Winter is the season for noodle soups, and I don’t discriminate! From chicken noodle soups, to one-pot man soups, and everything in-between, noodle soups are the perfect all-in-one dish to soothe a cold and rejuvenate a tired body.
So why not expand your noodle soup horizons with this version of a Persian classic?
Ahh the (not so) humble burger. Ranging from the gourmet to the downright coronary-inducing, the traditional beef burger and all it’s variations have become the comfort food of many, and is a symbol of Western culture.
To celebrate National Burger Day, Chur Burger is giving away 800 burgers today, starting at 11am.
And for those of us who can’t make it, here are 6 ways to get more burger in your life.
Sausages have been underestimated, I think. Relegated to Sunday sausage sizzles, and often served up smothered with ketchup, the humble sausage is often associated with “kid food” and “mystery meat”.
But really, not all sausages are created equal.
A basic red sauce is so versatile. Just tweaking aromatics and spices can turn it into a sauce from almost any culture. And it’s not only a culinary chameleon, it’s also freezer friendly!
So when I had a tub of red sauce defrosting in my fridge, I just knew that I had to do something different with it – I had already made lasagne and spaghetti bolognese, so what about meatballs?
Given that we had been eating a lot of pasta, I knew that I didn’t want to have meatballs over more pasta. So, inspired by the smells coming from the local bakery, we decided that meatball subs were in order!
But before that, the food.
I first visited Chi and Co as part of a Canley Height Food Crawl organised by Thang from Noodlies and the Fairfield City Council. We tried their signature tapas dishes – from pulled beef sliders to spanner crab on betel leaf – and were plied with expertly mixed cocktails.
So when they offered another chance to dine with them, I said
“HELLS YEAH!”
We knew that we wanted to order different dishes to what we had tried previously – can the rest of the menu stand up to the high standard that was set before?
Well the Son-in-Law Eggs (pictured above) were very cute, and very flavourful. I loved the savoury sauce on the top of the egg that lent a smoky spiciness to the deep fried eggs. What I wasn’t so crazy about, however, was the hard boiled egg yolk. Yes, I know that traditionally the eggs are hard boiled before they’re deep fried, and for these eggs not to have the grey ring of overcooked yolks shows finesse in execution. But really, I’m not a hard boiled egg person ordinarily, and I was really hoping to have a gold liquid centre.
Yolk porn man, YOLK PORN!
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We also ordered the Duck Spring Rolls. Pieces of savoury duck and juicy shiitake mushrooms are wrapped in an egg wrapper, then deep fried to crispy perfection. Now it might just be that I’ve got low expectations – I’ve never had spring rolls blow my mind before – but these were really good. It almost didn’t need the sweet syrupy plum sauce that it came with – there was a complexity and just pure yumminess that left me speechless.
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| Salt and Pepper Squid |
If a restaurant tells you that something is a signature dish, then you just gotta order it. And well, we just have a weakness for Salt and Pepper Squid. Our first impression was that the squid could be a touch crispier – yes it was a nice light coating, but there was a distinct lack of crunch – but the balance of seasoning was actually really sophisticated. Too often we’ve had this same dish in other eateries that have left us grasping for water, or popping a mint because of all the garlic, but this one was light enough on the salt that we were very happy demolishing the whole plate and fighting for the last piece.
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| Braised Beef Short Ribs |
Besides all the share plates, we thought we might have enough space to squeeze in one more main. I’ve got a thing for beef anything lately, and these Braised Beef Short Ribs with pickles just called my name. We also ordered rice and roti to accompany it – and to mop up the sweet sticky glaze – and sat confident in our ability to be little piggies and eat all the food.
Well, no. The beef was rich, and which was artfully balanced by the pickles (we would have appreciated a larger serving of pickles though), but we really shouldn’t have ordered both rice and roti. I much preferred the rice to go with the beef, but the roti was quite pleasant on its own – those crispy buttery layers make this the puff pastry of South East Asia.
As always, it was a lovely experience, and we were well taken care of. If you drop by, be sure to try something off their tapas menu – you can read more about that in this post.
And now, for the best bit. If you’ve read this long, I applaud and thank you. And if you’ve just scrolled to the bottom because you WANT THAT VOUCHER, I respect that too. Either way, you can enter below – leave a comment, tweet this post, or SHOW ME SOME LUUURRRRVE.
Good luck!
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| Source: Daremoshiranai |
Nothing in this world is original anymore, so they say. Well, who needs originality when you can just combine things that already exist! It’s called building on previous knowledge right? So here are 5 delicious food love-childs that have made the world a better place.
LET’S EAT ALL THE FOOD!!
1. Waffle Sandwiches
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| Source: odonata98 |
Sandwiches are awesome because they are so easy to eat and waffles are awesome because they are fluffy clouds of happiness with a crisp exterior and the perfect surface area to soak up sauce. And we already know that waffles aren’t just a sweet food – chicken and waffles anyone? So delicious is this love-child that The Huffington Post did a round up! Read all about it here.
2. Cronuts
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| Source: ccho |
Created by Dominque Ansel at his bakery in New York, the Cronut is basically croissant dough that has been shaped into a doughnut, then deep fried, filled with custard and iced, just like a doughnut. Now I don’t know what kind of late night munchies created this artery clogging dessert, but it’s one magnificent piece of work. So magnificent, in fact, that imitations have popped up all over the world. People are still queueing up round the block at Dominique Ansel’s bakery, and scalpers are selling these babies at about $100 a pop! So rich I would suggest sharing, you can try a version of it in Sydney at Adriano Zumbo’s patisseries.
