Dooleys, Lidcombe

When the subject was first raised that we were to have dinner at a "club", I was concerned that our entourage, consisting mainly of young kids, their parents, and mild-mannered wallflowers like myself, would feel (and look) slightly out of place. Thankfully, my worries were unfounded, and we found many large families like ourselves dining in complete comfort and enjoyment at the Dooleys club in Lidcombe.

But since it was a "club" after all, we ordered a round of beer to occupy us while our dinners were being cooked. The food at Dooleys is traditional bistro fare: steak with chips, fish 'n' chips, pasta dishes, burgers, etc. I was quite hungry, and ordered the 350g T-bone steak (done medium rare) with chips and salad:

T-Bone 350g (gluten-free), $24.60 ($20.50 for members)

I personally don't like my beefsteaks with sauce, preferring to season it myself with salt and pepper, but the steaks here usually come with a sauce of your choice out of the four: dianne, mushroom, pepper, or gravy. Someone else in our group ordered theirs with mushroom sauce:

I'm sure I specified that I wanted my steak done 'medium rare', but maybe the only options are 'well done', 'medium' and 'rare'? When I cook steaks at home, I usually eat it rare, red juices flowing and all, but I'm a bit more cautious when I dine out. I needn't have worried about bacteria and such, because my steak turned out 'well done'. It was like eating shoe leather. My molars ached with the effort. I think I should have ordered it 'rare', because then it would have turned out 'medium rare', like I wanted ;P

Hacking away at my shoe, I mean, steak.

The 250g scotch fillet done 'rare', which I ordered to share with two others, on the other hand turned out to be perfectly juicy and tender. And looked...'medium rare'! Guess it's worth it to pay the extra for a better cut of meat.

Scotch Fillet 250g (gluten-free), $28.20 ($23.50 for members)

Fish 'n' chips (I didn't get to take a picture) and chicken schnitzels were ordered for the kids. Both were well received. In particular, 'DOOLEYS Famous Fish and Chips' looked really good. The deep-fried batter was a beautiful shade of gold, and the fish was steaming hot and flaky on the inside. I should have taken a photo of it!

Kids Chicken Schnitzel, $7.50

In addition to the traditional, 'Western' options, Dooleys has a selection of dishes "From the East", according to its own menu. These included a ginger prawn and bento box, chilli chicken with steamed rice and bok choy, curry with naan bread, and sichuan pork chops. Two pork chops were ordered, and I got to have a taste. The pork was very tasty! It came with a sweet and chilli sauce, which went well with the lean pork. I like the spring onion and red chilli garnish on top. 

Sichuan Pork Chops, $19.80 ($16.50 for members)

My cousin, a growing teenage boy and lean as a beanpole, was still hungry after wolfing down his steak and chips, and went back to order something else. He got the chicken linguini arrabiatta, which looked really good and was covered with melted cheese. He didn't share, the greedy boy xD

Chicken Linguini Arrabiatta, $18.60 ($15.50 for members)

With every five meals purchased, you get a free piece of cake, and with every ten meals, a free meal up to the value of $12.00. We had ordered enough meals to get two complimentary pieces of cake. There was the sticky date pudding which was very sweet and covered with a thick layer of frosting:

Sticky date pudding

And a pretty mini Mars Bars cheesecake tart:

Overall, the food was decent and the atmosphere family-friendly. There's a nice play area for young children, and the option of courtyard seating. Our meals took a while to come out, and there is a notice at the ordering counter stating that 'well done' steaks require a 30 minute wait. The club does have a strict policy on clothing and foot-ware; my aunty, who was wearing her stylish rubber thongs, was refused entry. In the end, she paid $3 for a pair of glittery sandals from the reception, and accompanied us inside while we all heaved a sigh of relief :D

Dooleys

24-28 John St, Lidcombe, NSW 2141

Phone: (02) 8745 6100

Bavarian Bier Cafe, Parramatta

Last night, I had the pleasure of dining with three friends whom I have not seen since last year. One friend had spent the end of 2011 and these summer holidays trekking through Europe, and regaled us with tales of cute French boys who helped with her luggage, and eating apple strudel and some kind of "wurst" in Austria. Her descriptions of chewy dumplings in beef broth had me salivating, and my stomach grumbled in anticipation of my next feed. It was a good thing that we happened to be eating dinner at the Bavarian Bier Cafe in Parramatta, and my order was the Slow-Roasted Pork Knuckle. 

