jkim

That wiki is wrong in so many places, it's not funny. I suspect Kimbab was brought from Japan, based on one of the key "traditional" ingredient being Japanese. However, it is completely different to Sushi. Traditional ingredients include: - Spinach (pre-boiled and seasoned in sesame, salt and oil) - Carrot (pre-boiled in soy sauce) - Egg (fried flat) - Fake crab meat (mat ssal) - Takuhan [pronounced dakkang in korea] (they now call it dan mu ji, but we know it is a japanese pickle - takuhan). Later adaptations have added: - Ham, spam, bulgogi mince, boiled and seasoned octopus, or other such cooked meat. - Cheese - Kim chi Unlike sushi, it does not include: - Fresh fish - Fresh veg (exception being cucumber IF used) - Leafy veg (i.e. lettuce) And no one "dips" it in kimchi soup. We dip it in ramyun soup... especially cup ramyun.

When we were there, we had the "westernized banquet". Apparently, they have 2 separate banquet menus, one is westernized and one is chinese. In terms of service delivery, it was impeccable. I can't fault it. I thought the decor was not that special, since it just felt like "another middle/upper cantonese restaurant" (i.e. Shark Fin Inn). The food was... my opinion was that it was a bit hit and miss, but I think that was due to the "western" style than anything else. The 6 course consisted of the following: Baked Crab Shell Minced Quail in Lettuce Leaf Platter of Spring Onion Cake, Crispy Bread Scallop Roll & Lamb Spring Roll Peking Duck Steamed Half Crayfish with Ginger & Spring Onion Grain-Fed Black Angus Eye Fillet with Spicy Szechuan Sauce Served with Seasonal Vegetables & Special Fried Rice You'd note the Chinese banquet menu is a bit different: King George Whiting Baked Crab Shell Minced Quail in Lettuce Leaf Sauted Seafood with Garlic Peking Duck Grain-Fed Black Angus Eye Fillet with Spicy Szechuan Sauce Served with Seasonal Vegetables & Special Fried Rice Now for the run down. Baked Crab Shell was fantastic. You'll note I have not much to say if I was happy with something. The Quail Sanchoibao was nothing special. Just standard stuff... It was quite... "clean"? so that's a +. I was quite disappointed starting with the platter course. Only the scallop roll was good. The others were quite boring and flavourless. Big disappointment number 1: peking duck. No... just no. It did not taste "right". The sauce was way too overpowering to taste the duck, and the matched wine was even worse, overpowering both sauce and duck meat. They should really reconsider how they do their peking duck, since the combination should all work together rather than 1 overpowering the rest. Big disappointment number 2: the lobster... Steamed crayfish, with just a blob of sauce on the side. How boring can you get? You'd note the chinese menu sounds a lot nicer (sauted seafood - which I assume is done cantonese style with noodles?). I thought so too, and would have loved it if they served that instead. Best: The steak was the best steak I've had in Melbourne... much better than "steak" specialist places or French restaurants. I wasn't that happy with the sauce, but the meat itself... oh how tender and flavoursome that was... cooked perfectly so it was juicy and tender, but not too rare. Dessert: Fruit platter was served as dessert. OMG I want to find out their supplier. The freshest fruit I've tasted in Melbourne... I've only tasted fruit this good overseas. I thought the sommelier was not what I would expect at a venue as reputable as the Drum. We had 4 wines, 2 whites and 2 reds. The white selection and matching was quite well done. However, I felt his selection of reds to be bad. He matched Burgandy with Peking duck. Come on... who does that? Burgandy was way too heavy to suit the fruity flavoured duck. It went much better with the steak (course 6), but of course, he recommended a different wine for that course. I think he should have popped a fruity light red (i.e. pinot noir) for the duck course. All in all, a place that could do with some improvements, and I would definitely go back to (after they adjust) - to try the Chinese menu. Really? Flower Drum is like one of Melbourne's most famous icons in terms of restaurants. Granted, it's gone downhill during recent times, but prior to the advent of Vue De Monde, I believe Flower Drum was considered Melbourne's best (as in #1) restaurant for over a decade...

