Yummy Indulgences

Elaine Bakes: Sachertorte

2012-01-31T22:42:00.000Z

Sachertorte is a famous rich chocolate cake with an Austrian origin. Once Sachertorte is mentioned, first thing that comes to my mind is Sacher Hotel in Salzburg and Vienna. If you read travel guides for Austria, this cake will be one of the famous cakes that you will need to try when you're there. I first tried the cake at Sacher Hotel in Vienna few years back but it didn't make much of an impression. Perhaps because I wasn't such a foodie back then. Then last year, I tried Sachertorte again at Cafe Tomaselli in Salzburg. Once again, it didn't impress me much as it was quite dry. However, I gave it a benefit of the doubt as the cake does looked like it has been sitting for the entire day in the corner waiting for someone to tuck into it.

Sachertorte is a dense chocolate cake and being me, I prefer something light and fluffy and not overly sweet. Hence, you rarely see chocolate related bakes in my blog. I decided to bake Sachertorte today as I suspect that Eric Lanlard might include this in his Chocolate Masterclass that I will be attending end of February and I don't want to look too silly for not knowing my stuff there. Lol!

My verdict of this cake? I was very pleased with the outcome of the cake. In fact, it turned out better than what I have expected. The cake sweetness was just at the right level. The cake was firm but not hard. I have been yearning to bake cakes with shiny glaze and it turned out just the way I wanted. It's sure an attractive cake! *Beams with happiness*

Without much further ado, here's the recipe:

Sachertorte

Recipe for 7-inch round cake pan

Part 1: Cake

Preparation time: 30 mins.

Baking time: 35 mins.

120 g Dark 70% chocolate

100 g Butter

100 g Caster sugar

80 g Cake flour, sifted

3 Egg yolks

3 Egg whites

1. Melt butter and chocolate in a water bath. Once melted, set aside for it to cool down.

2. Whisk egg whites till stiff peak forms. Set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar till well combined.

4. Blend mixture from Step 1 into Step 3.

5. Gradually incorporate flour into Step 4 with a spatula.

6. Incorporate 1/3 of egg white into chocolate mixture from Step 5 with a spatula, then pour in the rest of the egg white and fold gently until fully incorporated.

7. Pour cake mixture into a cake pan lined with greaseproof paper.

8. Bake cake in oven preheated at 180C for 38 minutes or until when cake skewer comes out clean.

9. Once removed from the oven, let the cake cool for 2 minutes, then invert cake onto a cake cooling rack, bottom side up to allow the cake top to flatten.

Part 2: Shiny Chocolate Ganache

100 g Milk chocolate

50 g Dark 70% chocolate

150 g Double cream

1. Break chocolate into tiny pieces. Set aside.

2. Heat cream in a saucepan on medium heat till piping hot.

3. Remove from heat and add in chocolate pieces and stir gently with a spoon till melted.

4. Allow the chocolate ganache to cool before speading it on the cake.

Part 3: Assembling

50 g Apricot jam

Chocolate ganache

Chocolate cake, halved horizontally

1. Melt apricot jam in a microwave and sieve off the tiny apricot pieces.

2. You can add water into the apricot jam if its consistency is too thick.

3. Using a pastry brush, coat the bottom half of the cake with apricot jam then top it with the other half of the cake.

4. Then brush the top and the sides of the cake with the remaining apricot jam to seal in the moisture in the cake. Allow the jam to set.

5. Finally, pour the chocolate ganache onto the cake and spread evenly with a palette knife.

6. Let the cake sit in the fridge for at least 15 minutes in order for the chocolate to set.

7. Gather the remaining chocolate ganache into a piping bag.

8. Remove the cake from the fridge and pipe the word "Sacher" onto the cake and garnish as desired.

9. You can either serve it straight or let the cake sit overnight if you prefer firmer chocolate ganache. Enjoy!

Note: Use good quality chocolate as this might affect the overall taste. My favourites are Green & Blacks and Lindt branded chocolates ^^

Elaine Bakes: Romias

2012-01-21T22:11:00.000Z

I first tried Romias cookie from a Dutch bakery back in May last year during my Amsterdam trip. I fell in love with it straight away. The cookie is crumby and crunchy while the caramelised almond filling is sweet and crispy. The whole combination made a very good pairing. I can't remember how I found out about the name of the cookie but anyway, this version tastes very similar to the one I tried back then. I think the origin of the cookie is actually French.

This cookie is special in the sense that it has filling in the centre which melts and caramelizes during the baking process thus giving it a crunchy yet crumbly characteristic once baked. I was quite worried that the filling might overflow while in the oven but it turned out fine. One word of advice, allow the cookies to cool down before removing it from the baking sheet so that the caramel can harden and stays intact within the cookie. Do give this recipe a try. The cookie can be stored up to 2 weeks in an airtight container, but since it's quite addictive, I doubt it's going to last that long. Lol!

Romias (Makes 26)
Recipe adapted from here.

Cookie
100g Slightly salted butter, softened
50 g Caster sugar
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 Egg white
120 g Cake flour

Filling
(A)
25 g Honey
35 g Caster sugar
30 g Unsalted butter

30 g Flaked almond

Part 1: Filling
1. Start off by making the cookie filling first.
2. In a non-stick saucepan, melt (A) on medium heat till the mixture bubbles.
3. Then, add in flaked almond until well combined.
4. Allow to cool for 1 - 2 minutes, then transfer the mixture on the a cling film and shaped into a 26cm log.
5. Sit the log in the fridge for approx. 30 minutes in order for it to set and harden. In the mean time, work with the cookie dough.

Part 2: Cookie Dough
1. Whisk butter till soft.
2. Add in sugar then whisk until light and fluffy.
3. Next, add in egg white and vanilla extract, mix well before incorporating cake flour to form a soft cookie dough.

Part 3: Assembling
1. In a clean piping bag, insert a small star piping nozzle and cut a hole just big enough for the nozzle to stick through it.
2. Transfer the cookie dough into the piping bag. Set aside.
3. Remove the almond filling from the fridge and cut into 26 pieces of 1cm square cube.
3. On a baking tray lightly greased with butter, pipe dough into a ring with 1-inch gap in the middle.
4. Put the cubes in the middle of each cookie and bake in oven preheated at 180C for 15 - 20 minutes or until browned.
5. Allow the cookies to cool almost completely before removing them from the baking tray as they caramel centre filling will only set once cooled. Store in an airtight container up to 2 weeks. Enjoy!

Elaine's Kitchen: Honey Roasted Pecans

2012-01-16T20:45:00.000Z

Chinese New Year will be here in exactly one week today. As you can see on the greeting card in the photo, this year will be the year of the Dragon. As usual, I will be busy baking cookies to celebrate this festive occasion. Apart from cookies, we eat other snacks as well, including roasted monkey nuts and pistachios while catching up with relatives or watching movies. This time, I decided to make it slightly special by incorporating honey into the nuts after trying M&S's honey roasted nuts.

This snack is so quick and easy to prepare that even a kitchen amateur can attempt it. Be warned that the nuts can be very addictive too. I only made a small batch today and it's almost half gone. You can double or triple the recipe.

Here's the recipe:

Honey Roasted Pecans

150 g Raw pecan nuts

2 tbsp Honey

1 pinch Salt

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C.

2. Meanwhile, soften honey by microwaving it on high in a bowl for 15 seconds, then incorporate salt into the honey.

3. Mix salted honey mixture and pecan nuts in a large bowl till well combined, then transfer to a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

4. Bake in oven for 10 minutes.

5. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before storing them in an airtight container.

6. Enjoy!

Honey Roasted Pecans. Yum!

Elaine's Kitchen: Oven Roasted Chestnut (Version 2)

2011-12-30T22:35:00.001Z

I have this soft spot for chestnuts, especially roasted ones. If you have been following my blog for a while, you would have noticed that I have been eating, cooking and baking with chestnuts pretty much all the time and more so around autumn/winter time. This is a much improved version of my original Oven Roasted Chestnuts post back in 2009. The shells doesn't stick to the chestnut flesh (which the previous one sometimes does), which makes peeling so much easier and most importantly, it produces moist and fragrant chestnuts. I think this recipe is as best as it can get.

500g Medium sized raw chestnuts

1. Soak chestnuts overnight in a deep bowl and discard the floaty ones. Note: This step is very important as it ensures soft and moist chestnuts!
2. Pour away the soaking water the next day and pat the chestnuts dry with a kitchen towel.
3. Pre-heat oven to 190C.
4. Score the chestnuts with the tip of a sharp knife.
5. Roast in pre-heated oven for 25 minutes.
6. Remove chestnuts from oven and allow to cool for approx. 2 minutes before peeling the chestnuts open. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T16:52:00.000Z

I would like to wish all my blog readers a Merry Merry Christmas! This is also the time one would indulge on lots of good food.

Just to share some of my Christmas favourites:

Niederegger's Chocolate Coated Marzipan from Germany. It's almost like a yearly ritual now that I buy Chocolate Marzipan for Christmas because they're so good! What's even better was that I bought this box for £8.00 yesterday from John Lewis after a reduction from £12.00.

Next favourite, Mince pies! This is a British sweet pie traditionally served during Christmas time. I usually buy my Mince Pies that comes in shortcrust pastry just for the sake of it. This time round, I bought puff pastry mince pie because Heston Blumenthal is making it for Waitrose. At £3.29 for a box of 6, it was slightly more expensive than some other brands, however, the taste does justify the price of it. The pastry was light and flaky and the mince meat was spiced just to the right consistency without being too overpowering.

Last but not least, Stollen, which is a bread-like fruit cake. I have been eating at least one whole Stollen cake every Christmas season in the last 7 years. I have yet to try Niederegger's version of Stollen that I bought from my recent German trip but up to date I can testify that M&S sells the best Stollen around, with lots of juicy sultanas and marzipan.

That's all the fatty Christmas indulgences that I can think of for now. I hope you all have a good Christmas and I shall update the blog with more recipes soon!

Elaine Bakes: Piparkakut

2011-12-24T18:55:00.000Z

Piparkakut is the Finnish version of Christmas gingerbread cookie. I didn't like gingerbread cookie at all, at least not until when Maija, my former Finnish housemate, introduced the Finnish version to me. I found the gingerbread cookie sold in the UK to have too much ginger taste in it. However, in the Finnish version, the ginger taste was quite subtle and has a good combination of other spices in it as well which made eating it to be so enjoyable.

Piparkakut

I wanted to bake this cookie since last year but I fell ill just few days before Christmas, hence I had to alter my plans a little. This year, things are working in my favour. I even went to the Finnish Christmas Market in London to get some of the essential ingredients to make the cookie taste more authentic.

Without much further ado, here's the recipe:

Piparkakut (Makes approx. 50)

Recipe adapted from here

(A)

115 g Butter

125 g Sugar

65 ml Molasses

1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp Ground cloves

3/4 tsp Ground cardamom

1/4 tsp Ground black pepper

1.5 tsp Ground ginger

1 tsp Orange zest

(B)

1 Egg

1/8 tsp Salt

1 tsp Bicarbonate soda

330 g All-purpose flour

1. Heat (A) in a saucepan on a medium heat until the butter has melted and all the ingredients are well combined.

2. Transfer #1 into a large mixing bowl and combine with (B) with a spatula.

3. Add in half of flour and mix until combined, then add remaining flour into the mixing bowl until a cookie dough is formed.

4. Wrap the dough with a cling film and chill for at least 8 hours or overnight for the dough to firm up.

5. Pre-heat oven to 170C.

6. On a floured surface, roll the dough to 3mm thickness and cut out the cookies with your desired cookie cutter.

7. Bake in pre-heated oven for 8 - 10 minutes.

8. Let the cookies cool down before icing them with icing pens. Enjoy!

Spot the edibles: My Edible Christmas Tree 2011

As usual, I have been decorating my tree with edible ornaments again, just to carry on with the tradition Maija and I have been doing when she was still staying with me. I remembered eating off the tree almost non-stop one year when I was sitting next to it studying for my exams. Haha...

Elaine Bakes: Spitzbuben

2011-12-22T17:00:00.000Z

Spitzbuben is a German Christmas cookie. This went in to my Christmas baking list as I was attracted to its cute appearance. Tastewise, it reminds me of Jammie Dodgers, a British shortbread sandwiched with plum jam, except that in this version that I baked, the cookie is a little softer. I liked the taste of the raspberry jam once it has set on the cookie.

If you like Jammie Dodgers, why not give this a try?

Here's the recipe:

Spitzbuben (makes 20 sandwiched cookies)
Recipe adapted from here

(A)
130 g All-purpose flour
80 g Almond flour
110 g Icing sugar
1 pinch Salt

100 g Butter, cold, cut into small pieces
2 tsp Vanilla extract
1 Egg
100 g Smooth raspberry jam
Icing sugar for dusting

1. Mix (A) together then rub in cold butter with your fingertips until a breadcrumb consistency is achieved. Set aside.

2. Meanwhile, add vanilla to egg and whisk lightly.

3. Then add #2 into #1 and combine to form a cookie dough.

4. Chill dough in the fridge for a least 2 hours for it to firm up.

5. Pre-heat oven to 180C.

6. Roll out dough to 3mm thickess on a lightly floured worktop.

7. Cut cookies with a 68mm fluted cookie cutter and transfer to a baking sheet.

8. Using a mini cookie cutter, cut out the middle of half of the cookies.

9. Bake in oven for 10 - 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

10. Cool cookies on a wire rack before spreading approx. 1 tbsp of raspberry jam and lastly, sandwich the cookie with another cookie with holes on top.

11. Sprinkle with icing sugar and store in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Elaine Bakes: Galette Bretonne

2011-12-21T23:07:00.001Z

I have attempted this cookies a couple of times now and have finally managed to get the recipe right! Phew! The first time round, the cookies were distorted as the "cookie mould" that I made was not strong enough. The second time round, I managed to get the mould right but the cookies were rolled out too thick. After a few modifications I hereby present to you the yummylicious French butter cookie that crumbles in your mouth.

Galette Bretonne (makes 20)

100 g Butter, softened at room temperature
1 g Salt
60 g Icing sugar
1 Egg yolk
10 g Rum
100 g Cake flour
40 g Almond flour
1 g Baking powder
1 Yolk, beaten (for glazing)

1. Cream butter with an electric whisk till soft and light.
2. Then add in salt and sugar and mix well.
3. Whisk in yolk followed by rum.
4. Blend in cake flour, almond powder and baking powder until a dough is formed.
5. Wrap the dough with a cling film and allow to rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight for the dough to firm up.
6. Pre-heat oven to 170C.
7. On a clean surface, spead a thin layer of flour and place the dough on top.
8. Divide the dough into small batches before rolling them out as the dough softens very quickly.
9. Roll the dough on a clean floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin until 5mm thick.
10. Use a 58mm round cookie cutter coated lightly with flour to cut the dough out.
11. Score the cookie with a fork for extra pattern, then using a pastry brush, glaze the cookie with beaten egg yolk.
12. Bake the cookies in a straight-sided foil case for 23 - 25 minutes or until golden brown.
13. Allow to cool before storing cookie in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Christmas Bakes Sneak Preview

2011-12-19T23:53:00.000Z

Here's a preview of my Christmas 2011 bakes.

Cookies L-R : Gallette Bretonne, Spitzbuben, Piparkakut

If you're lucky enough to be my work colleague, here are the Christmas treats from me. If you're not my colleague, recipes to come soon! Stay tuned!

The Greenhouse @ Mayfair, London

2011-12-16T18:49:00.000Z

Recently my friend Kirsty and I met up for the first time in about 2 years since we finished uni. Since we both love good food, we decided to catch up over fine dining in London before going to the Christmas Market at Hyde Park. I spotted 1 Michelin Star Greenhouse Restaurant at the Toptable website which offers set lunch menu at a very reasonable price. Kirsty happily agreed to the suggestion.

