Elliot's Stable

Saturday is always the day for me to spend time with my partner. It is also usually our outing/ dating day. And also the day where the kitchen is closed.

After shopping around in the Auckland, it's time to look around for lunch. We ended up visiting the Elliot's Stable for a light lunch. Elliot's Stable is an epicurian village which was tranformed into a distinctive marketplace.  

There are a few different gourmet eateries to choose from. We chose to try Frankies Wurstbude sausage rolls with coleslaw as a side. It turns out to be yummy.

Apart from that, we also had the caramelised apple crepe from Torchon French Creperies as dessert. In my opinion, this stall is quite similar to the one that I had before in Ponsonby which I had mentioned in my previous post. Why do I say that, it's because the menu is totally the same as La Cantine du Torchon in Ponsonby.

It was a good lunch although it was a light ones.

Elliot's Stable

http://www.elliottstables.co.nz/

Risotto & Dessert

It time for a break from Chinese food for dinner. Hence on Friday night, I decided to cook mushroom and pancetta risotto for dinner served with the baby carrot that I had bought earlier from the farmer's market.

Since risotto is something that does not need much preparations, I decided to make dessert to go with the dinner. My partner suggested to make some steam puddings. Therefore, it's my responsibility to find a recipe of steam puddings. I was searching high and low for the steam puddings recipe through the Cuisine Magazine that my partner had collected since May 2006. After spending an hour looking through all the magazine, I managed to find 2 puddings recipes which were coconut bread pudding with fresh pineapple & mango puree, and date & ginger stickies.

Between the two recipes, the bread pudding is a steam pudding and meanwhile the date & ginger pudding needs to be baked. My partner preferred to have date & ginger stickies this time. Hence I am off to the nearby supermarket to buy the ingredients needed.

Preparation of the pudding was very easy and takes about 20 - 30 minutes only. Then you just bake it in the preheated oven for another 15 - 25 minutes. And it's ready to be served. I served the pudding with some berries coulis which provides some sourness taste to compliment the sweet pudding. The pudding turns out to be a very delicious and not very sweet to my liking.

Date & Ginger Stickies (Recipe from Cuisine Magazine)

Serves: 12

Ingredients:

60g butter, plus extra for the tin

200g dates, chopped into small pieces

3/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 cups boiling water

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup golden syrup

2 eggs

1 teaspoon banilla essence

1 1/3 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

50g crystallised ginger, finely chopped

Methods:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degree Celcius fanbake.

2. Butter 12 small muffin tins with a little extra butter.

3. Put the butter, dates, baking soda and water in a large bowl.

4. Soak this mixture for a couple of minutes. The mix in the sugar and golden syrup.

5. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla then fold in the sifted flour and baking powder.

6. Mix in the ginger.

7. Pour the mixtures into the muffin tins to about 2/3 full.

8. Bake for about 15 - 25 minutes or until the cakes feel firm in the center.

9. To check whether the cakes is fully cooked or not, insert in a skewer in the center and if it comes out clean, it means it's fully cooked.

10. To serve warm, heat up the puddings in the microwave for 20 seconds.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

In a day where I don't have to cook for dinner as my partner and I will be having the leftover food from the accumulation of 2 days dinner, I took the opportunity to bake a pandan chiffon cake.

It is my first time baking it. While I was at home, my mum used to bake orange chiffon cake quite often. Meanwhile I am the usual one who was helping to extract the orange juice for my mum baking.

I personally enjoyed eating chiffon cake and I can have 2 -3 pieces each time. Also in my opinion, it's the easiest cake to bake after all. Besides, my partner had always been waiting for me to bake it since the first time I mentioned it.

Therefore, on Wednesday, I decided it's time for me to bake pandan chiffon cake.

It took me some time to extract the pandan juice from the frozen pandan leaves. (Only frozen pandan leaves are available in New Zealand) After an hour plus of the preparations, it is time to set the pandan chiffon cake into the oven.