Thanks for the suggestion. I've looked it up on Urban spoon and although the reviews were pretty good, it didn't look that "special". In fact, some of the comments lead me to believe this is too high risk (hit and miss) to put my name down as the organiser for this event - especially if it becomes one of the miss nights mentioned in the user reviews. I'm looking for something a bit more up-market and consistent, or a bit more unusual (i.e. Aquarium [done 5 years ago] with clown to entertain kids) to make it a bit "special". My current considerations are: - Vue de Monde (can scrape in budget with the function package, and can't take kids OR maybe we can hire a room in the Rialto and a nanny and put up the kids there or something... not sure how well this idea would go down with the parents) - Mo Vida (I personally don't like the food there but most people seem to, and Tapas are always fun for the kids(? is it just me thinking this?) - not sure about function area - haven't found out yet). - Somewhere in crown (i.e. maybe we can hire a room in Crown Promenade/Tower and a nanny and put up the kids there or something... not sure how well this idea would go down with the parents) - Stokehouse - being next to the beach is always good... - Call me stupid but I can't think of any "unusual" events...

Nope... Korean food tends to be very sweet, with liberal use of sugar (or more often, yori dang). Some common examples are: - Kimchi (lots of sugar in my favourite type: gut jjo ri) - Bul go gi - Kal bi jjim - Hong eo whe I think you may be mistaken that Korean food is not sweet based on your experiences at Korean BBQs, where they only serve ssamjang and girumjang? But in Korea, Korean BBQs are also sweet, because they use *american mustard + light soy mix; and kong ga ru or mi sut ga ru* for the dipping sauce for wine sam gyup ssal at many popular samgyupsal places. i.e. get a red oak lettuce leaf, then put a piece of perilla leaf in it, then put some ssamjang and fresh garlic in it, then a piece of mu ssam. Dip the pork into the mustard mix, then dust liberally with the kong garu so it becomes dry. Then put into the prepared lettuce, put some pajori (also sweet) in, wrap and enjoy. Already there are 4 sweet ingredients in the 1 wrap: mustard, misutgaru/konggaru, mussam, and pajori.

Hey guys, I am looking for a suitable venue for a Christmas function for the following: - Around 25 - 35 adults. - Around 6 - 10 kids (ages 5 - 12). Preferably, it should be in or near the CBD, and have a function room, with a small separate area for the kids. Some exclusions include: Cumulus (did them 2 years ago, roomy enough for kids in the art gallery dining hall) Flower Drum (did them last year, wasn't suitable to bring kids) So does anyone have any suggestions for a nice venue, with good food?

Backmi: usual spelling: baek-mi, 백미, 白米 Refers to refined rice, or white rice. (korean/japanese medium grain). Somackbun: usual spelling: so-maek-bun, 소맥분, 小麥粉 Refers to flour (whole grain wheat flour).

Hi Hiroyuki, That's EXACTLY what I had! It was sooo nice, and so much better than the crappy Okonomiyaki they server in Melbourne (Australia), which is the Binde Dduk style (or Oosaka style according to the previous posts).

Reading this thread, I'm now completely confused as to what I ate at an Okonomiyaki restaurant in Oosaka. They only had 1 thing on the menu (that I could tell) which was 700 yen? each. It looked nothing like any of the pictures of "osaka okonomiyaki" on this thread, which looks exactly like korean "bin de dduk". The food in question was cooked on a large grill at the front of the restaurant. The cooking process was as follows: - Very thin layer of white runny batter was placed on the pan. - This was thinned out even more by using the back of a soup ladle to spread the batter. - Some vegetables and grilled meats was placed on top, in thin layers. - At the end, it was topped with egg, at which stage the chef expertly flipped it to cook the egg onto the rest of the ingredients to hold them down on that initial thin batter. - Then it was flipped again and topped with sauces. None of the ingredients were actually mixed "into" the batter, but they were on "top" of them.

How much did it cost you for the head?

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Thanks for the response, but I'm looking for 1 particular recipe which Chinese restaurants around Melbourne commonly use. It's the one with the bits of garlic visible, and no other sauce apparent... apart from a light film of shiny slightly yellow tinged liquid? Usually it's done on snow pea sprouts, but sometimes on Chinese broccoli. Many Melbourne restaurants give the option of the dark oyster sauce OR this sauce when ordering vegetables.

Fatguy, That isn't dang myun. They are japanese rice noodles. Domestic, I think I've seen it done a bit differently - place in a bowl of cold water for 1 - 2 hours, then cook directly in the wok/fry pan with the meat, veges and sauces. Not a fan of jap chae so i don't make it myself. Dang myun means "starch/glucose/carb" "noodles".

Can you post the 1 hats? Also agree with your sentiments re: verge. Wasn't impressed with them.

I think it is a permanent fixture of their "winter special" menu - from April to October. I've been there quite a few times, and I like the place... especially the chips...

