Paco's Tacos, MoVida Terraza, Melbourne

I mentioned this a while ago, but I was travelling to Melbourne for work a LOT last year, It is one of my many, excuses for not blogging as much as I would have liked to.

I'm now back on the travelling wagon, but I have decided to use that to my advantage and blog my lonely, and not so lonely, food adventures that have been generously subsidised by my employer...

My most recent venture was to Paco's Tacos, a newbie to the Melbourne food scene, riding in on the wave of mexican madness that is hitting Australia, and Melbourne in particular, at the moment. Paco's is located on the MoVida Terraza, and part of the MoVida mega-group that includes MoVida, MoVida Acqui, MoVida Next Door, and now, Paco's. A van-like building, that somewhat resembles a 1950's drive-in cinema diner (or at least my American movie ideal of one...), is surrounded by re-purposed wood furniture, reused steel formed into a cage/pergola and a lot of greenery - but what else does one expect from Greenhouse's Joost Bakker?

The, large, open, servery-style windows of the van are framed above by blackboards listing the taco & drinks menus, and give you a look into the kitchen where dapper ladies and gents in kitsch 1950's aprons mix drinks and take orders.

I was meeting a couple of my high-school friends for dinner, lets call them K, A & R, who all work in the CBD. R snuck down earlier to save us a table, and had been met by A by the time I worked out how to get to the 'MoVida Terraza' . K sidled up later, but we'll forgive her and she'd just started a new job (congrats K!).

As usual, we all started talking first, and forgot about the food & ordering part. After a quick look at the blackboards, and with a few suggestions from R (who is lucky enough to work close by and have Paco's as a regular lunch spot), we were ready to go. R strongly recommended the BBQ corn, so A and I opted for the corn as well as a taco (or two in my case - all in the name of research!).

K, A & I shared a jug of Sangria ($35), to get us in the spirit, and I will admit, it was much better than my recent attempt at Sangria. Chilled, fresh and fruity, without totally overpowering the red wine behind it all.

I have always been a sucker for corn on the cob - I am the weirdo who eats buttered corn on the cob at music festivals -so the current BBQ Mexican corn trend is well received here. The Paco's version ($6) did not disappoint. With slightly more cheese than the Mamasita version, and a bit less melted on, it was still darn delicious.

camarones taco

There are six taco options, plus a special on the night we visited (all $6). I opted for the pato asado (roasted duck with spicy mole, lime and marinated red onion) and pescado (marinated fish, chipotle and radish), while A &a K both went for a camarones (prawns, pepita sauce and salsa verde) taco. R, having been there before, steered away from the tacos, and went for the nachos ($12).

pescado (front) and pato asoado tacos

I was really looking forward to the fish taco, the combination of the fish, chipotle and radish sounded like it would be a winner, but the overall result was a bit lacking in flavour, and quite dry. It seemed to be missing the chipotle, and much worse for it. The tortilla was quite dry and crumbly, making the whole thing quite difficult to eat. Overall, a disappointing choice.

The duck was a bit of a wild card selection, but it turned out to be a good one. The duck was moist, and slightly spicy thanks to the mole sauce. A vast improvement on the pescado - I could have easily eaten five of these.

chilli chocolate mousse

We added the dessert in later. R & A were keen to try the chilli chocolate mouse with candied walnuts, so we ordered two to share. I'll admit I've never been keen on the chilli & chocolate combo, but this was the best interpretation I've tried yet. A thick silky chocolate mousse, with just a hint of chilli, leaving your mouth slightly tingly after each bite, but wondering why, until you remember that there's chilli in the chilli-choc mousse! But, I have to admit, the candied walnuts were the best part - and the only bit we finished from both serves!

Adios amigos,
-Alphie

London Bound

Mr Alphie and I are heading off to the UK for a few weeks later this year. We’re flying in to London, and the current plan, is to spend a few days being tourists, before catching the train out to Milton Keynes/Cranfield where my bestie, Ms Aqua now resides as she slogs through her Masters degree. Given the very little to do in Cranfield, we’re all heading up to Scotland on a roadtrip for a week or so, before Mr Alphie and I head back to London to round out the last week.

As you can tell, the plan is not all that ‘planned’ as yet. Mostly because I don’t know where we should go/what we should do. I was last in London when I was 16 (over 10 years ago – whew! That makes me feel old...), so I’m sure a lot has changed, plus I don’t think 16-year-old-me and 27-year-old-me really have the same interests... And, this is Mr Alphies first trip outside of Oceania/Southeast Asia, so he’s as good as useless!

