Pana Chocolate

Finally made my way down here to try these raw, vegan, handmade chocolates without going all the way down to Melbourne. There's some seating to have your cakes and chocolatey goodness, but most people generally buy things to take home. Unfortunately it was a warm day, and the cakes would've melted by the time I got back home, so decided to share a slice at the place.

Lime and lemongrass cake-$9.50

It's actually tiny in real life, around 6/7cm, and for that price, yes, it is very expensive. Well life is too short to not eat cake, especially when it's made with organic, health and guilt free ingredients. It is good quality as you would expect for that price. It was fragrant with a good hint of lemongrass and lime, and super smooth texture from the coconut oil. A little bit of crunch from the nut based biscuit base but wasn't too hard to bite into. Worth giving a go.

Chocolate block-$6.90

Yes, almost $7 for 45g chocolate is normally not worth, but this was super smooth without the richness/creamy/buttery/fatness you find in normal choc or even in some dark chocs. There were some tiny fig seeds in there and little bits of orange pieces for texture. It wasn't sweet at all and not overly bitter. I would actually buy blocks of this if they weren't so expensive...The foil wasn't sealed which I thought was odd.

Poong BBQ

A spontaneous dinner out with the fam, after a colleague telling me of this place which has 10 side dishes, I went with the fam after work. I thought only Jonga Jip had 10 sides, but good to know there are others. Normally you only get about 5 sides at other places...

10 sides!

Beef bulgogi bibimbap-$18

Relatively big portion and good price. There were heaps of different toppings, and bulgogi wasn't too marinated. This was presented in quite a wide dish, not your typical stone rice bowls.

Soybean paste, clam seafood soup w/ rice-$13

First time having Korean soup, and you could definitely taste the seafood, soybean and tofu. Came out bubbling away. Was probably a bit on the salty side for use, but luckily you have the sides and some rice to help balance it out.

Seafood pancake-$18

This is my go to dish at pretty much every Korean restaurant. This wasn't as wide as the other ones, but it was twice the depth. I think I like a thicker pancake since you get more texture out of it. Decent bits prawns but would've liked more variety in the seafood. it was loaded with spring onions, and loved the addition of the bonito flakes on top which were still moving once the dish arrived.

Service was friendly and they were happy to top up your sides (some places you can tell hold a siltent grudge against you if you top them too many times, and each time the portion is less...). Eastwood is always crazy with parking, so get here before 6pm if you want dinner and a parking spot. Or else wait until after 8 when the first round of people leave the carpark.

The stress is real. I know I should stop stressing and actually just study.

Last ever clinic for this year! Was on dispensing so didn't do much. I felt like I didn't learn much since almost all my patients were normal, but at the same time I did learn and hopefully improved a lot.

Drove to uni for the first time the whole year. I can understand why people drive to uni. After 9am there aren't any express buses from my house to the city, but there's also no traffic, which cancels out with express buses but traffic in the morning. So after 9am and taking just the harbour tunnel, can get to uni in 50min instead of 2 hours. Although driving you can't study, I feel I get distracted on the bus by just looking out the window or just sleeping...Super lucky to get a close parking spot around 5mins walk as well, even though getting to uni at around 11.

Still no idea of what to expect from some of our exams, mainly Low Vision, don't even know what is going on with the prac exam...

Had our standards test yday, and I just hope I'm not the first person to fail the course because of that exam...Clinging to my one and only Visual Field done in rotation 2 will be enough to get me over the line. Didn't realise that preceptorship choices for next year would be so conflicting...

I just realised I'll be missing the Bachelorette finale tmr since I'll be at work. Don't even want to work ):

Bread and Circus

My first thought when I walked in was 'Wow, this place feels so healthy!' The place uses fresh fruit and veg as decor (which makes sense if they use/cook it the day after since they have daily menu changes). Picked up a pineapple thinking it was a fake, and I was caught out by the weight and then realised everything on the table was real. There's also peppercorn, non-grounded black pepper, different types of squash. Each table has random bowls of fruit and veg.

Drinks

Pimms without the pimms: preservative-free ginger beer poured over slices of cucumber, lime and seasonal fruit w/fresh mint-$6

Cold pressed juice-something green: kale, spinach, apple, cucumber, celery and lemon w/ ginger (large)-$8

Tea-kyoto roasted green: refreshingly bold, caramel sweetness-$5

The ginger beer did taste organic-very gingery with some soda and without being sweet like normal ginger beer. Quite pretty with the fruits in it as well. I opted for a large green juice, should have gotten small since this one was massive. I think it's still good value for a cold pressed juice. There's just something different compared to normal juice, like it doesn't 'separate' as easily, and is a bit more thicker as well without any fibrous stuff. I opted for ginger with it, and by the end it did sink to the bottom (could taste it but not see), so was quite gingery at the end. The tea had a really strong roasted green tea fragrance, couldn't really taste the sweetness, but I only had one sip. Still tasted super healthy.

