For me, a trip to Sydney is not complete without a trip to one of Bill Granger's cafes. (See previous posts for example: bills 2 in 2005; bills 1, 2 AND 3 in 2006).

bills 2
359 Crown St
Surry Hills NSW 2010
Ph: (02) 9360-4762
Website

We came here on a Saturday morning at about 11:30. It was a short but strenuous walk from Central station - Googlemaps doesn't show you just how hilly Surry Hills is! As usual, it was packed, and we had to wait 40 minutes for a table. The captain was really nice, and kept apologising that the table before us just wouldn't leave, even after they'd paid their bill! Grrr.

Anyhoo, after a wait in the nice warm Sydney weather, we got a table outside and promptly ordered. You'll have to forgive me; I've forgotten what all the prices were, and I have misplaced the receipt we got. Overall it was pretty decently priced by Sydney standards, which translates as "moderately expensive" by Melbourne standards, hehe.

I had a cappuccino, which looked great...

... but unfortunately didn't taste too good. The coffee was neither rich nor full bodied. I guess we are spoiled by the quality of coffee here in Melbourne!

By this time, they had stopped serving breakfast, but luckily for us there is a section on the menu of "bills classics", which are available all the time. The first 3 dishes are all bills classics, and for non-Sydneysiders, the recipes are all in Bill's first book, Sydney Food.

Scrambled eggs with toast and smoked salmon. (Portions seem to have gotten smaller since last time - our boy Dan reported he was still hungry afterwards).

Coconut bread - a light meal for Sandra, who wasn't up for a big lunch. She reportedly liked the bread, but I tried a bite and foud it slightly heavy for my tastes.
An's favourite: ricotta hotcakes with banana and honeycomb butter. AHEM. What a plate of awesomeness!

Both myself and Di ordered a chicken club - chicken, bacon, tomatoes, rocket and avocado mayo on baguette. Sounded great, and looked pretty good too!

Unfortunately, it was one of the greasiest sandwiches I have ever eaten. When I picked it up, the bottom half of the bread was all soaked through with grease and kinda disgusting.

That was mine, but Di's was the same - soaked through with bacon/chicken grease.

It didn't help that the bread was pappy, soft and white, not the robust crunchy baguette I was hoping for. After such a long wait for our table, I didn't want to send it back. I just ate the filling and the top piece of bread with a knife and fork. I should so just have ordered a cake from the counter, or the hotcakes!

Bills 2 seems to have dropped standard slightly since our last visit, but it is still worth a visit for the echt Sydney experience. My recommendation though, is to get there early, and stick to the classics!

LED-door leading downstairs to Spice Temple.

A few short hours after late-lunch at Chat Thai, we made our way to Bligh St, where we had a booking at Spice Temple.

Spice Temple
10 Bligh St
Sydney NSW 2000
(02) 8078 1888
Website

Whenever we go on holiday with the lovely An, we make sure to have at least one fine-dining experience. E.g. Rockpool in Sydney in 2005, Canberra's Artespresso last year. For this trip, we decided on Spice Temple - I wanted something a bit different from the usual modern Australian/European restaurants that we tend to visit.

However, I have to admit I wasn't sure about Spice Temple when I first heard about it. Despite Neil Perry's culinary awesomeness, the reviews that I did read were focused overwhelmingly on the decor, and not on the food. And when I say "decor", I mean the photos of the sultry, almost-naked Asian ladies that adorn the business card and a couple of the walls. From the way the reviews described it, it seemed sleazy.

It also reminded me of the 1969 Rogers and Hammerstein musical The Flower Drum Song. The film was groundbreaking in that it had a completely Asian cast, but it still had some unpleasant Orientalist overtones. Take, for instance, the lyrics to the song Grant Avenue, which describes the vibrant street in San Francisco's Chinatown.

You can eat, if you are in the mood,
Shark-fin soup, bean cake fish.
The girl who serves you all your food
Is another tasty dish!

Just excuse me while I barf.

Anyway, despite the reviews, the decor wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined it would be. Sexy Asian lady pictures were limited to 2 walls, and were quite innocuous.


The feel of the restaurant was more like one of those funky Chinese-style bars in Melbourne, like Golden Monkey or Manchuria. (Shout out to Adam at the Golden Monkey!)

And despite the restaurant being quite dark, the red floors and wooden seats kept it looking and feeling warm.


Water is charged at $7.50 per person - either still or sparkling mineral water, and they just keep topping it up all night long. I thought this was a great idea, especially because I drink a lot of water, and we were expecting spicy food!


