Posts by tammi

4Fourteen, Surry Hills

Review 1 Comment

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Maybe it’s because I’m a glutton for the weird and wonderful, or maybe it’s because I have strange preferences, either way, when I heard that 4Fourteen offered an offal set menu, it became the next big place on my eat list.

Because I naturally have food associated ADHD – also known as the ‘Piggy Eyes’ – and cannot just order single items, I went through the menu and had a field day. I had considered ordering the 4 course menu for $75/person, but with two diners, that meant that we could have 8 different dishes, instead of 4!

The menu consists of smallish items that are meant to be shared and enjoyed amongst friends. The I don’t know whether the courses come as they are ready, or whether it came in a particular order to create an arc to the dinner, but whatever it is, everything struck me as deliberate and well thought out, contributing to the overall dining experience.

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Fennel and Yoghurt Ice Pop, King Alaskan Crab, $10

The Fennel and Yoghurt Ice Pop with King Alaskan Crab was light and almost fruity in its flavour. The ice pop brought a light tanginess, with the fennel proving accents of liquorice. It was an enjoyable salad in itself, but in my opinion, the ice pop was just a touch too large, making in mildly difficult to eat – especially when I’m the kind of person who likes to have a little bit of everything in every mouthful.

Our Pan fried Duck Eggs with Ham Hock, Black Pudding and Red Pepper came next, and was impressively set down with frypan in tow at the table. The pale yellow yolk of the egg trembled and wobbled with every shift of the pan, and oozed lusciously when it met with the prongs of my fork. The black pudding was gnarly and dark in its texture and flavour, and provided a hearty richness to the dish. Hits of capsicum relish provided the lighter notes, and the chunks of ham hock provided a great texture and bite. It was absolutely a delight to eat, and every rich bite was savoured with delight.

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Glazed Lamb Ribs, Pickled Cabbage, $10

The Glazed Lamb Ribs were simple and tasty, but in the light of the more imaginative dishes on the menu, fell a little more towards the average side of things.

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Chargrilled Lamb’s Tongue, Sweet Cucumber, Cos, Mint, $19

I’ve only had lamb’s tongue on a few occasions, and have always been fairly ambivalent towards it. But given the reputation 4fourteen has with offal, I was looking forward to the Chargrilled Lamb’s Tongue with Sweet Cucumber, Cos Lettuce and Mint Jelly. This beautiful, light salad was a fresh way to serve dainty pieces of what could be a chewy piece of meat in an extremely delightful salad. The mint jelly was an absolute surprise – I’m not the biggest fan of mint sauce at the best of times – and there was a moorish quality to it.

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Herb Crusted Bone Marrow, Chimichurri, Grilled Bread, $16

Bone marrow is one of those foods that may seem like an odd idea to some, but is actually the most unctuous, luxurious treats when you get to try it. I think it started as an absolutely brilliant effort to eating every last bit of the animal, and is now starting to reach cult status. The Persians have it in stews, the Southeast Asians make a strong soup fragrant with spices. Here at 4fourteen, it’s served simply – topped with woodsy herbs and browned to release a sweet, oily flavour that coats the tongue and the roof of the mouth, giving me the most primitive sort of high.

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Smoked Beef Brisket, Roast Potatoes, Onion Rings, $36

At this point in the meal, we were actually quite satisfied and full, but there was just one more dish to go – damn those piggy eyes! – and the Smoked Beef Brisket arrived, humble and unassuming, topped with monster roast potatoes that were crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. The brisket was hearty and dark, with the smoky flavour carrying through to the sauce it sat in. Nice as it was, the bone marrow simply topped the meal for me, and half the dish ended up in a doggy bag for my lunch the next day.

The whole experience at 4Fourteen was thoroughly enjoyable – the service staff were just attentive enough, which meant that I got to ask all the questions I wanted to ask, but at the same time got the opportunity to enjoy our dinner in peace. The food was delicious and comforting, like sitting under a thick quilt on the coldest winter day, and each dish was deliberate and balanced – something I was immensely impressed by. I also felt that the food was absolutely value for money, especially for the quality that we enjoyed.

