Hungry Kittens

Sydney in January - Lunch at Guylian Cafe

2012-01-08T18:53:00.002-08:00

Lunch at Guylian Cafe
91 George Street, The Rocks, Sydney

After Kat and I conqured the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb, we were in desperate need of sustenance (those jumpsuits you are made to wear are no good for looking sexy but excellent for making you sweat buckets). On top of that, there was the pressure of having to get back to our hotel in time for the airport shuttle bus.

We whizzed through The Rocks and spotted Guylian Cafe. A local Sydney friend of mine actually recommended it for dessert the night before and we didn't have a chance to go then so I stopped to have a look. Much to my surprise, there were actually savory food options that sounded healthy! We decided to stopover here.

There was no seating inside the cafe so we sat outside at the outskirts of the Sunday market.

There were lots of sweet things on the menu but we restricted ourselves to non-indulgent lunch options and slightly naughty drinks. I also ordered a brownie takeaway so that noone could accuse me of going to a dessert cafe and not getting dessert.

Guylian chocolate special - Guylian house coffee with chocolate and whipped cream

As her 'bad' drink, Kat ordered the Guylian chocolate special. When this was brought out, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was pretty much a cup full of cream with a sprinkling of chocolate on top. In other words, a dieter's worst nightmare. Kat poked a bit of cream and coffee started oozing out. OOZING out of the cream. Unreal.

Guylian shake - praline ice-cream with Guylian chocolate sauce

My poison of choice was the Guylian shake. It was made from praline ice-cream and drizzled with a chocolate sauce. This thickshake was REDICULOUSLY good. I thought it had a pistachioey flavor to it. Whatever it was, YUM. And it wasn't too sweet either. Kat agreed.

Belgian whole brown sandwich roll - with marinated grilled vegetables, haloumi and rocket pesto

For a splash of savory (and injection of health) Kat ordered the vegetarian brown bread roll. I had a taste and can't say I liked this one bit. It was bland and boring to me but she said she was happy with her pick.

Toasted cape seed ciabatta with rare roast beef, artichokes, lettuce and black pepper mayonnaise

I got the toasted ham ciabatta. It was pretty good. Nothing amazing but hey, it's just a toasted sandwich really. I liked the addition of artichoke. It was still simple but worked nicely.

Chocolate brownie

The chocolate brownie looked almost too good to eat! It had gorgeous gold flecks and was very dense, moist and chocolatey.

I think Guylian Cafe has a good thing going. There's an amazing selection of sweet treats, hot, cold, cakey, creamy, liquidy, whatever. Then, to offset that, there's a good supply of savory/healthy salads and rolls. To me, that's a winning combination! The locations nice and our service was slow but friendly.

Sydney in January - Breakfast at The Falconer

2012-01-08T18:53:00.001-08:00

Breakfast at The Falconer
http://www.thefalconer.com.au/

I woke up at 5am on Sunday and started researching breakfast places. Actually I started looking the night before but was too drunk to get any results so in the mornning, I really got cracking.

I'm the kind of person who tries to tell myself that I can be spontaneous and that it doesn't really matter where we go and that we'll just walk along and pop into wherever looks good. Sure I could do that but there's always this background remorse afterwards that I'm missing out on something better because I'm not a local and I don't know WTF I'm doing.

Research lead me to try The Falconer. My criteria was for a cafe that was reasonably close to our hotel (we had to head straight to the Sydney Harbour Bridge for our climb afterwards so couldn't afford to go out of the way) and that was open on Sunday.

We strolled through the city in a drizzle of rain. Everything looked closed and we literally sighed with relief when we saw the welcome glow of light coming from The Falconer. By the way, Kat asked me on the way "where are we going again?" and I told her "Eagle something". I have the worst memory.

The Falconer is a small but stylish cafe/bar with lots of charm. I loved the booth seating, wooden bar, huge ceiling light installation and deer ornaments.

Latte and hot chocolate

The staff attended to us immediately and I asked for a latte and Kat got a hot chocolate.

The latte was nice, very rich and strong. Kat said her hot chocolate was pretty good too.

Petuna ocean trout - and poached eggs on English muffin with watercress and horseradish cream

For our actual breakfast, I was in crisis mode with indecision about what to get. The muesli sounded so good. But the baked eggs sounded so good. But the smoked trout on English muffin sounded so good. In the end, I asked for the baked eggs but when I was told it'd be a 15min wait on them (they had to be baked after all), I changed to the smoked trout.

Mmm...

There were generous pieces of trout with poached eggs, 2 pieces of English muffin and horseradish cream. It was very simple but delicious. I thought this was a breakfast that perfectly compromised healthy and hearty.

Falconer toasted muesli - with nuts, dried apricots, banana and vanilla bean yoghurt

Kat ordered the muesli. I suspect I had a role in guilting her into this (for my own selfish reason of wanting to try it), under the guise of suggesting a healthy option. I am crazy about muesli and honestly, this muesli was phenomenal. How often can you say that about something like muesli?

Milk to muesli

It was just so, so tasty! The crunchiness, the nuts, the sweetness - so perfect. Kat wasn't as enthusiastic as me so I ended up finishing her bowl. I was in breakfast heaven!

I had a great time at The Falconer. It's the kind of cafe I wish was walking distance from my home and I'd be there all the time for food, coffee and probably late night drinks too. It just had a relaxed, positive vibe and I thought the standard of food and service was A+.

Sydney in January - Dinner at Mamak

2012-01-08T18:52:00.000-08:00

Dinner at Mamak
http://mamak.com.au/

January 7th marked my first spontaneous interstate trip of the year. Kat and I decided to go to Sydney for the weekend. At first it was for not real reason other than accomodation being on sale but later on we booked ourselves a Sydney Harbour Bridge climb and suddenly our trip seemed more purposeful.

We were to arrive late on Saturday and I worked out that we'd have a total of 3 meals in Sydney, airport snacking not included. Being budget-conscious, we steered clear of the fine dining joints but instead wanted well-reputed cheap eats.

Mamak fit the bill perfectly. What's better (well, better for us but worst for some) is that they don't allow bookings so you literally just rock up and wait. I normally hate that in Brisbane but when I'm on holidays, I don't like to lock myself to things so not booking works out great.

We checked in at the hotel and walked the 2 blocks to Mamak in Haymarket. There was a bit of a queue, nothing horrendous. What was more worrying was the fact that the line didn't move for a long time. Luckily, we weren't famished and there was entertainment to be found in through the window - guys and girls were flipping roti like there was no tomorrow. No matter how many times I've seen this, it doesn't get old. That dough gets stretched so thin, it seems to defy the laws of flour physics!

When we got in, there was that usual feeling of awesomeness that is associated with being let into things, even though they eventually do that for everyone.

The restaurant was larger on the inside than we though. It was clean and upbeat. Nothing fancy in terms of decor. The atmosphere was buzzing with chit chat.

Once we got to our table, we started planning an attack on what to order. We asked for some roti and satay chicken, because these are their signature dishes. On top of that, we also got 2 'mains' - a Malaysian salad and some fried chicken.

Teh tarik and teh 'o' ais limau

For drinks, we tried the teh tarik and the teh 'o' ais limau. The teh tarik is described as classic sweetened Malaysian tea with a frothy topping. It had a nice flavor that reminded me of the tapioca pearls in pearl milk tea.

The teh 'o' ais limau is iced tea with a splash of lime. I found this very refreshing and it complimented the spicy Malaysian food we ordered.

Rojak - a Malaysian-style salad with prawn and coconut fritters, fried tofu, hard-boiled eggs, freshly shredded yambean and cucumber, topped with a thick spicy peanut sauce

Our rojak aka Malaysian-style salad arrived first. It was a stacked salad with layers of shredded cucumber and fried tofu plus other bits and pieces. I particularly liked the prawn and coconut fritters on top. They were like prawn crackers, but better. The dressing was a peanut sauce with lots of spices and a significant fish sauce tang.

Roti telur - served with two curry dips and spicy sambal sauce

The roti came next. We had ordered the roti telur, which is the classic egg roti. It was served with 2 curries for dipping and a sambal sauce. The roti was piping hot and nice and flaky. I liked both the dipping curries. Although the roti was very good, it didn't blow my socks off. We used to get this frozen roti at home and shallow fry in a tonne of oil - that stuff was a mix of roti and butter puff pastry. I think that's spoilt my appreciation of normal roti with less of a fat content.

Chicken satay - grilled over flaming charcoal and served with a sweet and spicy peanut sauce

The chicken satay arrived next. The individual satay sticks were smaller than I'd expected but it was alright because we were getting a bit full anyway. The chicken wasn't at all dry, which is quite an achievement considering how small they were. I loved the satay dipping sauce too.

Ayam berempah - bite-size chicken pieces stir-fried with whole spices

Finally, our ayam berempah arrived. This was different to what I had expected. I was picturing something saucy but it was more like... spicy unbattered KFC. I nibbled on a few pieces. Not bad but the chicken was a tad dry and this was too much like the satay chicken to be having it at the same time. I even used the satay sauce with these chicken pieces because it complimented so well.

Overall, Mamak was a fun experience (apart from the wait) and we tried some good food at excellent prices. I'm not convinced that it's worth all the hype though. I didn't find that it stood out more than most places in Sunnybank and none of them require a half hour wait just to get in.

Tartufo for Pre-NYE Dinner

2012-01-06T14:14:00.000-08:00

Tartufo
www.tartufo.com.au

I was completely undecided about my NYE plans for aaaages. As a spur of the moment decision, I booked a hotel in Brisbane for the night BEFORE so that I knew I'd be doing 'something' around then but wasn't actually comitting to new year eve in Brisbane.

Along with a hotel stay comes a restaurant meal. The hard part about securing a booking for this night was that most restaurants were on holidays. I finally found Tartufo and e-mailed a booking request, expecting them to say 'sorry we are shut from blah to blah'. Instead, I actually got a booking. Horrah!

Tartufo is located where Belle Epoche used to be at the Emporium. I did like Belle Epoche and a large contributing factor to that was the decor/dining space. This was maintained when Tartufo took over. The restaurant oozes plenty of old-world charm with generous amounts of booth seating in a colour scheme of red, white and black.

We were granted an end table with 2 chairs side-by-side. This is unusual but I liked it because to me, it's a bit easier to talk to someone next to you than across from you. There's less of a business/interview vibe.

Shot of canneloni bean soup

A complimentary amuse bouche of canneloni bean soup was provided. Nice but nothing that stood out.

Pane casareccio - home made bread served with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar

We ordered bread to start with. It was quite late... 9 something (remember I normally have dinner at 5pm) so we were starving. The bread was piping hot, crusty on the outside, soft on the inside and served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Absolutely delish. I had to force myself not to stuff my face with bread and instead, save room for the actual food.

Rollata di vitello - gippsland (vic) veal filled with a tomato and thyme frittata, mortadella, button mushrooms, wrapped in pancetta and served with jus and baby vegetables

For our mains, Byron chose the veal rack. I tried a bit of the meat. It was beautiful - so tender and 'milky'.

Veal bite shot

The only critisism for the meat was that it was slightly underseasoned and we didn't have salt at the table.

Pappardelle al sugo di coniglio - hand made pappardelle, served with a rabbit ragu, finished with pecorino romano and freshly cracked black pepper

I was really craving pasta and ordered the parpardelle with rabbit ragu as a main. At first I thought the pasta was a bit too undercooked for me (too chewy rather than 'just' al dente) but soon, the whole dish grew on me. It was really quite simple but had a great harmony of flavors. I slurped up every last bit.

Insalata di pomodoro - tomato salad with spanish onion, fresh mint, extra virgin olive oil and pepper

We also asked for a side of tomato salad. We're not sure what they did to these tomatoes but they were magic. Byron is something of a tomato critic (I've actually been told off in the past for purchasing poor quality tomoatoes that were unsuitable for cooking) and went gaga over this dish. It is another example of simple yet exquisite.

Cappucino

Dessert time rolled around. Byron ordered a cappucino. As usual for when I try coffee at fine dining restaurants, it really exceeded my expectations. I find good restaurant coffee to be more intense and memorable than good cafe coffee. If that even makes sense...

Pannacotta al miele - honey infused pannacotta served with honeycomb and pear jellies

Byron and I were being pigs that night and ordered a dessert each. He chose the panna cotta and I tried a bit. The actual panna cotta portion of the dessert was creamy and lush and smooth but I wasn't crazy about the jelly component.

Sfogliatella napoletana - traditional neapolitan desert made from flaky pastry, filled with ricotta and cedro, served with a lemon puree, redcurrant coulis and fresh blueberries

My own dessert was supposed to be the soft fried dough but what I got instead was actually the flaky pastry dessert. Unfortunately I didn't even figure it out until I had nearly finished the whole thing. I knew I didn't like it that much but because both those desserts were unfamiliar to me, I was too late in putting 2 and 2 together. It just goes to show that when you put something sweet in front of me, I will eat it :).

I actually really liked Tartufo. It wasn't perfect but the food was definitely an above-average experience for me. The service was attentive without being annoying and the atmosphere is lovely.

Lunch at Sail Restaurant, Hamilton Island

2012-01-03T14:00:00.000-08:00

Sail Restaurant
Resort Centre, Catseye Beach, Hamilton Island

On our way to the water sports area, we passed Sail Restaurant a number of times. I thought it looked really inviting with the open dining area overlooking the beach. We ended up eating there twice, both times for lunch. Once was just because we were after somewhere nice to eat and the other time was on our last day, when we really needed to kill time before our flight.

We sat out on the deck and enjoyed the ocean breeze. At Sail, you order and pay first at the counter and drinks are ordered separately from the bar.

I'll just post up everything we ate on both occasions and give a run down of my feedback.

Banana milkshake and lemon lime bitters

I had a huge craving for banana smoothie and asked the bar guy to make me a banana milkshake. Now, banana milkshakes and banana smoothies are totally different things, given that the former doesn't actually contain banana. I watched him pour in the banana flavoring and thought 'hmm' but it ended up being really nice. Sometimes, a bit of fake banana flavor does the trick. Dad just got a LLB.

Fish and chips

On our first visit, mum ordered the battered fish and chips and washed it down with a Corona. In my opinion, this is the most perfect meal to have in that location.

Fish bite shot

The fish was lovely and crispy though a bit dry/unfresh on the inside. The chips were great.

Being a health-conscious loser (trying to make up for the Christmas Day binge from the night before), I ordered the Thai beef salad. It was shocking. There was next to no dressing and the beef tasted just like left-over beef steak without any distinguishable Thai flavoring.

T-bone steak with mushroom sauce and garden salad

Dad's choice was a T-bone steak. I tried a bit. It was pretty good. Decent for a steak but nothing amazing.

Prawns!

The next time we went, I saw that the special of the day was a half kilo of prawns. I've been absolutely obsessed with prawns lately. I couldn't resist. They were large, juicy prawns with a nice sweetness to the flesh. They came with a light cocktail dressing. I terminated these prawns like a machhhinneee.

Grilled chicken caesar salad

Mum was being the health nut on this occasion and ordered a caesar salad with grilled chicken. I had a bit of the chicken and found it to be dry but the rest of the salad was reasonable.

Spaghetti marinara

Dad went with the spaghetti marinara. He found the mussels to be really unfresh and complained that he couldn't detect any white wine flavor in the sauce. I didn't bother trying this one because I was so into my prawns.

Sail Restaurant is another example of what can be expected at a tourist destination. We were just relieved that the food wasn't exorbitantly priced. I don't expect ground-breaking gourmet food, which is good, because we didn't get that. Instead, the food is 'okay' and 'good' at best but what you really soak up is the amazing location. And that is fine by me.

Random shots from Hamilton:

Christmas on Hamilton Island - Dinner at Manta Ray Cafe

2012-01-02T21:59:00.000-08:00

Christmas Dinner at Manta Ray Cafe
Front Street, Marina, Hamilton Island

It's getting harder and harder for my family to organize group excursions because of my work and dad's post office hours. We try to take advantage of public holidays as much as possible. Queensland has a severe lack of consecutive public holidays in the second half of the year so we decided to do something over Christmas. This is annoying because the price on everything (flights and accomodation) is insanely jacked up and what you get in return is an overpopulation of holiday-goers and tourists. Oh well, what can you do?

View from our hotel room

We took the plunge and booked a few nights at the Reef View Hotel. There were concerns about the weather (grandpa insisted he heard something about a cyclone) but luckily for us, the weather was stunning on every single day we were there. For an island/beach-based holiday, good weather is essential.

Now, down to food. Mum and dad heard that food on Hamilton Island was extremely dear so they hoisted over 30kg of food in the form of salads, tinned fish/meat, bread, weird Asian produce, instant noodles, wine and beer. Despite all this, I insisted we eat out at least twice.

