Sunnybank Oriental

We came for lunch, still quite a few tables vacant. So unlike our last visit where we have to queue and given a number.

My craving for claypot rice is what brought us here. Quite a few varieties to choose from, I settled for garoupa fillets in black bean sauce. Everything in the pot was cooked to perfection. I was surprised to find mui choy hidden underneath the fish. Very very tasty.

Big King had Shunde fried kway teow. The kway teow was fried dry with lap cheong, egg, beansprouts and squid. Shunde style meh? Wery salty, not wery good, no no.

Spotted salt and pepper squid on the menu, couldn't resisit. Not wery good oso, came soggy and wery salty.

Will only visit again for the cheap brekkie sets and claypot rice.

Little Singapore @ Market Square

Favourite haunt when we crave food from home.



The restaurant quickly filled up as soon as it opens. There is also al-fresco dining outside.

Hainanese chicken rice A$7.80

My default order, chicken is smooth and rice is fragrant. Better than my creation. Chilli and spring onion ginger also passable.

Fried mee kway teow A$9.80

This is good stuff, full of wok hei. Prawn and squid were extremely fresh and cooked to perfection.

A cheap (by Oz standard) and cheerful restaurant.

Jan Power's Farmers Markets @ New Farm

Location: 119 Lamington Street, New Farm
(only 10 minutes from where I stay, yahoooo!!)

The market starts at crack of dawn and finishes at around midday.

An upmarket farmer's market with shoppers toting their Chanel, LV, Guccis and A$160 Grosler shopping trolley around. I have seen a lady using a medium Longchamp dumpling as her shopping 'basket' @_@


Stalls selling woven basket, petit fours, organic muesli.


Beautifully packaged brownies (tis ok but not worth the hefty price tag), pickled olives, greek yogurt (my fav!) and fresh vegetables & fruits stalls.

Fresh & frozen seafood, german sausages (my fav!), hydrophonic tomatoes and different varieties of spuds.

Organic meat stall, interesting snazzy prints, the famous Sol sourdough bread (they're really good), natural skin & bodycare products and exotic mushroom stall.

Dainty petit fours from Amore Fine Food. They are all YUM!

Himalayan Cafe @ New Farm

Saw this colourful cafe further up the road from Gerbino. Himalayan food, mmm, I am not sure........

Gerbino's Pasticceria @ New Farm

Few shops away from Re Del gelato is this authentic Italian bakery. Aiyo, dessert freak like me screamed (in the head and heart) die die must try when I spied the shop driving up and down Brunswick street looking for Re Del.

I practically 'ran' to the shop after being refreshed by my guava sorbet. Wow, look at the gelato cabinet, look at the whole cake display, look at the small goodies cabinets full of bacis, meringues, canollis, biccies, tiramisu and miniature cakes.

I was like a child in a toy store, excited, pointing here and there, running from canibet to cabinet, kanasiau. Luckily, no one bothered (there's no one in the shop except us and the owners too busy haha)

Aiyo, cincai lah, what for pack so sui?



After throwing millions of questions at the owner, I only brought home pistachio canolli and coffee semifreddo (cake not ice cream). I hope I didn't kena cursed....

Verdict:

Canolli - eee er, I don't like. The pastry tasted fried in 'thousand year' oil. The filling is sourish cheese with pistachio coated at both ends. I gali after eating.

Coffee semifreddo - now this one is nice and very addictive. I love coffee mah.

I had planned return visits, but ever since I discovered Chouquette I cannot stay away from the place. Wait lah, see when I get sian of the place.

Driscoll's - World's Best Strawberries?

Earlier last month, I scored some Driscoll's strawberries. Allegedly to be the best variety in the world, Driscoll is indeed sweet and juicy. Before, I thought English strawberries in summer is KING. Now Driscoll's is top KING, hehe.

Don't ask how strawberries are in season in the middle of winter here in Oz. Really don't ask, see them, grab them and eat them.

There's this strawberry vendor in the fortnightly Jan Power market. Ther're always there, rain or shine. Tried the sample, it's Kandara variety (whatever...). OK sweet so buy. Turns out, kena tipu. Those we brought home average sweet only. Meh. Will give them 'pigeon' eye next time I pass by the stall.

Re Del Gelato @ New Farm

Big shop, lots of flavour with minimal seatings.


