I had told a friend of mine, M, about Una’s at Double Bay and how their Schnitzels came with sauce. “PFfffttt!!” she said indignantly “Schnitzel should never come with sauce!!”. As a proud Austrian, she is highly opinionated on the foods from her native land. And I in turn, vowed never to serve her Austrian food, should I get in trouble for fiddling with it.

We walk into The Austrian Club this cold, Wintry night, our stomachs happily anticipating a large meal full of meat and potatoes and various other ingredients that make up Austrian cuisine. The Austrian Club is situated in Frenchs Forest, close to other National clubs such as the Czech club and the Danish Club. Of course we are going here with M and her monkey-toting son I. After 15 years in Australia, this is her first time to the club. On the outside she says that it is much like a typical Austrian building, white with brown trim and a fire bell at the top. And the sign outside proudly sports Gösser beer, the popular Austrian Beer. So far so good.

Inside, it looks quaint and is comfortable like a hall with checked tablecloth covered tables and we are reassured by M, that it looks just like back home. She point out the various details, from the curtains to the wall plaques and the signs that would separate foreigners from natives.

Stammtisch-VIPs only!

For example there is the “Stammtisch” sign above a table which reserves that tables for the elders or regulars. An Austrian would never sit at that table unless they were one and each club would have one of these tables put aside for their special patrons. The fixtures above the lights she says are based on the equipment that they use on the oxen that plough the fields in Austria.

Hoof hook

Food orders are taken at the table by the wait staff and drinks are ordered a the nearby bar. And it’s cash only for both (which threw us a little and had us hurriedly counting cash in wallets and nominating people to wash dishes).

Almdudler

We order with the advice from M as to what is typically Austrian and then she comes back from the bar with cans of Almdudler, a popular Austrian soft drink flavoured lightly with herbs (much like a Chi drink). The red can features an Alpine looking couple and it’s said to be their National drink, second only to Coca Cola in sales, although it doesn’t contain caffeine and the taste is light and refreshing.

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I always swore that if I opened up my own ice cream store, this is the flavour that people would want most. I actually got this many years ago from Vogue forum’s food section by member afj, and made it straight away and kept making it over and over again. It is not an understatement that this will get you an ovation every time. It is so very delicate and unusual a combination but it’s also one that will have you thinking “Why isn’t this a more common combination?”

I’ll be frank, you don’t need Wild Figs for this although these happened to be the ones that I had to hand. You could certainly use those non-wild (tame?), sweet, juicy dried dessert figs although you will need less as these are larger than the small Wild figs. And even better, you don’t really need an ice cream maker to make this.

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The key with going for a successful food adventure is going with people that truly love food. Our friends Queen Viv and Miss America are always willing to go that extra mile for that extra special meal which is a sentiment I always appreciate as I am the same. So despite the fact that Miss A. has been up for over 25 hours straight and she is still willing to go out for dessert after our carnivorous fest at Carne Station proves what a strong constitution and resolve she has. Just what a beauty queen needs really.

Turkish Oud

So its late in the evening when we drive up to Auburn and revisit a place we’ve been to several times before lured by Grab Your Fork and known for their fabulous Dondurma (salep enriched stretchy Turkish ice cream), Mado cafe. Service is a unsure and wary, as if we’ve fallen outside of a spaceship and our questions are answered with a confused “I don’t know”. Its a pity the service is so neglectful as the desserts are divine.

Dondurma (Turkish stretchy ice cream) churning

We know what we want, what we’ve had before and loved, the ice cream (including a must have black mulberry) so we choose the Cup Maras which is an ice cream sundae with scoops of black mulberry, pistachio, sour cherry and maras (white) with fruit salad and sour cherry sauce ($9.50) and the Kazandibi ($5.50) a “cauldron bottom” charred pudding thickened with salep from the orchid root. To quench our thirst we order a Turkish sour cherry drink ($3), Gazoz a Turkish lemonade ($2.50) and Turkish mineral water ($2.50).

From left to right: Gazoz a Turkish lemonade ($2.50), Turkish sour cherry drink ($3), and Turkish mineral water ($2.50)

Our drinks arrive along with our sundae and pudding. The Turkish mineral water tastes like regular mineral water, refreshing and with hard large bubbles, not softly carbonated. The sour cherry drink, always a favourite (we downed about 20 bottles of this last time) is gorgeously fruity and the Turkish lemonade has a fruity flavour to it, almost like creaming soda.

Cup Maras sundae $9.50 Four flavours of ice cream with fruit salad and sour cherry sauce

We dig into our mermaid decorated sundae and I start with my favourite, the black mulberry. Its sweet and with a slight berry tang to it but so heady in berries, its like burying your face in a field of the sweetest berries. The pistachio is lovely too, although not particularly pisctacho-ey with just a faint echo of it. The sour cherry ice cream looks to be replaced by the mango which is nice enough but we know that the sour cherry would have been nicer-I wish they had told us that it was not available. The maras is a mild, plain flavour, more like a milk flavour. The fruit salad is fairly small consisting of a few grapes and tiny cubes of melon but the thick sour cherry topping is gorgeous and I want it by the jar to drizzle over ice cream at home.

