Arriving in Melbourne and Ladies day
Well after a day’s travelling, I got to Melbourne on Wednesday 23rd, just in time to hear that Serena had been knocked out in the quarter-finals by American Sloane Stephens. Now I have been quite interested to see Stephens play…. But not interested for it to be at the cost of Serena. Anyway, you can only watch who is playing, so Stephens it is.
I have been staying on Queen Street in the commercial centre of Melbourne, at a hotel that charges you for internet connectivity. What a shock – I didn’t think those still existed. Well, at least the tennis (and the MCG, incidentally) are only a short walk away, along the picturesque Yarra river. I got up on Thursday morning to excitedly make my way down to the tennis, for Ladies day.
Walking along the Yarra River
The final Thursday at the Australian open is called ladies day as both women’s semi-finals are played that day during the first session. This was also a special day as it marked the 40th anniversary of the WTA. The good and the great were there to celebrate.
40th Anniversary of the WTA
The matches that are on are the Bryan brothers in the men’s doubles semi-finals, Li Na versus Maria Sharapova and then Victoria Azarenka versus Sloane Stephens. The nightmare outcome to my mind would be the shrieks of Sharapova versus the annoying whinnying of Azarenka. I am backing Li Na and Sloane Stephens.
Li Na played some surprisingly good tennis, relentlessly hitting the tramlines and making Sharapova work. Sharapova was not on good form and made a lot of unforced errors. Li Na duly won.
Li Na versus Maria Sharapova
Li Na Serves
Next up, Sloane Stephens versus Victoria Azarenka.
Azarenka in a hoody?
At the toss
Well, you will undoubtedly have read a lot about this already. First of all, it was a very bad match of pretty low quality – I am very surprised that Sloane Stephens beat Serena, even on one leg. Azarenka for her part also did not play well but was definitely a lot better than Stephens.
Stephens returns
The second set was comical with each of them breaking the other routinely. Sometime in the second set, funnily enough after a Stephens winner, Azarenka started limping and clutching her ankle. The crowd was not sympathetic. Anything Serena can do…..
Then after Stephens broke her serve yet again, she called for the trainer, who spent a lot of time examining and rotating her shoulder. After about 5 minutes of this, she went off for another ten minutes. Imagine my surprise when she claimed her knee and her back were giving trouble. Maybe in Belarus, the word for ankle is knee and the word for shoulder is back…. Anyway, she duly came back and broke Stephens’ serve. Now, Azarenka was already not popular with the crowd and was regularly mocked for the stupid noises that she makes but, even by her high standards, this was idiotic. Did anyone think that her games playing changed the outcome of the match? No. It may have taken a bit more effort and possibly even another set. But that is what made it even worse. The number one player versus the number twenty-nine, in a massively winning position has to resort to this? Shocker. Let’s hope Li Na gets her second grand slam. On the basis of their playing alone, at the semi-final, Li Na deserves it. On the basis of their behaviour, there is only one deserving winner. Let’s see what happens tonight.
I came without combing my hair to see this???
Tags: Australian Open, Azarenka, Sloane Stephens, WTA
Australia day – 26 January
Yesterday was Australia Day and the women’s singles final.
Pei
To avoid having to eat the dreadful food at the Rod Laver Arena – imagine oil being heated at above 180C for 5-6 hours and burned potato wedges cooking for that long and producing a variety of carcinogens, the bad wine – Jacob’s Creek is one of the big sponsors, we went to Pei, a Mark Best restuarant, at Collin’s place on the way down to the tennis.
Now, some of you may not have heard about the virtues of Australian food. Let me correct the impression of it all being bad rum (Bundaberg), cheap wine (the aforementioned Jacob’s Creek) and pies. These all exist. However, due to the influx of many nationalities (Thai, Chinese, Greek, Italian etc, etc), and the high quality fresh produce available, there is a wide range of good food available that can rival London’s. Additionally, there is also a significant amount of good quality wine available, most of which never makes it way to London or further. If it does, it retails at over £30 a bottle – for example, Charles Melton’s extremely excellent Nine Popes Shiraz.
At Pei, we gallumphed our way through a couple starters: pork chunks and prawns with crispy pork salt and roasted garlic puree:
Crispy pork chunks
Grilled prawn and pork salt
We then trawled our way through the mains. By this time, the wine was having an effect on me, so all I remember was lamb, steak king fish and a pretty great bottle of red.
Lamb with minted peas and braised lettuce
KIngfish and courgettes
Steak with polenta dumplings and spinach puree
Fully fed and watered, we walked down to the Rod Laver Arena and the women’s final.
Singles final, Australian Open 2013
Well what can I say? Azarenka won. She played some reasonable tennis as did Li Na and they were pretty evenly matched. Li Na’s improvement (post Carlos Rodriguez) is pretty interesting to note, although it was unfortunate that she made so many errors on her serve, which she did not against Sharapova.
Li Na arrives for the ladies’ final
Azarenka arrives
Neither one of them is really a match for an on-song Serena and it was very frustrating to watch their fastest serves as 161 kph – Serena’s is over 200 and even Sloane Stephens was often close to the 180 kph mark.
Li Na returns serve in the second set
Still, the match was entertaining, notwithstanding Azarenka’s squealing arias.
There is something irritating about Azarenka, from the self-consciously “too cool for school” hoody, incongruously matched with the pedal pushers and grandma’s swimsuit top; yhe “rapper” Redfoo (Berry Gordy’s grandson, with the unkempt hair) in her cheering section;
Redfoo(l) still hasn’t combed his hair
to her nickname VKA (or Vic-ahhhh) and the crocodile tears on her victory. (I won’t mention the noises again – I’ve said enough already).
Come back Serena – your presence is needed!!!
Up next, the men’s final….
Tags: Australian Open, Azarenka, Li Na, Mark Best, Pei, Red Foo
Cutler & Co, Men’s final
After the excitement of the ladies final, my friends Simone, Greg and I got up late (well I did anyway) and made our way down (or is it up?) to North Melbourne and lunch at Cutler and Co.
Cutler and Co is what Melbourne does well, trendy with that grungy look but still managing to be clean. Their Sunday lunch menu is pretty simple – no choice on the starters but a choice of three mains plus one special and three desserts.
