Egg

Ricotta Hotcakes with Banana and Honey

Original recipe from Taste.com.au, however I tweaked it slightly.

Ingredients:

1 cup self-raising flour
1 teaspoon bicarb of soda
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons sugar
130g fresh ricotta
1 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
25g unsalted butter, melted
1/2 a lemon rind, grated
Olive oil
Sliced bananas and honey, to serve

Method:

1. Sift the flour, bicarb and salt into a bowl and stir in sugar. In a separate bowl, combine the ricotta, milk, egg, melted butter, and lemon rind, beating well until smooth. Gradually whisk this into the dry ingredients to form a smooth batter.

2. Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan and pour in batter to form hotcakes. Cook over medium heat until bubbles appear over the surface and then flip over and cook until both sides are golden brown.

3. Serve hot with banana slices and a drizzle of honey.

Overall:

These hotcakes were so good that the banana and honey were not really needed. Each hotcake was soft and fluffy with slightly crispy edges. The fresh ricotta gave some subtle creaminess and the lemon rind added some zesty freshness. Another quick and easy recipe.

Jackman & McRoss

Everything looked delicious and it took us a little while to decide what to get.

Blueberry Coconut Cheesecake, Lemon and Ricotta Crumble Cake, Hot Jam Donut

★★★☆☆

Apple and Raisin Danish

★★★☆☆

Scrambled egg, bacon, tomato and avocado panini

★★★★★

Scallop & wakame pie

★★★☆☆

Pork, Sage and apple sausage roll

★★☆☆☆

Overall:

We grabbed some takeaway and found the food to be delightful. This place is well worth stopping by.

Jackman & McRoss

59 Hampden Rd, Battery Point, TAS

(03) 6223 3186

Reindeer Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
4 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 egg
1 3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pretzels
M&M’s (I used brown milk chocolate M&M’s for the eyes and red crispy M&M’s for the noses, but any colour/type is fine)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. Combine brown sugar, peanut butter, butter, milk, and vanilla in a large bowl. Add egg and mix.

3. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture and mix just until blended.

4. Form dough into 3cm balls. To make reindeer-shaped cookies, pinch the bottom of the ball slightly to form a point, then gently flatten with your hand.

5. Place cookies on a greased tray and gently press pretzels onto each cookie.

6. Bake for 7-8 minutes or until cookies begin to brown.

7. Remove from the oven and IMMEDIATELY (and gently) press M&Ms in for the eyes and an M&M for the nose.

Overall:

How cute are these cookies? They are slightly crumbly, not overly sweet, have a wonderful peanut butter flavour, and are simply perfect for Christmas.

The Jolimont

73 Jolimont Rd, Forest Hill 0438 333 595

Iced Chai

Sweet with a distinctive chai flavour

= ★★

Banana Milkshake

This brought to mind childhood memories of banana Nesquik

= ★★

Smashed avocado

(avocado, dill, lemon and feta cheese on seven grain sourdough, served with a fried egg)

= ★★

The Jolimont Platter

(antipasto platter with Chef’s selection of marinated vegetables, deli meats, cheese and bread)

= ★★

Overall:

This cosy suburban cafe serves up the usual breakfast/brunch items. Although nothing particularly stood out in terms of the food, service was great as the staff here were attentive, friendly and up for a chat.

Sushi “Cake”

How time flies! It’s been a whole year since I made a Fruit “Cake” for my mum’s birthday and I needed another cake alternative for this year. I saw a savoury sushi “cake” at a work lunch a few years ago and I remember thinking to myself: THIS IS GENIUS!

Ingredients:

3 cups sushi rice
8 tbsp sushi vinegar
425g canned tuna
4 eggs
Smoked salmon
Cucumber
Avocado

Method:

1. Rinse rice under cold running water (stirring occasionally with your hand to remove any excess starch) until water runs clear. Drain well.

2. Place rice and water in a rice cooker to cook (easy option), or in a large pot to cook. If cooking in a pot, have the pot covered and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook (covered) for 15 minutes or until the water is absorbed. (If rice is still not soft, add more water) Remove from heat. Set the rice aside and allow it to cool slightly.