Once it was set into the oven, I kept peeping it with my finger crossed hoping that it will be successful. And after about 40 minutes, it is proven that I had successfully baked a pandan chiffon cake. It looks and taste nice though minus the pandan flavours. Perhaps the pandan juice were too diluted or I may need pandan essence to further enhance the flavour. However, I am very satisfied with the results that I had.

Pandan Chiffon Cake Recipe

Makes: 2 x 18" cake tin

Ingredients A
8 egg yolks
60 grams castor sugar
140 grams self raising flour
4 tablespoons pandan juice
6 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Ingredients B
8 egg whites
140 grams castor sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar



Methods:
1. Separate the egg yolks and egg whites into two different mixing bowls.
2. Add in the sugar (from ingredients A) into the egg yolk and whisk with hand.
3. Then add in the pandan juice, olive oil and vanilla essence (ingredients A) into the mixtures and mix it well.
4. Lastly add in the self raising flour into the mixtures and mixed it to become a smooth batter and leave it aside.
5. Beat the egg whites using a mixer until it is foamy.
6. Add in cream of tartar and mix well.
7. Gradually, add in the sugar and mix well.
8. Beat the egg white mixtures until it is white, stiff and shining.
9. Preheat oven at 175 degree Celsius.
10. Slowly add in the egg whites mixtures into the egg yolks mixtures. Gently fold it in using a spatula. Mix it well.
11. Pour the mixtures into the cake tin and bake it for about 40 minutes or until it is brown.
12. Once the cake is done, topple the cake upside down to cool.

Dry Bak Kut Teh

It's my turn to do the cooking for this coming 2 months as my partner's mum is back to her hometown. Before that, I had been wondering what should I be cooking for dinner. Till yesterday, I decided to cook a Klang version of dry bak kut teh.

In Malaysia, especially my hometown in Klang, bak kut teh is almost available at every corner and every hour (from morning till evening). Malaysians have the choice of having bak kut teh for breakfast, lunch, dinner or even supper. One of my ex-Executive Director always having bak kut teh for breakfast as it is one of his favourite. I remembered I did join him a few times for breakfast. 

Bak Kut Teh (肉骨茶), is literally translated as "Pork Bone Tea" in hokkien dialect. According to Wikipedia, Bak kut teh was introduced to Malaya in the 19th century by Chinese coolies and workers of Hokkien origin. The dish is reported to supplement the meagre diet of port coolies and as a tonic to boost their health.

There are a few different version of bak kut teh. The Hokkiens' version uses dark soy sauce which is why the soup base is darker in colour as compared to the Teochews version. which is lighter in colour with more peppery taste. Apart from that, in around 1996, another Hokkien's version of bak kut teh was being introduced, which are famously known as the dry version of bak kut teh.

The dry version of bak kut teh flavour is totally different as compared to the soup version. The dry version of bak kut teh is being cooked with additional ingredients such as okra/ lady fingers, dried chilies and dry squids, which resulted to a more tangier and sharper taste.

In Klang, there are lots of famous bak kut teh places that you can visit in Klang. And I would recommend you to a few places below which I personally find it very tasty as compared to the rest.

• Lai Choon, located in Jalan Pekan Baru, Klang
• Mo Sang Kor, located in Pandamaran
• Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh (also famously known as under the bridge), located in Pork Klang
• Ah Tao Seafood Bak Kut Teh, located in Teluk Pulai

After doing some surfing, there's a few reviews on the restaurant mentioned above that you can also read through by clicking on the link above.

For my dry version of bak kut teh, I served it with some Chinese cruller (油条) and stir fried cos lettuce with fermented bean curd (豆腐乳) as the side. Meanwhile for my rice, I garnished it with some deep fried shallot and some cut spring onion/ corriander garnish for the soup broth.

Below are my "Dry Bak Kut Teh" Recipe for your reference. Hope you will enjoy eating it.

