The Adventures of Miss Piggy

Ocean Room, Circular Quay

2013-05-24T18:46:00.004+10:00

Miss Piggy (and her +1) dined as a guest of Ocean Room and Wasamedia.

Ocean Room is one of a handful of beautifully situated, fancy pants restaurants at The Overseas Passenger Terminal near Circular Quay. I've been here once before but only for a few nibbles at the bar. The bar snacks here were exceptional and I knew I wanted to come back...someday.

The restaurant overlooks our glorious harbour with a prime position opposite The Opera House. Throughout dinner I keep take peaks out the window and feel slightly jealous of people who get to stare at this view all day (or for the lucky ones who live around here who get to stare at the Opera House whenever they please). Ah well, I get to stare into Everybody Loves Ramen's laundry window so I guess living in Parramatta has it's own perks too.

I'm catching up with my friend Miss M and we're here to sample the Ocean Room's new autumn 12 course tasting menu. TWELVE COURSES! I was worried that I'd be over-full by the end of the meal but as with the way with Japanese food everything was light, fresh and well-balanced. I left Ocean Room feeling satisfied...and good.

I'd had a bit of a rough day so we eager to start our night off with a cocktail. Miss M is more of a wine drinker but I twisted her rubber arm to join me in some cocktail fun. My tipple is the Blood Orange and Plum Sour described as a "juicy whiskey sour with succulent blood orange and plum scotch whiskey, plum wine and blood orange juice, cinnamon orange syrup and bitters". It's just what the doctor ordered and I enjoyed the woody notes of the whiskey. Miss M goes for a good old classic - the Mojito - and I'm told it's good stuff.

Our tasting menu begins with "Kaki" - freshly shucked Sydney rock oysters with Guinness, myoga (ginger) and a Yamazaki (whiskey) silk. The oysters were juicy, plump and still a little briny, fresh with a hint of sea water. I really enjoyed the silky, slightly sour "whiskey silk" that felt like jelly on the tongue.

Our second course, Ochazuke, brings a bit of theater to the table. I can tell we're in for an interesting + entertaining meal as our waiter pours cold-drip dashi and premium gyokuro green tea into a small bowl of Koshihikari rice crust, flame seared latchet (fish), umeboshi (salt plums) sorbet, wasabi dust. The flavours in this dish were really interesting - so many temperatures, tastes and textures in every mouthful. The dashi + green tea "broth" was slightly salty, tasting of fish in a powerful, earthy (or ocean) way. I loved the crunchy "rice crust" that reminded me of puffed rice and the sorbet was savoury and refreshing.

Moving on to course #3 and #4 we have Maguro - yellow fin tuna with Sicilian green olive + buffalo mozzarella drops, crystalised yuzu, soy pearls, tomato chips following by Shinjo - housemade croquette of tiger prawn & calamari, yuba angel hair.

The Maguro is basically a tuna tartare which requires us to mix all the elements on the plate together in order to get the best flavour out of the tender, soft tuna. Amazingly this simple looking dish seems to contain nearly every flavour all in one mouthful; sweet, sour, salty and umani. I loved the Shinjo which reminded a lot of a Thai fish cake in terms of flavour and texture, and who doesn't love a salty, crunchy lotus root chip (rhetorical question I think as EVERYONE loves them).

The theater arrives back at the table with the arrival of the pretty-as-a-picture Onsen or "autumn vegetable collection". The centre of the plate houses what is basically an oil-burner containing a rich, unctuous, salty anchovy and garlic bath that I can't get enough of. Along the rim of the plate sits fresh, seasonal vegetables for dipping. So simple but one of my favourite dishes of the night.

The sashimi platter is so fresh and it feels like an incredible healthy dish of food to be eating. I can't quite remember all the different fish appearing on the platter but I know we had some tuna and some salmon. There were quite a few varieties of fish that I'd not heard of before - some were very 'seafoody' in flavour and others fairly mild.

Interestingly I found the strips of wagyu beef in the Shabu to be quite "meaty" - almost in direct contrast to how delicate the thin slivers of beef actually were. The beef was served in a dashi consommé with grilled tofu and seasonal mixed vegetables. I added the lime, chilli and soy dipping sauce directly into my broth which I thought helped counterbalance this meaty tasting dish.

I absolutely loved the Miso Cod - one of the Ocean Rooms signature dishes. The fish is fall-apart tender and lusciously sweet thanks to the orange miso it is cooked in. I enjoy the savoury element the little piece of grilled shallot adds to the mix - a nice counterbalance to the sweetness of the miso. The pile of ginger risotto offers a petite little carb-fix.

It also appears that my cocktail has run out so I decide to try the Rouge Royale - a fizzy strawberry drink with Martell VS, creme de peche, strawberry, orange, lemon juice, Angostura bitters and Clover Hill sparkling. I loved that my cocktail came with a rosemary swizzle-stick as it gives me another idea of what to do with all that rosemary I have growing.

I was a little confused when our waiter places the Butabara down in front of us - how exact do I open this little parcel without spilling pork broth all over myself? Ah, in a flourish a pair of scissors is brandished by our waiter and the top of our cellophane packet is snipped off to reveal a parcel of steaming simmered pork belly, melting tofu, yuzu chilli and ponzu. Loved this - the broth reminded me a lot of a tonkatsu pork ramen and that's never a bad thing. The silky, soft tofu didn't "melt" however so we think that might be some creative menu writing?

I was really looking forward to the Sansui as I've been craving steak lately (the side affect of cooking mostly vegetarian food at home these days I think). Whilst I prefer to eat grass-fed meat there's no denying that the wagyu flat iron steak was flavoursome and tender, and incredibly well cooked. It was served with a Tasmanian pepper jus, an ENORMOUS and meaty quinoa crusted king prawn and an Americaine cream and agedashi taro potato "tower".

I like that the meal proper ends with a plate of edo-mae sushi. It's a nice light note to end on -- and rather it's unconventional I think to go back to something light, rather than end on a heavier meat dish. We're told that this sushi is an "authentic Tokyo style nigiri".

I saw this dish arrive at our neighbours table about 10 minutes before we received our dessert and I actually thought it was a savoury dish of cold soba noodles carefully wrapped "around something". I was jealous that we weren't getting it as part of our tasting menu as it looked so intriguing. It turns out that this dish is not soba noodles but dessert. Amaguri - is a chestnut mont blanc with green tea angel cake, spiced ice cream, chestnut puree and cognac persimmon. It is topped with a little chestnut that looks like a little brain and it's the first chestnut that I've eaten and actually liked.

The Ocean Room is at the Ground Level, Overseas Passenger Terminal - Circular Quay West. Phone them on 9252 9586.

The (new) Marlborough Hotel, Newtown

2013-05-22T09:19:00.001+10:00

Miss Piggy dined as a guest of The Marlborough Hotel for her first two meals. On the third visit she cracked open her wallet and bought her own lunch. True story.

Even though I walk past The Marlborough Hotel in Newtown every few weeks or so I failed to notice the whole place had shut down for a full renovation and make over. I think my eyes were distracted by that “other” Newtown pub that has also had a recent make over and ended up bright green like a radioactive frog.

The "new" Marly is bright, light, airy and fun. It’s also feels much more feminine than before with the decor (both inside and out) reminding me of a garden party. There are loads of comfortable upholstered couches, hanging baskets of flowers and astro turf . Gone are the dark, masculine booths, carpet and wood that adorned the old Marly. Don’t worry though boys as you can still get beer on tap and a good blokey feed.

I like how "fun" the food options are at the new Marly Kitchen. It’s really good mix of that diner craze that is popular at the moment (cue the cheeseburger with fries) and good pub staples like steaks and schnitzels. It’s the best of both worlds.

The new menu also has some fun twists on regular pub items such as “chip nachos – there’s not a corn chip in sight. I really got a chuckle out of seeing the “Backyard Platter” listed on the menu – a perfect mix of Aussie BBQ favourites such as Jatz with cheese, cabanossi and dip – perfect food for sharing over a beer or three on a sunny Sunday (or Saturday) afternoon in the beer garden.

The new menu also has a REALLY large selection of vegetarian options on the menu which is a rare sight at a pub (or anywhere really). On my first visit I’m with VegeTARAian so we try a few of the non-meat options. We’re planning to come back with a bigger vegetarian group soon as there are SO many vegetarian choices we hardly made a dent in things.

Tara is keen to try the Vegetable Schnitzel ($17.00) which is something VERY VERY rare to see on a menu anywhere. We’re told the schnitzel is made from “seitan” which Tara pronounces like “satan” (who staunch meat eaters might think concocted this “non-meat” schnitty) but I thought it was pretty good. The flavour is good (quite nutty) and the texture was somewhat meaty (like a sausage perhaps) but more “bouncy” which makes sense seeing as this product is basically pure gluten. We had the vegetable schnitzel with a side of mushroom gravy (all their gravy’s here are vegetarian) along with some stellar, creamy mash, and fresh, crunchy batons of vegetables.

The minute I spied the Chip Sandwich on the menu ($8.00) I knew that I HAD to have it. The chef tells us it’s something that he’ll often eat in himself while working in the kitchen so he thought why not put it on the menu. I tell you the man is a genius! This simple, but delicious sandwich will bring back memories for just about every poor uni student or British backpacker who has whipped themselves up a chip sambo to ward off certain starvation.

The Nacho Fries ($18.00) are a tasty and interesting twist on your regular nachos. We have all the usual suspects - salsa, guacamole, cheese and beans - adorning, not crunchy corn chips, but big fat steak fries. The creamy guacamole has a mild heat to it and the salsa is vibrant and colourful, offering a burst of freshness with every mouthful. I really loved the spicy beans -- they have a good amount of smokey + spicy = tasty! And can I just say how much I LOVE liquid cheese. I kinda want to burst into the kitchen, find the liquid cheese bottle and empty into my mouth. But, that would be wrong (or would it)?

I'm back a few short days later I really need to try the cheeseburger as I'm still on my quest to find a Shake Shack doppelgänger. Whilst there are loads of meaty options on the new Marly Kitchen menu I need to get my cheeseburger craving sorted first before I can move on.

