Kalita

I’ve been drinking pourover coffee for the past year, pretty damn regularly. I can’t believe it’s $5 a cup at most places in Sydney. Then again, it’s the same for espresso, ridiculously overpriced compared to the cost. I guess we just think it’s worth that markup. But for me, pourover is something I prefer to make myself and drink at home anyway. At the moment, I just don’t have the counter space or the spare cashola to throw down on an espresso machine.

My setup is a budget iced filter coffee set from Kalita that has a coffee pot, filter cone and an attachment you can fill with ice to put in between the other two to make iced coffee. I’ve never used the attachment. I just let my coffee go cold. Anyway, I bought myself a cheap gram scale off eBay, a dollar store measuring jug plus filters and I was pretty much good to go but pouring was definitely a bitch. So this year, I added a Kalita jug when I went to Union Commerce in Kappabashi.

At first, I was sceptical about it. I kinda wanted to gun for one of the enamel ones they also had in bright red or this weird matte black unbranded one but ultimately, what tipped the scales was my girlfriend. She noticed that the lid doesn’t fall off when you pour. There’s just enough friction to hold it onto the body when you’re pouring whereas every other jug has a totally loose lid.

When I used it for the first time, I was just kinda enchanted by the slow, gentle pour that came out of the long spout. I know it’s a bit ridiculous but I liked the feeling when it poured. I guess to me, making coffee is a bit of a personal ritual, kind of like visiting a priest in a confession box situation or getting a charm writ for me by my girlfriend’s psychic priestess aunt. Yea, same thing.

I actually really like the form of the jug as well. The simple but unexpectedly comfortable handle and the elegant spout that joins cleanly to the body with a little copper spacer as the interface.

POKEYE

So after kopping my X-E1, I’ve started a new photoblog, where I’ll just post random photos that I think are ok. I shoot a lot more than I post. I really like the Duotone theme, which has a background that responds to the picture you post, which is pretty cool. Also love the simple, minimalist look and the attention focused on the image itself. This theme is perfect for single image posts. It also puts up EXIF data, which has worked 1 out of 4 times for me. Kinda cool when it did work.

I’ve named the blog POKEYE, which sounds like pok gai, which in Cantonese means to fall down on the street and just die. It’s a little self deprecating in that sense.

The Sexy One

I spent a month on holiday, with a good ten days or so in Japan with my brother. He carried along with him his Canon 550D and a Yashica Electro 35 and basically gave me camera envy when I looked at my little Canon S95, with it’s pathetic low light performance and lack of bokehbility. So we spent a good bit of time in Yodobashi and Bic Camera, checking out stuff.

I wanted to make the step up in terms of photography and not only take better photos but not be afraid that I was taking them. However, I baulked at the sight of the various DSLRs from Canon and Nikon. These were not only huge and bulky, they were just ugly. I much preferred rangefinder style cameras, like the Leica or my brother’s Yashica for instance. Heck, if my old Zorki 10 was digital, I think that’d be cool too. After very little deliberation, I zoomed in on the Fujifilm X-E1.

It was just an obvious choice because it balances good looks with functionality. I appreciate the design details and build quality. It’s a small camera but one that feels substantial in the hand. Enough for me anyway. I can’t be bothered with heavy ass shit but something too light also seems impractical. The weight of the X-E1 is perfect when I paired it with the 35mm lens. You’re inclined to use two hands, which also promotes a much steadier shot and ergonomically, makes a lot of sense. I was hooked. The moment I got back from my holiday, I spent about 3 weeks reading up every single review on the little beast and most of it correlated to what I wanted in a camera.

There were a few concerns.

• Relatively poor battery life (just get an extra OEM one I guess)
• Sluggish EVF in low light
• Poorer quality screen compared to similar priced cameras
• Slow autofocus
• Was I going to be able to make the leap from P&S Auto to a camera with no mode dials
• Cost

There were more plusses

• Image quality
• Handling
• Design/Build quality
• Good proprietary lenses
• Capability to use M mount lenses
• Size/weight
• Pure lust

Eventually, that last point won out. I took a trip to European Camera Specialists in Drummoyne, asked to try out the X-E1 and promptly bought it as a set with the Fujifilm XF 35mm f/1.4 R lens for a grand total of $1145. What tipped it for me was the dude quoted me a price $50 less than his website stated and it was his last piece. Just a few weeks back, I would’ve spent around $1400 for the same combo. In most other stores in Sydney, they don’t even offer the 35mm with the body anyway. There was one other store in Sydney that had a comparable price but I figured I was there and I’d wanted this for a month now, so why the hell not? My birthday’s up anyway.

