Lazy Ways to Prepare Lunch..

Well lately I've been enjoying myself in cooking. You can do different kinds of easy meals with just a few items. I'm lucky enough to have Coles supermarket just 5 minutes away. So here's two of my favourites. Puff pastry and pasta salad.

I think I've shared this before. But anyways I'll share it again! All you need to make this is just a pack of Coles puff pastry, a can of mushroom and potato creamy soup and parmesan cheese. Boil the cream soup and then put it into the puffs. Then sprinkle the cheese on top. Bake that for 5-10 minutes until the cheese turns golden brown. There you go. A nice sunny afternoon with pastry and a cup of coffee or tea. Courtesy of my friend, Yiki on this easy recipe.

For a quick lunch, it can be tricky to prepare something for yourself, only one person. All I did was vegetarian pasta salad with a hot bowl of cream soup. With the pasta salad, just simply boil some spaghetti. Add some mixed salad leaves, Japanese sesame salad sauce and a bit of cracked pepper with diced garlic. If you like to have some meat in there, maybe you can add some sliced ham or bacon. Easy and healthy, isn't it? Have a nice weekend.

La Renaissance Patisserie Shop..

I was lucky enough to explore this little patisserie shop at The Rocks with my dear sister and friends. It's called La Renaissance Patisserie at The Rocks. Yes it's in Sydney! Finally I'm writing about Sydney. Please do get excited together with me while I'm sharing this with you. Cause it just cheered me up by just looking at the photos.

My birthday cake. Isn't it pretty? It's made of passionfruit and raspberry. Don't remember what is the name of it though. It has a sourish after taste, it would be a nice combination if you're having something really sweet.

And with macarons as well. I'm not a fan of macarons but it was really nice, totally yummylicious.

The chocolate cake is called Zulu, with rich chocolate mousse and macaron biscuit and chocolate biscuit base. You'll like it if you're a huge chocolate fan. I did! Next to it is mini cheesecake mousse. Soft and fluffy.

This is Passion de Pierre. A layer of light, creamy passionfruit mousse and raspberry jelly. It was really sour for this one. Not my personal preference.

Classic cheesecake. With additional macaron as well. It was nice and moist but I think it was just average.

For chocolate lovers, this is called Tranche au Chocolate. Chocolate ganache with layers of flourless chocolate biscuit sponge and pistachio nuts. For me, it's a "to-die-for". I think it's something like Opera House in Lindt, or perhaps better than that. And also the blackcurrant macaroon. *love*

Creme Brulee. It was awesome! Totally creamy, rich in flavours, moist and just melts in your mouth.

Lots of desserts that just melts my heart with great company, lovely environment and nice weather. Nothing beats that kind of happiness. The price of the cakes ranges from $5.50-$9 and macarons are $10 per 100g, each macaron is about 20-25g. It's bit pricey i should say, however, definately worth a visit. A new found place that I will recommend to friends that visit Sydney.

Ratings: 9/10

Address: 47 Argyle Street, The Rocks, Sydney 2000

Shoya..

It was a place that I wanted to try out for ages. Finally i went there and tried it out with a few friends on a Saturday lunch. It's Shoya Japanese restaurant located at 25 Market Lane, between Russell and Exhibition Street, Little Bourke and Bourke Street. The restaurant also has a review in the Gourmet Traveller 2009 Restaurant Guide. I've made a booking before that. So the moment that I arrived the restaurant with my friends, we were being greeted at the door.

It took me a while to make up my mind and decided to go for UME lunch set, $32.

Firstly, I had the entree salad dish. It was delicious, with eel and some pickles. It made me felt anxious to know how are the rest of the dishes.

Next up, it was steamed egg custard. There was so many ingredients in there. Again, I'm happy with it.

Some more entree dishes. The tofu was served cold and with lots of ginger on it. Not my cup of tea there. Love the spinach salad though.

Beautifully decorated sashimi. Definately a piece of art. But when i ate it, it was not as good as it looked. I think it was due to the white fish which was chewy. I'm a fan of sashimi, but this wasn't the best one.

Prawn and vegetables tempura. It was fried to perfection. It didn't feel oily at all and it tasted good with the sauce.

Grilled eel. One of my favourites in japanese cruisine. It was cooked nicely, but the taste was rather average.

By the time we had main course which is teriyaki beef with fried rice, I was all full. However, the beef tasted really good, the sauce was awesome and the beef was cooked just right. Don't think the fried rice was any good at all though. Maybe just the different ingredients being used.

Finally dessert to finish the huge lunch we had. Green tea ice cream. It was really good! I wonder if it's homemade. It was a good way to end the lovely meal. There was good and bad, but overall I was happy with the whole lunch for about 2 hours there. Great service too. Definately will recommend for the lunch menu there!

Laksa King..

I'm having lots of fun on the month of August. I've been catching up with a few Malaysians in Sydney and it reminded me of Laksa King in Melbourne. They just moved into a new shop located at 320 Racecourse Road, Flemington. Not so sure if this is the updated address. I'll check that out. Anyway it's a place to try out for some really authentic Malaysian food.

The legendary laksa. I'm actually not a huge fan of laksa. So I can't really tell if it's really that awesome. But the strong flavours just reminded of my hometown.

Believe me or not. My first time having assam laksa is at Laksa King. Haven't tried it before in Malaysia. So I think the assam laksa that I've tried there has really rich sweet and sour taste with pineapple, cucumber, fish, onion and other ingredients. There's alot going on at the same time in your mouth with just one bite.

I still prefer the fish head/fish fillet vermicelli soup. The soup is so mild and with the sourness of vegetable pickles and sweetness of tomato. The flavour is just awesome! I would say it has a generous portion of the fish fillet as well. And best of all, the price is average, less than $10 for a bowl of laksa. Overall, I'll give that 7.5/10.

Birthdays..

Yay! Happy Birthday to all the Leos out there! A month of celebration for me. It means more good food to explore around Sydney. Can't wait!

Love,

Mel

Cafe Giraffe..

I went to this very funky yet cosy cafe with a few friends. It's called Cafe Giraffe. The location of the cafe is at 302 Little Lonsdale Street, Melb 3000. I simply adore the cafe. I went there for the third time and I still can't get enough of it. You can find cosy and laid back environment together with some interesting dishes on the menu.

Little decorations in the cafe.

There's a tree in the middle of the cafe.

The menu.

The warm pudding. It was yummy, warm and sweet. The pudding was soft and moist. If you like sweet stuff, it will be a great choice.

This was what I wanted to try! Cheese fondue with our own selection of sides, mushrooms and toasted bread. I was so excited to try it. But I was kind of disappointed, cause the cheese was too diluted, would prefer it to be more creamier.

I went there another time during lunch hours. I had mushroom risotto. The flavour was rich and cheesy. I felt really full after finishing the whole bowl. It wasn't a huge portion, but it was just right for me. $8 for this.

My collegue who is a vegetarian, had the sesame chicken noodles salad without the chicken. :) It tasted really awesome, love the sesame flavour in there and it felt refreshing after a salad meal.

Love the hot chocolate there too!

Homemade tiramisu. Love this! Very interesting concept as well. You do it yourself, simply take the scotch finger with some of the cream cheese and dip it in the coffee. Yummylicious! One thing to note is that the price is rather average. A good place for a cup of coffee or food with friends and enjoy the relaxing environment.