Café Cre Asion, CBD, Sydney

Ever since I went to a macaron demonstration, and failed thus far to make these French treats with wrinkle-free shells, I have been searching out commercial offerings to see what I like (read, what I should be aiming for).

I read about Café Cre Asion from a Sydney blog, chocolatesuze, and since I was going to be in the neighbourhood, I couldn’t resist the detour. Café Cre Asion (21 Alberta Street, Ph: 04 0494 1528) is a little gem tucked in a side street, a hop and skip from the Museum train station. This place is so tiny; it only seats 8, albeit on the cutest modernist plywood stools.

Café Cre Asion also serves coffee and sandwiches, but it’s really the macarons that people queue up for. There is a long list of flavours, and the main point of difference is the Japanese-inspired flavours (it would come as no surprise that the chef/baker is Japanese). The colours of these macarons actually terrify me, they are so brightly hued, they are practically psychedelic.

Din Tai Fung, CBD, Sydney

I love variety in food, which explains why I love dim sum (and tapas and izakaya-style dining). Din Tai Fung is a Michelin-star chain of dim sum restaurants with its roots in Taipei. Lucky Sydneysiders now have three outlets to choose from; the flagship at World Square Centre, 644 George Street (02-9264 6010), in the foodcourt of Westfield Hornsby, Pitt Street, and the latest one at Star City, Pyrmount (02-9660 9084).

Din Tai Fung is deservedly renowned for its xiao long baos (soup dumplings). These are made to order in front of curious passers-by to an exacting standard, - the wrapper dough must weigh 4.8 – 5.2g, the dumpling must be exactly 6cm in diameter and must weigh 20.6 – 21.4g once filled. A dumpling house run by engineers!

Nishiki Japanese Restaurant, Botany, Auckland

Every so often, I crave Japanese food. Not for the healthy aspect, as all I seem to order are deep-fried and mayonnaise laden foods. I’m sure my appreciation for Japanese food may be the polar opposite of what the cuisine actually represents.

My favourite way of eating Japanese food is izakaya-style, in a cosy setting with tapas-sized servings of morsels of marinated meats or vegetables. Nishiki calls itself a ‘Robata-yaki bar’, which means an open grill where customers can sit around, though this technicality is lost in translation.

Nishiki has two branches in Auckland, in Freemans Bay (100 Wellington Street, Ph: 09-3767104) and in Botany (3/298 Torrens Road, Ph: 09-271 4428). Menus at the two branches differs slightly. Only the Botany branch is open for lunch, and they don’t take bookings.

The first thing that crosses your mind when you get the menus is ‘where to start?’ There are the usual categories of sushi, tempura, noodles, skewered grilled meats, etc and then add on the combinations or ‘sets’, and to top it off, there is the lunch special menu. The way to deal with this is to start with one category and keep going.

Taste of New Zealand, Victoria Park, Auckland

The annual Taste of New Zealand took place from the 19 – 22nd October this year, a month earlier than usual to coincide with the Rugby World cup celebrations and visitors. A smaller teaser event, called Taste at the Cloud at Queens Wharf had primed my taste buds.

Taste of New Zealand is Auckland's premier culinary event, with participation of top* (comment end of post) restaurants, food and wine exhibitors and cooking masterclasses. This year’s chef ambassadors included Rick Stein (representing Malaysia Kitchen programme), Gary Rhodes, Annabel Langbein, Josh Emmet and Justin North. There were 7 evening or afternoon sessions across the 4 days; a session ticket allowed you into the event for one of the 4-hour slot.

13 restaurants took part, each showcasing 2-3 dishes which can be purchased using plastic tokens called crowns. Each crown is equivalent to $1. It was difficult to pick what to sample across the 35 plates on offer, but here are my final choice.

J’aime les Macarons, Strowan, Christchurch

This quaint little macaron boutique (7F Normans Street, Strowan, Ph: 03-355 0597) is aptly named “I love Macarons”. And they do! Twice a year, a collection of new flavours is lovingly released with some fanfare, a la Pierre Herme, the master of macarons himself. The store sells only macarons (okay, there are some teas, but it’s really a very small cherry on the side).

Macarons are still a relatively new immigrant to the NZ foodie scene, and J’aime les Macarons is one of the forebearers of this trend. I remember them from a small stand at the Riccarton House farmers market (where they still make a weekly appearance) and read with delight at the opening of their store in Strowan in November 2009. The lady in the store tells me that they will be opening a store in Ponsonby, Auckland in the new year.

Taste at the Cloud, Queens Wharf, Auckland

This has to be one of the better part of the Rugby World Cup experience. Part of the temporary Cloud structure houses a pop-up dining experience called ‘Taste at the Cloud’, which runs from 13 September – 23 October (11:30am – 6pm weekdays, 10am – 6pm weekends)

Several well-known NZ chefs (Josh Emmet, Justin North, Annabel Langbein and Warren Turnbull), have combined their talents to interpret the best of Kiwi produce from the sea, orchard/winery, urban and rural sectors. Each ‘zone’ highlights 4 cocktail-sized dishes with paired wine (or selection of non-alcoholic beverages).

Angie’s Kitchen, CBD, Auckland

Angie’s Kitchen (17 Mount Street, Ph: 09 - 368 1618) was my local Malaysian haunt when I was employed at the university. It was a mere two blocks away and I could make it there, have delicious home-style Malaysian food and be back at my desk within the hour. Now that I’m a good 15 minutes away (not including finding a park, then dashing from the carpark), lunch at Angie’s Kitchen is a special trip or relegated to the weekend (which is not a bad thing, - there is a dish which is only available on Sundays, see below).

I assume that Angie is the auntie who occasionally pops her head out of the kitchen, but whoever she is, Angie is one talented chef. The quality can fluctuate at times; I’ve had great food, and I’ve had average dishes.

Blueberry and orange muffins

I’m drawn to blueberry muffins at bakeries or cafés. Next to the triple chocolate and apricot cream cheese muffins, they look the healthy choice; all those antioxidants must be good for you. I like blueberries; blue is such an unusual colour for fruit (delphinidin, the anthocyanin, which gives plants their blue/purple colour is less common in the edible species), and the soft berry flesh makes a great complement to the cake-like texture of muffins.

This recipe comes from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess (becoming my go-to cookbook for easy basics). It horrified me that the size of a standard muffin is half of the ones you get from the bakery or café, - that's where all the extra calories are coming from!

I had read that muffins freeze readily and can be thawed out and reheated in the microwave with no loss of flavour, so they are good to keep around for guests and snacks. I’ve made these for work colleagues as they can be made the night before and warmed up in the microwave just before serving.

Laksa, Kuala Lumpur style

My dear friend, J and I have had many good-natured mocking and debates over laksa. I assert that Sarawak laksa is the ultimate interpretation of the spicy noodle soup, whereas J always insists that the version from Kuala Lumpur is superior. And one day, the gauntlet was thrown and J agreed to cook for us the ‘superior’ KL laksa.

J made the spicy gravy soup from scratch, processing and blending the whole spices, which I have to take my hat off to. I only ever used spice paste; why would you, when you are a hacktress? But back on the subject of laksa, the main differences are:

KL Laksa	Sarawak laksa
Use of curry spices, - turmeric	No turmeric
Fish sauce	No fish sauce
Sweeter	No palm sugar
Mix of noodles, use of egg noodles	Only vermicelli noodles
More coconut milk	Less coconut milk
Tofu	No tofu
Hard boiled eggs	Shredded omelette

The similarities are greater than the differences, but the proportions of spices and ingredients used have been adapted over time have resulting in quite unique versions of laksa.