Hot Pot

This is a hot pot that I eat in the city today, it is very spicy but it is very poplular in Chonqing, China. Many Chinese like hot pot, although it is spicy but still salty, I am quite enjoy it that I come here with my friends.

Home Cooking Pizzas

Home made food is often advocated in commercial products, using "home style" as a way to encourage people to purchase their products. These holidays I got to experience real home made pizza at its finest. I was also fortunate enough to get a lot of picture.

Starting from scratch

The first step was to make the pizza base which was done from scratch, with basic ingredients, the dough was kneaded into the right consistency and then left to rise.

Left to rise

After rising the dough was much greater in size, not unlike a cake mixture

*pashoot*

The dough was then spread out onto trays and layered with tomato paste, (which likely came from a store bought jar, but the rest of the recipe was home-made! honest!)

Saucy, (as seen on your supermarket shelf)

 The Pizza toppings were made from fresh vegetables and were sliced up to garnish the pizzas evenly, the vegetables were accompanied by ham and cheese on some pizzas and were left as is on the vegetarian options.

watch your fingers

 The end result of the efforts was a delicious, healthy dinner for us to enjoy that night, the meal was universally appealing to everyone and went down a treat.

Tasted fantastic

 I recommend you try using a recipe at home that isn't from a store bought product or book, that's how new culinary ideas are made!

How To Make Sushi

Half year before I was working in a sushi bar which located in the Blacktown. It's far away from my home which take me nearly an hour on the way. I love eating sushi and sashimi which makes me interest in how to make it. However the working place is so far to my home, I still decided work at this sushi bar.

When I worked at the sushi bar, the life is totally different with my imagination. I think I can be the sushi chef or the person do preparatory work for the chef which helps me study the process of making sushi. But unfortunately I was working as a cashier for receipt money.

For my persistence request, finally my boss changed my work from cashier for making sushi. Making sushi is a extremely simple work, but hard to do well. I spend several months to study it, it still has lots of problem. But I can talk some experience about how to make sushi.

First of all, cooking the rice and mix the rice and vinegar well. In additional cut the carrots and cucumber in half long and then cut them into long skinny strips. Thirdly put the seaweed layer on a bamboo mat and spread the cooked rice onto the seaweed. To avoid the roll is broken, the rice should spread equally in every part. Then place the cucumber and carrots onto the rice, and repeat on the fish meat, then roll the bamboo mat into a long roll. Finally cut the middle of roll, repeat by cut both half roll again and its finish.

The Wine In The Hunter Valley

Wine is always be realised as the important part of Candlelight dinner. In this weeks middle break, I just  have an self drive tour at Hunter Valley which is famous for produce wine. Last year I have been to hunter valley once, when we start driving car the time is nearly half past twelve. So when we came into hunter valley, its 3o'clock at afternoon which means almost vineyards is closed, we just buy some wines and back to sydney. This time we decide get up at 7am and search the famous vineyard.

All the way, beautiful scenery along the way. Some vineyard make the fascia that wrote down sales and taste, we always stop in those places and try to found some good wine. In the first vineyard, we try several wines. The moscato make me a special sense, it has the some name with italy moscato. But i dont know is there any similarities between those two wines. But the moscato in Australia taste a little bit  honey and any thing else.

A Cafe in a Museum

If I was to tell you that I’m going to report on a café in a museum, you might be surprised that it even existed, or you would laugh. If you want generic thoughts advertising high class meals, go and watch one of those reality cooking television shows. But I write to attempt to share new or different knowledge with you.

The knowledge I share with you today is on the quality of dining at the café in The National Museum of Australia.

"Wait, you can get food in there?"

The Atmosphere:

As with most of the museum’s architecture the cafe make use of the building’s island setting in the middle of the lake of Canberra, providing lakefront views through the large windows and freaky post-modern design. The food is served on wooden boards which is kind of strange for someone who has lived of plates for most of their life, but gives the experience its own unique feel. The cutlery and bowls were also consistent with the modern theme.

The Food:

 The meal I ordered in particular was a grilled chicken burger, not particularly adventurous, but the results were more than impressive (and that’s not because I’m comparing it to Hungry Jack’s). A crusty, lightly toasted roll was used as the base. The chicken fillet was visibly cooked to a professional level, where it was not soggy or dry. Then there was a fresh garden salad sandwiched with a tangy chilli jam and mayonnaise. It doesn’t take some critiquing genius to know that a meal tastes good, but I can tell you that this one was pretty delicious.

