eatshowandtell » SIFF

Secret Dinners: My Experience, Crave Sydney 2011

linda — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:43:35 +0000

The last couple of weeks has been one of the most amazingly intense experiences that I have ever experienced. Thanks to Fouad, I was fortunate enough to be involved in a couple of Secret Dinners for the Crave International Food Festival. This will be a relatively long post summarising the highs and lows of my journey, so sit back, relax and enjoy.(...)
Read the rest of Secret Dinners: My Experience, Crave Sydney 2011 (1,890 words)

SIFF 2010, Malaysian Food Festival, Grace Hotel, Sydney CBD

Minh — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 13:41:03 +0000

The return of Malaysia Mondays!

It’s been almost 5 months since my epic Malaysia holiday. This wasn’t even my first visit to Malaysia but somehow particular this trip triggered in me a great love and craving for the fiery local cuisine (traveling with 3 obsessed foodies may have also contributed a little to this love), writing about all of the food we devoured for 9 consecutive posts really didn’t help to curb me of this obsession either!

Coming back home I slowly came to realise that finding the same foods I’d loved and dreamt about was going to be a little hard. As part of the Crave Sydney International Food Festival celebrations this year, the Grace Hotel is putting on a Malaysian Food Festival, a buffet style feast.

Was it going to live up my memories? We’re about to find out!

Starting off with the Salad Bar

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SIFF 2010, Janice Wong at Sepia, Sydney CBD

Minh — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:07:53 +0000

The list of dinners and events for this year’s SIFF were long enough to keep me entertained for an afternoon simply trying to decide what to go to. The words Janice Wong and Sepia were all it took for me to call up for a booking, but unluckily the event was fully booked out and my name went on a waiting list. 2 days before the dinner my prayers were answered with a last-minute cancellation, meaning that Astroboy and I were in!

It’s been a year since my last visit to Sepia, and they’ve been showered in Hats, Best Restaurant and Best Chef Awards so I’m interested to see if anything’s changed. Tonight’s degustation is a joint venture between Janice Wong and the Sepia chefs, Martin Benn and Daniel Puskas, the dinner is 9 courses long and much to my pleasure is actually split into an even mix of 50% savory and 50% sweet.

Amuse Bouche

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Read the rest of SIFF 2010, Janice Wong at Sepia, Sydney CBD (1,874 words)

SIFF Sugar Hit 2010: InterContinental Sydney, Sydney

squishies — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 13:00:26 +0000

One of the other Sugar Hits that caught our attention was from The Cortile at the InterContinental.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to The Cortile and I had forgotten that it looks like there’s an outside façade on the inside; I had also forgotten how much I liked it!

As we were seated, we were quickly attended to and before we knew it, our dessert with the wine had arrived.

Homemade Amarena Cherry, Triple Chocolate Gateau with Orange Honeycomb and Bailey's Macaron

I loved how each chocolate layer of this dessert was decadently sumptuous and so smooth. I also loved its Brown Brothers’ Muscat wine pairing.

This rich, chocolate-layered dessert has a secret up its sleeve: the dark cherry gelee layer. The gelee layer and the amarena cherries helped cut through the incredible rich layers of chocolate with their sweet-sour flavour. The other ace is the shards of honeycomb that added a different texture and sort of sweetness to the dessert.

Bailey's Macaron

I think I have a weakness for macarons – I’m forever scoffing down Linda’s macarons whenever I’m over at hers and heaven forbid if F starts to make them. That said, I adored the Bailey’s macaron. Its creamy filling was a delicious break from the decadentness of the chocolate cake.

And look at how big it is! So hectic.

This is what I’d call a Sugar Hit and a must-try for any chocolate (or macaron) lover.

InterContinental Sydney
117 Macquarie Street
Sydney, NSW, 2000
Ph: 0292401396
Web: http://www.sydney.intercontinental.com/

SIFF Sugar Hit 2010: Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney

squishies — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 14:27:23 +0000

On a bummy Friday evening, F suddenly raised the question, “Are we going to SIFF this year?”

