Doyles at the Sydney Fish Market - Perfectly Light and Crispy Fish and Chips

A visit to the Sydney Fish Markets for lunch has always been one of my more favoured and regular activities. However, over the past year or so, I've become very dissatisfied with the standard of seafood there. Generally, the platters are way too big, stuffed with too many fries, and the quality of the fish and oysters always lacking.

Chestnut Picking at Kookootonga Farm

The Kookootonga farm is located just to the north west of Sydney and takes about 2 and a half hours to drive there from Sydney central. After the last of the city's suburbs zoom past, you will find yourself suddenly driving in a lush and fertile countryside. The once harsh road full of pot holes, exhaust and noise now undulates in a lazy line over, under and between the folds of this mountainous region. The landscape seems to slowly unravel its secrets as you plunge into serene sections of forest and emerge into vistas of vibrant autumnal colours. Once off Bells Line of Road, which leads to Lithgow, the road narrows to a single lane and takes you over Mount Wilson, before bringing you to Mount Irvine, where the Farm lies.

The Famous Hainanese Chicken Rice - tender & juicy

If Singapore has a dish, this is it. Hainanese chicken rice...which apparently isn't from Hainan at all, but instead came from the Hainanese people who migrated to Singapore.

This dish is simple in that not many ingredients are used, but this puts the emphasis on cooking those few ingredients to perfection.

Remember that the chicken is the star here and it's essential that the chicken be flavourful and cooked just right. Overcooked chicken will be dry and horrible. 

Warm and Peppery Shepherd's Pie

This pie warms you up with a deep peppery heat perfect for cold nights. It also satisfies with the wholesomeness of tender chunky beef. Served in ramekins, they're easy to eat and store.

Thai Grilled Pork Skewers

Ok, I admit it...I don't know if these are really Thai. I wanted to make a pork skewer dish but didn't bother to look up a recipe. Instead I channelled my inner Thai chef and came up with this damn tasty dish.

How to Cook Genuine Sour, Spicy Tom Yum Goong (Thai Tom Yum Prawn Soup)

Peel prawns, removing heads and shells but not the tails. De-vein around a dozen prawns. While you are doing this, boil 4 cups of chicken stock.

What's for Breakfast? Bacon & Eggs Pancake Stack!

Nothing can get you out of bed faster than the thought of bacon & eggs, and pancakes for breakfast! I crisp up the bacon first and use the bacon dripping in the pancake batter...yumm.

Bake Moist Easter Egg Banana Choc Cupcakes

My girlfriend is entirely responsible for this post as she had the motivation to bake over the Easter weekend while I was happy just bumming around. Also, if I do bake...it wouldn't be cupcakes. But they turned out good...very tasty actually, and moist, unlike a lot of cupcake recipes out there.

Cooking Easy and Fast Singaporean Sambal Kang Kong (Morning Glory)

With pre-made sambal belachan, this is the simplest dish to cook. Heat some oil up in a pan. Try to get the amount of oil just so that the vegetables get a nice sheen to them, but not too much else it becomes too oily.

In-N-Out Double Double Burger Animal Style

As I've got no plans to go to the west coast of the States anytime soon, I decided it'd be worthwhile to test out the In-N-Out Burger re-creation done at SeriousEats. Have any of you tried that recipe out? Let me know how it went in the comments!

How to Make Peranakan Sambal Belachan Chilli

Out of all the recipes I have in my head and of all the food I have cooked, this is my most treasured and essential ingredient. I have watched my Aunt make this chilli sauce since I was tiny and now I always keep a supply ready in my fridge.

It is the singularly most versatile ingredient you could use in Singapore / Malaysian cooking and defines the taste of these cuisines. It is used in laksa, numerous curries, fried with meats, sotong (squid), kang kong (morning glory) or eggplant, and even eaten as an accompaniment with rice.

I can always count on it to add flavour and oomph to any dish to elevate it from delicious to amazing! You get the idea about how great I think this is, so if you could cook only one out of all the dishes on this site, choose this one.

BBQ Sweet Dried Meat (Bak Kwa)

Bak Kwa is a sweet pork based snack very much like a jerky. It is commonly eaten in South East Asia from Singapore up to Hong Kong. Here in Sydney, I've seen it sold on a couple of occasions but as per the usual problem of Asian food here, they aren't very good. I've also tasted a few home made versions but likewise, none were any good.