Or I could subtitle this story as “Mr NQN’s favourite restaurant meal” such was his adoration for the food served to us this day.
” Look, he’s actually cooking here!” I grab Mr NQN’s arm when I see the familiar curly grey flecked hair of New Zealand export to London Peter Gordon. I mean I knew this was one of his lunches but he was well and truly cooking in the kitchen and not just here in name only. I had seen Peter speak at the World Chef Showcase only the day before and he had told us of his upbringing involving plastic corks and a pet lamb which they ate. It was a very much Hunter Gatherer lifestyle typical of NZ at the time. He recalls the first time he had an avocado and the pleasure they had eating it.
Martin Boetz from Longrain
Peter Gordon
I have a quick chat to Peter before he gets started and he talks about the restaurant scene in London. I ask if the GFC has hit his restaurants, The Providores and Tapa Room and he says that it hasn’t much at all, they’re open for breakfast, lunch and dinner 7 days a week and on the ground floor there’s the Tapa Room (named after the large traditional Rarotongan Tapa cloth made from block printed and hand beaten paper mulberry bark on the wall) and on the 1st floor there’s The Providores restaurant. Even since the GFC, in a city as badly hit as London, they’re busier than usual. And this is the man who owned The Sugar Club who Calvin Klein said was his favourite restaurant yet he had never visited and who made headlines when they turned Madonna away.
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December 12, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
“Oh they’re just photographing the celebrities over there” the smiling hostess says “So you can go that way” she says pointing in the other direction. I laugh, yes we’re not famous and apparently the left side is for the celebrities and the right is for the non celebrities. At tonight’s Ferrero Rondnoir event is Jade McRae who is tiny and wearing a column dress and tousled curls, Michelle Bridges from The Biggest Loser and Celebrity Masterchef who is thin with an amazing bottom (yes I noticed!), Charlotte Dawson who is friendly with amazing cleavage (yes I noticed!), Australia’s Next Top Model winner Demelza Reveley who is gorgeous and amazingly tall (it’s hard not to notice that), designer Wayne Cooper, Sarah Marsh, newsreader Natarsha Belling, Konstantina Mittas and Adriano Zumbo and of course Tobie Puttock. Did I mention him? No, well Tobie is putting together a degustation for us based on the Ferrero Rondnoir. And read on later for my Q&A with chef Tobie!
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December 8, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
The Golden Ticket! I mean the Green Ticket…
The queue at Milson’s Point
Queue entertainment
It’s 5.47am and I’ve already been awake for almost 2 hours. Whilst I’m a mixture of barely coherent and half present, I’m also extremely excited. For this morning, starting at the ungodly hour of 6.30am Mr NQN and I are two of 6,000 lucky residents of New South Wales to be breakfasting on the bridge. Done by ballot, 40,000 people (although in some reports up to 190,000 people) in the state entered the draw to secure a seat to have breakfast on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the first time ever that such an event has been held. And the cost? Free to the lucky 6,000 (but at a reported cost of $1 million to stage).
The entertainment
The cows!
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October 26, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
This past weekend, for the first time ever, Sydney hosted The World Chef Showcase. When I first heard about this Chefapalooza I was excited to be invited to it and chose to attend Saturday’s World session featuring many of the world’s rock star chefs. I’m not simply using that as a trite term but some of them are into their music almost as much as their food. Case in point is the 18 guitar owning Spanish chef Sergi Arola, a disciple of Ferran Adria. He worked with Adria for 8 years in his kitchen and melds music with food with art. Just don’t mention the word “Tapas”…
There are three sessions on this Saturday, the first being Thailand/Vietnam, the second being China and the third being World which I am scheduled for. Each in a different room of Star City’s ballrooms and there is round table style seating with a stage at the front where there are two kitchen set-ups. Facing the stage, on the left is the Australian counterpart for the Overseas Chef. The first session today is with Sergi Arola of Gastro restaurant and Brent Savage of Bentley Bar. Matt Preston is at the microphone with his deep, husky voice booming a greeting to all. There are drinks on the table and mints and writing pads provided. The lighting is a little low (so please excuse the photographs).
