Posts tagged Lunch

Oysters with Sea Urchin Butter

Recipe September 23, 2013 1 Comment

As much as I love to eat sea urchin straight out of the sea, I also can restrain myself from popping these sweet morsels in my mouth long enough to know that it is also a versatile and delicious ingredient. So how better to top delicate pacific oysters than with a luxurious sea urchin butter?

Inspired by Tetsuya’s sea urchin butter that he puts on veal, I decided to play up a slightly more citrusy note because I’m serving these oysters as canapes and I don’t want something too rich weighing my guests down. The trick to this is to use the freshest ingredients, and thankfully I got given some amazing sea urchin from Cando Fishing.

I used:

Sea Urchin
Butter, softened
Sea Salt
Wasabi (just a teeny tiny bit!)
Lemon Juice

I placed everything in a blender – quantities to taste – then rolled it up in some baking paper to harden in the fridge. When it came time to serve the oysters, I cranked up the grill to its highest setting, and topped each oyster with half a teaspoon of butter – just a pat. Grill till the oysters are warmed through and the butter is melted and toasty brown, then finish with grated orange zest, to lighten it up.

I love how the sea urchin just boosts the ‘seafood-ness’ of the oysters, with the butter providing a luxuriousness, and the suggestion of wasabi and lemon in the background to cleanse the palate. You can, of course, add a choice of herbs like chives if you’d like a little green, but I like this mouthful as it is. Juicy, plump, and decadent. I had a couple of friends who weren’t too crazy about the fresh sea urchin – nothing’s ever a hundred percent – and they loved the oysters.

Such a simple recipe, and a crowd pleaser every time.

If you are thinking of trying sea urchin but not quite sure how to get a good fresh one, you can read about my chat with John of Cando Fishing here to find out more.

What I ate: Fish en papillote

what i ate September 6, 2013 3 Comments

I’ve been interning at some food jobs lately – chase that dream! – and I’ve been taking home HEAPS of leftovers. Some of these leftovers are in the form of raw ingredients, and you know how I love repurposing ingredients. On this particular day, I scored a box of vegetables, and with spring upon us, I thought it would be a great idea to showcase the freshness of these vegetables – let’s STEAM THE SUCKAS!

3to7, Waterloo

Review September 3, 2013 5 Comments

IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Well, it was my birthday. Thanks to the lovely people at the Trish Nichol Agency and 3to7, I got to have a lovely birthday brunch to start off my day.

The decor is just gorgeous, with the cafe/bar set in what looks like an alleyway. Trés chic. I adore the overhanging piano near the entrance – it instantly made me feel like I was stepping into wonderland.

But really, I know you want to hear about the food.

As you know, I absolutely LOVE ~~bloody~~ virgin marys, and I had to order one as soon as I saw it on the menu.

It actually came out in a capsicum cup. HOW CUTE IS THIS????!!! Considering that I didn’t ask for the long list of specifications I have for this drink, it came out very well balanced and completely delicious. My dining partner ordered a coffee, and as an ex-barista, he’s very particular. Personally, I don’t know too much about coffee, but I’ll take his word for it that the extra strong cappuccino he ordered didn’t need any sugar, it was so good.

With the drinks, we also decided to order a sharing platter ($24 per person).

Clockwise from left: Smoked kipfler potatoes with chorizo, homemade baked beans, scrambled eggs, chicken bagel.

Clockwise from left: Coconut french toast, Arabesque pancakes with banana and salted caramel, toasted crumpets

If you’re one of those people who love variety – like me! – and love having a little bit of everything, this is the option for you. This platter is a glorious selection across their menu, and if I hadn’t asked about the other items – I’ll get to that soon – I would totally have been satisfied with it.

As with most platters, items can be a little bit hit and miss, and I’m glad to say that this one had more hits than misses. The scrambled eggs were absolutely divine, and PERFECTLY COOKED! For once, I didn’t have to specify that I wanted my eggs underdone, and have them come out over anyway. These were silky and luscious, and a real credit to the chef. The baked beans were delish also, packed full of flavour and giving a hearty oomph to the meal. The arabesque pancakes are also worth a mention – light and fluffy pancakes are covered in a rich caramel sauce and pieces of cooked banana, with a scoop of orange clotted cream on the side. If you love a rich breakfast, then this is for you. The only small thing for me is that the banana was slightly under ripe, and left a milk chalky taste in my mouth. The coconut french toast was a surprise – I’m normally not a fan of coconut, but it was well soaked and had the texture of pudding (I like!). Besides the fresh berries, the french toast was also paired with some fruit that was cooked with cardamom. That, I found a little bit strong for my liking. Just a touch.

But here are the truly magical bits.

