There something just so transporting about the smell of passionfruit and coconut. Along with pineapple, it reminds me of being on holidays. Perhaps its because the poolside bar often serves a tropical cocktail made up with all three ingredients. Another thing that also remind me of the the passionfruit iced Vanilla slice. So you see, I have two good reasons to like passionfruit.

These cakes are incredibly moist, the cakes are stirred through with passionfruit (and I snuck in some pineapple too), dunked in passionfruit jelly, rolled in coconut, lopped in half and spread with whipped cream and passionfruit curd. They are a bit fiddly in that you need to do a few parts (I used bought passionfruit curd) but once you see your guest’s faces when they bite in and feel the deep squelch of the soft, fruity, luscious cupcakes its worth every effort.

Passionfruit curd and coconut cupcakes

Passionfruit buttercake

• 90g butter softened
• 1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup (150g) self raising flour
• 1/4 cup (60ml) passionfruit pulp (I also added 1/2 cup of crushed pineapple, well drained)

Passionfruit curd

• 2 eggs beaten lightly
• 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 cup passionfruit pulp
• 60g butter, chopped coarsely

Decoration

• 85g packet passionfruit jelly
• 1 cup (250ml) boiling water
• 1 cup (08) dessicated coconut
• 1/2 cup (125ml) thickened cream, whipped

1. Make passionfruit curd

2. Preheat oven to moderate (180c/160c fan forced). Line 6 hole texas or 12 hole standard muffin pan with paper cases.

3. Beat butter, sugar, eggs and flour in small bowl with electric mixer on low speed until ingredients are just combined, increase speed to medium. Beat until mixture is changed to a paler colour. Stir in passionfruit pulp.

4. Divide mixture among cases, smooth surface.

5. Bake large cakes about 25 minutes, small cakes about 20 minutes. Turn cakes onto wore rack t cool.

6. Dissolve jelly in the water. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until set to the consistency of unbeaten egg white.

7. Remove cases from cakes. Roll cakes in jelly; leave cakes to stand in jelly for 15 minutes turning occasionally (I only dipped them in and removed them, I think leaving them for 15 minutes would dissolve them!). Roll cakes in coconut, place on wire rack over tray. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

8. Cut cakes in half, fill with curd and cream

Passionfruit curd
Combine ingredients in a small heatproof bowl, place over a small saucepan of simmering water, stir constantly until mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. Cover tightly, refrigerate curd until cold.

Bill’s is an easy choice when it comes to going out for breakfast. When my sister Blythe comes to visit, she always insist on a visit to a Bill’s, her desire partly fueled by Bill Granger’s reputation in London. Since her last visit, there has been a new addition to the Bill’s empire, a new location in Woollahra.

I’ve been to all three locations and out of the three, Woollahra is my favourite, not just for the gorgeous nearby boutiques to visit pre and post breakfast. Housed in the courtyard in Queens Court, it offers al fresco umbrella shaded tables or an indoor section. The courtyard, set back from busy, leafy Queen Street means that its a lovely respite from the hustle and bustle of the traffic. Sydney’s weather is putting on a good show so its outdoors, in front of the nearby bookshop that we sit. We feel that we must order the dishes for which Bill is famous. Blythe orders his toasted coconut bread ($5.80) and Ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter ($16.60). Rose orders organic scrambled eggs and toast ($12.80) with extras of Avocado ($3.90), bacon ($4.50), chicken chipolatas ($5.00) and mushrooms (for me $3.80). I order the grilled chicken salad with pistachios, pink grapefruit and sumac yogurt ($22.50).

Grilled chicken salad with pistachios, pink grapefruit and sumac yogurt $22.50

Its scarcely 5 minutes before our food arrives, a minor miracle given how busy it is but for which we are grateful as the sight of the food at other tables makes us even hungrier. My grilled chicken salad arrives hidden under a bough of continental parsley, rocket and thinly sliced fennel with smashed pistachios sprinkled on top and a dollop of sumac yogurt which resembles blueberry yogurt. Overall its a rather bitter salad with the pink grapefruit, fennel and yogurt which some may not mind, but the chicken is char grilled and moist still. The much needed yogurt is a piquant complement to the salad leaves and when I help myself to the mushrooms that Rose has ordered for me, its perfect. It needs that bit of juicy moisture as it is a touch dry without it.

