M's Food Find #42

HELLO! It is Saturday night, I am spending it at home. I also spent most part of saturday today cooped up in uni. I know I said I would post more on Taipei trip for the reader who requested. I will do it soon once all my uni obligations are done with. So after May, I can take a chill pill for a month before it all begins again. Meantime, I have been ill and slightly recovered now. So I spent the past couple of days eating and eating. Crap food, junk food, good food.

Tonight for dinner, I met Anna, Li Jia, Shiyu, Nurun and Anna's hsemates, Michael and his gf. We made reservations at the Bateman Chinese Restaurant on the recommendations of Anna. It is my first time and after tonight (I am still bloated from dinner), I will say if you haven't been and looking for new food places, this is definitely one place in Perth you should go to!

TIP: MAKE RESERVATIONS beforehand. DON'T say I didn't warn you!

That's the teeny place which doesn't seat alot of people but its food packs a punch. If you don't make reservations, you will have to wait or sit outside. And in this cold winter which can only get colder, it is something you don't want eh?

The number is sure big enough on it for you to see eh. So pick up the phone already. It opens lunch and dinner. I am going to bring the boys here for lunch one day!

Its laminated menu with so many yummy choices. Like any other Chinese restaurants, but the fragrances and delicious smell wafts through and you can see what the other diners are having. You can tell it is GOOD.

Told you it was small. We were already sitting by the door. Service is a little slow but worth all the wait. Its waiters and waitresses are pretty friendly though because it is so busy, it takes awhile to get their attention. Time to maybe get more helpers eh?

Without further ado, you don't have to wait as long as we did for our food. BUT, we ate so much faster because everyone was so hungry. Besides, you can't eat these photos...

First dish, sambal fish wings. When it hit the table, we all just sighed. A definite must order. The sambal was salty enough to complement the sweetness of the fresh fish meat. Love the onions and tomatoes fried with it.

Sweet and sour pork is always the crowd favourite and a kid-friendly dish. The pork here is really good because there isn't much flour coating it and the pork meat is actually tender. Some sweet and sour pork is like hard balls of flour.

The Assam fish head curry which we chose to separate from the fried fish head shown below. The Assam curry is not wow for me so I was not too impressed with this one. Not spicy enough. Not sour enough. Skip this and just order the fish soup beehoon I see so many patrons eating.

The fried fish head pieces. The order comes in 5 pieces, which are very substantial sizes. We ordered an extra serve since we had 7 people. THEY ARE ALSO A MUST ORDER. Yummy. I really loved the one I had. The fish meat was so fresh and sweet. And juicy. Yes, it is sort of melt in your mouth. The fried crunch on the outside is not too hard, sort of just coats the fish. The fish does not soak up much oil so it still remains light. I cannot praise this enough. Order this with soup beehoon. Enough already methinks.

Salt, pepper & chilli chicken. I only had a strip of it. I think it is alright. Chicken was tender and all but pales in comparison to the fish dishes.


Sambal okra, or sambal lady's fingers. Not bad at all. I like it but it is not the best I have had. Besides I was so stuffed from everything else, I just don't want food anymore...

We went to Utopia for bubble tea after that at Melville. But most of us were so full, desserts weren't really in demand. Michael got his bubble tea. I caved in and bought their Oreo Cheesecake. It looks so cute!

Blueberries and with a baby Chocolate macaron. Enough to fill me up and quieten my Gelare waffles craving.

Photos credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com

The ladies of the night before we went our separate ways. Thank you for being part of the few social hours I have. Hahahahaha. I hope you are having a better Saturday!

Till my next food find, Mayy xo

Completely Random

Photo credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com
Just had a barbecued hot dog and onions in a bun with sauce from the usual Wednesday guild bbq. Paid a dollar towards the Japan relief fund as I am not a guild member. I still think it is worth it. Been craving for it for the longest time ever. Anyway, now that I am done with all the bread and meat... I feel like having some sweets. Looking through my photobank, I remembered this Tiramisu Cheesecake. Can anyone tell me what this brand is? The chef logo is unmistakable. I know you can find it in Cold Storage and places around Singapore and they sell the lightest and one of the best Japanese cheesecake around. I love it. Please leave a comment and tell me! I would love to know.

