EARL Canteen

Now, I officially love Fridays. For the past month, our Friday lunches are always some place extra special or somewhere we have never tried before. Today, it was both! When we were on our way to EARL, I was expecting a very kitschy place, something similar to Animal Orchestra. I think it's something to do with earl... British... tea... coffee... Animal Orchestra?

I've been on a hard core studying week, so pardon my derailing train of thought. 

In order to imagine EARL Canteen, simply think of a fancied-up sandwich menu. After some pat-on-the-back worthy stalking, EARL is a futuristic sandwich bar run by Simon O'Regan (Rockpool! Stokehouse! Attica!) and Jackie Middleton. Think of sandwiches such as: duck confit, pork belly, lime poached chicken and wagyu meatballs!

Such a fresh change from those pre-made chilled sandwiches from uni. Bleh.

Duck confit: confit duck, caramelised fig, walnuts, onion jam, radicchio, watercress in ciabatta. The duck was so flavorful! The sandwich filling almost melts in your mouth with all that duck fat. Slurps. Plus, ciabatta is a really soft sandwich so it's easier to eat! At $16, it's one of the more expensive sandwiches on the menu, but trust me, it's worth your money!

Pork Belly: crisp skin Otway pork belly, apple, cabbage and fennel coleslaw, wilted silverbeet in baguette. There was a small disclaimer on the menu saying that their baguettes had a crustier texture (down to earth translation: it's hard!). But, not to worry, it is possible to ask them to prepare your sandwich to make it softer (which was something I should have done).

Aside from the crusty bread, the pork belly was really delicious with a good crunchy crackling. I would have preferred for my pork belly portion to have slightly less fat but overall, it was very fragrant and yummy. Also, fabulous slaw! Yum yum. It was very fruity which balanced out the fattiness of the pork belly.  $13.50: really reasonable!

Nicole slurping down her hot chocolate!

EARL Canteen was smack right in the center of Collin's fancy businessmen buildings, so most of the patrons of EARL were well-dressed people in fancy suits looking for a quick bite. If only I stay closer to the city, I would come to EARL more often to takeaway their sandwiches!

Mi!

I can't wait to bring my parents here if they come to Melbourne for a visit. They're always such huge fan of sandwiches. I think they'll love it!

Tai Pan Yum Cha, Doncaster

With the weeks heading up to major study buddy days filled with coffee, caffeine and unimpressive take-away food, we decided to treat ourselves to a final proper meal of dim sum, or should I say, yum cha. As usual, thanks to Phil and Ryan, our designated drivers. Tai Pan is all the way in Doncaster which is almost about half an hour drive from the city.

Thank goodness, we made reservations instead of counting on simply walking in. The place was packed to brim on a lazy Sunday noon! There were people lining up to get in to the restaurant! One thing to note is that don't expect fabulous service here. Tai Pan is always busy and buzzing with energy and rushed orders that you may have to try several times to get their waiter's attention.

The seven of us started off with egg tarts which were piping hot! The egg tarts were transferred from a baking tray on to the dish which gave me the impression that they were fresh from the oven.

The crust of the egg tart was very flaky and fragrant with a smooth sweet egg custard. Absolutely divine. Every single one of us asked for more to take away. More on this later...

Scallion pancake/ chee cheong fun. Yummy! It was very different from what I was used to at home. The dough was stickier and softer: almost appears to be a firmer chee cheong fun. Served with a yummy peanut sauce. This was my favourite fried dish of the day.

The Ha Gao. They are way bigger than I was used to. I wasn't impressed with this. They were slightly bland and dry.

We are monsters! We took away sixteen egg tarts. Yums. I haven't eaten them yet, they're still sitting on my kitchen counter. Should I? *evil look*

Tau Fu Fa which literally translates to silkened beancurd! The presentation wasn't very appealing (I blame on the almost frantic way the waitress was scooping out the beancurd) but it was really yummy! For Melbourne standards, Tai Pan's Tau Fu Fa would have been on the top of my list.

Lau Sah Pao: salted egg custard buns! I was never a fan of dim sum but if I'm there, I will always look forward for these buns. Why?

This is why. Ooozing warm yummy eggy custardy. After consuming this, I proudly proclaimed I'm done. I can just spend the rest of the day starving and rolling around unproductively in bed because my day is complete. <3

The Point Restaurant, Albert Park

It's YH's twenty first birthday on May 7th, and she celebrated with an intimate dinner at The Point Restaurant on Albert Park. I've never heard of The Point in my whole three + years in Melbourne. It's probably due to me being a huge cheapo and the unrefined quality of my tastebuds. ;) Give me a cup of cheap froyo and I'm your best friend forever. 