On Christmas Day, we found ourselves totally unplanned but with a golf buggy to ride around until we found a suitable restaurant. I guess Christmas Day dining is a bit like booking out a venue for a wedding. Restaurants like to take advantage of the occasion and milk your money like there's no tomorrow. Two places that we went to weren't doing their 'usual' menu but instead had special 'Christmas Menus' that were all over $120 per head, not including drinks.

Feeling discouraged, we ended up at Manta Ray Cafe, one of the only places still offering normal food at normal prices. It was my shout and I was using the age-old excuse of 'it's Christmas so I can eat as much as I like' to order a whole bunch of things to share.

Cocktails

Drinks were ordered to start with. I had a strawberry mojito and mum tried the alcoholic mango smoothie. Both were good. The mojito in particular was very refreshing, great for summer beach weather.

Vegetarian pizza

The vegetarian pizza was my pick. I have a weakness for vegetarian food, especially in pizza form. This one wasn't that great. It was completely underseasoned and the base was fairly average. Adding lots of salt made it... edible.

Haloumi salad

The haloumi salad wasn't so much a salad as lots of slabs of haloumi on a sparse scattering of leaves. I have no complaints about high quantities of haloumi but some of these pieces were burnt to the point of bitter.

Seafood risotto

Dad's pick was the seafood risotto. Mum and dad thought this dish was quite nice but I found it boring and bland. The rice was also too al dente for my liking. On that point, they agreed.

Salt and pepper calamari

Mum was craving salt and pepper calamari so she ordered a plate of that. It was alright - crunchy and not too squishy on the inside. The pieces were rather 'broken' though, if that makes sense. Like, rather than nice, whole rings, there were crumbly bits everywhere. Kinda like the bottom of a chip packet.

I was full by this point but got carried away by the Christmas spirit and insisted on dessert. I ordered the tiramisu and chocolate mudcake.

Chocolate mudcake

The chocolate mudcake was so extremely decadent. I suppose that's good for mudcake but I haven't eaten anything that rich in so long that it was a struggle getting even a mouthful down. Dad thought it was good but mum was equally overwhelmed as me.

Tiramisu

Contrastingly, the tiramisu was fresh and light. I much preferred this as a dessert to end our meal. I would've liked it to be a bit more booze-soaked but otherwise, it wasn't too bad.

Manta Ray Cafe was quite standard for a cafe in terms of food. Nothing amazing but nothing to really complain about. The service was very pleasant though and of course, the environment was lovely with the marina yachts and water right next to us.

Sono Japanese Restaurant Portside

2011-12-21T18:02:00.000-08:00

Sono Japanese Restaurant Portside
http://www.sonorestaurant.com.au/

Last week was a significant milestone for me. I have officially been working full-time for over a year now! What better way to mark this anniversary than to take my family out for food? We decided on Sunday lunch and I booked Sono via Mochi's recommendations. With its flash location next to the water in Hamilton, I figured it'd be a nice day time dining spot.

The restaurant is located upstairs near the cinema. There's an expansive dining space with conventional table, sunken seats (to pretend that you're sitting on the floor) and some private rooms as well.

I was given free reign to order whatever I wanted to. I decided on a few starters and mains to share.

Large sashimi combination platter

The large sashimi platter arrived first. Everything was fresh, which is crucial for sashimi. There was a variety of fish but we (being n00bs) still preferred the salmon best.

Oysters

I chose 2 types of oysters: the ponzu sauce with grated white radish and the lime sauce with Canadian salmon roe.

Close-up of oyster with ponzu, grated white radish with chili, shredded shallot

The oysters themselves were large, juicy and sweet but the toppings weren't distinct enough for me to have a preference. Both were good.

Gyoza - pan-fried Japanese pork dumplings served with dipping sauce

Next came the gyoza. These were crunchy on the outside and the filling was good but they weren't a standout dish. Gyoza is streetfood to me and there was nothing about this Sono version that pushed them to the next level.

Gyu tataki - traditional seared striploin beef, thinly sliced and served with citrus soy sauce

The beef tataki was very well received. It is rare beef, lightly seered on the exterior and thinly sliced. I thought it was delicious and so very tender. My dad in particular enjoyed this dish.

Chicken teriyaki - sauteed chicken maryland with teriyaki sauce, served with seasonal vegetables

Our mains soon followed. The chicken teriyaki was something that Mochi insisted I try. Sure, chicken teriyaki is very pedestrian but I'm glad I ordered this because it shows how awesome simple food can be when executed well. The flavors (sweet and savory soy) were perfectly composed and the chicken was tender and juicy... no dry bits at all.

Black cod saikyo yaki - grilled New Zealand black cod, pre-marinated for 48 hours in a traditional saikyo miso sauce

The black cod saikyo yaki sounded great on the menu (quote 'a very tasty and traditional dish') but let us down in terms of taste. Mum didn't mind it but the rest of us thought this dish to be the least impressive. The flesh was thick and there was nothing special about the taste. Maybe my tastebuds are too hyperevolved and traditional doesn't cut it anymore :(.

Duck teriyaki orange - sauteed NSW Pepe’s duck breast with teriyaki and orange sauce, served with seeded mustard

Duck teriyaki orange was something else I was really looking forward to, just cos I love duck. It was quite good. The duck wasn't fatty at all and had a nice, subtle orange flavor that went well with the wholegrain mustard. I've had more outstanding duck dishes elsewhere though.

Tempura moriawase - large Queensland king prawns, whiting, calamari and assorted seasonal vegetables deep-fried in tempura batter; served with green tea salt, shiso herb salt, sea salt and traditional dipping sauce

The tempura plate was next. There was an assortment of tempura items gracefully arranged on a plate, served with miscellaneous salts. The tempura was done just as so - light and airy and crisp. My grandma loves making tempura at home and marveled at how they can achieve this exterior consistency without over/under-cooking the inside. The tempura at Sono was good but honestly, tempura at most Japanese restaurants out ist at least passable so it wasn't anything to give a medal over.

Nasu dengaku - grilled eggplant with white and brown miso

Contrastingly, the eggplant dish really was a standout. It was grilled to perfection with a soft, giving texture. My dad was so into this he started raving poetically about how 'ying and yang' the white and brown miso pastes were, giving the dish perfect harmony. I'm not sure if the skin was even supposed to be eaten but by the time my family were done, there wasn't a licking of sauce left on the plate.

The service at Sono was impeccable, as is expected from a Japanese restaurant. That and the comtemporary, open-spaced dining environment contributed to a casual yet sophisticated lunchtime experience. It helped that the food was consistently fresh, light and tasty. I am grateful for Mochi's recommendation to try Sono and would gladly go back to try more of their menu.

Carolina Kitchen

2011-12-16T18:44:00.001-08:00

Carolina Kitchen
38 Macaulay St, Coorparoo

Last Friday night, I did something that should speak volumes about the dining selection in Toowoomba. We drove all the way to Brisbane to have dinner, before driving all the way back (about 3hr return journey). It's not just that there aren't many restaurants around here to begin with, the quality/price is just not competitive compared with what Brisbane has to offer. Not only that, I just haven't been to anywhere new and exciting in so long (evident by my lack of new posts) that I HAD to.

I chose Carolina Kitchen because I'd heard so much about it. It carries a lot of hype in the food blogging world. I've seen mentions on Twitter and posts on Urbanspoon. Southern American food is something I don't have great exposure to but completely appeals to me (hearty soul food... how could it not?) Mochi went with her friends a while back and claimed it was good.

She had warned me that the restaurant was located randomly in a very residential part of Coorparoo. She wasn't wrong there.

When we walked up to the restaurant, I was very taken aback. For one thing, calling it a 'restaurant' is stretching it. It's basically a takeaway store and a small one at that. There are a few tables inside but they were very competitive when we first got there. I think it's a miracle we got a table at all (in fact, we ordered takeaway, assuming we'd have to eat in the car, but another diner vacated just in time).

I had expected a real Southern-style diner (kinda like Sylvias that was featured on Australian MasterChef) but instead, it's a takeaway shop that sells some food items that could be considered Southern.

Being very hungry and curious, we ordered a smattering of everything: ribs, wings, fries and a chili dog.

NY Fries

The fries arrived first. They are crisp shoestring fries with a bit of sour cream, cheese and chili sauce. Byron hated these because he thought they were over-cooked and too thin. I love thin fries and especially love crispy ones so I thought these were perfect.

Buffalo wings with a blue cheese dipping sauce

Next came the wings. The wings had an alright flavor - nothing stand out. They weren't super juicy but then again, they weren't dry either. I did like the cheese sauce and ended up using that to dip my fries.

Chili dog

The chili dog came next. The appearance underwhelmed me and indeed, this was something that Byron wanted to try but I didn't care much for. It ended up being the tastiest order!

Chili dog interior

It was a very simple hot dog with a soft bun, mustard and a squishy chili sauce but it tasted sooo good.

Aunt Lilly Mae's BBQ ribs

Finally, our ribs arrived. This was the part I was looking forward to the most but unfortunately it was a let down for me. I mean, they weren't terrible but my expectations were quite high and they weren't even close to meeting them. The sauce was just like plain BBQ to me, and too sweet for my palate. The ribs themselves... it seemed like the flavor hadn't penetrated into the meat and was just sitting on the outside? They weren't very tender/melty either. I've definitely had better ribs out (The Smoke beats this hands down). Heck, I know I've made better myself!

I wouldn't recommend Carolina Kitchen except maybe for their hotdogs. In my opinion, its the perfect example of somewhere that's been brutally overhyped. If I had zero expectations of this place, I might've thought 'yeh... it's alright' but as it was, I felt like I wasted my trip. Sorry guys!

Pump @ 123

2011-12-15T13:39:00.000-08:00

Pump @ 123
123 Russel St, Toowoomba

Yes, it's been a long dry spell of not-blogging. I can't help it! It's a busy time of the year. For some, that might mean plenty of opportunities to dine out at new restaurants. For me, it means I'm running around all over the place organizings with barely any time to eat/cook.

I know that a Toowoomba cafe entry is not exactly the most exciting bounce back into writing posts but in my defence, this cafe is actually quite good. Also, I want to get it out of the way because I have LOTS of exciting restaurants coming up this weekend and over the next few weeks (in a few locations across Australia).

Alrighty... so, Pump @ 123 is a drive through cafe located sorta close to where I live. Up until I Googled the place for my blog, I always referred to it as 'the drive through cafe'.

It's a surprising cafe, like a few others in Toowoomba, because from the outside you don't think much of it and when you step in, you get a whiff of what I can only call 'exceeds expectations for Toowoomba'.

This place is a combined gift shop/gourmet food shop/cafe. I've eaten there a couple of times, at different times of the day. I've also gotten takeaway from there.

Service has been overall good although the time I ordered takeaway, I got the odd grouchy lady... but I suppose that can't be helped.

They're quite flexible and on 2 occasions, we've ordered items that weren't strictly on their menu. Once, they made a chicken wrap up for me on request and another time, we asked if they had soup left and was lucky enough to get some pumpkin soup.

Chicken salad wrap

The chicken wrap was very... full. It wasn't amazing or unique in terms of filling and flavor but it was the kind of thing I like having for lunch: healthy and fresh.

Pumpkin soup

Byron had the soup and he didn't like it because it wasn't creamy enough but I actually thought it was quite good for the same reasons as above. I'd sacrifice a bit of creaminess in everday food for the lack of guilty conscience any day!

Iced chocolate

He also ordered an iced chocolate on this occasion. It was the usual non-frappe variety with syrup and ice-cream. He devoured it quite quickly so it must've been quite good.

Latte

I've had coffee at Pump a few times and would grade their coffee as 'good'.

What's really cute is they always give you a mini treat with your coffee. It's been different the couple of times I've been there, and I just think it's a nice detail that keeps regulars excited.

Toasted chicken Turkish

On another occasion, I went to Pump with my friend Cupcake. She ordered a toasted Turkish bread sammie with chicken. She said it was good.

Frappe

Cupcake also picked up a frappe (can't remember the flavor).

Ham wrap

That day, I had a ham wrap (aren't I boring with the wraps; ps I eat wraps at home too), which I really liked... as much as you can 'really like' something as mundane as ham wrap.

Eggplant salad

I also picked up a side of eggplant salad. This was too oily for me and didn't have much flavor.

I'd still like to go back to Pump for some cakes because their dessert cabinet looks quite good! Overall, I think I've found a pretty good local lunch/coffee spot.

Rosa Mexicano

2011-12-01T18:19:00.000-08:00

Rosa Mexicano
http://www.rosamexicano.com.au/

Last weekend, part of my mad dash around Brisbane involved a stop-over at Rosalie for Mexican food. I met up with my buddy Josh after parking in a rediculous spot on a hill and melting in the walk down to Nash Street (yep, I can feel it's Summer now). I actually convinced him to walk back to my car with me and move it to a better location. Have I mentioned I'm terrible at parking?

We decided to sit indoors for air-conditioning. It was just after 1pm on Sunday and the restaurant was rather quiet. We were both starving and couldn't wait to start eating.

The menu contained some usual Mexican offerings as well as a couple of unusual fusion dishes.

Coyote balls - crumbed chorizo meatballs filled with cheese, served with ranch sauce

For entrees, Josh requested the coyote balls. I think it was the combination of 'meat', 'cheese' and 'ranch sauce' that did it for him. Well, I'm glad he chose these because they were radical! This is my idea of party finger food. It was everything as described. Nothing posh or refined but they sure went down a treat.

Beef burrito, chicken enchilada and chili con queso dip

In a fit of smart thinking, Josh and I decided to share a combination plate. I let him choose (I wasn't feeling very decisive that day) and he selected one with a beef burrito, chicken enchilada and a cheese dip.

Burrito and enchilada close-up

We discussed briefly the difference between burrito and enchilada (I think I worked out it was the wrap that distinguished the 2). They were both very tasty and much less processed/artificial than say, Montezumas.

I wasn't a huge fan of the cheese dip though. Firstly, the idea of it makes me feel queasy and secondly, the consistency was of molten cheese (der) which doesn't grip onto cornchips that well! Josh seemed to like it though. Well, he finished it. I don't know if that's the same thing :).

I can not believe I was even considering ordering the combination plate for myself, solo. That would've been rather ambitious! As it was, I found myself marvelling at Josh's ability to polish that giant plate of food off.

We liked the environment in Rosa Mexicano. It was kinda... nice, like 'calming and festive' instead of all out festive. Imagine siesta by the water. Only, there weren't many people there. For certain kinds of food, that is actually a good thing but for Mexican, it's nice to be in a small crowd. That's my point of view anyway.

Gillian's Garden Cafe for Breakfast and Lunch

2011-11-27T18:27:00.000-08:00

Gillian's Garden Cafe
http://www.gilliansgardencafe.com.au/

I originally found out about Gillian's Garden Cafe through information about her awesomely famous sandcrab lasana. I've actually attempted it myself and to this date, it was one of the best things I've cooked with my two hands. It wasn't without effort though so I was very excited about the idea of trying someone else's.

I dragged mum out with me for lunch one day (before we drove on to have an indulgent 3hr massage... woohoo, life is good). Gillian's is located on Stanley Street near the Gabba. It's strange because bang in the middle of an inner city road, there's a small nursery slash gift shop slash cafe. It's a bit unexpected.

The cafe seating area really makes you feel like you're at a large nursery in suburbia. When we went for lunch, we sat in the 'outdoor' area. We perused the menu and mum decided on the oysters, which was a special of the day. There were many tempting options on the lunch menu but I HAD to get the sandcrab lasagna.

Coffin Bay oysters - with lemongrass and cucumber granita

The oysters came first. They looked gorgeous! The oysters were as delicious as they looked - juicy and fresh. I've never tried oysters with something like granita before and I must say it worked wonderfully.

Oyster close-up

The lemongrass granita perfectly complimented the oysters and it was cool and refreshing. All over, a great Summer dish.

Sandcrab lasagne - with abalone cream sauce and seasonal salad

The lasagna came next. It was a real hefty slab of lasagna and packed full of real crab meat. The flavors were rich and beautiful, albeit perhaps lacking a tiny bit of salt (easily ammended).

Cut shot of lasagna

My only complaint is that it wasn't saucy enough. The one I made had a creamy, tomato sauce to accompany the lasagna. Here, there was a sort of creamy sauce (supposed to be abalone cream) that wasn't tangy and there just wasn't enough of it. The light side salad was quite good though.

The next time I went to Gillian's was only yesterday. I was meeting up with an old highschool friend (we'll call her Flinn) for breakie and chose this place because I liked lunch there and the fact that it's inner city but also tranquil (and also relatively easy to find a park).

This time, I was lead to the 'inside' portion of the cafe. It's a quaint area that ressembles a dining room with chandeliers and mirrors and things.

Latte

I was undecided on food for a long time but knew I needed a coffee (2 hrs of sleep the night before will do that to you) so I got my usual latte. It will probably take 0-1 hrs of sleep for me to ask for an espresso or long black or any of those without-milk caffine shots.