The entrance into the restaurant + Interior

Since we both came from different parts of the country, we decided to meet up at Waterloo station before making our way to the restaurant. We booked for the 1.30pm lunch slot just in case if we got lost. At 1.00pm we were discussing about the prospects of getting a table if we arrive early since we were around the Mayfair area by then. As predicted, we got lost and got to the restaurant just on time!

As soon as we arrived, our coats were taken away and we were ushered into the dining area.

Not long after we were seated, we were presented with amuse-bouche which consists of vegetable crisps on one side and cauliflower purée and parsley sauce in the bowl. We were instructed to mix the vegetable crisp with the latter in the bowl. The vegetable crisps reminded me of Tyrrells vegetable crisps. For one moment it made me wondered if the vegetable crisps came out straight from Tyrrells' pack of crisps. lol!

Not long after, the waiter came with a tray of bread rolls in which we get to choose from a selection of white, brown or chestnut. Both Kirsty and I chose the chestnut roll since we have never tried one before and it sounded special. There were bits of chestnuts in the bread roll. It was certainly a change from the usual offerings. I would eat it again if only there was more space in my tummy.

For starters, I had Cornish Crab Salad. The crab meat was mixed with avocado and herb, sandwiched in paper thin daikon slices. The taste was very refreshing. I was quite pleased to see this in the menu list as it reminded me of the crab salad the contestants made at the Master Chef programme few weeks ago which got me drooling away.

Kirsty's starter of Pigeon & Foie Gras Ballotine was out of this world. The pigeon meat was very tender and the foie gras combination was superb. The meat tastes just like chicken. The overall presentation which consists of sweetcorn, girolle mushrooms, barley and some leaves was very eye pleasing too.

As for the mains, I had Seared Gurnard with Saffron and Pink Potatoes. The fish skin was crispy while the fish meat was very firm. I wished I could fry my fish that well without them breaking into pieces. The potatoes were covered with shallots and mushroom. Overall, a light but filling main course.

Kirsty had Confit Shoulder of Lamb with Black Liquorice. The lamb was easy to chew and well seasoned. The meat wasn't too fatty. Overall, I preferred the lamb over the fish, maybe because it has more flavours.

As for the dessert, I had Frozen Yogurt with Rosehip Soup and Granola. You will probably like it if you like frozen yogurt. Too bad I'm not a big fan of frozen yogurt. Nevertheless, I did polish the plate clean.

Kirsty had Chocolate Crème Brûlée with some kind of crumble. We were a little surprised when the Crème Brûlée didn't turn up in a ramekin like it always does, instead it looked like some kind of mousse, I guess they just wanted you to expect the unexpected.

At the end of the meal, we were served coffee as it was included in the set lunch. I was impressed when the waiter asked what sort of coffee I wanted as most places would just serve brewed coffee. I asked for my favourite Latte, while Kirsty had Americano.

Along with the coffee, we were also served with fancy looking petit fours. As seen above, we started off with Macaron with Hazelnut Praline (which was my favourite of all!), followed by Chocolate with Honeycomb, Peppermint Lemon Tart, Chocolate with Ganache and lastly Early Grey Panna Cotta. They were all very delicate and unlike some places, every piece of the petit fours were finger-licking good.

The bill came up to £84.94 for the both of us with 12.5% discretionary service charge and 2 glasses of Pink Champagne included. The meal was superb and service was excellent with friendly and knowledgeable waiting staff. Therefore, this restaurant is going to be in my To-Visit Again list. The restaurant did not specify any dress codes but I would imagine smart casual would be appropriate. Overall rating: 4.5/5.

Address:

The Greenhouse Restaurant

27A Hay's Mews

London

W1J 5NY.

Tel: 020 7499 3331

Elaine's Kitchen: Homemade Carrot Soup

2011-12-05T18:09:00.000Z

Few nights ago, I needed ONE carrot to make my coleslaw but there was no loose carrots left at the supermarket aisle by the time I was there after work. As determined as I am that I wanted coleslaw for dinner, I ended up having to buy a 500g pack of carrots. I didn't really know what to do with the rest of them until stumbling upon a recipe on Cookpad by chance.

Initially, I wasn't too sure if the soup might end up being too watery as there was no potatoes or any agent that will help to thicken the soup. Well, I'm glad that I followed the recipe which turned out wonderful. The soup itself tastes rich and was just at the right consistency. The combination of the carrots, bay leaf and black pepper brought the flavour out really well. The soup was very sweet (in a savoury way) without even the need of adding sugar into it.

Homemade Carrot Soup (Serves 4)

Preparation + Cooking time: 1 hour

2 cloves Garlic, chopped

1/2 Brown onion, sliced thinly

350 g Carrots, peeled and sliced to 5mm thickness

500 ml Chicken stock

2 Bay leaves

50 ml Milk

20 g Butter

1 tbsp Olive oil

Salt

Pepper (Black & White)

1. In a non-stick saucepan, melt 10g butter and olive oil on medium heat.

2. Add in chopped garlic and sauté lightly for 1 minute.

2. Then add in onion. Allow it to sweat for 5 minutes with lids covered. Stir occasionally.

3. Next, add carrots and the remaining 10g of butter. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well.

4. Simmer the carrots with lids on for 10 minutes to allow the carrots to soften.

5. Pour in stock and add bay leaves. Continue to simmer for another 10 minutes for the flavours to develop.

6. Remove the bay leaves and transfer the rest of the ingredients into a liquidizer and blend till smooth.

7. Pass the mixture though a sieve for a smooth finish, then back into the pan.

8. Stir in milk. Reheat soup for 3 - 4 minutes before serving on individual bowls.

9. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve with warm crusty bread. Enjoy!

Travelogue Day 3: BMW Museum & Viktualienmarkt

2011-11-28T11:31:00.000Z

Many knows BMW (Bavarian Motor Works) as a luxury brand that manufactures automobiles and motorcycles based in Germany. Since the headquarters of BMW is based in Munich, Germany, it would be silly to not visit the site while you're in town.

BMW Headquarters and Showroom

We set off from the hotel after breakfast and took the subway to Olympiazentrum, which also happened to be the site for the Summer 1972 Olympics. We wander around the Olympia Park for a while before going in to the BMW Showroom since the weather was so beautiful.

The tower at Olympia Park somehow just reminds me of Donauturm in Vienna.

Next, we made our way to the BMW Showroom. There was no entrance fee needed to enter the building. The place was very futuristic looking with lots of new and current BMW car models on display. If you observe the photo above, the two white blobs move around and dodge away when it senses something in front. I'm not entirely sure what that was, but it would be quite handy to use it as a floor hoover to keep the place clean at all times. Lol!

The cars.

We then made our way to the BMW Museum which gives the history about BMW and how it all started. The entrance fee to the museum was €12.00 per person, which I think was kind of on the steep side, but being a tourist you just have to put up with it sometimes. The museum is open everyday except for Mondays.

The first BMW car at 1930 which functions as an "express delivery car" at top speed of 75km/h

Anyway, the history was kind of interesting. Did you know that BMW started off by manufacturing aircraft engines? It was until the end of World War I that the company began to manufacture motorcycle followed by automobiles.

The BMW Motorcycles and Cars of the past

As soon as we finished the BMW museum tour, we went to Viktualienmarkt, which is a popular daily food market.

The market was divided into few sections which offer wide varieties of flowers, fruits, vegetables, cheese, meat etc. The place was massive. In fact, I think it was quite a bit larger than Borough Market in London.

We had seafood lunch at a restaurant called Poseidon since we have been having meat overload for the past few days. Boy, the Spaghetti with Mixed Seafood (€11.00) was amazing. Everyone was raving about it. The spaghetti was filled with mussels, clams and prawns with a tomato based sauce and possibly some cream as well in it. Another dish we ordered was Bouillabaisse with Croutons and Rouille (€12.50). The soup tastes quite fishy but once you get used to it, it was actually quite tasty.

Interesting sights at the market: Crafts & souvenirs, fresh fruit juices and not forgetting the yummy chestnuts!

We were supposed to head to Deutsche Museum after lunch but the place kept us occupied for a good 2 hours. We decided to forgo the museum and enjoy the sights and taste of good food. Do not give this place a miss if you're a foodie. It definitely won't disappoint!

This marks the end of my German travelogue but there's still one more food review coming up. Next destination: Salzburg, Austria!

Oktoberfest 2011

2011-11-16T13:42:00.000Z

I arrived in Munich, the place where Oktoberfest started towards the end of September innocently not realizing that the renowned beer festival is taking place at this time of the year. On the first day of arrival, we took the wrong subway line which lead us to having to change at Theresienwiese station. I even told mum that subway Germany is so much more organised than the tube in London as they have quite a few staff on the platform to monitor the crowd, which in fact was assigned there just for the Oktoberfest.

The annual celebration is held at its original site at Theresienwiese (meaning Theresa's fields). We went there after our day trip to Schloss Neuschwanstein. As soon as we exited the station, the Oktoberfest site was just right in front of us.

One of the many beer halls on-site

The place was massive. There were several beer halls, each which can accommodate hundreds of people. We happened to go into one by accident because we needed the washroom. lol.

Inside the beer hall

The beer hall was full of people in their traditional German attire singing, dancing and drinking away.

We didn't join the fun as none of us are big fan of beer. We proceeded to dinner. First thing that caught our eye was Hax 'n Semmel (Roasted Pork Knuckle in a bread roll) (€4.50).

As I was busy snapping away, these two blokes who appeared out of nowhere, approached me and asked to be photographed which I happily obliged.

Looks like one of them hasn't had enough hence the photobombing. Anyway back to the food, the pork was very juicy and tender, wasn't too keen on the bread roll. I didn't realize that we can buy just the pork knuckle on its own as it was all written in German.

We walked around admiring the stall decorations. Food wise, most of the stalls were selling pretty much the same thing: Bratwurst, Pizza and more meat. We soon got quite bored of the food selection as most were just repetition and went back to our hotel for more food at the lounge. Apart from beer and food, there were also a selection of souvenirs, a large Ferris wheel and a few fun rides on site. Overall Oktoberfest is an eye opening experience and certainly a must go for beer enthusiasts but if you love your food as much I do, don't have your expectations set too high. That's all for now!

Eating Out in Germany (Part 1): Ratskeller Restaurant Munich

2011-11-11T21:53:00.000Z

On the first day of our trip I had Ratskeller in my list for places to go for Bavarian cuisine since the menu looked quite extensive when I checked it out on the internet. Also, the father of an acquaintance who was a German also recommended this restaurant when me and my friends planned our trip to Hamburg few years back. We didn't make it back then because we didn't managed to find it until on the day we were leaving the place. This time the Ratskeller Restaurant in Munich was an easy find as it was right in the middle of the city centre!

The restaurant occupies the entire basement of Neues Rathaus, so it's a no miss as soon as you exit from the Marienplatz subway.

Although the place was massive, the dim lighting and wooden interior created a very cosy ambience. The waiters were very attentive and service was top notch. I only made a reservation 2 hours before the meal just in case it gets too busy thereafter. The menu comes in several languages including English which was quite handy.

Instead of bread rolls, we were served with pretzels (sprinkled with coarse salts) (€3.60), which is popular in southern Germany. It was quite hard and salty so I only had a few mouthfuls of it.

We ordered a few dishes to share. The portions were quite massive. So if you're a small eater it would be wise to share. First off, we had Soup of the Day which was Kürbisuppe (Pumpkin Soup) (€5.50). The soup's consistency was just right and has a hint of spice in it. Mum thinks that it was nice, but I thought that the taste of spice just spoils the soup. Too bad!

If you're in Germany, sausages are a must, hence the Jumbo Knackbratwurst (€9.25) which was served with creamy potato salad. I don't think you can go wrong with sausages. The nicely grilled sausages were well seasoned and delicious. Enough said.

Another not to be missed German cuisine is the Schweinhaxe (Roast Pork Shank with Crunchy Crust) (€17.50). The pork shank was served with potato dumpling and red cabbage. The meat was very tender bursting in flavour. I liked everything on the plate except for the slightly tasteless dumpling.

The total bill came up to €41.60 including a bottle of still water for the 4 of us. For the quality of the food, I think it was very affordable. If you are new to Germany and has a carnivorous side in you, it's certainly worth stopping by this restaurant to savour the traditional meaty Bavarian fare. Overall rating: 3.5/5.

Address:
Ratskeller München
Marienplatz 8
80331 München
Germany.

Website: http://www.ratskeller.com/index.php?id=66

Travelogue: Day 2: Schloss Neuschwanstein

2011-11-05T14:00:00.000Z

Now comes the highlight of the trip, the fairytale castle, Schloss Neuschwanstein! As mentioned in my earlier post, I have always wanted to go to the Schloss because it's so pretty. After a hearty German breakfast in the hotel, we started our journey from Munich Hauptbahnhof where we caught a train to a small town called Füssen before getting a bus to Hohenschwangau. For that day, we bought Bayern Ticket (€29), a rail ticket which is valid for rail and bus travel throughout the whole of Bavaria.

The entire journey from Munich to Füssen took almost 2 hours with one change at Buchloe. The journey was long but entertaining mainly because we were sat with a group of American tourists and their American tourist guide. They were heading to the same place as us. I suspect almost everyone in the train were heading towards Schloss Neuschwanstein.

Breathtaking scenery with the Bavarian Alps in the background

I did some research about the history and background of Schloss Neuschwanstein before coming to this trip. However my information were incomplete as I'm better at understanding something after visualizing it. Anyway, this American tourist guide gave a very good history about Schloss Neuschwanstein built by King Ludwig II in the 19th century. I felt bad for not leaving him a tip. lol!

Schloss Neuschwanstein viewed from Hohenschwangau

Once we arrived at Füssen, there were buses waiting outside the train station taking tourists to Hohenschwangau, which is approx. 6 minutes away. We didn't have to pay for the journey as it was included in the Bayern ticket.

The town of Hohenschwangau

As soon as we arrived at Hohenschwangau, we proceeded to Ticketcenter to purchase entrance ticket to get into the Schloss above the hill. Note: the entrance ticket to Schloss Neuschwanstein can only be bought here and not at the entrance of the Schloss! It was 12.30pm when we arrived at the Ticketcenter and our ticket to go into the Schloss wasn't until 3.20pm! Maybe pre-booking your tickets might be a good idea. On the bright side, the trip was quite relaxing as we didn't have to rush around due to the 3-hour allowance and had a good time taking breathtaking snapshots.

Forggensee, the 5th largest lake in Bavaria

Picture perfect: Schloss Neuschwanstein, photo taken from Marienbrücke

Once we had enough of Hohenschwangau, we took a bus from outside Schlosshotel Lisl to Marienbrücke which took 5 minutes. If you prefer walking up the steep hill, then it will take 30 minutes. Going to Marienbrücke is a MUST during this trip as it gives you a good view of the Schloss. The bridge crosses a large gorge, with steep cliffs on both sides and is 148 ft above a waterfall that runs from the surrounding mountains down into the valley.

To go up to Marienbrücke, we made a 5-minute hike up the hill. I suspect it wouldn't be a good idea to do the hike when the ground is icy as it was quite steep.

After spending quite sometime at Marienbrücke, we made our journey downhill to the Schloss. On our way there, we had a good view of the Hohenschwangau village below it with Forggensee in the background. The yellow castle perched above the hill was Schloss Hohenschwangau, the childhood residence of King Ludwig II.

The ticket into Schloss Neuschwanstein costs €12 per person. There were only guided tours in the castle, hence the long waiting time. The guide we had was quite fluent in English and was very informative.The tour lasted approx. 15 - 20 minutes if I remembered correctly. During the tour, we were shown parts of the castle including the throne room and also the history of the castle. The name of the castle is literally translated to "New Swan Stone". The interior of the castle was decorated with scenes from Wagner's operas and also swan motifs to reflect King Ludwig II's fascination with swans. In my opinion, the interior was alright but not as grand as the Versailles in France.

