Rock Lobster

I love that song. I even danced to it with my church youth group years ago. So many years ago. In fact a life time ago. When we were young and beautiful hahaha. I do not dance now. :-)

There's a different lobster. A much better one. Succulent and delicious. I dream about it all the time and even started a savings fund for next order. :-)

We are spoilt for choice here in Melbourne. So many food places to go. You need not leave the city to get to different cuisines. My favourites are Asian of course, Vietnamese and Chinese. Filipino food I just cook at home. ;-)

Rich and I personally love going to Melba at The Langham. Our friend Aimy highly recommend this place. We used to just go to The Conservatory at Crown. We tried Melba and now we always go there for special occasions. We have been a few times this year. Thanks My!

Okay back to the details - last Tuesday was our 17th year wedding anniversary. We are so busy with so many pressing matters that we have forgotten to book anywhere special. Normally weeks before we already have a confirmed booking. We laughed and just said well there is always Nando's. Yummy as it is - it is kind of an everyday thing so I silently hoped it is not going to be there. Any other time will do, just not on our anniversary. :-)

So in between panicking (pressing matters, remember? Will blog another time) and making things in order - I checked a few of our special favourites. Can't do lunch on weekdays and our next few weekends will be hectic.

We need to find a place for dinner. But good luck with last minute booking!

We like a few places in Crown so maybe, Crown it is. I want something else though and I think there's no better time to be spoiled than now. I was tossing between Long Chim, Silks and Mesh. Parking at Crown Complex is easier than most places so it is always there that we spend more special occasions.

I looked at different sites then went back to our faves. That's when I saw Melba's Tuesday night LOBSTER.

Lobster. Are you kidding me? Lobster! I love seafood. I grew up next to a wet market where fresh seafood are still breathing and blinking. I need it. I need this.

As a good wife ;-)  I rang Rich before I booked. We both know it is expensive. I gave him options. When I mentioned it is lobster's night at Langham's, he said his usual: "okay sure, why not." :-)

I was so quick ringing the number, you'd think I dialled triple 0.  :-)

There was a place for us. Yay! I guess not a lot of Melbournians want to go out on a freezing Tuesday night even for lobsters. :-) We also have a 25% voucher from my Entertainment Book for Langham so another yay!

We parked with no problem. It is always good to dress up from time to time. I do not get to do that since casual is my middle name. :-) Tonight we also made sure we dressed warm.

It was windy too as we walked towards the Hotel. I was so glad I had a warm coat on.

As I slowly walked to the foyer I said a quick prayer of gratitude.

17 years. Wow. Congratulations us! We have ups and downs and it is not always an easy ride. But we have more ups. More important is that we love & enjoy each other's company. We try not to let external problems affect that. We are best friends and we look forward to 17 x 17 more years together.

And with lobsters from time to time - ain't life sweet.

Thank you, Rich. Love you to the moon and back.

We had the freshest seafood while growing up and I can tell you a thing or two about them - but these lobsters made me speechless...yum.
Steamed then grilled to order. I am proud to say that I upheld my family reputation of eating well and hard. 3 servings. Oh la la. :-)

Succulent. The garlic butter sauce was just so mild it did not destroy the whole lobster experience :-)

This is my seconds served with Bokchoyy and mushroom stirfry. The made to order stir fry is just next to the lobster grill so I asked if I can get it on the same plate. It was one of the happiest dinners I have in Australia! :-)

Melba's fresh seafood is very delicious. They also have a wide selection of Sushi.

Food Safari Part 2

We watched a documentary early this year by the BBC UK. It was very interesting and I found out I belong to Constant Cravers. That - I am always hungry (but I do not eat much and I am very picky no lamb, no sweets), just having lots of food thoughts all the time. I guess that is good, better than other thoughts like negativity towards others, lol.

So that explains why some people just like me, posts more food in their social media accounts, as opposed to others who put same old, same old selfies. I want variety. I was told I should just become a food blogger, but food is not my main thing though. I just post it more because my love ones value their privacy and I have a shy hubby who rather take photos of me than me of him. Though I have a life aside from just eating and sometimes I rather keep those moments to myself, one day I might just do a food blog. :-)

So food it is...

Fried lemongrass pork chop not fatty nor oily but all so delish with rice, lettuce and clear broth. Dumplings Plus

Honey chicken and rice Dumpling Plus

I just love Tabouleh and I know when the fresh delivery is at my local Coles Deli :-)
(I tried to make this at home but for some reason I always end up making my parsley taste a bit like diesel when mixed with the other ingredients hahaha)

Grilled Pork neck, super easy just marinate in soy sauce, sesame oil, crushed garlic, lemon juice, brown sugar. Then grill to perfection! This one is served with saffron rice. When making normal steam rice, just add bit of chili flakes, saffron powder, dried parsley and butter.

