France-Soir

I heard so much about this place, the history, the French Onion Soup, Steam Mussels, Cream Brulee etc. But haven't had much luck getting a table (earlier table). The place is constantly packed regardless of day and time! Yes, I wasn't organised enough but with friends not finishing work on time 99% of the day(Yes! Even worst on weekend) contributed a lot for disorganising :P

Sunday night wasn't any different. It was a pretty last minute confirmation that we were going France-Soir for a "farewell" dinner. Made the booking in the afternoon and earliest table available for 8 was at 9:30p.m.

I had to break my own rule for not staying out late on Sunday night. Because as I need to start my day very early on weekdays, I try to sleep early on Sunday night and be fresh on Monday morning so that I can survive thru the long week. But I definitely didn't regret breaking my own rule!

It wasn't easy to decide what to order. I want to try almost everything! In the end to avoid wasting food, Mr and me decided to order 2 Entree, 2 Main and 1 Dessert.

Mr. and me definitely tasted more than we ordered but I'm only going to write the dishes we ordered.

We started the dinner with the famous French Onion Soup and Grilled Scampis with Lemongrass.


Soupe a l'ognon gratinee - The soup was deep brown colour, thick with lots and lots of onions and melted cheese on the top. It was full of flavour and not too saltish(I like it). I generally find that soup served in cafe and restaurant is too saltish for my taste bud. Every spoonful was filled with lots of onions! I was beginning to wonder how much onions do they used for each meal service? How many onions were in that bowl of soup? I hope the onions were all peeled and sliced by machine. Doubt any kitchen hand can handle so much peeling and slicing of onions in 1 day.


Langoustines grillees a la citronelle - Scampis were very fresh and cooked to perfection with a hint of lemongrass. I even ended up using bread to sock up all the sweet delicious juices left on the plate.

Mr. had the usual: Medium to Raw Steak with Wild Mushroom Sauce. It also came with a basket of skinny chips which all of us can't help but kept helping ourselves into it.


Cote de boeuf (Rib-Eye)


Wild mushroon/cream


Rib-Eye Steak - The steak was more medium rather than medium to raw which Mr. loved and preferred but that didn't spoilt his meal. It wasn't too char grilled on the outside which I liked.  The steak was still very tender and full of flavour. Mr. definitely enjoyed his steak a lot.

I had the Half Roasted Duckling with Orange Sauce.  I was between choices and told myself I wouldn't go wrong with Duck. French makes fantastic duck isn't it?


Demi-Caneton roti, a l'orange - The duck was cooked perfectly! As you can see from the picture, it wasn't dry and still pink on the inside. At first I though it's going to be hard trying to debone the duck drumstick. But I was totally wrong! The meat just fell off the bone. I didn't feel any slight oiliness in this meal even though duck usually contains a lot of duck fat/oil under the skin.

We did order 3 sides to share but I only took 2 as the other was Butter Lettuce with Blue Cheese Dressing. I don't take blue cheese so I left it out. But others enjoyed the salad a lot. France-Soir is very generous with their blue cheese.


Green Peas, Carrot and Bacon Lardons , Sauteed Mushrooms - Don't be deceived by the look. Although the peas doesn't look appetising but it taste delicious! The Mushroom was fat and juicy. Both sides looks easy to prepare but I doubt so. The easier/simpler it is, the more challenge it is to make it taste better.

Finally we ended the dinner with

Creme Brulee - It was served in a pretty shallow flat dish. The sugar top crust wasn't very burn unlike other places. Is it because we were the only table left? But that didn't affect the silky smooth creamy creme brulee. Someone even pointed out the sides wasn't over cooked unlike a lot of other creme brulee we tried. I totally agreed. There isn't any texture different if you compare the creme surrounding the sides of the dish and in the middle of the dish. Anyone has any clue????

It was Great Food and Fantastic Company! Service was pleasant although there was a man who was drunk, singing out loud in restaurant but that didn't spoilt our lovely dinner.

I can't wait to go back and try more of the other dishes!

Cacao Macarons

Even since falling in love with LuxBite's macarons, I also started buying non LuxBite's macarons when I come across to give it a try.

Mr. and me were at Doncaster Westfield few days ago and saw Cacao store which not only sell chocolates but also macarons. We bought 4 in a box and took it home. It happen we had a few LuxBite's macaron which were bought on weekend. So we decided to have them together to have a comparison. But we only managed to get thru 1 each.

On the left is LuxBite Salted Caramel and on the right is Cacao Salty Caramel.

