FoodieChat

I’m intrigued – what is claypot rice?  Well I sort of knew, but how could you have a whole restaurant based solely around this one style of cooking?   Well, the queues outside the shop indicated that it is possible, and highly desirable!  First Taste is a chain of small family very casual restaurants that serves rice topped with all sorts of different meats and toppings that is baked in a claypot as its name implies. The rice forms a delicious crust on the pot, much in the same way that paella has one, and is brought to your table on your personal wooden board.  First Taste is also a specialist in soups.  For $4.50, try the wintermelon and pork soup to whet your appetite, as the rice takes 20 minutes to cook. 

Soups range up to $38 per serve that includes shark fins, fish maw and other specialties that may be new to the Australian palate.  But we’re here for the rice!  Delicious black pepper beef tenderloin rice is so tender, just the right amount of spice, and very saucy to mix through your rice.  At $7.50, you’d think yo ureally are eating in China!

Very popular is the chicken and mushroom rice ($7.80), it’s chicken thighs steamed with mushrooms and also chinese sausage.

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Sydney’s little Portugal is located in Petersham.  Good food, great prices and friendly (often family run) services!  I’ve been to Sweet Belem for apparently the best (and freshest) Portugese tarts in Sydney.   There’s also a food festival annually where the streets are closed and stall holders sell all manners of food including the specialty, salt cod cakes.    Costa Do Sol was the first restaurant I tried.  We had: Lulas Panadas (Calamari Rings) $9; Ameijoas a bolhao pato (Clams in Olive Oil, garlic & Coriander) $15, Chourico Assado (Chargrilled portuguese sausage) $11.  

For mains – Espetada De Frango (chicken skewer) $17 and Espeta a costa do sol (char grilled lean beef skewer) $19 – both served with salad, rice and fried potato cubes. 

And to finish – Creme Caramel. They ran out of portugese tarts again so be sure to order ahead (despite my doing so anyway!). 

The clams were tasty, with the fresh bread great for mopping up the juices. A tad on the salty side, it was a generous sized serve.  The Portugese sausage is like chorizo sausage – however, instead of lumps of fat – instead there were lumps of ham! Delicious and nutritious!  The skewers are an impressive main – coming out on sword like sticks, hung up on a stand at your table, with butter dripping down onto the plate at the bottom.  This is a fantastic venue for a group dinner – with plenty of street parking, and lively enough to still be intimate.

77 New Canterbury Road, Petersham, NSW (02) 9569-2319 *also in the entertainment book!

Kicking off a very long 3 days of various birthday celebrations – and the highlight – was this calzone from La Grotta in Haberfield.  Being another of Sydney’s “Little Italies”, Haberfield’s Ramsay Street is lined with delis, pizza shops, bakeries, and bread and pasta suppliers, so the competition is tough.  I actually wanted to try La Disfida, (which was said by Luciana of Cucina Italiana to be her favourite over rival Napoli Im Bocca), but alas it was closed.  So then Dolcissimo looked quite packed, but also didn’t seem to have more than pasta and pizza on offer, we walked to next door La Grotta, which seemed alot quieter but had a more diverse menu.  GREAT choice, because not only was the service an outstanding differentiator from its Haberfield cousins, but this calzone was wood fired perfection.  The waiters had no problem whatsover turning any of the other pizzas on the menu into the calzone, so I chose the Special, with ham, salami, mushrooms, olives (and hold the pineapple).  This gigantic crescent arrived which was bigger than the plate – crust was risen to perfection, and cooked the way I like it – crunchy as it can be without burning.  It was not oily at all, and well I could have stopped eating after 4 slices, but hey since I’m there…. let the pants loose. It was $19.90 which is around the same as all the other shops in the area – but go there also for the outstanding attentive service that really aims to please in a really genuine way.  The place is also HUGE, so also consider it for functions!

La Grotta 104 Ramsay Street Haberfield (02) 9799 0100

Drive all the way down Darling Street – past the park, past the roundabout and you’ll find Sojourn – a newly hatted restaurant in a sandstone terrace which has one of the ex-Banc boys in the kitchen so I read.  The restaurant’s website showed an amazing rolled mini pork roast which I was dying to try – and the site wins top prize for most interesting website – a reflection on the innovativeness and attention to detail of the food.   We were lead up a staircase to the very intimate upper floor, and presented with sourdough rolls that had been warmed in the oven. The staff are very discrete but helpful too.  Soon after ordering we had an amuse bouche of the most intensely flavoured delicious soup sip of creamy leek soup I’ve ever had.  It wasn’t heavy or thick either, but captured the flavour of the ingredients in a concentrated little burst of flavour.  Definitely whet my appetite for what was to come.   I then tried the seafood broth with ravioli and scampi ($26).  This picture actually makes it look really large but no more than a few spoonfuls.  I personally didn’t like the flavour which was again strong and well defined because it reminded me of bonito, but my more seasoned dining companion loved every spoon.  

We then both opted to have the pork eye fillet ($38) – which was the most amazing pork – the intense flavours a definite trend, yet didn’t ruin the integrity of the quality of the meat.  The garlic and herbs infused the light, tender meat, with the juices still in tact to make it so moist.  We each got a side of condiments – caramelised apple sauce, jus in a mini beaker, and a square of perfectly crunchy crackling. (I’m sure that people could hear us crunch crunch in Victoria!)

 We deliberated over whether to have one of the desserts ($14) or to have coffee with petits four ($7).  We opted for the latter, and out came a platter of bite sized lemon tart, discs of meringue with delicate fruit salsa, dark chocolate truffles, and a sugared mini friand.

This is a place to go if you really know your food and don’t mind paying for top quality. At the time that we went, before it had its star, its website listed mains as $30 each – we were just after an inexpensive quick dinner, so was disappointed to see they were $35+ when we got there.  Not complaining too much – we instead got an intimate fine dining experience with attention to detail – which is what you’ll get if you come here.  (more…)