Tasmania - Launceston

My trip to Tasmania in December (shh, I know it's a while ago) was my second visit to Tasmania, ever. My first trip over with Brad in 2010 was very much a case of meeting his family, drinking and sitting around eating (generally) overcooked meat. Brad's family is lovely, but they prefer not to see a hint of pink or blood in their meat. Not sure how I coped! 

This trip though, we got into Tasmania a little under two weeks before Christmas, to attend his friend's wedding and to actually see a little more of the state!

We started out in Launceston, since it's pretty easy to get to and because Brad's friend's wedding was in Mole Creek, about an hour out of town. Although be wary with Jetstar, both our flights to and from Launceston were cancelled and had to be moved! Fortunately for our flight to Launceston, we were informed the night before and able to choose a different time, but for the flight back, our flight was actually cancelled on our way to the airport and we the earliest flight we could get put on was the 7pm one. Sigh Jetstar. When will I learn?

We hired a car, as there's really no other way to get around Tasmania efficiently (tip: much more affordable to hire a car in a period before Christmas!), and made our way straight to Bridestowe Lavender farm, which isn't too far from the city. 

What a way it was to start our trip to Tasmania, with gorgeous purple hills and a soothing scent in the air. You can also find out how lavender oil is extracted out of the lavender, walking into the workshop for it is incredibly therapeutic (the scent is pretty intense in there), and it's an interesting process, one that seems quite tedious! A lot of flowers are needed for just a little bit of oil!

I also met the friendliest cat I've ever come across! I'm generally more of a dog person than cat, but I can't resist affectionate animals in general. This little guy took the opportunity to jump into my lap and roll around when I sat down, so cute. Sooo cute. 

If you visit, don't forget to pop by the cafe and try…well most of the sweets infused with lavender! I got a lavender earl grey tea, which was quite fragrant and lovely, and also 2 giant scoops of lavender and honey ice-cream in a waffle cone. I felt like a big kid again. The perfect temperature for eating, it was so soft and sweet, although maybe lacking on the lavender. I also had incredible ice-cream envy after when I saw someone with a giant cone of bright purple ice-cream, which was the blueberry and lavender flavour I would think…first world problems folks. 

Brad also had a sausage roll, which was not infused with lavender, but had a lovely flaky pastry and was served with a sweet and tangy relish. 

After spending forever in the gift shop trying to decide if I could justify buying lavender soap I was unlikely to ever use, we eventually made our way into Launceston itself, dumped our things in the Launceston Backpackers…and promptly napped. All that lavender obviously left it's effect on us!

We later wandered around town to get our bearings and scope out dinner options. I had done my research and after some scouting, we decided to eat at Fresh on Charles. 

Fresh on Charles is a vegetarian and vegan cafe that's been around since 1999. Upon walking in to the cafe section of the restaurant, I kind of felt like I was on the set of 'That 70's Show'. Although simple, the decor was cute and kitschy. 

My watermelon and mint mojito was sort of overwhelmed with ginger, and definitely could have used a little more ice, cocktails shouldn't be room temperature! Fortunately, this was the only thing I didn't like about our meal...!

Whilst we were tempted by raw pad thai and besan flour pancakes for dinner, our gazelle-like waitress (I'm not even kidding, her legs were so long and lithe. Jealous. Is that what going vegan does to you?), recommended we try the mixed plate to share. 

We went with the gluten free platter, which came out looking like an absolute treat! From a warm, creamy mushroom risotto, to lentil burger patties with satay sauce, tangy tomato ratatouille and much more, there were just so many components on the plate! And I suppose the most important thing, everything on the plate was piping hot and just brimming with flavour. We were surprised to be so full after demolishing the plateful of food, incredibly great value at $35…for the two of us! Definitely one of our favourite meals whilst in Tasmania!

Love the plate our food was served on too, there was a pavlova recipe hiding underneath! Overall, I loved how low key and easy going the vibe and dining experience was!