Serves: 4

Soup Broth Ingredients:

2 pack of prepacked bak kut teh spices (recommending Tean's Gourmet brand)

500g pork belly

300g pork ribs

400g canned mushrooms (whole)

12 pcs deep fried beancurd (also known as tau fu pok ,豆腐卜/ 豆腐泡, in hokkien dialect)

2 pcs whole garlics

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons wolfberries

Preparations:

1. Boiled a pot of about 1.5 litre water.

2. Add in the 2 prepacked bak kut teh spices into the boiled water and simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Using another new pot, boiled another half pot of water. Then use the boiled water to boiled all the pork belly and pork ribs for about 5 minutes. (This method is to remove all the unwanted smell from the pork and also the bubbles that it will create.)

4. Then, add in all the pork belly, pork ribs, wolfberries, salt and dark soy sauce and simmer for about 40 minutes.

5. Add in deep fried beancurd and canned mushrooms into the soup. Simmer for another 15-20 minutes.

Dry Version Ingredient:

10 pcs dried chilies

2 pcs birds eye chilies

8 pcs okra/ lady fingers (depending on the size and your preference)

Handful of dried squid (also known as jiu hu in hokkien dialect)

3 tablespoons dark soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon of salt

500ml of bak kut teh soup broth

Preparations:

1. Remove all the pork belly and pork ribs from the soup broth.

2. Rinse the dry squid with water.

3. Heat the claypot with some oil.

4. Fry the dry squid until it is fragrant.

5. Then add in the dry chilies and bird eye chilies. Fry until it is fragrant.

6. Add in all the porks into the claypot.

7. Then add in dark soy sauce, salt and about 500ml of the soup broth into the claypot.

8. Simmered it until it is almost dry, then add in okra and stir fry till it's cooked.

9. Serve with rice and the soup broth together.

Sansui Japanese Cuisine & Bar

I am back again to Sansui Japanese Cuisine & Bar after our first memorable experience there. You can read my first experience that I had blogged earlier here.

This time we were back again on our second visit. This time instead of ordering the dinner set, we ordered from the ala-carte menu. By this way, we were able to try out the different things that are available from the menu.

We ordered an appetizer which was the deep fried fish bone. So far, this is the only Japanese restaurant which serves this type of appetizer. As according to my partner, this brings him back the memory of his time when he travelled to Japan. Because this was one of the appetizer that he enjoyed back then in Japan. By just looking at the photo below, you can imagine how crunchy it is. Every bite of the fish bone will produce the crunchy sound (krop-krop-krop).

Then we ordered a healthy seaweed salad. In the seaweed salad, there's a few variety of different seaweed were being added in. Some were red in color, some were dark green and some were light green.

Next to come was the homemade pot stickers dumpling which is also known as the gyoza.

We tried another type of sushi this time, which was the California roll. It was being served in a platter plate that provides 9 little squares. There were 8 pieces of sushi, and the balance of 1 little square is being used to accommodate the pickled gingers and wasabi. This presentation is indeed very creative!

Then it comes the sukiyaki hot pot. This sukiyaki hot pot contains some beef, vermicelli, tofu and garnished with some spring onion and carrot.

And last dish to arrive was the lightly manuka chip smoked Aoraki salmon. This dish arrived with a little bowl cover. Inside the bowl were full of the manuka chip smoked whereby the salmon fish being infused with. Once you remove the bowl cover, the smoke were being released. However, once you put the salmon into your mouth, you will be able to taste the manuka chip smoke.

We had both the sukiyaki and lightly manuka chip smoked Aoraki salmon with rice as our mains.

By the time we had finished all our food, our tummies were fully filled as well. Therefore, we give the dessert a miss this time. Besides, we had tried most of their dessert during our first visit.