Organic scrambled eggs and toast with extras of Avocado, bacon, chicken chipolatas and mushrooms $30

We try some of Rose’s scrambled eggs and extras, she’s particularly impressed with the creamy scrambled eggs and buttery toast. The bacon is a perfect texture, not too crispy and the nicely done chipolatas are tasty fat little fingers of chicken. For $30 including the trimmings, its not the cheapest eggs you can get but its certainly the best that money can buy.

Toasted coconut bread $5.80

Blythe’s toasted coconut bread is crispy, buttery and full of juicy shredded coconut. I’ve made Bill’s coconut bread before and I add raspberries and white chocolate to it and serve it untoasted with butter for afternoon or morning tea. If dessicated coconut is used instead of shredded, it becomes more like an afternoon tea cake and more delicate.

Ricotta hotcakes with fresh banana and honeycomb butter $16.60

She is more impressed with the Ricotta hotcakes, a dish she always orders when she visits Sydney. They’ve changed over the years, I remember when we used to get a disc of the honeycomb butter on top of the hotcakes. This time, the honeycomb butter is puddled at the bottom along with the caramelised banana. The hotcakes themselves are fluffy and as good as they always are and as the ritual goes, we try and try to finish them but despite our tastebuds telling us that we can’t, our stomachs tell us that we can’t. Forks down, we steady ourselves for some shopping.

Bill’s

Queen’s Court
118 Queen St
Woollahra Sydney 2025
Mon-Wed 7.30am-19:00pm
Thurs-Fri 7.30-22.00
Sat: 8am-22:00
Sun 8:00-17:00
10% surcharge on weekends
Ph: +61 (02) 9328 7997
Also locations at Darlinghurst and Surry Hills
http://www.bills.com.au

I miss corporate lunches. Years ago I managed to try most of the top restaurants in Sydney on someone else’s bank account. Since we started our own business and I left the media/advertising industry it meant that I sadly had to say goodbye to the beloved Corporate lunch. That is until today. Dabbling my toe back into the media pond meant that I got a free lunch at Bécasse. A lovely perk I have to admit.

Bécasse was one of the newish gems that I had not yet tried and as a 2 hatted restaurant two years in a row, it definitely peaked my interest. Arriving at 12noon the cream, pistachio and latte shaded restaurant sparkles with quiet elegance. Its relatively empty as the business diners haven’t yet converged.

As I sip my mineral water I have a look at the menu and there are two sides, one being the regular a la carte menu on the left and on the right, the Menu Prestige which changes daily as it is driven by fresh ingredients. I would have ordered from the Menu Prestige but I see one of my favourite foods ever on the regular a la carte menu: Oysters-natural and also with champagne sorbet. I’m immediately sold. We order the Oysters Natural and the Champagne Sorbet Oysters (both Pambula Rock) to share and I order the Roast Loin of Kurobuta Pork with crackling and potato puree, jus charcutiere. N opts for the Roast 240 day Angus grain fed Angus beef scotch fillet with carrots cooked in Montbazillac, black cabbage with bordelaise sauce (we have arranged to do a halfway plate swap) and A orders the Steamed Snapper and prawns with crushed potatoes, lettuce veloute, poached new season radish and lemon cream .

Appetizer-parmesan biscuit with cherry tomato, avocado mousse and basil

Shortly after, our appetiser arrives, a parmesan biscuit with cherry tomato, avocado mousse and basil. The parmesan rich biscuit is buttery and melts in the mouth with a satisfyingly soft squelch from the tomato and mousse.

Sourdough bread roll

Our warm sourdough arrives with a small rectangle of butter of a perfect temperature. Even though I am not a huge bread fan I do love fresh, warm sourdough so I dust it with pink salt and enjoy the crisp outer and soft chewy interior.

Amuse Bouche-gazpacho mousseline with cucumber jelly and basil salt

Soon after this our Amuse Bouche arrives, a two toned concoction with frothy gazpacho mousseline sitting atop a layer of cucumber jelly and finished with basil salt. The gazpacho mousseline is rich in capsicum and cream and very frothy but I am not so taken with the cucumber jelly so I leave most of this behind.

Pambula Rock Oysters with Champagne sorbet $5 each

Pambula Rock Oysters $3 each

Our oysters arrive shortly after, a plate of 12 dozen naturals and half a dozen champagne sorbet. These Pambula rock are larger than a lot of Sydney Rock oysters in fact about as big as my favourite Pacific Oysters and are a combination of the two. They’re briney and slurpingly delicious and I admit now that I could easily have two dozen more without hesitation. The now in-the-process-of-melting Champagne sorbet oysters are incredible, the slightly sweet, icy, fine-grained Champagne sorbet is a great compliment to the briney oysters.

