There was a whisper, no more a shout, that world famous Shanghai Dumpling chain, Din Tai Fung, the one said to have queues day and night, had just opened in Sydney. It’s pretty much brand spanking new, opened only 2 weeks ago and already attracting a crowd. The reason? Xiao Long Bao, the soup dumplings that are so loved by so many, taking over as the popular alternative to Shao Mai or Gow Gees. Apparently, it started many years ago as a shop that sold oil with the owner Bingyi Yang selling dumplings on the side, these becoming so popular that a chain was spawned across the seas and accolades from the New York Times declaring it one of the Top 10 places to eat were bestowed. Sure it was about 10 years ago that they declared it that but given the queues, no-one seems to care.

We had just finished seeing a movie at the Academy Twin Paddington and were starving as it was late for us to eat (we always eat early, like pensioners at 6pm) .

We arrive at World Square at 8.30pm and go up to Level 1, where we’ve never been before and where there doesn’t look to be much. Outside there are two girls with earphones. I tense immediately, it’s like those stony faced Yum Cha women who give you a number and tell you that they’ll “call your number soon” before turning away to give the next customer their ticket stub only to summon you 1 long hour later. However I am greeted with a wide smile and a singsong friendly voice asks me if I have a reservation. I say no and she asks me if I mind sharing a table as that will be quicker. That’s fine by us but after a little flurry and some talking on the earpiece and it seems like they have a table just for us and she giggles “Lucky, you came at the right time, good timing!”. I find myself looking back bewilderedly, was that just friendly service at a Chinese restaurant? How very strange.

Sitting down at our table in theright most section of the restaurant, it certainly looks stylised and sleek. Adorned with displays of repeated white chinese soup spoons, small bowls and a wall full of different sized steamer trays. It is a weeknight and the crowd is almost exclusively Asian and mostly young types in suits and corporate clothes.

Menu: Large enough to hide behind should you require some stealth action

(more…)

Having made a sweet Rosemary loaf not long ago, I still had a lot of rosemary left which was just itching to be made into something else. I found this recipe on the Taste website and I loved the punk look of the Rosemary and potato slices on the top so it was on this superficial basis that I decided to make this.

And in this case, superficiality was rewarded. My husband who always complains that bread is too dry, loved this. Indeed, the little addition of rosemary embeds the whole loaf with a sweet aroma, much more than the tiny little sprigs would indicate. Serving this bread with some soup would do it justice.

Read on for the recipe

(more…)

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a Kirrbilli markets fan and every month I make my way there to buy whatever takes my fancy. And since November last year, every month I’ve walked past Catalonia, stopped by the menu and wistfully gazed inside. Call it an infrequent OCD ritual. This month, I’ve booked it for a birthday dinner, my second of three.

With a successful pedigree (the two owners are ex Salt Yard in London and Victoria Rooms in Darlinghurst) they serve not your run of the mill Spanish Tapas but a more modern, exotic and sumptuous version with ingredients like Wagyu, Zucchini Flowers and Truffle shavings. It seems that servings are a little bigger than the Tapas I’ve had in Liverpool Street although of course as they’re Tapas they’re not large by any definition.

We’re seated on a Saturday night upstairs in a rather cozy, very dimly lit, warm sunset shaded room with a lovely Pomegranate coloured wallpaper on one wall. Tables are a little small but given that the plates of tapas aren’t that big, it’s not so much of an issue. I wish some restaurants would give bigger tables, indeed a friend of mine always books for 1-2 more people than are coming as she hates being squished. And as the light was so low, I must apologise for the pictures, we did our best but didn’t want to use the flash too much so as to disturb other patrons.

There are 5 vegetarian Tapas meals and a good selection of meats including delectable sounding seafood. Indeed one of the vegetarian meals sounds so lovely that it makes it way onto the meat eaters order: the Zucchini Flowers with blue cheese mousse and honey.

