Meeeoooowwww... the Persian Prince

NOTE: Some Spoilers ....

It's been a while since I've done one of these... and it seems that I only do movie reviews when there are rippling muscles to be seen... (OTHERWISE... why else would I watch it???)


As you can guess, this is about the great Prince (Watch me jump and ripple everywhere) Dastan of Persia...

Having never played the game before and not being a big fan of Jaky Gyllenhaal (I keep picturing him in Brokeback)... I was quite amazed that the show was quite enjoyable...

Quite...

And I was wondering why the chick (Gemma Arteton) playing Princess Tamina was so familiar looking...


And then I recalled, she played the rather dubios character of Io in Clash of the Titans as the love interest opposite Sam Worthington...

So it seems she has the same taste in men as I do... rippling muscles trying to save the world... (Okay, I don't really.. but heck!)

And the Great Gandhi.. I mean... Ben Kingsley... who has the role of the evil nemesis



The plot of the movie was pretty easy to follow and entertaining... explains how a rugrat from the streets of Persia caught the attention of the King to become his adopted son... then flash forwards to the present time where the adopted prince (Jake Brokeback) and his two brothers are on the verge of invading the holy city of Alamut...

Now I enjoyed the movie right up to the ending... methinks, the director just wanted to finish the movie off and end it quickly...

If, the said sands of time was over used and went back too far in time (longer than the given 1 minute), then how is it that the movie ending wasn't a catastrophic end of the world scene???

Why do people need to forget the past? Why can't dead people stay dead? Why are they all speaking with bad English accents? Why is Princess Tamina wearing such sexy clothing in the dessert?

So many questions unanswered....

Enjoyable to an extent... but I have no idea how they will ever make a sequel to this movie having erased nearly all of the happenings and relationships at the end of the movie...

So... I give it a 3 out of 5... just for rippling muscles and sexy girls...

Gold Leaf Restaurant @ Harbour Town, Docklands

Gold Leaf is relatively new to the Boy and I... we've heard many good things about the main branch in Sunshine, but have only recently discovered and decided to give the outlet at Docklands a try.

NOTE: SEE!! I'VE already broken the train of the 1 week home cook and 1 week food review decision.. *sigh*


If you've never been to Harbour Town before, it's really very easy to locate... just head towards the Metal stand of the now defunct Melbourne Southern Wheel/Eye/Thing... look up, and Gold Leaf is there =)


Because of my backlog in postings and reviews... this is a 2 in one hit... (if you were thinking the Boy and I ate that much in 1 seating with no help... you must think very highly of our tummies *wink*)


The decor is quite modern, and the lay-out is nice and spacious


The fare served in this yum cha establishment is quite different from the other Hong Kong type restaurants elsewhere.

With a Vietnamese influence, you'll find quite interesting dishes here which you may not find elsewhere in Melbourne.

This is a trio of prawn, fish and sea cucumber on soft silken Japanese Tofu


Then we have deep fried prawns wrapped in sea weed and rice paper (absolutely delicious, I'm starting to suspect they do good Fried dishes...!)


Pork Spare ribs with black beans (Pai Guat) (this was mediocre)


Pork & Prawn Dumpling (Siu Mai)


We went a bit wild with the seafood here and paid the price for it (literally, *snigger*)

This was steamed prawns (if they're not steamed, their fried, alright?!), fish roe and silken tofu (very very tasty)


Deep Fried prawns wrapped in bean curd skin served with sweet chilli (Fu Pei Har Guen)


Pan fried radish cake


Shark's Fin prawn dumpling with fish roe


Deep Fried yam with mince pork (Wu Kok)


Action SHOT!


Century Egg and Pork Congee (Pei Tan Sau Yuk Chook)


Rice Noodles with Barbecue pork (I like this, but the Boy didn't... only because it had coriander... I thought it added an extra dimension, but the Boy does not like any form of coriander) (Char Siew Cheong Fun)


Prawn Dumpling (Har Gow)


BBQ Pork Buns (Char Siew Bao)


Mango Pudding! When we had this, it must have been Mango season, because it was chockfilled with mangoes!


Durien Tart (Lou Lien Tart)... I've always wanted to try this, and instead of the usual egg tart, I thought, "Hey, why Not?!"

It was very creamy (hadn't fully set yet, I reckon).. but still was good...



On both visits, we didn't bother making a booking and we showed up at 11am... we were given a table almost immediately.

However, it is recommended to book, as the crowd waiting usually gets quite long.

*Disclaimer: All food ratings are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality

Food/ Cuisine: Chinese
Overall Food Rating: 7.5-8/10 (the Boy and I have a deadlock... I like it more than he does!)
Restaurant ambiance: 7.5/10
Service/ Attitude: 7/10 (Their service here is actually better than usual Chinese Restaurants... which had us pretty amazed!)
Value for money: 7/10 (We did order a lot of dishes with seafood, and paid around $25 each for both sessions)

Address:
Shop 10-11, Level 1
Star Circus
Harbour Town
Docklands VIC 3008

Tel:(03) 9670 1128
I usually don't comment on numbers, but this is so typically CHINESE! If you are Chinese, you'll know what these numbers translate to... *gasp*
Fax: (03) 9642 3868

Website:http://www.goldleafrestaurant.com.au

Gold Leaf is open
7 days a week for
yum cha, lunch and dinner

How to get there:

View Larger Map

Les Petit Truffe C'est moi!!

I am going to be lazy today and let the pictures do the talking =P

This was when D&Z were in Melbourne galivanting... we cooked this when they were not killing wallabies...

Winter vegetables with carrot puree

Roasted Stuffed Capsicum with Truffle mash


Chicken Roulade with Serrano Ham, crumbed with fresh thyme and sage and tarragon flowers


Roasted pork loins with creamy white sauce, thyme and gherkin


Group shot of the fabulous spread...


Poached pears with cinnamon and vanilla bean



Dévore ton coeur mes amis!

Mee Java (Javanese Noodles)...or some might say Mee Jawa

So here's the plan... I'll make home cooked postings for a week, then I'll do food review postings the next week.. and I'll alternate it until I'm done on either and we'll just have normal postings (never going to happen) again...

This plan is doomed to fail!! Just because I never follow my plans and I'm terrible with putting up my blog postings!

Finely grated carrots (Which I BLED for!)


(Yellow egg noodles, because Yellow is what they are...!)


Finely chopped shallots and a red chilli (Seeds removed)


Peeled prawns


Prawn shells and heads (for stock/soup)


Sliced chicken


Lemongrass and sliced fish sticks...


Lightly fry the shallots


Boil the soup stock with prawn shells and heads (that is where all the good sweetness comes from!), shallots, garlic and lemongrass


Cook the prawns in the soup and remove them


Cook some hard boileg eggs.. aren't they pretty shell-less and innocent like? Like they are shy or something.. hahaha...


Fry an omelette


Shred the omelette (obviously the Boy has not got Martin Boertz's skills), but my slicing of the hard boiled egg is perfecto!)


Bring the soup stock to a boil


Pan fry the chicken slices in some stock


Decorate and serve hot!


We made quite a huge batch...


And when we ran out of egg noodles, we had it (the soup and ingredients) with instant noodles instead...

Just as good!



Obviously, we didn't quite use the right ingredients... but hell, it was delicious!

I'll post up Madam Mummy's version soon-ish... *bleik*