Kitchen Wench — Page 4

MK Review @ Petaling Street

August 5, 2011 | 396 views

The post on the Malaysia Kitchen blog is now live so please vote for this review by clicking on this link and pressing the “LIKE” button at the bottom of the page!”

When it comes to Malaysian food, I am admittedly a complete and utter ignoramus.

This is no slight against Malay cuisine, just that in my 29 years on the face of the planet, I’ve never actually tried it before. As far as Asian cuisines are concerned, I adore Korean (well duh!), Japanese, Indonesian, Thai, Hakka Chinese, Cantonese, Philippino and Vietnamese food and somehow I’d managed to keep Malay completely off my radar.

So as part of my involvement with this month’s Malaysia Kitchen Bloggers Summit, I resolved to become better acquainted with the flavours from this part of the world.

My first ever experience with Malaysian food was at the familiar Petaling Street restaurant in Glen Waverley. I’d heard good things about them and saw that they were very often busy so I was rather excited to give them a go. From first impressions, the fact that the restaurant was absolutely packed out on a Tuesday evening with a line of waiting diners seemed to show that they were quite popular with the locals so I definitely wanted to find out why.

The restaurant itself is quite well laid out. The lighting is bright without being glaring, the decor aged but clean and the tables are close enough together that the ambient noise from each group of diners creates a friendly buzz without meaning you can easily overhear their conversation.

As for the service, I found that it was actually wonderful. Our tea was topped up throughout the evening so quietly that we didn’t even realize it had been done, and when I found myself absolutely lost by the 130+ items on the menu, the waiters were helpful and friendly in explaining what dishes were to help me with my selection.

Vegetarian Curry Puffs ($4.00)

We decided that we’d start off with the curry puffs and I consider this to be my best decision of the entire evening. Similar to Indian samosas, they were lovely puffy golden bundles of deliciousness. The pastry was rich, buttery and flaky and though I couldn’t determine what vegetables were contained inside, they were cooked to absolute perfection. The curried seasoning they were cooked in was wonderfully fragrant and carried a slight spicy kick that was worked nicely with the richness of this particular dish.

The other surprise here was that though the menu said that they were 2 for $4.00, we scored THREE of these beauties! I begged my brother’s grace and eagerly nabbed the second one for myself as I found them to be utterly moreish and dangerously easy to eat.

Combination Fried Crispy Noodles – crispy fried noodles with beef, chicken, prawn, BBQ pork and vegetables ($9.80)

For my main, I decided on going with the crispy fried noodles as I’d never actually had noodles like this before and I have to say that I now consider myself a devotee at the altar of the crispy noodle. Thin egg noodles fried till crunchy, they were fantastic as the sauce only coated them without making them soggy (well, not initially) and the added crunch was a textural delight against the soft meats and vegetables.

The sauce for this dish also made this a winner for me – it had a slight sweet and salty balance that was then carried through by what tasted like oyster sauce, and this also gave it added richness. It was a mild enough sauce that it didn’t overpower any of the other flavours present in the dish but rather acted as an undercurrent that mingled with them nicely in the mouth. While I’m not sure if this is authentic, it was certainly a treat!

HAKKA-style cooked pork belly with dry egg noodles ($9.80) & golden garlic chicken wings ($5.80)

As for my brother, he opted to start with the chicken wings as he absolutely adores them. While the chicken was cooked to perfection so it was moist and flavourful, unfortunately the seasoned flour that they had been coated in was incredibly salty and made them inedible for me. The garlic flavour is delivered with much gusto (so much so that it really is the predominant taste) and while this was great for us, the excessive salt in the flour really let the whole dish down.

Though my brother still managed to polish off four of the five wings that came out

As his main, my brother decided to go with the Hakka pork belly and egg noodles and I have to say that this dish caught me completely off guard. I’m fairly familiar with Hakka cuisine and know it to contain rather subdued flavours with nothing particularly strong or spicy in there, however this was very, very different.

While the sauce was very rich and unctuous, the meat was strangely tough AND tender – tender in that it fell apart in the mouth, but the pieces themselves were incredibly dry and chewy. It felt like the pork belly had been in a slow cooker for so long that after the meat broke down, it then dried out to carry this bizarre texture. The meat was also so incredibly salty that after a bite, I had to gulp down a whole cup of tea and avoid it like the plague for the rest of the evening.