Zucchini Flowers with blue cheese mousse and honey $14.50

Being tapas, the food arrives pretty quickly and in a timely fashion, with waves of 3 dishes so that it doesn’t overcrowd the table. The Zucchini flowers, 4 per plate with batons of deep fried zucchini underneath are as good as they sound. Actually, scratch that, they’re even better. Crunchy with tempura batter on the outside they are fried to perfection with an oozing mousse of blue cheese inside. If any dish could convince someone to turn vegetarian, it’s this.

(more…)

With my enormous box of Flemington produce I set about making the most of having fresh vegetables and thought long and hard about what I’d like to do with them. One of my favourite things is to do a blindfold taste test. I’m not daft enough to discount the visual appeal of a nicely presented dish but I like the idea of the taste being the primary focus.

I realise that a lot of people are incorporating more vegetarian food nowadays than their parent’s generation ever were by including at least one or two vegetarian meals in their weekly rotation. Be it for the health benefits or the fact that vegetarian food and recipes have improved vastly from the stodge that one used to get 10 or 20 years ago. Indeed, one of the items that I sometimes prefer to the meat version is a vege burger. Beef can taste fine but after reading “My Year of Meat” by Ruth L. Ozeki or watching Fast Food Nation, I was somewhat put off beef burgers. So my next thought was, what about a Vegetarian burger taste test? I would do a version with tofu, a version made of lentils and sweet potato (not as dull as it sounds) and a grilled vegetable burger, a homemade version of one which I enjoyed immensely many years ago at Burgerman. And of course who better than to give me their opinions but my favourite vegetarians, my family in law along with a hardcore meat-loving brother in law to add in his opinion on behalf of meat eaters everywhere.

Turkish bread ready to be baked

You can certainly use bought rolls, Turkish rounds or hamburger buns. But as you know me, you’ll know that I love any opportunity to make bread so I made Nigella’s Nigellan Flatbreads but with a little more yeast and made them into circles rather than the teardrop shape she had. They tasted wonderful, like soft fresh Turkish bread. And of course I’ve included the recipe at the bottom should you want to do a little bread baking of your own.

After I made each burger, I cut them up into quarters and fed the sections to each blindfolded person and got them afterwards to rate which one they liked most and why. And of course I served them with golden wedges.

(more…)

I’d often heard of the Breakfast Banquet at Kazbah-legend has it that for the small sum of $20 per person, you will be plied with an unbelievable amount of good food. Actually it’s not legend, the menu is clear on the website but let’s not mention that I never saw that. The catch is, that you need at least 8 people for this (and if someone cancels, you’re stuck paying for their place). A service charge of 10% is also mandatory. We decided that Mother’s Day breakfast would be the ideal day to do this. A time to indulge the mums for all of the breakfasts that they made us and to stuff ourselves silly. Since it’s Mother’s Day, there’s a 2 hour time limit for the Breakfast Banquet.

It’s 9.30am, a ludicrously early time I admit. I actually got up at 7am to get ready in an effort to look semi reasonable. Isn’t it against the law to wake up before 9am on a Sunday? It’s the only time they can take us and considering how busy it is when we get there we feel lucky that we got a table. A group before us has arrived late for their booking (about 40 minutes late which admittedly is really quite late) and as they’ve got a 1 hour limit, the waitress clucks that she doesn’t feel that they’ll have enough time in 20 minutes to order and eat. Phew, we’re not that late. We’re seated at our huge but very squishy table. One of our party is ill so we remove one chair so we have a little more room although elbows are touching at all times and eating can get awkward.

There are crayons to draw with and I know my in laws, a family of artists will go crazy over these.

The crockery is pretty - laid out as alternating blue and red sets.

We are supplied with mint water (there’s no mint taste however, it’s decorative) and all other drinks are charged on consumption. We listen to some of the drink specials and they sound delicious. Some settle for coffee (there is also Turkish Coffee) and some for a juice special: Pineapple, mint and lime juice.

