Snorlax

I think all of the books mentioned so far are new to me, thanks for sharing! I've always been really keen to make food taste like it does when I eat out. The two books that have had the most influence on that so far are: 1. Secrets of the red lantern: stories and vietnamese recipes from the heart - Pauline Nguyen Every dish I've tried from this book has been sensational, including the bun bo hue soup which is pretty hit and miss even in restaurants here. 2. Chinese cookery secrets: How to cook chinese restaurant food at home - De-ta hsiung It's so simple! : ) Lots of really useful tips and insights. This one's probably made the most difference overall. 3. Essentials of cooking - James Peterson This is the book that showed me the techniques I needed to learn. From this one I got the initial confidence to tackle whatever comes up. Edit: Added book 3 (cooking essentials)

Thanks for all the wonderful pictures, lots of inspiring dishes to try! My first attempt at documenting a meal - apples and pears in a spiced caramel sauce. I wanted to try a couple of different types of apples and pears The rest of the ingredients (minus the butter) Reducing nicely Turned out really well. I'll use about two thirds of the pepper in future though.

That's a great idea. I'll probably start that thread after my next Japanese meal. It'll be very interesting to see the differences in style and ingredients across the world. Interesting. I hope to have it again as nigiri, it was delicious. It is a bit of an odd name. Brisbane lies right on Moreton Bay and I guess we're proud of our local produce, even if it doesn't sound very appetising. They're very good on a BBQ though, nice firm flesh. That's quite likely, I'm not that familiar with fish roe. The large roe was quite salty and not really my thing. I don't think I've ever seen it used here either. You could try ordering it online. A quick google brought up two online suppliers: Cornucopia seeds and plants in Victoria who have Perilla green seeds, and Diggers also in Victoria who have Perilla red seeds. That's cool : ) Thanks for the background, I couldn't find much english information on this beer. It's very nice, light and refreshing.

I visited another restaurant with a friend tonight. This place was not as fancy but the food was much better. They were fully booked but generously went out of their way to fit us in. Unfortunately this meant we couldn't sit at the sushi bar I had the two sashimi specials Alfonsino 5 pieces ($AU 26 - $AU 1 is approximately 80 Yen) Big eye tuna 5 pieces ($AU 24) Sashimi moriawase First row from left top: squid with small fish roe bottom: salmon. Second row: top: two different kinds of white fish (not sure which, the second from the top was very flavourful) bottom: more salmon. Third row: Scallops with large fish roe, bottom: tuna. Fourth row: Octopus. ($AU 35) And a couple of pieces of sushi Left: Eel ($AU 7.9). Right: Scallop ($AU 6.9) Nicely complemented with a beer My friend had Moreton bay bug (salt and pepper) and a salad with salmon ($AU 34.5) and a side order Duck ($AU 13) not a huge serve but apparently very tasty. On my way home I found a boutique beer shop that had some unusual Japanese beers Sapporo (left) is fairly common here. The middle 2 are boutique beers from a Japanese microbrewery in Nagoya (Kin Shachi beer). The red labeled one is made with a red miso paste, that's going to be an interesting flavour! The last beer is a Super Premium Reijou Beer from Echigo Beer.

I have about 200. Each of those has at least one recipe thats made me go 'wow, I need to make that'. I justify my purchases by thinking "it's something that won't go off." My favourite cookbook is 'The Red Lantern' by Pauline Nguyen. It has recipes from an Australian Vietnamese restaurant. It's the first book I've come across, after many years of searching, that has an authentic(and extremely tasty) Bun Bo Hue recipe. Thats the dish that I use to determine if a Vietnamese restaurant is worth visiting again. Pauline's book is also the first cook book to give enough information for me to make restaurant quality food. Edited: For clarity and speeelingk.

Sorry to hear that, although I'm glad to hear that your wife is well enough to influence your dining habits : ) I'm with you on the expense, I'm also only going to be able to afford my passion occasionally . This is really encouraging. Your home-made nigiri looks sensational. I'm also keen to adopt what I learn from eating out and use it at home. Do you have any tips on what to pay attention to (or ask the chef about) that will make trying things at home easier? Awesome, I'm looking forward to reading about your visit and seeing more beautiful pictures. That's a shame. It's the first time I've experienced that. Even the slightly sticky squid sashimi usually breaks apart really easily. Not to worry, there's plenty of other places to try

Thanks for you wonderful pictures and background Hiroyuki. After reading this thread and drooling over the pictures you've inspired me to try out the various Japanese restaurants here (Brisbane, Australia) and compare the local sushi with what I've seen in your pictures. I tried one of the more upmarket expensive traditional places here for lunch yesterday (sorry for the lack of pictures, I'll bring a camera in future : ). It doesn't seem to measure up to your local sushi shop. I had a 24 piece sashimi platter which I tried as a way to sample a variety of fish. Unfortunately it only had salmon (6), tuna (3), and maybe two types of white fish (15!), no squid or anything else a little more interesting . I say maybe two types of white fish because they all had the same markings (red and white) and tasted very similar. A few of the thinner slices were hard to separate, is that usual or is it just bad presentation? I then ordered some nigiri sushi and what I got was good (Hapuka/New Zealand groper and Hotate/scallop). The overall experience was disappointing though because half the items that I wanted to order from the menu weren't available (Chutoro/tuna belly, Botan prawns, and even plain oysters). Makes me wish they'd use a 'seasonal' tag or even a nice board with what's available like in your photos. The beer (Yebisu) was good though Have you gone back to your local sushi shop since your last post?