The only thing more fabulous than a Champagne Bar is possibly arriving in time to enjoy it and not misreading an invitation. So begins my dilemma when I arrive at what I think is the right time of 7:30pm only to learn that the launch of Etch’s Champagne Bar has been going since 6pm. “I’m fashionably late right?” I offer up feebly knowing that fashionably late doesn’t involve arriving right the end.
But all is not lost because I still have some champagne and cocktails and following on from the cocktails is dinner at Etch. When offered a choice of cocktails including Pepper Berry Martini (sloe gin, black pepper infused vodka and summer berries), St Clement’s Bells (Aperol, Vanilla Absolut Vodka, Absolut Citron and a lemon ice block for a swizzle stick), Apple Sherbert (Absolut Vodka, green apples, star anise infused vodka and sherbert) and Perrier Jouet Champagne.
Did someone say apple cocktail? I go straight for the delicious apple cocktail which has a slight Asian flavour to it from the star anise. It’s a stunning space with a Florence Broadhurst-esque rug, custom made panels, silvery velvet chairs and Venetian glass. Becca and I are then led to our table and the waitress asks us if we’d like to choose or would we like Justin to make up some courses for us. Justin then comes over and asks us if we’d like 5 or 10 degustation sized courses. As I’ve had a weekend full of food, I go with Becca’s suggestion.
Marinated Hiramasa Kingfish, carrot escabeche, Champagne vinaigrette
I’ve had a similar dish with the Hiramasa Kingfish here and it has a really gorgeously pure flavour. Escabeche is similar to ceviche where an item is cooked in acids or vinegars. Here, in a visual mindtrick where you think you’re being served beetroot, purple carrots are pickled in a vinegar.
Local mushroom tortellini, Madeira consomme, sauteed mushrooms
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February 22, 2010
by Not Quite Nigella
After my Duck Off adventure which was preceded by a 10 course Japanese meal, I needed to compensate for my unholy ingestion of food by balancing it with seven days of salads. When we holidayed in Thailand a few years ago, we were told that Thai women turn to this Som Tum salad when they want to lose weight as it’s healthy, high fibre and low fat. They use tiny dried crabs which are things that I don’t particularly go for (and I had no idea where I would find them). I was also told that the secret to the petite and slender Thai figure is that Thai women infrequently have the coconut laced curries and if they do they eat small portions of it whereas whenever we eat Thai foods, we go straight for the delicious but calorie laden foods.
I was sent some gorgeously sweet and fresh Crystal Bay prawns and I knew that these would be the perfect substitute for those tiny crabs. I’m used to seeing Crystal Bay prawns on restaurant menus – you know when they’re something to write home about when they name the origin or brand of an item and they are reportedly used by Tetsuya and Neil Perry.
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February 21, 2010
by Not Quite Nigella
Happy Saturday! The best way to start a Saturday for me is with a giveaway and today’s is for a fun package. I have four sets of three gorgeous Dandi tea towels and a Masterchef Masterclass DVD to giveaway. The Dandi tea towels comes in gorgeously delightful patterns and are made of a blend of linen and cotton. The Masterchef DVD is the long awaited Masterclass DVD with 3 discs with over 40 recipes from making home made pasta to filleting a fish!
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February 20, 2010
by Not Quite Nigella
I have been friends with my dear friend Queen Viv for almost 20 years. And in that time we’ve had some wonderful adventures most of them to do with the fact that she truly attracts some unusual circumstances. So when she asked me if I’d like to come on a road trip to Wollongong I answered an enthusiastic “Yes” and then thought “Oh dear: we’ve both got no road sense and no GPS. Would we end up in Perth?” Then the image of Thelma and Louise flashed through my worried mind.
Wollongong is one of those areas which is great for a day trip as it’s only an hour and twenty minutes away from Sydney by car but the beach side atmosphere and laid back lifestyle means that you actually feel like you’ve gotten away from the “big smoke”. We drive through the Royal National park to take the scenic drive down to Wollongong. It’s full of flowers this spring and Queen Viv, a keen gardener points out the native flannel flowers and huge Gymea Lilies. The drive is scenic and she also points out a nice place to stop and have an ice cream on the way.
Driving south we emerge out of the National Park to see one of the most breathtaking views. It pure Californian beauty with sweeping cliffs and blue water and little cottages on the cliff’s edge below. There are cars that have also stopped just to look at the view. There are also gliders a plenty here suspended in mid air only metres away.
We stop at Ruby’s Kitchen in Stanwell Park on the way. Queen Viv points out that this is near where Jane Campion wrote Sweetie in a blue fibro house. Ruby’s Kitchen Cafe used to be called Ruby’s on the Dust which was a popular surfers hangout where they’d buy lentil burgers after a surf. Indeed there’s a group of surfers with surfboards standing outside as we pull up.
We order a Mezze plate to share as it’s lunchtime but when it comes out we’re a little floored at the size. It’s rather enormous (I guess surfer size) and there are two large wedges of vegetable frittata, three types of dip (beetroot, hummous and olive tapenade), some toasted Turkish bread and a rocket, pumpkin and feta salad.
Mezze Plate $25
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February 19, 2010
by Not Quite Nigella
This is the one dish that really exemplifies Chinese New Year yet it is one that we rarely ate. I asked my mother recently why we never really had it and she answered that it was because when my mum was growing up after the war, her mother was left a widow. The family’s previous wealth was drastically cut so that they no longer lived a life of luxury and meals such as this were no longer featured on their table. As a result, she never really prepared it for us as she rarely had it herself while she was growing up. Couple that with my father’s reluctance to eat anything raw and it wasn’t until recently that we started to eat and make this salad. Yee Sang salad symbolises abundance, prosperity and good health and is eaten on Renri, the seventh day of the Chinese New Year which is on the 20th of February this year although people eat it throughout the New Year period.
Small dishes of Yee Sang are expensive in restaurants starting at about $80 and going all the way up to $150 and above. The size we made below would be enormous and would have qualified for the $150 and above price but it cost us a fraction of that. This year we made it with the sweltering weather in mind-it is the perfect dish for a Summer’s day when turning on the oven is best avoided. It’s an incredibly versatile salad and one that is easily made vegetarian too. The main work is in the shredding. You can buy special Japanese graters that grate the vegetables in a long, thin, cylindrical shape rather than the thicker carrot gratings but you don’t need to buy the special equipment to do so and can use a regular grater although you want to use a long grating motion along the whole length of the vegetable so that longer strips appear rather than the short stubby pieces of vegetable.
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February 18, 2010
by Not Quite Nigella
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