From chopstix to steak knives..where do I go next?

Oriental Canteen: Cheap and Fast

2011-04-05T13:45:00.000+01:00

Chopstix2Steaknives have moved!!

Please update your links/feed to my new site address : http://chopstix2steaknives.blogspot.com/

If you happen to be around South Kensington and need somewhere to grab a bite that is fast and cheap, there aren't many choices around.

A group of us were there recently for the Pan-Asian Film Festival and with only a 30 minute break to the next film, we walked around hurriedly looking for a place. A short walk later, we spied Oriental Canteen which I've been once when I first arrived in London.

In we went as there was a table large enough to fit us all. The dishes averages around £5 and the place comprises mainly of students.

BBQ pork & roast pork belly rice

Wan Tan Hor

The food was decent enough, tasty and quick. Sometimes you just want a quick bite and I found mine.

Will I recommend: Yes, when you're looking for a quick bite

Will I come back: Yes

Have I had better: Yes

Oriental Canteen, 2A Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2HF

I have moved....Chopstix2Steaknives is moving to a new address!

2011-03-13T02:22:00.007Z

My Dear Readers,

Chopstix2Steaknives is moving to a new address!

I realised that there was a bit of confusion with my blog address and blog title being 2 different names.
One of the changes that I have decided to make in 2011 is to combined the two.

I'm excited, this is part of a few changes I am hoping to make.

Please continue to read my blog by going here.

All the posts from here can be found there too.

See you at my new site!

NOW Streetfood: An addition to the snack and lunch scene

2011-03-05T02:27:00.004Z

NOW is quite new as it opened about a year ago. I was really excited when it first opened as they were going to have rice porridge on their menu. I just love rice porridge and besides making it at home or having it as dim sum, you are pretty much stuck for choices that offer this in London.

Imagine my disappointment when they stopped offering it a few months ago. Every time I find myself in the vicinity, I’ll pop in and ask, but alas the reply was always “sorry, not available”. I had nearly given up hope until I recently heard that they are bringing it back and with new toppings.

Excitedly, I went to try their rice porridge amongst others. Along with the dim sum staples, there have been a number of new additions to the menu, including a Chinese Burger.

NOW differs from its sister Ping Pong and takes its inspiration from popular street snacks from Asia and adding a western twist to it; hence there will be some food items that are authentically familiar and others which are fusion.

Everything is packaged to create portable tiny bites and snacks that can be eaten on the go if you’re just feeling snack-ish, an alternative to boring sandwich lunches or something for your train journey from Liverpool street station next door.

We started with the dim sum.

Seafood basket (seafood dumpling, chives dumpling, fish shu mai) £3.99

My favourite was the Fish Shu Mai, this had prawns being used in the meat parcel topped with a piece of fish. It was juicy and tasty. Less successful were the seafood dumpling which had the skin being slightly too thick and doughy and the chives dumpling which could do with more chives in it to accent the taste buds.

NOW Basket (spicy chicken, fish shumai, chicken shumai, chive dumpling, sea bass dumpling, spinach & mushroom dumpling) £4.49

The spicy chicken had a slight kick to it which was enjoyed along with the spinach & mushroom dumpling. This is the more successful of the dumplings as the skin was thinner which allowed the flavours of the fillings to shine. The delicate purple dumpling is the sea bass dumpling which is new. The colour comes from all natural red cabbage colouring which turns purple when steamed. Unfortunately, the sea bass was dry.

I guess it is a lot harder to control the level of steaming to cook these tasty parcels in large quantities, especially when you incorporate some with thicker skins and some being thinner without hitting some quality issues.

Taking into consideration the prices of these dim sum baskets, they still make good snacks.

Duck Rolls & Hoi Sin sauce (shredded duck, spring onions and cucumber in a wheat flour pastry) £1.89

Vietnamese rolls (glass noodles, prawns, carrots and coriander wrapped in rice pastry, served with Thai fish sauce) £1.89

Both the duck rolls and the Vietnamese rolls are delicious.

Chinese Burger (pork hoi sin wrapped in steamed bun with pickled carrots and mooli, cucumber, spring onions and coriander) £4.29

When I saw Chinese Burger on the menu, it immediately got me thinking of the Gua Baos that I had recently in New York. The first difference that striked me was that NOW’s version is bigger and rectangular in shape. Thick chunks of meat with dashes of pickled carrots, mooli, cucumber, springs onions and coriander wrapped in a soft steamed bun. The pickled carrots and mooli provided a sharp contrast to the fattiness of the meat. I actually wished there were more vegetables as it was a whole lot of meat; the proportions were just a tad chunky. Maybe thinner slices of the pork would have been better. Or you can look at it from another way, you get bang for your buck for those generous proportions of pork hoi sin.