The cheeseburger is very substantial and it comes with fat, steak chips - so I think it's pretty good value for $16. It's gloriously messy to eat and my little rectangle of wax paper looks like something akin to a crime scene by the time I'm finished - a good sign of enjoyment I'd say. The burger comes on a sweet, pillowy brioche bun (as they all do here) which is soft and fluffy from being steamed before serving. The juicy pattie is generously sized with a hint of pepper and is blanketed in a layer of melty cheese AND my beloved liquid cheese. The whole lot of topped off with a squirt of tomato sauce + mustard. I am happy!

I brought my meat-eating work buddy along so that I could get snaps of some other options for carnivores but she was too tempted by the Veggie Burger not to order it! This thing is HUGE and a much less messy affair to eat than my lovely cheeseburger (or perhaps she is just a more coordinated eater). The burger has a flavorusome veggie pattie, sweet potato, beetroot and tomato amongst other things and my friend says that it's really good. I didn't spy any liquid cheese on there though...perhaps because I ate it all?

I'm back again, this time for a Friday team lunch (paying my own way this time FYI). The courtyard is really nice area to spend our lunch hour -- a nice respite from our artificially lit cubicle farm. I'd already decided last visit that I was going to order the steak sandwich ($18.00). The Marly's steak sandwich is a departure from the type of steak sambo I'm used to seeing. The steak was thin ribbons of tender meat - not the huge chunk of steak I was expecting (making it really easy to bite through). Other than that it had all the usual suspects - lettuce, tomato, beetroot, cheese + big fat steak chips. I cannot get enough of these chips!

I also knew from my last visit that I really NEEDED to try one of The Marly's waffles (all $8.00) each. I'd had my eye on the pulled pork waffle but when one of my teamsters hinted that she'd like to try the fried chicken waffle I was happy to go halvies (after all a waffle AND a steak sambo is a bit much even for me). The waffles themselves were quite crunchy, but softened up thanks to a generous dollop of gravy. The fried chicken was EXCELLENT, so excellent that I was sad I was sharing. The batter was super crispy, and just a bit peppery and the tender white meat was still nice and moist.

One of my colleagues had the fried chicken burger -- I'm getting this next time for sure if the chicken inside is anything like the chicken that comes with the waffle. And here's a picture of a salad - just to prove they do salads (or deconstructed prawn cocktails actually).

The Marly Kitchen is on the ground floor of The Marlborough Hotel -145 King Street, Newtown.

Balcony Garden: Harvest Monday #25

2013-05-20T09:13:00.002+10:00

After two very false starts in trying to grow rosemary (the plants carked it both times) I've finally got a really healthy, prolific rosemary bush. It's doing so well that I've just had to relocate it to a bigger pot. This made me VERY nervous as I worry that if I transplant things I'll upset them and they'll die on me.

Of course the downside to SO much rosemary is that I really don't have much of a clue of what to do with it ...other than a seasoning for lamb (and there's only so many lamb roasts a gal can eat). I did try making some rosemary + cheese "oat biscuits" that turned out very VERY badly (more on that another time perhaps) and I was running out of ideas. So what to make?

I've recently fallen in love with potato and rosemary pizzas (having had two very excellent specimens at Napoli in Bocca in Haberfield) so it seemed like a pretty logical thing to try making. It's also very simple - pizza base, drizzle of oil, sprinkle of salt, smattering of finely chopped rosemary, some cheese thrown here and there. Cover the whole lot with thinly sliced potatoes, drizzle with more oil + rosemary and bung into the oven. Wait...wait...wait...and eat.

And how did it taste? Well, I won't be putting Napoli in Bocca out of business anytime soon - but it was good. Really really good! So good that I've made this pizza quite a few times since this initial experiment.

I'm quite proud of this meal as I didn't use a recipe. For the first time ever I was able to identify flavours (albeit it simple ones like olive oil, salt + garlic) I'd tasted in other similar, professionally made pizzas and put them together to make something quiet decent myself.

So tell me dear reader (lol, I've always wanted to write that) what do you use rosemary for in your cooking. HELP ME!

You can view more Harvest Monday posts on Daphne's Dandelions blog.

Berry Sourdough Cafe, Berry

2013-05-17T09:45:00.003+10:00

Sometimes it's great to get out of Sydney - to go for a drive to a place where skies are bluer, emptier. The streets of Berry aren't really any emptier though as I think it's the destination of choice these days for Sydney-siders to flee to.

Berry Sourdough Cafe is a buzzy little place off the main street of Berry serving freshly baked pastries, bread + cakes as well as breakfast/brunch/lunch and all manner of caffeinated beverages to wake you up for your drive back to Sydney. The cafe is literally bursting at the seems with hungry visitors needing a bite to eat on their day trip to the country.

But don't let the crowds put you off - be patient and you'll soon be rewarded with a table. If you're lucky your table will be in full view of the cake cabinet - the perfect spot!

The Boy + I arrive just in time for lunch and fate is smiling on us as we get one of the last tables before the rush really hits. We kick things off with a bowl of crunchy french fries with mustard aoili ($6.00) whilst we contemplate the rest of the menu.

I'm still in a bit of a brunch mood still and really want a meal that has the famous Berry sourdough bread in it. Whilst the brunch menu has well and truly been put to bed the roast butternut pumpkin, fennel, dill marinated local feta on sourdough ($16.00) is the next best choice. It's a really flavoursome (and filling) plate of food and I particularly love the crispy fennel paired with creamy feta that has generous sprigs of dill through.

I pretty much always have food envy and The Boy seems to have a knack of ordering dishes that I really actually want to eat myself. The crisp pork belly, hazelnut puree, green pear and raddichio ($24.00) is no exception to this rule and despite eyeballing every mouthful he inhaled I only managed to nab a (very delicious) morsel of crackling right at the end. Doesn't this dish just look like perfection on a plate? Just as aside the guy at the next table SHARED his pork with his wife...take note Boy!

And as I had been in the perfect position to ogle the pastry cabinet all throughout lunch I could not resist a little something sweet to end off our day trip to Berry. This petit coconut orange cake was really tasty, light yet moist bite or two that certainly curbed my sweet craving. The chocolate tart hid a river of caramel sauce within its chocolate lid that was as shinny as silk and utterly scrumptious.

Berry Sourdough Cafe is at 23 Prince Alfred Street, Berry. Phone them on (02) 4464 1617.

High Tea at Radisson Blu Hotel, CBD

2013-05-15T09:38:00.000+10:00

Miss Piggy dined as a guest of Radisson Blu Hotel & Bistro Fax.

I'm yet to meet a High Tea I haven't liked so it's with interest, and a keen stomach, that I head on over to Radisson Blu Hotel in Sydney's CDB to try their Gluten Free High Tea. I'm not gluten intolerant myself, but hey! it's high tea so I'm up for it!

With so many people nowadays suffering from Coeliac Disease or having a gluten intolerance it's nice to see restaurants taking these dietary requirements into account. I'm sure all the gluten intolerant sweet tooths out there are doing a little happy dance knowing they can now enjoy a high tea along with the gluten endowed like myself.

The Radisson Blu dining room (aka "Bistro Fax") is light, bright, and airy with high ceilings and HUGE arched windows. The sofas are plush and comfy and they perfectly accommodate my ever-expanding food blogger's derrière. This seems like the perfect place to sit and enjoy a traditional British style high tea and while away a few hours on a Saturday afternoon.

Our high tea kicks off with bubbles, as all good high teas should, and our bottle of Marquis de la Tour (from France thank you very much) disappears all too quickly. It's a crisp, clean drop that has a slight fruitiness to it (I hope that sentence makes it sound like I know a little about wine)?

Is there anything more squeal inducing than the sight of a three teird high tea stand? I think not! It's definitely a pretty sight - all the little sandwiches + cakes lined up just waiting to be elegantly devoured.

Personally, I like to start my high tea experience at the bottom tier - with the sandwiches. I then work my way upwards through the various sweet layers and finally end the day in a mild sugar coma. Half way through afternoon tea I glance over and spy a couple who have turned my high tea world upside by starting at the top and finishing with the sandwiches at the end!!! It's a radical move that I've never contemplated myself -- but I think it's something to bear in mind for the future.

I adored the chicken wrap on the sandwich tier - the chicken was moist, tender and well flavoured. The gluten free wrap was really similar to a thin, spongy crepe in texture. I would happily eat quite a few of these.

Now, I'm not going to lie. I'm pretty sure we all know that gluten free bread is...not like "real" bread. It's never going to be as soft, fluffy or pillowy as it's gluten laden cousin. The trick seems to be in the fillings -- a moist, flavoursome filling like this beef with caramelized onion and horseradish goes along way in making the bread more moist and less dense in texture. I'm pleased to see high tea staples like smoked salmon with cream cheese, dill and + capers and cucumber with cream cheese making an appearance - it wouldn't be a high tea without them there.

Most high tea's have scones lurking about on their second tier...but the things with scones is that they are big fat bundles of gluten...so out they go. I'm actually really happy about that as I LOVED the sweet, crumbly shortbread biscuit (made with a mix of rice and potato flour) that had a perfect divot on top to hold a good dollop of luscious cream and jam. This was probably my most favourite morsel from the high tea (along with the chicken wrap). It was sweet -- but not overly so, and crumbly like all good shortbread should be, but not too crumbly. It was...perfect. I'm wondering if I can go back for a few more of these...

The top tier of the high tea is actually the same as the regular high tea...it's a total gluten-free zone and as pretty as a picture. The mini chocolate + lemon curd cups were delightfully petite - a perfect mouthful of zingy lemon curd cupped by a thin, sweet shell of chocolate that shattered as I bit into it. Passionfruit is one of my favourite things so I really enjoyed the little glass of tart passionfruit jelly and the airy mini pavlova was over all too soon. The coconut macaroon has been reshaped into a little slice of crumbly heaven and is a tad more dense and substantial than its traditional namesake. We finish the afternoon with a little walnut slice and head back out into the real world...sadly.

High Tea is available each day from 10am - 6pm. The gluten free high tea is $50pp (regular high tea is $40pp). Our bottle of bubbles would set you back $90.

Bistro Fax at Radisson Blu can be found at the "corner" of Pitt, Hunter + O'Connell Streets.