Definitely something to go back to, even if it’s just to try the rest of the menu!!

We ate at:

4Fourteen
Surry Hills
414 Bourke St
Sydney, NSW 2010

4Fourteen on Urbanspoon

Pepsi Next, Product Talk by Nuffnang

Review

When the days are hot and stifling in its humidity, I always crave a cold sweet drink to quench my thirst. Which is why I was really excited when Nuffnang offered me the opportunity – as part of Product Talk by Nuffnang, to try the new Pepsi Next.

I only ever crave sodas in very specific situations – like the aforementioned hot sticky days, and warm summer barbecues with friends and family- and Pepsi Next brings me a different sort of sweetness. It’s sweetened with Stevia, which is extracted from a plant. Stevia has zero calories – which is useful for you if you’re watching that sort of thing – and the human tongue perceives Stevia as many times sweeter than sugar in the same concentration.

Stevia is not completely understood yet, and studies are still being conducted about the effects of Stevia on the body. There have been studies that suggest that sugar alternates are not effective for diets since it doesn’t actually satisfies the body’s sugar craving, but really, who drinks soda for health reasons? No. You drink soda because you enjoy it and it’s tasty! At least, I do.

It does have a great flavour, and gives me that little sigh of satisfaction when I have that soda craving.  So that’s enough for me.

If you’d like to try Pepsi Next for yourself, just head on over to their Facebook page for the chance to go for a taste test!

Have you tried it? What do you think?

What I ate: 2 Ingredient Mango Froyo

what i ate 1 Comment
This simple two ingredient recipe makes a thick and creamy frozen yoghurt, in no time at all. Here it's served in an ice cream bowl, with fresh mango on the side.

Summer, the season of sweet ripe fruits and plenty of inspiration! So what do you do when you buy mangoes in bulk and they’re ripening at a faster pace than you can eat them? Make delicious desserts of course!

There is definitely a place for elaborate ice creams and cold, icy sweet treats when the mercury is rising and sweat is beading on your forehead, but I find that it’s so easy to fall into the trap of depending on a large amount of frozen treats to cool off.

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Spiced Pumpkin Ice Cream

Recipe 1 Comment

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Sometimes you plan to do things, and sometimes things get away from  you. I had originally wanted to do a pumpkin ice cream for the Christmas/Thanksgiving season, but kept putting it off and putting it off…and so here it is now!!

I used this David Leibowitz’s recipe for pumpkin ice cream, just with a few tweaks here and there. I steamed the pumpkin instead of roasting it, because I wanted a slightly lighter flavour, and instead of the 180g of pumpkin puree the recipe called for, I used about 540g, because that was the amount of pumpkin I had and I wanted to compensate for the more lightly flavoured pumpkin puree. I also used thickened cream, instead of double cream, which would have reduced the fat percentage even more. The result was a slightly denser ice cream, with slightly less air whipped in due to the lesser percentage of fat in the final custard.

It reminded me of warm, sweet, spiced pumpkin breads that I used to get from the bakery, but in a cold, creamy package. If you’re a fan of the pumpkin, I definitely recommend that you try this ice cream.

Pomelo Salad

Recipe 6 Comments
Light, refreshing, and perfect for summer

Happy Lunar New Year y’all!!! May you prosper, enjoy good grades, languish in good health, live a long life and just generally have a good time in the year ahead. If you’re not familiar with it already, Chinese New Year happens in the first 15 days of the lunar calendar cycle, and I see it as an excuse for Chinese (and Vietnamese and Thai) all over the world to see their family and friends, and party and feast hedonistically and guilt-free for slightly over two weeks.

Which is why I would like to share the recipe for this pomelo salad – pomelo is meant to signify abundance so it’s lucky to eat. And besides, it’s darn tasty.

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Minion Pancakes!!!

