You may think that I am trolling around Sydney going to each and every patisserie and you’d probably be right. My latest stop was Black Star Pastry, tucked away in Australia Street Newtown, right next to Oscillate Wildy and opposite Newtown Police Station. Who knew that in this little street, there would be so much foodie goodness? And what is Black Star Pastry? It’s Christopher Thé’s newish patissserie, he of Claudes and Quay fame.
Mel and I are an ambitious pair-we’ve just ingested an enormous lunch and yet we’re still looking for sweets not 20 minutes later. Our eyes, and ambitions are definitely bigger than our stomachs. We walk past the crowd sitting outside on stools nursing their coffees (beans from The Little Marionette) and cakes resting on the Philippe Starck Gnome tables. There’s a young boy who wanders in with his mouth covered with chocolate-a satisfied customer in need of more sustenance no doubt. It’s a small space with seating in the bay window as well as small stools and tables outside. We quickly nab a window seat while I decide on what we’re having.
Quirky Philippe Starck Gnome Tables
Plum, Fig & Orange cake
Strawberry, Rose and Watermelon cake
Click here to read the full story
|
August 13, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
Queen Viv models the pan fried dumplings
As a food blogger, I find it difficult to go to the same place twice. However my husband is a creature of habit and loves going somewhere reliable and ordering the same thing every single time. He good naturedly puts up with the constantly revolving door of restaurant adventures whilst still pining for his favourite restaurant Shanghai Night. He loves the dumplings there and we often joke that somewhere under that Finnish/Anglo exterior beats the heart of a Northern Chinese man. I promised him that as a treat for getting out of hospital, we could go to Shanghai Night and my ever loyal friends and fellow dumpling lovers Queen Viv and Miss America immediately piped up to come along for the ride – after all Winter is dumpling season. The song I am hearing in my head is my own version of Deck The Halls: “Tis the season to eat dumplings! Fa la la la la la la la la!”.
The queue is long, as witnessed by the crowd gathered outside. We have a booking for 7pm but here a booking is not quite a booking. It just means that they apologise several times while you wait. While we wait (we’re seated at 7.25pm), we see a framed award at the front that says that Shanghai Night was a Nominee for “Best Shopfront Presentation” from the Ashfield Mayor. I love the food, but I can’t say that the window is anything spectacular. Queen Viv loves the ceramic fish on the counter which she tries to lift up to take a closer look at only to find that it is glued down.
The crowd gathers
Prices have gone up since our last visit by about 70c-$1 per dish. As we’re here to partake of a Dumplingalooza fest, we order dumplings a plenty. The wall specials tell us that there are two types of new dumplings (a fish and a lamb & onion dumpling) and with the 18 portion size being only $2 more than the 12 portion size, we figure we’ll go the whole way. And when I look up from studying the new menu, who do I see sitting next to me at an adjoining table but one of my favourite food bloggers – the lovely Yas from Hungry Digital Elf!
Tofu and chicken mince on rice $7.50
There’s no sense of order with entrees or mains here. When it comes out is when it comes out. Our tofu with chicken mince on rice arrives first. It’s a purely comforting dish with the soft tofu and small chicken pieces coated in a delicious sauce. Sometimes we find that there is more flavour than other times. Tonight it’s good although the carrots are way too crunchy. It’s a huge plate too and more than one person could eat.
Pork and mushroom steamed dumplings $7.50 for 16
My husband’s favourite dish arrives next: the huge serving of 16 thick skinned pork and mushroom filled dumplings. Not as delicate as the Xiao Long Bao they’re nevertheless sustaining and filling and when paired with chili sauce and vinegar they’re delicious.
Miss America presents! Xiao Long Bao $6.50 for 8. Can you spot what’s wrong with this picture?
Click here to read the full story
|
July 24, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
Fresh lemon juice with soda water and sugar $3.50
I’ve always thought that you can always tell how much fun you’re having at dinner by the number of times a waiter has to come back for your order. Going out with The Second Wife and Gravy Beard is a good example of this. There are always funny stories to catch up on and our poor waiter comes back several times to get our order but we are busy catching up on things to decide what to order. It doesn’t help that everything sounds delicious on the menu.
We’ve been coming to Bay Tinh for years – my parents love it so there’s always a trip with them and now that it has been bought by Harry Hoang and renovated, it has been spruced up. Gone are the High School essay plastic folders for menus which were not without their charm – there’s now a proper menu.
