A lunch date. I can’t begin to describe these two magic words into something easy to understand to those without young children. While I personally get to go out fairly frequently while Josh is on sole parenting duty, we rarely get to go out together – just the two of us – anymore. So when my beautiful, generous friend (there’s no other words to describe this kind of friend) had offered to babysit Mini Me for the afternoon, I jumped at the chance of another Restaurant Express session at Bistro Vue.

(Bistro Vue MFWF Restaurant Express menu)

Bistro Vue is one of those places that were on my must-visit list since I had staggered through its gorgeous dining room after having consumed five full strength cocktails and told myself, ‘blimy, this place is noice. We have to come back for a romantic dinner.’ So when confronted which the which-express-lunch-do-I-go-for-just-the-two-of-us dilemma, I immediately picked out Bistro Vue.

We were left loitering around awkwardly at the entrance for quite a few minutes before we were seated into the packed dining room and presented with the Restaurant Express menu. The lack of choices in the menu was slightly disappointing. the services slightly more brisk, the tables were spaced more closely together than you would normally expect at a non-express lunch.

(Bread and butter on a very pretty dish)

What made this meal memorable are as follows:

1. It’s like having a first date with a person you’ve just realised you’ve fallen in love with. Again.
2. This person doesn’t drink his wine and gave me his.
3. I am a cheap drunk. A very cheap drunk.

(Chicken terrine with pickled vegetables, sourdougb bread and Dijon mustard)

I decided on entree and Josh decided on dessert. I’m not too sure why on earth I would choose chicken terrine over the Vue pistachio souffle but sometimes I’m stupid like that. Given a choice between entree and dessert, I always go for the entree. It was pretty but the not-so-memorable part of this meal.

(Roasted lamb shoulder with lavender jus, pommes mousseline and French beans)

Our main of roast lamb shoulder, on the other hand, was delicious. The lamb was tender and flavourful (as oppose to the lamb I had in Sydney). The mashed potato… I meant the pommes mousseline was smooth and buttery. And of course you can’t go past green beans. Can’t really complain too much about not having choices when the only choice was good. Josh quickly polished his off and greedily eyed mine. And because the whole thing was so romantic, I was in a generous mood and gave him a good portion of mine as well.

(Demoulded pistachio souffle with creme anglaise)

But wait, before you go off mistaking me for a sweet, generous, caring and sharing wife, there was an ulterior motive. I knew his pistachio souffle was coming up and I had already wasted my two-course selection on the chicken terrine. The souffle was everything that was promised to be good about a souffle (except for the fact that you had to wait a while for it, that is). It was light and fluffy and if I were to use a cliche, it was like eating cloud. Delcious sweet cloud.

And I got a good share of it. Yay.

(Coffee served with canele)

The coffee (again I asked for a piccolo but was told they didn’t have the right glass for it, so I had to settle for a latte) was served with complimentary petites four. I can’t say I thought that highly of them but I never had these caneles before so I wasn’t too sure what to expect.

(I used to walk past this sign everyday when I worked around the corner and couldn’t help being surprised by the sign change even though it’s old news)

Overall, the meal was fabulous. Mostly because of the company. The food was very decent and the Restaurant Express proved to be a good value. The service was adequate though not outstanding. A bit like being in Paris, which I think is the name of the game here at Bistro Vue.

You want to bring romance back in your love life? Have a baby. Nothing brings back romance like the fact that you couldn’t remember when your last date was.

Bistro Vue [ Website ]
Address: 430 Little Collins St Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: 03 9691 3838

It seemed like a bad start to the 2012 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival on the Saturday when the weather gods decided to absolutely soak the city with all manners of rain.

Sunday, however, proved to be a 360 degree turnaround and provided us with a glorious sunny day. And luckily it was the day we chosed to kick off our Melbourne Food and Wine Festival with an express lunch at Embrasse.

(Complimentary bread)

I like the idea of express lunches at this point in my life. Having a one-year-old toddler drastically cuts down your eating out time (sometimes, I honestly wonder how people with more than one child manage to go out at all when I barely do with just one) plus its affordability helps you decide whether you want to come back and try the restaurant’s proper menu.  The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival’s Restaurant Express’s menu at Embrasse include two choices of entrees, mains and dessert, served with a glass of wine and a tea or coffee. You choose two of the courses for $35. Bargain.

(Squid cooked in red wine, parsley, zucchini and family, lemon, bergamot oil)

For the first time in a long time, I was running on time to a lunch date. Naturally, I had to encounter an accident on the Freeway and so ended up being twenty minutes late. This took a lot of eating time out of the 1.5 hour sitting that we were allocated for the express lunch. Oops. And I also forgot my camera and so had to make do with my phone camera.

(Black pudding croquette with garden peas, dried bay leaf oil, pickled beetroots)

After having a really brief glance at the menu, I quickly ordered as the others already have. Our entrees arrived not five minutes later. One of my favourite things about express lunches is that your courses arrive snappily. The croquette was crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside but didn’t taste much like black pudding that I was expecting. But the pile of lovely garden peas and pickled beetroot made lift the dish. The vegetables are really the stars here. Poor Agnes (aka the Pea Hater) who ordered the same dish without realising that the dish would be full of peas left the sweet, delicious, delicious peas uneaten. Sigh.

