Après, Potts Point

I recently celebrated my 21st birthday by having dinner with family and close friends at Après restaurant in Potts Point. The staff there were lovely for setting up two long tables for us complete with candles and printing out personalised menus.

I selected three entrees, three mains and three desserts for our group's set menu and I sneakily sat myself next to two people who I knew would share dishes with me so I could sample all three of each course hehehe (thanks Sir D and Charm!). The price for 3 courses was $60.

French martini: Grey Goose vodka, dash of pineapple, chambord - $17.00

Sir D and I chose a French martini from their extensive cocktail list whilst waiting for all the guests to arrive.

Escargots

After our orders are taken, we are presented with a not-so-pretty amuse bouche of escargots. Don't be put off by it's appearance though - the snails are soaked in a rich, garlicky butter which just leaves us all wanting to mop up the sauce with some bread. Unfortunately there's no free bread tonight and I seriously consider just downing the delicious garlic butter, but thankfully the plates are removed before I have time to clog up my arteries with fat.

Presse of rabbit, mushrooms and serrano ham with mustard fruits

March Into Merivale 2010 Launch Party

Yes, March Into Merivale is back! And it kicked off with a bang last week with the inaugural launch party held at The Ivy. I was lucky enough to be invited to a preview of the event before the doors opened to the public.

The Pool Club

We went up to the Pool Club for some drinks and were very well looked after by Renee and Debbie from Merivale, before we went downstairs to the Ivy Room to check out the chefs in action!

Nobuyuki Ura, head chef of sushi e, preparing sushi for the launch party

It was great to watch the Merivale chefs prepping their canapés and plating them up right in front of our eyes. Lucky for us we got to sample some of the canapés before the masses were let in.

Pancakes for Shrove Tuesday

Today is Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday which marks the start of Lent. I've always associated Shrove Tuesday with pancakes, and thanks to trusty Wikipedia I learnt that this was because pancakes contain ingredients such as fat, sugar and eggs which are traditionally not included in the fasting season of Lent. So Shrove Tuesday was considered the last day to enjoy these foods before engaging in 4 weeks of a restricted diet. Any excuse to eat pancakes, I say!

These pancakes were made using my favourite pancake recipe from Donna Hay. The recipe uses buttermilk which produces a deliciously light, fluffy pancake - if you don't have any buttermilk on hand, you can substitute with normal milk and lemon juice. And since we have so many gorgeous summer fruits available at the moment, I decided to top my pancakes with some mango pieces, whipped cream and maple syrup. Enjoy!

The Garden Court at the Sofitel Wentworth, Sydney

As part of the Viva Sydney promotion by Tourism NSW, Sir D and I headed off to the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth hotel to dine at The Garden Court, which was offering a buy one get one free main meal offer for lunch or dinner.

The dining area has a clean, polished garden setting look with indoor plants studded around the place. The large windows letting in the sunlight and greenery from outside makes you feel as though you are actually sitting in which makes you feel as though you are actually dining outdoors in a beautiful garden.

We start with a small sourdough baguette which comes with a plate of olive oil, vinegar and dukkah, as well as a slab of butter in a cute little dish with a silver lid. Naturally, we go for the butter, although I try a little of the dukkah as well which has a pleasant, peppery citrus flavour.

Amuse bouche: Sweet potato veloute with parsley puree

Strawberry Meringue Layer Cake

It was my grandma's birthday and my family had requested I make a cake for her. Something light. Something 'healthy'.

I didn't think there was such thing as a healthy cake but I spent my time poring over cookbooks to find one that didn't have too much fat and wasn't too dense and heavy. I came across this beautiful cake in Nigella Lawson's Forever Summer and since my grandma's favourite colour is red, I thought it was quite appropriate to have plump, rosy red strawberries standing out against a white cream surface.

It all seemed to be going well except when I took my cakes out of the oven, the meringue hadn't puffed up as I expected it to but instead had flattened down into a sugary, slightly chewy layer. I read and reread the recipe and I'm quite sure I did everything right, so anyone have any suggestions as to why my meringue didn't puff up?

In any case, the cake was still ethereally light and sweet and sandwiched a delicious combination of lightly whipped cream and strawberry halves in the centre. It was well received even by my grandma who even ate a whole piece to herself! She usually insists she can't eat that much and tries to offload some cake to other family members or gives it to my grandpa. I took it as a compliment that she managed to polish off her own slice of cake this time :)

Pizza e Birra, Surry Hills

It was our lucky day. Sir D, BLT and I had just driven out to meet Flamezy at Pizza e Birra in Surry Hills for lunch. We were expecting to have difficulty finding parking but lo and behold! A free parking space beckoned to us right outside Pizza e Birra which we claimed without any hesitation. It was just the start of what was going to be a fantastic day.

Seeing how packed the restaurant was and knowing its' popularity, we anticipated a short wait to be seated. Surprisingly, we were seated straight away as if a table had already been set in advance for us. The food gods were definitely smiling on us today! We were handed rustic brown paper menus containing an array of pizzas, pastas, salads and sweets.

Spinaci e Gamberi (Spinach and Prawn) pizza - $23.00

Ryo's Noodles, Crows Nest

It's barely 6pm on a weeknight and already there is a substantial line snaking around the side of Ryo's Noodles in Crows Nest. Passers-by on the footpath and on the road slow down to see what all the fuss is about. And what is the big fuss about Ryo's? Only what is rumoured to be the best ramen in Sydney.

Menu

We join the queue which is already longer than the shopfront itself but within 15-20 minutes we are seated. I've brought Sir D here to try and convert him to ramen (if Ryo's can't do it, then who can?) so we both order two bowls of ramen with the tonkotsu soup base.

Soy sauce tonkotsu ramen with roast pork, nori, egg and shallots - $11.50