Famished...

was the state I was exactly in at 1PM on Saturday afternoon. Busy with work on weekdays, makes me reluctant too wake up earlier than 11am.. sleep in is all I was for. But realizing that brunch places fill up pretty fast on weekends helps me to get on my feet and made my way to Orchard.

As I said in my previous post, I have been craving for good brunch place and hardly found any. Last saturday, I decided to try Wild Honey to see what's all the fuss is about.

Went with 4 of my buddies, we were asked to wait for our table. Wild honey has 2 outlets, one at Mandarin gallery and the other at Scott Square. We decided to go for the scott square one because word has it, Mandarin gallery's wild honey is impossibly crowded on weekends. At scott square outlet, we were asked to wait for our table (they took reservation but I think they disconnected the line in the morning cause I couldn't get to them that morning). There were 6 table ahead of us but we got the table within half an hour, not too bad a wait for that kind of crowd. While we were waiting, we were offered a complimentary cake for tasting, its cranberry tea bread. In my honest opinion, I would say it's dry and slightly tasteless. If it would to be one of their signature breads, it needs slight changes in their recipe proportion.

When we were seated, we were pretty quickly served, the manager even went with us through their menu. Basically, they have 3 popular dishes: Big Brekkie (named English), Egg Benedict (French), and Baked eggs (Tunisian). We ordered 2 French and 2 Tunisian with accompanying tea/coffee. I had peppermint. The food came pretty quickly, filling up our little table in effect but it was still somewhat comfortable.

The egg benedict was served on their signature brioche (rather than a typical english muffin), mushroom and egg-wrapped in prosciutto and showered with generous serving of hollandaise sauce. The tunisian brekkie (a.k.a baked eggs), was pretty good too, the only thing that turned me off was their choice of chorizo. It is sweet and taste more like lapchiong (Chinese pork sausage). It doesnt go really well with that particular dish.

Overall, the place was a pretty enjoyable experience. I would definitely come back to chill while striving to find a brekkie that's close to Sydney :D

The end and the new beginning

Finding myself in Singapore for good is somewhat exciting. However, I must admit that the food culture isn't as broad and as elaborate as Sydney. True, there are plenty of local delish to choose from but I'm still struggling to adjust myself and be content with whatever the city has to offer. I have some favorite dishes in this country but tbh, I haven't found a favorite place where I am happy with as a whole package (i,e. ambience, food, service, etc). I truly miss finding myself on a sunny saturday morning sitting in a buzzing little suburban cafe surrounded by fashinoably dressed Sydney-siders accompanied by friends while indulging in my brekkie. Singapore, for some reason, lack this aspects of homey-feeling cafe. In general, the design of the cafes are way too modern for my taste and the weather is too horribly hot to suit up for my usual saturday morning regime.

One of the better place I found was the marmalade pantry at the Stables. Nothing like Sydney's cafe but I guess the remote location it established on makes it somewhat cozier than any other place I found so far. To reach the place, one must drive because if I recall correctly, the road to the place is so confusing. As the name implies, it is located near a horse stable so you may try to ride a horse adding to the overall experience in this place. I went there for an afternoon tea so I only get to try their dessert and I chose chocolate deluxe which tasted like the brownie I made (part of the reason I liked it, I guess).

Anw, as I thrive to adjust myself to this new place, I hope to really find something I can fall in love with and return to Sydney in a very very near future.

So long Becasse!

I was so devastated when I read Becasse and all its other chains was forced to voluntary administration. As one of my favorite restaurants in Sydney, Becasse will be very much missed. I still remember the first time I went there, I was served by Justin North himself and was given lots of free dishes (the bespoken vegetables consisted of crushed nuts and radish, bday cake made by the pastry chef himself and more). The second time I went there was with my other friends and although the menu changed and Justin wasn't there to serve us himself, the foods didn't fail us at all. So needless to say, I'm so heartbroken by this unfortunate circumstance. I wish he could re-establish his empire soon for the sake of Sydney's food lovers.

Bird Cow Fish

My best friend once told me that the best potato gnocchi in Sydney has got to be the one at Bird Cow Fish. She was so addicted to it that she went there so often to the point that the chef himself prepared and cooked this dish for her! 

The first picture is the handmade potato gnocchi with prawns and sage butter. The overall food is great but it's slightly to herby for my taste. However, the gnocchi is soft and it definitely one that melts in your mouth!

The second dish is the red wine beef with homemade pappardelle. I honestly like this one better as compared to the other one. The pasta is thin and nice, the beef is so well-cooked that it absorbed all the goodness of red wine. I must say, this is a must-try dish!

