Sunday, July 12, 2009

Glutinous Rice Balls/ Yum Cha Style Mochi


Ingredients (makes HEAPS!)
3 cups glutinous rice flour
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 cups sugar
dessicated coconut to coat
oil for greasing
filling of choice

glutionous rice flour

1. Bring water to the boil then add sugar, stirring until completely dissolved.
2. In a large bowl, mix glttionous rice flour and sugar-dissolved water until dough is formed.
3. Add more water/flour if needed. When the right consistency, you should be able to break off small pieces easily and when you press your finger into the dough it should leave a visible indent.
4. Break off small pieces to desired size and roll them into balls.
5. Using your finger, make a "well" in the dough to put the filling. Make sure not to overfill it!!
6. Pinch the edges together, ensuring the filling doesn't come out.
7. Oil a large plate before placing the glutinous rice balls on it, making sure they are quite spaced out. (they do expand when steaming)
8. Steam for approx 8-10min in small batches.
9. Roll in dessicated cocolnut to coat.
10. Allow to cool before serving.

Seasame filling

Dark chocolate ganache filling

N.B. Best to refridgerate or freeze the filling beforehand to make it easier to handle. I found it the easiest to use chocolate ganache (which I made myself). I also tried using mashed banana, custard and coconut spread (found in asian groceries). You can keep the in the fridge in an air tight container for a few days but you'll need to microwave them so that they're soft.

This is the first actual receipe that I've postedd up and gosh it was hard thinking of and typing up each step!


Thursday, July 9, 2009

Strawberry Roll Cake

This one was bought at a shop called "Rainbow Cakes" in Strathfield.


And here's the one I made myself.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Botanica Brasserie, Sheraton on the Park Hotel


Now who doesn't love a great two for the price of one buffet? Hehehe with the enliven your senses deal you can have two for the price of one buffet at both Sheraton on the Park (Bontanica Brasserie) and Sheraton Four Points Hotel (Corn Exchange). I don't know why but we've only had Sheraton buffet at Bontanica Brasserie and not at the Corn Exchange and this time was no exception...(I just checked it out and it's cheaper at the Corn Exchange, maybe it's reflected in the food quality?)

Prawns

Smoked Salmon

They had those glass thingys where you could only put your hand in to reach the food so it was a bit hard to take pics. I also totally fail when it comes to taking pics at a buffet, I only remember to take pics of my own plate but not the actual self service areas ==

Prawns & Oysters

The oysters were a bit of a disappointment. They were very small and I llike mines creamy, which these weren't.

Anti-clockwise from the bottom: Lamb rack, ricotta and pumpkin pinwheel, noodle salad, saffron crusted lamb, smoked salmon, pesto pasta, grilled mediterranean veggies

The ricotta and pumpkin pinwheel was definitely the highlight of that plate and I went back for it twice! The noodle salad was also pretty nice, slightly tangy, helping to cut through the richness of all the other stuff on my plate! The saffron lamb was okay but nothing special.



Not sure what I was trying to take a pic of here...

Desserts!






Icecream Teppanyaki

They had a whole slab of glass separating us from the icecream teppanyaki so I couldn't get a good shot with my meagre camera phone. This is like coldrock icecream but with a fancier name and less options to choose from!


You could choose from chocolate or vanilla icecream and the toppings included nuts, chocolate, m&m's, banana chips, marshmallows etc.


Vanilla icecream teppanyaki w/ banana chips

I was quite full by this time so went for simple vanilla icecream & banana chips instead of something richer. I think it would have been nicer if they had real banana as well as a selection of other fruits.








Fruits

I left as a very happy chappy, clutching my tummy! =] The desserts were definitely my favourite part of the meal though I am disappointed I only managed ONE creme brulee!

Buffet prices start from $90 (ie. $90 for two people with the enliven your senses deal)

Botanica Brasserie
Sheraton on the Park
Level 1, 161 Elizabeth St
Sydney, NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9286 6650

Thursday, July 2, 2009

La Renaissance, The Rocks

47 Argyle St, The Rocks
Sydney NSW
ph: 9241 4878
email: orders@larenaissance.com.au

HELLO ALL! yes I know I've disappeared for a very long time =S LOL, I'm finally on holidays and bothered to make some posts.. and today I went to the rocks especially to buy the cakes at la renaissance! :D

ever since last week, when my sister ordered a cake for her birthday there, I always wanted to buy all these other ones, I wasn't a fan of mousse cakes until I tried the one at la renaissance last week haha for her birthday we tried the 'Larme de Gaugin' one, which was $36 and served 6


