Yes! You have gone to the correct blog ~ Never Too Sweet For Me It’s still me! I just thought it was time to give my blog a HUGE facelift! Because today marks an very important day for my small humble blog It is the official Blogversary for Never Too Sweet For Me! That is this day last year was the first time I wrote something, stuck (ugly) photos in and wrote my experience and opinion about the food we had If you really want to read it here’s my first post.

First Post!

I cannot believe how fast time has flown by this year… there have been so many ‘first times’ for me… working full time for the first time, moving out for the first time and meeting people from the internet for the first time Hahaha now I don’t even blink an eye when I meet people in person for the first time, because though blogging, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, I honestly feel like I know each and everyone one personally

Much better photos

I also feel like I have been blogging for a much longer time than just one year… even though it can be hard work sometimes especially with time constraints of working, I honestly believe this is the best decision I have made since choosing to do major in Marketing back at Uni the blog has kept me connected to the world, creative and most importantly brought me so much joy and happiness Sorry if that sounds  corny, but I meant every single word!

I made these for our anniversary

Initially, I wanted bookmarked and planned a million cake recipes that I wanted to make for my blogversary, it went from a 6 layer rainbow cake then to a caramel cheesecake, then it was madelienes, then it was even macarons! But I simply don’t have the time this week…so I will make up for it…instead, I just wanted to spend today’s posts reflecting on the things I have done and achieved through the blog and also thank the people who have supported me!

First Cake Pop ~ Little Bee!

Some of the things I have done this year through my blog:
- Celebrated numerous birthdays and anniversaries
- Attended Eat Drink Blog 3 Conference 2012 in Adelaide
- Did a macaron and a cake pop making class
- Met and interviewed a few chefs Gregroire Michaud, Pierrick Boyer, Peter Gilmore and Jeffrey Lebon.

Melb Bloggers at EDB

Thanks Simon from Simon Food Favourites for the amazing photo

Now to the Thank You’s! There are so many people I would to Thank because without them, I don’t think I would and could have blogged  for so long and have the motivation to keep going

Thank you Dearest Mr Bao!

Mr Bao - You’re a legend! Always supportive of my blog, you let me choose what I want to eat, eat what I don’t like and simply let me drag you around thank you! xox
Win Win – My Big Sis was supportive of my blog from day one, will do anything for me and the blog including asking her friend to smuggle me 3 large cans of Laduree hot chocolate LOL
My friends – Kirk, Dd, Julianne, Iola, Qiao Qian, Shaun, Kirk, Kristina (my neighbour), Yue, Charmaine and Mary and all my friend in HK, they put up with me talking about food 24/7 and also going to only ‘Daisy approved places’
Fellow Bloggers -  So many of you guys, if I listed everyone I’ll be here for ages and I don’t want to forget anyone, but just know I am grateful for every single of one of you who have supported me, left me a comment and also gave me advice!
Readers - One of the most important people They are why I write and update and share with them my mistakes in baking and how to improve, in particular Joanna, my Reader living in Hamilton, Victoria ~ she is the sweetest girl ever and she made my chocolate orange tart ~

Joanna made my chocolate orange tart ~

Jovian and William - They are the talented designers behind my new blog logo and also my business cards, please support them and visit their website.
Sandy - My official blog designer I never would have been able to get a new blog design without her! Thank you

We’re still tweaking the blog design, so there might be minor changes to the font and colour schemes ~ but hope you like the new layout so far! I’m looking forward to sharing many more of my sugar-loaded adventures in future blogversaries THANK YOU everyone for the support!

Bonjour! I have some exciting news to share with everyone today I am going to PARIS with my sisters Win Win and Anonymous Sister in JANUARY 2013! I am so excited… I can’t even use words to describe it! Then I started getting crepe cravings Because they are  one of my favourite French desserts. Then I remembered I bought the Roule Galette voucher from Living Social which entitled us to 2 crepes and 2 drinks of our choice. Perfect!

I was gonna go with Mr Bao but he was a bit busy, and the coupon was expiring, so I asked Yue my awesome colleague, we went on a Friday while our manager was on leave so we could take a longer lunch break We drove to Flinders Lane and walked into Scotts Ally where Roule Galette was situated, but as soon as I showed them my coupon, they told me that it was only valid for their other store located on ‘Rebecca Walk Ave’. Bummer…we didn’t want to drive there, so decided to stay and get crepes anyway

Scott Alley

Our Lunch

For a second, I really thought I was transported to the little cafes in Paris, as Scotts Ally is so small, and all staff at Roule Galette spoke English with a thick French accent and spoke to each other in only French ~ very cool! I have always wanted to learn French…but haven’t had the chance yet.

Complete Galette $10AUD

Feeling quite hungry, I immediately ordered the ‘Complete’ with egg, ham and Emmental cheese which is one of the oldest and most traditional types of galette. I actually didn’t know the difference between galette and crepes until I did some research , and apparently galettes are a type of crepe made with buckwheat so I assume it’s healthy. I loved everything about this galette how thin it was and then the ham with the melted emmental cheese and topped with the ooey yolky egg! Its such simple flavours but so good!

Raspberry Puree Crepe $6AUD

I was really surprised but Yue wanted a ‘sweet’ crepe He doesn’t really have a sweet tooth, but I guess he had a late breakfast and wasn’t feeling that hungry. We both liked the thin soft texture of the crepe, while I found the raspberry puree to be a little too tart, Yue really enjoyed it. I think it would have been even better with some hot chocolate fudge or ice-cream but that’s just me ~

Banana and Salted Caramel $9AUD

I couldn’t leave without getting another sweet crepe, I was confronted with the issue of waiting banana and Nutella or salted caramel. The waitress helpfully suggested a ‘salted caramel with banana’. Problem solved! I was very happy with this crepe, once again soft and thin texture with the perfect amount of salted caramel and then sliced bananas, I don’t think I could have made this crepe any better!

Rebecca Walk

Mr Bao got a little jealous, that I got crepes for lunch so a couple of days later, we decided to use my coupon and this time went to the Roule Galette at Rebecca Walk. For those who are not very familiar with the area, it can be a little hard to find. Basically, it is on Flinders Street, facing the Yarra River and right opposite the Crown Casino facing South Bank, it’s a quiet little area with some shops and seating area. I actually wouldn’t mind having lunch here sometime

Not many shops here

The Roule Galette store here is much bigger with seating outside as well, it was quite busy outside, but tables were still available inside. We liked the retro-ambiance it had inside with the yellow and brown colours and booths along the side.

Saint Jacques $20AUD

With the coupon we could order any crepe of any value, so Mr Bao decided to be extravagant and got the Saint Jacques which was a galette with leek and scallop. I haven’t had seafood on my galettes before so it was a new experience. Even though we liked the flavours especially the leek, the scallops were slightly overcooked and it was very salty. It would have been much better if there was some cream or sour cream to counteract the saltiness.

I’ve heard lots about Crepe Suzette but never had one, because I always have Nutella with my crepes. I was looking forward to seeing the crepe be on fire hence the name ‘flambe’ hehe, the waitress brought over a normal sweet crepe, then poured some Grand Marnier and lit it in front of us.

The Suzette $13AUD

Not sure why but the fire died down very quickly…as for the taste, I was a little disappointed because I think there was too much Grand Marnier it was very strong and it tasted very bitter. Hence, I didn’t like it very much and think I much prefer to stick to my sweet crepes

Chicken du Chef $12AUD

Of course Mr Bao wasn’t full with just one savoury galette hahaha so he decided to pay and get another Chicken du Chef a buckwheat crepe with chicken and French mushroom and cream. We both enjoyed it, can’t go wrong with cream and mushrooms, but found the chicken to be slightly overcooked.

Iced Mocha $6.50 AUD

We washed the food down with some cold drinks I got an ice mocha, can you see the amount of chocolate at the bottom of the glass exactly what I like ~ I was impressed that there was a strong coffee taste and not just chocolate sauce and milk, like some other places. Only thing is… I don’t really like that much cream >_< my fault for not telling them, next time.

Iced Coffee $6 AUD

Mr Bao got an Iced Coffee ~ he was also impressed with the intense coffee flavour and the vanilla ice-cream, not something we expected from Roule Galette hehe once again only issue was too much cream but other than that it was great.

I would recommend Roule Galette for anyone who has crepe cravings in Melbourne and want to have a little taste of Paris and remember to get the salted caramel one

As promised the “For Her” post for Taste of Melbourne 2012 This is the sweet post with ALL desserts from the event ~ I was so tempted to just write this post and then forget about all the savoury dishes…but then that doesn’t seem fair and hahaha Mr Bao wont be too happy ether!

Gundowring Ice-crea One Crown each

Let’s jump right into it! First dessert we had was one of my favourite Gundoring Ice-cream, one of the first products I ever blogged about They’re from rural Victoria and nothing beats their creamy and delicious ice-cream. We got 2 baby cones to share, a banana and vanilla flavour, and if I remember correctly it was only One Crown each, great taster size.

Love this picture of the man selling the Gundoring ice-cream you can just tell he loves his job!

Salted Caramel Beignet 2 Crowns

We then wandered to the Cacao Fine Chocolate stall, I’m a frequent customer at my local Cacao and love their pistachio macaron. But I haven’t seen these salted caramel beignet before ~ being only 2 Crowns, I couldn’t resist. However, I was a little disappointed, I couldn’t really taste any saltiness in the caramel and the beignet was a little dry >_<

4 Crowns per cupcake

I’ve seen 180 Cupcakes at last years Taste of Melbourne, and have put it onto my ‘go back’ list, but haven’t had the time, as they are a local cupcakery in Ivanhoe, which is a little out of my way. I do like their moist and fluffy cupcakes. I was really surprised that the zucchini cupcake was so delicious, I couldn’t even taste the zucchni ~

Valrhona 70% Chocolate Tart 8 Crowns

Moving on to the more well known restaurants ~ I’ve had desserts at Albert St Food and Wine before and also have Philippa Sibley’s book, but I totally forgot to bring it and ask her to sign it I really liked this chocolate tart and it was a very good tart case which was crumbly with a velvety and rich chocolate filling YUM!

Vanilla panna cotta with citrus salad 8 Crowns

Next up Kirk insisted on trying the Vanilla panna cotta with citrus salad, baby basil, candied almonds and blood orange caramel sauce. We all agreed that it was presented very well with the candied almonds ~ flavours were also good and if we really wanted to be picky hahaha the panna cotta was slightly firm according to the Pastry Chef (Kirk)

Warm Chocolate mousse 8 Crowns

I then got extreme jealous from Thanh and Ms I-Hua’s Instagram photo of the warm chocolate mousse they had ~ So the next day when we went back this first thing I got hehe and boy I was glad! The warm chocolate mousse with toasted marshmallows and caramel popcorn, it was like a cross between a hot chocolate and a chocolate pudding, super delicious! Sighhhh looking back… I’m getting serious cravings!

Mr Hive Kitchen & Bar

I was trying to be good and avoid Mr Hive Kitchen & Bar’s dessert degustsation…but lol Kirk persuaded me to go we went pretty late at around 9pm, and the stall ends at 9:30pm so we felt pretty bad that the pastry chef, had to serve us. For 30 Crowns you get 3 desserts with an almond milkshake, salted caramel truffle and lolly bag to take home It’s actually good value for money as it generally costs $45AUD or more for the dessert degustation, even though portions are bigger.

Raymond Blanc the new pastry chef

First dessert was the Chilled Watermelon soup, Elderflower Liquor Jelly, Kirk really liked this dessert as he loves watermelon. Everything was so delicate with little melon balls ~

Delicately plated ~

While I found this dessert very refreshing the elderflower liquor in the jelly was a little strong for me but still a very good summer dessert ~

Chilled watermelon soup

We then moved onto the famous and very popular Mrs Hive’s Chocolate Bar, I’ve had it before and even though I’m not a fan of peanut butter, this is probably the only peanut butter and chocolate desserts that I like I particularly like the smooth cold texture of the bar.

