In continuing our foodie weekend in Melbourne, and despite being still relatively full from breakfast at European, we lazily headed towards the heart of Melbourne’s CBD for lunch.

Lord of the Fries, I belatedly found out, is a vegetarian burger joint. It has two burger joints actually: one is a store front with two sides opened towards Flinders St and into Flinders St Station, and the other is a tiny store on the corner of Elizabeth St and Flinders St. It is unmistakeable with its bold white on red sign and the line of people impatiently waiting for their turn. The lack of seating on the Flinders St side (there are several communal benches inside the station) had us finding a shady spot on the steps of Federation Square (off to the side of course to avoid being trampled on). It was kind of fun actually – kind of like a fast food picnic!

The restaurant boasts of having a lot of yummy sauces to go on your hot chips, as well as two sizes of burger to choose from. Their website proudly shows off the dimensions of the burger, but like with everything else, it’s kind of hard to really grasp how big they actually are until you see it for yourself.

Regular-sized Burger with Spicy Patty ($5.45), and Mini-sized Burger with Original Patty ($2.95)

How to hold your Regular-sized Burger *nom*

(...)
Read the rest of Lord of the Fries, Melbourne (784 words)

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2009. | Permalink | 15 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: vegetarian

There were only a handful of Chinese restaurants (that I saw anyway) about 5 years ago, which was the last time I was in Berlin. Now it would seem that Asian restaurants have become more prominent – and not just Chinese or Vietnamese restaurants, there’s also Korean, Japanese, and Thai.

Sida’s restaurant front looked more like a store than a restaurant (and perhaps previously it was one) with its display windows filled with authentic looking Thai dolls and decorations. To be honest, I thought it was one of those specialised country travel agencies.

Walking into the restaurant, I found myself a bit googly-eyed at the decorations – there were quite a bit – and right at the back of the restaurant was a mini pagoda?! That definitely made me dumbstruck for a few moments, especially when I noticed little statues in various Thai dance poses. I found myself rather fancying the murals though – not one wall was the same.

It took us a while to order as I was still rather dazed at the decor – wondering how best to capture it on the camera (and failing judging from the lack of decor photos) – and my brother never had Thai before, which I found it rather difficult to believe (but he’s mainly at home in front of the computer, so I guess I shouldn’t have been too shocked). A few minutes after ordering, the waitress placed a strange object on the table.

The said strange object

I realised that it was a heating tray to keep food warm (let me know if I’m wrong). Interesting! I didn’t think the restaurant room temperature was that cold to warrant one, but I thought it was rather neat and stared at the flickering tea candles inside (why are they always so strangely compelling to stare at?).

Asia Cocktail - Green tea with lychee and mango (2,15€ per pot)

No long after, our beverages arrived, with it my “Asia Cocktail” tea. The lychee was very faint, but the mango flavour did linger on the tongue. Overall, it was a bit sweet though it wasn’t too cloying to make me feel sugared-out by the end.

Large Prawns in Wonton Skin with Spicy Sauce (5,90 €)

I very nicely asked my brother for a piece – purely for EST review purpose of course – but he wouldn’t let me have any and I watched the prawns disappear though the vegetables were left untouched. He gave the dish a 4 out of 5 stars, citing that the spicy sauce wasn’t spicy at all.

Pad Sieu - Chicken (8,45 €)

There’s something about Pad Sieu (besides its numerous variations of spelling) that I can’t help but be obsessed about; it is only with great effort (i.e. being bullied by the company I have at dinner/lunch) that I would choose something else. This time I felt fairly justified in choosing this dish, as I wanted to know how the Germans stacked up against my favourite (but dirty) Thai place in Glebe.

It was pretty decent actually – I’ve had worse from some Sydney places. There wasn’t too much sauce or egg and there was a good amount of vegetables (some places I know would overload it with vegetables and then throw in cabbage for some bizarre reason, making it taste a bit funny – but I digress).

