la cachette @ mitchell rd., erskineville

There's days when I have to admit I'm getting old; and usually I feel it more so when it's yet another younger cousins birthday; gone are the days when they were children and are now actually starting uni and doing all those grown up things; where did the time go? Happy Birthday cousin C!

This birthday called for a brunch celebration at La Cachette in Erskineville. Recently under new management and just happens so to be the auntie and uncle team of my one of my younger cousin's girlfriend. They're serving up Toby Estate coffee which is already a win.

The big breakfast which is a hearty feed and a great way to start the day.

Having had a bite to eat that morning, I opted for a lunch selection and went for the Chicken & Vegetable Pie. Looked good when it was sitting in the cabinet as a whole pie and tasted even better on my plate. Sources tell me that the pies are home mad so well worth a try.

Great place to start the weekend and excited to see what new items they bring to the menu in the coming months. Erskineville is conveniently placed for those who want to head out to Marrickville for one of their famous pork rolls; which is exactly what we did afterwards!

coffee cake

I secretly love birthdays; it doesn't even have to be my birthday, it can be anyones and I still love it. I love celebrating, I love giving presents (and of course receiving them) but most of all, I love birthday cake. For years, I've vowed to bake everyone a birthday cake for their birthday but so far I've managed in two instances, the first was for my best friend's 18th birthday and the second instance was just the other Friday where I had the day off work and baked dad his birthday cake. I'm promising myself once again that I'll make more of an effort; it really is worth it in the end.

This recipe comes from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook; the very place which I'd love to visit!

Start by making a coffee essence. Put 2 tbsp instant coffee granules and 170mL water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil over medium heat. Boil until reduced by half, then remove from the heat and leave to cool completely. Set aside a tablespoon of the essence to use in the frosting.

Preheat oven to 170 degrees. In a large bowl, combine 450g softened unsalted butter, 450g caster sugar and cold coffee essencewith a hand held electric mixer. Add 8 eggs one at a time, mixing well until incorporated. Beat in 450g plain flour, 2 tbsp baking powder and 2 tsp cocoa powder and mix well.

Line a ring mould as per below.

Pour the mixture into the prepared ring mould and smooth over with a knife. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes or until the sponge feels firm to the touch.

In the meantime, prepare the coffee vanilla frosting by beating 250g sifted icing sugar and 80g softened unsalted butter with a mixer. Combine 25mL milk and a couple of drops of vanilla extract in a separate bowl and then gradually add to the butter and sugar mixture. Once all the milk has been incorporated, add in the reserved tablespoon of coffee essence and turn the mixer up to high speed and continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy (at least 5 minutes). Prepare the shaved chocolate shaving by grating 60g dark chocolate with a cheese grater.

Here's the cake after 40 minutes!

Place the cake on a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

When the cake is cold, put on a serving plate and cover the top with the frosting.

Decorate with chocolate shavings.

As I was making the cake a day in advance (and with it being extremely hot!), here's the contraption I made to store the cake in the fridge. Had both the mum and boy laugh at me which wasn't particularly nice - especially cause I had to keep cutting away at the skewers until it managed to fit in the fridge!

We had a big extended family dinner the next day and everyone came back home to eat the cake. Despite taking it out of the fridge for a good hour, it hadn't quite defrosted so the texture of the cake was a little hard but smelt absolutely divine. On my second piece, I actually microwaved the slice which returned the cake to its soft and spongy texture, but unfortunately the icing did melt a little. So yes, had I more time that morning of the birthday, it probably would've been better to make it then but otherwise a very lovely cake which ended up being gigantically big (nothing like the pic in the book!)

Happy birthday dad! Hope you had an awesome birthday!

adriano zumbo cafe @ terry st., rozelle

First post of 2011! I've been busy enjoying the Christmas & New Year holidays and can't believe another year has come around already. The last month was a bit of a whirlwind starting from my birthday, then it was Christmas parties, friends being back in the country and catching up, a mini trip to Kiama, New Years Eve and of course plenty of food and drink along the way! Hope everyone had a good Christmas and Happy New Year!

Couldn't decide where to start the year on this blog so figured it would make the most sense to start where I left off. It's been a good month since my last post and looking at my photos, a LOT of food appears to have been consumed along the way. 

My birthday breakfast @ Adriano Zumbo Cafe. I had the day off work and spent it with the boy traipsing around Sydney eating and eating.

 The boy's Berry Brioche.

