Eat, Pray, Love

Koko Thai

noreply@blogger.com (Victoria Yap) — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 01:44:00 +0000

O'Connell Street is known as the food street in North Adelaide. Along the stretch of the street, you can find international cuisines, ranging from Indonesian, Australian to Thai food. The newest kid on the block is Koko Thai, specializing in authentic Thai cuisines.

I was invited by Adelaide Food Central to sample dishes at Koko Thai. All the food and drinks were complimentary.

Upon entering the entrance of Koko Thai, I was greeted by friendly waitress gracefully dressed in traditional Thai clothing. The ambience was relaxed and the interior was dressed with lights surrounded by netted coverings on the ceilings. Our tables had already been set up with tealight candles and flowers lining the center of the table. I felt as if I was transported to Bali for a meal at the resort.

Table decor

We ordered a few drinks before deciding on our main meals. I ordered the Coconut Juice which came with coconut pulp. The coconut water was refreshing but I felt that nothing can ever beat the water coming from freshly opened young coconut. Since Australia is not a tropical country, this could do! The pulp however, was enclosed with ice and I had to break open the ice to get access to the pulp.

Coconut juice

I also ordered Lemon, Lime and Bitters after finishing my coconut juice. This good old drinks can never disappoint me. I also noticed that it is an Australian thing to order this soft drinks with minimal alcohol content.

Lemon, lime and bitters

Before our main dishes arrived, we were treated to various entrees. The first one was Snow Pea Salad. It was a great start of the meal with the crunchiness from the snow peas and light tartiness from the lime.

Snow pea salad

Next up was Miang Kum. It was roast coconut, prawn garnished in lime served with ginger and cashew nut, wrapped in betel leaf. Different from Miang Kum that I had tried before in Malaysia, Koko Thai had already wrapped all the ingredients with betel leaf. I loved the combination of the roast coconut and betel leaf. I always thought that they are the highlight of the dish. Another great way to start your Thai food adventure!

Miang Kum

Another classic Thai dish is the Green Papaya Salad which was served next. The green papaya was sliced thinly, garnished with dressing and cashew nuts. This can be a healthy dish to start off your meal.

Green papaya salad

Enough with all the vegetable dishes, we moved on to meat entrees. We were served the Pandan Chicken. The chickens were deep fried to perfection with retained juiciness, then wrapped in aroma pandan leaves. Besides that, the homemade sweet chilli sauce dipping sauce also accompanied the chicken well, with the extra sweetness and zing.

Pandan chicken

The last entree tasted was Sea Star. Shaped as sea star, this was the prettiest entree of the night. They were homemade dumpling with minced chicken, squid and prawn filling. The fillings were well seasoned and dressed with tasty mild red curry sauce.

Sea Star

We were half full after having all the entrees and the main dishes came after that. For main dish, I ordered the Red Duck Curry, my favourite curry of all. It was a lovely dish, though I preferred a slightly sweeter version of the curry. The duck was roasted in the house and then cooked in red curry sauce with lychee, pineapple, eggplant and fresh basil. It was slightly dry due to the cooking process but still pleasant to the mouth. The red curry was full of flavours and I definitely loved the basil which added freshness to the curry.

Red duck curry

Besides that, another food blogger ordered the Green Chicken Curry which was slow cooked chicken pieces in coconut milk with green curry paste, green bean and bamboo. Pad Prik King Chicken, stir fry chicken and vegetables with fresh ginger was also ordered.

Green chicken curry

Pad Prik King Chicken

Another dish which had received rave reviews was the Coo Chee Curry Prawn. The prawns were cooked with Thai mild curry sauce with capsicum and fresh basil. Looking at the creaminess of the dish, it was truly hard to control my salivary glands.

Coo Chee Curry Prawns

How could Pad Thai be missed in a Thai feast? There you are, the favourite stir fried rice noodles with chicken, prawn and egg with ground peanut, spring onion and bean sprout.

Pad Thai

Koko Thai was really generous in serving us loads of food. We were also treated to two more seafood dishes, including Pad Cha seafood and Barramundi with Green Mango. The Pad Cha Seafood was the combination of prawns, squid, mussels and snapper fillet stir fried in coconut milk with young pepper corn and red curry paste. I loved the base of this dish as it was bursting with flavour. The seafood were also cooked well.

Pad Cha Seafood

I was so full by the time they served the barrramundi. It was such a shame that I didn't manage to try this dish as the barramundi did look very inviting and crunchy! Next time probably!

Barramundi with Green Mango

There is always a second compartment in the stomach for dessert. Hence, we decided to treat ourselves to desserts even though our stomachs were exploding. Some of the dessert offerings were Banana Split, banana fritters and homemade coconut ice cream.

Banana Split

The Banana Fritter was fantastic with its crunchy batter and cooling vanilla ice cream. The drizzling of chocolate sauce definitely added some vibrancy to the fritter.

Banana Fritter

I ordered the homemade Coconut Ice Cream. The ice cream was distinct with its coconut flavour, but it was not as creamy as what I thought it would be. It was quite icy. Nevertheless, it was still a nice dessert to end the night.

Coconut ice cream

It was a great Thai feast with everyone going home on a satisfied full tummy. Do visit Koko Thai when you are thinking of having Thai food or experiencing a slice of Thai heaven.

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

Address: 147, O'Connell Street, North Adelaide

Trading hours: 6pm-late (Mon-Sun), 12pm-2.30pm (Wed-Fri)

Love, Victoria

Feed Jetty Road

noreply@blogger.com (Victoria Yap) — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 03:23:00 +0000

The footsteps of spring are here and it has brought us a lot of warmth and sunshine. What could be a better idea than to visit Glenelg at this time to take a dip or bask in the sun? We have surely missed the beach so much owing to the long and cold winter. Visiting Glenelg, you can be treated to many food and restaurants. One of them is the Feed Burger Bar at Jetty Road.

I was invited by Adelaide Food Central and Feed Jetty Road for their media lunch. All the food and drinks were complimentary.

Adelaide Food Central x Feed Jetty Road blogger lunch

The Feed is popular with their burgers. There are 16 options of burger to choose from. It surely was a hard decision to make because every burger looked so delicious! I ordered the Tandoori Chicken Burger in the end. The home crumbed chicken breast was too great to be contained by the soft and buttery brioche bun. It was crispy and flavoursome. Aside from the usual burger accompaniments such as cheese and housemade coleslaw, the Tandoori spiced mayo did differentiate the Feed from other burger bars. The mayo was well balanced with spices and the servings was generous.

Tandoori chicken burger

One of the food bloggers ordered the eggplant burger which consisted of beer-battered eggplant, grilled haloumi cheese, roast pepper, lettuce, pesto, nap sauce and mayo. Definitely a great choice for vegan or vegetarian diners.

Eggplant burger

In addition, another food blogger ordered the scotch fillet steak burger with blue cheese, crispy bacon, fresh tomato, caramelised onion, lettuce, relish and mayo. All the burgers do not come with the fries so you can make that decision of getting or not getting the fries.

Scotch fillet steak burger

Besides burgers, Feed also has an extensive menu covering from salads, sandwiches, schnitzel to lasagna. For breakfast or brunch lovers, Feed also offers eggs, omelette and all day breakfast.

Chicken Parmigiana

The crumbed chicken breast from chicken parmigiana was made in the house. Marinara sauce and melted cheese topped the chicken and the meal came with chips and salad.

Homemade beef lasagna with homemade bechamel, mozarella and parmesan cheese

Most of the offerings in the Feed are homemade, including the bechamel sauce of lasagna.

For drinks, I ordered the apple, orange and pear juice. The Feed allows us to choose a mix from orange, pineapple, apple, lemon, carrot, celery, mint, cucumber and pear to customise our freshly squeezed juice. The juice was really fresh and made a great thirst quenching and detox drink .

Apple, orange and pear juice

The Feed offers many meal choices for the diners. So, do visit the Feed when you drop by Glenelg to feed your stomach and spam your feed with lovely photos.

Website: https://www.facebook.com/feedjettyroad
Address: 89, Jetty Road, Glenelg.
Trading hours: 8am - 5pm (Mon-Sun)

Love, Victoria

The Highway's Mushroom Month

noreply@blogger.com (Victoria Yap) — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 06:49:00 +0000

I love adventurous and exciting menu. The menu is always something that I search up before I visit any restaurant or cafe. There are two ways to approach a menu, either the execution of classic food to perfection or being inventive in the creations. The Highway is the latter.

If you follow my blog closely enough, you will notice that I went to The Highway for their game menu launch in May. Nevertheless, this month of July is the month specially dedicated for the mushroom connoisseurs and enthusiasts. I was privileged to be invited to sample the Mushroom Month menu.

We started off with the field mushroom soup. It is served with creme fraiche and crispy shallots. The soup was textural with the blended mushroom and the creme fraiche added creaminess to the soup. Crispy shallots were excellent addition to the soup with their crunchiness and fragrance.

Field mushroom soup

Next up, we had the king brown salad as the entree. It was made up of parsnip skordalia, hazelnut and watercress. The salad was satisfying with the big juicy king brown mushroom.

King Brown Salad

We moved on to the main dishes. The portobello burger was first to come out. It was the dish of the day. It was served with brioche bun, onion rings, cheddar and truffle aioli. The sides were mustard and chips. The flavour combination of the cheddar, truffle aioli and portobello was lip smacking. The cheddar gave the sharp taste to the burger, yet not pinning down the portobello. Oh! And the chips were great too!

Portobello Burger

Apart from the portobello burger, we also had the wild porcini gnocchi with white wine and gorgonzola cream sauce. The gnocchi was pillowy and the extra time of frying in the pan produced a great crusty layer on the outside. The sauce was rich and creamy too.

Wild porcini gnocchi

If you are feeling omnivorous, do order the shimejji and confit duck leg with pink oyster mushrooms and pea veloute. The fat was rendered well and I loved the crispy skin on the duck leg. The pea veloute was smooth and not too overpowering.

Shimejji and Confit Duck Leg

Now this was the fun part, watching how the chef incorporated mushroom into dessert. We were served the button mushroom and chocolate espresso cake with meringue and truffle ice cream. The ice cream was really intense with the truffle oil flavour. The cake itself was not sweet, hence the meringue had the role to sweeten the dessert. This dessert definitely had a savoury touch with this addition of truffle oil.

Button mushroom and Chocolate espresso cake

On overall, it was an interesting tasting as usual. The mushroom month will continue until the end of July, so go and satiate your mushroom cravings before you are too late. Because I tell ya, it will be rewarding! Cheers.

Website: http://www.thehighway.com.au/
Address: 290, Anzac Highway, Plympton
Trading hours: 11am-12pm (Sun-Wed), 11am-2pm (Thurs-Sat)

Love, Victoria

The Highway's Game Season

noreply@blogger.com (Victoria Yap) — Tue, 19 May 2015 06:03:00 +0000

The weather was getting a bit too chilly for May with the howling wind, splashing rain and frosty mornings. And it is this exact weather that gives me the best excuse to store more fats and have more meat! Speaking of meat, The Highway's does offer something different to the adventurous foodies. In its fourth year, the game season is to be launched once again from 18 May. Foodies from South Australia as well as other states are expected to join this annual culinary delight in this coming 2 weeks (18 May - 31 May).

I was invited to the Highway's to sample their game menu. All the food and drinks were complimentary.

Going wild every game season, the menu this year will be featuring wallaby, buffalo and venison. All the game meat are sourced fresh from local outback game meat supplier Something Wild in the Adelaide Central Market.

There are two options of entree that you can choose from. We started off with the first entree, crumbed quail eggs with beetroot puree, pressed red foo potato and micro cabbage. The eggs were crunchy and the pairing with sweet beetroot puree was intriguing. The layering of potatoes was a fancy and textural addition to the dish.

