Drom, Bayswater

Is the hype at Drom worth it? Motion, set, debate! Yup, I have been getting into the idea of debates lately thanks to Fred and Hannah's enthusiasm or perhaps forced participation in them.. not sure if any teenager would willingly participate in more extra curricular activities.

Debating is about raising arguments for and against a motion (a topic) regardless of your own conviction. I think you can have a nonsense bs argument but as long as it's presented convincingly and delivered with enough flair you might just win.

Back to Drom.. we ordered a supermoon - a variation on the shape of the traditional croissant. A crescent moon and a play on their name which means dream in a Nordic language.

The hazelnut chocolate crescent is filled with chunky hazelnut and sweet chocolate. It is crispy on the outside, expected with the slabs of butter that has gone into making the dough but still quite light overall. At $12 I understand why the baker was putting these away in the glass case like his grandma's bone china tea set.

I ordered the breakfast bagel ($15) which has maple honey bacon, egg and cheese. 

It was very tasty but very greasy with liberal applications of cheese and aioli and butter. My unexplained chest twangs got worse. The bagel was soft like a dense cut of bread which is nice because I need all my teeth for old age. And they don't skimp on the bacon and eggs, there were at least two eggs used in the making of the scrambled eggs and two slices of bacon. 

The conclusion: the food is expensive, but you get all the fat and sugar you pay for plus you get to support the employment of dozens of bakers in Bayswater. It is a yes for me. 

Diwali celebrations, Marvel Stadium

Happy Diwali to all who celebrates! There was an event at Marvel Stadium yesterday that lasted until 10pm. 

I enjoyed watching the many dance performances and music. Each performer wore colourful and glitzy costumes. They danced so well.

Not to be outdone, even the party goers wore colourful kurtas and saris full with bling blings. 

There were a few food trucks and general merchandise stalls but the main stage attraction were the lively music and dance. Or just communing with fellow South Asians. 

This year's celebrations are the largest to date. I am excited to see what next year will bring!

Kota Kinabalu

After 4 years of staying out of the skies, we finally took a trip to Malaysia. I had forgotten the hassle of air travel and the tiny leg room on Air Asia that the trip to the airport was more stressful than excitement.

We spent a couple of days in Kota Kinabalu. Upon arrival, we hurried to Suria Sabah mall to escape the heat and for lunch. It was within walking distance of our hotel, Mercure. We had Sushi King but found the quality had dropped and price has increased. There was another sushi train restaurant which advertised a flat rate of rm 3.80 and seemed better value. Darn!

Deepavali kolam in Suria Sabah. There are a number of shops in mall like Coach, Padini, G2000 but I did not find anything I liked to buy.

The next day, we went to a bigger mall Imago but I still could not find anything I liked.

The view from our hotel room. The hotel is within walking distance to Jesselton Point where people can buy boat tickets to visit the surrounding islands and for water activities at the islands like sea walking, paragliding, banana boat and snorkeling. 

We bought a ticket to visit Manukan Island (rm 35 each). Many bought a ticket to visit up to 3 islands that collectively are included in the Tunku abdul rahman marine conservation park but because we wanted time to do other activities during the day, we only opted to visit the biggest island.

This is the view from the beach. It was a sunny nice day. The waters are so clear and filled with colourful fishes. Schools of baby fishes swim right up to my feet as I waded around near the shore.

There is an unattended education centre that exhibits various live fishes and coral specimens. I was struck with how gigantic these fishes are. Each are longer than my arm. When I stopped to peer at them, they swam towards me with curiosity. When I noticed their sharp teeth, I opened my mouth and in turn they opened theirs showing their multiple rows of small, sharp teeth. I would not tire of looking at these gentle, and most probably old fish.

We walked around the island and took pictures of the scenery. A lone iguana walked around the island, unaware of the flurry of clicking phones.

As the sun sets on our visit to KK, we enjoyed the view from the hotel rooftop where earlier in the day I had tried to swim but failed miserably.

Duck Pier, Wantirna

Celebrating a special occasion recently, we went to Duck Pier to try their Peking Duck. To ensure availability, the restaurant recommends preordering but I saw some diners ordering on the day itself. It comes de-boned and pre-cut so we missed the spectacle of a chef's skill in cutting the whole duck at the table. 

We ordered the Peking Duck set ($55 for half a duck) which came with steamed pancakes, garnish, stir fried garlicky bean sprouts and a massive bowl of duck soup. 

The duck was nice but I enjoyed the bean sprouts the most. It had the most breath of wok and garlic I had tasted in a dish recently. I like garlic so much, I'm like the anti vampire. 

The soup is very tasty as well. There are pieces of tofu in the soup that actually filled me so much it left no room for the next dish.

I had thought that the noodles would equally have the breath of wok as the beansprouts but it was like another chef had cooked the noodles. It was a little too oily for my liking.

