It's been a while...

Well well well.. 
I did think that I'll become a little better and update the blog a little more often , then every 1.5 mths... but, I've just been so busy this month. I haven't stopped eating in the past month, but I have baked a whole lot less. 


This week however, has been a full pig-ness filled week. 


Starting off with Alio 


Alio 
5 Baptist St, Surry Hills


Alio is celebrating their 10 year anniversary, by having the "Greatest Hits" dinner.  This was a 10-course dinner, where each dish was the best dish from the past 10 years.  And given the fact there was a voucher on jumponit.com.au for it, even better reason to give it a go. 

Hand made foccaccia and grissini with parmesan and olives 

This was one of the most oily foccaccias I've ever eaten.  It did taste good fresh, but too bad it wasn't warmed up! The olives, however, were warmed up, and that's the way I like them! 

Air dried beef with truffled baby green peaches and parmesan 

Not sure whether air-dried beef just means prosciutto, but they taste like the same thing, and prosciutto has a nicer sounding name compared to "air-dried". I would think if i ate something air-dried, it would be when I'm an astronaut, and having my meal in space.  Overall, dish is good, but not overly creative or unusual.  But, until I typed in the dish's name, I had no idea that it was "truffled baby green peaches", because I could not taste either of those ingredients.  Honestly, I thought it was an aoli / mayo sauce. 

Char grilled eggplant with buffalo mozzarella drizzled with 25 year old balsamic vinegar 

Given that I don't like eggplant, it was going to automatically be on my black list.  But, the taste of the mozzarella did overpower the eggplant taste and texture.  It had a tomato salsa on top of the eggplant, so it did taste quite nice.  But I didn't eat any of the eggplant if there wasn't any cheese left.  The balsamic vinegar was beautiful.  It worked really well with the combo on the dish, but I do not know what a normal balsamic, and a 25 year old one diff.  Remind me to do a taste test of the differences. 

Hawkesbury calamari with fresh chilli and lemon

I only found out this week, that when squid is cooked, its callled calamari.  (This is after the whole psychic octopus world cup fiasco).  So, this dish... extremely unimpressive! Calamari was not cooked well, a little chewy, and the sauce.. was like a lemon-y version of a sweet chilli sauce.  We concluded, 2003 must have been quite an unimpressive year! 

Next dish .. wait for it 

Red wine, pancetta and radicchio risotto

Well... I'm not sure whether I can properly describe my facial expression when I saw this dish plated in front of me.  But, really, if I was a chef, I would consider presenting this dish differently! The risotto was quite nice, had quite a strong parmesan taste, so was quite cheesy, which made the red wine flavour a little to subtle.  The dish was served from behind, so once it was laid in front of me .. wow, I was definitely shocked! That's about all I can say about it

Barramundi baked in a bag of mussels, thyme and vermouth on cavalo nero

I usually love barramundi, as I consider it one of the smoother fish other than john dory.  But, I think mine was overcooked, and given that mussels are my least favourite crustaceans, it made the fish very fishy tasting.  There's a chinese term to describe fishy-fish, seang.  Others thought that this was a good dish, but considering 2 people out of the 6 suffered from food allergy rashes, I would blame this dish compared to the others.  Then again, not sure whether they can blame the food! Hahah.. 

Lightly beaten char grilled black angus beef with fresh peas and potato al forno

This was a long long meal, we started at 7:30 and I think this dish came out around 11pm.  So, everyone on the table was very tired, and some of the boys were still very hungry.  This dish was good.  Steak cooked perfectly (not that they asked how we liked our steak) but the potatoes were a nice touch.  Sorry, can't give an opinion on the peas.  But, peas are peas, and they don't taste good! By the way, please excuse the fact that I had already started eating the dish prior to taking the photo.  Given my eyes were slowly closing up, I wanted to get out of the restaurant asap. Hence, eat the food asap. 

Finally... dessert and the end of the 10 dishes 

Panna cotta with fruit salad and mint

Prior to this, we had a blood orange sorbet to cleanse our palate.  Then finally, what I was waiting for... dessert!

