Sel et Poivre is one of my favourite restaurants in Sydney. In, fact, I usually celebrate my birthday here, lured by the fabulous, and very authentic French fare on offer. Its also a reliable place when you’ve got fussy eaters. A group of friends that we dine with includes a friend, Hot Dog, who likes his food just so and is likely to get the waiter or waitress who doesn’t seem to want to convey this wish to the kitchen so he ends up supremely frustrated. Not here though, we don’t hear a peep of complaint from him when we dine here.

I know the menu back to front and have already pre ordered my dishes in my mind. I never veer, although sometimes I do if its winter and I ask for the Cassoulet (not a menu item, you have to ask for this). But since the weather is warm, I order my usual two entrees instead of an entree and main: the Salmon Marinated in Olive Oil, Aromatic Herbs, Mixed lettuce and Warm Steamed Potatoes $17.90 and the Crispy Galette of Fresh Swimmer Crab, Leeks and Sauce a l’Americaine $15.50. My husband orders the Marinated Braised Beef Cheeks with Miramar Cabernet Sauvignon Sauce and Frites $24.90, Rose does the two entree thing too with the Crispy Galette of swimmer crab and the Duck Terrine with Armagnac $16.90 and Ronald orders the Duck Leg Confit with lentils and salad $25.90 and we have a serve of mash for the table ($6.90). We’re seated at my favourite table, on the outside with the cushions but not the table right on the street.

Salmon Marinated in Olive Oil, Aromatic Herbs, Mixed lettuce and Warm Steamed Potatoes $17.90

As its relatively early, its quite empty but we know that it will be busy by 8pm. After all Darlinghurst-ites don’t exactly dine early and we overhear them having to knock back people without reservations. Its not long before Rose and my cold entrees arrive. My Salmon Marinated in Olive Oil, Aromatic Herbs, Mixed lettuce and Warm Steamed Potatoes is, as always, delicious. The soft, olive oily salmon beautifully textured and the potatoes dotted with finely diced spring onion. The accompanying birds eye chili and garlic clove, although decorative, remains untouched, I think either or both would overpower the fish.

Duck Terrine with Armagnac $16.90

Rose’s Duck Terrine has two thinly sliced pieces of mottle hued duck meat. Together with the fresh baguette pieces, its delicious, the Armagnac giving the flavoursome duck meat just a hint of brandy. Its delicious and surprisingly filling given the thin pieces. I may have found another must have-I wonder how I’d go ordering 3 entrees next time?

Duck Leg Confit with lentils and salad $25.90

Ronald’s Duck Leg Confit with lentils and salad is fall apart loveliness. Slightly crispy on the outside with the skin, he’s impressed at how soft and delicious it is and how easily it falls off the bone. What’s surprising for both Rose and Ronald is the puy lentil salad, housed in a ramekin on the side. Neither having eaten a lentil before in their life, and probably relegating it to the repulsive sounding and much maligned pulse category, their first experience is with this. Its strong with bacon flavour with finely diced carrots, tomatoes and herbs mixed in and topped with diced tomato. Its easily a dish I could order just by itself by the bowlful and one that has them impressed and nodding their heads with satisfaction.

Marinated Braised Beef Cheeks with Miramar Cabernet Sauvignon Sauce and Frites $24.90

My husband’s Marinated Braised Beef Cheeks with Miramar Cabernet Sauvignon Sauce and Frites arrives. Like the Duck Confit, the dark hued meat, set in a pool of darkest cab sav sauce, is fall apart soft, the meat incredibly tender and unctuous with an almost gelatinous texture to it much like marrow. There are also pieces of carrot, mushroom and bacon in it to add to the flavour. My favourite fries and mash in the world are here, the fries gloriously crisp and crunchy, the mash creamy and buttery smooth. The frites are dipped in this and then mash and this is repeated until every last drop of this deliciously rich sauce is gone-call it a more decorous way of licking the plate clean.

Crispy Galette of Fresh Swimmer Crab, Leeks and Sauce a l’Americaine $15.50

Rose and I have our Crispy Galette of Fresh Swimmer Crab, Leeks and Sauce a l’Americaine to devour. The round orb of crab filled pastry sits in a sauce based on tomato, onion, and herbs, cooked in wine. The outer pastry isn’t as crispy as I recall it to be but the inner is delicious and packed to the brim with fresh swimmer crab and leeks, the amount of crab particularly impressing Rose. For a crab and pastry lover like me, this is deliciously decadent.