We started off with some cocktails. They have a different cocktail for each animal of the zodiac, as well as some specials. The Rat (that's me!) cocktail didn't seem too appealing, and all the champagne-based cocktails only came by the jug. I chose the Rooster cocktail, which had bitter orange, aperol, limoncello and passionfruit. It tasted just as good as it sounded!

Front: Dragon cocktail - lemongrass & rose petal soda and tanqueray and fresh citrus - $16
Back: Cock cocktail - bitter orange with aperol, limoncello and passionfruit - $16

Our waiter was fantastic - best service we've had in a long time. He knew about the dishes on the menu in detail, was able to recommend an appropriate number of dishes for our table and was generally friendly and very professional - plates were cleared promptly and we never had to ask for our water glasses to be re-filled.

Not feeling super-hungry, we ordered 1 entrée and 3 mains to share. We had to wait quite a while for the food to come out, but this wasn't a problem. Well, we were on holiday and we were enjoying the evening a lot.

The first dish brought out was a cold shredded lamb salad - which we hadn't ordered! Our waiter had asked the kitchen to give us a complimentary one because we'd had to wait so long for our food.

Shredded lamb shoulder with salted chilli - $16

We were instructed to stir the salad well to disperse the salted chilli through the meat. The lamb was very tender, and I loved the salty, hot and tangy dressing.

The entrée that we actually did order was the lamb and fennel dumplings. They were tasty little pockets, not greasy at all, with a crispy bottom. The meat inside tasted very different from my usual pan-fried pork dumplings; these ones were more like dense, firm little lamb sausages.

Northern style lamb and fennel dumplings - 8 for $18

We ordered one mild vegetarian dish: stir-fried abalone mushrooms with garlic stem and chives.

Stir fried king abalone mushroom with garlic stem and chives - $19

Looking at the dish, I thought it looked like sliced chicken breast. It was in fact, sliced abalone mushroom. I'd never had it before, but they must be huge mushrooms! They were quite mild, without a particularly strong mushroom flavour, and were firm and slightly chewy.

We also ordered a pork dish, which included deep-fried kurobuta with numbing Sichuan pepper.

Hot, sweet, sour and numbing pork (Chilli, sugar, black vinegar and Sichuan peppercorn) - $28

This one was crunchy and juicy, with a delicately spicy heat. An absolute winner, and my favourite dish of the night! It was one of the red items on the menu, indicating that it was one of the hotter dishes, but I didn't find it that hot. (In fairness, our waiter did tell us that the heat varies, even amongst the red dishes).

Now, even though the pork was my favourite, An and Sandra thought the next dish was the best of the night. The 3-shot chicken was a very theatrical and dramatic dish. Firstly, half the table was cleared and a gas burner was placed down. Then, a claypot was placed down, and as it heated up, our waiter poured in 3 shots...

...there was light soy sauce, Tsingtao beer, and chilli oil.


Our waiter stirred the shots through, and let it bubble up. Then the claypot was placed down on the table (still bubbling like crazy, and soo close to my arm - eek!), and the gas burner was taken away. Ta-dah!

Three shot chicken (beer, chilli and soy) - $32

We loved this, not just for the theatricality, but for its taste. There were chunks of tender chicken, mellow (pre-boiled) garlic cloves, carrot slices and super-cute mini shiitake mushrooms. The 3 shots added different layers of flavour - heat from the chilli, saltiness from the soy, and a slightly bitter and malty tang from the beer. Amazing!

Overall, it was a bit too much food for us (especially considering the large 4pm lunch we'd had). I'd love to go back with a bigger appetite!

But there's always room for dessert...

And with dessert you need tea or coffee...
Guanyin Tea - $5.50

Spice Temple has quite an extensive tea menu. I chose Guanyin tea (goddess of Mercy - woohoo!), more for its name than anything else. I find tea is always great after a heavy meal to aid digestion.

An had a latte. Check out the funky cup! They had brown sugar cubes as well, a nice touch.
Latte - $4

We shared one dessert between us, a peanut butter parfait.

Peanut Butter Parfait - $17

There was a cripy meringue-type base, the creamy peanut butter parfait in the middle, and a salty, fudgy salty caramel on top. A small splodge of chocolate sauce and some crunchy sesame-and-sugar encrusted peanuts finished it off. Wow.

A few little crispy almond cookies came out with the coffee and tea. They had a lightly salty taste and a savoury spicy taste that I couldn't quite identify.

The whole meal was a lot cheaper than I expected - $187 all up for the 3 of us, including cocktails, an entree, 3 mains, and a dessert. I loved the food, the ambience and the fantastic service. I'll definitely be visiting again next time I'm in Sydney!

