Does it seem like to you that there are suddenly now numerous places to eat Malaysian /Singaporean food? It seems only a few years ago that there were only 2 or 3 restaurants. Walking through Chinatown and World Square, it looks like many more have sprung up. Not a bad thing, you understand of course. Quite good in fact for a Malaysian/Singaporean food lover like myself. A little further afield, tucked away behind Thornleigh station off West Pennant Hills Road lies a small restaurant that has been offering Singaporean and Malaysian Hawker style goodies for a few years now. At almost an hour’s drive away, it’s not exactly nearby to us so we made it a Sunday adventure to drive out to Thornleigh and check out some other foodie eats and enjoy the drive to the outskirts of Sydney.
Chicken and Prawn Laksa ($13.80)
Arriving at 6pm when it opens, we’re greeted with a welcoming sight. It’s rapidly filling with Singaporean/Malaysian clientèle (always a good sign for authenticity). We order a Roti Canai with Lamb curry ($11.80); Chicken and Prawn Laksa ($13.80) and a bowl of Chicken Rice ($2.50) and for dessert Ice Kacang ($5.50). Alice, who takes our order is friendly and happy to recommend dishes. The Laksa arrives quickly, within 5 minutes, and we dive in. There’s a mix of Hokkien noodles (my favourite) and vermicelli noodles (my husband’s favourite) as well pieces of soft chicken, large prawns, tofu cubes and fish cake. A scarlet orange pool of oil floats across the top and diving in to retrieve the long noodles risks a scarlet splash on your clothes but it’s well worth it. The taste is rich, creamy and subtle, not as pungent as some Laksa and the beautifully soft and toothsome chicken (from the Hainan chicken rice) is a particular highlight.
Roti Canai with Lamb curry ($11.80)
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At the risk of sounding like someone retelling a story that they heard from someone they knew who knew someone else who knew something from someone else, I first came across these gorgeous cupcakes via Vogue member and fellow food blogger Iron Chef Shellie who in turn saw these on flickr member’s hello naomi’s pictures.
I loved the idea of these pastel topped cupcakes with messages such as “Eat Me” and “Drink Me”. Who really ever needs prompting to try cupcakes? It was all very Alice in Wonderland, a children’s story with a distinctly surreal and dark side. So assembling my very best Alice themed china, the varied Wedgwood Harlequin set, I set about having my very own tea party, Alice in Wonderland style.
The cupcakes I made were vanilla cupcakes filled with strawberry jam and cream, pastel fondant icing, royal icing writing and patterns and silver cachous. Despite my somewhat fearful beginnings, I’m starting to really like using Royal Icing as I love the finish and consistency of it. I know that vanilla cupcakes with jam and cream filling sounds rather boring but this was the cupcakes that my girlhood fantasies were made of. I loved this combination and my favourite ever cakes when I was small were this. Yes, sadly, I do remember vividly one cake from my childhood with absolute clarity and some days, I can still taste it if I close my eyes and wish.
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I love business lunches. I also love it when my colleagues don’t care when I whip out a camera and act like a complete tourist in one of Sydney’s chicest restaurant. Glass Brasserie, helmed by chef Luke Mangan (former chef of Salt and the chef flown over to Copenhagen by Prince Frederick and Princess Mary to cook a 5 course banquet for royalty and owner of one chef’s hat in 2007’s SMH Good Food Guide) on Level 2 of the Sydney Hilton, is all shiny sleek glass and shades of gold. There is a large section of banquettes in the centre (I adore banquette seating) as well as tables facing the Queen Victoria Building. The Immoral One (a name he was given in a meeting today-well we do work in Advertising so it’s not entirely unexpected…) is taking M and I out for lunch today. 3 courses, if we have the time.
