Shopping Break @ Oriental Tea House, Chapel Street, Prahran

Being oncall during weekend isn't fun. I was planning to shop at Chapel Street today when work caught up with me and I had to end it prematurely. On my way to the tram stop, I figured that I'm not leaving Chapel Street with an empty stomach so I walked my way to Oriental Tea House. This is my second time at this place, once was under a really tight budget. OTH is known for flavored teas and dimsums. Clientele would mostly be women and men (middle aged and old) who brunch and families who love their variety in dimsum. Apart from the mecca of all dimsum houses known as Hong Kong, Oriental Tea House would be the second place were I saw a long list of different flavored packets, steamed and fried.


There is a way that they serve these here. Contrary to what we know in HK where the servers walk around in trolleys, the servers here walk around in trays, since the floor is rather small for trolleys to fit onto. I think this is rather tiring for the waiters, asking each table whether they would care for 2 or 3 types of dimsums on their tray, each flavor served in 3 pieces, around 3 to 4 small bamboo steamers of each.


I ordered my favorite lemongrass and ginger green tea combination, hoping to forget tha fact that work will be calling me in an hour. The first server came over and offered me some fried items. I had the Fried Prawn Dumpling that came with mayonnaise. I ditched the mayonnaise and dug into the dumpling without the sauce. Wonton wrapper was crisp, though a hint of oiliness but the prawns inside were luscious. Not skimping here.



Next came the Scallop Dumpling I've been wanting to try. So indeed it's a Steamed Prawn Dumpling with a sliced Scallop on top. Flavorful and juicy. A nice combination of seafood in one bite.




Spring Rolls. Who would skip this delicious treat? Back in Manila, this is something of a bastard in form since the only thing inside is just minced pork. Here, it has shiitake mushrooms, carrots, parsnips, chives and minced pork. I'm also surprised that the cripsy skin is not too dark, but they got the crisp part just right. Very good.




Lastly, Steamed Duck Dumpling. I love anything with duck meat. So why not duck meat in a dumpling? Again, no skimping. There are huge pieces of duck meat and chives inside, steamed and bouncy in its own juices.

My day might have not been going well enough, but at least I had some time to have good dimsums.

After Work, off to Portello Rosso, Warburton Lane, CBD

Whenever I feel that work was really hectic and stressful, I know that I want to hang out somewhere quaint and cool but serves good food that won't hurt the pocket, the top place on my list is Portello Rosso. This Spanish tapas place never disappointed me yet, so I always find myself walking towards Warburton Lane, knowing that there's something unique and delicious in store for me. I found this place by accident, truly, when I wanted to go for a massage next door to it (wasn't satisfied) but this small place caught my eye. After taking note of the name and frame, I did some research and found out that this was actually one of the good lunch places where they serve individual size pizzas.


I've been to this place three times. The first was a take-away where I ordered pizza to share with some mates at the apartment. It was a memorable meal--pears, bluecheese and rocket. Good. Next time, I took note to go alone, remembering that time I was also so hung up on work, I know I need a place to unwind. I had a crisp wine that smelled and tasted of green apples. Very good. Along with a tapas of duck migas and fresh tomato salad. Understated, salty, a combination that worked well.


This time, after leaving work, I found my feet walking towards Warburton Lane again, this time, hungry for this black-footed pig called Iberico. I ordered wine first, after telling my server what I had in mind to order, she recommended an Italian red. The red was pungent and strong, acidic and peppery. Not for the faint hearted but dry and crisp at the end. No hint of sweetness whatsoever. I went for the Iberico ham, 30 grams with toasted bread and manchego cheese. Aside from that, I wanted to try something from the tapas menu. After being assured that the chillies won't blow my head off, I decided to try the Padron chillies.


I like the atmosphere at Portello Rosso. It's small, woody, dark with a multiple centered light pieces hanging above, plus a mezzanine. The best part I would say are the walled chalkboards, where they write on their specials and featured wines for the day and the walled cellar, where they "stack" their wines. Simple, creative and cool.

Padron Chillies. I can't begin to explain how this tastes like. They are lightly fried and spirnkled with sea salt, served on a scooped wooden cube. I held my breath and bit into a piece. Well, not too bad. There are different sizes to the chillies and the big ones are more pleasant than the small ones. The chillies are soft and juicy but the seeds gave the salty crunch. It almost tasted like light, slightly sweet green peppers. It's weird though. The smaller ones seem to taste bitter than the slightly larger ones. Every bite is a pleasant burst of a salty sap.

