Steven Ter Horst @ Unley Road

I had heard about this place and it's wondrous desserts but it did take me a little while to get there. Steven Ter Horst Chocolatier is situated on Unley Road and one sunny Sunday afternoon while we were out and about I decided to call in on the way home. It was about 3pm when we stepped into this well decorated place with a very organic cosy feel to be greeted by a tempting display of chocolates, cakes and tarts. On the left hand wall as you walk in there's a shelf set into the wall displaying amazing blends of tea available. We went at a quiet time so seats were plenty and we chose to lounge on the sofa in the window watching the world go by. There is however only about 12 to 14 seats.

As I walked up to the counter a vintage telephone on the wall caught my eye. What a lovely touch I thought. Mr. Foodie went straight for hot chocolate while I contemplated my tea blend selection. Eventually I chose their White ginger pear tea. 

If you look hard enough there's Steven right there!

White ginger pear tea

The tea came in a lovely bright teapot and a timer! I love little touches like that. The idea is that by the time all the sand has gone down, the tea would have been infused properly and ready to drink. It was a lovely blend of tea and I enjoyed smelling it as much as drinking it.

As you would expect, the hot chocolate was rich, creamy and absolutely divine. It still amazes me how Mr. Foodie manages to guzzle mugs of these things. I struggle going through a cup. If you're wondering about the wood bumps, it's not a tray. We are in fact eating on an old style treasure chest which makes it an ever more amazing experience. Making a cameo here is the first issue of Gram Magazine which I had the pleasure of being a part of. 

Mascarpone Dream $8.50 - Mascarpone mousse with caramel hazelnut  cream with hazelnut daquoise biscuit base. This was a beautiful dessert to eat, all smooth and velvety with nutty caramel goodness. Dacquoise is essentially hazelnut meringue and this was done well. Absolute delight.

Salted Caramel Choc Pot $5.90 - Layer of rich chocolate ganache over salted caramel. 

I had to try their famous salted caramel. The chocolate ganache was definitely rich but make sure you dip all the way to the bottom to get some salted caramel because eaten together, it was a lovely combination. 

Steven Ter Horst Chocolatier is definitely on my list of places to go back time and again. I've been told I need to try Lady Marmalade, Chocolate Truffle Tart and Blackberry Layered. I think essentially everything else was also amongst recommendations from friends.

Steven Ter Horst
221D Unley Road
Malvern
SA 5061 
08 8373 1330

Citi Zen @ King William St

I've only ever been to Citi Zen once a long time ago when it was still across the road but on this particular Sunday I felt like going 'yum cha' somewhere else so we decided to revisit Citi Zen. Yum cha literally translates to 'drink tea' which is a Cantonese term commonly used as families and friends go out to "drink tea" and catch up. Back home we refer to it as 'dim sum'. While often thought as the dim sims you get at fish and chip shops here, 'dim sum' actually means bite sized dishes commonly served as a light meal. 'Dim sum' translates to "touch the heart" hence why it is just a light meal or snack. It is quite an art to get it all right and a good dim sum chef is hard to come by as they have to make all sorts of pretty looking and extremely tasty snacks. 

The tradition of 'yum cha' comes from a long way back when travellers and locals alike would visit tea houses for a drink and snack.They were like our modern day highway stops. It used to be a Sunday morning thing for us sometimes to go out with the family for dim sum but meals would be served from as early as 6am in the morning because we absolutely did not have a problem with starting our first meal of the day with dinner like food.  

The decor was very beautiful and it has certainly changed a lot from the time it was across the road. That did however get me worried because I have this theory about nice decor Chinese restaurants lacking on food but I loved it all along with the beautiful lights nonetheless. We were excited and hungrily awaiting the trolleys and trays to come pass to entice us with dishes on offer.

It wouldn't be right to go for dim sum and not order 'Har Gao' - prawn dumpling. The prawns were fresh but the skin was a bit too thick. Another old favourite of mine was the 'Wu Kuok' - Fried taro dumplings. They were crispy on the outside with a nice mince filling inside encased in mashed yam or taro. I found the taro to mince ratio too high for my liking.

Mr. Foodie wanted Fish Cakes seeing as they had no fishballs or beef meatballs.

These two are definitely on my list of favourites for things to order. Sticky rice in lotus leaf and Spare ribs with black bean sauce. The ribs were juicy, tender, flavoursome and all round delicious.

Steamed sticky rice in lotus leaf was a bit of a disappointment. It's usually packed with some meat, sauce, mushroom and Chinese sausage which it was but the flavour was really lacking. The sticky rice had a bad cakey texture to it so it was all quite bland.

Char Siu Pao - BBQ Pork Pao is another must have with a tasty sweet and savoury BBQ Pork mix enveloped in soft fluffy steamed bun.

