There were two bottles that sparked my curiosity, mainly because it would be too risky to store them for another prolonged period of time, and that I couldn’t bare the thought of losing them either! So the date was set, my 1982 Dom Pérignon and my 1988 Château Mouton Rothschild were to be enjoyed prior to me leaving the beautiful city of Sydney.

We brought them along to Lotusbar for pre-drinks, followed by a wonderful degustation dinner.

The 1982 Dom Pérignon still had a lovely array of bubbles gently sparkling through the crystal flute. A beautiful golden color dressed with nice honey scents on the nose. The flavors are just bursting with a great chardonnay fruit, fresh, lightly creamy and incredibly toasty with some sweet nutty fruit and butter. Balanced and beautiful like a ballet dancer tip toeing gracefully on our taste buds.

The 1988 Château Mouton Rothschild was another bottle that needed to journey out of the cellar before my departure. Much to my dismay, the cork was slightly soaked through, and slightly pushed out (probably due to a sudden change in temperature during the buying process) and I was rather worried about possibility of a corked Mouton. I even brought the battered bottle over to the Ultimo Wine Centre for Jon Osbeiston, W.D.(wine doctor) to diagnose with a 55% chance to live, due to the heat damage. The thought of keeping it cellared for my intended event in 2012 would just be foolish, so a date was set for the unveiling of the Mouton. It was a gamble, where the odds were only slightly working towards our favour, fingers were crossed and we hoped for the best.

Peggy Lee Dampney, Amanda Ibrahim

After an hour of decanting by Frank (the cork crumbled and needed to be strained out), the familiar and eager Bordeaux flavors came out in a bout of earthiness. This may not be a perfect wine, but the quality is undoubtedly elegant. It’s rich and fruity, with loads of currant, truffles, roasted herbs and cedar on the nose and palate. Full-bodied, with invisibly silky tannins and an a long finish. I could go on and on, as we savoured every drop and exchanged and challenged tasting notes around the table, just ask my knowledgeable friends! (One of them being the Queen of hospitality - Peggy Lee, I can’t imagine sharing something so special with anyone else.)

When paired with Dan Hong’s roasted duck, still plump and pink in the centre, accompanied with beetroot, purple kale, olive and orange jus, it was a match made in heaven.

A toast to new beginnings! Stay tuned while I settle into the city that never sleeps – New York here I come.

One cup of butternut squash contains only 63 calories and almost 150% of your daily recommended amount of Vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene. This vitamin and powerful antioxidant can prevent lung cancer, atherosclerosis, diabetic heart disease, help alleviate or prevent inflammatory diseases such as arthritis, lower cholesterol levels, and much more. Folate is another important nutrient which can help prevent birth defects. It also has 32% of DV of Vitamin C, 25% of your DV of potassium, almost 6 grams of fiber, manganese, omega 3 fatty acids, several vitamin B’s and copper.

If you give the cubed butternut a quick roasted in the oven you can really enrich its flavour.

Ingredients

•Olive oil
•1 small butternut squash, trimmed and cut into cubes
•2 garlic cloves, minced
•1 teaspoon salt
•1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus 1/2 teaspoon
•1 cup vegetable stock
•1 packet Barilla Penne Rigate No. 73
•3/4 cup whole milk
•1/2 cup sage leaves
•1/4 cup grated Parmesan (reggiano)

Directions

Warm a good drizzle of olive oil in a large pan on medium-high heat. Add the butternut squash, garlic, a few torn sage leaves (not all of them), 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Saute until the squash is golden and tender, around 5 to 7 minutes or so.

Add the vegetable stock, bring to a simmer, cover and cook until the squash is very soft, another 5 to 7 minutes. Mash with a potato masher until you get a smooth consistency. It doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth, in fact, I like it slight chunky for the texture.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the penne and cook according to packet instructions – minus 2 minutes, so that it’s ever so slightly undercooked. Drain.

Meanwhile, in a separate small saucepan, heat olive oil over high heat. Shallow fry sage leaves until crispy and set aside on kitchen paper.

Add the drained pasta into the butternut mixture, and add 1/2 cup milk. Stir to combine. Add the remaining milk if you prefer a creamier sauce.

