kopi – Page 9 – ohdenny

Corlam Kitchen

March 13, 2015 Posted in Food Reviews, Glen Waverley, Indian, Malaysian, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Corlam Kitchen on Blackburn Road in Glen Waverley is one of the better Indian/Malaysian restaurants in the area. Somewhat hidden in the sense it’s away from the Kingsway hub but still situated on a main road so it gets plenty of traffic passing by. My favourite Indian place to eat is and has been for many years, the shop in the derelict Dandenong Hub Arcade food court. Perfect blend of spicy and aromatic spices. Corlam Kitchen, although doesn’t ascend to the top, it does remain in my go to places if I want Indian/Malaysian food around the area. Corlam Kitchen has a wide selection of Rice, Roti and Curry dishes to appease your Indian cuisine cravings

Their Nasi Briyani is rich with flavour, aromatic however the rice served was not as dry as I would have liked. The curry accompaniment adds the creaminess and spices to the dish, and for something to cleanse the pallet a bit it is also served with a yogurt side dish.

You can also order something like Nasi Kandar, selecting a few dishes with rice. Here is their Sambal Eggplant with rice, it’s actually quite nice, with just enough spice and sweetness in the sambal. The sambal isn’t as good as it is in PappaRich but overall it’s a pleasant meal.

The Lamb Murtabak at Corlam Kitchen is quite generous in its offerings, with the lamb filling stuffed inside the roti. What I would have liked is if the Murtabak itself as a tad more crispy on the outside however the meaty filling inside with the curry sauce is one of the better Murtabak’s around and to be honest the tasty curry sauce that comes with it isn’t enough to eat my way through the dish. Other than that, it’s probably number three as my favourite places to order it (Taste of Singapore and Mamak as one and two)

Impressions

The flavours of the dishes we ordered are on average quite tasty and probably on part with India Delights. I haven’t had the chance to frequent Corlam Kitchen often but I definitely will.

Corlam Kitchen

PappaRich Glen Waverley

March 6, 2015 Posted in Food Reviews, Glen Waverley, Malaysian, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

I’ve dined at most of the PappaRich stores in Victoria and the Glen Waverley and Chadstone stores I would say are the best of the bunch. Although, I’ve heard from numerous people the Doncaster outlet is above all, I have actually yet to try it even though it’s now the closest one to me. Go figure.

Malaysian cuisine has almost become part of the Melbourne dining experience with Nasi Goreng or even Laksa as commonly known dishes to most. What isn’t as well known is probably the more Indian or Malay influenced Malaysian dishes such as their Nasi Kandar style dishes which is usually rice served with curry and side dishes.

PappaRich has a decent selection of menu choices such as beef rendang or curry chicken or even prawns and eggplant for instance. Generally, I would say you can’t go wrong with it and the Biryani offerings I would say are pretty darn tasty.

Their Har Mee (Pappa Prawn Mee) is one of my favourite Malaysian dishes. Some restaurants tend to water down their prawn soup base, but here it’s still full flavoured. My only con is that it’s just overly oily. Otherwise it’s something I can probably rely on being satisfied with.

Impressions
As mentioned before, PappaRich Glen Waverley is one of my preferred PappaRich outlets and both service and food quality is above average. Although finding a table during peak times can be the most challenging issue of it all. Queuing is almost the norm there. However, to be honest I would probably prefer to dine at Petaling Street for my Malaysian fix at Glen Waverley. Though, you’re really spoilt for choice with Kitchen Inn, Straits of Malacca and O’Town all within walking distance from each other.

Highlights
Ipoh Koay Teow Soup with Steamed Chicken, Pappa Prawn Mee, Pappa Special Nasi Lemak

Checkered Cookies

February 27, 2015 Posted in Baking, Cooking, RecipesLeave a comment

There are these checkered cookies that my mother used to buy for us as kids growing up. I love the look of the cookies with its contrasting colours and the buttery goodness of the biscuits. We received a gift of these biscuits from Malaysia one day and it spurred me to try making it myself. Not an easy task mind you. I found this wonderful recipe from Cook & Be Merry with amazing photos to boot. Being a perfectionist in this instance is probably for the better but alas I was a bit pressed for time so my “checkered” cookies were a bit more individualistic. Loved the taste of them though!

Checkered Cookies (Cook & Be Merry Recipe)
Makes: ~100 cookies

Ingredients
Vanilla Cookie Dough
170g unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg yolk (reserve egg white for brushing)
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Chocolate Cookie Dough
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted after measuring
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
115g unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg

1 egg white, beaten, for sticking layers of dough together
2 cookie sheets with 2 sheets parchment cut to fit sheets

Method – Vanilla Cookie Dough

1. In a large bowl or a mixer, beat the butter, sugar and salt until well mixed, light colored and fluffy, about 2 minutes, then beat in the vanilla and egg yolk. Keep beating until very smooth, about 2 more minutes.

