Posts tagged as:

bars & restaurants

Bird Cow Fish at Eveleigh Markets

June 24, 2010

Alex Herbert, of Bird Cow Fish in Surry Hills fame, cooked me an omelette while I was standing right there in front of her. She used heirloom tomatoes tossed with the cherry variety, finely sliced Spanish onion and lots of parsley, all marinated in their own juices. And using three eggs she pulled together a [...]

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Pilu for lunch

June 17, 2010

Don’t you love it when you drop in to your parents’ house to say hello and Giovanni Pilu (the Italian head-chef of Pilu) is making lunch, just by the by? That is truly hand-on-heart what happened the other day, by some extraordinary coincidence the very day after I went to his incredible Freshwater restaurant Pilu [...]

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Il Baretto

June 2, 2010

Having the most perfect looking waiters, with dark hair and blue eyes, will only get you so far. Il Baretto also serves good food, making it one of the best places to have lunch in Sydney’s Surry Hills. The wooden panelled Italian eatery is teeny tiny, with its kitchen in full view at the door [...]

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Zinc

May 7, 2010

This place has, hands down, the best bathroom I’ve ever seen. A whole wall, which connects the male and female bathrooms through a clever shaft of glass, is a floor to ceiling tropical fish tank. Little clown fish and a parrot fish, hundreds of stripy pesce friends all swimming around, in the bathroom. I’ll try [...]

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Foveaux and Crown

April 27, 2010

If the Hills are alive, they’re alive with a brunch going, sleepy set who get up at 11am and head to Crown Street for Fifi Foveaux big breakfasts, Bourke Street Bakery croissants, and Kawa coffee. The latter serves papa-bear-sized bowls of porridge in Surry Hills, and perfect poached eggs on potato rosti (Kawa, 346-350 Crown [...]

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Adriano Zumbo chocolat

April 27, 2010

A newish haven for sweet-tooths is a perfect sort of urban Parisian outpost in Balmain – the Zumbo Chocolat Cafe. The cafe, a few doors up from the patisserie, stocks Little Marionette coffee, and serves breakfasts and light lunches, and chocolate. We had “Mighty Eggs”, essentially boiled eggs with vegemite soldiers, and a sticky thick [...]

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Signorelli Gastronomia

April 17, 2010

Lovely Friday lunch in Pyrmont at the recently opened Signorelli Gastronomia. A potato and fiore di latte pizza, a goats cheese and broad bean ravioli with baby beetroots shared between three. The waiters were knowledgeable about wine and at the pizza bar the chap explained in soft Italian accent why he was scoring the chestnuts [...]

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Open spaces

March 26, 2010

This bar and restaurant in San Paulo, KAA, opened up mid way through last year. I love the massive pots on the heavy wooden shelving, making the whole thing seem out of perspective. But everything else is serene and calming, with long wooden panelling and green open spaces. The massive green wall incorporates 7,000 plants [...]

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Universal and The Thrifty Kitchen

March 24, 2010

Christine Manfield of Universal fame last night created an incredible menu in her restaurant pulled from and inspired by my book The Thrifty Kitchen. Meatloaf at Universal? Yes! Check out the menu below.. Thank you Chris, what an incredible evening. Absolutely humbling. The meatloaf with green beans was nothing like they dreamed up in the [...]

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Dumplings and vinegar

March 21, 2010

In China Town, Sydney, there is this little backstreet place called Chinese Noodles that do just that. They make them fresh to serve and you can watch the extravaganza through a window into the kitchen. It’s like the circus for foodies. We had egg and chive dumplings, which you have with Chinese vinegar, Ms Fulton [...]

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Manly Wine

March 20, 2010

Manly markets today to see a friend and a little stall she’d set up selling clothes and gorgeous cakes, books and things. Bumped in to another friend and, having exhausted the limits of entertaining ourselves by dressing up in market second-hand hats, beads, tortoise shell glasses and fur-lined paraphernalia, we turned up at Manly Wine [...]

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When in Venice

December 5, 2009

On an antipasto plate, Venetians’ favourite salted codfish (baccala) was piled on polenta squares, and spider crab (granseola) was served in its own shell, picked and cooked in garlic, salt and pepper.

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Lunch time

December 4, 2009

Dumplings from a little Chinese place in Chats today, filled with vegetables, ginger and beef mince. Dipping sauce a black vinegar, chilli and garlic mix, and maybe Sichuan pepper and star anise. The handmade dumplings are steamed and then panfried just on one side, forming a very crispy crust on one side. Like a dumpling [...]

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