Sprinkle fried sage leaves on top and serve with grated reggiano.

Bon A Petito!

There are many recipes out there for Bolognese sauce, and we all have our own favorite. There are master combinations of pork/veal/beef mince, blend of vegetables to make a killer sofritto, cooking time that goes on for hours and hours… which produces divine results. But for all those times where we just want to prepare a simple meal that’s loved by all, with the same heartwarming effect but half the work, I’ve put this recipe together for you… with a little secret ingredient that really lifts the flavours.

Ingredients:
450g Beef mince
1 jar Barilla Arrabiata sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 brown onion, finely diced
1/2 bunch sage, roughly chopped
1 packet of mushrooms, sliced
1/4 Organic butternut squash, grated
1 packet Barilla Integrale spaghetti n.5
1/2 bottle of good red wine
Parmigiano Reggiano to serve

We want to start of by softening the garlic and onions with a good amount of olive oil in a saucepan. When the onion turns clear and the aroma starts to rise, tear the sage leaves into the hot oil and let the perfume infuse into the oil.

Pour in the mince and brown the meat in the saucepan, making sure everything is cooked through and there are no lumps. Add in the mushrooms along with a little extra drizzle of olive oil, stir it through, and then tip the entire jar of Arrabiata sauce in. I chose the arrabiata because of the extra heat from the chilli’s, and also reduces overall cooking time. And now for the fun part, empty just under half a bottle of red wine into the saucepan – and saving the other half for dinner time.

It’s time to add the secret ingredient. Grate a few slices of a butternut squash with a microplane and add it to the sauce. The sweetness of the butternut really adds to the flavour of the sauce and I’ve always been reluctant to add sugar to cooking. It will all melt into the sauce, and you won’t actually taste the butternut, but only the rich sweetness that is left behind.

Give it a good stir, cover and simmer on low heat for one hour. During that hour, I’ve always found that it’s a great time to work out, because there’s a lot of carbs coming your way!

After an hour, the sauce would have reduced into a much thicker consistency. Cook the pasta according to packet instructions. I chose a semolina flour Spaghetti n5 and cook it just 2 minutes under the instructions for a good al dente texture. This is something that was taught to me by Chef Massimo Bianchi, you have to account for the time when you stir the pasta into the saucepan because it continues to cook.

Stir the pasta into the sauce, grate some parmigiano reggiano to serve and bon apetito!

We are by no means dissing the larger clubs out there, but it is nice to know you can have the same quality (if not better) of cocktails and food without adhering to guest-lists, dress codes, and that huge bouncer who knows your name… for all those nights when we are too tired to be fabulous

Little smitten – small bars winning women over

BY RACHEL OLDING

Raising jars to small bars … Amanda Ibrahim, 28, and Megan Khoury, 31, enjoy a drink after work at the Grasshopper Bar on Temperance Lane in the Sydney CBD.Photo: Kate Geraghty

Tired of being hassled by drunk men, women are ditching pubs and nightclubs for small bars.

For Megan Khoury, 31, the new small bars feel safer and are more civilised.

”Guys can’t get away with just swaggering up to you and making some bad call,” she said. ”I choose the small, funky, intimate bars to have that personalised experience with the staff, and to feel comfortable.”

Her co-worker Amanda Ibrahim, 28, said the friendly vibe was important: ”Larger places like the Ivy are not as casual and they’re almost a bit sleazy. In the small bar environment, it’s really just about the company you’re with and having nice drinks and food without pretentiousness.”

Their favourite bars are Sticky Bar, Balcony Bar and the quirky Grasshopper Bar where drinks are served in recycled jars.

Click here to continue reading on SMH.com.au

Tracey and Ashley Hughes from Alio

This particular recipe that Ashley has chosen to share with us was actually taught to him by Rose Gray of the River Café. Ashley added his own personal touch of chestnuts to the finish of the dish, and makes this a magnificent vegetarian course. 

The Rotolo originated from the region of Emilia-Romagna, and it is simply a sheet of pasta covered with filling, rolled up to form a roulade, then poached and served in slices alongside some sauce. 

The recipe starts by making the pasta dough and allowing it to rest, then making the rotolo filling and allowing it to cool, followed by rolling the pasta dough. 

