AVCon Saturday

I've got a lot of content to catch up on since my blogging break!  This is the first of two posts  about an annual event I look forward to in Adelaide called AVCon - Adelaide's Anime and Video Game Convention.  I had a stall in the Artists Alley again this year but I also love to see all the costumes and buy some neat things.

Here's an early snapshot of the table, it's not quite done yet, I was still waiting for Lindzi to arrive but here's the general gist of it.  The cute bows at the front, flower headdresses and Dear Antlers were made by Angela, my other table-mate.  Despite having plenty of time for planning, I must admit that a lot of the set-up was on the fly and in fact, I'm pretty lucky I asked the two of them if they had some things they wanted to sell as I seemed to be a bit low on stock. 

My lovely table-neighbours Thaleia and Linda, both are talented artists.  On top of her artwork, Thaleia also likes to get a bit crafty and made some bows, brooches and key charms.  Linda has a special talent of emptying my wallet with her adorable fan art of Adventure Time and Ace Attorney among many others.

I also just wanted to share a couple of snaps from some cosplayers of the day.  The first two are my friends Candice and Jaana looking adorable as Ariel and Alice. Candice does actually require glasses but thought it would also be fun to be hipster Ariel for a while!  If you're interested in cosplay, have a quick look at her cosplay page Duchess Sakura Cosplay.  The next cosplayer was my favourite of the convention, Merrill from Dragon Age II (I am unsure as to who the cosplayer was).  I really loved her costume but I also loved seeing such an unusual character from a series I really enjoy and Merrill is such a cute character.

This last shot is something that truly touched me.  A young lady had purchased a few Sailor Moon inspired pieces from my store and naturally we got to talking about the characters and shared out favourites.  I mentioned that Sailor Jupiter was mine and I'd cosplayed her last year.  I didn't catch her name, sadly, but she'd returned some time later and handed me this drawing.  It really made my day.

Mandoo

It's been a long time since my last post but what better time than the present to pick up with another review.  I'm going to ease myself back in with a short post about a place I visited a few months ago.

Mandoo Korean dumplings is a little restaurant hidden on Bank Street.  After reading a fair few positive reviews about their tenderly handmade dumplings and friendly service I decided to rummage up some friends to check it out.  Here's a quick peek at their menu.

 

We ordered four dishes - Steamed Kimchi, Steamed Chicken, Fried Pork and Fried Vegetables.  I'm a great dumpling fan, who isn't really?  The staff were quite friendly despite how busy they were at the time and the restaurant smelled amazing, I was practically salivating by the time our food arrived. 

However I was really quite disappointed with all of the dishes ordered.  They weren't unpleasant by any means but they were, unfortunately, quite bland.  I felt that the dumpling skins were awfully thick and the size of the dumplings made for an awkward eating experience.  Although I must admit, their mashed potato was really delicious, if I could get a little serve of that on it's own I'd have been happier

I was a bit disheartened by the meal, Mandoo has received many great reviews from online bloggers and personal acquaintances alike so perhaps I had gone in with too high of expectations.  I can't say I would return, sadly to say, I find more flavour and joy in a bowl of cheap, convenient dumplings from Dumpling King.

Food: 2.5/5
Service: 4/5
Value: 2.5/5
Ambience: 3/5

Kenji's Modern Japanese

Wow, just wow!  A friend of mine recommended Kenji to me recently and I must say, it was one of my favourite dining experiences to date. 

The waitresses were really sweet and friendly and more than willing to give their recommendations or go through the menu with you.  Drink choices for the evening was a Japanese Slipper and some Choya Kotuko Black Umeshu which is possibly the best plum wine I've ever had!  It was intensely sweet (which I just adore) and on the rocks was superb.  After getting home I found myself googling where I could get this wonder brew from!

