Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Star House Chinese Restaurant, Adelaide

The best Dim Sum / Yum Cha I ever had, surprisingly, was not in Hong Kong nor China's Shanghai or Guangzhou;

the best I had was located wayyyy away from any parts of Chinese region, it was in fact in Australia.

chicken feet


Last year I was brought to this restaurant for breakfast at Star House in China Town, Adelaide.

And the dish completely blown me away.

Far far away.


Almost every single dish that was served was amazing. Take the chicken feet for example, I've never tastsed chicken feet more succulent and full (usually they're very skin-ny and bony, hardly any meat-feel at all), I don't know where did they get their chicken from because those were the fullest chicken feet ever, of skin and meat?

Normally I never order pork ribs during Dim Sum, not because I don't like pork ribs (I adore them), it's just that they always tasted so wrong. It's either very jelly-like or very fatty or very gooey.

pork ribs


But this was perfect. The meat was tender, soft, full, lean, and the sauce absolutely fragrant.


turnip cake


This was the only single dish that did not blow my mind off. The turnip cake was alright, good, but not fantastic. It stood hard competiting against the rest of the award winning dish in my heart.


har gao


The har gao was very filling too, prawns were juicy, but nothingto shout about, however when compared to Malaysia standard, it's pretty good actually.


wu gok


OMG. I love this. Wu Gok, my all time favourite, complete bias review. Enough said.


siu mai


Never been a fan of Siew Mai, but this was very meaty, reminded me of the siew mai in Hong Kee Tim Sum in Puchong Malaysia I had one few occasions.


tofu jelly


Oh I adored this dish. It's like some tofu jelly of almond and some.. fruit taste. I coudn't remember, was it Lychee? It was really good, subtle and soft, bouncy and gorgeous.

But when it came to dessert, nothing, I say, NOTHING beats this god forsaken heavenly loved MANGO PUDDING. Top with thick milk.


mango pudding and milk

The only ever mango dessert that ever made me swoon was the mango pudding with bird nest jelly in Hong Kong, and this completely blew me off the tops!!!

It was SO good, I couldn't resist having seconds! And I NEVER had seconds!

mango pudding

It has the softest, juiciest, fruitiest, mango-ey, sweetish-simply-melt-in-your-mouth texture ever!

I am going to have this everyday when I visit Adelaide again this year.

We then end it with a little bit of Tao Fu Fa (soya jelly), very fragrant. I never liked the TFF, but this was actually pretty good that I could sit down to slowly sip through each soft bite tenderly.

tou fu fa



Rating: 4/5 (5/5 to the mango pudding alone!)



Star House Chinese Restaurant
1/39 Gouger Street
ADELAIDE SA 5000
Tel: 08 8221 6303
Fax: 08 8221 6303
Email: omiyi61@hotmail.com

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Angelic Tea & Scone House

Let me impress you with this little cafe my baby brought me.

Because it made me fall head over heels love at first sight with it.

pretty antelops


pretty teacups arrangement


golden santa


cookies

*Photos were taken before Christmas*


nice settings in angelic


It's called Angelic.

A perfect location for the perfect English afternoon tea.

pretty menu cover


It's set out for middle-upper class gents and ladies, or couples, who like to have an afternoon tea chit-chatting away in a small, comfortable, very home-y setting.

pretty menu


At RM26 you get a set of afternoon tea - tea, scone and cake. Sometimes the lady of the cafe will throw in complimentary homemade cookies for your consumption at the end of your tea.

It's really no ordinary experience.

afternoon tea set


They used Royal Albert teacups and saucers. (note: a fav of my mom's and mine)

Bone China from England, Royal Albert teacup and saucer can cost up to RM300 per set in Malaysia, much cheaper in Singapore, and much cheaper in England.

But it's not a cheap collection for those who collects bone china, like me.

The rim of the China are coated with 22k real gold.

house blend tea
Love their tea. (pic: house blend tea)


Imprinted with very delicate flower prints, the most famous print was the Old Country Rose, as shown in the photo above, of which I bought two sets and a mini milk jug for my mom's birthday (with my bro's $ :p).

Don't get my started on their scones.

scone


It's not your conventional shape of scone. But it's home-made, warm when served, and utterly gorgeous.


Rating: 4/5 (environment and services were amazing, so far only had afternoon tea set)



Angelic Tea & Scone House
H-01, Plaza Damas,
65, Jalan Sri Hartamas 1,
Taman Sri Hartamas,
50489 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 603 62031794

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Cocolat, Adelaide

I love Australia for one reason and one reason only (food wise).

They have amazingly good chocolate cafes.

interior of cocolat


Where the restaurant or cafe serves all that is chocolate-y.

In Adelaide, it's COCOLAT.

cocolat in adelaide


I met up with Casey and Bryan and Jessie in Cocolat on my third day in Adelaide. All of which were my readers whom I met for the first time during my stay in Australia.

Walking into Cocolat was like entering heaven for the first time for me.

chocolate cake selection


Everything there was either utterly sinful or deliciously attractive, it took me all my will power to not order everything on the menu or off the shelf.

ice cream selection


From chocolates, to ice creams, to drinks to cakes!

chocolate selection


Especially their cakes.

apricot brandy
Tell me, how can you resist that?!


Even though we weren't that hungry, we opted for two cakes in the end.

Over a cup of hot milk cocoa and white chocolate.

flower print on drink
My hot cocoa


white chocolate
Jessie's white chocolate


We didn't really like the white chocolate, it was too sweet, even after the second attempt of sending back to remake it. Hudson's definitely had better.

We had a piece of white orange chocolate cake and dark chocolate if I was not mistaken.

white chocolate cake


white chocolate cake 2


orange chocolate


orange dark chocolate cake



Now, truth be told. They're good. Yea they were. But not as good as they appeared to be. I would give them 7 out of 10. half extra point of which for good presentation.

It wasn't disappointing, the atmosphere was good. Company was what contributed my good experience there. I would definitely go back for memory sake. However, as a chocolate critic, it was a tad bit disappointing on the taste sector.


Rating: 3.5/5

Cocolat Boutique - inside Darriwill Farms Store
162 b King William Road
Hyde Park 5061
Adelaide, Australia

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Hudson Coffee, Australia

New year new post.

Yep and I shall start with Hudson Coffee from Adelaide Australia. You can find them in Queensland too.

The one thing I like about Hudson Coffee was that they served fantastic hot white chocolate.

I never tasted any white chocolate drink that I liked before in my life, in fact, I don't even like white chocolate itself.

But Hudson Coffee changed all that.

I ordered a cup of hot cocoa when I first landed in Adelaide, with marshmellows, a side I've always taken just to be on the safe spot.

hot cocoa in hudson coffee


It was really good. Sweet, but not overall dying sweet sweet. But it was really sweet, and nice, and warm-ish hot. (hot, but slightly on the warm side)

But it was till my reader-turn-friend Jessie who ordered the white chocolate, and I stole a sip from, that I actually quite liked the taste.

It's not as bad.

It was pretty good, to be honest.

chocolate muffin at hudson coffee


The muffin we had was pretty good too. Huge, and wasn't able to finish it.


Yep, if you do drop by Hudson one day, order a cup of hot white chocolate. You'll never see white chocolate drink the same way again.