Twas a Happy Birthday!

A few weeks back, I celebrated my last "twentysomething" birthday. And what a week it was! It ended up being a four-day celebration, with friends and family spoiling me with food, and gracing me with their company!

The first night of celebration was spent at Cutler & Co, a two-hatted restaurant. I was keen to sample (read: wolf down) their suckling pig and we thought my birthday would be a special-enough an event to make a visit. I couldn't get a table for the evening of my birthday, so we settled for the day before my birthday.

Pre-birthday dinner [at] Cutler & Co

I decided to take my birthday as annual leave, as I could not bear the thought of being stuck inside at work on my birth-day (My husband would tell you I'm BIG on birthdays). The Husband uhmmed-and-aahed, but decided to take the day off as well (I wasn't expecting him to, but well done, well done *clap clap*).

I had already decided to (with or without The Husband) spend the day in the city; thankfully the weather was brilliant! Sunny, but not hot - days like this I love living in this city!

Caught up with my reciprocal bridesmaid (ie. I was hers and she was mine!) for brunch at Hardware Societe. She was going on holidays the very next day so we thought a catch-up would be great. Ah - the life of the stay-at-home-mums/dads..... Anyway, the catch-up was appreciated, however marred by a telephone call by the stupid builder (Thanks Porter Davis for ruining my birthday!) to inform us that we would have to fork out an additional $6000 for this-and-that. A hilarious incident with my birthday present ensued, which lightened up the mood, at the expense of the integrity of my dear friend at David Jones.



We slowly made our way (enjoying the sun!) to the National Gallery of Victoria, to both St Kilda Road and Fed Square sites. Spent quite a few hours at the gallery; it's amazing how much art can be seen and appreciated for free!!

Part of the "10 Ways to Look at the Past" exhibition [at] National Gallery of Victoria

The time finally came for us to head over to Chin Chin to try and get a table, but was told at 5:45pm that it was going to be a long wait, so we hung out at Go Go Bar downstairs. Eventually we were joined by one of our favouritest couples, and we gobbled/comsumed/inhaled whatever Chin Chin could offer us.

"We are soooo, like, kewl", 'cos we hang out [at] Chin Chin 

The next day, me and my work colleagues, with our partners, and our doggies, made our way to the Abbostford Convent, where the Suppermarket was held. There was a live band, food stalls, and other stalls selling what-not.We had decided to go out that evening in celebration of my birthday as well as my other colleague's, whose birthday was only 5 days after mine.

 

 Suppermarket [at] Abbotsford Convent

The next day, a dear friend shouted me lunch at Albert Street Food & Wine Bar in Brunswick. I don't  catch up often enough with her, so each time we do meet up, the time is treasured.

Albert Street Food & Wine Bar [at] Brunswick

The Husband had organised this little lunch date for me, so he could spend the day shopping and preparing a magnificent Chinese seafood dinner feast that night for me and a group of friends.On the menu were Charlie, Coco and Cameron:

Angus curious about the temporary pets...

The Seafood Feast! [at] home

Thus concluded my birthday almost-week long celebration. Many thanks to The Husband of Husbands (inside joke) for cooking up such an incredible spread and being an even more incredible husband.

I think back on my birthday, of the people I have journeyed and shared life with for at least a decade or two and realise once again I am so incredibly blessed with incredible relationships.

Farewell, Food-Outs!

I was first adamant that I wasn't going to have a blog solely dedicated to food. I mean, c'mon, I have a life that is NOT just about food!

I began to blog about eating out on this blog, but soon realised that this personal blog, where I'm meant to post about my personal journey, was being FILLED and overrun with FOOD posts! Clearly my little hobby was turning to a slight obsession.

So alas, the time had come for me to choose to compartmentalise my (mild) obsession with talking about food into its own blog.

So I welcome you to bid adieu to the Food-Out label, and hop over to visit I came, I saw, I ate (http://veni-vidi-voro.blogspot.com)!

FOOD-OUT: Sichuan House [at] Melbourne CBD

The Husband often talks about the places he'd go for lunch with his colleagues but when we go to dinner we often just end up at some same old place. Which results in me going, "eee, you never take me anywhere...". But yesterday we finally made plans to go to this Sichuan House that he had been raving on about.




The interior is nothing to shout about- there was still a Christmas Tree-looking decoration on the wall, with a "fook" (good luck) sign (for lunar new year) stuck in the middle of the Xmas tree. Not exactly artistic nor impressive.

There was a bit of a commotion when we arrived about 7pm- the credit terminal was down, so people had no choice but to pay cash, to the stress and horror of the Aunty who looked like the owner. We were able to be seated immediately but the queue soon became incredibly long.




