Pizza Bella Roma, Fremantle

One evening after Id been wandering around Fremantle all afternoon, worked up a hunger and then picked up my bf from uni, we wandered the Freo strip for something for dinner. Everytime we walk past Pizza Bella Roma it smells amazing. But we never go there because most of the time I find generic Italian food pretty uninspired and boring - its always the same no matter where you go. But sometimes I get a hankering for some pasta and garlic bread and I cant be arsed making it myself. Im fully aware of how easy it is to make yourself, but sometimes I cant be bothered and a cheap massive serve of pasta is what I want. This craving hits maybe 2 or 3 times a year...


So this time we decided to let our noses lead the way, and into Pizza Bella Roma we went. I hadnt been there in AGES, the last time I went I ordered surf and turf and got a MASSIVE portion, with calamari, prawns, 2 peices of steak and salad. It was mad, and pretty good. It used to have a good reputation but I hadnt been there in ages so not sure how it is now...


I ordered canneloni with chicken, bechamel and a tomato based sauce, and S ordered pasta arrabiata, with some garlic bread to start. The waiter seemed to be a backpacker without any real ambition to be a decent waiter, didnt crack a smile the whole time and was generally a bit average. He sat us in the corner, one of the only tables free for 2, bought us some water, took his time bringing the coke S ordered and did it all without a smile. The woman who seemed to be in charge of front of house looked a bit flustered but she was friendly and had a smile on her face.


The garlic bread came out pretty fast, 4 big pieces for about $9, but what I thought was a bit average was that they were only buttered on one side. Cmon, if youre paying nearly $10 for garlic bread at least put the garlic butter on both sides. It tasted fine enough but would have been way better if they'd done it properly...

We got our food fairly quickly, and mine looked fine, the pasta S ordered looked pretty boring...

They didnt bother to even garnish the pasta with anything, no cheese, parsley, nothing. It looked like they had slapped it together... S said it tasted fine but thought I could make much better pasta arribiata - even though Ive never made it.

My canneloni had more effort put into it, with both cheese AND parsley - they really pushed the boat out for my dish! It was ok, there was plenty of sauce and it wasnt a huuuuge bowl full like normal, a managable portion. The filling was a bit lack lustre though, it lacked any real depth of flavour and could have used a generous pinch of salt and pepper at the very least... My meal was better than the S's, but thats not saying much.


The smell of Pizza Bella Roma is still as fab as it ever was but it doesnt reflect the quality of the food at all. Ive heard their pizzas are good, so if I ever go back there Ill stick to them. Everything else seems to have really gone downhill since I last visited... There are alot of better places to eat in Fremantle, and if Im feeling like a bowl of pasta I think I'll stick to Siennas Leederville on $12 pasta night on Mondays...

Fremantle Bakehouse

One sunny day, while S was at uni, I decided to spend the afternoon in Freo. We live about 30mins away so dont get down to Freo as much as we'd like, but we love it down there. It has a great vibe and lots of cool shops that we love to wander around checking out.

After going to Kakulas Sisters and buying blackberry dijon mustard (which I think would be great with duck), some local organic honey, and some fancy pasta (I could have bought SO MUCH more from there... the selection is overwhelmingly cool), I checked out some foodie shops, didnt buy anything even though it was tempting, and managed to work up a hankering for cake!

I wandered up the cafe strip knowing what I wanted but not sure where to get it. Im not a fan of the big coffee shops and chains like Dome and The Merchant, I like places to be a bit more personal. I ended up at the Fremantle Bakehouse, perusing a pretty decent selection of cakes, pastries and pies.

I decided to go for the wildberry log, a small cake with thick icing and topped with berries, and a skinny flat white.

It kinda looked like most of the cakes had just been sitting in the fridge all day so I wasnt too sure the cake was going to be as awesome as I wanted it to be... I also didnt know what kind of cake or icing it was so it was all a bit of a surprise really!

It turned out to be a deliciously moist orange cake, sweet with lemon icing. The berries on top were pretty sharp which helped out the sweetness of the icing, and were nice and juicy. The cake looked small but there was actually quite a bit of it, as it was pretty dense - but not in a bad way, it was full of flavour and moist. I really enjoyed it!

The coffee came out with the cake and the froth looked a bit crap, but it tasted ok in the end. A touch bitter for my liking but with such a sweet cake it washed down pretty well! Ive had better but it was by no means bad enough to warrant much of a complaint.

