RESTAURANT: Spiedo

With my level 6 cherry popped last week with Xanthi, I was back to Westfield for another turn. This time it would be at it's Italian next-door-neighbour, Spiedo.

I was pumped for this. With my love for Italian food and long held desire to try the much lauded food of Ormeggio at the Spit (and much hated travelling over the bridge for anything) there was much anticipation.

I'd seen a couple of reviews which had photos of the food, so I steered us towards a more substantial meal.

Pizzoccheri (buckwheat pasta) is a favourite of mine, so having that as an entree was a no-brainer. With potato, cabbage, fontina and sage it's money-in-the-bank delicious. And significantly more substantial than the ox tongue with salsa verde and rainbow trout crude that my dining companions opt for (which admittedly looked delicious and got good reviews).

The wine is flowing, as with any good Italian meal. The northern-Italian-centric wine list is reasonably priced and full of plenty of tempting bottles. Any chance of it being intimidating is eliminated by the staff being so willing to assist and recommend.

A fan of all things slow-cooked, the bresciano with polenta was a no brainer. Slow roasted meat with a rich sauce over an awesome polenta? Brilliant. Delicious, tender, rich, soft, creamy. Everything.

The potato gnocchi with a wild boar ragout is excellent too, though, and nearly has me regretting my choice. For a split-second. Until I hoover another mouthful of meat and polenta.

We're fitting in as much bread as possible and picking at the tomato salad. And it's probably just enough.

Enough room for dessert and the homemade gelato, Spiedo tiramisu and a raspberry dessert all find good homes. The grappa trolley also arrives with a good selection and is readily imbibed. The tiramisu makes a nice change from the usual, though I'm not sure if I prefer it over the traditional version.

The "homebrew" grappa is worth a shot (pun intended), as is the insane, $55 a glass aged grappa that I forget the name of.


Spiedo is a great pick for regional Italian food in a CBD starved of choice. If you make sure you account for the smaller size of some dishes when ordering, you should be fine.

I get the feeling that this is only the beginning and, once the team settles in, we're going to be in store for some awesome dining.


RATING: Will return to [?]

RESTAURANT: Der Raum @ Marque

Twitter is great for sharing little tidbits of information contained in 140 characters or less. But it seems totally insufficient sometimes. I don't know how it contained the short tweet that I saw from Der Raum saying they were going to be doing a dinner at Marque restaurant in the new future.

Wait... what?

This is bigger-than-140-characters-huge!

Yes. A one off night from my favourite cocktail bar and my favourite high-end Sydney restaurant. Oh, and it would be on my birthday. If there is a God and he made this happen, then I have to give the dude credit for choosing excellent gifts.


The day of my birthday couldn't pass quickly enough.

My patience was rewarded with the first offering from Der Raum: sous vide chamomile with a chamomile fog, served in a transparent teapot that was left on the table to brood. Clever, since the first few sips were warm, but the liquid nitrogen in the teapot meant that the last pour was ice cold. Marque contributed an equally impressive appetiser in the form of a foie gas and olive truffle mousse sandwiched between two crisp shards of bonito. I wanted to eat approx 50 of them. That's how you have a mother fucking tea party.

The next dish was one of my favourites from my last visit to Marque. Almond jelly with blue swimmer crab, almond gazpacho, sweet corn and avruga is a beautifully balanced dish with excellent texture. It was matched with a sparkling almond cocktail from Der Raum that had a barrel aged sugar cube in it that slowly disolved. It was a fascinating drink that constantly evolved as the sugar disolved, but was a questionable match with the delicately flavoured dish because of how sweet and almondy it was.

A couple of good-but-not-wow dishes arrived before the mind-blowngly good/clear-winner of a course: smoked duck egg with sorrel, green strawberries, tea and toast. This was paired with what was probably my favourite cocktail when I visited Der Raum: the Bax Beat Pinot, a red wine made out of beetroot juice, citrus and fernet branca. The dish was rich but balanced and very moreish. The "wine" was delicious, very characteristic of a red wine and provided a minty finish to help get rid of any cloyingness from the egg.

Pigeon with mullet roe, sauteed lettuce, cucumber and dill was a very solid dish, held up by the slightly nutty flavour of the roasted lettuce. But it was around this time that I was getting a bit restless. Namely because I was still hungry. Not sure if it was just that day but I was perpetually hungry for the entire three hour dinner. Which was kind of scary, because it was the first time (from memory) that I'd felt that in my "dining career". My dining companions said they felt "content" from the dinner, but I just wasn't seeing it.

Before I knew it dessert was here. Firstly a delicious sauternes custard to set things up. Then the "tomberries" dessert, which was quite nice. Tomatoes stuffed with strawberries or something like that. With the creme fraiche it was refreshing, sweet and perfectly balanced.

Overall a bloody excellent way to spend a Monday night (and a birthday). While it wasn't as breath-taking as my last visit, overall the food and drink on offer was excellent. I can't wait for my next experience at either Marque or Der Raum or... dare I say it... both again...

Though next time I won't be rocking up starving.

