Oden (Fish Cake) Bokkeum

As usual my craving for Korean food hits me in an unpredictable way! After Konganmul bap, I was craving for banchan.. In particular is the fish cake which I love so much but always couldn't get enough in K-restaurant.. So I made a pact to myself to find out the recipes and make tubs and tubs at home. So I did, a couple of times already that the recipes stick in my head now :) I always look up Aeri's Kitchen Recipes for basic Korean ingredients and seasonings.. So here it is...

It is a simple and easy recipes and the flavour is guaranteed yummy! The struggle for me is always cutting the carrot 'julienne' style. Sigh.. shudve bought food processor or smthng ;P

                              

Ingredients:

• 6 Fish cake Sheet
• 1 Carrot
• 1/2 Brown Onion
• 2 tsp Sesame seeds

Sauce:

• 3 Tbsp Soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp Corn syrup
• 1 Tbsp Water
• 3/4 Tbsp chopped garlic
• 2 tsp Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Sesame oil
• Dash of pepper 

Methods:

• Fried the fish cake at first with 1-2 Tbsp oil. Take off pan and put aside
• Put in another 1-2 Tbsp of oil, then fry the onion until it change colour and then the garlic.
• Next mix in the carrot and cook further for another 3-4mins
• Then combine the fish cake along with the sauce
• Let it cook further until all the water has been absorbed (approx 4-5min) in low heat.

Tadaa.... Oden Bokkeum! My favourite Korean Banchan... 

Try it at home.. It is seriously easy and delicious!
Thanks Aeri's for the recipes!

Koh-Ya Yakiniku, Neutral Bay

 Its been awhile since we have Japanese Buffet and it has been 2 weeks now that Bebski is pestering me to have dinner in Kohya.. Finally, he's so happy to know that we are going for dinner on Saturday. I booked three spots in advanced as the place is always full on a Saturday night and from past experience, without booking, we waited for an hour T.T

Koh-Ya offer two kind of dinner options. One is the A-La Carte menu and the other one is an all-u-can-eat menu. If you are hungry and wanna try a lot of their dishes, I highly recommend the buffet option. For 39.90AUD per person you have a choice of 60 different dishes.

They also have outdoor seating area :) But I prefer to sit inside as the fire is bigger than the one outside :)

Their rules are you can order as much as you can in the first 60mins and after an hour, the waiter will approach you and ask for your last order. This is the time you have to order your dessert too! And then you'll have 30mins to finish everything up! They also have an offer for refillable Calpico drink for an extra $5 pp..

So lets the feast starts! The picture below is just representing different kinds of dishes that we ordered. But in reality, we order 4x 5 portion of the beef tongue, so many prawn cocktail salads and heaps of seaweed sheet and seafood dishes!

The Ox tongue is really the hero of the buffet dishes! Fatty, chewy and melt in your mouth goodness ~~
Other meats that we ordered includes pork loin, pork ribs and beef ribs. Bebski loveeessss yukhe! Which is the raw beef topped with egg yolk and dressed with soy sauce and sesame oil. Ive tried it once but I don't like eating raw stuff :( He ate like 3 of them! The garlic butter is the special dish of the day along with the Tuna Sashimi, but I didn't get any chance to take a pic of the sashimi as Bebski and Mr.US gulp them hungrily!!

For the veggies.. We ordered seaweed sheet, Prawn cocktail salad (which is my favourite salad ever with fresh prawn, crunchy lettuce, avocado and yummy creamy dressing), Kimchi cabbage and also namuru which is a combination of 4 different veggies and well seasoned with sesame oil :)

Some more dishes of seaweed soup, Gyoza (yummeh!) and fish in garlic butter!

For fruits they usually serve 3 kinds of thinly slices fruits (Honeydew melon, Pineapple and Orange) which is 3 pieces of each per serve. So I recommend to have 2 or 3 serve per person If you really like your fruits :) For Dessert, there are choices of soft serve ice cream and Green Tea Ice Cream. The soft serve usually comes with vanilla ice cream but I've made some modification to mine :) I scooped out the vanilla ice cream, and replaced it with the Green tea!! ~~

Overall experience was great! Great quality of meat and food served. The service was good too usually. But last night maybe it was too busy that our order came a bit slow and it was so hard to get staff's attention.. Time flies so fast too so you have to order as much in the first hour kekeke..