1000g flour tipo oo
6 egg yolks 
3 whole eggs 
30g salt 
1tsp oil 

Sieve the flour directly onto the bench. Make a well in the centre, place the eggs, salt and oil into the well. Slowly combine all the ingredients together to make dough. If the dough is to dry add another egg yolk. Once the dough has formed, kneed the pasta on a lightly floured bench for five minutes. 

Cover the dough in cling film and rest for 20minutes. 

Time to make the rotolo filling: 

Spinach filling 
25g butter 
2 garlic cloves peeled and finely chopped 
500g baby spinach leaves washed and dried 
375g ricotta 
1/2 bch marjoram picked from the stem 
1/2 whole nutmeg grated 
75g parmesan grated 
Salt and black pepper to taste 

Mushroom mix 
250g sliced field mushrooms 
25g dried porcini 
20g butter 
1 garlic clove 
Salt and pepper 

Rotolo Filling – Spinach 

Using a frypan on gentle heat melt the butter and fry the garlic until it becomes translucent, ensuring you do not brown the garlic. Add the spinach, cooking until it wilts, as we want the spinach looking vibrant green in colour. 

Remove from heat then stir in marjoram leaves. Empty the mix in a strainer to allow all the moisture to drain. Squeeze excess water out. Set aside to cool. 

Place ricotta in a large bowl and use a fork to break it up, until it becomes crumbly. Add the spinach, parmesan and grated nutmeg. Season generously with salt and pepper, gently mix till combined, then set aside. 

Rotolo Filling – Mushroom Mix 

Soak the porcini in boiling water for 20 minutes then drain reserving the soaking liquid. When drained wash under running water to remove any grit. 

On gentle heat melt butter in a pan and fry garlic as before (again ensure it is cooked only until it becomes translucent). Fry the field mushrooms for five minutes allowing them to colour. Add the porcini and the soaking liquid (take care not to use the end of the liquid as it may have grit from the mushrooms). Cook for a further 20 minutes on a low heat allowing the moisture to cook out. 

Roll the pasta dough through a pasta machine so that you have 2 thin sheets of pasta. Keep dusting with flour so they don’t stick together. The desired thickness should resemble a cotton sheet. 

Lay the sheets on a clean cloth or tea towel so they cover an area 45cm by 30cm. To join the sheets together brush edges with water. 

Spoon the spinach mix on the pasta approximately 1cm thick and spread to cover the entire sheet, leaving a 1cm boarder from the edge. Spread the mushroom mix in a line along one entire side of the sheet (this will become the centre of the roll). 

Brush the edges of the pasta with water (once rolled this will hold it together). 

Starting with the mushroom edge, roll the sheet over and over itself working away from you. Once you pull the towel upwards, the rest should roll automatically. 

When it is rolled into a thick sausage roll it in the tea towel as tight as possible, tie both ends with string (this holds the roll in shape). 

To cook, place the roll into boiling water for 20 minutes (a fish kettle or deep sided covered baking tray will work well). When it is cooked remove the roll by holding either end with tongs. 

250g butter
1 bunch of sage picked
100g cooked chestnuts 

Heat the butter in a pan add the sage and the chestnuts Cook until the sage is crisp and the chestnuts start to colour then remove from heat. 

Untie the tea towel, then unwrap the rotolo from the towel and cut in lengths approximately 3-4 cm, trimming off both ends. 

Dress with sage butter sauce, chestnuts and extra grated parmesan. 

Serve alongside tomato, buffalo mozzarella and basil salad, warm olives and freshly baked foccacia. 

We had the pleasure of enjoying a lovely meal at Alio restaurant after our pasta class with Tracey Hughes (Ashley’s sister), where she shared wonderful stories about their farm and the day to day stories of running a successful restaurant. Happy 10th anniversary! 

There are two types of classes offered at Alio: hands on (4-5 hours) and demonstration (2-3 hours), with lunch concluding the class. If you are interested in attending, visit the Alio website or give Tracey a call for bookings. 

Alio Restaurant
5 Baptist Street, Surry Hills
Sydney, NSW
T 02 8394 9368 

Thank you to Wasamedia for arranging such a wonderful opportunity.