Summer Berry Eton Mess

I wasn’t sure if I’ll like this dessert ~ because I don’t generally like mousse-type desserts ~ But this totally blew my mind hehe Mr Bao had a little taste and really liked the crunchiness from the blueberry meringues Gosh I love desserts with berries ~

Summer Berry Eton Mess

Salted Caramel Truffle and Almond Milkshakes

Both times I went to Mr Hive, they served a chocolate milkshake, but this time they served an almond milkshake. Even though it was nice, I still preferred the sweetness from the chocolate one ~ while the salted caramel truffle on top is my favourite! You have to eat it in one go, as it explodes in your mouth. I seriously would buy a whole box if they sold it hehe. I didn’t take a photo but you also get a little lolly bag full of handmade lollies ~

Now that concludes all the sweets and desserts that I had But I also bought some things home with me ~ such as chocolates from Monsieur Truffe.

Monsieur Truffe

And a mini Christmas pudding Because I really have no clue how to steam cakes without making them soggy hahaha

Christmas Pudding

My Dear Readers this is my sweet post for Taste of Melbourne, there was still so many more desserts I didn’t get to try >_< so I have decided to try even harder next year to knock them all down!!!

Hope you’ve enjoyed the Taste of Melbourne posts will go check it out next year ~ I know I’m already looking forward to it

OMG! There’s only 18 days until Christmas…Are you ready for Christmas? I am hyperventilating…I’m not sure if I’ll get everything done for our first ever Christmas in Melbourne Usually I spend it in Hong Kong with my family… but this year, Mr Bao and I are spending it here and also hosting out first ever Xmas party eek!

Source: Google

I am totally stressing out, never made Christmas puddings, cakes or fruit mince tarts, that’s why when Ribbons and Bows asked if I would like to try some of their cakes and Christmas baked good. I immediately said ‘Yes Please’

Ribbons and Bows Cakes is a local cake store that have been in the industry for nearly 15 years, however, they generally do wholesale and some of their clients include Qantas and David Jones ~ Recently, they have opened up an online retail store where customers can order and have their cakes delivered to them. YAY! Perfect for lazy and time-poor people like me

They were very generous and gave me two boxes to sample, one box was filled with their popular cakes with a mix of cheesecake, vanilla slice, cupcake and whoopie pie. While the other box was filled with Christmas cakes, puddings and fruit mince tarts ~

I know that’s a LOT of cake but hahaha don’t worry, I tasted everything but also shared with my neighbour and friend Julz Now let me take you through the cakes one by one ~

Lemon Meringue Cupcake

Starting with the Lemon Meringue Cupcake, it was a lemon scented cupcake with a meringue topping and lightly blown torch. Mr Bao and I both liked the meringue as it was smooth not too sweet (for him), but we found the cake to be a little dense and dry.

Strawberry Whoopie Pie

Whoopie pies are so American Even though more cafes now make or stock them, they still haven’t become mainstream yet ~ keyword yet, I have a feeling these will become the new cupcakes I loved how the owner Ricky described these as ‘handheld’ cupcakes, which makes sense! Because it’s like a cupcake you can hold, and instead of the icing on top of the cupcake its in between two cake layers.

Handheld cupcake

We liked the buttercream strawberry filing which was very nice and did not have that artificial aftertaste.  However, found the cake layers to be slightly dry and we prefer cupcakes with a lighter and fluffier texture.

Flourless Carrot Cake

I have realised so many of my friends are Celiac and can’t have wheat based cakes that’s why many stores now offer gluten-free options such as this Flourless carrot cake. I really liked the moist texture and the lemon cream cheese frosting which went well with the glaced apricot and walnut. I just wished there was a little more cream cheese~

Toblerone cheesecke

The Toblerone Cheesecake was DELICIOUS! One of our favourite cakes, it was soft, moist and smooth but still had a strong chocolatey taste ~ I could have had the whole cake to myself, but had to share… Only little improvement I would make is to actually to a little piece of Toblerone on top of the cheesecake instead of the chocolate almond praline piece, just so people will know it’s a Toblerone cheesecake

Flourless Chocolate cake

Another gluten-free cake, Flourless Chocolate cake, another one of my favourite, it had rich chocolate flavours with some coffee notes. This would be perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream or iced coffee ~

Vanilla Slice

Ricky told me the Vanilla Slice was one of their best sellers, I can see why very delicious, it’s not like a French mille feuille instead of multiple layers of puff pastry it only had two puff pastry pieces sandwiched with thick thick vanilla custard that was so wobbly, smooth, silky melt in the mouth texture.

Fruit Mince Tart and Christmas Cake

Now to the Christmas goodies I’m not usually a fan of Christmas cakes, not sure why…because I don’t mind mixed fruit but I think it’s because most Christmas cakes I’ve had have a very strong rum  taste. That’s why I was really surprised I really enjoyed this Christmas cake with the sweet icing, it was super moist, wasn’t too sweet and definitely not rum filled I’m not sure that they used any alcohol or if they wanted to make it alcohol-free for the little people (kiddies).

The fruit mince tart was also very nice, with a light crispy tart case, with delicious fruit mince and according to Mr Bao that wasn’t tooth aching sweet, whatever they weren’t sweet at all I think these would be perfect for any Christmas party, I’m actually tempted to order some myself ~

Christmas pudding

Christmas is definitely a season for puddings but its such a winter dish and unfortunately, we’re in the Southern hemisphere and it’s SUMMER here lol so it might be a bit weird for us to eat warm and comforting puddings for Christmas. But I really liked this steamed Christmas pudding which needs to be warmed before eaten, it had everything a good pudding should have and it would have been perfect paired with some custard or ice-cream.

Now it’s your turn to try some Ribbon and Bows cakes Ricky has very generously offered to give one lucky reader an 8inch cake of their choice!!!

To enter this giveaway:
- Leave a comment and tell me if what cake you would like to try?
- For more entries please ‘Like’ me on Facebook and Follow me on Twitter ~ If you’ve already done that please let me now! Thank you!
- Giveaway ends on the 14th of December
- You may reenter daily, one entry a day
- Winner will be chosen by random.org and announced on this blog and notified via email
- Please ensure you enter a valid email address
- Open only to Melbourne residents (Sorry!)

Good luck everyone

WINNER ANNOUNCED

Congratulations Ross you are the winner for this giveaway

I used Random.org to generate a random number and counted the comments (not mine) and Ross is number 17 YAY!

Thanks everyone for entering and leaving a comment

This is a sponsored post, Daisy@Nevertoosweet sampled the cakes for free, however, review and opinions are honest and based on personal taste and preferences. 

This blog is my baby I am responsible for everything, the writing, the photos and most importantly the eating And very rarely will Mr Bao help me…except for the eating part hahaha he’ll occasionally help me take photos but will never participate in the writing or very little photo editing. That’s why I was really surprised when he kept asking me to post about our experience at ‘Quay‘, usually he doesn’t even know what I’ve posted and I need to remind him to read my blog! How sad is that?!?

But nonetheless, he kept asking…”When are you going to write about Quay? Don’t worry about the other posts, do Quay first!”, and when I asked him why, he simply replied, “Because its THE best restaurant we have gone to and the SNOW EGG!” LOL Anyhow, I have been meaning to write our experience at Quay for a couple of weeks now, but have been very busy   Also writing restaurant posts especially ones with such complicated dishes takes even more time >_<

Mr Bao very happy~

Even before our Little Aussie Trip, I had put Quay on the top of my ‘Must-go’ lists. But I admit, I didn’t know much about Quay before Masterchef and the episode about the Snow Egg. But since then, I have been mesmerized by it! That’s why it was the perfect excuse to go and it was going to be part of Mr Bao’s birthday present, even though it’s a couple of months late

I have heard that getting a table at Quay is quite difficult especially for dinner, unless you book 6 months in advance. So I had my mind set to have lunch there instead, it’ll also make it easier to take photos I called up probably two weeks before we were going to go to Sydney and made a reservation, thank gosh…I had no troubles getting a table on the time and day I wanted ~

It was going to be a date, so Little Luk (Mr Bao’s cousin) who was traveling with us wasn’t coming (I did invite him ) , we had breakfast with him at the Rocks before walking to Quay. Mr Bao was very excited about going to Quay, he even worehis favourite suit jacket and ‘suited-up’ for this event, upon walking in, we were immediately greeted by the friendly staff behind the counter.

They immediately showed us to our table, with one of the best views of Darling Harbor! It was such a beautiful day ~ the res. I already had a look at the menu online and decided we were going to get the 4 course lunch menu  instead, of the tasting menu.

Lunch Menu 4 Course $145AUD or Tasting Menu 8 Course $220AUD

And don’t laugh…but the only reason for that was because, the tasting menu only came with Snow Egg for the dessert but I really wanted to try the 8 texture chocolate cake as well

Complimentary entree, Sashimi, almond medey with grapefruit

We both made our choices, ensuring we don’t get the same dishes. The first thing to arrive at our table was a complimentary entree, in a little glass which was a sashimi almond medly with grapefruit. Flavours were quite refreshing especially with the tartness from the grapefruit ~

Bread selection

The lovely waiter then offered us a selection of sourdough bread, white, mixed seed and polenta and malt. The bread was freshly baked with a nice crust and soft mellowly center, we just thought it could have been slightly more sour as it was intended to be sourdough

Fragrant poached chicken, shaved sea scallops, Chinese artichokes, silk noodles, smoked white eggplant cream, Korean Virgin Black sesame oil

First up, my entree which was a poached chicken with scallop and smoked white eggplant cream.  We thought it had bit of an Asian twist with the use of Chinese artichokes and Korean virgin black sesame oil. I really liked the strong sesame taste and the tenderness of the scallop, I didn’t think a dish with chicken and scallops and was impressed that they complimented each other quite well. The smoked white egg plant was also lovely with a creamy texture and even though I’ve never tried white eggplant, we found the natural flavours of the eggplant was less prominent.

Sashimi of Corner Inlet rock flathead, Tasmanian trumpeter, salt cured wild oyster cream, black lipped abolone, raw sea cabbage, nasturtiums, warrigals

Mr Bao loves his Japanese food, so got the Sashimi for his entree. This was not the conventional sashimi that he is use to, this entree had more elements with the flatheat, oyster cream and abalone which were things neither of us have had before and used the radish to give it a different type of taste and more crunch in terms of texture.

Smoked and confit pig cheek, shiitake, scallop, Jerusalem artichoke leaves, juniper, bay

We have been very lucky and had actually tried this dish the week before we came to Quay, as we won tickets from Agnes’s blog for  Peter Gilmore’s masterclass event will post about that very soon Because we previously tried this dish, we were already familiar with the flavours, but for this dish, pig cheek was used, while the one Peter made for us used pork jowl. We found the pork cheek to have a slightly firmer texture than the pork jowl but was still nonetheless succulent. I absolutely adore this dish There are also scallops and when eaten with the pork cheek, we thought it gave it a sweet flavour ~ I don’t think neither of us have had artichokes before and even if we have, it was definitely not fried and made so crispy

Gentle braise prawns, octopus, strawberry clams, heirloom radishes, baby squid, sea urchin

Once again we were very lucky and had sampled this dish before, and loved it the first time and this time we found it to be even better as the flavours of the seafood was more pronounce.

Close up ~

I call it a seafood medley because that’s what it felt like ~ the seafood went so well with each other it was like singing a song in my mouth hahaha And I can’t tell you how delicious the broth was definitely the most amazing one I have ever had ~

Milk fed lamb slow braised in cumin scented butter, globe artichoke and white lentil leaves, parsnip cream, pea blossoms

Mr Bao got the milk fed lamb for his main. I don’t usually eat lamb so was reluctant to try, but eventually gave in and it was so good! It wasn’t gamey at all nor did it have that lamb taste and we both agreed we could actually taste the milk flavour from the meat It was quite fascinating as I have never enjoyed lamb but really liked this. I probably would have thought it was veal if I didn’t now any better ~ Mr Bao also liked the crunch he got from the globe artichokes and also the creamy and slight sweetness from the parsnip cream.