Balcony Garden: Harvest Monday #24

2013-05-13T08:00:00.000+10:00

Whilst out stalking my balcony garden recently I noticed a bit of a "situation" on one of the tomato plants. All seemed well from a distance - a nice mix of still green, ripening and ripe tomatoes all happily buzzing along. And then I lent closer and saw...OMG! Someone had munched through one of my tomatoes - drilling a hole in the top with their evil little fangs and then eating their way through the fruit and then out the bottom.

I did what any sane gardener would do! I bellowed for The Boy to bring me a bowl toot sweet and I picked every single ripe or near ripe tomato on the bushes and brought them inside to the safety of my kitchen...where I was going to eat them.

Of course woman cannot live on tomatoes alone...so I added some rocket and chives from the balcony and topped it up with some store bought cucumber and capsicum.

Viola! Salad!

And watching all this caterpillar induced hysteria is Tabby - one of furry house guests whom we had been minding (along with her two siblings) for Cat Protection Society. We couldn't get within a foot of her whilst she stayed here but she would happily watch all the crazing goings-on on the balcony from the safety of her window seat.

You can view more Harvest Monday posts on Daphne's Dandelions blog.

Mexico Food + Liquor, Surry Hills

2013-05-11T13:56:00.002+10:00

There's been a recent spate of Mexican joints opening up in Sydney. Late last year District Dining shut its doors and reopened as Mexico Food + Liquor. I'm disappointed to see District Dining go...their crispy school prawns and crispy pigs ear were both things of beauty. Needless to say Mexico had some pretty big shoes to fill for me.

There seems to be quite a bit talk in the "foodie scene" about the wave of Mexican restaurants hitting Sydney. Some people say the Mexican fad is about to hit us...other think it's here and on it's way out. Either way I've got my fingers crossed as I LOVE Mexican and I hope that something as great as Melbourne's Mamasita lands here VERY soon.

The space that once was District Dining has completely transformed - the only thing remaining seems to be the wooden floor boards. It's all a bit "day of the dead" inspired with loads of Mexican kitsch adoring every spare inch of wall space - it's a very fun space.

Swah, Tara and I had spent the day eating and trudging around Surry Hills in the rain - the eating was fun, the rain not so much. Swah declared that a good stiff drink would help dry our soggy shoes and a carafe of Strawberry Margarita ($25.00) was duly ordered. I'm not a big drinker, but I do like my cocktails and this went down very easily.

I've fallen in love with soft shell tacos and the wild mushroom ($6.00) taco piques my interest. Crammed with mushrooms, fennel, marjoram, sour cream and toasted pinenuts it's texturally very interesting. It's just a little messy as all soft shell tacos need to be, but it needed a bit more punch of flavour for me, some salt perhaps and hot sauce.

The roast eggplant, green onion + walnut with black cumin sour cream ($12.00) interestingly tastes more Indian in flavour than Mexican. This, along with the glass of booze I've had, confuses me as it's not a flavour I was expecting in a Mexican restaurant. Swah declares the quinoa, wild rice, green bean, grilled zucchini salad with mustard greens ($10.00) is the best salad she's very had. It's pretty darn good and we go spoon for spoon in polishing it off. I especially love the pomegranate seeds that are dotted through the mix along with cubes of creamy of feta.

The crispy potatoes ($6.00) are tossed in celery lime salt and served with a "spicy" tomatillo dressing. These are REALLY good, super crunchy and incredible moreish. The tomatillo dressing isn't too spicy - I could've handled a bit more heat but chilli wimps will be happy.

Mexico is pretty decent and it's a good dining option for this end of Surry Hills. I don't think it's Sydney's answer to Mamasita which just means we need to make another trip back to Melbourne soon. Oh well.

Mexico Food + Liquor at 17 Randall Street, Surry Hills. Phone them on 9211 7798.

Pope Joan + CERES, Brunswick East (Melbourne)

2013-05-10T09:08:00.002+10:00

On our last morning we hope back on the magical #96 tram which deposits us in East Brunswick...right in front of Pope Joan (the cafe, not the actually lady) but about 8kms from Melbourne's CBD. We're not in Melbourne anymore Kermie.

Pope Joan is a little neighbourhood cafe owned by chef (and now cookbook author) Matt Wilkinson. I like the sound of what Matt is on about - sustainable, seasonal and ethical eating. What could be better?

For something different we order ourselves a Vietnamese Iced Coffee each. I'm sure this is nowhere near traditional but it is really delicious - a shot of espresso with a good splosh of sweetened condensed milk added to the mix. A little jug of regular milk is supplied which allows us to drag out the iced coffee to two glasses.

We're not quite sure what is missing from the not so full English breakfast ($19.00). The plate is filled with all the breakfast goodies The Boy could want. Melbourne Pantry bacon, Pacdon Park Cumberland sausage, Pope Joan baked beans, Green Eggs scrambled eggs. I love how every ingredient on this plate names the farm that it's from. Mr Wilkinson could probably tell you the name of the pig the bacon came form if he asked him.

After our epic pig out at Chin Chin the night before I'm looking for something a little...lighter and the corn + sweet potato cake served with poached egg, avocado, hazelnuts, yoghurt ($18.00) is just the ticket. The corn + sweet potato cake looks similar to a muffin and is as light as a feather with a wonderful savoury flavour. The poached egg reveals a river of oozing yolk when pierced with my fork.

As we're heading out of the cafe the blistering Melbourne heat hits us. I quickly rush back inside and grab one of the homemade Strawberry + Cucumber icy-poles. I thought this combination of flavours would be really weird, but they worked so well together. The sweetness of the strawberries is counterbalanced by the slight tartness of the cucumber. Sadly it's over all too soon.

We jump back on the #96 (icy-pole in tow) and head to the end of the line...which is just a few stops away.

The CERES Environment Park is somewhere I have wanted to visit for the LONGEST time. It is a sprawling urban farm built on top of an old rubbish tip - which just proves that something beautiful and useful can come from something stinky and messy.

The centre offers a great nursery, education centre, workshops + courses, organic market (selling produce grown on site at CERES as well as other local produce) cafe and generally a green respite from busy city life. I dream of something like this cropping up in Sydney in the not to distant future.

I'm really cross that the horrible Melbourne heatwave turned my long-held dream of visiting CERES into a sweaty, stinking hot, cranky nightmare of a trip. Even the CERES chickens didn't look happy this day (all 200 chickens share the name Hazel by the way) as they lazily pecked at the dust and gave each other dirty looks out of the corner of their eyes.

Pope Joan is at 77-79 Nicholson Street, Brunswick East- Melbourne. Phone them on (03) 9388 8858.

CERES is at the corner of Roberts and Stewart Streets, Brunswick East - Melbourne. Phone them on (03) 9389 0100.

Alice's Makan, Sydney CBD

2013-05-08T10:23:00.000+10:00

When it comes to food I often find myself wishing that I was something (or someone) other than Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi. When I think of what Australian food is I don't really know - snags on the barbie, Vegemite on toast, lamingtons and pavlova. Those foods are fine (really, they are)...they're just not as interesting, varied or tasty as the delicious food that Asian cultures can dish up.

On my tour to adopt a new cultural food background I'm currently leaning towards being adopted by Malaysia as it's one one of my all time favourite cuisines (along with all my other favourite cuisines like Greek, Lebanese, Turkish, Thai, Indo and Japanese). I'm also toying adopting Chinese and also Indonesian, but for now I'm eating my way through Malaysia...thanks to Alice's Makan shutting up shop in Thornleigh and reopening in our CDB.

Radish Cake is one of my all time favourite Malaysian dishes though I'm not exactly sure what it is - possibly shredded radish mixed with some other stuff like flour + water. This concoction is compressed or steamed or something and chopped up and wok-fried until the edges are crisped + charred (whilst the innards remain soft + bouncy). Sadly when I rocked up to Alice's they had all but sold out (wah)! They managed to scrap together a half serve for me when they saw how upset I was. and it was PHENOMENAL!

Mr Shawn managed to nab a full sized serve of Char Kway Teow - another of my favourite Malaysian dishes that is tasty a stir-fry of fat, bouncy rice noodles. I was lucky enough to grab a few bites of this CKT and it was really good, a nice charred wok flavour that all CKT hunt for.

Because I only had a half serve of radish cake (which was huge anyway) I felt this justified my ordering a Nasi Lemak ($10.50) which is, surprise surprise, another favourite of mine. I love that this dish is a mix of a bunch of different things - a perfect dish for a glutton who wants to taste everything...all at once. My dish came with a mild beef rendang and Miss Chicken ordered the chicken curry. My favourite thing about Nasi Lemak is probably the peanuts with ikan bilis - crunchy fried anchovies - that give everything a super salty crunch.

I can't resist a big icy cup of Teh Tarik - a frothy, milky tea that gets its froth from being poured vigorously from jug to jug. It's a very refreshing drink on a hot and + humid night and I remember drinking bucket fulls of the stuff on our Singapore holiday last year. I was however a bit weary of the colourful Kueh Lapis that Mr Shawn had bought us for dessert. The Boy + I tried this steamed layered cake in Singapore and it turned out the pretty green colour we opted for was Durian - GROSS! Lucky for me Alice's version was just nine layers of tasty tasty sugar.

Alice's Makan is in the foodcourt of the HSBC Centre at 580 George St (Cnr of Bathurst St), Sydney.

Balcony Garden: Harvest Monday #23

2013-05-06T09:22:00.002+10:00

By now we all know that in order for our garden to produce fruit + veggies we need flowers. These flowers then turn in to the bounty we've been waiting for all season. Flowers was one thing my eggplant bush had in spades...but where were the darn eggplants?

For months and months and months the bush would produce lovely purple flowers which would then go brown and drop off the plant. I continued to water and fertilize, my eggplant dream still firmly in place. But after about nine months, yes NINE months, I was ready to give up on the eggplant. Enough was enough - how much time does one plant need in order to get its fruit going? I could have grown a baby in the same amount of time it'd taken the eggplant to do...nothing!

When I say was I going to rip up the place I seriously mean I was out there with my gloves on ready to evict this lazy resident of my garden. As I leaned down to pull up the first plant I noticed a bulge on one of stems. OH MY GOD! Could this be IT? I screamed for The Boy to come and look - we had an eggplant about to pop! And then I spotted a second bulge! I really need to apologize to my neighbours for all the screaming I do on my balcony. Sorry guys!