Pad Thai - Chicken (8,45 €)

I chose this dish for my never-had-Thai-before-honest brother, as I thought it would be a good introduction to Thai food: it’s similar to some Vietnamese dishes, so it wouldn’t be too strange or out there for him to eat. I personally don’t know what the fuss is about Pad Thai, I find most places make them too sweet to my liking, but anywho my brother said it was “okay”, though he did give out another 4 out of 5 stars.

I am beginning to wonder what his scale is based on.

Laab - Salad with minced duck (12,50 €)

My cousin and his friend ordered this dish and the menu states that it’s a North Thailand dish. Never having seen it before, let alone taste it, I was given a spoonful to try. Oh my goodness, it burnt my taste buds off – it was that hot. Sadly, because it was so hot, I didn’t know what it tasted like.

Yen Ta Foo - Rice noodles with fried Wontons, baked large prawns, fish balls, squid, Thai water spinach (12,00 €)

My cousin’s friend had this dish and she added garlic chilli oil, chilli flakes, and chilli sauce right after I finished taking the photo. She didn’t like the fried tofu and thought the dish was so-so (though I don’t know what she could have tasted under all that chilli stuff on top of being sick).

Gaeng Pet - Red Curry with crispy duck, pineapple, lychee, and battered basil (11,20 €)

The duck was wonderfully crispy with a perfect layer of fat; it was also kind of spicy so I could only manage one piece of it (I know, I’m pretty chilli retarded… I’m sorry). I did try the sauce: pushing past the burn factor, the curry was quite sweet (which I attributed to the lychee and pineapple) and light – quite yum actually.

Gaeng Pet - Red Curry with Tofu, vegetables, and coconut milk (8,65 €)

My cousin’s other friend (who wasn’t sick) had this dish and she reported that it was okay – the coconut milk, which she isn’t too fond of usually, got a bit much near the end though and so she couldn’t really finish as much as she wanted.

Complimentary Non-Alcoholic Pina Colada Cocktail

We asked for the bill and we got this non-alcoholic Pina Colada instead… and then the bill a couple of moments later. Although I wonder why they would give complimentary drinks afterwards, I downed it anyway without a question; lip-smackingly tasty.

Thai-Restaurant Sida had excellent service and the price was pretty decent for the location. Don’t forget to grab a (free) cherry lollipop in a massive fish bowl on the way out!

Thai-Restaurant Sida
Ahornstr. 32,
Berlin Steglitz,
Berlin, 12163
Germany
Ph: (030) 7923670

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2009. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: poultry, Seafood, vegetarian

Sam one day sent me a link to the Mahjong Room, asking if I was interested in playing Mahjong whilst having lunch. For most of the time, anything involving food piques my interest, but it was the thought of playing Mahjong while eating (for some reason) that really intrigued me. Despite having a Chinese background, I have never played this age old game before (I don’t really see the tile-pairing matching game on the computer to be ‘true’ Mahjong).

I know, shocking, isn’t it?

It’s been a while since I went and have unfortunately forgotten our host’s name, but he gave us a brief introduction to the history of Mahjong, then proceeded to go over the main objectives and rules. We were to learn the very simplified version of Mahjong, as we only had two and a half short hours to learn and play it (and it’s less confusing what with not having to worry about the points system).

It was a bit hard to fully understand it a first, but both our host and Sam assured us that as once we started playing, we’d get the hang of it.

Oh noes! It/'s crooked!

We first played an open hand to get us used to the rules (and kind of have more of an idea of what the heck we were doing), which Ram won.

Our host would walk around to the tables, helping where confusion reigned and explained a lot of things, but we were rather glad that we had Sam – it was as if we had our own private tutor! Hehe, technically we did.

Absolutely love doing this! So much fun

We were served tea as soon as we were seated, but during the second (but now closed hand) game, we started to wonder when they were going to serve lunch – I, for one, was rather hungry (not having had breakfast and all).

