the preparation (which takes the longest for me as I'm not a very fast chopper/dicer/kitchen hand)...

Once you have all the ingredients chopped and diced, simply throw them into a serving bowl, mix in the lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil.. and before you can shout out "Aiii Caramba", this dish is complete.... faster than you can shake your hips in a Zumba class :P

It is really that easy... I usually let it sit in the mixture for about an hour before serving (so that all the ingredients are infused with the lemon juice and olive oil...

After that, it is all up to you on how you serve it...

I have it with breakfast!

For lunch!!

And for dinner!!!

Heck, I'd even eat it on it's own (which I've done) or on toated bread! Delicious! And very healthy!!!

So tell me, have you made Salsa Verde before and what do you usually eat it with?

Q Eleven Breakfast Review @ South Melbourne (Market) 15 Dec 2010 4:20 PM (14 years ago)

Sometimes one just can't decide what to eat for breakfast. Sometimes one is just driving aimlessly up and down the inner suburbs of Melbourne on a Sunday morning. Sometimes, one can't find any good places to eat at.

Sometimes... one does! That's how we found Q Eleven at South Melbourne (Right in front of the market!)...

They had a fun menu too with a Glossary page included at the back (click to enlarge and read it)

We thought this would be a good bet, as it was pretty crowded. And we managed to get a seating by the window on a Sunny sunny Sunday!

The boys ordered some juices (which were Charlie's Honest Smoothies) and I had a serve of their English Breakfast Tea (which was from Tea Too [of course])

The Boys were boring and went with the, Big Brekky, toast and chutney your choice of eggs and T.O.M.S sausages, Istra bacon, balsamic mushrooms,spinach, oven roasted tomatoes

I was adventurous and decided to go with their, “Mexican Extravaganza” mushroom and cheese quesadilla, fried eggs, pumpkin and coriander roesti, tomato and corn salsa , chipotle mayo ...

Sounds good? It tasted even better! The pumpkin and coriander roesti was absolutely smashing!!!
The only negative thing I can say about this place was there was quite a wait (kitchen was a tad slow) and the pricing a bit on the higher end (think $18-25) ...

But all in all, good quality food.. bring a book/magazine/newspaper and sit idlely by the window and wait for a smashing brekkie to arrive :)

*Disclaimer: All food ratings are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality

Food/ Cuisine: Australian
Dining Style: Cafe
Overall Food Rating (Based on the Dining style): 7.95/10
Restaurant ambiance: 8/10 (nice place to chill an relax or catch up on some goss with your mates/girlfriends)
Service/ Attitude: 7/10
Value for money: 6/10

Address:
303 Coventry Street,
South Melbourne VIC 3205

Tel:(03)9645 7311

Fax: 03 9645 7611

Email: mail@qeleven.com.au

Website:http://www.qeleven.biz/

Q Eleven is open from
Wednesdays to Fridays :7:30am to 3pm
and on
Saturdays to Sundays:7:30am to 3:30pm

How to get there:

View Larger Map

CSR Bake A Difference - Honeycomb Cake - A Malaysian Recipe 12 Dec 2010 4:13 PM (14 years ago)

I first heard about this wonderful charity drive from Penny at Jeroxie.com, and decided to jump aboard this wonderful sweet wagon of goodness! Check out Penny's recipe here.

CSR Bake a Difference is a wonderful event that encourages everyone to bake their Christmas presents this year instead of buying them and donate the money they save to Mission Australia through http://www.csrbakeadifference.com.au/.

The great thing about this is that CSR Sugar will match each donation dollar for dollar up to $100,000 so there’s the potential to raise $200,000 that will go directly towards helping disadvantaged Australians!!!

If you’d like to make a donation, all donations need to be made via the CSR Bake a Difference website, or you can simply go to the Donate page here and follow the instructions.

I'd been hankering to bake a cake for a while now and I really wanted to try the Boy's family's "secret" Honeycomb Cake recipe. This cake is also known as Kek Sarang Semut (Ant's Nest Cake) in other parts of the world...

Given that my pantry is already filled with a variety of CSR sugars (there's more... I know I have the raw sugar somewhere and I really want the cane sugar variety!) *sugar addict I am*

So for Christmas this year, what a better way to put on my chef's hat and apron and bake something up for my colleagues at work and showcase some of my culinary skills (and Malaysian heritage) and do some good as well?! Brilliant plan :) *BEAMS DELIGHTFULLY!*

Honeycomb Cake
Ingredients:
For the Caramel Syrup
1 ½ cup sugar
1 ½ cup water (hot)

Method:

Melt sugar over low fire (stir until it becomes liquid). Once liquefied, add hot water and stir over stove until dark amber.

** Warning - This is when the liquefied sugar will splutter and hiss and bubble uncontrollably (DO NOT WORRY!) This is what is supposed to happen, just take care to not panic. The sugar will eventually dissolve and you should have a smooth silky watery syrup.

Remove from heat and keep cool over cold water.

Ingredients

For the Honeycomb Cake

½ tin of condensed milk (200 ml)

4 eggs (or 5)

1 cup plain flour

1 ¼ teaspoon of bi-carbonate soda

1 teaspoon of baking powder

4 ounces (half) of butter

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

In a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat (you don't want to burn the butter).

In a mixing bowl, stir in the condensed milk, mixing the eggs one at a time.

Add the melted butter, plain flour, bi-carb soda and baking powder. And finally add the cooled caramel liquid.

Transfer the mixture to a lightly greased baking tray. The mixture will be watery (so don’t worry!)

Bake the cake in 180 degrees Celsius for an hour. Depending on your oven, the time might differ slightly (to be sure, do the wooden skewer test! If the skewer comes out clean, your cake is ready!)

Let the cake rest for a while before turning it out onto a plate.

Cut them up to serve. This cake is actually best eaten overnight as it allows the flavours to settle.

It is a very rich and dense cake, and yet quite airy (due to the honeycomb like texture).

It was a success (if I must say so myself) and because I AM AWESOME!

If I can do this anyone can! I am a self-confessed failed baker.. so this was an amazing surprise (even to myself and the Boy who had his doubts!)

For more recipes utilising CSR Sugar, visit their recipe ideas!

The recipe has been followed as closely as possible, but again, with secret family recipes the measurements do tend to be a bit hit and miss (pinch of that, slight drop of this, etc.)... so I also followed the steps and pictures from the House of Annie to be sure.

Enjoy this recipe and have a Merry Bakefest Christmas!!!

Old Town Kopitiam Mamak @ QV, Melbourne (An Asian Snack Food Tasting) 11 Dec 2010 12:20 AM (14 years ago)

I have been very slack with putting up this post. So slack that I've been letting it slide since September... So here it goes...This is quite a visually long post :P

Thanh decided to host a Asian Snack Food Tasting at Old Town Kopitiam Mamak in QV... and it was also my first time meeting Agnes and Thanh in person (Twitter really does not count) :P Now this is a branch of Old Town Kopitiam located in Chinatown (and I'm quite sure of the one in Malaysia)... and this outlet caters for those wishing for a taste of Mamak (that just sounds wrong)...

Click here for their menu, as it is quite different from the menu at Old Town Kopitiam in Chinatown...

Roti Telur

As I was there early, the Boy was with me (he hadn't decided to run errands on his own).. so we were seated and ordered some Roti (as per normal Malaysian breakfast)... He had the Roti Telur (Egg) and I had the Roti Kaya...

Roti Kaya

The Roti Kaya unfortunately was a big disappointment... it was thick (the bread) and it felt like I was eating sweet cardboard... a total fail...

For drinks we had the sugar cane juice (which they had advertised on their TV screens and on each table) as well as a teh tarik (hot pulled tea)...Take note of this.. only because we were there at opening time around 11.30am.. and when the rest of the gang arrived around 12pm, and wanted to try the sugar cane... we were told that it was sold out (this happens very often in this outlet)...sometimes they even tell us, that the sugar cane juicer (machine) is not functioning... I wish they would spend the money used on advertising that they have on sugar cane, to get a better sugar cane machine... *sigh*

So to this I add, sugar cane availability... varies...

Roti Tissue

As a group, we ordered heaps of food... Agnes arrived with her hubby in tow and Thanh arrived with his partner in tow... which was great as we discovered that both her and I were Malaysians!... Hence, we could be the best judge for this place...

Mamak Mee Goreng (Fried Noodles)

Beef Noodle

Siamese Laksa (which kind of suspiciously looks like Asam Laksa)

Curry Laksa

Nasi Kandar

What can I say? The last number of times in which I've been there (yes, I have returned) the quality of the food is dependent on the time, day, and kitchen staff that are working there. And yet, people keep coming back for more (as do I), and I'm not quite sure why...