Crumbed quail eggs with beetroot puree, pressed red foo potato and micro cabbage

The second entree was pancetta wrapped wallaby with grilled artichoke and saffron aioli. This was the dish of the night! It reminded me so much of the pressed lamb in Georges. The smell of wallaby was not too strong. It was so tender that I can pull the meat apart and melted in my mouth. The pancetta added the umami flavour and saltiness to the dish. The saffron aioli was really good too!

Pancetta wrapped wallaby with grilled artichoke and saffron aioli

Moving on to the main course, there are three types of game meat - kangaroo, venison and buffalo - which constitute the menu.

The first main course was the native currant and tomato braised kangaroo tail, served with mixed radish, frisee salad and grilled bread. As kangaroo meat itself has a really strong smell, the chef chose the native currant and tomato to braise the meat to subdue the pungent smell. The side salad was fresh and the grilled bread counterbalanced the rich braised kangaroo tail.

Native currant and tomato braised kangaroo tail, mixed radish, frisee salad and grilled bread

Next up was the venison denver leg steak with portobello mushroom, celeriac puree and nasturtium. It was the prettiest looking dish of the night. The venison steak was cooked to perfection with its attractive pink meat. The meat was so tender! And who would resist the plump and juicy portobello mushroom?

Venison denver leg steak with portobello mushroom, celeriac puree and nasturtium

The last main course offered on the menu was the buffalo burger with ciabatta roll, cheddar, caramelised onion, spinach and kutjera radish. The buffalo meat had a similar taste to beef and this burger was like the classic beef and cheese burger. The choice of native ingredients used in each dish was commendable because it portrayed the Australian outback spirit and complemented well with the meat.

Buffalo burger

Last but not least, it was dessert time! We had the duck egg brulee with salted caramel ice cream and pistachio soil. It sounded and looked like an ordinary dessert but surely it tasted different from the normal creme brulee. The duck egg had rendered the dessert so rich and creamy. The caramelisation on top of the brulee was brilliant and the salted caramel ice cream was smooth.

Duck egg brulee with salted caramel ice cream and pistachio soil

The game season will continue until the end of May at the Highway's bar and bistro lounge. So, grab your friends and go wild at the Highway's!

Complimentary wine at the Highway's bar and bistro lounge

Foodies, are you game?

Game season menu

Website: http://www.thehighway.com.au/
Address: 290, Anzac Highway, Plympton
Trading hours: 11am-12pm (Sun-Wed), 11am-2pm (Thurs-Sat)

Love, Victoria

St Louis House of Fine Ice Cream and Dessert

noreply@blogger.com (Victoria Yap) — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 07:16:00 +0000

If I were to name a dessert cafe that never fail to impress me, I would say it is St Louis House of Fine Ice Cream and Dessert. In fact, their novelty has been recognised as written in 14 Australian Ice Cream Shops You Need To Visit Before You Die. This blog post is written after umpteen times of visits.

There are a few highlights in the store, namely their house churned ice cream, churros and their dessert creations.

For their dessert creations, I had ordered the Eton Mess. It was served in a martini glass with layers of crunchy meringue, fresh strawberries, berry puree and French Vanilla ice cream, drizzled with pouring cream and hazelnut ganache. The berry puree was so divine with the refreshing burst of sweetness and sourness from the berries. Fresh strawberry and meringue added another layers of texture whereas the ice cream was so smooth that it melted in my mouth straight away. I really loved the combination of the berry puree and the meringue. It is NOT messy at all!

Eton Mess

Another favourite dessert creation is the Archie's Cookie Crunch. It was served in a tall glass with layers of shortbread cookies, melted Nutella, fresh strawberries and Cookies and Cream ice cream. Again, this was another dessert full of textures and flavours. It did get a bit fiddly to eat at the end when we were reaching for the bottom of the glass. The dessert was fresh and sweet. On top of that, who can resist the addition of Nutella?? The cookies and cream ice cream did not particularly taste much like Oreo but it was really nice.

Archie's Cookie Crunch

Apart from that, we also ordered the Nutella Affogato. The balloon martini glass was used to serve the french vanilla ice cream and melted Nutella with a shot of espresso coffee and a biscotti. My friend totally enjoyed this creation.

Nutella Affogato

On some instances, I just felt like ordering the ice cream to take away and this decision never disappoint too. I have to say that St Louis serves one of the best ice cream in Adelaide!

St Louis Ice Cream

St Louis can be also a serious competitor to San Churro in terms of their churros. I prefer the churros in St Louis as they are crispy but yet not too hard and still have a soft filling inside. The churros are dressed with cinnamon sugar and served with choices of warm melted dipping chocolate. My preference of dipping chocolate is always the milk and dark chocolate.

Churros for Two

Crepe is pretty versatile to be prepared either in savoury or sweet fashion. What is better than a dessert crepe in a dessert house? I ordered the Dulce de Leche Banana Crepe. It was a thin crepe, filled with fresh banana, honey roasted nuts and dulce de leche, topped with Dulce De Leche ice cream. The salted caramel was highlighted throughout the dish and well executed.

Dulce de Leche Banana Crepe

In addition to crepe, we also ordered the Choc Peanut Butter and Banana Waffle. The Belgian waffle was drizzled with peanut butter and melted milk chocolate, topped with crunchy honey roasted nuts, banana and French Vanilla ice cream. The waffle possessed crunchiness and softness at the right spot.

Choc Peanut Butter and Banana Waffle

Every dessert session at St Louis is a satisfying one. If you are craving for dessert during breakfast, fret not, St Louis will be there for you as they are opened from 7.30am.

Do remember to follow them on Instagram as they always come up with promotions such as Churros Buy One Free One and Dessert Creations Buy One Free One. It would be a good chance to secure a great deal with them.

Address: 19 Gouger Street, Adelaide

Website: http://st-louis.com.au/

Trading hour: 7.30am-11pm (Mon-Thurs), 7.30am-12am (Friday), 9am-11pm (Sun)MONDAY -

Love, Victoria

Queen Street Cafe

noreply@blogger.com (Victoria Yap) — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 06:30:00 +0000

It was a beautiful Sunday with sun radiating its warmth through this autumn day. It was also a great day hanging out with Maddy at Queen Street Cafe in Croydon.

I ordered the Braised Lamb Leg on the specials board. It was served with chorizo, roast sweet potatoes, potatoes, black rice and mascarpone. The lamb leg was well seasoned and full of flavour. It was also tender and fall apart as I dig into the dish. Besides that, the potatoes were roasted well but I found the addition of mascarpone contrasted the hot dish. I quite enjoyed it but Maddy found this to be confusing as there were too many components on the plate.

Braised Lamb Leg

Maddy ordered the Shakshuka with carcciatore, baked eggs and salad. The tomato components of Shakshuka was pretty prominent and the egg was baked well. It was a lovely dish.

Shakshuka

Queen Street Cafe is a lovely spot in the suburb for brunch all week round. I especially loved the seat by the window because that was a good spot for 'sunbathing' and food photography.

Address: 12, Elizabeth Street, Croydon.
Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Queen-Street-Cafe/160196257345095
Trading hour: 8am-4pm (Mon-Sun)

Love, Victoria

Sushi Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Victoria Yap) — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 14:08:00 +0000

My love towards Korean food developed since I came to Adelaide. I especially love the balance of spiciness and sweetness Korean food provides. I have always wanted to go to Sushi Gallery because it has received rave praises from my friends. Thank you to Yan and Aaron that I can finally go there and try it out myself!

Sushi Gallery is a homey Korean restaurant in Glynde, offering Japanese and Korean fusion food. The owner and staffs are all Koreans, hence this explains the legit authentic Korean food the restaurant offers.

We ordered the Tteokbokki, Korean rice cakes cooked with sweet and spicy sauce. Besides rice cakes, there were also fishcakes and eggs in the dish. The spiciness and sweetness hit the right note, the rice cakes were firm and chewy. I would have preferred the rice cakes to be cooked a bit longer. Nonetheless, it was a nice dish.

Tteokbokki, Korean rice cakes

For each main dish you ordered, you will receive 3 different side dishes, including potatoes, kimchi and seaweed. They were not the most exciting side dishes in a Korean restaurant but the flavour did the justice. The kimchi side dish is always the essential in a Korean restaurant and it was well executed here.

Apart from the rice cake, we also ordered the Bulgogi salad which consisted of lettuce and marinated beef, drizzled with mayo sauce. The beef was flavoursome and the crunchiness of lettuce together with the yummy mayo sauce, created a really good salad. I really enjoyed this dish.

Bulgogi Salad

The star of this restaurant is the Samgyetang, chicken ginseng soup. The chicken was stuffed with glutinous rice, and being boiled in broth together with ginseng and chestnuts. The thickness of the soup was just nice for a wintry day. It was bursting with flavours and highlighted the essence of the chicken.

Samgyetang

I am always craving for Korean Fried Chicken even since my visit to Naruone in Sydney. So we decided to order the Garlic Fried Chicken. I expected to have a big chicken cutlets with crispy batter and drizzled with soy sauce but it was not. Nonetheless, the chickens still had the crunch and were well seasoned with soy sauce and nuts.

Garlic fried chicken

The food at Sushi Gallery is something I will always go back for. They serve great Korean food in which the flavours will always linger around your taste buds, then your brain, lastly your heart.

Address: 7/475, Payneham Road, Felixstow
Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sushi-Gallery/159429227422379
Trading hour: 11am-2.30pm, 5pm-8.30pm (Mon-Sat)

Love, Victoria

2KW

noreply@blogger.com (Victoria Yap) — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 10:04:00 +0000

The former Westpac building at 2 King William Street has been refurbished since last year to elevate its heritage feature to a brand new level. It is the building which houses the popular Jamie's Italian.

Situated on the top floor of this building is 2KW which takes pride in having the highest rooftop bar in Adelaide. This is an absolute advantage for the patrons to have bird's eye view over North Terrace and areas slightly beyond including Elder Park and St Peter's Cathedral. The sunset and night views are undeniably amazing, making 2KW one of the hottest rooftop bar in Adelaide.

To celebrate the completion of Term 1, my friends and I decided to check out this restaurant and bar. In order to reach the restaurant, we had to take 2 lifts including the latter lift which caters exclusively to 2KW customers.

2KW is divided into different settings, such as the bar, the terrace, the cabanas, the garden and the restaurant. The bar/terrace area offers open seating and of course the gorgeous view of northern Adelaide.

Sunset taken from the bar

We grabbed some drinks before digging in into the food. We ordered the Paloma Cocktail Jug for sharing. It was a citrusy Mexican classic and pretty similar to Margarita. The alcohol content was not too overpowering and it was a refreshing drink. A pretty good start to our meal!

Paloma Cocktail

The restaurant menu was divided into small, medium, large and steak sections.

For small, we ordered the Spinach, Kefalotyri Sheep Cheese Croquettes with beetroot and turnip pickle. The croqueettes were crispy and brought out the earthy flavour of the spinach. Hence, the sweetness of beetroots came in handy to balance out the earthiness.

Spinach, Kefalotyri Sheep Cheese Croquettes

For medium, we ordered the Slow Cooked Grilled Octopus with confit kipfler, chorizo and ramesco sauce. The octopus was on the tougher side which might be related to its cooking technique. The ramesco sauce is a nut and red-pepper based sauce. It was smooth and made a great accompaniment with the other ingredients on the plate.

Slow cooked grilled octopus

We also got the Falafel Salad for our vegetarian friends. It contained chickpeas, quinoa, pearl barley, radish, preserved lemon and chilli, being tied together with the green tahini sauce. The salad was well seasoned and I enjoyed the slight crunch from the peas.

Falafel salad

Our vegetarian friends also ordered the Smoked Eggplant. The baba ghanoush was served with sumac, labneh, cranberry and dressed with leaves. It was well received by my friends.