Roast Loin of Kurobuta Pork with crackling and potato puree, jus charcutiere $44

The restaurant is filling quickly with business diners and after a brief respite our mains arrive. The Pork is a massive chunk of mostly fatty loin with a layer of crackling and a scoop of the buttery potato puree. Its an arresting looking dish and quite good although I can’t bring myself to eat the fatty part. The crackling, usually one of my favourite parts if basted in a sweet sauce (like Coca Cola, honestly!) is salted so I leave this to N to tackle. The potato puree is gorgeously buttery and the pork combined with the sauteed cabbage and the puree is delicious. Again I lament the amount of fat as half of the dish is left behind.

Roast 240 day Angus grain fed Angus beef scotch fillet with carrots cooked in Montbazillac, black cabbage with Bordelaise sauce $45

N and I do a plate swap and I try the Roast 240 day Angus grain fed Angus beef scotch fillet with carrots cooked in Montbazillac, black cabbage with bordelaise sauce and whilst its not the most adventurous dish, its beautifully cooked and delicious, the fillet meltingly tender. There are pieces of marrow on top which I don’t like as much as they taste like lumps of pure fat (I’ve had marrow at Bilsons and loved it) but the overall effect with the bordelaise sauce (one of my favourite sauces with beef) is mouth wateringly good.

Steamed Snapper and prawns with crushed potatoes, lettuce veloute, poached new season radish and lemon cream $45

The fish, although not the most attractive looking cut (it reminds me of a lizard tail!) is I am told very delicious.

Pre-dessert Coconut Pannacotta with honeydew jelly and melon balls

As N has to leave, he takes care of the bill and A and I choose and await our desserts. I’ve selected the Cone of Valrhona ‘Caraibe’ chocolate mousse with candied apple and vanilla ice cream and A orders the Strawberries and Cream with yogurt and white chocolate ice cream. Its a good 25 minute wait as the rest of the restaurant receive their mains and when my searching looks are noticed by a staff member she lets me know that the dessert is on its way. In fact what is on the way is a pre dessert dessert in the form of a coconut cream pannacotta with tiny coriander leaf, honeydew jelly and miniature melon balls. The Pannacotta is soft and voluptuous and absolutely delicious, a little more delicate and fallingly soft than the one that we tried at the Good Food and Wine fair by Verandah. The honeydew jelly is a real highlight which I didn’t expect as I don’t like jelly; clean, unusual and tartly sweet.

Cone of Valrhona ‘Caraibe’ chocolate mousse with candied apple and vanilla ice cream (usually licorice ice cream) $22

The chocolate cone arrives but by then I’ve forgotten all of the other components so I flag down another staff member to enlighten me. The chocolate cone is a densely dark and chocolately light sponge filled with a fruity apricot jam type filling (although I am told it is caramel, its definitely apricot jam-like in flavour and texture). The candied apple cubes are good when combined with the vanilla ice cream and they’re topped with tiny balls of chocolate coated biscuit although the cubes are a little too sweet by themselves.

Strawberries and Cream with yogurt and white chocolate ice cream $20

There are satisfied gestures from A when eating his strawberry dessert.

Petit fours: From left to right, Mandarin friand, raspberry jube and chocolate mint macaron $5 with coffee or tea.

Our coffees arrive with the petit fours which comprise of three pieces per person. The Mandarin friand is warm and crispy on the outside and soft in the centre and redolent with rich egginess. The Raspberry jube cube makes you want to forget all of those supermarket packet jubes in favour of these raspberry heady beauties.The chocolate and mint macaron is actually rather hard, more like a crispy biscuit and unlike a typical macaron, and I confess I am a tad disappointed at this.

The click strikes 2.30pm and we’re due back at work. That’s the thing about corporate lunches - you know you pay the penance when you go back to find an ungoldly amount of emails awaiting that have amassed while you’ve been enjoying yourself!