Wonder why hippies get to a special entrance...?

Both Brad and I were really hoping to return for breakfast, but unfortunately they weren't open the morning we wanted to go!

The next morning, breakfast was at Cafe Mondello, also on Charles Street actually. It was a tiny space, with only 7 tables or so, but unlike in Melbourne, we had no problem getting a seat. Woohoo! 

As it was a bit cold and blustery out (in December, who would've thought?), the cosy and intimate space, with a muted colour palette, was incredibly welcoming.

As was the smooth and sweet chai latte. There's no better way of warming up the fingers than wrapping them around a hot drink is there? 

My corn fritters with smoked salmon, avocado, bit of relish and greens was just so fresh. That smoked Tassie salmon! Cool and so sweet, which went so well with the corny (hur hur) corn fritters, which weren't too doughy at all. 

Brad's eggs benedict also looked disgustingly delicious, I mean look, those eggs are just drowning in that gorgeously glossy hollandaise. It makes the mouth water!

The afternoon was spent wandering around Launceston again, where we discovered Launceston has awesomely cheap street parking ($1.20 an hour? Any day!), stupidly steep hills (oh my calf muscles!) and cute monkeys in the City Park. Baby monkey! We also checked out the Queen Victoria Gallery, which is free (wahey!), which had some gorgeous colonial portraits and landscapes of Tasmania during some of the early settlements. 

Lunch was a simple, but tasty affair at Burger Got Soul on Charles street (there's a trend here…), which does good hearty burgers, with fresh and local ingredients, similar to Grill'd in Melbourne. There is a huge variety of burgers on offer, but I could not go past the 'Lords of the Rings' burger. 

Lean beef burger, beer battered onion rings, vintage cheddar cheese, red peppers, rocket, garlic aioli and relish. Hey I was on holiday, who's judging? I was quite bemused that my gluten free 'bun' was two slices of gluten free bread, which kind of makes it more of a sandwich rather than a burger right? But that's missing the point. The point is that I had onion rings in my sand-urger. Oh yeah!

We headed back to our hostel after that, had a little food coma snooze then dolled up to head out to Mole Creek for Brad's friends wedding, which was actually held in a cave. I don't have any pictures unfortunately, but the ceremony was just gorgeous. 

Everyone slowly walked into this cave, as it was quite low, with stalactites and stalagmites hanging around, half the people climbed up the stairs to look down at a little area in the middle where the bride and groom had their ceremony and the other half of the guests looked up from the bottom half of the steps. It was an incredibly personal and unique ceremony, the bride's father afterwards telling everyone to look up. As we did, the lights went out and you could see the ceiling was covered with glow worms like stars. Simply magic.

This was the view from the reception venue afterwards. Just beautiful. Whilst my salmon main was a big chunk of overcooked, dessert was a chocolate hazelnut terrine. Just beautiful!

Breakfast the next day was at Sporties Bistro (also on Charles Street!), which was alright, not quite enough personality here for me and a slightly overcooked omelette. 

Before we headed off to Port Arthur, we stopped by the Queen Victoria Museum, where I transformed into a kid again, bewildered by dinosaur bones and wanting to touch every interactive display, and also made a stop at the Cataract Gorge. 

The Gorge is just a cool 5 minutes away from the city, maybe 15 if you want to walk it, but those hills are something to contend with! Although you have the option to ride a chairlift across the basin, at $12 a person, we felt walking the perimeter was much more pleasant! Walking over the suspended bridge is also quite fun, and you get a beautiful view while on it. Don't be like Brad (or Brad's dad) and bounce on it when the sign SPECIFICALLY TELLS YOU NOT TO. 

Boys. Honestly!

On the other side of the basin from where you walk in, there's a cute little tea house with peacocks running around everywhere. On our second visit on the way home to Melbourne (when our flight got cancelled and we got rebooked on a later one) there were even peacock babies and a wallaby! Too cute. 