Menu

After a forgetable meal at Morgan's, my stomach is crying out, 'feed me yummy food.'



So many choices, so little tummy space. After some 'heated' debate in my head, I settled for guava sorbet (for me) and nutella (for Princess).



The colours were quite subtle (a good sign). They may not look appetising (lack of colour) but the flavours pack a bunch.

Guava sorbet: it's like scoffing down real guava, only in sorbet form.
Nutella: smell and tasted like the real mccoy.


Seating at one corner

There is no lack of good gelato place in Brisbane, they are everywhere! *Big grin*

'Trendy' Stones Corner, NOT

One fine day I brought Princess jalan-jalan in the nearby factory outlet stores. The neighbouhood has been described as 'trendy', mehhhhhh......

Took us 20 minutes by foot and up and down some hills (we stay on higher grounds with stunning views). We arrived and I was breathless. Bad bad idea bringing Princess out on my own, somemore on foot.

Though tired but spirits were high. I pointed my camera everywhere and click, click, click away. There were a LOT of bemused looks. Chinese lady one hand holding a toddler, the other hand on the camera, audible but incomprehensible sound coming out of her mouth (ordering Princess to behave and don't run off on her own). I know I must be a sight :D

Had lunch at the local conveyor belt sushi shop before heading home. Bad idea...I spotted 'ju jiang' soya sauce on the cooking station/worktop. Tis a 'mutton dressed in lamb's coat' shop. I had only 4 plates and the bill came up to A$18.70. Big rip off!

Redcliffe outing & Morgan's Seafood

Bridge connecting wherever we came from and the coastline

Fine day to travel to Redcliffe/Scarborough for a bit of sightseeing and of course, fish & chips.

Turned out nothing to see at Redcliffe, not even a chippy in sight. Decided to get some advice from two old ladies (they were ancient alright) manning the tourist centre. They debated amongst themselves which one we should go for. Factors to consider surrounding the lil one, comfy seating, park to waste our time if lil one got bored, menu for lil one. The debate still going strong when we left with a map with agak-agak locations of their choices roughly marked on the map.

After several twists and turns and gotten lost on the way, we arrived at Morgan's. A restaurant which won many accolades.

We grabbed the last table on the deck. Though it was a fine sunny day, the wind is still chilly (hey, winter here). But we're happy beating the cold wind. Inside is old school and grim with flowery cushions seats and all. Urghh, ancient and not very attractive.

Menu, yes only ONE page


I spied HUGE portions on other tables so we decided to go for only mains and have desserts later.

Tick, tock, tick, tock. It was 45 minutes before our food FINALLY (scream) arrived.

I ordered 'Taste of the bay'. It came with moreton bay bug (delicious!!), mussels (tough), crumbed fish fillet (dry and tasteless), calamari rings (nice and tender) and prawns (tough and chewy).

Big King went for baby baramundi rubbed with morroccan spice served with coucous and side salad. Ewwww, don't like baramundi. Will never want to see or touch let alone eat one in future ever again. Eeee, gali, gali......

Al-fresco dining outside. Mostly catered for the fish market's customers. You can buy any seafood and have them cook to your liking. Too bad we saw the market after we took off in our car.

There's a dock at the end of the deck in the restaurant. I have seen people arrived in their yachts. Speak about grand entrance, woo.

Top Noodle @ Market Square

My favourite lunch joint in Brisbane.

Most of the ingredients are imported from Japan. Chef is Japanese. How authentic I don't know for I have never been to Japan.


Left: Shio seafood base ramen (A$11.90?)
Right: Tan tan ramen (A$9.80?)

The ramen is good, soup base is good. I prefer the shio seafood to tonkotsu which I had on previous visits. Don't be fooled by the fiery colour on the tan tan ramen bowl. The spiciness level is just mild, even Pincess can take it.

Left: Mini salmon toro bowl (A$3.90)
Right: Karaage (A$4.00)

At only A$3.90, it was hard for me to pass the mini toro bowl. I prefer the tuna belly but they sell out fast. The toro is nicely seasoned and garnished with shredded seaweed and chopped spring onions. Shove a little bit of everything into your mouth, you would truly be in seventh heaven.

Karaage is Princess favourite. The version here is very good. Crispy on the outside and juicy in the inside and they didn't even need the lemon.

