Thank you so much to everyone who voted for us, it came as a massive shock to hear Eat, Show & Tell called out and to be honest, we’re still in shock *laughs*.

The Awards

This year the Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards (NAPBAS) were held at the gorgeous Marriott Putrajaya, with a blogger attendance of over 500 people it was a crush of cameras, gorgeous dresses and some awkward food bloggers (us) cowering in the corner.

With the lovely Liz of Lizosaurus fame

We were paired up with the brilliant Lizosaurus in our category, her vibrant personality, hairstyle and tail-dress were easily the best combination of the night and would have won the award for best outfit, if they were awarding one on the night!

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Read the rest of Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards 2011: Most Original Blog Design Winner (1,002 words)

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Two years after our nomination at the first Nuffang Asia Pacific Blog Awards it’s with pleasure to announce we’ve selected as a finalist in the 2011 awards for Most Original Blog Design!

The Layout

For anyone who’s followed us for a while you’ll know that for a long time we clung to our old layout, and coming up with the current layout was a process that stretched out over a year (more due to our procrastination than anything else!). There were a lot of terrible terrible concepts that we floated around with before settling on our final decision.

I still don't know what I was thinking with the broccoli!

In the end we settled on an existing layout that was clean and simplistic in order to highlight what’s really important … the food and photography.  We feel that our adaptation of the layout to fit in with our blogging style and photography has worked well.

Thank you to whoever it was that nominated us in this category!

Vote for us!

Voting opens at midday on the 15th of November 2011 (http://awards.nuffnang.com/2011/votes/) and will be open through to the 27th of November 2011 (so get voting!).

Votes are restricted to once every two hours and you’ll need to vote for a blog in each category, but don’t worry there’s plenty of Aussies nominated to support!

On the 16th of December we’ll be headed over to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to attend the awards ceremony and find out who the winners are. Wish us luck!

Represent!

If you’re interested in how things went down in 2009, check out this blast from the past.

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I remember there was a time (first year uni) where I thought to myself that I’d never get married. The thought of commitment was hard to comprehend. I was enjoying my happy hours at the Glasshouse Bar at University of Technology Sydney too much, playing Counter Strike at the abundance of internet cafes in Chinatown and drinking copious amounts of Easy Way before lectures. Life was great, it was simple, fun and I even fit in a bit of study in between.

Things changed, overnight even. I became reacquainted with Linda during second year of Uni. At the time, we had actually known each other since high school through mutual friends. You could say a flame was rekindled, and it hasn’t gone out ever since (Yep, what a line, good enough for the Bold & The Beautiful).

Anyway, seven years later we are still going strong and I really can’t see myself with anyone else in the world. She is an amazing person and she keeps telling me that I’m lucky to have her. I’d argue against that but for the sake of world peace I just nod and agree and then mumble under my breath.

I decided to pop the question a few months ago and of course, she said yes. To celebrate, we wanted to do something a little bit different with our close friends. It would’ve been easy to host drinks at a bar or just have a barbeque at a park with everyone over. But Linda and I wanted to stretch ourselves and see if we could pull off an engagement party with a difference.  So, did we deliver? You tell us, check out Squishies’s fantastic pictures and let us know what you think.

Oh and before you read on, this is a massive post but I’m sure it’ll be worth it!

The Concept

“Good food, good people, good music – Howard & Linda 2011″

That’s all we wanted, but for a lot of people (90, give or take). We initially wanted to host a sit down dinner at warehouse but decided against it as it would mean we could only invite 40 odd people. Come on, I’ve got hundreds of Facebook friends so that was never going to work! The initial quote for a warehouse party also cost more per person, with what we reckon would’ve been inferior food and atmosphere. (...)
Read the rest of Howard and Linda’s Engagement Party (2,112 words)

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Luckily for me a few more intrepid souls were joining me on this journey and we embarked on a three-day journey of food, dessert, shopping and alcohol. Oh, and don’t forget talking in front of an audience of 300 people!

Some of the things we got up to…

Naked for Satan - 80c Pintxos and Beeeeer

Random Shop Front - AAAAARRGH!

Lost & Found - Easily my favourite vintage store in Melbourne

Oh Hai Chocolatesuze

Gorgeous vintage glasses

Burch & Purchese - Like walking into Willy Wonka's Factory

Chocolate and BACON... Don't mind if I do!

Soda Rock Diner - Lunch with the King

LuxBite - The mandatory Macaron stop

Izakaya Den - Late dinner

Riverland Bar and Cafe - A quick convention stopover

Cumulus Inc. - One last coffee for the road

Nuffnang Blogopolis 2011

Blogopolis Attendees

Nuffnang Blogopolis Conference

The Nuffnang Blogopolis Conference was the first time I’ve ever spoken at a conference and luckily for me my co-presenter was Danimezza, she’s a vibrant, fun-loving person and even though we only met for the first time the day of the conference we got along like fire. Dani and I tackled photography from our various points of view and while our knees may have been knocking from behind the podiums we got nothing but positive feedback from the crowd (watching the twitter stream while presenting was insanely distracting!).

I quickly realised that people didn’t realise that es&t was separated under 5 twitter accounts and saw more than a few, “What’s the es&t twitter account?!” messages pop up in the stream (I’m under @minhg btw lol). Also leaving your phone on the podium is a bad idea because you’ll get distracted by SMSes, which I found out the hard way (oops).