I’ve updated to the latest firmware for both lens and body and the EVF sluggishness is mostly gone but the AF speed is still hairy especially in low light. It’s more than tolerable though. I have discovered that the 35mm lens has a very noisy motor but The rest of my concerns have mostly evaporated. The guy in the store informed me I’d get maybe 3-400 shots through it before the battery dies so basically, I won’t need a spare battery until I go on holiday. Even then, I don’t take 3-400 a day.

I kopped a SanDisk 16Gb Extreme SD Card ($22.90 from Memory City), have a black DSPTCH Standard Sling on the way and am considering to add the following in bits and bobs.

• Nikon X Porter Daily Shoulder Bag, $150+shipping from Rakuten (gonna cut the Nikon tag off!)
• Matchtechnical Beep soft release in Black, $18.38+shipping from Matchtechnical
• OEM Spare Battery
• Fujifilm XF 60mm f/2.4 R Macro
• Rainbow Imaging M Mount Adapter, $11+shipping from eBay
• Voigtlander 21mm f/4 P, $419+shipping from Adorama/B&H

So far, I’ve only shot a bit in my bedroom plus a lunch at Jazz City Milk Bar in Darlinghurst plus a 10 minute walkaround in The Rocks during the Vivid festival.

   

Sakai

So I had 2 days-ish in Osaka. I managed to visit the main foodie/touristy area, which is Dotonburi, home to the Glico man etc. Plus also, there’s Doguyasuji, which is like Osaka’s version of Kappabashi in Tokyo. There, you’ll find Ichimonji Chuki and whilst they have really pretty mirror polished mizu-honyaki yanagis for like a few grand a pop, it’s not my deal. I just wanted to go to Sakai.

As a chef, knives are my primary tool. Ferran Adria once said his favourite piece of tech in the kitchen was a knife. I thought that pretty apt even if I know the guy just uses ceramic Kyoceras that I used to think were good. Anyway, I already have all the knives I needed prior to this trip. Whatever I was buying was because others had asked me to help em out. I got a colleague a 270mm Stainless Wa Gyuto from Sugimoto’s CM series, which ran me over 32000yen, which is a lot of dough. The knife wasn’t ground with a super even bevel but I didn’t wanna disappoint my mate, so I got him the better of the two I was shown. I think it’s just about barely passable. I actually asked them for an unsharpened one and they said they didn’t do that. Oh well. I also got another guy a Tsubaya VG-10 Sujihiki for around 17000yen. The storeowner also threw in a peeler and a nail clipper FOC! My girlfriend got herself a Misono Molybdenum 150mm Petty at my suggestion. It ran 4400 yen so it’s cheap and good. Plus she got her name engraved in English by this super nice French/Japanese staffer at Kama-asa in Kappabashi, Tokyo.

By the time I got to Sakai, I was done shopping for knives but I still wanted to go and probably drop some moolah anyway, just because. I got more than I bargained for. I started off at the knife museum. My dad and brother were a little transfixed staring at this TV showing the forging process in English. The knife museum is actually a pretty nice store with a decent selection of stuff you can find in Sakai. What I remembered was they stocked Ashi Hamono, Aoki Hamono/Sakai Takayuki and Hide amongst many more. Prices are basically what you see on the makers’ websites, if they have em.

By the way, there’s absolutely fuckall in Sakai. Knife shops and distribution centers and factories and makers are aplenty but scant else. There’s a few tourist “attractions” but it’s really all about the knives. There’s not much in the way of food either. Just knives. Ok, there’s the house of Sen no Rikyu, the tea ceremony dude but I missed it. I was there for one thing.

I went round the back of the knife museum and found Aoki Hamono but I think the staff were going for lunch and honestly, their “store” was probably more like a distribution center. So we took the tram up a few stops, to Ashi Hamono, OEM makers of many knives but they produce their own Ginga brand of knives, which are particularly popular on knifefora online. My own colleagues also use these knives so I’ve been able to try em out in the flesh before. I knew I wanted a gyuto and a petty whilst my dad also wanted to get something for himself. Ginga fit the bill because they had, well, pretty kanji, great detail in the finish plus the girl who apologetically let us into the tiny workshop space was just too nice, as was the main dude who was surprised to see us. My dad ended up getting a 180mm Stainless Wa Petty plus a Log knife, which is a outdoorsy knife with a wood handle made out of a single branch. I got my housemate a 240mm Stainless Wa Gyuto. The cool part was picking out our own handles but the even cooler part was when we were offered a 20% discount on top.

So the 240mm gyuto is priced at 17150yen plus another 2300yen for the saya. I got it for 16020yen. $160AUD. You can buy it online from Japanese Knife Imports for $250USD excl. shipping and that’s a good deal on a good knife. What I got was a steal.

