Eat, Pray, Love

Hello readers! When you think of food culture in Australia, what comes to your mind? For me, it is a brunch with bacon, avocado and poached eggs. Well, Melbourne and Sydney will also appeal to me as the food paradise in Australia. As a result, I prepared an extensive food list before I visited Sydney half a year ago. Follow this blog post for my Sydney food adventure.

Waking up in the morning to refreshing breeze, what is much better than a satisfying breakfast or brunch ? In Sydney, you will never run out of ideas on where to go (or maybe you will be headache due to myriad of choices).

1. Bourke Street Bakery, Surry Hills

No.1 Bakery in Sydney and the bread is freshly baked everyday. They do offer sourdough, sausage roll, pastries and coffee to their customers. A great place to spend your morning if you want a light breakfast.

Pork and fennel sausage roll

The popular bakery item is the pork and fennel sausage roll. The crispiness on the outside and its generous fillings will satisfy your tummy. Do accompany this sausage roll with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee.

The exterior

The queue will never cease ever since the bakery opens its door everyday. Most often, the customers opt for take away because there is limited seat inside. But a couple of outdoor seats will do the favour if you want to dine in.

Ginger creme brulee

Another popular item up the rack is the ginger creme brulee. Different from the conventional creme brulee, the tinge of ginger gives a refreshing vigor to the day. The crunchy pistachio and burnt caramel add in the excitement. Apart from that, the custard is light as well. Highly recommended if you are a fan of ginger.

Website: http://bourkestreetbakery.com.au/
Address: 633 Bourke Street, Surry Hills. (Corner of Devonshire and Bourke Street)
Trading hour: 7am-6pm (Mon-Fri), 7am-5pm (Sat-Sun)

2. Reuben Hills, Surry Hills

Reuben Hills is famous as a coffee roastry and cafe in Sydney. It has been awarded as Latorre & Dutch best boutique roaster of the year 2013. Besides coffee, it does provide its customers a comfy environment to have brunch.

Contemporary interior design

Cappucino

I ordered the 'NOT reuben' (pretty ironic!). It consists of wagyu salt brisket, pickled slaw, manchego and horseradish cream on rye. I guess one of the reasons behind the name is that typical reuben sandwich normally has corned beef, Swiss cheese with Russian dressing and sauerkraut, grilled between slices of rye bread, whereby Reuben Hills' creation is different.

Not Reuben

The portion comes out to be pretty small, in size of a typical rye bread, being divided into 2 halves. The wagyu brisket is a tad dry on overall.

Not so Reuben

Aside from the NOT reuben, they do have other breakfast options and sweets. A place to consider for catch up over coffee. Their coffee options range from filter, cold filter, white, black to affogato.

Website: http://reubenhills.com.au/
Address: 61 Albion Street, Surry Hills.
Trading hours: 7am-4pm (Mon-Sun)

3. Grounds of Alexandria

Nestled at industrial area in Alexandria, Grounds of Alexandria is a family friendly brunch place. It is also a good idea for someone who wants to escape the hustle and bustle of city during weekend. The seating area is spacious and there is a small barn for the little ones. In addition, there is also florist at the precinct, selling fresh flower. There is also a garden with fresh vegetables and herbs, where the fresh ingredients on your plate come from. The combination of freshly brewed coffee, giggling from children and appetizing menu does make a short satisfying weekend getaway.

The exterior

The interior

Grounds of Alexandria is the flagship venue for its specialty coffee. Formerly an old pie factory, the Grounds has been transformed into a rustic, yet stylish cafe. Besides hosting a coffee research, the kitchen also practice holistic approach to food and design, as well as picking herbs fresh from garden every morning. The Grounds also offers its customers seasonal menu whereby we can taste the best in every season.

Bakery area

Latte

Mini barn with roosters

Outdoor seating

Family area

I ordered the smashed avocado on sourdough with haloumi and poached eggs. The ingredients were indeed very fresh! There is another popular menu item, which is the Grounds Breakfast Platter. It includes a couple of items such as cured meats and poached eggs.