So what have I missed recently?!

I just came back from my solid 3 months of holiday! The difference is now I'm back not as a student anymore (how sad is that) but as a graduate who is very eager to attend her own graduation ceremony.

The truth is, I kind of miss singapore. The lor mee, the awesome xiao long bao, wonton mee, bak kut teh, and my list goes on.. rawr!! But then again, coming back to Sydney makes me realise that 3 months is enough to make me so behind on the new restaurants. In fact, when I arrive, my friends seems like talking foreign language when they mention the eating places!

But I'm back! Sadly enough, I'm still in the process of reminiscing the awesome foods I missed so much when I wasn't around. On a happier note, I think I have just converted some friends into a meet fresh fan. For those of you who doesn't know, Meet Fresh is a taiwanese desert place which upon my arrival has opened a new branch next to cha time's flagship store at george street.  Btw, to my surprise, there is actually a branch at berjaya times square in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Their desert selections range from tofu pudding, herbal jelly, to shaved ice and some taiwanese tea. A new addition is their type of smoothie (whatever they call it). Now, my favourite dessert has got to be the Meet Fresh Signature Herbal Jelly Desert which consisted of herbal jelly + taro balls and sweetened shaved ice. I love it!

Other all-time favourite restaurants that I have had a chance to visit are Sydney Madang and Jeans Chili Chicken (duh?!). I was so very happy the moment I got to feed at the best Korean restaurant in Sydney. ow yes!

From Bilson's with love

I was so devastated when my friend told me Bilson's has closed down.
But life is indeed full of surprises!So, as a tribute to what I would dare to claim the best three chef hat restaurant in Sydney, I decided to write this blog!

I have had a privilege to dine there twice, one in December 2010 and the other in September 2011. It never let me down even once!

2 Degustation Menu selections, The Grand @195 and Petit 145 

I had this few months ago but I'm pretty sure we went for the Petit option, just because I am sure I wanted to eat the wagyu shank (of course, a decision I never regret to date). 

Snack: Seaweed Cracker with Dashi Mayo

There are only 2 restaurants that I would praise for their amazing opening snack, one of them has got to be Bilson's. This seaweed cracker with dashi mayo was a genius combination! The seaweed was thinly cut and fried to perfection. I can still remember it so vividly. It was so amazing that as I'm typing this, I can feel it in my tongue. 

Maroon, Butternut Pumpkin, Mandarin

Second Dish: This is another ingenious work of art. The yellow thing in the middle is the butternut pumpkin that flows so amazingly, you barely even notice when they are gone from your plate. The black thingy is something sweet that adds all the flavour to the whole dish. 

The picture below is a scampi dish. Gosh, I swear its the best thing ever existed in this world. Love it to bits! 

Most of the pictures that I took at Bilson has gone along with my old phone (R.I.P). So here is a tribute of the best restaurant in sydney! I love you so much and I hope you will reopen your door very soon. 

Xoxo,

M

Korean Slow-Cooked Beef ribs a.k.a. Gal Bi Jim

My favourite korean food has to be their stewed spare ribs with soy sauce, also known as gal bi jim. For some reason, it is not boasted well enough in Sydney. I barely find a restaurant with good Gal Bi Jim. I guess long time ago, there was one called Nanta but they closed down without apparent reason. Ever since, I am on my mission to find a good gal bi jim.

I have tried several places, like Seoul Ria (selling the worst Gal Bi Jim), Min Sok Chon (spicy but quite tasty), and one little korean store at Randwick. But believe me, my favourite Korean Restaurant like madang, arisen, and Jeans simply don't serve this dish.. B.U.M.M.E.R.

Why is it so hard to find this awesome and superb dish??! I asked my korean friend and he said "because it is a home cooked food". And at that point, I decided that I should really learn to make this dish. The secret lies in the use of Pear for sweetener, good ribs, and prolonged cooking using low heat..

Now, the recipe to make it is pretty simple, I used around 1 kg of spare ribs. For the marinade I used 5 spoons of soy sauce (I used lee kum kee - can be found at any asian grocery store), 4 tbs of sugars + 1 tbs of honey, 1 tbs of sesame oil + sesame seed (I used the master food brand but any brand is fine), 1/2 onions, 4 cloves of garlic! Then just dump everything in the pot, stir well and let it rest for 1.5 hrs - 2 hours (stir occasionally). Gosh I wish I took a better picture of the finished product but try it, its very simple and its awesome for busy students cause you can just leave it to cook by itself!