food spread

Sandwich box: preservative-free bangalow pork salami w/ pickle and parmesan-$16

I don't normally get sandwiches, but this concept is quite interesting, more of a deconstructed sandwich. I wanted to try the chicken, but a friend had already tried it, and they ran out of chicken side dishes (guess I have to make another trip here). At first I was like let's not get salami because it's preservative, but i didn't read the first few words 'preservative-free.' So we opted for this since non of us have had preservative free salami before. It didn't have that chilliness in normal salami (which is good), and definitely tasted less salty and not as fatty. Since it was served cold, it was less oily as well. Some papaya and cabbage salad at the bottom. Would have liked more avo since 2 tiny slices wasn't really enough compared to the whole box. The mustard was quite spicy though.

Daily Plate: slow roasted grass fed leg lamb w/ garlic thyme rosemary served w/ daily salads-$27

I didn't realise it said daily salads, so we ended up having more of the same salads. The other daily plate sold out, so we got this to share. Lamb was tender and lean, perfectly cooked and tasted quite natural. 

Salad plate (sharing)-$25
fresh shredded cabbage sprouts kale & shiso w/ yuzu and pomegranate
green papaya salad cucumber & torn mint w/ chilli lime sea salt and crushed almond
balsamic roasted brussel sprouts and leeks w/ lemon olive oil and crunchy cavolo nero
cardamom roasted beetroot and baby spinach w/ crushed walnut goats feta and honey 

All the salads were super fresh, light and surprisingly filling. Normally when I have salad I don't put dressing, since creamy stuff taste nice but really fattening and not healthy. These were very well dressed, and heaps of different textures. Chose all except for the eggplant salad since there were chilli flakes. Hate eggplant but one somehow made it onto the plate, and it tasted alright. I also hate betroot as well, but this one had a good crunch (unlike those sloppy, drippy, tinned versions), and the way they dressed it made it super fresh. I wouldn't mind eating this type of beetroot daily. Would have liked more creaminess from the feta.

My favourite was the kale one, with some crunchy bits in-between. Couldn't really taste the yuzu or pomegranate though, just a general acidity throughout the salad. The papaya was the crowd favourite (wasn't chilli at all). The brussel sprouts were actually surprisingly delicious as well, shows that you don't need butter all the time like in MasterChef when they cook this veggie. Loved all the types of nuts as well.

Loved the fresh produce and quality of food here, and highly recommended even if you don't like salad.

Night Noodle Markets 2016

Finally doing a real time blog post, mainly because the Night Noodle Markets are ending this coming Sunday.

October is Good Food Month, and I usually go to a dessert place with my fellow Good Food Month friends every year 2015, 2014, 2013. However this year, it was the worst choice of #sugarrush restaurants, with mostly chocolate and nut desserts on offer. Nothing was really appealing, and quite expensive. So we decided to ditch the desserts and just have desserts at the Night Noodle Markets.

The line up was generally the same, some new and some people who didn't come this year. Set up same as usual. Just get there early to secure yourself a table, since lines are quite long even at 6.30, then peaks at around 7, but finally dies a tad bit at 8.30. As always, everything is more expensive, smaller and not as good quality here compared to getting it to the actual restaurant)

It's the first year where it's card payment only, which is good I guess since you just tap, and no need to deal with change, get out your whole wallet whilst holding a ton of food, and just speeds up the line/payment process. It feels prices may have gone up due to card payments...However, if you lose your card, then gg. Friends found a credit card lying on the floor, and chucked it into the bin-since the security/bag checkers won't know what to do with it, and better to chuck the card than someone scam away on your card the whole night before you realise you lost it and it may have been too late to call up and cancel your card. 

 

fav colour (:

reminds me of Vivd (not that I went this year..)

 

cranes not your typical lanterns...

Hoy Pinoy

A filipino style store, known for there skewers which you can smell and see the smoke from the other side of the street. I come here every year but walk past it. This time I just decided to get it, since might not have the chance or time next yr. Super overpriced skewers if you compare it to supermarkets, and the skewer is big but not a lot of meat either....It's just fun to hold a skewer haha.

    

 

Inihaw na Baboy: pork belly skewers with banana ketchup glaze-2 for $12

Messina

Too bad you can't mix and match or just get 1 skewer, so ended up getting 2 pork, which apparently is the more popular option over the chicken. The skewer is super long, but there's actually not that much meat. The glaze was a sweeter version of a tomato sauce and less 'sticky, but would have liked more glaze on it. Some parts of the pork was quite fatty, but when you're walking around and trying to make sure no one bumps into your overpriced skewers, it's hard to get bite away the fat...