Char Siu Bun (steamed bun filled with pork barbecue) £0.99

My friend really liked the Char Siu Buns and she says that she can happily buy two of these in the mornings for breakfast and it costs less than £2!

Chicken wonton soup £4.29

Every morning through the glass window, you will see a lady making the wonton. I was excited to know that these are made fresh daily and couldn’t wait to dig in. You can definitely tell the difference between a fresh and frozen wonton and this are fresh.

The chicken meat was bland though as it was just a whole big chunk of chicken meat wrapped in wonton skin while the skin is soft and delicate. The chicken wonton soup was abundant in vegetables and I definitely prefer this to the soups from Itsu or Eat or Pret. You’ll need to add some soy sauce to the soup to make it tastier.

All that eating has made us thirsty and we had some teas.

Spicy Iced Tea (black tea infused with black peppercorn and raspberry puree)

Black tea and soya bubble tea (lapsang black tea, soya milk and tapioca pearls)

Think flavoured tea like those infused fruit teas in a tea bag and the spicy iced tea is similar. I quite like it.

This bubble tea I did not like. The tapioca pearls have no where the consistency of a chewy and bouncy QQ texture of a good pearl.

Traditional sticky rice £1.69

Prawns were used in the filling for this sticky rice which gave it added flavour, the sticky rice wasn’t oily, a worthy consideration.

Seaweed and Garlic crackers £0.99 each

I generally don’t eat a lot of crackers as most of the ones you get from Chinese take-aways tend to be soggy or no longer crunchy but these were NOT! These are really good. Crunchy and crispy, it is everything you want from crackers.

Onto the rice porridges in three different toppings.

The first one we tried was rice porridge with grapefruit, raspberry puree and palm sugar. This was my favourite out of the three. As both the grapefruit and raspberry are on the sour side, it provided a sharp and refreshing sensation to this rice porridge with tiny bits of palm sugar adding sudden burst of sweetness.

Next was the rice porridge with mango, lime & coconut toppings. There wasn’t much taste to this at all compared to the inviting smell that wafts over to you when you first open the lid.

Saving the sweetest for the last, it was onto the pineapple, sesame & maple syrup toppings. Somehow the combination doesn’t harmonise and there is a sense of something lacking to round out the balance of the flavours. I actually think the previous version I had with bananas instead of pineapples was much better.

I can see where NOW is trying to change things by using ingredients hardly used for rice porridge and aesthetically, it all looks wonderful with bright colours of reds, yellows and whites. I think it’s just too different.

They do have a traditional version of pork congee but I say bring out more along the same lines such as century egg with a bit of chives? Or even just plain with some Chinese doughnuts. Or if we go with a bit of western fusion, ingredients like a cinnamon and raisin combo is well embraced.

For desserts, we had three different pots.

Citrus Lychee Jelly £1.99

This is jelly with lychee and orange, topped with a fruit puree. Raspberry is the dominant ingredient in the fruit puree. As a combination, the sharp tartness of the raspberry and sweetness of the lychee clashed with each other. The balance was too heavy with the amount of raspberry puree given.

Mango Pudding £2.29

There are a lot of mango lovers and this should be a mango lover’s delight. This is mango pudding topped with a layer of whipped cream and soy milk. There was a strange and slightly weird aftertaste after eating a bit or two of this. I think it comes from the combined whipped cream and soy milk. The two do not blend well and just using either soy milk or whipped cream would have been better. The mango pudding itself was not smooth and silky, it was too grainy.

Chocolate Chilli Mousse £1.99

This is a winner! A creamy mousse with a slightly airy yet slightly grainy texture at the same time. The chocolate shines through with a chilli bite that hits you at the end. Occasionally, you will eat a tiny flake of the chilli which provides a sudden surprise heat hit!

NOW also have a range of titbits for munching.

My favourites were the spicy honey peanuts which had a nice toasted fragrance and being sweet and spicy at the same time. The risotto chilli crackers also went down well as did the wasabi natural peas & seaweed peanut mix.

Less successful were the chocolate wasabi peas, the chocolate drowned out any wasabi that was the wasabi peas. The Goji berry snaps were great but the same couldn’t be said of its counterpart, the white sesame ginger. Where I could smell and taste the sweet toasted black sesame, I could not taste any sesame nor ginger in the white version.

I think there are some definite hits and misses in NOW. It’s great to see that they are constantly trying out new creations and products and that should be encouraged. The staffs were really lovely and it was a joy chatting with them. I like that things are made fresh with good quality ingredients used. With some tweaks to their menu, they are a worthy addition to have besides the usual dominance of same old salads, soups and cold sandwiches options available.

I say check them out when you’re in the area; you are likely to find something that you like. For me, some might argue that it’s not traditional but I really like the chocolate pau and at £0.99, I don’t need to think twice.

Chopstix2Steaknives was a guest of NOW Streetfood.

