I have no idea what this was. We were served this at the end of our Korean dinner in Glen Waverley because they had over-cooked (burnt) our food.

I think it was a small piece of biscuit or cake wrapped in wonton skin and then covered with chocolate sauce. It looked better than it tasted.

Can’t afford to go to Japan? Neither can I. But that’s ok, why don’t you despair at Maedaya over yakiniku.

What did we eat?

At their upstairs dining we got:

• A grill (no gas or electricity required!)
• A choice of raw ingredients to cook. We had: wagyu, ox tongue, lamb, onion, pumpkin, chilli beef & capsicum
• A few cooked dishes – yakitori and squid
• The majority of us ordered ice-cream for dessert while others had ochazuke which is rice in green tea
• A choice of 5 sauces that you can add to some seasame seeds that you grind yourself.

Note: they also have downstairs with is more of an a la carte style menu and the prices also seem quite reasonable.

What I liked?

• On Monday and Tuesday they have buy 1 get 1 free dishes for you to grill
• On Wednesday and Thursdays they have a select number of drinks alcoholic drinks for only $3.50, including some sake.

What I didn’t like:

• Even though each table has their own ventilation shaft, you still come out of the restaurant smelling like dog heaven.
• The candy that we got at the end had a picture of a pear on it, but tasted like mint.

Top tip:

Wear some shabby clothing and go with someone who likes to cook or someone you can force to cook for you.

Rating:

7/10. My friends tell me it’s pretty authentic, but I’ve never been to Japan so I’ll take their word for it. Oiiishiiii.

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Sake & Grill Maedaya
400 Bridge Road
Richmond 3121
Phone: +61 3 9428 3918
Operating hours:Mon-Sat 12pm-2:30pm, 6pm-10:30pm

No, it’s not a new dance move. It’s the Japanese version of a Chinese hotpot/steamboat with a bit of flair – you swish your meat and vegetables around in the broth rather than just dunking it all in. (I’m generally impatient so I just dunk the food in and eat it after 20 seconds of cooking and spend all night on the toilet wishing I’d let my food cook more…)

Anyway…

What did we eat?

• You get a choice between 3 soup bases: miso, soy and chicken broth
• Fresh ingredients roll around on top of a sushi train style platform and you pick off what you want to eat. There are various vegetables (e.g. enoki mushroom, cabbage, chinese mushroom) and meat (e.g. pork, chicken, beef).
• You also get to choose a dipping sauce – traditional soy, sesame, suki (slightly chilli)

What I liked:

• IT’S ALL YOU CAN EAT BABY for $25 pp.
• Everyone gets their own little hot pot so you don’t have to worry about your friend with ‘flu-like’ symptoms dipping their chopsticks into your broth.
• They had plenty of meat on offer, not just 1 or 2

What I didn’t like:

• They give you about 1.5 hours to eat your food. Even though I couldn’t eat any more after about 1 hour, I still don’t like the idea of being time limited.
• An egg costs $1 extra?! I’m pretty sure I ate about $50 worth of meat that night…surely they could’ve made the egg free?
• Probably not situated in the best location either – the restaurant faces a carpark and you need to walk in the side of the carpark to get it.

Top tip:

They open at 4pm for bookings, so if you’re going on a Friday or Saturday night, make sure you book ahead first.

Rating:

7/10 Pretty good value and variety at $25 a head. Well worth a visit if you want to try something different.

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Shabu Shabu
380 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne
Phone: +61 3 9642 4934
Website: http://www.shabushabu.com.au/

I got this recipe from a fellow gourmet at work (Thanks B.Kazazes!) – hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Pinch of ground ginger
• 60ml (1/4 cup) soy sauce
• 60ml (1/4 cup) ketchup
• 1 chopped garlic clove
• Black pepper
• 500g pork ribs

Method

Marinate the spare ribs for at least 30 minutes, then drain and grill briskly on one side. Baste with a little marinade and grill the other side. Baste once more and grill the ribs until they are stickily glazed on both sides. The ribs may also be baked in a preheated oven of around 180 degrees, and require basting occasionally.

They ended up tasting a little like char siu (Chinese bbq pork), but most definitely a winner in my eyes!

With the End of Financial Year, several things happen. There are heaps of sales, you can put in your tax returns and some people get promotions at work. Luckily I have such friends that are better at their jobs than I am (Congratulations to them!). So the celebration dinner was held at La Paella. I know nothing about Moroccan or Spanish food. The only thing I’d learnt from MasterChef was that a good paella should have a crusty base.

What did we eat?

KeXin, Wancy, Jono and WiFi (I was the special guest this time!): The Andulucian Banquet. This consisted of…

• Mixed dips served with home made bread.



• A mixed platter with fried cheese, chicken shasliks, Spanish omelette, garlic mushrooms and salad.



• A chicken and seafood paella – there was hardly a crusty base but it was still tasty. I found the crust kinda salty.



• Coffee/tea with almond biscuits – we didn’t get to this stage…see What I didn’t like.