Joselito Iberico de bellota Jamon (30g). The king of ham came over and stole the show. Four perfect slices each topped with a thin slice of manchego cheese on a board with 2 pieces of bread. The slivers of ham were soft, glistening with lard and beckoning to be eaten. It was well marbled, no doubt, reddish and white sleek fat lining the sides. The taste. I don't know where to start. One word to describe is light. It is most definitely the lightest tasting ham that I've had, contrary to what I thought was very pungent meat. There was nuttiness, saltiness and light smokiness. You really have to concentrate to let all the flavors meld from your tongue to your throat to your brain. It won't work to hork down all that good meat. Aaaah, I thought I died and went to Spanish heaven.

Books for Cooks + Babka Afternoon

Something will always bring me back to Fitzroy and this time, it's every foodie's dream. Imagine a bookstore, created and dedicated to cookbooks of every cuisine in the world, plus more. I was actually looking for some unique shopping spots in Melbourne, when I stumbled upon this website. The website has some information on what the store is about but there is no catalogue or an ordering system yet. It said that they could not possibly stock every coookbook but they strive to store every good cookbook--old or new that they can find. And that they did.
As I entered the store, I know I'm home. Wall to wall shelves full of cookbooks, tables and chairs all stacked on top of each other, I was almost teary-eyed. I took my time and decided not to hurry as I worked my way around the cooking world, amongst different exotic cuisines crossing from the super modern to the centuries old disciplines. Finally, I know I would have bought something boring but quite useful, since I'm planning to watch what I eat (yeah, right). So, I thoroughly loved the experience and will some back again. The store keeper is also very friendly and chatted with the customers. She even recommended some restaurants for them to try and helped them make a booking.


After a few good hours in the store, I went my way to Brunswick Street. I settled for Babka for a quick, hearty bite and good latte. There were several people ahead of me, and I was the fourth person in line. Since I'm just by myself, less than 10 mins later, I got a seat by the window. I ordered a chicken and vegetable pie and a soy latte. While waiting, I took out the Steam It book that I bought a while ago, thinking on which recipes I would like to try out. It has a good range of recipes from starters, mains, salads and desserts. Would you look at that--steamed dessert. How good can it get? My pie arrived warm but smoking hot inside with huge chicken pieces and veggies. The chicken base is not from cream but it was thick and smelled delicious. I can smell some spices such as thyme and oregano.



One thing that I have to point out here that I forgot to take a snap of last time I ate at Babka, is their tomato sauce. Yes, that tiny bit there really packs a punch and I hope that they don't skimp on it because it tasted so good with the pie, tangy and sweet but a bit spicy too, which is good altogether.



As I paid for my bill, I ordered a pear and custard tart to take-away. I just can't resist skipping dessert at Babka because I was too full last time from the Pork and Veal Sausage Roll. So why not take it away? Now, my problem is, when will I be back?

Afternoon Snacks @ Little Creatures Dining Hall

Trips to Brunswick and Smith Streets usually bring unexpected discoveries for me. A small vintage shop here or a delectable cafe over there. I brought PM and JJ there today for some outlet store shopping. After feasting over vintage and sports clothing, we needed somewhere to rest our tired feet. We walked a fair bit along Brunswick when we passed by Little Creatures Dining Hall, thinking that this is just a cafeteria style joint where you queue up for food and drinks but we were in for a surprise.


We were ushered to a long, wooden common table and tap water was immediately served. A few seconds later, our waitress showed us the menu printed on brown paper. I think she is the friendliest waitress I've ever encountered since my food trips here in Melbourne and it is a real breath of fresh air. When she took our order, she's both professional and relaxed--she sat down as I dictated our order to her, like she's a friend sharing our table.

PM wanted chips and mayonnaise, JJ wanted pizza and I wanted dessert and white wine. The chips came first, crunchy and almost piping hot. The chips themselves were already flavor packed, herb-y and salty. The mayonnaise wasn't exactly mayonnaise but a light creme fraiche or sour cream for dipping.



JJ's pizza had chorizo, feta, corn and a few springs of parlsey on top. Yep. Never had these so gotta try it. Interestingly enough, this really works. Thinly sliced spicy chorizo, salty crumbled feta, tangy tomato sauce, sweet corn and fresh parsley. Simple combination but works perfectly.