The starters were:
Round 1: Oysters; Seaweed crackers with Smoked aubergine and Manzanilla olives
Manzanilla Olives, Smoked Aubergine Puree and Oysters
Round 2: Heirloom Carrots with mint and pomegranate, kingfish sashimi with furikake and ginger; Halloumi with heirloom tomatoes and sumac and beetroot with ras-el-hanout, goat’s cheese and lardons.
Heirloom carrot salad, Kingfish sashimi
Halloumi and Beet root salad
The smoked aubergine was simple and tasty, with a big, smoky flavour. They could honestly have been served with any crispy cracker, poppadom or something else, but this worked well. The kingfish was fresh, with a really delicious dressing as you’d expect with sashimi. (Furikake, should you wish to know, is described by Wikipedia as “a dry Japanese condiment meant to be sprinkled on top of rice. It typically consists of a mixture of dried and ground fish, sesame seeds, chopped seaweed, sugar, salt, and monosodium glutamate. Other flavourful ingredients such as katsuobushi (sometimes indicated on the package as bonito), or okaka (bonito flakes moistened with soy sauce and dried again), freeze-dried salmon particles, shiso, egg, powdered miso, vegetables, including kimchi, etc., are often added to the mix.”
The mains that we had were the roasted lamb shoulder and Snapper, smoked mussels, fennel and caperberries. The lamb was what it was – well cooked and soft but a little plain. The snapper on the other hand was great. The fish was perfectly cooked and delicious, with lots of fun and different flavours. The caperberries in particular worked well (as usual) with the fish.
Snapper
The star of the desserts was the star anise pineapple, yoghurt sorbet and spiced granita. The pineapple was sweet and fresh, the yoghurt sorbet creamy yet light and this was all nicely finished by the peppery, icy ginger granita. Unfortunately, I was too busy eating to take a picture of that dessert, so I took this of Simone’s.
Berries, poached merengue and watermelon granita
We had two bottles of wine, the Mount Mary Cabernet and the Meerea Park Terracotta Semillon – the Mount Mary wines are quite well known, with the Quintet Cabernet blend earning Langton’s highest rating. This Cabernet is from a lower yield year, in which the no quintet was made and so is available at a much more reasonable price. The Semillon is made by a boutique producer in the Hunter Valley and was also quite a gem and a good match to the fish and earlier courses that we had.
Federation Square
After lunch, I passed through the Transport bar at Federation square, on the way to the tennis. I met Sarah the head of pastry when I worked at Rocket caterers. Sarah moved to Melbourne about 5 years ago and is now executive pastry chef, running the pastry section at “The Big Group”, one of Melbourne’s top catering companies.
Sarah and her husband Joel
Tennis
Well the men’s final started off looking like it would be a really great match but it was a step too far for Andy Murray, who went into meltdown from the third set… (sadly not bullet-proof, nothing to lose…)
Murray and Djokovic after the toss
The crowd was rowdy and boisterous and probably quite a bit drunk. Still, the tennis long-weekend managed to be pretty enjoyable all round, despite the never ending playing of Titanium (by David Guetta, featuring Australia’s very own Sia).
Yarra Valley and the MCG
Yarra Valley
On Monday following the tennis, we took the opportunity of being in Melbourne to go down to the vineyards in the Yarra valley.
The first vineyard we went to was Coldstream Hills, where the set up managed to be both cosy and professional.
Coldstream Hills vineyard
We started with a sparkling wine made using the “methode champenoise”. In this process, second fermentation takes place in the bottle, after the addition of a little sugar syrup (liquer de tirage). Regular turning (remuage) ensures that sediment settles in the neck and can be easily removed, often by freezing the liquid, (a process called degorgement) at the end of the process. Their sparkling wine was well made, light and quite delicious – lighter than champagne yet tastier than most proseccos and with none of that yeastiness than can be present in some champagnes. Next we tried three chardonnays.
Greg and Simone taste the wine
This filled my heart with dread as my impression of Australian chardonnay was formed in the late 90’s, when a fair amount of oak chipping occured. The first of these was good (a crowd pleaser our guide called it – for those who are not necessarily fans of chardonnay – i.e. me), as was the reserve. The second bottle was pretty ordinary.
Range of chardonnays tried
We also tried a few pinot noirs, the nicest of which was made using Tasmanian grapes and blended by James Halliday himself. The Coldstream Pinot Noirs are rated as distinguished by Langton’s wine guide. Note that the Langton’s wine guide rates different Australian fine wines based on prices obtained at auction. The categories are exceptional, outstanding, excellent and distinguished. There is no shame in a distinguished rating as just making it into the guide puts the wine at a particular level. Some smaller vintages are not sold at auction and therefore won’t make it into Langton’s but can be of quite exceptional quality.
We next moved on to the Yarra Yerring vineyards. They were not as professional as at Coldstream, nor as attentive. They had ten wines set out, including the white, which were all warm. There was one white in particular, which was over ten years old and urine yellow. It was cooked and quite frankly, nasty. Why put that in a tasting line? There was a very drinkable non-challenging red from 2001 that was ready now but would not last. Greg bought a bottle. Their Dry Red number 1 is rated as excellent in Langton’s wine guide, based on auction results. It didn’t taste impressive to me but that could have been caused by its handling.
Yep, warm Yarre Yering wine does not taste good
The next stop was Chandon, a vineyard set up by Moet and Chandon. They were almost too professional and we were turned off by the coach loads.
We left and went on to a little Italian vineyard, de Bortoli’s. Unfortunately we couldn’t get a table for lunch but we tried some of their wines. Greg bought a bottle of their Noble One dessert wine – this would be a good match for a tart dessert (I thought of lemon tart, Simone thought meringue and summer berries) but definitely not chocolate. This dessert wine is listed as outstanding by Langton’s.
I bought a couple bottles of their EZ (Edelzwicker), which was a full, fairly fruity Gewurtztraminer, Riesling and Pinot Gris blend. I thought it would go very well with hot spicy Thai curries or Caribbean food, so we will drink it in Sydney when I do some cooking.