Sansui Japanese Cuisine & Bar

Swanson Street

Auckland

Phone: 09 377 1347

Website: http://www.sansuinz.com/

Mentatz

Walking around the city wondering what will be our lunch for that day as we had already decided to have Japanese for dinner later. My partner suggested us to walk around Lorne Street to see if there's anything interesting as there's a few little restaurants/ cafe around.

As we walked past, we thought we shall try out korean at one of the restaurant. But we were quite hesistated to go in as there isn't any crowd around, as we thought it may not be as nice. Hence we further our walk down and ended up having Japanese again for lunch at Mentatz. However, it will be quite different with the dinner that we wanted to have as Mentatz specializes in tonkatsu ramen.

Since Mentatz specializes in tonkatsu ramen, we both ordered ourselves a bowl of ramen to try it out. I had ordered myself a spicy miso based broth ramen with pork cutlets. I can't recall what is the name of the dish already. Meanwhile for my partner, he ordered a tonkatsu ramen.

We were both impressed by the freshness of the ramen and the broth. It is definately a good lunch during the winter.

As according to the Japanese Restaurant booklet that I had gotten earlier, it mentioned that you can get your noodles done to your own liking: medium, well-cooked, etc. Besides, Mentatz provides patrons with the very Japanese custom of kaedama: if you've brought appretite to spare with you, finish your first lot of noodles and - leaving the broth still in your bowl - utter the magic words, "Kaedama kudasai", and you will be provided with another serving of noodles for the reasonable price of $1.50.

Mentatz Japanese Restaurant
28 Lorne Street,
Auckland

Tel: 09 357 0960

Karin Japanese Restaurant

It was one of the Sunday night where the chef at home is not cooking, given us the opportunity to try out Karin Japanese Restaurant in Parnell. It wasn't so much recommended by my partner, but I wanted to try it at least for once.  

Usually on a Sunday, Parnell area are not very crowded. But because it was the Queen's Birthday public holiday on Monday, Parnell turns out to be quite happening places to be. Finding a parking at Parnell was kinda difficult, but we were lucky to be able to get a parking nearby the restaurant.

We didn't make a reservation at the restaurant hence when we arrived at the restaurant, we gotta wait for 5 minutes before the table is ready for us. Lucky it's only 2 of us that night, hence we don't have to wait for long. However, should you need to wait for your table, there's waiting area provided outside the restaurant.

Since it was dinner hour, the restaurant was crowded with people. Besides, I saw there's lack of manpower serving food and clearing up the tables. It's as if there's only one man running around clearing the tables and serving the food. Hence, I told my partner that we better order our food fast as we didn't know how long do we have to wait. Hence quickly we ordered our food.

While waiting for our food to arrive, I actually observed around the restaurant. No doubt this restaurant provides a very relaxed, casual and family dining atmosphere, but looking at the poles that are around the restaurant makes me feel uneasy. There are a few poles being build around the sushi bar table, which caused the sushi bar table being abandoned. Why do I said so? Because I saw most of the bowls and plates which had been cleared from the tables were being placed all around the sushi bar tables instead of sending it down to the kitchen. Besides, the poles made the place looks very untidy and cramped.

After waiting for about 20 minutes, our food arrived.

The first to arrive was their futomaki rolls. In Japanese language, "futo" derived from "futoi" which means fat. Therefore, the futomaki rolls that we were served was super jumbo rolls compared to the futomaki rolls that we had before at Sharaku. Their futomaki rolls consists of grilled eel, cucumber, tamago, avocado, ginger and fish flakes. These ingredients were the caused of the super jumbo futomaki rolls. Though it is a super jumbo rolls, the total combination of the rolls was good and fresh.

Next, was the takoyaki - 5pcs of battered octopus served with Japanese style Worcester sauce. When it arrived, I told my partner that it was a mini takoyaki. The usual takoyaki that I saw and ordered before were bigger compared to this. And the best takoyaki that I ever had was the one that I had before at the Japan Day in the month of March.

As for our main, we ordered a grilled salmon wing served with grated radish and lemon and a garlic chicken steak rice set to share.

