Thornleigh: Makan @ Alice's

One thing I love about being Malaysia is the type of food we're exposed to, in particular the desserts. We do make them at home from time to time, but the amount of effort+time+energy put into it, it's not worth making a small batch.

So it was a real relief when we found a Malaysian eatery that sells Malaysian cakes, or kuih, in a few different ranges. Be quick though, they do sell fast as they are that delicious.

Buying these cakes always brings back memories from the good ol' days, when there were food stalls on the side of the road, quite a few in a row, and we'd pull over, explore what they have (with a bit of explanation from mum or the stall holders) and end up tasting/buying at least something from eat stall. What better way to bring together the different cultures in Malaysia as well as bring together the community.

Ok, back to the kuih in Thornleigh. The day that I went to visit, there were only a few options left, but my current favourite is available so I'm not complaining.

All three types on display

First up, we have Kuih Serimuka. The way to describe this would be to say a pandan flavoured custard set ontop of sweet glutinous rice. Does that sound appertising? You're probably wondering what pandan is too, well, it's a plant with long strap like leaves, long+wide+strong enough to make into bags and sort. The flavour is extracted to flavour rice, desserts, curries...well pretty much anything. To describe the flavour is actually quite hard, but it's delicious and possibly an acquired taste.

Side vision of Kuih Serimuka

The texture of this kuih is two toned as there's the softness of the custard ontop of the harder rice. There's a bit of chewing involved as the glutinous requires more chewy due to its slight stickiness. The pandan flavour is powerful (though could be stronger) but still allows for the slight coconut flavour to break through from the rice base.

Kuih Kosui is one that I haven't tried in such a long time, I've come close to forgetting what the taste is. But after biting into it, it doesn't actually bring back any memory so it makes me wonder if I've even eaten this before. Eitherways, the palm sugar sweetness of the kuih is cut short by the saltiness of the coconut sprinkled on top. It has a texture harder than jelly but still able to be easily sliced through by your teeth...I want to describe it as soft tendon but how many people eat tendon? I'm probably one of a few people who do still eat everything on an animal :) One or two bites and this baby's gone.

Kuih Kosui, it looks larger than it really is

Kuih Ang Koo has been one that's implanted into my memory from my childhood, the red flat blobs of sticky casing sitting ontop of a square banana leaf. This is just as good. A friend has mentioned of their peanut version, which wasn't available, but I'm not fussed as I'm used to the mung bean filling. Taking one bite of this reminded me of the sticky texture the rice flour has turned into, sticking to your throat if it's not chewed probably. The mung bean filling is slightly crumbly and it bitten on the wrong angle, the entire filling could fall out. This definately takes more than two bites.

Kuih Ang Koo: top section and the filling

Having just eaten one piece from each box, I sit there contemplating if I should have another piece. Knowing that there are other family members likely to eat it, I eat one more of Kuih serimuka and kuih kosui, savouring all the flavours and textures not knowing when I will be purchasing these next.

262 - 264 Pennant Hills Road

Cnr and entry via Bellevue St,

Thornleigh, NSW 2120

http://www.aliceskuih.com.au/

Castle Hill, GPK (Gourmet Pizza Kitchen)

Ambience

I remember when this place first opened, getting a table without booking on a fri or sat night was difficult. The pizzas we ordered were so gourmet, better than the usual 'hawaiian' or 'meatlovers' you'd get at Domino's or Pizza hut (what happened to Pizza haven?). What I've started to notice though, as I grow older and as other restaurants/cafes/take away shops open, my idea of gourmet and value-for-money seems to change. This place was gourmet until I discovered Crust Pizza (gourmet pizza bar), but more on that another time.

Our table number

As a member of a newly formed sports team, there was an idea floating around about 'team bonding', which I fret about as sometimes the more people there are that don't have much in common, the more awkward it is. Eitherways, I went alone to it, making sure I wasn't first, arrived with someone I knew and sat with someone interesting (always sit with someone interesting).

