Pho at Cafe Buon Cibo. Instagram pic taken with iPhone

It’s my fault really.

Noodlies, Sydney food blog did a search for Sydney’s Best Pho a while back and now everyone thinks I know the best pho restaurant in their suburb.  One generalisation I could draw from that Pho search was that the further a restaurant is from the Vietnamese hubs of Cabramatta, Bankstown and Marrickville, potentially the harder it is to find a good bowl of pho.

Not that many Vietnamese live in Sydney’s north shore… I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions.  Recently a work colleague dragged me to this place on Herbert Street, St Leonards.  She raves about it and heck, what’s to lose, it was on the same street as my work.

Cafe Buon Cibo occupies part of the ground floor of an office  block with six small tables inside and another four tables outside.  It looks more like a typical coffee shop, except I can tell the owners were Vietnamese (Viets always know).  It’s run by Kim and her family who travel from Cabramatta every weekday.

I ordered their beef pho, wanting to like it, but fearing I would hate it.  But this little place was such a pleasant and heart-warming surprise.  The broth was piping hot, fragrant, sweet, clear, not too heavy with fish sauce.  There were lots of fresh pho noodles and plenty of raw beef (tai) sliced thinly which cooked quickly in the broth as well as beef balls.  The amount of beef and beef balls were very generous.  Onion, spring onion and basil leaves add extra spice.  Hoisin, chilli sauce and fresh chilli come standard with each bowl.  All this for $9 a bowl.

In addition to Pho and the usual lunch time sandwiches, they also make pork rolls (banh mi thit), Viet fresh rolls (goi cuon) and vegetarian noodle soup with all veg stock.  And they sell Toby’s Estate coffee. Really, what more could you ask for?

The owners are a little shy, but that’s very ‘Viet’, once you get used to them, you’ll fall in love with them.  Pho at Cafe Buon Cibo is one of those hidden gems that just makes you smile, the food is great and the people, well they’re just loveable; I have to resist the temptation to hug them each week (I’m there at least once a week).

Cafe Buon Cibo
33 Hebert St, St Leonards

Chef Heather Jeong (centre) and Canterbury City Mayor, Cr Brian Robson (right)

Last year’s Campsie Food Festival was sooo much fun. Imagine a festival that features great food from the different cultures in Sydney, it was both fun and delicious.  Last year was noodlies, Sydney food blog’s first year as the official food blogger for the event and I’m glad to say the wonderful association continues this year.  Check out my video round-up of last year’s Festival.

In fact, this year, I’m MC’ing the eating competition on the Kitchen Stage at 2pm.  And I promise fun and frivolity! Why don’t you come along? Full program here.  Some of the great local restaurants have got stalls at the Festival, like Albee’s Kitchen, I visited there only last wek, check out the noodlies post on Albee’s Kitchen Malaysian restaurant.

2012 Campsie Food Festival – All About Food.
Join noodlies, Sydney food blog: Saturday, 2 June (10am – 4pm)

• Korean chef, Heather Jeong
• Chinese chef, Charlie Yan
• Sushi making class
• Kim Chi and Yum Cha eating competition
• Cupcake decoration class
• Children activities
  

The Mayor of the City of Canterbury, Cr Brian Robson, said he is looking forward to some delicious international cuisine being cooked up on the new Kitchen stage at the 2012 Campsie Food Festival, on Saturday 2^nd June from 10am-4pm.

“Now in its 13^th year, the Campsie Food Festival has become an opportunity for food lovers to satisfy their cravings and their appetite for foods from all over the world,” Mayor Brian Robson said.

“When people aren’t working over their taste buds at the food stalls lining Beamish Street they should be at our new Kitchen stage in Anzac Mall for some great cooking demonstrations and food tasting.

“One of the highlights at the Kitchen stage will be renowned Korean chef Heather Jeong as she prepares a stunning version of Bi Bim Bap that will feed the big crowd, as well as Korean favourites Bulgogi and Pajun which have made her cooking classes popular with local  and international visitors.

“Heather is a real magician when it comes to preparing great Korean food, so all those tastebuds lucky enough to be in the audience are in for a tantalising treat.

“Food artist and Chinese chef Charlie Yan will be on hand to wow the audience with his award-winning fruit and vegetable carvings before preparing hand-made noodles on stage which will be served with seafood and fried sweet potato.

“For those who crave some sushi there will be a sushi making class with local sushi maestro DK from Ashin’s Sushi Train and Japanese Restaurant and one lucky amateur sushi roller from the audience will win a sushi tool kit.

“Garden2Kitchen presenters Phil Dudman and Julie Rey will show what can be done with fresh garden vegetables by whipping up a Lemon, Ginger Four Herb Salad with Lemongrass Chicken Satay Skewers.

“If everyone still has room, there will be free yum cha tastings and for those that have a competitive streak we will be holding our popular eating competitions with Yum Cha and Kim Chi on offer for those game enough.

“The little ones won’t be left out either with cupcake decorating for those with an artistic touch, or a sweet tooth.

“The Campsie Food Festival is a feast of flavours and with so much delicious food on offer, plus great music, amazing performers and a sideshow alley for kids, Beamish Street, Campsie will be the place to be on 2^nd June,” the Mayor said.

For more information on the Campsie Food Festival phone 9789 9300, visit www.campsiefoodfestival.com.au, join our Campsie Food Festival Facebook page and follow us on Twitter/canterburycity. 

Campsie is located on the Bankstown train line, approximately 20 mins from Sydney’s CBD.

The 2012 Campsie Food Festival is proudly presented by: Platinum Sponsors: Campsie RSL, Gold Sponsors: Korean Cultural Office, SBS Radio, Torch Publishing, Commonwealth Bank Campsie, NSW Transport, Department of Health and Ageing. Silver Sponsors: Bulldogs, Ayam, Channel 9, and Bronze: Campsie Centre. Our exclusive food blogger is Noodlies.com.

Noodlies, Sydney food blog reckons the latest Roy Morgan readership figures makes for (continued) sober reading.  Of the food mags with over 100,000 readership, only  three recorded gains for the 12 months ending March 2012: Australian Traveller Wine (+9.4%), Donna Hay (+4.5%) and Recipes+ (+8.5%).

MasterChef Magazine (-24.2%), Delicious (-16.6%) and Woolworths Good Taste (-13.1) suffered the biggest falls.  Although, MasterChef mag has an excuse, the TV show wasn’t on air.  Feast magazine, launched in October 2011 recorded readership of 131k for the first six months.

But food mags can take some comfort, Men’s Lifestyle readership figures are just depressing: GQ (-36.5%), FHM (-29.0%) and Zoo Weekly (-17.4%).

Full listing of all magazines here, courtesy of AdNews.

[Thanks for the feedback, the final Noodlies Food Blog Code of Ethics is published at the top of this blog, under the noodlies logo]

During the past few years, there’s been an explosion in the number of food blogs in Australia, there are now over 1,000 food bloggers listed on sites such as Urbanspoon and probably half as much that aren’t listed.  As in any large community, food bloggers are diverse, from bloggers who update several times are week through to more casual bloggers who may go for months without a new post.  Obviously each person has a different motivation, committment level and attitude about blogging.  I’m aware there’s continuing controversy in the community about food blogging ethics, especially around allegedly lack of disclosure of free meals and other commercial arrangements.

Noodlies has been around since October 2009 and in that time, I’ve noticed a significant increase in respect and legitimacy around food blogging.  As blogging becomes more ‘mainstream’, advertisers, sponsors and PR agencies are becoming more interested in engaging with food bloggers. Everyday I’m fielding queries and on busy days I get up to 10 email requests.

Noodlies feels it’s time for a ‘Code of Ethics’ for my blog to inform:

• readers about noodlies values and how those values are reflected on my blog.
• readers about how noodlies uses their personal details, such as emails.
• potential advertisers, sponsors and PR agencies about noodlies values.
• potential advertisers, sponsors and PR agencies about noodlies editorial and advertising policies.

It’s pointless re-inventing the wheel, so the Noodlies Food Blog Code of Ethics below relies very heavily on the work by two pioneers of food blogging Codes of Ethics, Brooke Burton of FoodWoolf.com and Leah Greenstein of SpicySaltySweet.com.  Together they produced what is believed to be the world’s first Food Blog Code of Ethics in April 2009, subsequently updated as Food Blog Code of Ethics 2.0 in August 2011.  The noodlies Food Blog Code of Ethics has also adopted some parts of the Code of Ethics updated in February 2011 by the Austin Food Blogger Alliance.

How you can help:

• let me know if you think a Code of Ethics is needed.
• give me your feedback.  Have I left anything out? Have I been too heavy-handed?
• let me know if there are other Codes of Ethics out there that might help me refine these Codes
• let other food bloggers know, I’d love to get as many view points as possible. “An Australian food blog Code of Ethics.  What do you think?” – tweet this to help spread the message.

Putting together the Noodlies Food Blog Code of Ethics has been useful in helping me think about noodlies core values and how those values should be reflected in my blog.  Of course, if you’re interested, in the spirit of collaboration (one of noodlies core values) please feel free to adapt for your blog.

Noodlies Food Blog Code of Ethics (Draft)
12 May 2012

1. About

1.1 Noodlies food blog started on 15 October 2009 as my online food diary, my way of promoting the diverse food and culture in Sydney’s west. Since January 2012, noodlies content has broadened to include travel and lifestyle content.

1.2 This blog reflects how I see the world and I see them through my values. Noodlies accepts fair responsibility as a content publisher, however, I don’t see myself as a food critic or journalist. And I don’t pretend or aspire to be one.

2 Values

2.1These are the key values that motivate and hold noodlies to account:

2.1.1 Fun. Life is there to be enjoyed and noodlies embraces enjoyment and optimism.
2.1.2 Curiosity. Noodlies is adventurous by nature and believes the more we learn the more we grow , which makes us enjoy the world even more.
2.1.3 Honesty. Noodlies is attracted to authenticity, transparency and sincerity. This blog reflects those values.
2.1.4 Fairness. A world full of possibilities and one that provides equal opportunities for all is a world I want to live in.
2.1.5 Collaboration. Noodlies loves to work together with other food bloggers and the industry to help grow the community.

