Steven ter Horst Chocolatier

Steven ter Horst Chocolatier has always been on my dessert list since some time ago but I never managed to visit it. And now my wish came true! Being invited by Chloe, the community manager of Yelp, I stepped into Steven ter Horst Chocolatier (finally!) for a chocolate tasting event as part of the dessert club gathering.  

The chocolate tasting event kicked off with the introduction and history of the chocolatier by Steven, the founder of the chocolateria. He is an amiable and passionate chocolate enthusiast. His area of expertise is in the sinfully delicious chocolate masterpiece. Together with him, his partner Chantelle, on the other hand, is specialising in the making of luring cakes and other desserts. 

Steven started off this chocolateria as a vendor booth at Adelaide Farmer's Market. As his customers grew, he decided to enlarge his business to a permanent spot. In order to serve his loyal customers, Unley Road was then chosen to house this cosy chocolatier as it is near to the market itself. Steven went to Melbourne for training from Paris chocolatiers, as France is famous for its fine chocolate. Bringing back the essence of chocolate making, Steven made some modification by sourcing and incorporating local ingredients into the chocolate. As far as the creativity is concerned, Steven ter Horst Chocolatier still remains one of the top chocolateria in the town due to the quality of chocolate!

Steven with much passion 

Everyone should go for Steven ter Horst Chocolatier's chocolate tasting at least once in your lifetime! This cost of this tasting was $15, which included a cup of coffee/tea/hot chocolate, tasting platter consisting of Nuts about Chocolate and Salted Caramel Tart as well as a hand crafted chocolate of own choice. It was very worth it especially for a chocolate lover like me!

A visit to a chocolateria will not be complete without a cup of hot chocolate. It is by far the thickest chocolate drink I have ever had! It is rich in chocolate and what makes it special is its nutty after-taste. You can literally feel like drinking melted chocolate block when you gulp the hot chocolate down the throat. Thick and smooth, yet with surprise!  

Hot chocolate

If you do not like chocolate with thick texture, iced chocolate can be a good option as the ice cream tones down the richness of chocolate. It is my friend's favourite!

Iced chocolate

First up on the tasting plate is the Nuts About Chocolate. It consists of toasted almonds, hazelnut dacquoise, chocolate cremeaux, decorated with chocolate chantilly. The layers of this dessert are pretty defined where you can see different kind of ingredients being used. You can never go wrong with nuts and chocolate as they are always a great combination! The crunchiness of nuts, smoothness of chocolate and whipped cream get married in mouth, creating one of the happiest moment in life! Definitely a try! 

Nuts About Chocolate

The salted caramel tart is filled with layers of rich chocolate ganache over salted caramel. It is not too sweet on overall. However, I found it difficult to cut through the outer tart layer with fork. Hence, I adopted the most original way of eating a dessert, using a bare hand. The tart swept my mouth in a typhoon way as it is to my liking!! One of the best dessert in the chocolateria! 

Salted Caramel Tart

There are over 20 different types of handmade chocolate to be chosen from! And each of them has a feminine name! Isn't this special? I found it very interesting. Chocolate is like woman, I suppose?

Different patterns on different chocolate

Note the names

More chocolate

After much explanation and recommendation from Steven, I settled on Eliza, a French floral Earl Grey Tea ganache layered with a quince pate de fruits. It is refreshing as the Earl Grey flavour washes out some of the sweetness of chocolate, leaving the floral scent behind in the mouth. 

I also managed to have a quick bite on my friend's Hedgehog, the second most popular handmade chocolate in the shop. It is rich in chocolate and most importantly, the shape of the chocolate is really worthy to be adored at. 

The most popular chocolate is the Fleur de Seul, which consists of salted caramel within. 

Nutty chocolate bar

Desserts display corner

Steven ter Horst Chocolatier also sells hand-crafted chocolate in pack of 4, 9, 16 and 24 with lovely boxes. Gifts will be never be the same with Steven ter Horst chocolate.

Chocolate box

Apart from chocolate, this chocolateria does have the petite macarons too!