3. Ramen Burger
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| Source: ManEatManila |
I’m still not sure what kind of college late night memories inspired ramen burger creator Keizo Shimamoto, but I think that this is a delicious win either way. Many recipes and imitations have popped up around the world, and some of them include involved steps like including egg whites, to freezing the ramen ‘buns’, to other more elaborate steps to ensure a compact bun that can support the patty but still have a nice tender bite to it. In Sydney, On-Ramen has debuted their own version of the ramen burger, to mixed reviews.
4. Chicken Fried Steak
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| Source: Jeff |
So this is not exactly new, but delicious nonetheless. Steak is coated just like southern fried chicken, and fried in chicken oil. Paired with a hearty gravy, this dish to me screams comfort. Kinda like a schnitzel, but not! Try making your own with Alton Brown’s recipe, here.
5. Wafflegato
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| Source: Hungry Go Where |
Dominique Ansel has been at it again, this time creating a Belgian Waffle flavoured ice cream, to replace the traditional ice cream in an affogato. While it might not be as big a leap as some of the other food love-childs, this is definitely adding the sense of theatre back into dining, something which I think that we’re sorely lacking. And I can appreciate a little bit of drama. 😉
So have you tried any of these food mashups? What do you think? Let me know about any of your favourites that I’ve missed out!
In the words of Game of Thrones, winter is comingggggg.
And with the cold weather, comes the perfect occasion for stews and curries. And that, my friends, speaks to my comfort-carb-lovin’-self. So what better way to kick off the cold weather than to make a seafood curry?
Victor Churchill, to me, is an absolute wonderland of charcuterie and meats. I’ve previously written about my work experience there – culminating in meeting Anthony Bourdain! – and how much in awe I am of head chef Romeo Baudouin’s food philosophy. He taught me that within running a business – that is, keeping an eye on being profitable – there is space for good food and good practices. There is so much that goes into every product that he puts up into those glass cabinets, I still don’t know where he gets all the inspiration. So when Google City Experts invited me to canapés and drinks at Victor Churchill, I absolutely could not say no!
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| Source: JBloom |
There’s a new app in town: Pareup’s plan is to reduce food waste by creating a “mobile marketplace for excess food”. The idea behind it is that food retailers often throw food away at the end of each day, sometimes because of safety standards, but sometimes because they need to preserve their brand: some prepped food aren’t nearly as good the next day, and quality can diminish super quickly when food is stored overnight. But what if they could make a profit from the excess food?
Would you buy it?
Well, it’s not a foreign concept in Australia is it? Many food retailers – like those little Japanese kiosks that sell takeaway boxes of pre-made sushi, or those Asian food court stalls that sell stir fries out of a bain-marie – heavily mark down their prices at the end of the day, in a bid to clear out all the excess food that can’t be sold the next day.
Currently still in its youth, Pareup has paired up with a few bakeries and coffee shops in New York, hoping to minimise food waste. And that, is a cause that I can get behind. Read the Huffington Post Article here.
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| Photo from Dorli Photography |
With Mothers’ Day just around the corner, breakfasts in bed are the meal du jour! But hot food on an unstable surface? Excited kids jumping on the bed? Breakfast in bed can be a disaster waiting to happen. Here are 6 things to avoid when planning that perfect breakfast in bed!
1. Forget to feed everyone else
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| Photo from Stephanie Kilgast |
So you bring in a beautiful breakfast to Mom, on a hand-carved wooden tray for one. It gets placed over her lap, and she thanks everyone. She picks up a fork to begin eating…and everyone is staring at her hungrily awkwardly throughout the rest of the meal. Eating alone is not fun! Why not grab a picnic blanket and lay out breakfast for the whole family to have together?
2. Tall glassware
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| Photo from Susan Lucas Hoffman |
Maybe you want to include a Mimosa to top off the breakfast tray, or maybe you want to garnish with a long stemmed rose in a tall water glass. Either way, tall glassware filled with liquid is your worst enemy when you’re mobile. Tall glassware = high centre of gravity. If you haven’t spilled it already while bringing the tray to Mom, it will spill while she’s having breakfast. Maybe use a low-ball glass instead? There’s also no shame in a covered coffee cup.
3. Biting off more than you can chew
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| Photo from Adrian Milliner |
It’s not nice waking up to a smoke alarm going off. Don’t attempt a recipe for the first time on the morning of, with kids and pets underfoot. Not confident about making a hot meal? Yoghurt and fruit parfaits are absolutely acceptable, and something that anyone can throw together! She’ll appreciate something executed well more than an imminent disaster being created in the kitchen.
4. Give her flaky food
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| Photo from Steven Depolo |
Buttery, flaky croissants may seem like a fantastic idea for breakfast in bed, but when all the little flakes fly out all over the bed, guess who’s the one who needs to clean it up? Besides, she’s the one who’s going to sleep in the crumbs later that night. And icing sugar? Yikes.
5. Serve in cookware
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| Photo from Susy Morris |
Individual ramekins of baked eggs look beautiful, and the frittata that is baked in the cast iron pan may look like something out of a cookbook, but it’s not a good idea to have scalding hot pans and bakeware while having breakfast in bed. See reason #2.
6. Stress out about it
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| Photo from Dimitris Papazimoulis |
At the end of the day, Mom just wants to hang out and enjoy the company of her family. An easy, relaxed morning is so much more enjoyable than presenting a fabulous breakfast with a tense atmosphere.
So chill out, and feed yo’ momma! Or you know, mother of your children. I’m sure she’ll love it.
