Return to Diggies, North Wollongong Beach

BW

Winter and summer, the menu changes, carefully, delightfully and surely, at the Diggies right on North Gong Beach. Perhaps on the coldest week of the year, I joined three of my Sydney based visitors for lunch there, half anticipating any new creations offered, but with the much appreciated beach side views that remain constant.  We were not disappointed.  The current seasonal menu offers interesting names like the choo dong salad ( skirt steak with snow pea sprouts and bean shoots, garnished with mint, coriander and kimchi dressing) and the sunrise breakky ( north bircher muesli with low fat yogurt and seasonal fruit slices).  Interesting enough, all three, out of four at our table, selected  the Pat Witter, pictured above, a delightful yet simple combination of fritters (made from parmesan, red quinoa and sweet corn) with baby spinach and a poached egg, garnished by a good measure of savoury tomato jam.  It was light, tasty and freshened the palate.

Stefanie was the rebel - she chose grilled chicken as her lunch mains, topped up by cherry tomatoes, a poached egg and generous helpings of fresh leafy herbs. (image above)  For drinks, I could not resist my usual sun kissed concoction of orange, strawberry and pineapple.  June and Blossom were more than happy to try an interesting hot water pick me up without alcohol, but laced with fresh mint leaves, dollops of thick honey and small slices of fresh young ginger.  The sun was shining, both the ocean side and sky were blue and we could not have asked to be anywhere else.

I do not normally try the desserts at Diggies, mainly because the starters, drinks and mains choices often take priority and deliver.  On my most recent visit, I did try the masculine, raspberry and coconut cake (picture above) and this was a sure winner - it gave a myriad of tastes when I took a bite, it was not overly sweet and the texture of the various ingredients gave an uplift and blended well with my hot chocolate.  Below, great to accompany with easy cocktails like Pims with fruits, are fried calamari and squid in batter.

NMR

MJC

The delicate art of preparing and presenting fish (images above and below) is manifested well at Diggies and they are part of the current winter season menu.  Tender barramundi served well to contrast with the crispy batter in the fish and small chips. The ocean trout was grilled (below) but retained its utmost moistness, the smell of the sea and a searing crusty fish skin. With rocket leaves, Roma tomatoes and carrots, and with am option to twist a lemon slice, the dish epitomised what good Australian seafood should be like.

PV


My impressions of Diggies this past half year:

Atmosphere:  Relaxing and easy.

Location:  Right on the beach.

Taste:  Consistently good.

People Engagement: Friendly.

Service:  Reassuring.

Best Time to Visit: Brunch.

Fav Dish Experienced:  Pat Witter.

Would I Return?: Definitely yes.

The Autumn Leaves

Autumn leaves under frozen souls,

                                                      Hungry hands turning soft and old,
                                                      My hero cried as we stood out there in the cold,
                                                      Like these autumn leaves I don't have nothing to hold.
                                                      (Paola Nutini)

 

Red leaves falling through the branches
making their way to the ground
blowing by the flowers sleeping
no one knows the leaves are leaving.
(Haste The Day)

The falling leaves drift by the window
The autumn leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sun-burned hands I used to hold
( Nat King Cole)

The Chestnuts came in yellow,
The Oaks in crimson dressed;
The lovely Misses Maple
In scarlet looked their best;
All balanced to their partners,
And gaily fluttered by;
The sight was like a rainbow
New fallen from the sky.
(George Cooper)

Every stained page is stressed
by a splat of color. Rough-red,
like an old tavern,
        we become hungry birds
and prepare for fall.
Shape and shadow are candied citron
(Mary Hamrick)

You may gather from me
the spring of my youth,
my summer of maturity,
and hold onto with me,
the solace of these days
of remembering
before the frost.
(Judith A. Lawrence)

Orange NSW - Farmers Market

The Racine kitchen was there, offering  a variety and diversity of breads and pastries. (picture above)










Organised by the Rotary Club, the Farmers Markets are a highlight of any visit to the Orange region.  

Pumpkins and choir (above and below), sausage rolls and pies, these are a few of my favourite things.  When I am feeling sad, when I am feeling famished, I just think of such stuff and then I don;t feel so bad. When the wind blows, when I feel deprived, I soon get a warmth moving away from that.
And on to pancakes, jams and scones!