Within about a week I had four eggplants on the hop on the balcony. After their initial nine month hesitation (or gestation more like it) it only took about 4 weeks for them to grow large enough to consider picking. I had no idea how to tell when an eggplant was ready to harvest so I just crossed my fingers and cut one off the plant (and broke my scissors doing so - these babies are TOUGH).

I always cut everything I've grown in half to check for rot...and for creepy crawlies who may have set up home inside. This may seem a tad OCD but we've had a few near misses with caterpillars still attached to leaves and wot not. Thankfully this eggplant looked like an eggplant on the inside and there were no house guests either.

This eggplant had timed things nicely - arriving in the kitchen for the very first day of Meat Free Week. I already knew what I was going to make with it - a slow cooked Morocan eggplant stew that I'd made once before from Voracious Vander's blog. I added a half a cup of dried chickpeas to the mix and also doubled the amount of tinned tomatoes in order to give the chickpeas enough moister to absorb.

It's really a VERY simple dish to make as most things cooked in the slow cooker are. That said washing the slow cooker afterwards is not so simple with everything baked on to the sides - lucky for me The Boy washes and I cook.

We ate the stew with cous cous that had been soaked in vegan 'chicken-style' stock. We always use this brand in our house as I'm VERY dubious about any store bought stock being made from free-range sources (other than The Stock Merchant that is - but that's hard to come across in our neck of the woods and it's a premium product).

And what better opportunity to use some of our HUGE parsley plant. This thing has an epic afro situation happening, so much so that the birds like to sit in it like it's a beanbag (hence the fake bird which is meant to deter them but doesn't).

And there you have it - only nine months to grow, six hours to cook and 10 minutes to eat. Delish and well worth the wait.

You can view more Harvest Monday posts on Daphne's Dandelions blog.

Chez Dres + South Melbourne Market, South Melbourne

2013-05-04T07:57:00.000+10:00

The number of cafes to visit in Melbourne seems absolutely endless and choosing where to brunch during a a short trip away is enough to raise my anxiety levels so much that I need a holiday from my holiday planning. So many cafes, so little time.

Che Drez is a fantastic warehouse cafe located in South Melbourne - a suburb that I'd never even heard of before (though it makes sense that if there's a North Melbourne there's gotta be a South Melbourne lurking out there somewhere).

We take the magical #96 tram to South Melbourne - this trams seems to take us everywhere we want to go on this February trip. I love traveling by tram, am absolutely obsessed by them. I'm sure if I moved to Melbourne I'd try and wrangle myself a job as a tram driver.

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The iced coffees in Melbourne all seem to come served in a tall glass with a scoop of ice-cream and a scattering of coffee beans on top. I like chewing on the coffee beans - it makes me feel more like I'm having a caffeine hit and less like I'm eating dessert for breakfast.

More often than not my brunch choice these days is the vegetarian option. I just don't feel the need to eat meat at breakfast...it's a bit of overkill really and probably not all that healthy for your insides. The veggie petit dejeuner ($17.50) is exactly what I'm after. Despite its name this brunch isn't all that petite (not that I'm complaining + I assume petit means petite?) - poached eggs on sourdough with potato rosti (yum), sautéed mushrooms, Provençal tomato, spiced avocado and tomato chutney.

Before ordering his meal The Boy asks what the budget is for brunch as he has his heart (and tummy) set on the hefty Le Bonhomme Breakfast ($23.50). We're on holidays which means there is no brunch budget (within reason - I couldn't bring myself to fork our $40 EACH for the breakfast at our hotel, The Langham). His plate is filled to overflowing with all manner of goodies - housemade Toulouse sausage, bacon, 'Grandmother' ham, Berkshire pancetta, mustard, tomato pickle, fried eggs and grilled sourdough. Clearly I am the only one in this relationship concerned about overloading on meat at breakfast.

As we head around the corner to pay our bill at the cash register the cafe reveals itself to be twice the size we originally thought it was. It was hard to tell from our cozy little corner near the espresso machine just how big the cafe is. Sitting in pride of place is a jaw dropping display of sweet treats to tempt of the most satiated of diners. We don't buy anything but sample a few of the goodies on offer - it would be rude to leave them sitting there.

After a brunch we go for a quick spin around the South Melbourne Market. The weather is really way too hot during our visit to appreciate anything Melbourne has to offer (sadly). The market is like a condensed version of the sprawling Queen Victoria Market - fresh food and various clothes, shoes and nic nack sellers. Once again Melbourne produces a wonderful market where locals could easily do nearly all of their weekly grocery shop. Jealous.

The South Melbourne Market is at 322-326 Coventry Street, South Melbourne.

Che Drez is at the rear of 285-287 Coventry Street, South Melbourne. Phone them on 03 9690 2688.

(Yum Cha at) Mahjong Room, Darlinghurst

2013-05-01T20:58:00.002+10:00

Miss Piggy dined as a guest of The Mahjong Room.

The Boy and I really enjoyed our first visit to Darlinghurst's Mahjong Room so I was delighted when I was invited to try their newly launched "Open Table Open Rice" lunch menu.

We're told that "Open Rice" means to start a meal in Cantonese and "Open Table" translates as opening up the table for a game of mahjong. Not surprisingly VegeTARAian are here just for the "Open Rice" part of proceedings - such is the want of a food bloggers life.

The "Open Rice" menu is a tasty hybrid of Chinese yum cha and hawker-style street food. The Yum Cha experience at Mahjong Room is a much more relaxed affair than your traditional yum cha whirlwind. There are no trolly dollies vying for your attention - you simple tick what you'd like to order on the paper menu and voila, yum cha is served! I've been known to chase the trolly dollies around a restaurant looking for what I want - so I really like the idea of ordering off a menu (it makes me look less crazy for starters).

The restaurant layout is broken into various sections- a light-filled front area, a large upstairs room and a cosy room out the back. I'm really happy that we get to sit in the covered "back-alley" section as it really makes me feel like I've left Sydney and am eating "street style" in a little Shanghai laneway somewhere. A gal can dream, can't she?

We started our lunch with a few cocktails (and finished lunch with a few more...opps)! The Lychee Martini was a BIG hit with both Tara and I. I loved the sweet, floral fruitiness of the lychee and the drink felt refreshing (and rather alcoholic too...hic)! The Spiced Sangria would be a perfect tipple for the cooler weather with the addition of warming spices cinnamon and star anise.

The food at Mahjong just "feels" healthy. The flavours are light and vibrant, and so many of the dishes are full of crunchy, fresh veggies. It's a clean, modern take on Chinese food that really appeals to me.

Often shallot pancakes can err on the side of oilness and they aren't that great to eat. When done right (as they are here) a pan-fried Shallot Pancake is a great, but simple pleasure. The thin, crisp and flaky pastry is quite plain in itself but the little slithers of shallot studded throughout the pancake add a great savoury, almost peppery flavour to the pancake. Our bowl of egggplant + tofu is a perfect example of the simple yet flavour packed dishes served up at The Mahong Room. The eggplant is thinly sliced it feels like it's been steamed rather than fried which is pretty unusual to me as I find eggplant so tricky to cook so that it's tender. The eggplant is topped with slithers of slippery, cool tofu and strings of chewy enoki mushrooms and sits in a puddle of soy, ginger and shallots. So flavoursome. So simple. So healthy.

The roasted pork belly bun is The Mahjong Room's signature yum cha dish and it's fabulous. A fat slice of roast pork, resplendent with the most crackly of salty crackling sits snuggled into a soft, pillowy steamed bun. The pork is topped with a dollop of hoisin sauce and shredded shallots. It reminds me a bit of a pimped up Peking duck pancake.

The Rice Roll with Vegetables is another example of simple, fresh ingredients combining to make a stellar dish. The fresh rice paper is wrapped around crunchy batons of carrot and what I think just might be taro judging by the colour and texture of the "mystery white vegetable within". The Vegetable San Choi Bao was great - again fresh, light and wholesome. A medley of lightly cooked diced vegetables sat within a crisp iceberg lettuce "cup" and was topped with a pile of crunchy noodles. I've had this dish before and it was good as I remembered.

The mushroom and Asian greens dumpling were so plump that they reminded me of a fat belly (mine perhaps)? The dumpling skin was perfectly cooked, not gluey at all, and the veggies within were a perfect textural combination of soft, earthy tasting mushrooms, vibrant greens and crunchy water chestnuts. We finish the savoury elements of our yum cha with a little deep fried goodness - vegetarian spring roll. The skin of the spring roll is thicker than I'm used to seeing and it looks more like a brandy snap than a savoury spring roll. I love how crisp the skin is and the vegetable filling is again, fresh and light. Nothing is overcooked, oily or soggy.

Once upon a time I used to HATE egg custard tarts but now I cannot imagine ending yum cha without at least one, possibly two, of these flaky little pastries. These little gems were straight from the oven, piping hot and the egg custard with thick and wobbly with just a hint of vanilla.

I'm really keen to come back to Mahjong Room for one of their "Play Lunches" where they teach you how to play Mahjong and feed you delicious yum cha. Sounds like a great bit of Saturday fun to me. Who's keen?

The Mahjong Room is at 312 Crown Street, Darlinghurst. Phone them on 9361 3985.

#FairfieldFeast food tour, Fairfield

2013-04-29T10:03:00.002+10:00

Miss Piggy was chosen as one of 6 food bloggers to attend the #Fairfiield Feast food tour hosted by Thang Ngo of Noodlies and Fairfield City Council.

Fairfield, in Sydney’s South West, must be one of the most culturally diverse suburbs in Sydney. Two our of every three residents speak a language other than English at home (Klingon not included) and Fairfield has the largest Iraqi population outside of Iraq. With 133 nationalities amongst its 190,000 residents it's the very definition of multiculturalism. And where there is multiculturalism there is amazing food to be found.

Fairfiled is just a 20 minute drive from Parramatta yet the invitation to the #FairfieldFeast tour for food bloggers is my first visit to the suburb. We don't get to sample 133 different cuisines on this Saturday - our tour takes us to 8 different local businesses where we get to experience the flavours of no less than 7 different countries...all in the space of about 5 hours.