3. Using a wooden spoon, gently fold in sushi vinegar.

4. In a loose base cake pan, place half the sushi rice on the base of the pan. Layer on the tuna and then layer on the remaining sushi rice.

5. Make an omelette from the eggs (I added a splash of soy sauce to my omelette), and place the omelette on top of the sushi rice.

6. Arrange the smoked salmon, cucumber and avocado on top of the “cake”.

7. Remove pan from around the “cake” and serve.

Hakata Gensuke Ramen Professionals

Tick box menu

Chicken Karaage

Morsels of crispy Hakata Style chicken served with dipping spices

★★☆☆☆

Signature Tonkotsu

Pork bone broth served with thin noodles, pork cha-shu, black fungus, bamboo shoots, spring onions and an egg

★★★★★

Black Tonkotsu

Pork bone broth with homemade black sesame and roasted garlic paste, served with thin noodles, pork cha-shu, black fungus, spring onions, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts and an egg

★★★★☆

Overall:

The pork broth here is EXTRAORDINARY! Made with an abundance of pork bones, the deliciously rich broth is quite creamy as it is so collagen-rich. The tick box menus made ordering very easy and I liked how there were taste options and noodle texture options (although the soft noodle and normal noodle textures ended up being pretty much the same). A variety of condiments are also available on each table (spicy pickled veg, red ginger, minced garlic, ramen sauce, gyoza sauce, sesame, pepper) to be added to your liking. Service was very polite (as soon as we entered, we were greeted by a very LOUD chorus of “Irasshaimase!”) and the atmosphere was casual but slightly cramped as this place is so popular. So be prepared to wait (we got there at 5:40pm on a Saturday and had to wait 40 minutes) but it will all be worth it for the amazing ramen!

Note that this place is cash only.

Hakata Gensuke Ramen Professionals

168 Russell St, Melbourne, VIC

(03) 9663 6342

New Home Page

Shizuku Ramen (revisited)

309 Victoria Street, Abbotsford 9995 8180

Tan Tan Men

Free range pork mince, egg, chilli oil, preserved vegetables, rich sesame sauce

= Good

Hokkaido Miso Ramen

Original hokkaido organic red & white coarse miso, cha shu, corn, butter, sprouts, egg

= Good

Almond Tofu

Chilled sweet annin tofu (almond jelly) with berries

= Not bad

Espresso Pudding

Coffee carnation milk gelee curd

= Not bad

Overall:

Although I am not the biggest fan of their Ramen Burgers, I am a fan of their ramen! The noodles were good, the toppings were generous and the broths were simply delicious. I didn’t enjoy the desserts as much as the Almond Tofu contained berries that came straight from the freezer (beware those with sensitive teeth!) and the Espresso Pudding became overwhelmingly creamy after a few mouthfuls. Service was friendly and the strikingly dark decor combined with the curious lights created a very non traditional Japanese dining atmosphere. So take advantage of this cold weather and try a bowl of the terrific ramen that is available here.

*Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of Shizuku Ramen. All food ratings & review are purely based on my own experiences and how I felt about the service, food and quality at the time of visit

Mr Ringo’s Pizza (plus your chance to win Menulog vouchers!)

Shop 1/127 Jacksons Rd, Noble Park North 9790 0122

Ringo’s Super Special

(ham, salami, capsicum, mushroom, olives, prawns, pineapple, garlic, oregano)

Aussie Pizza

(ham, bacon, egg)

Satay Chicken

(satay sauce, chicken, onion, pineapple, cheese)

Overall:

There was no food in the house and the weather was wet and horrible outside, making it the perfect night for getting takeaway food delivered to our doorstep. I had recently been invited by Menulog to try out their service, which turned out to be super easy to use. In case you have never heard of Menulog, it is Australia’s Number 1 online takeaway service that hosts over 3500 restaurants. The way it works is simple:

Head to the Menulog website
Enter your suburb or postcode
Choose from a list of restaurants who are a part of your local Menulog community
Order your meal from the online menu
Decide when you would like your meal delivered, including the time you would like it to arrive. (You can also choose to pickup your meal in person)
Checkout and pay.
You will then receive an SMS confirmation as to when your order will be ready

What I also liked about Menulog were the promotions on offer (eg. 10% off your first online order at certain places) and the accessible reviews that have been written about each place.

