Eggshell Green

Restaurant Review: Matterhorn

Two words – small and pricey.

We went to the Matterhorn a couple weeks ago with the hubby’s brother and his then-pregnant wife (who had her baby the day after me). The brother-in-law heard good things so we were keen to give it a go.

The meals were tasty, but boy they were the smallest dishes I’ve ever been served!

On top of that, the sister-in-law wanted to be cautious with her steak so asked for it to be well done. It took them three goes before they got it right. It came out medium first two times, and she had to wait an extra half hour or so after our meals were served before the poor lady could eat! How hard is it to cook a steak well-done!?

I got the ‘monk fish with spanner crab’. Ok, when you list something as spanner crab, I expect some pure spanner crab like a claw, or at least a hunk of meat. But no. Where was the crab? I could only assume it was mixed in among the processed sausagey thing that surrounded my two tiny pieces of monk fish. Disappointed with the description. I wish restaurants would describe their meals more accurately.

Matterhorn meal - feed a child for $36...

Definitely a place where you need an entrée, main and dessert, to feel satisfied – and poor. We opted for supermarket dessert on the way home instead.

Tags: restaurant, review

How to: Yum Char

For many, yum char is very much a foreign concept. What is it? What’s so great about it? What happens? Is there yum char etiquette?

What is it?

The words ‘yum char’ translates to ‘drink tea’. If you think about what we mean when we say ‘high tea’, or ‘afternoon tea’, it’s kind of the same thing. You have tea while you are eating little delicious things.

Yum char is a lunch time event that most Chinese restaurants offer. It involves both sweet and savoury dishes (usually small steamed or fried dumplings) brought around to each table, and you decide if you want to try it or skip it.

The best thing is you pay for what you select and you’re shown what it is before you have to choose. You usually end up spending about NZ$15 each for a satisfying lunch, possibly with something to take home for later.

Tea and custard buns at yum char

What happens?

First of all, if the restaurant is any good for its yum char, then it’ll be busy and you’ll likely have to wait in line for a table. For places that do bookings, it’s wise to make one especially if you’re visiting on the weekend.

When you are seated, you are normally asked if you’d like tea for the table. Some places charge for tea (around $1 a person), while others don’t. It’s worthwhile having tea because it’s designed to be a pallate cleanser in between dishes. And you can’t really experience yum char if you don’t yum char! By the way, it’s Chinese tea. I haven’t had English tea at a yum char but have heard that you can get it. Go for the Chinese tea.

The tea is brought out in a tea pot, and is periodically topped up. If your teapot runs dry, put the lid angled upwards on top of the pot to indicate it needs refilling.

As soon as you sit down, there will be people coming by and showing you dishes. Choose what you want and the waiter will mark it down on your ‘bill’, and it’s tallied up in the end.

Eating and drinking etiquette

A table setting will usually consist of a side plate, a bowl, a pair of chopsticks and a teacup. You will find that using either the plate or the bowl for rubbish (any bones, wrappers etc.) is useful while you use the other to eat from. Emptying rubbish into the steamers/dishes the food came in is OK when you need more space on your plate.

When you are presented with an array of dishes, just point to the ones you want and indicate how many (”One please” if you want one of those dishes).

Use a polite “No, thank you” if there’s nothing you want from the choices. I found in Hong Kong that the gesture for ‘No’ is a gentle side-to-side waving of the hand, as if you are waving good bye. You can do that too while saying “No thanks”,  if English isn’t well spoken.

It is assumed that the dishes selected are shared by all at the table. It’s good to ask the other guests if they agree with your choices before making them. Sometimes a few may want to try something while others will not want to touch it. Usually those who don’t want it are happy with you having the dish, and they can choose something for themselves later. Go with the flow.

Don’t be afraid to try everything though (unless you are allergic or can’t eat pork or something). You may be pleasantly surprised.

Put empty dishes (the ones the food came in) close to the edge of the table, and stack if you can. This makes it easier for them to clear and you’ll have more room for new dishes.

It is polite to top up everyone’s tea cups when you do your own. Apparently, the notion of tapping two fingers lightly on the table is a way of saying ‘thank you’ when your cup is being filled.

Paying

Once you’ve stuffed yourself silly and ready to leave, take the ‘bill’ with you to the counter. Bills are often easier if you split them equally.