According to the lovely and informative waitress, one of the items that are not on the platter is the steak sandwich. So the chef kindly sent out a few pieces of the steak for us to try. OMGOMGOMG. It was seriously one of the best steaks I’ve had to date. The steak was cooked sous vide – low temperature, submerged in a water bath – and so it’s never overcooked, and consistently turns out the same amazing results. As I was having the steak on its own, I did have to add a touch more salt to it. but it was melt-in-your-mouth tender. I love sous vide cooking.

And speaking of melt in your mouth tender:

I think the salmon is the piece de resistance. Seriously. Confit steak of salmon is paired with perfect 63C eggs, little fried pieces of lemon ricotta and a quenelle of vanilla butter. It’s so surprisingly simple on the palate – it was almost as if everything was in its purest flavour and form – the textures were unbelievable. The temperature of the oil for the confit salmon – I’m told – is also controlled by an immersion circulator, and the eggs are also cooked sous vide. If you’re wondering about all the hype regarding a 63C egg, you should really try this.

SEE THAT YOLK???? *drools* It’s like yolk porn the way it oozes. The salmon was also silky tender, but still flaked with the slightest pressure. Sure, everything needed a touch more salt – for me – but as I’m sure you know by now, I’m a bit of a salt fiend.

In all, it was a marvellous birthday brunch. The waitress provided excellent service, and the food was incredible. And it’s all wrapped up in a hip waterloo location, with amazing light and a relatively quiet street. Great for a Sunday morning get together.

Note: Tammi from Insatiable Munchies and her dining partner dined as guests of 3to7 and the Trish Nichol Agency.

We ate at:

3to7
0499 418 895
3-7 Danks Street
Waterloo
NSW 2017

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Cherry Bean Cafe, Eastwood

Review August 12, 2013 2 Comments

Eastwood is home to a plethora of different cafes and bakeries, and I LOVE IT. So one morning, before doing the groceries, a leisurely brunch seemed to be in order.

This quaint little cafe has an adorable decor, with wood grain tracing all over the walls of the cafe. It had a great ambience to kick back and have a chat with friends.

The big breakfast was a little pricey – it was about $15 – but the fare was decent. Everything that was meant to be hot, was hot, and everything that was meant to be crispy, was crispy.

We also had the Eggs Benedict.

This wasn’t the best breakfast by a long shot. I had asked for the eggs to be underdone, and the eggs were clearly overdone. The ham and muffin wasn’t actually toasted, and was left cold, and the wilted spinach was stringy and not silky like I expected. The hollandaise sauce was thick and creamy, but not actually buttery like it should be.

In all, the food was average, although a bit pricey, and the service was very dicey. A few of the staff members were quite friendly, but the person that was actually standing behind the counter was disinterested, dismissive, and looked like he really didn’t want to be there.

I wouldn’t mind taking away a coffee there again at some point, but I’m not that inspired to have another meal there any time soon.

We ate at:

Caffe Cherry Beans, Eastwood
Eastside Shopping Centre
Shop 201, 62-80 Rowe St.
Eastwood NSW 2122

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Japan City, Top Ryde

Review August 4, 2013 5 Comments

I always thought that Japan City was a gift shop. Really, I did. I used to walk by the one at the Westfield’s in Hornsby and stare at amazement at the utterly cute things in the window. Well, little did I know that it also had a sushi bar! Would the food be as adorable as the random gifts?

Well they were. The sushi was dainty and a comfortable mouthful, and packed full of flavour. The seafood was fresh and well balanced, and the service was polite and attentive. There wasn’t table service, but they were lovely and polite in seating the group before informing us that we need to order at the counter, and the food will be brought out to us.

We also ordered some gyoza and Japanese marinated eggplant, which were also quite delish. The food came out all at once, which was nice especially we were sharing, and the interior had a lovely bright atmosphere, filled with beautiful Japanese goodies.

In all, a pleasant experience, and one that I wouldn’t mind repeating again. I also loved the extra perk – they provided free wifi and let us sit and chat for as long as we wanted without trying to reclaim the table for other customers. Lovely, fresh and light.

We ate at:

Japan City Top Ryde Pty Ltd
(02) 9809 3001
Shop L1/ 109-129 Blaxland Rd
Ryde NSW 2112, Australia

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Kotlet Burger

Recipe July 28, 2013 10 Comments

I have a new found enjoyment of Persian food. The rice, the stews, the liberal use of turmeric…it all culminates in a beautifully delicious end product that speaks of decades of recipe refinement.

There is one particular recipe that ingeniously uses potatoes, mince, onion and spices to make little patties that are delicious over rice, with a fresh tangy side salad. Kotlets – which to me sound like cutlets – seem like a great way to stretch out the meat supply. I can’t actually find any history on these delicious morsels, but most Persians that I speak to recall these as their childhood favourite.

What I Ate: Twice Cooked Pork Belly Braise

what i ate July 22, 2013 5 Comments

Tender, slow roasted pork belly is braised in a soy based sauce, and served on rice, garnished with coriander.

