RECIPE – Tetsuya’s Oysters with Rice Wine Vinaigrette

This is an insanely easy & insanely tasty recipe by Tetsuya.

The recipe can be found here:

RECIPE – Heston Blumenthal’s perfect steak & salad

I’m slowly working my way around recipes from Heston Blumenthal’s tv series ‘In Search of Perfection’ and today, it’s Heston’s perfect steak and salad.

You can check out my other Heston recipe attempts here.

This is actually the easiest Heston recipe I’ve attempted so far. I’ve only put off trying this for so long because of the extremely long cooking time (24 hours in the oven).

My attempt at Heston’s perfect steak & salad

RECIPE – Tetsuya’s Confit of Ocean Trout

Yes, I know, it’s been an age since I’ve been posting anything.

Many, many, many years ago, I tried out Tetsuya’s restaurant in Sydney. It was my first fine dining experience and it was thoroughly enjoyable, opening my eyes to the possibilities of what could be done with some fine ingredients.

Not too long ago, I ended up at Tetsuya’s Singaporean effort, Waku Ghin, and that was mind-blowing.

But I digress, the reason why I’m posting is because I decided to attempt to make Tetsuya’s signature dish – the confit of ocean trout.

The recipe can be found here:

My attempt v My experience at Tetsuya’s restaurant

Obviously, my fillet is a smidgeon bigger – but that’s because this was to be an actual meal for dinner, not part 1 of a 13 course degustation.

RECIPE – Heston’s super stringy cheese fondue

I’ve been watching Heston’s tv series ‘How to cook like Heston’ where he gives you (mostly) realistic recipes that the home cook can do. Some things do look time consuming, but nothing like 3-day extravaganzas that I’ve attempted before (more of my attempts at Heston Blumenthal’s recipe here).

This is a really quick & simple recipe and good fun too (but Heston told me I can play with my food…)

Stretchy cheesy goodness

RECIPE – “Perfect” Arancini balls

Why is it perfect? Because I used “perfect” ingredients:

• Leftovers of Heston Blumenthal’s perfect risotto
• Leftovers of Heston Blumenthal’s perfect spaghetti Bolognese

Crispy & tasty & a lovely leftover food.

Eat Art Truck – roving food truck – Sydney

So not too long ago, Sydney started trialling gourmet late night food trucks including food purveyed by those with impressive culinary pedigrees.

The first one I tried was Eat Art Truck which is run by 2 chefs – one formerly of Tetsuyas & one formerly of Quay. And they did not disappoint.

Theirs is an Asian fusion & western style option. These aren’t no ordinary kebab trucks, they come with state of the art induction cooktops and are custom designed for the truck.

Sydney Uyghur Cuisine – Dinner – Surry Hills

I’m always up for trying new things and I’d walked past this restaurant several times with a mind to go in next time I’m around for dinner. I’ve had Chinese food before (who hasn’t?), but not from this muslim ethnic group in China (and other areas in Central Asia). That means there will be no sweet & sour pork on the menu.

First up, how to pronounce Uyghur? We ask the waiter of this family restaurant and he says ‘wee-gur’.

The decor is very bright

Yu-U – Dinner – Melbourne

Was in Melbourne recently and had to make a pit stop at Yu-U for dinner. We booked a week in advance for a Thursday night and when we got there, they were turning people away as they were booked out.

The first challenge was to find the place. All I can say is, Melbourne restaurants have a different vibe to Sydney (although Sydney is trying hard to copy Melbourne).

Yes, it is in the basement, although there are no outward signs telling me that.

Cellar Bar (Grossi Florentino) – Lunch – Melbourne

On my recent jaunt to Melbourne, I had a lazy Saturday wandering around town and happened upon Guy Grossi’s ventures in Melbourne. Not wanting to burn a hole in my wallet, I decided to go for the “cheapest” option of The Cellar Bar.

It was surprisingly, not busy around midday on a Saturday which was a relief for me because I’m not one to wait for food.

The decor is well done and I quite like the cosy brassiere feel to it.

It’s a small place, I wouldn’t really consider it a bar, more of a cafe but it was still enjoyable nonetheless.

Kobe Jones Teppanyaki – Dinner – The Rocks

Teppanyaki conjures up images of flying eggs and flinging fried rice. In Japan, it is actually in relation to the iron hot plate the food is cooked on.

I had various foods flung at me a few weeks ago but knew that I would be expecting something a little different at Kobe Jones – less food on the torso, for instance.

Arriving at the restaurant, it looked like it wanted to be a French sitting room, not a Japanese restaurant. There were antique couches and rustic fireplaces.