Tuk Tuk Station, Box Hill

Box Hill has changed so very much from the last time we were there that I could hardly keep my jaws closed while walking through the main street. New restaurants and cafes have popped up overnight like mushrooms on a wet bark.

We saw Food Republik, for which we firstly mistook for a nightclub as there was a line of people outside waiting for entry into the place. I almost made a detour there but decided to stick to our original plan of dining at Tuk Tuk Station.

Tuk Tuk Station is also a new restaurant in Box Hill. It serves Thai food, and from all accounts are cooked authentically. It must specialise in take aways during busy lunch hour because there was a large bain marie right near the entrance which took up almost half the restaurant. Inside, the seating were a little akward but service was good.

We ordered a beef curry. The beef was a little tough but there were no other complaints.
 

My favourite dish of the night was the chinese broccoli with crispy pork. It looked like normal stir fried kailan with oyster sauce but the oyster sauce was infused with red chillies! Gosh, it was spicy! It added a nice little kick to what would otherwise be a bland vege dish.

We also ordered one serve of coconut rice and one serve of steamed rice, when only one serve would do just fine for the both of us.

There seem to be a few of these local thai restaurants popping up in the suburbs. Nothing fancy, just good value eateries serving good Thai food. And this is exactly the kind of restaurants I like to go to!

Sydney Trip

Recently we went for a short trip to NSW. We booked a serviced apartment in The Quest, World Square in the CBD. Despite some negative reviews on the Net, we were very happy with the location and quality of the accomodation and thankfully, no charges for unused minibar items!

For lunch, we went to Din Tai Fung in World Square to taste their famous xiao long bao. We also ordered their crab dumplings and drunken chicken. The skin on both dumplings were so delicate and they taste delicious.

I wanted to try every restaurant but of course, we had limited stomach space. We did try Gumshara Ramen, which was recommended as authentic Japanese ramen. The pork bone broth has been boiled for a long period of time till it becomes thick and milky. It was delicious, but towards the end of the meal it became quite salty. I still think that the best ramen we ever had was our first meal in Japan.... I wish we had seconds, but that time we did not have enough ramen eating experience to compare.

We did the obligatory visit to Sydney Opera House where I had booked two seats in a classical music concert. Just so we can experience the inside of the Opera House as well as the outside... Gaz took the opportunity to get some sleep during the concert...! We also wandered into the Contemporary Art Museum. I did not think it will be my cuppa tea but surprisingly, I liked most of the art displayed. There was a large Lego 'canvas' where pieces of Lego were assembled to look like a piece of abstract oil painting which I really liked.

The next day, we took the train to Katoomba. We bought a $50 Trolley Bus discovery tour. The ticket entitled us to hop on and of the bus at any one of the tourist points, and a one way ride on all the Scenic World rides in the Blue Mountains.

Scenic World is a private enterprise run by a family who has been in the Blue Mountains since the end of the mining days (coal used to be mined in the area). They turned the mine trolley into a passenger train ride, and added a cable car ride with views of the Jamison Valley, Wentworth Falls, and Three Sisters. There is also a skyway ride and a walkway.

The most enjoyable part of the Scenic World for us was the boardwalk. The boardwalk meanders through the floor of the forest, pointing to disused mining equipment still stranded on the forest floor at parts of the walk. We saw a lyre bird (this bird can mimic noises it hears from its surroundings, even camera sounds!), various species of trees and this particular magpie... I was so hungry from all the walking that I was eating a bacon roll we'd brought along with us. This clever magpie followed us during our walk, hoping to get a bite!

After the rides, we went for a two hour bush walk where we saw beautiful, expansive views of The Three Sisters (above) and the Jamison Valley. The walk was not easy and we were the only ones on the trail, which made me a little nervous... especially since the trolley bus driver told us that certain parts of the walk has been closed off due to falling rock danger.

The walk eventually led us to Leura Falls (below) where we cooled ourselves  and boarded the last trolley bus back to the town centre and took the train home.

I was very grateful that we had the time to go for a short trip to refresh ourselves and opened our eyes to beautiful Mother Nature. I thoroughly enjoyed our trip.

Gold Leaf BBQ Docklands

I love smorgasbords. I have the urge to go to All You Can Eat's regularly. I try to suppress them, but every now and then I give in (more importantly, I persuade my friends and Gaz to go with me) and without fail, I roll out of the restaurant with regret. Regret because yet again I have submitted to the sin of gluttony... and I did not make full use of the event to gorge myself even more!!

Today my friend and I went to Gold Leaf BBQ Docklands for an all you can eat steamboat feast. For $23.80 per person (lunch, no matter weekdays or weekends), we each get a mini abalone, two oysters and countless steamboat type dishes such as sliced beef, sliced lamb, home made prawn balls, fish balls, fish fillets, veges, noodles, etc.

We ordered more scallops and prawns than for our own good (could feel my cholestorol level creeping up) so we balanced it up with some healthy options like fish fillets, fish noodles, fish balls and veges.

My friend ordered the spicy supreme stock which came with dried chillies and pepper flotsam while I had the much milder pork bone stock. We both had our own individual single pots of soup.

Service was superb as the waitpersons carefully explained to us how to order, and our teapot was always filled without us asking.

Towards the end of our meal, the soup became very salty because of the food we'd put into the stock. I also became very thirsty, however it's to be expected as processed food such as the dumplings and fish balls etc would have a little 621 to them.

As we rolled out the door, I swore to my friend I would not enter another smorgasbord ever again to subject myself to such torturous eating. She just smiled (or was that a smirk?) knowingly...