Nasi lemak special – traditional hawker style coconut flavoured rice with peanuts, cucumber, egg, ikan bilis (dried anchovies) and curry chicken ($9.90)

At this point of the meal we were both full to the brim (mind you, I’m not the world’s biggest eater – so much so that my friend calls me a pathetic excuse for a food blogger!!) but I thought that we should at least order a different dish – one that I was sure was authentic Malay, even if we would only be able to manage a single bite each. So bucking our trend for noodles, I decided to order the nasi lemak with the curry chicken.

Aesthetically, the dish looked an absolute treat with the chicken and ingredients scattered around the perfect white dome of rice. And as far as the chicken was concerned, it was just perfect with the red curry sauce being rich and savoury and carried well through the tender chicken. The only let down here was that the rice had no discernable coconut flavour – though it’s possible that this may have been due to the intensity of the curry sauce that the chicken came with.

Once the evening drew to a close and I plodded up to the counter to settle the bill, I was surprised to see that it came in at just under $40. Seriously? Two entrees and three mains and I didn’t have to break out a $50?

So what are my thoughts after my introduction to Malaysian cuisine?

The flavours appear to have influences from Chinese and Indonesian cuisine, but are very very different from what you expect. Full, punchy flavours that are fragrant and a feast for the senses – I can’t wait till my next Malaysia Kitchen experience!

Petaling Street Glen Waverley

Address: 111 Kingsway, Glen Waverley

Phone: (03) 9561 1388

Web:www.petalingst.com.au

Payment accepted: cash only

BYO: Wine only

Entrees: $4 – $6

Mains: $8 – $25.80

Desserts: $4.50 – $5

{ 14 comments }

The Malaysia Kitchen Bloggers Summit

August 4, 2011 | 190 views

in Events

When I was invited to be part of the Malaysia Kitchen Bloggers Summit this month, I thought that it would be a great chance for me to learn more about Malaysian food. You see, while I consider myself to have a reasonable understanding of international cuisines, Malaysian food is something that I’ve just never tried.

So, taking part in this means going head-to-head with other bloggers from around the country (so there are 13 of us in total), each of us reviewing a different Malaysian restaurant around town each week. It’s up to each of us to reach out to our readers and try and get the most votes possible as the top three voted bloggers will win an all-expenses 5 day trip to Malaysia for a gastronomic tour around the country!

With our first deadline rolling around in less than 24 hours, I’m very conscious of the fact that I’ve got some very stiff competition as there are some great review-focused bloggers included in the mix! So this is where I appeal to you, dear readers!

Each post will be uploaded on the Malaysia Kitchen website, so I hope hope hope that you’ll keep an eye on this page and vote for my reviews!

Because, I could beg for your pity and tell you that I haven’t set foot outside Australia since I moved back here at the age of 16 (which is now 13 years ago…)

Or, I could appeal to your fondness for Mr Woofy and say that if I win, I will take a very special reader-request photo of him for one of you.

I could even try and bribe you and say that if I win, I promise to upload a new Korean recipe for every remaining week of the year!

But…in the end, I’m hoping that you’ll vote for me just because you love me

Well, perhaps even just because you like reading the blog?

Anyway guys, I need to finish writing my first review so wish me luck!

{ 8 comments }

Perfect Peanut Butter Cupcakes w/ Dark Chocolate

August 1, 2011 | 16,826 views

in Cupcakes & Muffins

First things first!

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Two years ago, I started developing a recipe for peanut butter cupcakes. Not using an essence or anything like that, but just as a sort of challenge. The inspiration was some Reeses Pieces cookies that I saw – it made me wonder whether I could replicate that flavour in a cupcake.

I got the recipe to a point where I was fairly happy with it. The cupcakes tasted peanut-buttery and held up well to whatever filling or frosting that you wanted to use on them. And yet…

They still weren’t perfect. They developed an incredibly hard crust which could only be softened with copious amounts of sugar syrup, and while moist on the day that they were made, would become hard and stale very quickly. While I still blogged the recipe, to me they were still a work in progress.

So I told myself that I would continue to work on the recipe, tweaking it to the point where it would be where I wanted it to be.

You see, in my opinion a cupcake should be light, fluffy and resemble a sponge in terms of texture. They should be sweet little bites of fluffy goodness, so anything less than that just doesn’t meet my expectations.

And then a week rolled by. A month. Half a year. A whole year. And another.

Then last month, I received an email from the RSPCA reminding me that RSPCA Cupcake Day was just around the corner! So what better reason to whip out the apron* and get down to business reworking the damn recipe till it was finally up to scratch?

