Baffi and Mo, Redfern

Top Ten Breakfasts in Sydney: Rank No. 3 - Baffi and Mo

Voted as one of Sydney's top ten best breakfasts, Baffi and Mo with their unmistakably mustache signage has been in my "Must try" list for a while. Finally, I made it there for their good hearty breakfast and their famous hash stack. It was sunny, but cold and windy when we arrived. As expected, this small cafe was full with hungry patrons , but lucky we were next on queue so a very friendly staff apologetically asked us to wait outside while a group of people is finishing their meal.

Once we were seated inside, I quickly browse through the menu. It took me a while to decide what to order, so many delicious varieties to choose from. I know their hash stack is a must and I wanted to try their popular pancake too. So being greedy and being me, I ordered two.

I had the Scrambled egg served with country white sourdough toast ($9.00) with additional sides of salmon ($3.00) and potato hash ($3.00). Scrambled egg and hash stack were superb! served with a crispy bread and smoked salmon. I couldn't be happier, actually all of us couldn't be happier with our breakfast.

Then I had the Ricotta hotcakes with passionfruit, lemon curd and fresh strawberries ($16.00). The warm pancakes were served with sourly lemon curd that was complemented with some sweet strawberries , fresh passion fruit and ricotta. However, I found the pancake a bit dry and floury, it would be better if they could give more lemon curd to balance it. But without doubt the overall flavour was excellent.

My Husband and a friend had the Eggs Baffi with roasted mushrooms, feta, spinach and hollandaise ($13.00). As you can see, there are generous amount of mushrooms and perfectly cooked eggs and hollandaise suace. Another brilliant classic breakfast.

Then, another friend had their Potato stack with double smoked ham, avocado, fresh tomato, asparagus and lemon dressed rocket topped with poached egg ($14.00), which was equally satisfying.

One other thing that I have to mention is their coffee is really strong here, me and friend were struggling to empty our Cafe Latte and Cappuccino, but the Mocha is a 'Thumbs up', I don't usually drink mocha but I couldn't stop stealing it from my husband's cup this time.

Cafe Latte 

Cappuccino

Mocha

Baffi and Mo

94 Redfern Street
Redfern, 2016

Ph: (02) 8065 3294

Central Baking Depot, Sydney

Tart O Tart, How I Love Thee!

Central Baking Depot located just few steps away from my office (at Erskien St), run by the same company that runs Bourke Street Bakery, I always know there's lots of great stuff to be found inside, from hearty meat pies to freshly baked bread and mouth watering cakes/pastries. I didn't know why I never make a stop there until last week.

Last week, me and my friend (LW) made a trip there because I needed to get some breads. I was blown away by the smell of the freshly baked breads/pastries the moment I stepped into this French style bakery shop. I bought myself  an almond croissant and my friend bought a fig and burberry tart. 

When LW offered me half of her tart, I told her I'll have a quarter and gave another quarter to my other friend. The three of us were WOW-ing  over it. It was so delicious! quarter is not enough. So we made it a point to go back for more this week.

FIG AND BURBERRY TART    $4.40

So this week, I bought one fig and burberry tart for myself. Encased in a delicious buttery pastry is the perfect caramalised fig and some very small blueberry alike fruit (Not sure if it's really called burberry, as I always thought burberry is just a brand). This tart is such a down to earth treat with no complicated flavour. We fell in love!

Then, I got another Plum and pear tart to try. This is definitely another brilliant treat to indulge in. The puff pastry case was pretty flaky, with ripe plum and pear in the middle. There was also a thin layer of custard cream that adds an additional texture to the tart. This is a great dessert without being overpowering.

PLUM AND PEAR TART   $4.40

Central Baking Depot is a must try for bakery lover. 

Such an affordable and simple pleasure that could live up your day.
Other equally delicious treats are the Almond Croissant and the Chocolate & Pear Tart.

Thai Chicken With Mushroom and Capsicum

Chan Rak Xahar Thiy ~ I Love Thai Food 

I got the idea of making this dish when I read the MX newspaper in the train last week. The idea was to mix fish sauce, oyster sauce and sugar as the seasoning sauce. Fish sauce is probably the most popular sauce used in Thai cooking. I usually add fish sauce and oyster sauce gradually while cooking, but the recipe in MX suggests mixing them together. So when I got home, I digged into my fridge to see if there's anything I could possibly use to make a delicious Thai dish with this special sauce.  

 

Lucky, I still have some good ingredients I could use. I found some chicken fillet, capsicum, garlic, onion, fresh chillies and mushrooms. Thanks to the special sauce, this dish came up unbelievably easy and delicious.