Happy with our purchases, we said our goodbyes and I wanted to look at some other stuff as well so I parted company from my family and went about knifeshop hunting on my own. Most of the knife shops are in a walkable line down the main street, where the tram runs. Ashi Hamono is right at the top, in a totally separate area.

With a tethered connection from my phone, I used an iPad to find my way around. The first store I got to was Ikkanshi Tadatsuna. I’d read a bit about their knives and them being one of the first popular brands of laser knives. When I inspected the knives, I found that I didn’t like the handle as much as I’d thought I would. The pin just doesn’t look all that good up close. The knife was also pretty pricey and it looked like it came out the Ashi Hamono workshop too. I skipped.

The next place turned out to be at random, when I walked past Mizuno Tanrenjo. Here, they probably forge their own stuff, as evidenced by the fact that the shopowner passed me a couple of amazing honyaki yanagis to check out. I was totally embarrassed because I was mad palm sweating so I apologized and thanked him before leaving. There’s no way in hell I’m dropping more than a G on a knife no matter how pretty it is. I’ll probably never do it either.

I meant to hit up Suisin, partly because I’m still drawn to the hype about the Inox Honyaki line but ultimately, I couldn’t quite find it so I kinda gave up. I did find Sakai Yusuke though. I had a short chat with the store guy and asked for a 270mm Stainless Gyuto. Unfortunately, no saya! Now I can’t remember the exact price because I didn’t buy it but I do remember it being as much of a steal as the Ginga. However, the reason why I considered the Yusuke was because online, the price was the lowest for what is a comparable knife. The Ginga was always more expensive. But then when I was there, with the 20% discount, it was just ridiculous. The Ginga was more than cheap. I couldn’t go about it any other way. I could try to find Suisin and maybe drop close to half a thou on a knife or I could go back to Ashi Hamono and kop more shit for a bit less than that.

So I did. I walked back up to the tiny little workshop. The guy was surprised but I told him I went round, looked at other shit and came right back. This time, I added another 240mm Stainless Wa Gyuto for my girl, a 270mm Stainless Wa Gyuto and a 180mm Stainless Wa Petty for myself, all with sayas. Picked out my own handles and watched as they heated up the tang and slotted the knife into the handle. At this point, the toasty smell of burnt wood and epoxy fills the air and then the sound of the hammer knocking the bottom of the handle to slot the knife in tight. I wasn’t just able to buy the knife that I thought I wouldn’t afford. I got to pick it out and watch it get finished. That was cool and you don’t buy that, nevermind get a discount for it.

Anyway, they also had to fit the sayas which would take a bit of time, so the nice dude who was doing my knives asked if I wanted to look at the factory floor! The storefront isn’t really a storefront. It’s a cabinet with some knives and a steepass staircase leading up to the finishing floor, where they stock the blades, handles and also finish off the Western handles plus fit Wa handles and sayas. It’s the woodwork department more or less. Downstairs, behind the solitary cabinet is the metalwork floor, with a small mezzanine for polishing. The forging work is done elsewhere but here, I was shown the hydraulic stamp press that cut out the basic shape of the knives I’d bought. Then, the knife is heat treated and rough ground. Then the face gets convexed before it’s polished up and the edge is set. To be honest, the factory edge isn’t super ultra sharp but it’s pretty damn sharp anyway. Back home, I used my dad’s petty and it just zipped through these small Korean melons. Suffice to say, if you’re an experienced sharpener, you’ll still want to finish it yourself.

But regardless, my pilgrimage to one of the knife capitals of Japan turned out to be an incredible experience. I was humbled by the hospitality, by the steep discount and the attention to detail and quality. Did I mention the 20% yet? I got 20% off. A total of 62000yen or so for 3 gyutos and a petty, all with sayas. Mad steal. I saw the factory floor. I saw tubs of green anti-liquid. I shamelessly took a few photos but nothing too obvious. I saw a shelf filled with stamps of various brands, recognising a fair few as well. It was like, way cool. I made a promise to return.

If you do ever go to Sakai. Do make the trip up to Ashi Hamono. They are the OEM makers for a lot of other brands and at the retail price they quote on their website, it’s already great value. I wanted to pay them more really but they kept refusing me. Their stuff is just top notch. Good steel, good balance, good heat treat, good grind and profile plus it’s finished well and looks sexy. I can say that I don’t mind missing out on kopping a Suisin or a Ikkanshi Tadatsuna or Mizuno. In terms of bang for buck when it comes to Western style knives (gyutos, sujis, pettys etc), you really can’t beat Ginga.

