Food – Page 17

Mamak

March 22, 2013 Posted in Food Reviews, Melbourne, Mexican, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

People that frequent Sydney may know of Mamak in Chinatown, and it’s popularity over there has seemingly lead to Mamak opening down in Melbourne late last year. Serving Malaysian food and leaning towards a more Indian/Malaysian style cuisine, they don’t offer a large selection of food but what they do focus on, they do it well.

Mamak’s popularity also extends to Melbourne, having walked passed there even before it opened I saw a few groups of people waiting until it was officially opened. I don’t know if it’s that honeymoon period most places have but I have a feeling it’s probably not just due to that.

We ordered their Curry Chicken Nasi Lemak, almost a staple of Malaysian cuisine, side note, even the Air Asia’s Nasi Lemak isn’t that bad, all things considered (~~plain~~ plane food) . This is their only rice dish unless you order the mains but they do also offer a few different sides with the Nasi Lemak such as curry chicken, sambal prawns or friend chicken at varying price points.

What was instantly pleasing was their sambal, it was spicy, sweet and basically just right. Their chicken wasn’t too bad either! It was cooked well, and the curry sauce didn’t have too many spices that some other restaurants seem to put. For the price though at $11.50 it definitely leans on the pricier side, Nasi Lemak tends to be under $10 due to it’s simple ingredients and easy to cook. I remember eating Nasi Lemak wrapped in banana leaves (smaller size) and with no meat in Malaysia for roughly $1 AUD. Bad comparison but now I feel like visiting Malaysian again.

We ordered a dozen Chicken and Beef satay for $16 and this again leans on the pricier side and the portions also seemed quite small but the sauce and flavour makes up for it. I really liked the satay sauce, it was spicy, and just sweet enough but I found it to be different to satay sauces I’ve had. It was nutty but didn’t seem to have that overwhelming peanut taste to it. If you ever venture towards Dandenong Market there is this fantastic satay shop near the Fish and Meat area, it has the best tasting satay sauce and chicken/beef satays at a reasonable price. You can buy them cooked, or uncooked (refrigerated or frozen). Really good.

I found the chicken satays to be the better of the two, having a more robust grilled flavour but still being able to taste the chicken. That’s not to say the beef wasn’t good either, but it certainly seemed a bit tougher in comparison.

I always jump at the chance to order Murtabak because it seems so rare around these parts, well, it’s certainly getting more popular so that’s a plus. I prefer the Lamb Murtabak due to the flavour of lamb oozing through the roti makes it usually a marvellous dish. What I liked about Mamak’s Murtabak is that they stuffed the roti full of cooked lamb, onions, cabbage and egg. The filling was cooked perfectly and I could have eaten it all day. The only downside of having a thicker filling is that the roti served was on the soft side. I like my Murtabak roti crispy and this was nowhere near that, sadly. Probably the best Murtabak I’ve eaten in Victoria is still Taste of Singapore.

The curry sauce provided was surprisingly good, it was spicy and just creamy enough. Only con was that it was served just warm, and after tucking into the Murtabak, it was basically cold! The spicy sambal as commented on above complemented the roti well, I only wish there was more.

The other curry accompaniment which I can never remember the name of, but is always served with Roti, is as what you’d find in any other Malaysian restaurant. I don’t tend to have too much of it, but a small amount of this is always nice to have with freshly made roti or Murtabak. The only other downside is that you have to wait 15 or so minutes. I guess it’s great that it’s made to order though.

You can’t go to a Malaysian restaurant without trying their Teh Tarik. I though Mamak’s Teh Tarik was on the sweet side but not probably not bad enough to think of your poor teeth straight away. I would also liked if it had more “tea” taste to it but other than that, I wouldn’t mind ordering it again. It was only $3.50 so it didn’t seem so scandalous. I remember ordering a Teh Tarik at the now closed Malaysian restaurant in QV (Before PappaRich) and that was served in this puny tea cup for two or so sips.