The first page of the menu had a "spicyness" legend- note "tongue burning hot"!!

We (despite being Asian) could only stomach mild and moderate chilli, so steered away from "tongue burning hot". I also had to insist that we ordered 1 dish that wasn't red and orange in colour.

The sole "chilli-less" dish (as according to their "spicy-ness" legend on the menu) was yummy. Slivers of pork tossed with a mix of veggies. Loved the crunch of the tea tree mushroom.

Omigawd this was eye-rollingly good. Like an Asian, ultra-intense version of the eggplant chip- crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, tossed in some sticky-sweet chilli sauce. A must-order. Rated "mild chilli".

Rated "moderate chilli", I managed this dish just fine. But I must admit, I did pick through the bits, careful not to eat any dried chilli. Also another yummilicious dish!! Loved the roasted peanuts in there too- they balanced the tenderness of the chicken just fine. Yum yum!


Overall judgment?

Looking very much forward to the next visit!

FOOD-OUT: Lentil as Anything [at] Footscray

I've been talking about wanting to come here to try for ages and ages - had made plans with an
ex-work colleague to catch up here since last year (last year, being a month ago :) ) but we ended up having to cancel on each other.

FINALLY, about a week ago, we managed to find ONE day when neither of us were ill and we could actually meet up!

 How it works (apologies for the bad photo)

I've never actually eaten at any of the outlets before, but I've noticed that the Abbotsford Convent one does get busy. I like the concept, about how you pay what you can for your meal. Those who can afford to pay, pay; and those who can't, don't. Unfortunately I have heard that the business has not been doing well, which is a pity - it makes you question how it may be possible for a business to show grace but still be sustainable.

Buffet setup

Anyway - Lentil as Anything, Footscray, has a buffet set-up - you grab a plate and pile on what ever you can (I can just hear my mum right now, "make sure you finish everything on your plate! Do you know how many starving kids there are?!")

My plate o' dinner

Oh - did I mention that it's a vegetarian restaurant? 

I piled on some salads, some curry, some pasta but loved the dhal best (that's the orangey-red blob of lentils on the bottom left hand of the above photo). Dessert was apple-crumble - not a massive fan.

Had a coffee after dinner (espresso machine present) and it was actually not bad!

My friend J and I had a discussion during dinner about what would be considered a reasonable amount to put in. After discussion, we agreed that if you could afford to pay, anything between $15-25 would be a reasonable amount.

What do you guys reckon?

FOOD-OUT: Waffee [at] Altona

Having heard about this Waffle and Coffee (hence, Waffee) place from friends who travel all the way from the city, I decided that it was definitely a must-try place. After all, it's only a stone's throw from work!

So far, I've been here twice, and the coffee and waffes have not disappoint.

 

Do my eyes deceive me?! A rosetta this far out in the west??!!! Hurray hurray!!

Waffle display

Half-dozen assorted waffles served

Initially I had expected to see large waffles serves with syrup and ice-cream ( I suppose these are the American ones that I'm more familiar with, rather than the Belgians ones that these guys make); so I was surprised to see neat and dainty looking ones. Textures are lovely - crisp on the outside, dense and a bit doughy in the inside. Flavours include the raspberry & white chocolate (a tiny bit more expensive, but it's pretty darn special - think jam donut in a waffle form drizzled with white choc!), chocolate (stick or glaze), cinnamon, blueberry, coffee, amongst a few others.

There's pretty much nothing else apart from  waffles and coffee (or tea/chocolate/etc) but it makes an awesome morning/afternoon tea break! Or an early morning (think they open at 7:30am on weekdays??????) more-than-decent coffee.

Yum.

Score 1 for 'da west side! 

FOOD-OUT: Reverence Specialty Coffee and Tea, Ascot Vale (VIC)

 Busy for an opening weekend

We paid a visit the first weekend these guys opened shop - a coffee buff friend, E, knew that the owner(s) has something to do with Atomica Coffee (or something or rather), so the coffee was going to be good. It's always exciting to witness the growth of great coffee on 'da west side.

The coffee was good, which is great! Always exciting to see a COE (Cup of Excellence) on a coffee menu!! But one of the wait staff seemed to struggle with the more complex coffee questions, e.g. "what would you recommend on the filter?" Response, "er... black coffee" or something to the same extent. She did quickly go and ask someone else and came back promptly with a more appropriate response. So we'll let that one slide as it was only their first weekend!!

