Condiments for bread

I was impressed with the sleek and modern decor through out the restaurant (including the bathroom!). It does have interesting signage for the male and female bathrooms too may I add! The staff were generally highly professional, friendly and well knoweldged in the food offered.

japanese inspired oyster shooter

vodka and citrus cured salmon, beetroot crisp, finger lime, wasabi aioli and shiso cress

Vegetarian option of beetroot salad with feta cheese and shiso cress

I and my friend were game and probably slightly insane to order the 8 course degustation menu but it was quite worth it. We were highly impressed that the degustation menu didn’t require a certain number of people and that it had an impressive vegetarian option available. We ordered the non-vegetarian and the non-vegetarian option in order to try the maximum number of dishes.

asparagus, persian feta and witlof salad with poached quail egg, hazelnuts and soft herbs

pan roasted barramundi with caramelised eggplant, tomato and lime salad, yellow curry dressing

slow cooked bangalow pork belly, apple pudding, fennel, white peach, calvados jus

We loved most of the starters but did not find the gnochchi (vegetarian main) and the duck (the non-veg main) too exciting. We loved the dessert plate but unfortunately, were a bit too full to fully enjoy the lovely flavours!

ezard dessert tasting plate to share

A word of warning though. If you are going to go all out for the degustation menu, do give yourself a few hours!

Here’s the recipe:

115g or 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, diced
115g or 1/2 cup granulated (white) sugar
115g or 1/2 cup light muscovado (brown) sugar
1 large egg
5ml or 1 tsp vanilla extract
200g or 1 3/4 cup self raising flour
150g or scant 1 cup chocolate chips
50g or 1/2 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts or walnuts
50g or 1/2 cup raisins

1. Preheat the oven to 180c/350F/Gas 4.  Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.  Put the butter and sugars in a large bowl and beat together until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat again until combined.

2. Add the flour, chocolate chips, hazelnuts and raisins, and mix together until just blended.

3. Place teaspoonfuls of the cookie mixture, spaced well apart, on the prepared baking sheets.  Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes until golden brown.

4. Remove from the oven and leave the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes to firm up, then use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

This makes about 20 scrumptious cookies.  This mixture can also be made and stored in the fridge to be freshly baked whenever you are in the mood for some cookies.

Here is the recipe and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  I usually opt out the icing sugar on top.

150 g butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups standard plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup milk, approximately
icing sugar

Cream butter, vanilla and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift flour and baking powder together.  Fold into creamed mixture.  Add sufficient milk to give a soft dropping consistency. Spoon mixture into a greased and lined deep 20cm round cake tin.  Bake at 180c for 35-40 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.  Leave in tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.  When cold dust with icing sugar.

This makes a good base for lemon/orange/ or any fruit based syrup cake as well.  Here’s the book’s recipe for turning this batter into a lemon syrup cake.  I usually add a star anise and a small piece of cinnamon to the mix when making the syrup and remove the spices before pouring the syrup on to the cake.  I find this adds some nice extra flavours.

LEMON SYRUP CAKE

Spoon Butter Cake mixture into a greased and lined 22cm loaf tin.  After cooking cake, spoon hot syrup over hot cake.  Leave in tin until cold.

SYRUP
3 tablespoons lemon juice                                     1/4 cup sugar

Gently heat lemon juice and sugar together, stirring until sugar has dissolved.

It took me a while to realize that this used to be La Prochetta.  They have done quite a good job transforming it to suit an Asian eatery.  This “Petaling Street” appeared to be less chaotic than the one in Glen Waverly despite most tables being occupied.  It could be because this was more spacious and had a bit more room to move around.

After reading through the menu a couple of times, we settled on Nonya sauce with fish fillets, Sambal prawn and steamed rice to mop them up with.  I couldn’t go past the drink list again and ordered an iced grass jelly.  We both wanted ice kachang for dessert but it was not to be.  We were told they didn’t have it at the time.  That was slightly disappointing.  We loved both the fish and the prawns, although the fish was our favourite.   The fillets were crispy and were full of flavour.  The Sambal prawn could have done with a bit more spice as it lacked that kick you usually expect in a Malaysian Sambal. It was still good though.

Note of caution though:  Cash only and no split bills.

Cafe Cavallino is a bit of an establishment on Lygon Street with almost 40 years of history, encompassing two shop fronts with diners enjoying pizzas and pastas both inside and in the open chair.  The interior is decked with F1 memorabilia including a mini F1 racing car. It boasts an extensive list of drinks, breads, pastas, pizzas and other Southern Italian goodies and of course dessert!

It was particularly busy this evening and as we were quite insistent on sitting out in the open air, we had to wait about 10 minutes before being ushered to a corner table on the veranda.  The staff were friendly but the customers on the veranda were a bit neglected on this day.  It took a while for staff to attend to any of the tables on the veranda.  I had to call the staff over to give our order, ask for Parmesan cheese and to get the bill.  I expected better. I have been to Cafe Cavallino a couple of times before in the past and I have been impressed by the service and the food then but today, unfortunately when I finally had my blog up and running, Cafe Cavallino didn’t quite make the mark.