Cream Patisserie Coorparoo

Shopfront


Left above: Orange poppyseed cake (gluten free) A$3.90
Left below: Sticky date and toffee pudding A$5.90
Right: Raspberry marshmallow cheesecake A$6.90


Left: White chocolate cheesecake covered in chocolate fudge A$7.90

Right: Chocolate pistachio date slice A$6.90

Best recommended: sticky date and toffee pud. Best taste sensation is the candied chocolate covered date on top of the pud.

Rest of the items are average. Pretty much a write-off shop in my must-visit-again book cos you can find them better and cheaper elsewhere.

These pictures were taken at about 18.10, less than an hour to closing time. Notice the display window? Still pretty much filled...........

Next door is an upmarket mish mash shop, Princess has her eyes set on the red rocking bee? sheep? Good thing it's closed both the time we visited.

Princess' Tam-Chia Snacks

Tibetan organic goji berries covered in dark chocolate. Nothing gets more anti-oxidant than this combination.


Princess' junk - assorted flavoured pocky.

Other less occasional contra-band goods in my house include Calbee and chocolates (kinder buenos and cadbury's crunchie). More frequent junks are Varlhona chocolates and egg-rolls from Taiwan but they get consumed rather slowly whilst the contra-bands got wolfed down FAST.

Akin - Lavender and Rose Repairing, Anti-Oxidant Night Creme

'Natural' products in Australia is a big industry.

Glancing through my local organic supermarket's skincare shelves, I counted about 5 or 6 different brands. The products range from handmade soaps to face care, body care, hair care and aromatherapy. Some even claimed to be 'vegan'??

Akin (Australian) and Trilogy (New Zealand) are two brands that caught my interest. I have tried some samples and liked them immensely.

When David Jones did a 20% off on all Akin range, I quickly grabbed the Repairing, Anti-Oxidant Night creme. It also claimed to be anti-aging and restructuring the skin's damage surface. Sounds like a miracle cream, no? How does a cream allege to do so many jobs??

On application, I can feel instant tightness to my skin. Normally that happens when a cream is too drying on my skin. But eh, I don't feel my skin drying out, just tight. No peeling on the cheek. Mmmm, anti-aging, tick. The following morning, rushed to the mirror after waking up. No peeling? Good sign. Start touching the skin, wow, smooth like Princess' bottom. Repairing, tick, restructuring, tick. Anti-oxidant, how does one test??

I am glad I found a solution for my dry and irritated cheeks. It is so bad I have to reapply calendula cream repeatedly over my usual face cream (I used Jurlique and Avene) and woke up several times during the night because of the itch on my dried and peeling like crazy cheeks. With Akin, I never need to reapply anything. Even good news is the cream is only A$35. I will be looking into the day cream next. Guess PH Advantage will have to wait....

OPI Lacquer

Miniature OPI

The Australia collection has the prettiest colours. I first bought the nude colour 'Canberra without you', a pinkish shimmery nude. I went crazy after putting it on my toenails. Oh so pretty, so pretty! Rushed to David Jones the next weekend to grab these little babies.

What's in the box?

Dark dark red - Suzi loves Sydney (so dark I feel vampire-ly)

Perfect pink - Didgeridoo Your Nails? (so pretty it makes me feel)

Elegant brown - Don't Melbourne The Toast (so elegant I want to accesorize it with my bubble quilt)

Rapidry top coat (best topcoat ever)

All for only A$25. Siao if I don't buy.

Eating mantou

Fate brought me to Brisbane. I am so in love with this city. Great weather, great food, great people, great everything!

Quite a number of Taiwanese migrated to this part of Oz so I am able to find good baos and mantou (made with fresh milk) and my beloved chinese crullers (youcharkway) quite easily.

I prefer to eat the mantou plain with a dollop of butter. But for lunch, I would eat a bit more 'luxurious'; bacon and egg and sometimes sausage (way too 'luxurious' for the waist :D) is normally my preference to eat with doughy goods. Princess will eat hers with egg only.

Eh, baobei, where are the eggs??

[Brisbane bakery] French Twist

No bakery escapes my scrutiny if ever one is in my way. Small, big, fancy looking, hole in the wall; I love them all!

French Twist at Westfield Carindale

With various location across the city/state (Queensland), this is the most decent looking and up-market bakey/patisserie in the complex. I've been eyeing the display chiller for god knows N times before I finally made up my mind what to get. They ain't cheap, when is anything cheap in Australia?!