At the rear of the newly developed “Cool Docks” area of the bund, Stiller’s restaurant is elevated five levels up in a long, spacious room with leather chairs and pristine white tablecloths made all the more beautiful by the skyline of the pearl of the orient. It is a dramatically gorgeous mix of tranquil elegance and sleekly understated modernism makes an alluring dining space away from the hustle and bustle of Shanghai. If you had spent a full day in the Shanghai World Expo alongside half a million people like myself, you can only appreciate the ambiance as stepping into heaven.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way. You’ll find one of the most beautiful views of Shanghai from this dining room, and the same view from rooftop lounge even more breathtaking. On a lower level, there is a state of the art equipped cooking school for both amateurs and beginners.

Of course we would leave the menu to Chef Stefan Stiller’s wishes as he orchestrates a tasting menu of seven carefully sculpted, classically European courses with a German twist. Stephan, once an owner of a restaurant (Relais et Chateau) and receiving his first Michelin star only 17 months after its opening, is now taking over Shanghai’s culinary world by storm. What I find extraordinary is that even with such a colorful career, he continues to dedicate his time along with his wife to Stiller’s restaurant, injecting every aspect with his personal touch.

His menu is constantly updated on a fortnightly basis to only cook with the best seasonal ingredients available, and his determination to constantly reinvent only adds to his intellectual approach to gastronomy. Under his wing is also Shanghainese Chef Shi Jingshen – who came second (and only winner from China) of the prestigeous Bocuse D’or Asia, securing a place in the finals in Lyon next year and beating Japan into third position.

The night begins with a wonderful selection of warm bread with a marvellous trio of whipped butter – Pesto, Garlic and Sundried tomato for a variety of anticipation of what’s to come. An amuse bouche trio follows on delicate ceramic spoons.

The Variation of Foie Gras and Rhubarb prepared four ways with different techniques and textures (with my favorite ingredient, by the way) is a decadent climax that goes pretty close to also causing one. Thankfully, a distraction of carefully grilled corrugated surface of fresh scallops adds an extra dimension alongside the pea mash, chutney and bisque like foam.
 

Stefan doesn’t try too hard for an excellent fillet of turbot, perfectly cooked and accompanied by a plump piece of Boston lobster, green peas, pickled pumpkin in a warmly aromatic lemon-grass curry sauce that doesn’t overpower the seafood. Highly in anticipation, I had forgotten to photograph this one, need I say more?

Every flavoursome performance needs an intermission and the marinated cherry tomatoes, mozzarella tomato water and basil sorbet was ever so reanimating on the palate, flawlessly preparing us for the “Rheinischer Sauerbraten”.

The 36 hour slow braised beef cheek is worth all the wait, the intensely rich and tender morsel and takes on a modern edge under the perfectly pink beef fillets, with the slippery mushrooms given a razz by the pea puree, playing catch-up to such xuberance.

The “Tart Soufflé au Chocolate” Mascarpone Foam, Chocolate Sorbet sent the entire dining table into a silence. It is the lovechild of the perfect soufflé top and a warm liquid centred fondant, balanced with the far from creamy chocolate sorbet and mascarpone form where temperatures and textures playfully mingle.

With a menu fit for a royal, even the crown price of Belgium on the table next to us looked pleased, while his five bodyguards could only hungrily feast with their eyes. I was only too glad to be enjoying my meal with all the beautiful people that somehow all magically connected to each other, you know who you are! x

True decadence!

Stiller’s Restaurant and Cooking School
The Cool Docks
505 Zhong Shan Nan Road, South Bund,
close to Fuxing Rd. Building 3, 7th Floor
Phone: +86 21 61526501

As the weather in Sydney takes a chilly turn, we start to crave warm spaces and comforting food, and what more perfect way to treat yourself than taking advantage of Monkey Magic’s mid-week winter special?

You’ll find the subtle glass door leading upstairs to the converted warehouse space on Crown street, refurbished beautifully into a warm and inviting restaurant, floating with the gentle scent of fresh oriental lilies at the entrance. The cold rainy weather outside instantaneously became a distant memory.