Seabuzz, Caulfield

This restaurant is not close by the sea but there certainly is a buzz to it! Gaz and I visited this Caulfield restaurant with a 9 course dinner voucher. Parking on a shared car & tram road such as Glenhuntly Road is always a nightmare but luckily we got a spot right opposite the restaurant.

From the outside, you wouldn't give it a second look but once you entered the restaurant it felt like you're in a whimsical world of fantasy. The wall and ceiling of the first part of the restaurant is carpeted with artificial grass and vines. We were shown to the second part of the restaurant where a red glass chandelier hangs in a rustic looking brick room. There were many plaques on the brick walls with witty captions which entertained Gaz no end.

Our 9 course meal started with these prawn spring rolls and crumbed avocado with chilli jam. I liked the chilli jam, it was not spicy at all and I felt like eating mint jelly. It did not suit either the avocado or the spring rolls which were good on their own (probably needed some sauce to offset the dryness of the two course).

 The third and fourth dish were five spiced chicken wings and tandoori chicken (with a dollop of mayo). The chicken wings were ordinary... while the chicken patty was... At first I could not make out what it was and had to look at the menu. It reminded me of Thai fish cakes, but fish cakes would taste better. Not my favourite two dishes of the night.

The fifth dish was half a soft shell crab each, served with apple coleslaw underneath the crab. One plus is that the crab was meaty and did not have the frozen smell or taste like some does. The apple slaw was a little too acidic for my liking but some acid at that point was sorely needed to remove the oil of the five fried dishes we've had so far!

 Now comes my favourite 3 dishes of the night... a bowl of butter rice served with almond crisp (a few flakes of fried almonds), salad leaves with sesame dressing (both not pictured) and slow braised beef atop mash. The beef was tender, and nicely seasoned with salt, and the mash was creamy and heavenly. We hardly talked to each other while eating these three courses which came at the same time, it was so good.

 The last dish was dessert - a trio of panacotta. The first one is topped with sesame and salt, the second pistachio and the third berry compote. They all tasted equally good, with me biased towards the berry compote.

The voucher also entitled us to a glass of wine or soft drink. Sure, the first five dishes were a selection of fried foods (not complaining, hey it's fried food!) but we reasoned that for a restaurant to be participating in a daily deals scheme for a reasonable price ($59 for two) they must find a way to make some profit while offering reasonable, easy to cook/assemble food to patrons. The service was excellent, the waiter topped up our water glasses even without being asked. The beef really was the star of the night and if the rest of their menu are as good as that then there is a good chance we will be back.

Update: This restaurant is permanently closed.

Noir, Richmond

Recently I have acquired a taste for French food. So, Gaz chose Noir in Swan St, Richmond for us to visit one night.

The interior is dark, as is befitting the name of the restaurant. The waiter who ushered us to our seat was very professional. He pointed out the degustation menu - 5 courses for $85 per person, wine pairing for an extra $60.

We decided to order a la carte off the menu. These were what we ordered:

Crispy pork belly with prawns, peas and mash. The pork belly meat was tender but the skin was not crispy and sticks to the teeth. One of the prawns (pictured) was a little dirty - it still had the digestive tract in the prawn. The mash was beautiful though... must have been made with lots of butttterrr!

Prawn in lobster bisque. The prawn was delicious... bouncy, juicy and retains a strong prawn taste. The bisque was poured separately into the bowl at the table. The bisque was absolutely DELICIOUS!!! Had a very nice lobster taste and nicely seasoned. We were given an extra piece of bread roll to sop up the bisque if we wanted to but I find that licking the plate does the job nicely :) .... no, I did not really do that!

We also ordered a side dish of lettuce, peas and bacon ($9). It was a little greasy but the vegetables were fresh and provided a good crunch to our dish.

This is the main I ordered - Moreton Bay Bug tortellini, confit of salmon belly and seared salmon atop pea puree. The tortellini on the left was absolutely delicious. I kept nodding to Gaz like a waving cat statue, murmuring 'delicious, this is so delicious, very good, delicious'. It had tons of flavour, was juicy and nicely seasoned. The confit of salmon belly was equally as good. It was not the oily belly of salmon that I thought it would be. The texture was a little like smoked salmon but it retained all the freshness of salmon. It is topped with a crust of crushed macadamia nuts. Oil of the nuts and the belly... smart. The seared fillet of salmon atop asparagus was ordinary. I much preferred the other two. Even the pea puree smeared on the dish like an afterthought was better. The puree had the unadulterated taste of peas... very delicious.

 

This is Gaz's main - eye fillet done medium rare with braised beef rib and a potato tartin topped with fried eschallots. Gaz totally loved the beef rib. It was sticky, sweet and melts in the mouth. No deconstruction needed, the bone has already been removed. We find that eating here is so easy, no bones, no skin, nothing that need fancy utensil maneuvering. I liked the steak better... look how well cooked it is, medium rare but no blood seeping out of the meat.

We also ordered a chocolate pot for dessert but no pictures of that as Gaz hijacked it before we thought to take a picture. It was a little pot of chocolate mousse, salted caramel and a 'surprise' ingredient of pop rocks. Very Blumenthal, I like!

I totally enjoyed our visit here. Although the food was in little portions, we had quite a lot to eat (in addition to 2 1/2 pieces of warm bread roll with the awesomest butter) and were full after the meal. I really enjoyed the quality of food, and the service. I have to thank Gaz for his good taste and skill in picking this restaurant for us to try!

Update: This restaurant is permanently closed as at 28/3/24