Impressions

What I like about Mamak is they focus on Roti and Satays, some of my favourite kinds of food. It is a bit disappointing their menu doesn’t have that much variety but I guess in terms of mamak style food, this is what they usually offer.

Their sambal is a delight in both their Nasi Lemak and the Murtabak. You can see why people are coming back for more and I can’t say no to more mamak style restaurants in Melbourne. The majority of the food is tasty, and cooked with though. If you’re in the CBD and want Malaysian Mamak food, you’d be hard pressed to find a better one.

Although for more variety, ChilliPadi in Flemington I feel offers better bang-for-your-buck but YMMV.

Mamak Melbourne
366 Lonsdale St
Melbourne VIC 3000

India Delights

March 8, 2013 Posted in Food Reviews, Forest Hill, Indian, Malaysian, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

India Delights, as the name suggests is an Indian restaurant in Forest Hill, across the street from Forest Hill Chase Shopping Centre. I head one of the chefs here was from another Indian restaurant in Knoxfield (or around there) who has established this one recently. The food at India Delights is predominantly Indian (duh) but the food also has its Malaysian influences. It’s Mamak (Indian/Malaysian) but I feel it leans more heavily on its Indian ingredients as opposed.

Their Chicken Briyani as pictured above is quite tasty, the flavours of the rice are beautiful and taste as a Briyani should, plentiful of spices, and meat. The curry isn’t too bad either but it definitely tastes like your standard Indian curry (and spicy too). I prefer ChilliPadi’s Briyani to be honest and Taste of Singapore’s Briyani, but this would be a close third.

Indian Rojak is one of those dishes you hardly see, but nonetheless it is a treat to order. It’s basically an assortment of vegetables/salad ingredients with crispy friend potatoes and tofu mixed with a spicy gravy. My mother swears this is one of the tastier Indian Rojak’s around, better than ChilliPadi’s. Her stamp of approval is extremely hard to get (haha) and I find it it be quite great too. The gravy has a nice hint of spice that tingles on your tongue but doesn’t overtake the taste of the other ingredients. Very complementary.

I ordered their Lamb Murtabak and it certainly is on the thick side of things, packed full of lamb and onions. I found the bread to be too soft, I prefer my Murtabak to be crispy on the bite but here it feels like roti that hasn’t been toasted. It’s probably because it’s difficult to get the balance of crispiness right with the inside cooked well but I’m unsure.

The curry also isn’t too bad, I felt it uses too many spices that doesn’t sit right with me. Some might prefer this kind of curry but I like the creamier varieties with the spices toned down. Overall it’s a decent dish, and quite filling at that, but Taste of Singapore’s Murtabak has it beat.

Impressions

Unsurprisingly, Indian Delights is quite popular with Malaysians and Singaporeans. During lunch time, that’s all you see eating there! I actually haven’t seen Indian diners there.

The food here as indicated above is more Indian influenced as opposed to Malaysian/Indian but that’s not a bad thing. A bit of variety is always welcomed. I don’t know if it’s my go to place for Mamak cuisine, however the food here served is overall quite good so on occasion I might venture down there again.

India Delights
59 Mahoneys Rd
Forest Hill VIC 3131

Neil Perry’s Guacamole Recipe

March 1, 2013 Posted in Cooking, Mexican, RecipesLeave a comment

After coming back from a holiday in the USA and Canada, I became a larger fan of Mexican cuisine. On our way to the Grand Canyon we found this family Mexican restaurant that had really good (and absolutely filling) dishes. Of course for starters we had guacamole, and it was beautiful. So tasty, had a nice hint of lime, and coriander but not overbearing and letting the avocado shine. So when I came back to Australia I though what they hey, let’s try making it. I found this recipe on Good Food by Neil Perry that looked nice and fresh but I made some variations to it below.