RECIPE: Baked Polenta and Meatballs

I made some meatballs in tomato sauce and had a bit left over. I soon found that there are only so many nights in a row that you can eat meatballs in tomato sauce before you get extremely bored of eating meatballs in tomato sauce.

So I decided to mix it up a little.



Start off with your sad old meatballs in tomato or your sad old ragu and put it in a baking dish (mood and age not a matter for concern). Whatever sad old thing you have, it has to be saucy. You want at least 3cm of liquid.

Coat it all with a dusting fine polenta (uncooked).

Add stacks of grated reggiano or pandano.

Drizzle with olive oil, crack on some pepper and put into a 220c oven until everything is golden brown (around 45-60 mins).

The polenta will suck up some liquid, the cheese will brown, meat edges will get crispy.

Add on some freshly chopped parsley if you have it. Drizzle with olive oil.

Serve with bread and a side salad and red wine and your boring old dish is suddenly new and sexy.

RESTAURANT: Xanthi

Since it opened, the food court on Level 5 of the new Sydney Westfield has been my lunch destination of choice. So I thought it was about time that I gave the restaurant precinct on level 6 a shot. The fractionally small Greek part of me decided that Xanthi would be a good bet.

I'd never been to it's predecessor, Perama, but it was fairly well regarded. I was slightly sceptical though, based on my history of being generally disappointed by the quality of Greek food in Sydney (namely the CBD) that tends to verge on the tedious serving of a mezze platter, followed by slow cooked lamb and ended with baklava.

We kick things off with the delicious moked eggplant dip and a bottle of the respectable Lafkiotis Agionimo. Fried veal sweetbreads arrive too and they're superb: crispy, rich and stupidly more-ish.

Things were going well until the loukanika arrived. That made things go very well. Heavily herbed and spiced grilled sausage, delicious with a squeeze of lemon. I gave up dipping my bread in olive oil and dipped it in the fat that the sausage left behind. Insanely good.

The famous pork belly baklava is the sort of modernised Greek food that should happen in more places. Sweet from the date sauce, flaky filo, supported by the soft pork belly. It's a very nice dish.

Onto a bottle of the Domaine Sigalas Mavrottragano. It's among the most expensive on the (entirely Greek from what I can see) wine list, but with good reason. It's superb. Big fruit and gravel flavours, but with a smooth structure.

Lamb from the spit hits the table moments before our jaws do. The meat is tender, juicy, smokey, um.... delicious. A squeeze of lemon and a bit of tzatsiki and you're in heaven.

We also go for the Greek coleslaw and the tomato and white anchovy salad on the side to add a bit of balance to our diet. They're both very tasty.

The salted bonito arrives late and it's probably the worst possible savoury dish to end on. They're certainly not lying about the salted part, the fish is dredged in it. It's not to any of our tastes, but I could see some salt-fiends digging it.

Desserts are good but don't hit as hard as the savoury courses. Byzantine Ekmek is kind of similar to the BTS at House, but not as enjoyable. It's a pleasant and simple note to end on. Garden of Aphrodite is a stunning dish to look at and has it's strong points, but the taste doesn't quite live up to the look of the plate. Though it went superbly with a bottle of the delicious Samos Vin Doux.

Both desserts are only served with spoons, when forks would assist greatly. It was one of a couple of service missteps that night, but, thankfully, they didn't really detract from it being an enjoyable one.

Despite us going overboard on the food and wine, the bill was extremely reasonable considering how good the everything was. The food was excellent in most places, the menu is overwhelmingly more tempting than most Greek places in the CBD and the Greek-centric wine list is well assembled, good value and well worth exploring. While service had a few minor problems, they kept everything moving well and they've helped with the restaurant's lively, boisterous mood. In short, I can't wait to go back for more.


RATING: Will return to [?]

RESTAURANT: El Loco

I'll never forget the time I was at the Excelsior, watching a band in the cramped uni-lodge-esque back room, and I saw convicted paedophile Dennis Ferguson.

(Side note: This blog has been nominated for an award for "best restaurant review to begin with a reference to paedophiles". In a few days I'll post details on how you can vote for us.)

He was rocking the fuck out to some psychedelic prog rock, with no shirt, oblivious to the dozen or so guys in the audience that were plotting to bash him at the first opportunity.


Today at El Loco, that spot is occupied by an Asian family of all ages. There's about fifteen of them and they're huddled over the bright blue table, earnestly deciding what dishes to order.

I'm a few metres away on an equally bright red table, in the general region of where I was standing that fateful night last year, watching my friend portion out El Loco's hotdog. Part of me is being greedy and wants the whole thing, the other part is wanting to try even more dishes from the menu.

The Excelsior and the drab back room have changed massively since Merivale bought it out 9 or so months ago. And while my beloved post-rock may be gone, it has been replaced by fresh food, a breezy room and droves of hipsters. Hipsters aside, it's been a significantly positive change.


Tacos arrive. They're all good. Fresh and refreshing. The tofu taco is good enough to please meateaters too, so don't skip that one. On my second visit I skipped the secret taco, not being the most adventurous offal eater and not being convinced by the honeycomb tripe that was in the last one I had. Sometimes it's a bit hard to find the main ingredient of the filling, but it's no disaster.