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Katsusei

When I holidayed in Tokyo, I stayed at the Citadines Shinjuku, which is more like some service apartments than a regular hotel. The rooms are bigger than average but the location isn’t that awesome. Or so I thought. Foodwise, it was probably better than the quiet streets let on. It’s also a stones throw from Kabukicho one way and Yotsuya the other. Anyway, I was looking for a tonkatsu place somewhere in Shinjuku. Turns out I was in luck because there are a few good options in the area, including Katsukura, Saboten and Suzuya plus a few more. The first featured grind your own sesame seeds for the sauce. The second apparently pioneered the rolled sliced version of tonkatsu, with 25 layers of pork and the last features chazuke tonkatsu. Regardless, I didn’t even want to bother to muster up the willpower to walk more than 100m that night, so I kinda lucked it by picking out a place with a 3.5+ rating on tabelog at the time I ate there. It was like 50m away. Perfect.

That little place turns out to be Katsusei and it was to become my best tonkatsu ever. We enter on a weekday night, there’s only one table of 4 enjoying themselves whilst we, a group of foreigners come in and the husband and wife realize we can’t speak much Japanese at all. Thankfully, they’ve got fake food on display, so we start to think, kurobuta probably. My dad kinda wanted to get the mixed set, with some prawns but eventually, this guy from another table suggests we don’t get the kurobuta for 2500yen and get the Iwate pork instead for just 2000yen. The chef also agrees and tells us it’s basically the #1 pork in all Japan. So why is it cheaper?

I dunno but we end up getting 3 Iwate and 2 kurobuta. Then comes the surprise. I tend to like small restaurants which do things very simply and Katsusei falls into that exact category. They do a few options besides just tonkatsu but I’m sure their tonkatsu is the main draw. Anyway, the chef starts to pull out these massive slabs of pork loin from the undercounter fridge and slices an inch thick portion each time. 3 Iwate, 2 kurobuta. I can’t really tell too much of a difference looking at the raw meat but I can tell they’re extremely firm, there’s absolutely no discolouration and there’s a healthy marbling of fat. Also, he fucking portioned it to order man! Nobody does that! Maybe in Japan they do but not many I’m sure. That’s definitely one way to reduce spoilage and retain quality of meat. Keep it whole.

Anyway, the guy crumbs the stuff and drops them into the fryer, marking out the kurobutas with toothpicks and then apologising and imploring us to be patient as it takes some time to cook. I know good tonkatsu takes time and I’m just exploding with glee from ogling the produce he’d produced earlier anyway. It takes like 20+ minutes and that’s just the low temp. fryer first. He then transfers to the higher temp. for crisping up and finishing but the colour is a very pale golden and exceptionally clean in appearance and smell. Meanwhile his wife is plating up the rest of the stuff, which includes some nice pickles, rice, soup and cabbage. The sauce is nothing fancy, pretty standard tonkatsu sauce served in a big plastic jug on the counter which you help yourself to.

I turn over a piece of pork and take some photos but I really just wanna smash that shit right there. It looked so good. It tasted so good. Oh man. Iwate pork. I don’t know if it’s the best but it was pretty damn bloody good in my book. I really really liked it. It wasn’t fall apart tender. It had bite, it had some chew and it had just about the perfect proportion of fat to meat. It was sick. I couldn’t believe this shit was 2000yen. Last year, I went to a big chain, Maisen, which is pretty famous and popular and it was double the price but what was pretty much straight up inferior and even then, that was already awesome. This Iwate pork though, from little Katsusei, was nothing short of better. The kurobuta, on the other hand, had more fat but also a bit of sinew to counter. Maybe it just felt chewier because there was more fat so you notice the sinewy tissue between the meat and fat more. It was good but by golly, the Iwate was on another level. Seriously, pay less and get better concept!

If you ever find yourself in the vicinity of Shinjuku-gyoenmae, you owe it to yourself to skip the big joints and go to Katsusei, which is run by a Harley obsessed gentleman who’s clearly not bothered about pushing a profit. He’s just in it because he’s passing time and enjoying his twilight years and you should enjoy that too.

More than the absurd value proposition that the meal offered, I had a great time because of the hospitality of the owners, which was friendly and jovial despite the language barrier. The old dude was reminiscing about trying to fit his Harley into the shop but it was too big to get through the doors. He must’ve knew I really enjoyed my meal. My face must’ve said it all when I put that first piece in my mouth, eyes closed, nose hissing in delight and a smirk growing across. Shit is that good son. Best get prepared.

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Food α Money

Right after my annual dinner for my uni mates, me and the girl flew off to Bangkok for 5 days. It was a chance to unwind by ourselves and there’s not many better places than Bangkok, where a dollar takes you pretty damn far. So cue shitloads of shopping and eating and bits of sightseeing. We did some of the usual shit, like visiting temples (Wat Po) and traipsing up and around the Siam area not to mention join the throngs at Chatuchak.

