Yum cha @ King Fook Restaurant (formerly Kam Fook), Chatswood [Sydney, Australia]

The irony of having yum cha whenever we travel out of Hong Kong is not lost on me. The truth is, though we can get good dim sum here in HK, we prefer the yum cha experience with the camaraderie of a large group dining, so we don't often do yum cha here. Last month we travelled to Australia to see our family, and we spent a weekend at The Entrance to celebrate my dad's 70th. The drive back to Sydney took about 1.5 hours, and it was lunch time by the time we got back (it was no small effort to organise our group of several families with children to make the apartment rentals' check-out time). My younger sister led our group of cars to Westfield Chatswood shopping centre for yum cha lunch at King Fook Restaurant. Lunch at this restaurant almost didn't happen because my younger sister got a little annoyed at the floor manager for refusing to sit our group on one table (we were seated at two round tables when there were rectangular tables and ample space on the stage, but manager cited safety reason). We made do by joining up the two round tables instead, and conflict was resolved. Service for the most part was friendly and helpful, but my dear sister-in-law speaks excellent Chinese which I think helped because many of the restaurant staff had quite poor English ability. One main gripe about the service was that the only a-la-carte dish we ordered took a very long time to arrive, long after we were finished with the dim sum dishes. I suspect our order got forgotten and the dish only got prepared after we asked whether it was coming. The quality of the dim sum was fair, not too bad considering they were not freshly steamed or prepared but served from trolleys/carts that were wheeled around the restaurant. The food was pretty pricey, about AU$25 per person, and I'm pretty sure you can get better quality dim sum for cheaper elsewhere in Sydney.

The vast dining hall with chandeliers:

Har Gow (prawn dumplings):

Pork Spare Ribs:

Phoenix Claws (aka chicken feet):

Siu Mai (prawn and pork dumpling):

Har Cheong (rice noodle rolls with prawns:

Scallop Dumplings:

Crispy Yam Puffs:

Fish Congee, ordered for the baby:

Chicken Pie:

Strawberry and Cream Crepe:

Fried Rice, with a combination of seafood:

Overall it was an okay experience. Not the best dim sum, but not the worst either.

King Fook Restaurant
Shop 600
Westfield Chatswood
28 Victor St
Chatswood, NSW 2057
Australia
Tel. +61 2 9413 9388

Apple & Carrot (First Birthday) Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Baby girl has officially bid farewell to her infancy as she celebrates turning one year old this week. We had a low-key celebration with just the four of us and a healthy birthday cake. I feel a little guilty not doing anything bigger, but then I am reminded that we already had an early celebration with our family when we were in Sydney last month. I wanted to make a small cake for baby girl to dig into, and when I tried looking for the recipe I did for my son's first birthday (quite a few years ago, though it seemed only like yesterday), I found that I failed to post it up on my blog. So I had to search once again on the internet, looked at four or five recipes, and picked out the one that used the least amount of sugar. I then cut down the sugar even more (80%!), and used a little bit of honey to celebrate the fact that baby girl can now safely consume honey (a known source of bacteria spores that causes botulism, hence not recommended for babies under 12 months old). Though I reduced the amount of sugar, the 6-year-old loves it and hubby said it was fine. Baby girl and I prefer the cake without the cream cheese frosting but hubby and son like it with. My recipe below is a modification of this carrot & apple cake recipe, and there was enough batter for a small heart-shaped cake pan and a dozen muffin cups (or two 20cm round cake pans). The resulting cake and muffins were moist and dense, perfect as a healthful treat - or a baby's first birthday cake. If I were to make it again, I would stick to my usual muffin-making method of mixing the wet and dry ingredients separately before combining the two mixes, which ought to reduce the amount of mixing and hopefully yield a more tender crumb.

Apple & Carrot (First Birthday) Cake

Ingredients

Cake batter
300g self-raising flour
100g carrots, peeled and roughly grated
25g brown sugar
25ml raw honey
125ml light olive oil (any oil with mild flavour is suitable)
3 small apples, peeled, cored and roughly grated
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Cream cheese frosting
150g cream cheese, taken out of refrigerator to soften slightly
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon yogurt
(optional - 2 tablespoons icing sugar)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160degC (180degC for conventional oven). Grease two 20cm round cake pans (or one small cake pan and a 12-cup muffin tray).
2. Put all the cake ingredients into a large bowl and mix everything together until well combined (I used my hand mixer on low speed).
3. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until cake feels springy to the touch or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted (if making muffins, check after 20 minutes).
4. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for ten minutes in the cake pans. Carefully remove cakes from the cake pans and cool on a cooling rack.
5. To make frosting: mix the cream cheese, vanilla extract, yogurt and icing sugar (if using) until smooth and well combined.
6. Frost the cake as you wish (or not), and enjoy like my daughter did!