The Location:

The cafes position in a museum on an island makes it a convenient choice for food and drink for those who visit. But the café is also a good attraction in its own right, serving good food in a classy, modern environment. The café is not something to pass up when you’re in Canberra, especially if you’re visiting the museum due to them both being essential to getting the full experience of the buildings artistic design

 

 

I hope I encouraged you to give this place your recognition next time you visit Canberra because I believe it is well worth the trip!

Carnivor - Barbecue Specialist

For the mid-semester break, I decided to go back to by home country. I lives in Jakarta, Indonesia for the past years. Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) is the most favorite place to go and grab some foods. There are a lot of choice of restaurants in there. The exterior of this restaurant is really eye catching, with classy vintage decoration. The restaurant have great dining experiences and ambiance with tasty and low cost foods.

Norwegian Salmon

I ordered Norwegian Salmon for the meal. The salmon serves with rage of side choices such as mashed potato, french fries, buttered rice and rosemary garlic mushrooms. It also serves with Carnivor's famous grill sauces such as peri-peri, original BBQ, sweet honey and spicy BBQ. I decided to have french fries and original BBQ. It was really nice, the salmon was tender and perfectly cooked. For the drink, I ordered Carnivor Cookies Shake. I forgot to take the picture of the cookies shake because I was very thirsty that time :). The cookies shake was not as good as I expected. It was not sweet as the cookies shake must be.

Overall, the meal was fantastic! I spent IDR 150,000 (AUD$ 15) for myself. Don't get shocked by the price! It's quite expensive in my home country to spend IDR 150,000 to eat :)

Chef's Gallery

Chef's Gallery offers excellent Pan Chinese cuisine at reasonable price and attentive service. Introducing a la minute handmade noodles and dumplings as well as a range of other authentic and tasty dishes. It has contemporary decor and one of the largest open Chinese kitchens in Sydney. It also showcases ancient artifacts, replicas of old aged bronze ware and original Chinese calligraphy.

It has a lot of award from different institutions such as 3rd place in Best Sydney Chinese Restaurants by Urbanspoon, NSW Winner in I Love Food Award by Lifestyle Food and 5 Stars Food Safety Award.

My girlfriend and I wanted to try some Chinese foods in Sydney CBD. We decided to go to Chef's Gallery near Town Hall. We came at six for dinner. It was fully-booked that Friday afternoon. Luckily, there were two bar seat that available.

Gourmet Dim Sims

 

For the dim sims, we ordered Prawn Dumplings and Steamed Chicken and Prawn Shiu Mai. The shiu mai topped with a seared scallop and garnished with red flying fish roe. The prawn dumplings was very nice. The prawn was freshly cooked so we could taste the crunchiness of the prawn. The scallop on top of the shiu mai was different from the others. Some was well-done, some was rarely cooked. But it was nothing compared with the taste of the shiu mai!

Vegetable and Tofu

 

We ordered chef's own handmade egg and spinach tofu. It was lightly pan fried and topped with preserved vegetables. The tofu was very soft and well cooked. The taste was very nice! It combines the salty flavor from the toppings, sweet flavor from the soy sauce and the tofu flavor.

Fried Rice

 

We ordered fried rice for the main meal for today. The fried rice comes with prawns and diced Chinese olive. Once again, the prawns were very freshly cooked! The prawns was very crunchy and taste nice. Overall, the fried rice was little bit salty but it still tasted awesome!

The whole meal cost about AUD$70 for the two of us. It was not too expensive for the quality of the foods. The environment was not really good because it was too noisy. We would definitely return to Chef's Gallery for another Chinese foods. A little advice, you better make a reservation first before coming to Chef's Gallery. Specially on weekend dinner time :)

Why you should try sushi

When my friend and I occasional go to the local shopping center to buy lunch and have a chat, our undisputed favorite meal venue is the obligatory sushi bar, although there may be a different sushi bar near you, I know that it will be fairly sure to please.

