Hot Star Large Fried Chicken, Sydney

I saw my friend posting on  Facebook a new fried chicken shop called Hot Star? I reckon it'll be like Shihlin but the blue version of it :) So I went to the city last Sunday to try it out...

My guess was right! It is similar to shihlin but instead of cutting down the chicken breast to pieces, they kept it as a whole with the bones still intact.

As we were having lunch in Zundo, I thought I'll just get the large fried chicken and reserving the sides for next time :) The mushrooms and sweetpotato seems sooo delicious!

So I got the Spicy Large chicken but as usual, its not spicy for me or maybe for anyone.. Its a mild chilli powder, sweet I would say,, Unfortunately, the chicken coating is not sticking to the chicken. It was messy when i eat them.. The chicken itself is well cooked and yes, it chicken breast, not processed. But the coating is the down factor to me... I still prefer shihlin ;)

$7.90

I will go back and try the sides... The chicken bites looks good too!!
Has anyone tried other things besides the large fried chicken? Let me know!!^^

Second Visit
13 April 2014

Got the chicken bites and the sweet potato this time. I lovee the chicken bites more than the Large Chicken breast. Maybe because they use chicken thigh here so it is more juicy and flavoursome...

I got the combo so it comes with a side and can of drink. I got the sweet potato instead of the curly fries. Wise decision, as the sweet potato was battered and deep fried until golden crispy and was seasoned with their special salty seasoning which produce the salty-sweet balance of the dish, delicious!

The Dough Collectives, Sydney

 They closed down Galaxy World in George st city and the area was closed for a quite long time.. Then a month or two later, when I came back to Sydney after my Indo holiday, i went passed this new bread place.. Always passing by George st but never enter even once until last Sunday :)

It was really crowded and we decided to take a look at what's the hype..

They sell an array of breads, both sweet & savoury.. As well as schones and buns too. They also give away FREE Samples of each bread.. Can literally fill you up just by tasting the delicious bread :)

The Master Baker was baking when we were there making a new variety of bread. Unfortunately, it will take a long time before they could serve them ;( So I haven't got the chance to try them out..

I got the pumpkin & cream cheese bread and bebski got the sweetpotato & cream cheese bread. The dough is soooooo softtt!! Don't know how they do it but it was delicious! Will try other variants when I come back..!!

$5.50 ea

Drinks menu:

Too bad they don't have a place to sit and chat... otherwise, it will be a perfect hang out place!!

Second Visit
6th April 2014

Went here again with a couple of friends to introduce them to a very soft and chewy bread that Dough Collectives offer and to try out some other variants. Bought the Condensed milk and cream cheese bread and also the sweet potato and cream cheese bread.

Condensed milk & Cream cheese

To our disappointment, there are only cream cheese in the filling. We were expecting condensed milk flowing out as we bite into the bread.. But it is taste good though. Haven't got the chance to photo the Sweetpotato one as it was really yummy and everyone has a bite to it.

What I just noticed too is that they have a baking schedule everyday so that you'll know which bread is freshly baked :)

KongNamul Bap (Beansprout Rice)

From a Hectic weekend full of eating out, Im too lazy to cook many lunch variations for the coming week so I made this simple dish in one go for the next five days ;P I googled a couple of recipes for the basic Kongnamul bap but I ended up putting a little bit of everything and It turns out great :)

Kongnamul bap is typically Korean beansprout cooked with the rice along with marinated mince beef/pork and eaten with soy based sauce :) Some people add shitake mushrooms but it does not make it authentic anymore.. But to improvise, I add enoki mushrooms and I used sliced beef instead of mince :) Its easy to make and prepare as well!

Ingredients:

• 4 cups Brown rice (Uncooked)
• 350g Korean Beansprout
• 150g Enoki Mushroom
• 250g Sliced beef

Beef marinate:

• 1 tsp Mince Garlic
• 3 tsp Soy sauce
• 1 tsp Corn syrup
• 2 tsp Mirin
• Dash of pepper
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Sauce for the dish:

• 4 Tbsp Soy sauce
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1/2 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• 1/2 Tbsp Chilli flakes
• 1 small red chilli

Methods:

1. Wash and rinse the rice for 3-4 times. Soak the rice for 30mins. This is how usually Koreans made their rice, allowing the rice to absorb enough moisture so it will gives a nice fluffy texture when cooked.

2. Marinate the beef with the marinating ingredients for approx 10.15mins

3. After 30mins of soaking, rinse the rice again and put in the beansprout first then the beef meat. Put it in rice cooker for 10mins before adding the enoki mushrooms

4. After about 40-45mins, when its done, open the rice cooker and mix everything through.. Sometimes the rice at the bottom got burnt if not..

5. Make up the sauce while the dish is cooking in the rice cooker and serve :)

How much sauce to put really depends on your liking :) - to make the sauce, u just need to mix in everything but as I don't like raw garlic, I slightly fry the garlic. And in the original recipes, there is no chilli except for the chilli flakes + they usually have spring onions too which I omitted here :)

I eat this as a meal but u can definitely make this up as your base rice to be eaten with other side dishes as well :)

Kao Pla, Chatswood

For the dinner in our one day getaway trip, I decided to visit Chatswood. First, I was going to try Makanai Ramen but Kao Pla took my attention away.. !! We arrived in Kao pla at 6.30PM and we waited for almost an hour to be seated as the restaurant is quite small and they hold 2 table for reservations :( Im just hoping that the food's taste worth the wait..

So at last we were seated and without looking at the menu further, I knew what to get as I am always prepared before going to a restaurant.. I'll check the location, the menu and the price and inviting the people accordingly :) Im keen to try the som tum salad but considering that I am eating with 3 guys.. maybe salad is not the wisest choice ;P

Bebski got the Thai Milk Tea, He got this thing with thai milk tea every time we visited Thai place ;D The Thai Milk Tea was not overpowerly sweet which I like and the amount of ice was just right.