“You know I can’t do the ‘Let’s Do Lunches’ because of where I work,” I replied with a sad panda face. And somehow that led to us locking in two Sugar Hits to visit the following night (weird I know).

Our first stop saw us at Shangri-La Hotel. Forgetting what was on the menu for the evening, we were promptly seated and served the matching wine for the evening.

F was surprised to see the colour red in his glass this year, as throughout the previous year, every establishment we had visited served the same white dessert wine. The dark plum-coloured liquid turned out to be Cienna from Brown Brothers.

Black Forest Cocktail - Vanilla Panacotta, Cherries in Kirsch, Chocolate Bonbon, Cocoa Sponge and Chocolate Cream

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Read the rest of SIFF Sugar Hit 2010: Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney (223 words)

2009 SIFF Hats Off Dinner – Restaurant Balzac

teresa — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:00:19 +0000

Are you ready for your “Hats” to be blown “off”?

For the past few years, as October approaches, details for the food festival are advertised. I read through each event intensely and even jot down the ones I’d love to go to. Then it occurs to me that they are on the weekdays, and being interstate during the week, I’m never able to attend. However, this year was different; I was back in Sydney for October! Rejoice!
This year, Restaurant Balzac was once again awarded TWO hats for the 2010 Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide Awards. I went to Restaurant Balzac for my birthday three years ago and wanted to reminisce back to that night where I had some of the tastiest bread ever: warm, crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. Tonight, I was back for the ever-so-long awaited Hats off dinner for the Sydney International Food Festival.

Beach-themed table setting

Getting ready to dine!

The theme for tonight’s HATS OFF dinner was called “From the bottom of The Deep Blue Sea”

Theme for tonight's dinner

Me, (being THE Pescatarian of the EST team, or the “Pest” as they like to call me), this 10-course hats off dinner was perfect as the degustation involved (basically) all seafood dishes. What was more exciting was the theme and inspiration behind each dish. Each course was inspired from some country on each continent. Have a go and guess the country/cuisine from where each dish is inspired from…!

So here goes with the “beachy-themed” dinner…

Pacific Oyster with Vietnamese Dressing

Occasionally, I have that *small* craving for oysters (or perhaps its the attraction to this “aphrodisiac”…) and this starter was such a teaser! The fresh and sweetness of the oyster complimented very well together with the sweet/savoury dressing. It was a nice, light starter to entice our palate for the other 9 dishes to come.

Soon after, the waitress arrived with a plate of complimentary bread. MMM! This is what I returned for!

The bread was just how I remembered from three years before: warm. crunchy. warm on the inside. The butter spread so well on the bread. nomnomnom!

Salt Cod Manresa-style

The second meal of the night. The bland flavours of the beans mixed with the rather salty “Salt Cod” attempted to balance the salty flavour, but I felt it was still a little too salty still. However, when washed down with a sip of wine (supposedly for the next course), it was a lot easier and more pleasure to consume.

Boston Bay Clam Chowder

(matched with nv Jed Wines Sparkling Blanc de Blanc – Argentina)
The first time I had chowder was in San Francisco (home of the chowder) many years ago. Cream-enriched, flavoursome, and warming, tonight’s chowder was just like the first time. The bits of clam was rather fun to find and eat! It had a nice strong seafood flavour, mixed together with a hint of ham.
The matching wine came from Argentina. I was informed that West Australian wine merchants, Jed Wines travelled to Argentina just to produce this wine. This was a favourite for everyone that night; sweet, light and complimented well with the freshness of the snapper.

Ceviche of Line Caught Pink Snapper

(matched with 2008 Tomich Hill Riesling – Adelaide Hills, S.A.)
Ceviche is a peruvian-style dish: citrus-marinade raw seafood. Tonight’s fish was the Pink Snapper. The snapper, being a light-flavoured fish, was enhanced by the tomato-ey citrus dressing. Very fresh & sweet!
The lightly flavoured Riesling matched well with the citrus-y dish.

