Review: Spice I Am, Darlinghurst

About a week ago AL, VH and I decided to hit up Spice I Am in Darlinghurst, located beside the lovely Tastevin which we had been the secret hideout of our previous girly gossip session. Despite each of us going on separate ways post-high school, each and every one of these meetings remind us of just how little we have grown up...

Booking a table in the lounge section in front of the bar meant that we simply could not control our alcoholic tendencies. Besides, what's a gossip session without the cocktails?

Luckily for us, Spice I Am does a range of scumpdiddlyumptious fruity cocktails.

Canadian Summer (left): Fresh corindi raspberries, Canadian Club Whisky, Absolut Raspberry vodka, French rockmelon liqueur, and ruby red grapefruit juice

Tiger Paw (right): Crushed pineapple, panama passionfruit, Wybowora apple vodka, French mango liqueur, and a touch of tiger secret

I rest my case.

Bour Tod (Phuket style fritter of green school prawns on crispy betel leaf with chilli sauce, crushed cashew nuts and coriander) - $14

I'd like to point out right about here that the waitress in charge of my area was perhaps one of the most lovely and attentive waitress I've encountered in my various roamings around Sydney's eateries. This Betel Leaf dish was one of her many recommendations for our table, and it was most certainly a winner.

If you ever visit Spice I Am, do yourself a favour and try it. Who knew a piece of leaf could taste so good?

Roast Duck salad served with whole cashews, chilli and lemongrass (seasonal special)

The roast duck salad was most definitely a winner with all of us at the table as the plate disappeared before you could even take a deep breath to soak up the aromas. Every mouthful was bursting with fragrance, flavour and fire.

Yeah fire. Did I mention that the dish was damn-freakin' hot?

As I quickly guzzled down water to put out the fire in my mouth, AL and her Malay innards pointed and laughed at me the way Ralph does in Simpsons. Despite practically losing my oral sensations, I still happily licked the plate clean. It was that good.

Pla Yum Ma Muang - Deep fried whole baby snapper with green mango salad, palm sugar, garlic and red chilli dressing - $38

Hello SK! This snapper is for you!

Anyway, I may have forgotten to mention that when our table ordered the snapper as one of our main, our ever-helpful waitress took a quick look at us before warning that the dish could feed us 4 times over. But then who can say no to deep fried snapper? I mean, you're talking about the person who could eat a chairleg deep fried. The snapper had to stay, and to that end we quickly struck off a few other dishes and stayed with this one.

Was I glad? You can bet your FIFA World Cup that I was.

The snapper was so moist and juicy on the inside, and the mango salad dressed on top was a real tangy hit to rid of any hint of greasiness from the deep frying. (What greasiness? Pfft...) I think I may have demolished 3/4 of the dish as AL and VH watched in horror.

Yum Hua Plee - Shredded banana flower with king prawns, roasted coconuts, shallots, chilli, coriander and nam pik pao dressing - $35

Back when we were in Hoi An, Vietnam, AL, VH and I all attended a private cooking class where we learnt how to make banana flower salad. From that day on not only did we fall in love with the incredible flavours of the dish - spicy, tangy, refreshing, fragrant, savoury, sweet, you name it - but everything about this dish brings back memories of our epic trip and sunfilled days biking around Vietnam.

This one was no different, except when it arrived all we could really talk about was how the banana flower market in Sydney may as well be a black market. I never see any around my area, but AL claimed to see them selling at $6 each in Cabramatta. I think I nearly choked when I heard that. Imagine what the prices would've been like during the banana crisis we had a few year back.

Hello QLD? Sharing is caring.

Khao Naew Ma Muang - Sticky rice served with fresh nam dok mai mango and coconut sauce - $20

The great thing about Spice I Am is that this is most definitely a place you could hit up later in the night for a good cocktail and grab some dessert. This Khao Naew Ma Muang was to die for, combining a delicate balance between a light savouriness in the sticky rice, the tangy bite of the mango and a light, smooth and creamy sweetness from the coconut sauce. Needless to say I was too full to fully devour this, but this is something that I would definitely reorder on my next visit back.

Saa Ku - Tapioca pearl with coconut and dark palm sugar sauce - $15

Oh heaven save me from my ever-increasingly bulgy stomach. Not only was this a great dessert to finish the night off with, but the mango iced topping worked surprisingly well as a refreshing palate cleanser with light coconut milk syrup being beautifully indulgent without the richness. Unfortunately our three spoons simply did not fit well in the glass all at the same time so the table descended into anarchic hell as we turned our spoons into swords and battled down to the very last morsel of this dessert.