Being a brekkie person, I was keen to give the breakfasts a go; but turned out the lunch items looked way better, but we couldn't yet order them :(
But we were mightily impressed that the coffee and drinks menu was equally extensive as their food menu (drinks menu overleaf of food menu) :)

Breakfast Roll - Bacon, fried eggs, housemade BBQ sauce

I must admit - we weren't too terribly impressed when this came out. For starters, the roll wasn't warm nor toasted. I'm sure some people would prefer their roll as-is, but perhaps offer the option of having the roll toasted? S, who ordered this, felt it was okay, but nothing fantastical. I'm still wondering how they fried the eggs so prettily :P

Scrambled Eggs w/ Sausage and Mushrooms

As usual, the Husband ordered the big breakfast. The sausage was so delicious! It really tasted like meat, instead of those highly processed cr@p. One thing that would improve this and make it really good is to serve it with a tomato relish. That'll really add some freshness and tang to the dish.

Ricotta and Buttermilk Hotcakes w/ Coconut, Lime and Fresh Berries

If I had ordered this, I'd happily finish it up. The toasted coconut and lime did make this a special dish, but J, who ordered this, felt that the hotcakes could be improved on. I was very happy with the flavours when I had a taste, but looking at the photo now I do think they look a wee bit flat. Making them a bit more substantial (fatter hotcakes, or an additional hotcake) wouldn't hurt either.

Heirloom Tomatoes w/ Avocado, Feta, Basil on Garlic and Shallot Toast

I had no regrets ordering the heirloom tomatoes - I thought I had the best dish on the table. The flavours were delicious and fresh. The freshness of the tomatoes was balanced by the creaminess of the avocado and the cheese. Great tasting dish. Only gripe - the bread. I don't know why, but I wasn't too impressed with the texture of the bread. The flavour was yummy, but I could not help but think the texture of the bread reminded me of what people usually get from the local supermarket. MAYBE it was just too light, instead of the denser bread we get at fancy restaurants or the ones made by Phillipa's? Apart from that, yummos! I'd be more than happy to eat it again.

Overall, it was very busy for their first weekend, so well done for getting everything and everyone served with minimal issues! Great coffee; good-ish food; but at least for now, if you're from the other side of town though, it's likely that you'd find several cafes with more impressive food on the way. 

But it's a wonderful cafe to have in your neighbourhood - a blessing to the Ascot Vale community and nearby surroundings. And by the looks of it from that first weekend, Ascot Vale has embraced it with open arms.

All the best, Reverence!

FOOD-OUT: Rockpool Bar & Grill, Southbank (VIC)

I must admit, I was feeling apprehensive about our visit to Rockpool. The Bar Menu seems to get great reviews, but opinions about the restaurant itself seem to be quite polarised, and I generally feel a wee bit apprehensive about 'chain' restaurants. Wanting to make the most of our visit, I spent a good few days perusing the menu and blog posts.

It was relatively quiet when we got there at 6.15pm, but it filled up very quickly. We were soon joined by our friends and were ready to order.

Hand-cut Linguini with with Spanner Crab and Spicy Prawn Oil ($30.0)

Bloggers had talked about this dish, and their other pastas favourably, so we decided to give it a go. The crab and linguini were both extremely fresh and delicious, but it tasted tomyum. This was very unexpected; I had tried to steer away from anything Asian-inspired. Hmm, unfortunately as much as I loved the way the linguini and crab were cooked, I could not help but imagine that if Rockpool had a "spicy prawn oil" disaster, they could have subsituted it with the flavouring packet from this:

 

MAMA's tomyum-flavoured instant noodles

As much as I loved the linguini and crab, needless to say I wouldn't be ordering it again; certainly not for $30 a plate.

Cape Grim dry-aged 36 month old, grass-fed,
Rib-Eye on the Bone, 350g, 65 days ($60.0)

We'll begin with the steaks. My online research indicated that the Cape Grim Rib-eye would be a good one. I was not let down. Although I've eaten nicer textured steak elsewhere, this steak is amongst the most flavoursome I have ever eaten. It must've been the wood-fire that really adds the flavour. The steak, with the tiniest bit of harissa, was ultra-flavourful. Yum yumm yummos.

J and K ordered the Cape Grim dry-aged 36 month old, grass-fed, Fillet 250g ($55.0) - J ordered his rare, which came out fine. K on the other hand, had asked for medium-rare, but felt it was more medium to medium-well. This was slightly contentious, so it wasn't sent back, as the steak was cut into 3 pieces- the middle piece was certainly medium-rare, but the other two were indeed more medium to medium-well. M ordered the Cape Grim dry-aged 36 month old, grass-fed, Scotch Fillet 220g 4+ Marble Score ($49.0). Being Asians, we were happy to share food all around, and the general consensus was that the steaks were incredibly flavoursome. But I was extremely satisfied with the rib-eye.