I get my part of the hot dog and it's just as good as my last visit. A nice dog, piquant salsa, mayo and mountains of cheese.

The grilled fish with fennel salad and salsa verde is pretty awesome, held together by the deliciously balanced salsa. It's probably my favourite dish so far.

Corn chips with guac and salsa sit on the table and are great to pick at before, between and after dishes.


El Loco is the sort of place that Sydney has desperately needed for the last... oh... ever. Fresh, tasty, cheap, fun and non-stodgy Mexican food. The value is excellent and the venue is, to the best of my knowledge, now paedophile free.


RATING: Will return to [?]

RECIPE: Smoked Chicken and Grilled Asparagus Salad

I'm such a smoked chicken fiend. That shit is amazing. And when I get some, I nearly always make a variation of this salad.

- 1/2 a smoked chicken breast, skin removed, sliced
- 1 T of chilli lime mayo
- 1 good splash of olive oil
- 12 cashew nuts, quickly roasted in a hot pan
- 6 asparagus stalks, woody stems removed, lightly brushed with olive oil and cooked on a hot pan or griddle pan then roughly chopped
- Some shaved grana pandano or reggiano
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 poached egg (optional)
- 1/2 a stalk of celery, finely sliced (optional - not included here)
- Finish with a drizzle of olive oil

RECIPE: Beef Vindaloo

I remember when I was still relatively young an Indian restaurant and take-away opened up nearby. Considering the suburban ethnic diet for the past 50 years had consisted of honey chicken from the local Chinese restaurant, this was a big step.

For my father and I, this was a fairly exciting development. We'd made trying hot dishes and acting like it didn't burn us because we were men "our thing", so the prospect of eating firecely hot vindaloo represented something of a pinnacle.

I haven't had it much since then, preferring to opt for less intense curries that I can actually taste without chilli burning my tongue into oblivion.

But then I decided to make it.



Serves 6 with rice and naan. Medium heat.

Masala
- 1 T mustard seeds
- 2 T curry leaves
- 12 green cardamom pods
- 2 T black peppercorns
- 3 T cumin seeds
- 3 star anise
- 1 medium cassia quill
- 5 dried chillis
- 1 t turmeric powder

Roast in the oven until fragrant. Approx 5-10 mins.

Grind. Add 1 T sea salt.


Garlic
- 1 head of garlic, wrapped in foil

Roast in the oven for around 45 mins until soft. Set aside to cool.

Cut open and squeeze out the garlic.


Base
- 2 medium brown onions
- 5 red chillis, deseeded
- 2 green chilli, deseeded
- 3 thumb sized pieces of peeled ginger
- The garlic from the above

Puree all in a blender/hand mixer.


Beef Vindaloo

In a large saucepan on a medium-high heat add 3 T of ghee and allow to melt. Add the base and cook for 10 mins, stirring regularly so the mixture doesn't stick.

Add the masala and 1kg of diced beef. Stir until the beef goes brown.

Add 1.5L of vegetable stock and 1 t of palm or brown sugar (or jaggery).

Bring to the boil and reduce to a low heat. Cook, uncovered, for around 3 hours, or until the beef is fall-apart soft.

Add either 1/2 C of tamarid juice or 1/4 C of white wine vinegar. Stir.

In a saucepan, heat 2 T of ghee. Add 1 medium brown onion, sliced fairly finely. Add a good pinch of sea salt. Stir regularly until onions are brown. Add 1 T of dried curry leaves and 1 t of cumin seeds. Once cumin seeds are popping and curry leaves look fried, add to the pot and stir.


Serve with rice and naan.

Great the next day.

Maybe some mint sauce for a cooling hit (1 bunch of mint leaves, 1 small Lebanese cucumber without core or skin, 1 tub yoghurt, pinch of salt, blend, lemon juice to taste).

Maybe reduce curry further and shred meat and put inside Vietnamese spring roll wraps and fry if you want to go all next level.

RECIPE: Steak

I've always had a difficult relationship with steak.

But we're working on it.

And it's getting better. Slowly.

ARTICLE: In Praise of the Rochefort 10

For a day that may have dramatically altered my life, I remember nearly none of it. Though that may be explained by the fact that the day contained beer. A lot of it. Maybe. I can't remember (ed: we established that earlier).

I don't remember why we were there, but we'd gone to the Belgian Beer Cafe in The Rocks with the promise of good beer. That was odd in it's own right because "good beer" around that time was mostly defined by how fresh the keg of Carlton Draught or Tooheys New was.

I think we started light and moved to the dark.

I don't think my preference for dark beers had been found yet.

We might had moved through the list and discovered sensational beers like the Gouden Carolous, the Chimay Blu or the Gouden Draak (which was extremely good because it had a golden dragon on the bottle). But there was a point when the Rochefort 10 was ordered. They didn't have the 6 or the 8, just the 10. It was one of the more expensive beers on the list for reasons which we didn't yet understand. Someone probably got it as a dare; to appear odd. Oh, you got that beer? Crazy. We're young men having the time of our lives. Let us high-five.





