St Ali (South Melbourne, Melbourne)

Recently I took a last minute business trip to Melbourne but was not expecting much, if any, opportunity to check foodie places out. Well, little did I know it would turn out to be meals in 3 places I would be blogging about.

The first one is St Ali. I have heard about their coffee (of course!) but didn't realise they had a cafe in South Melbourne. This is where my rather new Melbourne office is located. When we arrived at the office, it was lunch time and DD had a flash of inspiration to check out St Ali. Out came google maps and before you know it a group of us were ensconced in this very hip warehouse like cafe.

After poring over the menu and realising the prices were not your average cafe prices, we decided on the following.

Porky Pig's Christmas Lunch - Prosciutto and Brie toastie with cranberry sauce.

The Daddy - Breakfast bun with Cumberland sausage, bacon, scrambled egg and tomato chutney.

Croutons Soup Bar (Take 2)

Well, I am back at Croutons Soup Bar. Kelvin, the owner of the soup bar, had read my recent posting about the soups I had at his place and kindly posted a comment on my blog. Most especially he wanted to comment on my comments of the Boston Clam Chowder (Croutons Soup Bar).

He found my comments on the chowder constructive and invited to me to drop by and sample the revised clam chowder. Honestly, I was stoked that Kelvin had found my post and responded to my comments. It is great that he was not dismissive of my blog and felt compelled to provide me some feedback.

Kelvin - the proprietor

I introduced myself to Kelvin, who showed me the revised Boston Clam Chowder. The colour of the soup is much lighter than before and a few things have been tweaked. Firstly, the carrots are now added to the soup towards the end of the process and not in the beginning (as it used to be and caused a lot of colour bleed). The butter used has been changed. I was given a sample taste and I must say it did taste very nice, I even managed to get a nice piece of clam which was lovely! So, thank you Kelvin, a much, much nicer clam chowder!!!!

Boston Clam Chowder

The sampler I tasted

While I was there, I thought I should try out another soup. It was a perfect day for a bowl of hot soup. It was grey, wet, and windy, very windy!!! So this time I ordered the Indonesian chicken soup, better known as Soto Ayam. It was delicious and having the chilli jam tossed into the soup gave it the right amount of kick, which I so enjoyed!

So far, this one is my favourite.

Thanks Kelvin. It was a pleasure meeting you and I look forward to hearing news of you opening your second outlet sometime in the near future.

Croutons Soup Bar
Shop G27, Metcentre
60 Margaret Street (enter via Jamison Street)
Sydney

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Croutons Soup Bar

About a month ago, my friend CW sent me a e-article from the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Living about a soup station that was making interesting soups and the outlet was located near my office. The article link is here (http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/-1znxt.html). The place is called Croutons Soup Bar.

So I mentally filed it away for a future visit. This week in Sydney hasn't been that warm and it was a perfect time to check out the Soup Bar. I found a queue of people lining up to place an order, there was another group hanging around the large Soup Vats waiting to pick up their order. That was a good start. It can't be that bad if there are people queueing up to place an order.

On my first visit, I decided to have their Boston Clam Chowder. I also had a slice of Brasserie Bread's Country Sourdough for an extra dollar.

The soup was very hearty and tasty. The serving was very generous, there were heaps of vegetable and bits of bacon in the soup. I expected the soup to be creamier in look because that is what I am used to especially after having this soup in Boston. I could taste a hit of spice in the soup and upon reflection realised it is the cayenne pepper that provided a little kick to the soup. But I was not disappointed with the soup, I wouldn't call it a clam chowder though. In my opinion, it's more like an interpretation of the clam chowder.

On my second visit, I decided to try the Tarragon Poached Chicken with brown rice. I also ordered the Quinoa and Soya Sourdough bread slice. Hmmm...delicious! I really loved this soup. There were chunky bits of chicken, generous servings of potatoes, carrots and onions. The denseness of the quinoa and soya bread paired beautifully with the soup.

I have made a mental note to try out their Indonesian Chicken Soup on my next visit.

Croutons Soup Bar
Shop G27, Metcentre
60 Margaret Street (enter via Jamison Street)
Sydney

Bak Kut Teh

Bak Kut Teh is a traditional Chinese herbal soup popular in South East Asia and some parts of China. I decided to make some as it is perfect dish for a cold winter's night and we have been having rather cold winter nights lately.

Traditionally in Malaysia, this soup dish is served for breakfast and is accompanied with a bowl of boiled rice. However, these days, the dish has become more than a breakfast dish. I believe there are now restaurants in Malaysia that serve it for lunch and dinner. How times have changed.

When my father was alive he had this for breakfast every day for about 40 years. Part of the dish includes whole bulbs of garlic infused with the soup and Chinese herbs and I recall my father eating the garlic bulb for breakfast. I recall how much he loved the dish and how he so enjoyed downing all that garlic.

The packet of herbs I used is from a Malaysian company called Tean's Gourmet and you can buy it or other brands at most Chinese/Asian grocery stores.

The Chinese herbs and spices

Dried shiitake mushrooms

Canned mushrooms

Here are list of ingredients for this lovely soup dish.

1 packet of Bak Kut Teh herbs (in this case there are 2 sachets)
1500ml of water
1 kg of pork ribs (Chinese style) - cut to preferred size
15 pieces of dried Shiitake mushrooms (soaked for at least an hour)
1 can of button mushrooms (drained of liquid)
2 bulbs of garlic
1 tbsp of thick caramel sauce
Salt to taste (start with about 2 tsp)
Light soya sauce to taste (start with about 1 tbsp)
Fresh red chillies (optional)

Instructions:
1. Put the 2 filter bags of herbs and spices in water to boil at medium temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Add the garlic, pork ribs, thick caramel sauce and salt to boil. Then simmer for about 45 minutes.
3. Then add in the Shiitake mushrooms (drained of liquid) and simmer for about 20 minutes.
4. Add in the light soya sauce and adjust taste to your preference.
4. Then add in the button mushrooms and simmer for another 15 minutes.
5. Final taste of the soup to determine right balance of saltiness.
6. Serve with boiled white rice and some freshly cut red chillies (note that the red chillies are optional)

I like cooking this in the winter and I hope you will enjoy it too. The herbs from the sachets are quite strong in flavour and smell but add such an interesting character to the dish.