Full house and then Karaoke

Mey sent an email seeing who was up for dinner and karaoke. The karaoke didn't interest me much, but I was more than happy to try a new place. Dinner was at Full House, a Japanese/Korean restaurant opposite the Hilton. I'm glad we even made the place because MnMs offered to pick me and Cookies up, except she was late. REAL late. Yeh don't deny it Ems, YOU WERE LATE. We eventually made it to the city and parked at my work before we power walked to the restaurant, meaning we were only 30mins late.

It was great having a get together considering I haven't seen a lot of people since I started my new job. Plus we finally get to meet Gus's girl!

I was too busy talking to everyone else, but Gus reminded me to take photos of the food!

Their "famed" pumpkin soup - according to Cherry and Mey

Banchan - Bean sprouts, spinach, fish cakes and kim chee

My soft tofu seafood stew

The food wasn't bad, although the service and kitchen was a bit lacking. Although our table of 10 ordered together, some people's food came a good 30mins before other people. They just couldn't seem to get food out properly. And there was surprisingly a lot of microwaving going on in the kitchen. With that said, I enjoyed my soft tofu seafood stew. I would've liked a lot more broth in the pot though, but the tofu was sooooo nice I wasn't too fussed.

After dinner, we headed off to Karaoke World for a bit of singing. I can't remember the last time I went to Karaoke. It could have been Cherry's birthday about 5 years ago? Was it 5? Gosh, I can't even remember.....maybe thats the old age? The only way I could face karaoke again was to get "happy", with a uber big glass of wine. They're certainly generous with the wine at Karaoke world. My 2 glasses came in tumblers, which equated to 1/2 a bottle!

After karaoke, some people decided to head home, whilst the rest of us went to Passionflower for some dessert. Me and Cherry shared an ice cream combo with green tea, black sesame and sticky rice flavoured ice cream, topped with glutinous rice balls. It wasn't bad, but the thing that left a bad taste in my mouth at the end of the night was the "Sunday" surcharge they put on our bill, even though it was a Saturday night. When we questioned them about the surcharge, they said it applies to the whole weekend. No wonder they're no longer busy on the weekends.

Full House
Opp Hilton Hotel
Level 1, Shop 5, 238 Pitt St
Sydney NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9264 8013

Sukiyaki - The Non-DIY version

I haven't had Sukiyaki in ages. So when I had it at Masuya, I knew I wanted to make it the next day. But I was too lazy to actually have a hot pot since I didn't want to do any washing up, I decided to cook the Sukiyaki in a pot and dish it up instead.

The sukiyaki sauce was made with a dashi broth, sake, LOADS of soya sauce, sugar and mirin. No quantities here since I kept adding and adjusting the sauce until I got it right. Once I got the sauce right, I cranked up the sauce until it started bubbling. I then added the udon, potato noodle twisty things, onions, tofu, inoki mushrooms and a heap of leafy green vegetables. Once everything was almost cooked, I grabbed a heap of thinly sliced hot pot beef and submerged it into the sukiyaki sauce. I "waved" the beef around in the sauce until they came apart and started to changed colour.

Then, pull out the now soft udon that has turned slightly brown from soaking up the sauce, then the beef to stop the cooking and everything else you feel like into a bowl. Ladel over a bit of the sauce. Curl up on the sofa and enjoy.

Amy's 27th a@ Masuya, Wynyard

So it was Amy's 37th 27th birthday party. The party was at Masuya, which is literally around the corner from my work's car park. The plan was for me and Cherry to meet up earlier in the city, get trashed until Moishii comes out and let him park at my work. The plan was fairly good considering me and Cherry got smashed at the Metro before Moishii arrived. Infact, we were so trashed we started having a laughing fit when we talked about our past laughing fits.