You can tell by the smell of it. Like a girl our age back then, wearing Impulse, mildly attractive; we new we wanted it. Even among great beers, the Rochefort 10 stands out when you smell it. It smells thick, caramelised, fruity, rich, complex. You get the hint of the 11.3% alcohol in there, but it's not a strong smell. It's like you're smelling a sultana that has been soaked in good brandy. It's a sultana that has been around and knows a few things.

The taste is borderline unbelievable, especially if you're use to Carlton Draughts and Tooheys News. It transcends beer. Think of the complex fruit and cake flavours of a great fruitcake, but turned to liquid and mellowed out. You're kind of there.

Even if you've never had a sip before, it brings back memories of family christmases; of great sandwiches, where the flavours and textures are in harmony; of chocolate cakes that are rich but not cloying so you feel like you could eat them forever; of your first crush because there is something raw and confusing about it; of your first love because it's familiar but it's your everything and you can't imagine a life without it.

I knew I liked it from the first bottle. But I didn't know how much I liked it. I was without context; I'd only had the most rudimentary of beers at that point. But as I explored beer in all it's shapes and forms, the Rochefort 10 has always been special.

In a word, those monks know their shit (ed: that's five words...).

RECIPE: Murgh Methi (Chicken and Fenugreek Leaf Curry)

I was watching TV a couple of week's back and a cooking show was on. It was your typical cooking/travel show where the chef/cook goes somewhere exotic and cooks up food that poor people eat. This was certainly no different.

The Rajashtani people on the talking rectangle certainly looked poor. So the food must be good, right?

Sure thing. Two things stood out at me: yoghurt and fenugreek leaves.

I am well versed with yoghurt as an ingredient--going as far as using it on my speciality/daily dish of muesli with yoghurt--but I'd only ever used fenugreek in seed form. I enjoyed it in seed form, so what of the leaves? Huh, what of them? Are you silent because you are checking what of the fenugreek leaves?

But I digress (get back to me on that). Shockingly, Bondi Junction--normally the hub of culturally different food--was oddly devoid of fenugreek leaves when I was looking for them, so I got my trusty Indian spice/leaf supplier from work to hook me up with some. I then chucked said leaves with aforementioned yoghurt and made some stuff. There's slightly more to it than that.



Serves 6 with rice, mild-to-medium spice.

The Masala
- 1 T salt
- 1 large cinnamon quill
- 12 cardamom pods (the green variety, 3 of the black ones)
- 2 star anise
- 2 T cumin seeds
- 6 dried chillis
- 2 t fenugreek seeds
- 2 t black peppercorns
- 2 T chilli powder
- 4 cloves

Put that on an oven tray and into a moderate oven until you can smell the spices (5-10 mins if the oven is preheated).

Once cool, blend to a fine powder.


Fenugreek
- 1 C fenugreek leaves

Blend them up into a powder.


Garlic
- 1 bulb of garlic

Wrap it in foil and put it in a moderate oven for around 45 mins until it feels soft. Let it cool.

Once cool, cut the base off and squeeze out the delicious, gooey, roasted garlic.


The Other Stuff
- 1 handful of ginger, peeled and grated
- 2 onions, sliced.
- 3 T ghee
- 1 K chicken thigh fillets (or 1.5 K bone in)
- 1 K natural yoghurt (greek)
- 1 C peas (fresh are best but frozen are fine)
- 1 T sugar (caster or brown)


The cooking
1. Add the ghee, ginger, garlic, onions, masala. Cook over a medium heat until onions are translucent.
2. Add the chicken. Cook until white.
3. Add the yoghurt. Stir. Add the fenugreek leaves. Add the sugar.
4. Keep it over a low heat, stirring every now and then, until the chicken falls apart (around an hour). Add the peas after half an hour or so if fresh. If frozen, add 15 mins before you finish cooking. You can't really over cook this so don't worry about that.

Serve over rice with naan, obviously. With poor people around you, optionally.


I brought some in for my beloved spice merchant at work to get the word from an official Indian on my (fairly non-traditional) curry. He was a fan. Apparently, so were his housemates.

I think this may only be the beginning of this recipe. Further refinement could produce something incredible. At the moment it is merely "very good".

And there is so much more that can be done with fenugreek leaves (methi) that I'm yet to discover. Can't wait.

RESTAURANT: Tianyuan Asian Fast Food

I have to admit, I had my doubts when Hong Fu, the hugely popular Chinese restaurant in Parramatta, moved up the road, away from the crowded Church st and into the outskirts of the corporate area near Colonial Tower.

But the corporates must have an almighty appetite for Asian food, because not only has Hong Fu continued to thrive (despite it not being as good as many people say, in my opinion), but a new takeaway and dine-in Chinese restaurant has opened only two doors down to plug the apparent gap and is already getting a steady following.

The dreaded and non-committal "Asian" in it's name belies the quality and authenticity that Tianyuan Asian Fast Food has sitting alongside the western favourites like honey chicken and sweet and sour pork. While the entrees like the shallot pancake and dumplings appear to come from the freezer and aren't anything special, the mapo tofu ($10.80 or $7.80 with rice) is extremely solid. So too are the dry-fried beans with pork ($12.80). Both dishes are available as part of the bain-marie lunch special, which is top value at $7.50 for 2 choices with rice or $8.80 for 3.

