Navigation Menu

Stroopwafels

Published On 10:15 AM By Unknown
A stroopwafel is a waffle made from two thin layers of baked batter with a caramel-like syrup filling in the middle. Large versions are sold in the streets as a snack.

The stiff batter for the waffles is made from flour, butter, brown sugar, yeast, milk, and eggs. Medium sized balls of batter are put on a waffle iron. After the waffle has been baked, and while it's still warm, it is cut into halves. The warm filling, made from syrup, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon, is spread between the waffle halves, gluing them together.

The traditional way to eat the stroopwafel is to place it atop of a drinking vessel with a hot beverage inside that fits the diameter of the waffle. The heat from the rising steam warms the waffle and slightly softens the inside and makes the waffle soft on one side while still crispy on the other.
 
I kinda wish I read all that previous paragraphs before I attempted to eat it. So out of the packet it came and took a bite. Wow chewy with a strong sense of caramel and cinnamon. Not crunchy as it would look to be.

Then I read the packaging. Duh! Should always read the packaging first. But us men don't need maps. Heat in microwave for 5-10 seconds. Ahh... once I did that the syrup melted up a bit and it was more softer and quite delicious. 
Not something I'd purchase again but it's good to know snacks invented in the 18th century are still around today in our local supermarkets.

Deep Fried Bounty @ Snow Monkey

Published On 1:40 PM By Unknown
So after dinner at Albee's we decided to explore the streets of Campsie, possibly find something to satisfy my sweet tooth.
We came across this sign. Oh dear God! Deep Fried in massive letters and nothing but images of chocolate. I knew what I was in for because of the creation of the Deep Fried Mars Bar in Bondi. I personally didn't travel there to purchase my heart attack but found a local tucker shop that offered similar services and I chose a deep fried Snickers (because Snickers is better than Mars). It was covered in batter and the chocolate was melted with chunky peanuts. I think the stickiness stopped my heart for a few seconds as I digested but it was just a fantastic experience.

So in seeing this it really bought up memories of that delectable experience and I felt despite my diet, I really needed to endure this once more. Even if they were charging me $6 for a chocolate bar. 
To minimalise my calorie intake I decided to share it with this guy (pictured above-left). 

I loved the decore upon entry. It had some good music pumping and the furniture was interesting. The service was friendly and fantastic. Just a shame that it's located somewhere where the crowd would not appreciate this cuisine.
Before my order came out, the staff handed me a card and told me that I'd get a free chocolate bar if I try every flavour. Wow! So you're rewarding me with an extra fried treat if I manage to not die after that many tries? Maybe this last one might do the trick. Please tell your friends.
When it came out, I was surprised. It wasn't deep fried in batter with oil oozing out of its orifices. But instead a more elegant, crunchy coated pastry surrounded my deep fried bounty. 

I took a bite and I loved how the hot bounty just reminded me of a freshly made macaroon. I fully suggest sharing it, as the heat seem to intensify the sweetness. Next time I'd definitely try something with more chocolate as that will allow for a more melted, creamy center.
I still loved the experience and thankful for stores like these out there. Just a nice change to eating the same old same old all the time. 

Karipap @ Albees

Published On 10:13 AM By Unknown
Karipap aka Curry Puff is a Malaysian, Singaporean, and Thai snack. It is a small pie consisting of specialised curry with chicken and potatoes in a deep-fried or baked pastry shell. The curry is quite thick to prevent it from oozing out of the snack.

My friend pointed out that the egg doesn't add much value to the snack but we love the mushy curry potato part. It has a light spice but no chilli kick despite the curry. It's a massive serving for $2.50 and the more you buy the cheaper they are.
 
Almost the perfect start for all my meals at Albee's. Great to share as one whole Karipap can really put a dent in your stomach capacity. 