So I looked at my other cupcake recipes, did a little research and tried making a few changes then tested it.

Then I took notes, made a few more tweaks and tested the recipe again.

* I don’t actually wear an apron. Ever. The most I ever work with is a clean dishcloth slung over my shoulder to wipe my hands on whenever needed.

And when the first batch of cupcakes from this third attempt at the recipe came out of the oven, I could feel the kiss of the cupcake angels who had deigned to gift me with the inspiration for this recipe as I could see that it had finally come together.

After two years, a little over a kilo each of flour, butter and sugar, all I could think was that professional recipe testers must have a helluva task on their hands! But nonetheless, I finally present you with my own personal recipe for perfect peanut butter cupcakes!

Next on the list? I’m going to start working on a caramel sponge recipe so wish me luck!

Perfect Peanut Butter Cupcakes w/ Dark Chocolate Glaze

Cupcake Ingredients
150g smooth peanut butter
2 cups plain / all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 tsp bicarb / baking soda
3 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
120g unsalted butter, at room temperature
150g brown sugar
200g caster sugar

Peanut Butter Buttercream Ingredients
400g unsalted butter
250g smooth peanut butter
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4-6 tbsp milk
6-8 cups icing sugar/confectioner’s sugar

Optional: Dark Chocolate Ganache filling
200g good quality dark chocolate
1 cup pure cream (min 35% fat)

Optional: Dark Chocolate Ganache glaze (for the drizzle)
50g good quality dark chocolate
1/2 cup pure cream (min 35% fat)

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Beat the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and caster sugar together till creamy, then add your eggs and vanilla and beat again till light and fluffy (about 5 minutes on high speed).

2. Sift the bicarb/baking soda into the flour and set aside, then beat the buttermilk into the creamed butter mixture till smooth.

3. Beat the flour into the mixture at high speed for about 2 minutes to ensure that it’s well-combined, then spoon into your lined cupcake tray. This mixture will double in size, so if you fill it 1/3 full then it will become 2/3 full, and filling them half full will have them rise close to the top.

4. Bake the cupcakes for 10-15 minutes or till a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. DO NOT allow these to brown on top as this will result in a dry, tougher cupcake. In my oven, they reach perfection at exactly 14 minutes!

Once baked, I recommend that you brush the tops of the cupcakes while still warm with a sugar syrup (1:1 sugar to water, boiled till the sugar dissolves and then for another minute), then fill with dark chocolate ganache and top with peanut butter buttercream. If you want to get fancy, they look fantastic with a little dark chocolate glaze drizzled across the top!

TO MAKE THE PEANUT BUTTER BUTTERCREAM:

Beat the butter, peanut butter, milk and vanilla together for about 5 minutes at high speed till it has become very light and fluffy.

Then add 2 cups of the icing sugar / confectioners sugar and beat at high speed till incorporated (about another 5 minutes). Add the remaining icing sugar, 1 cup at a time, making sure to beat for 4-5 minutes after each addition – stopping once the icing has bulked up but is still soft enough to be piped with ease.

If you’ve added too much icing sugar and the buttercream is too stiff, rescue it by adding 1 tbsp milk and beating for 3-4 minutes. Don’t add too much milk as doing so will make the mixture curdle – which you can again rescue by adding more peanut butter

TO MAKE THE CHOCOLATE GANACHE:

Place the chocolate and cream in a large non-reactive bowl, then place over a smaller bowl of boiling water. Allow to sit for 2-3 minutes, then slowly stir to bring the mixture together. Allow to cool completely before using it to fill the cupcakes.

TO MAKE THE CHOCOLATE GLAZE:

Place the chocolate and cream in a large non-reactive bowl, then place over a smaller bowl of boiling water. Allow to sit for 2-3 minutes, then slowly stir to bring the mixture together.

Dip a fork into the chocolate mixture and slowly drizzle backwards and fowards across the top of the iced cupcakes.

{ 63 comments }

Mushroom Mania @ Mi Va Il Gusto

July 30, 2011 | 180 views

in Events

It has been a long week, folks.

Long, tiring – I would even venture to say it’s been a little soul-destroying.

So while I knew that I had one last restaurant to review for Mushroom Mania month, on behalf of the Australian Mushroom Growers Association, I just couldn’t bear the thought of venturing out to the city after work so I decided to try my little local pizzeria for some comfort close to home. Now we’ve ordered wood-fired pizzas from here for years, so I thought it might be about time to step inside and see what else they had to offer.

