navigator brasserie @ rhodes shopping centre

Back in my uni days, I used to work at Rhodes Shopping Centre. I was probably there for 2 years and in that time, got to know a lot of the people working in the centre. Strangely enough, one of the girls that worked at the Newsagent @ Rhodes is a girl I work with now in my current job. Small world I say! Anyway, across from the coffee shop I used to work at was this place - Navigator Brasserie. In my whole life of working at Rhodes, I never stepped foot in this place so a few years on (actually Australia Day a few weeks ago), I finally got to try them for the first time.

My Chicken burger - a most decent feed and well worth what you pay for it. Definitely not as a juicy as the burgers from The Counter but this is a trusty, old-fashioned type of burger that is made to satisfy.

J goes for the Beef Burger (which is that extra bit of naughty with the slices of bacon). The boy was satisfied but still thinks The Counter is better.

It was slightly pricey with the surcharge cause of the Public Holiday but food was great and service was attentive. Noticed one of the waitresses had a 'Blackbird Cafe' uniform on - made me wonder whether these guys are part of Blackbird Cafe but in hindsight, could be that the girl was just starting that day or running two jobs. When it comes to food and anything related to food, I probably think too much.

There's outdoor seating here and not being a fan of outdoor seating in general, I actually wouldn't have minded if we sat outside. There's a peace and calm about Rhodes Shopping Centre which makes outdoor seating ok. Anyway, will definitely come back here to try their pizzas and pastas - have heard they're meant to be good!

white chocolate & mixed berry crumble muffins

I think if I were to ever run out of food at my house, I would still have a tray of muffins sitting at attention, ready to be eaten. Yes, I do like baking muffins - they're quick to bake, I seem to almost always have the ingredients at home for a batch and the great thing is that you can bake up so many different combos. Pretty much, whenever I have time, I'll be baking muffins. You can count on it.

This recipe was from Ravinder Bhogal's 'Cook in Boots'. Here recipe was for white chocolate and blueberry - I figured it would be the same if I did white chocolate & mixed berry.

The recipe starts off by making the crumble mixture - combine 50g plain flour, 65g caster sugar, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon and 25g unsalted butter; simply rub till the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Warning - Don't be like me and forget to add the crumble mixture to the batter once it's spooned into the cases!

The muffin batter - Sift 450g plain flour and 2 1/2 tsp baking powder into a bowl and then stir in 175g caster sugar and 1/2 tsp sea salt. Add zest of 1/2 lemon, 200g chopped white chocolate, then pour in 50ml melted unsalted butter, 350ml milk and 1 beaten large egg. Mix till combined and don't forget to add the berries.

In a preheated oven at 190 degrees, the muffins will take about 25 minutes to cook.

Recipe makes 16 fat muffins.

I was quite intrigued by this recipe and how it turned out. It probably wasn't the best muffin I'd made and to be honest, I was surprised that this muffin didn't turn out sweeter. The last recipe I used by Miss Bhogal was very sweet and in a way, I was expecting this recipe to lean towards being overly sweet but good. The quantities also produce a very strange number of muffins (16 fat ones - and I'm quoting the recipe here) and well, that's a lot of muffins to eat when it's just me and my mum who eat them at home. On the plus side, I'd say this was a healthier muffin compared to the ones I usually make and well, I do love baking muffins!

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?!

lychee jelly

After reading Suze's post, I had it in the back of my head to go look for this Aeroplane 'Create-a-Jelly' and whilst idling in the supermarket one day (as I do more often than not), I picked up 2 packs to give it a go. If you haven't read Suze's post, do encourage that you do as she's been a bit more adventurous than me and has tried a few different flavours. I ended up deciding on a lychee jelly.

Ingredients - 2 packs of Aeroplane 'Create-a-Jelly' and 1 can of lychees.

How it works is that you add to each pack of jelly the required amount of boiled water and your chosen juice or flavour. I can't remember exactly what the volume was but my 2 packs of jelly worked with that 1 can of lychees. This is probably the perfect recipe if you're planning to make a dessert and haven't had time to check the exact quantities that you need. Note that with the lychees, you'll need to use up all the juice in the can (so don't start straining it).

I made my jellies in these moulds I had sitting at home. A lesson I learnt is that make sure you've got the bottoms firmly tightened on (else you'll have the case of the disappearing jelly and a wet bench - my dad was fascinated with what I was doing for awhile until the jelly was running over the bench and he just shook his head). And yep, one of our moulds is jumbo sized!!

The jelly probably looks better in the pic above where they're in their colourful moulds. After refrigerating, I tried to unmould and here's what they looked like - jelly was stuck to the sides. Mum reckons it was cause the jelly wasn't quite firm enough (i.e. I had too much liquid in it).

Ugly jellies or not, these tasted great and were super easy to make. I know jelly isn't hard to make at all but I think Aeroplane have done a good job with this 'Create-a-Jelly'; it actually works and it's not expensive. Anyway, I've already started thinking of some flavours I'll get around to - Longan, Pineapple. Mum was thinking Coconut. Typing this post and drinking my can of Grass Jelly, I'm thinking that Grass Jelly might work too or how about a can of green tea? I'll keep you posted!