Kazandibi $5.50

The Kazandibi, always a favourite of ours, is gloriously stretchy and sweet with a liberal touch of cinnamon. Its hard to describe as there’s nothing quite like it, its similar to a super stretchy rice pudding without the grains of rice.

I contemplate buying the black mulberry by the tub but alas with the night so warm and the journey home so long I know that it will be melted (or eaten) long before we reach our driveway…

Mado Cafe

63 Auburn Road, Auburn Sydney
Ph: +61 (02) 9643-5299
Monday-Friday 8am-midnight, Saturday-Sunday 10am-midnight
Payment accepted: MasterCard, Visa, Diners Club and American Express
Vegetarian options

Also locations in Brisbane and Melbourne

The problem with reality TV shows is that if someone is fairly unknown to you before you see them in one, reality shows trivialise their qualifications. Forgetting that they needed some sort of great reputation in order to clinch the reality tv show deal in the first place. Take Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’s Ted Allen. The one dismissed as “the boring one” or “the one that doesn’t really seem that gay”. I assumed that he was just some guy that liked cooking and eating and had some good recipes but he had quite a career in food writing beforehand being contributing editor of Esquire, food judge, restaurant critic and documentary host.

And as an antipodean, I confess that until recently when Channel 7 started broadcasting Kitchen Nightmares, I knew very little about Gordon Ramsay except that he swore at lot and got very passionate or angry, however you looked at it, in the kitchen. I didn’t know much about what he actually cooked as I hadn’t been to any of his restaurants. I assumed that it would’ve been rather excellent as he inspired a lot of awe and nervous laughter from the chefs in the restaurants that he tried to save in Kitchen Nightmares and that his furrowed forehead was a permanent fixture, capable of reducing a junior cook to visible shakes.

I picked up his book Gordon Ramsay 3 star Chef in Borders the other day, a heavy $100 bright white tome. Flicking through it I had to sit down. The pictures were nothing short of awesome, the food and recipes jaw droppingly good with combinations you’d never have thought to put together in your life but upon reflection seem perfectly harmonious. The pastry section, “The Dark Arts” was of course my favourite and this was where the artist really let loose with flamboyant, fanciful and fabulous desserts.

I even saw a few recipes that I could do myself which was heartening. And because this seemed the easiest to replicate using my tried and true ice cream recipe that does not require an ice cream maker. I thought I’d make it first: Gorgonzola ice cream. Don’t let the idea put you off, its simply divine, even if you’re not a blue cheese fanatic like myself. The reason I’ve put such varying amounts of gorgonzola is for your personal preference but please don’t use any other blue cheese. Try it and defy me please…

Gorgonzola Blue cheese ice cream inspired by Gordon Ramsay

• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 550ml cream
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 100-120g gorgonzola cheese

1. Heat cream until almost boiling in small saucepan

2. While cream is heating, whisk egg yolks and caster sugar until light and fluffy

3. Stir egg and sugar mixture into cream on low heat until thick and coating the back of a spoon.

4. Crumble gorgonzola and stir to melt. Start with 100g of the cheese and taste it, it will hit you as “marvellous” when you’ve got the right amount and then add extra 20grams if it doesn’t sing out to you.

5. Freeze overnight

No I haven’t taken leave of my mind or my tastebuds. Honestly. Although I don’t blame you for thinking so. My sister saw this on a menu under “Coming Soon-Avocado Ice Cream” and was intrigued enough to want to go back to the restaurant to try it. I wasn’t convinced but thinking about the mild creamy taste of avocados and I agreed that it was indeed possible to make a deliciously creamy dessert using this healthy creamy fruit. The Vietnamese have been using avocados in shakes and ice creams for ages but I had yet to taste any of these concoctions but as avocados are extremely cheap nowadays, I found myself with a spare avocado and some cream and decided to put the two together.

Needless to say, that as you aren’t cooking the eggs in this ice cream, to use the freshest ones possible. I used a medium sized avocado and found that using 1/4 cup of sugar wasn’t quite sweet enough so I upped it to 1/2 cup and it was transformed from a fluffy avocado mousse to a delicious velvety ice cream and the whipping of the cream and egg whites created quite a bit of ice cream in the end. I gave my husband the bowl to lick the spoon and he murmured that it was actually one of his favourite ice creams so far. So yet again, I dodge a visit to the loony bin!

Avocado Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 1 large avocado (I only had a medium sized one)
• 2 tablespoons orange or lime juice (I used lime juice)
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/4 cup caster sugar (I used half a cup)
• 1 cup heavy cream

Peel and roughly chop the avocados. In a blender, combine the avocado, juice, and egg yolks, and blend to a fine puree.

In a medium size bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff and whisk in the sugar, 1 teaspoon at a time.

In a separate bowl whip the heavy cream until it forms peaks. Gently fold in the egg white mixture and the avocado puree into the whipped cream. Pour the mixture into a freezer tray, cover, and freeze for several hours.

To serve, scoop out into a dish and garnish with whipped cream or fruit.

Recipe courtesy Irene Khin Wong, Saffron 59
Show: Follow That Food
Episode: Follow That Avocado