The dense, moist texture of the cake:

Authentic Thai @ Bang Rak Thai, The Entrance (NSW, Australia)

This was our final meal together with my family at The Entrance in New South Wales (Australia), where we'd gone for a weekend trip to celebrate my dad's 70th. Nothing much was planned for this trip, and this dinner at Bang Rak Thai was only decided a couple of hours beforehand. My mum had walked past this restaurant after my younger sister had taken my parents out for lunch, and she said that the proprietor seemed excited at the prospect of hosting a large group for dinner. It was a lovely place, with friendly service, and the kitchen was happy to accommodate all our dietary requests. The food was tasty, with a large variety of dishes available for ordering. The proprietor was a Caucasian, but the food was handled by a Thai chef, affirming the authenticity of the food. The curries, noodles, fried rice and stir-fry dishes come with the choice of seasonal vegetables/tofu, chicken/beef, fish, seafood, roasted duck or a combination, and they are priced accordingly.

Spacious interior with some Siamese decorations:

Gang Massaman Nua (AU$14.90) - slow-braised chunky beef in a thick mild curry with potatoes, onion and coriander topped with cashew nuts. Totally unsafe for my allergic son, but delicious:

One of the restaurant's signature dishes, Gang Phed Ped Yang (AU$18.90) - roast duck in red curry with pineapple, tomato and seasonal vegetables. I love Thai duck curries, and this was no exception:

Kow Pad Sapalud (AU$12.90) - pineapple fried rice with chicken, turmeric, pea, tomato, onion, coriander and cashew nut. We also ordered a nut-free one with a combination of chicken and seafood (AU$14.90), but it appears that I failed to take a photo of it. Both were yummy:

Another of Bang Rak's signature dishes, Pad Thai Soft Shell Cramb (AU$18.90) - stir-fried thin rice noodles with crispy soft-shell crab, egg, tofu, crushed peanuts, bean sprouts and shallots. This is a version of pad thai that all Thai restaurants should do. My son didn't like missing out on noodles (due to the peanuts), so we ordered a Chicken Pad See Ew (stir-fried noodles with sweet soya sauce, egg and bak choy, AU$14.90), and it again appears that I forgot to take a shot of it (I was preoccupied with feeding the baby her dinner):

Som Tum (AU$12) - green papaya salad with chili, palm sugar sauce, carrot, bean, cherry tomatoes, dried shrimp and lime juice topped with cashew nuts. Papaya salad is one of my favourite Thai dishes to order, and this one didn't disappoint. It was a good balance of sweet, sour, salty and spicy:

Good food with no complaints from my family. The proprietor seemed grateful for our patronage, and he explained that the recent bad weather - cold, rainy, and even snowing in some parts of NSW - had negatively affected his business. We were happy to give him some business because the service and food were great!

Bang Rak Thai
107 The Entrance Rd
The Entrance, NSW 2261
Australia
Tel. +61 2 4333 7099

Fab fish and chips @ Big Tuna Fish Co., The Entrance (NSW, Australia)

On the second day of our big family trip to The Entrance, after meeting briefly in the morning for the little ones to wish their grandfather happy birthday, good health, long life etc, we split up and went our ways for a few hours. In a group so large, it is difficult to pick an activity that suited everyone. My eldest sister wanted to do the channel crossing during low tide at noon, but my younger sister wanted to go check out the beaches. I was honestly torn between the two, but decided to do the channel crossing so I could be near our rental apartment, where hubby would be looking after baby girl during her nap while I took the 6-year-old out with his cousins. The majority of us went towards the channel, and this was where I captured this shot (first posted here):

The Entrance, NSW (click on image for larger view):

The plans to cross the water was ditched when we saw the strong currents (though amusingly both my heavily pregnant sisters still reckoned it was a feasible activity), and from there, the 'channel crossing' group split further into three smaller groups. My boy and I hung out with my 8-months pregnant sister and two of her youngest children, and they had fun playing in the sand.