Smoked eggplant

The last medium dish we ordered for the day was the Tongue 'N' Cheek. The dish was made up of ox tongue rillette, confit pork cheek, with fennel and apple salad. The pork cheek had a caramelised skin but it was not crunchy. Similar to human cheek composition, the pork cheek was mainly fats. Besides that, the rillette was well seasoned and I also enjoyed the salad. Fennel and apple always made a good combination.

Tongue 'N' Cheek

Moving on the large dish, we ordered the Chermoula Crusted Lamb, Eye of Shoulder. The lamb was cooked perfectly with its salivating pink appearance. It was tender and melts in our mouth. The barberry rice with pistachio, apricot and sweet carrot had unbeatable flavour despite my preference to have the rice cooked just slightly longer. The saltiness and sourness (from lemon) were not so prominent in the yoghurt even though it was still nice to eat with the lamb.

Chermoula crusted lamb, eye of shoulder

It was a great night out with good company, ambience and the dress up. Thank you 2KW for providing us top notch dining experience.

Do take note also that 2KW has strict dress code for their patrons. So be dressed up!

Address: Level 8, 2 King William Street, Adelaide
Website: http://www.2kwbar.com.au/
Trading hour: 10am-12am (Mon-Thurs), 10am-1.30am (Fri), 12pm-1.30am (Sat), 11am-12am (Sun)

Love, Victoria

Papparich Adelaide

noreply@blogger.com (Victoria Yap) — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 02:22:00 +0000

I was privileged to be invited to the grand opening of PappaRich Adelaide with complimentary food and drinks alongside with other food bloggers and Chef Poh.

Coming from Malaysian background, Malaysian food is always dear to my heart and soul. Transcending cultures and races, Malaysian food is prepared using myriad combination of spices and cooking methods. If you were to ask the thing that a Malaysian overseas student misses the most, 'Malaysian food' would be undeniably the MOST popular answer.

With the addition of popular Malaysian restaurant chain, Papparich in Adelaide, it certainly adds colour (and competition) to the Malaysian dining experience here.

Today's treats were chosen by Poh Ling Yeow who is the ambassador of PappaRich. Besides that, she is also an artist, TV host, ex-Masterchef contestant and proud owner of Jam Face. Having Poh amongst us was a privilege because she has the knowledge of Malaysian food due to her background. Mhmmmm, can't wait to EAT!

So, we started off with some drinks. These ice blended smoothies were really refreshing, giving us the summery feel. The Mango Mania had well balanced sweetness and sourness, as well as with different textures from the blended ice, cubed fruits and longan.

Ribena Melon Coconut paradise Mango Mania

I got both the Matcha Rocks and Teh C Special. It is advisable to stir the Matcha Rocks (especially with the matcha ice cream) before sipping in. It was smooth and perfect for those who love milky smoothies with a subtle tinge of matcha and mashed red bean.

Just as how Australians always have coffee/tea for every meal, we Malaysians will always have a Kopi O or Teh Peng. The Teh C Special did bring back my memories in Malaysia. It is a 3-layer-tea with milk and palm sugar. The taste of tea was strong and it was not too sweet.

Mango Mania Teh C Peng

For entree, we had prawn dumplings and vegetarian fu chook.

Prawn dumplings are part of Malaysian Chinese food culture and are usually ordered when we go yumcha/dimsum in Malaysia. The prawns were wrapped in glossy dumpling skin and they were well seasoned and well cooked. Coupling with the chilli sauce, it made a good breakfast or snack.

Prawn dumplings

For this vegetarian dish, several vegetables such as carrots and cabbage were wrapped with bean curd skin and steamed. The sweet chilli sauce on the side was the must-have with this vegetarian fu chook roll. I would have preferred it to be filled with meat and deep fried (Well, that would have become another Malaysian snack, Lobak.)

Vegetarian Fu Chook Rolls

The next dish was Chicken and Beef Satay with red onions, cucumber and satay (peanut) sauce. This is a popular Malay dish. The skewed meat were well cooked and the satay sauce was divine! Besides bathing the meat with the sauce, I also love to skewer and dip some diced cucumbers and red onions in the satay sauce.

Beef and Chicken Satay

Roti Canai is a Malay-Indian flatbread which is usually served with dahl or sometimes sugar. It is my favourite breakfast! There are more than 10 types of roti in Malaysia, ranging from Roti Tisu to Roti Telur whereby different ingredients such as cheese and eggs can be added into the roti. It is indeed a creative dish.

It is always a pleasure to be able to watch the dough-flinging process prior to cooking. The dough is transformed thinly that you feel that it is going to break soon but yet it stays!

Dough flinging process and happy cooks

PappaRich offers Roti Telur Bawang with Curry Chicken. The flatbread had outer crisp and inner softness. Sooo good! The ingredients used in the roti were onions and eggs. It came with dahl (lentil sauce), curry chicken and sambal. Fortunately for those who cannot stand extreme spiciness, the curry chicken and sambal were mild. Definitely something I will order again next time!

Roti telur bawang with curry chicken

Noodle dishes were up next! We had fried rice noodle, Char Koay Teow, Wat Tan Hor, Prawn Mee and Ipoh Koay Teow Soup.

The Pappa Fried Rice Noodles was my favourite dish. The rice noodles were stir fried with prawns, eggs and bean sprouts, alongside with the seasoning (lots of oyster sauce and soy sauce), producing the perfect 'brown-and-nearly-charred-but-that-is-the-best-part' appearance. The colour was appetising and the flavour was good. Oh YUMM!

Pappa Fried Rice Noodles

The Char Koay Teow was prepared similar way as the fried rice noodles but with different kind of noodles. In comparison with the rice noodles, I prefer the rice noodles MORE!

Char Koay Teow

The Wat Tan Hor was made up of deep fried noodles with gravy, 'poached' eggs, seafood and vegetables. The gravy should be the highlight of the dish because it ties all the components together. PappaRich executed that pretty well.

Wat Tan Hor

The Prawn Mee came with a small plate of chilli paste. The soup itself was not spicy so if you are a spicy lover, do put in the chilli paste generously. Apart from that, the broth did exude prawn flavour. Ohhh, and PappaRich did include that important fried onions!

Prawn Mee

The last noodle dish was the Ipoh Koay Teow Soup with steamed chicken. It used the same noodle as Char Koay Teow but this time off, it was served in a light chicken-prawn broth. The steamed chicken was tender and well seasoned.

Ipoh Koay Teow Soup with Steamed Chicken

Rice is always the essential staple of Asians, Malaysians included. We had Biryani Rice and Nasi Lemak for the feast.

Biryani Rice is Indian-inspired spiced rice which is eaten best with curries or sambal. PappaRich serves it with red chicken and sambal eggplant. I always love the red chicken because it has the stickiness and sweetness. And most importantly, it is fried! The sambal eggplant was soft and mild. The sweetness of raisins in the rice cut through the spice component and gave you a popping texture. It was a nice dish.

Biryani Rice with Red Chicken and Sambal Eggplant

One of the featured Malaysian dish is the Nasi Lemak! It is made up of coconut rice, which normally comes with anchovies and peanuts in sambal, curry chicken or prawn and boiled egg. Talking about flavours, there were different textures in the dish, not to mention the different layers of taste you will get. The anchovies were crunchy and the sambal prawn gave a mild kick in the taste buds. The coconut rice was fragrant with every grain being visible.

Nasi Lemak with Curry Chicken

What's better to end the meal with desserts? We ordered the egg sago pudding, sago pudding, banana fritters and banana split. The banana fritters had crunchy outer layer, but I would have preferred to have smaller banana fritters (which in that case, I can have more crunch!).

I just realised that they do offer Tau Fu Fah (soft silky custard) which I will order next time!!

Egg sago pudding, Sago pudding, Banana fritters with vanilla ice cream, Banana split with ice cream

It was a good meal! Thank you PappaRich for the finger-licking and mouth-watering Malaysian feast. The Malaysian spirit was clearly portrayed with the amount of food we have. It was also a privilege to have Poh as the host!

Poh and I

Home is where the heart is <3>

It's home indeed. :)

Address: 116 Gouger Street, Adelaide

Website: papparich.net.au

Trading hours: 11am-9.30pm (Mon-Sun)

Love, Victoria

Sean's Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (Victoria Yap) — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 05:47:00 +0000

Adelaide dining scene has become more and more interesting with the lineup of famous chefs opening restaurants in Adelaide. One of them is Chef Sean Connolly. He was the host of TV food program 'My Family Feast', writer of his cookbook, producer of his home cooking merchandises and winner of Chef of the Year. His most recent venture was the opening of Sean's Kitchen in Adelaide. This multi million dollar restaurant is located next to the historic Adelaide Casino.

Upon entering the restaurant, the dining space looks grand and spacious due to its interior design. It has high ceilings and open kitchen concept. This notches up the ambience of the restaurant. Besides that, there are also a few private dining rooms on the first floor.

Dining area viewed from ham museum

During my visit there, we ordered 2 entrees, 1 side and 4 mains. Our first entree was the ceviche kingfish. Ceviche is a seafood dish typically made from raw fish cured in citrus juices and spiced. Our ceviche was served with chilli, lime, salmon caviar and coriander. In my opinion, the most important element in any ceviche is undoubtedly the freshness of seafood. The kingfish was fresh and beautifully cured, not to mention that I loved the popping salmon caviar bursting more flavours into the dish.

Ceviche kingfish

Another entree of ours was the Crab N Cheese melt. The king crab was cooked with bechamel sauce, served with rye bread with melted cheddar on top. The amount of crab was substantial and the sweetness was prominent. The cheddar also complemented the crab well with the subtle saltiness. It was a bit filling to start off our meal.

Crab N Cheese Melt

Lo and behold, we also ordered the famous duck fat chips as sides. The chips were deep fried/baked in duck fat, rendering the crunchiness. However, the chips did not meet our high expectation as we agreed unanimously that there was no difference between the normal chips and this one. Even though the chips smelled different, but the texture was similar to the normal chips. I prefer the Grill'd chips more to be honest. But well, it was an experience for me.

Duck fat chips

Moving on to the mains, yours truly ordered the Orgy of Mushrooms. It was ricotta gnocchi served with different kinds of mushrooms and burnt butter sauce. My love for gnocchi developed ever since I ordered one at La Trattoria 2 years ago. Sean's gnocchi was fluffy and accompanied by my favourite mushrooms. The burnt butter sauce wasn't too overpowering as well. It was a fabulous dish.

Orgy of Mushroom

Next up, my friend ordered the Steamed Cone Bay Barramundi with Tokyo turnips, lettuce hearts and organic soy broth. This was an Australian dish cooked in Asian way. Barramundi is a beautiful fish that can be found in Australia and this steaming technique had certainly retained its moisture and freshness. This dish was simple and straight to the point.

Steamed Cone Bay Barramundi

In addition, we also ordered the Free Range Chicken Kiev with potato and dill salad. The chicken was well cooked and seasoned. Again, this was simple cooking which matched with Sean's food philosophy.

Free range chicken kiev

We also ordered the Grasslands, Limestone Coast Scotch Fillet with anchovy butter. Sean sourced most of the ingredients from South Australia and this was not an exception.

Scotch fillet with anchovy butter

There was a surprise sent to us when we asked for the bill. The bill was enclosed with a pack of tomato seed in a pretty enveloped, whereby Sean's Kitchen was clearly embossed in gold. Now we can plant our own tomatoes at our backyard, knowing the correct season and time needed to grow!

Tomato seeds

Last but not least, this restaurant has its own highlight, which is the ham museum. Hams from different country were displayed in the museum on the first floor. It's truly amusing to visit the museum. On top of that, Sean's products were being sold in the restaurant too. From duck fat to pasta sauce, you can purchase and recreate one of Sean's dining experiences back home.

