Family Potluck - Bexley, NSW

Earlier today, the Mrs and I posted an entry about our visit to Cafe Oratnek, well...that's not all we did (ate) over the weekend. Aside from enjoying a beautiful brunch, the Mrs and I had been invited to attend a potluck hosted by one of my close family friends. For the uninitiated, a potluck is an event or meal where each guest is in charge of contributing one dish. I quite enjoy our semi-regular potlucks as our families have always been close friends (our fathers all worked together at the same restaurant for many, many years) and as a result of being so close to the dining scene, our love for the culinary is equal to each others.

I decided that I'd take this opportunity to try an idea that's been floating around my head for a while: yakiniku tacos with radishes pickled in rice vinegar and asian inspired chimichurri. To make the dish, I marinated a couple of beef flank steaks in a house made yakiniku marinade overnight. The marinade is just equal parts cooking sake and soy sauce cooked with onions, garlic, sugar and honey (next time I might even try to add some fruit like apple or nashi pear in for some acidity). For the pickles, I sliced radishes on a mandoline slicer and pickled them in a rice vinegar pickling liquid overnight. Finally, I made the chimichurri out of the white parts of some spring onions, some garlic cloves, italian parsley, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a green chilli. Overall, I was very pleased with the result. I would have preferred to use a more tender cut (such as harami/skirt steak) and maybe marinade it for less time but the interplay of the sweet and crunchy pickles and the spicy, herby sauce made for an excellent party dish.

My friend decided to make ribs and takoyaki (a weird combination I know, but it worked). The ribs were very tender and flavoursome which really reflected the amount of effort he put in to make the ribs. It would have been even better if it was warm enough to have a backyard barbeque where he could have put some smoke and charcoal on it. My friend also took the opportunity to try out various ideas for takoyaki flavours. My two favorites of the night were the XO takoyaki and the truffle aioli takoyaki. Being that the takoyaki was already very creamy inside, the addition of the tobiko and aioli really pushed it to a new level of decadence....a must try for any truffle fan. The XO was also really nice as the chilli oil from the XO sauce melded with the batter to create a ball of spicy goodness.

Another friend also took the time to make a pot of spicy napolitana penne. Although she did indicate that it wasn't her intention to make it as spicy as it was, we were all really glad that it came out the way it did because it was deliciously appetizing. As with any good chilli dish, the heat built up with each mouthful which made you want to eat more. Additionally, some other friends made quiches in potato cups. The quiches were perfectly contained in nice, crispy and carby cups which made them rather delectable treats.

For dessert, we were served lemon curd cupcakes and a chocolate tart. The lemon curd cupcakes were amazing and had a perfect balance of creaminess to tartness. It really was a wonderful way to cut through the intense flavours we had earlier in the dinner which was great because it gave us the ability to kick on and eat the decadently rich chocolate tart. Topped with sliced strawberries and shavings of white chocolate, this chocolate tart was all manner of lovely. Honestly, I probably hoarded half the tart to take home because it was that good.

I truly love the way our families have remained so close and still somewhat regularly find the time to get together and enjoy some great food. I genuinely hope that even as the Mrs and I move further to the west, our ties will remain strong and we still find the time to get together and cook up a storm.

Boodle Fight - Sydney

Filipino food and culture is amazing, so many influences and so many flavors melding together....you never really know what to expect. That's why when offered the opportunity to participate in a traditional kamayan feast, I couldn't refuse! It wasn't my first time having a kamayan feast (apparently, also referred to as a boodle fight) but nonetheless, I was still heaps excited. There's just something about eating great food with your friends, getting into it and making a mess with your hands....and I get to cook!

I decided this time to make chicken yakitori, but as I had learned, the whole point of the feast was to come and have all the food ready to eat. This posed a problem as to do yakitori well, you need to grill it over charcoal. Luckily, I had a work around! I had the skewers prepared and marinaded ahead of time. Now normally, yakitori isn't marinaded but instead relies on the basting to give it flavor. I didn't have that luxury so instead I left it overnight in the marinade so the flavor would penetrate the meat. and when it came to prepare it, I put all the skewers into a pressure cooker and steamed it for roughly 10 minutes.

