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Golden Fields, St Kilda

Melbourne Review Travel 5 Comments

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Kingfish, Avocado, Fresh Wasabi, Konbu, $8 (half portion)

“You’ll remember me when the west wind moves/ upon the fields of barley
You’ll forget the sun in his jealous sky/ when we walk in fields of gold”
Sumner, G., Bogdanovic, D. (1993) Fields of Gold [Recorded by Sting]. On Ten Summoner’s Tales [CD]. EMI Music Publishing

If you are into your food, you can’t go to St. Kilda without stopping by Golden Fields. This trendy eatery has been popping up on many an Instagram feed, accompanied by cries of, “Lobster roll! LOBSTER ROLL!”

What? Did you just name a tasty crustacean? Why, of course I would like to eat it!

Needless to say, when a restaurant is making such waves, there is bound to be more than one interesting thing on the menu. We are informed by the lovely waitress that the menu is designed to share – my favourite kind of menu! – and that some dishes even come in half portions.

First on the table was a half portion of Kingfish, Avocado, Fresh Wasabi and Konbu, $8. Fresh slices of kingfish was paired with delicate greens and creamy avocado puree, and while thoroughly enjoyable and balanced in its simplicity, didn’t hit any particular high notes for me.

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Grilled Octopus, Kimchi Bean Sprouts, $12

Next on the table was the Grilled Octopus with Kimchi Bean Sprouts, $12. Being a huge fan of both kimchi and octopus, this dish of tender octopus tentacles, shaved cucumber and tangy, crunchy bean sprouts was a dish I could see eating as a main for a light lunch. I loved how the bean sprouts were just lightly pickled and had a much subtle flavour than cabbage kimchi – the traditional kimchi recipe calls for a period of fermentation for the cabbage, bringing forth a much stronger sour flavour that can be an acquired taste.

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Rolled Pork Belly, White Kimchi, Yuxiang Sauce, $15

My aunt had actually visited Golden Fields ahead of me, and the Rolled Pork Belly with White Kimchi and Yuxiang Sauce, $15 came highly recommended. White kimchi is basically cabbage kimchi that has been picked without the kochukaru, or red pepper flakes, which contribute to its red appearance. It still retains all of its sour fermented glory, minus the spice. Yuxiang sauce (鱼香) is literally translated to “fragrant fish” sauce, and doesn’t actually contain fish! Instead, this salty, sour and peppery sauce with Sichuan origins is commonly used to flavour eggplant and pork. You know the eggplant dish in Chinese restaurants labelled as “fish flavoured eggplant”? Well this would be the sauce that they’re talking about.

The sauce, combined with the tangy kimchi and delicate slices of pork belly creates a mouthful that I truly enjoyed. I love how the different flavours – salty, spicy, sour – balance each other out, and yet maintain a certain sense of identity.

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New England Lobster Roll, Hot Buttered Bun, Cold Poached Crayfish, Watercress & Kewpie, $15

Ahh and so we meet. When we order a portion of the New England Lobster Roll, $15 the waitress politely asks us if we’d like to have our roll cut in half, because the portion is just that: one roll. We decline, and she thoughtfully brings us out a knife with our order in case we’d like to split it anyway. This roll is somewhat smaller than I expected: the whole bun is about the size of my palm. A rich buttered roll sandwiches chunks of cold, poached crayfish that is lightly dressed is Kewpie mayonnaise and adorned with delicate sprigs of watercress. Tasty? Sure. But worth the hype and the $15 price tag? Well let’s just say that I would have been much more satisfied ordering another portion of the pork rolls (above).

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Grilled Beef Intercoastal, Korean Chilli, Fried Shallot, $16

Cuts of beef that require long cooking times have become my absolute favourite – when a muscle works hard, thicker muscle fibres and more flavour is created. And you know what I say, bring on the beefiness! For the flavour, you’re paying the price in tenderness, so these cuts require a longer cooking time in order to break down connective tissue (collagen) into gelatine, which then coats the strands and provide you with a juicy mouthful.

