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Saturday, February 12, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Dinner at Feeling Nibblish's chef's table!
Dinner at Feeling Nibblish's chef's table!
It's not often that you're invited to a recipe blogger's kitchen for dinner, so I made sure to bring my empty stomach and imagined what feast would await the boy and I. Isabelle described the meal as a "Chinese inspired meal" and I couldn't wait. We opened some beers to cool down from the scorching weather outside and settled in.
The Chinatown Gyoza were dressed in a refreshing soy, chilli, ginger and coriander sauce and were the perfect starting point for an Asian themed night of food. The fillings, including prawns and pork, worked perfectly with their sauce and I couldn't get enough of these. Because I'm a little bit obsessed with strong flavours, if I were making them I would have upped the chilli, ginger and coriander in the sauce, however, if you're serving food for a few people you have to be careful not to overdo these kinds of flavours. And I'm only saying this because when asked at the end of the evening by Isabelle, I had extreme difficulty in offering any negative feedback. I'm definitely going to try this recipe because making gyoza is always a lot of fun and you can be very creative with the fillings (although I have a tendency to overstuff every gyoza I make). The gyoza were soft in the inside and crispy on the outside from being panfried. The perfect combination. You could easily eat an entire meal of these.
It's always fun being around someone else who takes photos of the food they eat. I think the boy is getting use to waiting until he sees the flash of a camera before he's allowed to eat. That's foodie bloggers for you! But it's also great being able to talk food over great food, both home cookign and new restaurants that have opened up.
We've started on a bottle of red by this point and can smell the next course simmering away. It's beginning to smell amazing. Isabelle has prepared as much as possible before we've arrived, so that she isn't away from the conversation for too long. This is always a juggling act when you're the cook for the night, but Isabelle does this seamlessly.
The next course is Chick - Corn Soup, which is a delicious combination of chicken, corn, Shao Hsing wine, coriander and more. There really is something about chicken soup that makes you feel like you're eating something that's really good for your body. I could have eaten a whole pot of this because it's so moorish. Chicken soup has that ability to make you extremely comforted when you eat it, warming you up from the inside out. This is a bit fancier than the usual variety served to you by your parents when you were feeling ill, and the Asian twist, such as the coriander (one of my favourite ingredients at the moment), lifts the flavours in the soup.
A few more bottles of wine and a lot more talk of blogs and food later, the three of us are are served a Quick & Fruity Slice by Isabella. It's the perfect light dessert to finish off an Asian inspired meal, as it's not too heavy. Even though I'm not often in the mood for desserts, this is a nice and light way to finish the meal off. It has puff pastry crunch and is topped with fresh strawberries, raspberries and custardy goodness. I find it a bit difficult to break the pastry with a spoon, and I think that if I were to do it again, it might be easier just to pick with my hands and eat it that way!
By this point, it's time to call it a night. The boy and I have extremely satisfied stomachs. His only feedback to Isabella involves putting more chilli into everything (well, maybe not the dessert), because, like me, he's a little chilli obsessed. But if that's the only feedback that we can give, you know it was a great night of food. I hope that we're invited back to the Chef's table in the Feeling Nibblish kitchen some time soon!
It's not often that you're invited to a recipe blogger's kitchen for dinner, so I made sure to bring my empty stomach and imagined what feast would await the boy and I. Isabelle described the meal as a "Chinese inspired meal" and I couldn't wait. We opened some beers to cool down from the scorching weather outside and settled in.
The Chinatown Gyoza were dressed in a refreshing soy, chilli, ginger and coriander sauce and were the perfect starting point for an Asian themed night of food. The fillings, including prawns and pork, worked perfectly with their sauce and I couldn't get enough of these. Because I'm a little bit obsessed with strong flavours, if I were making them I would have upped the chilli, ginger and coriander in the sauce, however, if you're serving food for a few people you have to be careful not to overdo these kinds of flavours. And I'm only saying this because when asked at the end of the evening by Isabelle, I had extreme difficulty in offering any negative feedback. I'm definitely going to try this recipe because making gyoza is always a lot of fun and you can be very creative with the fillings (although I have a tendency to overstuff every gyoza I make). The gyoza were soft in the inside and crispy on the outside from being panfried. The perfect combination. You could easily eat an entire meal of these.