Your friendly neighborhood sushi line up

I will give you a few good reasons to look into sushi next time you're out to buy lunch casually:

Taste: Sushi is an overall refreshing dish made with vegetables and fish wrapped in rice an seaweed, the meal is fairly easy to eat as it is both delicious and visually appealing due to the impressive culinary expertise required to create the product.

A classic vegetarian option for sushi goers

Healthiness: Sushi is a well advised choice for a lunch or snack food as it in comparison to other modern food choices is remarkably healthy, this is because of the ingredients and the method of creating sushi. For starters, the products used in sushi are usually just raw vegetables with the occasional smoked or cooked fish, the seaweed is simply dried and the rice is just cooked in water, so as a result there is no frying or processing of the food products

Different styles of sushi rolls

Affordability: you should usually be able to find a casual sushi bar where you an buy rolls for  fairly good price, while there are full blown restaurants where you can get a more exquisite experience of the japanese food, but this is would usually be more appropriate for special occasions as the price is usually a lot higher.

Hopefully I have either opened your eyes to or encouraged you to rediscover this fantastic Japanese seafood dish that has made it all over the world.

The Burgers may ACTUALLY be better at Hungry Jack's (disclaimer: 'Better' does not refer to the taste)

A few days ago my friend and I went to the local beach for a walk and to get lunch at a place you may be familiar with... Hungry Jack's.

Now before you give up on this review entirely, I'd like you to give me a chance to explain how Hungry Jack's is actually an example of a fantastic restaurant service. Lets consider some facts:

Availability/Accessibility:
First off I will address the amazing accessibility. The restraunt is part of chain that is easily accsessable to most people as they have franchises all over the place, you won't have to travel far to reach an outlet. This ease of access is complimented by the use of a simple menu design, making it easy for people from all backgrounds to make an order without feeling confused, which is an essential component of customer service.

Not too shabby for five bucks...

Value:

The meal offers made at Hungry Jack's are significantly better than those made at other more popular fast food chains, that may only offer you a burger chips and drink for the the same price, if not more. (I have seen some fast food places try and sell just a burger for more than five dollars. I mean come on buddy, you're food can't be that good...).  Hungry Jack's, from my experience offers the greatest value on fast food out of all other chains, the value of the meals is actually quite good, supplying a drink, chips, burger and a sundae for around the $5.00 mark. This makes it a good choice for those seeking to get fed without having to worry about the cost.

The paper bag comes with this cute rhyme about enjoying your day

Quality of food:

Okay, let's face it, this is Hungry Jack's were talking about, and I'm not fantastic at talking things up. But I will try my best to convince you that the quality of food at HJ's is not as atrocious as your thinking. For starters the food at Hungry Jack's has a bad press for being the worst of the worst, as a connoisseur of fast food I can tell you that this definitely is not the truth of the matter, and that you can in fact get chicken bones battered in sawdust passed of as a $7.00 meal in a chain that I will not name. In addition, Hungry Jack's supplies food that is clean and edible. Their presence as a large food chain whose investment in the value of their brand requires the maintaining of their consistent standards. Admittedly the food at Hungry Jack's is not great, but it's one of the last places were you can get a decent feed for under ten dollars.

"A straw is nice to sip through the ice"

Cleanliness and hygiene:
Having worked in a similar fast food chain as a cleaner I have first hand experience with the cleanliness of this kind of restaurant and the conditions in which the food is produced. I must say it was a lot better than I had expected before I had started, along with many safety procedures and "clean as you go" mentalities, the chain manages to keep a good reputation with health critics. The particular franchise I went to was waving a sign around claiming they had achieved a five star hygiene rating.

My chocolate Sundae. It tasted better than it looked...

That's Just about all I have to say about Hungry Jack's. Sure it may not be some crazy-good, celebrity-endorsed, five-star food production unit, but hopefully I have convinced you that its okay to go to a fast food place from time to time, and that not all burger joints are completely gag worthy.

Jamie's Italian

Jamie's Italian by Jamie Oliver

 

Jamie's Italian was founded in Oxford just four years ago. Since then it has grown to more than 30 restaurants worldwide, and there are already plans for even more in new towns, countries and continents around the world.

It started with the meeting of two unique minds, when a young Essex chef and an eccentric Italian met in the kitchen of London’s Neal Street restaurant back in the early 90s. Jamie Oliver and Gennaro Contaldo bonded while cooking the beautiful Italian food that had inspired them both since childhood, and the seed of an idea was planted.