Linguini of Spanner Crab and Asparagus

(with matching wine 2007 Torbreck ‘Woodcutters’ Semillon – Barossa Valley, S.A.)
“This tastes just like noodles! My favourite”, exclaimed my dad. *shakes head*. The handmade linguini did have a noodley texture but it was still pasta. The lemon-flavoured sauce for this dish was sweet and made the dish simple, yet interesting. This was my dad’s favourite that night.

Poppadums with mint yoghurt

Curry of Prawns and Basil with Poppadums

(with matching 2007 Domaine Coteau de la Biche – Vouvray, France)
The yellow curry itself was light and sweet… although, I felt that if the prawns were cooked in the curry itself so it could soak up the curry, the prawn would have tasted fantastic. There was only 1 small poppadum each to dip with the mint yoghurt. If only we were given more to dip with the curry, or even consumed together with some sort of legume. This dish was just missing this factor, otherwise this may have been my favourite.

'Surf n turf', Lobster and Wagyu

(with matching wine 2007 Pommier ‘Bourgogne’ Pinot Noir – Burgundy, France)
A classic Australia dish. Obviously, the “surf” was the lobster and the “turf” was the wagyu. This was the only meat dish of the night and I was highly disappointed when informed that the sauce had bits of truffle. As you all may know, I’m a HUGE fan of truffle; the smokey/burnt flavour is my favourite due to its uniqueness and it fascinating taste. My brother and dad inform me the wagyu was not very fatty which perhaps made the beef a little tough to slice, however, it was perfectly cooked.

The brother slowly and carefully enjoying his wagyu...

By this time, I was pretty full, but there was still dessert to come…

Coconut Caviar with Mango

I have and will always love sago. The mango sago drink readily available in Hong Kong @ Hui Lau Shan makes me love sago even more. The use of the sago in this dish was very similar to “caviar”. My brother was merely disappointed when he realised it was not REAL caviar. At first, I thought it may have been caviar and I wondered how they could work caviar in together with mango (a sweet taste). This was a nice refreshing re-dessert to ready the palate for dessert.

Sand, Cones and Umbrellas

(with matching wine 2008 Josef Botrytis Rieling – Tamar Valley, TAS)
I thought this was the most creative dish for the night. The “sand” was crushed shortbread and sugar, the “person” under the umbrella was a handmade waffle with a raspberry swirl ice cream. This dish was so fun to eat! Dipping the cone in the sand… The waffle was crunchy and not too sweet to be eaten together with the icecream, and the sand was not too sweet to be dipped in. MY favourite of the night!
The matching wine was very good as well. It was not too sweet, and very easy to drink. This was my favourite wine of the night too as it went so well with the dessert together.

Tea with salted caramel chocolate seashells

The night ended with a pot of green tea, enjoyed together with salted-caramel chocolate seashells. The sweetness of the caramel was downplayed by the salt. I didn’t think too much of salted caramel, but the seashell had a unique taste. I found this very interesting to eat.

The service was adequently attentive and there was a nice (not-too-long-not-too-quick) break between each meal. This allowed for better digestion of each dish and I quite liked this. I didn’t leave the restaurant feeling like passing out from food coma, so the quantity was perfect for everyone that night. With a price tag of $160pp (or $185pp with the matching wines), I would have expected better quality ingredients, but the creativeness to the theme of the menu made up for this. I enjoy the french/english-style of the food at Restaurant Balzac, but next time, I’ll go for the a la carte.

Restaurant Balzac
141 Belmore Road,
Randwick NSW, 2031
Tel: (02) 9399 9660
Fax: (02) 9399 6929
Web: http://www.restaurantbalzac.com.au/

Open…
Tues to Sat – from 6pm
Friday Lunch only – 12pm to 3pm
Last Sunday of every Month – from 6.30pm (Seasonal Degustation only)

SIFF Hats Off Dinner 2009: Becasse, Sydney

squishies — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:00:37 +0000

Even though SIFF 2009 is officially over, I thought I’d post this Becasse dinner anyway because it was a fantastic experience.

