Nine Elephants Thai restaurant review

We'd been dining at a few restaurants in Docklands lately after spending time at a nearby children playground. There aren't too many choices actually, as most of the restaurants closer to the office side of Docklands are closed for business on the weekends. Nine Elephants Thai restaurant is one of those restaurants which opens on Saturday for dinner. It's located on a quieter street especially on the weekends. If it wasn't for a friend's recommendation, I won't be looking for a restaurant on this street. It's a small restaurant with nice decor and ambiance. They don't have a baby high chair but they do provide a booster seat which is good enough. 

There's quite a wide selection of food from the menu. All are the standard Thai food that you get from a Thai restaurant. For most of the meals, there are four levels of spiciness namely mild, medium, spicy and Thai spicy to choose from. However, I got to warn you - do let them know if you can't take spicy food. The mild spiciness on certain dishes can be quite spicy for some (I'm serious).

Here are some dishes we've ordered over the last two Saturdays:

First, we had the entree size, clear soup version of seafood tom yum with medium spiciness. Looks can be deceiving. It was actually quite spicy but nice. One of the best tom yum soups I've had in Melbourne. 

Whenever I dine in a Thai restaurant, I must order a Pad Thai at least once. There's no exception here as well. I ordered a medium spiciness Pad Thai with crispy pork. I was told that a mild version will be served with additional chilli on the side so that I can control how spicy I want. The Pad Thai was really good. I especially love the crispy pork. It was tasty but not overly sweet and oily. However, the mild version wasn't spicy enough for me so I sprinkled the chilli flakes/powder generously on it. Mind you, the chilli flakes/powder was quite spicy! 

The mild version of stir fried Chinese broccoli with chicken was extremely spicy due to the chopped chilli. I'd certainly ask them to tone down the spiciness if I were to order it again. 

I ordered a non-spicy fried rice which was not in the menu for my little one. It was average but tasty.

The satay was surprisingly good. The meat was tender and juicy. Note that the dish actually came with 4 sticks of satay. As you can see, I was too eager to taste it before taking a photo!

Lastly, the medium spiciness seafood kuay teow tom yam. It's interesting that the tom yam was served with a half hard-boiled egg. The kuay teow tom yam was loaded with button mushrooms and seafood. Needless to say, it was superb!

The food in Nine Elephants was excellent with reasonable price. It's certainly the best Thai restaurant in Docklands, if not Melbourne.

Easy homemade kaya recipe

Kaya (coconut jam) toast is a popular food in Malaysia and is available in almost any coffee shop aka kopitiam. Seriously, I can’t recall when the last time I had Kaya toast. Well, kaya toast can be found in some Malaysian restaurants such as PappaRich and Old Town in Melbourne. One can also buy the kaya jars from Asian grocers. However, to me, those kaya aren’t the same as homemade kaya. In my opinion, homemade kaya tends to be richer in flavours, probably because of the quality of the ingredients.

My mum used to make kaya at home when I was young. I remembered it was a tedious process where constantly stirring for hours is inevitable. Hence, it never occurred to me to make my own kaya until I saw this 10-minute kaya recipe from Kitchen Tigress. It’s good to know that there are a few tweaks to shorten the cooking time such as using egg yolks only instead of whole eggs as well as substituting part of the sugar with palm sugar. I added an extra egg yolk and reduced the sugar from the existing recipe. Well, it took me about 20-25 minutes in total from preparation until the kaya is cooked to my preferred texture. 

Since then, I have ensured that there’s always a jar of homemade kaya available in my fridge! :)

Recipe: 

(to make a bowl, about 170g jar)

5 egg yolks

4 pandan leaves

200ml coconut milk

40g palm sugar

35g castor sugar

1. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. Try to ensure that there isn’t any egg white. Otherwise, the texture of the kaya won’t be as smooth and might be a bit lumpy if it’s cooked over high heat. This is why those recipes with egg whites require cooking over a water bath.