When Moishii shows up, we continued our laughing fit over nothing. Well, Moishii had a laughing fit because he managed to rip my shirt apart to show the rest of the pub. After almost completely flashing the pub, we started hitting the drinks (after having a few shots). Eventually, Mey and a few others arrived. We had a few more drinks (Thats a lot of drinks) before heading to Masuya. Now here is where it gets a bit fuzzy. Somewhere along the way, we started having a laughing fit. A REALLY bad laughing fit. I was laughing so hard, I was crouched on the floor outside Masuyas having a fit. Next thing you know, Moishii pulls out his asthma spray and starts spraying me in the face, completely missing my mouth. And I don't even have asthma!!!

I finally calm down enough, and we get ready to go into the restaurant. We're still giggling, so I grabbed Moishii and said "Shhh...this is a sophisticated type of restaurant". Then we just lost it. We both cracked up laughing until we were crying. People walking into the restaurant thought we were completely nuts. Christine, Mey and the others, left us and went into the restaurant without us. Took as a while to compose ourselves before we could finally walk into the restaurant. Not that it stopped us giggling at the table.

The birthday girl

The drunks with Amy

It wasn't until the night was over that I realised I didn't get any photos with the birthday girl. I guess me and Moishii were too sloshed to stand up for photos. We were having a ball sitting in our own seats as well. Including stealing the strawberry garnishes off Cherry's drink:

Post garnish stealing - She didn't even notice!

Somehow during the night, we started talking about Cherry's birthday party at the Lord Roberts, and she pulls out the classic photo from the night. I just had to get a photo of the photo.

This was taken when Moishii busts into the women's toilets. Mind you, I did tell him to because I thought Cherry was going to hurl.

Somewhere along the line, we ordered a whole heap of food.

Octopus with chilli and garlic

Beef tataki

Sushi

Sashimi

Unfortunately, none of the above was ours. Not that we were fussed, because our Sukiyaki pot came out soon after.

Beaten egg for dipping

Vegetables

Wagyu beef slices.....so much marbling!

The waitress comes out with a blisteringly hot pan which goes on our stove. Within seconds, she had the onions and beef slizzing in the pan. Then the sauce goes in before the vegetables.

The waitress starts to load our pan to get us started for round one:


Except me and Moishii were greedy guts and decided that that wasn't enough, so we added more stuff:


This was our final cooked pot:


This was unbelievable hearty and comforting, yet so SO healthy for you. But as much as we tried, we couldn't finish the food. Luckily we had Amy there to help polish the food off (which is one of the things I miss about working with her, she eats all my junk food so I can't pig out!).

Amy helping out

Making lesbo faces at me...

Even after stuffing our faces, we still managed to find room for the white chocolate mud cake.

Happy birthday girl! Hope you had a fantastic birthday!

Masuya
Ph: 02 9235-2717, 02 9231-0038
Basement Level
12-14 O'Connell Street
Sydney 2000
http://www.masuya.com.au/en/masuya/

Seafood Doria...I think...

My friend was telling about this wonderful dish that can be found in Japan called a "Seafood Doria". I've never had it before, and have never seen it at any Japanese restaurant before. A quick google returned the most heavenly looking image I have ever seen. From then onwards, it was a mission to recreate this dish!

I searched and searched, I googled and then I interrogated my friend until I was confident I kind of knew what a seafood doria should be.

Firstly, I made a quick "fried rice" using leftover rice, bacon and onion. This goes into the bottom of a dish (I had to use a cake tin because I cooked too much.......). I then quickly sautee some peeled king prawns, fish and baby octopus. Other seafood you can use include scallops, mussels etc. Don't cook the seafood all the way through, it will need to be cooked again later. Scatter the seafood over the rice and ensure you spread it evenly so every section of the pan has a bit of everything.

Make a basic white sauce using flour and butter to creat a roux, then whisk in some milk until the sauce starts to thicken. Make HEAPS of this sauce. When the sauce is almost done, chuck in a handful of garted cheese until it melts in the sauce. Pour the sauce all over the seafood until it is generously covered. Sprinkle grated cheese all over the pan until covered. Bake until the cheese is all melted and golden brown.

