Lamb Burgers with Cucumber Sauce

Serves 4

700g lean minced lamb

1 small onion, finely chopped

8 dried apricot halves, finely chopped

4 tablespoon pine nuts

25g fine dry breadcrumbs

2 teaspoons mild curry powder

1 egg

Salt and pepper

4 pittas, heated and cut in half

For the sauce

½ cucumber, peeled and grated

                300ml plain yoghurt

                2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

1)      Combine the lamb, onion, apricots, pine nuts, breadcrumbs, curry powder, egg, salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix well together with your fingers until blended.

2)      Divide into 8 portions and shape each into a small burger. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.

3)      Meanwhile, for the sauce, squeeze the grated cucumber in a double thickness of paper towels to extract excess water.

4)      Mix together the cucumber, yoghurt and mint. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

5)      Preheat the grill or prepare a charcoal fire.

6)      Grill or barbecue the burgers until they are cooked to your taste, about 10 minutes for medium. Turn them halfway through cooking to ensure that they are brown and cook evenly.

7)      Serve the burgers in the pitta halves, with the cucumber sauce.

 Serves 4

700g lean minced lamb

1 small onion, finely chopped

8 dried apricot halves, finely chopped

4 tablespoon pine nuts

25g fine dry breadcrumbs

2 teaspoons mild curry powder

1 egg

Salt and pepper

4 pittas, heated and cut in half

For the sauce

½ cucumber, peeled and grated

                300ml plain yoghurt

                2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

1)      Combine the lamb, onion, apricots, pine nuts, breadcrumbs, curry powder, egg, salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix well together with your fingers until blended.

2)      Divide into 8 portions and shape each into a small burger. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.

3)      Meanwhile, for the sauce, squeeze the grated cucumber in a double thickness of paper towels to extract excess water.

4)      Mix together the cucumber, yoghurt and mint. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

5)      Preheat the grill or prepare a charcoal fire.

6)      Grill or barbecue the burgers until they are cooked to your taste, about 10 minutes for medium. Turn them halfway through cooking to ensure that they are brown and cook evenly.

7)      Serve the burgers in the pitta halves, with the cucumber sauce.

Pepper Steak with Mushrooms

Serves 4

2 tbsp black peppercorns, coarsely crushed

½ teaspoon hot pepper flakes (optional)

4 fillet, sirloin or rump steaks (170-225g) each, well trim

3 tablespoon vegetable oil

15g butter

145g mushrooms, sliced

2 tablespoon Cognac or whisky

150ml whipping or double cream

Salt

1)      Combine the peppercorns and hot pepper flakes, if using, and press on to both sides of the steaks.

2)      Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil with the butter in a heavy frying pan that is large enough to accommodate the steaks in one layer. Add the mushrooms and cook over moderate heat, stirring and turning them occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until they are wilted.

3)      Increase the heat to moderately high and continue cooking until the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated and they are lightly browned. With a slotted spoon, remove them from the pan and reserve.

4)      Add the remaining oil to the frying pan. When it is very hot, add the steaks. Fry for 2 minutes on each side or until well browned. Continue cooking until done to your taste. (Test by pressing with your finger.) Remove the steaks from the pan and keep them hot.

5)      Pour off all the fat from the pan. Add the Cognac and bring to the boil, stirring and scraping to mix in the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the cream and bring back to the boil. Boil for 1 minute.

6)      Stir in the mushrooms and reheat them. Check the seasoning, then pour this sauce over the steaks.

Roast Duck with Peach Sauce

Serves 4
1 x 2.25-2.7kg duck, prepared for roasting
salt and pepper
5 ripe but firm peaches
240ml orange juice
4 tbsp peach brandy
1 tsp cornflour
2 tsp water
2 tsp Dijon mustard
fresh parsley or watercress, to garnish

Steps

1. Preheat a 200°C oven
2. Rub the duck all over with salt and pepper. Put it breast up on a rack in a roasting tin and roast for 1.25 hours
3. Meanwhile, peel the peaches: dip in boiling water for 30 seconds, then in iced water to remove the skin. Cut them in half and remove the stones. Puree 2 peach halves with the orange juice in a blender or food processor.
4. Put the remaining peach halves in a saucepan. Sprinkle with the alcohol or peach nectar. Set aside.
5. Pour off the duck fat from the roasting tin. Place the duck in the tin, without the rack, and pour the orange and peach mixture over it. Roast, basting occasionally with the sauce in the tin, for about 15 minutes more or until the duck is cooked (lift it with a long 2-pronged fork: the juices that run out of the cavity should be clear).
6. Transfer the duck to a carving board and keep warm. Skim all the fat from the sauce, then set the tin over moderate heat and bring to the boil. Blend the cornflour with the water and stir into the sauce. Simmer, stirring, until thickened. 
7. Quarter the duck. Warm the peach halves, then remove with a slotted spoon. Add the mustard to the pan and mix well. Stir this mixture into the sauce and taste. Serve the duck with the peaches, garnished with parsley or watercress. Serve the sauce separately.

