Hurrah for Australian produce

I am pretty negative so far about the quality of Australian food on this blog, and maybe I am being a bit unfair. The quality of the supermarkets are absolutely woeful, wine is atrociously expensive, cheese only comes in "Tasty" and "Non-Tasty" varieties (I still haven't figured what these are by the way, anyone care to enlighten me??), to the extent that I'm looking forward to a trip to Sainsbury's when I return to London.

However, I will put a rebalance back and rave about some of the excellent fresh produce (although you will have to go to a decent deli):

• Avocados - Australian ones are absolutely lush. Given they are locally grown, you will only find them pretty ripe for eating, I eat about one a week, at least
• Blood oranges - such a disturbing colour, but so delicious. I managed to drip its blood red juice all down my pyjamas the other day, that will teach me to eat oranges just before bed
• Cherries - I'm not sure whether these are actually local, but the ones I regularly buy are just fat and juicy unlike the ones back home. Second fruit-related accident this week was me swallowing a cherry whole today, stone and all
• Japanese pumpkin - ok, not strictly Australian, but widely available and very cheap. I bought a massive hunk for about 40p/80 cents the other day, bargainous
• Tomatoes - hurrah for tomatoes that actually taste of tomatoes!
• Prawns - unfortunately I don't have a fishmonger anywhere near me to regularly eat these, but they are huge without compromising on taste here. And also absolutely beautiful to look at - pink with blueish tinges on the tail. Best eaten as sashimi - mmmm!

Big shout out for Fratelli Fresh on Macleay St in Potts Point - absolute pleasure to go round stroking all the beautiful vegetables. And often much cheaper than the terrible Woolworths supermarket right underneath!

Dead Skippy

I had my first kangaroo the other day. I'm not quite old enough to have watched Skippy, so absolutely no guilt on my part!

I did eat it in the most unlikely of places, the Belgian Beer Cafe in the Rocks. As predicted, they specialise in good European beer, and cooking almost anything in beer, and the beer was very good. I have a weakness for girly fruit beers, and I really liked their framboise raspberry.

The cooking, however, was less successful. They cook mussels in all sorts of weird and wonderful combinations, from the traditional marinere to the slightly questionable "Tintin au Congo" (coconut milk, lemongrass and chilli). However, chargilled kangaroo cooked in Gulden Draak & juniper berry sauce caught my eye:

To be honest, that sauce pretty much ruined what otherwise would've been a good dish. The kangaroo itself was very good - cooked pretty rare, it reminded me of venison, very lean but pretty tender. The sauce, however, clashed rather than complemented the meat - very overpowering, very peppery. Maybe I just don't like juniper much, I can't recall a dish where I've actually thought it tasted nice. Looking around, most people also struggled to finish their giant buckets of mussels.

All in all, a place to hang out and drink good beer rather than actually eat food. Drew actually sent back his lamb shanks (and told the waitress in no uncertain terms that "it is just gross, take it away"), even though he was the one who chose the restaurant in the first place! Ah well, it's not like moules marinere is hard to make at home...

Singaporean mama food

Another favourite thing to cook for me is laksa, although I acknowledge that the recipe I use is completely inauthentic. I have heavily plagarised Nigel Slater's pumpkin laksa recipe, and I've never actually seen laksa being made before by a Singaporean - but in general I find this version is less greasy than laksas I've eaten in restaurants. The list of ingredients is long, but it is sooooo easy. And it is also a good thing to make for pesky vegetarians.

Connie's completely inauthentic Curry Laksa (serves 4ish)

For the curry paste:
3 large cloves of garlic
Thumb-size piece of ginger
1 stem of lemongrass
Small bunch of coriander (save some for garnish at the end)
Zest of a lime
2 dried chillis
Vegetable oil

For the soup:
1 tin of tomatoes
1 tin of coconut milk
1 pint vegetable stock
Noodles - I tend to prefer thicker Vietnamese style rice noodles, but egg or white noodles are all yummy
2 Kaffir lime leaves
Fish sauce

To serve (any of the below is good, I sometimes have it all!):
Chicken thighs
King prawns
Butternut squash
Spinach
Fishballs

