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Kiama, Part 1

Review April 4, 2013 3 Comments

I haven’t forgotten you, I promise! How has your long weekend been? It’s been a great Easter for me, and it all kicked off with a short holiday to Kiama.

I’m not quite the outdoorsy kind of girl, but I must say that Kiama has been idyllic. I’ve had a fantastic time strolling by the water, sampling the local cafes, and trying out some night photography!

What do you think?

I also really liked the quaint Scoops Ice Creamery, even if the service was slow. The ice cream though, was delicious!!! Just what I needed on a hot day.

How about you? What did you get up to over the Easter long weekend?

Jel-it-in, Queen Fine Foods

Review March 25, 2013 3 Comments

I LOVE receiving mail!!! So just imagine my surprise and delight when I received a box of Queen Fine Food’s Jel-it-in!

Jel-it-in is a vegetarian alternative to gelatine. Because gelatine is, by definition, made from animal products (you know how really good stocks set into a jelly? It’s thanks to gelatine!), many vegetarians cannot eat it. Imagine life without jelly! Well, besides agar agar as an alternative, which set much harder and more brittle than gelatine and so gives you a different effect, Jell-it-in is made from Carrageenan, which is extracted from seaweed, and locust bean gum, which is a thickener. The reason why it’s a mixture (I think), is because the carrageenan sets slightly harder than gelatine and the thickener gives it a slightly softer finish.

And if you’re not into the science, then I’ve got a tangible experiment to show you!

So. I’ve got two recipes that I’ve tried with Jel-it-in this post: Panna Cotta, and Chocolate mousse. I made a Jel-it-in version and gelatine version and put it side by side. I’m especially excited about the Chocolate Mousse recipe, which I got from a Harvard Lecture by Bill Yosses, executive pastry chef to the White House.

Panna Cotta (makes 3):
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup cream
1/2 vanilla bean
1/4 cup sugar
4g powdered gelatine (or 4g Jel-it-in)

Bring the milk and the cream slowly to the boil. Open up the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the pot, and chuck the pod in to infuse. You need a couple of tablespoons of boiling water to dissolve the gels, and the Jel-it-in actually needs a larger amount of liquid than gelatine and a minimum of about 70C to dissolve. In the case of the Jel-it-in, you might want to heat the milk and dissolve it separately (milk boils at about 90C). Then simply remove the vanilla pods and place into 125ml lightly oiled dariole moulds and set in the fridge. When you’re ready to serve, simply unmould it by inserting a thin knife down the side of the mould to create an air pocket, and tip out the panna cotta.

Chocolate Mousse (altered):

200ml Water
3g gelatine (4g Jel-it-in)
150g 70% cocoa mass dark chocolate (I used Lindt)

Simply heat the water up and dissolve the gelatine in it. Pour the hot water over the dark chocolate and mix till smooth. Put the boil over iced water and use an immersion blender to mix till the mixture cools. The reason why I’d say to use an immersion blender is because you want fine air bubbles within the mixture (it’s still a mousse) and using something like an electric whisk gives you bubbles that are too big. Then simply put the mixture into the fridge and it sets!

The result?

The panna cotta with the Jel-it-in actually gave a slightly softer result than the gelatine! When I cut into the Jel-it-in panna cotta it has a texture reminiscent of silken tofu. If left for a longer period of time it actually weeps moisture gradually. It melted straight on the tongue and gave way to a creamy finish. Now, there is a slight downside. I actually noticed that there was some bits of Jel-it-in that didn’t dissolve properly, and had to strain the mixture. I don’t know whether the softer result was because the dissolution was incomplete – the gelatine dissolved easily and evenly – but either way, my preliminary result shows that the Jel-it-in has a softer result in the panna cotta.

But what about the chocolate mousse? Well it seems that it’s quite the opposite! The chocolate mousse made with gelatine has the softest, lightest, meltiest mousse that has the pure flavour of chocolate. Not that there’s anything wrong with making chocolate mousse the traditional way, but sometimes I just want the pure flavour of 70% chocolate without the added cream. The Jel-it-in chocolate mousse actually mixed and set more easily and thickened up really quickly, but produced a slightly heavier, thicker result.

Either way, I think it’s a great alternative to traditional gelatine. I have many friends who are vegetarian, and I love the extra option of being able to to serve them a gel-set dessert. Some recipes might need a bit of tweaking, but I know I’ll keep experimenting.

Please do let me know if you have recipes that you’ve tried it with! Just leave a comment on the blog or send me an email at insatiablemunchies@gmail.com.

Note: Tammi Kwok of insatiablemunchies was given samples of Queen Fine Foods Jel-it-in by the lovely people at Beyond the Square Communications.