Macarons

Yelp dessert club

Chocolate tasting

Website: https://www.facebook.com/chocolatiersteven?fref=ts
Address: 221D, Unley Road, Unley, SA. 
Trading hours: 9am-11pm (Tues-Sat), 12pm-5pm (Sun)



Love, Victoria

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Brussel Sprouts and Lamb Riblets Story

Hey guys! It's going to be May soon! Time passes so fast that more than a quarter of a year has crept away. Still remember Seasonal Story post at the beginning of the month whereby I mentioned about April seasonal vegetables? Well, the limelight today will be on May seasonal vegetable - Brussel Sprout. Together with this tough lady, this post will also be focussing on Lamb Riblets which have overwhelming fat content! Other key ingredients include Celery and Tofu.

Day 1

Grilled Lamb, Pumpkin, Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts with Thyme

Ingredients:

- Pumpkin

- Potato

- Lamb chop

- Brussel sprouts

- Pine nuts

- Garlic 

- Thyme

- Seasoning: salt and pepper

- Extra virgin olive oil 

Methods: 

1) Marinate the lamb chop with salt, pepper, garlic cloves and soy sauce for at least half and hour. 

2) Mix extra virgin olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper in a bowl. Coat pumpkin, potatoes and brussel sprouts with the mixture. 

3) Grill all the ingredients in the oven (180-210'C) for 15-20 minutes. 

Note: I love the crunchiness of grilled brussel sprouts as they are less bitter, however beware that you don't over grill them in high temperature. Thyme does play an important role in enhancing the flavour of each ingredient. 

  

Grilled lamb, pumpkin, potatoes and brussel sprouts 

Day 2

Fried Rice Stuffed Portobello + Hashed Brussel Sprouts Stuffed Celery

Ingredients:

- Celery

- Corn 

- Brussel sprouts

- Tomato 

- Tofu

- Rice 

- Portobello

- Cheddar cheese 

- Dijon mustard

- Seasoning: Salt, pepper

Methods: 

1) Fried rice stuffed portobello recipe here. Instead of using sushi rice, I substitute it with fried rice. Tofu is being smashed to simulate the texture of eggs. Black soy sauce and sesame oil are added to fried rice to enhance the flavour. At last, cheddar cheese is put on top of fried rice and portobello to be baked in the oven. 

2) Stuffed celery recipe: Saute garlic and onion in the pan. Add in, corn, mashed tofu, tomato, brussel sprouts in strip form. Season with some dijon mustard, Shaoxing wine, salt and pepper. Stuff them in a celery stick and top with cheddar cheese strip. Microwave them in oven so that the cheese melts. 

Fried rice stuffed portobello + Stuffed celery sticks

Day 3

Nutella Oat Bar + Nutella Stuffed Celery Sticks

Ingredients: 

- Celery sticks, nutella 

- Oat

- Sweetened condensed milk

- Chocolate chip

- Nuts 

- Nutella  

Methods:

1) Nutella stuffed celery stick: Spread nutella generously until it fills the whole celery stick groove. This is the Australian style snacks. You can try it with peanut butter too. 

Nutella stuffed celery stick

2) Nutella Oat Bar: 
(i) Pour around 1/4 cup of sweetened condensed milk onto a frying pan. Bring it to simmer. Stir constantly to prevent it from being burnt. 
(ii) Crush chocolate chips and nuts and mix it with 1/2 cup of oats. 
(iii) Pour the condensed milk into the mixture and mix them together
(iv) Condense the mixture in a baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes (180'C).

Nutella oat bar

Day 4

Grilled Black Pepper Sauce Marinated Lamb Riblets + Stir Fried Brussel Sprouts with Wolfberries and Dates

Ingredients: 
- Lamb riblets
- Marinating sauce: Black pepper sauce, Sugar, Soy sauce, Salt, Pepper 
- Brussel Sprouts
- Wolfberries and Dates 
- Seasoning: ShaoXing wine, Salt, Pepper 

Methods: 
1) Marinate lamb riblets using the marinating sauce above. Leave them aside for at least half an hour. 
2) Saute garlic and onion till fragrant. Add in brussel sprouts, some water, wolfberries and dates. Let them to simmer for 1-2 minutes. Add some seasoning to the brussel sprouts. 
3) Grill the lamb riblets in the oven for 15-20 minutes (210'C).

