Tag Archives: Australia

Don Don – Melbourne, Australia

23 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in Australia, Gastronomy, Oversea Restaurants, Travel

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DonDon …

Ahh… this place brings back great memories of my years in Melbourne. If I need some quick reasonably good japanese bento, this would be the only place I frequent. I love to take away the DonDon box and enjoy it in front of the State Library lawn on a good day.

So, last trip back was no different. The minute I touched down in Melbourne, I was dying to visit Don Don. I was shocked when I saw the shop closed when I was walking towards it along Swanston Street.

My heart dropped (sob sob…) and I reluctantly turn around. For some reason, I turned and looked down along Little Lonsdale and I saw this new big RED sign !!!

Don Don

I had hope… Have they moved? Is this the same DonDon?

I quickly drag hub along and we finally made our way into a much bigger shop (compared to their previous shop). After a quick scan at their menu, I was so excited to see that DonDon box is still available. Yay!!!

Now, let’s hope it still tastes the same. Look at the amount of food you get in the DonDon box. Hub got their teriyaki chicken curry rice. Which I think is ok. ME think the DonDon box is awesome. Love their sukiyaki beef. nom nom nom..

Don Don BoxTeriyaki Chicken Curry Rice

I am happy to report – it’s still the same. Definitely good value for your moolah. Yay ! DonDon – please don’t change. Arigato !!!

Glass Kettle BKE260 – Breville

14 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by in Australia, Kitchen wares, Shopping, Travel

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My current electric kettle went psycho on me a few months back. The kettle doesn’t stop boiling and I almost had a heart attack when I saw water spitting out from the sprout non-stop. After that, I was very caution when I need to boil water. I’ll stand next to the kettle and wait for it to boil. It doesn’t cut off by itself so I’ll need to do it manually. It was quite irritating / dangerous.

And so, begins my hunt for an electric kettle. The selection I’ve seen in Malaysia was not impressive and I was quite shocked by the price too. Some better quality plastic models are asking for RM 100++ and the stainless steel models can get as high as RM 250++. Nothing I’ve seen so far capture my heart… So, I revert back to watching my kettle like a hound when I put it to boil. (It’s the Philip plastic kettle which we have been using for more than 5 years)

During my recent trip to Melbourne (Australia), I decided to browse the options of electric kettle there…(it was not intentional as I was there with my bro to hunt for a TV). I couldn’t resist it from the first moment I saw it sitting on the display shelf in Harvey Norman. It was almost love in first sight. But, I hesitated because of the hefty price tag at AUD 98 (sigh… I can’t justify to myself forking out RM 300+ for a kettle).

When my brother saw me salivating over the kettle, he told me that he saw a rather similar kettle in Big W (different model same brand) for a lower price. Really?!! Hooray!!! We quickly scramble off to Big W to hunt for the kettle. I was so excited when I see it priced at AUD 68 (about RM200+). Yes – my bro got his TV too. LOL.

Let me introduce my newest toy in the kitchen – the Breville’s Glass kettle. Yes – the body of the kettle is made from glass. How COOL is that?

Tada… look how beautiful it is sitting on my countertop. I was quite worry transporting it back (check it in with my luggage) initially. Thankfully, upon arrival the kettle is still in one piece and it’s working fine… This time round, I was actually lulled to stay back and watch the water boil. It was so fascinating. LOL

Glass Kettle

Note that it is not just any normal glass. It’s Schott DURAN glass !!!

I am a big fan of Schott glass product (love their range of Schott Zwiesel Tritan Crystal Glass!!! – I’ll reserve that for another blog post one day). Schott has more than 125 years experience specialising in glass. DURAN is the division for the lab devices. So, I was pretty confident the glass should be quite durable (unless you drop it) and able to withstand boiling heat with no effect on the material property.

For more information on this glass kettle, you can find it on Breville’s website (http://www.breville.com.au/glass-kettle.html). Breville is an Australian owned company specialising in Kitchen Appliances.

The Blue Cow Café

24 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by in Gastronomy, Local Restaurants

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Hub and I was not very hungry, so we decided to take our time driving around and choosing random restaurant instead of heading straight to our regular haunt. 

So, that’s how we ended up finding the Blue Cow café in plaza damas, hartamas. When we walk in, it felt like I was back in Melbourne’s butcher shop. Huge varieties of meats are stack neatly behind clear glassed refrigerated cabinets. I fell in love even before I sat down to dine. 

Since it was our first time there, we decided to try their Meat Platter. They have a few platter sizes which you can choose from and take note that their portions are quite generous.

We decided to try the medium platter, with the choice of 1 sausage, 1 burger patty, 1 kebab (for the sausage, patty and kebab, you can choose between beef, pork, lamb or chicken), 1 pork chop and some bacon, serve with mustard, mint sauce (if you choose lamb) and apple sauce. The platter comes with 2 sides. We chose coleslaw and chips.

*** YES – they serve pork even tough the cafe is call blue cow.

The sausage was nice, but a tad bit salty for me. LOVE the burger patty. (we had the lamb). I didn’t like the kebab but hub liked it. The bacon was normal. The pork chop was yummy !! I like that it is cook well but yet retains the juiciness of the meat (especially since it’s quite a thick cut). The apple sauce was a little bit disappointing. It’s too undercook in my opinion. I would have prefered if they cook it abit longer, add a dash of honey and maybe add some thyme. (but then, it’s just me. ;p)

Worrying that it might not be enough (hub is a HUGE meat lover), we ordered an additional side of Stir-Fry Roast Pork. I like this dish as the flavour has more punch to it. It’s stir-fried with some garlic and chilli padi. Hub was not really impressed with this as it’s quite common to get this dish in typical Chinese restaurant. The price seems a little steep too for a small bowl if compared to the platter we ordered.

 

While eating, we note a lot of Aussies dropping in for dinner. They have Aussie burger on their menu !!! oo.. how I miss aussie burger and beetroot. *drool*

Hub even remarked that eating here reminds him of Lygon street in Melbourne.

 

After we came home, I did some googling and found (with no surprise) that the café is owned by Australian couple. Cool. I foresee hub and myself returning there again for some of their juicy burgers. 🙂