I do believe there is such a thing as over dining. Especially since moving to New York City, the bustling streets and hectic lifestyles also changed the way I dined. Outside from all the daily free meals from the Google office, dining out was anything but back to basics. The dining options in New York are endless, the choice and excitement of each restaurant, cafe, lounge bar or food truck are comparable to the line of ladies queuing up outside the latest meatpacking nightclub on a Tuesday night, discreetly staring at each other up and down as they walk past the velvet ropes after the desperate episodes of flirting with bouncers. The endless variety means you can easily never visit a place twice and still have plenty new discoveries lining up outside your door, hoping to impress you more than the last. Some arrogant, some beautifully presented, some authentic, some playing so hard to get, you just want to burn your wallet just to have a taste, only to discover that it was totally not worth the hype.

Slowly but surely, things all start to blur into the same experience. Sure, I have fun, I enjoy the food – did I really just blow $1200 on a mediocre seafood platter, pancakes and various bottles of champagne for a ridiculous disco brunch at Lavo? Did the tasting menu at Per Se, Le Bernadin, Jean George’s, Daniel and all other Michelin starred French establishments seemingly blur the lines of their different menus all into one expensive affair with a foie gras this, and caviar that, and let’s shave white truffle over a fat lobster tail mentality? Decadence can be delicious – but also as terribly boring as the poached eggs at Marea, with crab meat, sea urchin anglaise topped with sturgeon caviar on an over-soaked brioche bun, or the next designer Kobe beef burger with short ribs, shaved white truffles and foie gras butter. My newfound Manhattan lifestyle living in my tiny studio apartment, ordering my groceries online and having everything delivered to my doorstep has made me forget to truly slow down and appreciate what I’m eating, where it comes from, and how it was prepared.

Guilty as charged.

I’m perfectly aware that I haven’t contributed much content to my humble little website here. Food bored me. Restaurants bored me. And since I am no longer working in food service or hospitality, the regularity of dining at the restaurants and interacting with the chef afterwards to talk about ingredients has disappeared. I stopped caring and I stopped sharing my food experiences with you in writing and instead, focused more on the company of a meal rather than the food, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

My visit to Noma was as refreshing as being deprived of living near the Pacific Ocean during a five month snow filled winter – to diving head first into the icy blue ocean straight from Sydney airport during my last visit home. I had learnt to adapt, accept and enjoy what was around me, but as I was presented with each dish, I was excited again, I wanted to know more – more about everything I could possibly see, touch, smell, hear… taste. Curiosity of how each ingredient was picked and sourced returned to me, along with how it was prepared and cooked.

If I’ve compared all the restaurants I’ve visited in the states as of late to fashionable, model like figures lining up outside a hip nightclub in the meatpacking district, then Noma would be an exquisitely beautiful Nordic lady whose idea of nightlife involved nothing of dressing to impress, overpriced drinks and being seen. Her style is exquisite even if she’s wearing nothing but a wrinkled cotton dress; makeup would only dull her flawless natural beauty. She stops to smell and appreciate the flowers and doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty in the garden.

After 1.5 hours of F5-ing my browser at 4am in the morning (that’s pressing reload over and over again for the non-nerds out there), the booking system on www.noma.dk finally presented me with an electronic booking form. My hands were shaking and my heart was beating fast – one mistake and I would have to wait another two months for a few hour’s chance to make another reservation. Noma opens their online reservation system on the 1st day of every TWO months, at exactly 10am Copenhagen time. Traffic to the website will inevitably be frustrating for you. It can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 3 hours, depending on your luck, your F5-ing skills and your patience. My tip is that if you want it bad enough and you’re persistent – it will most definitely happen for you (unless you’re on a dial-up modem, and in which case you probably won’t be reading this anyway). A table for 4 was secured, a Saturday night dinner, on a long weekend. I started asking around for people to join me on this epic meal – most thought I was crazy. “Copen-where?”, flying all the way to Copenhagen “just for a dinner?!”.