Classy as always. Interpret how you will.

Spice I Am

296-300 Victoria Street

Darlinghurst, NSW 2010

Tel: (02) 9332 2445

http://www.spiceiam.com/the-restaurant/index.html

Review: Newtown Thai, Newtown

You know the feeling you get when you've walked up and down a street with a friend and compiled a long list of restaurants that you both want to try but you just can't choose? Well this was one of those days where WX and I had a lot of time on our hands, weren't particularly starving and just generally being indecisive. When you're faced with a street of eateries ranging from African and Italian to Japanese and Mexican, it really is hard to decide. But then again, when you're at the age that WX and I are at and you've been heading out to at least two 21st birthday parties every weekend, then the deciding factor is usually price. So after thirty minutes we finally settled on Newtown Thai.

Now, if you know me, you'll know that I have a ridiculously fast metabolism or digestive system. So when I mentioned that I wasn't particularly hungry, I wasn't lying - but by the time we sat down my stomach told me it was at the other end of the spectrum already and really needed feeding. For entree, we picked the Heavenly Crab and the Satay Chicken which I think was quite a nice balance between boring (but delicious) and different (but equally delicious) starters. If my parents had come along, I can just hear them saying, "It's not worth getting those fried foods, they're only there to attract Western customers - it's not worth the money blah blah blah!" I think both WX and I agreed that once in a while we actually wanted to disobey that rule and just eat fried foods to our hearts content, no matter how much it wasn't worth it. Aside from a bit of excessive batter taking away from the actual crab flesh, it sure did satisfy my craving!

Heavenly Crab (4pc) $6.60

When the Satay Chicken arrived, I was a bit taken aback by the large amount of sauce that overflowed from the dish. With that amount of sauce, I couldn't really taste much of the chicken but rather a huge flavour hit. I can't say I was particularly fond of this one in comparison to others I've tried but the satay sauce really spurred me on to finish the large bowl of rice that we ordered.

Satay Chicken (4 Sticks) $6.60

What followed the entree were two large dishes of what I'd like to call 'stomach impulse' or you could just call us greedy. WX ordered the Duck Curry while I went for a Chicken Pad See Eiw which, upon arrival, alerted us to the fact that plastic takeaway boxes were also in order. At this point, I was faced with a bit of a dilemma. My recent food fetish for duck meant that I was constantly attacking the former dish but trying hard to avoid the curry! Yes, I'm not a big fan of Thai curry but it seriously didn't stop me from loving the tender flesh of the duck. Next time however, if not for WX's determination to get curry, I will just get the stir fried form. Admittedly, for those who do like Thai curry, the duck really did absorb a lot of the curry flavour and aroma making it all the more succulent!

Duck Curry $12.90

The chicken was a lot nicer on my tastebuds and normally I would be complaining about the rough texture of the chicken breast but the way they cooked it made me keep my mouth shut for the duration of consumption especially with a nice balance of veges and flat noodles. By the time WX finished eating, these two dishes looked like they were virtually untouched and even though I tried to stomach as much as I could, we left the restaurant with two nice boxes of Thai to fuel our adventures of a new day.

Chicken Pad See Eiew $8.90

Newtown Thai might not be the best Thai around, but it's definitely value for money and generally a lot better than any of the Thai places in the heart of the CBD. Oh...and I forgot to mention, if you're ever in the area on the way home, this place does extremely efficient takeaway and although I haven't got any for myself, just sitting there for the duration of our dinner, we could tell that they're quite reputable in the area for takeaway - definitely worth a try! :)

Newtown Thai
177 King Street
Newtown, 2046
PH: (02) 9557 2425

Review: Thai Break, Macquarie Centre

A couple of weeks ago AL, EY and I all decided to go to Macquarie to do a bit of shopping. However, it wasn't just any old shopping trip...

It was a "Look EY, you're 21 now, let's get you dressed more like a twenty-something year old than a gangster wannabe...yes? Yes."

In other words, we dragged EY to get some decent clothing, even if it meant we had to restrain his kicking and screaming.

Alas! I'm too dramatic for this blog...