Highlight dish for me is Ox tongue, Prawn cocktail salad, seaweed sheet and fish in garlic butter <3


www.yakiniku.com.au/kohya-syd/‎

Marrickville Pork Roll & Delish, Marrickville

Marrickville Pork Roll
In the search for Yummy pork roll, I heard issues that Marrickville Pork Roll is better than Hongha so I made plan to visit this place on Saturday. It was really hard to find parking in this area as the road have a lot of cafes and restaurants and so Bebski has to look around for parking while me n MR.US went to Marrickville Pork Roll to queue...

The queue was not as long as Hongha and the place is really small. But the service is better than Hongha! We were greeted by a friendly smile from one of the guy who work there and the price of the rolls are cheaper too! They have pig skin roll which I thought is Pork Crackling but I was quite disappointed knowing the fact that it was a chewy shredded pork skin.. So I ended up getting the Regular Pork Roll and Chicken Roll.

I agree to the fact that the bread here is larger and they are really generous with the filling but it was not as what I was expecting.. The bread was too crispy that it breaks apart when we reached home. The sauce was everywhere and the bread is mushy already .. The pate and the mayo too is not as good as Hongha's in my opinion..

For the Chicken Roll, the chicken was not well seasoned and not lean chicken breast.. T.T Can hardly find the chicken too. What I like about this roll though, they have radish pickles inside which adds a different refreshing taste to the roll.

I only recommend getting the pork roll, not the chicken roll :) So the verdict isss.. Me and my Colony still likes HOngha better! heehaaa ;P




Delish Pork Roll & Juice Bar

On Our way back to the car, Mr.US saw a sign displaying sugar cane juice and so he was planning to get one. when we enter the shop, I somehow gotta feeling that they must have Durian Smoothies like the one in Cabramatta. I was scrolling my eyes through the menu and there it was.... DURIAN Smooothiee!! I thought we always need to travel to Cabramatta to drink it.. But I found it!!^^

The fruits are all fresh and looks really appealing! But nothing can beat Durian smoothiee kekeke..

Apart from Juices, they also sell hot foods and Pork roll! Too bad we bought pork rolls already.. But next time for sure we'll try the pork roll here..

So here it is.. The Mighty Durian Smoothie.. On a hot day like that, this drink is the best! The only difference from the ones in Cabramatta is that they've put more ice that makes it quite runny and it is slightly sweeter. Other than that, no Compaint... So refreshingggg ^^

For those who loveeee their Durian, this drink is Highly Recommended!! :) So Happyyyy that I found u Duriannnn~~

Yogurberry, Kingsford

Dessert is a must after any meal! So after having our dinner in Wang Wang, we visited yogurberry for their Low Fat and Low calories yoghurt :p

Ordering is pretty straight forward.. U grab the cup size that you like, fill it with yoghurt flavour of your choice and toppings. Beware though, they charged based on weight! So don't get lost when picking toppings :)

My favourite things in Kingsford Yogurberry and probably the one attraction for customer is the swing insideeee.. :)

My two favourite flavours: Taro And Mango! In some other Yogurberry, they have the watermelon flavours but unfortunately not in Kingsford.. Sadd.. And for toppings I always have the mochi and Bebski always loveee the fruit bubbles!

Another cute spot of the place! It is so pinky and prettyyyyy ^^...

A short review on the place but worth visiting when u're in the neighbourhood!

Wang Wang Shanghai Silver Star, Kingsford

TGIF! Its Friday... Weekend... Since I started working full time, I really appreciate the value of weekends! The joy of not having to wake up early in the morning and drive an hour to work ~~ So as usual, I was too lazy to eat at home and I decided to have dinner in Kingsford and walk around the neighbourhood as I haven't been there for a long time.. (Well, technically I passed Kingsford everyday to work, just passing though ;P

Bebski is craving for wang wang, so we had dinner here and when we arrived, there was still a couple of table, Luckily! Cause as we were eating, there were a lot of crowds waiting for tables...

Personally for me, I think Wang Wang serves decent food with cheap price too considering the portion of food that you get! Its just that the wait for your order can be a long one when it is a full house!

The menu that is displayed here is not in the book menu, and it is not a big sign on the wall, so you have to keep an eye for it :) Ive tried the Stir fried sliced pork with Chinese cabbage which is good and has a lot of flavour :)

Typical Chinese Restaurant.. Soy sauce and Vinegar is a must.. Chinese always eat their dumplings with vinegar (Learnt it from my chinese friends ;p) For me, its always soy sauce with chopped chilli.. yummm~~

Bebski was starving as he hasn't eat since morning, but me, I've pigged out myself during lunch and yet I am still ordering lots and lots of food for just the two of us ;P
After 25mins waiting for our food, the deep fried calamari with salted egg yolk arrives! The calamari was fresh, has a good bite to it and the salted duck egg was really yummy coating the squid.. it was just a perfect dish to eat with rice. Its not very salty too..

