M's Food Find #74

Hello! Time to recover some backlog and more food adventures on the way for you. And me. Here's a Saturday brunch at Toast in East Perth.

It is a beautiful place at the back of some apartments overlooking the river and quite a nice crowd in about 5-6 restaurants/cafe strip. Oh, it is absolutely beautiful and relaxed. I wished I was in the right frame of mind to fully enjoy it but it did help me take a nice short break in the midst of the last couple of weeks to submission.

Toast has inside and outside sittings. We chose inside that day,w ell I did. I think Sam wanted to sit outside. Inside was very homely and cute with white wooden blinds and little knick knacks.

It was about 2ish to 3pm when we went for a late lunch, so relatively quieter but I would reckon it is a busy little place at the right times.

Love the little vessel and big chalkboard.

My fave number!
The menu was very fuss free and quite unique having a little of their own takes on the classic brunches and then some.

You order at the counter filled with so many goodies, I got so distracted! And ordered something wrongly for Sam...oops.

He wanted iced mocha...got him a hot one haha But apparently, their mocha is really good!

I got myself a banana smoothie. Very light and quite bland. Wished it was stronger tasting

Sam ordered the Big Breakfast and the poached eggs were fabulously done even though the others dont look as good and the price was quite steep in my opinion.

I got the crab and dill omelette and was quite disappointed with the presentation. Taste-wise, nothing fantastic really but the crab pieces were fresh.

Photos credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com

I leave you with the menu photo and knew in my heart I would return only because I am so intrigued and in love with the place. And I wanted to give it another chance to prove itself. Maybe order another dish that caught my attention! Very health conscious place with egg-white omelettes on the menu.

Cant wait to head back!

Till my next food find, Mayy xo

M's Food Find #73

Technically, not a restaurant/cafe food post but junk food is still food. And junk food has accompanied me through this academic journey. It also has served me well. Towards the end, I needed a packet of chocs/chips after each supervisor meeting to calm my nerves and recharge.

Three different limited edition flavours of Smith's chips were launched in August. Needless to say, I got them all. Not that I tried them all in one sitting. Dont be silly. Anyway, here's my review!

Crispy bacon was the least impressive one out of the lot. While the taste was true to its flavour and I love crinkle cut chips, it got a bit too much halfway through. The taste was very one-dimensional and not that exciting. Quite dry...


Sunday roast was the first one that I tried and was really quite impressed by it! I could taste the grilled flavour and the baked meaty flavour on the chips. The only thin cut flavour and it was actually good. One thumbs up.

Photos credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com

Meat pie and sauce! and crinkle cut! They tasted pretty good and full of meaty flavours. Unfortunately, I wish they had more sauce flavouring. 3/4 into the pack and I felt bored. Suffice to say that I didn't finish it but I still prefer this to crispy bacon. Half a thumbs up.

I would rather stick to my salt&vinegar or cheese&onion in the days to come. But these three were quite interesting to the tastebuds even if they are not healthy. ahhh well, life's for adventures in all ways!

Have you tried them? What do YOU think? Yay or nay?

Till my next food find, Mayy xo

Kitchen Venture #6: Poached Egg and Cold Soba part 4

The reason I did not include this in part 3 is because this version needs some cooking and preparation too. Also, there is a new kitchen venture going on here too! Needs to be acknowledged eh?

No prizes also for guessing what is the new kitchen venture. It is poaching eggs! Friends kept telling me their poached eggs turned up lousy and they took ages to make them. After watching Julie & Julia the movie that day, I gathered enough courage to give it a go for dinner that night. All I needed was one egg really. AND I DID IT!!! Succeeded on my first try. I so earned the right to brag. =P

How I did it:

1. Boil water in the pot. Fill to about 3/4 level.

2. Crack an egg into a cup. Get ready a spoon by the pot!

3. Once the water is boiling, lower the cup carefully and slowly near the water surface. Slowly tip the egg into the water, let it slide in. Yes it may burn you so be careful or wear something like a glove. Lower the stove heat.

4. Once in, grab the spoon and keep covering the egg yolk with the swirling egg white. FAST and repeat the covering of the egg yolk just to make sure.

5. Based on judgement, you can watch the egg simmer and boil for however long depending on how you like your yolk runny or cooked through. I like mine runny, I let it boil for about 3-5 minutes before switching the stove off.

6. Grab a skimming ladle sieve and slowly spoon the egg up without the water. Put it over a bowl or cup while you go prepare your noodles or whatever. This should be your last step!

Photo credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com
Eggs aside, you need bacon and ham for this version of the cold soba. The cooking of this ham and bacon can be done beforehand, on that day or days before. So here's really a tip for student or busy people. Like when your ham or bacon is about to expire, chop them up and fry them in olive oil or butter. Let it cool and store them in the fridge. When needed, microwave or heat them up in the frying pan again.

Preparation:

1. Twirl noodles onto the centre of the plate. How? Use chopsticks or fork. Grab amount you want with them and lower it onto whereever you want on the plate. Slowly spin the plate around while you keep the noodles in place. Once you feel it looks good and the noodles are tight enough, slowly and carefully remove chopsticks or fork.

2. Arrange the bacon and ham pieces around the noodles. Pat the top of noodles flat for egg. Make a slight indent.

3. Now carefully lower the egg onto the top of the noodles. (mine slide off, sad.) So I think you need a dent on top, sort of like a volcano shape.

4. Salt and pepper to season. I don't use salt because I feel the bacon and ham are salty enough. You can also add a drop of ketchup on top of the poached egg. Cute.

I want to know how YOUR poached egg experience turned out. I have yet to try it again but I will once winter sets in. It is too hot here now!

Till my next kitchen venture, Mayy xo