My first food court food in Australia was these yummy sweet n sour pork. From time to time I reminisce :-) The deep fried squid was discovered later on. Still in food courts near you :-)

Grilled pork ribs. Filipino style :-)

Sushi Sushi ebi tempura is love. These prawns really died for me, this is real love :-) LOL

Rich and I love to make things much yummier to suit our palate, I love how he mix different nutty cereals to create much higher level of deliciousness. This mix alone comes from 4 different boxes. Plus Soy Milk. Gotta be Soy Milk.

My go to when down and out. Or just plain down. Or senti. Or ...nah...anytime this is my comfort food. I love you Pancit Canton re Mee Goreng re 2 minute noodles.

Rich's homemade sausage rolls is different from the rest because of carefully chosen mince and  sausage meats and spices but also the caramelised onions. A patient cook's version. This is not easy to make but the love can be tasted on first bite. Oh lala.

I've only just discovered Sicilian Olives! OMG so good. I think I am addicted.

trust my Ceasar Salad to be upside down! With croutons, ham, bacon and parmesan - this Cos is the boss.

We eat in front of TV. Please judge me. Our TV is the whole wall so how can we escape that? We live to enjoy and be happy. People may frown at this but hey who cares...

We are each other's fan club. Rich though does not have any social media to show this off lol :-) but I do. When he makes his home made chicken soup, he uses the whole chook and takes the chicken skin off. He then fries them crisp for me. He knows I love crispy chicken skins. He only started doing this after the crows stopped visiting our yard and throwing the skin is wasting. lol :-) Not all the time though, only sometimes. Judge me. :-)
 

Mussels Top!

I always love plump mussels. We call them "tahong" back in the Philippines. We get very fresh ones from the market harvested just hours before. Juicy, plump and sweet. Here, in the city - I am yet to be tempted with the ones I see on the Supermarket's icy shelves. They might look fresh but I doubt it. Maybe if we go near the coast I might buy some fresher ones.

I see trays unsold for days and days. I'd rather not try. I do have my fix at The Conservatory. Their seafood are fresh. We go there all the time. Only drawback though, their mussels just come in 1 flavour: Sweet-chili.

I crave for anything remotely Filipino but unless I cook it myself I might just have to wait.

Consider my surprise when Vic Market Instagram advertised "The Mussel Pot". From boat to shop! I saw the ad on Thursday. Then on Saturday, Rich and I were there.

Originally our plan was movies and Chinese lunch. It's been a while and felt it is over due. Rich was fine with my mussels plan so we went to the Market instead. Thank you IG and Rich!

We arrived early and walked around the CBD. The Grow Show Melb is still on with some plants in front of the Town Hall. Flowers, herbs etc are show cased in garden beds.

We thought that the Formula 1 car exhibit at Fed Square was on that day, too so we excitedly went, but it was for next week. We just walked around and basked at the quietness of the city. It is not always the case, believe me.

The people probably stayed home until later on because tonight from 7:00pm-7:00am the next day is WHITE NIGHT, in CBD. Light projections on buildings and literally a 24 hour Melbourne is open. Museums, restaurants, trains etc. Last year 500k people turned up.

We both do not like big crowds. We try to avoid it as much as we could. :-) So early visit it is to the city and the famous Queen Victoria Market.

Check out our photos leading to the bowl of mussels!




The Town Hall 



Tamarin Monkey climbing the Town Hall ready for the White Night! It is big maybe 7-10 feet. :-) I am a monkey girl. In a monkey world :-)



 

Yarn bombing is back again! I admit, they are rather cute. Rich said that
"trees do get cold sometimes" :-)

 

 

20/2/16     10 am is very quiet in the city. I think everyone stayed home until later on for the White Night.

 

 



I had to get this miss to look up because a bird might have landed on its stem and broke it. :-( I wish
I could take it home to put in water. It'd look pretty in my kitchen. But there was a guard and he
might think my rescue effort is actually vandalising :-(

Capturing Rich and the Melby sorroundings :-)



Zucchini flowers






Rainbow Chard. Yum in stir fry dishes or just plain steamed
with diced potatoes and butter

Sunflowers are the most friendly of all flowers. Daisy second.



Lush is love



Putting my feet up while Rich took his lenses at Michael's.
One was playing up...




Lunch breaks of the buskers!

                                                  then... TADAH!!!!

We arrived! Yum! I couldn't wait. I was fidgety! rofl :-)

 

The roof is cute. Like mussel shells

This is my steamed bowl with chili, parsley and coconut cream. This is so close to the taste I loved back in the Philippines!