Being up early in the day left me free to cheer for Suze and Helen as they presented for their Masterclasses – Improving Blog Content and The Australian Blogosphere (Go Sydney!). The weekend was also a great opportunity to put some faces to a few of the Melbourne food bloggers I’d been stalking for so long. The rest of the day was filled with some pretty damn inspirational speakers, with two of my favourite bloggers of the day easily being Darren Rowse of Pro Blogger and Michael Aulia of Craving Tech.

There were so many other photography topics and subjects I could have covered but there’s only so much you can talk about in 45 minutes! If there’s anything you wanted to ask me about in more detail feel free to send me a message on twitter, or just send me an email at minh@eatshowandtell.com.

Blogopolis 2011

Was held on: Saturday 30 July 2011
ZINC at Fed Square,
Melbourne

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Everyone has their weaknesses. Whether it be the inability to drive or the lack of confidence to speak in public, we all have our weaknesses. For some people, even chocolate can be a weakness. For me, hot chips seems to be my weakness. Whether it be KFC or McDonalds, I can’t say no. But anyway, that’s another blog post and discussion altogether.  

I’ll cut to the chase. For those who love all things chocolate, Cadbury is releasing a new range of chocolate called the Cadbury Bar of Plenty. In a nutshell, it’s more than just a chocolate bar :  

• New Bar of Plenty combines interesting combinations of naturally delicious ingredients, all covered in smooth and creamy Cadbury Dairly Milk milk chocolate.
• Available in two different flavours : Oven Roasted hazelnut and cashews gently flavoured with honey & summer berries and crunchy vanially shortcake.
• Available in local Coles, Woolworths, IGA and other select outlets.

Now, we thought it would be a good idea to tie in a giveaway with our top 5 chocolate desserts which we have experienced in Sydney. It’s a tough ask to come up with a creative dessert with chocolate, because I wouldn’t want to mess too much with it since it is amazing on it’s own. We’ve been to some pretty good restaurants in Sydney, they are up there with the best I’ve had in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. Check out what we think are the best of the best, so far in Sydney. Also check out the bottom of this post for details on how to win $50 worth of Cadbury chocolate delivered to your doorstep!  

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Read the rest of Our top chocolate desserts, Cadbury bar of plenty & win $50 worth of Cadbury chocolate (758 words)

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There’s a feeling of decadence that comes over me as the doors of the elevator opens, it’s rather easy to be impressed by the lavish furnishings of Glass Brasserie. The interior design of the restaurant is all concentrated around showcasing the impressive wine collection, while providing small intimate areas for the diners. Not an easy task in a space where the ceiling is easily 30 meters high, but the combination of dim and concentrated lighting as well as the contrast of timber and glass creates an almost comfortable atmosphere.

Glass Brassiere Interior

The first thing that catches my eye is the multi-storied racks of wine behind the bar, fit-out in a sedate timber finish they tower up behind the bar for a good 20-30m with wine bottles gently lit from behind all the way up to the ceiling (top left image). Somewhat doubtfully I ask if the bottles are for show and am reassured that it is indeed a real wine rack, staff members are hooked up to safety harnesses and winched up the stacks to retrieve bottles.

I’m not surprised that I’m so enamoured of the interior decorating, Glass Brasserie shares the same designer (Tony Chi) as Zeta Bar, one of the most gorgeous bars I’ve had the fun of photographing.

The diners awaiting their meal

It’s a relaxed atmosphere tonight, the guests are mingling around the tables sipping on glasses of Cloudy Bay Blanc de Blancs, it’s a light bubbly concoction which is easily going to my head. Cloudy Bay Winemaker Sarah Burton is the guest of honour tonight, a small snafu with the microphone system has our table tapping all of our wine glasses in unison to get the attention of all the diners tonight. Sarah is a nervous but passionate speaker, her pride in her wines is clear as she speaks introducing each of the wines we’ll be tasting tonight.

Salmon Gravlax, Dill crème fraiche, beetroot, egg dressing & melba toast

Our entrée is a beautiful array of orange, yellow and red scattered about the plate. The salmon is sliced almost thin enough to become translucent and paired with the sweet squares of beetroot and savory creme fraiche is a refreshing start to the start. The melba toast is a strange condiment on the plate, the toasted slices are a little too crunchy making them awkward to eat with the salmon and I end up abandoning them on the side of my plate.

Paired Wine: 2008 Cloudy Bay Pinot Gris – The style is best described as a true expression of the variety with aromas of pear and mandarin, abundant flavour and texture, and a touch of residual sweetness.

Tempura Spencer Gulf Prawns, Thai style salad, tamarind dressing

I adore anything with a Tamarind flavour and have seeing the Prawns on the menu it’s easily my most easily anticipated dish for the night. The prawns arrive in a beautifully arranged haystack of greens and prawn, all encompassed by a ring of sauce, the batter is done to perfection and is lightly crunchy while taking away none of the delicate flavour of the prawns.

Paired wine: 2006 Cloudy Bay Gewurztraminer – A distinctive style, first made in 1997 from a trial block planted at Cloudy Bay to assess the suitability of various clones of gewurztraminer in Marlborough. Cloudy Bay Gewurztraminer is aluscious, textural wine made from very ripe, hand harvested grapesgrown at the Mustang Vineyard in the Brancott Valley.