The view from where we were sitting. Don't underestimate how long it takes to assemble a macaron tower - probably takes a good 30-40 minutes. Every now and then, I was tempted to knock on the window to tell the girl where she had left a gap but I think she had it under control.

 The boy was feeling peckish and grabbed a lamb sausage roll to top of his brioche. Loved the buttery and flaky pastry!

 I probably looked a bit stupid to passerbys but hey, it was my birthday and a picture with the Zumbo wall was more than appropriate.

 A box of macarons for the road. Do not leave these in the car on a hot day; ended up having a few melting macarons by the time we got home - all the more reason to gobble them up quickly.

I guess you would call this Part 1 of my birthday adventures. Plenty more eating that day and then the birthday celebrations somehow carried themselves across to the weekend and beyond. Anyway, posts to follow!

kazbah @ darling st., balmain

If you're looking for a place to have breakfast, look no further than Kazbah @ Darling St., Balmain. Sure, I'd read a lot about them and knew from reviews that they were good. Trying it for myself, I was completely wow-ed over - it was unquestionably the best breakfast that I've had and it was a breakfast eaten in a group; now how on earth do you cater breakfast to a group of people?

The occasion was Mrs Rookie's 25th birthday where she'd invited a group of us to join her for a breakfast banquet at Kazbah. The breakfast banquet is $25 per person and is designed as a shared menu and incorporates a broad range of dishes from the a la carte menu.

J&I were the first to arrive. J takes the opportunity to do some artistic photos. He's getting pretty good with that camera of his!

The b'day girl with her present (a Jamie Oliver flavour shaker from J& I). Char - let me know if it works!

To start - Date & Banana Porridge with Stewed Rhubarb.

Sweet Couscous with nuts and dried fruits.

The sweet couscous is served with a side of stewed rhubarb, brown sugar and cardamom milk on the side (both hold and cold milk). It was my first time eating sweet couscous and it was delicious!

Warm rice pudding, saffron poached pear, cinnamon and hazelnuts. I always thought rice pudding was an after dinner dessert but arguably, it tastes just as good, if not better first up in the morning.

A banana and strawberry smoothie - note that these drinks are not part of the banquet menu. In hindsight, I probably would've ordered myself a cup of tea for all the food that was yet to come to the table. 

My favourite that morning had to be these tagines - here's the Lamb Mince, sucuk, feta, spinach, roast capsicum, caramelised onion, roast tomato, eggs tagine. The other was a pumpkin, feta, spinach, roast capsicum, caramelised onion, roast tomato, eggs tagine. I can't even describe how delicious these were! If anything, I've been so inspired that I've walked into Myer a couple of times almost buying one of these tagine pots to cook my own (only thing is, they're actually quite expensive!)

The tagines are served with a side of turkish toast and lebanese bread.

Poached, scrambled and fried eggs on turkish toast (all bases covered!)

Merguez sausage, bacon, halloumi, roasted tomato and hash browns.

Mushrooms, spinach and baked beans.

And if you thought that was all the food - here come the pancakes! Banana and strawberry with maple syrup and double cream.

Chocolate and raspberry with butterscotch sauce and chocolate fudge icecream. Both pancakes got picked at - we were just too full to eat it all.

I think I had at least 4 times my usual breakfast that morning. Having started at 11 in the morning, we finished up sometime past 2pm (by that time, we were all so full and couldn't really move!) If I didn't have to drive, I would definitely had slept in the car on the way home.

Highly recommend group functions here. Keep in mind that it can get a little warm sitting inside on a hot day (as the restaurant opens out to the street and you only have the overhead fans to keep you cool). Service is wonderful, the food is fantastic and well, the food just keeps coming!

Thanks Char for the invite, hope you had a fantastic b'day!

new shanghai restaurant @ chatswood chase

For my cousin B's birthday, we celebrated at New Shanghai Restaurant @ Chatswood Chase. This is the newly furnished version of New Shanghai (you can find other branches in Lemongrove Shopping Centre and also Ashfield). I've been to the one at Lemongrove and without doubt, this one at Chatswood Chase is much fancier.

The birthday boy at the head of the table.

My family were the first family to arrive after the birthday boy so we took our places near the head of the table. The reason why I say this place is fancy? Well, take a look at the decorations you see in this pic. There are paintings adorning the walls, the tableware is modernly chic, there's a touch of authenticity (with the wooden furniture) and my favourite would be the wooden table blocks holding the sauces (is there a name for these things?)