3 Code of Conduct This is how Noodlies puts its values into practice.

3.1 Being Accountable

3.1.1 Accurately reflect the facts such as restaurant name, address, menu prices.
3.1.2  Stand behind the content and claims.
3.1.3 Understand what we post could potentially affect the livelihood of one or many people.
3.1.4 All requests for corrections will be reviewed within a reasonable time frame. When a correction is required, it should be made at the top of the post and within a reasonable time frame.

3.2 Respect and Courtesy

3.2.1 Refrain from personal attacks and name calling.
3.2.2 Tone and content are professional and respectful.
3.2.3 Take into account factors that may be out of the ordinary, for example appreciating that a restaurant has just recently opened.

3.3 Disclosure

3.3.1 Where a post may be positively or negatively affected by an emotional or financial connection, this should we disclosed.
3.3.2 Sponsored posts should be declared, in these cases the post was written because of a financial incentive.
3.3.3 Where a post contains products or services (including food) which have been provided free or for at a discount, this should be disclosed.
3.3.4 Advertisers and sponsors will be disclosed on noodlies using wording such as “Noodlies Platinum Supporter”.

3.4 Attribution

3.4.1 Noodlies will not plagiarise. Content sourced from third parties and others blogs should be acknowledged.
3.4.2 Noodlies prefers to use our own photography and video. Before using photographs and videos sourced from third parties and other blogs, noodlies will seek permission from the rights owner and noodlies will acknowledge the rights owner. The exception includes content on YouTube and other public sharing photo and video services, in this instance, noodlies will not seek permission but will acknowledge the rights owner.

3.5 Editorial discretion

3.5.1 Blog content is totally at the discretion of noodlies. A commercial, advertising, complimentary meal, sampling arrangement does not guarantee positive or negative editorial.
3.5.2 Unless specifically part of a commercial, advertising, complimentary meal, sampling arrangement, noodlies can not guarantee coverage or the level coverage.

3.6 Advertising and other financial arrangements

3.6.1 Editorial Discretion clause (3.5) overrides all advertising, complimentary, sampling arrangements
3.6.2 Advertising and other financial arrangements will be disclosed as per clause 3.4 Disclosure
3.6.3 Noodlies reserves the right to reject or discontinue an advertising, sponsorship campaign if the advertiser or campaign values are inconsistent with noodlies’ values
3.6.4 If engaged on a paid or non-paid capacity for a client or PR agency, when working for, creating content about, or promoting that client, noodlies will clearly identify the relationship with the client.

3.7 Comments

3.7.1 Noodlies will reject comments that contain personal attacks, expletives and any other offensive content.
3.7.2 Noodlies will approve negative and positive comments that are made using respectful and courteous tone and vocab.

3.8 Privacy

3.8.1 Noodlies will only use personal information for the purpose it was collected. For example, names and email addresses of subscribers to the noodlies e-newsletters will only be used for the purpose of the e-newsletter and not for any other purposes and will not be passed on to any other third parties.
3.8.2 Email addresses of visitors who comment on noodlies posts will not be used by noodlies or passed on to any other third parties, unless prior permission has been expressly given.
3.8.3 Names and email addresses of entrants in noodlies competitions will only be used for the purpose of the competition and not for any other purposes and will not be passed on to any other third parties unless part of the competition terms and conditions and prior permission has been expressly given by the entrant.

 ENDS

“An Australian food blog Code of Ethics.  What do you think?” – tweet this to help spread the message.

Albee Phu has always loved to cook. She had a stall in a food court back home in Malaysia and says she never tires of seeing customers enjoying her food.  When she came to Australia over a decade ago, Albee thought that was all behind her and resigned to a life of nine to five.  Still, she just couldn’t shake the cooking bug.  Three and a half years ago, she opened Albee’s Kitchen in Campsie, a Malaysian restaurant in the middle of Korean/Chinese/Vietnamese heartland.  It was a risk and in the early days she was kept working at the day job to bring in money to support the restaurant – her night job/business.

Calling her restaurant a “kitchen” sums up this honest, humble eatery.  Outside, it’s bright and deliciously tempting, adorned with mouth-watering pictures of just about every Malaysian dish.  Walk in and the space is small, with a cluster of tables and little room in between.  Penetrate deeper and there’s a small kitchen that’s accessed by two narrow aisles.  Go past that and you’ll find two more private areas that hold different sized wooden tables, each room seats around 20 people.  Tonight, noodlies, Sydney food blog is dining in the inner sanctum, with our lovely host, Albee herself.

I try loh bak for the first time in that inner sanctum of Albee’s Kitchen.  This dish has many close relations in other Asian countries; it’s basically marinated pork mince with various vegetables wrapped in tofu skin that’s deep-fried and served with sweet chilli sauce.  It’s tasty but not too spicy, from the outset I sense Albee prefers her flavours light.

Curry puff is another dish that has many different variations throughout south-east Asia and India.  Albee’s version is, more-ishly delicious; my weakness is boiled egg, I love it in any and everything.  The secret twist in Albee Kitchen’s curry puff is the use of sweet potato instead of potato.  Albee says it gives the dish extra depth without the need for added sugar.

It just seems wrong not to try chicken satay sticks at a Malaysian restaurant, or as I like to call it, chick’n on a stick’n.  The chicken is golden with lovely blisters and burnt edges.  The sauce itself is on plain side. When I query Albee, she says staff can add extra chilli – but you need to ask. Dear readers, I suggest you ask, it will make a pleasurable difference.

Albee also showed me how to eat Malaysian satay chicken, check out the how to in the video below.

Another first for me is the pulut panggang, it sounds raw and real, and literally translates as “BBQ glutinous rice”.  Albee says it used to be a popular hawker dish but is getting harder to find because it takes a bit of effort to make; cooking the rice in coconut milk, frying coconut, dried shrimp, chilli and herbs, then wrapping them all up in banana leaves and cooking over coal.   The creaminess of the rice works oh-so well with the savoury centre. Delicious without being over-powering.

Asam pedas is crispy whole cod in a spicy, sour sauce made with a tamarind (asam) and tomato base.  Devour this dish quickly as the crispy skin soaks in that zesty sauce, extra zing come from fresh onion, shallot and chilli.

Asam curry fish head is my undisputed favourite dish of the night.  You would normally not order this dish together with asam pedas, but we’re particularly hungry tonight and, well, I didn’t want to choose.  While the Asam pedas sauce is made with a tomato base, the base for this dish is curry-based.  It’s magnificently presented in a clay pot and the dish itself is a stunner; dark, deep sauce with so many different ingredients gives a real depth of flavour.  Fish head might sound challenging, but the head itself is not that evident, lost amongst the many ingredients that includes okra, one of my favs.

Kuih talam is another dessert that has many different variations across south-east Asia.  Here the base is pandan with a sweet and salty coconut head.  Where Albee’s Kitchen might be a tad light on flavours when it comes to savoury dishes, their restraint doesn’t extend to desserts.  The kuih talam is full flavoured and utterly more-ish.

Tapioca cake (left) has a cute, flaky, indulgent texture and benefits in flavour and in the looks department from the top layer made from palm sugar and coconut. It’s my fav dessert of the evening.  The black sesame layered cake (right) is an Albee special, the black sesame is her addition and adds an additional flavour and texture to this dessert.

I’m impressed by the range of Malaysian dishes on the menu, the most popular ones as plastered on the front of the restaurant. But a word of caution, Albee’s kitchen is honest, delicious food – but it’s not fine dining, so don’t expect fancy decor and attentive service.  You’re here to eat and leave, longing to come back.

Albee’s Kitchen in Campsie has different specials each day of the week, check out their daily specials here.

Albee’s Kitchen has recently opened in Cabramatta, it’s a smaller kitchen so the menu is limited in comparison.  I’ve been three times and while each time has been a better experience, I think it’s still finding it’s feet.

Albee’s Kitchen will have a stall at the Campsie Food Festival this year on Saturday, 2 June 2012.  Visit them to try their famous curry puff, chicken satay, laksa, nasi lemak, char kway teow and kuih sweets.

Albee’s Kitchen
282 Beamish St, Campsie
(02) 9718 8302

Noodlies, Sydney food blog and guest dined courtesy of the lovely Albee from Albee’s Kitchen.  Noodlies, Sydney food blog is a media partner of Campsie Food Festival 2012.

Ok, let’s be honest, Shanghai Stories 1938 is a weird name.  According to the restaurant “Shanghai, also known as the Paris of the East, was a flourishing city in the 1930′s brimming with elegance and romanticism… music, mah jong, women in qi paos… It was a time of economic development open to influence through trade from all regions of China and the West”.  The restaurant is a tribute to the hey-day of this Chinese city.

Noodlies, Sydney food blog cares a little less about Shanghai’s history.  I’m more concerned about the food at this new restaurant in the spanking new “The Concourse” development in Chatswood.  Shanghai Stories 1938 comes highly recommended by Adam and his partner.  Tonight, they’ve offered to take me to Shanghai, via Chatswood.

The place is huge, spanning two floors including an outside dining area.  It’s classy, bordering on flash, with downlights and wooden features.  Despite the size, there’s enough staff to go ’round, service is fast and efficient, even on a Saturday night.  Just bear in mind, it’s big and when packed can be a little noisy.

I let Adam and his partner do the ordering, they’re regulars.  The dumplings in chilli oil is jaw-droppingly gorgeous, each dumpling is shiny, bathing in dark chilli oil, highlighted with black and white sesame seeds and framed in a turquoise glazed blue plate.  The outer skin is al dente, almost hard, which I love, the pork filling has a nice dense texture, not too much taste.  The chilli sauce could be a tad hotter (I’m a chilli fiend).  Overall though, it’s a very, very satisfying experience.

The crispy chicken is mouth-watering; dark crimson, each piece glistening under multiple downlights like precious stones in a jewellery store.  Hard to fault, thin crispy skin, well cooked flesh that is dense and meaty.  It comes with two sauces, chilli paste which I don’t even touch because I’m in love with the plum powder salt that has a faint hint of five spice.

