15th September 2015
Charlie & Co dined as guests of Ramen Bankara.



I love ramen on a cold winter's night, there's nothing more comforting than a warm bowl of ramen with soft boiled eggs, gooey running yolks, and a plate of karaage, squeeze of lemon and Kewpie mayo on the side. 

So when Thanh, invited us to to a tasting night at Ramen Bankara, we jumped at the chance! I love being invited to food event, as I rarely get invited anywhere. As a planner, I'm usually the first one to find out about events, and the one with the tickets. That and I'm a little shy so it's not often that get invited to food events.

Tonight we took a rare trip out to Westfield Doncaster for a tasting night at Ramen Bankara, the first of its branches in Australia. Hailing from Toyko Ramen Bankara is a franchise that aims to bring you authentic ramen. Bought to Australia by the same group who bought you China Bar, Dessert Story and Secret Kitchen, Ramen Bankara is bound to be a hit. 

The evening was a causual affair where Jas & I met other bloggers, of whom I did recognize a few which followed a game of matching faces to blogs or instagrams. We met Brandon, the brand manager would we were lucky enough to sit close to, as he told us about the story and ideas behind Ramen Bankara, as well as about the dishes.


Starting off, was the obligatory* steamed green soybeans, which jas compared to the bowl of nuts at the bar. Buttery and fresh these were "quite nice" said jas, and fun to eat.












Agedashi Tofu - I wasn't a fan of tofu till I tried it sweetened and then again deep fried, but anything deep fried is beautiful. Much like this silky dish, that wasn't oily or have a slimey skin, which I find happens a lot of this dish. I love it!







Tonkotsu Ramen - Springy Hakata style noodles served in rich and creamy broth made from boiling pork bone over high heat for many hours. The slow cook technique breaks down the collagen, marrow and fat, giving the broth a flavourful pork and buttery texture.



The broth was creamy and lovely, with perfect noodles, well made and not too soft or rubbery. Serving size is the big bowl above, but as we like to taste everything larger bowls were for pictures and then divided into smaller bowl, which were still a lot if you consider how many things we tried. :P


Bankara Ramen - Signature Tokyo style dish, complemented woth a slightly salty taste wit a hint of sweetness, creating a sweet and savory flavour. 

This one is the signature ramen, and we could see why - it was great! 
Our favourite and a crowd pleaser. 

With the ramens you have three options: 1. order the standard served with pork, bamboo shoots or fungus and seaweed for $13.80, 2. add extra toppings or 3. go for the pimped up or rather premium which is $19.80. It is on the pricer side for a bowl of ramen, but these bowls are very big and filling.



Karaage - Fried chicken. I loved fried chicken! And I believe everyone, who is not a vegetarian does too! Served with kewpie mayo and a squeeze of lemon this one had the boys fighting over the last piece!





Caesar Salad with a Japanese Twist - This was a surprize, a good one as Ramen places don't normally serve salads, it's good to have something for those after something green, which includes me occasionally. I love the egg on top!





A Chinese dish this one was not a ramen, served after the great Bankara it was in its shadows as it had less rich flavour. Next time served this one first then build the flavours up. But if you're after something lighter and not creamy this is it - or the next dish.







A broth on the salty side, a tradition Japanese dish served on warm summer evenings, where you dip cold springy noddles into the broth, and then drink it. Something different and fun, I'd love to add seafood to this.





I do find that there aren't many Japanese places (I only know of one) that offer homemade desserts, rather opting to go with mochi and soft serves. 

Bankara offers ice cream with your stand but crowd pleasaing Japanese flavours as well as vanilla, and a palette cleansing lemon sorbet. The ice creams tastes familiar, much like Magnums or Peters. 













Thank you Thanh and Ramen Bankara for an invitation for a great night!

We look forwards to visiting the second location, in the city set to open in November on Swanston St, where Dessert Story used to be (305 Swanston Street). 

I'll be ordering the karrage chicken, jas the gyoza and the signature Bankara Ramen, our favourite ramen!