Guacamole (Good Food)

Ingredients
1/2 small red onion
3 jalapeno chillies, seeds removed
1/2 bunch coriander, leaves only,
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
3 ripe avocados
juice of 2 limes
8 cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped
corn chips, to serve

Method
1. Finely chop the onion, chillies and coriander leaves.

2. Place in a mortar with a generous amount of sea salt and pound with a pestle until you have a rough paste.

3. Peel, stone and halve the avocados and add to the mortar, pounding until they start to mash.

4. Add the lime juice and a good grind of pepper and fold through.

5. Add the cherry tomatoes and fold through gently. (I didn’t)

Note: If the mortar is an attractive granite one, serve the guacamole straight out of that, with a bowl of corn chips.

Impressions

I actually didn’t have any jalapeño chillies so instead I used red chillies but I think I used the small type which are more on the mouth burning hot kind. Luckily I used only one very tiny chilli with the seeds out so it wasn’t too bad. I didn’t add the tomatoes either because I thought it might be nice to try it held back and simple.

I found the recipe to be decent, not anywhere to the level of the ones I’ve found on holiday but I think it was also because I used too much coriander! It asks for half a bunch, which I did use but it was so overbearing that I had to add another avocado to the mix to balance it out. I’d probably only use a a 1/8 cup at first and keep adding a bit more to your liking. It still wasn’t how I wanted it in the end because I ran out of avocados to mix in, haha, but it tasted pretty good with corn chips (and beer). I think it was also because the avocados I purchased weren’t ripe yet, as they were still a tad hard when extracting them from the skin and had very minimal flavour.

If you’re looking for a guacamole recipe with a slight twist and zing, I think this is it. For something more authentic, I think it’s best to keep looking.

Ho Chak

February 22, 2013 Posted in Chinese, Food Reviews, Glen Waverley, Malaysian, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Ho Chak opened last year in Glen Waverley, where the Hakka Tea House restaurant was located. Ho Chak serves Malaysian cuisine and apparently have a seafood specialty. We have visited there a couple of times and more often than not, the food served is more than satisfying. It’s also not as crowded along Railway Parade as it is on Kingsway so that’s always a plus during peak lunch and dinner periods.

One of their interesting dishes is the Marmite Pork with Fried Egg on Rice (pictured above), I recall eating something very similar in Ipoh, Malaysian a couple years back and might I say that was a delicious mix of ingredients. The dish here isn’t quite the same but the slight saltiness of marmite added with the sweetness really does make for a wonderful treat. It’s not often you find these dishes that seem out of the ordinary that pleasantly charm you.

Their Vermicelli and Rice Noodle with Egg Sauce as it’s called on their menu (aka Seafood Char Hor Fun) is also another tasty dish. I believe when we last visited there, they used both the flat rice noodles and the vermicelli which is commonly used for Mee Hoon. It’s also quite rare that you see these two noodles mixed together in a Hor Fun dish in Melbourne. This, and Straits of Malacca do indeed have both noodles which is delightful.

Ho Chak’s Curry Laksa isn’t one of my favourites, unfortunately. I found the curry sauce to have too many spices added to it, it was way too overpowering. It was a bit off putting to be honest. I like my curry laksa’s to be more on the creamier side but not too creamy that it makes it hard to stomach the richness of the cream. The plus side is that it’s a very large serve, it can feed two people quite easily. Some people may like it, but I’m not too fond of this variation to be honest.

Their Curry Chicken on Rice is nearing towards small for its price, but the curry sauce here is actually quite pleasant. It has a aromatic spiciness to it, and the chicken was well cooked but I’m really not fond of fried chicken. A lot of the dishes that Ho Chak serves is mostly fried so it’s just a caution for those that are like me and don’t like deep fried meat all that much.

Their Fish Fillet Congee can serve a few people too, or one if you’re particularly famished. The congee was on the plain side, you do need some fresh chillies or soy sauce to add the saltiness and kick to the dish. I guess it’s a good thing for those that want to add enough flavour to their liking but if you’re paying for food, you kinda want it to have some taste.