Sadly, as we have to dash, we must forego my favourite Creme Brulee in the world-one housed on a long shallow-ish dish (maximum toffee crunch here) where an earth shattering toffee crunch is always had. By now the restaurant is full and our white papered table is earmarked for another group of lucky diners.

Sel et Poivre

263 Victoria St
Darlinghurst, NSW 2010
Tel: +61 (02) 9361-6530
Fax: (02) 9360-8926
AMEX, Bankcard, Cash, Diners Club, Mastercard, VISA

Don’t you hate it when you go to foodblog about a place that has always provided you with great service and food only to find that the owner is away and chaos and confusion runs amok?

Needless to say, this is what happened to us with Crystal Garden. Its our most well loved Chinese restaurant, a hidden gem and we’ve always had flawless service and food there. Tonight, the owner is absent and sadly it really shows with the service we receive.

If you order their regular suburban Chinese offerings, you’ll wonder what I am talking about. Its only when you scratch the surface of this suburban Chinese restaurant and order the seafood from the tank that this gem really shines.

He looks mad-as well he should be!

Tonight its a celebration so its Lobster from the tank ($75 a kilo for a 2.3 kilo lobster). We needed to pre order it as they usually only have crab and fish ready in the tank. We also order Pay pah tofu (tofu balls sauteed with prawn meat with broccoli), fried rice and a steamed fish with ginger, coriander and shallots.

We’re waiting a good 25 minutes before any food arrives with nary a prawn cracker passing by our table. Its relatively empty but we’re receiving service as if the restaurant was full and there was only one waitress on. There’s also no sign of the complimentary house soup that one gets when making a big seafood order.

XO Chili lobster 2.3kg with double lot of e-fu noodles $182.50

After 20 minutes we beg for some prawn crackers (which never materialise) and within 5 minutes of our request, our enormous lobster platter arrives resplendent with glistening sauce. The lobster is huge, sitting atop a double lot of e-fu noodles on a large oval platter, the luscious XO chili sauce almost spilling off the edges. Something to note about the lobster and crab here is that you will always get the whole lobster whereas at other places we’ve ordered crab and lobster at, we could swear that there are a few pieces that have been taking for posterity by the kitchen staff. They’re very generous with using XO chili sauce which some restaurants skimp on as it can be expensive. The lobster is tender and succulent and each piece is coated in the delicious sauce. The noodles are soft and the unctuous, spicy sauce coats them perfectly. Its heaven on a plate, nothing more, nothing less.

Fried rice $7.80

We need to request the next few dishes as our waitress says that she was waiting until we finished each one before getting another. She starts to clear the plates but gets distracted halfway and walks off leaving half of us with fresh plates, half without any plates at all with the new ones sitting at a nearby table which we help ourselves to.

Pay pah tofu $13.80

Our pay pah tofu arrives surrounded by steamed broccoli, its a little more messily presented than normal although it tastes magnificent, the soft flavoursome balls of tofu have small pieces of prawn inside and are coated in a delicious oyster and sesame sauce. The broccoli is perfectly textured, firm with a touch of crunch still.

Steamed barramundi with ginger, shallots and coriander $28

Our steamed barramundi arrives, again with some prompting from us, and its as good as always, the fresh fish steamed perfectly with a deliciously light soy and ginger sauce atop which sits shredded shallots and a sheaf of fresh coriander. Its a deliciously healthy but satisfyingly tasty dish that we cannot fail to order.

After some orange slices we realise that there is no sweet red bean soup coming, another complimentary dessert when you make a big seafood order so we pay and leave without receiving the usual farewell, the waitress looking up confused at us. *Sigh* Just remember, its all about the seafood.

Crystal Garden

1121 Anzac Parade
Malabar NSW 2026
Phone (02) 9661 9026
Lunch Tuesday to Friday 12 noon-3pm
Dinner Sunday to Thursday 5pm-10pm Friday to Saturday 5pm-11pm

I don’t know if having an American style barbecue on the Australia Day weekend is somewhat perverse or likely to get your Australian citizenship annulled. My husband and I along with our friends, Gina, Hot Dog, Teena and Phillippe do World Theme Nights on occasion and, Your Honour, when planning our American theme night, it just happened to coincide with the Australia Day weekend. Our World Theme Nights involve cooking the chosen nation’s food, dressing in the clothing, speaking with the appropriate accents and listening to the music.

