Spatula, Spoon and Saturday

I am never a big fan of the whole ‘Asian-inspired’ or ‘pan-Asian’ type cuisine – not even when it’s drilled down to be ‘South East Asian-inspired’. Let’s face it, there is no such thing. But when the lovely fellow food bloggers Michele (of Iron Chef Shellie)  and Kat (of Urban Cook’s Journal) asked whether I wanted to go along for a LOLWL (Ladies of Leisure who Lunch) session at St Ali’s (at the time) brand new noodle house in South Yarra and my mother-in-law offered to watch Mini Me for a few hours, I promptly said yes. No, I’m pretty sure I said hell yes!

In fact I might have been hummimg Free as a Bird walking down Yarra St.

We got there a bit early on a weekday and were the only people in the restaurant. Our waiter had rocked up to offer us drinks. The drink list, at the time, was limited to a very small selection of uninteresting Asian beers and a couple of wines.

(Beers!)

The restaurant had a cool vibe with its simple decor and a very funky looking panda mascot (that I regret not having a picture of). Our waiter was friendly and service casual to reflect the style of this eatery.

(A part of the menu)

The menu at MoPho was divided into categories of soup noodles, wok noodles, salad noodles, curries and sides. Michele spoke of a sichuan pepper chicken wing dish that was featured on another blog that she had wanted to try. And who says no to chicken wings? Nobody, that’s who! We were all dead keen on the wings but unfortunately they weren’t available at lunch time.

(Glass noodle, grilled pork belly, Asian herbs, sweet fish sauce, tamarind and scud chillies – $15.50) Read the rest of this entry »

Being a born-and-bred tropical girl, Winter is definitely not my favourite season. I hate having to rug up and battle the Winter wind and rain that Melbourne has to offer. I hate getting out of warm bed to the cold in the morning. I hate seeing trees without leaves. You get the idea. it is not my favourite season.

So while I love my citrus fruits and warm nourishing soups, stews and casseroles, I miss Summer terribly. This is why I have made this dish a few times in Winter to remind us of the good times ahead. Using all the ingredients that are available all year around (thank you, Queensland) – this salad is really simple to make and fabulous for a light dinner when it’s too cold to bother with anything. Just make sure you don’t make it with cold watermelon from straight the fridge.

Watermelon Salad For Two

1. 700 g watermelon at room temperature, seedless variety or seeds removed, chopped into large cubes
2. 2 tbsp sunflower seeds
3. 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
4. 1 tsp + 1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
5. 1 lime, juiced
6. 50 g goat’s cheese or feta cheese
7. 3 spring onions, chopped
8. 1 cup loosely packed mint leaves, chopped
9. salt & pepper, to taste

In a nonstick frying pan, drizzle about 1/2 tsp of extra virgin olive oil and heat. Add pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. Toss the seeds in the olive oil and toast gently on low heat until they start to colour. Take the pan off the heat off immediately as the seeds will continue to cook and may burn. Continue to toss for another minute or so.

The seeds will now be excellent finger food. But refrain yourself from nibbling them. Save them for the salad!

Mix together the lime juice and 1 tsp of olive oil. Season to taste and drizzle on the watermelon. Add the spring onions and mint and toss gently. Sprinkle with the seeds.

Or you can file this recipe away for Summer and take it to your first barbecue of the year and wow your friends.

This time last year I made: Prawns and Glass Noodles in Claypot (Goong Ob Woonsen)

Min Lokal is a popular cafe with the Fitzroy locals for its charming, quaint little space in the backstreet location, nestling itself on the mostly residential George street.

As all of the write-ups on Min Lokal will tell you, its name is Swedish for ‘my local’. A lovely, non-Swedish but very much Melburnian sentiment. I am one of those people who adore Ikea and its quirky Swedishness, so I get the gist of how something suddenly becomes cool when it is Swedised (see what I did there?)

(Dooba baked eggs – with minced beef, pumpkin and North African spices – $17.00)

The menu itself is hardly Swedish. Min Lokal serves a typical brunch menu – eggs, toasts, muesli, muffins, salads, sandwiches – with its own interesting twists. I visited there one Friday afternoon with a local, Joyce (of Melbourne Hot or Not) for our regular mum & bub catch up session. Joyce had been previously and didn’t think the world of it but she chose it for its proximity and its lovely spacious communal table to accommodate her gorgeous little bub.

