Food Archives | Page 35 of 68

Taiwanese Cafe: ZenQ Desserts

12 January 2012 Ibyang Sanchez 5 Comments Category: Food, Restaurants

Asian desserts are fast becoming popular these days. The Husband and I got interested when we saw an Asian dessert cafe in Chinatown a few months ago because they look similar to the Philippines’ Halo-Halo (heller??? Asian dessert nga diba? So malamang hindi nalalayo ang Halo-Halo).

Anyway, we’ve been hanging out in North Ryde area pre-Christmas 2011 when we chanced upon a Taiwanese cafe called ZenQ Desserts.

ZenQ Desserts is the sister company of Chatime. The difference between the two is that ZenQ offers more variety from desserts to drinks.

ZenQ’s main ingredient is the Q Ball which is a traditional Taiwanese handmade dessert. It is made up of sweet potato and fresh taro mixed with tapioca and water formed into dough. After kneading, the dough will be shaped into a ball, then they boil it before serving.

ZenQ offers several dessert dishes but if you don’t have a certain liking for some ingredients, you have the option of creating your own dessert. You just need to choose your sweet base and then let the staff know what toppings you like and they will put them all together for you.

The Husband opted to try their Grass Jelly with ZenQ Signature Q Ball and Pearl. It was moderately sweet and refreshing.

Since it is the season of Mangoes, I opted to try their Mango Shaved Ice with Mango, Mango Jelly and Ice Cream. I love the “Mango-ness” of this dessert. The Mango was fresh and sweet while the shaved ice really tasted like real Mango.

Other ZenQ desserts that I would like to try next time: their Honey Toasts!!!

ZenQ Desserts

Macquarie Centre

Corner Herring Road and Waterloo Road

North Ryde, NSW

Shop 223, Westfield Chatswood

Phone: 9411 6882

Korean Restaurant: Kaizen BBQ (North Ryde, NSW)

11 January 2012 Ibyang Sanchez 2 Comments Category: Food, Restaurants

It’s been years since I’ve been to the Macquarie Centre and now that it is near to where the Husband works, we now have a reason to meet up there.

The mall has changed and I’m glad they now have more restaurants. And what do you know, they have a Korean restaurant! The minute Hubby arrived, I told him, “I know where we’re going to eat”.

Kaizen BBQ offers All-You-Can-Eat BBQ for lunch (AUD$32) and dinner (AUD$35). They also offer an All-You-Can-Eat Wagyu BBQ (AUD$38).

If you don’t feel like gorging on lots of food, you can opt for their ala carte or their All-Day-Special meals that comes with miso soup, rice and salad.

The wooden interiors suggests a modern but clean atmosphere. The lighting helped in making the ambiance cozy and warm.

As soon as we’re seated, they served us the Banchan dishes and I immediately noticed the cute bowls. Look, a star!

It was a cold night when we visited last year (pre-Christmas 2011) so we got ourselves a hot pot of pork and tofu with vegetables. It would have been a great dish had it not been too salty for me.

We weren’t in the mood for BBQ (sometimes we’re too lazy to really cook haha) so we opted to order their special meals. The Husband got himself the beef while I had the spicy chicken. Both dishes were good and enjoyable. Nothing fancy or spectacular. It’s like good ‘ol home cooked meal which gave us comfort at the end of a busy day at work.

For dessert, they have lots of cakes to choose from. Glad to learn that their cakes come from Hello Happy. We didn’t indulge in desserts though because we were looking forward to having dessert at ZenQ (up next!).

We are looking forward to having All-You-Can-Eat BBQ here soon.

Kaizen BBQ

Level 4, Shop 408

Macquarie Centre

Corner Herring Road and Waterloo Road

North Ryde, NSW

Phone: 9805 0337

The Abundant Table (How We Said “Hello” to 2012)

10 January 2012 Ibyang Sanchez 2 Comments Category: Charmed Life of a Mrs, Cherished Memories, Food, The Married Life

Like any Filipino household, we said “Hello to 2012!” with table laden with food and fruits. Like last year, I cooked Ham and Noodles, had a dessert dish, wine and fruits. The only difference for this NY’s was I baked a bigger piece of ham (last year we had half a leg of ham) and had my first try at cooking Biko and Pancit Canton.

The Abundant Table (How We Said "Hello" to 2012)

Thank God, the food had a great turnout. The baked Ham was juicier and tastier compared to the first one I made. The Pancit Canton, to me was average, but the Husband enjoyed it.

I was nervous about cooking Biko but was not able to buy from Filipino shops so I decided to do it myself since we had glutinous rice at home that I wanted to get rid of. It was surprisingly good. I was able to replicate the taste of Biko sold in Filipino shops.

I especially bought a few macarons from Adriano Zumbo’s cafe because I love them and they’re round. In Filipino homes, putting round food and fruits on the table symbolizes prosperity.