Impressions

Ho Chak impresses with its different dishes that departs from the norm, but also retains the common Malaysian cuisines to cater to the majority. I have slightly mixed feelings about Ho Chak, but overall I think it’s earned its place in Glen Waverley. They also have fried durian, for those wanting their durian fix. Ha!

Ho Chak

25-27 Railway Parade North

Glen Waverley VIC 3150

Grilled Tiger Prawns (Neil Perry Recipe)

February 15, 2013 Posted in Australian, RecipesLeave a comment

This recipe is so simple, so easy and yet so delicious. I found this recipe on Neil Perry’s Rockpool website and upsized it for the quantity of tiger prawns I had. Look at these prawns, I’ve never found such large prawns before in my entire life! I cannot find these gems again though, sadly.

Check out the recipe below

Grilled Tiger Prawns

Serves 2

6 green king prawns, cut in half and deveined (Or any prawns to your liking – with shells)

½ bunch parsley, chopped

½ bunch oregano, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

Zest of ½ lemon

Pinch dried chilli flakes

90ml olive oil

Salt, pepper

Lemon wedge, to serve

Neil Perry Fresh Signature Mayonnaise (Optional)

Method
1. In a bowl, combine the parsely, oregano, garlic, lemon zest, chilli flakes and olive oil. Add the prawns, toss well and leave to marinate for 30 minutes.

2. Heat a grill or pan over a high heat. Season the prawns with salt and pepper and grill flesh side down for 30 seconds to one minute, or until just starting to colour. Turn the prawns over and grill for a further 10 seconds, then remove from the grill and pile up on a plate. I used a cast iron grill and it worked wonders for these prawns.

Serve with a wedge of lemon and Neil Perry Fresh Signature Mayonnaise.

Impressions

I didn’t have any fresh oregano so I used dry oregano flakes from the supermarket, just sprinkled a bit more. I had fresh parsley from my garden though and grilling it with these prawns made them absolutely mouth watering.

Adding a tad more chilli flakes also added that nice zing to it and you hardly needed any further dressing or condiments to it as it is tasty just freshly grilled. Cooks extremely quickly, and is really one of those quick and easy meals after you have done your prep. This is one of my favourite recipes now.

Ramen-Ya

February 8, 2013 Posted in Food Reviews, Japanese, Korean, Melbourne, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Ramen-Ya has been on the Melbourne food scene since 2007. Their original restaurant is located at GPO, along an alleyway of sorts (of course, it’s Melbourne). Their primary cuisine is Japanese Ramen, but they also offer a selection of bento boxes. To keep you reassured, this is an authentic Japanese eatery, and quite a popular one at that, with another Ramen-Ya located further down on Bourke St.

Oddly enough, I ordered something not particularly authentic but becoming quite popular in Japanese restaurants. I saw many Japanese restaurants in Vancouver that had Korean fusion dishes. The Korean flavour to this ramen dish adds an interesting taste to the dish. It’s a bit sour and a tad spicy and mostly what Kimchi is. You can pick your soup base too, I chose the Miso one just to be a little different. I found it to be intriguing combination but the only downside is that the soup was lukewarm, and by the time you finish it, it’s basically cold! Other than that, it’s a delightful dish that’s mostly vegetarian apart from the charshu but having the soup hot would have made me like it even more.

Ramen-Ya’s Chicken Teriyaki bento is also nicely prepared. The chicken teriyaki has that usual teriyaki flavour, it needs a bit of the Japanese chilli powder just to give it a bit of a kick but the chicken was well cooked and seasoned. Really, what more could you ask for.

I really liked the taste of the Beef Sukiyaki, the beef is nice and soft and the sauce (albeit it’s on the sweet side) is delicious. You can get salad and miso soup, or any dish, for a small sum if you’re eager to round out your meal. The bite sized gyoza had a very substantial flavour to the filling, with that hint of ginger, and freshly cooked is also very pleasing.

