Restaurant Review: East Ocean, Sydney

Today I went for lunch with Brad and Chel to East Ocean in Chinatown. It was my first true yum cha experience.

East Ocean is a large restaurant packed with families out for lunch. There is no menu, but circulating between the tables are friendly staff pushing trolleys filled with delights; dim sum, noodles, rice, vegetables, seafood, pastry, deserts and drinks. The trolleys either stop to show off their food or you can hail them down.

We started with some dim sum. Steamed pork, prawn and pork & prawn dumplings. All of them tasty little morsels that came with a soy and a chili dipping sauce. We followed up the dim sum with my first ever taste of chicken feet (pictured above). Have you ever seen a chickens foot so large? The technique, as I was informed, was to put a toe in your mouth at a time and suck all the meet away from the bones before discreetly spitting the bones back out. Tastier and more tender than I had anticipated. I'm not sure they'll become a family favourite, but they certainly weren't unpleasant.

After the chicken feet we had some steamed rice wrapped in banana leaves. Brad was enthused, although nice I didn't think they were as good as the ones I had in Singapore and Chel was less impressed still thinking they were dry and re-heated from the night before. Our final savoury treat were some steamed pork buns.

For desert we had some mango pancakes, lovely, and sweet tofu. I've been promised the tofu is a grower.

It was a great lunch, good value and liked the way all the food carts came circulating round the room. If you didn't know what you fancied or wanted to take a look at what was on offer before you decided it was a fantastic way to organise things. It also helped by being with two experts.

After lunch we popped next door to a Chinese bakery and then went for a look round Paddy's Market.

House Auction!

I first saw a house auction on Neighbours, when I was still at primary school. It seemed an intriguing way to buy and sell a house, so different from the UK.

Some of the Aussie's I met while working in London were adamant it was a better system than the UK. Immediately after the auction contracts are signed, a deposit paid and there can be no backing out or gazumping.

Today a house in the street I am currently living was auctioned for sale, so I went along to have a look. Viewings had previously taken place so there wasn't much of an opportunity to look around. Your name and phone number are taken when on arrival. If you want to bid you have to further register with the auctioneer, provide a proof of identity and get given a bidding number.

Before the auction could start there were some legal notices that had to be read out about the mechanics of the auction and contracts. A description of the property also had to be provided.

And then we were to the action!! I was hoping for fireworks, two (or more bidders) slugging it out and the price dramatically rising by hundreds of thousands of dollars. I was going to have to sit on my hands to prevent myself from getting carried away in the excitement and bidding myself on a house I didn't want.

In the end it turned out to be a damp squib. The auctioneer had to cajole an opening bid from the assembled crowd and there we sat. No one else was biting. The auctioneer then placed a vendor bid (which I think was effectively placing a reserve on the property) and that was that.

It goes to sealed bids on Monday and if the vendor doesn't like any of those he either has to take it off the market or re-advertise for a second auction.

More than a passing resemblance

Is this Saturday's edition of Australia's Sydney Morning Herald or the UK's The Daily Telegraph?

When I first saw the SMH I was shocked how the typeface and design passed more than a passing resemblance to The Telegraph. They even share some articles. A quick Google informed me that Conrad Black used to own both of them.

Restaurant Review: Bills, Sydney

This morning I was very kindly taken to Bills by Pen and Clint for a belated birthday present. It's the third time that I have been to Bills, but both previous trips have been to Darlinghurst restaurant. This morning we went to the upmarket suburb of Woollahra.

Bills is iconic for it's breakfasts. Having previous eaten the scrambled eggs and sweetcorn fritters, this morning I decided to try the bircher muesli. I enjoy a good bircher and was inspired to choose it after Dave on my last visit (two years ago) described it as "the best bircher muesli I have ever eaten".

The verdict: good, but not the best bircher muesli I have eaten. I think that accolade is currently held by the Mandarin Oriental in Tokyo. Not enough apple and I felt the sourness of the dollop of yogurt on top of the muesli didn't quite go with the creaminess of the bircher. (I'm being harsh on food this weekend.)

Pen had the ricotta hotcakes which looked great and were light and fluffy from the little corner I tasted. Clint has the scrambled eggs which were also impossibly light. I think the scrambled eggs are the pick of the menu for me and rather than seeking to try something new each time I go; next time I will be eating the scrambled eggs.

