Diary of a home cook and avid food lover
Few word combinations can conjure as much joy as the marriage of dumpling and bar. And when a restaurant has both in its name, you can rest assured that they take their dumplings very seriously. Lotus Dumpling Bar is the second spin-off of the popular Walsh Bay restaurant of the same name. It occupies a…
The term ‘comfort food’ means different things to different people. Some might immediately think of a steaming stew or an oozy, melted cheese toastie. For me, comfort food almost always involves rice. Growing up in Sydney and coming from an Asian background, my childhood was full of a sort of hybrid cuisine. Vegetable stir-fries would…
I always look forward to the Aussie summer because it means barbecue feasts, long days at the beach, and, of course, lots and lots of seafood. And what better place to celebrate summer than at a restaurant and bar aptly named Café del Mar, the name of which means café of the sea! You may…
The saying goes that we eat with our eyes. This is a notion highly applicable to the realm of sweets. The difficult thing about baking cakes is that, often, they can come out of the oven looking less than spectacular – at least compared to the photos in recipe books. This cake throws any worry…
The thought of Chinese restaurants brings back old memories of grand banquets and traditional weddings at the esteemed Marigold and Dragon Star restaurants (when the latter was still operating) in Sydney’s bustling Chinatown. The delicious, crispy crack of suckling pig skin and wobbly jelly noodles, messy sang choy bow and fragrant whole steamed fish come…
There is nothing quite like the sound of slurping noodles, or men (めん) in Japanese, at a meal time. There is no food group that is quite like the humble noodle. Whether eaten in a hot soup, served cold with a delicious dipping sauce, or fragrantly stir fried, noodles are a carbohydrate that I will…
You may wonder where the name comes from. Cho Cho san (cho cho meaning butterfly in Japanese) is the geisha heroine of the famous opera, Madama Butterfly. Branching away from traditional Japanese cuisine, this Potts Point izakaya, based on an informal style of Japanese dining designed to accompany drinks, takes its inspiration from the simultaneous…
You know those minimalist, hipster cafes where the lighting is always on point and every surface is perfect for taking photos? Where the menu is as on-trend and wholesome as the clean-lined aesthetic? Well, that’s the Paramount Coffee Project in a nutshell.Situated in a wide, open space filled with lots of natural light in the…
Some say that you’re either a pasta lover or pizza fiend. Me? I have a hard time choosing one over the other – the slippery, saucy calls of al dente pasta are equally as enticing as the crisp, puffed crust and steaming oozy cheesiness of a pizza fresh from the oven. The Sydney CBD branch…
Sometimes, you’ll dine at restaurants in which the atmosphere has the ability to transport you to places far and wide around the world. Eating at cheap, crowded, DIY cutlery and condiment Cantonese restaurants in Chinatown and Flemington, for example, brings back nostalgic memories of the authentic eateries lined along the sweltering streets of Hong Kong….
Maddie Loves Food 