Impressions

Ramen-Ya serves up authentic Japanese cuisine that is certain to delight people’s tastebuds. You can really see why people come back for more but I really do hope the lukewarm soup base for my Ramen was a one time mistake (it was also an extremely warm day) as it can really detract from your dining experience. I never am quite satisfied when eating cold food that is supposed to be warm, it just doesn’t fill you up in the same way.

Ramen-Ya
Shop 25G Melbourne GPO
350 Bourke St
Melbourne VIC 3000

Pandan Snow Skin Mini Mooncakes with Peppermint Lotus Paste and Pumpkin Seeds

February 1, 2013 Posted in Baking, Chinese, Confectionery, Desserts, MalaysianLeave a comment

Mooncake Festival is one of those Chinese traditions, where you eat a considerable amount of mooncake to celebrate well, a full moon. There are a number of Chinese festivals and it’s hard to keep track of them all but the Mooncake festival is one of those bigger occasions other than Chinese New Year. Lately I’ve become fond of the “snow skin” mooncakes and staying away from those traditional mooncakes which are golden brown in colour and have a wonderful fragrance to it. It’s probably due to my affection for mochi. We decided to give this a try using Christine’s Recipe. Check it out below

Pandan Snow Skin Mooncakes with Coconut Mung Bean Filling (Christine’s Recipes)
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 60 mins
Yield: 16 mini mooncakes (50 grams each)

Ingredients
55 gm glutinous rice flour
45 gm rice flour
25 gm wheat flour / wheat starch
60 gm caster sugar
190 ml milk
30 ml condensed milk
25 ml vegetable oil (such as sunflower oil or canola oil)
40 ml pandan juice
2 to 3 drops of pandan paste / pandan essence, optional
320 gm peppermint lotus paste (or any other filling you like!)
2 Tbsp cooked glutinous rice flour, for coating

Method
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine glutinous rice flour, rice flour, wheat flour and sugar well.

2. Mix milk, condensed milk, pandan juice and oil together. Pour into the flour mixture and stir to combine. Drain through a fine sieve into a large and shallow pan.

3. Steam the batter in a wok over medium-high heat, for about 15 to 20 minutes. Try a bit of the dough. If it doesn’t have any raw flour taste, it’s cooked through. Remove from wok and let it cool down.

4. Scrape the dough out onto a plastic board or a kitchen benchtop lined with plastic film. Lightly knead by hand until smooth. Cut dough into 16 portions, 30 grams of each.

5. Divide mung bean filling into 16 portions, 20 grams of each. Roll each into a round shape.

6. Wrap each filling ball with a dough portion. Roll with your palms and lightly coat with cooked glutinous rice flour. Shake off any excess flour. Place into a mooncake mould. Press to print the pattern. Repeat this step until finish all the dough and fillings. Store the mooncakes into an air-tight container. Put kitchen paper on top to prevent any condensed water dropped on the mooncake surface. Refrigerate overnight. Enjoy.

Notes (Christine’s)
– How to prepare cooked glutinous rice flour: Simply cook the flour in a frypan without any oil over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. When smoke releases and the flour turns light yellow, it’s cooked. Remove from the heat and let it cool down completely. Then you can use it to coat your mooncakes.

– When the dough is still hot, it seems to be quite oily. Don’t worry. It won’t be greasy at all, when it cools down completely.

– The snow skin mooncakes can be stored in freezer up to a few weeks. Before serving, just transfer the mooncakes to fridge for about 3 hours, until they become soften a bit.

Impressions

I used a peppermint lotus paste for this recipe which I kindly received from a family friend in Malaysia. It had quite an interesting flavour to it but I’m not quite sure if it would be too many peoples’ liking.

For this recipe I used a bit more pandan essence as when I tasted the mixture, it was almost non existant but YMMV. I found I could only make 10 mooncakes with this recipe, I’m uncertain if it’s because the mixture evaporated or Christine used smaller moulds. I thought these were quite small anyway.