It wasn’t until we were almost finished with our second game that our first dishes were served. We then realised that while the table was perfect for playing Mahjong, it wasn’t near big enough to eat at, at the same time. Our dishes were placed on any free space and, lacking that, on top of the tiles.

San Choi Bao (with Vegetables)

Our host had come around and asked us if we had any special dietary needs – Ruby raised her hand and said that she’d prefer not to eat meat, but seafood was okay. I thought it was nice that they remembered she was the aquatarian on our table, so all the special dishes were placed in front of her.

Ruby tells me that the vegetable San Choi Bao was quite delicious and I could quite help but be slightly envious by the generous portion size: she had two bao’s to our one-each.

San Choi Bao (with Chicken)

We were given bowls and chopsticks, but it was a bit awkward with the lack of room to put anything down. I’m quite sure I used the bowl to capture any errant saucy drops from the bao.

I loved how crisp the fried noodles were and how the sauce didn’t overwhelm the flavours of the moist chicken or fresh vegetables, but rather, it enhanced them. It was quite a joy to eat.

Or maybe it was so because we were quite hungry. Either or, we loved the San Choi Bao and ate it with much gusto.

Shallot Pancakes

Being not the biggest fan of shallots, I wasn’t expecting to like this dish – I love being proven wrong when it comes to food. The pancakes were made just right, so that it wasn’t over powered by the shallots, but it wasn’t hiding the flavour either – allowing the shallots to subtly add to the overall taste.

There was a tomato dipping sauce, but I didn’t think it added anything to the pancakes and was just as good eaten plain.

We got two slices each (I think one was eaten prior to the photo being taken *shake fist*).

Boiled Vegetarian Dumplings with Choy Sum, Black Fungus, and Pressed Tofu (I think)

These were lightly flavoured and while it was pretty decent, it wasn’t as memorable as say the San Choi Bao.

We got one each. There seems to be a trend of eating one of everything – in a way, it was such a teaser, kind of like an amuse bouche (hehe I’ve been watching Top Chef lately and just wanted to use it, my bad). If anything, it was making me more hungry rather than filling me up!

Tiger Prawn and Chicken Wontons - Minced Prawn and Chicken wrapped in Crispy Pastry

I personally adored how crunchy the wontons were, and they weren’t overly oily either. The slightly sweet-sour sauce nicely complimented the contents within, which tasted quite fresh and well-cooked (succulent, not rubbery).

Definitely wished I had more of these to eat.

Xiao Loong Bao - Shanghai style steamed Pork Dumplings

I can never get over how cute these always look (yes, even the mangled one on the right).

The broth inside was a little salty, but the meat wasn’t too bad though it wasn’t quite up to the standards of the bao from New Shanghai or Din Tai Fung.

I’m quite sure Ruby got something else since this was pork and she absolutely abhors the taste, but I must not have taken a photo of it… *gasp* Terrible! I’m not certain why I didn’t – I’m sure I had a good reason… I hope. Sorry!

Blue Swimmer Crab Gow Gee - Poached Dumplings served in Light Broth

More dumplings! These were okay, but sadly it was the last dish (I think we were a bit crest-fallen at the fact).

The dishes had consistently come out quickly once we started eating, but so involved in our game were we that we didn’t realise that they had stopped. We kind of looked at each other and wondered if that was it. Sadly it was.

(And sadly, we were still hungry).

We managed to squeeze in two more games (in which Ruby and I won respectively) before the end of the playlunch session.

The Mahjong Playlunch sessions run for 2.5-3 hours and cost $36 per person, which includes the dim sum “nibbles” (which I’m quite sure they’ve amended since last time I checked the website – if I had known, I would have eaten something beforehand!) above. Check the website for the dates of the sessions, as there are only 2 sessions held on every second Saturday of the month this year.

Booking is essential, where you must book in groups of 4, 8, or 12. I initially emailed them for a booking, but was politely requested that I call in, as they grab your credit card details in the event of a cancellation (full cost applies if cancellation is within 3 days of the session, or something like that).

