Review: Tropicana, Kingsford

Chicken Laksa - $7.90

Simple loves.

If you've ever watched How I Met Your Mother, one would know of the significance of McLaren's in the lives of Barney, Lily, Marshall, Ted and Robin. To be honest, I think there's a McLaren's in everyone's hearts - a place which brings back fond moments in your life spent with your friends, time and time again.

For me, there's a few - Cafe C'ador (Strathfield), Tropicana (Kingsford), Pepper Lunch (George St) and Maloney's (the old one. On George Street - don't judge, it's a rite of passage okay?)

Beef Laksa - $9.50

I've been to Tropicana around 5 or 6 times now. All in the one year. And everytime I've visited, I've somehow managed to be slotted away in the same cubicle in the corner, which almost feels like home now.

The food here is simple, yet student-friendly and casual. Little needs to be said about the laksa -- the rich creaminess is always a stand out. I decided to try the beef laksa this time, semi-expecting bicarb-soda soaked pieces of meat floating around in my broth. To my surprise, the texture of the beef was so beautiful tender, as if it had been slowly braised for hours before.

Fish Ball Noodle Soup

DW and PC both ordered the Fish Ball Noodle Soup. DW wasn't feeling too well on the day, and at first did not want to eat anything at all. With a little encouragement, she decided to give it a shot, and these noodles definitely gave her a little pick-me-up after a long day.

Simple loves.


Tropicana
243 Anzac Parade
Kingsford, NSW 2032
Tel: (02) 9662 8896

Review: Miso, World Square

On Wednesday night we were originally planning to head to Makoto in the City to nom on some delicious sushi, only to find that there was a line waiting for us to join. We signed our names up and waited for about 20minutes before we really threw in the towel, annoyed at seeing groups which arrived after us being seated before us.

Ok I get it, we had 5 people and those groups only had 2. But if you weren't prepared to cater to our needs then at least have the decency to let us know that we probably wouldn't be getting a table anytime soon than just pretending that we didn't exist.

Frustrated, we moved off around the corner to Miso.

Tonkatsu Set

We were seated pretty quickly, even though there was a line outside. As we waited, we salivated over the menu and all the exciting options available on offer. The Tonkatsu was the specialty of this place, and it wasn't long before we decided that we would order a Tonkatsu Set to share amongst the 5 of us.

EW drizzling the tonkatsu sauce

That was some daaayam juicy tonkatsu to say the least. But as always, I wasn't a fan of the tonkatsu sauce that comes with it. Same with the sauce on Takoyaki...which I think may be the same sauce. Not that I won't eat it...

Oh and hoisin too. Nice to cook with, but not a fan when used as a dipping agent.

Hokkaido Bento Set

EW, JL and I all opted for the Hokkaido Bento. Filled to the brim with assorted goodies, I really struggled to work out where to begin my feasting.

In the end I chose to stick to Tetsuya's general theory behind course progression - start with the cold, then onto the hot and heavier items.

So what was in it really? Let's see...
Cooked salmon and ikura on rice, salmon sashimi, eggplant tempura, meatball, dashimaki tamago, teriyaki salmon, broccoli, seafood mornay (typeofthing), grapes, pickles, miso soup and softshell crab.

Lychee Frappe

I also ordered a Lychee Frappe to go with the meal. Mmm mmm....refreshing.

Did I finish it? Well in short, yes. But I was stuffed to my eyeballs in food and I think they probably would have popped out had it not been for my Asian eyes. Definitely, definitely coming back for more of this stuff.

Tempura Bento Set

EC and SL had the Tempura Set which was similarly filled to the brim with Japanese deep fried goodness. I had been tempted to get it, but JL talked me out of it. It's for my own good, given the expanding ring of glycerol around my stomach.

I think I would've smacked my face right into it if I had ordered it. Good lord.

Green Tea Slushie

EC recommended the Green Tea Slushie which was supposedly really really good. I was really tempted to get one, except I wasn't entirely sure if there was milk in it so I thought to just steer clear in case I was having a bad day.

So what's my verdict? Definitely worth a revisit. Perhaps even the occasional trip down to this end from work one day.

Miso
Shop 20, World Square
123 Liverpool Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9283 9686

Back from the dead: Sweet Soy Chicken Drumsticks

Exams are FINALLY drawing to a close - which means I can FINALLY resume blogging about the stuff I actually care about in my life.

Note the "drawing to a close" part - I'm not quite done.

Nevertheless, I made this delectable chicken dish for myself during my period of burying myself beneath mountains of textbooks. As time slowly passed by, and I was ever edging closer to my exam dates, I realised that time was indeed precious, and I could really not afford to spend hours preparing meals or watching over the stove just so I could feed myself.

