Dae Jang Keum Restaurant, Sydney

Yes - I am NOT kidding. This is actually the name of the restaurant (check out the plates if you don't believe me - the logo says "dae jang keum" in hanja). At first, I thought that this place is just another gimmicky Korean restaurant, and I would never fall for the trap (just because it's named after a famous TV drama, doesn't mean I have to check it out). However...due to overwhelming demands from my friends, we decided to try it out. (damn gimmick!!)

It was T-A-S-T-Y. probably the second-best mid-class Korean restaurant in Sydney. And considering that the standard of Korean food in Sydney is rather excellent, this restaurant is probably reccommended by any standards.
Menu-wise, this place offers nothing out of the ordinary, but the portion was rather generous and the place looks nice. The thing I like about this place is, they serve authentic korean food (none of those nasty 'fusion' between korean and japanese / chinese food junks that are usually rampant on Sydney's Korean eateries).

There's this THING at this restaurant that I swear, during my 20-something years of gourmet experience, I have never ever encountered before. This thing is shaped like an oversized white pill (about 2.5 cm in diameter), and placed on a shallow bowl. At first, I thought it was an after-meal mint or something, but it's weird to serve mint before we even HAD the dinner, right? And it's not like this 'pill' has a packaging or anything. It's just placed there - bare. Also, there's this small jug of water placed just beside the bowl of 'pills'.
Turned out....if you pour the water ONTO the pills, the pills wil soak up the moisture, become swollen and grow in size...e voila! MOIST TOWELETTES! *I was so dumbstrucked*




Jap Chae
(Fried glass noodles with vegetables)



Kimchi Jigae
(Korean kimchi hotpot - with seafood, udon, tofu, and dumplings)



Bulgogi
(Korean marinated beef)



Bindae-dduk
(Korean-style seafood omelette served with iceberg lettuce salad)



Jeju Gal Bi
(Jeju-style Korean marinated BBQ ribs)




Dak Chochu Jang Boekum
(Barbecued chicken in chilli sauce)



Tangsuyuk
(Korean style sweet and sour chicken)

Omurice by Erique Fat Owl

Omurice
(Japanese-style rice omelette with demiglace sauce)

I made this yesterday for lunch. This is an incredibly simple-looking dish yet awfully hard to get it made just right. A perfect omurice should be shaped like an american football - and only experienced chefs can make the shape perfect. I didn't use fancy techniques to make this one - nor special tools. I just use a method ordinary Japanese employ to make a home-made omurice:

"gashahasha - hyuun - pekopeko - tontonton"

Confused? you'd better be. "gashagasha" is an onomatopoeia for eggs being beaten, "hyuun" is for beaten eggs being poured to hot skillet, "pekopeko" is the motion where the chopsticks are used to stir the beaten eggs while frying, and finally, "tontonton" is the motion of your fist hitting the pan handle to shape the perfect omurice.

I haven't perfected the "tontonton" step just yet - it is incredibly hard! So I just used spatula to shape the omurice (cheated a bit)

Anyway, the filling of the omurice is TOMATO GOHAN - fried tomato rice with peas and chicken bits. Whereas the sauce used to dress this dish is the all-important DEMIGLACE SAUCE.

This popular Japanese dish is incredibly irressistible!



Salad with Goma Dressing

Made to accompany my omurice!

Beard Papa

Beard Papa
The shop is actually in LA... so had to drive about 2 hours (if there isn't traffic) just to buy this puffy pastry... How sad... Missing Singapore! Where we could just take number 240 to Bugis :p (I think the rate has gone up though...)




Cream Puff with Chocolate



What's inside this thing actually?? Vanilla flavour? Well, this is best one, I think...
Very creamy inside with a little powedery sugar... Kyaaaa!! *slurp*

Goodwood Park Hotel

Durian Crumble











The base is one of those normal fruit tart base with chocolate lining, the crust is those found on apple crumble. Inside, its solid durian! you'd either drool or puke...

credit: sa's hand and mouth :P

Hooters

50 chicken wings:

• 5 samurai
• 5 daytona
• 40 breaded mild

1 curly fries
1 onion rings

Shin-Sen-Gumi

Chashu Ramen
"No green onion, no bamboo shoot and no ginger."
"Ok. So no onion, no bamboo shoot and ginger."
"Yes."
Booo!! Stupid waiter!!



Gyoza, Tanaka Fried Rice and Miso Soup
*slurp* the gyoza is so small...

Mc Delivery 6777-3777

We all know i only eat Cheeseburger Happy Meal, but today was different cause i did manual labour....

so i get Fillet'o'fish!!!! but its not just any Fillet'o'fish...

...its inverted Fillet'o'fish!!!!!


McD "must-have" ! :P

*yummm*


News Flash : McD Pekanbaru has just recently went bust. yes... it went bankrupt... closed down and all that... hahahha now, where else could that ever happen???

Boba

Japanese green milk tea with BOBA.
Just to clear cla's name... yes, that small round black thingy at the bottom of the drink is called BOBA in the US (who the hell came up with such a name anyway??).

p.s: Apparently, cla likes to make up her own words or mumbles something incoherent for the human ears, people thought 'boba' is another one of her creation.