Calamari with Salted Duck Egg $12.80

Next is the Clams in Black bean sauce. Bebski was hesitant to order the dish at first cause he's afraid that the seafood wouldn't be as fresh. BUT, the dish proves him wrong! It was fresh and the sauce is really flavoursome.. They use alot of garlic and ginger in the dish that makes it aromatic.. I cant get enough of the sauce.. Like Manu always says "give mo more sauceeee" :) It was really cheap too!

$ 10.50

Our third dish to arrive is Xiao Lung Bao or pork steamed dumplings? It was bigger than the dumplings in New Shanghai and the soup is not as hot so it wouldn't burn your tongue and throat hehe.. Was really yummy and I can really taste the ginger bits in it :)

6 for $6.50

Our last dish of the night issssss shredded pork with buns... The pork is cooked with spring onions, red capsicum and onions. Chin Kiang Vinegar is the first thing I can taste from this dish. Its a type of Chinese Black Rice Vinegar that has a distinct taste if u have ever cook with it, you'll know the taste :)

Enough from the sauce, it was a great dish! 

$13. 80

This is how I like to eat them :) It would be great though if they could cut the buns slightly so we can put the fillings inside ^^

Overall dining experience..... Despite the wait for the food, everything tasted great! The service was awesome, That waiter I had tonight was exceptional. She was literally attending all the tables, taking order, seating people and bringing out the food!! They really need to hire more people. Poor waiter.. :) Four thumbs up for her!! She can still smile and was really friendly to everyone ...

With so much food ordered, we left 2 of the buns behind as we were so full!! I admit my habit of ordering way too much food for just two people T.T

Highly Recommended!

Other visit pictures:

Pan Fried Pork Bun 

The Pantry, Manly

Visited: 6th Dec 2013 (Late post)



Visit The Pantry in manly for our 2013 Work Christmas Party, we always celebrate our xmas party in manly area as it is nearby from our office ^^ A game of roquet or two before.. I know it a game for old people but its quite fun :)

A 3 course meal from entree to dessert and the fave part if free drinks, I mean, Alcoholic drink as the company pays for everything ;P When we received the choice for the evenings, I made an alliance with 2 of my colleagues to choose different menus so we can try all three that they offer ;P

The first entree is Pan seared scallop with monchego, jamon, sour cream and bread crumbs. A unique combinations but it works really well. The scallop is cooked perfectly and the sauce on top, can't get enough of it.. Unfortunately it comes 3 pieces only which is just nice for each of us :)

The second entree is Fried Calamari with aioli & rocket. Simple dish with a punch of flavour! The calamei is fresh and has that chewy calamari texture that I love..! The aioli is really creamy and delicious,,,

The third entree is a duck and rosemery terraine with quince marmalade. Not my favourite dish though :( I guess it was a dish you either like it or you don't :)

Such a great entree! We can't wait for the mains~!

Our First main is Herb crusted salmon fillet with red cabbage saurkraut an potato salad. The salmon is a bit overcooked for me but that how I like it ;P Nice combo with the saurkraut and potato.

The second main is Chicken breast saltimbocca with Tagliatelle + Sage butter. My favourite dish of the night! Again the chicken is a bit dry but I love the sauce and the pasta!! Well, it was the best out of three ;P

Steak Florentine - Black Angus Tbone streak w/ Herb proscuitto butter, What a name ha.. The flavour is not as good as the name. The beef is very dry and chewy. I got the Tbone and some of my collegaue got the full meat without any bones! Too much salad on the plates too. I want my chips ;( I had a high expectations on this one but it was a let down :(

After having all the mains, we thought, dessert will be good. it has to be! We waited for atleast 45mins to an hour for the dessert to arrive!
First we have the Banoffee pie... Good punch of banana butt tooo sweet, way too sweet for the caramel sauce. We can only have a spoon each.. T.T It was heavy on the cream too..

Then, the dessert that I thought will be least yummy turns out to be my favourite! Caramelised apple with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. They have a praline crunch in the middle of it which provides a good tecture to the overall dessert and it wasn't as sweet as the banoffee!

Another let down on the dessert, the chocolate Gateau with eton mess. Dry cake I should say.. Not moist at all. THe choc is quite dark and again too sweet T.T

We waited for so long for the dessert but it turns out to be just okay. It was a downhill from the entree I should say.. It was a busy night and the service is not really attentive.. Good thing is they have a nice view! hehe..