The coffee was decidedly good. It was intense (but not burnt or bitter) and creamy with a great foam consistency.

Poached free range - with herbed hollandaise and brioche soldiers

I ended up choosing a simple breakfast of poached eggs with brioche soldiers. The eggs were poached perfectly and it was an example of how free range eggs are a league above the regular sort. The yolks were a deep orange colour and huge and delicious. I thought the hollandaise was excellent too but what let me down was the brioche. Don't get me wrong, the brioche itself was fine but to me, it was too sweet to go with the savory nature of this dish. Brioche french toast is awesome. Brioche with egg is... a bit weird.

Potato and leek hash - with smoked salmon, poached egg and asparagus

Flinn ordered the potato and leek hash with smoked salmon. The sauce on it was like my hollandaise. She said it was tasty and fresh but the serving was small, considering the price.

I personally liked my lunch experience at Gillian's better than the breakfast. It could be down to what we ordered but overall, I am still impressed by their food. The environment is inviting and the staff are nice. I noticed a cake cabinet too so I'll probably head back for sweets sometime.

Kitchen Sanitarium for Breakfast

2011-11-23T01:21:00.000-08:00

Kitchen Sanitarium
http://www.kitchensanitarium.com.au/

These last couple of weeks my trips to Brisbane increased from once per week to twice per week. It's not (entirely) because I get lonely and bored in Toowoomba but because I've actually had errands to do in Brissie that justified the drive. Because of this, I've managed to squeeze in a few extra eating trips too.

Everything is dandy when your pals are available but what if they're busy with uni/work/other aspects of their life? Why, you eat solo of course.

Yesturday I sort of took that to the next level. You'll shortly see what I mean.

I've wanted to try Kitchen Sanitarium for a while, to the point where I've attempted to go a few times but either got lost or it was closed. This time, I made it there (after a sweaty Summer trek from St Andrew's Hospital on Wickham Tce - don't ask why).

There were quite a few city suit folk lining up for takeaway but because I had time to kill, I took a seat.

At this point, I started facing the dilema of what to order. I try to make it a rule that in order to blog a place, I need at least 2 different dishes and perhaps a beverage too. When I used to go to uni in the city, I combated this by going to one particular cafe more than once before blogging about it, so that I would have the variety I needed.

Now, I'm more realistic. I don't live in Brisbane so who knows when I'll next be stopping by Kitchen Sanitarium. I decided to put on a brave face and risk any judgement of being a pig by ordering 2 breakfast dishes and a drink. I gave the waitress an apologetic look and tried to explain that it was for breakfast AND lunch. Like that makes me any less weird lol.

The food came really quickly, which I was impressed by. I must have had too many bad experiences of waiting forever for breakfast because I normally go on busy weekends.

Kitchen Muesli - with figs, sweet dates, seeds and oats, milk and natural yoghurt

I started with the muesli because it seemed more like the 'breakfast' item (I thought I'd begin with 'breakfast' before moving on to the 'lunch' component of my meal). It was a bountiful muesli with bucketloads of dried fruit, notably dried figs.

Muesli close-up

The muesli was served with a smattering of milk and some natural yogurt. It was great. I would've devoured the whole lot if I didn't have something else vying for my attention.

Breakfast Bruschetta - with smooth goat’s curd, sweet tomatoes, creamy avocado and herbs

The bruchetta was welcomingly simple. Two slabs of freshly toasted bread with perfect slices of avocado and tomato plus a scoop of goats cheese. The whole lot was then drizzled with olive oil and dressed with fresh baby basil. These types of classic combinations never fail to work, especially when the ingredients are of high quality. Seriously... there was not a single speck of brown/grey on the avocado. How do they manage that? The goats cheese was delicious. I was never a huge fan before but I think I'm going to convert...

Berry pear juice - with blackberry, strawberry, pear and apple

My pear and berry drink arrived while I was eating. It was beautifully layered and gave me this slightly guilty feeling of drinking a cocktail at 10am in the morning. Usually in any drink with berries in it, the berries overwhelm but in this, you could definitely taste the pear.

Kitchen Sanitarium was a great experience for me. I would love, love, love to try their lunch menu. The service was great and the whole atmosphere seemed calm and inviting (which shouldn't be taken for granted in an inner city cafe). The food was fresh, simple and delicious.

Pho Sai Gon Noodle Shop

2011-11-20T14:14:00.000-08:00

Pho Sai Gon Noodle Shop
Shop 9, 223 Calam Road Rd, Sunnybank Hills

My original Saturday night plans had disintegrated so I traded that in for a simple, early dinner and lots of online shopping during the night instead.

Mochi picked where to go. She's been eating out a fair bit recently, and we all know the feeling of "no more fancy shmancy or anything with big servings please" she chose something light. When I think of 'light' I think of Vietnamese, and evidently she's on the same brainwave as me because we ended up at Pho Sai Gon.

This is located in the little complex towards the end of Mains Rd (where it might no longer be called Mains Rd... haven't checked it up). I hadn't been there in ages so this place is new for me.

The shop is tiny with a smattering of tables to dine in, plus a few more outside. We chose to sat inside and it was quiet when we got there but gradually, more and more people came.

There were heaps of things on the menu - all $10 (except for spring rolls and drinks).

Mochi and I tried to order different things but we both wanted to vermicelli bowl so we compromised by ordering one with grilled pork and one with a combination of different meats.

From a blogging perspective, this might be boring for you to read/see but too bad!

Vietnamese iced white coffee

I also asked for a Vietnamese iced coffee. This was wowzers. It kept me up until 4am. Or that might've been because I was online shopping and got too excited. I'm not sure. In any case, it was a great iced coffee.

Combination vermicelli bowl

Our food took a while to come out. When I have a meal at Asian eateries, I sort of expect them to wave a wand out the back and shazam, the order is coming my way within 5min of being taken down. In this case, we were left gossiping/chatting scheming for a good 20min, maybe more. Lucky I was with Mochi and not someone awkward and unconversational!

Grilled pork vermicelli bowl

The dishes we ordered are basically the same but with slightly different toppings so I won't ramble on about them individually. You get a large bowl of vermicelli rice noodles with some lettuce, spring rolls and in my case, grilled pork (Mochi had that plus some other bits and pieces).

There's also a small bowl of fish sauce that you pour over the top as a dressing.

I haven't had Vietnamese food in ages. This bowl was exactly what I wanted. There was plenty of Vietnamese-style grilled pork (garlic/lemongrass/fish sauce flavor) and the lettuce was really fresh too. What I really enjoyed was the spring rolls! I normally don't see what the deal is with spring rolls but these were petite and crunchy and good.

Aside from being disappointed by the long waiting time, it was a fairly positive experience. I'd like to go back to Pho Sai Gon to try their other food.

Hometown Cafe

2011-11-18T13:42:00.000-08:00

Hometown Cafe
Shop 90d, Sunnybank Plaza, Sunnybank

I've been looking for things to blog and went through one of my photo albums from last month to find this. Mum and dad took me to Hometown Cafe when I was in the mood for 'homely' Asian food. Hometown for homely food. It makes sense, right?

Hometown Cafe is located in Sunnyank Plaza, opposite Welcome Asian grocery store (in that outdoor area). It serves Taiwanese food. My dad thinks the cafe itself ressembles a caffeteria because it's so simple (in terms of furnishings) and the food is very cheap.

We went for lunch one Saturday (or was it Sunday?) and picked a few meals.

Thickened fish noodle soup

Mum was feeling experimental and got this slimey fish noodle soup. I know it sounds unappetizing but honestly, that is a fair description. The fish was deep-fried and the soup was sort of sour and extremely thick and slimey. Mum said it was 'interesting' but this is definitely not something I would order again.

Three cup chicken with rice and sides

I chose the three cup chicken, which is about the extend of what I know of Taiwanese cuisine. It came with some rice, veggie sides and a simple broth (of not much more than salt + water).

Close-up of my measly scraps :(

You can see from my picture that there was a tiny amount of chicken. Extract the bone and it's really not much meat that you get. It's a pitty because the flavor was nice (although the chicken was a tad dry). The rice was seasoned with sauce from the chicken. I liked the egg.

Pork and pickled vegetable noodle soup

Dad ordered the pork and pickled vegetable noodle soup. I had a taste. It was nice but my mum can make much better. I suppose that's the point though: homely food without actually having to make it at home. The serving was quite decent.

Pearl milk tea

I also had a pearl milk tea to wash everything down. This was good. Not overly sweet or anything.

Hometown Cafe gives exactly what you expect and not much more. It is cheap, uneventful food that serves to fill you up. The flavors weren't bad but I think there are areas for improvement.

Sling Lounge for Cocktails and Tapas

2011-11-13T03:33:00.001-08:00

Sling Lounge
http://www.slinglounge.com/

I managed to jam pack this past weekend with a delicate balance of bad luck/stupidity and great fun. Friday night was a Toowoomba Christmas party, where I had a blast until I figuratively let my hair down too far and ended up paying a cabbie $50 for a 2min drive home and also lost my camera. To point a): I'm very disappointed that there are cabbies out there who take advantage of floozy drunk girls by not giving them change! To point b): not only was it devastating to lose my ol' faithful camera (that has been servicing this food blog for the past year), I also lost the photos I took that night and have to deal with the idea that some pervert might be hoarding pictures of me and my friends...

Ok then, how many cameras have I been through now just in the time I've been writing posts in Hungry Kittens? 3? Maybe 4?

I liked my last model so much (Sony Cybershot TX10) that I bought a new one exactly the same (but in a different colour). It's a great little machine because I can drop it and wash it and it lives through it all. Unfortunately there wasn't a feature that prevented it from being misplaced... I have no one to blame but myself :(. There is a newer version of the TX10 but I didn't want to spend that much money when I was already happy with the old model so I picked up the last one they had in stock at Myer (literally the demo model) and was ready to snap photos again Saturday night.

I had the space of about 2hrs to do the camera shopping and set it up so I didn't have time to make sure it was perfect. As a result, I was on the lowest megapixel setting and most of the photos to follow are horrible (the poor lighting didn't help either). Sorry about that!

For Saturday, we had a massive girly night planned. Because we're oldies, we can't start our night at a fashionably late hour (like 9 or 10pm)... we just get too hungry. We managed to stretch it till 8 though, and the evening was to start with cocktails and tapas from Sling Lounge.

Being a massive fan of West End food and culture, I've walked past Sling a bazillion times but never ventured in.

When we did this time, it was pleasantly uncrowded. Mochi and Blossom started studying the massive cocktail bible while I took my sub par photos. With total lack of effort, I chose the cocktail special that was written on the chalkboard.

Silver River and Scattered Dust

Cocktails started arriving, much the joy of our alcohol-loving selves. I am always weary of the drinks Blossom orders because she likes ones that pack a punch. Mochi's Scattered Dust was part of the molecular mixology section sounded mind-boggling on the menu but it was actually delicious. It ended up being my favorite of the night.

Summer Cloud

My Summer Cloud was very drinkable (in terms of not being too alcoholic) but also too sweet for my liking.

At this point, we started picking out food options too. We decided on 3 different tapas plates to share, as well as the vegetarian grazing board.

Contrary to expectations, the tapas arrived first. They were stacked in high-tea fashion. This was probably the only thing that would work for our tiny table. As it was, I found it impractical to eat with the lack of surface space and the tower of food made me feel segregated from the girls on the other side of the table. That's a shame because tapas is supposed to be social.

Artichokes - baked with black olives and manchego, finished with a salsa verde

As for the food itself, it was all quite good. I started with the artichokes, which was Blossom's pick. I'm not very experienced with artichoke but this was a pleasant surprise. It had a zingy pickled flavor that would go well with beer.

Rabas (Aros-de Calamari Fritas) crispy squid - with citrus and aioli

I tried a bit of crispy squid next. Also quite good. The squid wasn't rubbery and the exterior was indeed crispy.

New York-style steak sliders - with sweet tomatoes, house pickles, truffle infused aged cheddar on house made bread

We then battled the task of dividing 2 steak sliders into enough for 3 girls. These were probably my favorite. They were simple, but steak and a slice of pickle on a bun just works. The sad part is they totally reminded me of Maccas cheeseburgers and I know which is better value.

Vegetarian grazing board - with goats cheese cherve, artichokes, mustard fruits,piquillo peppers, Australian olives, guindillas, mixed nuts and sun dried tomato, with side of bread

The vegetarian grazing plate arrived and once again, we had to shift stuff around to get everything to fit. We hurridly finished of the food in the tapas tier so we could bugger that contraption off and make more room.

Seeing the vegetarian grazing plate on the menu was one reason why Mochi and I decided to try Sling. It just goes to show how little we pay attention to detail because we both thought it would comprise of haloumi and falaafels but in actual fact, the menu mentions none of those things. It's just what our idea of a perfect vegetarian grazing plate would be. The real Sling vegetarian grazing plate was a selection of pickled things, different coloured olives and some bread with a nutty oil. The girls liked the nutty oil best.

We weren't ecstatic about our experience at Sling Lounge. The main waiter who serviced our table had a real attitude problem. Honestly, I don't care if your establishment is the most popular bar/lounge on the street, it's no excuse to have a scowl on your face and bark at us everytime you took an order. The food was OK but considering tapas plates averaged $12 a pop, the serving sizes were quite abysmal. I'd recommend Jam Jar over this place without hesitation. I am way too busy to spend my down time in wanky bars that think they're too good for proper service.

Edited to add: I went back on Tuesday night at the insistence of a friend who hadn't been before and it was actually quite nice. The nasty waiter guy wasn't there and the 2 guys who were there were so friendly. Guess it depends on who you get...?

Grove Juice

2011-11-13T02:48:00.000-08:00

Grove Juice
http://www.grovejuice.com.au/

Grove Juice is a fresh juice company that boasts of top standard flavor with the best nutritional properties. The people at Grove Juice were nice enough to send me a few samples of this new product to try.

I'm a bit of a juice maniac. I have a $250 juicer that crushes anything into sippable oblivion, core and skin and all. I love fruit that doesn't require effort. I love interesting mixtures of fruit. I even love juice with my vodka. Needless to say, I was keen on popping open the Grove Juice bottles and giving them all a try.

I noticed that there were a couple of unconventional flavor combinations. As well as the much-loved classic OJ, there was an apple, mandarin and passionfruit juice and an apple, mandarin, strawberry and lime juice. The last one in particular just screamed of Summer to me.

My first impression was that "yup, this is definitely real fruit juice", unlike much of that "fruit drink" rubbish that's focused on delivering sugar + artificial flavoring to kids.

Apple, mandarin, strawberry and lime was definitely my favorite. I love strawberry in juice! The orange juice was nice too, not overly pulpy. I'm not crazy about passionfruit so I didn't love the 3rd flavor... but it's got a nice tropical vibe. The juice on its own was a bit too sweet for me but I reackon they would be perfect for mixing drinks or adding ice-cubes to.

On a more scientific level, Grove Juice isn't pastorized and the nutrients are preserved from UV light by the clever white bottle.

I'm generally more concerned with flavor than body benefits but it's good to know that something that you're drinking can taste radical and still be nurturing you with vitamins.

Wendland Olives for Breakfast and Lunch

2011-11-10T04:37:00.000-08:00

Wendland Olives
1/76 Bridge St (corner Mary St) Toowoomba

I remember when Mochi first told me about Wendland Olives. Man, that feels like a long time ago now. How fast has this year flown? Her sister had come up to Toowoomba for a visit so they'd been doing a whirlwind inspection of all of Toowoomba's touristy sites (you can count them on one hand).

Mochi's exact words were that Wendland Olives 'was like a cafe in New Farm'. That, for someone who lives about 130km away from New Farm, and indeed any other suburb in Brisbane that houses fine cafes, was music to my ears.

I tried to go once on a Sunday with Byron but it was too crowded. He's not an 'eat breakfast out' person anyway so add the factor of having to wait and he can't turn away fast enough.

The solution? Turn to your much more reliable and patient girlfriends instead. Mochi vowed that she would take me and indeed she did.

We actually went on 2 occasions. Once for a quick pre-conference breakfast and once for lunch. I shmoozed both outings together for this blog.

Wendland Olives is located in a complex on the corner of Bridge and Mary Streets. It is a small cafe and I think that's what gave us the impression of crowdedness on the first visit.

The cafe favors locals and regulars. By that I mean that a newcomer will step in and feel a bit confused. I know I did! There are no huge menus written on blackboards. When we went for lunch, none of the food on display had labels. On top of all that, the cafe doubles as a gourmet store and the boundaries between eatery and shop are very blurred (we sat at a long table that had stock placed as a centrepiece).

In term of food offerings, the breakfast menu is quite standard. You'll find your usual favorites on there but there's not much that makes you stop and think 'hmm?' To compensate for that, there's a decadent pastry cabinet and lots of gourmet bread available.

For lunch, there's a more 'fancy cafeteria' vibe because all the food we got was from the display counter. There were lots of salads, sandwiches, wraps and a few premade home-cooked dishes.