Paula Continental Cakes

Our first stop is Paula Continental Cakes which has been operating in Fairfield for around 30 years. Paula's is a Chilean bakery specialising in traditional desserts - a majority of which feature Dulce De Leche, a delectable sweet thick caramel.

As is often the way the bakery was established as the Chilean owners were missing some of the food from their homeland. Paula has proven to be a hit with not only Sydney’s Chilean community but other sweet tooth's who travel from far and wide to get their sugar fix. They also do savoury goods such as empanades - so there's something for everyone.

The cakes at Paula’s are amazing and it's rare that I start my day with sweets, but I could certainly get used to it. For our “breakfast” we were able to sample a huge range of Chilean desserts – including churros with dulce de leche, torta de tres leches, torta de milhoja chilento an, alfajor de maizena.

Find them at Shop 2/9 Barbara Street, Fairfield or phone them on (02) 9726 2369.

Afghan and Arab Bakery

Next up we stop at the Afghan and Arab Bakery. If you’re a fan of Food Safari on SBS you may have seen this place on a recent episode about Afghani food.

Each day head baker Habib and his team churn out 4,000 – yes FOUR THOUSAND – loaves of soft, fluffy Persian, Afghan, Turkish and Iraqi flatbreads. Considering the heat that the traditional clay oven creates it’s an amazing feat...and all the while Habib has a smile on his face. As well as tasty savoury breads the bakery also produces a really wonderful sweet bread that has ground cardamom + fennel seeds – it has an amazing flavour.

Find them at 2/13 Nelson Street, Fairfield, phone them on 9728 1832 or visit the website.

Mykababayan (Sans Rival Food Service)

I have been wanting to try Filipino food for the l-o-n-g-e-s-t time and I was thrilled to learn that we’d be visiting a Filo eatery on our Fairfield travels. The feast that we had at this restaurant (whose name is either Mykababayan or Sans Rival Food Service – even the owner was not sure) was enormous.

The tiny kitchen of this part grocery store, part restaurant, churns out traditional home-style Filo cooking that proves popular with the local Filo community who also come here to buy popular Filo items.

I was thrilled to finally try one of the Philippines most popular dishes, Adobo Chicken. Adobo is a popular way of marinading and cooking meat (most often chicken or pork I believe) in a mix of vinegar and soy. It’s so moist and flavoursome – I can see why it’s their unofficial national dish.

Another favourite of mine was the jackfruit + seafood cooked in coconut milk (that’s it in the top row of this photo – second from the right). It's like nothing I’ve ever had before - sweet, yet salty from the seafood and the jackfruit itself has quite a firm bite to it, sort of like bamboo shoot. The spicy little pork sausages also go down a treat. Our Filo feast then finishes with some amazingly sweet desserts – I’ve heard it said that Filipino people love sweet sweet desserts and I’d agree with this. The sweets were SWEET!

Find them at 13/52 - 68 The Crescent, Fairfield or phone them on 9727 3146.

Al Jamil Market

We make an quick pit stop at the Al Jamil Market – an Iraqi/Afghani grocery store whose owner, Jamil (an Iraqi refugee who moved to Sydney and set up shop 17 years ago) has got to be one of THE friendliest guys I’ve ever met. Each curious glance towards the amazing produce and delicacies in his store was met with a cheerful offer to have a try. So much so that Jamil was stuffing lollies and pumpkin seeds into my bad as I left the shop – reverse shoplifting?

I love the big open bins of seeds, nuts and grains that greets you as you walk into the store; and the vat of green olives is almost too much to resist. The shelves are lined with produce from across the world including China, Croatia, Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq...you name it he probably has it! This store is really a multicultural wonderland.

Find them at 25 The Crescent, Fairfield or phone them on 9745 9980.

Al Dhiaffah Al Iraqi Restaurant

For our second lunch we pay a visit to Al Dhiaffah Al Iraqi Restaurant – just a few doors up from the Al Jamil Market. The restaurant walls are adorned with pictures of Iraqi scenery and people and it adds an interesting visual touch to the space.

Within minutes our table is groaning with a wonderful Iraqi feast. The Iraqi diet is quiet meat heavy given their arid landscape is not the best for growing vegetables – but the vegetarian in our group seems to find herself a hearty feast amongst the meat. Behold chicken + lamb kebabs, lamb kibbeh, lamb shanks with noodles, pickled carrots and something mysterious we think is a cucumber of sorts, soups, salads, stew, luscious thick hummus and Iraqi bread still warm from the oven.

Find them at 13 The Crescent, Fairfield, phone them on 9755 0870 or visit the website.

Frank's Lebanese Restaurant

Rubbing our bellies we slowly waddle down the road to Frank’s Lebanese Restaurant where we are greeted by a mound of garlic tuom (dip) bigger than our bulging stomachs.

If you’re a fan of Lebanese chicken then it’s impossible not to compare this place to Granville’s El Jannah. I’m happy to report El Jannah fans won’t be disappointed with what Frank has to offer – which is firstly a proper restaurant with comfortable tables and chairs and a HUGE menu filled with more than just Lebanese chicken and toum. This place is the real deal offering everything Lebanese you can think of.

The Lebanese chicken is smoky, tender and moist with a great crispy skin - it's really very very good. The garlic tuom has just enough punch in it to make sure you won’t be canoodling with any strangers on the way home - I like that it has a good garlic flavour but it's not overwhelming. The vine leaves, crispy fluffy falafel and fried cauliflower are all 100% vegetarian friendly.

We also get to sample a full array of dips from a great nutty, zesty hommos (Frank tells us the mark of any restaurant is the quality of its hommos - bad hommos = bad restaurant {FYI, Frank's is epic hommos}), a smoky baba gannouj that is up there with the best I’ve had, a house made labne (which is WAY better than my attempts at making this at home) and Chanclish – a hardened fermented cheese that is grated and served with diced tomatoes and parsley. I was really excited to try chanclish – it’s something I’ve never seen served elsewhere, and in fact before this #FairfieldFeast I’d never even heard of it.

Visit them at 6 Smart Street, Fairfield or phone them on 9724 3000.

Green Peppercorn

Our final stop on our #FairfieldFeast tour is Green Peppercorn, which has recently been awarded best new restaurant in the SMH under $30 food guide. That said I give it two thumbs up which is really all you need to know. Oh, and that owner Tona Inthavong recently spent time working at his brothers popular Canley Heights Laotian restaurant, Holy Basil -- so you know the food is going to be GOOD!

Our lunch at Green Peppercorn starts off with a cooking demonstration from Tona and his sister/head chef Sarah. In case you're wondering YES this is a lot of food to have consumed in one day -- even for a greedy food blogger like me so I'm glad of a bit of respite to let my 27 lunches digest. Sarah shows us how to whip up sticky rice and one of my favourite south-east Asian dishes, green papaya salad. We learn that Loation food is less sweet than its close cousin Thai food and that there's more of a sourness to Lao dishes and you'll find much less coconut milk based meals. Lao cuisine also tends to focus less on fresh seafood than Thai - makes sense given they are a landlocked country.

We then sit down to our final feast of the day - and I have to say it looks good. The table is filled with plates heaving with fresh salads with zesty dips + dressings. Everything is light and fresh and I feel really quite healthy tucking into this Loation banquet. I especially loved the Nem Khao - a crunchy rice salad with cured pork, shallots, chilli, kaffir lime leaves and peanuts that you scoop into fresh iceberg lettuce leaves with mint

The Laos sausages and beef jerky are both made by Tona's father with noone in the kitchen being allowed near these precious family dishes. The beef jerky harks back to the family's time in a refugee camp before coming to Australia - it was a way for the family to have meat on hand when rations were limited. So many of the places we visited today have a story like this.

Any feelings of health and virtue I had are totally undone when dessert arrives at our table. The pandan creme brulee was amazing - so light and fluffy with a great coconut pandan flavour. An absolute winner. The deep fried ice-cream was really usual coming wrapped in pastry and served with coconut muesli and caramel sauce. I loved it - no matter how much we chatted the ice-cream did not melt and the filo pastry stayed firm and crispy. The black sesame creme brulee was another winning dessert - creamy but not too rich, and the more traditional black coconut black sticky rice with ice-cream was a great note to finish our #FairfieldFeast on.

Find them at 1 Hamilton Rd, Fairfield (Fairfield Hotel) or phone them on 9724 7842 (reservations only available from Mon to Thurs) or visit the website.

I love that in all the places we visited today there is a story of culture and tradition. And that whilst the Fairfield community is from the four corners of the globe the story is universal. A family comes to a new country, a new home with new hopes and dreams. They bring with them some of their food and traditions from the old country and a diverse, melting pot of a suburb like Fairfield is born. We're very lucky to have places like Fairfield so close to us. Go and explore! You know you want to.

KittenPalooza #1

2013-04-26T11:08:00.002+10:00

From reading this blog you’d not be wrong in thinking that there really is not much more to Miss Piggy’s “adventures” than eating out and a bit of balcony gardening. I suppose that is probably the bulk of my interests along with traveling, reading and watching TV and movies.

I have a day job as most of you know...working as an Admin Assistant in an office. It pays the bills and keeps me off the streets for most of the week but it’s by no means my “passion project”.

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter than you’ll already know about the little volunteer gig that The Boy and I have going on – and it is something that I am passionate about. CATS!

Every few months we get a call from the Cat Protection Society in Enmore asking if we can foster a litter of kittens for them. Can we EVER! We first started fostering about a year ago and have had about six lots of kittens so far. When I first moved back to Sydney I volunteered for Cat Protection in their Enmore shelter but it’s just a bit of a schlep for me now that I’m a fully-fledged Westie chick. Fostering suits me much better these days.

We generally get the kittens when they are about six weeks old. At this stage they weight about 600 – 700 grams and our job is to look after them in a safe environment and “fatten the up to 1kg” so that they can be returned to Cat Protection, desexed, and adopted out to their “fur-ever” homes.

Mostly it is a lot of fun, but it can also be really stressful as sometimes the kittens are not 100% well. Many of them have been turned into Cat Protection as strays (sometimes with their mum, and sometimes without). They’ve had a rough and scary start to life. They mostly always get Cat Flu which can kill a poor little kitten in a flash, and they always have worms and poor upset tummies. Along with a visit to the vet we think cuddles are the best medicine (they don’t always agree with us).