Before I left, I tried a little to find out where to go and particulary where to eat. Previously, I didn’t have the most spectacular dining experiences in Bangkok. I do remember sharing an excellent pomelo salad with my mom and some lightly steamed fish with chilli and lime plus a few other odds and ends but I was young and didn’t know better. So this time, I thought I was gonna try to find something “good”. Of course, most of the best food experiences in Bangkok are probably street food. The information available on specifics though, is scant, or at least I was a little too lackadaisical to scrounge on google in the 3 or 4 hours before my flight.

I did find a few higher end restaurants and was particularly taken by a place called Bo.Lan. It’s run by a husband and wife team who used to work with David Thompson so I was hoping that it’d be a good barometer of a modern Thai restaurant that focused on local produce. Of course, I went on Monday night, when they were closed, so we went somewhere else.

We ended up at this mansion of a restaurant with bean bags and a bar set in the hugeass front lawn. The menu was some mod-Thai fusiony shit that mostly had me worried. Ultimately we had a decent pomelo/prawn salad, some BBQ Pork Ribs and a strange croquette version of Massaman curry. The food was ok but I certainly left wishing I’d spent my time in some roadside shithole instead.

I also spent an afternoon at an upmarket cafe in Siam Paragon. I’ve been twice before and had enjoyed myself but it was 7/8 years ago. I guess my palate’s changed a lot or the place has got worse. The menu though, is curiously pretty much exactly the same. I had like a ravioli dish that was all broken and overcooked but worst of all, overseasoned. Again, I wanted to move for upmarket food and got punished by the food gods.

Thankfully, my entire trip didn’t involve getting super disappointed spending loads of money in Bangkok. The best meal I had in Thailand, ever, was probably the night we went to On Nut night market. It’s a small night market and pretty local, with a smattering of shops selling clothes and shit and also an adjacent food center. There were a fair few sleazy white guys chillin’ with some Chang beers and shit but I think most people were local.

The first thing I saw was this awesome budget version of an Anti-Griddle. This girl was like making some kinda cold dessert on a freezing cold steel plate thingamajig. I actually forgot to give it a go but I remember thinking that Grant Achatz and Polyscience might’ve ripped Bangkok off. Anyway, we did have some nice fried chicken. It’s almost requisite for me to eat fried chicken regardless of where I am. The only place that doesn’t have a lot of a good fried chicken is Sydney and I live there so maybe that’s why. After that little snack, we watched as this lady batch cooked a massive amount of Pad Thai. Her trick involved frying prawns in oil first, turning the oil bright red. This prawn infused oil then becomes the basis for the flavour of the Pad Thai and it’s only effective with a massive batch of prawns. Anyway, we also noticed the crowd that was waiting and the ticket system for orders and promptly put ours in. It was a bit of a wait but for 40Baht, it was fucking awesome. We also shared some salt roasted whole fish, Pla Pao, which came with lettuce, nam jim and herbs. The accompaniments were unexpected but hugely welcome because you make a little wrap and the mint and basil just pops in your mouth with that bright acidic and spicy dressing. The other thing we ate was a earthy, peppery version of a seafood glass noodle sala, Woon Sen Talay which was again, cheap and good. The balance of flavours was just superb and overall, I had an excellent meal with a few beers for like less than $10 or something stupid like that. I was stuffed.

Chatuchak also turned up some good food offerings. We had this chicken soup noodle for lunch which was good but it was really the snacky shit that got me. I really regret not buying a bag of roast pork belly to chomp whilst I was shopping. I’ll readily admit that the Thai’s have a very strong roast pork game and I’m Cantonese. I did have an excellent scoop of coconut ice cream with peanuts and glutinous rice. You actually get to pick 2 toppings from a range of sweetcorn, coconut jelly, atap chee and more and it’s served in a coconut shell too. It’s also easy to find anywhere. My best drink in Thailand was a big cup of iced milk tea from this old lady who took her time, making each cup to order. The tea was sweet, as is standard for Thai tea but it was also a very good, strong cup that packed in the flavour.

I also enjoyed myself immensely at Or Tor Kor market. Located next to Chatuchak, this is where rich Bangkokians come to shop for food and whilst it’s nowhere near the size of Tsukiji, it’s still really nice to visit and not particularly touristy. When we went, it was maybe a slow day/time but there was lots of space to browse the myriad vegetables, dry goods and shellfish. There was loads of shit I’d never seen before like Bael fruit or Roselle, which is commonly used to make drinks in Thailand. Some stuff I still don’t know about. I highly recommend a trip here because the food court looks awesome and just getting to ogle good fresh produce is a dream for anyone who likes food. It’s also a great place to take photos.