Sergi’s Coca with Foie Gras and Capsicum
Sergi tells us of his impressions of Australia which start with his first encounter: The Church’s song “Almost With You” which he listened to for 3 days straight. He says that he learnt English through songs like this and interestingly enough, he even had a band called “Los Canguros” (the Kangaroos). He shows us some images from Gastro where the menu changes monthly and the food is strikingly beautiful. At the restaurant bread is made every day using organic flour and he explains the pictures of the Duck hams hanging in the cellar which drives his sommelier spare. There are photos of two kitchens – there are two, one for service and one for mise en place (where they prepare everything to cook). He then introduces us to Torsten his Swedish executive chef whom he says hails from “The Swedish part of Spain” and whom he says is more Spanish than most Spanish.
Duck hams hanging in the wine cellar
Now his issue with tapas is related to how he feels about customers and eating. “The main part of the restaurant is the guest, not the chef or anyone else “My ego is big but that as (sic) big“. He tells us that the service is the thing that separates the good from exceptional restaurants. He also tells us that “tapas is a way of life” and for Spanish, it is what you have when you’re with friends. He starts to make his first dish, the Ajo Blanco with Cherry Caviar and Asparagus which is made with fresh almond milk cooked for 12-14 hours. He shows us how to make each item telling us his names for certain pieces of equipment like the siphon which he calls “Devil Machine“. He uses tweezers to place everything on the dish, a rather cheffy thing to do to get the right placement.
“I try and make things more simple. Life is so complicated” he says to much nodding among the audience. He is also involved with the Oceana charity and says that he doesn’t use or eat tuna in his restaurant along with shark or turtle. With the duck liver he uses, he says that he only uses a supplier that treats his animals with respect. He also declares that Spanish olive oil is the best olive oil in the world.
His version of Patatas Bravas
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October 13, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
Betty and I doing our best C.S.I. imitations. Photo by Kath from A Cupcake or Two.
Picture this: six bloggers with their friends and or partners huddled around a dish. Some sniff, some look at it from all different angles, some close their eyes and inhale deeply. Then a portion is taken to the table where using a fork each piece is savoured, pulled apart and each minuscule, ground up piece turned over and examined as if under a human microscope. Welcome to a Forensic Eating Dinner party, C.S.I. food blogger style.
Ellie’s dish
This night we’re gathered at Trissa and Dan’s house and in attendance are Betty, Ellie, Kath, Trisha and Richard as well as their friends and partners. I first heard of the term “Forensic Eating” from my friend Liss from Frills in the Hills who mentioned it in a comment on my blog. I then floated the idea of having a Forensic Eating dinner party while we were brainstorming a theme for a dinner party one night at Guylian Cafe and everyone seemed eager to give this a try. Fast forward a few weeks later and we’ve all brought a dish to taste. A sheet of paper and a pen is handed out to everyone. The rules are simple: forensically determine what is in these dishes using sight, taste and smell. The creator of each dish tells everyone how many ingredients there are in the dish and everyone sets about compiling a list of the ingredients.
You are only allowed to name as many ingredients as the creator says there are in the dish and points are awarded for correct answers (none are deducted for wrong answers). First up is Ellie’s dip served with French bread. “The dip has 7 ingredients and no salt and pepper” she says and we get to work. I’ve teamed up with Mr NQN who loves the idea of a challenge. There is a strong taste of garlic and it reminds me of a tapenade and there’s a salty fishyness which screams anchovy. “There’s something else in there to give it body” Mr NQN says “like bread and there’s also water”. I can see parsley and tomato and what I think is olive but he is less convinced about the olive. We come up with a list of 7 ingredients based on both of our guesses.
Kath’s dish
Next out comes Kath’s dish, or more specifically Mama Eugenio’s (her mum’s) noodles. “This dish has 11 ingredients” Kath says counting them mentally. There are some obvious ones like carrot and obviously noodles (points are deducted if you couldn’t figure that one out), Lup Cheong or chinese sausage, sugar snap peas, wombok and chicken as there are clear pieces of each. However we have trouble coming up with 10 ingredients.
Trissa’s dish
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September 29, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
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