NOW Street Food, 22/23 Liverpool Street, London, EC2M 7

www.nowstreetfood.com

Chinese New Year Goodies: Bak Kwa

2011-01-25T13:27:00.003Z

Chinese New Year is around the corner and during the month before, there will be plenty of stalls and places that start selling CNY cookies.

It is a tradition in Malaysia and Singapore to make if you can, or buy a variety of cookies and cakes for Chinese New Year. These are displayed in decorative boxes ready to be served to friends and relatives who visit. They are also given as gifts.

You can imagine the delight as a kid, being able to eat and try so many different types. I remember as a kid, seeing my grandmother, mom and aunts making cookies. I recalled memories of helping to make love letters using a charcoal fire in the backyard. You don’t realise what you miss until you can’t get them overseas.

One of these goodies that I do missed is the Bak Kwa as commonly called in Malaysia. It is otherwise called Rou Gan 肉干 according to Wiki. This is a salty-sweet dried meat that are shaped in thin flat squares. Think of juicy caramelised meat in terms of the taste!

Traditional recipes require for the meat to be cooked over hot charcoal which is quite impossible for me as I have no barbecue and no garden to even attempt.

Having had the luck to sample some of Mili’s when she decided to beat the odds and use the oven instead. It was a success!

I decided to try and make my own, fingers crossed! I browsed my recipe books and discovered that I had the recipes in there to my delight!

Bak Kwa is traditionally made using pork but I decided to play around and use beef and turkey as well. Talk about being ambitious, not only did I not start with making only the traditional version, I decided that I might as well try the fruity version as well.

Result?

I have a kitchen that is clouded in smoky meat smell that stopped my flatmate from entering! LOL!

OK, to the actual Bak Kwa itself. It is yummy! I think the taste is spot on but will have to do some minor tweaks with the texture (result of working without a blender and not using a rolling pin!).

Recipe - Crispy Sweet version

Ingredients:

•900g minced pork

•1/4 tsp soda bicarbonate

•280g sugar (you can play with this. I used some brown sugar as well)

•1 ¾ tbsp fish sauce

•1/2 tbsp light soy sauce

•2 ½ tbsp rice wine

•20g oyster sauce

Recipe – Fruity Crispy Sweet version

Ingredients:

•900g minced pork

•1/8 piece pineapple (boiled and blended)

•200g sugar (you can play with this. I used some brown sugar as well)

•1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
•1 tbsp light soy sauce

•1 tbsp rice wine

Preparation:

Marinade:

Mix the ingredients together (excluding the minced pork) before mixing it into the mince pork. Leave in the refrigerator overnight.

Cook:

This is where I turned to the method used by Mili (Extracted from Mili’s recipe)

Step 1

Cut two pieces of parchment paper that is the same size as the cookie sheet

Lay one sheet on the upturned cookie sheet (turn it upside down)

Scoop about 1.5 cup of the meat mixture on the bottom parchment that is resting on the cookie sheet (approx – depending on tray size)

With the other parchment sheet, slowly press the mixture down from the top, try to spread the meat mixture as evenly as possible over the cookie sheet.

Try to get it to cover the whole cookie sheet, using more meat mixture as needed and another cookie sheet if it is not large enough

Your meat mixture should be around 3-4mm thick, and even all around. Use a rolling pin over the top parchment paper if needed

Step 2

Traditionally, this meat mixture is then air-dried for a day or two. The modern way would be:

Leave it in a 100c oven for 50 -60 minutes to dry it out. Do NOT turn the oven up higher than 110 degrees as this will cook the meat.

We want to dry it out, not cook it.

After about 1 hour, the meat layer should be ‘welded’ together from the fats in the mince.

Leave to cool, and then carefully cut it into squares at this point.

You can freeze this for later, OR

Step 3

Turn on the grill (charcoal bbq is best) and grill it for about 4-5 mins on each side

The bah-kwa should sizzle and spit and be slightly charred on both sides

Leave it to cool before tucking in.

This is fantastic in a sandwich, on its own. Basically, I can much on this anytime!

Boba Jam: When Bubble Tea and I become reunited again

2011-01-19T00:08:00.001Z

I love bubble tea. Whenever the words bubble tea is mentioned, my eyes widen and lit up. I will be looking around and asking "where?". When I was in Sydney, I used to have bubble tea nearly every day.

On a recent trip to Chinatown, I noticed a brand new shop which specialises in bubble tea. I was so excited as I haven't found a shop that makes good bubble tea in London. I was too stuffed that day to have bubble tea but when my bubble tea friend who loves it as much as I do, Mili visited me in London the week after, we definitely made our way to Boba Jam.

This place is so new that you can still smell the paint that was freshly laid on the walls.

We both got a bubble tea each, with mine being a hot version and Mili’s a cold version. They are GOOD! We both agreed that the pearls are made just right. Soft with a chewy centre, with just the right balance of gumminess/springback, otherwise known as QQ in its texture.