Overall I'm very happy that I have finally made it to Schloss Neuschwanstein after so many years of admiration towards it. As for now, each time when I look at a swan motif, I can't help but think about the beautiful castle.

Elaine Bakes: Mont Blanc Chestnut Cake

2011-10-25T00:18:00.003+01:00

What do you get when you combine an Opera Cake with Mont Blanc dessert? The answer is Mont Blanc Cake! I'm quite fond of the Mont Blanc dessert because I'm a big fan of chestnuts. Some background information, just before you confused yourself with the Mont Blanc pen or the French alps, basically my version of Mont Blanc is a French dessert which consists of puréed sweetened chestnuts topped with whipped cream. This dessert is not very common in the UK even though France is just nearby, instead it is quite famous in Japan and easily found in Switzerland. The only place I know serving this dessert in the UK is Ladurée, which can be found within Harrods and the other one not far from Bond Street in London.

I have been intimidated to attempt the Mont Blanc dessert which appears quite tedious. So the other day when I discovered this fusion recipe at Cookpad, I was quite pleased and decided to give it a go. However, another problem arose because I realized that the cake uses Biscuit Joconde which I have always assumed to be difficult. Basically Biscuit Joconde is a type of French cake used in the Opera cake but since I have purchased all the ingredients, there is no turning back. Anyway, the whole process turned out well and wasn't as difficult as I have imagined for it to be.

Having said that, a few hiccups did occur. While making the chestnut cream filling I realized that my store bought chestnut purée was salted and the taste of salt did not go away even when sugar was added. Then as I rummaged though my cupboard, I found my "neglected" bottle of sweetened chestnut purée sitting in the shelf hidden away for the past 1 year (don't worry it doesn't expire till year 2013). Thank goodness for that! But the worries are not gone yet because the next thing I realized was that the chestnut purée was insufficient for making the chestnut topping. Then I remembered Jane bought me a tube of chestnut purée when she was on a holiday in Switzerland not so long ago. Thank you Jane. You saved my day! Hurrah!

Sweetened Chestnut Purée

If you're lucky enough to have someone to buy you a tube of sweetened chestnut cream purée from Switzerland, then lucky you! The tube comes with a nozzle with multiple opening to give the cake topping strand-like appearance. Otherwise, you will need to buy a special nozzle with multiple opening to create this effect.

Before I bore you any further with my long winded story, here's the recipe:

Mont Blanc Chestnut Cake

Recipe for 25 x 25cm Square Cake Pan

Part 1: Biscuit Joconde

2 Egg whites

20 g Caster sugar

75 g Almond flour

75 g Icing sugar

2 Eggs

15 g Cake flour
5 g Cocoa powder
20 g Butter, melted

Part 2: Syrup
30 g Water
20 g Sugar
1/2 tbsp Rum

Part 3: Chestnut Cream Filling
50 g Whipping cream
50 g Butter, softened
180 g Sweetened chestnut purée
1 tbsp Rum

Part 4: Chestnut Cream Topping
150 g Sweetened chestnut purée

Part 5: Garnishing
150 g Chestnuts
Edible gold leaf

Part 1: Biscuit Joconde

1. Line the cake pan with greaseproof paper and set aside.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 220C.
3. In a dry clean bowl, whisk the egg whites with an electric mixer till foamy.
4. Add in caster sugar and continue whisking on medium speed gradually increasing to high speed till stiff peak forms. Set aside.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk almond flour, icing sugar and eggs on medium speed for 3 minutes or until the mixture turns light and voluminous.
6. Next, add in sifted cake flour and cocoa powder and whisk on low speed till well combined.
7. Fold in meringue from Step 4 into mixture in Step 6 gently.
8. Bake in pre-heated oven for 5 - 7 minutes and set aside for it to cool.

Part 2: Syrup

1. In a microwavable jug, add water and sugar and microwave for 30 seconds till sugar is dissolved.
2. Stir in rum and set aside.

Part 3: Chestnut Cream Filling

1. Whisk whipping cream till foamy, then set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk chestnut purée and butter until well combined.
3. Mix whipped cream from Step 1 into chestnut mixture in Step 2 until smooth.

Part 4: Chestnut Cream Topping

1. Attach a multiple opening nozzle to a piping bag, then fill the piping bag with the chestnut purée.

Part 5: Assembling

1. Divide Biscuit Joconde into 3 equal slices.
2. For the bottom layer, using a pastry brush, brush the entire surface of the cake with the Syrup from Part 2.
3. Then spread 1/3 of the Chestnut Cream Filling with a palette knife onto the cake.
4. Cover the base with a second layer of cake and press firmly.
5. Repeat the process from Step 2 to Step 4 then add chopped chestnuts before covering the cake with the top layer.
6. For the top layer, repeat the process from Step 2 to Step 4, then pipe the Chestnut Purée from Part 4 onto the surface of the cake as shown in the photo above.
7. Chill the cake in the fridge for approx. 30 minutes for the cream to set before slicing the sides off for an even and neat side.
8. Then garnish with whole chestnuts and edible gold leaf. Serves 8. Enjoy!

Elaine Bakes: Caramel & Pecan Cheesecake

2011-10-19T22:41:00.000+01:00

Cheesecake is not something that I usually bake due to the "calorie conscious" nature in me. However I was inspired to bake the Caramel & Pecan Cheesecake after trying one really good one in Borough Market in London.

The recipe might look complicated, but do not let the complexity of the ingredients put you off as it is not as difficult as it sounds. If you break them down into small parts, this recipe is actually quite easy, but perhaps slightly more time consuming than your average cheesecake. Oh well, as the saying goes, there can be no sweet without sweat!

Caramel & Pecan Cheesecake

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Baking time: 1.30 hours

Chill time: 8 hours

Part 1: Biscuit Base

120 g Digestive biscuit

60 g Butter

Part 2: Filling

200 g Cream cheese
80 g Sugar

200 ml Whipping cream

2 tbsp Cake flour
2 tbsp Lemon juice
2 tsp Vanilla extract

2 Eggs

Part 3: Sour Cream Topping
300 ml Sour cream
30 g Icing sugar

Part 4: Caramel Sauce
130 g Caster sugar
100 ml Whipping cream
3 tbsp Water

Garnish:
A handful of toasted pecan nuts

Part 1: Biscuit Base

1. Line the bottom of a 7-inch loose bottom cake tin with greaseproof paper. Set aside.
2. Melt butter in a microwave (or waterbath). Set aside.
3. Put digestive biscuits in a ziplock bag and crush the biscuits with a rolling pin as shown in the photo below.

4. Pour the melted butter into Step 3 and mix well.

5. Spread the biscuit mixture evenly in the cake pan from Step 1. Then use a flat bottom glass to press the crushed biscuit to give the biscuit base a uniformed thickeness.

6. Once done, set aside.

Part 2: Filling

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk the cream cheese lightly, then add in sugar and whisk till fluffy.

2. Add in cake flour followed by eggs, one at a time. Keep whisking at medium speed.

3. Next, mix in whipping cream bit by bit. Lastly incorporate lemon juice and vanilla extract into the mixture.

Tip: Make sure you don't overwhisk the cake mixture or air might be introduced into the cake which might cause cracks to happen when the cake is in the oven.

4. Pour cake mixture into the cake tin from Part 1.

5. Bake in pre-heated oven at 160C for 60 - 70 minutes or when the cake is browned.

Tip: To keep the oven moist, you might want to fill a tray with water and place at the lower rack of the oven. Apparently this helps to prevent cracks on the surface of the cheesecake.

Part 3: Sour Cream Topping

1. When the cheesecake is almost done in the oven, mix sour cream and icing sugar.

2. Heat the mixture in the microwave on 600w for 30 seconds to liquify the cream.

3. When the cheesecake is done, remove the cheesecake from the oven and let it sink a little before pouring the topping on top of the cheesecake.

4. Return the cake into the oven and bake for another 10 minutes for the cream layer to set.

5. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for 1 hour. Cover with cling film and refrigerate overnight.

Part 4: Caramel Sauce

1. Heat sugar and water on medium heat in a saucepan and stir with a spoon till the mixture bubbles.
2. Stop stirring at this stage and allow the sugar mixture to turn golden brown.
3. Pour in cream.
4. Keep stirring till the cream has dissolved completely and well blended .
5. Transfer the caramel sauce into a bowl and allow it to cool completely before using it or you might end up melting the cheesecake!

Part 5: Finishing Touches

1. To unmould the cheesecake, place a warm kitchen towel around the sides of the cake ring.
2. Pour the caramel sauce on top of the cheesecake and spread evenly with a spoon. If the caramel is too hard to work with, warm it in the microwave for 10 seconds for it to liquefy.
3. Sprinkle with chopped pecans.
4. Return the cake to fridge to allow the caramel sauce to set (approx. 20 minutes).
5. To serve, use a clean sharp knife dipped in hot water and cut cake into individual slices. Enjoy!

Travelogue: Day 1: Munich, Germany

2011-09-26T22:25:00.000+01:00

Recently I have been travelling again with my family. This time we went to Germany followed by Austria. The reason I picked Germany was because I have always wanted to go to Schloss Neuschwanstein, a fairytale castle in Bavaria. It all started way back in 2002 when my aunt returned from her European vacation. Amongst the souvenirs, she gave me a piece of chocolate with a very pretty photo of Schloss Neuschwanstein on the cover. As you can see, the rest is history. =)

Schloss Neuschwanstein and its beautiful surroundings

We flew in to Munich Airport from London Heathrow. The flight journey lasted 1 hour 50 minutes. We bought a Partner Gesamtnetz Tageskarte (€19.60), a 1-Day Group ticket that covers the entire MVV transport system including the airport, from a ticket machine as soon as we arrived (NB: We used different tickets on different days depending on where we go).

The hotel

We took the S8 line (Suburban railway) to Hauptbahnhof (Munich Central Railway Station) before taking a U5 (German subway) to our hotel located in Heimeranplatz. It was quite cold when we arrived as it was raining.

We didn't realize that it was Oktoberfest (a 16-18 day beer festival held annually in Munich) when we were there in September, as I thought the festival would be in October judging purely from the way it was named. It wasn't until when I saw advertisements about Oktoberfest in the hotel that I realized that it was held at this time of the year. Also the hotel staff were dressed in their traditional Bavarian attire. Along the streets, lots of people from all age groups were dressed in similar attire which resembles the outfit in the photo below.

I was tempted to get the costume for myself too until I realized that it costs €119! Don't think it's worth it if I'm going to wear it for only once. I bet nicer ones like the one in the photo below would cost more.

Anyway, back to the main story, the rain kind of stopped when we stepped out from our hotel. Hooray! We took the subway to Marienplatz, which was pretty much the city centre area. Our first stop was the Rathaus, which is famous for its Glockenspiel. The place was very visible and eye-catching as soon as we exit the subway station.

The Rathaus

We didn't really do much around the city centre apart from exploring the place and did the typical touristy stuff e.g. souvenir shopping and plenty of snapshots and of course snacking on piping hot roasted chestnuts on a cold rainy day.

Souvenirs

Frauenkirche, the largest cathedral in Munich, not far from the main shopping street

After plenty of sightseeing, we proceeded to having dinner at Ratzkeller which I shall blog about soon. Stay tuned!

Afternoon Tea @ Lainston House Hotel, Winchester

2011-09-18T10:02:00.000+01:00

Not so long ago, we celebrated Carolyn's birthday at the Lainston House Hotel, which is somewhere outside Winchester. While I haven't heard of this place before, it was one of the girl's suggestion from work to come here for Afternoon Tea. The hotel is a charming 17th Century country house surrounded by a beautiful parkland.

Upon arrival, we were sat at the alfresco area in beautiful sunshine. It was a perfect summer day outing, with the sun shining accompanied by the warm summer breeze, what more can we ask for?

To start, we were served with what I believed to be lemon curd mousse, which was actually quite nice. The lemon wasn't too sour and overpowering.

Next came the customary 3-tier worth of goodies. The top tier consisted of Toasted Butter Teacakes and Fruit Scones which was served with clotted cream, lemon curd and strawberry jam as accompaniment. The second tier was the prettiest with a selection of cakes and pastries, while the third tier was filled with a selection of freshly cut sandwiches. They were honey baked ham, smoked test trout, egg and watercress, as well as cucumber and cream cheese. Along with that, we were also served with a selection of Twinings traditional tea.

Here's a close up look at the second tier. Starting from the top right corner were Strawberry & Pistachio tartlet, Cherry clafoutie, Rhubarb & Elderflower cheesecake and Lainston House carrot cake. Everything on the plate was delicious apart from the cheesecake since rhubarb is not one of my favourite.

While enjoying our scrummy afternoon tea, we were surrounded by an area of lush greenery and fresh air. There was no time restriction as to how long we can be there and we ended up chatting away till when we decided that it was time to go home.

Overall, it was a very satisfying experience with good quality food. The afternoon tea starts from 2.30pm till 5.30pm and costs £21.50 per person with a 10% discretionary service charge.

Address:

Lainston House Hotel

Woodman Lane

Sparsholt

Winchester

Hampshire

SO21 2LT

Tel: 01962 776 088

Website: http://www.lainstonhouse.com/EXCLUSIVE_HOTELS/eating_and_drinking/afternoon_tea.aspx

Elaine's Kitchen: My Favourite Seafood Linguine

2011-09-04T23:01:00.000+01:00

When I cook a pasta dish, I prefer to cook something different from the usual ones found in major supermarkets and restaurants such as Bolognese and Carbonara to name a few, simply because I see boiling pasta as a major task. I have little patience when I need to "wait and do nothing" which applies to boiling pasta as I need to wait for the pasta to boil and I can't really do much in between as I need to make sure that the pasta doesn't stick to the pot whilst boiling.

I was inspired to cook this dish while watching a Korean drama called "Pasta" which features a woman who aspires to become an pasta chef in a famous Italian restaurant. In the drama, the chef was best at preparing Spaghetti Alla Vongole (Clam Spaghetti). Due to the difficulties in obtaining clams, I decided to create my own recipe with the seafood that I can easily obtain.

The reason why I called this my favourite seafood linguine is simply because it's full of flavour yet not too rich for the palate. All the ingredients used in this dish cannot be omitted as it is what that makes the Seafood Linguine complete, especially the white wine that adds an extra flavour to the overall taste.

Here's the recipe:

Seafood Linguine (Serves 2)

Pasta
200 g Linguine
1 tbsp Olive oil
A dash of salt

Boil the linguine in a saucepan filled with boiling water, olive oil and salt till al dente.
Drain and set aside.

Cooking
3 tbsp Olive oil
2 cloves Garlic, chopped finely
2 tbsp Fresh red chilli, chopped finely
Handful of Fresh parsley, chopped
60 g Seafood (I used Squid, Scallops & Prawns)
70ml Dry white wine
2 tbsp Scallop dashi dissolved in 300 ml hot water
Salt and black pepper to taste

1. Heat saucepan till it gets quite hot.
2. Pour in olive oil, then add garlic. Sauté for approximately 30 seconds till fragrant.
3. Then throw in chilli and parsley and sauté for another 10-15 seconds before adding the seafood and half of the white wine.
4. Once the prawns start to change colour, add half of the scallop dashi stock and the cooked linguine.
5. Toss for a few minutes then add in the remaining white wine and dashi stock.
6. Remove from heat once the liquid starts to boil.
7. Serve straight away. Enjoy!

Note: I bought my Scallop Dashi from a Japanese supermarket, If you have trouble obtaining this ingredient, you can substitute it with chicken stock.

