Bar9

Ive been away on a little holiday but I am now back and here is the post on my visit to Bar9. Finally found the time to visit my favourite brunch spot. 

Belgium Hot Chocolate

Rhubarb, Pomegranate, Bacon, Eggs on bread 

House baked beans with Chorizo served with Eggs on toast

Creamy Truffled Mushroom Ragu served on toast with poached eggs and finished with truffled honey

Vanilla Bircher muesli served with hazelnuts and frangelico strawberries

X MM

Returning home to difficult decisions

My friend returned home for the holidays and what did we do? Go food hunting of course! This girl and I love food so much that we tend to take 10x longer than an average person would to order, not because we get carried away chatting or have difficulty reading the menu but because we have trouble deciding what to order without wanting one of every dish on the menu (and that sadly includes vending machines). 

Tonight was pizza night at Melt, a cosy restaurant nestled amongst shopping boutiques on King William St! We were offered two menus their chalkboard tappas menu and their ink-and-paper pizza menu, which possibly made decision making more complicated for us. However, after politely shooing the waitress away on several occasions and giggling at their spelling mistakes we had finally decided on dinner choices! And boy were they good. I don't want to spoil you too much or you'll be salivating in front of a computer screen so all I'll say is "Drop by Melt when you get the chance".

Nothing better than a view of hard working men cooking up a meal or two

Broccolini pizza

Fennel, orange, olive, red onions & parmesan salad

Baked gnocchi with cream, peas, pesto & spinach

Next stop DESSERT! As I've mentioned in a previous post no matter how full you are, always remember to eat dessert. My friend had never been to Astonish so it was a perfect opportunity for me to introduce her to Astonish and Astonish to her, a future loyal customer. What I love about this little night-time only patisserie is how you get amazing desserts at a reasonable price. This time round I let my friend have the honour on deciding what to order. With two desserts and hot drinks to keep us toasty warm on a cold winter night, we sat from opening time through to closing chit chatting away catching up on our lives and travel adventures since we had last spent quality time together. 

Mocha and Cream Cheese Layer Crepe

Cashew and Sesame NY Cheese Cake 

X MM

Happy snaps

Ive been cuddling up to puppies and kittens! Here are a few snaps I took over the past week which makes me smile. Hope you all have had a great week!

X MM

A trip to India

I love having dates with my girlfriends chatting away about things every girl does when with like genders, while satisfying our taste buds with food. On this particular night my friend and I decided we were in need of an Indian cuisine. The thing I love about Indian food is how the mix of spice aromas can be smelt miles away bringing a hint of India to a foreign country. "Spice Kitchen" was our restaurant of choice and what surprised me most after I was seated was how such a small restaurant hidden away in the eastern suburbs could be so popular amongst the locals. However after a hearty meal at Spice Kitchen it all became clear, the flavours of the spices, the tender meat and the crisp roti and naan were the very reason why I would come back for more. If you get the chance to visit Spice Kitchen, try their 'Sweet Spiced Slow Roasted Duck Finished with Chocolate and Cherry', 'The Four Vindaloos', and 'Roomali Roti'. 

Spice Kitchen before the swarm of customers

Sweet Spiced Slow Roasted Duck Finished with Chocolate and Cherry

Black Peppercorn Chicken and Roomali Roti

Masala Naan

My sweet friend

X MM

Chocolate, strawberries, blueberries goodness!

It was my friend's birthday recently and I made a cake for her! Ive never made a cake for anyone before(except for my parents), so this was a first for me and it was either going to be an absolute failure or a success. Luckily after a few hours of baking, making a mess in the kitchen and filling the house with an aroma of chocolate the cake was complete! 

To celebrate our friend's birthday, myself and a few other friends went to Eros, a greek restaurant located at the heart of our city along one of the trendy streets. After a selection of dishes including Keftedes, Tiri-Saganaki Duo, grilled pita bread with dips and many more .... out came the cake! Thankfully my friends enjoyed my little creation of chocolate, berries and mascarpone cheese.

Here is how to make my friend's cake.

You will need:

Cake:

• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 100g softened butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 75g melted dark chocolate
• 1/2 tsp vanilla powder 
• 1/2 cup milk

Frosting:

• 250g mascarpone cheese
• 1 cup cream
• 1/3 cup icing sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder

Decoration:

• berries
• icing sugar

Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt together and set aside.

Whip the brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

Add the egg, egg yolk, melted chocolate and vanilla powder.

Add the flour mixture and milk until mixed.

Pour mixture into 15 cm cake tins and bake for 25 mins. Set aside to cool. 