A-Lunch by Erique Fat Owl

"A-Lunch"

(Spaghetti Neapolitan, Hamburg Steak with Demiglace Sauce, Ebi Fry with Nanban Tartare Sauce, Tomato Cha-han, Salad with Yuzu Dressing)

I made this lunch.

Today it'a Anzac Day in Australia (It's a public holiday) so I have all the time in the world to make elaborate and fanciful lunch for myself. Making this one was actually pretty tedious, because while it looks like one dish, you're actually cooking 5 separate dishes.

"A-Lunch" (A-ランチ) is actually a very popular lunch set in Japanese European-style bistro / cafe. Usually, office workers who are out for lunch will order this type of lunch set on cafes in Tokyo. Aside from A-Lunch, there's also B-Lunch (usually consist of just the Hamburg Steak and Pasta) and C-Lunch (usually Omu-rice and Salad). Anyway, A-Lunch is as luxurious and as expensive as it gets when it comes to common lunch item for working-class Japanese salaryman / Office Ladies (Usually around 1000 - 1200 yen)

I first had A-lunch in a Japanese European-style bistro at the basement of Mitsukoshi Hong Kong (Causeway Bay) in 2002, and immediately fell in love with it. A-lunch is also served with a bowl of gohan (Japanese rice) but it's optional. Sadly, that small bistro now closed down because Mitsukoshi HK is currently undergoing a major renovation (and closed until 2008 or something). I just hope the bistro will still be there when Mistukoshi re-opens.

There's no definite recipe for A-lunch, everything is basically common-sense. That is, if you have ample experiences in cooking Japanese cuisine.

- The Spaghetti Neapolitan is probably the easiest - I just use a ready-made Japanese tomato paste and a neapolitan herb mix

- The Hamburg is a little bit tricky - the Japanese always use 1/2 beef mince and 1/2 pork mince for this. This then is mixed with caramelized onion mince, 'panko' (bread crumbs), ground nutmeg, salt, pepper, and worchestershire sauce. But the trick is, (and this is an age-old Japanese secret in making delicious hamburg) to force as much air as possible when moulding the hamburg balls by forcefully throwing the meat balls from one hand to another until the balls are solid and firm. Then it should be fried using butter and basted every now and then.

- The Ebi fry is also tricky. You need experience to make the shelled-prawns nice and straight, by making incisions in correct places. Then, they should be dipped in 'katakuriko' (potato starch), beaten egg, and 'panko' in that order. Afterwards, deep-fry.

- The Tomato cha-han is a breeze. Just fry the 'gohan' with worchestershire sauce, tomato ketchup, and chopped parsley.

- I used 'yuzu' (citrus) dressing for the salad because any other dressings and the balance of the flavour would be compromised. The salad should be fresh and light because there's so much other flavours on this dish. The tangy accent of yuzu dressing also complements well with the rest of the food.

The sauces:

- Demiglace sauce is a very, VERY difficult and extremely troublesome sauce to make. So, just stick to the ready-made Japanese-style Demiglace sauce (hopefully) available on your nearest Japanese supermarkets. You shouldn't substitute demiglace with ANYTHING because this sauce is the most important part of the dish. Seriously.

- The Tartare nanban sauce is a cross between Japanese and European style. But the thing is, DO NOT use ready-made tartare sauce, because this sauce is actually eaten in large quantities and if you use the ready-made (persumably non-japanese) tartare sauce, it would be too overpowering and strong. The correct way to make tartare-nanban sauce (my own version) is:

Combine japanese mayonnaise, finely-chopped gherkins / pickles, finely chopped 'naga-negi' (spring onion), and mashed hard-boiled egg. I also tend to put creme fraiche (or sour cream if it's more readily available) just to lighten the sauce a bit. This sauce should turn up very, very thick (somewhat of an egg salad consistency).

Itadakimasu!

Löwenbräu Keller, Sydney

Chicken Schnitzel Caesar Salad


Kalbfillet Steak
(Veal steak - served with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes)


Jägerpfanne mit Spätzle
(Baked medallions of veal served with mushroom sauce)


Schweinshaxn
(This is the piece de resistance. Whole pork knuckle oven-roasted, served with lowenbrau beer sauce, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes)


Seafood platter
(Fjord smoked salmon, smoked herring, smoked mackarel with cranberry dipping sauce)

Jia Xiang Sarawak Kuching Kolo Mee

Old Chang Kee

Fish Ball Stick & Crab Claw Stick
where's the third one?? safe in my tummy of course... XD

Curry O - the "must-buy" of old chang kee

SHO-U

Ika Onsen Tempura

Scallop and Prawn in Mayonnaise

Unagi Tofu Steak

Rainbow Roll

Yaki Mochi with Bacon

Soy Bean Shabu Shabu

Healthy Soba (served with natto)

Unagi Cheese Roll
Potato Cheese Souffle


and of course...
choc banana cake by bakerz'in


drink list:
Heaven's Brew, Apple Feast, Macha Mint, Sho-U Mocktail & Evian

1.29 am sa: "lapar aku..."