Restaurant Review: Siagon Siagon, Sydney

Tonight I went to the Vietnamese restaurant Saigon Saigon in Glebe with Pen and Clint.

When we arrived at the restaurant the great smells and the sizzling hot plates fizzing from various tables immediately hit me. I also admired the simple but stylish decor. The walls were painted bright red and the ceiling was covered in matching red lanterns.

We started with a mixed platter to share. Chicken satay, tasty grilled king prawns and rice paper rolls. Sadly I was less enthused when the main courses arrived. We shared a duck curry, which I thought was a bit bland. Neither the curry sauce nor the duck was very tasty.

The seafood hot pot was my pick of the main courses and contained prawns, scallops and squid. Arriving a bit late was a fried pork chop that came with a chilli dipping sauce. The pork reminded me of the dishes I was used to eating in Thailand a couple of months ago, simple but somehow more than the sum of its parts.

I haven't been out to eat for a while and maybe I was expecting too much, but overall I was a little disappointed. For the price I think you can get much better food in Sydney.

Blog Tinkering: Part II

Everything has been quiet since my last spurt of enthusiasm and the changes I made to my blog template.

The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that last week a new header (known as a NavBar) was added to the site containing hyperlinks to groups of related articles on the site e.g. Friends, Restaurant Reviews and Travel News.

To get all of the code I used the helpful Tips for New Bloggers website. However, I am unhappy with the depth of the NavBar and would like to make it a bit smaller so that it takes up less room at the top of the blog. Unfortunately I can't find out how to do this despite searching. The Tips for New Bloggers site did have some useful interaction and question answering, but my plea for help has gone unanswered and I noticed there has been no activity on the site since October 2007.

Does anyone know how to do it?

UPDATE: As Blue Eyes has pointed out in the comments, if I want anyone to help me reduce the depth of the bar I should probably say how I made it! The answer is that I added the Blogger HTML/Java script Widget and then inserted my own code. My code is not controlling the size, it is the Blogger default that I am looking to change.

UPDATE II: I sent a query to BloggerStop and BloggingWithSuccess with my query. To their great credit both of them got back to me within 24hrs. BloggingWithSuccess put their suggestion in the comments too. I went with this solution, setting the padding to 1px. Hopefully everything looks a bit better now.

The sound of Australia

To me Australia has always had a familiar feel to it. Like England with permanently good weather. The multicultural mix of people doesn't look that different to London. Everyone speaks English. The cars are mainly a mix of Japanese and European models we see back home. They even have fish and chips. It is a beer culture, although admittedly warm beer is missing.

However, one thing has always stood out to me since my first visit 4yrs ago, and that is the Australian pedestrian crossing. First you get a pulsating beep, then Phow! a sound I can't adequately describe, before returning to that soothing beep. Unique in the world of pedestrian crossing.

Yes, I am a bit odd..........

Sky Writing

I looked up in marvel on Sunday as I saw this number seven being drawn in the sky. An advert for the Channel 7 (makers of fine programs such as Home and Away). I thought it was rather good. It is in proportion, there are no bits jutting out at odd angles etc...

No one else was paying any attention. Then Clint said "Have you not seen sky writing before? Oh, you probably don't have enough blue sky in the UK........." Very true.

Whisky Club

Last night I attended the inaugural meeting of the Distant Thunder Whisky Club. The club is, in effect, a group of friends with a healthy enjoyment for the peaty fire water.

The format of the evening was relatively simple. We all chipped in a bit of money which Brad (as the host) used to by a bottle of whisky. The idea being that our combined resources enabled the purchase of a more expensive whisky. Members were also encouraged to bring a bottle from their own collection for comparing and contrasting.

Last night Brad chose a 10yr old Talisker. The evening started off almost seriously with maps of the distillery in Scotland, tasting notes and discussion on the best way to drink whisky. As the bottle disappeared and the evening became more lubricated all pretensions ended.

I've never been a fan of whisky and last night didn't change my opinion! I didn't even finish the first dram of Talisker that I was given and substituted for a Coopers beer instead.