I'll put up another post on my other visits back to this Mamak joint.. but I can assure you, if you can get over the sometimes good and sometimes bad service and food, you'll be alright with a visit here... it's really quite typical for a Mamak store (not quite so for an Australian outlet)

So would I return? Yes.. I have done so many times

A wide range of cuttlefish

For the taste test... after stuffing ourselves silly with the food above, we started on our taste test (surprisingly, no one told us off either for taking up space in the restaurant which was excellent.. typical Mamak!! Local hang out joint)...

Anyway.. we had a heap of cuttlefish and one of the ones I bought was amazingly BAD... tasted rotten... we made Agnes take notes... so her posting will be the best...

I loved the sugar coated cuttlefish as it was what I had grown up with.. however Thanh was ANTI it... :P

A wide range of preserved fruits

Then we moved on to preserved and pickled fruits... and the sure winner was the Mangoes from COSTCO!! Yeah I said it.. it's extremely addictive and NO ONE can say anything bad about it!

To read more about the Asian snack food tasting, head over to Agnes's and Thanh's blogs:

Off The Spork

I Eat Therefore I am

*Disclaimer: All food ratings are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality

Food/ Cuisine: Malaysian Hawker (Mamak)
Dining Style: Cafe/Restaurant
Overall Food Rating (Based on the Dining style): 5/10
Restaurant ambiance: 7/10 (just like an upper end Mamak, I guess)
Service/ Attitude: 5/10 (and it has not improved)
Value for money: 7/10

Address:
210 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

Tel:(03) 9654 2682

Website:www.oldtownkopitiam.com.au

Email: contact@oldtownkopitiam.com.au

Old Town Kopitiam Mamak is open from
Monday-Wednesday 11:30AM-9:30PM
Thursday 11:30AM-10:30PM
Friday-Saturday 11:30AM-Till late and on
Sunday from 11:30AM-10:30PM

How to get there:

View Larger Map

Luxbite Review (Macarons and other desserts) @ Toorak Road, South Yarra 9 Dec 2010 6:25 PM (14 years ago)

I first heard about LuxBite on Twitter when the two owners Yen and Bernard were talking about macarons. After following them (on Twitter, I'm not a stalker!)... I discovered that they were opening their store in South Yarra... as of this week, this has come to fruition... the outcome?

Deliciously creative macarons!!!!!

As I happened to be in the area on Tuesday, I decided to pop by for a visit and buy some macarons.. I had been lusting after their speciality macaron since they entered the Melbourne Macaron competition in NGV in November... the Kaya Toast!!!

The interior of the store is beautiful and quaint! I love those vintage chairs they have and the colour schemes seem to bring out the brightness of the colours of the macarons on display!

As an opening special, they had the Mango Pavlova... I got mine as a complimentary :)

Isn't it just beautiful!!!

Now to the beautiful macarons... they had a few flavours, I think about 11 or 12.. and I bought only 8 flavours.. regretting that now.. should have bought all!!!

As you can see from my greediness.. I bought one of each of the delectable goodies... They look very christmasy as well...(especially the watermelon yoghurt!)

We tried the chocolate and cherry (the one with the seasalt!)...which was good, but not as rich as they one I've had from Lindt (and given that, it was Lindt, the chocolate had better been good, which it was!)

We also had the raspberry and white chocolate and strawberry and cream which was pretty normal and didn't scream in my mouth like some of the other flavours.

The Boy ate up the black sesame... which I had a nibble off... not a fan of black sesame and I only bought it for him!

What I absolutely loved were the peanut butter and jelly (PB&J), the watermelon yoghurt and of course, the Kaya Toast!!!!!!!

The Kaya Toast even had a tiny piece of smooth butter in the centre of the filling... It was the best.. the flavour was intense and it was much nicer than a real kaya toast... seriously... just think of 2 really rich and crunchy kaya toasts and compressed that down into a bite size morsel.. that was what the macaron was.

Would I come back for more? HELL YES! I still want to try the 3 flavours which I missed out on (passionfruit,pina colada and white peach and ginger)

Was it worth the price? For $2.50 each (I paid $19 for the 8 macarons).. the price was on par with everyone else..

*Disclaimer: All food ratings are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality

Food/ Cuisine: Dessert
Dining Style: Cafe
Overall Food Rating (Based on the Dining style): 8/10 (DELICIOUS MACARONS!)
Restaurant ambiance: - (I can't rate this as I didn't actually eat there.. but it was very pretty!)
Service/ Attitude: 8/10 (I had a lovely chat with the owners. They are super friendly!)
Value for money: 8/10 (as I mentioned, same as everywhere else)

Address:
38 Toorak Road
South Yarra VIC 3141
Tel:(03) 9867 5888

Website: http://www.luxbite.com.au/

How to get there:

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Fried Radish Cake - Chai Tau Kueh (Chai Tow Kway) Recipe 5 Dec 2010 10:15 PM (14 years ago)

I've always loved Chai Tau Kueh and there aren't many places where you can find this delectable dish. I'm of a Hokkien background and for some reason, I know this dish as Kueh Kak. The Boy however is Teow Chew (and insists that this is called CTK), so CTK is what we will go with. Apparently is a teow chew dish, and he is in the process of experimenting with this dish until he gets his grandfather's recipe right.

In the meantime, this is the Hawker style version (which you can apparently get in Muar [a town in Southern Malaysia]).

There are many versions to this dish (and we've tried a few), and you can put as many or as little ingredients into it as you like, provided you follow the same basic recipe, which would churn out a dish that looks like this. Still fantastic tasting on its own, without all the other elements to make it look pretty (and sometimes you don't have to :] )

Vegetarian Chai Tau Kueh

Chai Tau Kueh/ Chai Tow Kway (Fried Radish Cake)

(Radish Cake Ingredients)

600g of shredded White Radish (Daikon)

3 tablespoons of water

200g rice flour

250ml water

Salt

Sugar

Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of when the Boy was processing the Radish Cake... use your imagination :P

(Stir Frying Ingredients – For 1 quarter of radish cake prepared)
2 tbsp of peanut oil (reserve another 1 tsp for later)
1 tbsp of minced garlic
1 tbsp of chopped spring onions
1 tsp of fish sauce
1 tsp of chilli paste
1 large egg
1 tbsp of preserved turnip (Chai Poh)
1 tbsp of diced lap cheong or crispy skin roast pork belly (siu yuk)
1 red chilli (sliced) (optional)
Bean sprouts (optional)
Coriander (optional)
White pepper

Method:
1)Add 3 tablespoons of water to the shredded radish. Steam radish in wok until it turns translucent. This should take 20 – 30 mins on a low flame. Take radish out and leave it to cool while you prepare the flour mixture.

2)Add a pinch of salt and sugar into your flour and mix with water. Stir the mixture thoroughly to remove any lumps.

3)Combine the radish with the flour mixture and mix thoroughly.

4)Pour your final mixture into a round cake tin (we used a square cake tin instead) and steam in wok for 30 – 35 minutes over a medium-high flame.

5)Take the radish cake out and leave it to cool for a few hours. This should give it a better texture.

6)Once the radish cake is cooled. Cut out 1 quarter of it and keep the rest in the refrigerator.

7)Cut the quarter into smaller chunks (cubes).

8)Use a non-stick pan to prevent the cubes from sticking onto your pan. You would’ve most probably figured it out by now that they tend to be a little sticky (when you were cutting them into chunks earlier).

9)Heat oil and add your radish cake. Fry till the edges are brown and crispy-looking. (If you prefer a crunchier texture on the outside, leave it to brown further).

10)Add in garlic, lap cheong and preserved turnip. At this stage, you might find that the pan is a little dry. If that’s the case, add another teaspoon of oil. Fry till garlic is fragrant.

11)Now, add the chilli paste. Stir thoroughly and add the egg in. Add the fish sauce and a dash of pepper. Toss in the sliced chilli and some spring onions. Fry till the egg cooks.

12)Add the remaining spring onions and bean sprouts in and turn the flame off. Give a quick stir before plating up.

So whether you prefer it all on it's own with no other ingredients...as below in all it's glory!

Or with a few lashings of everything... this dish will definitely have you coming back for more!

So tell me, dear readers, have you had this dish before and what do you normally cook it with?

I would like to thank Ju from The Little Teochew for her recipe and version of CTK :)

Cafe Vue 401 @ St Kilda Road, Melbourne 3 Dec 2010 9:45 PM (14 years ago)

Hello all! I apologise on my M.I.A status for the last week. It's been a crazy year end at work (and still is), and by the time I get home, all I want to do is go to bed (sometimes with no dinner!) Gasp...