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Charlie dined as a guest of Guylian Cafe, co. paid and we had a return visit.
Friday 18th September



Guylian is known for its boxes of seashell-shaped chocolates sold through supermarkets are, but now there’s a café in Melbourne! Where you can enjoy desserts and hot chocolate as well as the classic seahorses. 

The story of Chocolaterie Guylian began in the late 1950’s with the marriage of Guy Foubert and Liliane in 1958. Guy and Liliane joined their names into our company name: Chocolaterie Guy-Lian.

The young couple created for the first time chocolates in the shape of seashells. Guy (Belgian chocolatier making handmade chocolate truffles) developed the recipe Guylian's signature hazelnut praliné filling; Lilliane added the artistic touch by designing the shining marbled look and the delicately sculptured shapes. Delicious and a work of art! 


The first cafe in Australia in 2008 and has since opened two more locations in NSW, and four months ago opened its first Melbourne store on Swanston St near Bourke St. 



On Friday Night we had the pleasure of visiting Guylian and met Fhred, a chef with a clearer idea of his career and future than us, and a passion for creating beautiful things that people (like Charlie!) would share on instagram and write about. :)









At the bottom of the cup lies the signature seahorse onto which you pour the pre-made hot chocolate over, the tip is not to pour too slowly or you risk it traveling down the jug. Made in the kitchen Guylian's hot chocolate is more milky than chocolaty. The silver jug you get is 1.5 cup's worth of hot chocolate.

I had the milk chocolate which was light and not as chocolaty as Lindt as they let you play with your own ratios - unless you get takeaway, lets me honest we make it 50/50 milk/choc. It reminded me of a homemade style but using chocolate. It's the classic hot chocolate. I like it though don't love it, as I prefer something more chocolaty, but note that I'm American and so used to super sweet chocolate and intense levels of sugar. :P

Meanwhile jas had the banana and caramel hot chocolate that had a milk chocolate base, making it very sweet but a great carrier for the banana. Ordering banana is always risky, as it can go two ways: yucky artificial, or great when it tastes like real banana. Like in this case. :)



Everyone says Guylian is expensive, though I don't know of any cheap dessert cafes, so it's not that Guylian is expensive, it's dessert cafes are expensive. These desserts are $13, but they do have tarts, cupcakes, mousse and pastries which are cheaper. I suppose if you're in South Yarra there's LuxBite's slices/one serve cakes and Burch & Purchase's tube desserts/slices, which are around $10 - but unlike Guylian they aren't served up on a fancy platter with accompaniments.

A comment someone else made was that there wasn't enough dairy and gluten free desserts. O.o Guess it didn't occur to her chocolate is made from milk which is dairy. As for gluten free there's macarons, but most desserts have gluten/cake/cookie elements to them. 

























How beautiful is this creation?! It was inspired by the planets and rings that surround them. Those little lighter brown dots is popping candy! Representing the moons (each planet except Mercury and Venus have at least one moon). 




If you look closely you can see three layers inside (we're not counting the base) the bottom level is praline (hazelnut paste) enclosed in a dome of dark and white chocolate mousse. Finished off with with gelatin glaze, that was perfect - it was light and soft, and melted on your tongue. Overall a beautiful, light and decadent dessert that isn't dense. Best served with a mug of hot chocolate.



Signature chocolates! I do remember very clearly the last time I had these. An event I worked at bought a truckload and they were served by the kg on silver platters. After that I haven't had them since, but I do have good memories of Guylian, as an ex favoured them and would buy me chocolates.


A contrast to my light and fluffy mousse jas had the baked cheesecake, another best seller with dark chocolate, his favourite. Served in a garden with chocolate soil, sponge grass with a strawberry and raspberry coulis (sauce), topped with gold.



Rich but not as heavy as you'd think, the contrast between the raspberry sauce and dark chocolate baked cheescake was beautiful, though for the size of the slice we need more sauce. :P








It was a summer's day at 28 degrees, and the perfect chance for a revisit for a milkshake rather iced chocolate! I'm not sure if you can tell but under the beautiful cream is a scoop of vanilla ice cream, that was nothing like I've ever had, it was creamy and rich in flavour. I'm coming back for ice cream! As for the drink itself it was a bit on the average side, and yes expensive too. 






