My father has an innate sense of borders. There is a certain perimeter he won’t breach in his car and it spans about 10 kilometres around their house. Outside of that makes him nervous and so when I suggested a Japanese restaurant for my mother’s birthday in Meadowbank which was in truth only about 30 minutes drive from us, I felt his jaw tighten and him tense up. Expecting this immediate rise in tension I quickly added “We’ll drive us all there!” and he visibly relaxed. Crisis averted!

Sorenzo, set amongst what look to be new apartment complex developments, was a Japanese restaurant recommended to us by Mr NQN’s sister Amaya and her husband Laporello. They live nearby and urged us several times to visit. A few checks on the internet confirmed that it was a hidden gem and many talked of their special deals. There are set lunch meals such as the ladies lunch set meal at $30 or a businessman’s lunch set meal at $37. Each weeknight has a theme to it whether it be a Romance Tuesday, Mother’s Wednesday, Food Tasting Thursday or Thanks Father Friday with little extras given away each night. We’re dining on a Saturday night and there isn’t any theme that evening.

Amuse bouche

We start with an amuse bouche which is a three parter plate to share given to all diners. It comprises of an avocado mousse with tiny watermelon cubes, kingfish sashimi with orange segments and a wagyu roll with cherry tomato. The squirt of avocado mousse with the watermelon has an orangey flavour to it and goes more towards the sweet than the savoury. The kingfish sashimi is fresh but perhaps has a bit too much orange as the orange overpowers the kingfish a little. The wagu roll served on a toothpick with a slice of cherry tomato is soft and a lovely little morsel.

Service is fine dining Japanese style and they’ve perfected that Japanese style of deferential service where they anticipate needs. Water glasses are filled readily and nothing is ever too much trouble and the courses come out in a timely manner without a long wait in between.

Foie Gras with Barramundi $22

The entrees come out first and the foie gras with barramundi is rich, slightly sweet and unctuous. It reminds me a bit of unagi (roasted eel) in the texture of the fish and the foie gras lends it that jellied, custardy quality. It sits on a round of sauteed daikon radish and the white powder is said to be teriyaki truffle powder but we try this by itself and it doesn’t add very much or taste very strong.

King prawn with wasabi aioli $16

At our request the king prawns were upsized to a portion of four rather than the standard three as there were four of us. They were sauteed rock prawn, shimeji mushroom, salmon caviar and pesto sauce. The prawns are cooked well and come with deep fried shimeji mushrooms in a very light batter, some pearls of salmon caviar on a paper thin radish slice and a pesto sauce and the whole plate is ringed with a thick, sweet teriyaki style sauce.

Dinner box $40

We ordered this dinner box mainly for my father as he doesn’t eat raw fish so this box gave him a good mix of cooked items such as fish, tofu, vegetables and the wagyu (all of their wagyu is rated 5) as well as salad, rice and some sushi and sashimi. It comes out as a two tiered box with a great variety of flavours and textures. The highlight is definitely the toothfish which if we visited again we would just have to order on its own. The toothfish or the black cod is known for it’s utterly ambrosial buttery texture and here it is wonderful and just melts easily in the mouth. The tofu is also a highlight with its slightly sweet sauce and the wagyu is tender and comes pre sliced into strips. The sashimi and sushi is generously portioned and fresh and there are also crunchy tempura vegetables.

Sashimi Zen $40

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There’s this thing about a three hour time difference. It means that even if you want to sleep in after a flight and a big day and night the night before you inevitably wake up at 6am thinking that you’ve slept in. And in a cruel twist of fate the clock face tells you the next morning “Silly sausage, you’ve woken up too early”. It’s no matter as our second day in Perth sees us actively and hungrily seeking out new food adventures.

We start  with breakfast downstairs at The Richardson which is a Continental breakfast of fruit (fresh and poached), breads, pastries and cereals included with your room rate. There is also more elaborate hot breakfast available on a separate menu which is paid for separately. I’ve never been good with yogurt and cereal in the morning-call me backwards but cereal is best eaten at 11pm when you crave a crunchy hit. So I always order a hot breakfast.

Scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and tomato $33

The scrambled eggs are creamy and there are two types of sausages, a fat and juicy pork and honey and a chicken and herb sausage as well as crispy, halved chat potatoes, a whole tomato and some rashers of bacon. It is well prepared but at $33, it is not an inexpensive breakfast.

There are certain places that you want to be on a 37C day. At a beach is one of them. Cottesloe beach to be exact, one of Perth’s most famous beaches. And given that our bodies think that it’s about 3pm Sydney time and it thinks that we’ve missed our lunch we’re all hungry! We arrive at Indiana, a gorgeous beachside restaurant with an airy beachhouse feel to it. Named after the “Indiana Tea House”  we’re seated at a corner table where we look out to see happy beach goers and we relax to the cool breeze wafting through the window. There’s the stretch of beach just outside where they held Perth born actor Heath Ledger’s wake.

Since I’m trying to drink sensibly I want to pace myself and whilst they’re happy to make fruit drinks they don’t have any pre designed mocktails. I order a fruit cocktail that is a mixture of fruit-most noticeably strawberry and orange juice. Oh and I should mention that I didn’t put any of the prices next to the dishes as I think they gave us larger sizes than what was on the menu. This was because we were such a large group and we were sharing most of the food and I also didn’t see the individual prices on the bill at the end.