After dinner, we had some canned fruits, water chestnut sweet soup, lollies and prawn crackers from the all you can eat dessert bar. Before you get too excited, it is a very basic set up with limited desserts.

The restaurant was full and very noisy, some curtains or noise absorbing materials would help with conversations around the table. The seating arrangements were not the most comfortable for mid sized group because the place is quite small. We were seated along a corridor and in close proximity to the next table so the flurry of waiters carrying food from the kitchen and dirty dishes to the kitchen, and the conversations at the next table were quite distracting. It was not the experience I expected when paying close to $100 for a meal. 

 

Le Feu, Springvale

This is the lemming phenomena! Peer pressured or should I say Facebook pressured into trying a snail dish in a new restaurant, we did not enjoy the dish at all! By the way, the scene where lemmings rushed en masse off a cliff is now known to be an engineered shot. Lemmings are smarter than that, they do not follow other lemmings blindly. They were routed and chased by humans who have vested interests in creating a sensational but fake news. 

Influenced by a review on Facebook, I ordered whelk or sea snail in butter sauce ($26). Some parts of the whelk was fine - they were firm and a bit tough to bite and chew but fully cooked through. The butter sauce actually did not do much to flavour the meat. But the 'pads', the best description I can come up with to describe the part where the whelk presumably use to walk around was like the texture of a fingernail. They were not edible and removing them was not easy. As we slide the whelk out of the shell, it was slimy and it seems like they were not fully cooked through (but could be the nature of the whelks). As we have never eaten whelks, we did not know what to expect. In comparison to escargots we ate in France, these were much less enjoyable and I would not recommend this dish.

Luckily, we also ordered the beef pho ($18). Rare slices of tender beef on rice noodles topped with beansprouts and herbs. Le Feu is a gluten free restaurant and pho is almost always gluten free (unless there is soy sauce with the chilies, but it is optional) so it fits the bill.

If you go to this restaurant, do not order the whelk unless you have had whelk before and liked it!

Enak, Lonsdale St

Oh dear, this is not the best picture but it is the only picture I have of our meal at Enak! It is difficult 'feeding' the camera first for the sake of a blog while friends are waiting for us before taking the first bite of their meal. 

Enak is a new restaurant by the same people who run Nelayan, a long time Indonesian restaurant on Swanston St. The new place also serves Indonesian food minus the nasi campur from the bain marie which will be available only at a later stage.

The decor is simple and new, clean and modern. I get the feel that it aims to be a slightly more upmarket place. 

I ordered the grilled chicken rice set ($19.50) which came with tempeh, tofu, sambal, grilled chicken maryland and rice on the side. The rice was served separately on another dish so we had 4 plates which took up most of the table for two persons.

The grilled chicken was liberally doused with kecap manis which I like, and grilled with a nice char. It was slightly dry but coupled with the spicy sambal it made a nice combo.

My friend had the turmeric fried chicken ($19) which I did not try. It looked very crispy but too bad, she was on a diet so all that crispy skin went to waste! The rest of the items on the plate were the same as mine except she had an onion relish instead of sambal. 

I enjoyed our meal in the quiet restaurant and it would be nice to go back and try other dishes like nasi campur once they have it up and running.

Meanwhile, here's a joke I heard today - I was nicknamed Nobody, because nobody's perfect!

Ichiro Izakaya, Burwood

Mini dishes, many of them, are my favourite meals. I imagine I must have been a hamster in a past life. Coincidentally I also like watching youtube videos of hamsters eat miniature human food in human normal settings. 

My wish came true (oh, how easy it is to please me!), we ordered the deluxe set at Ichiro Izakaya ($40). It had agedashi tofu, chicken karaage, salmon sashimi, oyster fry with a dollop of wasabi mayo, braised pork with sprinkling of shichimi, kingfish sashimi with tobiko, cold salad of mushrooms and capsicum, endamame and surf clam and scallop sashimi.

The set also comes with rice and miso soup. The best dishes in this set is the pork and the mushroom salad. The pork had a bouncy firm texture but not too hard, which was surprising at first because it was difficult to tell what type of meat it was. Once we figured out it was pork, we marvelled that it was cooked so well.

The mushroom dish was also delicious because of the sauce which was some kind of soy or bean based sauce.

Interestingly, none of the sashimi tasted sweet or tasty. They were bland and did not have even the subtle seafood smell. It was puzzling. 

Since it was a signature dish, we ordered a chashu ramen ($19). The soup is light. To my unrefined palate, it could have been a slightly watered down stock from Nissin's tonkotsu instant noodles pack. But of course, I'm sure the restaurant would be making their own stock and tare!

 There is nothing that jumps out in this dish (and I don't mean the insect variety!). If this was the restaurant's signature dish then I wonder what the other dishes besides the ones we had are like?