By the end of our two nights here, I was quite surprised with how much Launceston had to offer. I thought we would have more time just lolling around and taking it easy, but we were actually quite packed out! I was also suitably impressed with the food offerings as well, getting a lot more out of the food scene than I was expecting! Whilst I think mainlanders do have a tendency to hightail it to Hobart (don't blame you though!), I certainly think it's worth considering visiting Launceston, hiring a car and taking yourself around a bit! Maybe you could also check out the Christmas Hills Raspberry farm as well...

...but anyhoo. Until the next Tasmanian instalment of my blog, where we visit Port Arthur!

Bridestowe Lavender Farm

296 Gillespies Rd, Nabowla TAS 7260

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Fresh on Charles

178 Charles Street, Launceston

Tasmania

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Cafe Mondello

242 Charles Street, Launceston

Tasmania

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Burger Got Soul

243 Charles Street, Launceston

Tasmania

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Happy Lunar New Year!

Hey guys! Happy Lunar New Year! 

I can't talk much right now, as I am too busy feasting away and collecting ang pao (aw yeah!), but here's a lil snapshot from our reunion dinner last night.

My parents have been menu planning and prepping food since Wednesday for our reunion dinner last night and for Chinese New year itself today. This is one of the more traditional dishes had on new year. Bit of abalone, some dried oysters and scallops, sea cucumber and dried Chiense mushrooms. Eat this to have good events in the year!

Yee Sang salad! One of my favourites. This dish is unique to Malaysian/Singaporean-Chinese culture, as my dad remembers not being able to find it anywhere in Hong Kong or China while we were living there. It's essentially a salad, traditionally with raw fish, but we use cured salmon with lots of shredded veggies. This year our Yee Sang (or yusheng, depending on where you're from) had carrot, radish, sticky pickled vegetables, beetroot, pear, apple and fried wonton skin (for a bit of crunch). Before serving it is dressed with sauce and peanuts.

Then it's onto the best bit of the salad, 'lo hei', or tossing it! Everybody cheers loudly and then dives in with chopsticks to mix the salad to usher in the new year, stir up new business and make wishes for wealth, health and prosperity. It's always good fun and something that we all look forward to. I hope my video of us mixing up the Yee Sang gives you an idea of how fun it is!

It helps the salad is darned tasty too!

This mini spread is only a small part of what will be served up today as we open up the house to invite all our friends over to celebrate with us!

Even if you don't celebrate the Lunar New Year, may the year of the snake still be a good one for you. I was looking at some Chinese horoscope forecasts with my dad, and apparently if you're a dragon (like me), we're due in for a very good year! However, if you're a rabbit (like Brad), you will need to be extra cautious of accidents and sharp objects... interpret at will!

Yellow Bird Cafe

It was that blistering hot 30+ degree night, where one walked out of the house and into an oven.

When all that one would want is a cocktail and a beach to pass out on somewhere. 

Whilst I didn't quite get the beach, Brad and I did end up hightailing it back to his place and jumping into his pool, which was delightfully freezing at 10pm when it was still about 33 degrees out. 

Before this, we found ourselves at Yellow Bird Cafe in Windsor, happily knocking back a jug of sangria, generously stuffed with fruits. Mmhmm.

The first time I came across Yellow Bird Cafe, I was still an incredibly nerdy university student at Swinburne and was still fairly new to this whole eating out thing. I had a cup of tea for one and felt incredibly shy and out of place in the noisy, eclectic and rather hipster joint. 

Not much has changed. Except me. I'm still pretty nerdy, but more comfortable with eating out (obviously). 

Yellow Bird stays much the same though, the music is played loud (no sweet whispers to be had here), and no they won't turn it down, and no they won't take requests. The decor is still as I remember, not in the slightest bit cool or slick, but instead full of personality and quirkiness. 