The only sensible thing for me to do really, is to assemble the good ol’ elBulli crew back for a bi-yearly reunion. All four of us, flying in from different cities of the world – New York, London, Barcelona, Stuttgart… without evening thinking twice, before booking plane tickets to Copenhagen to orgiastically share our love for a gastronomic experience.

I can clearly see your cringed face, judging the girl who’s visited elBulli twice and now bored with dining until the next number one. Spoilt? Indeed I am. Wealthy? Not even close – but I do know how to save for the things that I want to experience, and thankfully, now nearing the age of 30, I no longer need to pick up waitressing shifts outside of my 9 to 5 job just to scrape every tip I get – and blowing 9 months of hard work on ONE meal, but I digress.

The four of us all arrived the beautiful city of Copenhagen on the morning of May 28, “to stop by for dinner”.

It was a cloudy, drizzly day in Copenhagen and totally opposite to what weather.com had informed me the night prior to my flight, thus making my tiny shirtdress almost inappropriate. In shivering cold, the flaming torches outside the door and the candles behind the large glass windows almost made the restaurant so much more inviting with a “come hither – it’s warm and toasty inside”.

Greeted by a friendly Aussie by the door, I felt like I was home again. There are currently six Aussies working at Noma at the moment (represent!) and they are all immensely enjoying their time there. I later on learnt from Sam Miller they try their best to assign staff to their “tables from home” so that customers feel a familiarity during their dining experience.

Next: Noma – The Menu

If this dining concept was offered ten years ago, there would be much less appreciation for locally sourced ingredients. A restaurant serving edible flowers, weeds and strange vegetables freshly dug up by the head chef from the neighborhood? Preposterous! Fine dining was once all about the ability to source extravagant and exotic ingredients globally to sit on your bone china plate alongside perfectly polished silverware. Chefs heavily relied on their relationships with their purveyors and providores for a delivery of the finest fish from Tsukiji, the fleur de sel from the Caspian sea, the funghi from Alba. It was about the pride of being able to source something that the next restaurant couldn’t.

We can see a trending shift in the fine dining world with an opposite school of thought, a very noticeable concept made popular by the current number one restaurant in the world, Noma. Chefs are no longer just chefs, but inquisitive foragers of seasonal and local ingredients. They believe that an ingredient should be appreciated when it is at its season’s best, and consumed fresh without the complications of transportation and heavy refrigeration – all factors that takes away their true flavor. It is very true, that scent and sweetness of a freshly picked apple will never compare to one imported from Mexico sold at your supermarket. It is almost a concept of terroir in food, except that it was hard to preserve in oak, ripen with age and bottled for later enjoyment. It is now.

When I heard that Coi was a favorable choice amongst the foragers such as René Redzepi from Noma, I knew I had to visit, since my plans to fly to Denmark for a meal doesn’t seem to be on my plans for 2011. The waiter told me in conversation that fellow forager Peter Gilmore (Quay) from Sydney also dined at Coi just a few weeks ago.

You can only imagine my embarrassment when I was corrected by my ignorant and incorrect pronunciation of Coi (I said “Koi”). Coi (pronounced “Qua”) is an ancient Masonic French word that stands for serenity. Situated in the red light district of San Francisco, you’ll find the modern lettering and ambient light a contrast to the bright pink neon signs and photos of buxom blondes of the Hustler club right next door.

When you enter Coi, the textures and natural shades of mahogany red and bamboo green against the tiny displays of pebble configurations alongside dried sea grass indeed sends you to a hidden serenity.

The table tops in the first dining room were all polished cuts of the cross section of an old tree trunk, while the softer ambient back dining room where decorated with framed MRIs of the cross section fruits and vegetables – they make great guessing games in between courses (the answers are onion, cantaloupe, corn and pumpkin).

The menu is unlike the usual offering. On the left side of the page is a list of all the locally sourced ingredients from the area that will be featured for the night, and on the right, the tasting menu of how the featured ingredients will be performing on your plate. It has a very high vegetarian focus. In fact, out of the entire 12 course tasting menu, only two were seafood dishes, and only one contained beef. A word of warning to the carnivores – this may not be for you. There were even a few dishes reminiscent of fresh cut grass where you would think it was made for the cow to enjoy before you decide to eat the cow.

