Tuesday, March 24, 2015

KIN by us - Macquarie Park

After their success and popularity on 2014's My Kitchen Rules, Uel and Shannelle recently started a new Asian-inspired cafe in Macquarie Park - KIN by us.  We visited last weekend on a wet, autumn day - though this certainly did not discourage the crowds from visiting.  Thankfully for us - we came just before the lunch time rush so we did not have to wait too long for a table.
The cafe has a homely, welcoming atmosphere.  The open kitchen and large share tables gives the cafe a communal, lively feel, reminding C of Singaporean/Malaysian Kopitiams.

K is a coffee addict and few drinks would ever intrigue her enough to pass on her usual coffee order. This durian affogato was different.  For those who don't know, durian is a pungent fruit, especially popular in South East Asia and often referred to as the "king of fruits".  You either love it or hate it and in South East Asia, people even go on durian degustation tours to sample different species of durian.

Anyway, back to the affogato - it was a real surprise.  The ice cream had an intense durian flavour which was mellowed out by the coffee - it actually worked quite well together!  C was very jealous. A really unique drink that we recommend you try - as long as you are not adverse to that durian aroma!

Durian affogato
Onto the food.  C ordered the Waffle Belly - caramel soy pork belly, potato waffle, onsen egg, mushrooms and fresh cabbage.  Portion wise, the dish is a little on the small side.
Waffle Belly
The pork belly was really well cooked - tender and flavoursome, packed with umami.  The mushrooms and cabbage offset the heaviness of the pork belly. And the onsen egg...well, the next photo really speaks for itself...
K ordered the Congee - a chicken rice porridge with an onsen egg, pork floss and Chinese doughnut. This dish is beautifully presently.  The addition of fresh chilli, onsen egg and pork floss adds a real flavour kick to the congee and gives it a bit of a modern twist.  A comfort food, this dish brought back childhood memories of having congee on cold wintery days.  That said, at $17 a serve, we would be more inclined to try out the other dishes on the menu next time.  The Chinese doughnut could also be a little bit more crunchy/deep fried.
Arriving just before the lunchtime rush meant that we also got to order from the lunch time menu (which starts at 11:30am).  We picked the Sub-Marine, a soft shell crab brioche with a chilli crab paste. The soft shell crab was deliciously crunchy.  The chilli crab paste had chunks of crab in it and was very fragrant and gave the dish a strong chilli kick.
Overall, we love the concept of the cafe. We love how they've not shy-ed away from their Asian heritage but instead used it in combining familiar Asian flavours with a modern, Western twist.  Their menu changes from time to time so be sure to check the place out before these dishes go off the menu!

KIN By Us on Urbanspoon

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Nikka from the Barrel



When you are categorising whisky, the starting point is to ask whether the whisky in question is a single malt whisky or a blended whisky (there is also single cask whisky, but this is generally expensive and hard to find).

A single malt whisky is a whisky that is made from a single distillery from malted barley. The whisky is then aged in various types of barrels (for example, ex-bourbon, sherry or port barrels). To achieve the final product, the distillery will then blend whisky from different barrels together and add water (to lower the ABV) before bottling.

A blended whisky is made from whiskies from multiple distilleries, which may be made from grains other than barley. The blender would generally mix a small amount of older, higher quality whisky with a large amount of low quality whisky to achieve the final product.

In the world of whisky, single malts are generally held up as the superior dram while blends are thought of as something to mix with coke. This is not the case with the whisky we are reviewing today - Nikka from the Barrel.

Nikka Whisky

Nikka was founded by Masataka Taketsuru, who was born in Japan, but then moved to Scotland to study and work at various distilleries. He later took that knowledge back to Japan where he helped Suntory set up a whisky distillery. He also married a Scottish girl, Jessie Roberta Cowan, and brought her back to Japan (if you'd like to learn more, see the Nikka website; there is also a Japanese drama currently airing on NHK about Taketsuru called Massan).

Taketsuru later set up his own distillery company in 1934 which became Nikka. Nikka currently has two distilleries, one in Yoichi (in Hokkaido) and another in Miyagikyo (in the Miyagi prefecture) which also produces various single malt whiskies.

Nikka from the Barrel

Although Nikka from the Barrel is a blended whisky, blended from various malt (barley) and grain whiskies, don't think this is your run-of-the-mill blend. Its stand-out feature is that its almost cask strength, meaning that it has not been diluted down with water. Cask strength whisky generally have more taste and more punch (this whisky has an ABV of 51.4%).

