foodie.tv

Backstory... Ok..for..I think..every one of the scrabulous games we've played together, Mum has come up with an 8 letter word or more. Hang on...there was that 8 letter word on the Scrabble we played last month too. Hence my profile message this week.. "Susan is tremulously awaiting Mum's next 8 letter Scrabulous word" Next thing I know..WL's writing on my Wall.."Susan, check out Mum's word.." So I go..and I copy and paste for posterity. (refer attachment). Tremble in fear, o ye lay Scrabble players..

New movie: Curse of the Golden Flower (starring Gong Li, by the director of Hero and House of Flying Daggers)

New place for dairy free chocolate:  Choco Loco in Northcote ($3 per truffle - but they use cashew milk instead of milk - so it's dairy free...  and cashew milk !!!  How special !!) 

New news:  Sri Lanka and possibly Aus in the World Cup finals?? 

A reminder at Saturday birthday dinner - Spicy Fish opened in Glen Waverley last week.  Had been looking forward to trying it out  :-)

Last night's menu:

Steamed dumplings
Spicy couple:  cold appetiser of ox tongue & tripe
Chilli chitterlings: chitterlings dry fried with chilli, szechuan chilli & peanuts
Snow pea leaves in spring onion sauce

Definitely worth a second visit for the range of new dishes on offer..  VERY spicy (most dishes were half chilli by volume - if not more!)  and rather oily (in the dishes we chose)..  But, tasty.  Also friendly, fun waiters and noticeably hospitable managers - quite unusual in Asian spots hehe..

Pacific Seafood & BBQ House (Toorak Rd, South Yarra) - hot tip on good roast duck from picky duck lover at birthday dinner on e..Saturday night.  Must investigate hehe..

And it sure is funny when your blog entries generate google ads for restaurants that you end up investigating and deciding you need to visit hehe....  warunggudeg.com.au  in Clayton for Indonesian food -including what sounds a lot like chicken satay with ketupat - sate ayam lontong..

Something for me and maybe you too. 

Singular outlet for Melbourne:  Satay grilled over charcoal in the unusual lamb as well as the usual chicken - no beef.  Halal.  Ketupat at 50 cents a serve (although not gently fragranced with banana leaf).  All this at $8 for 10 sticks (currently - however do not judge the serving sizes by the offerings at less authentic locations).

Delicious nasi ayam (chicken rice) in the Malay style - ie. fried chicken.  Nasi briyani.  And other yummy stuff.  Run by Singaporean Malays - definitely worth a visit.  Well, that's if you believe the crowds of Malay, Malaysian and other similar food lovers who visit as well.

Well!  Economy class airline meals aren't ever going to be a good benchmark of a cuisine - but picture this:

Air Lanka from Colombo to Kuala Lumpur & Singapore:
Breakfast:  3 plain roti with dhal, chicken curry & pol sambol, and tropical fruit salad (papaya, mango, canteloupe, pineapple)
Lunch:  Dry curry fry of potato, pea & other assorted vegetables in a chewy bun

Qantas from Singapore to Melbourne:
Dinner: Grilled chicken breast with steamed green beans, whole roasted baby potatoes, green salad with vinaigrette dressing and fruit salad.

Last meal in Sri Lanka :-(  That's not counting the inflight meal on Air Lanka though...maybe all is not lost..yet.

Tonight's spread has been designed to fill in the corners of our short culinary tour.  So far this week we've not had the traditional curry and rice.  So :

Beetroot leaf mallung
Beetroot dry-fry
Curry pork
Katta sambol (or lunu miris?  Think I might have the wrong name - help!)
Dhal
..with rice, and mango & strawberries to finish.

The strawberries are grown in the hill country and are the best perfumed & most flavoursome of their kind that I've ever had.  They go well with sugar but...oops...didn't actually need it!

Vegetarian meal, fittingly, on the eve of the Tamil & Buddhist new year.

To start:
Ulundu vadai
Samosa
Chilli panneer dry
Sesame gobi fry (cauliflower!)

Meal:
Paper roast thosai
Masala thosai
Idly
Poori masala
(all with sambar, dhal & raita)

Dessert/drinks:
Masala tea
Salt lassi
sweets for take-away: Laddu & muscat

Fabulous place!  Vadai fresh from the fryer with the lightest floaty-crisp shell and fluffy flavoursome flesh.  Samosa fragrant with fresh spices.  Panneer to make you forget meat.  Cauliflower to wake children to the charm of vegetables.  And that's just the starters. 

"You must try the cheese roti!" - advice from Chris' work friends about the addition to Pillawoos' (that local institution - pronounced "Pillaus") long-standing menu. 

After a full-on lunch at the Thai restaurant at TransAsia, we hastily realised that dinner at Shanmuga's probably wasn't the best idea.  So perhaps takeaway from Pillawoos instead to have that cheese roti finally? Also to experience the fine Pillawoos tradition - cars all parked Sri Lankan style on the main, major road outside Pillawoos either waiting for their order or waiting for the sharp-eyed staff to dash out to take the order.  Fortunately it's past 9pm so the road is quiet - that is, until some van decides to stop in the one lane still available, to complete some mysterious task quite unrelated to Pillawoos' roaring business.  Chaos ensures for 5 minutes as cars back up behind the two-pronged road block ...but it mercifully clears quickly enough to not attract the attention of the police...and we find a proper park as a happy customer departs with his piping hot load.  What happens in peak hour traffic, we wonder?  (Update from Chris - thanks!!! - they only open after peak hour :-)  )