Moving house

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Excuse me while I toot my own horn.

So the other day I was meant to go out for a glorious night picnic with some friends of mine - and then watch a movie at the moonlight cinema. For those of you who live in Melbourne, you will know why this wouldn't have happened. For those of you who don't live in Melbourne - there was a one in one hundred year storm that flooded everything. I found the whole thing rather entertaining because I wasn't that inconvenienced by it - aside from the fact I was stumbling around dodging river streets for half and hour trying to find my friend from Ballarat.

Oh good times!

But earlier in the week I had set in my mind that I would be baking at some stage of the weekend. Well apparently I wasn't because of this storm. But I had ambition and apricots on my mind!

I had settled earlier in the week to make a Apricot Upside Down Cake from Donna Hay's Classics recipe book, volume 2. I don't know if I have mentioned it before, but this recipe book has never ever failed me for sweets. The recipes are just glorious! Not a thing wrong with them. This bitch might be a raging alcoholic at her book signings but she sure knows how to cook.

The apricot upside down cake is deceptive in two ways:

a) It leads you to believe that it is rather complicated and difficult to make *looking at the photo* This is not the case. This cake is very simple to make and you most likely won't get it wrong. BUT,

b)There is a bit of preparation involved so it isn't really a cake that is quick to make. It takes time.

How did the old cake turn out being created by my hands?

When it popped out of the tin and had syrup drizzling down the sides - I was elated at how the cake looked. BUT so worried that it wouldn't be cooked properly OR soggy. It was hard to tell doing the skewer test because the cake is cooking with the syrup. It cooks for an hour and five minutes which is quite a while - any longer and it may become tough and dry but soggy?

It turned out that it was perfectly cooked and tasted a treat! What would have really topped this off would be some whipped cream or as Donna suggests, WARM cream. Oh god I love food.

Remember everyone, in busy times if we can't go out - just whip something up. You can put together some nice little dishes in little time without having to go out. And if it goes wrong you have yourself or the recipe to blame. PERFECT.

ALSO in a slightly more recent saga. I went down to Ballarat to visit a good friend of mine. He is Japanese and made us like a Teriyaki Chicken Donburi. He was pretty worried it wouldn't taste great. But you know what? For a simple dish that was cooked relatively quickly, it was very delicious and satisfying. It had elements of home style cooking, also some personal touches. He used chicken thigh fillet which is always a great cut to use because it is so moist and awesome. Be warned it is a BITCH to clean. I hate preparing chicken thigh fillet so I often make someone else do it.

Look at that, how warm does it look? And when I say warm, I don't mean temperature. I mean the feeling a home made meal gives you when its put in front of you. And this went down SO well with a few beers in Special Edition Simpsons glasses!

Recently I haven't been eating out as much because I started back at uni and have had to cut back my work hours. With that said, it doesn't mean this blog is on hiatus, it doesn't mean I won't be eating out (stay tuned for a weekend update on +39 fashion week edition) but it means that I will be focusing a bit more on my cooking and some of my friend's cooking because I can cook a few decent dishes and my friends sure as hell can.

SING me that fried chicken you do so well!

Firstly, sorry everyone! I have not updated in a while for one reason mainly. There haven't really been that many spectacular dishes or places I have been that have umm how can I put this - knocked my socks off?

Sure I went to SPICY TEMPTATION HOUSE with some excellent friends of mine, and it wasn't bad - but then it was sichuan and I had blogged about it the previous week and it was not better than DAINTY so I felt there was no point. With that said - if you ever go there and have a choice of the "one dollar" meals - DO NOT get the squid - I wanted to die.

Anyway today something amazing happened! I met up with my faithful foodie friend Stephanie and the lovely Sasha for lunch to hang out. We were initially going to try the new Cafenatics in Docklands, or the one in Equity Lane - but then Stephanie pulled out this amazing suggestion.

"You know in the Arcade off Flinders Lane where we had Japanese that time?"

"Oh yes..."

"You know the Asian place next door?"

OH YES this is a place I have walked past so many times and have not tried. It is a place where the fried chicken and assorted dishes look just amazing.

"Let's go!"

So we did - and it was pretty darn busy, but not crazy - just your typical lunch rush.

The Port Phillip Arcade is an underrated arcade located in between Flinders Lane and Flinders Street - there is of course access from both sides - it in covered and is slightly reminiscent of the mistakes made in the 80's and 90's in terms of inner city gentrification.

NOW this amazing asian eatery is called KIM SING Chinese restaurant.

There are no menus at tables, you go up look at the menu near the cashier and just tell them what you want. Cutlery is next to the cashier and tissues too - ALSO water is in another part of the eater which is opposite to the existing KIM SING. It's so funny.

Oh and did I mention how darn cheap everything is here?

No I didn't - well here you go my lovely friends...

$6-

Could this possibly be the cheapest meal in the CBD that is actually a meal?

I'd say so - but feel free to prove me wrong.

Now what did I get for my 6 bucks?

Now tell me that does not look appetising?

I ordered the CHICKEN STEAK WITH RICE - I think it is either number 41 or 47.

It appears to be super popular because everyone orders it - so I just asked the woman what the chicken dish everyone was eating.

Now as you can see, you don't just get plain rice, it's a very basic fried rice with a few pieces of steamed broccoli and some kind of slightly sweet transparent slightly orange sauce.

I got two rather nicely sized pieces of chicken, no bones!

I also made good use of the chilli oil which is fucking good chilli oil. It was a really enjoyable and satisfying meal. There is something distinctly home style about all the food at this place.

Stephanie ordered some sweet and sour chicken which was yummy. Sasha ordered chicken and onion omelette which I quite fancied myself.

So my friends, with uni going back - we will all be working less and looking for those places that are friendly to our wallets and our mouths.

KIM SING Chinese Restaurant does just this.

I recommend!

