Black Star Pastry, Newtown

7:19 AM | Labels: , , , ,


Newtown - a treasure trove of fashion trends, 6.50 thai, music, street art and good food as i'm slowly discovering. Whilst passing Oscillate Wildly the other night, I spotted a quaint little bakery next door and it turns out it was the famous Black Star Pastry. Christopher The is the genius at work here, formerly of 2 hatters Universal and Claudes, Christopher has since left and opened up a little patisserie in the heart of Newtown.  I haven't had much time to visit it lately but I knew a visit was inevitable sooner or later.



Some would say it's cosy, but it's a little on the more claustrophobic and uncomfortable side with it's lack of chairs  and stout tables. There is, however, an intoxicating aroma made up of layers of layers of coffee, sweet and hearty pies that just draws you in. 


Young Henry Beer and Brisket 7.8

I had a beef and beer pie all wrapped in a wonderfully crisp, artfully groved pastry case. The filling was good but it pales in comparison to the next pie.


Lamb Shank + Red Wine 7.8
For my 8 dollars, I'll pick the far more gutsy lamb pie liberally laced with rosemary leaves and fall-off-the-bone tender lamb strips that leave me wanting more. I notice L didn't seem to complain about this pie and she usually loathes lamb. 


Strawberry Watermelon Cake with Rose Cream 7
There's so much hype that surrounds this cake and it's befitting that it does so. L could not stop raving on and on and on about it. It's hard not to, with the clearly defined individual alternating layers of crisp sweet watermelon, sponge cake (as opposed to the usual sogginess that just invades the other layers) and strawberries perfumed with a rose cream and dressed with a glossy syrup and rose petals and pistachios. It's light and all the hero flavours never over power, instead wonderful complementing each other in harmonic balance.



Bread and Butter Pudding with Anglaise 6.2
On the other hand, I could not stop going on about the bread and butter pudding. Layers and layers of sweet buttery brioche are compacted together, studded with sweet raisins and a vanilla bean creme anglaisé with a little kick of liqueur. It's just bloody delicious.






There's so much more to Black Star Pastry and it's a little odd that I've only just discovered it. I'm a little disappointed that I missed out on the truffle day on August but there's always next year right? I don't think, however, that I can wait that long for my next Black Star Pastry fix.


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Crust Masterclass @ cheeky food group, Surry Hills

6:34 AM | Labels: , , , ,


Thank you very much to Laura Cario from Liquid Ideas for inviting me to a Crust Masterclass inside cheeky food group's headquarters. It's my first and hopefully not my last invited event and it's a rather intimidating and at the same time comforting sensation being in the same room as multiple like-minded individuals. There's no disapproving eyebrows to be found to indicate that maybe, just maybe... I should stop talking about what I had for dinner the other night or maybe I should stop waving my arms  around erratically in public to exemplify how you emulsify a hollandaise. 



Sometimes known for their less traditional pizzas and loading of ingredients, e.g. surf and turf and salmon benedict, today they were unveiling the creation of their much more conservative and simpler pizza: the heirloom tomato margherita. It's the classic margherita dressed up with a variety of heirloom tomatoes, and assortment of cheeses and oregano verde (which is like a salsa verde made with oregano). 


I was paired up with Vivian from When the World Stops Spinning and were tasked with preparing one for ourselves to eat. Being the more avid cook, Vivian did most the cheffy things while I just stood back and admired. There's something therapeutic about pizza making; the twirling, rolling and pounding of pizza dough, casually (or rustically as Crust call it) dropping ingredients all over and watching it slowly but surely roll into the oven with the cackle of the licking flames.  


I admit, besides finding many many many uses for the average egg, I really can't do much else in the kitchen contrary to what most of my friends think. I am an absolute nightmare when it comes cooking especially baking. I am a superb eater however, but that skill doesn't really benefit me in today's masterclass as I'm more tempted to eat the individual ingredients than to finish the actual product. And how can you not with 3 different types of mozarella. 


Before
Green Tigers Masterpiece courtesy of Vivian from When the World Stops Spinning
and After
Our result turned out quite impressively. Green tigers. YEAAAHHH. Initially I was worried that the liberal amounts of raw oregano would overpower but it oddly doesn't and just lifts the sweet tartness of the tomatoes. The flavours of the ingredients are just clean and beautiful with the cheeses really giving a distinctive yet wholesome richness, rounded off with a flavoursome kick of pesto. It's a real joy to eat.



