Archive for April 2014

Home Archive for April 2014

Gelato Messina | Sydney, AUSTRALIA

I've always believed that a birthday without a cake is never a proper birthday and when the man of your life is turning thirty, the birthday cake has gotta be good.

The trip to Sydney was a combined birthday weekend for both A and the other travel bunnie who happened to be born in the same year. So naturally, after have seen an episode of MasterChef that featured a Black Forest ~~gelato~~ ~~cake~~ work of art by Gelato Messina, there was no other option than going to the legendary Gelato shop in Darlinghurst.

The visit happened directly after our feast at Hurricane's Grill, because that's what sane people do; they have a plateful of ribs and then jump into a cab at 9.30 at night and have a gelato cake that is recommended to cater for fourteen to sixteen people among the four!

I called in advance to reserve the cake of my choice; Dr Evil's Magic Mushroom. Now I could describe the gelato cake for you, but I thought a copy & paste job from their website would be more appropriate given its ingredients:

The top dome of this cake is filled with Dr Evil gelato (dark chocolate gelato, peanut cookies and dulce de leche) and is topped with layers of vanilla cream, chocolate sponge, a red ganache, and white chocolate buttons to finish. The stalk is filled with dulce de leche caramel surrounded by dark chocolate gelato. The whole mushroom sits upon ‘grass’ made from popping candy and crushed biscuit.

So understandably, we were stared at by many, MANY passersby. Hell, random people were even taken photos of us eating that cake inside of Messina's Creative Department. In the end, the race between the four of us to finish our mammoth portions was an epic failure for all as the closest any of us got to finishing ended halfway down the mushroom stalk.

Was it creative, insane, amazing and quite possibly the ultimate ice cream cake ever – YES.

Was it the worst ever thing to combine with an already overfull stomach post Hurricane's – YES.

Would I do it again...

Total Bunnie Dollars Spent: $85

Hurricane's Grill | Sydney, AUSTRALIA

When you go on a holiday with another couple, it's a no brainer to go with a couple who are into their food as much as you, if not more, because nobody wants to have a party pooper on the trip who is constantly conscious about calorie-counting.

On the second night of our weekend getaway to Sydney with A and H, the four of us visited Hurricane's Grill. Set by the water in Darling Harbour, this steakhouse restaurant remains as one of the city's most popular dining venues.

If you think the menu is overwhelming, then wait till you see the food.

Our eyes tricked us into thinking that we were extremely hungry and we ordered two serves of their garlic bread ($4.5 per serve) as a starter to what turned out to be an impressive feast. The other travel bunnie and I were so ambitious that for mains, we ordered and shared the Hurricane's BBQ Meat Platter ($94.90), which came with basted chicken wings, Boerewors, lightly basted juicy lamb cutlets, short cut sirloin and Hurricane's famous ribs. And let me tell you, that dish is a dream come true for any meat lovers. H ordered half a rack of pork ribs ($34.90), while A decided to go with a full rack of beef ribs ($42.90). So the four of us just sat there and we put in our best efforts to devour that tender, juicy, meaty goodness like the carnivores we all are... elegantly of course (we wore bibs).

We came out of the restaurant feeling as though we had eaten an entire farm, seriously. It was one of the ultimate guilty pleasures on the trip and is well worth enjoying.

Total Bunnie Dollars Spent: $250+ (really can't recall due to the meat sweats and temporary foodcoma)

Ladurée | Sydney, AUSTRALIA

Many years ago when I first visited THE LEGENDARY Maison Ladurée, I didn't even know that it was famous. I was simply attracted by the beautiful window displays and its almost enchanting exterior. Back then, Ladurée wasn't as widely available as it is today and I loved that about it.

When it opened its store in Sydney, I couldn't be happier and decided to meet up with a girlfriend of mine over a few macarons and some tea during our last visit to Sydney.

Although the shop is no comparison to the one on Champs-Élysées, it certainly offers a slice of Paris closer to home. Oh and they have a wonderful selection of traditional and exotic tea.

Of course, I couldn't resist the temptation of getting one of their signature macaron key chains.

Total Bunnie Dollars Spent: $23 for food

The Imperial Seafood Restaurant | 123 Eagle Street, BRISBANE CBD QLD 4000

I found out about the opening of The Imperial when I was frantically searching for places to dine in Hong Kong. Yes, the trip won't happen for another year, but I'm very particular when it comes to holiday planning and we usually start planning well in advance.

So as I was saying, I was drooling all over my keyboard while day dreaming about eating some freshly steamed lobster and scallop dumplings at Lung King Heen when I came across the opening a brand new riverfront Chinese restaurant, which is literally located one block away from where we live. I turned to the other travel bunnie and straight away, he knew, we had to go there. ASAP.

