Black sesame piggies

Made fresh, super cute and warm chewey goodness to complete a meal.

http://www.chefsgallery.com.au/

Shop 12

Ground Floor Regent Place

501 George Street

Sydney NSW 2000

Robo Cog

I know it's been a while between posts - busy with a few things. But here is a quick post you might like. Lunch at Robo Cog with a friend. Special menu item - beef salad - it was delicious! They are becoming well known for their mexican style breakfast but I felt like something lighter. 1 of the owners who served us was attentive and keen to know if we enjoyed our meals - yes we did!

Robo Cog, 249 Riley Street, Surry Hills.

See review here: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/restaurants-and-bars/bike-buddies-saddle-up-20110716-1hilk.html

Allpress @ Zetland

My friend S and I were glad we did not share as initially planned.

This was good. Roast pork fresh out of the oven....on a fresh baguette with spicy mayo. Yum.

My friend and her husband have worked through all the sandwiches - they look good and trust her when she says they ARE good!

The queue for the takeaway coffee was long - a rare case of better to eat in than takeaway!

58 Epsom Road, Zetland

8198 4440 for the cafe.

Weekdays : 7am - 3pm

Saturdays : 8 - 2pm

The Square (1 Michelin Star) - Part 3

Close up of the crab cheung fan - actually I really liked this too, on par with the lo ba go.

Beef balls with bean curd - my brother really loved this. I still like the ones better at Luk Yu Tea House.

Shiitake mushroom and dried scallop double baked broth - really good to cleanse the palate with. Flavoursome.

Baked custard sago pudding - I'm not sure what to think of this as it was denser and not as wet as I would have liked. But it seemed to grow on my brother and he thinks it tasted better the more you ate it with the lotus paste inside.

The Square (1 Michelin Star) - Part 2

Cheung Fan - minced mud crab with dried salty cod on top, very tasty!

Tofu wrapped seafood rolls

Inside tofu wrapped seafood

Lobster dumpling (signature dish) - AUD$8 each!

Inside the lobster dumping - I found it a bit underwhelming but I'm not a lobster fan. But I'm sure it was good for lobster fans - it was pretty huge.

The Square (1 Michelin Star) - Part 1

Starter - different beans par boiled and peanuts, addictive but healthy.

Silver service tea & hot water

Lo Ba Go - love how they served it with sprouts, greens and XO. I think this was my favourite.

Pumpkin spongy cake (that's how they wrote it 'spongy')

We really wanted to try Fook Lam Moon but it didn't open until 11:30am which was not great for our timing today. So we went to The Square which has a Michelin star.

My brother and I enjoyed it - it may have been the dishes we chose but they were well done and subtle flavours which suits me fine. There was a hair in my brother's lobster dumpling so we had to send that one back. You would if you were paying $8 for one dumpling!

4/F, Block 2, The Forum, 8 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Agnes B Cafe interior

Agnes B Cafe

A nice surprise across the road from my brother's place. The first visit was takeaway quiche lorraine (the crust was really nice!) and a iced coffee. The second visit was eat in cheesecake with chocolate swirls which was a really nice consistency and not too rich. Service with a smile and I was able to read some of my book in there - so no need to rush out.

Agnes B typically is a fashion designer but apparently these cafes are very

It's next to the popular Classified and Press Room which serves soups, pastas, omelettes, sandwiches and pastries. They have fancy patisserie cakes and apparently the signature cake is 'Chloe'. It is open from 7.30am until 11pm which I think is pretty good!

G/F, 118 Hollywood Rd., Sheung Wan. Tel: +852 2915-2382

Yummy goodness

I had to make up for lost time today with my tummy not being very well. These 3 things I have been told come highly recommended in the Sheung Wan area. And so it was my mission today:

Won ton from Mak's noodles - Mum apparently went there 4 days in a row. The bowl is small and so is the won ton but they are so tasty. The broth is also drink-worthy and includes prawns in the stock. The tables have a review by Anthony Bourdain under the glass tabletop. HKD$30 which is approximately AUD$4. Great snack. The egg noodles were thin and chewy too...I hope I can fit another bowl in before I go.

Hand made fish ball congee from I think Law Fu Kee Noodles Shop on Lyndhurst Terrace (the name is in chinese) - my high school friend said they are quite well known for their beef congee (which I forgot!) and their hand made fish balls.....I got this takeaway as after eating my entree of won ton, I wanted to collect the congee then the custard tarts.

