Okayama peaches at Cookology

Thanks to Blackhole-mini and the communications team for inviting me to the media gathering to try Okayama white peaches and Muscat grapes.

As well as trying the fruits, we also had the chance to learn and make peach crumble using these Okayama white peaches at Cookology.





These fruits are prized because Okayama Prefecture has a steady climate with a high percentage of sunny days which make it perfect for cultivating fruit.

Okayama Prefecture is also known as the land of fruit.

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Okayama white peaches:

There are five types of peaches grown in the Okayama prefecture.

The one we tried today was the yume hakatu (dreamy white peach).
It was soft and extremely juicy, the peach meat is literally like a sponge collapsing into delicious peach juice.

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Shine Muscat grapes:
Each grape looked perfect in every way, there was no browning or spots, and each one was plump.
The bunch of grapes were so perfect and flawless that they looked like display grapes.





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Making peach crumble and peach frozen yoghurt:
For our convenience, the peach base was already done, the peaches were sliced and put in the bowl.



So all we had to do was make the crumble which was pre-measured for us.

The ingredients for the crumble were surprisingly simple, it was just flour, butter and sugar.



Basically it was mixing it together, until it turned into crumble form.



Then sugar was added, but since the peaches were sweet, I felt that it could have done without sugar.


The frozen yogurt was made by blending cream, natrual plain yoghurt and peeled peaches and freezing it.

These peaches are easy to peel and the skin comes off easily.


Natural yoghurt and cream.







Blending the ingredients.


Then taking it out of the freezer and mixing it again and freezing it.

There was a compressor which made the texture of the yoghurt smoother and not so icy.






The taste of the crumble was delicous, hot mushy peaches with buttery crumble paired with refreshing peach yoghurt.

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To try these delicious white peaches, you can now buy them online at Rakuten, or get them from CitySuper from 2nd August - 9th August and 13th-19th of September because in between those dates they have other type of peaches in that range.

Reasonable food @ Mama Gohan

Mama Gohan (Sheung Wan)
After reading the reviews I decided to give this place a visit and try their minced pork curry.

The restaurant is split into ground floor and upstairs dining, the upstairs has a different menu and serves sets, the ground floor serves express food.

There are cakes in the cabinet.

It was quite good because there was self service water available to drink.
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Minced pork curry:

The pile of minced meat reminded me of the meat at Curry Monogatari where there is minced meat and curry sauce.
The curry here is quite nice and tastes like curry flavoured bolognaise because of the minced meat texture and the diced carrots, however the carrots in the curry stood out because of the colour and texture, the carrots were still crunchy because they were half raw.
As well as the curry, there was a spring egg too.
This dish used to be $38 but now the prices have gone up to $43 and the portion is not that big either.
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Chocolate roll:

The chocolate roll had cocoa powder sprinkled on top but I felt that it would taste ok without.

The chocolate roll was extremely moist but not soggy and it was soft too.
Surprisingly the cream in the middle stole the show because it had a lovely buttery taste and it was extremely light too and together with the moist chocolate roll, the taste was amazing.

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Macau: The Eight

The Eight is a Michelin 2 Star restaurant located on the second floor of the Grand Lisboa hotel.

It's decor is extremely oriental with lucky 8 symbols, golden koi carp fishes on the wall and a huge dazzling sphere made with crystals just above the water in the middle of the restaurant.

We had a private room that day.

Above the table, there was a huge oriental chandelier made of old Chinese coins.
It just felt like Royal dynasty there.

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Amuse Bouche:

On the left was abalone slices with fresh grapefruit pieces beneath it and lime juice which was refreshing and on the right was diced beef organs and peppers which gets your appetite ready for the meal.
The amuse bouche varies from day to day.
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Dim sum assortment:
As they wanted to us to try their dim sums, they put together an assortment.
There was Steamed Superior River Shrimp Dumplings in Fish Shape $42 (3 pieces), Steamed “Shanghainese” Dumplings with Chicken Essence and Vintage Dried Tangerine Peel
$38 (4 pieces) and Steamed Pork Dumpling with Abalone $98 (3 pieces).

