Picture it: the morning after a dinner party. I woke up and switched on the computer and put my on my computer mouse. It was buttery. Now what were the chances of that? Well if you know me, they’re pretty high. I’m often found reading food blogs with one finger on the mouse and the other feeding myself. So a buttery mouse would be inevitable. And then I got on twitter and the conversation turned to people in public with food on them. I’ve walked out with flour on my skirt and lettuce in my hair. I promised that I would keep an eye out for people wearing food when I was going out for lunch that day. I was hoping that it was more common than I thought (really to make myself feel a little better).

I’m always lost when it comes to the Ivy complex and find staff there varying degrees of helpful. The girl downstairs whose job I’m assuming is to direct lost souls such as myself wandering around the complex barely looks up and moves a bored arm indicating “that way” and could not be less interested. Then when I go upstairs to Uccello, well they couldn’t be more helpful. I’m meeting some friendly people from Whistler in Canada and discussing an upcoming return to Canada and at 12pm there is a smattering of other guests. Come 1pm at the eating hour the restaurant will be full of men in suits with the occasional table of pretty young things.

Balmain bug salad, French beans, artichokes, oven dried cherry tomatoes $26

I choose the Balmain bug salad and we warn the Canadians at the table that Balmain bugs are not in fact insects but really delicious crustaceans that taste like tender lobster tail. Here they are served as small, sweet, deliciously tender pieces amongst a frissee, French beans and artichoke salad dotted with sweet, flavoursome oven dried cherry tomatoes. I found the artichoke a bit too tangy for me and overwhelming in the salad and it was a touch oily from them too. And at $26 this is a bit high for the size of the portion and amount of Balmain bug.

Chicken liver parfait, vin santo jelly, toasted fig brioche $24

I tried a little of the parfait and it was smooth and creamy with a strong hit of alcohol in it.

Risotto with baby spinach, mascarpone, grilled porcini mushrooms

Grass fed eye fillet of beef, sauteeed mushrooms, baby carrots, truffle butter, red wine reduction $48

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“Feel free to jump in the water”  Jane says to us as we stare mesmerized at the view from our table at The Janning Tree. Sometimes when you travel and are in a hurry, you look around, realise that there is something special going on where you are and just sit and stay for a while. And that’s what happened to the lovely Julie and I this sunny afternoon at The Jaaning Tree.

Chef Clayton Donovan

Situated right on Nambucca River, Jane, the maitre’d and wife of chef Clayton Donovan tells us that often between service they go for a dip in the river to cool off. And the lifestyle is partly why they have moved back to Nambucca Heads where he grew up because he wants his kids to experience the life that he had growing up.

Orange native bush limes

The water is served with native bush lime which resemble a tiny orange or mandarin but is in fact like a salty lime (perfect for a cocktail!)

Freshly shucked Nambucca River oysters: Asian $16 half dozen and Natural $14 half dozen

Of course we had to try the local Nambucca Heads oysters. The natural oysters are lovely and we use the native wild lime from our drinks to give it a fresh kick. The Asian ones however with pickled and fresh ginger, coriander and wasabi are the pick with a lovely balance of flavours and a delicate hand. The salad in the entree is also a nice complement to the oysters and features violas and nasturtiums from their home garden as well as apple berry flower which is a native fruit that kangaroos like.

Clayton picked some up nearby and he tells us that as kangaroos like it so much, if you find kangaroo tracks then there is a chance that you have an  apple berry tree. The apple berry flower has a texture like a green apple skin but a flavour like celery. While the actual apple berry itself has a flavour like quince and Clayton tells us that it tastes like bubblegum!

Apple berry fruit which is will turn a deep purple colour and sweeten when ripe

Citrus cured crocodile carpaccio $17.50

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Perhaps it wasn’t the wisest move going to the Sydney Fish Markets the week before Christmas. I think I was lulled into a state of denial by hunger and eager opportunism and the compulsive urge to try somewhere new. I was taking my “team” that is my lovely hair stylist and makeup artist Elly and Joel from Stevie English salon to lunch. And before you think “Who on earth has a team?” it was a temporary dream team for me, we were doing a shoot (I can’t wait to tell you all about it!) and whilst I wish they were my permanent team, alas I awoke a few days later and did my own hair and makeup-badly I might add

Chosen because all love yum cha, we decided on a new venue that was set apart from the Chinatown crowd, for no reason apart from wanting a nice view. Of course the uncooperative partner for this plan was the weather and we had buckets of rain which made the stalking experience in the car park all the more unpleasant.

We arrive at 1pm on time for our booking but you don’t really need to book here. It’s a large room on the first floor of the Sydney Fish Markets building, quite busy and yum cha is in full swing. Large Chinese families dispense with the yum cha and order celebratory king crabs, whole fish and lobster. This is Elly and Joel’s second time at yum cha and I’m just going to broach the topic of chicken’s feet with them here

Out of nowhere a woman appears with three plates of roast duck on pancakes and we nod eagerly. The first few moments of yum cha always seem to be filled with an overwhelming urge to order everything. Elly, Joel and I are hungry, particularly Joel whose eyes are bobbing up and down with excitement, pupils dilated at the trays of food swimming past us. We grab a bit of everything from the steamed dumpling tray and sit back and sample our choices.

Duck pancake $5.50

The roast duck pancake is actually rather good with the crisp duck skin and dark meat, baton of refreshing cucumber and sweet, moreish sauce. Also of course there is the obligatory sauce drip down your hand as you lift it to your mouth.

Scallop dumplings

Now the prices for each of these are a bit all over the place as they just stamp and I never check but medium dishes are $5.20, large dishes are $6.50, specials are $7.80 and BBQ’d items are $14.80. The scallop dumplings weren’t bad, they weren’t the ones with peanuts in them which I don’t like much at all but they were full with scallops.

Vegetable and scallop dumplings

The vegetable and scallop dumplings were quite good with one burst open but quite honestly I was on the hunt for my favourite prawn dumplings and these were really biding my time until the trolley lady came around. And the trolley ladys are quite good here making sure that you get what you want even if they aren’t quite as frequent as you would like with about three covering the floor during service.

Dim sims

The dim sims are  quite good, I’m not a huge dim sim eater but I do like the fact that there’s a fat prawn at the bottom of each dim sim to give it extra flavour and texture.

Char Siu $14.80

The char has nice thin pieces, a good sauce and a mixture of not too lean pieces for I am  Jack Sprat’s wife and can eat no lean when it comes to char siu.

Eggplant dish $7.80

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