Roasted Duck Breast With Honey & Lavender, Peas

Our meal progresses by moving onto the red meats, it’s been a relatively light meal so far but the Roasted Duck breast is enough to put a sigh of satisfaction into anyone. The generously portioned slices of duck are cooked to a perfect texture, easily coming apart at the touch of a butter knife and is presented simply enough with Peas in a honey sweetened sauce. It’s proof that a dish can be placed out with only a few condiments and still be memorable.

Paired wine: 2008 Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir -  Cropped at very low levels from prime Marlborough vineyard sites, Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir is rich in regional fruit character. Typically it has an intensely varietal palate that reveals layers of dark red fruits, savoury dried herbs, charry oak and silky tannins.

Petit tarte tatin

Surprisingly, by the end of the Duck dish my stomach is ready to call it quits for the night but the arrival of the Tarte Tatin lays those plans to rest. Our plates with the naked Tatin are placed on our table only to be smothered in a rich creamy sauce which smothers the entire dish, ice-cream and all. It is at its heart, a decadent apple pie and on this chilly winter night is exactly what I’ve been craving.

Paired wine: Cloudy Bay Late Harvest Riesling -  A limited release wine first made in 1989 and since only in the vintages when optimum conditions prevail. Sapped almost dry bythe botrytis fungus, individual bunches are selected and hand-picked from bare canes in late autumn. The style is lusciously sweet and fruity with a crisp natural acidity that balances the sweetness and gives the palate length and freshness on the finish.

The view from within the glass

We’re left to finish off the night with tea or coffee as well as petit fours. It’s been an interesting night of food and conversation, with topics whirling from Masterchef to the travesty that is the Twilight series. The diners despite being strangers at the beginning of the night have warmed to one another after a few glasses of wine and even as I’m leaving there are still tables of diners chatting away.

Eat Show & Tell dined as a guest of Hilton Hotel.

Glass Brasserie
Level 2, 488 George St
Ph: (02) 9265 6068
Web: http://www.glassbrasserie.com.au/

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Fouad the mastermind behind a couple of secret dinners and SIFF dinners wanted to do something a little more challenging, so he enlisted the help of Billy, Karen and myself. We were told that the idea of the Food bloggers dinner would be each of us individually coming up with a meal to be served in a 5 course meal at Bistro CBD. With this in mind, we were instructed to have a meal plan ready by our next meeting/taste testing session.

Prepping in the Kitchen

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Read the rest of “This and That” Dessert, My Bistro CBD Experience (2,260 words)

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However, once it had some time to sink in, I thought that maybe it wasn’t such a daft idea after all. I mean, it would mean there would be two Christmases in the one year… that’s two sets of presents!!

Well no, not quite (as I found out), but it is definitely another excuse to stuff ourselves with food that would make us forget about the chilly temperature not at all helped with an equally chilly wind.

And that’s how we all came about to Löwenbräu Keller to taste-test their perfect-for-winter dishes.

Garlic Bread

The garlic bread came out first, thick and dripping with melted butter. I don’t know if you were supposed to, but I ended up dipping my slice into my mushroom soup. Bliss.

Mushroom Soup

My eyes goggled when the soup bowls came out – it was huge! The soup was super creamy and it made think of Minh: she would have totally loved it!

Great big plates and Short Logs of Wood... all part of your everyday dinner table

The now-empty bowls were replaced by even larger plates… and oddly enough, stumpy logs too. We looked at each other and giggled, perhaps inappropriately.

Venison Stew with Sauteed Mushrooms and Servietten knoedel steamed bread dumplings

The venison stew was hearty and delicious with a generous helping of mushrooms and steamed bread dumplings.

Braised Lamb Shanks with Mashed Potato

The lamb shanks were quite tender and flavoursome, made even better by sitting on a massive bed of creamy mashed potatoes.

Franziskaner Bier Goulash

I quite liked the goulash with its tender beef cubes and crunchy deep-fried onions.

Slow Roast Beef Short Ribs with Mashed Potato and Sauerkraut

The meat from the short ribs was wonderfully tender and simply fell off the bone when we cut into it. I realised that I’ve missed the combination of beef, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes… sooooo scrumptious!

Wine Marinated Slow Braised Beef Cheeks with Mashed Potato

The slow braised beef cheeks were incredibly succulent and soft; it was a sure hit with everyone at the table.

I was quite gleeful with the large portions of mashed potatoes on each of the plates, which meant there were more to share around… and on my plate! Hehe.

Garden Salad

I always am glad for the obligatory garden salad that accompanies such hearty dishes, as it never fails to bring a refreshing component to the meal.

Schweinshaxn - Oven Roasted Pork Knuckle with Sauerkraut and Mashed Potato

If all those special Christmas in July dishes weren’t enough, we also ordered the pork knuckle. Yum yum.

Eeep!

Chocolatesuze was kind enough to divvy up the goods. Teehee

Some time during the dinner and the night’s hilarious entertainment, several rounds of delicious schnapps were ordered. Always being the default designated driver ever since I earned my license meant that my alcohol tolerance isn’t as… hmm, robust?… as most people’s. Which meant I was quite merry during the night and may have been tipsy-texting. Oops.

Heheh

Darcie and Chocolatesuze volunteered to be part of the cow-bell rendition of Edelweiss, while Lisa came a close second in the (alcohol-free) beer skulling competition!

Marco Jacobs, Head Chef

I felt quite honoured that we got to meet both the executive and head chef of Löwenbräu Keller, who popped out from their busy kitchen to briefly greet us.

