Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London

I had been watching the clock all day, counting down the minutes to 5pm. Five minutes before 5 I loaded the website, clicking refresh every so often and more frequently as it neared 5 o'clock. As the clock on the computer ticked over I hit refresh one more time, quickly selected the date I was after and then 'find table'. The last time I behaved like this I was trying to get tickets to a Foo Fighters concert. Although, I was somewhat more successful then. Unfortunately we weren't able to get a booking at Fat Duck while we were in London, despite my fanatical behaviour over the booking process.

English friends of ours came to our rescue, suggesting we try Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, a more laid-back Heston restaurant, located in the ground floor of the Mandarin Oriental in Hyde Park. Encouraged by their insistence that bookings were much easier to come by than those for Fat Duck, I repeated the above process a month later, and successfully nabbed Mr Alphie and myself a late night, mid-week, booking for our first week in London.

I must admit, that I was quite disappointed at having to settle for what I felt was 'second best' when it came to Heston's restaurants. I will now quite readily admit I was wrong. While Dinner does not give you the full Heston degustation experience you would get at Fat Duck (featuring the famous Snail Porridge and 'Sound of the Sea'), it is still a magical experience. The staff are outstanding, and were willing to provide suggestions from the menu, help me to understand the Euro-centric wine list, and very accommodating of our request for the infamous 'triple cooked chips' as a side dish. The food, was absolutely fantastic, although not in the style of Fat Duck & Heston's Feasts, more aligned with How to cook like Heston and In Search of Perfection - think of the burger featured on MasterChef last year.

The room is centered around the kitchen, a huge glassed-in space that lets you watch the chefs as they work industriously (and immaculately! my kitchen is never that tidy!) prepping and plating. Unfortunately we didn't see Heston working in the kitchen while we were there, I actually think he was in Perth at the time (just my luck!), but we did spy Matt Moran chatting with the crew on his way out after a meal. 

But, enough of my ramblings, check out the photos for yourself!

(Due to my reluctance to use flash they are slightly grainy, my apologies.)

Nettle Porridge (c.1660) - Roast cod palette, smoked beetroot, garlic, parsley & fennel

 

Meat Fruit (c.1500) - Mandarin, chicken liver parfait & grilled bread
 

Spiced Pigeon (c.1780) - Ale & artichokes

 

Powdered Duck Breast (c.1670) - Smoked confit fennel & umbles


Braised lettuce & peas


Triple cooked chips

 

Tipsy Cake (c.1810) - Spit roast pineapple

Chocolate pot, served with coffee

Restaurant Amuse, Perth

On a rainy evening in late April, Mr Alphie and I were suiting up and looking our best in preparation for dinner at a restaurant frequently touted as one of Perth's (and Australia's) best - Restaurant Amuse. After a few (failed) attempts at getting a booking, we had decided to save it for a special occasion, and our first wedding anniversary seemed as fitting as any.

Our taxi arrived at an unassuming suburban house, the only giveaway that something more exciting was going on inside were the cars parked in every available space. I made a dash through the rain towards the front door, where we were met, and taken through a number of surprisingly large rooms to our seats.

Professionalism was evident from first contact. Mr Alphie booked nearly three months in advance, and even at that early stage he was queried on allergies and food preferences; information that was recorded and confirmed with the booking confirmation call one week before our booking, and again as we arrived.

Between us Mr Alphie and I have few small intolerances, that both of usually ignore when eating out, and just suffer the (minor) consequences later. However, we were very impressed with their attention to detail and concern for our dietary requirements. I can only imagine that they would just as graciously deal with more challenging allergies or intolerances.

All in all, it was a fantastic night out. The staff were fabulous, totally accommodating - such as when we asked for a 'break' between courses, to give us time to take it all in -  and more than happy to have a chat about a dish or ingredient when we were interested.

But, on to the photos!

 Welcome! Glass of bubbly & the menu

 'Snacks'

 Prawn, finger lime and tea seed oil

Anselmo Mendes, 2010 'Muron Antigos' Vinho Verde, Melgaco Portugal

  Marron, lemon verbena and arborio

Moo Brew, Hefeweizen, Moorilla Tasmania

 

Egg, hay and potato

Olssens, 2006 'Charcoal Joe' Chardonnay, Central Otago New Zealand

Scallop, shitake, cuttlefish

Best's, 2010 Young Vine Pinot Meunier, Great Western Victoria

Duck, roselle and chestnut

 Senorio del Aguila, 2002 Reserva, Carinena Spain

Lamb, samphire and khol rabi

Glenmore, 2005 'Pin Pin' Cabernet Sauvingnon, Margaret River Western Australia

Passionfruit, lime and lychee

Optional cheese course - for one!

Pear, walnut and lemon

Mandarin, basil and fig

Cortesio, 2011 Moscato d'Asti, Piemonte, Italy

Buttermilk, rum and raisin

AR Valdespino, 'El Canado' Pedro Ximinez, Jerez Spain

 Honeycomb, truffles and jubes

Return

Hi Readers!

I've had some great dining experiences since you heard from me last. I really want to share them, but the growing list of reviews to write up scares me off every time I try to catch up. So, in an effort to get back on top of it all, I'll be posting a few photo heavy reviews in the next little while until I've caught up.

I'm also hoping to get back into cooking more than soup & reheating leftovers, like I have been for the last two months, so there should be some more recipe posts on the way as well.

Cheers,

-Alphie

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