teppan-YUM-ki

On a recent jaunt in the country, we stopped in at Bendigo's 'My Teppanyaki' Restaurant for dinner.

While it may seem that the majority of my posts are about Japanese, Chinese or Vietnamese restaurants, this is because there is an abundance of great Asian restaurants in Melbourne, and it was one of the things I craved while in France (not only the food but the beauty of BYO).

It's really difficult to find good authentic Chinese food in France and I missed it so much. There is a pretty good selection of Japanese food in Paris although it is really expensive compared to Melbourne, and their Vietnamese cuisine tends to taste exactly the same in all restaurants (except in Belleville where there are some good Pho places).

So back to Teppanyaki.

I love the theater of it all! I love sitting back and watching all the food get prepared in front of you and then often get thrown at you. My first Teppanyaki experience was at a Teppanyaki restaurant in Melbourne's Chinatown. We were with quite a raucous group and the chefs were throwing food all over the place. Their knife skills were outstanding!

The Bendigo Teppanyaki restaurant was a little more subdued but the food was still great. We ordered one of the four set menus and settled back with drinks. The entree was really quick to come out and was a little salad and a bowl of delicious miso soup. Not long after this, the teppanyaki chef came out to start his magic. 

 

King prawns were the first to fit the hot plate where they were dissected; shelled and gutted in a few brief cuts. They tasted smokey and went perfectly with my Umeshu (plum wine).

  

  

Next up came the chicken thighs. This part of the chicken is so tasty, and when it is taken off the bone, is as versatile as breast fillet but tends to be much less dry. The chicken was shortly followed by a bean-shoot and vegetable stir fry which was a nice accompaniment to all the meat.

Now for the beef. This was by far my favourite part of the meal. I never think of myself as a big red meat eater but I think I might be. Every time I order meat out, I love it so much. A few months ago we went to this steak house in London with some friends. This couple tends to eat ridiculously well so I went with their advice and I ordered the scotch fillet (250 grams of it) which came served on an otherwise empty plate! I feel like this steak was a turning point in my meat ordering days and while it was super intense, it was outstandingly good.

The beef at the 'My Teppanyaki' was divine. It was chopped and cooked medium-rare quickly on high heat, and every piece was perfect. The beef came with a salty miso based dipping sauce but I found it was so full of taste that it didn't need to be distracted by an accompaniment.

  

  

Lastly came the rice throwing. I was a little disappointed that this was the only part of my meal to be thrown at me (especially as we had sat through the whole thing wearing adorable Japanese fabric bibs) but we caught our bowls with glee and lucky for us the chef was very accurate. By this stage my belly felt as though it was about to burst and while the smokey fried rice was good, it could not quite be finished. 

  

  

  

 

Ooo, I nearly forgot! All the time that everything else was being thrown about the hot-plate, the legs of our prawns had been sitting at the top. We hadn't paid much attention to them- something to do with flying knifes and flames- until they were put onto our plates. I have to admit that I didn't want to eat it at all. There is something so wrong about eating legs, but, I mustered up my Bear Grylls courage and ate it. 

Now you may be thinking that Bear Grylls would have caught the prawn out of the water, probably with his teath and eaten the whole thing, innards included, but let's get serious, I am no 'woman vs wild' and this is as close to Bear Grylls as I plan to get in the near future!

 

All in all, an entertaining meal. The food was good and the spectacle was impressive. My only negative comment was that the service was quite rushed and the meal was over too quickly. 

But this was a nice finishing touch!

  

lunch fit for a ploughman

 I love how vivid food memories can be. I remember when I was young going for lunch, possibly in Maldon, with my Dad and both of us ordered the Ploughman's lunch. It was one of the nicest things ever, the mix of hearty bread, delicious cheese and tasty chutneys. I can't really remember any specific product from meal but I do remember enjoying it immensely.

So, when I heard that there was an excess of Cheese at my parent's house, I hot-footed my way home to whip up a Ploughman's lunch. All of these cheeses and the apple and quince paste duo came from Tasmania. This is the first time I have tried apple paste and I was pleasantly surprised, it went so well with both the quince paste and hard cheese.



To go with the English style Ploughman's lunch we decided to make some good old Australian damper. I remember making Damper on school camps by the fire. It's so quick and easy to make, and the final product looked good and tasted great.