We noticed many people had ordered the set meals which are like bento boxes ($23). The restaurant was busier than some of the other restaurants in the Brickworks community. The price is more expensive, which is expected for the location though I think they should invest some of the profits towards sound absorption in the restaurant. The bare concrete floors and ceiling and glass walls do not facilitate audible conversations but I have heard that this is a trick in the hospitality. People get bored of not being able to talk to each other so they would order copious amounts of alcohol, and the restaurant would make more margin from drink sales.

This restaurant is rated Restaurant Guru's top Japanese restaurant in Burwood and we are happy to have tried a new restaurant.

Roses are Red, Roses for Me!

Look at these beautiful roses I was given! They are just so perfect and helps me remember that people are thoughtful and kind. Do you know that people are intrinsically trusting but over time and through their life experiences, they can become less trusting. This can be a problem when one automatically picks up on the negatives in people all the time and distrusts everyone. One cannot do life all by themselves. Gratitude is the best way to combat this way of thinking.

I too have to practise gratitude. It is too easy to pick on negatives but it only exacerbates the problem. Recently someone was made redundant which turned out to be a good payout for the said person, but caused a lot of angst for the remaining people because of the injustice of it (they hoped someone else would go instead) and the extra workload. I have been focusing on all the negative emotions which is wearing me down.

The receipt of these roses make me take a step back, and remind me to stop and smell the roses.

 

Vegify, Knoxfield

Many people were surprised when I told them that we had gone to a vegetarian restaurant for a celebration. I suppose it is a small subset of a wider group of food so why limit oneself to a small range of food when one can have the choice of eating vegetables and also meat on a special day? Vegetarian food actually need not be bland or simple. It can be very flavourful and special, as Vegify has shown.

We ordered the salt and pepper fish ($23). This is a mock fish dish, of course. No animals were harmed in the making of this dish! There were about 8 or 9 pieces of mock fish made of processed beancurd, deep fried in a very light and crispy batter and presented atop a bed of salad leaves. There were some very crispy rice krispies of some sort as garnish.

I did not expect too much but this dish was really delicious. Again, deep fried food is usually delicious. Oh dear, time to go on a cholestorol check again, I think!

We also ordered truo vege sambal ($22). This dish is a bit oily because usually sambal or chilli paste need to be bloomed in oil to release its fragrance. The veges in this dish were okra, snake beans and eggplant. The sambal did not have belacan or shrimp paste or dried shrimp so it taste a little different from the non vege version but it was good enough. 

 The menu is relatively small but since there is only 1 chef it is understandable. The food were delicious and varied enough to be able to select at least something you'll enjoy from the menu.

There is also a lunch menu of noodles and rice dishes which we have vowed to come back to try. This is probably one of the best Malaysian vegetarian restaurant we have been to in recent times. 

The place is small and busy so if you would like to try out this restaurant, be sure to make a booking.

Noo's Noodles, Wantirna

Ric's Rice Restaurant. Berg's Burgers. Then we have Noo's Noodles! I don't know if there is a Mr or Ms Noo, perhaps they prepared my food in the kitchen or passed me a copy of the menu but Noo's Noodles is a catchy name for a Vietnamese restaurant. I am reminded of one of my colleague whose relative named their children in line with the same concept. Helen Lee He Len. Ricky Wong Rik Kee. You get the picture. The kids will never be confused on what their names are, it is repeated twice each time someone calls them by their full name.

Neither is the restaurant of their offering and decor. The counter is decorated with a faux thatch roof like houses in an Asian village. The food was spiced with lemongrass, fish sauce, chillies. There is also a separate bain marie at the front for preparation of banh mi $10 for take away orders.

We were so hungry from a full day of work and ordered two rice dishes.

Pork Belly Chicken Rice ($17). The portion of pork belly was a little small because we can't get enough of fatty, melt in the mouth but roast pork! 

Crispy Chicken Tomato Rice ($16). This was ordered to balance the fat from the pork belly. But it was flash fried so I guess it didn't work! It probably contained the same amount of calories as the previous dish. I really must stop eating fried foods!

 One of my gripe is that the chicken rice did not have much chicken flavour. But overall the dinner was satisfactory. Service was quick and polite. 

Nanyang Kopitiam, Glen Waverley

Inflation is at 7% but a meal in a restaurant easily costs 30% above what we used to pay pre covid. The standard price for a simple noodle or rice dish is around $16, before adding the weekend surcharge, credit card surcharge and on public holidays, public holiday surcharge. 

To come across $10 per meal then, is a rarity and a godsend. Nanyang Kopitiam has a number of dishes on their menu for $10 which we were very happy to try out.

We ordered pork springrolls $8.50 - 4 fat spring rolls served with sweet chilli sauce. They were fresh and fried till crispy but the ratio of mushy cabbage to pork was not proportionate. Too much cabbage, me thinks.