Succulent slow-roasted pork knuckle, $37.50

When our friendly waiter brought it to our table, I think all four of us had identical expressions of awe and disbelief. I knew from reading other Sydney food blogs that it was going to be huge, and I had a general idea of how big a pork knuckle was, but I was still unprepared for the sight of what resembled a golden boulder sitting in the middle of the plate.

It was almost the size of my hand! Wait, does that make me a porker? ;P

The challenge was on! What challenge? Well, that of finishing the entire knuckle, of course!

Another of my beautiful pork knuckle. Notice the ample crackling covering the knuckle.

The knuckle was served with generous portions of mashed potato, sauerkraut, and Lowenbrau bier jus.

The sauerkraut was simply the perfect accompaniment to the fatty pork. Each bite was a delicious blend of textures and flavours.

I started with the crispy pork rind/crackling since 1) it's the tastiest part of the knuckle and 2) I was afraid it would go soggy from all the juices on the bottom. Animal fat may be a turn off for some people, but I was delighted to find a layer of translucent fat attached to the underside of the pork rind. A bite of the sauerkraut after each piece of crackling stopped it from being overwhelmingly fatty.

A piece of crackling. CRACKLING...*drools*

I then proceeded to polish off the whole knuckle. Minus the bones. And two finger-sized slivers that I gave my friends to try. The waitress who came to collect our plates couldn't believe her eyes. She said to me, "Did you really finish all that yourself? No one has ever done that before." Like, seriously? Instead of feeling affronted at the insinuation that I was a complete and utter glutton, I took it as a compliment, leaned back, and rubbed my tummy in contentment. And contempt for those with weaker wills and stomachs.

I left the mash and sauerkraut. I said I have a very elastic stomach, not a bottomless one xD

However, even I had to pass on dessert. My friends, who all ordered some sort of salad for their main, went ahead and indulged in the apple strudel with vanilla anglaise (and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on request):

Apple strudel, $12

And the creme brulee (also served with ice cream), which was on the 'specials' menu:

Creme brulee, (I didn't note down the price)

*burp*

Bavarian Bier Cafe

2-8 Phillip Street, Parramatta, NSW 2150

Phone: (02) 8836 1400

The ULTIMATE Chinese Sponge Cake recipe

Since making my granddad's birthday cake in July last year, I've had two occasions to try my hand at recreating some well-loved Chinese Birthday Cake classics: a taro cream cake for my dad's birthday:

 And mango cream cake for my grandmother's birthday:

Both turned out well...for a cake-decorating newbie like myself. Since I have no plans to open up a professional bakery business in the near future, I'm not too fussed about the uneven frosting, or the wonky piping, or the lopsided look of the finished cake (no doubt due to my rudimentary torting skills). As for the recipient of the cake - I think they were so moved by my gesture that they either ignored or were oblivious to the aesthetic faults of the cakes.

The Chinese-style sponge cake base

If there's a thing more nerve-wracking than cutting up a mango into paper-thin slices, it is the actual making of the sponge cake base. Or indeed, finding a recipe for the sponge cake base. There's a reason the Chinese-style sponge cake is known as "gai don go" or "ji dan gao" (literally: egg cake) - the recipe I chose uses a whopping total of 9 eggs! Imagine the horror of messing up and having to chuck away 3/4 dozen eggs :S Allow me to spare you the anxiety of trawling through the internet and present you with the ULTIMATE Chinese Sponge Cake recipe. No, it's not mine. But I have made it twice already and both times, the result was the lightest, most fluffy sponge cake I've ever tasted, so I do feel some sentimental attachment to it. 

The sponge cake, halved and ready to be filled with whipped cream and mango pulp.

Despite my harping on about it, there really are only two fiddly steps in the recipe: the whipping of the egg whites with cream of tartar and caster sugar (to form a meringue), and the folding in of the egg yolks and flour into the meringue. The air trapped within the beaten egg whites is what makes the sponge cake rise, although the baking soda does play a role. An extremely runny batter is a sure sign that you've deflated the egg whites, and the cake probably won't turn out as spongy as you would like. Just be gentle, and use a rubber spatula to fold in the sifted dry ingredients, and all should be well :D

The recipe I've included below is only for the sponge cake. I shall write up separate posts on the making of the mango and taro cakes.