STICKY DATE heart + The DAINTY night that followed

Oh Friday! It has and always will be my favourite day of the week. Friday for me has for as long as I can remember been a day of relaxation, socialising and discovery. It's the grand unwinding of a week of work, study, secret play, discipline and whatever else people might do in this damn crazy world.

So I was having a good old Friday, I got up at around 9am and did some cleaning, then settled down to have some lunch, showered, packed my bags and hopped on the tram. '

The main food expedition of the day was to be at The Dainty Sichuan in South Yarra on Toorak Road. The booking was 7pm and I had a haircut at 3pm. So you can imagine that I had some time to kill during. I cam prepared, with my latest book in bag, ipod, writing book, camera. I could have done anything I wanted really.

I decided to check out an exhibition at ACMI which turned out to be quite interesting - but come 4:30 I was feeling a tad peckish and hankering for some reading.

Where to go?

Where to go in this city that has more cafes and little nooks than you could care to imagine.

Like a menu with too many options, I soon became overwhelmed trying to settle on a place that would suit my current mood.

Baba Budan?

Seven Seeds?

Pushka?

For some reason these usual favourites didn't appeal to me as much today, so I then cast my thoughts to places I have been wanting to try but never did.

Then it hit me. I was planning on reading so my mind wandered to a library on Flinders Lane - which of course is CITY LIBRARY, a small but very excellent place of books for language learning and a heap of other things. I often go there to kill time and there is a little place out the front of the library that always makes you think of writing a great novel.

This place my friends is called JOURNAL.

Of all the times I have walked past over the years, promising myself I would go sometime - I never had.

So this was about to change.

Book in bag, and dreams of lovely desserts and inspiration in mind I set out for Flinders Lane.

Upon entering I was greeted by a very relaxed atmosphere. There is something very open about the place. Majority of the seating is communal style so you will almost always be in close proximity with other people. I personally love this style of eating/drinking space.

It works well and it forces you to engage with your environment and consider other people, as they will do the same for you.

I walked up to the counter greeted by two very casually 'melbourne' girls chatting away.

I told them I was after a coffee and some sort of sweet.

One girl in particular I seem to recall from the days of St Jerome's. She's one of those girls who has such a vibrant personality that permeates her clothing style and gives her such an aura that you will easily remember her. I don't think she actually worked at Journal but she was good enough to recommend me the Sticky Date Pudding. In her words - It is EPIC.

Well, I thought - and epic sticky date pudding? I'm hardly going to let that pass.

I'm a big fan of sticky date pudding. But like most sweets - it can often be botched.

I took a seat at a counter facing the entrance to the library and pulled out my book and got sucked into the universe among the pages I turned every so often.

Suddenly, tap on the shoulder "Hey here's your coffee and pudding."

This is what I got:

Here we have a nice homely looking deep bowl. The pudding wasn't huge - but not by any means tiny. Swimming in syrup and a very generous scoop of vanilla ice cream next to it - slowly melting as the heat of the pudding emanated. Looked like a treat!

AND WAS IT EVER!

I must say I was really impressed by this Sticky Date Pudding. It had a beautiful flavour, simply put it was a delight. The texture was what one me over the most. There was that perfect balance. It was so gloriously soft yet still had that cake-ish consistency (in other words it wasn't mushy) The syrup was sweet and the ice cream helped balance it out.

There are many places that claim to have sticky date pudding that is the best - JOURNAL didn't say that, but I will say it is epic. It is such an epic sticky date pudding. I recommend it.

A small note for those on a budget I wouldn't say that this coffee and cake was extremely cheap. I think in total it cost me 11.50 or somewhere around there. It wasn't super pricey and I by no means had a problem paying (or regret paying) because it was worth it. But just keep that in mind.

As for the atmosphere - this is a place to go an read, or write. You sit here during winter as it rains outside. You have the aroma of coffee and other foods hugging you like no other blanket you have at home. You come here with your lover and chat over a drink or a discrete meal. It's very romantic - but in more than one way.

NEXT.

7pm came and we caught one of the many trains passing through South Yarra station which is about 10 minutes from the CBD for those of you not familiar with the area. You pretty much just cross the road and walk toward Chapel Street and you'll see it on your write.

What I will say about The Dainty Sichuan is that the service is decent. It's prompt, efficient and you have the owner walking around checking everything is peachy. The owner reminds me of the Asian aunty I never had. For that element you feel quite comfortable.

I had been to this eatery back when it was in the CBD, but now it's in South Yarra and my friend Prarthana frequents the place as a lover of hot food. So she came along of course and recommended that we get some dishes she was sure are excellent. She made excellent choices by the way.

We ordered like a spicy fish sitting in a chilli soup:

It looks deadly hot, and yes it was rather spicey. There were also bean shoots and some other vegetables in there, but of course fish was the main component. All the dishes are large because it is designed to be shared, so keep this in mind. It isn't a place you got by yourself. And if you go with just one other person, only order one or two meals to share. The fish itself was lovely, such a pleasure to eat. It didn't have a heavy fish flavour and the spices were beautiful, szechuan style food is in a word - aromatic. There is something distinctly middle eastern or morrocon about it - but very much chinese - however ultimately so unique. I especially loved getting bits of coriander to eat with the fish - it made the taste so fresh and enhanced the flavour oh so much.

This was another stand out dish. It is tofu with leek. The tofu seemed almost dehydrated and this was really interesting. I'm guessing it was stir fried at an extremely high temperature and that is what caused this texture. It was excellent though. Probably the least spicy dish, but it still had a bit of kick to it. The flavours of this dish were more delicate and provided a nice break from all the extremes of the other dishes.
These are the pork ribs. I had such high hopes for this. When I had it a while back it was simply awesome. But this time around it was a little disappointing. Unlike the fish dish and the toothpick beef which I will discuss later - this dish lacked that PAM POW of different flavours. It was large and expensive - so I would not advise you to order this dish.

