Steel Bar & Grill, Sydney

It quickly becomes obvious why Damien Head's latest retaurant is called Steel. It's everywhere.The open kitchen dominates the room, the chefs penned in by a floor-to-ceiling steel framework. There's a futuristic feel to the decor, with a molten mercury-look light fitting hanging over several tables. An illuminated all-glass elevator behind our table slowly and ominously descends back and forth

Hippopotamus Restaurant at the Museum Hotel, Wellington, New Zealand

Have you ever dined alone at dinner?It always feels a little disarming dining without company, and often the biggest barrier is the self-conscious worry about what other people will think about you, the Nigel No Mates in the corner.Presumably this is why room service exists, so business travellers (and yes, cooped-in couples) can order food to be eaten in bed in front of a flickering television.

Blackberry Mousse Recipe

I am slowly getting back into the blogging mood. We had two exceptional meals during our French trip, one by Anne-Sophie Pic, the other by Jacques & Régis Marcon. Both meals deserve their own blog post - and let me tell you that I've been daydreaming about their food since we returned :) However, as we're in the middle of jam-making and pickling season here in Estonia, the food at home has been exceptionally low key and simple.

Blackberries do grow wild in Estonia, but they're nowhere as popular - or well known and easily found - as they are in Britain, for instance. I managed to pick up a punnet of blackberries at the Central Market few days ago. As they're quite an infrequent visitor in our kitchen, I decided to divide the berries into three portions and make three different dishes. The first one up - a simple creamy mousse.

If you're wondering about the hat on the picture, then that's the required chapeau I wore at the wedding in France :)

Blackberry Mousse
(Õhuline põldmarjavaht)
Serves 4

150 g ripe blackberries
40 g sugar (about 1/3 cup)
quarter of a lemon (grated zest and juice)
200 ml whipping cream
1 Tbsp brandy (optional)

Place blackberries, sugar, lemon juice and zest in a large bowl and crush with a back of a wooden spoon.
In another bowl, whish the cream until soft peaks form. Pour over the berries and continue whisking until the mousse is thick and airy. Fold in the brandy.
Spoon the mousse into dessert bowls and garnish with whole blackberries.
Serve at once or chill until ready to serve.

Schoc Chocolates at Ciocco Chocolaterie, Wellington, New Zealand

"I'm going to Wellington!" I told Divemummy."So you're going to Schoc?" she'd replied at once.The last time I'd visited Wellington, my Schoc Chocolate tablet souvenirs had been a huge hit. It's not just the pleasant bitter cocoa of the dark chocolate, or the smooth sweetness of the milk, but the fact that the tablets comes in 60 different flavour varieties sends the mind boggling and excites the

French holiday

Just a quick note to explain the hiatus on this blog. We were in France for a while to attend a French-Russian wedding of some friends in Sauzet, have delicious lunch/dinner/breakfast at Maison Pic in Valence (and meet the most adorable Anne-Sophie Pic in person), enjoy the exquisite food at Régis & Jacques Marcon's restaurant in Saint Bonnet le Froid, and eat couple of those juicy and oh-so-pretty peche de sanguine.

Normal blogging will resume soon.

The Weta Cave and Cafe Polo, Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand

Precioussss...... my precioussssIt's hard to think about New Zealand without remembering the dramatic scenery from The Lord of the Rings. And whilst downtown Wellington is perfectly compact and flat for the tourist on foot, you will need wheels to take in the more dramatic ocean views and ascend the steep hills around the city.The Plate-mobileEnter the Plate-mobile. After completing the

Floriditas, Wellington, New Zealand

Rolling out chocolate pastry"See, it's really easy."Emily Keshav, head baker at Floriditas Bakery, is rolling out chocolate pastry with the casual confidence of a kid with play-doh."The trick is to make sure you always work with it when its cold," she says, folding over her perfect circle onto the rolling pin and transferring it to the waiting fluted tin.We cluster around the stainless steel work