The only drawback to a work lunch is that you are often pressed for time. And today The Immoral One and I need to be in a meeting at 2.30pm so we need to leave by 2pm. It’s 12.30pm and we’re ordering our entrees and mains from the enormous menu. The thing that has caught my eye is one of the specials, the W.A. Rock Lobster in a Malay style curry sauce with tomato and banana sides (Market price: today $60 entree size, main size $115). M and I both order this and The Immoral One orders the Petuna Ocean Trout with ginger eschallot, persian feta and rocket ($26.50). For my main I order the Rangers Valley 450day grain fed Wagyu entrecôte, score 7-8, 250g, garlic mushrooms, caper and bone marrow ($59). The Immoral One orders the John Dee Steer 150 day grain fed sirloin 250g with herb and mustard crust and baby beans ($40) and M orders the Petuna Ocean Trout fillet roasted, harissa crushed kipflers, mussels, tomato and curry vinaigrette ($39).
Our bread arrives, a white crusty loaf as well as a salt crusted herb bread with raisins which goes particularly well with the olive oil. I could eat much more but since I know what is coming, I refrain.
W.A. Rock Lobster in a Malay style curry sauce with tomato and banana sides (Market price: today $60 entree size)
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I was absolutely delighted to get so many fantastic entries for the Banana Bread Bakeoff. I was a little worried as to whether I would get much of a response-it’s a little like having a party and hoping everyone will show!
Here is a round up of the fabulously inventive Banana Bread recipes I received. Yes that’s right, all 79 of them! From the diversity and inventiveness of the recipes, it just looked to me like the Ultimate Banana Bread collection came to my party. It seems like Banana Bread is not just Banana bread but the potential to be so much more than a plain loaf. For those who don’t have a blog but are still devoted foodies, I’ve published their recipes, for those with blogs, I’ve linked to the story itself so that any Banana Bread lover can have the perfect recipe at their fingertips. Enjoy the viewing but a word or warning, have a piece of Banana bread ready or at least some bananas ripening in a paper bag. After seeing them all you’ll be ever so glad.
At first I thought I could bake them all but when we got to 60 I knew that a poll was the best way to go because if I baked 79 Banana Breads it would take me 2 months to bake them all and almost 2 years to eat them and would put me off bananas for life! So once you’ve drooled through the incredible list of entries, please vote for your favourite Banana Bread, the one you feel should win the bake off and of course feel free to comment on why you thought it was your favourite in the comments section. The prize is of course, a DIY cupcake set that I’ve put together featuring 25 mini pleated souffle cups (like the ones I used here), 12 royal icing flowers, a cake tester and sprinkles. Shipped to anywhere in the world!
Thanks again to all of the wonderful bakers that took the time to enter their precious Banana Babies, you all deserve a prize as far as I am concerned! And if I’ve inadvertently missed anyone out, please email me at info{AT}notquitenigella{dot}com.
Love,
NQN
xxx
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I loathe winter but I make do as I don’t have the necessary funds to jet around the world following warm weather. So I make do and take advantage of one of the few benefits of Winter-Soup. Whenever I think of cold weather, I think of this soup. It’s spices and fragrant lemongrass are perfect to give it a lift above a plain sweet potato soup.
Whatever you do, only use the tender parts of the lemongrass. The first time I made this, I had no idea about lemongrass and my dinner guests were left with grassy pieces of lemongrass in their soup.
Sweet potato & coconut soup
- 1kg sweet potato, peeled and chopped
- 1 teaspoons oil
- 2 tablespoons grated ginger
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
- 2 red chillies, chopped
- 2 stalks lemongrass, finely chopped (do not used stringy green part)
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 2 cups coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon palm or brown sugar
1. Steam sweet potato for 10 minutes until tender and soft. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat, add ginger, cumin seeds, chiles and lemongrass and cook for 3 minutes.
3. Place sweet potato and cooked spice mixture ina food processor or blender with 1 cup of hte stock and process until smooth. Add the other cup of stock and process again.
4. Place puree in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add coconut milk and palm sugar and stir until soup is simmering and hot.
Serves 4
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