I have found my bubble tea place!

Boba Jam, 102 Shaftesbury Avenue Chinatown W1D5EJ

A Magical Lunch at The Ship Wandsworth

2010-12-21T02:58:00.001Z

There are only a few more days before Christmas but I think there are a lot of us who have started celebrating earlier during the month with Xmas lunches and parties and everything in between.

Last weekend, I found myself attending a Bloggers Xmas Lunch at The Ship in Wandsworth organised by the lovely Luiz and Gail. Needless to say, I was excited and nervous at the same time. Knowing that there will be 50 of us did not help, that is so many people I was thinking to myself.

On the faithful Sunday, we all braved the blizzard weather that befallen London and headed the long trek (for me at least) to Wandsworth. How did the lunch turnout?

Onto the food and drinks first,

Starters

Amuse Bouche

Roast Butternut Squash Soup, Goat's Cheese Tortellini, White Truffle Oil

Foie Gras Terrine with Pistachio, Pear and Apple Chutney, Celery Salt and Toasted Brioche

Treacle Cured Organic Salmon, Pickled Beetroot, Butternut Squash Purée and Avruga

Poached Ham Hock Pressed with Roast Shallots, Bury Black Pudding, Celeriac Remoulade and Spiced Kumquats

Mains

Honey Glazed Duck Breast, Pasty of Confit Leg, Creamed Spinach, Root Vegetable Fondants, Port Jus

Roast Rump of Beef with Roast Potatoes, Yorkshire Pudding, Cauliflower Cheese and Swede Mash

Roast Haunch of Venison, Herb Crust, Red Wine Risotto, Shallot Puree, Thyme Sauce

Sautéed Turbot Supreme with Celeriac and Turnip Boulangère, Truffled Sabayon, Red Wine Reduction

Desserts

Homemade Christmas Pudding, Prune and Armagnac Ice Cream

Sticky Toffee Pudding, Vanilla Ice Cream

I had some wonderful dishes here at The Ship which I think they truly deserved to be mentioned and recommended to people, hence why the decision to write this post.

I was seriously impressed and special mention needs to be given to the Treacle Cured Organic Salmon with pickled beetroot, butternut squash puree and avruga. Such a lovely play of colours and different shapes, it was like an art painting. I was lucky enough to be given some to taste as I did not order this is my starter. Flavour was awesome.

The Sunday Roast of beef with Yorkshire Pudding was also delicious and had me going, I think I will enjoy coming here for my Sunday Roast!

My utmost favourite and which had my eyes widen with surprise and delight was the honey glazed duck breast. The Port Jus was just amazing, it went so well with the honey glazed duck and I was practically drooling for more. Had to practice some serious control not to polish off the entire plate as guess what, I did not order the duck as my mains either so I couldn’t possibly polished off someone else’s mains! I went back to enjoy the nice little surprise of the match between the red wine reduction and my green beans that came with my Turbot mains.

We had a break in between with a selection of cheeses which was devoured very quickly by the table. By the time dessert came, we have already been there for about 4 hours.

The Christmas Pudding was too rich for me while the sticky toffee pudding has more of a cake consistency but with a nice outer crispy crunch. I didn’t mind the cake like texture as it was definitely lighter and after all the food from before, my tummy was happy with the Sticky Toffee Pudding.

Special thanks to the kitchen and crew at The Ship as they took care of us so well with lovely wines, amouse bouche, cheese platter top ups and dessert wines as well.

The lunch quickly became a 6 hour affair and I seriously don’t know how time just flew by. I met so many lovely people and had wonderful conversations. There was even some Carol Singing for a brief moment! I entered a room of strangers but felt like by the time I left, we were leaving as friends and I am sure a lot of us there share the same feeling.

Twitter was alive with all of us tweeting before, in the midst of it and after the lunch.

My special thank you to the lovely Luiz for making me feel so welcome and putting me at ease when I said yes to attending the Bloggers Xmas Lunch. And it all started with a tweet!

Here is to more events and good times and food to come.

Real Food Market, Covent Garden

2010-11-11T15:08:00.002Z

Every Thursday, the piazza at Covent Garden comes to life with the appearance of stalls selling their culinary wares and the waft of food cooking greeting passers by.

Weather permitting, I made my way there over a number of weeks to sample what there is to offer.

I wrote a post earlier on Street Kitchen that was there in October. Really liking what I had, I went back to try some others.

Hot Smoked Salmon with Beetroot, Crushed Potato and Horseradish £6.50

This was ordered by my colleague and looked rather good.

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Home Made Organic Brioche £4.50

Hearty and wholesome, this was of a medium creamy texture.

Cheesecake with Blackberries and Shortbread £4.50

Apparently, they ran out of the cheese from the original supplier and had to substitute it with another on the day that I decided to try it. Was told by Jun Tanaka that this is creamier but still as delicious!

