on my plate - hiyashi chuka @ ramen-ya

"Really? Ramen-ya again after a second trip to Earl Canteen?" What can I say? I'm a creature of habit. Especially when it comes quality cheap food.

While steaming hot bowls of ramen remind me of dark, cold, dimly lit alleyways in Tokyo, hiyashi chuuka (lit. chilled Chinese food) takes me back to humid summer nights in the middle of the country with constant buzz of cicadas filling the air.

Noodles topped with slices of omelette, ham, cucumber and tomato, topped with crispy nori seaweed, and served with just a touch of soy-based broth. While it lacked the Japanese mayonnaise and mustard I'm familiar with, it was still a welcome change on a fairly warm day. It almost makes me miss the muggy August nights in Japan, stepping outside for just a moment and almost immediately being drenched in sweat. Well, almost.

homemade pizza

Aaah, pizza. Even the greasiest, cheese-laden pizza from a dodgy local pizza joint will still hit the spot on a lazy Sunday night. And, as I just found out today, it's also a pretty good idea for Sunday afternoons with a fridge filled with leftovers, too.

on my plate - slow cooked lamb baguette @ earl canteen

I have a tried and true method for judging the quality of a new restaurant: if the vegetarian options on the  menu sound as appetizing as the meat ones, then it must be good. Being a proud meat-eater, I'll always inevitably choose the meat option, and will probably never try the meatless offerings, but it really says something when a place makes me consider (albeit momentarily) the idea of becoming a vegetarian. Earl Canteen's last visit for a pork belly baguette already had me salivating about my next visit. Should I get the roasted mushroom & goat's curd ciabatta with pesto, or the local organic asparagus baguette with taleggio cream and slow cooked egg?

But c'mon, it is me. I ended up going for the 12 hour lamb and honeyed carrots, topped with gremolata and served in a crusty baguette, and do not regret it at all.  Although next visit I might try one of the vegetarian sandwiches. Or the lunch box. Or maybe duck confit sandwich...

Earl Canteen
500 Bourke St
Melbourne

on my plate - tonkotsu ramen @ ramen-ya

Is it wrong that one of the reasons why I'm thinking about moving back to Japan is because of the food? Melbourne certainly has its fair share of quality restaurants, and a fair proportion of them offer some near-comparable Japanese food, like Ramen-ya's tonkotsu ramen. Bamboo shoots, spring onions, tender chashu pork and slightly chewy noodles served in a a rich, creamy pork broth. Sure, it was good, and at $6.50, definitely hard to beat, it felt like something wasn't quite right. Maybe it was that the egg yolk could've been a little softer and more runny. Or maybe it just needs to be ordered with a ticket-dispensing vending machine and eaten in a narrow, dimly lit alleyway in Tokyo.

Ramen-ya

Shop 25G Melbourne's GPO

350 Bourke St

Melbourne

sushi - Shira Nui

It was a warm summer night, and I was hungry. I had no craving for KFC, pizza, or one of the other cheap Chinese places around the corner. Just as my dad and I were about to give up our search for somewhere good, we saw the "Now Open" sign on the new restaurant. It was small, and nestled between a real estate agent and other small shops, you wouldn't expect to find a restaurant there. But it was brand new, and glancing in the window and spying the simple, minimalist decor, it seemed more than your standard, run-of-the-mill take away restaurant. Interests piqued, we stepped inside, and have not looked back ever since.

Hard to believe that that night was eight years ago. But once you've tried their sushi at Shira Nui, it's not hard to believe that I still remember that night so vividly, or why the tiny restaurant has still managed to stay around and be successful.

on my plate - mirage @ laurent patisserie

Maybe it's a sign that I'm getting older, but my sweet tooth just isn't what it used to be. Decadent chocolate cakes and rich crème brulées have now been demoted to 'sometimes' foods, as opposed to something I could have eaten every other day of the week.

But seeing this Mirage cake from Laurent Patisserie - Lime, raspberry mousse with a coconut dacquoise (No, I didn't know what a dacquoise was either) - I knew my sweet tooth wouldn't be happy with me if I didn't order it . The tart, tangy coupled with the sweet, refreshingly light raspberry mousse and crunchy base was the perfect after lunch treat. I could definitely see myself eating this on a regular basis.

Laurent Patisserie
703 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn

my coffee confession

Like almost every other person around the world, I love a good coffee. The only thing better than a mid-afternoon latte as a pick-me-up would be the lively conversation among the company of friends that usually goes with it. Then again, maybe it's just the fact I've just had my daily caffeine hit which makes the conversation seem livelier and less cranky.

But I have a confession to make. Well, two actually. I find myself in stuck in the middle of two opposing sides, trying to appease them all, trying to avoid all the hurt feelings of betrayal that may arise when I finally come clean. 

on my plate - norwegian eggs benedict

I have a love/hate relationship with breakfast. Under everyday circumstances, I loathe it. Maybe because it’s part of the whole ‘get up early, get ready for work’ scenario (from which I’m currently blissfully detached). Usually, breakfast is just something I stuff in my mouth so I’m not starving by the time I get to school or work, and can remain cognisant until lunchtime. Cereal tends to work best for this purpose: easy to prepare, easy to shovel into mouth, easy to clean up (or abandon in the sink).

But occasionally, when life is particularly good, I adore breakfast. This tends to be during holiday periods, such as now. It’s times like these when breakfast becomes brunch, and acquires a more glamorous identity. For me, breakfast is the ugly stepsister to brunch’s Cinderella. In her ball gown. If you know what I mean.

Anyway. Earlier this week I spent a few days holidaying at a friend’s place on the Mornington Peninsula. One morning, we joined the beautiful people in Sorrento for brunch, picking Sunny Side Up Café as the site of our gluttony. In my experience, anything involving hollandaise sauce is usually a winner, so I settled on the Norwegian Eggs Benedict: lightly buttered English muffin topped with slices of smoked Tasmanian Atlantic salmon and poached eggs, drizzled with the mighty hollandaise. It tasted at least twice as good as it looks.



I’m tempted to try making Norwegian Eggs Benedict at home, but something tells me that’ll just shatter my brunch illusions. I have hazy memories of once attempting to poach an egg, which ended up as a cloudy, watery mess in a pot. Maybe preparing brunch is best left to the experts. Especially when part of the point of brunch is to wallow in your privileged laziness.

Sunny Side Up Café
3297 Nepean Hwy
Sorrento

on my plate - honey soy chicken drumsticks

As much as I enjoy cooking pasta dishes, meat, and desserts, I still have days where I crave the flavours of my mum's home cooking, which for me, involves a lot of Asian food. The moment I saw Curtis Stone's recipe for chicken drumsticks marinated in honey and soy, memories of my mum's baked honey soy chicken wings came flooding back - slightly salty and sweet, juicy wings on a bed of steaming hot jasmine rice to soak up all the deliciously sticky sauce - and knew I had to make this the next day. 

While I stole a page from my mum's book and baked them instead of grilling, they still turned out just fine. The coriander and squeeze of lemon juice were just icing on the cake.... Well, icing on the chicken, anyway.