Category Archives: Eating Out

Eating Out, Travel

It’s Thailand FFS – try some local food

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Library

Cold weather? It’s all yours, though a flying trip to Queenstown in August is bound to be somewhat chillier than I’ve got now. I’m hoping there will be lamb ragù on the menu. Will keep you posted.

We were passing by and stopped at The Library on Chaweng Saturday for a meal by the beach. It’s not the view we have, or want really, but interesting to see every now and then. When the megayachts come in (it’s the one in the background, below, you may just be able to see it behind the longtail boat) you know it’s the end of the neighbourhood.

Megayacht

There are so many beautiful places to anchor around Samui. I wonder why you’d choose Chaweng? Unless you’re desperate to be seen. Sadly, it’s this sort of tourist the place attracts these days.

There’s a story being told in that picture that is playing out around the island too. No sooner do I mention Khun Play’s seafood fried rice  on the beach than the pace gets taken over by a bunch of Italians who have set up a pizza oven.

Now I like pizza, don’t get me wrong, but in my local Thai village it’s starting to get hard to find Thai food. There’s something deeply, horribly wrong with that. It hasn’t quite happened on our island yet, the one loser French restaurateur notwithstanding. I hope we can resist any further incursions.

But really, it’s Thailand FFS – why don’t you try some local food? Why travel all the way from Europe for what is bound to be a second-rate pizza? What’s wrong with people? Ah well, I did once see a bunch of Singaporeans off to a Chinese restaurant in Rome (I went elsewhere for pizza. ‘When in Rome’, goes the saying) so it cuts both ways.

Naturally, the menu at The Library does have some local dishes, though they’re fancy versions thereof. A pad Thai goong and a khao pad talay (that’s a seafood fried rice – just displaying my superior Thai language skills), were actually pretty good, and not watered-down too much on the spice for those sensitive European palates. Shame the beer is served in flat glasses.

Pad thai

I fear this is the future though. Unless I want French or Italian I’m going to have to go to fancy restaurants in Samui to get a local meal. At least they’re available somewhere. I do wonder why people bother travelling at all if all they want to do is replicate home though. If they’re not willing to actually eat the local food as a bare minimum of experiencing the place what are they gaining by travelling at all?  They could do us all a favour, cut their carbon emissions and make Samui more beautiful to boot if they just stayed at home.

Eating Out, Home cooking, Travel

Haute (altitude) cuisine

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G’day Tony.

Sometimes it is the simple things which bring joy. While I enjoy it when restaurants serve me something extra-ordinarily complicated or hard to come by, I often prefer one that celebrates good produce, done simply, without fuss. My latest favourite is from our local pub, the Carringbush. While the menu is likely to change and it will vanish as fast as it arrived, their steak roll with beautifully cooked sirloin, smoky bacon, gruyere and some “garnish” is tasty simplicity.steaksandwich

Winter has well and truly arrived here in earnest. The snow has come quicker than expected after “snow-mageddon” hit. It’s cold and windy in Melbourne. People are sneezing. Days are short, but getting longer. Oh, and it seems schools are on holidays, again.

My weekends in Melbourne are rapidly coming to an end until late September.

As per usual, I’ll be heading up to the ski fields every weekend again this season. It sounds idyllic, but comes with its own set of problems, mostly of the domestic kind. On balance, our time in the snow is worth it.

The old joke goes a little like: how does a ski instructor become a millionaire? They start with $2 million.

The pity is I don’t have $2 million, but I am a ski instructor of sorts. Ok, technically I am a race coach, but same, same. So living in a place where people joke openly about the price of things, $10 for a can of cola and a chocolate bar? $25 for a basic pizza? It is simply not possible for a mere mortal like me to afford to pay for accommodation, beer, petrol, beer, parking, ski equipment, beer, ski clothing (ok, some of that is well looked after, thanks I/O Merino) and the obligatory post ski beer. Something has got to give. Notice the omissions? Yep, food and wine.