2. Scrape the bowl and beat in the flour. Cover and chill the egg white until needed.

3. Scrape dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface and press into a 2.5 cm (1 inch) thick square. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill until firm, several hours or up to 3 days.

Method – Chocolate Cookie Dough
1. In a bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Stir well with a whisk to mix.

2. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar with a fork until well mixed and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

3. Beat in the vanilla and egg until the mixture is very smooth, about 2 minutes longer.

4. Mix in the flour mixture until well combined.

5. Form the dough into a ball and press into a 2.5 cm (1 inch) thick square. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill until firm, several hours or up to 3 days.

Method – Assembling the Checkers

1. Unwrap the Vanilla Cookie dough and roll it out on a floured parchment sheet on work surface into an 20×30 cm (8×12 inch) rectangle about 1 cm (3/8 inch) thick with square corners. Slide dough on parchment onto a cookie sheet, cover securely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes until firm again. Do the same with the Chocolate Cookie dough.

2. Place the unwrapped vanilla dough on parchment on your work surface. Paint with the egg white and place the chocolate dough on top, parchment side up. Place a cookie sheet on the stack and gently push down so the two layers stick together.

3. Cut the dough rectangle in half through the parchment so you have two 20×15 cm (8×6 inch) rectangles. Paint the top of one rectangle with egg white and put the second rectangle on top so the four layers are alternating black and white. Press gently with pan to help stick together. With a sharp knife, trim the four sides so they are straight and square. Wrap and chill for several hours, keeping the corners square.

4. Place unwrapped dough stack on cutting board with the 20 cm (8 inch) side facing you. With a sharp knife, cut the 15 cm (6 inch) side into sixteen 1 cm (3/8 inch) thick slices.

5. Place one striped slice on the cutting board and brush it with egg white. Turn the next slice over and place it on top of the first slice so the stripes are alternating in color. Repeat two more times so there are four layers with alternating colors and the end looks like a checkerboard.

6. Make three more stacks with four slices each. Wrap each stack in plastic wrap and gently press each side with the pan to square it. Refrigerate on cookie sheet for several hours or freeze for future use.

7. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius (350 degrees F) with racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven.

8. Slice the cookies to roughly 1/2 cm (1/4 inch) thick, turning the stack after each cut so it doesn’t become flat from the knife pressing down.

9. Place cookies on parchment covered pans one inch apart and bake for 9 to 11 minutes until firm to the touch. Slide the parchment with the cookies onto a rack or countertop to cool. Store in one layer between parchment in air-tight container.

Masak Ku

February 20, 2015 Posted in Camberwell, Food Reviews, Malaysian, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Masak Ku is situated just minutes away from Camberwell train station and on the busy Burke Road. Masak Ku in Malay is translated to as “cooked by” if you’re curious. Masak Ku serves Malaysian cuisine with influences from Malay, Chinese and Indian cuisines as Malaysian dishes usually are in one way or another. It’s not your typical Malaysian restaurant as the ambiance and quality of the food caters towards a more upper market demographic but if the food is great, sometimes forking out that bit extra is worth it.

Masak Ku’s Chicken Satay’s are cooked to perfection, tender but cooked all the way through. They could have been a bit more generous with the satay sauce on the other hand and I prefer a bit more nuttiness to the sauce which I found to be lacking in oomph.

One of the specials that wasn’t on the menu was the Soft shell Crab which had an amazing combination of flavours. Sweet, spicy, salty and with all that crispiness. One of the highlights for me.

The Kelantan Chicken I found to be cooked well, the chicken was tender but the sauce didn’t impress. I liken it to the typical Soy Chicken that you may find in a BBQ Pork/Duck/Chicken Chinese restaurants.

The Nyonya Vegetable Curry was also one of my favourites, the curry had enough spiciness and with the softened vegetables it makes for a delicious meal.

Masak Ku’s Sambal Fish seemed promising on the menu, but overall I found it lacked flavour. Fish was cooked well, but the marinade used just wasn’t absorbed by the fish.

Here they make their own Ice-Cream, and they have a few choices to select from. Such as Chocolate and Chilli Ice-Cream and Durian. The Ice-Cream here whilst flavourwise was fantastic, the ice-cream itself was particular ice-y, and not smooth and creamy as it should be.

Their Lychee Ice-Cream with jelly was quite nice, the ice-cream smoother than the scoops we tried before it. However, still I found the Ice-Cream to be not as smooth as I would have liked.