The fish shaped dumpling was appealing and the fish eyes were black sesame seeds, the orange colouring on the fish was natural carrot juice. Inside the fish dumpling, it was fresh river shrimp which made it springy.
Next I tried the steamed pork dumpling with abalone which was really luxurious and the abalone sauce enhanced the dumpling.
Last I had the Shanghainese dumpling which was quite a challenge because there was so much chicken essence inside it. The taste was really nice because the tangerine peel had a nice bitterness to it balancing the greasiness of the pork.
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Deep-fried Barbecued Pork Roll

The fried pork roll looked intricate with the net wrap on the outside which was extremely crispy, inside there was sweet succulent roast pork.

(This is a new item on the menu)

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Crispy Frogs Leg with Spicy Salt (Regular)$138

The frog meat was extremely springy and the texture was similar to firm garoupa fish.

On the side there was some purple sweet potato mash as garnishing which tasted delicious because it was natrual and sweet.

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Barbecued Pork $95

The pieces of barbecued pork were huge and extremely thick cut!
Each piece was tender and juicy and full of barbecue flavour.
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Double-boiled Minced Pork in Supreme Broth with Bird’s Nest 每位 (per person) $300

This dish is normally made with fatty pork to give it that soft and springy texture.

But here they have replaced it with generous amounts of Bird's nest stuffed in the centre.

On top of the minced pork, there was another generous dollop of bird's nest.

The bird's nest in supreme broth was delicious and protein rich and it tastes better savoury than sweet.

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Braised Pomelo Skin with Crystal Prawn $280

The prawn was huge, it was as big as a clenched fist, it was sliced in a way that it resembles a flower.

It was so crisp and springy that you could hear a noise when you put your knife in it.
Then I tried the pomelo skin and that was wonderful, I loved the mushy silky texture and the rich gravy.
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Fried Glutinous Rice Topped with Roasted Duck in “Pei Pa Style” $328

The duck was mind blowing because it tasted like roast suckling pig and the flavour that they used to marinate it too, on top of the duck was refreshing lime juice to balance out the strong flavours.

The glutinous rice beneath it was nice and crispy.

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Braised Lamb Brisket in The-8 Style $280

The braised lamb was also delicious, the skin on top was extremely crispy and the meat was soft and supple that it was similar to duck.

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30 Years Vintage Tangerine Peel Chicken $195 (half) /$390 (whole)

The chicken was tender and fully flavoured with their tangerine peel which had a nice zesty bitter taste.

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Sautéed Seasonal Vegetable with Gingko and Fresh Bean Curd Skin

The gingko nuts were nice and creamy and the beancurd skin was soft and full of flavour after absorbing the water that the vegetables give out during the cooking process.
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Lotus Rice with Roasted Goose and Abalone in Casserole (Regular) $320

When this was served, the duck broth was put in the last minute, vaporizing and giving the rice more duck flavour.

The rice was loaded with goodies! When I was eating it, I found so many chopped up ingredients which don't show on the photo such as chopped dried squid, preserved eggs!!
The grains of rice were distinct and had a nice chew to it.
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Steamed Whole Crab and Shrimps with Stewed Rice and Shark's Fin in Lotus Leaf $480

This dish is bound to amaze anyone with the glistening vegetarian sharks fin and crab roe bursting from the crab.

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Baked Alaska with Red Bean Sherbet (For 2 People) $100

The cake had sugar on top which was set on fire giving a delicious caramelized top. I loved the egg white pieces on the outside and it was covered in a thin layer of meringue. The cake inside was not too sweet and the red bean sherbet was nice and light with pieces of red bean and a strong coconut flavour.

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Black and White Sesame Pudding with Sesame Ice-cream (per person) $40

Beautifully presented, the pudding was rich in sesame taste and not too sweet, and the sesame icecream was coated in black and white sesame seeds giving it extra sesame flavour.
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Puff Pastry with Sweetened Winter Melon Paste and Served with Pear Sherbet (per person) $40

The puff pastry was really cute, filled with wintermelon paste and the pear sherbet was refreshingly sweet with real pear in it.

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Portuguese egg tarts:
These were cute Portuguese eggs tarts which I could not resist because of the miniature size.

There was vanilla, chocolate and cinnamon powder to further enhance the taste of the eggtarts, cinnamon was the best in my opinion.

Lastly there was a cup of tea to finish.

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The Eight is a great and affordable place for luxurious food, the portions are big too.

Address:
The Eight, Grand Lisboa, 2nd fl, Avenida e Lisboa | Macau Peninsula, Macau
853-28283838

http://www.grandlisboahotel.com/dining-the_eight

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