The staff were friendly, and it was at about 4pm, an hour before they close so it was really quiet - its usually all hustle and bustle n pretty busy. In total it cost me $9.90 with a eftpos surcharge for it being less than $10, I think it was 20c or something small... For a good price I got a piece of cake that was surprisingly nice and a decent coffee, and would go back to try some of their breads, pies and sausage rolls. They also do cooked breakfasts, fresh juices and sandwiches.

Jessies Curry House - Inglewood

After reading blog posts by Matt from Abstract Gourmet and Juji Chews, I sent the urbanspoon link to my bf giving the details of a small, little known curry house on Beaufort St in Inglewood. It was said to be simple, home cooking, no corkage, no frills or anything fancy, just great food.

So we rang to make a booking, as we'd heard it has a really small capacity and S was gagging for a curry and didnt want to miss out. He's always on the hunt for new curry houses, as his beloved Akbars in the UK had no Australian equivalent. He rates his curries on a scale of 1 to Akbars. Nothing so far has gotten above about an 8. So we rang, and got a voicemail for the first 3 or 4 times we called, and got a message that made us both giggle. Now, S and I enjoy watching the Jamie Oliver show, Jamie at home, where he grows everything in his little garden. He has a gardener called Brian who is a totally awesome, totally monotone boring sounding guy, and we love him. Hes our benchmark for monotone boring sounding people, and the message we got on the answering machine was Brian all over. The guy was utterly unexcited and wasnt sure what to say. It was kinda funny... We ended up getting through to them before they could call us back.

We drove down Beaufort St not sure where it was, almost rear ended a car while looking for it... Finally saw it! about 5minutes drive from the Mt Lawley strip. Its a small, unassuming place, it looks very much like most of the other nondescript take away, poorly decorated, generic little local shops that cater to a small crowd of locals that cant be arsed going any further to get a feed. How wrong you would be to assume Jessies is the same kind of place!

Its small, when we were there it had a capacity of 26 or so and through the night had people coming in and out, sitting down for meals or coming in and picking up take aways. While everyone sitting in the restaurant was a typical white aussie, about half the people coming in for take aways were Indian - a good indication that what youre eating is closer to authentic than anywhere else in the area!

We were greeted by a jolly fellow, who according to the other blogs Ive read is the husband of Jessie, who is the culinary brains behind the operation. While shes out the back cooking up a storm he runs the front of house. He was sometimes a bit abrupt, but mostly very friendly, I think he hits his straps once the place is full and he's allowed to start talking about the food. Once youre sat down he seems to be much friendlier, making jokes and telling you what you should order.

We had a look at the menu, and its made up of a mix of things, mostly quite simple, variations on parathas, chappatis, dosas and curries. The curries are quite simple - you dont get a choice, you can choose chicken, lamb, fish etc... We chose, for entree, the aloo paratha, a paratha stuffed with potato served with chicken curry, and chappati with lamb curry wrapped up inside it.

The chappati came out first and looked pretty plain but you could smell the aromatic lamb curry inside of it and it was calling us! S dove in, he was starving and lamb curry is his favourite. He loved it. the chappatis were chewy without being difficult to eat, warm and fresh off the grill. The curry inside it was really nice, packed full of flavour with enough heat for you to notice it but not enough for you to stop eating it. There were some bits of raw onion in it that I noticed, and I dont really love raw onion in things, however the occasional hit of sharpness it provided was a welcome contrast to the thick, spicy curry, and it tasted great. It was a real suprise that I would enjoy pieces of raw onion in a curry but somehow this just worked. It wasnt much, but a sneaky piece here and there, and a small piece mind you, was lovely.

The next thing to come out was the Aloo paratha with chicken curry - this was my favourite! The paratha was light and stuffed with mashed potato, with a delicious flavour of savoury pancake batter and crispy edges... Then to have the chicken curry sauce poured all over it, the potato soaking up the gravy... Yum... There was something a bit sweet about it, which had the spices playing against it and then the savoury element of the pancake, the floury potato... Id love to order this again, if there wasnt other things on the menu Id want to order! The chicken thighs were chunky and generously portioned, with plenty of sauce to pour over the parathas which are made for sauces!

For mains we ordered the chicken curry, and the Dosai with lamb curry.