Having pushed ourselves to the limit of driving capabilities, we headed back in to Melbourne.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)
That evening, I went to the MCG to watch the cricket.
The MCG
The MCG is a massive ground – it is apparently the tenth largest sporting stadium in the world, with a capacity of just over 100,000 standing and seating. Despite being so large, the sidings are very steep and visibility is very good. The crowd was even rowdier (drunker?) than at the tennis – I witnessed one fight and ejection.
Despite the rain delay, the match (T20 international between Sri Lanka and Australia) was very entertaining and I got to watch a good fifty by Mahela Jayawardene.
Jayawardena on strike
Malinga bowls
Tags: coldstream hills, de bortoli, james halliday, langton’s wine guide, yarra valley, Yarra Yering
St. Kilda’s beach
I spent my last day in Melbourne at St. Kilda’s beach. I took the number 96 tram from the City centre (Queen Street) to the beach. I passed the Melbourne Museum and a lot of other sights. Museums are not really my thing but this is grand and quite stylish from the outside.
Melbourne Museum
After almost half an hour, I got to the end of the line but there was not a beach in sight. I do not know how the woman I asked kept a straight face but keep it she did, while letting me know that I had travelled to the wrong end of the tram line. An hour long tram trip later, I finally got to St. Kilda’s, where it was surprisingly windy and chilly – bear in mind that the mercury hit 40C last Thursday during the tennis. I walked up and down the beach / boardwalk.
The boardwalk at St. Kilda’s beach
The water at St. Kilda’s was quite calm and there were people paddle boarding and wave boarding. The wave boarders all wore wetsuits.
Wave boarding at St. Kilda’s
This could have been summer in Cornwall!
Tags: St. Kilda’s beach, waveboarding
Sydney’s beaches
Sydney
After a memorable week in Melbourne, I left for Sydney to stay with Simone and Greg in Petersham, just round the corner from Parramatta road. There I met their sons, Jack (6) and Sam (4) and began to drink my way through Greg’s cellar.
Simone and Sam
Jack
On our first night, we drank d’Arenberg’s Dead Arm Shiraz (2000) and Grosset’s Polish Hill Riesling (2001).
d’Arenberg’s Dead Arm Shiraz (2000) and Grosset’s Polish Hill Riesling (2001)
The Beach
The next morning, Simone and I went to the beach. We started at Bronte and walked passed Tamarama (derived from the aboriginal name “Gamma Gamma”) to Bondi. This is the Bondi to Bronte coast walk in reverse. The cliff top paths enable great views of the beaches below and several people were walking and jogging that route. All of the Sydney beaches were closed that day –there were floods in Queensland and New South Wales and the waves were really rough. That didn’t stop the surfers at Tamarama from heading out to the surf. Now, bear in mind that Tamarama is a beach with a lot of rocks just under the water and at both sides of its mouth and therefore, quite possibly not easy to surf at the best of times – you have to surf across the wave and stop before coming right to the beach and then paddle back out. The waves were rough as heck, yet some guys were diving off of the rocks into the surf. I have seen surfers do this in Cornwall, where I had assumed that they did not know what they were doing. It was explained to me that there is a current which, when you catch it at the right time (i.e. when there are no waves coming in for a little while), will pull you away from the rocks and you can then paddle out past the break point. I have to admit that it looked terrifying to watch.
Having forgotten my camera, I went back to the beaches a week later and through a few parks on the way. We stopped at was Queen’s Park, where people were insanely jogging in the midday sun, covered with sun cream.
Queen’s Park
Bronte beach, our next stop, was a lot calmer than last week.
Bronte Beach
We stopped at Tamarama, again.
Tamarama
It was low tide and the beach was still closed. Again that did not stop the surfers.
Surfing at Tamarama
The waves were not as spectacular, nor the surfers as good. I learnt that when the beaches are closed as they were last week, the surf schools cancel lessons. The surf instructors take the opportunity to surf, themselves, which explains the difference in quality. The low tide made entering from the rocks impossible. This didn’t stop one (fool) hardy soul from thinking about it though.
Fool Hardy
We went along to Cloverley next, where we admired the bathing pools.
Cloverley beach
Finally we ended up at Coogee, where we had lunch and walked the beach.
Coogee
Adriano Zumbo
We stopped at Adriano Zumbo’s (http://adrianozumbo.com) new store just before leaving the coast. We bought chocolate brownies and Smartie/Milkshake macarons for the boys, a Dirty Dani (salted caramel, milk chocolate, passion fruit and hazelnut) for Simone and a Bastard Cake (blackcurrant, coffee, peanut and salted caramel) for me. Sam loved the smartie macaron which left his lips blue. I thought the “bastard cake” was way too busy and discordant. It could easily have been split into three different desserts. The technique and flavours were good but perhaps not all together. It was a bit gimmicky.
Centurion Park
On our way back home, we went past the SCG, where I will go to watch cricket later today, and through Centurion Park.
Centurion Park
Tags: Adriano Zumbo, Bronte beach, Centurion Park, Cloverley beach, Coogee beach, Sydney, Tamarama beach
Tetsuya’s
Tetsuya’s is a restaurant that I have been hearing about for years and that I have wanted to visit for the last ten. It has been regularly voted one of the world’s top 50 restaurants and until recently was a three hat restaurant and is now a two hat restaurant. Restaurants in Australia are rated by the number of hats that they get, with the best getting three hats. Even many good restaurants may only get one hat.
All that is served at Tetsuya’s is a ten course degustation menu, adapted to allow for anything that you don’t eat and any allergies that you may have.
We arrived just after 7 pm on a rainy Friday. We were asked about allergies and anything else that we don’t eat. Having just been through Thailand, I was quick to say “tripe”, upon which our hostess laughed and said that there would be no chance of being served that.
Once we set of on our food trip, the sommelier, Simon Curkovic (Sommelier of the year 2008, http://www.gourmettraveller.com.au/sommelier_of_the_year_2008_simon_curkovic_catalina_rose_bay_nsw.htm), came over to offer us the matched wines. We decided to make our own way, with a bottle of 2003 Dom Perginon. Interestingly, Greg had rowed with Simon for 6 months as a student and won a NSW state rowing championship with him. However, they did that “guy thing” of pretending not to know each other for the whole evening and then remember slowly (yet in incredibly precise detail) when and where they had rowed together.