Since Gina is Canadian, which is near enough to America, she told us about her nephew, Matthew Fabian who lives in Milton, Canada. Prior to this he lived in Burlington and every year many cities in Canada enjoy a Ribfest competition where restaurants in the area have a stall in the park with their rib recipe for all to try and they compete for title of ‘best ribs’ as voted by the critics and public. Matt did not officially compete as he is not a restaurant, but as the story goes, a large group who went to Burlington’s Ribfest, then to Matt’s place, (unofficially) nominated his recipes as the best tasting on the day. He has kindly given me, via her, the recipe for these babies and I was more than happy to try the recipe out. The instructions are his word for word as I thought the fact that he wasn’t sure if we had Bourbon in Australia was funny and how he specifically mentioned using a new and not used paintbrush was truly hilarious.

If it does seem like a bit more work than your usual ribs, I think you could probably use a very good bought BBQ sauce instead of making your own but as I am literally a trouble maker, as in someone who prefers to make things more complicated, I made the BBQ sauce. Instead of using baby back ribs, I use regular pork ribs that my parents have found a reliable supplier of as they’re juicier and meatier. The heady smell of the dry rub will have you salivating and they’re worth the extra effort and the home made sauce is gorgeously tangy, much nicer than any bottled sauce you could buy although it seems to become a little milder once bottled and refrigerated. Dare I mess with perfection and suggest a drop or two of Tabasco? The ribs themselves are fantastically good, soft and incredibly flavoursome with the heady mixture of the dry rub and BBQ sauce permeating each bite. They aren’t what you’d call photogenic, looking almost burnt but glisteningly so, because of the dark dry rub and BBQ sauce basting.

As for my dessert contribution, Ice Cream Cake, is from Nigella Express. Peanut butter and chocolate are undoubtedly an American combination and it seemed fitting to give this to Gina as her slightly belated birthday cake, on this allegiance muddled American themed Australia Day as she is often mistaken for an American but she is in fact an Australian citizen now but formerly a Canadian citizen!

Home made honey roasted peanuts (with more honey coating than usual)

I roasted my own peanuts as I couldn’t find any honey roasted peanuts at the supermarket and made a slightly different mix as I didn’t have the Bourbon creams or Nestle milk chocolate and peanut butter chips. Instead of the Bourbon creams I used a mixture of Arnotts Caramel Crowns bludgeoned to death with a rolling pin and instead of the chocolate chips I used a combination made up mostly of Reese’s Peanut butter cups with some Cookie Dough Kit Kat (cookie dough is definitely an American thing) and milk chocolate chips and macadamia praline.

One of the best parts of this is that I had 1/2 litre left over of Streets Blue Ribbon light vanilla ice cream to do with what I wanted. My choice, if I could have my wicked way with it would be to squeeze Ice Magic on top, let it harden, eat the chocolate and repeat until the bottle of Ice Magic has finished and then eat the ice cream. Terrible I know but I live in hope that I am not the only one that does this… I wouldn’t recommend using Streets Blue Ribbon light if you’re transporting it though like we did, when it melts, it separates into a yellow layer and a white cream layer.

Other additions to the BBQ spread were BBQ chicken wings (deep fry unadorned wings in deep fat fryer and then coat with “Crazy Mother Puckers BBQ sauce”). Made by Hot Dog in his deep fat fryer.

Coleslaw also featured-seasoned with fragrant dill. Made by Teena

As well as Havana Beach Cocktails (like a delicious pineapple Splice ice cream, recipe below). Made by Gina.

And delicious Pumpkin tarts also made by Gina

And creamy Spinach dip from Teena (recipe below)

And crispy Bloomin’ Onions (American version of what Australians eat, recipe below) made by Gina and fried by Hot Dog

Ribfest-but-better ribs

Ingredients:

• 6 racks of baby back ribs
• 2 large onions
• 2 apples
• apple juice or cider (small)
• I use aluminum disposable roasting pans you buy at the grocery store (I just used regular roasting pans as I couldn’t find big enough disposable ones)
• Plus all the stuff below for Dry rub and BBQ sauce

Pre-prepare the following;

Dry rub (mix it all together and put in a jar - can be done way ahead of time):

• 2.5 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoon dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons celery salt (I couldn’t find this so I used regular salt)
• 2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1.5 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