Elaine Bakes: Chocolate & Assorted Nuts Biscotti

2011-08-22T12:28:00.000+01:00

Biscotti is one of my favourite items to have for breakfast together with a cup of hot milk tea. Generally store bought biscotti costs at least £2.00 and above for a box of 6 and the good ones at Waitrose is £6.00. Since it is not economical to have this all the time for breakfast, I decided to bake this biscuit myself. In fact my version is quite healthy as it is butter-free.

Some background information, biscotti is an type of Italian biscuit, also known as Cantuccini. It is baked twice, thus giving it a dry and crunchy texture. Due to its this, biscotti are traditionally served with a drink (i.e. tea or coffee) which it can be dunked into.

Chocolate & Assorted Nuts Biscotti
Makes 16

100g Caster sugar
100g Cake flour
30g Dark chocolate, chopped into tiny pieces
60g Assorted nuts
1 Egg
1 tbsp Vanilla extract
A pinch of Salt

1. Mix sugar, egg and vanilla extract with a cake mixer till well combined,
2. Then add in flour and mix until a soft dough is formed.
3. Add in dark chocolate and nuts.
4. Pour dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
5. Shape dough into a 25cm x 5cm wide log.
6. Bake in pre-heated oven at 180C for 25 minutes or until lightly browned.
7. Remove biscotti log from heat and slice the log into 1.5cm wide slices on a chopping board.
8. Put the sliced biscotti back to the tray and bake cut-side down for 8 minutes at 150C, then turn over to the other side and bake for another 8 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and cool on a baking rack and store in an air-tight container.
10. Enjoy!

Note: You can substitute dark chocolate with milk chocolate if you're not a fan of dark chocolate.
The nuts used in this recipe were: Pistachio, Almonds, Macadamia, Walnut and Cashew.

Mandarin Kitchen, London

2011-08-12T18:15:00.000+01:00

Recently Jane and Cassandra mentioned about a good place serving lobster noodles in London. The first place that came to my mind was Pearl Liang at Paddington but it turned out that they were talking about Mandarin Kitchen which is situated not far from Pearl Liang. Apparently the one of the chefs used to work at Mandarin Kitchen before moving on to Pearl Liang.

One fine Saturday evening, Selphie and I went there without making a table reservation. They were so full that we were told to come back after 30 minutes. So off we went wandering around the oriental supermarket nearby. Upon entering the restaurant, we noticed that almost all diners has a plate of lobster noodle dish on their table.

To start off, we ordered Cold Pork Knuckle Slices (£7.90) which came with dipping sauce. The meat was easy to chew and has a hint of Chinese cooking wine. In my opinion, this dish would need an acquired taste to enjoy.

Next, we ordered Chinese Oyster Omelette (£8.50) since we have this obsession with Taiwanese Oyster Omelette. The oysters were massive and the chef was very generous with the oysters in the omelette. The omelette was fluffy and good to be eaten as it is or with dipping sauce. Yum!

After much anticipation, the signature dish, Lobster Noodles with Ginger and Spring Onion (£30.00) served with noodles (they charge an extra £2.00 for this!) finally arrived. We had 1 lobster to share between the both of us! The waitress divided the noodles and lobster portion equally before serving the dish on a plate for us.

Lobster Noodles

My verdict: The noodles were cooked al-dente. Not much comment about the lobster. Taste wise I was a little disappointed as it didn't turn out as what I have imagined. There wasn't much gravy and the noodles were on the salty side. All along I was imagining that the noodles will be served with rich gravy bursting in seafood flavours. However, Selphie enjoyed the noodles thoroughly.

Overall, I think the Lobster Noodles were a little overrated, maybe I might return next time for other dishes but not the lobster noodles. The bill came up to £55.00 (including 10% service charge).

Mandarin Kitchen
14-16 Queensway
London
W2 3RX.

Tel: 020 7727 9012

Tube: Queensway

Elaine Bakes: Fraisier

2011-08-10T00:01:00.000+01:00

Fraisier is a French cake composed of custard cream and strawberries sandwiched between two layers of sponge cake covered with raspberry jelly. I have been inspired to bake this cake because it's so beautiful. It has been in my Must-Bake list for a while before I finally made an effort to attempt it.

The cake is not exactly that difficult, but the composition of the cake took me almost 12 hours as it needs to be done part by part but if you persevere, the end result as you can see is worth the effort.

I started off by baking a sponge cake, followed by custard cream and lastly the raspberry jelly. For the sponge cake I found that using Japanese Hot Cake Mix gives the best result as it produces a fluffy and soft cake. You might want to see the original recipe from my Strawberry Cream Cake post.

Anyway, here's the recipe:

Fraisier

(Recipe for 7-inch round cake pan)

Part I: Sponge Cake

80 g Sugar

3 Eggs

100 g Japanese Hot Cake Mix, sifted

50 ml Milk

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C.

2, Meanwhile, combine eggs and sugar in a bowl.

3. Whisk the combination over a saucepan filled with hot but not boiling water (bain-marie) until the mixture is pale and thick.

4. Once the mixture is well combined, fold in the Hot Cake Mix.

5. Then add in warm milk to the mixture.

6. Transfer mixture into a greased cake pan and bake for approx. 30 minutes or until when cake skewer comes out clean.

7. Leave the cake to cool and set aside.

Part II: Creme Mousseline

250 ml Milk

150g Butter

2 drops Vanilla extract

(a)

3 Egg yolks

95 g Sugar

15 g Cake flour

10 g Corn flour

1. Boil milk in a saucepan.

2. Meanwhile, mix (a) in a mixing bowl.

3. Pour the hot milk into the mixture from Step 2. Mix well and put batter into the saucepan and return to heat.

4. While using medium heat, keep whisking the batter vigorously with a whisk until the batter thickens to custard-like consistency.

5. Remove from heat and add half of the butter and vanilla extract. Leave to cool and cover with a cling film wrap to prevent the top surface from drying up.

6. When cool, whisk the rest of the butter into the custard.

Part III: Assembling

Sponge cake

Crème Mousseline

Approx. 20 Strawberries

Raspberry Jelly

3 g Powdered gelatin

4 tbsp Water

130 g Raspberries

30 g Caster sugar

1. Peel the layer of brown skin on the top of the cake from Part I.

2. Then slice the cake into two layers horizontally.

3. Cut out brown skin of the side of the cake so that it leaves approx. 1cm gap when put into a 7-inch cake pan later.

4. Place a slice of the sponge cake in a 7-inch loose bottom cake pan.

5. Fill the Crème Mousseline into a piping bag and pipe the cream around the edges of the cake to fill the gap between the cake and the cake pan.

6. Line the edge of the cake pan with halved strawberries then distribute the remaining strawberries around the cake pan evenly.

7. Pipe in Crème Mousseline to fill the gaps between the strawberries as shown the picture below.

8. Sandwich the cake with another layer of sponge and spread the remaining Crème Mousseline evenly on the surface of the cake. Let it sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

9. For the raspberry jelly, sprinkle 4 tbsp water to gelatin and let it sit

10. Meanwhile, purée raspberries through a sieve into a bowl and discard the seeds.

11. Heat the raspberry purée with sugar on high heat. Remove saucepan from heat once the mixture starts to bubble.

12. Pour the hot raspberry purée into the gelatin from Step 9 to dissolve it.

13. Immerse bowl slightly into a bowl of ice water. This is to thicken the consistency of the mixture.

14. Pour the mixture over the top of the cake. Refrigerate the cake overnight for it to set.

15. To unmould the cake, place a warm kitchen towel around the sides of the cake ring.

16. Decorate the cake with fresh fruits and chopped pistachio or as desired. Enjoy!

Elaine Bakes: Chocolate Soufflé Cheesecake

2011-07-24T08:48:00.000+01:00

Recently I had some leftover cream cheese from my experiment from baking blueberry cheese pound cake which turned out just alright. So I decided to use the remaining for something that I have not tried before; hence the Chocolate Soufflé Cheesecake.

The whole process was quite tedious as with most soufflé cakes, but you will be rewarded with a yummylicious cheesecake. Here's a story about the cake and my initial reaction when the cake was done. After baking, I let the cake cool down before removing it from the cake pan. Initially, my first reaction was I thought that the cake wasn't cooked as it was quite moist at the bottom of the cake. I ate it warm and didn't quite like the cake. I then kept the rest of the cake in the fridge hoping that the cake would perhaps taste better when chilled properly. True enough, the cake was quite different when eaten chilled. It was so soft and airy that it felt like eating chocolate ice-cream! It was truly a decadent.

I have divided the recipe into few parts for easier understanding. Without much further ado, here is the recipe:

Soufflé Chocolate Cheesecake

(Recipe adapted for 8-inch round cake pan)

Preparation time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

(A)

100g Milk chocolate

100g Whipping cream

3 tbsp Rum

(B)

200g Cream cheese, softened at room temperature

20 g Caster sugar

4 Egg yolks

20 g Cake flour

(C)

4 Egg whites

70 g Icing sugar

20 g Corn flour

A pinch of salt

(A) Chocolate Cream

1. Break chocolate into tiny pieces and microwave under medium heat for 1 minute or until just melted.

2. Add in cold whipping cream and stir.

3. Next, add rum into the mixture and stir well. Set aside

(B) Cream Cheese

1. Whisk cream cheese with an electric whisk until fluffy. Then add in caster sugar.

2. Once well combined, add egg yolks, one at a time and mix well.

1. Fold (A) into (B).

2. Sift in cake flour into the mixture little by little. Set aside.

(C) Meringue

1. Whisk egg whites till foamy with an electric whisk in a clean dry bowl.

2. Add in icing sugar and a little salt and continue whisking until stiff peaks form.

3. Add corn flour bit by bit into the meringue. Whisk till well combined.

Assembly

1. Add 1/3 of meringue into cream cheese mixture and fold in gently, Fold in the rest of the meringue mixture until well incorporated.

2. Pour mixture into a cake pan lined with grease proof paper and bake in a water bath.

3. Bake the cake at 160C for the first 15 minutes. Then 140C for the next 1 hour or when the cake is browned. Once done, leave the cake in the oven with the oven door opened slightly for 10 minutes.

4. Cool down the cake and refrigerate overnight for a fluffy and chocolatey cheesecake.

5. Enjoy!

Note: The cake is best consumed when chilled in the fridge for at least a few hours.

Travelogue: Isle of Wight: Lavender Farm

2011-07-13T21:09:00.000+01:00

Few weeks back when Jane and I were on Isle of Wight (IOW), our bus passed by a signboard that says Lavender Farm when we were on our way to the Steam Railway. Being a big fan of lavender, I was determined that I need to make a trip to the farm at one point.

On Sunday when Selphie was at my place, we had an early start and caught a 8.45am ferry from Southampton to Cowes, IOW on the Red Jet Ferry. It was a bit of a rush that morning as we had a late night chatting away. We even thought that we might miss the ferry since I had to run back to get my umbrella when I realized there was a light shower.

The journey on the ferry to the island took approximately 25 minutes. We decided to have breakfast at Cowes before making our way to Newport. We settled at Sails Cafe. Being a crab lover, I was pleased to see crab sandwich in the menu so that was what I had for breakfast. Selphie went for cooked English breakfast which consists of typical fares such as bacon, sausages etc.

After breakfast, we bought 24-hours Rover Ticket (£10) from the bus driver which enables us to travel all day around the Island. From Cowes, we took Bus #1 to Newport which took 15 minutes. From Newport, we took Bus #9 via Staples to the Lavender Farm. The journey there took about 5 - 8 minutes. Since we didn't know where to get down, the bus driver actually took the initiative to announce the stop for us. lol.

Once we got down the bus, we made a 15 minutes walk to the farm. We didn't really know how far was the farm to start with since there wasn't much information about the exact location. Selphie at one point said to me it better be good since we made such a long journey there, walking on stone paved terrain, which is not exactly the smoothest journey.

The entrance

However, as soon as when we got there, all our complaints were gone and the long walk was definitely worth it as we found ourself transported to a very English countryside with old school set up.

Charming English manor with lavender plants at full bloom

At the farm, there was a souvenir shop selling lavender products, a garden with assorted lavender species as well as a Tea Room. Being us, we made our way straight to the Tea Room and ordered Lavender Victoria Sponge, Lavender Scones as well as Lavender tea, talk about being lavender fanatics! The Lavender Victoria sponge was lightly scented with lavender buds sprinkled sparsely around the sponge cake, and so was the scone. The taste was subtle and wasn't too overpowering.

I remembered few years back I baked lavender cookies with Kirsty and little did we know we had too much lavender buds in our cookies. We had very strong lavender breath after eating our cookies!

After our afternoon tea (more of like lunch since it was 12pm!), we walked around the garden appreciating the delicate scent of lavender and admiring the quaint surroundings. We were part hoping for a lavender field as it would be good for photography but I guess we can't ask for too much.

Neatly planted lavender rows

After countless of snaps, we decided to leave the place around 1-ish since we need to rush to The Needles, which is situated at the other end of the island. Before leaving, I bought a lavender pot plant since I have been wanting to grow one for ages. *Happy!*

Overall, the visit to IOW Lavender Farm was fun. The lavender themed afternoon tea is a must if you are a fan of lavender!

Roast Duck @ Gold Mine Restaurant, Bayswater

2011-06-16T00:30:00.000+01:00

One of the best roast ducks in London in my opinion is none other than the famous Four Seasons Restaurant which originated from Bayswater and now has 2 other branches in London China Town. One of its rival is none other than the Gold Mine Restaurant which is situated just a few shops away in Bayswater. Apparently the restaurant was opened by one of the chefs from Four Seasons.

Some diners commented that Gold Mine's roast duck was better than Four Seasons'. Naturally curiosity brought Jane and me to this restaurant to find out if it's true.

We ordered 1/2 Cantonese Roast Duck which has been de-boned for easy consumption. The plate of roast meat was drenched in thick flavourful soya sauce gravy. Hidden underneath the pile of roast duck slices were some blanched Chinese leaf. It was served just like those at Four Seasons. Taste wise, I found the duck to be pretty similar to Four Seasons'. It was roast to perfection. One plus point though, the ducks has got lesser fats, in other words, healthier for your arteries.

Apart from that, gravy also plays an important role in the overall taste of the roast duck. I like to have my rice drenched in the salt laden gravy. The gravy was slightly on the salty side. I preferred Four Seasons which tastes slightly sweeter and rich.

Along with the roast duck, we ordered Special Tofu. I can't recall the exact ingredients used in the tofu but it was basically made up of mashed tofu and bits of ground meat and seafood made into a paste and deep fried and served with bok choy and oyster sauce.

Savouring those dishes will not be complete if not eaten with rice. The rice was just like any other ordinary rice served at a regular restaurant. I preferred Four Seasons' which was slightly more fluffy.

The bill came up to £18.00 for the both of us. Overall I preferred Four Seasons' simply because the gravy was sweeter and rice were fluffier. If you are interested in checking out this restaurant be sure to turn up early. We got there at 5.30pm which wasn't too busy, but the restaurant started to fill up quite quickly by 6-ish.

Extra snippet: We went back to China Town for Tau Fu Fa (Silken tofu dessert) after dinner since we had an early dinner. Yums!

Gold Mine Restaurant

102 Queensway

London

W2 3RR.

Tel: 020 77928331

Tube: Bayswater

Siam Central

2011-06-13T00:08:00.000+01:00

Initially Jane and I had wanted to have roast duck dinner at Gold Mine at Bayswater but due to tube disruption, we ended up at Siam Central. According to Selphie, the restaurant is quite popular for their Thai dishes.

For starters, we ordered Spicy Fish Cakes (£4.00) which came with Thai sweet chilli dipping sauce. True to it's name, the fish cake was quite spicy.

Eating out at a Thai restaurant will not be complete without ordering Tom Yam Soup, a Thai hot and sour soup. This time, we ordered Mixed Seafood Tom Kha (£4.80), which is a creamier version of Tom Yam. I didn't quite enjoy the soup this time as the soup was not spicy enough.