Bécasse

204 Clarence St
Sydney 2000 NSW
Phone: (02) 9283 3440
www.becasse.com.au
Mon-Fri noon-2.30pm, Mon-Sat 6pm-10.30pm

Pink Salt’s cupcakes 2 coupons/$5 each

There’s one thing I learnt rather rapidly when we sauntered up to Hyde Park at 12.55pm only to be greeted with half of Sydney - that we should’ve arrived about 55 minutes earlier. Hyde Park is teeming with people walking in every direction and we are trying needle-in-a-haystack fashion to locate two other people who have arrived earlier. After a few frantic phone calls we locate everyone and its clear what our directive is: to purchase coupons, find food, find it fast before it runs out by somehow fighting our way through the crowds. We take a deep breath and plunge into the abyss of bodies…

A quick physical glance of all of the stalls is completely impractical, if only moving about were that easy. So we settle with examining our map and we see that a lot of the hatted restaurants are clustered together in the northern end so we make haste to get there. There’s Quay, Guillame, Icebergs, Bather’s Pavillion, Coast, Salon Blanc and Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay. Unfortunately a lot have sold out and we grab what we can: a delectable looking strawberry tart from Quay with strawberry sabayon.

Marque’s freshly made marshmallows (toasted to order) with basil leaf, strawberry and olive 3 coupons/$7.50

One thing we learn and that’s if you see something yummy, get in the queue, if you come back 10 minutes later, they may have sold out. Sadly we learn this the hard way with the Bourke Street Bakery. A girl whizzes past me with a fabulous looking plate of savoury appetisers but she’s gone before I have the chance to ask her where its from. I also see a girl wrestling with an enormous pork chop on her fork-I learn later that its from the Womens Weekly stand which was served with apples.

Womens Weekly stall-cooking apples and onions

Queues at the other stalls are impossibly long or sold out so we join what is a relatively small queue for Brasserie Bread’s Merguez sausage. The line moves quickly and we are thankful, why its 13.30pm and we need to spend our coupons before the clock strikes 2pm and we turn into pumpkins!

The Tea Room’s strawberry mascarpone tart

I spy a delightful dainty mini sweet and cake plate and ask the older country gentleman holding it where he got it from. He grins as he knows he has the prize and tells me its from The Tea Room stall where I head to immediately. It’s one of the best buys of the day with 6 delicate and varietal petit fours and a half sandwich. Its a plate that gets me stopped by at least 6 people and I hear many whispers of “Oooh that must be the tea room plate” as I walk past.

The Tea Room’s Tomato Salsa Filo

Along this section I spy a sign that has me joining or trying to join the end of the queue for Becasse-trying to join as the end of the queue seems to shift by the minute and those of us who thought that we were progressing in it find that we aren’t actually part of the queue anymore! Luckily the crowds today are friendly and despite the ordered chaos there’s no-one pushy at all, most are friendly and eager to chat in and out of queues. Its worth it in the end as the smoked ocean trout in citrus tea vinaigrette looks bright and flavoursome. The dressing is dripping through the cardboard though and walking and dripping is not a good look.

Art Gallery restaurant’s Rabbit Rillette, watercress and sour cherry compote 4 coupons/$10

Its 1.50pm and we have 3 coupons left over so my husband, spying a coconut panacotta with mixed berries, spends it quickly at the Verandah stand. We walk a bit further and I spy Kables luscious looking offering: Soft vanilla panacotta, caramelised banana and coffee crisp. The woman asks me if I’d like some and I say mournfully “I’ve run of coupons” and she smiles sympathetically but her lovely co-worker overhears, gives me a large smile and offers me up a full sized plate of the panacotta for free! If I wasn’t already happy at my delicious haul, I just became 200% happier. What a serendipitously lovely surprise!

Salon Blanc’s oysters 4 coupons/$10

With our bounty in hand, we join everyone else at a table where we share our haul. Unfortunately there wasn’t much in the way of vegetarian food (some fresh spring rolls were all that we on offer as the Indian food had sold out) so the vegetarians go a little hungry.

Brasserie Bread’s Organic Merguez sausage with North African tomato sauce and Tahini 3 coupons/$7.50

I bite into the Brasserie Bread with Organic Merguez sausage with North African tomato sauce and Tahini and the bread is a little tough and chewy. But to be fair, we aren’t exactly eating it soon after it was made, its a good 40 minutes since we bought it. The sausage inside it is a little unremarkable, almost like a vegetarian sausage. Its filling but its not particularly special but for 3 coupons, we aren’t really complaining.

Flying Fish’s Skewered prawns , 3 skewers for 4 coupons/$10

We sample D’s prawns from Flying fish next and we regret not joining this queue as it was lengthy. They’re smothered with a spicy, rich curry sauce and delicious with a good number of prawns.