Latte

We had our coffees... a latte for me and cappucino for Mochi.

Cappucino

The coffee was a 'normal good' for me, which means nothing stand out but not at all bad.

Bircher muesli

My breakfast pick was the bircher muesli. I used to be a bircher muesli buff, hadn't eaten it in ages and really missed it. This certainly curbed my cravings. It wasn't spectacular but it was good. I hate bircher muesli that's too sour. This one was light and creamy and the fruit was fresh.

Multigrain date toast

Mochi ordered the pumpkin gluten free toast, which I'd been eyeing off too. Neither of us are gluten intolerant, by the way, we just like pumpkin. The guy behind the counter (owner?) said they were out of the pumpkni variety but had other gluten free breads available, which defied the point of why Mochi wanted it so she went for their regular toast.

Jam

I can't remember what it was called but it was a fruity one, possibly with date. I looked at it and thought 'boring!' but when I had a taste, I was surprised at how good it was. It came with homemade jam that went nicely with the subtle fruit sweetness of the toast.

At that occasion, Mochi also bought a vanilla slice that looked AMAZING to take home. When we next visited, I wanted vanilla slice but they were out!

Speaking of this next visit, we returned for lunch not too much later.

We spent aaaaages asking the poor girls at the counter 'what's this?' and 'what's that?' because as I mentioned before, none of the food had labels. I don't know if that's a once off thing because they forgot or if the regular customers a) know what everything is or b) like surprises.

Vegetable lasagna

Mochi went for the vegetarian lasagna and a side salad. It was a beautiful creation with lots of layers and packed full of veggies. Vegetarian lasagnas take me back to my days of living in a sharehouse in Stones Corner and when I tried to be vegetarian for a month. Ah, I'm getting nostalgic in this post.

Beef goulash with rice

For my lunch, I went with the beef goulash on rice. It was nice but not as good as I thought it'd be. I like these types of dishes to be a bit richer and creamier. This had a nice flavor but wasn't creamy at all. It was one of those moments where I had to justify my pick with 'I bet this is healthy at least'.

Blueberry smoothie

I just ordered another coffee as my 'beverage' but Mochi got a blueberry smoothie. I had a taste... it had a 'hint' of blueberry, a smidgeon of blueberry in fact. Mochi was being nice about it and said 'I like it. Very.... subtle'. Oh well, that's a valid opinion I guess. I know that when I go back, I'd more likely order a banana smoothie.

We couldn't say no to desserts. Is it sad that we need a second course to make our lunch feel complete?

Lemon tart

In absence of vanilla slice, I chose the lemon tart. It had a nice, sharp tang, ofset by the creaminess of the pastry.

Tart texture shot

I did like this tart. I mean, it wasn't super creative (even I can make lemon tart) but it was simple and well-executed.

Coffee eclair

Mochi picked a coffee eclair after much consideration. It had a tiramisu-vibe because the filling was alcohol-infused.

Eclair filling

I really liked this and when Mochi decided she could eat no more, I greedily said 'aren't you having that?' and snatched up the remainder to munch on.

It should speak volumes that we liked Wendland Olives enough to return so quickly. It's the kind of place that invites you to make it your regular cafe because there's a nice variety of simple, good food. We also thought the service was lovely too. The counter guy (possibly owner) made us feel like we mattered as individuals and that's something that most New Farm cafes lack. I would like it to be a little big bigger with more seating areas just so it feels less competitive during peak hours.

Jam Jar for Tapas and Cocktails

2011-11-07T03:28:00.000-08:00

Jam Jar
http://www.jamjarwestend.com/

Emotionally distraught and in need of a distraction, Mochi nursed me out of my rut of sadness by invoking a girl's night out on Saturday.

We met up in West End without a clear focus on where to go... that is, until we remembered Jam Jar. Once upon a long time ago, we attempted to have dinner at Jam Jar but it was waaay too early (I think we opted for an early dinner because we had a massage appointment to rush off to afterwards) so it wasn't open.

At that time, we'd caught a glimpse of the tapas bar from outside and thought "this place is tiny! Where are the tables?"

When we actually went inside on the weekend, we realized that the shop front is small but there's a substantial seating area out the back that's partially open to the skies. I totally dig that open to the heavens vibe in a restaurant/bar/cafe. Aside from that, Jam Jar radiates cool. It's got a sophisticated garage grafitti feel... and as conflicted as that description sounds, it just works.

I wasn't at all in the mood for decision-making so Mochi took charge and selected a bunch of tapas for us to try. They're ordered individually so we got 2 of each. Jam Jar also does regular-sized mains but we wanted to try lots of little things rather than two big things.

Hong Kong Phooey - ol meca tequila, cointeau, passionfruit, lemon juice, mandarin juice, orange blossom water, ginger syrup, ginger beer, mandarin & vanilla dust

We ordered cocktails too. I went for 'Hong Kong Phooey'. Mochi piped out a special request for something fresh, fruity, summery and sweet whilst being light on the alcohol.

My cocktail was great. It was a tad too sweet but other than that, completely drinkable. I hate cocktails that you end up skulling because they're awful. This was very citrusy and vibrant.

Mystery cocktail that turned into our favorite of the night

Mochi's was fabulous. I don't know what it's called (or if it's even on the menu) but it was exactly what she asked for with tones of watermelon and mint. It was so good that in our next round, I ordered one for myself.

Our food came not long after. We both pronounced our affection for food served on wooden boards. There's just something about it that I like (you might have noticed that some of my cooking posts involve food served on a wooden board).

Pork and water chestnut wonton with crushed peanut and chilli caramel, and tomato jam filled profiteroles with celery salt

The pork and chestnut wonton was my first pick. It had a lovely, crunchy exterior and flavorsome filling. The arrancini balls were yummo too. They were simple but well executed.

Herbed polenta cake with beetroot and rosemary salt and goats cheese puree, and cauliflower and millawa blue cheese arancini with porcini and roasted garlic aioli

My favorite tapas item was the potenta cake. What really set it off was the goats cheese puree. It just worked so well together.

I wasn't a huge fan of the tomato jam filled profiteroles because they were just too tangy.

After our food fling, we were so excited about Jam Jar's offerings that we arrived at an unspoken agreement of ordering dessert there too. And none of that 'sharing' business. One whole dessert each please.

Soft centred dark chocolate pudding - with mozart white and pear macerated figs, vanilla bean ice-cream

Mochi wasted no time in choosing the chocolate pudding. I wasted no time in dipping my spoon in when it arrived.

Chocolate pudding interior

It had a rich, dark chocolate flavor that wasn't too sweet and the inside was delightfully gooey.

Cava chiboust - with blueberry soda, roasted mango and candied pistacio praline

My dessert was the cava chiboust, based solely on the fact that I didn't know what it was but it had pistachio in the description. This was a weird dessert. The chiboust was kinda like a panna cotta but much, much lighter (and admittingly, not much flavor). It was surrounded by a sea of berries and came with a berry soda and a scattering of pistachio praline.

Pure texture shot

I tried the chiboust by itself first and was underwhelmed. It did have a soft, silky texture but hey, so does silken tofu and that sure needs other stuff to flavor it.

Fizzle shizzle whizzle

Next, I tried the dessert as a whole by pouring the blueberry soda on top and scattering some praline. It seemed to work better this way but I was envious of Mochi the whole time.

Parting shot - I managed to snap myself

The service at Jam Jar was delightful. I've had some unsatisfying experiences with hospitality recently and it was nice to be reminded that there is good out there. The girls were so friendly and helpful, especially when we were giving the tricky cocktail requests. They always checked back to see if we were happy with what we got too. In fact, Mochi is so impressed that she's considering having her next function there. Give Jam Jar a go!

High Tea at Miss D Cafe

2011-10-28T16:02:00.000-07:00

Miss D Cafe
http://www.missd.com.au/

Last weekend, my dear mummy and I took a drive to an obscure cafe in Tarrigindi for high tea. I used to have an obsession with high tea. I recall that last year, or was it 2 years ago, I aimed to have high tea at every single establishment that offered it in Brisbane.

Obviously that never happened.

But anyway, I can at least tick Miss D off my insubstantial list of 'been there's.

We parked streetside and crossed a busy (scary) road to enter a tiny shop. Miss D doubles as a gift store so the layout is quite eccentric. It looks like a retail store... but there's a counter with cakes and a couple of tiny, dainty tables.

We were seated at one such table towards the back of the shop/cafe. It was laid out with cute plates, cups and cutlery but we queried how anything else would fit on the small tabletop.

English breakfast tea

Our first offering was of English breakfast tea. Mum and I were totally n00b that morning and forgot to use a strainer. Oops. That explains why the photo of my cup has little tea leaves floating around in it.

I'm in no way, shape or form a tea expert. Mum seems to know her stuff a bit more than me and she commented that the tea had a beautiful golden colour.

The triple tier of mini treats arrived next. Now, THIS is more my thang - tea, I don't know... but food is something I have an opinion on. I forgot the proper high tea etiquette... to start at the top or bottom? The top tier had all the sweet goodies so even though I initially thought we should start from the top and work our way down, my instinct for finishing on a sweet note won out. We started on the bottom tier.

Savory tier

The savories included finger sandwiches, mini ham and cheese croissants, baby quiches and pizza buttons. Honestly, they were all delicious. There was amazing attention to detail.

Chicken finger sandwich

The finger sandwiches were so fresh and had all the crust removed. We saved a ham and cheese croissant for dad and even though it was cold by then, he scoffed it down.

Scones with jam and cream

The middle contained 2 chubby scones, a dish of cream and a dish of jam. What else do you need?

Scone close-up

Fans of the cooking aspect of my blog will know I was quite a scone fanatic. I haven't made any batches recently because I've sorta stopped cooking (stupid, tiny rental kitchen and busy work schedule). I will still happily enjoy eating a scone anytime though.

These were good. They had that lovely homemade consistency rather than the horrible bread-like wannabe scones you get at some cafes. These crumbled nicely and the cream and jam were delish too.

Sweet tier

Finally, we had worked our way to tier 3. Mum was weakening in her resolve and didn't have enough stomach space to even try some of these sweets (she's a small lady) but I'm well-practiced. The caramel tart was surprisingly runny but still delicious. I thought the lemon cake was nice and light. The little cupcake was sooooo adorable. And tasty too.

We had a nice time at Miss D's. I have rekindled my affection for high tea! The service was incredibly friendly and the food was thoughtful and delicious. Although our table was tiny, the servingware was cute and we liked the atmosphere.

The Chocolate Cottage

2011-10-26T19:34:00.000-07:00

The Chocolate Cottage
10475 New England Highway, Highfields

What happens when you live in Toowoomba and you've run out of new places to eat? Drive further out.

Mochi discovered this cafe called The Chocolate Cottage about 15min out from Toowoomba CBD in an adjacent town called Highfields.

I know that on the scale of Brisbane, 15min is nothing. In fact, it would be considered 'close-by'. In Toowoomba, 15min feels really out of town.

In fact, I believe Byron actually said to me "I can't believe we're driving all this way for breakfast".

That's what happens when you live out rural - your perception of reality gets screwed.

Anyway... despite his grumbly, Byron did drive us 'all the way' to Highfields on a recent Saturday morning.

The Chocolate Cottage is indeed a cottage, and although it's not made out of chocolate, there are plenty of chocolate goods on display. The building itself is a gift shop slash cafe counter, where you can buy stuff and order stuf.

The veranda as seating, as does the back yard. We sat on the veranda and peered out into the back yard for a glimpse of what may be a mountain view (too many hedges in the way to be sure).

Byron had already eaten instant noodles that morning (don't ask), so he ordered a chocolate milkshake. I was down for something more substantial so I had myself a vegetarian panini, a hot chocolate and also ordered a white chocolate and pistachio cake to share.

Chocolate milkshake

The beverages arrived first. The chocolate milkshake was a chocolate milkshake... nothing work remarking upon. It didn't make our knees weak like the Swiss chocolate milkshake from Pancake Manor does.

Hot chocolate

I thought my hot chocolate looked promising, with its high peak of foam dusted with cocoa powder. Then, Byron pointed out that the bottom wasn't mixed. I looked and saw that indeed, there was powder on the bottom of the glass that hadn't been stirred into the beverage. Um, why is a cafe famed for chocolate products using powdered hot chocolate? Needless to say it just tasted like home-mixed powder chocolate with a bit of foam. Disappointing.

Vegetarian panini

The vegetarian panini was... interesting. It was a huge serving. I was hungry and started digging in. I thought it was pretty good. The falaafel bits were moist. There was some kind of a sweet chili corn relish. I offered Byron a bit to taste and he rejected it on appearance because it looked 'too busy'. I guess it is a panini with an identity crisis: semi-dried tomatoes, sweet chili, corn, sour cream, falaafel. This is combination without a clear theme. Nevertheless, I can't fault it for tasting bad.

White chocolate and pistachio cake

Our white chocolate and pistachio cake was probably the highlight of the meal. It was moist and dense with a lovely stickiness. The crunchy pistachio topping and side of whipped cream complimented really well.

Texture shot of cake

Byron complained that it was great until you have 3 bites, then it's sickly sweet. I beg to differ. He is male and therefore not as dessert-tolerant as I. Coming from a lover of all things baked, I maintain that this was a good cake.

Chocolate for home

I picked up some handmade chocolate while I was at The Chocolate Cottage. Half went to Mochi (i.e. back to our unit in Toowoomba) and half went to mum and dad. I sampled a few of Mochi's (is it weird to give a present and then eat some of it...?) and liked most of what I tried. In particular, the malt ball and praline shells stood out to me.

The Chocolate Cottage was a quaint little place. Something about it being 15min from Toowoomba gave it a vibe of 'coffee shop in the middle of nowhere'. I liked the atmosphere. I was disappointed by the chocolate beverages but I told Mochi we have to go back sometime because I deemed it was worthy enough for her to try.

Domino's New Free Range Chicken Pizzas

2011-10-26T05:40:00.000-07:00

Domino's New Free Range Chicken Pizzas
http://www.dominos.com.au/

Ah... Domino's pizza brings me way back. I remember as a kid, mum and dad would take me to Domino's as a little treat. We'd order Meatlovers in Deep Pan. That was our 'usual'. And we'd eat it steaming hot in the back of the car. My parents were of the opinion that pizza was best eaten IMMEDIATELY, not a minute later.

Times have changed. My favorite flavors are now vegetarian. I prefer Thin 'n' Crispy as a base. I NEVER have time to order and eat pizza out - it's gotta be delivered or nothing (those online orders/iPhone Apps help).

Another recent change is that Domino's are now using free range, locally sourced chicken on their chicken pizzas.

I got the news earlier this week and was totally keen to try it out. After vegetarian, chicken pizzas are my next best pick. Free range is not only more ethical, but it tastes better on everything else, so will it be the same on pizza?

Time to find out.

I scored 3 of the new flavors to try: chicken and feta, creamy chicken and cherry tomato, and finally, BBQ chicken and bacon.

Each box was opened with glee. I spend some time savoring the pizzas by appearance alone.

Chicken and feta pizza

Being a vego pizza lover, I like to see a bit of green. The chicken and feta pizza instantly spoke out to me. It had lush tendrils of what appears to be spinach... I don't know why but greenery on pizza just makes it look that much tastier. Is it my brain trying to gather evidence to the contrary and pretend pizza is a health food? Who cares. The chicken and feta was delish. There was a great mediterranean vibe happening with the feta and olives but nothing too crazy, which i like. These are the kinds of toppings I would use when making pizza at home.

Creamy chicken and cherry tomato pizza

Next, I tried the creamy chicken and cherry tomato flavor. How good does that sound? It tasted just as good. In fact, I have to say this was my favorite. I am a softy for fresh tomato on pizza. There is something about the tanginess that does wonders for cutting through the richness of a cheese topping.

BBQ chicken and bacon

The final flavor was BBQ chicken and bacon. This is obviously the manly flavor. Not one smidgeon of green. I was put off by sight but I grudgingly admit it tasted pretty good. The BBQ flavor had a nice sweetness to it. I didn't say no to a second slice.

Trio of flavors

Now, the important verdict: did I notice the free range difference? I can't say if it was my imagination or some kind of placebo effect but the chicken on the pizza did taste better to what I recall from the past.

Pizza in bed watching TV shows on laptop = win

I was always under the impression that chicken pizzas were a ripoff because you pay more and all you get is a few pieces of cardboard-textured cubes pretending to be 'chicken'. All the chicken on the 3 pizzas I tried tasted like real chicken. And not only that, the chicken was juiiicy.

The sad part was, I pointed this out to Byron when he had a helping and he said "there's hardly any chicken on here". While he may be a greedy male, that was sorta true. So, the quality of chicken has improved but in turn, that makes us want MORE on the pizza.

All in all, kudos for the change Domino's :).

