Jus Burgers - South Yarra

Recently I've been on an expedition to find great spots that serves quality burgers, the ones that are fresh and not from a frozen pack. I kicked off my journey by going to Brother Burger which is in my previous post, check out my review there as I'm not going to let it steal the limelight of Jus Burgers. 

Jus Burgers originated from Perth, bless their hearts for opening a outlet in Melbourne hopefully they will branch out and open another specifically in the city. The place had a casual feel to it, wait staff came over as soon as they saw us, approaching arm with menus, I like a place that is attentive to their customers. 

Since I had already check out the menu even before I got there I knew exactly what I was going to have so I gave hubby and DH some time to look over it. Once they have decided, I walk over to the counter to place my order with much anticipation as I saw patties of meat being grilled on the griller, love the open concept where you can see how your food is being prepared.

Left: Regular slaw, Right: Onion Rings

Since our burgers did not come with chips, I ordered the onion rings as sides as well as the regular slaw to make it a complete meal with all the essential food groups in it. It was not a long wait before our sides were served, the onion rings came with aioli and we scoffed it really quickly.

There was about 6 huge rings which was generously crumbed, it was not greasy. The slaw on the other hand was so finely grated that you could not tell what vegetables was in it but it tasted great with the right amount of mayo and seasoning.

Wagyu Burger

I went with the wagyu burger and added cheese & avocado as an additional option. The wagyu was juicy and succulent. It was held together by a knife in the middle, you know a burger is packed with goodness when it has to be held by a knife. The buns were nicely toasted and not at all flimsy that it could not hold all the great stuff that's in it.And there was a little heat with the wasabi mayo that you get with every bite.

Kid's Fish Burger

DH fish burger and chips arrived next, it was a pretty decent size burger for a kid. DH had to open her mouth wide enough for the burger to fit but all she got were a teeny bite. I had a taste of it, the fish was fresh although they could have taken it off the fryer slightly earlier it was a little too overdone.

Fish Burger

We were almost half way thru our meals when we started to wonder where hubby's burger was, I ask one of the wait staff who promptly went to check and found out that the kitchen staff had thought we only had one fish burger order which was the kid meal. They apologise and got it prepared and served within 10mins. Hubby had the larger version of the fish burger with 2 generous portion of fish fillets and heaps of mayo in between. He also had the same sentiment that the fish was overdone.

Overall it was a good fast food place better than your usual places like Maccas or Hungry Jacks. I will definitely be back to try their other offerings.



Location:
364 Chapel St 
South Yarra
VIC 3141

Pistachio & Almond Tart with Homemade Orange Ice Cream

I love tarts of all kinds, it's just comforting to sink your teeth into buttery, crumbly pastry that melts in your mouth. So when I saw this recipe in a recent MKR episode I just knew that I had to make it. Just a warning though this recipe requires a lot of eggs in particular the yolks and I was left with a lot of whites at the end of it.

I have to admit that I was a little put off when I read the recipe as I am not a big fan of recipes that uses a lot of yolks, I find they have a "eggy" taste to it. And I was going to bail out and buy the ice-cream but then I thought that would only be half the fun in making the recipe.

There are 3 components to this recipe, the ice  cream, the tart and lastly the filling. So this is my very first attempt at making ice-cream and I approach the task at hand very warily not knowing what to expect. I followed the recipe to a tee like my life depended on it and was glad at the end result.

Orange Ice-Cream

Ingredients:

600ml thickened cream
300ml milk
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
finely grated zest of 2 oranges
1 cinnamon stick
220g caster sugar
6 egg yolks
100ml orange juice

Method:

1. To make ice-cream, stir cream, milk, vanilla seeds, zest and cinnamon in a saucepan over low heat until hot. Remove from heat. Stand 10 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick.
2. Beat sugar and yolks with an electric mixer until thick and creamy. Gradually add hot cream mixture to egg mixture, whisking continuously.
3. Return mixture to saucepan and stir over a medium heat until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Stir in orange juice. Strain into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 3 hours or until cold. Transfer to a ice-cream machine and churn according to manufacturers instructions.

Note: I did not use an ice cream machine, I just let it freeze overnight and I still got the consistency of ice cream the next day.

Cream mixture ready for freezing

Pastry
225g plain flour
50g caster sugar
1/2 tsp fine salt
180g butter
1 egg yolk

Filling
5 green cardamom pods, seeds only
200g blanched almonds
300g shelled pistachios
250g caster sugar
4 egg yolks
2 eggs
Grated zest of 1 orange

Top: Filling
Bottom: Baked Tart from oven

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 24cm round tart tin with removable base.
2. To make pastry, process flour, sugar, salt and butter to form crumbs. Add egg yolk. Process to combine. Form pastry into a disc and cover in cling film. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Roll out pastry between two sheets of baking paper to line base and side of prepared tin. Ease pastry into tin. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Prick base all over. Line with baking paper and fill with pastry weights.
4. Bake for 20 minutes. Remover paper and weights. Bake for a further 5 minutes or until light golden and crisp. Cool.
5. To make filling, grind cardamom seeds in a pestle and mortar to form a fine powder. Place in a processor with nuts and sugar. Process to form fine crumbs. Add remaining ingredients. Process until combined. Spread filling into pastry case.
6. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool. Cut into small wedges.
7. Serve tart with ice cream, orange segments and crushed pistachios.