Here's how it went...
Step one was to sift self-raising flour into a bowl, add about 50 grams of butter and rub it into the flour with your fingers. Add any herbs you have on hand, we added chives, rosemary, oregano and thyme. Then you add a cup of milk and mix it through with a butter knife. Kneed it on a lightly dusted bench and then flatten it out and score the top. Pop it into the oven for about 25 minutes on about 180°. You know if it's cooked when you can knock the bottom and it sounds hollow. Make sure it is well cooked, then break it up in your fingers and smother it with butter. YUMM!!

 

 

hu tong i love you

 Dumplings are one of my all time favourite Melbourne cheap eats!

 I have a great friend that shares this love and when she told me that Hu Tong Dumpling Bar had 'dumplings with soup in them', I nearly popped my top with joy and wonder!

Hu Tong is off Bourke Street on Market Place. It is opposite the well known Flower drum and Shoya, but is of a very different price range. Both times I have been there this month (testament to my love) they have been full, but leave them your number to call you when a table is free as this place is worth the wait!

The downstairs part of the restaurant is great to sit in as you get to watch the kitchen in full swing.

It's hard not to admire the speed and finesse of the kitchen staff who can spend hours making these heavenly dumplings. If you are not in a rush, take your time ordering (as your food can come quite fast) and get some beautiful tea and share your time between admiring the buzzing kitchen and watching the people coming in and out of Flower Drum (also quite entertaining).

 

Now the menu is quite large but I can't imagine ever straying far from the dumplings to try much else.

These are the chili dumplings with sesame seeds, spring onion in a hot but addictive sauce. The dumplings are soft and juicy and have the perfect amount of heat to not to ruin their flavour. Watch out for the Szechuan pepper corns, if you don't realise you are about to eat one, you are in for quite the mouth exploding shock!

 

The vegetarian spinich dumplings were a lovely contrast to the chili dumplings. Their spinich casings were stuffed with diced vegetables and we ended up dipping these in a mix of the leftover chilly sauce and vinegar soy. These dumplings seemed like quite a healthy addition to our meal and at 5 dollars a serve, they were a super bargain!

 

Now, these next dumplings are crazy! They are so crazy that each table in the restaurant has their own eating guide devoted to them. The Shao-long bao dumplings are carefully created by using a meat gelatine which, when steamed, creates the soup (or rich stock) at the bottom of the dumplings.

Eating them can be quite ceremonial. First you have to get them onto your spoon. It's best to pick them up at the top where they have been masterfully folded. Then you let a little of their saggy bottoms hang over your spoon, you take a little nibble and then you suck out the liquid gold (maybe not the best dish to eat with people you don't know very well). After this, you dip them in the vinegar soy, add some sliced ginger and pop them into mouth to enjoy the mix of textures and flavours. Success!

In all, Hu Tong Dumpling Bar is a great spot for lunch. While I was warned that their service was average, I found it quite efficient and when the dumplings are this good, I found it hard to focus on much else!

For the 3 plates of dumplings and the tea, we paid around 28 dollars. Pretty outstanding value for 14 dollars each. At some places you can't even get a sandwich and coffee for that price!

Hu Tong I am already dreaming of my next visit!!

ichi ni izakaya

Ichi Ni is;
a) The cutest name ever
b) One of the best Japanese restaurants in Melbourne town
c) The best new addition to the Esplanade in St K's, or
d) All of the above........

And the answer is.................................... D) ALL OF THE ABOVE!!!!
and maybe a little bit of E) I LOVE THIS PLACE. YUMMM

We went to the busy busy Ichi Ni Izakaya last saturday night. We couldn't get a table when we got there so we went for a drink at the Espy, conviently located next door. The esplanade in St Kilda is so beautiful at night and Ichi Ni takes full advantage of the view with their massive windows and huge outside eating area.

After we sat down in the no-reservations bar area we were quickly given menus and our drinks order was taken. I opted for a glass of their plum wine, which I adore on any occassion, especially on the rocks. It was strong, syrupy and the serving size was generous (or maybe just reasonable for the price- 10 dollars a glass).

We decided to order a few dishes off the Tapas menu and then see what we were craving for the second installment.  In my excitement I completely forgot to photo the first few dishes (a semi-regular occurance) but I can describe them in blissful reverie!

Firstly the Gyoza, plump little dumplings, perfectly cooked and accompanied by a light soy dressing. These gyoza were some of the nicest I have ever tasted (up there with those from Yu-u) and I would easily go back for plates and plates of these yummies. I had similar feelings towards the Ebi Mayo- huge king prawns lightly fried and served with that delicous addictive Japanese Mayonaise.

Then we ordered the Pork belly (actually Jim insisted on this one) which I was happy to taste but wouldn't have wanted to eat much more of. Jim loved every bite of this and while I preferred our other choices, it was pretty flavoursome and tender.

