EPIC FOOD DAY!!!

Yesterday was my 30th birthday, or 'EPIC FOOD DAY' as it is otherwise known. It started with morning tea, when my thoughtful workmates produced a cake that they had purchased from Christopher's cake shop in Mascot. This thing was delicious!!! It was seriously the best bought cake that I had tried for years. It was a chocolate cake layered with chilled nutella creme and containing chunks of a thick rich chocolate throughout. YUM!!!! (see Noutella cake - http://www.christopherscakeshop.com.au/autumn.html)

Then for lunch Mr P and workmates took me to the Roxia hotel, on the princes highway in Rockdale. This is a great pub to go to for lunch. The meals are very consistent, huge and fresh. You can get a steak sandwich for $12 that is big enough to feed two people, and that's just what we did!
http://www.ferosgroup.com.au/rh_default.aspx

To top it off we headed to Balzac Restaurant in Randwick - http://www.restaurantbalzac.com.au/. Now I had received an invitation for a free degustation on my birthday a while back. It also promised a free bottle of wine if our party consisted of more than 3 people. Mr P also asked if they would personalise the menu and we were lucky enough for them to agree to give us a course of sea scallops and chocolate dessert. The free wine was very nice - a pino grigio. Very light and fruity. The highlight of the entire night were the sea scallops - they were so succulent and just heavenly! I think I would be happy to eat them every day. And it was also quite satisfying to know that they weren't on the regular menu and they had prepared them just for me!!! Everything else was wonderful too, particularly the tuna dish and the fennel soup...but oh those scallops - it was worth turning 30 just for them!

 Menu - except we had scallops instead of the pig's trotter

 Lovely warm homestyle bread

 Zucchini flower, beetroot and goat's cheese

 Fennel veloute with chantilly

 Yellowfin tuna and white anchovy

 Blue-eye risotto, celery, fennel and poached quail egg

 My lovely scallops and scrumptious black pudding

 Angus beef, marrow and veges

Cardamom rice pudding with rhubarb and ginger

Warm chocolate fondant with porter (beer) icecream and macadamia praline

Petit fours

 Peppermint tea

Cassaroles and Chilli Jam

Yesterday Mr P whipped up another favourite - a splendid beef and green bean cassarole with potatoes in a thick red sauce. Again we enjoyed this with a sourdough loaf, last night and for lunch today. It was chunky, warm and flavoursome, yum!! I picked some of the beans off the beanstalk that we are growing out the back - which spontaneously sprouted out of the ground about a month ago in the spot where we had previously grown beans. The homegrown beans have a much better flavour than the store bought ones - and when you cook them they emit a very fresh green aroma. YUM!!!

Ok maybe it's not pretty but it tasted good!

Tonight I went out with my sister in law A to the movies. Afterwards we indulged at Thairiffic, King St Newtown. The chicken satay sticks were fresh and awesome with fresh onion and a peanut dressing on the side (no sign of thick glug here). The curry puffs were flavoursome but I burnt my tongue on one and did a very good impression of a dying seagull. LOL. The chicken cashew nut dish was also very nice and plentiful with generous amounts of chicken and veg. It came very close to matching my alltime favourite C&Cnut dishes from Tums (Randwick) and In Chan (Kingsford).

Tomorrow is my birthday so it's going to be a BIG food day! Stay tuned

Danks St Depot

I had lunch at the Danks St Depot cafe at the international terminal today with Ms AM. For the third time I had the Suffolk lamb burger, which consists of a really tender lamb chunk with caramelised onions and a thick pureed beetroot sauce on a sourdough bun. It also comes with a rocket salad and some think hand cut chips. Delightful! AM had the fish and chips which are also quite interesting (thin fillets of perch with a herbed crust) but as usual I prefer the red meat options. We've really gotten into this place in the last few weeks as they actually have a decent staff menu - eg. the suffolk lamb burger is usually $19.50 but we get it for $10. I must try to remember to take a picture on the next visit.

http://www.danksstreetdepot.com.au/

BBQ and Bruschetta

Another great social day. We made the most of the public holiday and beautiful weather by attending a BBQ at Anderson Park, Ryde, hosted by lovely school friend AT and her husband RT. I must admit that I am not really a big sausage fan but these sausages were really good, as were the scrumptious onions - well done RT!!! A special mention must go to T for his bocconcini and basil salad. After the feasting we basked in the sun - it's really noticable how it's intensity has waned since the beginning of this month - sunscreen still recommended though!

