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Kokoda Walk and Mt. Dandenong

March 31, 2011 Posted in Attractions, DandenongsLeave a comment

I’ve always wanted to try the 1000 steps (Officially known as the Kokoda Walk) but just never took the opportunity to. So when my sister came to visit, we thought as a family we’d all just go for fun and then eat pies later.

There are various ways to climb to the top, I believe there are actual steps and just one long steep dirt path. The steps weren’t open when we got there so we took what looked like a endless path to nowhere.

I must say it’s quite a arduous task, I never thought it’d be so strenuous. But I know it pales in comparison with the real thing, plus the soldiers did it for days and days. Where we only did it in an hour? Definitely not for the faint hearted. It can be quite a struggle but we were definitely determined to reach the top and say ‘Yep, we’ve done it’.

Still, it was a good experience to see just a glimpse of what it was like for our ANZAC soldiers and what they had to do to protect our country and the will power, dedication and spirit needed to get through it all for all us Australians. It truly makes you appreciate what they have done.

We went to see the Mount Dandenongs Park, SkyHigh. It’s a small, quiet place but at times you can get quite a good view of Melbourne from here.

Very hard to see here with all the clouds and with my poorly zoomed camera but where the green flat land meets the sky is where the City of Melbourne is.

Everyone should at least try this out once in their life times. The 1000 steps and the Dandenongs should be on everyone’s list of things to do.

Kokoda Track Memorial Walk

Burwood Highway and Mt Dandenong Tourist Road
Upper Ferntree Gully 3156
Ph: 131 963

SkyHigh Mt. Dandenong

26 Observatory Road

Mount Dandenong

General Enquiries
Ph +61 3 9751 0443
Fax +61 3 9751 0442
info@skyhighmtdandenong.com.au

Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival (Glen Waverley)

March 24, 2011 Posted in Festivals, Glen WaverleyLeave a comment

So it seems like I live in Glen Waverley since that’s all that I post about but I live 20 minutes away. It’s just the closest place to eat good Malaysian food.

I’m also very late with this post since this was held on the 13th Of February.

So I think in the last couple of years, the City of Monash has been holding and celebrating Chinese New Year with their own festival with food stalls and performances. Similar to the Box Hill, Crown Melbourne and China Town ones but for the South-East Melburnians.

Stalls are spread out all along Kingsway, one of or the only day where cars are blocked from passing through. There were several performances on the stage and on the street. It’s really great to see the Chinese culture here in one of the more populous Chinese/Malaysian suburbs in Victoria.

Check out the Lion dance pics below (With Vids at the bottom of the page)

Kevin Rudd came to visit and was welcomed by the Lion Dance performers.

I believe the man in the mask is some kind of traditional show thing but I’m not entirely sure.

The two lions do some amazing hops and jumps on those small pedestals. Check out my vids of it further down the page.

The ending where the lions catch the scrolls. I have no idea what it says on it, I’m completely Mandarin illiterate.

Fire Crackers! Many kids covered their ears. Hehe

Photo Op!

A lot more people than last year, it’s good to see everyone celebrating CNY and just having fun really.

Satays and more satays

Most stalls had Fried Rice Cakes aka Char Koay Kak, one had a huge line. Obviously the good stall or people are just sheep.

There were many other stalls too selling even Dutch Pancakes or Japanese sweet and savoury snacks and some drink stalls with the very sweet but delicious Sugar Cane drinks.

Check out my vids below (Sorry for the cut offs every couple of minutes, my camera does strange things)

All in all it’s always good to have some of the Chinese culture in Australia. I’ve never experienced an authentic Chinese New Year Festival in Malaysia so this is as close as we can get.

Many thanks to all the performers and participants in helping this Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival a success and I believe the Monash Council, I assume they have contributed towards this.

Looking forward to next years festival, and hoping it’ll get bigger and better every year.