It doesn’t take much to convince myself that Monday night is never too early for a cocktail, as it was only appropriate to start off with an Edo Garden Tea – a mix of jasmine and rose tea, shaken with Hendricks gin (my all time favorite) and cucumber, stirred with dried rose petals. My partner was only too eager to follow my lead with a Komeshi Bon Bon (Kome-shochu with lemon and tangy marmalade).

We ordered the night’s special – deep fried kushiyaki (skewers) of lotus root, haloumi, prawn, shitake mushroom and scallop with a trio of condiments to accompany our drinks, Izakaya style.

The exposed brick and polished wooden surfaces and deep chillout beats brings us back to the lounges in Tribeca with modern Japanese undertones. The Japanese couple nearby confusingly tries to eat the crab leaves, and after much careful discussion, decides that the betal leaves we not edible. It was a small shame that the waitress didn’t explain the wonders of the betal leaf to them.

It was not long after that we felt food envy from the other Japanese couple behind us and decided to order our own plate of Monkey magic style sushi selection. Melt in your mouth sushi, jazzed up with refreshing flavours of yuzu cream, anticucho (a Peruvian marinade), basil sauce and soy glazes, I chose not to use the accompanying soy sauce so I could savour each garnish.

The legacy of the late Ivy Teppanyaki still lives on in Monkey Magic menu, with many dishes still available since the departure of Chef Adam Lane. I trusted our waitress to recommend the new dishes on the menu to try.

The slow cooked pork belly was braised in a rich soy, dolloped with seeded mustard and served with puy lentils and wilted English spinach; the braised beef cheeks – so decadently soft the meat falls apart with with a single touch next to the pan fried (goat’s cheese?) gnocchi resting by the red wine sauce. The yuzu citrus notes from the Monkey magic salad of mizuna, radish and baby beetroot was a perfect compliment to cut the fat. We also couldn’t miss the much loved wok tossed mushrooms with lettuce hearts, where the sweet and sour notes from the citrus miso added that extra pizazz.

I couldn’t end our dinner without the legendary Banana Harumaki, a dessert style spring roll with banana, white chocolate and shiso – another favorite from the Teppanyaki days. Dip the harumaki into the warm raspberry coulis or the melting green tea ice cream to finish things off with a sweet note.

Monkey Magic

The special winter offer runs Monday to Wednesdays during the Sydney winter months and you get an awesome 20% everything on the menu (even the cocktails!).

Shop 3, 406 Crown St
Surry Hills, 2010
Telephone: 02 9358 4444
www.monkeymagic.com.au

Many thanks to George at Wasamedia for comping my meal for this entry.

David Chang, a Korean-American born in Washington DC is the chef and owner of a string of successful restaurants that has local New Yorkers addictively queueing up outside every door and fighting over every online booking. Since missing out on Chang’s visit to the Melbourne food and wine festival last March, I thought – what the heck, let’s fly to New York for 3 days and check out what the hype is all about. While I couldn’t manage to secure a booking at the twelve-seater Momofuku Ko, I had always wanted to try Ssäm Bar, especially when it hit 26th on this year’s San Pellegrino top 50 list. Can a mishmash of Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine really be ranked so highly in the world? Amongst the other competitors on the Top 50, Momofuku Ssäm Bar was both an exception in price (if you’re sharing the Bo Ssäm) and atmosphere. With it’s loud echoing wooden space, long communal tables and counter dining that seats no more than 50, staff with a quick and casual service attitude; you won’t be expect white linen, polished cutlery or a dinner jacket anywhere.

A carnivorous menu that embraced the wonderful, magical animal¹ it would make Homer Simpson proud, especially when the term “We do not serve vegetarian-friendly items” so explicitly spelt out in writing, this “meathead” restaurant definitely isn’t a place I would bring my mother (nor my Jewish friends) to.

Knowing the amount of pork that would soon arrive on our table, I thought it would only be appropriate to to begin our palate with two seafood dishes from ‘Raw Bar’.

The cured hamachi with edamame, horseradish, pea leaves was delightful, the fish slightly smokey and paired with edamame puree and fried genmai (brown rice) pops for a melange of textures.

