Off to Zen Land

Running to Zen land

Do you know where this is?

Sorry for MIA. Exams are done now and I shall be off to J-town and Zen Land. Uber excited. Planned my meals for Japan already. I shall report when I get back. In the mean time, check out my twitter as that's where I'll try to give updates.

Gion-Pontocho area, if you're super lucky then you might just get a glimpse of a maiko san, beware of geisha-wanna-be though...

Fushimi Inari at dusk

Breakfast at Book Kitchen

Book Kitchen really does have books... and you can browse them while you eat. Just don't stain the pages ;)

It's that time of the semester where school is done, but students are restless and stressed out with the impending exams that are yet to be taken. I am one of those students. Headaches and hunger pangs come much more frequently these days and I get a little depressed at times thinking about my exams and how much they weight. Really still not used to the Australian nazi-esque grading system. I miss the American grading system, at least I know what I would be getting and understand how it works.

Mocha, to ward off the cold and the early morning sleepiness

So I decided that I would get some flowers from the Sydney Markets at Flemington to brighten my flat and get some lavender for my bedroom as lavender scent is believed to have calming effect. So I drove to Flemington at 6.30am with my cousin and we went a little bezerk at the cheap flowers there were. She got tulips (2 bunches for $10), I got lavenders (5 bunches for $10), jonquils (2 bunches for $3) and tiny roses (a bunch for $5). Then we head for breakfast. At first we wanted to get pork fennel sausage at Bourke Street Bakery, but the sausage rolls weren't done baking just yet. So we crossed the street to Book Kitchen.

Roast pumpkin omelet on sourdough

I ended up getting the roast pumpkin omelet on sourdough while my cousin ordered bacon and egg roll. Of course I had to order the banana bread with passion fruit butter. The roast pumpkin omelet was a very comforting, or maybe I was just too hungry. But I really did like the roast pumpkin, its a different twist with a soft and sweet taste than the usual ham or other breakfast meat.

Bacon and egg roll with tomato chutney

The bacon and egg roll came out and we were surprised at how big it was. It looked really yummy though. The tomato chutney gave it a gourmet taste. The banana bread... moist, succulent and toasted just nicely. Dollops of passion fruit butter contrast the sweetness of banana bread with fresh tanginess of the passion fruit. I was so full, halfway to my banana bread toast, but I had to finish it... it was too good to be left uneaten.

Banana bread with passion fruit butter

The Book Kitchen

255 Devonshire Street

Surry Hills, NSW 2010

+61 2 9310 1003

Open Mon-Sun 8am-3pm, Plus Wed-Sat 6-9.30pm

Cooking garlic shoots

I have just recently discovered garlic shoots and I love it. It has become one of my favorite vegetables. It's super easy to cook too and especially delicious for stir frying. It's crunchy and sweet, and its fiber! It's also nice to have a home cooked meal on this winter days. Here's my recipe if you're interested.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of garlic shoots - cut in 4 cm length

3 cloves of garlic - minced

100 grams of minced pork (or substitute it with meat/chicken/tofu)

2 table spoon of oyster sauce

2 table spoon of Worcestershire sauce

1 tea spoon of sesame oil

3 table spoon of olive/vegetable oil

1. Heat olive/vegetable oil on a frying pan and enter the minced garlic, still till browned and you can smell the fragrant

2. Put in the minced meat and stir till browned, then throw in the garlic shoots, mix them together

3. Put in the oyster sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and sesame oil in the pan, mix them together. What I usually do is put a the lid on and shake everything to make sure that everything is mixed in together. It also ensures that the meat cooks faster.

Then, just serve yourself a nice meal with freshly steamed rice. Buen Provecho.

The hills are alive, with the smell of bread

The entrance

One of the great things about having a car is, well the most obvious, you can get around much faster without caring too much about the weather. So I woke up on Wednesday morning and decided that I will stop by the Bourke Street Bakery for a cup of mocha and pork fennel sausage on my way to my physiotherapy session.

Pork and fennel sausage roll

Cross section

I lucked out and got a seat inside, which means that I didn't have to gulp down my mocha before the wind made it cold. Not sure if you heard this a lot, but Bourke Street Bakery is quite famous for their pork fennel sausage. I know I rave about it. The pastry is soft and moist, not too dry nor too buttery. The pork is juicy and the herbs made it smell so good. Add to it, tomato ketchup? Heavenly. Especially with a cup of mocha on a cool winter morning. What could be better than having your breakfast enveloped in a fresh of the oven bakery smell?

If you've never been here, then I would definitely recommend the pork and fennel sausage, lamb and harissa almond roll, au pain chocolat, raspberry chocolate mouse tart and the lemon tart. I bought a lemon tart take away but forgot to take a picture. I love it, but I couldn't eat all the lemon mousse as it did get quite sour. Still, I'd be going back for more.

