Taiwan 2012

My 7 days in Taiwan resulted in an increase in my waistline, a unspeakable craving for bubble tea and a new appreciation for 7-11′s.

below, a Picture Montague of the food we ate.

3 meats and 4 serves of vegies for $2.50. made possible by the tireless workers depicted on the lunch box picture.

Pick your sushi $1.00 each

arrays of pearls to accompany the tea, each type of pearl has a different filling, peanut, chocolate, sesame etc.

Fruit was abundant through Taiwan, cheap fresh and cut up for you when you buy. 
Not for the faint hearted,  Eduardo and I shared some chicken butts on a stick . true love.

Famous hot star fried chicken steak in the Shilin Night market. . tasty but batter was way too thick.

Typical Taiwan sausages, sweet, lean and oh so addictive.

Down in the basement of the Shilin market was the abundant selection of small family stalls, The hassling of stall owners made the whole experience a little overwhelming.

Taiwans version of Oyster pancake. Heavy on the starch and less on the egg. I still prefer the Singapore type.

Fried animals on a stick. one of my favourite types of food.

Typical transport bento boxes. $4.00 at most.

In taichung, central taiwan chilling with some bbq pork

Pork hocks. around and around on the grill

I was so excited to be chowing down on a pork hock, unfortunately we were given cut up pieces.

We visited the famous toilet themed restaurant.

hotpot. sadly the pot wasn’t boiling, everything was cooked prior and chucked into a pot.

my bathtub pasta. Italian food is definitely not a speciality in Asian countries.

pork chop on rice. standard.

for $30 per person. this restaurant provided all you can eat hotpot, korean bbq, beer, dessert, ice-cream all accompanied by your own  Tv

special mentioning restaurant:  Fomosa Chang a well known branch in Taiwan specialising in various Chinese dishes and was definitely one of the few highlight places we went to. heaps better than any themed restaurant.

tofu wrapped chicken

pork hocks. one of the most simplest dishes to make and oh so sticky.

famous Taiwan dish: lu rou fan equivalent to fatty braised pork mince.

And cannot forget the one thing the country is famous for:  beef noodles.

xxoo for now!

 

Reception at Tao’s

So the past 5 years of my university life just flew by. As I finished dotting my i’s and crossing my t’s to my very last exam I breathed a sigh of relief that I knew enough study material to not fail…

***

2 weeks ago a family relative got married and had a particularly simple and minimalistic wedding. Unlike traditional weddings inside a church they opted for a quickie 30 minute ceremony in the city followed by lunch at Tao’s in Bulleen. 

(My cutiepie niece and the lovely bride!)

Having been to Tao’s periodically throughout the years I must admit the quality of the food standard has dropped somewhat. The dim, seductive atmosphere of the restaurant had completely vanished, replaced by groups of rowdy Asian tourists slurping away at their soups and gnawing on their steak (no offence).

For those that haven’t heard of Tao’s, Its A hidden away restaurant in the outskirts of Melbourne with a reputation in serving modern Japanese cuisine (Though the owners are not of Japanese background) .  My thoughts on the matter is that they’re not here nor there when it comes to the style of food that is offered and you’ll see why in a minute.

As the set menu was for a wedding reception the food portions and styles may vary slightly from the A la carte menu.

Simple tasting plate of marinated octopus (chewy), oysters  and marinated mangos with goji berries. Nothing spectacular and did not understand why popping boba’s were required on the oysters, it did nothing to enhance the flavour and in hindsight possibly have made it worse.

Sashimi w Yu-zu dressing.  My “spring” themed entrée. As pretty as the dish looked the quality and the quantity of the dish had dropped.  To show you, below is the exact comparison entrée dish I had at Tao’s 1 years ago. Larger in proportion, no unessasary flowery nonsense.

Next came soups. there was mushroom, creamy pumpkin and steamed beef with daikon raddish (No pictures sorry!) Creamy pumpkin, was by far, the most out of place soup for a modern Pan-asian restaurant.

Chicken with teriyaki sauce, delicious and generously portioned but still an odd placement of food.

Hot stone sizzling steak with pepper sauce. The sizzle and bang of the dish definitely impresses but the sauce is a let down and also not the best of dish for those who like their meat well cooked.