(Fish of the day poached in brown butter, burnt onion, chive, carrot, grape, cucumber, cauliflower custard)

For main, I went for the fish option.  The menu description seemed confusingly long to me and I didn’t associate many of the dish’s elements with its description. But nevertheless, the fish was lovelyserved on a bed of carrot and apple cucumber. Strange but in a good way.

(Roasted corn fed chicken, eggs, stone fruit, our own rooftop honey, baked onion)

And the chicken option wasn’t bad either.

(Cheese course)

Neither were the desserts. Though at this point, I had serious dessert envy. Though I’m pretty sure that if I had opted for dessert instead of entree, I would have had serious entree envy too.

(Coconut mousse, frangipane, passionfruit, corn, orange blossom)

We finished the meal with coffee. I had asked for a piccolo but ended up with a macchiato instead. It was pleasant enough and we were able to linger a bit longer than we should have until the next sitting was starting.

A very pleasant express Sunday lunch. I look forward to going back and try Embrasse’s bigger menu.

Embrasse [ Website ]
Address: 312 Drummond St, Carlton, VIC 3053
Phone number: 03 9347 3312

A short and sweet post about one of my current favourite pasta recipes. This has become one of our favourite Summer dishes over the past weeks. It’s a warm pasta dish and there’s not much cooking required. Excellent for one of those hot days that you don’t want to do much cooking but a salad is just not substantial enough. Unfortunately I can’t claim credit for its recipe. This is one of the recipes from one of my magazines I’m subscribed to this year and it’s a really good one. Of course you can use any pasta but I find the short pasta works much better.

Pasta for Two (and maybe leftover for the lunchbox the next day)

1. 10 green prawns, shelled
2. About 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
3. 1/4 Spanish onion, very thinly sliced
4. 1 chorizo (from the deli but I’m sure fresh works as well), thickly sliced
5. 1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted
6. 2-3 servings cooked penne
7. Plenty of chopped fresh parsley to serve

Start by cooking your pasta according to packet instructions until al dente. Meanwhile in a non-stick drying pan, fry the chorizo slices until slightly browned. Toss in the prawns and stir until they are cooked. Add the cherry tomatoes and remove from the heat immediately. Add the cooked pasta with a little bit of cooking water and stir. Toss in the olives and onion slices. Sprinkle with lots of parsley. Serve.

So simple and good.

The very first time I visited Sydney, I absolutely fell in love with Sydney’s Thai food scene. So when I hear chatters about a great Northeastern style food ‘beer garden’ from my foodie friends, I knew I had to pay a visit. I promptly made plans with friends and fellow blogger, Penny and her Mister, who had migrated from Melbourne to Sydney. I can’t blame them. The weather, not to mention Thai food, is much better!

(House drinks menu from the bar next door)

Penny has warned me that it is a popular place and some queuing may be required. Now personally, I am against queuing. There is never a need to queue for decent food. Yes, I understand that there are places out there where food is truly amazing and I’m missing out on them by refusing to queue. I can understand that. But I am personally of the opinion that not taking reservations equals bad service and as a diner, you weigh up carefully the value of this tarnish against service with its food, price and service on the day and often I find that it really is not worth it. But Sydney-siders seem to not mind, so when in Rome… (or rather, Sydney)

(A part of the menu read, ‘grow everything you eat, eat everything you grow and share the surplus’ – a very ‘in’ sentiment in the foodie circle)

Luckily, we settled to meet around 2pm on a rainy Saturday afternoon. As luck would have it, we were the only customers there. As the weather was fabulous (by Melbourne standard, that is), we opted to sit outside. A strange drink arrangement whereby drinks had to be ordered at the bar next door was given a miss even though House’s Northeastern food style lends itself perfectly to a pot of nice, cold beer. I was desperate to save stomach room for Momofuku Seiobo that night.

House’s menu consist of a typical Bangkokian interpretation of Isaan (Northeastern) food i.e. if you are actually from Isaan (I am not) you will probably be disappointed with the menu (I am not). With a lunch-only section of the non-Isaan rice and noodle dishes, it does cater for the more mainstream crowd as well. All the bases are covered.

(Pork liver salad – $12.00)

After a perusal of the menu, Penny had insisted on the pork liver salad known a little bit more poetically in Thai as ‘sweet liver’ – it is basically a larb made with blanched pieces of pork liver topped with deep fried dried chillies. A dish I normally love but I didn’t want to order because I really wanted the larb ped (below) and they are basically the same dish with different meat. While the flavour of this dish was lovely and it had a perfect balance of herbs and liver, I find that the liver is  a touch overcooked. But I can’t imagine that half-cooked, bloody and rare liver pieces will sell well in Australia, so I suppose this can be forgiven.

(Gai yang – marinated, char-grilled chicken with jaew dipping sauce – $16.00)

Penny’s Mister (that’s what she calls him on her blog, by the way) had wanted gai yang,  Thai style barbecued chicken – pieces of marinated and grilled chicken most favoured in roadside stalls in Thailand. The chicken was served with Northeastern style dipping sauce and tomato relish. I found this dish to be a bit disappointing. The barbecued chicken lacked flavours and the marinade didn’t shine through like it normally should be. The jaew dipping sauce (pictured on the left) lacked the punch and was somewhat watery but I rather liked the tomato relish (right) although it wasn’t as spicy as I wanted it to be.

