Afternoon tea at Claridge’s Hotel, Mayfair October 23, 2011

I’ve now had a few ‘traditional’ afternoon teas now…I haven’t blogged about most of them.

I’ve had a few simple afternoon teas not at top London hotels so haven’t really blogged about them. Ones worth noting was at Dean Street Town House. It was cheap, £15.95, sandwiches were good, scones were good, and the top cakes tier were pretty good.

I recently went to Claridge’s for their afternoon tea…it was hard to get a table, I booked back in August, and couldn’t get a table until October.

This is a quick post as I didn’t take any pictures.

We were ushered into a beautiful room, with a huge fresh roses arrangement in the room. Somone playing a grand piano on one side and a celloist next to them.

The service there, absolutely incredible, if we so much as edge our hand towards the teapot, someone would magically appear to pour for us.

The sandwiches were very delicious, their flavours distinct and I would say that I had the best egg and cress sandwich there compared to anywhere else. The egg was boiled, but boiled to perfection – that state when the york is no longer runny, but bright orange, and not yellow.

The scones, an apple scone and a sultana scone were one of the best I’ve ever head. It beat Lanesborough. It was buttery and absolutely moorish and the Marco Polo house made jelly was light and not too sweet. The desserts were pretty good too…consisting of some varieties including a fig tart, a yoghurt, a lemon cheesecake.

Once we finished each tier, they would ask if we wanted more, as I’d starved myself all day (no breakfast, no lunch) for the 5pm sitting, I was famished and I got a second round of sandwiches AND a second round of scones. We also got another round of cakes, but not the full array. We were also given the option to change teas…and as our sitting came to an end, we were both given a small canister of their house blend.

What a nice touch, for £38.95 (they will also automatically add 12.5% gratiuity at the end, it was well worth it. It is without a doubt the best of the traditional teas I’ve had so far.

Review: Lanesborough Afternoon Tea September 4, 2011

 

Since I’ve been in London, I’ve quickly become addicted to scones and clotted
cream. My perfect weekend afternoon these days would have to definitely include
an afternoon tea (high tea in the UK refers to an early dinner!).

I was very excited to go to Lanesborough for their traditional afternoon tea after I’d
visited the Berkeley Hotel for the more modern fashionista afternoon tea. I read
numerous reviews online, and my expectations were high.

My friend and I were ushered in straight away, afternoon tea at the Lanesborough
doesn’t start until 4pm. The tea was held in a atrium and was bright and airy, with
many tables. There was a grand piano in the corner and a gentleman tinkling away
on it, adding to the whole overall mood.

We both ordered the traditional tea and both ordered hot tea to start. We were
presented with a little starter. It was white chocolate and a berry dessert in a shot
glass. Delicious. Great start. Not too sweet, and definite white chocolate flavour.

The teas weren’t kept on our table, instead set aside about 2 metres away and not
easily reached. As the dining room filled up, my tea cup became empty. I wished it
was closer, so that I could refill it myself.

A traditional three tier was set before us, bottom layer of sandwiches, two of each.
The next two tiers were disappointing however. On the second their, there were
only 3 cakes, small, and all different flavours. Considering there were two of us,
I was disappointed that we’d have to cut into the cakes to allow us to each try a
flavour.

See the top andmiddle tier? so dissappointing

The top tier was the same, 4 or so different desserts, but as some of them were so
intricate, it was difficult to share.

A separate plate was brought over with one raisin scone, and one plain scone, and
two halves of an English muffin with cinnamon butter. Lemon curd butter, jam and
clotted cream accompanied these.

The sandwiches were fine, nothing mind blowing, but fine, soft bread and crust-less.
The warm cheese quiche had great, very short crust.

The second tier was just disappointing, as mentioned, having to share, and the cakes
were nice…abeit a bit dry.

The scones were absolutely delicious, cute little dumplings with a gold yellow top,
they were moreish and not dry or crumbly. The lemon curd butter delicious on the
muffin. We had to each choose a different scone as once again, they only provided
one of each. They did provide a second serving of scones after we asked.

My friend and I attempted to share the top tier of desserts but it was impossible as
the desserts were small and delicate.

My tea cup by this stage was empty and I wanted a different type of tea. This
wasn’t offered and it was actually hard to get the attention of the waiters.

When we did get their attention, I asked them if it would be possible to get more

cakes, I had seen other tables that had receive macarons on their tiers and we didn’t
receive any. They said they would bring more and I waited in anticipation.