Oh yes, the eggplant cooked in fish - or something along those lines. These are eggplants cut into fingers and caramelised. They are 'warm' in their level of spicy-ness and my personal favourite. You'll absolutely love these and their savoury sweetness. My friend Stephanie who isn't the biggest fan of eggplant told me she quite enjoyed this.

Finally we have the toothpick beef. It's basically swimming in chilly. There is also cumin in this dish and the szechuan pepper which has a very unique flavour. This is hot - really hot. But it's also a great dish. It's easy to pick up the pieces of beef because they are on toothpicks. But also be careful you don't eat the chopsticks.

Well overall I will say that I was impressed with the Dainty Sichuan. I will make a few notes for your information. The eatery where the Dainty Sichuan used to be in the CBD is still a szechuan style eatery - but it is not the real Dainty Sichuan. There is apparently a food war occuring between the two establishments according to Prartharna. I have not been to the other 'Dainty Sichuan' but from what my friends have told me it is not as good - the service isn't as good and the consistency in the quality of dishes is iffy. But of course that is only here say from regular eatery goers.

The Dainty Sichuan is good for big groups. The meals are about 16-18 dollars each. The pork ribs dish was I think 38 dollars but it was large. We ended up paying about 20 dollars each which isn't too bad I feel.

It is hot food and vegetarian dishes are available but be weary it hasn't been cooked in fish stock or anything.

Bookings are apparently essential for larger groups. We had 8 in our group last night and I booked about 3 days prior.

The Dainty Sichuan is located on:

176 Toorak Road, South Yarra

9078 1686

JOURNAL is located on:

253 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

9650 4399

Footscray Fantastic!

Firstly, I will say sorry for my lack of post recently. This has happened for two reasons;

I have been kind of time poor with work and showing a friend around Melbourne trying to help him find a job the past few days.

I have been to a few places but they weren't anything great so I don't deem them worthy of spending time writing about the food.

HOWEVER today my friends the drought has broken! The flood of fantastic food comes plentiful!

Where you ask?

From the west of course, the wild west, traditionally the less appealing of the two (east and west). Well Footscray which is the epitomy of the west in Melbourne is a treasure trove of Asian and African delights - with a bit of Mediteranian hidden in there.

Footscray is colourful, it's edgy, it's everything you loved about Fitzroy 10 years ago. There is danger, delight and anything in between. All in all it is an adventure that will not be around for much longer. According to me it is the next inner city suburb facing gentrification - so go there while the good is good and before the yuppies move in and make it 'correct'.

How do we get to Footscray? Well you catch a train from the city - or north melbourne station. Hope on the Weribee or Sydenham lines. Catch the 82 tram from Moonee Ponds or find a bus. But train is quick. About 10 minutes from the CBD it's no hike. Don't drive, parking is a bit inconsistent and probably a bit unsafe - haha only joking...(or am i?)

Anyway so we all met up and I was telling everyone about where we'd go and if everyone fancied what I had in mind. Ethiopian food at Lalibela and cannoli at Cavallaro's. Both places in my view are pretty awesome eateries in the area. Since there was a risk of Cavallaro's closing earlier - Amy suggested we go and do our dessert first, because in the words of the girl herself "Who said dessert has to be last?"

Too true Amy, too true!

So we headed over to Cavallaro's which has been open since 1949 - and doesn't look like it's changed much since. You're greeted by friendly old European ladies and a lovely new girl who seems to have been recently employed. It gives you the feeling you're going to your grandmothers house. It's small, tan coloured tiles, mirrors, biscuits everywhere, lollies and the ladies who run the place fuss over you if you're not doing what you should be doing.

You can get your cannoli filled with ricotta filling or chocolate and vanilla custard. Both are particularly excellent - but I personally prefer the ricotta filled cannoli. I recommend trying both. Their other biscuits are pretty good and they make a decent coffee.

This is what you might get if you went there:

Quick note, the cannoli is freshly filled- none of this pre filled shit. So what you're getting is fresh.

The ricotta cannoli is heavenly. It's an almost cream cheese like consistency with the filling - and possibly some kind of hazelnut meal inside as well. It is sweet but not overly so. You can easily eat this and feel content, not full and sickly. With that said - it is totally satisfying. There is a perfectly found balance here.

These people are pros at what they do - they are efficient and genuinely nice. This place is small so it gets busy easily. But believe me it is worth waiting.

I honestly have only had maybe tried 5 or so cannoli from other places and this is the best. Absolutely the best I have tried.

But with that said - I haven't tried every cannoli so I could be wrong.

Anyway after chilling around there and making the store look full (with all 8 of us) we headed down to Lalibela. I assumed it would be open - but if it wasn't there was a good Northern Chinese Dumpling House nearby.

Well sorry Northern Chinese Dumplings because Lalibela was open.

It wasn't too busy inside, a few people here and there - but I'd recommend making a booking if you were going for dinner, because over the course of the afternoon it became fairly busy. But bookings would only be needed with larger groups.

The menu isn't big, but don't let that put you off. What is offered is all pretty darn good.

We ordered the Doro Wot (Chicken Stewed in Red Pepper Sauce), Mesir Wot (Lentil Dish), and also a cubed lamb dish with onions (sorry I forgot the name!) and also a beef dish (also forgot). These were all served on a giant plate on top of Injera which is a kind of bread often eaten with Ethiopian food. It has a slightly sour taste because before cooking, the mixture goes through a certain fermentation process.

This picture is a bit dodgy, sorry it seemed good at the time - but mainly I was excited to just dig in. And that is what you do. There is no cutlery here. You use your hands my friends! and you all eat from the same plate. It is absolutely and awesome dining experience, because you're interacting with the food and each other for the whole meal - it doesn't allow you to retreat to your own meal because you have what other people are having. I love it!

So how was it?

Effing awesome! Put simply.

But I will elaborate.

