1945 Indonesian Restaurant

 Updated 12/04/13 - 1945 is no longer operating, what a pity !! =(

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Most Indonesian restaurants can be found around Eastern suburbs (Kingsford, Randwick, Maroubra, Kensington). I am a little surprised to find an Indonesian restaurant, called 1945 ** in Pyrmont area (near Star City casino). It is actually a really good news for me, if  I need to get my Indo dose fixed I can jump to Pyrmont after work.

I describe 1945 as Indonesian style tapas, dishes come small and we can order as many as we like to try a bit of everything from the menu. If you are unfamiliar with the dishes, I will recommend the Rijsttafel menu (set menu) to save you time in deciding what you want.

The menu is listed in old style Indonesian (talking bout my grandma's era, Dutch time) & English. At first, I was reading the Indonesian titles, it was kinda fun and exciting to read old style Indonesian....then my brain seems to be digesting the meaning of the titles at turtle speed. It was hard hahaha, I read it perfectly then I need extra minutes to translate the real meaning of the titles. So I gave up and read the English titles instead.

Apologies for not taking fantastic photos, we actually ordered many more but the rest of the photos are quite blurry, blame my baby camera for posing a strike.
If anyone got good tips on taking food photos @ night, please share it with me/ email. Thanks....=)

** 1945 is a very special year for Indonesians, it is the year of our independence after a long period of Dutch colonialisation. Our independence day is 17/08/1945. Several Indonesian dishes are influenced by Dutch.

1945 menu

Tahu Isi - Fried stuffed tofu (vegies inside), fried to perfection, crunchy & using fresh oil (yeah..I am a little paranoia when it comes to fried stuff hehehe, somehow I can tell if they use recyled oil)

Sayur Asem - Indonesian version of Tom Yum soup, sour, sweet, salty & fresh, suitable for vegos

Emping - Indonesian bitternut crackers, served in a traditional basket, it's not bitter at all

Sambal Udang Petai - Chilli prawn with Quail Eggs and Petai

Nasi Putih - Steam rice served in basket, really cool, feel like dining in traditional villages

Babi Kecap - Pork in Sweet Soy Sauce, I best describe it as Indonesian stewed pork, can we add boiled egg?

Urap - Salad, a little different from Gado2, sauce contains tumeric, I personally prefer urap than gado2

Ayam Bakar - Grilled Chicken, really tender and tasty

Maha Melbourne

27/07/11

X flew to Melbourne to dine with me yayyyy. What a saviour ... saving me from being stuck in the hotel with room dining. X is the crazy lot, flew to Melbourne last minute & has to fly with Qantas no less - not cheap I can tell ya (well I need to convince X to take Jetstar/ Virgin Blue in da future), did nothing for the whole day, stayed at the hotel sleeping, reading some books (whilst I was working), playing with Ipad, then dinner with me. The next morning X flew back to Sydney (whilst I was still working again...). I felt so entertained whilst in Melbourne.

I kept screaming that I want to dine somewhere nice, somewhere unique that I cant find in Sydney and X quickly organised our dinner @ Maha (by George Calombaris - Masterchef judge).

Initially I was not too excited coz I used to be anti exotic food. I had really bad food poisoning from it a couple years ago. Anyway, my dining experience @ Maha has totally changed my view about exotic food ... all I can say is I love Middle Eastern food now. There is nothing that I do not like. Presentations, service, quality of food are excellent. I like everything !! Maha dishes are exotic with modern twist and  I am glad X picked Maha coz I will go back to try different dishes if I visit Melbourne again.

Maha Melbourne

We ordered Soufra (4 courses with wines)

Dips - beetroot, soya beans, zucchini, olive, hhhm if no one around I can lick each bowl sparkly clean

Nice fluffy warm bread rolls

Deep Fried Mr Porkie - crispy outside, tender & juicy inside

Pipis with ?? ooppss bad memory cant remember the sauce

Salad with crispy Turkish bread, really refreshing

 

Rice salad

Wagyu beef with Oxtail dumplings & chestnut puree ... ohhemmmgeee, this is heaven, I wish I didnt have to share it with X, the dumplings were excellent

Dessert platter - Filo pastry with orange sauce, ?? cant remember what's in da cup oopps sorry again, my fave - donut with rose jelly inside

Melbourne Photos

27-28 July 2011

My short Melbourne Trip, managed to squeeze 2 hours sight seeing during my trip.

Helicopters touched down in the city

Melbourne morning traffic @ 8.54am

Rent a bike, the best way to explore the city

$2.50 to rent a bike...bargain !!

Grand Hotel - 120 yrs old, Victorian style & heritage listed, beautiful building indeed

Melbourne Tram 1

Melbourne Tram 2

Melbourne Tram 3

Yummy Berry Frozen Yoghurt

***** NOV 12 - YummyBerry is no longer operating in Neutral Bay *****

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I have been a Fro-Yo addict for a while now & I am happy to find Yummy Berry. They are currently available in 3 locations - Glebe, Neutral Bay and Newtown.

Yummy Berry is a little different from other Fro-Yo shop ....
You do self-serve (you can mix all flavours if you want) & pay according to the weight of your container and last but not least, they do 2 flavours that I love - - - mango and green tea. I found it is hard to find a shop that do nice mango & green tea. They normally just do 1 flavour right. Yummy Berry do both flavours on the right track. I am happy to be a loyal customer from now, and I have to practice my Fro-Yo swirling techniques to fit both flavours into the container.

The 'How To Order' guide

Colorful happy decor

Pick your flavour(S) - my fave...mango & green tea

My 1/2 mango, 1/2 green tea with oreo

Tofu & Snow Peas Stir Fry

I have been eating out so much and I just feel like I want to eat something super simple and meat-less. Since I have been out all the time, there is not much stuff in my pantry & I can only find a few ingredients but this will do for now since I am not in the mood to eat anything fancy for now. The recipe is super simple, it can be done within 20 minutes!!

Ingredients:

• 10 pieces Snow Peas cut into diagonals
• 1-2 Egg
• 3 pieces ready made Fried Tofu cut into smaller pieces
• 1-2 tablespoon Thai Oyster Sauce
• 1-2 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil

Method:

• Heat up oil in a wok
• Add tofu, snow peas, egg, give it a quick stir to break the egg, stir fry 1-2 minutes
• Add Oyster Sauce and water, stir fry for 1-2 minutes
• Ready to Serve

Thai Oyster Sauce - Megachef brand

Simple ingredients ...  snowpeas, egg, and tofu