It's also the time of the year of social gatherings and Christmas celebrations... so here is a much belated post on our visit to Cafe Vue 401 on Melbourne Cup Day :)

I'd read quite a lot about this little cafe out on St Kilda Road. Being a fan of the one on Little Collins Street (in the CBD), I had quite high hopes for this branch.

We had a sleep in (being a public holiday and all) and quite literally missed the breakfast option. So we opted for the next best thing, which was their Menu Du Jour (which changes according to the seasonal ingredients)... you can have a look at the menu here.

To start (I still had sleep in my eyes), I decided on a Latte, and the Boy decided on a Mocha... these were quite good..

We were served warm white bread in a white bag (reminded me of Les Boucheries in South Yarra, which has since closed). I love places that serve fresh warm bread... it just adds that little touch of detail that many places fail to notice...

To start, we had a lovely pumpkin risotto with herbed ricotta. I absolutely loved this dish. The Boy who doesn't like anything much to do with pumpkin, finished this rather quickly... (which I took as a sign of "I LIKE VERY MUCH!")

Next, for the mains, we were served a confit of duck leg with lentils and bacon pieces (I'm sure it sounded a lot more glamorous than that, but we couldn't really hear our waiter over the noise).

I am a big fan of duck.. and the last delicious duck I had, was from Cafe Vue's cocktail night... and I have to say, this confit... was .... spectacular!!!

The skin was crispy, and the meat was so tender...I wanted more!!! And was eagerly awaiting for the Boy to say he didn't like his duck and that he'd give me his portion... fat hopes... he had as much enjoyment out of his duck as did I!

The only criticism I have of this dish was the lentils... I had a few bits of sand/stone which made it quite unpleasant... I ended up eating everything but the lentils for fear of losing a few teeth :0 !!!

For dessert, we had a delicious lemon pie with soil and meringues. It looked pretty as a picture and was a really good way to end our meal. Delicately sweet and acidic... calming my tummy from an extremely heavy brunch...

I nearly forgot about this, but after our mains, we were left waiting for quite a while (20 minutes, I would say), and no one bothered about us, until I managed to get one of the staff to ask him about our desserts. Apparently they had forgotten that we had ordered 3 courses and hurriedly went to get our desserts.

As a bonus, because I like macarons... I bought some to takeaway to have at the beach... I tried the pistachio, bubblegum, lavender and chocolate macarons.

My favourite was the bubblegum and chocolate. The pistachio was a bit light for me, and the lavender was pretty normal. Good macarons are hard to come by, and these were pretty good, in my humble opinion. (Macarons cost $2.50 each).

I took the macarons (which were banged about a bit on our way to the beach) and took a few shots of them facing the beach. People were probably thinking I was quite mad...Oh well... they look pretty :) (DON'T THEY??!!)

Will I return? Yes...
Was it worth the trip? Yes...

What can I say, I love modern French cuisine.. and will happily traipse around looking for them and when I find a good one (they are so hard to come by - oh Les Boucheries, how I miss thee!), I will keep on returning!

*Disclaimer: All food ratings are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality

Food/ Cuisine: French
Dining Style: Cafe
Overall Food Rating (Based on the Dining style): 7.5/10 (for the weird sand/stone with my lentils)
Restaurant ambiance: 7/10 (it was fairly busy and it's quite hard to catch the waiters attention)
Service/ Attitude: 6.5/10
Value for money: 7/10 (3 courses for $45 each)

Address:
401 St Kilda Road
Melbourne VIC 3141

Tel:(03) 9866 8055

Website: http://www.vuedemonde.com.au/cafe-vue.aspx

Cafe Vue 401 is open from
Monday to Friday 7am – 11pm
Saturday and Sunday 8am – 11pm

Reservations are available for the A La Carte Menu (including the Menu Du Jour) only

How to get there:

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Seek Your Ultimate Pleasure with Magnum Temptation 24 Nov 2010 4:00 PM (14 years ago)

This post is sponsored by Nuffnang

When Magnum first asked me to write about my most indulgent fantasy, I couldn’t decide on the topic! I mean, first of all it’s about indulgence and secondly, it’s a fantasy! Oh, where do I begin?!

I was torn between a dream vacation, the house of my dreams, a wedding, a gastronomy holiday (where we’d fly to the UK and visit The Fat Duck and then to Spain and dine with Ferran Adrià at El Bulli)!

And there you have it, when you put those two words together for a foodie, ‘indulgent’ and ‘fantasy’, that is what you’re going to end up with, a ‘round the world gastronomy’ trip, dining at the finest restaurants and meeting the famous celebrity chefs.

And so, I wake up one morning and decide on the spur of the moment that I was to fly to France and taste desserts by the legendary Pierre Hermé, King of Macarons. When I got there, the macarons were growing from the beautiful trees all the way down the avenue of Champs-Élysées. I plucked them and ate them as I was walking, enjoying the colours and taste of the macarons which were truly magical. Unknown to myself, I had arrived on Macaron Day (hence the trees were decorated with edible macarons in honour of the day)!

As I continue my stroll down the Seine River, I noticed to my immense delight, the river was full of ever changing colours! As I dipped my hand into the water, I realised that it wasn’t water at all, but flowing jelly! Different sections of the river were made to taste differently. Who would dare such mischievous delight? Ahhh… I spot them, the two boys grinning mischievously at this delightful river jelly concoction, Bompas and Parr!

I scoop as much as I can and drink my fill from the Jelly River of Seine. On a wonderful sugar high, I continue on, in my journey of indulgence.

I attend a Hervé This lecture at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique and see his passion come through in his demonstrations and experiments. He spends a lot of his time asking rhetorical questions that only he can answer. It’s not every day you get to see the Father of Molecular Gastronomy in action!

Fabulously enough, I was sitting right next to Heston Blumenthal (owner of The Fat Duck) and he invited me back to Bray to dine at his restaurant! What luck!

In a blink of an eye, I was being served sardine ice-cream followed by bacon and eggs ice-cream. Amazingly delicious and what I’ve always wanted to try ever since I was a young child reading Enid Blyton books.

And whilst I was being so indulgent, I then fly to the U.S. of A. to visit Thomas Keller, where he would have been expecting my arrival with a beautifully made lunch starting with an appetiser of Beluga caviar and the finest grade of foie gras (humanely obtained).

Course after course comes upon our table and we indulge like the good foodies we are. The last course is an immensely rich chocolate parfait obtained from the finest cacao beans from South America.

Satisfied and full, I leave the premises and start making my journey home.

Does this sound too good to be true? Why yes, of course, this is but an indulgent fantasy, and a good one at that (with no weight gain!), if I must say so myself.

So the above didn’t really happen (except in my own head) and it was all make belief.

What is true, however, is this wonderful Magnum challenge. What you will have to do is play the game (that’s easy!), and leave a comment on my blog answering, “What will you indulge in with $1000?” (just a tiny ‘lil wee bit harder!).

The most creative reader response (as judged by the wonderful people at Magnum) across all participating blogs in this campaign, will win themselves $1000!!!

So what are you waiting for? Put on your thinking cap, get those creative juices flowing and take part now!

Terms & Conditions of Entry:

• Play the Magnum dice game and try to obtain the highest score possible

• Leave your highest score and answer the question,”What will you indulge in with $1000?” in a comment. (The comment must include your preferred contact [blog URL, Twitter or E-mail Address))

• Competition period is running from November 24 until midday on Tuesday December 14, 2010

• The winner will be the entry deemed most creative across all 23 blogs taking part in this campaign (See Terms and Conditions for full list)

• The winner of the $1,000 prize will be announced on Friday December 17, 2010

Terms and Conditions can be found at: http://www.nuffnang.com.au/magnum-terms-conditions/

International Incident Salt Party - Fleur De Sel Caramel 'Sneakers' 20 Nov 2010 3:00 PM (14 years ago)

It's that time of the month again for another International Incident Party post! This time, the key ingredient was to be Salt...

The Boy and I cracked our heads and nearly gave up.. throwing our hands up in frustration as we couldn't decide on a Salt recipe...

He finally decided on a Salted Caramel theme, but he couldn't decide on whether it'd be plain caramel, peanuts, or ice-cream.

So we decided to do all three!! I welcome you to our very own version and play on the 'Snickers' to our Fleur De Sel Caramel Sneakers (with its own shoe-string caramel!)

For the Fleur De Sel Caramel Noodles (Shoe-String)
Ingredients
1 cup double cream
5 tablespoons of unsalted butter (cut into pieces)
1 teaspoon of Fleur De Sel (Flower of Salt) (we got ours from Simon Johnson)
1 and a half cups of sugar
Quarter cup glucose syrup
Quarter cup water

Method
Line baking tray (we used Pyrex dishes) with lightly oiled parchment paper (line first, then brush on the oil). Use a clear oil (vegetable oil), as that is tasteless.