Berkshire pork jowl, maltose crackling, prunes, cauliflower cream, perfumed with prune kernel oil

I chose the Berkshire pork jowl knowing it was Quays signature dish, and was immediately amused by the maltose crackling I remembered Peter Gilmore saying that because the pork jowl has such a large fat content, it is virtually impossible to create a crackling. Therefore, he created a ‘mock’ cracking using ‘maltose’ which is malt sugar and caramelize it and as it cools, it hardens to become the ‘crackling’. I LOVED IT! It was super sweet which counteracted with the salty pork jowl so well and even though I could see all the fat, I didn’t care! The fat would just melt in your mouth I also liked the prunes which were also quite sweet and the cauliflower cream, I’ve tried making cauliflower puree at home before, but it’s never this smooth! Mr Bao didn’t enjoy this dish as much as he found it a bit too sweet pfft whatever it was perfect for me !

Complimentary salad with vinaigrett

PHEW! I finally got through all the savoury dishes They were all quite complicated and hard to describe. *Drum Rolls* please! Moving onto DESSERTS

Quay’s Eight texture chocolate cake

We started off with the Eight texture chocolate cake, which is now very well known to most Australians because of Masterchef hehe ~ but for those who have not heard or seen this cake before, it’s basically a chocolate cake with 8 different textures. It has a cake base, chocolate and hazelnut dacquise, chocolate cream, chocolate mousse, milk chocolate praline disks, caramel chocolate ganache and a dark chocolate disk for the top.

It’s so warm and comforting seeing the melted chocolate ooze out!

But what’s so magical about this chocolate cake is that, after being assembled, a bit in the middle is scooped out and the dark chocolate disk is placed on top, the waiter will then come over with some hot chocolate sauce which will melt through and cause a mini chocolate volcano! It’s truly AMAZING! As for the texture and flavours, couldn’t get any better, this is every chocolate lovers dream come true. It’s so rich and indulgent full of chocolate and it’s slightly warm too so very comforting. Mr Bao said that he would have trouble finishing the cake by himself because it was a bit too rich for him, but nope not for me, I swear I could eat another one all by myself!

Jackfruit Snow Egg

Now to the showstopper – the one and only snow egg. The flavour of the snow egg changes depending on what is in season and for us it was a jackfruit, which we found it to be quite unique as we haven’t had jackfruit before. Once again because of Masterchef, the snow egg has received so much attention and many customers will go to Quay just to try this dessert, and it did not disappoint.

It is a very complicated dessert ~ it starts off with a granita base, then the snow egg replicates a real egg with an ice-cream center as the ‘yolk’ with the maltose tuilles to create a crunchy egg shell along with a poached meringue. It was by far one of the exquisite desserts we have had, and we both LOVED it! I have never seen Mr Bao be so excited and fascinated by a a dessert He really liked the texture of the snow egg itself and the flavours just blew his mind away. The jackfruit had a light and refreshing taste it really cleaned our palates and we forgot that we just had the 8 texture chocolate cake only seconds ago Mr Bao couldn’t stop eating it and in between eating he mumbled “This is the best dessert I’ve had in my life!”.

I had to send him multiple death stares and threaten him nicely to get the snow egg out of his hands. Within seconds the snow egg was gone and nothing was left in the elegant glass >_< He then turned around and said to me “Why can’t you make desserts like that?” ROAR I was furious hahaha I simply said “because I’m not Peter Gilmore!”

Petite Fours

This wasn’t the end of the meal, we added $10 to our meals to get coffee, tea and petite fours which were two truffles a chocolate truffle with crunchy chocolate pearls and the other was a salted caramel truffle rolled in sugar with a hazelnut ganache inside. Mr Bao was pretty chocolate out and couldn’t finish the truffles so I had 3 outta the 4 we got they were scrumptious and I have decided to borrow the crunchy chocolate pearl idea next time I make truffles at home

Latte

Mr Bao was getting a massive food coma after all that food, so ordered a latte which helped him regain consciousness. While I got an English Breakfast Tea which was comforting and exactly what I needed after this extraordinary lunch

English Breakfast Tea

Our verdict – we loved it And it was definitely one of the most delicious meal we have had…everything was perfect, the weather, the food, the atmosphere and most importantly the snow eggs ~ We highly recommend you trying Quay next time you are in Sydney, especially for a special occasion. We’re sure you’ll enjoy it as much as we did

I am thrilled to be part of this years ‘Great Food Bloggers Cookie Swap’ to help raise money for Cookie For Kids’ Cancer! The concept is pretty simple, you sign up pay a small fee which acts as a donation, you are then sent 3 cookie matches, you bake the cookies and send them off

Thank you Julie (Gourmet Getaway) for inviting me ~ otherwise I wouldn’t have heard or known about this wonderful event! As soon as I heard about it, I immediately signed up

I immediately got my Cookie books out and was looking for the ‘perfect’ cookie recipe ~ I had so many ideas, but then wanted to make something that would last and because it’s nearly Christmas, I wanted something Chrismassy too

All wrapped up

Eventually, I settled on making Eat Little Bird’s Cranberry, White Chocolate and Oat biscuits ~ Anything with Cranberry reminds me of Christmas hehe! I doubled the recipe because I wasn’t sure if it’ll yield 3 dozens and I needed some for my colleagues, two bird one stone

Hope you liked it

My three three cookies matches were Amanda (Chew Town), Kate (Cook’s Companion) and Faaiza (Modest Munchies). I have been so lucky and have met Amanda from EDB and also on her recent trip to Melbourne, but I don’t know Kate or Faaiza So nice to have met you through this cookie swap and I hope you like the cookies!

Recipe – Cranberry, White Chocolate and Oat cookies from Eat Little Bird

Ingredients
200 grams butter, softened
100 grams icing sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Zest of 1 lemon
200 grams plain flour
50 grams rolled oats (not instant)
50 grams, dried cranberries, roughly chopped
100 grams white chocolate chips

Method
1) Line baking trays with baking paper and preheat the oven to 180°C

2) Cream butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zet until light and fluffy

3) Mix in the flour and baking powder. Next add the rolled oats, cranberries and white chocolate chip to form a soft dough.

4) Scoop a little dough into your palm and roll into small balls. Place on baking tray and flatten the cookies a little. Make sure you leave enough space between each cookie as they will spread.

5) Bake for 8-10 minutes (mine took about 12 minutes) until lightly golden. Remove baking tray and leave cookies to cool for 4 to 5 minutes to harden up before placing them onto a wire rack to cool.

Cranberry, White Chocolate and Oat cookies ~

I am totally in LOVE with these cookies! They are soft and crumbly, I suspect because of the use of icing sugar ~ and according to Mr Bao not too sweet and he likes the slight lemony flavour from the zest. Next time he wants me to add macadamia nuts in LOL I wasn’t sure if my cookie swaps would have allergies so didn’t want to add them, but definitely a good addition to give it some crunchiness! Sorry I don’t have any good pictures of the finished product… Mr Bao ate them all before I could plate them nicely and take better photos of them!

Now my turn to receive cookies I was SUPER excited to find out that I know the two out of the three bloggers who were to send me cookies PERSONALLY. One was Julie from Gourmet Getaway (who invited me to join) and the other was Vien from We Dare Food! You don’t understand how thrilled and surprised I was! Thank you girls! Honored to receive your cookies! Unfortunately, I haven’t received the cookies from my 3rd secret cookie santa Hopefully it’ll arrive soon!

Julie sent me Cranberry, Pistachio and Cardamon shortbread cookies, very Christmassy indeed! The shortbread had such crumbly and melt in your mouth texture! Loved it I also liked the slight cardamon flavour that lingered in your mouth, but wasn’t too overpowering either NOMZ!

Cranberry, Pistachio and Cardamon Shortbread

I also loved how Julie’s wrapped the cookies up in little bags, tied a ribbon and also gave with a little Christmas decoration. THANK YOU SO MUCH

Vien chose to make Asian cookies, these were the traditional types we eat during Chinese New Year, with peanut, almond and cashews.

It’s been such a long time since I’ve had these cookies, and made me a little nostalgic because I remember sneaking a few of these cookies in before dinner and then I would be too full to eat the proper meal These were so good! Thank you Mr Bao particularly liked them!

I had so much fun baking the cookies, sharing them with other bloggers while at the same time raising money for a very valuable charity Thanks again Julie for inviting me and I can’t wait to do this all over again next year! Hope other bloggers around the world will also join us!

I have another giveaway for you guys today YAY! I love being able to give something back to my AMAZING Readers! YUP that’s you and you know it! It’s even more exciting that this time it’s open to not only Melbournians, Victorians but ALL OF AUSTRALIA – of course with a valid postal address!

Teddy

Photo from Trish Nicol Agency

I’m sure you’ve seen the ads on TV, magazines and probably around supermarkets of Teddy Lindt’s newest creation hehe! It’s a milk chocolate teddy bear that is so cute that you might have trouble smashing it apart

Teddy was a great companion while I was blogging hehe and he was so cute that I had trouble eating him! Even though he did end up losing a bit of his left ear and maybe one eye

While Mr Bao had no issues with bulldozing Teddy *SHOCK* and demolished it within minutes! He was so brutal that I couldn’t help but take photos of the process!

He started off with the ears and face!

Then it was to the body! And the next thing I knew… lol Teddy was gone and only his remains are on the floor

Mr Bao was quite brutal but don’t worry Dear Readers you will get get a full alive and intact Teddy hehe

Thanks to the Trish Nicol Agency and Lindt, two lucky Readers are going to get the chance to win a Lindt Teddy gift bag worth $30.45 which will have a range of Teddy’s in different sizes hehe so you can save the big one for yourself and share the little ones to friends and family!

Good luck everyone!!! xox

To enter this giveaway:
- Leave a comment and tell me what chocolate do you like the most dark, milk or white?
- For more entries please ‘Like’ me on Facebook and Follow me on Twitter ~ If you’ve already done that please let me now! Thank you!
- Giveaway ends on the 20th of December
- You may reenter daily, one entry a day
- Winners will be chosen by random.org and announced on this blog and notified via email
- Open only to all Australian residents (Sorry international Readers!)

This is a sponsored post from Trish Nicol and Lindt. Daisy@Nevertoosweet sampled the chocolates for free, however, review and opinions are honest and based on personal taste and preferences. 

Winners Announced

Congratulations Renae and Rhonda you are the winners of this giveaway.

To all my female readers, were you a tomboy growing up? Or were you more of a girly girl? I don’t know what I was hahaha growing up I was always active, had no issue playing rough and in the mud. But then at the same time, I loved playing with barbie dolls, dressing up and also having tea parties with my dolls… LOL

Anyhow, on the weekend I finally got the chance to catch up with Vien (We Dare Food), it’s been quite a few months since we’ve caught up, even though we chat daily through Instagram and Twitter. A quick introduction Vien is a very talented young girl who has just completed her Undergraduate studies and is an amazing baker and photographer I love her simplistic way of styling food ~

We wanted to do brunch so I suggested Tomboy in Collingwood, as it has been on my list for quite some time and because I have heard so many good things about their brownies, which they also supply to Seven Seeds. I brought Mr Bao with us, as we were going out afterwards and it would just make things easier that way Thank gosh Vien didn’t mind YAY!

We organised to meet up at 11am, perfect time for brunch. Tomboy is a relatively small cafe with limited seating, a couple of tables on the right a large communal table at the back and I think they may have some seats upstairs or the toilets were located there as some customers were walking up and down

I love the retro decor at Tomboy, on the left there was a large vintage glass cabinet displaying their tarts and housemade gluten free muesli, while on top was their famous brownies! I also loved the milkbar sign hanging on top ~

There was only one menu and it was written on large butchers paper and hung on the back of the wall, which makes it a little hard for some customers to read. I think it would have been a little bit more practical to put the menu more central in the middle of the cafe ~

Quite a few dishes caught our eyes and interests us Vien and I have great tastes because we both wanted either the yoghurt or the sweet peas, so it was perfect we could each get one and try both!