Lowenbrau Kaiserschmarrn with Cinnamon Vanilla Ice Cream

As our massive dessert plate came to the table, most if not all of our eyes lit up. We were informed by Marco that it’s Bavarian-style pancakes with rum raisins and honey, served with a cup of vanilla ice cream sprinkled with cinnamon. The pancakes on its own was a bit dry (I would have personally loved to have more honey on mine), but with the cinnamon on vanilla ice cream – it was the perfect way to end such a hearty and robust dinner.

Christmas in July at Löwenbräu Keller has a couple of different traditional speciality dishes each week with the Kaiserschmarrn, soup of the day, Gluehwein and Alte Witte available throughout the month.

Eat Show & Tell was a guest of Zing Australia and Löwenbräu Keller.

Löwenbräu Keller
Corner of Playfair & Argyle Streets
The Rocks, NSW, 2000,
Ph: (02) 9247 7785
Web: http://www.lowenbrau.com.au/

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Stepping into Zeta Bar I immediately remember just how much I adore the interior designing. It’s a space not afraid of dark rooms and bright lights, intimate curtained areas alongside a brightly lit bar. It’s only 6pm but the bar is packed with the corporate crowd who have come out to play after work, drawn by the drinks and more importantly, dry setting.

Zeta’s winter concept is inspired by the European style of celebrating winter – mulled wine, roasted chestnuts, hot toddies and even roasted marshmallows are all on offer at the bar. I take a moment to try some of the mulled wine, it’s been spiced with cinnamon and orange zest, the scent is intoxicating and the resulting wine is sweet to the tongue, with hits of spice towards the end. It’s a addicting drink, at first I’m not quite sure what to think but before I realise, my entire glass is empty.

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Read the rest of Zeta Bar – Winter Concept, Hilton Hotel, Sydney (337 words)

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Like many girls I suspect, I’ve dipped my toe into the wine world slowly starting from cloying sweet dessert wines to the tamer Reislings but have always avoided the more ‘Adult’ Chardonnay associating it with the overtly heavy tasting white wines my parents were always drinking. I’m happy to say that the selection of wines presented with dinner have put me opened the Chardonnay door just that little bit more for me.

Left: Seppelt Salinger Pinot Noir Chardonnay 2006, Right: Anna Pooley

Anna Pooley is our hostess tonight and she’s clearly passionate about wines. It’s interesting hearing her talk about wines coming in and out of fashion, with the Chardonnay peak occurring back in the 90′s and how just like fashion IT’S BACK! Things start off easily enough with a flute of bubbly, the carbonate makes my nose tickle but it’s subtle enough for me to enjoy its lightness.(...)
Read the rest of Celebration of Chardonnay, Park Hyatt (822 words)

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It took a little prodding (Hi Reems!) but Howard, Squishies and I finally submitted a few photos for consideration, sliding in just under the deadline. I’ll admit that choosing the photos for submission was surprisingly difficult, I’m sure the others felt the same way as I did! Food photography is hard hard work, we’ve come a long way since our first posts but there’s always room for improvement.

From our submissions the following 5 were chosen as finalists in the Photo Exhibition:

Caramel baklava ice cream – Vanilla ice cream, chopped mixed baklava nut filling and caramel sauce Right : Choc nut tahini gelato diples – Gelato piped into crispy honey pastry Middle : Quince Melamakarona Crumble – Layered spoon sweet quince w/ cinnamon creamed ricotta and crumble – Eaten @ Perama as part of their 2009 SIFF Sugar Hit.

Howard’s homemade BLT.

Tartar of Abalone and Black Angus, Beetroot Carpaccio and Horseradish Ice Cream – Eaten @ Bilsons.

Moo Burger – 100% Certified Australian Angus Beef, Beetroot, Egg, Pineapple, Cheese, Bacon, Mixed Leaf Lettuce, Tomato, Mayonnaise and Tomato Relish – Eaten @ Moo Gourmet Burgers.

Hiramasa Kingfish Tartare with Radish and Celery (Special guest star Teresa, as my lovely hand model), eaten @ Glebe Point Diner.

More details about the Photography Exhibition & ‘Eat. Drink. Blog.’ can be found at Tomato.

The Exhibition is currently at the warehouse opposite St Ali in Yarra Place, South Melbourne (10.30am-2.30pm) and will run until the 28th of March. We’re super sad that we won’t get the chance to see our photos hanging up, so if anyone does go and check it out send us a photo!

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Congratulations to the following winners. Check your emails!

Erin
Susan
Jasmin
Penelope
Nhu

This post and competition is sponsored by great people at Nuffnang!

The great thing about Sydney is the abundance of food and wine festivals. Every couple of months we are guaranteed atleast one great event, from the Sydney International Food Festival to the Chinese New Year night markets, we have it covered. This March, we have The Vintage Cellars International Wine Fair 2010 to look forward to.

It’s considered the greatest gathering of international winemakers seen in Australia. You’ll see wines from represented France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. The event is a trip round the world for $25, how good is that ?

The event allows consumers to try wines from iconic Australian producers but also discover new and interesting producers from all corners of the globe. They will try varieties and styles they’ve probably never heard of.

Consumers will also meet the producers behind the wines, who are there to talk about the passion that goes into each bottle.

Some of the notable attendees this year are :

- Kooyong (Mornington Peninsula)
- Clonakilla (Canberra)
- Giaconda (Beechworth)
- Shaw+Smith (Adelaide Hills)
- Champy (Burgundy)
- Saint Cosme (Cotes du Rhone)
- Norton (Argentina)
- Ruffino (Italy)

Win 1 of 5 double passes to the Wine Fair!