Mahjong Playlunch
312 Crown St
Surry Hills, NSW, 2010
Ph: (02) 9361 3985
Web: http://www.mahjongroom.com.au/

Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday, 6pm to 10.30pm

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: chicken, dumpling, pork, Seafood, Sydney, Sydney, Surry Hills

Birthday dinner #[something] was celebrated at the newly crowned Sydney’s 2009 Best New Restaurant of the year, Berowra Waters Inn. Situated 45 minutes or so north of the city, Berowra is a nice leafy suburb on the fringe of Sydney. For me, this was closer than travelling to the city so we found this very convenient. There are two roads down to Berowra Waters depending which part of Sydney you’re coming from. As there is no car access to the restaurant, they provide a private ferry service from a public wharf. I thought this was one of the “cool” and unique things about this place.

But what a drama-filled night we had! Firstly, we didn’t see a sign that said “Gates are locked at 7pm”. We had just arrived at 6:55pm and by the time we walked from the car to the wharf, the gates were closed and locked. FAIL #1. Luckily, my brother was close by, so he kindly came to pick us up afterwards. Also, there is hardly/no mobile reception down at Berowra Waters. So after dinner, we were taken back to shore… and alas my brother was nowhere to be seen. After walking around for a few minutes and me profusely unable to call him, luckily I remembered he *may* have come down the other road, so J caught the car ferry to the other side of the river. Thank goodness he was there! So FAIL #2.
Just a warning foodie friends!

A photo to brighten up this post!

Welcome to Berowra Waters Inn

But back to our wonderful dining experience …

What I like about Berowra Waters is that they change their menus every weekend. It shows how creative the chef can be with the type of cuisine and their produce and ingredients. In 2007, Dietmar Sawyere of Forty One, took over and re-invented the vibe that once surround this modern-designed restaurant located at a waterside location by Berowra Waters.
There is a choice of four, five or six degustation courses to choose from a variety of dishes. J chooses the six course and I choose the five. Prior to this night, we studied the menu to strategically choose different dishes to try.

As a “pre-dinner snack”, we were given…

A crisp bread/biscuit, topped with raw salmon and salmon roe

I am a HUGE fan of roe so I munched this down very slowly. It was a nice stater to open up my taste buds and palette. I thought the crisp bread overpowered the salmon and roe a little bit though, but still great!

The bread and butter was tops! The butter was a french butter – thick and creamy. J couldn’t stop himself from devouring the whole thing. The sad part of this was, we had to ASK for the bread (the waitress had given bread to the table next to us LONG before their meals started. *tsktsk*.)

Sweet corn soup

I love how restaurants serve these espresso sized soups as part of the meal. It’s simple and gives that extra touch to the experience. Corn is one of my favourite vegetables and I’m overjoyed when I hear tonight’s soup is sweet corn soup. The soup had a nice corny and creamy flavour to it. What a great start!

Chilled Vichyssoise, Sterling Oscietra Caviar, Oyster Beignet

This was my FAVOURITE meal of the night…. only because of the caviar. The caviar was nicely complimented by the savoury flavour of the chilled vichyssoise (as wikipedia tells me is a french-style soup). The oyster beignets could be describe in simple terms as a “tempura oyster”. It was FABULOUS. The crunch factor was still there and the oyster was very fresh and juicy.

Butter Poached White Asparagus, Watercress, Parmesan Crème, Quail Egg Croustillant

J’s first meal. The quail egg was cooked just to perfection.. the yolk was still runny. The creme accentuated the sweetness of the white asparagus.

Grilled Sea Scallops, Pigs Trotter Picatta, Cauliflower, Parsley & Caper Salad

The sea scallop was cooked near rare. It cut through very easily and the meat was simple and fresh. The pigs trotter wasn’t what we expected. J didn’t realise that was the pigs trotter and thought it was average.

Fillet Of John Dory, Green Asparagus, Salted Grapes, Verjus

The BEST part of this dish were the salted grapes. It gave an interesting sweet flavour to the fish when eaten together and was a wonderful accompaniment for the whole dish. I savored every grape till the end.