Notes: Another option of marinating sauce would be mixture of lime juice, thyme, salt, pepper and soy sauce. A surprise as the lime juice exerts sour and refreshing flavour onto the riblets. 

Grilled black pepper sauce marinated lamb riblets + Stir fried brussel sprouts with wolfberries and dates

Day 5

Lamb Riblets Stew with Tofu and Bok Choy

Ingredients:

- Lamb riblets 

- Corn 

- Bok Choy

- Chicken or vegetable stock

- Tofu

Methods: 

1) Saute garlic and onion until fragrant. 

2) Prepare 500ml stock and bring it to boil. 

3) Add in garlic, onion, lamb riblets, corn and tofu. Simmer it for around 1.5-2 hours. Add in bok choy at the last 1/2 hour. 

Notes: Another option is to substitute bok choy with pickled radish or pickled cabbage. 

Lamb riblets stew with tofu and bok choy

Do follow the weekly recipe story here and drop me any comments if you have any dishes to introduce so that I can try it out. 

-The end of the presentation of the fellow humble dishes-

Love, Victoria

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Fork on The Road @ Light Square

Fork on The Road was back on 12 April after the Fringe event! If you missed the last Fork on The Road post, you can check it out here. This time off, Light Square was chosen as the place of aggregation. With the grassy seatings, it was feasible for the diners to laze around in the afternoon or evening, enjoying their meals. 

With the ending of daylight saving this early April, the day ends earlier than usual, around 6pm. Hence, we set off for Fork on The Road dinner event around 5.30pm to enjoy a short period of day light before the dusk kicked in. 

Being driven by the research I had done the night before the visit and my unwavering curiosity, I decided to try out Little Big Cheese Co. Unfortunately, the special of the day which was the pulled pork toasty with King Island Smoked Cheddar, had been sold out and I chose to have Classic instead. It was a toasted bread with smoked shoulder ham, Swiss Gruyere, seeded mustard and lashings of butter. A stick of gherkins came as an accompaniment to the toasty. 

The ham was heavily smoked and hence the saltiness was very prominent. It was sourced from Marino's in the Central Market. As the curing and smoking process is labour intensive, Little Big Cheese Co has no time but to pass this important task to the Marino's. The cheese was seriously good too! However, do prepare a cup of water when you are having this toasty as you might need it to wash away the saltiness before taking another bite. 

Do try out its pulled pork toasty as it is smoked by Little Big Cheese Co itself and that is the highlight of this South Australian, Italian family run business. 

Classic Cheese Toasties 

Little Big Cheese Co has been operating around Adelaide for the past 4 months in various events such as East End Wine Down, Adelaide Food and Wine Festival and Fork on The Road, not to mention some makeshift locations! Do like its facebook page to keep yourself updated on its trail. 

Little Big Cheese Co 

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-Big-Cheese-Co/461087203963963
Phone number: 0433 503 836

Hereby I declare my favourite brownie stall is Four Seeds! There are a number of variety you can choose from, but the most famous ones are peanut butter and salted lime brownie. I tried its salted lime brownie and it was so amazing! The lime flavour was incorporated into the moist chewy texture of the brownie which was topped with sea salt flakes. The saltiness kicked in after the refreshing lime, making the brownie a special one!

Four Seeds Stall

Website: http://fourseeds.com.au/baked.without.numbers/home.html
Phone number: 0409532500

Behold vegetarians! Let Them Eat can be a new addiction to you! It offers vegan tarts, desserts and fritters in which you can munch them as snacks! It does offer catering and retail service where you can consider to have a vegan banquet without worrying that your guests will rant and rave about the food! 

The array of food offered

Parsnip sage and mascarpone arancini I ordered turns out to be a surprise as I never realise vegan food can be this special and delicious! Especially with the sour and sweet condiment, the fried rice ball fed my stomach really well. 