Ham display

Ham museum

Sean's pasta sauce

Address: Station Road, Adelaide
Website: http://www.seanskitchen.com.au/

Trading hours: 8am-11pm (Mon-Sun)

Love,

Victoria

Georges on Waymouth

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 02:45:00 +0000

September has been good to me, mainly because I am a September baby and it is the first month of my favourite spring season. Since today is the last day of my birthday month, I thought I can share with you my birthday dining experience at Georges on Waymouth. I have always wanted to dine at Georges due to rave reviews from other food bloggers. In addition, Georges has won the Best European Restaurant in Restaurant and Catering SA Awards for Excellence for 4 years in a row since 2010. All the more this restaurant is chosen to host my birthday dinner.

The name of the restaurant derives from its owner, George and Voula Kasimatis. Even though it looks small from the outside, Georges consists of 2 floors, whereby the upper section is opened for function and bigger group of people. The restaurant has a classic European ambience, with minimalist design, wooden floorboards, high ceilings and warm lighting.

Their professional service is truly commendable. Right from the booking until table service, Georges has shown dedication and great hospitality to our group. The staffs adopt the diner-centered approach, attending to our needs and preferences.

It took us a while to order our food because every single item on the menu was so appealing. Our waiting staff came to our help and recommended their popular offerings. Every single element in the menu was explained in details. The dishes on special were written on brown paper hung near to the entrance of the restaurant.

After putting our order, complimentary bread was served. The bread was soft and we dipped with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. I would be even happier if there was dukkah offered. Nevertheless, the bread was a great start to our meal.

Besides that, we were offered sesame bread sticks with green and black olives. The bread sticks were seasoned well with black and white sesame. Georges was considerate enough to offer us an empty plate to discard the pits from the olives.

Bread sticks and olives

The signature dish of Georges is the lamb press. The lamb shank was cooked more than 12 hours till tender. After that, the lamb was shredded and wrapped with pancetta. The lamb press was then pan fried, resulting in a golden and crispy covering of pancetta. The accompaniments were baba ganoush, tahini yoghurt and pomegranate.

The lamb press was the best lamb that I have ever had. The lamb was juicy, tender and literally melted in my mouth. The saltiness from pancetta, smokiness from baba ganoush, slight sourness from pomegranate and palate cleansing tahini yogurt just complemented the lamb so well. It was a marriage between Mediterranean and European food.

Lamb press

My friend also ordered the tortellini of local mushrooms with chestnut puree and native greens. Georges was generous in the contents of tortellini. Even though there was only 3-4 tortellini on the plate, my friend was pretty full at the end of the meal. The mushrooms were fresh and cooked well. The sauces and puree were rich in flavour, yet not subduing the star of the dish, the mushrooms.

Mushroom tortellini

The other offering that caught my eyes was the 24 hour cooked pork neck, served with granny smith apples, mustard, pork lard, morcilla (blood sausage) and potatoes. The pork neck was not fatty and again, it was cooked to perfection. The meat was tender due to the long hours of cooking.

Pork neck

The fish of the day was the grilled snapper with citrus salad. It was a refreshing dish as citrus never go wrong with fish.

Grilled snapper

The pasta chosen by our table was the pappardelle with rabbit ragout, pancetta and shaved pecorino, Compared to other dishes, this did not shine well.

Pappardelle with rabbit ragout

Besides the fish of the day, another seafood dish we ordered was the potato gnocchi with mussels, vongole, capsicum, fennel and saffron. The gnocchi was different from the ones from Italian restaurants as it was served in a long cone instead of cubes. I still prefer my gnocchi to be cut though.

Seafood gnocchi

There is always dessert time and hence one of my friends ordered the affogato as an extra boost of caffeine for him to prepare for his paper tomorrow. It consisted of house made ice cream, espresso and biscotti. The affogato was strong whereas the ice cream was smooth and creamy.

Affogato

I ordered the apple pie panna cotta with salted caramel crumble, pear cubes and vanilla pashmak. Guess what? Georges gave me a little surprise with the written birthday message on my dessert plate. Awwww! The panna cotta was absolutely delicious. Instead of the wobbly panna cotta, this panna cotta had a smooth and milky texture that melted in my mouth. The salted caramel crumble hit the spot with its balanced saltiness and sweetness. It was a dessert that I would go back for.

Apple pie panna cotta

For souvenirs, I baked matcha cupcakes with red bean frosting and Royce green tea chocolate as appreciation gifts for my friends who came for the dinner. The chocolate was amazing with melted green tea jelly in the middle. They can be bought from Royce store at Westfield Marion.

Matcha cupcake with red bean frosting and Royce chocolate

It was a great birthday dinner with nice company and amazing food. Thank you guys for coming and I hope you enjoyed the night just as I did. Thanks again for Ketan who served us well and made sure we had a fabulous dining experience. I definitely recommend Georges on Waymouth if you are thinking for a celebratory and intimate night out.

The group photo :)

Candles, candles and more candles

Address: 20, Waymouth Street, Adelaide

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

Trading hours: 7.30am-5pm (Mon), 7.30am-Late (Tues-Fri), 6pm-Late (Sat)

Love, Victoria

Sabai Cafe

noreply@blogger.com (Victoria Yap) — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 08:26:00 +0000

'Sawadeekap! Sabai dee mai?'
'Sabai sabai.'

This Thai greeting can be the most heartwarming words that you can get. 'Sabai' in Thai refers to being happy and comfortable, feeling fine and take it easy. It transmits the sense of comfort and laid-backness, which is the philosophy behind Sabai cafe.

Sabai cafe is a cosy cafe situated near to popular Glenelg which serves Thai fusion food. In addition, this cafe is also vegetarian friendly due to the variety of vegan offerings. Classics with a twist always catch the attention of my taste buds and this cafe is not an exception. Celebrating the start of our winter break, me and my friends made a visit to the cafe.

The Thai lunch menu is only available from Wednesday to Sunday and fortunate for us, we went on one of those days. My friend ordered the Khow phad pik gaang which was the spicy Thai style fried rice with onion, capsicum, spring onion, carrot and soft fried egg on top.

What I would like to commend was the soft fried egg was served up to the expectation. The soft egg yolk was runny and the egg had a crisp border. The rice was not gluggy and had a subtle hint of spiciness in it. I would actually prefer it to be spicier. The lemon which came with the dish gave freshness and sourness to the fried rice.

Spicy Thai fried rice

Pad Thai is an essential order in every Thai restaurant and so there wasn't an exclusion from our table. The vegetarian Pad Thai had stir fried rice noodle with egg, spring onion, bean sprouts, crushed nuts and coriander. It was not oily and had a considerably big portion. Not the best Pad thai that we have ever tasted but it was sufficient for a satisfying meal.

Pad Thai

Another vegetarian dish on the table was the Thai bean curd salad. The fresh marinated bean curd was accompanied by mixed crispy salad and herbs, doused with refreshing Thai style dressing. I did not manage to taste the dish but it did look amazing. My friend was satisfied with his order.

Thai bean curd salad

Lastly, I ordered the curried lamb shank, mint, chickpea, pumpkin pie with sweet potato chips and coriander, cashew nut salad. The lamb shank pie was amazing! The addition of coriander seed on top added another dimension in terms of aroma to the pie. The lamb shank was cooked perfectly and shredded to be added together with chickpea and mashed pumpkin as the pie filling. The pastry was made so good and flaky that I cannot resist to pick up the residual fallen pieces of pastry on the plate. In conclusion, it was a good pie.

The sweet potato chips did not come out as what I had expected. The sweet potatoes were shaved into thin long pieces and deep fried. Some bits were crunchy but some were not. I would prefer the chips to be hand cut. The salad came with sweet chilli dressing and was executed well.

Lamb shank pie

It was a pleasant meal for me and I loved my lamb shank pie (especially the pastry). If you are thinking to have a modern Thai fusion food, this cafe is probably a good place to go. ทานให้อร่อยนะครับ (Bon appetit)!

Address: 105 Patridge Street, Glenelg

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sabai-Cafe/157729377590534?fref=ts

Trading hours: 9am-4pm (Sun), 8am-4pm (Mon-Tues), 8am-8.30pm (Wed-Sat)

Love, Victoria

Brunch by the Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 10:05:00 +0000

Australia is blessed with the sexy coastal line, stunning blue-green seas and relaxing beaches. The view of the sea never fails to mesmerise me, especially after I visited the famous Whitehaven Beach at the Great Barrier Reef region.

Whitehaven beach

South Australia beaches have their own wonders too. They are great places to relax with family and friends, take a dip in the sea during summer and watch sunset, not to mention the exciting add on of having a brunch by the beaches.

Glenelg beach

The two popular brunch places found by this beach are the Zest Cafe Gallery and Grind It.

Zest Cafe Gallery is situated 5 minutes walk from the beach. Greeted by the vine tree at the cafe, it grabbed my heart to be fond of this place.

Cafe exterior - view from my seat

I ordered the Zesty Eggs, poached eggs and salmon on toast with homemade Hollandaise sauce. The smoked salmon was arranged nicely in an elliptical shape. Eggs were poached perfectly with the egg yolks oozing out when I broke open the eggs. The Hollandaise sauce was good with a tinge of zesty flavour.

Zesty Eggs

Oooohhh! I have a thing for runny egg yolk and a preference to spread these gooey goodness onto a toasted sourdough! They work just so perfectly.

Runny yolk

The Cappuccino was a good coffee to start off my day at the beach. The mini pastry accompanied with the coffee was a wonderful creation too.

Cappuccino with pastry

Do order the Hells Eggs if you have a chance to do so. It looks amazing too!

Website: http://zestcafe.eatout-adelaide.com.au/
Address: 2a Sussex Street, Glenelg
Trading hours: 7.30am-6pm (Mon-Sat), 8.30am-5pm (Sun)

Grind It is another popular brunch place at Glenelg. The seatings can be quite limited because this cafe is constantly being swarmed with patrons looking for a heartful meal.

Paintings on the wall

I ordered the French Toast for that morning. Guess what? Two plump and golden looking french toast landed on my plate. Besides that, there were mascarpone and toasted almonds being scattered around the toasts. Shredded pear was also seen to top the toast.

Okay! The hero of the day was the french toasts. They were dipped with eggs and pan fried in butter, resulting in a crispy outer layer and soft bread inside. I would actually prefer the bread to be thinner though so that I could have a mouthful of crispiness. The sweetness of this whole dish came from the marriage of mascarpone, maple syrup and shredded pear. I particularly loved the shredded pear because it introduced texture to the dish. The nuts and mascarpone also accompanied well with the french toast.

French toast

If you are looking to get a sweet brunch, french toast from Grind It can be in your bucket list.

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Grind-It-Espresso/96359740730
Address: 4 Moseley Street, Glenelg
Trading hours: 7am-5pm (Mon-Sat), 9am-3pm (Sun)

Semaphore beach

Whipped bake bar is situated along Semaphore Road leading to Semaphore beach. It is a great place for coffee meet up. On the display cabinet, there are plenty of cakes and pastries to choose from to go with the coffee. Besides that, wraps and rolls are also available for lunch.

Whipped Bake Bar

I ordered the sweet potato rosti with smoked salmon, baby cos salad and goat curd. I wasn't very impressed by the presentation when it arrived. It was served on a pretty old wooden board, whereby the traces of knives can be seen. I expected the rosti to be crispy on the outside but it wasn't cooked to my preference disappointingly. I felt like as if I was eating a compacted mashed sweet potato. However, the flavour was there and the salad was fresh. With just a dollop of goat curd to heighten the flavour of salad, it might be a bit lacking in some ways.

Sweet potato rosti

Website: http://www.whipped.com.au/
Address: 35, Semaphore Road, Semaphore
Trading hours: 7am-2.30pm (Meal), 7am-5pm (Coffee) Mon-Sun

Love, Victoria

Lawash Bakery

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 17 May 2014 01:12:00 +0000

In Therbaton, lies a Middle Eastern restaurant, Lawash Bakery which has received a lot of good reviews from its diners. On a fine Friday afternoon, I decided to fulfill one of the items on my eating wish list by visiting this popular bakery.