I know the colour isn't the best, =.='' because that day, we stupidly forgot to bring a camera, I can't believe it, we didn't bring a camera and it was like a birthday celebration ==" but anyways, so we resorted to phones.... and my phone was so smart it's battery decided to DIE! so yes, we had like pictures from everyone's phone and this one was the best one I could find of the cake LOL!

yes I know.. it looks very pretty, it tastes awesome too! The inside is a mixed berry mousse which is not too sweet, infact, its abit sour too.. which is perfect for someone like me, who don't eat cakes much because they always tend to be overly sweet...

and the outer layer is a very thin layer of sponge cake and we were all wondering why it tasted so nice and soon realised that it was the taste of almond ^^hehehe

so then today I went back to get more cakes HAHA single slice ones =D
and I couldn't get over the nice mousse cakes they have there so I bought three different flavours. the berry one (same as the birthday cake), passionfruit, and mango x strawberry

I bought the passionfruit one for my mum cos I don't really like passionfruits myself, I was more interested in the strawberry x mango one hahahhaa

they are so pretty omg.. ><" but I can't really blog about them yet cos I just got home not long ago and its pretty late at night so I'm planning to eat them tomorrow HAHAHA I'll edit this after I taste them and see which one tastes the best ^^~ ohh and they were $6 per slice =) eat in would be $7.

I also bought 2 macaroons - chestnut x greentea and dark chocolate
they should be really nice with coffee, even though I don't drink coffee... LOL and it's not as sweet as the lindt ones. =D


this is like a really really bad photo I took in the car =.=" and it was all dark... and look theres a mini version of the gaugin one for only $2.50! =P so cute ><" and then the oval shape one is coffee x chocolate, and a mini fruit tart, and the other one, according to the site it is: Tranche au Chocolate - Valrhona chocolate Ganache with layers of flourless chocolate biscuit sponge and pistachio nuts. (btw these are my friend's, but the macaroons are mine hahahah) I'll ask her what they taste like ... LOL when she eats them..

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Lowenbrau Keller, Ton Ton, Azuma Patisserie and MORE

YAY! I finally finished my exams! So what's the first thing I did to celebrate the end of the torturous hell know as exams? I ATE!

FIRST STOP: LOWENBRAU KELLER


Schweinshaxn (Over roast pork knuckle with Sauerkraut and Mashed Potatoes)

Hawflake girl and I already know that we're having the prok knuckle shared between us, I don't know about her but I'd been dreaming about it for aaaages LOL Sir CKWL couldn't stand the wait til we got there so he'd already eaten but still decided to try A BIT of our pork knuckle but ooooh he sooo didn't eat a bit! We ended up having to order extra mash to share because nothing beats Lowenbrau's mash and also because THERE WASN'T ENOUGH FOOD TO GO AROUNND!!! LOL


Extra side of Mashed Potatoes


Hehehe we weren't the only hungry ones that day, several times parrot flew in and tried to steal sugar. They were successful at it too! I don't know if birds are aloowed to have sugar or not but the cheeky parrots were SO CUTE!

Variation Plate (apple strudel, sticky date pudding, berry crumble and icecream with berry coulis)


Ofenfrischer Apfelstrudel (Traditional Warm Apple Strudel with Freshly Whipped Cream)

The apple strudel without the whipped cream! LOL This was the most lactose free dessert on the menu!


THE AFTER PIC OF THE APPLE STRUDEL.

*Someone* licked their plate clean of the icing sugar hehehe

I think all of Lowenbrau's desserts are pretty good, my favourites being the apple strudel, bier battered apples and the sticky date pudding (which I'd only tried from the variation plate). The icecream on the variation plate was really crap but the berry coulis was very nice, making up for the icecream.

We were clutching our stomachs and groaning when we left and I even make hawflake girl promise that she'd stop me if I wanted to buy cake later!

NEXT STOP: TON TON REGENT

Shio ramen

Ton Ton ramen

Kogashi Ninniku Ramen

Need I state the obvious and say that these were GREAT? they all look similar here though but my kogashi ninniku ramen (garlic ramen topped with black seasame) was defintely worth the frew extra dollars. The pork was sooo much more tender than the pork in the shio ramen. I'm sad to say I've only ordered noodles each time I go to Ton Ton. I will remember to try the other stuff next time!