Overall, all the food served were okay and this is a place for you if you are looking at simple Japanese meals.

Karin Japanese Restaurant

237, Parnell Road,

Parnell,

Auckland.

Phone: 09 356 7101

Basalt

After hanging aroung Clevedon area, my partner had been driving around Maraetai, Whitford and Beachlands area via the scenic routes. The scenic routes was nice and pretty that you get to see the beaches along the way.

We thought we could find a place for coffee and dessert around the 3 areas, however we couldn't. The first place that we wanted to go was quite full of people. The second cafe that we arrived at didn't serve any dessert. Lastly we went to the cafe in Formosa Auckland Country Club, again nothing!

So we ended up driving back down to Howick for dessert and coffee. Our usual place for coffee in Howick is either Basalt or Coffee, Tea & Lover. In our opinion, this two places serves good coffee compared to the rest.

For this time, we chosen to have it at Basalt.

Instead of having dessert and coffee only, we were a little hungry already. Hence we ordered two finger foods from the bar menu.

We ordered a buffalo chicken wings and bruschetta.

The buffalo chicken wings were honey and soy roasted. It tasted quite good.

As for the bruschetta, it is being served with whipped feta and tapenade. Tapenade is a combination finely chopped olives, capers, anchovies and olive oil.

And finally for dessert, we ordered the caramelised lemon tart served with boysenberry compote, praline mascarpone, and candied lemon.

As our first intention is to have dessert and coffee, we actually ordered this dessert and coffee first before the two bar finger foods. Therefore, the dessert arrived first before the finger foods. We thought that the caramelised lemon tart was served with vanilla ice cream. And since it's winter here now, we thought it will be okay to have it later once we were done with our buffalo chicken wings and bruschetta.

When we were done with both buffalo chicken wings and bruschetta, we were surprise that the ice cream don't really melt. When my partner first tried the ice cream, he then realise it's actually praline mascarpone instead. Silly us! That's the result of not looking properly at the menu.

Basalt

Corner Picton Street & Moore Streets,

Howick

Auckland

Phone: 09 533 0081

Website: http://www.basalt.co.nz 

Hungarian Twister - Kürtős kalács

Farmer's Market is a place where I am being introduces to different types of food and vegetables that are available in Auckland apart from the supermarkets.

One of it that I recently discovered is the Hungarian Twister during my last visit at Kumue Farmer's Market which was being held once a month at Kumue showgrounds. Since last Sunday was quite a fine day, we proceeded to Clevedon Farmer's Market through the country road that we discovered recently.

In the Clevedon Farmer's Market, the same Hungarian Twister stall that I saw in Kumue Farmer's Market. And of course, I am there to buy the Hungarian Twister again. Because the queue was long that day, I am able to take photos of how a Hungarian Twister is being made.

Hungarian twister which is also known as "Kürtős kalács" is originated from Transylvania, which is also famous as Hungary's oldest pastry.

Kürtős kalács consists of a thin yeast pastry ribbon that are being wrapped around a wooden cylindrical.

Then it is being lightly spread with some olive oil.

In order to ensure that the sugar are on the pastry while it is being rolled on the sugar plate.

Then it is being send to the chimney cake oven, where the pastry are being baked to perfection. As the baking is being done, each wooden cylindrical are being rolled to ensure every part of the pastry is getting the similar amount of heat.

After the pastry is being well baked, it will be rolled on the different types of flavours (almond, chocolate, walnut, cinnamon, fairy sprinkle and etc). And in my case, I had chosen walnut for that day. Once it is rolled, the pastry is being knocked down from the wooden cylindrical.

Therefore, my Kürtős kalács  is ready now.

I like to eat Kürtős kalács  because it has a very light pastry texture and crispy crust as a result of the caramelised sugar on the pastry surface. Also, it is a much better option to choose as compared to donuts or churros as it is being baked and not deep fried.

