Bau Truong, Cabramatta

One of the great things about Sydney is it's cultural diversity. I love how there are little pockets of Sydney where there are large ethnic communities, meaning that you can go to that suburb of Sydney and allow yourself to be immersed in a different culture for a day. To me, Cabramatta is one of those suburbs. Known as Sydney's "Little Vietnam", it's home to many Vietnamese Australians and lots of Vietnamese food!

Today we're here to grab some lunch and some snacks. We start off at Bau Truong, one of the more well-known Vietnamese restaurants along John St. Even though it's quite late the restaurant is still brimming with people. The service is brisk and we're quickly ushered to our table and given menus, and the waitress comes back several times to try and get our order.

Beef noodle soup - $10.00

Eventually JC and B both decide on getting the beef pho, the beef noodle soup which is a quintessentially Vietnamese dish. The rare slices of beef cook in the hot broth, and underneath the garnish of coriander and spring onions is a mound of slippery rice noodles. The broth is deep and flavoursome and both JC and B are happily slurping away whilst Queen Chu and I await our dishes.

Special BBQ pork chops with rice - $12.00

Adriano Zumbo Patisserie, Balmain and Belle Fleur Fine Chocolates, Rozelle

Continuing on from our very satisfying brunch at Kazbah on Darling, we drove further up Darling Street to Adriano Zumbo's patisserie. It had been a few weeks since his appearance on Masterchef Season 2 with the fear-inspiring macaron tower, but obviously the Zumbo craze was yet to die down since we could spot the patisserie a mile away from the seemingly permanent queue of customers outside.

We joined the queue and I saw a lot of people who were walking past slow down as they got to Zumbo's patisserie and wonder what all the fuss was about. I also spotted these t-shirts as we approached the store-front - I heart zumbo oh yes I do (but not enough to buy the t-shirt, I'd rather buy more cakes haha)

When we finally got into the store itself it was madness, I could barely even see what cakes were left. It was already 2pm so a lot of the more popular cakes had been snapped up and given the current macaron hype I wasn't surprised to find out that there was only one macaron flavour left: Vegemite.

(left) Tarte aux fruits de la passion and "I'll Get Back To You Barry" cake; (right) "I'll Get Back To You Barry": Chocolate yogo creme brulee, soft chocolate gel, chocolate cereal crunchy, chocolate sable breton, chocolate caramel mousse, chocolate plaquette - $8.00

Kazbah on Darling, Balmain

Ok, so I admit that following Adriano Zumbo's appearance on Masterchef Australia, I got caught up in the whole Zumbo/macaron hype as well and decided that since my last visit to Zumbo was before his Masterchef days, another visit was in order (I may or may not have been one of those Asian foodbloggers standing in line taking photos at Zumbo, but more about that in another post). I rounded up a car-full of friends and we headed to Balmain/Rozelle for the day to check out some foodie destinations along Darling Street.

Our first stop was lunch at Kazbah on Darling and luckily we scored a parking spot just outside the restaurant. It was very busy for a weekday lunchtime with three large groups inside the restaurant but we were still able to get a table. The decor inside the restaurant was beautiful with intricately-patterned plates on the walls and brightly coloured light fixtures.

While we perused the menu, the waiter poured us water from a curiously unique water jug. The ring where you hold the jug from was so delicate and thin that it looked like it would snap off easily but I found it was actually quite sturdy. I also discovered that you can purchase these water jugs from Kazbah and B picked one up for his sister that day.

Breakfast Tagine: Roast pumpkin, spinach, roast capsicum, roast tomato, caramelised onion, feta, eggs, Turkish toast and Lebanese bread - $18.50 per person (1 serve pictured)

Tarte Aux Pralines: A Lyonnaise Specialty

I was super jealous when I found out that my sister was going to France on exchange for 6 weeks. I was even more jealous when I found out that not only was she going to Paris but also to the French capital of gastronomy, Lyon. Thankfully she was kind and after tantalising me for 6 weeks via email about eating foie gras and macarons and quenelles (which Lyon is famous for), she brought home some foodie gifts including a book on macarons, a kilogram of chocolates from Lyon and these strange pink, rock-like things called pralines.

I asked Charm what it was and she said it was pretty much ground nuts and sugar. Why it was pink I'm not sure, but these little pink rocks form the basis of the filling of another specialty food of Lyon, the tarte aux pralines. Although my sister helped her host family make one during her stay in Lyon, she had forgotten how to make it so I stumbled through the French instructions attached to the packet with my year 10-standard knowledge of the French language.