Upon reaching the restaurant, I can see the long queue of customers waiting for their takeaways. I took a glance over the exiting customers, most of them had rolls on their hands.

The restaurant sells different types of kebabs which come with oven baked bread and salad. In addition, they do offer meat mince rolls. The rolls are the popular options for takeaways whereas the kebabs are popular among the in-house diners.

I opted for Chicken Al Fahm, an Arabian chicken dish which is coated with spices, then charcoal-grilled. The serving was generous for the price I paid. For $8, I got half a chicken, big piece of bread and some salad. In addition, 2 dipping sauces were included as well.

Chicken Al Fahm

The chicken had a lovely charcoal crust on it. Believe it or not, as I was lost searching for the shop, it was actually the smell of charcoal that drew me over to the restaurant. I thought that the chicken would be even nicer with more seasoning onto it. The meat still had some moisture in it and was not overly dry.

There were two types of dipping sauces, yogurt based and chilli based. The yogurt based sauce was a bit runny to my preference. The chilli based sauce took me a while to get used to it due to its unique smell. But, on overall, the dipping sauces gave kicks to the taste of the dish.

The oven baked bread had some essential charcoal/burnt crust on it. I torn the bread into few pieces, wrapped the chicken and salad with it, and dipped the combination into one of the sauces, it was a great mouthful of Middle Eastern flavour.

Chicken Al Fahm and bread

It was a satisfying and stomach filling meal. I shall go back to try its kebab again. Till then, cheers!

Website: -
Address: 115 South Road, Adelaide
Trading hours: 9.30am - 9.30pm (Mon-Sun)

Love, Victoria

Red Door Bakery

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 06:06:00 +0000

Pies and sausage rolls are typical Australian cuisines whereby you can have them for breakfast, brunch, lunch or high tea. To get one of the best sausage rolls in the town, you gotta have to visit the Red Door Bakery. There are two shops each in the suburbs of Goodwood and Croydon. Nevertheless, I love to go to the latter which is the pioneer.

Situated conveniently near to the train line as well as 5-10 minutes drive from the city, this bakery is the all time favourite for Adelaideans. Coincidentally or not, the entrance door is painted red, signifying the name of the bakery.

There are various options offered by the bakery, including pastries, desserts, sourdoughs, toasts, pies and sausage rolls. The popular items here are the pork and sage sausage roll, creme brulee tart, salted caramel chocolate cake as well as the chilli jam!

During my visit there, I ordered the Hay Valley lamb and Morrocan eggplant sausage roll. I opted for additional chilli jam ($1). The chilli jam came in a spoon and there was nothing that I can fault it. The Moroccan spices was strong and complemented the lamb well. The flakiness of the pastry was demonstrated as I cut through the sausage roll with my knife. It was beautiful and fell apart into pieces.

Hayvalley lamb and Moroccan eggplant sausage roll

My friends ordered the Berkshire free range pork and sage sausage roll. It was the dish of the day. Among other sausage rolls, the chilli jam accompanied the pork sausage roll especially well. The pork sausage was flavoursome and well seasoned. The flavour was further enhanced by the presence of sage.

We ordered the traditional chicken pie with the tomato chutney as accompaniment. Tomato chutney was not as amazing as the chilli jam. The chicken pie, again, had the beautiful pastry covering the chicken. As compared to the lamb and pork in the sausage rolls. the chicken was more moist. I still love the pork and sage sausage roll though.

Traditional chicken pie; Pork and sage sausage roll; Lamb and Moroccan eggplant sausage roll

We ordered the creme brulee and salted caramel chocolate cake for dessert. The creme brulee had a lovely top crisp. Using the back of the spoon to knock at the top, the crispy caramel layer cracked into pieces, indicating a good creme brulee. The custard was light and the tart casing was great too.

Creme brulee tart

The salted caramel chocolate cake had a layer of set chocolate on top and few sprinkles of sea salt. It was a dense and moist chocolate cake with gooey salted caramel in the middle. The caramel had the right consistency and went well with the chocolate cake. I really love the addition of the salt on the cake itself as it provides another dimension of taste as you eat the cake in a whole.

Salted caramel chocolate cake

Red Door Bakery is definitely the best bakery in Adelaide/SA. The hot cross bun made by the bakery during Easter period was crowned as people's favourite for the year 2014. I can't wait for the next Easter to try it out!

Red Door Bakery

Website: http://www.reddoorbakery.com.au/
Address: 22, Elizabeth Street, Croydon.
Trading hours: 8am-4pm (Wed-Sun)

Love, Victoria

PUBLIC

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 02:45:00 +0000

I have always wanted to make a visit to PUBLIC since its first debut 1.5 years ago, especially even after the chef was awarded the best chef in 2013 SA Restaurant and Catering Awards for Excellence. However, the chef has set off to open his new restaurant and PUBLIC is headed by Luke Southwood at the moment. Luke Southwood won the eighth place in MasterChef Professionals and has worked with SA food icon, Maggie Beer before.

With the change of head chef, there is a change in menu. Current menu has emphasis on simplicity, elegance, delicacy and love. The inclusion of tapas plate in the menu also reflects the Spanish background of the head chef.

Without further ado, let me share with you my dining experience at PUBLIC. It is situated at the corner lot on Franklin Street, not far away from King William Street.

During my visit at PUBLIC, I ordered the homemade gnocchi with braised chicken, hamlets speck, capsicum, cherry tomato, basil and confit garlic. What more I could say about this dish? I can't help but to exclaim its goodness! The softness of gnocchi, with well marinated braised chicken, and a naughty addition of hamlet specks, just renders the exquisite taste. The cherry tomato and capsicum fit in the picture perfectly. Parmesan cheese adds in more savouriness into the whole dish. What could be better than adding parmesan in a pasta dish? This dish is filling and satisfying. Unlike other gnocchi dish, I did not feel sick after eating halfways. I actually finished the whole dish on my own! Light, fresh but full of flavour.

Handmade gnocchi

My friend ordered the wagyu burger with caramelised onion, tomato, lettuce, swiss cheese, lime aioli and crispy baby potatoes. The brioche bun is soft, glazed and crispy at the top. Wagyu pattie is fresh, moist and well seasoned. In contrast with burger and chips from other burger joints, the crispy baby potatoes are a smart sides to come with the burger. It is of bite sized, golden yellow and crispy on the outside and soft in the inside. It was a delectable meal!

Wagyu burger

The interior design is inspired by the theme of public spaces, incorporating the eclectic mix of 'old and new'. The seatings were pretty sufficient for the white collars to have a quick lunch.

Interior of PUBLIC

PUBLIC does have some appealing pastries and desserts available for purchase near the counter. Besides that, PUBLIC is also opened for bookings for engagement parties, birthdays or special events. Do try their tapas if you happen to visit PUBLIC on Friday night.

Eclectic mix of old and new

Website: http://publiccbd.com.au/
Address: 12 Franklin Street, Adelaide
Trading hours: 7am-5pm (Mon-Thurs), 7am-late (Fri)

Love, Victoria

Koko Black

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 14:22:00 +0000

Melbourne high-end chocolatier has extended its flagship to Adelaide, opening its first salon in South Australia at the legendary Adelaide Arcade. The craze has begun ever since it is opened, coupled with the approaching Easter event, Koko Black has seen a steady flow of customers visiting the store.

Koko Black is proud of its hand crafted chocolate, desserts as well as the chocolate beverages. On one catch up session, my friends and I ordered the dessert degustation to share. The degustation includes chocolate alchemy cake, opera gateau, raspberry chocolate mousse, Belgian mousse and chocolate ice cream.

Dessert degustation

The Belgian mousse is light, velvety and rich in chocolate. The mousse recipe is direct from Belgium, so you can expect that the quality of the mousse is up to the par of authentic Belgian dessert.

The chocolate alchemy cake is the salon's signature dessert. It is a chocolate cake, layered with Madagascan chocolate creme and topped with chocolate bar. According to experts' opinion, Madagascar cocoa is the finest of all due to its genetic variety and the island's rich soil. The chocolate cake has a light texture, coupled with the soft creme, it makes a delightful dessert.

Cutting across the raspbery chocolate mousse, the Madagascan vanilla custard flows out from the centre of the cake. In contrast with other chocolate desserts on the plate, this gives an appetizing touch to the plate due to the sourness of raspberry. The sourness of raspberry and sweetness of chocolate are balanced well.

My favourite dessert on this plate is the opera gateau. Different from its other counterparts around the world, it has a twist with the addition of chewy salted caramel as part of its layer. Aside from that, the layers are composed of roasted coffee infused dark chocolate mousse and hazelnut dacquiose. It is unstoppable once you dug into this dessert, especially if you are one of those salted caramel fans.

The last dessert on the tasting plate is the chocolate ice cream with praline. Again, the chocolate is evident in the ice cream. The crunchiness of praline contrasts with the smoothness of ice cream, making it a good combination.

From the left: Belgian mousse, Chocolate alchemy cake, Raspbery chocolate mousse, Opera gateau, Chocolate ice cream

In addition to the dessert degustation, we ordered the baked chocolate tart with creme anglaise to share as well. I expected a dense and hard chocolate tart, but I got a soft and moist cake made up of 64% Madagascan chocolate in the tartlet casing instead. The texture of the chocolate cake is near molten and its warm temperature is just nice to be savoured. The vanilla anglaise is just a beautiful complement to the tart.

Chocolate tart with creme anglaise

There is a balcony seating for Koko Black's patrons. I really love the design of the store. The lighting is comfortable and you are able to see the truffle display from top too. The service is amazing and professional as well. I had pleasant dining experience for the two visits I was there. The waitress was quick to service, polite and helpful.

Chocolate display viewed from the balcony

On another occasion, we ordered some truffles to go with our hot chocolate drinks. My friend ordered the Yuzu truffle. It is made up of Japanese citrus fruit infused in dark chocolate ganache. I ordered the orange and cointreau truffle which is the milk ganache with cointreau-marinated candied orange. Both truffles were rich and yet not sickly sweet due to the citrus fruit content inside.

From the back: Yuzu truffle, Orange and cointreau truffle

The hot chocolate drinks available are the Classic Belgian, Chilli, Mocha, Cinnamon and Hazelnut. I ordered the Classic Belgian whereas my friend ordered the Hazelnut ones. Both hot chocolate come with a nice pattern froth. Both the Classic Belgian and Hazelnut hot chocolate are my favourites. The Hazelnut hot chocolate has a fragrant hazelnut scent in it while the Classic Belgian has the rich chocolate feel. By far the best hot chocolate in Adelaide (along side with Steven ter Horst hot chocolate).

Classic Belgian hot chocolate

Do visit Koko Black on Adelaide Arcade if you happen to be on Rundle Mall or have break in between classes. The truffles would also be a great idea if you are looking for gifts.

Website: http://www.kokoblack.com/

Address: 50-52, Adelaide Arcade, Rundle Mall

Trading hours: 9am-5.30pm (Mon-Thurs), 9am-9pm (Fri), 9am-5pm (Sat), 10.30am-5pm (Sun)

Love, Victoria

Unley Brunch Gems

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 13:28:00 +0000

Are you happened to pass by Unley Road and looking for brunch places to go? This blog might give you some ideas. Situated along the stretch of Unley Road are two cafes, A Mothers Milk and Roseys. They are just 17 shops apart (Yes, I actually counted it!)

A Mothers Milk is a corner store cafe offering outdoor seating for its patron. For one visit, I chose the roast pumpkin bruschetta for my brunch of the day.

The exterior of A Mothers Milk

A Mothers Milk serves specialty coffee. Ohh and the barista training is available here too!