Here’s the thing with two-person households. You read a recipe that you like, often written for four or six, and then you make it, only to find that even though the both of you are stuffed, there’s still plenty of leftover to go around. Sure, you can halve the recipe, but sometimes that really affects cooking times, and I find it easier just to try and do something interesting with the leftovers!

So if you’ve tried my Slow Roasted Pork Belly recipe and you have leftovers – like I did – here’s something that you can try with them!

Slow Roasted Pork Belly

Recipe July 20, 2013 4 Comments

Crackling. I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t like good, crispy crackling. And it’s actually easier to achieve than you would expect. Impressive, because it tastes great and because you have to do a ridiculously small amount of work.

Slow Roasted Pork Belly

600g slab of pork belly
Oil
Salt
Pepper

Preheat your oven to 160C (not fan forced. If you’re can’t turn off the fan, I would suggest 140-150C).

Score the pork belly to what your portions would be. I would suggest using a very small paring knife if you have one – you want to score just into the fat but not cut the meat. Rub a little bit of oil – I used just enough for a light coating – onto the pork belly, followed by a generous rub of salt and pepper, making sure you get into the creases. I scattered stripes of flavoured salt from Smoke and Roast that I got from The Good Food and Wine Show, and it gave me interesting bursts of flavour in every piece!

Simply roast it over a rack for a couple of hours till the rind is nice, puffed and crispy. I tend not to worry too much about the pork cooking through – at those sort of temperatures the pork is always done by the time the crackling is. If you have a much larger slab of pork, I would suggest cutting it into smaller slabs before you put it into the oven.

It’s the most foolproof recipe for pork and pork crackling I’ve ever used. Simple and effective, I like to serve portions of the pork just with some roasted veggies, no gravy required!

What’s your favourite tips to making great pork belly with amazing crackling?

Jazz City Milk Bar, Darlinghurst

Review July 16, 2013 4 Comments

Sometimes, dinner is such a mission.

After hearing so much about the Jazz City Diner and its decadent Southern goodness, I was chomping at the bit (literally, I was that hungry!) to get to this hole-in-the-wall delight that everyone’s been raving about.
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Zenya Ramen Bar, Eastwood

Review July 14, 2013

I’m not usually a soup person. As a child, I used to order noodle soups and then fish the noodle out, so that I get all of the flavour, but have the noodle cool much faster because it wasn’t sitting in soup getting soggy.

But experiencing winter – Singapore has no winter, only rain – in Australia actually inspires me to have soups. Noodle soups, rice soups (ochazuke anyone?), creamy soups, vegetable soups, bone soups…it’s all good to me. There’s something comforting about wrapping your hands around a warm boil of steaming food when your fingers are nearly numb from the cold.

Or you could have a cup of tea. Or coffee. But I like noodles.

And so I went to Zenya Ramen Bar in Eastwood, hoping that it would be a good local ramen bar that I can visit regularly. It being my first time, I decided to go with the Mini Set Menu, where you get a mini version of a couple of things, which allows you to try dishes across the menu! I specifically chose the Mini Ramen and Mini Donburi set, and from that I chose to have the Pork Ramen and the Karaage Don, with dessert and drink. ($16.80)

The ramen came first, and to be honest, it was pretty average. The egg – and you know that the ni-tamago can make or break a bowl of ramen for me – was slightly overdone and under-seasoned for me, the broth was average, and the noodles had a nice bite, but were also average. I did like the serving size though – it was actually the serving size of the meals I would have at home – and the price was not bad for the food, considering the amount of food you get for it.

Interestingly though, for a ramen bar, I much preferred the Karaage Don.

The fried chicken was crispy, not too greasy, and didn’t have a strong chickeny smell that you can get sometimes. Biting into it, it was juicy, fresh, crisp on the outside. My favourite bit though, was the mayo. Sweet, tangy, and just slightly spicy, the mayo completely made the dish for me. This set was actually ordered to share between two people – and there was more than enough to share – but I think I stole the lion’s share of this chicken.

Not knowing that the mini set was actually not entirely too mini, I also ordered a medium plate of mixed sashimi.

The seafood was fresh, and cut so that it was a pleasant mouthful – not so much that I can’t fit in my mouth, but not so small that I miss it completely and am left wanting more. Not the most unique dish, but great quality, and better than I expected.

In all, the food was only slightly better than average, and a good value for money. The service is truly special though, and though the staff might not speak perfect English, I really appreciated the way they interacted with us. For example, when they had to interrupt our conversation to ask if we had any last orders (it was a late dinner for us), they actually hung back till there was a break in the conversation, and then apologised for the interruption in a very gracious way.

I would (and have been) keep going back to Zenya, not so much for the ramen, but for the Donburi and the excellent service.

We ate at:

Zenya Noodle Bar
+61 2 9874 2122
217 Rowe St, Eastwood NSW 2122, Australia

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