Two modern/trendy spots I did enjoy were Mango Tango in Siam Square and Mr Jones’ Orphanage in Siam Center. The former serves mango with sticky rice and related shit. The menu is just a mish mash of the same repeating ingredients in different orders. I got a platter with mango, rice, pudding and ice cream. It was good but I really just went because I passed by it and basically the place was teeming with tourists waiting in line. Mr Jones’ on the other hand, is a whimsical and ultra girly cake shop replete with ridiculous decor like army men fringing the booths and wooden gears hanging off a low ceiling or teddybears and toys and whatnot all over. The cake selections include classic American style shit like red velvet cakes or more modern oreo cookie cakes and shit. You also get your water in little enamel mugs. It’s not particularly the most impressive gourmet experience but it certainly feels fun having some cakes in a ridiculous setting. It’s just got this Thai sense of style/humour going for it.

I’m sure I hardly skimmed the surface when it came to the food scene in Bangkok. I’m convinced that there’s plenty of places that are amazing. If Sydney has awesome eateries like Chat Thai, Spice I Am, Home and House just to name a few, then Bangkok would surely have more than the few places I randomed onto. Perhaps I’ll be rewarded more generously next time if I do a little more homework but regardless, I did learn one important lesson in Bangkok. Spend less, not more.

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NUSiDinner 2013

Every year, I host a dinner for my uni mates and their +1s and my own family as well when I go on holiday to Singapore. The first time I did it, it was decent and tasty but it mostly looked like shit. The second year, I upped the ante and the food was more communal and much better. The third year, I set up a makeshift argy style grill in my house. This year, I had my girlfriend helping me out, so I went overboard with the ambition but almost everything turned out pretty good and it’s clear even to myself that I’ve come a long way from when I was still learning the trade.

I had basically one day to shop, prep and cook but I cheated by doing some things before I left Sydney to save some effort and time. Ultimately, with the speedy aid my girlfriend provided, it was pretty much a cinch. I tend to like cooking explicitly simple things that don’t have excessive prep. So in terms of taste and execution, I think I did well for the most part. Where I went wrong was probably overfeeding people. Haha! I just made too much! Next year, I’m focusing on less but better.

Most of the food was procured at Chia’s Vegetable Supply in Tekka Centre. They’ve got an excellent selection of veg, great quality and reasonable prices so I’ve been buying stuff from them all the time. Also, the seafood at the market is pretty good in general. There’s one stall I don’t know the name of that specializes in prawns that looks superb and there’s also a good number of beef/lamb butchers and chicken guys too.

Otherwise, for my raw fish and Japanese needs, there’s only really Meidi-ya, which isn’t as good as Japan but it is hella close. If you close your eyes, you wouldn’t think you were in sunny Singapore. That’s until the samples auntie tells you about some top notch tofu.

I’m lucky that my dad loves to cook so he fixed himself a pretty big kitchen that’s also damn well stocked with stuff and this year, we removed the spare room at the back and installed a cafe/breakfast dining area which is really charming. For a pro, you couldn’t ask for a better home kitchen. Well, actually I did ask my mom for a walk in coolroom instead of her little workshop at the back. Oh, a combi oven, a pacojet and some immersion circulators would be great too by the way mom.

• Snapper White Soy – Filleted and cleaned up beforehand, sliced right before my friends who milled into the kitchen. The fish I bought from Meidi-ya which turned out to be nice and sweet. The only thing I stuffed up was overdosing the yuzu juice for this because I didn’t have a squeeze bottle. I’ll have one next time. Slicing up the fish in front of my friends definitely stressed me out.

• Aburi Smoked Salmon On Toast – Basically a miniature version of smoked salmon on toast but shaped like nigiri sushi. I brought over 4 boules of frozen Iggy’s country sourdough, which was still good. I’d prefer to use something baked locally but don’t know where to go. Lightly toasted bread gets topped with wilted spinach and smoked salmon before getting the blowtorch treatment. Dressing is store bought goma tare/sesame sauce and chives.

• Prawn Bisque + Prawn Toast – Ok first off, I messed up here cos one of my mates has a prawn allergy. Doh! It’s ok, I’ll stuff him with more of the other things. The prawn toast was a little crap. I par toasted some sliced sourdough and rubbed raw garlic on that. Then I put a mix of fine and rough chopped prawn meat on top. This went in the oven but I struggled with the settings and the mix was underseasoned. I think I could probably have done better with the prawns left in the rather excellent bisque and the toast on the side. Also, the milk frother stuffed up when I tried to use it which was super disappointing. I really wanted to do milk foam prawn bisquecinos. The bisque itself though, was good. I changed it from most regular versions with the inclusion of Chinese dried scallops and prawns to give it a certain extra oomph.