What I liked:

• The Moroccan mint tea, especially while it’s hot. Once the tea cools down, the tea is too sweet.
• The garlic mushrooms. They only served the heads/caps of the mushrooms but they put the garlic sauce inside the heads/caps

What I didn’t like:

• The teapot holding the tea was a bit silly. It was completely metal…so the handle was hot while the tea was hot.
• My friends didn’t help me with the paella (I ended up eating about 2/3 of it). They were quite full after the mixed platter. But this isn’t really the restaurants fault.

Top tip:

The banquet is quite filling so pace yourselves! Also, opening the lid of the teapot doesn’t work like it does at Yumcha.

Rating: 7/10. But I’m definitely not ready for another paella yet…unless someone eats the bigger portion.

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La Paella
217 Sydney Road
Brunswick
Phone 9380 6955

…I had a Snickers w/ THE LOT and it was bloody amazing.

Even though there is 15.2g of fat in the 50g bar, I prefer to think of it as being 70% fat free.

It completely cured my 3.30-itis and is a must try if you’re a chocolate lover! See Jim’s Chocolate Mission for a more in-depth and scientific review with graphs and shit.

…makes me want to stab myself in the eye with a fork. Actually I think that applies to all their drinks as well.

I actually shuddered when I took a bite out of this ‘lemon zesty slice’…

I even blurred the photo to try and make it a distant memory, but I guess there’s no point in polishing turds right?

My brother and I made Jamie Oliver’s risotto, in the mushroom variety and here are the results, garnished with shaved pecorino parmesan, chilli flakes (Italians would say this is blasphemy), and a squeeze of lemon juice – as recommended by Mr O. Does it look as good as it tastes? I think it may have tasted better than it looked, we couldn’t stop eating it.

A few months back, I did a post on Hu Tong Dumpling Bar and titled it ‘KTang’s restaurant of the month.’ That was in February which means I’m missing restaurants for March – July. But don’t worry, I’ll eventually catch up once I get out of my current eater’s block, but here are the belated restaurants of the month for March & April that are Sydney inspired…

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Ding Tai Fung
World Square Shopping Centre
644 George St
Sydney
Phone: +61 2 9264 6010
Web: http://www.dintaifung.com.tw/en/index.asp

Makoto Sushi Bar
119 Liverpool Street (Cnr, Pitt & Liverpool St.)
Sydney
Phone: +61 2 9283 6767
Web: http://www.masuya.com.au/en/makoto/

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What did we eat?

Ding Tai Fung: Xiao long bao. Yep this is another xiao long bao place, but it’s bloody good, so go get yourself 20 steamers.

Makoto: Various sushi from the sushi train.

What I liked:

Ding Tai Fung: The pastry is the so delicate yet it doesn’t break and you don’t have to be too gentle. Kinda like what a good boyfriend should be. Too bad boyfriends don’t have succulent pork fat soup on the inside.

Makoto: All the sushi is made on the spot like it should be! This means that the rice is still warm and the fish is cold. The staff are really friendly and the grilled salmon sushi…let’s just say if I saw an starving old crippled lady with a plate, I would steal it from her without hesitation.

What I didn’t like:

Ding Tai Fung: You will have to wait quite a while to get a seat because they’re that popular and they don’t take bookings.

They also have whacked operating hours:
Mon-Sun: 11.30 till 2.30 and then 5.30-10pm
Public holidays and weekends, they are open for an extra 30 mins later.

Makoto: …I can’t think of anything…

Top tip:

Ding Tai Fung: Wear comfortable shoes because you’ll be standing in line for quite a while. Also, don’t bother with Ding Tai Fung in HK or ShenZhen (China), Sydney is of a much higher standard.

Makoto: Get there early before they open. They have a sheet at the front of the door where you can write down the number of people you have, where you want to sit and you then take a number that they call out when they open.

Rating:

Ding Tai Fung: 9/10. I would be happy to come back as a pig in my next life to be in one of those xiao long baos.

Makoto: 10/10. Oiiishiiiiiii.

I was watching my new favourite show MasterChef last night and in the Masterclass episode, George Calombaris (one of the chefs/judges) was teaching the contestants how to make the best ever chunky chips. He made it look so easy and being a big chip fan myself I just HAD to try it. Yes, this was a recipe that actually got my butt off the couch and into the kitchen where my mum looked at me suspiciously when I pulled out some cooking utensils.

I was scared but excited at the same time since I rarely make anything from scratch (requires too much time and effort). But I am proud to say that the chips were a super-crunchy-on-the-outside-and-heavenly-soft-on-the-inside success!

Here’s how YOU can make awesome chips.

Ingredients:

Potatoes

Salt

Oil

What to do:

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into thick cut chips – try to keep them the same size so they cook evenly
2. Put the potatoes into a pot of cold water with some salt
3. Bring the potatoes to boil on high heat, be careful not to let them boil for too long as the potatoes will become too soft and break
4. Drain the potatoes and lay them on a tray
5. Put the potatoes in the fridge to dry out for at least half a day – this is the key to making them crispy on the outside
6. Heat oil (he recommended peanut oil) and deep fry the chips, taking them out when they start to look golden
7. Sprinkle salt on the chips immediately and serve!

I actually tested a batch of chips that had been refrigerated for about 1 hour and they turned out great but not as crunchy and friggin’ delicious as the batch that had been in the fridge for about half a day. So it really does make a difference to let them dry out for longer!