hipster style meets food with flair - ACME nails it

Sweet crab meat punctured with bursts of fresh corn and alfabeto pasta in a buttery, ramen-style soup. This may be the best soup I have every slurped.  It's a stand-out dish on a night of many stand-out dishes in Acme's highly successful Italian-Asian play.

This is a kitchen having a whole lot of fun. The team of four work calmly in the open plan kitchen, smiling at each other as they lean across and share the prep.  It's reflected in the menu with its simple descriptions.

Jatz and salmon - tangy with citrus

Sweet, warm brioche with baloney and a tomato-based sauce provided a comforting reminder of school lunches (but a step up on devon and tomato sauce!)

Beetroot, with ground coffee and macadamia nut butter - earthy accents

asparagus with green tea butter - surprisingly successful

beef tartare, kohlrabi, avocado

Two more sensational dishes. pungently rich black garlic and burnt chilli linguine and chinese-style chilli cucumber

Burrata, apple and bottarga

maltagliati, rabbit, pistachio

quite the twist on carbonara - pig head, yolk, macaroni.  unctuously good

braised octopus is deep fried just before serving - crunchy on the outside and oh so tender - served with fennel and wakame

Interesting food cooked very well, with great floor staff and a very reasonable wine list. Almost every dish caused us to pause and praise. It's lovely to see great ingredients cooked with such skill and style; this isn't a restaurant that takes itself too seriously though!

Definitely worth a visit to Rushcutters' Bay. We ate and drank our fill (and that's saying something) for $130 a head.

http://weareacme.com.au

The perfect Tuesday night dinner - Baccomatto Osteria

The clever conversion of a large, harsh concrete rectangular room into the bustling ambience of Baccomatto Osteria (http://www.baccomattoosteria.com.au ) is a nourishing success. The room is full of diners of all ages.  By the door, a family with three kids under the age of five are happily swapping plates and food.  To the right, a table of twenty celebrating with towers of food.  Around the central bar, solitary eaters slowly become part of the community, drawn in by the warmth of the staff and the wafts from neighbouring plates of food.

There's a fine selection of Antipasto - the eggplants, roasted and served with chilli, are very good along the the fennel and the spicy salumi.

Entrees continue the joy. Superbly balanced chicken liver pate with almonds. Beef carpaccio with truffles.  The unctuous joy of baked Provolone with Oregano and Thyme. 

Most nights there's a house special - tonight it's Braise and Barbera with the wagyu beef cheeks on parsnip puree and mustard leaves just right on a bitterly cold Sydney night.  

My Spaghetti Ghitarra alla Carbonara is perfectly al dente and the addition of shaved truffles builds on the softness of the Carbonara.  Devine.

The waitstaff are warm and welcoming and very very good at what they do.  It is cosy without being cloying and friendly without being fake.  Plus the wine list has some gems!
Definitely an inner city winner!

Dungeon Dining at its finest - Mott 32, Hong Kong

Finding Mott 32 in the base of the Standard Chartered building is a challenge.  The foyer is so brightly lit that it doesn't seem possible that it's the right place. Keep walking, up the stairs and veer to the left and there's a door.  It's not the door to the restaurant.  It's the door to a room that leads nowhere. But it will, eventually, lead to one of the best meals in Hong Kong. 

There's a lot of service.  Apparently, it takes three to move you from the mystery reception desk to the secret stairs. Down the elevator. Into a mirrored spiral staircase, down, down, down and then down some more. So down that you start to worry about making it back up again.

And then you emerge into a vault, perhaps the original vault of the bank.  It's spacious. It's full of nooks with pools of light over tables, and walls of bottles and art.

The char sui here is a must.  It's jamon iberico basted with the sticky marinade that is char sui but the fattiness of the meat delivers a just cooked pork, an evolution from the traditional warmed drier version. It falls off the fork. And the smell! Sweet. Smokey. Porkey. 

Shu Mai with lobster. 

Extraordinary tofu with pork floss.