My parents bought us/Mr Alphie tickets to see The Lion King for Christmas, so that’s on the list, as is the London Eye, Tower of London, Churchill’s War Rooms and the Greenwich Meridian. I’m also keen to fit in a day trip out to Hampton Court Palace, thanks to an obsession with The Tudors. I’m sure we can find things to occupy us though, what I really want to know, is where should we eat!? Friends of ours have just returned from a trip to Europe where they squeezed in a meal at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck, just outside London, and unsurprisingly, highly recommend it, so we’re trying to fit that in somewhere. And, my regular readers (!), will know of my minor obsession with Yotam Ottolenghi’s book Plenty, so Ottolengi is also on the short list. But that’s two meals, over three weeks, so we really need some more suggestions.

I was pretty keen on trying Jamie’s Italian, but a bit of google-ing has revealed that it’s a full-blown chain, which has put me off a bit. Should it have? Is it a worth going to anyway?

So, readers, can anyone suggest ‘must-eat’ places in London? Especially some good value lower-end stuff – I’m sure we could manage to find great fine dining every night, but the bank balance might not appreciate it! Also, anywhere in particular to avoid – where the hype overrides the actual experience?

P.S. I’d also welcome tips for Scotland – food related or otherwise.

-Alphie

Zumbo-style macaron tower

It seems that I have made a bit of a name for myself at work as a master macaron baker. Mostly because I have been taking all my practice runs in to work so I'm not left eating them all!

This notoriety resulted in one of my colleagues requesting an Adrian Zumbo style macaron tower (for 100!) for his wifes 40th birthday. I hesitantly accepted the challenge (for a fee!), with the disclaimer that I'm ok to make macarons for 100, but I was not so sure on the 'tower' part.

So, given that I recently spent a weekend making 150 macarons, I thought I'd share my current macaron recipe. I've switched from the French method to the Italian method, and while it requires a bit more work & messing about, it has much more reliable results. And, they look a lot better too!

The tower required me to make three batches of macarons - raspberry, mocha (or choc-coffee) and salted butter popcorn - giving 150 filled macarons in total. After a full day of baking and filling the macarons, I left them in the fridge overnight so they would be nice and firm for the assembly stage.

As I suspected, the tower was by far the most difficult part. It started badly when I struggled to find any reasonably sized styrofoam cones that are required to form the base of the tower. I finally tracked down an art shop in Perth that stocked them up to the largest, 550mm, size, but being the Christmas/New Year period, were not able to get one in for me in time. Conveniently I was in Melbourne for work the week before I needed the cone, and had a ring around there to see if I could track one down, but again, no success. After the first option fell through, I organised to hire a back up option from a local bakery, but I was never really happy with this option, so I tweeted the master himself, Adriano Zumbo, to find out where he gets them from - success!! Zumbo suggests a specialist foam cutter. We managed to track one down in Perth, who was happy to assist at the last minute, but could only cut a pyramid, not a cone. At this stage, Mr Alphie stepped in, and, after covering our dining room with styrofoam offcuts, turned a 550mm high, 200mm square pyramid into a 550mm high, 200mm diameter cone.

Mr Alphie trimming the pyramid into a cone

The drama with the cone extended to the assembly stage. After reading a few blogs on the best way to attach the macarons, I started spearing the tower with toothpicks and sticking the macarons on in a way that resembled a kindergarten craft project. Halfway around the bottom row, I gave up. I just couldn't get them to sit right, they kept falling off, it was a disaster. For the second time that day, Mr Alphie stepped in, taking over the assembly, and with a lot more patience than I will ever have, created a macaron tower to rival Zumbo!

 

 Mr Alphie assembling the tower

 

The assembled tower taking over the fridge!

Italian Macaron Method
Adapted from a Caroline Velik recipe, SMH Good Living, May 17 2011
makes approx 100 shells, or 50 filled macarons

• 200g almond meal, laid on a tray overnight (or up to 2 days) to dry out
• 200g pure icing sugar* (not icing mixture)
• 150g egg whites (approx 4 large eggs) sieved, and left out overnight to dry out
• ¼ tsp cream of tartar
• 200g caster (or regular) sugar
• 50g water
• food colouring, if required (gel or powder is best)

Process dried almond meal and icing sugar together in a food processor to combine and get a finer consistency.