Later that evening we headed over to Dulwich Hill for dinner with the G family (my in-laws). This was a really good hearty dinner, and very indulgent. Actually there has been a lot of this thing called indulgence lately...we really need to slow down. We feasted on bruschetta followed by succulent steaks BBQed over charcoals, feta cheese, olives, sweet potato mash, salad, custard cigars and profiteroles!! The desserts came from the Athina cakeshop in Marrickville - recommended if you are in the area, and in the market for wicked dessert!

From the field to a chocolate fest....

Last night we had a lovely catch up dinner with our very close friends ED, LM and their partners at Kelly's Bar and Grill at Westfield Bondi Junction. Now this is a place where 'small' is not small. Infact, once we had a little bread and veges I could barely manage my main course of a 'small' steak!!! But I pushed through the pain barrier and conquered the beast, a Kelly's hot bite which was a chunky little piece of eye fillet steak with a triple peppercorn crust. A good steak and they know what 'medium means' which is always a bonus. The steaks come with either baked potato, mash or chips. I got the baked potato, which was ok but lacked a little something. I would actually recommend the chips which were succulent with a tasty seasoning. Mr P and Miss LM had lamb ribs which got the thumbs up. ED and her partner ME shared some snails for entree - which as far as snails go, looked promising!

Brioche

Kelly's hot bite

Lamb ribs

http://www.kellys.net.au/menus.php?id=2

Call me crazy but after being stuffed to the gills at Kelly's we sought to punish ourselves further at Max Brenner. Is chocolate ever torture...well...maybe sometimes. I forced myself to finish a succao and at least 1/2 a plate of chocolate strawberries. Mr P had the waffles and a coconut hot chocolate. Now that was divine - I can see that I'll be having that one next time!!!

Max's chocolate strawberries

Suckao and coconut hot chocolate

Waffles

Fakes

Mr P whipped up some fakes (pronounced fa-kez) last night. That's a type of thick lentil soup. It made for a delicious lunch today with some Baker's Delight sourdough rye bagette. Think warm and hearty with a tangy balsamic flavour. A perfect autumn lunch.

The best fish and chips in the world?

Mr P is a hard person to please when it comes to fish and chips. He reckons that we found the best fish and chips in the world on April 15 2009, at the Mapua Smokehouse (NW corner of NZ's South Island). http://www.smokehouse.co.nz/

Conciendently, we had partaken in the worst fish and chips in the world (without a doubt), just the day before in Picton. I am still surprised that we survived that episode. Is it possible that the Mapua f&c were merely average but we elevated them to superstar status when comparing them to the horrors of the day before. I don't think so, but who knows. My opinion was firmed when one of the bosses at work said that whenever he visits that part of the world he always makes a special trip to the smokehouse to pick up a special treat for his dear old dad.

Here is a picture of the mystical F&C - the fact that they must have been special is illustrated in that we pretty much neglected to take any other food pics on that trip (our honeymoon).

Guylian Cafe

Back on the afternoon of April 6, I took my lovely visitors W&P to the Guylian Cafe at Circular Quay. http://www.guyliancafe.com.au/

We delighted in the special hot chocolate ($7) that come with extra molten chocolate that you can add to top up your drink and make it extra chocolatey. They also come with a Guylian chocolate. Then Miss WS ordered a Guylian Tirimasu that we all demolished in a matter of seconds. A lovely place to sit and enjoy the water, and watch the people from.

Fantastic Females

The best hen's night!