Smashed avocado on sourdough

The Grounds of Alexandria is highly recommended! Be it bakery items, or coffee, or breakfast menu, they will surely tantalise your taste buds, with bursts of freshness in every ingredient. Not to mention that the Grounds does have its own market on every first weekend of the month, providing live music, great brunch and own-roasted coffee.

Website: http://groundsroasters.com/
Address: Building 7A, No.2, Huntley Street Alexandria

Trading hours: 7am-4pm (Mon-Fri), 7.30am-4pm (Sat-Sun)

4. Mad Spuds Cafe

Reflecting the name of the cafe, Mad Spuds Cafe is all about potatoes. According to the website, the potatoes are sourced from Robertson on the Southern Highland of NSW. Robertson is famous for its rich volcanic soil, which provides lots of nutrients to the potatoes, giving them a robust unique flavour. This cafe also advocates healthy living as the potatoes are all baked.

From the outside

I ordered the Mad Spud Stack. It consists the crispy potato cake, halloumi, avocado, roast onion, spud skins, sweet potato and mint yogurt. Trust me, this will be a heavenly meal for the potato lovers. I especially love the spud skins. Crispy and crunchy, accompanied with the soft mashed texture of the potato cake, I finished the whole plate within no seconds. As potatoes contain a lot of carbohydrate, I was full to the brim after a stack.

Mad Spud Stack

Website: http://www.madspuds.com.au/

Address: 479 Crown st Surry Hills

Trading hours: 8am-5pm (Mon-Fri), 8am-3pm (Sat-Sun)

And so, that was my brunch list for my one-week-Sydney-trip. Hope you guys enjoy them just as much as how I have enjoyed them. Cheers!

Love, Victoria

Are you an avid home cook? Are you constantly receiving compliments from your friends and family on your delectable home cooked dish? Are you a foodie? Are you passionate about food? Do you have a signature home cook dish you are proud of?

Well, that must a sign for you to enter Australia's Best Home Cooked Dish Competition held by Noosa International Food and Wine Festival! The festival is happening for the 11th year in 2014 from Thursday 15 May to Sunday 18 May. What an amazing event to combine the sunny and beautiful Noosa with variety of food!

All you need to do is to submit your best savoury recipe online at http://www.noosafoodandwine.com.au/Australias-Best-Home-Cooked-Dish/. The cost of the dish has to be less than $15 per serve. Besides that, photos and 30 seconds video have to be submitted together with the recipe. The submission will give you a chance to enter the semi final in your respective state to contend for a spot in the grand finale at Noosa.

Lucrative prizes are up for grab, including a trip for 2 to London for the Australian's best home cooked dish! The state prizes include a trip to Noosa International Food and Wine Festival whereby you can experience the vibe in the midst of fine food! How cool is this!

Still thinking of whether you should enter the competition, let me persuade you with 4 reasons:

#Reason 1: An opportunity to show cast your home cooked dish to the nation
#Reason 2: An opportunity to meet up with great chefs, home cooks and foodies
#Reason 3: An opportunity to attend Noosa International Food and Wine Festival
#Reason 4: An opportunity to win a trip for 2 to London

Do take note that it has to be savoury dish, but not a dessert. It does not have to be fancy mancy. A simple dish that you normally cook at home will do. Food cooked with love and attention to details will always be kept in a special space in our heart. That is why mum's home cooked dish is irreplaceable and heart warming.

I would love to stand with you if it is the obstacle of courage and confidence which deters you from entering the competition. It is because I have the doubt that my dish will not be on par with the competition's standard when the organiser approached me about this competition. But soon enough, I realised that it did not hurt to pick up the courage to give it a try. I guess, as long as we try our best, we will not regret regardless of the results. It is the learning experience through the journey that counts. So, would you like to join me in this journey?

The competition closes on 30/11/13, which means you have less than 10 days time left. So, be hurry! All the best and good luck in the competition!

Love, Victoria

Hi readers! It has been really encouraging to receive comments from a couple of you that you have been keeping an eye on this blog and how useful it can be to find a hangout place and good food! With heartfelt gratitude, I hope you (yes, you!) will continue to follow this blog for more culinary journeys ahead with me!