I don’t mind that the cheesecake was not as solid as it still went very well with the crunchiness that came from the shortbread with bursts of tartiness from the blackberries. My colleague prefers the more solid versions.

Some of the regular stalls:

Fresh oysters, anyone?

Paella

This is as fresh as it gets where the garlic is still literally in its shrubs from being picked from the garden.

There is also a stall selling organic vegetables.

I was very tempted to try the Salt Marsh lamb steak but the queue deterred me.

Truffle risotto – I sampled this and the flavour of the truffles definitely hit you strong. It is slightly more al dente than expected but was told that they have to slightly undercook as it continues to cook when you are bringing it somewhere else to eat it.

In the end, I settled for some vegetarian rice pilaf which was overpriced as this was only how much I got for £4.50!

Varieties of sweets and pastries, check out the dessert shots!

After much deliberation, I got myself an Alfajores as dessert. I’ve never had one of this before. These are cookies that are filled in the middle with dulce de leche and rolled in coconut, a South American snack.

I don’t really like coconut-coated stuff but I could forgive this one as the cookie itself is so airily light that crumbs literally fly in the air for a few nano-seconds when you bite into it. It almost feels like it melts into nothingness leaving behind hints of butter ending with the sweet caramel sticky dulce de leche!

I really like this one, might attempt to make it as I have a tub of Dulce de Leche sitting in my kitchen.

The Real Food Market will continue until Christmas. Good time to also check out KISS.

Description below from coventgardenlondonuk.com:

“Dubbed KISS, and designed by Paul Cocksedge Studio, KISS is activated when two people hold the mistletoe under the tree and kiss. The electricity of their touch spectacularly lights up the tree’s 50,000 red and white LED lights, creating a sensational light installation.

Merry Kissmas aims to raise over £25,000 for youth charity The Prince’s Trust, changing the lives of disadvantaged young people in the UK, through practical and financial support. We are encouraging visitors to donate a minimum of £1 for every kiss under the Christmas tree. Please give generously. Visit princes-trust.org.uk for more details.”

Street Kitchen, London (4th – 18th October, 2010)

2010-10-07T12:11:00.002+01:00

We have been blessed with an abundance of culinary festivals to tantalise our taste buds this year. What started with Taste of London and now onto the London Restaurant Festivals.

For those who have the £££ to splash, there is the Gourmet Odyssey Route Master to tempt you. It is a little too much for me and I have instead decided to explore the participating restaurants for the lunch and dinner courses.

Something else that caught my eye was the Street Kitchen. This is literally meals on wheels, US style!

An excerpt from the website:

“Street Kitchen, the first venture of its kind in the UK, will see Jun Tanaka, Executive Chef at Pearl Restaurant, and Mark Jankel, chef and founder of The Food Initiative, take to the streets of London in an Airstream kitchen, cooking up gourmet food for Londoners to eat on the go.”

Jun Tanaka has been on my ‘To Try List’ for a while now and why not check out Street Kitchen, I said to myself. I ventured to Covent Garden and searched around for the kitchen mobile.

Beating the lunch crowd, I was able to peruse the menu and made my order.

Chefs at work on my order =)

Braised Beef with Roasted Carrots and Celeriac Mash £6.50

The Celeriac mash was wonderfully creamy and yet not over-blended that there is no texture. I have never had such smooth mash. The beef was juicy, tender and bursting with flavour. The gravy added a further depth in flavour and the roasted carrots completed the dish.

The ingredients used are part of The Food Initiative by one of the founders Mark, you can read more about it here.

One of the food suppliers was on hand next to the food mobile and I chatted with them for a bit. Natural organic ingredients and the prices are quite reasonable as well. The best part is ‘there is free delivery involved’. I am potentially changing my shopping habits. When you are able to buy more nutritious and flavourful food with the added convenience and reasonable price, is there any reason to say no?

Street Kitchen is currently in Covent Garden from 4 October as part of The London Restaurant Festival (4-18 October 2010) and arrive at Old Spitalfields Market on 15 October where it will stay until the closing ceremony of the festival on 18 October.

Check it out before it’s too late!

Kaiseki Oct 07

2008-05-10T17:34:00.006+01:00

This is such an overdue post that I'm almost too embarrassed to post it. However, in the light of good food, it deserves its spot. This is the second Kaiseiki class that I attended in 2007, the first one being the month before in August.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first class I went to and decided to sign up for this one being a Bento theme.

Kei remembered my friend and I and this time, we had 2 other friends joining us in the class of 10.

The theme for this class is Shokado Bento and still in the spring menu.

We were all split into teams to work on the different areas of the menu. The first being "Kuchitori (The Appetiser)".

My guy friend was all excited about making the omelet so he got to do it with this rectangular pan.

