Modern Thai

Longrain restaurant is definitely, not your average 'Thai' food. Initially I was very reluctant to try out Longrain as I often eat at Ying Thai at Richmond and Ying Thai 2 at Carlton, which is very authentic and has good prices. To be honest I thought, "Why would I pay more to eat Thai food that isn't even made by a Thai person?"

But who am I to judge..

I wouldn't say that Longrain's food is authentic Thai, more of a modern take on Thai cusine which makes the most of the fresh produce in Australia and has a strong focus on the aesthetics in presenting their dishes. Needless to say the taste of Thailand is there: the definite presence of fish sauce, palm sugar, lime and yes, chilli. Not all dishes have the same heat as authentic Thai dishes, but still, despite the majority of their diners being non-Asian, the kitchen does not go light handed on the chilli, especially in the red curry dishes.

So after having new warmth towards modern Thai food, I decided to try some of the recipes from Martin Boetz's book: Longrain Modern Thai Food.

I really dread abiding by every ml and gm which goes with following recipes and because I learnt how to cook by watching my mother, grandmother and many other people I have passed throughout my time so far. Measuring every ingredient becomes very tedious and frustrating for me. I cooked this small banquet ( for 2 people ) and followed most of the measurements but added the palm sugar and fish sauce according to my familiarity with these ingredients as I use them quite often. 

There really is no point of me noting the recipes as I didn't follow them so please just enjoy my photos!

Betel Leaves with Prawn and Pork

I also adapted the recipes to what I ate at Longrain, as the book has a recipe for Betel Leaves with Smoked Trout with Galangal and Trout Roe, I replaced the fish with pork and prawn instead.

Eggnets with Pork, Prawn and Beansprouts

Green Curry with Flathead Tails

I also replaced the prawn and vegetables in the Green Curry with flathead tails as I already had two dishes with prawns.

Mango, Raspberry and Coconut Custard Parfait

This meal was fantastic. Both Doben and I were so surprised how similar the taste was to what we ate at Longrain. Although it took a lot of time to prep and follow so many recipes, it was all worth the effort in the end.

Longrain 

44 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne 

Ying Thai 2

110 Lygon St, Carlton

Ying Thai

235 Victoria St, Abbotsford

Káposztasaláta (Hungarian Coleslaw)

After eating too many rice meals days on end, I decided it was time to revisit some of my childhood food. As we all do, I absolutely adored my Grandmother's cooking. My family would devour delicious Magyar food everytime we visited my grandparent's house and had many generous feasts on birthdays and religious celebrations.

One side dish that would always be a part of a banquet was káposztasaláta, which is Hungarian style coleslaw. It is quite different from the coleslaw that Australians are familiar with, as there is an absence of mayonnaise. In turn, the dish is beautifully light and refreshing, perfectly complimenting the heavy meaty dishes that Hungarians enjoy.

Being able to make a perfect káposztasaláta is some what a right of passage for a Hungarian girl. Despite only being half Hungarian (from my father's side), this is still one dish that I need to do right! On the occasions that I prepared this salad from my grandparents (Nana & Tata), they strongly approved. phew!

After all, the recipe was passed on from Nana and she is the expert.

So there are a few things that are very important in getting this dish right:

• Firstly you need super fresh cabbage! Not that I should even have to mention always using fresh produce, but really, what you are trying to achieve with this dish is crunchy sweet fresh cabbage. If the cabbage was old you will definitely end up angry Hungarians, and you DO NOT want that.
• You need to make sure to slice the cabbage as FINE as possible. You will definitely need your knife to be super sharp and have patience because if the cabbage shreds are thick, the whole dish turns out wrong.

Ingredients

1/4 of a large cabbage - finely shredded

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp white sugar

1 tsp apple cider / white vinegar

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Finely shred cabbage with a sharp knife and place in a bowl.
2. Add salt, sugar, cider/ vinegar and oil to shredded cabbage and mix to distribute ingredients.
3. Leave the cabbage for 15 minutes, mixing the salad every 5 minutes. This time will allow the cabbage to slightly pickle and give a good texture.

This salad is perfect with crumbed veal schnitzel and roasted paprika potatoes as I have here. Any other heavy meat dishes would also go well such as roast/ grilled meats, sausages or meatloaf.

Recipe: Nana Margita Koroknai

Carlton Espresso

The long awaited reopening of Carlton Espresso was revealed this week, finally (thank god).

Being the favourite cafe of my Doben and I for many years, it has been a LONG wait for perfectly made lattes, prosciutto and fontina foccacias and pancetta and egg paninis, which we always looked forward to on a day off together. We had replaced our coffee fix at Seven Seeds, and despite their passion for serving one of the best coffees in town, our hearts were still longing for Espresso's coffee and foccacias.

I must admit, I was quite scared of Tony Nicolini's decision to expand his what seemed, a perfect sized cafe prior to the renovations, but thankfully what seemed to be impossible to improve, just got better. Other than the increased noise levels in the busy lunch period, many pleasant improvements have been made. The renovations included the expansion of the whole next door shop, now including a small kitchen downstairs, a courtyard at the back and about double the amount of seating. There is a new to-order menu including many pasta dishes such as "bimbo lasange - bambino lasange", daily zuppa, antipasti and of course our favourite; foccacias.

Opening hours have been extended:

Before: 7am- 5pm 7days.

Now: 7am - 9-930pm 7days.

Another unbelievable discovery was the decrease in price of foccacias... Before all foccaccias were priced between $8.9 - 13.9, which I was more than willing to pay. As for now, ALL foccacias are only $8.90- 9.9. Hello delicious bargain!

(please excuse my new level of SH quality shots taken on my phone)

I got my usual (and greatly missed) San Daniele prosciutto with fontina & rocket focaccia and my Doben got a new addition Capocollo with provolone, green sicilian olives & rocket - delish! 

So many delicious additions to the menu but not enough days off to go..

I am very impressed with the new renovations, Tony seems to be leading the way in a new Italian cafe experience. Unfortunately, I was too scared of looking like a total groupie and take shots of the new interior, I'll just have to suggest you go have a look for yourself (or wait until I have the courage to take a photo)!

Carlton Espresso

326 Lygon St, Carlton

Seven Seeds,

114 Berkeley St, Carlton

www.sevenseeds.com.au