Goode Brothers

When it comes to having a nice meal at somewhere in the Botany area, there isn't much choices for us to choose from. Especially, we were quite fussy with our food. Counting with my fingers, I think there's only like less than 10 cafes or restaurants (excluding the fast food) that we can go to. That also depending on the time and day as some closes at certain day and time.

Goode Brothers is one in our approved list. Goode Brothers served Italian cuisine such as pastas and pizzas. At Goode Brothers, they are using quality and fresh ingredients in all the food that they served. Besides, you can choose and create your own salad or pasta with the different ingredients that you prefer. And you also get to see their chef preparing all the food that you ordered due to the open kitchen concept in Goode Brothers.

As usual, we shared all our meals. Hence, for a start, we ordered my partner's mum all time favourite, char grilled chicken breast and vegetable salad. In there, there's different types of fresh greens are available and additional of roasted capsicum, pumpkin and kumara that are being drizzled with balsamic dressing.

Meanwhile for the pizza, we ordered the Tuscan chicken pizza, where it came up to be Tuscano pizza instead. The ingredient in Tuscano pizza consist of peppered beef, mushroom, capsicum, caramelised onion and garlic aioli.

Since it's an Italian restaurant, therefore pasta is also a must to be ordered. We ordered the Italian sausage pasta which consists of Italian sausage (of course!), sun dried tomatoes, spinach, smoky tomato sauce and Parmesan. As we were also allowed to choose what type of pasta, we chosen to go with spinach tagliatelle. It was our first time trying it, and it turns out to be yummy.

And lastly, something that I couldn't resist to say no to add on to our lunch that day was the deep fried wedges served with sour cream. On top of the wedges, it was sprinkled with cheese and bacon pieces. It was so yummy that I think I had quite a few more compared to the rest.

By the time we clear up all the plates, we were very full that we need a walk after that to get the food digested a little quicker.

Goode Brothers

Shop 36, Town Centre Drive

Botany Town Centre,

Botany, Auckland

Phone: 09 272 4516

Website: http://www.goodebrothers.co.nz/

Sansui Japanese Cuisine & Bar

As per planned by my partner earlier is to try out Morita, Japanese restaurant that's located at the city. However, we were explained by the waitress that the restaurant served only degustation meal for dinner which cost about NZD80 per person. Hence, we re-route to Sansui, which happened to be situated just next to Morita.

The restaurant is located behind the Stamford Plaza Hotel. As you entered the building, you will need to climb up a few steps of stairs before you reach the restaurant upstairs. Along the stairs, it had been decorated nicely like a mini Japanese garden. Therefore, you can immediately relate it with Japan or you may think that you are in Japan.

All the staffs working in the restaurant are Japanese as well. It is no surprise as you will find most Japanese restaurant employed Japanese as their workers as well.

The restaurant provides a divider among each table, creating privacy to all the customers that are enjoying their meal. Along the large window of the seating, it is also being decorated with miniature of Japanese products and some origami. The one which was being decorated next to my seating was a miniature bamboo made water well pump.

Looking through the menu, you know that at Sansui, they are promoting healthy eating as each of the food served were being explained of the benefit of the certain ingredients used.

After placing our order, we were served with warm towels.

Then we were given a plate, sauce plate and chopsticks each as we were sharing all our food. Instead of using a chopsticks rest, they use an origami chopstick rest.

For entree, we ordered a plate of edamame. The edamame was being served warm instead of cold.

As my partner looking through the drinks menu, he was attracted by this green tea cocktails. It was something new that we tried. The alcohol content wasn't very high and it was very refreshing.

As for our main, we ordered a Sansui course. It consists of appetiser, salad, steamed egg custard, simmered vege, sashimi, tempura, teriyaki chicken, rice set and ice cream.

The chawanmushi was served in a little cup with lit. The different of this chawanmushi to the others that I had was that, there's an salmon fish added into it in addition to mushroom, chicken meat and prawn. Meanwhile, the sashimi was being served in a bowl full of ice to keep the fish fresh, and there's light underneath as well. A very attractive presentation. The batter of the tempura were good as it was so light and crunchy as the same time. Bravo!