Anyway, let’s get on to the food….
We started with the Chilled pea soup with dark chocolate mousse. The soup was refreshing and could have been served hot or cold. The mousse tasted like a small block of dark chocolate oddly dropped into the soup and seemed superfluous.
Chilled pea soup
Savoury egg custard with Avruga
The custard was a typical Japanese stock base custard which was more flavourful than creamy but with a very good, wobbly texture and topped with Avruga caviar.
Savoury Custard with Avruga
Salad of the Sea
This included cuttlefish, dory, ocean trout, pomelo segments and lime tapioca pearls, which dissolved in little bursts of citrus in the mouth.
Salad of the Sea
Moreton bay Bugtail with braised Witlof
This was my favourite fish dish of the night. There was a delicious sweet and sour taste to this dish through the soy-caramel sauce and orange reduction. The witlof had a slightly bitter taste like chicory, which was nicely tempered by the caviar cream. The cream was seasoned with parmesan which was a well played counterpoint to the distinct flavours of the rest of the dish.
Moreton bay bug-tail
Confit of Petuna Ocean Trout with Fennel and pasteurised Ocean Trout Caviar
Finally we arrived at this, Tetsuya’s signature dish, which was Greg’s favourite dish of the evening. The Ocean Trout had been vacuum packed with assorted aromatics and slow-cooked in a water bath at a low temperature (around 60-65C, I would guess). This gave the fish a texture somewhere between sushi and a true confit, where the confited protein (often duck legs) is cooked gently (around 80-90 C) under duck fat for hours. The trout was then covered in a crispy dust of konbu (Japanese seaweed) soaked in soy and then crisped and crushed with toasted coriander seeds. This was interesting and gave the fish a hint of the Indian sub-continent.
Our final seafood course was baby New Zealand Snapper with soy butter and nameko mushrooms, this was a light fish dish, served with tangy shiso leaf, often described as Japanese mint.
New Zealand Baby Snapper
My least favourite dish of the night was poached spatchcock with asparagus and morels. I generally dislike poultry dishes which are done at low temperature as often they have a fairly “raw” or “uncooked” texture. This was certainly the case here and distracted from what may have been delicious accompaniments.
Poached Spatchcock
The fish and chicken dishes were accompanied by 2010 and then 2004 Pierro Chardonnay, from Western Australia. The extra age on the 2004 was definitely noticeable with greater smoothness and blending of flavours. Like me, Simon agreed that a good rich full bodied win like this could best be drunk at a slightly warmer temperature than lighter whites (say 11 to 12 C, rather than 9 or 10C). The first bottle would have been better at the lower temperature though.
The final meat dish was Lamb Backstrap with Summer Vegetables and Sheep’s Yoghurt, which was accompanied by complimentary glasses of 2010 Wantirna Estate (Yarra Valley) Cabernet Merlot Blend.
Lamb backstrap
Desserts, while good were somewhat low technique and disappointing. There were two sorbets (really? Does my palate need that much cleansing or are these just easy to do?)….
Green Apple and Mint Ice Cream with Basil Jelly
…. followed by Floating islands with Praline and Crème Anglaise (hazelnut and vanilla egg custards). Floating islands are poached meringues classically served with anglaise as was done here and seem to be enjoying a renaissance lately. Personally I missed the texture variation that a real meringue, or even toasted caramelised hazelnuts, would have added. This dish while it tasted fine was textureless.
Floating Island with Praline and Creme Anglaise
Fed and watered, we stumbled home.
Tags: Pierro, Simon Curkovic, Testuya’s
The Sydney Cricket Ground
Last Friday I made a quick trip to the SCG to take in the West Indies – Australia one day match.
The SCG
The West Indies had already lost the series and the proceeded to lose this match as well as the next. However, I was there to see a fabulous century by Kieron Pollard and yesterday we finally won our first match in Australia for sixteen years.
Can you see the ball fly?
In fact, Australia was beaten by the West Indies twice yesterday – once by the women and once by the men. Happy days!
Sydney – The Harbour
In my first week in Sydney, Simone, Sam and I went into Circular Quay, the train stop nearest to all Sydney’s key sights.
There are six piers at Circular Quay from which you can take the ferry to Manly Island or around the harbour or take any bay tour you fancy.
After walking around the Opera house, we stopped at a café to drink a coffee and essentially bribe Sam into good behaviour with a pastry.
Simone and Sam, following his pastry bribe
We then proceeded to the “on-off” harbour tour, which stops at Fort Denison, Taronga Zoo, Shark Island and Watson’s bay.
As the boat set off from Circular Quays, we got a spectacular view of the Opera House superimposed on the Harbour Bridge.
The Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge
Fort Denison (known as Mattewanye prior to European arrival) is a formal penal site just north of Sydney’s botanical gardens. It has also been known as Pinchgut (due to the sentencing to a convict there to a week on bread and water). The land of the island was used to provide sand stone for building Circular Quay.
Fort Denison
We decided to forego Taronga zoo, the next stop, as we had enough other things to see and limited time.
Shark Island is tiny at 1.25 hectares. It has been used as an animal quarantine area, naval storage depot and a public recreation depot. It is currently most popularly used for picnics. Note,. though, that it is called Shark Island because of its shape and not because of what may or may not be found in the water while swimming….
Shark Island
We got off at Watson’s Bay.
Watson’s Bay
Watson’s bay is 11 km North East of the Sydney business district and is at the end of the South Head peninsula. The most famous sight at Watson’s bay is The Gap, which is an ocean cliff on the eastern side of the peninsula, with views of the Pacific Ocean and Manly. It has been used as a signalling station to provide early warning of approaching ships.
The Gap
The tour guide failed to mention, in his description, that it is one of the most popular (is that the right word?) suicide spots in Sydney.
View of the North Shore
The rock at the gap is largely made up of sand and iron bound by clay. The oxidation of the iron gives the rock its yellow / brown colour. Much of the vegetation at the Gap grows in its nutrient poor soil and is thus poisonous, to stop pests from eating the leaves.