Dixon St Deli, Wellington, New Zealand

You had me at bacon.Because my trip to Wellington was organised so quickly, I didn't have much time to do research. Yes, food research. I usually like to spend days or weeks looking online for recommendations, checking out restaurant websites, food blogs and reviews for the best eats in the area.As I'd walked past Dixon St Deli on my first afternoon in Wellington, I doubled back once I realised

The Ambeli, Wellington, New Zealand

Pan-fried haloumi $17.00with roasted choggia beet salad and mint dressingDo you have anything on the menu that's local?It's a question I often ask when travelling overseas, a chance to sample fresh fare from the area in which it was caught or grown.Co-owner and maitre'd of The Ambeli, Shaebodine Moleta, can only smile. He then launches into a detailed description of almost every item on the menu

Wellington on a Plate food festival 2009

Have stomach. Will travel.This is the descriptor on my current blogger profile. Those two sentences could not have been apt for my weekend adventure.How so? I was hosted over the weekend for the first ever Wellington on a Plate food festival.That's right. Positively Wellington Tourism flew me across the ditch to eat my around their beautiful city. Oh yes, even my jaw dropped a little at the

Adora Handmade Chocolates, Earlwood

Gia truffles - soft hazelnut centre with a milk waferIt's the last place you'd look for a chocolate shop.Sitting on the side of the road, a lone retailer in a sprawl of suburbia, Adora Handmade Chocolates looks like a fish out of water.And water isn't too far away. The sloping hill leads down to the Illawarra Road bridge over Cooks River, with Mahony Memorial Reserve on one side of the bridge,

Becasse, Sydney - Winter Producers Forum with fresh Black Perigord truffles

"The dogs. They went crazy."Duncan Garvey, of Perigord Truffles is on my right, talking about yesterday's truffle hunt in the Southern Highlands with Justin North and his kitchen team from Becasse.On my left is Jill Dupleix. Then Terry Durack. Truffle farmers Bill and Pat make up our table of five. One by one we pass around a glass jar that barely manages to contain a hefty Black Perigord

Room 27, Sydney

EDIT: Room 27, Sydney has now closedHave you walked past this door and never noticed?Sandwiched between the cheerful yellow splash of Barby's bakery and a clothing store on the other side, is a black doorway simply labelled with Room 27.Although there's a menu board of Taiwanese dishes at the front, it's hard not to be a little intimidated by the black walls and entrance, made all the more

Series launch of My Family Feast with Sean Connolly at Sean's Kitchen, Pyrmont, Sydney

Jamon Iberico in the jamon roomFood. And family.For many of us, food and family are naturally intertwined. A family gathering is a good excuse for a feast, and a feast just isn't the same unless it's shared with loved ones.As an Australia-born Chinese, the importance of food has always played a part in my upbringing. We use it to celebrate, to commemorate, to commiserate, and my mother always

Redcurrant Meringue Pie

What do you usually do with redcurrants? I always make some redcurrant jelly, and redcurrant juice makes excellent cordial. But there aren't too many redcurrant cake recipes in my cake repertoire, I must admit. I had a recipe for a redcurrant meringue pie that I had picked up several years ago from one of the supermarket recipe stands (Selver, in this case). Several readers of my Estonian site had praised it, but I didn't get around to making it until last week. As usual, I changed some quantities and tweaked the procedure, and was very pleased with the resulting meringue pie. The ruby redcurrants add a lovely spark, the sweet meringue and the slightly sour filling are an excellent match as well.