Another set of the main that we ordered was quite similar to Sansui course, which was the organic chicken teriyaki set. The organic chicken teriyaki set tasted quite similar to the one provided in Sansui course. The only difference was the tenderness of the normal chicken and organic chicken.

On top of the two main set, we ordered a crispy salmon roll. It was one of my favourite roll, whereby it's kinda hard to find a Japanese restaurant that served this roll. Finally I found it. It's available at Sansui! When the crispy salmon roll being served, the staff hold a torch and slightly grilled the salmon that was on top of the roll. In my heart, I was thinking, how on earth the salmon be crispy? Then when I tried it, it's really crispy as the crispy salmon was being wrapped inside the roll. And on top of that, fresh salmon were being decorated at the top of the roll. Yummy!
 

Towards the end, we were quite full already. But since this was our first time visiting the restaurant, we were tempted to try out the desserts. So we ended up ordering a dessert assortment platter and the egg of dragon in the flame.

The dessert assortment platter consists of green tea ice cream, Go! All Black! - black sesame panna cotta, tofu chocolate mousse and deep fried ice cream - deep fried daifuku. In just a platter, you get to try 4 different types of desserts from Sansui, which is almost equivalent to about 50% of the dessert from the menu. All tasted so good.

The last dessert was the egg of dragon in flame. It's actually daifuku, whereby it was being flamed up while serving. As you can see from the photo, the blue colour is actually the flame.

Overall, we were happy and amazed with the creative presentation of food in Sansui. In my opinion, Sansui is a Japanese restaurant which is quite on par to the Japanese restaurant that I had in Australia. Of course this is not in terms of fine dining, whereby it's totally different compared to Soto in Auckland.

Afterall, we found Sansui by luck! And I am happy with the standard and food quality provided in Sansui.

We will definately back to Sansui again to try out other food from their menu.

Sansui Japanese Cuisine & Bar

Swanson Street,

Auckland.

Phone: 09 377 1347

Website: http://www.sansuinz.com/

Kaimai Cheese Factory

Yippee it's a one day trip to Tauranga time! Another opportunity to explore another part of New Zealand.

On our way down to Tauranga, we will need to go through the Matamata town, which also known as "The Land of Hobbiton". Why is it so? This is because, some of the scene that you seen in the movie of The Lord of The Ring were being filmed here.

Just north of Matamata, there's Kaimai Cheese Factory & Cafe which is also situated in the heart of Waikato dairy country. Kaimai Cheese Factory & Cafe were established in the year of 2005. And if you are a New Zealander, you may noticed that their building is a replica of an old historic New Zealand 1920's Butter Factory. Trusses and roof vents from the original butter factory are cleverly used in the design of the building.

In there, you will be able to see how Kaimai Cheese Factory produces their cheese through the large glasses window in the building.

There were also descriptions of the cheese ripening process available for reading in front of the large glass windows which gives you a better understanding of the process.

Since this is a cheese factory, they do sell their cheese to any customer that pop by their factory. There's a wide selection of cheese being displayed in the refrigerated counter.

There's also cafe in the factory itself, where you can try out a selection of food via menu or the counter itself to get a taste of the Kaimai cheese before purchasing it. Most of their food uses their very own Kaimai cheese.

Since it's just for our morning tea, we ordered a cheese scones to go with our coffee and tea.

Usually scones are being served with butter/ whipped cream with strawberry jam. However, at Kaimai, tomato relish and butter are being served with their cheese scones. The combination of the relish goes really well with the cheese scones. Yummy.

We will definitely pop by again, should we pass by Matamata town next time.

Kaimai Cheese Factory & Cafe

Hawes Street,

Waharoa.

Phone: 07 888 6910

Website: www.kaimai.co.nz