I believe in fate or kismet or whatever you may want to call it. Recipes or things often present themselves at a time when I need them. Case in point was this recipe. I was cleaning up and saw this magazine, open on this recipe. I meant to clean up and throw it out but I hesitated as the photo of the pork was so eye catching. We were having the in laws over that weekend and that meant feeding mostly vegetarians. I had planned on making a simple Gado Gado but then I realised that my non vegetarian brother in law despises peanuts. My mind immediately went to this pork recipe that I had seen only hours earlier and so it was decided that I would make this too.

Bound as only an experienced sailor could do

The only thing that confounded me was tying the string. The local butcher could do this but my husband wanted to give this a go and I have to applaud him, his experience as a sailor meant that he had tying the string down pat. While I peeled the apples for the apple sauce, his hands whizzed over the loin and tied it perfectly before I had the second apple peeled.

Delicious leftovers

This is a Donna Hay recipe and like all of her recipes it’s styled beautifully and is beautifully simple not requiring a wedding guest list sized amount of ingredients. In truth this could serve 4-6 people depending on how hungry they were but I would suggest making this for 2-3 people because of the delicious leftovers. In this case, the pork actually somehow becomes more tender the day after and when sliced paper thinly, it is absolutely mouth watering on buttered fresh bread with a generous dollop of the apple sauce.  Or you can pop it on top of a bowl of ramen or noodle soup. Your tastebuds will indeed be thankful the next day for this foresight.

Mmm crispy crackling…

The proudest part of this is of course the crackling, heady and flavoursome with freshly ground rosemary salt. Crackling is one of those things that I know is so damn bad for me but I just cannot tear myself away from it. Crackling is my Crack. Some people can eat a whole tub of ice cream, for me it’s 1/3 of a scoop and I’m done. But with crackling I need to put safety guards up and tell those around me to take it away from me should I bliss out crunching on the fatty, crispy goodness. You can tell when I’ve entered this state as my eyes are closed and I’m not listening to a word you or anyone else is saying. The earth shatteringly crispy crackling sound is ringing in my ears and you see, I’m listening to the pork crackling.

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Tapas Brindisa can be intimidating. Intimidating in that it is ALWAYS crowded, no matter what time you go past and that unless you flag down the manager, you’ll stand virtually ignored, a persona non grata. Brindisa doesn’t take reservations and given the roaring trade, it doesn’t need to. Reservations would simply hold up the process. I adore Spanish food and my gut instinct tells that it is taking over the world (or at least my little part of it). And the thing that has my tastebuds drooling is the idea of eating Jamón ibérico de Bellota, the Wagyu of pork where in Spain or Portugal Black Iberian pigs are raised on a diet of acorns and allowed to roam free in oak forests. The ham is then cured for up to 36 months in the fresh mountain air.

We’re back at Tapas Brindisa at dinner time after being the ignored subjects mentioned above at lunch time when people and plates were whizzing past at a furious speed and our presence caused not a single soul to look our way. We didn’t realise that we needed to get the attention of the manager so we stood there for 10 minutes before leaving as we realised that a table would not be forthcoming, not just because of the huge queue of people already waiting.

Tonight, fortified by false courage, I steel myself and approach the manager thinking that I’ll be dismissed but he gives a broad smile and apologises that there aren’t any table available but that one should be in about 45 minutes so we can come back in 30 minutes. We go for a walk around and take a peek at Neal’s Yard (who have a huge shower running in their store, presumably for moisture to aid in the cheesemaking process) and a Paul Smith store nearby before we return 30 minutes later. There isn’t a table yet although the manager tries to get another table outside set up for us. We wait outside as inside is chaos with bodies standing, sitting and waiting while waiters weave through them with plates of delicious Spanish Jamón and tapas.

While waiting, we ask the manager what time is good to come by and he says “5.30pm but once it is 6 o’clock, all of the tables are gone. At lunch, maybe 12noon?”. A friend who has been here previously has said that even 12 o’clock is too late, it’s 11.50am or nothing. Once the clock strikes 12, it’s musical chairs. He offers us all drinks on the house (wine or soft) for the wait which is a welcome and charming gesture. A table magically frees itself a few minutes later and we are sitting with our complimentary drinks (a gigantic bottle of sparkling mineral water, a Coke and a Rosé wine).