In a small saucepan, add the cream, butter and salt and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside.

In another small saucepan (heavy base), boil the remainder of the ingredients, the glucose syrup, sugar and water until the sugar is dissolved.

Without using a spatula or a spoon, gently swirl the boiling mixture around until a light golden caramel is formed.

Carefully stir in the cream mixture and simmer, stirring frequently until the caramel for about 10-15 minutes (Temperature should be around 120 degrees Celsius).

Pour the mixture into the prepared lined tray/dishes and let cool for 2 hours.

Cut lengthwise to form strips (this will act as the Caramel Noodles/Shoe-String

For the Fleur De Sel Caramel Ice-Cream
Ingredients
1 and a quarter cups sugar, divided
2 and a quarter cups double cream, divided
Half a teaspoon of Fleur De Sel
Half a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
3 large eggs

Method
Very carefully, dry heat a cup of sugar in a medium saucepan (heavy base), spreading it out with a fork. It will heat up pretty quickly and can turn burnt and smoky if you don't pay attention to it.

Once the sugar melts, the colour should change to a dark gold. Once that's done carefully add 1 1/4 cups of cream into the mixture (be careful as it will splatter!). Stir until all the caramel has dissolved.

Transfer to a bowl to cool and add the Fleur De Sel and vanilla extract.

In another saucepan, boil milk, the remaining cream and sugar until all sugar is dissolved. Lightly whisk eggs in a bowl and pour half of the hot milk and cream mixture in a steady slow stream (taking care to not cook the eggs). Pour the mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk/cream mixture and cook over medium heat (be careful not to let it boil). Constantly stir with a wooden spoon until the custard coats the back of your wooden spoon.

Pour your custard through a fine mesh sieve twice. Stir in the cooled caramel. Mix both custard and caramel until well combined.

Chill the mixture around 4-6 hours or until completely cold (stir the mixture a few times during the chilling process). Place your mixture into an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions to form your ice cream.

For the Fleur De Sel Peanut Caramel
Ingredients
40 grams of glucose syrup
100ml thickened cream
75 grams caster sugar
25 grams butter
50 grams coarsely chopped peanuts
Quarter of a teaspoon of Fleur De Sel salt

Method
Add glucose and thickened cream in a saucepan and bring it to boil (stirring the mixture). Place it aside and keep it warm.

In another saucepan (heavy base), heat the sugar over medium heat (constantly stirring) till it dissolves and turns to a light gold colour.

Gradually add your hot cream mixture into the caramel (in a steady slow stream) while constantly whisking it to combine.

Add butter and stir well till combined.

Turn off the heat and add peanuts and fleur de sel. Mix well to combine. Leave mixture to cool and it should harden up.

When mixture has hardened, break into small chunks/clusters.

For the Chocolate Pieces
Method
Take about 4-5 small squares from a block of chocolate. Microwave them on high for 30 secs. Take the chocolate out and stir until they completely melt.

Spread a thin layer of melted chocolate onto baking paper. Place in the freezer till it turns solid again (you can curl the baking paper so it forms a U-shape or any other shape you prefer).

Take the chocolate out and break into any shape that you like.

For the Plating-Up
Brush a small amount of chocolate on the plate. Use the peanut caramel to form the base. You can choose the fleur de sel caramel shoe-string/noodle to form a nest for the ice-cream. Scoop a generous amount of ice cream and place on the peanut caramel. Using the chocolate pieces, scatter around the plate. For an artistic touch (because this is a Salt theme after all), scatter some Fleur De Sel around the caramel shoe-string/noodle.

Voila! There you have it! A beautiful and fun creation to enjoy and feast upon!

The creamy texture of the ice-cream goes extremely well with the chewy texture of the caramel shoe-string/noodle and the crunchy texture of the peanuts.

Absolutely divine! Be prepared for a super sugar rush!

Hope you enjoy this version of our Fleur De Sel Caramel 'Sneakers'!

Recipes were adapted from several other recipe's that are out there on the big wide web :)

I would like to give special attention to Epicurious.com and David Lebovitz's Salted Butter Caramel Ice-Cream and Phillipa Sibley's Snickers Recipe, for recipe inspirations to this dish.

Note: I have to apologise, it was a really busy week and I didn't really manage to take as many photos as I would have liked of each step in the process of making this.

Do visit the other blogs listed below on their amazing Salt recipes! Have fun and Happy Sunday to you all :)

Melba's Breakfast Review @ Langham Hotel, Southbank 18 Nov 2010 6:30 PM (14 years ago)

Boss lady (she hates that term) was going away on maternity leave... and we requested to go to Melba's for the breakfast buffet! Yayy! I was being regaled with tales of yonder (last year where they ate so much they had to be wheeled back to work)...

So I wake up in the morning (not feeling at all like P Diddy)... and arrived at Langham Hotel at around 7.00am... this was so that we could eat for a full 2 hours before going into work (indeed, we did not have lunch that day... nor dinner)...

Greeted by the opulence and grand allure of the interior (remnants of Sheraton Towers) I eagerly bounded up the stairs with my fellow enthusiastic colleagues (Okay, it was just me and they stared)...

As we walked to our table (beautifully placed next to the river view), I could not help but be distracted by the range of food in the buffet area... indeed, it was only to one area I was longingly looking at...

The CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN!!!! at 7 a.m. in the morning, with ice-cream and chocolate and fruits... I could possibly quite feel like P Diddy this morning!!!

Other healthier people were much more excited by the wide ranging variety of fruit and yogurt on display... (I look at them piteously... fruit vs chocolate fountain?... *cough*losers*cough*)

As everyone hurried on to grab the freshest bread and pastries (another wide selection)... I eagerly walked around to take as many pictures as possible before the hoards of hotel guests arrived to mess everything up (I am a food Nazi.. hate me)...

The egg station was prepped as usual and you are able to place an order of any eggs (however you like it) with him...

This brought back memories to when I was about 11 or 12 years old and we stayed here (back when it was still Sheraton), and this was the coolest thing I experienced... I can still remember how gooey and creamy the egg, cheese and bacon omelette I had back then... sadly I can no longer find any hotels that do this well... :(

Melba's also had a range of juices, cold cuts, cheeses and bowls of cereals. The only thing I did not like about this whole arrangement was that the cereals were exposed to air... (it'll get soft and soggy!)

Anyways, back to my own greedy morning breakfast... I went with the usual bacon (minus eggs), mushrooms, sausages, spinach and hash brown..

I also tried their congee (a bit too watery and not enough stock) and the chinese donut (Yau Char Kwai) was a bit tough... tasted like the packet versions and wasn't fresh (big dissapointment!)

And then on to desserts!... (A few of the others went the extra mile and took pancakes and ice-cream as well)... chocolate marshmallows, strawberries, rockmelon... anything that I could put through the chocolate fountain :P

Was the buffet fun? Yes with a large group of colleagues or friends.

Was the buffet worth the $38? Not really. It was fun with the chocolate fountain, but I've had better morning buffets in other hotels (around the world)

Would I return? Possibly for the other buffet that Melba has (lunch/dinner), but certainly not for breakfast (not for that price at least).

*Disclaimer: All food ratings are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality

Food/ Cuisine: Buffet
Dining Style: Restaurant
Overall Food Rating (Based on the Dining style): 6/10
Restaurant ambiance: 7/10
Service/ Attitude: 6.5/10 (the wait staff weren't very attentive to our large group and continuously failed to take away used dishes and cutlery and refill coffee/tea)
Value for money: 6/10

Address:
Langham Hotel
First floor
1 Southgate Avenue
Southbank VIC 3006

Tel:(03)1800 641 107

Website: http://www.melbarestaurant.com.au/

Email: rest.res@langhamhotels.com

Melba's is open 7 days a week for
breakfast, lunch and dinner (visit their website for more info)

How to get there:

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Izakaya Den Review @ Russell Street, Melbourne 15 Nov 2010 11:00 PM (14 years ago)

After the Taste of Melbourne this year, a bunch of bloggers and twitterers decided to pay a visit to Izakaya Den as they performed so well in the event.

The wonderful ingénue (she might choke on this a bit, so I'll add, for good measure, chotto!) author behind the blog of Blah Blog Blah did really well in organising the get together (given that I have never met her prior to this [face-to-face I mean]).

Together with a few others from blogs such as I Eat Therefore I Am, Jeroxie, Off the Spork and essJay Eats, we made a Motley Crue of food enthusiasts ready to tackle on this new frontier (okay, we had a little bit to drink prior to dinner... just a tiny bit!)

