By now, I think most people will notice how obsessed I am with Japanese food. To say I’m obsessed is probably an understatement, I don’t know what’s stronger than obsessed, but that’s definitely me. Every month, my small group of high school friends try to meet up at least once, just to catch up on work and lack of social life. Trusting my judgement they delegated me the role of choosing the dining venue, suprise suprise, it was Japanese food.

Since I’ve never been to Japan, I rely on the thoughts of people who have been. My dining companion, H, has been to Japan a couple of times, he assured me that the quality of sashimi and nigiri served in Azuma is one of the best in Sydney and is the closest to what he had in Japan. Azuma provides great food, fantastic service and complimentary parking in the heart of Sydney, what more could you ask for?

Throughout the last couple of months, to alleviate my withdrawal symptoms from Masterchef addiction, I dabbled in a couple of side projects, the Adriano Zumbo Mousse Cake, and the Aria Chocolate tart. I had soo much fun tackling those two recipes that I decided to join the Daring Baker’s Challenge. This month marks my first forray into the secrect baking society that is the Daring Baker’s Challenge (DBC).

To celebrate a good friend J’s birthday, Howard and I along with a group of friends got together to attempt a French Laundry themed dinner. The reason why we chose French Laundy is that J will be going to America next month, however due to time constraints she’s unable to visit Thomas Keller’s famed restaurant.

After a somewhat succesful outcome of my attempt at the Adriano Zumbo mousse cake, I thought it was fitting that I attempt Matt Moran’s chocolate tart which was the final hurdle in the pressure test challenge for the Masterchef finale. For any Masterchef addict, I would recommend that they attempt to make a dish that they’ve seen on the show, regardless of how complex it looks. Give it a go, you never know what you’re capable of.

We’ve all seen this cake on Masterchef but I decided to challenge myself and try make Adriano Zumbo’s Chocolate Mousse cake. Four hours and seven layers later and the challenge is complete. How did I go ?

The Mandarin Club has undergone heavy renovations recently. One of the new additions is a modern japanese restaurant called Satsuma. I’m usually a bit skeptical with ‘modern’ and ‘fusion’ type restaurants, but Satsuma gets a little more than a pass mark for it’s effort.

Kushiyaki Azuma specialises in traditional Kushiyaki, Sushi and Sashimi. It is best paired with a comprehensive list of sake, beers and wine. Housed in a contemporary setting, it is definitely one of many up and coming places in the Sydney CBD. Kushiyaki Azuma proves that there is more to Japanese food than sushi, tempura and sashimi.

Throughout the last year, the awesome bloggers that we have met has inspired us to do better and more importantly motivated us to continue. Imagine our surprise when we found out the big cahoona Christy from Fig&Cherry actually considered us a good enough food blog to mention to Pru from Mint Partners, hence our exclusive invite to the Taste of Sydney Media Launch.

Intrigued by most people’s obsession for dipping fries into their thick shake or sundaes, I was inspired to create my own version, using creme brulee instead as the recipient for the crispy salted fries.