For the mains, I had Prawn Pad Si-Ew (£6.95) which is Thai stir-fried noodles in soya sauce with assorted vegetables and prawns. I liked the taste of the noodles which was full of wok hei. It could have been better if it was less oily.

Jane had Pork Drunken Noodles (£6.95). In my opinion, I thought it tasted the same as my Pad Si Ew except that was spicier. Of the 2 fried noodles, I liked this one best.

The final bill came up to £28.49 including 2 glasses of Coke and 10% service charge. The price was pretty reasonable. Taste wise the food was good but doesn't stand out from other Thai restaurants. It is still worth a visit if you have a crave for Thai food.

Address:

Siam Central

14 Charlotte Street

London

W1T 2LX

Tel: 020 7436 7460

Tube: Goodge Street

Far East Restaurant, London Chinatown

2011-06-10T21:42:00.000+01:00

Jane has been telling me about the soy bean milk served Far East Restaurant for a while, but we never seemed to be able to find the right time to get there. After several attempts, we finally made it there for breakfast on one fine morning! ^^

The restaurant is open from morning till night. It's quite easy to locate the restaurant in Chinatown as it's located just along the main street and it's right next to the famous Four Season's roast duck.

In the morning, the restaurant serves Chinese style breakfast such noodles, steamed buns as well as yummylicious fried pastries which can be seen upon entrance at the counter. I'm not too sure what the restaurant serves at night time but the counter was certainly not there when I walked past at night.

I ordered the much anticipated Salted Soya Bean Milk (£3.00) out of curiosity as I've never heard of such thing. It turned out that it was a bowl unsweetened soya bean milk served with condiments which comprises of Preserved Vegetables, Spring Onions, Fried Crispy Onion and Dried Shrimp in a small dish as pictured above. I also ordered Chinese Fried Cruellers (£1.50) to go with the soya bean milk. I think it's best eaten when it has gone soggy after being dipped in the soya bean milk for a while.

Jane ordered Salted Soya Bean Curd (£3.00) which was basically coagulated soya bean milk. It was served warm and came with similar condiments as those in Salted Soya Bean Milk.

Since the Soya Bean Milk doesn't fill me up, I also ordered Fried Noodles with Bean Sprouts (£3.00). It was a very basic place of fried noodles. I thought it was a little too oily for my liking.

Jane had Roast Pork and Dumpling Noodles (£4.50). The soup was sweet and flavourful. I didn't quite like the texture of the noodles but Jane thought that it was nice. Oh well, one man's meat is another man's poison.

If you're ever in Chinatown, do drop by this restaurant for the soya bean milk and some authentic Chinese pastries and buns. Highly recommended!

Here's the address:

Far East Restaurant

13 Gerrard Street

London

W1D 5PS.

Underground: Leicester Square

The Crab & Lobster, Isle of Wight

2011-05-03T18:45:00.000+01:00

After doing some research the night before one of the recommended restaurants to dine at was The Crab & Lobster Restaurant at Bembridge on Isle of Wight (IOW). I have thought of going there but wasn't too sure as it was on the other end of the island and was quite a distance from the steam railway. Anyway my housemate Vikki, who was originally from the island also recommended the restaurant so we decided to just catch a late ferry home.

So after the steam railway ride, we took a bus back to Newport where we then took bus #8 to Bembridge. The journey from Newport to Bembridge took us almost 1 hour! I must admit that it was quite a bit of a dedication for us to make such a long journey there for just a meal.

Along the long journey there, we were rewarded by serene sceneries around the area. Amongst the few, we passed by a farm shop, the sea, winding roads etc. before finally setting our foot in the restaurant.

Seating area outside the restaurant with breathtaking sea view

The set up of the restaurant was like any other typical English pub. We ordered our meal at the counter before proceeding to our seating place where the meal was sent to our table.

For starters, both Jane and I ordered Crab & Lobster soup (£4.95) each as we loved the sound of the combination. The soup came with a few slices of French baguette. Both of us were slightly disappointed with the soup as we were expecting chunks of crab and lobster in the soup. Tastewise it was reminded me of Malaysian Penang Assam Laksa soup concoction! At that point I regretted that I didn't order Crab Soufflé which looked equally as tempting.

As for the mains, Jane ordered Homemade Crab Cakes (£10.95) which is made up of crab meat, chunks of potatoes, seasoned and rolled in breadcrumbs. It was very delicious especially when eaten with mayo and ketchup. The portion was massive! The photo definitely doesn't justify the size of the meal.

I ordered 1/2 Lobster Thermidore (£16.95) which came with vegetables and potatoes. The the sauce that drenched the crustacean was well seasoned and lovely even when eaten on its own. The priced paid for this dish was very reasonable as I would imagine a restaurant in London serving similar dish would charge a lot more.

The total bill came up to £40.60, including 2 glasses of Coke. For the type of dish we ordered, this meal was definitely value for money. I would recommend this restaurant if you are around this part of Isle of Wight, but if you were planning to make a journey solely for this meal like us, then you might want to perhaps explore elsewhere just to save up on the travel time.

We were actually taking chance when we decided to visit this restaurant because the bus driver for some reason told us the last ferry that leaves from Cowes would be at 6.00pm, while the timetable at the information centre says 11.15pm. In the worst case scenario, we thought we might as well put up in one of the B&B for a night. You must be glad to know that we managed to take the last ferry back at 11.15pm!

Travelogue: Isle of Wight

2011-05-02T15:58:00.000+01:00

Isle of Wight (IOW) is the largest island in England known for its natural beauty. In fact, it has been a holiday destination since Victorian times. Despite living so close to the ferry terminal to Isle of Wight (IOW), I've only been there once! Since Jane was in town, we decided to explore the island on one fine Sunday morning.

Promenade at Cowes

From Southampton, the journey to IOW takes approximately 25 minutes on the Red Jet Ferry. The ferry took us to Cowes, the seaport town of IOW.

Cowes High Street

Upon arrival, we were greeted by the sights of interesting small independent shops which cannot be found else where. There were also plenty of fish and chip shops around.

Our lunch: Fish & Chips (Left) and Cod Roe & Chips (Right)

Since it was noon time, we decided to settle for Corrie's Cabin for lunch. Jane had medium Cod & Chips (£6.85). The fish was deep fried in batter till crisp in perfection, the chips was delicious when eaten with mayo and tartar sauce. The high calorie lunch was good but nothing out of the ordinary.

Cod roe & chips

I changed my mind about having Fish & Chips when I spotted Cod Roe & Chips (£4.95) in the menu as I thought it was a bit of an unusual menu which sparked my curiosity. It reminded me of mentaiko, which is marinated Pollock roe in Japanese cuisine which I enjoyed thoroughly. The cod roe has a soft, almost mushy texture and a strong fishy taste which I didn't quite enjoy so I ended up eating only the batter and chips.

Wootton Train Station

After lunch, we caught bus #1 to Newport, the principle town of IOW, which is also the hub for transportation connections to other parts of the island. We caught bus #9 that took us to Wootton where we can catch the iconic steam railway. The train was cooler than the one that used to go to Lymington.

Pics from L - R: Old skool train ticket, Train conductor, Interior of the train

We had to wait for about 40 minutes for the next train as we just missed one. There was nothing to do at the station so we ended up camwhoring. lol. When the train finally arrived, we paid for our train ticket before boarding. Upon payment, the conductor issued us with an "old-fashioned" looking ticket. Very old school indeed!

Steam railway at Haven Street

The train took us to Haven Street which is about a 15-minute ride from Wootton. We didn't venture to other station even though we could with the ticket we paid as we were short of time.

Check out the old-fashioned handles on the doors!

Haven Street

Snippets of the Railway Museum and its suroundings

There wasn't much to do at Haven Street. The Railway Museum was quite small and the souvenir shop didn't sell anything too interesting, unless you are a fan of Thomas the Tank Engine. lol. Nevertheless we still enjoyed ourselves, since the whole point of this steam railway ride was just to experience a glimpse of a bygone era.

Dinner at Crab & Lobster

We caught a train back to Wootton and then a short bus ride to Newport where we then changed to bus #8 to take us to Bembridge where the famous The Crab & Lobster Restaurant is situated which I shall blog about soon. Stay tuned for the next post to find out about our dinner review!

Elaine Bakes: Milk Tea Cookies

2011-04-25T12:06:00.000+01:00

To commemorate the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton that is taking place this Friday, I decided to bake Milk Tea Cookies, which I think is relevant considering how much the British love their tea and this is a national celebration worth celebrating.

The cookies tastes light and crisp with a hint of tea. In my opinion, the cookies are at its best after being kept in an airtight container for at least 3 days. That will help the tea flavour to develop in the cookies.

For this recipe, I used tea leaves which I then chopped into tiny pieces with a knife. You can also use tea from tea sachet which has been grounded to make life easier. lol!

Here's the recipe:

Milk Tea Cookies (makes 30)

80g Butter

50g Caster sugar

30g Milk

1 Egg yolk

1 tbsp Tea leaves

120g Cake flour

Chop tea leaves with a knife into tiny pieces. Set aside.
Cream butter with an electric mixer, then add sugar and whisk till light and fluffy.
Add in egg yolk.
Sieve flour into batter then add milk and mix till well combined.
Add in tea leaves and knead into a dough.
Shape the dough into a cylinder measuring 2.5cm in diameter.
Wrap the dough in a cling film and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
Pre-heat the oven to 170C.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut into 8mm round disc.
Place on top of a baking tray. Make sure the cookie dough are well spaced out as it expands quite a bit during the baking process. Bake for 16 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool cookies on a cookie rack before storing cookies in an air tight container.
Enjoy!

Elaine Bakes: Cocoa Almond Cookies

2011-04-15T13:08:00.000+01:00

Cocoa almond cookies looked really familiar when I first saw the cookie. However I have no recollection where I have seen/tried it. If anything it's probably somewhere that sells Japanese cookies. It's very hard to describe the taste but it's crunchy and filled with cocoa aroma in it. The almond flakes gives the cookie its crunchy texture. It's very addictive and good to be eaten as it is.

Here's the recipe:

Cocoa Almond Cookies

80g Butter

60g Icing sugar

1 Egg yolk

100g Almond flakes

Few tbsp Milk (Optional)

(A)

1 pinch Salt

300g Almond powder

100g Cake flour

15g Cocoa

1. Cream butter and icing sugar in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy.

2. Add in egg yolk and mix well.

3. Sieve (A) into Step 2 and knead into a dough.

4. Add in almond flakes and form the dough into a rectanguish bar. This bit might be a little bit tricky as there might be too much almond flakes in the mixture which might cause the dough to not hold together too well. You might want to add a few tablespoons of milk so that the dough is moist enough to form a clump.

5. Wrap the cookie dough with cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

6. Pre-heat oven to 170C.

7. Cut dough into 5mm thin squares with a sharp knife. I found knife warmed under hot running tap water to be most helpful to avoid the dough from sticking to the knife during this process.

8. Arrange on a baking tray and bake in oven for 15 minutes.

9. Leave cookies to cool in a cookie rack before storing in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Airline Meal: Malaysian Airlines Boeing 747-400

2011-03-29T06:45:00.000+01:00

Recently I flew back to Malaysia for a short holiday. As usual, I look forward to in-flight meal even though it's not always too exciting, apart from Air Asia's nasi lemak. This time, I flew back with Malaysia Airlines (MAS) to Penang, via Kuala Lumpur from London.

For supper, I had Malay Style Tomato Rice served with Curry Chicken. It has been a while since I tasted authentic Malay curry. I enjoyed the meal very much and polished the dish clean, even though I had a generous portion of BBQ ribs with Jane at the departure hall not so long ago. *oops...there goes my dieting plan* At the far left corner in the photo was potato salad. It was alright. Next to it was a slice of cake which was mediocre again.

As for breakfast, I opted for my favourite dish, Shrimp Nasi Lemak, which is a traditional Malaysian fragrant coconut milk rice served with spicy shrimp topping and egg. The sambal was spot on! It has been a while since I flew on MAS so I forgot that they serve nasi lemak on board until when Jane reminded me about it. Having rice for breakfast is a norm in Malaysia; but funny thing about the breakfast was they served Lemon Cheesecake! lol!

Overall, for the homesick Malaysians, MAS is a good airline that gives you the first taste of home. In terms of service, I still preferred Singapore Airlines as they provide toothbrush packs as well as hot face towels upon taking off, as well as in the morning to freshen up. So I guess you need to get your priorities right to decide on which airline to take.

Kit Kat Chunky Cookies & Cream

2011-03-12T17:58:00.000Z

It wasn't so long ago that I blogged about Green Tea Kit Kat. Guess what I found this time? It's Chunky Cookies and Cream Kit Kat. I got it from at shop called Cybercandy in London at £1.91, but the chocolate itself was originally from Australia.

It's the size of ordinary Kit Kat Chunky, which is quite massive. The chocolate consists of Kit Kat wafer topped with Cookies and Cream filling and finally coated with Kit Kat chocolate.

Overall, I liked the taste of Kit Kat Chunky Cookies & Cream as an alternate variety to what the ordinary ones are, but I think I will not indulge on this too frequent due to its sweetness.

Roux at the Landau

2011-03-08T23:10:00.000Z

Roux at Landau is a collaboration of Michelin-starred chefs, Albert and Michel Roux at Langham Hotel in London West End serving French and British favourites. Recently Jane and I went to dine at Landau since we found a deal on TopTable at a very reasonable price.

The restaurant

Upon entrance, our coats were taken to the cloak room and we were ushered straight into the dining area, which was elegantly decorated.

The bread basket with assorted types of bread selection came not long after we were seated. I must say this is miles better than Scott's.

We were given a menu to choose from. Both Jane and I had the same selection for our 3-course meal.

For starters we had Pig's Head Croquette with Fresh Piccalilli Salad and Pickled Kohirabi. If you were to look at the photo, the white long thing in the croquette are pig's ears if I guessed correctly. It was crunchy and nice to bite on. The meat in the croquette was so soft and tender, although at first glance it resembles ham hock, which is slightly chewy. The croquette was so good that I was still thinking about it at work the next day!

Canapes (from Left - Right): Salmon terrine topped with caviar, Chorizo sausage spring roll, Quail's egg on crouton

Along with the starters, we were also served with Canapes, which we didn't expect. I must say it was a pleasant surprise and additional bonus to our meal.

As for the mains, we had Roast Fillet of Pork with Somerset Black Pudding, Turnips and Spring Greens. I think the mains was mediocre. The pork was just cooked hence some effort was needed to chew it and I wasn't too keen on this particular blood pudding. However, both Jane and I agreed that the spring greens were seasoned very well and full of flavour.

For dessert, we had Bitter Chocolate and Gianduja Tart with Agen Prune Ice Cream. It was truly scrumptious! The pastry shell was very thin and crispy, while the chocolate filling contains bits of prunes in it. The ice cream was very fine and complemented the bitter chocolate very well.

Petit Fours: Financier and ? Turkish delight

To end the meal, we were served with coffee and Petit Fours which comprises of Financier and Turkish delight.

The final bill came up to £66.40, including a complimentary glass of champagne for the both of us, which is a very reasonable price to pay for such dining experience. Apart from the slightly disappointing main course, everything else was faultless. Highly recomended!

Address:
The Landau
The Langham
London

Elaine Bakes: Carrot Cake

2011-03-05T20:48:00.000Z

Recently so many people have been raving about carrot cake on facebook, including my colleague at work. Little did I know that few weeks later, I ended up baking one as well! Normally I'm only attracted to light airy cakes as opposed to very moist kind of cake. My impression of carrot cakes are that they are very dense, hence, I never bother to bake one.