I had a glass of chardonnay and apple and rhubarb crumble. The chardonnay is surprisingly crisp and light, almost sweet and had a slight taste of pears and none of the bitter taste at the end of the palate. A rhubarb inspired dessert has always been on my list of things to taste. I've only seen this in cookbooks and some tv shows and since rhubarb is not grown and sold back in Manila, this is quite exciting for me. Ok. The overall taste has that warm, sweet but a slight tang, maybe from the apples. The combination tasted good when the vanilla ice cream and cream were mixed together. The warm crumble and cold ice cream, that will be hard to beat. It was probably not the best rhubarb dish on the planet but it is pretty good for a newbie.



I really liked sitting at a common table with friends and strangers. There is something about that feeling that makes you want to strike up a conversation, have a good glass of wine, terrific finger food, slight pumping music (thank goodness that it was not too loud) and high ceilings. All that paired with good, friendly service makes up a good place to hang-out all day (or even night) long.

Cold Autumn Day: Hot Vegetarian Noodle Soup

Melbourne is celebrating Buddha's Day this weekend. With events like these, food is always on the menu aside from the various activities and sing-song that are happening around. After taking a few shots with JJ on the main grounds, we went down to the Yarra River for some tasty treats.

Of course, everything on the menu was vegetarian from appetizers such as deep-fried pseudo-prawns to meatballs to dumplings, mains such as noodles, rice cakes and fried rice to dessert such as red bean cakes and pancakes. There were so many to choose from but since it is 15C today, I settled for the Vegetarian Noodle at one of the stands.

For a few bucks, I got my hot and spicy bowl of noodles with lots of veggies including bean sprouts, basil, mint, shredded regular and red cabbage. The broth is so good--spicy and quite tasty. I wasn't expecting this from its murky appearance. Now, I'm wondering what they put in to make the broth so tasty, considering that it's a vegetarian noodle dish. Unbelievable. I just wish its MSG-free. Yikes! Anyway, the broth is the clear stand-out of the entire dish. Reminds me of the Vietnamese noodles I've had with Ms MNG a few months back at Richmond. Two thumbs up!

Market Treats: Turkish Borek @ Queen Victoria Market

Along with the many immigrants from Turkey comes the food Melbourne came to love as borek. I've heard of this pastry, along with pide, has become a fast favorite here in the city. Well loved with its tasty meat, veggie, dairy and starch fillings, borek can be classified as both a snack and a main meal. When JJ and I went to our first market one weekend together, she often mentioned this food as we walk along the deli section. Shocked as I was, there were almost 20-30 people queueing up for freshly baked oven, hot and crispy. Today, the stall wasn't that cramped up at all, perhaps because it is already 12nn, so I hastened to queue up for a taste of it.

Borek, burek or byurek is a popular and everyday Mediterranean food. It also varies on the dough and filling, depending on which country you're in. In general, the pastry can be phyllo or any puffed pastry, ranging from savory to sweet fillings (meat to cheese to custards soaked in flavored sweet syrup). It can also come in different shapes--round, triangle or rolled.

So what does it taste like? Hmm--spicy, very tasty with lots and lots of onions. I can't taste any herbs but more on the flavor or onions, pepper and minced lamb. I can see pieces of tomatoes and minced carrots. Not as spectacular as I was expecting but I have to say that I love the crispy dough eventhough it was not made from phyllo.

Le Gourmandise: The List

Nope. I'm not totally eager to go home to Manila just yet. I was browsing through Saveur Magazine (April 2009 issue) last night for my usual bedtime story when the last page gave me the inspiration to write this article. Perhaps not the most inspirational to date but the pictures of fresh and dried herbs, oils, salts and cheeses made my eyes pop and think, that's what I want to have in my pantry. I thought that I still have a few months left to really think about what I want to take home with me. Of course, MoVida nor Vue de Monde would fit into my reasonably sized luggage but just a taste of them would somehow suffice. I've been pretty lazy these days, pushing back some foodie trips that I should have and would have taken any given Sunday. I hope that I will be able to read and re-read the list below so that it will get me inspired to go out and hunt these down:

1. Fleur de Sel - Yes. Lovely, faintly-pink colored sea salt. I would like to think that this is the Audrey Hepburn of sea salts. I saw just a small pack of these in the Salcedo Market and almost fainted when I saw the price for just a tinsey amount. Ridiculously expensive. Here, I can buy it for 250grams with the same price in Philippine peso. Along this line, a pack of Natural Black Sea Salts will also fit nicely into my suitcase and will always remind me of the good salt I had with my bread at the Press Club.