We were pretty impressed by Cacao's macaron shell. It was crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. But the filling was disappointing, the name says it all. It should be salty but I didn't taste any salt in the filling nor the shell at all. Did the chef forgot about it? The caramel do taste creamy. A lot more buttery when compared to LuxBite, I can even smell the butter! Definitely like LuxBite Salted Caramel more than Cacao reason being LuxBite is saltish enough, not too much nor less. Mr. likes Cacao shell as the sugar bring in a bit of crunch when you bite into it.

The other 3 flavours which we got at Cocao were Mint, Passionfruit and Hazelnut Praline.



Mint shell was pretty and shiny as it was sprinkled with sparkling powder to beautify it. The filling was actually white chocolate infused with mint? It smelled and tasted like spearmint but chocolate and mint didn't blend together. On the 1st bite, I taste the mint and follow by the white chocolate. Taste was totally independent of each other. Towards the end, it was just too sweet for me to handle. Can macaron be too sweet? I know it's suppose to be sweet especially it's made up of so much icing sugar but this is the 1st time I felt it sugar overloaded just by having 1 macaron.



The colour of Passionfruit macaron shell was nice as well. Not too bright but it does looks like a ripe mango rather than a passionfruit pulp. As for the filling, it was chocolate with passionfruit taste. This flavour didn't work for me at all! Can't really taste the passionfruit nor really smell it. :-(

I had both the Mint and Passionfruit flavour while Mr. had the Hazelnut Praline. I was still at work when he had it. Therefore I can't really write much but he did say it was pretty good.

Hunt for macaron continue.......

Cookbook Challenge (Outdoor) - Whole Grilled Fish with Curry Paste

5th Cookbook Challenge Theme is Outdoor.

Dish chosen : Whole Grilled Fish with Curry Paste
Cookbook : Holiday
Author : Bill Granger

I had always wanted to try this recipe ever since I got this book but I have no idea why I waited so long. In fact when I saw the 5th challenge theme, this dish popped up immediately. Barbecue/Grill definitely link to outdoor.

This recipe stated it serve 4. But with only 2 of us, we didn't had any problem finishing up the whole fish. We love seafood maybe that's why. Plus I didn't serve it with rice as suggested. I roasted some potatoes and pumpkin with home grown rosemary instead.

Ingredients
1.5kg Whole Snapper, cleaned, gutted and scaled - I'm not sure how heavy this snapper was. The picture looks strange too because I had all the fins cut off.


2 tablespoons Red Curry Paste - This is the curry powder used to cook fish. I have another curry powder specific for meat and it's the same brand but packaging in green instead of yellow. I'm not too sure what's the different between the curry powder for fish and meat but was told by my FIL I should have both in my kitchen. I just follow his instruction.


1 Lime, sliced, plus 1 tablespoon lime juice
2 tablespoons Grapeseed Oil (or other light-flavoured oil)
Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper

To Serve
Steamed Rice
Lime Wedges

Using a sharp knife, make four or five diagonal cuts in each side of the fish. Push the lime slices into the cavity of the fish.
I also placed some lime slices in the diagonal cuts.



Mix together the red curry paste and lime juice and spread over both sides of the fish. Leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes. - I used more than the suggested lime juice. I didn't manage to marinate for at least 30 minutes. I was running a bit behind time.


Arrange two large pieces of foil slightly overlapping on your work surface and drizzle with half the oil. Put the fish in the middle of the foil, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with the remaining oil. Wrap the fish up well in the foil, then wrap another layer of foil around it.

Preheat your barbecue or chargrill to medium-high. Cook the fish 7-8  minutes on each side, or until the flesh shows white and firm through the cuts you made. Serve with steamed rice.
The weather wasn't suitable for barbecue therefore I popped the whole fish into the oven and finish it off by grilling it.




This is a really simple recipe. Most important is the freshness of the fish. It wasn't too spicy nor too sour even though lime was used. Both of us enjoyed this a lot and it was something different from my usual way of cooking fish.

Hare and Grace

It was Friday, Mr. just finished his week of night and was awake when I got home. Me in the mood of spending some quality time together while Mr. was feeling of heading into the city. Withins minutes, we were both dressed and on our way to the city. Without any reservation on hand, the planned was to walk around and check out some restaurants and were hoping it won't take us to long.

On the way, H recommended Hare and Grace after I requested some suggestion on Twitter. Knowing H, we knew we won't go wrong with her suggestion. Off we go to Hare and Grace after we parked our car. It was a pretty decent walk and discovered the other part of the city which we rarely explore.



Guess who I saw once we stepped into the dining room???? Adriano Zumbo!!!! It was the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival so it wasn't surprise to see him in Melbourne. I'm able to recognise him as I being catching his Zumbo show on SBS online for the past week. No, I did not ask for a autograph or a photo as I felt it's very rude to interrupt him and his friend. He definitely deserved some privacy.