A few outstanding moments included the “Crab Melt”, especially during the peak of the Dungeness crab season, the sweet white flesh roasted with a transparent film of lardo, and a surprising drizzle of intense wheatgrass that perfectly cut through the fat. The “Savory chanterelle porridge” (first of all, extra points for not naming it a congee) was beautifully multi directional, the slippery chanterelle bringing a nice level of umami to the warm rice porridge, the accompanied sprinkling of the root vegetable “chips” made it that much more of a textural delight. I would be very interested in what Peter Gilmore thought of his own version of the “congee” in the Quay menu. I think Coi takes the crown on this dish.

Coi’s interpretation of the American coffee cake also deserves a mention. It was closer to a warm sticky date pudding, served with raw milk ice (and no traces of that pungent dairy taste) and light citrus notes of lime. The different temperatures and spectrum of sweet to creamy to sour gave the dinner a perfect ending.

May I present our tasting menu for the night:

Frozen Mandarin Sour
Angostura bitters, kumquat, Satsuma ice

Clam
Geoduck and manila, bull kelp, meyer lemon, wild fennel

Pasture
Beets roasted in hay, fresh cheese, wild sprouts and flowers

Crab melt, California style
Steffan’s Lardo, wheatgrass

Farm Egg
Cauliflower,  nettle-dandelion salsa verde (with an egg yolk center)

Earth and Sea
Steamed tofu mousseline, mushroom dashi, yuba, fresh seaweed

Savory chanterelle porridge
Crisp root vegetables, cress, sherry

Prather ranch beef
Potato, coastal grasses, Monterey cypress

Grilled cheese
Tomm d’ossau, rye, onion, pickled daikon
image unavailable

Fennel sorbet
Ruby grapefruit, campari, pomelo

Coffee Cake
Medjool date, raw milk ice, lime

You’ll look twice before you weed your garden again. Instead you’ll think “I wonder how that tastes?”

COI Restaurant
373 Broadway
San Francisco, CA 94133-4512
(415) 393-9000

It’s hard to find anything in Japan that isn’t efficient and calculated. The trains run on time, the people word hard and the toilets do things to you that you never thought possible. Yes, it can said that Japan is a wondrous place and when it comes to food, Japan is world leader in cuisine that makes you say, ‘My God, I can’t believe that’s not cooked’.

So when I was asked to go along to the recent Sake Masterclass in Sydney’s Ocean Room restaurant, featuring a six course degustation designed by Chef Raita Noda, I ready for some quality of the seas. However, when I discovered that each dish would have matching Sake, designed by Premier Sake Master Toshi Maeda, I knew that I was in for something else.

Upon arrival at the quaint harbour side location of Sydney’s famed Ocean Room restaurant, we were treated to an appetiser of fresh Rock Oysters with lemon and sake in elegant bamboo cups.

Under the instruction of our Sake MC, we were told to taste our servings of salmon caviar, smoked cod and white anchovies and notice the differences in taste when drinking white wine or sake. I didn’t expect that I would find the sake fit the meal like a glass slipper. The white wine was abrasive and out of place and highlighted the calculated nature of the sake addition. The roles that both the dish and the sake played, in this case were of equal importance.

Next up, we were treated to glowing Sake Jelly King Crab served sous-vide with cured white turnips with sake and sour plum jelly. Once again, guests were treated to excellently accompanying sake, the gold medal award winning Eikun Ichigin Junmai Daiginjo from Kyoto, a smooth and textured match.

The following course, named ‘East meets West’, was an indulgent selection of Flash sakura smoked ocean trout with houji-tea with ocean trout pearls vinaigrette, lightly poached “arai” Crystal Bay prawn sashimi with green chilli and shiso salsa, fresh cuttle fish and Tasmanian Sea urchin ravioli with coriander infused oil.

This was an incredibly well presented dish featuring sealed test tubes of vinaigrette for the smoked ocean trout that sat encased in glass until the very last moment, a cute wisp of smoke rising once the dish was released.