The turf of a barista

Flowers on the table always capture my eyes

For the roast pumpkin bruchetta I ordered, it came with Danish fetta, tomato chutney and pine nuts, being served on the sourdough. This dish encompassed every single taste element, including the saltiness from Danish feta, sweetness from pumpkin, sourness and sweetness from the chutney and bitterness from parsley. The roast pumpkin mash was smooth and silky. Crunchiness can be found from the pine nuts and sourdough. On overall, it was an enjoyable dish. The addition of pepper was apt as well.

Roast pumpkin bruschetta

Website: http://www.amothersmilk.com.au/
Address: 105 Unley Road, Unley 5061
Trading hours: 7.30am-4pm (Mon, Wed-Fri), 8am-4pm (Sat-Sun)

Roseys is another brunch gem that you could find in Unley. There is a small yard behind the cafe which provides seating for its patron. Covered by the canvas, it is a great place to enjoy your brunch during spring or autumn with the pleasant breeze caressing your cheek.

On one visit, I ordered the zucchini fritters with dill mayo, poached eggs, smoked salmon and fried capers. It was a delightful dish! Dill mayo always complements the smoked salmon well and I can't find any fault in it. The presentation was lovely! The fried capers, graced the fritters well with its saltiness. The fritters had some crunch on the outside and was not too floury. Besides that, the poached eggs had runny yolks. It was a great dish on overall.

Zucchini fritters with dill mayo, fried capers, smoked salmon and poached eggs

My friends ordered the eggs on toast with addition of balsamic mushroom and bacon. You can choose the way you want your eggs to be cooked. One of my friends opted for scrambled eggs and it was cooked well. The texture wasn't hard and thick. The element on the plate in which I found amusing was the rye bread. It was really special and the grain component inside can be intensely tasted.

Scrambled eggs, with balsamic mushrooms and rye bread

Sunny side up with bacon and rye bread

Happy days

Website: http://www.roseys.net.au/
Address: 139, Unley Road, Unley 5061.
Trading hours: 8am-4pm (Mon-Thurs, Sat), 8am-late (Fri), 9am-3pm (Sun)

Brunch is not quite breakfast, it's not quite lunch, but it comes with a slice of cantaloupe at the end. You don't get completely what you would at breakfast, but you get a good meal. -The Simpsons-

Love, Victoria

Indian Temptations

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 02:40:00 +0000

Can you have Indian food for lunch, dinner and supper? You certainly can, with Indian Temptations! Situated along the stretch of Main North Road is this popular Indian restaurant, specialising in North Indian food. The aroma of spices and spiciness of curry can be smelt from far as we walked from our car to the restaurant. Our taste buds and stomachs get stimulated and ready for a mouth watering experience even before we ordered. This blog post encapsulates 3 different visits over 3 years.

Samosa Chat is a good option if you want to have saucy samosa dish. The samosa is cut into smaller pieces, and served with mint chutney, tamarind chutney, chick peas, yogurt and diced onions. A tangy savoury snacks to spur your taste buds into their fullest swings.

Samosa Chat

The flaky yet delightful pastry of Delhi Samosa can bring a great start to the dining experience in Indian Temptations. With $5, it comes with 2 generously big servings of samosas which are filled with potato, peas and ground spices. The dipping sauce which is made of tamarind, accompanies the samosa well. I really love the pastry, as it brings forth a tinge of honey-like sweetness when I crunch on it. Hallucination or not, I have no idea why I taste the sweetness as the pastry dough recipe has no sugar or honey in it.

Delhi Samosa

Not a fan of samosa? You can get the onion bhaji, fritters of sliced onion in chickpea batter as entree. This filling entree comes with the tamarind sauce as well.

Onion Bhaji

The garlic naan is a must-order-item to go with the curries in Indian Temptations. It is fried to get the crispiness on the surface and topped with garlic powder. It is not too floury as naan in Malaysia but can still be very filling as the serving is huge.

Garlic Naan

Butter chicken and Lamb Roganjosh

Curries are essential to Indians and plenty of spices are being put into them. To get a perfect balance between the spiciness, sweetness, creaminess and savouriness of curry, the technique of cooking involved has to be up to par. Indian Temptations has done a great job in this. Among all the curries, butter chicken is one of the famous items in this Indian restaurant. It is suitable for those who can't stand spiciness as this curry is mild, filled with marinated chicken cooked in tandoori spices, tomatoes and cream.

The lamb roganjosh exudes medium spiciness which has tender lamb cubes cooked in a rich herbed oil and Indian spices. The lamb is falling apart as we delve into it, together with the naan and curry, you can be assured that you are brought to Northern India.
Fish curry is another popular item on the menu. The level of spiciness is hot but still tolerable. The curry is not as thick as the one in butter chicken or lamb roganjosh. However, it still provides our taste buds a delightful memory, in which you will scoop more curry onto your naan and gallivant on it.

Fish curry

Goat curry is served together with the bone. Tender goat meat it has and the curry tastes better when you suck on the bone.

Goat curry

There are a few vegetarian curries available on the menu, but the spinach paneer is the popular one. It is made up of spinach and potato simmered in a creamy sauce. Cubes of cheese can be found in the curry and the flavour of spinach is amazingly thick. Every single mouthful is full of spinach. Highly recommended for those who love spinach (like Popeye).

Mango Lassi

To cleanse your palate with something sweet after the spiciness, opt for mango lassi. It is the combination of mango, milk and yogurt, blended to produce a thick drinks.

The pricing of Indian Temptations is considerably cheap, when compared to its servings. One of the plus point is that you can phone them up to order and get a takeaway later. So why not have a try soon?

Website: http://www.indiantemptations.com.au/
Address: U3/490 Main North Road, Blair Athol
Trading hours: 11.30am-2am (Mon-Sun)

The Market Shed on Holland

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 01:24:00 +0000

Adelaide is getting more and more happening nowadays with new cafes springing up, setting up an unique food culture limiting to this laidback yet cosy city. You can see food trucks mingling around on Rundle Mall or North Terrace, not to mention the ongoing monthly Fork on The Road and Night Market event! In addition, vacated spaces have been utilised and transformed into places which gather foodies around.

Market Shed on Holland is the newest addition to the food culture in Adelaide. It was formerly an old undercover shed, situated on Holland Street near South Terrace. The focus of the market is on certified organic, sustainable and local produce. SA is blessed with great local produce, ranging from Kangaroo Island eggs to Coorong Angus beef, as well as wineries.

I was so thrilled before I made a visit here, and it did not disappoint me at all. The experience was unforgettable and the Market Shed has become my favourite food market at the moment! You gotta have to visit here if you are in Adelaide!

The weather wasn't in its best mood on the day when we visited the Market Shed. Yet, this did not dampen our excitement and thank God that it is a covered market. So, all good!

Entrance of the Market Shed

The market was buzzing with food stalls, local produce and stage performance when we arrived. Streams of customers were seen enjoying their food, with great relaxing music in the background. This lively vibe is definitely what we need everyday!

Busker in the market

First up, we visited the Walnut Bar! The walnut bar's signatures are its rosemary infused walnuts and housemade almond milk.

The Walnut Bar entrance

I can't help but to rave about the delicious, one-of-a-kind signature rosemary walnut from here as it is something that you wouldn't want to miss! THE walnut is roasted, mixed with rosemary infused honey and salted with Himalayan salt. This is one big piece of goodness! The moment when you bite on the walnut, fragrance of rosemary spreads across your palate, travelling up to your nose. Next up, sweetness of honey and saltiness kick in, creating an unforgettable experience. THE thing to die for!

The housemade walnut from The Walnut Bar

We were contemplating whether to order the thickshake or the almond milk. In the end, we settled down with the Chocolate Walnut Thickshake. It consists of almond milk, banana flour, cocoa, walnut and chia seed. The thick shake lives up to its name, considering that every single sip is full of texture, flavour and substance!

Trade of the day

The bite sized Italian entrees from Francesco's Circchetti caught my eyes when I first entered the market. Hence, we decided to have a try. We ordered the polenta grigliata (chargrilled polenta with vegetables). The kind stall owner even offered us some side dishes for free. We got the verdure mediteraneo (organic roasted vegetables with preserved lemons, extra virgin olive and home dried tomatoes) and peperonata (organic capsicum, eggplant, onion and olives). The meal was amazing as it is close to authenticity.

Bite sized Italian food

Take a look at Bona Food fridge for their vegan options. Colourful combination and tempting looks, it will never hurt to get some home or have them there.

Healthy and vegan options

Pies are the all time favourite of Australians. A farmer's market will not be complete without a bakery. Bull Creek Bakery's pies are woodoven baked and popular option such as beef pie is on the menu.

Bull Creek Bakery

Another bakery in the precinct is the Mother and Sons Bakery. Fresh sourdough, rye bread and pastries can be found here. The smell of fresh bread is indeed refreshing!

Mother and Sons Bakery

Apart from Francesco's Circchetti, Little Orange Arancini and Pizza Bar is another great Italian option that you can consider. It has breakfast pizza, fritole as well as its signature arancini balls.

Little Orange Arancini and Pizza Bar

Woodfire pizza

Besides serving the conventional arancini balls which use arborio rice, Little Orange has brown rice option available as well. We ordered the brown rice arancini with porcini mushroom and rocket pesto, as well as arborio rice arancini with beef ragu and parmesan cheese. They were lovely, crispy on the outside, full of bursting flavour and moist on the inside. The pesto and red pasta sauce complement the balls perfectly.

Arancini balls

And of course, you can get your daily fix of coffee at The Coffee Pedlar.

Coffee

Last but not least, the Market Shed rickshaw do offer ride services to the places in the city at an affordable cost.

Rickshaw

The Market Shed is a heaven for vegans and organic food lovers. I would strongly recommend you to visit if you haven't been there yet.

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Market-Shed-on-Holland/665281516833656?id=665281516833656&sk=info

Address: 1 Holland Street, Adelaide

Trading hours: 9am-2pm (Sundays)

Love, Victoria

Sweet Tooth @ Sydney

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 28 Dec 2013 03:45:00 +0000

Continuing from Early birds @ Sydney, this blog post will bring you my food journey in searching for best dessert in the town. Ranging from gelato, drinks, cakes and sweets, macaron to pancakes, Sydney offers diverse choices when it comes to dessert. To me, it is the melting pot of various cultures, conserving the originality while injecting its own uniqueness into each food.

1. Chanoma
Chanoma means Japanese style living room (tea room). What will come to your mind when Japanese tea is mentioned? Bingo! Chanoma is all about matcha! As a matcha fan, I fell in love with this place instantly. The cafe adopts the order-at-counter concept whereby you will receive a buzzer after placing your order.

One of the ordered items is the matcha shiratama parfait. It is highly recommended if you are looking for a more complex and diverse dessert. It has matcha ice cream, love letters, ice cream cones, more matcha ice cream, rice cakes, swirls of chocolate syrup and whipped cream. After finishing a serve of parfait, you will be pretty full. Definitely a filling afternoon tea to satisfy your cravings.

Matcha shiratama parfait

Order at the counter

Next up is the matcha anmitsu. It comes with small cubes of agar jelly, a stick of Japanese rice cakes, bean paste, sweetened peach and pineapple slices as well as the matcha ice cream. The matcha ice cream is my favourite! Its smooth texture and rich matcha flavour make me crave for matcha even more. It is a relatively sweet Japanese dessert and to my liking.

Matcha anmitsu

Besides matcha dessert, Chanoma does offer drinks such as green tea latte and Japanese hotdog.

Website: -
Address: Regent Place, 501 George Street, Sydney
Trading hours: Lunch and Dinner time (Mon-Sun)

2. Gelato Messina
Gelato Messina is by far the best gelato that I have ever tasted! With its full-bodied flavour, it captures my heart and even intensifies my cravings even after I am back in Adelaide.

There are a few branches in Sydney, namely Surry Hills, The Star, Darlinghurst and Bondi. Recently, Messina has opened a new interstate branch at Fitzroy, Melbourne. Different branches might have different special flavour but one thing for sure is that they use authentic ingredients in churning the gelato.