Recipe for the ULTIMATE Chinese Sponge Cake


Adapted from Chinese Forums; original recipe provided by the user 'purplemama'


Makes one 25cm round cake


Ingredients


1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
9 eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup caster sugar (I used some ground-up homemade vanilla sugar)
1/2 cup water, around room temperature
1/4 cup oil (go for something without a pronounced flavour, like canola oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Method


1. Line a 25cm diameter springform cake tin with aluminium foil. Don't grease or flour the foil, since the foil gives the cake something to cling onto as it rises while baking. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius (or 350 degrees Fahrenheit), and place the baking rack towards the bottom of the oven.

2. In a clean, dry bowl, combine egg whites and cream of tartar, and beat with electric beater or mixer until foamy. Gradually add in the caster sugar while continuing to beat. Beat until egg whites are white and glossy, and stiff peaks form.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, water, oil and vanilla until creamy (you may also use an electric beater or mixer for this step).

4. Sift together the cake flour and baking powder.

5. Whisk the sifted cake flour and baking powder into the egg yolk mixture. Whisk well to stop lumps forming.

6. Add about 1/3 of the meringue (from step 2) into the egg yolk and flour mixture, and whisk in. This is to help loosen the egg yolk mixture.

7. Pour the egg yolk mixture into the rest of the meringue. Fold the two mixtures together with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the lined springform tin. Bake for 50 minutes - 1 hour. Cake is done when a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

8. Once done baking, turn off the oven and open the oven door slightly. Allow cake to cool within the oven for 5 minutes, before removing and letting it cool within the tin for 15 minutes. Remove from springform tin, and allow it to cool thoroughly on a cooling rack.

Coconut Nutella Crunchies

I tested out a second recipe from The Australian Women's Weekly 'The Afternoon Tea Collection' yesterday. While my dough for the Melting Moments was chilling in the freezer, I got to work on these Coconut Nutella Crunchies:

These are essentially cookie sandwiches made from coconut honey oatmeal cookies, with a layer of Nutella in between. I substituted some ingredients in the original AWW recipe with what I had lying around. I used honey where the recipe called for treacle or golden syrup (although, I did find a jar of golden syrup in the cupboard right after I added the honey. darn it! :D), and used Nutella in the place of chocolate ganache, because I couldn't be bothered to make the latter.

The cookies were made with self-raising flour. This, combined with the eggs in the dough, makes for a crumbly, pillowy cookie. I'm quite happy with my substituting Nutella for chocolate ganache, since Nutella makes everything taste good and the hazelnut flavour adds yet another dimension to the cookie. However, I do believe that chocolate ganache will set harder, and maintain the structural integrity of the cookie, whereas the Nutella sorta just melted and smeared everywhere. A few hours in the fridge did help to rectify the situation.

As with the Melting Moments, I recommend chilling the dough in the freezer before shaping it. I made pretty criss-crossed indentations on each cookie with a fork before putting them in the oven, and I was saddened to see that the pattern was lost after baking. Oh well. When baking for family (and oneself), it's the taste that counts more than anything else. And these taste good, believe you me :D *wanders off to eat another Coconut Nutella Crunchy*.



Recipe for Coconut Nutella Crunchies

Adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly 'The Afternoon Tea Collection'


Makes 30-40 Crunchies, depending on how big you make them

Ingredients

For the cookies:
125g (4 ounces) butter, softened
3/4 cup (165g) firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
2 eggs
2 cups (300g) self-raising flour
1 cup (80g) desiccated coconut
1/2 cup (45g) raw rolled oats

For the filling:
Large jar of Nutella or other hazelnut spread (no, you won't need the whole jar. I simply didn't take note of how much I used, sorry xD)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit). Place baking rack towards the centre of the oven, closer to the bottom. Line baking tray with baking paper.

2. Beat butter, sugar and honey in a bowl with electric mixer or beater until smooth, light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs. Stir in the flour, coconut and oats until fully incorporated.

3. Place dough in fridge or freezer and chill until hard enough to roll with hands. Dust your hands with flour, then roll rounded teaspoons of mixture into balls. Placed on lined baking tray, with about 5cm between each cookie. Dust fork with flour, and use it to flatten the dough balls.