Ippudo, Singapore

Review Singapore Travel March 25, 2013 1 Comment

After seeing the long queues outside Ippudo in Westfield’s Sydney, I thought I’d give a Singapore outlet a try whilst I was there. Riding on a good experience from Ippudo Tao, we decided to go to Ippudo Mandarin.

We ordered the Shiromaru Tamago and the Akamaru Tamago (left, and right respectively). The broth was actually decent, and the noodles springy. But the bit that I was really waiting for was the ni tamago. As mentioned before, whenever I go to eat Ramen, I always order a ni tamago if they have it. The egg should be a lovely dark brown colour on the outside, and a fluid or oozy egg yolk on the inside. Most of my attempts to find a great egg in sydney have failed, with most places serving up way too over-cooked egg yolks, but I still have hope!!!

Unfortunately though, my egg dreams were shattered this time.

All of the eggs that came with our noodles were failed eggs. Entirely too overcooked, and lacking in flavour. While the main dish was decent, it wasn’t amazingly mind-blowing enough for me to overlook the bad egg.

Oh, and the sides?

While decent in flavour and texture, the sides were let down by the service. We were mostly ignored by the service staff, and even after ordering, they completely forgot one salad and a side that we ordered to go with the meal.

All in all, a relatively disappointing experience. And, since Singapore has no lack of great places to eat at, it won’t be my first choice for a comforting dinner any time soon.

We ate at:

Ippudo SG
333 Orchard Road
Singapore 238897
+65 6235 2797

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Getting Saucy

podcast March 14, 2013 1 Comment

We review Jamie Oliver’s Summer Food Rave Up

This week, we are getting saucy in the kitchen, werk our fro’, and ride that heat wave. We learn all about mayonnaise, try some froyo in Yoghurtworld and watch Jamie’s Summer Food Rave Up.

Download the audio file here (4.8MB, 09:33), or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here!

From the Frypan – Does my mayo feel fat to you? (00:23)

It’s all about emulsions and we learn about mayo. I make mine with whole eggs. It can take more oil than you think!

Waka Waka – It’s all about my fro’ (04:00)

Froyo, that is. We take our inner child to explore Yoghurtland in Sydney.

From the Ice Box – Summer of lurrve (and food and music) (06:58)

We experience a summer of love, Jamie Oliver style! We watch Jamie Oliver’s Summer Food Rave Up.

And don’t forget to tune in to our Trivia of the Week. Contains 1000mg of trivia for your daily dose.

What I ate: Bean salad

what i ate March 10, 2013 2 Comments

It’s been so crazy busy lately and I’ve got so many photos backed up to write about!!!!

I usually try to pick and choose the interesting or special places/recipes/dishes/etc to write about, cause I generally feel like the meals that I have at home – as it can be for many people – can get a little repetitive and boring. But after a suggestion from one of my closest friends – Fiona – I thought it might be worth a mention the stuff I throw together at home. Especially on leftover Sundays.

Today, it’s a bean salad. It’s a pretty loose and easy recipe, and great if you have stuff in your pantry that you’d like to clean out. Here’s what I used:

a tin of four bean mix (drained and rinsed lightly)
a tin of cannelloni beans (ditto)
tinned beetroot (finely diced)
finely diced chillies
sliced black olives
semi dried tomatoes
feta
tuna in springwater
finely diced onion
finely diced cucumber
lettuce

For the dressing I used the juice from the tin of beetroot, reduced with 1 bay leaf, then mixed with some white miso (I didn’t have mustard in the fridge), some balsamic vinegar, a squeeze of lemon, pinch of salt, and extra virgin olive oil.

I also had some bread rolls in the fridge – you know the kind that you finish baking at home? – and spread those with some homemade garlic butter (parsley, garlic, lemon juice and butter) and threw them into the oven.

I really liked that this salad was pretty much a pantry-ready salad, and cleared out a lot of bits and pieces in my fridge that needed eating. I didn’t feel over stuffed after, and it was incredibly moreish.

Leftover sundays are the best. =)

Lindt, Martin Place

Review March 5, 2013 2 Comments

One of the ingredients to a great girls night out is definitely oodles of chocolate, and the Lindt cafe has been a favourite meeting spot for many a girls night out for me. So imagine my excitement when I got an invite to the reopening of a completely revamped Lindt Cafe at Martin Place!

Yeah. I was that excited!

The Lindt cafe, as it always is to me, is a sophisticated Willy Wonka Wonderland. Gold and marble adorn the interior, and it’s understated in its luxury and opulence. And this sophistication is reflected in the chocolates as well. Lindt chocolate never disappoints, and the people I know who aren’t a fan of chocolate because it can be cloying, always end up a fan of Lindt because of their fine balance in flavours and textures, and variety.

