The Perth Experience - Part 1

Hi, I’m back! Been back for more than a week actually… still trying to recover from the bliss of a vacation and trying to get back into working reality here, hehe!

I’ll just blog about the FOOD aspect of Perth here. All other non-food related things will be posted in my other blog - Raynebows, so that there’ll be no double-blogging. So, if you wanna know about the places we went, where we stayed, the AirAsia experience etc, do drop by the other blog :-)

OK…about the food… ahhh… what can I say about food in Perth? Put simply, let’s just say that Perth is really not a food destination, haha! Unlike Asians, I don’t think the Aussies are very creative in their food - mostly fried or grilled stuff with LOTS of potato chips! OMG - the way they eat chips there, it’s unbelievable! I could not even finish half of the portions served as a side-dish whereas those Aussies there actually ordered chips as another dish by itself! They really lurve their potatoes, man!

Swan Valley

We visited this renowned wine-producing area just north of Perth.

One of the many vineyards we passed by... and the awesome jacaranda tree - lots of those around and they're absolutely beautiful!

Vineyards, small and big dotted the area… it was so refreshing driving along the long & winding road with lots of greens on both sides of the road. Weather was perfect too... sunny blue skies and oh-so-cooling!

The 1^st stop we made was the Margaret River Chocolate Factory because it was touted as a “must visit” in the brochures. We expected to see a real factory showing how chocolate is made.

Free chocolates for tasting...

However, it turned out to be just a shop selling chocolates (of course lah), wines, jams & conserves and some other snacks.

Trays of beautifully hand-made chocolates

...and all gaily packed...

Some for your sweethearts too?

Wines, jams etc on sale too...

There was a café in the shop too… and as it was lunchtime, we decided to try some of their “specialities”.

We had their Roast Pork Sandwich, Chocolate Carrot Cake, Hot Chocolate and a Chocolate Shake.

Portions were quite big… so we shared the food among the 3 of us. Prices ranged from AUD7 (the cake) to AUD16 (the sandwich)… dollar to dollar, it’s reasonable - just don’t convert to RM, ok!

Taste-wise, I would say it’s just decent, nothing outstanding.

Oh, we didn’t buy any of the chocolates either - they were on the expensive side and we’re not really chocolate fans, hehe!

Next, we stopped by the Duckstein Brewery - a German brewery - yes, it’s beer and not wine, haha! Just look at the abundant colourful bougainvilla growing at the entrance - I love I love!

Upon entering their café, which was set up pretty much in a German fashion, we decided to have our 2^nd lunch for the day here, hehe!

Browsing through their menu, we picked their German Pork Chop & Sausage plate (with fried potatoes and sauerkrat at the sides...


and had their “Krystal” - a Bavarian-style filtered wheat beer.


I must say the beer was very nice - smooth & refreshing. The beer was AUD9 and the pork+sausage plate was about AUD20 - too salty for my taste and the sauerkrat was sooo sourrr! I think the pork and sausage tasted just like the ones we bought at Coles supermarket and which we cooked in our apartment, haha! (much cheaper too!)

After that, we went to Lancaster Winery as it seemed to be a popular spot with quite a crowd there tasting and buying their wines.

The 2 cheerful guys manning the tasting counter were your typical cheerful-friendly-chatty Aussies and we had a great time testing their wines and cheese.

We ended up buying 6 bottles (plus 1 free bottle) of their delicious dessert wines.

And that was a slightly-tipsy end to our beautiful day in Swan Valley.

Famous Pudu CCF in Damansara Utama

Restoran YHK Yong Tow Foo
*the famous Pudu YTF & Chee-cheong-fun*
Damansara Utama
Petaling Jaya
(2 doors away from The Ship)
*Open everyday from 10am till 10pm

Yes, another post from me... 3rd one today, hehe! I'm just trying to put all these up before I go for my vacation in Perth tomorrow... so I won't be posting for at least a week!


Yes, people - this is the Damansara outlet of that famous Chee-cheong-fun + Yong Tow Foo in Pudu!

I have heard about this branch from some people but this is the first time I made my way there. We were there just after 10.00am, immediately after they opened shop so we had the run of the place, haha!

The choice of Yong Tow Foo is all laid out at the front of the shop, including their famous braised intestines...
... which they will deep-fry for you once you've made your selections...


These are the familiar trays of Yong Tow Foo for your selection...



These are vegetarian fuchook rolls which are absolutely yummy when fried to a crisp!

Ahhh... now for the delicious plain Chee-cheong-fun doused with sweet brown sauce, chilli sauce and sprinkled with the yummy-yummy fried dried shrimps...

... or if you prefer, the Curry Gravy version... (personally I prefer it with brown sweet sauce)

This is the cholesterol-inducing sinful wicked Fried Intestines...

The platter of crispy goodies...
... and a bowl of soupy Yong Tow Foo...
Now if you live in the PJ/Subang/Shah Alam side of town, you don't need to drive all the way to Pudu ... just head on to Damansara only....


My rating: 8/10 (definitely will return!)

Braised Dried Seafood

Weekends are a good time to cook your favourite dishes & enjoy the labours of your cooking, don't you agree?

One of our favourite braised dishes is the Mixed Dried Seafood with Mushrooms. As I had bought a packet of dried fish maw last week, this was the obvious dish to cook! As for the other ingredients, I have them ever-ready at home.

Here's what I tossed into the wok:

Sliced ginger
Garlic - keep whole
Dried Scallops
Dried Oysters
Dried chinese mushrooms - soaked in warm water to soften
Dried fish maw - soaked in water to soften (these soften pretty quickly)

2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp abalone sauce (you can use oyster sauce too)
2 tbsp chinese rice wine
2 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1 pinch of salt
1 cup of water
Some spring onions, cut into 1" lengths



Method:

Heat about 2 tbsp oil in the wok, stir-fry the garlic & ginger.
Add in the dried scallops, oysters and mushroom, 1 cup of water.
Lower the fire and braise this for about 20 minutes.

Add in the softened fish maw and the abalone/oyster sauce, light & dark soya sauce and rice wine. Add in more water if the gravy has reduced. Cover wok and braise for another 5 minutes.

Lastly, add in the spring onions, give a good stir before dishing it up.
Enjoy!
This dish goes very well with rice :-))

Homemade Siew Yook - 2nd attempt

Encouraged by my first attempt at roasting Siew Yook, I decided to improve on it. So, last week I bought another slab of pork belly for this purpose. Having read several blog postings on this, I decided to adopt the Best Practices for roasting Siew Yook!

This time, on top of the Basic Marinade of Salt, Pepper and 5-spice powder, I added in:

2 tbsp oyster sauce

2 cubes of Nam Yue (red fermented bean curd)

2 tbsp Chinese rice wine

1 tbsp sugar

I mix all the above into a paste and rub it all over the meat part of the slab. Do not rub this onto the Skin part - for that, just rub some salt and pepper.

I kept the marinated pork in the fridge for 2 days to dry it out and during that time, brushed some white vinegar onto the Skin part as well.

Before roasting, I put some Coarse Salt onto the skin and then roast it for about 30 minutes.

After that, remove the salt and continue roasting for another 30-40 minutes until the skin has “risen” and turned into a lovely golden crisp.

The result was this yummy piece of Roast Pork with an almost 100% crispy skin! The skin remains crispy for hours!


The added ingredients in the marinade gave the meat a wonderful fragrance and taste to the Siew Yook. Do try this improved version - you may never need to buy siew yook from the shop/market after you have done your own!