One of my favourite ever books is the very controversial American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. Sure it’s not a book for everyone and whilst I didn’t enjoy the squeamish, darkly murderous parts I really enjoyed his take on modern day looks and appearance obsessed “Masters of the Universe” (and yes I do know people kind of like him). One chapter that I remember vividly was when the main character Patrick Bateman tried to get a booking at an impossible to get a booking at restaurant. He rings the restaurant and when he asks for a reservation the only response he gets is mockingly condescending laughter and then a “click” as they hang up on him.
Ever since then, I’ve wondered if I would ever get that reaction when trying to make a booking. As what I do involves a lot of eating out at a lot of “hot” places I’ve feared encountering this. One of the latest places in town and a place that is very hard to get a table at is Soffritto in Newtown. Given rave reviews by many including friends, I was apprehensive when I first rang, worried that I’d get the attitude. You know the attitude that popular places get (well they do in Sydney anyway). The kind of attitude where they tell you that no they are fully booked “for like…forever” and if you’re lucky you might dine there one day. I was actually surprised and pleased to hear the voice on the other end of the phone was friendly and without attitude and actually seemed apologetic about the long waiting queue. Good lord, had hell frozen over? Well it was Winter so perhaps it had…
A soffritto literally is a roughly chopped mixture of vegetables (onion, carrot and celery), garlic and herbs that forms the base for sauces, stocks and stews. The best way to get a booking here (and yes you do need to book pretty much any night) is to go on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday where they also have a dining special. For the very reasonable price of $20 you get a bowl of entree sized hand made pasta (a choice of two) and a glass of wine. It’s also a good night to dine out as we can imagine noise levels here can be quite loud on a Friday or Saturday night. There is also a 3 course for $49 or a 5 course degustation for $70 available.
Truffled potato gnocchi and parmigianno $17
We are given some bread and olive oil to nibble on but if I can offer any advice it’s this: hang onto your bread so that you can dip it in the sauces (or eat it and they’ll kindly bring you some more). As soon as this is set down in front of me the aroma gets me-I’m bewitched. I’m twitching and squirming in my seat as Mr NQN takes photos. I finally get a taste of this and the gnocchi is beautifully light. None of this heavy, gluggy potato water mess that can be served up. And the sauce with the truffle paste in the centre is perfection. It’s rich with reggiano and creamy. Holy heavens it’s moreish (and don’t even think about calculating the calories!).
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| June 9th, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
Business meetings are always so much more fun when they’re conducted over good food and with good company and this drizzly Sydney Friday I find myself crossing the Harbour to where I used to live in Manly via the famous Manly Ferry. Kate and I are dining at the six week old Manly Pavilion, a recently refurbished waterfront restaurant.
There are two rooms to this waterfront restaurant: a heritage room which is all dark and cosy retro charm with velvet cushioned seats much like the building itself, formerly a bather’s pavilion for nearby Manly Beach built in 1933. There are two entrances depending on which way you’re coming from. I’m coming from the ferry side and it’s a 5 minute walk from the wharf and I’m walking behind a large group of dressed up ladies who lunch. The other side is perhaps slightly more majestic an entrance and you’re straight into the main dining room full of louvred doors, sleek surfaces, open light filled space and the view.
The Heritage Room
We choose the five course chef’s tasting menu which is made up of the chef’s favourite dishes of the day . The first few courses are share style whilst the pasta course and the main course are individual plates and it includes coffee and petit fours at $88 per person.
I don’t usually eat a lot of bread, particularly during lunch time as it just fills up precious stomach space but the Primo Frontoi Cutrera olive oil is perfect with the spongy, fresh bread. Out of the two, the brown bread is my favourite. The sommelier comes over to talk to us about wine selections but his first comment is to dissuade us from calling him a sommelier as he doesn’t like the formal title and the image that comes along with it. So Manly!
