A Few of My Favourite Things !

My firm belief is that the best way to compare products is to perform a head-to-head comparison. You can therefore imagine my excitement when I came across Helen’s post about the Cocktail Bun Challenge.

I never understood how this coconut-filled bun came to be christened with such a name, nor has it often made it onto my tray as the room was usually taken up by pork-floss and pineapple buns. As it was however, I happened to Sydney taking in some pearls of wisdom from some of today’s great social and business thinkers. What better time to continue Helen’s good work by extending the challenge to Melbourne’s bakeries?

As the Montague Bleue cocktail bun won this challenge, it was only appropriate to put it up against what Melbourne has to offer. I purchased the bun from Montague Bleue on Thursday evening, taking it with me on the flight home. The next morning, I went in search through Chinatown and managed to snag one cocktail bun from Maxim and one from the Dragon Boat Restaurant’s takeaway window. Surprisingly, Bread Top didn’t offer these but that’s okay.

So here we have it, from the left to right, cocktail buns from Dragon Boat Restaurant (Melb), Montague Bleue (Syd) and Maxim (Melb):

Immediately apparent is the more oval shape of the Montague Bleue offering, looking like a podgy kid next to the other two slimmer buns. All three are glazed and sprinkled with sesame seeds but the Maxim bun also has a swirly pattern instead of the usual two parallel lines.

Dissecting the buns horizontally reveals that Dragon Boat has the most generous filling which is tinged with the faintest hue of orange. The Maxim filling is a shade darker than Montague Bleue’s but, more importantly, closer inspection of the filling as shown in the photos below reveals that the textures are quite different. Whilst the fililng in the Dragon Boat and Montague Bleue buns are smooth, the higher level of dessicated coconut in Maxim’s gives it a coarser texture.

Now, what about the taste? The Dragon Boat bun was only worth one bite due to the stodgy filling and density of both bun and filling. I had a feeling that this would come off the worst when I initially bought it because the baked goods here don’t seem to be as popular. In fact, I wonder how fresh their breads and pastries would be given the low turnover. However, fairness demanded that it be tried.

Despite having been baked the day before, the Montague Bleue bun was as Helen reported – soft and spongy with a saltiness to the filling that reminded me of century egg puffs. Buttery and delicious.

Unlike its Dragon Boat neighbour, the Maxim bun was also soft but the filling was what differentiated it from the others. Less sugar and more coconut, it also had a more definite flavour of sesame seeds even though distribution was even across all three buns.

So, who takes it? Whose cuisine reigns supreme?

Although I wish it had the salt-edge of the Montague Bleue version, overall i enjoyed the Maxim bun the most because of the higher coconut content. The next step is to take the challenge to Boxhill’s best!

PS: Having just taken another bite out of the MB & Maxim buns, I have to say that it’s a tough pick. I like the saltiness of the MB version but I think I could eat more of the Maxim as it’s less rich and, as i’ve already said above, more coconutty.

A few weeks ago we made our way down along the Yarra River, from the city to Chapel St, on a sunny Saturday morning. We decided to break our fast at Kush Bar Restaurant with some poached eggs on toast and porridge with berries before visiting our beloved Monsiuer Truffe at Prahran Market.

I’m not one to insist upon plating food with overly fussy attention to detail every single time but would you agree that these are not the most appealing of breakfast dishes? Certainly, the taste left something to be desired too. The poached eggs didn’t come with the soft runny centre which I adore and the porridge tasted like it had been made with cream. Maybe we will try Cafe Siena next time…

We bought a truffle in Paris. And then we wondered what we were going to have it with and how we were going to have it, given that we were staying in a hotel with no cooking facilities. Well, I knew that I wanted to try it with eggs, so we bought some organic eggs from the food emporium in Galleries Lafayette 

We nestled the truffle with the eggs, wrapped them up and left them overnight:

The next morning, I placed them gently in the kettle, filled it up with cold water and turned the kettle on. The eggs were left for a few more minutes after the water had come to a boil before being fished out with a teaspoon. Perfect soft boiled eggs with truffle shaved over the top! I left mine in for a little longer even and had hard boiled egg with shaved truffle.

Next time, I’m going to try frying an egg on the bottom of an iron

Here is what I did this morning – the Sussan 10km Fun Run! I was pretty chuffed to (a) complete the whole 10k without stopping to walk; and (b) come in at just over 54min. Although my husband often questions why they would name events like these ‘fun runs’, I have to say that it really was fun to be running on such a beautiful sunshiny morning along the St Kilda foreshore and look out onto the blue, blue waters. So, how was your morning?

After completing the event, we headed to Baker D. Chirico, an artisan bakery on Fitzroy Street, to pick up a loaf. There are many delicious-looking treats just waiting to be had: lemon creme brulee, strawberry custard tarts, almond biscuits, baby meringues, little flourless chocolate cakes. We left with a loaf of rye bread and a slice of pear custard tart for my hubby, who sat reading patiently while waiting for me to complete the run. The loaf was just out of the oven, and we waited (im)patiently for it to cool before cutting some slices to have with lunch. Mmmmm, talk about yummy bread – so moist and fragrant.

Last night, the Melbourne food bloggers – well, the four of us who could make it anyway – finally managed to meet up thanks to a huge effort from Ed. The food bloggers in Sydney seem to get together quite regularly but this is the first time any of the Melbourne bloggers have become acquainted in person. Admittedly, I was a little apprehensive – after all, how much can you tell about someone from their blog? Fortunately, Ed, Jamie and Sarah all turned out to be just fine – phew!

In his most recent post, Jamie proposes that most people have a preference for either a savoury breakfast of eggs & bacon or a sweet one of muesli & fruit. I’m definitely a sweet person and it’s rare that I have a craving for bacon & eggs. I recently realised that this is also reflected in the food that I blog about and I have decided to be more balanced with my posts. So, I’ll start with the breakfast that I made for A this morning.

These scrambled eggs were inspired by Jeffrey Alford & Naomi Duguid’s Mangoes and Curry Leaves. I started by frying some shallots, crushed ginger, curry leaves and dried chilli flakes in olive oil before adding a beaten egg & scrambling.

The curry scrambled egg was served with Turkish basturma (aka pasturma). I love the way the green curry leaves are veiled in a translucent egginess.