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

Neil Perry magic for launch of epiQure

Airline food is not known for its sophistication.  Qantas has worked hard to change this perception, engaging the delightful Neil Perry to chart a course towards gourmet nirvana in the skies and, clearly, something is going well with Rene Redzepi last night rating the duck salad as the best airline meal he's eaten (and it is very good).


Venue: Rockpool Bar and Grill
Event: inaugural epiQure dinner 
Special Guest: Rene Redzepi @reneredzepinoma, food hero from Noma (on the first day of the 3 week holiday vacation in Denmark

The event kicks off with goats cheese tortellini with pine nuts and raisins, the creamy zing of the goats cheese buffeted by comforting pasta.  Wonderfully smokey anchovies (similar texture to Ortiz but much smokier) crown a biteful of smoked tomato on toast.  The 2000 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne is flowing and the chill of the torrential rain slowly dissipates.

The roasted baby beetroot salad, jelly, raw with barrel aged feta dressing is my favourite.  It's served with a 2010 Penfolds Autumn Riesling (proudly retro) and an amazing 2005 Penfolds Bin Aged Release Reisling which is slightly toasty although youthful in colour (and which Penfold's senior winemaker Steve Lienert advises will continue to age well in the bottle).


The flavours intensify with a blue fin tuna tartare, unctuous moroccan spiced eggplant, bound with cumin mayonnaise and harissa. The 2010 Penfolds Bin 311 Chardonnay from Tumbarumba is fruit driven, and light but the stand out, particularly as a food match is the 2007 Penfolds Reserve Bin A Chardonnay with its wild yeast fermentation and the richness that comes from being on oak for 9 months.  "If Penfold has improved in one area, it's definitely been in Chardonnay," says Lienert - and he's right!  This is a ripper wine.

One of my "last meal" requests would definitely be congee.  the "rich and noble prawn congee" (so called because congee is traditionally more of a gruel so the fact that this is almost all rice is for the rich nobles or noble rich ;) ) is a cheeky interpretation of traditional congee including little croutons of traditional Chinese fried bread, star anise scented peanuts and chilli oil.

Never in a million years would I have paired a Pinot Noir or Tempranillo (who knew Penfolds made 1!) with a dish like this but the end result is spectacular, particularly with the 2008 Penfolds Cellar Release Tempranillo with the spice of the wine dancing happily with the richness of the congee and fried bread and the heat of the oil.


Neil Perry speaks lovingly of the next course.  wood fire roasted burrawong chicken with baby carrots and a dainty pea sauce - and rightly so!  Slivers of tasty chicken, crunch of carrots and that pea puree is heavenly.

It's simple, allowing the flavours to sing. It's served with 3 classic Penfold Reds: the 2008 Penfolds Bin 389 Shiraz Cabernet (the most cellared wine in Australia - this blend is 48% Shiraz, and 52% Cab and is very drinkable); the deep plummy 2007 Penfolds Henri Shiraz (Australia's second oldest shiraz having been first produced in 1953); and the newer style 2008 Penfolds RWT Shiraz (matured on 100% French oak).  

The glasses are piling up but our table continues to rise to the challenge.   I barely made a dint in my slow cooked David Blackmore wagyu short rib, charred with red braised shiitake mushrooms, served with an elegant yam and ginger puree.

It was way back in 1951 when winemaker Max Schubert first produced an experimental red wine to match the quality and technique of the wines he'd experienced in Bordeaux.  He made just 3 barrels of Grange - and bottles of the 1951 vintage are now worth $40-$50k a bottle.  Tonight we are graced with the 2001 Penfolds Grange, sourced 100% from the Barossa (1% Cabernet, 99% Shiraz) and a 2004 Grange (Barossa and McLaren Vale).  Homer Simpson la-la-la moment.  seriously. amazing.

And the very lucky Miss M. is fortunate enough to be one of the 3 guests to score a signed 2001 Grange!!


The mood is definitely kick back and exhale.  So the lightness of the Sharpe family strawberry mascarpone cake cradled with the honey tones of the NV Penfolds Grandfather Tawny has us all loosening our belts.... 

It's been an absolute joy - Neil Perry was a wonderful host and very very generous in sitting and chatting with our table.  Amazing venue, great food, wine to die for, and sensational company.  Think that qualifies us all as very happy EpiQureans !

Hark the Herald Angels Sing - Christmas in July at the Three Weeds

The winds are howling and Sydney is about to experience one of it's coldest nights in a year, so the timing is perfect for the first of the Weeds' Christmas Dinner in July extravaganzas.  And what a feast!  Crackers cracked, party hats on, jokes shared (why did the bacon laugh? coz the egg cracked a yolk! #boomtish), and now time to sit back and revel in Chef Leigh McDivitt's playful journey through all things Yule,

It's a fun menu, kicking off with "Shall We Start", a beautifully balanced ceviche of kingfish with just a little hint of chili in the dressing and horseradish ice-cream.  Hidden in the dish are tiny, teeny croutons which pop in your mouth.  (I hate kingfish so Leigh very kindly substituted scallops).  The matched Prosecco di Conegliano was perfect.

