Cilantro Kitchen, Bayswater

I have been getting back into Sudoku and puzzles and Rubik's cube recently so much so that Gary gave a book full of crossword puzzles and brain teasers for Christmas this year. I have been having so much fun with it. It really is true for me that presents don't need to be expensive, just thoughtful and practical. I once received a pair of comfy black socks and I loved it and wore it till it was worn out. 

Anyway, because I have been busy feeding the mind and not the tummy, we have been going out for meals more often than we should.

We visited Cilantro Thai in Bayswater for lunch recently. This restaurant is a few doors from Thai Tables. Thai Tables' fame for tasty and cheap Thai food reaches across the eastern suburbs so I think it faces quite a bit of competition!

We ordered the chicken Pad Thai $15 and 72 hours caramelised pork hock $19. 

The Pad Thai was flavourful, not too sweet and didn't seem too oily but the noodles were a bit undercooked. I really liked how the chef removed the beansprout head and tail so that it doesn't become too unruly to eat. Not many other restaurants does it in Australia but almost all in Asian countries do. The amount of meat to noodles is also synonymous with how it is done in Asian countries, not too much meat that is, because it is a fried noodle dish and not fried chicken!

Next was the caramelised pork hock. It was braised and deep fried. The skin was crispy, and the meat was tender. There are 4 pieces per serving, that is good so that we don't over indulge! 

The place looked clean and tidy and we had a lovely time listening to classical music while enjoying the food. The owner is a very cheery looking man who served us attentively even though he was busy. It is a nice restaurant for a relaxed dining experience.

Mr Lee's Foods, Ringwood East

My favourite routine these days is watching mukbang videos on YouTube and doing a little bit of light exercises in front of the television. My favourites are Tzuyang, Sanghyuk, G-NI and a Japanese lady whose videos dates back to 2 or 3 years ago when they're English subbed.

I love how they go around eating delicious food, or even better, completing times food challenges. It is amazing how much they can fit into their bodies without gaining any weight. Sanghyuk especially look almost gaunt in the face but how he eats more than the average person without sacrificing his ripped body is beyond my understanding!

But anyway, what has that got to do with today's post? All those mukbang videos made me crave for some home style Korean good, which was exactly what I got at Mr Lee's. 

This is a small family run restaurant and that can be seen straight up at the door. There is only one lady serving and most of the time she is juggling between checking people's vax certs, taking phone orders, serving and helping in the kitchen. 

We wanted to order the jokbal but the table before us got the last one so we made do with steamed pork belly and the pork soup.

The guk bap is pork bone soup cooked so long it is milky, with pork belly slice and pork organ meat. It comes with rice and kimchi radish and green peppers. 

The pork belly slices are simply steamed, served with doenjang, chives and garlic. I would have liked some lettuce leaves to make a ssam but wrapping the pork belly slice with green pepper, garlic then dipped in doejang works for me too. 

We paid $45 for the meal including an extra serve of bap. The taste of the dishes were clean and healthy, like what a good mom makes for their kids. No msg, just lots of old fashioned love.. I could taste it in the dishes. 

I wish the restaurant was a little bigger so I didn't have to worry about social distancing but then that would ruin the atmosphere and everything this restaurant stands for. The owners are also very strict about checking in and vax certs so there is less to worry about. Oh yes, this restaurant also does soondae which is blood sausage which we tried in Korea but didn't like so we didn't order it this time round.

I think this place would be perfect in the winter when one is craving for some hearty bone broth and some.

Yakimono, Collins St CBD

Yakimono is one of the new restaurants in town that had opened during Covid19. It is run by the same group that manages Chin Chin, Society and Kisume so I had high expectations of this place. I have tried Chin Chin and the food was bold and fantastic. 

Yakimono is touted to be a Japanese grill / skewer bar but it also offers plenty else on the menu like handrolls, rice and noodles.

