Okay, so this isn't the best way to start a recipe blog post. Every time I read a blog recipe, the blogger gushes so much about the recipe, and how it's the most fantastic awesome delicious life-altering cake and how it's so worth dying for!!!! Well, bull. There's no cake in the world that I'll die for. And I'll think less of my life if one slice of cake can alter it.  I still love chocolate cake, though after going through so many chocolate...

I used to have Reverse Sour Grapes Syndrome concerning restaurants. The further they are from me, the more I appreciate their food. After all, if I'm travelling so far for it, it must be good. There's an authentic dim sum restaurant just 5 minutes drive away from my place, but I rarely go there because, "Hey, I can go anytime..." . But with time, laziness descends upon us all, and I'm starting to take a new-found appreciation to restaurants...

One of my favourite Chinese restaurants in Melbourne is Eastern Dumpling House, located just a couple of stores down from Mrs Kim's Grill and Huff Bagelry. I don't normally go gaga over Chinese food here, but I was blown away by the quality of Shanghainese pan-fried dumplings here Their Pan-fried Pork Dumplings (6 pieces) was the best version I've ever had, with a crispy exterior and deeply-flavoured pork broth within. Be careful when...

A couple of years ago when I first came to Melbourne, I picked up a bottle of molasses for a couple of baking projects that never materialised. I've been hanging onto the bottle for these two years out of thriftiness, but I wasn't sure if I was ever going to get around to using it. But my Asian thriftiness came through once again, and I was flipping through my recipe archive when I came across this recipe . I never cared much for ginger, but I've...

There are many good tonkatsu restaurants in Tokyo, but the place that everyone seems to like is Maisen Tonkatsu. There are numerous branches across Tokyo and we headed to the main shop in Aoyama which was located in a convenient location- just a few blocks behind Omotesando Hills and within a walkable distance to Harajuku.  It is located near Omotesando station and on exiting the station, there were signs specifically directing us...

When I was doing groceries last year, I grabbed a bag of Glutinous Rice Flour to make Tang Yuan. I was just about to leave with it when Miss XS told me that Tang Yuan uses Rice Flour instead, and after a long debate, we wounded up with rice flour. Glutinous Rice Flour is the right flour, as it turned out, and I, and several other unfortunate souls, learnt that these two flours are not interchangeable when I made a failed batch of tang yuan. ...

If you are hunting for one of the best gyoza in Tokyo, you have to give this place a try.  This dimly lit restaurant was crowded when we went on a Sunday night and a snaking queue formed behind us shortly after we arrived. Fortunately, we only had to wait for 15 mins before we were shuffled in to our seats.  The food menu was limited and focused mainly on gyozas, with a small selection of appetizers. After all, they are the gyoza...

Sushi Midori is famous for its affordable Japanese sushi and sashimi amongst both locals and tourists. They enjoy great popularity and have many outlets spread out all over Tokyo. The queue system was pretty straightforward and involves pressing for a queue ticket from a ticket machine near the entrance- you have the option of counter/table seating. We reached around 8+pm for a late dinner one day hoping that we will be able to miss the...

We had one of those long extended weekends recently when Labour Day came around. On those rare Sunday nights where we had no commitment early the next day, a few of us were sitting in my room late at 11.30pm searching for any dessert places that are still open. Hey, such is the luxury of having friends with cars. After looking at several dessert options unsuccessfully, I remembered that, why not just stay in and I can wing something...

When you ask anyone who’s been to Tokyo recently, the name “Ichiran” invariably comes up. According to many travel sites, Ichiran’s reputation is among some of the best in Tokyo and sets the standard by which other ramen places are compared to. So, the question is, does Ichiran really lived up to its hype as the nicest ramen in Tokyo? We just had to find out. ...

When Miss XS first arrived in Melbourne five years ago, she wasn't sure what to expect from this city. She was expecting a city though, something with a skyline like the CBD area of Melbourne. Like me, she wasn't expecting a suburban collection of housings and weathered buildings found in Springvale (a nearby Vietnamese town) or Clayton (where our university is). When she first arrived in Melbourne, the first thing she did was to look...