Redcurrant Meringue Pie
(Beseekattega punasesõstrakook)
Serves 6 to 8



Pastry:
130 g plain/all-purpose flour (250 ml/1 cup)
30 g oats (100 ml)
2 Tbsp sugar
125 cold butter, cut into cubes
2 Tbsp cold water

Filling:
250 g sour cream
3 Tbsp caster sugar
grated zest of half a lemon
150 g redcurrants, cleaned (1 cup)
1 Tbsp potato starch or cornflour

Meringue topping:
2 large egg whites
85 g caster sugar (100 ml)

Pastry: mix the dry ingredients, add cubed butter and pulse couple of times, until the mixture is fine and crumbly. Add the water, pulse again briefly. Press the mixture into a dough, then use your fingers and press the dought into a 26 cm pie dish.
Place to rest in a fridge for 30 minutes, then blind bake at 200 C for 15 minutes.
Reduce the heat to 175 Celsius.
Mix sour cream, sugar and grated lemon zest, spread on pre-baked pie base.
Gently mix potato starch/cornflour with the cleaned redcurrants and sprinkle on top of the cream layer.
Whisk egg whites and sugar until thick and white, then spread over the filling (or, for an even prettier effect, use a piping bag).
Bake at 175 C oven for about 15 minutes, until the meringue is light golden brown.

Parramatta Park Cafe, Parramatta, Sydney

Is there anything as interesting to read about than food? Apparently so. People also love to read about cats, weddings, and reality tv...Saturday morning saw ten female bloggers meet for the first ever lunch by Blog Chicks, an online networking forum for Australian female bloggers. The forum is hosted by Leigh, who also puts together the list of Top 100 Australian Female Bloggers, updated every

Carrot and Chantarelle Quiche

Decisions, decisions.

A week or two ago I was staring at a pile of yellow chantarelle mushrooms and a bunch of young orange carrots in my fridge, trying to decide which one should become the centrepiece of our dinner table. Earthy wild mushrooms or succulent sweet carrots? Which one to take, and which one to leave? I couldn't choose (which one would you have chosen?), and combined them both in a quiche instead. The resulting carrot and chantarelle quiche could be my favourite wild mushroom tart of all times.

Here's the recipe. Do try it, if you have a chance.

Carrot and Chantarelle Quiche
(Porgandi-kukeseenepirukas)
Serves 6 to 8



Pastry:
175 g plain/all-purpose flour
0.25 tsp salt
100 g cold butter, cut into cubes
1 egg

Filling:
200 g carrots
300 g fresh chantarelle mushrooms
1 Tbsp butter
about 100 ml /half a cup/ of finely chopped fresh parsley
2 large eggs
200 ml single cream
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Combine flour and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse 8-10 times, until mixture is crumbly. Add the egg, pulse again until the mixture begins to come together. Press the mixture into a dough ball, flatten it into a disk. Using your fingers, press the dough to the bottom and sides of a 24 cm pie dish (alternatively, roll out on a lightly floured surface and line the pie form with the pastry.
Place to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Pierce the pastry base with fork, then blind bake in a pre-heated 200 C oven for 10-15 minutes, until the base looks dry.

To make the filling, grate the carrots coarsely. Rinse the mushrooms quickly, if necessary, and drain very thoroughly. If the mushrooms are large, then cut them into smaller pieces.
Heat butter on a saucepan, add mushrooms and carrots. Season with a bit of salt and then sauté on a low heat for 5-7 minutes, until the carrots begin to soften. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the parsley.
Whisk eggs with cream, season with a bit of salt and with some black pepper.

Scatter the mushroom and carrot mixture on the pre-baked pastry case, then pour over the egg and cream mixture.
Cook for another 25-30 minutes, until the filling is set and the pie is light golden brown on top.

Da Wan Lai, Eastwood, Sydney

I hope that you like garlic.A day of errands happened to bring us to the Eastwood area and when lunchtime came, we strolled our way past Chinese, Korean and Japanese options, investigating each one keenly. Compared to the Oriental opulence of the Golden Jade Seafood Restaurant across the mall, Da Wan Lai is quiet and understated, a few fish tanks at the front and an entry marked with a multitude

10 tips on how to market your restaurant (and what restaurants really think of food blogs)

We all dine in restaurants but what's it like to run one? Attending Restaurant 09 provided some insight into the challenges that restauranteurs face, particularly the topics covered in the Business Talk sessions.I sat in on two sessions: "Marketing 101 - Ideas for surviving the down times"; and "Gen Y dining - Meeting their demands". The panellists raised a number of interesting points which