Stay Fresh Scones

March 24, 2011 Posted in Baking, Food, Recipes1 Comment

After trying the scones at Pie In The Sky and the Strawberry Farm in Mornington, I wanted to try making scones again.
Last year, we went to Pie In The Sky and I did the same thing but they didn’t turn out that well. They were kinda fluffy but they didn’t seem to rise very much. Maybe I just made them too small, I don’t know. It was one of those lemonade scones that are apparently the fluffiest and lightest, but I wanted to try one without that this time.

Google is my best friend for recipes and I came across the Stay Fresh Scones on the BestRecipes.com website.
It looked simple and there was no kneading necessary! Just had to wait for the dough to rise.
When I was trying to roll the dough out, it was very sticky. Quite troublesome and difficult at times, had to put in some more flour even when the recipe states to limit the amount of extra flour used.

Made them too small the first time around so I had to re-roll them, possible making them harder or less fluffy but I’m not too sure.

End result:

Used the Raspberry Jam we bought at Pie In The Sky, with some store bought but still delicious whipped cream. With my mum as the taste tester, she approved! Alas, we had found a good scone recipe that was light, fluffy and overall just tasty that nearly matched the goodness of the Devonshire Tea (Tea + Scones) at Pie In The Sky the first time we ordered it.

A success and this will be my go to scones recipe for now on.

Recipe:

Stay Fresh Scones

Preparation time: 15 to 30 minutes
If you have trouble making good scones these might just do the trick. Extra baking powder and standing time helps to keep these light and fluffy.

Ingredients

500 g self-raising flour
1 egg
1½ cups milk
1 tablespoon icing sugar
2 rounded teaspoons baking powder
60 g melted butter

Method

Sift dry ingredients into a bowl.
Add beaten egg, milk and butter.
Quickly combine all ingredients into a dough.
Stand dough on a floured board for 20 minutes.
Gently roll out to required thickness (about 2 cm).
Cut out circles using the rim of a glass dipped in flour.
Stand scones close together on a lightly floured baking tray for a further 15 minutes.
Bake at 210°C for 10 minutes. (I think I baked it at around 170 because our oven gets extremely hot)

PS: Was going to post about macarons I’d attempted to make the last couple of weeks. I actually tried it twice but failed miserably both times. The first time I made them it looked good, had feet and all but was extremely sweet, even after cutting the icing sugar by half. I’ll try again when I’m not so depleted

Chef Lagenda

March 11, 2011 Posted in Food, Food Reviews, Malaysian, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Chef Lagenda is a somewhat new restaurant that has popped up in Flemington, right next to the well known Laksa King. They predominantly serve Malaysian cuisine, just like Laksa King.

Inside the restaurant it has mainly low lighting, with minimal natural lighting. With a nice decor, rustic wooden tables and walls, combined with brick walls and rendered walls. An old building made modern but it hasn’t thrown away all it’s old charm. It’s definitely one of the better looking Malaysian restaurants I’ve been to. It’s slightly small on the ground level, but it seems like there was another floor when it gets busy.

Their selection of food is quite expansive, having the quite well known famous Malaysian dishes in Australia such as Nasi Lemak, Nasi Goreng, Mee Goreng, Laksa and Char Kway Teow from the less well known ones like Fish Head Curry and desserts you can only find in Malaysia eateries such as Ice Kacang and Ice Cendol.

They have a big selection of each big category of rice, noodle soups and fried noodles, also having main dishes (larger servings) and appetizers.

I ordered the Char Kway Teow (extra spicy) as I wanted to compare it to the other Malaysian restaurants I’e been to. Service was quite good, orders taken promptly and our meals arrived quickly too.

It looked quite appetising, and the serving portion was excellent too. It had a nice taste to it, and had all the requirements for a good Char Kway Teow, it wasn’t dry, not overly oily and had a good mix of bean sprouts, kueh teow, egg and Chinese sausage. However, it wasn’t spicy at all. Luckily they had fresh chopped chillies to spice it up a bit.

I think if it was spicy before having to add the chillies, it would have been the perfect dish as one of my favourite Char Kway Teow’s is from ABC Cafe in Glen Waverley usually is really tasty, maybe just a tad oily on occasion.

I don’t know if I’d drive all the way to Flemington, when Glen Waverley is much closer to me for this dish but for those up north it will satisfy your Malaysian cravings.