I would love to have a “fur-ever” cat myself but at this stage in our lives The Boy and I have a lot of travel that we need to get out of our systems so fostering is perfect for us – we feel so blessed to be able to have these little guys in our home for a few weeks before they go off to their next loving home.

Maybe we when grown up well get a “fur-ever” cat, but not until we have the travel bug out of our systems. So many people embark on pet ownership without any forethought to their future lives. We see SO many cats surrendered to Cat Protection (or just simply dumped) as their owners decide they just “don’t want a pet anymore” for whatever reason. It’s very sad as these pets are domestic animals and they cannot fend for themselves. My big message to people is to think about where you want your life to be in 5, 10 or even 15 years. If there is even a slight change you want to up sticks and move overseas then this probably isn’t the right time for you to be adopting a pet.

The kittens in this post are our second last lot. I cannot actually remember their names. I called them collectively “The Duds” as they were so scared of us that we couldn’t pat them or pick them up for cuddles. Poor little ladies – you have to wonder what happened to them before CPS got them that would make them so scared of people.

The Cat Protection Society is at 103 Enmore Road, Enmore. You can phone them on 9519 7201 or 9557 4818. Their adoption centre is open at the following times but remember, really think about if getting a kitty is right for you FOREVER!

Sunday – Wednesday: 11am – 2.30pm
Thursday: 11am – 2:30pm and then again 4:30 – 6:30pm
Friday: 11am – 2:30pm and then again at 3:30 – 5pm
Saturday: 10am – 3.30pm

Sol.Cafe, Baulkam Hills

2013-04-24T09:15:00.002+10:00

I cannot begin to tell you the number of times I've driven through Baulkham Hills (Baulkham where? Check your google maps people) wishing there was a cafe here for me to while away the weekend brunch hours. With ample parking at nearby Stocklands Mall and a few good op shops ripe for the trawling a decent cafe is all that this Hills District suburbs is in need of. And finally my prayers have been answered with the opening of Sol.Cafe.

Sol.Cafe is run by husband and wife team, Soliel and Pavel whose diverse ethnic backgrounds make a welcome appearance on the menu. Soliel is from a Lebanese family and her husband Pavel hails from South America. The cafe is light and airy with a decent size courtyard for the littlies to run around in - and they are definitely kid friendly here, even having a dedicated kiddies menu that looks pretty damn fine!

I'm meeting fellow yokel VegeTARAian for a relaxed Sunday brunch and we immediately feel welcome by the bubbly Soliel. Tara has visited the cafe once before and she's treated like a regular already. The brunch menu looks wonderful - I immediately earmark about six things I want to try right off the bat.

I'm feeling a little under this weekend so Sol suggests I try a Sol Rise Juice ($8.00 large) - a zesty blend of fresh orange, ginger and mint. Whilst it doesn't cure my cold it does make me feel vaguely human for the rest of the morning. Ginger is amazing stuff. I wonder how hard it is to grow?

Despite the many temptations on the menu I'm swayed by the Middle Eastern Bruscetta ($13.00). Locally made Shepherd's Bakehouse artisan sourdough is schmeared generously with Sol's mum's homemade zaataar. A tumble of fresh mint, tomatoes, baby spinach, onion and olives makes this a flavoursome, wholesome and delicious breakfast that I would happily order again.

Tara orders the Sweet Corn Fritters ($17.00) that come with spinach, semi-dried tomatoes and a balsamic reduction. The staff are more than happy to swap out the requisite side of bacon for a good serve of mushrooms.

We probably didn't need to order a side of fries ($8.00) liberally tossed with rosemary, salt and chilli but they sounded too good to resist...and they were. We demolished every last one of these crispy, yet fluffy chips.

We also probably didn't need to order dessert - but a little something sweet never goes astray with a good coffee ($3.50) at the end of a lazy brunch. Tara choose a chocolate ganache tart made in house by the resident chef and I was tempted by the petite date roll made by Sol's mum. I really need to get friendly with Sol's mum as I think she is quite the cook!

Sol.Cafe is a great addition to the area - the staff are friendly, the menu is really varied and interesting and best of all they are open 7 days a week for breakfast and lunch.

Balcony Garden: Harvest Monday #22

2013-04-22T09:19:00.001+10:00

My tomatoes continue to slowly do their "thing" out on the balcony although things are coming to an end. The majority of the crop had been picked early on - within the space of a few weeks - but there are still a few tomatoes slowly developing and ripening.. There are even a few of the Roma Tomatoes that have actually gotten to full size before ripening rather than turning red at the itty bitty stage.

Looking at this "twin tomato" is somewhat painful to me - especially as it has split in exactly the spot that looks like a butt crack - ouch! Nature can be cruel!

Sadly, this was the second and last cucumber from the vine that started off so promisingly...I had to use it quickly before it turned bad (which is basically what happens with everything on the balcony - use it or loose it). It's amazing to me how such a heavy piece of fruit doesn't just drop straight off the vine.

I continue to just chop the top of these shallots and they quickly grow back. The base, near the roots, are getting fairly thick now - it might be time to rip them up and replant some new ones.

So we have tomatoes, cucumber and shallots...what to make? I saw this recipe for Nasi Goering on the blog Farmhouse Home and it seemed really simple, especially as Catherine uses a packet mix for the Nasi Goering sauce and I'm ALL about the packet mix as it makes things quick + simple. I didn't use chicken like Catherine did in her recipe, but just went with some frozen prawns we had hanging around in the freezer.

I really enjoyed this meal as it was simple to make and really tasty plus it used up three things from my little garden. Obviously, it wasn't as good as what we had in Bali last year...but it was a little trip back in time to a great, relaxing holiday in Seminyak.

You can view more Harvest Monday posts on Daphne's Dandelions blog.

Orto Trading, Surry Hills

2013-04-19T08:27:00.000+10:00

I've had so many missed attempts at getting myself to Orto Trading in Surry Hills that I'm surprised I've finally made it here...only two years after putting it on my wishlist.

The latest two attempts were thwarted by the terrible rainy weather that Sydney had been having this autumn...and it was raining on the day I finally managed a visit. Sometimes you've got to suffer wet feet for your brunch. Lucky for us brunch is on offer all day as the rain meant we arrived a bit later than planned.

I'm drawn to Orto Trading by its lovely courtyard complete with pot plants (that is too wet to enjoy during my visit) and its soft, pretty interior. Beautiful flowers adorn each table and hanging vases sit up against exposed brick walls. I love the mix of hard and soft in the decor. Couple with this the menu is a mix of hearty cafe fare that would be the perfect start to anybody's weekend.

A couple of freshly squeezed juices are the perfect way to kick start the morning for LoveSwah + VegeTARAian. They looked so good that I finally gave in and ordered one for myself too. I went with the pineapple, passionfruit, apple + lime ($6.50) that made me think it was still summer despite the torrential rain outside.

Despite the weather it'll always be iced-coffee time for me ($3.50). I've learned to ask for an Iced Latte these days to make sure I get a shot of espresso over ice with milk sans ice-cream.

Tara + I decide to order a vegetarian dish each and go halvies - which is great as it means we get to try a few dishes on the menu rather than just one. I order the "TOG" ($11.00) - tomato, olive tapenade + goats cheese on thick, hearty pieces of toast. I loved this! Goats cheese + olive tapenade is truly a match made in heaven...creamy, rich, salty. Swah also ordered this, but added a side of Berkshire smoked bacon to hers ($4.50).

Tara's choices was the "ATB" (they love their acronyms at Orto Trading) - avocado, tomato and fresh basil on sourdough ($9.00). A sturdy little pot of mushrooms were added as a side ($4.50) and it was nice to see a great mix of mushrooms rather than just your boring old button mushies.

We skip on over to the lunch menu and order a side of grilled corn with chilli-lime butter + grated cheddar. My only regret with this dish was that I had to share it as it was so moreish. What could be better than fresh, spicy corn topped with masses of grated cheese....nothing, other than three pieces of it all to yourself!

I'm back a few weeks later for a give-a-fork fundraising brunch with some blogging pals. Give-a-fork aims to raise funds in order to feed children in developing countries by asking diners to donate "forkage" to their meal. Seems like as good a reason as any to brunch.

I'm loving Baked Eggs ($18.00) at the moment so it seems like a logical thing for me to order. I opt for the vegetarian version without sobrasada (spicy chorizo). The little pan is filled with roast capsicum, Fior De Latte (mozzarella - thanks google!), topped roasted tomatoes and comes with a generous hunk of sourdough on the side. There is also a generous scattering of pinenuts over the top. Overall this dish was hearty and filling, but the eggs were not runny and I was hoping for more of a tomato base within the pan to help keep things moist especially as the pumpkin and capsicum were quite heavy.

Orto’s House Waffles ($16.00) with fig, rhubarb, walnuts, sheep's milk yoghurt and wildflower honey was one of the definite brunch hits of the day. This plate of food just looked picture perfect and the perfect antidote to the gloomy weather outside. I'm told the corn fritters ($18.00) with market fish, avocado cerviche + vine cherry tomatoes were a little underdone on this occassion which is a shame. I've heard great things about the corn fritters here so I'm guessing this was just an anomaly - it happens. By all reports the special of the day - slow cooked pork hash was AMAZING - it looked so good with the oozy poached egg yolk running seductively over the hash! Food envy!

Orto Trading is at 38 Waterloo Street, Surry Hills. Phone them on 0431 212 453.

RivaReno Gelato, Surry Hills

2013-04-17T09:28:00.000+10:00

Miss Piggy dined as a guest of RivaReno.

RivaReno is the latest gelato store to hit Sydney - all the way from Italy and it's bellissimo (that means yummy in Italian, right)?

It's a bit of a change of pace for Aussie gelato-lovers who are used to wandering into their store of choice and browsing mounds of colourful gelato, piled high - tempting us to order more than "just the one scoop" we've popped in to treat ourselves to.

At RivaReno you'll find all the gelato safely tucked away in their refrigerated containers. This allows the gelato to be stored at a slightly higher temperature to what we're used to, making it more soft and less icy and altogether just lush and creamy.