Sift combined almonds and icing sugar together, twice, discard anything left in the sieve each time.

Divide the egg whites into two 75g quantities. Mix one lot into the sifted almonds & sugar to make a thick paste, and set aside.

Put the remaining 75g into a (very clean) mixer bowl, fitted with a whisk attachment, with the cream of tartar, and set aside.

Put the caster sugar and water into a small saucepan over a medium heat**. Use a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature, and once at 110°C, start whisking the egg whites on low, increasing the speed until thick.

When the sugar syrup reaches 118°C, and the egg whites are ready, slowly pour the syrup down the side of the mixer bowl, while on medium. (If the sugar syrup gets too hot while the egg whites are not quite ready, add 3tsp more water to the syrup to cool it a bit.)

Continue to mix for 10 minutes, or until the meringue cools - the bowl will still feel slightly warm.

Using a spatula, mix the meringue into the almond meal paste, mixing until it becomes supple and shiny, this texture is often referred to as lava-like.

Fill a piping bag, fitted with a plain 0.5-1cm nozzle pipe 3cm rounds onto a lined baking tray. I use a template created for me by my graphic designer sister in law, but you can trace circles on the reverse of the baking paper lining the tray, or come up with a template yourself!

Leave the shells to dry for 5-30 minutes, or until they are just dry to the touch. They should still be soft, but just not sticking to your finger when you prod them. This step really depends on your climate. In Perth, in January, it's not really necessary at all, but in more humid climes, you might find you need more than half an hour.

Bake in a pre-heated 140°C oven for 10-12 minutes until they are firm, but just before they start to colour.

*For chocolate macaron shells, replace 25g of the icing sugar with cocoa powder
** For coloured macaron shells, add the colouring to either the meringue or the sugar syrup when it's around 110°C. It will take a bit of practise to know how much colour in the syrup you need to get the right coloured shells, but it is considered the best time to add food colouring.

To fill the shells, you can either use ganache or buttercream. Ganache is much easier to make, but buttercream gives you more flavour options without the overpowering chocolatey-ness of a ganache. But that is a post for another day...

Nobu @Burswood, Perth

Quite some time ago now, Mr Alphie and I went to Nobu for my birthday dinner. Surprisingly, we were able to get a table on a Saturday night (in December!), even though Mr Alphie only booked two days before.

It was a stinking hot Perth day, so the light 'summery-ness' of Japanese (Japanese-South American fusion, to be precise) was the perfect choice for dinner. Nobu Perth is located within the Burswood casino complex, alongside Neil Perry's Rockpool Bar & Grill, Modo Mio and (A)lure. Burswood was bustling, with people everywhere, and every function room filled with a corporate Christmas parties (plus a few in marquees on the lawns), however, once inside the restaurant, you can easily believe you are in a stand alone restaurant - the bustling casino a mere memory.

We were escorted to our seats amid a chorus of 'irrashaimase' ('welcome' in Japanese) and presented with the menu, which, while quite long, was well explained by our waitress. Despite the helpful explanations, we opted for the 'Omakase Menu', because we simply couldn't decide! Our dining preferences were discussed; chilli - yes! raw fish - yes! and once we said yes to everything (except avocado - blurgh!), the banquet commenced.

Salmon Tartar with caviar

Yellowtail Sashimi with Jalapeno

Sashimi Salad with Matsuhisa Dressing

 

 Black Cod Miso

 Beef Toban-Yaki

A selection of sashimi - tuna, yellowtail, ???, and some sort of egg thing ('smelt egg'?)

Miso

 As for drinks, we opted to choose from the cocktail menu, as my food-wine matching skills are not up to the task of matching a banquet of Japanese-South American fusion to a single bottle of wine. As a lover of all things gin, I started with the Emporio Martini (Juynmai sake, gin, lychee juice, fresh lime & cranberry juice), and followed with a Lychee Martini (vodka, elderflower liqueur & lychee). Mr Alphie, started with the Japanese Mule (Nobu rocks, fresh lime, fresh lemongrass & cloves, ginger beer), followed by a something that I can't remember...