Slow Cooked Ocean Trout, Green Beans, Almonds

 mmmm! The ocean trout was cooked just as I liked it – rare. Interestingly, there was a paper-thin piece of “bacon” on top of this. It added an extra tinge of saltiness to the trout. Very nice!

Crisp Langosutine Tail, Fresh French Chanterelles, Truffled Potato Butter

The truffled potato butter was FANTASTIC! I’m a HUGE fan of truffle. I order truffle whenever I get the chance Chanterelles is a type of mushroom (as wikipedia tells me). I nicely drown each piece in the truffled butter. The langosutine (yabby-like crustacean) was wrapped in a spring-roll type skin, which made it very crunchy (I drown this in the sauce too).

Spaghettini Pasta, Aubergine Caponata, Buffalo Mozzarella, Micro Coriander, Chilli Oil

This dish was ordered because of the buffalo mozzarella – a trip to Italy converted me into a buffalo mozzarella lover. I like the weak flavour of the mozzarella and this went well with the tense flavour of the aubergine (otherwise known as eggplant).

In recent times, I’ve seen MANY restaurants serving their dishes with “micro” leaves and herbs. I’m loving this! Just because they are micro, the herb flavour is not lost… in fact, I think it’s stronger! Small doses = big flavour.

Roast Saltwater Soaked Quail, Spinach & Buffalo Ricotta Ravioli, Rosemary Veloute

As quoted by J: “This is the best quail I’ve ever had EVER.” (he’s only said this once for every type of meat, so this is a rare statement.) The quail was cooked medium rare. Every bite J took of the quail, out came a “mmmmm” to follow. He says the meat is very soft, tender and very juicy. Definitely a dish to try!

Grilled Organic Pork Loin, Celeriac, Lemon Date Puree, Salted Walnuts

The plate of this dish was pretty cool. I liked how there was a little part for the sauce. The pork was cooked medium rare and the salted walnuts added that special touch to this dish.

By the end of our “main” degustation sized meals, we were utterly stuffed! Then, I remembered… DESSERT!

Pre-dessert: Cherry jelly with berries and champagne froth

I found the champagne froth a little strong but enjoyed the jelly immensely! It was a nice sweetish flavour. Nothing too overpowering.

Tasting plate of the desserts of the night

Minimum of 2 guests only. This was a selection of all the desserts including:

1. Espresso Granita, Mascarpone Sabayon, Hazelnut – Ricotta Cake

The granita had a very strong coffee flavour but when sampled with the mascarpone, it taste just like a drinkable coffee.

2. Lemon & Lime Tart, Strawberries, Sweet Basil

I LOVED the tart! Usually I don’t like lemon tarts because of their strong lemony flavour, but this was JUST right – not too strong but just enough lemon. The sweet basil sorbet was “interesting” – not a strong basil flavour but I wasn’t sure that this was suppose to go with the tart…

3. Vacherin Of New Season Raspberries, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

MMMM! This was wonderful! The raspberries were nice and sweet and I love the berry sorbet & vanilla bean ice cream combination. My favourite!

4. White Chocolate Panna Cotta, Poached Pear, Black Olive Caramel

The panna cotta was nice and creamy but not too creamy that it would break easily. There was some dark chocolate served with this – one of the BEST chocolate I’ve ever had. I couldn’t stop eating it. It was not too dark, creamy and tasted wonderful with the panna cotta.

Sadly, because I knew my brother was waiting for me, we passed on the petit fours and tea/coffee. At Forty-one, the tea was the BEST part of the meal. Oh well.

Overall, Berowra Waters Inn is a fantastic dining “experience” for those after romance, relaxation and fine food. I have HIGHLY recommended this place to many of my couple-y friends. Service could be better because, to be honest, it is the ONE thing that ruined this whole experience – it wasn’t what I expected but it wasn’t entirely bad either.