Then one day I found this Korean carrot cake recipe that looks really airy and different from the usual fair. Immediately the next day I baked this cake. It's definitely a keeper, even my very picky housemate Vikki gave it a stamp of approval. lol! No butter were involved in this cake, which is always good for those who love to indulge on good food while still want to watch their diet. I think it should be quite healthy too since carrot and nuts (almond flour), which is part of the "Five a day", were used in this recipe.

Clockwise from top left: Beaten egg whites, Grated carrot, Mixed batter, Carrot Cake!

For the carrot decoration, I used store bought marzipan and coloured it with food colouring before shaping them into cute little carrots. If you are planning to be extremely healthy then omit the frosting and marzipan carrot.

Here's what you need:

Carrot Cake

(recipe adapted for 7-inch round cake pan)

125g Carrot, grated

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Zest of 1/2 lemon

3 Egg yolks

(a)

30 g Cake flour

125 g Almond flour

1 tsp Baking powder

(b)

3 Egg white

65 g Caster sugar

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C.

2. Whisk egg white till foamy, then add in sugar. Whisk until stiff peak forms.

3. Add in beaten egg yolks and fold till well combined.

4. Sift ingredients from (a) and fold into #3 bit by bit.

5. Add in lemon juice, lemon zest and carrot and fold.

6. Pour batter into a greased cake pan lined with parchment paper.

7. Bake in oven for 40 minutes.

8. Allow to cool before spreading frosting on cake.

Frosting

100 g Icing sugar

3 tbsp Lemon juice

1. In a clean bowl, add lemon juice to icing sugar. Stir with a spoon/spatula until a paste is form. If the mixture is still dry, add in a few drops of water.

2. Spread the frosting on the cake.

Carrot Marzipan

80 g Marzipan

Few drops of Orange and Green colouring

1. Divide marzipan into 2 parts: 60g for Orange and 20g for Green colouring.

2. Shape marzipan into a carrot. You can follow step-by-step tutorial here.

3. Decorate as desired. Enjoy!

Note: The cake comes up to 1-inch high. You might want to double the recipe for a slightly taller cake.
Make sure the mixing bowl and whisk are 100% dry while whisking the egg white in order for stiff peak to form.

Salt Beef Sandwich @ The Brass Rail, Selfridges

2011-02-22T11:52:00.000Z

Salt beef is a Jewish deli meat made from beef brisket cured in brine. It is commonly served sliced in a sandwich. One of the good places that serves this form of sandwich is none other than The Brass Rail at Selfridges in London.

I walked past The Brass Rail countless of times but little did I know about its famous salt beef sandwich until Jane mentioned it to me when we were there together. She said it's a place her dad would frequent when he's in town. I thought it must be good then. Last week since it was too late for Sunday roast (i.e. 4 p.m.), Cassandra and I went to try the infamous Salt Beef Sandwich. There was no queue and in no time we were tucked into our sandwich.

Salt beef sandwich

I ordered only half a slice of sandwich since we were going to have dinner later. The beef slices were warm. It tastes slightly salty and almost like what a slice of ham would taste like. However, it's so soft that there is little effort to chew the salt beef, it literally just crumbles in the mouth. It was really good. The green thing next to the sandwich in the photo is gherkin. The saltiness of the salt beef plus the zing of the gherkin and pungent mustard sauce made a good combination to the soft malted bread. Yums!

The Brass Rail, Selfridges

The sandwich itself was £5.50 and addition of £0.70 for the gherkin, quite pricy for half a sandwich but worth it. Salt beef sandwich is going to be in my list of comfort food from now on. Do check this place out if you are nearby.

Address:
The Brass Rail
Selfridges
400 Oxford St
London
W1A 1AB.

Tube: Bond Street

Afternoon Tea @ The Ritz, London

2011-02-14T22:12:00.000Z

This is a super duper delayed post but better late than never right? So, back in September my family and I went to The Ritz for their highly sought after Afternoon Tea. The reason I said "highly sought after" was because the reservation for afternoon tea needs to be made at least 3 months in advance! Imagine I made my reservation since June for an afternoon tea in September!!! Even then, certain time slots were fully booked!

The afternoon tea comes with several time slots. It means you can sit for only 2 hours before they start with a new session for subsequent guests. Throughout the 2 hour duration, there's a resident pianist who plays classical pieces to match the ambience of the surroundings. You can request for a him to play a particular song too if you want to.

The place was really posh looking. Everything was very elegant and grand. To live up to its reputations, guests were requested to dress formally at public areas of the hotel. In other words, mens need to be wearing a jacket and a tie when dining at their restaurants. No jeans and sports shoes were permitted. My mum was puzzled at my choice of dining at such place that comes with so much do's and don'ts. It seemed that they were serious about the dress code imposed. I remembered there was this guy opposite my table who was told to put his jacket back on when he was about to remove it while eating.

There was a wide selection of tea. The Ritz claimed that they have 17 types of tea to choose from, which is quite extensive if you ask me. But guess what? They don't do vanilla tea when I requested for one! haha...

Like most afternoon teas, the Afternoon Tea Stand comprises of 3 tiers. The top tier were filled with dainty pastries and the middle layer were supposed to be filled with scones. The scones only turned up 15 minutes later because they wanted to serve it right from the oven; hence it's absence in this photo. The bottom layer were filled with sandwiches which came with assorted fillings. They were Smoked Salmon, Ham, Chicken, Cucumber, Mature Cheddar as well as Egg Mayonnaise. Of all the options, all of us agreed that we liked the Chicken sandwich best.

Pastries at the top layer includes Mille feuille, Financier, Chocolate cake, Macaron, Fruit tart as well as Mousse cake. They tasted alright. I think I have tried better mille feuille than this.

When the scones arrived, it was slightly warm and fluffy. I enjoyed eating the scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam. The brown cake seen in the middle of the plate were fruit cakes. We were quite stuffed up at the end of the afternoon tea.

Overall, I would give the place full marks for it's ambience. It was definitely an experience to remember. The food served at the afternoon tea itself was top quality but nothing out of the ordinary and certainly overpriced. I guess I have placed my expectations a little bit too high. Apparently afternoon tea at The Ritz is something everyone should try at least once in a lifetime. I agree with that phrase and once is enough. I can now admit that I have been there and done that. Enough said.

If you're interested, the afternoon tea starts from £40.00 per person and be sure to book early!

Address:

Palm Court

The Ritz London

150 Piccadilly

London

W1J 9BR.

Website:

http://ritzlondon.devsite-1.com/tea/london-,default-en.html

Elaine's Kitchen: Mango Pudding

2011-02-09T00:16:00.000Z

Mango pudding has been one of my favourite dessert for as long as I can remember, along with caramel custard. Ordering mango pudding is almost always a must when I dined out as a child. Writing this post reminded me of this really good cafe at Lee Gardens in Hadyai, Thailand which sells solely mango puddings. It came with fresh cream and assorted fruits. It was so good. That was way back in 2004 when I was there. I wonder if they are still there now. Hmmm...

Earlier in the week I bought some mangoes ahead of time for it to ripen at home. Initally the mangoes were meant for Mango Sago dessert when Jane comes over during the weekend, but due to a last minute change of plan, I decided to use the mangoes for Mango Pudding instead. One of the key ingredients for the pudding is gelatin. I used to get intimidated by anything which requires gelatin as I never really understood how to use it; but since baking Berrylicious Cheesecake, I have restored my faith in using gelatin again. Also, having a digital kitchen scale made such a diference in getting the amount right and precise. ^.^

Here's the recipe:

Mango Pudding (makes 4 teacups)

220 g Mango

300 ml Milk

100 ml Whipping cream

70 g Caster sugar

10 g Gelatin

1. Dice mango and pulse them in a chopper until a puree is formed. Set aside.

2. In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin with approx. 4 tbsp water and let it sit.

3. Bring milk, whipping cream and caster sugar to a boil in a saucepan.

4. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat to medium and pour in gelatin and stir until the gelatin has dissolved.

5. Turn off heat and let the mixture cool down slightly. Skim off any foam that forms on the surface.

6. Pour #5 into mango puree and mix well.

7. Transfer the mixture into individual cups and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or until set.

8. Serve chilled.

If you fancy some garnish. Here's what I used:

100 ml Whipping cream

50 g Chocolate

50 g Diced mango

Sprigs of mint leaves

Chocolate Lattice

1. Break chocolate into tiny pieces and microwave till all of the chocolate has melted.

2. Make a piping bag with greaseproof paper and seal with cellophane tape.

3. Fill the piping bag with melted chocolate and seal the bag tightly by folding it up.

4. Cut off the tip of the piping bag and pipe melted chocolate in lattice design on an acetate sheet.

5. Let it set in the fridge for a few minutes before using the chocolate pieces.

Finishing touches

1. Whip cream till stiff peak form and add a dollop of cream on top of the pudding.

2. Add in diced mango and garnish with chocolate lattice and mint leaves.

Note: You may want to use lesser sugar than the amount stated here if the mangoes are on the sweet side.

恭喜發財!

2011-02-03T23:28:00.000Z

Chinese New Year is today! I would like to wish everyone Gong Xi Fa Cai! Happy Chinese New Year! May this year be a prosperous and productive year for everyone!

Elaine Bakes: Green Tea White Chocolate Cookies

2011-02-02T14:22:00.000Z

Apart from peanut butter cookies, I also baked Green Tea White Chocolate Cookies for Chinese New Year. Even though this is not typical, but whatever that tastes good is acceptable for such festive occasion.

The cookies have a strong hint of green tea. The chunks of white chocolate gives an extra texture and sweetness to the cookies. I like it best when dunked into a cup of hot milk tea. ♥

Green Tea White Chocolate Cookies (makes 20)

  75 g Butter
  65 g Caster sugar

(a)
140 g Cake flour
10 g Green tea powder
   5 g Baking powder

   1 Egg
  75 g White chocolate, chopped into tiny pieces

1. Cream butter with sugar till white and fluffy with an electric whisk.
2. Add egg and blend well.
3. Sift in (a) bit by bit until well incorporated.
4. Once the mixture resembled a cookie dough, add in chopped white chocolate and mix well.
5. Shape the cookie dough into a bar measuring 3cm x 22cm long and wrap it with a cling film.
6. Chill the dough in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
7. Remove the cling wrap and cut the cookie dough into 1cm thickness. You might want to reshape the cookies with your hands as it might go out of shape during this process.
8. Bake in oven preheated at 170C for 18 minutes or slightly browned.
9. Cool in a wire rack before storing the cookies in an airtight container. Best eaten within the next 5 days.

Note: If you can stand the temptation of finishing up all the cookies, let it sit in an airtight container and let the flavour develop. It tastes better after 2 days or so.

Elaine Bakes: Peanut Butter Cookies

2011-02-01T21:50:00.000Z

Chinese New Year (CNY) is around the corner again, to be exact it will be on 3rd February this year. This year will the year of rabbit. As usual this is the time to indulge on goodies such as cookies and traditional biscuits at the comfort of one's own home as well as at the relatives during the bai nian (拜年) ritual where the unmarried would be collecting red packets containing money from married relatives.

This year I will be working during CNY so I decided to bake some cookies to get into the mood of CNY. Last year I baked cornflake cookies, as for this year I wanted to try something different hence Peanut Butter Cookies which not only look good but tastes good too.

What do you think of the first photo? The props used were kinda unplanned. To start, I had a hard time thinking on how I'm going to make it look like it's for Chinese New Year. Then inspiration came as I remembered that I've just bought some Chinese tangerines from M&S earlier. The red card in the photo is a Chinese New Year card sent by Wan Yin to me, something that we have been doing over the years and it kind of suits the theme as the rabbits were just so adorable.

Anyway, stories aside, if you're a big fan of peanut butter, you will love this cookie; if you're not you might like it too because the cookie has a subtle hint of peanut butter which is not too overpowering and it's very crispy.

Here's the recipe:

Peanut Butter Cookies (makes 35)

Recipe adapted from Leisure Cat

75 g Butter

80 g Confectioner's sugar

40 g Peanut butter

120 g All-purpose flour

30 g Corn flour

1 Egg

1. Cream butter until soft and fluffy with an electric whisk.

2. Add in confectioner's sugar and mix well.

3. Add in egg, followed by peanut butter.

4. Once all the ingredients are well combined, sift in all-purpose flour and corn flour to form a dough.

5. In a clean piping bag, insert a piping tip and cut a hole just big enough for the piping tip to stick through.

6. Transfer the cookie dough into the piping bag and pipe the dough into your desired design on a baking tray.

7. Bake the cookies in pre-heated oven set at 170C for 16 minutes or until lightly browned.

8. Cool on a wire rack before storing them in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Note: You can use smooth or chunky peanut butter depending on your preference.

Elaine's Kitchen: Slow Cooker Chinese Bird's Nest Soup

2011-01-31T22:33:00.000Z

Bird's Nest soup is a Chinese delicacy prized for its nutritional values. It's always a luxury to savour bird's nest soup as it's not an everyday staple due to its price tag. In a way, it's the "caviar of the east". Very frequent in Hong Kong dramas bird's nest soup are served in rich household and to expectant mothers to help nourish the body. Apparently it's good for the complexion of the skin and maintaining youth too. I guess as a result from watching too much of those dramas, I tend to have feel good factor after finishing a bowl of bird's nest soup. lol.

Bird nests are constructed by male swiftlets over a period of about a month and are actually a mixture of saliva and various other substances, removed before consumption, including the swiftlet's own feathers. The photo below depicts bird's nest which has been cleaned and all that is needed is to soak the bird's nest to softened it before it's used to make sweet soup.

During my last trip home in April last year, grandma gave me 3 pieces of bird's nest and some dried ginseng so that I can cook them myself. Mom was skeptical if I will cook it as I'm quite a lazy person. True enough I'm always too lazy to soak the bird's nest over night even though it's really not such a big fuss. After keeping it for so many months, I finally decided to cook it before I replenish my supply when I'm home again in 2 months' time.

Grandma would normally cook the bird's nest soup in a double boiler in a gas stove in low flame for about 2 hours. Knowing that I'm not such responsible person to remember that, I decided to play safe and use the slow cooker instead! It takes twice as much the time needed but it was worth it. ^^

Slow Cooker Bird's Nest Soup
Serves 1 to 2

1 piece Bird's nest
3 Red dates/ Jujube
8 g Dried ginseng pieces
10 g Rock sugar
800 ml Water

Preparation:

Soak bird's nest in cold water for at least 8 hours or till softened.
Remove stone from red dates and soak in cold water for 30 minutes.

1. Bring 800 ml of water to a boil in a pot.
2. Once the water starts boiling add in all the ingredients and let it boil for 5 minutes.
3. Transfer all the ingredients into a slow cooker and let it cook at Low for 5 hours.
4. Enjoy!

Note: You can adjust all the ingredients used in the recipe to your own liking.

Green Tea Kit Kat Review

2011-01-23T20:56:00.000Z

I have seen quite a few reviews about Japanese Kit Kats online in the past. It seemed like they come out with different varieties depending on the time of the year, unlike the ones in the UK where we get the same boring stuff all year long. Last year while queing up at the check out counter at City Supermarket in Hong Kong I spotted Green Tea Kit Kat! Without second thoughts I bought 2 boxes. Each box consists of 2 packets, each with 2 bars of Kit Kat in it. I gave mom a box and brought a box back to UK for myself.

Guess what? All these months I have been keeping the Kit Kat safe in my suitcase untouched; partly because that's the one and only Green Tea Kit Kat I have and partly I because I was waiting for the right time to eat it. Finally I decided to eat it last week when its best before date is end of January!

The Kit Kat has a subtle taste of green tea. It was not very sweet. The wafer is just like other ordinary Kit Kats. My verdict? I would pick this any time over the ordinary ones simply because it taste good and the calories are lesser, and perhaps it's a novelty since it's hard to get hold of. Notice it says the calories is only 100 kcal? The ordinary Kit Kats normally have 106 kcal, not a massive difference but every calory counts. lol.