As it was well past lunch time on a Friday, the cafe, rather uncharacteristically from what I heard, was not busy and we got ourselves a corner of the large communal table. The space was indeed lovely and uncluttered with large wooden communal table and comfortable wooden stools. Our waiter was nice and appropriately clucky (note to waitstaff: we mums love it when you pay attention to our bubs) and brought us water as neither of us had ordered drinks as I only had half hour to spend on lunch.

As I have heard good things about their baked eggs, I decided on the Dooba – baked eggs with minced beef and pumpkin sauce with North African spices served with rye toasts. Starving, I tucked straight into the baked eggs. The very first bite of the meat was very pleasant – rich and warm from its spices. The egg yolk was runny but the white was slightly rubbery as I progressed in the dish. Although it was the first time I ever had baked egg, I suspect that it wasn’t at all bad for a baked egg dish and Min Lokal deserved its reputation for its baked eggs.

As lovely as it was though, I was less thrilled with the portion size versus the price comparison.

(Haloumi salad with radicchio, chorizo and chickpeas – $16.00)

Joyce had opted for the haloumi salad with radicchio, chorizo and chickpeas. She let me have a bite and it was also a good solid dish. The composition of the warm salad ingredients was perfect for a brunch dish. Unfortunately, I think it portion, again, was disappointingly small for its price.

Overall, while I found the food, service and space at Min Lokal to be very pleasant for a leisurely lunching spot, I found it to be overpriced, poor value and possibly not worth all the raves about it.

But if it were min lokal, maybe I’d give it another go.

Min Lokal
Address: 422 George St., Fitzroy VIC 3065 [ Google Map ]
Phone number: (03) 9417 0333

Read what other bloggers thought of Min Lokal:

1. “… it pleases us”
2. Addictive & Consuming
3. Where’s the Beef
4. Fitzroyalty
5. Melbourne Coffee Review

This time last year I ate at: Syracuse Wine Bar and Restaurant, Melbourne CBD

One of the perks of being a food blogger is the opportunities to get to be friends with other food-obsessed people. So why would we pass on a chance to have a massive feast in honour of a celebration that is well known for stuffing ourselves to the gills when it’s not even the time for it?

—- Our Kind-of-British Winter Christmas Menu —-

Drinks:
Eggnog, mulled wine

Roasts:
Roast chicken, roast turkey, roast pork with crackling

Sides & Vegetables:
Apple & chestnut stuffing, carrots in white sauce, minted peas, braised red cabbage with apple,
Brusselsprouts with bacon and onion in white wine

Sauces:
Cranberry sauce, apple sauce, chicken gravy, roast pork jus

Desserts:
Christmas pudding with brandy custard, Frangelico trifle

(Roast turkey and cranberry sauce made by Agnes of Off the Spork)

Luckily, being in the southern hemisphere, the chance to celebrate Christmas twice a year is justified by the fact that Christmas always falls in the midst of Summer heat and, while many of us always have roasts on Christmas Day in December anyway, we conveniently ‘forget’ and jump at the chance to have an epic Christmas roast feast in the lovely mild Melburnian Winter.

(Pigs in blankets – pork chipolatas wrapped in bacon by Kat of Urban Cook’s Journal)

This year, I had an idea to do a traditional British Christmas lunch feast and somehow, I don’t know how, managed to convince others to go along. Believe me, it was hard getting people to warm up to the idea of eating Brussel sprouts as a part of their Christmas feast!

(Roast chicken made by Agnes of Off the Spork)

We started off with lovely Wintry drinks of egg nog and mulled wine. Thanh, of I Eat Therefore I am, who often proclaims himself to be a novice cook had made an absolutely gorgeously rich and silky egg nog. As Agnes put it, ‘this is scarily good‘ – a few of us tucked into the luscious drink early at the expense of our appetite. Agnes, in addition to being our most gracious hostess and making lots of scrumptious dishes, also made the mulled wine. Unfortunately, I didn’t try any. A missed chance!

