What is the city but the food?

Wow- been a bit quiet on the blog front as I've been on a gastronomic odyssey in Sydney to waken my taste buds and inspire some ideas for my home cooking. Oh how depressing when one returns to reality and the limited food choice that we seem to have here in comparison to Sydvegas and all its tantalising eating abodes. Though it might be a good thing for my hips.......and purse!


On the first day we grabbed some danish pastries from Justin North's Becasse bakery in the Westfield mall. Made on site, all freshly baked and oozing home made custard was a great alternative to 'traditional' breakfast.


After much shopping we were happy to rest our weary feet at an all time favourite 'Jamie Olivers Italian.' The anticipation to go eat here had been building up for weeks, especially after seeing him on MasterChef deliver the 'goods' and owning all his cook books. Seeing as there were only two of us we couldn't reserve a table as this is for only 6 or more. Luckily, there was one table unoccupied as we arrived, though it was only noon. Sorry for those behind us...ooops.  It was completely full. We had some beautiful Tuscan and Venetian red wines sitting in the Industrial themed alley way, while others sat in booths up top watching the chefs cooking up a storm. The complimentary array of bread, consisting of grossini, turkish, flat and home-baked rosemary, sea salt and cheese focaccia filled the yawning hole in our stomachs. Then came the dilemma! Picking a few dishes from the huge menu and seeing everything walk past our table made it that much harder, but the waiters were lovely in helping us choose. 


We shared some arancini crispy rice balls stuffed with smoked mozarella and porcinis with a tomato relish and then some fried mushroom fritti with garlic mayo. Might even consider adding the antipasto platter next time, as these looked delicious as they went past on wooden boards carefully placed on cans of beans for a quirky touch.


For our mains I stuck with the pasta- beautiful mussels in a parsley, butter and lemon sauce tossed through linguini while "The Fox" took up the special of a pork schnitzel layered with parma ham and a herb crust with a soft gooey egg on top, sitting on polenta mash. we ooheed and ahhhed the entire time. There were so many other renditions we wanted to try so we'll just have to go again. Price wise this is great value for money- Jamie Oliver dishes at cost price with most being under 25 dollars, and its family friendly too in the heart of the city.








Instead of dessert at Jamie's we trekked to Pyrmont on the mono-rail, to go to The Star casino and visit Adriano Zumbo's patiserrie. OH MY GOD! I can never get enough of his desserts. This time we had a salted butter popcorn, chocolate donut and pancakes with maple syrup macarons. And they tasted just as they were described. It is indescribable to eat a dessert that tastes savoury and is all soft and gooey on the inside and crunchy on the outside. The apple crumble in the jar was cute and clever and hit the apple pie spot. We also bought a chocolate caramel tart and a vanilla brulee, which we took back to our hotel for a late night snack! And if you're there after 6pm you can try the dessert train!

After a few drinks at the cocktail bar at the Hilton we went to Momofuku, David Chang's restaurant. We had been to Momofuku before, but in New York. We sat at the bar as we had to go to the theatre and were limited with time. Though the food was relatively the same with pulled pork or beef slider buns, rice cakes with tripe and crab rolls with chips, the dishes are smaller and more expensive, so its not as good a value. I left slightly disappointed, though the service and attentiveness of the staff was commendable. Only Agatha Christies 'Mouse Trap' could stave off the lingering hunger pains......or the late night coke and fries back at the hotel!!


The next morning we fasted for our evening dinner, only having a small lunch at the food court in David Jones, at Noodle bar. We sat around the wok station, watched and dined on authentic pad thai, duck, cashew and chilli jam stir fry and dumplings. There was quite a line- up  for this little pop up kitchen, probably because it is reasonably priced, great tasting asian flavoured food and arrives in huge quantities. Struggled getting through it all. Great for the city slickers on a lunch break. We walked it off by walking to the Masterchef pop up kitchen near Hyde park for a few happy snaps and to watch the chefs at work. 


Dinner was the highlight of this sojourn. I had attempted twice previously to go to Porteno in Surry
 hills, an Argentinian restaurant that even Slash (Guns and Roses) considers the best in its food area. Normally, there is a huge line up for this restaurant but thankfully due to the rain and storms no one was in a rush to go outside. Great for us. We walked into a 60's rocka-billy era, where the wait staff are dressed alike in their bow ties and slick hair do's, sliding across the black and white tiled floor amongst animal hide restored furniture. You are welcomed by the smell of the 8hr pig and lamb, roasting and splayed on the spit fire like some sacrificial offering. I'm only too happy to indulge. The huge array of South American wines being consumed adds a soft sweet aroma to the smokiness. All delicious I might add, especially the Malbec. 

Chorizo- king of the sausage

It's a sharing environment so we ordered a few dishes, from our little nook, helped by our waiter, whose advice was spot on. We began with some home made breads with a pork pate and a trio of dips: olive oil, salsa, chimichurri. The creaminess of the fleshed pink pate and tang of the oils complimeted each other perfectly and went great with the octopus and chorizo side that came out next. Perfectly cooked octopus braised in a sauce with endive- yes please. The favourite however was the home made real deal chorizo sausage, which came out in huge cut portions. It was so juicy and flavoursome that I don't think I'll be able to buy chorizo from Coles or eat any other sausage again. This is a must!!!!! 

Oh Lordy- piggin on the pig

We then followed this with the 8hr suckling pig which had crunchy but salty juicy crackling and soft, succulent shards of tender meat that melted in your mouth. The best pork I have ever had. And the ribs dribbled with chimichurri were not like any rib I have had before!! They melted off the bone and one wanted more.....Please sir can I have some more! We should have gotten some vegetables but we got beans with creme fraiche instead, which were cheesy! And there was so much more we wanted to try but we were full and had no room for dessert though the Argentinian dessert sounded heaven. 


O happy food coma!