After 30 minutes, it became quite apparent they were never going to replenish our
cakes. They even cleared away our plates.

Well then. I guess it’s time I asked for the bill. At around £38+ per person (no
alcohol), I found the offerings very stingy considering my friend and I had to share
most of it. I found it disappointing that despite asking for more, and being promised
that more cakes would be brought, we were basically just forgotten.

I was so excited to have a traditional afternoon tea at a 5-star luxury establishment
and I was so disappointed by the end of it.

Prêt-a-portea, afternoon tea at the Berkley Hotel August 24, 2011

I started the day shopping in Harvey Nicols, which was very appropriate for what I had planned in the afternoon.

 

Prêt-a-portea at the Berkley Hotel, which is a modern take on the traditional English afternoon tea.  Prêt-a-portea is supposed to be inspired from fashion trends and encompasses inspirations from Tom Ford, Victoria Beckham, Chloe, just to name a few.

 

It was a rainy, gloomy day so I arrived early to my 3:30pm reservation.  The hostess who met me was absolutely lovely, apologetic that my table wasn’t ready (at 3:10pm) and seating me in the foyer with a few magazines.

 

I wasn’t forgotten either, at 3:25, I was ushered (with the magazines – as I was dining alone) to my table.  There was a place card, with my name on it! Very nice touch!

Personalised Place setting

 

I was presented with the menus, and the hostess also gave me a copy of the menu and the postcard inspiration to keep.  I went for the standard prêt-a-portea without the champagne and started off with a beautifully scented caramel and pear tea. The teapots and plates were all Paul Smith, brightly coloured stripe.

 

Menu - I can't seem to rotate it!

Not too long after, the first of the savouries arrived.  Sandwiches, egg in a sweet, soft bun, tuna in tomato seeded bread, smoke salmon and teriyaki chicken rolled in tortilla.  All the sandwiches were served without crust, the bread soft, and reasonably tasty. These all went very well with my hot tea.

 

Egg sandwich, tuna and tomato bread, salmon, cucumber, terriyaki chicken wrap

Pear Caramel Tea

Paul Smith Dinnerware

Next up were the savouries: along with the savouries came with a 3 tier stand with brightly coloured, beautifully presented cake, savouries and shot glasses of little desserts.

 

Top tier, that was like a mint and coconut, I wasn't a big fan of the Yellow shot glass

The savouries: Potato salad in a crispy crust, lobster nori roll, artichoke (sour with a nice crunch), cold spicy melon soup (delicious!) and Beef tenderloin.  All tasty and when the waiter asked if I wanted some more, another plate of savouries (all of them!) were quickly brought to me.  As I finished those, with a nod of my head, another plate of sandwiches.

 

Bottom tier, Savouries

After the 2 rounds each of savouries, I was ready for the sweets.  They looked too pretty to eat! They were all delicious with very distinct flavours, my favourite being the Chocolate and hazelnut praline.  I also loved the cookies, simply because I loved how they were iced.  Many of the desserts were quite mousse-like so it was very light and none of them were too sweet.

 

One of the cookies

 

I was also asked if I wanted to tea change and this time I got amazing apple and amazing it was.  Real fruit pieces, that were seeped in hot water.  Delicious, it was something to drink and something to eat!

 

I didn’t like one of the desserts, which was mandarin flavoured, but the rest I quickly devoured.  With a smile, another lot of desserts was brought, but this time, I was so full I was taking small short breadths.

 

After I finished everything, I was asked if I enjoyed everything? When I confirmed that I did, they said, “Would you like us to pack some for you to take home?”…WOULD I?! YES! I WOULD!

 

I got given a cardboard printed box that was shaped as a pretty handbag in colours of pistachio and pink and it contained three other desserts.

 

Overall, the only criticism was one of the (many) desserts that wasn’t to my taste, and some of the fondant that was used in shaping of the desserts…other than that, the whole experience was perfection.

 

I would recommend it to anyone and never did they once make me feel uncomfortable for dining alone.  Pictures are allowed too, so feel free to snap away!

 

I’ll be going back in a few months time – the menu changes every six months.  So, so worth it.

 

http://www.the-berkeley.co.uk/fashionista_tea.aspx

 

 

Gordon Ramsey at Claridge’s, Mayfair April 20, 2011

I went to Gordon Ramsey at Claridge’s at Mayfair for my birthday and I had high expectations.  It was my first Michelin Starred dining experience.  Because I’m poor, I decided to go for the lunch service which included a £30 three course set lunch.