A delicately balanced bowl of fish in chilli broth.

Drama, great food, and an impressive wine list.

Mott 32 - you delighted.

At the tip of Lantau Island is Tai O. A stilted fishing village often postcarded as Hong Kong's Venice, Tai O is at the end of the Bus Route 11. If you're lucky, one of Lantau's water buffalo will be shambling along waiting to welcome you through the hanging stench of the fish paste and dried fish that this community is famous for. (It's also famous for its pink dolphin tours.  The 40 minute boat ride is great fun but in all the years I've been doing the tour I have never ever not once seen any dolphins let alone a pink dolphin)

You arrive to narrowing lane ways with drying fish set out to bake in the sun. Tin roofs. Tin walls. Rooms open to the street full of women clacking majong tiles. Rice steaming in wide bamboo curves. 

Fish carcasses streaming down from the ceiling majestically. On a hot day, the stench is overwhelming. The shops, the homes, the displays clatter on top of each other, the sounds, the smells, the colours ricochet and reverberate. It's overpowering. Cats are everywhere, in control and well fed. Normally i succumb to the boat ride to "see" the famous white dolphins but in twenty years of 40 minute tours I have never seen one. Not to say that it's not a pleasant diversion but do it for the peace and quite not for the prospect of positive sighting.

Push through the stalls of drying fish and sesame sweets and salty plums, past the public toilets and to the left and follow the signs to the Tai O Heritage Hotel.

there's nothing like the waft of drying fish on a hot day to enliven the senses..

It's a longish walk on a hot day but it's worth it.  You pass tin shack after tin shack impossibly fashioned and supplemented with second stories and air conditioning and satellite tv. 

It was a stinking hot day and, after 20 mins of walking, it was well and truly time to be there. The Tai O Heritage Hotel is on the point, away from the fluster of the fishing village. Set on the hill, overlooking the harbour, the former police station provided a crucial vantage point for authorities trying (vainly) to police wide-spread pirating.

It's a majestic, pillared building, speaking of the grandeur of extinguished days. Restored in 2009, the 9 room boutique hotel had so much potential in the conversion.  Alas,not realised but it is air conditioned and enthusiastic and the best culinary choice in Tai O (but don't get too excited.  this is extremely basic food. but the wine and beer are cold,and the views are a welcome chance to sit back and survey).  

In short. Tai O is a must. Visit the Buddha and then escape the tourist trap to Tai O.  Unless you've bought your own food, Tai O Heritage Hotel is the best choice. Other options - catch a cab or bus to Mui Wo and eat there before catching a ferry back to Central or just hold your hunger and head back to Tung Chung as quickly as possibly before heading back into the cacophony of central HK for the smorgasbord of food options that exist.


PS one of the most beautiful temples in Hong Kong is a cab ride away from Tai O. The Kwun Yam Temple, hidden in amongst the trees on the side of the steep hillsides of Lantau, is majestically, joyously exuberant. There are rarely more than 5 other visitors there and the opportunity to sit quietly and centre is always welcome.

foie gras, truffle oil and chocolate... hello heaven

it's a simple wooden cigar box.  two chocolate truffles. a single flake of salt sits on top, with a drizzle of olive oil brings helping each shine under the spot lit drama of Cataluyna in Hong Kong's Wan Chai. At just $3 aussie dollars for two "foie gras truffles" it seems to good to be true.

The foie gras has been whipped. It's rich but light, and heady with truffle oil.  The dark chocolate robe highlights the woodiness of the foie gras. It's decadent, it's deviance and it's a wonderful entrance to an amazing menu from a head chef who spent considerable time working in one of the best restaurants in the world, El Bulli.

It's post the lunch rush. The darkly wooded room is quiet. Staff emerge from their staff lunch.  The Bar is empty and prep is underway for a full dinner service but even with all of that the attention is persuasive.

Deconstructed olives burst like the best martini ever.

Ordered pressed squares of braised shoulder

Artichoke three ways - the confit artichoke cubes a stand out against the texture of fried shaved artichoke heart, smothered with creamy pureed artichoke.