Vegetation at the Gap
View of Watson’s bay from the Gap
After leaving Watson’s Bay, we made our way back to Sydney and the Rocks.
The Rocks
“The Rocks” are famous for being some of the first English developments in Sydney. The area was originally had a reputation as a slum. In the early 1970s, plans to demolish the original buildings were opposed, with the eventual outcome being a redevelopment of the area into a tourist attraction.
Tags: Fort Denison, Shark Island, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney Opera House, Taronga Zoo, The Gap, The Rocks, Watson’s Bay
Sixpenny
Last Sunday, we went to Sixpenny restaurant, a little neighbourhood restaurant at Stanmore, which happens to be walking distance from Greg and Simone’s place. We chose this spot to celebrate Greg’s sister’s birthday. Incidentally, she was not with us but we celebrated her birthday anyway J. This restaurant is a one hat rated restaurant, with the owner / chefs having worked at El Bulli (Ferran Adria), Noma (Rene Redzepi) and a host of other well known restaurants. We chose the eight course tasting menu and matching wines – it seemed silly not to take advantage of the proximity of the restaurant and the fact that we could walk home!
The first “course” was in fact a number of little snacks, the first of which was salt and vinegar chips accompanied by herb cream.
Salt and vinegar crisps
The herbs were sourced from the restaurant’s back garden and seemed to be dominated by tarragon, which, although unusual, wasn’t at all unpleasant. Sticking to the pub tradition, this was matched with LOBO Norman cloudy cider which was surprisingly tasty – I didn’t think I would enjoy the cider as I dislike anything approaching beer – it was delicious, fruity tasting and quite easy on the palate.
Next up was carrot juice with droplets of olive oil. Both Simone and I thought we could smell something slightly fishy but suspect it was the olive oil. This was perfectly tasty if a bit virtuous, which considering everything heading into our stomachs, was probably necessary.
Carrot juice
We then had another small snack of mini-english muffins with cured pork jowl. These were served warm. The pork was salty and like a cross between ham and bacon, the muffins warm and soft. The carrot juice was already a distant memory.
Mini pork muffins
Of the little snacks, my favourite was the potato scallops. To call them deep fried mashed potatoes would not do them justice. These tiny bits of pre-lunch fun were crispy, light, fresh and salty.
Potato scallops
The second course (as opposed to snack) was salted cucumber with butter milk whey and tomato essence matched with chilled sake. Hmmm. A Cucumber course? This was my least favourite course. I found the dish bland, despite the complications of using tomato essence. It seemed like a large waste of time for very little resulting flavour. On the positive side, the sake was a very good match for cucumbers.
Cucumbers
Crab with macadamia and chamomile. This dish was lovely but disappointing only in so far as I had been led to believe that it was out of this world. It certainly was good but not outrageously so. I thought the dish slightly overpowered by the addition of macadamia shavings. Simone and Greg who had been here before thought that it was better and more balanced the last time they had it.
Crab and Macadamia nuts
This course was matched by Warramate Riesling of 2011, which I found quite tart as it was slightly young.
Grilled carrot, with toasted hazelnuts, mascarpone and toasted whey was delicious and fun, with the hazelnuts complementing the “beurre noisette” effect of the toasted whey.
Grilled carrots
On balance, though, I found the dish slightly too acidic and overpowered by hazelnuts. This was served with a Sauvignon Semillon blend from the Yarra valley (Yarra Yarra’s Phoenix of 2009.) In 2009, the Yarra Yarra vineyards burnt down and this wine was made from Sauvignon Blanc from neighbouring vineyards and Semillon donated by De Bortoli).
Greg’s favourite dish was the Coorong mullet, John Dory roe, ginger leaf, beurre blanc / hollandaise and sweet potato leaf. This was a lovely, lovely dish which we continued to think about (and talk about), long after we had finished eating and left the restaurant. The gentle bitterness of the greens, the creaminess of the butter sauce, crunchiness of the Roe and the delicious and well cooked fish flesh all combined to make this dish a real star.
Coorong Mullet
This was served with Muller-Catoir gerwurtztraminer (gutswein), which similar to Italian IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) wines, have stepped down a classification or so, in order to allow more freedom in winemaking. (Usually, in order to achieve a classification in Europe, strict rules regarding trees grown per hectare, irrigation, grape varieties allowed must be adhered to.) This wine was fruity and fun and not too challenging to the palate yet had good acidity and minerality. It matched the fish well and had the added bonus of being low in alcohol at 11.5% and was therefore not too destructive.
My favourite dish was the Crisp pork cheek – a little additional extra – as if we needed it! This comprised deliciously crisped pork skin on a well cooked and soft piece of pork cheek. This dish was accompanied by a jus which was a good balance of sweet and sour (it apparently included a cider reduction), roasted garlic cloves which were soft, sweet and strong and crunchy roasted macadamia nuts. This dish was a triumph, so much so that I refused to let them take my plate until I had mopped up every last lick of the sauce with the homemade sourdough bread.
Pork cheek
This was served with a big oakey old school Chardonnay (1997, Bannockburn), which was not really my thing (i.e. I didn’t like it) but it was classily made.
The final savoury dish was leg of lamb served with sweet onion jus, onion sprouts and wild spinach. This was quite a delicious dish but the sous vide cooking of the lamb leg left it a bit chewy for my liking. This dish was served with a 2008 Malbec, from the Bloodwood vineyard of Orange in New South Wales, a perfectly drinkeable wine.
Leg of lamb
The first of the palate cleansers was a floral milk sorbet. While this dish was attractively presented, it was way too creamy and flowery and really missed the point of a palate cleanser.
Floral milk sorbet
The second palate cleanser was strawberry ice served with fennel leaves and sour cream sorbet. This was simple fruit filled yet light dish. It was matched with a low alcohol (8%) Bugey-Cerdon sparkling rose Gamay from Eastern France. While I think it is unusual to match iced desserts (and soup as well), flavour-wise, this sparkling wine with its strawberry overtones worked well.
