About Favourite Foods

If there’s one topic everyone can relate to, it’s food. Today, I’ll be listing some of my favourite foods and beverages.

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Favourite Foods Through The Seasons~

Summer

Sushi

   
 

Rice and fillings wrapped in a seaweed roll.

PROS:

-  Tasty, healthy and non-greasy

CONS:

- Expensive

- Very difficult to make at home

- Lingering smell of fish on your fingertips afterwards

How do you eat it?

Hands or chopsticks

Recommended: Diane Sushi

Located: Outside Melbourne Central train station, in a rather inconspicuous spot opposite a bus stop and beside a Korean supermarket. (Incidentally, the Asian supermarket also has a wide selection of fitting drinks to go with your sushi.)

Diane Sushi offers the cheapest sushi roll prices I have ever seen, plus they are tasty. The daily specials are priced at only $1.50 a roll, and are normally the imitation crab meat or seaweed salad filled varieties. The regular assortments of flavours are priced between $1.80 and $2.50, which include the salmon and chicken rolls I commonly buy.

The service is friendly (without being confronting or probing), and the sushi maker there always seems to recognise me no matter how frequently I visit. Your sushi will come packaged in either a paper bag or plastic box, along with complimentary soy sauce.

Pizza
   
 
Dough base with cheese, tomato paste and toppings.

PROS:

-  Tasty, with a wide range of toppings and flavours

- Inexpensive

- Simple to make at home

CONS:

- Not entirely healthy

- ‘Floppy’ effect upon reheating

How do you eat it?

Hands or knife and fork

Recommended: Pizza Hut

Located: Numerous

There’s just something about their Veggie Pizza. As much as I like my meat, this vegetarian option is the best tasting pizza ever in my opinion, provided that I ask for no pineapple or olives. I suspect it has something to do with my obsession with capsicum. 

Cellophane Noodles
   
 
Transparent noodles mixed with other ingredients.

PROS:

-  A healthy, tasty way to turn salad into a meal

- Great flexibility in ingredients and flavours

- Inexpensive

- Easy to make at home

CONS:

- Tendency for noodles to stick together while boiling

- Not quite the same upon reheating, noodles may either go stiff or too soft

- Vinegar fumes, depending on the type of dish you make

How do you eat it?

Chopsticks or fork

Recommended: Sweet potato starch noodles

These are thick, faint purple-grey to translucent coloured noodles. I like them cooked with carrot and onion, although the dish requires the addition of vinegar, which some may hate.

Spring

Vietnamese Roll

   

Large bread roll filled with a variety of different ingredients.

PROS:

- Delicious and healthy

- Choice of ingredients and flavours

- Affordable

- Can make at home

CONS:

- May be awkward to eat

- Risk of food poisoning

How do you eat it?

Hands

Recommended: Nhu Lan Bakery

Located: Footscray and Richmond

There is always one bakery in every Asian district which makes the best tasting Vietnamese rolls. I am familiar with one called Nhu Lan, but you can always tell by observing which bakery on the street attracts the most customers around lunch time. Personally, I go for the chicken or pork skewer varieties. There is customisation available if you're looking for a unique mix of flavours. I'm not fond of coriander or chilli myself.
  
I will mention that in the past when I lived near these bakeries, I ordered these rolls at least once a week. Their price has risen from about $1.80 to $3.80, but they are still good value. Over several years, I have experienced around 5 cases of mild food poisoning. So do try to eat your Vietnamese rolls immediately upon purchase.

Steak and Potato

   

Grilled slice of beef served with mashed potato, roast potato or chips.

PROS:

- Tasty and fairly healthy

- Affordable

- Easy to make at home

CONS:

- Cleaning the greasy pan afterwards

- Requires side dishes

How do you eat it?

Knife and fork

Recommended: Eye steak and Deb's mashed potato mix

Located: Any major supermarket

A filling meal for struggling students and those on a budget. Eye steak is cheap and cooks through quickly, while adding water to Deb's powder saves time and effort. Gravy powder ties everything up nicely.

 

Asian Corn

   

Pale, starchy corn originating from Vietnam or Shanghai.

PROS:

- Tasty and healthy

- Affordable

- Easy to make at home

- Unique, non-sweet flavour

CONS:

- You have to eat all the cobs you cook in one sitting, as they don’t reheat well
  
How do you eat it?

Hands or skewered on a chopstick

Autumn

Bell Peppers and Beef

   

Sliced capsicum and beef strips stir fried. Often cooked with black bean sauce, mushrooms or baby corn.

[Vegetarian option available by substituting in five-spice bean curd.]

PROS:

- Delicious and healthy

- Affordable

- Easy to make at home

CONS:

- Bell peppers may go soggy upon refrigeration or reheating

How do you eat it?

Fork or chopsticks

Recommended: Homemade

Yes, you should make this dish yourself. The more differently coloured capsicums you can include, the better it seems to taste.
  
Rice Cakes

   

Glutinous, soft alternative to normal rice.

PROS:

- Tasty and healthy

- Flexibility in ingredients, interesting alternative to rice

- Affordable

- Easy to make at home

CONS:

- Not quite the same after reheating

How do you eat it?

Fork or chopsticks

Rice Noodles

   

Thin, delicate noodles cooked with other different ingredients.

PROS:

- Tasty and healthy

- Flexibility in ingredients, interesting alternative to rice

- Affordable

- Easy to make at home

CONS:

- Not quite the same after reheating

How do you eat it?

Fork or chopsticks

Winter

   

Chicken Noodle Soup

Stock, chicken, short noodles and possibly other ingredients boiled together as soup.

PROS:

- Tasty and healthy

- Affordable

- Easy to make at home

CONS:

- Beware of hot soup

How do you eat it?