Panna cotta is always a favourite of mine, especially after eating the one at Jonah's.  A and I always have fun eating them, and yes, we do admit we are immature, but noone is judging!? The panna cotta was smooth, not too rich and was complemented well with the berries, and other fruits (which I have already forgotten what they were).  

That was a long night for a school night.  We were all so glad that we had a voucher for the meal, and we had all decided as well, that we probably would never return to the restaurant.  Not sure whether they gave us a good representation of their best 10 dishes, because we were not impressed.  Some dishes did taste nice, but it was more to do with personal preference of the ingredients in the dish, rather than how the dishes were cook.  

My overall rating: 6/10.


6 is to represent the fact that the restaurant had survived 10 years, which is a sign that they must be decently good for people to return and for business to survive.  The service was nice and attentive, however, the serving of each of the dishes was way too slow, given that by the 3rd hour into the meal, we were 1 out of the 3 tables left in the restaurant.  

xoxo 

Michelle

Crystal's Birthday

I finally tried out the Black Forest Masterchef recipe. 
And, if I was on the show, I would definitely get eliminated. 
It took me around 2.5-3 hours to cook, and here are the results. 

xoxo Michelle

June.. the best month of the year

Well.. it's already been quite a busy and definitely exciting month. 


Probably, first thing worth mention, is that A proposed! 
Tehehe... so there is a nice new bling bling on the 4th finger of my left hand! =) 


I have been in Adelaide for the past 2 weeks for work. And, am I ever so glad to be back in Sydney. 


B & S came down to Adelaide to visit me for a few days, which was good to get away from my team from work. So, there was the chance to actually see some parts of Adelaide other than the hotel room and the office.


1. Eros 
277 Rundle Street
Adelaide, 5000

I was late for dinner coz I was working late, but I did read the Vogue forum, and it was recommend by some people, so they chose well.

1/2 duck with bed of spinach

OMG.. i usually never order duck at restaurants, no particular reason why because I do like my roast ducks.  But, this duck was amazing.  A little asian styled, coz the sauce was like a sweet soy sauce, and wow it was good. 

It was cooked really well, meat was soft and delicious. 

S's dish: Quail with olive salad 

B's dish: Seafood fettucine

I thought it was a great restaurant, but I did only eat my dish. 

My rating: 8/10

2. Capriccio 

10 Sussex Street

Glenelg, Adelaide

So, this was the restaurant we went to after A proposed.  He did organise it to be at "Top of the world", but I've driven past that place before, and it looked dodgy! 

Hence, the quick change of plans to go to Capriccio instead.  The team had told me that mains cost around $50/head, but the desserts were to die for. So that's a definite yes for me! 

Hunger set in, so i ate the mains before I remembered to take a photo of them.  Pasta is homemade, and was really good.  

A had the Fettucine Cabonara, and I had the Seafood ravoli in creamy tomato sauce.  Really good, and really good service.  

But, more importantly, dessert. 

Ferrero Rocher Homemade Ice cream

Tiramsu

The photo of the tiramsu isn't very good, or doesn't look appealing.  But, OMG, I do agree with the others, and it can definitely be one of the best tiramsues I've had for a long time! 

This is a italian restaurant in a touristy area, but with a home-y feel to it.  So, I don't see how it can charge such prices! But, it was for an occasion, so price itself didn't really matter that time.

My rating: 8/10 

Here's some random pics of the Adelaide trip... well in particular the proposal

xoxo Michelle

Really.. one month already?

Wow... so it really has been a month since I last posted. 
Not that anyone reads this, given that I'm too shy / embarrassed to read this blog, but the purpose of it was to keep this regularly, and hence allow me to bake more regularly. 


I guess overall, nothing has changed that much in a month.  I was in Adelaide for work for the past week, and heading there again for the next week.  At least, B & S are heading down for a few days to come visit me!!! Wooohooo to that! 