The Dosai was really light, a texture that thoroughly agreed with me as normally Im not a big fan of pancakey type things because I find them too heavy and a bit much. These were different, and a welcome change to the normal rice or pappadums. It came served with vegetable dahl and a coconut sambal (I know sambal is Indonesian/Malay, but Im not sure what they call it in Indian/Sri Lankan cuisine - so sambal it shall remain until someone tells me otherwise!). The lamb curry was the same as the one we had ordered with our entree, and S loved it, saying it was one of the best curries he'd  had in Perth, up along with the chicken vindaloo at the Cinnamon Club. The dahl was nice, not a texture Im used to with dahl as this was really runny and not as thick and pea soupy as I had previously experienced. The flavour was nice, however the veges tasted a bit like they were frozen, or cooked a stupidly long time... It was a different kind of dahl than I have previously tasted but I enjoyed it, just think the veges could have been improved a bit. The stand out surprise WOW thing on the plate was the sambal. YUM! It was coconutty, but with a sharpness to it that really refreshed your palate after the heavy spices. It was really good and would be amazing on a hot summer night with a searing curry, a beer and this sambal to ease the fire and refresh you. It was awesome. I asked the guy at the end what was in it, and he was a bit elusive but told me there was dessicated coconut (not fresh as its too hard to get them here), green chilli (if there was a red chilli, then the sambal would be red), onion, garlic and its not cooked.

S ordered the chicken curry which was the same as what came with the entree, with a serve of rice. He asked how spicy it was, and was told it was medium. Our jolly waiter said he could make it spicier if he wanted to, with a cheeky smile - S decided that he'd like extra chilli on the side please! Better be safe than sorry...

The curry came out and it is a generous portion, Id say about 2, maybe 2.5 chicken thighs per serve, which is alot! The rice, as well as the curry, can easily serve 2 people. The curry sauce is plentiful and I really enjoyed it. There was something about it that I couldnt quite pick up, my mouth was all over the place with chilli and spicy flavours I couldnt quite pick it up, but something about the chicken curry struck a chord with me. I preferred it over the lamb, and S preferred the lamb over the chicken! Again this time, the stand out for S was the chilli on the side - it was HOT but he very much enjoyed the flavour, and according to him, its not just hot it has flavour! Which is a good thing considering alot of places just try and burn your face off - this sambal had real substance to it. At the end of the meal we asked what was in it, again he was quite elusive and told us chillies, lemon juice... said we must cook it, if its not cooked its rubbish and pretty much left it at that! Obviously not giving away any secrets, but letting us peek into the kitchen! He did tell us that if we wanted the recipe we should just go and ask Jessie in the kitchen. I began to think him being elusive regarding the menu was more a case of "not 100% sure how its made, but its bloody good". To be honest I didnt like it... But I rarely do like those kinda chilli sauces, it was a bit sour for my taste and just way too hot. But S loooooved it!

We came here reading very mixed reviews, but have made up our mind for ourselves, after trying 4 different dishes that these are some of Perths best curries. I have read that some feel theyre too watery - yes the curries ARE very saucy, and they're not as thick as other curries may be, however they are in no way shape or form lacking in flavour. I think alot of people go into a curry house with an expectation, they know what they want their curry to taste like, they know how it should look and how much sauce they want. When they dont get that it skews their opinion. We went in there not knowing what to expect, and came out fans.

We will definately be back for more. Its not fancy, the wine glass I got for my red was outta the fridge, sometimes one of the girls from the kitchen would bring out your food, hair net and all - this isnt a place to go if you want to see and be seen. Its a place you take the right kinda friends, who enjoy a good feed regardless of the surrounds. We'll be taking a select few here for sure!

Oxford 130 Cafe, Leederville

We stopped in here for a coffee the other day after breakfast at Sayers. We came in here because I've tried most other places in Leederville and was looking for something new!

The decor is arty, funky n a bit all over the place. Its a hard place to miss because of the psychadelic wall paper that fronts the street, and one bright orange wall with posters all over it. To me, walking past it seemed like a big of a Greens tryhard - you only need one Greens in an area as small as Leederville...

We ordered a skinny flat white and a skinny capp , after being ignored by one girl, who was making the coffees, and then served by a girl who looked a bit flustered and didnt crack a smile once. They dont take eftpos, so paid cash and went and sat on a bench seat by the window. There were about 5 people in the cafe, so it was pretty quiet. We had some time to have a look around at the decor before our coffees were ready, upon which they call out your order and you come and get it a la Greens -  however with so little people in there you'd think they might bring it to your table? They didnt seem to have much else to do, as there were 3 staff on.