Bonaparte millefeulle

It's got to be none other than millefeulle (aka vanilla slice). The kung-fu of the sifu is in the pastry making.



The guy at the counter taught me how to slice this notoriously flaky pastry. Neat trick. I must have looked totally clueless back there. When it comes to french desserts, my eyes shone brighter than lightning, head giddy and heart pounding with excitement when so many goodies were presented in front of me and I don't know which to choose, wanting to bring home ALL. Hoo hoo, I am a dessert monster.

Oooh, back to the millefeulle. A classic french bake goody with custard sandwiched between puff pastry. Doesn't sound interesting, I know. But once tried, the addiction never go away. It's hard to come across one well made. French Twist's version is alright, definitely better than your average neighbourhood bakery's vanilla slice. But it's still nothing compared to my no.1 Laduree version. Ohhhh, how my heart weep from the memory of taste but not being able to savour one now.....Heartache, heartache......

Well....Princess loves it.....she told me,'let's have it again tonight' with big grin on her face when we polished off the slice, licking her finger.

I said,'but we finished it all, cannot have it again tonight, bo liao.'

Princess pondered for a while and responded,'tomorrow we eat again ah.'

Brisbane's Westfield Carindale

While Big King was away in France, I have access to our only car during the day. So I brought Princess jalan-jalan.

The shopping centre has these children rides dotted all round the complex. Heaven to children, nightmare to the parents! One ride costs A$2!

It was school holiday when we went and there was a live performance from tv personalities 'The Crocmen'. The surrounding stage was fully packed by highly enthusiastic children who sing and dance along with the crocmen.

After the show, we went in search of the sweet stuff. Hehe, my purpose of this visit.

Breakfast at MacDonald

Normally I wouldn't step anywhere near a McD compound. But the breakfast offerings changed my mind. Oh, I just couldn't stay away from hotcake/pancake/waffle. McD's hotcake didn't disappoint.

Light and fluffy, even Princess gives the thumbs up (she won't eat the pancakes I cook :( and told me to put back in the fridge to eat 'later'). She's also digging the hash brown, keep saying she wanted to have it again the next day.

Comfort food - risotto

I love cooking and eating risotto. Perfect winter warmer.

The blog...got neglected cos Rabbit is super busy with Taiwan's Superstar [超级星光大道] , I watched all the episodes over and over and over again. But I haven't forgotten to seek out good food in Brisbane!

[Brunei] Ambuyat

If there is any dish Bruneian can proudly proclaim uniquely Brunei's own, look no further than ambuyat. Oh, if you must know the history and how it was invented by a Princess, please google it up.

Made from sago flour and boiling water, ambuyat is taken with a two head prong. You dip the prong into the gruel, give it several twists and dip the formed ball of gruel into a spicy and sour condiment, either binjai (fermented mango chutney?) or tempoyak (fermented durian chutney). Personally I prefer to mix the two with extra sambal, more intensio flavour and more kick as the gruel itself is tasteless.

Side dishes to go with the ambuyat

There are quite a few to choose from and the above are my usual order. Clockwise from top left: ulam (raw vegetable salad served with sambal), stir-fried pakis (fern indigenous to Borneo Island?), deep fried fish and ayam masak merah (chicken cooked in spicy and sweetish sauce).

The above sells for roughly B$20 a set.

Aye, a bargain.

[Brunei] RMS Diner

I've been downunder for a little over a month and I still haven't finish the Brunei post. Just this and one more....

For starter, we shared a salt and pepper calamari served with tartare sauce. I have a thing for salt and pepper squid/calamari/tentacles. I've just got to order it soon as I learn it's on the menu. Lovely tartare sauce with lots of bite. Calamari was a tad overcooked but we quickly cleaned the plate. I was hungry!

For mains, Big King had spicy cajun chicken strips with fries on the side. I had to have the burger, for B$5.00, it's too good to pass eventhough I don't normally eat beef. Love everything in the plate, the soft toasted bun, the coleslaw, the caramelised onion, the salad leaves in the burger. Everything was super fresh. But I've got to say Swensen's burger patty still rule in my book.

Dessert was fresh mango crepe served with vanilla ice-cream in a pool of mango sauce. Crepe is too thick but the mango serving was generous.

I enjoyed the food so much so that I returned with sis and a friend within a week!