Grilled Broad Beans (Fava Beans)

Estonians love their fresh fava beans/broad beans simply boiled in well-seasoned water - and it's a great way for showcasing the humble legume. However, when I saw Heidi's post about Grilled Fava Beans, I knew there was a good contender for the best-thing-to-do-with-broad-beans recipe. I was right - this was an excellent smokey-salty fingerfood, ideal for garden parties. I served these alongside the grilled pig's heart last week, and I'll definitely make them again next year, when I'll be growing my own broad beans in my brand new vegetable garden..

Grilled Broad Beans
(Grillitud põldoad)



Wash the beans, drain thoroughly and pat dry. Toss with some olive oil and flaky sea salt. Heat a griddle pan until very hot, then layer the pods on the pan in a single layer. Grill over high heat on both sides, until the beans are blistered and cooked through.
Eat with your fingers - that's the only way you get the flavour into your mouth :P

Other broad bean recipes @ Nami-Nami:
Broad Bean Paté
Salted Broad Beans, Estonian Style

Restaurant 09, Royal Hall of Industries, Moore Park

Kurrajong grubsNow in its fourth year, Restaurant 09 is an trade-only industry event designed for restaurants, hotels and cafe and their suppliers, producers and manufacturers. Apart from the chance to see new products, look out for emerging trends and indulge in a bit of dishwasher and cookware porn, it's an insightful look into the food industry on the other side of the coin.Camel mettwurstNot

Cherry Marzipan Tart

Photo updated in October 2010

The cherry season is in full swing in Estonia. Every market stall sells both sweet and sour cherries - the latter being more easily available these days. I love using sour cherries in various cakes, much more than sweet cherries which are often too bland in flavour. Here's a nice recipe with sour cherries and sweet marzipan and crunchy flaked almonds. You can substitute sweet cherries, but I'd use some more lemon zest to spike things up a bit.

Cherry Marzipan Tart
(Martsipani-kirsipirukas)
Serves 6 to 8



Pastry:
175 g plain/AP flour
3 Tbsp caster sugar
0.5 tsp salt
125 g cold butter
1 egg

Filling:
200 g marzipan, grated
0.5 lemon (grated zest only)
300 g pitted sour cherries
3 large eggs
250 g creme fraiche or sour cream
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
30 g sliced almonds

For the pastry, cut flour, salt, sugar and butter into fine crumbs (it's easiest when using your food processor). Add the egg and press the pastry into a ball. Pressing with your fingers, line a 25 cm (10 inch) pie form with the pastry. Put into a fridge for 30 minutes to rest, then blind bake at 200 C for 15 minutes.
Spread the grated marzipan and lemon zest onto the pastry base. Top with cherries*
Whisk sour cream, sugar, egg and vanilla extract until combined, then drizzle over the cherries. Top with sliced almonds.
Bake at 200 Celsius for about 25-30 minutes, until the pastry is cooked and the almond topping light golden brown.
Cool before cutting into slices.

* If using frozen cherries, then defreeze them first and drain thoroughly.

Spice I Am, Surry Hills, Sydney

It's always reassuring when things stay the same.Consistency of quality was mentioned at Restaurant09 as one of the key drivers behind restaurant selection by customers. With a two-year gap between visits to Spice I Am, I'm always surprised to see the food is always just as good as I remembered.Bael fruit drink $4.00 and Thai iced coffee $4.00In fact the only thing that's changed is the signage.