As a fiend for prawns, I found the Crystal Bay prawn a real treat.

Our next treat arrived and was revealed as the Blue fin tuna sashimi that had been prepared in five unique ways, once again with matching Sake to compliment.

The fives styles were:

1. Seared akami with foie gras, ponzu jelly and momiji radish
2. Seared toro with shiso julienne, sesame and lime juice
3. Zuke akami with dry natto, negi miso and leek julienne
4. Oil blanched toro with fresh wasabi, soy and kombu
5. Marinated chutoro with truffle, caviar and spicy daikon.

I don’t know how you feel about Tuna, but to put it simply, I’m a fan. So when this elegantly displayed tray rolled out with five different selections, I compare the feeling I had to what a puppy must feel every moment of the day. Ecstatic does not say enough, but will have to do.

Picking a favourite is difficult in this situation, but I think I would have to say that the Seared toro with shiso julienne, sesame and lime juice was a stand out. There was no schism between taste and presentation. Both were top drawer and my compliments to the chef.

Soon after, there arrived a true surprise. A frozen sake shot with Umeshu plum wine and yuzu zest as a refresher. This was a welcome arrival as, not only was it a delicious iced treat, but it was also like a reset button for my tastebuds. If vodka has the jelly shooter, then the sake equivalent was defined that night with the frozen sake shot. In fact, I want another one and I want it now!

My last meal of the night was the Sansho pepper roasted aged Angus beef with ginjyo scented jus and flame seared Roquefort cheese. While this was probably the least interesting dish of the evening, though I am comparing it to the life changing seafood delicacies that preceded it, which is tough to beat with any closing dish.

As a man, I will never turn down a steak and the addition of Roquefort cheese was smooth match. What was most intriguing was that this was the first steak I’ve ever eaten with sake. While I would normally never place the two together, I found that once again the sake was perfectly matched and functioned to enhance the flavour of the meat.

It was at this time that I thanked my fellow guests for the enjoyable conversation, donned my suit jacket and set off into the night on my journey home (my head somewhat cloudy thanks to all the sake). It had been quite the evening and I think it’s safe to say that everyone in attendance had a renewed appreciation for that subtle, and often misunderstood drink known as sake.

Domo Arigato.

- Nicolas Mesker

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

Hidden in an alleyway so mysterious even a search on Google maps won’t help you, Grasshopper is a little haven in the centre of the Sydney CBD joining the small bar trend. You can find it in Temperance Lane, just off George street, in between RM Williams and Oakley shopfronts and not too far from the giant Apple store.

Grasshopper was no accidental concoction, created by Marty, Bel and Toubs – the same masterminds behind establishments such as The Lincoln, A Tavola, and more recently the 7metre pop up bar, they too are supporting Sydney’s laneway projects and adding that touch of ghetto chic culture into our otherwise commercially dull metropolitan. You’ll find the entrance when you see the splay of green grass across the top of the door like a putt putt golf course. A casual restaurant upstairs, a dark cosy cocktail bar downstairs led by one of Sydney’s finest drink fixer John Toubia.

We headed to Grasshopper for a casual Friday work lunch. The menu is simple (entree, mains, salads and sides – all 3 items each) and great combination of hearty and healthy options.

A bottle of Pinot Grigio arrives and we start with the pork and parsley terrine as a shared entree. It was rusticly textured, with shredded and chunky pork meat well supported by its flavourful jelly and served with minced gerkins and parsley aioli. Generous slices of freshly grilled sourdough with olive oil makes this a pleasure to share.

For mains, I personally craved for the steak au poivre (the aroma of it was the first thing that hits you when you walk down Temperance Lane) but decided on the more waistline friendly quinoa salad. The salads are availabe in both entree and main sizes, the main served with grilled chicken, drizzled with a deliciously delicate pesto.

The ‘Prawn cocktail’ (also under the salad section) chosen by Megan was freshly delightful and great value, a more modern twist of a prawn cocktail that the usual cocktail sauce and avocado in a glass with prawn tails hanging off the edge. It is wholesomely deconstructed to a dish freshly grilled king prawns, butter lettuce, avocado puree and salsa which would shine even more with a stronger citrus note.