I got very excited when I saw the building, and went to the bathroom pretty much straight away (I always think that’s an important part of the dining experience).  The building was old style and elegant and fresh flowers were everywhere.

This was in the bathroom

There was a bathroom attendant and when I came out of the toilet, she had turned on the tap for me, with a cloth ready for me to wipe my hands. Very impressive. I must admit I was a bit starry eyed.

We had booked for 4 but were one short.  A chair and the fourth place setting were quickly whipped away and replace with a flower. Nice tough.  We were led into a beautiful room, high ceiling. Even though it was a lunch, the room quickly filled up.

Water wasn’t free, we were only offered the choice of sparkling or still…could I really have said tap? It was Evian, and it came in a glass bottle. Posh.

Water even has a little 'place mat'

We all went for the set menu, which had quite a few nice selections.

Complimentary Amuse Bouche

Our first course was a really lovely,  generously portioned Amuse Bouche which was a delightful green soup (can’t remember what vegetable) and had absolutely delicious tasty mushroomson the bottom. Was soooo delicious.

Complimentary bread

Yes...even the butter was worth a photo opportunity

Complimentary breads soon arrived, sour dough, onion and olive.  Two lots of butter was also provided, salted and unsalted.  I went for the onion and the olive bread.  The onion bread was not strong in onion, the olive one was crusty and soft in the middle, yummy.

Smoked Burford Brown egg, morel and leek ragoût, toasted focaccia

My entree was absolutely delicious.  I loved the strong taste of mushroom in the ragout and the egg was beautifully cooked, and deep orange yolk burst out when I cut into it.

Citrus-cured sea trout, cucumber sorbet

This was my friend’s favourite course (entree)…the cucumber sorbet really tasted like cucumber!!

Ceasar salad with maple bacon

This was a good Ceasar salad, and the egg was perfect but to me, it was just a Ceasar salad.

Fricassée of bass, sole and salmon, crab ravioli, shellfish bisque

This was my main, I was hoping that the shellfish bisque would be stronger in shellfish flavour, but it was quite light.  The salmon was cooked beautifully (medium rare) although the crab ravioli was a little tough (still yummy thouhg).

Braised shoulder of rose veal, roasted pear with a Fourme d’Ambert crumble

I had a bit of my friend’s veal and I was having major food envy.  The sauce was full of flavour.

Beef with Yorkshire pudding etc...

This wasn’t on the menu on the website so i can’t remeber the exact name of it.  Beef was cooked medium rare, and very melt in your mouth and tender.  The vegetables were really crisp and tender too.

Hot chocolate and pistachio fondant, rhubarb sorbet

I must admit the fondant was slightly dry and had a bit of a ginger taste but I really enjoyed the tart sorbet with it.

Passion fruit and coconut parfait, white chocolate ice cream

Another food envy…my friends’ dessert was really really yummy…they woudn’t stop going on about the coconut tuille.  Jealous.

Petit Fours

My friend had actually ordered a birthday cake for me but I won’t show it here…but it was like a delicious, delectable slab of ganache…

We also got a tour of the HUGE kitchen and then were shown to a table where petit fours were served.  Marshmellows and chocolates, yum, yum.

Would I go again? Definitely! I wanna try all his restaurants, I had such a good time!

It didn’t end up just being a cheap £30 lunch though, a 12.5% gratitudity was automatically added to the bill, the water wasn’t free, and we also ordered cocktails. I would say it was worth it though, you’d seriously get about less than that in Brisbane…and I must say the service was impeccable.

Review: Mud Dessert Bar February 22, 2011

I was excited to hear that there was a new dessert cafe, and my expectations were high. There really isn’t many decent dessert cafes in Brisbane…and with Freestyle Tout at the top, many places are rushing to open but none has really measured up.

 

Mud Dessert Bar is located in Oxford Street in Bulimba…street of lots of cafes, pretty good location.

 

On entering, it was a little bit strange.  The cafe has been painted completely black, with black tables and black chairs, I guess to get that edgy look, but the red and white pendent lighting in the room had bright white fluorescent lights and it was really strange in a cafe environment in the black room.   Room had stainless steel fans and it did little to stop the mugginess that hung around.  Come on, really? No air conditioning? Brisbane is pretty hot MOST of the time, but it was so hot to the point with the tables being sticky.

 

They actually served normal food, not just desserts and a varied dessert menu ranging from make your own ice-cream sundaes (choosing from different ice-cream flavours) for $15, to different plated desserts, $16 – $19.

 

Quite pricey considering Bulimba is the burbs.

