pancake day is a happy day!!

Yesterday Jules from Poppet wanted to host a Pancake day to raise some money for Uniting Care. So Amy, Luna and I teamed up to be her sous-chefs and to help celebrate/ eat our way through Pancake day. We went a little wild with the toppings and came up with some very sweet and delicious concoctions! My favourite being either the crushed up honey joy or the honey comb filling!!

I got this amazing pancake hot-plate for Christmas and love getting it out. It's from Breville and it's easy to use and works a charm. We ended up making so many pancakes (which were almost like crêpes but not quite as thin) and will be eating them for days to come- which I can only see as a good thing!! FUN!!

tempura hajime

Oh yes I did! After reading some mouth-watering food blogs that posted on Tempura Hajime I decided it looked too good to miss!!

I didn't actually take any food photos of our dinner here as I really wanted to focus on enjoying the experience- and I guess I got a little camera shy in such a small dining room. But let me just say that Tempura Hajime produced some of the finest Japanese food that has passed my lips. They have mastered the art of Japanese delicacy and flavour and the service was so friendly and warm!

Now go and make a booking quick smart... Before it's too late...

Viet Rose

Viet Rose on Brunswick Street is one of my favourite old faithfuls. 

I remember one week (back when I lived across the road) when I went to Viet Rose 5 days straight for an early dinner/ second lunch. Over the years, their Noodle Soup has been the cure to many of my ailments. It has got me through busy exam periods, hangovers and nasty bouts of the flu.

The other night we headed to Viet Rose for delicious, cheap and healthy mid-week dinner. We ordered the beef wrapped in vine leaves as an entrée. This dish was delicious! The beef was succulent and the dipping sauce tasty as per usual.

Next up we had the Wanton Noodle Soup. This dish will always keep me coming back. While quite different to traditional Vietnamese Pho, I love the amount of fresh vegetables that come with it. The wantons are always perfectly stuffed and cooked and the bowl slides down no worries leaving you full but not bloated. Success!! 

ladro is fun!

People love good pizza and I think that Ladro's pizzas are some of the best around. Maybe this is why the atmosphere in their restaurant is always buzzing with loud and happy customers.

We went to Ladro on Gertrude Street the other night for a quick bite after drinks in the city. It was busy as per usual and we were lucky to get a table. We wanted to keep it simple so we started with olives and the Calamari Salad. The entrées came with delicious bread and olive oil (I would happily eat a whole loaf for dinner). The Calamari Salad was perfect and was exactly what I felt like; not too oily or chewy. The olives were good but unfortunately came out at the same time as the salad so went a little unnoticed.

The pizza was a fantastic as expected. It was flavoursome, fresh, light and tasty. Would have liked a bit more basil but it still tasted great. Another successful, easy and rather healthy dinner. 

Ladro

224 Gertrude St, Fitzroy

stuff-a-mari

My plans for a quick, easy Calamari Salad last night were ruined by my boredom. I was wandering the supermarket in a post-nap daze last night trying to figure out what to cook when I finally decided on Calamari... and then I saw prawns and couldn't decide between the two so I got both and decided to have a little seafood feast. I have never stuffed calamari before but thought it sounded fun. I looked up some recipes on the net but none of them took my fancy so I got a few pointers and decided to wing it.

I started by cooking up two big chillis (sans seeds), onion, garlic and herbs in oil. I added the prawns briefly to give them a little colour. I removed the mix and added the cleaned, soaked calamari tubes to the pan to sear them.
I then stuffed the tubes with the mix adding a sprinkle of bread crumbs, fresh tomato and lots of chopped parsley.

I put the tubes aside and browned more onions and garlic in the pan. I then added a large jar of tomato sauce and let it simmer and thicken for five minutes before carefully adding the calamari tubes. I cooked this over a low heat for about 30 minutes frequently spooning sauce over the calamari tubes. A few minutes before serving I added the left over filling mix to the sauce..

Then I popped the tubes onto plates along with lots of the sauce, covered them in Parmesan and parsley et voila, delicious dinner was served!