I also tasted their Curry Laksa. It was actually quite nice, different to what I was used to but still tasty. It was creamier than other ones I’ve tasted, I presume they used coconut milk but it wasn’t overly creamy to put you off eating. It had a slight spicy tinge to it, which helped balance the dish. It would probably be one of the better Laksa’s I’ve eaten.

I tried the Nasi Lemak, a very Malaysian dish. It usually contains anchovies, peanuts, cucumber, coconut rice and either a Beef Rendang or Curry Chicken. Then one I tasted was a Beef Rendang.

It was actually a decent dish, for those that prefer a sweeter curry sauce. It reminded me of a satay sauce but curry. Not necessarily bad, but having vacationed in Malaysia a couple months ago, it didn’t really feel authentic. The rice was also a bit too wet, but it’s a more what you prefer thing here. Overall, it was okay. I didn’t mind it and I wouldn’t mind trying their Curry Chicken option out too to see the difference.

We ordered the Ice Cendol and Ice Kacang to try.

Firstly, the Ice Cendol. For those that don’t know, it is a mix of coconut milk, palm sugar syrup, cendol (the green pandan jellies) and usually shaved ice.

The serving size was smaller than I’m used to and for the price you would expect more. I guess taste is what matters, however, to my disappointment it didn’t taste that great either. It lacked the sweetness of the palm sugar syrup, and the coconut milk they used had a sharpness to it that made it a slightly odd experience. The cendol itself was great, it was smooth, a bit soft, a bit chewy and wasn’t sweet like some cendols’ are. However, the shaved ice was quite coarse and it shouldn’t be if you’re using shaved ice instead of ice cubes.

It was a decent attempt, but lacks the flavour to make it an authentic Malaysian Ice Cendol and for the price, it really isn’t worth it.

Now onto the Ice Kacang. Before we go any further, I didn’t eat all this alone. I had help!

For those that might not know, Ice Kacang can be quite a creative dessert, with many fruits, sweet syrups, nuts, jellies and usually condensed milk (sweet and evaporated) all mixed together to make a very appetising and well just a fun dessert to eat.

Chef Lagenda’s Ice Kacang consisted of chopped roasted peanuts on top, with longan, a bit of sweet corn, red beans, cendol, black jelly and a yellow and white jelly too if I can recall, longan, and palm seed. With a red syrup and I think the condensed milk.

The serving size was decent, usually they are priced around $4.50 to $5 but this was $5.50, and might be a tad small when compared to those at the lower end of the scale.

Onto the taste. The shaved ice, again, was coarser then I’m used to but not too coarse to make it doesn’t detract from the taste. With all of the ingredients mixed together, it was quite nice, a bit less sweet to those other Ice Kacang’s I’ve eaten. For those looking to have a dessert that isn’t too sweet but still sweet enough to satisfy your sugar cravings. Here it is. Nonetheless, a good offering by Chef Lagenda.

I would still probably put The Grand Tofu (Glen Waverley) and ABC Cafe (Glen Waverley) as the better ones, because they are cheaper, have larger portions and are just well, tastier.

I had a decent experience dining at Chef Lagenda, it had a pleasant atmosphere, with nicely cooked meals that I didn’t have any major problems with. I would definitely go there again to taste their other dishes on offer but it isn’t a ‘have to go there again really soon’ kinda thing.

Chef Lagenda
16 Pin Oak Cres
Flemington, 3031
Victoria
(03) 9376 2668

Pig and Whistle Tavern & Restaurant

February 24, 2011 Posted in Food, Mornington Peninsula, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

There sure are an insurmountable number of eateries just in the Mornington Peninsula. Us Melburnians are definitely spoilt for choice.

Mainly wineries were open on the Monday that we decided to take a trip down there, if you come down on a weekend I’m sure it’d make deciding what’s for lunch… or just a snack even harder.

I think we bad some bad luck finding some breweries on a weekday though. We tried the Red Hill Brewery but to no avail, it did have a quaint look to it and well I’ve heard some good things about it.

