Sister of Soul, St Kilda

We ate at Sister of Soul on Acland Street, St Kilda recently and immediately had to share this restaurant with each and everyone I come across. This vegetarian restaurant has a large and varied mix of dishes including burgers, pasta, curries all of which are made from fresh vegetarian ingredients. 

We were impressed when we saw the menu, and how busy the restaurant was compared to the others on the strip. Fortunately we did not have to wait long at all for our food to arrive even though the restaurant was packed. 

Gaz ordered the Zen burger - panko crumbed eggplant, salad and kewpie mayo. The dish came with fries and mayo. Even though the burger was vegetarian, thanks for the eggplant slice I could believe I was eating a chicken schnitzel burger. It was crunchy, fragrant, and very fresh and healthy. 

I ordered the gnocchi in napoli sauce with roast pumpkin, basil oil and almond feta. I love the almond feta - it was absolutely delicious! It tasted like real feta, but without the bloating effect that came with consuming dairy products for me. The gnocchi melted in my mouth, and the roast pumpkin pieces added a firm texture to the dish.

For meat lovers, it is difficult to substitute meat in a vegetarian dish and that is why the popularity of mock meats in chinese vegetarian dishes. These mock meats can be tofu 'fish', 'chicken' and so on but they are usually made from gluten and deep fried prior to steaming, braising etc so apart from consuming unnecessary amounts of gluten, it will also increase one's intake of oil as well.

The two dishes above demonstrate that plant based ingredients and the way they are cooked e.g. roast pumpkin with a bit of firm texture, almond feta, panko crumbed thick slab of eggplant make convincing and healthy meat substitutes.

Kobe Jones, South Wharf

Luckily our second visit to Kobe Jones was a reasonable success... Our first visit years ago flopped flat on its face even though a reservation was made in advance. It left us angry and hungry, vowing never to return. 

Fast forward years later, lured by a limited time half priced dining promotion, we returned. This time, they did not forget our reservation but I have to deduct some points for the seating arrangement. The seating was arranged in such a way that we were seated at right angles instead of seated opposite each other at the table. My seat faced the wall. How romantic for a dinner date!!

We ordered the Kobe's 10 Set Menu ($79 per person) which consists of Endamame beans, Seafood Poke, Hot Mushroom Salad, Volcano Roll, Prawn and Vegetable Tempura, Chicken Yakitori, Crab Slider, Beef Tenderloin Amiyaki, Miso soup and Green Tea Icecream. 

Mushrooms with pine nuts

The Hot Mushroom Salad was our favourite. It was filled with umami goodness, buttery smooth, and packs an extra crunch from the pine nuts scattered across the top of the dish. We wished we had some kind of rice, or carb to sop up the leftover sauce, it was so good!

California roll with scallops

Poke

The Hawaiian Poke of salmon cubes was also delicious. It was light, had a good mouthfeel aided by crispy fried noodle bits, and salmon caviar. 

The same cannot be said for the Volcano Roll... although it was described as oven baked scallops layered on a crab salad avocado roll, with special cream sauce, we struggled to find the scallops! What scallops we could find were in little pieces. In contrast, there was a plentiful amount of rich cream sauce. It was cloying, and we had a difficult time digesting the rest of the meal because of it.

Soft shell crab slider

Chicken teriyaki skewers

Vege and prawn tempura

The chicken teriyaki skewers were well cooked and had a wonderful aroma of perfectly grilled meat. Intersected between baby leeks, the chicken was very tasty and juicy.

But... the tempura was a big letdown. The batter was neither crispy nor light. It was gluggy and soaked with oil. This dish was... not good to say the least.

Nothing notable about the soft shell crab sliders except that the soft shell crabs were beautifully fried - crispy, not a hint of frozen or fishy smell.

Tenderloin Amiyaki

Green tea ice cream

After the consumption of multiple high cholestorol, cloying dairy products and oil during the meal, we were quite full by this time. So when the Tenderloin Amiyaki arrived, we were already looking incredulously at each other wondering how we would fare.

But the juicy and well cooked tenderloin cooed to us to finish it up, and finish with a gusto we did!

The restaurant staff gave us a long break before serving us the final course of the Set Menu, during which time we willed the food to go down and stay down. When the two scoops of green tea ice cream came, it was a welcome refreshment.

The Green Tea Icecream tasted surprisingly different, perhaps it was made from soy milk rather than cow's milk because it was not as creamy or rich as what normal ice cream would taste. It was a little icy, but we did not mind it.

If you expect a light Japanese meal, Kobe Jones is not the place for you. It is a fusion Japanese restaurant and their style is in the strong and heavy flavours mixed with Japanese food. It can be overwhelming but good different when eaten in moderation.

Beware of the 15% weekend surcharge though... it added $23 to our bill which is quite a hefty charge. That said, the house was full on the day we were there so obviously people did not mind the charge at all!

