Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Streetsoul Burger, Randwick



Streetsoul burger bar opened in 2013 and located in the heart of Randwick "The Spot". The burger offered here is free range and pasture fed. They also offer vegetarian option for all the Herbivores ;P

Ms.P who lives in Randwick told me to try this place out. She said the burger is well priced and the chips is really good. So on a Saturday night after church, Bebski & I went here for dinner. The decor is pretty simple and yet inviting. I also like the simple the menu is so it won't take you too long to decide what to order.

The place was quite full when we arrived, luckily we got the last table available in place! We were greeted with a smile by the owner Amit Tewari who was very friendly and attentive to customers. 


"Be the Change that You Want to See in the World" is a famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi which is the man painted on the wall. He is a great man that leads India to independence, a great inspirator for civil right movement and freedom across the world.


Ok, enough history :) There are two types of burger buns here, Panini and the wholemeal. I got the wholemeal while Bebski, the panini ^^


Not long after ordering, the chips arrived. The rosemary thyme salt is really aromatic. We took the first bite and looked at each other face amazed. It tasted like deep fried smooth mashed potatoes. It's not like any other chips you've ever tasted ^^ The garlic aioli complemented the chips really well! Huge portion too for the price :)
Basket of Chips with Aioli $5.50
 For mains, I got the beef man with extra harrisa paste and jalapeno! Love spicy note from them.. And the beef, has been well seasoned, can taste sweet/smoke peppery paprika herbs ,, The beef is juicy and and the bun is soft and chewy! I love love love the burger ^^ I safely say, this is my favourite beef burger in Sydney.. ;P It may look simple, but it is full of SOUL hehehe..

The beef man $10.90, extra spicy $2.50
Bebski got the Porky which comes with rocket, lettuce, pineapple, lime infused mayo, avocado puree and sliced apple. The pork patty is flavoursome but not as delicious as The Beef man to me :) The apple gave the burger a nice sweet crunch and all the combos just work really well together.

Porky $14.90
Some pictures of the other burgers! I would love to try the Lamb and Mad for Mushroom next time I visit this place!

Photos of the menu ^^

I Highly Recommend this place, do try it out guys! :)


StreetSoul Burger Bar on Urbanspoon

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Scotch Egg (Pork Ball with Quail egg) Soup

I got the basic recipe from my Mom, she always made this pork ball soup every Chinese new year eaten by the longevity noodle. I did some improvisation here, by filling it with quail eggs :) Scotch Egg soup my sister said..

It's a really easy and fast recipe. Best eaten with steamed rice and something fried ^^

Pork ball
Yield approx. 20 balls

  • 500g Extra Lean Mince Pork
  • 1 Garlic cloves, chopped
  • 2 Tbsp Soy sauce
  • 2 tsp Plain flour
  • 1 tsp Soy sauce
  • 2-3 Pinches of Salt
  • Dash of Pepper

To make the Pork Ball:
1. Combine all ingredients together and knead with hand until everything is mixed properly
2. Take some of the meat and flattened it
3. Put one quail egg in the middle
4. Seal it with pork meat and shape into balls



The Soup

  • 9.5 cups of Water
  • 3 tsp Chicken Powder
  • 3 tsp Soy sauce
  • 2.5 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 tsp Sugar
  • 1/4 tsp Sesame oil
  • Dash of pepper
  • 1 Large Potato
  • 1 Medium carrot
  • 1 Clove garlic
Methods:
1. In a small pan, fry the garlic until fragrance and a bit brown. I will use the garlic oil in the soup to create the aromatic base.




2. Put in the potato in the water along with the garlic oil and bring to boil

3. After boiling for 5mins, Put in the pork ball. Season with the soy sauce, salt, pepper and chicken powder. Turn down heat to Medium and cook further for 5-8mins

4. Put in the carrot last as it cooks pretty fast. Simmer further for another 5mins before you tasted the soup if it needs any more salt. Put in the Sesame oil here.