Johnny Hotsauce

Published On 8:59 AM By Unknown
First off thanks to my sister for thinking of me on her trip to QLD and bringing me home two bottles of delicious hot sauces.
Johnny Hotsauce is a family owned company. Brewing nothing but the tastiest and hottest hot sauces. I love how their sauces are made from fresh local ingredients and we need to start supporting Aussie companies like these.

First off, I got two bottles, one habernero and one colon-burning ghost chilli. 

I love habernero. It has this beautiful taste to it with an enticing kick that's just insanely amazing. Yea it's hot, but it's not just a pure burn unlike ghost chilli. I personally love how it's a bit runny then with chunks of chilli that I can smother my pulled pork sandwiches in. It was fantastic. 

One slight gripe I had was the restriction in the pourer. It didn't really allow the chunks to pass through as freely as I'd like. I understand it's to portion control so you don't accidentally overdose your food into a chili coma. I removed it nonetheless and now I can let the sauce flow 'til my hearts content.
I think for chili lovers, this is a must buy. It's a fantastic product that not only support local businesses but rivals those international brands I usually purchase.

Free plug: https://www.facebook.com/JohnnyHotsauceAus

Royce Potato Chip Chocolate Fromage Blanc

Published On 11:20 AM By Unknown
I remember one day walking through Aldi and came across chocolate covered chips. It was one of my favourite discoveries ever. Not only unique and unhealthy, but it tasted fantastic. That's all you can expect from a Frankenstein snack.

So when I found out that Royce sells them I'm first in line to try it. I love the nice simple potato chip covered in Fromage Blanc. 

Fromage Blanc is a fresh, easy-to-make cheese. Of French origin, its name simply means “white cheese” and it makes an excellent cheese spread with herbs and spices added to it. It can also be used by itself as a substitute for cream cheese or ricotta in cooking. It can have the consistency of a cream cheese with a fraction of the calories and cholesterol.
It was surprisingly addictive even though you naturally think the combination just won't work. So creamy and sweet but then a crunch of a potato chip to break up the consistency. I know it doubles up my calorie intake because its combined two things traditionally considered unhealthy into one bite. 
In saying all that, despite the health risk, price tag of $15 and the fact I can't get in Australia, I'd definitely consider getting it again.

Twisties Cheeseburger

Published On 10:04 AM By Unknown
I'm loving that Twisties has gone to some effort to reinvent themselves and change their flavour. Although I still love their original cheese flavour the best.
Introduction Cheeseburger flavour. The first bite gave no hint this was anything different, in fact it was probably the opposite effect and it tasted more land. After wolfing down a quarter of the packet you can kinda see what they mean by cheese burger flavour. I guess it's there, but its very very mediocre.
Disappointed that this new angle came off quite blunt. I haven't loss faith in you yet Twisties. Keep at it!

Yam Crackers

Published On 10:24 AM By Unknown
So when I saw these on the shelves in Singapore, I was under the impression that  I'm grabbing some type of yam flavoured chips.
I took a bite and immediately questioned where the flavour was. It was ultra bland but very crunchy though and I did love the texture. Decided to pair it up with some curry and was wowed at how fantastic it made the meal. Like a papadum but even more amazing. 
Not too sure of the way to eat them, but when in doubt go with the gut and it says Dip Dip Dip.

Smiths Popped

Published On 10:13 AM By Unknown
So since I've been on this diet, it's made snacking at work a lot harder. My solution to replace my savoury fixation are these air popped potato snacks.
I am amazed at how good they actually taste. No compromise with flavour. Just a different base to coat. It's still crunchy, salty and serves its purpose in every way. 
I can easy replace chips with these and am eagerly awaiting more flavours, possibly some super spicy?

Corn Dog

Published On 3:50 PM By Unknown
Here is one of my secret loves in Strathfield. The all too familiar corn dogs. But made by Koreans. What's different? Umm Possibly not much but I love it.
There use to be a small Korean stall that served it but it's not a Hotdog with Bulgogi shop. So there's only one place where I can find it, right next to the station. 