Making the ice cream was'nt as daunting as I initially thought and I actually enjoyed the whole process. My kid loves it and wants me to try a chocolate flavour next which I might just do for my next blog. The tart and ice cream was a great combination together.

Squid Stuffed with Chicken

As an avid cook and baker I'm constantly looking for inspirations to try new recipes. I was watching one of the episodes on My Kitchen Rules and one of the pair of contestants had prepared a squid dish and it look really good. The weekend I wanted to try the dish out the recipe was not on the official site yet therefore I use my creativity and came up with my own. 

Note that my recipe varied quite a bit from the original as first of all I use chicken mince and secondly I omitted the prawns as I'm allergic to it. And instead of serving it with sweet chilli sauce I made a tartar sauce as I thought that would have gone better with the squid.

Crumbed stuff squid

Ingredients:

4 Squid clean 

flour for dusting

1 egg lightly beaten

Panko breadcrumbs enough to coat

Vegetable oil for deep frying 

Stuffing:

300gm chicken mince 

2 cloves garlic

50gm bacon fried till crispy

1tbsp oregano*

1tbsp thyme*

1tbsp basil*

*use fresh chopped herbs 

2tbsp pinenuts dry toast in a pan

Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

1. Place all the stuffing ingredients in a bowl and combine together. Stuff squid with the filling, do not over stuff as the ingredients will spill out when steaming as noted in my picture. Secure the ends with a toothpick.
2. Steam squid in a steamer for 5 mins, leave aside to cool.
3. Dust squid with flour, dip in egg and coat well in breadcrumbs.
4. In a wok heat oil and fry squid till golden brown.



Steam Squid

Homemade Tartar Sauce

200gm mayonnaise

1tsp capers

2 small gerkhins

Half red onion grated

Juice from half lemon

Salt and pepper to taste 

• Mix all the above ingredients together and serve.

Now that the recipe has been published in the official site, I'll give that a try but I must say my version was'nt too bad either. Do give it a try.



Guiness Ginger Spice Cake

One of my colleague recently announce she was pregnant, that explains why she is constantly sick. Since she let the cat out of the bag she mention that the only thing that help keeps food down and not in the toilet was ginger. She has been having that in all forms like tea, candied ginger, ginger biscuits, etc. So I thought I'd make this cake for her, gives her another variety of eating ginger.



Stout & molasses mixture after adding the baking soda

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Guinness stout
• 1 cup molasses
• 1/2 tablespoon baking soda
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 3/4 cup grapeseed or vegetable oil
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons ground ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 tablespoon grated, peeled fresh gingerroot

Batter ready for oven

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9- X 5-inch loaf pan, line the bottom and sides with parchment, and grease the parchment. 

2. In a large saucepan over high heat, combine the stout and molasses and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and add the baking soda. Allow to sit until the foam dissipates.

3. Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together the eggs and both sugars. Whisk in the oil.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, ground ginger, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cardamom.

5. Combine the stout mixture with the egg mixture, then whisk this liquid into the flour mixture, half at a time. Add the fresh ginger and stir to combine.

6. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 1 hour, or until the top springs back when gently pressed. Do not open the oven until the gingerbread is almost done, or the center may fall slightly. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

The mistake I make was not to line the cake tin with parchment paper and I had a hard time trying to get the cake out without disfiguring it. Since molasses was involve the cake turn out really sticky and stuck really well to the wall and base of the tin. Although the ends was broken off in the struggle I still manage to save the middle part.

It's not one of the best looking cake that's probably why I forgot to take a picture of the end product, but it was moist and you could get the predominant taste of ginger in every bite. If you are not a fan of ginger this will not appeal to you but my colleague absolutely loved it and she was grateful.

St Katherine's - Kew

It was my wedding anniversary the weekend that just pass and I was looking for somewhere nice to celebrate at. And my search directed me to this restaurant that is own by renown celebrity chef George Calombaris. The restaurant spans over two levels which makes it perfect for a big group although in this instance it was just me, hubby and daughter. The ground level for casual diners and the 2nd level reserve mainly for private dining.

The open kitchen concept

Menu

As soon as we walked in we were greeted by the friendly host, she asked my name to check the reservation register and promptly showed us to our table. I could not wait to get stuck into the menu to order all the delectable food this place had to offer. The wait staff we had was really enthusiastic and seem really genuine to be of service to the hungry diners. He was patient to explain stuff on the menu we were not clear about, a plus when the wait stuff know what the kitchen is serving.