Back to the food. We spend quite a bit of time deciding whether to go for 3 course banquet menu which cost $90 pp. Mr. was interested in trying the steak grill and he also questioned about the 3 course banquet potion. The waiter told us Chef is pretty generous and doesn't allow us to walk out without feeling full. After much hesitation, we went for 3 course. Save us the trouble of picking what to eat. Sometimes it's good to just sit back and relax and let someone do the thinking for you.



We started the meal with bread and butter. I love the butter as it's really light and sprinkled with hazelnut powder. I'm guessing the butter was pre-whipped. It's different from all the other restaurant I being so far.



We had 3 dishes for entree.

1st entree was Braised Red Peppers in their Juice


This dish surprise us. It was really refreshing and light. I was served cold and red pepper was sweet. It's not a dish either of us will chose so both were happy the chef picked it.

2nd entree was Braised Pork Ribs


The meat was braised for a long time because it just melt in your mouth. Do find this dish a bit heavy to be a entree. Flavour was nice but strong.

3rd entree was Scallops Garlic Aioli Herb Breadcrumbs


We had 2 scallops each and it was our favourite dish of all! The herb combination wasn't overpowering, breadcrumb was crunchy and scallop was fresh and cooked beautifully.

At this point both of us were feeling full which was unusual. We were struggling to finish 2 mains and 1 side.

1st Main was Roasted Founder Milk - Fed Mussels Potted Shrimps


This dish tasted light with a hint of milk in the gravy. All the seafood was really fresh.

2nd Main was Braised Beef, Beef Tongue with Vegetable and Mash Potato.


I don't really remember the taste of this dish. I should have kept notes using my iPhone. But this dish left a deep impression on Mr. He even wanted to go back and try their steak. I do remember it's another dish that melts in the mouth. The beef tongue had a pretty firm texture, it was my 1st time eating beef tongue so not too sure what to expect.

Side was Beetroot, Green Strawberry Salad


It was my 1st time eating a unripe strawberry. It was very crunchy but also sour! As for the beetroot, nothing special just normal beetroot.

Up to this point, we were very happy with the meal and definitely enjoying. Can't wait for dessert to be served. We were served with 2 desserts.

1st was Lemon Liquid Tart Sesame, Lemon Passionfruit Juice

2nd was Blackberry Trifle Tahini Custard Macerated Sponge

Both desserts were so beautifully presented! We don't even want to dig into the dish. BUT when we had our 1st mouthful, we were very surprise and very disappointed :-(

In the end, I was the only one finishing both dessert. I reckon I had more than 80% of them. Mr. found the lemon tart too sour. I felt it was meant for someone who loves eating fresh lemon pulps like me. As for the "tart pastry", it wasn't really a pastry made from flour and butter. I think it's made of sesame and it taste bitter if you had it by itself. I wasn't a fan of the "tart pastry" and left it out.

Mr. didn't like the blackberry trifle as well. The sponge was soaked with really strong hard liquor(suspect vodka). As Mr. practically doesn't drink at all, the strong liquor smell and taste turn him off. I can only taste the alcohol and nothing else :-(

Although the dessert was a letdown, I believe we will return and try other dishes and desserts. Service was fantastic and we were very well taken care off. The waiter was definitely right. We left with such a full tummy which will explode any min.

Paella in the Park - Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2011

Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2011 had started 5 days ago. After staying here for 5 years, we finally got our act together and attended some of the events. Today is Day 6 of the festival and I already managed to squeeze in 3 events (planning to write all). But there isn't any plan to attend more till the end of festival.



Paella In The Park was the 1st event we attended. It was held at Bridges Reserve in Coburg last Sunday 3rd March 2011. Mr. loved Paella and it had never occurred to me to give it a try cooking in my own kitchen yet. Just felt it's a dish not easy to master.

Melbourne was blessed with fantastic weather during the weekend. The day was hot, sunny, clear blue sky without a single cloud in the sky!!!! In fact I found myself with a tanned line that evening by just sitting in the sun for 2 hours.

Without entry fee required + nice weather + outdoor venue + live entertainment, it was a very family friendly event. The crowd was already building up when we arrived at the venue with H, our new found friend + makan kaki.

There were quite a few stalls set up but all by Spanish Gourmet Caterers. This was the 3rd time that I came across to them. 1st was the Suzuki Night Market at Victoria Market and 2nd was Johnston Street Fiesta. There were a few varieties of paella available :  Squid Ink, Pork and Mushrooms, Chicken and Chorizo, Vegetarian, Seafood all selling at $10 per plate.