Bakery delights from the artisan bread Bakehouse chain (above and below) add to the aromatic ambiance of the markets on a nippy Saturday morning.  I love the spelt bread slices.

Apples are a primary feature of the Orange region - it does sound contradictory.  There are Royal Galas, Pink Ladies and more, but I did not see any Granny Smiths. Other stalls that caught my eye and interest were from the Abilene Grove Olive Oil run by John  and Lorraine Milla; the Budgi Werri Prunes from Cheryl Heley, Wirrimah;

Cottesbrook Honey by David and Tracey Parker of Blayney; Goldfields Honey with Jon & Vicki Lockwood of Lucknow, NSW; Jo Robson catering with bottled sauces from Canowindra; Linda’s Red Hot Chili Relish by Linda Wilson of Mudgee; Milnes of Mudgee, with caramelised balsamic & pate mousse, from Jenni Milne; Murrungundy Pistachios from Diana and Richard Barton, Elong Elong; the Original Farm vegetables, run by Jung-Chun Lai of Cowra; Ploughman's Olive Oil & Products from Peter & Shirley Michalk; and Straniero Extra Virgin Olive Oil by Anna & Sam Stranger of Canowindra.

A warehouse shed ( background in picture above) houses many of the stalls and serve as a functional community hall.  The crowd is friendly, unobtrusive and focused on enjoying the variety of produce unique to the region.  Support for local agricultural products and cooking styles is evident, not just in the several restaurants and cafes in town  and surrounding areas, but also at the Farmers Market. (held at the Orange Showground at Leeds Parade from May to October, and at the Northcourt behind the Orange Visitors Centre from November to April).  You can also register your children for cooking classes held on site.

 Honey to warm any heart (above) and raw, wholesome potatoes (below) reinforce the soul of a countryside feel.  You can also get your selections of cheese, sparkling wines, relishes, condiments, freshly laid eggs, mustards, hazelnut products and chocolates.

Scenes from central New South Wales, above and below, hark back to another time, another place in the Australian landscape.

Holy Basil Restaurant, Canley Heights - Sydney

Holy Basil's reputation precedes my experience eating there, and so when Lin organised a lunch meet up for the six of us at a group meal, I was looking forward to try the place out. Holy Basil has two outlets, one in Sydney CBD at the Shark Hotel along the upper end of Liverpool Street (not the Spanish quarter nearer Darling Harbour), and the original place in Canley Heights, in the western suburbs of the greater Sydney region.  We arrived early at the Canley Heights restaurant, run by the Inthavong family, on a persistently rainy day, was prepared for the no bookings scenario and were generally delighted with the taste and quality of the dishes served.  Above, Thai inspired tom yum soup, spicy, aromatic and with a thicker soup than other versions. I loved the mushrooms and herbal essence.  Below, the stir fried mussels on the shell are provided  with a plethora of herbs like chili jams, basil and fresh chili cuts.

Deep fried starters, like marinated wings (Peak Kai Tod), are always a winner (image below), especially when accompanied by different sauces.  The fellow lunchers that day were a mixture of family, twenty somethings, regulars and repeat visitors.  There is a wholesome range at the bar, particularly with labels such as Singha, Peroni and Heineken beers; Peter Lehmann and Yalumba wines from South Australia; and Sauvignon Blanc from the Nautilus Estate Marlborough in New Zealand.

The Som Tam (papaya salad ala Thai) above contrasts with the entree of

the Yum Pla Muk (calamari salad) below, served with garnishings of Spanish onion slices and a twist of fresh lemon.  These two dishes make Holy Basil very much infused with Thai cuisine in its menu, but the trick is also to savour the Laotian offerings.

The range of desserts is limited but we enjoyed the sticky coconut black  rice pudding

(pictured above), that came with durians (below) and strawberries.

The motto of Holy Basil is "Eat. Drink. Laugh".  We certainly did that - and also chatted much. My impressions of the Holy Basil Restaurant in Canley Heights are:

Atmosphere:  Suburban but also yuppie..

Location:  Busy, buzzing and lively.

Taste:  Above expectations.

People Engagement:  Friendly.

Service:  Responsive, although the table was a tad small for a group of six.  Dishes came out rather fast but that is good.

Best Time to Visit: An hour before everybody expects to turn up for dinner or lunch.

Fav Dish Experienced:  Tom Yum.