5. Taste and serve! :)


Murtabak Telur / Egg Savoury Pancake


This week has been full of eating out and my wallet is getting thinner and thinner! So I decided to cook for lunchh  :) The dish in Indonesia is called Martabak telor or Savoury pancake in english. It is generally made up of mince meat (chicken, pork or beef) and eggs wrapped in spring rolls pastry. I learn to make this dish from my Grandma's maid back in Jakarta :)

The usual savoury pancake / Martabak Telur uses spring onion to make it more aromatic. But as I hate spring onion, I used green beans instead to give it some colour. 

Serve: 4
Ingredients:
  • 25g Chopped mushrooms
  • 25g Mince Chicken
  • 25g Chopped Green beans
  • 5-6 Eggs
  • 9-10 spring roll pastry sheet
  • 1/2 tsp mince garlic
  • 1/2 tsp mince french shallot
  • 1 tsp Soy sauce
  • Pinch of salt and pepper to taste




Methods:
1. Fry the garlic and french shallot along with the chicken
2. Season with soy sauce, salt and pepper


3. Cut up the mushroom and Green beans
4. Mix in the wok along with the chicken
5. After everything is cooked, put aside.
6. Crack the eggs, season with salt and pepper
7. Mix in the chicken and veggies mixture into the eggs.

8. In a flat pan, put some oil, after it is quite hot, put in a sheet of spring roll pastry
9. Pour in 2-3 Tbsp of the egg mixture in the middle of the pastry and start folding the sides

10. Cooked until both sides are brown and crispy.

Tips: Sometimes the pan gets too hot and when you put the pastry, it will crisp up and it'll be hard to fold. It is easier to prefold the pastry with the egg mixture first and then put the folded mixture on a hot pan :) You have to fold really tight though so the egg mixture won't leak :)

The recipes seems like a hassle but it is actually really easy and delicious!





Saturday, April 26, 2014

Crocodile Senior Thai, Haymarket


Dine here with bebski on a lazy Friday night with a voucher from Ouffer.
I was expecting a full house as the voucher they offer are pretty cheap, apparently that was not the case. Came here at 6PM and it was quite empty. I dine in this place once in my first year in Sydney for lunch. I remembered the pad see ew being delicious, but never got the chance to come back since - forgotten.


For entree, we only get 4 pieces of different fried goodies to share between the two of us.

 \
The papaya salad come next. I quite like the salad, as I requested for spicy and the tanginess from the dressing is just right.

Chicken Pad Kra Pow is yummmyy! I have forgotten how they serve a delicious pad kra pow here.

The Massamun beef is alright for me. There is a star anise in one bowl of the curry which for me is too overpowering the flavour. I can only taste the strong herby note in the curry sauce which I don't really like. The beef is very tender and moist but again too much fat on it ;P

Overall, it was a good place to eat but not great. Service is okay.



http://www.mrcrocodilethai.com.au/
Crocodile Senior Thai on Urbanspoon

Seoul Ria, Sydney


Seoul Ria is one of my go-to K restaurant in Sydney.. Amongst my friends, Kan pungki is our favourite menu to order. The place is located right in the middle of george st, on the top level besides Fujiya. My friends and I had an early dinner on Friday and so the place is still quite empty, which is a good thing. I've came here once on a Saturday night and there were a long queue for table!


Not long after ordering, the Banchan came..

From all of those above, my favourite has to be the Kimchi and Kkwarigochujjim..
The kimchi I should say is my favourite among other korean places I've been to. It has the right garlic onion note, with a balance of sourness and chilli flavour :)

And the Steamed Shishito Pepper or kkwarigochujjim which is a green wrinkly chilli that is sweet and very mild. This is my new favourite banchan! I tried looking up the recipe but it seems quite time consuming with the steaming and all.. But I will definitely give it ago in the future :)

Our first dish is the Seafood Pajeon. I was looking at the menu and saw the price for it being $18, was pretty shocked cause usually seafood pajeon cost only ard $13-14, but then when the dish came, I finally get it! The size is huge, I mean HUGGGEE!
Seafood Pajeon $18

Unfortunately, the seafood pajeon is not as crispy and flavoursome as the one from Madang. It was quite thick and gooey. I don't quite like it T.T 
But the food is getting better from here onwards :)