Dessert consisted of a selection of Creme Brulee, Chocolate fondant with brandy, and their home made mint ice cream. All of which had  lack of Eastern flair.  I cringed at the presentation of the mint ice cream at how tacky it had been displayed.

The constant cross overs in dishes between east and west made Tao’s an incredibly confusing restaurant. Their focus of presentation shadowed their ability to put up delicious food resulting in a lack of satisfaction to not only from me, but possibly for future customers.

xoxo!

exam fever.

I’m sorry about my delay in recent food expeditions, stacked up to my neck in exam revision. will be back  this weekend! 

 

love for everyone! 

xoxo

The moon in all its glory!

As the sun slowly set on a Saturday afternoon, the girls and I found ourselves at La Luna in Carlton after weeks of deliberation of where we should have dinner. Now,  don’t let the French-like appearance of the restaurant fool you, when it comes to food,La Luna doesn’t have a single pretentious bone in its body. It seasonal menus and constant high standard of produce is what impressed me at the end of the night.

Having made a early 6:00 booking the girls and I all looked forward to a longer than normal dinner session to chat and catchup on the weeks haps.

J and I arrived on time with the waitress happily greeting us and opening the door to let us in. we were seated next to the window and within minutes brought the drinks and food menu.As X arrived, the topic of choice was much of what should be ordered.  We deliberated and seriously considered the $85 degustation choice but decided against it as we didn’t think we would do that large amount of food any justice.

The waitress was more than happy to expand on the daily specials and catered to our every need throughout the night (cups of ice and various cutlery drops onto the floor…)  We decided on 1 entree, 3 mains 1 side and 2 desserts. Our meal service throughout the night was prompt and the wait was at most 15 minutes. very impressed.

Giant prawns bathed in garlic butter, chilli and parsley. the pool of buttery goodness was delicious with the accompaniment of extra slices of bread which the waitress offered. lemon did well to cut through the richness. Prawns were flavoursome and fresh. No complaints.

Crispy duck leg, Braised red cabbage, hazelnut and celeriac salad. The duck leg although slightly overcooked to crisp up the skin, still had the moist tender meat as we cut through. The tang of the braised cabbage was amazing and surprisingly the pieces of hazelnut worked well with every assemblement.

One of the special mains on the night: braised lamb shank with various greens. Subtle in taste, the lamb fell off the bone well enough, accompanied by peas, baby asparagus, mint and broad beans. As I like my flavours strong, adding a dash of salt to the lamb really brought out the flavour for me.

The last, but nonetheless, one of the best mains I’ve had in awhile.  Crackling Wrapped roll of roast pork accompanied by capsicum, zuchini lemon herbs and herbs. The crackling smothered in salt was crispy, and the pork was tender and well cooked. Everything on the plate sang in harmony and was a definite crowd pleaser.

Our crispy fried polenta with chilli salt. The chilli was very mild and lacked seasoning. but otherwise ok.

Meticulously knowing that we had to try dessert here, we left plenty of room to do just that. pig out on sweets.

We decided to order the tasting plate for 2 and the bombalaska.

Pretty bombed that they didn’t light it up in front of us, still it was as delicious as a bombalaska gets. A tad on the sweetside, the rich creamy texture of the meringue was sinfully delicious and became addictive with each bite even to a non-sweetooth like me.

Our Sharing plate came out next with various ice creams, sorbet, crème brulee and mousse.

Overall the meal marked all the tick boxes for me. From the coarsely chopped parsley in the prawn entree to the last blueberry on the top of the mousse, all flavours of the ingredients were respected and put together with much thought and care. Definitely a new favourite!

Wonderbao

So last week I was enjoying some well deserved shopping therapy and decided to take a detour at literature lane for lunch and see what the fuss was with these bao’s.  I came to Wonderbao about 3 weeks prior only to find that the shop doesn’t open during dinner time. Silly me.  So this time, I made sure the shop was open before embarking on my lunch trip.

The shop front was smaller than expected with some side seats for those casual diners wanting a quickie before lunch hour finished.

I ordered a da pork bao (massive pork bun), the famous braised pork belly gua bao and some homemade soy milk highly recommended by my friend Q.  The magnificently  stunning euroasian cashier with her godessnesslike smile took my order without hassles and I received my order within 5 minutes.