It's always fun being around someone else who takes photos of the food they eat. I think the boy is getting use to waiting until he sees the flash of a camera before he's allowed to eat. That's foodie bloggers for you! But it's also great being able to talk food over great food, both home cookign and new restaurants that have opened up.
We've started on a bottle of red by this point and can smell the next course simmering away. It's beginning to smell amazing. Isabelle has prepared as much as possible before we've arrived, so that she isn't away from the conversation for too long. This is always a juggling act when you're the cook for the night, but Isabelle does this seamlessly.
The next course is Chick - Corn Soup, which is a delicious combination of chicken, corn, Shao Hsing wine, coriander and more. There really is something about chicken soup that makes you feel like you're eating something that's really good for your body. I could have eaten a whole pot of this because it's so moorish. Chicken soup has that ability to make you extremely comforted when you eat it, warming you up from the inside out. This is a bit fancier than the usual variety served to you by your parents when you were feeling ill, and the Asian twist, such as the coriander (one of my favourite ingredients at the moment), lifts the flavours in the soup.
A few more bottles of wine and a lot more talk of blogs and food later, the three of us are are served a Quick & Fruity Slice by Isabella. It's the perfect light dessert to finish off an Asian inspired meal, as it's not too heavy. Even though I'm not often in the mood for desserts, this is a nice and light way to finish the meal off. It has puff pastry crunch and is topped with fresh strawberries, raspberries and custardy goodness. I find it a bit difficult to break the pastry with a spoon, and I think that if I were to do it again, it might be easier just to pick with my hands and eat it that way!
By this point, it's time to call it a night. The boy and I have extremely satisfied stomachs. His only feedback to Isabella involves putting more chilli into everything (well, maybe not the dessert), because, like me, he's a little chilli obsessed. But if that's the only feedback that we can give, you know it was a great night of food. I hope that we're invited back to the Chef's table in the Feeling Nibblish kitchen some time soon!
Wok + Wine Coming soon to Sydney
Idea: Try out a foodie event
Wok + Wine, it's "40 people, 40 pounds of jumbo prawns, 40 bottles of delicious wine!"
"A long communal table laden with the most delicious jumbo prawns ever eaten and a perfectly chilled Sauvignon Blanc. These are the ingredients that have taken Wok+Wine, a phenomenal social concept born out of New York City in 2008, to the rest of the world."
Hosted at a secret venue (previous ones have been a library, demolition site and art galleries among others) this is all about meeting new people and eating a lot of prawns and wine. If you love secret foodie style events, you should get in quick (if there are tickets remaining). If I didn't already have plans, I'd be heading to this in a flash. If anyone's going, tell me how it is!
It's on February 17th in Sydney, is $40 and is limited to 40 people. And there's one going on in Melbourne on the 10th (these are the first ever ones in Australia). I'll head to the next one for sure!
Wok + Wine, it's "40 people, 40 pounds of jumbo prawns, 40 bottles of delicious wine!"
"A long communal table laden with the most delicious jumbo prawns ever eaten and a perfectly chilled Sauvignon Blanc. These are the ingredients that have taken Wok+Wine, a phenomenal social concept born out of New York City in 2008, to the rest of the world."
Hosted at a secret venue (previous ones have been a library, demolition site and art galleries among others) this is all about meeting new people and eating a lot of prawns and wine. If you love secret foodie style events, you should get in quick (if there are tickets remaining). If I didn't already have plans, I'd be heading to this in a flash. If anyone's going, tell me how it is!