It is Malaysia National Day today! 56 years had gone since Malaysia gained independence from British colony. It is the day to applaud the painstaking effort given by the nation leaders as well as to pray and anticipate for the better future of Malaysia. Malaysia is a blessed country, shielded from natural disasters and has bountiful natural resources. Not to mention that it is also a melting pot of different cultures and this can be demonstrated through the variety of food it offers.

How do Malaysians often gather together? Yes, it's FOOD. We often have open houses during festivals and food is definitely not an element that you can exclude. NEVER! This idea has been engrained into every overseas Malaysian student's mind and that is why Merdeka Raya was being held at Adelaide University today. It was a collaborated event of National Day and Eid al-Fitr (Feast of Breaking Fast).

Let us have a brief overview on the array of food the committee had come out for the day.

Fritters

Lontong with peanut sauce

Fried mashed potato

Roti canai

Breadcrumb chicken

Nasi lemak with rendang

The food was really yummy, especially the satay sauce and lontong. With one serve per dish, I was full to the brim. Thank God my baju kurung did not burst! Anyway, it was a great get-together event whereby I got to see my fellow Malaysians whom I lost touch with. The warm weather, the Malaysian food, the people and the colourful decoration had made me to miss Malaysia even more. Home is where the heart is!

Pretty flower deco

Happy Independence Day, Malaysia!

Since it is a celebration day today, my Penangite identity has stirred me to make a Malaysian Penang food. This is none other than my favourite muah chee, a glutinous rice ball dessert coated with peanut and sugar! Guess what? You can make it in 10 minutes time!! You will only need microwave oven, glutinous rice flour, peanut powder and sugar. I was a bit sceptical when I saw the recipe online but the result turned out to be quite good! It might be slightly chewier than normal but the peanut powder covers it well. You can try to play with the proportion of water and glutinous rice flour to get your desired texture.

Ingredients (for 1 serve)
- 60g glutinous rice flour
- 90ml water
- 1 tablespoons of cooking oil
- Peanut/sugar mix or crushed peanut candy

Methods:
1) Mix glutinous rice flour, water and cooking oil together in a microwaveable bowl.
2) Microwave it for 3.5 minutes. Cut the sticky mixture into small lumps and coat them with peanut and sugar mix.
3) Enjoy!

You can get the recipe from here.

Muah Chee

Hope you guys have a good day so far! Do try out the recipe and let me know what you think. Once again, Happy Birthday Malaysia!

Yours truly blogger

Love, Victoria

Do you know what is the limelight of the pastry world at the moment? You might have heard of it, yes! It is the delicate yet complicated CRONUT! (*drum roll*) It was introduced by Chef Dominique Ansel from New York on May 10, 2013. Even though it is only 3 months old, it has taken the world by storm, spanning the whole world with its imposters. In Adelaide itself, Jenny's Gourmet Bakery on Glen Osmond Road claims to have the best cronut in Australia (eater.com).

I reckon we should get more insight into cronut to find out its beauty which attracts thousands of people around the world everyday. It is a half croissant, half donut hybrid which is the result of hard work, taking 2 months and more than 10 recipes. Instead of the simple croissant dough, it is made with laminated dough which has been likened to a croissant. After being proofed, it is then fried in grapeseed oil at a specific temperature. To finish it, it is flavoured in 3 ways - rolled in sugar, then filled with cream and lastly topped with glaze. The whole process takes up to 3 days! Can you imagine how much effort has been put in? Apart from that, it has short shelf life and do not refrigerate nor warm it to preserve its original flavour and texture. One difficult lady hey?

The cronuts caught my attention when I first saw the poll set up by Yelp. After frantically searching for the best cronut in Adelaide, I finally came across Jenny's Bakery which is situated about 10 minutes ride away from the city. Without further ado, here I am at the bakery biting my cronut all the way back to New York.

Introducing the salted caramel popcorn cronut that I have! It is so yummy! Mhmmmm! One could never go wrong with a salted caramel related delicacy! The cronut is flaky on the outside, soft and spongy on the inside. The level of flakiness is between a donut and a croissant. The level of sweetness is apt with the rolling of icing sugar and the salted caramel blends in well.