(http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/australia/our-story)

Me and my girlfriend wanted to try Italian foods for lunch on Friday noon. She asked for some recommendation from her friend. Her friend said that we should try Jamie's Italian on Pitt Street, Sydney. So here I am, reviewing Italian Foods at Jamie's Italian.

We were there at lunch time on Friday. The restaurant was fully-booked for lunch. So we managed to wait for another 20 minutes to have a table for two. We waited on the pasta-making area at the front window.
 

Antipasti

My girlfriend ordered Italian bread selection from the Antipasti menu for her "before the meal". It contains homemade rosemary focaccia, Italian grissini, crispy "music bread" and ciabatta. They are served with Rylstone extra virgin olive oil and aged balsamic. The breads were very fresh and taste awesome!

Pasta

I ordered Tagliatelle Bolognese and Wild Mushroom Ravioli for my girlfriend. The bolognese contains ragu of beef, pork, herbs, Chianti and Parmesan with crunchy, herby breadcrumbs. The bolognese was very meaty and cheesy, which I love to eat =). The ravioli filled with garlic, wild mushrooms and artisanal ricotta. It was served with rich mushrooms and tomato sauce. We both had the small size of the meal to save our stomach for the dessert.
 

Desserts

For the dessert, my girlfriend ordered Tutti Frutti Lemon Meringue Pie and 3 Scoops of Ice Cream for me. The pie comes with limoncello and crunchy pistachio brittle. I tried a spoonful of the pie. The pie was not too sour and the taste was very nice! I had vanilla, caramel and lemon ice cream. It comes with smashed honeycombs and crushed nuts. The ice creams were awesome!

The whole meal cost about AUD$50 for the two of us. It was not very expensive with the service and perfect taste of the meal. We would definitely return to Jamie's Italian for another Italian foods experience. My advice is, you better come early for lunch or dinner if you do not want wait for a long time =)

Salt Grill

Salt Grill by Luke Mangan

Luke mangan is a celebrity chef that brings his signature culinary skills to the signature restaurant at Hilton Surfer Paradise, Gold Coast, Australia. He brings the Modern Australian dining experience for the guests for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The restaurant itself has 157 seats along with all the excitement and theatre of an open kitchen.

Me and my girlfriend were guests in the hotel and found the restaurant is interesting from the outside. So, we came to the restaurant for dinner that day. It was friday night so the restaurant is only half full. The staffs were extremely friendly and helpful. It was very pleasing service and great ambience.

Entrée

My girlfriend ordered scallop from the tapas menu for her entrée. She said that the scallop was really perfect with the combined taste from the scallop and the chorizo. It's because scallops usually have blunt taste! The pea puree and squeezed lemon made the scallop tasted more.

Main

I ordered 200g grilled meat fillet and roasted peking duck for my girlfriend. The meat comes with green beans and BBQ sauce and also french fries which more than enough for two. The mains were beautifully cooked and tasted incredible! I could feel the texture of the beef and the crunchiness of the green beans. The BBQ sauce and the french fries were awesome. I tried a mouthful roasted peking duck from my girlfriend. The duck was perfectly cooked, the sauce was not too sour and the snake beans are good. Overall, this two mains were perfect!

Dessert

On the next day, we came again to the Salt Grill only for the dessert. For the dessert, my girlfriend ordered vanilla crème brûlée and chocolate soufflé for me. The crème brûlée was really nice that made my girlfriend said that she could eat ten of that, LOL. I enjoyed my chocolate soufflé which has soft texture and great taste. It comes with ice cream and chocolate sauce.

The whole meal cost about AUD$150 for the two of us. I thought it was well spent for the quality of the restaurant and the foods. We would definitely return to Salt Grill next time when we visit Gold Coast.

Future Blog

This is our first blog post about the layout of the blog :)

Basically, our blog is a food review blog. This blog will have the background of the ingredients of foods. The title of the blog will be "Delicious Foods" and it will be white coloured. It is because, the white colour will match the background pictures. The post background will be white coloured so the reader could read the information clearly. Our blog will be added with some gadget such as digital clock to show the current time, link to Facebook and Twitter. The blog will have search bar to make the users could easily search anything about the information that we've been given in the blog.