Sydney Food Diary

Leftovers

From time to time we need to clear out some photos which sadly will never be attached to a post (often owing to laziness compounded by procrastination on my part). This is one such time.

Sydney Food and Wine Fair

So the Sydney Food and Wine Fair came and went this Saturday and the hoards came running. The overwhelming turnout was good for the AIDS Trust of Sydney, not quite so good for those partaking but it's hard to complain when it's for a good cause and it's a sunny day in Hyde park.

The restaurant turnout was also much the same to last year in terms of volume (a few new faces though) and some stars came out out to shine.

Overall, we weren't very impressed with what most had to offer (poached veal slathered in mayo Claude's?!), there were however a few gems that really made it a worthwhile day.

Here were our highlights for those who are keeping score.

Stunning seared tuna tacos from Ocean Room chef Raita Noda (vaguely reminiscent of that famous crab taco from his other restaurant, Rise), Pello's simple and simply delicious pork ribs, our good friends from spice i am's crunchy-chewy-palm-sugary banana fritters and a positively jaw-dropping dish from Marque salt cod with almond jelly, almond gazpacho and sweet corn custard.

Tony Romas - A place for ribs

A first glance it looks like a log cabin lodge (minus the charm) decorated with castaway tables from some Holiday Inn from the 80s. (at second glance too) There is zero atmospehere and most times we have been here the service has been well meaning but tragically inept.

But we keep going back and the fact is we love it.

Good old American BBQ style ribs are a very rare commodity in Sydney (go figure, it's not so easy to even find good BBQ sauce) and although Tony Roma's is a chain the ribs are satisfyingly consistent and delicious.

There isn't much else we can say except sometimes guilty meaty finger-lickin pleasures are the best pleasures.

Quest for the best - revisited

We returned to this post from so long ago about our quest for the best pizza (which is more than a little different than the recent pizza quest on A Current Affair) and since the time it was written we've sampled the good the bad and the ugly of Sydney's pizza pie world. There are really some great samples to uncover La Disfida (above), Pizza Mario at Republic(original article pic), Grappa, Pompei's and we still like Bar Reggio and Napoli in Bocca.

For home delivery we most often choose Crust but mostly because it's is nearby enough that it's always hot.

We've also heard good things about both Balmain's Il Casale and Rosso Pomodoro (who also do pizza making classes).

But we're also still open to more suggestions. (coal fired pizza anyone?)

Sadly, none of the above are Grimaldi's (but what else is really?)

More Bistro Moore

The last time we sat in this very room was after running away from a rainy match at Aussie Stadium during the rugby world cup. This time things are very different. Gone is the projection screen, the TVs too and long gone are the wet sweaty masses swilling and cheering.

We're at the Olympic Hotel in Paddington and we are about to dine at Bistro Moore and the room has be made over nicely (without overdoing it).

Here, Chef Giovanni Spinazzola serves up modern italian food that is simple enough to be eaten regularly but handled with enough finesse that it exceeds even a lot of food that tries to be more special.

He explains his style "My style is a combination of classical Italian and Modern cuisine. I tend to specialise in modern Italian as I love to mix and match Italian food with different kitchen styles like French and Swiss and most importantly Italian.Its such a cliche but my base philosophy would be best described as Flavours of Italy with the fresh produce of Australia"

For our part, we sampled zucchini flowers, lightly battered and stuffed with leek and blue swimmer crab, perfectly supple gnocchi with mushrooms and truffle and slow cooked duck leg with friseé, crisp pancetta, glazed fig and sweet vincotta dressing. And dessert a warm chocolate pudding with sour cherry sauce and marscarpone ice cream and the semifreddo crocante, ligurian honey and Italian nougat parfait (pictured above).

We'll be back for more. This is an affordable (by Sydney standards) haven from rain soaked games or over engineered menus. We only hope the next time it hasn't changed much.