Dinner was an easy going affair, I was pretty set on tacos, having scoured the menu briefly before arriving, and that's exactly what I had. Soft shell crab in wheat taco shells. Three tacos in a serve, each taco with a generous serving of soft shell crab and a hearty serve of slaw with spicy mayo that had quite a kick! On a whole, pretty darned tasty, the spice not overpowering the sweetness of the crab, that was actually pretty meaty. Shame they're not corn taco shells though!

Brad went for the veggie burger with corn fritters, rocket, tasty cheese, guacamole, salsa, sweet chilli and a side of fries. It was one of those dishes that when I took my bite to try it out, I recoiled in surprise with how much tastier it was than I thought it would be! The corn fritters were beautifully seasoned, giving it a much more complex flavour than just corn, if I recall correctly it was fairly herbaceous which I really enjoyed. Probably one of the more interesting vegetarian burgers I've ever tried in my life!

Good chips too. Gooooooood chips. 

And to add some healthy into our meal, we got a salad. I forgot the name of it. It's not on the menu on the website. But it was delicious and all green. Cucumber, broccoli, peas, fetter, some kind of nut I forgot which, but I was pleasantly surprised with how enjoyable this was. Lots of crunch too! 

I was honestly kind of surprised how much I enjoyed the food, and how bright the flavours generally were. I'm quite keen to pop by on a 'Tijuana' Tuesday, where the menu goes all Mexican with burritos, chilli con carne, enchiladas and fajitas…and a nice looking selection of margaritas! 

Yellow Bird Cafe

122 Chapel Street

Windsor 3181

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Izakaya Jiro

An izakaya is essentially the Japanese equivalent of a pub, some food, and some nibbles, although the nibbles are often much better (in my opinion) than much of the pub grub you'd find here in Melbourne!

My first experience with an izakaya was actually in Tokyo in Ginza back in 2009, under some train tracks, which was owned by a British guy. It was an incredibly popular place, small and cosy, and filled with locals, more sake than one could poke a stick at and some awesome food. Way too much sake that night. 

Waaaaay too much sake. 

'Izakaya's' in Melbourne will never exactly replicate that same feeling, but I find that a lot of them are still pushing out some pretty decent food. Izakaya Jiro on Glenferrie road, in Hawthorn, is a great example of this.

I met Caryn here for dinner, as we originally wanted to go to Shyun, but she forgot to make a booking. Brad had visited Izakaya Jiro with a friend previously and said that I would like it, so I managed to get us a table on the same day. 

It's a cosy little fit out, combining a Melbourne aesthetic with twists of Japanese, bare brick walls, slick black counters, and pasted woodblock prints of demons, samurais and geisha girls gazing at you from the walls, maybe wishing they were eating what you were…

The dinner menu at Izakaya Jiro is quite extensive, which can make it tricky to decide what to eat! From yakitori skewers, to sushi, to main dishes, noodles and smaller nibbles, you could really get a bit of everything if you wanted!

As I had heard from Brad that the sushi and sashimi was just okay, Caryn and I decided to stick to lots of little nibbles to try as many different things as we could. However, a lot of our selection ended up being from the deep fried section of the menu...healthy...we are not. I'm always surprised how much food we're able to eat between the two of us…

Renkon chips, which are sliced lotus roots. I love these whenever I can find them and at Izakaya Jiro they were particularly light and crisp, almost appearing translucent!

A small serving of seaweed salad to inject a bit of green into our meal, at $3.50, I thought it was pretty reasonable! Love when it's served nice and cool.

I don't remember exactly which skewers we got, it would have either been the butabara (sliced pork belly) or the yakitori (chicken thigh) to keep it classic. Well seasoned regardless and quite juicy!

The soft shell crab is just gorgeously presented and just delightful, with just a little bit of crunch and not a hint of sogginess to be found. I kind of wish more places just served soft shell crab like this, whilst it's pleasant in a roll, it's so much better on it's own…!

