It is a truth universally acknowledged that function is extremely important. But when it comes to shoes or japanese hot-pots, form can take precedence. So, after many months, a lot of words and no action, we finally did it : we bought a shabu-shabu pot. It was a really exciting purchase because I’ve always wanted one, and somehow we never saw one we really liked, until now. We got ours from Tokyo Mart in Northbridge. Along with the pot, we also picked up a portable stove which the lady at the counter tested to make sure it was working before we purchased it.

Still suffering from the glow of being brand new, we set it to work the next evening. Within minutes, we were swishing away pieces of marinated Wagyu beef and Perch. I’m thinking shabu-shabu sundays should be a regular event now.

(Calamari, who couldn’t make it that day because he was sick, these photos are for you. Hope you can come over next week!)

Tokyo Mart
Northbridge Shopping Plaza,
83 Sailors Bay Road,
Northbridge, 2063.

I have owned my copy of Jill Dupleix’s Old Food for quite some time now. Many other cookbook purchases later, I still find myself returning to her book for recipes like sticky toffee pudding, chocolate chip cookies and a fine Irish boil-and-bake fruit cake that even B’s mum approves of.

After spending this afternoon doing some essential grocery shopping, all I wanted was a cup of vanilla tea and a slice of said cake. It’s a wonderful caramel coloured cake that is light in texture, moist and filled with plump dried fruit. I especially like the crusty, chewy, bloated currants embedded in the top of the cake. When using this recipe, up the cinnamon, allspice and ground ginger quotient, if like me, you’re also a spice fiend. And as you proceed to cut a generous portion for yourself, it doesn’t hurt to keep Jill’s afternoon tea philosophy in mind :

“But it’s the cake that is the heart and soul of afternoon tea, the architectural monument that bonds people, pulling them to the table and to the tea pot. Please avoid the use of all words such as wicked, naughty and sinful when thinking about, cooking, serving and eating cake. They are completely irrelevant. The correct words are well deserved, essential and invaluable.”

Jill Dupleix’s Boil and bake fruit cake :

150g butter
300g sultanas
300g currants
180 soft brown sugar
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 cup water
2 eggs, well beaten
150g plain flour
150g self-raising flour

Heat oven to 180’C.

Combine butter, sultanas, currants, sugar, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, bicarbonate of soda and water in a saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring, then cool.

Add eggs and beat well. Sift the 2 flours together, add to the mixture and beat well. Pour into a lightly buttered cake tin of 22cm diameter. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in centre comes out clean.

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before removing from tin. Store in an airtight container.

In my opinion, the best way to visit a chinese restaurant is to bring along your father, uncle or chinese best friend. They know all the best dishes to order – especially the ones that aren’t on the menu. In fact, I don’t think my dad even bothers to look at the menu at all. He practically haggles with the waiter over what they have and haven’t got in the restaurant kitchen and always ends his order with a request for, “Less oil and less salt please”.

On this occasion, we were at Kam Fook in Chatswood and it was my uncle’s birthday. Eight of us experienced a fantastic meal that my uncle selected : crab with shallots, steamed parrot fish, shantung chicken, bok choy in garlic, stir fried beef, and the highlight of the evening, a dish of broccoli and bean curd in XO sauce, which was recommended by our waiter. The broccoli was vibrantly green, the bean curd so soft and silky inside, and the sauce! What was in that fantastic sauce?? An eggplant hotpot we had on a previous visit was very good too.

There are two other Kam Fook restaurants in Sydney; one in Chinatown and the other at Bondi Junction. At the start of the week, the Chatswood restaurant is a little low on atmosphere – capable of seating 600, it’s a large enough space to make even the presence of at least 100 people dining, feel sparse. But I guess it matters less when the restaurant is chinese and the meal (cantonese, in this case) is this good.

Kam Fook
Chatswood Westfield,
28 Victor Street,
Chatswood 2067.