Anyway back to the decor... they have some tonka trucks on a shelf, and action man figurines hanging from the lamps. There was a painting of Tintin on a far wall and the furnishings were "shabby chic" for lack of a better phrase. We were sat at a pretty banged up looking table, and outside were milk crates to sit on as well as little Ikea style stools. It seemed to me to be a bit try hard, confused... The staff looked like they were a bit too cool for school, hardly any smiles, moping around. The girl who came and took our glasses was wearing a white shirt and had been making coffees all morning I assume n she was looked mucky. Covered in cocoa, coffee etc... It just felt like the care factor of the staff was really low...

The food looked fine, but we only had a coffee. In all fairness the coffee was fine, I enjoyed it and would have another one, but I dont think Ill bother going back to Oxford 130, unless I was going with a mountain of work and I wanted to be cool and do it all in a coffee shop.

Sayers, Leederville

I really dont think this place needs much of a mention... Look on Urbanspoon, 780 people have voted and 83% like it. I havent seen a place with a rating from that many votes. Yet somehow, I hadnt heard of it till recently. My head was in the sand!


We decided to go after the whole weekend of us being sick and there being no food in the house. I checked the menu online and it looked fabulously different to normal breakfast menus, which suits me down to the ground! I love it when there is more on offer than just variations of bacon and eggs, various other standard egg dishes and museli with yoghurt. Dont get me wrong, if you want some standard breakfast things, they're here, but with a Sayers twist. They're open 7 days a week from 7am, we were there at about 10:30 on a tuesday morning and got the last table inside. There was one table outside. Nowhere else in Leederville was as busy as that, except Greens. We didnt expect that at all!


The inside is cozy and decorated like someones home. Its crowded that for sure, but no one seems to mind, everyone is just happy they've gotten a table! We were sat near the window, quite close to another pair of diners who had ordered before us, and so we got a sneak peak of what else was on offer! One of them had ordered the ricotta and white chocolate hotcakes with sticky apple and double cream (from memory, I could be slightly off with the details), and the other ordered the same as I did, more on that later! The hotcakes were quite thick, about 2cm, so its definately a hefty meal! They were topped with half an apple which looked like it had been stewed and candied - it looked sticky, soft and sweet. Topped with a dollop of cream, it wasn't a meal you'd eat often but it looked good!


We ordered 2 skinny flat whites, S got the full breakfast and I got the potato rösti with poached eggs, onion jam, bacon and lemon scented wilted spinach. I went up and ordered our meal, and within 10 minutes we got our coffees, complete with a little love heart in each!

We finished them really quickly - they were very warm but I wouldnt say they were hot. They were at a drinkable temp straight away, but I would have preferred them to be hotter. It was a smooth easy coffee to drink, slightly too milky for my tastes but enjoyable nonetheless! They were all gone, real fast!


Our food probably took about 20mins to come out and we weren't disappointed! The full breakfast came with a choice of poached, scrambled or fried eggs, a potato cake, homemade beans, grilled tomato, field mushroom with pesto,italian sausage & bacon. Its alot, but its portioned so well that its not a huge huge meal.

The mushroom was delicious, softly roasted, juicy and so tasty - the pesto was obviously home made, and all kinds of droolworthy. I am a BIG pesto fan!
The sausage (wrapped up in the bacon) was also very tasty. S and I both remarked that it had a great flavour, it didnt taste processed at all and we thought it was home made as well - the only downside was, it was a bit dry. Perhaps adding more fat into the mix would fix this. But the flavour was great.
The potato cake had flecks of spanish onion and mustard seeds, and one of the first flavours I got was mustard. It could have been seen as slightly overpowering, however both S and I like mustard and so for us, it was no problem. It was soft and flaked away with the fork. It was a different addition to what was a fairly standard full breakfast - better than a hash brown anyway!
The beans were served in a little bowl which I thought was good because I dont love it when beans are spread all over the plate n make everything soggy and beany! The beans were obviously not canned, as they still had a bit of bite to them, and the sauce was thick and rich. There was a hint of spice as well as some heat which wasnt overpowering but noticable. S enjoyed them, which was a surprise because he thought he didnt like beans other than Heinz... I didnt try the eggs, bacon or bread but S ate the lot and didnt mention anything negative aside from the slightly dry sausage - so assuming it was all good!