It’s easy to carry a bottle up each weekend, but someone drops by before dinner and *poof* that bottle you brought up to have with the <insert pre-prepared meal> is gone. So, you bring a couple bottles up, just in case. And drink them both even if nobody drops by.

Ok, pre-prepared meal. Living in a lodge with shared cooking facilities, means that intricate menu is just not an option, nor something with a long cooking time. Easy solution? Make something during the week and freeze some to reheat and serve with some pasta, risotto, bread, other. Maybe even some vegetable stuff. No, fries with post ski beer don’t count as vegetables.

I’ve settled back into making ragu. Long, slow cooking of any meat, with suitable additions can result in some cracking results. Ok, I am partial to things like rabbit or duck ragu, but pork or beef is well and truly ok too.

To most people it sounds daunting, but so seriously easy. Eg, bone some duck marylands (get butcher to do it for you if you are that lazy), chop into pieces and fry off until brown. In a heavy baking dish add the likes of garlic, onion, red wine, tinned tomato, herbs like bay leaves and rosemary and cook long and slow. Don’t forget to add seasoning. Hardest part is dealing with the amazing smell throughout the house. Stuff like this is great with pasta, rice or risotto. bonedduck

Crack open a bottle of something with some body, a cabernet, shiraz or the like and all that energy used on the slopes quickly recovered. I found a bottle of 1996 Vasse Felix Cabernet from Margaret River in the cellar, but if you can’t lay your hands on something like that, any cabernet from Margaret River or Great Southern (Western Australia) from 2011 is likely to see you right.

Before we head up, some dining out to be done in Melbourne. Went to a nice place last week, chef’s hat restaurant. Not going to name this one as it was far from worthy. I’m truly hopeful the poor service (read: no service) was because their key staff had called in sick. The suckling lamb was, well, it had plenty of garlic, but very tasty.

milkfedlamb

I suspect when next I write, it will be about apricot moguls, hot chocolates and post ski beers.

Daniel

Eating Out, Travel

Singapore in 5 Meals

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Wanton mee

Hey. I’m struggling to believe I moved to Singapore 17 years ago, and that realisation sent me on a little meander down a culinary memory lane recently.

When I first rocked up I could not believe the food, mainly because it was so cheap and delicious. There I was eating hawker meals every day, because it was cheaper than attempting to cook the same thing at home myself (there should be a warning sign in that), and after a couple of months I weighed myself and discovered I’d stacked on nearly 10kg! How did that happen?

Well, obviously when you’re cutting costs, as hawkers are forced to do – Singaporeans may pay through the nose for fancy foreign food, but they complain bitterly when their favourite local dish goes up in price – then something’s got to give, and the first thing will be the quality of the ingredients.

You’re eating palm oil, sunshine.

It doesn’t help that I gravitate to the most calorific meals in existence. A rich, coconut-creamy laksa? My mouth is watering just contemplating it, but it’s probably in the region of 800 calories, and with precious little nutritional value either.

Even when I tried to eat healthy, my complete ignorance of how things were cooked led me astray. How could I put on weight eating Hainanese chicken rice? It’s just chicken and rice after all. Except the rice is cooked using the chicken fat. No wonder it’s so delicious.

Anyway, with a plan to go to the gym every day, I figured I could revisit some favourites.

The first was a chicken rice in a downtown shopping mall. The ambiance was crap, but the price was reflective of that. I went the whole hog and spent $6 on a set, which meant I got some vegetable and a soup as well. The soup was basically a shallot and chicken broth, so nothing special. I’ve had a peanut soup before, which sounds odd, but tastes better than you think.

The chicken was chopped with the bones in – not my favourite – but the garlicy chilli sauce was just perfect, and the rice rich and obviously fatty. Not the best chicken rice ever, but for $6 I’m not complaining. It would have cost me $4 all those years ago.