I started chowing down the braised pork gua bao simply because it looked so damn tantalising! It was delicious! sticky pieces of well braised pork sat well with the pickled mustard (not really mustard but a sort of Chinese pickled vegetable) and peanuts. The dough was slightly thick but it acted well as a pocket to catch the pork juice.

After demolishing the braised pork bao in 3 delicious mouthfuls I moved onto the da pork bao (I’d like to emphasise on my infatuation with pork). The thing was MASSIVE. I could barely get the filling to stay wrapped in the dough!   The flavours of the bun was very mediocre, everything else about it was generous, well made and highly commendable.

My first ever memories of drinking soy milk was when I lived with my grandma back in China. She would soak the soy beans overnight to plump up their flavour and grind the beans down the next day, boil it to make fresh soy milk for breakfast. I sat in Wonderbao for a good 15 or so minutes after lunch and sipped on my soy in utter satisfaction at the similarities it brought back from my childhood.

The prices of these baos were affordable even to a poor high schoolie. Their quick, efficient and wonderful portions of food has definitely satisfied my craving !

until then!xoxo

A rainy day in Ponyland.

Firstly, a sincere apology for not blogging this past fortnight. I’ve eaten nothing but food court quality noodles, maccas and all things junky for the past few weeks and didn’t think a thorough description of the pan fried schnitzels at Schnitz would stimulate your pallet. But I’m back! and bringing with me a catchup session with my old friend  at one of my favourite local cafes in the inner east suburbs of Balwyn, Snow Pony.

Having been here a few times previously, it is one of the must go places for weekend brunch if your up and about in the Kew, Balwyn area. As I live in the north and my catchup friend DK lives in the south  we decided to meet halfway.

Usually on a busy weekend the cafe is filled to the brim with chatty customers but as today is friday and the weather has been too gloomy for anyone to enjoy brunch we were seated immediately. One of the few reasons why I enjoy Snow pony is their decked out dining areas. The main inside seating area is decorated with side bars and old wooden chairs giving you a more mellow, dark vintage feel. The sun room is brightly lit with outdoor heaters and during the summer the sun blazes through the covered area. The third room I have yet to visit, but looks like a tea room. 3 dining areas all with very different personalities.

Another reason I come here regularly is the menu. As silly as it sounds what really stirs up my appetite is how delicous and happy their food items all sound. Tell me you wouldn’t be happy eating some golden folded scrambled eggs laid by happy chickens.

Firstly both DK and I ordered coffees. 2 lattes.  Being a barista for over 4 years and very critical of coffee blends I didn’t quite enjoy the coffee flavour. Crema was bitter with no sweet undertones and not particularly aromatic, not hot enough for my liking but that was my fault for not asking. Very average coffee to say the least.

DK got the”giddy up”  breakfast  less the avocado (because he’s weird )

I got the pork, fennel sausage piadini.

My Piadini was delicious, Smoky scorza cheese melted into slices of pork belly and fennel sausages with spinach, chutney and some chilli flakes to add a kick. Only critism was the fennel seeds  in the sausages stood out like a fish out of water. One bite into the seed and all other flavours dissapear into the background. Wasn’t a nice experience and towards the end I got so fed up that I started picking the seeds out.

As quoted by DK when his meal arrived: ” OH! there’s 2 slices of toast underneath!”   they do provide you with more than generous portions of food for the money. Waiting time wasn’t at all long and overall still one of my most loved suburb cafes in Melbourne!

Happy moon festival to all who celebrate it!

xoxo.

Head, shoulders, knees and toes..

Coming from a traditional Chinese family, I was never one to question what I ate when I was growing up.  living not far from the outskirts of Beijing, I remember the weekly family dinners fuelled by laughter,  beers and the various types of dishes my aunties would cook up. Pig trotters, cow tongue, and coagulated pork skin jelly were all foods that I looked forward to the most.

***

Two days ago marked my 1.5 year anniversary with Eduardo. To celebrate, I had decided on dinner at Josie Bones as their extensive beer list was sure to impress any beer loving man.  Josie Bones, opened in early 2011 by season 1 Masterchef competitors Chris and Julia has a strong emphasis on nose to tail eating and a range of  imported and local brews.