Grilled Rock Flathead Fillets
with Wood Fire Grilled Vegetables and Olive & Caper Salsa ($49.0)

Being incredibly bossy, I made The Husband order a non-steak dish, just so we could go halfies and try something different. We both enjoyed the fish, together with the salsa.

SPECIAL: King George Whiting with rocket, chilli and something salad

S opted for the special - and he did enjoy it. I had a taste, and remembered that the fish was tasty, but nothing too remarkable. Personally, at fancy restaurants, I don't like seeing fins and tails on the plate.

Side Order of Onion Rings ($9.0)

This was another dish I read online that we had to get. They were seriously crunchy and yummy! They COULD have drain it for longer though; the last onion ring at the bottom of the bowl was sitting in a small pool of oil (which was kinda yuck, but I still had no trouble smacking it on my (by-then) empty plate a few times just to shake off some oil before shoving it into my mouth)

Side Order of Potato and Cabbage Gratin (S $9.0/ L $12.0)

OMG - this was 'eye-rolling'-ly good. I would have used my spoon and scraped the sides and licked it clean if I had been at home. So creamy, so flavourful - my-oh-my!

Caught a quick snap on the way out. Chef on the left: "Whatchu lookin' at?"

After dinner, I uhmmed and aahed over my overall opinion about our visit. It was enjoyable, and the food, especially my steak, were super-flavoursome, but I wasn't too sure about how I felt about the whole experience. Until I woke up this morning and kept thinking about the flavour of my rib-eye steak with the harrissa. 

Overall, the Cape Grim dry-aged 36 month old, grass-fed, Rib-Eye on the Bone, 350g, 65 days steak with side orders of Onion Rings and Potato and Cabbage Gratin are absolutely worth the visit.

The food was good, but the company even better. A special shout out to the wonderful, M and S, one of the fantastic-est couples I know, who shouted all of us dinner on this very special night out! THANK YOU and MUAKSMUAKSMUAKS!!!

Gastronomic P0rn0gr4phy of Sydney

Thus ends my intense bursts of blogging about our food escapades in Sydney. I haven't blogged about each and every meal; just writing about the highlights have been exhausting (though fun!). The detailed eating itinerary was as follows:

• Saturday
• Brunch: bills, Surry Hills (awesome, awesome, corn fritters)     Likes it
• Snack: sweet pastries from La Renaissance Cafe Patisserie, The Rocks      Likes it
• Dinner: Marque Restaurant, Surry Hills      Likes it  

• Sunday
• Brunch: Bourke Street Bakery, Surry Hills        Really likes it 
• uhmm... brunch: sashimi from Peter's, Sydney Fish Market       Likes it 
• uhmm... brunch: cooked prawns & lobster from Christie's, Sydney Fish Market  Doesn't like it 
• uhmm... afternoon tea: Adriano Zumbo Patissier, Pyrmont       Really likes it  
• Dinner: Red Lantern, Surry Hills  

• Monday
• Brunch: Din Tai Fung, World Square, Sydney       Likes it 
• Tea-time: Adriano Zumbo Patissier, Pyrmont       Really likes it 
• Dinner: Porteño and Gardel's Bar, Surry Hills       Likes it  

• Tuesday
• Lunch: Quay Restaurant, The Rocks        Really likes it 
• Dinner: Chat Thai, Haymarket        Likes it  

Maybe some time I will think about my wishlist for our next Sydney trip, but until then, I shall end the post with something we encountered on the last of our NUMEROUS visits to Chatime in Sydney:

HARD WORK - is obviously not a phrase in this person's vocabulary

FOOD-OUT: Red Lantern, Surry Hills (NSW)

We decided to make Red Lantern one of our food-stops on our Sydney food trip, after having watched Luke Nguyen do a Friday masterclass on Masterchef. He had talked about master stocks and how the master stock in Red Lantern was at least 10 years old, and so this intrigued me. Apparently in China, some master stocks are several centuries old and can be sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars!

After having made our reservation about 3 weeks prior, we rocked up on Sunday and were seated outside at the front of the building. The restaurant was far smaller than I expected - Red Lantern is situated in a Victorian terrace, below a block of apartments.

True to its name - so red, and so many red lanterns!

We ordered some herbal tea to accompany our meal, and it was very nice. Had lemongrass, ginger, licorice (I supposed very subtle, as I'm not a fan of licorice, and I still liked the tea).

Using the Husband's actual birthday as an excuse to pig out, we ordered 3 entrees and 2 mains.