How to earn money on your blog and get free stuff from Nuffnang

Do you have a blog? Are you interested in getting paid ads on your website?Nuffnang is an Asia Pacific blog advertising platform looking to add to its 800-strong Australia blogging network. As of July 2009, they have 80,000 bloggers in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines using Nuffnang ads.Interested? You can read more about Nuffnang, their history and what's in it for you. As as special

Cafe Sopra and Fratelli Fresh, Waterloo, Sydney

ArtichokesShopping for fruit and veggies should always be this fun.There's a great sense of adventure when exploring the market-style setup at Fratelli Fresh in Waterloo. Admittedly it's more fun if you don't look at the price tags, but quality comes at a price, and this price buys you luscious, heavy, vivid and gargantuan specimens of deliciousness, all artfully arranged in rustic wooden

A Story of a Grilled Pig's Heart

Last week a kind friend brought us a whole pluck of a wild boar. He had been on a hunting trip to one of the island, that's why. It was late on Wednesday night, and knowing that liver needs to be cooked a.s.a.p, I simmered it with some carrots, onions and seasonings (salt, pepper, bay leaves) until cooked, to be made into a liver paté next day. The heart and the lights* had to wait - I was too tired to do anything with them in the evening.

First thing on Thursday morning, I checked with two food-loving friends if they're up for a wild boar supper on Thursday night. Of course they were. I made the liver paté, using my usual recipe (grind twice, season with salt, pepper, some brandy and soften with plenty of butter). I spent some time trying to pick a suitable recipe for the heart and lights, and eventually settled for a traditional stew. However, when I went to pick up the to other elements of the pluck, I realised that they were off. Obviously the summer heat wave we're currently having here in Estonia had quickened any processes that go on in raw meat, and there was no way I could use these for cooking.

I had about 2 hours before my friends were arriving for a feast of liver, hearts and lungs :) Luckily, our local supermarket has a very reasonable meat counter (as far as pork cuts are conserned, that is), and K. quickly brought me three nice pig's hearts. You see, I had promised so-called alternative cuts for dinner, so I decided to stick to it. A quick search in the web gave me an idea for grilled pig's heart, and I must say I haven't been so positively surprised about a dish for a while. The grilled heart was different, tasty and very meaty. I'd definitely make this again, when I see nice pig's hearts on the counter.

* An euphemism for lungs.

Grilled pig's heart
(Grillitud seasüda)
Serves about 6



2-3 pig's hearts
half a cup of dry red wine
5-6 Tbsp olive oil
half a cup of chopped herbs (parsley and/or basil)
2-3 large garlic cloves, slices
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Trim the hearts of any sinew and gristle, if necessary (we bought prepared ones). Cut into 7-8 mm slices, and put into a bowl.
Add other ingredients and stir to combine. Leave to marinate in room temperature, covered, for about an hour.
Heat a griddle until very hot, then grill the sliced meat on both sides until golden brown and cooked.

Serve with a drizzle of good balsamico (we used Belazu).

Best Friend Chung Jin Dong Korean Restaurant, Sydney (and the pleasures of eating silkworm pupae)

Silkworm pupae.Who said dinner out had to be boring?It was a random lunch time wander that sparked my interest in silkworm of the edible kind. Browsing grocery stores can easily provide me with hours of fun, and a tin of silkworm pupae not only caught my eye, but had to be photographed and tweeted.Although the tin didn't cost that much, I didn't buy it because how does one prepare a tin of

LNC Dessert House, Sydney

I've decided. The Sydney CBD needs more late night dessert houses.I cannot count the number of times I've left the cinemas on George Street, or stepped out of a restaurant, and gone in search of dessert - because the night is still young and the sweet tooth has yet to be satiated.Invariably we end up at Passionflower on George, Passionflower at the Capitol or--more recently--a celebration of roti

How to cook pork crackling (and maple syrup choko fries)

I don't understand people who don't like crackling. What's not to love? The earth-trembling shatter as you take that first bite, the footsteps-on-gravel-crunch as it turns into smithereens, the smatterings of salt you have to lick from the corners of your lips... oh yeah, baby.And yet, when faced with cooking a roast pork yourself, the pressure to make the perfect sheet of crackling is

