Tomislav, Darlinghurst

It’s a week of farewells as we’re waving off our Teresa before she heads off to the Big Apple, in true es&t style we take it in our stride and use it as an excuse to eat, drink and of course be merry! The first stop on our itinerary is Tomislav. We’re drawn here by the reputation of Tomislav Martinovic and by rumour of his Heston Blumenthal inspired cookery.

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

Restaurant Balzac was busily buzzing on a Sunday night, with all of their tables on the ground floor full of customers and most of the tables on the first floor filled. I think it’s a testament to the great food served here by courteous and attentive wait staff.
This particular degustation was a special seasonal degustation that is available only on the last Sunday of each month.

After a long day walking it was a relief to be able to kick back with some good food, good views and a good coffee. The food at Megalong tea room is honest and home made style rather than modern cafe style which you expect back in Sydney. As a result, it’s a great throwback to what country style food could be like. If I’m in the area, I’ll definitely come back as this sort of comfort food is exactly what you need after a long walk in the bush.

There’s something which is so decadently appealing about casinos, it’s been a while since I’ve set foot in Star City Casino. Stepping inside the main doors we’re greeted by beautiful women in Chinese dresses, all set to the accompanying jangle of the slot machines. I think we’re in the right place for the launch of Fat Noodle.

As you may recall in my previous post, F was super bored and picked out 3 restaurants to visit so as to make full use of my Entertainment Card. This was the second restaurant on his list.

We were given what seemed to be A3-sized menus (they were huge!) and spent some time trying to decide which set to order. We found that we couldn’t resist the extra dishes in the Fine Bouche degustation.

This months Daring Bakers Challenge was a tiramisu, but I changed things up a little bit and created a ‘pyramisu’. It’s a tiramisu in a chocolate pyramid, with momofuku inspired cereal milk ice cream and cereal milk crumbs thrown in for good measure.

The quietly elegant decor of Foveaux hides a place full of surprises and firsts, for us anyway. I never imagined that I would ever eat heart or like black pudding, but I did and even enjoyed it, revelling in its flavours. I really like how Foveaux’s head chef, Darrell Felstead, pushes the boundaries with his dishes, challenging us diners to try something different.

As I move into my mid 20’s, I’m finding that I am attending more and more weddings. I would of thought that the Gen Y’s would be slowing down with the marriage business, but it seems like some things never change over time. Recently I had the privilege of attending the wedding of a very close family friend of mine. They had the ceremony at the beautiful Balmoral beach and were fortunate for the rain to hold off.

If there’s something I can’t resist its ice cream. No matter what the weather is like ice cream is inevitably on my mind. This appears to be so ingrained in my personality that on a recent est get-together not a single one of the team members blinked when I admitted I’d gone to eat ice-cream before meeting up for dinner.

I’d say it’s one of the best meals I’ve had in my life, but then again I’ve only really started eating Hatted and Michelin Starred food in the past two years, so what would I know ? But I must say, the thought process that must of went through the Chef’s mind for each dish is something to be admired. The effort in interpreting an idea such as a dessert into a savoury dish is something which I have rarely seen.