Starter: Garlic Twist

GPK offers a 'banquet' option, shared between two. The most popular option is a choice of drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), 1 pizza and 1 regular salad. I've always thought this was a good deal, till tonight when the waiter had mentioned to by mates that the dishes they ordered would work out cheaper without the banquet option...note to self, always work out the possible pricing of the dishes if bought separately before taking the 'banquet' option.

New Orleans: finely sliced chicken breast fillets marinated with hot Cajun spices, roasted potato, English spinach and mushrooms served on GPK’s tomato sauce, topped with sour cream, drizzled with sweet chilli sauce

Lemon, Lime and Bitters

As we were still deciding on the meals, a complimentary plate of garlic pizza arrives. Everyone takes a piece and a bite "now I know why it's free, there's no taste". Still, you can't complain on free food.

Free starter: Garlic Pizza

When the meals arrived, I'm quick to note that even though we're at a PIZZA restaurant, for a table of 9 only 2 people have ordered pizza, everyone else has ordered either pasta or salad.

Pasta: Bolognese +Chicken and Roasted Capsicum


Pasta: Bacon and Mushroom


Salad: Rocket and Parmesan, regular

I myself, being on a 'diet', have ordered for the large ceasar salad, and boy, was it big. There's absolutely nothing fantastically different about this salad, I just needed a bit more meat for the amount of cos lettuce in my bowl. The anchovies taste was quite strong, though I don't mind it as I can stand that pungent taste.

Salad: Ceasar, large

Overall, the pastas that arrived all look pretty standard, though that's what you'd assuming not being in a pasta restaurant. A friend's made a comment about the idea of eating pasta in a restaurant when it's much cheaper to cook them at home. I see her point but there are some pasta dishes that are still worth buying in a restaurant, unfortunately, these were not. Since there were no specific comments on the pastas, I'll say they would be standard taste too.

Shop 10 (Piazza section)

Castle Towers Shopping Centre

274 -280 Old Northern Road

Castle Hill NSW, 2154

Castle Hill, Hogs Breath Cafe

To celebrate a friend's new job, we decided to head to somewhere local and slightly cheap for dinner celebrations (cheap is always the deal when my friends are either still at uni or accounts). Hogs Breath is the restaurant of choice and a few of us gathered there early to make the most of their 2for1 cocktail happy hour. Can I say, just pay full price, as it seems happy hour also translates to lack of alcohol hour.

Cocktails


Cocktails with curly fries

Curly fries is the accompanying food for cocktails, cripsy golden curlys of fatty starch. What else would you want to coat your stomach with :) though the 3 orders of fries we had, 2 of them were the 'tail end' of the batch of fries, you know, the random short bits that sits at the bottom of the bowl, but we're not complaining, food is food.

For dinner, there were many options, however, looking through and knowing the food that I've already eaten, I opt for the lite cut of surf and turf. When the plate arrived, it looked so sad, like a discarded piece of meat just slapped onto the plate, everything else piled on with no presentation. And it did not look like their picture either....if only we can complain about that, but I'd rather not have spit in my food. The steak was cooked slightly more than what I'd like, but then cooking a piece of steak is quite difficult.

Surf 'n' Turf: Lite Cut

I've never liked the idea of having a steakhouse outing when there's a vegetarian on board, but she was more than happy for HogsBreath as their one of two vegetarian meal is favoured by her. The avocado and crumbed mushroom salad is huge when it arrives. One thing I do like about their salads is that there's still more meat than salad, so you think you're eating healthy, but really you're not.

Avocado and Crumbed Mushroom Salad

Dessert options at Hogs Breath aren't that flash, but I noticed a dish I didn't recognise: Banoffi Pie. A lip-smacking combination of chunky sweet bananas, smooth caramel custard, toasted coconut, strawberry syrup and lashings of whipped cream set on a crunchy biscuit base. A scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream to go with it and you will go bananas! It sounds mouth watering so an order of that is placed. Boy, was it anything but. I'm sure a home made one would be different but all I could taste was the sweetness, nothing more. The strawberry syrup is below average, more like slightly watered down cottee's strawberry syrup.

