Maranello's, Maroubra

Second Visit (23rd May 2014)
My mom came from Indo on Friday and she was so exhausted from the flight. So I took her to Maranello's as it was a walking distance from my unit.
I ordered the special Crab Linguine with spinach, cherry tomatoes cooked in garlic oil. The pasta is so good. It has a nice garlic flavour complemented by the spinach and the pasta is cooked al dente! As always, Maranello's food never disappoint me!

Crab Linguine $28 

For the pizza, I ordered the BBQ chicken cause my mom does not eat beef... It was good but not as great as the Meat lover or the Maranello's.

BBQ Chicken Pizza (M) $19.90

And as requested by mom, we got the garlic cheese pizza which is really garlicky, it tasted like garlic bread on a pizza. The dough is thin, crispy and chewy at the same time. My mom loved it. I would recommend this one as well. :)

Garlic Cheese Pizza (M) $12.90

FIRST VISIT

It was Monday again.. Weekend is always seems so shortt... 
Back to reality, wake up super early, go to work, go home and cook dinner + lunch for the next day. 
I have to go groceries shopping today as I haven't prepare anything yet for dinner. I asked my fiance to accompany me to Coles. The intention was to help me carry the groceries but he ended up talking me out to have dinner in Maranello's when I was supposed to cook. Oh well, I can't complain much cause Maranello's foods is soo delicious and full of flavours :)
So I ask my brother to join us and apparently not long after, my sister got home and all 4 of us were having dinner together.

Maranello's is a hidden gem in Maroubra. It is always packed of people but most of the customer must have been locals that live nearby. It's not really well known to some of my friends. But they always served fresh and delicious foods!

On every table, there will always be 2 ramekins; one is for parmesan cheese powder and the other one is chillies in olive oil! I can tell you now that the cheese powder will always be empty at the end of the meal.

So we got 3 dishes to be shared among the 3 of us.. Well it does not like we are sharing the portion. just so that we can try different dishes ;P And also as I was eating with 2 other guys with big apetite.. My sister just got back from running so she didn't feel like eating mains, she skipped to dessert :p

Pizza base which is super duper yummy, Chewy in the middle and crispy on the edge. They make it so thin but keeping the toppings as much as they could fit the circle :) We usually get Maranello's pizza instead of the supreme but we thought that we're gonna try something different

Supreme Pizza (Medium) 19.90

Toterllini Boscaiola - Fresh made tortellini with mushroom, ham and bacon in a creamy sauce. Not the healthiest option out of the menu but definitely worth the fat? ;P

Tortellini Boscaiola $19.90

Spaghetti with prawn and scallop Aglio - Olive oil, baby spinach, cherry tomatoes and lots of garlic. That was the description of the menu but I can assure you that the garlic is invincible. I really love the aroma of garlic oil. How the olive oil was infused with the garlic basting the spaghetti. One thing that lacks from this dish for me is a cut up red chillies ^^ The seafood was really fresh and we got a lot of them too :) Love the cruchiness of the King prawns .................

King Prawn & Scallop Aglio $23.9

We finished the meal with a protruding belly as we were sooo full, but then when the nutella pizza came and we took a bite of it... All of our feeling of full disappear for a moment.. It is true that all of us have a second stomach for dessert ;P I lovee the nutella pizza! crispy base, sweet nutella with refreshing strawberry pieces on top, with the addition of the creamy, smooth and silky homemade vanilla ice cream <3

Nutella Pizza $15.90

Below are pictures from my previous visit :)
Maranello's Pizza - Ham, pepperoni, Capsicum,Mushroom, Oregano & Garlic. Ive always liked this pizza more than any other choice from the menu

MAranello's Pizza $19.90

Spaghetii Marinara - Tiger King prawns, mussels, fresh cuttle fish, baby octopus and squid with garlic and chilli in Neopolitana Sauce. This dish is a must order in Maranello's. Aside from the fresh seafoods that u get, the sauce is really rich with tomato and herbs. 

Spaghetti Marinara $23.90

Caution: The portion size is really huge! best to share :) 
Service was great, staffs were friendly and attentive.
Overall Dining experience ..  Always great! This place is highly recommended!!