There were two types of laksa on the menu, Penang White curry laksa and Sarawak Laksa, both $10. I should have known better and ordered the Sarawak Laksa since this restaurant is known more for their food from Borneo. The Penang Laksa broth is light and tasty, like a chicken stock base with a little curry and coconut added to it. I like the soup a lot, and if one wanted to spice things up, there is a spoon of chilli oil on the side. 

The toppings were little pieces of char sou, blood cockles, tofu puffs and green veg. Unusually, I dislike blood cockles (too bloody) and there were so many of the little things in the soup! 

The pork noodles were delicious and I would happily order this again. Generous portions of house made pork patties, pork slices, silky smooth hor fun in a very tasty light broth, just cannot go wrong. There were also some pieces of pork lard in the soup for flavour and aroma. There are no visible pork fat, but I suspect there would have been a fair amount of fat mixed in because the pork was very tender. 

I hope Nanyang Kopitiam continues their good work. What they are doing is to provide an option for those who want to enjoy eating out at a restaurant but are on a budget. 

There is a 5% weekend surcharge which is waived if paying by cash.

 

Thai Town, QV

Inflation has dropped two months in a row! I have noticed a drop in the prices of some produce during grocery shopping and in some restaurants but on the whole, the average price is still much higher than pre-Covid prices. These days when I dine out, affordability and value for money is at the forefront of my mind, much more than before. 

My friend and I decided to try Thai Town in QV for dinner. She loves to eat the more exotic parts of the animal, like innards and blood. This was a dish she ordered - Deep Fried Pork Intestine ($14.90). The intestine was dry and crispy after deep frying. It comes with a spicy sauce which helps to 'rehydrate' the dish but it is not my favourite dish. 

We ordered the pork mince basil stir fry ($21) which comes on a giant platter. It is enough for three people but there is only 2 fried eggs. Pad Kra Pao is one of my favourite Thai dishes - it is easy to eat, delicious and a homey kind of comfort food for me. It was a struggle to finish the mountain of rice, so in the end we had to leave some behind. I would not have minded a little bit more chillies, which you can always request more on the side.

Thai Town is a very busy place, and ordering is through QR codes. The seats and tables are small and uncomfortable for anything other than a quick chow so if you plan on staying long then this is not the place. There is a glass case out at the front displaying the many Thai desserts available for sale, coconut and pandan being the usual ingredients. There is also a Thai grocery store and street food across from Thai Town that sells more of the same desserts. 

Six 62, Camberwell

The other day, someone sent me a link to a 2 week wellness retreat on a farm. One can participate in yoga, meditation, cow milking, tree hugging, ayurvedic cooking and arts and crafts. It sounds intriguing, but I'm not sure if it's my cup of cow milk. We enjoyed a night out at Six62 restaurant in Camberwell while discussing about the retreat.

Tempura haloumi with honey ($17). But what if the cow I milked was used to make the cheese in this dish? Would it taste extra delicious? The savoury of the cheese in this dish paired with honey is already delicious. There is also dried figs on the side and sprinkles of sesame seeds. I saw a YouTube recipe for pizza drizzled with cheese which I am going to try, since this worked quite well. 

I am not sure if the retreat sounds relaxing to me. If I have to do my own cooking and get my own beverage, it probably isn't. 

Our second dish was grilled octopus with pepperonata and salsa verde ($28). The octopus did not have enough smoky smell, though I can see the char marks. The peppers were nice though. 

Our third dish was chorizo al vino tinto ($26). It came with grilled bread which was nicely grilled but the chorizo again did not have enough smoky flavour.

The main dish was hanging pork skewer with apricot agrodolce ($36). At the bottom of the dish, there was an array of veges like potatoes, pepper and onions. The veges were delicious but the pork was not seasoned and lacked some taste. I did not care for the apricot sauce but people who do not mind the mix of sweet sauce and savoury food like lemon chicken or apricot chicken might like it. 

The service was very good, and the food came out quickly. At the end of the meal, we went to pay and discovered (too late) that we were charged a double serve of Aperol when we had only ordered one. Not a frequent consumer of aperitifs, I had no idea what a single or a double looks like. The drink came in wine glass with ice and a straw. Is that a double serve? I don't know. They should have told me that only double serves were allowed, especially if I hadn't ordered it and there is no mention on the menu that double serves were even available. 

This restaurant has an extensive drinks list, full with all kinds of cocktails, beer, wine etc. The food menu is limited, mostly tapas type food. We will probably skip this restaurant because the focus of the restaurant seem to be on alcoholic drinks, and because of the issue with our drinks. 