We gorge ourselves on the square-cut of pork belly that’s lightly decorated with bok choy and served on a white plate.  This is food-porn, melt-in-the-mouth stuff, your teeth sinks into the soft, fleshy skin to encounter thick, tasty pork flesh that becomes even more delicious when you penetrate to the dark caramelised sauce.

I don’t think I will ever get used to the name of this restaurant, but it’s highly recommended.  Get there, this place has many lovely stories to tell.

Shanghai Stories 1938
Shop 4 & 6 The Concourse
405-419 Victoria Ave , Chatswood
(02) 9412 3880

Elizabeth Gilbert‘s heart-wrenching soul searching in the international best seller, Eat, Pray, Love took her to three countries, India, Italy and finally Indonesia (Bali). Of the three, eat was definitely the gorgeous food of Italy and we get a glimpse at Gilbert’s love for food.  The love runs in the family.

At Home on the Range is a recipe book that is so personal it’s almost biographical.  While moving into a new house, Elizabeth Gilbert unpacked some boxes of family books that had been sitting in her mother’s attic for decades. Among the old, dusty hardbacks was a book called At Home on the Range (or, How To Make Friends with Your Stove) by Gilbert’s great-grandmother, Margaret Yardley Potter (nickname Gina). Having only been peripherally aware of the volume, Gilbert dug in with some curiosity and soon found that she had stumbled upon a book far ahead of its time.

“Of course, I’d seen the book on family bookshelves, and had certainly heard the name Gima mentioned with love and longing, but I’d never actually opened the volume.  I’m not sure why. Maybe I was busy.  Maybe I was prejudiced, didn’t expect much from the writing… Or maybe I am just a fool, willing to travel the world in pursuit of magic and exoticism while ignoring more intimate marvels right here at home” Elizabeth Gilbert’s foreword.

The book was ahead of its time. In her workaday cookbook, Potter espoused the importance of farmer’s markets and ethnic food (Italian, Jewish, and German), derided preservatives and culinary shortcuts, and generally celebrated a devotion to seeking out new epicurean adventures. Potter takes car trips out to Pennsylvania Dutch country to eat pickled pork products, and during World War II she cajoles local poultry farmers into saving buckets of coxcombs for her so she can try to cook them in the French manner. She takes trips to the eastern shore of Maryland, where she learns to catch and prepare eels so delicious, she says, they must be ‘devoured in a silence almost devout’. Part scholar-she includes a great recipe from 1848 for boiled sheep head-and part crusader for a more open food conversation than currently existed, it’s not hard to see from where Elizabeth Gilbert inherited both her love of food and her warm, infectious prose.

With the foreword from Elizabeth Gilbert, Margaret’s great-granddaughter, this unearthed treasure is both a beautifully written, useful cookbook and an insight into a lifestyle previously forgotten.

At Home on the Range contains over 200 recipes from fruit cake, clam chowder through to nut bread and creme brulee.  It’s written in a diary style which is both engaging and entertaining.

All of the proceeds from the book go to ScholarMatch, a non-profit organisation that increases college access for low income students.

About the author: Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of three books of non-fiction, the multi-million-copy-selling Eat, Pray, Love (now a major motion picture) and its follow-up, Committed, as well as The Last American Man (nominated for the National Book Award and a New York Times Notable Book for 2002). Elizabeth Gilbert lives in Frenchtown, New Jersey.

At Home on the Range by Margaret Yardley Potter and presented by Elizabeth Gilbert is published by Bloomsbury and distributed in Australia by Allen & Unwin.

This review copy was provided to noodlies, Sydney food blog courtesy of Bloomsbury Australia & New Zealand.

On a clear Autumn day, Sydney by the water is unbeatable; sparkling water reflecting crisp sunlight and endless blue sky.  It’s not hard to see why Otto Ristorante with stunning water views is such a Sydney institution and the favourite of the city’s A-list.

Today, noodlies, Sydney food blog gets a glimpse of the good life.  I’m here to preview Otto’s Menu del Giorno: daytime delight consisting of cocktail, entrée and main course for $50pp.  You get a choice of first and main courses.

And that cocktail is in Autumn colour. Aperol Splice is made up of aperol, vodka, passionfruit sorbet, lemon juice and egg white.  Tangy, sparkly and vodka tickly the cocktail sets the right note for the coming courses.

The primi piatti is oh-so delicate, dainty cubes of kingfish with wafer thin olive toast.  Capers and chilli give the dish a gentle kick.  For me, the olive dominates – something to consider if olive isn’t your best friend.

It’s hard to go past the twice cooked pork belly for secondi piatti.  Crisp, crunchy pork skin and soft, tender, well-cooked pork flesh… What’s not to like?  Additional bonus points for  stunning presentation and the unique shape and texture of the caramelised witlof.

Richard Ptacnik (Exec Chef of Otto) and noodlies' Thang Ngo

Double, extra bonus delight of meeting Richard Ptacnik, Otto’s Executive Chef, who explained their indulgent chocolate dessert served with rum and raisin ice cream (see Richard explain in the noodlies featured video).

Experience Sydney’s priceless beauty at a Sydney institution.  As I said, what’s not to like?!

Otto Ristorante’s Menu del Giorno: Every day, from noon to 7 pm, a Cocktail, Entrée and a Main Course will set you back just $50.  The selection of dishes changes regularly.

Otto Ristorante
Area 8, Woolloomooloo Wharf
6 Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo
(02) 9368 7488

This noodlies, Sydney food blog was courtesy of Otto Ristorante and the lovely ladies at Black Communications.

THANK YOU: Competition is closed.

Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals DVD

An entire meal in 30 minutes? That’s the Jamie Oliver promise.  And it’s not one dish, we’re talking about an entire meal, with three and sometimes up to five different components.  All this in the time it normally takes to cook one dish.  Based on his hugely successful book of the same name, the TV series will soon be available on DVD.  Volume 1 contains 2 discs and 14 delicious meals, Thai, Moroccan, Indian, European there’s something for everyone from Thai red prawn curry, oozy mushroom risotto, curry rogan josh to chicken pie.

“It’s all about really quick tasty cooking for really busy people… a meal not a dish… all really interesting contemporary dishes, really lots of influences from Asia, India, Classic British, Mediterranean cooking” says Jamie.  He wants you to cook a meal that is full of flavour at top speed.

The trick, according to Jamie is being  organised, having the right recipes and his hints and tips.

The piri pri chicken episode sums it up pretty well, in 30 minutes, Jamie shows you how to cook:

• piri piri chicken
• portuguese tart
• smashed sweet potato feta cheese
• green salad

Yep, in 30 minutes.

The food is allowed to look natural, not pretentious.  Looking at the irregular shape of the tarts, Jamie simply says that a misbehaving tart is good.  The smashed sweet potato feta cheese dish is served up on the large wooden chopping board it was made in, piri piri chicken in the ceramic tray it was baked in.  So, the hearty meals are quick to  make and fast to wash up too.

I like Jamie’s practical, common sense style, in this episode he uses pre-made puff pastry, pre-mix salads and cooks sweet potato in the microwave.  Obviously not too much pretention goes into “cooking good food fast”.

WIN! Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals (Vol 1) – 3 DVDs to giveaway.

Be one of the first to own this DVD and you could be whipping up one of 14 delicious, hearty dinners in 30 minutes, with a minimal amount of preparation and washing up.

To enter:

• like noodlies facebook page
• comment on this post: tell me, in 20 words or less why you would love to cook a meal in 30mins

Entries close Monday, 14 May, 5pm.  Australian residents only. Judge’s decision is weird but final. 3 winners will be notified via email by Tuesday, 15 May, noon and must respond with a delivery address by Wednesday, 16 May, 5pm. 

Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals DVD (Vol 1) will be officially released in Australia on Monday 7th May. These prizes are courtesy of Shock Entertainment, check out their website for other lifestyle and cookery DVDs as well as future Jamie Oliver releases.

Ok, let me declare: when the DVD distributors of Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals contacted noodlies, Sydney food blog to review the new DVD, I had to say, yes!  After all, JamieOliver.com recently named noodlies as one of the Best Australian Food Blogs, so I was already in love with the man – how could I say no?!

And the winners are… from all across Australia: Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia! Who knew noodlies had creative and smart readers across the country?!

With 3 Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals DVDs to be won, courtesy of Shock Entertainment, the winners are:

1/ Michelle Vamvas. The first creative person to go with rhyming couplets:

As mum of three, aged seven and under
Time’s scarce, any wonder?!
I need minimal effort recipes
Jamie’s certainly, please!

2/ Angela Nicolaou. I want Angela’s husband to cook her a decent meal from the DVD! Angela, I want pics of his meal after he watches the DVD.

Husband never cooks, Valentines Day, Jamie’s 30 Minutes Chicken Meal. OMG! Delishes, first mean any MAN has cooked me.

3/ Jodie Taylor.  With so many mouths to feed, Jodie deserves to win. And I love dogs.

I have 5 people to feed, dogs to feed, homework to help with, lunches to make and not enough hours in a day.

Congratulations, Michelle, Angela and Jodie.  Please check your emails.

A reminder of the terms and conditions below: you need to email me your delivery address by Wednesday, 16 May, 5pm.

Terms and Conditions. Entries close Monday, 14 May, 5pm.  Australian residents only. Judge’s decision is weird but final. 3 winners will be notified via email by Tuesday, 15 May, noon and must respond with a delivery address by Wednesday, 16 May, 5pm.

Noodlies, Sydney food blog is about uncovering authentic, culturally diverse food and culture around Sydney.  When the good folks at InterContinental Sydney told me about their exciting new Sydney Gourmet Tour, I really couldn’t say no.

The tours are There are two tours on offer, Inner West and South Sydney, both showcasing Sydney’s amaze balls culturally diverse food scene as well as the opportunity to meet the people behind these wonderful places. Today, I’m getting the ‘medley’ experience, a five-hour sample of both tours:

• The Coffee Roaster (South Sydney Tour)
• Establishment 218 (South Sydney)
• P.R. Raineri (Inner West)
• Colefax Chocolate (Inner West)
• St Peters Brewery & The Hive Bar (Inner West)
• Bamboo Dumpling Bar (South Sydney)

The Coffee Roaster, Alexdandria
I’ve never seen so many different coffee beans in the one place and they come from all over the world, Rwanda through to Vietnam.  Right now, I think you can almost smell that fresh roasted coffee aroma which permeates a place like this.

