Parker Pies for dinner

Since it's been a long day, we bought some Parker Pies "ready to bake range" for dinner. My wife made a quick salad as side.

We tried four different pies - Parker pie, Venison, Chicken & asparagus and Rutherglen white. These pies are very tasty indeed! Our favourite is the Parker pie. If you want to grab a quick lunch or even take home pies (either cold or frozen ready to bake), we highly recommend Parker Pies at Rutherglen.

Chicken & asparagus pie

Weekend lunch at Pickled Sisters Cafe

We drove to Rutherglen for a day trip today and visited some wineries. At Cofield Wines, there's a nice cafe for brunch or lunch called Pickled Sisters Cafe.

Luckily we went early as guests that got there later could not get a seat because many people booked their tables in advanced.

Hint: Definitely worth booking in advanced so that one doesn't miss out!

We tried their wines - I had a glass of Marsanne Viognier and my wife had a glass of Sweet Ava. I had the Honey & Muscat Glazed Confit Duck with spiced oranges, braised red cabbage & Parisienne potatoes while my wife had the Beetroot Risotto with Milawa Chevre, toasted hazelnuts & mint.

Best Confit Duck I've had! The beetroot risotto was also excellent!

We shared a Poppyseed Ricotta Cake with Lemon Curd for dessert. Yum, definitely would come back again!

Interior of the cafe

Beetroot Risotto with Milawa Cherve,
toasted hazelnut & mint

Honey & muscat glazed confit duck with spiced oranges,
braised red cabbage & Parisienne potatoes

Poppyseed ricotta cake with lemon curd

Marsanne Viognier and Sweet Ava

Sushi Hotaru

We went to Sushi Hotaru with my siblings for the first time. There was a long queue and we had to take a number to wait for seat. Was it worth the wait? Definitely!

This place brought back memories of our first sushi train dinner in Osaka, Japan few years ago! All the staff are Japanese and the interior setup was pretty much the ones in Japan.

The variety of sushi were pretty decent. We strongly recommend the soft shell crab roll, crab stick nigiri, seared scallop nigiri, renkon chips (lotus root chips), takoyaki (octopus balls) and green tea ice cream! I was happy with most of the dishes except for the octopus karaage. I thought it was unfortunately overcooked.

Very reasonably priced! $3 per plate. $7.90 for gold plate as of the time of writing.

Hints: If it is your first time, make sure you click on the iPad to order drinks or specials not on the train. Also make sure everyone's present if you're going with friends as seat reservations are not allowed and your seat will only be given to you if everyone's present due to the high traffic flow of customers. You may need to ask around as it is difficult to locate the arcade and restaurant (it is on the first floor).

Sushi Train at Hotaru

Soft Shell Crab Roll

Seared scallop nigiri

Octopus Karaage

Renkon Chips

Crab stick nigiri

Salmon & Avocado rolls

Chicken & Cheese rolls

Green tea ice cream

Wonderful Bao at Wonder Bao

As its name states, the bao (包 - buns in Chinese) here is wonderful! Best bao we've tried in Melbourne really. We went there just when the store opens and were greeted by fresh steaming bao. The shop also serves cold or hot soy milk.

The shop is a bit tricky to find as its located in the back alley. The shop is pretty small and only has a row of stools along the window area.

We've tried braised pork belly bao, custard bao, da pork bao & da chicken bao. In case you wonder, da (大) means big in Chinese. Finally we don't have to travel to South East Asia to get such nice bao!

The braised pork belly bao is a must try! We had a second!

Pork Belly Bao

Pork Belly Bao, Custard Bao
Da Chicken Bao, Da Pork Bao (Left to Right)

Exterior of the shop

Cold soy drink

Bohjass, A pleasant surprise!

My wife and I went to celebrate for completing my work assignment last weekend at Bohjass after it being highly recommended by a colleague. What a pleasant surprise!

Despite some bad reviews on Urbanspoon (which actually stopped us from trying this place in the first place until we're recommended by my colleague), we enjoyed the atmosphere and the food at this restaurant. Personally I think this restaurant serves the most enjoyable main I had so far in Shepparton.

It also has the largest range of wines for selection in a Shepparton restaurant.

We had kilpatrick oysters for entree, my wife had mushroom risotto and I had the crusted lamp chops. Best lamp chop I've had so far! We will come again.

Interior of restaurant

Kilpatrick oysters

Crusted lamp chops with cheese filled tomato & spinash

Wild mushroom risotto

Currency Exchange Tips

It's been sometimes when I last posted on the blog due to work related priorities but now I'm back. We've been researching the currency market since we'll be travelling soon. Exchange rate is currently great to buy Japanese Yen (JPY). The last time 1 AUD can get over 100 YEN was back in 2008, so we've bought ourselves some YEN via Travelex using Cash Passport card. Keeping it handy when we feel like travelling back to Japan. Cash Passport card works like a debit card but you load your cash into the card before you travel.

One should compare the exchange rates, processing fees when looking for such a card but so far Travelex's card beats the banks' travel card by having no card processing fees (ordered online), no ATM withdrawal fees and better exchange rate.

It will still be wise to exchange at least some cash so that one doesn't have to look for an ATM the first thing on arrival to the destination to pay for food (where card is not accepted), taxi or train.