This my friend, is Fried radish cake. A dish that I miss very much from home where mum used to get them from this stall at the morning market. It is basically radish cake cut into cubes and stir fried with onions, chives, bean sprouts, chilli, egg and pickled vegetables. It wasn't too bad but not one of my favourites.  

Squid tentacles came out pretty much at the end but we had to have some so we ordered it. They were probably the biggest tentacles I've seen and possibly a bit overcooked as it was flavourless and rubbery, it gave my jaw a run for its money.

To finish on a sweet we decided to get this Kiwi Sago Pudding. I have never had a kiwi pudding before so was intrigued but I loved it. It was a nice change from going mango all the time.

Citi Zen has certainly had a face lift and it looks absolutely beautiful in there. Dim sum was okay with some hits and misses but overall a good experience. We did however find sitting in the right place does give you more choices as a lot of dishes went past the table next to us and we never got offered. If you don't have exactly what you want to eat in mind, the trolleys really do help you so it does matter. It definitely gets busy in here on weekends and there are two sittings available so make sure you book ahead to secure a table.

Citi Zen

401 King William St

Adelaide CBD 

SA 5000

08 8212 8383

Wasai Japanese Kitchen

I had an incredible craving for Japanese food and was feeling extremely lazy in the kitchen one evening so we decided to visit one of our favourite Japanese restaurants in Adelaide, Wasai Japanese Kitchen (Matsuri being the other). The first time we dined here was for a farewell dinner and we've been back ever since. Their food is always fresh and delicious with a plus of being reasonably priced for a Japanese restaurant. 

Condiments - Soy sauce and chilli flakes

We started off with Torch grilled oysters with wasabi sauce. It was flavoursome, nicely spicy and very fresh.

We couldn't resist ordering the Aburi Salmon Sushi which is lightly seared salmon pieces on avocado, crab meat and mayo sushi drizzled with a lovely teriyaki like sauce. It was very delicious. We also ordered Soft Shell Crab Sushi a personal favourite of mine wherever I can get it. It was crispy, flavoursome, fresh and totally satisfied my craving. I also have a thing for Japanese pickled ginger so needless to say I cleaned the plate.

Mr. Foodie ordered something from the specials menu - Chicken Meatball Noodle Soup. It was what you would expect of noodle soup. The broth had a nice clean taste, the chicken meatballs tasted house-made but nothing more to write home about. 

Jigoku Ramen caught my eye as I was in the mood for something hot, soupy and spicy. I loved this dish and the spicy soup really hit the spot. I had to add extra chilli flakes but that's okay. The soup was delicious served with ramen cooked perfectly, sliced pork, coriander and raw red onions.

Once again we had a lovely meal at Wasai. Can't wait to return again with friends just so I can order platters and sushi boats again!

Wasai Japanese Kitchen

15 Field Street

Adelaide 

SA 5000

08 8221 6606

San Churro @ Highpoint Plaza Melbourne

I'm sure most of you have heard of San Churro right? The delightful, sinful chocolateria. Being a Spanish influenced cafe, San Churro proudly claim their signature to be Churros con chocolate which for some odd reason none of us ended up ordering on this occasion. I had the pleasure of going to Melbourne for the quickest mandatory trip for something extremely inconvenient that cannot be done in Adelaide but the bright side of it was I had 20 hours to eat and sleep with approximately 2 hours to shop. After buying my shoes we stopped at San Churro downstairs of Highpoint Plaza near the cinemas for a cuppa. The place was packed with people as we patiently waited for a table. 

Chocolate filled donut. It was fluffy and tasty with delicious, rich warm, chocolate oozing out. It took Mr. Foodie about 2 seconds to eat it all!

Hot and Cold Chocolate - Classic hot chocolate cooled down with a scoop of white chocolate ice cream. It was yummy but interesting, it soon melted to become a very milky warm chocolate.

Satisfied with my shopping outcome and chocolate fix, we headed back only to head out again to an hour to this amazing seafood restaurant in Footscray - Master Restaurant.

Chocolateria San Churro

Shop 1104 Level 1, Highpoint Shopping Centre

200 Roasmond Road

Maribyrnong

Victoria 3032

Rice Chinese Cuisine @ Parkside

I haven't been out for Chinese for a while which is rather odd now that I think about it. Perhaps I often find it hard to think of a place that would hit the spot. Even good restaurants are hit and miss sometimes. Recently a friend recommended Rice Chinese Cuisine in Parkside. Situated just outside the CBD, Rice delivers on both taste and interior decoration contrary to most Chinese restaurants that have one or the other. While their decoration is not magazine display worthy, the dark red colour scheme and black glass top tables bring it up a notch.

