It seems I’m trying but failing spectacularly to eat healthily. Perhaps just before Christmas isn’t quite the time to instill a healthy eating regime. Even typing out the words makes a voice inside my head shriek “destined to fail!” but nevertheless, when faced with a meal in front of me, I try and at least make an imitation at resisting. A pale imitation mind you…

I’m standing in front of the Carriageworks at Eveleigh with bucketfulls of rain falling and the odd cyclist speeding by in a rush to beat the rain. I’m trying to carry a camera bag, handbag and an umbrella while cursing my sartorial choice of open toed heels in the rain. And thankfully John and Peter Canteen is right near the main entrance and only requires a short sprint in the rain.

John and Peter Canteen is a catering business that has expanded to serve lunch and dinner and looking around, it appears quite full this Wednesday evening. There are theatre patrons that want a quick drink as well as couples and groups that look like they’ve settled in for the night. White fringe trim hangs from scaffolding and studio lights and there are striking black and white print cushions and stripey banquettes.

Yoshiko is already sitting there and she has had a good look at the menu already. As a vegetarian she’s happy with the choices, three entrees and one main. Me, I’m quite smitten by much of the menu from the sounds of things. We take some recommendations from the waitress and service throughout the evening is friendly and deferential. We start with entrees, both vegetarian, as I am trying to eat healthily-well I did mention I was trying

Roman beans, bagna cauda and pangratatta $15

I had no idea what to expect from this dish and it is a finely shredded green and yellow bean salad tossed with bagna cauda (a garlicky anchovy dip) and a sprinkling of crunchy, golden, rough breadcrumbs which tickle my fancy immensely. The beans have a lovely crunch to them and the bagna cauda gives the salad flavour while the pangratatta breadcrumbs gives it crunch.

Baked brown onions, burrata $18

If I see burrata on a menu, I will inevitably have to order it. I know, I only just mentioned that I was trying to eat healthily and then I’m eating a cheese with a mozzarella outer and an oozy cream centre paired with soft, sweet baked onions. The burrata and onions are a good pairing and all that I think is missing is a piece of bread to mop up the juices left. I do try not to embarrass my dining companions by licking the plate!

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I find myself getting constantly lost in the new Westfields Shopping Centre (there’s something quite strangely spiral about the layout or maybe it’s my brain that is spiralling). But if I were to give you directions on how to get to 360 Bar & Dining it would be the way I find things-via shop name. So walk past Prada, Miu Miu and Gucci and go up the escalators where there is a reception area on level 4 (even though level 4 is just one level above street level-confusing right?). There you will be handed a card with your name on it and the number of passengers for the elevator ride (in our case, it wasn’t correctly filled and this caused a minor kerfuffle) and your bag will then get a bit of a search too from a security guard.

An ear popping ride up to the 85 storeys above and we have arrived at 360 Bar and Dining. operated by the Trippas White Group it sits on the level below the buffet and revolves at a rate of one rotation every 85 minutes. Mr NQN and I had visited for a Ferrero Rondnoir chocolate degustation dinner two years ago for the Crave food festival and this year we are visiting to check out their Crave offering- any 2 courses with matching wine for $90 (normally $85 for 2 courses without wine which is admittedly on the higher end of prices in Sydney).

Peach bellini $19

We first have a cocktail in the cocktail bar which given that I was drinking on an empty stomach may not have been the best idea. The cocktails are potent and my white peach bellini made with sparkling wine is a pretty specimen and before long the whole room is spinning-and I don’t mean the slow rotation. One thing that I do wish they had were some nibblies like crackers or nuts because I was only able to finish a third before I started to feel things going around me.

Ginger boy $20

Spicy and heady like a gingerbread man it was described as “Hennessy VSOP cognac, Tia Maria, ginger liqueur and spiced cardamom syrup. Shaken with chunks of fresh muddled ginger and cinnamon sugar.”

Bread

I need to eat now as my brain is spinning in a multitude of directions and so we take a seat at a table.The bread can’t come out fast enough and there’s a choice of sourdough and soy and linseed, both nice and fresh (although I do love warm bread) and served with a great butter or olive oil with a sweet vinegar and gratefully, it was replenished.