Slow cooker tender octopus, a little overwhelmed by the aerated potato whip.

This is a place i will revisit.  It's moody with very fine service and I can't wait to see it in full swing

Edam if I do....

Cheese has graced our tables since the earliest days of humanity when some bright spark discovered that storing milk in animal stomachs transformed the milk in the most wonderful way. The simple alchemy is one embraced by farmers, shepherds and the resourceful across many cultures, creating a food source from surplus milk.

We do know that the Ancient Romans were cheese connoisseurs with sophisticated palates. There's now an estimated 900 types of cheese in existence, ranging from the simple cheeses created through deliberate curdling through to the more complex Cheddars and Blues.

I love cheese. I love cheese so much that I had a wedding cheese rather than a cake. I dream of cheese. Never, in a million years, however did I think that I would be a cheese maker. 

Yet, after just a 6-hour workshop, I am. I have 5 baby bries maturing in a tupperware container in the wine fridge waiting for their white rind to completely encase them and a teeny camembert softening towards consumption in 4 weeks' time.

Cheese making at home isn't difficult. With some basic equipment including a digital thermometer, cheesecloth, cheese hoops, a styrofoam box and the right selection of moulds, all of which are easily available online, your days as a blessed cheese maker are under way. Critical to your baby cheeses' success is your attention to detail. You need to take the time to get the milk and/or curd to the right temperature. You need to be gentle with your curd when scooping them into the cheese hoops to avoid breaking them.  You need to be prepared to discover the zen of cheese making.

One of the simplest cheeses to start with is ricotta. All you need is a litre of milk. You can use any sort of milk: longlife, jersey, chocolate and even goats' milk (although the amount of ricotta does fall). Heat to 93 degrees. Remove from heat. This next step is important - you are only going to stir once! Stir in 5 tablespoons of either white vinegar or lemon juice using a slotted spoon to maximise its coverage. As tempting as it is to store more than once, don't. Stirring more than once will give you gritty cheese.  Then let it sit for 20 mins, undisturbed.  Finally, strain the curd into a muslin lined (or chux) sieve. If you're going to flavour it, do it here.  Add herbs,   Suspend from a wooden spoon over a bowl in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.  The longer you leave it, the firmer it becomes.  

Ricotta is remarkably simple to make and a definite show stopper. Go on - what are you waiting for? My cheese journey started with www.thecheesemakingworkshop.com.au and i have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Day 1 involved soft cheeses including ricotta, camembert and brie. The advanced class takes in mozzarella, burrata, blue vein, haloumi amongst others. 

Modern Korean at Moon Park

On the edge of South Sydney oval on the first floor of a corner terrace rises Moon Park (http://www.moon-park.com.au). Its sleek, monochromatic website reflects its modern take on Korean. The menu is rich in twists on the traditional. 

Cucumber kim chi is snappily fresh. 

Smoked eel and puffed rice on a nasturtium leaf elevates ssambap with the peppery leaf offsetting the unctuous flesh.

 The dukbokki rolled in crushed peanuts are crunchy on the outside and soft rice on the inside, lifted by a spicy sauce.

The bulgogi quail underwhelmed. The star of this dish is the fabulous sauce and while the quail is cooked extremely well, there simply isn't enough flesh to carry the finger-licking good sauce. 

Pork floss crumble a top a potato cake adds carbs with style while tender calamari strips, potato, chilli oil & pickled onion are a delight.

Charred zucchini and eggplant with a smoked yolk and the green beans with black bean paste were equally as successful.

The BBQ Ranger's flank was my least favourite although one of the stand out tastes of evening was the accompanying bbq'd pear with its sweet and charcoal accents.

Korean desserts were an eye-opener. The clean palate comfort of milk jelly. Sharp granita. Sweet paste.  All devoured to a beautiful sunset.  

Pros - Korean food like never before
Cons - the serves are small but it's a journey worth taking