1. Roughly chop the garlic and ginger, and the stems of the coriander, and whizz together with the rest of the curry paste ingredients - add a little oil to help it go round. (This is a great all round curry paste - I normally make too much and always have some in the freezer, and use it as a base for Thai green curries, or as a marinade for grilled prawns or chicken)
2. Fry about 2-3 tablespoons of the paste in a little oil, until your kitchen fills with the lovely smells of coriander
3. Add in tinned tomatoes and let it bubble for a few minutes to let the toms break down a little (little trick clever Dave taught me), before adding in coconut milk, vegetable stock, and kaffir lime leaves, and bring to the boil
4. Add your noodles and bring back to the boil, add a few dashes of fish sauce, and you have your basic laksa soup base to which you can add your variations

Variations:
For chicken - add into the curry paste and fry for 2-3 minutes. Remove, and add back in with the noodles

For king prawns - as above, but add in right at the end to avoid overcooking

For butternut squash - cut the squash into inch cubes and roast with little bit of olive oil for 30-40 minutes. Add in with noodles towards the end

For fishballs - add with the noodles

For spinach - I always put spinach in because it just wilts so quickly - turn the gas off and then stir in the spinach into the hot soup

Here is the version I made tonight, which I managed to eat nearly 3 bowls of (!) - with chicken thighs, fish "tofu", spinach, and Japanese pumpkin (ridiculously cheap here, but what a pain it is to prepare!)

A hat is not a star

My neighbour at work, Albert, is Chinese, and a foodie, so it is not surprising that whenever I am in the office, my productivity drops as we spend the whole day talking about eating here and eating there. This weekend, finally, we ate here and there together.

First stop was Salon Blanc in Woolloomooloo, in the same building as my apartment, and was awarded 1 hat from the Sydney Morning Herald. As I've mentioned before, Michelin inspectors don't appear to have come over to Australia yet, so the Aussies have invented their own system - I've been to several hatted restaurants now, can't say the standard is quite the same. (Although trips to Tetsuya's and Quay coming up in October might change my mind)


Despite its name, Salon Blanc is more French/Mediterranean than French - such their starter menu is tapas based. Started with some ok oysters, followed by some very good belly pork - the skin was so crisp it sticks to your teeth (you know, that feeling you get after eating really excellent 焼肉) :
Main for me was a slightly overcooked T-bone veal, with a olive tapenade that didn't quite go, although I am eternally disappointed with veal. I must say the best veal I've ever eaten was actually at Carluccio's (the now ubiquitous chain in London rather than the Neal Street super restaurant) where they cooked it very simply, quite rare, with it seaped in lemon. I seem to eat a lot of veal at Carluccio's - it was also when Simon, my quite strict veggie friend, decided to start eating meat - I'm not sure baby cow was the best choice to start with...

Anyhow, pud was actually very good, a buttermilk pannacotta with stewed rhubarb and blood orange. I think Sydney chefs have twigged that I will order dessert if rhubarb is featured on the menu:

I thank my mum for letting me eat far too many sweets when I was little, and getting it out of my system - I now have a very unsweet tooth and can happily go without pud. However, this is the kind of thing that would make me eat more dessert - the pannacotta had a lovely twang to it, and I love love love stewed rhubarb.

Albert and I (and Jess) also went to Din Tai Fung for my second visit for Sunday lunch. Very disappointed with their Dan Dan Mein ("it's like noodles smothered in satay sauce", said Jess), but loved their Prawn & Chicken dumplings in tangy sauce.

Cuddles from maitre d's

I have discovered a new favourite place - the Sardine Room on Challis Ave in Potts Point, a tiny little place specialising in fish and seafood. I walk past this place every weekend, and it has had unbelievable reviews within the online community, and I managed to convince Thang and Jess that this was where we wanted to treat Thang before he left Sydney.

I have read in various places about the over-enthusiastic maitre d'/co-owner of the place, and she certainly most welcoming. She is obviously very proud of the restaurant, and it is lovely to see the pride shine through as she raves about each item on the menu. It is exactly these ridiculously happy, positive people who makes me want to quit my job.