Mozzarella di bufala: Buffalo mozarella on lemon leaf
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| May 3rd, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
Making Pizza
Ahhh Mosman, my old home. How I have missed you! Sure now I live closer to the city but there’s something to be said about visiting the familiar. Seeing the chic pony tailed mums in their pale pink polo shirts swinging their keys to the white BMW 4WD while photogenic children in designer duds follow them asking for a babycino. Tonight I’m dining at Fourth Village Providores – what is by day an upmarket store with fresh produce, deli goods and a cafe. At night, they roll back all of the displays and open it up to be a restaurant. Owned by Peter and Annette Quattroville and run with their four sons it appears to be a hit with Mosmanites as tonight it’s packed. Anne-Maree has gathered a bunch of like minded food lovers here tonight.
Antipasto platters
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| April 21st, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
I look into the mirror and stare at myself, acutely alarmed. Somehow I’ve managed to give myself a Pirate look without trying – a look I try and avoid unless we’re going to a dress up party. I know I’m running late to meet Christie but I know I’ll be the laughingstock of the very chic Merivale Ivy complex, you know where impossibly thin and chic people congregate. I quickly remove the boots and the swashbuckling sword (ok I kid, there was no swashbuckling sword), regroup, redress and try to look less Pirate-y again. Mr NQN comes home from work and being the darling husband that he is, drives me there as the rain starts falling. Christie sends me a text that they’ve moved the dinner up to the third floor due to the rain. Breathless, I make it with one minute to spare.
Where the dinner would have been held
Christie and I take our place on the long table which seats about 40 people. The laneway dinners can seat up to 100 people and at one end is a large party of twelve and the rest are groups of two to four to six. We take a look at the menu and it looks comprehensive and we assume that we get a choice of one of the entrees. We’re offered red or white wine (the $60 tariff includes wines) and we also order some sparkling water. Before we know it, a large bowl of sourdough bread is set down in front of us as well as olives in orange and cinnamon, a large round of butter, olive oil and a creamy asparagus and feta dip. Everything tonight we’re told is to be on platters and shared amongst six people. Lucky we have some friendly folk near us!
The Iggy’s sourdough bread is lovely and crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside and I love the olive oil that it’s served with. The dip is interesting – it’s creamy with a slight saltiness from the feta but not too much. We ask the waiter what is in it and he comes back a couple of times as he has a temporary memory loss and the best we can ascertain from him is that there is asparagus and feta and possibly avocado. I don’t really go for the cinnamon olives – they’re a bit too close to a baked good.
Braise of tomatoes, eggplant and basil, merlot vinegar
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| April 8th, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
“Sicilian food?” I muse out loud when Mr NQN asks me what other Sicilian restaurants Sydney possesses. I think and think but can’t recall many at all. So when I wanted to show Alex (who was visiting from interstate) a nice Sydney vista, I thought Gusto in scenic Watson’s Bay would be a good choice.
I love the car ride to Watsons Bay, past the lighthouse and water and before long I arrive at the glass fronted restaurant. Inside Paolo the chef and owner is talking to Alex and explaining about Sicilian food and how it differs from Italian cuisine. He tells us that it has sharper flavours and usually has a sweet and sour combination and tends to be spicier. They use vinegars and to balance this they use sweetness. Ricotta is the most frequently used cheese.
Antipasto plate
We start with an antipasto platter with pecorino cheese, grilled sweet potato, zucchini and ricotta filled grilled eggplant. I love the ricotta filled eggplant as it’s divinely soft with a smooth ricotta filling.
Bread with three olive oils
The crusty Italian bread comes with a traffic light of olive oil (or an Italian flag, not the Sicilian flag which we’re later shown) with three olive oils: an extra virgin, pesto oil and a chilli oil. They’re gorgeous and we find the chilli oil very spicy indeed. Paolo tell us of how he was trained in Sicily where for 6 years he went back and forth between Australia and Sicily for 6 years chasing each Summer but was told on doctor’s orders to stop doing that as his immunity has suffered as he hadn’t experienced any Winters. Damn! There goes my plan to follow Summer climates around the world 
Gnocchi al Pomodoro e Basilico $22.90
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| March 31st, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
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