Billy Kwong

Kylie Kwong, Aussie-Chinese celebrity chef famous for her fusion Western/Asian cuisine, was not exactly what drew us to her restaurant, for we love our authentic Chinese style food (preferably cooked at home, by mum, but once in a while we can survive restaurant stuff). Kylie has an uncanny resemblance to my sister, so we thought maybe, just maybe, if we're lucky, the wait staff will not know the difference and give us free dinner... I mean, it's amusing.

Mum and dad had dined there before and highly recommended their mussels, but neither Lily nor I have any interest in this bivalve mollusc (however well it may be cooked), so I took on the challenge of picking the dishes that everyone will enjoy.

For starters, steamed oysters, lettuce wrap with pork mince and ginger, and seared

chicken liver with sweet sauteed onion. Oysters were plump and juicy but I skipped it (not keen on molluscs). Lettuce wrap (san choy bao) was delicious but, sorry Kylie, greasy, and we could

have used an extra lettuce leaf per person because there was way too much mince (which were also on the salty side). I really really liked the chicken liver, seared on the outside but BARELY cooked

on the inside so it was very tender and moist, though it could be cooked a bit more without compromising flavour and texture.

For main we had stir-fried mushrooms, wagyu beef brisket with szechuan eggplants, and Fukien fried rice. The four varieties of the mushrooms were juicy and plentiful, while the wagyu beef was AMAZING - melt-in-your-mouth with a great flavour that didn't overpower the sweetness of the meat itself (tomato based sauce, mildly spicy), the eggplant pieces so mushy it was blended in with the sauce. The fried rice was

lovely but we then regret the choice because the sauce from either the mushroom or the beef would have been YUMMY over the rice!! Very satisfying.

And no we couldn't fool the wait staffs, as Kylie herself was sitting in the middle of the restaurant, waiting for her friends to arrive. She kindly obliged us with a photo (of her and my sister - thanks Kylie!)!!

A few other specialties we didn't order (but wish we did) were the crispy skin duck and the pork ribs. Saw a few pass by and they looked simply devine. But we're not complaining - there's only so much space in our belly! Thumbs.

Eaglehawk Guesthouse Cafe

Our last afternoon in Tassie was leisurely spent at a cafe at Eaglehawk, between Hobart and Port Arthur, killing time before our 8pm flight. Inside the cafe are photographies and paintings created by local artists, and bunches of fresh flowers (including an amazing dark purple bunch of gladiolus) for sale.

We ordered their two cakes on offer - Sticky date pudding with warm caramel sauce and home-made vanilla ice cream, and chocolate-espresso cake served with fresh organic berries, berry frozen yogurt, and home-made raspberry coulis.

ARGH what a treat!!! The sticky date pudding was satisfying (sweet tooth delight) and the vanilla ice cream was SO creamy it felt more like frozen cream. But what really grabbed us was the presentation of the chocolate cake. What a feast for the eyes! Fresh berries - strawberries, red currents, silvenberries, raspberries - grown at the premise, fragrant, juicy, sweet and slightly tangy. Perfect. These berries alone deserve a 10/10, while the chocolate cake was a bonus. The frozen yogurt had fresh berries mixed into it and was delightful to the tastebuds. And, did I mention the raspberry coulis? I have never tasted/seen raspberry coulis like this, rich, thick, fragrant, fresh and really made with raspberry! Not like the thin-watery-red-food-colouring-artificially-flavoured coulis you see in most cafes. Divine.

Heading down Port Arthur way? Must stop here.

Chinese New Year Celebration in Tassie

To escape the usual "cook up a storm, entertain guests and wash up 200 plates and glasses" Chinese New Year ritual, I coerced my family to skip town for the week. So we went to Tasmania!

We picked a cute place for our family's CNY celebration at a little town called Grindalwald (about 20min drive outside of Launceston). Grindalwald, aka Swiss Village, is a thoughtfully designed town dominated by the resort with an 18-hold putt-putt and a retirement village across the road. Those who have already been to Switzerland (or any part of Europe for that matter) - It's cute but it ain't the real thing.

We spent a couple of hours there checking out the shops, taking heaps of photos (snap happy time) and had our dinner at the resort restaurant/bar. Dishes worth mentioning - eye fillet wrapped with bacon, served with pumpkin mash, rocket lettuce and Swiss brown mushroom, and the Moroccan-spice encrusted lamb cutlets with beetroot salsa. I had the trevalla fillet coated in parmesan crumbs, quite nice but top prize definitely goes to the 2 big slabs of eye fillet (medium rare and melt in your mouth!) for $28... at this price in Sydney you're lucky to get one slab of fillet, not two! Desserts were average and coffee was mediocre.

I must say, Tasmanian cafes have yet to learn the proper way of making espresso. None of the long blacks I ordered had sufficient crema on top, and generally lack aroma and body, even at places that served strong coffee. A good time was had nonetheless, though a great cup of espresso would have topped the night for me!