We were brought to our stone table (there's only one giant stone table for groups of 5-20, so booking is definitely recommended; any other group size, you'll just have to walk in and try your luck for a seating!)

Luckily for us, our organiser had pre-booked our table weeks in advance (I think it was 2 months, but my memory is like a sieve!)

The food and drinks menu were rolled up and awaiting us to smooth our hands over them. The specials were displayed via a projector onto the wall (alternating between that [the specials] and a cool pixelisation of some anime character)

The teams (as we were now split for drinks and food) readily put in orders for Sake and other beverages (I quite enjoyed my Sake Mojito!)

If memory serves me, we started with the Special sake - warm (2 bottles of 400ml) at $49 each, which was described on the menu as having a "lovely texture, good for spring"! Once we were done with that, the Drinks team ordered another 2 bottles of Sake from the paper menu (the name eludes me)...

The Food team did really well on the night (as did the Drinks team) and ordered a few delicious appetizers to start with.

We had the Kingfish sashimi with an Asian style dressing $17

Then we had the delicious Den fried chicken $10 (we put in another order of this as it was soooooo good)

Next on our taste test was the Eggplant and tofu 'dengaku', which was good, but wasn't anything special. I prefer the Nasu Dengaku from Izakaya Chuji (yeah, I said it!)

A few others who missed out on this dish at the Taste of Melbourne ordered this. And I couldn't say that I was complaining!

Spicy tuna tataki with garlic soy $18

And we just couldn't resist our curiosity with this dish, Special fried black rice $10. This tasted quite similar to a cross between normal rice and sushi-grade rice... it had a very robust taste (not as sweet as white rice, but a more earthy tone similar to brown rice)

The winner for us (there were a few, but this stood out) was the Sweet corn 'kaki age' $7... priced at $10 at the Taste of Melbourne, I wasn't too happy about paying that much for sweet corn... but on second taste.. it was actually quite worth it!

The order of the Ox tongue with spring onion $14 also had a resounding nod from everyone (not being able to eat meat of any kind from a cow, I wasn't able to try this)

From the specials board (for lack of a better term), we had the Wagyu Tataki with wasabi cream $16.

Everyone was raving about the wagyu and the wasabi cream! I didn't have a taste but I had it described to me!

From the main menu, we also had the Octopus, pickled cucumber and wakame $7

Also from the special's, we had 2 servings of the Grilled chicken spare ribs, wasabi and dry nori $9, I can still taste it... delicious!

The Lamb ribs with red miso $14 were so superb that we ordered 4 serves of it! It was just delicious. Perfectly char-grilled, it was pure bliss to be gnawing on some good bones :P I had extra pieces as I didn't get to try the Ox tongue or the wagyu :) A perfect trade!!!

And we couldn't leave before we had any of their desserts!

So as a team (chotto!!!), we decided to order nearly one of everything on the menu (bar the ice-creams and cheeses).

So from the top (going clockwise), we had the Dark Chocolate and yuzu fondue (for 2) $14, Fuji apple Millefeulle $10, White sesame mousse, tapioca $10 and the Ginger Creme Brulee $10

In terms of taste, everything apart from the fondue was excellent. I'm not sure why, but the dark chocolate sauce clashed horribly (in my opinion) with the citrus-y taste of the yuzu... resulting in a terribly mixture!

A blurry shot of the anonymous team!

We spent around $60 each (I was mathematically and mentally challenged in my calculation here) and it was well worth it. Great group of people (who allowed me to be myself and take photos at every opportunity, with flash!), great drinks and great food.

I had a really awesome night... service was good... the wait staff were polite... although they did forget our White Asparagus order...

Would I come back? Definitely. And will be bringing a few others in tow as well.

The entrance is a bit ubiquitous and hard to find, but once you do, just go through the blowing black curtains and follow the sound of incessant chatter to a land down under :)

*Disclaimer: All food ratings are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality

Food/ Cuisine: Japanese
Dining Style: Restaurant (Izakaya)
Overall Food Rating (Based on the Dining style): 7.5/10
Restaurant ambiance: 7/10 (long and narrow, not quite at all what you think a Japanese restaurant looks like)
Service/ Attitude: 7/10 (apart from the mysterious missing order of White Asparagus, which they apologised for and we cancelled, all was good)
Value for money: 7/10

Address:
114 Russell Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

Tel:(03) 9654 2977

Izakaya Den is open for
Lunch - Monday to Friday from 12-2.30pm
Nights - Monday to Saturday from 5.30pm (Kitchen open until Midnight)
Booking is essential for large groups (5-20 pax)

How to get there:

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Hako Review @ Flinders Lane, Melbourne 14 Nov 2010 7:30 PM (14 years ago)

HR ladies to eat, away we go!

KM was leaving and we had decided to pop over to Hako down the road for a farewell lunch. Busting My Chops had recommended the place as she recalled it as being worthwhile and reasonable for the price...

When we got there, we were greeted warmly and showed our seating. The place was already beginning to bustle with the lunch time crowd. We were clever and pre-ordered before hand via their online booking and by researching their menu.

Despite all of the above, the service was still a tad slow. The food came out at a trickle pace. But as we were such a large group, that went unnoticed.

We ordered a few entree's to begin, starting with Edamame (boiled soya bean with light sea salt $ 6). This wasn't anything too special and the quantity was dismally tiny...

Next was the Tofu Salad (tofu & seaweed salad with a light citrus and soy dressing $9.5), which wasn't too bad. The flavours were delicately balanced. I quite enjoyed this dish.

We also had the Gyoza (fried pastry stuffed with minced meat, cabbage with hint of garlic $10.8). The pastry skin was delightfully light and not thick and gluggy. I couldn't detect the hint of garlic tho.

Next up was the Isobe Age (Japanese fish cake stuffed w cheese and deep fried $8.5). I don't think I had the chance to try this, as there were only 4 pieces.

Same goes for the Ebi Tempura (large prawns wrapped w crispy thin cut pastry served w a warm ginger soy dashi dipping sauce $14.5). For $14.50, I was expecting a few more prawns. There were only 2!!!

For the mains, each of us ordered a Bento. Each Bento box was $15.80. It wasn't superb, nor extremely terrible. It was mediocre.

For the vegetarians, there is an option for the Vege Bento (a box with vegetable dishes and vegetable tempura)

For meat eaters, there is the Hako Bento (a box with chicken teriyaki, prawn and vegetable tempura)

I decided to go with the Salmon Bento (a box with grilled salmon ginger teriyaki and light salad). For all of us chose the Salmon Bento, we were a little sad and disappointed with it, as all of our fish were overcooked.

Now I can understand, maybe one or two, but all 5 (Salmon) were overcooked and flaky.

Halfway through the meal (indeed it was close to the end of it), the miso soup arrived for our consumption. I was a bit taken aback with this. It was as if they had forgotten to give us our soup and then as an afterthought, say, "Oops, here you go!"

Towards the end of our meal, Chris and Julia (from Masterchef Season 1) popped in for a quick meal in a quiet corner... I did not attack them with requests of photo opportunities or autographs.

All the entree sizes were tiny. Definitely not meant for sharing between large groups. There was a slight miscommunication with our orders as well. We had accidentally put in the reverse amount of the chicken and salmon bento orders. Entirely our fault, however, the manager (or so I think) decided to put on a terrible expression and had a sour look upon her face the entire service.

And it wasn't as if we kicked up a fuss. We apologised, and said that it was fine. We were happy to have the order served as per our mistaken booking.

In terms of coming back, I highly doubt I would. There are much better Japanese dining options out there, especially for the price they charge.

Hako is definitely a place which is overrated in my humble opinion.

*Disclaimer: All food ratings are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality

Food/ Cuisine: Japanese
Dining Style: Restaurant
Overall Food Rating (Based on the Dining style): 5/10
Restaurant ambiance: 7/10
Service/ Attitude: 5/10
Value for money: 6/10

Address:
310 Flinders Lane
Melbourne VIC 3000

Tel:(03) 9620 1881

Website: http://www.hako.com.au/

Hako is open
Monday - Wednesday from 12pm-3pm and 6pm-9pm and
Thursday - Friday from 12pm-3pm and 6pm-9:30pm and
Saturday from 6pm-9:30pm

How to get there:

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Paramore - Melbourne Concert Review @ Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne 9 Nov 2010 11:00 PM (14 years ago)

It's been a while since I did one of these. But I had so much fun and such a great night that it'll be a waste if I didn't share my experience on this. So taking a break from food (blasphemous I know!), I shall do a quick recap of the Paramore concert that took place in October :)

On the 13th of October (yes I know, this is slow)... Paramore performed at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl... Now I have to admit, I'm a new fan... I only discovered them (as I'm sure many of their new fans have also had the same discovery) on the Twilight OST...and I fell in love with their music!