Of course, chocolates of every incarnation were proffered to us upon arrival.

They even had a brand new station where vats of tempered, molten chocolate sat, and strawberries, macaroons and pralines were covered in lush, silky chocolate of every kind. I especially loved how the chocolatiers were available for us to talk to, and food nerd that I am, I was so happy with the effortless way they answered my questions and explained to me the finer points of chocolate.

One of the chocolatiers said that they sometimes had to stop work on the finer chocolate work on really humid days as the humidity can be enough to cause the chocolate to seize up. Besides which, chocolate is really best to be set at room temperature (about 20C) and that sort of humidity can cause a really ugly chocolate bloom – which can be caused by the sugar reacting with the moisture in the air.

I also had a chat with Thomas Schnetzler, one of Lindt’s Master Chocolatier, who talked about the challenges of following the Lindt traditions right here in a (sometimes) hot and humid Australia. I’ve heard that some chocolate companies – in order to work with the climate that Australia has – sometimes change the recipe of their chocolate according to the region. Lindt however – according to Thomas – staunchly refuses to change their recipe, and instead chooses to apply technique and equipment to allow the quality and standard to be unchanged throughout the world.

So besides eating amazing chocolate straight out, what else can you have in a chocolate cafe? Chocolate with coffee of course!

Now I may not be the biggest connoisseur of coffee, but the mix of dark chocolate with rich coffee actually made a really nice drink. It was served towards the end of the night, and it was a great pick-me-up.

And guess where that chocolate came from?

Australia’s first chocolate on tap! With sophisticated machines imported from Italy, the chocolate is kept liquid and warm, and when it comes time to clean the machines, chocolate is used to flush out the machines, because any drop of water might ruin the chocolate.

And the piece de resistance for the night? Customizable chocolate slabs!

Yeah yeah, I know that some people might be unimpressed because it’s just chocolate writing on chocolate, but think about all those generic chocolates gifts that you give people throughout your life. Now, instead of giving them a card and a box of chocolates because you don’t know what to get people, you can give them a card written on chocolates! How cool is that?

Of course, what kind of food blogger would I be if I didn’t get one myself?

Thank you again to Laura from Trish Nichol Agency and Lindt for the invite!

View from the skypark at Marina Bay Sands

Stories From My Childhood, Part 1

Food For Thought Singapore Travel February 13, 2013 3 Comments

Happy Lunar New Year y’all!!! (And happy Valentine’s Day if you celebrate it!) Chinese New Year has always been a tasty and food-filled tradition for me and this year hasn’t been any different. Most of my childhood memories are closely associated with food, and growing up in a food obsessed culture, it’s not hard to see why.

two pictures featuring both the soup and dry versions of beef kway teow, a local noodle dish. — From top: Beef Kway Teow in soup, with tendon, tripe, meatball and braised beef pieces, and Beef Noodle in thick gravy, with salted vegetables and braised beef pieces

Every Sunday afternoon my mom would bring me to music class, and on the way there, there used to be a really popular Beef Kway Teow stall which had queues going around the block. As the class was at 1pm, we would often visit that stall for lunch, and I would always top off my Beef Noodles (dry) – with it’s thick gravy, fragrant toasted peanuts and crunchy salted vegetables – with extra chilli sauce with its tangy undertones and capsaicin kick, and cinchalok – which is an incredibly tasty condiment made of salted krill, chilli, shallots and plenty of lime. A taste bud explosion, I love the combination of the silky noodles drenched in thick gravy, textured with tender pieces of beef, and punctuated with the high notes of chilli and cinchalok.

Hawker centres are often a crazy maze of people driven by hunger. Besides the dozens of stalls – some selling similar food – vying for your attention, you have to navigate getting a table, not losing your dining companions, and making sure that your table does not get commandeered by other, louder groups.

So why go to a hawker centre? Often the food is wayyy better (and cheap! $3 is often enough to get you a meal), and really, isn’t good food meant to be paired with the appropriate atmosphere?

From top: Chee Cheong Fun, Fried Yam Cake, Fried Carrot Cake

Although these lovely morsels aren’t anywhere near to all of what hawker centres in Singapore have to offer, these are certainly some of my must-haves when I visit home.