Thai Milk Tea $4

Next, the deep fried soft shell crab with tom yum salt arrived.. I'm usually not a fan of soft shell crab however they cooked and in any restaurant.. But here, I LOVEEEE the soft shell crab! it is crispy but yet still have the bite into the crab and the coating to it taste like it has been coated with salted duck egg :) Its just delicious!!

$14

Next was the Prid Khing Moo Krob .. One of the must order dish! The pork is juicy and flavoursome while it still keeps its crispiness! The curry paste sauce was just right and the chillies give the dish a good hot punch! :) The green beans cooked perfectly without anymore raw beans notes!

$16

The twice cooked pork ribs arrived and we couldn't wait to taste it! Looks so appetizing and flavour never lie! Yummy goodness into one dish! Good balance of the sugar and tamarind. The meat is so tender too,,,

$19

At first, we were torn between ordering green curry or the penang curry but somehow the Penang curry's colour looks more appealing to me and so I ordered it.. I must say, Im glad I made that decision! The curry flavour is mild, it almost tasted like Indonesian Rendang curry but with more coconut milk in it. It was milky and creamy. I couldn't get enough of the sauce..!!

$14

Last for our mains is The chicken padthai.. They use a thinner noodle than regular padthai.. It was good for me but not great. I still think that Chatthai serves the best chicken padthai :) For me, the padthai need more tamarind punch :)

Add caption

$12

The menu that I have been waiting for.. The dessert! We got the Thai milk tea ice cream with jackfruit and black sticky rice pudding. I was expecting the dessert to be cold. Apparently, the black sticky rice pudding and jackfruit are quite warm and the cold part comes from the thai ice cream :) The black sticky rice pudding can be cooked further as I got some of the uncooked grain in my spoon.. And the portion for the money is way too small in my opinion :(

Overall Dining Experience, delicious food, great and fast service.. Even though their restaurant management can be improved :) But definitely worth the wait! I highly recommend this place.. I just wish that they would soon open a place in the City :)

Sugar Cube, Wollongong

After Seafood feast in Kiama, we were craving for desserttt.... So a day before this one day getaway trip, I googled a dessert place in Wollonggong and Sugar Cube came up. From the website, they served an array of waffles with fruits, ice creams and toppings.

They have outdoor seating too but yesterday was too hot for us to seat outside :( But we regretted our decision as inside was warm too :(

 It wasn't that crowded when we were there. In fact, there wasn't many people on the road even in the city.. Maybe everyone travelled to Sydney for their weekends ;P

A Colourful walls from where we seated. Its too tempting to take a pic!

They also sell various choc pots!

We got the ultimate waffles which have two waffles drizzled with melted chocolate and caramel, a generous portion of bananas and strawberries drizzled with the same toppings as the waffles, a full bowl of whipped cream and a full bowl of 1 scoop vanilla ice cream and 1 scoop of chocolate ice cream, I dont even wanna think about the amount of sugar = calories on the plate of yummy goodness!

The waffles was average as I used to eating max brenner waffles ;P It wasn't bad but not great,, I'm really happy with the fruit portion though, unlike other dessert junction that they served 4-5 pieces of bananas only T.T

The Ultimate waffles 19.95

Next time I come here, I want to try the waffle pops :) We were too full to order anything else :(

The service was great! The staff was very friendly and helpful.. Its a good place to hang out if they can turn on the AC on a hot day hehe :) 

http://sugarcube.com.au/

Kiama Trip

Its been so long since I planned a one day getaway using the 'MyMulti Day Pass' to visit Kiama as Bebski hasn't been there yet.. I went to Kiama in 2008 and I can remembered having a great seafood meal near the coast. Last couple of weeks has been raining and cloudy and so I decided no matter what this Saturday we have to go despite the weather! And luckily, the weather forecast change from thurderstorm to mostly sunny! So excited!

We woke up really early in the morning and arrived in Kiama ard 11AM, walked around, saw the famous blow hole then we make our way to the seafood place that I visited 6years ago,, Man time really flies!

The seafood place was still the same from afar with the metal chairs and table placed outside, I remembered I was sitting there with my girlfriends 6years agoo.. But now they renovated the interior and made that part of the place to a cafe and the seafood place moved to the back of the spot looking out to the coast.

There were only 2 ladies working in the seafood place and the place get quite crowded during lunch hour which made the place a bit of order..! Customer literally had to wait to order and some order got mixed up!

We looked at the menu and decided to order the Fisherman's basket as we get to taste a little bit of everything that they offer :)

They also served fresh prawns and oyster, seafood and fruit salads too..

The Fisherman's basket consisted of Fish cocktails, Prawn cutlets, Prawn Tempura, Seafood Sticks, Calamari rings, Crab claws, Prawn cones, Ocean bites and chips. Everything was battered and deep fried. The batter was quite thick in some of the items. My favourite should be the prawn cutlets, the fish and the ocean bites. The rest tasted frozen to me. Especially the calamari rings, it does not taste like squid! it tasted as though as the squid has been processed, shaped into rings and deep fried. T.T

One of the lady said that they serve the freshest seafood with half the price than Doyle's Seafood.. Im like.. yeah right! ;P

Fisherman's basket 34.90

First bite was great.. But as we go on, the oil starts to haunt our throat :( We ended up not finishing everything..  We also ordered the seafood salad which consisted of small frozen prawns and processed crabs ;( It was okay just because they had good dressing on it..

Our bill came to $47.20 which is okay if the seafood was all fresh.. But oh well, lesson learnt! The quality of the seafood has changed since back then..!