THIRD AND FINAL STOP FOR THE DAY:AZUMA PATISSERIE


When I say Azuma Patisserie I'm talking about the cake display at the Azuma Kushiyaki in Regent (i.e. right opposite Ton Ton). This is my new found love at the moment and I think it will remain so for quite some time!

Strawberry Layered Cake & Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc $5.90

The Mont Blanc is a chestnut cream cake and features a shiny brown chestnut on the top. I'm amazed at the prettiness of the cake and smooth even piping on the outside. While I don't really like the chestnut itself, I think it's very nice visually.

Mont Blanc innards

That was actually the first time I'd had a Mont Blanc cake. Sure, I'd tried some chestnut cakes before but they were always the quare/rectangluar ones with the chestnut piping on the top and looked mor like watery poo than something you'd eat. The cream on the inside was very nice too but then there was someother sort of cream down the bottom, inside the pastry which was a bit weird. The pastry itself was very nice too.

Strawberry Layered Cake $5.90

This is definitely my favourite at the moment out of all the cakes I've tried at Azuma. Every single layer is PERFECT and the layers of songe cake were SO MOIST they were practically still wet! (Okay, that doesn't sound very nice but trust me, the moist-ness was AMAZING!) The pink layered bits you see were actually THINLY SLICED STRAWBERRIES which was a VERY NICE SURPRISE.


Saint Honore $5.90

The first thing that came to mind when I saw this was CROQUEMBOUCHE CHALLENGE. This was so cute I had to try it. This was slightly disappointing though. The choux pastry puffs tasted like they'd been sitting there for quite some time (it was the only one left when I bought it...) and the pate brisee down the bottom a bit too brown, it started to taste burnt =[ There was "the crunch" from the caramel on the puff pastries though, bring a smile to my face, reminding me of how I wished I was one of the judges the one eating Poh's croquembouche.

Mikan (mandarin) Nerikiri $4.50

These were so cute I had to try them too! LOL I'd never tried nerikiri before and whilst I didn't really like this, I know it was more due to personal preference than because it didn't taste nice. Nerikiri is a type of wagashi (Japanese traditional sweet) eaten at Tea Ceremonies.




The outside had a strong taste of mandarin peels and the inside was filled with red bean paste. I really liked how they did that little slicing of the manadarin the expose the flesh thing. They even tried to make it look like you could actually see the segments of the mandarin!



See the square container of white stuff on the left? That's soy milk pudding. I wanted to try that too but I thought I'd better not be too greedy so didn't end up getting it. Hawflake girl bought it so maybe I'll just wait and see what she says about it.

So that concludes my eating adventures on the last day of exams. Rest assured that I have not been starving myself DURING the exams though. Here's just a few pics from the during-exam-period.

Plum Quark Pastry (Luneburger)

Apple Triangle (Luneburger)

Unseeded Pastrami Roll (Luneburger)

Seeded Pastrami Roll (luneburger)


Smoked Chicken Bagel (Bagel House)



Assorted asian mushrooms hotpot (at home)

First attempt maltesers mochi (made my me)

Gosh they look terrible! But they tasted GREAT! I will try to make them again soon and post them up again along with a recipe.

Yum Cha style custard lo mai chi/mochi

These were my first attempt too. Additional pics and recipe to come later on.

Lindt Dolce/Macaroons

Me making wonton

Excuse the mess on the table...


Finished product


Sushi platter from Sho-ya


Sho-ya is a Korean owned sushi place in Strathfield. They offer *all sushi $3 per plate* everyday! Situated at Strathfield Blvd.

For more information about any of the places in this post please visit the respective websites.


Friday, June 5, 2009

Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe, Sydney

This is another enliven your sense meal two for the price of one deal. YAY! It was a cold and rainy night when we went and we were so glad to walk in and get away from the rain. The first thing that I noticed was the separate bar and dinning area and the second thing I noticed were the massive beer barrels in the bar area. 
According to their site, Redoak Brewery is the *msot awarded brewery in Australia* and this is really emphasised with display after display of trophies and awards. All their food is matched with beer suggestions, they even have tasting plates that come with matched beers.  

Vegetarian Tasting Board $20

The little schooners of beer were so cute and I thought that the actual 'board' was ingenious, there were slight depressions to hold everytyhing in place and they all fit perfectly. 