It was a very cold winter night and we were absolutely starving, craving for some steaming hot full of flavour food. The menu is rather extensive with all the usual Chinese and Cantonese favourites along with some specialties such as Monk's hotpot, Basil Cheese  Chicken, 'Ants on Greens' (a mince pork, shrimp and mushroom mixture served over vegetables), Eggplant Hotpot and more. They also provide a variety of seafood dishes including eel, flounder, mud crab and lobster. 

Mr. Foodie almost always wants either a salt and pepper something or a hotpot. Tonight we ordered the Lamb Curry Hotpot. Though it doesn't sound very Chinese, it certainly is a different type of curry to that of Indians or Southeast Asia for that matter. The lamb was tender and flavoursome cooked in a beautiful creamy curry sauce with snow peas, snake beans and potato. The curry is not overly spicy so it caters to many. 

Lamb Curry

We also ordered Crispy Chicken with Ginger and Shallots, a personal favourite of mine when we eat out. As the dish name states, the skin was still deliciously crispy with tasty sauce poured over it. I even pick the shallots/spring onions and eat them all!

Crispy Chicken with Ginger and Shallots

When I saw Beef fried Kuey Teow on the menu I knew I had to order it. I haven't had this dish in a while. Thin and tender beef slices fried with flat rice noodles, spring onions, bean sprouts and sesame this dish is a fragrant delight to eat. The only thing is it tends to be a bit more oily, not so good for the waistline.  

Fried Beef Kuey Teow

Tonight we felt like finishing on a sweet which we don't often do in a Chinese restaurant as dessert really isn't their strong point. We spotted Shanghai Red Bean Pancake and wanted to have some. Once again not very good for the waistline, this delicious and crispy hot dessert is a thin pancake made from plain and glutinous flour filled with red bean paste and deep fried till crispy and golden brown. Delish!

Shanghai Red Bean Pancake (woh-peng)

I'm glad I took up my friend's recommendation and visited this place. This will be my go to Chinese restaurant  for a while. Plus it's a bonus not having to drive into the CBD and hunt for parking. 

Rice Chinese Cuisine

104 Glen Osmond Road

Parkside

SA 5063

08 8373 7000

Duthy Thai @ Malvern

We've been hanging on to this Spreets voucher for a while and decided to finally use it before it expires. The voucher was for Duthy Thai in Malvern. Duthy Thai has been open in Adelaide for more than 20 years serving a variety of aromatic, fresh Thai food. We went on a weekday night so it was very quiet. We nearly couldn't find the place as it wasn't well lit up and it looked closed. Nonetheless we parked up and eventually made our way to the front door.

Stepping inside it was certainly very dim. They had closed off the other part of the restaurant understandably to save electricity as it was really a week night and there weren't many patrons. We were starving and couldn't wait to have some nice hot food. We started off with Prawn Crackers with Satay Dipping Sauce. The Satay Dipping Sauce was actually pretty good considering I'm really spoilt and fussy with satay sauces. It was quite sweet for a satay sauce but still enjoyable.

Tom Yum Talay - Hot and sour prawn and squid soup flavoured with lemon grass, coriander and lime leaves. This hot and spicy number definitely awakened our taste buds with a nice tangy taste. I would have liked it more spicy but that level wouldn't be appropriate for a restaurant catering for everyone else.

Coming from Malaysia I always love satay so we decided to order Satay Chicken Skewers. It came with the satay sauce that was also served with the prawn crackers. While creamy and peanuty a little too sweet. The chicken skewers were juicy, tender and well marinated. We also ordered Thai Fish Cakes served with sweet chilli dipping sauce. They were fresh and fragrant with a nice springy bite to it. It was quite a delight to eat.

We couldn't go to a Thai restaurant without ordering Pad Thai so that definitely made the cut. Pad Thai is a dish of rice noodles with prawns, chicken, bean sprouts, egg, chilli and crushed peanuts. Served with fresh coriander it was very fragrant and rather delicious. I love a good squeeze of lime juice and fresh chopped chillis on mine for that extra kick. We actually did ask for the Pad Thai  to be extra spicy and they are certainly more than happy to accommodate.

Beef Masaman Curry - beef cooked in masaman curry paste, potatoes, whole peanuts and coconut milk. This dish was very rich and creamy and beautiful. It's not a spicy curry but certainly fragrant and tasty. The beef cubes were tender and flavoursome and it certainly satisfied our hunger, although by now we had already eaten quite a bit. 

Last but not least, dessert was served. Coconut custard and Pandan Coconut Custard served with sliced strawberries and kiwi. With a nice touch of coconut cream and mint leaves. This dessert is very sweet but smooth and delicious. I absolutely loved the Pandan one as I am a huge fan of this aromatic herb. What a sweet end to the evening.

Duthy Thai
19 Duthy Street
Malvern SA 5061
08 8272 0465