ENTREE: "Goi Cuon" - Soft rice paper rolls

with prawns, pork, vermicelli, perilla leaves and garlic chives

We ordered the standard rice paper rolls to try how 'good traditional rice paper rolls' are meant to taste like. Everything was just very fresh, and had such fresh textures about it. Lovely.

ENTREE: "Banh Tom" - Aunty 5’s rice cakes
with tiger prawns, caramelized pork, pork floss and shallot oil

I really enjoyed this. I loved how the rice cakes were both chewy and slightly crunchy from being lightly pan-fried, and the pork floss on top of them. yum yum yum!!!

ENTREE: Chef's Special - Fried school prawns with coriander aioli

We decided to go for the school prawns because I was drawn to the coriander aioli. I really liked this too - we were able to eat the whole prawn, shell and all, and it was all just so very flavourful.

MAIN: "Ga Chien Don" - Crisp skin Burrawong pasture raised chicken
poached in master stock with ginger, shallot and oyster sauce 

Now this was the dish we came to try - chicken poached in master stock. And the verdict: Nice, but not awesome. Tasty, but not wow.

 MAIN: "Bo Luc Lac" - Cubed pasture fed Black Angus sirloin
wok tossed with garlic, sesame and black pepper.

Uhmm... the taste was oh-kay. I liked how the salad did add variety to the dish. But the beef I felt was not tender enough. I suppose I expected the beef to be cooked medium-rare, which it certainly wasn't. I felt this dish did not hold a candle to the ones Crystal Jade in Melbourne does.

Overall, it was a slight disappointment. I really really did enjoy the entrees, but that was part of the problem. The entrees were significantly better than the mains, so that we didn't, couldn't, end on a high. I'd maybe return to Red Lantern to enjoy the entrees, tapas-style. I also probably wouldn't mind coming back here if the majority of my dining party wanted to dine here (say for a reunion, or a birthday, etc) but I doubt I would voluntarily return on my own volition.

FOOD-OUT: Din Tai Fung, World Square, Sydney (NSW)

Of all the gin dumpling joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine Din Tai Fung.

We met another sort-of neighbour (who lives about 10 minutes away) G for an early brunch on a Monday, since we were both in Sydney at the same time. Being dumpling lovers ("oh xiaolongbao, how do I love thee, let me count the ways..."), trying out the self-proclaimed THE WORLD'S TASTIEST DUMPLING was a no-brainer decision. I wasn't holding too high expectations about how it was going to taste, as I remembered my sister(s) not being too impressed with the Din Tai Fung in Malaysia.

Anyway, we made our way to World Square, and got there at about 11.10am, and there were people already waiting for the place to open at 11:30!

The early bird gets the worm dumplings

We did a bit of shopping in World Square and returned to the restaurant at about 11:40am, and were seated quite quickly, though the queue was certainly building up.

We had to tick our orders down on a sheet of paper with the menu on it, and hand it to the wait staff. Dishes arrived fairly quickly, and we kept adding our orders, which were attended to very quickly as well ("uhmm... ONE more of this xxx, ONE more of this yyy and ONE more of this zzz...").

Lychee Mint Juice

Now THIS was something I would never dare to order, just reading it in the menu. Thankfully, The Hungry Excavator had recommended it on his blog, and I'm sure glad he did! Extremely refreshing - I'd love to try replicating this at home!

Xiaomai - steamed pork and prawn dumplings

I thought they looked odd, with the prawn placed on top of the dumpling, and tilting the top part of the dumpling to one side. Tasted nice, but nothing to shout about.

Ja Jiang Mein - Noodles with meat sauce

We decided to order noodles to add some variety to our otherwise dumpling meal. This was rather yummy - not particularly intense in flavour but it was enjoyable. Liked the texture of the noodles too! I also thought that the edamame was a great addition - they added another texture (firmness) and flavour to the dish. Mmm mm!

 Masked dumpling-making superheroes hard at work

Voila! Translucent xiaolongbao

We ordered two different types of xiaolongbao; the limited (and more expensive) crab xiaolongbaos, and the standard pork ones. What I loved most about the dumplings was the skin - so thin that you can see the soup inside the dumpling, but firm and strong enough to pick up without breaking it. Lovely.

I quite liked the crab ones, but the Husband and G didn't think too much of it. G liked the skin and textures of the dumplings, but wondered if somewhere out there there may be dumplings just like these ones with better tasting filling, as she wasn't WOWED by the flavour of the filling. I had no complaints whatsoever, as I continued to stuff my dumpling-shaped face full of dumplings.

Overall, I'd love to have a job travelling the world testing all the xiaolongbaos offered, to prove or disprove DTF's claim to World's Tastiest Dumpling, but until that happens, I'd be more than happy to come back here again on my next trip back to Sydney!