Food Bloggers' Dinner at Bistro CBD

What happens when you chuck four food bloggers into the kitchen of Bistro CBD to cook one course each for 70 guests? It turns out that you get a phenomenal success, as we all found out last night at the Food Bloggers' Dinner as part of Merivale's Feast for the Senses promotion.

We were served up five delicious courses, one from each of the bloggers and one from Bistro CBD's head chef Simun Dragicevich. When we arrived, Fouad, Billy, Karen and Linda were hard at work preparing their dishes in the kitchen, as they had been doing all day and the night before.

To start, we had some sparkling wine which was included in the $60pp price for the dinner, as well as some sourdough to munch on while we waited for dinner to be served. There was an awesome vibe on our table of bloggers since we were all here to support the guys in the kitchen, cheering them on when they came out after their dish was served.

Sashimi of kingfish, avocado, wasabi, lime and soft herbs by Simun Dragicevich, Bistro CBD

Bourke Street Bakery's Strawberry Vanilla Brûlée Tart

There's always one thing that I absolutely HAVE to get every time I go to Bourke Street Bakery, and that's a strawberry vanilla brûlée tart. I went to Bourke Street Bakery a few weeks ago late in the afternoon and I was so disappointed that they had sold out of them that I went back the next week just to satisfy my craving. And oh it was so good, the crispy, buttery pastry with the creamy custard filling and of course, that crunchy, slightly bitter toffee on the top.

Sadly Bourke Street Bakery is quite far from me and so I thought I'd try making these yummy tarts at home using the recipe from the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook. It was surprisingly straightforward and to me the worst part was having to wait for the pastry to relax because I just wanted to bake them, blowtorch the hell out of the sugar on the top and devour them all!

Ok, so I admit I was still impatient and I didn't go through all the resting periods for the pastry which is why it shrank in the oven. But apart from having slightly shallower tart shells, the pastry was still as flaky and crisp as I remember it to be from the actual shop. I was also a bit ambitious with the amount of strawberry puree at first so when I put the custard into the tart shells it started to displace the strawberry puree that was in there - that's why there's not much strawberry in the photo unfortunately.

I've provided the original recipe below but since I only had 6 small tart tins that weren't quite the same size as specified, I just adjusted the measurements for my requirements. I found that even after doing that I still had some leftover strawberry puree but you can always use this as a topping for ice cream or another dessert. Or just do what Sir D did and drink the leftovers!

Christmas in July

'Twas the night before Christmas (in July), when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...

Except for a crazy onslaught of food bloggers and friends who were kindly invited by Billy and The Pom to join them in celebrating Christmas in July! Thanks for letting us invade your kitchen and your house for the night :) 

Of course Christmas just isn't Christmas without being able to gorge yourself on all kinds of food. And indeed we had a great big feast in store that went on well into the night.

We kicked off the night with some snacks and a cheese platter brought by Shez including her yummy home-made labne.

Then the table was set, the Christmas music started playing, a picture of a crackling fireplace appeared on the tv screen and dinner was served! We all marvelled at Billy's beautiful bread wreath which he served with some delicious truffle butter.

Miso, Sydney

If could only eat one type of meat for the rest of my life, it would be meat from the humble pig. There are so many ways to enjoy it - pork, ham, prosciutto, pancetta and of course bacon. But everything tastes better when deep fried, so when I had a hankering for some porky goodness one night, where better to head to than Miso, a Japanese restaurant which specialises in tonkatsu.

Katsu-tama Set - $16.80

Miso is part of the Masuya group which also has Japanese restaurants Masuya, Musashi and Makoto sushi bars. It serves meals teishoku style, which includes a main dish, miso soup, rice and a few smaller individual accompaniments alongside it (kobachi). For the non-pork eaters, they also have chicken katsu, as well as a range of udon noodle, curry and chirashi sushi dishes. But we were here for the tonkatsu, a pork cutlet which has been covered in panko crumbs and deep fried until golden and crunchy.

Katsu-tama Set - $16.80

Lemon and Passionfruit Macarons

Oh macarons. You are such tasty creatures but so fickle when it comes to creating you! I've had intentions of tackling macarons for a long time, but it wasn't until recently that I mustered up the courage and found the time to attempt them. My sister even bought me a macaron set from France which included a little book on macarons published by Larousse and a piping bag, which I took as a sign that I should hurry up and make them already!

Passionfruit macarons

So I started off the long road to making perfect macarons and began by asking people on twitter for macaron tips. And I got replies from seasoned macaron makers who told me to make sure I don't overmix my batter, not to overbeat my egg whites and to be prepared for failures.