It's on February 17th in Sydney, is $40 and is limited to 40 people. And there's one going on in Melbourne on the 10th (these are the first ever ones in Australia). I'll head to the next one for sure!
The Book Kitchen
To set the scene, it was a work leaving do. There were 14 of us and it was on Friday night, one of those crazily hot days in Sydney at the moment. There is no air conditioning, only a fan pointed at us. Yes, we left it to the last minute to book a table for a dinner in Surry Hills and I wanted to book somewhere that I hadn't been yet. I didn't want it to be too pricey and it needed to be "Modern Australian" (whatever that means?) to make everyone happy. They rang me a few times to ensure that we weren't going to bring any bottles of alcohol (as there's apparently no byo for groups over 8) and there was going to be a 10% surcharge for our group booking. With not many options available, and with The Book Kitchen's good reviews that I had read, we didn't mind these conditions. I figured that they must be really busy.
We got there on time for our 7.30pm booking to find the rest of the place deserted. In the whole time we were there (till quite late) there was only 1 other table of 2, who ate a quick meal. Without our group booking the place would have been empty all night, bar 2 people. I would have thought that rather than place so many conditions on our booking they would have been happy to have us. It ended up being $100 a head. Not quite a cheap meal. Yes, there was wine involved. Which just kept on coming, although I'm not really sure if we asked it to. I didn't fill up my glass once and have no idea how many times it was refilled. Yes, the food was good. Yes, entrees, mains and dessert were included. But $100 a head just seemed like too much. The 10% surcharge is what pushed it over the edge into very pricey territory. We had a good time there, don't get me wrong (despite it being sticky and boiling hot in there). Maybe it's because I was quite excited by the images that I had seen before of diners being surrounded by cooking/ foodie books (which of course I had a look through), which weren't near our table.
The waiter suggested Selection of bread with olives and spiced walnuts ($6) and we agreed. I think 2 of these were placed on our table. Some on the table loved the spiced walnuts, however, I thought they were just a bit strange. Being a non- bread lover at the start of meals (waste of food points quite frankly) I thought that the bread was fine. Next up we had quite a few people order the Slow roasted pork belly, apple, cranberry & sage relish, crumbed feta & walnuts ($17), ravioli and a few other bits and pieces. My ravioli was bit too buttery, with some of the sauce actually tasting like pure butter, however, it was quite tasty.
For the main I shared half of the duck and the Seared farmed Barramundi with vongole, Chinese broccoli & a seafood velouté ($30). I found the duck to be a little dry and the barramundi was a little bland for my liking. Yes, you could tell that all of the ingredients were fresh, thought had gone into the meal, but maybe it was the size of the group? Does the quality of your food decrease withe the size of your group? Although we all know that it shouldn't, I wasn't so convinced. The white asparagus was a nice touch to the barramundi dish and all meals were nicely plated. I've heard people rave abut this place, but maybe it's more of a lazy brunch venue.
For dessert I had the Affogato: vanilla ice cream, coffee and Frangelico or Amaretto ($12), which was a nice way to finish off my meal (and to cool down). It was time for a farewell song to be song and photos and lots of hugs goodbye. We'll all miss you at work Mrs soon to be a mum!
The boy and I decided to stop for a quick drink at Mille Vini's on the way home. I've never been here before and it was a great place for a quick glass of cold wine facing Crown Street at the bar area to do some late night people watching. I like the bottles of wine reaching up to the ceiling, the strange cut out in the wall to expose the raw bricks beneath. It's a cozy place and I'll need to head back here to try out the menu.
