Brief Melbourne stopby

It could have been considered one of the fastest trips to Melbourne I've ever done but there was still time to have some drinks, more importantly COFFEE and some of the local fare off Lygon Street and Brighton. I had lots of breakfasts this trip hence the breakfast fare on display:


Eggs Benedict from Bear Brass in Southgate


Farmer's Breakfast at the Pantry in Brighton


I had a smaller breakfast at the Pantry - scrambled eggs, bacon and toast


Eggs Florentine


Waffles and ice-cream for those prefer a sweet breakfast


A visit to Melbourne is not complete without a visit to arguably the best coffee joint (to go with the sultana cheese cake)


And of course Vietnamese Beef noodles! This was a a large with beef sausage and brisket fat from Pho Jong (sp?) on Russell Street - delish!

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Portugese tarts from Portugal

This just came in from my brother who is in Lisbon right now....looks nice! I did a bit of research (all of five minutes) and fount this Wikipedia entry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastel_de_nata. It's called "Pastel de Nata" over there.



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Ribs!

Was chatting with a friend today and she sent me some links which contained pictures of delicious looking pork ribs so naturally me and colleagues had to go for some ribs today. This is from Tony Roma's in Suntec City. I've been to Tony's in Sydney several years back and the food was mediocre at best but the branch in Suntec really suprised me and it was a very reasonable SGD$25 for this big plate of ribs, chips and corn.

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Indon Fried Rice with Fried Fish

Damn...can't remember the Indonesian name but this is fried rice with peeled fried salted 'kembong' fish. Brings back childhood memories of the said fish mixed with white rice, lots of pepper and soya sauce. :-) This was served in the canteen in the basement of Menara Duta in Kuningan, Jakarta, Indonesia.

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Roasts

This is the char-siew, siu-yuk rice at the Marina Food Loft in Singapore. This was dinner last night - one of the best around town if you ask me.

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Cork & Screw

Nice classy looking place in the centre of Jakarta. Deco, mood and menu looked tempting. Food, however, was average. Very reasonable prices.

Trip Advisor Review

Pardon the bad lighting again (phone camera) - I really have to start bringing my proper camera with me when I travel. :-)




Top row, left to right: Nice bottle of red from Bordeaux although it must have not have been kept in ideal conditions - a twirl in the decanter (shock, horror) really helped, Tomato soup served in a bread bowl - very nice,

Second row, left to right: Smoked Marlin Ravioli, Blue Cheese Steak - unusual and not bad but I'm not sure why they cut up the piece of steak into itty-bitty small pieces

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Durian!

For the benefit of a certain friend who now lives in London where it's impossible to find the King of Fruits! This was in Kuantan, Malaysia and very expensive because it's the end of the season - this lot cost RM60! (normally less than half the price) We bought three types - bitter, creamy and more fragrant. Eat your heart out Y.. :-)

Apologies for the poor photos - taken with my phone in bad lighting.






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Mua chee!

New stall opposite the Post Office on level 3 of Suntec selling mua chee (click here to find out more) 'fresh' from the pot. Delicious and chewy. Yummm....




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Quan Xiang Yuan @ Jalan Besar - allegedly Hokkien food

Dinner with some friends at this Hokkien restaurant in Jalan Besar, Singapore. I said allegedly Hokkien because just about the only thing I thought was Hokkien was the noodles and the restaurant people! :)





From top (left to right): Hokkien noodles, mixed platter with lots of liver which my friends loved (I'm not a liver fan), sambal kangkong (not Hokkien??), fish maw soup cooked like they normally do shark's fin, braised meat in bun (not sure what it's called)

All-in-all, not fantastic food but decent enough and cheap!

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Mee Suah at Old Airport Road

One of my colleagues drives to work so we snuck out for lunch one day at the finally reopened Old Airport Road Hawker Centre in Geylang. I had Mee Suah at a stall that also made chee cheong fan in front of you (with steamer and all that stuff). Bloody fantastic Mee Suah (or is it because I haven't had one for ages??) I need to go back and eat it again soon!



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The noodle shop in Sham Shui Po

This shop is very famous for it's beef noodles which I found was only ordinary. But the queues don't lie - they have expanded to three separate shops on the same street and each one has a queue of at least eight to ten people waiting. I should have taken photos of the queues!

Wai Kee Noodle Cafe


My rather bland noodles since I don't like liver which seem a favourite. Mine was beef slices with luncheon meat. I was really hoping for the noodles to be delicious but like I said, it was pretty ordinary.

What I realllllly liked though was a suprise. My friend wanted to try their kaya French toast thing and it was to die for. Pour lots of honey to really enjoy it!



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Small claypot in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Dinner at a small claypot (poh chai fan) restaurant called Kam Lam Wu (Golden blue lake hahaha) in Jardine's Bazaar in Causeway Bay:





From top (left to right): Milk mixed with cream soda (weird drink that my friend ordered), choy sum with garlic, fish breast meat (well that part of the fish anyway) in claypot, minced meat and pickled vegetable rice claypot, panfried dried scallop meat pattie

Followed by dessert in Kung Wo Tong, also in Causeway Bay, near Times Square - Guilingo and five flower tea (literal translation)



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Mongkok, Hong Kong

Curry fish balls - my favourite place in Hong Kong on the corner of Bute Street and Nullah Road in Mongkok



Taiwanese food near the fish ball place. Nothing special but I do like the simple things in life sometimes. :-)





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Bing Sheng

Dinner time in Guangzhou - this restaurant is famous for it's roast dishes and is named after it's founder. Our dinner bill after seven fantastic dishes was RMB230 (USD33 or SGD51). Photos are from two nights of eating there. :-) The highlight is the crispy fried fatty char siew (fourth picture) and the white noodles (like chee cheong fan) dipped in a soya sauce based mixture and chilli. Delish!

http://www.bingsheng.com/








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