It's the dine-in food, though, that is the best bet. The versions of the above dishes benefit heavily from being freshly made, and you open up some of the better dishes. The beef stir-fried in cumin sauce ($12.80) is delicious with a brilliant clarity of flavour. The kungpao chicken ($12.80) is also well worth your ordering. The dry-fry shredded beef in spicy sauce ($18.80) isn't bad either.

Service is fairly typical for a cheap Chinese restaurant, though with their mix of bain-marie specials, take-away and dine-in available, it can get a bit busy.

I'm interested to see how this place evolves. For the first week or two it was mostly people popping in for the lunch special to see if the food was any good. A few weeks later and nearly all of the tables are taken for Friday lunch, almost to the surprise of the staff. And I was a little surprised too. What was sterile and boring when empty is exciting, loud and vibrant when full. Catering to both the westernised tastes and those of people looking for more authentic flavours is smart, and I can't wait to go back and find more dishes that I personally enjoy.


RATING: Will return to [?]

RECIPE: Chocolate and Pistachio Brownies

I like the moister, fudgier style of brownie. So I made it as such.



Ingredients
- 1 stick of unsalted butter
- 100g of dark cooking chocolate
- A small drizzle of vanilla paste (optional)
- 1 t coffee
- 1 T cocoa powder
- 1 C caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 C peeled, roughly chopped pistachios
- 1 C plain flour
- 1 pinch sea salt flakes

Method
1. Preheat oven to 160c.
2. Over a double-boiler, melt down the chocolate and butter.
3. Once melted, add the vanilla, coffee, cocoa powder and sugar. Stir and remove from the heat.
4. Once the mixture has cooled slightly, add the eggs, one by one and mix thoroughly.
5. Add the pistachios and flour and mix.
6. Add the salt and mix.
7. Put the mixture in a greased, medium sized tin (I used an 8"x8") and put into the oven. Cook for 30 mins.
8. Turn the oven off and leave until cool enough to handle.
9. Remove from the oven and eat whenevs.

RESTAURANT: Taste of Shanghai (World Square)

Usually when I walk through World Square and pass Taste of Shanghai it’s after I’ve had dinner elsewhere. I’ve wanted to go there for a while, since the crowd that’s constantly hanging around outside at around 8 must count for something.

Finally, I went there.

I shouldn’t have waited so long to come, because the food is awesome. The pan-fried pork dumplings had a crispy base and a great, soupy filling. The cumin lamb stirfry was one of the best I’ve had and the shredded pork in yu xiang sauce with golden buns is delicious. Yes it’s probably 25% more expensive than normal Chinese places serving Shanghainese food, but the quality is there. Service is pretty friendly and quick, and it’s a pretty comfortable place.

A second was just as--if not more--enjoyable. The fried pork buns were delicious and still filled with heaps of soup (to my shirt's detriment) and give the dumplings a run for their money. While mapo tofu isn't up with some other Szechuan restaurants around the city, it's still very respectable. And cod fried in shallots was well cooked and delicious, being a popular dish in the restaurant for good reason.

My one gripe is with all of the additional charges. For example, it will have pork dumplings listed as $9, but you have to add $2 for getting them fried. Or the milk tea with pearls in the drinks section is listed as $4 + 50c (50c for the pearls). It’s good if you want to order a dish without the extra charge item (ie unfried dumplings) but if you just want what’s on the menu without then it feels like they’re just adding an extra cost to screw you. That’s not the case, but that’s how human psychology works. Give me a flat fee and let's keep the transaction at that.


RATING: Will return to [?]

RECIPE: Fresh Pappardelle with Broadbeans in a Chorizo, Porcini and Burnt Butter Sauce

This dish has a very similar (nearly identical) core to yesterday’s dish, but comes across totally different.


Start by making some pasta dough (no, dried pasta will not work in this dish—fresh egg pasta is essential) with 1 heaped cup of 00 flour. Pretty simple. Just make a well in the centre of the flour and add around 4 egg yolks. Slowly incorporate the flour into the egg until you have a pasta dough. If the dough is wet then add some more flour. I always guess at the quantity needed because I’m a lazy idiot and find that it’s easiest to make it wetter and dry it with flour than make it dry and try to add more egg to a brick of dough.

After covering it in cling film and resting it in the fridge for 30 mins or so, roll it out over a lightly floured surface then cut into sections for the pasta machine. Start on the widest setting then roll the dough through each setting once until you’re done on the finest setting. If you don’t have a pasta machine, roll it as thin as you can get it with a rolling pin or a bottle covered in glad wrap. Once done, gently and loosely roll the dough up and slice it around 1cm thick so you have pappardelle.


You’ll need to work smart when you’re cooking the dish.

Take one pot—slightly bigger than you think you’ll need for the pasta--and get it onto a rolling boil.

Get your ingredients together. 50g of butter, 5 torn sage leaves, a little bit of thyme, the beans from 5 broadbeans and 3 tablespoons of chorizo and porcini jus.