Hayley's guest appearance with an Iron Man mask

The day was blistering cold (which often is the case with Melbourne's unpredictable weather), but the fans braved it and turned up in droves! Jumping out behind black drapes to perform Ignorance (from Brand New Eyes), Hayley Williams had the crowd on a high right from the opening til the close of the performance.

With 3 albums under their belt (All we know is falling [2005], Riot! [2007] and Brand New Eyes [2009]), we were guaranteed a jam packed night with hit after hit... And we were not disappointed. Churning out song after song (everyone was singing along)...

Hayley knew exactly what to say to the crowd to get them screaming and singing along. She had amazing showmanship which is not usually seen in many acts that come and visit (and I've been to a fair few).

The crowd went super crazy when "Decode" (from the aforementioned Twilight soundtrack) was played and the band was just amazing.

For the interlude, the band had a couch placed on the stage where they played a few acoustic versions of their songs.

Towards the end of the night, Hayley wanted the fans to appreciate some country music and she performed a classic (apologies, I can't remember it now).

They finished off the concert with Exception and then came back for 2 more encores (even getting a fan on stage - who totally rocked it) for Brick by Boring Brick and finishing off with Misery Business and confetti!!

It was an awesome night and I haven't felt that way in a long time for a concert... absolutely loved it... and I'm still listening to Paramore songs on repeat on my iPod... *bliss*

I can't wait for their next album (hopefully it'll be next year), there seems to be a pattern with their album releases (i.e. every 2 years).

Pope Joan Breakfast Revisited @ Brunswick East 5 Nov 2010 10:45 PM (14 years ago)

"Can we go to Brunswick please???", I kept asking the Boy... petulantly pouting my lips and doing my best cutesy voice...

The Boy, "Why? Is it because you want to eat at Pope Joan?!"

Me: *blinks innocently*

The Boy: "Oh, alright!"

Me: *smiles mischievously*

It really wasn't all that hard to get him to agree... he loves Pope Joan as much as I do..

So, the second time round at Pope Joan, would it still be a hit, or will it succumb to popularity and let it's quality drop? The first time we were there, it was a great introduction to Matt Wilkinson's foray into cafe style breakfasts...

This second visit was just as good. The place was just as busy and bustling with locals.

We were seated right in front of the man himself. That's him looking suspiciously at myself... tying to take action shots of him working, but again, his speed is much to quick for me and my tiny camera...

You can choose to sit outside and bravely face whatever weather Melbourne throws at you (sure enough it did start raining for a while)

This time round, I decided to order something from the Specials Board... I can't really remember what it was called (I forgot to take a picture of the board).

Sugar Cured Salmon salad with fromage and capers ($17?) ... Delicious light and lemony... it left me wanting more! If I wasn't seated right in front of the kitchen and the chef, I'd lick that plate.. MmmmMMMm....

The Boy ordered the Poached Eggs, Smoked fishes rosti with herb salad $16 which he said was delishes. He wouldn't even let me try the rosti!!!

Pope Joan has become one of our favourite breakfast joints and I've only good things to say about it. My only hope is that the quality prevails!!

To read about my first visit at Pope Joan, click --> here :)

*Disclaimer: All food ratings are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality

Food/ Cuisine: Contemporary/Modern Australian
Dining Style: Cafe
Overall Food Rating (Based on the Dining style): 8/10
Restaurant ambiance: 8/10
Service/ Attitude: 7.5/10 (today, it took a while to get anybody's attention, which was fine, as it was super busy, but still annoying for the time I was trying to wave someone down)
Value for money: 8/10

Address:
77-79 Nicholson Street
Brunswick East VIC 3057

Tel:(03) 9388 8858

Website:http://popejoan.com.au/

Pope Joan is open for
breakfast and lunch 7 days a week from
7.30am til "erm about afternoonish" and
soon-ish for dinners

How to get there:

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Milkwood - Brunswick East - Breakfast Review @ 120 Nicholson Street 3 Nov 2010 5:00 PM (14 years ago)

The sign for Milkwood is nondescript

As we were all staying over at Ms Tinymouse's house for our girly weekend, we were asking the boys to come join us for brekkie...

Being near to Brunswick, the Boy suggested we try Milkwood. Milkwood is owned by ex-owners of Cafe Rosamond Diana Korndoffer and Alex Patterson

For some odd reason, their "open" sign has Chinese characters with it...

So we turned up to find the place bustling with people (and doggies), and that the wait time for a table was anywhere between 20-30 mins... that meant that it had to be good... right?

Logic prevails, if there are a group of people waiting for food, and if the wait time is long.. it has to be good. I prayed that this wasn't going to turn out like my visit to Richmond Hill and Larder Cafe.

After a short 25 minute wait (girls can talk and pass the time rather quickly as it happens, with the boys just looking on and making small talk) ^_^

The interior was beautiful in it's simplicity... I absolutely adored the hanging plants and jars of preserved fruits on the shelves. The Boy was intrigue with the maze like structure behind the front counter and barista area.

The menu was rather simple, you choose a basic breakfast set-up and add all sorts of interesting food items to "build" your breakfast dish. Meaning, everyone could have eggs on toast and still end up with completely different dishes depending on the sides they ordered (Brialliant!).

As usual, we ordered some pots of English Breakfast tea whilst the others had coffee and water.

Lightly toasted muesli with stewed apples and honey yoghurt $9

Poor Librarian* was on his special diet and had to once again settle for muesli...

Action shot featuring Des & Troy (they're famous!)

Librarian ate his muesli whilst looking on at all our hot (and deemed unhealthy) breakfast... the pain in his eyes... *ducks a flying shoe*

Ms Fashionista ordered a variation of the Cheese, house relish and basil melt with ham $10 and added House made potato gems $4

She mentioned that it was a bit too cheesy... and I replied, "You did order cheese!"... oh well...

Ms Tinymouse ordered the Poached eggs on toast $8.50 with Free range pork & fennel sausage braise $4.50 and Lemon thyme mushrooms with ricotta $4

The Boy ordered the Poached eggs on Toast and Freek Range Pork & Fennel sausage braise as well (uncanny how those two have so much in common... it's the TT syndrome)... but with House made potato gems and House relish $2.50

I ordered the Poached eggs on toast with Free range grilled ham off the bone $4.50 and Tomato butter beans with fetta and mint $4

As far as breakfast joints go, this was a pretty good and decent meal. Very inventive in their ways to get you to pay more than you should for breakfast as you'll want to order a lot of the sides (and it ain't cheap).

Would I return? Possibly. Only if, Pope Joan (further down the road) is full and doesn't welcome my presence anymore.

With Pope Joan located literally just a stone throws away, I much rather go visit Matt Wilkinson and his breakfast joint :)

*there is a reason to this name... if you read Terry Pratchett books and are somewhat akin to his Discworld novels, you will know who the Librarian is. And if you know who the Librarian is, you will know why the Librarian is called the Librarian

**Disclaimer: All food ratings are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality

Food/ Cuisine: Australian
Dining Style: Cafe
Overall Food Rating (Based on the Dining style): 7/10
Restaurant ambiance: 8/10
Service/ Attitude: 7.5/10
Value for money: 6/10

Address:
120 Nicholson Street
Brunswick East VIC 3057

Tel:(03) 9380 4062

Milkwood is open from
Monday, Wednesday - Friday 7.30am-4.30pm and
Saturday - Sunday from 8am-4pm

How to get there:

View Larger Map

Spice Temple Review @ Crown Casino, Melbourne 2 Nov 2010 1:45 AM (14 years ago)

The entrance to Spice Temple is right next to Rockpool Bar & Grill

"SPICE TEMPLE IS OPENING!!" The Boy excitedly kept me up to date with the going-ons with the set-up of the restaurant. He'd check the Rockpool blog nearly daily to tell me how close they were to the opening day.

The stairs leading to the bar and restaurant (they have seats both upstairs and downstairs)

So it was an obvious step for me to make a reservation for the first Friday night after Spice Temple's opening. It was to be a Hot date with the Boy and I was hoping that it was going to be a great night!

Extremely dark, these globes lit the tables at the bar area

We arrived on time, just in time in fact, to see Neil Perry himself walk past us and into the restaurant.. I nearly went up to him to ask for a picture or a chat... but he looked too much like Steven Seagal (images of fighting in the kitchen with a wok and a pot flashed across my eyes)... and I was shy :)

We were led downstairs and seated at the bar. It was a bit confusing as we weren't given a choice to go to our table directly and as we'd never been there before, I thought for a moment that the dark area where we were led to was where our dinner was going to be!