(Larb ped – traditional Isaan minced duck salad – $18.00)

The dish I had my eye on was the larb ped – spicy minced duck salad. I have to admit it’s a very cliche Northeastern dish for a Bangkokian like me but let’s face it, this is one of those benchmark dishes that you have to try. The flavours were quite similar to the liver salad – that is a good balance of spicy, sour and salty (not sweet! Thank god). What made it really good was the combination of minced duck meat and toothsome  giblets with crispy bits of duck skin. While it was not as spicy as I had hoped it be, I think this translates to good news for those who aren’t chilli-mad, or Thai.

(Tom sap kraduk orn – soft rib soup $14.00)

The star of the show was undoubtedly the tom sap of ‘soft rib.’ A term that may need explanation since this is simply not a part favoured in this country. It is basically the end part of the ribs where soft, fatty meat surrounds the soft cartilage (which you are supposed to eat, by the way). I reckon it’s the best bit of a pig. The soup was spicy and zingy with generous amount of various herbs, lemongrass, kaffirlime, sawtooth coriander, galangal and shallots thrown in. So flavourful and lots of oomph, it will make you sweat. Definitely the recommended dish here. If there is a dish that lulls me back there, this is it.

(Sticky rice – $3.00)

To accompany all the dishes in a true Northeastern style, we ordered sticky rice. I had specifically asked for one person’s serve but the serving was extremely generous. Sticky rice, you will find out, is much more filling than normal rice. It was served in a gratib – a traditional Isaan rice container. Very cute.

(BTS – toasted brioche topped with pandan ice cream and coconut ‘caramel’ sauce – $15.00)

We finished with House’s famous dessert BTS (apparently short for ‘better than sex’) because it came highly recommended. Thickcut, buttery brioche was topped with smooth pandan ice cream, drizzled with dark coconut milk and coconut sugar ‘caramel’ topped with black and white sesame seeds. The brioche was perfectly toasted and the caramel sauce was rich and dark. It was a very lovely dessert and I can see why a few people rather liked it but I found it rather out of place and a unnecessarily heavy finish to an Isaan menu. Interestingly, I had a similar dessert at Jamie’s Italian (brioche con gelato) and I have to concede that BTS wins hands down. However if you ask the all important question: ‘is it better than sex?’ – my answer will be it depends on what kind of sex you’ve been having.

Overall, House presented a very pleasant introduction to a regional Thai cuisine that is so severely lacking in Australia. However being a tourist in Sydney and having explored Campbell St., I couldn’t help but wonder if there are other places around that are just as good and authentic, if not better.

House Thai Northeastern Street Food [ Website ]
Address: 202 Elizabeth St. Surry Hills NSW 2010
Phone: 02 9280 0364
Hours: Open 7 days, 11.30 AM. – Late

Seriously. I just made that up. Berries ‘n cherries Summer trifle? You know I’m never going to ever make a career out of copy writing (and everytime I use the word ‘copy’ to refer to any form of text when talking to the Marketing guys, I die a little inside. Matt, are you reading this?)

So. Trifle. Who doesn’t love it? I grew up eating this dessert at a British boarding school and so it never occurred to me that you could possibly ever put booze in it. It’s a shame really. As lovely as boozy trifles are, they just never taste quite right to me so please bear with my ‘family friendly’ version of this trifle. The best thing about it is if you ever have cravings for it in Winter, just use frozen berries. And they work. I call this a winning recipe.

Unfortunately for this recipe though, you need to plan ahead. This is not one of those last minute recipes I’m fond of. But you can’t win them all.

Massive trifle for a party (or two really greedy people over a few days)

• 2 bought Swiss rolls
• 1 approx 250g tinned peach in syrup (or juice, neither is healthier than the other I can promise you)
• 10 plump cherries (of course you won’t have cherries in Winter. Don’t buy American ones. There is no joy in cherries if they have to fly to you across the globe)
• 1 punnet raspberries (or frozen equivalent)
• 1 punnet blueberries (or frozen equivalent)
• 1 packet raspberry jelly
• 2 cup custard made from milk, sugar and custard powder
• 200ml whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or 2 tsp vanilla essence

Make your jelly according to packet instructions. Place in the fridge.

Cut the Swiss rolls into slices and line your nicest glass bowl (I just use my sturdiest salad bowl, I’m not the dainty type). Pour the syrup/juice from the peaches to soak the sponge. Place peach slices on top of the top rolls and dot with blueberries. Remember to be as artistic as you can! This trifle is not boozy, there will be no excuse because your guests’ memories will not be so hazy afterwards.

While the rolls are soaking in syrup, make custard according to packet instruction. I find the microwave instruction usually works really well and less washing up is required. I don’t think Tetra Pak custard will set properly so you will need to make it the old fashion 70′s way with custard power. Make sure you have enough milk! I fail at this a lot.

Leave the custard to cool completely before pouring this on top on the rolls/peaches layer.

Once your jelly sets, roughly cut into squares and place them on top of the custard layer. Whip some cream with vanilla bean paste of essence and top off your lovely trifle. Decorate with raspberries and cherries.

Refridgerate for at least 3-4 hours before tucking in. I know. Patience is required here. I suck at it too.

Also for your viewing please, here are some photos from our last ‘post Christmas party’ where this trifle was featured. As usual I forget my camera and here are some from my (greasy and smudged) phone:

This is what is known among us as GFC (Gazza Fried Chicken) – named after our host whose name isn’t really anything like Gazza at all so I’m a little hazy why this is named so. But it was fried chicken and naturally delicious.