The chicken and beef dish were slightly spicy and beautifully aromatic. It is not salty but full flavoured - it is such a range, yet quite delicate at the same time. There was a boiled egg served with the chicken - it was great!

The Lamb was beautiful, it doesn't have the same amount of sauce as the others as you can see, but it was yummy. The lamb was a little tough but not overly so.

The lentil was dish was really awesome. It didn't have the spicyness of the other dishes but it was just as well flavoured and very satisfying. Now a note on this place - they have a pretty extensive vegetarian meal list - so if you're vegetarian or dining with one, try out ethiopian. It's part of the cuisine so it isn't at all tokenistic if you get my drift?

As you eat the meals, picking some up with the injera, bringing it to your mouth and tasting the slight sourness of the bread and the explosion of flavours from whatever you picked up - you will be in ecstasy.

The dishes are about 12 dollars each and drinks are cheaper than other city or inner city eateries.

OH and I must say - something completely made my day today. As we were walking back for Footscray station, my heart skipped a beat as I saw the Olympic Doughnuts Van right next to the redevelopment site of the station. Impossible, I heard the place closed. I was distraught.

BUT it was there!

I told everyone we must have some. This place is like an INSTITUTION. I would not say it about many places, but Olympic Doughnuts is an institution. Now it's future is in question because the council doesn't know where to put the place when the whole station gets redeveloped (see what gentrification does?)

It may be moved to the mall or further down the street. The lady said it is going to stay open for now though.

It's cheap, it's great and they use a dolphin to squirt the jam into the doughnuts. It is awesome. You just simply MUST have these.

The Olympic Doughnut Van is located outside Footscray station.

Cavallaro is located:

98 Hopkins St
Footscray VIC 3011
(03) 9687 4638

It is open most days, closes early on Saturday (maybe 2pm?) and I don't know if it's open on Sundays. And of course it is open on weekdays.

Lalibela is located:

91 Irving St
Footscray VIC 3011
(03) 9687 0300

Lalibela is open from 11am - 11pm daily apparently. Excellent.

My undying love.

IF there would be one food - in particular a dessert that I could not do without, it would be cheesecake. Not so much baked cheesecake because they're a tad heavy for my liking and people rarely get them right. HOWEVER the humble refrigerator cheesecake is something else for me.

The cool creaminess with a slight tart kick of the cream cheese, and in amongst this you have the glorious sweetness and whatever designated flavours pleasuring you with every bite.

I myself am very fond of making cheesecake because majority of my friends and family enjoy a good cheesecake.

My Mother and Aunty are the cheesecake kids of the family and tend to make them whenever a family celebration is in order.

When I was in Japan recently I had an absolutely amazing Green Tea cheesecake. Green Tea Cheesecake? You ask. Oh yes, in the land of sushi, tradition and the future - you have an amazing fusion of flavours. On the one hand you have the very traditional Japanese flavours and then you have European influences all joining together and creating some great expressions.

Here is the Green Tea Cheesecake I had in Japan:

It was part of a dessert set, all the items being of a green tea persuasion, but to me this cheesecake stuck out. It was SO unique in it's flavour and so well done. I cannot emphasise to anyone I tell about this cheesecake how good it was. I can taste it just thinking about it, and the lightness of the cream cheese middle was perfect. My friend Yukiko who works for this cafe which is green tea themed is just a lovely girl and she took me here for the second time in my life (My first time being about 3 years ago on my first trip to Japan). It was great, and it's always good to go on a local's recommendation for eating out when travelling. Don't go mainstream, play it how the locals do and you will be very happy.

NOW the whole point of this entry was that last week I went over to Sydney Road, Brunswick with my younger brother Andrew. I wanted to show him this really great shopping strip; one that is long, gritty, exciting and varied. It has a strong Mediterranean influence with a host of Middle Eastern and Asian cuisines. For anyone who wishes to get here, take the 19 NORTH COBURG tram from Elizabeth Street and get off at about stop 20, alternatively catch the UPFIELD train to Anstey Station or Coburg Station. Or catch the 903 bus and catch the tram down a few stops to get in on the action. This is a long street, so stop 20 on the tram is where it is all at.

NOW there are two places I want to talk about;

The Mediterranean Supermarket.

Is an amazing supermarket for anyone look for groceries of a Mediterranean theme, please go here. The products are decently prices and very very good quality. They have an amazing range of pasta and a deli that is going to make you melt.

The Flour Mill.

This place is a nice little bakery that opened up sometime last year. I went with my friend Steph in it's early days and we enjoyed what we ate. I hadn't been back since and I thought I'd take Andrew there. Well I'm happy to report it is just as good, possibly better.

The service is good, prompt and not bullshitty like some places. And we all know how I feel about bullshit service.

Andrew had a Chicken and Vegetable Tart which had the most amazing pastry. It was thick but not gluggle, surprisingly light. The filling was very nicely done.

I had a spinach and ricotta sausage roll kind of thing. It was very nicely done. Beautiful balance of ricotta and feta inside - not too bland, not too salty. The pastry was light and just right.

We were then eyeing the desserts which all looked ever so inviting. So we ordered the raspberry cheesecake.

Despite the cheesecake being placed on a bit of the napkin. I didn't mind too much, I'm a pretty easy going person. It's fairly unextraordinary looking right? But then it doesn't look like crap. It just looks like a humble cheesecake that good old (insert relative here) would make right?

WELL Andrew went first and he practically contorted with pleasure as he tasted his piece.

Curious, I took the fork and got a piece, put it in my mouth... ECSTASY.

Unbelievable.

I have NEVER had such a good cheesecake in Melbourne before at an eatery. Even those famed for their cheesecakes have nothing on this little piece here.

It was creamy, like beautifully creamy, there was just this slight hint of the tartness of the cream cheese linked in with it. It was sweet but not too sweet. And OH so so so so soft. Almost mousse-like in its texture, but not really.