Long story short, before we could even get started, I demanded that we grab a bite to eat because I was starving. Lunch was never in the original plan, but heck. Food is food. And hence I didn't bring the DSLR - so please bear with the dodgy quality of my phone. Danghers to you Samsung!

Some things just don't change- including the part where we couldn't really decide on where to eat.Eventually we settled for Thai Break, which is situated on the upper level of Macquarie shopping centre. The design of the place is pretty simple and not the slightest bit pretentious in any manner. I would say the same for its food.Laab Gai

My choice for the day was Laab Gai. Its not a dish I would typically order, but I was really in the mood for something tasty but light (and not a salad. I've been eating waaaaaay too much salad from Stock Market at uni.)

I was pretty happy with the serving size - it was absolutely GINORMOUS. However, there was a little too much dressing running around the base of the plate, which meant that the rice was often too salty on the bottom, which meant I had to drink a lot of water to keep myself hydrated. It was delicious nevertheless - spicy, tangy and all the great things I love about Thai food.

Boat Noodles

AL decided to try the Boat Noodles. I kicked myself hard after tasting it for not having ordered this dish. It was definitely a winner on the table.

Pad See Ew

EY went for the Pad See Ew - a dish that rarely goes wrong. The serving size was a tad small, but EY was pretty happy with it considering he wasn't feeling like he could eat an entire cow anyway. All was well in the world.

So would I come back here? Yeah sure why not? Speed, ease and affordability right in the middle of a shopping centre - perfect competition for the food courts around.

Thai Break
Shop 454A
Macquarie Shopping Centre
Cnr Herring & Waterloo Road
North Ryde NSW 2113
Tel: (02) 9870 7733

Shrimp Paste Fried Rice

I love shrimp paste.

I love shrimp paste.

I love shrimp paste.


And I think I've made my point. I'll get on with the rest of the post now.

Oh, and before I start:SHRIMP PASTE!

When I was young I used to hate shrimp paste. I blame it on the fact that my mother used it as liberally as any child would with Nutella.

Anyone who has ever come anywhere near shrimp paste would know that it was NEVER meant to be spread like Nutella. I think if it weren't for my rebellish side and my perchant to throw out anything I disliked in my lunchbox, my innards would have been well and truly cured by now.

Luckily I fell in love with shrimp paste fried rice, credits to the overabundance of Thai food around Sydney. Not that I'm complaining.

It's a wonderfully versatile dish, especially good if you're scratching your brains as to what to do with leftover rice. Or if you're like me, then you just deliberately cook to much rice the previous night so that you get an excuse to use the shrimp paste sitting in the fridge.

Apart from the day-old rice, the cast of characters involves eggs, spring onions and coriander.And any meat available (I sliced some braised pork belly that my father made, but could just use any sort of marinade meat).


And ginger. Just a little.And then some peas and corns.

And some diced pineapples. I love pineapples. If you have the fresh stuff, good for you. But I didn't, so I used canned. Forgive me.

Fry up the shrimp paste with a little oil and ginger until fragrant. Take a big whiff and enjoy the fishy goodness.

Some people would run a mile just to get away from this smell. Others would just get high off it. I think I belong in the latter category.

Add the rice and meat and give it a good toss around. Don't beat the rice up too much or you'll break the grains. If your meat is raw then cook the meat first before throwing it in.
Add the egg and peas, and give it a good toss around once again.

Don't start me on how real Asians don't add peas and corn in their fried rice. This is my cooking, I add what I like. Feel free to do it your own way. That's part of the joy of cooking!

Next add the pineapple. Feel free to caramelise it in another pan before adding it to the fried rice. I was in a rush so I skipped that part.

Please add pineapple. Shrimp paste and pineapples generate R rated results. Failproof.

Next, turn the heat down completely and throw in the coriander and spring onions and toss through. Turn off heat and serve.

Shoo! Now go make this and enjoy it!