To start: Oysters with pickled cucumber and salmon roe - very fresh, good combination:

Also to start: Scallops with poached apple and hazelnuts - very very good - hazelnuts perfectly complementing the perfectly wobbly scallops:

Third shared starter was salt and pepper squid. Now I must go on another little rant - Sydneysiders love love love their salt and pepper squid, and I'm not quite sure why! It is only absolutely every menu, and never really done particularly well. Again, the squid at Sardine Room had very thick batter, and by the time it arrived was not very hot. Never mind, onwards to the mains, a very luscious scallops with creamy leeks and black truffle risotto:

Accompanied by another main of squid ink taglioni with blue swimmer crab and cherry tomatoes - star dish of the night, excellent pasta:

As you can see, the portions are enormous!!! But us 3 little Asians still managed to polish it off, along with a mixed fish pie (a bit meh) and a coconut pannacotta with cranberry sauce. And as we left, the maitre d' treated Thang to a nice cuddle - he he!

Another plus point is that they have an excellent Alsatian Gewurtztraminer here. Wine is hysterically expensive in Sydney - very difficult to get a decent bottle for less than $25 (and that is just the Aussie wine - for anything imported, it is more like $40/50). Sardine Room's yummy Gewurtz was $48 - the identical wine is available from the deli down the road for identical price, so not bad at all!

Will definitely, definitely be back.

Italian mama food

One of my most favourite things to cook is lasagne - I love the slow process of making it, having the ragu bubbling away as I make the bechamel, and then trying not to eat the entire pan that evening. I made it for the first time the other day for Jess, here is the recipe I use (plagarised from the Italian food bible the Silver Spoon):

Lasagne (serves 6, or 1 very hungry Connie)

Olive oil

1 large onion

1 large carrot

500g beef mince (ideally not too lean and not too minced)

1 glass white wine

750g bottle passata

50g butter

50g plain flour

500ml milk

Salt & pepper

50g parmesan (grated from fresh)

Lasagne sheets

1. Finely dice the onion and carrot and fry gently in the olive oil until slightly browned

2. Add the mince, making sure to break up the clumps and fry until brown

3. Add in the white wine - I find this is an essential step!! And has to be white wine.

4. Pour in the passata and let the ragu bubble away for about 45 minutes until reduced to meaty loveliness

5. Make a roux by melting the butter on a low heat, and slowly adding in the flour

6. Gently cook (make sure it doesn't burn like I generally do) to get rid of the floury taste, before slowly adding in the milk and whisking as you go. Let the bechemel cook gently until it thickens. Season well. Here it all us bubbling away:

7. Build the lasagne in an ovenproof pan (rectangular is better, obviously) - layer the ragu, then a layer of pasta, then a layer of bechemel, until you use it all up - bechemel has to be the final layer at the top

8. Sprinkle parmesan over the top, and bake at 200C for 25-30 minutes, until the top is browned:

Very very good for lunchboxes :D

PIE!

Sydney is not particularly well-known for its street food, and the only street food really available are meat pies, generally served from pie carts around the city. I am most fortunate to live by a Sydney pie institution, Harry's Cafe de Wheels in Woolloomooloo. It is so near my apartment that on Saturdays, I generally have to walk past the place about 6 times. There is rarely a time on a sunny afternoon that there isn't a crowd outside tucking into their "world-famous" pies, and I've even seen coachfuls of Japanese tourists being ferried there to enjoy pie en masse.

They are most famous for their "Tiger" combo - meat pie with mash, mushy peas and gravy, all piled up high:
And the verdict? Well, the mash, mushy peas, and gravy combo is unbeatable, particularly if eaten slightly tipsy after a night out. But obviously, what you're interested in is the quality of the pie. I have found in general that pies in Sydney are made to survive nuclear disasters - the pastry is generally so thick, and butter does not seem to go anywhere near the making of the pastry. I normally eat the top and leave the rest:

The pie fillings on the whole are better than the pastry, but again, designed for a nuclear disaster. Whatever you have (beef pie, chicken & mushroom pie), pies here are generally really over-salted and over-peppered, probably because there is no edible pastry to balance it all out. How I miss Square Pie in Spitalfields Market...

Degustation numero un

One thing Sydney restaurants appear obsessed with are "degustation" tasting menus. Every posh place does one, and is weird to me not only due to its weird name (don't think it's used in the UK or the States, not sure about France?), but also their prevalence. Jimmy Liks and Billy Kwongs both do one apparently, somehow feels a bit wrong for Asian restaurants to have tasting menus.