The next day I was in the ‘burbs near Upper Thompson Road (sight of the Singapore Grand Prix back in the day – I wish I was around to see that before it was canned in the 1970s), and stopped for a wanton mee (pictured above). I got upsold and ordered some soup with bigger dumplings in it too. The main dish was a bit light-on for the roasted pork, but the noodles seemed fresh enough. Plus there’s that lovely sambal belachan – chilli cooked with shrimp paste – to add some salty/fishy spice. Hmmmm.

Nasi Padang

Moving yet further into the wilds seldom seen by tourists, the next day I stopped at an eating house in Sembawang for some Malay food. I love this place, actually. It’s run by a bunch of nice older ladies who seem to actually enjoy what they do, and it shows in their food. A plate of rice with sambal chicken, fried bean sprouts, a fried egg and some peanuts with ikan bilis (teensy little dried fish) on the side. Delicious, and again, somewhere around $6.

Another day saw me in an outer suburban shopping mall, braving the early lunch hour (everybody eats at 12:30!). I had a char kway teow, which is a flat rice noodle dish with prawns, fat, cockles, fat, bean sprouts, fat, dark soy sauce, fat, egg, and some other secret ingredients, possibly including fat.

Bizarrely, some locals arrived and ordered the dish at the same time, and had theirs cooked first because – get this – they didn’t want spice! Weird. It was delicious, but I suspect it may have been fattening. I don’t know what makes me say that. And I reckon $4 doesn’t buy you any ingredients with nutritional value, either. Certainly green vegetables were conspicuous in their absence. Good for a hangover though.

Finally I went to Poison Ivy, which is on an organic farm – one of about one in Singapore – and had a curry. Okay, it’s more expensive than hawker food, but I did get vegetables, which is rare, and they were grown locally too, or so they claim. All for $20 with lime juice and coffee.

Now, I didn’t manage to hit some of my other favourites – Indian served on banana leaf at Samy’s for instance, or sambal sting ray, or chilli crab, or laksa, or bak kuh teh, or nasi lemak. But I need to spend at least a year on an exercise bike first.

Maybe that’s the list for 2015. That and a heart transplant.

 

 

 

Eating Out, Home cooking

Quack

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Duck

Hi Tony,

Its open fire, roasted chestnuts and red wine time of year. And to think, all of that without cranking the airconditioner up.

Funny, no snow on the ground in the mountains yet, but we are already thinking about spring/summer again. That may have something to do with a little party we are planning in the spring…or because we are hanging out to slide down a hill and ride a lift back up again. Not sure which, maybe a little from column A and a little from column B.

Been working silly long hours, both of us, so the cooking has taken a bit of a backseat. Weekends have been our saviour. A chance to spend a few hours in the kitchen and get a few things made and frozen.

Come winter proper, we’ll be back at Mt Buller every weekend. Might put pay to some of the weekend cooking. Going to have to find a solution for that at some point.

Hey, when was the last time you made dumplings? Yeah, thought that might be the case…why would you make dumplings if you can buy them in Chinatown for a couple of baht each? Ok, so I spent a couple hours mixing up some minced chicken, lemongrass, ginger, coriander, garlic, chilli, sesame oil and Xiao shin wine and then folding a teaspoon full in some gyoza wrappers. Sure, I cheated at this point…I didn’t make the gyoza wrappers. Store bought. Not half bad though.

dumplings

Try this, some chicken stock, ginger, dark soy sauce bring to the boil, add the dumplings and after a while, Chinese broccoli, oyster mushrooms and some egg noodles. Great fast winter filler.  Wash it down with something zesty like an aged Petaluma Riesling.

dumplingsoup2

Do you ever get home at the end of the day and just have a hankering for something? Even if it means standing in 12C and rain whilst bbq’ing some chicken thigh fillets marinaded in cumin, sumac, turmeric, dried chilli, garlic and olive oil. But even more challenging, proving and baking some Turkish bread at the same time. Throw a little thinly sliced cucumber, chilli relish and tahini (with hot water and freshly chopped parsley) and you have a killer chicken burger!