And thanks to the generosity of Menulog, I have two $10 vouchers to be given away! Simply click on the link below for your chance to win! (entries close 4th July)

WIN 1 of 2 $10 Menulog Vouchers

Now back to the food. We decided to have a pizza night and chose Mr Ringo’s Pizza because of all the positive reviews on the site. This was definitely a good choice because the pizzas we ordered were pretty good! Not only were they delivered on time, they arrived hot, had a nice crispy base (which wasn’t too oily), and had an ample amount of topping on each pizza. I will certainly be ordering pizza from this place again in the future.

De Clieu

187 Gertrude St, Fitzroy 9417 6498

Berkshire Pork Neck

Meltingly soft 24 hour slow cooked free range pork, crispy spring onion roti, house made BBQ sauce, yolky fried egg, roquette

= Good

Middle Eastern Eggs

Fried free range eggs, crispy roti bread, roquette, organic sausage which I found to be slightly dry, hummus, dukkah

Notice anything particular about the eggs? Do you see the massive piece of egg shell?!? I suppose having a big piece of egg shell is better than having lots of little pieces as you can at least pick the big piece out.

= Not bad

BLAT

Double smoked bacon, avocado, roast garlic aioli, lettuce, tomato, quinoa & soy sourdough, roquette

What made this sandwich enjoyable was the amazing quinoa & soy sourdough that added a little crunch and the terrific roast garlic aioli.

= Good

Overall:

Small menu, small portions, average service, relaxed atmosphere.

Shoya

25 Market Lane, Melbourne 9650 0848

Pickled fish and vegetables

Intensely sour

= Not bad

Savoury Egg Custard

Marvellously silky steamed egg custard with chicken, prawn, mushroom and edamame

= Excellent

Tempura

The tempura batter was delicately light, crunchy and subtly seasoned. My only gripe with this dish was the enormous piece of broccoli that was served. Don’t get me wrong, I love broccoli. It’s just a little difficult to eat when it’s the size of my hand.

= Good

Signature Deep Fried Dish

The left portion comprised of a tantalisingly tender scallop that was wrapped with understated crab meat and deep fried, while the right portion comprised of deep fried egg and mushroom.

= Good

Sashimi

Extremely fresh and delicious with each piece having that amazing melt in your mouth texture.

= Excellent

Sushi

Fresh and tasty but the wasabi was a bit too heavy for my liking.

= Good

Wagyu Steak and Miso Soup

Not sure if this is the norm, but this steak happened to be cooked medium-well and some of the pieces were extremely tough and sinewy. The sauce was lovely and aromatic, however the quiche that was served alongside was quite cheesy and did not complement the steak whatsoever. A strange combination.

= Not bad

Mixed Steamed Rice

Lacklustre fried rice that comprised of chicken, vegetables and mushroom.

= Not bad

Green tea ice cream

Weak green tea flavour, dense and had ice chunks in it.

= Not bad

Overall:

This place offers tasty yet affordable lunch sets that start from only $24.80. The cheap lunch sets must be very popular as by 1pm we were told that the two cheapest sets had already been sold out. But that didn’t faze me as I wanted to get a slightly more expensive Shoya Special Lunch Set anyway. I ended up getting the Matsu Set and substituted the crab dish with tempura. Most of the dishes came out at a nice even pace so that as soon as we had finished one dish, the next one would promptly arrive. Service was good and the atmosphere was chic and sophisticated. We witnessed one of the chefs preparing Shoya’s famous sashimi ice domes. They looked spectacular but I think you can only get them as part of the $180 dinner degustation menu. I think I’ll just stick to coming here for lunch.