izakaya den

We walked across the street back and forth to search for this restaurant. Where the heck is Izakaya Den! We went to an alley and in fact many alleys, still no sign. A quick google search shows us with the word basement. So we looked for a flight of stairs. Bingo it was right next to the building 118. 114 is where we meant to go. We walked downstairs and door on the left greeted us with the words DEN.

We have arrived. It was about 6:40pm on a Saturday night. They don’t take bookings unless it’s groups of more then 5 so our mission was to rock up early and grab a table. We were lucky and got seated right away. After 10 minutes or so has pasted a line started forming.

The entry

The atmosphere is lovely and it’s awesome because you can see an open kitchen. If sitting at the bar it’s almost like a kitchen demo!

An open kitchen

Cute glasses

There is no denying that the corn karage will be my must order. The corn is utterly sweet and the batter so crispy. The conversion further into “how does the corn stick together when it gets deep dried. I do wonder, any takers?

Harvey Bay Scallops. The scallops actually come in 3′s but luckily the waiter mention it can come in 4′s if needed yay! The scallops were unbelievable. With one each it’s a lot to whine about when it’s all gone. We just wanted more.

Mushrooms and greens – nothing of a wow dish but it’s always good to have the vegies on the side.

Kurobuta Pork Belly – the pork belly was very good a little bit too salty which I didn’t mind.

Black rice. This was the dish we were most curious about. It was very interesting and I’m glad we ordered this because it helped filled our bellies a bit more.

Kingfish sashimi – a must order. Tasted very fresh and I love the dressing that came with it.

Prices are quite steep for Japanese food but I find it worth the taste. I definitely love to return and try the other dishes on the menu. Downside is we weren’t full but it’s okay our stomachs had room for dessert.

114 Russell St
Melbourne, VIC 3000
http://www.izakayaden.com.au/

Grasshopper’s Feast

This gorgeous cafe was stumbled across by accident. Mr himself and I were extremely hungry and really needed somewhere to have brunch after running errands all morning. We originally planned to stop by Petaling Street to grab a Singapore breakfast. Sadly they don’t open early anymore and have dropped providing breakfast. I wonder why they still plastered the breakfast posters inside, such false advertising. However it was a blessing in disguise stumbling upon this cafe situated in “the Causeway” off little Collins Street and Bourke Street. Luckily, when we arrived we were given the last table outside.

I am not sure how new this place since I haven’t heard anything about it nor have I came across it through blogs. The breakfast menu had quite a number of options. I had my eyes over the zucchini and corn fritters. Corn fritters are my weakness and when I see them on a menu I would always order them.

Large coffee, so massive!

Earl grey Tea, love the little milk bottle.

Zucchini and corn fritters with poached egg, bacon and avocado salsa. When my fritters arrived, the first thing I noticed is how much they look more like muffins. I was highly concerned, I’m used to the flat fritters. Upon biting they didn’t disappoint. It was so fluffy. The texture was close to a muffin but is amazingly soft on the inside. Paired with the egg, bacon and salsa it was delicious on three different levels.

3 egg terracotta pot with tomato chutney, chorizo, spinach and goats cheese. I was eyeing this on the menu as well but luckily Mr had decided to ordered them. The eggs in pot are slightly spiced and perfectly warm on a cold day, it was a reminiscent of shakshouka. It was a bit of a small serving for the Mr but he happily gobbled it up in minutes, with me stealing every bit when he wasn’t looking.

On the second visit I was eyeing the potato rosti and the feta eggs. Mr, on this occasion has decided to order the zucchini and corn fritters, since he was jealous of my meal last time. I opp-ed for the feta eggs and made a note to order the potato rosti on my next visit. When I saw a waitress float pass with the potato rosti, my eyes glared with envy. I wished I order it in the first place.

The eggs with feta. spinach & dukkah was moreish, lack a bit of feta but I think the combination with small bits of feta worked fine. If there was more feta it probably dominate the flavouring of the eggs. It was tasty but couldn’t help but wonder if I would be happier if I’d ordered the Potato Rosti. It’s a must order for our next visit.

I love this cafe, it’s such a perfect breakfast gem. I haven’t been to many breakfast cafes in Melbourne yet but I am highly impressed and definitely will return for many more visits. The staff are extremely lovely on both occasions as well.

Readers, do you love a restaurant that offers all day breakfast?

Shop 13 The Causeway
Melbourne, VIC 3000
http://www.grasshoppersfeast.com.au/

Exploring Springvale

I fell in love with Springvale on the first visit. Springvale is like the Sydney’s Cabramatta, although it might be debatable between Footscray & Richmond. It is the furthest away by distance after comparing it to Footscray and Richmond. But with food once again nothing beats the distance. It’s the pork roll that calls my name and the main reason I choose to constantly return back to Springvale.

First up, is a visit to Pho Hung Vuong. They pretty much only serve Pho here. The pho comes in 3 different sizes.
Small = $7.50
regular = $8.50
Large= $9.50

Vietnamese iced coffee $3

Three colour drink $3

Mr himself goes with the regular beef slice and brisket pho

I picked the regular beef slice pho. I love the broth here which is a winner for me. Mr also comments on the way I eat pho. I usually place the noodles/beef in the spoon with a bit of broth while Mr lifts the noodles up and eats it. How do you eat yours?

Before I leave Springvale, I stop by Golden age bread at Springvale Shopping Centre to buy some Vietnamese Pork rolls. I’ve been curious about the pork rolls next door to it so I bought their version for experiment purposes . So far in my opinion I believe that the golden age pork rolls is the probably the best pork roll I have tasted and this is also comparing it back in the pork rolls back in Sydney. But read on to see how it compares to to AN loi Deli (the place next door)

After paying about $17 at Golden age we left with 2 pork rolls, 2 fried dough sticks, 2 large pork buns and fried red bean paste bread/bun. This pretty much covers dinner and lunch tomorrow! The bread at golden age is crunchy and very tasty. It is a great steal at $3.50.

