Momofuku Seiōbo, Sydney

Momofuku Seiobo officially opened its doors and had its first dinner service on Wednesday the 26th of October at The Star, Sydney thanks to David Chang. I was extremely lucky to get one of the last Saturday bookings for its first weekend opening. I do not think anyone understands how excited I was about momofuku opening a restaurant in Sydney and so I jumped at every chance to make sure I could experience it, stat! (Just a quick note, bookings/reservations can only be made online via the website, here.)

El Jannah, Granville

I love having impromptu dinner night with friends. Most of the time, though, we can barely make up our minds on where to eat. It was too easy for us this time round, with the choicing of hitting up some charcoal chicken with garlic sauce! Mmmm. Where do we go to fet our fix? El Jannah in Granville! Although there is this joint in Fairfield that is almost just as good, if not on par, but I need to make a return there and taste test it again before I can say more.

 

Kagen Japanese Family Restaurant, Newington

Japanese has got to be one of our favourite cuisines. There is a shortage of Japanese food around where I live which makes Biggie and I very sad. Sure there’s your random sushi bar and what not, but sometimes Biggie and I crave more than just sushi.

 

Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich Cake

I want to take this opportunity to wish my big brother, McSloppy Deadweight (his new nickname), a Happy 28th Birthday! <3 To celebrate this joyous occasion, as well as my sister-in-law’s birthday who’s birthday is three days later (Happy 26th Birthday Mrs McSloppy Deadweight for thursday!!), I thought I would bake them a cake. For something fun, I wanted to (and had to) bake them an ice cream cookie sandwich cake!

 

The name is self explanatory – ice cream that is sandwiched between two massive cookies! As I was limited on time, I did cheat and buy the ice cream. It definitely works out to be more convenient alternative. The cookie recipe I used is from Taste, obviously making only two large cookies out of the cookie dough. I did adapt the recipe slightly - I used chocolate M&Ms instead of chocolate pieces/chips as I wanted colourful looking cookies.

I didn’t plan it out too well. I constructed the cake and put it back in the freezer so that the ice cream could set/harden again, but it totally crossed my mind that the cookies would freeze and become rock hard. So come time to serving it, it was a disaster.

 

My advice for those who will try such a thing, this ice cream cookie sandwich cake should be served immediately after made/constructed. This is so you get the best of both the cookie and the ice cream. Despite the difficulties of trying to serve the cake, it was still delicious…….

Tan Viet Noodle House, Cabramatta

What excites me most about living so close to Cabramatta is the fact that it barely takes any time to make the trip there but what I dread most is the task of finding parking. I don’t know about you guys but I have the worst luck with parking, whether it be in a car park or street parking – we just don’t work well together. On weekends (especially) Cabramatta is jam-packed and flooded with people which is enough to deter me from going there, but what always makes me want to go is the infamous crispy chicken at Tan Viet Noodle House….

 

Egg Noodles with Soup and Crispy Chicken $12

 

This is the restaurant where my family likes to take guests to enjoy a cheap and cheerful meal. I recently had some relatives over from the USA and so I just had to take them here, especially for 3 of my cousins as this was their first trip to Australia. I suppose that wasn’t the only reason though, it was an excuse for me to have a good feed as well. Guilty, indeed.

 

What Tan Viet is reknowned for is their crispy chicken. You can get it with numerous dishes on the menu – rice, egg noodles, glass noodles etc - but the egg noodles is the most popular. The chicken never, ever disappoints me - it is always crispy on the outside with juicy, succulent flesh on the inside. It tastes even better when you get to dunk it in the little bowl of nuc cham. Wow, my mouth just filled up with saliva.

 

Dishes here at Tan Viet Noodle House barely put a dent in your wallet and it is amazing at how such simple food can really make life feel so grand…..

 

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A later visit sees me ordering my favourite dish – bo luc lac. People may know this as Vietnamese Shaking beef. Lean cubes of beef are stir fried with salt and pepper and caramelised on the hot wok used. Served with a single serving of tomato rice. No place does bo luc lac like Tan Viet.

 

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Tan Viet Noodle House
Shop 2-3, 100 John Street
Cabramatta NSW 2166 
Tel: +61 9727 6853

World Chef Showcase, Sydney 2011

When I got the email from Crave Sydney announcing that the World Chef Showcase was on again, I got way too excited. I didn’t get to go last year so I had to make sure I didn’t miss out again. I ummed and ahhed about which session to go to but it was the “The Next Generation” session that won me over. This session featured David Chang from Momofuku (New York), Dan Hong from Ms. G’s (Sydney) and Adriano Zumbo from Adriano Zumbo Patissier (Sydney).

 

Time was limited with each chef having approximately 45 minutes on stage. Their time including having a chat with the MC, a cooking demonstration and Q&A time. The audience was lucky enough to sample the dishes that the chefs cooked during the demo.

 

David Chang of Momofuku, with Momofuku Seiobo to be opening up soon in Sydney!