Banoffi Pie

When it comes down to eat, it wasn't a cheap or delicious night out. I think I'd rather have spent the money at a nicer, classier restaurant.

Shop U22 Castle Towers Shopping Centre,

Old Northern Road,

Castle Hill

Haymarket, Yumei

When I need a place to eat, I have a habit of asking a certain friend as she is more interested in exploring different cafes/restaurants than my other friends. So when I asked for a Japanese place in the city, she was quick to shout "Yumei" in Haymarket. The selling point of this restaurant was "it's like Koba Jones but cheaper" and boy was she right.

It's located inside capital square on ground level between an irish pub and a korean restaurant. Talk about multicultural...

There were five of us and the deal was each was to pick a dish (with everyone agreeing to it). Normally when we eat out as a group, my idea is that everyone picks at least one dish, that way there's more than enough to go around and there's at least one that you'd like.

The first dish ordered was Californian Roll. Normally not my choice of dish as it's too American-ised and its full of crabsticks...but this dish is different to those you'd get in take-away sushi shops. The crabsticks are shredded then mixed with mayo (anything with mayo is GOOD), then rolled with avocado and finely sliced cucumber. A dish worth ordering.

California Rolls

We ordered the small mixed sashimi dish to share between the five of us. I've only recently acquired the taste for salmon sashimi and now, I can always finish off a huge plate of sashimi. So I was slightly disappointed when my share of sashimi was only a few pieces. They weren't the freshest sashimi though it's really hard to find fresh sashimi anywhere. The oyster was a nice touch though.

Mixed Platter Sashimi

The spider roll is one that's becoming quite popular. I remember first trying deep fried soft shell crab in Chatswood and one of our diners had a huff about how it's illegal to catch crabs that are shedding its shell. I'm guessing the laws have changed for their actually breeding soft shell crabs?

Spider Rolls

This dish was the highlight of the trip. Biting through the perfectly cooked rice then getting the crunchiness of the crab. It wasn't oily either, especially for a deepfried dish. It's lightly seasoned and not overpowering, allowing the nori taste to come through too. Perfect.

Being a group of seafood lovers, the tempura prawns are a must. And mum's theory for a Japanese restaurant is that, if they can do good tempura (no excess batter, no oil dripping) then they're a good Japanese restaurant.
This restaurant must be a good Japanese restaurant as their tempuras were not as oily as some places. It was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside..and being dipped in that glorious tempura sauce, what more could you ask for? I would travel all the way into the city just to have a basket of tempura prawns again.

Tempura Prawns

The next dish, which I tried but didn't like was the teriyaki salmon. A bad dish to pick, I think, though I am not much of a cooked salmon eater. Don't get me wrong, I'll still order a panfried salmon dish anyday but this dish has a typical overcooked salmon taste. Hard to describe but you'll understand it when you've hard overcooked salmon. The sauce is standard, similar to bottled teriyaki sauce. Nothing special for this dish.

Teriyaki Salmon

All in all, this place was worth the trek into the city (only one of our diners live in the city).

Capitol Square

Level Ground, Shop G09

730 - 742 George St,

Haymarket

The Rocks, Lowenbrau

My first impression of Lowenbrau was a place where you were likely to get picked up. Why? Because a workmate would constantly brag about finding her partner there. So imagine the disappointment I got when I didn't get picked up, mind you going during lunch probably isn't the best time either.
Luckily, I didn't leave the place 100% disappointed as the food there helped save the day.

If you do go, i'll suggest sitting outside as you'll have a better atmosphere. We were stuck inside, cold dark and no fresh air.

Lowenbrau, being German, is famous for their pork knuckle, so it's only right that I chose that dish, though I have seen their schnitzel and I was very tempted in getting that instead.

The crackling on the knuckle was CRUNCHY and not oozing with fat, though becareful, it may break your teeth :) If you're not the type to share your crackling, don't worry, there's plenty on that knuckle, so if you're friends are eyeing your crackling, you know you have enough for them to try.

The meat itself is nice and tender, falling off the bone (most parts), though my only bad comment for this dish is its saltiness. I am one of those who tends to drown their food in salt, so for me to make a comment like that, you know there's more salt than needed. Heart disease anyone?