In a pan on a medium-high heat, add the butter, sage and thyme. Heavily salt the boiling pot of water and add the pasta. Add the broadbeans and some cracked black pepper.

Once the butter is looking slightly brown the pasta should be cooked. But check the pasta as you go. It won’t take long to cook. Once the pasta is done, add it to the pan using tongs. A bit of the pasta water will help the sauce stick to the pasta. Immediately add the chorizo and porcini jus and toss.

Put all into a bowl and grate a whole heap of parmesan of the top.

It should make 2 serves.

RECIPE: Pan-Fried Latchet with Broad Beans, Jamon, Sage and Chorizo and Porcini Jus

This works fine with any white fish that is a bit stronger in flavour. Flathead would be an excellent substitute.

Dust the fish fillet with flour mixed with a little salt and pepper.

Put a pan on a medium-high heat and add a good knob of butter. Once it starts melting, add the fish, skin side down.

Add 3 torn sage leaves and 1 torn slice of jamon Serrano (prosciutto would be fine as a substitute).

Once the fish is looking golden brown and crispy, turn it over and add the beans from 3 broadbeans (I like to break then in half before adding). It should only need 1-2 mins on this side, depending on the thickness of the fillet.

Once the fish is done, put it on a plate with the jamon and broadbeans. In the pan, add roughly 3 tablespoons of chorizo and porcini jus (unreduced. Add only 2 teaspoons if jus is reduced), stir and ladle a couple of spoonfuls of this sauce on and around the fish.

Finish the dish with a small squeeze of fresh lemon juice and some thyme leaves.

RECIPE: Chorizo and Porcini Jus

Chop up 3 chorizo and put them in a medium pot with half a handful of dried porcini and 1 sheet of dried nori (torn up). If you have a brulee torch, give some of the chorizo a bit of colour. If not, put the pot over a hot stove and stir for 30 seconds.

Add enough water to just cover the contents and put in a low oven (around 100c) for 3 or so hours.

Strain into a smaller pot. You can either further reduce the contents (by around ¾) for an intense sauce, or keep as is, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and blend and add to other sauces/dishes for a rich (but less intense) boost at the end.

If you let it cool or use it later, make sure you include some of the fat that congeals. The majority of flavour is in that fat.

You can still keep the chorizo that were strained off and cook with them too. They won’t be as strong or oily, but can still be used in heaps of different ways.


Over the next 2 days I'll show you 2 things you can cook with the jus.

BEER: Beers of the Week

Been a few months since I did this, so let's get into it without any delay.


3rd Place - Theakston "Old Peculier"

I haven’t seen this one around before, which is odd considering it’s over 100 years old.

No mistaking that it’s an English old ale. Rich, roasty malt flavours with a background of spice and fruit. It holds a good middle ground of flavour for an old ale, not being overpowering in any particular characteristic and, as a result, drinks really well.

86%


2nd Place - Sierra Nevada 011 Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale

A fresh hop ale made each autumn when hops are at their ripest, once for the northern hemisphere and once for the southern hemisphere. This is the latter, brewing up a shipment of hops from New Zealand sent to California craft beer meganaut, Sierra Nevada.

Not surprisingly, it’s packed with floral, oily hops with a good structure of fruit and bitterness. It drinks super well and has an excellent depth of flavour.

89%


1st Place - Eric Bordelet Poire Granit

This week’s beer of the week isn’t actually a beer. Eric Bordelet is one of the finest producers of cider in the world and they don’t come any better than his incredible pear cider. Unlike nearly every other pear cider on the market, this actually tastes like pears. Pears with the skin on and smelling of the tree. Sweet, crisp, earthy and well-rounded; a cider of supreme flavour and balance.

It’s not cheap (around $40-50 for a 750ml bottle), but trust me when I say that it’s worth it. It’s a classy as hell drop with outstanding balance. It’s great on it’s own or with food. It shines with the obvious pairings like apple-based desserts and cheese, but is also great with pork, some fish dishes, salty or fried food and appetisers. Not that it’s much of a secret; I’ve had it paired with dishes in some excellent restaurants like Melbourne’s Attica (where I first had it) and Cumulus, and Barcelona’s Comcerc24.

He also makes a pretty mean calvados that is worth checking out.

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RESTAURANT: Bilson's

Something happened last time I went to Bilson's. I don't think there's any other way to describe it.

I went there once and it was a superb meal; instantly one of my favourites. Then they got a new head chef and announced that they were going to serve a 15 course meal that would take around 4 hours and would cost $280--just for food.

So far so good, I suppose.

I went there expecting something similar to the first experience, but a little different and much longer. I knew there was a new head chef and saw that as a plus. And even though the new chef was only a month or so in, people were already saying that he was doing a great job.

But, man, was that shit underwhelming. Broths were added to dishes and made them a headache to eat, elements on the plate destroyed other elements, modern techniques felt added-on rather than vital to the dish, service was a little unpolished and the wine pairings didn't always match the food. One of my favourite restaurants in Sydney had become something confusing and better-off avoided.

While I kept wondering what happened, excellent reviews kept on pouring in, climaxing with the apparent return to 3 hats from the Good Food Guide. Basically, I started to doubt myself.