The various gelato flavours (of which there are many - I should know I tasted them ALL!) are made fresh each day - each batch taking about 20 minutes to churn out in the RivaReno "lab". Milk is the top quality stuff from the alps bordering France and Italy and the gelato is made using traditional Italian recipes. I'm please to report that the eggs used in RivaReno's gelato are free range.

Our tasting starts with the sorbets - a lighter, milk free gelato, that is based primarily on fresh fruit. The flavours of the fruit are really evident - each sorbet tasting exactly like its name sake. The are light + refreshing and I almost feel guiltless eating these.

From left: lemon sorbet; raspberry sorbet; and peach sorbet

We move on to the granitas next. I'm not really sure of the difference between sorbert and granita to be honest (they're both flavoured water, right?) other than the texture. The sorbet is much more firm and holds it shape whilst the granita almost looks like a frozen, though slightly defrosted slushie (60 million Italians just rung their hands together in horror at that less than profound statement of mine).

From left: Pink grapefruit granita; passionfruit and raspberry granita; and Pina Colada granita

Lastly we move on to the 60% milk-based gelato. My only advice here is that if you are slightly lactose intolerant like I am DON'T taste all the gelatos...you will be sick. Many of the gelato flavours are true-blue Italian, based on recipes from the motherland such as the fior di panna, or cream gelato, that was our first foray in the gelato here. Other flavours have developed over time and due to customer demand such as the decedent New York New York .

There are a lot of flavours on offer here. Tell the staff what you're in the mood for and they'll happily doll out a few samples until you're ready to commit to your gelato of choice.

RivaReno is at 280 Crown St, Darlinghurst. They open from 1pm til late.

Balcony Garden: Harvest Monday #21

2013-04-15T10:06:00.001+10:00

When I was in Grade 6 I lived with my sister for a few months - out in the countryside near Lismore.

Out the front of the house was a HUGE lemongrass bush with really sharp leaves. I never touched it as the leaves could cut you if you approached it in the wrong way, but my sister used to make us iced lemon grass tea to enjoy during the hot days. I still remember the taste of that tea and it was good.

A few months ago I decide to grow lemongrass out on my balcony as I loved that tea so much, even though I really had no idea how she made it. She assured me recently it was pretty simple, but couldn't quite remember what she did as it was a l-o-n-g time ago.

I just followed the same method that I used to make my mint tea which couldn't be simpler. I grabbed a handful of lemongrass (being careful as the grass is super sharp), popped it into my T2 ice-tea pot, added hot water and viola! Just wait for the tea to cool in the fridge and you have iced lemongrass tea. Just as delicious as I remember it being nearly 30 years ago.

You can view more Harvest Monday posts on Daphne's Dandelions blog.

Food Society, Darlinghurst

2013-04-12T15:08:00.002+10:00

Food Society is another of those places that has long been on my wishlist, but I just never got around to visiting. Too many restaurants, too little time - the day job gets in the way of so many of my eating dreams. That same day job however always allows me to buy a good voucher deal when I see it land my inbox. Which is how we finally ended up checking out Food Society in Darlinghurst.

The food at Food Society has a distinct Eastern European leaning so it's little surprise we've arrived to try a Vodka High Tea - not a champagne flute, mini sandwich or cupcake in sight. Our High Tea kicks of with a Lychee + Rose Vodka that tastes like cordial. I demolish my share in seconds.

This place reminds me a lot of The Victoria Rooms. I love the comfortable, romantic decor - every nook and cranny has some quirky, interesting nic nack to admire. The dark lighting makes photography hard but it sure is romantic...and just a tad girly. The Boy handles it pretty well though.

Our high tea kicks off with a pretty plate loaded with Savoury Canapés. Everything is perfectly bite sized and perfectly delicious - with flavours and textures that meld perfectly with one another. Everything on the plate has a definite Eastern European leaning to it.

We have (clockwise from top left): croquette of confit duck with horseradish cream and smoked paprika; ocean trout roe Jerusalem artichoke tartlet; spiced lentil salad in witlof (I love the bitterness of the witlof); blini of vodka and beetroot cured ocean trout and burek cigar of Bulgarian feta, spinach and ouzo.

After we've quickly inhaled our plate of daintiness it's time for the Substantial Canapé - a (not very Eastern European, though very tasty) mini brioche slider of poached chicken, walnut and celery mayonnaise, fresh apple and celery leaf with a petit side salad of watercress, tomato and shaved baby radish.

Oooh, is it time for the Sweet Canapés already? Excellent! We start off with a luscious mini lime meringue pie which was my favourite of the sweet canapés (I loved the tartness of the lemon). We also enjoyed a little glass of coffee cream with housemade honeycomb and The Boy's favourite, ricotta doughnuts with lemon sugar and amaretto honey.

I really enjoyed the Vodka High Tea at Food Society - it was definitely something different in what I think has become a bit of a "same same" type of afternoon tea experience. The food was different to the high teas I've been to before and I'd love to come back here and explore their dinner menu. Eastern European food is perfect for the cooler months that I hope are just around the corner!

Food Society is 91 Riley Street (Lower Ground Floor), Darlinghurst. Call them on 8090 3462.

Chat Thai, (Westfield) Sydney

2013-04-10T18:41:00.001+10:00

I recently got a new phone so thought I'd channel my inner "Gen Y" and use it take photos of my dinner at Chat Thai instead of going with my usual Gen X weapon of choice, an actual camera. The photos didn't work very well....but dinner was sensational so I just had to share.

Chat Thai seems to have a bit of a cult status amongst hardcore Thai food lovers though this is the first time I've ever been. Chat Thai in Haymarket has the reputation as "the best Chat Thai" (probably as it's been around for the longest) but as I was dining with Miss M who works at the big end of town we choose to dine at their Westfield branch as it's a shorter walk in her power-heels and just a short ride up what has to be the longest escalator in Sydney.

Chat Thai's style of cooking focuses on traditional Thai street food, which we all know is the best kind of food. Street food is often the most delicious and the most authentic experience you'll have of a culture whilst traveling. It's what the locals eat and it allows us, as visitors, a brief insight in to their food and way of eating.

We start of with some pretty metal cups filled with water. At first I didn't realise these were water cups. What did I think was in the cup then? Umm, no idea so it seemed a fair call to order a cool, tall glass of coconut juice that came topped with slithers of fat, chewy coconut flesh. I love these drinks that are sort of a drink and dessert rolled all in to one.

First cab of the rank for entrees is the todt mun goong gaeng keaw. Translation for those of us who cannot speak Thai is fried green curried prawn mousseline, drizzled with pickled plum sauce ($16.00).

Next up is a serve of fresh spring rolls ($12.00) - no translation needed. I really REALLY liked these. The skin was almost like a popiah wrap (in layman's terms popiah is kind of like a fresh Malaysian spring roll) that is common in Malaysian cuisine . The roll is filled with all sorts of fresh and flavoursome goodies such as smoked fish sausages, chicken and crab. The roll is then drizzled with a caramelised tamarind relish that is tart and sticky.

The mhu grob padt prik khing stir fried crisp pork belly come served in a wild ginger red curry paste . This was such a flavoursome dish....quite sweet rather than spicy which I was expecting from the red curry paste. And, finding tasty little morsels of crispy crackling was....well, it was delicious!

Another twitter recommendation was the gai yaang ($14.00) - char grilled turmeric and lemongrass marinated chicken with smoked chilli and tamarind relish. I liked that this dish seemed simple on the surface but the chicken was moist with a lovely fresh flavour from the tamarind.

Chat Thai is on Level 5, 188 Pitt Street - Westfield Sydney.

Autumn 2013 #balconyGarden plantings

2013-04-08T07:00:00.000+10:00

A few weeks ago I attended a really great 2 hour gardening class at Eden Gardens. If you're thinking of setting up your own garden then a course like this is wonderful. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

The class was so inspiring! It made me want to give up my day job and become a full time balcony gardener. Sadly the office job pays for all my potting mix (and all my seeds too) so at this stage balcony farming is just a fun little side gig.

I went home from Eden Gardens with three bags of potting mix, a packet of kale seeds and a renewed sense of urgency that I needed to get some of my autumn/winter plants in to their pots asap...or risk missing my window.

The kale seeds were the only new seeds that I've bought for this winter (so far). Over the year that I've been gardening I've somehow managed to accumulate quite a collection of seeds. A few seeds had expired but I have more than enough to keep me going until we head off on our overseas jaunt later in the year.

So where do I plant my seeds? I plant everything directly into pots. As I'm gardening on such a small scale there's no need for me to plant seeds into seedling punnets and then transplant to the final home (like you would in a "real" garden). To me that's a waste of time and needlessly upsets the seedlings roots - I also find transplanting seedlings really stressful as the potential for me to kill ALL the seedlings is pretty high. The pots I grow in aren't that big so the soil gets nice and warm to help things germinate - so planting directly in to the pots is the way for me.

I tend to use a mixture of new potting mix and, where I can, I recycle some of the potting mix from previous growing seasons. I don't reuse potting mix from plants that have been in their pots for a really long time like my darn eggplants, or from plants that have had some "issues" with diseases and pests like my darn peas. If an old pot has done alright the previous growing season I try and recycle the potting mix if I can - after all potting mix ain't free!

I really have no idea what I'm doing when I'm recycling potting mix and I've heard from various sources that it's either a good or a bad thing to do. Basically new potting mix comes with a bunch of stuff it in like nutrients and good micro-organisms that are depleted by your growing plant (this is why it is important to feed/fertilize your plants during their growing journey - the only "food" they get in their soil is what you feed them) . When I recycle I tend to put ALL the old potting mix into a bin, mix it all up, add in some dynamic lifter (pong) and osmocote. I assume all of this is putting something back into the mix. When the soil goes into the pot I give it a good watering with a watering can that has seasol or blood + bone mixed into it. I have no idea if this is "right" but it kinda works so I'm just going to go with it for now.

As a side note I ALWAYS ALWAYS wear a face mask when working with potting mix plus I wear gloves as potting mix contains micro-organisms that may be harmful to your health. No joke! Be safe.