Cheesy Corn and Bacon Muffins

2011-10-25T15:56:00.001-07:00

Cheesy Corn and Bacon Muffins
Home Cooking

I was doing my 'how do I use up as many existing pantry ingredients in one recipe' scan when I found a recipe for corn muffins in Woman's Weekly Bake. Ok, so it didn't encompass as much as I wanted but it was a good base. I took that recipe and beefed it up with extra meat, extra cheese and extra goodness.

How can a muffin with both bacon and ham possibly be bad?

These muffins were originally going to be a contribution to a party but there weren't enough for everyone to have at least one so I figured it was better ettiquette to not bring any.

That lead to there being 12 muffins in my house that I didn't plan on. I have to say, they had no trouble being devoured within 3-4 days. They were gooooood.

Cheesy Corn and Bacon Muffins
Makes 12

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (85g) polenta
1/2 cup (125ml) milk
3 bacon rashers (210g), rind removed, chopped finely
30g ham, chopped
1 shallot, chopped finely
1 and 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour
1 tbsp caster sugar
310g can corn kernels, drained
125g can creamed corn
100g butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten lightly
50g cheddar cheese, grated
2 tbsp chopped parsley
50g of cream cheese, cubed into 12 portions
1/4 cup (30g) coarsely grated cheddar cheese

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to moderately hot (200°C/180°C fan-forced). Oil 12-hole muffin pan.
2. Mix polenta and milk in small bowl. Cover and stand for 20 minutes.3. Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a heated small non-stick frying pan for 2 minutes. Remove the pan from heat. Cool the bacon mixture for about 5 minutes.4. Sift the flour and sugar into large bowl. Stir in corn kernels, creamed corn, bacon, ham, spring onion, parsley and cheese.5. Add the melted butter, egg and polenta mixture. Mix the muffin batter only until just combined.6. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the batter into each hole of the muffin pan. Place one piece of cream cheese in the middle of the batter in muffin pan hole.7. Divide remaining batter among muffin pan holes. Sprinkle grated cheese over each.8. Bake, uncovered, for about 20 minutes or until muffins are well-risen. Turn muffins onto wire rack. Serve muffins warm.

These muffins were delicious. They were perfect on their own, served warm as a snack. The polenta base mixture is easy to do and adds a subtly sweet 'cornbready' element to the muffin... but these babies are much more loaded than cornbread.

I like that the exterior was golden and slightly crunchy from the molten cheese. The fillings I used worked really well together but you can modify and add your own spin.

Bite shot

You can get fancy and supply some cream cheese and chutney too. I thought the cream cheese filling was enough to keep things interesting without embelishment. I tried the muffins reheated and they were still fabulous.

Ortiga Restaurant

2011-10-23T00:16:00.001-07:00

Ortiga Restaurant
http://www.ortiga.com.au/

Last night I had one of those dining experiences that must be shared right away. Most of my posts are written up to a week after the fact but this time, I just can't wait that long. Although I didn't get much sleep last night and I'm tired and I'd rather be online shopping, I've got to document the memory before it fades and I start omitting details.

I know I say this about lots of restaurants but Ortiga has been on my 'must visit' for a long, long time... ever since the day I first saw it when I had dinner nearby at Mint. Mint is long gone but I still remember seeing the legs of cured meat hanging in the restaurant and thinking "I want to go there". At the time I hadn't made the connection that Isis used to be in that exact location but I soon learned that Ortiga was the follow-on.

Well, I missed the boat on Isis but I knew I'd have a chance to try Ortiga.

False alarms of 'I think this weekend is The Weekend to finally go there' came and went. Next thing I knew, I saw Ortiga leading the rank of Queensland restaurants in Gourmet Traveller's 2012 restaurant awards... and the desire to go went up a few notches.

The chance came at last. An uncle flew in to Brisbane from the USA and Grandpa asked me to pick a restaurant to enjoy a family dinner. I couldn't suggest Ortiga fast enough. I rang up and a booking was secured. Next came the wait.

Last night, the wait was over. We battled the kind of travel complications only possible when you get a couple of seniors (grandparents), a stuborn man (good old dad), a guy from out of town (uncle), a woman who can't park in the valley (mum) and an incorectly set-up GPS, and spread these out across 2 cars. The result was a lot of getting lost, getting confused, yelling, frustration and going into wrong restaurants...

It was a miracle we all ended up at our table in Ortiga's basement restaurant. By the time dad's car full of people arrived, I was halfway through a nerve-calming gin and tonic.

The late arrival had driven me into a high-strung mode of panic. Once everyone was seated, I found myself bossing the drinks waitress to bring me menus when in fact, someone else was already on their way with our menus. As soon as these were set down, I pounced our waiter with a "how do you recommend we order from this menu" and was politely told "I was just about to explain..."

I think I managed to calm down a bit after that.

Not to toot my own horn but I've eaten a fair chunk out of Brisbane's available restaurants. I can decipher most menus. Ortiga's menu was totally foreign to me. I spotted the odd English word here and there ('squid', 'duck', 'lamb' etc) but on the whole, I did need a lot of help.

The waiter explained that the menu was designed for sharing and that the majority of dishes were smaller tapas sizes. If we wanted enough for the whole table (6 people), we'd need to double up on those orders. There were also 3 items from the 'mains' section that were larger serves so we could just order a couple of single serves of those.

Orders were placed and very shortly after, the food started arriving.

Croqueta

Our first morsel from Ortiga was the croquetas. I won't venture to guess exactly what the filling comprised of, only that it tasted cheesy and hammy but much more complex.

Inside

I don't know if grandpa was just super hungry or genuine but he proclaimed that it was delicious. I thought they were good and had a more interesting flavor than standard cheese croquettes. Did it blow my socks off? No, but a plate of those with some beer would've been fab.

Selection of Jamónes: de Bellota, de Cebo and Serrano with Jamón Ibérico de Bellota Puro

Next was our selection of jamon. Our waiter gave a detailed description of each variety. What I gathered was that there were 4 types of cured ham, ranging from left to right in order of 'most normal' to 'most special'. By special, I mean that it had winning specs such as 'black pig' and 'fed on pure acorns' etc. Mum and I liked the '3rd one' the most. Because that's not helpful to anyone, I will go out on a limb and venture to say this was te 'serrano'. But that is an educated guess, no more.

Tearing is sharing

Grandpa pretty much went to heaven with the jamon. He's always been an epic fan of cured meats, ever since he descovered humble proscuitto. Everyone loved this platter but commented that it wasn't really Ortiga's cooking that made the meat so fine. Fair enough, I suppose.

Ajo blanco with smoked eel and grapes

The following dish was one of Ortiga's creation. And boy, what a creation it was. I blindly ate away without any idea what I was eating (I promptly forgot what we ordered the moment the order was finalized). When the waiter described the dish, I heard 'foam' and 'jelly' but that's about it. Whatever it was, it was art on the plate and in the palate. I now know (via studying the menu and using Google) that this was the ajo blanco, which is a kind of cold Spanish soup. It had a beautiful, creamy consistency, well balanced by the crunchy ham pieces and sweetness of spring onion. It's supposed to have a smoked eel component but without knowing that, I couldn't detect it in the dish. Dad said this was like 'mayonnaise with bacon'. He might have meant that nicely but what a way to unglamorize a dish! Tsk, men...

Sesos de cordero con jamón, habitas y camarones – Lamb brains with jamón, broad beans and school prawns

Half our table wanted to try the lamb brains so we ordered on portion of those. Initially, I was part of the half who didn't want to try any but peer pressure (and gluttony) made me change my mind. The tiny morsel I tried was beautiful! It wasn't at all gory like I imagined but very delicate.

Magret de pato con castañas y ceps – slow cooked duck breast with chestnuts and ceps

The duck dish arrived around the same time. Mum and I actually watched these being plated up without realizing they were destined for our table. We were marvelling at how careful and finicky they were with the presentation (I saw a piece of duck being swapped because it wasn't balancing on the plate properly). Not only was the dish visually stunning, it was absolutely delicious. We were told to try to get all the components in one mouthful and that, in my opinion, is indeed the best way to enjoy this dish. Every element on the plate adds a depth of flavor and texture that just makes each mouthful sing. Mum said something along the lines of 'symphony in my mouth' and no one laughed at her lameness because we were too busy agreeing. The ducked was sous-vide and then seared to ensure juiciness and the collaboration with crisp onion, chestnuts and more bits than I can comprehend were just genius. This became our table's favorite dish. We later learnt that it was being taken off the menu in the next season in favor of a chicken dish. To that, I say: too bad guys.

That was the end of our tapas selection. We next moved on to mains. To this point, the men had been enjoying the food but were wondering 'will we need a burger after this'.

Arroz Caldoso de Marisco

Our first main was the seafood stew. I tried to translate this in Chinese and I think everyone was expecting a paella-type deal but what we got instead was a stew. This was... an unusual tasting stew.

My plate of seafood stew

Again, the flavor was multi-tonal and complex. I recall the waiter saying something about aniseed. There was definitely saffron. I didn't like it at first but it really grew on me. The seafood bits that I had were so fresh, sweet and juicy too.

Whole slow cooked lamb shoulder with patatas a lo pobre and lemon puree

The next main was one of the dishes I was looking forward to the most: the slow-cooked lamb shoulder.

Patatas a lo pobre

It arrived as a whole shoulder, served with potato gratin, a lamb jus and lemon puree.

Lamb being torn

Our waitress then tore the shoulder apart with nothing but 2 spork-looking instruments. It's a testimont to how tender a piece of meat is when it can be pulled apart with sporks.

I thought the lamb was extremely melty, soft and juicy. As for flavor, well, it had a strong lamb flavor... but that's about it.

Lamb pulled apart

This is a great dish if you like lamb in it's element, pure and stong. However, for me (and the rest of the table), after the taste trip we got from the other dishes, this seemed totally homely and mundane. Sure, it was a very well done homely dish but homely all the same. The men would have liked some charred crispy bits.

My plate of lamb

I have to to say I was let down too. It wasn't bad but for Queensland's best restaurant, I expected more fireworks from the finale of the savory dishes.

We were undecided about dessert. I do love dessert and rarely pass up an opportunity to try dessert at a new restaurant. For some reason, I didn't think Ortiga had dessert or at least, they weren't famous for it.

To grandpa's insistence, we ordered 3 desserts to try and share.

Pumpkin mille-feuille

The first was a pumpkin mille-feuille. This was surprisingly good! As a pumpkin fan, even I wouldn've been shocked by the suggestion that pumpkin would be good in a puff pastry slice but it worked really well. This dessert was delicate and creative and it just worked. Mum and dad liked it too. It wasn't too sweet either.

Ride pudding with apple

Our second dessert was the special of the day, which was a rice pudding with apple. I was feeling high on the whole experience and thought this dessert was good too. After all our savory food (especially the fatty lamb), it was refreshing to have a cool, fruit-based dessert to cleanse the palate.

Chocolate pudding and Spanish donut

Uncle chose the chocolate pudding and fritter dessert. When I read the description, I pictured churros but it was more like a cinnamon donut served with artsy chocolate smears. The middle 'dollop' was extremely boozy... in a good way.

I'm so sorry I didn't take a photo of the dessert menu, and now I can't find the dessert items online so I can't give better descriptions of what they were.

By this time, all the blood in my body had gone to my stomach to tackle the problem of digesting and I was feeling content and restful. Unfortunately, I had a social event to rush to after dinner so mum and I thought a 'pick me up' was in order. We both ordered lattes to finish the night.

Cafe latte

I know that it's usual to get coffee after a meal in a Western restaurant... but I don't normally make time for it. Last night, I did and was really impressed by the coffee. Mochi and I spend so much time rushing around to cafes that are famous for their coffee and well, I have to say the latte from Ortiga was amongst the best I've ever had. It was strong but not overpoweringly bitter and had a very smooth, dense foam. It was just the fuel I needed to last a night of talking/catch-ups with close friends.

On the whole, I had a great time at Ortiga. The service was fabulous and I don't just mean 'friendly' or 'fast'. There was something about the entire staff that oozed professionalism.

Precision plating

We were seated in front of the open kitchen and for me, it was one of the highlights of last night's dining experience. Watching the chefs work and plate up was an absolute joy. Mum joked that it was like 'Masterchef live'. It was a bit like that, I suppose, only not at all panicky/chaotic/messy. If a kitchen is a machine and the chefs are cogs and wheels, these cogs and wheels turned perfectly smoothly and with extreme precision.

I loved that waiters stopped for a chat and talked to us about the menu and the produce. I loved that the sommelier gave us wine recommendations without any hint of snootiness (we know nothing about wine and they have won awards for their wine list).

The food was a journey through lots of flavors, textures and techniques. I definitely recommend you give Ortiga a try.

Wagaya Brisbane

2011-10-19T01:27:00.000-07:00

Wagaya Brisbane
315 Brunswick St, Tcb Centre, Fortitude Valley

I was real freakin' excited when I heard that Wagaya had opened up in Brisbane (tidbit of info courtesy of Mochi). The only time I'd experienced Wagaya was at Sydney, when I was young, with a hoard of friends, and the whole touch screen thing blew my mind.

I can't say I've changed much :).

The thing that drew me to try Wagaya Brisbane was still the touch screen menus. This time, it wasn't 'just' the novelty... after all, it wasn't anything I hadn't tried before. Since I'd had a taste of this concept in Sydney, whenever I was at a restaurant being ignored by waitstaff, I'd find myself fantasizing about there being a touch screen menu so I could order without the hassle of human contact.

It sounds a bit sad but I despise bad service.

One weekend, Byron and I were in Brisbane when we had a free dinner slot. We headed down to the valley with our mate HotDog and decided to give Wagaya a shot.

The place is upstairs in the Tcb building off Chinatown. It was quite packed when we got there and we were allowed a table only if we could promise to finish within 1.5 hours.

Once we were seated, we started playing with the technology. It was just as I remembered. On one hand, that shows consistency. On the other hand, it shows they haven't updated in the space of 2 years.

Who needs a paper menu when you've got a touch screen? The poor sods at the other end of the table who can't reach

The screen was pressed. Food started arriving.

Assorted nibblies

First, we had the 'assorted nibblies', which comprised of Korean-style seaweed, a satay chicken and some pickled onion rings. We were hungry and they all tasted quite good. It was Byron's first exposure to Korean seaweed and he loved it, though Wagaya can't really be credited for making it.

Takoyaki gratin

Some takoyaki balls arrived. Actually, I think ours was the takoyaki gratin, which means 'octopus balls... with melty cheese'. They were yum! I liked the consistency; they didn't cheat by loading the balls up with flour.

Spider rolls

We chose a sushi to share. Byron and I wanted spider rolls but HotDog was unsure. 2v1 meant spider rolls were ordered. The crunchy soft shell crab sushi won him over in the end anyway. I'm a spider roll lover and being in Toowoomba (very sushi-deprived town), I was over the moon with this dish.

Miso pork skewers

For hot food, we opened up with a plate of miso pork skewers. They were flavorsome, sweet and juicy. I only wish the serving size was bigger! I suppose the point is to order a variety, which we didn't do.

Wagaya cocktail

Somewhere in there, my drink order arrived. I had chosen a cocktail; can't remember what it was called but it was orangey. I really should start writing things down.

At this point, we realized we were racking up quite a bill and yet we were all still hungry. Small, nibbly plates will do this to you. I adopted my dad's strategy that he uses in sushi train when he realizes that no matter how many little plates he grazes on, he'll need something more substantial. The answer is a big serving of carbs.

We ordered a rice dish and a noodle dish.

Stir-fried noodle

The noodle dish was called 'stir-fried noodle'. It had a very unusual flavor that reminded me of being a poor uni student who's idea of cooking was throwing together whatever sauces were in the pantry + cheap boiled noodles. I can't say I liked this dish.

Eel fried rice

I picked eel fried rice for our rice dish. It came with a tiny amount of actual eel and a dollop of wasabi on the side. The rice itself had a nice flavor (very subtle eel taste) and reasonable fried-rice consistency but I just wish they gave us more eel! What surprised me was how much wasabi lifted this dish. I thought it was an odd accompaniment but now I know better.

Wagaya was fun as always. The food comes quickly and for the most part, is quite reasonable and consistent. None of the dishes are real gourmet show-stoppers but most of what we had was tasty and comparable to other casual Japanese restaurants in Brisbane. Though the tough-screen system is awesome to use, it's easy to go crazy and overspend. There's something about pressing pictures on a screen that make you oblivious to how much you're ordering... similar concept to online shopping (when you're not physically forking over cash, it doesn't feel 'real').

L'Arte Cafe for Brunch

2011-10-18T05:03:00.000-07:00

L'Arte Cafe
Shop 2, 185 Riding Road, Hawthorne

Mochi and I grew tired of gracing popular, in-demand brunch spots. Two weekends ago, we decided to try somewhere a bit more obscure. I don't know how she finds out about these places but L'Arte was suggested and I thought it sounded good.