My potato rösti was a bit of a surprise, as I was expecting something thin and crispy, however I got a monster of a chunk! It appeared to be a bit of a rösti sandwich - with the tangy onion jam in between. It was topped with 2 poached eggs, bacon, the lemon wilted spinach and some rocket, parmesan with a generous serve of S&P. The potato rösti was soft and well seasoned. The grated potato wasnt starchy or gloopy, and though the texture felt like the potatoes might be underdone they werent. I think it was a case of the chef having pretty good judgement when to take the rösti off the heat - it could've had a little longer on a higher heat to give it some crunch, as that was definately lacking, but the flavour was good. The onion jam gave the mound of potato some guts, it was tangy and sweet which helped the spuds along - it would have been a very different meal without it!

The eggs were done exactly how I like them, 30seconds past just done. I cannot stand uncooked egg white, its revolting, but I love a mostly runny yolk - I like the edge to be on the verge of going hard, but not quite... they were both cooked to the same "done-ness" and I was very pleased!
The wilted spinach had a lemony sharpness that caught me by surprise, but once you mixed it with the potato base, the rich yolky eggs and the deliciously salty bacon, it was one element in a series, you needed all of them together to make it work. It was really nice. Some may find the sharpness of the lemon a bit much, if you're eating the spinach on its own, but when combined with the other things on the plate, its perfect.


I will definately be going back to Sayers, I'd love to try their tapas style lunch menu. The whole breakfast came to about $50 so its not the cheapest breakfast around, but it was certainly one of the tastiest and well thought out breakfasts Ive had, and for that its worth the extra cost!

Five Bar, Mt Lawley

Five Bar is one of our fave places to eat in Mt Lawley. Its casual, the staff are friendly and professional and it has a great vibe. We dont need our arms twisted to go there at all!


Weve been 3 times now, and had a fab meal each time! We were wandering around Mt Lawley the other day, wondering where to eat, thinking we should try somewhere else aside from Five, since we'd been there twice already. We wandered around and nowhere really took our fancy, so we ended up back at Five, and considering it was the first day of their new menu, it was more of a reason to go there! As previously mentioned we'd been there twice before, and we ordered similar things both times (The rare roast beef open sandwich with coleslaw and horseradish cream, and the roast field mushrooms with danish fetta - which were both so delicious!) and so a new menu was a welcome change!


Steve was pretty keen for a curry but I wasnt really feeling it as we'd had a curry at the Buddha Bar that week, so he was pleased to see red lentil dahl with raita and papadums on the menu, which we ordered. Considering we loved the roast beef open sandwich, we couldnt decide between the new menu items of the Reuben sandwich with a dollar pickle, or the roast pork open sandwich with coleslaw and apple sauce - so we ordered both. As well as a serve of chips. Yes we were feeling greedy that night!!

Red lentil dahl, with raita and pappadums

We got the raita first, and its a generous serve! We dug in, and found very quickly that 3 pappadums was not enough, if you want a bite of everything... The dahl was good when combined with the raita and crunch of the pappadum, however we found the dahl a little lacking in flavour when eaten on its own. It was nice enough, but being pretty big curry fans, we found that it was a little bit bland. 

Roast pork open sandwich with coleslaw and apple sauce

The roast pork open sandwich came out next, with the Reuben. Presented the same as the old fave, the roast beef, the roast pork looked great. At first bite I thought that the pork was a bit lost with the creamy coleslaw, but when you get a bit of the sweet, sharp apple sauce, it brings out the flavour of the pork beautifully. The apple sauce for us was the best part of the dish, as it bought everything sitting on the crunchy toasted bread together. S took the third portion with gusto, he loved it, as did I!

Toasted reuben sandwich on rye, with sliced dollar pickle

The Reuben came out all toasted and jam packed full of pastrami, cheese and sauerkraut, with one of those bargain dollar pickles! I took a half and tucked in, and I really enjoyed it. It was juicy and generous, quite filling, as theres alot of bread... But I liked the bread, so I wasnt bothered by it. S on the other hand wasnt really a fan. But he can be a really weird fussy eater. One of the reasons he didnt like it, is because it was too big. When he cant pick it up and eat it without it dripping, or he has to formulate a plan of action in order to keep all elements of the sandwich together when eating it, he doesnt like it. It was just a bit too much of everything for him, and hes not a fan of sauerkraut anyway. I ended up eating most of this one. Im not too sure that Id order it again though, esp if I knew I was eating it on my own, as its rich and filling, and you really only need a half or quarter of it to get the gist, especially if youve ordered other things, like we had! That being said, if it got ordered, Id eat it without issue!

 Hand cut chips with Romesco mayo (I think)

The chips are great. Theres not too much to say about good chips, we all know what they should be like. They were crispy on the outside, soft in the middle, and seasoned perfectly. The mayo it was served with was really good, and very moreish! They had, as a special one week, sweet potato chips with curry mayo, which were equally as good, fantastic in fact! I was a huge fan of those...