• Crab Croquettes – This dish I adapted from Movida’s Smoked Eel original. It’s basically a bechamel base that you have to cool, shape and then crumb before frying. This I prepped in Sydney. I rolled the mix into logs and then froze them. When it came to the day itself, the logs were cut when frozen into neat little cylinders. These get crumbed and then left to defrost in the fridge before we fried them off. In my opinion, Movida makes the best croquettes I’ve ever had. The bechamel base recipe includes the use of Queso de Mahon, a Spanish melty cheese that really helps the filling disappear in your mouth almost. I think I did the original some justice. I only wish I had a temp. controllable fryer and not a pot on  a stove.

• KFC – Korean fried chicken by my girlfriend. She marinated the chicken in milk to reduce the chicken smell and slightly tenderise the meat without drying or curing it out. This got lightly dusted and then battered in a seasoned mix before frying twice, once low, once high. Can’t go wrong with that when you don’t stuff around too much with something so simple.

• Roast Pork Loin w Chimichurri – The dressing is excellent but we adjusted the original recipe from Porteno. They used white wine vinegar and I used some shitty apple vinegar and added some lemon for zing. The pork loin ended up being pretty dang decent for a dish I thought up pretty much last minute and had no recipe for. I just chucked it in the oven with garlic/rosemary at 150C until it was almost done. When the entrees went, I chucked it in the oven at max heat for some colour and then took it out to rest. We sliced it all up and laid it on a chopping board to share.

• Beef Cheeks w PX, Cauliflower Puree – Probably one of my fave dishes I’ve ever had, I think Movida’s (again) version was my favourite so far. I should probably use a different PX next time because the bottle I got from bloody BWS wasn’t sweet enough. That or the shiraz I used was too tart. Hmmm, maybe it’s the latter. Anyway, this one was a nightmare. I did it on the stove which I regret. I shoulda used the oven because for whatever reason, the liquid always seemed to boil and this is a dish you wanna go low and slow so I kept worrying that it wouldn’t be tender or even edible. Thankfully, after 6+ hours, it was a little bit better than good. Ultimately, the 3 hit flavour of rich beef cheeks, sweet jus and creamy nutty puree won everyone over.

• Twice Cooked Brussel Sprouts – I pre blanched the sprouts but my friends started streaming into the kitchen when I tried to fry em off. There’s still water in the sprouts so things got a bit firey and I got nervous that someone would catch on fire so I kinda didn’t fry em enough. This ended up not having that great carameliezd flavour and crispy texture. A disappointment personally.
• Fondant Potatoes – Potatoes cooked slowly until tender in butter. This was good but I think everyone was pretty damn stuffed and this was beastly in how decadent and filling it was. Probably drop starch altogether next time.
• Cherry Tomatoes, Olive Oil, Basil – My girlfriend quickly tossed a pile of these in the wok and I think we picked out some sweetass cherrytoms because they were bloody good. The sweetness and acidity was also a welcome change of pace from the rest of the relatively rich tasting food.

• Tiramisu – I just really wanted to plop a quenelle on a plate so we deconstructed a tiramisu (got lazy) and made a mascarpone mousse dusted with cocoa, a choc ganache, an espresso glaze plus some crushed and sliced lady’s fingers. Taste wise, it was ok if a little underwhelming but it was small, light and just about enough. I need to work on that mousse to achieve a more firm texture that still melts in your mouth. If only I had my cream whipper. Also coulda swopped out the fingers for some grissini maybe.

I made some mistakes, learned a bit here and there, panicked and sweated but had a great time. I was forced to make decisions like dropping a duck dish altogether because supply seemed difficult. This turned out for the best because I had a shitload of food anyway. I think the best part aside from being able to share some grub, booze and good times with friends and family was being able to enjoy working together with my girlfriend. Somehow we really meshed well and got things to work. I used to work with her (that’s how we met) and I’d forgotten how good she was already!

To everyone who was there, I hope you enjoyed yourself and hopefully, we’ll be able to do it all again next year.

April Menu

It’s taken me a while to come as close to a final draft for my annual NUSiD dinner menu for this year but here it is.

1. White Soy Snapper – a dish from work; raw snapper, yuzu juice, white soy dressing, white sesame seeds and chives
2. Aburi Smoked Salmon on Toast Soldiers – my own creation; Iggy’s sourdough, creme fraiche, spinach, aburi smoked salmon, goma tare
3. Prawn Bisque w Prawn Toast – inspired by Wah Kee Big Prawn Noodle as well as a tribute to my family’s personal breakfast of garlic prawns; prawn bisque w chinese dried seafood, milk foam, diced prawns and garlic on toast
4. Crab Croquettes – inspired by MoVida
5. KFC – Korean Fried Chicken
6. Roast Duck w Burnt Leek Emulsion – seared duck breast, crispy skin, charred leek+fried egg puree
7. Roast Pork Ribs/Belly w Chimichurri – inspired by Porteno
8. Braised Beef Cheeks w PX & Cauliflower Puree – eaten this maybe 6 times in Sydney, best one at MoVida
9. Twice Cooked Brussel Sprouts w Eschallots & Mustard Dressing – from Cumulus Inc
10. Cherry Tomatoes w Basil Oil
11. Fondant Potatoes
12. “Tiramisu” – one of my family classics revisited