Orange Blossom Yoghurt with poached stone fruit, pistachio praline and pomegranate $9.50AUD

Starting with Vien’s Orange Blossom Yoghurt, it I didn’t know better I would’ve assumed it was like a Middle Eastern inspired panna cotta! Especially since it was molded into a round shape and with the pistachio praline and pomegranate seeds, gosh I was getting envy! I was just dying for Vien to offer for me to have a try hehe the yoghurt was super thick and smooth, it had the texture of Labna (strained yoghurt). I loved everything about this yoghurt and I really want the recipe for the pistachio praline!

Smashed peas and broad-beans with dill, mint and grilled asparagus with a crumbed egg $14.50AUD

My smashed peas and broad-beans with dill, mint and grill asparagus was definitely a summer-type breakfast dish It was light and refreshing with nothing oily or rich ~ perfect as it was a very hot 37 degree day! I liked the overall flavours of my dish especially the mint, but found the smashed peas and broad-bean to be slightly dry and I thought it would have been better it there was something to bind it all together ~ Love grilled asparagus so that made me happy.

But what really made me smile ~ was the crumbed egg! It was a poached egg coated in bread crumbs then fried and when you cut into it, runny egg yolk just spills out! Yolk porn does not get any better than this HAHAHA and most importantly it was not at all oily or greasy YAY!

Pancetta baked beans with Ciabatta with a poached egg $14.50AUD

Mr Bao ordered the pancetta baked beans with a poached egg, it was a simple dish and the baked beans was not baked in a ramekin, instead it was per-baked spooned onto two slices of Ciabatta. Mr Bao enjoyed his dish and really liked the strong flavours from the pancetta as opposed to bacon. However, we both thought that the baked beans were a little luke warm and it would have been nicer if it was hotter ~ once again the egg was poached perfectly! How do cafes make it so effortless?

Couldn’t leave without trying their brownies! They had a selection or peanut butter, original chocolate and raspberry brownie. We opted for the Peanut Butter one which strange, because I’m not really a fan but Mr Bao didn’t want a regular chocolate brownie lol We’re very good at sharing and all had a bite ~ it had rich chocolate flavours, but had a rather crumbly texture. While I like my brownies to be fudgey, undercooked and gooey.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie $4AUD

Because it was a hot day, we didn’t want our usual hot coffees, and instead got iced ones I got my usual ice mocha ~ and flavours were great, it was a true iced mocha and not chocolate syrup with hot coffee then lots of ice to cool it down and dilute it Only issue was it was too small and was still served in a regular latte glass.

Iced Mocha – $5.5AUD

Mr Bao got an iced latte which he described it as being quite light as it didn’t have any ice-cream or cream and the coffee itself at floral notes ~

Ice Latte – $5.5AUD

Last by not least, Vien ordered a Soy Latte and I forgot to ask how she found it, but she finished it quickly so I assumed it was nice

Soy Chai Latte $3.8AUD

I enjoyed Tomboy for it’s simplistic and fresh approach to their dishes Everything was cooked nicely and perfect for a hot day. I am definitely gonna go back for more orange blossom yoghurt definitely dessert for breakfast!

Ps. They only take cash so don’t forget to stop by the ATM before coming otherwise, you’d end up like us hehe having to rush to the 7/11 store ~

Merry Christmas My Dearest Readers I hope you had an amazing day with all your loved ones may it be family or friends I’m sorry for being so quiet this week, but Mr Bao and I have been so busy preparing our first ever Christmas party! Usually we are in Hong Kong and celebrating with family, but this year we are on own own in Melbourne. So i decided to take matters into my own hands and organise our own party

Christmas Feast!

This is the Christmas Feast! I have never seen so much food in our little apartment! HAHAHA! It took us more than 2 days to do all the cooking and the preparation started 3 days before! And I also got a lot of help from my wonderful guests (my dear friends) who brought a dish YAY!

Krik carving the turkey ~

I am SUPER annoyed That I didn’t take a close up of our two MAIN dishes the Roast Turkey with apple and pork stuffing and the Marmalade Maple Glazed Ham >_< But you can see Kirk carving the turkey in the picture above ~ Mr Bao and I are SO happy with the turkey! It was super moist! Thanks to Heston’s recipe where we brined the turkey in salt water the night before. And Margaret Fulton’s pork and apple stuffing is the BEST!

Mr Bao carving the BEAST LOL

I am calling the ham ‘The Beast’ it was huge! Weighing 5kgs I could barely lift it up and put it onto the roasting pans. It had a maple marmalade glaze which was sweet but had a slight bitterness from the marmalade to cut through the sweetness from the maple syrup We had SO much of it left lol

Smoked salmon, cream cheese on crackers

As entrees and nibbles, I made smoked salmon with cream cheese on crackers ~ these are super easy and quick to make and quite delicious too I was going to bake wonton wrappers and use them as little cases but ran out of wonton wrappers at home damnnn >_<

Pancetta Pasta Salad

Yue my colleague was so worried that we weren’t going to have enough food or ‘carb-loaded’ food that I bought him a loaf of bread lol (on the left from Christmas Feast picture) and also made a pancetta pasta salad with broccolini and a creamy and tangy mayonnaise.

Julz and Kirk had to come save my salad dressing As I put way too much lemon juice and it was super ‘tart’… lol so they had to help by adding more mayonnaise and mustard oh and some salt hehe

Potato Salad

Julz brought a potato salad Another carb-loaded salad for Yue and also a vegetarian dish for Miss Dd as she’s a vegetarian ~ This was super creamy and yum! We also made mushroom and halloumi cheese skewers for her but once again was too busy eating and forgot to take pictures hehe.

Fruit platter

Miss Dd brought over a fruit platter, it looks super pretty and perfect to help digest all the food the turkey and ham hehe

Adriano Zumbo’s Mirror Cake with homemade macarons

I delegated the desserts to Kirk He’s the professional and I simply didn’t have the time with all the other preparations ~ He made Adriano Zumbo’s Mirror Cake from the cake mix which you can get from Woolworths It’s super rich and moist and with a sweet glaze! LOVE IT but not many people could eat it as they were all so full from the Turkey!

Raspberry and coconut semi fredo with pistachio praline topped with chocolate

There was another dessert which was much lighter ~ it was a like a semi fredo with a coconut mousse, raspberry coconut merengue with chocolate pearls and pistachio praline. This was a lovely dessert but sorry Kirk just not my type of dessert, it was simply too light and fruity and really hahaha needed some sort of sugar But hey that’s just me hehe the other guests seems to love it

Beechworth Bakery Beesting

I was SO SO SO happy when Thanh (I Eat Therefore I Am) confirmed that he could come to our Christmas party ~ Thanh is another friend that I have met through blogging and we get along so well! He’s also an amazing baker too so do check out his blog when you have time! He had just come back from a weekend away in Ballarat and stopped by the Beechworth Bakery and bought a large BEESTING! YAY! It was one of the first places I had blogged about. I absolutely adore this beesting, which is two sweet buns with delicious vanilla custard sandwiched between! Seriously AMAZING!

My Chocolate Cupcakes with a surprise

I didn’t have time to make desserts but managed to wake up at 7am to bake these chocolate cupcakes with a surprise for my friends to take home with them

The surprise! 

And the little surprise is a Ferrero Roche inside the cupcake!!! I’ve been meaning to make these for the longest time but have forgotten about them lol so I thought Christmas would be the best time to do it! I mean who doesn’t like Ferrero Roches?

Now a party wouldn’t be complete without desserts right? But another thing we must have are drinks Thanks Yue who provided us with all the drinks we could possible need or want! He brought soft drink, juice, iced tea, wine and beer!

Sangria

So I decided to make a Sangria with all the drinks Yue bought over It was funny the first jar I made was too ‘strong’ then the second jar was too ‘weak’ so I ended up doubling the amount of vodka no no I’m not an alcoholic, I just like my drinks learning towards the ‘stronger’ side heh

Vodka Jelly

I also made Orange and Strawberry Vodka Jellies!!! These are super easy to make and I think perfect for any party They’re very pretty too, once again everyone thought they were too strong but I only put 90ml of vodka and 360ml of water hahaha what do you think My Dear Readers of this vodka to water ratio?

Mr Bao got mini speakers ~

We also had a Kris Kringle Mr Bao got Yue’s present which was a mini portable speaker ~ Perfect for Mr Bao and he likes to play music where ever he goes.

Vietnamese Coffee Filter Set

While I got Julz’ present which was Luke Nguyen’s Vietnamese coffee filter set! Seriously one of the best KK presents I have received I really like Vietnamese coffee because of their use of condense milk, so this would be a wonderful addition to our kitchen. Thank you Julz.

Mah Jong time!

Hahaha after having all that food and drinks it was time for MAH JONG what Asians do best I’m still a beginner so I was on the other table, while the experts were sitting at this table ~

Pick Up Sticks

We also used Julz present (from me) which were Pick Up Sticks! I knew this was going to be a great KK present as we can use it immediately hehe ~ This game looks so much easier than it actually is! It also brings back childhood memories, did you use to play as a kid?

That sums up our first ever Christmas party I am super duper happy with everything ~ there were a few mishaps but overall it was an amazing night! I need thank Mr Bao heaps! He is an absolute HERO! He did all the prep work and without him, we wouldn’t have had a turkey or ham which are the stars of our Christmas Feast! Also to all my friends who came thank you for bringing a dish and helping out! Hope you all had a good time and next time please DO NOT DRIVE so we can drink even more hahaha

I hope you also had an amazing Christmas and may Santa spoil you rotten and you get all the presents you want tomorrow! xoxo

Before I start with today’s post I just wanted to make a tiny announcement and that is – I m going to be in Hong Kong for a month! Yay! Meaning I will have limited access to the Internet, time to blog and respond to comments and emails >_< I m sorry about this but will try my best to update regularly ~ posts may also be varied hehe I m trying really hard to clear my backlog so there may be posts from Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Hong Kong or even London and Paris hehe hope it won’t confuse you too much hehe

Are there places that you like and it’s not that far away but you somehow never go find time to revisit? Miss Marples in the Mount Dandenong Ranges is definitely one of those places ~ The last time I went was actually 3 years ago for my best friend Sa Sa’s birthday! GOSH!

But there are seriously too many places in Melbourne it’s very hard to keep up. Also because Miss Marples is really a place that you go on your days off as they are only open 11am to 4pm daily, but it gets so busy on the weekends it’s virtually impossible to get a table. So my suggestion is to either go extra early or go on the weekdays

Last week I had a day off, I finally dragged Mr Bao to Miss Marples. It was a good 45 minute to 1 hour drive, from Melbourne city but it’s definitely worth it!

It’s actually quite easy to find Miss Maples as it on Mount Dandenong Road and kind of on the corner so its hard to miss There’s a not a lot of parking in front of the cafe, but there’s parking across and behind.

Lianne (Food Made With Love) had recently gone so I was excited to see the cute Christmas window display they had ~ Definitely pretty with the two Christmas trees, gift boxes and dolls. Even though it was a weekday… the whole cafe was full and we were told that it would be about a 10 minute wait.

We used this time to visit the store next door which specialized tea but didn’t really see anything that I wanted, then made our way back and they had a table waiting for us YAY We were quite lucky that they were still serving dishes from the lunch menu as Mr Bao was starting to get ‘ANGRY’ oops I meant ‘hungry’ hehe

As you can see Miss Marples has a very traditional cottage interior and even staff wear uniform that resembles clothing from the 1920s I love it! The menu also matches their decor offering very traditional British dishes such as sandwiches and pies and also a whole page full of dessert options YAY!

Soup of the Day – Pumpkin Soup $10.50 AUD

I opted for the Soup “Hot & Hearty” which is their soup of the day which was a homemade pumpkin soup, it was quite thick and rich. I’m pretty sure they used potatoes to help thicken the soup which made it very comforting. Perfect lunch ~ it also came with a dinner roll served in a cute basket and was lightly toasted.

Chicken Cottage Pie $14.50 AUD

Mr Bao decided to get the traditional English cottage pie ~ which was a chicken filling topped with potato mash and what they called ‘Miss Marples own sauce’ which was like a tomato relish Another hearty wintery kind of dish, and even though we liked the flavours, we found the chicken to be slightly overcooked and a little underseasoned. We did like the sauce though ~ Mr Bao particularly liked the tartness of it.