2. Wash the pandan leaves and cut each leaf into 4 parts.

3. Put pandan leaves, coconut milk, palm sugar and castor sugar into a pot. Cook over medium heat until the palm sugar is melted and the mixture starts to simmer. Remove the pot from the heat.

4. Gently mix the egg yolks in a bowl and slowly mix in half of the coconut milk mixture from the pot.

5. Pour the mixture in the bowl back to the pot.

6. Return the pot to the stove. Constantly stirring the mixture over medium heat until it starts to thicken.

7. Reduce to low heat and keep stirring until the kaya is thickened or to your preferred thickness. I like it slightly thicker and it took me about 15mins to get to my preferred texture.

8. Cool the kaya. Transfer the cooled kaya into a jar and store in the fridge. Used within a week. 

Mahn Doo restaurant review

We're spoilt of choice when it comes to Korean food as there are so many Korean restaurants around the Melbourne CBD. On an occasion, I was offered choices for dinner and Mahn Doo was one of the options as it is around our neighbourhood. Upon checking out the restaurant reviews on the Internet, I said yes! Mahn Doo is located at a quieter side of the city especially during non-working hours. The design of the restaurant is quite enclose and thus, making it less inviting from my perspective (as I couldn't really see what's inside!). Therefore, it never occurred to me to give it a try before this although I literally pass by the restaurant almost every day. 

The ambience of the restaurant is really really nice. It's classy and cosy. Unlike the usual Korean restaurants, it's rather quiet. An ideal place for a date. :) I was surprised to find baby highchairs at such a classy restaurant/bar! The highchair looks nice and comfortable.

Well, there weren’t many varieties of food on the menu as compared with the other Korean restaurants but it was adequate. Dumplings seem to be one of their specialties and it’s astonishingly cheap (8pcs of steamed dumplings for only $5 and pan-fried dumplings for $6). We ordered some steamed and pan-fried dumplings, a seafood pancake, kimchi & pork silken tofu stew, as well as a beef & veggie stone bowl.

The dumplings were served pretty quickly. Both the steamed and pan-fried dumplings were very well made with thin skin and the taste was extraordinarily good! The size of the dumpling is just right for entree.  

The seafood pancake which was packed with generous amount of seafood was not bad. However, there isn’t much to brag about. 

Our mains came just at the right time when we were about to finish the entrée. The kimchi & pork silken tofu stew came with some nicely plated sides and a bowl of rice. It was one of the good kimchi silken tofu stews we have had so far. 

The beef & veggie stone bowl which was non-spicy was quite average. The portion was a bit on the small side. You might consider ordering some entrée to go with this main.  

We had a delightful dinner at Mahn Doo and I’m glad I found another hidden gem!

Operator 25 restaurant review

Wow, it's been more than 5 months since I last posted a food review! Actually, I found some nice restaurants but I just haven't had time to post them. Well, let me begin with the highly rated cafe - Operator 25. This little gem is located on Wills Street as part of the Wills Court apartment on the ground floor. It was opened in 2013 but I only visited it recently. Why? Because of its popularity. Yup, it's a popular place for brunch. I always saw a queue lining up outside of the cafe on the weekends. So I thought I better wait for the crowds to die down. But it hasn't been the case.

On a beautiful Sunday, we decided to give it a go regardless. Well, it wasn't too hard to get a seat though, probably because we were early. To my surprise, the cafe has baby high chairs too. I was under the impression that this is not a kids friendly cafe before as I didn't see many families at the cafe. They just proved me wrong. :D I like the setting of the cafe too as it's modern and cozy. 

We ordered a Balinese marinated pork, a smoked sardines and a Yuzu matcha latte for ourselves as well as fruit toasts for our little one. 

It didn't take too long for the fruit toasts and match latte to be served. The toasts came with Pepe Saya butter and a choice of spread. Unlike the usual fruit toasts I get from the supermarket which has mostly raisins, this fruit toast was full of yummy different fruits. It was nice and not overly sweet. 

My Yuzu matcha latte looked good. It has a hint of lemon which is quite interesting. It was okay for me as I'm not a fan of matcha latte. Somehow, I'm just not used to having green tea with milk other than Starbucks's green tea frappuchino. 