Speaking of bread. I did a bread making course at the Abbotsford Convent over summer. They have an amazing wood fired oven, but doing a course there on a 40C day is not advisable. Was a great course, but I was scanning the paper today and low and behold, there is a pic of Baker Bob. Ok, it wasn’t such an inspiring story to go with the art. Seems Baker Bob was dabbling in other sorts of dough.

Revisited an old fav on Friday night. Not sure if you’ve been to Old Kingdom? It’s a Melbourne institution. Forget the menu, little on it that you would want to order. Duck is what it is about. It’s a duck 3 – way. Starts off with Peking duck, moves on to duck stir fry then finishes things off with duck bone soup. Wash it down with a bottle of pinot noir, either red or sparkling…who knew that Champagne would go so well with duck?!

Quieter time planned this week. I think I’ve done my bbq’ing for the week. Might crank the heater and hang out inside. Perhaps even light a fire and find a suitable bottle of red. Maybe a Forest Hill Cabernet?

Eating Out

Web of Deception

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Duck

WWWeb-footed 

Hey, “The leading independent guide to what’s on in Singapore” recently launched a mobile app. Having never heard of City Nomads I thought I’d check out its website, and chose a restaurant review at random, just to see what it’s all about.

Wading past the usual lifestyle writer’s clichés – Sabai Fine Thai on the Bay is, of course, ‘nestled’ in its location. Nestled being the only way a lifestyle writer can describe a physical location. ‘Nestled in verdant greenery’ is a personal favourite and overused phrase, as though greenery is any other colour.

There was a mention of ‘pleasing verdant foliage’ in another randomly-selected review on the site, so I’m saying they’ve got all the boxes checked. Then again, another food blogger went the whole hog with ‘nestled among lush greenery’ for his review of the same place, and yet another went with ‘soaked in quiet greenery’. I’m assuming he took a wetsuit.

But back to the Thai restaurant. Apparently the chicken wings were ‘joyful’, which would seem odd given they’d been hacked off a chicken and subsequently stuffed and fried.

But the one that really hit a nerve was this: The ‘duck red curry’ came in a ‘light red curry sauce containing lychees, an unusual but brilliant addition.’

Lychees in gaeng phed ped yaang are an ‘unusual’ addition? Oh come on: 90 percent of the red duck curries I’ve ordered have had lychees in them.

Lychees

Some lychees, yesterday

I’m an old fart I know, but this sort of uninformed opinion masquerading as knowledge really pisses me off.

If you’re going to make a statement of fact, maybe you should try to ensure it is actually factual. Ever heard of Google? It is a place to start, though may well lead you to other similarly uninformed opinions on the Web.

Herd ignorance; just what the world needs.

Now I know I’m picking on City Nomads unfairly, it’s not as though they’re the only amateurs in the field.

It is possible to write with some humility and informatively when you’re new to something, but in most cases  you want reviewers who have some experience in the field about which they write.

This is problematic in the lifestyle media for reasons made clear on City Nomad’s website in a job advertisement. You too could join the City Nomads team as editor, the gatekeeper for all the opinion and facts (along with the spelling and grammar) that warrant publishing, and earn a grand sum of S$3-4k a month for your trouble. That’s US$2.4-3.2k.

Stop and think about that for a moment.

Unless you’re living at home with mummy and daddy (a distinct possibility in the world’s most expensive city) and they’re picking up all your bills, that’s not going to leave a lot of spare cash for dining out at anything other than hawker centres. So where, other than hosted media tastings, are you going to get the experience you should have in order to do the job properly?

I’ve long maintained that to write about lifestyle it helps to actually have a lifestyle, but frankly most publishers don’t see it that way, choosing instead to exploit juniors who perceive the business as glamourous and are willing to accept inequitable wages as a result.

If you’ve ever wondered why reviews in the so-called lifestyle media tend to be as gushing, and as adjective- and superlative-laden as the marketing materials from which they are so often cut and pasted, or why they’re so often ill-informed and undiscerning, then wonder no more.