Mocha

Bourke Street Bakery

633 Bourke St

Surry Hills, NSW 2010

+61 2 9699 1011

Open Mon-Fri 7am-6pm, Sat-Sun 8am-5pm

Merivale Feast for the Senses at Bistro CBD

5 Freshly shucked Sydney rock oysters with golden shallot dressing and lemon

What could be better than having 2 course meal plus a glass of wine for just AUD 39? Okay, there are alot of things that could be better, but hey, this is quite a good deal. Merivale is having its promotion again. Today is the official launch party, I heard. Anyway, I really liked the design and atmosphere of the CBD Bistro and the bar downstairs. I could definitely come back here for some drinks.

Shiraz

So, having been prodded to decided a few days earlier on what I would order, I had oysters for appetizer and grilled sirloin for entrée. Since I was having the sirloin, I opted for a glass of red wine. There were 5 of us and we all brought our cameras. We were snapping pictures (not all at the same time!!) when one Mr. Howard Flannagan from Northern Ireland (or so he claimed) tried to charge us for taking pictures. He was kidding of course. He then proceeded that we better have a blog, well lucky for him and Merivale, two of us do. So here it is Mr. Howard, a free publicity on your charming hospitality and the dinner. Unfortunately, he adamantly refused to have his picture taken and posted on this blog. So, if you are curious you just have to go there and check him out for yourself. Oh! Perhaps this is one of his marketing tactics?! Just kidding.

Soy and linseed sourdough

It has been a while since I had some fresh oysters and I was delighted that the oysters were fresh! It tasted so fresh and almost creamy. My complain? There were only 5! Upon finding out that I have a blog, our charming Irishman proceeded to tell me where the oysters were from. Merimbula, South coast of New South Wales. I love my food, but I am not at that stage yet where I could distinguish how oysters from different coastal region could taste different. Nevertheless, it's good to know so that next time I could look up these oysters again.

Grilled sirloin steak, pomme frites (missing), watercress and chimmi churi

Steak, ah, who could ever resist red meat? Not this girl. The steak was juicy and tender. I asked for medium, which upon consideration I could have been a little more adventurous and asked for medium rare. The watercress was yummy, it was salty which was good for me since I love salty stuff, but I think for other people it might have been a tad too salty. The meat, the watercress and the chimmi churi sauce made a great combination of taste though. I thoroughly enjoyed that. However, I wondered where was my pomme frites? It said so on the menu on their website....

Roast beetroot, spiced duck breast, rocket, and pear salad

Crisp skin ocean trout, fennel puree and zucchini fritter

The other ladies had duck, either as appetizer or as entrée. I was the only one not having duck the whole night, now that I think about it. They said that the duck salad was great, but there wasn't a lot of duck. I tried the trout and I think it tasted fantastic. Some of the pictures are quite dark and I apologize for that. I accidentally put the wrong setting and only realized it at the end of the meal.

Vanilla meringue, passionfruit curd and fresh cream

It was a great meal. The food was good, company was great and the staff were amazing. One Mr. Howard Flannagan is a core competency of Bistro CBD if I may say. He was friendly and engaged his patrons making their stay comfortable. Its a rare treat to have this kind of hospitality and it was refreshing to have. The last time I had this kind of hospitality was at a boutique resort in Central Java. I dread to give away the name as I want to keep it a secret. So back to the Irishman, he even arranged for us to meet the chef. Love my foods & sugar even got a chance to take a picture of Chef Simun Dragicevich in action, check out her blog for pictures. Sometimes, a restaurant could have amazing food, but if the staff aren't hospitable, its a flop. But a restaurant with a decent meal and amazing staff, that's something else. In the case of Bistro CBD, food great and the staff is great. Especially when it's on a promotion! Which is why, we are going back next week, to MadCow. Mr. Flannagan, do hook us up.

Bistro CBD

Level 1, 52 King St

Sydney, NSW 2000

+61 2 9240 3000

Correction: The oysters were from Merimbula not from Narooma as previously posted. Thanks Mr. Flannagan for the correction.

Waiting for my VIP membership card from Chat Thai

Par Tuhng Go AUD 6.90

Those who followed me on twitter would know that I have been taking regular take outs from Chat Thai. So I am now waiting for them to issue me a VIP membership card or at least recognize me as a regular. Anyway, here's a take out from Chat Thai. Another craving of the week. And, another 'once on your lips, forever on the hips' moment. Its basically fried dough and pandan flavored coconut cream. Totally not good for you and your waistline, but superbly yummy.

Don't say it! I know, too much of 'once on your lips, forever on the hips' moments. I'm about to enroll in a gym.

Chat Thai

20 Campbell St

Haymarket

+61 2 9211 1808

Open daily from 10am-2am

(Menus are divided in 3 sections: lunch, dinner and supper)

Cravings: once on the lips, forever on the hips moment

Fried pork chop with creamed corn, AUD 9, and hot tea on the backgroun

For the last two weeks, I had been craving for a 'once on the lips, forever on the hips' dish from Ching Yip Cafe in China Town. For the life of me, I can't remember how I found out about this place, I had been going here since 10 years ago, back in the late 90s. It felt like a million years ago. I rediscovered it a few years back after a long absent from Sydney. To my surprise, the restaurant was still the same restaurant as it had 10 years ago! The wait staff still speak broken English, the menu was the same, the decor too stayed the same. It was rather nostalgic and comforting at the same time. So in the spirit of being constant, I ordered, the only thing that I always ordered, fried pork chop with creamed corn.

