Sharing is Caring

I love blogging. It's gotten to the point where it's a lot of work, and I have to start actually scheduling it into my day to make sure I can be consistent and regular in my posting, but even on nights when my eyelids are struggling to stay open, I like to have a bash at my keyboard and see what comes out. 

One thing that I do love about blogging and the community as well, is that there's always so much sharing going on, whether it be places to see, opportunities to catch up with people or advice on blogging or photography technicalities. 

Whilst I love to learn, I also love to share and recently had two awesome opportunities to. 

First, through a friend, I was asked to do a mini guest lecture, via Skype, with an English class doing a food and travel writing capstone at the Northern Arizona University. 

Although I had never met the lecturer, and I was incredibly nervous that I wouldn't actually be contributing any insight, it ended up being a really fun 25 minutes, where I did a short spiel about writing for an audience, and then answered a couple of questions about different aspects of food blogging. 

Sure, I had to wake up at 4am in the morning to do this, but was totally worth the laughter and the satisfaction and joy I got from talking about what I love doing.

I also recently, with the help of my good photographer friend Jeff, went to a get together with a bunch of photographers and shared some tips on shooting food in a restaurant situation. It was great to have Jeff there, as he filled in all the technical gaps in my very hands on, touchy-feely approach to photography. 

Photo borrowed from Sid, one of the workshop attendees!

Again, I was worried I wouldn't be able to give much valuable feedback, as I was talking to a group of photographers who did practise regularly, although generally specialised in portraiture. However, it was wonderful to have people come up to me and ask questions and advice and see that people were getting a bit of take home value. 

Who can really complain though when there's food involved as well? We did the very casual 'workshop' at Cafe Blac's Reading Room, which is an absolutely gorgeous function space, with fanned out book's making up the ceiling. The place is kind of whimsical, and incredibly welcoming. 

Food's pretty scrummy too, loved my Blac Smash (their version of smashed avocado), although by the time I had let everyone photograph it, and showed them how to do an egg porn 'money shot', my food had gotten a little bit cold! I also gave my hand a bit of work out being a hand model, and showing how a little bit of action in a photo, or human presence, can give a warmth to the photo. 

The owner, Taras Maciburko, also let us have a little nibble on some of their sweeter offerings. Who can say no? 

All in all, a lot of fun, and I hope to do more of this sort of stuff soon!

Cafe Blac

707 Glenferrie Road

Hawthorn

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Ayatana

Disclaimer: I was invited to have a complimentary meal at Ayatana

Whilst it's always nice to check out the newest and coolest spots on the Melbourne restaurant radar, it can be easy to forget that there are plenty of other restaurants, serving quality food, that slip under that radar and go unnoticed. Ayatana seems to be in this space, being well rated on Urbanspoon but yet it's a spot that just doesn't come to mind straight away if you ask me to think of modern Thai cuisine (double Chin anyone?).

So I was pleased to be reminded to check out Ayatana (as it had been on my wishlist) when Brad and I were invited to have a meal with them. Located on Chapel Street, on the Windsor side of town, Ayatana is an intimate little restaurant. The decor is kept simple, mostly black and white, with pictures of Thailand, hung around the walls for punches of colour and a reminder of where the inspiration for the food comes from. 

We were greeted by the owner Tony and the incredibly friendly waitresses, who were nothing but helpful, with great big smiles, the whole night. 

I was fairly impressed with their wine menu, which had some quality (but affordable) Australian and New Zealand wines on it. I chose a glass of the Over the Shoulder pinot gris, from Oakridge, a winery I am fairly fond of. 

The menu is large and diverse, starters, entrees, mains, veggies, desserts…where was one to look first?! The menu read distinctly of Thai flavours, but dressed up with some twists and turns. If you're after the typical pad thai, this is not the place for you, but if you want something a little bit different? Ayatana might just fit the bill.