Bistro Moore Olympic Hotel, 302 Moore Park Rd Paddington, 9361 6315

Grand CRU

So Cruise (the restaurant above the bar) dropped the "ise" earlier this year, moved upstairs to the former Posh bar and under the guidance of a new chef, Ed Halmagyi (ex Nove), they've set sail on a renewed venture.

And things at CRU seem to be cruising along nicely (despite the fact that the logo looks an uncomfortable crop of CRUISE).

At first glance the menu looked great and choices proved difficult.

In the end, we enjoyed grilled garfish salad which was perfectly light and wonderfully done. In slight contrast, a plump raviolo of wild wood pigeon was dressed in a sauce which for our taste was a bit heavy but the dish was none the less enjoyable.

The pheasant assiette main was an excellent dish and the baramundi, bug tail and zuccini flower special was also quite good (though not as good).

For desert we were stunned by a golden syrup tart with brown bread ice cream, I mean it was wonderful. So it may only be by comparison that a dessert special (some sort of chocolate mousse) fell a bit flat (well as flat as chocolate mousse can).

Service for the most part was polished but casual (just the way we like it).

There is a bit room for polishing here but overall we found more to praise than criticize. Add to that a stunning wine list which reflects the new name (not quite enough on the lower end though) and one of the best views in town and you'll definately want to come aboard.

CRU Restaurant - Level 3 Overseas Passenger Terminal West Circular Quay The Rocks, NSW 2000

Cucina Italiana

We haven't had a guest post in quite some time so we invited our friend Tom aka Tam aka Thomas Murray to write us a little blurb about his recent experience at a Cucina Italiana cooking class. We had no idea what we were in for. Tom's words (many of them) follow.

Hands-on Italian Lunch

Luciana Sampogna’s cooking will take you 10 grams closer to God. Just don’t forget your apron, and don’t be late.

Perhaps more than anyone, Italians embrace the social aspect of food. So it’s fitting that we find ourselves not in the stainless-steel bowels of some big restaurant, but here in Luciana Sampogna’s own Balmain kitchen (along with about 12 other wanna-be chefs) like one big happy ‘familia’. We’re here for our Hands on Italian Lunch, which promises a ‘full menu celebrating all that is important in Italian food’ ($99 a head with wine, but bring your own apron!).

What the website doesn’t mention is the bonus four-hour floorshow. Petite but passionate, Luciana holds centre stage. With much hand waving and an engaging Italian lilt, she draws on years of experience to keep the class bubbling along. And we’re straight into it making pasta from scratch. Luciana takes great delight in pointing out that “The cookbooks have it all wrong, wrong. Don’t believe them”. Apparently it’s one egg for every 110g of flour, not 100g. The extra ten grams is kept to one side while kneading the dough and is only added should the temperature and humidity deem it necessary. “This is God’s flour”, she explains simply. The class shares a smile.

We’re up to our elbows in dough when the front door creaks open. Two late-comers skulk in. Luciana accosts them with rolling eyes and exasperated Italian mutterings. Hmm, this is awkward. We all look at our shoes and hope our new classmates have at least remembered their aprons. But like all great teachers, Luciana dishes up criticism and praise in equal measure. Soon enough she’s bouncing around the big wooden table, taking time to show each of us the perfect kneading technique “No, don’t use fingers, just the balls of the hand. Perfect!”

The front door creaks open again, but this time it’s just Luciana’s husband, back from a late-morning jog. Phew.

With our pasta dough resting “it must rest!” we’re ushered upstairs to the lounge room where a huge communal table looks through glass doors onto a deck and the Harbour Bridge beyond. We drink in the surroundings (along with a complimentary Campari) while Luciana takes over the cooking. First up it’s Crostini Toscano. As simple as any bruschetta but far tastier, it’s gobbled up by the hungry horde. And before you can say ‘Borlotti Beans’ Luciana has whipped up a Semifreddo al Caffe, which she stashes in the fridge to set.

In the meantime, it’s back down stairs and back to work. We’re introduced to the pasta machine and soon enough we’re twisting, folding and stuffing like Italian mamas. Among others, we’re shown how to shape Tortellini, Orecchiette and Strozzapreti. But Ravioli seems to be the favourite and before long we have mounds of the stuff, all filled with a pumpkin and ricotta mix.

