My parents always taught me that when looking for good food from a particular country, ask the people native to the country. Better still, when you walk into the restaurant and it’s filled with these people, you know you’ve chosen the right place. When Mr NQN and I went to Myriam’s place for dinner we asked her, her fiance and her French friends where they thought had good French food in Sydney. The answer was unanimous: La Brasserie in Darlinghurst.

Down the William Street end of Crown Street which is more Woolloomooloo than Darlinghurst really, La Brasserie is a French style Bistro that has been open for 3 years. The bread is a great start, fresh and soft inside with a spiky crunch on the outside it’s paired with some delicious French butter. And French butter has got to be my weakness, how much do I love thee…

Entrecôte Steak $36

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Paesanella Cheese products

“Let me show you some of my secrets” Queen Viv said to me one day. I’m sure my Dearest Readers have heard all about my friend Queen Viv. She’s my fairy godmother and very good friend and as fairy godmothers are wont to do, they love to spread a little fairy dust by sharing their secrets. In Queen Viv’s case it’s unlocking the secrets of where she lives. One afternoon she showed me around the light industrial areas of Marrickville, St Peters and Dulwich Hill.

Eumundi Smokehouse goodies

It seems that the Inner West is home to some fantastic hidden gems in the form of food factory shops that are also open to the public. Smart residents know all about these places and over the course of a couple of days Queen Viv helps me stock my fridge and pantry with all sorts of fantastic goodies. These places are best approached by bike or car but not impossible to walk between. However bring a chill bag (or several) and some ice packs because you are likely to want to buy!

Paesanella Cheese

I don’t need to let Italian cheese lovers know about paesanella cheese. Their cheeses, especially the bocconcini and ricotta are legendary and I’d venture to say that their ricotta is the best commercially made ricotta here. This ricotta is so popular that come any Sunday morning, the lines snake out the door with Italian nonnas bringing their own pots and buckets to nab their stash of still warm freshly made ricottta for Sunday lunch.

Fresh ricotta

Their fresh ricotta is the only pure milk  ricotta produced commercially. Other ricottas are made using whey and the by product of other cheese making but what makes this ricotta so good is the fact that it is made from pure milk. The General Manager Tony shows us around. Apparently 10 litres of milk are needed to produce 1 kg of cheese and even at $6.90 a kilo it’s a steal. He gives us a taste from the basket and it’s just as I remembered it – incredibly light, creamy and soft and utterly full of milk flavour. He tells us the way to find out if your ricotta is made from milk or from by products is to check the label. If it features ingredients like Xantham gum, starches, gluten or a chemical cocktail, you are actually paying for less milk in your ricotta and more filling.

Paesanella Cheese was started in 1962 by Umberto Somma who came from a 300 year old cheese making family in Naples, Italy (in the buffalo mozzarella region). Since then they have been supplying Neopolitan style fresh cheeses to lucky Sydney siders. During his time making cheese, Umberto’s family asked him to stop making it because his health was deteriorating with emphysema and years later he died while making cheese.

Umberto Somma

Speaking to Tony, their philosophy is against that of the the supermarket chains. It’s about making these cheese fresh daily without any additives which means that they are all short shelf life products. This presents issues for supermarkets that want a long shelf life and as a result it is only found at good delis. They’re not willing to change the product in order to supply to supermarkets so manufacture remains at manageable levels.

Smoked mozzarella $7.40

Grace, who is behind the counter singing, comes out and shows us the smoked mozzarella which she says is good for stuffing zucchini, in lasagne and pretty much anywhere where regular mozzarella can be used. Looking around the room there are walls of awards and a deli cabinet full of smallgoods, enormous olives and cheeses. Then there’s two fridges with a mixture of imported cheeses and their own cheeses that are made on the premises plus the red white and green Paesanella sticker. They come in 250g, 500gram and 1 kg buckets.