Parsnip sage and mascarpone arancini

Website: http://www.let-them-eat.com.au/
Address: 18 Elizabeth Street, Croydon
Trading hour: 10am-4pm (Tues-Sun)



Get forked up! And hopefully there will still be the next Fork on The Road event! 

Love, Victoria 

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From Scratch Patisserie

A good breakfast always blows my mind away! If you are following this blog close enough, you will notice that I am actually in a breakfast/brunch hunt. And From Scratch Patisserie is my newest addiction! This patisserie is a proud child of a pair of young couple, Johnny and Edwina. 

I always adore pastry, loving the softness and buttery texture of the layers. Different toppings or fillings can come in as a surprise because you will be amazed by their impeccable combination with the pastry. Gahh! A beautiful morning can be birthed through a satisfying breakfast. 

From Scratch Patisserie provides a few series of pastry for its customers to choose from, including brioche, cookies, croissants, danish, tarts, sfogliatelle, fritata, pies, eclairs and macarons. They look so tempting and I am spoilt for choices!

Patisserie 

More patisserie 

Pain Au Chocolat

Croissant like pastry with dark chocolate sticks baked inside. This is my favourite of all! It is soft, flaky and buttery with chocolate flowing out when you take a bite. Given that I am a croissant and chocolate lover, I can never get sick of this! A must try! 

Sfogliatelle

Layers of wafer like pastry with a cooked ricotta and semolina custard, citron peel, cinnamon and vanilla. It has a hard crusty covering with a generous serve of smooth custard inside. The custard has a mild flavour as ricotta does not really stand out. 

She's Apples 

Almond pasted pastry with apples, cinnamon and vanilla baked with a biscuit crumble on top. This is one of the most popular pastry in the patisserie. The biscuit crumble complements the apple well, which reminds me of apple crumble. It is not too sweet though.

Ugly Raspbettie

Laminated pastry rolled up and baked with vanilla custard and raspberry then rolled in cinnamon sugar. This is the most popular pastry and I can see the reason of its popularity. The layer of pastry is prominent and soft. A small bite will release the buttery flavour together with its raspberry fillings. Highly recommended!

Wham Bam Strawberry Jam

Seasonal fruit danish - flaky yet buttery pastry topped with seasonal fruits. This is not too bad, but I find the layers to be harder than the one in Pain Au Chocolat.  

Nice Nuts

Hazelnut pasted scroll with cinnamon and vanilla roasted peanuts, hazelnuts and almonds. The hazelnut paste becomes the limelight of the pastry, accompanied by different kind of nuts. Like the wham bam strawberry jam, I find the pastry a little bit hard. 

Clockwise: Wham Bam Strawberry Jam, Sfogliatelle, Pain Au Chocolat, Ugly Raspbetti, Nice Nuts

The popup patisserie at Leigh Street is situated just beside Coffee Branch and only opens on Friday from 7am to 9am. The early bird catches the worm, so do drop by before going to work or classes and grab an awesome pastry from there. You can choose to sit at the tables provided by Coffee Branch to savour them too. In case you miss out on the Friday popup, you can still visit it at the Farmers Market, Adelaide Showground. 

People lining up for the pastry

The quaint popup stall is definitely a not-miss when you pass by Leigh Street on Friday morning. I will definitely come back again for more pastries. Till then, From Scratch Patisserie. 

Website: http://fromscratchpatisserie.com.au/
Address and Trading hours: Adelaide Showground Farmers Market - 9am-1pm (Sun); outside City Council - 7am-9am (Wed); Leigh Street - 7am-9am (Fri)

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Bar 9

Hello lovelies! Excitement overfills my heart and soul as I am writing this post because it is the start of my mid term break! How many of you love breaks and holidays? I am sure most of you do! It's a time where we can take a break from the busy routine of university and catch up with friends and family! Brunch can be a great idea to start off with! Adelaide suburb always has a lot of hidden gems in which I cannot find myself stop stumbling upon. Bar 9, a tea and coffee specialist as well as brunch cafe situated in Unley, is one of them! 

As soon as we entered the cafe, the aroma of coffee greeted us before the friendly staff did. Bar 9 is also affectionately known as the 'coffee nerds shed' which is very aptly named. It does have some popup cafe in the city once in a while. The most recent popup was at the Depot for the Fork on The Road event on 17 March. It was an overwhelming response!