To start we had betel leaves with crispy prawn, peanuts, ginger, mint, lime, roasted coconut, redonion, caramelised tamarind sauce. The problem I've had with other betel leaf dishes, is that by the time a bit of dressing is added, it gets to be a bit of a saucy mess. However at Ayatana, it was a much neater affair, with just enough sauce so that it was a tidy eat. Great fresh flavours, with a sweetness and a hint of citrus. 

Following that we had a mini mountain of a salad, which was made up of sweet crunchy tamarind rice, crushed cashew nuts, green apple, bean shoot, mint, coriander, red onion, crispy noodles and mixed salad. Oh so different, so tasty, bright and as the name states, it is indeed, incredibly crunchy! I loved the roasted coconut flavour through here too. All in all a very playful dish which I would have easily eaten a lot more of! Easily my favourite dish of the night!

Our second entree was the caramelised crispy pork belly, chilli jam, lime, mint, coriander, red onion and fried shallots. The flavours in this were great, minty and with lots of sweet chilli, however I found the pork belly was probably a little bit hard around the outside for me, which detracted a bit from the dish for me. 

I had to pick at least one 'traditional' Thai dish that I'm fond of, and this was the Thai green curry, except with Japanese pumpkin, tofu, holy basil and vegetables. This was quite a light curry in texture, it didn't have a thick gravy, but was still very nice (and great for drowning rice in). The heat was pleasant and warm in the dish, however I did find it to be quite on the sweet side, and this was due to the Japanese pumpkin that's included. I tend to like my curries a little more savoury, but it was still a very tasty curry.

Lastly, we tucked into a whole sand crab, tiger prawns and New Zealand calamari, stir fried with tom yum sauce, mushrooms, cauliflower, onion, vegetables and kaffir lime leaves. Ooh, I loved the tom yum sauce here, could have definitely used a little more! Packed a nice little bit of punch, but also balanced out with a nice bit of citrus as well. Not searing hot for those who can't handle the heat, but just a nice enough amount of chilli to get the senses all warm and tingly. Although an incredibly dressed up dish, the flavours were all incredibly comforting. 

It was funny watching the group of 5 caucasian's dining on the table next to Brad and I. As Brad and I passed plates around and shared everything, it was interesting to watch everyone order individual main dishes each, and not have everything in the middle to be shared. Surely people generally know that Asian food is usually designed to be shared? Or maybe these guys just didn't get the memo! 

Now, a meal is hardly a meal without dessert. So steamed banana with palm sugar caramel, cinnamon, star anise and vanilla ice cream it was! I was pretty stuffed by the time we ordered dessert, and out of all the other options on the menu, this made for a great choice as it wasn't too heavy. The steamed bananas were a bit different to the typically fried bananas, and they were soft and mushy, perfect with a bit of cold ice-cream wrapped around it. The ice-cream was sensational as well, might I add, from Rickett's Point, dotted with freckles of vanilla bean throughout. 

Ayatana is not your run of the mill, cheap and easy takeaway Thai. It is dressed up and creative, but at a pretty reasonable price (from what I saw on the menu). They will challenge some of the typical Thai flavours people may be used to, and are well worth trying if you want something a bit different. Tony and his team are incredibly helpful and caring, and we had a great night overall. 

Ayatana

97 Chapel Street

Prahran

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Masak Masak

I'm a bit of a nomad. Born in Hong Kong, but Malaysian, but living in Australia (with 6 months in Poland and Canada somewhere in there too). As such, I've never really had a culture that I associate with the most. I tend to say I do resonate with Australian culture the most, since I spent most of my schooling life here, which is probably pretty accurate.

However, after visiting Malaysia a couple of times last year, whilst I think the place could do with a bit of work (which is a whole different story), I've discovered an empty spot in my being, which is now being filled with pride. Pride that I am a Malaysian and of course, an inexplicable love for the food. 

Having said that though, I don't tend to go out for the food much, because it's kind of expensive here and I have the absolute luxury of my parents being able to make darned Malaysian food. I suppose as well, I don't like the 'kopitiam' themed places here, because it doesn't feel authentic and there are so many of them at the moment, all same same lah. 