Our mains took slightly longer to be served but it was all right. Both meals were served about the same time. We were pretty impressed with the food at first sight. The Balinese marinated pork is such a beautiful fusion dish. The tasty marinated pork was tender, the squid ink brioche was soft and I especially like the sambal and pickled vegetables. The whole dish was perfect and with just the right balance of flavors but not overpowering. 

I was curious to see how smoked sardines taste like when I chose the dish. The dish came out looking great. The smoked sardines were not overly salty as I previously thought it'd be. The manchego cheese which has a distinctive flavor was good and went down surprisingly well with the rest of the food. It's interesting to see how these variety of food/flavors bring out a great dish. I bet the chef must have done a bit of experimenting with the food before getting to these yummy dishes. 

Now, it's obvious why there's always a crowd outside the restaurant on the weekends. It's definitely not inspection or auction of any apartment units next door! 

Green tea muffins recipe

I'm not sure if I'm addicted to baking or the smell of baking. Well, I'm excited to see cake rise in the oven. I'm even more delighted to fill my home with the smell of baking just like a bakery shop. Haha. I believe I'm not alone!

On a busy day, I'd simply bake something quick such as muffins so that my little one's tea break and my breakfast on the following days are catered for.

Following the vanilla cupcakes, I found this lovely Chocolate chips green tea muffins recipe from Eugenie Kitchen. It's a very simple recipe. After some modifications to enhance the green tea flavor as well as making the texture lighter by replacing a portion of flour with cake flour, it's simply the best muffins I've baked. 

Recipe:

(12 muffins)

100g all purpose flour

150g cake flour

1 1/2 tablespoons green tea powder

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 egg

100g caster sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

95ml vegetable oil

190ml milk

45g dark chocolate chips

30g white chocolate chips

1. Sift all the dry ingredients (all purpose flour, cake flour, green tea powder and baking powder) into a mixing bowl. Mix well and set aside. 

2. In a separate mixing bowl, beat egg, sugar and salt until pale in color. 

3. Add in vanilla extract and vegetable oil. Whisk until combine. 

4. Add in milk and mix well. 

5. Now, back to the dry ingredients mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour in the wet mixture and gently fold until almost combined.

6. Add in dark and white chocolate chips and fold until just combined. Do not over fold/mix. 

7. Line patty pans or cupcake cases on a cupcake pan. 

8. Scoop the batter onto the patty pans evenly, about 1/2 full each. 

9. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170c for about 15mins or until the inserted skewer comes out clean. 

10. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack. 

Simple salmon stir fry recipe

Fish is a vital source of omega-3 fatty acids and it's low in fat as well as high in protein. Hence, I ensure my family have fish at least once a week. Given that I'm not a fish person, salmon is probably the only fish I like as other fish species tend to taste fishy most of the time. Tasmanian Atlantic salmon is the kind of salmon I use to get. It's rich in essential vitamins and minerals as well as omega-3 fatty acids. Besides that, I found that it has the best texture among the salmon species. 

I created this recipe while I was trying to reproduce the seared Atlantic salmon from MissChu. Well, it didn't turn out like MissChu's but I kind of like my version more. It's the simplest salmon stir fry recipe I have cooked. It has the right balance of flavor and the lemon simply brings out the flavor in the salmon! If you're a busy bee and would like a quick healty meal at home, this is the recipe for you. 

Recipe: 

(2 servings)

400g fresh Tasmanian Atlantic salmon (skin off)

1 big onion

1/2 lemon

2 tablespoons oil (I used rice bran oil)

Marinade:

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)

1 teaspoon light soy sauce

A pinch of salt

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1. Cut salmon into bite-size dices. 