Lucky there were 3 of us, we were able to split the job of getting the food. Each of us with a paid coupon in hand, queuing at individual stall line to buy our chosen paella.



With team work, we were able to combine the jointed effort and tasted all 3 different paella side by side. My attentive Mr. got me and H a glass of ice cold Sangria each.

 I got the Seafood Paella.

 Mr. Vegetarian Paella.

 H got Chicken and Chorizo Paella.

Make a guess which one stand out the most. It was the most unexpected Vegetarian Paella. It was sweet. We got another plate to share after finished all 3. The most disappointing was the Seafood Paella. Couldn't taste the "sea" in the rice till you take bite on the mussel. As for the Chicken and Chorizo, it had the strongest taste of all. Think it's because of the chorizo. Overall, it wasn't too bad.

With our full tummy, we found a nice spot in front of the stage and waited for the live performance, Flamenco to start. Spotted a coffee stall next to the stage and bought a cup of coffee to try. We were hoping for Spanish coffee but it only served Italian coffee. The nice coffee did make up for it.

Cookbook Challenge (Love) - Flourless Hazelnut Chocolate Cake

4th Theme for the Cookbook Challenge is Love. Honestly I was a bit stuck with this theme. How am I going to link the food with Love? Something which I love eating? A dish which uses a ingredient which I love? 

I started seeing others who written about the meal they cooked for Valentine day. I didn't cook anything special. Just steak with 2 sides which all the ingredients were purchased from the Farmers Market the day before and yes I did try new recipe for the 2 sides but I didn't manage to take any photos. So fail big time :-( 

Then it occurred to me, I haven't got the chance to blog about the birthday cake which I made for myself. It was the 1st time I used the recipe. It's a bakecook which I seldom used. I used my birthday present to make the cake which I loved! The present was from my lovely husband. Should fit in the theme right? Or it's still consider cheating??

Mr. kept requesting me to bake my own birthday cake a week or two before the actual day. That is actually pretty unusual! Being together for more than a decade, he had never made such request even for his own birthday. Smell something fishy!!!

A few days before my birthday, I accidentally saw Mr. checking out the KitchenAid website. A stand mixer as gift??? That was my guess as he knows that's one of the many kitchenwares I wanted to add to my kitchen but price was holding me back.

Two days before my birthday, Mr started to hint me about the gift. He even allowed to let me search the house and I can open it if I find it. But he never expected me to find it in less than 1 min!!! Although the house area is pretty big but areas to hid something from each other is pretty limited.

With just a big box + super heavy, I knew it must be the KA stand mixer!!!! Yeah!!! Finally I own it!!!! Plus I love the bright red colour!!!





As there's isn't any discount, Smatchbox gave a free cookbook and offered Mr. the latest edition KitchenAid cookbook. I had flipped thru the book but hadn't got around to try it. What surprised me was it didn't contain much baking recipes at all! A handful of bread making recipes and rest were mostly cooking recipes.

It didn't take me long before having a play with the new toy. On my birthday eve, I baked a tray of chocolate cupcake for work. I was falling in love with my toy. I was learning about my toy.



On my birthday, I started immediately baking my birthday cake once I got home from work. I even managed to document the process.

Cake for the occasion : Flourless Hazelnut Chocolate Cake
Bakebook : Crave a passion for chocolate
Author : Maureen McKeon



Ingredients
300 g chopped dark chocolate
100g unsalted butter
7 large eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
115g caster sugar
80g ground hazelnut

Method
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Butter a 23cm (9 inch) springform tin or deep round cake tin and line in with baking paper.

Melt chocolate and butter gently in a heatproof bowl over hot water, ensuring that the base does not touch the water.


Remove from the heat and allow to cool.


Using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks for 1-2 mins, or until pale and thick and ribbons form when the beaters are lifted out of the mixture.


Using clean beaters, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the sugar, then continue beating until the mixture is stiff but not dry.


Combine the egg yolks and melting chocolate mixture and beat gently. Using a rubber spatula, fold half the meringue into the chocolate mixture, then return this combined mixture to the remaining meringue. Add the ground hazelnuts and fold in gently until combined.

Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 50-55mins, or until the cake comes away slightly from the side of the tin. Allow to cool completely in the tin before turning out.

The cake actually raised a lot during baking. Lucky I laid the baking paper above the tin height as you can see from the photo below. But it started to sink once I took it out from the oven. What did I do wrong?? Over mixed?



It looked all fine when I turnover the cake. Yes it looked ugly but it taste really nice. It was still moist inside :-)



We had it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Just the way we like it.