Golden Fields’ Grilled Beef Intercoastal with Korean Chilli and Fried Shallot, $16, has brilliantly upped the ante on this cut’s natural beefy flavour – the salty spiciness of the chilli and light crunch of the shallots combine with the mildly charred pieces of meat to transform into a flavour-packed diet-busting mouthful. Total beer food.

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Marinated Eggplant, Silken Tofu, Coriander, Chilli Vinegar, $14

I have a love-hate relationship with eggplant. This vegetable can take on so many different textures and flavours depending on how you prepare it, that you never quite know what you’re going to get. It also has the easy ability to become hideously oily, which means that you can end up with a mouthful of oil with not much flavour if you’re not careful.

This Marinated Eggplant with Silken Tofu, Coriander and Chilli Vinegar, $14 was no slack in the flavour department, that’s for sure, but the silken tofu was actually what stole the spotlight for me. While the eggplant was pleasant, and provided a certain heft to the overall dish, the tofu provided a delicate pillow of lightness which, when combined with the acidity and spice of the chilli vinegar, completely lifted the dish to a whole other level.

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Pan Roasted Flathead, Clams, Spinach, Seaweed Butter, $36

In order to sample a dish from every section of their menu, we ordered the Pan Roasted flathead, with clams, Spinach and Seaweed Butter, $36. While there was nothing to fault – the fish wasn’t overcooked, and the clams were fresh and juicy – the dish was a touch lacklustre for me, especially when compared to the other items that they had on offer. I love the umami flavour of seaweed, but the butter component seemed to have provided no richness to the dish, so everything fell just on the bland side of things. I think I would have much rather ordered a few more small plates.

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Buttermilk Sorbet, Yuzu Curd, Tapioca, Soft Meringue, $13

Sometimes, having a good dessert can be vital to ensuring that all the hard work a restaurant has put in to making a good impression, isn’t ruined in the last run. And this Buttermilk Sorbet, Yuzu Curd, Tapioca and Soft Meringue, $13, really hit it out of the park for me. There seemed to be varying degrees of tanginess – from the sharp freeze-dried raspberries to the soft tartness of the buttermilk sorbet – juxtaposed with comforting textures – silky yuzu curd and chewy tapioca pearls – to create a fantastic note to end the meal with. Light and somewhat palette-cleansing, this dessert convinced my already-full stomach that maybe we could do with more food.

And we can always do with more food.

On other notes, the service was attentive and the decor was trendy, but nothing spectacular to remark about. I really liked how we had our plates changed between the waves of food that were brought out, and how the waitress provided helpful bits of information about the food when we were ordering. That being said, we went on a weekday lunch where it seemed like it was just us and three other groups, so I can’t accurately comment on what the service would be like during a rush.

Go to Golden Fields if you feel like grazing – it’s small tasty bites aren’t built for people looking for serious comfort food – it would be great for Friday gatherings after work.

We ate at:
Golden Fields
03 9525 4488
2/157 Fitzroy Street
St Kilda, VIC

Golden Fields on Urbanspoon

Taste of Sydney, 2014

Review 6 Comments

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Clockwise from top left: Suckling pig on a spit from 4fourteen, Woodfired lamb from Porteño, Mussels in Apple Cider from 4fourteen, the most bad ass name card holder I’ve ever seen

Once a year, Sydney’s top restaurants gather to offer tasting sizes of their most creative, iconic, popular dishes. Where gourmands and gluttons alike can gather and partake in all the hedonistic delights that culinary giants can offer. This is…
Of course, it would have helped if you read the previous paragraph in an epic, movie trailer voice.