Salted caramel popcorn cronut

Ohhh! There is another surprise waiting for you when you first take a bite! Upon the bite, the fresh cream flows out! It does not contribute to the overall sweetness of the cronut, in which I find it very soothing.

A bite says a thousand word

The cronuts are situated near the entrance so you cannot miss them at all costs. There are a few toppings available - namely Fruchoc, Fairy floss, Salted caramel popcorn, Choc mint chip and lemon cheesecake. They might have a different variety everyday too.

Types of cronuts available

The exterior of Jenny's Bakery

Indoors

Jenny's Bakery is a lovely shop serving pastries and breakfast with cosy ambience. Definitely a great place to enjoy your chilly morning with hot coffee, buns and pastries.

Vast array of donuts

On overall, the cronut is a pleasant surprise whereby croissant and donut marry each other in a great manner. The layered pastry and donut-y texture just make my day! I am so going back for another nomnom!

Besides Jenny's Bakery, there are a few places in Adelaide where you can find the imposters of cronut:
1) Please Say Please, Grenfell Street
2) Milkaholic, Norwood - Kronut
3) Bakery on O'Connell - O'Cronut
4) First Pour, North Adelaide - cronut from Jenny's Bakery

So what are you waiting for now? Get hold of this latest sensation and let me know your verdict!

Website: http://www.jennysbakery.com.au/
Address: 81 Glen Osmond Road, Eastwood, South Australia, 5063
Trading hours: 8am-5pm (Mon-Fri), 8am-3.30pm (Sat)

Love, Victoria

If you type 'Fried Mars Bar Bondi Beach' at any search engine, 'Bondi Surf Seafoods' will appear with no doubt because this shop is the pioneer of deep fried Mars bar in Sydney. Hmm, for those who hear this for the first time, there is a sense of disbelief hey?

Bondi Surd Seafoods claims to produce the world famous deep fried Mars Bar. It is the only outlet approved by Mars company after several laboratory tests for bacteria level. Indeed, the popularity grows and the outlet sells more than 50 deep fried Mars bar everyday.

A trip to Bondi beach will never be complete without a try on the famous fried Mars bar. I am never exempted from this temptation on trying any good food recommended by Sydney insiders. Hence, this has always been part of my Sydney food list.

Bondi Surf Seafoods

The outlet has been voted as Sydney's Best Fish and Chips on 2011. Since I was there after having my lunch at Hurricane's Grill, deep fried Mars Bar was my only target. When I first entered the shop, before I even finished my order, the boss had figured out my order! How amazing it is? It showed that how popular this snack is.

The Mars bars were dipped into coconut batter, pre cooked in a low temperature oil then deep fried. Icing sugar was sprinkled as a finishing touch on the heavenly fried bar. The cost of a bar was $4.

Deep fried Mars Bar

The sight of it had stimulated my appetite as well as my salivary glands. It looked so inviting and I just cannot wait to take a bite!

And trust me! A bite is never enough! The batter is so crunchy on the outside and aptly fried. That is the essence of a well fried Mars bar. Being too hard or too soggy for the batter will spoil the beauty of Mars bar. With a crunch on the bar, melted Mars oozed out, releasing its caramel sweetness. The coconut batter and Mars bar just blend together seamlessly.

Deep fried Mars bar

However, there is a friendly reminder for all those who want to try the snack. Please shut your brain from calculating the calories and sugar content when you are consuming it. Let this experience be a sinful one because it is definitely worth it!

Beautiful weather

Coastal walk

Loving the rocks!

Love, Victoria

Website: http://www.bondisurfseafood.com.au/mars/mars_fr.htm
Address: 128 campbell parade, Bondi Beach, NSW

It is time of the year again when the chilly winter arrives. Coupling with the exam month, this weather is the biggest culprit for the increase in appetite and snacking (well, at least for me!). I have been contemplating for the past one week whether to eat or not to eat supper, and I failed to have that discipline to deter myself from snacking late at night. This habit has given me mixed feelings of guilt and happiness where I felt satisfied after having ~~a bite~~ a packet of chips but still feeling guilty that my general health will be affected. How many of you guys have the same feelings? I am sure I am not alone (I hope?)!