But anyway, my first one was hosted by the lovely Damian, who is determined to show me how good Sydney food is. So off we (along with Jess) trekked to Balzac, situated in a pretty limestone building in Randwick, which has had 2 hats consistently for the last few years.

Here is the full 7 course menu (I forgot to take pics of the canape and pre-dessert - gah!)


1. Amuse bouche of pumpkin soup with something on top which I can't remember

2. Salmon Gravlax with Dill Sauce and Baby Herbs
With 2006 Nigl 'Gartling' Gruner Veltliner - Kremstal, Austria

3. Sea Mullet with Buckwheat Crepe, Smoked Eel, Snails and Kale
With 2006 Artazuri Garnacha Rosado - Navarra, Spain

4. Terrine of Quail and Girolles, Roast Breast, Pickled Carrots and Bois Bourdan
With 2005 Tokar Pinot Noir - Yarra Valley, VIC

5. Veal Scotch with a Saute of Sweetbreads, Mushrooms and Lentils, White Onion Puree and Red Wine Jus
Wtih 2005 Minervois 'La Bastide' Chateau Coupe Roses - Languedoc, France

6. Vanilla Pannacotta with Elderflower Jelly

7. Chocolate Terrine with Popcorn Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce
With 2005 Les Clos de Paulilles Banyuls - Roussillon, France

Et le verdict? Well, first of all, extremely good value - the 7 courses with 5 matching wines at $130 is pretty good, each course very well crafted so not sure how they are making any margins on it. A similar meal in London would be £130 at least.

I was extremely impressed by the first two courses. The salmon had great texture from the potato sticks on top, richness of the fish balanced by some pickled onions and radishes. The sea mullet's highlight was the crepe - extremely small, extremely intense with smoked eel and snails both coming out.

From there though, everything else was a bit meh, in that it felt like every other course I'd eaten before somewhere. The veal in particular was quite disappointing.

All in all though, would probably come back! The service was very graceful, particularly as our table conversation quickly went downhill after the first few glasses of vino.

3 times in 3 weeks!

Spice I Am is easily my favourite restaurant in Sydney so far. As the post title suggests, I have been there 3 times in as many weeks, and I will probably continue going at the same rate.

Service is never particularly good, definitely rushing you in and rushing you out again (and I got severely told off by one of the waitresses for abusing their water cups the second time I went) - but the food makes up for it. I don't mind queuing for establishments that are seriously serious about their food.


My favourite things by Spice I Am so far:

• Green papaya salad (of course, see previous raves in previous post)
• Tom kha gai
• Soft shell crab with mango salad (pic below)

I want to try their mussel pancake next, which they only serve at lunch time. That's Saturday lunch sorted!

From Meghana's family cookbook

First proper Aussie BBQ was hosted by the lovely Charlie in his enormous and beautiful apartment in Manly. As "Head of Catering", I cheated a bit by going to Fratelli Fresh and buying some of their excellent pre-marinated packs of chicken wings and also a huge leg of lamb, but Meghana and I did do some "cooking".

From Meghana's family cookbook for barbeques:

Fish Tikka

1 lb fish (cut to around 12 skewer pieces)

Marinate for about an hour in:
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 tsp red chili paste (or powder)
3 tbsp lime (around two small limes)
2 tsp Salt to taste (2 tsp)

Apply oil mixture (oil with little bit of lime juice, cumin powder, salt) while grilling

Ginger and Chilli Prawns

Marinate 1-1 1/4 lb peeled prawns for 1 hour in fridge with:
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 tbsp grated ginger
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
2 chillies minced
Salt + pepper

Grill shrimp 4 to 6 mins on each side till opaque


All was yummy, especially the fish, as we managed to get some already very yummy perch. The prawns we found were also enormous, perfect for bbqs. Special mention also goes to Charlie for his burgers (which feature lots and lots of Worcester sauce). Unfortunately I was too busy manning the bbq to take pics :(

Waiting... and more waiting...

I have raged about this already, and I will rage about this again. WHY WON'T TRENDY RESTAURANTS IN SYDNEY TAKE BOOKINGS????????

Now, I come from Hong Kong, where not booking is the norm at casual establishments like 大牌檔 (dai pai dongs) or 茶餐廳 (cha chan tangs), and also at dim sum, where you stalk tables by standing right by them until the people are so peeved they leave. So I am used to no reservations.