Do we deserve better? I’m not so sure we do, given our penchant for consuming our media for free on the Web. Maybe the old model where experts were paid a proper living wage to write reviews and we paid for the privilege of reading them was better?

Thoughts?

Anyway, now I’m done venting my spleen, last night’s dinner was based of a recipe  in an old Donna Hay magazine. Thai herbs, duck, home-made chilli jam, and fresh lychees. They were an unusual, but brilliant addition.

Eating Out, Home cooking, Travel

Back to basics

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tent

Hi Tony,

I can’t agree more. In fact, a container of frozen chicken stock has been pulled out to make some chicken and leek pies for tonight’s dinner.

We were so pleased to be invited to a great friend’s 30th birthday party on Saturday night. A trip back up to central Victoria, this time to Oxley (just down the road from Beechworth). “C”’s family have a beautiful property just out of town, where we pitched a tent and donned our “vintage ski gear”. My ski pants must have shrunk in storage…

The food put on for the party was a lesson in keeping it simple. Surrounded by some amazing producers in Oxley, it was a delight to see it celebrated. Local, Brown Brothers’ wines (I was particularly partial to the Prosecco and the Chardonnay), a locally cured leg of ham, a couple of cold smoked whole salmon, more Milawa cheese than I have seen in my life and to wrap things up, local Milawa Bakery salted cornbread rolls stuffed full of coleslaw and the most amazing slow cooked lamb. Melt in the mouth. Proof that if you start with great produce, treat it with the care and attention that it deserves, you simply can’t go wrong.

So, how do we city dwellers find such wonderful produce? That is the big question. Perhaps a trip up to somewhere like Oxley or Milawa for the occasional sourcing trip? The other option which seems to come to the fore from time to time is to buy straight from the producer and have it shipped. I haven’t tried this yet, but perhaps it is time.

No doubt there were some sore heads the following morning. A few passed our tent in the wee hours of Sunday morning. I must admit I had to stifle a chuckle when I heard “…I can’t feel my face…” upon passing. Pretty sure a breakfast roll with some re-warmed lamb would have fixed most of the ails.

We had to sneak way to get to Meredith’s birthday lunch on Sunday. A stop at the Oxley Take Away for breakfast, again, simple fresh eggs, local cured bacon on Milawa Bakery bread with some relish. Worthy.

Inspired, I’ve got a loaf of pasta dura proving. I know, it is a Tuesday night and already pushing 9pm but another 30 mins of proving and a hot, hot oven with some help from a water spray, and I will have a loaf of bread with crunchy crust crying out for some Beechworth Honey from our last visit. It’s not going to help my waistline, but oh so tasty.

We have a long weekend coming up. Me thinks that some time in the kitchen is a must.

Daniel

 

Eating Out, Travel

Apple a day

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Beechy

G’day Tony,

It certainly looks we do nothing but eat out, doesn’t it?

The truth be told, 3 weeks of eating in the US has caused a malfunction (that’s what I am going with) of our bathroom scales. In much need of shedding some pre-wedding pounds/kgs, we have resorted to eating not a calorie more than is required to sustain the vital organs.

I’ve been relegated from the kitchen, as apparently you can eat lettuce leaves raw. Not entirely so, but the duck fat, pork belly and russet potatoes are nowhere to be seen. Sad, but true.

Speaking of pork belly, what does wild pig belly taste like? Have you been fattening them up on your freshly planted garden? Do they like your coconut cream?

Can you at least get take-away on the island?

I have a vision of you going “Survivor” and living off the land and sea. It’s not a comforting vision.

Ok, in keeping with our holiday schedule, the lovely Julia and I set off for Beechworth (central Victoria) last weekend. A Christmas gift from the parentals was a weekend at a B&B. Must admit, pretty fine present as I do so enjoy a well-run B&B. Barnsley House fit that bill in spades. Great time of year to be up there too, autumnal colours (fall colors for our US readers) a plenty!