Spoon

Recommended: School canteen soup

Located: Your local school?

After years of fruitless searching, I have failed to discover a chicken soup which surpasses the humble concoction served at my high school canteen. Sure, it was probably just cheap-ass fluorescent stock and chicken scraps thrown into a pot for an hour, but it tasted like pure enrichment. And they knew it, because they exponentially increased the price over the course of two years.
 
Seriously, this soup was so good that I have considered dressing up in my old uniform for another chance at asking the staff working there for the recipe. Oh, all the wasted opportunities!

Bone Soup
   

Stock, beef/pork bones, Chinese turnips, black fungus, lotus root and possibly other ingredients boiled together as soup. May also be known as bone marrow broth.

[Note: Chinese turnips are white and distinctly different from regular turnips.]

PROS:

- Tasty and healthy
- Can infuse with herbs of your choice

- Affordable

- Easy to make at home

CONS:

- Beware of hot soup

How do you eat it?

Spoon

Pasta (Carbonara + Tomato)

   

Italian staple, can be made with cream or tomato bases and with many different ingredients.

PROS:

- Tasty and healthy

- Choice of flavours and ingredients

- Affordable

- Easy to make at home

CONS:

- Tomato base may cause certain throats to produce phlegm

How do you eat it?

Fork

Recommended: La Porchetta

Located: Various

Quality Italian dishes with enormous serving sizes for all!

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Favourite Beverages

2%
   

Colourless, non-carbonated flavoured water. Very Korean.

Calpico
   

Carbonated, culture drink. Japanese and resembles a soft drink version of Yakult.

Marble Ramune Drink
   

Carbonated soda drink, common in Japan. Signature novelty ‘marble’ in the bottle neck.

Yeo's Chrysanthemum Tea
   
 
The authentic Asian drink.
  

Cream Soda
   

Carbonated, sweet drink.

Yakult
   

Probiotic culture drink, fairly expensive. Tastes like liquid yoghurt, only far more delicious.

Vanilla Coke
   

Looks exactly like regular coke, yet tastes somewhat creamy like vanilla.

Mountain Dew
   

Sweeter than Sprite, a carbonated soft drink which is coloured a mysterious fluoro yellow.

Favourite Confectionery

Guylian Seashell Chocolates
   

Hazelnut praline filled marble chocolates, poured into the shapes of ocean critters.

Lindt Milk Chocolate
   

The creamiest milk chocolate you can find.

Billiken Soft Candy
   

Elusive soft candies, apparently manufactured in Argentina.

[If you know of a supplier who provides the original Billiken candies pictured, please direct me to them.]

White Rabbit Candy (大白兔)

   

Iconic milk flavoured candy from Shanghai, China. Comes wrapped in edible rice paper.

Allens Milko Stick
   

Western version of chewy, milk flavoured candy.

Strawberry Cables/Pencils
   

Extremely sweet fruit liquorice with a white cream centre.

Japanese Candy
  
  

Japan makes some of the highest quality, delectable chewy candy in the world.
I am especially fond of Hi-Chew candy, but be sure to buy the authentic Japanese kind.

Allens Toffee Apple Bar
  

Seemingly rare candy, only found in selected milk bars.

Milk Bottles
  

Mild, gelatinous, milk flavoured gummy candy.

Liquorice Bullets
  

Black liquorice pieces covered in milk chocolate.

Maltesers
  

Appear to be biscuit-malt-honeycomb spheres coated in milk chocolate.

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Paddle Pop [Bubble Gum]
  

The most supreme Paddle Pop ever created. Pretty colours, great flavour. Tragically discontinued.

Paddle Pop [Moo]
  

Tasty, creamy, milk flavoured Paddle Pop. Claims to provide us with calcium.

Paddle Pop [Cyclone]
   

Succulent, brightly coloured and fruit flavoured icy pole.

Paddle Pop [Chocolate]
   

Classic Paddle Pop flavour for all to enjoy.

Sunny Boy
   

Chunky ice lolly, fondly remembered from school canteens.

Favourite Fast Foods 

Mc Donald’s [Fries]
   

The world’s favourite fries. Quality varies depending on whether you are served a fresh batch or not. Their cheeseburgers ain't bad, either.

Pizza Hut
   

The place to go for flavoursome, fast and convenient pizza.

KFC


There's just something about the Potato and Gravy. It never looks as good in reality if you compare it to the stuff shown in the advertisements, but it sure tastes mighty fine. Perfect for dipping their patented chips in.

Favourite Chains

Nando’s [Peri Peri Chips]
   

Magical flavouring powder sprinkled over good quality chips.

R.I.P – Chicken Steak Salsa

   

When Nando’s announced you had been discontinued, a part of me died with you. :<

Grilled
   

Monstrous, high quality burgers made with premium ingredients. Sadly, complicated and messy to consume.

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Creepy Things Which Actually Taste Pretty Good~

Roasted Duck Necks
   

Affordably scrumptious, but unbelievably greasy. May frighten some diners.

Chicken Feet
   

Tasty, although somewhat messy to eat. Lots of small joint bones and greasy fingers involved.

Jellyfish
   

Looks very similar to cellophane noodles, but tastes even better. Has an enchanting texture.

Squid + Octopus
   

Quite rubbery when boiled, best eaten roasted or fried. The tentacles are the most appetizing part, but beware of crunchy mouthparts.

Roasted Sunflower Seeds
   

The Asian equivalent of chips or popcorn. Crack open the shells to get at the goodness within. Be warned that years of successive snacking on these may chip your teeth.

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*Disclaimer: Some photos are a result of Google search, they are not my own. Feel free to use any photos I have provided in this post. :>