But, on the other hand, its not like I haven't eaten or baked in the month... I have! 
And here are just some of it .. 


1. Selah
12 Loftus Street
Circular Quay


Decided to come here, because it was on the entertainment card.  And given that I always regret buying those entertainment cards every year, I've been in a habit to get it every second year.  But, there are quite a few new additions on the card for the coming year, I think I will just buy it. 

Serrano ham & fresh pea risotto with seared scallops, chives & fried leek

Marinated roast lamb backstrap with marojram, mixed bean, mint and cos lettuce salad  

I had the lamb, and it was SO good! Lamb was perfectly cooked.  Pink on the inside, but not too raw.  I'm usually not a fan of beans, but the bean salad went really well with it.  My only comment is about the cos lettuce.  Not being a food snob (because I usually eat most things), but cos lettuce seems to make the dish cheap.  Its something like chinese cabbage, which is cheap, and used as a filler or a dish.  So the cos lettuce to me, is like the same thing, could use baby spinach or something a little more "classy" for something lettuce equivalent.  


Otherwise, the dinner was great! Nice ambience, side comment as well, its next to a pookies place.  But, have never noticed the restaurant before. 


My rating: 8/10 


2. Kazbah
379 Darling Street
Balmain


Finally, got to try Kazbah! Been wanting to try this place out since my disappointing experience at Efendy (down the road).  And, OMG, totally met and exceeded my expectations, and my stomach capacity! 


You need 6 or more people to have the Feast Menu, which luckily we had! Only comment, we booked the table at 1:30, and didn't get seated till around 2ish, and given this was brunch, this has to be the lastest ever I've ever had brunch! 


But, they did redeem themselves by giving me a fabulous meal! 

L-R: Sweet Couscous, Mix Nuts, Dried Fruit, Stewed Rhubarb, Cardamom Milk, Banana Porridge, Date Compote, Stewed Rhubarb, Warm Rice Pudding, Saffron Poached Pear, Hazelnuts


Honestly, we all didn't think these dishes were necessary! There was already enough food, and this actually wasted space in our small Asian stomachs! 
The best of the 3 was the pear rice pudding, but not nice enough for any of us to go for seconds, except to try out what it all was. 

Lamb mince and roast pumpkin tagine 

As I mentioned, this meal was very very late, and I had saved my stomach.  So apologies for digging into the food without remembering to take its photo first.  Usually the lamb mince tagine is in a separate dish to the roast pumpkin one, when you have enough people.  But since we only had 6, I think that's why they combined the 2 together.  It was fine with me, because I eat lamb, but for those that don't like it, they are forced to eat the vegetarian one with the lamb. But the mix of the 2 on one dish was good, as I assume the lamb mince would be a little too dry if its by itself, so with the veggies next to it, it makes its more saucy. 


On the left of it, (sorry no pictures of it), but was a platter full of turkish bread with different styles of eggs, hash browns, sausages, bacon and halloumi.  


Did I mention that this meal nearly killed me? So much food!!!! and it was just SO good! 


Apparently the turkish bread was spread with crack or something, because there was something about it that was so addictive.  It was spread with butter, but I don't think it was ordinary butter, it was just so good! 


After ALL of this, there is still dessert! 

Chocolate & Raspberry Pancake with Butterscotch sauce and Chocolate fudge ice cream

Hence, why I thought that I was going to have a heart attack from this meal !


My rating: 9/10 


I have not figured what does constitute a 10, but the only reason this place loses a point is the waste of the puddings / museli and also the slowest of getting our table even though we had booked.  But, great great place, will definitely go back again. 


3. Soban
Westfield Chatswood, next to Kam Fook


Been here a few times now.  Quite a good Korean restaurant, but I think it is on the pricey side.

Shall update a little more later. Extremely tired. 


xoxo Michelle 

Jessie's Birthday

Since it's Jessie's birthday today, I would do the right thing, and bake! 
Her birthday is a day after a long weekend, so I made the effort to make the trip down down south! 
But, I did time it , and it does only take me an hour to get there! (trust me, last time it took me a lot longer) 


And this was the results: 

I did have another idea for these cupcakes... I was going to make cute little sheep with them.  But they didn't really turn out.  

