Hazelnut Bundt Cake

My mother loves hazelnuts, so a hazelnut bundt cake seemed like a perfect birthday treat. I cobbled a few recipes together, splitting the cake in half and sandwiching it back together with cream. Over the top I poured over a thick chocolate icing which was then sprinkled with more hazelnuts for extra crunch.This is quite a dense cake that is more filling than it looks. All those hazelnuts must be

Campsie Food Festival, 2008

Korean noodlesThe annual Campsie Food Festival was the usual celebration of all things multicultural and delicious.Beamish Street was closed down to traffic as locals crammed the festival sampling dishes from Fiji, Thailand, Hungary, Turkey, Japan, China, Indonesia and more.Despite ominous weather forecasts, the sun shone on ensuring a tasty day out for one and all.Fruit carvingsIndonesian

Gingernut biscuits

I've always had a thing for Arnotts gingernut biscuits, so hard and toffee-like you had to dip them into your tea to soften them, or risk cracking a tooth.There are no nuts in gingernuts, but apparently they're named as such (mainly in Australia and the UK) because of their specific hardness--they're hard as a nut to crack. Americans prefer to call them ginger snaps. I just call them delicious.I

Dashi Korean Cafe and Restaurant, Sydney

EDIT 25/07/08: Dashi has now closed.Deep-fried chicken in sweet and spicy sauce $17.99 (normally $28)KFC is set for world domination. Long live KFC!No we're not talking about the Colonel and his seven secret spices, but Korean Fried Chicken and boy, are we talking!Panchan side dishesFiguro can't wait to show us his latest find - a hole-in-the-wall eatery that serves "fried chicken to die for!!"

The Wentworth Hotel, Homebush West

300gram T-bone steak $5.00Available every Friday 5pm-9pmonly during the month of MayI've been dragged to The Wentworth by Veruca, who insists this is one of the best $5 steaks she's even eaten.She's right. There's plenty of meat on that T-bone, along with a hunger-busting mound of crunchy steak-cut chips and a cursory nod to some salad. Even better, the steaks come with your choice of sauce:

Lamb leftover special

Who doesn't love a fridge leftover special?There's a little bit of magic that happens when you turn fridge leftovers into something that both looks and tastes good. Like you deliberately planned on having half a bunch of yellowing parsley and some cold slices of leftover roast lamb in preparation for a lazy weekend lunch.Lamb leftover specialMake a rough tabbouleh salad by finely chopping half a

The Monkey Bar, Balmain

Suckling pig $20.00available only on Tuesdays Ahhh suckling pig. Let's not think about scenes from Babe, but instead appreciate the glorious sight of --ooh! the crackling! ahh the tender flesh!Tuesday night is Suckling Pig and Mussels night at the Monkey Bar in Balmain. A recent change in restaurant management meant our Entertainment Card was rejected, but we stayed in the bar anyway, swayed by

Chocolate truffle mud cake

What do you bake for the resident chocoholic? This chocolate truffle mud cake was a recent hit.Decadently rich with the bitterness of dark chocolate, the texture remains deliciously light and silky, reminiscent of a chocolate truffle centre. Essentially it's a chocolate ganache with eggs and sugar. It reminded me of a dense chocolate mousse, the moistness meaning there are no crumbs on your plate

Lovedale Long Lunch competition: the winners

Congratulations to:1. Hong L, and2. John Rwho have each won prize packages for two people to attend the Lovedale Long Lunch. Each prize package is worth $148. Please check your email for your prize pick-up details.Thank you to everyone who entered. This year, a total of 153 entries were received, up from 98 entries last year.Didn't win? You can still head to the Lovedale Long Lunch.

Temasek, Parramatta

Hainanese chicken (half) boneless $11.80The rumours are true.The Hainanese chicken at Temasek is gloriously good. Incredibly moist, succulent and silky in texture, it ranks among the best I've ever tasted. The only thing missing is the chicken rice, a mound of rice cooked in chicken stock that is served only with individual servings, not the half-chicken platter we've ordered for our table.I'd

3 days to go

Current number of Lovedale Long Lunch competition entries: 130Value of prize package: $146Number of prizes: 2Current chance of winning: 1 in 65Competition deadline: 6.00pm Tuesday May 6, 2008More info: hereand for anyone who's interested, the recent green tea cake post now comes with photo.