I'm Baaaack!

It has been a year long hiatus but I've decided to get back into this blog. I have wayyy too many photos of food that haven't been discussed! I'm including a bit of a food montage from the last year below.

Looking forward I'm hoping to get to as many new and exciting Sydney establishments as possible. Watch. This. Space.

   

   

                 

                                 

  

         
                                         

                

 

Universal Chilli Scale

So I haven't really been out anywhere of late- well that's a lie- I have... but I have completely forgotten to take photos as I was too focused on eating and not focused on documenting my experience.

But I was having a conversation with Irish the other day about chilli. You see, he loves particular dishes to be hot, really hot- but we always have this issue when we order the dishes, they either come out way too mild, or they go overboard with the heat and its inedible. The latter happened at a thai restaurant we went to last year in the city. Irish made a massive effort to get across to the waitress that he wanted it hot, 'Hot hot'- he emphasized it so much, that the pad thai came out and I could not stomach one noodle of it, it burnt so much that I was sweating chilli.

So we thought there should be a universal chilli scale- from mildest to hottest. Be it numerical in representation or not, but probably easier if it was. So that next to each dish, it has a ranking of heat and EVERYONE knows exactly what that represents. What is hot to me may be mild to you, or vice versa, but with the chilli scale, we all know that a 7 to you is the equivalent of a 3 to me and then we will never get unpleasant surprises or crushing disappointments ever again.

I liken this to something I saw at a cafe a little while ago. I went to Zar Bar in Crows Nest. I was drawn in by the small crowd but I was impressed by the fact that it had a vegemite to butter ratio scale pinned up on the coffee machine. Grade 1 was a lot of butter, not so much vegemite, grade 2 was even quantities of both, grade 3 was toast with a sheet of black vegemite on it, very little butter. There were photos to help customers with their choice, and everyone was appreciative of the vegemite scale.



I have no idea how the chilli scale would be implemented or who would decide on the categories because I always forget that not only are there different levels of heat, there are different types of heat. There is the lingering heat, which stays with you long after you have eaten the dish. There is the intense but short kind of heat, it hits you hard but goes away within a few minutes. Then you have wasabe- not sure how to describe the wasabe effect other than to say if you get a big enough chunk it will make you cough involuntarily... twice.


Are we the only two that have the chilli issue when dining out? Any other unsatisfied chilli lovers out there? No? Well then... maybe we are getting all 'hot' and bothered over nothing!

Cheers,
Alana

Christmas 2012

I know it's been awhile since I've posted... the festivities during the holiday season completely took over and my blog momentarily slipped into a coma. Fortunately I have managed to revive it.

                                                                                                                                                                  

Honey Glazed Ham

I can't write about the holidays without mentioning the feast that my family prepared on Christmas night... all the right elements were involved. Oven baked ham, turkey, seafood (lobsters, prawns and oysters oh my!) not to mention the trout (delicious). Then there were family favourites that we bring out every year.

Trout! 

Desserts deserve their own category. We had the most delicate little dessert ice-cream thingies that my aunty picked up, probably from some obscure, hidden cake shop that she has discovered on her quest to find the perfect dessert.

Vegetable Salad

Even my mother drove from the northern beaches side of Sydney to Bondi just to purchase a particular chocolate cake. 

Potato Salad with mint and parsley dressing

I must mention that we have around 30 + relatives that do Christmas dinner together, it wasn't like we had a party of 5 trying to get through all that is pictured.

One of the seafood platters

During the night we managed to get all of us in front of a mac to Skype relatives of ours in Italy as they woke up on Christmas day. It was a true cross continent bonding moment.




What is a Christmas without the turkey and home made cranberry sauce?

Pictured to the right is a type of Veal Schnitzel one of my aunties makes that always goes down a treat. You normally have to be quick, no dish is guaranteed- in our family if you snooze you definitely lose.

Nothing says 'we are Italian' more than having lasagna on Christmas- it might not be traditional, but it tasted pretty damn good.

Another aunty of mine hosts a gingerbread house making day with a few of friends. I've never attempted to make one myself- sometimes it  is hit and miss with the actual taste of the gingerbread- this one was practically perfect- not too overpowering with the ginger and not too sweet.

Throw in a bit of fruit to make the whole night seem healthier...

I'm not sure what these little treats were- some sort of trifle type thing maybe?  They definitely look pretty...

These are the mini ice-creams I mentioned earlier- seriously amazing. They had an outer shell of white or milk chocolate and were either vanilla or chocolate flavoured. A whole ball could easily fit in your mouth in one bite. Just enough for a taste, not enough to expand your waist- though considering all that we consumed that night, I'm not sure that the ice-cream was going to make much of a difference.




Needless to say I rolled out of the door that night- fully satisfied and very merry. I hope everyone had a fantastic festive break, if only it lasted longer!

X Alana

Baroque Bistro- The Rocks

Complimentary Macaron

Company Christmas Lunch
Baroque Bistro- The Rocks

I know it isn't fair to judge a restaurant when they are catering to a large group of people at one time, especially a rowdy bunch like us, but I have to say, that aside, Baroque had me wondering why anyone would want to spend their time and money at a restaurant that ultimately left us unsatisfied and b-roke. (See what I did there… the dad jokes will keep on coming).