Taste of Sydney happens at the beginning of fall every year, and I pretty much start saving up money from Christmas. Between the growing number of restaurants represented to the crazy cool offerings from food producers, I inevitably end up one full, but broke girl.
But man, is it a tasty road to a zero bank balance. The idea behind the Taste of Sydney is simple: Sydney’s most popular restaurants each get stalls at one giant event, and offer tasting sizes of their most popular dishes. Some even create special dishes just for Taste. And because the portions are small, you also often get to sample these dishes at just a fraction of the price of what you would pay at the restaurant, not to mention the chance to try a little something across the huge variety of restaurants all in the one day.
You pay with Crowns, which is the currency of choice at the Taste of Sydney. Elegantly loaded onto spending cards, Crowns eliminate the need for different machines and having cash on hand, which to me makes for a smoother experience. One crown costs one dollar, so there’s no crazy conversions that need to be made. These crowns are non-refundable, but it helps that the food producers also accept them, meaning that you don’t have to worry about not spending everything that you put on your card.
So, now that we know how it works, on to the food!!

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The first stop, 4fourteen/Four in Hand. I’d been to 4fourteen previously for Valentine’s, and the experience there left me absolutely excited to see what they have to offer. We got the Warmed Corned Beef with Bresaola, Buffalo Curd and Nashi Pear, 20 Crowns. This dish was a comforting amalgamation of beef on beef deliciousness. A moist, tender chunk of corned beef was sandwiched between two thin slices of juicy apple-like nashi pear, before being laid on top of a yoghurt-like buffalo curd and covered with wafer thin slices of salty, air dried beef that is bresaola. Every bite was melt-in-your-mouth scrumptious, with the creamy buffalo curd providing just enough tanginess to stop me from crawling under a warm blanket and descending straight into a food coma. A fantastic dish to start off the day, 4fourteen proves that they are as consistent in their vision as they are with their execution.

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Next stop, Longrain. I do love it when seafood and other meat come together to make a delicious marriage, so the obvious choice for me was the Dry Red Curry with Cloudy Bay Clams, ginger, holy basil and pork crackling, 26 Crowns. To be honest, I did baulk at the $26 price tag, but when the dish came out I understood why. The portion was much larger than I had anticipated, and I’ve never been more glad to have someone to share it with. Spicy both in the sense that it had the heat of chillies and was full of, well, spices, this curry hit me like a two tonne flavour truck that is hallmark of good Southeast Asian cooking. The pork crackling was a great foil for the texture of the clams, but I just couldn’t bring myself to finish the portion on a 31C afternoon. If only we had met under different circumstances.

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I cannot pass by an item like Efendy’s Panfried Lamb’s Testicles with Almond Tarator and Isot Chilli, 10 Crowns, so the decision was once again a clear one. I haven’t had lamb’s testicles before, so I’m not sure what I was expecting exactly, but I’m pretty sure that the burger patty-like texture wasn’t quite it. It wasn’t the most morish of dishes, but the pickled Isot chilli definitely helped things along. Not my favourite of the day since I wasn’t particularly keen on any of the elements, and makes me wonder whether I should have gone of the kebab instead.

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Porteño had me tossing up between the Woodfired Lamb with Potato Salad and Chimmichurri, 20 Crowns, and the Charcoal Grilled Lamb Rib, with Marinated Eggplant, Anchovy and Rosemary Pound, 12 Crowns. In the end we went for the lamb rib because how can we say no to luscious, fatty meat on the bone??? The rib itself was smoky, unctuous and delicious, but the eggplants weren’t quite as big a hit. I could see the intention of the eggplant – it provided a much-needed acidity to cut through the fattiness of the lamb rib – but it didn’t quite hit the spot as I suspected it was meant to.