Pineapple, mint and lime juice $6.50

The Pineapple, mint and lime juice is lovely and full of real, fresh crushed pineapple with the pulp still there. I don’t mind pulp at all, it at least assures me that a real fruit was involved in the process. The mint is very mild and the lime gives it a little tartness.

Turkish coffee $4

The Turkish Coffee I am told is good, sweetened and thick, like it should be.

Latte $3.50

Date & Banana Porridge

Before we know it, the first three of the courses arrives: Date & Banana Porridge. It comes unsweetened but is thick and creamy and the dates give it a little sweetness. Sprinkling it with the brown sugar provided renders it delicious.

(more…)

I always swore that if I opened up my own ice cream store, this is the flavour that people would want most. I actually got this many years ago from Vogue forum’s food section by member afj, and made it straight away and kept making it over and over again. It is not an understatement that this will get you an ovation every time. It is so very delicate and unusual a combination but it’s also one that will have you thinking “Why isn’t this a more common combination?”

I’ll be frank, you don’t need Wild Figs for this although these happened to be the ones that I had to hand. You could certainly use those non-wild (tame?), sweet, juicy dried dessert figs although you will need less as these are larger than the small Wild figs. And even better, you don’t really need an ice cream maker to make this.

(more…)

Currently with over 60 entries, I am amazed and overjoyed at the amount of entries and the creativity shown with the Banana Bread Bake-off. There are some truly spectacular entries. Don’t forget the prize: 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!

Just a reminder that entries are due midnight on the 12th May 2008 Australian Eastern Standard Time (see www.timeanddate.com) I can’t wait to share the entries with you, I think you’ll be as impressed as I am!

Love,

NQN

xxx

I was woken early by roadworks. And as I’m likely to do when I have some spare time on my hands, I baked. I have lost many hours of precious sleep to the roadworks happening outside my door and it makes me very cranky so something soothing like baking gives me the balance I need. I noticed that they parked this enormous contraption during the day (a road ripper outer-er?) alongside my building to use it at night when the road is less busy. If I lose precious more sleep, I may have to consider listing the enormous thing on ebay-”to be picked up between the hours of 9-4pm only”. That’ll teach them to wake me!

Anyway, on to more important matters: cupcakes. I first saw this fabulous cupcake bouquet in the Womens Weekly cupcakes book and thought that naturally Mother’s Day was the ideal day to give it. I have an issue with florists around Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day, the flowers seem to die a lot quicker when you buy them on either of those days as I think they must buy them a day or two earlier than they normally would to ensure that they get enough stock for patrons. So I prefer to save my pennies and buy flowers before or after those days. It annoys me when they only last 3 days and you’ve paid a premium for them.

(more…)

Strawberry Mousse

Yes I know, I know, I’m so late to be posting about Adriano Zumbo’s Summer collection but in my defence, your Honour, I don’t really live closeby and I do find it hard to get here. However this time, I am ordering cakes for my birthday and of course where else would I get them but Zumbo.

Marry Me Ed

Piste As She Goes

(more…)

OK I know I’ve been shouting it from the rafters but today is my birthday. But instead of receiving gifts I’m giving some away thanks to the lovely people at Annabel Trends, designer of my own Desperate Housewife apron. For those that have been over to my place for dinner, you’ll have seen me, answering the door, frantic, wooden spoon in hand, wearing my Desperate Housewife apron. It’s doubly good as it is black and won’t show up the splatter mess that I’ve made on it. They’re made from 100% Australian cotton and come in a regular size.

So to enter, just let me know what YOU Dear Reader would write on your apron if you could have a slogan apron of your choice. The best 2 answers win each a Desperate Housewife apron of their choice - shipped anywhere in the world that the postie will travel (Antarctica may be a problem). Just write your answer with your name and email (email will not be shown on the website) as a comment to this post. You can enter as many times as you like and entries close on midnight the 10th of June, 2008 (Australian Eastern Standard Time).

If you can’t wait, you can buy your very own from David Jones nationwide or Matchbox in Melbourne or just check out the stockists on: http://annabeltrends.com/

I leave you with a card from my friends Gina and Teena