Eat Like Ushi

In the plaza of St. Niklaaskerk lie some pretty decent shops. There was a nice local chocolatier where I sampled good quality dark. However the place on my list was Max - the best for Belgian waffles.

In a nicely adorned glamourous room, you sit and eat waffles and drink coffee (if you really want it). I couldn't go past the namesake Wafel Max (vers fruit, ijsroom, Grand Marnier, slagroom) for a cosy €10. Translated and depicted, this is waffle with fruit, icecream, Grand Marnier and whipped cream.

It was a tremendous sight, especially one like me who doesn't tend to eat so many sweets. The waffle was sweet and crisp with a soft core, the fruits blessed with light alcohol, and the icecream adding texture and temperature contrast.

Near the heart of town is this store that is known for mustard. An enormous vat contains the lovely yellow thick liquid. I purchased a small jar to carry around to the fries carts.

It's a strong heavy mustard that feels more English than Dijon but with less eye-watering burn. The quality is exceptional as would be expected from a product made simply of ground mustard seeds, vinegar and salt.

It is open Monday-Saturday.

The first I went to Belgium in 2009, I was told about how there were 3 great things there - chocolate, mussels and fries. Of the three, I think fries interested me most. Who doesn't like fries?? Although as the years have gone by, I admit I've become more sophisticated and the lure of quality dark chocolate or white wine mussels is probably more tempting.

Maybe one of the reasons is that in 2009 I tried several fries places that were highly regarded - probably 2 or 3 in Brussels and 2 in Bruges. They were all quite average. Perhaps the attraction is in the incredible number of sauces you can select from, but for me it's the chip itself that matters. Crunchy outside, smooth inside and just some salt and pepper that shows the true quality.

The two places in Ghent I tried them were firstly a well known cart (Frituur Jozef) along the side of plaza Vrijdagmarkt, and a small shop that was close to the castle (Het Gravensteen) near my hostel. The shop was actually a better quality chip.

Belgium and chocolate are things that are often linked together. I was a little wary after my first visit to Belgium in 2009, as I'd been told fries were also well reputed, but honestly they are pretty average.

But for chocolate there was greater hope. I'd read that locals eat supermarket chocolate and save the expensive brands for gifts. I'd previously headed straight to the top - Pierre Marcolini and the reputation for dark chocolate. I'd also tried a few other big brands, but my favourite from 2009 had been a small local shop in Bruges (which I never jotted the name down) where I bought a small block of dark chocolate and almond that amazed my tongue a few days later.

Yuzu is a Japanese slightly sour citrus fruit. Nicholas Vanaise (who runs this shop himself) prides on minimalist approach, interesting flavour combinations (including yuzu and other things Asian), and quality chocolate.

On this day I tried a few small pralines, macarons and mailed a large dark chocolate rabbit (the one with the wheelbarrow) back to Australia as an Easter gift. The chocolate flavours were unique - I think I much prefer a nice standard excellent dark with or without nuts, but this was more of an experience.

It is open Tuesday-Saturday.

It's Easter. With Easter comes chocolate. Whilst the usual classic thing is small solid or large hollow milk chocolate eggs, the first world has gourmeted up to no end, and chocolate is one of those things. I am partial to visiting gourmet chocolatiers especially around Italy and Belgium and I do get excited by discovering a remarkable dark chocolate. Sometimes the cost is quite incredible - I mailed an item from Yuzu back to Australia for Easter once (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/yuzu-by-nicholas-vanaise-ghent-02-2012) and my favourite dark chocolates have been from Yarra Valley in Victoria, Pierre Marconlini in Belgium, and two small local places, one in Bruges and one in Alba.

Burch & Purchese seems to specialise also in decorative pieces which are nice for occasions. I saw a very cute egg with a little chicken in it. Unfortunately my tactic of going on Sunday to make ease of parking and crowds proved unfruitful, as the store was mass raided on Saturday.

Nonetheless I settled for a chocolate bear, with bits of milk, dark and white. I'll wait for the weekend to try it.

Conveniently whilst brunching alone at Pillar of Salt, I read the Herald-Sun for the first time in a long time. One of the sections of the food liftout highlighted their best hot cross buns in Melbourne. Tivoli Road Bakery scored 1st place with a resounding 19/20. Far from it being the most reliable source, I happened to see I was going to be in the area soon to visit Burch & Purchese. It seemed a good reason to visit and buy some expensive buns.

Thusfar I'd only bought those from Woolworths, which believe it or not, had won a gold medal at the Sydney Fine Food show 2014. Considering you can get 6 for $3.50, it's a huge change from these gourmet places. At Tivoli, they are $3.80 each or 6 for $20. Feeling generous I decided upon the half dozen to share with family.

The buns look lovely and rounded with a shiny glaze on top. What characterises them is the beautiful smooth bun texture, which is dotted with the usual dried sultanas that provide sweetness. The bread bits themselves are not sweet which stops it from being sickly or overpowering. Every now and then you get some orange peel that makes them different to the usual buns.

