My friend M raved to me about this place. She works in North Sydney and finds herself here, almost every day for lunch with her 2 boys on school holidays and they devour meal after meal. The Mad Greek in question is no doubt the person that merchandised the store, I suspect a graphic designer’s nightmare with multiple fonts and colours all over the window and large tins of SPC tinned tomatoes given pride of place in the front window.

From the outside, it’s posters of everything proclaiming “World Famous” this and that although you’d have to presume that’s a little on the hopeful side. The Mad Greek is also the man that would have scared you as a child, as he does with In, with mock stern and gruff expressions that adults can (for the most part) read but leaves kids wary. All dishes are $10 or under which includes pizzas, pasta and breakfast dishes, most with a Greek or Italian theme. We order with him and we’re not kept waiting long at all for within 5 minutes, our food arrives.

Cappucino $3

The coffee is by Primo. It’s a little bitter.

“World Famous Bacon and Egg Brioche” $4

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Craig Macindoe from Mumu Grill

Some restaurateurs are canny. Craig Macindoe from Mumu Grill is one of them. Whilst some restaurants lack even a basic website, some realise that not only is a website crucial, but your presence is also commanded on places such as twitter and facebook as that is where your diners are too. After Good Living printed a list of chefs and people in the food industry (food bloggers were largely absent from this list) chefs scurried online and figured out what twitter was quickly. Craig was there tweeting well before this mass invasion and as someone who sees the potential in food blogging, he invited 10 of us to dine at his Take It Slow Wine Dinner on him.

Craig and one of the Arcadia Saltbush lambs

The Take It Slow movement was started by Italy’s Carlos Petrini in 1989 as a way of consciously combating fast food and life and presumably to preserve La Dolce Vita in response to people’s waning interest in the food they eat and its origins and how our food choices impact the rest of the world. In turn this dinner involves letting us know all about how the food and wine is produced and knowing who and where it comes from. This dinner celebrates the Slow Food Movement in that the produce and cooking time took a total of  18 months (the 18 month jamon), 16 hours (the slow roasted Saltbush lamb and double roasted duck) and 40 minutes (the brown sugar pavlova).

Hanging the meat to tenderise it

Dining with me tonight are: Simon, Howard, Shez. Anna, Arwen, Lisa, Trina, Jennifer and Steph. At 6pm we’ve arrived to have a pre-dinner tour of his kitchens and backstage. Yes for a food blogger, a kitchen visit is like getting a Backstage Pass to meet your favourite artist. He shows us the cool room where they hang their meat for several days to tenderise. He also shows us the whole lamb, about 6 months old and about 12 kilos heavy and proceeds to hang that too. He points out that the space is cleaned and tested every 2 days for bacteria which you need to do if you hang meat. Hanging meat helps to break down the fibres in meat which in turn, makes it more tender and soft.

He also shows us the food preparation for tonight. The catalan bread is topped with tomato oil which is a fantastic and incredibly tasty sauce and it is topped with 18 month Jamon. We also see the duck which has been cooked twice and we take a peek (not too far in) into the purpose built meat oven.

The olives are juicy and spiked with rosemary and are delicious. We’re given a Mr Riggs Viognier 2008 and a Mr Riggs “Yacca Paddock” Tempranillo 2007.

The smell from the kitchen is beckoning but first we hear from Graham Strong, from Arcadia Saltbush Lamb who along with his parents raise the lambs on a diet including that of Old Man Saltbush in the Riverina district of NSW. They are suppliers to not only Mumu Grill but also Becasse and Etch. I wrote earlier about Saltbush lamb and the benefits of raising lamb on this but in short Saltbush is a hardy perennial which helps to reduce the salinity in soil which helps in times of drought which of course we have a lot of in Australia.  They are also part of the WWOOFing movement (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) where in exchange for working on the farm, you get accommodation and food and get to be part of the experience.

Arcadia saltbush lamb roasted for 13 hours served with minted eggplant and white bean paste, green beans, beetroot jus

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I see modern fairytales as a twist on the traditional fairytale. Whilst a traditional fairytale would have a us waking up to a Prince’s kiss and an interim modern fairytale would have a Lady that lunches using her husband’s credit card, a truly modern fairytale has us waking up to an alarm and paying for our lunch using our own credit card and then having a facial. I’m sure Snow White didn’t keep her lovely complexion without the aid of a beautician but that’s for another story.

On this day, my partners in crime Gina and Teena are joining me for a lunch at Merivale’s The Ivy complex at Mad Cow and then we’re going for a facial. An ideal day for me and I’m very excited (if only it could be topped off with a visit to nearby Jimmy Choo). During the month of March, Merivale is hosting the March Into Merivale event where for $33 you get a main meal and a glass of wine or beer for lunch or an early dinner. It’s another recession busting winner to help encourage diners to come out and eat more often. The last time I went to a Merivale restaurant was so long ago but I do remember having a fantastic meal at est.-one that I still remember with vivid clarity today.

I’m lost. I find the whole Ivy complex confusing and it doesn’t help that I went to the Establishment building two blocks away looking for it. There is a girl who is asking people if they need directions. Mad Cow is up the stairs and I stand there a touch confused. There’s no signage to speak of and I finally give up and ring my friends. It’s surprisingly full, the inside booth and table sections are all taken with just the outside section empty.

It’s frightfully pretty indeed, with all shades of yellow, gold and lemon and white surrounding it-as with all things Merivale it looks awfully good. We order a combination of things, after all the mains aren’t that much more expensive than the March into Merivale offer starting at $34 for a delicious piece of Top Sirloin Wagyu (but of course they don’t include the wine or side) so we order the March Into Merivale Rosemary grilled quail, crisp polenta, black olives, green beans, The 200g Eye fillet and the Wagyu Top Sirloin as well as a side order of shoestring fries. You can select a sauce to accompany the meats out of a list of Chimichurri, horseradish cream, tarragon shallot jus, Barbeque and Béarnaise.

The bread comes with a creamy, unsalted butter and is particularly good with the sourdough.

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