As a coffee addict, I actually know very little about the coffee process.  So I’m really fascinated to learn about the different types of beans, roasting process, including “air flow” roasting from owner of The Coffee Roaster.

Establishment 218, Alexandria
Establishment 218 is the retail outlet for the largest Australian-family owned beef abattoir, selling premium meat direct to the public at wholesale prices.  Located on O’Riordan Street in Alexandria, Establishment 218 offers customers the opportunity to select their own cuts of beef and have it cut it to their required thickness. Establishment 218 also carries a wide range of lamb, pork, poultry and smallgoods.

Colefax Chocolates, Haberfield
The chaser to all the meat is Colefax Chocolates, a family owned gourmet chocolate producer and coffee shop.

The range is incredible, from traditional through to contemporary flavours and shapes like chilli flavour and cup cake designs.

St Peters Brewery, St Peters & The Hive Bar, Erskinville
I’m swept away by the simplicity and compelling case for a local brewery as explained by St Peters Brewery founder, Matt Donelan (below).   Local brewers are owned and operated by local people who love their neighbourhood. Matt’s business is in a little laneway where local street art is not only accepted, but strongly encouraged.

The idea of local brewing is environmentally friendly too.  As Matt explains in the video below; this business model leaves a low carbon foot-print and requires minimal packaging.

Then we sample Matt’s beer which is sold at the Hive Bar, a cute local pub in nearby Erskinville.

Bamboo Dumpling Bar, Royal Albert Hotel, Surry Hills
Our final stop on the InterContinental Sydney Gourmet Tour is a groovy little pub in Surry Hills and we visit their restaurant to try dumplings. Owner Michael Bain tells us about the ‘underbelly’ origins of the Royal Albert Hotel.  He also introduces us to his range of traditional dumplings as well as ‘happy ending’ dessert dumplings.  Check out the video below.

Bamboo Dumpling Bar is a cute restaurant inside the Royal Albert Hotel.  An intimate, cosy environment is created by warm dark wood tones and an unusual, but very cute, colourful collection of suspended bird cages.

Traditional dumplings

And then there’s the less traditional dumplings.  “Happy ending” is a dessert which includes chocolate (nutella) dumplings (bottom right), ice cream rice paper dumplings (bottom left) and chocolate and caramel spring rolls with condensed milk (top left).  For some dumpling fans, this dessert may be a step to far, but judging from the reaction from our table, a happy ending does carry some novelty value.

Happy ending: dessert dumplings

After five hours of riding in a Mercedes van and eating a range of delicious cultural food, noodlies is left in a mild state of food coma, althought, it’s a very satisfying food coma.   But I’m biased, noodlies is about showcasing the wonder food diversity in Australia and Sydney Gourmet Tour does exactly that.  Well done InterContinental Sydney!

From $511 per night, the Sydney Gourmet Tour experience includes an overnight stay at InterContinental Sydney, full buffet breakfast for two at the hotel’s Cafe Opera restaurant and two tickets to a private, guided foodie tour .  This InterContinental hotel’s Sydney Gourmet Tour package is created in partnership with private tour operator Ultimately Sydney. Tours are conducted in small groups, running over four hours, with transfers by a luxury air-conditioned limousine and pick-up and drop-off at the hotel.

InterContinental Sydney Gourmet Tour package is available for stays on Mondays through Fridays between April 1 and October 31, 2012, with gourmet tours running the morning after the booked room night.

This noodlies, Sydney food and travel blog experience is courtesy of the InterContinental Sydney and Starr PR.

InterContinental Sydney
117 Macquarie St, Sydney
(02) 9253 9000

InterContinental Sydney is a premium five star hotel  that has the additional benefit of an amazing location.  It’s conveniently located near in the financial district near Parliament House and just a stone’s throw from some of Sydney’s great cultural institutions, the Opera House, Conservatorium of Music and NSW Art Gallery.  On a corner site, access is super convenient, with entries on Phillip, Bridge and Macquarie streets.  Best of all, it’s on the quiet Circular Quay end of Phillip & Macquarie streets so guests get the benefit of location and tranquility – a rare commodity.

The hotel is built around the Treasury Building dating back to 1851 so you get modern, luxury accommodation and features as well as a historic environment.  The Cortile Lounge best demonstrates the wonderful inter-lacing of history and modernity – enjoy InterContinental Sydney’s  renowned High Tea in the sunlit atrium while basking in the historic features of the hotel around you.

This is carried through to Cafe Opera restaurant located on the first floor.  The restaurant has been redesigned to incorporate two new private event spaces, a contemporary main dining room and an alfresco court housed within the hotel’s historic sandstone arcades.  Cafe Opera reopened in July 2011 as the fresh face of hotel dining, with a new French-inspired a la carte menu and creative buffet concept. It offers locally-sourced seafood, salads and antipasto, sushi and sashimi, freshly-baked breads, gourmet cheeses and a selection of hot dishes created at the restaurant’s new, live cooking stations.

On the back of 12 consecutive days on a major work project, noodlies, Sydney food blog melts at the sight of InterContinental Sydney’s gorgeously comfortable room; warm inviting tones, subdued and relaxing lighting.  I collapse on the long divan under the the large windows, my room, on the 28th floor, affords spectacular views of the Harbour Bridge, Botanical Gardens and Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Staying on the executive floor comes with additional benefits, Club InterContinental lounge is a successful attempt to offer a premium experience for guests. It’s a roof top lounge on the 31st floor, the highest point on the hotel.  And the views of Sydney Harbour and the Botanical Gardens are simply spectacular, both night and day.  Snacks are offered all day and dinner drinks and dessert are a treat in the evenings.  Club InterContinental breakfast is a serious attempt to satisfy guests offering a decent choice of hot breakfast options, with very decent coffee.

Those who know noodlies, know my aversion to queues.  For guests staying on the executive level, check-in and check-out can be accommodated at Club InterContinental, a much, much more civilised affair, far away from the queues.

Noodlies is here for a famil of the new InterContinental Sydney Gourmet Tour, which started this month. The package is a first by a premium Sydney hotel to offer an accommodation and foodie experience that uncovers the city’s rich and fascinating multicultural food scene.  It’s enthusiastically endorsed by the InterContinental Sydney’s chief concierge, David Patt who reckons it’s perfect for both locals and visitors.

“Generations of migrants settling in Sydney has created a vibrant blend of international flavours and experiences available across the city – often found in the most unassuming places,” David said.

“InterContinental Sydney’s new tour unearths these authentic hidden gourmet experiences, offering both a fantastic introduction to the cultures that have solidified the city’s reputation for amazing food, and a great chance for locals to discover the culinary delights in their own backyard.”

Taiwanese dumplings on the South Sydney Gourmet Tour

Foodies can uncover Sydney’s hidden highlights on one of two different tours, running on alternate weeks.

An exploration into Sydney’s French, Italian and Spanish culinary enclaves, the Inner West tour sees guests learning how to make sensational coffee at home, sampling some of the city’s best locally made European cheeses, discovering a range of unusual herbs and spices and indulging in handmade chocolates and local wines.

An introduction to the city’s eclectic Asian and Mediterranean food scene, the South Sydney tour sees guests discovering authentic Lebanese treats, refreshing boutique beers from Sydney’s own St Peters Boutique Brewery, famous spicy Greek Chabi and delicious pastries from Marrickville’s best bakers and butchers, and carefully crafted traditional Taiwanese dumplings.

Noodlies famil includes samples of both the South Sydney and Inner West Gourmet Tours, visiting:

• The Coffee Roaster: aromatic coffee
• Establishment 218: mouth-watering meat!
• P.R. Raineri: continental deli with the freshest produce
• Colefax Chocolates: sweet tooth heaven
• St Peters Brewery & The Hive Bar: fascinating micro brewery
• Bamboo Dumpling Bar: Dumplings that are taking Sydney by storm

Full noodlies review of InterContinental Sydney Gourmet Tour package.

From $511 per night, the Sydney Gourmet Tour experience includes an overnight stay at InterContinental Sydney, full buffet breakfast for two at the hotel’s Cafe Opera restaurant and two tickets to a private, guided foodie tour.

This InterContinental Sydney Gourmet Tour package is created in partnership with private tour operator Ultimately Sydney. Tours are conducted in small groups, running over four hours, with transfers by a luxury air-conditioned limousine and pick-up and drop-off at the hotel.

InterContinental Sydney Gourmet Tour package is available for stays on Mondays through Fridays between April 1 and October 31, 2012, with gourmet tours running the morning after the booked room night.

This noodlies, Sydney food and travel blog experience of Club InterContinental accommodation and Sydney Gourmet Tour package was courtesy of the lovely peeps at InterContinental Sydney and Starr PR.

InterContinental Sydney
117 Macquarie St, Sydney
(02) 9253 9000

Frequent readers of noodlies, Sydney food blog will know about my fascination for Hong Kong.  I’m there once a year to shop and eat up a storm.  There’s even a whole Hong Kong eats section on noodlies.  I was so excited when Miryana Power from the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) told me about three fabulous Hong Kong events, which I have to share with all of you, dear readers!  Read on, because one of those events is in Sydney:

Firstly, Hong Kong Summer will be on from June through August.  During Hong Kong Summer, the latest and hottest gorgeous things from trendy fashion and shoes, fine jewellery and beauty products to the latest watches, electronics and traditional Chinese artefacts and souvenirs go on sale across the city’s popular shopping districts.

Hong Kong’s must do shopping experiences include the luxury mega malls including Harbour City, Pacific Place, IFC, The Landmark, Times Square, Elements, iSquare, The ONE (noodlies Gym was in the ONE); the department stores including Lane Crawford, Sogo; the local fashion shops and trendy designer boutiques; the street markets including those in Wanchai, Causeway Bay, Mongkok and Stanley, the Temple Street Night Market; and the themed shopping streets.