And that's how we ended up in front of The Imperial on Saturday night. Greeted by a cheongsam (a.k.a. qipao) wearing hostess, we were led into the lavishly decorated restaurant, which was practically empty, so we easily scored a window seat that offered a pretty good view of the Story Bridge.

After having browsed the menu, which for a Chinese restaurant has surprisingly rather limited options (but you would definitely not miss the hefty price tag of $5,500 for a bottle of Château Lafite Rothschild), we ordered a Sichuan koushui chicken ($16.80) for entrée. As for mains, it was sweet & sour pork ($29.80) and crispy duck with plum sauce ($38.80) with jasmine rice for two ($4.50 each).

I must admit that I felt pretty unsettled when I saw the price for each dish. Having been to so many Chinese restaurants in Brisbane, The Imperial is indeed the most expensive around. I suppose with its prime location, it's has to make money somehow. So inevitably, I expected good food and I had no complaints with the food that I got. The sichuan koushui chicken served cold, had the perfect balance of the spiciness from the sichuan peppercorns and the smooth peanut and sesame paste, with a hint of Chinese cooking wine that came through the tender flesh. It was a great appetiser. The mains were presented beautifully, especially the sweet and sour pork. It was served in a carved-out pineapple and the bite-sized pork morsels were coated in a very tasty sauce. But my personal favourite was the duck. The crispy skin on the outside was wrapped around the succulent meat and I found it difficult to put my chopsticks down.

We finished the meal with their mango pancake with ice cream ($9.50) which was the most disappointing dish of the night, in terms of presentation and taste.

It was a nonetheless a wonderful night but as much as I enjoyed the food, I really don't see us returning anytime soon. After all, it was just Chinese food and I can think of a dozen places that can serve up some delicious dishes at a more reasonable price.

Total Bunnie Dollars Spent: $113.90

Ippudo | Sydney, AUSTRALIA

Growing up, I was never a fan of noodle soup, I completely disliked the feeling when steam hit my face and would blur my vision. I was never good at delivering those slippery noodles into my mouth using chopsticks and somehow the noodles would usually slip out of my chopsticks back into the bowl and the hot broth would consequently splash onto my face. It was not fun.

Surprisingly, as I got older I started to appreciate a good bowl of noodle soup. I like the warm sensation that slowly travels from my mouth to my stomach when I take a big gulp of flavoursome broth. So last time when the other travel bunnie and I were in Sydney, I told my cousin that I wanted to meet up at Ippudo, a popular Japanese ramen brasserie chain that now has branches all over the world.

I liked the fact that the menu offers plenty of different options and inevitably, it took me a while to decide. Eventually, I settled on the karaka men with simmered pork belly ($22), which includes a combination of delicious tonkotsu broth and their special spicy miso. My cousin, on the other hand, wanted something more simple and had the shiromaru chashu ($20) which is an original tonkotsu broth served with thin noodles, pork loin, bean sprouts, black mushrooms and shallots.

I can't say that the ramen was mind-blowing, but it was definitely more exciting in terms of both flavours and ingredients in comparison to my all time favourite – No.2 from Hakataya Ramen, albeit slightly on the pricey side.

Total Bunnie Dollars Spent: $42

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Eat Street Markets | HAMILTON WHARF QLD 4009

Saturday night, two-and-a-half hungry bunnies were sitting in their pad wondering what to have for dinner, when suddenly, a lightbulb appeared above my head; why don't we go to the Eat Street Markets where we can eat as much different food as we want?!

So we hopped into the car and off we went to Hamilton Wharf next to Portside.

We had been to the Eat Street Markets once before, when the foodies destination had just been established. I think the idea of cooking and serving international street foods from shipping containers is brilliant and it was about time that Brisbane finally has something like this as Asia is full of hawker stands that serves cheap yet super delicious street foods. We ended up having so much food on our first visit, but we still failed to try all of the morsels that were on offer.

So this time round, our plan was to pace ourselves and take things slowly.

It was a failed plan.

The moment when we set foot at the markets, which were beautifully decorated with glittering fairy lights everywhere, I had forgotten our tactics for the night. We started off with a garlic langos with the cheese, sour cream and salsa ($9) which tasted fantastic with some BBQ sauce. It was washed down by a bottle of cold Eumundi ginger beer ($5) and believe it or not, some dark chocolate coated strawberries($7). We then devoured a grilled cheese kransky w' sauerkraut in a roll ($7) and some pork ribs w' coleslaw ($14), before ending the night with a giant chocolate coated cronut ($7) (half croissant, half donut... just in case you were wondering).

It was a fun night filled with ample food options and exotic music. Eat Street Markets is a novel idea and I would recommend that you visit at least once, but make sure that you don't get too overwhelmed by the overcrowded atmosphere and make sure that you bring enough cash as it can get pricey. And yes, some patience will also be needed when it comes to finding a parking spot...

Total Bunnie Dollars Spent: $53 (including $2 entrance fee each).

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