Tempura soft shell crab chilli and lime dipping sauce

Sometimes soft shell crab can be greasy and weighed down with oil. This isn’t, instead it is light and crunchy with a pocket of soft, moist sweet crab meat. The dipping sauce is a sublime chilli and lime dipping sauce with a sweet almost plum sauce quality to it. I may or may not have had four halves. I’m not confirming anything…

Fried calamari in Za’atar spices, lemon yogurt

The fried calamari is lovely and tender although I don’t taste much za’atar spice or lemon in the yogurt and I think a lemon aioli or tartare would suit it a bit better and yogurt slightly wets the crunchy outer.

Charcuterie plate

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My low carb lover’s dream-I added the bacon and the hollandaise

I emailed Mr NQN

“Hi Honey,

I’m off to the Barossa today. I hope you have fun at work. Sorry.”

I feel sorry for the poor bugger, so I try to apologise for delivering what may seem to be gloating news.

I had just eaten breakfast at The Stirling Hotel where I was given a $50 breakfast voucher (although my huge plate above cost less than $15) . I meet my wonderful tour guide John from Barossa Daimler Tours. He and Emily from The Stirling help me with my bags and he probably thinks that I’m daft when I excitedly show him the clever light switches in my room.

Nepenthe Wines

Our first stop is Nepenthe Wines who have been making wines since 1999. I went to a Nepenthe event a couple of years ago at Aria  and it was a lovely drop indeed. They’re known mostly for their Sauvignon Blancs and Julia and Steve greet us. Nepenthe, because I know you may ask as I did, is a word from Greek Mythology from Homer’s Odyssey and means a drink so powerful that it eased grief and banished sorrow from the mind. So save that one up for your wine drinking buddies and stun them with your knowledge of Greek Mythology if they try and throw too many wine terms your way .

Julia leads us through a wine tasting. I just have a little taste of her most recommended selection. Julia is lovely and she’s also a reader of Not Quite Nigella (which just goes to prove my theory that my readers are fabulous!). She was going to bake me something but she didn’t know when I was arriving. She also did a presentation at university about me-isn’t that sweet?

Back to the wine! We tried the 2010 Sauvignon blanc which has a passionfruit and pineapple aroma and the Petraea (Petraea is the species of oak that is used in the barrels). The Petraea is a cellar door only wine and it most suited to drinking with food as it is richer and fuller flavoured and with more “texture”. What does texture mean in terms of wine? It means that it has more mouthfeel and a creamier texture and Steve makes the comparison of drinking a low fat milk versus a full fat milk which would have more texture or mouthfeel. I really like the Petraea  and the Ithaca Chardonnay 2006. And as we’re leaving, they are kind enough to give me a bottle of each! Ah Mr NQN will be a happy husband

Pindarie Wines

Our next stop is for lunch! We’re stopping off at the 3 month old new Pindarie Wines which has an incredible view of the Barossa. Housed in a historic building, it has been painstakingly restored by Wendy’s husband Tony who is out in the shearing shed. There is a friendly couple from Sydney who are interested in watching the shearing taking place and I have to chuckle-it’s the kind of thing I want to see too as I’ve only seen it done at the Easter show.

Wendy shows me the grounds and the building. They’ve kept as much of the original structure as possible including and have employed the use of sustainable materials. They’ve used rejected jarrah wood which was downgraded because it had knots in it and there are slate tiles from the farm. There are also the original buckled tiles for when the horses used to stay in the stables. They needed them to be uneven so that…how do I say this delicately-they didn’t slip and fall on the horses’s poo!

The rain buckets down and we order some pies to taste. There are three varieties including a beef pie with red wine, a lamb pie and a curried vegetable pie. They are served with a rocket, orange and dry roasted almond salad with a sweet orange and balsamic dressing and olives. The pies are filling and warm and of the three I prefer the lamb pie but they could do with tad more sauce. They also serve a grazer’s plate.

“I’m going out to feed the shearers” Wendy says and she lugs a big basket full of lamingtons, cheese toasties, coffee and milk. The sheep shearers put their tools down right on the dot of 3 o’clock and they would get rowdy if there was no food to feed them. Wendy explains that many farmers who have young sons that are “doing it hard on the land” often do stints shearing sheep where they can earn up to $400-$500 a day.

Now that my tummy is full we go onto some tastings.  Wendy was the former senior viticulturisT for Penfolds wines. We try a Traminer Riesling which is lovely and spicy and is said to go well with Asian food as it can stand up to the spice. They’re known for their Tempranillo variety and we try a Bar Rossa Sangiovese which has won some awards and the Black Hinge Reserve range (which has a gorgeous bottle, ok I notice these things). It is called Black Hinge as the stable doors have black hinges on them.

Little lambs!

Apex Bakery

Now that we’ve had some wine and food, now onto dessert! At Apex Bakery in the Barossa, their bakers race cars and live a rock and roll lifestyle. I’m standing in the kitchen of Apex bakery, one of the most loved bakeries in the Barossa Valley and checking out their huge wood fired Scotch oven. It is at least five metres long says Brian, the oldest brother who runs Apex along with brothers Jon and David who are twins. Above us are 5 metre long oven shovels that are used to place the bread in the oven. There is a separate fire box which sits on the right hand side of the oven and the fire’s flames reach above the oven.

5 metre long paddles suspended above

They work on old recipes from the turn of the century that remain unchanged to this day and to match these they use 1950′s machines which are rare and hard to find (and obviously have no replacement parts to speak of). In fact they needed to source special flour that would work well with these recipes and techniques as their recipes require a harder wheat flour whereas many common flours today are soft flours. Each loaf takes six hours to make and they use a slow rise process.

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