HOWEVER, it does deserve its “Best New Restaurant of the year” title for the food, decor, atmosphere, interior design and location. I just LOVE the fact you have to catch a private ferry to the restaurant… *sigh & grin*

Berowra Waters Inn

Website: Berowra Waters Inn
Pick up by private ferry
Public Wharves (east and west) 
Berowra Waters NSW 2082
Phone (02) 9456 1027
Fax (02) 9456 2027

© teresa for eatshowandtell, 2008. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: romantic, Sydney North

Walking back to our car, turning the corner into Bourke street, we witnessed a queue descending from a small open way. Deciding to see what all the fuss was about, we joined the queue. After a quick 5 minutes, the actual store was finally in our view, and boy were we glad we joined the line. Staring back at us was a glass wall filled with Tarts, Croissants, Baguettes, Panini and pizzas, to name a few from the top of my head. As we inched closer towards the door, we were gobsmacked to find that we were actually in line at Bourke Street Bakery. To be honest I didn’t even realise it was it, because I couldn’t find the name Bourke St Bakery stated anywhere on the store! From the good reviews expressed by grabyourfork and notquitenigella which we have read previously, we couldn’t contain our excitement for what we’re about to eat.
[pictobrowser howiet 72157607157068856]

Chicken Pie

Prior to being served, we made a mental list of all the things we wanted to try. L is a person who doesn’t indulge in red meat, she’s always reliant on chicken for her meat fix, thus first on the menu was the chicken pie. The flaky buttery crust was filled with large chicken pieces, bathed in a molten cheese and mushrooms and sprinkled with fragrant herbs.

Lamb, Harissa and Almond sausage roll

I remember I use to love the sausage rolls you would get at someone’s party. Since then, I’ve had a soft spot for the Australian party classic. Bourke St Bakery has put a gourmet twist to the conventional sausage roll by using lamb, harissa and flakes of almonds as it’s filling. Much like the pie, it is flaky and generously filled albeit a tad too oily. The almonds are interesting as they add a bit of texture to the roll.

Goat cheese and mushroom quiche

Cheese and mushrooms go hand in hand with everything and it was no surprise that this quiche was delicious. The goat’s cheese is creamy as expected and despite the simplistic contents of the quiche I am left very satisfied.

Strawberry & vanilla creme brulee tart and Chocolate tart

The Strawberry and vanilla creme brulee tart is probably my favourite of all the tarts. You can tell a good creme brulee by the toughness of the toffee. One bite into this gem and you’ll hear a satisfying ‘crack’ , followed by oozings of creamy creme brulee goodness. A nice surprise was the inclusion of strawberries in the tart as well. The pastry used in the tart itself also deserves a mention. It is baked so perfectly that it doesn’t fall apart like alot of others and tastes almost like a well constructed shortbread biscuit.

If your after a chocolate fix I highly recommend the Chocolate tart. A very generous amount of rich and creamy chocolate is encased in the tart. The chocolate still holds its form, it’s like eating out of a jar of nutella.

Lemon curd tart and Raspberry & chocolate mousse tart

Next up was the raspberry and chocolate mousse tart. The light and fluffy mousse together with the raspberry was quite close in flavour to a bar of Cherry ripe. The chocolate was very rich, almost dark chocolate like.

We had a bit of room left for the lemon curd tart which was perhaps a bit sour for my liking, however it still left a positive lasting impression on my taste buds due to the perfection of the tart base which perhaps subdued the overpowering lemon curd a little.

Bourke St Bakery has impressed me so much that I wouldn’t hesitate to line up again to see what they have to offer. On the other hand, let’s just hope the next sale we go to isn’t an epic fail.

Bourke St Bakery
633 Bourke Street , Surry Hills (Corner Devonshire Street)
Ph: (02) 9699 1011
Open : Tue-Fri 7am-6pm, Sat-Sun 8am-5pm

© Howard for eatshowandtell, 2008. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Sydney, Sydney, Surry Hills