Two weeks ago a group of fabulous ladies converged on Newtown for the beautiful Mrs Y TLP's hens night. We drank and dined at the Marlborough pub on the corner of King St and Missenden Rd. I had the T-Bone steak which I would rate as above average for a pub steak. The guest of honour had the lamb pie which was also appealing. Even more so were the chocoloate churros, and delicious cocktails. It was happy hour from 6-8 so we indulged more than once :) The yummy penis chocolates and straws were provided by delightful Ms ED and as well as being a tasty addition they definately were a conversation starter. This was also a special night because the lovely Ms LM suggested that I start this blog.

After much fun and some excellent dancing moves the hard core ragers decended on Max Brenner (King St). I tried the milk chocolate suckao and we all indulged in some wicked chocolate covered strawberries. It's not cheap but it's so worth it. The decadence will almost kill you but it's all for the love of chocolate after all. May the love affair continue forever :)

The Queen of Cakes

Speaking of wedding cakes, 4 weeks ago it was our anniversary - a year to the date since I married the incomparable Mr P. We celebrated with a special dinner and an afternoon at the day spa in Brighton. But perhaps the most memorable part of the day was our afternoon tea, when we devoured the last of our wedding cake. It still tasted wonderful (thankyou glad wrap and tupperware!) which is a testament to my mum's wonderful culinary skills as a master cake maker. This beautiful cake was made using hazlenut meal, premium plaistowe chocolate, valrhona chocolate, lindt chocolate and raspberries (amongst other things). We enjoyed the cake with some nice pink bubbles and some hibiscus flowers. Bliss.

A wonderful cake

Back on April 10 we were honoured to attend the wedding of our lovely vibrant friends Mr & Mrs R&S M-B. It was a magical day, with vows exchanged in a rose garden on the grounds of a winery in the ACT. The food highlight for me was the luscious wedding cake, which consisted of a top tier atop a stand of individual truffles. The chocolate ones were my favourite, as they had a lovely rich chocolate flavour with a hint of orange oil. YUM!!! Congrats to R&S!!!

The local love feast den

My latest awesome restaurant discovery is a place on Botany Rd (Botany) named Agape. http://www.agaperestaurant.com/Agape_Restaurant/About_Agape.html

It's a Greek word which has several meanings including 'a love feast as a sign of love and fellowship'. It was an amazing find for us - a stylish restaurant with awesome, modern organic food...and chandeliers!!, in Botany of all places.

We received a menu in the mail one day which piqued my interest. Then one night I was returning home late and saw the chanderliers twinkle as I drove past. A few days later I checked eatability and was amazed by the reviews - could it really be that good?!? Well it is, and I've now been there 3 times in the last month. The second time we went was with our dear friends W&P who were visiting us from the UK. We delighted in the organic Krinklewood wine, and organic spelt pizzas (moroccan roast lamb and proscuitto and rocket). But as usual the stand outs were the fresh green beans in garlic (I could happily eat that every day), the slow roasted pork belly and the luscious hazlenut macaroon dessert. Those beans might be the best I've ever had - the freshness of the beans with the simple fresh garlic butter is just heaven. The pork belly was truly succulent, with perfect crackling and a delicious aroma. I am sometimes wary of pork as I hate the smell of 'old hog' that you sometimes get but this was perfect.

I'll be going there for my 30th birthday next week - I have no doubt it will be a memorable night.

Down on the corner...

This morning we visited the Mascot Corner Cafe on the corner of Botany Road and Hollingshed Street. It's a fairly new establishment that only opened a month or so ago. It's been in the process of being built for around 2-3 years, and we would often walk past the place and comment - oh look this month they are working on the walls, electricals or flooring. It was quite surreal to actually see it open and be sitting inside after all this time.

We sampled the chocolate milkshake (very nice!!!), and big breakfasts. The poached eggs and turkish toast were a standout. The scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage were good too. The breakfast is around $10 depending on what you select and the milkshake was $5. The $6 sandwiches looked promising as did the huge muffins ($3.50) and selection of cakes. I think we will return.

Hello fellow feasters

Do you cringe when you dine out with friends and they take pictures of the food? Then this is NOT the blog for you. We are food-snapping tragics with very high standards. Come with us on an adventure through the restaurants and cafes of Sydney...and occasionally elsewhere. It won't always be pretty but you'll get the truth and we'll find some gems along the way.

xx Mr and Mrs HP