 Update: This restaurant has permanently closed as at Dec 23

Queenscliff

Across from Geelong over the Port Phillip Bay is Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale. They are seaside towns, less touristy than Lorne, Torquay and the other areas of the peninsula but bustling with holiday makers wishing to enjoy the great Australian sea, sand and sun. 

We took this picture of the sunset at Queenscliff after a 32 degree day. There was a group of youngsters blasting pop music on the beach, a couple sitting on chairs they brought from home with their feet up on the railing enjoying the sunset.

Families occupying the little cottage accommodation on the foreshore occasionally peeked from their lounge rooms to watch the sun set. Some people drove up to the beach, looked at the sunset then drove back like us, in search of dinner and other things to do.

We had fish and chips, and a cold drink for dinner. The fish and chips restaurant on the main street is very popular. Orders for pick up is called out over a microphone that reverberates outside the shop. Numbers stretched to the 400s while we were waiting. We were not disappointed. The fish was fresh and crispy. The chips were crispy and fluffy on the inside. 

The next day, after a hot balmy night spent in Circa 1902 and 3 cold showers later, we went to the marina. The observation tower is serviced by a lift and provides a great view of the pier, the bay, and the town. 

Compared to the day before, the weather was chalk and cheese. The sky was overcast and the wind howled through the ventilation holes of the tower. Nevertheless, the weather was more pleasant than the scalding hot day yesterday.

We drove to Point Lonsdale and walked around the lighthouse. It used to be open for tours guided by volunteers but those have ceased due to Covid. 

The foreshore has several small bunkers used by soldiers to spot enemy ships. They are very small and looked uncomfortable but it would fit 3 people. 

After the hustle and bustle of trying to organise Christmas which was eventually cancelled due to someone in our family contracting Covid, it was lovely to relax by the seaside, browsing the local shops, watching the sunset and enjoying the architecture of old history filled buildings around the town. 

Jalan Alor, Ferntree Gully

In Malaysia, Jalan Alor translates to Flow Street. I'm not sure why it's called that, but this street is famous for being a foodie's street because of the number of food stalls and restaurants there. The hustle and bustle on this street escalates to a cacophony of traffic sounds, people's voices and stall owners' cooking sounds at night.

While Jalan Alor restaurant in Ferntree Gully does not have the same busy ambience, it does serve some authentic Malaysian tai chau / zi char (street food). The sar hor fun ($15.50) has plenty of wok hei (breath of the wok), so much so that a quarter of the wok peeled off and was served along with the noodles. I am not joking, there were many bits of black soot in the dish. 

There were perfect pairs of almost everything - a pair of prawns, a couple of fish cake slices, two pieces of calamari, one leaf of bok choy cut in half.. if I were to assemble the little pieces of bbq pork in the dish I would not be surprised if there were exactly two regular slices of bbq pork. There were lots of noodles which were silky smooth with lots of breath of wok and pieces of wok and egg gravy though.

The braised pork knuckle on rice ($15.50) is a new item on their menu, so I ordered to try. I miss the real braised whole pork knuckle from new Centro in Box Hill. They serve a true Cantonese style braised WHOLE pork knuckle with rice for a ridiculously cheap price. I am not sure if they survived Covid, but it was a memorable dish that I crave once in a while. Normally, whole braised pork knuckle is a dish served during festive occasions only because of the work involved. The knuckle has to be deboned but still leaving the meat attached to the skin and braised till tender. 

It was interesting that the weekend specials were not advertised, nor were we informed at the time of order. But when another customer striked up a conversation with the waitress and asked about other dishes on the menu, she offered the information that there were special priced dishes available. It was a total savings of $8 off the regular prices. They are generous with information just as they are with the amount of protein in their dishes.

I think I will stick to the zi char dishes when I dine here like sar hor fun, and char kuey teow, but not for another long while because while I loved the wok hei, I didn't want pieces of wok in my dishes! 

Update 2024: 

Jalan Alor introduced a range of $10 dishes last year and we have been going now and then to try. Although the meals are priced competitively, the portions, amount of protein and flavour are all on par with other restaurants. I found myself wanting to patronise this restaurant more often to offer our support. Despite the reasonably priced meals, the place is usually only half full at best on most days. 

We have tried the lor bak ($10). It is a little mushy inside because of the introduction of white radish as an ingredient. It is not the type of lorbak I am used to, which uses only meat and five spice rolled in beancurd skin.

Nasi lemak with curry chicken ($10) is good value and comes with a whole egg! The peanut and fried anchovies were spot on in taste and flavour. The rice is fluffy and has a nice coconut aroma and taste.

Hainanese chicken rice ($10) has a good amount of silky chicken. It is cooked well because although tender, it is not bloody. The rice has a good chicken stock flavour but a tad mushy.

The other $10 dishes are chee cheong fun, kolo mee, sarawak laksa, pork noodles (also another of our favourite), spring rolls.