   
Only On Sundaes: salted coconut sorbet, black sticky rice, lychee tapioca, caramelised puff pastry, lemon grass & white choc ganache-$12

Shared this with a friend, and I think this dessert is relatively value for money compared with other stuff in terms of quantity, quality and price. It was super filling even after sharing it. The sorbet wasn't really icy, and more smooth which I prefer. The salt wa more on the subtle side which is good in this case, since there are a few other flavours here. The lychee flavour was more sweet than lychee, but tapiocas are always fun to eat. Caramelised puff pastry was crisp but wasn't really needed. The lemongrass and white choc ganache was a tad bit grainy, maybe they put it on the stove or stirred it for too long...The black sticky rice was the really filling part. By itself it had a really plain flavour, so just try ti save some sorbet when you are finishing this off.

 
Matcha Do About Nothing: Milk chocolate and matcha gelato, white chocolate and pistachio crunch with a green tea waffle cone-$10

Tried a bit of this, and enjoyed the matcha flavour gelato inside, relatively good hit of matcha. The choc top was too sweet with the white choc. The cone was lined with choc, so couldn't really taste the green tea flavour in it.

Harajuku Gyoza

 
Octo Dog-$9

Bought this because it was so cute I couldn't resist! Look at those eyes haha. Didn't even know what it is until I bit into it. It's pretty much a frankfurt deep-fried in some Japanese style batter, which is slightly sweet. Wasn't too heavy or oily, and quite delicious.

Was thinking of trying the raindrop cake, since this restaurant is based in Potts Point which I never pass, but my friend may attempt it in the holidays, so passed on it since it's pretty overpriced for some agar and water. How much does agar even cost? Even if you but one small packet, pretty sure you can make a lot more than just one tiny portion...

Also wanted to try One Tea Lounge, but couldn't bring myself to buy 3 small sliders for $23 and was quite full. They actually do have the full size Matcha Baoger last week at the restaurant for $18 ($14 for fatties) which I missed...Also could've won a chance to win $50/$25 if you took a pic of something from them, but didn't end up getting anything from there...

Probably won't have time to come again to try more food...Finals just 2.5 weeks away. Did not study tonight, but life is too short without some good food (:

It's kind of ironic how no one went up last week to choose the yr reps, but today there was 'competition.' I think I wouldn't be able to deal with both uni work and helping out the same time, so decided to not go up initially, but no regrets. I just thought they would have the same people as this year. Oh well, lost opportunities, but nothing major....Just hope these sort of decisions with lost chances don't come up next year, in terms of finding jobs etc that might actually end up with regrets...

Internet outage at home, due to rain apparently, but it wasn't even raining hard? And not sure how that affects cable... Blogging at uni...Btw, all my food posts until exams are from weeks/months ago, because no time to write more during exams.

Had a pork roll just round the corner from uni, and now I can tell the diff between a good and bad one. Cabra is defs better.

Just over two weeks until exams...

Cafe Oratnek

Situated amongst terraces in a slightly different part of Redfern is this cute little cafe. Walkable from Central so not too far away. Love the Asian style food with a modern and Western twist.

pastries

Matcha lamington-$5

I was expecting the lamington to be really sweet, but it actually wasn't. So light and fluffy, with a good coating of matcha and desiccated coconut. First time having a matcha lamington, and it was worth it.

small matcha latte-$4.20

The matcha here is the bitter type of matcha, close to Cre Asion's bitterness, but not quite as bitter. If you prefer sweet green tea lattes, this one's not for you. I love both bitter and sweeter versions of matcha lattes. This latte had a really authentic matcha taste, and milk frothed perfectly. 

Matcha french toast, banana chips, coconut, strawberries, matcha mousse-$15 

inside

This is not your average french toast, it wasn't fried in egg, but had a more bread-cake texture, kind of like denser pancakes but without being too heavy or buttery. This french toast did taste a lot healthier as it wasn't oily, and there was enough bread to accompany that super light and slightly sweet matcha mousse. You could even eat the mousse by itself. The banana chips gave the dish a good crunch as well. 

200g pork fillet katsu, cabbage, Japanese bbq sauce, mustard-$12 

It was hard deciding which savoury option we should order, but opted for this sandwich (saw other tables plates, and the other dishes looked and smelt really good as well). Even after eating the french toast, the katsu still retained it's crunch. I loved how they served the sandwich on it's side, so the sauce won't soak into the pork as quickly, making it less soggy. The crumb was really thin and didn't leave an oily feel, so also felt more 'healthy'. Good portion of meat in this, and the cabbage, sauce and mustard really helped the pork flavours to shine, and without the mustard being too dominant.