Thanks to the great people at Nuffnang and Vintage Cellars, we are giving away 5 x double passes worth $50 to this years event.

How to win ? Just answer this question by leaving a comment!

Which country would you love to visit to try their wines ?

Please leave a valid email address when you leave a comment, I will be using it to contact you if you are a winner of 1 of 5 double passes. Alternatively, send me an email at contact@eatshowandtell.com with your mailing address.

This competition finishes on the 22nd of March, 2010 at 11:59pm AEST. The winners will be announced on 23rd of March, 2010.

The International Wine Fair tickets will be available for either the Saturday (10am – 5pm) or Sunday (11am – 5pm) session. Each ticket is for one-day entry only.

The Vintage Cellars International Wine Fair 2010

Where : Overseas Passenger Terminal, Circular Quay West, The Rocks
Date : Saturday 27 – Sunday 28 March 2010
Time : Saturday 10am – 5pm, Sunday 11am – 5pm
Ticket prices : $25 per person.
Tickets are available for purchase at Vintage Cellar stores throughout New South Wales & ACT and at the door on the event day

For more information, please visit Vintage Cellars website

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Luke Nguyen is the consulting chef behind Fat Noodle, he is of course the chef behind the ever popular Red Lantern restaurant in Surry Hills as well as the series, Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam which recently aired on SBS. I’ll admit that I’ve kept an eye on this chef, a first generation Vietnamese Australian I’m proud to see a follow Vietnamese person go well and bought the Red Lantern cookbook last year wanting to get a little more in touch with the type of food I ate growing up.

Chefs confirming orders at the Open Kitchen

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Read the rest of Fat Noodle Launch, Star City, Pyrmont (908 words)

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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.

When we received an invitation from Fiona of Mark Communications to sample the new New Zealand Natural Ice Cream flavour I immediately jumped at the chance. Despite a spate of miserable weather in the previous days the sun shone through that day to make a perfect ice cream eating day.

Helen, Suze and Simon were my co-conspirators on this day and Fiona was generous enough to offer a run at the bar on the house. I adore ice cream but the Chillos are my absolute favourite, an icy smooth mix of crushed ice and ice cream flavour of your choice (my personal weakness is mint-chocolate). Helen seems to share my weakness, going for a Mocha Chillo.

Golden Manuka Honey

The showcased flavour today is based on two of New Zealand’s iconic flavours, Kiwi Fruit and Manuka Honey. Of the two the Manuka Honey is probably the most famous, touted as the ultimate in natural medicines and is said to heal a number of ailments ranging from ulcers to infections.

Despite my reservations the Honey flavour is surprisingly mild which retaining a creamy smoothness. I’d been a little worried that the honey would overpower the flavour of the ice cream but the Honey & Kiwi combination worked nicely together. My suggestion would be to pair the Honey scoop with a slightly blander flavour to avoid it being overly sweet.

Oh hi Suze

In the email invitation Fiona had mentioned that we could also have  sample to take home, 9 Litres to be precise. I’ll be honest and thought it was a typo in the email and had anticipated carrying only a 1L tub back to the office, so I was a little gobsmacked at the huge boxes presented to us. My co-workers on the other hand adored me for the next two weeks (my shoulders not so much after the 20 minute lug back to the office).

Of course flavour is totally subjective to the person, so here’s a sample of reactions I got from people in the office:

• Would make a lovely taste experience between courses
• one of the best ice-cream’s I have ever had. Go New Zealand. (Somewhat biased as the co-worker in question is from NZ lol)
• Smooth, creammy and even for delicious with some fresh blue berries
• Though it’s really nice, the kiwi fruits were a bit sour to me, so would suggest to go with topping.
• I’m not usually a fan of ice-cream, but I actually really like this! It’s got a delicious fruity flavour, almost like frozen yoghurt??? 8/10
• That ice cream was DIIIIVINE! Smooth, creamy and bursting with a really clean, fresh flavour. Yummo!
• It was a perfect summer day flavour – not to strong or filling but hit the spot perfectly
• Smooth, creamy and deliciously sweet – that was a taste sensation. Yum!
• I LOVE the Manuka Honey ice cream! I wouldn’t normally go for this flavor but it’s DELICIOUS. Creamy and sweet – but not too sweet. Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust right.

All opinions are unedited to the point that I didn’t even fix their spelling errors.

As part of the introduction promotions, New Zealand Icecream is offering a FREE scoop Manuka Honey Flavour Icecream with any purchase. The offer is valid until the end of February, 2010.

Eat show &tell was a guest of New Zealand Natural Ice Cream, thanks to Fiona for organising and the invitation!

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You may have noticed that we really love japanese food. Between the five of us we’ve attempted to cover most of Sydney’s Japanese restaurants and the Azuma restaurants have definitely not been missed. A last-minute invitation from Taryn from the Azuma restaurants asking if we’d like to attend an ‘Introduction to Japanese Food’ session at the Azuma Kushiyaki restaurant found Teresa, Myself and Lorraine in the Lumiere building on a rainy weekend.

Our Japanese lunch has been organised by Gourmet Safaris, a company which hosts a number of Gourmet walking tours both locally and internationally all designed by Maeve O’Meara.