From front to back (beer in brackets):
Sweet corn, red capsicum and chilli soup (Honey Ale)
Cous cous, vegetable loaf with beetroot hommus (Kolsch)
Polenta muffin w/ BBQ zucchini, tomato and Irish Red Ale relish (Irish Red Ale)
Roasted pumpkin, fetta and pine nut pie (Organic Pale Ale)

We were instructed to take a sip of beer first then take a small taste of the food then another small sip of beer and so on. The food would enhance the beer and vice versa. I'm no beer expert (I get Asian flush VERY EASILY so I rarely drink but hey, it is a *beer cafe* so why not!) so I don't really know if the beers were enhancing the food and so on! My favourites were the soup and the pie. The soup was all at once sweet, salty and slightly firey and I was quickly mourning the fact that there was so little of it! 

The pie was also great, crisp pastry, a tad of fetta on top and pumpkin and pine nuts in the centre. We had a a bit of trouble eating it though! We didn't realise it was only a pastry top, the innards housed in a dish so we tried to cut the thing in half! We got a rude shock when the knife hit china! hahaha

Cripsy Skinned Tasmanian Ocean Trout w/ sauteed scallops, cauliflower mash and tomato & chive dressing $26

I had the Tasmanian Ocean Trout. The whole thing was great, perfectly cooked fish & scallops, nice dressing - everything excepting the cauliflower mash. The cauliflower mash was placed under the trout and it had a very distinctive fishy taste - not good. But apart from that I loved it! 

Grain-Fed Beef Fillet on a potato, chive and Spanish onion cake with eggplant relish and peppered Oatmeal stout jus $36

The slab of beef was very thick and we found it slightly rarer than we preferred, but it was very tender and every last bit was eaten up. I really liked the potato, chive and spanish onion cake and I had a hard time trying to sneak more of it onto my plate! N.B. If you order the steak you'll need to wait 30min.

The lighting was pretty low but half way through the night they decided to make it even dimmer! Thus the next horrible pic:

Tamarillo Creme Brulee w/ Blackberry coulis and peanut brittle $10

The dessert was a bit of a let down. I really wanted to taste their famed beer icecreams or truffles but my Asian fllush had only settled down a while ago so I decided on the creme brulee instead. I couldn't taste the tamarillo at all and the creme brulee itself was very foamy and it wasn't set properly. The blackberry coulis was good and the peanut brittle smelled really nice. I'm allergic to peanuts so I didn't try the brittle but my mum tells me it wasn't that great. 

Overall there were some great bits and also some not great bits but hey, it was two for the price of one!


Pretty cupcake display I saw at QVB that night

Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe
201 Clarence St
Sydney
Ph (02) 9202 3303
website: www.redoak.com.au 

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Grace Brasserie, Grace Hotel, Sydney

I haven't actually finished blogging about all the places I went to during the "We Love Sydney" deal and now there's already another deal being promoted! Buffet breakfast at the Grace Brasserie was the first thing I'd had with the Enliven Your Senses deal and by, was it a good deal.

Buffet breakfast was $30pp but with the enliven your senses deal it was buy one get on free i.e. $30 for two people. 


Earl Grey Tea

I started with a pot of earl grey tea but they also had coffee and an assortment of juices on offer. 


Eggs Benedict

I'm not really a fan on poached eggs, mainly because I don't really like the taste of vinegar with eggs. Bu the eggs benedict looked really enticing so I gave it a shot. Yep, I still don't really like poached eggs but I think that those who like poached eggs would have really enjoyed this. 

Eggs Benedict, Baked Beans, Mushrooms


Eggs benedict, mushrooms, sausages

The sausages were pretty good, they were veal sausages if I remember correctly =] 

Scrambled eggs, grilled tomatoes and cranberry juice

I really like cranberry juice! I couldn't get enough of it but it soon ran out and so I had to resort back to my earl grey tea. The scrambled eggs were oay but I think I could have made them better, these were sort of waek and runny.

Sausages, bacon, egg, salmon strudel

Hashbrowns, egg sunny side up, bacon, salmon strudel

The salmon strudel was something I'd never tried before. It was cripsy on the outside, warm and soft on the inside, definitely my favourite for the day.

MORE FOOD!


Spelt banana cake, croissant, pastry.

I was so full from the savoury stuff I didn't really get a chance to try the sweet stuff on offer. I did try the spelt banana cake and croissant though and they were pretty nice. There were also cereals, fruits and other breakfast-y food on offer. They even had chinese pork buns! hahaha 



Grace Brasserie
77 York St
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9272 6888

open for breakfast: 6.30-10am Mon - Fri
7-11am weekends & public holidays