 

The menu was quite creative and I was excited.  I chose a Mars Bar Creme Brulee and my friend chose a Banoffee.

Mars Bar Creme Brulee, chocolate Churros, chocolate sauce, chocolate ice-cream and Mars Bar Creme Brulee

My Mars Bar Creme Brulee came on a wooden board, looks impressive.  The whole dessert was incredibly rich, I’ve been known to eat 300 gram blocks of chocolates in one sitting, so chocolate overload is not usually a problem for me, but I couldn’t eat all of it.

The Brulee was huge, and I could not taste any caramel associated with Mars Bar, it just tasted like chilled chocolate cream honestly.  Very, very rich.  The chocolate ice-cream in a Chinese soup spoon was just silly, a scoop of ice-cream is hardly a one bite deal, and it was just ridiculous to try to eat, I couldn’t scoop my ice-cream up with a teaspoon so I had no choice but to just eat the whole scoop in one go.  The churros were pretty good, coated with sugar but honestly, the whole dessert had no balance.  I would’ve love some vanilla ice-cream, or some pouring cream…something to counter all that chocolate.  I was disappointed.

Banoffee, pistacio ice-cream, pistacio crumble

My friend’s Banoffee was equally disappointed, not because it tasted bad, just totally unbalanced.  The plate was piled with a strange oat-like crumble, my friend described as like cornflakes crispiness and piles of cream.  A very small layer of sliced bananas, like 5 20 cent pieces worth and a very tiny amount of caramel.  She said the caramel was incredibly tasty…but you only got a bite full.

Again. Disappointing.

There’s so much potential in the cafe, have air-con, refine the menu, drop the prices so it actually reflects the locality …but overall, I doubt I’d be visiting again.

The Luther Burger February 18, 2011

From what I’ve read, a Luther Burger is a bacon cheeseburger that Krispy Kremes original glazed donuts in place of the buns.  According to Wikipedia, these burgers run between 800 to 1,500 calories.

 

The one I made was a small one as I’d only use McDonald’s Cheeseburger patties rather than Quarter Pounder patties so I would say the one I made run between 650 and 800 calories.

 

It was pretty good, the sweet just went with the savoury and I had added bacon in mine (some Luther burger variations don’t have bacon) so it all went nice together.  I mean, it’s not the BEST thing I’ve ever had…but it’s not bad at all.

 

Next time, I want to make deep fried butter, what do you reckon?

 

My Chili December 12, 2010

This is definitely not an authentic recipe, it is just how I make my Chili. I like making a huge pot of chili and then keeping it in individual containers and then eating it with rice and cheese or topping it on a tray of corn totillas for some quick nachos. I also add a lot of extra veggies to mine because I like to make it healthy.

I don’t measure anything, I just throw it all in so it’s a bit of testing and tasting.

Ingredients
- 600g of Heart smart Beef mince
- A can of kidney beans, drained
- A can of corn kernels, drained
- 2 or 3 medium carrots, diced
- 2 zucchini, diced
- 1 – 2 large red capsicums, diced
- 3 medium onions, diced
- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 – 2 Chorizo sausage
spices are approximate:
- 1.5 tsp of ground cumin
- 1.5 tsp of ground coriander
- 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
- 5 cardamon pods, bruised
- 3 – 4 bay leaves
- quarter cup of sweet chili sauce
- salt to taste
- 10 small red chili or dried chili flakes (to taste)
- 1 cup of red wine
- olive oil
- butter
- 1 – 2 jars of chunky tomato pasta sauce

Method:

1. Fry the garlic and the onions in some olive oil and butter, I used a good chunk of butter, I love butter, and a good pinch of salt to stop the onions burning.
2. Add the chorizo, once it starts to brown, add the mince, brown it.
3. Add half of the red wine until it’s all absorbed.
4. Add all the spices and cook for a further 5 minutes.
5. Add all the vegetables, beans and add the pasta sauce
6. Once it’s bubbling nicely, drop the heat down, add the rest of the wine and simmer for about 3 hours stirring occasionally to stop it from burning.
7. Add sugar, salt, chili to taste and you’re done!

My Favourites List December 5, 2010

I’ve look at my last few blog entries and other than a recipe blog entries, I seem to hate every single restaurants out there!!

That’s not true by the way, I love lots of restaurants!  I just gt the urge to blog a lot more when I’ve had a bad experience.  I guess I just need to get it off my chest, or I want to make sure people don’t make the same unfortunate mistake that I did.