The Birthday Girl!

The Point Restaurant is relatively secluded. The roads leading to the place was so dark and scary! Thank you Ryan and Phil for graciously driving us there. It is almost impossible to get there any other way; such as tramming, walking, or any form of public transport, so fuel up your tanks! 

Butter and creme fraiche with black truffle to go with our dinner rolls and bread sticks. The creme fraiche was beyond words!

Compliments from the chef! I'm terribly sorry that I couldn't remember what it was but I knew it had something to do with raw beef. Everyone else scarfed it down except me since I have a strict no raw beef/meat policy (except when it comes to fresh seafood!).

Freshly shucked Coffin Bay oysters. I'm an oysters kind of girl. They gave six huge oysters which felt more like a main then an appetizer! Deliciously fresh.

Jerusalem artichoke veloute, quail egg and Wagyu bresaola.

Poached egg, soft polenta, black truffle and brioche crumbs. Apparently this was really good! I didn't order this since I also have a thing against watery egg yolks. Sigh, I'm missing out on all the good things in life, aren't I?

The Point charcuterie board. YH had this for her appetizer and I'm sad to say that I had to physically restrain myself from picking food off the birthday girl's plate! The pâté was breath-taking! Bread was ordered and it was delicious just spreading it on the bread and chomping it down. It is worth ordering the whole board just for the pâté.

Scotch fillet, field mushrooms, creamed potato and baby carrots.

All of us ordered the same dish! We were very excited about the steaks as The Point Restaurant proudly claimed to have the best steak in Melbourne. Al wanted his steak rare (he's such a carnivore) but sadly the steaks only came in medium rare, medium and medium well.

I had my steak medium well and it was deliciously tender and juicy. I loved how there were some additional marble on top of the steak to make the meat more fragrant and mouth-watering. The vegetables were cooked to perfection and the creamed potato was very yummy with a hint of a smoky flavor. If I had a bone to pick this dish, it would be the field mushroom paste. I felt that it did not compliment the steak at all and would personally just prefer an ordinary mushroom sauce. 

I wouldn't call this the best steak I had because that throne has been claimed by Prime, Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur but this dish fared well.

Spiced gingerbread pudding, warm quince, caramel ice-cream and thyme. I loved this! The gingerbread pudding was so warm and moist and went so well with the fruits and the ice cream! I've never heard of quince before and for my first time trying the fruit, it was delicious. However, I wasn't so sure whether the sweetness of the quince was from it's natural flavor or added sugar. Highly recommended! 

Overall, it was a delicious night filled with great food and even greater company. The ambience of the place was really fantastic- perfect for those special date nights. I wish I could visit The Point during the day because I think the view overlooking the lake would be gorgeous. :)

Carrot (Cup)Cakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting (or) Chocolate Cream Cheese and Dulce de Leche Frosting

I was never a huge fan of carrot cake. Distant childhood memories reminded me of unwanted vegetables (yuck!) and walnuts (double yuck!). Back when I was younger, all I wanted were chocolate, candy, ice cream and gummy bears. So now that I'm more *ahem* mature, I decided to try my luck with these moist cakes.

Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted and amended from Smitten Kitchen

Makes 24 cupcakes
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups canola oil
4 large eggs
3 cups grated peeled carrots
1 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (optional but highly recommended)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180C). Line 24 cupcake molds with papers, or butter and flour them.
2. Whisk flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in medium bowl to blend. Whisk sugar and oil in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time. Add flour mixture and stir until blended. Stir in carrots, walnuts and raisins, if using them.
3. Divide batter among cupcake molds, filling 3/4 of each.
4. Bake cupcakes 14 to 20 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean. Let cool in pans for five minutes or so, then transfer cakes to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before icing them.

Variations:

• I wanted my cupcakes to be more flavorful so I increased the cinnamon to 4 teaspoons. 
• Although I followed the recipe's instructions for 1 1/4 cup of canola oil, I reckon they could do with only 1 cup of canola oil especially for those who are health-conscious.
• Try not to chop the walnuts into pieces that are too small. You would want some crunch amongst all that moist carrot-y deliciousness!