The series of fun events during Hong Kong Summer will also include the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Carnival from July 2, 4 – 8 staged on Victoria Harbour and the Lan Kwai Fong Music and Beerfest from July 14 – 15.  For more details on what to do, see, eat visit the HKTB offers page.

And secondly, win a trip for two to Hong Kong flying business class. Yes, I thought that would get your attention! The HKTB, Flight Centre and the Marco Polo HongKong Hotel are offering one shopaholic the ultimate shopping experience for two persons in Hong Kong.  The prize, which includes two return Business class flights on the Qantas A380 and four nights at the Marco Polo HongKong Hotel, will allow the two lucky travellers to experience first-hand Hong Kong’s shopping delights.  The Hong Kong Summer competition on Facebook is now open and will run until May 16, to enter visit: www.facebook.com/HongKongTourismAustralia.  Good luck!!

And finally, Hong Kong designers at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia. So if you can’t make it to Hong Kong this time, Hong Kong is coming to you. Four of Hong Kong’s emerging designers will be amongst the line-up showcasing their Spring Summer 2012/2013 collections at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia (MBFWA) on May 4, 2012.  For the first time ever, these exclusively selected Hong Kong designers – Chailie Ho, DoDo Leung, Harrison Wong, and Hei Lau – will debut their collections at the Style Hong Kong runway show during MBFWA.

Harrison Wong design

I’m so excited to be heading off to this event, checking out some of Hong Kong’s best emerging designers, right here in Sydney, with thanks to HKTB.  Hope to see you there.

Harrison Wong

Photos courtesy of Hong Kong Tourism Board.

Tweet to share this with your friends: “After six weeks of searching, Sydney’s Best Pork Roll 2012 is announced” – tweet this.

Thank you for your nominations in noodlies, Sydney food blog’s search for Sydney’s Best Pork Roll (banh mi thit) 2012.  This is a search for the best ‘traditional’ pork roll, so we’re not talking about ‘gourmet’ style or chicken, siu mai, vegetarian or even salmon rolls.  Based on your nominations, noodlies own experience and the time available, the following 14 shops were nominated (in no particular order):

1. Viet Hoa, Cabramatta, $4
2. Kim Thanh, Cabramatta, $4
3. Hoan Cau, Cabramatta, $3.50
4. Marrickville Pork Rolls (PR), Marrickville, $4
5. Hong Ha, Botany Rd, Mascot, $5
6. Tina’s, Canley Heights, $3.50
7. Bay Ngo, Bankstown, $3.50
8. Vinata’s, Cabramatta, $4
9. Jamison’s Bakery, Penrith, $3
10. Nam Fong, Bankstown, $3.50
11. King’s, Hurstville $4
12. Minh Hung, Cabramatta, $3
13. Flourland Bakery, Liverpool, $3
14. KK, Cabramatta, $3.50

So firstly, congratulations to all 14 nominees!  You can see noodlies video review of all 14 nominees here.

To help score the nominees, Noodlies set down 5 criteria to help rank the nominees.

• bread: the essential foundation
• meat: variety including quality of pate, taste
• vegetables: variety, freshness
• added sauce and flavouring: often neglected but helps to bind everything together
• value: what you get for the price

After six weeks of grueling chomping through the nominations which took me as far west as Penrith and down south to Hurstville, here are the rankings…

Bread (score out of 10): The top two shops, Kim Thanh and Viet Hoa score 8/10, both serve up amazingly crunchy crust that almost cuts your gum, while the inside white, soft and fluffy. By the way, Viet Hoa is open 24 hours, just in case you have that late night craving for pork roll.

Meat (score out of 10): most places offer the same three types of meat, bbq pork, cha lua (white pork devon), a variation of nem (red pork and pork skin) as well as pate.  Vinata’s distinguish itself with delicious home-made chicken liver pate that is rich and tasty. While the chunks of bbq pork is visually stunning and gives the rolls at Marrickville Pork Roll (PR) extra texture.  Both score 7/10.

Vegetables (score out of 10):With so much meat and starchy bread, vegetables play a key role in balancing the ingredients.  All nominees offered pickled carrots, coriander and chilli, with many others adding pickled white radish, onions and spring onions.  Bay Ngo and Marrickville Pork Roll distinguish themselves in offering a very decent mix of all these vegetables to give their pork rolls extra zest and freshness. Both nominees score 8/10.

Sauce (score out of five): Many places try to get away with just salt and pepper and diluted soy or Maggi sauce.  Vinata’s and Marrickville Pork Roll make their own delicious sauces.  In Vinata’s case, it’s a soy based sauce that has extra flavour from shallots.  Both score 4/5.

Value (score out of five): let’s face it, pork rolls are great value, over 10 ingredients, including freshly baked bread.  For value, they put some sandwich shops and fast food chains to shame.  You can get a pork roll for as little as $3 in Sydney in at least three locations.  The priciest is $5 for the traditional pork roll, for more ‘gourmet’ offerings (not reviewed here) they can be as high as almost $8.  Noodlies is astounded that pork rolls can be sold for a little as three gold coins – $3 at Minh Hung (Cabramatta), Flourland (Liverpool) and Jamison Bakery (Penrith).  All three places score maximum 5/5.

And the winner is… Of course the winner is the bakery which scores the highest aggregate points for the combined five criteria.  But it’s not just about scoring the highest, the rolls at this place manage to balance the wide range of ingredients; texture and taste to serve up rolls with amazing seductive, visual appeal.  And the bread is bloody good too!   Service is fast, efficient and for this type of venue, bordering on friendly.  That’s not to say, competition isn’t stiff, only one point separates the winner and the next two runners-up.

Tweet to share this with your friends: “After six weeks of searching, Sydney’s Best Pork Roll 2012 is announced” – tweet this.

Congratulations, Marrickville Pork Roll.  It might be a tiny hole-in-the wall, but this bakery scoops three of the five criteria (meat, vegetables and sauce).  The pork rolls here taste great through the delicious balance of all ingredients and, as you can see in the video below, they look pretty hot too.  At $4, a Vietnamese pork roll (banh mi thit) at Marrickville Pork Roll is a steal.

Of course, I admit, within the six weeks, noodlies wasn’t able to get to every pork roll venue (wouldn’t that be nice) and the final decision is subjective, though over three decades of chomping on pork rolls must count for something, right?

What noodlies, Sydney food blog is very, very confident about is that you can’t go too wrong with a pork roll from one of these places.  So the ball is back in your court, dear readers, give these places a go and tell me what you think, the addresses are shown below.

Happy chomping

Tweet to share this with your friends: “After six weeks of searching, Sydney’s Best Pork Roll 2012 is announced” – tweet this.

Sydney’s Best Pork Rolls 2012 – top 3

Winner:
Marrickville Pork Roll
236a Illawarra Rd, Marrickville

Runners-Up:
Vinata’s Hot Bread
13/1 Hughes St, Cabramatta

Jamison Bakery
100 Henry St, Penrith

Other nominees:

Viet Hoa Hot Bread
107 John Street, Cabramatta

Hong Ha Hot Bread
1151 Botany Road, Mascot

Tina’s Hot Bread
219 Canley Vale Rd, Canley Heights

Hoan Cau
9 John Street, Cabramatta

Kim Thanh Hot Bread
216 Railway Pde, Cabramatta

Minh Hung (hot bread)
9/44 Park Road (enter via Hughes St), Cabramatta

Flourland Hot Bread
239 George St, Liverpool

Bay Ngo Hot Bread
Shop 49 Old Town Centre Plaza, Bankstown

Nam Fong Hot Bread
Shop 54 Old Town Centre Plaza, Bankstown

King’s Hot Bread
240 Forest Road  Hurstville

KK Hot Bread
2/85 John Street, Cabramatta

Noodlies, Sydney food blog hasn’t been to Hurstville for a year or so and I’m looking forward to today’s day trip.  Still trying to get over a cold, I headed directly for First Taste Chinese restaurant, their specialty is health giving ‘stewed herbs’.  I was hoping for some chicken feet soup (surely it’s so bad it’s medicinal?), but alas, by 1pm they’ve sold out!  I settle for chicken stewed in ginseng and herbs soup.  The dish comes out in a tall, covered china cup.  When the lid is removed I see chicken pieces in a clear amber soup.  I was fearing that strong Chinese medicine taste, but the clear soup is clean, not too bitter, sweet or salty, yet still very tasty.  The chicken pieces are boney which, I think, is meant to give the soup more flavour.  I’m liking it a lot, the soup makes me super hungry and delivers a placebo-like effect – I feel immediately stronger and healthier.

Now, very, very hungry, I order the hearty black bean sauce spare ribs and rice claypot.  It’s a huge dish that’s a steal for just $7.80 – I usually don’t care too much about prices, but this is cheap!  The ribs are delicious, piping hot, tender, thoroughly absorbing the black bean sauce.  Speaking of sauce, it’s tasty, but mercifully isn’t over the top. And the rice is fluffy on top and burnt around the pot – I love burnt rice (in moderation).

First Taste is a big win on this Hurstville day trip.  The staff are friendly and the food is delicious, comforting, some might say ‘healthy’.  While not on my radar until today, First Taste seems to be a relatively successful chain of Chinese restaurant located in the ‘burbs and outside the CBD spotlight. There’s another branch in Campsie and three others in Melbourne: Springvale, Footscray and Box Hill.

First Taste Chinese Restaurant
316 Forest Road, Hurstville
8065 2178

Frequent readers of noodlies know that I don’t/can’t cook, but that doesn’t mean I’m not interested in seeing one of Australia’s top chefs showing his mastery in an intimate setting, especially when that setting is the stunning Quay Restaurant.

A dozen or so food writers and bloggers gasped and sighed as Peter Gilmore, Quay’s Executive Chef and one of Australia’s most awarded, showed us how to make two amazing dishes:

• Savoury Gouda custard with Autumn mushrooms, Jerusalem artichokes and hazelnuts
• Slow braised crisp skinned pork belly with prunes, sherry and cauliflower cream

See him in intimate and very lovable mode in the noodlies video below talking Gouda and pig belly!

Slow braised crisp skinned pork belly with prunes, sherry and cauliflower cream

If you’re inspired to have a go at these two stunning Peter Gilmore dishes, (pork belly pic above) download the recipe here.  I’d love to know how you go!