Nice mash potatoes (Salad Bowl Cafe)

I am someone who loves mash potatoes a lot. If you think KFC mash potatoes is nice then you should try this. This cafe is located at Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling. If you plan to head over there, you better pray for a parking space available because it would be quite a nuisance looking for parking over that area. According to its Facebook page, it is an Asian Fusion restaurant. So why they name it Salad Bowl? Maybe because their signature dish is their salad. They offer a wide range of salad so if you are a salad lover, you can head down there and give it a try too.

Clam chowder (RM5)

First up is the clam chowder. The price of the clam chowder is just RM5 which I feel its cheap. The soup is tasty and not too thick, so just nice. The chef is also very generous with the clams. Next, I ordered the bangers and mash. Basically, its sausage and mash potatoes. I forgot the price for the rest because I forgot to take a picture of the menu.

Bangers and Mash

This is my favourite because I really like the mash potatoes. If you like KFC's mash, for me, they are too soft for a real mash. So I personally do not consider KFC's as a real mash potatoes. This mash is quite smooth and creamy. The mash is not lumpy and the creamy taste is very tasty. This is the mash that you can eat without any gravy. 

Carbonara Fettucine

 For main course, I ordered a Carbonara Fettucine. The fettucine is not as springy as I expected. The sauce is creamy enough but a little bit too greasy to my liking. I could not quite remember the price for the bangers n mash and the pasta but the total is under RM40. Overall, I would say you can get good food with extremely reasonable price over at Salad Bowl.

Salad Bowl
No. 72 , Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling
10200 Pinang George Town
+60 4-262 1985

Facebook : Salad Bowl Cafe

Burger craving at Two Buns

The burger scene in Penang has quieten down since 2014 I would say. There is not so much hype like it used to be. So, i came across this burger joint while i was travelling along carnarvon street, The name of this burger joint is  "two buns". It is located at carnarvon street which is heading to prangin mall.

Two Buns

It is quite a small place but the interior is quite nice. It is a very hippy place i would say. The beverage menu is hangin on the wall while the food menu is on the counter. Their choices are not many so it is relatively easy for me to choose.  As it was my first time, so i chose the most basic burger which was the "classic beef".

The menu

Thankfully, during my visit it was not too crowded hence i just waited for like 10 mins. Oh btw, i forgot to mention that this was actually my 2nd visit because my 1st time there, they have too many orders and the waiting time was too long for me but kudos for the cashier for informing ahead. The classic beef is RM13 and i also opted for the set which is add on just RM5 and you can get fries plus a can of soft drink.

Classic beef

A closer look

 So now lets move to the burger. The bun is fresh, from the texture, it is not too hard and it was made just nice. For the classic beef, there are of course beef patty, lettuce, cheddar, tomato, pickles, ketchup and mustard. As a basic, the beef patty was not too dry so it was good. Maybe because i ordered the most basic so the sauces are only mustard and ketchup so it is nothing too special but overall it was quite good. One thing i like about two buns is they mustard for you to use. So i ate the fries with mustard cause mustard is my favourite. I would definitely come back again to try their others and hopefully their signature.

The inside of Classic beef

Two Buns (Non-halal)

177 Lebuh Carnarvon,

10200 Georgetown, Penang

Email : twobunspenang@gmail.com

Business hours : 12pm to 12am

Facebook : Two Buns

Butterworth Cafe

Last week, I went to Butterworth Café with my friends. It was my second visit but the first visit I only tried the Tiramisu because my friend said they are famous for their Tiramisu. Too bad I did not take the picture of the Tiramisu but I can still describe the taste based on my experience. The cake is not very sweet and the tiramisu taste is quite mild. The texture of the cake was okay and the portion is quite small. To me, I still prefer the tiramisu from China House or maybe you guys can suggest the best tiramisu in town. Thanks.