Our lovely hosts also made us crispy roast pork belly and the loveliest garlicky green beans ever (you know I’m into green beans). If we’re lucky, maybe I Hua might give us the recipe.

Here is roast chicken with all sorts of lovely herbs and stuffing. Served with home made chilli jam. Man these guys are good.

And here’s my contribution of takeaway sushi, seaweed salad and salmon sashimi from Suzuran.

Ah well, at least I made the trifle!

On the Wednesday before the Sydney weekend, I realised, almost belatedly, at 11.35pm, holy shit! There’s that new Momofuku that just opened late last year in Sydney! I need a booking!

Five minutes later, I somehow scored myself a booking for one for that very Saturday night through their online system at 8pm on the very first and only try. Do you know how giddy that made me feel? There. Is. A. Momofuku. In. Sydney. And. I’m. Going. There.

Now I can tell you this in the strictest confidence that I went to bed that night unconsciously heaving a massive fangirl sigh and uttered, ‘oh David Chang…’ right before I fell asleep.

(They seem to have an obsession with wiping every single plate until it shines)

The day arrived and I got myself into a cab and ended up at the Star. Let’s face it, you wouldn’t catch me dead at a casino complex otherwise. If you have been there, you’ll recall this bright, open, neon, Willy Wonka-esque bubblegum pinkness that is the I LOVE ZUMBO store and opposite there’s the imposing bars of steel and gold that is Momofuku Seiobo, the youngest in the Momofuku empire and a nod to its peach theme by being named after a Japanese goddess who is a guardian of a wonderous peach tree that only fruits once every three thousand years. Special. It is meant to be. Shame about being housed at the Star but I suppose it does well with the other Momofuku theme, luck.

I had never been on a solo fine dining before. Armed with my aunt’s SLR that I had taught myself to use a couple of hours earlier (forgot my camera at home in Melbourne, total fail), I just knew that as a F.A.B. (Female Asian Blogger – apparently a there are so many in Sydney that there is an acronym for us), noone would bat an eye lid at a single diner and her massive camera. I was totally right. And I have to say, being an SLR wanker for the weekend was so much fun.

(Snack plate from 12 o’clock – mochi, nori cracker, smoked potato with apple gel, shiitake crisp)

I think sitting at the counter is a must when you go to Momofuku Seiobo, half of the great fun about dining here is watching every move of the kitchen staff and anticipating what is coming up next. The very first course was a snack plate full of joyful little things. There was nothing exciting about them – just morsels of good, honest umami hits to whet your appetite. They succeeded. The shiitake crisp was crispy and shiittake-y. The smoked potato and apple gel reminded me of Collon. (just Google it)

(Momofuku steamed pork bun)

The second course of Momofuku pork bun arrived with a cute little bottle of Vietnamese chilli sauce (I refuse to call it Sriracha. It is not.) Everyone has heard of the Momofuku pork bun. Fortunately, you no longer need to fly all the way to New York for one. Unfortunately though, you still need to fly to Sydney. The bun was everything it was promised to be. Incredibly soft rice flour bun that just melts in your mouth with a lovely piece of fatty pork belly flavoured with hoisin sauce. It was good but it didn’t blow me away. I somehow thought it didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the menu and the setting of Seoibo. This is the type of food that belongs on the bar menu (which it is, did you know there is a bar menu – no booking required, five seats only – at Momofuku Seiobo now? What are you waiting for?)

(Sea mullet sashimi with blood orange and nori powder)

The next course was three pieces of lovely sea mullet sashimi with a drizzle of blood orange and a sprinkling of nori powder. The freshness of the fish was undeniable and the blood orange lifted the freshness of the sea mullet but in the end it was just sashimi. Albeit very good sashimi.

(West Australian marron with fennel and squid ink puree, pickled fennel and dill)

The forth course was when the wow factor really hit. Fresh, plump piece of marron served with fennel and squid ink puree and pickled fennel slices. The marron was so fresh and sweet. So much oomph in a small piece of this lovely crustacean. It was served with a little quennelle of  fennel and squid ink puree which strangely enough didn’t quite taste so fennel-ly (I had to check that it really was fennel and was confirmed). It was definitely more squid ink than fennel which was a real complimentary marine lift to the freshwater marron. So good.

(Seared wagyu with burnt watermelon oil and salted blackbeans with radishes)

The fifth dish was presented in a lovely deep green bowl with fresh discs of radishes entirely covering the little cubes of seared wagyu floating on a layer of weird, grainy, thick black sauce. I was informed it was burnt watermelon oil and fermented blackbeans, it looked a bit like something had gone wrong in the kitchen but it tasted all right. I can’t say I got this dish. Nothing was wrong with it, obviously. Technically everything (and every dish) was perfect but I just didn’t get it.

(Smoked eel with Jerusalem artichoke, pink grapefruit with a side of dashi)

The next course (#6) was mightily fine. Small pieces of lovely, delicate, fatty smoked eel served with grilled jerusalem artichoke, pink grapefruits and quennelles of what tasted a bit like tahini but not quite with clear dashi to wash it all down. A big nod to its Japanese influence. Outstanding.

