Category Archives: Sydney – West

Eating adventures in the Western Suburbs of Sydney

Sorenzo, Meadowbank

sorenzo, meadowbank

sorenzo, meadowbank

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, meadowbank

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.

sorenzo, meadowbank

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.

sorenzo, meadowbank

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.

sorenzo, meadowbank

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.

sorenzo, meadowbank

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.

sorenzo, meadowbank

Sashimi Zen $40

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Meet My Suburb: Auburn Food Tour

auburn food tour

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.

auburn food tour

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.

auburn food tour

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

auburn food tour

auburn food tour

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.

auburn food tour

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!).

auburn food tour

auburn food tour

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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Five Star Chocolates and Sweets, Greenacre

Oooh waterfall!

It’s never a great idea to go dessert shopping when you’re full…well scratch that, it’s actually a great idea if you want to resist temptation. One sunny afternoon, M and her boys and Mr NQN and I walk through Five Star chocolates and sweets doors in Greenacre with stomachs full to bulging. There’s nothing quite like looking at an array of Lebanese sweets though, some familiar like the baklava and some unfamiliar where a waterfall of white cascades from top tier to bottom tier. M has been here before and she knows what she wants, the nutty biscuitty cake with the whipped cream topping.

There are all sorts of goodies in this shop. A fridge of marizpan shaped fruits also has M interested as she loves good quality Marzipan. Me, I just love the details to the fruit.

There is a display in the centre of the room with Hookah pipes and various sweets, chocolate and toys. in the glass cabinets are displays of chocolates in pink and blue for baby gifts.

Chocolates in pink

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Eastwood Garden Peking Restaurant for Peking Duck

There are noble pursuits, the climbing of Mount Everest, the pursuit of an Olympic medal but Your Honour, allow me to share my pursuit. No, not just the pursuit of Happiness, although this would be considered an adjunct of this, but the pursuit of the best Peking Duck in Sydney. It goes alongside my pursuit of the best Xiao Long Bao dumplings (IMHO at Shanghai Night provided the skins are intact followed by Din Tai Fung whose skins are always intact). Just because one is looking after their tastebuds (and I’ve come to realise my pursuit of food is not about feeding my stomach, but more keeping  my tastebuds entertained), doesn’t mean that it isn’t as worthwhile a pursuit. And it seems I have a group of people who were happy to join me!

eastwood garden peking chinese duck

@Gourmetrabbit and I were talking about Peking Duck, as people that are obsessed with food tend to do. If you know me you’ll know that even  talking about food makes me incredibly hungry and she suggests that we get some Peking Duck. She starts searching on her phone for some good locations that we both haven’t tried yet and before you know it, we have a little group, all hungry for Peking Duck in two cars on the way to Eastwood where we’ve heard the Peking Duck is rather good. Also along for the ride with @gourmetrabbit and I are Perama chef @davidtsirekas, @pandas4 and her husband.

eastwood garden peking chinese queue

The queue

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Meet My Suburb Tour: Cabramatta (Nine Eateries In One Day!)

cabramatta walking tour 18

The Mall area

Last month, a bunch of food bloggers and I went on a Meet My Suburb Walking Tour of Kensington and Kingsford where I showed them around the secret local’s favourites in the area. It was so much fun so some other blogger friends and I decided to do the same in Cabramatta. Betty from Betty’s Bites grew up in the area and when she emailed us asking if we’d like to join her on a little eating tour of Cabramatta, I didn’t hesitate for a moment. I’m almost embarrassed to say that as a born and bread Sydney-Sider I’d never been to Cabramatta before. What I didn’t realise that apart from the fact that Cabramatta has great food, the people are what I enjoyed just as much. Cabramatta residents have fun and a lot of laughs and the kids…well they’re priceless and they love a camera. And I should warn you now that this is a long post so please settle in with a cup of coffee or tea (sweetened with sweetened condensed milk to put you in an authentic mood).

cabramatta walking tour 32

Colourful desserts

Trissa and I are driving together for the first time Cabramatta from Balmain and the GPS is guiding us. We get into the wrong lane accidentally misreading the GPS. Trissa winds down the window “Please sir, I need to get into that lane” she pleads with the taxi driver who looks at her like she just told him he has a chicken on his head and it’s about to lay an egg. “WHAT?!” he says and before he can figure out what she means she manoeuvres into the space. We arrive at Cabramatta via the scenic route and spot Betty walking towards the train station, our designated meeting point. “Find a park where-ever you can on this street or the next” she says. Parking is notoriously hard in Cabramatta as crowds of people gather there on the weekends to buy and eat and the 50c car park (yep 50c to park your car, compare that to a city car park at $24 for 2 hours) is an option if we get desperate.

cabramatta walking tour 27

Fruit sold at a store

We’re meeting Ja, Betty and journalist Carla and her photographer boyfriend James at the station. Trish is to join us later. It’s a gorgeous day, we couldn’t have asked for better for a food walking tour and Betty has been charged with showing us the best of Cabramatta.

Stop #1 Kim Thanh Company Hot Bread

cabramatta walking tour 7

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