Date Archives October 2010

Smoke gets in your eyes…

Review 1 Comment

You gotta love a barbecue buffet!! There’s this new place down the road from us that opened a couple of months ago, and it’s a Chinese barbecue buffet. Myriads of skewers are laid out in metal trays, and you pick your fill of them, before cooking them right at your table!

There’s a charcoal rotisserie type thing right at every table.

You insert the skewers into the groves and they turn turn away!

Sean and I tried one (or two) of everything!

At the beginning, it takes a while for the food to cook, and we have a strong belief that staring intently at your food will help it cook faster!

They also have a selection of sides, but it really isn’t anything to scream about. Although…I really got hooked on the pickled radish…

For those who aren’t skewer fans, there are also grill thingies provided, which allow you to barbecue pieces of steak on the hot coals.

They also give you a little holder for the skewers! I think that between Sean and myself, it was a good effort.

Sean’s quite happy with his food.

Overall, it was a good experience. It’s about $30 per person, but it’s about the average price for an all-you-can-eat. I would’ve liked more variation in the marinade, but it was still really good! Personally though, I’m more a fan of the Korean table-top BBQ.

Definitely worth a try though, if you haven’t been before.

Meidi BBQ House
100 Church St Parramatta
NSW 2150
(02)9635 9098

Meidi BBQ House on Urbanspoon

Somewhere, beyond the sea…

Recipe 5 Comments

Made Salt-Baked Fish the other day!! Surprisingly easy, with fantastic results, although it’s such a waste that you can’t have the skin. =( I like fish skin.

So.

Ingredients:

About 500g course salt (sea salt is better if you can afford it)
Zest and Juice of 1 lemon
1 Egg
Chilli flakes
Pepper

White fish (whole, you can’t do this with a fillet)
Thyme
Bay Leaves

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Mix together the ingredients for the salt covering. I used lemon-y chilli flavoured salt here, but you can experiment with the different salt flavours. The lemon does permeate the fish really well though, and the aroma that wafts around the house while it bakes is absolutely fantastic.

You also need to add some water to the salt – it should be the texture of wet snow.

Stuff the fish with the thyme and bay leaves. I’m pretty sure (something to try the next time) that you can try other herbs as well, like lemongrass and the like. Then lay the fish on a bed of salt.

Then cover the fish with salt, and bake for 35-40 mins. (It’s really supposed to be 40, but I really hate overcooked fish, so I stopped at 35 just to be safe, because the salt retains a lot of residual heat, and the fish will keep cooking for a bit.)

When it’s done, take the fish out, carve open the salt crust, and voila! Beautiful, succulent fish that just flakes off.

Oh, and remember to line whatever roasting tray you use – salt will ruin your tray otherwise.

Bon appetit!

This little piggy went to market…

Review 2 Comments

Last weekend I went to the Nabiac Markets to have a look around. It wasn’t as big as I was used to, but there were really interesting things available!

There were many potted plants up for grabs. Everything that you could want in an edible garden was sold there.

I even found strawberry plants with a tiny strawberry shyly peeking out through the lush green leaves!

Inside, there were some food stalls showcasing their wares. 

I didn’t get anything from the inside bit of the market though. I did, however, get these three little beauties on the way out.

The hot chilli chutney was good, but really tasted like apple sauce with chilli in it. Don’t take the “hot chilli” label at face value though, it’s really not that much of a kick, more like a subtle warmth. It really grew on me though, I kinda like the idea that I’m eating adult apple sauce lol.

Now, as a rule, I’m not the biggest fan of capsicum. In this case however, it’s not bad at all! Yes, it does taste quite distinctively of capsicum, but the jam-iness smooths it over and makes it really pleasant. I still wouldn’t use it in large amounts (just cause of personal “dispreference”) but it’s still really good.

I think out of the three I like this the best. The sweetness of the tomato brings out the natural sweetness in the chillis, and I think the heat that runs through this balances it very well. It’s like slightly mushy salsa, without the tang. Subtle, but not. Me likey.

Looks like it’s cold meats for a while then. 😉

Happy munching.