When I was little, my mother used to put me in a pram and take me for a walk to Seletar Market. There, there was a friendly matronly lady who, upon seeing that I liked the Fried Carrot Cake (Cai Tow Kuey), used to have a plate ready whenever my mother wheeled my pram to a table. Fried Carrot Cake is so named because of the little pops of diced salted radish that give the dish its characteristic taste. Add in fried egg, and diced rice cakes and there you have it! It comes in a white version and a black version, with the black version having the addition of dark soy sauce and sweet soy sauce. Unfortunately the market has since been torn down in favour of high rise apartments, but I still remember it fondly as a big part of my childhood.

When I was older, I attended a kindergarten that was part of the childcare programme organized by my mother’s workplace. The building that my mom worked in was located conveniently near Amoy Street Food Centre, where a middle aged man with a round belly and a white singlet dished up the first food that I was truly addicted to – Chee Cheong Fun. A rice flour mixture is first steamed into thin sheets of noodle, then rolled. Usually served with a sweet, thick sauce, I now prefer to unravel the rice noodles and toss it in a mixture of soy sauce and sesame seed oil. The silky noodles carry the hint of salt from the soy, and the fragrance from the sesame seed oil. These plain rice noodle rolls are sold in most Asian stores in Australia as well, if you fancy steaming them and dressing them yourself at home. =)

Food, to me, is a great conveyor of memories, and these are foods that give me constant (and enjoyable) flashbacks.

What are your childhood favourites?

EatArtTruck

Review February 8, 2013 2 Comments

Sometimes you want something. Then you set out a plan to get it. Plan fails. Suddenly this something becomes a goal. Plan again. Plan fails again.

Now it’s a MISSION.

And that was what trying to get to EatArtTruck was. A mission. A mission to eat tasty chicken wings and ceviche that has a reputation that precedes it.

It was meant to be simple. Check all the food truck apps and social media streams, find out where they’ll be, and then just rock up with money. Well, twice TWICE had I tracked down this truck, aligned my schedule so that I could be there, only to find out when I couldn’t find the truck that they sold out. Go figure.

But I managed it. I finally managed it. It took a lot of finagling, but I actually managed to get food from this truck. Lo and behold!

The famed chicken wings. Flavoursome and juicy, they are covered with the right amount of creamy sauce to make them luxurious. I love that there is a sort of flavour crust on the outside of the wing pieces, but somehow it lacks a bit of a kick for me.

The beef brisket in a bun with kim chi slaw and korean chilli wasn’t that great for me. I love the way the beef brisket was cooked, but I felt that the slaw on the top was slightly over powering, and the dish didn’t seem to gel to me. Still a nice beef bun, just nothing to sing about.

Now the pulled pork bun with mustard cabbage is EXCELLENT. The juices from the pork moisten the soft bun and I absolutely LOVED that hot sauce. The gentlemen in the truck weren’t wrong about that. It all melded really well together, and made me forget that I was standing there eating in the middle of the rain. It literally transported me to a hot summer’s barbecue, with the freshness of that cabbage just lifting what otherwise might be a heavy meal. This was an absolute joy to eat and it left us fighting for the remnants.

There was one last pleasant surprise that EatArtTruck had to offer:

The chicken in the Japanese Chicken Salad with Pineapple and Chilli was the same chicken (practically) as the chicken wings, but the salad provided me with the kick that I needed in the form of the acidity from the pineapples and the bit of extra freshness from the lettuce leaves. I must say that I much preferred the salad to the wings, because it felt a bit more balanced and more like a whole meal, but the wings are great as a snack if that’s what you’re going for.

Besides the wings, I really wanted to try the ceviche, but they didn’t have fish available on the night that I visited. It was definitely worth the effort, and the guys in the truck were really affable and lovely. I’d go through the hunt all over again for sure.

Hana Hana, Haymarket

Review February 1, 2013 2 Comments

As one of the budget conscious (aren’t we all?), I love this new trend of relatively cheap places to eat popping up in the city! As always, how much you eat will affect how much money you spend – the more sides you add on the more it will cost – and it might not end up being very cheap at all, but I just like the option of having a cheap meal if I so choose to.

The first thing you see when you walk into Hana Hana is this:

I love this automated process that allows you to browse through the menus and select your dishes. It’s slightly odd that it still doesn’t mean that your order is ready and waiting for you when you get there – instead you need to give them your ticket and then they will prepare your food – but I still think it’s great because it does prevent you having to wait in line while other people are trying to decide what they want to eat. After you decide on your mains, you simply take the ticket, select your sides and present it at the counter to pay and get your food.

What kind of a Mappen fan would I be if I didn’t try their basic udon with an onsen egg?

In this case, it’s not quite as addictive and tasty as the Mappen version, but it’s decent nonetheless. It sits around the same price point, I believe, but it just seems not as zingy and tangy as the Ontama Bukkake at Mappen. So if I have a serious noodle craving, I’m still going to George St.