With the ‘hands-on’ portion of the class over, we head upstairs again and relax with a glass of wine or two. Luciana makes a simple sauce of butter and sage for our freshly boiled pasta and passes out equal portions. Which much oohhhing and aahhhing we all agree that we’ve missed our true calling. But the feast isn’t over. Luciana dishes up some Chicken Scaloppine for the whole crowd. It’s a little sweet for my liking but apparently that’s the way it should be “Don’t believe those cookbooks”, we’re reminded.

After a delicious slice of Semifreddo the class draws to a close. As a parting gift we’re each given full written recipes for all the dishes we’ve experienced and an invitation to phone Luciana whenever we need help. So with full bellies above our belts and a few new skills under them, we waddle back home and deem the day a unanimous success. Perfecto!

Justin North in profile

We like the new chef profile and recipe thingies on SMH Good Living and this one of Justin North is quite good.

Entertainingly, it compares his cooking style to pilates, "robust, yet refined" which in our experience is fairly accurate. We should say though that we've yet to visit the new Becasse but we stopped in several times to it's former Surry Hills incarnation and were suitably impressed (by all accounts it's only gotten better).

We've also had the pleasure of doing a talk+eat with Justin at Simon Johnson recently and although it was less "interactive" than previous sessions, we walked away having learned a few tricky techniques and with the impression that he was a very likable guy. (tasty treats)

Tip for Tuesday

If you are looking for a Tuesday treat (that's this Tuesday coming), Manna Restaurant, gem of the inner-west, still has a few seats for it's special degustation dinner with Main Divide Wines.

The menu, $70.00 for food, $95.00 with wine is quite a great value:

Best of Manna with Main Divide

Demi Tasse of Celeriac Soup with Saffron Cream
2004 Sauvignon Blanc

Duck Assiette
Duck Neck Sausage with Beetroot and Orange
Duck Liver Parfait with Onion Jam and Toasted Brioche
Confit Duck Leg with Wild Rocket and Aged Balsamic
2003 Pinot Noir

Roast Blue Eye Fillet with Sauce Nantua and King Prawns
2003 Chardonnay

Roast Veal Fillet with Beetroot, Spinach, Persillade and Red Wine Jus
2002 Merlot Cabernet

Poached Peach with Raspberries and Zabaglione
2004 Riesling

They say "I have tasted all the wines and for those who chose to have the wines with the menu you will be very impressed. BYO is of course still welcome and all the wines will be available by the glass."

Manna is the corner of Station St and West St in Petersham, ring on (02) 9568-4644

Hats Off to hats off

We really like the Hats Off format - it's win-win to have top chefs experiment with menus that are a little out of their comfort zones (but in a fun way) to the benefit of the eating public.

That being said we took our hats off last night and rocked up to sample what Chef Thomas Johns (of newly two-hatted Pello ), "inspired by his Afro-Caribbean heritage," conjured up.

Not every dish knocked us out but but things worked pretty well, the pans were expertly handled and the journey through the Caribbean flavours was a super-enjoyable one.

It reminded us both of how damn much we miss all the West Indian food we got to eat in Toronto and that we really do need to get to Pello more often (our last visit we figured out last night was before we even started blogging, yikes!).

Here is how the menu read (not great pics sorry)...
sweet potato soup with ginger foam and johnny cakes (abstracted above), saltfish fritter w muscatel & sweet curry vinaigrette; sweet potato mille feuille maron tails, mango, shellfish and lime cream, gazpacho sorbet; baked marinated snapper fillet with a fricassee of okra plantain and red peppers; bbq jerk quail w rice and peas; baby goat curry, buttered spinach, eggplant puree & pumpkin gnocchi; apple rum & raisin crumble; tropical fruit salad w coconut sorbet.

Pello is at 71-73 Stanley Street East Sydney (phone 02 9360 4640)