The pork roll at Anloi is also at $3.50. The bread is slightly more crunchier and still very tasty. But the taste of the bread I find is a lot tastier at golden age. I find the pork roll a bit heavy on the spring onions and very generous with the pate. Unlike most people I tend to like a more softer bread therefore less effort on the teeth . In end I find it hard to compare both. Both are very tasty but with the bread tastier with Golden age I still remain sided with them.

“Readers how do you normally eat your pho and have you found your favourite pork roll spot?”

Pho Hung Vuong:
Shop 2 / 15 Balmoral Avenue
Springvale VIC 3171
Telephone: (03) 95585147

Anloi Deli:
G4, No 46-58 Buckingham Av
Springvale VIC 3171
Telephone: (03) 9548 3768

Golden age bread & Cake:
Shop G5B, No 46-58 Buckingham Av
Springvale VIC 3171
Telephone: (03) 95742332
Fax: (03) 95478696

Taste of Sydney 2012

I had to come back to Sydney for two weddings early March (one in Melbourne). It was perfect timing to come back since it was Taste of Sydney that weekend too yay! For the past two years I usually went to taste of Sydney by public transport. Since we decided to go on Friday night we drove into Centennial Park. It took forever to find parking, it was very difficult walking back at night. Overall not too keen on attending at night again and will have preference for going to the daytime next year.

Went we arrived I quickly spotted chobani, since I heard they had free yogurt. I haven’t tried it before so I was really looking forward to it.

The mango is very delicious, you do have to dig for the mango layer but once mix it together it’s heaven. Can’t believe it took me this long to try this. Best yogurt I have ever tasted

The blueberry was just as good.

Piggy outside Four in Hand

Four in hand: Roast suckling pig, coleslaw, onion rings – I love how tender the pork was with the tangy zingy sauce. But what stumped me the most was where is the SKIN? You can’t do suckling pig without skin. Perhaps I am being overdramatic with the issue but I really looked forward to this dish the most. Sure it delicious but I would pay extra for that skin!

As usual there is nespresso sampling.

A tavola: Cremino al cioccolato, Amedei gianduia chocolate crema, salty caramel gelato, Italian meringue. This was such a great dessert you got to mix all the layers well. We were tempted to go back and line up for another but decided to use it on something else

Charlie and co: wagyu beef and cheese slider. We really wanted something a little more filling so the option of the burger was decided. The burger was average nothing amazing.

Hot dog from Charlie & Co, as above not bad

Braised should of Lamb with polenta and green sauce from Montpellier public house, was told it had a very “lamby” taste, Miss V didn’t like it at all

Quarter twenty one: fried Hawkesbury School prawns, prosciutto Rouille. The School prawns are very crunchy but you can’t go too wrong with school prawns

Quarter twenty one: slow cook and caramelised short rib with bone marrow persillade. This was the dish of the day. The beef was so tender but you could even swallow it. We all agreed between four of us that this was the best dish.

Sake restaurant and bar: Hiramasa Kingfish ceviche. Mr himself found it was too overloaded with herbs and think it took the fish taste away. I was perfectly happy eating this.

Love Taste of Sydney, it’s always great to sample food from all different restaurants before making a decision on which place to dine at. Looking forward to 2013!

Check out my posts for previous Taste of Sydney
Taste of Sydney 2010
Taste of Sydney 2011

Ferrero Rocher Semifreddo

Ferrero Rocher’s is one my guilty pleasures in life. Stick a whole box of it in front of me and before you know it, it’s gone! Now this does not happen with sweets in general I have a very small sweet tooth. Sadly with the delicious mouthfuls of the chocolate comes at a steep price but I’m still guilty of purchasing them over and over again. It has been on my mind for a while to do something with a dessert replicating the taste of Ferrero Rocher. I had a few ideas to my head but since I never really tried a semifreddo before why not do it this time?

I was very happy with the layers desserts was announced for the sweet adventures blog hop, it’s my favourite style of desserts having layers. This dessert consists mostly of the hazelnut part with a thin layer of wafer. Sadly the taste does not translate well into pictures, I can’t seem to get it to look presentable such a shame. The semifreddo does remind you of a Ferrero Rocher but not quite there 100%. Either way I am quite happy with the taste of it and I will definitely make it again.

Crushed the wafers for the first layer

Hazelnut goes on top

Sadly the end result, not so pretty.

Recipe adapted from good food channel

Ingredients:
15 vanilla wafers
1 cup of double cream
2 eggs with yolks and whites separated
½ cup of caster sugar
50grams cooking milk chocolate
50 grams of hazelnuts – crushed
½ teaspoon vanilla paste

Method:
1. Line your container with glad wrap.
2. Crushed the vanilla wafers until about 1-2cm in size (you can do this with a spoon). Place at the bottom of the container
3. Melt chocolate in microwave. For about 1 minute or until melted. Leave aside
4. Have 3 mixing bowls ready. 1 bowl with eggs yolks and sugar, 1 bowl with eggs whites and the last with double cream.
5. Beat the eggs whites until sniff peaks are formed. Beat the eggs yolks and sugar until pale and thicken. Lastly beat the double cream until it’s whipped.
6. Slowly fold the egg whites into the egg yolks. Once all mixed fold the double cream, hazelnuts, vanilla paste and chocolate. Make sure mixture is well combined.
7. Pour mixture into container. Place in the fridge overnight or until set.

Thanks to The Capers of the kitchen Crusafers for hosting the Layers dessert blog hop. I can’t add the linkytool thingy due to free wordpress javascript limitations =(