(Yorkshire pudding with crab marmite, mud crab with Old Bay sauce)

This next dish (#8) was a surprise and dare I use the cliche, also a delight. Yorkshire pudding with very love mudcrab in Old Bay sauce. Yorkshire pudding with seafood, you say? That’s what I thought too. It would have kinda worked and I would have had the time to ponder it a little more if I wasn’t completely blown away by the morsels of beautiful, sweet mudcrab. I have never had mudcrab so good. Not even the one I once caught myself. The Old Bay sauce was fabulous with the crab. This must be the American culinary sensibility come in to play. It didn’t at all diminish the sweetness of the crab but rather really accentuated it. The Yorkshire pud had a strange caramelised seafood note to it that I didn’t quite peg out until I heard one of the chefs explained to the next diner as crab marmite. Right you are then.

(slow cooked egg with brown butter, green tea and roasted rice (genmai cha))

Number 8 was slow cooked with brown butter and genmai cha. I was expecting a whole egg with liquid yolk in the middle but instead it was a nod to the lovely chawan mushi and a sprinkling of genmai cha. Chawan mushi and brown butter? Genius.

(Pea agnolotti, Serrano jamon, parmesan)

The pasta course (#9) was fluffly pillows of pea agnolotti. Warm pillows of pea puree with generous tiny cubes of ham and parmesan. I was instantly reminded how Agnes and I Hua put up a fuss about how they hate peas at our Christmas in July dinner last year. This would convert them. Yum.

(Mulloway with grilled lettuce, smoked salmon roe, pickled kohlrabi and breadcrumbs)

At this point I went back through all the photos on the camera just to find out that number then is coming up. Definitely a lot of food, fifteen courses but when they are all this marvellous, one had to suck it up and soldier on. The mulloway (apparently an Aborginal word for ‘the greatest one’ – cool huh?) was cooked just perfectly and went swimmingly well (see what I did here?) with the flavoursome smoked salmon roe mousse. And if you have never had grilled lettuce before, it’s about time you try.

(Lamb neck with onions, mustard seeds, grilled spring onion and puff barley)

Number eleven was lamb. Beautiful pink blush of lamb. Pretty as a picture. What I have found strange is that the lamb wasn’t the flavoursome lamb that I’m used to. I encountered this exact same problem at Jamie’s Italian (more on that soon) the night before. There must be something about NSW lamb that just didn’t taste quite as good as the Victorian one. Who knows? At this point though I have to say, I was starting to struggle. Partly because it was my fault for having three lunches before this wonderous dinner. Yes three lunches that day. I love Sydney.

(Pecorino, honey licorice, bee pollen)

An unusual ‘cheese course’ (#12), of fluffily grated pecorino covering tiny cubes of (cider? sake?) jelly and topped with a crisp honeycomb look-alike sheet of honey and licorice followed. Very lovely.

(Wattle seed meringue, malt ice cream and crispy milk skin)

This was the dish I most looked forward to after having seen it served to some of the other diners. The crispy milk skin looked spectacularly graceful just like a sea fan on a bed of coral rocks. Just gorgeous. With wattle seed meringue that and impossibly smooth malt ice cream. The whole dish was then coloured with a blowtorch and some of the meringue turned gooey and marshmallowy. Loved, loved, loved it.

(Miso ice cream, pickled cherry and black sesame crumble)

And if I was wowed by the last couple of ‘dessert courses,’ this last one was even more special. Whereas the last one was had the looks and texture, this one had all the lovely flavours. Again impossibly smoothy and creamy, slightly salty miso ice cream was served up with a few pieces of tangy pickled cherry and topped with what I could only described as black sesame crumble. An excellent way to end the sweets.

(Slow roasted pork shoulder)

But wait there is more. We rounded off with a small slab of slow roasted pork shoulder, to be eaten with my hand. It was announced as, ‘here’s your final petite four. Slow roast pork shoulder.’ She smiled as she said it. I have to hand it to her, if she doesn’t get tired of telling that joke night after night, she must love her job. And that was the one thing I noticed about Momofuku Seiobo kitchen. Everyone in their routine, quick efficient and relaxed. The music was a fun mix (notable examples being the Beatles and Joan Jett) of mostly rock of various ages with a bit of occasional hip hop thrown in. I sat there mersmerised, partnerless for the whole two and a half hours and not once was I ever bored.

It was a great meal. Worth every single cent. To boost, I didn’t have any trouble with their famous booking system either. All was luckily peachy for me.

Momofuku Seiobo [ Web Site ]
Address: The Star, 80 Pyrmont St., Pyrmont NSW 2009
Phone: 02 9777 9000

Tasting menu $175 pp. Reservations through their website only.

(Chasyu ramen at Ajisen Ramen in Hawthorn)

It is a fact of life that all good things must come to an end. And so my year of maternity leave is over and I am now back at work. As much as I really enjoy working, I have no time to even eat out as much, let alone keeping this blog updated.

But try, I must. And happily, I would like to welcome 2012 with an annoucement that I have found The Best Ramen In Melbourne. So far anyway.

Now I know what you think. Ajisen? Chain ramen? Pah! But really, this Ajisen is so different from all the Ajisen ramen I have had (and I have had them in four different countries including the one in Melbourne CBD).

(Ajisen Hawthorn menu)

We went to Ajisen Ramen in Hawthorn because it is basically the closest ramen joint to us and one weeknight when I have a craving for ramen (I do that), I decided that we should give this new(ish) joint a go. It was rather quiet with only one or two patrons. I suspect that, being near Swinburne University and right at the lobby of UniLodge, it does a bit more roaring trade during the lunch hours.

