Ichi-ban Boshi Noodle

Craving for a good ramen / udon? We found the place!

Ichi-ban Boshi restaurant in Bondi Junction served very yummy noodles.
When we got there for lunch on satruday, unfortunately the Tonkatsu ramen is already sold out! So we had to content ourselves ordering some other noodles they have on the menu.

For me, tempura udon 12.95$ and for my husband Wonton noodle $10.95 (yes, he likes his wonton).

My tempura udon was a bit small, but it was super yummy. Something to consider for the health conscious, they put a lot of oil in it, which makes it more yummy albeit a bit too fatty.
And his wonton noodles? He liked it very much. The serving was generous! To me, the wonton noodles tastes different than your normaly chinese wonton noodles, nevertheless it is different in a good way. It's like eating chinese menu with a japanese take on it.

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Weekend Flan

What to do when your milk is close to the expiry date?  Get some eggs and sugar and make a Caramel Flan. Then ask your husband to held a torch while you aim an shoot it!

Yet another use of a good husband.

The caramel was super yum!

Sydney with Yuni (Part 1)

So when my friend Yuni came to town we head out to chinatown for some food.

I had some nasi kuning campur, which was very good. A tad expensive: AUD 9.50 but I guess I miss Indonesian food that much!  We then went to line up for emperor's puff (see previous post), before making our way to darling harbour.

We took pictures in front of the FIFA screen. All the lights was turned into soccer balls. (wait for more in next post!). It was about 8pm so the arena was still empty, and yet ready for the 4.30 am game display.

Emperor's puff

Walking around Sydney's chinatown, we saw this huge long line of people in front of a shop with Emperor's Puff for sale.  At the price of one for 30cent or  four for $1.00 we figured out that this cannot be too wrong. So we tried it.

It was a yummy soft cake with yum centres, worth the long wait!

Australian King Prawns

Celebrating the new Photoshop selection tool, I present you with a picture of an Australian King Prawn. These prawns are quite huge! Pricing at 17.95AUD per kg they're quite yummy and pretty to look at with the blue and orange tails.

Tonight, they enjoyed a restful sleep alongside basil, garlic, butter and virgin olive oil. Rest in peace, I've got your beauty documented!

Waffles - the luxury breakfast

After craving for weeks, I finally got my waffles! With the help of Myer voucher, I pull the plug and get myself a waffle maker. With butter and maple syrup on top, it's an absolute joy (to take picture and to eat!).

Thanks for boyfriend who lend me his waffles to be taken picture of. Mine, was gone before I remember that I wanted to take a photo of it!

Petits Sorelois

Nothing is more joyful than the smell of cookies coming from your kitchen.So yes, today my boyfriend decided that he would like to try his hands to make his favorite childhood cookies.

Petits Sorelois are sweet-lemony cookies, crunchy on the outside and a little bit moist on the inside. With the hundred and thousands sprinkled on top of it, I wouldn't be surprised if he had it while he was young. The looks certainly screams "kids!".

Since it was his first cookie making experience, I decided to document the historical events with photos. Looking at the trend these days, where everybody (most certainly Asians, for sure) likes to take pictures of their meal, I think a few little photography tips wouldn't hurt.

Just to show you how picture quality is important, I took another picture of the cookies with on camera flash. Look at the difference between the two photos. Which of these that you prefer? Do you notice the difference?

First picture shows more of the texture and details of the cookies. The second picture looks flat. Main difference? Lighting! First picture is taken with available sun rays coming through the window from the back, creating depth to the picture. It really doesn't take fancy cameras to make a difference in your pictures. As long as the lighting is correct, everything else is easy.

So remember, it's the job of your loved ones to cook, our job to make it look good on camera!

Korean BBQ... again?

I didn't think raw beef can be so inspiring before. But it can be! As soon as we saw the raw beef picture in the menu outside the restaurant, then checked that the customers are mainly asian, it didn't take much more to convince us to go and try it out.

Pricing at 17AUD for the two slice of marble beef (wagyu?) and another 19AUD for the marinated beef ribs, the portion is enough for the two of us. We would be happy with slightly more though. It also came with the standard side dishes and the salad.
The service was a bit slow for us considering it was sunday night and not a lot of people serving. But it was worth the wait.

Won-Ji, The restaurant itself is only a short walk from Strathfield train station. I think I will come back for more experience, maybe try their other non-bbq menu. Anyone?


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Pempek? Yes Please!

After a 4.5 hours of feet burning Tango, there is nothing better than eating some familiar food. So we went to Pempek Clovelly, to satisfy my craving for fish cakes in vinegar. I ordered Kapal selam for 7.5AUD and a Pempek Kulit for 2.5AUD.

The Gado gado + Ayam Goreng + Nasi wasn't so bad either. It was quite a big portion! Even too big for a Canadian to finish!

It was a success. Too bad Kensington is so far away from where I reside. Luxury treat indeed!


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Wedding cakes

Thinking of getting married? Perhaps if you haven't got your groom you can entertain yourself in shopping for the perfect wedding cake! The cake, which used to be overlooked by many wedding couples in the past, now has become the centre piece of the wedding.