I need to practice more with the fondant. But, guess what! I'm going to a Planet Cake's Cake Decorating Course next Sunday! YAH!! 

And since it was 30% off (yes, they have discounts! they had a 50% off one, except that was on a weekday), I was more willing to pay the $280ish course fee for a 1 day course! 

Hopefully then, I will learn how to use fondant better... and next time around, my cupcakes / cakes will look a little better! 

But I do love the colours! and did buy a pack of 8 Wilton colours for $42.  I did probably get ripped off, since I bought them in Chatswood, but I didn't have any other choice.  

Moving on... And again, since I didn't have much to do this long weekend, I wanted to bake again! This time, I can finally start crossing off the things on my "To Bake" list!  

This is my version of Nigella's Torta Alla Gianduia.  No idea what it means, I think it says so in her book.  But essentially its a Nutella cake!

One of the loves in my life is Nutella.  There's no one time that I can refuse Nutella.  But, this cake needed 400g of Nutella, and even for the Nutella-obsessed, that is hell of a lot! I only managed to scrape 250g from my HUGE jar already, and the cake was definitely sweet enough.  So, very glad that I didn't have enough, or else I may have overdosed and MAY (just may) have been turned off Nutella! 

Another change... since I had HEAPS of left over chocolate ganache from the cupcakes (per above), I used this as the topping, instead of MORE Nutella, which is what the recipe says. 

But, here is my version:

I think I had a bit of a problem with the whipping of the egg whites, and think it resulted with the cake sinking a little.  You can probably see the dent in the middle of the cake, kinda looks muffin-top like.  Which was disappointing, but must say, the cake was great! It was so sweet, that you can only eat a small bit, or eat it with vanilla ice cream! 

Hope they enjoyed it! 

xoxo Michelle 

Subsolo

Basement, 161 King Street, Cnr Castlereagh St
Sydney NSW 2000


YAH! finally made it to Subsolo! I've been wanting to come here for a long while, since I love Spanish! 
But the place is so dark that none of the photos really turned out. 


Given there are no pictures for you to judge, I guess my rating will have to be judged on what I say. 


Tapas:
* Warm Lamb Salad with Minted Fig & Pomegranate Dressing
I usually love lamb, and it was nice and soft, but I didn't find this salad that exciting.  The minted fig and pomegranate dressing is not really my thing.  I knew that I don't like fruit things with non-fruit related things.  But, I was thinking I could give it a try and see whether it would win me over.  But, no, didn't win me over. Not bad bad, but not great. 


* Chicken Chorizo with Caramelised Eschallots
LOVED IT ! I wasn't a fan that we ordered the chicken chorizo, wanted the pork version.  But this was SO good! extremely fatty, but I didn't expect any less. But this was a great first dish when we received it! 


* Crumbed Meatballs with Melting Manchego Cheese Centres in Romesco Sauce
These were typically meatballs?! No real sense of the cheese in the middle, and they were quite... just meatball like.  So , not a fan!




Main: 

*Misto Completo Charcoal spit-roasted skewers (Rump, Chorizo, Chicken & Morcilla)

This was the mixture of most of the meats on the skewer, the only one that it should have included was the pork ribs, coz i love ribs! 

Rump was too tough.  Was overcooked and not very nice.  And this was left pretty much untouched on my plate. 

The chicken (which had peri peri sauce) and the chorizo was the best! Besides being unbelievably full, I still managed to eat the chicken and both chorizos! Was good, but want to try the pork ribs next time around! 

Didn't manage to have dessert, I was way too full ! 

But, given the ambience, and some of the dishes and my want to go back another time.  I really liked it.  May not be my absolute favourite of Spanish place, since I'm yet to find it, but I did find it good! 

