Not Quite NigellaThe cooking, eating and travel blog of a hungry blogger from Sydney, Australia featuring original recipes, interviews and articles on all things food @

The Corner House, Bondi

Not Quite Nigella — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:00:35 +0000

I have to mentally prepare myself when entering hipster joints. I have to tell myself that they’re just hipsters and they mean well enough and that they don’t harm anyone really. For good measure I remember the quote from Seinfeld when they referred to Kramer as the “hipster doofus” and realise that being a hipster [...]

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Honeycomb, Darlinghurst

Not Quite Nigella — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:00:36 +0000

Some may call it gossip, I prefer to call it a catch up and when you haven’t seen a girlfriend in weeks or even months, well I think that the polite thing to do is avail yourself of all of the girly gossip ahem…current affairs you can. Except of course if you’re sitting elbow to [...]

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Uccello, Sydney CBD

Not Quite Nigella — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:00:46 +0000

Picture it: the morning after a dinner party. I woke up and switched on the computer and put my on my computer mouse. It was buttery. Now what were the chances of that? Well if you know me, they’re pretty high. I’m often found reading food blogs with one finger on the mouse and the [...]

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Neild Avenue, Rushcutters Bay

Not Quite Nigella — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:00:44 +0000

“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 [...]

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Jamie’s Italian, Sydney

Not Quite Nigella — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:00:10 +0000

If my lucky number is eight, my current unlucky number seems to be five. Why five? Well because with five people you may have to wait 1 hour and 40 minutes for a table at Jamie’s Italian but with six you can make a booking and with a group of two, you can have a [...]

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Cooking From Our Mothers at Balla, The Star, Pyrmont

Not Quite Nigella — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:00:34 +0000

I think I’ve finally figured out where things are at The Star. Because as we pull up outside I brace myself for the maze and getting lost to find Balla restaurant. The valet however says that to get there I simply go up the escalators. Relief floods through my body down to my spiky heels. [...]

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La Rosa Bar & Pizza, Strand Arcade, Sydney CBD

Not Quite Nigella — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 19:00:36 +0000

I used to work in the Strand Arcade. At a shoe shop in there to be specific and I used to find that when I went there, because of the lovely architecture that it felt like a step back in time. The store itself was a small cube of a store with no storeroom or [...]

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Filicudi, Five Dock

Not Quite Nigella — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 19:00:03 +0000

“Are you embarrassed of me?” I asked Mr NQN on the phone. He looked at me nervously. “No…why would I be?” I considered my answer. Of course I knew the reasons; the Morticia Addams appearance, love of Halloween, out of tune singing in public, the happy dances and the OCD behaviour. I cleared my throat [...]

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Easter Feast: Torta Pasquilina, Pappardelle With Goat Ragu & Chestnuts

Not Quite Nigella — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 19:00:52 +0000

When I told Mr NQN that we were attending a Barilla cooking class he answered “Oh cool, am I teaching it?” You see whenever I go away my darling husband subsists solely on Barilla pasta and sauce. Every night he sticks his hand into the box of goodies that Barilla have kindly supplied him with and [...]

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121 BC, Surry Hills

Not Quite Nigella — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 19:00:08 +0000

I am not particularly claustrophobic (I used to sit in my cupboard for ages looking to get into Narnia as a child) but I say to myself “This is one small, dark place!” And like my Narnia journey that never was, I am totally lost when finding it and it’s only when I ask at [...]

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