Ajisen does their ramen Kumamoto style – that is, with tonkotsu broth (rich, white, pork bone broth) that has been cut with a little bit of chicken stock. The result is a lovely well balance broth that, while fairly rich and fragrant with its pork fat glory (yes, I said pork fat glory, get over it), is not so stickly fatty and rich that you feel ill after two spoonfuls (though admittedly I have absolutely no issue putting away a large bowl of one.)

Josh went for the Chasyu ramen ($11) which turned out to be the absolutely correct choice. The broth was delicious. Excellent balance between great flavours and not too salty or rich. The noodle was bitey and firm. The roast pork, or chashu, was so meltingly tender and just so damn perfect. The crunchy wood ear strips provided a great balance of texture. The egg was just a touch too well done for my liking but I’m happy to report that I have been back twice since and the egg is now perfectly soft boiled.

What a great bowl of ramen.

(Volcano ramen – $12?)

Unfortunately for me though, on our first trip, because I was in a mood for spicy ramen, I ordered their Volcano ramen. It was a mistake. The Ajisen volcano sauce in this instance was so overpoweringly spicy and bitter than it completely ruined the dish.

But I can’t complain. It was my fault to order their random bastardised version of  ramen. So don’t complain to me if you had gone and ordered something silly like grilled salmon ramen and come back and complain to me that it’s rubbish. Just stick to the original charshu ramen and you will be right as rain.

(chahan, fried rice with chashu roast pork – $5.50)

I also ordered a chahan, a Japanese-style fried rice for Mini Me, who at the age of one, showed as much appreciation for it as she possibly could. The fried rice was served in a disposable container. Not a very good impression. I read on their website some rubbish about disposable container being more green. They must have been on drugs. Anyway, I’m happy to report that they stopped doing that on my last visit and Mini Me’s fried rice was served in an appropriate reusable bowl.

(Takoyaki – $6.5?)

We also ordered a side of takoyaki which turned out to be, I suspect, frozen takoyaki that had been deep fried and had been smothered in lots of mayonaise. A typical vulgar way of serving takoyaki in Melbourne which the traditionalist in me simply didn’t approve of but my palate rather enjoyed the crunchy balls with flavourful fillings. We also ordered a couple of yakitori chicken skewers which were also deep-fried in the same fashion as the takoyaki but nevertheless quite tasty if I wasn’t so fussy. Josh and Mini Me agreed.

Did I mention it was cheap? By god, it was cheap. And we’re not talking about tacky Laminex surrrounding type joint here.

And best of all, it’s in my neighbourhood. Go on. Make the trip. Order their Chasyu Ramen and ignore everything else and you will be rewarded with a really good, quite authentic bowl of Kumamoto ramen.

Trust me.

But guess what? I’m off to Sydney this weekend. With a very lucky last minute Momofuku Seoibo booking. And possibly a chance to try out the famous Gumshara ramen too.

Stay tuned.

Ajisen Ramen Hawthorn [ Web Site ]
Address: 367 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn, VIC 3122
Phone number: 03 9818 0818

There is so much failure going on this week. Least of all that I haven’t managed to eat a Paleo meal (to be perfectly honest with myself, I’m never going to be able to stick to a fad diet of any form.) but also a blogging failure.

Of course, when I started the weekly round-up, the idea, to me, is so that I update the blog more than once a week so I don’t have one weekly round-up after another. That didn’t happen. I was did fully intend to write up about Demitri’s Feast on Swan St. but I didn’t get to it. Sorry.

(Toast with jam and brown cheese)

Let’s start with a breakfast that was a totally paleo fail: toasted corn sourdough (from Purebread Bakery, see below), Norwegian brown cheese (also known as brunost or gjetost) and strawberry jam. I love it. It’s so wrong but I love it.

(Piccolo at Purebread Bakery in Surrey Hills – $2.5)

What else? Last week, (see yet another failure, I’m doing last week’s round-up this week. So much fail) went by in a blur. On Monday, I went to the library and borrowed a tonne of books. Mostly board books for Mini Me. They are very nutritious. She eats them constantly. On Tuesday, I met up with Raymond, who used to supervise my thesis back in my postgrad uni days, at Purebread Bakery in Surrey Hills. Do you know how much of a score it is to find that your local bakery actually knows what a piccolo is and makes it nicely? Yeah. It’s a good feeling.

(Dessert burger from Purebread Bakery in Surrey Hills – $3)

They also did this little nifty thing called dessert burger a few Saturdays ago but I feel like sharing it here because it’s rather cute. It’s basically a brioche bun stuffed with strawberry, coconut and some other sweet stuff (memory’s a bit hazy, sorry.)

(Almost Jamie Oliver’s beef and vegetable stir-fry)

Also on Tuesday, yet another failure. I actually followed a Jamie Oliver’s stir-fry recipe. Now, as much as I love Jamie Oliver, I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him for anything Asian related. I die a little inside everytime he attempts to make ‘Thai’ food. BUT, I have been watching Food Revolution and he goes on about tasty stir fry so I was curious. I found this recipe in one of his books. It called for you to stir fry garlic, ginger and chilli with beef. Season it with soy sauce, sesame oil and lime juice. I sort of ignored bits of it and used oyster sauce,  soy sauce and lemon juice instead. And it was actually tasty. So I wouldn’t mind making it again. But it is a total Failsian moment. Coupled with the fact that I ran out of soy sauce half way that I had to dig into the takeaway sushi soy sauce stash. Fail. Fail. Fail.