Eaten fresh, these mooncakes are soft with a bit of bite to them but once left out in the open for sometime they seem to harden up. I’m unsure if that’s just normal with these snow skin mooncakes because I’ve tried a Hong Kong variation which is stored in the fridge that was very soft to the touch and absolutely delicious (Mango flavoured). I’ll probably try a different recipe next time but these turned out relatively so it’s not a bad recipe by any means.

Wong’s Lucky Bar

January 11, 2013 Posted in Box Hill, Chinese, Food Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, SingaporeanLeave a comment

Wong’s Lucky Bar is an extremely popular eatery in Box Hill, right next to the tram stop. They serve Chinese food, but one of their main attractions is their cheap Crab. I believe it’s around $13 dollars a pound, and $5 extra for noodles for each person. Bookings are essential for dinner as seats fill up quickly and queues can start to form early. You’ll find the interior to be slightly strange with seating placed anywhere possible. They even use the next door’s cafe for seating!

Wong’s Crabs’ can be cooked a variety of ways, we ordered the Singapore Chilli Crab with noodles as I love Chinese Crab with noodles. While it looked mouth watering, the taste of the crab was lacking. You could hardly taste the crab meat but the Chilli Crab sauce was decent. I wished it was more flavourful and spicy but the sweetness of the sauce was there and it accompanied the crab well. I think you basically get what you pay for so don’t go looking here for the freshest, most tasty crab meal as you won’t find it here. We tried the Crab at All People Chinese Restaurant in Burwood East, and that was incomparable to here. Extremely tasty but the price difference is also world’s apart.

As out accompaniment, we ordered Balachan Spinach. This had a lot of zing to it as a result of the addition of chillies. Nicely cooked and flavour was excellent. A tad oily but it’s like any Chinese restaurant.

Impressions

If you want cheap(ish) food, served relatively quickly and don’t mind the chaos and almost non existant customer service Wong’s Lucky Bar is the place for you. They have a wide variety of seafood dishes and other standard Chinese dishes to cater to many. Give it a try!

Wong’s Lucky Bar

921 Whitehorse Rd
Box Hill VIC 3128

T: 03 9899 8558

Thai Yim

December 28, 2012 Posted in Food Reviews, Glen Waverley, Restaurant Reviews, ThaiLeave a comment

Thai Yim used to be one of my favourite restaurants in Glen Waverley, and one of the very few close Thai restaurants close to home. Thai Yim was originally located right next to Glen Waverley railway station but due to the re-development of that area and the addition of apartments (still under construction), they have relocated to Springvale Road, next to Shira Nui. I call that address the death spot because of how quick restaurants seemed to open up and close down. It gets very little foot traffic since it’s still a walk from the main hub on Kingsway. I digress.

What I liked about Thai Yim when they were in their original location was that the food was tasty (spicy too) and the servings were generous. What happened when they moved to their larger space was that serving sizes decreased and prices went up. Although food wise I think it has mostly stayed the same. That’s why I say used to be.

We usually order a few dishes and then share around like what you’d normally do in a Chinese restaurant. We ordered the Spicy Basil and Chilli Stir Fry, Massaman Beef Curry and Tom Yum Vegetarian.

The Basil Stir Fry is quite fragrant due to the Thai basil used and it is stir fried with bamboo shoots. After trying Marion’s Green Curry that came with bamboo shoots, I can’t get enough of it. It has a pleasant spice to it, which I don’t believe is overpowering. One of my favourite stir fry’s actually.

Their Massaman Beef Curry is also another pleasant experience. It has a sweetness to it that is appealing to my tastebuds, but has a good deal of spice. Not much sourness to complete the whole Thai flavour pallet. The nuts make this dish so much more enjoyable for that crunch. Everything works in harmony of each other. It’s no Green Curry but I like it nonetheless.