The interior of the cafe is chiller-friendly as Bar 9 provides comfortable wooden seats, backgrounded by the ocean blue wall and paintings. 

Seatings by the window

Interior design with Specials board hung on the wall

Cafe interior

Near the pastries and desserts display corner, there is a bench over the coffee and tea brewing place where you can sit while watching the barristas preparing the beverages. 

Bench and brewing corner

Pastry and dessert display corner

We were served to a table with menus available for us to choose our breakfast options. There is also a tablet at the brewing corner in which you can choose your tea or coffee from.

Bar 9 Menu

Filter coffee

This is offered by Just Brewed which is a young off shoot from Bar 9, situated just right beside the cafe. You can find no expresso, cappuccino and chai latte over here as the team's focus is on quality tea and simplistic brewing.

Filter coffee is a healthy and natural way to taste the origin qualities behind the bean. It is generally served black and more caffeinated than expresso-based coffee yet lighter and sweeter. See other ranges of teas and coffees here.

Guatemala carmona 

Super creamy body with milk chocolate, buttery caramel and juicy green apple acidity. It is not too bitter but I cannot taste the presence of milk chocolate texture. 

Primavera Arnulfo Leguizamo 

Creamy texture, balanced and super sweet flavour giving way to accents of mango, mandarin, cherry and delicate florals. It tastes really bitter! 

I am not so much a coffee person and so I am not able make any comments about that. 

Filter coffee

English Muffin

Served with vanilla bean mascarpone, frangelico macerated strawberry, basil and toasted hazelnut 

A sweet deal where dessert is incorporated into breakfast. The mascarpone has a really smooth texture and melts upon entering the mouth. If you are craving for dessert in the morning, this muffin can be a good idea. 

English muffin with vanilla bean mascarpone

Creamy Truffled Mushroom Ragu

Served on toast with poached eggs and finished with truffled honey. This is highly recommended! The emphasis on mushroom has added some bonus points as I am a mushroom fan! A scoop of mushroom stimulates more than just one type of taste buds. It is sweet, creamy and has a tinge of saltiness. And come on! It is truffled mushroom, one of the best mushroom that you can ever ask for! On top of that, the toast and poached eggs match with the mushroom really well, making this a heavenly brunch! 

Mushroom ragu

On overall, I love the mushroom ragu so much! I might come back again for another cup of coffee. Maybe capuccino this time off. Cheers! 

Yours truly blogger

Asian level 99 

Website: http://bar9.com.au/
Address: 96 Glen Osmond rd, Parkside SA 5063
Trading hours: 7.30am-4pm (Mon-Fri), 8.30am-2pm (Sat-Sun)



Love, Victoria

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Chocolateria San Churro

Finally! Australian-owned Chocolateria San Churro has set its foot on Adelaide, opening its first ever Adelaide branch at the corner of Rundle Street and East Terrace. I always thought that San Churro is popular for its churros, not until I read about the restaurant's history here. Ultimately, the restaurant's passion is all about Chocolate. Let's dive into some history of chocolate before devouring the delectable piece. 

It was believed that cocoa beans originated from Mexico. How do they travel from Mexico to Spain? Here is how the story rolls out! Being driven by lust for wealth and power, the great Spanish explorer, Hernán Cortés, arrived at Mexico and was mistaken by the local inhabitants as patron of cocoa crops. In order to honour the deity, the Aztec Emperor offered him a golden goblet of xocolatl - a bitter, thick drink made from ground cocoa beans and infused with spices and chilli. Upon tasting this intoxicated drink, Cortés reckoned that there was something unique in there. In the end, he brought back a ship laden with cocoa beans back to Spain and the secret knowledge of preparing the exotic cocoa drink of the Aztec. The King of Spain was deeply moved after having the drink and decreed it to be exclusive for the enjoyment of the nobility. And the secret knowledge was only kept with the Spanish monk in which they sweetened and refined the recipe to create an exotic new hot chocolate drink later. 