Oh and the berries mixed in and the topping were a delight, they had such good flavour, they may have used jam actually but that's just speculation.

The biscuit base was perfect actually, just so well done.

After eating this we were satisfied and so glad we had this little piece of heaven on Sydney Road.

So my friends, if you like cheesecake then try this one from:

The Flour Mill

341 Sydney Road, Brunswick

Peace out

Yum Yum CHA

A few weeks ago when going to the beach with some lovely friends of mine. Julia mentioned a yum cha place called Crystal Jade that is apparently pretty good yum cha. This may be a chain from Singapore, but I'm not too sure if it is simply a case of same name syndrome. Regardless, I thought of trying it.

I had been looking forward to Yum Cha at the Crystal Jade all week! (Cnr of Lt Bourke x Russell St, just beyond the nab bank and upstairs). We had our sitting at 1 :15 so there was no rushing around early in the morning because people forgot to curl their hair or neglected to wake up.

The place offers yum cha all day and I'm 90% sure everyday. But I think you'd have to book. It was busy when we first went in but not entirely full - so it'd be safe to book if you have a larger group.

Another quick note, the night before when I was having a few drinks at a friend's place before going to have a dance - my friend Mika told me that this place orders pretty top quality foods from the company that he works at. While quite small, it is always good to know the food you're eating is of good quality - because taste is never an indicator of this. I will also add in that the place that orders the lowest quality foods from them is none other than the famed Vue de Monde! I was shocked beyond all reason. But then at the same time - it doesn't mean the food they order is bad - this a company after all that sorts out food for eateries of all kinds, I'm sure even their lowest quality foods wouldn't be terrible. But it's interesting to keep it in mind. Having eaten at the lovely Vue de Monde before, I found the food absolutely amazing - so maybe a really good artist of the culinary doesn't need the top quality cuts/ingredients we'd all imagine them to require.

Sorry enough about that. But I wanted to let you all know about this often overlooked dimension to eating out.

Now we went upstairs, prompt service, lots of waiters around - if they weren't pushing trolleys they were tending to tables for drinks or other requests. Well there was no service drought. And something else, the service was quite decent I found. Sometimes you may notice that yum cha service can be slightly robotic and even challenging getting the attention of that elusive trolley person with the prawn noodle you want so badly. But this was orderly and in some cases quite humorous as one of the trolley girls joked around about me ordering everything that came along. There was also consistent explanation of things coming along. A very smart move, business wise. You should never assume your customers know everything they are eating, so be prepared to explain what it is.

That they did, and it probably accounted for 40% of the things we ordered. Upon finding out, we were enticed.

You have the usual suspects coming along. The Sui Mai was very good. I don't usually go ga ga for it but I quite enjoyed its moistness and delicate flavour.

Also I'm going to apologise in advance that I didn't picture everything we ate yesterday because you can imagine the issues of trying to snap everything that comes to a table of ten with a lazy Susan in full spin.

I think everyone has certain little pieces they must have when 'doing the yum cha' and mine are the following:

BBQ pork bun

prawn noodle

Oh and also quite embarassingly - jelly. But we will get to that later.

So how did the top two on my list fair to past experience?

Well my friend here the humble pork bun turned out to be very nice. Beautifully sized, fresh and easy to handle. The filling was a very lovely BBQ flavour - it had the hint of smokiness you always like and an array of spices dazzling your mouth. ALSO it wasn't too salty. I'd say this is one of the much better pork buns I've had at yum cha in a while. Another important thing was the fact I could tell what was inside when I took a bite, it wasn't non descript mush, it was little pieces of lovely things. and the bread was just divine sweet and fluffy, not clumpy and doughy.

Ahhh the noodle AKA Chee Cheong Fun. It has been a fascination for me ever since my days of eating yum cha at the Bamboo Terrace in Bulleen. When I was just a child. This Chee Cheong Fun was good, the prawn was good quality and that is important in a simple dish like this - because a slip in the quality is very noticable. You need harmony with a dish like this. Now I noticed something in amongst the prawn and noodle that seemed like egg but I wasn't sure. The sauce was very good. Overall it was decent - not the best I've had but then there was nothing particularly bad about it.

This squid was very very excellent. I haven't had something like this at yum cha before. Sure I've had squid at yum cha - BUT this spice that is on tip is great. I honestly had no idea what it was. But it almost reminded me off the heavy seasoning you get with sichuan cooking sometimes. It wasn't spicy, and it wasn't particularly crazy in the flavour in gave. But it lent a nice texture to the dish and also a very delicate flavour of many spices.

I really liked the arrangement of this dish. It was pretty and homely. It made me feel like I was going to a friends house for dinner or someone in my family had made a special meal. Here we have duck, chicken and jellyfish. This dish was accompanied by a sweet plum sauce for the duck and a ginger sauce for the chicken. This duck was excellent. The fattiness, crispness of the skin was perfect. It's always important to know that fattiness of these meats is so important in this cuisine I think. It always delivers a moist and fuller flavoured dish.

Now the jellyfish which I had never tried before turned out to be so beautiful. It was like having a noodle with a slightly harder texture - yet still soft. It just wan't mooshy you can see what I'm getting at. It was slightly spicy and simply a pleasure to eat. Don't let a food you have never tried before put you off. Because you may be very surprised as I was.

These were like fried buns with onions and there was an XO sauce served with them. They reminded me of the BBQ pork bun but the flavour didn't particularly stand out for me. They were simply a mundane bun.

This was nice. Prawn wrapped in tofu deep fried. Ooh yes. I liked it, because it wasn't too oily and it was very light. I wouldn't have too many of these but I think it's nice to try one or two with some chilli sauce.
Oh spring rolls. So conventional. So needed at yum cha. You know what they taste like, you know you have to get one. And everyone else wants one too. Believe me.

These were nice - what I liked is that you could tell what was inside, so there was none of this store bought shiftiness going on (i'd assume) and yeah lovely balanced flavour. Good with chilli sauce. But then I'm fond of chilli. You might be fond of sweet and sour or soy or who knows what else.