Arriving at 7:30 on a Saturday night the restaurant  just started  filling up with customers.  The inside was somewhat underwhelming, as I’d imagined the restaurant to be bigger. Chris and Julia were working hard chatting and dispersing drinks to the customers at the bar (Slightly amusing at the time, not sure why).  The waiter was very friendly and promptly sat us down at the communion table as we didn’t have a booking (my fault) and handed us a 50 page thesis that contained various types, flavours and combinations of beer, spirits, stouts, cider, lagers and other whatnots.

Ed ordered the ruby red ale (very manly beer)  and I the Moon dog Melon Gibson (clean, crisp with a hint of watermelon).The food menu wasn’t anywhere near as extensive as the drinks menu,but still enough items to pick and choose. The trick with nose to tail eating is to not concentrate so hard on the protein itself but to throw yourself in the deep end and just select the few you would never imagine to try (or order pork, you can never go wrong with pork)

Dinner consisted of :

Crackling of the day (Pork), Not seasoned enough, very dry, almost too hard to chew.

Great concept, poor execution.

Mini sliders consisted of lamb? tongue, tzatziki and leafy green stuff.

Delicious. although the bun to meat to sauce ratio was slightly off. too much bread and sauce, not enough meat.

Pork Spare ribs with red miso lager BBQ sauce

once again, great concept, amazing flavours in the miso but ribs lacked seasoning and slightly dry.

This would be my favourite of the night.Rolled Pigs head with sauce Gribiche and crackling.  The sticky, rich texture of the pigs head worked well with the Gribiche, after only 2 mouthful I yearned for more.  The crackling on this dish was much more “easy to manage” compared to the plate of crackling we received prior.

Masterstock Pig Trotter spring rolls with mandarin salad and foam. Spring rolls were Delicious on its own. I wasnt a big fan of the mandarin foam on the side, it had a creamy texture which I didn’t get.

Beetroot Carpaccio with grilled haloumi, smoked almonds and pickled beetroot stems. A wonderful combination  of flavours, the Haloumi partnered with the almonds gives the dish a distinct smoky taste and the beetroot cuts through with its sweetness whilst the pickled beetroot stems adds the zing. a good pallet cleanser and a good dish to finish the night on.

Overall, the meal was to a good standard. Sadly I was expecting the dishes to stir up my childhood memories of pure food gluttony, but it was slightly short of the mark. Nonetheless, the impressive beer, spirits and wine selections makes Josie Bones a well worth the while restaurant to visit.

until then!

xoxo

Decisions decisions…

Josie Bones or Seamstress this weekend? … stay tuned!

xoxo

The great food truck exploration

Melbourne is known for its culturally diverse scene and the cuisines that it offers is equally as diverse…

A few weeks ago the girlfriends and I , during a intense Gami chicken consumption session, decided to prowl the streets of Melbourne on the search for the most known-to-men food trucks that roam these streets. Truck hopping, a sport usually undertaken by crazy people meant that we were, inevitably the crazy bunch. After much deliberation and organisation, we finally met up this week.

20 long minutes in peak hour traffic and a few poorly given directions later, we arrived at our first truck destination.

This truck is one I’ve been looking forward to for quite sometime. brightly lit, against the cold harsh winter night  and winds of 100mph, it shined as a glistening gem

. 

Taco truck, like its name suggests sells nothing but tacos. ranging between fish, chicken and potato(vegetarian alternative) these little buggers were $6 each  or $12 for two tacos and a side of corn chips. Raph Rashid, the brains behind Beatbox Kitchen started taco truck not long ago and since then, everything else is history…

I’ve been dying to try the fish taco for sometime. the generous portion of fish sitting on a bed of home made slaw drizzled with the right amount of lemon and tartare. Just as I had imagined, the moistness of the fried fish flaked easily and its accompaniments didn’t overpower each other.

The chicken taco, though smaller in its filling size, stood out and screamed delicious from the first bite. crispy chicken skin with generous amounts of corn salsa, smoky chipotle mayo and spinach. We left the taco truck with our stomachs still rumbling, knowing clearly well that our food night had just started…

Our second stop, 5 minutes down the road, meticulously placed near the taco truck was the well known Beatbox kitchen that everyone raves about.

Judging on the size of the burgers, we decided to buy 2 Raphs burgers between the three of us. no fries were ordered….very sad day for all.