How do this exclusive drink become so widely available nowadays? This is related to the figure San Churro in which you can find on the chocolateria's plate. He was a heroic monk who started the initiative to share chocolate with everyone after bringing the bedridden Queen of Spain back to life with a drink of hot chocolate. 

San Churro on the chocolateria's plate

Chocolateria San Churro takes pride in its couverture chocolate which is rich in cocoa butter and high in cocoa solids. This is the authentic chocolate which has rich intense flavour, smooth finish, creamy mouth feel, low melting point and brittle texture. 

There are three options of chocolate in which you can choose from in San Churro:

1) Milk chocolate:

Composition: 36% cocoa solids, whole milk solids, vanilla, more sugar 
Texture and flavour: Smooth, velvety and sweet, subtle hints of vanilla and caramel

2) Dark chocolate:

Composition: 60% cocoa solids, more cocoa butter, small amount of sugar, vanilla and lecithin
Texture and flavour: almost no bitterness, complex fruity undertones, lingering smoky aftertaste

3) White chocolate

Composition: 32% cocoa butter, sugar, milk, vanilla, no cocoa solids
Texture and flavour: sweet and buttery, soft vanilla flavour, hints of honey, silky and caramelly finish

Tempted to try and share with your friends? There is a special corner in San Churro where you can buy its merchandise items including mugs and chocolate drink!

Everybody deserves chocolate!

Aside from chocolate, San Churro does offer something more, including churros, macarons, truffle, ice cream, desserts, shakes and smoothies.

Desserts display

Choices of ice cream

San Churro Ice Cream Sundae

Consists of chocolate and vanilla ice cream, chocolate brownie, served with whipped cream, melted chocolate and chocolate chip 

It is not too spectacular but it can be a good relief from hot weather or an own challenge during the chilly winter. The brownie is not too sweet and the sundae comes in pretty big serve. 

San Churro Ice Cream Sundae

San Churro Macarons

The colour of macarons is really bright and tempting. Some fillings available are peanut butter, salted caramel, cookies and cream, chocolate and raspberry. 

San Churro Macarons

Mango Tango

Thinking of combining fruits and chocolate together? This is a good choice of drink! It consists of mango sorbet and white couverture chocolate. It is so rich and melts in mouth instantly! A gulp down your throat will give you a sweet sensation, followed by a tinge of mango after taste. Great combination!

Mango Tango

Peanut Butter Bomba

The newest creation of the chocolateria - addition of sweet, nutty peanut butter to your choice of Spanish hot chocolate.

If you are a peanut butter fanatic, this can be your favourite as the resulting product has sweet and intense flavour of peanut butter.  

Peanut Butter Bomba

Churros Fiesta

A great idea for a late night supper hang out with your gang of friends - consists of 18 churros and 6 pots of melted chocolate of your choice. The choices are caramel, white chocolate, dark chocolate and milk chocolate. 

Milk chocolate and caramel are my preference of accompaniments as they are sweet and complement well with the subtle flavour of churros. Dark chocolate can be too rich and hence will steal the highlight of churros. White chocolate on the other hand is too sweet. 

Caramel, White Chocolate, Dark Chocolate and Milk Chocolate

San Churro's churros taste differently from the normal churros due to their outer crunchier layer and less soft floury texture. I still prefer churros from Churroz as they have inner soft texture, incorporated in crunchy outer covering. 

Churros Fiesta

Health benefits of chocolate:

• reduce risk of heart disease and cancer
• reduce pain 
• enhance mood
• an aphrodisiac - better than kissing!
• increase brain power
• cure diarrhoea and cough
• reduce chronic fatigue
• reduce PMS and SAD
• improve skin condition

Given that there are a lot of health benefits provided by chocolate, all the more we have reasons to savour them! How can you ever resist the temptation of chocolate?! A bite a day keeps the gloominess away. *wink* 

Do sign up for San Churro's newsletter online here to get a your free birthday Churros!

Website: http://www.sanchurro.com/index.php
Address: Shop 5, 300 Rundle Street, Adelaide, SA 5000.
Trading hours: 10am-11pm (Sun-Thurs), 10am - 1am (Fri-Sat)



Love, Victoria

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