Due to it being East of the CBD, I somehow got it in my head that Hawthorne was an 'Eastern Suburb' and therefore close to Carindale. Not at all... it's much more inner city than that. My car is still being repaired so I had to get mum and dad to weave their way through unfamiliar territory until we found the cafe.

It's a tiny little thing located on busy Riding Road. When Mochi arrived, we picked a table inside.

L'Arte isn't art gallery meets cafe like I thought. It's more of a cafe/gift-shop hybrids packaged into a trendy boutique size. There were some various handmade jewellery, canvases, homemade jams etc on sale. I contemplated buying some earrings but couldn't commit to that decision.

Blueberry smoothie and iced coffee

Mochi and I ordered drinks to start with: a blueberry smoothie for her and an iced coffee (minus cream) for me.

The blueberry smoothie was very mild. Mochi said this was good because she didn't want too sweet. I thought it was too much watery milk and not enough berry.

The iced coffee wasn't what I expected. I thought it'd be one of those with a ball of ice-cream inside and syrup of some description. Just because I held back on whipped cream didn't mean I wanted zero indulgence. It was instead, literally an 'iced coffee' - milk coffee served ice cold, no sugar. It wasn't bad, just not what I expected.

Pancakes - with banana and honeycomb butter

Mochi's brunch pick reflected her sweet tooth that morning. She went for the pancakes. I sampled a portion. I thought it was good but unremarkable. Not dissimilar to pancakes we make at home although of course with far less effort.

Zucchini and avocado fritters - with bacon, balsamic and slow-roasted tomato

I went for the zucchini and avocado fritters because they sounded strangely healthy and naughty at the same time. The fritters were... odd. I don't think avocados make a good fritter component because it's too much mushiness and not enough crunch. The fritters were a bit like a bland, mushy vegetable pancake. The collaboration with balsamic and bacon were strange too. I'm afraid it didn't really work for me. The tomatoes were nice though.

I liked that L'Arte had some 'different' brunch options. It just so happens that the one I picked didn't work too well. If I really wanted to impress someone with a good Brissie breakfast joint, I wouldn't pick here. The competition is fierce and I've had a better brunch at many other cafes.

The Vita-Wheat Lunch Slice Challenge!

2011-10-17T19:53:00.000-07:00

The Vita-Wheat Lunch Slice Challenge!
Home Cooking

I was trawling through Twitter recently when I found 'The Cook's notebook' had announced a competition featuring new Vita-Wheat Lunch Slices. This unexpectedly planted a seed in my brain and I found myself craving Vita-Wheats all day. Come grocery time, I couldn't resist popping a packet of the Pumpkin, Sunflower and Canola variety into my trolley.

So whilst I wasn't originally planning to enter, I subconsciously started plotting ideas for toppings. When I came home for lunch today I rummaged through my fridge/pantry for all likely topping candidates and lined them up on my bench: salads, tuna, cheese, spreads... anyhow, this is what I've come up with and this is what I had for lunch today.

I decided to do a sweet and savory Vita-Wheat slice; Vita-Wheat over 2 courses, if you will.

Vita-Wheat slice with avocado, grape tomatoes and feta

The first is a very simple combination. I find that with these things, simple is often the best and alas, if you go overboard with the toppings, it gets difficult to eat anyway. Let's be practical here.

I plopped on slices from half an avocado, then layered on halved grape tomatoes and a smattering of fetta. The final touch was a sprinkling of salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Vita-Wheat slice with cream cheese, banana, pistachios, cinnamon and honey

My 'dessert Vita-Wheat' is supposed to be a bit more creative. I spread some Phily cream cheese over the surface to start with (BTW, extra-light cream cheese looks suspiciously transparent and has little to no flavor).

A few slices of rare-as-gold bananas were placed on top. I used chopped pistachios but I think any roasted nut would have been good. To finish, it was a sprinkle of cinnamon and a drizzle of honey.

I happily gorged on my Vita-Wheat meal. Verdict? The Vita-Wheat slices are a bit like the equivalent of crunchy grain bread. I once bought these 'Damora' brand pumpkin and sunflower whole wheat crackers from Aldi and LOVED them. This flavor of Vita-Wheat Lunch Slices reminded me of those crackers... only, much bigger and therefore, much better. You can get quite a lot onto one slice. Nutritionally, they're similar in calories to bread but it's good because if you're clever, you only need one slice, not two.

My picks for easy toppings would be:
1. Butter, sliced tomato, salt
2. Butter, vegemite

Sofra Turkish Cuisine in Toowoomba

2011-10-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

Sofra Turkish Cuisine
164 Margaret St, Toowoomba

I've mentioned already that it's getting harder and harder for me to find new restaurants to try in Toowoomba. I'm slowly exhausting everything this town has on offer. This is why the opening of a brand spanking new restaurant will pull me in like a moth to flame.

Byron first mentioned Sofra to me while the space was still being fitted. By the time Mochi and I were planning a catch-up dinner, it was open to the public and ready to roll.

We went in to find that the restaurant was quite busy... to the point where they looked anguished to hear that we didn't have a reservation. Luckily, there was a table for us.

Turkish apple tea

Drinks were ordered first. Mochi stirred up trouble by trying to find out the difference between Turkish tea and Turkish apple tea. Apparently the former is just normal tea with sugar on the side and the later is apple-flavored.

I was harping on about how 'nice' the Turkish apple tea was when she says 'can't you just add apple juice to normal tea?'

Hmm...

Mochi and I are a real team at ordering food. With some meal buddies, it can be a struggle, or you just order individual serves. For us, it's almost like a psycho-telepathic agreement. Very efficient.

We chose a pide, a dish from their 'recommended' list and a salad.

Sausage and haloumi pide

The pide arrived first. It was a sausage and haloumi pide. Interesting combination? I'd never had anything like it before. The pide can noway be considered healthy but it was nice and squishy. The sausage was chorizo-like (doesn't seem Turkish to me) and the haloumi, salty and chewy. All together, it made for a fast food style greasy, carby slab. Nothing subtle about it but it tasted good.

Lamb casserole with rice

Our 'recommended' dish was a lamb casserole (forgot to write down what it was called; will ammend this post when I find out). It looked real simple but this dish did what the pide failed at... it was intricate, flavorsome and just tasted more authentic. We had pondered over whether or not it should be eaten with rice and it actually came with rice so that settled it. The more I ate this dish, the more it grew on me.

Tabouleh salad

Our salad was a tabouleh-style deal, nicely presented in little rounds. I don't love tabouleh so this just tasted like lentil-flavored parsley to me. It was meh on its own but did compliment the lamb dish.

Sofra is a nice addition to the deprived Toowoomba dining scene. I've been praying for a Greek/Turkish/something-other-than-Thai-or-Indian restaurant for many months and my prayers have been answered. It's not better than any Turkish restaurant I've tried in Brisbane but it exceeded my expectations and I'll definitely be going back.

Chocolate Lace Cookies

2011-10-11T17:02:00.001-07:00

Chocolate Lace Cookies
Home Cooking

A work mate of mine held a garden party at her property last weekend. The theme was 'Cocktails and nibblies' so I decided to bake something as a contribution. I flipped back and forth through our baking books and finally settled on these chocolate lace cookies from the 'Women's Weekly Bake' cookbook. The original recipe can be found here.

This recipe was everything that I was hoping for:

Common ingredients - check
Easy to make - check
Looked presentable - check
Transportable - check
Contained chocolate (i.e. easy crowd pleaser) - check

I followed the recipe exactly (no dividing this time).

Chocolate Lace Cookies
Makes 24

Ingredients:

100g good-quality dark chocolate (I used Lindt 80%), chopped
80g butter, chopped
1 cup (150g) plain flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
1 egg, beaten lightly
1/4 cup (40g) icing sugar

Procedure:

1. Combine the chocolate and butter in a small saucepan. Stir over a low heat until just melted. Transfer to a medium bowl(I just left my mixture in the saucepan).2. Sift together the flour, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda.
3. Stir into the chocolate mixture with the sugar and egg.4. Cover and refrigerate for about 15 minutes or until mixture is firm enough to roll into balls.5. Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Line 2 oven trays.
6. Roll level tablespoonfuls of the mixture into balls. Roll the balls in the sifted icing sugar. Place on the lined trays about 8cm apart.7. Bake for 15-20 minutes.8. Cool on trays before serving.

The best way to describe these is a cross between chocolate brownie and chewy chocolate cookie. They were divine. The exterior is firm with a bit of crunch, thanks to the icing sugar crust. The inside is fudgey with a dense cake consistency.

Too many in one go will give you chocolate brain freeze. I recommend having them with cold milk or tea.

Mappen Menya Ramen

2011-10-04T05:01:00.000-07:00

Mappen Menya Ramen
Shop 86, Sunnybank Plaza, Sunnybank

I heard rumours of a new ramen place in Sunnybank. First from Mork, then from Mochi. I thought they were talking about Hakataya but nope, I was behind on the goss as usual and there was actually another one that opened more recently.

After convincing mum and dad to try this place with me, we drove to Sunnybank plaza around lunchtime on a Sunday.

The queue was the first thing I noticed. There were people lined up out the door. That was lucky for them because after looking at the menu, I would have turned away if not for the hoard of people convincing me this place must be good.

The reason I say that is because the menu wasn't too exciting. There wasn't a lot of variety - you basically choose from 5 or 6 styles and within each style, can choose either udon or soba noodle in small or large. It gave the whole place a fast food vibe.

I have no problems with fast food... if it's fast. The worst thing about Mappen Menya was the queue. I wasn't discouraged when I first saw it (as I said, it was one reason I decided to eat there) but the queue moved sooooo slowwwwwllyyyy...

Once I got to the counter, I found out why. They have an almost cafeteria system where you grab a tray, order, wait for your order, add any sides/drinks on to the tray and pay at the end. The reason for the snail pace was that everyone (especially those like us who'd never been before) spent ages farting around looking at things and picking things. The fact that we had to wait for our menu orders in the queue didn't help to speed things up either.

The restaurant itself has a very quaint feel. It makes me think of a back alley eatery in Asia... but indoors. I really liked it! The shop is small and narrow and we were worried about not getting a table but we didn't have a problem there at all. The worst part was balancing the trays of food while we were walking to the table and trying not to get bumped.

We were all keen to start digging into the food.

Beef udon

Mum had ordered the beef udon. It tasted like sukiyaki beef in that it had a distinct sweet soy flavor. The beef itself was just random, broken pieces. Nothing special. What really stood out was the udon. It was silky and slippery and chewy at the same time.

Mixed tempura set

Dad ordered the mixed tempura set, which came with a mini bowl of udon. The tempura was actually really yummy. I mean, sure, tempura is basically 'fried stuff' and fried stuff is always good (but so, so bad) but this was just perfectly crispy and light. We really liked the tempura veggies... there weren't any big chunky pieces and it was more like shredded onion and potato tempura. It reminded me of Indian pakora but airier. Mum and dad thought a big bowl of this stuff would be perfect with beer, provided your arteries don't start rallying a protest. I just want to add that mum drank the tempura dipping sauce and asked 'why is this soup so salty?'

...

Ontoma bukkake with fish roe

I had chosen the ontama bukkake with fish roe and soba noodles. It looked real simple: noodles, soft boiled egg, fish roe. I mixed it all together and va-voom. It tasted weird! But, in a good way! I really liked this.

Mixy mixy

I wish I got it with udon instead but the flavors of egg yolk, fish roe and... whatever else they put in just worked real well together. Mum didn't like it and even dad thought it was too weird but this was a win for me.

Dad also bought a (for want of a better word) flap of marinated tofu. It was super sweet. I didn't like this much. He must've been hungry to find this appealing enough to grab it.

I should also mention that the meals were insanely cheap. It was almost a deterrant for dad who is of the old-fashioned 'if it's really cheap it can't be that good' mentality. I disliked the ordering system but aside from that, I liked Mappen Menya. I was at first discouraged by the lack of variety in the menu but they offer some dishes that you don't find in other Japanese restaurants.

Olive Branch Lounge Bar and Restaurant

2011-10-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

Olive Branch Lounge Bar and Restaurant
www.theolivebranch.com.au/

We were SO EXCITED to spy a Toowoomba restaurant we hadn't been to before. Mochi and I were having Thai one day and thought 'hey... what's that?'

Olive Branch looked like a bar slash cafe from the outside but when we decided to eat there one night, we discovered it was more like a fine dining restaurant.

There is a bar area near the front but we were seated further down, deep in the restaurant section.

The menu was also different to what I expected. I thought there would be a focus on Mediterranean food (ahem, pasta) but instead, the dishes were very much my idea of modern Australian.

Herbaceous petit rolls with whipped butter and extra virgin olive oil

We ordered the dinner rolls with whipped butter and EVOO to start with. Because we were starving, the rolls were practically devoured within 5min of being set on the table.

Dinner roll with butter

They were soft and warm and great with the butter. The balsamic vinegar component of the olive oil was almost jam-like in flavor - strange but I kinda liked it.

Chicken - with quince, pistachio & prosciutto chicken supreme, pommes dauphinoise, fennel & jus gras

Byron broke our rule of never ordering chicken at restaurants and ordered the chicken. It did little to dispell our myth that all restaurant chicken is dry. This one was very dry. Our theory is that they are so terrified of food poisoning their customers that they'd rather go over than under... which might be more legally responsible but not so exciting for our taste buds.

Soverign lamb rump - with roasted beets, baby spinach, goats cheese and Morrocan chutney

I chose the lamb. It was also dry, which is a shame because that's NOT something I expect in restaurants.

Lamb cut

The sides were good (especially the baby beets) and the sauce was yummy but they couldn't save the lamb from being dry and rubbery.

Rabbit cannelloni - with chive pomme puree, veloute and rabbit glace

Mochi's main was the rabbit cannelloni. I had a small taste and thought it was great! I wished I had ordered this instead. However, Byron ended up eating half of this and said it was OK to start with but had a weird aftertaste.

Although our stint with the mains was less than impressive, we are not easily deterred from ordering dessert. I think I need to be food poisoned before I can be persuaded to ignore my sweet tooth.

Coffee cake

Mochi ordered a coffee cake from the window. It was a plain roulade served with cream and fresh strawberries. I quite liked it but it wasn't anything special. At least it wasn't stale like many sponge-based cakes get by the end of the day.

Assiette of chocolate for two

Byron and I hedged all bets on the assiette of chocolate for two. I liked working through this platter of miniatures... our favorite was the creme brulee.

Creme brulee

The tart filling was nice but the pastry was dry. The souffle was too eggy.

I really wanted to like the Olive Branch but the food was just under par. It wasn't a matter of 1 disappointing dish, nearly everything was flawed. I doubt we'll be going back. In terms of service, it was great until they got a bit busier and we were left without water after asking for some 3 times. What was really lovely though is that they realized this mistake, apologized and gave us complimentary bottled water.

Apology water

Pourboy Espresso for Breakfast

2011-10-04T04:59:00.000-07:00

Pourboy Espresso
http://www.pourboy.com.au/

A car accident on the weekend lead to an emotional breakdown, which lead to good ol' mum rescuing me from Toowoomba. I spend a day recouperating and regaining sanity in Brisbane before feeling sound enough to head home on Tuesday. No way would mum be making another round trip to Toowoomba to take me there, once was tedious enough, so I was sent to the city to catch the coach.

That gave me some time to kill around Brisbane CBD. I felt a bit tortured about what to do... on one hand, I was still too fragile to have much of an appetite. On the other, 2 hours spent doing nothing is a long 2 hourss.

I sent out a cry for help on Twitter asking for a breakfast recommendation and was promptly directed to Pourboy Espresso.

It was just the right distance away to provide a relaxing/time-consuming walk that wasn't too out of the way.

The cafe is quite small (I nearly missed it) and very 'typical-looking' of a CBD food outlet. By that I mean, it was clean cut with a corporate feel; nothing boutique or charming about the decore.

I ordered a skinny latte and the bircher muesli.

Latte

The coffee came quickish. It was good. I took a few nervous sips because I had trouble sleeping the night before and didn't want to get over-caffinated. In fact, I'll admit I ordered decaf (first time ever) but even so, I didn't know how 'effective' that is so I stayed safe.

Bircher muesli

The bircher muesli looked so pretty. I always admire places that attempt to make bircher presentable... essentially it is just a bowl of dull, soggy oats and things. Pourboy made an artsy effort with yogurt, berries, freshly grated apple and strawberries.

It was nice! The bircher was a healthy-tasting breakfast (a bit too tart for my liking) and was easy on my emotionally-drained stomach/body.

I headed back to the coach station with just a bit more of a spring in my step.

I've heard great things about Pourboy Espresso. It's a shame I didn't get to try more things but that's the downside to dining solo. I guess I'll just have to go back and try more!