Finally we found a ‘Beer Garden’ called Pig & Whistle, it has that old bar feel to it. A bit country, a bit pub but homely and welcoming is what you get too.

It has two separate areas, one is the bar which serves mainly the alcohol and pub food. The menu looked decent, it had the standard fare of fish and chips, pies and well if I can recall, pizzas.

Then there is the restaurant area, which has indoor and outdoor seating. The outdoor seating was plentiful and it actually looked quite nice, plus it was a good day but I do prefer the indoors when eating a meal so we decided to seat inside.

The inside of Pig & Whistle is filled with old mugs and 50s/60s memorabilia, from the looks of it anyway with many posters and frames all hanging around. It has that older carpet/country smell that you get from some B&Bs or a motel but it didn’t really detract from my experience.

The menu selection was decent, it had a mix of cultural foods from Italian, Thai, and the Australian/English varieties and local and international alcoholic beverages. As I have an undying love for all things risotto, I picked a Seafood Risotto as one of the specials of the day.

It was really quite good. Had a generous quantity of prawns, scallops and mussels (If I can recall) and was seasoned nicely. The rice was cooked well too. It was tomato based with some grated cheese on top and it all worked pretty well. One of the better risottos I’ve eaten, and was pleasantly surprised in the end.

They also had a Thai Green Curry

Classic Fish and Chips

Seafood Pasta

All in all, we had a perfectly good meal. Service was decent, it might have come a bit later then we expected but nothing to raise arms about. After our lunch, we headed to their garden to check out the views and flowers.

The Pig and Whistle definitely has made it’s mark in the area, catering for everything you could possible want. Their dessert menu looked good too but we were stuffed!

Check it out for yourself!

Pig and Whistle Tavern & Restaurant

Open from 11.00am every day until late

1429 Mt Dandenong Tourist Road
Olinda
Victoria
9751 2366

Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm

February 24, 2011 Posted in Food, Food Reviews, Mornington PeninsulaLeave a comment

Visited Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm in Main Ridge (Mornington Peninsula). I’ve heard about these from travel shows like Postcards and it looked like a great place to find local alcoholic drinks, jams and food. I think it started out as a family business and has grown extensively.
It seemed like it was quite a popular place, many cars parked there already before midday on a weekday too!

Sunny Ridge first and foremost is a strawberry farm, where customers can pick their own fruit. Usually customers are able to pick not just strawberries but raspberries, blueberries and avocadoes too, although I think due to the strange Victorian whether we had that they didn’t have enough plants for picking.

You can also buy their produce if you didn’t want to pick them yourself, it also has jams, syrups, wines, chocolates, ice creams and a nice selection of desserts and snacks. Their selection of jams; strawberry (of course), raspberry, and I think blackberry, in assorted sizes. Plus many tasty looking chocolate and fruit syrups like passionfruit and strawberry. Sunny Ridge has chocolate coated freeze dried strawberries and blueberries too. I didn’t get to try them but it looked quite nice.

Wines
We tasted a wide selection of alcoholic beverages under the brand Robello Wines, which is an extension from the family business. liquors (two variations – a Fragola Cielo Strawberry Liquor and Fragola Amore Strawberry Cream Liquor) both quite sweet and light. The strawberry cream liquor tasted like a strawberry milkshake, a similar texture to Baileys.
They stocked a Charlotte, a 100% Strawberry Sparkling which has won numerous Australian Fruit and Wine awards. This had such a nice flavour, a strong strawberry punch. An instant like.

The Strawbellini (Moscato Strawberry Sparkling) was also another favourite of mine. It was refreshing and had a nice strawberry flavour to it too. This wine has recently been placed in the top 5 sparkling wines of the San Francisco International Wine Competition, that is quite the feat.

The Lolo Semi SweetStrawberry Wine was a bit of a let down after trying two fantastic sparkling wines, but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. It just didn’t pack the same punch as the two sparking wines.
They also stock a Fragola Port, which I somehow missed.