After the masterclass, we were treated to a diverse five course degustation that included: beef, seafood, partridge, salad and my personal favourite, dessert with mangosteen.  Each course was served with matching wine.

Salad of rhubarb, endive, beetroot, purple carrot, rosa radish, kohlrabi, goat's curd, pomegranate molasses, violet with 2010 Pennyweight Gamay, Beechworth VIC

This is a salad will challenge your perception of a salad; visually it’s a deep crimson that’s more reminiscent of red meat with crunchiness delivered by thin crisp radish and carrot pieces. We’re reminded of its earthy nature by the crimson crushed pomegranate molasses foundation that had an eerily similar texture to dirt.  It’s of one of the most visually stunning, delicate salad presentations I’ve seen and by far the most complex in taste and texture.

Gently poached southern rock lobster, hand caught Tasmanian squid, golden tapioca, lobster velvet with 2010 Krinklewood Chardonnay, Hunter Valley NSW

This seafood dish looked like pristine white fish flesh washed on shore by foaming, bubbling golden tapioca.  Gilmore managed to extract maximum flavour from the ingredients which hit the palate in swift succession and with deep intensity. This dish left me almost breathless.

Roasted partridge breast, steamed truffle brioche, confit egg yolk, new season white walnuts, fumet of vin jaune with 2010 Thick as Thieves Nebbiola, Yarra Valley VIC

I’m afraid my senses were still knocked about by the previous two stunning courses so I found it hard to engage with the partridge, sure it was brilliantly presented on that classic Quay plate, but I struggled to find the highs in this course.

Poached wagyu beef, oxtail, morel, black pudding, farro, buckwheat, hazelnut, Ezekiel crumbs with 2009 Caillard Mantaro, Barossa Valley SA

The beef was a favourite of mine when we last dined at Quay a few months ago.  As I said in then: it’s a dish with stunning contrasting tastes and texture; tender beef with bread crumb outer.  The marble score 7 Wagyu black angus was poached in an oxtail and morel stock reduction delivering an amazingly tender experience.  It’s then encrusted in roasted farro, buckwheat, hazelnut and Ezekiel bread crumbs; Ezekiel bread comes from an old testament recipe based on 6 different sprouted grains, wheat, spelt, lentils,millet, soy and barley. Further contrast came from the puree base made from morel and black pudding.  Stunning.

Nitrogen frozen vanilla mouse, fresh mangosteen, custard apple, feijoa ice cream, coconut cream with 2011 Brangayne Late Harvest Riesling, Orange NSW

This dessert reminded me of how ‘Sydney’ Quay’s menu was: western with strong Asian influence.  I felt that in February and said as much in an earlier post.  This dessert is a perfect example: growing up in Vietnam mangosteen and custard apples were the fruit of my childhood.  Here, they provided the exotic bursts of flavour in a dessert that, in typical Gilmore style yield many different tastes and textures.  Delicious and cheeky.

Noodlies cooking like Peter Gilmore? Frankly, never. But I did love seeing Gilmore in his element; confident, engaging and very approachable.  And I loved the delightful degustation.

Peter Gilmore, along with Tetsuya Wakuda and Alex Perry are Electrolux brand ambassadors.

About Peter Gilmore
Peter has been the Executive Chef at Quay Restaurant for almost 10 years. Over this time his creative cooking style has seen the restaurant receive nine consecutive 3 Chefs Hat awards and be awarded Restaurant of the Year four times. In addition, Quay is currently ranked Number 27 on the coveted S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurant’s list, the highest ranked Australian restaurant in the world.

Quay Restaurant
Overseas Passenger Terminal, The Rocks, Sydney
9251 5600

This unique noodlies experience was courtesy of Electrolux and Open Haus.  And it was good to see fellow bloggers Simon and Tina again too

(l-r) front: Thang, Oni, behind: Simon, Mel

Sweet Simon Marnie from ABC Radio asked a couple of bloggers who went to noodlies Cabra Crawl and I to come in and talk about our blogs and our experience of tasting the best of Vietnamese food in Cabramatta.  Simon, Oni, Mel and I had a good long chat, click on the video link above to listen.

Weekends with Simon Marnie
ABC Radio 702Sydney
Sunday, 8 April 2012, 11am

Photo courtesy of Oni.

You can see that owner, Diana Ren has grand plans for Dan’s House.  Step inside and the place is swish, bling lighting, mosaic tiled columns, a mesh metal chain feature wall that provides a perfect backdrop for the enormous Dan’s House logo.  It’s obvious Diana wants the place to be known for its style as well as food. Noodlies, Sydney food blog should probably stay away from style, so I’ll talk about food.

Dan’s House is so new, the grand opening is two weeks away.  Their specialty is Peking Duck and hand-made noodles.  Today, Heidi (a friend of the owner) and I have invited a group of food blogging friends to sample their menu.

Diana proudly proclaims her Peking Duck is better because each one takes two days to prepare, the time she claims, is why the skin is oh-so crispy while the flesh is tender and tasty.  The presentation is stunning too, square white plates divided into four quarters each containing a different section of the dish.  Two sections of the duck come on the plate; leg and breast – the breast goes with the steamed pancake, while leg is best with steamed round buns (not pictured).  All to be had with the daintily cut and presented cucumber and shallot and to be dipped in your choice of sauces: hoisin with honey, grapefruit and radish.  Diana explains it all in the video above.

The duck skin also comes out separately and when dipped in sugar delivers an amazing crispy texture as explained by Heidi, also in the video above.

And then there’s the hand-made noodle, in fact all the noodles, whether steamed, boiled or fried are hand-made on the premises.  A particular specialty is longevity noodles, an entire bowl of noodles made from one strand that’s 40 metres long.  Longevity noodles is about long life and it’s the sort of dish you order on your birthday.  Diana says you’re meant to suck the whole bowl in one go.  Heidi demonstrates in the video below how to eat these noodles.  The picture above is a tasting portion for us on the day, usually the bowl is pretty full.

We got to watch the chef make these longevity noodles and as a bonus I was given a one-on-one tutorial… watch my feeble attempt in the video below (promise you won’t laugh!).

The hand-made noodles can also be fried as shown below, that flat noodle bread is actually made up of individual stands of noodles.

Dan’s House delights in contemporary Chinese too, like silken tofu sashimi.  The tofu was so smooth, sashimi equally delicate both combining perfectly with a light but extra tasty soy-based sauce.

It seems a restaurant can’t be contemporary unless wagyu beef is on the menu. Here it’s served on extra hot stone and sizzles in excitement when red wine sauce is poured over the meat.  Thick garlic chunks give this dish an extra mouth-watering aroma.

Scallops in XO sauce is another Chinese favourite, here it’s stunningly plated in a fried basket of hand-made noodles.  The prawn flavour is brought out by the tasty sauce which contrasts, in texture, with the fried noodles.

A light salad adds a fresh zing to our meal, the dressing is Asian inspired – I could taste a touch of soy sauce.  And of course, finished with a coil of fried hand-made noodle.

I’ve had Chinese toffee apples before, but this is something else – it’s jaw-droppingly stunning but at the same time is playful and fun.

Watch the food bloggers go crazy as we eat and play with the toffee apple in the video below.

It’s obvious Diana wants her restaurant to be known as the place for contemporary Chinese fare and one that does it with flair.  The first floor restaurant is bling city, to borrow Penny’s description (see above), while upstairs is an intimate, classy bar that also has a VIP private room with karaoke facilities – what more could you ask for?!  As you can see below, noodlies is equally at home with intimate and classy as he is with bling, bling (pic courtesy of Penny).

Noodlies really likes noodles at Dan’s House.  Get to Dan’s House before the rest of Sydney finds out about this place.

PS. I took these photos with a new Samsung Galaxy Note. Need your advice dear readers, how do these photos stack up with the rest of the pics on noodlies? Love to know…

Dan’s House
Level 1 & 2, 710 George St, Sydney
9211 1112

Noodlies, Sydney food blog and the rest of the food blogging posse Penny (Jeroxi), Lauren (Corridor Kitchen), Angie (Angie lives to eat), Kevin (shiitake and stuff), Heidi, Shaun (Everybody loves ramen) and Simon (the heart of food) dined as guests of the lovely Diana of Dan’s House.

I berate myself for being so obsessed with Meet Fresh.  I tell myself it’s just fancy grass jelly, tricked-up sweet tofu and ok, some over-the-top use of mango, crushed ice and ice cream.  But logic is always trumped by obsession (and I am obsessive).  Besides, isn’t ice cream, the most wonderful invention in the world, just sugar, milk and flavouring?  Noodlies, Sydney food blog sees much more depth in Meet Fresh desserts!

After any dinner in the CBD, and there’s been a few lately, my legs carry me in auto pilot mode to Meet Fresh.  Today, our posse wanders into their new store on 569 George Street, around the corner from the manic and original in Dixon Street mall.  The place is  busy, but thankfully the lines aren’t as long.

This Taiwanese dessert chain has been a run away success in Sydney and around the world.  For first timers, Meet Fresh can be daunting; long queues, frantic staff and a bewildering menu.  Dear noodlies readers, as a self-confessed addict, allow me to help… the menu can really be boiled down to three main base desserts:

• taro balls
• herbal jelly (grass jelly)
• sweet tofu

Grasp this and the delights of Meet Fresh start to unfold.  The rest of the menu is just the combination of the these base ingredients with added extras like glutinous balls and noodles, crushed ice, red beans, brown sugar, etc.

Above is a fine example (though half-eaten) of a taro ball dessert.  The taro balls are the round shapes at the forefront, it comes with sugar crushed ice (centre), noodles (forefront left), black glutinous balls (back right) and square-cut fig jelly (back left).  The joy of this dessert is the mixture of flavours and textures; the relatively plain taro balls, noodles, glutinous balls are enhanced by sweet crushed ice, gluggy balls playfully contrast with crunchy ice.