Entrees for the evening was some mixed tempura which, to be quite honest, was nothing too special but just right.  I had regretted not ordering two of the Zensai (mixed appetisers) which was made up of: Chicken and Leek Soup, Wagyu Hayashi Croquette, Beetroot cured Salmon, Crab and Fish Jelly, Pumpkin with Tofu, Char Sui Pork and a Spicy Tuna Roll.  Every appetiser was amazing but the one that stood out the most to me was the Beetroot cured Salmon, paired with orange, this was the most interesting mix of flavours I've experienced yet and I find myself wishing I was back there now!  Although the Zensai changes, I would definitely recommend it, as the selections of appetisers always seem to be amazing and unique pieces.

For the mains we had the Slow Cooked Pork with Gyoza and Kimchi Salad and Wagyu Beef Curry.  The chef told us that they slow cook the Pork for 3 days and wow you can tell, it was so succulent and practically fell apart with a gentle nudge from your fork!  The flavours were intense and amazing, my partner isn't fond of Kimchi so I nibbled that all up!  My dish was the Curry as I'm a huge fan of Japanese curry and love to try everyones take on it.  The Wagyu Beef Katsu on the side was lovely, perfectly cooked and melt-in-your-mouth, the portion of curry seemed very generous too and very delicious.  No complaints for either, both dishes were fab!

DESSERT!  Oh wow, their list of desserts was so amazing, I think I spent a good 10 minutes trying to decide which one I wanted.  I ended up going with the Passionfruit and Sweet Potato Parfait with Popping candy,Plums and an Edible Flower - the flower itself was... well edible it may be but pleasant it was not, haha! I shooed it to the side as I gleefully demolished my parfait, the popping candy was such an excellent touch and reminds me of Heston Blumenthals love for it.  My partner had the Green Tea and Chocolate pudding with Green Tea Ice cream and pouring cream.  Not too much to say on this one other than delish! I love Green Tea flavoured sweets so much and the pudding was just amazing and sickly sweet!  I'd definitely recommend it!

Don't hesitate, book for Kenji today, I guarantee you won't regret it!  I'm just counting down the days until I can go back there again!

Food: 5/5
Service: 5/5
Value: 4/5
Ambience: 4/5

Back in April, Oz Comic-Con came to Adelaide and I attended on Sunday.  Usually I'd easily spend an entire weekend at a pop-culture con but to be honest, none of the guests there really interested me, nor were there very interesting events/panels.  Last year, Armageddon expo came to Adelaide and it was a blast, but sadly they stated they wouldn't be returning for 2012 so instead came Oz Comic-Con which wasn't as good or well though out really.

Upon arriving I was greeted by a fantasticly long line which was a real disappointment - last year at Arma expo, despite arriving late, there wasn't even a line and the venue itself was as popular as Oz Comic-Con this year.  Anywhoo, enough of the negatives.  I did get a nice amount of swag and thought I'd share some of the photos I took for the day!

The first cosplayer I saw was a lovely Anastacia cosplayer.  Just after that I ran into my pals Christine, cosplaying Haruhi Suzumiya, and Candice, cosplaying Poison Ivy, who look fab!

I didn't really have any costumes ready or else I would have dressed up, although I decided to wear my Candy Treat JSK to the event.  Here's myself with Candice and then with Beverley as Star Wars figurines.  Bee's even gone so far to have a Jedi-inspired Lolita outfit, she's Star Wars crazy, but today she's looking sweet in her Decoration Dream JSK - AP twins!

The crowds were quite intense in most of the main area so it was difficult to get some good shots of cosplayers unless they were on the outskirts but here are some of my favourites of the day!

No Chewie Nooooo...!!

Sparkle Peach Introduction

I thought it would be a good time to post a bit about my hobby-project;  Sparkle Peach. 

In my spare time I like to make Japanese-inspired nail sets (influenced by Gyaru-style), Decorate phone and electronic cases with fake sweets, whipped clay and rhinestones and make lots of cute jewellery.  If you know me, then you know I love to dress in the Japanese street style known as Lolita or Loli for short.  The style *can* be quite a sweet and cute style and, while I don't dress too much in sweet myself, I get a lot of inspiration and spark(le) from bright colours, pastels and cute accents.