Gelato Messina, The Star

We chose 5 flavours to be shared between 4 people, namely Pistachio, Milk chocolate and chocolate peanut fudge, Salted caramel and white chocolate chip, Italian nougat and Dulce de Leche. The pistachio flavour left me awestruck as I can literally taste the thick nutty pistachio. On overall, the gelato is thick and smooth with authentic flavour. Definitely creme de la creme in the gelato world.

From left clockwise: Pistachio, Milk chocolate and chocolate peanut fudge, Italian nougat, Salted caramel and white chocolate chip, and Dulce de Leche

Website: http://www.gelatomessina.com/
Address: Cafe Court, Level G, 80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont
Trading hours: 11am-11pm (Sun-Thurs), 11am-11.30pm (Fri-Sat)

3. N2 Gelato
N2 gelato adopts the technology of using liquid nitrogen to create a large number of microscopic ice crystals in seconds, resulting in an exceptionally smooth texture. So, you might be asking, 'Is liquid nitrogen safe?'. Well, it is definitely safe (think about it, a single breath consists of 78% of nitrogen gas!) as it is non toxic and non flammable. As the boiling point of liquid nitrogen is extremely low (-196C), it would have evaporated from your cup of gelato when you are scooping a spoonful of the goodness.

I find this concept interesting, especially as the store members wear like lab assistants while preparing me the extreme gelato. The flavour combinations brianstormed by the gelato creationist in N2 gelato are truly special and worth trying. I ordered the 2013 creation, le Cloudy Bay Duck and Pinot!

N2 'lab assistant'

Interesting and wacky enough, N2 gelato has the concept written on the blackboard at the store. Cloudy Bay Duck and Pinot has frozen ducky custard as its base, topped with Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir brulee and finished with salted earl grey infused duck fat sand. As you can see, hear and feel, this gelato is extremely fattening. The gelato itself is thick and smooth, with every scoop full of light creamery taste, accompanied with crisp brulee and a tinge of earl grey scent. A perfect combination indeed!

This is how Duck and Pinot comes about

Do stay tuned for their new creations!

N2 extreme gelato

Website: http://n2extremegelato.com.au/

Address: 43/1 Dixon Street, Sydney.

Trading hours: 1pm-11pm (Mon-Sun)

5. Adriano Zumbo
Zumbaron is the special name of macaron created by Adriano Zumbo, one of the guest judges who appeared in the first series of MasterChef Australia. He is a patissier who has great passion for dessert and started his apprenticeship at the age of 15. If you are observant enough, you would have noticed the various premix pack to make macarons and cakes on the shelf of local supermarkets (Coles, Woolworths).

At The Star outlet, there is a dessert train for the cake lovers whereby you get to choose the desserts off the moving belt. You can choose as many desserts as you like, but do mind that this is not a buffet and you have to pay for the individual dessert you have taken. Please note that the dessert train is only opened on Fridays and weekends.

View from the exterior

Interior display

Aside from dessert train, you can buy zumbarons from the outlet. Interestingly, as few as one zumbaron you have bought, they do provide you with a box instead of just a plastic bag. According to the store assistant, the popular flavour is the salted caramel. Since it is fresh, as I bite on the macaron, the shell collapses and the salted caramel filling is pushed into my mouth. When I further bite it, the chewiness comes by and that makes the macaron perfect!

Salted caramel zumbaron

A pack of 6 Zumbarons

Website: http://adrianozumbo.com/
Address: Shop 1, Cafe Court, The Star, 80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont NSW
Trading hours:
- Patisserie: 11am-10pm (Mon), 11am-11pm (Tues-Thurs), 11am-Midnight (Fri-Sat), 11am-9pm (Sun)
- Dessert Train: 6pm-11.30pm (Fri), 2pm-11.30pm (Sat), 12pm-6.30pm (Sun)

5. Flour and Stone Patisserie

Situated in Woolloomooloo, this patisserie is popular for its panna cotta lamington. The lamington is huge but yet not overpoweringly sweet. It consists of 2 layers of sponge-like cake, layered and coated with chocolate, finished with shredded coconut. Definitely a good idea for an afternoon tea, especially if you are near Hyde Park.

Aside from lamington, they do provide cookies, savoury pies and tarts, cakes and scones.

Panna cotta lamington

Website: http://www.flourandstone.com.au/
Address:53 Riley St, Woolloomooloo
Trading hours: 7am-4pm (Mon-Fri), 8am-4pm (Sat)

6. La Renaissance
La Renaissance is a small patisserie at quaint The Rocks precinct. Even though the patisserie itself is small, but the outdoor seating area at the back has the old Victorian style. Do take note that customers who opt for a takeaway are not eligible to sit at the seating area.

The products of this patisserie include hand crafted cakes, macarons and flans. Its popular item is the mille feuille, also known as vanilla slice or the Napoleon. It consists of layers of delicate puff pastry and vanilla creme patisserie dusted with icing sugar. La Renaissance's specialty is French based desserts and hence its mille feuille will fare better than other bakeries.

The mille feuille is crunchy and the light cream fits the pastry nicely, creating a good soft and hard combination. It is light, fresh and not too sweet.

Mille Feuille

Website: http://larenaissance.com.au/
Address: 47 Argyle Street, The Rocks
Trading hours: 8am-6pm (Mon-Sun)

7. Pancake on the Rocks
Do you know where is the best place to go for supper late at night or dinner when almost all restaurants are closed at wee hour of the day? In Australia, pancake houses are always good choices because they open 24 hours per day and 7 days per week. Pancake houses in Australia are brainchildren of Mr Meadmore. The idea was triggered during his driving trip in America whereby he noticed the pancake-eating obsession of local Americans.

Pancake on the Rocks has 2 choices of pancakes to choose from, buttermilk pancakes and the famous chocolate pancakes. Besides pancakes, they do serve crepes, pizzas, salads and ribs.

We ordered the Blueberry Heaven. There were 2 buttermilk pancakes with blueberries in sauce, served with cream and vanilla ice cream. The buttermilk pancakes were fluffy and light. Even though the blueberry sauce was slightly sweet, it fitted well with the unsweetened pancakes.

Blueberry heaven

Since it was dinner time and we queued up almost 1 hour for seating, we were so hungry and decided to go for a savoury chicken and bacon pizza. The pizza had chicken breast pieces with bacon bits, fresh and sundried tomatoes, marinated mushrooms, tomato salsa on a guacamole and mozzarella cheese base. It was topped with sour cream, guacamole and shallots. The pizza was not too bad on overall.

Chicken and bacon pizza

Aside from Blueberry Heaven, we did order another buttermilk pancake but this time with fresh strawberries, cream, vanilla ice cream and strawberry coulis. It was the Strawberry Patch. Again, it was a little bit too sweet to my liking.

Strawberry patch

My favourite pancake from the pancake house is the Devils Delight. It has the famous chocolate pancakes with strawberries, chocolate ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce. If you are a chocolate lover, you will love this absolute chocolate pancake.

Devils Delight

Website: http://www.pancakesontherocks.com.au/
Address: 227 & 229-230 Harbourside Shopping Centre, Darling Harbour
Trading hours: Open 24 hours (Sun-Mon)

8. Black Star Pastry
Nestled in Newtown, the food heaven of USyd students, Black Star Pastry offers its customers with varieties of pastries and cakes. Among all its creations, the strawberry watermelon cake is the famous one. Due to its popularity, I made a trip there just for the cake.

The strawberry watermelon cake has tiramisu-like moist cake layered with rose-scented vanilla cream and watermelon. On its top is strawberry slices on bed of strawberry jelly, finished with rose petals. This is such a wonderful creation! With every bite, the scent of rose, sweetness of strawberry and watermelon, soft texture of cake just exude the uniqueness of the cake. It is definitely a must-try if you drop by Newtown!

Strawberry watermelon cake with rose scented cream

Website: http://blackstarpastry.com.au/
Address: 277 Australia Street, Newtown
Trading hours: 7am-5pm (Sun-Mon)

9. Guylian Chocolate Cafe

Guylian is a renowned chocolate brand which uses the finest Belgian chocolate. Guylian seashell is undoubtedly its signature chocolate, which also coincides with its support for seahorses conservation work in the world.

Aside from Guylian chocolate cafe, Lindt does open its chocolate cafe in Sydney. These 2 brands produce premium quality of chocolate and it is worth visiting either one of both stores.

At Guylian cafe, we ordered the Belgian waffle. It came with praline ice cream, chocolate dip and whipped cream. Different from the traditional Belgian waffle that I have eaten before, this waffle did not have pearl sugar within. It was sprinkled with icing sugar instead.

Unique Belgian Waffle

Visiting a Guylian chocolate store, you wouldn't want to miss the Guylian Chocolate Special. It comes with layers of yogurt, mixed berry fruit, raspberry sauce, chocolate milk and topped with whipped cream. On its side is a Guylian praliné chocolate. The yogurt and mixed berry fruit balance the sweetness of chocolate milk, conferring the mixture of mild sour and sweet taste. A great drink which symbolizes Guylian chocolate.

Guylian Chocolate Special

The chai latte comes with a sweet offering of Guylian chocolate. The chai is mild in flavour and can warm you up on a cold winter day.

Chai latte

Website: http://www.guyliancafe.com.au/
Address: 1-25, Harbour Street, Sydney
Trading hours: 8am-late (Sun-Sat)

10. Bondi Surf Seafoods
What to do when you are strolling along Bondi beach and your dessert craving strikes? No problem, have a fried Mars bar at Bondi Surf Seafoods! Check out here for my experience.

Fried Mars Bar

11. Chat Thai
If you are wondering what dessert to eat for supper, Chat Thai might be a good idea as it offers Thai desserts after 10pm. Mhmmmm, needless to say, Thai dessert will surely salivate you and satisfy your cravings!

May this blog post be a saviour to you who have a sweet tooth at any time of the day. Enjoy!

Love, Victoria

Early Birds @ Sydney

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 16 Dec 2013 09:36:00 +0000

Hello readers! When you think of food culture in Australia, what comes to your mind? For me, it is a brunch with bacon, avocado and poached eggs. Well, Melbourne and Sydney will also appeal to me as the food paradise in Australia. As a result, I prepared an extensive food list before I visited Sydney half a year ago. Follow this blog post for my Sydney food adventure.

Waking up in the morning to refreshing breeze, what is much better than a satisfying breakfast or brunch ? In Sydney, you will never run out of ideas on where to go (or maybe you will be headache due to myriad of choices).

1. Bourke Street Bakery, Surry Hills

No.1 Bakery in Sydney and the bread is freshly baked everyday. They do offer sourdough, sausage roll, pastries and coffee to their customers. A great place to spend your morning if you want a light breakfast.

Pork and fennel sausage roll

The popular bakery item is the pork and fennel sausage roll. The crispiness on the outside and its generous fillings will satisfy your tummy. Do accompany this sausage roll with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee.

The exterior

The queue will never cease ever since the bakery opens its door everyday. Most often, the customers opt for take away because there is limited seat inside. But a couple of outdoor seats will do the favour if you want to dine in.

Ginger creme brulee

Another popular item up the rack is the ginger creme brulee. Different from the conventional creme brulee, the tinge of ginger gives a refreshing vigor to the day. The crunchy pistachio and burnt caramel add in the excitement. Apart from that, the custard is light as well. Highly recommended if you are a fan of ginger.

Website: http://bourkestreetbakery.com.au/
Address: 633 Bourke Street, Surry Hills. (Corner of Devonshire and Bourke Street)
Trading hour: 7am-6pm (Mon-Fri), 7am-5pm (Sat-Sun)

2. Reuben Hills, Surry Hills

Reuben Hills is famous as a coffee roastry and cafe in Sydney. It has been awarded as Latorre & Dutch best boutique roaster of the year 2013. Besides coffee, it does provide its customers a comfy environment to have brunch.

