Tag: No Pork

A list of restaurants in my blog that is considered to contain no pork to the best of my knowledge

Khing Thai

Rating:

7 / 10 Taste: 7/10

Price: $40-$60

Place: 7.5/10

Review:

Before you go nuts on the total price here, I must say that we ordered way too much for our tummy’s capacity. The whole fish was so big that we didn’t even finish a quarter of it! Let’s just rewind a bit, and I’ll explain in more details…

We went to Khing Thai restaurant because we were told by our friend that this restaurant was worth a visit. We were very impressed with the place. It had a nice and cosy feeling about it. They had a nice open kitchen setting (like any modern Thai places these days) and comfy table (and sofa) seating arrangements.

Soft Shell Crab – $9.90 – Deep-fried and crispy salt and peppered soft shell crab served with mixed salad and pickled ginger

The first dish got me thinking ‘I was right to order four dishes’ since it was a solitary crab. It was nice and crunchy with the usual optional sweet chili sauce.

Thai Fried Rice – $10.90 – Traditional Thai fried rice with egg, onion, cherry tomato and Chinese broccoli sprinkle with ground white pepper

The thought began to shift when I saw the fried rice’s portion. The picture didn’t really do justice since it was only compared to the size of plate. We could have just ordered two plates of fried rice and still left with a full tummy!

BBQ Chicken – $14.90 – Sliced chicken breast, grilled and marinated in turmeric powder and traditional Thai herbs served with mixed salad and sweet chilli sauce

Our next dish was a generous serving of BBQ chicken. They were perfectly grilled slices of chicken breast. You had a choice of making it sweeter with the sweet chili sauce or saltier with the soy chili sauce. If you ordered Thai Fried Rice like me, I suggest you leave both sauces and just enjoy it as is. The chicken itself already had a char-grill sweetness to it.

Whole Fish Khing Soy Sauce – $24.90 – Khing Thai’s homemade soy sauce made with young ginger strips, crushed garlic, soy bean, onions and shallots

We were in awe when the fish was brought out. It was one gigantic fish on a plate! They said we were lucky that the fishes in the market that day were all big. The fish’s size didn’t compromise its taste. It was perfectly steamed and very rich in flavour.

The final verdict for Khing Thai

Although it might be just above university students’ price range, Khing Thai delivered larger-than-usual dishes to make up for it. Coupled this with nice seating arrangements and you got yourself a decent place to eat in Kensington.

Details:

1/240-268 Anzac Parade, Kensington

Phone: +61 2 9662 0900

http://khingthai.com/

Nov 4, 2012
Moroccan Feast

Rating:

7.5 / 10 Taste: 7.5/10

Total Price: $86 before discount

Place: 7.5/10

Review:

Our first journey to the African cuisine started in a restaurant called Moroccan Feast. We went to the restaurant out of pure coincidence. We wanted to taste something different, yet still available at decent price, with the help of Entertainment book’s discount.

Moroccan Feast’s interior design was dominated by clay, from the tables to the main dishes’ tagines. This exotic design coupled with the hospitality, we knew we were prepped for a treat. I tried their drink Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon Stick – $3.50 – and it was a really nice and soothing drink. Incredibly to begin with, especially with its glass and not a mug, but once you got rid of the steam, you would find a sweet cinnamon and sour apple drink – perfect for winter!

The night didn’t start so well with the average-looking dish, Duck Pate served on a crunchy pita base (5 pieces $11). It was an orange dish of five grey blobs with a bowl of sauce in the middle. It quickly turned 180° when the waiter gave us a shot of honey. It interacted with the duck pate really well and added an extra sweetness to the bitter and savoury pate.

Our next entrée had quite a bit of explanation, Agadir Feast (small – $18). It was a combination of 4 salads and/or dips with pita bread. There were nine different items, but here were the four we got: Casablanca Carrot (Moroccan herbs and chilled), Fez Matbuh (marinade of tomato, capsicum, chilli garlic), Eggplant Dip (farlic lemon salt), Cabbage salad with coriander and fresh herbs. I have always been a sucker for eggplant dip, so I am really subjective in this part!

We were wowed by the main dishes since they came in full tagines (plus the waiter used mitts to deliver it to us!). For the first one we chose Marrakesh Chicken (on the bone) – $23 – the menu stated that the dish was cooked with paprika, tomato and Moroccan spices and served with cooked olives on the side. All of the main dishes came with couscous. I think it’s the perfect combination to the dish.

The best dish came in last: Lamb Tajine ($27) with caramelised onion, slow cooked prunes, sultanas, almonds and cinnamon. It was one of the most amazing lamb dishes I’ve ever had. The lamb was so perfectly cooked it came off the bone rather easily. The combination of sultanas, caramelised onion, cinnamon and prunes created an exotic sweetness to the dish. Super soft lamb, not smelly, in a rather big portion… what’s not to love about it?

The final verdict for Moroccan Feast

Moroccan Feast restaurant delivered a great culinary experience. Excellent customer service with nice food also created an evening to remember. I can still remember how nice their Lamb Tajine was.