Strawberry granita with sparkling rose
The final two desserts were an apricot tart with mead ice-cream, apricot and meringue tuiles;
Apricot and meringue
and sweet potato scallops with sticky rhubarb.
Sweet potato scallops and sticky rhubarb
These were matched with a honeyed dessert wine with some acid overtones. These were some of the better desserts that I had had on my travels but like many desserts that I have had in London were not as spectacular as the mains. I would also be wary of serving potato scallops twice on a menu, even if one is sweet and one is savoury.
Dinner was finished with a selection of cookies with coffee.
This was certainly a pleasant eating choice with lots of fun and some delicious bits. I loved the way at Sixpenny, there is a desire to make interesting dishes with vegetables and to use their very own herb garden and locally sourced produce.
Sixpenny’s herb garden
The service here was exemplary. The main “fault” that I could find with this restaurant, and admittedly it is minor, was its desire to be a little too clever with everything which could get a little tiring – it is after all a meal and not an actuarial seminar. Like Tetsuya’s, I would give this 8 out of 10. While Tetsuya’s (8) edged it on food, the service at Sixpenny was streets ahead.
Note, however, that Sixpenny was Greg’s choice, as he found it a more entertaining, fun meal.
Tags: sixpenny, stanmore, Sydney
Adelaide and McLaren Vale
After a horrendously early start (04:45), I finally arrived in Adelaide, SA. Here I met John, from the Barossa-Daimler tours (http://www.barossadaimlertours.com.au/), who took me wine drinking for the following three days!
Earlier, Greg went through the wine regions and highlighted the different vineyards, those that produce great wine and those that have interesting “cellar doors”, as well as those which do good food.
I started in McLaren Vale on the first day and then went to the Barossa in the evening, through the Adelaide hills. I spent the next day touring the Barossa and then the final day touring the Clare Valley before heading back to Adelaide on Saturday night and Sydney on Sunday evening.
This is the final wine session of the trip and I hope to add to my recently acquired knowledge of Australian wines.
D’Arenberg
Our first stop was the d’Arenberg vineyards, owned and run by the Osbourne family, the original winemaker being d’Arenberg Osbourne. The d’Arenberg wines come with a good reputation, with a number of their reds featuring in the Langton’s Auction House wine guide.
View of the d’Arenberg vineyards
This was a good “cellar door” with several delicious wines and their cheeky sparkling wine, DADD, a take on the French MUMM.
Dadd sparkling wine
I went on to try their Lucky Lizard, a Chardonnay made from grapes from the Adelaide hills. Note that this wine, made from grapes that are not from the McLaren region have a different label (the signature d’Arenberg label is a diagonal red stripe) and are the baby of Chester Osbourne, the son of the original winemaker. He has run the vineyard for the last ten years.
The Dead Arm Shiraz, 2008, was, not surprisingly, the best of the reds on show – clearly a little young but developing well. I also tried one of the “Amazing Sites” wines, the JRO Affiliates 2010. The best grapes of all vineyards are blended to give the dead arm. The “Amazing Sites” feature wines made from the best grapes from each vineyard.
The d’Arenberg wines
I tried a dessert wine which was tasty but way to sweet without enough balancing acidity.
Kay Brothers
http://www.kaybrothersamerywines.com/
I loved, loved, loved the Kay Brothers’ cellar door, which was certainly my favourite of those in the McLaren Vale.
View from the Kay brothers cellar door
I would say white wines are not their speciality, although I tried a perfectly delicious 2012 basket pressed Muscat Blanc, which would be a good match to seafood, fish or even creamy pasta. All of their wines are basket pressed. The stand out wine for me was the 2010 Cuthbert, named after the son of one of the original Kay brothers. I also found the 2011 Basket Pressed Merlot to be a very interesting wine. It smelt like tobacco / cigars and was very tannic and structured on the palate – more like a Cabernet in style than a Merlot. It would be interesting to see how this would develop after a few (ten or more?) years of cellaring.
Additionally, for top ranked Australian wines (again, a number feature in Langton’s), their prices were more reasonable than a lot of the other cellars and for wines which aren’t as good.
Their best known wine is block 6, which sadly was not on the tasting menu. Fortunately, Greg has a case so…..
Primo
http://www.primoestate.com.au/
Next we went on to the Primo vineyards, which were established in 1979.
Primo Cellar Door and vineyards
They have a number of different labels, with Joseph being the premium one used for local McLaren Vale wines and the Primo label being used mainly for the wines made overseas and experimental wines.
The owner, Joseph Grilli, is Italian and he likes to use Italian grapes such as Nebbiolo (present in the Italian stallion of wines, Barolo) and Sangiovese (most commonly known as the key grape in Chianti), which are not so common in Australia. They also make olive oil – Joe Grilli has almost single-handedly been responsible for improving the quality of Australian olive oil. The sample that I had was certainly of a high quality, very olive flavoured, with a tinge of green.
As I asked about the Sangiovese, so we had two extra bottles added to our tasting – both 80% / 20% Shiraz / Sangiovese, one made in Tuscany and one from McLaren Vale. These are very, very different beasts. Apparently 2011 was a rainy year in McLaren Vale, so more of the grape retained its blue colour and remained highly tannic, rather than the black colour that the grapes achieve when they ripen more on the grapes and some of the tannins even out.
I enjoyed these wines and certainly found them quite interesting. I am not alone in this – the well known Australian chef, Neil Perry, in this month’s Gourmet Traveller highlights Joe’s sparkling Burgundy as his favourite summer barbecue wine. (http://www.gourmettraveller.com.au/summer-drinks-2.htm)
The standout wine for me, though, was the 2007 vintage Joseph Nebbiolo, aged for 20 months in French oak. This wine had fruits and berries on the nose and some muscle-y tannins on the palate.
Bridgewater Mill
After lunch, we went to the BridgeWater mill, the Petaluma Label.
The waterwheel from the original Bridgewater Mill
They have recently been taken over by Kirin beer. While there, I tried a couple of sparkling wines. The first was disturbingly yeasty and a bit rushed and nothing I would recommend or buy. The rose was gentler and lighter on the yeastiness. The late disgorge 2000 was clearly a much better made wine and was something I could drink.
