ADELAIDE: Level One Restaurant @ Electra House Hotel

So Nick made me weigh myself yesterday because he said that he has put own x kilos over the last few days. I initially refused, but you know how I am, I am an easily influenced girl, so I relented and weighed myself and IT WAS THE WORST DECISION OF THE DAY ):

I reckon I have put on 1.5kg just in my last 5 days of being off.

I'm actually living a really unhealthy lifestyle ( where meals are concerned) because of work and to be honest, on top of that, I'm having some stressors in my life right now. It's something that I'm really torn apart between. Gah, Dear God, please.. Please free me from this misery soon, it's really consuming me mentally and I'm really so emotionally drained and not in a good place right now.

Anyway, yes I think we really have been eating too much good food over the last few days, this is thanks to Nick's mother being in town.

We brought her to Level one the other day; this asian fusion restaurant is one of our personal favourite, we've only discovered it this year.

They changed the menu again - was disappointed that some of my favourite dishes from previously aren't on it anymore, but also so excited to try new stuff

Definitely have to order the snowed corn ( on the left ) $14

Was a little apprehensive to try the wonton because wth, I make really good wontons, but I was craving wonton so much so we caved and ordered and I'M SO GLAD WE ORDERED IT! I think I still make better wontons but this was so good! It tasted abit like my favourite chao shous. 

Speaking of chao shous, I deeply regret to say that we have to cancel our china trip in Nov, which include going to the city of chao shous chengdu, because... because of my current stressor. 

Dear God, please just let what I'm waiting for appear miraculously tomorrow or in the next few days....

I always order kingfish at any restaurant that serves it because South Australia really has a supply of good kingfish $23. I really enjoyed the white kimchi in this dish.

One shall never eat at this restaurant without ordering their pork katsu sandwich - crumbed pork sanga $21! I feel that this katsu sandwich is even better than the one I tried in kyoto ( which apparently is really popular and has appeared on multiple tv programs and magazines) 

Korean tonghao salad $16 SO GOOD

Another must order dish - salmon aburi on crispy rice $25

Grilled octopus - probably my least favourite dish of the night $23

Dessert was interesting

Cheesecake on the left and carrot sorbet on the right

Happy bellies! If you follow my instagram you would have realised that I posted about Nick being like Benjamin Button - don't you guys agree that Nick is just looking younger and younger every day?

Conversely, I look so haggard and worn out. Sigh. 

This was our third time visiting this restaurant, and below are some pictures of the food we ordered/were on the old menu. 

Pork cheeks ( not on the menu anymore) 

I wish they got rid of the current grilled octopus and bring this octopus pictured below back!!!

Beef ribs + slaw

Beef brisket noodles $25 It's still on the menu. The waitress says this taste a little blend, but I actually really enjoyed this dish 

I have always been so obsessed with their old school phone since day 1 I visited this restaurant.

"RING RING" 

Level One Restaurant @ Electra House Hotel
131/135-139 King William Street
Closed on sundays and mondays
Tues - Sat 5-10pm
Friday 12-3pm, 5-10pm

ADELAIDE: Bai Long Store

I'm jumping to and fro with my blogposts again, oops. I've been meaning to complete the Japan restaurants then move on to Korea, but every day when I'm out in Adelaide eating, I post on instagram and I ask myself " Goodness, when will this blogpost ever be churned out " To be honest, it'll probably be another few months or years even given my back log :/

SO... I'm trying my very best to minimise my backlog as much as possible and to try and do same day or.. okay la have to be more realistic, perhaps aim same week review :D 

Our good friend Jason whom we know so well from all the sushi eating days at Genki and Himeji has gone to work for another cooperature This makes me so sad because obviously Nick and I still frequent Genki and Himeji heaps and while our favourite chef Ikeda is a constant fixture, the experience just doesn't feel right because Jason is not there anymore ): However, I understand that we cannot be selfish, we cannot expect Jason to forever be working in Genki and Himeji because he needs to have a career progression as well. If there's somewhere that will offer him better opportunities, he definitely should grab that ! 