Ingredients:

- 3 garlic cloves (minced)

- 1 red capsicum (cut in to long strips)

- A bowl of button mushrooms (sliced thinly)

- 1 Onion (cut into thin slices)

- 4-5 chicken fillet (cut into desired size)

- Handful of fresh chillies (deseed and cut into thin long strips)

- Cooking oil

- Cornstrach solution (Mix corn flour with water)

Seasoning Sauce:

- 2 tbsp oyster sauce

- 2 tbsp fish sauce

- 1 tbsp sugar (or according to taste)

Mix all seasoning ingredients in a bowl.

Method:

1) Heat up the wok with cooking oil. Add in garlic, give it a quick stir then add in the chicken.

2) Cook for 2 minutes, then add in half of the seasoning sauce. Dish up and set aside once chicken is cooked.

3) Heat up the wok again with cooking oil. Add in the onion, give it a quick stir. Add in the capsicum, give it a quick stir. Then add in the mushroom. Add in the remaining seasoning sauce. Stir well.

4) Add in the chicken, then fresh chillies. Stir well. Add water if necessary 

5) Add in the cornstarch solution.

6) Stir well and dish up once ready (Just make sure capsicum is not overcooked).

Ten Japanese Restaurant, Randwick

Before eating, Japanese people say "itadakimasu," a polite phrase meaning "I receive this food." This expresses thanks to whoever worked to prepare the food in the meal.

Ten Japanese Restaurant is located in Randwick. I've been asking a few friends (who live in Randwick) about this restaurant, but so far the feedback that I got were not very impressive, mainly because it is slightly pricey. However, my husband and I decided to give it a try because we were craving for some Japanese food and their menu looks pretty extensive, with wide varieties of dishes to choose from.

  

Being a big fan of Bento Box, we had around 13 different bento boxes to choose from. We decided on Teriyaki Chicken and Unagi (Eel). We found the service was a little bit slow, but still acceptable for me. However, the food did compensate for the slow service. It was delicious, sashimi was really fresh and portion was generous too, so in the end we didn't have anything to complain.

Bento Box 1: Chicken Teriyaki.  $25.50

Bento Box 2: Unagi (Eel) Bento Box $30.50

Each bento box comes with Salad, Prawn and Vegetable Tempura, Fresh Sashimi, Takoyaki, Gyoza and Salmon & Avocado Sushi. 

Overall, Ten Japanese Restaurant has a pretty nice decor and ambiance to dine in, but they don't put too much effort on service, what they do offer is delicious Japanese cuisine with slightly higher price but big serving.

After eating, Japanese people once again express their thanks for the meal by saying "gochiso sama deshita," which literally means "it was quite a feast."

Ten Japanese Restaurant

80-82 Belmore Rd

Randwick, NSW, 2031

Ph: (02) 9398 4878

Steamed Egg with Seafood

Finally, The Perfect Steamed Egg

I finally found the way to achieve the perfect smooth and silky steamed egg. After trying the steamed egg with seafood in Mas Thai, I've always wanted to try preparing it myself. Of course this is nothing compared to the one I had there, but I was pretty happy with the result. Instead of using only egg white like Mas Thai I used the whole egg (including egg yolk) to prepare this dish. It is the perfect dish to have with plain steamed rice, suitable for kids as the smooth egg is so easy to eat.

The secret behind the smooth and silky steamed egg (without the holes and the bubbles) is to cover the bowl/plate with cling wrap. This is the similar technique used to prepare the Japanese Chawan Mushi, except I usually use aluminium foil when preparing chawan mushi. I believe it shouldn't make much difference.

This dish is so easy to make, I think it only took me 20-25 minutes to prepare.

Ingredients:

- 4 eggs

- A handful of prawns (cut into small pieces)

- 2 fish fillet (cut into smaller pieces)

- 1 carrot (cut into small cubes).

- 1/4-1/2 cup of frozen green peas

- 2-3 cloves of garlic (minced)

- Cooking oil

- Water

For seasoning:

-Salt

-Sugar

-White pepper

-Sesame oil

-Cornstarch water

Method:

1) Beat the eggs and add some water (egg to water ratio 1:1).

2) Add a dash of salt and pepper into the beaten egg. Pour in the egg into a steaming bowl/plate. Cover with cling wrap and steam for 10 minutes. Set aside.

3) While steaming the egg, heat up the wok, add in some cooking oil. Add in garlic, add in the fish, give it a quick stir. Add in the prawns. Add in carrot and green peas. Stir fry until fish and prawns are cooked.

4) Add in some water (around 3/4 cup) and season with salt, sugar and white pepper. Stir well. 

5) Add in cornstarch water to thicken the sauce. Add in a dash of sesame oil and stir well.

6) Pour the seafood and sauce on top of the steamed egg.

7) Serve immediately while still hot with steamed rice and enjoy!

