québec hospitality

When I told friends about my trip to Québec, a minority furtively said in a low voice, “Aren’t the French…. like….. errr… a bit rude?” Years ago, the same question and/or statement came up when I relayed my stories of my travels in Paris.

poutine at patati patata

If you are going to Québec you have to have poutine. That is what I’ve been told. I did my research on the internet to see which places near our accommodation have the best poutine.

feeding frenzy

Banh mi with five spice pork belly - $5.99

Bánh mì, a Vietnamese word meaning bread, but is more commonly used to mean a type of sandwich consisting of Vietnamese baguette filled with your choice of meat and vegies.

louisiana's finest

My first encounter with Popeye’s was at the Hong Kong International Airport of all places. I circled the shop a few times, but I never did end up entering, there were too many other good options. Ever since then, I’ve been slightly obsessed with trying to get my hands on their supposedly delicious fried chickens. I mean if it’s good enough for Queen Bey, who am I to dispute?

a japanese hotdog

As our world becomes more and more integrated culturally, we would at times find ourselves disjointed. On one side, we embrace the new, we adopt foreign cuisine and make it our own with our own little twist. But in other cases we become more extreme in an attempt to preserve our heritage.

holy moley! holy smoke!

Three words: Oh My Gawd!

eat & eat durian ice cream

The pictures on this post are somewhat saturated and one is a bit blurry, I took them with the camera on a nokia phone, and it's not the smart kind. Yes, you can laugh at me for having a nokia phone. I'm giving you permission to pretend that these photos have gone through instagram's "lord kelvin" filter.

speechless sunday

Daim cake - $3.95 ($1.50 if you buy it with a meal)

Ikea - not sure what this one was called, some sort of raisin & custard roll - $3.95

Ikea - Almond cake - $3.95

Ikea - Hot breakfast (till 10.30am) - $3.50

om nom nom nom...

KitchenAid Artisan series mixer - seriously coveting that light blue one

Simpkins travel sweets - $3.69

ikea fruit tart

I don't know what it is with being in Ikea that makes me feel so inspired. It's got to be something to do with being surrounded with beautiful (and very affordable) furniture and their kitschy names like hemnes, or bestå, or ingolf, or årstid. It makes me feel like I'm in a foreign country.

grill'd simply grill'd

My first encounter with Grill'd was in Melbourne, since then I kept hoping that they would soon open a branch in Perth. But I never really thought that one would actually open in Perth (just like the same hope I had with Krispy Kreme). Well, one finally did open in Mt Lawley and another one soon followed in Subiaco. So you see, I had no choice but to come up with a reason to go.

A perfect reason came up this week. I recently moved out to a new house and my ever-helpful friends Dylan and Dave (D & D) were there to help. So, what better way to repay the favour than to take them to Grill'd. Doubled as an excuse for catching up with them too.

This particular Grill'd was located in Mount Lawley's busy restaurant hub. If you know Mt Lawley at lunch time, it's really quite busy, with not a lot of parking space. So, come early if you want a parking spot / seats in the restaurant.

pak loh chiu chow express noodle with pork ball in soup

Although I have been eating non-stop during my flight from one continent to another, I was still hungry as I touched down in Hong Kong. I think it's because the meals in the plane, eventhough they were frequent, they're not very big portion-wise. This was my quest in search of my next meal.

That's when I stumbled upon Pak Loh Chiu Chow Express. I queued up, which didn't take me that long to get to the front, and ordered the noodle with pork ball in soup. I ordered it because the dish on the picture menu looked mild but appetising, just the right thing for my upset but hungry stomach.

wild wing maverick combo

The Wild Wing restaurant was more like a sports bar than a restaurant. On the walls were LCD TVs tuned in to various types of sport. It was overrun by college kids type. From its name, I was imagining an over-the-top cowboy theme. But, although there were a few pictures here and there in that flavour, it was not too overboard.