I thought I’d surprise F with an early birthday dinner and what better way than to do it with a SIFF Hats Off Dinner – a Hats Off Dinner at Becasse to be precise! I was intrigued and drawn by their theme: an acknowledgement to the Heroes and Masters of French cuisine and I thought he might find it as interesting as I did (and enjoy it).

Even after dragging our feet and spending some time at (and eating) Bon Bon Fine Chocolates, we ended up being 10 minutes too early and were asked by the staff to come back when they open at 6. Loitering outside for a bit, we decided to go back to Bon Bon Fine Chocolates, where F dropped a cool $45 on an assortment of chocolates. Surely by now our 10-minute exile from Becasse was up and made our way back to the restaurant.

We were ushered upstairs, where our waitress began to indicate politely our table, only to stop herself with a start and moved to the table behind, brightly amending her mistake with “Sorry! This is your table”. I brightened up too as the table was well-lit – awesome (so now we all know that if the photos don’t look good, it’s because of the camera’s end user haha).

Pumpkin Brioche, Garlic and Herb, and Sourdough Baguette with Smoked Butter and Pink Salts and Olive Oil Butter and Herbs

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© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2009. | Permalink | 18 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dessert, favourite, Seafood

SIFF Sugar Hit 2009: Tony Bilson’s Number One, Sydney

squishies — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:00:07 +0000

In fond rememberance of Onde‘s pear and frangipani tart, I thought I should see how well Tony Bilson’s Number One’s version stacked up.

Tony Bilson’s Number One wasn’t where I expected it to be. For some reason, I thought it was located in Customs House and when F asked me where I was going, as I veered away from him towards the building, I said, “Going to Number One of course! Aren’t you coming?” A bit of a minor verbal tussle ensued, where in the end, I yielded to Google Maps and someone’s 20/20 vision.

I realised afterwards that I was thinking of the cafe “Young Alfred” that’s established in Customs House, though I’m not sure how “Young Alfred” and “1 Alfred St” correlates in terms of address. Sigh.

I apologise for the terrible photo. I struggled with dim, warm lighting from inside the restaurant and being seated right next to the window, a bright, bluish light from outside the restaurant. I really did try, but then my ice cream started to melt, forming miniture riverlets amongst the pear slices, and so I gave up…

Pear and Frangipani Tarte Fine

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Read the rest of SIFF Sugar Hit 2009: Tony Bilson’s Number One, Sydney (171 words)

SIFF Let’s Do Lunch 2009: Sean’s Kitchen

Minh — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:00:41 +0000

While this month’s Let’s Do Lunch offerings are more than enticing, being situated just outside of the CBD means that the majority of these lunches are simply just too far away for me. Scanning through the list of restaurants I narrowed my list down to restaurants in the immediate vicinity and settled on Sean’s Kitchen and their “7 Deadly Sins”, or as I like to call it, “Heart Attack on a platter”.

From the SIFF website the exact description of lunch was, ‘Mixed grill of black pudding, duck-fat-fried bread, quail egg, wagyu sausage, bacon, duck hash and devilled kidneys’. I think my eyes must have been shining at this point as one co-worker immediately backed out of lunch saying she’d like to maintain a manageable cholesterol level, while another jumped to the challenge.

Sean's Kitchen Mixed Grill

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Read the rest of SIFF Let’s Do Lunch 2009: Sean’s Kitchen (860 words)

SIFF Sugar Hit 2009: Shangri La Hotel

Howard — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:00:45 +0000

Having spent too much money on food lately, I wasn’t intending on going to Shangri La for a Sugar Hit this Friday night. To be honest I’m not really a big sweet tooth , I’m more a savoury person. If I had to choose between a pierre herme macaron or some fried chicken, I would pick the fried chicken.