I know you’ve been to Beechworth before and had mixed reviews. I’m no different. Some of it was great, some of it ok and some of it just annoyingly touristy. I’ve got a few friends who hail from the area, so got a few pointers on where to eat and what to see and do.

We arrived Beechworth a little later than hoped, so headed out almost immediately after check in to find some food. Curiously we tried the Ox and Hound only to be told “I’m the only one on, so we can’t serve you tonight”, by a clearly distressed waitress. We retreated quickly.

Moving on, we venture almost next door to the Tanswell Commercial Hotel. Yes, a pub. Pub food, beer, Laminex tables and a wine list. I can almost hear you scoffing from here. The food was, well, I didn’t leave hungry, but half a cabbage with some charred “pork belly” (hint: there was no way it was pork belly, rather rolled pork flank) was just too much.

Now to the wine list. Stunned, as I scanned the offerings, I barely noticed the average (at best) food. The usual house wine offerings ignored, I found myself looking at the pricey end of the spectrum, only it wasn’t pricey. It must have been a misprint, surely. An ’01 Savaterre Chardonnay for a mere $85? ’06 Giaconda Cabernet Sauvignon for a pittance more? This is half what I would expect to see these at a bottle shop, but at a “restaurant”?

The next day was all apples and autumn colours before a night dining at Provenance. A couple of “chefs hats” from a large Australian media company? Sure. Degustation? Sure. Matching wines? Sure. Expensive? You bet. Would I go back? The jury is out.

Yeah, the food was interesting. Some stand out dishes. The sake and wine accompaniments were, at times, challenging and I am not sure worked as desired. The stain on the night though was the intoxicated, loud and downright inconsiderate group that arrived shortly after us. Staff spent more time apologising to other diners in the room that should have been necessary. Some less than discreet “shhhh-ing” from staff was heard, multiple times. Finally, and I mean finally, the group was able to be moved to another (empty) room.

A pet hate? You betcha! These are my top 5 things that irk me most in fine dining establishments:

    1. Intoxicated patrons who never learned the difference between their “inside voice” and “outside voice”;
    2. Overly attentive staff (please, please let me enjoy spending some moments with my dining companion(s));
    3. I’m sorry sir, that was the last bottle of that wine. Well, why was it on the list?
    4. So glad we could participate in the conversation of the table 3cm from ours; and
    5. Let’s stop and get a pizza on the way home, I’m famished.

No doubt you’ve got some to add to this?

Daniel

P.S. Definitely heading back to Beechworth, perhaps during morel season!

Eating Out

Cinderella

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SCV90th

Hi Tony,

So, on the topic of annoying things. Went to a ball on the weekend. Yep, a gala, glitzy $165/person gig held in a big shed with some drapery to make it seem flash.

I like these things. A chance to dust off the dinner suit, relearn how to tie that pesky bow tie (ok, I failed that bit. Just lucky I am marrying someone who can figure that stuff out), polish the shoes proper like and drink an unknown quantity of vin ordinaire. Much fun.

This time we were kindly invited as guests of The Grollo Group and enjoyed the company of some old friends.

Ok, rant time…at $165/head, held in a shed, with those jet-engine like things as heaters, average and I mean average wine, why did we have to do the “chicken or beef” shuffle? Honestly, one of my pet hates.

A mysterious white, creamy sauce graced both the dried out chicken and the grey beef. I’m ok with that at a school formal, where “eating is cheating”, or perhaps the wedding of the 20 year old kids of some friends, but at a function jam packed with some of the wealthiest people in Melbourne? (I should note, I am a long way off being one of the wealthiest people in Melbourne).

Not that I got a choice of chicken or beef, it was simply alternately plonked. Circumstance would have that I got chicken. Am I better for it? Well, the bread roll was ok, as was the schnapps.

Rant over.

Did you partake in Eurovision viewing? I’ve developed a love/hate relationship with it. But, it’s like a car-crash. I just can’t look away. Perhaps it was the “traditional” performance by Poland which I can’t look away from? Makes me want to wash my clothes…

Daniel