(Steam salmon with soy and ginger – recipe here)

On Wednesday, I had a date with Adriano Zumbo. And because I had a date with another man, I felt the need to be a good wife and make Josh dinner before I went off to my ‘date.’ I ended up tossing together some simple Cantonese style marinade for the frozen salmon fillets (that I bought from Regal Salmon at Taste of Melbourne – such good salmon) with steaming instructions for the fish and some greens. He thought it was good of course.

So back to my Zumbo ‘date.’ Books for Cooks (if you’re not on their mailing list, what are you waiting for?) held their usual meet-the-author session for Adriano Zumbo’s new book and I signed up for it. It was a lovely evening. We got to sample goodies cooked by Amanda from Books for Cooks (I think, that’s what she usually does) which were superb. Macarons, pastries and chocolates were on offer. Almost as good as Zumbo’s macarons. He was asked a lot about his patisserie and his time in France. About other up-and-coming dessert chefs in Melbourne (the answer: Burch & Purchese and Luxbite) and a whole lot of other ‘famous’ patisseries in Paris – whose names completely went over my head other than Laduree and Pierre Herme. Of course.

(Zumbo macarons)

Now I have to be perfectly honest with you, I didn’t know who Zumbo is, really. All I know of him is this box of lovely macarons Ellie had brought me when she came down to visit earlier this year. But they were indeed fantastic macarons. So obviously I was curious to meet the man behind it. Turns out he is a bit of a Masterchef celebrity as well. Since I’ve only seen about 15 minutes of Masterchef in my entire life, this fact skipped me.

(Beef pho at Pho Dzung  on Victoria St. – $7.5)

So after nibbling at the sweet goodies offered at the event, I Hua, Thanh and I decided we really needed a proper dinner. We ended up on Victoria St. for pho because it was on the way and I was quite keen to get off Smith St. Sorry, not a fan. We ended up my favourite on Victoria St. Pho Dzung. It wasn’t as good as I remembered it to be but it was a decent bowl of pho nonetheless.

(Soft boiled eggs and hollandaise sauce on toast)

Some time in that week, I may or may not have had soft boiled eggs and jarred hollandaise sauce on toast for dinner… See my Facebook post for the easiest and fool-proof way to make soft boiled eggs.

(Crispy barramundi and apple salad – $22)

On Thursday, yes, we’re only on Thursday still, Thanh, Agnes, I Hua, Liesl, Josh and I went out to I Spicy in Hawthorn for dinner – which I’m still yet to blog about from the last visit (yet another fail). I Spicy is basically a tiny little Thai joint in the Safeway building on Glenferrie that does quite decent cheap Thai food. We’ve been there a couple of times and had massive amounts of food each time. Thanh and Agnes declare it to be better than Appetizer. I think that’s like comparing apples to oranges.

(Bec’s strawberry and cream pavlova)

On Friday, I had mothers’ group and may or may not have had a couple of slices of Bec’s beautiful strawberry pav for lunch…

And I spent the weekend a bit sick. And the only win I can report, after many failures this week, is that my little veggie garden is coming along rather nicely.

How was your week?

So as I mentioned on the Facebook Page (please like!), I’m going to be neglecting Spatula, Spoon and Saturday a bit.

But I don’t want to! I love this blog and I love finding a few minutes to actually work on it (and believe me it needs lots and lots of work)

So when Off the Spork came up with this genius idea of doing a weekly round ups / photo blog, I decided I’m going to jump on the bandwagon. You can’t call me a trendsetter, thank you very much.

Because I have been busy – I have been eating a lot of instant noodles for lunch. I know. Don’t judge me. I am Thai, after all. Mamaa (as instant noodles are coloquially known and also the actual name of the brand) is a favourite of, well, everyone. I particularly prefer silvery packet tom yum flavoured ones. I love to add lots of greens (choy sum, kai lan, bok choy, cabbge, any and all), coriander (essential), spring onions (not essential but preferrable), preserved cabbage (tung chai) and an egg. I don’t really eat Mamaa any other way though.

(La Belle Miette’s macarons)

On Monday, Kat came over for a catch up and dinner and I decided that I really wanted spinach and ricotta cannelloni for dinner. So we rushed off to Temple (also known as Leo’s Fine Food and Wine) to buy ingredients. Kat mixed up ricotta, fresh baby spinach she snipped into small pieces, eggs and a bit of nutmeg and she dutifully stuffed the cannellini (messy, hard work!) while I tried to make the bottled Dolmio’s pasta sauce (found it in the cupboard – horridly, nastily sweet) more palatable by adding onions, sage and lots of white wine. No photo but it turned out great served with a simple garden salad.

On Tuesday, having been disappointed with La Belle Miette on Church St. (Richmond) being closed on Mondays, I managed to get myself a few macarons. I will write more about each flavour I sampled soon.

(A lot of floorboards!)

One of the reasons I have been (and will continue to be) very busy is because we are renovating. So we ended up at Ikea one night. We bought 200kg of floorboards. Do you know how much of a bitch to carry all those floorboards around? Yes. Very much.