We had a great time taking all the pictures! And sampling some delicious and decadent desserts. Yes it's pricier than other dessert cafes (except Max Brenner) but as a treat once in a while it's worth it. Especially if like jas you grew up eating chocolate seahorses, but have never been to the once Sydney only cafe! I was quite excited to try Guylian as I was very familiar with their chocolates.

Rated by tripadvisor users as no #19 out of 80 Dessert in Sydney, Guylian's sure to be popular when people discover it, especially as they're open till 11pm Thu-Sat. 






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Original Recipe from Good Food Magazine, March 2009



It's funny how when you're after mascarpone everyone knows you're making tiramisu, it's as if mascarpone was invented for that one recipe. Most recommendations are to use it like whipped cream in cakes, scones, with strawberries, icing sugar between toast. Though for me left over mascarpone doesn't exist as it's just the right amount the recipe calls for. Also there's an monopoly on it, one brand, one size, one price.

With mother being a health lecture growing up we never ate anything with cream, cookies (as the main ingredient is butter), or anything that was deep fried or wasn't low/no-fat, sugar free, low/no-carb. She doesn't care for food and would eat cardboard if she could, nothing there just pure fiber.

And so now we're on our own in the big city, we're off on an adventure to explore many things we've never tried before, like a Victorian Sponge, fish&chips on the beach. And sometimes even making dessert at home! But I'm the only one who eats these things, and so everything I make needs to be in small servings to be frozen. 

We're planning a picnic, and so it was the perfect excuse to make a batch of tiramisu, to be served in mason jars, or the best alternative I could get - Bonne Maman Jam Jars. This is an easy no bake, no fancy equipment required dessert. You can even freeze it!

As we don't make desserts we don't have what jas (who cooks) calls the essentials, and so with that I made a couple adjustments. We don't have cocoa powder or marsala, and I didn't want to buy an entire box/bottle so we substituted them with things I do have. Also I hate chopping/grating chocolate, so that didn't happen either.



Time - 30mins + Chill Overnight
Serves 7-14+ (Depends on Serving Size)
Easy? - Yes, I made it successfully and that's proof :P

• 600ml Whipping Cream
• 250g  Mascarpone
• 2 tbsp Rum 
• 3 tbsp Vanilla* Caster Sugar
• 300ml Choc Coffee, (1 tsp Coffee 1 sachet Swiss Miss and 300ml boiling water)
• 175g Sponge Fingers**
• 2 Sachet of Swiss Miss (one for the choc coffee)

1. Make the Swiss Miss Coffee in a measuring jug. Set aside. 

2. Put the cream, mascarpone, rum and sugar in a large bowl. Whisk until the cream and mascarpone have completely combined and have the consistency of thickly whipped cream.

3. Get your serving dish ready. Put the coffee into a shallow dish and dip in a few sponge fingers at a time, turning for a few secs until they are nicely soaked, but not soggy. For the jars I cut them in half, so one finger per 2nd layer, 3 fingers per jar.

4. Layer soaked sponges into your dish to cover the base, then spoon over some of the creamy mixture, to create the cream layer. Sprinkle with Swiss Miss, that's your three layers. Repeat till you run out of space or cream. You should finish with the creamy layer, and Swiss Miss Sprinklings.

5. Cover and chill overnight, for the flavours to develop. This can now be kept in the fridge for up to 2 days. Or 2-3 months in the freezer, just defrost in the fridge overnight before consumption. 



Notes

* I make my own vanilla sugar, using vanilla beans and caster sugar. 
** Buy the hard no-so-nice-as-a-cookie sponge fingers, the size suits small jars better, and there's no temptation to eat the ingredients. 

• This for me makes 7 Bonne Maman Jars (370ml), if I had 7 jars, but we only had 6. Also these jars contain two servings each, or for one person in two sittings. 
• Defrosted overnight it tastes the same as if you had made it the night before. 
• Le beau would have liked to add a thin layer of salted caramel in each cream layer. We'll try this next time. And also drizzle salted caramel on top.

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