4. Bake cookies for about 12 minutes. Cool on trays, then transfer to cooling racks.

5. Once cookies are completely cool, sandwich two cookies with about a rounded teaspoon of Nutella.

Melting Moments with lime buttercream filling

I think the name of the cookies is particularly apt for this time of year in Australia, wouldn't you agree? It felt like it was 45 degrees Celsius outside today! I felt like someone had converted my backyard into an open-air sauna. All the more reason to stay inside and have a few of these "Melting Moments" with a glass of iced tea :D

The original recipe for these come from The Australian Women's Weekly 'The Afternoon Tea Collection' cookbook. It's a nice, compact volume filled with pretty pictures of tea cakes, cookies, and slices. Even though I've got a thousand other baking cookbooks already (some of which I've only given a cursory flip through), I just had to buy this when I saw it at Costco, if only for the recipe for the delectable looking Melting Moments pictured on the front cover.

The cookies form a sandwich around a filling of lime buttercream. I was fortunate to come across the limes at a local Harris Farm supermarket for the unbelievable price of 10 for $2. I mean, I've seen these retail for $2 each at other fruit and vegetable stores. Except now I had more limes than I know what to do with. Lime iced tea, anyone? The original recipe calls for lemons, but since I did just come home with a whole bag of limes, lime buttercream it was.

True to their name, these cookies do indeed 'melt' as soon as you bite into one. I presented my sister with one when she came home from school today (congrats on starting high school, lil' sis!), and her eyes widened in surprise as her first bite sent crumbs a-flying, before gobbling up the cookie and asking for another. I had the same response for a number of taste-testers, so I can guarantee that these are worthy of your time!

I would recommend chilling the dough in the freezer for a couple of minutes before attempting to roll it into balls. The recipe didn't mention anything about letting the dough harden before working with it, which I felt was an over-sight. The dough right after mixing proved impossible to handle without it melting into a sticky gloop in my hands. Maybe the book was written during the wintertime? Anyway, chilling it will make it so much easier to shape the cookies, thanks to the huge ratio of butter in the recipe. Don't look so affronted; how else would you get the 'melt-in-your-mouth' effect? ;P

If limes aren't readily available, I imagine you could easily substitute in the juice and zest of a lemon or some other citrus fruit. It is preferable to use a citrus-flavoured buttercream, because otherwise there'd be nothing to cut through the richness from all that butter. The acidity comes as a nice surprise. It's so tasty I ended up making cookie sandwiches using leftover buttercream and some store-bought cookies.

Do give the recipe a go, and let me know how your 'Melting Moments' turned out :D And remember to drink plenty of fluids in upcoming days to avoid dehydration!

Recipe for 'Melting Moments' with lime buttercream filling


Adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly 'The Afternoon Tea Collection'


Makes 25 cookie sandwiches, or 50 individual cookies

Ingredients

For the cookies:
250g (8 ounces) salted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (80g) icing/confectioners' sugar, sifted to remove lumps
1 1/2 cups (225g) plain/all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (75g) cornflour/cornstarch

For the lime buttercream:
90g (3 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup (120g) icing/confectioners' sugar, sifted to remove lumps
1 teaspoon finely grated lime rind
1 teaspoon lime juice

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius, or 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Place baking rack towards the middle of the oven, closer to the bottom (this will stop the cookies from browning). Line cookie tray with baking paper.

2. Beat butter, vanilla extract, and the sifted icing sugar in a bowl with an electric beater or mixture until light and fluffy. Sift in the plain flour and cornflour, and mix until just combined with a spatula. Don't overmix, or your cookies will become tough!

3. Place cookie dough in fridge or freezer until slightly hardened. With floured hands, roll rounded teaspoons of dough into balls. Place about 2.5cm apart on a lined cookie tray (you may have to bake the entire recipe in a few batches). Flatten dough balls with a floured fork.

4. Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes. Allow to cool on trays for 5 minutes before attempting to transfer onto a wire rack for further cooling.

5. Make the buttercream by beating together the butter, sifted icing sugar, and lime zest and juice until light and fluffy.

6. Once cookies have completely cooled, use around a rounded teaspoon of buttercream to stick together the two cookie halves. Serve with a dusting of icing sugar, if you like.