BBQ Sauce (I usually prepare the night before - can be done a couple days before and kept in fridge)

• 1/2 sweet onion very finely chopped
• 2 Cups Ketchup
• 1/2 cup light flavoured molasses
• 1/3 cup bourbon (I use Jim Beam - but if that’s not available any bourbon will do. If they don’t have bourbon Down Under, skip it) I used Chivas Regal scotch whisky as I didn’t have Jim Beam
• 1/4 cup Dijon Mustard
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Drop a splash of vegetable oil into a saucepan and add onions, cook until they start to become clear. Turn heat down to low-medium and add rest of ingredients. Stir regularly for about 20 minutes and then bring to a simmer for about an hour (stirring occasionally). Let cool and refrigerate

The resultant rich, tangy, eye wateringly good BBQ sauce

For the Ribs:

Get a whole bunch (6) of baby back ribs, and the night before rub the dry rub into them well on both sides. Wrap them in foil or saran wrap in the fridge overnight.

Dry rub on one of the rib racks

Now on the big day.

Heat your oven to 250 degrees fahrenheit (120 degrees Celcius)
slice up the onions and apples and lay them on the bottom (mixed) of the pans
Lay your ribs over them and put the whole lot in the oven for about 4.5 hours. Every half hour or so spray (or lightly sprinkle if you don’t have a sprayer) the apple juice/cider on the ribs

At the 4.5 hour (or so) mark take them out of the oven and put them on the bbq. Set the bbq at low-med (around 350 degrees or less is good)
Start slopping the bbq sauce all over the ribs (I buy a paintbrush for this - I don’t need to tell you to use a new one right?). Coat the ribs in the sauce real good. And keep slopping it on every few minutes for about 30 minutes. That’s about all the time you’ll have before the crowd gets surly from the sweet smell.

If you’re really gung ho about it you can use your bbq as a smoker and smoke the ribs at the end vs. straight grilling.

Ice Cream Cake from Nigella Express

I don’t think a cook’s job should be to deceive, but there is something appealing about the fact that this looks and tastes as if it were incredibly hard work and yet involves no more than a bit of stirring. You must, though, serve a warm sauce with it-the crowning glory-and I’ve certainly given you options below.

To be frank, you can choose different biscuits, different nuts and nobbly bits to mix in with the ice cream and give crunch, texture and sudden shards of flavour. I find it hard to believe, however, that this could be in any way improved. Sorry, but that’s just how it is.

• 1.5 litres of vanilla ice cream
• 100g honey roasted peanuts
• 200g Nestle swirled milk chocolate and peanut butter swirl chips (or chocolate chips of your choice) I used Reese’s Peanut butter cups and Dime bars which are like Hershey’s Skor bars
• 40g Crunchie bar
• 150g bourbon creams broken up into crumbs and rubble
• 1 batch butterscotch sauce plus 1 batch hot chocolate sauce or 1 batch chocolate peanut butter sauce

Ice cream and “rubble” mix

1. Let the ice cream soften either in the fridge for while or out in the kitchen

2. Line an deep 20cm springform tin with cling film both in the bottom and sides of the tin so that you have some overhang at the top.

3. Empty the slightly softened ice cream into a bowl and mix in the peanuts, 150g chocolate and peanut butter morsels or chocolate chips, Crunchie shards and 100g of the Bourbon biscuit crumbs

Cake ready to re-freeze

4.Scrape the ice cream mixture into the springform tin, flattening the top like a cake, cover the top with clingfilm and place in the freezer to firm up.

5. Serve the cake straight away from the freezer unmoulding from the tin and pulling the clingfilm gently away, before putting on a plate or cake stand. Let it stand and soften for about 5 minutes before cutting.

6. Sprinkle the top of the cake with the extra 50g of chocolate and peanut butter morsels or chocolate chips and the remaining Bourbon biscuit crumbs.

Pre saucing

7. Cut into slices and serve with the butterscotch and chocolate sauces, letting both dribble lacily over each slice. If two sauces sounds like too much trouble-they’re not-just opt for the chocolate peanut butter sauce. Its hard to find an argument against it.

Recipe by Nigella Lawson from Nigella Express

Bloomin’ Onion

Slice onion as pictured and spread out petals .

Dip in egg and milk mix and then in seasoned flour and paprika mix.

Dip again and deep fry.