We got there on time for our 7.30pm booking to find the rest of the place deserted. In the whole time we were there (till quite late) there was only 1 other table of 2, who ate a quick meal. Without our group booking the place would have been empty all night, bar 2 people. I would have thought that rather than place so many conditions on our booking they would have been happy to have us. It ended up being $100 a head. Not quite a cheap meal. Yes, there was wine involved. Which just kept on coming, although I'm not really sure if we asked it to. I didn't fill up my glass once and have no idea how many times it was refilled. Yes, the food was good. Yes, entrees, mains and dessert were included. But $100 a head just seemed like too much. The 10% surcharge is what pushed it over the edge into very pricey territory. We had a good time there, don't get me wrong (despite it being sticky and boiling hot in there). Maybe it's because I was quite excited by the images that I had seen before of diners being surrounded by cooking/ foodie books (which of course I had a look through), which weren't near our table.
The waiter suggested Selection of bread with olives and spiced walnuts ($6) and we agreed. I think 2 of these were placed on our table. Some on the table loved the spiced walnuts, however, I thought they were just a bit strange. Being a non- bread lover at the start of meals (waste of food points quite frankly) I thought that the bread was fine. Next up we had quite a few people order the Slow roasted pork belly, apple, cranberry & sage relish, crumbed feta & walnuts ($17), ravioli and a few other bits and pieces. My ravioli was bit too buttery, with some of the sauce actually tasting like pure butter, however, it was quite tasty.
For the main I shared half of the duck and the Seared farmed Barramundi with vongole, Chinese broccoli & a seafood velouté ($30). I found the duck to be a little dry and the barramundi was a little bland for my liking. Yes, you could tell that all of the ingredients were fresh, thought had gone into the meal, but maybe it was the size of the group? Does the quality of your food decrease withe the size of your group? Although we all know that it shouldn't, I wasn't so convinced. The white asparagus was a nice touch to the barramundi dish and all meals were nicely plated. I've heard people rave abut this place, but maybe it's more of a lazy brunch venue.
For dessert I had the Affogato: vanilla ice cream, coffee and Frangelico or Amaretto ($12), which was a nice way to finish off my meal (and to cool down). It was time for a farewell song to be song and photos and lots of hugs goodbye. We'll all miss you at work Mrs soon to be a mum!
The boy and I decided to stop for a quick drink at Mille Vini's on the way home. I've never been here before and it was a great place for a quick glass of cold wine facing Crown Street at the bar area to do some late night people watching. I like the bottles of wine reaching up to the ceiling, the strange cut out in the wall to expose the raw bricks beneath. It's a cozy place and I'll need to head back here to try out the menu.
(All photos to come soon!!)
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Dugustation at Tokonoma
We walk through a curtained doorway into the honey coloured curved, sleek wood interior that is Tokonoma, situated next door to Toko. There is soft lighting and Reni Jung's shimmering 11-metre sculpture, Water, featuring 500,000 lentils set in resin. We are seated in an intimate booth beside this artwork (which we're pretty sure kept on making an electronic beeping noise... strange), on the other side of the bar. Architect Matt Darwon has done an an amazing job, which you realise in full on a trip to the bathroom. You can easily forget that there are other diners in the restaurant from our very roomy booth table.
It's only after we're seated that we notice the bottles of liquid lit up from underneath. It's not until after that I realise that these are bottles of Tokonoma's signature house-infused beverages, or “shochu." To be perfectly honest, I didn't realise that Tokonoma Shochu Bar and Lounge is Tokonoma's full name. And the levels of lighting in there are so low, that I couldn't really read the drinks menu to pick up on this. We had a bottle of wine included in the Team Spreets voucher that I had bought for my friend's birthday and we decided to take it easy on the alcohol. But I have heard very good things about the sochu at Tokonoma. I've heard that the gen awa cha (genmaicha-infused shiro shochu, orange flower bubble tea, lychee tea, ($17) in particular, is a must try. It'll have to wait till next time for me.
The staff are extremely competent, the service is efficient and fast and we always have at least 1 item of food on our table at all times. Within minutes of being seated we had two glasses of lovely cold white wine (perfect to combat the scorching temperatures of this week) and warm, salty edamame in front of us.