Drinks Menu

We were provided with the cocktail menu and left to ponder. No instructions and no other conversations, apart from, "Please take a seat." The full cocktail menu can be viewed here (it's a bit dark in the picture).

Dog and Green Tea Jasmine

The cocktail menu was a highlight for me, as it draws inspiration from the Chinese Horoscope with each cocktail representing one of the 12 animals. As I am born in the year of the Dog, I was partial to trying it out. Delicious!

The Boy ordered a Jasmine and Apple tea (which was pretty close to a Bubbly Cup version of Green Apple Green Tea).

It was not until I hailed a waiter to ask, are we allowed to order our dinner, did he do a double take and say, "Oh, you want to be seated? Of course!"

Apparently, the waitress who had escorted us down the steps had failed to impart some information. We were then led to another part of the establishment (where quite a few people were already seated, whom I did not see lounging in the bar looking throughly confused).

Monkey and House Made Spicy Ginger Beer

We ordered more drinks at our dining table (as I wanted to try more Cocktails!). This time, I ordered the Monkey and the Boy ordered a House Made Spicy Ginger Beer. Maybe because I'm partial to sweet drinks, the Monkey was quite hard to .... errr.... drink.

From their menu (slightly different from the Sydney menu), we ordered an entree, two mains, rice and several desserts. Anything that had a red coloured font in the menu was extra spicy. There were two choices of Banquets (set dinner courses) priced at $69 and $95 respectively. The Boy was keen to go with those, but as a few dishes in the two Banquets had beef in them, I declined.

I also noted, from the menu, that some dishes had to be pre-ordered when making a reservation as they take 24 hours to cook them. Damn! Wish I had known.

Fried Squid with whole five spice and dark chilli paste $26

Instead we went with the Fried Squid with whole five spice served with a dark chilli paste, which tasted incredibly like a hot sambal paste (Malaysian chilli paste). The squid was cooked beautifully and the batter was light and tasty. The lime wedged that was served with this dish cut through the spiciness of the chilli paste really well. A truly delicious dish that left us wanting more.

Stir Fried prawns with salted duck egg and four chillies (Brined, dried, fermented and pickled) $39

For the mains, we had a stir fried prawn dish which seemed to have a slight Thai inspiration to it. Served with onions, chillies and finely sliced coriander, the creamy coconut gravy was a delightful dish that went really well with steamed rice!

So far, the first two dishes were excellent and I was expecting the third dish to arrive and leave my palate with a huge and resounding bang!

Guangxi style roast pork belly (with coriander, peanuts, red onion and sesame seeds) $30

The Guangxi Roast Pork Belly, sounded so good on paper. However, I felt that there was a tad too much coriander on this dish. Don't get me wrong, I love coriander and will gladly eat it on it's own. But somehow, with this dish, it seemed a trifle out of place.

The pork belly meat wasn't as tender as I'd expected... it was a bit tough. The crackling however was a WINNER!... But the crackling wasn't good enough to save this dish from a disappointing end of our savory dishes.

Trio of desserts

As I'm always greedy with desserts, I ordered 3 of them!! One for me, one for the Boy and one for us!... Okay, I was just being greedy!!

Orange jelly cake with orange blossom fairy floss $6

The reason why I ordered the Orange jelly cake was because it was the dessert offered for both the Banquet options. Perfectly logical reasoning.

The orange blossom fairy floss was really fun to eat and had a nice non-overpowering scent to it. The Orange Jelly Cake was just a regular cupcake with a jelly middle. Nothing much to shout about.

Almond jelly with rose granita and dehydrated candied lychee $14

The Boy had a Almond Jelly with Lychee granita...served with dehydrated lychee skins, was a delightfully light dessert. He finished the whole thing and only offered me half a teaspoon! He said that it was delicious...

Chocolate and Salted Peanut Caramel Parfait $18

I on the other hand, opted for a non-Asian sounding dessert... I had to... it was chocolate... with salted caramel.. and peanuts!

I had spend the whole day thinking about Phillipa Sibley's Snickers and how much I wanted to eat it again. This dessert provided me that opportunity.

In terms of looks, it looks quite like an ice-cream sandwich. But the taste! The taste was sooooo alike the Snickers from il Fornaio that if I had my eyes shut, I'd swear I was eating the same dessert!

Okay, I might have exaggerated there. What this dessert had going for it was a really nice crunchy base (which Phillipa's did not). The texture and creaminess of the parfait wasn't as good as Phillipa's but the crunchy salted peanut caramel was just as good.

This dessert and this dessert alone, saved the night from the lackluster pork belly dish.

The meal was expensive. But we were expecting that. I draw similarities from this and Nobu (kind of hard not to, since they are both Asian inspired restaurants, located side-by-side in Crown Casino). The similarities are in its concept and lay-out. They both offer good food and almost perfect desserts.

Spice Temple has quite a while to go, to work out the kinks, but it has definitely made a worthy foray into the Chinese cuisine.

Would we return? Yes. But it'll have to be a while. It put quite a dent to my wallet.

*Disclaimer: All food ratings are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality

Food/ Cuisine: Chinese
Dining Style: Restaurant & Bar
Overall Food Rating (Based on the Dining style): 7.75/10 (I'd give the desserts a 8.5/10)
Restaurant ambiance: 7/10 (the Boy gives it an 8/10 because he say's it's funky. I think its much too dark. He said it reminded him of a Chinese junk ship, in a cool way.)
Service/ Attitude: 7/10
Value for money: 6.5/10

Address:
Ground Floor
Crown Casino
8 Whiteman Street
Southbank VIC 3006

Tel:(03)8679 1888

Website:http://www.rockpool.com/melbourne/spice-temple

Email: info@spicetemplemelbourne.com

Spice Temple is open from
Sunday to Friday for lunch and
7 days for dinner

How to get there:

View Larger Map

Spooky Hollow: A Hallowe'en Special 30 Oct 2010 6:33 PM (14 years ago)

Happy Hallowe'en (or Halloween)!!! Welcome to Spooky Hollow... where nothing is quite what it seems!

For Hallowe'en, the Boy decided to make something extra special for my blog readers (and tweetpeeps)... He planned this entire thing up himself. The result being something quite beyond my imagination and wildest nightmares...

The Planning

The Materials

There are several recipes already published on the world wide web, but in your interests and convenience, we meshed them all up to get our own recipe (as usual), but if you really want to see other recipes online, feel free to serve and plunder as you wish :)

Recipe for Meringue Mushrooms

Ingredients:

2 Egg Whites, room temperature

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 cup super fine sugar (caster)

1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (melted)

Cocoa powder

(Makes 25-30 Meringue Mushrooms)

Method:

Preheat oven to 100 degrees Celsius. Mix egg whites in a bowl on medium speed. once they are very frothy, stop the mixer and add the cream of tartar. Continue beating the eggs until soft peaks are formed. Increase to high speed and gradually add the sugar. Beat until stiff peaks are formed.

Spoon the meringue mixture into a piping bag and start forming the mushroom caps and stems. For a more descriptive method, read this.

Bake the meringues at 100 degrees Celsius for about 60 minutes. Once done, the meringues should be hard and dry to touch.

To assemble the mushrooms, make small incisions on the base of the mushroom caps. Paint the base of the mushroom caps with the melted chocolate (using a pastry brush). Dip the top of the mushroom stems in melted chocolate, and attach it to the hole made on the mushroom cap.

Place on a baking tray to set. Once completed, lightly sift cocoa powder on the tops of the mushrooms.

Recipe for Meringue Ghosts:

Ingredients:

2 Egg Whites (~ 60 grams)

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 cup super fine sugar (caster)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon of whole black peppercorns (for the eyes)

(Makes 12 Meringue Ghosts)

Method:

Preheat oven to 100 degrees Celsius. Beat the egg whites on a low-medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat the whites until soft peaks are formed. Adding the sugar slowly, continue beating the eggs until stiff peaks are formed. Beat in the vanilla extract. (Should be a smooth, non-gritty consistency).

Transfer meringue mixture into a piping bag and pipe (with even pressure) a 2 inch high mound of meringue onto a baking mat (or sheet). For tips, click here and here.

Carefully press two peppercorns into each meringue ghost for the eyes. Alternatively, you could use silver candy sprinkles or chocolate chips.

Bake the meringues for approximately 60 minutes or until they are dry and crispy to the touch. Remove the meringues from the baking mat (so that they unstick from their spot) and transfer onto a separate baking paper or re-use the mat. Once they are dried, use immediately or store in an air-tight container.