I dont have photos of some of the other items we've eaten, but we were happy to see that some items on the menu havent been changed! The slow roasted field mushrooms on toast with fetta has stayed, which is  great as they are FANTASTIC!! We ordered them both times we visited, both times they came out just as delicious! Served on a dark grey slate as per food styling fashion, and piled high with fetta - YUM! I love them...

Another thing worth keeping on the menu was the honeyed pumpkin, ricotta and walnut salad - holy crap this is an amazing salad!! The ricotta is milky and creamy, and provides a fantastic dressing for the crunch of the walnuts and the sweet softness of the pumpkin. They had something else in the dressing which we couldnt figure out, but it was amazing. It was a standout the night we had that! Would certainly get that again... I asked the crew at Five Bar on twitter (@Five_Bar) what was in the dressing and they very graciously told me the ingredients, which was awesome of them! Another salad, which I cant remember really exactly what was in it, but it was haloumi and bulghur wheat - this is still on the menu as well, however we found it pretty bland and unexciting. I didnt really love the texture, and the halloumi, which I love, wasnt served straight away and it gets a bit rubbery, so Id give that one a miss next time.

The vibe of this place is cool and I enjoy it, however I havent been on a weekend because I dont like big crowds really. Its never been too crowded, and the worst thats happened on a week night was that we had to have a drink sat on the huge wooden boxes at the back until one came up, which was about 10mins. Ive always had great service, esp the blonde guy in the bowtie - hes a champion. Ive found that most of the staff here are really professional and friendly, always offering a smile and seem to enjoy their job!

We'll be back for sure, we've had a great success rate with their food, they have a great drinks list which suits me (a red wine drinker, who dabbles in cider) and S (a wheat beer lover, wont knock back most other beers and dabbles in cider as well). They have menu options to suit all budgets ($1 pickle?! WOO!) and a cruisy relaxed vibe which I love.

Breakfast Bars

A friend of mine is having a baby soon (there are so many people with babies and weddings!) and so a bunch of friends decided to make up a hamper for her... I offered to bake up a few things to put in there, considering shes going to be getting a few visitors, as well as being too knackered to do anything (even though she is a chef - it doesnt mean she can be bothered to cook with a new baby!) I decided to put, amongst other things, some breakfast bars together.

Oaty, nutty, fruity and sweet, bars like these are intended for people who need some energy and sustenance, fast!

I was leafing through Nigella Lawsons book, Express (which I picked up quite cheap from catchoftheday.com.au) and I came upon a recipe for breakfast bars, which called for things I had lurking in my cupboard already.

Ingredients

• 1 x 397g can condensed milk (really..? I just used the normal sized can. which is 395g)
  
• 250g rolled oats (not instant)
• 75g shredded coconut
• 100g dried cranberries
• 125g mixed seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame)
• 125g natural unsalted peanuts

Ok I didnt follow the recipe exactly, as I had no shredded coconut and not that many cranberries. I get little boxes of dried fruit and nuts every week from Harvest Box  of which I often put the contents into a jar, as a result I have quite a collection of dried strips of mango, prunes, flame raisins, apricots, apples etc. So I just gathered around about 125g of mixed nuts and 150g of mixed dried fruits...

A couple of things about the recipe... You cant leave the condensed milk very long in the pan as it starts to caramalise and you get little brown flecks through the sweet viscous liquid. It turns out it doesnt really matter if it happens a little bit, but if you leave it long enough its just going to burn... this you do not want!

When the mix is in the tin to bake it is VERY sticky, try not to use your hands unless theyre greased or use a spatula or a spoon. I got it aaaaaaaall over my hands! Yummy to lick off though :D

Heres the method, as found on Nigellas website; 

Method

Makes 16

1. Preheat the oven to 130°C/gas mark 1/2, and oil a 23 x 33 x 4cm baking tin, or use a throwaway foil one.
2. Warm the condensed milk in a large pan.
3. Meanwhile, mix together all the other ingredients and then add the warmed condensed milk, using a rubber or wooden spatula to fold and distribute.
4. Spread the mixture into the tin and press down with the spatula or, better still, your hands (wearing disposable vinyl gloves to stop you sticking), to even the surface.
5. Bake for 1 hour, then remove from the oven and, after about 15 minutes, cut into four across, and four down to make 16 chunky bars. Let cool completely.