Hello hello!!! I am back from a fabulous weekend in Sydney! Lots of food, lots of friends, a little sightseeing, and yet another viewing of Wicked the Musical. Oh, you know, and a tiny little parade.

I came back absolutely knackered! Running between restaurants and cafes and ice-cream parlours was a lot more strenuous than I anticipated. Sydney, you are awesome, but what is up with all those hills and that humidity? Phew!

Anyhoo... we arrived at about 4 on Friday afternoon, and feeling peckish, took a walk around the hotel. And look what we found!

Chat Thai
20 Campbell Street
Haymarket
NSW, 2000
Ph: (02) 9211 1808
Website

Chat Thai. Famous Thai restaurant, always packed. However, because it was an odd time, we only had to wait 5 minutes for a table. Wahey! It also happened to be directly opposite the Capitol theatre, which I took as a good sign. (Our show of Wicked wasn't until Sunday night, but so we were happy to stumble across the theatre!)

Look to the Western sky...

Inside the restaurant is all sleek and modern, with dark wooden floors and gleaming silver benches. There is also a pretty awesome dessert bar, where you can watch fresh Thai desserts being prepared!
Crunchy things in bags (Sorry not exactly sure what they are, but they look unhealthy, hehehe!)

Mmm... cakes
Mmm... durian with sticky rice, and more beans and jellies and other Asian dessert awesomeness.

But, as I said, it was about 4:30 by this stage, and we had a 9:15 reservation at Spice Temple, so we had to say no to the desserts. Next time!

Even though it was 4:30 in the afternoon, the restaurant was still packed. Mainly with students and young Asians.

Hot humid weather needs cold caffeinated refreshment (and I know Sydney isn't Thailand, but come on, I am from Melbourne where it is generally cold and windy!). Thai ice coffee with condensed milk was the answer.
Kaffe Yen - $3.50

At first the coffee was super thick, but got a bit easier to drink once the ice had melted.

We ordered 2 dishes and rice between the 2 of us. I ordered sticky rice, which came in this cute little container:
I also thought the water glasses were very pretty, but I must admit they did look a bit carcinogenic!

Sticky rice - $3.50

GAENG KEAW GAI - $14.
Chicken curry made with a spicy green paste of galangal, kaffir limes, lemongrass, garlic and long green chillies. The chicken and aromatic paste is cooked in coconut milk with apple eggplants and then finished off with finely sliced kaffir lime leaves and basil.

The Gaeng Keaw Gai was a fantastic green chicken curry, with cute bitter mini-eggplants (they're the green things that look like peas). It was well spiced, rich and satisfying, but didn't leave us weighed down with coconut milk. A well balanced dish.

GAI TORT - $12.
Crisp fried chicken marinated in coconut milk, coriander roots and garlic. Served with nahm jim jeaw.

Yes, I know, 2 chicken dishes. But Sandra doesn't eat seafood, and I really like crisp-fried chicken, ok! Hehe. Nam Jim, as anyone who has read a Neil Perry book will know, is a Thai chilli sauce. Chat Thai's version had the sweetness of regular bottled sweet chilli sauce, but with a fiery kick. I really enjoyed the chicken - it was juicy within and crispy without - everything I want in a fried chicken dish!

Chat Thai was good value (especially for Sydney prices). All of the above, plus a coke, came to $39. I'd love to go back with a bigger group, so that we could try more dishes. And those desserts! Mango with sticky rice is one of my all-time favourites, and I'd definitely have tried Chat Thai's version if we didn't have dinner reservations later that evening!

Brezel und Bier ($4 for the pretzel, $7.50 for the 'Mutti's milk' beer)

Muttis sells hot pretzels and beer. They also make fantastic Austrian food. They rock!

Muttis
118 Elgin Street
Carlton, 3053
Ph: (03) 9349 5008
Website

Muttis is one of my favourite restaurants at the moment. However, despite their total awesomeness, they don't seem to be that busy.

The first time we went (a Saturday night in June last year), the restaurant area at the back was about three quarters full, whilst the smaller area at the front was just bar space. This time, (again, a Saturday night) the back section was empty, and diners were seated in the smaller front section. From memory there were about 5 tables (including ours) all night. WTF!! Come on Melbournians!

I should say, us 5 tables weren't the only customers; there was a birthday party upstairs as well. Still, it seemed pretty quiet for a Saturday night! I really hope it was just a once off!

We went to Muttis a few weeks ago with our friends Wes & Amanda (or as I like to call them, "Wemanda"), who wanted to try out a nice new restaurant. We got there a bit earlier than them, so had some beer and savoury pretzel to start with.

The little tap with the wooden heart is Muttis Milk, the house brew!