The Australian Synchrotron, Clayton

Do you know what a synchrotron is? I didn't, until my visit to the Australian Synchrotron Open Day last year. It turns out that this major research facility is located in my backyard and I didn't even know about it! Simplistically, electrons are charged up, directed by a bunch of magnets to make them go round and round a circuit until they're whizzing around at the speed of light. As the particles move through the magnets, they emit radiation which are captured and directed to different parts of the facility called beamlines. There are 10 beamlines in the Australian Synchrotron currently. 

The radiation emitted by the particles is used for various research purposes for example, x-rays, planetary science, food safety (radiating food to kill germs).

The facility is shaped like a circle (by necessity) and bigger than football field. There were many scientists there on the Open Day to give the public an explanation of the research they do at each beamline. Some of the equipment was open for display, but no touching! They look unimpressive for the important work that they do. I remember one of them were covered by what looked to us like heavy duty aluminium foil, which is used because it is most efficient in diffusing heat quickly. 

The synchrotron was not running on the day for safety reasons, but on days when it is in operation, it is safe enough that researchers do not need to wear special suits. 

It was an eye opening experience for me. I did start from a low base, not being very interested in science and techy stuff. I learnt many new things from the Open Day (like what a synchrotron does, and the Haldron Collider - which is simplistically charges up particles and enables them to smash against each other in the hope of recreating another Big Bang). My understanding and description of the facility is therefore from a viewpoint of a lay person with no background in science. There is a much better description that I found here: https://theconversation.com/an-electrons-near-light-speed-tour-of-the-australian-synchrotron-34081

Curry Vault, CBD

What are some of the more interesting locations you have eaten at? I was mulling over this today and can say I have eaten in restaurant located in a crypt, on a boat, on top of a mountain with views as picturesque as a Chinese brush painting, on a swing. What brought me to think about this is our visit to Curry Vault, which is a located in a semi basement on Bank Place off Little Collins St. It doesn't have much visibility because of its location but it is always bustling. The restaurant runs many promotions and the food is good enough to return without dining on a promotion. The service is fast and friendly and we had no problems ordering a meal that had just the right spice level for our palate. 

We ordered the chicken pakora ($12.80), a hot entree consisting of deep fried chicken pieces in chickpea flour batter. Chickpea flour is heavier than wheat flour, and so a plate of these chicken morsels and I'm almost full. But I prepared room in the stomach for the good food to come. 

For mains, we had mixed tandoori platter ($28.90), chef's special goat curry ($22.50), basmati rice ($4.00) and garlic naan ($5.00). Gaz also ordered a mango lassi ($6.00). It tasted like it was made with real mangoes and yoghurt unlike some very artificial flavour that mango lassi can be from other restaurants.

The tandoori platter had tandoori chicken, sheesh kebab, lamb cutlets and chicken tikka. Some pieces had char marks which adds to the smokiness of the food. My favourite was the lamb cutlets which was juicy and tender. The chicken pieces were a little dry but the platter comes with a dipping sauce.

One of my favourite meat is goat and the goat curry here did not disappoint. It was just spicy enough (we asked for mild), the goat pieces were braised until tender and they were meaty unlike some restaurants that serves only bony pieces. It was a perfect to eat with garlic naan which was very fragrant. 

The restaurant was busy but the service was fast enough that I wasn't left hangry. The prices are more expensive than the suburban Indian restaurant but given the high rents in the CBD it is probably justified and on par if not lower than the pricing of other 'casual fine dining' restaurants.

Miss Ping's, Docklands

Ping was my friend's sister, an accomplished pianist and articulate speaker. She however is not the woman behind the chain of Thai restaurant by the same name. Miss Ping's is the latest venture by Winnie Chiang, a Singaporean who also brought us the Thailander quick service restaurants. As to whether there is a Miss Ping, I do not know but if she does exist, then her favourite colour would be pink. I suspect she also like boa feathers, partying and neon signs. 

We had dinner at Miss Ping's at District Docklands recently. Miss Ping was away and we spent some time trying to attract the attention of the harried staff to get a seat. The restaurant was about half full but it was a large restaurant so the staff were run off their feet. 

I wanted a light dinner so we ordered sweet and sour chicken ($21.90), and braised pork belly on noodles ($17.90)

The sweet and sour chicken had a more natural colour compared to the artificially bright red hue usually found in the same dish in chinese restaurants. The chicken pieces were thickly battered which was a negative but I suppose is to be expected from battered dishes. It came with cucumber, pineapple, capsicum and tomatoes that enhanced the sweet and sourness of the dish. 

Braised pork belly with preserved mustard leaves on egg noodles. This dish is only served the dry style, which means the noodles is mixed with soy sauce and caramel sauce with a small bowl of soup in the side. 

The pork belly had jiggly fatty pieces and was well braised. It was a high calorie day for me that day, having also eaten wicked wings from KFC as afternoon tea before dinner. Well, the diet starts the next day!