I walked around Mangga Dua plaza and stumbled upon this Harum Sari cake shop. Specializing in cake decorations.

Yes it is that high and no, it's not real! Unlike in the olden time where the cake is all real here they only serves as a 'decoration' with the actual cake already cut and prepared, behind the curtain, or sometimes only occupies the last 3 layers on the top, while the rest are just structured foam covered by icings.

5 layer costs about 150 dollars.

No doubt the decorations are very nice, with equally nice shades of green, maroon or the colour of your choice. I tasted the samples of the cake, and it was very delicious. I personaly love this maroon coloured one.

I do wonder though of what is the purpose of it all. I think it is breathtaking when the cake is real, but when you know it isn't real, and all you need is just some money to buy it... for me, somehow it takes a lot of the magical feeling out of it. What do you think?

Seafood Christmas

Firstly, Merry Christmas everyone!
So while you are celebrating your christmas with your family under the tree, opening presents,
I took a 7 hours flight to Indonesia!

Obviously besides visiting my family, food is the other motivation.

Surely enough, my parents took me to a seafood restaurant called Sampan.

We had a very yummy crab with salted eggs (as pictured). This is my first time of eating this style of crab cooking. Normally I'd go with black bean or smoked. But it was a very good choice indeed. No regrets there, the crabs were very tasty and filling.

We also ordered fried butter prawn. Two small crabs, prawns, grilled fish and drinks, all for about 15AUD! Now isn't that a perfect way to spend christmas?

Christmas Cakes, anyone?

December week 3 christmas challenge is Christmas Food, constraints: photo must be unadultered (ie. straight jpg and no tweaks whatsoever). Food should also be self made if possible. I think I failed for this week challenge because I haven't cooked anything yet, christmas or not christmas food, during the last week!

Ok, fine I thought I'd take some pictures of nice christmas cake I found on the shop. But then I forgot to change the setting from RAW to JPG! Grrrrr! Anyway, here are some that I took. The first one is RAW but without any other change besides adding borders and signature.

This second one was taken at a cupcake shop in Sydney city. I brightened the exposure a bit. I think my Canon 30D does have a slight darker metering in most cases.

Third picture, from the same shop. Aren't these cute? It cost 3.50 each. Quite cheap, but no nutritional content is guaranteed.

Crazy Wings!

A sign of a good asian restaurant is if they're full packed of asian.

And this restaurant was! Located in chinatown Sydney, Crazy Wings really were jam packed last Sunday. With asians!

So my friend and I took the pain and waited for available table. It was worth it!
We ordered some honey chicken wings, chili wings some chili spiced lamb, and a honey bread.

The chili wings were too spicy for me but I looooooove the honey chicken wings. I didn't know wings can be so tasty!

The bread turned out to be just a toast of 1.50AUD. It was nice, but I think I can make it my own.



And here he is, my friend. A long time friend since primary school back in Jakarta. Finally after all these years we had the time to catch up.


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Early xmas gift

Today santa came at about 10.30 am in the morning. Mispronouncing my name as Ching Chong Ung, he gave me my 3 plastic bag of christmas gift because I have been a nice girl this year. Really!

And this is what I got.. 10 original flavoured Mi Goreng, 5 Satay Mi Goreng, 2 Aeroplane jelly, 2 packs of Dark Tim Tam, 2 Toblerone, 2 Continental Chinese chicken and corn soup and 1 big jar of Nutella!

Just what I need. Thank you Santa, and Merci to the Canadian Supersanta ;)

The silent problem

Yes, the last Dark Chocolate Tim Tam

Cake, coffee and an old friend

An old friend came to stay over the night with me last weekend. It was great to catch up with her again. And since I don't really cook breakfast, we decided to go to Gloria Jean's near Epping Station for a bit of a bite.

I had ricotta cheese cake with a bit of choc on top, while my friend Cenly had her choc muffin.

I realized that nothing beats cakes, coffee and a good friend.

Ja Jang Myon anyone?

This chinese derived korean black bean noodle jajangmyon looks ugly, but is absolutely delicious!

I first heard about it from the korean drama series Couple or Trouble (환상의 커플 "Hwansangui keopeul"), where the girl always eats jajangmyon. Curious on how it tastes, i bought a couple of instant one few months earlier. I didn't like it much. However when I taste the one made in Arisun restaurant, Strathfield. I love it!

My friends and I ordered salt and peopper chicken to go along with it. And it is such a perfect combination. YUM! Pictures speak a thousand words

Pinangsia "Rubber Noodle" in Sydney

Hungry for some Indonesian dish? The Pinangsia Noodle restaurant in Kingsford certainly got my vote. Their "Mie Karet" (literally translated as Rubber Noodle), is quite yummy. But I think my favourite is their delicious fried meatball (bakso goreng). Prices are reasonable, 8 AUD for the noodle and 1.5 AUD for their tennis ball sized fried meatball.

Don't expect ambiance from this Hawker style restaurant, but certainly expect near authentic Indonesian taste dish.

Pinangsia Noodle
319 Anzac Pde
Kingsford NSW 2032
Phone (02) 9697 0788