I can understand now why people rave so much about Raphs burgers. These meat patties were one of the best I’ve encountered. juicy, tender, well seasoned, everything you’d want from A grade beef.  Sadly, One of the biggest downfalls to the burger was the bread. slightly over toasted, the bun was too crunchy and very hard to chew through, sitting outside with the wind blowing in our faces, the bread became more and more rigid which made me question the freshness of their bun. Not deterred by this semi pleasurable burger experience, we were on the hunt for our third truck…

This next particular truck has been in my books for awhile,  I regret still to this day that I didn’t bother to get out of bed and head 5 minutes down the road when it had set up shop not far from my house last year (Eduardo still shakes his head ). So this was my time to redeem myself for my wrongs by finally visiting Gumbo Kitchen.

the truck was pretty easy to find,parked on the side the local church with already a small group forming,  the three of us excitedly rushed over to examine the menu.

Po’boys, gumbos were all new terms in my vocabulary. me and the girls nitpicked a few delicious sounding menu items and hoped for the best.

(The gumbo man handing us our  smoked sausage and chicken gumbo and fried shrimp po’boy!)

Tucking into the shrimp po’boy, I have finally found MY SANDWICH. small pockets of deep fried prawns  wrapped in a well seasoned batter, with hints of lemon juice. spicy cajun sauce, slices of tomato and pickles to accompany.  The bread had a crunch on the outside and soft  on the inside. it was the best thing I’ve ever encountered.  On a happy high from the shrimp roll, I took some mouthfuls of the chicken gumbo.

not as delicious as I would’ve liked, the gumbo lacked that extra bit of seasoning to bring out the flavour. Slightly watery in consistency with  a strong hint of medicinal herbs. the chicken and sausage was of generous proportions. not something I’d try again any time soon.

Our night was almost over, with the prospects of a warm cup of coffee and some simple desserts, we hit up urbanspoon and found a nearby restaurant for a short not-so-alcoholic nightcap. 

Penny Farthing Espresso, a short stroll from the gumbo truck, provided the nightcap we needed. A quiet, refreshing atmosphere was the perfect place to sit and discuss the nights food journey. We ordered warm chocolate brownies and Coffee crème brulee.
The Brownies were what you’d expect brownies to taste like, warm, thick in texture, and rich with chocolate.

The coffee crème brulee was a sure crowd pleaser when it had arrived at our table.Aesthetically pleasing to look at  and aromatic in its coffee flavour, the coffee infused custard was creamy and rich. The cup was finished within the first 5 mins. Will definitely be back to try out a full meal!

Swedish Pizza experience.

Rotten herring, princess cake and IKEA.

These words are the only association I have with any sorts of Swedish culture. Imagine my look of confusion on a Friday night when trusty partner in crime Eduardo suggests dinner at a Swedish Pizzeria. “What the hell is that”  was my first response, “lets go! ” was my second.

Having prepared myself for a takeaway meal, we arrived surprised at the simple set up of tables and chairs inside. The sign which read “Swedish Pizza” looked tacky and odd against the mellowed out atmosphere of the shopping strip.

Having been open for 6 months. I cringed  at the lack of customers there were on a Friday night. no takeaway pizza orders, no rushing cooks. everything  was steady and quiet.  At this point I was ready for a meal in hell, not giving any benefit of the doubt that the ridiculous combination of Sweden and pizza did not mix at all.

Our choices for dinner that night  were:

“kebab SP” -kebab, champigon mushrooms, paprika, green pepper and bearnaise sauce.

“Sverige”- Gorgonzola,champigon mushrooms,paprika, asparagus, capers.

“Kycklingrulle( chicken roll)”- Tomato, lettuce, chicken breast, bread kebab sauce, tobasco, fried onion.

I was amazingly surprised by the size, texture and flavour of the pizzas.

The kebab pizza was the highlight in this case, slices of doner kebab meat melted into a thin, soft crusty base with slight hints of bearnaise sauce.  The paprika on top gave just the right amount of saltiness complimenting the flavour of the kebab meat.

Sverige had a completely different taste to the kebab. I found the strong potent flavour of the Gorgonzola  overpowered the rest of the coupling ingredients. After a few slices I had decided it was too rich for me to handle.

The unique menu choices and amazing pizza creations makes me question why they are not filled with an army of customer. oh well. only time will tell!

until then, samklig maltid!

xoxo