So now that the chicken was fully cooked, I took it over for the last step. To finish the chicken yakitori, I brushed on the yakitori sauce onto the skewers and then torched them all using my kitchen blowtorch. As I didn't have a charcoal grill (or a Searzall...for that matter) I used the torch to impart a smokey, grilled flavor to the chicken. It's not the best way but it worked! the chicken was nice and tender and had a faux-charcoal flavor.

Aside from my chicken, there were an abundance of other filipino delights! menudo, prawns, mussels, grilled squid, torta talong (eggplant omelette), grilled fish and so much rice! To say that there was way too much food would be an understatement. But what's a filipino party without excessive amounts of food right?

For dessert, one of our friends made knafeh. This was my first time having this dessert and I have to say that I'm extremely impressed! It was a little saddening that the sugar syrup was left out but the end product was still amazing: creamy and cheesy in all the right ways.

I'm so glad I got the chance to live life and eat good food with our mates. It's the little moments like these that we live for.

Shout out to our resident photographer Orville! Thanks for the amazing photos!

Mister's Test Kitchen - Gyoza Night

Now I know, I know....I couldn't keep my promise.

Although I have a very good reason! My long time phone: the Samsung Galaxy S4 died on my over the weekend so I spent it organizing a replacement and what better replacement than the newest Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge! So convenient that the latest version comes out just as my old one gives out on me. So with this brand new smartphone and a decent 16MP camera, expect better quality photos from now on!

So first post tonight will be from the backlog. A while back I was craving dumplings and since I had recently depleted my supply of gyozas, it was time to restock! Now make no mistake, making gyozas is no easy task. All the prepping and wrapping takes one full day so if you're going to make them, commit and make a LOT. The rest can be frozen and cooked up whenever your cravings hit.

So we start by shopping for ingredients, most of which can be sourced from your asian grocers. luckily, I live in a predominantly asian area so ingredients were easy to get. For this recipe, I chose to go with a more traditionally Japanese approach (though the dumplings did originate from China anyway but that's besides the point) so I chose to use pork mince, cabbage, spring onions, garlic and ginger....oh and round gyoza wrappers.

For the seasonings, I used sake, soy sauce, sesame oil a pinch of sugar and a dash of salt and pepper. Important point to remember: chop the cabbage roughly and salt it to bring out the moisture. Afterwards, wring out all the water and you'll make sure the gyoza doesn't end up too wet on the inside. Do NOT blitz it....whatever you do, do NOT use a food processor for the cabbage, if it gets chopped up too much, it'll be heaps gritty and detriment the texture. And don't mix the mince too much!! If you do, the meat will clump up into a meatball once it's cooked and you don't want that. What you want is a loose and moist filling that doesn't stick to the wrappers. You'll know what I mean when you cook it.

Fill the wrapper with a little more with a teaspoon of filling, tab a little water on your finger and wet one side of the round wrapper then fold in half.

Now comes the hard bit, pleat on one side. I'd LOVE to describe how to do it but you learn by watching. So either find yourself a Chinese grand-mama and learn off her....or Youtube it, much easier. Repeat until you run out of wrappers. Also make sure you place them onto a nice floured tray or plate. Separate them and put them in the freezer once you've finished one plate. The freezer will firm up the dumplings making them much easier to cook later on.

To cook, heat up some oil in a non-stick frying pan and line the pan with the dumplings (flat side down). Pan fry them a little until the dumplings brown a bit on the bottom. Once they've been browned sufficiently, pour water into the hot pan until the dumplings are half covered and then cover the pan with a lid. Turn the heat down to medium and let it steam until fully evaporated. Afterwards, its just fry them some more until they're crispy again and voila!

                                                                Dumplings for days.

Brewristas - Glebe

Hello everyone!

Firstly, we'd like to thank each and every reader who comes by our little blog, we've recently been trying to blog more frequently (so that we can get a into the habit of posting and so that our list of places to blog about doesn't grow any more) and we're definitely noticing the increased views we're getting so that's good! It's such a humbling experience knowing that people come and find genuine interest in our lives so we definitely appreciate you taking the time to read about our adventures. We hope that we can continue to consistently provide good content regularly so stay tuned!