2. White Balsamic Vinegar - I think the only place where I've seen this is Santis Delicatessen in Makati. It is also a tad expensive because, well, it's white. Apparently made from white wine and aged well, has a syrupy, sweet, tangy taste more subtle than your regular dark colored balsamic vinegar.

3. Truffle Oil - Perhaps aptly called the King of Oils, adding just a small amount of truffle oil into any pasta dish, salad, or simple mashed potatoes will give another dimension and depth of flavor into your ordinary, boring meal.

4. Chilli Jam - If ever there will be a reason for me to go back to Prahran Market, it will be because I'll be packing this sweet little thing home with me. One of Jamie Oliver's recipes featured a home made chilli jam. Now, why chilli in a jar? It's heaven when spread on crackers or melted down into a sweet sauce with that right kick.

5. Jasper's Organic Fairtrade Coffee - Can't live without coffee. Can't live without the Cafe Feminino blend. Part of my morning ritual (when my Bialetti Stovetop Coffee Maker was alive, that is) is to have a cup of this delicious brew. It's full-bodied, rich yet subtle, with almost a rusty but sweet flavor. And the best thing is, part of the proceeds goes to the people who harvested and roasted these beans.

6. T2 Tea - Ahhh. Caffeine indulgence. This is most probably one of the Australian stores that I'll be missing when I leave Melbourne. One thing is for sure, I'll be hoarding white tea, green rose tea and chai tea. Hehe.

7. Chocolate Coated Orangettes - The only time I saw one of these things is at David Rocco's show, when he visited one of the many chocolate shops in Italy. He raved about his favorites, one of which was the candied orange covered in dark chocolate. And true enough, these are fantastic little pieces of fruit. Whoever thought of this creation is a genius.

8. Pedro Ximenez Dessert Sherry - This is a slice of MoVida that I want to bring back with me. Delicious wine when paired with any chocolate inspired dessert. I'm not sure if there is anywhere in Manila that sells this since it's the first time that I've heard of it. I think one of these won't be enough.

More to come....

SAZL Sweats: John Dory with Fennel and Silverbeet in Milky Sauce

I first had a taste of John Dory back in Manila, where we frequent the weekend Salcedo Market in Makati. We wanted to try the cream dory on sale but don't really know what to do with it. The idea came from the person handling the stall and he taught us how to make it steamed. That's the way we've been cooking dory or any white fleshed fish ever since. I've added the fennel in, that added another flavor to the dish but the best part is, the broth from the fish that combines with the butter and vegetables.



I got the John Dory fish fillet half-side whole with the skin on, so I filleted the fish into 4 pieces and arranged them on a plate. Season with salt and pepper. I used half of a white onion, thinly sliced, then placed them on top of the fish. Half of the fennel, thinly sliced, also to be placed on top of the fish. To prepare the butter sauce, melt one tablespoon of butter with some sliced garlic. As butter melts and you can smell the garlic from it, spooon this on top of the fish. Steam for 3-4 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish. Serve warm.

The overall taste of the dish is as good as I remembered. Whenever I make this dish, it will be wiped out in a heartbeat. The broth is sweet and the fish just flaky, it is a good dish to have on a cold afternoon or night. Don't forget to take a piece of bread to wipe out the sauce at the bottom.


Another dish that I've prepared is silverbeet. This is my first time to cook and eat silverbeet. According to the Gourmet Traveller May 2009 issue, this leafy veggie is in season so after a few clicks away, I pretty much had an idea on how to cook it. Simplicity is the key. Olive oil, sliced garlic, with chicken stock plus milk and grated parmesan. The result really is a tasty and warm dish as well. The leaves of the vegatable are quite firm and has that light crunch. I think it is a cross between spinach and chinese cabbage but nuttier. The stalks also tasted fresh and crisp though next time, I want to try cooking it with cream and a pinch of nutmeg for more flavor.




I'm on a quest to cook happy and stomach warming food, since living in a tropical country for most of my life, having autumn and winter seasons are not in my vocabulary. With some help from family and friends, I'm able to get some ideas on how to look for and cook certain dishes that may sound foreign to me. Autumn most certainly arrived in Melbourne and it brought a lot of exciting and seasonal food along with it.