So for autumn winter I'm attempting to grow:

kale (which will be an experiment)
2 x pots of carrots
beans (which have already been munched by caterpillars and they are less than 2 weeks old!)
peas
radishes
carrots
bok choi
pak choi
corriander
shallots
1 x broccoli plant - from a seedling I was given by a colleague

This is in addition to the herbs that are already out on the balcony - sage, rosemary, thyme, lemon grass, basil parsley and chives. It's a jungle out there!

I've also bought myself a "potato bag" and when the weather gets a bit colder I'm going to give potato growing a whirl. Wish me luck!

(Dinner at) The Baron, Castle Hill

2013-04-05T19:14:00.002+11:00

Often I find myself describing a cafe (or person) as "hipster". When The Boy asked me what exactly a hipster was I couldn't actually tell him (and Google isn't much help). I'm sure I know a hipster (cafe and/or person) when I see them, but generally it's just anyone younger + thinner than me that looks good in skinny jeans with lace up broques. It's an overarching term for young people that dress...not like me, and who like cold-drip coffee.

One thing I do know is that there are hipsters to be found at Castle Hill's favourite hipster hangout, The Baron. Although now that I think about it some of those young-uns look more grungy and skaterish - but they do drink cold drip coffee so they must be hipsters, right? Geez, I'm old aren't it!

And old people (like me) love nothing more than an early dinner which is how Tara + I found oursleves to be seated bright and early for The Baron's dinner. We booked for such an early time our cute little reservation card doesn't even have a time on it and the places was totally empty - staff not included of course.

The Baron is a buzzing (and totally excellent) cafe that operates as a small bar and restaurant on Thursday + Friday nights (shut by 11pm as we like to go to bed early out here). As far as I know this is the ONLY small bar in the West and I hope more open ASAP. The food during the day leans a little towards Dude Food and this note is carried into their dinner menu that is also peppered with lots of hearty, local fare.

There were lots of tempting meaty dishes to be had (pulled pork sliders!!!) but as I'm dining with VegeTARAian we decide to order all the veggie options on the menu and share them. We order a couple of cocktails to kick things off and ponder the menu over a bowl of mixed Gibson Grove olives ($6.00) from the "smalls" section of the menu.

I really like eating out with Tara as it's a good motivation to explore the veggie options on a menu. Sadly there are no vegetarian main meals (I hope that changes) so we hit up the "mediums" and are pretty happy with our feast. Things kick of with an American diner-style basket of corn fritters with housemade aoili ($11.00). These are not oily at all and are incredibly moreish. They are well seasoned too which is good to see (or taste).

The Macaroni + Cheese ($14.00) made me really sad that we'd decided to share as I wanted this all to myself as soon as I took my first mouthful! Oh. My. God. Creamy, al dente macaroni was topped with a gooey mound shredded cheese, chives + diced chills. Again this dish was really well seasoned which just helps to elevate the flavours.

We couldn't pass up the rosemary salt smashed potatoes with a scrumptious house made aioli ($11). The potatoes have a lovely crisp outer with innards that are softer and fluffier than a bunny rabbit and I think rosemary and potatoes is a match made in heaven! A little salad helps offset any carb/deep-fried food guilt (though the buttermilk dressing is a tad on the naughty side). The salad ($15) is a medley of baby gem lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, Persian feta with that naughty butter milk dressing I just mentioned.

This Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie is TO DIE FOR! Literally!!! It's so naughty that if you eat the whole thing yourself you might just keel over from pure happiness (or a heart attack)...so it's best to share it if you can bare it. This wasn't on the dessert menu, but as we are sort-of-semi-regular at The Baron we knew if was on offer during the day and they thankfully caved in to our pleading to hand over the brownie. THANKS!

We left The Baron full, happy and pleased that we didn't have to battle the M4/M2/Parramatta Road/Victoria Road to get home. What a great night out in The Hills.

The Baron is at Shop 461, 4-16 Castle Street (Castle Towers Shopping Center), Castle Hill. You'll find them down on Old Castle Hill Road, next to Games Workshop.

Chin Chin, Melbourne

2013-04-03T09:43:00.000+11:00

Our first attempt at getting into Chin Chin for dinner last year was an epic and utter fail! We arrived at 7.30pm only to be told there was a two hour wait. For someone who normally eats dinner at 6.00pm (or earlier if I can) the prospect of eating dinner at 9.30pm was torture! I should be in bed by then, not sitting down to eat. We headed off to Coda with a promise to ourselves to try again at Chin Chin the next time we were in Melbourne.

We finally made it inside Chin Chin this time as we rocked up at at 4.30pm (yes, even too early for folks at the nursing home to have dinner. Chin Chin kindly refer to this dining time as a "rockstar's breakfast"). Surprisingly the place was already buzzing, with well over half of the tables in this vast restaurant already full. Needles to say we were so beside ourselves a getting a table we couldn't even begin to deice what to order. Lucky for us Chin Chin offers a "Feed Me" menu. For $66 they'll just bring you dishes until you cannot fit another morsel in (drinks not included). Yes, it sounds too good to be true...but believe me, it's true.

It's SO hot outside during our February visit (why so grossly hot Melbourne?) that I cannot even think of ordering anything alcoholic. I have my eyes set on something cold...really cold and the frozen coconut juice crush ($8.00) has my name all over it. It was so good I had two and it was a great way to cool down. The Boy favours booze on a hot day and found the White Rabbit Ale ($10.00) went down a treat.

I've heard nothing but good things about the food at Chin Chin so my expectations were really HIGH which is often not a good thing! I was ready to be wowed, to have my socks blown clear off. I can happily say that everything was amazing - not one disappointing dish amongst everything we ate.

Our delicious dinner began with a simple but oh-so-flavoursome dish of Kingfish Sashimi with lime, chilli, coconut + Thai basil. This dish was SO good, so zesty and vibrant, that I was still trying to slurp up all the marinade as the waitress cleared the plate away.

The Chin Chin pork "roll ups" are a perfect example of less is more. Fresh, simple ingredients - red braised suckling pig with pancakes, slaw + Asian herbs - that come together for a great punchy, tasty dish.

Next up is the spicy corn + coriander fritters with iceberg lettuce + chilli jam. These were scrumptious when you wrapped a crunchy corn fritter in a fresh lettuce leaf and added a good dab of chilli sauce. Fresh, crunchy and sweet form the corn with just a bit of spice from the chilli jam. There were also great textures in the crispy Barramundi + green apple salad with caramelized pork, peanuts, chillis and lemongrass - the crispiness from the fish, peanuts and green apple salad married well with the tender pork.

The twice cooked grass-fed Victorian beef short rib with coriander and prik nahm pla sauce was up there with as one of my favourite dishes (along with the sashimi and corn fritters). The beef was SO tender and so flavousome - it just fell straight off the bone. The ribs were accompanied by a side of simple steamed Gai Laan with toasted sesame seeds, ginger + oyster sauce. I've tried to make this at home before but cannot get the sauce right - any tips anyone (please)?

When it appears that the meal is probably at its end our waitress comes over and asks if we're full or if we want any more dishes. The Boy + I look at each other and agree we could probably fit in another dish...or two, but I urge the waitress to not let us order anything else after this - warning her that our appetites are quite literally endless (like this $66 deal by the looks of it). She returns with a plate of piled high with crispy steamed duck with pickled cucumber + ginger salad with sesame salt and fresh lemon and my special request dish - "son in law" eggs with chilli jam which is a dish I've always wanted to try - a boiled egg with a soft yolk that is then crumbed and fried.

Although we really have no room for dessert we manage to squeeze in the candied toddy palm, honey roasted pineapple, coconut sorbet with crushed ice and dark palm sugar caramel. I really loved this but I found the ice-cubes unwieldy to navigate around. At this stage I really was wishing I was wearing my nightie as my tummy lost the ability to pull itself in and my dress just wasn't loose enough. OINK!

Our meal at Chin Chin was stellar - beyond my expectations and I really cannot wait to go back (and we did just this very weekend). They only take bookings for one large table so I'm not kidding when I say get there early or be prepared to wait...a really long time.

Chin Chin is at 125 Flinders Street, Melbourne. Phone them on 03 8663 2000.

Balcony Garden: Harvest Monday #20

2013-04-01T10:45:00.000+11:00

Sometimes I wonder what the point is of my growing certain vegetables on the balcony. Some herbs tend to work really well for me (sage, thyme, rosemary, parsley and coriander - sort of) as I grow them, pick a bit here and there and the plant seems to last for eons.

Other things like my beans and peas were "one crop wonders". They grew, produced a small amount of fruit and then keeled over and died. It seems like a loft of effort and expense for a small handful of something.

Although my cucumbers started off so promising I only ended up getting two cucumbers off the vine. There were another two growing - but there were quite small and a funny shape and I waited for so long for them to become "big" that I missed my chance and they started to turn yellow and rot on the vine.

It's quite amazing that no matter how large the cucumbers grew the vine could support their weight. I'd expect them to drop off the vine due to their weight.

I probably needed to be hand-pollinating these guys too, but the flowers were SO small I just couldn't be bothered.

I think at the end of the day the cucumbers just could not handle the crazy crazy weather we've had of late. Super hot days followed by days of rain and cold conditions. Heck, I could barely cope with it.

It's very exciting to see the tendrils grasp on to the make shift cucumber trellis we'd rigged up for these guys.

As was the case with the bean and peas, the cucumbers started to slowly die from the bottom up, until all I was left with was a crunchy brown twig with nothing on it bar two rotting cucumbers. Fail.

But I did get two cucumbers...and I did have some minor success with my tomatoes after a few false starts. Cucumbers + tomatoes + some other stuff = GREEK SALAD!

Of course The Boy cannot live on Greek Salad alone so we threw a couple of steaks into the pan after rubbing them with this AWESOME bold beef rub that our mate Tim from Smokey O's makes. We were given this bottle to sample and sample we did....it's good stuff. Tim sells his rubs and BBQ sauces and if you want to get your hands on some I'd suggest dropping him a line - smokeyosbbq@gmail.com. Follow him on twitter as well as he often does a pop-up BBQ event that is WELL worth taking part in (check our Ramen's mouth-watering post here).

You can view more Harvest Monday posts on Daphne's Dandelions blog.