We had just finished our meal at the Night Noodle Markets, when Kathness somehow managed to get us a booking for 8 people just 1 hour before the Shangri La Sugar Hit would start. I didn’t hold much hope for a table as a few hotels have been booked out for their Sugar Hit sessions. As the night was young, I couldn’t knock back an opportunity to increase my blood sugar levels.

Last year, squishies wasn’t too excited about what Shangri La had to offer for their Sugar Hit. Apparently they had a change of hands in the Head Pastry Chef department and the offerings were a bit more different from previous years. I guess each person has different expectations from a Sugar Hit. For me, since it is a month long celebration of food I expect something which makes me go ‘wow’, something which really showcases the talent of the Pastry Chef of the establishment. But at the same time, I understand how difficult it would be to come up with a dessert which appeals to everyone while charging $20.

Hazelnut torte, lemon curd, sugar coated popcorn, and lemon jelly ($20)

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SIFF Sugar Hit : Sir Stamford at Circular Quay Hotel, Sydney

squishies — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:00:41 +0000

I love lazy weekends – I’ll admit I would happily sleep in til late in the afternoons sometimes (especially if it’s miserable outside). So when we were lazing around, idly discussing what we should do, F offhandedly put forward: “Why don’t we do a Sugar Hit?” Why not indeed.

Seeing that Azuma and the Hilton was booked solid that night (boo), Sir Stamford at Circular Quay Hotel’s Sugar Hit sounded like a nice, simple dessert alternative – and really, how can you go wrong with strawberries and cream?

Trying to be classy with the Cognac

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SIFF Let’s Do Lunch: Teppanyaki, Sydney

Howard — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:00:09 +0000

The word teppanyaki often conjures up images of food flying in my face and walking out of the restaurant with an empty stomach and a dirty shirt. When I use to work in North Sydney, Teppanyaki use to be a reward for completing a milestone or a project on time. But instead, the thought of Teppanyaki style cooking made me cringe. The restaurant would have someone cook the food for us and he or she would do a few tricks and the food would land on our bowl. If I wanted to see tricks, I would buy a ticket to Cirque du Soleil.

Thankfully, Teppanyaki at The Ivy is not your usual Teppanyaki restaurant.

Ever since Merivale decided to get a bit more serious with their food, Teppanyaki has been a quiet achiever while the likes of est. take the spotlight. They have received some positive thoughts from several blogs as well as being full with patrons every time I dine there. This years Let’s do Lunch as part of SIFF gives me another opportunity to see what Teppanyaki is up to.

One thing to note before dining here is that Teppanyaki’s food is not predominately Japanese. The flavours are actually more Asian fusion, as you will see with one of the dishes that I ordered. But anyway, enough of my rambling. As you might have noticed, our SIFF posts are short and sweet. With so many options and posts, hopefully less is more.

West Australian marron, crushed cherry tomatoes, fresh herb salad

I ordered the Western Australian marron and Thai herb salad with the hope that it would suffice as my omega 3 and vegetable daily intake. The dietitians of the world would disagree with my justification, but at least my stomach was satisfied. The entire serving is more than generous, with the marron coming in two huge pieces with plenty of succulent meat. They are grilled or seared with a bit of seasoning, I think I could taste some hints of garlic. The Thai herb salad was a circus of colours and flavours, the perfect spring salad. It was a bit confusing to have a Thai salad in a Japanese named restaurant, but everything these days seems to be a mashup of different cuisines.

Wagyu striploin, marble score 5+, wok tossed shitake, buckwheat and soybeans

One word, amazing. I’ll start with one very minor setback, the wagyu was a tad over cooked. But fear not, the flavours more than made up for it. The shiitake mushrooms, buckwheat and soybeans are a great combination. Not only do they go well together in terms of flavour, but their textures all compliment each other very well. The wagyu had nice strokes of marble and if cooked a little more underdone it would have been perfect.