It’s still open to changes but for the most part, this is pretty much what it’s gonna be. 2 light raw fish dishes to start, then 3 small hot entrees then 3 mains with 3 sides and a single dessert to finish it all up. It’s probably going to be 18-20+ people this year so it’s the biggest group I’ve ever cooked at my house so we’ll see how it goes. I’m gonna buy some stuff from Sydney so that the guys back home can try it. Might switch it up here or there but it’s 95% complete.

Meanwhile, here’s some pictures of 4 boules of Iggy’s sourdough and my crab croquette prep.

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The Internet In Australia

There’s been a bit of hubbub recently about the NBN because the Coalition just came up with their grand scheme to counter the sputtering ALP version. Rather than bother reading through shitloads of dickheads talking about how fast their Game Of Thrones and porn fetish video download speeds are, I thought I’d just compare some theoretical maximum download figures of various internets.

Sigbritt Löthberg: 40Gbps
Japan’s new internet: 2Gbps
Singapore’s NBN since 2010: 1Gbps
Australia proposed/stalling NBN soon to be ready in 2021: 1Gbps
Coalition’s proposed NBN ready much faster in 2019: 100Mbps

You probably read this before I typed it because I live in a land down under.

Flinders Island Meat

Had a bit of a wow moment at work when my exec brought in some meat from Flinders Island Meat. I spotted some chops and asked him if it was lamb and indeed it was, then he brought out a shoulder plus some wallaby. The lamb was pretty good, very little stink, if at all and just a good clean flavour but you still know it’s lamb. I had trepidations about wallaby because it’s kinda like a small kangaroo. I’ve had kangaroo before, cooked it, ate it, ordered it etc. I don’t like it one bit. Wallaby, on the other hand, is a meat that’s definitely up my alley. Like ‘roo, it’s lean, really little fat content. Taste wise, I’d say it’s something like an 80/20 duck/pork mix but much leaner. I couldn’t have been any more wrong about my doubts earlier. Unlike duck, you don’t eat the skin and it has very little fat but if you cook it medium rare or just rare, it’s still juicy and just straight up delicious. So we started playing around with dressings and accompaniments and stuff but then I had to leave. I coulda just done that all week really, test a meat out, think of ideas etc.

But onto Flinders Island Meat (FIM). Flinders island is off the coast of Tasmania, on the Bass Strait. Wallabies happen to be at the top of the food chain here, unlike in the rest of Australia. Interestingly enough, they don’t release methane, like cows or sheep or pigs do, which kinda makes them carbon neutral. Wallabies don’t fart.

The wallabies are wild and sourced from the island itself. FIM also does an Angus beef as well as two types of lamb, one milkfed and the other saltgrass. The milkfed lamb is basically lamb that has only been fed milk from birth and is culled before it’s weaned. This basically nets a tender, gentle tasting lamb which is the one that I tried today, nearly completely lacking in that lamby “stink” some people just hate. The saltgrass lamb isn’t actually fed an exotic plant. Instead, it’s referring to the terroir. Flinders Island get a good bit of sea spray landing on the pastureland via the wind so the lamb reared there has a diet that’s completely different to most other lamb. I didn’t get to try this unfortunately.

Cycle back to my recent trip to Taste Of Sydney and I recall stepping into a huge tent, which was basically the Tasmania pavillion and there were all these businesses from Tassie, including Cape Grim Beef, Huon Aquaculture, Spring Bay Seafoods, Robbins Island Wagyu and FIM. I also recall Kylie Kwong doing a live demo at the time. Now it all clicks and I remember reading about Ms Kwong trumpeting the wallaby horn for Sydney eateries when there was a story run in the SMH about local “bush tucker”.

I’m just a sucker for that locavore thing. I think it really does make a helluva lotta sense. As much as it might be a trend or just another hipstery thing to get, I think it’s something that should exceed that and become the norm. Why eat something that everyone else can get? If you have access to something locally that’s just fucking awesome, like FIM’s wallaby, you should use it while you can rather than import something from a million miles away that is great too but would have suffered from the journey and time taking it’s toll. Speaking purely from the perspective of a professional chef who cares foremost about flavour, local is just better.

Really looking forward to seeing the wallaby on the menu, even if it’s just a special. It’s a lot better than a special in my opinion.