Sunny Ridge also had a new line of ciders, Apple and Apple & Strawberry. The Apple & Strawberry cider had a nice flavour, it had a sweeter and well, stronger flavour to it then the Apple. The Apple one, compared to the Strongbow varieties, it didn’t really stack up but the Strawberry cider did have a different flavour to keep me interested.

For the non-alcoholics, they had Sparkling Strawberry flavoured beverage which wasn’t there for tasting, but I presume with the many fantastic strawberry wines they had, that this one would be excellent too.

Cafe
Then we went onto the cafe, they had a great range in their menu. Cakes, tarts, ice creams, sundae, teas, milkshakes. Pretty much everything. Their desserts looked quite scrumptious, it was hard to choose!

We ended up trying the Strawberry cheesecake, Devonshire tea and their ice cream.

The cheesecake was served with a chocolate and strawberry syrup, whipped cream and fresh strawberries. It looked and tasted fantastic, it had such a great taste to it, it was smooth and soft with a nice biscuit bottom. Plus the syrups and cream just added an extra texture and flavour to it all.

The Devonshire tea (aka Scones + jam) was nice, it wasn’t the lightest and fluffiest scones I’ve ever eaten but it was certainly better than the ones I attempted to make.

We tried the Roasted almond ice cream and the Strawberry ice cream. I liked them both, it tasted real and fresh without any fake flavouring that many ice creams seemed to have. There was a Strawberry farm in Tasmania that tops this one, but it was still good nonetheless.

We managed to devour everything and Sunny Ridge definitely made a lasting impression on me.
Their wide selection of products means we’ll be heading there again and I can see why it is so popular and a great tourist attraction for the Mornington Peninsula.

Check it out, it is certainly worth a stop by:

Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm
244 Shands Road, Main Ridge

Victoria 3928,

AUSTRALIA

Phone: +61 3 5989 4500
Email: info@sunnyridge.com.au

Opens Daily 9am to 5pm (Nov to Apr) or weekends 11am to 4pm (May to Oct)

Cacao Macarons – Dark Chocolate Edition

August 31, 2010August 26, 2019 Posted in Confectionery, Food ReviewsLeave a comment

Here is an image of my small box of macarons I bought earlier last week.

Today, I ate the Dark Chocolate (60% dark chocolate) macaron.

I wasn’t that enthused to eat it, to be honest, as it is just dark chocolate and there are no real surprises there. However, I think this was the perfect macaron.

It was chewy and had a nice crisp layer on the outside, but also the filling was absolutely spot on.

The dark chocolate cream filling was made to perfection, it had the right sweetness to it, with a hint of bitterness from the dark chocolate and it was balanced perfectly with the chewy centre of the macaron biscuit.

This is definitely the macaron I would go back for. Maybe my expectations were quite low, considering it doesn’t look all that flash as per below. It didn’t matter, it was a great tasting macaron and quite an enjoyable tasting experience. Delectable, and it was just what I wanted in a macaron.

I will definitely be heading back there to try the other flavours, but maybe much later, these macarons sure pack quite a load of calories. It’d be a while to work them off!

Cacao – Melbourne CBD

Shop 7 / 525 Little Collins St, Melbourne, VIC 3000

Phone: (03) 9629 4955

Opening Hours

Monday – Friday: 8am – 5pm

Cacao – The Strawberries & Cream and Pistachio Edition

August 28, 2010August 26, 2019 Posted in Confectionery, Food ReviewsLeave a comment

From my box of four, I have now consumed three.

Today, I first tried the Strawberries and Cream macaron. One side has a cream filling (the white side) and the other a thinner strawberry layer. Both taste like a buttercream filling.
One bite into this colourful macaron, and instantly I get that familiar strawberries and cream hit, a burst of flavour. The flavour isn’t overpowering and the macaron biscuit still crisp and chewy on the inside. It has a very pleasant taste to it, while not being overly sweet. Sweet enough to remind you that it’s like a candy biscuit not not too sweet that you have to drink some cleansing tea straight away.
This would be one I wouldn’t mind tasting again!

Onto my second taste in 10 minutes.