The Sashimi bowl is decent, but it just seemed odd that the fish and rice were both warm. And warm sashimi, no matter how fresh it was, still tastes slightly bizarre and not a winner.

There was a surprise success, however.

The mini bowls were an absolute hit! I especially love the hamburger meat with an onsen egg, covered in mayo and a Japanese brown sauce. It was delish, and actually enough as a base when you add some sides to it. Falling around the $5 mark, these mini bowls are a small serving with heaps of flavour, and are incredibly filling. On the days that I feel like a light lunch, I just have a mini bowl serving with no add ons.

I do love variety, and I really like how the choice of sides rotate at Hana Hana. There are some that remain constant, like a $2 pack of jellyfish (bottom picture), but I’m so glad that they replaced the pack of cold and unappetising fried fish (middle picture) with some other choices of sides. The tempura also changes, with me being able – luckily – to get a fried salt water eel (Anago) the last time I went.

In all, it’s a great change if you’re tired of what Mappen and Oiden have to offer, and is just down the road. I definitely would pop by for a quick lunch every so often. Worth trying out if you’re a fan of Japanese self serve food bars.

We ate at:
Hana Hana
5/209 Thomas St
Sydney, NSW 2000

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Tenkomori, Regents Place

Review January 28, 2013 3 Comments

I do love me some oodles of noodles. A bowl of al dente strands sitting in a bowl of steaming broth packed full of flavour is always extra welcoming when it’s drizzling and grey outside. And yes, I’m a rabid fan of Mappen, so naturally I’d jump at the chance of trying out Mappen and Oiden’s new sibling – Tenkomori.

Tenkomori in Japanese is an indication of serving size – ‘Oomori’ is a large serving size, and Tenkomori is meant to refer to an extra extra LARGE serving size. But if you have tried the sister chains of noodle and rice bars (Mappen and Oiden), then you know that the serving size is not particularly large. The smaller servings are usually matched by cheap prices and super quick service, making these places a great lunch spot for those busy lunch hours in the city.

The concept is pretty much the same – you order your main (which would be one of the many varieties of ramen dishes), then pick your sides and extras. The company that has produced all these chains have done a fabulous job of this, and its illustrated best during peak hour, where people move through the queues like sand through your fingers, and before you know it you’ve finished your meal and you’re off.

Well, Tenkomori wasn’t off to a great start when I decided to visit with my friends. We actually had to stand in a line that didn’t seem like it was moving. Furthermore, our order was taken right up front by a staff member who gave us a ticket – which we assumed was a time saving measure – and then had to wait for our order anyway when we got round to the counter that was meant to give us our bowl of noodles. But we still held out hope – the reputation of the other restaurants told us that at least the food was going to be decent, and that we’d enjoy our meal regardless of the initial experience of trying to order.

First, the starters and sides.

To say that the other bits and pieces was unremarkable was saying the least. The fried items were all relatively stale, and items like the Terriyaki chicken was just tough and uninspiring. The Gyozas were bland and lacked texture, and the stewed pork belly was horrifying. It not only lacked flavour, the cold piece of pork belly had an awful, stringy texture that just screamed, “ABANDON ME!”.

And you know the worst part of the extras? It was actually the bit that I was most looking forward to. Ni Tamago is meant to be this egg that has a set white and a liquid yolk. The boiled eggs are then marinaded in stock, giving it a savoury outer layer that compliments the inner texture. In short, it’s meant to look like this:

Taken from Aimakan

But for some reason, the ones from Tenkomori look like this:

As you can tell, the eggs are wayyyy WAY overcooked. (And underflavoured) And anyone who is looking forward to a runny yolk will know that this is not acceptable!! Come on, if Mappen and Oiden can do to-die-for eggs, surely Tenkomori has the eggs-perience to get this right.

Heh.Heh.

Okay, on to the main event.

Both my dining companions and I ordered the Tonkotsu Ramen with black garlic. Black garlic is basically a fermented form of garlic, which to me tastes reminiscent of soy sauce but without the salty tang. I’ve had it before and it’s been delicious, and I’ve heard lots about Tonkotsu broths and their promise of rich milky flavour.

Well with this particular bowl, it was disappointing. The broth was tasty and flavourful, but the ramen itself was not at all inspiring and was limp and gluggy. I felt like I had such high hopes for the food at Tenkomori, but all I got was an extra large serve of disappointment.

I hope that it was just opening kinks in the flow that they have since sorted out, but in the meantime, I’m walking the extra couple of blocks to go to Menya.

We ate at:

Tenkomori
Shop 16 Regent Pl George St
Sydney, NSW

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