We then had a little break while we wanted for the famous Devonshire scones ~ we ordered of one plain and one scone. They soon arrived in a little basket accompanied with homemade jam and whipped cream.

Scones!

I love the look of these scones, they’re so high, tall and spongey They’re definitely not the average scones and to be quite honest, they had a texture of a sponge cake and flavour of scones ~

Best way to eat these, would be to cut them in half (share or eat it all yourself ) slather huge amounts of cream and then topped with spoonfuls of jam! Seriously heaven! However, I do know some people who don’t really like these scones as they find it too cake-like, but we love them So please go try for yourself!

Christmas Pudding with hot brandy custard $13.5 AUD

We were both so stuffed but now…but I couldn’t say no to Christmas Pudding, after all Christmas only comes once a year right? And the lovely waitress had mentioned that their Xmas pudding was really delicious and she was right. Mr Bao and I aren’t the biggest fans of fruit mince but this had very nice flavours, however, it wasn’t as moist as we expected it to be. But we really liked the hot brandy custard that was so thick, rich and yum and the brandy-flavour wasn’t overpowering either ~

Houseblend tea $3.50 AUD

We then got a pot of tea each to end this joyful afternoon tea ~ I went for the house blend Yorkshire Gold which is like an English Breakfast but slightly stronger, which is how I like my tea Mr Bao ordered the Irish tea which is the strongest tea they offer, I found it slightly overpowering, while he really enjoyed it with the addition of some milk and sugar ~

By the way, do you know who Miss Marples is? Have you watched any of her TV shows? Apparently, Miss Marple is a fictional character created by Agatha Christie who is an old lady who also acts as an amateur detective hahaha now wouldn’t that be cool to have a grandmother like her?

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! Only one day left in 2012! Make the most of it! xox

Source: Anonymous Sister no idea where she got it

I wish you all a wonderful start to the New Year and may this year be bigger, better and brighter than 2012

How did you celebrate New Years Eve? ~ This year I decided to go low key for a few reasons one being we had a huge Christmas party and I’think I burned out a little, and another reason is because Mr Bao is in Melbourne by himself I felt bad going out to a huge party without him ~ And finally it’s because I hate ‘CROWDS’, they give me a huge headache

That’s why I decided to just have a quiet celebration with my best friend Sasa and Little Luk ~ It’s so strange but Sasa and I haven’t really spoken since May when I went back to Melbourne but as soon as we see each other, we just talk none stop just like olds times. I think that’s the perfect example of a real friend ~ you may not see or talk to each other much but it doesn’t mean you drift apart

I suggested Thai food as most people go for the more extravagant fine dining or buffets. I called a few places in Kowloon City and eventually booked a table at Cambo Thai Restaurant. We arrived at around 7:30pm and already it was quite packed ~ Definitely surprised me because I honestly thought people will choose other cuisines over Thai hahaha

I have also heard of Cambo Thai restaurant before and know that they are quite famous and well-known to Hong Kongers. Many celebretities from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China have visited and written their signature on the walls This is a common practice in HK so tip number 1, if you see a restaurant with lots of signatures its safe to say that they are popular and probably wont disappoint you ~

*Cough Cough* not pointing my finger any anyone but *Cough Cough* Little Luk was late! LOL He was precisely 45 minutes late, so by the time he arrived we were starving, so we started off with a mixed plate of satays.

Mixed Satay – Chicken, Pork and Beef $58HKD ($7.25AUD)

Cambo is definitely not fine dining and does not plate any of their food The satays came on white plate with a side of peanut sauce. The satays were well marinated and we really liked the peanut sauce which was sweet and slightly spicy. However, they weren’t very ‘hot’ and only ‘luke’ warm, I would’ve liked them more if they were piping hot ~

Fried Curry Crab Small $150HKD ($18.75AUD)

I immediately requested that we get the Curry Crab Which had actually wont the Top 50 dishes to eat in 2008 in an article in Time Out Hong Kong ~ Even though the crabs were a little small but they still had quite a lot of meat. I am addicted to the curry, eggy and spicy sauce! This was soooooo delicious! Damn I forgot to take a photo of the garlic bread we ordered to scoop up all the remaining curry sauce

Green Curry with Prawn $65HKD ($8.10AUD)

We then go the Green Curry with prawns, we didn’t know that there was the option to get chicken or pork ~ The flavours of this green curry was great and could tell that it was authentic as you could see all the fresh herbs they used. However, the sauce was as little watery and I usually like my curry sauce a little thicker But I’m not really sure which ones more authentic hehe

Baked rice with seafood in young coconut $68HKD ($8.5AUD)

Sasa recommended the Baked rice with seafood in a coconut Like my fellow blogger friend Gem (Cupcake Crazy Gem) I love anything with coconut, whether savoury or sweet. I was so impressed when the waiter brought this to our table, it smelt so good!

The juice in the young coconut had been emptied and this delicious rice cooked with coconut and pieces of seafood and coconut flesh was filled to the brim. This was such a generous serving and could have easily fed 5 or 6 people I am totally in love with this and kept scrapping the coconut to get more flesh!

Sago pudding with coconut and taro filling $12HKD ($1.5AUD)

Can’t leave without dessert I really wanted the mango with sticky rice ~ But we were so full. So we decided to get these little sago puddings with coconut and a taro filling inside.

I don’t think I’ve had these before but really liked them they were soft, moist and yum! I think I can eat a whole plate by myself hehe ~

We all enjoyed dinner at Cambo and thought it was very reasonably priced! It was only $130HKD per head which is an equivalent of about $16AUD for all the food we had Flavours were good and service was attention ~ Will definitely recommend you coming for a cheap, quick and delicious Thai fix.

Cambo Thai Restaurant
G/F, 15 Nga Tsin Long Road,
Kowloon City, Hong Kong
九龍城衙前塱道15號地下
PH: +852 2716 7318

“Piggy Hug” Cocktail – Vodka, Grand Marnier and Pineapple Juice $90HKD ($11.25AUD)

After dinner, Little Luk had to meet up with other friends so Sasa and I headed off to the Langham Place Hotel in Mongkok and grabbed drinks and more desserts to celebrate the last hour of 2012 and obviously the count down. I ordered the ‘Piggy Hug’ cocktail I ordered purely because the name was super cute hehe not sure why they named it this. It was a cocktail with vodka, grand marnier and pineapple juice, it wasn’t too strong and even though it had some bitterness the sweetness from the pineapple juice balanced it all out.

Apple Crumble with vanilla ice-cream and maple syrup $88HKD ($11AUD)

I simply HAD to end 2012 on a very sweet note Boo they only had two desserts on their menu, the apple crumble and the tiramisu. We went for the apple crumble which was served warm with vanilla ice-cream on the side that had maple syrup drizzled over it. Quite nice with bite-size apple pieces on the bottom and with a crumble topping and when paired with vanilla ice-cream super delicious. Even though I know some people will find it a little sweet especially with the addition of maple syrup

Portal Work & Play
5/F, Langham Place Hotel Hong Kong,
555 Shanghai Street, Mong Kok
旺角上海街555號朗豪酒店5樓
PH: +852 3552 3232

Time for some reflections last year 2012 was a big year:Mr Bao then called just 5 minutes before mid-night (3am Melb Time) and we chatted and did the count down together So that’s my low key New Years Eve and how I celebrated it with my close friends ~

- Mr Bao and I moved in together
- Started my first full-time job
- Met so many amazing people through blogging
- Got a new blog design (FINALLY!)
- Got to travel to New York

Now I can’t wait to see what 2013 has in store for me In the new year, I wish for good health because that really is the most important and secondly for us all to be happy.I hope you had a lovely day with family and friends and may our days always be filled with laughter, happiness and DELICIOUS FOOD especially sweet ones!

Coupons They’re every where now ~ there are so many websites that sell them. I will be the first to put my hand up and say I’m addicted to coupons hahaha I love buying and using them. Main reason because they give me the chance to try new places and new experiences for a discounted price But having said that, there are some things I rarely buy on coupon sites…and one of them would be restaurant deals…I have had a couple of bad experiences. That’s why to be very honest, when Groupon first approached and asked if I was interested in trying out on of their restaurant deals and wasn’t sure if I should do it.

Tokyo Teppanyaki

But then I saw that Winston (The Hungry Excavator) reviewed Tokyo Teppanyaki through Groupon’s coupon and really enjoyed his experience Do check out the video his friend made it’s quite amusing and seems like a fun experience. So I agreed and decided to also try Tokyo Teppanyaki, there were other restaurant available but I knew Mr Bao would enjoy Japanese the most.

I used the code Groupon gave me to purchase the voucher for this deal and called up to make a reservation. Unfortunately, the voucher was only available at lunch time and they are only open at lunchtimes on the weekends, so we made a booking on a Saturday at 12pm perfect for brunch. I had driven past and dined as so many restaurants around Tokyo Teppanyaki and knew exactly where it was, as it is situated in the centre of Chapel St, I suggest you going early to find parking. We were very lucky and found parking right in front of the restaurant

Upon walking in, we found the little bridge quite amusing as you had to walk past it to into the restaurant. We were immediately greeted by the manager, who asked us for our Groupon voucher. She then led us to the table and placed us in between a family of four and and another couple next to us. I felt it was a little cramped and it would have been nicer if they had given us more room and not fill the whole table up.

Mixed entree – sushi, fried chicken and springroll

Nearly instantaneously, a waitress came over and put a little plate of picked beansprouts and carrots in front of us along with a small plate of entree which consist of a piece of sushi, fried chicken and spring roll. We were impressed at how fresh and crunchy the fried chicken was and really liked the sauce that came with it, which tasted like a mixture of Kewpie mayonnaise and soy sauce.

Miso soup

Next it was the miso soup, thank gosh it wasn’t too salty as most Japanese restaurants serve it, having said that I would have liked a little tofu in the soup ~

Soon our Teppanyaki Chef came over, he was a friendly man joking with us and asking if we’ve had Teppanyaki before, it created a relaxed environment. First dish was tiger prawn which was super fragrant but found it to be slightly overcooked.

TIger Prawn

The chef was able to cut the calamari into thin strips and also control how well it was cooked,  still amazes me the amazing knife skills Teppanyaki chef’s have and their ability to resist heat

The calamari was immediately our favourite ~ it was super tender and not at all rubbery! Simply seasoned with some butter, you could really taste the grilled flavour

Teriyaki Chicken

We then moved onto the teriyaki chicken which I am a fan of I love the sticky and sweetness from teriyaki hehe ~ you can see how glossy the chicken was coasted with the teriyaki sauce ~ Very well cooked and seasoned yum!

Sake

The food then stopped for a little while, where the waitress came and delivered the warm sake included in the offer. We don’t drink very much sake but found this to be quite strong but really liked that it was warm and left a sweetish aftertaste.

Tenderloin Steak

Next up it was the tenderloin steak, sorry about the messy plate, they didn’t change our plates throughout the whole meal, so by the end we got the tenderloin steak it was full of sauce This tenderloin steak was very nice and better quality than we expected, however, Mr Bao did comment that he wished it was taken off the heat a minute or so earlier, as it was more ‘medium-welldone’ and not ‘medium-rare’. He can be so picky *rolls eyes*

Sauce

While I really liked dipping the steak in the red sauce in the middle which was the onion and tomato sauce ~ they two just paired up really well.

Warm sake

There was another short break while the chef got ready for the ‘theatrical show’ we continued to enjoy the warm sake, that was placed on the corner of the teppanyaki iron plate ~ very creative never thought of keeping the sake warm like this hehe

Bean shoots and carrots

Finally some veggies ~ The whole course had been meat based, Mr Bao was  not complaining It was simple fried bean shoots and carrots with some soy sauce.

