Jackie M only opens for dinner 15 hours every week - Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 5-10pm. As if it isn't already effort to drive to Concord, the restaurant's opening hours means Malaysian food lovers only have a small window to dine here.

However, the key to Jackie M's success has been her catering, which is actually how the restaurant came about. (So you can in fact indulge in Jackie M's Malaysian foods, any time at home)

I'm beginning to hear lots of start-up stories of how people start catering for family and friends, and then through word of mouth, they suddenly reach enough demand to formulate a business. Home cooks/bakers turned business owners, I love it. The story of Jackie M is quite similar, except unlike many, who have only just begun their exciting passion-fuelled journey in the last few years, Jackie has been doing this since 2002.

The Jackie M premises was meant to be a commercial kitchen for her catering and production of frozen packs and curry pastes (which are sold online, at the restaurant, and at various markets), but out of customer demand, she expanded it to include this restaurant. And since it has opened up to the public, this tiny dining room has been packed.

So recently, I finally booked myself in...

I start with the durian smoothie ($7). A sweet custard-like drink with the divine pungency of durian fruit. The scent is off-putting to Zen but gosh I love it!

From the 'snacks to share' menu, we have the curry puffs (4 for $12), which are available in a meat or vegetarian filling, and the popiah (2 for $14).

These curry puffs are the real deal. The spiral pastry is as gorgeous to look at as it is delicious. They're crisp and flaky. Pure comfort food. Thank goodness there's four pieces per serve because it would've been so dissatisfying to stop at one!

I did bookmark Shez's recipe for Malaysian curry puffs last year, but I've still yet to make these! Who wants to make me a batch? :)

The popiah are really good too. Jackie has filled these house-made crepe skins with as much yam bean, egg, lettuce, cucumber and minced dried shrimp mix as it could possibly take. They're plump and chubby - on the verge of bursting but still firm to hold.

The rojak ($15) is our choice of greens/vegetables - a Penang style fruit and vegetable salad which plays on the contrast of sweet, salty and sour. I love the refreshing crunch of cucumbers, yam beans and pineapples mixed with the thick salty prawn paste and peanut dressing.

For our main course, we share the nasi lemak ($15, add $5 for chicken/lamb/beef/dhal) and the deluxe laksa Nonya ($14, add $6 for prawns, calamari & fishcake). 

I've always been very fond of nasi lemak because of its accompaniments. Here, it's an intricate arrangement of fragrant coconut rice served with a fiery dried anchovy sambal, crunchy peanuts, the wholesomeness of a hard boiled egg, fresh cucumber slices and the exotic savouriness of pickled vegetables. We have ours with the chicken curry too. It's absolutely delectable!

Meanwhile the laksa is as good as it gets in Sydney! It's a little dear with the addition of prawns, calamari and fishcake bringing the dish to a cost of $20, but the spicy coconut broth with the combination of egg, fried tofu, shredded cucumber, fried shallots and laksa leaves makes this a really exquisite noodle soup.

This wouldn't be a Malaysian feast without a sweet finish. The banana roti ($14.50) is rich, flaky and buttery, layered with slices of banana and topped with condensed milk and ice cream. 

We've ordered and eaten an incredible amount of food and this roti just pushes us right over the edge of being full.

Jackie is really active in the social media scene so while I'm almost in a state of being in a food coma, I'm keen to chat with her. 

As we talk about her IT background and experiences as a restaurateur, she churns out many takeaway orders including some popiah which she makes completely from scratch.

It's no wonder Jackie M keeps popping up in conversation when people talk about Malaysian food. You get a real sense of passion and entrepreneurship when you meet her and the quality of this meal is a reflection of her determination to perfect recipes.

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Jackie M
85 Majors Bay Road, Concord, NSW
Phone: (02) 9743 0390
Web: jackiem.com.au

I've been eating a lot of Italian lately because I've just watched the entire five seasons of Kitchen Nightmares. It's weird that I always feel like I don't have enough time to do things, when somehow, I managed to watch all 60 episodes.

Anyway, back to my point - in Kitchen Nightmares, Gordan Ramsay visits more Italian restaurants than any other cuisines... He really got me craving Italian!

We're pretty spoilt for choice in Sydney but on this particular night, we decided to revisit Pizza e Birra, which is just a short stroll from home. 

Working so close to home, and living so close to restaurants means we're often eating dinner while the masses are still travelling home from work. Sometimes, by 7pm, we would have already finished a three course dinner! I guess that could be how I've been creating all this spare time...

I've been back to Pizza e Birra several times since my first visit (6 years ago!); it's a place which never disappoints. 

This was just an ordinary weeknight dinner so we're here for a no-fuss meal that'll satisfy the cravings in which Kitchen Nightmares has induced.

The pizzas here are obviously what has put this restaurant on the map. Simple toppings with a really beautiful crust and base. We share the salsiccia e porcini ($22) which consists of pork sausage with mushrooms, mozzarella, porcini, parmesan and basil on tomato sauce. I love the rich and earthy flavour of the porcini mushrooms, and how it complements the savoury complexity of the pork sausage. The crust is slightly crisp and has an overall delightful lightness to it.

The fresh tagliatelle with duck ragu ($24) has a wonderful rustic appeal. The duck ragu tastes more summery than Il Baretto's version. It is brighter and sweeter. The al denta pasta holds the tomato sauce and lush pieces of duck very well and the serving size is quite spot on.

We were going to leave it at that, but we figured we really deserved a treat. The pannacotta ($12) is just irresistible. With every mouthful speckled with honey and vanilla bean and just a small dab of the coffee caramel sauce, we're quick to polish off dessert.

How pretty are the flowers by the window?

There were only a few tables taken when we had walked in, but by the time we're sipping our coffees, we find that several tables had already been turned over, and the dining room was filling up. The serenity of yet another early dinner is over, just in time to watch Crown Street turn into its bustling self once again.

P.S. Beware of queues if you intend on dining here on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night!

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Pizza e Birra
1/500 Crown Street, Surry Hills, NSW
Phone: (02) 9332 2510
Web: pizzabirra.com.au