Young Coconut Juice $3.50
We start off with drinks, young coconut drinks for some and a fresh lemon juice with soda water and sugar for me. The Young Coconut drink is refreshing and sweet (although a long spoon would have helped in the quest to eat the deliciously slippery young coconut). The lemon drink is very tart with more emphasis on lemon than lemonade.
Crab Pate 6 for $7
Click here to read the full story
|
June 28, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
I don’t quite know what it is about me and Greek food but I adore it. Greek yogurt is my favourite type of yogurt, Halloumi is one of my favourite cheese and Taramosalata is also one of my favourite dips and don’t even get me started on Dolmades or Baklava which are a complete addiction for me. So this Friday night I am anxious. I am crossing from the North Shore to the Inner West during a heinously busy Friday night peak hour. My father was at the helm and we were running frightfully late – not helped by the traffic and my father’s unfamiliarity with the North and Inner West. When I finally get there I am greeted by Davis Tsirekas’s smiling face from the window of the busy kitchen. “Hello darling! Welcome!” he says. He lets me know that they’ve thoughtfully held the hot food (thanks guys!) until I got there.
Perama’s Head Chef: David Tsirekas
It’s a Tweetup arranged by Fridley and consists of hand picked bloggers and a few other tweeters. He and David have planned a special banquet for us tonight. For $50 we get the regular banquet menu plus all wine as well as a range of other courses. David will just keeping cooking things and sending them out to us until we tell him to stop (which is just music to my ears and stomach).
Course 1: Dips (Taramasalata, Tzatziki, Splt Pea). Pic by Betty’s Bites
Warned by many to pace myself for the onslaught of courses to come, I help myself to just a little bit of dip although they are all delicious, particularly the Taramasalata and the creamy Tzatziki which tops all other tzatzikis. David strains the already strained yogurt again and balances it with olive oil which gives it that creamy texture. There’s also smoked eggplant, split pea dip and olive paste which I didn’t get to try.
Course 2:Greek Salad
I have had far too many bad Greek salads in my life, so much so that I don’t usually order them. This is an exception with the creamy feta, spanish onion, fat olives and tomatoes telling you why the salad is so popular.
Course 3:Pickled octopus
Course 4: Pickled mushrooms
Course 5: Pickled cabbage
They’re all lovely pickles but the octopus has to be my favourite. But I didn’t eat too many of the pickles because I knew there was more to come and this was just the start.
Course 6: Zucchini fritters
The moist zucchini fritters signal a start to the hot dishes and the excitement to come.
Click here to read the full story
|
June 23, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
Christmas in May? If you know me, you know that I’m a believer in Christmas at any time (why limit yourself to once a year?) and the chance to dine at Restaurant Atelier in Glebe and eat Pork is pretty much like a trifecta when you combine it with Christmas. Restaurant Atelier is located in a brick cottage on busy Glebe Point Road and is run by the gorgeously personable couple Bernadette at the front of house and Darren Templeman as the chef who is protege of Bruno Loubet. Darren is the perfect choice to host the evening – as a Yorkshire boy certainly knows his way around a pig. Thanks to the amazing Mel from Fooderati and Stewart from Whiteworks, a gaggle of us bloggers are dining alongside other food industry notables.
Bernadette
We start off with Pork Neck Rillette, Cornichon, Green Beans served in a Witlof leaf. The rillette is deliciously soft and melt in the mouth, subtly perfumed and flavoured with cognac and wine and perfectly paired with witlof. Wines are provided by the Piggs Peake winery – no coincidence that with a name like that they caught the attention of the Australian Pork people but as Mitch from Australian Pork explains, they found that they loved the wine beyond merely the name which was a serendipitous occurrence.
The pink elephant in the room is of course the Swine Flu which tonight’s news report says is at a critical stage in Australia where we were warned that it was about to spreading very fast here with the number of reported patients at over 60. Of course what was clearly told to us from the very beginning (and to much relief) is that eating pork does not give you Swine Flu. In fact the current Swine Flu or H1N1 is passed from human to human rather than pig to human. *Phew* Bacon, ham and pork, come to mama!
Clockwise from left: Grilled pickled loin of pork with celeriac remoulade, Honey glazed pork hock with roasted apples and Pulled Pork Neck salad with Crystal Bay Prawns
Click here to read the full story
|
May 28, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
What is NQN up to now?
NQN on Facebook
RSS