Recipe for Trees:
Ingredients:
Grape Stems
Dark Chocolate (melted)
Dried seaweed (Soak in water to revive)

Method:
To get the grape stems, buy a bunch of grapes, pluck all the grapes out and cut the grape stems to form "trees".

For an amazing recipe for a different kind of edible tree, click here.

Melt the chocolate and using your fingers, coat the grape stems with the chocolate to "paint" it. (Note: I find that it gives a streakier effect (Tree bark-like) rather than dipping it whole into chocolate. Alternatively, you could use a small pastry brush)

Drape the seaweed on the edges of the grape stems to give it an eerie look.

Using the remainder of the melted chocolate, stick the base of the grape stems onto a board (we lined ours with aluminium foil).

Recipe for Edible soil
Ingredients:
120 grams of Nutella
80 grams of tapioca maltodextrin
(Ratio: 3:2 (Nutella: Maltodextrin))

Method:
Combine ingredients in a food processor and process until the mixture has a soil-like texture.

Once the texture has been achieved, pass the mixture through a fine sieve to lighten the texture.

Scatter the soil on the pre-prepared board.

Recipe for Purple Swamp:
Please view my post on Lavender Sorbet recipe.

In the middle of the board, cut out a small square opening). Line the board with aluminium foil. Using the remainder of the melted chocolates (from above recipes), paint the edges of the board with it.

Line a deep roasting tray with black cloth and place a scoop of dry ice in the roasting tray.

Assemble the ingredients onto the board. Place the finished board on a wire rack, taking care to decorate as you go.

For the smoky effect, we used a mixture of Papyrus essence (from our Egypt trip) and hot water (not boiling) and poured it into the sides of the tray as well as into the cut-out opening of the board (use a funnel for the cut-out to prevent splashing onto the board).

The essence of the papyrus really added an amazing dimension to the whole effect of Spooky Hollow. The papyrus has a sweet, heady, woody scent.

This was the most fun we've had in a while and I hope you enjoyed it!

Happy Hallowe'en!!

The entire Spooky Hollow project was conducted by the Boy (minus my purple swamp). I contributed to the naming of the ghosts (Curly, Wonky, Sharpie, and friends!).

The Boy was inspired by Heston Blumenthal's Gothic Feast and Nicolas Poelaert's forest floor.

Il Fornaio Dinner & Dessert Review - Part III @ 2 Acland Street, St Kilda 28 Oct 2010 12:15 AM (14 years ago)

Third time lucky as they say. Ms Fashionista was down here for a weekend and the Boy and I decided to take her out to try out the dinner and dessert menu at il Fornaio.

She must have been our lucky charm! We got a seating (we were early, 6pm - the person over the phone told us that it is super busy around 8pm --> they don't take bookings either)

We had an absoultely great night, with good food, fantastic dessert, great company and exceptional service! The last was indeed a pleasant surprise given our previous two visits here was a bit... err... how do I say... abrupt and interesting (let's just leave it at that) albeit the food was good.

We put in a few savoury orders to share, but our main purpose for the night was of course to try their dessert menu... my eyes scanned the menu and rested at the "Sweets" section and had an extremely hard time deciding what to order... Between the 3 of us, I decided we could do two appetizers, one main and 3 desserts (all to share of course)...

So for starters we had a Lentil and ham hock terrine with Dijon and cornichons (a type of gherkin)... $18

Whilst the terrine was fabulous and went really well with the crispy toasted bread, the Dijon mustard really didn't add much to the flavouring or the dish

Next we had a serving of Home smoked salmon classically garnished (served with egg, capers & creme fraiche $ 17)

This was delicious, but again it wasn't outstanding or special... and the toasted white bread that came with it was a bit err.. over buttery

For the mains, we tried the special of the day, which was a roast lamb dish with a bean salad (I can't remember the price, but I'm sure it was in the high 20's)

We were quite pleased with the service at this stage, our nice waittress checked on us often enough (but not intrusively) and continuously topped up our water!

A snapshot of dinner

But I was eager to eat my dinner quickly as I knew that dessert was on the way! And what a spectacular round of dessert it was...

Million Dollar Bullet $22

First up was the Million Dollar Bullet and boy did it look a Million BUCKS! The chocolate was really dense and intense.... the licorice ice-cream was an absolute divine pairing with the intensity of the chocolate... just amazing really...

Snow White & Rose Red $18

The Snow White and Rose Red arrived with a pair of beautiful Meringue Wings (I wish I could do that) and sugared rose petals...

Ms Fashionista commented that it reminded her of "Air Bandung" (which directly translated means Bandung Water --> as in the place in Indonesia)... Air (pronounced, ah-ye) Bandung is a rose syrup milk drink...

I didn't think about the similarities until she pointed it out.. I'd rather have this dessert tho :)

SNICKERS $19

And finally, to the Snickers (caramel parfait paired with salted peanut caramel and milk chocolate mousse) ..

The dessert that brought me back here not once, but 3 times!

The dessert that stumped the Masterchef contestants in the second season...

The dessert that has made it into the top 5 most memorable desserts in Victoria...

Is it worthy of all those accolades? Yes, and much much more...

I know quite a lot has been written about this.. but clearly I have to have my say in this as well... A mouthful of this dessert is equivalent to jam-packing a whole Snickers bar into your mouth...

The tempered chocolate snapped with a resounding "crack".

The salted peanut caramel... MmMmmm.... the salted peanut caramel... remembering it almost makes me want to drive over there right now and buy a few...

I asked the Boy (two weeks after this visit), if he would return and pay $19 for another Snickers.. and he immediately replied, "Of course!"... Apparently I was asking a redundant question...

Read more about other visits here:
Tea Time
Breakfast & Lunch

*Disclaimer: All food ratings are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality

Food/ Cuisine: Modern Australian
Dining Style: Cafe/ Restaurant
Overall Food Rating (Based on the Dining style): 8/10 (9/10 just for the desserts!!!!)
Restaurant ambiance: 8/10 (it was a lot quieter and less chaotic during dinner time)
Service/ Attitude: 8/10
Value for money: 8/10 (those desserts are hard to make!)

Address:
2 Acland Street
St Kilda, VIC 3182

Tel:(03)

Website: http://www.ilfornaio.net.au

Il Fornaio is open from

Monday - Friday 7am-11pm

Saturday & Sunday 8am - 11pm (closed from 5pm-6pm)

How to get there:

View Larger Map

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Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!! 24 Dec 2010 3:59 PM (14 years ago)

International Incident Colour Party - Tomato Salsa Verde - Aiiiiii!!! 18 Dec 2010 3:00 PM (14 years ago)

Q Eleven Breakfast Review @ South Melbourne (Market) 15 Dec 2010 4:20 PM (14 years ago)

CSR Bake A Difference - Honeycomb Cake - A Malaysian Recipe 12 Dec 2010 4:13 PM (14 years ago)

Old Town Kopitiam Mamak @ QV, Melbourne (An Asian Snack Food Tasting) 11 Dec 2010 12:20 AM (14 years ago)

Luxbite Review (Macarons and other desserts) @ Toorak Road, South Yarra 9 Dec 2010 6:25 PM (14 years ago)

Fried Radish Cake - Chai Tau Kueh (Chai Tow Kway) Recipe 5 Dec 2010 10:15 PM (14 years ago)

Cafe Vue 401 @ St Kilda Road, Melbourne 3 Dec 2010 9:45 PM (14 years ago)

Seek Your Ultimate Pleasure with Magnum Temptation 24 Nov 2010 4:00 PM (14 years ago)

International Incident Salt Party - Fleur De Sel Caramel 'Sneakers' 20 Nov 2010 3:00 PM (14 years ago)

Melba's Breakfast Review @ Langham Hotel, Southbank 18 Nov 2010 6:30 PM (14 years ago)

Izakaya Den Review @ Russell Street, Melbourne 15 Nov 2010 11:00 PM (14 years ago)

Hako Review @ Flinders Lane, Melbourne 14 Nov 2010 7:30 PM (14 years ago)

Paramore - Melbourne Concert Review @ Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne 9 Nov 2010 11:00 PM (14 years ago)

Pope Joan Breakfast Revisited @ Brunswick East 5 Nov 2010 10:45 PM (14 years ago)

Milkwood - Brunswick East - Breakfast Review @ 120 Nicholson Street 3 Nov 2010 5:00 PM (14 years ago)

Spice Temple Review @ Crown Casino, Melbourne 2 Nov 2010 1:45 AM (14 years ago)

Spooky Hollow: A Hallowe'en Special 30 Oct 2010 6:33 PM (14 years ago)

Il Fornaio Dinner & Dessert Review - Part III @ 2 Acland Street, St Kilda 28 Oct 2010 12:15 AM (14 years ago)