Rich ordered the fresh kilo mussels with garlic butter and bread crumbs...oh my!

I adore this table. Just wood pallets and painted colourfully! Sustainable and eco friendly!

Weekend is not complete without double doses of our fave Boost Drinks.

 

The aftermath :-)
 while savouring my lovely meal, I was mentally mind mapping the entire market where to get some freshly baked sourdough breads to mop away this sumptuous soup! But they were far from where we were seated! Next time I will come ready with a big loaf of bread and a spoon :-)

 

 

 

 

What a lovely Saturday! Thank you Lord for blessings. :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Miss Good ol' Miss Katie

We recently had lunch at the new Miss Katie's Crabshack in Fitzroy. For some reason I've always called it Aunty Katie's - like a much loved family.

They moved from a small pub space near Queen Vic Market in Nth Melbourne to Rochester Hotel in Fitzroy. I am sure the demands asked for it. They have expanded to accommodate a lot of patrons.

The food still tasted delicious and staff ever so nice - but I missed the old Miss Katie's Crabshack just in front of  the Vic Market.

I missed the wooden disposable cutlery, the faint light of that storm lamp on a newspaper-covered table. Those little boat like bowls laden with the ever crunchy corn, the disposable take away containers brimming with that crab boil goodness - that also served as your dining bowl! Heck, I even miss the cramped space where I had to scoot over so the man next to me (who just had 1 measly drink all that time) can have space.

There was so much I missed that we have enjoyed during our visits to the old place. The spiced Jerry Sauce, all the other sauces, most especially the creamy thingy that came with the ever favourite corn. I asked the lady where are the sauces and she said they do not have them anymore in this venue. I did not ask why not. I just felt flat.

The food though delicious, kind of lack that familiar rustic allure that somehow managed to creep inside the foodie in me. How I would look forward to that once a week nights after work when my hub would pick me up and we take the tram to Miss Katie's Crab Shack. How I would take photos of our meal and rant and rave about it, how I put them in my blog hoping that one day a person finds it and tries the place. And love it like we did.

I still do, but I miss the old place. It is roomy there now, but somehow it is lacking something. I am just happy that once upon a time I get to experience Miss Katie when it was just starting in Melbourne. It was a good distant memory...

We still ordered a feast, it was our anniversary lunch after all. Miss you Aunty Katie.



Chili fries



Crunchy Corn




Crab boil - the sauce was served on the side and not on the seafood itself. I am sure this is for the more posh clientele, not me. :-(




Still delicious Fried chicken with waffles and liver pate' (which is tops)

Dreaming of Billy...

If you haven't been yet - let me introduce you to a place where wonders are made.

We are big Kylie Kwong fans. Not only does she deliver the flavours, she uses fresh native produce and shows deep respect to the ingredients. Sustainability is also way up her restaurant's list of priorities.

I am partial to Asian cuisine. When I say I love food, it doesn't mean I love all food. I mainly eat Asian. Even in our trips to Europe, after a few days, I would crave the familiar, comforting taste of Asia.

I grew up in a household with a family who love feasts and Filipino-Chinese food. I shall continue my life savouring its deliciousness :-)Talk about luck when I married a Euro-Aussie who now loves rice more than I do. :-)

And that brings us to Billy Kwong. This place will never disappoint. If you live in NSW around the Sydney area, consider yourself lucky you do not have to travel hours to get there. If you are from Melbourne like me, a visit to BK from time to time is a must.

The food - well, OMG is not even gonna describe. :-)




Cantonese style fried rice. I love you long time. I can live on this, and on this alone.

Pork buns, steamed prawn wontons, caramelised Black Berkshire Pork belly with fresh Chinese dates and native Australian muntries,  and the in-house chili!!!

Deep fried fish wings, sticky pork, roast tomato and sea parsley



Cantonese-style Fried Rice with river school prawns

Steamed prawn wontons



Deep fried claw yabbies with chili, ginger, native finger lime and caramel pork!!! OMG

Deep fried Wallis Lakes Small School Prawn served with Cantonese dipping sauce of soy, ginger, spring onion, Chilli, sugar, sesame oil and hot peanut oil. Kylie - thank you for sharing us the combination of this
awesome, yummiest dipping sauce!

Steamed pork buns with in house chili. The most famous as it is always a sell-out in
the Eveleigh Market, Sydney on Saturdays 8-1pm

Might plan for another road trip soon!

See you at dinner time!

 

 

BILLY KWONG

Shop 1, 28 Macleay Street, 

Potts Point, NSW 2011

+61 2 9332 3300