For starters, we ordered a plate of Bruschetta Bocconcini (herb bread with bocconcini cheese, fresh tomato, onion, herbs and olive oil) and for ordered Modena pizza and Pescatora (seafood, garlic, white wine and napoli sauce) with penne to share.  The pizza had roast chicken, parsley, semi dried tomato, basil, mozzarella cheese and bocconcini cheese.  The food seemed to lack in flavor today and I wasn’t very impressed, although Miss S seemed to like them.  We decided to try our luck with the dessert.  We had Marroncino (mint and chocolate gelati) and Gianduitoo (hazelenut and chocolate gelati).  They were to die for!!!  At least the gelati didn’t disappoint us on this day.

I was tempted to go for the Nasi Lemak but as I’ve been having too many Nasi Lemaks lately, I went for the Mammak Mee Goreng (Indian style Fried Noodles with prawns and chicken) and for a drink, I ordered a hot Cham (coffee & tea in one).  I’ve noticed that recently even though I can do without a drink, every time I go to a Thai or Malaysian restaurant I’ve ended up ordering a traditional drink for sentimental value.  Maybe it’s time I pay a visit to that part of the world again… Anyway!  The hubby ordered the chicken and mushroom fried rice.  The Cham was great.  Well I liked it.  It had the right strength and was not too sweet.  The Mammak Mee Goreng was good but nothing exceptional and the same goes for the fried rice.  We both found the portion of our dishes too big and found ourselves unable to finish them.  We didn’t expect the portions to be quite that big for only $9.50 a dish!

The service was alright.  The staff weren’t that friendly but they weren’t rude.  I’m sorry but I’ve got to say this..it’s Asian and having spent the first 18 years of my life in various Asian countries, I’ve learned that it’s generally best not to expect too much when it comes to customer service.

Coconut House was quite busy as it was lunch time with most tables occupied and we were ushered to a little table at the very end of the shop, left with the menus with instructions to place our order at the front.  Hubby ordered the Nasi Lemak with Nonyan Curry Chicken.  I went for the Banana Leaf Fried Chicken & Sambal Prawn rice and as they claimed to have the best Te Tarik (literal meaning being “pulled tea”) in town.  The food came out together and extremely quickly.

Hubby loved the Nonyan Curry Chicken.  I was however slightly disappointed with my order.  It had the same components as the hubby’s order with the addition of papadum and a few prawns.  I was amused that the “fried chicken” on my dish tasted like it had come from the same pot as the Nonyan curry chicken and I was very disappointed with the sambal prawns.  It just didn’t taste like the real thing.  The Te Tarik was good but I would dispute their claim of being the best in town as I’ve certainly had better ones in Melbourne.

The food is extremely cheap here though, with the above costing us just under $20.  I may give this place one more go one day and try some other dish before giving my final judgment on Coconut House.

The staff were extremely helpful in offering us suggestions and was very patient while we pondered through the menu. In the end, we decided on summer rolls (rice paper rolls with prawns and chicken) for our entree and for the main, we went with salt and pepper prawns, Vietnamese style pan fried salmon, sizzling beef, Vietnamese duck curry, Bun noodles (noodle salad with char-grilled chicken) and rice of course.  The food seemed to arrive at no time at all and I have to say the food was impressive!  The salt and pepper prawns and the Bun Noodles have to be my most favorite though.  Even the hubby who initially started out by saying he couldn’t eat much, cleaned up quite a bit and he who does not usually eat prawns, enjoyed quite a few on this night.

Definitely a must try if you are around Glebe Point Rd!

The coffee and the food was alright but nothing to be too excited about.  However, what touched us was the friendliness of the owners and the staff.  They took a personal interest in the diners and rather than just taking the orders and serving food, they seemed to want to make sure that their diners were comfortable and were well taken care.  We left with our tummies full and our hearts warmed by the pleasantness of the owners of Taste Baguette.

There isn’t a lot of places to eat in these parts and to be honest, I didn’t have very high expectations when we were invited to dinner by hubby’s client and family.  I was however pleasantly surprised by Cozzies Cafe.  There was a homely feel to this place.  It was small, filled with warmth and certainly cozy!  The family pictures on canvas behind the counter added a pleasant touch.

The menu was slightly limited and the food was quite slow to arrive but we were told by the others on our table (who were regulars here) that for some unknown reason, the food arrived faster on a busier night.  The food was delicious though.  The char grilled chicken salad which I had was stunning while I was told the steak was equally good.  When asked about dessert, the hostess gave us five choices of cakes and our table settled for mud cake, baked cheesecake and the orange flour-less cake.  I found the orange cake slightly dry but it was good nevertheless.  The mud cake and cheesecake got raving compliments from the two who had them.

Cozzies is closed on Monday but open for breakfast and lunch the rest of the days with dinner offered on Fridays and Saturdays.