 A Partridge in a Pear Tree is my favourite course (only just edging out the venison).  Delicate roasted breast of partridge nestles on pearl barley risotto, with an amazing cloak of sauce (pear, partridge stock) and wild mushrooms. It's served with a chablis 07 Denis Pommier ‘Côte du Léchet’, Chablis Premier Cru, Burgundy, France.  Heaven.

Chef Leigh McDivitt loves Pork (having being named a Porkstar no less) and his talent with pig shines through in A Cheeky Pork Dish.  There's a morsel of luscious sticky braised tail, confit of pork cheek, crunchy crackling, sweet yabbie tails and a cider jus.  I love the wine matched with this - the 07 Lucien Muzard et Fils, Santenay ‘Gravieres’, 1er Cru .  (probably loved that wine a little too much given i'm wishing today were Boxing Day not Friday ....but gees it was good)

 I love venison and In the Brambles is a close runner for the best course tonight.  It's a beautiful plate.  just cooked full apart in your mouth venison, beautiful beads of baby beetroot, dainty chocolate tuille, and a rich madeira jus.  And it's kicked along by a fine gutsy Chàteauneuf-du-Pape, the 06 Domaine la Barroche "Terroir"

 The Christmas puns continue.... On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...FIIIIVEE GOLLLDDENNN RINGGGSSS ..  well actually here it is:

a little treasure trove with a plump currant inside the gold leaf, and sweet golden raspberries in a ganache and currant curd....  and then (pick me up off the)  Christmas Floor, deconstructed christmas pud.  Eggnog sphere (which i eat all in one go first) is supposed to be broken to ooze over the soil, and the wonderful maraschino jellies....ps the candied tarragon is devine!

And last but not least, Strathdon Ruaraidh Stone Surprise.  A whimsical blue bavarois, with parmesan cream and a fennel biscuit - it was a little sweet for a savoury tooth like mine but my preference for cheese didn't stop me eating it all so i guess, as they say, the proof really is in the pudding!

This is a finely balanced menu which delights in its innovation and pairings.  Leigh McDivitt and his team continue to go from strength to strength and the Christmas in July menu at just $100 per person ($165 with wine) is a real opportunity to experience the magic without breaking the bank.

ps i was hoping that there would be an appearance from the kitchen of 10 lords a leaping but maybe next time ;)

the marvellous Mr McDivitt (and team) at the restaurant at the three weeds

The name "restaurant at the three weeds" always makes me smile - not just because of the simplicity of stating the obvious, but to me, there are also echoes of Douglas Adams' restaurant at the end of the universe.  Under the steady hand and growing confidence of Head Chef Leigh McDivitt, there's also a sense of Mr McDivitt's Magic Emporium.  Over the past 12 months, Leigh has really come into his own. He's having fun in that kitchen and the playful note that has entered his dishes makes you oooh, ahh, and reach across the table to taste the dishes of your fellow diners.

Case in point #1 - a delicate creamy rocquefort mousse prettily sandwiched between thin sliced pickled beetroot.  Crispy caramelised walnuts accentuate the flavour and provide a delightful textural contrast.  this is food you want to play with, to dip your finger into, and paint different flavours across your palette.

The venison carpaccio is equally as pretty (albeit in a masculine way) and the chocolate sorbet adds an almost cigar like depth.



Despite a late lunch, and an early start to dinner (don't you hate it when your local find is "discovered" and you have to start planning to book!), we can't stop at entrees.  Ah Gluttony, my favourite vice!

I am, and have always been a sucker for (and sucker of) bone marrow - so the Black Angus with pea puree and bone marrow jus is the only option for me.  Leigh has quite a reputation for his fine tortellini combinations and the wagyu short rib tortellini, dusted with pea powder and morsels of bone marrow is a meal in itself.  The fillet is just cooked (sous vide Leigh?), tender, full of flavour and dancing to the bone marrow jus.  Oh, and the homer-simpson-must-have truffled mash - trust me, this is one of those mashed moments that has every one nodding knowingly at the fact that you will eat very few mashes this good.

look at that crown of pasta magic.  the pea powder adds crunch and a definite greenness, almost like a crumble.  i can't manage it all as it's a big serve but as my nanna would say i definitely "gave it a go"

Had i not been swayed by the bone marrow, my choice would have been the duck.  Luckily, P. has similar tastes so i end up with the best of both worlds.

I love duck, crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside.  This comes with a duck liver, confit leg sausage which screams "start with me", nestled in a bed of tasty lentils and a port reduction.  Again, perfect but a huge serve (particularly when you're ladling truffled creamy potato mash "take me take me i'm yours" on as a side)...but, of course, we're not complaining... and we somehow manage to force ourselves to eat it all...  such hardship - not!

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Wine recommendations to pair as always were spot on.  It was our Last Supper of our shared holiday and an appropriately decadent celebration of time well spent, calories well ingested, and livers indulged.