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Read the rest of An Azuma afternoon at Gourmet Safari with Maeve O’Meara (1,209 words)

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As part of their preparations for summer Zeta Bar has launched a new Cryogenic Sorbet & Cocktail Bar up on the terrace, as part of their new menu they are offering a selection of cocktails in both liquid and gelato form, Nitro Puffs – frozen to taste with liquid nitrogen and Champagne Ice Blocks.

Cocktails

Negroni, Mojito and Margaritas

There’s something I love about Cocktails, maybe it’s just the pretty colours and umbrellas that I get with my drinks that make them so much more appealing than a glass of wine. Much like a moth to the flame I’m drawn to the bright reds of the Negroni, however the bitters that makes up part of the mix is a little too much for me and in the end I find the tart sour Margarita much more to my tastes.

Zeta Sorbet

Zeta Sorbet

The Sorbet  are as colourful as their cocktail counterparts and if I’m honest, as equally appealing. I’m a little curious as to how they got the alcohol to freeze as anyone who’s tried to make ice-cream will tell you that alcohol is incredibly resistant to freezing. The flavours available are:

• Black Raspberry Clover Club
• Champagne
• Mojito
• Margarita
• Pina Colada (Recommended!)
• Spiced Black Raspberry Mule

Nitro Puffs

Zeta Puffs in action with special guest @frombecca

Nitro Puffs are easily the showiest part of the evening, the cocktail is made fresh to order before being cryogenically frozen with liquid nitrogen. @frombecca is in the audience and is a willing participant in the process, nearly becoming engulfed in the mini-cloud that ensues when the liquid nitrogen is poured into the huge container.

Our puffs are then pulled out of the mixture ready to be eaten in one frozen moment. It’s a bizarre feeling having this icy marshmallow like sensation on your tongue suddenly melt away, and I can’t help but think this would be what brain freeze would feel like if we felt it eating, rather than in our heads.

Champagne Ice Blocks

Champagne Ice Blocks

The Champagne Ice Blocks are presented on individual mini-forks (delivered very enticingly I might add) and it’s a little battle to finish eating the ice before it slides off the fork. The Ice Blocks really do taste like pure Champagne in frozen form and are recommended to any bubbly fans.

The staff are keeping up the uniform theme, from perky waitress dresses to striped aprons all complete with matching caps. I feel like I’ve stepped back into the 50′s!

Canapes

Tomato & Mozzarella, Mushroom Tarts, Pâté, Mini Burgers

It’s not a blog post without a few shots of food! Canapes are moving around the terrace and are a welcome buffer against the alcohol in our systems. As adorable as the mini burgers are, it’s the mushroom tarts that have my attention with a smooth almost pâté like texture.

I’m a little taken aback by how gorgeous the Zeta Bar is with its dark walls, brightly lit alcohol all surrounded by glass balcony’s and ceilings. Over to the side I spot little hideaway rooms, complete with curtains allowing you all the privacy you could want. I’m not sure how I’ve never been to Zeta, especially considering it’s location – I’ll be back again, if just to taste those other Sorbet flavours.

The Zeta Cryogenic Sorbet & Cocktail Bar is only available Fridays till the end of March.

Eat Show & Tell was a guest of Horizon Communication Group at the Zeta Bar Launch on the 28th of January, 2010.

Zeta Bar
Level 4, 488 George Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9265 6070
Web: http://www.zetabar.com.au/

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Kang’s coverage from behind the camera reinforced this interest, if only someone like Rachel could have a similiar concept in Sydney I thought at the time. Now there are probably things like this happening in Sydney already, if there are then I’d like to find out more!

Anyway, I didn’t have to wait long as this March she is making her way down to Sydney to host one of her own culinary events with her Sydney based friend Frankie Unsworth. They will be teaming up and cooking up a 6 course meal paired with wine. They both have blogs, so check them out here and here. What they are bringing to the table is something different and a bit of fresh dining air to Sydney.

If what I’ve seen on blogs is any indication, we’re in for a treat.

(...)
Read the rest of Edible immigration tales in Sydney (416 words)

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I’m not one to revel in PR spill, but I think the concept itself is a great idea. Kings Vault is a Victorian Government initiative. Bringing out a ’boutique’ winery from Victoria and allowing Sydney siders the chance to taste the wine and food from this region in a casual enviroment is very clever.

Inside, the setting is intimate and moody. The organisers did a great job of creating a cellar like feel, it doesn’t feel like your regular watering hole. I could definitely see this type of concept appealing to the small/pop-up bar market.

Anyway, we got a chance to hear a few stories from the King Valley wine makers. They included Fred and Joel Pizzini (Pizzini Wines),Arnie Pizzini (Chrismont), Sam Miranda (Sam Miranda King Valley) and Otto and Michael Dal Zotto (Dal Zotto Estate). These names will probably not mean anything for most people (including myself before I attended). But the thing is, they weren’t here to sell their wine, instead they happily shared stories of what life is like growing up in King Valley and what a privilege it is to live and make a living there. 

This evening was all about the wine and food, it involved an intimate tasting session with matching food and wine. Ten ranges of wine were available, from whites to red. Each wine had their own story, how it was developed, what influenced it and what food it was good to be eaten with. The conversation was casual and unpretentious, I really enjoyed it and felt unintimidated despite my basic wine palette and knowledge. I go about as far as ” this tastes great “.