When I heard of Masak Masak, first from my good friends at Luxbite (where I also met Travis, the chef/owner, briefly), I thought it sounded quite interesting and when I heard the doors had opened on Smith Street, I happily bounded over with Brad one evening (or he drove. Same same, lah). 

I personally love that this place is open on Smith Street, to add a little something different to the hipster-esque area. 

Masak in Malaysian actually means 'cook', keeping it fairly straight forward hey? Although the food is very distinctly Malaysian, the environment is fresh and playful, which is accompanied with a couple of modern twists slipped onto the menu.

Walking in, Masak Masak feels modern and new, with some funky and very brightly coloured graffiti on one wall, and plenty of pops of colour throughout the place. There is certainly a bit of personality to the spot, which I love! 

The first thing you see upon entering, is the charcoal grill and the bamboo steamer. On the grill the satays, and a variety of other dishes are finished off, to get that real old school char flavour to it. It's exciting watch the smoke dance up when the meat gets put down…you just know something delicious is coming out of that soon!

Teh tarik! I don't normally drink this in the evening, as I fear I may never go to sleep, but couldn't resist, as it had been a while since I last had one! I found this one to be good, wouldn't have minded the tea flavour to be a bit stronger, but pretty good overall otherwise. 

Travis, the chef, was kind enough to give us a complimentary serve of the anchovies, peanut, chillies and kicap manis. Oh man, let me tell you, I adore this stuff. Sticky, but soft, but crunchy, sweet and hot, I could eat bags of this. And then I would be fat. But my mouth would be eternally partying. I felt that this could have used a little more chilli throughout, I didn't get the heat really until the end, but on a whole I really liked it. I only felt that it might be a bit pricey at $5 a serve, but I haven't seen anywhere else offer this yet. 

To offset the meat we were planning to have, Brad and I made sure we had a couple of healthier options to balance ourselves out. So out came the silky tofu with wakame salad and brown rice puff. This was actually served cold which made it really refreshing. I loved the brown rice puffs for a bit of crunch against the silky tofu, but you have to eat it relatively quickly or it can got a little soggy. 

The bok choy with salted fish and XO sauce was crunchy and generally pretty tasty. Although these were a little inelegant to eat, since they are whole, and we had no knives, so Brad and I attempted to stuff these whole in our mouths. 

Not such a sexy look. Guess it's fortunate that it wasn't a first date or something!

Brad and I were also given a complimentary serve of the buffalo wings with onion sambal to try, as the waitress said it was one of their signature dishes, and said the chef didn't want us to miss out on it. Why not then?

Phwoar. These were naughty. And delicious. Finger-licking delicious. You must eat these with your fingers, to get the fullness of that delicious and crumbly batter, succulent chicken and sambal. Oh man the sambal was good. 

The piece de resistance of the night for me though, was the charcoal grilled beef ribs with sambal oelek. Oh goodness. All the happy times! We had two pieces, and on both pieces, you could just pull out the bone from the meat, completely clean. The meat was so gorgeously tender, and although the sambal was an interesting condiment, it worked really, really well. This is a slightly different sambal to the one on the wings, more like the chilli you get with hainan chicken. Must have dish in my books!

Last, but of course not least, the satay chicken and beef with condiments. One thing I totally loved about these, is that they were served with the little rice cubes, which is very typical in Malaysia, and something I haven't really seen here in Melbourne yet. 

Naturally, having been thoroughly grilled over charcoals, both the chicken and the beef had a lovely charred and smoky flavour to them. I personally thought the beef could use a little more seasoning, it was nice and beefy, but missing a bit of the spices for me. However, Brad like the beef more than the chicken satays, where I was the opposite. Maybe I just liked the overall juiciness of the chicken satays more? 

