Monday, June 30, 2008

Sushi Tengoku

Sushi Tengoku, Sydney. After hearing so much about the super giant sushi they serve, I can finally say: been there, done that in Sydney. The sushi they serve is fresh and larger than all others in Sydney but I can't really say their sushi is superb (in terms of taste) and really huge (in size). After all, I have seen (and eaten) the top quality and humongous ones in Japan. Even in Hong Kong I have eaten top quality, huge sushi. So nothing real special here. Then again, if you're in Sydney and you are craving for good old big sushi, Sushi Tengoku is the place. You even have to book in advance to be sure of a space in the restaurant.Me and Cynthia.
Sam and Stella.
The food (from top to bottom, left to right): Baked scallops and salmon (i really like this one. refreshing taste), Salmon head teriyaki (okay, this is not salmon head teriyaki. i repeat, this is not...), Scallop sushi (3 layers of scallops), California roll, Soft-shell crab roll (i commend on them for giving us the eggy part of the crab :D), Tempura udon (urghh, salted water...), Salmon sushi and Chawan mushi.





Lights out.
End.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

The Fair Trade Coffee Company, Gioia

This Saturday morning is my shortest morning ever. I woke up at 11.14am. haha. Stella and I were supposed to do some housework in the morning but yeah, no time for that now. Cafe-tasting is more important. :D Therefore, after a rye bread breakfast, we headed out to Glebe, the bohemian haven. Lots of weird people there. Weird people= men with make-up, women with really really boho get-up. And lots of normal people like us too. :D

The Fair Trade Coffee Company is along Glebe street, Sydney, right next to The Well-connected Cafe. The food they serve is not too bad, though a bit pricey for me. With the wooden, rustic furnishings and corniced ceiling, it gives a really nice, comfy atmosphere.

Chilli hot chocolate. Taste great. Who knows chilli actually goes well with chocolate? Stella had Indian buttered chicken with rice. That was a really dramatic dish. They lit the oil on the plate so that the flame can further sizzle the chicken. I had a snack size Moroccan meatball with couscous. Even that was too much for me. As a result, we didn't go through the ritual of having a dessert though the flourless chocolate cake look sooo tempting.


Later in the evening, we have a dinner appointment with Roneel and Naomi and their friends at this Italian restaurant in Balmain. Balmain is quite a happening place. Clubs, discos and eateries litter the entire area.

This is like a multi-national dinner engagement. haha. From left, Naomi (Japan) and Elena (Marcedonia), Viktor (Marcedonia) and his girlfriend (Russia). Bottom, from left: Stella (Philippines) and me (Singapore), Elena's boyfriend and Roneel (Fiji). And Julie (Australia). (I didn't manage to take her picture.) They are all very warm and friendly people!



Most importantly the food! Garlic bread. The standard version.

Stella and mine: Scalloppine prawns in marsala creamy sauce. $21.80. Taste a little like the non-spicy version of chilli crab, haha. The veal could be more undercooked though.


Stella and mine too. This is by far the superior dish out of the two we ordered. Princepessi pizza, large. $21.80. Oven-baked pizza base, topped with prosciutto, rocket and shaved parmigiano. Really yummy. Actually, Stella and I have been lusting for prosciutto for days after watching Anthony Bourdian: Decoding Ferran Adria. Prosciutto is so so good. Much better than salami and ham. :D


Naomi and Roneel's half and half. Seafood on one half, pepperoni on the other.
The surprisingly disastrous tiramisu that Stella and I decided to try since it was home-made and all. $7.70. Marscapone cheese was too lacking and the cake layer was over-soaked. The worst was the whipped cream they gave on the side was sour. Elena was telling us about the best tiramisu recipe that her aunt passed down to her. She said the secret was in the biscuit they used. Instead of lady-finger, they used milk and coffee biscuits. I have to try it out.

Roneel and Naomi's blueberry cheesecake which was the only decent dessert of they day.


Vienna coffee. $4.80. Elena says a standard Vienna coffee should have black coffee with a little milk and fresh cream on top with shaved chocolate. Well, the Vienna coffee they serve is pretty similar to the one described except that the fresh cream was sour, again. Eeww. We threw the cream out and had coffee instead.

End.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Post Examinations Dinner.

Get on, over and done with examinations. (And I will be soon promoted to intermediate, without a doubt :D) So yeah, we do what people all around the world do after they finished their examinations, we party. :) And because we are a bunch of pastry students whose passion other than food is still food, we party with our digestive system. We eat. We eat and we eat, and there is no stopping to that. I weigh 57kg by the way. +_+

First stop for dinner, we had korean. It does seems that whenever we have a class dinner, we go for korean cuisine. Even I do korean at least once a week. The omnipresence of the Korean culture in Sydney huh. Anyway, we came to this cute little korean restaurant which made a point in hanging posters of Korean movies on every wall space. Point well made and taken. Well, we originally wanted to eat at the ever popular Korean restaurant Madang (this is our second attempt actually) but again, it was full-house. Next time, I am going do the super-kiasu Singaporean way and camp outside the restaurant overnight.