Here’s my gripe. OK  the meals will take longer to come out, expected, but we entered the venue after being served some drinks – hungry. We sat at our tables finding a small take home gift in the form of a macaron and little pitchers of olive oil and salt (presumably for the bread to keep the wolves at bay) 

Morton bay bug, heirloom tomato, bulb onions, tomato consommé,
purslane, garlic flowers 

Eagerly awaiting some delicious French bread, we amused ourselves with the décor. It was going for this half done, still being worked on, constructed look… interesting to say the least. One waiter was doing the rounds and taking everybody’s orders on his own- flying solo. This took what seemed like an eternity. Some of the tables closer to the kitchen received bread, some didn't  more importantly, mine didn't. Gosh I was hungry; we had already been at the venue for around an hour.

To make matters worse- they began serving table 1- working their way up to table 8. This meant that by the time table 1 were ready for their mains, table 8 still hadn't been served their entrees and the bread was finally handed out as an afterthought. Of course I had already eaten the take home gift out of desperation (it was alright, very soft, not of the Zumbo chewy variety)

Angus onglet, triple cooked potato chips, watercress eschalot,
bearnaise sauce

Moving onto the actual food. The entree was tiny- I ordered the Moreton Bay Bug- I got two little pieces in some broth… it was a little dull flavour wise- fresh, but small. I had to soak up the clear broth with a lot of bread which was now abundant on our table.

When the mains came again the portion size of the meat was tiny- and it was supposed to be medium rare- luckily mine was, but I looked across to my friends and it was almost well done. Also the difference in portion size between my plate and a few plates down was huge. It appears I drew the short straw.

Another table believed that their fillet was actually off and couldn't eat it. The triple cooked potatoes you would expect to be crunchy and fluffy, instead they were soft and left you wanting to gobble down the French fries that was served as a side. The béarnaise sauce was coagulated- reminiscent of something you might get from a jar.

Vanilla creme brulee pistachio icecream

I cannot really fault dessert, it was delicious, crème brulee, can’t go wrong with that. It was a weighty cream and not too sugary. If I was going to be really picky I’d say that the actual ‘crack’ on the top wasn’t the best, the toffee was a bit soft, but that didn't concern me so much.

So to conclude- I wouldn't go back- no way. Baroque was under some pressure and it just couldn’t deliver. I think it is the kind of place that has a lot of hype attached without much substance. Oh well- at least the drinks were on the company!

X Alana 

Jaffles On Wheels!

Jafe Jaffle Combi

You know when you were a little kid, you would hear the Greensleeves song from a distance and know that the ice-cream truck was floating around somewhere in your suburb? The excitement and frantic scramble for some money that followed, “MUUUUUM THE ICE-CREAM TRUCK IS HERE… I NEED MONEYYYYY” the anticipation as it arrived near your house, you’d order pretty much the same thing each time (sprinkles on top and a flake in mine) and even though in hindsight the ice-cream was pretty crap, the fact that it came to you on wheels made it special. Well, I think we have just seen the adult equivalent of the ice-cream truck hit the streets of Sydney.

Reuben Jaffle

Food trucks are a phenomenon that has swept the States hard-core, they are their own entity over there, and now there is a fleet of trucks (10 in total that we know of) that have been injected into Sydney. My friend J-Ho alerted me to this a few days ago- whilst they all look fantastic, we are particularly enthusiastic about the Jafe Jaffle truck (big bright yellow combi van) with offerings such as the Jean Claude Van Ham jaffle, David Jafflehoff (spag bol and cheese), the Chilli Todd Carney (mild chilli con carne with sour cream on the side), or the Goldie Corn (creamed corn and cheese).

Poached chicken, basil, almond jaffle

The names alone make it worth it. But then you actually have a look at the jaffle and I have to say- they have made it kind of posh in a way. No Heinz baked beans jaffles… but instead check out the poached chicken, basil and almond Jafe Jaffle… looks incredible. Or the raisin and rice pudding jaffle… how about the The Reuben and Cornichons Jafe Jaffle or the decadent Chocolate and Hazelnut Fondant  Jaffle- all of a sudden I’ve never wanted a jaffle more than right now.

Rest assured I will be lurking... (stalking) this van until I satisfy my jaffle cravings.

Raisin rice pudding jaffle

In terms of what other food is doing the rounds (or round-a-bouts) we have Agape Organic restaurant, Cantina Mobil (mobile tacos), Let’s Do Yum Cha, Tsuru, Veggie Patch Van (for all you animal lovers!), Al Carbon (Mexican street food), Urban Pasta, Bite Size Delights… my gosh… so many trucks.

Chocolate/Hazelnut Fondant Jaffle

I know what you are thinking- yeah awesome, trucks with food, sounds great- except no-one knows where the hell they are going to be… Well my friends, there is an app- it tracks their every movement, they will tweet where they are going to be, and if it is remotely near you the pleasure will be yours. The app is called Sydney Food Trucks- if you are a fan of food in motion, download it and enjoy!

Xx Alana