Prawn dumplings. Very good. I love these semi transparent little morsels. They were moist inside, didn't squirt and burn you. They had that slightly sticky outside which made them easy to pick up and they were soft to touch. Very well done.It also helped using good quality prawns.

From memory this is spinach and maybe scallop dumpling. I really loved it. It was such a pleasure to eat. I don't usually eat scallop but in this case the cooking, the other ingredients and what not made this so tasty for me.

There were other things such as the Taro and Pork dumplings - which were excellent. Gluten like in texture but very well flavoured.

Ginger steamed fish - TO DIE FOR. My brother's girlfriend, Amy who doesn't like fish all that much actually quite enjoyed this meal. So that's saying something.

The egg tart. They were OK. Could have done with more filling. The pastry was OK and the filling was OK. It's so hard to criticise something when it is just OK. So I hope you all know what I mean.

Mm watermelon and sago 'soup'. This was very refreshing and a good way to end the sitting. It cleansed my pallet and left me feeling content. The watermelon pieces were sweet, the soup was sweet but not overly so and the sago was well done. Good rumble.

Oh yeah, there was NO jelly. I was shocked and appalled in a very childish way. But I got over it. How could you not have the gloriously mundanely flavoured yet awesomely layered jelly at yum cha. Oh well better luck next time.

BUT overall Crystal Jade, you have impressed me! I hope everyone else enjoyed this too. And should you choose to go here, I hope it is as good for you as it was for me.

SOUL of my MAMA

Last night, I had an excellent catch up with my friend Natasha. After I finished work, we met up at Southern Cross Station and caught the 96 tram down to the St Kilda baths.

There was a place Natasha had been eager as a beaver to try for a while. What is this place?

It is one of the more well known vegetarian eateries around Melbourne.

I give you - Soul Mama.

A beautiful eatery - I won't say little because it has a more open lofty feel about it. You sit above the St Kilda Baths and over look a brillian blue ocean and the distant shapes of buildings across the bay - where I was earlier that day (Altona).

I've actually been here before and I was impressed when I ate here last year because it was fresh, the food was good, the service was good and it was a slightly more different concept of dining.

So basically you sit down, you get your menu - which has a fairly generous drinks list, the cocktails are pretty delicious but in the style of Melbourne - too expensive ($16) pleaaaase, I've been to Tokyo - most expensive city in the world (apparently) and I never paid more than the equivalent of $8 for good cocktails. So stick it, I'm keeping my $16 for the next time I go to J-pan.

ANYWAY rant aside, the food ordering works like this.

you have three options:

3 meals + rice = 14.50

4 meals + rice = 17.50

5 meals + rice = 19.50

So essentially you're getting the whole meal for under 20 dollars thing happening here.

Having gone here before, I know that 3 meals is MORE than enough. That is my recommendation to you all who decide to check the place out. Especially if you want to save room for dessert.

After deciding which meal option we were going for, we put in our order like you would order anything at a restaurant and then you get a ticket back.

They gesture you down to kind of buffet area where you wait in line to go pick your meals.

First question: Brown or white rice. BROWN!

Second: Which three meals would you like?

I picked Ratatouille, Tofu and Vegetables with Black Bean Sauce and Tomato Pesto Pasta Salad.

Don't judge me for picking the pasta salad - I just kind of felt like it.

This is what I had on my plate:

It was pretty darn satisfying.

Now the Ratatouille was simply excellent - a beautiful rich flavour, something truly European in the flavours. Also the bay leaves being left in was a nice touch to the overall flavour even though I had to pick them out as I ate. I like a challenge.

The Tofu and Vegetables with Black Bean Sauce was very nice. The vegetables were crisp and the black bean sauce was so so nice - probably not as traditional as they come, but I liked the hint of ginger in there. Gave the dish a nice summery freshness. HOWEVER the tofu wasn't the best. I would have preferred some silken tofu lightly fried then put in, but that's just me. The quality of this tofu I found was a bit spongy and not the best. It is a real shame because especially at a vegetarian eatery you would hope that there would be an emphasis on using good quality tofu.

The Tomato Pesto Pasta Salad. WELL I liked it. It was a pasta salad, it didn't try to be anything more or less. The tomato and pesto combination went very well and it wasn't too heavy. Also since it was a relatively small portion I didn't feel bloated afterwards.

The brown rice was also cooked well, it worked well with the Ratatouille and Tofu and Vegetables with Black Bean Sauce especially. Pasta salad not so much - but who's fault was that?

NOTE: I also ordered I mango Lassi which was OK but not the best. Vege Bar on Brunswick Street Fitzroy has a far superior Lassi. This one was a bit much after a while.

For those of you not familiar with Lassi - it is a South Asian yoghurt drink (thanks wikipedia) sweetened with sugar and made aromatic with spices. This Lassi used cardamom and it was a nice touch.

Now after some chit chatting and speculating over later activities - we both ordered some dessert. AND wasn't it a glorious dessert?

Sticky Date Pudding with Soy Cream.

Oh I must say it was the most visually pleasing meal of the evening. A quick note: It is usually served cold at this place - I don't do cold sticky date pudding so I requested it be heated up and they were more than happy to do this.

This is what we got:

Look at that! What a master piece.

Now usually desserts are made offsite with eateries. But in this case, we found out that the desserts are actually made on premises. So it ain't mass produced. I can imagine they want to assure there is no meat in them what so ever (not that you'd put meat in a dessert but some people are fucked).

Now the Soy Cream gets a special mention. It was good to get a piece of the pudding and have it with this cream because it softened what is a very sweet dish - and also provided a nice coooooling contrast to the warmth of the pudding. Yum! It also didn't affect me (because it's SOY!) I wholly recommend this dessert but their other desserts looked simply divine as well.