My seafood doria coming out of the oven

It looks pretty average doesn't it? It certainly doesn't compare to the original photo I saw, and I was worried it would turn out crap. However, the minute I dug into the pan, I knew how gorgeously moreish this would be...

The rice had just become to absorb some of the cheesey white sauce, almost like a risotto. The seafood was just cooked to perfection. Soft tender baby octopus, flakey fish and the most bursty prawns ever! All covered in a lovely cheesey sauce. I was spooning the sauce up and eating it like a soup. Definitely something I should only make once every 6 months!

I'm not sure how authentic this seafood doria is, but my friend certainly loved it and both of us ended up fighting over the leftovers!

600th mega cooking post

Wow.....I can't believe this is my 600th post. I really need to get a life! haha I thought I'd celebrate my 600th post by doing a consolidated post of all the yummy things I've been cooking.

Swedish Meatballs

Swedish meatballs

I forgot to take a photo of the final product, but these were really yummy for a first attempt. You're supposed to shallow fry these meatballs, but I tried to reduce the amount of oil/butter by using a non-stick pan. So they didn't turn out as dry and crunchy as the traditional swedish meatballs, but they were really good nonetheless.

Chicken and mushroom pastry

Chicken and mushroom pastry with potato gems

Innards

I haven't made this in almost 2 years. The last time I made this was during a dinner party where we ended up watching the secretary and freaking everyone out. I marinate the chicken and quickly pan fry the chicken to seal in the juices. The mushrooms are sauteed and mixed with cream cheese and cream plus a whole heap of other spices. This is then wrapped in puff pastry and baked until golden brown. I then drench the whole thing in a light cheese sauce. Sooooo good!

High Tea

I have my mother's mentality of "Why go out and pay for something, when you can make the same thing, only better, cheaper and in bigger quantities??". So when my friend mentioned that we should do high tea, I offered to whip up a high tea pigging out session.

Finger sandwiches

I made 3 types of finger sandwiches. Smoked salmon with cream cheese and cucumber, cucumber and mayo, and good old creamy egg salad sandwich with extra pepper. I think the egg sandwich was the winner.

Crab dip on toasties and pigs in a blanket

The pigs in a blanket isn't something you would normally find at a high tea, but it was something I haven't made for awhile and was seriously craving. The crab dip was a recipe I got off The Food Pornographer and it was absolutely delicious! I wish I managed to get my hands on some fresh crab meat instead of canned crab meat, it would've been sooooooo much nicer!

What are these golden orbs?

I found a fantastic recipe to make scones, and what high tea would be complete with scones? This only took me a few minutes to make and they turned out absolutely perfect. And what needs to go with fresh warm fluffy scones?

Hand whipped cream

So on top of hand whipped cream, you need strawberry jam. Luckily, I still had some strawberry jam from the last batch I made.

Put home made chunky strawberry jam on the fresh hot scones...

... slather with whipped cream. Consume.

OH. MY. GOD. This was utterly orgasmic! The scones were hot and fluffy, the strawberry jam and thick cream was the perfect end to the high tea.

Lasagne

Another dish I haven't made in a long long time. This lasagne had a thick rich meaty sauce layered between sheets of pasta with white sauce, all topped with cheese.

How good does that look?

Big Breakfast

I can think of no better way to start the weekend when you've got a hangover, than with a big breakfast. Wait, I can. Someone ELSE making you the big breakfast. But then you can't pig out without making a fool of yourself. The only way will be to cook it yourself.

Now THAT is a big breakfast

Bacon, eggs, sausages, baked beans, mushrooms and potato gems. I forgot to buy hash browns, so the potato gems will have to do. This was the perfect way to wake up in the morning.

Eggy closeup

Pizza

I really gotta make my own pizza base one day. But the cool weather makes it hard for any dough to rise properly. So I bought some "Bazaar" pizza bases to make these pizzas.


Rich tomatoey base, topped with ham, onions, sundried tomato and loads of cheese. I then sprinkled some oregano ontop before baking it until the cheese went a nice golden brown.