Impressions
The food and service at Masak Ku is great overall, with some exceptions. I find it hard to justify coming here regularly as I wasn’t overly impressed with the dishes. Whilst the had great flavour to them, I can probably find as good as tasting dishes in other Malaysian restaurants for half the price. However, if price isn’t an issue and you want to try some Malaysian cuisine in or around Camberwell, Masak Ku will scratch your itch.

Highlights
Soft shell crab, Nyonya Vegetable Curry

Hanbat Korean Restaurant Box Hill

February 13, 2015 Posted in Box Hill, Food Reviews, Korean, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

Hanbat Korean Restaurant recently opened its doors in Box Hill, in the predominantly Korean side of town (on Bank Street). According to the owners, Hanbat is from a famous franchise in Korea. Only doors down you can find Yami Yami and Korean BBQ as well as a Korean grocery store and hairdresser. It seems like the Korean community is certainly growing in Box Hill, much to my liking!

I love Don-Udon‘s Jap Chae and that’s the standard I will uphold all other restaurants too. Here the Jap Chae just lacks that oomph in flavour, as well as being overly wet. It beats Crunch Box but no where near as delicious as Don-Udon.

Their Pork Bulgogi isn’t too bad either, but again I find the flavour just lacking a tiny bit compared with the other Korean eateries around.

Their Hot Stone Bibimbap adds numerous fresh ingredients, and with the chilli sauce gives it the much needed kick. My only negative is probably the egg being slightly overcooked.

Hanbat’s Spicy Seafood and Tofu soup again isn’t my favourite, that award lies with By Korea in Richmond but taste wise it’s actually quite decent with the soft tofu and flavoursome soup base. Nothing to write home about but again I’d say a good dish.

Impressions

Overall, I wasn’t too impressed with the quality of the dishes served here. Which is unfortunate as you never want to dine at a place that disappoints and I want restaurants to succeed. However, it seems the food aren’t up to the standard of Yami Yami or Don-Udon in the area. I’m just hoping we were just unlucky and didn’t select their standout dishes.

Petaling Street Box Hill

February 6, 2015 Posted in Box Hill, Food Reviews, Malaysian, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Petaling Street Box Hill re-opened its doors last year after what seemed like years when it unexpectedly shut down. Today, the venue seats quite a large number of customers and marks a return of the Malaysian cuisine to the Box Hill food scene. Box Hill now offers a range of choices from what seemed like years of only Madam Kwong’s, with Straits of Malacca also having opened its doors last year.

The Box Hill outlet serves the same menu options as its other Melbourne counterparts, but where it differs as you’d find with most outlets of the same name that the standard of the food varies.

Their Ipoh Hor Fun is one of those differences unfortunately. The soup base lacks depth in flavour but general blandness in taste. I found myself in the situation where I needed to add soy sauce to the soup for taste. The chicken served also lacks flavour but at least it has a marinate. In most restaurants, the cut of chicken served would be a selection of cuts but mostly the tender and moist parts of the chicken with bones being mostly a small inconvenience. Maybe I’m just a bit lazy, but it’s something I often never seem to come across when I order a Ipoh Hor Fun.

The Dry Curry Noodles (Chicken), at least has great curry flavour and sauce. It’s rich, slightly creamy but still a tad spicy and goes well with the noodles. My only con is for a tiny bit more curry sauce to flavour the noodles as well.

As with the other Petaling Street restaurants, they also offer fish as a menu item. Steamed and Fried varieties. Their Steamed Fish was surprisingly decent, the sauce was flavourful, but the balance wasn’t quite perfect. The garnish of these fried pieces adds a bit of crunch and is most welcome.

Impressions
Overall, I found Petaling Street to be slightly underwhelming. The food standard here isn’t as high or as tasty as you may find in Glen Waverley but I only hope as time passes, it gets better with age.

Petaling Street Box Hill
600 Station St
Box Hill VIC 3128

Chilli Pork Sausage Rolls (Jamie Oliver)

January 30, 2015 Posted in Baking, Cooking, RecipesLeave a comment

I’ve always liked a sausage roll that varies slightly from the norm. I grew up with Four and Twenty Sausage rolls at school but to be honest it was never a favourite. The Aussie Meat Pie came out on top each time. However, sausage rolls are great for picnics or finger food parties so I found this recipe on the Jamie Oliver website. Recipe is by Peter Begg, it creates an interesting combination of chilli and paprika. I made some additions to the recipe to give it a bit of sweetness and also if you cannot find pork sausage meat or it may be out of your price range it can be substituted with pork mince and a few other ingredients as noted below. Check out the recipe below!