A fun evening. I'm sure they'll be a few sore heads around Sydney this morning!

Orange Grove School, Organic Food and Farmers Market

Today I went to the Organic Food and Farmers Market, located at Orange Grove school, Sydney. The market is about a fiften minutes walk from where I am currently staying and it was the second time I have visited since I arrived.

Although called an Organic Food Market, it is a lot more diverse than that. There are an assortment of fruit and vegtable, meat and specialist producer stalls that wouldn't look out of place at Borough Market, albeit on a smaller scale. The food stalls that aren't certified organic carry prominent and helpful signs informing everyone.

As well as food sellers there are book, plant and a couple of clothing stalls. On the school field there was a car boot sale with its jumble of goods.

As you would expect a number of the food stalls were cooking up their wares to tempt the crowds. Last time we went I had a bacon and egg sandwich (see above). A bit more gourmet than those knocked up at Truck Fest.

*Hat Tip to Clint who I stole the photo from and who has written about the market here.

Cooking: Pork with gnocchi

Last night I cooked a Nigela Lawson recipe, with a few twists of my own. This is a great recipe, tastes impressive, has a hint of indulgence and is a little out of the ordinary. However, it is simple to cook and can be done within twenty minutes. Great for entertaining one evening after work.

I couldn't find the recipe on the web (anyone would think Nigela wanted people to buy her books), so you will have to put up with my poor imitation. I was cooking for three people.

Ingredients:
Three pork chops or pork steaks. Use a rolling pin to flatten them out so they are faster to cook.
300g of gnocchi (approx)
Handful of mushrooms, chopped
Small glass of white wine
2 (heaped) tsp of whole grain mustard
A dash of cream
Green beans

Method:
- Boil two pans of water. Add the gnocchi to one pan.
- While the gnocchi is cooking fry the pork in a little olive oil in a hot pan. They should only take a couple of mins on each side as they have been bashed out thinly.
- Once the gnocchi has risen to the top if the pan it is cooked. This will probably happen when you turn the pork for the first time. Drain.
- When the pork is cooked remove from the frying pan. Add the mushrooms and cook for a couple mins.
- Meanwhile put the green beans in the second pan of boiling water and cook until al dente.
- Add the wine to the frying pan with the mushrooms. After a minute add the whole grain mustard and cream. Stir well and combine to make the sauce.
- Once the sauce is gently simmering add the gnocchi to the frying pan and mix well in the sauce.
- Assemble on three plates. Spoon a little of the excess sauce over the pork.

Nigela's recipe uses cider instead of white wine. It also doesn't include the mushrooms or green beans, but I think the recipe is a bit devoid of vegetables without!

This is the third or fourth time I have cooked this dish and to be honest I wasn't as wowed as the previous times. The sauce missed a slight tang that it has had before. I used white wine as we had a bottle open, perhaps I should have stuck to the cider.

Mothering Sunday

It was Mother's Day here in Australia last Sunday. My lucky mum received two cards this year.

Neither Brad or I had our mum's in the same city as us this weekend, so we latched onto Chel who took her mum out for lunch.

I was hoping for my first yum cha experience, but sadly it wasn't to be as the yum cha restaurants had queues trailing out of their doors and we were told that it was an hours wait. We ended up at the Chatswood BBQ Kitchen instead. Brad and I left it to the experts to order and there was a flurry of Cantonese of which I didn't understand a thing.

From left to right you can see a fish and noodle soup, mixed BBQ duck & pork with rice, and a pork, tomato & egg dish. The BBQ pork was my favourite. I was least keen on the fish and noodle soup. I'm not the biggest fan of sea food (although I am teaching myself), but processed style fish balls - I discovered in Thailand - are not my thing.

As seen on TV

Alongside the ANZAC bridge is this old swing bridge. Usually desolate except for a few sea gulls, yesterday it was a hive of activity as a movie / TV programme was being filmed. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, but when I returned today there was still some of the set left.

Sadly my camera doesn't have a long enough zoom to bring out all the detail, so you'll have to take my word for it. All of the cars looked rusted / burnt out and the characters were wearing crazy costumes. It seemed like a post apocalyptic type scene.