As Autumn begins to get into full swing and the weather become a bit colder each and every morning, it becomes increasingly harder to wake up. That said though, I still managed drag myself out of bed and take the Mrs on a brunch date. She's always been so lovely and supportive that I thought that she deserved a bit of treat. With that in mind, we got dressed in our Easter Monday best and drove all the way to Glebe to try out a place that's been on our list for some time now: Brewristas.

Parking really wasn't hard to find as there's plenty of street parking all along Glebe Point Rd and on the off chance that you just can't find any parking, Broadway has free 2hr parking so that definitely helps (it's not a far walk either!). 

Walk in and you'll notice that the place is rather expansive with a back area that looks very comfortable. We opted to take the first seats that became available. That wasn't any detriment though as we got to see all the people come and go. The unfortunate result of visiting on a public holiday was that the staff would be exceptionally busy meaning it took some time before our coffee and food would arrived. I didn't particularly have a problem with it as I personally like watching people do their thing but the Mrs wasn't nearly as patient. 

*Action shot!*

The Mrs had ordered her standard coffee which was done spectacularly however I opted for a pour over with the house beans.

Quality takes time and attention to detail. That I understood and so when my coffee came, I was all the more appreciative of it. Brownie points for the impeccably dressed Kevin and his wonderful explanation of the coffee and the way to enjoy it!

Our food eventually came (the staff acknowledged the wait and apologised for it so all was well in my books) and boy did the dishes look pretty. The cold eggplant and vegetable stack was delightfully fresh which made it an appetizing Autumn dish as the flavor of the pesto wasn't all too overpowering and there was the balsamic glaze there to cut through it all. The bits of chorizo (an additional $3) and boccocini also complimented the dish well.

Now, Kevin's balls...oh so delicious. The flavor that these four small balls pack is immense. The combination of the tofu and pork which is deep fried and encrusted with bits of Shin Ramyun and covered in a good amount of spicy mayo....a match made in heaven if there was ever a more apt description. My only wish was that there were more of it to go around. I don't think any adjective I label it with could give it the justice it deserves so if you're ever visiting, trust me: order one order for each diner. You will fight over these.....or you might be smart enough to order more, I don't know. 

Brewristas is definitely a place to come and spend an afternoon, ideally you'd shoot for a day where it's less busy but with how these guys are doing, I honestly don't think their popularity with the Sydney crowd is set to fizzle anytime soon. 

Would we return? For the balls? yes. Most definitely yes.

Recommendations? Order the balls...make sure you've ordered enough so you won't need to share. Oh and sit in the back so you have a clear view of the brewing station.

Areas of improvement? If they provided more balls for the price that would be great but I guess that's just an indication of how impressive they were.

Devon Cafe - Surry Hills

The Mrs loves brunch. Like...I'm not even joking when I say it's almost an obsession with her. I'm lucky in that she uses as Android phone and not an Apple as if she had the opportunity to use Matchbook, all our time and resources would be devoted to trying each and every cafe in Sydney.

It's pretty obvious I don't appreciate brunch as much as she does.That said, I will say that Devon cafe was thoroughly impressive. Then again, that much is expected...I mean they are the Devon cafe. These guys are definitely in the top tier. Think along the lines of the equivalent of LA Lakers of the Sydney brunch game. And with their second location having not-so-recently opened up in Waterloo, it's rather hard to deny their popularity. 

We decided to visit one weekend as I had promised the Mrs I would take her to one of her desired locations. Being the smart cookie I was, I thought I'd go out early and grab a table (back when we went, it was still a single location and hence they got packed super easily). That said, they have their system down pat so I wouldn't worry too much about excessive wait times. 

We were seated promptly and having been given ample time to skim over the menu during our (my) wait, we swiftly ordered and eagerly awaited our food. The coffee came first which was nice as it gave me something to sip on while we waited. In this situation, I chose to order a pour over which was a good choice as I wasn't feeling particularly milky that day. Coffee was really good, as expected.