The santa barbara uni with whipped tofu, tapioca (just like in bubble tea), and shrimp crackers was a very interesting combination. The whipped tofu was texturally like a soft custard, paired with chewy taioca bubbles and crushed crisps.

A favorite pork dish available across all Momofuku establishment would surely be their steamed buns with melting pork belly, hoisin sauce, finely sliced cucumbers and scallions. The turbo charged gourmet char siu bao proved very popular with the boys, I saw their eyes light up with excitement!

Momofuku’s bo ssäm has to be ordered in advance through their website, where online reservations open at 10am New York time every morning. This meant staying up past midnight Sydney-time two weeks ahead of the reservation date in order to swiftly click my way through (with practice on previous nights) to score a table of 10 and an order of whole roasted pork shoulder. The entire pork butt costs $200, and it’s recommended for serving six to eight people – but with advice from my friend Caroline, having a group of 10 people made the event much less overwhelming (and very cost effective), leaving plenty of space for appetizers and desserts.

Bo Ssäm (Ssäm meaning “wrapped” in Korean) is a traditional Korean dish in which steamed pork is wrapped in a lettuce leaf, accompanied by ssäm jiang (korean bbq sauce), kimchi and ginger scallion sauce.

David Chang uses the highly praised Berkshire pork (also known as Kurobuta in Japan), which is dubbed the “Wagyu of the pork world”. The whole bone-in pork butt is soaked in a brine of brown sugar and salt overnight, then rubbed with more brown sugar, salt and spices and roasted in the oven for over 8 hours.

Served at the table with it’s caramelized honey brown skin and meat so tender it falls apart with a touch of your disposable wooden chopsticks, the rich slow roasted shoulder of pork would defy the most determined of dieters.
 

A dozen of small delicate raw oysters on the half shell and 3 individual bowls of condiments (ssäm jiang, kimchi and ginger scallion sauce) arrive straight after and our waiter begins to explain the best way to devour our bo ssäm.

The first ssäm should be eaten without sauce – just a few shreds of pork, a raw oyster and a spoonful of rice wrapped in lettuce leaf. Our table of 10 (including 2 very drunk ones) fell completely silent for at least five minutes as we all had our first bite.

After the first ssäm we can start experimenting with the sauces. “Pork, kimchi, oysters..it’s the fucking magic combination.” Chang couldn’t have described it better.

We had enough leftovers for three lucky people who would have been the envy of their colleagues during lunch time the next day.

A very generously stacked chocolate chip cake with passion fruit curd, chocolate crumbs, coffee buttercream was purchased by my dear Deborah to sweeten our night (and send everyone to a serious food coma). This Milk Bar favourite was once available by the slice, but it can only be purchased whole these days. We couldn’t have thought of a better excuse, since we were in such a large group!

I also had the liberty to meet David after our meal, and after a few cocktails I may have gossiped about our local chefs. Oops!

Momofuku Ssäm Bar
207 Second Ave., at 13th St. New York, NY 10003
212-254-3500
Lunch 11am to 6pm daily. Dinner 6pm to 2am daily.

 ¹The Wonderful Magical animal was referred to in an episode of the Simpsons:

Homer: Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Lisa, honey, are you saying you’re never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad! Those all come from the same animal!
Homer: [Chuckles] Yeah, right Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal.

Acclaimed US chef and TV personality José Andrés presents us with a truly unique experience on Spanish cuisine by merging the very best of classical Spanish dishes with nouveau culinary techniques. The liquid nitrogen, the spherication, the foams and gels are echoed from the ooh’s and aah’s of the intrigued (and gorgeously fashionable) diners from the LA scene.

I’ve visited the Bazaar on two very different occasions and I’ve always enjoyed every moment, whether it is a romantic dinner for two or a group celebration with twelve.

There are moments when you’re watching Ramsay’s kitchen nightmares on TV and a foul mouthed English chef is screaming at an American chef about a common error most restaurants make, which is having a menu that’s laden with a smorgasbord of choices rather than a short and simple offering. In this case, Gordon’s rule need not apply. With José being a master of his trade, he bends all the rules and he bends them like Beckham (sorry- bad joke). His menu basically gives Gordon’s whole ’simple menu’ concept the big rude finger, which is a draw card for me. José knows the dining experience at the Bazaar is tenfold better than a Ramsay establishment, and not many restaurants can pull off such a long and extensive menu.