I love the takoyaki (deep fried octopus balls with mayo and special sauce) here! Whilst typically the balls are a bit bigger, and can tend to have a bit of a sticky doughiness to them all over and be a bit soft, these were actually crisp all around the outside and creamy on the inside, with chopped little pieces of octopus. Maybe not the most traditional serve of takoyaki I've ever had, but still a completely delicious rendition. 

No visit, to anywhere with an 'izakaya' label, would be complete without a version of tori tasuta age, or deep fried chicken. I'm no deep fried chicken expert, but I really enjoyed these, not too heavy on the batter, but enough to have those enjoyable crunchy knobs on the ends. The chicken itself still tender and not dried out. Perfect beer food? Yeah I reckon!

Ika Yaki, grilled squid garnished with white radish, spring onion, mayonnaise and ponzu sauce provided a reprieve from all that is deep fried! Loved the perfectly charred edges, which gave a lovely smokiness and how tender but springy the squid was as well. Also quietly smitten with the generous plating of fish roe, it makes the dish look so bright and cheery!

And for our last savoury, the hotate chilli mayo, grilled Hokkaido scallops topped with Japanese chilli mayonnaise. I mean, what's not to love? The scallops were pretty big, buttery smooth and with chilli mayo, doesn't chilli mayo just make everything perfect? I used to (somewhat) guiltily go to town with it on my nasi goreng when I used to waitress at Chillipadi after my shifts. Good times…

Whilst I don't always do dessert with dinner, particularly if I'm with Brad as he's not usually so keen on the sweets, when it's two girls at dinner, it usually always means that there's some form of sweet after the savouries!

First, the green tea panacotta. 

I'll be the first to say it, nothing what I expected it to look like. Nor is it particularly attractive, as a mound of spotty green blobs. But don't be fooled, this was pretty delicious! It was incredibly light, wiggling all over with a little nudge of the plate, and when scooped into was a pale yellow colour. Silky and smooth, the green tea coating cutting into the sweetness of the panacotta. 

We also ordered the sakura daifuku, a strawberry flavoured mochi rice cake. These were okay to me, I'm not absolutely crazy about daifuku though, so I may not be the best judge. 

When we visited, Izakaya Jiro still did not have it's dinner liquor license, so we did not have any alcohol, but it should hopefully be coming soon in January. In the meantime BYO is still accepted, although I'm not entirely sure if there was corkage or not!

Izakaya Jiro was a great little spot to catch up at, although the place got fairly busy, it didn't get too noisy and retained a cosy and intimate atmosphere. The staff are friendly and the kitchen is efficient, all our food coming out fairly quickly, but at a reasonable pace as well. No one likes looking like too much of a glutton when all the food hits the table at once and you're playing a game of tetris to try and get it all on there after all!

I also personally felt that Izakaya Jiro was pretty good value for what we had, the bill coming to about $30 - $35 per person, which isn't bad considering the variety of food we had and the fact that we were both quite full afterwards. 

I've also visited Izakaya Jiro with my brother for lunch, where a smaller menu is presented with more sets, bentos, rich and noodle dishes, with most being around the $10 to $15 mark, and still of good quality. 

Overall, I'm quite glad Izakaya Jiro has shown up in my neighbourhood, to serve up flavoursome food at reasonable prices in a chic environment!

Izakaya Jiro

830 Glenferrie Road

Hawthorn 3122

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Malaysia - Ipoh

During my trip to Malaysia in October, after spending a few nights at a conference in Penang, and then joining my parents for one night there, we drove back to KL. 

But of course it wasn't just a straight drive back…

We might've stopped on a few places on the way back too. Maybe just for food. Or more like, definitely for food. Did you not read my Penang post with food crazy Malaysian dads? 

Ipoh is the capital city of the Perak state in Malaysia, and about 200km's out of Kuala Lumpur. It developed into one of Malaysia's main cities due to tin mining in the early 19th century. Although not as well known now as some of Malaysia's other cities, it has created a name for itself with Malaysians for good hawker food and some local specialities. 