2. Marinate diced salmon with the marinade for about 30mins. 

3. Heat oil in a frying pan. Add in onion and stir fry until the onion is soft.

4. Add in salmon together with the marinade. Stir fry until the salmon is almost cooked. 

5. Squeeze the juice of the lemon onto the salmon. Gently toss the salmon. 

6. Remove frying pan from the heat once the salmon is cooked. Do not overcook the salmon. 

7. Serve with rice while it's warm. 

Vanilla cupcakes recipe

I'm a cupcake lover. I used to buy cupcakes from the local bakery and still do once in a while until I started baking my own cupcakes. If you ask me where to find the best cupcakes in Melbourne, I'd certainly recommend Joy Cupcakes without hesitation. At Joy Cupcakes, every cupcake is beautifully made and comes with various interesting flavors. Often, there'll be a special cupcake flavor available for a limited time to celebrate an occasion/event. The cupcakes produced by Joy Cupcakes are light and moist. And most importantly, with the perfect sweetness. Unlike the sweet icing on a typical cupcake, the meringue buttercream frosting from Joy Cupcakes is something one can't resist. Hence, it's worth to check it out if you're near any of their outlets.

Because of this, I was intrigued to find out the secret to a great tasting cupcake. Well, at least for the base white/vanilla cupcake that could go with any frosting. So, I've been trying new vanilla cupcake recipes every now and then. 

Recently, I found this basic cupcake recipe from Eugenie Kitchen and I quite like the light and fluffy texture. Although it doesn't taste exactly like those from Joy Cupcakes, I'll settle for this recipe for now :) Note that I've reduced the sugar and salt from the original recipe to adapt to my taste buds. If you like a bit of chocolate flavor, fold in some dark chocolate chips before scooping the batter onto the patty pans or cupcake cases. They taste good too.

Recipe: 

(make 16 cupcakes)

128g all-purpose flour

150g cake flour

5 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon Salt

200g unsalted butter

130g Caster sugar

3 Eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

120ml milk

1. Sift all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl. Whisk and mix well. 

2. Beat butter and sugar in another mixing bowl until pale and fluffy.

3. Add in eggs, one at a time. Beat thoroughly after each addition. Beat on a higher speed after the last addition until everything is well combined.

4. Fold 1/3 flour mixture onto the batter until combined. Add in 1/2 milk and fold until even. Repeat the same by folding in another 1/3 flour mixture and 1/2 milk, follow by vanilla extract and lastly the 1/3 flour mixture. 

5. Line patty pans or cupcake cases on a cupcake pan. 

6. Scoop the batter onto the patty pans evenly, about 2/3 full each. 

7. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160-170c for about 15-20mins or until golden brown and that the inserted skewer comes out clean. 

8. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack. 

Lin Chee Kang (lotus seed dessert) recipe

One thing I like about Chinese desserts is that they're very easy to make. Often, they're full of goodness too. Lin Chee Kang (aka lotus seed dessert) is a good example. 

The best Lin Chee Kang I had in Malaysia was from a dessert stall at Wai Sek Kai, SS2 in Petaling Jaya (PJ). Not sure if this stall still exists as it was almost a decade ago since my last visit. 

I haven't tried any Lin Chee Kang in Melbourne although there are a number of Asian dessert stalls. Hence, I can't say which is the best. Well, given that it's so easy to make, I decided to make it at home instead ;) There's no problem in getting all the required ingredients in Melbourne. They should be easily available from an Asian grocer. Below is my version of Lin Chee Kang. It's so simple and yet delicious. 

Recipe: 

1 big White fungus/snow ear fungus

Red dates*

Dried longan*

Lotus seeds*

Goji berries*

Lily Bulbs*

Rock sugar

2 litres Water

*About a handful each

1. Soak white fungus/snow ear fungus with water until soft. Wash and rinse with water. 

2. Wash and rinse red dates, dried longan, lotus seeds, goji berries and lily bulbs with water. 

3. Bring the 2 litres of water to boil in a pot. 

4. Add in all the ingredients except rock sugar and bring it to boil. 

4. Reduce to low heat and simmer for 1-2 hours.

5. Add in rock sugar according to the sweetness of your liking. Cook until the rock sugar is fully melted.

6. Serve while it's warm.