Here are a couple of snapshots I've posted lately.  I've been working on some new things for a local con coming up called AVCon - Adelaide's Anime and Video Game Convention.  I am really looking forward to it as I have a stand in the artists alley.  I've started to make a few geek friendly things lately too including some Mass Effect styled necklaces and brooches, geek things can be cute too! On the left hand side is a snapshot of some lucky packs I'm considering putting together for the event and the right photo is a peek of the N7 Necklaces and Renegade brooches laying amongst a sea of cute rings and bracelets!

Anyway there's not too much more to say at the moment so enjoy a little bit of picture spam!

Yakitori Takumi & The Elephant Walk

There are plenty of other places I should blog about first but I was so excited after visiting Yakitori Takumi that I couldn't help myself.  In a cosy little nook on Melbourne street, this amazing place has left a really great impression on me and I can't wait to go back! 

It's always lovely to be greeted with some edamame.  I also tried some passionfruit Shochu which was delicious although just a tad expensive at $11 a glass for how relatively simple the flavours were.

First up was the Kushi Katsu (around $9 for 3pcs) which, embarassingly, got gnawed at a bit before I had a chance to take a photo - partially my fault :P  It was just divine, perfect pieces of pork, crumbed, fried and finished with some kewpie and Tonkatsu sauce.  I think it's a given that when I go to a Japanese restaurant, I almost always order some kind of katsu dish.  I was also recommended to try the Chicken Cheese Yakitori (around $7 for 3pcs) which was really quite interesting; a small kick of spice and sesame with a very mild tasty cheese. I probably wouldn't order this again myself but it was a really delightful dish.

Next up was the Fried Gyoza (around $7 for 5pcs) which were just right, the oil used was very flavoursome.  Something I'm very picky about when it comes to gyoza is, quite often, restaurants seem to be heavy handed with the ginger which turns me off a bit - not that I have a problem with ginger.  Lastly was, what I *hope* was called Kinoko?  Tempura Mushrooms with a Green Tea Truffle Salt - AMAZING (around $10 for the plate).  I could have eaten this till the end of time.  The green tea salt was so unique, everything about this was delicious it was definitely my favourite for the night and I really do recommend it.

All in all, I loved my experience at Yakitori Takumi - it seems like the perfect place to go in a big group and have a share of many different styles of Yakitori and other small portioned meals.  It isn't the cheapest of eats but it's definitely worth the price.  Oh and while I'm not a beer lover myself, I think it's worth noting for anyone else that they do have a very amazing selection of Imported Beers as well as many kinds of Sake available

Food: 4.5/5
Service: 4.5/5
Value: 4/5
Ambience: 4/5

After finishing up at Yakitori Takumi's we decided to stroll over to the Elephant's Walk which was just up the road.  I'd heard some mixed reviews on the place and wanted to see what it was like myself; plus I had a bit of a sweet craving. 

Unfortunately it's a bit difficult to take decent photos within Elephant walk as the lighting is quite dim.  I'd read a review on Urban Spoon that mentioned, while the desserts themselves aren't too special, the environment is something else.  Upon walking in, it was like I had stepped into another world!  There was dim red mood lighting, the tables were split up into little partitioned booths; seperated by wicker screens.  The booths had little tables with tea lights, lounges with soft cushions and various ornaments and statues.  It really is a lovely romantic setting.

The menu indeed was a bit lacking, perhaps I've been spoiled by the unique combinations of the various dessert bars around Adelaide but I would have expected an establishment that only offers dessert to have a little something more unique as far as their menu goes and not just rely on their atmosphere. 

My partner and I settled with the only two things on the menu that even caught our eye - Peanut and Chocolate Waffles and the Chocolate Fudge Pudding.  While there was nothing necessarily wrong with these dishes, they were indeed lacklustre, the kind of dessert you'd whip up yourself for a night in really.  Although one pro was that their waffles were really quite delicious and didn't strike me as cheap frozen waffles that some other dessert bars i've visited have use.

All in all - Elephant walk really is the kind of place you go to for the overall experience, I can't say I'd come back again any time soon but it's definitely worth a try to check out the funky decor!

Food: 2.5/5
Service: 4/5
Value: 3.5/5
Ambience: 5/5