Mains Menu Below, For the complete menu, you can find it here

http://maranellos.com.au/

The Little Snail, Pyrmont

A couple years back my friend told me to try Escargot in The Little Snail, but I am always hesitant to eat french.. First, my preference is Asian food, then when I got no other choice I'll go western ;P I also don't really like fine dining atmosphere where everything is so formal, quite and the portion is like TINY!

BUT..... This Groupon voucher came out 3 course meal for two only $75 and I got a further $20 reduction from Groupon, so I thought, why not.. I heard the escargot is great.. So I booked for tonight. Reached there about 6PM, there were only 3/4 tables occupied. The place was nice, neat and white. We left 7.40PM and the place was packed!

We were greeted and seated. Then not long after that, one of the waiter explain how the voucher works and provide us with some drinks choice that come with the voucher..

We got our menu and we were looking at what to choose from Entrée to Dessert.. 

For Drinks, I got the Strawberry Mocktail and my bf with his always boring choice -- ORange juice ;P

OJ on the right, Strawberry Mocktail on the left

Escargot is a must to order as it was the dish that this restaurant is famous for. I was thinking Salmon roulade is not a bad choice either, especially when T see it will be filled with cheese~~ The escargot was cooked with butter, garlic and Parsley served with 2 slices of french bread. It was yummy. Hands down for the Escargot :) The Salmon roulade came with 3 pieces of cheese rolled salmon with crisp potato nest, bit of salad and a passionfruit dressing. It was weird reading it through the menu but the combination worked really well! ^^

Escargot

Salmon Roulade

When we were walking towards the restaurant, my bf mentioned how he wanted to have beef steak cooked with red wine. Then when he was flipping through the menu, He saw it! One the top list of the main menu, there it was.. Fillet of beef Tenderloin with red wine jus.. So I know that he'll get it definitely! For me, I was seduced by the word "crispy" duck breast. I never had duck cooked french style before. I have only looked at it in Masterchef shows :p So I thought. hmmm.. Why not try it now. So I got it.

The beef Tenderloin was cooked perfectly and it was flavoursome too! But a bit disappointed by the duck as the skin was not crispy T.T The meat was pretty chewy too. . . But the cassis and raspberry sauce is a well- match to the duck :)

Magret de Canard

Beef Tenderloin

Then the part that I've been waiting for... I know that I'm not a big fan of sweet things either, but I always wanted to try French Dessert :) 

So I got the Chocolate gateau with pineapple and coconut candy. The texture of the chocolate is something that is not I expected. Its kinda like a gooey sticky pudding and unexpectedly I liked this dessert with the rapsberry ice cream. Not a fan of the pineapple slice though hehe.. The pineapple is really sticky!

Belgian Chocolate Gateau

The second dessert is the Chef-Churned hazelnut and Praline ice cream on Sable Breton and Grand marnier Caramel. Another yummy dessert! It was not overpower-ly sweet. The ice cream is creamy, soft, really pleasant with some crunchy hazelnut pieces inside. And a yummy French shortbread biscuit at the bottom with its soft and crumbly texture. Yes Sable Breton is French Biscuit if anyone wonders ;P I Have to google it to find out what it is hehe..

Chef-churned hazelnut and Praline ice cream

Overall dining experience? GREAT, Even my bf tipped them. He rarely give out tip ;P The service was quick. The staffs were attentive and friendly. The food was yummy too ^^

Will definitely be back.. Not bad Little Snail.. Not bad ^^

http://www.thelittlesnail.com.au/

Indonesian Bakmie Ayam (Chicken Noodle)

This dish is what we usually Indonesian have on Sunday morning after church. We love our bakmie very much! Bakmie ayam is a street food in Indo, usually they are sold from hawker style-selling to a proper restaurant that serve a more "premium" style. 

The main Ingredients of this dish are noodle, chicken, veggies on the bowl. Accompanied by sides such as boiled/fried wontons or beef/fish balls soup. Different places offers different bakmie ayam depending on the noodle (Maybe handmade or store bought), the noodle can be either thin egg noodle or thick egg noodle. The chicken can be mince, can be diced too with or without mushrooms.

