The girls at work bought me shot of wheatgrass from Boost on my last day. Their assumption was that I would love it because:

1. It’s green, healthy and tastes terrible.
2. I enjoy the Sunbeam Just Nuts, which for some very odd reason tastes a bit like grass.

Much to everyone’s disappointment, I wasn’t head over heels for wheatgrass. The slice of orange to the side was definitely tastier. Unsurprisingly, it did taste exactly as described (i.e. like grass).

I’m not sure I’d fork out the $3 to get another one, other than for novelty purposes. Having read the Wikipedia article on wheatgrass I’m not entirely convinced of its health benefits either. For the same flavour I’ll stick to Sunbeam. For the same price I’d rather buy a bag of carrots and make my own juice. Here’s one I prepared earlier:

I got this latte from Degraves Espresso on Degraves street.

Although I was pleasantly surprised by their latte art, I wasn’t so pleased I had to drink the caffeinated version (they ran out of decaf).

I’ve recently come to the conclusion that skinny decaf is arguably the best drink to make you look like you’ve made the effort to grab a coffee. I think I’ll get a ristretto skinny decaf next time, which should really be called ‘Diet Coffee’…

I’m a HUGE fan of aioli. If aioli was a rockstar, I’d be the one in the front row throwing my lingerie at it. In fact, if this post gets 1000 comments, I may just name my first child Aioli.

Here is my version on how to make a quick aioli for all those occasions where you could use it – chips, steak, chicken or main dish, whatever makes you happy.

What you need:

• Garlic
• Olive Oil
• Honey (optional)
• Salt + Pepper
• Japanese Mayonnaise (don’t use the normal stuff)
• Dijon Mustard

What you do:

1. Get some garlic cloves.
2. Chuck them into some aluminium foil that you’ve shaped like a basket (you don’t need to peel the garlic)
3. Drizzle some olive oil, add some salt and pepper
4. Optional: drizzle a little bit of honey



5. Seal your package and chuck it into an oven to roast for about 30 mins.
6. Take the garlic out of their skin and mash it all up



7. Mix in some japanese mayonnaise – use however much you like
8. Mix in some mustard – use about half the amount of mayo you put in
9. Mix, mix, mix
10. Aloha Aioli!

Here is a picture of my half eaten dinner with a bit of the aoili on the side. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product because I was too busy eating. Whoops.

Chilli spiced pan fried chicken w/ steamed vegies, roasted peppers & AIOLI!

“Peking Duck Specialist Since 1864″

Big claim = Big expectations.

Quanjude was a place that the highly esteemed and exclusive duck club (est. 2008 Eclipse) simply had to try. Given that they’ve had 145 years to perfect those Peking duck roasting and wrapping skills, we expected nothing short of a miracle in our mouths.

As we arrived, a sea of red and gold enveloped the senses while our ears were met with the sound of Chinglish.

The palace during the Peking Duck Dynasty

What did we eat?

Like you had to ask. Of course we ate Peking duck!

For our entrees we also had the salt & pepper calamari and sesame prawn.

What I liked:

1. They serve the ladies first. I just liked being served first, I don’t care if it’s because I’m a lady or if it’s because I look famished or because I look like I’m about to rip a waiter’s head off if they don’t give me my food straight away. Me. Food. First. Happy. It’s simple.
2. They had duck serving ware.



3. The certificate for each duck was pretty nifty, but see my dislike #5 below.

What I didn’t like:

1. The price ($88 a duck)
2. No BYO + pricey wines
3. The price $$
4. For how the restaurant was decorated, I think they should’ve played a gong sound every time a duck came out
5. I’m not convinced that I actually got the 115202573 duck
6. The price $$$$
7. The duck was too lean and the pieces were sliced too thin
8. The pastry was a bit too thick for me
9. The soup at the end was just dismal. We only got about 2 mouthfuls each from ordering 3 ducks
10. The price $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
11. Where were the Chinese opera singers?

Top Tip:

BYO gong and lots of cash if you’re going to go, otherwise head to Old Kingdom instead.

Rating: Given what we paid, we didn’t get enough and it could’ve tasted better. 5/10.

View the rest of our Quanjude adventure through the photos in our flickr stream.

299 Queen St
Melbourne
Phone 9670 0091

This cheesecake was given to me by my good friend Sam. It’s from Laurent, a french bakery chain. As cheesecake isn’t really part of my diet I only ate the fruit off the top which seemed like a real waste.

