When I receive an offer by email from Somer Sivrioglu from Balmain’s Efendy restaurant I am giggling with glee. For a tour by one of Sydney’s top Turkish chefs to the Turkish rich area of Auburn is like getting a local’s tour with an inside track on Turkish cuisine! Auburn is a suburb in Sydney’s West with a lot of Turkish and Asian cuisine. Some friends have found it slightly intimidating to go there from the distance to the shops with unfamiliar ingredients but others have revelled in the other worldly atmosphere – not unlike being on a holiday. Auburn is also home of the largest Mosque in Australia so this has meant that the people that live in the area has now changed. It used to be mostly Turkish but now there are people from Africa and Morocco as well as Asia.

As we drive to Auburn Somer tells me a bit about himself,  the Turkish food scene in Sydney and his restaurant Efendy (which means “gentleman” in old Turkish). Turkey is a country that focuses very much on regional cuisine and that is why it can be hard to replicate it outside of Turkey. Certain areas are known for excelling in certain products and people will buy the products from there. There are also regions that are known for being gastronomic regions.  Turkey also occupies an area between the Middle East and Europe and in fact Istanbul is partly in Asia and partly in Europe.

Somer visits Auburn once every two weeks to get inspired and to shop for produce. His speciality is mezze and his changes day on day according to what is available. Even though it is a predominantly Muslim country, Turkish people like to drink and the aim of mezze was to complement alcohol. Their drink is called Raki which is an anise based liquor with a 50% proof like  across between ouzo and ayran and when mixed with water it turns cloudy. Foods that are heavy in olive oil or protein are needed to eat along with the Raki.

A friendly local

The other item that he likes to buy on his trips out to Auburn are lamb’s testicles which are very hard to source . They are so hard to find that lamb testicle loving customers need to call ahead to the restaurant to ensure that there will be some available. Turkey is very much an offal loving culture with tripe, sweetbreads and other organs on the menu. Cooking culture is very much ingrained in Turkish culture and Somer tells me that recipe bartering is common-but of course a recipe may be given missing a crucial ingredient

Somer grew up in the restaurant industry as his mother owned a restaurant in Turkey. He moved to Sydney as he was looking to get out of the armed services and an Australian university was the first one that accepted him. He draws similarities between Sydney and Istanbul but now calls Sydney “home”.

RT Turkish Delight

A rose scent fills the air and I look up and smile. Founded in 1974 RT Turkish Delight makes my favourite Turkish delight-the hazelnut and coconut Turkish Delight.  Real Turkish Delight is somewhat of an institution. Started 25 years ago by Bahattin Pektuzun who has now passed, it is now run by his three sons including Bill and Eddie who I meet today.  Somer tells us that he used to buy his Turkish Delight direct from Turkey but he now buys the Turkish Delight from here. It is fresher as it doesn’t have to travel very far and the flavour and texture are very good.

They also hold the world record for the largest Turkish Delight at 3.2 tonnes in 2003! It took four people 64 hours to make this in split shifts. It was displayed in Darling Harbour and then sold off in 6 kg slabs and raised $12,000 for Westmead Children’s Hospital. It was a rose flavoured Turkish delight without nuts to weigh it down. Interestingly, rose flavoured Turkish delight is not the most popular flavour with the Turkish people, it’s hazelnut and coconut (hey cool, I have a  Turkish palate!).

They make 80-100 tonnes a year here and supply to shops all over Australia and have been supplying to David Jones (where I first discovered it) for 20 years. They produce seven flavours as well as a large range of chocolates all coated in Belgian couverture.

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It has been at least 20 years since I was handed a Golden Book to read – I might even venture to say over 30 years since that has happened. But at Moose Cafe in Redfern, a Golden Book titled Prayers for Children no less, is what I am handed when they offer me the menu. I’m meeting M this afternoon for lunch. Outside Moose Cafe is on a quiet-ish side street but this doesn’t stop it from being constantly patronised with customers (mostly locals).

Owner Charbel is an former colleague of M’s. He is in fact an Information Architect who currently works three days in that end of the world and the rest in the warmer and fuzzier world of home made mueslis and jams. Did I mention the jams? No? Well on the wall there is a huge wall of them, all very nicely packaged indeed. There are two prices: “sober” $8.50 and “drunk” $9.50 and when you see the flavours you’ll understand why. They’re very grown up jams.

There are fancy schmancy flavours like rhubarb & mulled wine; strawberry & Earl Grey;  blackberry & sparkling shiraz and the most popular flavour gin & tonic marmalade (but more on that later ). They also come for the coffee, a brand called The Golden Cobra which is a coffee brand with a sense of humour. The Golden Cobra’s decaf blend is called the “Timothy Dalton” blend aka the slightly “lame James Bond”.

There are also a display of granolas including their best selling Belgian chocolate granola. Eat in prices start low at $4.50 with a gluten free banana bread (there are a few gluten free baked choices here) and the prices hover around the $10-$14 mark. Housed in a former butcher’s shop there are still remnants of the earlier institution, most notably the enormous cool room and the painted over meat hook rails. Service is friendly and sweet and without a trace of attitude and the excellent coffee is delivered by the barista with a big smile.

Flat White

Infinity Sourdough Toast with jams clockwise from top: rhubarb and mulled wine, blackberry and sparkling shiraz, butter, strawberry and Earl Grey and gin and tonic marmalade

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I have always said that there is no better gift than good food. I mean you can buy me jewellery but I have very specific taste or you can buy me perfume but I may not like the scent but give me good quality food and I will love it! So I was very excited when Brookvale Meat Supply offered a $150 hamper of gourmet meat for a competition. This is not your standard RSL meat hamper my lovelies

I tried a few of their products including some scrumptious Thai sausages, made with 90% meat which is very high and redolent with lemongrass and other Thai spices; some divine Tasmanian smoked mussels marinated in balsamic vinegar that were soft and tender (not like the chewy kind you can find); tender and juicy wagyu burger patties and delicious veal schnitzels which baked in the oven in 20 minutes to becomes golden and with oozing cheese and ham inside. Then there was the Gold medal winning free range Bok’s bacon which is wood fire smoked and bush honey cured using Cradle Mountain Organic honey as well as the  El Conquistador Spanish Jamon Serrano (ok I’m saving this for a Spring time picnic). Much of the freshly packed meat that I tried was antibiotic and hormone free as well as being free range.

Thanks to the people at Brookvale Meat Supply you can win your very own gourmet hamper! In your hamper you will get the following worth $150:

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