Mini Chicken Burger

We started with the Katherine fried chicken bucket which seems to be a popular starter with the diners there and knew that we cannot go wrong with it. I ordered a mini burger for DD as she's a very fussy eater and will not eat anything new or out of the ordinary so best to play safe with what she is use to. And that prove to be a winner she gave it the thumbs up. 

Katherine's Fried Chicken (KFC)

The food was serve really quick which was a huge bonus as I was starving at that stage as I did not have anything for lunch. The chicken was like little nuggets crumbed with a coating of spices, it was crispy on the outside. It came serve with a bottle of barbecue sauce and a bottle of Japanese mayo. What did I think of it? Well like it's name it was just fried chicken.

Sticky Pork Ribs

For mains I got the sticky pork ribs and hubby being a huge fan of fish went straight for the barramundi. The pork was so tender that the meat just fell off the bone with no effort although I was not convince about the sauce that came with it, was not as sticky as I expected it was a runny sauce.  As for the fish it was fresh and the skin was crispy which was cooked with a very nice herb paste rub on it. I personally prefer my fish filleted which was an option here as I cannot be bothered to pick thru bones but hubby wanted it with the bone and all.

Whole Barramundi

So where's the review on the desserts you must be asking, in this instance we did not have any as we were all so full by this stage and could not put in another thing into our already bursting tummies. The temptation was there but I resisted and thought I'll leave it to another time which will give me an excuse to make another trip back. 

Note that most of the food served are meant to be shared and there is more than enough serving for 2 average adults. The overall experience was pleasant and in a reasonable price range.

Location:
26 Cotham Road
Kew

Mixed Berry Macaroon Tart

I recently saw this dessert featured in one of the episodes of My Kitchen Rules and it had high compliments from the judges and knew I had to make it. It did not look that difficult to make and went about to search the recipe on google, lo and behold it yielded a few results. I chose the recipe close to what I had seen on the show and found out that it was a recipe from Super Natural Everyday cookbook written by Heidi Swanson.

The original recipe uses Spelt (wheat free flour which is low in gluten) and coconut flour both of which is not a common ingredient in my pantry therefore I adapted the recipe and make a few changes.

Crust:

1 1/2 cups plain flour 3/4 cup unsweetened finely shredded Coconut
3/4 cup lightly packed Demerara Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
10 tbsp Unsalted Butter, melted

Filling:

2 cups unsweetened finely shredded Coconut
1/2 cup Sugar
4 large Egg Whites
1 1/2- 2 cups Berries (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries)
1/3 cup Pistachios, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 180deg. Butter an 8 x 10inch tart tin.
2. To make the crust, in a large bowl, combine the flour, coconut, sugar and salt. Stir in the melted butter and mix until dough is crumbly but no longer dusty looking. Firmly press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until barely golden. Remove and cool for a few moments.
3. In the meantime, prepare the coconut macaroon filling by combining the coconut, sugar and egg whites. Mix until well combined.
4. Evenly distribute most of the berries on the crust and drop large spoonfuls of the macaroon filling over the tops of them. Mush and press the topping around the spaces behind the berries. Add the last few berries to the top.
5. Bake for 20- 25 minutes, until the peaks of the macaroon filling are deeply golden. Let the tart cool, then garnish with the crushed pistachios before slicing.

Since I did not make the original version of this tart by the cookbook I cannot say for sure if there is a difference in taste but I must say the variation I make tasted really good. And since I did not have any pistachios, I omitted that from the recipe as well. If one fine day I have all the original ingredients I might just give this recipe another try. In the meantime I'm going to enjoy a slice of this moist goodness.

Killiney Kopitiam - Lygon St

I'm constantly looking for good Asian places to eat, predominantly from Singapore well known as a food paradise. I miss the best selection of local food on offer such as Hainanese Chicken rice, Cha Kway Teow, Fried Carrot cake and the list goes on. So when Killiney opened up in Melbourne I was ecstatic, as I knew I was in for a treat. 

The menu

I ordered the soya bean with grass jelly, it was served cold and not too sweet. Great drink to have on a hot sweltering day.

Soya Bean with Grass Jelly

I never go pass ordering Cha Kway Teow (fried flat rice noodles) if it's on the  menu as that is the essence of Asian delights. We decided that we will order this as a share dish. You know the place has potential by the way they cook the fried kway teow, it has to have a burnt wok hei flavour and the right seasoning. And this one did not disappoint, me and Al enjoyed every mouthful of it.

Cha Kway Teow

Al had the mee rebus which was noodles served with a thick broth made up of spices and peanuts. She was delightfully please as it tasted just like the ones they have back home in Singapore. She gave it the authenticity thumbs up.

Mee Rebus

I ordered the Lontong which is basically boiled rice which is packed tight and wrapped in banana leaves which cook in boiling water, which is served in a coconut infused spice broth filled with a few types of vegetables. I had no complaints it was done just the way I remembered.

Lontong

If you want a taste of Singapore, this place will not disappoint although I do hope that they will keep their good standard for a long time to come as many eateries start out really good but slack off as soon as they become popular and rake in enough money. 

Location:

114 Lygon St

Carlton