Max Brenner

Death by Chocolate

Max Brenner aka The Bald Man has taken the world by storm with his innovative chocolate making ways ,he's like the 2st century Willy Wonka and has stores worldwide.

 Now before i met The Boy i was living under a rock so i had no idea of who the hell Max Brenner was what he did and what his restaurants were.So if you also don't know who he is then you must be living under a rock as well (LOL)

The Boy used to work with Max Brenner and knows Max Brenner personally so he was the one who took me for the first time to my first Max Brenner chocolate experience at Broadway and this was in 2011 (I know long time aye). I remember we ordered the Tutti Frutti Waffle and Milk Chocolate Sukao (where you melt your own chocolate and suck it up through a fancy straw). Now for me in general im not a sweet tooth of a person,i prefer savory over sweet any day but sometimes you just need some sweetness in your life. Now from that 2011 experience i still remember that i really didn't like the Tutti Fruity Waffles as they were really stodgy and heavy and too sweet for my liking (or maybe i felt like that cos i was in a bad mood that day lol) however i really liked the idea of the Sukao thing where you melt your own chocolate over a candle and mix it with warm milk and suck it up. But in the end i just found it a waste of money.

Fast forward to 28th June 2013 and this was my second time in visiting Max Brenner but this time in Parramatta. So my friend Miss B came back from Melbourne so this was a great time for all of us to catch up so me,Miss K and Miss B went to watch Despicable Me which was very cute and funny and after finishing the movie we thought it be great to go to Max Brenner for some girly gossip session.

Now as soon as you enter Max Brenner you straight away get this nice cosy young atmosphere feel oozing from the restaurant. The interior is all wooden and theirs little wooden tables and chair situated all around the restaurant and as soon as your enter you'll see 2 big barrels of milk and white chocolate churning inside the barrel. The restaurant is full of young uni students and theirs some young couples sitting as-well so Max Brenners is great for a date. 

Since we weren't really hungry we just ordered warm drinks. I ordered Mexican Spicy Chocolate,Miss K ordered Coconut Chocolate and Miss B ordered Max's White Chocolate Chai and a jug of water to share.

Clockwise from top left: Max's White Chocolate Chai ($6.00),Coconut Chocolate($6.00) and Mexican Spicy Chocolate ($6.00)

It took a long time for our drinks to arrive and we had to ask numerous times from numerous staff members for our jug of water. After our drinks arrived i was a tad bit disappointed as the sizes were quite small for the prices we paid for them. Mine and Miss K's arrived in Hug Mugs and Miss B's arrived in a fancy teapot thing which you place over a glass to pour the drink in. Taste wise my drink wasn't that great and the texture was very watery similar to like when you get those instant coffee powders which you just pour in hot water. The flavour was very odd and not chocolatey enough. It did have a spicy note to it and did live my throat burning for a little bit but overall i was very disappointed. I didn't try Miss K's drink but i did try Miss B's drink and  that too was very watery.There was just too much spices in her drink such as cardamom,cinnamon and star anise that overpowered the whole drink and didn't even taste like chai. It was like they just added random spices in hot milk and served it to us.

In conclusion Max Brenner's disappointed me again and i just believe it's just not worth it for the high price your paying for there meals.But if your those type of people who adore sweets then this place is a must for you.

Rating: 2/5

PARRAMATTA

Shop 2187, Level 2, Westfield, 159-175 Church Street, Parramatta NSW 2150, 

Phone Number: +61 2 9635 7566

June Eats

Strawberry's and Cream Muffin (left) and Red Velvet Muffin (right)

Yesterday i had a little catch up session with my lovely friends Miss K and Miss B and Miss K gave me these lovely muffins from Cupcakes on Pitt. Now must i say that these cute little things are so delectable looking and such a great gift for anyone. So guys if your every confused as to what to give your gf for Valentines Day or her birthday then just get her these cupcakes or if your like me and like giving girly gifts to your bf then this is also great as well (LOL). Anyways back to these muffins so i tried the Red Velvet flavored muffin first and may i say they were quite tasty.The muffins were very moist and not eggy as i hate eggy muffins and the icing was very smooth and not crunchy like some icings are.However the icing was too sweet for my liking and i didn't really get much of the red velvet flavour which your normally get from cakes. Next was the Strawberrys and Cream Muffin and might i say this muffin smelt divine just like fresh strawberrys,even my clothes are smelling like strawberrys now. So this Strawberry cupcake has hint of Strawberry filled with fresh strawberries and Strawberry butter cream and has a little biscuity thing on the top aswell. Now this strawberry was very flavorsome and packed full of strawberry flavour and wasn't super sweet like the red velvet muffin and the little slice of strawberry on top was very fresh aswell. So ladies and gentleman if your ever stuck on what to gift your loved ones then these muffins are the best option and once again thank you miss K for these.