While eating, I saw some sparrows flying in and landing on tables with half eaten food. They were pecking around and probably also enjoyed their dinner. At least they didn't have to wait to be shown to a table.

2023 Sidney Myer Concert

Melbourne is living up to its reputation of being the hub of arts and sports once again. The Sidney Myer free concerts were held over the past 3 weeks, we could only make it to the last concert of the series and what a concert it was!

A young pianist Hannah Shin played Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 in the first half. She played energetically, fingers moving non stop and without needing any notes for the whole concert. We were seated away from the piano so could not see her finger movements on the piano but it was captured by the camera man and shown on the big screen above the stage. Such fluidity! Twice I saw the pianist play glissando - I just learnt that term today. It's when the pianist slides their hand across the keys in one movement. 

After the intermission, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Chorus, and 3 opera singers to the stage to perform Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. As expected, the opening song of O Fortuna was electric! I love the extensive ensemble, there were drums, cymbals, two pianos, the choir. 

Midway through the opera, I had to look up the lyrics to better enjoy the experience and I learnt that Carmina Burana is a cantata (separate pieces, not a continuous piece), the lyrics were in Latin and German, and sings about the theme of life - springtime, love, drinking and making merry. For instance, one song was about drinking wine in a tavern, another about a swan roasting on a fire and yet another about first love. 

Carl Orff composed Carmina Burana based on 24 poems by the same name from the medieval times. It starts and ends with O Fortuna, which is undoubtedly one of the most famous tunes. Another memorable song is The Roasted Swan, which is song by a falsetto (men with high voice) or counter tenor. It has the funniest lyrics: 

Olim lacus colueram,	Once I lived on lakes,
olim pulcher extiteram,	once I looked beautiful
dum cignus ego fueram.	when I was a swan.
(Male chorus)
Miser, miser!	Misery me!
modo niger	Now black
et ustus fortiter!	and roasting fiercely!
(Tenor)
Girat, regirat garcifer;	The servant is turning me on the spit;
me rogus urit fortiter;	I am burning fiercely on the pyre:
propinat me nunc dapifer,	the steward now serves me up.
(Male Chorus)
Miser, miser!	Misery me!
modo niger	Now black
et ustus fortiter!	and roasting fiercely!
(Tenor)
Nunc in scutella iaceo,	Now I lie on a plate,
et volitare nequeo	and cannot fly anymore,
dentes frendentes video:	I see bared teeth:
(Male Chorus)
Miser, miser!	Misery me!
modo niger	Now black
et ustus fortiter!	and roasting fiercely!

 

http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/works/orff-cb/carmlyr.php

Kaneda Japanese Restaurant, Bourke St

This little restaurant in Mid City Arcade has been around for ages but this is my first visit. Many reviews on the internet mentioned how the quality of the food has dropped since a change in the ownership but since I have never been here before I can only give a review of how things are now.

We ordered chicken karaage curry ($23) and unagi Dom ($26.80). They were both a decent size, a good ratio of protein to carbs. 

The chicken karaage was crispy and there were lots of sauce, just what I like. Manu will be happy with the amount of sauce on this plate. 

The unagi probably came from a packet but I have no problems with that. Small restaurants cannot be expected to make everything in house.

The decor is not much to look at, it has the air of an unpretentious restaurant that has been around for ever and knows what works and what doesn't. Items are in their specific position for a practical reason, any decorative item has been around for sometime, that is their guide to interior design of the shop.

The prices seem high for basic fare like these. It is perhaps somewhat offset by the amount of protein on the plate, but a reduction to around $20 for the chicken curry may be more palatable to customers. Other restaurants would charge around $17 - 18 but for less protein on the plate.

Opera for All

 After a few years' hiatus, Opera for the masses is on once again! This is really exciting because I do love opera, and I do have my favourite pieces that I hum along whenever I hear it being played. So, an open air opera at Federation Square, with the singers and a live orchestra performing crowd favourites from Carmen, Lakme and Turandot was perfect. Thank you, sponsor BMW and Opera Australia for a wonderful free public performance!

Getting a good, uninterrupted view of the stage or even the big screen was non existent but thank goodness there was some sort of social distancing at least so we were not sitting bum to bum with strangers. 

The setup is not as good as Sidney Myer Music Bowl because the stage was smaller, there is only one big screen tv for those who cannot see the stage, and acoustics are lacking. Some sort of program on screen or paper letting us know what the lineup will be would have been nice too. But it is a free public performance and the singers and orchestra musicians were amazing! It was a lovely way to spend a weekend afternoon. 

