What did we eat?

Note: this is where I disgrace myself by not remembering the proper Spanish names of the dishes and use proper grammatical English words like ‘thingy‘.

Anchovy & watermelon sorbet	Oysters
Potato-tomato-cheese sauce thingy	Beef cheek in cauliflower puree
Not enough thinly sliced wagyu	Paella

> More photos & dishes available on our Flickr stream

What I liked:

The location is great, it feels kind of secluded until you get the after-work corporates rocking up after 5pm making a ruckus (me included).

What I didn’t like:

If I remember correctly, master chef George Colombaris tells me that paella should have a crust and that one which doesn’t has failed. By that standard, I would say the MoVida one failed as I could’ve cooked a better crust using my crappy $30 Breville rice cooker.

Top tip:

Book ahead, even on a  weekday. Otherwise go early or just sit out on their terraza and enjoy.

Rating:

6.5/10 – whilst the food was good overall, can’t say I was particularly wowed by their dishes.

On a completely separate note – can you believe this if the first post for 2010?!?! Happy extremely belated new year peeps!

The concept is pretty simple:

1. Self-serve yoghurt machines where you can mix and match your favourite flavours – though they have some really weird ones including rootbeer float as a flavour
2. Add the toppings that you want – this includes cheesecake pieces!
3. Pay at the counter based on the weight of the cup

I think it’ll be a hit! Just need the competition to start and I’m sure we’ll be getting plenty of yoghurt worlds/yoghurt empires/yoghurt dynasties in no time!

Quick rating: 7/10. Another chain that will provide a great way for international students to get an under paid job and provide crappy service!

W: http://www.yogurt-land.com/

What did we eat?

Chauie and I ordered to share (sorry I don’t remember the exact dishes ordered):

• Fried tofu with a fish sauce and bonito flakes.



• Gyoza (Japanese fried dumpling).



• Japanese spaghetti with chicken in cream sauce.
• Wagyu beef skewers.



• Grilled salmon sushi.

What I liked:

• It’s a modern Japanese restaurant, so you order using a touch screen (sorry inner geek).
• The speed at which the food and drinks come is super quick. It almost made up for the time we lost waiting to get a table.
• This is for KTang and JenHo – they do serve Umeshu (plum wine) and Yuzushu (citrus wine).

What I didn’t like:

• Obviously, having to wait to get a table.
• Some of the plates were chipped.

Top tip:

I’ve been told that you should book a week before you want to go. This will eliminate the gross waiting time.

Rating: 8/10. Everything I had was just outright tasty. I’m going back again when I next go to Sydney and this time I won’t pre-stuff myself.

Earlier today I baked cupcakes for the third time in my life.

The first time was from a box and that was floury. I also burned my hand and that resulted in me avoiding the oven for a couple of years. The second time I thought I’d be smart and combined 3 different online recipes into 1 (don’t ask me why) and that didn’t go so well. But now for my third attempt I tried a recipe from my new book, Jennifer Graham’s ‘The Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook’ and they turned out great!! It really makes a difference when you follow a pro…

She makes everything sound so simple and I think her technique is what makes them turn out really good so I recommend her book to all. I also recommend a cupcake tower as it makes your cupcakes look much more impressive.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

To see the cupcakes from other angles, check out our Flickr.

Just recently, my mum made Har Mee (prawn noodles):

My personal favourite is the Curry Laksa:

(Note: this is Kuching style laksa)

We have provided food for takeaway on the odd occasion. But it’s generally best when you actually come and sit in. Sorry I’m not giving out “restaurant” details except that I live in the middle of no where.

So here’s a quicky while I get my thoughts and photos sorted for proper posts…and to give my other foodswingers ‘time’ to also collect their thoughts and join in…one day. Hmm, it’s lonely here eh?

My recent travels have taken me to Perth, Australia. As a result, I’m living it up with great wine, great seafood and no dinner on Sundays because nothing is open. My last weekend was spent lazing at the Cottesloe beach with special guest ‘Ninja Baz’ where we got some fish n chips wrapped in butcher’s paper.

While I love all those expensive restaurants on the waterfront, sometimes, you just can’t go past that pretty parcel of greasy goodness.

I have improved though – as a kid, I used to sleep in my school uniform so that I wouldn’t have to wake up and get changed (I still think it’s a brilliant idea).

Just because I don’t eat breakfast, doesn’t mean I don’t like it though. In particular, I had a pretty damn good one today at Cafe Vamp (and I even got to see the judge of ‘Thank God You’re Here‘ which is probably one of the biggest celebrity encounter I’ve ever had).

Atlantic Breakfast – smoked salmon, poached eggs, buttered spinach on toast.

Pan-fried Mushies – grilled haloumi and lemon, mushrooms scrambled eggs & rocket.

Quick rating – 8/10. Great size, variety, quality and service. Go get yourself some!

This place has recently become my favourite bar because:

• Great drinks at reasonable prices (a must try is the Yuzu – a drink that tastes like a mix of mandarin juice and lemon gelati but is still alcoholic)
• Friendly staff
• Sit down at the bar style drinking
• No ‘doof doof’ music
• Not a big place – so I don’t feel like I should be hanging there with all my facebook friends
• Good japanese food (they are part of Izakaya Chuuji)

By the way, I’ve decided to make this my belated ‘May Restaurant (ahem…Bar) of the month’. Previous winners can be found in my older posts.