Recipe 3 Comments
Pancakes shaped like the minions from Despicable Me

If you’ve watched Despicable Me – and its sequel – I’m pretty sure you’ll agree that the Minions absolutely stole the show with their adorable antics and costumes. Naturally, children love them too. So in a bid to win my young nephews’ affections – it is, after all, one of their favourite shows – I made them Minion pancakes! And with inspiration from Pinterest, I’ve learnt that there’s only one thing you need to make any cartoon pancake you want.

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Alan Wong’s, Hawaii

Hawaii Review Travel 2 Comments

If you’re into your fine dining, then Alan Wong’s would be a must-go stop when you visit Hawaii. Alan Wong is one of the top chefs synonymous with Hawaii fine dining, and his clever use of unique local ingredients with international knowledge and techniques really impressed me when I visited his other restaurant – the Pineapple Room.

So with the amazing experience from the Pineapple Room still flowing through my veins, I arrived at Alan Wong’s with anticipation bubbling in my belly.

When I head to a restaurant like this, I always try and go for the fanciest tasting menu they have to offer, because I figure that the food on there would be thoroughly representative of the dining establishment. The Chef’s Tasting Menu – featuring eight courses – really caught my eye, but I was informed that they required the whole table to order the menu, as the number of courses would leave some at the table waiting for me to finish eating while they had no food, which would not contribute to the dining experience. Fair enough.

So the next best thing that I could order was the six course “Tasting of the Classics” ($85 per person, $125 with wine)

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First and second courses: “Soup and Sandwich” – Chilled Hamakua Springs Tomato Soup with a Grilled Mozzarella Cheese, Foie Gras and Kalua Pig Sandwich, and Chopped Ahi Sashimi and Avocado Salsa Stack – Stacked on Crispy Won Ton, Spicy Aioli and Wasabi Soy

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Third course: Butter Poached Kona Cold Lobster – Keahole Abalone, Hamakua Heritage Abalone and Eryngii Mushrooms, Green Onion Oil

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Fourth course: Ginger Crusted Onaga, Long-tail Red Snapper – Miso Sesame Vinaigrette, Mushrooms and Corn

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Fifth course: Twice Cooked Short Rib, Soy Braised and Grilled “Kalbi” – Gingered Shrimp, KoChoo Jang Sauce

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Sixth course: “The Coconut” – Haupia Sorbet in a Chocolate Shell, Tropical Fruits and Lilikoi Sauce

The food was of a high quality, and utilising fresh, flavourful ingredients. Standout dishes for me were the Kona lobster (it’s hard to go wrong with fresh lobster as long as you don’t overcook it), the Twice Cooked Short Ribs (surf and turf! And short ribs always carry lots of hearty beefy flavour), and “The Coconut” showed an immense amount of creativity and technique. A balloon was used to create a chocolate shell, and rolled in desiccated toasted coconut while it’s wet. Then when it’s set, the balloon is popped, and it’s filled with haupia (coconut) sorbet, and an indent is made with a small bowl or ladle. Once that’s set, the edges are hand-carved with a knife, to create the cut-open-coconut look. Incredibly impressive.

One of the courses impressed me a little less, like the snapper course. I’m not the biggest fan of snapper to begin with – it’s a fish that dries out wayy too easily, and has a tendency to be ‘squeaky’ when it’s overcooked. The fish here wasn’t squeaky, but it definitely left me reaching for the water after a couple of bites. I would much prefer they included the butter cod that was also on their menu, but I understand that it’s not within their theme of the ‘classics’.

In all, I much enjoyed my experience at the Pineapple Room better. At Alan Wong’s we were seated at an incredibly noisy area where the waiter had to constantly yell at us in order for us to hear him. He was also a little abrupt with one of us. Another waiter who brought us our food rattled through the description as though he couldn’t wait to leave, and didn’t bother waiting to see if we had any questions about what we ate. Then finally, when they decided to do damage control with my offended friend and asked her how her meal went, they asked her about a meal she didn’t have, which really made things worse.

Not the best experience although the food was decent enough. Maybe next time.