Contemporary interior design

Cappucino

I ordered the 'NOT reuben' (pretty ironic!). It consists of wagyu salt brisket, pickled slaw, manchego and horseradish cream on rye. I guess one of the reasons behind the name is that typical reuben sandwich normally has corned beef, Swiss cheese with Russian dressing and sauerkraut, grilled between slices of rye bread, whereby Reuben Hills' creation is different.

Not Reuben

The portion comes out to be pretty small, in size of a typical rye bread, being divided into 2 halves. The wagyu brisket is a tad dry on overall.

Not so Reuben

Aside from the NOT reuben, they do have other breakfast options and sweets. A place to consider for catch up over coffee. Their coffee options range from filter, cold filter, white, black to affogato.

Website: http://reubenhills.com.au/
Address: 61 Albion Street, Surry Hills.
Trading hours: 7am-4pm (Mon-Sun)

3. Grounds of Alexandria

Nestled at industrial area in Alexandria, Grounds of Alexandria is a family friendly brunch place. It is also a good idea for someone who wants to escape the hustle and bustle of city during weekend. The seating area is spacious and there is a small barn for the little ones. In addition, there is also florist at the precinct, selling fresh flower. There is also a garden with fresh vegetables and herbs, where the fresh ingredients on your plate come from. The combination of freshly brewed coffee, giggling from children and appetizing menu does make a short satisfying weekend getaway.

The exterior

The interior

Grounds of Alexandria is the flagship venue for its specialty coffee. Formerly an old pie factory, the Grounds has been transformed into a rustic, yet stylish cafe. Besides hosting a coffee research, the kitchen also practice holistic approach to food and design, as well as picking herbs fresh from garden every morning. The Grounds also offers its customers seasonal menu whereby we can taste the best in every season.

Bakery area

Latte

Mini barn with roosters

Outdoor seating

Family area

I ordered the smashed avocado on sourdough with haloumi and poached eggs. The ingredients were indeed very fresh! There is another popular menu item, which is the Grounds Breakfast Platter. It includes a couple of items such as cured meats and poached eggs.

Smashed avocado on sourdough

The Grounds of Alexandria is highly recommended! Be it bakery items, or coffee, or breakfast menu, they will surely tantalise your taste buds, with bursts of freshness in every ingredient. Not to mention that the Grounds does have its own market on every first weekend of the month, providing live music, great brunch and own-roasted coffee.

Website: http://groundsroasters.com/
Address: Building 7A, No.2, Huntley Street Alexandria

Trading hours: 7am-4pm (Mon-Fri), 7.30am-4pm (Sat-Sun)

4. Mad Spuds Cafe

Reflecting the name of the cafe, Mad Spuds Cafe is all about potatoes. According to the website, the potatoes are sourced from Robertson on the Southern Highland of NSW. Robertson is famous for its rich volcanic soil, which provides lots of nutrients to the potatoes, giving them a robust unique flavour. This cafe also advocates healthy living as the potatoes are all baked.

From the outside

I ordered the Mad Spud Stack. It consists the crispy potato cake, halloumi, avocado, roast onion, spud skins, sweet potato and mint yogurt. Trust me, this will be a heavenly meal for the potato lovers. I especially love the spud skins. Crispy and crunchy, accompanied with the soft mashed texture of the potato cake, I finished the whole plate within no seconds. As potatoes contain a lot of carbohydrate, I was full to the brim after a stack.

Mad Spud Stack

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

Address: 479 Crown st Surry Hills

Trading hours: 8am-5pm (Mon-Fri), 8am-3pm (Sat-Sun)

And so, that was my brunch list for my one-week-Sydney-trip. Hope you guys enjoy them just as much as how I have enjoyed them. Cheers!

Love, Victoria

Australia's Best Home Cooked Dish Competition

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 07:13:00 +0000

Are you an avid home cook? Are you constantly receiving compliments from your friends and family on your delectable home cooked dish? Are you a foodie? Are you passionate about food? Do you have a signature home cook dish you are proud of?

Well, that must a sign for you to enter Australia's Best Home Cooked Dish Competition held by Noosa International Food and Wine Festival! The festival is happening for the 11th year in 2014 from Thursday 15 May to Sunday 18 May. What an amazing event to combine the sunny and beautiful Noosa with variety of food!

All you need to do is to submit your best savoury recipe online at http://www.noosafoodandwine.com.au/Australias-Best-Home-Cooked-Dish/. The cost of the dish has to be less than $15 per serve. Besides that, photos and 30 seconds video have to be submitted together with the recipe. The submission will give you a chance to enter the semi final in your respective state to contend for a spot in the grand finale at Noosa.

Lucrative prizes are up for grab, including a trip for 2 to London for the Australian's best home cooked dish! The state prizes include a trip to Noosa International Food and Wine Festival whereby you can experience the vibe in the midst of fine food! How cool is this!

Still thinking of whether you should enter the competition, let me persuade you with 4 reasons:

#Reason 1: An opportunity to show cast your home cooked dish to the nation
#Reason 2: An opportunity to meet up with great chefs, home cooks and foodies
#Reason 3: An opportunity to attend Noosa International Food and Wine Festival
#Reason 4: An opportunity to win a trip for 2 to London

Do take note that it has to be savoury dish, but not a dessert. It does not have to be fancy mancy. A simple dish that you normally cook at home will do. Food cooked with love and attention to details will always be kept in a special space in our heart. That is why mum's home cooked dish is irreplaceable and heart warming.

I would love to stand with you if it is the obstacle of courage and confidence which deters you from entering the competition. It is because I have the doubt that my dish will not be on par with the competition's standard when the organiser approached me about this competition. But soon enough, I realised that it did not hurt to pick up the courage to give it a try. I guess, as long as we try our best, we will not regret regardless of the results. It is the learning experience through the journey that counts. So, would you like to join me in this journey?

The competition closes on 30/11/13, which means you have less than 10 days time left. So, be hurry! All the best and good luck in the competition!

Love, Victoria

Malaysia's National Day and Muah Chee

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 31 Aug 2013 11:20:00 +0000

Hi readers! It has been really encouraging to receive comments from a couple of you that you have been keeping an eye on this blog and how useful it can be to find a hangout place and good food! With heartfelt gratitude, I hope you (yes, you!) will continue to follow this blog for more culinary journeys ahead with me!

It is Malaysia National Day today! 56 years had gone since Malaysia gained independence from British colony. It is the day to applaud the painstaking effort given by the nation leaders as well as to pray and anticipate for the better future of Malaysia. Malaysia is a blessed country, shielded from natural disasters and has bountiful natural resources. Not to mention that it is also a melting pot of different cultures and this can be demonstrated through the variety of food it offers.

How do Malaysians often gather together? Yes, it's FOOD. We often have open houses during festivals and food is definitely not an element that you can exclude. NEVER! This idea has been engrained into every overseas Malaysian student's mind and that is why Merdeka Raya was being held at Adelaide University today. It was a collaborated event of National Day and Eid al-Fitr (Feast of Breaking Fast).

Let us have a brief overview on the array of food the committee had come out for the day.

Fritters

Lontong with peanut sauce

Fried mashed potato

Roti canai

Breadcrumb chicken

Nasi lemak with rendang

The food was really yummy, especially the satay sauce and lontong. With one serve per dish, I was full to the brim. Thank God my baju kurung did not burst! Anyway, it was a great get-together event whereby I got to see my fellow Malaysians whom I lost touch with. The warm weather, the Malaysian food, the people and the colourful decoration had made me to miss Malaysia even more. Home is where the heart is!

Pretty flower deco

Happy Independence Day, Malaysia!

Since it is a celebration day today, my Penangite identity has stirred me to make a Malaysian Penang food. This is none other than my favourite muah chee, a glutinous rice ball dessert coated with peanut and sugar! Guess what? You can make it in 10 minutes time!! You will only need microwave oven, glutinous rice flour, peanut powder and sugar. I was a bit sceptical when I saw the recipe online but the result turned out to be quite good! It might be slightly chewier than normal but the peanut powder covers it well. You can try to play with the proportion of water and glutinous rice flour to get your desired texture.

Ingredients (for 1 serve)
- 60g glutinous rice flour
- 90ml water
- 1 tablespoons of cooking oil
- Peanut/sugar mix or crushed peanut candy

Methods:
1) Mix glutinous rice flour, water and cooking oil together in a microwaveable bowl.
2) Microwave it for 3.5 minutes. Cut the sticky mixture into small lumps and coat them with peanut and sugar mix.
3) Enjoy!

You can get the recipe from here.

Muah Chee

Hope you guys have a good day so far! Do try out the recipe and let me know what you think. Once again, Happy Birthday Malaysia!

Yours truly blogger

Love, Victoria

The Beauty of Cronut

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 11:43:00 +0000

Do you know what is the limelight of the pastry world at the moment? You might have heard of it, yes! It is the delicate yet complicated CRONUT! (*drum roll*) It was introduced by Chef Dominique Ansel from New York on May 10, 2013. Even though it is only 3 months old, it has taken the world by storm, spanning the whole world with its imposters. In Adelaide itself, Jenny's Gourmet Bakery on Glen Osmond Road claims to have the best cronut in Australia (eater.com).

I reckon we should get more insight into cronut to find out its beauty which attracts thousands of people around the world everyday. It is a half croissant, half donut hybrid which is the result of hard work, taking 2 months and more than 10 recipes. Instead of the simple croissant dough, it is made with laminated dough which has been likened to a croissant. After being proofed, it is then fried in grapeseed oil at a specific temperature. To finish it, it is flavoured in 3 ways - rolled in sugar, then filled with cream and lastly topped with glaze. The whole process takes up to 3 days! Can you imagine how much effort has been put in? Apart from that, it has short shelf life and do not refrigerate nor warm it to preserve its original flavour and texture. One difficult lady hey?

The cronuts caught my attention when I first saw the poll set up by Yelp. After frantically searching for the best cronut in Adelaide, I finally came across Jenny's Bakery which is situated about 10 minutes ride away from the city. Without further ado, here I am at the bakery biting my cronut all the way back to New York.

Introducing the salted caramel popcorn cronut that I have! It is so yummy! Mhmmmm! One could never go wrong with a salted caramel related delicacy! The cronut is flaky on the outside, soft and spongy on the inside. The level of flakiness is between a donut and a croissant. The level of sweetness is apt with the rolling of icing sugar and the salted caramel blends in well.

Salted caramel popcorn cronut

Ohhh! There is another surprise waiting for you when you first take a bite! Upon the bite, the fresh cream flows out! It does not contribute to the overall sweetness of the cronut, in which I find it very soothing.

A bite says a thousand word

The cronuts are situated near the entrance so you cannot miss them at all costs. There are a few toppings available - namely Fruchoc, Fairy floss, Salted caramel popcorn, Choc mint chip and lemon cheesecake. They might have a different variety everyday too.

Types of cronuts available

The exterior of Jenny's Bakery

Indoors

Jenny's Bakery is a lovely shop serving pastries and breakfast with cosy ambience. Definitely a great place to enjoy your chilly morning with hot coffee, buns and pastries.

Vast array of donuts

On overall, the cronut is a pleasant surprise whereby croissant and donut marry each other in a great manner. The layered pastry and donut-y texture just make my day! I am so going back for another nomnom!

Besides Jenny's Bakery, there are a few places in Adelaide where you can find the imposters of cronut:
1) Please Say Please, Grenfell Street
2) Milkaholic, Norwood - Kronut
3) Bakery on O'Connell - O'Cronut
4) First Pour, North Adelaide - cronut from Jenny's Bakery

So what are you waiting for now? Get hold of this latest sensation and let me know your verdict!

Website: http://www.jennysbakery.com.au/
Address: 81 Glen Osmond Road, Eastwood, South Australia, 5063
Trading hours: 8am-5pm (Mon-Fri), 8am-3.30pm (Sat)

Love, Victoria