Kitchen Venture #3: Mini cheesecake

It's been over a month since I blogged about my kitchen ventures. Truth be told, I only spend time in the kitchen cooking/preparing meals when I am back in Perth. In Singapore, I eat out when meeting friends and with family to satisfy my cravings. Even when I am home, it is takeaway mostly. Mummy hardly cooks, and it is just so much easier to go out.

Anyway, I thought Chinese New Year is nearing, and so is Valentine's Day. Decided to blog about this kitchen venture I did in Feb 2009 for you guys who want to do something special for the family or for the someone special. It take just mere minutes to prepare and throw together. The result is pretty awesome too. Very amateurish but hey, for a lazy person like me to actually want to do this, it must be pretty easy!

I remember my sister having a frozen cheesecake phase because they are just so easy to do and you don't need to bake or anything. I was really bored on a weekend afternoon and decided to use whatever ingredients I have left over in the fridge. I like doing things my way so I rarely follow any recipes. I read them then keep them in mind for the basics. This is my first attempt, and on my very own too. Was just really happy it turned out well and even my landlords love it.

My lady landlord loves baking and all, so she has these white little ramekins (instead of ramekins, you can use all kinds of little containers or even cookie shapers placed on plates which will be even easier to remove and present straight away) at home. I used them but taking the cheesecake out of it after was a headache. TIP: Line the ramekin with clingwrap and make sure it covers the base and extend out of the ramekin top. You can just pull on both sides of the clingwrap and up comes the cheesecake!

Anyway, ingredients for this particular cheesecake: Digestive biscuits, butter, a tub of Philadelphia cream cheese dip by Kraft (Strawberry flavour), condensed milk, blueberries, 1 bar of Toblerone chocolate.

1. Crush digestive biscuits to the crumbs. As crumbly as you like. Or pour it into a sandwich bag and tie it shut, Roll a rolling pin on the bag of biscuits. Fast and easy. Or if you have no rolling pin, just use your fist eh. For five ramekins, I used about 5-6? Depends on how thick or thin you want the base to be!

2. Melt sticks of butter in the microwave. If you want to do it over the stove, by all means. Pour melted butter into the bowl of biscuit crumbs and make sure they are coated evenly.

3. Spoon the butter crumbs mixture into the ramekin and spread evenly. Use a spoon to pat it down smooth. Freeze the ramekins for 20 minutes or more while you continue to make the top cheese part.

4. Spoon the tub of strawberry cheese into a bowl and squeeze condensed milk into the bowl. Depending on how sweet you want the cake to be, a quarter of a cup of condensed milk should do it for most people. I used more because I have a sweet tooth. STIR WELL with a spoon.

5. Chop blueberries into halves. Add that to the cheese mixture. Stir again.

6. Once biscuit base is set and frozen, take ramekins out of the freezer. Spoon berry cheese mixture into the ramekins. Fill it to about half of the ramekin. Well, you want to be generous, you best get 2 or more tubs of that flavoured cheese and alot more ingredients! Use spoon to smooth the top and return to freezer.

7. After about 20 minutes or more, you can go about melting the chocolate pieces. In fact whenever you feel like melting chocolate, do so. As long as the chocolate top can harden and freeze in time! I used Toblerone since they will have that nice nougaty bits. I also microwaved them for 30 seconds, leave them in there while you take out the ramekins again.

8. Make sure chocolate's melted through (microwave again if need be, adjust accordingly) and spoon them smoothly over the cheesecake. Make sure it covers the top properly. Place 3 blueberries on top in a sweet triangle shape. Return to freezer and you can leave them in there overnight. If you do it in the morning, it should be ready for your dinner party.

Here's a photo of my 5 little cheesecakes still in their ramekins. Not perfect but sure look cute.

Photo credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com
Anyway, dont be afraid to put your own stamp into this recipe. Switch the cheese flavour (use plain if u want and add fresh fruist or peanut butter or chocolate or marshmallows, anything), use different berries or fruits, choose your favourite chocolate. Only arrange fruits on top when serving for more 'real' fruits taste. Make it a more generous helping, or into a big cheesecake (if so, add gelatin to hold). It tasted abit like ice cream cake at the end of it. I supposed kids love it and a good end to a dinner always. I liked the crunch of the harden chocolate and then the soft cheesecake against that nice buttery base.

So give it a go, and I am sure you will do it so much better than I did mine. Because it will have your love and patience put into it. Good luck and send me any pictures if you do make it! Tell me if you had any trouble or special tips you use! =)

Photo credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com

Till my next kitchen venture, Mayy xo

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