Horrible thing about this place is there's no place to seat and I'm forced to take away and hence pour sauce into the bag and leave. Not as pleasant as enjoying it on a plate.
The crumb batter is sweet and the sausage is just normal, nothing fancy. But the combo with tomato sauce is just a pleasant street food. Something I can always fall back on as a snack when I'm in the area. 
We normally pair this up with some deep fried sushi but that seems to have gone extinct now.

Cadbury Dairy Milk with Oreo

Published On 10:34 AM By Unknown
After seeing them on my friend's Facebook page, I instantly joined the bandwagon when I fianlly saw them at my local Woolworths.
There's a bit of confusion with the packaging. It likes to make reference to Joyville: magical Cadbury land of Chocolate that I would like to visit (Our next closest thing to reliving Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - The original not the creepy Johnny Depp version). The confusion begins because the Marvellous Creation is our first connection to Joyville but this product isn't a Marvellous Creation.

My second confusion was isn't Nabisco another brand but apparently Kraft bought out Cadbury and Nabisco, so that explains how they were able to combine the two flavours into this product. Makes me wonder what other cross contamination is heading for us in the future: Oreo Biscuit with Cadbury Centre? 
As imagined, this combination merges two great products and formed a great product. The delicious Cadbury chocolate with an Oreo centre. It really couldn't go wrong. Despite hardly adverts, I'm sure through word of mouth this product will boom on it's own.  

Tim Tam Chocolicious Bites Gooey Caramel

Published On 9:32 AM By Unknown
Is it just me or Tim Tams keep getting smaller and smaller? My next prediction is Tim Tam in the shape of M&Ms.
 
These were suggested to me by my fiancée’s brother. Another fellow chocolate lover! But in this case we had to settle for the Caramel option for my fiancée’s sake. 
 
I love how it's individually packed so it's perfect to bring along to work and I'm no longer scouring for something to close my half eaten packet of Tim Tams.

For such a small size its a super dense Tim Tam, with strong caramel flavour and it's like eating sugar: it's so sweet! I think the bite size is the perfect portion for such a explosive caramel and sugary sensation.
 
I really like it! The original Tim Tam style was getting stale. It goes on sale so often because they need to find a way to get rid of the stock. Their other recent marketing gimmick was making the packets smaller and financially impracticable. That didn't introduce any new solutions to the problem. 

I'm glad that at least this product has a slight change in texture and taste. I can imagine investing more money especially when they expand their flavour range. 

Peperoni Pizza with Hotdog Stuff Crust

Published On 10:20 AM By Unknown
So I've seen enough commercials on the Hot Dog Stuff Crust that I had to break my diet and give it a go.

 
First disappointment was I noticed that my crust was missing the sauces on it to make it resemble a hotdog. I really should have checked it before I left, but I was too excited to eat it and worried it was going to get cold before I got home.

How do you add more unnecessary calories to an already heart stopping food..... add a hotdog in the crust. The extra meat sure made the crust a lot better though in saying that I always get a thin based pizza for my peperoni topping and there's never much crust to get through.

The hot dog wasn't anything gourmet as expected but more meat is always good. It definitely made each slice more fulfilling and left me extremely bloated when I managed to polish off 7 slices. Yes I'm a fatty.
I think at the end of the day it doesn't add enough value to the pizza. A nice gimmick and I'm glad I tried it but I'm more than happy to just take my peperoni pizza on thin base as it is.  

Twisties BBQ Curry Dude

Published On 10:02 AM By Unknown
In Singapore, I got this as a laugh really.... Loved the name and it was definitely a flavour of Twisties I haven't seen before in Australia.
So BBQ Curry Dude is not only a flavour but the mascot? Is dude suppose to make the chips cooler, like he's a surfer. Yet he's a robot that cooks BBQ's in his stomach? I'm so confused as to what this flavour is suppose to be. What is a BBQ Curry? Curry that's cooked on a Weber? So many questions.....
 
To my surprise...It was actually pretty fantastic as these Twisties had a nice hint of Indian spices and an above average spicy kick. If I could get my hands on them again, it's a definite rebuy.