To prove it, here’s some of my favourite restaurants in BRISBANE:

Breakfast:

Flute

4/380 Cavendish Road, Coorparoo - (07) 3324 0999

I have never had a bad breakfast here, the food, the coffee, everything is excellent.  It’s on the pricey side (breakfast wise), ranging from about $16 to $24 or something.  They have an interesting menu too, steaks and polenta for breakfast anyone?? Yum yum! Never been disappointed and I’m pretty picky.

Restaurant

Anise

697 Brunswick Street, New Farm QLD 4005, (07) 3358 1558

Very small restaurant and only seats 15 people, all at the bar! It’s really great, serving Modern Australian/French cuisine and the menu changes all the time.  One of the best duck confit, the best quail, best duck fat truffle potatoes.  EVER.

Their desserts aren’t anything special but everything else is pefecto.

Best Gluten Free Pizza

Hell Pizza gluten pizza are pretty good.  I think they taste pretty much exactly like normal crust (in my opinion).  Great gourmet toppings too, but a bit pricey.  Their pizzas are about $18 – $20 with $3.50 surcharge for gluten free crust.

I also like getting gluten free Pizzas from Dominos Pizza.  I’m not above eating fast food hehe. Their gluten free pizzas are $2.95 surcharge and it’s like their classic crusts.

Sushi

I loooooooooooooooove sushi, I eat sushi at least once a week.  At least!  And my favourite is:

Hanaichi Sushi Bar & Dining

Shop E128 & E129/171-209 Queen Street Brisbane QLD 4000 - (07) 3221 1450

I love it here…my favourites are Seared Salmon Scallop, Salmon Belly and Avocado (yuuuum), Soft shelled crab hand rolls, Crab Claws, Kani Korokke…list goes on.  And you HAVE to try the black sesame ice-cream, it’s seriously the best.

Japanese

Azabu

Taringa Central Shopping Centre, 165 Moggill Road, Taringa, 4068

Only tried this place once and it is pretty awesome.  Feel of Izakaya with authentic Japanese food.

Vietnamese

Quan Thanh

5/75 Hardgrave Road West End (Brisbane) QLD 4101 - (07) 3846 3849

Thai

Golden Buddha

3 The Corso, Seven Hills QLD 4170, (07) 3902 0005

Bow Thai

14 Wickham St, Fortitude Valley QLD 4006, (07) 3216 1700

Indian

Punjabi Palace

135 Melbourne St, West End (Brisbane) QLD 4101, (07) 3846 3884

Mint Indian Courmet

394 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley QLD 4006, (07) 3252 0300

Bakery

Chouquette

1/19 Barker Street, New Farm QLD 4005, (07) 3358 6336

Chinese

My mum’s  (HA).

That’s all I’ve got for now, I’ll add to it as it comes to me!

Worse High Tea: Joseph Alexanders | Milton December 4, 2010

So, went to Joseph Alexander’s for high tea for a friend’s Stepford Wives themed birthday today.

*SIGH* What can I say, Joseph Alexanders isn’t how it used to be. They used to be my favorite place for high tea, but I can now say that it’s probably the worse that I’ve been to.

Joseph Alexanders is housed in a pretty nice space, wooden floor boards, big windows that overlook the Brisbane River with bright sunlight streaming in. Linen tablecloths, with floral China (all mismatched)…that’s where all the nice things ended.

The table were lined with paper (…ok, I can overlook that) but they didn’t even give us linen napkins. We got paper napkins, not the nice thick ones, oh no…we got these flimsy, rough napkins that you would usually get from surbuban food courts.

I was very hungry (no breakfast) so I was excited when the three tiered plates came. I ordered the gluten free high tea and this is what I got for $36.90.

Not very pretty right, let me describe everything from the bottom plate up.

First tier Sandwiches (not finger sized):
Smoked Salmon with cucumber and tomatoes:
This was alright, the bread was pretty bad. I could tell that the bread were the ones you get in package and it’s very, very crumbly, like they’ve had it for three days. The bread actually completely fell apart and I couldn’t actually physically pick it up to eat. This sandwich was OK…I was hungry and I snaffled it up.
Chicken and Avocado:
Same stale, crumbly bread, but this time, the chicken tasted like cold rotisserie chicken and had absolutely no flavour at all. Not appetizing.