Emporio Martini                   Japanese Mule

The only disappointment of the night was the dessert - Bento Box with Green Tea ice cream and Goma tuille - the dessert itself was faultless. The chocolate fondant was perfectly cooked and still gooey in the centre, the green tea ice cream was delicious atop a sesame seed ('goma'?) tuille.

 

Bento Box with Green Tea ice cream

But, it just lacked that 'wow!' factor that all of the previous courses has delivered. I would have loved to try the Ichigo pannacotta with Yuzu granita and lychee or the Miso cappuccino with vanilla ice cream and cappuccino foam, both of which sound more exciting than chocolate fondant and green tea ice cream, which kind of felt like a cop-out. But, then again, I can always try the other desserts next time!

-Alphie

Perth Royal Show - Cookery Competition

This year I decided to give myself a bit of a challenge, so I entered the Cookery Section of the Perth Royal Show. I had entries in five categories, and unfortunately no wins/places, but I had fun!

My entries all packed up a ready to go!

I entered class 411 - Biscuits, class 426 - Orange Cake, class 436 - Classic Coloured Macarons, class 459 - Jam, Berry and class 468 - Chutney.

The show ended on Saturday, and entry collection day was today. I left work early to head off  to the Claremont showgrounds in time to collect my entries and feedback. Mostly I was after the feedback. Who wants a two week old cake?? I opted to leave the stale bikkies and (very) mouldy orange cake behind, but took home my jam and chutney.

As I said, the feedback was what I was really after. I had a good look at the entries in my classes on opening day, and I wont deny I was a bit sad to see I hadn't got even one highly commended. Its really hard to walk around and see your entries along side others with the 'first place' card on them, and not be able to see much difference between the two. I had a chat to one of the stewards on the day, and she assured me I would get feedback when I came in on collection day; 'How else will you do better next year, love?'.

Unfortunately I didn't get the judging notes on all my entries, the biscuits below being one of those, so I'll just have to give it another go next year and hope that goes better!

Class 412 - Biscuits (mine are bottom row, second from the right)

The comments on my chutney were not that surprising - good presentation, colour/appearance and texture/consistency, but lacking a depth of flavour. Unfortunately I didn't make it when tomatoes are at their peak, which I think has a lot to do with it. I just need more practice!

Class 468 - Chutney (bottom left corner)

Again, no comments on the jam, but having seen the open jar this afternoon, I think it was probably too thick/well set. It had a bit of a 'hospital jelly' consistency.

Class 459 - Jam, Berry (top row, second from right)

The orange cake was my main disappointment - I had been practising that baby for months (not that anyone in the office is complaining!), and the judges comments were good too; good appearance & colour, nice texture, and good flavour; so it's hard to know what went wrong...

Class 426 - Orange Cake (bottom level, back left)

I don't have a photo of the macaron entries (class 436), but it was fairly obvious on the day why mine weren't winners. They were quite bumpy on the surface in comparison to the others, and the piping marks were still visible. The judges notes reflect that; appearance - 'a little uneven, a smooth surface is preferable', texture - 'needs to be more crispy', but a good colour and flavour. I generally make macarons using the French method, but I think it might be time to give the Italian method a try as it seems to give smoother shells.

I also entered a couple of soft toys in the craft competition, with similar results (i.e. none...).

So that's how the show went for me. No real successes, but some things to work on for next year.

-Alphie

Hippo Creek, Hillarys

I have recently jumped on the coupon (groupon/scoupon/star deals/living social etc etc) bandwagon. I know I'm a little late with this, but it all seemed so hard, 'great' deals for some restaurant you've never heard of, located somewhere in the outer suburbs... and it didn't help that I'm still new to the Perth food scene, so I recognised the name of the restaurants less frequently than most.

Then I stumbled upon a coupon for Hippo Creek Hillarys. Now that was a restaurant I'd heard of. The famed South African steakhouse was somewhere I'd heard about, on more than one occasion, but had never made an effort to get to, partly because it's so darn far away, and partly because the whole concept seemed a bit blah. That said, when I spied the coupon, I jumped on it. You can't really say you're a foodie in Perth if you've never been, and I knew Mr Alphie would love it. And, and $59 for three courses for two (midweek), we couldn't really go wrong.

We booked well in advance, as I'd heard these things can get quite busy, so although I bought the coupon in July, we didn't make it to Hippo Creek until September. Mr Alphie had just come of FIFO (and I mean just, we went straight from the airport..) so was very keen for a good meal!