The food & wine from King Valley

The focus here was local produce, local chefs and of course local wine. There was nothing extravagant about the food, it was hearty and simple, stuff which can be enjoyed with a nice glass of red or white. It’s indicative of the lifestyle in King Valley, good food and good wine. Food which doesn’t need to go through a thermomix or cost $50 a plate, it’s just fresh local produce made with love.

The wine was fantastic, my favourites were the Sam Miranda Barbera Shiraz 2008 and Pizzini Verduzzo 2009. They were crisp and refreshing and were good matches with the food.

Range of anti pasto

First up was a huge platter of anti pasto, big enough to share between 6 people and still have left overs.  The cheese here was amazing, with the highlight being the goats cheese. This massive platter includes various breads and lavosh, succulent olives and jam. It’s the type of arrangement I can imagine eating in the King Valley looking over a vineyard, I long to visit it one day.

left to right : grilled eggplant - fennel, walnut and mandarin salad, prosciutto

 This plate was just WOW, apologies for my limited vocabulary. The ingredients at face value are simple, but you got to give credit for how the chef can create such harmony with all the flavours and textures. The salad and prosciutto was the highlight for me. People were freely eating these anti pasto with their hands, accompanied with crunchy bread and sipping on different wines all along a massive communal table. It felt like a massive dinner party, with everyone sharing stories and just chatting away as if we have seen each other before. It was such a great vibe to be in.

Olive tapanade wrapped in sage leaves , deep fried.

 It seemed there was a collective sigh of ” mmmm yum ” when everyone bit into these morsels. Olive tapenade wrapped in sage leaves were lightly fried resulting in the perfect bar snack. I’m going to try make these at home.

The last course was a massive plate of duck, falling off the bone with copious amounts of vegetables and crispy fried basil (I think).

So what did I get out of this session, and is it something which should happen more often ? I think so. It’s all about real food, real wine and real people. Wine made with passion, with Italian influences and not just made for mass consumption. The opportunity to speak to the wine makers who are willing to listen to the seasoned wine buff and the backyard uneducated wine drinker like myself.

The King’s Vault pop up bar is open from 18th – 27th November, between 6.30pm – 11pm. There will be wines available by the glass starting at $10. There are only a few days left so if you are curious about King Valley wine and food, check it out. For more info it’s best to visit the website at http://www.whereiskingsvault.com.au

Let’s see how successful this initiative is, hopefully they come back next year.

* The King’s Vault is an one-off event and only available in Sydney *

Howard attended this event thanks to Edwina from Yarn PR

Where is King’s Vault?
20 McLachlan Avenue
Darlinghurst (Rushcutter Bay)
NSW 2011

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Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards 2009

Some of you might have been aware that we were recently nominated in the Best Food Blog category for the Nuffnang Asia Pacific blog awards for 2009. It came as a massive shock, considering how many good food blogs there are who are apart of Nuffnang, not only in Australia, but also in Asia. We still consider ourselves quite below the pecking order as a food blog, but who could knock back a trip to Singapore to represent Australian bloggers ?

Last week, we were flown up to Singapore for a few days as part of the Awards night. It was a massive night and we got to rub shoulders with some of Asia’s finest bloggers from all types of blogs from fashion to food. Overall, us Aussies did pretty well with every Aussie who was nominated in a category taking away an award except for us. Way to go Team es&t!

Congrats to the following Aussie for taking away an award as the best Blog in their respective category : Mr Gadget, Lady Melbourne and Childhood 101. Complete list of winners below :

• Best Blogshop: bonitochico.livejournal.com
• Best Fashion Blog: ladymelbourne.blogspot.com
• Best Parenting Blog: childhood101.blogspot.com
• Best Travel Blog: ironwulf.net
• Best Celebrity Blog: joannepeh.com
• Best Entertainment Blog: kennysia.com
• Best Geek Blog: mrgadget.com.au
• Best Hidden Gem: dedoodleblog.blogspot.com
• Best Original Blog Design: xiaxue.blogspot.com
• Most Influential Blog: xiaxue.blogspot.com
• Region’s Best Blog: xiaxue.blogspot.com

One thing we did come away with was how massive blogging is in Asia-Pacific. If you check on Twitter for the hash tag #nnawards, there was a lot of activity and interest going around before and after the awards night. It was the talk of the town, with everyone wanting a ticket to the awards night. If the same event was to be held here, it wouldn’t of generated the same hype due to the relative infancy of blogging in Australia. Blogging is still regarded as a niche activity, some would even say a nerdy past time. But hey, someone has to do it right ?

This is Xia Xue. Unknown to me before the awards night, she has a massive following in Asia and can be considered an Internet celebrity of some sort. It resulted in her taking away 3 awards,  the most of any blogger. One thing to note is that she is a full-time blogger, even though her blog doesn’t focus on any topic in particular. It’s a fascinating career for her, apparently she makes a fair bit of coin too.

Food for the night wasn’t too bad, but the food wasn’t what everyone came for.

One thing I noticed about Singapore was, everyone pretty much has an SLR.

Lunch with ieatishootipost

Meet Leslie Tay, the winner of the Best Food Blog award. I’ve been a long time follower of his blog even though he lives in Singapore, it’s a great resource for finding places to eat if your in Singapore. I’ve spoken to him via email for the past couple of months ever since he asked es&t to give a list of places to eat in Sydney. His blog is amazing, considering the amount of places he has covered in a food crazy country such as Singapore.

One thing to note is that he is a Doctor (GP) by trade and still has the time to consistently blog. The feat itself is a testament to how dedicated and passionate he is with his blog, definitely someone for us at es&t to look up to. He also knows a thing or two about Sydney, having studied here for a few years whilst becoming a Doctor.