Bookings fly fast in this place and we just got in by the seat of our pants for a Sunday lunch session at the bar. Our wait person reaffirmed that they received 500 bookings every day since opening. Not bad for Covid19 times!

We ordered the tuna with fermented chilli sauce. Gaz described it as Sirena tuna in chilli can, but with raw tuna. I thought it was a spot on description.

Next was chicken tsukune with raw egg yolk sauce. I was told that the chicken mince is steamed before grilled but it looked pink to me so I donated my half to Gaz who happily devoured it. The glaze was sweet and savoury and tasted good, though. 

So for a Japanese skewer bar restaurant, I can't say it wowed me with it's skewers. Perhaps we should have ordered the king prawns skewer instead which would not be difficult to cook through but at $35 per serving, it would be difficult to swallow. 

The brocollini with macadamia nut dressing. This was delicious! The brocollini was grilled raw but served slightly charred and tender. I love the macadamia nuts and the savoury creamy dressing.

We had it with spanner crab egg rice. This is another MVP dish of our order. Certainly lots of spanner crab meat and prawn bits to be found but don't expect chinese style fried egg rice with fluffy individual grains of rice, because I suppose that's not what it is. The rice is slightly clumpy and wet but I don't mind it.

Udon with eel. I think the udon is house made, and is the soft, glutinous type. The eel is fresh (not the packaged type) and the first bite of the dish was pleasing because there is some kind of panko or crunchy bits scattered on the udon to give that different texture to the dish. 

There were only a couple of dishes we really liked and I think the price is steep. The service was really prompt and attentive even though the staff were busy. So while it was a good experience trying out the new restaurant so perhaps it would be a long while before we hurry back.

 

Lulu's Char Kuey Teow, Hardware Lane

The menu at Lulu's Char Koay Teow is limited to a few dishes, but I don't hold that against them. I think that restaurants that only offer their specialty dishes are those that should do them very well and so will not disappoint. The specialty dishes here are the char koay teow and char mee and they did not disappoint. Even though the name of the restaurant is char koay teow, I actually like the char mee (quite simply Fried Noodles) better. 

We ordered the Duck Egg Char Koay Teow $15.90 and Char Mee $14.90. The Penang CKT was smoky and fragrant. There were one or two small slices of lap cheong (chinese sausage), bean sprouts, chives, duck egg, definitely no fish cakes (this is one of the marks of an authentic CKT!) and two BIG prawns. The prawns were bigger than the ones you will find in other restaurants. They were juicy and fresh, so yum! Besides the original CKT, there are other CKT with special ingredients for different prices for e.g. blood cockles, razor clams, squid and jumbo prawns. If the normal prawns Lulu's use are already so large, I wonder what the jumbo prawns look like!!

This is the original Char Mee I enjoyed ($14.90), full of breath of the wok, the slightly alkalinic taste of the noodles and char from the wok makes it very enjoyable. As with the CKT, this also has pieces of crispy rendered lard which taste so good but oh so bad for health! Ah well... the diet starts tomorrow!

This place is really busy and you will find that there is a queue no matter the hour of the day. Luckily the mainly Asian clientele 'knows what to do' by keeping the chit chatting to a minimum, eating very quickly and moving on quickly after their meal so that the others waiting in the cold or heat outside can have their fix of CKT too. 

Decor wise, there is a shelf of antique items in the shop that brought back some memories of Malaysia for me. There is a display of old style biscuit tins with the transparent plastic front that shows off what type of biscuits are in the tin like the ones in the pasar malam (night market) and old grocery stores. I remember those grocery stores with fondness, full of sacks of dried seafood, no name biscuits from big tins sold by weight, freshly grated coconut, gas canisters and off the shelf traditional medicinal oils. It is also the place where one trades information of which neighbour bought what item for what purpose and general gossip. These neighbourhood shops and hair salons are better information portals than the Internet, I tell you. 

The price is higher than usual, but I think the two big prawns and the chef's skill is makes up for it.