The Vegetarian Tom Yum soup is another treat. It’s a strong clear base soup packed full of flavour with nice chilli hit. Sometimes Tom Yum soups can be either so lacking in flavour it’s like drinking water but this is certainly not the case. Their Chicken variation is no different but this one feels much more refreshing as a vegetarian soup.

Impressions

Thai Yim certainly impresses with its dishes, it’s probably only disappointing to those that have followed them since they were next to the train station. For the price it can lean towards overpriced for what your receive, your consolation is that the food would at least come out decent (I hope).

Thai Yim

249 Springvale Rd
Glen Waverley VIC 3150

Luxbites

December 7, 2012 Posted in Confectionery, Desserts, Food Reviews, French, Malaysian, Restaurant Reviews, South YarraLeave a comment

I heard so many good things about LuxBite that I had to force myself (not too hard, obviously) to make my way to their South Yarra location. LuxBite serves primarily sweet desserts and confectionary, but they also serve coffee, breakfast and lunch too! What makes LuxBite slightly different is that they have a slight Asian influenced to some of their desserts, for example one of their macarons has a Kaya filling. Kaya is a Malaysian term for Coconut Jam and homemade Kaya is absolutely delicious.

Their store is quite close by to South Yarra station, so it makes it convenient for those without cars or car-averse.

In the above picture, hopefully you can see their selection of macaron flavours. There are your popular flavours such as Salted Caramel and Hazelnut have more interesting flavours like Rose and Ribena Lemonade.

Their store has quite a number of sweet delights to choose from, with many having that French flair ala Elcairs as shown at the bottom of the image.

It was really hard to choose a couple of desserts to try because they have so many on offer! We were still heading towards the city for the day so I couldn’t choose anything that needed to go to the fridge quickly so that helped.

As shown above, we chose the Chocolate Hazelnut Macaron. It’s this plus sized macaron with chunks of hazelnut pieces and a hazelnut and chocolate ganache. I quite enjoyed the macaron, it’s as you would want from a macaron. Crispy, slightly chewy and sweet. The hazelnut flavour of the chocolate and nuts really helped blend everything together. A real treat.

We chose the interesting Lemonade Ribeena and Kaya Toast macarons. The Kaya Toast macaron has kaya as it’s filling. I think it’s homemade, but their kaya was unfortunately too sweet for my liking. I would even have preferred the Kaya jam jars you can buy from an Asian grocer with pandan. Even that jam is less sweet. For those that haven’t tried Kaya before may like it though but for me it lacked the coconut flavour and was way too sweet to be enjoyable.

The Lemonade Ribena on the otherhand was very interesting. It has this cream based lemonade flavour filling but inside there is what I believe (or remember) a small Ribena jelly cube. The Ribena jelly was delicious and made that macaron one of my favourites because it had such a pleasant flavour and was different to things I’ve tried before.

Last on my list was LuxBite’s Lychee Raspberry Macaron. I love all things Lychee too so I couldn’t help to be intrigued by a Lychee and Raspberry Macaron, plus it looked amazing.

Inside this macaron, there is a whole lychee, but the salmon pink filling as you can see in the image was also slightly Lychee flavoured. The combination of the sweetness of Lychee along with the sourness of the icing sugar dusted Raspberries worked a treat. It melded together really well as the freshness of the Raspberries cut through that sweetness of basically everything else. A joy to eat.

Impressions

LuxBite impresses with its well crafted pieces that look amazing and taste great too. It’s no wonder people keep coming back for more. I really do recommend giving LuxBite a try.

LuxBite (Menu)

38 Toorak Road
South Yarra VIC 3141

ohdenny

Category: Food

Mamak

India Delights

Neil Perry’s Guacamole Recipe

Ho Chak

Grilled Tiger Prawns (Neil Perry Recipe)

Ramen-Ya

Pandan Snow Skin Mini Mooncakes with Peppermint Lotus Paste and Pumpkin Seeds

Wong’s Lucky Bar

Thai Yim

Luxbites