The recipe that I am posting today is my Grandma recipe. This was a favourite dish in the family on Sunday when everyone gathered together in her place :) I grew up eating this dish and now I am making it for my little family in Sydney :)

Serves: 6
Noodle:

• Thin/Thick Egg Noodle

Garlic Oil:

• 7 Tbsp Oil
• Crushed Garlic

Ingredients for chicken:

• 300g chicken breast (diced)
• 1.5 tsp corn starch 
• 2 Cloves garlic - crushed
• 2 Tbsp Oil
• 1.5 Tbsp Oyster sauce
• 1.5 Tbsp Sweet soy sauce (Kecap manis)
• 1 Tbsp Light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 50ml Water
• 1 canned straw mushroom 

Methods:

• Sprinkle the corn flour to the chicken
• Heat up oil then fry the garlic
• Put in the chicken until it turns brown
• Put in the mushroom and all seasoning
• Cooked until the sauce thickens up

Soy Eggs:

1 cup of Dark soy sauce

1/2 cup light soy sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 3cm Ginger

• Bring everything to the boil
• Put in boiled eggs
• Leave for at least 30mins

Chilli sauce:

• 2 Large red chillies
• 5 Small red chillies
• 1 Cloves Garlic
• 1/2 tsp chicken powder
• A pinch of salt
• Enough water to blend them

This is all you need to assemble the noodle ^^

• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp Garlic Oil
• A pinch of pepper
• A pinch of the chicken powder

• After mixing all the sauce in the bowl, Boil the noodle the mix with the seasoning. Topped it up with the chicken, chilli and I also made soup with wonton and Beef ball
• For the soup, I boil water with ginger, garlic, light soy sauce, salt and pepper + Chicken powder. After it comes to a boil, put it the beef balls and wonton ^^ Taste as you go :)

The recipe may seems long, but trust me, its just the preparation. The taste it worthed ! ^^

Kurtosh, Randwick

This week Saturday was only me and bf.. No friends, just us as today is our 59th Monthniverssary? Gosh I lost count already.. After dinner in Na Bangkok, we decided to go Kurtosh as he crave Kurtosh's Cheesecake.. 
 It was quite hard to find parking as it was Saturday night and we were there at 7PM. But luckily, this kindhearted guy was pointing to us where he parked so that we can have the space as he was going out ^^ YAy!!

When we came, the place is still quite empty, but it started to get really full when we left.

Some of the shots of what Kurtosh offers . . .

Kurtosh is a traditional Hungarian Pastry famously known as Chimney Cake. It was sold as street snacks all over hungary (Info From here)

I Ordered the Chocolate hazelnut spread kurtosh, Crispy with crunchy glaze on top and fluffy pastry with choc hazel inside :) Best eaten while it's still warm ^^

Choc Hazelnut Kurtosh $9.50

This Pic was from my previous visit, I got the Cinnamon Kurtosh..

My bf got Iced White Chocolate Mocha which is really good. Not too sweet, and the coffee has a good roasted aroma.  This Drink is Highly recommended especially in hot weather!

$5.50

Kurtosh mentioned in their website that they want to recreate a homey atmosphere which I could say, they are successful cause the cafe feels so relaxing, cozy and comfy :) The staff was super friendly too^^

www.kurtosh.com.au

Na Bangkok, Maroubra

The weather prediction for this weekend is thunderstorm, so I didn't arrange any outdoor activities.. Apparently it was really hot and shiny today T.T I was thinking of having dinner in the city, but I just remembered that I have booked Na bangkok with Groupon voucher for tonight's dinner and also there is future music in Moore park right now which means it'll be a hassle going to City >.<

Went to Na bangkok at 6PM and choose to seat outside cause it was a small place and they are grilling the skewer where the smoke is around the restaurant.. I think their exhaust fan didn't work properly :P

The waiter came out and give us the Groupon menu

We order the skewers both chicken and pork for Entrée :) I prefer the chicken skewer over the pork. The pork is quite dry and chewy. But the seasoning for both skewer is goooood ^^
As usual, my bf is always against my opinion, he prefers the pork ;P