(Ikea meatballs)

Naturally, we went to the Ikea restaurant. Of course we had to get meatballs since I haven’t had them in forever.  They were okay but not as good as I remember them. I guess I haven’t had them in so long my taste had changed. AND THEY NO LONGER STICK A SWEDISH FLAG ON THE MEATBALLS! Disappointment.

(The Ikea $4.50 dinner special)

I was also curious on what the $4.50 special would get us – chicken and pasta was the answer. It was actually quite good (as far as $4.50 go anyway.) The chicken breast had lovely herby seasoning to it and the veggies in the pasta weren’t cooked to the buggery considering they were in a bain marie. Pasta was overcooked, of course, but this wasn’t Italian food and so forgivable.

Because we were starving we also got the ‘sandwich’. This was fairly average, really. The salmon was bland. The prawns were bland. The egg was, well, egg. The bread was a bit meh too. This bread doesn’t do well just sitting the fridge.

Friday was a bit more happening. Agnes, her husband Alastair, Thanh and I went to the Aylesbury for Penny‘s farewell drinks (she’s off to live in Sydney.) The rooftop was a bit packed after a while so we left for what we call ‘Secret Thai’. Whose proper name is Appetizer Kub Klam, which isn’t really a secret since a couple of bloggers blogged about it. I loved it for its Thainess. It managed to capture that essential Bangkok beer garden experience down to the tee with a beer tower, live singer with guitar music and a kub klam menu consisting mainly of deep fried salty foods to compliment its drinking hole atmosphere. A sort of a Thai pub food.

I will blog about this place separately but meanwhile here’s a picture of the deep fried pig’s intestine (‘How Bourdain of you,’ says @falican) We ate so much that when Agnes said she’s on Paleo diet we decided to we had to get on it.

Naturally, I fail at it. Hard. What can I say? I love carbs.

The weekend. Oh the weekend. Saturday we spent working on the reno. I went to Bunnings for the first time in years to buy paint (we went with the boring Grand Piano). They gave us free jelly beans. And a stuffed dog. O..kay.

(Bunnings sausage sizzle)

Because I didn’t have time for breakfast, I had to have a sausage sizzle because it smelled so good. Also the first in years (last one was probably work’s barbecue in 2006). Josh had breakfast and so he had no excuse to have one as well. But he did. It was amazingly delicious. Either that or I was freaking starving.

I also managed to sneak to the Camberwell Market and look mah! They have purple asparagus. How cool are they? Didn’t buy them though. Bought lots of other veggies – including massive green asparagus which were so fresh and sweet, we had some raw in salads.

The florist also had the most gorgeous shade of roses ever. I would have bought them for my mum if she were in the country. They smelled divine. I love roses. I also saw the first peonies of the season (bloody expensive) – this can only mean our wedding anniversary is coming up.

On Sunday, Mini Me and I went to yum cha with a couple of girls from work while Josh painted the apartment. She and I had our first yum cha chicken claws. That’s right. I have never had chicken feet at yum cha. I know the term for this is ‘failsian.’ But obviously, Mini Me won’t have that problem.

She rather liked it too. The bone, that is. I didn’t mind it either. I was also made to try tendon. That experience will not be repeated.

And we ended the weekend with a meal that my uni housemate invented. I decided to make it because the Ikea meal sort of reminded me of this (and she is Scandinavian, maybe there’s something there). I seasoned the chicken breast strips and pan fried them. Made up a batch of packet pasta and sauce (one of those horrid Continental things which I surprisingly didn’t mind) and loaded up with tonnes of veggies.

Happy days.

Date visited: 19 June 2010

I have decided to declare a blogging amnesty on myself. Fact is: I eat a lot more than I blog. While recently, my eating out has slowed down dramatically due to Mini Me being, well, Mini Me, I still have piles of old photos of meals that I took a long time ago. So this blog post will be full of pictures but short of description.

This meal took place so long ago that I can barely remember the details. It was back when Ron O’Bryan was at the helm of the kitchen and, believe me, he cooks some damn good nosh.

(Some sort of salad involving beetroot)

However, here are some of the things I do remember about that night:

(Stuffed zucchini flower – so very good)

1. They churned their own butter – and it was the best damn butter I have ever tasted

(Croquette of some dsecription)

2. The local was small, dimly lit, inimate, casual and all around lovely. And cheap. For a little restaurant doing such outstanding food that had been ethically, sustainably and locally sourced, it was cheap.

(Mushroom gnocchi – totally in adequate description, sorry)

3. There were five of us: me, Josh, Jeroxie, her Mister and their friend (my silly memory insists that the ‘friend’ was actually Mister’s sister but I don’t think so.)

(I’m sure this was beef)

4. This was the night Jeroxie and Mister found out that I was pregnant and they both had exactly the same surprise gasp and priceless facial expression. Sort of like ‘omg-you-are-an-alien-afterall’ type surprise. Priceless.

(Pork belly and some sort of beans)

5. I loved the quince crumble so much that I attempted to lick to glass clean. And I’m not generally a dessert person.

(Duck)

6. I don’t even remember enough things to even have a line after each photo. Oh well.

And now I feel that when those critics of food blogs yammer on about food blogs are unprofessional, I am beginning to see their side after all.

Slow Down! @ Harley Court [ Website ]
Address: 56 Acland St., St Kilda VIC 3182
Phone: 03 8534 3030