The Malaya

Recently I’ve come to realise that really good and genuine friends are hard to find. Some times people grow apart, other times things happen and the dynamics of that relationship are changed forever.

Last night I caught up for dinner with 2 very close friends Ming & Angii. The funny thing about our friendship is that we don’t see each other often, but we always know what is going on in each others lives (thanks to MSN, email and mobiles). With these guys I can totally let down my guard, they don’t judge me and I can tell them anything.

Over dinner we reflected on how much we’ve grown up. We’re no longer the same 16 year old kids with crazy dreams; instead we’ve actually started living them. So thank you both so much for your friendship over the years and Ming I will be sure to send you some burger rings for X’mas.

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We took Ming for a belated birthday dinner at The Malaya on King Street wharf. With yesterday’s sweltering hot weather it was really nice to find somewhere with a nice view and air conditioning. We arrived at 6:00pm and within an hour or so, the whole place was packed with people.

I stole this photo from their website because because I forgot to bring my camera again (what's up with that!?!) so you will have to put up with pics from my camera phone.

We went with the $40 set menu and there was plenty of food to go around. Compared to other banquets out there at around the same price this was fairly good value (considering the location). Having said that, you can easily get the same dishes at the same quailty for a lot less at smaller Malaysian eateries.

The $40 (per person) Set Menu

Popiah - Thin pastry skins filled with sliced chicken, king prawns, shallots, vermicelli and beansprouts, served with a sweet soy and chilli sauce and ground fresh peanuts.

Satay Lamb - Singaporean style marinated pieces of lamb fillet skewered, barbequed and served with Malaya Satay sauce made from fresh ground peanuts and chilli.

Salt and Pepper Prawn - King prawns lightly battered, deep fried and tossed in fresh chilli, salt, cracked black pepper and shallots.

Kwai Du - Flat rice noodle stir-fried dry style with chicken, prawns, beansprouts, onion, shallots, chilli and egg.

Chilli Beansprouts and Snow peas - Beansprouts, snow peas and shredded Chinese mushrooms stir-fried with garlic, soy sauce and fresh chilli.

Peppered Chicken - Marinated pieces of chicken thigh fillet stir-fried with fresh chilli and cashew nuts in a sweet pepper sauce.

Curry Prawns with Roti Canai - made with their original recipe since 1963 and served with pan fried crispy Malay Bread.

Korma Lamb - Malay style green curry made with yoghurt served with rice.

If you and your friends love a bit of spice then give this place a go, my favourite for the night was definitely the peppered chicken.

The Malaya
39 Lime Street
King Street Wharf
Sydney
PH: 02 9279 1170

2006 HR National Strategic Meeting/ HR Retreat

St Kilda - Melbourne

I arrived in Melbourne at 8:00am Friday morning and over the next 3 days I would call The Novotel at St Kilda home. I didn't expect to be back in Melbourne for work again till next year, but hey! I'm not complaining.

St Kilda, the home of Luna Park....

Cake shops..........

And Greasy Joe's.........

I didn't get a giant room like last time (which is probably a good thing because I get scared when I'm by myself). The hotel was a bit older compared to the other ones I've stayed at for work, but a rooms a room (and there was pay TV which kept me busy during my 'free time').

I was just happy that we had access to all the cakes and biscuits that one person could possibly eat. During the day the meetings and workshops were pretty intense, by the afternoon everyone was dead tired. It was hard having to wake up on a Saturday morning and prepare yourself for a full day of 'work'.

I didn't take any photos (too early in the morning for my brain to function) but we had an amazing hot & cold buffet breakfast. I'm really glad that I don't get that in Sydney because if we did I would now be the size of a hippo.

Friday night dinner - Chinta Ria Soul

The food here was fantastic! It was freezing in Melbourne! and the Spicy Malaysian cuisine was exactly what we needed. Because we had over 16 people we ordered all 3 of the banquet menus available. For the entrée we feasted on spring rolls, curry puffs, tofu isi, ling goreng, lohbak and satay chicken.

The main meals consisted of: mee goreng, mah poh tofu, gado gado, garlic spinach, coconut rice, sambal prawns, chilli fish, curry ayam, beef rending, roti & sambal prawns.

As a food blogger I was just itching to take photos! It was absolutely killing me that I couldn’t share what I was experiencing with my friends who share my love and interest in food. Unfortunately my work colleagues just don’t understand, they think it’s a little weird that I take photos of my food before I eat it. Seeing that I was meeting a lot of my interstate colleagues for the first time I decided to be well behaved.