Lacy Scarf

This scarf was started months ago, unravelled 3 or 4 times but finally finished last week! It's not a difficult pattern at all, but somehow I lacked the motivation piece to finish the project. But now that it is finally complete, I am enjoying wearing this light and soft scarf. 

The yarn over knit together technique is new to me and is what creates the lacy effect which runs down in three strips on the scarf.

Many employers have requested their staff to work from the office since April. There have been no cases for the past month in Victoria and it has been more than 12 months since Covid19 blew our lives inside out. So it's time to go back to the office and try to resume our old routines as best as we can. 

Farewell knitting, cooking fresh food on the day and eating dinner on time, farewell 0 minute commute I shall miss you the most!

Romanos, Knox Wantirna

Saturdays are usually the most hectic day of the week as we juggle various commitments and chores so we have Sundays free to indulge in activities we love to do, instead of the obligatory ones. Sometimes we even do nothing on Sundays gasp*

So it is nice to have a leisurely lunch in a restaurant on Saturday amid the craziness in our schedules. Recently we went to Romanos in Knox Shopping Centre after running an errand there. We ordered the big breakfast and a shakshuka.

The usual suspects - bacon, egg, hash brown, spinach and toast.

Shakshuka with toast. The toast mopped up the runny eggs and tomato sauce.

The service was speedy and friendly but the last time we went, the seats were a little old and needed re-upholstering. 

Osaka Kitchen, Vermont South

This hole in the wall restaurant is not located in the usual places where one would find a restaurant. Who would think of finding a restaurant near a loading dock of a supermarket, in a small lane away from foot traffic? 

 

It is a small restaurant with a few seats so I think if you live close by and was shopping at the nearby Vermont Shopping Centre, it is very convenient to pop by for a fix of Japanese home cooked food. The shop is run by two people, so it is best to call and place your order ahead to minimise waiting time. 

The last time we were there, we ordered the chicken karaage rice bowl ($9.80) and beef bento ($13.80). The bento comes with the standard miso soup which is not pictured. The prices are good, just look at the number of chicken pieces in the chicken karaage bowl. I doubt one can find any restaurant meals for below $10 these days, even if it is just slightly below $10. 

Taste wise, the ingredients taste fresh and cooked without MSG. The side dish in the bento box was simple, just like how a mom's home cooked meals are. There is a good balance of meat and vegetables in both dishes.

Comparing Osaka Kitchen with Uchiwa just round the corner, the latter has a larger menu with similar prices but Osaka Kitchen has just a little bit more authenticity to their food. But I would prefer to visit Uchiwa for a better dine in experience.

 

Despite it's location, this restaurant has accumulated a following. While I was waiting to pick up my order, I saw many others who had phoned in their order earlier coming in to pick up their orders. I am glad that a local restaurant is doing well under the Covid19 conditions. It has not been easy on the restaurant sector.

So, if this is your local area then go ahead and support your local restaurants!

Hotteok

It is 2021! Leading up to the end of the year, Victoria recorded a smattering number of cases after 60 days of no Covid19 cases. What a bummer... we had been enjoying all the freedom and trappings of doughnut days and now the prospect of a third wave brings fear and uncertainty into everyone's hearts. 

So that is why there is no 'Happy 2021' in this post rather, just 'It is 2021'. It is a statement, rather than an enthusiastic welcome to the year. I do apologise for the pessimistic post so early in the year but it is how I feel at the moment.

To take my mind off the debilitating wave of pessimism, I made some savoury hotteok which has become one of my favourite snacks. Hotteok are simply put, stuffed fried bread. You need to make time for the dough to rise and be prepared for the fiddly operation of wrapping the wet dough around a filling of potato noodles, veges and meat.  The dough is crispy because it is pan fried in a thick layer of oil, and makes for a satisfying snack. 

Perhaps that very much describes the approach for 2021. Have patience, and be prepared to tough it out, and the result will be worthwhile.