Would I Return?:  Definitely yes.

John suggested the Pad Kee Mao ( with flat rice noodles and a spicy kick) and it was an eye opener. Dishes I have an eye for in the future at Holy Basil are the Thai fried rice with crab meat (Khao Pad Pu); the soft shell crab; the Pla Sam Rod (deep fried fish of your choice with three different sauces, a real test of any Thai restaurant); Lao grilled pork sausages; and the unusual chicken feet salad.  The brave can brace for the Lu Oi Bo, an ox tongue special.

The final picture above was not taken at Holy Basil. We decided to look for Vietnamese brew and took seats at the Canley Heights Corner Cafe, where we also has ice cream servings of vanilla, guava and durian flavours, with a milkshake based on another tropical fruit.

Pun Chun Restaurant, Bidor, Perak

I am told that the main reason for dropping by Bidor, a small town in southern Perak in Malaysia, is to obtain the chance to savour the braised duck noodles, pictured above. Bathed in herbal soup, it is a pleasant lunch dish or snack to bite into the well marinated duck breast, accompanied by noodles of your choice and enjoy this classic Cantonese street food.  Bidor lies in a unique hub with nearby Kampar and Teluk Intan, in a region with light industrial facilities, palm oil plantations and an ethnic Chinese community with roots of migration after experience of civil conflict both in China and from the local triad wars of a century past.  Kampar is the iconic home town of Olivia Lum, a key contributor to NewWater in Singapore and a dynamic business woman in her own right.  The region also has a rich historical past - in the 20th century, it saw the Japanese incursions and later was in the centre of the Malayan Communist insurgency, and many hundred years before that, it was flourishing with Hindu and Buddhist socio-political and cultural activities.  Below, a snapshot of the seedless guava fruit, of which Bidor is well known for.

The well established Pun Chun restaurant, located at a street corner along the main strip of Bidor ( 38 to 40 Jalan Besar) - picture above - specialises in a few signature dishes, but what I love best is the wu kok (or deep fried yam balls), one of the staples of yum cha sessions. (image below)  Here one gets gratifying flavours of the inside fillings - like roast pork bites, peas and meshed yam - after first savouring the crispy outside.  Pun Chun also has a branch in the Kota Kemuning section of Shah Alam in Selangor.  I have not been back to Bidor since varsity days and so this recent opportunity was especially appreciated.  My other fondness is for the unique baked chicken biscuits (kai chai peng in Cantonese).

Another attraction of Bidor is in its variety of baked stuff, pickles, dried condiments and biscuits (above). The pomelos of Perak (below) are steeped in Malaysian Chinese traditions and practices, especially for the Mooncake Festival, and are often snapped up by travellers along the North-South Highway of peninsular Malaysia.  I also came upon the petai, a kind of long bean variety, significantly utilised in Malay and Indonesian cooking for their strong flavours to infuse into the dish or just eaten on its own (with a kick to the palate and very much an acquired taste).

I did recall with fondness the unique satisfaction of eating soy sauced stir egg noodles in Bidor. Served with a slightly fatty version of the char siew (Cantonese roast pork) - Sydney outlets tend to use too much lean cuts and lose some of the flavours in this manner - greens and the vinegar soaked green chili cuts (pictures below and above), my expectations were high on arrival at the Pun Chun Restaurant with my brothers and families.  Everything was fine that afternoon, except for the egg noodles served - they were shades below in texture, flavour and integrity and did a disservice to the reputation of Pun Chun Restaurant.   The egg noodles I had in Johor Baru more than a year ago and recently in Shah Alam were much better.

The elderly man who is in charge of the wu kok sales was friendly and did not mind a chart (above).

Round coloured bean paste cakes below are used for festive wedding occasions (below).  Notice the insignia on top of each pink and yellow piece.

Local mangoes (above) are sold in market stalls outside the Pun Chun Restaurant,whilst you are greeted on arrival at the restaurant by hanging pieces of juicy char siew, steamed whole chickens with skin and various condiments of the business. (below)

Would I return? Most probably for  the wu kok. The staff I met that day were helpful, especially the matriarch suggesting to me the current two versions of the kai chai peng.  Pun Chun was a very busy place, with a long shelf of snacks, tit bits and biscuits all ready packed for sale along one side of the two shopfront outlet.