Firstly, I don’t particularly enjoy leaving bad reviews, but since I myself am addicted to reviews (for everything from recipes, to hotels, to movies, to clothing, to books....) I like to think that leaving a not so glowing review, is kind of a community service thing, no? I know that despite reading bad reviews, I’m still curious enough to go and find out for myself by either trying, making or buying and learning my lesson, in my own way (and sometimes the hard way!). I also find them to be a nice yardstick as we all know that not everything can be perfect all the time!
So, disclaimer aside, I just think I need to share the story of our not-so-flash lunch at ‘The Beach Bar’ at Port Beach – a la the old Oyster Bar on the Beach from the ex Mead’s stable. Whilst the company was outstanding, the view divine and the weather perfect, the food and the service left a lot to be desired. The service was also reminiscent of Fawlty Towers – everything we initially wanted to order was unavailable, our meals were delivered twice and the waitress was so over-zealous she kept trying to clear our tablewear whilst we were still eating.
We ordered a Hawaiian stylee pizza, the Chilli Salt Squid and some fries, which came to $69 for the three dishes. We also ordered a serve of the prawn & pork dumplings from the yum cha menu, but since they looked so unappetising, none of us actually ate them (nor paid for them come to think of it...) so we can’t comment on them. The pizza was OK, although veered definitely to the processed side of things with tinned pineapple and fake ham and even the cheese was standard (I spotted a service person carting in lots & lots of packets of pre-grated Mainland cheese, you know the stuff in the green bags that one buys at the supermarket?). It did come out quickly and was nice and hot on a fresh home-made base, but that was the highlight. The squid on the other hand was abysmal. It was cold, soggy, bland and clearly from the frozen squid factory – the insult was that the chef couldn’t even manage to cook it so it was at least hot and crispy! The accompanying salad was wilted and old and tasteless!
I’ve never ever had a good meal from this establishment, and it is rather clear that despite having new owners, it’s still woeful. Funnily enough, my dear friend Alicia’s family were dining at Salt next door (the posh bit) and they also mentioned their disappointment in the meals....
So, in light of what was a long anticipated lunch that wasn’t really even eaten, I’m going to whip up my favourite super scrummy sticky pork for dinner tonight and hoover that down greedily whilst I watch the Biggest Loser and Underbelly. How delicious!
This pork is so super easy and quick to make – I love it with steamed rice and I make extra marinade that I reduce down to a sauce so I can slather the rice in extra syrupy juicy goodness. I stumbled across this recipe on the Spencers Spices website and this is it, with some slight moderations.
Sticky 5 Spice Pork ½ kg pork belly strips
2 tsp garlic, minced
2 tsp ginger, minced
1 tsp Spencers Chinese five spice
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup soy sauce
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp Shao Hsing (Chinese) cooking wine
Preheat oven to hot – around 200’C.
Cut pork belly into 3 cm pieces and place in a large bowl. In a separate bowl combine garlic, ginger, five spice, brown sugar, sauces and wine. Mix until sugar has dissolved.
Pour half of the saucy spice mix over pork and swoosh around well until the pork is well coated.
Place pork on a greased baking tray and bake for 45 - 55 minutes until pork is tender and crispy. If you find there are some extra juices lurking around in the pan, pour these off into the remaining marinade, as this will prevent your pork getting ‘sticky’ and crispy!
With the remaining marinade, heat to a boil in a small pan on the stove and boil for a few minutes until thickened.
Serve pork over steamed rice, with sauce to taste. If you have some nice spring onions or coriander, sprinkle over the top and enjoy.
Tasting Notes:
- This will serve say, 3 modest people or 2 greedy people..... like me!
- This is great.
This is easy. - Make it this week.
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