I've a function coming up in a couple of weeks and have been tasked with the duty of finding a venue. The budget is $40/head including non-alcoholic drinks. I've been tossing a few ideas, but would like to get more ideas before I decide. My current list is as follows (~$40 / head or less): - Paladarr Thai Issan (Alphington) #1 candidate at this stage, but Thai is a bit risky as it may not be widely acceptable for those who've not had it before. Also the only hatted restaurant I could find within the budget ($35 - 40 / head inc drinks by experience). - Izakaya chu`ji (City) #2 candidate at this stage for no other reason than below. - Meat & Wine Co (Southbank) #3 positive reactions by many, but 1 participant has voiced objection to eating "classical western" i.e. steak + chips / pasta / etc... Places I want to find out budgeting info on - i.e. if I can arrange a set menu with a coke for under $40 / head: - Cumulus - prices on the website seem like it can be done... but I don't know dish sizes so I can't be sure. - MoVida - no idea on pricing... I would like to get a list of restaurants that are: 1. not of the same cuisine type as those above - i.e. I would love to get a Chinese recommendation within the budget, but with good food and atmosphere. OR 2. better replacements of an already listed cuisine types.

How much does this place cost per head? I went to the website and couldn't find a menu.

You can definitely get them in L.A. There's a huge Korean community there. Also try asking for "mak gol li".

I haven't been to Circa recently either. However, I must say I was really impressed with Matt's stuff at Alevansi, where he was running the show solo before he moved to Circa.

Julian// (irt Circa) What about Matt Wilkinson? I was impressed with his stuff more than Andrew Mc. I would recommend going to Crown - at least once during your visit. I thought the $9.50 Potato Chips at The Brasserie was the best chips I've had ever... yea... a weird thing to be impressed with, huh? Kenzan is alright... and I think they have a special on otoro at the moment...? (could be over but they did last time i went a cpl months back) you probably don't want to miss that. O man I want to eat toro now...

umm... that's weird. the shik hye my mom and grandma makes is always cloudy white, not brown.

Gam Ja Tang is not a Korean Potato Stew. This is a frequent mistake that many people make, as most establishments use some Potatoes in Gam Ja Tang. Gam Ja Tang is a "Gam Ja" bone stew - which refers to the spine segments of a pig that connect to the ribs (mid section of pig spine). 감자탕이라는 명칭이 붙은 것은 감자(채소)가 많이 들어가서가 아니라, 사용되는 돼지 뼈다귀 부위가 소위 '감자뼈'라고 불리우는 척추뼈의 한 부분이기 때문입니다. 뼈 속에 노랗게 붙어있는 힘줄을 '감자'라고 부른다는 것입니다. 감자탕은 돼지 사육으로 유명했던 삼국시대 지금의 전라도 지방에서 농사에 이용되는 귀한 '소' 대신 '돼지'를 잡아 그 뼈를 우려낸 국물로 음식을 만들어 뼈가 약한 노약자가 환자들에게 먹게 한 데서 유래된 음식입니다.

I don't know about where you can get it, but you can probably get PET bottles from your local Korean importer. The PET bottle variety are usually 8 - 9% alc / vol.

Does anyone know the recipes for the sauces for chinese stir-fried? vegetables that are commonly available at chinese restaurants around melbourne? I'm interested in the "snow pea sprouts in garlic sauce" garlic sauce recipe. I looked on the internet, but they use sugar, thai sweet chilli sauce and oyster sauce in their garlic sauce... which i think sounds like a different recipe than the flavour I'm referring to.

lol i can't stand nu rung ji candy...

I have a piece of rump steak, and I want to make something that is fairly easy with it for dinner. However, I don't want to make a rump steak. I also don't want to use any exotic ingredients... just ingredients readily available in my kitchen without going out to shop... and I don't want to spend more than 30 mins cooking. What can I make? I made a beef with black pepper sauce last week, which meets all the requirements above, and turned out quite nice, but I would prefer to try something new if anyone has any suggestions... My readily available ingredients include: egg, flour (white, corn, potato), milk, salt, pepper, soy (normal, sweet, sushi), gatsuobushi, vinegar (white and balsam), worchestershire sauce, oils (butter, margarine, olive, peanut, canola), cheese (mozzerella, parmasan, cheddar), chilli powder(korean course variety), go chu jang, dwen jang, honey, sugar, lemongrass (dried), bay leaf (dried), basil (dried), garlic, onion, carrot, mushroom, chinese oyster sauce, chinese plum sauce, ketchup, mustard (american, seeded, french), mayonaise... and some more stuff i'm sure to be forgetting. What can I make?