Chunky steake and mushroom pie

In this cold cold weather, one of the most comforting things you can have is a lovely hearty pie. As much as I love my junk pies with the unknown meat gravy, I thought I might try my healthier version with chunky steak and mushrooms.

Chunky steak and mushroom pie with potato gems

Innards

I don't know how other pies get their filling so dark, I think it could be the stock they use or something. Even though it doesn't look like your typical pie filling, it definitely tasted like it.

Indonesian Oxtail soup

I first had this when I was in Singapore and I couldn't believe how flavoursome it was. I search the net for a recipe, and luckily, Lilia posted a comment on my post with a recipe! I followed the recipe and although it didn't taste exactly the same as what I had in Singapore (And I think thats cos I didn't put any msg in!), it was still delicious. This is rich, yet light. Almost like a really good Pho stock.


Chicken burger with a twist

I didn't exactly cook this, my friend did, but I did help assemble my serve!


Grilled chicken breast with avocado and sundried tomato burger.

Hokkien Fried Rice

This was a dish I tried about 15 years ago, and I loved it so much, I made my parents put it on our restaurant menu. When I cook this, I try to make it extra extra saucy. I love my sauce, especially if its on Hokkien fried rice.


The fried rice simply stir fried with egg and peas. The topping was a combination of diced chicken, prawns, mushrooms and asparagus. The sauce was made from the rehydrated mushroom water, chicken broth, oyster sauce, soya sauce and pepper. It doesn't look like a lot of sauce, but what I did was I dug a well in the centre of the rice before pouring a whole heap of sauce onto it.

That's a lot of cooking, but it was done over quite a few weeks, so don't think I ate all of that on one weekend! I've just been too lazy to post, but being the 600th post, I had to make a bit of an effort! Lets see what I can rack up for the 700th post?

New Shanghai - Ashfield

After having Din Tai Fung and Shanghai Nights dumplings one after another, it was only fair to compare the food with New Shanghai. Its been a while since I've been to New Shanghai as I always go next door to Shanghai Nights. This is mainly because I know the waitress there and I've always eaten there as a kid. I went a few times when New Shanghai renovated, but its been about a year since I've been.

Walking in, half of the restaurant was empty, yet we've been placed on the table right next to the fish tank where we had to squeeeeeeze right in. But it was a small price to pay for the food we were about to get.

Xiao Long Bao - Steamed mini pork dumplings

These were really flavoursome. Compared to Din Tai Fung, the dumpling skin was thicker and had a rougher texture, but was still thin enough for you to see the soup within. However, the pork filling was much tastier than the ones at Din Tai Fung. After eating a few of these, you get that lip smacking gelatinous porky goodness coating your lips.

Shanghai handmade noodles

This is one of my favourite stir fried noodles, so we had to order this as a benchmark. This was a lighter version compared to Shanghai Nights, but still delicious. I would probably go to Shanghai Nights if I'm after a richer noodle, and New Shanghai for a lighter version in summer.

Steamed pork and coriander dumplings

Unlike the steamed pork dumplings, these weren't filled with soup. This is a much more common type of dumplings you find in most shops. Infact, this is what we make at home. The filling was a combination of pork mince, coriander and finely minced ginger. Really nice when dipped in the black vinegar.

Pan fried pork buns

These...these were da bomb! New Shanghai has got to make the best pan fried pork buns in Sydney. The base was ultra ultra crispy, whilst the rest of the bun was super soft and fluffy. Most places either have a soggy base or a really hard base but making the rest of the buns a bit tougher. These were PERFECT. And I haven't gotten to the filling yet. Hidden inside these babies, is a huge spoonful of broth. Sometimes, the buns go soggy because all the soup is absorbed by the bun. These ones however, even when they've been sitting there for 10mins were full of a wonderful rich and porky soup. Infact, this was how much soup was in there:

MmMmM porky goodness!

Conclusion? New Shanghai for the best pan fried pork buns!

New Shanghai
273 Liverpool Rd
Ashfield, NSW, 2131
Ph: 9797 7284