We ate at:
Alan Wong’s
+1 (808) 949-2526
1857 S King St
Honolulu, HI 96826

Alan Wong's on Urbanspoon


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Beer Brined Chicken Wings

Recipe 2 Comments
Wings, brined in beer and dusted with a spice mix. Perfect for a hot summer's day

With Australia Day just round the corner, I have been racking my brain trying to create a recipe to serve up to my friends. After all, isn’t Australia Day all about kicking back in the sunshine with a cold beer in hand, barbecue sizzling away?

Then it hit me. How do you match the barbecue and the beer? Beer brined chicken wings, of course!
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Sydney Festival 2014, Hyde Park

Review 3 Comments

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The Boss, $8, from Woofy’s

Okay, I must admit: I’m not much of a festival goer. I try my best to stay indoors for as much as possible, and the only reason I’d ever head outdoors is when I have to go somewhere, or where there’s food.

Which is why I was drawn to Festival Village in Hyde Park, as part of Sydney Festival 2014. Gelato Messina serving up carnival themed wacky treats you say? I’m there.

Sometimes you need a bit of savoury to go with the sweet. Or rather a savoury to prelude the sweet.

Or any reason to get a hot dog.
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Woofy’s Gourmet Sausage Sizzle had a stall there selling their gourmet hotdogs. The idea is that the base sausage is the same – Angus Beef – and you get to choose your toppings. The hotdog was satisfying and filling enough, but the two guys who were manning the stall over the late lunch period didn’t look particularly happy to be there. So, for $8 a pop, I could take it or leave it.

But now, for the pièce de résistance.

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For weeks now I’ve been taunted tempted by my friends’ posts about Gelato Messina‘s incredibly creative and intriguing carnival sweet treats. Pluto pup made with ice cream and pancake batter? Red skin and banana flavoured gelato lollipop? Duck fat caramel fudge on a caramel cheesecake gelato? BACON MARSHMALLOWS??!!

YES PLEASE!

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Top row: Messinaweiner (Plutopup) $9
Bottom row, from left: Samurai Fairy Balls, $7, So Wrong It’s Right, $9, Gelatofee Apples, $7, Eyescream Lollipops, $7

So my dining partner was gallantly dragged into ordering five desserts to share with me. The Messinaweiner was a hot (no pun intended!) favourite, with it’s pancake batter coated maple syrup gelato. The pancake batter added a kind of moreishness to it, but to be really honest I couldn’t really tell that the gelato was maple syrup and the sauce was plum-flavoured. It made for a delicious bite, but I was envisioning slightly more discernible flavours in my head. The Eyescream Lollipop was the most recognisable, and every bite screamed out Redskins to me. The pop rocks weren’t quite popping, but the bites were still delicious and easy to finish. I wanted the So Wrong, It’s Right to be right so badly, but unfortunately it didn’t quite hit the mark. Once again I couldn’t really discern all the flavours that were meant to be there – duck fat caramel, bacon marshmallow etc – but it really could be that my tastebuds were still rioting in protest to all the sugar. The Gelatofee Apples were a really creative take on traditional toffee apples, and the refreshing green apple gelato providing great balance to the creamy milk chocolate. The surprise gelato for me came in the form of the Samurai Fairy Balls, which had a yuzu popsicle hidden underneath a mound of pink fairy floss. I do wish there was a way to incorporate all of it in a single bite – we ate through most of the fairy floss before we got to the yuzu sorbet, which was foot stompingly tart and actually needed a bit of the sugar to temper it – but I really did enjoy the citrus kick of the yuzu sorbet.

In all, Gelato Messina took us on a crazy sugar-fueled roller coaster ride that left us in a sugar coma afterward. Two lessons to learn: Don’t order 5 frozen treats all at once to finish on a balmy warm night, and maybe it’s a good idea to space out that much sugar over a longer time frame.

If you’d like to grab your Gelato Messina fix, or enjoy the rest of the attractions at Sydney Festival 2014, it will be on till the 26th, so head on down to Hyde Park after 4:30pm, except for Mondays.


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