My rating: 8/10 

My stomach returns to Sydney for more food

1. Sake
12 Argyle Street
The Rocks, Sydney


Came here for my friend's bday, and there were hesitations of the place, given most of them were able to look through the menu before heading there, and they weren't impressed with the menu vs price. 


I did manage to eatability them prior, and the outlook for dinner was a little dim.  I think it had a 5.2 average rating, which didn't seem great.  


A friend ordered all the food for the table, which consisted of 3 entrees, 2 mains and a dessert.  Given the portions, the size, the quality of the food, not sure whether the $45 was justified.  But, it was for a birthday, so we all shouldn't really complain. 

L-R: Crumbed potato balls, Karage chicken

Hiramasa kingfish, yuzu soy, thin jalapeno slices & coriander

Pan-seared scallops, baby corn, asparagus, shiitake mushrooms & yuzu miso cream

Miso marinated butterfish grilled with pickled ginger & lime

Green-tea ice-cream wrapped in sponge & meringue, baked & served with white-chocolate sauce

As I said, food was good, decent, but not worth the price.  The restaurant used to be the function rooms of the Argyle Centre, but they refit it out, and it looks funkily cool.  But, essentially it is a Jap restaurant run by white, and the quality and the prices charged are definitely on the white side. Its seems like they are trying too hard.  Trying to make the dishes special, but yeh, didn't quite make it. 

Rating: 5 

I've definitely had better and more reasonably priced Japanese.

Given that I've been watching the first episode of Masterchef while typing up this blog.  

My next baking challenge (per influence of the show), is Pavlova. 

Wish me luck! 

xoxo Michelle    

To Melbourne and back...

Last week I was in Melbourne for work, and had to chance to check out some places there.  (And yes, I realised I not only have a eatability list for Sydney, but now, I think I have gathered one for Melb) 


1. Movinda 
1 Hosier Ln
Melbourne VIC 3000


Well, I did have hesitations about dinner here.  Not because I was worried about having Spanish tapas, but I was wondering whether there would be awkwardness! 
You see, I went to Melbourne for work, and thank God, another girl around my age went down as well.  So the conversation around dinner, and with the help that we needed to leave before the 2nd seating of the night, the night didn't turn out that bad.  
I read some reviews on eatability and the reviews on Grab your fork before heading there, except due to my bad memory, forgot what they recommended, so just decided to chose whatever I felt like.  

Special for the night: Oysters 

Viera: Roasted Spring Bay scallop with jamon and potato foam

Pulpo: char-grilled octopus with paprika potatoes

These are only some of the dishes that my table ate, but the lighting in the restaurant wasn't fantastic, so these are probably the only viewable pics available.  

I love tapas, so I loved this place.  The dishes were fantastic.  Scallop was cooked perfectly.  The octopus was good, flavours nice and subtle I guess.  

We did have the braised pork neck as well, and that was great.  Tasted like the Chinese style braised lamb with sweet plum sauce.  I liked it, not sure whether the Aussie counterparts did.  

Service was fantastic.  The guy was very friendly and nice, except we only received our spinach at the very end of the meal, which had to be eaten along.  But, it was worth the wait.  The flavours of the spinach was strong and flavoursome.  

My rating: 8.5  

Can't wait to go again.  It ended up being around $35/head with a jug of sangria, so decently priced meal.

2. Caffe e cucina 

581 Chapel Street
South Yarra VIC 3141

OMG.. I don't know whether its because I haven't had good italian for a long time, but this has to be one of the best pastas I've had.  

This place was recommended by a friend, who randomly stubbled in here after a long walk from shopping.  But, since I was here for work, and melb stupidly has their last night shopping nights on a Friday instead of a more sensible night of a Thursday.  But, we headed here after work on Thursday night.  

Started with a glass of wine at the bar, where the bar tender, and everyone else in the restaurant speaking to you in Italian, you really feel like you just stepped into Rome.  