Tastevin Bistro and Wine Bar, Darlinghurst

Tastevin is one of those restaurants that I've walked past time and time again, each time making a mental note to myself to go there but never actually getting around to do it. After passing it several times (and exasperating Sir D with my repeated comments about wanting to eat there), I finally made a booking. This time, instead of walking past the inconspicuous door, we opened it and traipsed up the stairs into a quaint little French bistro.

It was still early on a Friday night and we were the first to arrive at the restaurant. There were so many things on the menu that I wanted to try, so we decided to get a starter, two entrees, a main and a dessert. Our waiter was friendly and chatty, and when we told him that we were sharing all the dishes, he was more than happy to have the kitchen bring them out one by one so we could savour each dish one at a time.

House made bread with French butter - $4

We started with the house made bread with French butter. A basket filled generously with bread was brought to the table along with some olive oil and balsamic and a stick of French butter wrapped in a silver foil. The butter was a bit too cold when first brought out, making it difficult to spread, but after a while it warmed up and was a lightly salted, creamy spread for the two types of bread that we were provided with. One was a plain white baguette, which had a bit of a chewy crust, and the other which we both preferred had fennel and poppy seeds and a nice crunchy crust.

Gnocchi à la Parisienne, sautéed mushrooms and white truffle mornay (entree) - $17

Passionfruit Butter

Have you ever hung around someone who likes a food that you don't particularly like, and somehow over time you gradually get converted and end up a big fan of the food? This is what happened to me and passionfruit. I never hated the stuff, but I just didn't particularly enjoy eating it, especially the crunchy seeds.

But Sir D loved passionfruit and he absolutely couldn't get enough of the stuff. He'd buy it when it was cheap at the supermarket and we'd end up getting passionfruit gelato whenever we went to eat ice cream. And he converted me - I don't know how it happened but I've developed a love for passionfruit, and now I'm the one who insists on getting passionfruit gelato when we go out.

I first came across passionfruit butter at my school's Garden Party (read: posh term for school fete) where they sold it at the Jams and Preserves stall. I bought a jar home for Sir D and while we spread the liquid gold dotted with black seeds on toast and savoured the sweet passionfruit flavour, I thought, why can't I make this myself?

So I did. The next time I saw passionfruit on special at the grocery store I grabbed six of them and set about making my own passionfruit butter. I was surprised at how easy and simple it was to make and wondered about all the things I could use it in. You could smother some between cakes, put it in tart cases or sandwich it between macaron shells (yes that's macaron, not macarOOn!).

But my favourite way of eating it is just spread simply on a slice of toast for breakfast in the morning. Mmmm yes, tastes like sunshine.

Pie and a Pint @ Bungalow 8, King St Wharf

I've always had a love for pies, but it wasn't until I started trying to make my own that I realised how awesome pies really are. Just think - a buttery shortcrust pastry or a flaky puff pastry encasing any sweet or savoury fillings that your heart desires! And with winter having well and truly set in here in Sydney, there are not too many things more comforting than enjoying a pie with a rich, hearty filling for dinner.

Bungalow 8 recently launched their Pie and a Pint winter warmer deal which includes your choice of Beef and Fat Yak ale, Chicken and Sweet Corn or Bungalow 8's Fish pie with mashed potato and a pint of beer for $22.50. The lovely Sarah from Bungalow 8 invited me to try it out so Sir D and I headed down to King Street Wharf to see what they had to offer.

Bungalow 8's Famous Fish Pie

Mizuya Japanese Restaurant and Karaoke, Sydney

I was intrigued by this new Japanese restaurant on George Street, which had taken the places of the oh-so-cheap watering holes Maloneys and Bar Ace that used to provide a starting point for some alcomohol-fuelled nights. I gathered some friends and we descended down the once-familiar stairs to be greeted by a giant lit-up cherry blossom tree and a labyrinth of booths. So maze-like was the layout of this place that latecomers had to make phone calls to determine the exact whereabouts of our table. Funnily enough there were two other food-bloggers lurking about Mizuya tonight, and it was such a coincidence to bump into both Leona and FFichiban on the same night (hai guys!)

Mizuya is another one of those Japanese izakaya style restaurants that has the touchscreen ordering system. However, unlike others I've been to they don't seem to have additional hard-copy menus which makes it difficult for the people sitting on the opposite end from the screen to see what's on offer. We started the night with some drinks, including this test tube shots which we ordered purely for the novelty factor. They mostly tasted like juice or cordial with perhaps only the slightest hint of alcohol.

Test tube shots - $18 for 6