Rare on the outside, melt in your mouth on this inside. The picked onions and crunch from the garlic chips complimented the seared beef extremely well. Although slightly difficult to eat (we kind of rolled in over with our chop sticks. Although my photo does not do it justice at all, this was a beautifully plated meal.
Tokonoma's version of soft- shell crab was served with an amazing wasabi mayonnaise, with I personally think should be served with most meals, rather than just boring mayonnaise. There was a light batter and a lot of crab meat. Perfect. We could have eaten a lot more of this.
I enjoyed each new vessel our meals were plated on, almost as much as the food. The nigiri was fresh and melted in your mouth. The tofu was delicate, yet layered in flavours and the the shreds of dehydrated chilli were a nice subtle touch. The grilled prok melted in your mouth and had a delicious grilled flavour (even though I don't normally order pork).
Both the lamb and zuccini were simple, but the combination of their sauces and being grilled made them both amazingly delicious and were quickly eaten by my friend and I. The lamb in particular, melted in your mouth, we managed to lick the bones clean.
(more photos to come)...
We finished it all off with a palate cleansing misu and some more of our bottle of wine. We thought we were all done, but then the dessert came out. The icecream was served on ice, which was nice touch and the mango in particular was very tasty. The creme brulee had some mystery items at the bottom of it and was unlike any other creme brulee I've had before. This was accompanied with some tropical fruits: strawberry, kiwi fruit, lychee and dragon fruit: yum.
The ambience, food and beverages, service and the design of Tokonoma all combined to make our visit a memorable one. It's contemporary Japanese food (a fusion perhaps) was spot on. We had a great time having a look at all of the bottles of Sochu on the way out, as we re-entered the ridiculously hot summer night.
It's only after we're seated that we notice the bottles of liquid lit up from underneath. It's not until after that I realise that these are bottles of Tokonoma's signature house-infused beverages, or “shochu." To be perfectly honest, I didn't realise that Tokonoma Shochu Bar and Lounge is Tokonoma's full name. And the levels of lighting in there are so low, that I couldn't really read the drinks menu to pick up on this. We had a bottle of wine included in the Team Spreets voucher that I had bought for my friend's birthday and we decided to take it easy on the alcohol. But I have heard very good things about the sochu at Tokonoma. I've heard that the gen awa cha (genmaicha-infused shiro shochu, orange flower bubble tea, lychee tea, ($17) in particular, is a must try. It'll have to wait till next time for me.
The staff are extremely competent, the service is efficient and fast and we always have at least 1 item of food on our table at all times. Within minutes of being seated we had two glasses of lovely cold white wine (perfect to combat the scorching temperatures of this week) and warm, salty edamame in front of us.
 |
| edamame |
 |
| gyu niku no tataki seared beef, pickled onions, mizuna, garlic chips |
 |
| watari-gani kara-age crispy soft-shell crab, wasabi mayonnaise |
 |
| assorted selection of nigiri |
I enjoyed each new vessel our meals were plated on, almost as much as the food. The nigiri was fresh and melted in your mouth. The tofu was delicate, yet layered in flavours and the the shreds of dehydrated chilli were a nice subtle touch. The grilled prok melted in your mouth and had a delicious grilled flavour (even though I don't normally order pork).
 |
| tofu with misu paste |
 |
| grilled pork |
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|
(more photos to come)...
We finished it all off with a palate cleansing misu and some more of our bottle of wine. We thought we were all done, but then the dessert came out. The icecream was served on ice, which was nice touch and the mango in particular was very tasty. The creme brulee had some mystery items at the bottom of it and was unlike any other creme brulee I've had before. This was accompanied with some tropical fruits: strawberry, kiwi fruit, lychee and dragon fruit: yum.
The ambience, food and beverages, service and the design of Tokonoma all combined to make our visit a memorable one. It's contemporary Japanese food (a fusion perhaps) was spot on. We had a great time having a look at all of the bottles of Sochu on the way out, as we re-entered the ridiculously hot summer night.
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