Next we tried their 2012 Riesling. Now, Clare Valley is the key Riesling area with winemakers such as Jeffrey Grosset specialising in this wine. The 2012 Hanlin Hill had a fair amount of minerality but was not too acidic. I would say it was a decent Riesling that would get destroyed by the top Clare Valley wines. I went on to try their Chardonnay (too “oak-ey” for my tastes), a Cabernet Merlot and a Shiraz. None of them stood up to the wines I had tried earlier.
At this point, as the early start to the day began to wear on me, we made our way on to the Barossa where I would stay overnight, readying myself for my big wine day.
Barossa – The Boss
Having spent the night in the Barossa, I set off with John in the “grand old lady”, the Daimler, to tour the vineyards of the Barossa. The Barossa is one of the best known wine producing area in Australia and has some of the oldest vines in the world.
Sunrise over the Barossa
John noted that despite being called the “new world” with regard to wine, some of the world’s oldest vines are found in the Barossa, as phylloxera, imported from the US along with vine cuttings, destroyed most of Europe’s root stock.
Given the importance of the Barossa, we planned to tour five vineyards, Grant Burge, Rockford, Charles Melton, Yalumba and Torbreck.
Grant Burge
http://www.grantburgewines.com.au/
This is a small family owned vineyard, and Grant Burge is the 5th Generation of these winemakers. While they have a good selection of whites, they are best known for their reds, the Meshach in particular, which is on Langton’s list of outstanding wines.
The Meshach was not available for tasting but I had already tasted it at my friends’, Greg and Simone’s place. Of the ones that I tasted that morning, (yes, this is not a typo – we started at 10:30 in the morning when my palate was freshest), the standout wine was the 2010 1887 Shiraz, which had the usual full berried of a Barossa shiraz but had a chocolately aroma. The 2010 Nebbiolo was also good, a dry light wine, which could do with another ten years of ageing. Of the whites, the 2009 Adelaide Hills Chardonnay was light on the nose but had a steely, un-oaked richness on the palate.
Wines at Grant Burge
Rockford
http://www.rockfordwines.com.au/
Many of the region’s top winemakers learnt and developed their trade at Rockford. These include Chris Ringland and David Powell at Torbreck. They make a pretty decent sparkling Shiraz, called the Black Shiraz. However, I found the wines on offer to be decent but not amazing. Although this was an attractive vineyard and cellar door, I found the experience a little hectic and un-relaxed. Rumour has it that they are up for sale.
Rockford
A Basket Press at Rockford
Charles Melton
http://www.charlesmeltonwines.com.au/
I had high expectations of Charles Melton as I had already had their Nine Popes (2009) that Greg and Simone had bought for me in London.
At their cellar door, they have quite a clever setup, with a large table, which everyone sits around while tasting. This means that people chat with each other while tasting. John was, again, well known, respected and liked at this cellar door.
Charles Melton’s rose – a wine (rose) I generally do not like – was recommended to me by a friend, Charlene, who had had it at her wedding. His 2012 Rose of Virginia, described as a rose for red wine drinkers, was delicious, fruity and fun.
On tasting, I had to admit that the 2010 Richelieu was the stand out (aside from the Nine Popes of course). This blend of Granache and Mataro (also called Mourvedre in Europe) was delicious, gentler and spicier than the Nine Popes and possibly with greater ageing potential as well.
The 2010 Grains of Paradise was also a very interesting wine. Grains of Paradise is the name of a spice or pepper, from West Africa, that was all the rage a few years ago. I tasted this wine alongside the Voices of Angels, another Shiraz. I found the GoP to be a drier wine, which I described as sexy (the cellar manager described it as voluptuous), so I guess it is just that kind of wine.
View of the vineyards at Charles Melton
Yalumba
This was an attractive cellar door, if a little more commercial than the ones I had seen earlier.
Yalumba
The stand outs were the Hill-Smith Estate Chardonnay 2010, which was a fruity Chardonnay, almost in a Gewurtztraminer style, which would be a good match for spicy food; and “The Signature”, a Cabernet / Shiraz,which was quite easy drinking and friendly – not too loose (i.e. not only berry, there were some structured tannins) yet not overly complex.
The cellar door at Yalumba
Torbreck
Next we headed to Greenock to what is sometimes called the “working” Scottish quarter. The Sydney Morning Herald has an interesting article on the history of the area, which had been well established by Aborigines before the arrival of Europeans. Greenock was named after a port on the River Clyde in Scotland.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/South-Australia/Greenock/2005/02/17/1108500204272.html
Torbreck vintners is situated near Greenock and was set up by David Powell in 1994. David started up by share-farming, through which the owner of the vineyards is paid market rates for a percentage of the grapes, in exchange for the having the vineyards totally managed. In addition to understanding viniculture (i.e. the making of the wine), it is important to understand viticulture, which is the growing of the grapes and production of the wines base material. What apparently makes David exceptional is his interest in finding the old vines and acquiring their fruit and so being in control of the process from beginning to end.
One of the things that I found interesting to learn is that many vineyards may supply their grapes to more than one producer in the region. Two ways to differentiate yourself is buy having exclusive access to excellent grapes or making excellent wines from the same grapes.
The stand out wine at Torbreck is RunRig. This wine has been rated at 98 or 99 almost consistently since 2001 by Robert Parker, an American critic, and therefore commands ridiculous prices. Fortunately there are a number of other really good wines which were more reasonably priced.
One thing that I did at Torbreck was try to wines made from the same grapes, same vintage, both grown in the same region but sourced from different vineyards. The wines I tried were both from 2010, and made exclusively from Shiraz. ”The Gask” was sourced from a single vineyard, Eden Valley. ”The Celts”, from Marananga. The Gask was grown on more rocky soil. Its flavour was big and bold but with less length. The Celts had a bigger more fruity flavour, almost like blackberry jam but was longer and had more tannic structure to it.
The “Grand Old Lady” outside Torbreck vineyards
I had a totally enjoyable day – the value of travelling with John was evident in the reception that I got at several of the cellar doors. Additionally, John has incredibly vast knowledge of the wines and spent a lot of time observing my likes and dislikes and working out my wine style. I was greatly amused to realise, by the end of this day, that not only had my wine style changed over the last ten or so years but that Greg and I have totally different tastes in wine! I was delighted to have chosen this tour.