Now the show begins, the chef cleans the iron griddle plates and starts by throwing around an egg and spinning it ~ he then threw it up and cracked it

He then made a omelette with the end and cut little strips off and started throwing it to customers and asked us to eat it with our mouths open and without any utensils ~

Throwing omelette pieces ~

LOL as you can see the gentleman sitting across was had a good time and tried so hard by opening his mouth extremely wide. He didn’t get it the first two times, but finally got it the third time ~ we had really bad lighting on our side, so I couldn’t take a decent picture of Mr Bao trying to eat it.

Rice bowl throwing ~

It was then rice bowl throwing hahaha the chef tried it out on the little girl sitting across us first, he throws an empty rice bowl first and then another and eventually the third one is full of rice! Unfortunately, Mr Bao dropped his but i managed to catch up! YAY!

Fried Rice

The last course was the fried rice with pieces of egg, spring onion and little pieces of carrots. It was good, however, it was a little dry and overcooked because the Chef had left it on the griddle for a couple of minutes while we were playing the throwing rice bowl game. I think it would have been better if he had served the rice first before the game

Because we only got the voucher for two we didn’t get ice-cream it would have been really nice if we were able to end the meal with something sweet.

Overall, Mr Bao and I enjoyed our teppanyaki lunch, food was good, staff was friendly and attentive and the chef was very talented and funny. We never expected such a theatrical show and thought it was a great way to get the whole table to interact with each other and the chef

Now to the giveaway Thanks to Groupon one lucky reader is going to get a $50 voucher to spend on anything Groupon deals ~

To enter this giveaway:
- Leave a comment and tell me if you have tried Japanese Teppanyaki before and do you like it?
- For more entries please ‘Like’ me on Facebook and Follow me on Twitter ~ If you’ve already done that please let me now! Thank you!
- Giveaway ends on the 31st of January
- You may reenter daily, one entry a day
- Winner will be chosen by random.org and announced on this blog and notified via email
- Please ensure you enter a valid email address
- Open to all Australian residents (Sorry International Readers)

Daisy and Mr Bao@Nevertoosweet dined at Tokyo Teppanyaki as guests of Groupon.

Just before I left Melbourne, the weather had been getting rather hot And because I usually spend my summers in Hong Kong, I wasn’t use to the scorching hot weather ~ Thank gosh we have air-conditioning in our apartment.

Anyhow, with the temperature increasing I have dragged Mr Bao to a few froyo places The first one would be Cacao Green ~ I’m sure most Melbournians would have heard or visited as they have a couple of stores around in the CBD, Hawthorn and Camberwell.

Love the toppings!

I am addicted to the toppings and if I could, I’d get a little bit of everything This time I chose, strawberry, honey macadamia and the white jelly oops forgot the name but its my favourite ~ What’s your favourite topping?

Last time we went, we ordered the regular size with two flavours and three toppings ~ Immediately ordered the green tea and tried their new pomegranate flavour which had subtle flavours and also quite delicious.

Regular froyo $6.7AUD plus 3 toppings $2.5AUD

I think we did well picking the froyo flavours and the toppings Mr Bao and I really enjoyed it that day and found it very refreshing. Cacao Green is definitely one of our favourite froyo place in Melbourne as I really like their green tea ~ next time I’m gonna try their waffles and parfaits.

A couple of weeks later, we were shopping on Chapel St one day and decided to try out Yobar a new froyo store ~ Mr Bao was immediately attracted to their funky logo, apparently it reminded him of New York lol

Like most froyo places, customers place their order at the counter by choosing the cup size and then the flavour of the froyo and lastly the toppings. I found it quite cute that they labeled their sizes as mini, midi and maxi I wonder where they got Midi from ~

Yobar promotes their 99% fat free frozen yoghurt and when we visited they had the following flavours. I was immediately attracted to their chocolate and original ~

They had a nice range of toppings for customers to choose from and I found them to be quite reasonably charged at only $0.70 per topping which is cheaper than more places ~ They had the usual fruit, nuts and candy toppings. But what caught our eyes were the ‘bursting’ pearls

TOPPINGS!

I didn’t feel like sharing that day so Mr Bao and I got one Midi each with two toppings yay! They were actually very generous servings

Mr Bao decided to go for a more fruity combination with the original and strawberry flavoured frozen yoghurt. We both liked the original flavour as it was quite refreshing with a slight tartness, while the strawberry flavour was slightly sweeter but could have had stronger flavours. Even though we liked the mixed berries, Mr Bao was more impressed with the bursting ‘mango’ pearls If you have’t had them before, they’re very similar to sweet salmon roe hahhaa where they ‘burst’ when you bite into it and sweet mango liquid immediately flows out hehe

Midi size with Strawberry and Original with mixed berry and mango ‘bursting’ pearls $5.30 + $0.70 per topping

While mine was much more indulgent, I chose chocolate and original flavoured and added pecans and shredded coconut as the toppings. I couldn’t have been happier with my toppings, they went so well with the chocolate froyo YUM!

Midi size with Original and Chocolate with pecans and shredded coconut $5.30 + $0.70 per topping

I quite enjoyed my froyo at Yobar, as their froze yoghurt is 99% fat-free it has is very icy texture and not at all creamy. I suspect it is because they use fat-free or low-fat milk to reduce the amount of fat. I have read from other reviews that some people do not enjoy this ‘icy-texture’. Mr Bao and I didn’t mind as we found it even more refreshing

We think Yobar is a nice place to grab some froyo after shopping on Chapel St with tables inside and outside the store and is especially good for when you want frozen yoghurt that is lighter and guilt free

Never in my wildest dream would I have thought my little blog would attract the attention of Executive Chef Jeffrey Lebon from Dot Cod Seafood Restaurant It was by chance we met through Instagram and we have been chatting for a couple of months through email and when I told Jeffrey that I was coming back to Hong Kong, he was very excited and immediately invited me to visit his restaurant Dot Cod in Central.

Jeffrey asked me to bring anyone I wanted, so I invited Win Win to come along with me Poor Mr Bao missed out but I know he would’ve loved the chance to meet Jeffrey as well.

Jeffrey was originally from Boston but has lived and worked in Hong Kong for the past 10 years. He had previously worked for a couple of restaurants in the Soho area for the Staunton Group before moving to Dot Cod and has been the Executive Chef here for 2 years ~

I was a little embarrassed as I walked in and the waitress immediately knew my name and led us to our table, very quickly Jeffrey came out to greet us It didn’t feel awkward, instead it felt like old friends meeting ~

We chatted for a bit before Jeffrey kindly took the menus away from us and said he had organised a whole meal for us and told us not to waste our stomach space on the bread

Bread basket

The bread came with a little set of oil and condiments, I was intrigued by the orange sauce in the middle and tried a little with some lavosh. It was amazing like a seafood sauce with little shredded crab meat or fish meat. If I wasn’t saving room for the dishes to come I think I would’ve had a lot more bread

Tuna Ceviche with parma ham

First dish came which was a tuna ceviche with parma ham Jeffrey didn’t give me the names of his dishes. So I’m just winging it and describing them the best I can. Sorry Jeff if they’re not perfect I really feel so sorry for Mr Bao because he was have absolutely LOVED this dish! The tuna was super fresh which counteracted with the saltiness from the parma ham so well ~

Smoked eel salad with green apple

I think this is the first ‘Wester’ eel dish I have had Most of the time when I eat eel its steamed or in the form of Unagi Don, but this time it was in a salad ~ It was pleasantly light and refreshing with the green apples and the eel was not at all ‘fishy’ as I suspected and may not distinguished it as eel if Jeffrey did not tell us

Foie Gras with rhubarb chutney

I can never spell ‘foie gras’ without looking it up lol guess I’m not suitable to learn French ~ this was such a rich and indulgent dish. Jeffrey was definitely spoiling us with such a thick piece of foie gras, I think it’s the thickest I’ve had Even though the foie gras was very rich, we were able to polish it off with the tartness from the rhubarb chutney ~

Baby lamb with beetroot, lentil with fig

I made a huge mistake when I forgot to tell Jeffrey that Win Win doesn’t eat lamb >_< I totally forgot about it and because Dot Cod is a seafood restaurant I didn’t expect lamb. Thank gosh Jeffrey was very understanding and hehe decided to sit down and eat it with me Win Win’s loss she didn’t get to try this dish! I am not a big lamb eater myself, but this baby lamb from France was very tender and not at all ‘gamey’ and the sweetness from the beetroot complimented it very well. I really enjoyed it and know Mr Bao will be proud of me because I was able to finish the whole plate of lamb by myself

Ocean Trout with baby vegetables and white polenta

Before preparing the last course for us Jeffrey asked if we would like the ‘full’ size or ‘half’ size. We immediately said ‘half’ hahaha there was NO way we could have finished the ‘full’ size I still had to save room for dessert! The last course was an ocean trout with baby vegetables with white polenta. I am new to polenta but I am totally OBSESSED with it! Totally better than potato mash hehe ~ The ocean trout was cooked PERFECTLY! Not overcooked with a pink tinge in the middle. This was definitely my favourite dish

Thank gosh Jeffrey gave us a break between the savoury dishes and dessert It didn’t take me long to recover and I was then READY! We started off with a lighter dessert a Strawberry spider.

Strawberry Spider

Chopped strawberries with vanilla ice-cream and then topped with soda water ~ I have never had a spider with soda water as they were always made with lemonade, there is the risk of it being overly sweet. But with the use of soda water it definitely cut through the sweetness and you could taste the natural flavours of the strawberries and got the sweetness from the ice-cream After awhile I kind of turned this dessert into a drink hehe

I was definitely spoilt by Jeffrey! He actually remembered that I wanted to try his strawberry tart through his Instagram. YAY my wish had been granted

Strawberry frangipani tart

I am SO glad I asked for this strawberry frangipane tart! The sweet case was crumbly, while the frangipane was moist, then topped with fresh strawberries and a sweet jam glaze! Maybe Jeffrey will share his recipe with me???

Super cute how they printed their Dot Cod logo on their chocolates hehe They were hazelnut chocolates with a crunchy base ~

We were treated like VIPs by Jeffrey from start to end! Its the first time I had the experience of an Executive Chef making a special menu for us and cooking everything single dish what an honour! Would like to say a HUGE thank you to Jeffrey for inviting us to Dot Cod and treating us like VIPS! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and in return I would love to now invite you to MELBOURNE I promise we have an amazing food scene AND if you come I’ll be your PERSONAL tour guide!

Dot Cod Seafood Restaurant
Basement, B4, Prince Building, 10 Chater Road, Central
中環遮打道10號太子大廈地庫B4
PH: +852 2810 6988

Daisy and Win Win @Nevertoosweet dined at Dot Cod Seafood Restaurant as guests of Jeffrey Lebon review and opinions are honest and based on personal taste and preferences.

Hello Everyone I’m BACK! Sorry for the short hiatus! I have just got back from my trip to London and Paris with my sisters and on the night that I got back, my Dad had a really serious fall in the kitchen and fractured not one, not two but five bones in his rib cage It happened last at night and was so sudden, we immediately rushed him tot he hospital and I have never seen anyone in so much pain :’( But thankfully, after 2 days in the hospital Dad is out and even though still in a lot of pain, he’s home and resting. Really hope Dad will recover soon! Sighhh….it’s times like these, when I hate that I’m working overseas and not being able to spend more time with my family. Would also like to say Thank You to everyone who left a comment and message through Twitter, I really appreciate them

Anyhow, do you have a cookbook where you just got back to again and again?

The Hummingbird Bakery cookbook is definitely one of my favorites! I use their cupcake recipes all the time and their Red Velvet cupcake recipe has made me quite ‘popular’ amongst my friends hahaha where Mary has even asked me to bake her a whole dozen hehe

For that reason, when I found out that we were going to London, I made both Win Win and Anonymous Sister promise that we ll make a trip to ‘The Hummingbird Bakery’. We got up bright and early and took a taxi to the Soho store, near Chinatown.

As soon as I arrived, I honestly could not wipe the massive grin on my face! I had been dreaming, hoping and praying that I ll get the chance to try the ‘REAL’ red velvet from the Hummingbird Bakery finally I have arrived!