Then we have the Kang Pung Gi which is a korean-chinese dish of sweet and spicy deep fried chicken. For some reason the Kang Pung Gi in Seoulria is really delicious. The sauce has a good balance with the cubed vegetables of corn, capsicum, carrot, peas, onion and chilli make it a delectable dish.
Kang Pung Gi $30

My colleague at work recommend me to try their hotpot. As I always got YukGaejang or Budaejigae, this time, we decided to try the Jjampong Jeon gol which is a spicy seafood stew with udon noodle at the bottom. My oh my, it was so goooddd.. Not too spicy, and yet has good chilli note, rich, with fresh seafood and the chewy noodle! Fell in love with this hotpot!! It was an enjoyable dish with so many texture in one pot...

Jjampong Jeon Gol $48
There were 4 of us (3 Guys with huge appetite ;P) dining and sharing these 3 dish and yet we still can't finish it all! They seriously serve a big portion of food and flavours :)
Highly Recommended to get your hotpot hit in cold days!


Seoul Ria on Urbanspoon

Friday, April 25, 2014

Two Good Eggs, Surry Hills


Two Good Eggs Cafe is located in the hidden corner in Surry hills on Goulburn st. Maybe because of it's location that not many people know the existence of this little gem... I came to visit this place on the Easter Monday Holiday and there was no queue but the place was filled with a number of patrons. One of the reason for my visit is the pork belly special that my sister showed me through her pictures! She told me that this is one of the many brunch places that serves a generous portion of food with good value..



The decoration is quite simple which makes it homey to me. The cafe is pretty laid back and there is no rush whatsoever to order or to leave as there was no queue. Its a good place to catch up with friends or maybe doing assignments? :)


To start with... Coffee.. I must say, I started this blog being not a fan of coffee. But as I visited quite a number of Brunch places, I started to like them.. Oh oh,,, I got the mocha which according to Bebski is quite flat. Now that I think about it, maybe because of the strong hazelnut syrup in his flat white that makes my mocha bland for him.

Mocha $3.80
The hazelnut syrup in the flat white is surprisingly creating a whole new level of flat white :)
Flat white with Hazelnut Syrup $3.80 + 50cents
I had a bit of a dilemma choosing the food. As i was saddened by the fact that the pork belly special is no longer available, I have to choose between the chorizo stack or prawn liguini... So I let Bebski and Mr.P to order first.. I then asked the waiter which is better, even she has a hard time recommending ;P

Prawn & Chorizo Linguini $18
I didn't regret my decision at all! It was lipsmackingly good! The linguini is al dente, the prawn is fresh, sweet and juicy. The chorizo, well fatty but enticing and the oil that they use to coat everything together is very pleasant. Can't get enough of this dish..! I Highly Recommend it!

Bebski got the pulled pork sandwich with hand cut chips. I asked him twice confirming his order cause pulled pork sandwich didn't look appetizing or special enough for me.. I was hoping that he will change his mind and order the Chorizo and Hash Brown stack ~~ 

Pulled pork sandwich $18

Sadly, he still ordered it T.T .. As I thought, plain regular sandwich, nothing special about it exceot the size of the sandwich! The pulled pork is moist but lacks flavour in my opinion, and nothing better than a hand cut chips and pickled Jalapenos ~~

Mr.P, also torn apart between a couple of salmon menus ended up choosing the "Gym Guru", apparently the waitress didn't ask him whether he wants bacon/ham/salmon and he ended up getting the bacon. TO his disappointment, he didn't want to complain and so he got an extra salmon pieces for $4.80
The salmon that came amazed me, it wasn't just 1-2 pieces, it was 4-5 big pieces!! Very generous of them to give such a portion ^^

Gym Guru $19.90

Gym guru consist of scrambled egg white with spinach, mushroom, avocado, a choice of smoked salmon, ham or bacon and tomato sauce. After around 15mins into the food, Mr.P said that this is the first brunch meal that took him a long time to finish :) Hence the generous portion ,,,

Overall, it was a great brunch experience and will definitely be back once they have the Special Pork Bely menu back on! I will be checking their facebook page on any updates :)
Give it a try guys, its worth every penny you spent!

http://www.twogoodeggs.com.au/
Two Good Eggs on Urbanspoon