Regardless, this is just me nitpicking and honestly, I really enjoyed our meal at Masak Masak. Brad did notice though that there wasn't any beer available, and I'm not sure if they are just waiting for their license, or they don't plan on offering alcohol. I think it would make a huge difference (especially in the Collingwood area) to at least have a few beers on the menu, a Tiger wouldn't have gone wrong here. 

Again though, me nitpicking. Gah. Travis is doing a great job here and I wouldn't be surprised to see more Malaysians come by to check out the food and have a little taste of home. Their lunch offerings at $10 a pop seem like an absolute steal and I'm a bit bummed the Hainanese chicken isn't offered on the dinner menu…but I guess that means I just have to come in at lunch! 

Masak Masak

230 Smith Street

Collingwood 3066

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Hammer and Tong 412

What little things make you smile? 

Maybe it's a ray of sunshine through a window. Flowers on your desk. Your dear pet greeting you as you get home. 

For me, other than watching my dog flop on his back when he's extremely comfortable, I'm finding that there's something about Rear 412 Brunswick Street that always puts me in a good mood. Once upon a time it was the Brix Bistrot and Cafe, that had captured my heart, imagination and taste buds, but now it's home to Hammer and Tong 412. 

The decor is familiar, as much of it is fairly unchanged. Thank goodness for that as the space is really so beautiful to me. 

The sun room at the back makes for the perfect laid back breakfast. Spacious, white painted brick, the space breathes of light. 

It's kind of crazy, but I'm absolutely in love with how the crockery matches the table. There's something so soothing and elegant about the cool blue grey, especially when there's a warm golden coffee contrasting against it. I'm a visual girl, this stuff switches me on. 

A warm and spicy chai, always warms my heart. 

But it's not just about the looks right? How's the food? How's the service? 

Hammer and Tong 412 has a much more low key feel to it than Brix did. Friendly staff, smiles and small chit chat. You know who the regulars are, but the newbies get the same kind of love. 

The food is unpretentious, and more of all day eatery, rather than something for special occasions. However, there is still plenty of creativity, the breakfast menu sporting some intriguing, and tempting, offers such as coconut black rice pudding with mango, buttermilk pancakes with blueberries and popping candy ice-cream and truffled duck eggs. 

However, for Brad, it's hard to sway him too far from a baked egg. At Hammer and Tong, the baked eggs come in a tomato fondue, with chorizo, manchego and flatbread. 

Fondue you say? It is rather aptly named, as it is a gooey, cheesy, naughty mess of hearty deliciousness. Yeah, stick your flat bread in that and swirl it all around. You won't regret.

As for me, it's hard for me to go past the corn fritters, here they are spiced  and served with avocado, sour cream, smoked tomatoes and a poached egg (although you can have it fried too). 

Sitting on a pretty and leafy bed, these were crunchy, and loaded up with corn and spices (cumin really came through). I really enjoyed how much more flavour these had to a typical corn fritter. Do I dare say they're better than St Ali's (which I personally like)? Perhaps…perhaps I might…

The avocado and sour cream really added a nice light contrast to the heavy flavours of the fritter, all in all a beautifully balanced dish. 

After our meal, we just sat back and let the cafe buzz around us for a bit. There was just such comfortable atmosphere, which made one just want to linger on a little longer...I apologise for the lack of words, but there are some places I visit that words do no justice to explain the quiet and contented purring somewhere in my being.

Hammer and Tong 412

Rear 412 Brunswick Street

Fitzroy

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Tasmania - Hobart - Day 2 - Mona - Garagistes

So just a little warning guys. Lots of pictures. But what else is new really?

Having spent our first day in Hobart exploring the city and checking out the area, we determined that day two would be spent checking out the infamous Mona, Museum of Old and New Art, and seeing if it was as crazy as people had been saying.

But first thing's first. 

Breakfast!

We made our way up some rather steep hills, in oddly humid weather, where we eventually stumbled (in a slightly 'glowing' panting mess) upon Pigeon Hole, a wee little cafe that I've been reading a fair bit about in Hobart. 