There was only one solution: a ~$450 roll of the die.

It started the same way it did last time, with the fish chips: dry, crisp chips made from fish and potato, served with a tartare that is fairly inconsequential, with the chips being tasty and salty enough on their own without a punch of vinegar to go with it. This time, however, the chips seem thinner and crispier; less like the legs of soft shell crabs like last time.

An amuse bouche arrives and it catches me off guard. I'm probably getting this wrong, but I think it was a sweet potato mousse with ginger, miso, croutons, black sesame cake and a couple of other things. It was fucking brilliant. Flavourwise it was perfect. But, more relevantly, the dish worked in the bowl. It was texturally brilliant. Every element played it's role to perfection. This was nothing like last time. And it was only the amuse bouche. So much better than the coconut and garlic amuse served last time. A good sign.

The next three dishes that follow were fairly similar to dishes served last time.

The starter of oyster, king crab, apple cous cous and yogurt works a lot better on the second take. The compressed apple, celery and (I think) finger lime were balanced perfectly, whereas last time they ruined the texture of the dish by being in large chunks. There's a buzz of chilli which is almost profound. The flavour and heat of red chilli is, strangely, well matched to the mineral flavours of the oyster. A staggering amount of work has gone into making the many elements work together and it really pays off.

The dish that pissed me off the most last time is back and it's barely changed. The raw and barely cooked prawn parts are great. And the fried (I think) quinoa adds a nice texture. But I find that the consomme that gets added at the table to be really confusing and just ruin the way the dish eats. It makes the quinoa soggy--but not soggy enough to make it texturally interesting--and on a relatively flat plate with a relatively flat spoon, it eats poorly. It's not a bad dish, but it's not a great dish.

The slight reworking of the carrot, calamari, shaved macadamia and cocoa is, however, a great dish. Somewhat forgettable and confusing last time, it's reworked the balance of the elements and become outstanding. Everything on it makes sense and the combination of the shaved macadamia with the sweetness of the carrot and calamari is bang on. The matching wine is a cracker--an aromatic, almondy pigato--and takes the dish to the next level, giving the dish a buttery but clean finish.

Enter The Marron. I don't recall the next dish--marron with a rectangle of butternut pumpkin, milk foam and mandarin puree--from last time. If it had have been served I'm certain I would have, because it's awesome. Great textures, super marron, a foam that makes sense and that mandarin puree in combination with the flax seeds atop the marron holds all of the flavours together.

Egg yolk with truffled chicken soup and cauliflower is nice but is difficult to eat in the same way that the prawn dish is due to the barely cooked yolk that oozes all over the plate once punctured. Ever tried to eat some egg yolk off a plate with a fork? Fairly frustrating. It's like that. The truffles barely come across and aren't really necessary. The dish is better than what I remember of last time--and certainly isn't "bad"--but it still isn't one of the better dishes, despite promising a luxurious experience on paper. The saving grace is the brilliant matching wine that cuts through the cloyingness of the yolk but still allows the dish the richness it requires.

Smoked mackeral with salsify, jerusalem artichoke, rosemary and citrus banishes any bad thoughts. It's perfectly balanced, well-textured and beautifully flavoured. Oddly, the star of the dish is the powdered citrus, which holds all of the flavours together. It's a contender for dish of the night.

The next dish--inspired by chef Munoz's time at El Bulli--is just insane. It's a rich, parmesan-laden polenta, spherified, along with fried zucchini flower petals, hazelnuts and some pieces of baby zucchini. Fucking incredible. A rich polenta is great on it's own, but to have it contained in a gnochi-like morsel that explodes in your mouth is something special. Along with some texture from the crisp zucchini flower petals and hazelnuts and the flavour of the hazelnut and baby zucchini rounds out everything perfectly. Thanks for ruining polenta for me forever. It WAS my one of my favourite things before this dish set the bar WAY too high for me.

The mushroom and quail dishes that follow are also excellent, rounding out a spectacular middle of the menu. If every dish was like the middle section of dishes you'd have a contender for best restaurant in the country, if not the goddamn hemisphere.

A plate with pears arrives and a hare jus is poured. Like the prawn and egg yolk dishes, it eats poorly. Eating a jus/broth/consomme with their thin spoon is fairly unrewarding. Balance wise, I felt the chunks of pear were a bit strong for the hare jus. Although the small brushing of oloroso sherry add a nice depth to the flavour. Another saving grace was, again, the wine pairing. The DJP mencia was best mates with the hare jus, taking both to new heights.

The final savoury course is the wagyu shank--cooked for something like 30 hours--with kipfler potatoes and a watercress puree. It's almost like mashed potatoes and corned beef, but significantly better. A really nice dish that looks tremendous on the plate. Last time I really hated the wine match which was some sort of red and got totally blown away by the rich potato mash. I'm still not blown away by the red that is matched this time.

The cheese course takes the form of mascarpone with beetroot, orange and white sesame. A brilliant and refreshing dish after the rich beef dish. The mascarpone is perfectly flavoured and the other elements add good flavour and texture to the dish.