Anyway, it's been a few months since Jason left his job at Genki/Himeji and moved to Bai Long. We've been wanting to go to Bai Long and support Jason for months now, but it's really very difficult for 2 people to eat at a Chinese restaurant... Like.. what can you order? 2 dishes? How to just order 2 dishes when every dish in Bai Long look so tempting right ?! Then I'm really toyed between ordering just 2 dishes and appearing like some stingy asian, oh wait, that stereotype doesn't work, usually asians like to flaunt it right? Thats why everytime when you go to China or if you're out with a Chinese and someone says they want to treat you, you probably should starve yourself 24 hours before because they just order and order and order like nobody's business. Because tradition says that 

it's very shameful if your guests finishes all the food you order. 

Yeah so back to what I was saying, I can't just order 2 dishes, but if I order more than 2 dishes, then I really feel like I'm spending money to punish myself because I will have to eat all of it and eh, even though the stomach is a J shaped muscular pouch, but ... yeah there's a limit to how much it can expand :/ 

Perhaps you say " oh, you don't have to finish all the food ma " 

WAH SO RICH AH? ORDER FOOD AND DON'T FINISH? SO WASTEFUL

Or perhaps you say " Pack home for tomorrow lor "

Yeah.. can do, but nah.

Anyway, so Nick asked me a few weeks ago where we should go for dinner with 4 other people, I was like " OKAY haven't seen jason for awhile, LETS GO TO BAI LONG" 

Egg plant in Guiness batter $14

With the sichuan caramel sauce

Squid salad $16 

I quite enjoyed this salad, the squid was really well done

Crispy Chicken (without peanuts because I'm allergic haha ) $14

Confit mushroom $22

I HIGHLY recommend this dish, it was so tasty !

Beef Ribs $36 

THIS IS SO SO SO GOOD. It's my first time trying ( THANK YOU JASON!) and I was absolutely blown away. The beef was so tender, so flavourful and when you combine it with the asian " salad " which I think just consist of coriander and onion, it is just simply AMAZING. 

I vote Peking Duck at Bai Long everytime $60

I don't like how I have to eat the duck in the bao tho. I very much prefer the original asian crepe. 

So after eating 1 bao, I decided to just eat the duck and the condiments. 

So the peking duck cost $60 but you are actually paying for 2 dishes - the first one is eaten with the bao, and the second is duck meat fried with noodle. I remember the first time I had peking duck here they fried the noodles with charcoal noodles. It was different but I quite enjoyed it. Today Enxin and I were a little disappointed that it wasn't charcoal noodles. Jason says that the chef feels that duck cooked with pumpkin noodles are nicer than with charcoal noodles. Enxin and I beg to differ. Please bring back charcoal noodles ): 

Crackle Belly $28 

I'm a super fussy pork eater. Actually I really hate eating pork in australia even though i'm a huge pork fan. Because the pork here is always very smelly! I remember Louis once told me that it's because male pork are used here instead of female, so there's alot of testosterone present in the meat, hence the smell. Very impressed with this crispy pork because there was ZERO smell. Maybe they used mustard and rubbed it on the skin ah Idk, I was watching a korean chef on youtube the other day and he said that if you rub french mustard on pork and cook it you'll get rid of the smell. Next time I shall try :D 

6 desserts on the menu, Enxin wanted to order all 6 ( each one 1 what she says), but we were so full from all the food we narrowed it down to 4. 

From top ( clockwise ) 

1. Staff favourite - Red Guiness
2. Black sesame cube ( 3 cubes picture, left is black sesame cheesecake, then basil sorbet, then yoghurt cheese cake, I actually think the star of the dish is the basil sorbet cube
3. Instagram favourite - Mini garden 
4. Matcha Lava cake ( lychee sorbet just on top of the lava cake was so refreshing!)

I usually don't edit my pictures much but I had to edit this picture la because I currently have a VERY VERY VERY OFFENSIVE pimple with pus just between my nostrils and my lips. It is so offensive that I couldn't resist but pop it this morning, but guess what, IT REGREW. And it's like its super undefeated it regrew to 1.5x the original size wtf.
I seriously have to give myself a pat on the back for bravery - being out on the street showing my face even though I have such an offensive pimple :/

Sigh, I only blame work. Must be work stress causing all my hormonal imbalance.
Sigh, I seriously need to rethink my life lol.

Bai Long Store ( click for their website) 
80 Hutt Street Adelaide
Close every Monday