Well there you have it, another Let’s Do Lunch. You still have about two weeks to check out what is on offer on www.siff.com.au . The $35 offerings from Teppanyaki are great value, they all come with a bowl of rice and miso soup as well as the glass of beer/wine/sparkling water. While the flavours are a bit of a cross between Thai and Japanese, the flavours are spot on.

Note : These two dishes are part of the SIFF Let’s Do Lunch which runs throughout October 2009.

Teppanyaki at The Ivy

330 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph : 9240 3000
w : http://www.merivale.com/ivy/teppanyaki

SIFF Sugar Hit 2009: Sheraton on the Park, Sydney

squishies — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:00:28 +0000

When F wanted to go to Sheraton on the Park’s Sugar hit, I was reminded of my last time there (from the lack of photos, I would presume this was before my food blogging days). I had a wonderful Alaska Bomb that I raved about to Minh, who did not quite share my enthusiasm for the same Sugar Hit when she went.

However, remembering fondly of the dessert buffets I’ve had there (and that Alaska bomb!), I figured that F most probably would like it and agreed to be his Sugar Hit partner in crime.

Going by memory, we went upstairs where the buffet tables were for our Sugar Hit, only to have the wait staff inform us that it’s being served downstairs in the lobby. Puzzled, we went back downstairs and as I sat down, my puzzlement grew. I was quite sure that it wasn’t near the lobby last time, but doubts started to creep in and I thought perhaps I remembered wrongly.

Funnily enough, Teresa was also there with her group of friends for the Sugar hit! Small world =) Hehe She also remembered the Sugar Hit being served upstairs and that it kind of felt weird to have it in the lobby. Sorry, it wasn’t quite in the lobby, it was more off to the side in a small room, which in a way felt a little odd. (Perhaps I’m thinking too much into it.)

Warm Chocolate Pudding with Golden Almond Splinter, Honeycomb Ice Cream and Chantilly Cream

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Read the rest of SIFF Sugar Hit 2009: Sheraton on the Park, Sydney (240 words)

SIFF Sugar Hit 2009: The Westin, Sydney

squishies — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:00:59 +0000

Note : Thanks to Alex in the comments he has advised that the Sugar Hit starts at 6pm!

Slightly overwhelmed by the choices at hand of where to go for our Sugar Hit, I remembered that the Sugar Hit at The Westin last year was pretty decent and the wild rice pudding sounded really interesting. I can’t remember the last time I had rice pudding, let alone wild rice pudding, so I figured it’d be a different and, hopefully, tasty experience.

Wild Rice and Cinnamon Pudding with Cranberry and Rhubarb Jam with Poached Blueberry Meringue

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Read the rest of SIFF Sugar Hit 2009: The Westin, Sydney (335 words)

SIFF Let’s Do Lunch, Uccello

Howard — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:01:37 +0000

Working in the City has it’s good and bad points. The good is that I am close to a lot of the Sydney International Food Festival offerings. The bad, I am going to be a poor man when this month is over. But perhaps I’ll worry about that later, after all I can always make money again .. right ?

The first day of SIFF saw me head to Uccello for their Let’s do Lunch menu. During the month of October, participating restaurants offer a $35 menu with one main course plus coffee, and a glass of matching Brown Brothers wine, Coopers beer or a 500ml bottle of S.Pellegrino sparkling or Acqua Panna still mineral water, a great way to sample the menu of some great restaurants. Like a few restaurants during SIFF, Uccello offer 3 choices for Let’s Do Lunch. Luckily I was dining with a few friends and we managed to cover the entire menu plus a dessert.

linguine ai frutti di mare traditional amalf coast recipe of fresh seafood cooke in fresh tomato white wine and a touch of chilli

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Read the rest of SIFF Let’s Do Lunch, Uccello (507 words)

SIFF Nose-to-tail barbecue & Pyrmont Growers Market

Minh — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:00:13 +0000

The Growers Markets are always a favourite with the crowds but with the recent spate of terrible weather I expected the crowds to be slim to none. I couldn’t have been more wrong!