One night was spent here in Ipoh, which is a relatively quiet town until you find where the food shops have decided to congregate all in one area. A beacon of neon lights, a sea of noisy and happy eaters on big family size plastic tables and chairs, and a whole lot of delicious smells. 

We ended up at Lou Wong Resturant from the suggestion of my Uncle who has a factory near the town for a few basic absolute necessities while in Ipoh.

One of the necessities, being chicken and beansprouts. Let's talk about the beansprouts first. Sure, totally unexciting, but in Ipoh, they are short, thick, crunchy and totally delicious. You don't get them like this anywhere else, and it's supposedly something to do with the water in the area. As always. Dressed simply, they're a treat on their own with a bit of rice.

Now chicken, it's boiled with the beansprouts and soy sauce, and is just full of flavour. And so tender. It's just one of those simple delights! It kind of reminds me of Hainanese chicken with it's texture, but the flavour is quite different.

Another well loved local speciality, and necessity, is the soup hor fun, flat rice noodles in a clear chicken and pawn soup. Let me tell you, Lou Wong was an assembly line of a restaurant, an efficient machine. Food was hitting our table so fast that when dad asked for a second serve of hor fun, I'm not even exaggerating, he turned back to the table from ordering and the noodles hit the table about 10 seconds after that. 

Phwoar. More restaurants in Melbourne could totally use that sort of speed!

The noodles are smooth, slippery and delightfully springy. There is a delicateness to them, due to the water from the spring in the area. Imbued with flavour from the soup, they are just so light and so easy to chow down on, that you really always end up ordering an extra bowl or two!

Not one of the necessities, but something nice we came across, was Apong. These are similar to another dessert in Penang, but here they were really just thin crepe like things,  with the wet dough dropped into these hot metal bowls, rolled around to form the shape and then folded or rolled into these little cylinders. I don't recall actually having had these fresh before and they were just lovely to eat warm.

While you're in Ipoh, maybe after dinner, make sure to remember to pick up some pomelos. I forgot to take pictures, but they're all over the place! And pretty cheap too!

Breakfast the next morning was spent hopping from kopitiam to kopitiam, where we had more hor fun, more beansprouts, some hot teh tarik to soothe my Malaysian soul and….creme caramel. 

Y'know. Totally Malaysian food. It's weird, but it's surprisingly popular in the area apparently. It was also quite nice, surprisingly not too sugary, as Malaysians tend to have a bit of a sweet tooth when it comes to desserts, and very smooth. The caramel may not have been as rich as it might be in Melbourne, but considering it was just about hitting lunch time, it was definitely sweet enough!

Ipoh is pretty well known as well for a certain type of biscuit called 'Heong Peng', oval shaped biscuits, with a fairly thick flaky pastry outside and a sweet sticky filling, which we made sure to stop and stock up on to give as presents to the aunts and uncles back in Kuala Lumpur. 

In the process of buying these, we discovered another delicious pastry biscuit treat. 

Walking in through some doors, I distinctly recall being hit with a wave of sugar, bam! We walked into a bakery. 

And not just any bakery, but a bakery selling kaya puffs. 

Oh my lord. Kaya is a very popular spread in Malaysia, which is essentially a coconut jam. Often had on a warm piece of toast, sometimes even with butter. But goodness, baked into pastries? 

These were warm, fresh from the oven, smelling of sweet coconut goodness and were just an absolute dream. Flaky, buttery, sweet, I just wanted to sit in there all day, sip on teh tarik and drink in the glorious world of baked kaya goodness we had discovered. 

But alas, eventually I had to get back in the car and sit in the back seat next to a mountain of biscuity goodness, as we took the windy (and occasionally heart stopping) drive up to the Cameron Highlands. Woe was me, stuck with all those sweets….