Softly lit, the space at Pigeon Hole is cosy and intimate, with a couple of seats in the foyer, a couple more hidden down a small hallway to another seating area. I loved the cool teal blue walls, it's just a soothing colour to look at, and fortunately Brad and I were immediately able to be seated and quietly sunk happily onto our stools. 

I was suitably impressed by our drinks, Brad's latte had a beautiful colour to it and my chai was smooth and sweet. Definitely wasn't missing out on my chai latte hit's here in Hobart!

The menu is scrawled onto a blackboard daily and is short and sweet, with simple and honest sounding options. 

Brad went with the eggs en cocotte (essentially baked eggs really) with jamon, soused onion, mizuna and Grana. It was a modest serving, for Brad anyway, but certainly enough for breakfast, and all good as it was very tasty. With a healthy smattering of grated cheese, what really was not to like?

With most of the breakfast options being bread based (Croque Monsieur's, panini's etc), I decided to go with a lighter breakfast option and got the natural yoghurt with gluten free crunch, strawberries and agave. Ah, the strawberries were so sweet! I absolutely loved swirling my spoon through all the ingredients to mix it up, the gluten free crunch definitely lived up to expectations in the 'crunch' department, being a rather healthy looking mix of cornflakes, almonds, sunflower seeds and much more. It was nice to have something a little different to the typical museli or granola.

Down the hill we strolled afterwards, back to our hotel, and to our car, which we drove to Mona.

Now if you haven't heard about Mona, it's a privately funded museum, with an eclectic mix of antiques and contemporary art. It's essentially the playground of David Walsh, a professional gambler with a penchant for art. 

It's located on the Berriedale peninsula, which is just a short drive out from Hobart. If you're not renting a car, you can take a ferry or a bus from Hobart at the Brooke Street ferry terminal, but it is $20 per person return, which kind of adds up in my opinion. 

The location of the museum is just spectacular, walking out from the carpark, up to the crest, the view out and over the water is just so gorgeous. 

From ancient Egyptian relics, to the infamous poo machine (you'll know when you get to it, because it does start smelling quite a bit), there really is a little bit of everything in here. Some things I completely loved, and some I hated with a passion because I personally didn't feel it really counted as art (I mean, rotting food on a table guys? Please....)

I won't give away too much about the rest of the museum, but I do recommend checking it out, even if you only have a minute interest in art and culture. It easily filled up half of our day with no problem, we ooh-ed at some things, ew-ed at others and left scratching our heads and debating over what really constitutes as art. It was refreshing to not look through a perfectly curated retrospective or themed gallery, and just see works that caught the eye of an art collector. It's a different approach.

What I did really enjoy though, was the overall presentation and architecture of the museum. You actually have to descend down into the ground to get to the museum, starting from the third floor and working your way back up. Brad and I didn't get to take the awesome super villain cylindrical glass elevator down as it was being used already, but I made sure we took it to get back up. I felt like I was in a Bond movie. I got my cackle and plotting on during the ride. Tehehe.

Even God pops around every now and again!

By the time we wrapped up at 2 or 3pm, although it was tempting to stick around and sip on some wine from the winery, we decided to go back into Hobart to find a cheap eat instead. We ended up in a floating fish and chip shop, next to the floating fish store we bought oysters from the day before, and got a massive seafood platter, and a half dozen oysters. Around $35 between the two of us for oysters, calamari, prawns, fish and chips (even if it was all mostly deep fried)? Gold.

We then popped into Daci Daci Bakery, that I had spied the day before. I adored the rather old school Victorian feel to the interior, with beautiful wooden counters, laden with all sorts of tarts, cakes and other sweet goodies. 

I happily settled down with a cup of tea and brownie ball, which was dense, chocolatey and moist. Mmhmm. Brad watched on, since he's not really a sweets guy. So he's weird and stuff.

Later that evening, after a nap in our hotel, and a little wander around the shops nearby (well that was just me, Brad watched the cricket), we made our way to Garagistes for a late dinner. 