Kaizen BBQ, North Ryde, Sydney

All. You. Can. Eat. with wagyu.Ahhh.... now I have your attention.All-you-can-eat BBQ $29.90With a protein free-for-all on offer, Kaizen draws us in like moths to a flame. The boys have been looking forward to this all day. I guess it's the same type of excitement sweet tooths get before a high tea buffet.The decor is modern and uncluttered, an emphasis on clean lines with plenty of timber in the

Gooseberry Tart with Condensed Milk Topping

When browsing the Estonian food blog roll this Monday, I spotted a raspberry and blackcurrant tart that had been topped with the simplest 'custard topping' ever - a can of sweetened condensed milk. As we had also picked a batch of mixed gooseberries when visiting K's mum (that was after we got back with our forest and bog bounty of cloudberries, bog bilberries and assorted wild mushrooms ), I was keen to try out the idea with gooseberries. Condensed milk on its own is utterly sweet, I gathered it would go well with slightly tart gooseberries. And it did - plus we quite liked the creamy texture of the topping.

Gooseberry Tart with Condensed Milk Topping
(Kondsenspiimakattega tikrikook)
Serves 8

100 g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
100 g plain/all-purpose flour
50 g potato starch*
a pinch of salt
1 large egg**
300-400 g gooseberries
400 g can of sweetened condensed milk

Place butter, flour, potato starch and salt into the food processor and process into fine crumbs. Add egg, process shortly until all ingredients are wet. Take the dough out of the food processor, press into a dough ball and flatten slightly. Wrap in a clingfilm and place to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Roll the dough into a circle on a slightly floured surface and line a buttered 24 cm tart tin with it. Pre-bake (preferably blind-bake) at 200 C/400 F for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, top and tail the gooseberries (or is it 'tip and tail'?). Scatter on top of the tart base. Drizzle condensed milk on top, making sure that majority of berries are covered.
Bake for another 20 minutes or so, until the gooseberries are soft and tart lovely golden brown on edges.
Cool before serving.

* Replacing some of the flour with potato starch makes a crispier tart crust. If unavaiable, just take 150 g all-purpose flour instead.
** For an eggless crust, use 2-3 Tbsp cold water.

Bird Cow Fish, Surry Hills, Sydney

"When you wake up in the morning Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?""What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?""I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said.I love this quote by Winnie The Pooh from The House at Pooh Corner by AA Milne. Bird Cow Fish co-owner and

Yesterday

We spent couple of hours in our favourite forest and bog yesterday, taking home:

Two litres of beautiful cloudberries (1.2 kg of berries after cleaning!!). That's going to make plenty of delicious cloudberry jam:


Enough chantarelle mushrooms for 2, perhaps even three pies and quiches:


... and enough other wild mushrooms (edible Russula mushrooms) for today's mushroom sauce:


We're pleased :)

Mecca Bah, Manuka, Canberra

Self-portrait at the National Portrait GalleryIt's true what they say. If you keep your head down, you miss out on all the fun stuff.On our recent day trip to the Truffle Festival in Canberra, we stopped by the National Portrait Gallery after our lunch at Senso. Along one of the corridors is a long bench table with information touch screens. It's not unless you're paying particular attention that

Kana Express Food, Sydney

"I'm sorry. Everything is deep-fried."Sorry? Those two beautiful words are music to my ears. The enquiring passerby steps away, shocked and a little aghast. In the meantime, I'm dancing a little jig of unrestrained joy.Korean deep-fried snacksAlmost everything here is served on skewers and a celebration of all that is deep-fried - it's like being at the Easter Show without having to deal with

Lemon cheesecake, and a pressure cooker comparison (which pressure cooker should you buy?)

Dinner party jitters? Let the only pressure be in your pressure cooker, I say.With three pressure cookers at my testing disposal courtesy of KitchenwareDirect, I decided to use one for each course at a recent dinner party. For entrees, it was a sweetcorn and basil soup in the electric Cuisinart pressure cooker, mains was a beef and Guinness stew in the Fagor Duo pressure cooker. For dessert? How