The solution: bring it into work.

So all I can tell you about this cheesecake was that the fruit was very fresh and it was beautifully presented. Perhaps one of you sweettooths would be kind enough to elaborate …

- RayZha

…the cheesecake part….

in the words of Fergie-Ferg: D to the E to the L-I-C-I-O-U-S.  The cheesecake was thinner than a lot of others so you don’t get sick of the filling too quickly and it means that there is a better ratio between the biscuit base and the filling. The filling doesn’t taste too rich and cheesy either which is just the way I like it.

I would recommend eating it with the fruit though. RayZha was kind enough to leave us some of the fruit so we could assess the whole berry-cheesecake package which was much better than having either in isolation. But just cheesecake is good too – beggers can’t be choosers.

Disclaimer: this cheesecake may have tasted better to me because it was free.

- KTang

In several locations throughout Victoria and NSW

It’s been over 18 months since my friend Irene got back from teaching English in Japan. Since then, she has threatened to get us to try her homemade okonomiyaki.

On Saturday, in the middle of the downpour, Irene finally made good on her promise. The okonomiyaki was the main attraction, but the pumpkin soup was pretty good considering the weather.

The okonomiyaki didn’t taste like the ones in Japan, but Irene reckons she knows what the secret ingredient is (which I can’t reveal) and hasn’t been able to find it locally. Nevertheless, it was pretty tasty.

Now, we all wait for her to open a stall or restaurant.

Safcol Thai Green Curry has to be my favourite canned tuna product of all time. Not only does it contain 15g of protein per hit, but I genuinely reckon it tastes like thai green curry. The curry is relatively hot compared to other brands and provides some mild tongue tingling.

I stock up whenever they’re on special. I think the best deal I saw was at Coles (10 cans for $8). The cans in picture where purchased from QV Safeway at $1 per can (save $0.69!).

However, remember not to get too excited with the stuff otherwise you might get mercury poisoning.

I’ve been eating a fair amount of asparagus lately as I’ve gotten tired of green beans. They’re really fast to prepare and taste pretty good just boiled with a bit of salt, pepper and light soy sauce.

Speaking of taste, I was very surprised to hear that ktang actually prefers eating the stems rather the leaves! Perhaps Safeway should consider selling asparagus halves? Sounds very win-win. Pictured below is my carefully constructed prototype.

After spending a couple of weeks recuperating from our adventure to Footscary (round 1)…I mean Footscray, we FoodSwingers gathered our courage, knee pads and gas masks to venture even further west to St Albans in our never relenting quest to find the ultimate bowl of pho that will change the world and stimulate the economy out of global recession.

This time, Snalbans greeted us with Pho Kim Long which if my Chinese/Vietnemese serves me correctly, should roughly translate to ‘Total Pho Awesomness of the Golden Dragon to make you into a real man’.

So what did we eat?

• KTang, RayZha, WiFi & Guest Starring Melissa-chan (JoHo stand in) and Paulo-dono: Pho Tai Nam which again roughly translates to ‘Total awesomness of the rare beef sliced by the claws of the Golden Dragon’.
• JenHo: Pho Dac Biet – see my translation in round 1.

What I liked:

There are a few things about this place worth mentioning:

1. This is my first time going to a pho place that didn’t have Chinese branded electronic equipment. Their TV’s were PANASONIC! But wait, they were NEW VIERA WALL MOUNTED PLASMAS. And yes, I checked the spelling and it really was Panasonic and not Wankasonic.
2. They had their menu displayed in 3 languages – Vietnamese, Chinese & English – and the English menu was decently translated…and they were even the same price! Simply amazing.
3. I swear their large size pho came in what used to be a bucket with just the handle removed.

What I didn’t liked:

Their real-branded TVs were playing Dreamworks animated kids movies.

I think Vietnamese cable TV showing outdated stars on stage doing what looks like Viet SingStar of the 60’s adds to the atmosphere of a pho place. I’m sure it would also help with their churn rate so that they get more customers in and out at record time.

Top Tip:

Loosen your belt and get two bowls.

Rating: 8.5/10 = Phogalicious definition, make them boys go loco. They want my treasure, so they get their pleasures from my photo.

The crew at Foodswings wishes JoHo a safe and awesome trip in Japan!

Happy eating!