Caffe Vergnano 1882

2011-01-18T23:10:00.001Z

When our plans for a fancy dinner didn't materialized on Sunday evening, the 3 of us: Jane, Selphie and I went hunting for dinner at around Festival Place at South Bank. We walked in circles in the cold looking for somewhere nice but we weren't tempted by any restaurants around the area. Finally as we were getting desperate I suggested perhaps we should try our luck at this Italian restaurant (which looks more like a cafe from the outside).

At the entrance we spotted a hot chocolate machine. With the cold weather, hot chocolate is probably the best drink to keep our tummy warm. Both Selphie and I had hot chocolate (£2.60) while Jane had Caffe Gusto (£2.30) which was basically cappuccino with hazelnut. The hot chocolate was very thick and rich especially towards the end. It felt as if I had drank melted chocolate! Nevertheless, it was good; but if you're trying to watch your diet, you might as well forget about it. lol.

As for the mains, Selphie had Tortelloni Aragosta (£16.50). The tortelloni were filled with lobster and ricotta, topped with light creamy sauce. I almost ordered this one but I found something more tempting in the menu, keep reading to find out. =)

Jane went for Penne E Spinaci (£10.90) which consists of pasta tubes with spinach and garlic cream sauce. The pasta was very cheesy as a whole.

As for myself, I'm always drawn to seafood whenever it comes up in the menu. So naturally I ordered Spaghetti Frutti di Mare (£12.00). The spaghetti came with assorted seafood which includes mussels, squid and prawns in tomato based sauce. It was awesome. I would highly recommend this pasta dish. The spaghetti was cooked al dente and the seafood were just delicious.

Our bill came up to £52.98 for the 3 of us, including service charge. If you're ever there don't forget to try the seafood spaghetti!

Address:
Caffe Vergnano 1882
Festival Terrace
Southbank Centre
Belvedere Road
London
SE1 8XX.

Closest tube station: Waterloo

Website: http://www.caffevergnano1882.co.uk/

Elaine Bakes: Berrylicious Rare Cheesecake for Jane

2011-01-15T10:33:00.000Z

As you would have known from the previous post, Jane's birthday falls on the 11th of January. I thought it would be nice to bake her a cake. Initially I had wanted to bake Japanese Baked Cheesecake. However, I changed my mind as I thought it didn't look fancy enough. In the end, I settled for what I called as Berrylicious Rare Cheesecake.

For those you of who might be wondering what the "rare" means in the title, basically the Japanese called their no-bake cheesecake as "rare cheesecake" and it's simply NOT because it's hard to find. The cake is fairly easy and doesn't create much mess. The only tricky part I found was incorporating the gelatin into the cake mixture as that might determine the end product. As you can see, it turned out alright. Phew....

Just in case if you haven't already noticed, I used pureed raspberries to create a pink top layer and white at the bottom layer. In the white layer, I filled it with fresh blueberries to make the cake eating experience slightly more interesting.

Here's the recipe:

Berrylicious Rare Cheesecake
(recipe adapted from Chez R* for 8 inch round cake pan)

Filling:

(a)
325 g Cream cheese, softened at room temp.
300 ml Whipping cream
150 ml Yogurt

6 tbsp Caster sugar
20 g Gelatin
30 g Blueberries
80 g Raspberries

Base:

120 g Digestive biscuits
60 g Butter

Part 1: Biscuit Base

1. Line the bottom of a 8-inch loose bottom cake tin with a cling film (this will make transferring the cheesecake into a plate later on easier). Set aside.
2. Melt butter in a microwave (or waterbath). Set aside.

3. Put digestive biscuits in a ziplock bag and crush the biscuits with a rolling pin.
4. Pour the melted butter into Step 3 and mix well.

5. Spread the biscuit mixture evenly in the cake pan from Step 1. Then use a flat bottom glass to press the crushed biscuit to give the biscuit base a uniformed thickeness.

6. Once done, chill in the refrigerator while preparing for the filling in Part 2.

Part 2: Filling

1. In a small bowl, add 4 tbsp water to gelatin and let it sit.
2. Meanwhile, blend (a) in a liquidizer until well combined. Then add in sugar. Blend well again. Transfer mixture into a large bowl.
3. Wrap the soaked gelatin from Step 1 with a cling film and microwave on high for 15 seconds.
4. Pour liquid gelatin into Step 2 bit by bit whilst stirring the cheese mixture while doing so.
5. Transfer mixture back into the liquidizer and blend for further 1 minute. This is to make sure the gelatin is well spread out.
6. Pour 450 ml of the cheese mixture into the cake tin from Part 1. Then drop some blueberries into the cheesecake mixture. Chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before adding the pink layer.
7. To make the pink layer, add raspberries into the remaining cheese mixture (approx. 350 ml left) and pulse for aprrox. 2 minutes.
8. Let the pink mixture sit at room temperature while waiting for the white layer to set.
9. Pour the pink mixture into the cake pan and refrigerate for at least 4 to 5 hours before serving.
10. Garnish as desired. Enjoy!

Note: You might want to double the ingredients used for the biscuit base if you like thick biscuit base in the cheesecake. Personally I don't really fancy eating biscuit base in my cheesecake so I'm quite happy with the amount used in this cheesecake recipe.

Scott's Restaurant @ Mayfair, London

2011-01-11T00:55:00.000Z

It's Jane's birthday tomorrow but since I will be working we decided to carry forward the birthday meal. Initially we were wanting to go to the Dorchester but it was fully booked and so was the others as we made our reservation quite late. It wasn't until this afternoon at 12.30pm today that we come to a mutual agreement for our lunch venue and had a table booked for 2.30pm for the same day. Typical girls. LOL.

The fish bar

We ended up at Scott's Restaurant. We chose this restaurant as it has quite a reputation for being one of the best places for seafood in London. Apparently it's the place where the rich and famous would dine out. The likes of celebrities such as Madonna, Victoria Beckham et al. were there before too - not that I was there for this particular reason but certainly it does build up some credibility!

The service was faultless. At the entrance we were greeted by a friendly doorman who welcomed us in. We then left our coats at a small cloakroom before proceeding into the restaurant. Once in the restaurant we were brought to our table. The waiter was helpful with recommendations and we weren't rushed throughout at all. The restaurant was open all day so there was no pressure for us to finish our late lunch as soon as possible. In fact we were one of the two tables left by the time we finished our meal at almost 4.00pm!

As soon as we were done with our orders cuts of bread consisted of white and brown baguette arrived. I wasn't that impressed at the selection perhaps because I have set my expectations higher for a place like this. The bread was slightly on the hard side. We were charged £4.00 under Cover Charge in the bill for this!

That aside the rest of the dining experience was fairly pleasant. For starters, I had Pan-fried Duck Egg (£9.75) with roast partridge, black pudding and chanterelles. I was a little bit disappointed when the plate arrived as I wasn't expecting a sunny side up egg presented before me. It does reminds me of breakfast which I didn't managed to have this morning as we woke up quite late. However the thoughts disappeared as soon as I sunk my teeth into the tender and very flavourful partridge. The duck egg was alright. I happily finished it as it wasn't greasy like most in English breakfast.

Jane had West Mersea Pearl Oysters (£10.75) which are to die for. The oysters were served on a bed of ice. They were very fresh, which is always very important. When eaten with a few dashes of Tabasco sauce and chutney (?) it was the best oyster I've ever eaten. Even the one in Paris was not as good.

Indulgence...

As for the mains, I had Fillet of Cod (£21.75) which was served with padrón peppers and chorizo. The cod was very fresh. It was lightly seasoned and pan fried. The fish itself was quite bland, but when eaten together with the peppers and chorizo, it was lovely.

Jane had Fillet of Pollock (£19.25) with steamed mussels & seashore veg. I preferred Pollock to Cod. The fish meat was a lot smoother. The skin was lightly pan fried which give the skin a slight crunchy texture. At the bottom of the fish fillet was creamy sliced potato. Like the rest of the other seafood, the fish was very fresh.

We were very full by the time we finished our mains but the Cru Virunga Chocolate & Clementine Bombe (£9.50) was too tempting to resist. Jane and I were sat in our table battling whether or not to have the dessert. In the end, we gave in and decided to share the dessert. The photo didn't do any justice to this dessert at all. Initially when the dessert arrived, the bombe appeared like a round chocolate shell. On top of the chocolate shell was a small little piece of gold leaf. The waitress then poured melted hot chocolate on top. The chocolate shell melted straight away like overspilling volcano lava. It was quite a sight. Inside the chocolate shell was something like rice crispies which give the "popping" sensation when eaten in the mouth. In the middle of the chocolate shell there was a big scoop of ice-cream with bits of clementine. The dessert was amazing. This is probably one of those times I will forget about the amount calories the dessert would add to my waistline. LOL.

The bill came up to £96.75, inclusive of a bottle of still water, 2 glasses of Coke and a 12.5% service charge. Overall the food quality was top notch. Price wise it was a bit on the high side but I would like to return again probably solely for the oysters and maybe the bombe dessert if the diet permits. Overall verdict: 4.5/5.

Address:

Scott's Restaurant

20 Mount Street

London W1K 2HE

Closest tube station: Bond Street

Website: http://www.scotts-restaurant.com/

p/s: I'm still thinking that I'm a little bit crazy because I was willing to spend this much for a meal but not for a pair of shoes!!!

Elaine Bakes: Japanese Baked Cheesecake

2011-01-05T20:50:00.000Z

As usual, I have lots of things that I want to bake as you would have noticed from my previous posts, and Japanese Baked Cheesecake is no exceptional. I saw this cake in one of the supermarket leaflets while in Ginza, Japan many years ago. I always thought it looked different from the cheesecake that I normally have. So the other day I stumbled upon a baked cheesecake recipe looking like the one I have in mind. Without hesitation I decided to bake this cake.

Tastewise the cake tasted like the Japanese cotton soft cheesecake except that it's more dense, whereas the former is more airy. I think this cheesecake is less fattening too simply because it didn't involve any butter (except in the biscuit base) and less eggs involved. Also there is less stress baking this cheesecake as you don't really need to make sure every utensil is dry so that the egg whites would set.

Here's the recipe:

Japanese Baked Cheesecake
(recipe for 7 inch round cake pan)

Filling:

250g   Cream cheese, softened at room temp.
200ml Whipping cream
2         Eggs
80g     Caster sugar
2 tbsp Cake flour, sifted
2 tbsp Lemon juice

Base:

80g    Digestive biscuits
40g     Butter

Part 1: Biscuit Base

1. Line the bottom of a 7-inch loose bottom cake tin with greaseproof paper. Set aside
2. Melt butter in a microwave (or waterbath). Set aside.
3. Put digestive biscuits in a ziplock bag and crush the biscuits with a rolling pin as shown in the photo below.

4. Pour the melted butter into Step 3 and mix well.

5. Spread the biscuit mixture evenly in the cake pan from Step 1. Then use a flat bottom glass to press the crushed biscuit to give the biscuit base a uniformed thickeness.

6. Once done, set aside.

Part 2: Filling

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk the cream cheese lightly, then add in sugar and whisk till fluffy.

2. Add in cake flour followed by eggs, one at a time. Keep whisking at medium speed.

3. Next, mix in whipping cream bit by bit. Lastly incorporate lemon juice into the mixture.

Tip: Make sure you don't overwhisk the cake mixture or air might be introduced into the cake which might cause cracks to happen when the cake is in the oven.

4. Pour cake mixture into the cake tin from Part 1.

5. Bake in pre-heated oven at 160C for 1 hour or when the cake is browned.

Tip: To keep the oven moist, you might want to fill a tray with water and place at the lower rack of the oven. Apparently this helps to prevent cracks on the surface of the cheesecake.

6. Leave the cake to cool. You will find the the top will sink a little once the cake has cooled down, which is normal for this cheesecake.

7. Run a small palette knife around the edge of the tin to loosen the cheesecake then push the base up through the cake tin.

8. To serve, use a clean sharp knife dipped in hot water and cut the cake into individual slices. Enjoy!

Fresh from the oven

You can dust the cake with some icing sugar or decorate it with some fresh berries to enhance its appearence.

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-25T20:38:00.000Z

Merry Christmas! Have you done anything interesting today? I'm in London now at Jane's. Before coming to London, Jane and Cassandra came over to mine and we had a mini reunion at Southampton.

We had a Christmas themed meal in my place.

Christmas cracker

We had a very traditional meal, which consisted of turkey and all the trimmings.

Yummy roast dinner

To end the meal nicely, we had my home-baked Strawberry Cream Cake which I have been wanting to bake for a few Christmases. It was a very good get together. So how was your Christmas?

Elaine Bakes: Vanilla Kipferl

2010-12-23T12:50:00.001Z

Vanilla kipferl is a traditional Christmas bake in Germany. I fell in love with it since I tried them in Germany. They are really simple cookies but very addictive at the same time.

I have been wanting to bake this cookie for years but never seemed to have time to bake it. This time I have been down with a cold but I was quite determine to bake something hence this cookie.

Vanilla Kipferl
(Makes 30)

200g Butter
3 tbsp Vanilla sugar
1 pinch of Salt
1 Egg yolk

(a)
250g All-purpose flour
100g Ground almond flour

Vanilla sugar for dusting

1. Cream butter, sugar and salt until pale and fluffy with an electric whisk.
2. Add in egg yolk.
3. Sieve (a) and add into the mixture.
4. Combine the ingredients and knead it until a dough is formed.
5. Divide the dough into 4 portions and roll each portions into 1.5mm thick tubes.
6. Refrigerate the rolled dough in the fridge for 1 hour.
7. Pre-heat oven to 180C.
8. Cut the cookies into 4cm long tubes.
9. Shape the dough into crescent shaped cookies.

10. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
11. Once done, remove the warm kipferls from the oven tray and coat the cookies with vanilla sugar.
12. Store the kipferls in air-tight container once the cookies has cooled down. Enjoy!

Elaine Bakes: Christmas Wreath Cookies

2010-12-22T12:46:00.000Z

Christmas is here in just 3 days' time, which is quick. It's always the magical time of the year and it's also the time where you will indulge in lots of goodies. My favourite moment this time of the year are the preparations leading to Christmas, and that includes putting the tree up as well as lots of shopping and baking.

Spot the cookie!

It's almost like a tradition now for me to hang edible Christmas ornaments on the tree. It started when Maija and I were still living together. We bought chocolate baubles from Cadbury's and candy canes and have them hung on the tree. She would also bake gingerbread cookies and hang them there. Are you still doing this now in Finland Maija? Now to continue with the tradition, I baked Christmas wreath cookies! If you are a nut lover you shouldn't miss this cookies out.

Assorted nuts

Christmas Wreath Cookies
(Makes 35 cookies)

160g Butter
80g   Sugar
2       Egg yolks
Few drops of vanilla extract

(a)
220g All-purpose flour
40g   Almond flour
1 tsp Baking Powder

(b)
1       Egg, beaten (to be used as egg wash)
100g Assorted nuts, roughtly chopped
(I used pistachio, walnut, pecan nut, macadamia nut and almond)

Fluted cookie cutter measuring 78mm and 38mm

1. Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl with an electric whisk until light and fluffy.
2. Add in egg yolks and few drops of vanilla extract, mix well.
3. Fold in (a) into Step 2 and whisk until the batter resembles crumbs.
4. Knead the dough with your hands and shape the dough into a ball.
5. Chill the cookie dough for 1 hour.
6. Pre-heat oven to 160C,
7, After one hour, roll out the dough to 5mm thickness.
8. Cut out the dough with 78mm fluted cookie cutter followed by 38mm cookie cutter.