I was quivering in excitement with each step as we walked to the restaurant. The minute I knew that Brad and I were going to Hobart, I had informed (or maybe I dictated...) that we were definitely visiting Garagistes, come hell or high water and been eagerly reading the menu prior to our visit and drooling over how delicious everything sounded. So yes. I was excited…and crossing my fingers that we wouldn't have to wait too long (no booking policy here).

Rocking up at about 8 or so on a Wednesday night, we had no problem acquiring a seat at the bar upon arrival. I've always enjoyed getting bar seats, as it gives you a better insight as to what's happening in the kitchen, and to get sneak peeks of dishes before they go out and decide if you want to order the same dish yourself!

Garagistes is spacious, with rather dark and minimal decorations. There is a simple elegance, with the concrete floors contrasting with the light wood communal tables and chairs. The set up is simple, but effective.

On our visit, Garagistes was still offering an ala carte menu, but it seems that they have changed in more recent times to offer a 3 or 5 course menu instead. 

Ah, yes, gin and tonic. It's all good here.

We started our night with the poached spanner crab, lacy lady peas, lovage oil, sea lettuce and shaved combu. Oh, isn't she just so pretty? It just looked like a beautiful shiny green garden, with sprouts of purple flowers here and there.

Although it was the second-last savoury on the menu, it was interesting that we were served it first. It proved to be a fair move though, since the dish was light and quite clean in flavours. I was surprised that the peas had a bit of crunch to them, but really enjoyed the contrast to the soft, sweet crab and the slippery sea lettuce. The flavours on a whole were subtle, but very elegant.

So you all know that eel and uni are like, two of my favourite proteins in Japanese cuisine right? This meant I probably looked a bit crazy, as I drooled from the mouth and ordered the chilled smoked eel chawan mushi with venerupis clams, uni and new season garlic. Oh man.

Whilst I found the eel flavour to be very subtle (and wouldn't have minded it a little more pronounced), I did love the cool and smooth texture, which was just perfect with the uni that just melted in your mouth. Flecks of toasted garlic gave a crunchy bit of contrast, in texture and flavour. 

I always like to try and get a vegetable offering when we eat out, and at Garagistes it was the char-grilled leek with fresh curd, Garagistes' pancetta, toasted pepitas and chive flowers. Oh, I adored the mustardy flavour of the leeks, and the curds were lovely and smooth. However, although this dish was pleasant and enjoyable, it probably was  not the most memorable of the night for me. 

We finally got around to dessert, and it was a hard call between two, equally delicious sounding options. In hindsight we really should have just gotten both, but I ended up choosing the strawberries and cream with buckwheat crisp and shaved frozen sable.

Swathed in smoke as it arrived, I was positively mystified, and lost in the magic, as this was put in front of us. There's just something so romantic about this sort of presentation, and I could feel my heart swell in anticipation for what would be revealed when the mist all cleared.

I was surprised at first bite, the warm strawberries catching me off guard with their softness and sweetness. I positively died over the frozen sable, which is what I think provided a caramel flavour which I went mad for. Although presented in a fancy manner, this dessert struck the heart with homely, familiar flavours. 

I very much enjoyed our meal at Garagistes, although it may not have been the absolute top meal of 2012 for me (I did eat pretty well last year y'know), it's certainly up there due to the creativity and uniqueness of the food. Service throughout the night was very professional and efficient, although a little bit cool at times, but that seems to be the norm with the new trendy restaurants at the moment. 

For those who are food fanatics, or looking to expand their food horizons, I definitely recommend popping by Garagistes, as I'm pretty sure not many of you are going to be making this sort of food at home!

With that, our last full day in Hobart finished, which meant I had to make sure I picked somewhere great for breakfast the next day…stay tuned for the last Tasmania post! 

Pigeon Hole

93 Goulburn Street

West Hobart

TAS 7000

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Mona

655 Main Road

Rosetta

TAS 7011

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Garagistes

103 Murray Street

Hobart 

TAS 7000

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