Ylee

Just wanted to chime in to say, I've had mixed results with recipes from Alinea, but I still love the book for the photography and wealth of ideas. I'm also a huge fan of Claire Clark's book. It wasn't what I expected when I bought it, as I was envisioning something more focused on restaurant-style, plated desserts - but I've tried many recipes from it and the results have always been solid. The red wine chocolate cake for example.

Hi Fergal, They have the same menus for lunch and dinner. Seafood there is one of the freshest and best you'd find in Sydney. Looking forward to reading your review once you've visited.

I prefer not to have music playing, but don't mind it if it's on. As long as it's not the same album that we've been listening to three days in a row (which has happened before)!

This is not a particularly unusual cookie, but I love Mexican Wedding Biscuits/Cookies - a shortbread style cookie with nuts, dusted with icing sugar. Similar to the Greek Kourambiedes.

Oh no, when did this happen? I was there in Oct of last year. We tried an eclair (amazing), matcha danish, and a selection of cakes. The matcha one was particularly good. I think it was called 'bamboo'.

Haven't tried Henri Charpentier, but I've been to Hidemi Sugino's and took some photos of the cakes on display before realising that I wasn't supposed to (oops). We had some lovely cakes there, but I think overall, if I had to pick only one pastry shop to return to, it would be Sadaharu Aoki's.

Very excited - just ordered my copy! Can't read a word of French, but I'm sure I'll get by somehow.

Definitely macaroons, and lamingtons!

Thanks, I had a look at the Chef Rubber site. They don't have any information on shipping (which maybe they only reveal once you have registered and are well on your way to checking out an item).. which is annoying. Is Chef Rubber reliable?

Hi everyone! I was looking for some online alternatives to Amazon for buying cookbooks, and stumbled across this one, which has quite a few books I want, at a fairly reasonable price (eg. the Frederic Bau book is cheaper here than on Amazon) http://www.chipsbooks.com/ Just wondering if anyone has used this site before (I will be ordering internationally) and if they consider it reliable? Thanks in advance!

I went there recently. (http://blog.lemonpi.net/?p=1661) We had an early dinner (6pm) and were pretty much one of the first people in, so no queueing, thank goodness! I haven't had many soup dumplings before, so didn't have a point of reference, but I enjoyed the meal. Have been reading a lot of criticism about the prices though!

I'm looking to smoke some chocolate for maybe a ganache. Am wondering if anyone can offer advice on this (eg. how long, and what should I smoke the chocolate with), or point me in the direction of where this has already been discussed..? I did a search but couldn't seem to find anything relevant.

How about lemon flavoured white chocolate ganache? I've filled chocolates with lemon curd before, but served them cold because I was worried about them being too soft as well. Didn't have any problems with moisture on the chocolates though.

I too have always wondered about this question. I've been told that it does make a difference to the end product (the churned ice-cream) and whisking the yolks and sugar until pale will result in a lighter product. But by light do they actually mean, a creamier product?

I'm quite partial to anything by Woodside at the moment. Tarago River cheese, mentioned by garlotin, is pretty good too. I like their Gippsland Blue and Shadows of Blue. Neither are overpowering.

My current fav yum cha is Zilver in the city.

Wow great photo! Thanks for the link I like the look of concentration on his face. I haven't had time to try the recipe out yet, but plan to when I get a weekend free! Will let you know.. I think the 'slapping' thing is because the dough is quite soft and sticky (like in that photo), so really, you wouldn't be kneading it per se.

I love Tokyo Mart! Always end up buying a lot of junk food though, whenever I go there.

Got your message. Sorry about the delay. Here's the recipe. ----------------------------- Popiah Skins (makes about 30-32) : 290g plain wheat flour and 60g tapioca flour (for a lighter mix), or about 350g plain flour 8 large eggs 4 cups water pinch of salt Sift flour into a basin. Make a well in the centre, break in the eggs, and stir lightly, adding the water and salt to produce a batter. Stir out all lumps and leave the batter to stand for at least one hour. Brush a frying pan with oil lightly (or use a non-stick pan). heat the pan on a stove set on a low heat, and when it is hot but not too hot pour in enough batter to cover the bottom of the pan thinly (it should not be so hot as to create holes and therefore perforations in the pancake). Allow to cook until the pancake lifts around the edges and is cooked. Lift the pancake out and place it on the back of an upturned plate to cool. If it is too thick stir a little more water into the batter mixture before proceeding any further. Proceed in the same way until all the batter is used up, piling each successive pancake on top of the last. ------------------------------- And this one actually yields the kind of eggless popiah skins I grew up eating, but I haven't tried the recipe out yet. I've seen people cooking popiah skins by the roadside. The dough is "slapped" onto the hot flat griddle, leaving behind a layer of skin which is then peeled off and left to cool. Will be attempting this some time, as it sounds easy.. and fun! Meanwhile, if you beat me to it, please report back! 600g plain flour 1 tsp salt 200ml water Method Mix flour, salt and enough water to make a sticky, soft dough. Beat till smooth then slap dough till elastic. Cover with a damp tea towel. Leave to rest for 2–4 hours. Heat a heavy cast iron griddle over a moderate heat. Rub the surface lightly with a piece of oiled cloth. Take a handful of the soft dough and rub quickly and lightly across the pan to make a thin round shape of a desired size. Cook the dough on a moderate heat until the popiah skin can be easily peeled off the pan (this process takes about a few seconds.) Lift the popiah skin of the griddle and stack each one. Always cover the popiah skins with a damp tea towel until required.

Hi there! I don't think I've ever seen them around in the shops, though I can't say I'm ever on the lookout for them, as a good version of them is pretty easy to make Can give you the recipe if you're interested.

The calamari rolls were my highlight too, when I visited that restaurant. Looks like you got way more peanut powder on your dessert than I did though. (My pictures here : http://blog.lemonpi.net/?p=1054 )

Dejah, does the agar work in the same way as gelatine? ie. would you use it in a frozen dessert? Also, is there a standard conversion when switching to agar?

Need help urgently as I have a function in a little over a week's time that I already had a dessert approved for. Unfortunately, I was only informed today that the dish has to be halal, which means I can't use my original recipe - It's for an ice-cream parfait, which has some gelatine in it. I've been told by the manufacturer that the gelatine I normally use (Gelita gold-strength) is not halal, so I'm not sure what to do. Apparently you can get kosher gelatine from the supermarket, so I'm going to try to find that, but I haven't used anything like it before and don't know if it's of the same strength. Am wondering if anyone uses such gelatine and can help..?

Thanks! Very wow-looking sweets!

Has anyone tried Sherry Yard's "Secrets of Baking" Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe before? I loved the chewy result, but was wondering if there was maybe a typo in the book with regards to the sugar content as they were very sweet. The conversation I had with someone about them was something along the lines of : Him: These cookies are nice, but they are desperately sweet. Me: Yes, they are a bit sweet.... Him: No, not a bit sweet, desperately sweet! One recipe I really love though, is Tartine's Deluxe Double Chocolate Cookies. The chocolate is melted and whisked into the dough. It's not a chocolate chip cookie, but I guess you could probably add chopped chocolate if you wanted to (then they would be Triple Chocolate Cookies!).