After a late night out I had no plans of heading out to the Growers Markets the next morning, parking is usually terrible and the first major event in this year’s SIFF schedule it was guaranteed to be packed. However instead of a hangover found myself wide awake at 7am!

With nothing better to do, and despite the truly miserable weather I decided to drag myself out of bed, making this the 2nd Grower’s Markets I’d managed to make my way out to this year. Despite my reservations parking was relatively easy and the rain had died down mostly by the time I got into the markets.

Beautiful fresh asparagus

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SIFF Let’s Do Lunch, est. Sydney

squishies — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:34:40 +0000

Our second Let’s Do Lunch was at est. I’ve never been, but I’ve heard lots of good things about it – including retaining its 3 chef’s hat this year while others have sadly lost theirs.

We were surprised that there were three options available for their Let’s Do Lunch (on SIFF’s website, there’s only one): jewfish, duck leg confit and roast lamb. I slightly lamented that we didn’t have a third person with us, but what can you do. I stuck with my original choice (the only one I thought was available) of jewfish, while F opted for the duck.

One of the waiters informed us that the shaved calamari had run out and whether it would be okay if the chef replaced it with some seared scallops. Heck yeah. I said “yes” in a heart beat.

Pan Roasted Jewfish with Seared Scallop, Spring Asparagus, Beans and Peas and Romesco Salsa

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Read the rest of SIFF Let’s Do Lunch, est. Sydney (487 words)

SIFF Sugar Hit, Perama

linda — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:57:58 +0000

This sugar hit will be hard to beat

My first encounter with Perama was precisely one year ago. It was on one fateful evening that a friend of mine organised a group dinner, which introduced me to a whole new world of Greek food. A world where a greek salad was not the only entree available, a place where lamb was not the only protein in the mains option, a moment where baklava was not the only dessert offering. I was so impressed by that night that one year on, I’m still raving about it to anyone who cares to listen. So imagine my excitement when I found out that this year, Perama chose to offer themselves to the euphoria that surrounds SIFF Sugar Hits.

With our table of 10, we promptly booked the earliest available session, which was 10pm. With all my constant bragging, I think everyone had very high expectations of what the chef, David Tsirakis had to offer.

Left : 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

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SIFF Let’s Do Lunch : Fix St James, Sydney

squishies — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:00:50 +0000

Sydney International Food Festival, or inevitably abbreviated to be known as SIFF, is finally here! With my going back to work next week in Chatswood – ever so far away from some of the Let’s Do Lunches I’ve got my eye on – I scoured the SIFF website trying to narrow my choices down to just two restaurants.

Because of my excitement, we got there before they actually opened for service, which is from 12 noon to 3 pm. The bartender was apologetic and asked us whether we wanted a drink while we waited outside until they opened.

While we waited, sipping on our drinks, we noticed that Fix St James had a Quick Fix meal, which was 5 courses to share for $35 (requiring a minimum of 2 people). Realising that we were actually contemplating ordering the Quick Fix meal and thus getting distracted from our main purpose of trying their Let’s Do Lunch, we resolvedly looked away from the sign.

Cheese-Stuffed Zucchini Flowers ($4 each)

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Read the rest of SIFF Let’s Do Lunch : Fix St James, Sydney (475 words)

Sugar Hit : The Westin, Sydney

squishies — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:00:16 +0000

Farewell Sugar Hit 2008

I love how the lounge bar of The Westin is laid out; we always get a table on the “outside”, where I personally love the whole feeling of “a building inside a building” (quoting Sam, as he’s pretty much hit the nail on the head with that description) – looking up at the soaring skylight framed by the rough sandstone walls and high arches never ceases to make me wonder what and how the GPO was like back in its heyday.

Berry and Quinoa Trifle with Oat Almond Filo Pastry Roll and Pistachio Custard

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Read the rest of Sugar Hit : The Westin, Sydney (183 words)

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2008. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dessert, good food month, sugar hit, Sydney