But we put up with this because we know there is a quick turnaround, and you rarely wait for more than 20 minutes. In Sydney, no reservations policies are designed to simply piss you off. Or maybe, as someone has also suggested, there is simply so little to do in Sydney, waiting in 2.5 hour queues becomes entertainment.

Let me describe though a good experience at Bodega on Commonwealth St, Surry Hills. Meghana, Jess and I had been debating whether to go to Billy Kwongs all night, but decided we didn't want to be disappointed by it, so by the time we headed to Bodega, it was nearly 9pm. Lucky for us, as soon as we walked in, there was a table for us - woo! Unlucky for others, the people who were seated after us had waited 2.5 hours!!

The food was excellent, but probably not excellent enough for a 2.5 hour wait. Bodega is a tapas bar with style, the type of establishment that doesn't serve sangria ("we are not a Mexican cantina", said the waiter), but the tapas is inventive. We had (copied from Bodega online menu, my memory isn't that good):

• Spiced pumpkin and feta empanadas - a bit meh
• Chorizo “a la sidra"- cooked in cider, the cider taste really came out
• Tortilla of potato, caramelized onion & taleggio - also a bit meh
• Fried spiced calamari with aioli - can rival the crack calamari at Busaba in London!
• Stuffed red pepper with lamb and pine nuts - very inventive (see pic below)
• Seared scallops on pickled Wagyu tongue - my favourite of all, sweet and sharp and soft

We also discovered Spanish cider (Sidra Escanciador) - light, refreshing, although not sure whether it would be good in cider & black :)

But now for the real unpleasantries of no reservations policies. Many people have told me I should go to Longrain, also on Commonwealth St in Surry Hills, particularly as I liked Spice I Am so much. So off we went with Tristian when her lovely friend Pontus (great name) came to visit from Tokyo.

As soon as we walked in the door (manned by this tinny girl whose only job was to smile at customers), we were told 2.5 hours wait. Gah. But we can go sit at the trendy bar and sip $20 watery cocktails! Woo.

The frustrating thing about Longrain is that it is just so poorly designed. The entrance is just a complete waste of space (with a ramp?!), and they can just convert the bar into more dining tables if they weren't making so much money on the cocktails. We ended up huddling round one of the tables at the bar and ordering from the bar menu instead. Tiny tiny portions at around $16 a go, here is the trout in betel leaf:

I shall stick to Spice I Am in future (also no reservations, but very quick turnaround, and much better value for money)

French food babies

French food - mmmmmm - probably my favourite food nation of all - all that lush cream, butter, fois gras, all the stuff you shouldn't be eating. I've even very little of it since I arrived in Sydney, and had my truly French meal at Bistro Moncur in the Woollahra Hotel, and realised my body has had a long absence of rich food.

Bistro Moncur is famous for two things: their French onion soup souffle, and their sirloin steak with Cafe de Paris sauce. So naturally I had both.

The French onion soup souffle, first of all, is an interesting idea, but is very very ugly. I did take some pictures of it, but I didn't want to de-beautify my lovely blog. Imagine a spotted dick with custard, but with the same browny-beige tinge throughout the whole dish. Not attractive.

However, once you put it in your mouth, you see what all the fuss is about - it carries all the deep flavours of a French onion soup, the creaminess of the Gruyere, with better mouth-feel because of the light souffle. Extremely extremely rich, I couldn't finish it (shock!)

Then onto the sirloin with Cafe de Paris - prettier this one:

Steak cooked to perfection, great frites on the side. But, oh my god, the sauce is unnecessarily rich. I normally have steak with Bernaise, which is rich enough in itself, but having the vinegar in the Bernaise helps to cut through all the fat on the plate - with a Cafe de Paris sauce, you don't have that balance. So full, and yet I can usually demolish a chateaubriand quite easily :p

The side order of broccoli, incidentally, was also swimming in butter (see the sea of yellow underneath that apparently green broccoli healthiness!):

I'm a girl with a big appetite, but god did I have a serious food baby after this meal. The two glasses of wine at the bar whilst we were waiting (yes, another restaurant that doesn't take reservations) probably didn't help.