Once cooled whip the mascarpone cheese, cream, cocoa powder and icing sugar together. Start with one chocolate cake as the base then pour on half of the mascarpone chocolate frosting, place another cake on top and pour the remaining frosting on top. Decorate with berries and dust with icing sugar. And your cake is COMPLETE! 

All the best to those who want to try this out! 

X MM

PS. Recipe is thanks to Call Me Cupcake. 

Sesame Bars

On rainy, thunderstorm days there really isn't much to do outdoors so I entertained myself indoors and whipped up my favourite sesame bars! I found this recipe from Green Kitchen Stories earlier on this year and have made these several times already (with slight moderations to the original recipe). Not only are they healthy but they taste insanely good and are so addictive. Here is how I made them.

I like to have my bars full of nuts so instead of just walnuts, as suggested in the recipe, I add in several other nuts including pine-nuts,  pecans, almonds etc. First I toast all the nuts, give them a quick chop and set aside. 

Nuts

Next ingredient are berries of all kinds including cranberries, acai berries and goji berries (aka wolfberries). For those who haven't heard of goji berries they are the fruit of Lycium barbarum and Lycium chinense native to China. I have eaten these berries since I was little in homemade soups and desserts and recently it has become very popular in western countries. These berries are full of powerful antioxidants and Vitamin A. Research has also seen effects of anti-aging, improved athletic performance, health and sleep. These berries seem too good to be true, but with the history of chinese medicine I wouldn't doubt the efficacy of these berries! There is one health issue relating to wafarin which has been raised, so if you do have problems with wafarin check with your doctor before including these berries in your daily diet. Now back to the recipe... I give the berries a good wash to remove the coating on them, then toast them in the pan to dry them off again.

Goji Berries

Sesame seeds are next in line for toasting. By this stage the pan is really hot and sesames can burn easily so I turn off the fire to toast them. 

Sesame seeds

Time to combine it all together!

Add the honey and coconut oil. Mix well.

In goes the honey and coconut oil

Lay parchment paper down on rectangular tin tray and pour mixture in and even out. Leave in the fridge for a min of 4 hours or overnight and TA DA you have SESAME BARS! 

Sesame bars 

Final product!

Enjoy! 

X MM

PS. I have another recipe on the way so look out for another cooking post.

Plant 13

I am proud to say I have a strong relationship with food and many (if not all) of my friends and family know I love to explore all kinds of cafes, restaurants and street food whether I am overseas or at home. So what better way to start off my first official post with a visit to Plant 13. One could say the journey to this restaurant was quite an adventure. Our original plan was to visit my favourite local cafe, Bar9, which serves one of the finest brunches along with quality coffee and hot chocolates, however we sadly had to change plans after finding out they were under kitchen renovations. Plan B was Plant 13! Long story short google maps landed us in the middle of residential homes on the other side of the city and after over an hour of driving around, getting lost, stopping several times, and a phone call to the restaurant for directions ... we FINALLY arrived at Plant 13. With stomachs grumbling for food and rain starting to roll in, we hurried in and made ourselves comfy.

Plant 13

Apple Pie Smoothie and Citrus Blitz

Having heard good reviews from friends about Plant 13 and my Bar9 disappointment, Plant 13 had quite big shoes (and stomachs) to fill and they sure did not disappoint! My friend, Janice from Whimxy and I ordered 'Soft eggs, double smoked ham, hollandaise, and house made crumpets' and 'Chicken pot pie' to share. Janice ordered an Apple Pie Smoothie and myself a Citrus Blitz drink.  With vegetables grown from their backyard garden, meats smoked by them and breads baked in their ovens, the dishes definitely satisfied my palate and transformed one unhappy face to a gleaming face yearning more!

Soft eggs, double smoked ham, hollandaise and house made crumpets

Chicken Pot Pie 

One can never leave without dessert, so to end off the experience we ordered a creme brûlée dessert jar. This was by far my favourite! With every spoonful the hint of mandarin, hazelnut/caramel chocolate and a layer of what tasted like oat and honey hit all the right tastebuds and created melting moments in my mouth. 

Creme Brûlée dessert jar 

To conclude my first official post, Plant 13 you've got my big fat red tick of approval.

Like how my friend helped me step over that line to start a blog, I hope I've inspired you to get into your car (and hopefully not get lost like I did) and visit Plant 13. 

Stay warm and dry :)



x MM

Hello blogging world

After over a year and a half of contemplating on whether to start my own blog, it has finally happened! (With the help of a friend of course to help me step across that line and introduce me to the blogging world). I hope to share with you a few things in my life which I can't live without: food, travel, animals, and good company. So here is to a start of something new, different and a place to share my thoughts and experiences. 
Enjoy!

x MM