January 29, 2008

What I’ve been eating

Agnes babble, food roundup

It’s time for another “What I’ve been eating” post!

Grand Asia
Target Centre Arcade
236 Bourke Street, Melbourne

Curry beef noodle soup ($7.80)

The curry beef noodle soup was hearty, thick and tangy. It was perhaps a touch too sour.

The meat was a tad fatty although tender, and the noodles were thick hokkien noodles (my favourite!).

Haninese chicken rice ($7.50)

I had been eyeing up the Haninese chicken rice during the prior lunch, so I made a trip back. It was served in a cute little boat shaped dish. Here you can see the chilli sauce and the ginger and garlic sauce.

The rice was okay. There was a bit of flavour, but also a touch too much msg, judging by the thirst I had afterwards.

Normally the soup that you get given is similar to flavoured chicken stock. Surprisingly, the soup was very good! As you can see, it even had bok choy in it.

Here’s a shot of the chicken. The chicken was moist and tender and drenched in soy.

Cafe Bland

Our favourite cafe was closed this Sunday, so we went to another. We used to visit Cafe Bland, but stopped when they had a change of management. Recently they had another change of management, so we thought we’d give them a chance. I was feeling a tad seedy and ordered a schnitzel foccacia. It was SO bland – someone needs to learn how to use salt! I could not believe the total lack of flavour in the schitzel. Also, the foccacia had been toasted, and the lettuce inside had become limp and unappetising. The cucumber had also cooked and tasted awful.

I ordered wedges, as I didn’t realise the foccacia came with chips. There was no mention of chips on the menu, and the waiter didn’t mention it when I ordered the wedges. Grrrr. Oh well, at least the wedges tasted of something! It’s hard to screw up wedges (thank goodness).

Noodle Kingdom
175 Russell St, Melbourne 3000
Phone: (03) 9654 2828

Lanzhou beef noodle soup ($7.50)

I was wandering down Russell Street recently, when I noticed a man in the window of Noodle Kingdom making noodles. It was so exciting! I went back a couple of days later and tried their Lanzhou beef noodle soup.

The noodles were fresh and chewy, and the soup was fragrant and chock full of coriander. There was a lot more beef than I was expecting too. After I had finished all the noodles I kept finding slices of beef in the bottom of my bowl!

And finally, a few things I’ve been cooking.

Udon noodles

It seems like I’ve been eating a lot of noodles recently. I had some chicken stock in the freezer, and dug that out to make a noodle soup. I threw in some fresh enoki, oyster and shitake mushrooms, as well as some silken tofu.

A bowl full of goodness!

Vegie pattie roll

For dinner one evening I threw together some vegie patties, and popped them in a toasted roll with a yogurt and cucumber sauce.

Soba noodles with enoki and oyster mushrooms

And finally, I had some mushrooms left over from the udon noodle soup night. I sauted them with some garlic and onions, then tossed them through soba noodles with mirin and soy sauce. It turned out rather brown (although I do quite like the photo), but it tasted good.