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I was really looking forward to Jonah’s Fruit de Mer, 40 Crowns. Literally translated as ‘fruit of the sea’, Fruit de Mer refers to seafood that is plucked at its peak, like ripe fruit from a tree. Unfortunately, a lady with a big roll of masking tape was approaching the menu as I was approaching the restaurant, which could only mean one thing: they were sold out. This disappointing conclusion was confirmed when I tried to place my order and a look of sympathy crossed the nice lady’s face. She consoled me by asking if I would rather the Confit Huon Salmon with Wasabi, Radish and a Soy and Ginger Dressing, 10 Crowns, so we ended up going down that route instead.
The salmon was nicely cooked, as you expect confit anything to be, but lacked a bit of oomph. Some might say that we were meant to appreciate the light delicate flavour of the salmon itself, but it was just a touch too light and delicate for me. It was delicious salmon though, as Huon salmon is wont to be, but not quite the feast from the sea that I was hoping for.

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Chur Burger – one of the more wickedly cool burger joints in Sydney – had plenty to offer, and we went for two of their burgers: the Kinkawooka Mussel Fritter with Spiced Remoulade and Dill Pickled Cucumber, 6 Crowns, and the Wagyu Rossini with Shaved Foie Gras, Truffle and Madeira Jus, 18 Crowns. The master of all things sandwiched between buttery brioche buns, Chur burger did not disappoint.
The mussel fritters were quite delicious and moreish on their own, and were just slightly overpowered by the richness of the other ingredients. Personally, I enjoyed it much more after I took the top bun off – I have a thing about bun to filling ratios when I eat a burger – but each element was delicious and balanced on its own, as well as with the other bits that made up the burger.
The Wagyu burger was an absolute powerhouse of flavour with a creamy truffle sauce and rich burger patty, and once again, the lady-like sizes of the burgers completely belied their ability to fill you up. These satisfying and rich burgers hammered in that final-nail-in-the-full-belly-coffin, and the only thing that kept it from absolute perfection was that the beef patty was slightly more medium-well-done than medium rare, making it a touch drier than what I know they can produce.
I still think that creamy truffle sauce deserves to be on the regular menu, though.

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As close as we were to calling it a day and rolling ourselves on home, I still insisted that we had to stop by IconPark and sample their range of eateries. 
IconPark is basically like the Kickstarter of food – instead of restaurant founders having to talk to some administration person at a bank to try and get funding for their big dream, the power is put into the hands of the eaters, and you get to choose which concept you’d like to support by making a donation of your choosing. It’s a win-win for everyone, you get to help out the concept you believe in the most, and allow small establishments that might not have made it, a shot at the food scene. 
We only had space for one dish – I wanted to try them all, but I’m not sure that death by overeating would’ve been the most glamourous way to go – and we ended up with Sedgewick Ave’s De-boned Free Range Chicken Wings, with Grilled Watermelon and Light Blue Cheese Sauce, 10 Crowns. Crispy spiced pieces of chicken wings were covered in a creamy sauce, and grilling brought out a different, addictive texture to the sweet watermelon. It wasn’t overly moreish for me – I’m sure due to the fact that I was already stuffed to the brim – but it was good enough that I wish I left room to try some of the others, like I had planned. 
As usual, we leave the Taste of Sydney thoroughly satisfied and filled to the absolute brim with good food. And if the abundance of fabulous restaurant dishes didn’t get to me, I’m sure that the free samples at the many food producers tipped me over the edge and straight into a food coma…

Zzzzzzzzzz….

A cheat's way to enjoy Singapore Chilli Crab without all of the work!

What I ate: Cheat’s Chilli Crab Pasta

what i ate 4 Comments

Whenever I mention that I’m from Singapore, the first thing I get asked is, “Do you make Singapore Chilli Crab?” Well, the answer is that I don’t yet, but in the meantime, I totally have a cheat’s method of enjoying all the shiok-ness of Singapore chilli crab without all of that work!

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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?

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.

What I ate: 2 Ingredient Mango Froyo

what i ate 1 Comment

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.

Light, refreshing, and perfect for summer

Pomelo Salad

Recipe 6 Comments

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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Pancakes shaped like the minions from Despicable Me

Minion Pancakes!!!

Recipe 3 Comments

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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