Kluska Restaurant, Knoxfield

Kluska's is a small restaurant in a complex of industrial units in Knoxfield. It is in an unusual location that would not normally attract foot traffic yet it is almost always full. It is run by just two people - the chef who also brings out the food from the small kitchen in a corner of the shop and a waitperson. It is a small and busy restaurant so reservations are recommended but even without a reservation, the serving staff are friendly and welcoming.

Kluska serves traditional Polish food, particularly dumplings ($8.50 each) but there are also other dishes like soup, stew, schnitzel and sausages. I love the Polish reminders around the restaurant like the water pot, plates and decoration items on the counter.

Kietbasa Grilla - grilled house made sausages, caramelised onions, pickled cabbage, salad, mustard and bread ($34.50) 

Bigos - sauerkraut stew, diced beef, sausages, dried prunes and red wine with fluffy potatoes ($32.95)

My favourite is the house made sausages, for it's salty, meaty taste and the satisfaction of biting into a plump juicy sausage. The stew had two of the fluffiest baked potatoes I have ever eaten. I can eat these potatoes every day. They are soft and light. There were prunes in the dish but overall it was savoury and a little tangy because of the sauerkraut. The cousin to this dish would be kimchi jigae, another dish with fermented cabbage.

The prices are a little steep and the venue is cosy, but the service makes one feel at home. 

 

Update: This restaurant is now permanently closed.

Portarlington Mussel Festival 2023

The Portarlington Mussel Festival is an annual event that started in 2007. It was not until a few years ago that I learnt about it and wanted to go but one thing or another stopped us from actually going.

For this year's festival, I made sure I planned well in advance. The ferry tickets were booked 4 months ahead of time. When the weather forecast show it would be 35 degrees on the day, and the Port Phillip Ferries rescheduled our return leg home from 3pm to 5pm, I was in two minds to cancel our trip. I was apprehensive about spending the whole day in the sun outdoors at first, but it turned out to be a pretty good day. 

We arrived at the dock opposite Marvel Stadium in Docklands to board the ferry at 8:30am and our ferry departed on time at 9am. It was full of people with people with beach gear, happy faces at the prospect of spending a day at the Festival, and the beach in the sun. There is a VIP line for those who spent $9 extra to include express entry into the Festival (entry fee $5 is payable at the entrance). There was no distinction in the boarding for the 'VIP' and 'non-VIPs' - both lines were admitted into the ferry at the same time. The entry into the Festival was also quite fast, because the Festival had just started and also because the volunteers manning the entrances were very efficient. 

The calm, shimmering waters of Portarlington, the beautiful beach and pier greeted us as the ferry pulled into the dock. We spent some time on the pier looking at other tours available for an additional cost, like the winery tours and mussel farm tours but while we had eyes on the latter, it was not operational yet.

There were so many stalls in the Festival, it must be the largest I have ever attended. There were stalls selling hand crafted jewellery, art, prawn peelers, gardening products, knick knacks, paintings, clothes, sauces, food, fruits and everything you can think of. There were also stalls for community causes like the Coast Guard, the local Rotary and Lions club etc. There is a good balance between food stalls and other stalls. 

There is no shortage of entertainment at the Festival. Besides browsing the many stalls, there are 3 stages each with fantastic line up of singers and performers. My favourite is the Bjorn Again, ABBA tribute band. There is also a tent for cooking demonstration by Rie's Kitchen, and an art exhibition/sale by local artists. Between the stalls, entertainment, cooking demonstration, art exhibition, the large playground for kids (it has a flying fox) and sampling the food from the food stalls, there was no time to be bored. 

I discovered that there are at least two types of mussels, green lipped ones (commonly from NZ) and blue mussels, the ones farmed in Portarlington. I have only eaten the green lipped ones, which are meatier and tougher to chew. For that reason, I do not eat many mussels. The blue mussels are more tender, juicy, sweeter and is now my favourite. I was so taken by the taste that I bought some at the pier from Mr Mussels ($6 per kg) to bring home to Melbourne. 

Some other fun facts I learnt: 

1. Every mussel is a good mussel, except for those with broken shell and opened mussel that do not close with a hard tap (most likely dead mussel). Mussels that do not open after being cooked are perfectly good to eat.

2. Cook mussels in a cold empty pan for 5 minutes. Discard the juices from the mussels or better still, strain and reuse as stock. Then cook the sauce and toss the cooked mussels in the sauce. 

3. There is no need to wash or scrub mussels, unless for presentation sake.

4. Mussels can be stored in the fridge up to a week, in single layer with a wet towel to cover.

5. The easy way to de-beard mussels is to do so after cooking, by pulling the beard towards the abductor muscle. I used to de-beard mussels before cooking but sometimes that does not get rid of all the beard, sometimes the stomach gets pulled out as well and thinking back, I would have caused the mussel extra pain before it is cooked. 

6. The festival has the largest number of volunteers in the whole of Australia.

The trip to the festival was not only enjoyable, but very educational too!