Even though it was quite early in the morning, they had a variety of cupcakes, cakes and brownies for customers to choose from

Red Velvet Cupcake £3.15GBP dine-in ($4.72AUD)

I immediately ordered a red velvet cupcake to try! It was just as pretty as they are in the books, with that distinct swirl on top with red cupcake crumbs scattered over the top ~ lol sorry but I couldn’t help but be the biggest tourist and take a photo of me and the cupcake :p

Now to the taste test! *Drumroll’s* I carefully remove the white case and take a huge bite. I was waiting for the excitement! But was quite honestly very disappointed… The cream cheese frosting was just as creamy, sweet and fluffy as the ones I make using their recipe. However, the cupcake itself was very dry and crumbly, not at all moist or spongey as I expected.

It’s very disappointing because I have used their recipe so many times and it never fails >_< I m trying to convince myself that it’s because I set my expectations too high and maybe that’s why? Dearest Readers has anyone of you tried The Hummingbird Bakery cupcake and find it to be too dry?

Carrot Cupcake £2.75GBP dine-in ($4.12AUD)

I wasn’t discouraged and decided to try another cupcake, the carrot cupcake. Thankfully this did not disappoint me, in contrast it was moist and fluffy. You could also see the little bits of carrot inside the cupcake I think the cream cheese frosting was the same as the one used for the red velvet cupcake. Sweet and smooth perfect march with the cupcake. Even though Win Win thought it was a little too sweet for her

Brownie Cheesecake £4.25GBP take-away ($6.40AUD)

I couldn’t leave without trying one more thing! I wanted to try everything hahaha. Eventually decided on the cheesecake brownie as it seemed very popular with only two pieces left. I m not really sure why they called it a cheesecake brownie as it was very much a baked cheesecake with chocolate cake or cookies crumbles through it. I would decried it more as a Oreo cheesecake super rich and creamy! Hmmmm I can’t say I don’t like it… But I think I like cheesecakes that are firmer in texture and stronger cream cheese flavour.

Mocha £2.95GBP ($4.43AUD)

Ending with my favorite mocha I had been warned by Yasmeen (Wandering Spice) not to drink coffee in Paris so decided to risk it and try it here in London. I was impressed with this mocha, quite thick in texture and rich in flavour both coffee and chocolate ~ yum!

Overall, my experience at The Hummingbird  Bakery has created mixed feelings. Maybe because I had really high expectations, I was disappointed by the dryness of the cupcake. I ve tried the recipe many times at home and it has never failed… Always produces moist and fluffy cupcakes >_< I think it’s quite sad when cupcakeries open too many stores and they are not able to keep the quality of their cupcakes. Especially when they have such a good recipe! However, I m not dishearten and will continue using their recipes and hopefully the next time I get to try The Hummingbird Bakery it will be better

Hummingbird Bakery
155 Wardour St
Soho, London
UK W1F 8
PH: (020) 7584 0055

I am OFFICIALLY back in Melbourne It’s such a bittersweet feeling to be back ~ Its great to come home, sleep in my own bed but at the same time, I miss my family especially my sister and nephew SOOOOO MUCH! Have had such an amazing holiday!

Love you both!

I’m not really sure if I’m a tourist or a local when in HK Because of family, I have always gone back and forth at least once or twice a year. And back at Uni I would come back for 3 to 4 months, so that’s why it’s so easy for me to overlook the more ‘touristy’ places such as Disneyland, Ocean Park and some other HK must go restaurants.

Tim Ho Wan

Tim Ho Wan is definitely one of them I have heard that it is one of the cheapest restaurants in the world to have been awarded a Michelin star and I know many tourists put ‘Tim Ho Wan’ on their must-go lists. So this time round, I decided to persuade my parents and family to go try their famous dim sims ~

Thanks to Win Win we got a VIP room immediately for a table of 10 and also placed our orders for their special dim sims such as the abalone puff tarts, prawn and chicken dumplings and bird nest egg tart ~ you can’t order these dim sims unless you have a VIP table

We went to the Sham Shui Po store and got there at around 6:30pm, thankfully it wasn’t very busy, Tim Ho Wan has kept the traditional HK yum cha ambience as you can see with the wooden table and chairs. Staff were the no nonsense type but were still attentive and helpful as we went with my little nephew and niece

Prawn and chicken dumplings $20HKD ($2.5AUD) Each

It slightly strange to have dim sims for dinner as its a very brunch and lunch type food ~ We were all pretty hungry so Dad immediately ordered the first round of dim sims. The first to appear at our table were all the special dim sims we had pre-ordered like the prawn and chicken dumplings. They were so pretty and reminded me of the Swarovski swan with the little prawn tail

Red rice steamed prawn noodles $30HK ($3.75AUD) per plate

Dad insisted on getting these as he’s trying to lose some weight and wanted to try the steamed rice cakes made with red rice instead of white I really liked the pink colour but taste and flavour wise, they’re very much the same as the regular white ones ~

Abalone and chicken puff pastry tarts $40HKD ($5AUD)

I was excited about trying these abalone and chicken puff tarts, because I’ve never had abalone in the form of a tart *Warning* these are PIPING HOT and very crumbly, I tried to pick one up and it started to crumble and the chicken pieces were pouring out and burnt my finger ~ But gosh these were tasty!

I loved the combination of chicken and abalone and also the slightly chewy texture of the abalone I also want to know Tim Ho Wan’s secret for making such good puff pastry with the ability to immediately melt in my mouth.

Har Gow $23HKD ($2.8AUD) and Siu Mai $23HKD ($2.8AUD)

Once we finished our special dim sims, it was time for the more traditional dim sims such as Har Gow (Prawn dumplings) and Siu Mai (Pork and prawn dumpling). My nephew Aden is obsessed at Har Gows and can have 3 to 4 all by himself! He’s only 2 hahaha we all liked the har gows especially the thin and soft dumpling skin. I’m a Siu Mai girl and always choose them over har gows I liked the ones here, as they were freshly steamed but once again thought they were quite similar to the regular siu mais at our local restaurant ~

Steamed pork ribs $14HKD ($1.75AUD) and Chicken Feet with Black bean sauce $15HKD ($1.9AUD)

Another yum cha stable, steamed pork ribs Mr Bao loves these ~ these were very flavoursome with the black beans and was not at all overcooked. I don’t like it when it’s overcooked and becomes very chewy. LOL I hope I didn’t scare anyone by posting a photo of chicken feet ~ I know many of my friends are scared of them and will never even attempt putting one in their mouths, but please give it a go, you might like it! I personally love the rubbery texture of them Okay… I better stop there hehe

Steamed Beef Balls $14HKD ($1.75AUD) and Chiu Chow dumplings $10HKD ($1.25AUD)

When I was growing up lol I would only eat Steamed Beef Balls when we went to yum cha, but now I think I’m a bit over it I liked these ones though as they had soft and spongey texture and the mince beef was of a better quality than some other restaurants. Mum was a fan of these Chiu Chow dumplings which have pork mince and wood ears filling enclosed in the same dumpling skin as a Har Gow.

Baked Pineapple BBQ Pork Bun $16HKD ($2AUD)

These baked pineapple BBQ pork buns are probably Tim Ho Wan’s most famous and popular dim sim dish ~ If you are familiar with Hong Kong snack food you would have had the pineapple (polo bao) bun before. These are like the pineapple bun but with BBQ pork (char siu) filling Definitely something different from the traditional BBQ pork buns, we quite liked it. I particularly liked the sweetness from both the bun and the filling ~

Radish cake luo bak go $12HKD ($1.25AUD)

Luo Mai Ji Steamed Glutinous Rice $24HKD ($3AUD)

I can easily fill myself up with dim sims, but I find most men I know can’t They still need something more carb-loaded hehe That’s why we ordered the steamed glutinous rice parcel, it was quite big with chicken, pork mince and dried shrimp as the filling.

Pork Bone and Bean Congee $18HKD ($2AUD)

We also got the Pork Bone and Bean congee, I don’t usually see many restaurants serving this congee, very tasty and filling with the beans

Steamed beef rice with egg $18HKD ($2.25AUD)

Ma Lai Go (Steamed Cake) $14HKD($1.75AUD)

There were a few sweet dessert options on the menu, starting with the Ma Lai Go which is a steamed cake made from brown sugar and lard. It’s quite hard to find good Ma Lai Go even in HK, they’re either too wet or too dry some are too sweet and some aren’t. I know Tim Ho Wan are not known for their ma la gao, however, I was quite impressed with both flavour and texture *WIN*

Osmanthus jelly $10HKD($1.25AUD)

The last special dim sim we ordered was the Birds Nest egg tart, bird nest is considered a delicacy in Chinese cuisine so it’s quite precious to find them in street foods such as egg tarts. Once again there were fresh out of the oven and this time Dad burned his tongue when he put one in his mouth They had a firmer biscuit base than the abalone tarts ~ it had a very eggy filling which was nice, but don’t think it was sweet enough. I think I still prefer the egg tarts from Tai Cheong more hehe ~

I think that’s all the dim sims we tried at Tim Ho Wan I hope I haven’t missed any because there was so much food, my parents kept ordering multiples too! I also had to fight to take a photo of the food before they hacked into it ~ Overall, I think I was underwhelmed by the food here at Tim Ho Wan, there were some show stoppers such as the abalone puff, pineapple BBQ bun and also the ma lai go. However, the other dim sims were comparable to other local yum cha restaurants. I don’t think I would wait 45 minutes or longer for a table, but would recommend a VIP room if you have more than 6 people as it’s quite affordable and you also get to try the special dim sims! We were all full and had some left overs and it worked out to be around $135HK ($16.9AUD) per person

A few months ago, before I left for HK, Kathyrn from Lord Of The Fries (LOTF) invited me to their tasting event and that they have a vegan chocolate mousse waiting for me ~ I had never tried LOTF so thought it’ll be nice to try it out and there was dessert  LOL I love how everyone knows dessert and sweets are my weakness. It was a plus-one event so automatically, I was going to invite Mr Bao. But then I realised from Kathyn’s email that LOTF was a fully vegetarian fast-food store with vegan options. Now Dear Readers do you remember the LAST time I took Mr Bao to a vegetarian-only restaurant at Trippy Taco? He was so depressed and cranky afterwards, I have vowed to never let that happen again

I wasn’t sure who I was going to invite, but then a light-bulb went off and I knew who would LOVE this event, Miss D. Who I think is my only close friend who is a vegetarian and she’s told me how much she loves LOTF especially their chicken nuggets ~

The event was held on a weeknight at their Fitzroy store and we immediately felt like VIP’s when we got there as the store was closed for us I did feel slightly out of place as most bloggers there were vegetarian and vegan bloggers, I think I was the only ‘ominivore’ blogger I did meet the lovely Adele from Vegie Head, I had no idea that there were vegan and paleo recipes ~

Other Vegetarian and Vegan Bloggers

Upon walking in, Kathyrn greeted us and immediately introduced us to the owners Mark and Sam, then led us to our table where we got a booth to ourselves ~ We noticed that they already had all their sauces laid out on the table. Miss D was a veteran and started telling me the ones she’s tried and the ones that were her favourite.

Different types of sauces

They wasted no time and immediately a bowl of fresh fries appeared in front of us and we immediately started to dip in the different types of sauces. The fries were the thick cut style that was piping hot, crunchy and not greasy  I think my favourite sauces would have to be the Parisian sauce which is their aioli garlic mayo, it was seriously smooth, creamy and addictive Then it was followed up by the Thai Sauce which was a golden satay sauce. Miss D really liked the American which had a Southern BBQ flavour and also the Indian Sauce which was a spicy mango chutney with sour cream.

Lord Of The “Fries”

Next up was the onion rings, I immediately thought of Anonymous Sister, because she’s a bit of a health freak and doesn’t eat much fried food, but onion rings is one of the only fried things she’ll eat ~ I think these would have got her approval, they were crispy on the outside but still soft in the inside.

Onion Rings

I was intrigued when they brought out these Chilli Poppers, I have never had these before and was worried that they were going to be too hot and burn my tongue. Turns out that they were quite mild and I really liked these deep fried chillis!