Becasse’s ocean trout in citrus tea vinaigrette with radish salad 4 coupons/$10

Next is Becasse’s ocean trout in citrus tea vinaigrette with radish salad- its the size of Tetsuya’s Petuna Ocean Trout dish at his restaurant and mouthwateringly delicious. Nothing fancy needs to be done to this perfect piece of fish, just a light slightly sweet vinaigrette, spanish onion and radish and you have a dish fit for a king. Its definitely worth the 4 coupons and leaves me wanting for more.

The Tea Room’s sampler plate 3 coupons/$7.50 (some hiding under the sandwich)

Our Tea Room plate is next and there are three savoury items amongst the sweet, a finger sandwich which is a salmon, cucumber, mayo and dill on pleasingly pillow soft wholemeal bread. There’s also a spinach and feta roll which is a pouf of puff pastry and a small amount of filling and a lot of air. The filo tart with tomato salsa and avocado cream is a little light on the filling and biting into it, it seems to be a lot of cripsy filo and not quite a lot of avocado or tomato.

The Tea Room’s sampler plate 3 coupons/$7.50

The sweets are attacked next in a desperate rush for sugar, the Chocolate N’gress is soft, chocolately and fresh. The orange and almond cake is good, not quite as moist as I would’ve liked and there isn’t as much orange rind as I like but its not bad. The passionfruit sable is tangy and tart with the biscuit crumbly and buttery. The Strawberry mascarpone tart is my favourite of the lot, the buttery tart shell collapsing in the mouth with the sweet slightly tart strawberries and a voluptuous heave of mascarpone.

Continuing on the strawberry theme, I try Quay’s strawberry tart with sabayon. By now the sabayon has turned into a puddled mess but the eating is not affected. Its sweet and luscious strawberries a perfect foil for the crispy thin but sturdy pastry. The sabayon gives it that subtle creaminess that strawberries lend themselves so perfectly to.

Verandah’s coconut pannacotta with mixed berries 3 coupons/$7.50

Verandah’s coconut panacotta is next, its heavy in coconut cream and deliciously moreish. Even though you know how high in fat it is, one can’t help eating more and more. Unfortunately the berries accompanying it are less than stellar with the blueberries quite inedible with a solid meaty texture…odd! I make it a point of eating berries wherever I can after hearing about the health benefits but not even the promise of glowing Perricone skin can make me eat these.

Kable’s soft vanilla pannacotta with caramelised banana and coffee crisp 3 coupons/$10

Last but not least is Kable’s soft vanilla panacotta with caramelised banana and coffee crisp. I have very fond memories of dining at Kables many moons ago and the panacotta is a mound of rich, gooey, vanilla bean specked goodness. The bananas have a slightly floury taste to them and I find the panacotta much more interesting-delicious.

We’re happy, we’ve spent our coupons wisely, received a freebie and although we’re not waistband stretching full, its lovely to sit in the sunny park amongst fellow foodies and drag queens and listen to the live music and watch the bubble blower blow gigantic bubbles.

SMH Good Food and Wine Show Sydney

Cost: Food and drink vouchers $2.50-$10, free entry.
Location:
Hyde Park North, Sydney
Event dates:
Saturday, 27 October

Food stalls 12-2pm, entertainment until 5pm

So it was the APEC long weekend and since it is now Springtime we thought it would be ideal to go for a picnic. Not so when the weather refuses to behave. So we did what anyone that fears the elements does when there are intermittent showers, we had the picnic indoors!

I made something that when I first tried when I was in London, a chicken stuffing sandwich. Yes just the stuffing, no chicken and yes its damn good. I hear your gasps of disgust but stay with me. All you do is take a panini roll or bread and slice horizontally (I really like the long and fat Bake at Home Panini rolls) and lightly toast the inside. Then butter inside, spread some tangy caeser dressing and avocado on both sides and top with broken up chicken stuffing. Sounds gruesome? Yes I admit it does, but you have to try it!

What next…. I had some cold BBQ chicken and avocado and some soft 9 grain bread so of course it was the traditional chicken and avocado sandwich with salt and white pepper only thankyou!

Then I constructed a salad made up of baby spinach leaves, reggiano, avocado, sun dried tomatoes, olives and crisped proscuitto and dressed that with a creamy caesar dressing.

To round off our indoor picnic I added some organic Medjool dates, Jindi chive & garlic cheddar cheese and mini papaya & coconut muffins

And yes we unfurled the tartan picnic blanket to add to the “picnic” atmosphere!