Like I said, a 'once on the lips, forever on the hips' dish. It taste so good though, the pork chop was soft and savory while the creamed corn soft and sweet. The pile of rice was still mountainous. I didn't finish the rice, but finished everything else. Oh, apparently if you come in the morning, before noon, you get free hot tea! Hmmmm... good stuff. Yeah, I'll regret it this later, but if it's any consolation, winter is here. It's cold outside and another layer of blubber could help with the cold.

Ching Yip Coffee Lounge

2nd Floor Dixon House

413 Sussex St

China Town

+61 2 9281 1591

Open Daily from 9am-8.30pm.

Brunch at Bar Zini

Panini Prosciutto Sandwich

Choosing Bar Zini for brunch this Saturday, just shows how powerful a blog could be. A friend's blog, Love My Foods & Sugar, has just been updated a post of a recent visit to Bar Zini. I was also opening up Time Out Sydney for inspiration and saw yet another recommendation for Bar Zini. It was a Saturday, the weather was gorgeous after a week full of rain and I just didn't feel like going to Surry Hills and fight for parking space and wait for a table. A quick read of Time Out Sydney showed me that there were a few cafes near Bar Zini in Pyrmont which would be handy in case we didn't get a table.

H2O

J and I arrived just a little over 11 am and the menu said breakfast available till 11 am. So we ordered a panini sandwich from the lunch menu. Apparently though, we could have still ordered the breakfast menu. The table next to us were having this baked egg that looked and smelled delicious! The sandwich consisted of tomato slices, prosciutto cotto, greens, and mozarella. So very simple, yet oh so very good. I was warned that Bar Zini would have a limited choices, but what they lack in choices they more than made up in taste and quality.

Espresso Machiatto

The espresso machiatto were short and lethal. It certainly woke me up. I was also impressed with their drink menu and I love the neighborhood bar feel to it. Once my liquid of happiness buddy is back in town, I will try my very best to drag her here. What's better than a good fun night full of liquid happiness and the possibility of a tasty panini sandwich?

Bar Zini

78 Harris St

Pyrmont, NSW 2009

+61 2 9660 5718

Toko at Surry Hills

The bar area at Toko

Sushi counter viewed from the cocktail tables

Last Friday, I was almost supposed to be on a cruise. Unfortunately (or fortunately considering the weather and how the night turned out to be) I wasn't able to get the ticket at a discount. So J and I decided to head out for some good Japanese food and a movie. There were 3 contenders for the night's dinner: Sushiya at Artarmon, Wasavie at Paddington and Toko at Surry Hills. Relentless rains in Sydney this past week and on Friday made the decision for me. Toko atSurry Hills for its close proximity and its Japanese alcoholic beverages.

Yuzu Shu by the glass

As they don't allow booking we aimed to get there early and reached the shop at 7pm. It wasn't early enough to get a table, but we managed to snag some cocktail table where they serve food. I ordered Yuzu shu, citrus wine and J had Ume shu, plum wine. Toko turned out to be an izakaya (Click here for wiki info). They even had a degustation menu for AUD 70 per person (min. 2 people) which I was tempted to order but unfortunately it did not include miso nasu dengaku. So we went ala carte.

Nigiri Sushi (5 pieces)

The sushi was fresh and I wished I was there for an omakase night. The scallop sushi was sweet and soft. It was definitely my favorite. The rest, from what I tasted and looking at J's content face, were also up to par.

Spider roll (soft shell crab)

Spider roll, close up

Spider roll is one of my favorite roll and I am quite picky about it. I hate it when the crab is soggy or not crispy enough. Toko did a wonderful job though, the soft shelled crab was crispy, soft and not soggy, with just enough mayonnaise that did not take away the crab taste.

Miso Nasu Dengaku (Grilled Eggplant with Miso)

The much awaited order. When I asked J if she would like to order this, she was practically beaming at me. As though she just won a lottery, which was fine by me since I love eggplant. It was really really really yummy. The flesh was so tender and the miso was yum. We both prefer the light brown miso compared to the darker one which was heavier and saltier. The only complain is, its not enough!

Grilled duck breast with pickled pear

This was one where J had that beaming face when I suggested it. This and the eggplant was our favorite for the night. The breast meat was tender and flavorful. It has that earthy slightly pungent taste that I associated with duck meat. Combined with the salt and pickled pear, it was an explosion of opposite taste that surprisingly tasted very well together.

Tempura Moriawase (Assorted Tempura)

When it arrived, I didn't think twice about it. Normal, standard tempura. However, when we started eating it, its the vegetables that was surprising. They were not your average eggplant, onions, mint leaves tempura. They substituted some for tomatoes and avocado! I was skeptical about the avocado, but it was surprisingly good. The frying made it melt in your mouth and the tomatoes, well it was sweet.

In total with 2 drinks, we spent about AUD 54 each, which was quite reasonable considering the quality of the food. It was definitely fortunate that I didn't go on that cruise.

Toko

490 Crown St

Surry Hills

+61 2 9357 6100

www.toko.com.au