Pork Skewer

Chicken Skewer

Then we choose Thai milk tea and Thai Ice tea for the drinks. The Thai milk tea does not have enough tea component. It was more milky and not too sweet. I don't think they use condensed milk. While the Thai Ice tea is very sweet .. We have to milk the two drinks together in the end :p

For the Mains, we ordered Chicken Pad see ew for me and supposedly the BBQ chicken with rice.. But the dishes that came out was pork pad see ew which again the pork is chewy and hainanese chicken rice where the chicken is mostly skin and thigh :( Very disappointed. But we didn't complain as we has other plans for tonight.. The pepper in the pad see ew was too overpowering but apart from that, it was pretty yummy. The hainanese chicken rice, the chicken was ok, the rice was not as fragrance but the chilli is a good match for the chicken :)

Pad see ew

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Overall, it was a good place to have a quick dinner. I think the mistake with the order was because they have a lot of takeaway and delivery order for the Groupon voucher, so I will let it go this timeee.. :)
Will I be back? MayB.

Indonesian Satay Chicken

Makes approx. 50 sticks

Ingredients:

Chicken:

• 1kg chicken breast fillet
• 125ml Sweet soy sauce (Bango Brand)
• Satay sticks

Peanut sauce:

• 4 cloves garlic
• 4 medium size french shallot
• 3 pieces of candlenut (In Oriental stores)
• 2 small red chillies
• 500ml water
• 1/2 tsp chicken powder
• 250gr crushed peanuts

Methods:

• Diced the chicken into square pieces
• Combine with the sweet soy sauce
• Set aside
• Heat up pan without oil, then put in the candlenuts until a bit toasted
• Blend the spices (Garlic, Shallot, Chillies and toasted candlenut) in blender
• Heat up oil in the pan and fry the spices blend for about 3-4mins
• Take 1/2 of the fried spices blend for the chicken marinade ( marinade for at least 1hour)
• Mix the other half with the crushed nuts, water and chicken powder.
• Bring it up just before the point of boiling, put it in blender again to smoothen the crushed nuts.
• Put back in the pan then taste. Put it salt and pepper to taste.
• Peanut sauce is done !
• Arrange 4-5 marinated chicken dived into a stick.

• Grilled the satay sticks on a griller while brushing it with some leftover sauce at the bottom of the marinade bowl

•  For the peanut sauce, add more sweet sauce sauce / kecap manis and also fried shallot on top

VOilaaaaa.. U got Indonesian Satay Chicken :) Its a good dish to make something different in OZ BBQ party :P

Satang Thai Exclusive, Haymarket

After accompanying my Fiance to a IELTS-Masterclass in haymarket last night, we were so hungry that we couldn't think of getting home and cook anymore.. The session finished late ard 8PM, so we decided to have some good old Thai food in Satang thai :)

It was full downstairs when we came in and so we were seated upstairs
I started looking at the menu, not because of choosing what to order but thinking should I order 3 dishes instead of 2.. But there is only me and fiance who's eating.. 

So i ordered . . .

                                     My Favourite - Chilli Duck ($17.90)

I really like the crispy basil on the top and the combination of chilli and thai soy sauce complement the duck and the mushrooms :)

My Fiance Favourite - Prik Khing Moo Krob or crispy pork belly with red curry sauce ($15.90)..

If you like you pork to be a bit dry and crispy, Satangthai is the one to go.. Its abit chewy thoughh.. No complain on the sauce though, it was spot on with the half cooked green beans :)

After ordering those two dishes, my Fiance insisted that we need a soup as it was cold outside.. So i ordered this Tom Saab, a sour and spicy soup with soft pork bone, mushroom, lemongrass and small chilli. There wasn't any spicy and sour punch that I've expected, it was quite sour and sweet instead of the Thai soup punch that you get elsewhere.. :)

                                            Tom Saab ($13.90)

Overall, it was a filling dinner and both of us went out with a happy tummy <3
The service was very fast too. Well done Satang Thai :)