Crust Head Chef - Peter Augoustis






Laura Cario from Liquid Ideas

Ox hearts, green tigers, breakfast's, apollo's etc.; heirlooms (coming from the word heritage, thank you Peter, I did learn something) come in a wide array of weird names, textures and flavours. It's a shame the finished product wasn't a reflection of all those types but in retrospect, it's not humanly possible to taste 100+ types of tomato on a singular slice and I'm all the happier for the creative restraint and simplicity. The heirloom tomato margherita might prove to be a very promising and popular addition to the already hefty selection at crust.


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Ladurée, Sydney

5:51 AM | Labels: , , , ,


I've been having Laduree envy ever since my monthly (lately weekly) fine dining partner A spent 3 days in Paris and all 3 days were spent in Ladurée. Macarons, fruits and champagne for breakfast, macarons and sandwiches for lunch, panfried salmon and macarons for dinner, needless to say she made her experience sound so magical that ever since I've been frantically following the opening of Ladurée. 


It was only until two days ago where they finally opened one up here in the land down under. We now have our own piece of Paris here, literally. 

They fly the macarons in daily from France and I hear the flavours just sell out by 12pm. 2 hours? Please, more like a 15 minute wait. Word of warning, if you want to avoid queues, try to be there around 9-11 am.


At first glance, the shop appears to be like any other macaron shop jazzed up to fit into pitt street mall. The macarons at the front often looked inconsistent and appear battered and bruised from their 15 thousand kilometre journey. 



There's an area at the back for a sit down slow high tea along with the shop front that offers jams, teas, handbags, honey, candles and of course macarons. Parisian luxury and excessiveness at our door front.



The menu reveals a more innovative yet at the same time more conservative (as opposed to zumbo's) selection of flavours. 


Liquorice
Lime Marshmellow
Vanilla

Holy *insert expletive*... Intially, they appear the same to the other macarons in other stores but it's not until you eat then that it becomes apparent that they are so incredibly different. It's a coarser grind of almond meal than normally used to that really gives it a nicer texture. They were perfectly risen with feet and  the usual crispy delicate shell. Overpowering sweetness is often a concern with macarons but not this one; there's just enough sweetness to just lift the true flavours. The flavours themselves are exciting and yet conservative at the same time, there's just an unmatched lightness about them that makes you appreciate it so much more. The fillings are smooth, thick and wet which is just as they should be. The lightness really just begs you to eat more. Intentional? I think so. At $3.20, it is probably the most pricey Sydney has experienced so it's best you enjoy the fleeting moments of mind numbing perfection slowly. Very very slowly. Which wasn't what I did for the first macaron.


Jams
Tea







There have been many debates on macarons over time. Aged eggwhites? How do you pronounce it? Where are the best macarons? 1 O or 2 Os? Well I can safetly say, without a doubt, the best macarons are from Ladurée if I haven't made that obvious enough already.  



The servers, thick with french accents, are real masters in gift making. They have a real ball just helping you pick out flavours. "Is it a girl? Maybe a purple just to make it pretty. How about a yellow one too?", she exclaimed with a twinkle in her eye and a smile starting to form. Sure...? The realisation that I've just burnt through 18 dollars in 5 minutes of gluttony doesn't even hit me until I got back home. That good.  One bite will set your heart a flutter and you'll never look back. J'adore le Macaron. C'est magnifique.


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Cantina Mobil, Camperdown

2:04 AM | Labels: , , ,



Let's face it, your uni being the centre attention of food trucks is pretty good. With EatArtTruck, Agapé and Cantina Mobil making regular rounds at Sydney Uni, we're really feeling the love. With EatArtTruck selling out delicious goodies on a weekly basis, Cantina Mobil with its burritos, nachos and tacos itself appears very promising.

Sangria Senorial 4.5
Sangria Señorial might just be my new favourite drink. It's fizzy, non alcoholic and has that fruit kick and it's perfect for a hot day.


Chipotle Beef Burito 10
It's missing some freshness but the fall apart chipotle beef is just meltingly beautiful.
Anchiote Chicken Nachos 12
It's a decent sized serving of nachos but, despite the cheese sauce, the melting cheesiness was missing here. I love fall apart meats and the chicken is pretty tender although I'm also missing the zip and zing from the salsas here yet again. It just doesn't feel complete.



Sorry Amigos. The consensus is that the food is decent yet unremarkable. Where are the super zingy fresh flavours, the variety, the salsas? It does little to distinguish itself food from the far more outstanding Mad Mex and El Loco close by and being slightly more expensive than both of them certainly isn't helping their cause. However, it's the fun warmness of the staff that will keep me optimistic to try some more.


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