Hahaha I showed Mr Bao a picture of these and he said “I am NOT eating one of those, glad I didn’t go to this event’ LOL he’s a chicken

Inside the Chilli Popper

Then it was Miss D’s absolute favourite and something she gets all the time and that was the LOTF Nuggets. These are mock chicken nuggets and are made from soy and fried in butter until golden brown. I was truly impressed by not only the taste but also the texture, it really had that ‘chicken’ nugget texture! If I hadn’t known better, I think I would have thought these were chicken nugget of some sort.

LOTF Nugget

Both Miss D and I were so stuffed, but the food wouldn’t stop coming and it was time for burgers. Before coming I had no idea that LOTF’s burger were vegetarian one a veggie patty, I always thought it was any regular fast-food joint which served beef or meat patties.

Mini Original Burger

The Original burger had a LOFT veggie patty, lettuce and Belgian mayo, I’m not too sure what made the veggie patty, but I assume it was soy, flour and maybe beans? It’s definitely does not taste or have the texture of a real meat patty, but it has good flavours and I think it’s a good substitute for vegetarians ~

Tijuana Hot Dog

This was the Tijuana Hot Dog with a veggie dog and jalapenos, cheese, onion, sour cream, spicy ketchup and mustard. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of this hot dog, I thought the flavours were quite nice and the texture of the dog reminded me of tofu, but I didn’t really like the jalapenos and the spicy ketchup. Maybe I’m just being weird about because others seemed to enjoy it

Vegan Chocolate Mousse

After all that food, it was finally time for dessert ~ they only have dessert on their menu but it was enough to entice me It was a vegan chocolate mousse and the owner Mark told it it’s the same recipe post in the New York Times, and that they don’t really make any money from it. As they use the best chocolate and silken tofu they can find.

I was definitely surprised and impressed that this was a vegan chocolate mousse, it had the silkiest texture and deep rich chocolate flavours. And because it was made with tofu it had gave it a unique nutty aftertaste. Hannah (Wayfaring Chocolate) I think you will be proud that I actually liked a vegan dessert

Mark and Sam owners of LOTF

Before the wonderful event ended, we got the chance to speak to Mark and Sam owners and founders of LOTF. The original concept  came about when Mark and his wife Mandy were living in Taiwan and they were fed up with the frozen fries, therefore, started making their own fries. They then moved back to Australia and shared their idea with Mark’s brother Sam and in 2005 they opened up their first store in Melbourne Fast-foreward 8 years LOTF has become one of the most popular vegan and vegetarian friendly fast-food stores ~

Would like to thank LOTF for inviting me and Miss D to their event, it was a wonderful experience. But to be honest, I was slightly skeptical about the food at LOTF before attending, as I am so ignorant about vegan and vegetarian foods. But now I know vegetarian food can also be very tasty like the chicken nuggets and the chilli poppers And I’m definitely going to have to reconsider vegan desserts and I have convinced myself that they’re better for us and hence I can have more

Daisy and Miss D @Nevertoosweet dined at Lord Of The Fries as guests of LOTF and Keep Left, however, review and opinions are honest and based on personal taste and preferences.

I don’t think I have ever visited any restaurant where they only have 3 items on their menu But here at Burger and Lobster, they only have 3 things on the menu – grilled lobster, lobster sandwich and a regular beef burger and that’s it! All priced at £20 and you either take it or leave it I first heard of Burger and Lobster from my friend Ozmomo who visited London in June and then after some research, I found that they were the number in the top 10 on the Urbanspoon in London ~ but what really made me want to visit was Catty’s review (The Catty Life). She absolutely LOVES the food here and I trust all her recommendations, so I simply HAD to go!

Burger and Lobster

Win Win and Anonymous Sister can be so BORING lol they didn’t want to go to Burger and Lobster with me, instead they went to the Westfield Shopping Mall in White City. Thankfully, I had the chance to meet up with Jas (Osmomo’s Sister) who recently moved to London It was great for us to catch up as we don’t even remember the last time we saw each other ummm… I may still have been in high school hahaha that’s how long

Jas said queues at Burger and Lobster can be pretty crazy, but the new Farrington store wasn’t as busy and if we get there early we should be fine. At 6pm my sisters hurried me onto a cab and they were off to Westfield Shopping centre. When I got to Lobster and Burger, I was surprised to see that it was relatively quiet at 6:30pm and I was immediately given a table ~

Plastic bib for messy adults

Having only 3 items on the menu, it was very easy for us to order. Now I’m sort of kicking myself for ordering the same thing as Jas which was the grilled lobster, but I really wasn’t feeling like lobster sandwich or burger Once we placed our order the waiter immediately gave us a plastic bib with this this funny man’s face printed on it ~ these bibs were definitely useful as eating lobster can get pretty messy.

Grilled lobster £20

This was the grilled lobster with salad and chips on the side and also a generous serving of the super rich, luscious and sinful butter sauce! I don’t even want to think about the amount of butter in that sauce but gosh it was DELICIOUS! I was really impressed with how big the lobster was for £20 and it had a good solid shell, while the flesh was hot and tender ~ The best way to eat it was to scoop the lobster flesh out, totally drown it in the butter sauce and then putting the whole thing into your mouth. It was seriously one of the most enjoyable seafood I have had! I know understand why Catty is so obsessed about it! Check out her post for the other two dishes

Mayonnaise and Ketchup

I couldn’t get enough of the butter sauce, but mayonnaise and ketchup was also offered to customers Tell you a secret (think I’ve told you guys before) but I don’t eat ketchup, can’t stand it and will not touch something if it’s come into contact with it But i can eat it if it’s incorporated into something like sweet and sour pork YUP i’m SUPER weird hahaha

White Chocolate Honeycomb Parfait approximately £4

I was so worried that they wouldn’t have any desserts, thankfully the waiter came over and offered us two dessert options, oops I forgot what the first one was, because I was immediately sold in getting this one. Which was a white chocolate honeycomb parfait, it had a lovely light and smooth consistency with crunchy honeycomb pieces through it ~ A shame that Jas was lactose intolerant and couldn’t eat desserts with me We’ll have to go get lactose-free desserts next time!

Jas and Me ~

I really enjoyed Burger and Lobster, their dishes were simple, reasonably prices and most of all delicious! I would recommend you going when you’re even in London and I totally agree with Cat that we really need one of these B&L’s in Australia! It was also lovely to finally catch up with Jas and it happens to be in London! I promise I will be back again, I am totally mesmerised by London so please wait for me

Burger and Lobster
40 St John St
Farringdon UK EC1M 4AY

I have so much respect for Heston Blumenthal as a chef and a person I think he has done magnificent things for the culinary world and has definitely educated me on how to think and cook in a scientific manner ~ Even though most of his recipes are a bit complicated for me hahaha

Mandarin Oriental

i have dreamt of dining at his restaurant Fat Duck for SUCH a long time but knew we wouldn’t have enough time to go this time ~ and I promised Mr Bao that we’ll go together. But I STILL wanted the ‘Heston’ experience so decided to go to Dinner by Heston at the Mandarin Oriental in London. After a lot of convincing and some threatening hahaha Win Win and Anonymous Sister, agreed to go with me! YAY!

Dinner By Heston

Its not easy to get a table at Dinner By Heston Once again thanks to Ozmomo for her tip for booking through Top Table which is like the Aussie version Dimmi a website where you can make reservations for most restaurants. I was amazed at how hard it was to get a table, I booked for the table nearly 6 weeks before going, and because I was waiting for Win Win to get back to me what time she wanted, the 12pm slot was gone within 10 minutes. So we had to settle for the later 1:15pm time slot *shocked* and there was a strict ‘£50′ no show penalty fee per person! I thought that was a little bit extreme so I made sure my sisters were clear of it too

We made sure we weren’t late and go there on time, staff at Dinner By Heston where attentive, but lacked some warmth and smiles. They kindly took our jackets and then led us to our table, I was surprised that the restaurant was so modern with tones of black, grey and white throughout ~ It was a big contrast to the hotel which looked quite historical.

Spices all over the wall

I had already checked out the menu online so had a fair idea what I wanted, don’t laugh but Anonymous Sister was so worried about not ‘liking’ the food…she actually dragged us to have yum cha in China Town before coming here… so we weren’t all that hungry. After some deliberation, we decided to get one of the 3 course Set Lunch Menu £36 ($55AUD) and additional entree and dessert

Chefs busy in the kitchen

I liked how the kitchen was open and we could see the chefs working inside and even though I knew Heston wasn’t going to be inside ~ But I was still hopeful you never know right?

Complimentary bread

We started off with some complimentary bread, I think we were a bit spoilt from the amazing bread and baguettes from Paris, even though the bread was fresh and soft in the middle we found the crust to be too hard.

Meat Fruit £15 ($23AUD)

First up was the Meat Fruit which was not an option from the set lunch menu, but I simply couldn’t leave without ordering this! I have seen it on Masterchef Australia and how hard it was for contestants to make it For those are are not familiar, the meat fruit replicates a mandarin, while the filling is chicken  liver and foie gras parfait accompanied with grilled bread.

Chicken liver and foie gras parfait

I didn’t know what to expect of the meat fruit, and only know it was a pâté, I carefully cut a quarter out and was immediately impressed at how ‘real’ the mandarin skin was. We spread some of the parfait over the grilled bread and that was it! We LOVED it! Win Win is a fan of foie gras and she couldn’t stop telling me how good it was ~ The parfait had the smoothest texture and was SO delicious! Not too overpowering but just right I need to warn you though, the meat fruit was very rich and filling, the 3 of us struggled to finish it, even though the waiter offered to bring us more bread.

Dressed Snails (Part of Set Lunch Menu)

There were two options for the entree in the Set Lunch Menu, a Lemon Salad and the Dressed Snails that we chose. It had snails, parsley, beetroot, halloumi and red wine juice, I liked all the flavours and surprised at how sweet beetroot could be. We would have liked a little more snails though ~

Roast Ray Wing (Set Lunch Menu)

For the main we chose the Roast Ray Wing, embarrassingly I don’t remember what fish it was, but remember it cooked perfectly ~ The other elements of the dish were parsnip and buttermilk puree which was smooth and velvety, sea beet, brown butter and capers. This was a very delicate dish and however, found the main to be a little small compared to the entree and not very filling.

Orange Buttered Loaf

I love Heston’s dessert recipes, even though I have only made his chocolate tart with popping candy, it’s always a HIT amongst of family and friends For the dessert we were faced with the decision of the Prune and Tamarind Tart or this Orange Buttered Loaf. We immediately chose the orange loaf as we all liked orange flavoured desserts, and wasn’t sure about the tart ~ We were so pleased with this dessert! The mandarin and thyme sorbet was divine! While the orange loaf was caramelise and topped with a thin slice of candied orange. It was another one of those desserts that I would LOVE to have the recipe for!

Brown Bread Ice Cream £9 ($13.75AUD)

For the other dessert, I decided to get the Brown Bread Ice Cream with a salted butter caramel disc on the bottom and peat and malted yeast syrup. Win Win and Anonymous Sister did not like this dessert at all… they found the brown bread ice cream too salty and the salted caramel disc too sweet. I have to admit, I have mixed feelings of this dessert as I agree with them that the saltiness and the sweetness didn’t really match very well. But having said that it’s executed very well, maybe it just wasn’t my type of dessert

Complimentary Chocolate Mousse with Cardamon shortbread

We finished the meal with a complimentary chocolate mousse with a cardamon shortbread biscuit ~ I really liked the chocolate mousse while the cardamon shortbread was a little too strong for us Surprisingly, we were quite full and satisfied with this late lunch.

Overall, I enjoyed Dinner By Heston and I can finally say I have tried some of Heston’s dishes YAY I was particularly impressed by the meat fruit and the orange loaf, while there were some dishes and desserts that didn’t really suit our tastes and preferences. I would still recommend you trying Dinner By Heston if you get the chance when you go to London ~  just remember it can be difficult a table so book early.

Dinner By Heston
66 Knightsbridge
London, UK SW1X7
PH: (020) 7201 3833