[Gold Coast] Carrara Market

Handicraft stall


Home furnishings stall


More handicrafts


Kitchenware stall


More crafts *~*


Self-torture ride

Not my kind of market. I prefer food market.

My mood grumpy after being denied the pleasure of having iced coffee at the market (certain cow said no :( ).

The mood worsen after finishing dim sum at Top One, Australia Fair Shopping Centre. Seriously, can kena renal failure one.

Dim sum at Top One @Australia Fair Shopping Centre

Gave up snapping shots after I tasted the chee cheong fun (rice rolls doused in soy sauce). Eeyer......

Been wanting to visit Gold Coast's high street. But there was no parking after doing zillions of round, darn it. Ended up at Go Go Mart (Japanese supermarket) shopping up a storm.

[Brisbane] Yum Yum Peking Duck

Yum Yum Peking Duck
Shop 5/146 Scotts Rd
Darra
Ph: 3217 0188

A reader of this blog had recommended Yum Yum to me earlier this year. I know. It's end of the year now @@!

I jot it down under my very own 'yum yum' journal and then forgot about it. Bad.

Interest was rekindled when the place was simultaneouly featured in Courier Mail and Gourmet Traveller's magazine.

So it's die die must try.

Nondescript storefront.

Drive too fast, you would definitely miss it.

Far cry from the temple design, red lacqured, red painted walls, Chinese restaurant we passed by at Cleveland Point last Sunday.

Me eyes popped and me jaw dropped when I saw the 'loud' restaurant.

Ordered peking duck - 2 courses AUD49.80.

For the first course, we had sliced duck skin with a little meat served on pancakes with hoisin sauce and cucumber and spring onions.

We had ten of those pancakes. Pre-laid out in a small serving plate for us. Imagine our little table covered with ten little plates of pancakes hoho~~

The duck was then sent back to the kitchen to be stripped of its meat which was diced finely and stir fry with diced vegetables. To be eaten wrapped in lettuce leaves. San choy bao is what they call it, for second course.

This time we got a plate of 4 wraps each. Suffice to say we coudn't finish all and took away 4 wraps.

Hong Kong style fried noodles with chicken slices AUD10.80.

Princess does not eat duck so this plate of noodles should keep her happy. She had a big bowl and we polished off the rest. The noodles was very good full of wok hei.

We woudn't mind coming back to try out other dishes in the menu.

The place is accessible by train. Just hop off at Darra Station and walk across.

There was also another Vietnamese restaurant named Cam Ranh few shops away. It seemed to be doing roaring business and I supposed it's signature dish has to do with crabs as the door or is it the window was adorned with crab drawings.

[Brisbane] Belle Époque Boulangerie and Patisserie

Emporium
1000 Ann Street
Fortitude Valley
Tel: 07 3852 1500
Fax: 07 3852 1522


Sunday afternoon at about 2pm, hardly any patrons.

Not surprising to find the display cabinets virtually empty. Brought home one of two left of millefuille and an almond croissant.

Cooked Campos' Dark City blend (AUD10.50 per 250g) to go with the rich millefuille.

The coffee was alright but I must say I prefer Merlo's signature blend after also trying Campos' Superior Gold Blend (AUD10.00 per 250g). It is a personal taste preference.

Back to millefuille. Love the custard cream, I like it better than Chouquette's version but the pastry was disappointingly hard and bitter in taste. Most probably overbaked.

Almond croissant (not pictured) was good, very light, airy and crispy pastry with a sweet salty almond cream filling.

The lack of variety and empty cabinets had stopped me from going back for the moment. I hope they improve soon.

[Brunei 2008] Charcoal Grill

Hooray *fireworks*

Last post on Brunei 2008 trip.

If you ask me if I miss working life, I will answer without thinking.

Sure I do but I wouldn't trade my time spending with Princess for the world.

But the only good thing which came out of my Brunei working life was my ex-colleagues. They probably don't know but they are the reason I stayed behind in that rat hole.

Dear Rch had the grilled ribs. She didn't even finish half of it!


Dear L had lamb with pasta. It looked and smell fantastic.

Dear LSG had pasta with sauteed mushroom. Portion was humongous but the stick thin LSG polished off the whole thing! Speak about being ravenous!

I was nursing a sore throat so I settled for caesar salad with smoked salmon. Smoked salmon was weirdly tough.

Dear LF ordered the sides to eat as mains! Haha. I'd say that was a wise choice.

The following day, I flew back to Brisvegas. Back to my dear Big King.

I ordered children's meal for Princess but they didn't prepared hers.

Just as well, as I saw other kids eating cold sandwiches and hard muffin and down all that with a packet of processed milk flavoured drink.

Princess is better off with juices and chicken rice and warm croissants and oreo cookies. She loved them all!

[Brunei 2008] Villa Mauri

Sorry for the long silence. Been having problem with the internet connection.

18.8.2008

Villa Mauri must be written to death by now by Brunei bloggers.

It is perhaps the closest 'proper' restaurant to my house.

I am not big on Italian food when going out to eat with the exception of Spaghettini but heck that's a bit far. So I settled for Villa Mauri for a family outing.


Menu

Complimentary bread and dip

The tomato-ey dip was very tasty. Princess keep dipping.

Drinks (sis die die must snap -_-```)


Seafood pizza

Topping was nice nice but crust was limp.


Pasta 'pat-chi-so-wai'

The very polite bro said,'oh, you can't find this taste anywhere else.' Hehe, kakaka.


Lasagna

This was the highlight of the whole meal.


Braised lamb shank

The shank could do with a longer bath in the pot. The taste is somewhat lacking and could do with a little more seasoning. The lack of red wine in braising liquid really mark this dish down.

My sis told the bemused waiter, 'we would like the lamb medium please.' HAHAHAHA


Sundae

Mediocre, supermarket quality ice-cream.


Tiramisu

Cheese mixture was light and flavourful. A very good execution. Shame about the absence of madeira though.


Chocolate fondant

Well, it's named after the owner's wife in the menu. Sis quite like this. What's not to like. Hot pudding with oozing chocolate centre topped with vanilla ice-cream.