The lamb was just magnificent! A lamb trio of the chop, the rump and a third part that I did not have a bite of, it was thoroughly enjoyed by Henny with plenty of “would you like some potatoes with that butter and cream” mash. The meat falls apart and melts wonderfully with the mash, accompanied with green peas and a dark gravy of its natural juices.

We had our hearts set on the selection of cheeses and a chocolate pistachio tart for dessert, but the best comes to those who wait. We’ll be back in the evening next time! And we’re looking forward to try Johnny’s cocktails (all of them).

Grasshopper
Temperance Lane, Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9947 9025
Open 12pm – 1am Monday to Fridays (Saturday available for functions)

We started off with some Fat Duck-esque ‘Rice crackers’ where the flavour is spritzed with a sea salt and vinegar atomiser, almost like a deep fried quilted tissue.

The Rangers Valley sirloin roll on toast and wasabi crumbs also makes a great accompaniment for your pre-drinks, just like beef tataki in bite sized pieces

The freshly shucked rock oystrers with lemon ice and soy dressing was ever so refreshing, the lemon ice like a fine powdered snow atop a creamy oyster.

Martinovic’s play on Asian flavours in the roast Red Gate farmed quail with chilli, coriander and roast pineapple creates a tongue in cheek joke about naff Asian takeaway food. His use of humour in his menu and invoking your memories and nostalgia must be something he’s picked up from Heston, but Martinov shows you that you don’t have to do it with a giant conch and an iPod to get the point across.

The sweetness from the grilled QLD king prawn celery perfectly balanced with the tartness of the apple dressing  with avocado.

this is one of my personal favorites: The poached Comboyne hen’s egg is apparently cooked in a waterbath for 70 minutes at 62 degrees until it reaches a texture like panna cotta, served with mustard, grilled king brown mushrooms and paper thin “toast”. Incredible!

The roast tinder creek duck breast was cooked pink to perfection, served with olive oil sponge, baby beetroots, sliced and perfect for sharing. I could’ve sworn he’s borrowed the sponge cake recipe from Ferran, where the batter is siphoned with nitrous oxide into a plastic cup and microwaved! (but correct me if I’m wrong)

The O’Connor scotch fillet with grilled mango, chives and bone marrow was also a winner and equally great for sharing, but I suggest you claim dibs and bagsies on the bone marrow!

The egg pappardelle was presented beautifully with Jannei goat’s curd, broccolini and anchovy, but it was over shadowed by the showmanship of the other dishes on offer. There is also no vegetarian options available on the menu, unless this was ordered sans anchovy.

Let’s move on to our crinkle cut chips! These were triple cooked to achieve the perfect crunch on the outside and the soft steaming potato inside. It was truly like eating mash wrapped inside potato crisps. As you can see we’ve ordered way too much for ourselves, and even when the table was being cleared, I held onto the bowl of chips with separation anxiety.

Yes. However full we were, we make sure every last piece was stomached.

This leaves room for only one dessert on the menu:

The vanilla cheesecake topped with cheese jelly, mulberry sorbet was a fun way to finish the meal. The cheesecake was whipped into the lightest of textures, with the shortbread crumbs smashed against the airy cloud as you chew with the “cheese jelly” cubes. We felt like a kid eating candy for the first time.

We also saw the fig carpaccio on the dessert menu, which used to be one of my favorite desserts at Koi. I was wondering where it had gone when I visited Koi again recently – well now we’ve found it again, it left with the chef.

Kitchen hard at work

There’s no reason why nouveau scientific cooking has to be served in a posh restaurant with white tablecloths and a 1 month waiting list. Martinovic brings the “perfect food” right down to an accessible casual setting, which is what I enjoyed most about my dinner. His spontaneous approach to cooking and importance to have a great time creating his dishes really shine through. Never stop having fun, I say!