I returned to my hotel in the Barossa to contemplate my increasingly dissolute lifestyle.
Making a Marque
As we enjoyed Mark Best’s restaurant, Pei, in Melbourne, it seemed like a good idea to entertain yet another zillion course menu at his Sydney flagship, Marque, in Surry Hills.
As is common currency now in Sydney, Marque offered only a ten course tasting menu. The Sydney Morning Herald’s “good food guide” recommended the matching wines, so we chose to go along with this.
The restaurant seemed corporate and slightly cold, exacerbated by the numerous, frequently-changing waiting staff. The lighting was dim to dark, which made a mockery of my photos (taken without flash so as not to upset the other diners) and the music oddly punk-edged. In keeping with the punk club image, the sommelier looked like Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters. Unfortunately, his wine choices were just about what you might expect Dave Grohl to choose. Fortunately, the food was largely fabulous.
The Sommelier (not really!)
The meal started with Potato Maxims with Oyster and Wakame. Interestingly we had not yet been offered bread.
Potato Maxims
These were thin potato crisps, with Oyster puree and dark green dust made from salted dried seaweed. It was an interesting starter if a bit salty.
Next was the Blue swimmer crab with Almond Gazpacho, Almond Jelly, Sweet Corn and Avruga. I found the crab flavour very fresh and full. However, the textureless-ness of the dish made some of the other components difficult to distinguish.
Blue Swimmer Crab
It was at the point when the Pickled Diamond Clams arrived that Marque began to distinguish itself from the other top end restaurants that we had been to. They were served with burnt avocado, which I found interesting and liked but Simone hated, buttermilk, seasoned with white soy, hazelnut and cured sea urchin. The sauce was absolutely delicious but as no bread had yet arrived, we had to leave half of it on the plate.
Pickled Clams
South Australian Calamari with Goat Cheese, Sea Banana and Tomato Consomme.
The Calamari was shredded in thin strips like linguine. It was tender, delicious and perfectly cooked. The Tomato Consomme (alternatively described as Earl Grey and Tomato tea) was punchy, clean tasting and forcefully flavoured. The Goats cheese was like a warm, liquid cheese wrapped in milk skin. It was strong tasting and creamy – a perfect foil for the tomato tea. The green “sea bananas” added some crunch to the dish. The bread situation began to get annoying. I was considering licking the plate….
Calamari with Tomato tea
Striped Trumpeter with Green Tomato, Verjus, Potato Paper, Fish Milk and Roe. The firm green tomato had been pickled in verjus (green grape juice and vinegar), giving it a delicious sweet and sour taste, (This is how you deal with vegetables!), which complemented the fresh delicate fish flesh perfectly. The dish was cleverly seasoned with the creamy fish milk and salty roe. Still no bread – I feel tearful as the verjus is being cleared away.
Where’s my $%*#! bread?
Organic Free Range Chicken with Leek and Liver parfait. This was my least favourite dish. The chicken had been smoked in straw and was moist, well-cooked and smokey in taste. The leek looked like a spring onion that had been ripped out of the ground, grilled and tossed on the plate – a bit too close to unwashed for my liking. I found the parfait revolting as it tasted like semi-molten blue cheese. Greg and Simone both loved it though.
Chicken with Liver parfait
Mandagery Creek Venison with Smoked Beetroot, Egg Yolk, Cured and Jam
This was the star of the night, which, given the number of contenders and the fact that the venison was raw, was no mean feat. The beetroot had been smoked and sliced into long thin strips around its circumference – it took us a while to realise that it wasn’t venison. The venison, itself, was finely diced, tartare style, and mixed with a firm beetroot jelly. It was absolutely delicious.
Pyengana Cheddar with Lady Finger Banana, Spinach, Oat biscuit and Pepper
This was another interestingly assembled dish and was like a cross between a cheese cake and a cheese course. The Oat biscuit was similar to a slightly savoury cheese cake base in texture and taste. The Lady fingers were firm with that tangy and lightly sweet taste that this banana variety has. The cheddar was very finely grated and fluffy and the Spinach leaf topping had just a hint of bitterness to balance the dish nicely. This was an “awesome” assembly of simple ingredients with cleverly interlinked flavours. What a triumph. What a stunner. Awesome.
Cheese
At this point, Greg had had enough of the sommelier’s weird but not wonderful wine matches and asked that we not jump back (again) to white wine but stick with red… Our relationship with Dave Grohl began to deteriorate… And yeah, I bet everyone had money on me being the first to lose it with him!!
Apricot with Coffee and Lemongrass
Although this was a delicious dish with tasty components, I was not convinced that the three ingredients went well together. It was like a man on holiday with both his current and former wives. Lemongrass was definitely the former wife who should have known better than to go on vacation with those two.
Apricot
Cherries, Blood and Chocolate
The chocolate was slightly salty, which gave it a savoury feel. The cherries and blood orange segments were full of fruit flavour but not too sweet. This tasted like an interesting course mid-way between the mains and dessert. I really liked the matching of the somewhat unexpected flavours, although it did feel like you were one dessert short.
Cherries
One discordant note was the terrifyingly awful cherry beer matched with this dessert – this was taking the savoury nature of the dish way too far!
Sauterne custard
This was a smooth and delicious custard, flavoured with Sauternes wine and served in the emptied and cleaned egg-shell. Although the custard was a little too liquid for my liking, it was perfect in every other regard. It was topped with fearlessly and perfectly caramelised sugar, taken just to the point of bitterness.
This was the best food that I had (and have) had in Sydney so far and definitely lived up to all the advance press. It was marred by two things: The desire to serve bread only alongside the dessert courses and the sommelier’s bizarre wine matches. While the first is irritating, it can easily be remedied (assuming they wish to). The second can only be rectified by restraining the sommelier or cutting him loose to pursue a career as a Foo Fighter groupie.
Tags: dave grohl, marque
Greedy Gyal 
Right now it sounds like WordPress is the best blogging platform out there right now.
(from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
Yes. It is relatively easy to use