My Chinese Kitchen, Burwood

Happy Year of the Dragon! I have just returned from a trip to New Zealand, and this is the first opportunity I've had to write up a new post. While touring NZ, we alternated between admiring the truly amazing scenery, and doing outrageous stuff like jet-boating this close to the cut-throat rocky protrusions over a river in Queenstown. And hand-feeding alpacas:

 And posing in vast, open fields:

I have heaps of great photos so I may very well do a write-up of my trip, even though we had very little in terms of interesting eats. Come to think of it, I don't think we had any interesting eats. Thanks to the fact that we signed up for the trip as part of a Chinese tour group, we were forced to eat cheap, bland food for the duration of our time there. Stuff like steamed catfish (which looked deformed and off-colour), fried eggs, and stringy, stir-fried vegetation. Urgh. Therefore, it was with relish that I devoured dinner at My Chinese Kitchen in Burwood. It was the first decent meal I've had in over a week.

We've been here on many, previous occasions, and enjoyed the food immensely on every visit. The dishes are interesting, and the prices reasonable. We always order the Nanjing Duck. Don't be put off by the pallid appearance of the dish. The flesh of the duck is flavourful (and salty! very salty!) with shaoxing wine, soy sauce and sesame oil, and the skin is quite addicting. 

 

Nanjing Duck, half for $13.80 (1/4 for $7.80)

The Pan-Fried Fish with Soy Sauce is our second cold dish. The fish has been fried, and then soaked in a mixture of soy sauce and sugar. Again, a dish we order every time.

Pan-Fried Fish with Soy Sauce, $9.80

Rationalising that I've been living off of catfish for the past week, I insisted that we order the Spice Salt Soft Shell Crab, which arrives piled in a golden heap. The crab has been battered and deep-fried, and is wondrously crunchy without tasting greasy at all - the mark of a deft hand at controlling the temperature of the frying oil. "I've been eating steamed fish all week", I repeated in my mind, as I helped myself to what seemed like half the plate.

Spice Salt Soft Shell Crab, $18.80

The Yangzhou Meat Balls held a high fatty to lean mince ratio, and were very moist and flavourful as a result of it. The braising liquid had infused deep into the meatballs, as well as into the bed of vermicelli lining the dish.

Yangzhou Meat Balls, $15.80

 The Boiled Beef in Spice Chilli Sauce was the only miss of the night. Much too salty and peppery, not to mention positively swimming in thick, starchy sauce.

Boiled Beef in Spice Chilli Sauce, $15.80

If there is a single dish that you must order at this restaurant, it is the Stir fried eel Huaian style. Each, tiny eel has been deep-fried, and then coated with a sticky, sweet and salty sauce. The combination is irresistible.

 

Stir fried eel Huaian style, $22.80

We ordered three steamers of Juicy Buns (aka. xiaolongbao) because they're my siblings' favourite. These ones were juicy indeed, but the wrappers were too thick, in my opinion. 

 

Juicy buns, $7.50 for 8 pieces

The Crispy King Prawn Egg Rolls were beautifully presented, but unfortunately were nondescript in flavour.

Crispy King Prawn Egg Rolls, $18.80

The Steamed Duck with Prawn Dumplings, by comparison, is something I would definitely order again. The duck is covered with the same thick, sticky, and slightly-sweet sauce as many of the other dishes. A ring of prawn dumplings in egg wrappers encircles the generous serving of duck.

 

Steamed Duck with Prawn Dumplings, $24.00

As usual, our eyes were bigger than our stomachs and we had over-ordered. We were beyond full by this point, but we still had a few dishes to go. Next to arrive was the Pork Ribs in Special Shallot Sauce. The pork turned out to be so succulent and delicious that I polished off a sizable portion despite my ready-to-burst stomach. The ribs are brought to us wrapped in foil, and the waiter pulls apart the meat and soaks it in its own cooking liquid (the "Special Shallot Sauce", I presume) at our table.

Pork Ribs in Special Shallot Sauce, $18.80

 The pork after being pulled apart

Some of us were groaning "no more!" by now, but we still had one more dishes to go. Our final pick for the night was the Steamed Egg Plant with Salted Fish. The salted fish was somewhat stinky. I was honestly too full to appreciate the dish.

 

Steamed Egg Plant with Salted Fish, $15.80

Oh wow. I feel bloated simply writing all that down ;P

All in all, a highly recommended restaurant!

My Chinese Kitchen

195A Burwood Road,
Burwood, NSW 2134

Phone: (02) 9715 6699