It was 2pm before I realised that we still hadn't eaten lunch, and I felt it was my responsibility to ensure our little group was adequately fed and nourished. We made our way back to the main part of town to look for lunch, and my sister suggested fish and chips (and what pregnant lady wants, she gets). Big Tuna Fish Co. was the first fish and chips shop we saw, and it was also conveniently close to our rental apartment block). With such a prime location, I wondered briefly whether this would be an expensive tourist trap serving crap food, but it turned out that I had nothing to worry. It was reasonably priced, and I was pleased with the quality of the seafood and the food preparation in general. The place was clean, the staff was friendly, and the kids were just happy to be digging into some food. It is a popular shop, but most people chose to take-away - no doubt for a picnic to enjoy the beautiful weather - so there was ample seating space inside.

A big signboard and food on display:

Some tables and seats were further inside Big Tuna Fish Co.:

My oyster-loving sister chose the Summer Pack (which was also my first choice) - six tiger prawns and fresh shucked oysters served with chips, salad and house tartare (AU$15.50):

I went for the Grilled Fish Pack (AU$16.50) - one grilled hoki fillet, two garlic prawns and two calamari served with salad and house tartare:

I also ordered the Kids Pack (AU$7.50 for two fish cocktails, two calamari rings, chips and house tartare) for the little ones to share, but I forgot to take a photo of it. The food was delicious, and Big Tuna Fish Co. is a good choice for fish and chips at The Entrance!

Big Tuna Fish Co.
131 The Entrance Road
The Entrance, NSW 2261
Australia
Tel. +61 2 4332 5341

Jan's Chinese Malaysian Restaurant @ The Entrance (NSW, Australia)

We returned to Hong Kong on Saturday after two weeks in Australia - one week in Sydney, and another week in Perth. My side of the family took advantage of our brief return to have an early celebration of my dad turning 70 years young. My three sisters live in Sydney, and my dad expressed interest in celebrating outside of Perth, so it was a pretty easy decision to have the reunion in Sydney. My siblings and I were involved in a lengthy email discussion a few months ago about what to do and where to go, and after much deliberation, we settled on doing a weekend away at The Entrance, which is about 1.5 hours drive north of Sydney. It was a nice, sleepy little town, and we all managed to get through the whole weekend without any big conflicts, fights or drama between ourselves! On the morning of the drive up, my younger sister hosted a big breakfast (though everyone rocked up about two hours later than planned!), which was hefty enough that we skipped lunch in favour for an early dinner. Said dinner was at Jan's Chinese Malaysian Restaurant, one of the few Chinese restaurants at The Entrance. It is a no-frills restaurant with simple and somewhat outdated decor, but service was pleasant enough and accommodating to our various dietary requirements and allergy requests (we have a sister who eats gluten-free, a brother-in-law who suffers from chronic IBS and a kid with multiple allergies). I had my hands full with the kids so I didn't see much of the menu and left the ordering to my sisters, who ordered two of everything except for the whole steamed fish, which the restaurant only had one. The quality was average, and quite typical for what hubby calls "white man's Chinese" (he's Caucasian himself).

Tasty Sambal Prawns:

The ubiquitous Fried Rice, to feed the kids:

The sticky sweet Peking Spare Ribs, one of my bro's favourite dishes to order at Chinese restaurants:

Clams with a garlicky sauce:

I believe this was Duck in Plum Sauce. These were battered and fried first:

Steamed Whole Barramundi - tasted fresh and garnished with a good amount of ginger and scallions:

And hubby couldn't resist ordering Fried Ice Cream (without toppings):

Jans Chinese Malaysian Restaurant
229 The Entrance Road
The Entrance, NSW 2261
Australia
Tel. +61 2 4334 1333

The Entrance, New South Wales (Australia)

We're back home in Hong Kong after two glorious weeks in Australia. It was great to see our families and friends, and the boy loved connecting with his cousins once again. We introduced our baby girl to hubby's side and everyone loved her sweet nature and smiles. We enjoyed the crisp clear air and the bright blue sky, and I already wish we were back there. I will be back to regular blogging soon, but in the meantime, here's a pretty picture for you to enjoy, taken at The Entrance in New South Wales about 1.5 hours drive north of Sydney CBD where my family spent a weekend in celebration of my dad turning 70.

The Entrance, NSW (click on image for larger view):