Working on the Japanese Egg Omelet

Kei going through the steps on the Wagyu marinated in miso

Meanwhile, work was going on by the other apprentices (which includes me)!

Wagyu marinated in miso completed and ready for plating.

Remaining Appetiser done and ready for plating too (We have the simmered sweet prawn on the left, followed by the cauliflower pickle and the broccolini in mustard dressing)

Next was "Takiawase" which is the simmered dish. I was too busy prepping ingredients and was not able to take any pics.

This was followed by "Sashimi". Kei taught us and we all had to learn to slice our own sashimi which was kombu cured ocean trout and decorate it according to how she taught us.

This is mine. Not bad for a novice. On the side is wakame seaweed, shiso leaf and wasabi garnish.

Lastly in the Bento box is "Gohan (The final rice)". This was steamed rice with peas. We all had to shaped it like a star in our Bento box.

Outside of the Bento box was 2 more dishes with the first being "Wanmono (The Seasonal Broth)".

This was egg tofu with asparagus, carrot ribbons and Gold Leaf. Yes, that was right, GOLD leaf.

The second dish is called "Agemono (The Fried Dish)". This was white bait and asparagus tempura with green tea salt. Yum! Anything with green tea is good with me.

As quickly as we came, the minutes just flew by and it was time for us to start plating and setting up the table for the feast to begin.

The Japanese Egg Omelet all sliced and ready to be eaten. Oops, plated (You can sense my eagerness to start eating)

We started by plating the Appetiser on the top right followed by the Takiawase. We had prawn balls, bamboo shoots and sugar snaps for the Takiawase.

Ended with the Sashimi on the top left and Gohan on the bottom left. A deliciously filled Bento box.

Next to our Bento box was the Wanmono and Agemono.

Wanmono

Eating Time!

Kei's Kitchen runs English led cooking classes every second weekend of the month and the menu changes according to the season.

Classes scheduled for the rest of the year are:

July 12th, 13th (Winter Menu)
August 9th, 10th (Makimono Menu)
September 13th, 14th (Spring Menu)October 11th, 12th (Noodles Menu)
November 8th, 9th (Summer Menu)

To enrol, please go here.

Kaiseki August 2007

2007-08-28T14:25:00.002+01:00

This is soo bad of me. Nearly a month is gone and I am about to go for my second Kaiseki class and I haven't even blog about the first one.

Kaiseki, according to Wikipedia means "stone in the bosom". It refers to monks who would place warm stones in their obi to ward off hunger in the olden days. It later came to mean simple meals (vegeterian meals) that were served after the tea ceremony to Zen monks.

In the present day, kaiseki is a type of art form that balances the taste, texture, appearance, and colors of food. Only fresh seasonal ingredients are used and are prepared in ways that aim to enhance their flavor. Finished dishes are carefully presented on colorful plates that are chosen to enhance both the appearance and the seasonal theme of the meal. Dishes are beautifully arranged and garnished, often with real leaves and flowers, as well as edible garnishes designed to resemble natural plants and animals.

I was excited about going for my first Kaiseiki cooking class and the menu is based on early spring.

M & I, being the excited ones were the first to arrive and we were greeted with a cup of green tea.

I took the chance to take a look around at the kitchen while sipping my tea and sight the preparation table where the slicing and dicing was to occur.

The rest of the class started trickling in and we were soon put to work. We were all delegated tasks so that we can complete all 7 dishes in about 2 hours. Hence, not everyone gets to learn cooking all the dishes due to time limit. However, a tip for those interested, makes sure that you stop what you're doing when you want to see how another dish is made or to speak out if there are certain dishes that you want to experience making.

M & I were delegated to make the first dish. An appetiser called "Sakizuke" (Baked chicken and Fish Cake with Poppyseeds). Although I've cook for the past few years, it still feels strange and a little hesitant as this is a different cuisine. Took a deep breath and got to work.

After a minor mishap in the misinterpretation of the recipe *gulp*, the dish was completed and all done. The pic above is when we took it out from the oven and the pic below shows the final presentation.

Second dish is the seasonal broth, "Wanmono". The Early Spring version is going to be the Chawanmushi - Steamed egg custard.

Pouring the egg into the cup for the final steaming.

The Steamer

The final product. It was soooo good. The best I've ever had, really light & smooth. It slids down your throat like silk.

Third dish is Sashimi "Mukozuke". Tuna Sashimi Shimofuri Style with Nori & grated daikon with Tosa soy sauce.

Kei demonstrated the Shimofuri style before a few of us tried our hands at it.

After lightly boiling, it is placed into iced water so as to achieve the 2 tone effect.

Doesn't it look fabulous?

4th dish is the Yakimono, "The Grilled Dish". Whole grilled prawns in the shell with mustard sauce and "Chrysanthemum Flower" radish pickle.