Fine for a treat and well liked by the other 5 who ate them. Are they worth 5x the price? Maybe once per year.

The explosion of food places in Melbourne means that I'll never catch up. Living away means that each opportunity I have to come back involves a brief read online of where is new and subsequently where all the queues are. There used to be nothing (I can think of) along Church Street other than furniture stores, but now Pillar of Salt, Kong, and a few other eateries have opened up in the area.

Pillar of Salt was on my way to Burch & Purchese. I thought to myself as I drive past, if I find parking and the queue isn't large, I'll swing in for breakfast. Even though it was 1030am on a Sunday, I couldn't envisage a time where I found Church Street busy. How different it is now. There were 10 pairs of people ahead of me on the door list, but it was only a 15min wait in the end. By the time I left at 12pm, there were even more people waiting outside. They had a pineapple and chilli iced tea (very sharp chilli taste without much heat, minimal pineapple) for those braving the wait.

- Superfood Smoothie (banana, blueberries, cacao nibs, coyo yoghurt, chia seed, shaved coconut, rice malt syrup & almond milk) $10 - an excellent jug with the great sweet flavours of yoghurt, banana and berries interspersed with sharp crunchy of cacao, a soft crunch of coconut (when drinking it from the lip, as it doesn't fit up the straw) and small crackles of chia. An expensive drink, but full of good ingredients;
- New Orleans Pinto Bean Jambalaya & Twice-Cooked Sticky Pork Belly (with poached egg, housemade toasted cornbread topped with Monterey Jack cheese) $21 - nice hearty thick soup/thin stew of beans, corn and carrots. My poached egg was unfortunately overcooked (only a small amount of liquid) and the extra $4.5 for a very thin slice of pork belly was a little much. The sticky quality of the pork belly is somewhat lost in the soup. The cornbread is actually excellent and has some spice within it. It's a nice meal but I think overpriced.

I do think the kitchen is overwhelmed for the number of patrons it receives. My food didn't take long (and I didn't have to forcibly socialise like all the other pairings), but I could see some disgruntled people having waiting 30+mins for food, which is much longer than the time it takes for them to finish their token coffee. My smoothie took 5 minutes. My meal took 22 minutes. I was happily reading a newspaper, using my phone and enjoying the atmosphere. If you aren't happy to wait, go somewhere else, go at a different time, or go with people you are happy to talk to (or go alone).

Next time I would order the 15th Century Cilbir Eggs with Sujuk Sausage ($20) or Kimchi, Corn & Sweet Potato Fritters with Poached Egg ($21). The prices are a little high to be honest. A poached egg should be standard with fritters in my opinion. But none of this will stop people from coming, from queueing, from waiting, and from complaining.

Modern Asian tapas is all the rage at the moment. Every new Melbourne place seems to be a variation on this type and the market is soon saturated (probably Sydney too but I don't know it as well). From Chin Chin (which I haven't eaten at due to the reputation of wait time & price:satisfaction ratio not being so high), to the excellent TA #1 Rock Papr Scrs and my growing list of Uncle and Northern Light and the rest, the question is really a matter of which Asian each restaurant is trying to reinvent.

Canberra recently acquired two Japanese versions - Lilotang and Akiba. After walking past the electric glow of Akiba a few weeks back, this was the first of them to try.

The drinks menu has a nice offering of cocktails. Akiba Pop are housemade soft drinks which can be "boomed" with a shot of alcohol. Both the pineapple, coconut & chilli (with Appleton VX dark rum) and sour cherry & vanilla (with Martell VS Cognac) had a nice complement of alcohol and sweetness, with my preferred being the sour 

- Soba Noodle Salad (with bamboo shoots, yellow bean, sweet & sour) $12 - a delicious refreshing dish to open with. Herbs, chilli, citrus combining extremely well;
- Soft Shell Crab Bun (with pickled baby gem, creamy ponzu) $9 each - the bun itself is terrible. You can see in the picture how dry it is such that the corners are torn and not malleable. The crab is tasty but could be more generous. Not good value for money;
- Korean Sticky Lamb Ribs (with sumac) $14 - when in doubt, go for ribs. Tender fatty meat, a slightly sweet and chilli charred coating. Not as good as the Bone Daddies' pork ribs, but it'll do me for now;
- Snapper (with jalapeno, yuzu, honey) $14 - very very strange combination. Snapper sashimi is one of my favourites and a more expensive cut usually due to a good biting texture, but the yuzu, jalapeno (tasted too similar to green capsicum) and single leaf of coriander didn't work;
- Japanese Fried Chicken (with lemon braised onions, parmesan) "supercharged" with mayonnaise & Sriracha $20 - thicker heavier coating than your typical kara-age and the pieces of meat much smaller and thinner also. This results in less juicy but more flavoursome from the fry and pick up of cheese and sauces;
- Black Angus Sirloin (with chipotle butter, zuni pickled onion) $28 - very tender and rare beef with very mild chipotle smatterings and onions. It was a nice dish, but felt a little disjointed with flavours and too expensive for what you get;
- Beef Short Rib (with tamarind caramel, Thai basil) $22 - the last dish was the one that excited me the most. Rib, caramel, Thai basil - the combination speaks for itself. A beautifully tender piece of meat that tore so easily and would mop up a sweet mildly tangy sauce. I needed rice for this to allow it to linger longer.