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
One (250g) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners’/icing sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1. In a stand mixer beat all the ingredients on medium until fluffy. Chill the frosting for 10 to 20 minutes, until it has set up enough to spread smoothly.
2. The spazzy star decorations were created by putting the maple cream cheese frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and dolloping away.

These were probably one of the best carrot cupcakes which I have ever tasted. So moist that the grated carrots almost feel like they're melting in your mouth. Accompanied with a tangy cream cheese frosting, what's not to love?

To be honest, the real reason behind the carrot cupcakes experiment was to ensure that I had the perfect recipe for a two-tier chocolate carrot cake.

Two-Tier Carrot Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese and Dulce de Leche Frosting

Makes two 9-inch diameter cakes. 
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 heaping teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
4 large eggs
3 1/2 cups grated peeled carrots

1. Butter two 9-inch-diameter cake pans instead of cupcake molds. Line bottom of pans with waxed paper. Butter and flour paper; tap out excess flour.
2. Whisk flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in medium bowl to blend. Whisk sugar and oil in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time. Add flour mixture and stir until blended. Stir in carrots.
3. Bake layers at 350°F (180C) for 45 to 50 minutes or until the tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
4. Cool cakes in pans 15 minutes. Turn out onto racks. Peel off waxed paper; cool cakes completely.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
1 stick of butter, softened
2 package (250g) cream cheese
1 1/2 cup icing sugar mixture, sifted
1/2 cup cocoa, sifted

While the cake is baking, make the cream cheese frosting. Place the butter and cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 6–8 minutes or until pale and creamy. Add the icing sugar and cocoa and beat for a further 6–8 minutes or until light and fluffy.

Dulce de Leche
1 can (405g) of sweetened condensed milk
Water

Place the whole can of condensed milk in a pot. Pour water to cover the whole can. The can should be completely submerged with water. Bring to boil, cover with lid, lower heat to medium and simmer for three hours. Top up pot with water if necessary. Or you can simply cheat by buying a can of ready made dulce de leche. ;)

To assemble:
1. Level cake layers by using a knife to saw off the curved dome at the top of each cake layer. If you're not fussy with the appearance of the cake, leave it. It will probably look more rustic that way!
2. Place one cake layer on a plate and spread with one quarter of the chocolate frosting. Spread dulce de leche on top of chocolate frosting. Repeat with remaining layers and frosting.
3. Decorate as desired. The sky's the limit! Walnuts, raisins, sprinkles! 

You would notice that I had included more flour because I wanted a sturdy cake which won't fall apart when I'm assembling it. The taste of the cake remains exactly the same so don't fret too much about it!

I've gotten heaps of compliments with this beauty here. Make it as soon as possible and report back to me!

Macarons Galore, LuxBite

I've seen pictures of macarons from LuxBite from Facebook and I became extremely intrigued. Macarons are always pretty, there's no doubt about it but most of the time, macarons are just too sweet for me to handle. Although I'm pretty content with my quick-fix macarons sold at Victoria Market, we were in the mood for an adventure! 

It wasn't easy to figure out my way to LuxBite. Number 1: I'm an absolute CBD-girl, any place past Flinders Street Station is a challenge to me. Number 2: I'm technologically illiterate to search the MetLink website to figure out my way to Toorak. 

So, I threw down the towel and in exasperation, tweeted to Sha, Liz and PQ:

And so, imagine my surprise when I received a reply from...

LuxBite themselves! :D It turns out it was actually really easy to get to LuxBite from where I stay, so hooray!

So, on Friday, we braved the horrid rain and wind; huffing and puffing our way to Toorak Road. It was pouring when we got out of the tram at Stop 28 but we didn't let it rain on our parade. The place was almost empty when all eight of us entered (more space for us yay!) and we were greeted with the sights and smells of pretty-looking desserts!

Mi and I were relatively excited with all the different flavours of macarons that we couldn't choose! So, we decided to have the LuxBite Epic Experience which consisted of all of their sixteen macarons flavours on display. Pretty impressive for two girls, eh? ;) 

Let's look at the bright (thinner and more attractive) side, I can proudly say that I've tried every single flavor LuxBite has to offer and I can proudly report back to you! It's a tough job but someone has to do it...