It's not the cheapest place to eat, but considering that it is located in St Kilda it is to be expected (lucky for me all meals were paid for by the firm).

Saturday night dinner - Dogs bar

Would you believe that this place serves Italian food??

After a few drinks I decided to whip out my camera phones for a few quick snaps.

Dips - beetroot, salmon, eggplant

Antipasto plate

Lamb shanks with mash potato and vegetables

The food here is generally pretty good, the gravy of the lamb shanks was a bit strong for my liking and the others complained that their steaks were a little cold. I'm sure that this wouldn't be a problem for smaller groups.

Sunday morning

HR (minus all the HR Assistants)

It's a tradition that we take a jumping photo every year, why?? I'm not sure....

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I flew back into Sydney Sunday afternoon and the first thing I did was make my way to the Sydney Fish Markets. The Markets were jammed packed with people; I could barely move and felt really uncomfortable.

I thought that maybe the new '2 hrs free parking' promotion had something to do with it, but it’s probably always been this busy (and I hadn’t noticed because I usually come very early in the morning).

After eating a dozen oysters I was outta there!

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I'm glad to be home.

Recent Eating Adventures

Baba Laska House

I cook lunch to bring to work on most days but now and then we'll meet up with friends for a bite. You can live in Sydney for years and years walk past a place every day and not notice it at all until someone points it out to you, Baba Laksa House is one of these places. It is located on York St and is tucked away inside the building pictured below. The only thing that points to the existence of this place is the little sign outside the door giving a run down of their most popular dishes. Come 12 0’clock the place gets packed! The food comes out fast and the wait staff is polite. My favorite is the Hainanaese chicken rice (you can pick between the breast or thigh) but what I really come for is their chili garlic sauce that leaves me with killer garlic breath.

Jacky had the laksa, I've yet to try it myself but judging by the amount of people that have it, it must be pretty good. Dishes aren’t the cheapest (around $7.80-$9.80) but are consistent with city prices.

Baba Laksa House
ShpG8/ 77 York St Sydney
(02) 9299 5833

Masuya

Everyone knows that I have a lot of Masuya love, I come here about once every 2 months because I love the service, the food and because I have a frequent diners card.

Oriental Beef Salad: Rare cooked thinly sliced sirloin beef, onion cucumber, coriander, mint leaves with lime citrus dressing $9.80

Sapporo Hot Pot -Seafood, chicken, fishcake, deep-fried tofu, udon noodle, coriander and vegetables in soymilk and dashi soup with fresh chili and garlic$22.80 p.p.

To enjoy this dish you must be a fan of soy milk! although the minimum is for 2 people you can easily feed 3. You start with the soy milk, bring it to a boil and progressively add the seafood, chicken etc.

Yum-O!

Masuya
Basement Level
12-14 O'Connell St Sydney
PH:(02) 9235-2717

Star Bar & Scruffy Murphy's

(The battle of the $5 dollar steaks)

Well not really $5 because Star Bar has now up their prices to $5.95 but I just loveeee steaks! and eating out can get really expensive. I always knew that you could get cheap steaks at the bar, but I always thought 'for $5 it MUST be pretty crap', I was so so wrong!

The only condition is that you have to buy a drink and to me it's bargain no matter how you look at it.

Star Bar

Star Bar has a much nicer atmosphere and is a great place to sit down for a drink after work, but when it comes to the food the clear winner for me is Scruffy Murphy's. It took a lot of convincing before Jacky could get me in there, but now we're there for dinner almost once every week. It's cheaper, the mash is tasty, the gravy is really nice and they provide you with a selection of other sauces (Tomato, sweet chilli & worcestershire).

Scruffy Murphy's

Scruffy Murphy's
43-49 Goulburn St Sydney
PH: (02) 9211 2002

Star Bar
600 George St Sydney
PH: (02) 9267 7827

Quiznos

About 6 years ago Jacky and I were devastated when the whole chain of Quiznos subs closed down. Back then we were such devoted fans of Quiznos we refused go near a Subway. You can imagine our delight when we found out that the stores had re-opened (via the vouchers in the Entertainment book). Today after many years we had our first Sandwich….ahh the memories….

Quiznos
World Square Shopping Centre
Shop 9.6 Goulburn Street Sydney
PH:02 9283 8663