Ol' Friday take-away

Photo credit: SBS food

Old Raffles Place

68-70 Johnston St
Collingwood VIC 3066

(03) 9417 4450‎

After an insanely long and tiring week, I wanted nothing more than to curl up on my couch, watch crappy tv while stuffing my face with takeaway asian.

I bailed on my friday night plans (sorry js) to indulge myself. Perplexed though I was, contemplating where I should order this takeaway. Local noodles? Thai? Or somewhere new?

T from work had told me about Raffles a few weeks earlier so after much deliberation I decided to make the trek from work to 'Old Raffles Place' on Johnston Street, Collingwood. Without a menu I had to do the sit of shame while I ordered.... but let me tell you it was worth it!

Why you should go to 'Old Raffles Place'
1. Although I haven't been to Singapore (yet), in accordance with Food Safari, the food is pretty authentic to the Singaporean dining experience - a fusion of Indian, Chinese, Thai and other cuisines inspired by Singapores colonial heritage.

2. Big dining room, small kitchen - always a winner with a well oiled asian restaurant. Its authentic street fare hawker style!

3. Big servings and low prices.

It was pretty tricky working my way through the t/a menu with so many things- I want to try I felt quite alone trying to pick my top two choices. I'd definately recommend a big group dinner here so that you can try as many things on the menu as you can fit in!

I ended up going for a traditional flat noodle and seafood stirfry with chilli and lime and the sechuan chilli tofu and vegetables. I had to do the springroll test (although I really wanted to try the calamari) and some prawn crackers.

After being disapointed by the level of spice in my sechuan dining experiences lately, this was freakin' awesome! I actually had to drink water to get through it and had to break it up with the noodles. It was very impressive. Although next time I'd get it just with rice to soak up all the yummy sauces. The springrolls were pretty average but, well whats wrong with that? The noodles were yummy but I think they would have been better without the overpowering sechuan sauce. Oh and the prawn crackers- proper massive fresh prawn crackers - no wonder they go for $5.

Yes - I will go there again, next time I'm getting the laksa and the calamari! Oh and probably the sechuan tofu and veg again and probably something else as well... oh and the fish curry...

sunday morn' baked eggs

A made me baked eggs a coupla months ago during our last visit to Mt Helen. Because of this, it seemed only fair that me keep with tradition and have them again! But this time I wanted to go a little healthier ...

(makes two decent serves)

Shopping trolley.
6 free range eggs
4 button mushrooms
1/4 cup reduced fat feta
1/2 avocado
1/2 punnet cherry tomatoes
basil leaves
crusty bread to serve

Preparation.
Preheat oven to 220

1. Quarter mushrooms, dice avocado, halve tomatoes and tear basil leaves.

2. In a small baking dish (for one serve), lightly spray olive oil to prevent egg mix from sticking.

3. Arrange half of tomatoes, avocado, mushrooms and basil leaves evenly in dish.

4. Break eggs in a bowl, holding back yolks evenly pour the whites around the vegetables, making sure all are covered. Evenly drop yolks.

5. Season with salt, pepper, dried chilli flakes (or anything else you like) and crumble feta over the eggs.

6. Repeat with second dish.

7. Bake in oven for 15 minutes or until whites are cooked. Serve with toasted crusty bread and coffee!

It was so yummy and kept me going until well after lunch time!

Next time we're gonna try it with a good tomato and chilli salsa. You can do anything with baked eggs, but its important to remember to use ingredients that wont soak up the moisture. You want to use good moist ingredients that will complement the texture of the eggs. The mushroom and tomato work well because they're nice and juicy, while the avo adds a healthy creaminess to the dish!