Did you know?

This is officially our first review of African cuisine. I had a brief look in Wikipedia for Moroccan cuisine and saw that the names of dishes in Moroccan Feast restaurant represented a vast range of important names in Moroccan food history. One thing that I didn’t order was the traditional Moroccan mint tea.

Details:

127 Avoca Street, Randwick

+61 2 9399 9882

Moroccan Feast on facebook

Sep 4, 2012
Sate Khas Senayan

Sate Khas Senayan’s Rating:

7 / 10 Taste: 7/10

Price: $12 per person

Place: 7/10

Review:

Sate Khas Senayan has the words timeless tradition written in their menu’s front page. I think it really captures the very essence of satay. Indonesian satay is pretty unique in its own rights. What we call satay is actually skewers of meat (chicken, lamb, or beef) with thick peanut sauce and/or sweet soy sauce. With this review, I concluded my review of Indonesian restaurants during our June’s trip.

First off the bat was Sate Ayam Campur Bumbu Blora. Ten good ol’ chicken skewers on a modernised bakaran sate (griller). This particular plate was called campur because it was mixed (dicampur) with chicken skin satay. I particularly love the skin since it was tastier than the white meat part. Sate is best enjoyed with lontong (rice cake wrapped in banana leaf).

The presentation of Appetizer Sampler was so appetising. It was a combination of Tahu kipas (stuffed tofu), risoles (croquette), sosis solo (a type of sausage), and rambak petis (beef crackling with shrimp paste). It’s a nice way to explore the diversity of Indonesian entrees. I ordered Tahu Komplit (‘complete’ tofu) as well to show you that the Indonesian tofu is a bit different that the Japanese one. Instead of silky / smooth and dense, the tofu was quite airy and best served deep fried. This way, it would bring out the crunch.

Another type of sate came up next, Sate Cumi (squid satay). Unlike its predecessor, this sate was only served with sweet soy sauce. It is rather unusual to have a squid satay since it is technically grilled squid on a stick. There was a massive expectation riding at the back of Kepiting soka saus asam pedas (spicy and sour soft shell crab) as one of my favourite ingredients. It didn’t disappoint in terms of crunchiness of the crab and the balanced sauce.

I didn’t try Sop buntut (ox tail soup) since it was ordered for my friend’s son. It is a clear vegetable soup with oxtail and melinjo crackers. Despite the presence of highly fattening oxtail, the soup was actually quite refreshing. Tumis kangkung terasi (stir-fry spinach with shrimp paste) had an extra shrimp paste added to the dish that created a nice dimension to the otherwise spicy vegetable dish. Tahu telur (tofu in fried egg) was our last dish of the day but unfortunately I’ve enjoyed a much better one during our visit to Indonesia this time.

Deciding what to drink was the hardest challenge that we had to take in Sate Khas Senayan. Out of the four in the first picture, I would choose Es Cincau Hijau (pandan-flavoured grass jelly ice), which was the horizontal one in the picture. There was also a nice and refreshing Cendol. This is a rice-flour and palm sugar dessert that is normally served as a drink. My eventual choice went to Teh Poci, a traditional hot tea in a clay pot with rock/lump sugar.

The final verdict for Sate Khas Senayan

As the name suggested, Sate Khas Senayan is all about satay. They have a whole range of satays and they made really good ones. I wouldn’t suggest you to try the other dishes apart from the entrees and drinks.

Did you know?

If you are looking for a place to stay in Jakarta, make sure you book any hotels in this area. Jakarta people wouldn’t mind meeting you in the malls surrounding this area and you don’t need to care about traffic jam since everything is here!

Details:

Resto FX Lifestyle X’nter

Jalan Jend Sudirman Unit F1 22-23 Jakarta Selatan

+62 21 2555 4150

Aug 12, 2012
How to Cook Kobe Beef

Review:

This week I am not going to review a restaurant or any particular events, but I am going to share information on how to cook one of the rarest, if not THE rarest, beef in this world. Kobe beef is technically a type of wagyu beef that have marbling score of 6 or more. It also has strict conditions to qualify the ‘Kobe’ status, as seen on this page ‘http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_beef’. I have never found this beef in Sydney, but by a chance I found it on David Jones Bondi Junction meat department.

Due to its delicate nature, we need to cook it perfectly. It is important to not have the Kobe beef in frozen condition prior to cooking. You might need to thaw them in your fridge for a day if it was frozen. With the seasoning, it’s best to just have a bit of salt and pepper. Marinade is strongly not recommended because you will lose the meat’s distinct texture.

Cook Kobe Beef

After the preparation, everything else is done only in two or less minutes. We want the end product to be medium rare towards rare. Most people start the cooking process with pre-heating the non-stick pan. We heat up the pan with maximum heat until the surface produces light smoke (Important!). We also don’t use any oil since the fat itself will cover it. When the pan is ready, seared the meat on to the pan and immediately turns down the heat. Allow 15 seconds of cooking on each side, then with an even lower heat, cook them for a further 45 seconds – 1 minute for each side.