It ended up being simple enough though - I just had to make my sweet shortcrust pastry, dissolve the pralines in some cream and pour it into the baked pastry and let it set in the fridge. When I added the pralines to the cream and it started dissolving it turned a bright red colour and here is the finished result:

It was rather lurid and to be honest the striking red colour was a bit off-putting at first. But I cut myself a slice and tasted it.

It was sticky and sweet with some crunchiness from the nuts and a subtle almond flavour as well. As much as I liked it, the sugary-ness meant that a small slice was enough for me, but Charm really enjoyed it and she ended up finishing it off in the next few days. I'm hoping that means it's a sign that my version of this special dessert from Lyon was close to the real thing!

Coast, Darling Harbour

Sir D never likes to visit the same restaurant twice. Every time I ask him after a meal if he would return, he says, "I'd rather go someplace new" (unless it's somewhere really amazing like Quay). So in the spirit of trying someplace new, we wander around Darling Harbour looking for a place to have a nice dinner before catching a movie at the IMAX and we stumble across Coast on the top level of Cockle Bay Wharf.

It's still early on a Friday night so the restaurant is quite empty. It's nice and spacious with views of Darling Harbour and the Harbouside Shopping centre on the other side. We're seated at a table with a good view of the open kitchen and above us is a big light fixture which reminds me of ocean waves.

We order two mains and a side and while we wait we're given some complimentary bread and olive oil to munch on. The bread is actually really good, so when the waiter asks if we would like some more bread, we happily say yes.

Bultarra Saltbush Lamb rump, kipfler potatoes, capers and dill - $37

ATFT Photography Workshop @ MUMU Grill, Crows Nest

It's been almost a year now since I've started using a DSLR for my photography and although it's been a steep learning curve, I still have a long long way to go to get my photos looking as good as I'd like. I can only dream that one day my photography will be as awesome as Billy's from A Table for Two but in the mean time there is much to learn. And who better to learn from than Billy himself at his ATFT food photography workshops held at MUMU Grill.

Olive selection and Cherry tomato and feta salad

18 month Jamon Serrano and Catalan bread

Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon

When winter strikes, I get lazy. I crave warm sticky puddings for dessert, and piping hot stews with mashed potatoes for dinner. And the less effort involved, the better... so I can go back to being snuggled up next to my heater.

One thing I particularly love is braised meat. I love how you can take tough, sinewy cuts of meat and chuck them in a pot - fast forward a few hours and you're rewarded with tender, gelatinous chunks of meat that fall apart with the poke of a fork. Since seeing Julie and Julia I've always wanted to try making the infamous Beef Bourguignon that Julie Powell burns in the oven since she falls asleep and doesn't hear the timer. It's not surprising that she did fall asleep because when I made it the first time it took nearly the whole day to make! I don't know if it was because I was slow or that it did actually require that much time but it was definitely time-consuming (but the flavour was fantastic!).

So when I decided to revisit Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon, I thought about what shortcuts I could take. Some of you are probably thinking that it is sacrilege to be changing Julia Child's original recipe, but seriously it saved me a lot of time and effort and the end result was just as tasty. The best thing about it is that it appeals to my lazy winter self - after the prep work all you have to do is leave it simmering away on the stove for a few hours, then reduce the liquid and skim off the fat and it's done! It's the lazy person's version of Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon.

Red Spoon Thai Restaurant, Castle Hill

You may have noticed that given the large number of Thai restaurants in Sydney, I have yet to review any of them on my blog. This is because I don't really like Thai food - granted, I'm not all that familiar with Thai food and my knowledge about it is very limited, but I do know that there are certain flavours used in Thai cooking which don't appeal to me. Namely coriander and kaffir lime. Bleh! (It also doesn't help that I can't take a lot of chilli)

As a result I don't really choose to go to Thai restaurants, but on this night we were dining with family friends and the parentals had chosen to go to Red Spoon in Castle Hill. I always think that if I keep trying foods then maybe one day I will grow to like them, so I went along with this attitude hoping that my tastebuds will have magically grown to like these Thai flavours.

Well, I can't confirm that this happened, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed most of the food that we ordered. Maybe because I tried to steer away from the dishes that I knew would be very strong on the coriander or kaffir lime leaf taste, but nevertheless it made me think that I should go out and try more Thai food before being so quick to strike off a cuisine completely.

Curry puff (4 pcs) - $6.90