Oysters ½ dozen sydney rock oysters, cider & seaweed vinegar

There’s only one way to eat Sydney Rock oysters and that really is to eat them with a Sydney view. And these come with half a lemon and a chardonnay cider and seaweed vinegar which adds a refreshing tangyness to the fresh, iced oysters.

Tuna tataki yellow fin tuna, asparagus, baby coriander, fried courgette & lime dressing

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Mondays are my day in. The weekends are always hectic and whilst I still work on Monday I rarely venture out of the house as that requires a kerfuffle that I just can’t muster. But when the email arrived in my inbox to ask if I would be interested in more than a dining experience at the two month old restaurant Concrete Blonde and that involved me visiting the farms from which they buy the produce, picking produce and then taking it back to the restaurant well that was something worth breaking my “no outings on Monday” policy.

First things first though. Why the name Concrete Blonde? Well, according to the owner Peter Polovin the restaurant was originally a gymnasium that was built in floor to ceiling concrete. They have kept the concrete floors but changed to insulated ceilings to keep the noise down. So that’s the concrete explained but why the blonde? Well there is a blonde facing the bathroom and it’s a catchy name as people remember the band although the restaurant has nothing to do with the band.

I arrive at Concrete Blonde’s Kings Cross location slightly breathless and seven minutes late for our little road trip to visit two farms that supply them with their produce. The first farm is Grima’s farm who supply Hong Kong born chef Patrick Dang with vegetables, in particular the baby vegetables that he loves to use and the second farm is the Darling Mills farm that supply him with herbs and lettuces. Dang is softly spoken and accompanied by chef de partie Mark and apprentice Angie.

In the car on the way to the farm Patrick talks about his influences and how he trained under Pierre Gagnaire and travelled extensively before settling back in Australia where he earned his Finance degree at UTS. His theory is that food should stir the brain and soul and that’s where originality comes into play. To him the best way to cook is to tell a story whether it be a memory of when he visited Italy and saw a beautiful pasta made by an Italian grandmother or the time that you ate at a three star Michelin restaurant. He adds that “I want to understand what makes a good artichoke…I have a commitment to myself to understand where it (produce) is coming from.” And of the chefs in Australia that he admires he cites The Royal Mail’s Dan Hunter, Attica’s Ben Shewry and Vue de Monde’s Shannon Bennett. And it seems a part of him is still longing for Hong Kong’s dining scene.

Chef Patrick Dang and Sam Grima

We arrive at the Grima’s farm in Horsley Park. Patrick is on a mission: artichokes, and the field is full of them in several varieties. The Grima’s farm is a third generation farm run by two brothers Sam and Danny Grima. The brothers are also at Flemington markets every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. There is a total of about 34 acres of land on three different locations and the first farm where the packing and storage shed is located has plenty of cavalo nero and artichokes. Sam tells us how he farms in rotation and how they change the crops so that the subsequent crops aren’t from the same family. For example a cauliflower wouldn’t be grown after a broccoli and they would instead plant from a different family.

Cavalo Nero

Sam and Angie hand over a radish flower to taste. “Can you use these?” Sam asks and Patrick nods while chewing on it. He then shows us the baby fennel or finger fennel which isn’t just regular fennel that they harvest early. This won’t grow as large as a regular fennel and the flavour is more subtle. They grow a range of vegetables here including corn, baby, golden and target beetroot, zucchini, capsicum, eggplant as well as purple and white varieties of heirloom carrot and they’re investigating growing red carrots. Patrick is also after prickly pear to use. He tells us that at the onset of each season he likes to visit the farms to see what they have that he can use and what new items he can make use of.

French breakfast radishes

Stinging nettle

Sam is excited to show us all of the things he is growing including stinging nettles which actually do sting Angie on the arm and result in little bumps that resemble bites. We make our way to the next farm just opposite this farm where more produce is grown. There are experimental varieties here as well as the more unusual vegetables that you tend to see only on restaurant plates like black and watermelon radishes, white baby turnips, golden beetroots which are very hard to grow and are susceptible to humidity and a sudden change of weather.

Black radish

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