Even though there was only 3 of us, there was still space for the interesting sounding desserts.

- Mango & Coconut Sticky Rice (with macadamia, palm sugar ice cream) $9 - a gorgeous dessert of ice cream that was surprisingly balances and not overly sweet from palm sugar, crunchy nuts for texture and flavour, mango pieces and quality glutinous rice underneath. Very very good - perhaps a jackfruit version will enamour me even more;
- Lemon Tofu Cheesecake (with ANZAC crumb, pandan jelly) $8 - the deconstructed cheesecake with tofu was fantastic. I couldn't tell it was tofu rather than/in combination with cream cheese. The crumb added a reasonable crunch which could be a good base for an actual cake, but the fluorescent aeroplane jelly looking stuff had barely any pandan flavour which was disappointing.

Overall the meal was very good and the flavour and texture combinations varied. It seemed quite expensive ($170 for 3) but could be lessened with a few educated choices.

Next time I would order the same Soba Noodle Salad, Beef Short Rib and Korean Lamb Ribs. I'd consider trying the Sweet Corn Pancake or Prawn & Chicken Dumplings. 4 oysters for $10 is very cheap even for natural oysters so that is tempting. Something raw would be nice for variety so it would have to be the Kingfish or more likely shared Salmon Belly. I'd finish with the Sticky Rice dessert also.

I'm waiting for the modern Korean tapas to come to Canberra. If you're thinking this idea is for you, look to the USA or BistroK in Melbourne.

After a gym session I ended up in Manuka looking for some lunch to add the calories back on. I originally wanted to get some good quality falafel from Kismet, but saw to my dismay it had closed in favour of a pizza place. Vaguely recalling many other places also had lunch specials, the search began wandering around and seeing what was on offer.

Neither Timmy's nor Abell's Kopitiam offered any lunch menu that I saw. Feeling like something Asian I strolled past Bambusa. I hadn't previously thought about coming here as it looked like another Western-based Chinese restaurant. But the 93% Urbanspoon intrigued me so eventually decided to try a lunch special.

It was only a one dish lunch, but the Roast Duck Laksa was quite good. The meat was tender and the thin broth had a lot of duck flavour with a touch of coconut milk added rather than a true thick creamy laksa soup. I probably would prefer a thicker decadent version with more coconut cream added but it was still very nice for a first impression.

Next time I would order a full dinner of their Modern Asian - Fluffy Duck, Yu Xiang Eggplant or King Prawns & Scallops, Mapo Tofu, Sizzling Lamb with Cumin. It's a little on the expensive side but let's see if it's worth it.

After my recent musings about all things burger (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/brodburger-canberra-2014) it was time to try a new Melbourne contender. I had been assured it would be a good experience and the name left an impression of hopefully ending up in a carpark somewhere with a van dishing out unhealthily delicious offerings. To my surprise I ended up some stairs (which reminded me of the identical trek upwards into Mamasita) and into a American diner-style booth.

The food menu looked very promising with nothing but burgers served as a main. I did feel a little ominous reading at the top of the menu that the burgers are cooked medium, but the combinations seemed extremely promising - ingredients such as chilly cheese kransky, truffles, croquettes, Russian black tomato caught my eye.

- Francis Underwood (premium Aussie beef pattie, American cheddar cheese, tomato, butter, lettuce, potato mac & cheese croquette, special burger sauce & American mustard on a lightly toasted brioche bun) - a very large burger with a medium-cooked patty (probably be better rare or medium-rare), a soft molten croquette (probably be better with a nice fried crispy outside) and slightly thick bread that is a little dry. The burger is pretty decent overall and hits a spot.

I sampled one fry (forgot to order my own) and it was a thick straight cut chip with slight crisp and pretty good internal texture.

This was washed down with one of their Spiked Milkshakes - Seared Marshmallow (as they had run out of Kinder Surprise), Frangelico, Baileys which is quite expensive for $21. It ended up tasting much like a very mildly alcoholic Kahlua chocolate milkshake. Not too bad but quite overpriced I think. Especially without the Kinder Surprise.

Next time I would order any of The Chunk, Atomic or Jiro to try some other variety of burger. I'd remember to add a side of chips and probably just wash it down with water (why aren't there any non-alcoholic, reasonably priced milkshakes on the menu?)