Posts tagged Lunch

B&B: Beef and Beer

Review 4 Comments

I won a beef and beer masterclass at Mumu Grill with my crazy hat at the food bloggers’ picnic, and I finally managed to attend it! I had such a ball of a time, and of course, had fab food. 

Head chef Craig Macindoe sharing all his precious meat information with us! He talked about the difference between grass-fed and grain-fed beef, and all the different cuts.We even got to participate in the kitchen!! How awesome is that? He also shared his top tip when it came to cooking the meat (besides picking good meat) – don’t touch it! Apparently too many cooks keep turning the steak on the barbecue and completely massacre what could have been a really juicy steak.

And speaking of juicy meat, LUNCH!! For lunch that day, we had a variety of dishes, and they were all cooked with such precision

I don’t think I got a picture of everything, but we had a garlic and rosemary T-bone, a prosciutto-wrapped steak, a Szechuan pepper and coffee crusted steak and…

THE RIBS!!!

These ribs were first cooked in salted boiling water, before it was glazed with a tangy barbecue sauce and browned on the barbecue. Mmmmm…everything was falling off the bone and just so so tasty!! Definitely my favourite.

And just to reiterate the point about perfectly cooked steak:

Just look at that gorgeous, juicy, medium rare. I’m hungry again!!

And of course, the beer.

I feel so bad that I went to the beef and beer masterclass and well, I can’t drink beer. In fact, I get severe headaches and nausea whenever I drink alcohol. =( But I did learn however, that you always drink beer in a glass because the aroma is a lot of the flavour as well, and the many different kinds of craft beers are worth paying for and trying. If you want to find out more about the beer bit of it, the man who led the discussion in the beer part of the masterclass is Dan from Beersnobs. He’s very affable and easy to understand (especially for someone who doesn’t know anything about beers), and ladies, it helps that he’s quite easy on the eyes. 😉

And to end of this post, I shall leave you with the Bambi that greeted me at the door.

MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Mumu Grill
94606877
70 Alexander Street, Crows Nest
www.mumugrill.com.au


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Would you like fries with that?

Review 5 Comments

When I was back in Singapore last I went to EWF by Everything with Fries with Mel! I am an absolute fries fiend. Love LOVE those strings of starchy goodness.

Mind you, they’ve got other stuff too, like this lamb burger that Mel got. 

I didn’t try it, but she said that it was ok.

Om nom nom. Personally though, I wasn’t so interested in the other stuff…GIMME FRIES!

We had a selection of three types – Sour cream and chives (and I know this because of the green flecks!) which was ok. Not as strong a flavour as I’d like, but they do give you an extra dish of flavouring upon request.

We also had the garlic flavoured one, which was also slightly under seasoned to me, BUT I did quite like the roasted garlicky-ness rather than the strong, acrid burn of garlic that I was expecting. Not don’t get me wrong, I quite like the acrid burn of garlic, but not particularly on fries.

And finally, the salt and vinegar. How can we not? More than the potatoe-y starchy goodness, Mel and I LOVE salt and vinegar. Just thinking about it makes my mouth tingle. Mmmmm.

I want fries now. Honey, will you drive me down to McD’s?

EWF by Everything with Fries
181 Orchard Rd
#01-24/25 Orchard Central

Nuffnang Blogger Meetup

Review 6 Comments

I went to the Nuffnang food blogger’s meetup on Saturday!! It was so exciting that I finally get to meet other food bloggers. Never have I had such a thoroughly enjoyable time listening to and taking in the atmosphere of food conversations all around me, punctuated by the sound of clinking cutlery and the roll of the lazy susan, the humid steam rising off steel trolleys permeating the air.

It was so interesting to see two full tables of people taking endless photos of the food as it arrived. I think the lazy susan went round a couple of times before the food was even touched. It was so cool!! Everyone had their turn to get their shot, and no one got impatient. I’m still bowled over by the understanding.

First came the dessert tray (remember, dessert spelled backwards is “stressed”), and we got some custard buns off it.

The custard was sweet, but not egg-y, and I really liked the crumbly topping that they put on the buns. It reminds me of this coffee bun that you can get in Singapore and Malaysia, that has a similar crumbly, buttery topping that absolutely melts in your mouth.

And speaking of melt in your mouth, the Cheong Fun is my must-order at any Yum Cha restaurant.

As loathe as I am to admit it, the glutton in me sometimes lies awake at night dreaming of those smooth, silky sheets of steamed rice noodles encasing plump sweet prawns, all basking in a pool of dark sweet-salty sauce. MUST. HAVE. MORE.

I didn’t have the Char Siew Buns, but they looked so pretty with their sweet glaze that I had to snap a photo of them.

And then the steam baskets arrive.

I love LOVE chicken feet. (Ok, that sounded a bit odd, but in my defense, in Mandarin it’s 凤爪, which means “Phoenix’s claw”.) The wrinkly skin slide off and taste of the rich, spiced broth that it’s been cooked in. Heavenly.

What I truly love about a good Har Gow (prawn dumpling, if literally translated) is the skin. The translucent encasement lovingly clings for a brief moment as you bite into it, before tearing off into a succulent mouthful with a good amount of bite. The filling has to be good too, of course, but to me, the art is in the skin. It can’t be mushy, but it can’t be too resistant to a hungry mouth either.

The mango pancake was creamy, with a good amount of juicy mango. I’m sorry I can’t say too much about them though, I haven’t yet had a mango pancake that completely blows my mind.

Now the 豆花 (Douhua) is truly lovely. Warm silky layers of toufu drizzled with a ginger laced sugar syrup. It looks so deceptively simple too!

On a side note, I just realised that I was so pre-occupied in taking photos of the food that I completely forgot to take some photos of the people. -.-

In all it was a really nice time meeting people of like mind. It’s lovely to see other foodies like Cate, Suze, Simon and many others!

Thanks to Nuffnang for organizing the meetup!!

We ate at:

The Regal Restaurant
Tel: 92618988
Levels 4 & 5,
683-689 George Street, Sydney

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Grillz

Recipe

There has been many a debate on what makes a good grilled cheese sandwich, and it going me thinking: grilled sandwiches are awesome regardless, but what if I don’t have a sandwich press? Well, one way to deal with it is well, to use the grill in the oven. But my oven’s shot at the moment, so here’s how to do it with a frying pan!

First, lightly spray a frying pan with some olive oil. You could also just use a non-stick pan for this.

Use a medium high heat, and when the pan’s nice and hot, build your sandwich!

Mine’s got cheese, ham, tomatoes, and mustard. Next, top off your sandwich!

The trick is, to make sure that the sandwich gets all nice and toasty, use a large dinner plate to weigh it down. This will create the same effect as a sandwich press.

When you’re happy with the toastiness of your sandwich, just flip it over and repeat!!

Voila! A quick, healthy meal that takes just minutes!

Happy munching!

Just Keep Swimming

Review

I love seafood.

It has been somewhat of an obsessive pilgrimage. The endless search for the fresh, the sweet, the succulent. The chase of the briny flavour of the sea, coupled with bright, seductive colours.

I can never resist the promised flavour explosion that the sweet coral of a crustacean brings. And as someone once said to me, “You can never get fat on seafood”. Whether or not that is true, it is but a consolatory statement as I gorge on all the sea has to offer.

Just looking at these Alaskan crabs through the glass, my mouth begins watering. Their perfect, coral legs splayed in the air just inspires a ravenous hunger for the sweet/salty flesh within.

It was a very good day. A very good day indeed.