Spam Mail

There are definitely some crazy products out there... military grade flashlights? Why on earth would I need it and why are spam mails being sent to me for it? Is there anything that a normal flashlight cannot do that I need a military grade flashlight for? Can it shine through bones like an x-ray? Can it find the truth among the clutter of life? What can it do? 

By the way, this is not a post soliciting for more spam mails about flashlights or any other products. Merely bemoaning the state of my junk mailbox...

Cat Pictures

Alert... alert... cute cat pictures! Look at how fluffy this cat is.. we spotted it prowling around on the street trying to find a warm bonnet to laze on. It even came up to me and brushed itself against my legs. I thought it was trying to be playful but no... it was just trying to scratch an itch I guess!

My black pants covered with white cat fur, I retreated with a wounded heart to the car...

MODU, Clayton

Some pictures from our recent visit to MODU in Clayton for an All-You-Can-Eat dumpling feast.

We had prawn and pork spring rolls, wontons in chilli oil, wontons in soup, steamed pork dumplings (white skin), pan fried fish and seafood dumplings (yellow skin), pan fried prawn and pork dumplings (pink skin).

We had everything on the menu, except for the vegetarian dumplings. The highlightes are: the chilli oil for the wontons was delicious - spicy, a hint of peanut paste. The soup in the wonton broth was also delicious. The dumpling skins were thin and not doughy.

I think we managed to pace ourselves quite well and did not eat any more than we should. This is perhaps something all AYCE restaurants would love to hear. Wastage is a big problem.

I thought that the dumpling fillings were not standouts which were pretty essential for a dumpling restaurant. Fortunately MODU is a lot more than just dumplings. There are some street food on the menu like dumplings and noodles but on the balance the decor, the service and prices points to an upmarket restaurant serving sophisticated dishes. And perhaps that's what it needs to focus on becoming.

Schwerkolt Cottage

Open House Melbourne is in it's 10th year of operation this year and is still going strong. There are now more buildings open to the public for the Open House weekend than ever. The crowds show no sign of abating instead, they are catching on to this wonderful initiative in bigger numbers than ever.

Open House has proved so popular that the organisers have introduced a ticket booking system with a small charge for certain buildings.

We were lucky to have participated in Open House since 2009 and have visited many, many buildings which are not usually open to the public, or are open to the public but for a fee. We have been able to learn the history of these buildings, admire their architecture, hear the stories of the people who work and upkeep these buildings, all for free. It made us feel very special indeed.

More buildings are open now than ever, especially outside of the CBD. For Open House Melbourne 2017, we visited Schwerkolt Cottage on Deep Creek Road, Mitcham. If not for Open House, we would not have known about this gem in our backyard.

Dining and Kitchen

Children's bedroom

Schwerkolt Cottage and Museum is open every weekend and public holidays except for Christmas and Good Friday. This property was built by German immigrants to Australia, August and Paulina Schwerkolt in 1861. They had 9 children together and when Paulina passed away in 1884, August remarried. His new wife added 3 daughters to his family and together they had another 3 children including a pair of twins.

The 63 acre property is just enough room for his large family. There is a stone cottage, wine cellar, smithy, smokehouse, barn, orchard shed which he and his family built from materials found on his land. Today, these buildings have been restored or reconstructed by the Whitehorse Council.

The stone cottage and surrounding 5.5 acres of the property was left to August Schwerkolt's youngest daughter Mary while the rest of the land was left to his eldest son Louis Schwerkolt. The family had many businesses including fruit growing, dairy, winery and Louis continued with the family business. Mary Schwerkolt migrated to the United States with her mother. Eventually, the property was purchased by the Council for public parkland.

There is something magical exploring and imagining the lifestyle of the Schwerkolts through the reconstructed cottage and buildings.

The complex is close to the Mullum Mullum trail. From there, we can see the big air extractor vent for the Mullum Mullum tunnel on the Eastlink. The old, and the modern... together side by side.

Animated Art

I first heard of Marc-O-Matic in the Provocare Festival held two weekends ago in Prahran. A few of his works were exhibited in the Artboy Gallery and boy, were they mind blowing!

So this is how it works with Marc Ryan's art on display that day - you look at a 2D drawing of a house on the wall and you think 'Yeah ok, that's nice'. But once you download his app on your phone or iPad and hold it to the drawing, a 3D image of the same house pops up on the screen. Before you can say 'What in the world is happening', the house would also have grown legs, and and pranced around the screen.

You can hold the screen up close and see the top of the house, the bottom of the house, zoom in to see the different layers of the drawing. How cool is that! There are so many more ways to see one single drawing!

Apparently this genre of art has been around for some time. Gaz tells me that some comic books have incorporated this in their books so you can see a 'mini movie' of an action scene, for example. But this is the first time I have seen something like this and it has been a totally awesome experience for me.

For more of Marc Ryan's work, refer link: www.marcomatic.com