Vermont isn’t exactly known for it’s share of fine dining eateries. If anything, there are plenty of little mom-and-pop operations sprinkled around, offering everything from excessively horrific fish and chips to incredible phở. While the wares on offer here certainly won’t win any Michelin stars for innovation, the great thing about them is that the food is simple and homely and quite often is close to some sort of home cookin’.

Mi Va Il Gusto is one of those places which is comfortable and good. Mind, I don’t say great, but there is something intimate and familiar about coming here. Run by a husband and wife team along with a small number of employees, the interior is quaint and cozy, and quite typical of a little Italian bistro out in the suburbs of Melbourne.

I thought that it would be a good idea to try this place, particularly after my abysmal experience at Pescare earlier this week. And for two restaurants in such close proximity to each other, the two couldn’t be set any further apart. Both are Italian restaurants set in the suburbs, however Pescare is incredibly large and spacious inside, with serene lighting and plush furnishings.

Meanwhile, Mi Va Il Gusto is the “cheaper” cousin; smaller with clean but worn out furniture. A friendly, family restaurant where you can take the little ones out for an easy meal. And where a little noise and bustle is just part of the atmosphere.

All in all, the perfect place for a worn body to take herself at the end of the week, who isn’t in search of anything fancy but just simple, unfussed fare which will satisfy stomach and restless soul.

I ordered a similar dish to the one ordered at Pescare, that’s to say the tortellini with mushroom sauce. At $15, this isn’t fancy or amazing, but it’s very moreish and warms the stomach. The cream & wine sauce is quite rich and the mushrooms cut thickly so that they still provide a texture and bite even once cooked.

To be honest, I highly doubt the tortellini was home-made and the filling used was a complete mystery as the texture was pasty and the flavour couldn’t be determined. However, it did well to carry the sauce, and the sauce wasn’t too much as to overwhelm the flavour of the mushrooms contained within. This is quite saying something, since the mushrooms were just your standard white button mushrooms which don’t have the strongest flavour in the mushroom world.

When I ordered this dish, the waitress asked me if I wanted to have chicken added to the sauce and while I opted for yes, the chef forgot to make this inclusion so that my dish was without. As it turns out, though, this was a blessing in disguise as the excess of mushrooms in this dish filled me completely and the added filler of chicken might have been too much for me to bear!

We also ordered the bruschetta to share and this was by far my favourite dish of the night. The bread was nothing spectacular, looking very much like a baguette from Coles, but the topping made it worthwhile. Just a standard combination of roma tomatoes, basil, red onion and olive oil, the flavours were brightened with what tasted like lemon juice and a liberal addition of parmesan.

The waitress advised that you could bruschetta topping on a home-made pizza base and while I’m glad that we didn’t go this option yesterday evening, it’s definitely something that I’ll be keeping in mind for the future, perhaps when the warmer weather finally comes.

After tossing up between the veal parmigiana and the penne Calabrese, my sister finally settled on the latter and was quite pleased with the dish. Unfortunately the salami was a bit over-generous and the saltiness from them leeched into the tomato sauce and left it salty enough to make her thirsty. Separate to this, neither of us could otherwise fault the dish as the pasta was perfectly cooked and it’s rustic simplicity of olives, capsicums and salami in a homemade Napoli sauce.

While this certainly wasn’t the best meal that either of us has ever had, it was good to know that our little local Italian bistro/restaurant could provide a decent meal when needed.

As this week and Mushroom Mania month winds to a close, you still have a little time to venture out and see what chefs around town are doing with the fabulous fungi. But don’t let the end of the event stop you either – though the mushroom may be small and humble, there’s always someone out there who’s doing something exciting with it!

{ 4 comments }

Mushroom Mania @ Pescare

July 28, 2011 | 406 views

in Events

Even though I have no fear of writing a negative review, long time readers will be aware that I always try and be balanced and fair – if I have a negative comment to make, I often try and temper it with one of the good aspects whatever it is that I’m reviewing.

Unfortunately, this particular review is not one that can be tempered. My sister and I left in disgust after an hour (half of that being waiting time for the entree and the main) and being, for the most part, unable to finish our meals.

One thing that mystifies me to this day is how bad restaurants manage to survive in Melbourne. Even out here in Glen Waverley, we’ve got a fair selection of decent eateries ranging from greasy spoon/hawker food to places that in the upper pricing range, yet somehow the places that shouldn’t survive manage to do so.