• Kaya Toast: Eight out of eight of us loved this. The taste of kaya was very authentic and there was even a teeny slab of butter in the middle to complete the whole 'Kaya Toast' concept. Very yummy. Gary ordered four more Kaya Toast macarons to bring back home for breakfast! 
• Rose and Lychee: It was one of the more popular flavors in LuxBite. To be honest, it tasted more of rose then lychee. Plus, Mi ruined the macaron by proudly proclaiming how the macaron tasted like her Victoria Secret handcream. ;) 
• Salted Caramel: I'm a huge fan of any kind of salted caramel desserts and this really fulfilled my high expectations! It had the perfect balance of salt and sweetness which made me swoon. 
• Chocolate Freckles: I tasted this macaron after tasting eight other macarons on the Epic Experience menu. It was a really comforting chocolate macaron. But, I think it could do without the brightly colored freckles.

• Kaffir Lime: Before I bit into this, I was expecting a very citrus-y familiar tasting macaron. Boy, was I in for a surprise! The first bite came as a shocking surprise. It tasted like a Thai appetizer in my mouth. Little did I know that kaffir limes were the key ingredients in most Thai dishes... The flavor was very unique but I can't say that it was one of my favourites. PQ loved it and I recommend that if you're looking to taste a memorable macaron, you should try this one. 
• Passionfruit: This was way too sweet to my liking. Plus, passionfruit was never one of my favourite fruits. 
• Choc Cherry: As I shared the whole platter with Mi, our strategy was to take half of each macaron and leave the remaining half for the other. I'm sad to say that I only managed to eat the chocolate part of the macaron while Mi took the whole alcohol(vodka?)-soaked cherry. The chocolate part tasted exactly like the Chocolate Freckles so I can't give you an objective opinion. If you love something naughty with your desserts, try this one!
• Toby's Mocha: The smell of coffee was really strong. However, it was pretty ordinary.
• Heilala Vanilla Creme Brulee: Sha claimed this to be her absolute favourite. It was absolutely delicious and the sugar on the macaron shell made you feel that you were eating creme brulee! The filling was breathtakingly creamy. A must try! 
• White Peach and Jasmine: It was extremely sweet with a hint of tea. Probably the epitome of the sweetest macaron. Probably one of my least favourite.

• O-o-oreo: It was a yummy macaron on its own but unfortunately, I couldn't taste the distinctive Oreo cookie flavor. This would be a macaron that Oreo-purist would scoff at so be warned! 
• Strawberry Cream: Again, it was just a sweet macaron. Perhaps at this point, I had tasted almost all of the macaron flavors and the flavor of strawberry was lost amidst the sweetness... I wouldn't try this again. 
• Sicilian Pistachio: I was wary when I was tasting this because I was afraid of a potentially horrid pistachio-ice-cream-flavour dessert but I was wrong! This was probably my second favourite! It was so chewy and the taste of pistachio was very distinctive. 
• Peanut Butter and Jelly: What's not to like? Yummy peanut butter filling with tiny chunks of peanuts inside. I urge you to try this. Ryan loved it but Liz said that the filling could have been more special: it tasted more like a spread of Kraft's peanut butter. Being a huge fan of peanut butter, I'm not complaining!

• Raspberry & White Chocolate: Although this macaron was probably one of the more sweeter ones, it had a very raspberry flavour to it and it didn't feel like I was eating a mouthful of sugar. The taste of white chocolate was barely there but amongst all the fruit-flavored macarons that LuxBite had to offer, this was my favourite. :) 
• Watermelon Yoghurt: The shop assistant said that this was his favourite. Unfortunately, this was not mine. :( It tasted more like a candy then a macaron with its extreme sweetness. It was hard to distinguish the taste of yoghurt from the overpowering watermelon flavor. Maybe it's just an Asian thing....

Overall, all the macarons had a consistent chewy (and more importantly, not crumbly!) texture which I adored. The macarons I had from the city (VicMart, The Cupcake Family) disintegrated easily and it was such a pity since macarons are so pretty. It was probably one of the better macarons in Melbourne but I've yet to explore more macaron specialty shops! 

The service was good and friendly. A shop assistant said "Wow.." when she found out that Mi and I polished off the Epic Experience platter. *blush* We're not gluttons, I promise you!   

I can't wait to return to LuxBite. It seems that they have seasonal desserts which are a hit with everybody! Round two anyone? 

I ordered four macarons to take home; Peanut Butter and Jelly, Kaya Toast, Sicilian Pistachio and Salted Caramel. They could be kept up to three days in the fridge but make sure you don't have any strong smelling food in it (such as garlic and onions) because macarons absorb moisture easily and it could ruin your macarons.