(Apple and chestnut stuffing by Agnes of Off the Spork)

The feast was a roast bonanza deserving of Winter Christmas all right – we had a spread of luscious roast chicken with gravy and turkey with cranberry sauce made by Agnes. She also made very good apple and chestnut stuffing (at my insistence of having chestnut stuffing!) – she made a batch that was stuffed inside the chickens and some to spare. It wasn’t the prettiest looking foodstuff but by god it was delicious!

(Roast pork with crackling served with apple sauce made by me)

I made some roast pork at the last minute request of ‘MORE MEAT!’ by I Hua. At first I decided on lamb but ended up with pork because, let’s face it, who doesn’t love a good crackling, and I couldn’t get decent lamb at the last minute. Amazingly enough the crackling turned out perfectly. I personally had never produced roast pork with perfectly even crackling before (see: my previous attempt at roast pork). I think it must have been Agnes’ cool (or rather, hot) oven! I also made some quick apple sauce from our stash of past-eating apples from our country property (see recipe below)

(Carrots in white sauce by I Hua of the Chronicals of Ms I Hua)

Kat of Urban Cook’s Journal had volunteered to do another classic British Christmas item – pigs in blankets – chipolatas wrapped in bacon (again at my insistence). I must have eaten about ten of them because I am such a sucker for smallgoods!

(Braised red cabbage with apples by Kat of Urban Cook’s Journal)

She also made the loveliest braised red cabbage with apples and spices. The perfect sweet & sour accompaniment to cut through the roast grease. She had added lots of lovely spice to the braise and it was perfect with the roast pork.

(Minted peas by I Hua of the Chronicals of Ms I Hua)

I Hua of the Chronicals of Ms I Hua was tasked with ‘peas and carrots’ had transformed the simple steamed peas and carrots into the buttery minted peas and carrots in rich white sauce. Both Agnes and I Hua weren’t keen on peas – how could anyone not be keen on peas? They are so lovely. I took home the leftover peas and mashed them up with baby rice for Mini Me – who absolutely loved them.

(Roast potatoes with duck fat made by me)

You couldn’t really have a roast lunch without roast potatoes. I did up massive four kilograms of potatoes for the thirteen of us. They were briefly parboiled and tossed around to create rough surfaces that become crispy, crunchy bits once roasted in gorgeous duck fat.

(yummy roast potatoes)

Once you discover the joy of duck fat roasted potatoes, there is no turning back.

(Brusselsprouts with bacon and onion in white wine made by Josh)

Just to finish off our array of meat and veggies, Josh made our family favourite Brusselsprouts (recipe to come later) – the folks who weren’t keen on Brusselsprouts didn’t like them of course but if you don’t mind them, this is the best way to cook Brusselsprouts – sautee in butter with bacon and onion, splash in white wine (or cider) and cook them very briefly. That’s all you need for a good Brusselsprout dish.

(Christmas pudding made by me)

And of course there’d be Christmas pudding. Being the last-minute sort of a person, I discovered a recipe at BBC Food and made that. I am pleased to announce that it worked. I decorated with a glacé cherry and some holly leaves Josh retrieved from the creek near home. After a few mishaps, we also did manage to light the pudding. I even sneaked in a five cent coin – which impressed noone (ah well). The pudding was served with a boozey brandy custard made by Celeste of Travelling in Mary Janes.

(Frangelico trifle)

But wait there is more! Adrian of Food Rehab had put together a very impressive display of one of the brightest trifle I have ever seen. It started with a Frangelico syllabub layer and the loveliness just kept on going with refreshing jelly and madarin layers topped with raspberries and blueberries.

I tell you, my friend, as far as a Christmas feast went, this one was definitely one to remember!

 Simple Apple Sauce

1. 4 cooking apples, cored, peeled and diced into 2 cm cubes
2. 30 g butter
3. 1/2 tsp cinnamon
4. 1/2 tsp mixed spice
5. 1 tbsp sugar

Add all ingredients into a heated saucepan on medium. Stir until the apples soften and release liquid. Close the lid and simmer for about 20 minutes. Mash the apples with a wooden spoon.

Don’t forget to visit the blogs of the folks that made this feast happen and you might be lucky enough to find the recipes for these dishes.