“So anyway, I was wearing what I call my adventure pants” my friend Ute leans over and tells me.
“Adventure pants?” I ask.
“They’re cream linen pants. I don’t really care what happens to them so they’re my adventure pants.
I’m sitting at the bar of Neild Avenue at 6:15pm one Friday night. I was running late trying to find a park that lasted for longer than two hours (no luck) and Ute had arrived at 6pm when Neild Avenue opens. It is the latest eatery from Icebergs and North Bondi Italian’s Maurice Terzini and it is apparently the restaurant that everyone wants to be seen at. And from the long, tanned limbs and short dresses and long beach tousled hair, it looks like there are some lissome imports from Bondi here. Despite the fact that Ute was there at 6pm, that wasn’t enough to secure a table (there are no bookings here) and when I got there, there was only room at the bar. On a wobbly bar stool (best not attempted in heels).
The menu is shown to us (a stapled sheaf of pages) and a lovely young waitress from New Zealand takes our order. We ask her for recommendations on what seems to be an extensive menu. Each page is marked with a “No alterations to the menu” and we note that there are some very reasonably priced wines by the glass. There are a range of Mediterranean cultures represented from Turkish, Lebanese, Italian and Greek with sections broken down into small starters; grains, pulses & vegetables; ancient soups; more substantial starters and then a range of items from the coal grill and spit. We dither over the menu but then Ute utters the words that remind me of why I love dining with her. “Let’s order some things and I’m happy to start all over again if that isn’t enough and order more”. Music to my ears!
Complimentary bread
I look around. Open for just four weeks there seem to be people on every possible perching spot. I spot some television celebrities too. “It’s all very New York” Ute says surveying the room and it has that warehousy sort of vibe to it. The main dining area has high partitions and at the back is the kitchen where there are displays of meats, pastries and salads as you would see in a regular Turkish restaurant. The bread is an Afghan bread (Mr NQN’s favourite bread-he eats it by the yard) which is thin and slightly spongey. Here it is given the char treatment and served warm and smokey.
The kitchen with kebabs and breads in the window
Baked eggplant $17
Our starter is the baked eggplant covered with 12 hour cooked pork mince ragu and then topped with a white sauce of kasseri (Greek cheese) and pecorino cheese. It’s covered in a spray of parsley which helps give it freshness and the eggplant is soft and rich with the pork mince ragu and melted cheese topping although I don’t know if you say that it is particularly revelatory and I was hoping for one of those fall apart meat ragus rather than a mince one.
Fake Tabouli salad $12
There’s a large break between the eggplant and mains. One long enough where two people like us that can’t stop chatting actually notice that we haven’t had food for a while. The fake tabouli salad arrives and it is a moist salad made up of amaranth grain, tomato, cucumber flavoured with fresh coriander, parsley, lemon and a generous sprinkling of fried eschallots. On top of this is dolloped some hung yogurt which at first looks like hummus but has that unmistakeable yogurt tang. It’s wonderfully fresh and if this is what fake tabouli is, then I’m happy to have the fake.
Coal grilled leather jackets on the bone $35
Click here to read the full story
| December 20th, 2011 by Not Quite Nigella
A Happy Monday Dear Readers! I hope you all had a good weekend.Yesterday while I was breakfasting Mr NQN shouted out to me “You’re in The Age newspaper!”. It was an article where they discussed how some restaurateurs don’t like food bloggers taking photos. It was an interesting article but I just thought that it was a bit of a shame that they focused on very rare negative experiences whereas I’ve mostly had positive experiences. Out of the 550 plus dining out experiences for NQN, only 2 places have ever asked me not to take photos. The negativity is not a pattern or widespread-thankfully 
And my how things have definitely changed…
I hesitated. “With The Press Club, will they be ok with photos? George Colombaris is very anti food blogger so I just want to make sure they’ll be ok.” I ask Tourism Victoria when they ask me whether Mr NQN and I would like to dine at The Press Club Restaurant and Bar. It was apparently not a problem at all – phew!
The chef’s table
We take in the room. It’s very modern with specially commissioned orange Kosta Boda water glasses and a chef’s table at the front in which diners book a spot and enjoy a bird’s eye view of the open kitchen (and chefs will send you out a few morsels to try too ). There are dark browns everywhere and expensive flower arrangements.
Kalamata and wild olives in olive oil from Crete and Cypriot black salt
We start off with some kalamata and wild olives in some olive oil from Crete served with a Cypriot black rock salt with an olive and sourdough bread. I try these and they’re good but I am saving room for the entrees and mains (trust me, we have the lamb coming ).
Chicken – pastelaki of its wings, kritharaki, mytzithra snow $23.90
Click here to read the full story
| July 5th, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
Friends in high places, they mean a lot of course but friends in the right places means a lot too. My friend M was just the person that I needed to speak to about a very important topic and she suggested that we meet up at Saks Espresso & Wine in Surry Hills as she works nearby. I did my due diligence (i.e. looking up reviews) and it all looked good. There’s a selection of arty books resting against the banquette near the window and inside is all red and it’s full with patrons.
Click here to read the full story
| November 21st, 2009 by Not Quite Nigella
My favourite Greek chef David Tsirekas tends to the Halloumi
Food is sizzling on the BBQ, a whole lamb is roasting on the spit and suddenly there’s a frisson, people are whispering and eyes are widened as the gossip passes through the crowd “He’s here!! He’s here!” they say. “Who is here” I ask Reem. “George Colambaris” she says smiling knowingly. “Oh” I say knowing of George’s dislike for bloggers and quotes such as “The biggest comment we get now is from girls who go to the toilet and love the moisturiser. You could put a dog turd on the plate and they’d still talk about the hand cream.” Meh, I say staying put. My favourite Greek chef is right at the BBQ, Perama’s David Tsirekas and Adriano Zumbo has just walked in. No need to get excited about a man who thinks he can serve me a dog turd and I’d be happy.
Adriano Zumbo
Click here to read the full story
| November 3rd, 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 23rd, 2009 by Not Quite Nigella
What is NQN up to now? 
NQN on Facebook
RSS