Qui Ristorante, Five Dock

"The discovery of a new dish is more precious to human beings than the discovery of a new star." (Brillat- Savarin)

 

Last weekend, I was browsing through my entertainment book for a place to dine, out of the many restaurants in the book, I decided on Qui Ristorante at Five Dock. Just because I never been to Five Dock and I read good reviews about this restaurant.

The restaurant was pretty secluded, located just right beside the library. After we reached there I pulled out my camera, I felt like I was being struck by lighting the moment I realised I didn't have my memory card in the camera (how can I ???)... *sigh* so my camera was pretty much useless for the night. Didn't want to miss this post, I tried my best to capture my dining experience using my mobile phone which probably has the worst camera ever.

The atmosphere of the restaurant was really cosy with a soft lighting that creates an intimate ambiance for diners, The service was exceptional, the staffs were warm and very welcoming.

We were really impressed by the entrees, they were really tasty and the size of the food in Qui was massive.

Entree 1: Garlic Prawns  $16.00
The king prawns are cooked in  napolitana sauce with garlic and chilli. The sauce was pretty rich and it was perfect with bread.

Entree 2: Salt and Pepper Squid  $18.00

The staff served the salt and pepper squid equally among six of us, so the portion you see on the picture below is actually one sixth of the entree size. The lightly floured salt and pepper squid was really soft and the fragrant of the spices was really delightful.

Entree 3: Veal Carpaccio  $16.90

The veal was cut thinly. It was smooth and lightly salted with a clean taste.

Entree 4: Salmon and Spinach Risotto  $17.50

Being the special of the day, this Salmon and Spinach Risotto was the dish for the night for me. It was not overly creamy, I found the flavour of the cream and salmon were in the right balance, served with generous amount of spinach and the perfect texture of risotto. It was just delicious!

Main 1: Linguine Marinara  $18.50(E)       $24.50 (M)

The Marinara was the most ordered main for the night, It was really ambitious of me to actually ordered the main size instead of entree size. Even with the help of my husband we couldn't finish it, even my friend that ordered the entree size couldn't finish it too. It was just massive with lots of ingredients, however the taste didn't quite hit the mark for me, it was pretty average.

Main 2: Grain Fed Premium Scotch Fillet  $28.00M

I didn't try the beef but according to my friend it was pretty good. He picked the pepper sauce to go with the steak.

Main 3: Pork with mushroom sauce  $27.00

My husband had the pork, the meat was a bit dry but the mushroom sauce blown us away, it was so rich and creamy. It was the perfect mushroom sauce.

Main 4: Risotto Pollo e Fungi  $15.00(E)   $20.00(M)

The risotto was cooked with grilled corn fed chicken, mushroom and onion in creamy white wine sauce. Like the salmon risotto, it was delicious. Picture below is entree size.

Dessert 1: Vanilla Creme Brulee  $9.00

The Creme Brulee was not the best as it's not firm enough and it could be better if the custard was more eggy.  

Dessert 2: Chocolate Mousse $9.00

Even though the creme brulee was a disappointment,  the chocolate mousse won us over. It was smooth, perfectly rich and lightly sweeten with a hint of bitterness in it, this is the best chocolate mousse I've ever had so far. This is the right chocolate mousse  for you if you prefer dark chocolate over milk chocolate.

There were obviously hit and miss in terms of the food, but overall it was great value for money and a great restaurant for an intimate dinner with friends/families. If you ever need to visit a restaurant around Five Dock this is definitely a great option to consider.

Cakes By Helen, Chinatown

  
My Perfect Treat on Saturday Morning


While walking along the Chinatown Night Market on Friday, I couldn't help but noticed this new bakery shop,'Cakes by Helen'. Not sure what really caught my attention, maybe it was the blue signage or the brightness from the shop or maybe because of the cakes on display near the entrance, anyway I was just drawn by it. So I decided to go in and check out if there's anything worth trying.

First impression was everything looks delicious, there were many different kind of breads and cakes to choose from. I was tossing between this and that until I laid my eyes on the colourful mini Swiss Rolls with 8 different flavours. In my mind, I thought,"This would be the perfect treat when I wake up tomorrow morning". 
With a grin on my face I went to the counter and pay, thinking how would these mini rolls taste like.

Just by looking at the colours, it wasn't hard to guess the flavours. There were butter, mango, chocolate, strawberry, taro, coffee, green tea and black sesame. Even though they were not as good as the one I like from Grand Taipei Bakery (Melbourne), they were not bad either. I like it because it was light and soft, but I would prefer if it is just a litte less sweet and has less cream. However, in terms of  flavours they were pretty distinct and tasty.

In conclusion, despite the attractive colours, are these mini rolls any good? Will I buy them again?

Yes, I will definitely buy them again if I'm in Chinatown.

Cakes by Helen

45 DixonSt

Haymarket,Sydney

NSW 2000

Ph: (02) 9212 3818