The menu consists of two main sections – “traditional tapas” and “modern tapas”, there are pages and pages of options, most of them only satiating one mouthful. You can order everything imaginable, from a rustic Jamon Serrano w/ Pan con Tamateto to a futuristic cotton candy foie gras. Accompany it with a glass of syrah from Napa or serve it with a liquid nitrogen caipirinha. Have a 3 course meal, or put together your own degustation. Even the vegetarians are happy here. What’s not to love? Esquire magazine named The Bazaar their No.1 restaurant last year, so it’s not just popular with the ladies either.

The sheer amount of aesthetically beautiful dishes on our table is for food bloggers what celebrities at The Oscars are for the papparazzi – after all, this is Hollywood! So here, with little words, I bring you the red carpet gallery of Jose’s menu for your visual enjoyment:

Magic Mojito, served in a shaker and strained over cotton candy

Liquid nitrogen Caipirinha, prepared at the table
 

Sweet potato chips, Yogurt, tamarind, star anise

Gazpacho Cup

American caviar cone

Sea urchin, Avocado, steamed buns – our favorite, always! Comparable to Momofuku’s steamed pork belly buns

“Grn Asp Can” – a whimsical play on the canning culture of Spanish food along with Croquetas

Pisto manchego (Capsicum and zucchini stew with coddled egg)

Shrimp cocktail on pipette, where you squeeze the sauce in your mouth as you eat the shrimp

Jamon Serrano w/ Pan con Tamate

The “Not Your Everyday Caprese” salad with sphericated liquid mozzarella balls that explode in the mouth

Philly cheesesteak”, Air bread, cheddar, Wagyu beef

Boneless chicken wings green olive purée

Beef Hanger Steak

Brussel Sprouts

And moving onto the Patisserie for their vast selection of sweet treats:

White chocolate lollipop with black olive

Traditional Spanish Flan, Vanilla and fruit

Coconut and Berries

SLS Tres Chocolate Mousse

As much as I take pride in the amount of food I can order in one night, all of the above photos were actually taken on three separate visits to this favorite restaurant in Los Angeles. Without any hesitation I return for more things I have yet to try on the menu!

The Bazaar by José Andrés, SLS Hotel
465 South La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(310) 246-5555
www.thebazaar.com

Ingredients

½ cup whole milk ricotta cheese (I purchased mine from Harris farm)
250g Birds Eye® chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
½ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 small pinch of ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2½ tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus 1 shallow bowl of flour for dusting

1 jar Barilla basilico tomato sauce (or any other of your favorite brands)

Directions
In a large bowl, mix ricotta, chopped spinach, cheese, egg and yolk.

After reaching a consistency similar to spinach dip, fold in nutmeg, salt, pepper, and flour.

Now we need to use this mixture to make our gnudi balls. 1 tablespoonful makes a good sized gnudi. I find it’s much easier to spoon the mixture into the shallow bowl with flour, and roll it around a few times before picking it up with your hands, otherwise it gets a little too sticky to work with. Gently roll the floured ball around in your palms to shake off any excess flour and shape them into spheres around 1.5 inches in diameter. Repeat with the remaining mixture.

While you’re making the gnudis, fill a pot with water and turn on a medium heat. Salt the water.

The most important thing is to leave the water boiling very gently. The gnudi is so delicate that a bubbling boil would tear it apart. Slowly lower the gnudi into the hot water with a spoon. You don’t have to cook them all at once, so just boil a few at a time.

After a few minutes, you’ll see them float to the top – this means they’re cooked and ready! Remove the gnudi using a slotted spoon, holding it just above the pot to drain off all the excess water before putting it on your serving dish.

While you are slowly cooking the gnudi, empty half a jar of tomato sauce into a small saucepan and start heating it up on a low heat, stirring occasionally.

Arrange gnudi on a platter and top with tomato sauce. Shave some extra Parmigiano Reggiano on top and watch it melt with the warm sauce.

This is one for the vegetarians out there – how can you not love it?