TWO-KG: chinese

Showing posts with label chinese. Show all posts

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Happy Moon Festival =]

You'd never know considering it's cold, rainy and miserable but it's moon festival today, like the actual day you're supposed to be outside eating mooncakes under the moon. Owelps, I think I've already eaten my fair share of mooncakes this year LOL I've had your traditional egg yolk ones, home made ones, pig shaped ones and of course the snowy mooncakes. The traditional mooncakes with 2 egg yolks are the favourites in my household so I really don't get the chance to try new things. However, I spotted these little beauties in the freezer one day...

Mooncakes in packs of TWO! (Tiramisu & Strawberry flavour)

YAY! These allow me to sample more flavours than one AND I don't have to force the rest of the family to eat them too hehehe

I bought them for $7 a box (of two) at my local Asian grocery store

Strawberry flavoured

innards

Woohooo! Lookie look! The snowy white outside and pretty red inside looks sooo much more prettier than the traditional mooncakes! It's all much lighter on the stomach than the traditional ones, making it a GREAT mid-essay procrastination time snack! hehehe

Tiramisu flavoured

Innards shot

This was Tiramisu flavoured but they might as well have called it coffee coz that's all I could taste (they DO have another coffee flavour tho! LOL) For those who know me they'll know that I'm not the biggest fan of coffee hence I liked the strawberry one much much more. I think I also saw lychee, red bean and the like flavours on sale.

Well I'm off to celebrate the Moon Festival now (not really, I'm just gonna go eat hahaha!) So I wish you guys all a Happy Moon Festival! =]

Friday, August 7, 2009

Golden Stream Seafood Restaurant, Burwood

BEHOLD - THE MOST EXPENSIVE MEAL I'VE EVER SHOUTED (SO FAR)

Whilst some of you might think 'meh' that's not that expensive, other foodbloggers have heaps of posts about hatted restaurants, degustation meals and what not - I am still a student so this summed up to a really hefty bill. I'm not quite sure whether it was worth it, considering I could have had a really degustation meal at a nice restaurant with the price I paid but it was way more casual and laid back here so I can't really complain.

Deep fried pigeon

You can't really go wrong with a deep fried pigeon at a chinese restaurant and these were just like any other deep fried pigeon I'd had - GREAT! Hot, crispy skin, soft, juicy flesh and because pigeons are pretty small, the breast was nice and moist too. You can just make out the pigeon bums near the parsley hehehe Anyone else hate the pigeon bums?

Oysters steamed with ginger and shallot

These were definitely the biggest oysters I've ever had. The shells were as big as my fist and they came out burried under a mound of ginger and shallots. Yum! These were cooked to perfection and I was sort of wishing we'd ordered more - we had two of these massive oysters each but I soooo wanted half a dozen to myself!

Yep, it was bigger than a tablespoon!

Lobster and vermicelli in clay pot

Last but not least - the star to the show - LOBSTER! The Lobster alone was 1.8kg, can you imagine how big the clay pot was? Well, according to my estimates, the circumference was atleast twice the size of my head. This would definitely be one massive feat if we finished all that! Did we?...

Nup!

That was what we had to doggy bag. It made for a very extravagant leftovers-for-breakfast! It actually tasted better the next morning because those were the bits at the bottom of the pot - the bits that had all the lobster juices soaked into it!

The size was everything in this meal. I think that I was paying for the sheer size of everything and the type of ingredients rather than a demonstration of cooking skills. You could eat everything here at any Chinese Seafood Restaurant but what stood out was its size. If you don't mind poor service and dingy surroundings and like your seafood big then this is definitely for you. But if you're after a demonstration of skill and great execution, food that 'tells a story' - a fine dining experience that may or may not fill you up, you'd best look elsewhere. Would I come here again? Of course! - But only if I'm not shouting!

Golden Stream Seafood Restaurant
242 Burwood Rd
Burwood NSW 2134
Ph (02) 9745 5039

Thursday, July 30, 2009

First Taste Restaurant, Campsie

There's a new Chinese place in town called First Taste Restaurant. I reckon they've got a pretty good concept going with their specialties being double steamed soups and claypot rice aka rice in hotpot as it's called in this restaurant.

I had to search online for the term "double steamed" as I hadn't the faintest clue of what it was in English. Here's a little wiki description for all you people still in the dark. I'm not too sure if double steaming and double boiling are the same thing as I'm seeing it being used interchangeably on Chinese sites with dogy English but I'll stick to the term "double steamed" in this post.

What's the difference between double steamed soups and normal chinese soups? In my opinion if you took two sets of identical ingredients and double steamed one set and just boiled the other you would definitely come out with two different tasting soups. The double steamed soup would have a more delicate flavour and you'd be able to taste every single ingredient - this would be the 'higher class' option. If you just boiled it normally you'd end up with a stronger gutsier flavour and the flavours of all the ingredients would integrate and you'd have to look at the soup remnants to distinguish all the individual ingredients used. Most chinese households just boil their soup and double steaming - as it requires more time and effort - is reserved for soups with more higher end ingredients.

The double steamed soups at First taste are only described as being "stewed with herbs" in English with only a few brief words about its ingredients. The Chinese description however not only states the ingredients but it also says what the soup is good for eg. sore throats, poor digestion etc, which is one of the main reasons why Chinese people make soup in the first place. Soup can be used to accompany a healthy diet and medications to help adjust bodily imbalances.

Pork and mushroom stewed with Chicken feet soup $3.80

I need a little help with translating the beneficial properties of the soup so I'll post that up a little later. This soup is not the "delicate" soup I associate with double steamed soups but I attribute this to it coming from a restaurant as homecooking as always more lightly seasoned. The pork was very tender and there was a hint of ginger which was not overpowering but enough to warm me up. The chicken feet could have been a bit more tender but still good.

Plum sauce spare ribs rice in hotpot $8.80

Beef tenderloin rice $8.00

Hot and sour noodle soup w/ chicken $7.80

My dad and I opted for the rice in hotpot whilst my mum had the noodles. Both the rice dishes were good but my mum wasn't as happy with her noodles - not because they weren't good but because it wasn't what she expected.

Unscraped bottom of hotpot

Scraped bottom of hotpot

To me, the whole point of eating rice in hotpot is to eat the hard rice stuck to the bottom of the pot and that's exactly what I did. My dad on the other hand did not eat any of the rice stuck at the bottom which I thought was a complete waste! I would have scraped the whole thing squeaky clean if my parents stopped me because I was seriously full to bursting point!

We also ordered chinese broccoli just so we had some veggies, a durian dessert aswell as a mango dessert, none of which I have pics for. Actually my dad ordered the two desserts for HIMSELF and they took aaages to come out. When they came out they looked like bowls of yellow muck! Both bowls were overfilled and the waiter probably had a hard time getting them out as both had spilt onto the plate underneath. Even though they'd already spilt some it was still so full that we spilt MORE when we put our spoons in. The desserts were pretty good despite their unappetising appearances but they weren't coldd enough. The mango dessert also had chucks of grapefruit and rockmelon in it which I'd loved. Oh yeah I know I said my dad ordered the two desserts for himself but of course the waiter didn't know that, so he'd placed the durian infront of my dad and the mango infront of my mum and I. Since the dessert was right infront of me I couldn't not try it right? Hehehe so my mum and I ate the mango dessert whilst my dad looked at it whilstfully after finishing his durian one in what was probably only 2 minutes! He managed to get his hands on the mango dessert in the end! LOL

First Taste Restaurant

233 Beamish St

Campsie NSW 2194

Ph 8065 3679

Please visit their website for other Sydney and Melbourne Locations

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 cup 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, 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.