Guess what we had?? Jap Chae, sweet sour pork, grilled pork, bulgogi, fish roe soup, grilled chicken and all the usual starter dishes (kim chi, potato salad, pickled konbu, pickled bean spout). Not enough for 8 hungry people, even though 7 of us carry the xx gene.




Next stop to a dessert cafe: passionflower. This is really good. I would recommend to any ice-cream, pancake, waffle lovers.
Weapons of gastronomic destruction.
9 scoops of whatever you like with a chocolate sauce and raspberry sauce. We chose: hockey pockey, mango, taro, lychee with rose petals, jackfruit, passionfruit, green tea, sticky rice and vanilla. I hope I remembered them correctly. Too many flavours. I got confused even when I was eating them. haha.
This is one is absolute heaven both to the eyes and to the tongue palette. Orange and chocolate. $15. Fresh fluffy, crispy waffles piled with chocolate ice-cream and fresh sliced oranges and drizzled with chocolate sauce. Now, don't you want to just sink your teeth into one of them?
The masterpiece. Tiramisu, green tea mousse, pancake with fresh cream, chocolate crepe with strawberries and ice-cream bowl with sesame wrapped mochi all on one plate.
The fun part comes after all the photo-taking.
Within mere minutes, we completely broke down everything.
There is Seok helping me to take this (below) picture which is beyond any of my capabilities to capture .
Candid on polariod!
After which we took a walk down darling habour and came to the restaurant where Seok works: The Pie Cafe. And then, we drank. haha, I got so drunk (on Bacardi! which is really pathetic, haha) that I completely forgot to take any pictures and lost my self-control. I was so adrenaline charged that I was running and jumping around like nobody's business and I was also singing (in the public!) moulin rouge and such. That was embarrassing.

End.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over. Exam's over.

I think I passed.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Assessment.


I am so happy that I am finally going to be assessed! Haha. You all are going to wonder why am I so happy about being assessed. After all, it is the dreaded examinations. Well, if you see it my way, assessment is bloody brilliant. First, it means I am going to be promoted to intermediate class which is going to waaayyy more exciting than basic. ( I am so looking forward to it!) Second, it means that the term holidays are approaching! Which also means that, I'll be going back home! To Singapore! (Cue: National Anthem.) YES! And then, to Tokyo for a very gastronimic experience. :D YES YES YES! Life is good~

By they way, little details about my assessment. Assessment will be carried over 4 days, 3 practical and 1 theory. For practical, we will be asked to make vol-au-vents, coffee eclairs and a tarte aux fruit. Piece of cake. :D As for theory, we will be assessed on our knowledge of the different techniques and definitions, and the properties and functions of ingredients. Sounds cool. Anyway, wish me luck~

End.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Le Pain Entre- Plaited loaf, Brioche, Croissant.

I am going to do this all at once. All three lessons worth of bread squashed into one entry. Yup. And this is it! This is what you have been waiting for! Croissant, Brioche, Plaited Loaf! French breads in essence. These breads are surprisingly easy to make given the right environment. Making croissants in a non-airconditioned Singapore kitchen would be hell though. Imagine all the melting butter running round your table like little ants and sticking all over your hands. Eew. But in Australia's winter, croissant-making is very fine indeed.

Croissant and brioche, what is their difference? Well, the main difference in both breads is that one (croissant) has butter folded into it while the other one (brioche) has butter kneaded into it. The ingredients and function are pretty much similar. I'm sure you guys know alot about croissants, they are so easily available in Delifrance all over the world. You eat it with jam and butter, tuna mayonaise, egg mayonaise, the list goes on. What about brioche? It is a breakfast bread too. In France, they eat it with foie gras. Yes, foie gras. No wonder we don't get as many brioche in Singapore as they do in France. Who eats disgusting duck liver pate? I do sometimes. :D

My breads! Plaited loaf (3 strands and 5 strands), brioche with pearl sugar on top, cheese and ham croissant, chocolate croissant (or pain au chocolate), brioche loaf.



This is the $1 dinner we had. Like ultra super-value meal. It came with the ticket for Billy Elliot the musical. The musical + dinner ($113) was worth every single dollar, down to the very last cent. It can't get any better than this. Haa.

Seafood Paella. 2 orders for Stella and I.
120g sirlion with bacon-wrapped foie gras, on top of a caramelised onion tart. This was clearly the winner of the day. Cynthia and Hodrigo's (I don't know if i spelt it right. He is Cynthia's Brazilian gay friend. :D) dinner.
Billy Elliot rocks.

End.