Spinach Dip

• 1 block of frozen spinach (thawed with as much moisture squeezed out of it as you can)
• 1 block of Light Philadelphia cream cheese
• 1/2 packet of French onion soup mix
• 1 cup shredded tasty cheese to taste
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 Cob roll, hollowed out

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly and stuff back into Cob “shell”.

Havana Beach cocktail

• 1 part rum
• 2 parts pineapple juice
• 1/2 lime juiced
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 4 parts ginger ale
• Ice

Combine all ingredients and enjoy!

I need very little excuse to try new jams and the Faye and Jack’s Passionfruit butter was crying out for another taste. The problem with eating it with a spoon straight out of the jar, aside from hygiene, is that before you realise it, you’ve emptied the whole jar. The recipe is from a Vogue forum poster tabs whose Mother, presumably Norwegian, made these for her.

If you’re undecided by the cardamom spice, in that its usually used in curries, please don’t be. It really adds to the flavour of these and will not remind you a jot of a curry. The best part for me about these is the little lumps of sour cream that explode in your mouth when you bite into them. If you do use light sour cream instead of the sumptuous full fat version, be aware that those delicious little lumps of sour cream disappear completely.

My husband adores these and since I have a hate hate relationship with my waffle plate which has relegated it to the “never use unless its end of the world” pile, I make these as small pancakes to an equally satisfying round of compliments.

Norwegian Waffles or Pancakes

• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom or ground ginger (I prefer Cardamom)
• 1 cup sifted plain flour
• 5 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 stick butter (2 oz - 63 g.) melted and cooled (I leave this out)
• jam or fruit butter to serve with the waffles

1. In a bowl stir together the cardamom and the flour.

2. In another bowl with an electric mixer beat the eggs with the sugar for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the mixture is thick and pale.

3. Using a spatula stir half the flour mixture into the egg mixture, stir in half the sour cream, and stir in the remaining flour and sour cream. Do not obliterate the sour cream, try to leave lumps of sour cream, they’ll burst lusciously in your mouth as you eat it.

4. Stir in the butter and let batter stand for 10 minutes.

5. Either cook in waffle maker or cook in frypan in small pancake sizes.

I’m sure Nigella would forgive me for changing her recipe. I’m 200% sure that she is a recipe fiddler (and who isn’t really when you’ve run out of ingredients?) and fiddling is good for you unless you are say…. an accountant fiddling with the numbers.

I did three substitutions: 1. I replaced the pears with a Granny Smith apple as there were no Beurre Bosc pears to be had and 2. I substituted the Marsala for Brandy and 3. I substituted the walnuts for pecans as I like pecans better and had run out of walnuts. And let me say that the smell of this cooking is wonderful, truly.

Marsala Honey Pears with Gorgonzola from Nigella Express (or Brandy honey apples with Gorgonzola and pecans)

With all due respect to De Gaulle and his countrymen, I would happily forgo each and every one of France’s 246 cheeses for one wodge of Gorgonzola. For me, it is the king of cheeses, the queen, the grand empress of cheeses. This dish is my way of paying respects to it, although I am perfectly happy to eat it all alone (both me and the cheese). If you want cheese at the end of a dinner party, then this is the way to do it.

And while its not an Italian recipe, it is entirely Italian in inspiration. For me, its Autumn in Milan cast in food.

• 2 x 15ml tablespoons olive oil (not extra virgin)
• 2 pears (approx 500g total weight), unpeeled and uncored
• 3 x 15ml tablespoons Marsala
• 2 x15ml tablespoons honey
• 50g walnut halves
• 500g ripe gorgonzola in perfect condition (it should never have seen the inside of your fridge). OK mine did, shoot me. Sometimes Nigella can be unrealistic

1. Let the oil heat in a large frying pan, while you cut the pears into eighths i.e. quarter them and halve each quarter

2. Fry the pears for 3 minutes on each side, and, while they are frying, whisk the Marsala and honey together in a cup.

3. When the pears have had their time, throw in the Marsala-honey mixture and let it bubble up vociferously around the pears, them transfer them, all bronzed and syrupy, to a plate.

4. Add the walnut halves to the dark juices left in the pan and story fry them for about a minutes until they are themselves darkened in part and sticky all over.
Remove them to the plate with the pears and add Ingredient X, your Gorgonzola

Recipe by Nigella Lawson from Nigella Express