Anyway that was the experience of SOUL MAMA ST KILDA.

It is a great place that extends far beyond the typical tokenism of some vegetarian eateries. It is a great place to go with friends or family - summer is ideal!

Breakfast Breakfast BAM!

So this is the fine food drought part of the week for me. BUT don't worry I have some reserve eating experiences and photos to waffle on about! Also I know now that there are at least 4 people reading this regularly/semi-regularly so I owe it to you all to share my lovely food experiences.

A few weeks ago my family and I sought to have some breakfast at the famed Las Chicas eatery on Carlisle Street in Balaclava. I had been there once before with my wonderful friend Natasha. She frequents the place and said it had the best breakfast in Melbourne. Well before I went to Japan - I went to Las Chicas and had just that, one of the very best breakfasts I have ever put in my mouth. FYI if you were to catch the train there - you would catch the Sandringham line to Balaclava station and pretty much see the place to your right (maybe).

HOWEVER a few weeks ago when my family and I went to Balaclava with all the hopes of this famed Las Chicas breakfast - we found something preventing us and our hungry stomachs.

There was a fourty-five minute wait.

Ouch.

Yes no I don't wait in line for that long at an eatery. ESPECIALLY when I haven't eaten breakfast yet. It's practically suicide and possibly you'll be harming others with erratic behaviour.

So we were kind of at a loss.

Where do we go?

Well frankly I knew no where else in Balaclava. But with that said Carlisle Street is bursting with places to go. But the hard part was finding one that was good. They were all quite busy and you see - on a food street busy-ness is no indicator of quality. A lot of people go to these food precincts to be seen, to socialise, to drink, to escape, to commit to routine and also a lot of people of people don't know what really good food is.

SO we took a chance.

We walked past LAVA a few times and it was fairly busy but I could see a table at the back that would accommodate the five of us. Good, friendly service. ALSO very importantly efficient - but not robotically so.

Anyway I fancied quite a few things on the menu. But this mushroom breakfast caught my eye (not the real name). I can never resist mushrooms. We all know that.

So I ordered it. and this is what I got:

Well isn't that pleasing to look at! YES. Very good. Because if there is one thing I often notice when eating breakfast out - it is that the presentation is never great. Not that I care so much about presentation. BUT when its lovely looking like this, you really notice.

So we have two poached eggs on top (poached to perfection I must say) they were also organic and free range. The spinach and tomato were good touches in this as well. The tomato especially provided a nice tang to what is a breakfast of very understated yet rich flavours. The spinach acted well in terms of providing a break and softener in the richness. The mushrooms were glorious. FUCKING glorious. That is all I will say.

The toast was good sourdough and that is how I like it. ALSO I enjoy how it was just one piece. I like that because too much bread often fills you up in a breakfast - you should be having less of the stuff anyway. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy once in a while like in a fabulous meal like this.

Now finally the hollandaise sauce - it could either make or break the breakfast. Well it was well done I thought. To be honest it wasn't the thickest I've had. BUT the flavour was just lovely. It was creamy, had a slight tang and something more. It was very well done. ALSO they offered cracked pepper when the breakfasts arrived. ALWAYS a good thing.

Afterwards I felt satisfied, contented, wanting to come back again, not bloated, not feeling greasy, just feeling good. That is what a breakfast out should do for you!

NOW check it out sometime.

If you were to get off an Balaclava Station, turn right and walk down the street. You'll see it a few doors down from Las Chicas which is also good but prone to being packed. Just know that there are other options and it's always good to try new places.

ANTI-POSTO

I realise the past week I have been neglecting to update BUT I do bring with me adventures from the wild wild west!

I recently started my internship in Altona which is along the beach in Melbourne's west. It's a very understated area, beautiful and truly unspoilt. For those of you who love the beach suburb of yesterday (Melbourne Style) I suggest a trip down to Altona on a balmy day.

In the 60's it was apparently marketed as the Miami of Melbourne. Of course this never took off and it's more pleasing cousing St Kilda won that wager.

Anyway there is a beautiful street called Pier Street right outside my offices and there are a number of eateries I intend to conquer over the course of my 6 months in Altona.

I have tried two already. I allow myself eating out here once a week because I'm trying to save a little as well as saving money for other eating adventures. And most importantly - if I were to eat out everyday, sit in an office for 8 hours. I'd basically not be very healthy.

Okay!

First place I went to was called Creme - it was crap. So it's hardly worth a mention aside from don't go there or you'll be paying about 17.95 for an tough lamb 'greek' salad which is hardly greek at all.

Second place was recommended to me by a co worker who said he enjoyed the tapas at Mosaic.

I'd often pass it as I walked down to the beach to eat my home made lunch. Which was a series of sliced vegetables to keep me regular and a bottle of water and of course a book. We have to feed the brain too.

So I happened to find myself the night before I went to Mosaic feeling rather lazy - I didn't make my lunch - and I had to buy it. I walked into Mosaic and saw a few people eating in a rather snazzy looking place - but very little staff. I couldn't be bothered waiting so I seated myself and got myself a menu.

I know people get really funny about this - but I'm willing to bypass not being greeted immediately if the food is good and it's comfortable.

Surely enough, a lovely lady comes out and greets me - noting that she didn't see me duck in - I winked and told her I was a ninja.

I scanned the menu - the tapas selection looked absolutely lovely but I was alone and I figured getting a few tapas dishes wouldn't be a good range of flavours.

The mains were quite pricey for me ($30 +) But looked mouthwatering.

Then I saw "Antipasto Platter"

It was $20 which was exactly how much I had with me. So I went for it.

The waiter also informed me that they had no cured meats at the moment because of menu transition so instead of the cured meats I would get prawns cooked lightly with bacon and spiced calamari as a substitute. I was very happy with this because it sounded like I was going to get some good value for money.