Darn tarts (custard tarts) from Honolulu Cafe on Stanley Street - I waited for 30 minutes for these to come out of the oven. Yesterday they were all gone, when I arrived around 12pm today a bunch of tourists from China bought them all! I ate one fresh out of the oven - it had not set yet but was warm goodness. A cooler one was still good too - not too rich, although I would have liked the pastry to be more flakey. But the balance between the custard and the pastry works well.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel - Signature Dish

Hainan chicken rice HKD$208 - quite pricey but I guess it was in a hotel and it's one of their signature dishes...The rice was really flavoursome (I really don't like using that word but it was packed with flavour).

http://www.mandarinoriental.com/hongkong/dining/bars_and_lounge/clipper_lounge/

Black skinned chicken

Aphrodite's Organic Cafe and Pie Shop

Wild Mushroom Quiche
Scrumptious BC shiitake mushroom, gruyere cheese and spinach, served with organic greens

Blackberry & apple pie
Apple pie
Paper mache people hanging from the ceiling

Best quiche ever - mushrooms were full of flavour, not too eggy and not too much pastry. The side salad was not overly dressed and was simple with a mixture of seeds for texture. So good.

The waitress managed to convince my cousin and I that the slice of apple pie was small but it wasn't! Very misleading! This place is famous for it's pies so we had to try them. My apple pie was packed with apples and not too sweet. The vanilla bean ice-cream - I'm still not sure if it was too intense or not, maybe cream would have been better so as to not overwhelm the pie?

www.organiccafe.c

Japadog - Visit #2

Due to my indulgent eating the past few weeks, I went for the Negimiso - the seemingly simplest of the bunch and it was what I was after. CP had the Beef Terimayo. We shared some fries with the Japashio seasoning but we both agreed it was underwhelming.

This is the new Japadog store - so it has fries unlike the stalls and also dessert hotdogs.

Each stall/store also can vary in the different japadogs they offer.

I think I could try one once every 3-4 weeks if I were here longer....whilst they are not super filling they are kind of slightly rich but not greasy.

Japadog - Visit #1

Cousin G's Okonomi
My Beef Terimayo

We finally went to a Japadog stall - this was one of the very few things on my list to do....after visiting First Baptist Church. It was a little windy so my seaweed was flying off, but thankully most of it held to the mayo & my cousin's bonito flakes were having the same problem.

Verdict was yum - enough to have another one the next day (see next post). Could possibly replicate this at home, will see. Definitely a treat. It would have been better if the buns were warmed or slightly toasted I think. But the buns were super fresh so also OK.

This was the Japadog stall near Burrard & Smithe.

www.japadog.com

Solly's cinnamon-y buns

Solley's cinnamon buns

Solly's chocolate buns (untested)

En route to Whistler today we picked up a cinnamon bun from Solly's - the bun of contention between CP and CR....Grounds for Coffee versus Solly's, although admittedly CP acknowledges they are different.

So, Solly's is tightly coiled into a bun and no icing. It definitely had a denser (but good) and more cinnamon sweetness taste. I think I may prefer Solley's as I am not a super sweet tooth, although the icing on GFC buns is good.

I think it's a very close call and I'm not sure I could make one. I haven't tried the GFC bun without icing so maybe I'd be happy to say with icing GFC and without icing Solly's. Fair call I think!

P.S. I tried 2 Solly's bagels last week and they were not so great.....the best are Nature's Blend from Safeway. Sometimes the best things can be found in a supermarket!

www.groundsforcoffee.ca

www.sollysbagelry.co

Simple meal

Simple meal in my first week here before I went crazy eating! They are from the local greek deli. Loved the smoked turkey and the salami with goats cheese.

Turkey sausage - a bit of a turkey

A bit of a disappointing home-made dinner tonight.

I bought 2 gourmet turkey sausages from Wholefoods for two meals. One is garlic and the other is cilantro. I know - turkey - what was I thinking! A risk.

I baked them in the oven but I think I may have over-cooked them. The consistency is quite dry but the texture of the sausage is a bit crumbly like dry mince. I never make mashed potato so that was also a bit of a fail. Quite a disaster really.

Mashed potato with a small bit of butter and skim milk? Cream must be a staple. I think I over-cooked the potatoes too.

This is why I prefer to bake sweets!

Terra Breads Cinnamon Raisin Bun

I give this cinnamon raisin bun the thumbs down. It lacked substance and looked a little weird. It was also not as moist. I bought some bagels from Solley's this afternoon - ultimate test tomorrow! CR, it could be make or break time! Might I add that I almost couldn't believe my ears when the guy said it was $1.70 for 2 bagels - 2 bagels! One is wholewheat and the other is Herb with tomato and something else. I went in the afternoon and the selection was not great.

Sophie's Cosmic Cafe

Finally metup with my Canadian cousins for dinner at Sophie's Cosmic Cafe - a retro meets mexican type diner. We went to Gravity Pope shoe store (open until 9pm most days!) afterwards which I thought was funny. I had the tostada salad but only finished half as I was full from the burger at Jethro's earlier in the day. I thought there would be corn chips through the salad, but instead the whole bowl was one big 'chip'. My cousins shared a slice of apple pie afterwards - it was massive....I should have taken a picture of it. Packed with slices of apple right up to the pastry top.

www.sophiescosmiccafe.com/