Schweinshaxn:

Oven Roasted Pork Knuckle with Sauerkraut, Löwenbräu Bier and Mashed Potato. I had chips instead of mash

The pork belly is like it's meant to be, layers and layers of meat and fat just waiting for you to slice into. I would say it's more tender than the pork knuckle and definately my choice on the next visit.

Knuspriger Schweinebauch:

Crackling Roast Pork Belly with Löwenbräu Bier Sauce, Sautéed Potatoes & Red Cabbage

Being famous for beer, it's only befitting we drink German beer with our food. Not a beer loving but one my last visit to Germany, I have acquired a taste for Wheat Beer (or weissbeir) so that was my choice of beer. But becareful, the disclaimer I received for weissbeir to not to drink more than 2 as you will be making music from your tail end come the next day.

Front: Weissbeir Back: Mango beer

I have been told the other good beer for non-beer lovers is the Mango beer though I've always had a thing against mango not in the form of fruit, so i stayed away from that.

For all dishes, there is nothing like finishing off lunch with dessert, and my favourite has always being Black Forest. Growing up in my home town, there was a little cake shop that made black forest so it's like a little reminder of the good ol' days, though i will say that nothing has every tasted the same as that little cake shop.

Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte:

Traditional Black Forest Cake with Kirsch Marinated

This cake, though not close to what i prefer, isn't dry and quite tasty...maybe it's because it's drowning in choc syrup and layers of cream? still i'm not complaining, definately will eat again.

Look at the size of their menu, it barely fits our table

Corner of Playfair and Argyle Streets

The Rocks

Sydney NSW 2000

Gingerbread House

Giving presents during festival holidays is something that’s been engraved into me by my mum. One Christmas, instead of giving out traditional chocolates, I decided that I would try my hand at something different. Due to my love of cooking, the idea of giving away something homemade seems more comforting then forking out money for things all too common.
I give you, mini gingerbread houses.

Due to the spare time that I have at work, I designed little templates for the house based on a few different sizes. In the ended I went with a medium sized shape as it was easier to cut and easier to decorate.
After letting the biscuits all cool down, the task of decorating the houses were more painful than I thought. Good thing mum was around and willing to participate. Having prepared royal icing in four different colours, arranged the lollies and made extra space, we sat down and began to decorate.
As you can see from the pictures, we have no imagination OR patience. After decorating two or three houses each (I made a total of 15), we were more than happy to sacrifice the good looks of the houses to “let’s just finish it”.
2hours later, yes, 2hours it took us, we finished. Knowing that the icing still had to harden, we waited another two hours before wrapping it up in cellophane.

Even this simple task was still too much to handle, since I was dumb enough to cut the cellophanes too small, so it was a struggle to be able to bundle the cellophane together to make it some what decent looking. Another two hours later, finished.
6hours it took for us to decorated gingerbread houses….and another 3hours of baking. Though I will say, it was a good way for mother and daughter to reconnect again.

Gingerbread house

3 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup plain flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup pure icing sugar
185g butter, chopped
1/2 cup golden syrup
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Method

1. Combine flours, ginger, cinnamon, sugar and butter in a food processor. Process until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.


2. Whisk golden syrup and eggs together in a jug. With the motor running, add egg mixture and process until dough just comes together.


3. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently until smooth. Cut dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap.


4. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or until well chilled.


5. Roll dough, 1 portion at a time, between 2 sheets baking paper until 5mm thick. Using cardboard cut-outs as a guide, cut shapes from dough.


6. Place gingerbread in a single layer on trays. Freeze for 15 minutes or until firm.


7. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 4 baking trays with baking paper. Place gingerbread on trays.


8. Bake, 2 trays at a time, for 15 minutes or until firm.


9. Cool on trays.

Royal Icing

2 eggwhites, lightly beaten
3 cups pure icing sugar

Method

1. Using an electric mixer, beat eggwhites until soft peaks form. Gradually add icing sugar, beating constantly until thick.