The Doltone House Group has just launched a brand new food emporium named Signorelli Gastronomia. The family owned and operated company has a significant portfolio of waterfront entertainment and catering venues, including Jones Bay Wharf and Darling Island Wharf. Signorelli Gastronomia is located on the lobby floor of the new Accenture building in Pyrmont on a lovely waterfront location, not too far from the Good Living Grower’s Markets (held every Saturday). Good living described the location to be similar to Harrod’s Food Hall in London, but I would say it’s a lot less commercial, with a familiar Italian family touch.

Wine room (left), Cheese room (right)

They described it to be a place where “visitors can buy, taste and learn about high quality food and drink… enjoy foods grown within a 100mile radius of Pyrmont that respects local farmers, maintaining a menu that is seasonal and diverse“. The space consists of a shop which stocks gourmet products such as cured meats, fresh pasta, premium gelato and dried herbs; a dining area that seats no more than 30, with mostly bar or communal table seating; a wine room and a cheese room. I appreciated the open layout of the place as we sat close to the pizza station, watching the chef kneading pizza dough on a floured marble bench.

Being day three of opening, there were the much expected service hiccups, but the staff were all incredibly friendly and the service was professional. With our sore heads from the previous night’s activities we were craving some hearty Italian food.

We ordered the ham hock and foie gras terrine served with watercress, baby carrots and toasted sourdough to start, which was delightfully flavoursome, and less rich than the usual chicken liver parfait served by other restaurants. The addition of the baby carrots inside the terrine was a nice touch (perhaps it made me feel healthier?).

A selection of fresh oysters (Pipe Clay, St Helens and Sydney Rock), some served with prosecco granita.

The aroma from the pizza station got the better of us. It was like our minds were read, and the waiter came around and offered us a sample of some freshly made garlic pizza that just came out of the wood fire oven while we were waiting for the next course.

For our mains, I opted for the tagliatelle that was on the specials (something that our waiter initially forgot to mention, but I had overheard the dish mentioned for the next table and changed my choice due to food envy). It was served with chorizo, dried chilli, ricotta and wilted sprouts. This is normally a little too oily for my liking, but it sure hit the spot.

My partner, equally fragile at the time, opted for the sage crumbed 250g veal cutlet with wild rocket, fresh lemon cheeks and capers, fried to perfection with a batter full of flavour.

And what better side dish than the duck fat fries with smoked sea salt? The smoked sea salt added a wonderful dimension, like it had been barbecued over wood chips. I’m sure the smoked sea salt can be purchased from their store. The chips however, I thought were too chunky to be enjoyed, unlike the version from Sean’s Kitchen.

The squid ink risotto, Hawkesbury cuttlefish and soft poached hen’s egg from the next table looked salivating, with the soft centered yolk oozing into the warm rice. One should always leave a reason for a second visit!

There was a great selection of desserts on the menu which I also thought should be saved for my second visit, so we ordered an Affogatto for a quick sugar and caffeine hit. Little did we know it was going to be so fun!

The affogatto was served in a mini copper pot

Instead of the usual liqueur poured in with the ice cream and espresso, the frangelico was encased in a jelly membrane which explodes in the mouth, made with a method of spherification a technique made famous by Ferran Adria.

My only complaint is that the ice cream melted much too quickly and it should have been pressed down and frozen with the copper pots.

James, the chef brought over a few additional “shots” of these jelly explosions that had a bit more kick to the ones inside the dessert. He informed us that they will be holding classes for this new and modern style of cooking later on, which could be quite fun.

Whist we were eating, we spotted a giant block of cheese with a diameter of a barrel that was being carefully divided for the cheese room, and it turned out to be Sovrano di bufala (aged buffalo milk cheese) – one of my favorites! I bought plenty to stock up and share with friends.

Signorelli Gastronomia proves to be a promising food emporium with authentic Italian cuisine and fantastic gourmet products, similar to the style of Fratelli Fresh and Bacco Wine bar.

Along with the grower’s markets, could Pyrmont be the next food hub?

Signorelli Gastronomia
48 Pirrama Road
Darling Island Wharf
Pyrmont NSW 2009
Tel: (02) 8571 0616
www.signorelli.com.au