Before we get to tasting, I must say I really like the packaging and the bottle with its low key, Japanese minimalist aesthetic. The square bottle is almost like a high end bottle of perfume (Chanel No. 5) and stands in contrast to the typical bottle whiskies come in.


As usual, my tasting notes are set out below:

Smell

  • From first sniff, you can tell this whisky packs a punch
  • Caramel sauce
  • Vanilla
  • Crepe Suzette 
Mouth Feel

  • Rich and syrupy

Taste
  • Immediate burst of summer berries and oranges
  • Oak notes
  • Caramel/toffee
  • Orange and bitter dark chocolate
Finish
  • The finish is long and much, much smoother than the alcohol level suggests
  • Quite a complex aftertaste, particularly for a blend
  • Hints of citrus, spice and salt/the seaside

Overall, I really enjoyed this whisky! It has a good balance of flavours and a nice kick to it.

As you can probably tell, I love Japanese whiskies and this is no exception. That said, good Japanese whiskies have become harder to find lately and have increased in price in Australia (try finding a reasonably priced bottle of Yamazaki 18). Taste aside, one of the best things about Nikka from the Barrel is that its readily available in most decent liquor shops and costs approximately $70. At that price, its one of the best value whiskies out there and well worth a try (though at 51.4% ABV, maybe not a whisky for the first-timer).



Sunday, March 15, 2015

Devon on Danks, Waterloo

Following the success of their Surry Hills branch, Devon Cafe opened a second branch in Waterloo late last year.  This morning, we were craving some reliably tasty cafe food so decided to head out to Waterloo to check out their new location.

We've previously reviewed Devon By Night which by the way now only runs from their Waterloo branch and not the Surry Hills branch.

With its high ceilings and large windows, the cafe feels much more spacious and airy than their Surry Hills counterpart.  We got there around 11:30am on a Saturday and had no trouble getting a table.

Their donut and cronut menu varies from day to day.  We picked the most bizarre sounding one - a pork floss with sweet mayo cronut.  If only we had more stomach space - we would've also liked to try their black sesame and red bean cronut.

The cronut was seriously YUM.  The pastry was flakey, crunchy and generously layered with mayo and pork floss. It brought back memories of those pork floss buns sold at Asian bread shops...but 10 times better.   

Pork floss and sweet mayo cronut
K picked the Breakfast with the Sakuma's.  We had this the first time we visited Devon Cafe in Surry Hills and as tempting as it was to try something new, she couldn't resist picking this dish again.  You can't go wrong with these flavours - miso grilled salmon, smoked eel croquette, 63 degree egg, radish salad with kewpie mayo on the side.  The salmon is cooked perfectly and contrasts with the crunch of the eel croquette.  The burst of umami in this dish makes you keep going back for more.
Breakfast with the Sakuma's
C went for the Dr Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham - a thick cut bacon, crispy potato, 63 degree egg, green tomato ketchup, pea puree and soybeans. As with everything else, this dish was well balanced in both texture and taste, with the freshness of the pea puree nicely offsetting the saltiness of the bacon.  
Dr Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham
Ignoring the fact that we just stuffed our faces with 2 mains and a cronut, we thought we may as well maximise our visit and try their dessert and new soft serve flavour.  The new soft serve is a mango soft serve with green mango coulis, evaporated milk foam, crushed macaron, rice puffs and mango popping jellies.  Delish!
 


Final dish was the Little Lost Bread - a brioche French toast with freeze dried and fresh strawberries, balsamic and strawberry gastrique, strawberry cheesecake ice cream and Arnott's biscuit crumble (bacon optional).  That ice cream was definitely yum and the French toast had a beautiful crunchy outside and a light soft inside.  Plus, isn't it just such a pretty dish?


I think Devon Cafe is fast becoming a go-to cafe for us...if only they open one on the North Shore (Devon Cafe, if you are reading this, hint hint)!  They combine cafe atmosphere with Asian inspired flavours and we've really enjoyed ourselves each time we've been there.

One final tip - there is a public car park at the top of Danks Street (where Aldi is) with free parking for 1.5 hours.  Saves driving up and down looking for street parking!

Devon on Danks on Urbanspoon