Amaretti Cookies

2011-10-04T04:58:00.000-07:00

Amaretti Cookies
Home Cooking

This post is really dated but I figured the sooner I put it up, the less 'old' it'll ultimately become. I was going through a baking rampage one week and these cookies are a by-product of that fever. I love almond meal products and happened to have some so I started looking up almond meal recipes.

This recipe for amaretti cookies popped up in Mochi's 'Women's Weekly Bake' book. For those who haven't seen it, it's like a textbook-sized baking bible. There were plenty of recipes contending but I went along with the easiest.

Amaretti Cookies
Makes 20

Ingredients:

1 cup (125g) almond meal
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
2 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon almond essence
20 blanched almonds (20g)

Procedure:

1. Lightly grease oven trays
2. Beat almond meal, sugar, egg whites and essence in a small bowl with an electric mixer for 3 minutes.3. Let it stand for 5 minutes.4. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with 1cm plain tube. Pipe directly onto the trays to make biscuits about 4cm in diameter.
5. Top each with a nut.
6. Cover unbaked biscuits loosely with foil. Stand at room temperature overnight.
7. Preheat over to 180 degrees Celsius.
8. Bake biscuites for about 12 minutes.9. Stand on trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

A few pointers... the biscuits are supposed to be better if the batter is left overnight. The recipe states that it's preferable but not necessary. I just cooked mine right away. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it but my batter took much longer than 12 minutes to cook.

Also, I hate piping with a passion so I just used a 2-spoon technique to get the dollops of batter on the tray. I don't think they're too bad!

The cookies were a cinch to make and if you're willing to forgo the overnight wait, can be whipped up in a jiffy. They're perfect with a cup of coffee or tea.

Encores at the Empire in Toowoomba

2011-10-04T04:44:00.000-07:00

Encores Restaurant
http://www.encores.com.au/

Ok. So. Byron and I started doing date night. After nearly 3 years of togetherness, we thought it'd be a good idea to introduce this to prevent the weeks from getting too monotonous. However, we soon realized that while our intentions were good, living in Toowoomba made things tricky. We are close to exhausting every single restaurant in Toowoomba.

... and then, Byron recalled Encores. He had a Christmas work function there last year and from what he could remember, the food was half decent.

We drove there after work on Friday and though I got dressed up and curled my hair, I felt more like a pensioner than girl on romantic dinner. It was 6pm and the sun was still in the sky. In theory, we could have left the house later but a routine of eating straight after work means your stomach objects to waiting that long. I'm ashamed to admit that Encores wasn't even open when we arrived but the waiter was kind enough to let us take a seat and start ordering drinks.

Byron ordered a beer and I needed a glass of sparkling just to feel normal. After that, all was good.

To start with, we ordered a pumpkin sourdough roll and bowl of creamy potato and bacon soup to share.

Pumpkin sourdough roll with herb butter

The sourdough roll was my idea and arrived along with a knob of herb butter. It was nice but I liked the butter more than the bread. My love of all things pumpkin didn't extend here.

Soup of the day - potato and bacon

The soup on the other hand, was amazing. It's a shame because when it was served, we could see everything on the bottom of the plate and it was pretty as a picture but then the waiter poured the soup around it. I expected a thick, chunky soup like what we often make at home but this was rich, creamy and silky. Delicious.

Twice cooked duck breast - with leek and asparagus risotto, onion jam, port wine jus

For my main, I chose the twice-cooked duck. The duck was a bit tough and chewy and the skin wasn't crispy. I also thought the risotto was undercooked. It's a shame because it looked lovely.

Slow cooked pork belly - with smooth apple, sautéed Moreton Bay bug, fresh mint

Byron got the pork belly with Moreton bay bug. The pork was nice and melty with a good flavor. It went beautifully with the apple sauce. There was a small morsel of bug but it was sweet and succulent. I wish we swapped mains!

Side of veggies

What surprised me was that we also got a side of veggies tossed with almond flakes. We didn't order this so it was like a little 'bonus'. Great for me because I love veggies! They had an interesting flavor - fennel-like but quite nice.

Vanilla panna cotta, coffee caramel, and almond praline

We were both in the mood for dessert so rather than sharing, we got one each. Byron's panna cotta was creamy but too set and jelly-like for my liking. I prefer panna cottas to be more 'wobbly' and delicate.

Petite Italian style dough nuts, wild berry compote, cinnamon spiced ice cream

My mini dough nuts were so promising. The outside was light and crisp but the inside was a tad raw.

Unfortunate insides

I should have let them know but by then, the restaurant was busier and we were in a bit of a rush so we didn't give them the chance to rectify. If they were cooked throughout, they would've been amazing.

Truffle freebie!

After our dessert, we got some fruit and chocolate truffles. Another surprise! I liked these and it was a good way to end the meal.

There were some good dishes at Encores. It was probably one of the better restaurants that I've been to in Toowoomba. There were some misses but the service was lovely and they gave some little 'extras' that other restaurants don't always do.

Egg Bistro for Breakfast

2011-09-30T02:37:00.000-07:00

Egg Bistro
http://www.eggbistro.com.au/

In need of a suitable brunch buddy one morning, I dragged my mother out with me. She had already eaten but I convinced her to keep me company. We live on the East side so I thought Egg Bistro would be the easiest to get to. I don't think mum liked it though... heading down Stanley Street reminded her too much of going to work.

We parked and headed into the cafe. It was busy, busy, busy. I suppose that's normal for a Sunday morning so we contented with waiting outside. The wait for a table wasn't too bad... about 10 minutes or so. The queue for a table increased drastically after we got seated so I was quite thankful.

Mum just had water but I chose the juice special of the day.

Watermelon and passionfruit juice of the day

The juice was quite good. It was watermelon-based with passionfruit. I'm not crazy about passionfruit (yes, I know I should have chosen something different) but it was nice and fresh.

Unfortunately, the juice was all the sustenance I got for the next hour. That's right, our food took absolutely forever to arrive. Sure, the place was choccas but even then it was perhaps the longest I've ever had to wait for breakfast and by the end of it, mum and I were dry out of conversation.

The food arriving was like an A-lister making a fashionably late appearance. Sure I was pissed off but I was more relieved and thankful and by the time the plates were placed on the table, my annoyance had given way to excitement.

House lamb sausage with mustard leaf salad, panko egg and relish

I had the lamb sausage with panko-crusted egg. It was an on-the-spot decision where I didn't know what I was going to order until it came out of my mouth. The sausage was delicious. It was so juicy. Mmmm...

Inside of panko egg

I loved the panko egg too. Even while I was munching away I couldn't help but marvel how carefully engineered the cooking process would have been to ensure the yolk was runny and the exterior crunchy. Genius and perfectly executed. It was just the right binding factor for the sausage and mustard salad.

House granola with mango and yoghurt

Mum's granola was an equal success story. To paint the picture, she's a small lady with a small appetite and she had already eaten breakfast that morning but finished the granola anyway. It tasted fresh (as opposed to store bought) and had just the right amount of crunch, burnt caramelization and yogurt/milk to add.

Big chunk of mango

There was a glorious slice of fresh mango on the side too.

I adored this breakfast. Lateness forgiven. Well... it helped that I wasn't starving to begin with. It's rare that any food can make up for an hour of waiting but this would be close to it. At the least, it doesn't deter me from going again.

Oktoberfest Party at Bavarian Bier Cafe

2011-09-27T19:30:00.001-07:00

Bavarian Bier Cafe
http://www.bavarianbiercafe.com/

After my fantastic night at Sake Restaurant, I felt very privileged and excited to be invited to the Bavarian Bier Cafe Oktoberfest Media party. The chance to try exclusive German beer and a selection of pure Bavarian food? Hell yeh. Pencil me in.

I had never been to the Bavarian Bier Cafe before but Mochi claimed the food was good and I find her judgement to be very reliable. To say I was keen is an understatment. As a testiment to my eagerness, Byron and I dashed down to Brisbane (from Toowoomba) after work last Tuesday to attend.

Once we found a car park, it was a lovely, leisurely stroll down Eagle Street Pier to the restaurant.

I wasn't sure what to expect but... Bavarian Bier Cafe was 'different' to what I expected. It wasn't 'pub-like' and it wasn't 'fine dining' but yet, there was an element of both. The feel of the restaurant was a strange hybrid allowed only by the prime, upmarket location and the robust, festive style of cuisine. Case in point: we were greeted at the entrance of a beautiful, contempory-style restaurant (with fabulous river views) by a girl in a checkered beer wench outfit. The contrast blew my mind but succeeded in giving the restaurant lots of character.

Thumpin' live music

The party was held in a roped off section in front of the bar (how convenient!)

First of the night

We started with a Stiegl (his) and a Paulaner (mine). Byron basically inhaled his so I'm not sure what his opinion was but mine was quite light and fresh. I am by no means a beer connoisseur so that's the most beer-describing I'll attempt in this post.

I couldn't wait to start trying the food because a) we had come straight from work and didn't have time for dinner, b) I love German cuisine and c) I know jack about beer but I can write 2c worth about food.

Assorted canapes

The first platter we spotted contained small canapes of mixed toppings on rye bread. They were little bursts of flavor. Nice and easy to grab but by no means substatial.

Standing around, eating food... doing what we do best

Next, came the hot platters which were much more exciting. I tried many varieties of German sausage (all extremely juicy and flavorsome) accompanied by dips (tomato sauce, mustard and some kind of chutney). The wedges were really nice and Byron scored himself a piece of pork crackling.

Prized pork morsel

We also sampled some mini portions of shnitzel. They were a tad dry but we saw the full-sized servings being brought out to diners and they looked fabulous. I would definitely go back to try that.

Kransky and sauce

The stand out of what we ate was definitely the little sausages. They were perfecto with beer. Initially we were worried that we would go hungry because only finger food was served but even Byron was full by the end of it. German food can be quite hearty.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

The big moment

As we were there, we watched them crack open the official Oktoberfest keg. I am pleased to say I did score a pint from that precious barrel. Hopefully I'm now blessed by the Beer God to have many entertainment highs in the months to come.

Big thanks to these guys for trying their hardest to make our unphotogenic faces look beautiful

It was a fun night, even though it was during the week. I had a great time catching up with other food bloggers. The worst part was the drive home! I'd love to get back to the Bavarian Bier Cafe for a proper, sit-down meal some time.

French Onion Soup

2011-09-21T04:02:00.001-07:00

French Onion Soup
Home Cooking

Writing this post takes me back... back to Bistrot Bistro (I can never remember whether the first or second word ends with 't'). Mochi ordered French onion soup on this occasion, thus taking my French onion soup maidenhead. We were both surprised with the flavor. Rather than creamy and mild, it was winey, sharp and sour. Mochi hated it but in time, I found myself craving more.

I started doing research on how to make French onion soup. I expected it to be simple and I wasn't disappointed. Mostly, it was just a matter of caramelizing some onion, ading stock, flour, cheese and wine (I noticed recipes with red and white). Some recipes called for the use of herbs. Some added splashes of balsamic vinegar. Most had a crispy carb accompaniment in the form of toasted baguette or puff pastry topping.

My my version, I mostly followed this recipe but I mixed and matched to my liking. The original recipe doesn't say how many it serves but I halved it and still had enough for 6 (maybe my servings are too small?) so be cautious if you don't want to end up with a month's worth of soup in the form of left overs. The recipe I'm posting has the halved quantities.

French Onion Soup
Serves 6

Ingredients:

30g butter, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
3 (300g) brown onions, thinly sliced
2 tsp brown sugar
25g (2 tbsp) plain flour
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
2L water (I used beef stock with a bit of water)
1 glass white wine
splash of red wine vinegar
50g gruyere cheese, 1/2 cubed and 1/2 grated (I used jarlsberg)
1 baguette, in slices each 1.5cm thick
olive oil
salt and pepper
parsley to garnish

Procedure:

1. Melt butter in a heavy saucepan, add onion then cook for 25 minutes until the onion is deep golden brown and beginning to caramelize. Stir from time to time.2. Add flour and stir for 2 minutes.
3. Add water (or stock) and wine. Add the bay leaves and thyme and season with salt and pepper.
4. Add cubes of cheese, stir and bring to the boil.5. Cover and simmer for 20- 25 minutes. Add brown sugar and a splash of red wine vinegar. Check the seasoning.
6. Slice the baguette, sprinkle with the remaining cheese.7. Grill until the cheese is melted.8. Put the soup in a serving bowl and serve with the toasted baguette on top. Garnish with a sprig of parsley.

The soup was rather boring until I added the sugar and red wine vinegar (my own additions, not on the original recipe). I can't speak for authenticity but taste-wise, the sweet and tangy really picked things up.

At one point the soup looked like dishwater but this gradually improved (it helps to skim the top). I also think I added too much cheese to my soup because it was slightly gluggy. Other than that, it was a robust and flavorsome soup. It really needed the crunch of the baguette to go with it because there isn't enough textural variety otherwise.

I preferred the soup with plain buttered and toasted baguette rather than the cheesy baguette.

Groove Train, the lazy person's way

2011-09-21T04:00:00.002-07:00

Groove Train via Room Service
Dining out - but... 'in'

Over the last 3 months or so, I've been harboring this deep, dark suspicion about myself. I fear I'm getting lazy. Too lazy. It's not just a matter of not wanting to do chores. Sometimes I don't want to go out because I know it means I have to put on 'proper' clothes (as opposed to trackies and floppy home t-shirt). Sometimes I even dread having to go through basic acts of humanity (showering, brushing teeth, washing hair). My day's off work are spent in bed playing games and reading George Martin books.

Last Wednesday, I attended a CPD seminar in Brisbane (touched upon in this post), before which I stayed in a hotel.

When I start talking about my dinner arrangements, you'll make sense of why I started this post with a speal about laziness.

On my entire ride to Brisbane, I was thinking about different options for dinner that night (that's just how a food blogger thinks). I had a few spots in mind and at one point, I even thought of walking to Southbank to check out the new restaurants there. I was limited to places whereI wouldn't feel out of place dining alone.

Hmmm... in the light of day, dining alone doesn't seem to bad. As the sun set, the idea of eating at a restaurant by myself felt seriously daunting. I've done cafes many times but restaurants are another matter.

As I walked from the coach station to the hotel, I passed Groove Train and peered in. Being one of the places that I considered, I was seeing if there were any solo diners. Nope, not a single one. There were loads of couples and a few families. Well, that totally killed my confidence. I quietly checked into my hotel and planned to hide in my room nibbling from the mini bar.

Lo and behold, upon entering the kitchen, I found a menu titled 'Gourmet Deliveries'. Was it for room service? Well, sort of. I'd never really been exposed to this before but what the booklet promised was the convenience of room service for a vast range of restaurants located around Brisbane CBD. Come again? The variety and quality of eating out without having to endure the social angst? Colour me interested.

I spent a good half hour leafing through the booklet with the mantra 'decisions, decisions, decisions' repeating in my head.

Finally, I settled on Groove Train. If I can't go to it, let it come to me.

Not knowing what the serving sizes were like, I chose an entree and salad and sat back to wait for my order.

It was promised to be delivered within the hour and arrived just short of that. I was hoping I wouldn't have to elevator-ride back down to the lobby to pick up the order (laziness again) and was pleasantly surprised when the guy showed up right outside my room. Woohoo! Ultimate convenience.

The food was organized into large foil trays. I set myself up in front of the TV (watching Angelina Jolie pout her way out of impossible situations on Salt) and started unpacking.

Combination of fresh dips, black olives, semi-dried tomatoes, marinated vegetables and fetta

It didn't take me long to realize the Turkish bread and dips were not for one person to attempt alone. There was enough there for maybe 4 people to have as starters? I bravely ate my way through as much as I could.

Turkish dipped

The dips were nice. The semi-dried tomatoes and olives were tasty.

Turkish bread fingers

The Turkish bread itself was way too oily for me. One was OK but by the second, I could feel pimples getting ready to spawn just under my skin.

Grilled Calamari salad - on rocket salad with snow pea sprouts, tomatoes, cucumber, spanish onion and a balsamic & olive oil vinegarette

I quickly turned my attention to the salad, my 'healthier' choice. It was the grilled calamari salad and was actually very fresh, considering it was packed and delivered to me.

Another shot

The serving was HUGE and there was an ample amount of tender calamari. A little lacking in flavor but overall not bad.

My experience with Gourmet Deliveries was fantastic. They made ordering very simple (everything is numbered) and afterwards, you just wait. I liked it better than standard room service in that you could choose from many different restaurants rather than just whatever is affiliated with the hotel. The individual items are a bit dearer than if you ate in store though.

The food from Groove Train was pretty good. I know it's not fair to judge the restaurant since I didn't get a feel for their service or atmosphere. The food was nice (aside from oil-drenched Turkish). The serving sizes were huge.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

2011-09-21T04:00:00.001-07:00

Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Home Cooking

This is another remnant of my cooking marathon last week. What's a cooking marathon without a touch of baking?