Second tier Almond cake and Macarons:
Once again, the cakes tasted like it has been sitting around for three days, the cake was very, very dry and very crumbly. Taste wise, it was OK, nothing spectacular, I would expect to buy an almond cake like this from the local coffee shop with my $3 coffee. You know those cakes that are pre-ordered from like a catering company. Once again, not very impressed.
Now the macarons. I know macarons ok, and these LOOKED nice…but macarons are made from almond meal and egg whites, they’re supposed to be light, airy and slightly chewy…these were as hard as rocks. Like the texture of Violet Crumble, but hard. The flavor was OK, nothing spectacular but once again, very disappointed.

Top tier, Petit Fours:
The chocolate mousse cups were nice. Just a thin chocolate casing with soft chocolate mousse inside. It tastes nice, like chocolate mousse, but it wasn’t really anything exciting or interesting. Probably one of the only faultless thing that I had on my plate though.
Now, I saved the creme brûlée for last because I looooove creme brûlée. When I went to eat it, I was very pleased that the top gave a resounding crack, but was very curious about the green.

Yes.

GREEN.

Creme Brûlée.

You know what it was? Avocado.

Yes, Avocado flavored creme brûlée and it was disgusting. The texture was perfectly smooth actually, but I felt like I was eating sweet (too sweet) guacamole. It was gross, I felt like asking for some corn chips and salsa, didn’t even finish it. Seriously one of the worse creme brûlées I’ve ever had. But…good job for trying to be creative. Too bad it failed.

Now, with the tea, they didn’t bother asking for our tea orders until after about 30 minutes so half of us had finished nearly two of the tiers before the tea even came. We all got our own individual pot and the tea list was very small.

I ordered a Chai and it was pathetically weak.

They didn’t give us a tea strainer each, and because we all ordered different teas, we had to share tea strainers which is just wrong.

Milk that were provided was skim, (how thoughtful, is it because we were women?!) and when we added it to the tea, it gave this weak, palid colour. Not impressed.

So anyways, we had some good chats, and the service was fine…but overall, the food, the tea was just pathetic and all I can say is…I didn’t choose the spot.

I have to say though, everybody there looked LOVELY and I think the birthday girl had fun…but food wise…disappointing.

I guess I can’t talk for the normal high tea, but the gluten free one was just bad. I really can’t say much for restaurants that is OK with serving subpar, stale cakes even if it’s for their gluten free patrons.

Chinese Lion’s Head Soup August 29, 2010

I’ve been on this low-car diet lately, so I haven’t been updating this blog very much recently…after all, who wants to read about how all I eat is meat? And my mum, watching my daily consumption of meat makes me worry for my kidneys. I’m still eating out, but whenever I do…my dish choices tend towards the unremarkable….or remarkable because every ends up commenting on my food choices. Yes…I’ve become one of those people I hate. I. Am. A. Food. Bitch.

No bread, no rice, no pasta, no corn, no potatoes, no peas! Very restricting!! And what am I cooking? Bolognaise sauce, that I just eat straight…I never knew how important pasta was until I have to eat Bolognaise by itself with nothing else to accompany it…definitely no crusty bread. I eat meatballs constantly…lucky I’m not sick of it, yet.

I’ve got the flu at the moment, so I’m in need of a lot of comfort food. Usually this is loads and loads of creamy, garlicky, bacony pasta…but not allowed on my diet, so I’ve had to make something else. This recipe for Lion’s Head Soup is a muted version to the original version. The original version’s sauce is usually more thick and meatballs, juicier…this is my comforting diet-friendly version.

Ingredients
Meatballs
500g of Heartsmart (or lean) pork mince (don’t use beef because it’ll be way too strong flavoured
1 tsp of salt
1 spring onion finely chopped
1 tablespoons of grated ginger
1 egg
2 tsp of sesame oil
broth
2 cups of chicken stock
2 cups of water
1 Chinese cabbage (wombak)
1-2 tablespoon of soy sauce (I used low salt – to taste)
1-2 tablespoons of oyster sauce (optional to taste)
1 tablespoons of grated ginger
2 tsp of sesame oil
1 spring onion chopped

- Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs together until slightly sticky.
- Put everything for the broth into a big pot and press down the cabbage until they are all wilted. This may take a while as there are a lot of vegetables.
- Once the cabbage has wilted and the broth has started bubbling, drop the meatballs in. I use a rounded teaspoon and roll into a ball and drop them in.
- Let them bubble away, but try not to stir too much or you’ll end up breaking up the meatballs
- Add more water if you like if you think it needs it.
- Simmer for about 30 minutes, and it’s ready to serve.

It’s a lightly flavoured soup that’s very good when you’re sick!