Smoked yellow fin tuna carpaccio, with baby capers, lemon oil and fennel salad

Signature dish: Linguine with pipis, prawns, mussels and scallops, garlic, chilli and tomato baked in parchment paper

I was able to try a bit of this dish.  Pasta was great, but didn't try any of the seafood.  Not sure whether I would like all those thing baked.  But, I'm sure it would have been good.

Paccheri with spicy pork sausages, chilli, fennel and tomato ragu

Picture does not look appealing at all, given that it is smothered in parmesan cheese. But it was SO good that I finished the entire dish.  I guess it was a simple dish, and not unique.  But it was worth it.  

The bill came to $75 / head, one entree, 2 mains and one dessert with glasses of wine.  It was expensive.. which I didn't expect. 

I really enjoyed the food.  Was very authentic and fresh, but given, it wasn't a restaurant that I've heard of, and don't think I was warned about the prices.  I'm just not too sure whether the prices were justified.  So, would have been a 8.5, but the prices pulled it down a little, given that it was not exactly the value for money meal. 

Rating: 8

That's all for Melbourne this time around ... I think it will be Adelaide next.

xoxo michelle 

(decided to use my name, given my blog name says my name... bahhh.. haha) 

What's in my stomach today

1. March into Merivale 


In March, all the Merivale restaurants have a special where mains + a glass of wine is $33.  Since I am asian, and I love eating, I'm definitely there.


First stop: Ucello 

i think it was fried veal chops 

My bad... I can't remember what exactly this dish was.  But it was fantastic! 

Its chops of some kind, and it was definitely not lamb, don't think it was pork, so i'm taking a guess that it was veal. 

Nice, moist and tender.  The salad that came with it was average, but I wasn't expecting anything spectacular from it anyway.  So good, wish there was more! 

Platter of desserts

The platter was SO good! I don't think I've had a good variety of well made desserts in a long time (other than my own home made ones... haha), but the platter had... 

Tiramisu: the coffee was a little too strong, so that was the only fault I saw in the dish 

Chocolate fondant: Beautiful! runny warm chocolate with a nice crisp and thin topping 

Must admit... i cannot remember the others, but trust me, it was SO good! 

My rating: 9/10 

Stop No 2: Est. 

I've been wanting to try Est. for a long time, and finally got a chance for Ethan's farewell lunch, and a final lunch before the March into Merivale deal finishes. 

Fillet of veal, mushrooms, garlic and tarragon

Veal was cooked medium rare! Was soft, tender and really really good! 

And at the end... petite fours as a good bye. 

My rating: 8.5/10

Beautiful interiors inside the restaurant, very classy.  Would love to go again for dinner. 

2. Cafe Mint 

I've been here a few times already.  My friend loves the Turkish breakfast, and since I've never actually tried it before, I'll give it a go. 

But, I actually don't think its anything that special. 

Everything is quite bland, not much flavour and I guess not too appetising. 

Turkish breakfast: Olives, Spinach, hard boiled eggs, grilled haloumi and turkish toast. 

Maybe its just not really my thing, but at least we got some free goodies! 

We were the last table there, as they closed early since it was Easter Saturday.  So, the waiter chased us down when we walked out the cafe.  He gave a box of brownies and baklava.

3. Bourke Street Bakery

Always loved BSB.  Fresh bread, and has great coffee. 

And, OMG... the best, ever EVER tarts I've ever had! 

Strawberry and vanilla creme brulee tart 

Best combination for a tart... creme brulee in a tart, what could anyone else want? I was so full from the food from the Surry Hills Festival already.  But, OMG, I had to fit this tart in my stomach. 

Creme brulee was smooth and not overly sickening.  Not a huge fan of having strawberry there, but i guess it gives the tart a little variety.  But, cannot emphasise how good this tart is. 

Rating: 9.5 / 10 

Not exactly sure what deserves a 10.  But this is very close.  I guess the only limitations for BSB is that its only a cafe, and therefore only baked good available.  But, I would say its very high up to my favourites! 

... shall brunching tomorrow.  Will update on my progress! 

xoxo love.bites