Apart from the above menu, there are some ‘specials’, made to be shared. Meet Fresh calls the dessert above supreme mango, noodlies thinks it’s more like a mango volcano.  It’s a mountain of crushed ice topped with mango, fig jelly, condensed milk all topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  It comes with side serving of evaporated milk, should you feel the need for extra creaminess!  Here, most of the ingredients are sweet ready to be balanced with crushed ice… just mind the cold white lava of condensed milk and ice cream!

Check out the featured noodlies video above for more.

Meet Fresh
351/569 George St, Sydney

Noodlies and friends gorged on Meet Fresh desserts as greedy guests of Meet Fresh.

I come to Malaysian food with the wide-eye excitement of a novice and with that comes the thrill of discovery.  Of course, I’ve had Malaysian standards like laksa, nasi lemak, otak otak and murtabak, I’ve interviewed Malaysian chefs about their cooking, but noodlies, Sydney food blog still finds much intrigue in Malaysian fare.

Malaysian food has always been around, The Malaya being one of the better known restaurants early on. These days it’s the many variations of Chinta Ria, the outrageously popular Mamak in the city, and Temasek, Jackie M and Albee’s Kitchen in the ‘burbs that are flaming the fire of popularity for this cuisine.  I also credit the Malaysia Kitchen juggernaut too for generating interest in Malaysian food and tourism.

The past few years have seen a whole new spate of new Malaysian restaurants opening in Sydney.  I tried the Sydney version of Melbourne’s Petaling Street a few weeks ago.  Tonight, it’s Nonya in Chinatown, an offshoot of Ginger & Spice, Neutral Bay.

Nonya food comes from the Peranakans, descendants of Chinese migrants who settled primarily in Malaysia (Malacca and Penang), Indonesia and Singapore.  Nonya is the result of the inter-marriage between Chinese cooking with local ingredients and cooking techniques.  It’s also the Malay honorific used when referring to a respected lady, similar to “Madame”.

Tonight, this novice has brought along a local.  My brief to Joe is simple: “order what you’d have!”.

The beef rendang is dark, rich and substantial.  It looks simple enough, but many flavours lurk beneath, revealing themselves in their own good time; salty, spicy…  Liberal pouring of the thickish sauce on rice is highly recommended – though it’s best to do this at the end of the meal to avoid overwhelming your rice bowl.

Hooray for Char Kway Teow with wok breath! This dish glistens, the different textured ingredients including rice noodles, bean sprouts, prawns have all been cooked perfectly and enveloped in that heavenly smoky wok aroma.  The flavours are perfect for me, though I suspect some may like a tad more saltiness, especially when eaten with rice.

Assam prawn curry is a dish I normally wouldn’t have ordered. But here, Joe proves his worth. Assam means sour or tamarind and the tang is noticeable. But what does it for me is the wonderful ping pong of tastes; sour, sweet, saltiness, spiciness – neither overpowering but all playfully competing for attention.  It’s not a thick curry which is perfect when poured on rice. Easily my favourite dish of the night.

The stir fried morning glory is a pretty standard dish across many Asian cultures (no doubt influenced by the Chinese) and we order it to balance with the other relatively heavier dishes.  The morning glory wasn’t over-cooked, so there was still life in the stems and the leaves haven’t evaporated to slop.

Oh, and we had a cooling glass of teh tarik each – when in Rome… It’s the richest execution of this drink I’ve had, generous waves of condensed milk give the ice cold drink a rich, creamy taste, though, mercifully stopping short of being sickly.  I’m not sure if this is the most traditional iced milk tea, but I don’t care. I love the way Nonya has made this teh tarik.

Want to know more about Nonya food?  Watch a splendidly energetic Nonya, Aunty Florence Tan explain in the noodlies interview below. Note how she deftly handles my question about the origins of Hainan chicken.

And if you can’t get enough of Aunty Florence, watch the noodlies video below to see her wow the crowd when she was in Sydney during October last year.

Nonya by Ginger & Spice
Level 1
1 Dixon Street, Sydney (diagonally across the road from Mamak)
Ph: 02 9283 7022

Due to demand by Sydney food bloggers, noodlies put on a special tour just for them.  Cabra Crawl is a food tour I designed just for food bloggers showcasing a diverse range of Vietnamese food; from relatively well known dishes like Pho, pork rolls, fresh rolls to lesser know fine Vietnamese fare like banh xeo (Vietnamese pancake), ca xuc banh trang (fish curry with sesame crackers) to Vietnamese desserts like che xoi nuoc and che dau.

I was really keen to feature Cabramatta and at the same time give something back to the wonderful Sydney food blogging community.

In the end we had 14 dishes/drinks in the space of three and a half hours:

1. Pho (above)
2. Pork roll
3. pate so
4. sugar cane juice
5. banh xeo pancake (below)
6. goi cuon (fresh rolls)
7. Ca xuc banh trang
8. lemon, lime, lemongrass crush
9. emperor’s puff
10. pandan waffles
11. che xoi nuoc
12. che dau
13. tau hu ngot
14. Vietnamese ice coffee

As much as the wonderful food, bloggers on the Cabra Crawl enjoyed meeting some of the wonderful people behind the food, like Lena and her mum from Bau Truong and the owner of Vinata’s bakery (below) who was so proud to show us her pork roll and pastries.

I was soooo wonderful to catch up with the Sydney food bloggers too and I encourage you to visit their blogs:

• Daniel, Nanika Nomimashoo
• Anna, Adobo Down Under
• Melinda, The Pickled Cumquat
• Rafael, Ramen Raff
• Oni, Fork It
• Veronica, From across the kitchen table
• Adam, Foodspotting

Everyone was delighted to meet the special guest, ABC Radio broadcaster, Simon Marnie a great supporter of food bloggers and his lovely partner, Amanda.

While I had all the bloggers in my clutch, noodlies, Sydney food blog got them all to rate one of the nominees in Sydney’s Best Vietnamese Pork Roll search, the bloggers and Simon became my special guest reviewers!

Special thanks to the incredibly helpful Cheryl from Fairfield City Council and her husband David, who ran ahead to make sure our tables were ready and the food was prepared and sorted out the show bags.  Many thanks to principal sponsor, Fairfield City Council for supporting the wonderful food on the day.

Finally, many, many thanks to all the sponsors of noodlies, Cabra Crawl:

• Fairfield City Council (principal sponsor)
• Feast Magazine
• Royal Umbrella Rice
• Lenovo

PS. I took these photos with a new Samsung Galaxy Note. Need your advice dear readers, how do these photos stack up with the rest of the pics on noodlies? Love to know…

Deb’s Vietnamese rolls rated with Sydney’s best
by: Kevin Chen
Penrith Press, 30 March 2012

A PENRITH bakery has been nominated in the search for Sydney’s best Vietnamese pork roll, run by food blog, noodlies.

Jamison Bakery has been serving pork rolls for eight years and often the line stretches down the street at lunchtime. Owned by Deb Tran and managed with her son Van, they said it was an honour to be nominated.

“It’s not like we want to be the best, but we just concentrate on serving good food,” she said. “We use fresh ingredients and make everything, including the pate, ourselves.”

The founder of noodlies, Thang Ngo, who went to school at Penrith High School and grew up in Cranebrook, tried the bakery’s pork roll last Saturday

“I think Jamison Bakery is up there as one of the better ones.

“It is better than many places in Cabramatta, which has the best Vietnamese food in Sydney,” Mr Ngo said.

Noodlies will announce the winner next month. To see the other entries, visit noodlies.com.

THE PORK ROLL

Although a Vietnamese creation, the pork roll, or banh mi thit, has a distinct French influence by using a baguette

The roll is usually filled with different types of meat, pate, mayonnaise, pickles and sauces

As a result of the social media storm generated by Grill’d Burgers’ new campaign, on 28th March at around 2.23pm, I put a couple of questions to Simon Crowe, the chain’s founder.  The response arrived 29th March 2.57pm.

Grill’d claims this campaign has been taken out of context, so I’ve decided to include Simon’s response, unedited below:

Noodlies: You seem to be making the point that food can be glamorised by TV and Celebs – the media release supplied to noodlies had little mention of foodies in it. But the “no twitter” poster goes a bit further doesn’t it?

Is it Grill’d's intention also to comment on the rise of foodies and food blogging as a flippant new fad? If not intentional, looking at this poster again, do you think it may be perceived by food bloggers and foodies as criticism?

Simon: Like any brilliant holiday spot, what makes it beautiful and successful can kill it. Those that get there early are fans and rave about it. Then it gets swamped by holiday makers of all sorts. Overrun and overexposed. That’s our take on celebrity chefs. When once it was purposeful and of quality, now it’s just an advertising gimmick. We have launched our burgers without celebrity endorsment and our team are proud of it.

We do think that food can be glamourised by celebs, our take is that the use of a celebrity chef to endorse a product was once purposeful but now overuse has caused it to become just another advertising gimmick. We have nothing against foodies or food blogs but it’s our aim to take the focus of all of that and back on our burgers. I hope food bloggers haven’t taken criticism to our posters, the posters were meant to be tongue in cheek, but we do love that this has got people debating (even if some parts have been taken out of context).

Noodlies: So will it be Grill’d Burger’s policy that patrons can’t take photos inside the restaurant and that they shouldn’t promote the chain via social media?

Simon: I don’t think we could ever stop patrons from taking pictures and people will never stop using social media. We aren’t against social media per se, we were just looking to have a little fun.

———————————————————————

Full background and updates are below…

28 March, 1.15pm

According to Mumbrella today, burger chain Grill’d has declared war on social media and celebrity endorsements.  The cheeky campaign is aimed at promoting the joint’s unpretentious menu.

Posters are going up in Grill’d outlets targeting “foodies” and urging them to “please respect other customers” by refraining from the urge to promote Grill’d and their food via social media.  The “no cravats” reference is clearly a dig at the phenomenon of TV celebrity chefs (see above).  The posters suggest foodies should be polite at Grill’d by following their rule of “NO BLOGGING, NO TWEETING, NO INSTAGRAMMING, NO FACEBOOKING…”

According to a Grill’d media release (below):

“Whilst other restaurants and brands rely on celebrity chefs to get a ‘cravat’ of approval, these delicious cooked-to-order burgers are made with love, sans endorsement”.