We also ordered the Spicy Avocado and Tofu dish. I love a good interactive dish and got a little thrill from wrapping the filling in the Nori Sheets. While this dish was good, I think it was hard to do it justice when it came at the same time as the Ebi Prawns (easy solution would be order it before the hot Tapas dishes)

 

So, after a little break from all the deliciousness, we ordered round two (and I remembered my camera existed).

We were pretty keen to try some of the Yakitori so we ordered the Squid and the Eel. The squid was delicious but easily forgotten next to the Eel which was super delicious/ nearly made me fall off my chair groaning!!

We also got a little greedy and decided to taste the Tempura Plate which came with King Prawns, White fish, Pumpkin and Zucchini. The house made dipping sauce for this was really rich but so nice that it was hard not to overload the Tempura.

 

All in all, a really great meal. Lucky for me my gentleman was buying and he was in the mood for a feast so we got to sample a lot from their menu! Their prawns and eel were so good that I would be cross the city to St Kilda for these any time! Oh, and the service was great. Our fun, happy and smiling Portuguese waitress looked after us so well! And next time I am planning on leaving room for some of their ice-cream, it looked delicious!!

japanese pancakes!

These little yummies are handmade by JS Taikayaki. They are little Japanese pancakes with sweet or savoury fillings. The lovely Japanese lady at the stall was telling me that Takoyaki, smaller versions of the pictures below, are a huge hit in Japan as they are cooked in little oil and are quite small, the perfect snack!

We found this stall at the Mornington Racecourse art and produce market. Their stall was attracting lots of attention and they seemed to be doing a pretty good trade. I thought the pancakes were great novelty snack and while they took a little while to make, the owners of the stall were careful only to sell you their freshest batch. I was so happy to see a green tea flavour on the menu and even happier to find out that it was stuffed with red bean. Other flavours on the menu included vanilla and cream, chocolate and cream, double chocolate and chicken or tuna on the savoury side.

The pancake itself was fun, clean to eat and tasted unique to other Japanese sweets I have tried. Maybe next time I would try one with cream to moisten up the pancake a little more. All in all a super cheap and entertaining breakfast!

 

 

ladies who lunch... then dine... etc

I have been out for both lunch and dinner 3 days running.

I love the huge range of restaurants in Melbourne and it's been quite the multicultural smorgasbord for my taste buds. While many of these meals went undocumented (just getting the hang of my new camera), here is a little breakdown...

Tuesday was a Fitzroy day with Sushi on Brunswick street, and the prawn pizza at Bimbos.

Wednesday saw Vietnamese in Box Hill and Chinese in Chinatown.

Thursday involved a cafe lunch and a riotous dinner at Shanghai dumplings.

 Here are a few snaps from dinner in Chinatown at Golden Orchids. We sampled the lamb kebabs with a addictive satay sauce. Then I ordered the eggplant stuffed with chili covered in a thick black-bean sauce. I also sampled the duck but was so impressed with my eggplant that I didn't rate it (maybe a little too bland). The beef was actually pretty good, the meat was really soft and slipped down far too easily. Service was great here and BYO only 1 dollar 50 per person!

 

Now, off to lunch again... Not too sure where this time, apparently it's a new place in the city. YUMM

steak sanga

I rarely buy meat to cook at home. But on the odd occasion when meat is on special and somebody offers to cook it for me, I jump on the chance.

Here are some rump steak sandwiches we made the other day. We put the steaks into ciabatta rolls with tomato chutney, maille mustard, rocket and semi-dried tomatoes. The pieces of steak were so massive they barely fit in the roll and had to be trimmed down to size. They were pretty tasty, a great range of accompaniments and really nice bread but the rump was pretty chewy and by the end my jaw was exhausted.
  Still, a good meal if you feel like you are lacking in iron.

marios

There is nothing like a good lunch at Marios on Brunswick Street when last night is catching up on you. On New Years Day we headed there to eat our first delicious meal of the year. While we had to line up outside before getting a table, it was definitely worth the wait when the fresh bread arrived at our tables and we loaded it with butter.

I ordered the onion and fetta tart. As you may know I love a good tart and this one did not disappoint. The texture was fluffy and the flavour light and delicious. The size of the dish was perfect on a delicate stomach and the side salad of pear and rocket was a nice fresh accompaniment.

This pasta was also delicious. With spicy sausage, a light sauce, broccoli and parmesan, you couldn't ask for a more balanced lunch.

Good times Mario, We love you!