The prize, a food porn worthy shot of the Jamón ibérico de Bellota (Pata Negra)

We’ve already perused the menu having done so while waiting and we ask the waiter if any of the Jamón ibérico de Bellota (Pata Negra) is available and he smiles broadly as if we’ve said the magic words and says “Pata Negra?” and we nod enthusiastically. He points us to the “Gran reserva Joselito Ham-hand carved” for £20 which we immediately order. We also order the Regional charcuterie selection: Teruel Serrano ham, loin, chorizo and salchichon with bread and olive oil £10; potato, chorizo and pepper omelette with aioli £4.65; Deep fried Monte Enebro goat’s cheese with orange blossom honey £6.65 and for good measure, some spicy toasted broad beans £1.

Spicy toasted broad beans £1

The first to arrive is the small plate of spicy toasted broad beans, the beans dried and crispy with a liberal sprinkling of spice powder. They’re like good quality chips.

Gran reserva Joselito Ham-hand carved £20

Our prize, the Jamón ibérico de Bellota arrives next, hand carved and arranged on a plate. I’m surprised at how much we get, from what I’ve seen you get 3-4 slices of it in Australia for about $30 but this looks like more. Tasting it, it’s smooth and intensely flavoursome, a bit like a meat jerky but please don’t let that description put you off, it’s much, much better of course. I mean more as a testament to the intensity of the flavour.

Regional charcuterie selection: Teruel Serrano ham, loin, chorizo and salchichon with bread and olive oil £10

Our regional selection plate is certainly impressive and causes passing pedestrians to almost bump into each other and drool over our table. There is loin (the pale slices), chorizo (thinly sliced rounds), salchichon (another speckled sausage) and Serrano ham, the paler version of the Jamón ibérico de Bellota.

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My husband is in bad birthday rehab. He’s had too many disappointing birthdays to count, from when he was young and given a bag of rocks from the garden to when he was older and received a box of toilet cleaning supplies. He’s understandably scarred by the concept. I on the other hand adore birthdays and love to celebrate them for at least a weekend. I also love other people’s birthdays from the ritual of selecting a present for them, wrapping the gift and writing the card and seeing their face when they open it. So I take my mission seriously to make him love birthdays again and what the birthday boy wants he gets. Sort of. His favourite restaurant is Shanghai Night in Ashfield, the place where for a mere $6.60 he can get a massive 18 piece serving of dumplings. I was only too happy to go here but in true food blogger fashion, I felt that I should try somewhere new-ish. He agreed to the compromise I suggested, trying the Shanghai dumpling place next door to Shanghai Night. There, at least he’d be guaranteed of his beloved 18 dumplings.

New Shanghai Chinese restaurant is indeed right next to Shanghai Night. Inside it looks brighter and newer with small plasma screens showing a rotation of the items on offer. It’s slightly wider than Shanghai Night next door by about 2 metres. The configuration is different, with the cashier towards the back and the dumpling makers behind a glass screen on show for customers and some booths to the right (which currently have some dumplings abandoned mid preparation).

Service is friendlier than that at Shanghai Night and while we see a lot of familiar items, namely the dumplings, prices are higher by a dollar or two. There are also some unusual dishes and of course, being the visual creatures that we are, we are enticed by the items in the pictures.

We order and the dishes trickle out slowly, one by one. None of this fast and furious pace that we get at Shanghai night (which we actually prefer).

Famous new shanghai steamed mini pork buns $6.80 for 8

The first item we receive is the Xiao Long Bao, the famous mini pork buns with hot soupy interior which explodes with the first bite. We notice that there aren’t too many punctures (good) but the hot soup and filling is missing the ginger zing which we adore in the Shanghai Night dumplings.

Steamed Pork with coriander dumplings $7.80 for 18

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