Shrimp Paste Fried Rice
Serves: 1

Buy:
2 Eggs
1/2 tsp Chicken Powder
5 sprigs Coriander, finely chopped
1/2 stalk Spring Onion, finely chopped
4 thin juliennes Ginger
1/4 cup frozen Peas and Corn
2 slices Pineapple, diced
1 tsp Shrimp Paste
1/4 cup Pork, chopped
1 bowl Leftover rice. (Just add however much you can eat)

Cook:

1. Beat eggs with chicken powder and fry in a pan until just cooked. Set aside.
2. Grill or fry pineapple pieces until caramelised, set aside
   
3. Add oil to pan and fry shrimp paste with ginger, until fragrant
4. If you have raw pork, then add raw pork and fry until cooked. Otherwise add rice and cooked pork together and toss until rice is well coated with paste
5. Add peas and corn and fried eggs and break up egg through the rice
6. Add pineapple and toss through rice.
7. Turn heat to low and add spring onions and coriander. Toss through and turn off heat.
8. Serve in a bowl topped with more spring onions and coriander.
9. Do yourself a favour and make yourself some pina colada while you're at it.
10. Cheers.
    

Review: Chilli Jam, Concord

So following on from the Risotto we had on Sunday, DW, WW and I decided to take a break from our study session and head to dinner at Chilli Jam in Concord. It was a well deserved break as we had been madly slaving away at our assignment all afternoon and had pretty much fried our brains by the time dinner ticked around.

The place was picked by yours truly, purely and simply because I was the host and knew my area. (Makes sense right?) I'd been eyeing Chilli Jam for some time now as a target for my foodieventures, and on Sunday, the timing just felt right.

Money Bags - $7.90

The place was pretty quiet in terms of number of customers for a Sunday night. There were plenty of empty seats and we were quickly seated despite not having booked earlier. The design of the place is visually pleasing with dim lights and dark wooden furniture, spiced up with different seating arrangements around the large venue. It was also spacious, helped along by its high ceilings. On the downside were the concrete walls, which meant that noise reverberated straight off the walls, making it considerably loud given the number of people inside.

Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab - $12.90

We began our night with a serve of Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab and Money Bags. I personally love Money Bags (haha, get it?), but these ones were rather disappointing as they tasted like they had either been double-fried or just overdone. The filling itself left much to be desired as it just looked like a brown paste with an occasional pea somewhere inside.

The Soft Shell Crabs were also disappointing. DW loves her Soft Shell Crab and claims that these ones came nowhere close to the level of quality you get at Thai Pothong. There was a strong taste of fishiness, which suggests that the crabs were not very fresh at all.

Pad Thai (Beef) - $12.90

Luckily there was a change in our luck once DW's Pad Thai appeared before our eyes. The noodles were soft and delicately flavoured. I found the dish to be a tad on the sweet side, which made the additional mound of sugar provided on the side between the chilli flakes and bean sprouts (not visible in the picture) rather bizarre. I generally enjoy a squeeze of lemon/lime on my Pad Thai, but DW happily went without.

Oh, and as you may have noticed, the pricing is a little weird in this place.

Stir-fry Prawns in Garlic and Pepper Sauce - $16.90

The above picture is WW's Prawn in Garlic and Pepper Sauce. I will tell you now that when this dish came out, I had an inkling of regret in me for not having picked it. If heaven had a smell, this would be it.

And as such, it is reasonably foreseeable that DW and I both started picking away at the plate, possibly to WW's dismay. The prawns were bursty and full of flavour, and the vegetables still retained their crunch with vibrancy in colour. And the sauce? Well, we all agreed that we couldn't really tell where the garlic or the pepper came into play, but it was still incredibly delicious nevertheless.

Massamun Curry - $12.90

Roti - $3

Next up was my Massamun Curry, served with Roti. I'm a huge fan of massamun curry - the tenderness of the beef and potatoes, all served with a generous serving of jasmine rice, is simply to die for.

This time, however, I decided to give Roti a try. I had never tried one before, but in my mind I had always pictured it to be somewhat like a cross between an Indian Naan and a Shanghainese Shallot Pancake. I guess I was somewhat right when I finally bit into it. It was just so flaky and full of flavour, yet soft and complimented the curry very well.

The beef chunks in the curry at Chilli Jam were a bit disappointing. Due to the INCREDIBLY large pieces of meat they have, they were pretty tough and incredibly hard to eat. I didn't end up finishing my bowl, but the serving sizes at Chilli Jam are quite large, and each serve could have easily fed two people.

Overall I believe the 6.5 average score for Chilli Jam on Eatability was pretty much spot on. Some things about the place were great, while others were huge let downs. I would probably come back for the Prawn stirfry.


Chilli Jam
104 Majors Bay Road
Concord, NSW 2137
Tel: (02) 9743 3400

Review: ThaiExpress, World Square Sydney

Ger?