9. Glaze the cookie with egg wash and garnish with assorted nuts. Repeat until the dough is used up.
10. Bake cookie in pre-heated oven for 16 minutes.
11. Cool the cookies in a wire rack and store in an airtight container.
12. Enjoy!

Spot the edibles!

Korean Rice Cakes

2010-12-07T01:50:00.000Z

I'm a quite a big fan of Korean dramas so it's no surprise that I would be interested in their food and culture. I have always been curious about Korean rice cakes since they get featured in historical dramas like Dae Jang Geum as well as modern day dramas.

So the other day Jane and I were at this Korean supermarket in London. At the check-out, I spotted some round white shiny food stuff which appeared like raw scallops. Upon closer inspection, I realized that they were rice cakes. Look at the whitish rice cake in the middle of the tray in the photo above then you will understand what I meant.

I bought a tray of assorted rice cakes at £3.50 without second thoughts because I have been wanting to try them for the longest time. In fact this is the first time I've seen anyone selling this. They were so colourful; I think that was why I was drawn to the rice cakes in the first place. ^.^

The rainbow rice cake tasted like some form of Chinese rice cake used in prayers, while the shiny looking rice cake was chewy, slightly on the sweet side with a hint of sesame oil. The rest of them tasted pretty much the same as the ones I have just described. Personally I preferred the rainbow rice cake over the rest of them because it was less sweet and less chewy. Will I eat those stuff again? Maybe not, but I'm glad that my curiosity has been fulfilled!

Christmas Market @ Hyde Park London

2010-12-03T23:33:00.000Z

It's the time of the year again where Christmas Markets can be found at almost everywhere in the country. I always liked going to Christmas markets - the sights of German bratwursts in a grill and mulled wine is always heartwarming. Earlier this week I was in London, so I thought it would be good to check out at least one Christmas Market in there. Jane was my partner in crime; so off we went to the Christmas Market at Hyde Park.

Upon entering the Christmas market, it was as though we have been transported to "Enchanted Land". Everything seemed so pretty and magical. The stalls were set up in individual wooden huts selling assorted kinds of things ranging from food to Christmas ornaments. The wooden huts were decorated with Christmas lights and garlands.

There were lots of stalls selling German bratwurst (German pork sausage), which is a pretty typical fare found in most Christmas markets.

This particular mulled wine stall caught my attention because the copper pot used for brewing the wine reminded me so much of the Christmas market in Germany.

I was quite hungry before I even got to the Christmas market as I didn't have proper breakfast or lunch that day. In the end, I settled for Jamie Oliver's Pork Cracking bap.

The pork cracking were really crunchy and the pork was very tender and juicy. The green thing on top of the meat was apple slices made into apple sauce. Overall it was really good but the downside of the meal was we had to eat the bap in freezing temperature (I think it was 0 degrees Celsius or even colder) because the stand heater was out of gas! I remembered our fingers were freezing up to a point where we couldn't feel them!

Trip to the Christmas market wouldn't be complete without trying at least one bratwurst. We had currywurst, which was basically bratwurst cut into slices, seasoned with ketchup blended with curry. Since it was super duper cold, we complimented the currywurst with a cup of hot chocolate drink to warm ourselves up.

The Christmas market was pretty huge. My definition of Christmas markets changed completely. Even those that I have been to in Germany were not as good as this. There was even roller coaster rides, ice rinks as well as many other fun rides.

Ferris wheel

The fun house was good even though it was quite small. Jane and I took a while before we managed to get out from the mirror maze. I think we must have looked quite silly. ^^

I always liked carousel rides but I wouldn't want to do it at somewhere where someone would be able to identify me so London sounds like a pretty safe place to do so. Jane reluctantly went for the 5-minute ride with me. Haha...

When we were heading towards the exit, the poffertjes stall caught my eye. Basically poffertjes is a type of Dutch pancake prepared in a cast iron pan (as shown above) - in a way the pan reminded me of the takoyaki pan. We had it served with chocolate sauce and powdered sugar. It was a trip down memory lane for me because I first tried it at the Christmas Market in Swansea with my friend Juliet.

Before we really leave the market for real, I went to this chestnut stall for some roasted chestnuts. This stall was so much better then the other one we tried earlier on.

So that sums up our trip to the Christmas market at Hyde Park. Do check this place out because it's really good. The market will be there till 3rd January 2011. Opening times are from 10am till 10pm. Easiest way to get there is to catch Piccadilly line, getting down at Hyde Park Corner. Have fun!

Elaine's Kitchen: Mango Pancake

2010-10-20T22:18:00.000+01:00

It has been a while since I posted any recipes. I'm not done with my travelogues yet but since it's going to take a while more, I might as well share this well loved dessert, which is none other than the Hong Kong Style Mango Pancake.

The first time I tried this pancake was at Honeymoon Dessert in Hong Kong early this year and I liked it a lot. For some reason I got inspired to make this the other day. I tried googling for the recipe but found none in English so I typed it in Chinese. There were a few versions but I adapted the recipe to suit the mango pancake I have in mind. To get a smooth pancake skin, make sure you follow instructions below.

Mango Pancake (Makes 10)

Part I: Pancake Batter

70g Cake flour
10g Corn flour
40g Caster sugar
250g Milk
15g Butter
2 Egg yolks

1. Combine cake flour and corn flour in a bowl.
2. Add in 1/2 of quantity of milk needed bit by bit as you incorporate it into the flour with a whisk. Keep whisking until a smooth batter is obtained. Set aside.

Whisk till smooth batter is obtained

3. In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar with the remaining milk.
4. Pour #3 into #2 bit by bit whilst whisking.
5. Add in melted butter and mix till well combined.
6. Sieve mixture into a bowl.
7. Cover with cling wrap and allow to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes before using the batter.
8. Heat a non-stick frying pan with medium high heat (Gas mark 5).
9. Once the pan is throughly heated, reduce heat to medium low (Gas mark 3).
10. Melt 1 tbsp butter in the heated frying pan and wipe off excess with a kitchen tissue.
11. Using a ladle, spread pancake batter thinly onto the frying pan.
12. Once the pancake starts to "bubble" and the top surface of the pancake starts to firm up, remove immediately from heat. There's no need to fry the other side of the pancake.
13. Place pancake on a clean flat plate. Repeat process with remaining batter. While stacking pancakes, make sure you separate each layer with greaseproof paper to make sure they don't stick together. Allow pancakes to cool.

Stacking pancakes with greaseproof paper

Part II: Filling

400ml Whipping cream

2.5 tbsp Caster sugar

3 Ripe mangoes

1. In a clean bowl, whisk cream and sugar until stiff peaks are formed. Set aside.
2. Peel the mangoes with a sharp knife, then cut the flesh of the mangoes lengthwise.

Part III: Assembling

1. Place smooth side of the pancake facing downwards.
2. Then top the pancake with some freshly whipped cream followed by mango slices.

3. Fold the pancake into a square shaped "puff" as illustrated below (don't really know how to explain...I will let the pictures do the talking instead).

Fold...

Still folding...

Rear view...

Tadaa...mission accomplished!

4. Cut pancake into half and transfer into a nice plate and serve. Enjoy!

Note: Only egg yolks were used as opposed to the whole egg to give the pancake it's characteristic yellow colour. You can use the remaining egg whites for steamed milk custard.
Make sure you use a good non-stick frying pan as this will affect the outcome of the pancake.

Eating Out in Switzerland (Part 3): Restaurant Chalet (again!)

2010-10-18T21:05:00.000+01:00

When we got back to Interlaken from Jungfrau, we were thinking of exploring other Swiss restaurants at Interlaken Ost area. However before we could venture any further, there was a light drizzle so we decided to go back to Restaurant Chalet again since I was all curious about the Chinese fondue that they were doing.

As usual, we were served with slices of bread and butter once we were seated. I preferred the bread rolls from the first day better.

The restaurant offered 2 types of Cheese fondue and 2 types of Meat fondue with the former being either Fondue bourguignonne (meat fondue with oil) or Chinese fondue (meat fondue with broth). Being exposed to so many authentic Chinese fondue (à la hot pot), I decided to try the Swiss version.

The fondue starts from CHF 39 per person and the order needs to be for at least 2 people or more. So we ordered a pot of fondue for 2 persons. The fondue was served with rice, 6 different types of dipping sauces, Mexican beans, Chinese salad, pickled gherkins, antipasti vegetables and fruits (as shown above). That saves me from having to order starters!

Apart from the fondue, we also ordered Sliced Veal Zurich Style (CHF 35.00) which was cooked in fine cream and mushroom sauce, served with rosti. I found this dish to be a tad salty for my liking in comparison to the one at Le Dezaley 2 days ago. However, the rest of my family members thought that it was good. So I guess it's up to personal preference.

6 Assorted Dipping Sauces

Like the Chinese hot pot, the condiments and meats usually arrived first before the fondue pot is placed on top of the burner.

Thin beef slices ready to be dipped into the fondue pot

After a while of waiting, the fondue pot with rich beef stock in clear soup arrived. We stuck the fondue forks onto the frozen beef and waited patiently for the beef slices to cook. It was really like Chinese hot pot (minus the fish balls, assorted seafoods etc). The meat was easy to chew and delicious when dipped in sauces or even on its own.

Towards the end we decided to eat our fondue Chinese style, i.e. by removing the lid and throwing all the sliced meat into the fondue pot at once for it to cook as it took too long to cook few slices at a time. lol! We even drank the broth which by now has become a very flavourful broth as a result of the sweetness of the sliced meat.

Overall, we had a very satisfying meal at Restaurant Chalet and my curiosity of Chinese fondue has finally been solved! The bill came up as CHF 120 (£87.50), quite a price to pay, but for the experience it was definitely worth a try! Verdict: 3.5/5.

Address:

Restaurant Chalet

City Hotel Oberland
Postgasse 1
3800 Interlaken.

Tel.: 0033 827 8787

Eating Out in Switzerland (Part 2): Restaurant Chalet Interlaken

2010-10-15T15:45:00.000+01:00

When we got back to Interlaken from Murren, we lingered around town looking for places to eat. I did try doing some research for typical Swiss restaurants before coming, but all I found was just recommendations to eat at Korean and Italian restaurants, which I thought was strange since we were in neither of those countries. True enough, when we were at the eatery hub all I could spot were mainly Italian restaurants; which I wasn't too fond of because there were plenty of Italian restaurants in UK at every corner.

Best chocolatier at Interlaken

We went back and forth around the eatery shops at Interlaken as we (or more like me!) couldn't decide on which restaurant we want to go in to. I thought the best way to find out is to ask a local. Common sense would prevail that no restauranteurs would tell you where to look for good food. So I told dad we should go into the chocolate shop and pretend to buy some chocolates before asking for recommendations for places to eat. Teehee...it worked! That aside, I think the chocolates from that shop was worth a mention because the truffles were probably the best I have tasted during my Swiss trip. I think Sprüngli were overrated. Just in case if you are interested, the name of this particular chocolate shop was Confiserie Rieder Interlaken.

Anyway, the guy working at the chocolate shop recommended a restaurant called Chalet, which is a typical Swiss restaurant in the area.

The interiors, especially the chairs does look very typical Swiss eh?

When we went in, the restaurant was very packed but we did managed to get a table. The interiors of the restaurant gave me a reassurance to say that I'm really on a holiday because it looked so dreamy, almost like a remote countryside resort. *Joke: I bet the photo above does looked very dreamy to you because it was quite blurry. Hahaha*

Once seated, we were served with some bread rolls and butter.

Seeing that so many patrons had beers on their table, I followed suit even though I don't exactly fancy beer. Call that the kiasu attitude!

To start, we had Tagessuppe (Soup of the day) (CHF6.50). I think it was creamy lemongrass soup if memory served me right.

As for the mains, we had Poulardenbrustchen (CHF 27), which was one of the restaurant's specialties. It was made up of poulard breast meat baked in butter served with Merlot jus. The meat was very tender but I didn't really like the boiled rice.

The Trutenschnitzel (CHF 19) which was turkey escalope in fine cream and mushroom sauce served with noodles was alright. Nothing spectacular but good enough to fill the tummy up.

Despite knowing how much calories cheese would add to my waistline, I ordered Raclette (CHF 15) because this melted cheese dish was one of the Swiss indigenous staple in my Must Try list. The dish consists of melted cheese accompanied by boiled potatoes, small pickled onions and gherkins served with lots of black pepper sprinkled on top. It was simple and nice but being guilt conscious, I only finished half of the cheese portion on the plate.

The bill came up as CHF 77.00 (approx. £48.92), inclusive of 7.6% tax for the 4 of us. Prices are slightly cheaper then Le Dezaley but then again we ordered different stuff so we can't really do a like for like comparison. Overall verdict: 3.5/5.

Address:

Restaurant Chalet

City Hotel Oberland

Postgasse 1

3800 Interlaken.

Tel.: 0033 827 8787

Eating Out in Switzerland (Part 1): Le Dézaley

2010-10-10T20:42:00.001+01:00

For those of you who got bored of reading my travelogues, good news I'm going to do a food review this time instead. When planning the Swiss trip, trying cheese fondue was my top priority since it's a Swiss specialty. Eventually it brought me to forums which suggested Le Dezaley, a Swiss-French restaurant located in Zurich. Apparently, it's one of the best in Zurich.

The restaurant entrance

Prior to making the trip, I made a online table reservation for 6.15pm since it was recommended for us to do so. If you have read my Day 1 Travelogue I mentioned that we touched down at Zurich later than expected due to our flight delay. So our plan went a little bit out of place. Anyway, to cut the long story short, we managed to make it to the restaurant just right on time. Phew...

Interiors

The restaurant was quite empty when we went in, probably because we were one of the early birds. Once seated we were given a menu which came in German, French and English, which is handy, unlike their online reservation which was all in German. I had to rely on the ever so helpful translating tool to help with the translation before making the reservation. The restaurant staffs who served us spoke reasonably good English, in comparison to others that we had encountered in other European countries.

The restaurant was more spacious than this but it appeared small due to the wall partition

Soup

To start, we ordered Bouillon mit Mark (Clear soup with bone marrow) (CHF 9.50). The soup was simple but very flavourful. Best eaten with baguette pieces dunked into it. Yums!

Highlight of the day: Kasefondue

Next, we had Kasefondue (Cheese Fondue) (CHF 27.50) which came with a basket of bread that is to be dipped into the fondue. We also ordered additional Geschwellte (boiled baby potatoes) (CHF 6.00) as well as a loaf of Baguette (CHF 2.00) to go with the cheese concoction. Of the 3 I liked the baguette best.

Taste wise, I'd describe the fondue as earthy, cheesy (obviously!), rich, and slightly salty. There was also a hint of alcohol in it. The rich cheese flavour means that you can only eat it up to a certain amount before you start "feeling sick".

Zurcher Geschnetzeltes

To wash off cheesiness of the fondue, we had Zurcher Geschnetzeltes (Sliced veal Zurich style with rosti) (CHF 37.00). This Zurich specialty consists of sliced veal cooked in white wine sauce accompanied by Rösti (Swiss hash brown). The meat were very tender and the sauce was creamy but not too overpowering. Very tasty indeed!

The bill came up as CHF 93.40 (approx. £60.02), including 7.6% tax for the 4 of us which was not exactly that cheap taking into account of what we have ordered. However eating out in Switzerland is expensive anyway to start with. Nevertheless it was an experience to remember.

If you are looking for typical Swiss food and not put off by the price, do pay this restaurant a visit. In terms of location, the restaurant is quite hidden. For newbies, best thing to do is to catch either Tram 4 or Tram 15 from outside the train station and get down at Helmhaus. You can either ask the locals for directions to the restaurant or look for Grossmünster, a Romanesque-style church situated nearby.

Address:
Römergasse 7
8001 Zürich.
Website:
http://www.le-dezaley.ch/