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

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.

Chophouse - not just a Carnivore's Delight!

Remind you of anything? Stepping into Chophouse is like stepping inside a giant beast.

 

Since my time in Argentina, my passion for great steak has grown.  Life's too short for bad steak, and definitely way too short for bad steak cooked badly.  Luckily, there are a number of kitchens cooking great steak extremely well - Rockpool Bar & Grill is the benchmark most referenced.  Today, i discovered Chophouse and it was like being back in Buenos Aires where the steaks are unashamedly meaty, and the servings unapologetically generous.

This is a kitchen which has not only embraced the NY chophouse style but which also offers bar food (pork scratching $8, tallegio risotto balls); asian influenced fish (coconut king prawns with green papaya); chopped salads (the crisp pork belly and sea scallop chopped salad with cabbage, pea shoots is apparently heaven and just $22).


But today is a celebration of meat - courtesy of my having won an invite to a Meat Handling Workshop with Head Chef Eric Tan and the master of the ($65k kitchen-gadget-to-die-for) broiler (aka George as in "Forman";) ) Stu. But more about the magic of broiling later!  


So, after a much needed coffee, we head upstairs to the spacious private dining room.  It's sensual, dark, hide-clad walls - the perfect place to linger, lounge, devour and digest.

Our meat journey begins - from the 1.6 kg Tomahawk (full rib on the bone sourced from the Riverine District) through to dry aged Delmonico (striploin on the bone)m and the amazing Castricum Brothers Double Lamb chops (free range and tender stretched from Dandenong)....  

And so, having caressed the meat, we move into the kitchen.

This is Eric (right) with George aka the Broiler (left) - this is the secret to the lusciousness of Chophouse's meat.  By broiling the meat, the magic is contained within the meat, and the texture transformed.  This is hot, hot, hot, and proof of the meat mastery at work.  And the proof is most certainly in the eating.  We did a comparative tasting - cooking the same piece of meat in george, on the grill, in the pan, and the standout winner by a country mile and then some was most definitely the meat which had been broiled.

Succulent, tasty, savoury, specialness.

But that's not all! We were also lucky enough to be indulged with the wonderfully porky pork from Tasmania's Esk Pastoral Farm - these lucky porkers live next door to a cheese factory so are fed on the left over whey.  That creates an extra creamy porkiness which is beautifully offset by the hazelnut and sage crumb and granny smith apple sauce.

 
There are some fine looking sides which i also can't wait to taste - cauliflower gratin, baby spinach with labna and lemon confit vinaigrette.  The spring menu is to be launched in a couple of weeks, and, given the commitment of Chef Eric and his team to sustainability, there are sure to be changes. But what a wonderful challenge to have - and the wine list looks bloody good too!


And, on a final note, the central light display pays tribute to making the most of each beast from nose to tail.

Eric and team have regular seasonal degustations and it's worth becoming a member of their database to access the insider knowledge, menu updates and the rest.  visit chophouse.com.au and embrace your inner meateater (or poultry eater, or fish eater, or vegetable eater - no really, despite the meat focus, Eric is determined to play with the best of non-meat world too)

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 ;)

I'm on the top of the world.....

In the 15 years I've lived in Sydney, not once has the thought of venturing up into Sydney Tower crossed my mind.  Not as a tourist thing to do, not as an off-the-wall kind of thing, and definitely not as a dining destination.  So I've got to confess that discovering there's an oasis of calm above the newly renovated Westfield Shopping Centre and that it has a very interesting menu was a complete surprize.

It's been bucketing in Sydney for days so stepping out of the lift into the 360 Bar and Dining restaurant space (http://www.trippaswhitegroup.com.au/our-venues/360-Bar-and-Dining/menu/1) to see sunbeams reaching out for magnificent Sydney was truly breathtaking (that, and the fact I'm not brilliant at heights)

A glass (or two) of Albarino settles my nerves and my focus turns to the menu.  Chef John Tefegdzic  recommends the pork for main (i'd fessed up about my pork addiction) so something light is required for entree....  but first an amuse bouche (to go with the wine of course!)


a dainty morsel of foie gras mousse on a salad of baby leaves and leeks.  

What to choose, what to choose??
perhaps the scallops on truffled potatoes and creamed cauliflower?

No, i think the tuna tataki has my name on it. 

The yellow fin is moist, asparagus crunchy just the way i like it, and the lime dressing and coriander build the flavours.  The courgette are a little left field for me, but there's nothing left on the plate so proof as they say is in the pudding.

The mains are HUGE and perfectly formed.  There's been a glut of pork belly on the market and so many places just slab it up, but this piece of pork belly has beautifully crisp crackling, and the belly meat is tender, with the fat cooked out, and it's seasoned.  It's served with herbed pork tenderloin (i almost managed to eat one which is such a waste as the flavour is just right, not too strong, a hint of thyme, maybe some marjoram?), on a bed of pea and ham puree (DEVINE) with a "prune canoli" which is a dainty fingerling to play with.  It's actually a dainty dish in taste, despite its size. 

Our table also enjoys chicken with quinoa

And a beautiful slab of melt in your mouth Black Angus with straw mushroom (i do love Vic's Meats)

And some of the best chips I think I've ever eaten - apparently beer battered but much much lighter than any beer battered chip i've had! 

There's a lunch special which looks very reasonable and the big winner - you can actually just come up for a drink at the bar and partake in fine looking list of cocktails while supping on the magnificent views of one of Australia's most beautiful cities.  PS probably best to avoid the weekend unless you've made a reservation!

Looking forward to enjoying a sunset sip in the not too distant future! Cheers!

ramen in the morning.....

the rain continues in sydney and there's just one cure - ramen and a visit to treasure trove Kinokuniya bookstore in The Galeries for a well deserved browse (and the ongoing hunt for a replacement vol 1 for my Dance to the Music of Time set).

Every time i visit Kinokuniya, I drag myself past the long long queue waiting for a table at japanese noodle shop, Ichi-ban Boshi but, as a chronic queue hater, just cant bring myself to wait.

Today we are lucky.

My Tantanmen with its spicy pork mince, toasted sesame seeds, just cooked egg, and spongy ramen is perfect.  The stock is almost satay like, thanks to the background of sesame and chili. 

 

The Tokyo Ramen is equally as impressive in size, flavour, and balance.

And, post ramen, guess what! the sun comes out. Time for ramen in the evening too?

traditional Shanghai - Xinjishi (Jesse)

Shanghai is absolutely freezing (2 degrees!) so our trip to Taikang Lu quickly becomes lunch at local institution Xinjishi (Jesse).  

Booking is an absolute must - we manage to talk our way in without a booking on the very understanding that we WILL DISAPPEAR in 45 mins.  Service is not surprizingly extremely dictatorially efficient.

One of the most amazing dishes I've ever eaten arrives - shredded tofu with braised mushrooms and chili and tea and mushroom stock.  Imagine softly poached shredded chicken in a delicate sauce with an echo of chili....  Have tried to replicate and come nowhere close but it's been a fun exploration

 The salty chicken is tender and delicate and the deep, rich, nourishing pork belly fills us with warmth to venture forth.  

Not that we had room but the shallot pancake served with pork floss is also worth trying.  With 3 beers, the bill comes to a massive (NOT) 210 RMB