The only male in our class got this task. He has to slit open the prawns, make the mustard dressing and smear it over the meat. Lastly, he had to poke through with the rods.

5th dish is the Takiawase, "The Simmered Dish". Twice Cooked Tofu with 5 coloured thick sauce.

The 5 ingredients for the sauce all chopped and diced!

This was how mine turned out after following Kei's instructions. I am happy!

Kei showed us how to slice thereafter although mine didn't turn out as good as I hoped. More practise I say.

The is the "Gohan" made by me! *proud moment* Teehee!

Finally, it was time for us to start setting up the table and decorating the individual plates.

Amazing! All the colours. They looked really vibrant, like the sun rays are playing a little dance with each of them.

This is how it was placed and looked for each of us. Time for me to eat.

Kei's Kitchen runs english led cooking classes every second weekend of the month and the menu changes according to the season.

Classes scheduled for the rest of the year are:

October 13th, 14th (Late Spring Menu 晚春)
November 10th, 11th (Early Summer Menu 初夏)

To enrol, go here.

Final Look!

6th dish is the Sunomono, "The Vinegared dish/Salad". Burdock root and carrot with sesame rice vinegar dressing.

The final dish the the Gohan, "The Final Rice". This was to be the smoked salmon and cucumber tazunazushi. Kei instructed that all of us were to make our own for this one. Great, I finally get to learn how to make sushi as my previous attempts were sad miserable ones.

Melody Market, Chatswood

2007-05-18T15:59:00.002+01:00

The melody market is held every Thursday along Victoria Avenue, Chatswood. It consists of a variety of stalls selling from food, clothes to accessories.

I have to admit that I go there mainly for the food though! Thursday is the one day that I always look forward to whenever I am in Chatswood! Below are some of my favourite foods discovered here...

Fishball Soup at the HonTou (红豆） stall

The Hontou stall sells mainly mini pancakes with fillings in them such as green tea, chocolate and red bean. They started to sell fishball soup at the side. This is really great! Hot Soup on a cold day such as winter now stuffed with all the different varieties of fishballs or of similar category. You get an egg, fishball, squidball, lobster ball + lots lots more.... Yum yum.....

If you want something light and at AUD5, I love it!

The Works at the Malaysian Stall

This is one of my favourite Malaysian stalls in Sydney. This is closer to the authentic Malaysian food that I have discovered. Best to go for the Works which consist of rice, a meat choice (you can choose from food such as Beef Rendang, Eggplant Sambal etc...), 2 satays with a fantastic peanut sauce, vegetables and 1 roti canai (Type of Indian Bread). A dash of everything to try. I totally love the peanut sauce, the crispy roti canai and tender Beef Rendang!

Cheese & Spinach Gozleme at the Turkish Gozleme Stall

You also have the Turkish Gozleme store which sells a pizza like style dish with fillings. You can go vegetarian such as cheese & spinach or go for the Combination (can't remember what is in this). I like the combination version, taste like pizza.

I will never miss this for the world. Japanese Takoyaki! Long queue and wait if you go at peak times. It is flour ball filled with ingredients such as octopus, crabs and prawns.

After trying all versions, my favourite is the Prawn and Crab Takoyaki. The prawn is filled with a type of mayonnaise and the texture of the prawns combined together with the flour ball is just delicious. The sweetness of the crabs also comes through in the Crab version as well.

Yummy! Try to go when they are not too busy and the quality will be at its best!

This is located near the end of the street and is a new one that I tried recently. It is set up like bar and you have stools at the side to eat your food. I decided to try the Garlic Prawns.

While waiting for my order, you can see in the left pic of the guys cooking and on the right, sauces that they sell.

The Garlic Prawn finally arrived in my hands. I ordered the Entree version which is the same price as the Garlic Prawn Roll at AUD7. Ooh~ It was soo good. Most of us who tried it was sighing with delight! The prawns were really fresh and I have no idea what marinate was used to cook the prawns in but they have been absorbed by the prawns and was just really really tasty! My entree came with a bread roll on the side too.

One of the guys loved it so much that he went back for a second helping at dinner time.

The melody market is open from around 11am till around 8pm every Thursday.

Total Score ~ 20.5/25

[Taste - 8.5 (10) , Presentation - 3 (5), Service - 3.5 (5), Value for Money - 4.5 (5)]

Disclaimer

2007-04-28T16:23:00.000+01:00

This policy is valid from 28 February 2007

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My List...To All Malaysian Bloggers...

2007-04-25T07:20:00.001+01:00

I was browsing through a fellow Malaysian blog when I came across this.
If you are Malaysian and own a Blog or have just started a blog like me or even if you aren’t a Malaysian blogger but you have Malaysian related posts on your blog, you are invited to join My List.
This is an initiative started by Daryl and I think that it is fantastic!
Please go to his website for details on how to participate. I know I am participating...
At least now, there is a list for me to check out other Malaysian or Malaysia-related blogs. You'll be surprised by the wonderful array of wit, lifestyles, funny stories, new things, fashion and food that you can discover within these blogs.
If there is one thing I know, we love our food!
Here is the current list & happy blogging everyone.....