Chicken Flavored Ramen with mushrooms and onions

Now you may look at this pic and think it looks very bland then yes you are right even the noodles were very bland. Now normally i eat those Mi Goreng Instant Noodles but my dad bought so many packets of these Chicken Flavoured Ramen from somewhere so i had to try it. In the packet it said it came with some soup base powder and oil but since im used to those Mi Goreng noodles i thought it would be exactly like that but to my dismay these noodles had just 1 soup base and 1 really small packet of some sort of oil. I realized that these noodles will be pretty bland so i added some mushrooms and onions while i was cooking these noodles and to garnish a sprinkle of fried onions. When i smelled and tasted the oil from the noodles pack it was so nice that it brought me back sweet memories of Asian foods I've eaten which tasted exactly  like this oil so i need to recheck what this fabulous oil is. Anyways after it was all cooked i tried it and the noodles were very salty which believe must be from that soup packet,thanks to that fabulous oil and my mushrooms and onions it make it a bit more pleasant to eat. I wouldn;t highly recommend these noodles however the quantity is big...i couldn't even finish of all the noodles which i normally do.But maybe if your add your own flair to these noodles then it'll be more pleasant

Tuna with mayonnaise of crackers

My mum didn;t give me anything for work and the only edible ingredients i could find were Sao crackers,tuna (Italian style) and mayonnaise so i thought of making this. Before i started work i had never tried the tuna and mayonnaise combo as i thought it be work but after starting work and seeing the staff members eating i thought i should try it as-well  And it was actually really good so from there on i started making tuna and mayonnaise sandwiches and even putting it on simple crackers. Strangely the fishy tuna works well with the sweet,cool and creamy mayonnaise  Just add a touch of salt and pepper and your set. However i couldn't finish all the crackers as i was too lazy to drain the oil from the tuna properly so the tuna oil was starting to taste off with the mayonnaise and i kinda got over it .I don't know why but this always happens... i crave tuna and mayo and when i start eating it i get bored of it.But you know what another good combination with tuna is onions and chilli. Mix all these raw ingredients together and you get a hot and exotic filling for your sandwich or your crackers.

Prawn Curry With Rice and Salad

As i'm in 4 weeks of uni break and The Boy;s gone off to holidays i thought this would be a great time to start exercising,eating healthy and losing weight. I trying to start portion controlling my meals but i don't think the serving in the pic suits my portion control plan.(Oh wells lol) My mum cooked prawn curry last night so its my lunch this morning. Normally my mum cooks prawns in a rich tomato and onion sauce and we don't peel the prawns because it takes to much time. I normally like the curry sauce to be thick however my dad wants it watery and soupy so we gotta listen to him. The sweet prawns complements well with the oniony and tomatoey rich sauce however theirs are tad bit too much ginger in this curry for my liking. To be healthy i was thinking it of accompanying it with salad however the only salad ingredients i could find was lettuce and onion . I think we used basmati rice for this which i don't like. I prefer jasmine rice as it mixes well with the curry and doesn't tend to get dry. With basmati rice it's very dry and i found that if you eat it with a very soupy curry the rice doesn;t absorb it that well.

Vegetable Samosa With Yogurt 

I was feeling so hungry and had a craving for something heavy and spicy and my mum had brought samosa from work last night.Now i must say before when my mum wasn't working in an Indian restaurant i had major cravings for samosas and every time i met up with The Boy i would always ask for samosa. So now my mums working in an Indian restaurant she brings samosas everyday so i kinda of gotten bored of it but still as times i get my cravings. Now samosas are like the typical Indian savory snack of India you can find it everywhere and anywhere. The case is made out of flour similar to a roti or puri dough and the filling's traditional vegetarian with 70% potato and 30% mixed vegetables which are cooked in spices into a really dry curry and then the samosas are fried. Now my mums samosas from work aren't the greatest samosas I've tried but it still does the job. In this samosa there is lack of salt and variety in mixed vegetables which gives it not a very flavorful taste. Also the samosa casing in too thick and isn't fried off well. I accompanied this samosa with some plain Greek yogurt as it would be too heavy to eat it by itself and yogurt helps in digestion. But normally samosas are accompanied with imli (tamarind) chutney,raita (cucumber with yogurt) and/or mint chutney.