The ordering of dinner was quite an event in itself. With the volume of food we ordered, we had three waitresses try to tell us that we'd ordered too much food. We were insistent that we could eat it. They were insistent that we couldn't and stressed that 'never in the life of this restaurant has any table ordered this much food' (and I kid you not, those were their exact words). In the end, we ordered everything we wanted and well, there were quite a few takeaway boxes but it was all in good fun! Here's the Minced Pork Noodles...

Boiled Dumplings and one of my favourites from the night (if only I knew what it was called?!), prawns deep fried in an egg yolk batter. They were divine (probably not good in terms of cholesterol but absolutely divine!)

Xiao Long Bao (definitely one of the staples to order).

Shandong Chicken. Love this one. Great also that the sauce comes separate so that the crispy skin of the chicken doesn't get soggy.

Braised Pork Belly. The size of the pot is a little misleading but eat a piece of this, you'll think twice about wondering why they don't fill up the entire pot.

Boiled dumplings in a peanut sauce. As heavy as this one looks, I do love it!

Every inch of the table was covered up with food.

After awhile, it did get a little stuffy in the restaurant (we were at the back where the entrance to the kitchen was). Without any water in sight, J resorts to drinking some dumpling soup with a straw.

So how many boxes of takeaway did we have at the end of the night? I think it was 11 and each and every one of them was packed to the brim. I actually don't mind Shanghai food eaten the next day - it reheats well in the microwave and retains a lot of the flavour. I asked my dad what he thought of this place (he rarely likes to try something new) and well, he thought it was ok. He still thinks that the Eastwood Peking Restaurant better and between him and I, we do miss the the Peking Restaurant that was in Chatswood before they pulled down the lot it was in to build the new council building (I wonder if those owners have reopened up elsewhere?)

Anyway, Happy Birthday B!

chocolate cheesecake

When I made my last Japanese cheesecake, my cousin B requested for a chocolate version of it and with his birthday coming up, it was only fitting that I make one for his birthday. Unfortunately Harumi (the last recipe I used) didn't have a chocolate version of it and well given that recipe was for a Japanese cheesecake (which is by nature light and fluffy), changing the recipe didn't seem like a particularly good idea. Chocolate is unquestionably rich and without too much more thinking , I knew which recipe I'd use - Nigella's 'Chocolate Cheesecake' from her book 'Feast'.

Start by making the base. Process 125g digestive biscuits to make rough crumbs and then add 60g melted butter and 1 tbsp cocoa. Combine till you form rough crumbs and then tip them into a 23cm springform tin. Press the biscuit crumbs into the bottom of the tin to make an even base and put into the fridge while you make the filling.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Put the kettle on to boil. Melt 175g chopped dark chocolate and set aside to cool.

Beat 500g cream cheese to soften it, and then add 150g caster sugar and 1 tbsp custard powder and then beat again to combine. Beat in 3 whole eggs and then 3 egg yolks, and 150ml sour cream. Finally add 1/2 tsp cocoa (dissolved in 1 tbsp hot water) and the melted chocolate, and mix to a smooth batter.

Take the springform tin out of the fridge and line the outside of the tin with aluminium foil. Sit the springform tin in a roasting pan and pour in the cheesecake filling. Fill the roasting pan with just boiled water to come about halfway up the cake tin.

Bake in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour.

The top of the cheesecake should be set, but the underneath should have a slight wobble to it.

Peel away the aluminium foil and sit the cheesecake in its tin on a rack to cool. Put it the fridge once it's no longer hot, and leave to set, covered with clingform over night.

Let it lose its chill before unspringing the cheesecake to serve.

To make the cheesecake a little bit more fancy, you can make a chocolate glaze. Melt 75g chopped dark chocolate , with 125ml cream and 1 tsp golden syrup. When the chocolate has nearly melted, take off the heat and whisk it to a smooth sauce. Let it cool a little and then drizzle over the chocolate cheesecake on its serving plate. You can use the remaining glaze as an accompanying sauce.

Cake innards!

This cheesecake is probably not one that you'll eat a huge chunk of in one sitting but one that you'll addictively eat in slivers over multiple sittings. The birthday boy was no doubt ecstatic about his chocolate cheesecake but it seems most were in agreement that a good job was done with this one. The one boo boo I made was chilling the cheesecake when it hadn't quite cooled down so I had condensation marks on top of the cake which thankfully, that chocolate glaze can very cleverly cover. To be honest, the cake can do without the sauce and most of the cake was eaten with most of the sauce left over. Hmm...what cheesecake to make next?!