If that wasn't enough TV related excitement for one day, in the afternoon I saw Jeff Campbell on TV. Jeff was one of the chefs at Monte's restaurant in London when I did some work experience there many moons ago.

Aussie BBQ: Rib-tastic

On Saturday night there was a monster BBQ at Pen and Clint's to which I was kindly invited.

The BBQ was done on an extravagant scale and there was far too much food for us all to eat, but it didn't stop us trying! There were ribs, jerk chicken, corn on the cob, rice, coleslaw, bean salad and guacamole to name the dishes I can remember.

For me, the stand out highlight were the baby back ribs that Clint has previously blogged about. They were tender, juicy, falling off the bone and spicy. The recipe is quite involved, but everything can be done in advance. Definitely a dish to try when you want to impress or to make the evening extra special.

As ever it didn't take much to get me involved in the kitchen. Sporting my new apron (thanks Ali and Dave!), I pitched in with some chopping. I also made a peach and raspberry cake and my mum's apple crumble for desert. I was a bit disappointed with the crumble, why does nothing ever taste as good as your mum's cooking?

Manly Weekend

This weekend I was staying in Manly with my friends Brad and Cheline, and returned to the city this morning on what must be one of the worlds greatest commutes - the Manly ferry. It is such a relaxed way to get from A to B and you have the opportunity to take in some amazing views.

We had a pretty relaxed weekend, with a walk along Manly beach (below) and some good home cooking. We also watched the new Star Trek movie. I'm not really a sci-fi fan, but enjoyed the film.

I've joined a gym. Having never been to the gym before going to Thailand (where I went quite a bit) I am strangely missing the routine. Planning to go lots this week, no doubt the enthusiasm will fade soon enough!

Corned Beef Hash

The corned beef hash has gained an almost mythical status between myself and Clint. It brings together the indulgence of an American breakfast and the whole Diner experience.

The photo in the top right of my blog was taken on my first Diner and corned beef hash adventure, that I wrote about here. When I returned to the US in January this year I made the pilgrimage back to the Summit Diner in order to eat the Hash again.

Last weekend Clint cooked his first homemade corned beef hash for breakfast and glorious it was too.

Restaurant Review: Chat Thai, Sydney

Brad, Chel, Pen, Me, Ali, Dave and Clint in Chat Thai

Last night I went to Chat Thai in Haymarket, Sydney, with friends to celebrate my birthday. I'd chosen Chat Thai following a tip off from Chel's brother and a fabulous choice it turned out to be.

Chat Thai is quite a small and buzzing restaurant and when we arrived there was a long queue coming out of the door. Who would have thought a little Thai place in Sydney could draw such large crowds on a rainy night? I was grateful that I had booked a table during the week!

Clint said that decor reminded him more of London restaurants, funky logo outside, exposed brick walls and minimalistic eclectic furniture. Busaba meets refurbished Shoreditch pub? It did have a buzzing atmosphere and cool, understated interior.

The menu contained lots of my favourite Thai dishes and I set about ordering - in broken Thai of course! - with gusto. As you can see from the photo above I may have got a little carried away as we could barely fit all of the dishes on the table!

We had my Isaan street food favourites of larb gai and som tum. A classic pad thai and pad pak (stir fried vegetables). A more exotic crispy whole snapper served in a red curry sauce, tamarind prawn curry and BBQ duck.

All of the food was excellent and it was difficult to pick a star. Maybe the snapper? Or tamarind curry? Back in Thailand food courts and street stalls could occasionally be a bit hit and miss, and every once in a while you would get a disappointing meal. Chat Thai reminded me of my meal at Anna's cafe a couple of years ago in Bangkok. With a little bit more care and attention you can produce wonderfully consistent food. There were also some of the complex layers of flavours reminiscent of the duck larb I had at the Isaan street stall at the end of my road in Bangkok.

Hopefully this won't be my last trip to Chat Thai while I am in Syndey.

Cooking: Poached chicken and noodle salad

I cooked the above noodle salad last night. I decided that it wasn't the time of the year for a cold salad (we are going into winter her in Australia) so I flashed everything through a wok to heat it up.

I think I should have been a bit bolder with the chili and the amount of dressing. Appreciative comments came from Clint, a good basis for tinkering around with different combinations of dressing and vegetables with the noodles.