Wow! I'm now addicted and converted and love BBQ Curry Dude! 

Killa Burger Grill

Published On 9:53 AM By Unknown
I recall trying this place when it first opened. The lines were ridiculously long, the food was cold and the service was poor. 

It's been a fair period of time for a company to expand and hopefully improve over that time. 
 
I set my eyes on the Ninja Burger : Chicken, Mayo, Cameralised Onions, Satay Peanut Sauce. 
 
The chicken was dry and the sauce felt cold.  After the first bite, I was sure nothing could save this burger now.

The chips were decent for chunky cuts and the large range of sauces is always great. We settled for two, Cheese and Chili Sauce. Cheese was passable... not something I'd order again. Tasted like a cheesy flavoured mayo with no so much cheese flavour. The chili sauce reminded me of the stuff you can get at Shanghainese restaurants. Nice and spicy.
 
My friend got the Mountain Burger and despite it being a beef burger he found a bone in one of the patties. Enough to turn me off Killa Burger forever.  

Chocorn (Recipe to Riches) vs Cadbury Review

Published On 10:44 AM By Unknown
So this post is a bit late. A week and a bit to be precise. Chocorn was the winner from 2 weeks ago on Recipes to Riches. I was yet again going to boycott this purchase as they're charging $8 for chocolate covered popcorn but something inside me said 'Just Do It'.

So here I am holding my purchase and thinking about how they said he's a genius and big companies would be kicking themselves for not being able to think of something so simple and here and behold I find Cadbury with their new release.. chocolate covered popcorn.
 
So what we have here is a good old duel. Cadbury vs Newbie. Who will win? Which one should you buy?

Let's start off with the big, bad world of Cadbury. Their packaging is familiar (actually aren't those the colours of Crunchie?), their chocolate is sweet and milky as usual but their popcorn tastes like they left it out for days and then they coated it in chocolate. Quite unpleasant experience and probably would not buy it again. I suppose if they had no competitor this half-completed snack would have satisfied some of the masses but in the red corner we have Chocorn.

Chocorn comes in a fancy shmancy box (tarnished slightly by the Woolworths Select logo): it's attempt to be more high class and compete with Ferrero. Inside the box each flavour is individually packeted. The packaging budget must have ran out because it looks quite unappealing at this level.
We'll start off with the basics. The popcorn. OMG it was sweet and salty and beautifully crunchy. I think the show and advertising for it didn't do it justice as I reckon I could eat them by the boxful. I'm so glad that the product itself was genuinely delicious and worth my hard earned dollars.
 
Flavour One: White Chocolate with Macadamias. What a simple combination that's always worked. Nothing new and original but you're guaranteed a great flavour.

Flavour Two: Milk chocolate and Hazelnuts. Yet again a great simple combo that's always worked. I wish they marketed some of his other flavours from the show. We need something new and original.

Flavour Three: Dark Chocolate with Fleur de Sel (hand harvested sea salt). Salty, bitter and amazingly addictive. I love the contrast.

Hands down winner is Chocorn. Not value for money but quality over quantity in this case.

Signature Paparoti Bun with Condense Milk

Published On 10:17 AM By Unknown
Have you ever wondered why people got diabetes?

Paparoti provides buns with coffees in a bakery-cafe theme. Established in Malaysia back in 2003, their stores have popped up all over Asia and finally hit the shore of Australia in 2010.
My friend asked for the signature bun which consists of a crispy and fragrant coffee-cream coated over light and fluffy dough with a hint of a buttery filling then drenched in condense milk. Actually his exact words was "Extra condense milk". 

The girl who served us made some side remark after he asked for extra condense milk in his Teh Tarik implying did he want diabetes. 

The Teh Tarik was a bit disappointing as my only real experience of it was from Mamak which made me fall in love with the drink. 

The bun was soft, fluffy and warm. The taste of coffee in the bun dressed with condense milk really brings back memories of my dad making jugs of iced coffee and condense milk on those hot summers when I was growing up. 