If you are going with an Asian family, this is the time where the battle begins to see who will win the title of bill-payer. If you’re not on your toes, often someone will “go to the loo” and pay at the same time before you even realise it. Awesome, but be sure to pay back the favour next time :)

Tips

• Find out from friends and family what good yum char places there are to avoid disappointment. My favourite Wellington place is The Regal on Courtenay Place. Great range, decent service (like frequent teapot refilling) and it’s delicious. Reading web reviews is useful too.
• Book if possible if you know it’s a busy place (another sign of a good yum char restaurant).
• Go with a group, preferably of open-minded people. You can try more things that way before getting too full.
• Get Chinese tea. It really goes well with the food.
• If you’d like dessert, grab them when they come around. They might not be available at the time you want them.
• Watch out for the ‘Special’ dishes. Anything that’s not in a little steamer dish is going to cost more. (Usually there’s a price list on the ‘bill’ that the waiters mark each time you choose something.)
• If you are vegetarian, then you’re out of luck. You will have to at least eat seafood, and if that’s the case you should still ask what’s in the dish. A ‘vegetable’ dumpling may not necessarily mean ‘vegetarian’, and something that contains seafood may also contain pork.
• Unfortunately a lot of yum char places aren’t known for their cleanliness. A common practice is to wipe down your chopsticks with the napkin before you use them… and don’t be surprised if the crockery is chipped!
• Don’t be afraid to try new things!

Lemon Lime Tart

I was looking for a recipe for key lime pie, and unsurprisingly they all seemed to be in funny American measures like sticks of butter, ounces, ‘large’ eggs, all that nonsense. And we don’t get Graham crackers so telling me I need 12 doesn’t help. I did find a recipe on a New Zealand site but it was a no-cook one which I didn’t want to use because of the raw eggs and of being pregnant.

I finally found one that required baking and had some useful weight measurements albeit imperial, and made a few guesses because it still asked for ‘large or extra large’ eggs. I only had size 6 eggs which is common in New Zealand recipes.

So because I really like how it turned out and don’t want to go through the hassle of working out what’s what next time, I’ve rewritten the recipe in normal metric measures and using size 6 eggs. I don’t think we get key limes here so I used whatever type they sell at the supermarket, plus a lemon because the hubby didn’t buy enough limes… and I wanted to use my tart tin, hence the Lemon Lime Tart :)

Lemon lime tart

Tags: baking, lemon, pie, tart

Those beer labels

The hubby put me to good use last week, making labels for his homebrew beers. He submitted four new beers into the weekend’s homebrew competition among his workmates.

My beer labels on the hubby's homebrew

I hope I don’t offend anyone with these!

14DD Double draft beer

The first is called ‘14DD’. A double draft beer. Double draft, double D, boobies. I didn’t have much time to be creative! Credit to the hubby for coming up with the name and descriptions (I added the ‘blind’ bit).

Annihiliation India Pale Ale beer

Next is an attempt at Epic Armageddon, called Annihilation. Apparently the beer was rather mind blowing but I’m not sure if it was in a good way. Let’s just say the kitchen stunk so much like pot while they were brewing that the kiddies around insisted on locking themselves in the lounge. The hubby wanted it based on the real label.

Ginga Ginger beer

A ginger beer was also made. Don’t you love the beautiful ginger baby? So cute. A workmate asked me if the picture was of the hubby! LOL! The hubby has a hint of ginger in his hair but he’s mostly brown, and this picture is of a baby girl hehe. This beer came third overall.

iCider Apple cider

Last was an apple cider. I just had to make fun of the stupid iSnack name – why not!

The hubby also submitted a beer from the last round of homebrew in March, and despite his Chateau de Wellignon lager coming last in that competition, it managed to come first in this one! Either there was a better selection of judges and scoring criteria, or the beers have gotten worse…

Tags: beer, homebrew, homemade

French Toast with Banana and Bacon

The best thing about weekends apart from bumming around, is having the time for brunch.

French toast with bacon and banana is one of my favourite brunch dishes (or alternatively I will also devour pancakes in the same way). The great thing is that it’s so easy to make! I’m sure many of you don’t need instructions but just in case…

French toast with banana and bacon

Stuff I Luff

• Lazy weekends
• Pink grapefruit juice. I could never have grapefruit juice while on the pill so this is one thing I’m taking advantage of while pregnant.
• Watching Fez sleep. He’s the cutest when he’s fast asleep, snoring and having puppy dreams
• Good yum char
• Nanna naps
• Sunny summery weather in Spring
• Knowing this is my last week of work!
• Making cakes. I made Ms Constantine’s birthday cake and it was so satisfying to see the finished product all pretty and ready for surprising (though I’m terrible at surprises).
• I also love eating said cake

White chocolate mud cake with Malteser-Baileys cream and white chocolate ganache... mmm!

Cachous and pale pink sugar crystals complete the cake

Tags: baking, cake

Homemade Marshmallows

Yep. Homemade, from scratch. And the best thing? The hubby made them!

Gooey gooey marshmallow mix

Piping the marshmallows

Cutting the marshmallows

Finished marshmallows!

They are absolutely delicious. Fluffy, creamy and addictive. People have made comments such as “amazing”, “whoa”, and “crack-like”…

If you don’t mind a messy sticky kitchen, try these Homemade marshmallows from Alton Brown for yourself. You won’t regret it!

Tags: candy, homemade, marshmallows