Shortly after, our orders arrived at our table. The Mrs ordered the famous Eggs Blini and I had ordered the baked eggs with an extra side of morcilla (I wanted to go double but the Mrs stopped me). The Eggs Blini was presented beautifully, the vibrant colors definitely did well in appealing to the diner's eyes first. However, I personally can't say that the interplay of flavors held up as much as the initial appearance did. In my opinion, the blini was a tad too sweet which didn't work as nicely when paired with the flavor of fish from the trout and Ikura roe which definitely stood out more. 

I can safely say that I ordered the better dish as the eggs were done perfectly and the sauce was the perfect amount of savory tartness which helped cut through the moorish pieces of morcilla sausage. The thick cut toast provided was also perfect for sopping up any remaining sauce. 

In my opinion, Devon cafe is definitely worth the visit. Their street cred is well deserved and with their current menu, now would be a great time to go and try it out. 

Would we return? I don't have a choice, the Mrs will make me.

Recommendations? I don't think we can make recommendations as we haven't been since the menu change but looking at their current menu, I would go with the Soft Shell Crab Roll ala Japanois.....Oh and they have flavored Cronuts at Danks *wink wink*

Areas of improvement? Their game is pretty tight, can't say I'm aware of any aspect they need improvement on.

Ballers Polpetteria - Enmore

It's been some time since I've finished high school (and university) yet I still stubbornly hold on to my bad habit of completing tasks at the last second. That said, better late than never right?

As promised, we'd do two posts a week until the backlog is done and at the rate we're going we should be finished with the belated blogs soon. First post tonight will be about a nice little place called Ballers.

One evening, the Mrs and I decided to go out for dinner however we hadn't really decided on a place, so we decided the best course of action was of course to drive to a random suburb and see what was available. We somehow ended up at Enmore (I subconsciously direct myself to the inner city all the time because that's where I'm overwhelmed with the abundant options) but at that point in time we still hadn't decided yet and I was getting seriously hangry, so the Mrs suggested we park the car and have a stroll. By some stroke of luck, the parking spot we got allowed us to walk by this nice and cozy new joint called Ballers.

The store decor was so hip and trendy that we we're immediately drawn into the place and come on, I'd never really pass up any opportunity to stuff my face with meatballs. We ordered our dishes and decided to sit in the back where you get a clear view of the open kitchen. This in my opinion was the ideal location to sit as we got a clear view of the inner workings and we also got to have a conversation with the kitchen staff (which is something both the Mrs and I love doing)

The run from the kitchen to the tables was quite quick which was nice, although as at the point of time when we visited, they had only just been open for a month or so, the service staff were still trying to get a handle on things. It was also cause of this that they didn't have any alcohol available yet (though that hardly diminishes the experience) it would have been nice to have a beer with my balls.

We ordered two meals (beef and special meatballs both with the special sauce, meatballs come with a slice of baguette bread as standard) along with fries and mash. The meatballs were delightful as they were decently sized and had a real substance to the texture. The worst thing when it comes to meatballs is when you get more bread crumbs than meat.

Ballers definitely knows how to pack in the meat as every bite was meaty and juicy. The special meatballs were good however, the real winner would be the beef meatballs. If you had to choose, go beef. Just trust me, you will understand when you taste it. The special sauce was the right amount of tomato tang balanced out and exemplified with a good kick. Put the meat and sauce together and you just can't help but want more.

Their sides were also fantastic, fries were seasoned incredibly well with a nice herbaceous element and the mash was creamy, buttery and smooth. If the Mrs (queen of mash) herself approves, you know you've done well.

After a delightful meal, we were advised that we were able to leave our mark in the toilet where a mural of sorts was slowly building from the growing fan-base they had. Quick to get our stamp in, we dashed to the back and scribbled our names there (if you happen to go in, have a look around, you'll see our tag there)

Would we return? Definitely,

Recommendations? Again, go beef. Just trust me on this. 

Areas of improvement? When we went, the menu was a little difficult to decipher (they may have fixed this issue already) which meant that a little explaining needed to be done before we could order but that just adds to the charm as you could say it leaves you no choice but to make friends with the staff.