Yes. I had Thai two nights in a row this week. This time I was with a bunch of friends heading over to another friend's 21st, so we decided to drop by a place which we've often visited as a group, for old times' sake.

ThaiExpress is a cozy and dimly-lit Thai eatery tucked away in World Square's nom nom alleyway. While I wouldn't call it the most amazing Thai restaurant in Sydney, the large range of dishes available at decent prices (though you could definitely could find cheaper places that provide larger servings), its location and quick service caters well to large groups of poor uni students on the run like us.

The picture above was CH's meal that night. I'm not entirely sure exactly what he ordered, but my guess is somewhere along the lines of Basil Beef Rice.

Next up, AX's Fire Beef Noodles.


This dish smelled like heaven. It made me wish that my plate would come out sooner so that I wouldn't be drooling all over someone else's plate. But alas the glutton in me got the better of me and I dug in anyway.

The joys of eating out with friends.


This was my dish. Shrimp Paste Fried Rice with Chicken - $14.95. It was so terribly satisfying. I think my shrimp paste craving was calling out to me when I suggested to have Thai that night. I'm that glad it did, because this dish totally served my cravings justice.

I didn't get around to taking pictures of everyone's food, but all in all we had a great time feasting. But before I finish this post, there's two things on the menu which I must recommend, one of which I didn't order that night because I needed room in my stomach for the party after. One is the Man Cheam (steamed sweet tapioca with coconut cream) and the Thai Pina Colada. I'm not going to go into detail about them just now, because I want to talk about them when I have good photos. Bad photos simply don't do justice.

ThaiExpress
World Square Shopping Centre Shop 10.30
644 George Street, Sydney 2000
Tel: (02) 9264 8995

Review: Thai Pothong, Newtown

I was on a dinner date last night, and OH MY GOD it was delicious. Well, I mean, it would have to be because this post was originally going to be dedicated to Machiavelli on Clarence St, but a last minute change of mind had us heading over to Newtown instead.

This was my 3rd visit to Thai Pothong, and the place so far has never disappointed. The place has probably one of the best service around. The picture above was the Red Pumpkin Curry (with Beef) - $17.90 which JL chose, and boy...woo, it was nommilicious to say the least. The beef was nice and tender, with a bit of pink inside, the pumpkin was soft, but not falling apart all over the sauce and retained its shape. The mild curry was satisfyingly spicy but sweet and creamy at the same time, and went beautifully with the aromatic Thai Jasmine Rice. I could devour that plate by myself had it not been the two other additions to our table.

Thai Spicy Chicken Salad (Laab Gai) - $17.90
With all that curry on the table, I just had to order something that had a different flavour to cut through the creaminess. This salad did exactly that with brilliance. Kind of like Ronaldo's goal. Actually I don't know how the two link, but having to wake up at 4am this morning to watch the game with JL means that that's pretty much all I'm hearing right now as I'm typing this.

The salad had a nice tang. Some places go a little overboard with the lime juice and sometimes it can make your stomach feel a little uncomfortable. But not this one. Thai Pothong has it covered. The heat was just right for me, but I'm not much of a heat-taker. It's definitely spicier than the curry we had, and I think it had a 2 leaf rating (out of 3) for its heat-rating on the menu.

Sadly, this brings me to my last addition. A dish which I have always had on every visit to this place. Despite this, the Steamed Mixed Seafood (Hor Mok Talay) - $26.90 still has me enthralled everytime I see the waiters carry the dish out. It's a flambé dish, and still in its flambé state as it comes out.

It's literally ON FIRE.

Yes, you heard me right.

And a pyromaniac like me LIKES IT ON FIRE.

And it's also why I don't have a picture of it.

Seeing a dish on fire makes me forget things. I'm new to this whole taking massive camera to a restaurant snapping business, so you'll just have to imagine it.

Oh and why I didn't take a picture of it after they got rid of the fire? Well you see...it's a steamed yellow curry with coconut milk, the consistency of which reminds you of....use your imagination here

It was delicious nevertheless. And I would order it over and over again. The consistency of the curry in your mouth is somewhat like that of steamed egg, but the dish is so wonderfully flavoured that the sauce simultaneously takes in the flavour of the seafood whilst having its own flavours soak into the seafood.

We nommed it like it's hot.

Thai Pothong
294 King St, Newtown NSW 2042
Tel: (02) 9519 8050