As you can see we have the prawn in the bottom left corner, sun dried tomato, some kind of meat loaf of cured meat, artichoke, dolmathes, feta, marinated mushrooms, sweet potato and some lovely bread and unfortunately breadsticks.

Now at first I was a tad confused because these bacon prawns were lacking bacon - but when I tried one - it was this beautiful harmony of bacon and prawn flavour with the acidity of the lemon embedded in a beautiful moist flesh. ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL.

The sundried tomato was actually semi sundried and SO lovely.

The meat loaf was interesting - not too salty and not dry.

Artichoke was good - not prickly.

Dolmathes were not bad - they were slightly mushy inside - i prefer mine a bit firmer. Also they put sea salt ontop which I wasn't crash hot on. BUT the flavour was just excellent.

The feta was a let down. NOW let me tell you something about feta in eateries. They always seem to get the dodgy stuff. Like it just has the texture of foam and this salty crappy brine flavour. Ew. I had half a mind to suggest they use persian feta instead because it would totally have made this dish perfect.

Marinated mushrooms were just divine! I'm a mushroom lover from way back so I'm always excited about mushroom in dishes. These were well done indeed.

Sweet Potato. Very very lovely. and not too much which is important. Personally I feel too much sweet potato makes me feel ill. I don't know about everyone else.

and how can I forget squidy squid squid! It was great. So SO soft and delicately flavoured. The batter was beautiful. I just wanted more - but I felt this taste was just enough to satisfy.

At the end I felt satisfied - not bloated or thirsty or anything. I was just content with how it went and how it left me feeling. I hate nothing more than having a meal that is too salty or oily or sweet and it leaves you with that unbalanced feeling. Like something has knocked your food Ying Yang out of whack. NO ONE wants that.

Anyway , if you're in Altona please check Mosaic out - it is on Pier St next to the post office.

no party like a DINNERparty

So last night my brother hosted a dinner party. He master minded the whole shabang and it went rather well I must say.

There is something about the idea of a dinner party that makes everyone so excited, it's the kind of thing you all sit around and feverishly talk about over some drinks one night in winter - speculating who will host it, what one might make and so on. Dinner parties are excellent because they are versatile.

Formal

Casual

Themed

or NOT

Outdoor

Indoor

Hedonistic

Understated

Spectacular

Otherwise.

Chris decide he would make some dips for pre main nibbles, followed by a paella and then dessert (which I would make).

For dips, Chris made Tarama which is a greek fish roe dip. It can be pink or orange in colour and usually has potato in it as a thickener and also to but a cap on the sometimes extreme flavour of fish roe. There was also a Baba Ganoush which is an eggplant, tahini, garlic and other assorted friends kind of dip. Followed by the classic Tsatsiki - which is an all time greek favourite. It is so easy to get right and so easy to get wrong.

You have Greek Style Yoghurt, Garlic and Cucumber, lemon juice and possibly salt.

A good tsatsiki has gone through the following processes:

The yoghurt has been put in a tea down and had the liquid slowly drain through overnight or for a few ours. It should only be a centremetre or so of this cloudy stuff.

Cucumber has been peeled and GRATED. then had as much of the moisture squeezed out of it as possible.

The amount of garlic you use is completely up to you - but minimum one clove.

None of this no garlic bullshit - it makes me sick. And plus garlic is good for you.

The three main ingredients should be mixed together before adding in lemon juice or salt. because you may actually not need either depending on the batch/brand of yoghurt you have purchased.

These three dips were served with pita bread that had been cut into pieces and grilled on the BBQ with a spiced oil. It was a good starter because it was easy - not messy and not heavy.

The key with entrees is that they need to be light.

Tip, don't use hearty breads for entrees.

We also served persian feta and some marinated olives. Store bought ones, but they are very very good. I highly recommend buying persian feta if you can find it because it is very light and creamy and sits very well with the things we served.

Anyway so for the main the paella came and it was really excellent. If you're not a fan of seafood then I don't recommend eating or serving this at a dinner party. BUT it can be worked around.

We had a member of our dinner party who doesn't like seafood so we ommited muscles and squid and put in chicken and more prawn and of course the chorizo. Muscle and Squid would be the first to go because of the following reasons:

Squid: While universally liked - it is universally acknowledged that it is hard to cook properly. because it can be overcooked very easily.

Muscles: They aren't the most popular thing on the plate. I don't mind them personally, but I don't love them so I'm not flailing my arms around when muscles don't join the party.

Anyway it was lovely - very rich flavour - not too overpowering of course. BUT in particular I really liked the wild rice mixed through. It added a range in texture to the overall dish.

Anyway onto the rest of the night. We moved inside because it was getting chilly and then just sat around for a while. It's important to let the main meal settle and politely leave everyone's mouth before mentioning dessert. This can be assisted with a jug of water with lemon or cucumber in it to cleanse the pallet.

For dessert we had Steph's absolutely EXCELLENT red velvet cupcakes, and my fridge cheesecake with blueberries and port wine jelly on top.

We served coffee and tea - with most people opting for Turkish style coffee. It's always fun because you can read people's cups when they finish their coffee.

Remember, when you turn your cup over - you MUST NOT flip it over after, someone else who is doing your reading must do it for you. You'll probably be cursed.

I can confidently say that Steph has mastered the cupcake - which is so easy to get right but so easy to get wrong. The cupcakes themselves were beautiful and moist, light yet not too airy. The icing was absolutely perfect. It was smooth - not too sweet and just a pleasure to eat.

I'm waiting on the recipe because I want to try to make them myself.

Without tooting my own horn too much - I was really happy with my cheesecake. The recipe which I got off my mum is quite vague and I probably didn't do everything I should have BUT it still turned out pretty good in my opinion. Once I made a cheesecake and the biscuit base was too buttery - never ever make this mistake because it leaves you with a sickly feeling. Thankfully that did not happen this time.

Anyway so I can say that this was a good rumble.

Thank you for coming everyone and thank you for your lovely company and food/drink!