Funny thing is (and to make things worse), come exam time, your stomach turns itself into this neverending pit perpetually starved of food.

That's when I resorted to learning how to use the oven.

The preparation of this dish seriously took less than 5 minutes. Seriously.

Honey, soy and a bit of garlic. Let it marinate anywhere between 30mins and overnight. I made mine a day ahead. I knew I'd be home the next day to make it anyway. My textbooks weren't going to let me out of my room anytime soon anyway.

Next, just pop it in the oven and go read a book or watch MasterChef or whatever for 40 minutes, and come back to to find yourself salivating at the sight of these babies:

Looking at the leftover marinade, I decided it was too good to waste and instead of pouring it down the sink. So I spooned a little out into a pot and decided to braise a bit of chinese cabbage while I rested the drumsticks.
I also happened to find a bit of coriander in my vegie tray, so I popped that in too. In retrospect, I thought that was a brilliant decision. *Self Hi-5*

Serve the chicken drumsticks on a bed of braised cabbage, and feel free to reduce the sauce a little more before drizzling it over the dish. I just skipped that part because the smell of the chicken was already driving me nuts.

Good food seems to have that straaange effect on me.

Sweet Soy Chicken Drumstick served on a bed of Braised Chinese Cabbage
Serves 2.5 people

Buy:
5 Chicken Drumsticks
1/2 cup Mushroom Dark Soy
2 tblsp Regular Dark Soy
1 tblsp Honey
2 cloves Garlic, crushed
1 tsp Mirin
2 tsp Sesame Oil

1 small bunch Coriander, chopped finely
3 large leaves of Chinese Cabbage, chopped roughly
Coriander leaves, to garnish

Cook:

1. In a large bowl, combine dark soy, honey, garlic, mirin and sesame altogether to form a sauce. Honey should be well mixed in.
2. Add chicken and coat thoroughly in sauce.
   
3. Wrap with cling film and refridgerate for at least 20minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
5. Line a shallow dish with foil, and place drumsticks neatly on dish. Keep leftover marinade
   
6. Place dish in oven for 30 minutes. Baste the chicken with leftover marinade after 20minutes.
7. After thirty minutes, grill chicken at 200 degrees for 7-10minutes. Remove and set aside to rest
8. In a pot spoon out leftover marinade and bring to simmer.
9. Add chinese cabbage and cook with lid on.
10. Remove from heat once cabbage is wilted and stalk is soft and semi-transparent.
11. Stir through chopped coriander
12. Serve drumsticks on the bed of chinese cabbage. Reduce remaining sauce over heat if desired and spoon sauce over the chicken.
13. Garnish with coriander leaves
    

Review: Satay Delight, UNSW

Here's the basic storyline to all my foodtales:

• I walk up to A telling he/she that I just had the best XYZ in my life at some place
• A proceeds to convince me that my tastebuds are completely deprived and that I should try XYZ at some other place
• I give A a "oh really? well why didn't someone tell me earlier!??!"
• A gives me a "you're a crap foodie" look
• I proceed to try XYZ at the some other place...and then it ends up here on this blog.

And hence it brings me to this post.

Once upon a time I professed to the world my dedicated love for laksa. Someone who was within my vocal radius heard my profession and immediately proceeded to shut me down by suggesting that I had not yet even tried a "real" laksa.

"But of course I have! What nonsense is this!" I replied.

I can't really remember what was said next, but whatever it was it left a little girl with a heart broken into a trillion little pieces.

I'm feeling the muse tonight can you tell?

Chicken Laksa

Alas I digress.

The point is, whoever that person was pointed me in the direction of "that Malaysian Place up in Matthews" for the best authentic Malaysian laksa. That place, as I discovered, was Satay Delight.

The above picture is DW's Chicken Laksa. She wasn't a fan of it because it didn't taste like the coconutted laksa which we're used to (and then I suggested that she give Tropicana a try). The broth was thick, nevertheless, but it lacked the sweetness of coconut milk, as you can probably tell from the pictures.

Soy Chicken Laksa

I had mine with Soy Chicken. I personally enjoyed this version of laksa very much. I can't say it rates as one of the highest in my books, but I blame that on the fact that I've grown accustomed to the Westernised version, which is really quite a shame at times. The serving was quite large and I paid extra for extra tofu (you cannot have laksa without the spongey tofu!). The chicken was nice and tender, full of flavour which blended quite nicely with the broth.

Overall the experience was enjoyable, including the part where we splashed laksa broth all over DW's Legal assignment - haha!

Best nommed straight after class.

Satay Delight
Matthews Arcade (The Fare), UNSW
Anzac Parade
Kensington, NSW
Tel: ? (Just visit, kay?)