Myself, my husband and a friend went there for dinner. I suggested the Maverick combo, a set of 50 pieces of chicken wings in 3 different seasonings. These two guys almost chickened out though, pardon the pun, they thought 50 pieces were too many. Lucky I didn't let them deter me.

I got myself the Honey Garlic & BBQ, my husband got the Dry Cajun and I think Timo got the Ring of Fire. We also ordered a side of Original Fries.

Original Fries - $4.99

picard surgelés frozen food

While you may think that being in France we would eat fabulous 5 michelin star cuisine every single day, the fact of the matter is, we were travelling on a budget. We kept costs down by not going to every museums (not our thing anyway), we did not stay in a 5-star hotel, we did not eat crazy expensive French food every day. We chose to go to only a couple of museums, we stayed in a charming little pied-à-terre in Montmartre and we ate in local restaurants. But when we got lazy eating out, we bought some Picard Surgelés frozen food, there's actually a store just steps away from our apartment (to me, it sort of look like a dental surgery from the outside, maybe it's the blue and white colour scheme).

mcdonald's royal cheese

I arrived in Paris at 5 in the morning after a very long flight, even then I still had to wait for my husband to arrive on another flight at 12pm. I was not in a jolly mood. But, I somehow managed to struck up a conversation from a guy from NSW and a girl from Hong Kong.

I was quite amazed to find someone from Australia to talk to. For the life of me, I can't remember his name (and lost his email too. sorry! hope you found me in the world wide web so I can give you your picture), but he was the one who looked outside the window, saw Colin Firth and proceeded to tell me. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have met Colin (yes, we're on first name basis now). Colin's so nice, he saw me stalking him, taking a picture of him and so he asked me if I want to take a picture together with him. Tell me, is there any sane girl out there who would have passed that up?!!

grill'd crispy bacon & cheese burger

After much hype, my training buddies and I went to Grill'd expecting that this burger was going to be like manna from heaven. I can tell you that it was pretty darn close.

Crispy bacon & cheese with traditional bun burger - $9.90

I ordered the crispy bacon & cheese with the traditional bun. The burger was filling, but didn't settle heavily in my stomach. Usually after I have a Quarter Pounder (McDonald's) or a Bacon Deluxe (Hungry Jack's), I always get the "Urrghh... I shouldn't have" feeling. Grill'd was none of this.

The burger had plenty of fresh vegetables, the patty was infused with plenty of green herbs and was not densely pressed, but the bun was the standout to me. The bun was crisp on the outside with a dusting of sesame seed, yet soft and fluffy on the inside. This texture made the burger that much better. From the first bite until the last, my taste buds won't stop singing hallelujah. Thanks Kylie!


Grill'd
Level 2, QV Square CBD
221 Little Lonsdale St
Melbourne VIC
Open Monday-Thursday & Sunday 11.30am-10pm, Friday-Saturday 11.30am-11pm

ajisen tonkatsu ramen

In the middle of my getting lost in Melbourne (partly because I was looking for this restaurant called Yamato, which I finally found but was still closed, partly because I was navigationally-challenged), I stumbled upon an Ajisen Ramen restaurant. The restaurant was quite clean with a dim-lighted, modern type of ambiance, which to me didn't match with them being a fast-food chain and all.

Tonkatsu ramen - $12.50
Side of paiku (1 slice) - $1.50
Hot green tea - $1.50

I ordered the tonkatsu ramen with a side of paiku, but found it to be an inferior version of what it could be. The crumbed pork were these dry thin slices of pork, which neither satisfy nor appetising. The dish was over-run by cabbage, there was probably more cabbage in there than any of the other ingredients. The noodle was also not what I expected ramen to be, opaque, not translucent. The only saving grace was the side of paiku, which eventhough it was dry and weird looking, it was quite tasty. One last blow to me was that hot tea was not free, but I guess that was me asking for too much (I am used to having free hot tea in most Japanese restaurants I go to). Ajisen Ramen proved to me to be a second class impersonation of Japanese food. My search continued.


Ajisen Ramen
130 Bourke St
Melbourne VIC
Open 7 days 12pm-9.30pm