The Pistachio macaron looks great, it is bite sized like the other Cacao macarons I have tasted and the added finely chopped pistachios on top give it that added visual appeal.
The inside is, of course, a pistachio buttercream filling but the taste of it is very very subtle. It’s almost a hint of it, pretty much you need to take a bite and let your mouth find the flavour. Once you do, it’s a very nice pistachio filling. I think with pistachio flavour, too much of it can make it almost unpleasant, so I can see why Cacao have chosen to make the flavour just on the tip of your tongue instead of that burst of flavour you get from the strawberries and cream macaron. The pistachio on the biscuit gives it that added dimension, the hard nut texture against the chewy centre is quite nice.

I don’t mind this macaron but I wouldn’t try it again, based on the fact that the flavour is almost non existant and I prefer a stronger flavour to my macarons. It is very well made and presented but not for me.

Stay tuned for my last Cacao macaron tasting.

Cacao – Melbourne CBD

Shop 7 / 525 Little Collins St

Melbourne, VIC 3000
(03) 9629 4955

Medici Italian Restaurant

August 28, 2010August 26, 2019 Posted in Italian, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

This will be my first of many restaurant, fooderies etc that I’ll be sharing my dining experiences with.

Was invited for a surprise 21st birthday celebration at Medici, and serves Italian food (One of my favourite cuisines).

The venue was quite nice, it had a relaxed, casual vibe to it and can cater up to 300 people so it was quite large and open. The waiters/waitresses were friendly and efficient.

I ordered the Vegetable Risotto (My vegetarian phase) and the group of us shared a few large pizzas as well.

I recall it had diced carrots, small broccoli and diced tomatoes in a napoli sauce, it looked decent. My experiences with risotto lie solely with Sofia’s Restaurants, so I’m no expert but my taste buds know good food!

Taste wise, it was average, the napoli sauce had no flavour to it, it was very generic Italian that even a can or jar supermarket sauce could beat. Basically, it was nothing special.

The actual risotta was cooked just as I wanted it, not overly soft that it resembled a porridge but texture wise it was up there with my only other risotto experience.

My friend ordered the Risotto Pollo and visually looked great, mine just didn’t look as appealing at all and the taste met that.

Would I go back? Possibly, to try the pastas or the other risotto but I wouldn’t be rushing there any time soon.

Medici
36 Newquay Promenade
Docklands, VIC 3008
(03) 9600 4160

Cacao Macarons – Hazelnut Edition

August 28, 2010 Posted in Confectionery, Food ReviewsLeave a comment

I bought four Cacao Macarons (Lt Collins St store) a few days ago but hadn’t had the chance to taste them.
The first one I tried today was the Hazelnut flavoured one and here are my impressions.

I was slightly disappointed with this Hazelnut macaron, although the crunch was present with a nice chewy centre, the hazelnut buttercream lacked punch. It was almost like it was trying to be a subtle complement to the sweet biscuit. The biscuit was a bit overly sweet, not too sweet that it was you felt you needed to head to the dentist but just slightly too much icing sugar for my liking.
What the filling needed was a strong flavour, similar to hazelnut ice cream (Connoisseur is pretty good) or a Forrero Rocher taste, although it had a nice smooth texture to it. It didn’t make me go, ‘I want another!’, like I did with the Le Petit Gateau macarons. Visually, it was very appealing, you just wanted to put the whole thing in your mouth.

Overall, it was a decent macaron (I’m a macaron expert now =D), it had many of the elements present that make a good macaron. The biscuit was good (just a tad sweeter then I’m used to), the filling was not particularly sweet that kind of balanced against the biscuit. Maybe that was their intention? I was expecting a sweet filling and a delicate biscuit and not the other way around! I also had high expectations because of my love of hazelnut flavoured anything. I certainly wouldn’t have said no this Cacao macaron.

I’ll be taste testing the other 3 later on but this particular one has dampened my excitement to taste the rest.

Cacao – Melbourne CBD
Shop 7 / 525 Little Collins St, Melbourne, VIC 3000
Phone: (03) 9629 4955
Opening Hours
Monday – Friday: 8am – 5pm
Exceptions: Public Holidays