All-you-can-eat ribs. It’s such a beautiful concept that it almost makes me tear up at the thought.

Tender, succulent crescents of meat that slips effortlessly off the bone. The finger licking goodness of the slightly sticky sweetness of the flavourful sauce. As much as your stomach will allow, and then a little more.

I’ve been hankering for these all-I-can-eat ribs from Cafe Ish, ever since I’d first heard about them while on a holiday in Malaysia. Read more »

Nausea-inducing winding roads up a mountain pass leads to vast fields of strawberries literally ripe for the picking. A tea plantation, tranquil fields of green & yellow as far as the eye can see. Steamboat, fueled by charcoal. An unexpected but otherwise awesome food find, perhaps one of the most memorable of the trip. A new found perspective on karaoke (image included).

All this and more on Day 4 & 5 of the heart of Malaysia & Thailand, when a group of Sydney food bloggers visits the Cameron Highlands. Read more »

Mr B’s, or more specifically the Japanese & Thai restaurant Iima located on the same premises, is a venue that’s only come up on my radar recently; a last minute invite for dinner out with friends, and friends of friends. It is something of a curiousity, or perhaps an oddity.

Encompassed within the two levels of this establishment (ground floor and overlooking mezzanine) that use to be the premises of the old Mandarin Club, are a Thai restaurant, Japanese restaurant & a western bar/lounge (with its own menu). It’s an East-meets-East-meets-West sort of affair. However, each component remains true to itself and distinct from each other (for the most part), rarely falling into the culinarily dubious territory of fusion cuisine. Read more »

The Essential Ingredient recently held a VIP launch party to celebrate the relocation of their store to Rozelle.

The Essential Ingredient, and stores like it, are something of a candy store for food enthusiasts such as myself. As with a child’s first experience in a candy store, there are a wonderous array of colours, textures and aromas to dazzle the mind and tempt ones appetite. A mental list of things to purchase is compiled with giddy delight, oblivious to the thought that your weekly allowance would likely not cover even a fraction of your heart’s desire.

However, there’s more to the Essential Ingredient store, and the VIP launch party for that matter, than just candy. Read more »

It was a warm Summer’s evening when this whole episode began. A little too warm and a little too Summer for my tastes. I’d received word on the wire from a fixer that I know. A friend. She’d tipped me off to a function at a cocktail bar & lounge that had opened recently on Crown St, Surry Hills. A group of us were invited. Wanted to know if I was interested. The joint was called Tokonoma.

Tokonoma had meant nothing to me at first. My fixer informs me that there was the promise of free food, and more importantly, free drinks. That was all I needed to hear. Like the seductive scent of an exotic femme fatale, suspecting that there would be trouble by the end, I was drawn in like a moth to a raging bonfire. How could a man, down on his luck, refuse such an offer. Read more »