Chicken Maryland

I wanted to order Chicken Cordon Bleu but the waitress said the kitchen has too many backlog orders and it will take quite a time so I decided to change to chicken Maryland. We did not need to wait for very long even though there were quite many occupied tables. The waiting time was around 15 minutes which is normal for western food. The chicken Maryland was priced at RM14 which I personally feel a bit overprice but to be honest the portion is quite big. The taste was like other hawker style western food which is quite normal. There is no wow factor in it and I guess that my expectation was high due to the number of customers I saw. However, there is one thing I really like about the chicken Maryland. It is the banana fritter because the banana's texture was just nice and it was nicely fried. I think they use "pisang raja" and that is why it tasted good.

Grill chicken with Italian sausage

Chicken Chop

My friends ordered the grilled chicken with Italian sausage (RM17) and Chicken Chop (RM12). The chicken chop portion was really huge. They also ordered the mushroom soup (RM7) which comes with garlic breads. The mushroom soup's taste was not bad but I personally feel that it is not thick enough for me. I would prefer thicker mushroom soup. That is all the food that we had for that day at Butterworth Café

Address:
No. 228, Bagan Lebai Tahir, 13000 Butterworth.
Business Hour: 6pm-11pm (Closed on Tuesday)
Contact: 016-4182029/ 012-5771189/ 016-4432029 for Reservation

My personal ratings
Price 7/10
Environment 7/10
Service 8/10
Taste 7/10
Overall comment: The food to me was just normal and like I said maybe I had higher expectation before. There is nothing wow about the food but maybe it is because we did not order their recommended such as Pizzas. I saw almost every table ordered their Pizza but luckily we did not order, if not for sure we will not be able to finish.


Unkaizan Japanese Restaurant

I came across Unkaizan when I was surveying what to eat for my Langkawi trip with my friends. There are quite a number of blogs that has review on Unkaizan. The reviews by various bloggers makes me include Unkaizan in my to-eat list for my Langkawi trip. Our plan was to go there on the second night of our trip for dinner but unfortunately the seafood restaurant that we planned to go was closed on the first night. Hence, we went to Unkaizan on the first night without making reservation and lucky enough it was not full on that day. It was quite easy to find because there is no place in Langkawi which is hard to locate. There is a steep road going up to this restaurant. And thank God the old Wira that we rent managed to make it up. Alright, now let's move to the main point.....FOOODDD.

Moriawase umi sashimi

The sashimi was really nice and especially the salmon. This sashimi consists of blue fin tuna, salmon, scallop and octopus. The main point of this sashimi was the freshness in it. For a salmon sashimi lover, the salmon sashimi is definitely a must to order.

Salmon shioyaki set

The salmon shioyaki set can be ordered with a simple set or a full set. The simple set comes with a white rice, pickles and soup while the full set has an extra chawan mushi. I personally feel that the full set is more worth it. This salmon was perfectly cooked and it is really aromatic too. Besides it, even the white rice tasted delicious and the texture of the chawan mushi was really one of the best I ever tried.

Chicken Katsu Ni

Chicken Katsu Ni is a dish where the chicken was deep fried and then an egg is cooked on top of it. Some places served on top of rice but Unkaizan served separately. The gravy for this set was really nice but it needs to go with the rice otherwise it would be slightly salty.

Unagi Kabayaki

This unagi kabayaki (water eel) was served with rice but I could not remember whether it was white rice with gravy or some flavoured rice. The unagi was full of flavour and even the rice has its flavour. I believe the rice was cooked together.

Nabeyaki Udon

I ordered the Nabeyaki Udon because I saw quite a number of people recommended their udon. This udon has tempura, vegetables and egg in it. The soup was really tasty but becareful because it was piping hot when served. The udon was different with the usual udon I had because it was very springy and I personally like springy noodles.

That's all for my post on Unkaizan and I apologize because I am unable to show the price of each item due to I did not keep the receipt. However, I think the total bill was RM300++ for all the above and 4 of us shared. It was definitely pricey but really worth it. The taste of the food was really authentic and it gives satisfaction. Thanks!

Price 5/10
Environment 9/10
Service 9/10
Taste 9/10

Overall personal comment : The food was really authentic Japanese cuisine and it was definitely a class or two higher than those Sakae and Sushi King. Although very pricey but really worth the try. Will definitely go back again!