Thanks Paparoti for the flashback and I'll definitely be revisiting....

Profood Cebu Dried Mangoes

Published On 10:36 AM By Unknown
Normally we buy the brand 7d. A great tasting brand in it own right. I got my hands on these thanks to my future mother in law.
The Cebu(in Philippines) mango (aka Carabao or Guadalape) is in a class of its own. The texture of the mango is unbelievably silky smooth and juicy. Most mangoes have a slight fibrous texture and its the lack of fibre which makes the Cebu mango stand out from other varieties around the world. There are many companies producing dried mango and these products are exported all around the world. Next time I get the chance I'll head to Cebu for a taste test.

I love how its not artificially sweet. It has a nice chewy bite to it and quite crispy as well. In some bites it has a slight bitterness taste like that of the skin but I kinda enjoy that.
 
 Overall not a bad product to sample even though dried fruits ain't my thing.

Lor Bak @ Albee's Kitchen

Published On 10:56 AM By Unknown
So back at Albee's Kitchen again. This time I'm giving my Hainanese Chicken cravings a miss. Really got to cut back those carbs. 

Service for this dish was extremely slow but its probably more due to the fact that they took my order without writing it down and forgot to make it until I asked for it. 

I really like how this place is like a random hawker market all in one place. Chance of getting sick in this place looks high and I love the thrill and the authenticity.
 
Loh bak is another famous Penang Nyonya food in Malaysia. It is also one of the Penang well known hawker delights easily available at many Penang street stalls or night markets sold as finger food.

Lor Bak is marinated minced pork, then rolled in thin soybean sheets and then deep fried. I liked the fried texture of the soybean sheets. It was crispy and contrasted nicely with the mixture inside. The inside was hit and miss for me. It was spiced and seasoned well but the overall texture didn't pop or made you crave for another bite. At least there was a side of chilli sauce to mask/enhance the taste.
Will definitely revisit Albee's again as it just has that feel of being at home. Even though I'm not Malaysian.

Fried Banana @ Kaysone Sweets

Published On 5:36 PM By Unknown
I love my food at Cabramatta and this is just another to add to my list. My fiancee and I have our weird lil traditions/habits like buying Red Lea chips, dim sims with chilli sauce and a fruit shake which we'll call our lunch. We enjoy that kinda thing sometimes. 
 
I've had the fried banana here before and recall it being really good. It's probably all the oil on it. The banana is actually existent and not just a thick layer of flour. The sweetness is nice and best eaten warm/hot.

This place also has great smoothies and fruit shakes where you can choose the fruits you want, they chuck it all in a blender and add some sugar water and all for half the cost of boost.
 
Definitely a place to visit when you're in the area and the flock of people in their store constantly confirms its greatness.

Singapore Special Day 5

Published On 10:19 AM By Unknown
So our final day we decided to finally give that Kaya Toast for breakfast a try. My friends got a serving or Wet and Runny egg. Apparently served like that since 1944. It did not look appealing at all, nor did they know how to eat it. One of them dipped the Kaya toast in and that just looked wrong.
The Kaya Toast was extremely toasted, so much so the bread was very crumbly and crispy. The dish itself was very dry and my Kaya Toast had peanut butter in it as well so that left my mouth all sticky, dry and in need of something to wash it down.
Our next stop was a quick re-visit to Chinatown. I grabbed myself a cold Home-Made-Barley drink which tasted like cold water and beans. I really didn't want any juices or milky produce before a flight.
Then I couldn't help myself and bought a bowl of Laksa.. just because it felt like something I should have tried if I went to Singapore. It tasted how I imagine it should taste, nothing to write home about, but in saying that I'm no Laksa fan nor expert.
Last but not least a final stop at Mos Burger. This time I ventured into their "high-end" burger. A Wagyu Chilli Burger. It was very saucy and a great meal to send me off, forever drooling over the foods in Singapore.
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)