Tony shows us the Burrata cheese which is one of their new best sellers. It’s a bocconcini and mozzarella shell filled with cream and mozzarella curd and sounds absolutely divine. It’s ideal for an antipasto dish and can be eaten simply. Just remove it from the pack, drizzle it with extra virgin olive oil, oregano or basil and then serve it with some crusty pane di casa bread. Their mascarpone is a rested mascarpone so that all of the acids seep out making it smoother and creamier. They supply their cheese through Simon Johnson to restaurants such as Pilu and Buon Ricordo. And I can’t wait to dig into my 1kg bucket of ricotta when I get home and have it on toast for dinner. Tony gives me some samples of cherry bocconcini, smoked mozzarella, mascarpone, buffalo mozzarella, mozzarella and the delicious sounding Burrata which I plan on using on some special dishes – if I don’t eat it all first!

Eumundi Smokehouse

“They thought I was a drug dealer or something” Dave Kasmaroski (or Kaz as he’s known) says to Queen Viv and I laughing. The blacked out windows, the 3am sausage making and smoke rooms and the fact that they’re only open on Saturdays from 8am-2pm may have given locals that impression. Until of course they try one of his sausages or smoked meats and they’re transported into a place where sausages are organic and made without any fillers at all (yes they’re all gluten free) and without adding any water. Just pure meat and spices. This morning I’m standing outside the closed up shop and I’ve just called him on his mobile. Moments later a smiling face greets me and I’m let in by a member of his staff. They’re mostly female and very friendly and sweet. We smell that smoke aroma immediately and I recall my last visit here a few moons ago when I bought some of their smoked sausages for a European relative in law who swooned over them. Since then I’ve picked them up at markets all over Sydney as their shop is only open on Saturday from 8am-2pm.

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Today’s post has been written by Not Quite Nigella’s other half, Mr NQN.

The cursing was loud, I could almost hear it from work. The issue? My wife Lorraine (aka NQN) had been invited but was unable go to dinner at Tetsuya’s for a launch of his new Singapore restaurant. Let me introduce myself, I’m Mr NQN. From time to time you’ve read stories about me. I often take the photos here when we eat out although I have have never had the need to write anything. Unfortunately (for her) on this occasion NQN was mortified to find that an invite to Tetsuya’s had never arrived and she only found out when the PR’s for YourSingapore.com followed up to see whether she could come. She had already committed to another event at the same time so I offered to take her place, of course a huge inconvenience to me

Several years ago we celebrated Lorraine’s birthday at Tetsuya’s. However me being a fan of quantity over quality (something we debate often as NQN likes quality over quantity) the only way she could get me to go along was by paying for my meal ($150 a head at the time). It was many times what I considered normal to pay at a restaurant but I actually really enjoyed the meal and while at the time I wouldn’t have paid that price, over the years and eating out at some rather fine places I think my taste buds have slowly changed and I am closer to accepting quality. But don’t tell her that or we won’t be able to hassle each other about it

Avocado soup with potato ice cream & mountain caviar

I’m not a very regular cook. In fact, I’m pretty much the opposite. It used to be that once every 2 years I’d cook dinner, though, well lets just say that my latest cooking effort is running a long way behind schedule although I’d like to count our time at Chef Saravia’s Peruvian cooking class as one. One year on Valentines day I cooked for Lorraine and I thought I’d make it a bit challenging by making some dishes from her Tetsuya’s book. I thought I’d be clever and only chose the ones that were extremely easy yet would score points The first dish I made (it also made the biggest mess) was an avocado soup which as strange as it sounds was delicious! Tonight we start off with this dish though with some tweaks – it’s an avocado soup with potato ice cream & mountain caviar. This dish is beautiful with a very smooth creamy texture. The potato ice cream (which isn’t your typical ice cream) has a nice soft texture which goes perfectly with the avocado soup. This is topped with mountain caviar, the saltiness balancing the sweetness of the soup very nicely.

Warm salad of Kingfish with Black Bean and Orange

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