Chilli Pork Sausage Rolls (Jamie Oliver)

Serves: 10 (as snack)
Preparation: 25 minutes
Cooking: 20 minutes

Ingredients
3-4 red chillies (or use 1 to 1 1/2 tbsp chilli flakes)
500 g higher-welfare pork sausage meat*
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
3 tbsps sweet chilli sauce
2 tbsps chives (freeze dried or fresh)
black pepper
500 g puff pastry
2 free-range egg yolks, beaten with a splash of milk
1/2 tbsp whole cumin seeds

*Variation
500g pork mince (fine)
50g breadcrumbs
1-2 tbsps water (if necessary)
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp salt

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4.

2. Pierce the chillies then toast over a gas flame or a hot grill until black and blistered. Place in a bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to cool.

3. When cool enough to handle, pull off and discard the skins then scoop out the seeds – or leave in if you want fireworks! Chop the chilli flesh and set aside.

4. Mix with the sausage, paprika, chives, sweet chilli sauce add in the chilli flesh or chilli flakes and add a pinch of pepper.

5. Sprinkle a work surface with flour. Cut the pastry in half and roll out into 2 strips, 50cm x 15cm each.

6. Shape the sausage meat into 2 sausage shapes and place along the middle of each strip. Coat the pastry either side of the sausage with the egg mixture. Fold the pastry over and press down to seal.

7. Brush the tops of the sausage rolls with egg wash, sprinkle with cumin seeds and sea salt (Sprinkle less on top for a more subtle cumin taste). Cut into 5cm lengths and place on a non-stick baking sheet.

8. Bake for 20 minutes, until risen, puffed and golden brown.

Tom Toon Thai Noodle Cafe

January 23, 2015 Posted in Food Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Richmond, Thai, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Tom Toon Thai Noodle Cafe is one of the now many Thai restaurants in Richmond, located just doors away from Ying Thai and walking distance from Jinda Thai, Jaidee Thai and iSpicy 2. You’re spoilt for choice in this particular part of town.

Tom Toon isn’t a large restaurant, but it does have this unique character about it. I always seem to lean towards the Thai Fried Rice and here flavour-wise it’s fantastic. Delicious, but just as a personal preference I prefer Fried Rice to be drier, but I’ve noticed that most Thai Fried Rice’s are like this as compared with the Chinese or Malaysian Fried Rice.

My favourite is still Jinda Thai, but the rest of the bunch aren’t too far behind in quality.

Tom Toon Thai Noodle Cafe
241 Victoria Parade
Abbotsford VIC 3067

Ki – Toronto Series

January 16, 2015 Posted in Canadian, Food Reviews, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews, TorontoLeave a comment

Ending my Toronto series with Ki Modern Japanese and Bar located on Brookfield Place Bay Street, in the Toronto CBD. Ki meshes the Western culture with Japanese cuisine in which you end up with dishes such as burgers but with a slight twist or sushi with spicy tomato salsa or mango.

For those looking for a more traditional Japanese meal, at Ki they do offer a variety of freshly made nigiri, sashimi and maki sushi rolls. As a modern Japanese restaurant, they also serve slightly different sushi rolls, some with bacon or sweet potato which make for interesting combinations and especially on your palette.

Impressions

Overall, the food quality here is fantastic. The sushi, tempura sushi and even the burgers are all delicious. However, I found the dishes leaning more towards Western style to have very minimal Japanese influences as such it would appear like eating it in any other upmarket cafe or the like.

Ki do Japanese well, although it comes at a price because the dishes here aren’t exactly cheap.

Ki
181 Bay St
Toronto ON M5J2S1

Marché de la Villette – Montreal Series

January 9, 2015 Posted in Canadian, Food Reviews, French, Montreal, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Marche de la Villette was recommended by my sister because of their soupe à l’oignon (aka French Onion Soup) so we had to give it a try. Located in Old Montreal, this eatery is super popular. We travelled down to Old Montreal twice on our visit and even in the late afternoon, there was not a spare seat in sight. Having a little patience, we found a table.

Their French Onion Soup comes in this cute bowl, with the cheese oozing on the sides. The soup itself is rich and creamy, and very flavourful. I’m not fond of very creamy soups but sharing amongst the three of us it was just enough to go around.

We also ordered the Quiche Lorraine, the pastry is nice (although harder than I’m used to) but the filling was moist.

Keeping it a bit light, we also ordered Pate Sandwich, being in Montreal and all I had to order it. Coming in a baguette roll, the pate was delicious although I’d prefer if the bread was warm or toasted as it was a chilly day on our visit.

Impressions

To be honest, it wasn’t amazing but above average I would say but it definitely a lovely dining experience in Old Montreal.

Marché de la Villette (Menu)