Fruits were abundant as I went overboard. The tradition was to have at least 12 fruits. But I think we have at least 20 kinds! I didn’t keep count and I was confident in buying them because I got myself a Juicer for Christmas (Thank you, Husband!)

My mom and mother-in-law also advised me to light up seven coloured candles. The colours should be red, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple and pink. According to them, each colour symbolizes an aspect of our lives BUT I forgot what they were. In the Philippines, one can buy these multi-coloured candles which has the same size and length. Since we don’t have them here in Sydney, I improvised and didn’t really care about lengths or sizes. I like lighting candles anyway. For me, lighting candles during New Year’s symbolizes a more enlightened year ahead. I arranged the candles as pretty as I could and then placed it near our Holy Family statue. Nearby was a bowl of rice with coin, another suggestion of my mom, for prosperity.

At the stroke of midnight, we kissed and hugged as we greeted each other, watched the Sydney fireworks on TV and then prayed in front of the Holy Family.

I’ve recently opened an account with blipfoto which is a daily photo journal. Once a member, you are able to publish a photo a day. Since I cannot blog everyday but always want to document the things I’m grateful for everyday, I’m using my blipfoto account as my gratitude journal.

Let me share with you one of my entries where I shared my thoughts via my blipfoto entitled “A Grateful Life“

This was our table when we welcomed 2012. Our parents have taught us the tradition of having a table laden with fruits and food during New Year’s. According to them, this invites prosperity for the whole year.

On New Year’s, I felt very grateful for the past year of abundance and blessings. I was also very grateful for 2012 being more prosperous and abundant. Some days we may have dark clouds hovering over us but we always come home to a place where we have enough. Not just food, but with everything we need.

Thank you God, thank you Universe for always making sure we have enough of what we need and more.

Korean BBQ at Home (a.k.a Our Christmas Dinner 2011)

5 January 2012 Ibyang Sanchez 3 Comments Category: Charmed Life of a Mrs, Food, The Married Life

We’ve always loved Korean cuisine even way before we travelled to Seoul. Together with friends, the Husband and I sometimes dine at Korean BBQ restaurants in the metro.

After our Seoul adventure, I took the plunge of incorporating Korean cuisine in the household and learned cooking Korean dishes such as making my own Kimchi, Kimchi Stew, Tuna Pancake and Korean Fried Chicken. Our pantry showcases a heap of ingredients for Korean dishes (lots of chili and pepper paste!) and we even keep a separate area in our silverware cabinet for the Korean cutlery we bought in Seoul.

Three months ago, we bought a small, cheap smokeless griller and we’ve been having our own Korean BBQ dinners at home.

I usually cook a dish or two on Christmas Day but last year (which is technically just two weeks ago) was probably the most relaxed Christmas for me because I didn’t cook. We instead had Korean BBQ on our balcony during sunset, ate, talked, laughed and drank Soju to our hearts’ content. It was lovely.

The usual stuff we prepare for Korean BBQ: Sesame Oil, Chili Oil, Kimchi, Sliced Onions, Mushrooms, Lettuce and any other vegetable we may have inside the fridge. On Christmas day, we had bean sprouts so I just stir-fried it in Olive Oil and carrots then garnished with salt, pepper & Sesame Oil.

WHERE DID WE GET OUR BOTTLE OF SOJU? We find it difficult finding where to buy Soju but one of the Korean-Japanese restaurants we frequent in Sydney was kind enough to sell to us and let us take it home. According to the restaurant owner, the law states that bottled liquor should be drank in the restaurant and not to be taken home (because they are a restaurant and not a liquor store). What they made us do before we left the restaurant is open the bottle and re-seal it. With that premise, we technically just took home a “leftover” Soju.

We know we have shot glasses but on Christmas day, I can’t find it (or maybe we didn’t have it after all???). Instead we used our cute and adorable Sake glasses, a gift from our friends.

Our BBQs by the balcony is one of the best dining experiences we have at home. Other than just a gastronomical experience, the Husband and I get to bond more while we talk, laugh and eat. We have trees and a view in our balcony (we’re on the 3rd floor) so it’s just beautiful to sit out there as soon as the sun sets.

Fuji Pan Japanese Bakery

23 December 2011 Ibyang Sanchez 4 Comments Category: Food

This year’s Best Bread Discovery goes to….(drumroll) Fuji Pan Japanese Bakery! This is just according to me and the Husband.

Walking around the streets of Chinatown, we chanced up this small Japanese Bakery called Fuji Pan. “Pan” in Japanese means “bread” and Fuji Pan’s bread and pastries are so much delicious than other Asian bakeries in the metro. Whenever we are nearby, we make sure to bring home some goodies from this bakery.

Our favourite from their breads are the Nicky Lawson (Pork Floss Bun) and the Sausage and Cheese Bun. We usually have them for breakfast on Sunday mornings.