Not being locals yet, and it being our first trip north of Karrinyup, we arrived at Hillarys Boat Harbour, and wandered around for a good 15 minutes before we actually found Hippo Creek (lucky we had been early!). Once in, we handed over the coupon and booking email, and were shown to our seats. I was a bit nervous as we were seated, as I've heard some horror stories about terrible service to those on coupons, but I had nothing to worry about. The staff at Hippo Creek were fabulous, and explained the coupon to us, and offered to bring out the (set) entrée while we decided on the mains (from a shortened menu), an offer we gratefully accepted, as we were both pretty hungry by that point (one of the conditions of the coupon was a 6pm or 8.30pm seating - due to Mr Alphie's flight, we had chosen 8.30).

The entree included in the coupon was the Mud Huts - Button mushrooms filled with cream cheese, spinach and semi dried tomato, crumbed and fried finished with garlic aioli dipping sauce. We were given one serve each, and while I ate them all, I didn't love these. There just seemed to be something missing.

Mud Huts

Mr Alphie chose the Hunters Assaghai – marinated cubes of rump on a skewer hanging over a bowl of fries with peri peri butter dripping down served with a side salad, as his main. Which he somehow polished off before I had finished my main - I take that as a sign it was delicious!

Hunters Assaghai

While I went with a slightly more reserved option, the Botswana Beef – Beef fillet marinated in beer, soy, chilli, ginger and coriander char grilled to medium served with mash, broccolini and courgettes finished with shiraz butter jus. This was really just a steak, but gosh darn it was a good steak. Meltingly tender, cooked perfectly to medium, with plenty of jus, and a good amount of mash....mmmmm....

Botswana Beef

We finished with a sticky date pudding each, as per the coupon. Sticky date pudding is not one of their standard desert offerings, and I was a bit disappointed we didn't get something from the regular desert menu as some of the offerings look quite interesting. Regardless, the sticky date pudding was good, served with a butterscotch sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Although by this stage Mr Alphie was unable to finish his (I blame the inhalation of the Hunters Assaghai...). I'm not sure I would bother with dessert again, the feature of Hippo Creek being the meat, and they do it so well.

Sticky date pudding

While I enjoyed the meal, and the service was great, I don't think Mr Alphie and I will be going back in a hurry. It's a restaurant better suited to groups than a 'romantic dinner for two', so unless an occasion for a group meal out comes up, I'm not planning to return soon. That said, I would like to try the Subiaco venue - Hippo Creek Meat and Wine Subiaco, as it seems to have a different vibe (and menu) to the Hillarys restaurant.

-Alphie

Jacksons, Highgate

After a number of failed attempts, Mr Alphie and I finally made it to the degustation at Jacksons in Highgate/Mt Lawley. We had had to cancel our first booking as Mr Alphie's roster changed unexpectedly, and I was away on a pre-work-trip jaunt for the rescheduled booking. But, third time lucky! Well, kind of lucky.. I had been struck down by the flu a few days before, so I was a bit groggy, and pumped full of Codral, but there was no way I was missing our third booking!

We opted for the degustation with standard wines ($180pp), with a palate cleanser before the main (+$8pp). As a result of the flu/drugs, I have a hazy (at best) memory of the food, and can't say much about it other than it was all delicious! So this will be a photo-heavy post, but who doesn't love a bit of food porn? (more importantly, why are said people reading a food blog in the first place?)

selection of house made breads

amuse-bouche;
gazpacho something-or-other in a anchovy cone (?)

shark bay crab salad, manjimup truffle dressing, foie gras snow

cambinata yabbies, black pudding, hollandaise & peas

cone bay barramundi, chinese caponata, rhubarb

another amuse bouche/mid-meal tid bit;
beef broth, shitake mushrooms, daikon

parmesan crusted beef short rib, beef tendon, miso

palate cleanser;
lime & lavender sorbet (?)

roast chook, veg, bacon, bread & gravy (Alphie)

sichuan spiced amelia park lamb loin, shoulder & rib (Mr Alphie)

manchego croquetta, onion ice cream

another mid-meal tid-bit;
creme brulee with crushed macarons

date tart, minted orange salad, blood orange & rose water sorbet

coffee and things;
truffles and something else delicious, but I don't remember what...

Thanks to Mr Alphies sisters (and Mr SIL), for the generous gift voucher that made our visit possible!