While we were in Singapore we were lucky to meet up with him twice over some good Singaporean food. One of the best meals we had was at Siang Hee Restaurant run by the woman in that photo up there. Don’t be fooled by the hawker style kitchen, she whipped up a few innovative dishes which you wouldn’t expect from a road side eatery.  It was great having the opportunity to sit and chat with him, he is one of the most down to earth blokes I’ve ever met. Stayed tuned for my full post on Siang Hee Restaurant and lunching with Leslie.

Shopping

I’m not one who shops that often, but I picked up a few things while I was in Singapore. I went nuts in Zara, TopShop and G2000. Zara has everything, their suits are awesome as they are the only brand which I don’t need anything tapered. My entire work wardrobe is also from G2000, it’s so bloody cheap and the quality is up there and sure beats the living daylights out of brands like Industrie which are three times the price but half the level of quality.

Haji Lane is also somewhere which I can recommend. If anyone shops at Paddington or somewhere like Incu , you will love Haji Lane. I picked up these sunnies from there, cost me a cool $70.

Singapore street food

Oyster pancake ($1.65 AUD)

One thing you begin to realise is that Singapore live to eat and not eat to live. It is a food mad country, and no matter who you talk to, they will have their take on what is the best and worst of food in Singapore. I must admit though, the heat got to the better of me and my appetite wasn’t as big as it usually is during my trip. But fear not, I still managed to fit in copious amounts of meals and I’ll combine all my hawker style adventures in one post in the next few days.

Pork rib and prawn mee ($2.45 AUD)

The line for this bowl was huge, naturally I had to join the queue. When I got to the end, an old woman saw my camera and she said to me “you bloggers pick the right restaurants ” in Cantonese.  I was shocked to hear it initially as I surprised she even knew what a blog was, once again you never judge a person by their age. I look to one of the walls of the hole in the wall store and the owner has stuck up a few blog posts about his bowl of noodles, word must have got out on how awesome his noodles were.

Mint Ice cream w/ wafer (80 cents AUD)

There was no shortage of these ice cream carts selling ice cream sandwiches on Orchard road. For 80 cents, I expected something tasting cheap and watered down. Instead, it would of gave top line supermarket ice cream a run for its money.

Lunch at Jaan par André

I first saw and heard of Andre Chiang at the World Chef Showcase as part of SIFF 2009. He was running a session with Mark Best and I could already tell that he was quite a special chef from his demonstration. We had enough time for one decent lunch and it was a toss-up between Iggy’s and Jaan. After a flick of a coin we chose Jaan par Andre, I think I made the right choice. He’s trained at several 3 Michelin Star restaurants and you can tell by his food where his influences come from. He also made a debut at No. 4 in the Miele Guide 2009/2010 which lists Asia’s top restaurants, a bit like our Good Food Guide.

I won’t reveal too much and leave it for my post which is coming up in a few days. We went for the 3 course set lunch for $58 SGD which I though was pretty good value considering the type of food we had.

Flying on Singapore Air A380

This was my first time on the A380 so I was quite excited. The food was the usual Singapore Air quality which is a cut above other airlines in my books. For dessert, we even got ice cream which is my favourite part of the flight before kicking back and enjoying a movie.

One thing that has improved dramatically is the Entertainment system. Not only is the screen wider and clearer, the user interface has dramatically improved. To top it off, it has a USB port so that you can plug-in your own devices and watch movies off it, view photos and even listen to your own music. Well done Singapore Air.

I managed to fit in a few movies on my trip : The Taking of Pelham 123, Julie and Julia, Up!, The Land of the Lost and Terminator Salvation. My pick of the movies would be Up and Julie and Julia.

Thank you Nuffnang

Finally, thank you to Nuffnang for flying us over to experience the Nuffnang Awards. Awards aside, Nuffnang are doing a great thing for Australian bloggers by being the first company in Australia dedicated to Online advertising for Blogs. While blogging is still at a relatively early stage of its development life cycle in Australia, it’s good to know that they are around at the foundation level. Hopefully this spurs us on to improve the blog and hopefully be there next year again in one capacity or another. Special mention to David Lee and David Krupp who we have been working with over the past ten months.

Over the next few days we will be posting about what we ate in Singapore, stayed tuned!

© Howard for eatshowandtell, 2009. | Permalink | 27 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Or perhaps it’s more apt to say OOC (Out Of Country?).

Thank you to everyone who voted for us in the Nuffnang Awards! It’s hard to believe that it’s the 23rd of October already and that the results are all being announced tonight at the Asia-Pacific Blog Awards!

Half of the ES&T team have gone to Singapore to represent the team, Howard left on Thursday morning, Teresa on Thursday afternoon and Squishies following soon after on Friday afternoon. Why we took 3 separate flights I have no idea but I’m sure they have a weekend of debauchery and of course, copious amounts of eating planned!

EST Team Scattering

Just after Squishies leaves on her flight I’ll be following the team to Sydney International Airport as I jet off in the opposite direction to Christchurch, New Zealand! Things will be a little quiet on the blogging front as Linda is left holding the fort over the next few days, but expect a ton of Singapore and New Zealand posts when we all get back and resume our regular blogging!

Wish us luck guys, and of course… any eating recommendations for Singapore/New Zealand are absolutely welcomed!

© Minh for eatshowandtell, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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