“Honey don’t take this the wrong way but that’s the best looking kitchen of chefs I’ve ever seen” I whisper to Mr NQN. He laughs and says “If you think so, if you think so honey“. Tonight seems to be a casting call for a chef drama show. It’s Saturday night and at 8.30pm we have entered Attica, a restaurant featured in the Top 100 restaurants of the world (at number 73) and with two hats in the Age Good Food Guide from 2008-2010. Attica’s New Zealand born chef Ben Shewry features in the “Coco” book where established chefs nominate up and coming chefs.

My flu has turned nasty and morphed into bronchitis and I am coughing . The restaurant manager Ainslie immediately offers me a hot lemon drink which I immediately and gratefully accept (after all there is tasting to do! ). Luckily I haven’t quite lost my sense of smell and taste and throughout the evening aromas waft past me.

We start with a sourdough and multigrain bread. It comes as a generous half roll of each with a whipped olive oil with black sea salt and a butter. The whipped olive oil with sea salt is voluptuously creamy and spreads like a soft jelly. It is whipped with a gelatin to keep its soft jelly-like texture and it is cold smoked to give it a light smokey flavour.

Amuse bouche: carrots

This pretty amuse bouche comprised of heirloom and Dutch carrots in yellow, orange and purple varieties that are compressed in their own juice. They’re served with raw chestnuts with a Meredith blue goat’s cheese and paper thin raw Dutch carrot slices. It’s decorated with carrot leaves and it is served in a bed of sweet, thick carrot reduction which tastes like sweet, syrupy carrot juice.

Snow Crab

Peeking under the snow capped mountain…

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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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Centennial Parklands Dining – Beetroot Macaroon with foie gras Chef: Mark Best. These were a surprise in both taste and texture and one of my favourites of the night, the macaron was surprisingly spongy and light, the foie gras mousse delicate and creamy.

I was rather chuffed to receive an invitation to the Taste of Sydney Media Launch from Prue from the Mint Partners, for not only was the invitation itself exciting, but I love it when PR firms start to take bloggers seriously as part of the media space which is always a good sign indicating progress (thanks too to Christie for arranging our tickets!). The invitation also kindly let us bring partners so my hungry husband is tagging along tonight. And before I forget, I’ve got a surprise for 3 lucky readers, so read on and all will be revealed!

Sailor’s Thai – Prawn Miang served with peanuts and lime on betel leaf. Chef: Ty Bellingham. This was a delicious tangy combination with plump prawns and a favourite amongst many here.

Berowra Waters – A Soignee Truffle Risotto with Mozzarella and a Spinach/ Fennel Rockerfella Sauce. Chef: Dietmar Sawyere. Photo by ChocolateSuze. A delicious Arancini ball of risotto with a mild dipping sauce.

Tonight, we’re gathered at the recently refurbished Centennial Parklands restaurant to sample some of the goodies from the chefs. And it seems like we have the creme de la creme of chefs with food from a list of Sydney’s best chefs.

Longrain – Spicy pork sausage betel leaves & pickled ginger Chef: Martin Boetz. Another betel leaf canape, this time with a slice of spicy pork sausage, strong with pickled ginger.

Ottoman Cuisine – Etli Borek – crisp home made filo rolls filled with braised veal shank, currants & pine-nuts, served with pomegranate and yoghurt sauce. Chef: Serif Kaya. Delicious and slightly crisp, these were salty and slightly sweet with bursts of currants, pomegranate and yogurt.

Flying Fish – Yellow fin tuna with ruby grapefruit and sweet pork crackling Chef: Peter Kuruvita. A little more than a mouthful, the spoon proved a bit of a challenge for one bite eating and required a few bites but was well worth it with a nice pairing of the tuna, grapefuit and unmistakable flavour and texture of pork crackling.

The chefs:

Dietmar Sawyere, Berowra Waters Inn
Justin North, Bécasse & Etch
George Francisco, Jonah’s at Whale Beach
Giovanni Pilu, Pilu at Freshwater
Martin Boetz, Longrain Restaurant & Bar
Ty Bellingham, Sailors Thai
Matthew Kemp, Restaurant Balzac
Jared Ingersoll, Danks Street Depot
Peter Kuruvita, Flying Fish
Warren Turnbull, Restaurant Assiette
Peter Conistis, Civic Dining
Alex Herbert, Bird Cow Fish
Serif Kaya, Ottoman Cuisine
Paul McGrath, Bistro Ortolan
Armando Percuoco, Buon Ricordo

The lineup of chefs

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