“Food obsessions”. What causes them? An inexplicable inward desire to travel to the end of the earth to seek out the best, most enjoyable food items on this planet. While finding them, trying them and trying them again creates moments of excitement I cannot help but never feel 100% satisfied.

While this month my obsession has been macarons, I remember back to early April during my travels in Japan that I would hunt, seek out and destroy any Mochi that I could get my hands on. These soft, delicate sweet desserts to me personify the essence of the Japanese culture and Japanese psyche.

Perfect little pillows of soft chewy sweetness, hand crafted by tedious hours of pounding rice into a glutenous, chewy yet tender dough filled with various sweets – the most common red bean.

After returning from Japan and having put on a few kgs from endless mochi eating, my desire and obsession never quite left. While finding mochi’s in Australia is challenging, it is not impossible with packet varieties available in most asian supermarkets. However, my obsession required my very own Mochitsuki ceremony – so I made my own…

Here is a quick and easy recipe our friend, Naoko, shared with us.

Ingredients

40g Rice Flour
60g Glutinous Flour (aka sticky rice flour)
80g Caster sugar
140 ml water
Soy Bean Flour
1 can sweetened Red Bean (can get these from any Asian supermarket – I use the made in Japan variety)

Method

Mix the rice flour, glutinous flour and caster sugar together. Then add the water and mix until all lumps are gone. Cover in gladwrap and microwave for 2 mins and stir. The texture should be sticky and condense. Heat in microwave for 1 more minute. Remove and stir.

Sprinkle Soy bean flour over the dough (to prevent sticking). Cut the dough up into 8 even pieces.

Roll the pieces into a ball, flatten and add red bean in the centre. Pull the ends together, pinching them so they stick. Then sprinkle soy bean flour over the top.

Simple & easy.

These will keep for a few days in a sealed container however for the freshest result, wrap each mochi individually and store in the fridge!
 

Written by Rob and Thi

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a professionally designed webpage banner for a dinner at Omerta. This is the story of how our website logo came to be.

Ellie, our gorgeous and talented friend, offered to give our website a nip tuck job – turning our feeble attempts of graphic design into something worthy of welcoming readers to our site. In return we treated Ellie out to a dinner at Omerta (thanks to @Carmr, @Reemski & @felixexplody for the recommendation)

Something  about Ellie

Who is Eliana Mendes?

E lli e is fun, dramatic, passionate and extreme – all at the same time. Her favourite number … you can probably guess. She is best described as a buzzing ball of creative energy or She-Ra leading the Great R ebellion against Hor dak…I’m not sure which one does her more justice.

Professionally, she has been in the design industry for over 8 years. With an impressive portfolio of print and web design under her belt, she specializes in typography and visual communication. Her extensive client list includes 42 Below Vodka, Coca Cola. L’Oreal, RSPCA (and the list goes on). For more about Ellie… check out her website for a full range of her portfolio.

Something about Omerta

What better restaurant to return the favor than Omerta – its’ literal meaning a code of honor amongst the Italian Mafia.

Omerta, located in Darlinghurst, has life bursting out of its front doors - literally. We had a sampling of 8 tapas dishes which included Salt Cod Fritters, 24 month aged Prosciutto, Swordfish with capsicum salsa, Grilled eggplant, buttered Mushroom and lamb cutlets with pesto dressing.

Highlights for the night included the lamb cutlets (the meat was tender and the pesto topping was refreshing) and the mushrooms (delightful buttery little mushrooms, crunchy at the bite but soft and juicy in the inside).

Overall, this was a satisfying night out and always great fun to catch up with old friends. The food was authentic, the variety on the menu vast and the service was friendly (if you can get hold of a waiter).

Where: Omerta
Location:  235 Victoria St, Darlinghurst, Sydney 2010
Opened: Mon-Fri 6-11pm, Sat-Sun 5-10pm
Dress: Casual
Price: $12-$22 per dish (recommend min 2 dish per person)

Tasked with the near impossible – lunch for 12 people, at the Rocks and reasonably priced – I set myself to work ie. Googling madly. Fortunately it was SIFF month so I was able to get my hands on the Crave Vouchers for Pony Lounge and Dining.

This rustic restaurant located on the cobbled pavement of Kendall Lane is appropriately decorated with timber flooring, cow hide covered kitchen bench, and (what I think looks like) 3 haystack & rope art feature. The outside verandah was closed off – disappointing given the teasing blue skies outside.

The Express Lunch menu was a choice of 4 dishes:

Chermoula roasted kingfish, warm kipfler potato and herb salad – The Kingfish, well marinated with a creamy dressing.

Eggplant baked with ricotta and wood fire grilled vegetable, salsa verde – excellent vegetarian choice and rich in flavour however the dish came out lukewarm

Thai beef and vermicelli noodle salad, peanuts, chilli coconut dressing – unfortunately no one at our table ordered this dish

Of the dessert menu, the macadamia tart received an all round thumbs up. The vanilla, prune and muscat brulee was smooth and velvety. The banana and lime cheesecake was well presented but very rich (somewhat overpowering).

Despite my minor complaints I was overall pleased with the experience.  The service was refined & forgiving (despite our late arrival). The ambiance stylish & intimate. The food was affordable and beautifully presented looking like little artworks of culinary delights.

Where: Pony Lounge
Location:  Cnr Kendall andArgyle St, The Rocks, Sydney
Opened: 7 days a week. Lunch12-3. Dinner 6pm until late.
Dress: Smart Casual
Price: Crave Lunch Special $25-30.