Reaction from foodies have been quick and swift, ironically via social media, with the following twitter comments:

“thin line”

“it’s actually both cute and bad at the same time”

“clever!”

“Need to taste those rules”

“fab! It was a campaign begging to be done really, how fun!”

“I think now I’ll make a conscious effort to tell everyone about the last terribly dry, poorly-made @GrilldBurgers burger I had “

“It doesn’t make sense though. On that poster they link to their Facebook page. Contradictory, no?“

“obvious marketing ploy by @GrilldBurgers for social media attention/reaction to spread new burger menu — could backfire though”

“not a huge fan of their burgers – very ordinary i thought”

“my grilld experience was much like yours, dry and jaw-tiring.”

“SUCK. no loss. but a very dumb policy. wake up, it’s 2012!“

“aren’t ppl being abit precious? Food bloggers openly judge resto offerings, they should b able 2 reply! It’s meant 2 b cheeky.“

“and yes I’m biased a) I used 2 own a restaurant and b) grill’s make the best vego burgers (IMO!)”

“Feels like biting the hand that feeds them. They depend on social networking and bloggers, but dismiss the good it does them?“

“Not sure the campaign makes that much sense. Who’s blogging/tweeting/facebooking Grill’d anyway? A cry for attention“

“It was presumably tongue-in-cheek to generate a mini social media frenzy? Working?”

“sure has. But i have also added it to my black list.”

“It’s supposed to be tongue in cheek right? Sometimes I think we take life/burgers far too seriously…”

“How will @matwhi cope“

“That’s fine I wasn’t in the mood for dry and chewy pattied burgers anyway. Ever.”

“they just tweeted re their founder is on FB for a chat about it all now…like hello!!!”

“Grill’d founder, Simon Crowe is not shy. Ask him about the campaign NOW www.facebook/grilldburgers“

” isn’t the f**k you slogan on the badges/etc just a bit crass & makes the resto less accessible to families w/ kids.“

“never even heard of them I love my Hungry Jacks!!“

Noodlies, Sydney food blog has sought comment from Grill’d and will update this post shortly (update: comments have arrived and are shown above).

In the meantime, what do you think of this cheeky new Grill’d burger campaign? Cheeky or cheap?  Love to know your thoughts.

Updates…

28 March, 11.30pm

It seems that Grill’d may be backtracking and watering down their anti-social media message.

The Media release from Grill’d that was supplied to me around 1.50pm today is significantly different from an earlier version that was supplied to Mumbrella.  What’ s missing in the version supplied to noodlies?  The following paragraphs which specifically referred  to social media:

From today, stores nationally will be decked out with table talkers, posters in store windows, staff wearing ‘F#ck Celebrity Chef’ badges and a range of point of sale materials that all clearly displays that Grill’d has declared war on celebrity chefs. Other posters call on foodies to respect customers with bold rules such as:

· No bloggers

· No tweeting

· No instagramming

· No Facebook

· And absolutely NO cravats

The full version as provided by Grill’d to noodlies at 28 March 1.50pm is below:

MEDIA RELEASE
MATT, WE DON’T WANT YOUR CRAVAT!

From Tuesday March 27, Grill’d is waging a war on celebrity chefs with the
introduction of three new burgers that the team is proud to have created
themselves; the Hot Hombre, Goats Cheese & Hummus and Perfect
Pear.

Whilst other restaurants and brands rely on celebrity chefs to get a ‘cravat’ of
approval, these delicious cooked-to-order burgers are made with love, sans
endorsement.

• Hot Hombre: grilled chicken breast, chilli black bean salsa, tasty cheese,
avocado, tomato, Spanish onion & crispy tortilla chip
• Goats Cheese & Hummus: grilled 100% grass fed lean lamb, Meredith
Dairy goats cheese, chermoula hummus & salad
• Perfect Pear: grilled chicken breast, poached pears, fig paste, avocado,
Spanish onion, rocket & shaved parmesan

“We’re committed to feeding the nation the Grill’d way so are shifting the focus
back towards what’s important; the great taste of our burgers,” says founder and
managing director of Grill’d Simon Crowe.

“From Tuesday, we’re calling on hungry guests to leave their cravats at the door and
enjoy our new burgers. We understand that celebrity chefs can flambé, julienne and
souse-vide, but so what? The new range is made by our team from only the freshest
ingredients. Put bluntly; they’re loved by the foodies, but made for you, and we
guarantee you won’t leave hungry!” adds Crowe.

So if you’re in need of a fast fresh feed, get into Grill’d to try one of the new
cooked-to-order burgers.

- ENDS -

No, this isn’t the Petaling Street in Malaysia, but a new-ish restaurant from the successful Petaling Street Malaysian Hawker Food chain from Melbourne.  It all started as a casual tweet discussion about the mixed reviews for this place between Lauren, Mel and noodlies, Sydney food blog, which quickly turned into a bloggers’ evening with Lauren, Angie, John, Kat and I.

Petaling Street is on George Street towards the broadway end of Chinatown.  It’s a narrow frontage, made squeezier by the open kitchen, but there’s a suprisingly large amount space downstairs (see the featured video).  True to hawker style, this place is for fast food and not comfort, stool seats maximise space and intensifies my back pain.

Uncharacteristically for me, I let everyone order, I’m just happy to meet Angie and Kat again, and Lauren and John for the first time.  Tonight, noodlies is going with the flow.  In true democratic style, we all order one dish each to share.

The chicken curry is my order, but it’s actually a dish that John spotted on a neighbouring table.  When the order arrives, it’s all drumsticks, maybe because it’s street food and you’re meant to pick it up with your hands?  The dish has a lovely colour, but probably not enough spicy punch for me.  Chicken is typically well cooked and tender.

John orders the marmite pork just because it sounded interesting.  That interest fades when the dish arrives, dark brown and dry bony bits of pork with a hint of marmite, while I could taste the marmite, this was a matter of debate at our table.  I reckon Lauren and Kat’s taste buds were compromised by the alcohol, Angie admits “I’m floating”.

I’m perfectly satisfied with the stir-fried fish, Lauren says it’s “crunchy” and gives it a thumbs up (see video) but I sense the rest of the group is ambivalent (or possibly just too drunk).  It is nice and crispy on the outside and white and soft inside, flavoured nicely with the vegetables and sambal sauce.

Clay pot duck Hokkien noodles is also perfectly decent.  Everything was a tad over-cooked, but I think that’s the style.  No one was raving about it, much.

I was a little taken back by the tofu and mince pork sizzling surprise, when was the last time you had a sizzling dish?!  So surprised in fact that I didn’t even take a photo of it. Luckily it’s in the featured video.  The tofu and mince was in a very tasty sauce and in fact everything worked pretty well together.  This, was probably our favourite dish of the night.

The meal came to less than $20 per head; for that price, Petaling Street is perfectly acceptable.  Just don’t come expecting more.

Petaling Street Malaysian Hawker Food
760 George St, Haymarket

“Video reviews of the best Vietnamese pork rolls in Sydney here” tweet this

Earlier this month, noodlies, Sydney food blog announced an ambitious and totally controversial project – the search for Sydney’s Best Pork Roll (banh mi thit).  Yes, six weeks of pork roll munching and chomping to find the best pork roll in Sydney.  Go to the earlier noodlies post to nominate (closes 20th April) and for more information including:

• description of a Vietnamese pork roll
• list of nominated pork roll shops
• selection criteria

Noodlies Sydney’s Best Pork Roll Search (12 March – 21 April)

As I’m chomping, I’ll be posting videos of the nominated pork roll shops with a very brief review summary.  The winner of noodlies Sydney’s Best Pork roll will be announced at the end of April.

So many pork rolls, so little time…

King’s Hot Bread: great crusty bread and creamy mayo taste.  Watch to the end of the video, they really do give service with a smile.

KK Hot Bread, Cabramatta

Nam Fong, Bankstown: great meaty taste, pate almost overwhelming, one for the meat lovers.

Bay Ngo, Bankstown: good pickles, but bread could be crunchier.

Flourland Hot Bread, Liverpool: cheap and cheerful in a unique location!

Vinata’s, Hughes St, Cabramatta: nice pickles, great meat and they make their own soy sauce.
See 702Sydney ABC radio broadcaster and a group of Sydney food bloggers rate this nominee.

Minh Hung “Hot Bread”, Hughes St, Cabramatta: great bread, nice price.

Kim Thanh, Cabramatta: Across from the station, it’s particularly popular at breakfast time for workers and students.

Viet Hoa, Cabramatta: Open 24 hours and is one of the oldest hot bread shops in Sydney

Hong Ha, Mascot: Feted by bloggers and foodies, the line can stretch out the door.

Marrickville Pork Roll, Marrickville: literally a hole in the wall, this place is easily the busiest in the area.

Hoan Cau, Cabramatta: Cheapest, cheerful and open very, very late.

Jamison Bakery, Penrith: Tasty pate, nice balance, bread could be crustier – one of the cheapest in town.

Tina’s Hot Bread, Canley Heights: the bread is one of the best crusty but not too ‘sharp’, very hot chillis too.

“Video reviews of the best Vietnamese pork rolls in Sydney here” tweet this

Viet Hoa Hot Bread
107 John Street, Cabramatta

Marrickville Pork Roll
236a Illawarra Rd, Marrickville

Hong Ha Hot Bread
1151 Botany Road, Mascot

Jamison Bakery
100 Henry St, Penrith

Tina’s Hot Bread
219 Canley Vale Rd, Canley Heights

Hoan Cau
9 John Street, Cabramatta

Kim Thanh Hot Bread
216 Railway Pde, Cabramatta

Minh Hung (hot bread)
9/44 Park Road (enter via Hughes St), Cabramatta

Vinata’s Hot Bread
13/1 Hughes St, Cabramatta

Flourland Hot Bread
239 George St, Liverpool

Bay Ngo Hot Bread
Shop 49 Old Town Centre Plaza, Bankstown

Nam Fong Hot Bread
Shop 54 Old Town Centre Plaza, Bankstown

King’s Hot Bread
240 Forest Road  Hurstville

KK Hot Bread
2/85 John Street, Cabramatta

View Sydney’s Best Vietnamese Pork Roll in a larger map