The Mister's Test Kitchen - Ramen

Hello all!

As promised, we're trying to get into the habit of posting on a regular basis so here is the second post of the night.

Just to shake things up a bit, I thought I'd share with you all my experiences gained from trail and error in the kitchen. If it's one thing I love more than eating, it's feeding people with the food I make. Nothing makes me happier than when someone says my food is delicious (must be an inherited trait, my dad is the exact same)

So one fine evening with nothing better to do, I decided I would try to make ramen. I knew this was long process and I had prepared adequately for the road ahead. Rather than make Tonkotsu though, I decided to make Torigara. My primary reasoning behind this decision was that I personally believed that Miso ramen (my absolute favorite ramen) is better suited to chicken stock because pork stock tends to overpower the already heavy dish (also, you just can't get pork leg bones at 8PM)


I went out and bought a whole chicken, some spring onions, one brown onion, a carrot, garlic, ginger, white peppercorns, pork rashers (for the Chashu) and a lot of soy sauce. Oh and eggs, so many eggs.

The chicken was dissected quite roughly and put into the stock pot. After covering the chicken with water, I brought that to a steady boil before I added the other ingredients. And here is where I made my first mistake: stock takes times and dedication. If you're not willing to put in the work, don't try to make stock. My mistake was that I would leave everything in the pot and that would be fine. What I didn't do was par-boil the chicken and clean it out. This simple step will result in a cleaner stock.

So back to the stock, I steadily added all the ingredients and boiled it over a controlled flame pretty much until I needed to go to sleep.

While that was boiling away, I mixed equal parts soy sauce, cooking sake and mirin to make the ajitsuke tamago. To make these eggs, simply put the eggs in cold water and bring the water to a boil. After the water boils, time the eggs for 4 minutes and then bathe in cold water. Peel the eggs and submerge in the marinade (which I heated in the microwave prior and chilled) preferably overnight. Even without ramen, these eggs are delectable with some rice and bonito flakes.

So back to the stock, being exhausted from watching over the stock, I poured it all into my sous-vide machine and let the slow cooker function take care of the rest.

The next morning I woke up to continue the preparation.

But first, I decided to make myself some breakfast. That's when I came up with the idea of making a Longanisa McMuffin. Longanisa is this sweet and spicy filipino sausage that you can find in most filipino stores. All I did was take the meat out of the casing, form it into a puck, fry it off in a frying pan with an egg on the side and whack it on a buttered and toasted english muffin. This was probably my proudest moment of the two days I spent cooking.

The stock had been stewing overnight and had since become rather flavorsome. When it came time to server the Mrs some delicious ramen, I realised I made my second mistake - I needed to source some legitimate noodles. Ramen noodles are NOT egg based noodles. Instead, their yellow hue comes from the fact that they are made with alkaline water. This means that not any yellow looking Japanese noodle would do. A mistake I realised later on in serving the ramen.

My third mistake was that I got tired and made a half-arsed effort with the Chashu and didn't braise it for long enough. If you're going to spend the time making ramen, put in some TLC and braise the pork properly. The pork should fall apart at the touch but instead mine was tough from not spending enough time in the cooking process. Pro-tip: put the pork INTO the stock and cooking it along with the stock. Once it's cooking to your desired texture, take it out and dip it into the marinade overnight. That way the chashu gets it's signature soft-pillowy bite and still gets the flavour treatment it needs.

My Final mistake was with the Tare. Ramen has multiple components: the stock, the noodles and the tare which is the sauce base differentiating each flavor (shoyu, miso, shio etc.). Whatever you do, do NOT make the shoyu tare the night before. Refrigerated tare will turn sour. Instead, keep the braising liquid or marinading liquid which you marinaded the chashu in. When it comes time to serve your Shoyu ramen, reduce the liquid until it becomes a thick, umami-packed sauce that you can thin out with the stock.

Overall, the Mrs was impressed with all the effort put in (she was being really nice) but word of advice: do not attempt to make ramen unless you have the balls to follow through until the end. Attention to detail is everything.