So, here is a good news for those who snack frequently as I am! Wanting to tame your mouth while snacking healthily? AntiOx snack bars and chocolate can be THE option! As part of Nuffnang blogger community, I was given an opportunity to try out AntiOx products under 'Product Talk by Nuffnang'. Check out more about the product talk here.

I received 2 chocolates in Acai and Goji varieties as well as 3 snack bars in Acai, Goji, and Chia and Quinoa varieties in my mail box few days ago. It is always a delight to be able to receive free gifts (what an Asian!). Hence, I will be sharing my experience of snacking (on AntiOx products) in this blog post. Please read till the end of the post as there is a surprise waiting for you!

AntiOx Chocolates and Snack Bars

The first product that I tried on was the AntiOx Goji Snack Bar. Goji is a very familiar ingredient to me as it is always present in my mum's homemade soup. Goji berries contain a very high concentration of antioxidants, vitamins and essential minerals. They are also rich in vitamin C.

Before opening the packet, I thought it would be a normal muesli bar just like the ones you can find in Coles or Woolworths. Surprisingly, it is a dark chocolate bar with mixture of Goji berries, wholegrain and forest fruits within. The key thing that I love the most is that the chocolate is made up of 70% cocoa and it is SUGAR-FREE. How good is that? I can indulge in yummy chocolate with low caries risk!

One bite at the snack bar will give you the impression that snacking is no longer unhealthy. Soft and chewy, with a tinge of sweetness were the sensation. The mild sweetness mainly comes from goji berries, instead of chocolate itself. Antioxidants which are present in chocolate and goji berries can help us to equalise the free radicals that cause ill health within the body. It is very important as we are more susceptible to colds and flu during winter. What an awesome way to boost our immune system while feeding our stomach! And the snack bar indeed makes you feel full as it is packed with goodness.

AntiOx Goji Snack Bar

Sick of the conventional snack bars? AntiOx can offer you more than normal muesli bars can do. In terms of varieties, they also have snack bar with acai berries, chia and quinoa. These are powerful fruits. Acai berries have over 16 phytonutrients and antioxidants, and twice as many antioxidants as blueberries. Besides that, quinoa has an exceptionally high protein content compared with other grains. It has more calcium than milk and is rich in iron, fibre and B and E vitamins. It also contains all 9 essential amino acids. On top of that, chia contains significant levels of omega 3 (of plant origin), fibre, protein, calcium, antioxidants, potassium and magnesium.

Winter will never be the same again with AntiOx chocolates (in Goji and Acai varieties) as they provide you additional antioxidants which will guard off ill disease. The sweetness is not overwhelming too. The note-worthy point is that they do not contain any artificial ingredients. Let me give you another fun fact - Goji/Acai is equivalent to 12 cups of green tea. Wow!

Be aware that I am talking about super power snack bars, not the ordinary one. So, why don't try one of those or win one of their prize packs? And here is a surprise! AntiOx is currently having a giveaway promotion where you can win a a free AntiOx prize pack which contains 6 AntiOx snack bars and 4 AntiOx chocolates. I reckon that would make a good supply of snack for the exam month. It can make a good sweet gift too.

The terms and conditions of the giveaway can be viewed here. Basically, this promotion is only opened for Australian residents, aged 14 years and over. In order to get an entry to the giveaway, YOU my lovely reader must answer 'Why do you want to try the new AntiOx snack bars and chocolate?' at the comment section below! Comment quick as the promotion will end on 28 June! Only 2 of the readers who gave the most creative comment will get the prize! Please leave your email as you commented because the winners will be contacted personally to get their phone number and address.

Do not worry if you are not selected because AntiOx is currently running a Winter Snack Bar Giveaway on their facebook page! Sign up to be a member and they will send you a free AntiOx snack bar as a lovely gift.

So, do not wait anymore! Comment below 'Why do you want to try the new AntiOx snack bars and chocolate?' using your email. Please note this only applies for Australian residents. The winner will be contacted by 28 June. Happy snacking! *wink*

Love, Victoria

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