Anyways if you guys want to try this samosa or would like to visit my mum (lol) then just follow this address.

Sweet Chilli Indian Restaurant

Address: Unit1, 231 Marrickville Rd, Marrickville NSW 2204

Phone:(02) 9564 5859

Scrambled eggs and avocado chutney on spinach wrap

So it was boy;s last day yesterday as he's going to Thailand and India for 6 weeks :( :( So i visited him yesterday for our last good bye. We were feeling hungry and with lack of ingredients in his kitchen the only ingredients we could find were spinach tortilla wraps,eggs,ginger garlic chilli paste and avocados so whats better then using limited ingredients in making a new, never tried dish LOL.
After we finished cooking up a storm it was time for the final taste test. I was thinking that the egg and avocado chutney combo wouldn't go well but it actually was alright. Except i put too much ginger,garlic chilli paste in the avocado chutney so it overpowered the subtle eggy taste of the filling inside. Oh wells .... However i have changed the recipe slightly so you guys don't get the garlic explosion.Enjoy!!!! :)

Wrap Filling

Scrambled eggs and avocado chutney on spinach wrap (serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 2 Avocados
• 2 tsp Ginger,garlic,chilli paste (or just mash up 4 garlic cloves,one 5 cent coin size peice of ginger and 1 green chilli with 1 tsp salt into a paste)
• 2 spinach tortilla wraps
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 tsp oil

Method:

A.Cooking the Eggs:

1. Put 1 tsp of ginger,garlic chilli paste in a bowel and crack 3 eggs. Wisk the mixture together until all ingrediants are combined.
2. Heat non-stick pan under very low heat and add oil.
3. Pour in the egg mixture and keep mixing the egg mixture so it stays quite wet and gluggy and keep scraping the bottom of the pan to prevent the egg mixture from sticking.Cook for 2 minutes.
4. Season well with salt

B. Creating the avocado chutney

     4. Mash avocado with the ginger,garlic,chiili paste.

     5. Season well with salt

C. Creating the wrap

     6. Heat a pan in low heat and place wrap on top to heat and soften the wraps slightly

     7. Smear the avocado chutney mixture in the middle of the wrap

     8. Put scrambled eggs on top of the avocado chutney

     9. Fold the wrap and serve.

All wrapped up and ready to eat

Potato Curry

So its Saturday and it's lunch time and my mums not at home. This means i can cook... yayyyy. My mum has left me a message to make potato curry.
Potato curry is a very simple and common curry Indians make.It's very simple and easy and very little fuss.You can make it very dry and fryed or make it thick with gravy. I'm cooking a more gravy style potato curry today so here it goes. (Oh BTW this recipes serves for 4 people)

Ingredients:

• 10 small potatoes
• 1 onion
• 2 red hot chillis
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp of turmeric
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp coriander power
• 1 tbsp chilli powder
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tomato
• 1tbsp vegetable oil
• Chopped coriander (optional)

                                                 (Ingredients)

 

Method:

1. Clean,peel and chop potatoes into small pieces
2. Dice the onions,tomatoes,chilli and garlic.
3. Heat saucepan and add the oil,chilli,garlic and onions and stir for 1 minute
4. Add all the spices and sautee them with the chilli,garlic and onion for 1 minute. (If spices start sticking to the pot then add some water till it looks like a paste).
5. Add the potatoes and sautee. Cook for 20 minutes or till the potatoes become soft. Check every 4 minutes to see if ingredients are sticking to the pot if they are then keep adding more water.If you want the curry to be very soupy then add 2 cups of water.
6. Add tomatoes in and cook for further 5-10 minutes or till tomatoes become soft.
7. Serve and garnish with chopped coriander (optional)

Seutee onion,chilli and garlic

Add pototoes

All cooked

I would normal eat this with roti or in todays case with Lebanese bread. But you can eat it with rice or make a potato curry sandwich out of it. :)