The entrees always sound tempting, but knowing how big the mains are, I have yet to try any. They've also changed up the menu quite a bit since last time, so I have some new dishes to show y'all!

"Zwiebelroastbraten' - tender beef steak, pan seared and served with golden bratkartoffeln, garlic beans and finished in a crispy onion red wine jus - $28

Spicy Austrian beef goulash, home made spätzle and a warm Kaiser roll - $25.50

They seem to have changed their spätzle since last time - it had sliced spring onion rather than chives.

Amanda ordered the chicken dish. How good does it look!
Praprika chicken served on Schupfnudeln (Austrian pasta hand made from potato tossed in butter and poppyseeds) and finished with buttered spinach - $24

I was suffering some serious dish-envy, but couldn't go past the devilishly decadent triple duck.

Triple duck - glühwein poached duck breast, crispy leg of duck, and potato dumpling filled with duck crackling, served with speck and grüner veltliner braised savoy cabbage and lingonberry scented duck jus - $32

There is nothing on that plate that I don't like! The breast was tender and flavourful, the leg was crispy, and the jus was deeply savoury and delicious. And the potato dumpling! Let's look how soft and fluffy it was...

Inside crackly duck dumpling.

Although the dumpling looks small, I thought it was quite enough carby goodness to soak up the sauce. Not so much the gentleman diner at our next table - he ordered a hot pretzel to help him along. Great idea, huh?

No entrees means there is room for dessert! Sandra ordered another savoury pretzel for her 'dessert'. Muttis does, indeed, have a sweet pretzel on their dessert menu, but according to Germans, sweet pretzels are just a bit wrong.

Sadly, Omas Buchteln are no longer on the menu, but they did have some tempting new offerings. They had a version of bienenstich, which I just had to order! (Bienenstich is my favouritest German cake ever, as you may well remember.)

Bienenstich - Honey and whey custard between sweet puff pastry and fresh honeycomb - $13

Muttis' version was a gelatin-set vanilla custard between 2 sheets of puff pastry. Kinda like a mille feuille, I guess! This one, unfortunately, wasn't that great. Whilst the custard was smooth and creamy, the pastry was a bit stale and unpleasant. Oh well!

Amanda ordered the classic apple strudel.
Apple strudel, served with chantilly cream - $12

And Wes had the Black Forest trifle. Wes told me he doesn't normally like trifle, but I like to think that my passionfruit trifle has helped to change his mind, hehe.

Black forest trifle chocolate sponge with jelly, fresh cream, sour cherries, chocolate shavings and a drizzling of schnapps - $12

That tall white thing that looks like a marshmallow was actually a meringue. The whole dessert was a very cute idea, and I think the choc-cherry combination is a total winner.

Overall we had a great night, and despite the slight disappointment with my dessert, were full and happy. I really like Muttis, and I hope it stays around for a good long time. It definitely deserves to!

A while ago, I received some pearl couscous to test - it's the blue box with Gabriel Gaté on the front. Even though it came with some Gabriel-designed recipes, none of them really caught my eye. Lucky then, that at about the same time, David Lebovitz posted a recipe for Israeli Couscous with Butternut Squash and Preserved Lemons on his blog. I love those hearty meal-in-a-bowl type salads - chickpeas, brown rice, some dried fruit, herbs, whatever.

David's salad contains the couscous (duh), cooked onions, golden raisins, roasted squash, preserved lemons, parsley and toasted pine nuts. How good does that sound?

As you can see, the pearl couscous is larger than regular couscous, but also smaller than mograbieh.

I didn't have any preserved lemons, that oh-so-2007 ingredient, but I did have a jar of preserved limes in the pantry.


I'd never cooked with them before, and was surprised to find that they smelled super-strong, like chlorox. *Cough cough*.

I was a little worried using them, so I halved the amount the recipe asked for, and chopped them up into teensy-weensy pieces.

Please note knife of awesomeness, bought at Kappabashi-Kitchen-Town.

You also have to chop up and roast the butternut squash.

Then it is just a matter of chopping and stirring everything together. I didn't have any golden raisins, so substituted currants and cranberries - still good.

The salad was a lot of work, what with all the separate chopping and roasting and toasting and everything, but it was worth it! It was very tasty and light, and lasted for lunches over a few days. The preserved limes, while strong, weren't overpowering. The couscous is bland, and soaks up strong flavours really well. As for the couscous itself, I thought it was great! I liked how it kept its shape and didn't go soggy or blurry at the edges. It's a great carrier for dressings and sauces. If I were to use it as an accompaniment for a stew, I'd make sure to dress it with lots of butter or olive oil, some salt and possibly some chopped chives.