I find that when you haven't touched the oven for a long time, it can be very daunting to asign The One recipe to break the drought. Logically, it makes sense to pick something tried and tested so as to steadily rebuild one's confidence. Logic is all fair and good but what about EXCITEMENT? I didn't feel like mucking around with scones and cookies (the only things I can really garuntee success) so I settled into my library of cookbooks and started shortlisting would-be contenders.

I bought lots of cream cheese, mistakenly thinking that this was a common addition to cake batters that emphasized moisture. Um... oops, what I was actuallly thinking of was 'sour cream'. Anyway, I have lots of cream cheese now that I'm sure I will eliminate at a later date.

Back to the main event now. I finally found a sour cream cake recipe that tickled my fancy from Nick Malgieri's Modern Baker. Now, coffee cakes are a common type of cake that I've never made. Growing up in an Asian family, I never really 'got' what a coffee cake was. I always thought they were coffee-flavored. Then, that Seinfeld episode about Drake's Coffee Cake aired and I've never tried them but the show did a great job of describing, so I started picturing moist, soft coffee-flavored sponges with a crunchy crumble top.

Now, after my research, I'm coming to terms with the fact that coffee cakes, like tea cakes, are named so because they are for made for afternoon consumption, along with your caffinated beverage of choice. Ahh...

Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Makes 1 loaf or 1 tube cake

Ingredients:

For the filling

1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 tsps ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
100g walnut pieces, coarsely chopped

For the batter

2 cups plain flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
140g butter
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 large egg yolks
225g sour cream

Procedure:

1. Set a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 160°C, grease a tube pan (or loaf tin) and set aside.
2. For the filling, combine the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and walnuts in a small bowl and set aside.3. For the cake batter, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir well, by hand, to mix.
4. Add the butter, then beat at a low speed until the mixture is a smooth heavy paste, 1 to 2 minutes. If you find your mixture is too crumbly add a tablespoon or two of water.5. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolks and sour cream until well combined. Increase the speed of the mixer to medium and beat 1/3 of the egg mixture into the butter and flour. Beat for 1 minute.
6. Stop, scrape down the bowl, and then beat in another half of the egg mixture. Beat for 2 minutes. Repeat with the last of the egg mixture.7. Remove the bowl from the mixer and, using rubber spatula, give the batter a final mix to ensure everything is combined.
8. Scrape half the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Scatter the nut and sugar mixture over the top. Scrape the remaining batter over the sugar and nut mixture and smooth the top.9. Bake the cake until it is well risen and firm, and a tooth pick inserted comes out clean, about 1 hour.
10. Remove the cake from the oven and cool in the tin for 5 minutes. Invert a rack over the tin and turn the cake out. Cool the cake completely before slicing.

This cake was an easy one to make. I loved the crumble topping. The sugar caramelized in the oven and effectively candied the walnuts. Yum!

As for the cake itself, it was nice and dense but I think I left mine in the oven too long because it was a tad dry. Initially, I thought this was the type of cake that would taste better warmed up in the microwave but I actually thought it was best straight out of the fridge.

One thing's for sure, it really goes with coffee.

Brew for Breakfast

2011-09-21T03:59:00.001-07:00

Brew
http://www.brewgroup.com.au

I went on a little adventure this week. Rather than spending my RDO in bed playing games/reading (which is my usual routine), I had a CPD seminar in Brisbane city. My original plan was to stay at mum and dad's and then get a ride into town. After an exhausting weekend however, I decided I really couldn't be stuffed driving to Brisbane and back so I booked a hotel and some return coach tickets instead.

As much as I love staying in hotels, I haven't been in one solo since... one night in New Zealand earlier this year. To be honest, I did feel apprehensive at first because I thought I'd get lonely/scared/bored. Then I mentally slapped myself and got into the whole 'independant woman on business trip' frame of mind.

After that, I spent the whole coach trip fantasizing about food places I could visit. I'll write about what I did for dinner that night later on but for breakfast the next morning (before my seminar), I paid a visit to Brew. I had intended on Kitchen Sanitarium but woke up too late and Brew was more convenient.

What drew me to Brew was it's hidden, undercover location. It's on Burnett Lane, tucked behind Albert Street in a spot that, if you didn't know about it, you'd walk right on by.

I creeped down towards Brew at 7:30am ish on Wednesday morning, anxious because I'd never been before and I didn't know if they had any special protocols. It's an odd-looking cafe, I suppose because it doubles as a bar at night. There were a few tables and ottomans scattered in the laneway outside the entrance and more seating indoors.

I ordered inside and took an outside table to enjoy the sunshine. By the looks of my table number (1), I suspect I was the first to eat in that morning.

There's a simple breakfast menu and all the usual coffees and teas. I wasn't in the mood for anything too heavy so I ordered the porridge.

Cafe latte

My latte came first. It was beautiful - the perfect pick up for someone who stayed up way too late the night before. It was smooth and aromatic with no burnt coffee undertones.

Surprise on the side

There were also 2 chocolate-coated coffee beans on the side... yum!

Porridge with milk and honey

The porridge came arrived next with some milk, honey and brown sugar. It was a very basic bowl of oats, not dissimilar to what I make at home.

Mix, mix, mix

It was satisfying enough but had none of the richness or flair that makes ordering porridge out worthwhile.

Mini carrot cake

I also asked for a mini carrot cake take-away and ate it on the coach ride back to Toowoomba. I liked the carrot cake, it was moist and subtly spiced with a good amount of 'carrotyness' (unlike some supermarket types that are basically sponges with orange food dye). The cream cheese frosting was finger-licking delicious too. And I would know, seeing as most of it smeared onto the paper bag and I found myself scraping it off my bag to ensure none was wasted.

The service at Brew was lovely. I am the queen of being uncoordinated and I managed to spill half my coffee. The girl came and cleaned it up and even offered to make me another one. So kind! I think this is a great place for coffee and hanging out but the food isn't the standout feature.

Korean Beef Bulgogi

2011-09-19T15:17:00.001-07:00

Korean Beef Bulgogi
Home Cooking

This craving came about whilst watching TV, which is something I haven't experienced since MasterChef finished up a couple of months ago. We were flicking through the channels and a Korean cooking show came up. I'm sorry to say that I can't recall what it was called but there was an older lady who did most of the cooking and a younger one who's job it was to taste at various stages and look impressed.

She did a great job of making the food look good because while I'm not usually crazy about Korean food, I developed this sudden craving for bulgogi, which was one of the dishes they cooked.

I ended up making this as part of my cooking spree last Wednesday. Rather than trying to recall the steps in the show and risk doing something crucially wrong, I went to trusty Google and found this SBS reicpe.

Korean Beef Bulgogi
Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

600g scotch fillet
3/4 cup Korean soy sauce (I used Japanese...)
1/4 cup water
40g sugar
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 nashi pear
1 onion
1 tbsp sesame oil
salt and pepper
grape seed oil or olive oil
1/2 onion sliced
sesame seeds

Procedure:

1. Slice the scotch fillet as thin as possible.2. Mix together the soy sayce, water, sugar, garlic, salt and pepper.3. Puree the nashi pear and onion in a blender and add this to the marinade.4. Leave to marinate for approximately 30 minutes.5. Just before cooking, mix through the sesame oil.
6. Heat a heavy based pan and add either grape seed or olive oil. Cook marinated fillet for around 3 minutes, adding the juice so as not to dry the beef.
7. Add sliced onion and cook for another minute.8. Serve immediately, garnished with sesame seeds.

I saw on TV that bulgogi can be eaten wrapped up with a bit of rice in some lettuce cups. We also added a dollop of gochujang (hot pepper paste) which really complimented the flavor of the bulgogi.

The bulgogi itself was very tasty but simple to make. From the directions, I thought it would be more of a stir-fry but mine was quite watery... like a Korean stew. But a very delicious and flavorsome stew at that.

Sweet Potato Frittata

2011-09-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

Sweet Potato Frittata
Home Cooking

Last Wednesday on my RDO, I had myself a bit of a cooking marathon. As you've probably noticed, the frequency of dining out posts have drastically decreased. I'm trying to make ammends to that ASAP but in the mean time, I'm beefing up my blog with cooking posts.

This recipe from Gordon Ramsay's Healthy Appetite was something that caught my eye the first time I leafed through. Anything with sweet potato jumps out to me because I'm crazy for that root vegetable.

I halved the recipe and made a few other modifications. It was a good serve for me as a hearty breakfast/brunch.

Sweet Potato Frittata
Serves 1

Ingredients:

1/4 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
1 tbsp chopped spring onion
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tomatoes, quartered
sml handful of rocket and parsley
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
dash of tobasco sauce
pinch of sugar

Procedure:

1. First, make the salsa by mixing up the tomato, rocket and parsley with the olive oil, lemon juice, tobasco and sugar. Set aside.2. Heat the grill to the highest setting.
3. In a small non-stick fry pan, heat the olive oil and then add the potato cubes. Cook for about 4-5min, tossing a few times until the potato is just tender.4. Mix together the egg and shallots and gently pour over the sweet potato.5. Tilt the pan to even out the mixture.6. When the edges are just starting to cook, place the pan under the grill. It should only take a minute or so for the top to be cooked. You don't want to overcook it.7. Serve the frittata with the salsa.

I thought this was great for breakfast. It's tasty and nutritious and not too difficult to put together at all. Frittatas can be quite boring by the simple and tangy salsa really lifted this.

It wasn't a very thick frittata... in fact, more like an omelet to me. The sweet potato gave it a good body though.

Warm Roast Vegetable Salad

2011-09-12T19:03:00.001-07:00

Warm Roast Vegetable Salad
Home Cooking

Sometimes, cooking seems to me to be a bit of a puzzle. You register what's available and have to think of ways to combine them into one dish. This is especially the case when you're at the end of your grocery cycle and a few things present themselves as 'needing' to be used up.

That's what happened to me with a couple of sad capsicums and about 1kg of potatoes. I found myself researching a host of capsicum recipes but nothing that really pulled potatoes into the mix too.

Finally, I spied a roast vegetable recipe online that I didn't actually follow but drew inspiration from.

Warm Roast Vegetable Salad
Serves 3-4 as sides

Ingredients:

3 potatoes, washed and cut into 3cm cubes
1 onion, cut into wedges
1 red capsicum, cut into wedges
1 green capsicum, cut into wedges
2 tomatoes, cut into quarters
salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
100g fetta
1 lemon
spring onion, sliced for garnish

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Place the potato and onion on a tray lined with foil. Season and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for about 20min.3. Add the capsicum and season. Roast for another 15min.
4. Add the tomato and roast or another 5-10min until just softened.5. Mix together the vegetables with the fetta, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
6. Serve with a garnish of spring onion and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

This recipe is extremely simple. It's just a selection of vegetables roasted and mixed together with a basic dressing and a scattering of feta. The original recipe used fresh red onion and rocket which would have been a nice contrast with the roasted veggies.

I tried the left overs with a dollop of mayo and that was quite good too. Best of all, I think this was a good way to use up troublesome vegetables that have nowhere else to go.

Bill Granger's Oaty Hotcakes with Blueberry Maple Syrup

2011-09-11T05:35:00.001-07:00

Bill Granger's Oaty Hotcakes with Blueberry Maple Syrup
Home Cooking

Sunday night. I am sick as a dawg (all my boasts of 'I haven't been sick all year!' have finally come back to bite me) but that hasn't stopped late-night sugar cravings.

Being my lazy self, grocery shopping was avoided all last week and the pantry and fridge are barren. Despite this, I managed to locate enough basics (i.e. flour, eggs, milk) to start thinking about whipping up a batch of muffins or cookies. That proved to be too much effort and I was on the verge of giving up when I spotted Bill Granger's recipe for oaty hotcakes.

I consider Granger's ricotta hotcake recipe as one of the holy grailhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifs of my cooking repertoire. I figured that if the success would transcent to the oat version, it would surely be worthwhile.

Because I was only intending this to be a snack (we already had eaten dinner AND dessert), I could not justify making the full amount of batter, for fear that we would actually finish it all. I divided the original recipe by 3. You'll see that this is highly difficult because it involves using 1/3 of an egg. For that reason, I've published the FULL recipe that is meant to serve 4. My photos will show smaller amounts of everything so just use them as a guide.

Oaty Hotcakes with Blueberry Maple Syrup
Serves 4

Ingredients:

185 g plain flour
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 large pinch freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
1 pinche salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
25 g rolled oats
375 ml buttermilk (I used regular milk)
1 medium egg, beaten
35 g butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
125g blueberries (I used frozen)
100g maple syrup

Procedure:

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir in the oats and sugar.2. Mix in the buttermilk and egg.3. Add the melted butter and stir.
4. Heat a bit of butter in a frying pan on medium heat and wipe away the excess with a paper towel.
5. Dollop the batter into the frying pan. I used 2 teaspoons per hotcake and only did 3 per batch to allow for easy flipping.
6. Wait until bubbles start appearing before flipping. Each side should be golden before serving.7. Meanwhile, to make the blueberry maple syrup, mix the blueberries and maple syrup in a non-stick saucepan. Bring to the boil and lower the heat. Simmer for around 10min.8. Serve the hotcakes straight away with the blueberry maple syrup.

I was surprised at how nice and easy the blueberry maple syrup was. I normally whip up a butterscotch for my hotcakes but this was also good and seems a bit 'healthier' (can't garuntee that though).

As for the hotcakes themselves, well I'm aware that I messed up with the quantities a bit but the end result wasn't too fabulous. They weren't bad but nowhere near as good as the ricotta hotcakes. Just not as fluffy and soft. I did like the chewiness of the oats... it would be nice to have both the fluffiness and the chewiness. Maybe I'll have better luck next time.

Donna Hay's Caramel and Sour Cream Cheesecake

2011-09-04T15:13:00.000-07:00

Donna Hay's Caramel and Sour Cream Cheesecake
Home Cooking

I'm having another one of those 'should I blog/shouldn't I blog' moments with regards to this cheesecake. Don't get me wrong, the cheesecake itself was fine beyond contention but my photos are disgusting!

It was the combination of poor lighting, drunk photographer and rushed serving. Sometimes, I dream about having a beautiful large kitchen and days specifically allocated to baking where I have all the time in the world to create perfect photos. Unfortunately, the reality is that these days, I only bake on special occasions and on those occasions, I'm too busy having fun/worrying about everything else to prioritize the photography.

What I've chosen to upload is a mixture of photos that I deemed as 'just acceptable'. Some aren't of the large cheesecake but rather, of a mini cheesecake I made with left over base and filling. Sorry if that confuses anyone...

I first stumbled across this recipe here. Needless for me to point out but Greedy Gourmand's photos are impeccable and are as comparable to mine as Monet's paintings are to a 3 year old's scribbles

Unfortunately, I have nothing else to blog about this week because I haven't been to any new shmancy restaurants.

I hope you like this recipe despite my poor imagery.

Donna Hay's Caramel and Sour Cream Cheesecake
Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

500g plain sweet shortbread biscuits
1/2 cup (60g) almond meal (ground almonds)
150g butter, melted
350g ricotta
500g cream cheese
1 cup (175g) brown sugar
4 x eggs
2 tbsps golden syrup
1/4 tsp table salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup (250ml) single (pouring) cream
1 cup (240g) sour cream
1 tbsp icing sugar, sifted
sea salt flakes, for sprinkling

For the caramel sauce

1 cup (250ml) pouring cream
60g butter, chopped
1 cup (175g) brown sugar

Procedure:

1. To make the caramel sauce, place the cream, butter and sugar in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved.2. Increase heat to high, bring to the boil and cook for 5–7 minutes or until thickened. Set aside and allow to cool.
3. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a 22cm springform cake tin.
4. Place the biscuits and almond meal in the bowl of a food processor and process until coarsely chopped.5. Add the butter and process to combine.
6. Press the biscuit mixture into the springform cake tin. Refrigerate for 1 hour.7. Place the ricotta and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 5–6 minutes or until smooth. Add the sugar and beat for 3–4 minutes or until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the golden syrup, table salt and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and beat until well combined.
8. Spoon the mixture into the biscuit shell. Place the tin in a baking dish and pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the tin. Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes or until firm to the touch.
9. Remove cheesecake from the baking dish and allow to cool in the tin. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until set.
10. Place the cream, sour cream, icing sugar and remaining vanilla in a bowl and whisk until soft peaks form.11. Top the cheesecake with the cream, drizzle with the caramel sauce and sprinkle with sea salt flakes to serve.

As I mentioned before, I had enough base and filling to make 3 mini cheesecakes as well, so if you don't intend to do that, expect excess. As it was, I over-filled my biscuit base because you should leave some room for the whipped cream topping.

Drunken party shot

My favorite part of the cheesecake was the biscuit crust. It's shortbread, almond meal and butter... how can that not be good?

The actual cream cheese component was nothing special but in combination with the whipped sour cream and butterscotch sauce, it made for one mean dessert.