Pescare in Glen Waverley is one of these eateries.

I’ve lived in the area for around 6 years now and I can remember this restaurant always being there. Being located near the only cinema in this area, it’s big sexy red sign was hard to miss. I’ve even seen this place absolutely packed to what appears to be capacity, so they appear to have a faithful and regular following.

What an absolute fucking waste.

My sister had been here before (for bruschetta only, she later told me) and so when I saw them on the Mushroom Mania restaurant list, I thought that it would be worthwhile giving them a go. I’d hoped that they would be an example of a great outer-suburban restaurant, somewhere even that city-dwellers might be tempted to travel out and try. Unfortunately this just isn’t the case.

Let’s start off with the positive. For a Tuesday evening, they certainly had decent trade, and the two waiters that were looking after us were definitely polite and attentive. Taking our orders, bringing food to the table, clearing plates – everything was taken care of quickly and without fuss.

Mushrooms with chicken minced, parmesan & egg

As my entree, I ordered the stuffed mushroom, which the menu described as “Mushrooms with chicken minced, parmesan & egg”. First of all, they should probably correct the damn menu from plural to singular, as there was only a single mushroom to be seen.

As for the dish itself, it was by far the best thing that we ordered here. The field mushroom itself was roasted to near perfection, the cooking process having intensified the flavour and texture of the mushy itself. Unfortunately, there was a tad too much chicken mince in the stuffing and the flavour and sheer saltiness of the chicken interfered with the flavour of the mushroom. The cheese was a nice addition here and tried to bring it together, but alas it all fell apart on my plate (quite literally).

I absolutely adore stuffed mushrooms as an entree or main and think that the mighty mushroom lends itself to being filled with a variety of different stuffings. Unfortunately for Pescare, though they tried to create a dish of simplistic beauty, the heavy-handed application of chicken and salt let the whole thing down as far as I was concerned.

Home-made gnocchi with chicken, mushroom, basil pine nut pesto & cream

For my main, I ordered the chicken & mushroom gnocchi. Chicken and mushroom is just one of those pairings that work well, but unfortunately they did something to this dish that made me find it pretty inedible.

The chicken and mushroom were well cooked, but unfortunately the button mushroom pieces were so salty that they could hardly be tolerated. And as for the gnocchi?

Let’s just say that after taking a few bites of this dish, I gave up in disgust and threw my napkin on the plate as a sign of surrender.

Golden fried calamari with home made aioli & Slow-braised lamb shank in red wine rosemary sauce on mashed potatoes with gremolata & broccolini

My sister ordered the salt & pepper calamari as her entree. While I’ve certainly experienced worse attempts at this dish, this dish was again so salty that neither she nor I could finish the plate. And as for the “home made aioli”, I demand proof that this is home-made since there was something not quite right about it. It may be my tastebuds acting up, but I swear that it tasted like bottled tartare sauce, down to the flecks of chives that were in it.

Strangely enough, the opposite was the problem with the lamb shanks that my sister ordered. The red wine & tomato sauce that they had been braised in was incredibly bland with almost no discernible rosemarey flavour to be found, the only way that my sister could eat this was with liberal applications of salt on each bite.

This brings me to my next point. WHY DO PEOPLE TREAT VEGETABLES AS A GARNISH?! When we saw on the menu that the lamb shanks came with broccolini, we expected more than two lonely stalks. As for those stalks, they were almost completely raw and for some bizarre reason, tasted of celery.

Can someone explain that to me, please?

Vegetables are great. And broccoli/broccolini is one of my absolute favourite winter vegetables – to me, they taste like the colour green and I adore munching on a freshly-steamed batch of broccoli with little more than a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. However, they were treated as second-class citizens in this dish and were most likely turfed to the bin after we left them mostly untouched.

What a waste.

The other bizarre thing about this dish is this pictured random something that my sister pulled out of her mouth after her first bite. We were both absolutely mystified as to what it was as it had the texture of plastic, but couldn’t figure out what it was other than the fact that it came out with the food.

Anyone want to take a guess?

With prices close to those at The Deanery, I really would have expected something better for my money, but unfortunately the chefs here just don’t appear to take much pride in their cooking and this shows in the quality of their work.

All I can really say at this point is that with less than a week left of Mushroom Mania month, you should get out and have a look at what chefs in your area are doing with the mighty mushroom to try something new.

Just don’t go to Pescare.