"Citrus" is the first dish and replaces the rose, raspberry and white chocolate dish from last time that I felt ate poorly. It's brilliant and, yes, citrussy. Citrus in all it's guises, put into plenty of different forms. Great flavour, great texture and eats so much better than last time. And very, very citrussy.

"Equatorial" finishes things off. A gooey chocolate fondant covered in coffee mousse, chocolate sauce and chocolate snow. Chocolate and coffee on an extreme, rich scale. Good flavours but I don't like the way it eats. A fondant covered in sauce doesn't really work. And the chocolate snow on the side of the bowl feels added on. There's no denying that there were some great elements on the plate (or bowl, as it were) but for me I think it needs a bit of a rework if it wants to be on the same tremendous level as some of those savoury courses.

It all concludes with the chocolate box--a box filled with chocolates and an edible base, which you can't really eat because it doesn't taste great--which I refuse to accept as a course because it's basically just petit fours, which isn't normally (ever) considered a course.

I leave around three and a half hours after I began, shaking my head. The turnaround from my last meal is incredible. The food is, generally, exceptional. The wine pairings are often inspiring. The staff now appear to be brimming with pride in their food and are well represented by sommelier Richard Hargreaves who is as passionate about the restaurant as he is likeable as he is great at matching wines.

I now rate Bilson's up with Marque and Quay as Sydney's best fine-dining restaurants. Better than Sepia, better than .est, better than Bentley. More importantly, Bilson's is better than I've ever seen Bilson's before. They're on a great path here.


RATING: Will return to [?] (promotion from 'Okay, may go back')

RECIPE: Taramosalata and Buffalo Mozzarella Pizza

It’s late. You’ve been drinking. You’ve got that unshakeable hunger for something hot and oily and juicy. You could swing past that kebab joint near the station on your way home and suit the craving that way. But... there’s a problem.

You’re drunk at home tonight because your friends don’t want you hanging around after what happened last weekend at Darren’s place in the laundry with his purebred Suffolk lamb. Why does he have a pet Suffolk lamb in his laundry? It doesn’t matter, they tell you. And if it did matter, what you did wasn’t going to shed any light on the question.

So you’re at home, drunk, questioning your sexuality and you’re craving something to eat. It has to be quick. It has to be easy. It can’t be lamb. At least... not until you reconcile these feelings you’re having...

How about a super easy pizza? A unique one. Because you’re a unique sort of guy.



Put your oven on it’s highest setting and chuck a thin oven tray in there.

Take a wrap. I use a souvlaki wrap because it has a nice thickness but you could use a Lebanese one or something like that.

Spread it very thinly with taramosalata (should be around a heaped tablespoon).

Get some buffalo mozzarella. Around 50 grams should do it (which is roughly half a medium sized ball). Tear it into a few chunks and put it around the pizza. Don’t put it in the centre as it could make it soggy. I know it’s hard to concentrate now because the white cheese is reminding you of a Suffolk lamb, but I need you to stay with me for a bit longer.

Give the whole thing a little drizzle with olive oil.

Hopefully your oven is screaming hot now. Put the pizza on the tray and let it cook. Cook it until the edges are well browned but not burnt. It should take around 10 mins.

Take the pizza out. Another drizzle with olive oil. A few drops of lemon juice if you have a lemon around. A little cracked black pepper. Slice into pieces.

Eat.

Wash up.

Cry yourself to sleep.

Yes, again.

RECIPE: Prawn Ceviche

Ceviche is a noble dish. THERE I SAID IT.

It could just be one of those awesome dishes from a part of the world that has been around for centuries and was created purely out of what was available to the people making it. But it's more than that; it's a dish that doesn't let you lie.

There's nowhere to hide in a ceviche (especially if you make a small quantity lolololol). If you don't use the freshest of ingredients then your dish is going to totally blow. Hell, you even risk poisoning whoever eats your dish if you use dodgy seafood. You don't get that shit with a lasagne.



This recipe is good for any shellfish or boneless white fish. I'd originally intended to do this with scallops, but the prawns at the fish store looked a bit fresher. You could use a combination of seafood if you wanted, but just make sure whatever you use is extremely fresh. If you can't find fresh seafood don't make a ceviche. If you even attempt it you will spontaneously combust and fish parasites will feast on your charred remains.


Ingredients

- 250g of prawns (peeled, deveined weight), roughly chopped
- 1.5 lemons
- 1 lime
- 2 chillis, deseeded and finely chopped (to taste)
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 shallot
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 big handful of corriander leaves, finely chopped
- 4-6 mint leaves, finely chopped
- Olive oil to finish


Method

1. In a shallow bowl, add the juice of 1 lemon, 1 lime and the zest of 1/2 a lemon and 1/2 a lime.
2. Finely grate the garlic and shallot into the bowl.
3. Add the chillis and a generous pinch of salt and pepper.
4. Add around 4/5 of the corriander and mint. Reserve the rest for finishing.
5. Add your prawns, mix and refrigerate for 25 mins, mixing after 15 mins.
6. To finish, transport the mixture to a serving bowl, discarding the liquid. Finish with the reserved herbs, a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve immediately with crusty bread, toasted wraps or prawn crackers.