You can have a side sauce according to your taste, but the Japanese-style sauce is a combination of soy sauce and mirin with a little bit of sesame oil and Grape seed oil.

Details:

David Jones Bondi Junction

Feb 5, 2012
Ikan Bakar Cianjur

Rating:

6.5 / 10 Taste: 6.5/10

Price: <$5 per person

Place: 6/10

Review:

Ikan Bakar Cianjur was one of the few Indonesian chain restaurants that was available in a lot of places all around Indonesia. Since ikan bakar meant grilled fish, one can only deduce that their specialty was fish.

Since all of their dishes were pretty simplistic, I decided to write this review whilst promoting one of Indonesia’s infamous slogan ‘4 Sehat 5 Sempurna’ (4 healthy, 5 perfect). This was meant to promote healthy and balanced meal for the whole family.

The first element of it is Carbohydrate. In Indonesia it has always been associated with rice and/or rice cakes for the Javanese.

The second element is lauk pauk, or main dishes (Google translate somehow showed side dish). We ordered Gurami Goreng (fried carp) and Steamed Snapper. Gurami goreng was extremely crunchy and was peeled to make a wavy pattern. The Steamed Snapper on the other hand was smooth and flavoursome. Funnily, tofu is also part of this element, so I have to include Fried Tofu on this list.

The third element is vegetables. On this occasion, it was represented by Baby Cabbage. Once again, it was just pure stir-fried veggies.

I would like to mention the type of fruit juice that might only be available in Indonesia (or an Indonesian restaurant), Avocado Juice. Fruit and milk would be the last elements of ‘4 Sehat 5 Sempurna’. This was one of my most favourite drinks of all time. It was a simple mixture of avocado, milk and coffee syrup. The Indonesian avocado had a different consistency and feel to that of Thai’s.

The final verdict: Ikan Bakar Cianjur provided an overly simplistic dish with a decent touch of traditionalism. Nothing was practically outstanding except for the avocado juice and steamed snapper.

Did you know?

This restaurant used to be one of the nice restaurants in Surabaya. However, it was downgraded into a common restaurant because of the numerous newcomers and/or competitions from household names in the seafood restaurants.

It also appeared that this chain also had discrepancy in taste. Its biggest branch in Mayjend Sungkono remained the most crowded IBC in Surabaya and seemed to have a more vibrant vibe to it.

Details:

Jalan Jemursari 76, Surabaya

Jan 22, 2012
Loving Hut

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7/10

Price: <$12 main course

Place: 7/10

Review:

This week, we are reviewing one of the rarest restaurants in Surabaya, Vegan Cuisine. Loving Hut is the newest restaurant that I discovered out of curiosity. The restaurant is filled with plenty of vegan celebrity pictures and some of its campaigns against meat – which was a bit of a turn-off for me.

Deep fried wonton was our first dish of the day. Six golden brown wontons were laid on a bed of lettuce with a simple sauce of chili and tomato. I was pretty pleased with the likeness to the more meaty wontons. With almost similar components the Fried Enoki was served. The mushrooms were wrapped in seaweed and coated in thin savoury crisp. It was the perfect combination of crispy coating and soft mushroom.

From the vegetable lines, we also ordered Chili Eggplant and Asparagus Soup. Beside the sauce, the eggplants were pretty spot-on. The Asparagus soup was also pretty average. They also served mixed rice dishes, like this Seven Seas Delight with Rice. It has a combination of mock-meat katsu and green veggies. I reckon this would be enough for a simple dinner or big lunch.

For the next one, we ordered Fancy Nut Satay. Although, it was supposed to be fancy nut, I could only taste peanut (which was not considered ‘fancy nut’). This factor aside, the satay was great. It was also grilled like the real deal! Tamie Capcay was our next one and it looked like a massive bird’s nest. It was very thin noodles, deep-fried and served with Chinese-style stir-fried vegetables and seafood.

We also ordered Len Phan Deluxe, I ordered because it was the most expensive dish in the restaurant. When it arrived, we were pleased not only for its size, but also the variety of it. There were six components if you look at the picture. On the right hand corner was what looked like grilled chicken, (then moving clockwise there were) chicken katsu with sweet chili, seafood stick with sauce, calamari and mayonnaise, and bitterballen (meatballs) with chili sauce. Len Phan Deluxe was arguably the most comprehensive and best dish of the night. All of its elements were wonderful.

The final verdict: If no one tells you that it’s vegetarian, you would think that it’s the real deal, especially Len Phan Deluxe! The overall taste for Loving Hut was nice but nothing really mind-blowing.

Did you know?

Loving hut apparently is also a chain restaurant. Its business model is pretty unique. Each of the restaurants has its own menu, completely different menu. I find it pretty strange since the basic foundation of a chain restaurant is uniformity of menu. Therefore, this review is only relevant to the one in Surabaya, Indonesia.

I know one more restaurant that used to have better vegetarian dishes in Sydney but unfortunately that restaurant was brought down to receivership.

Details:

Jalan Sumbawa 37, Surabaya

+62 31 5012990

http://www.lovinghut.co.id/

Dec 25, 2011