My List Participants

Where's My Noose? Duke Amiene Rev Mum & Kids In Wonderland Yum-Yum Cuisine Software, Web Development and Technology just another ordinary story Mummy In Vain's Little World How To Solve Your Question FáLLiÑg LéÃVéS add this to my life Free Encyclopedia High Paying Keywords try-test arshad's photojourney EvelynHolic RajaBLog.info Lovelymummy's Bay My Yummy Cruise Home Sweet Home Lovely Mummy OnlineBisnes Malay Blog Purest of e2wen MyAnimes MySpace Blog Badruzamani.Org Parenting Life Forum Newbie Bisnes Internet & Blogger Mohd Sufian A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words hcfoo's blog Amazing Grace The Sanctuary Welcome To cHrIstInA_YY's Pink World Defying Destiny Dead Boredom Seeking Freedom Travelogue An amazing & adventurous journey Erin Nurjenna [B][E][A][U][T][I][F][U][L] Fluffy's Day Off My Fairy-Tale Once Upon A Time Money Making Blog Bubba Stuff Little Raymond's quaint melody Seraph Chronicles Route Brumeuse Coder's Talk Reggae And SKA Art Of ApOgEE THE VEGEMASTER LIFE Boonage Coretan Pengalaman Mat Silverhorsegunnysack BLUEAPPLE scribbles Diet & Detoxification Karma Kameleon Hsien's Dirty Little Secret The Rojak Blog keeyit My Life Online Fun Stuffs Donny's Bits Nicholas Chan's Blog dream of's DESIGN strike freedom 115 Truly Malaysia It's another new day Lisan's Scribbles Ramblings of a 22 years old The Towering Joe Life's a Breeze Life's Roller Coaster AceOne118 In His Time in His time The New Sanctuary a life full of surprises Sketches of Life Shannon's Old Space Pikey Dude SEO & Online Marketing Blog ShowMeMoneyBiz.com Snapshots kahpengBlog I am Who I am yung . silent whisper Simple Life One blog.One girl.One story The World Through My Eyes Why Malaysia? Etcetera~Etcetera Giddy Tigers Make Money Online: Exploring The Dark Side of Blogging Xilly's Blog Malaika Xiao Yu My Home Recipe SQKIKI’s Simple Tech Nukilan Jejari Azhad ITCHY HANDseng Just My Lil' Organic Life Oooh La La... Weird World of MerapuMan Fibre Art The World at My Fingertips Organic Income Organic Parade Shopping Flavor Daily postings of a chung ling student Something about LAI KennyP’s Technology Blog Women Mumbles KuKuJian.com Lyon & Wien Under The SUN Crumbs In Life SotongZai's Flow In the Ocean allthingspurple Christene's Kitchen toxicle.org [ Wood ] [ Earth ] [ Cheap ] [ Flight ] COMtech Ah Ling's blog http://judychow.blogspot.com/

发记甜品 Lucky Dessert

2007-04-04T10:01:00.001+01:00

During one of the nights while walking around the World Trade Centre in Causeway Bay, I noticed quite a queue outside two restaurants, "Itamae Sushi" and "Lucky Desserts". As I was leaving for Japan in a few days, wasn't too interested in trying out the Japanese one but I am crazy about desserts so I dragged my sis to try it out.

The picture above shows an article on their entrance which depicted what is recommended and that it is a must try place. The other picture is the shop's name.

As we had to wait with everyone else, we browsed the margazine articles and their menu which they posted along the shop windows.

We ordered two desserts. One was a durian dessert and the other is the "Leong Fan (凉粉) with fruits.

I've not been a huge fan of durian since a few years ago as I ate durians nearly every single week when I was young. I tried the durian dessert and I have to say that for someone like me who doesn't really like durians anymore, this is definitely one of their *star desserts*. The durian is not too heavy as it was mixed with pomelo which gives it a refreshing taste when you bite into it.
I definitely recommend this.

The other dessert was pretty good to but the only problem was that the "Leong Fan" was in strips like noodles which doesn't make it very easy for someone to eat. That brought down the enjoyment of this dessert. Otherwise, it is actually quite good.

Total Score ~ 18.5/25
[Taste - 8 (10) , Presentation - 3 (5), Service - 4 (5), Value for Money - 3.5 (5)]

First Post

2007-02-11T12:29:00.000Z

Phew! My exams are finally over. Working and studying fulltime is not the best thing in the world, it literally consumes your entire life = no social life! Now that it is over, i can resume one of my favourite things..which is food! As I am currently in Hong Kong, I will be recounting some of my food experiences here.
Yum Yum...and away I go....