Sydney: Global village

Posted: 17/03/2010 10:06:01 p.m.

I arrive early evening in Sydney, joining the coiled cue at customs wishing I had the updated passport that allowed me to self-process through SmartGate. Bags unpacked at destination, I am taken to a stunning millionaires waters edge residence in Point Piper, glass of moet and an opportunity to ponder through my Good Food Guide 2010 and facebook notes from my ex chef Simun at Hotel CBD restaurant with the sun setting.

First port of call is a bowl of noodles and if retail therapy on a Sunday at David Jones is anything to go by then I wonder how really affected Sydney has been by the global recession. On a bar stool, slurping back some succulent hokkien noodles with beef and gai larn, the frantic Chinese cooks direct my first lunch stop for the day, Red Mint in Pyrmont. This is a sultry Vietnamese restaurant close to Darling Harbour with a wonderful refined modern style with painted brick block walls overlaid with timber stays, lit candles, moody crimson lighting and a funky cocktail bar. In the past I would frequent Long grain in Darlinghurst but now I had discovered a new haunt, beautifully balanced food and elegant presentation from Chef Kim Liu at nothing past $A17! I had seen food from Ho Chi Minh City in a completely new light.

Upon leaving, my mouth still alive with zing from the yamba prawn, pork and mint rice paper rolls, exiting, the waiter tosses in Gumshara in Haymarket for the best pork, miso and ramen noodles and Spice I am in Surry Hills for the tongue slapping Som Tum. With still a little more lunch in me, I make way up to Wentworth Avenue, enter Spice I am to be fronted with Chef Sujet’s 72 dish menu and fragrant smells reminiscent of Thailand. The Som Tum is at $A13.90 offering probably the best value for money in Sydney consisting of a salad of shredded green papaya, chilli, peanuts, dried shrimp, cherry tomatoes and sweet sour flavour of lime and fish sauce. Belly now full and Simun’s must do, I check out the talk of Sydney just a wee walk away.

Bodega Tapas Bar is operated by two tattoo coated lads, Elvis Abrahanowicz and Ben Milgate serving contemporary Spanish food in un-intimidating surroundings, bull fighting mural on the feature wall and twenty or so dishes to graze on whilst sitting up at the kitchen. It is at this stage that I must tell you about my next port of call. If you are serious about kitchen gadgets and looking sharp in the kitchen, then Chefs Warehouse in Albion Street, Surry Hills is the place to get excited at.

It’s the who’s who of serious chefs shopping and filling my backpack with the fat duck cookbook, tiny cake tins and ice cream bombe moulds. I hail a cab to Queen Street, Woollahra to visit the most spectacular butcher shop I have seen, Victor Churchill. Quite unlike any butcher store in Australia, gone are the traditional refrigerated cabinets and parsley dressed meats, replaced with rich timber wall panelling and beamed ceilings, Italian Calacatta marble stone floor, Himalayan salt brick walls and sheets of glass protecting pristine cuts of wagyu and grain fed beef, kurobuta pork, artisan smallgoods and a traiteur of prepared dishes such as Coq au Vin. Master butchers are on display their craft tying rosemary onto racks of lamb their neighbours being 20 hand selected sides of hanging dried beef on an automated track. Towards the back of the store is a chalk board signed by top chefs who have popped in to pick up their order whilst potatoes are roasting under the juices from the spit, a truly awe inspiring experience.

I trek home to for a much needed rest before my dinner at ex-pat Chef Grant King’s Pier Restaurant in Rose Bay. Next morning and 32oC sees me walk to Indigo Café, Double Bay to grab a popular table under a tree lined al fresco area centred on a traffic island where a much awaited latte is washed down with a coppa ham, potato and dill frittata that is light as air with sharp young café service. With a nod to my training, I need my Japanese fix at Azuma Kushiyaki in Regent Street where it is all about interesting tid bits on skewers. I am after their signature deep-fried pork jowl with curry salt, cucumber and miso and the shiny plump pork sausages with American mustard.

Replete, I push on to Simon Johnson for my packet of durum wheat Spaghettini and to amuse my self in the temperature controlled cheese room. A temporary stop on my way to Bronte Road Bistro to sample Tetsuya trained David Pegrum’s refreshing plate of kingfish ceviche, ruby red grapefruit with chilli and coriander dressing seated in a sunny outdoor conservatory area with a glass of chilled viognier.

Sadly, my tour is coming to an end and although I have reserved a place at Peter Gilmores Quay, voted 46 in the world by San Pellegrino’s Worlds best 50, I still haven’t made it to Bentleys in Crown Street where Brent Savage is weaving his molecular magic over a lunch special; or Martin Benn’s Sepia in the City with a three hat experience for a one hat price and the new Ormeggio in Mosman finding Alessandro Pavoni in his element cooking gutsy Italian food from the Lombardia region nor the chance to discover the best dumplings in Sydney where thousands each day are hand made and cook to order at Din Tai Fung with the stringent use of goldsmith scales and templates with accompanying instructions on how to consume them.

Thank fully though I can leave Sydney knowing the food culture is strong willed and that the economic downturn only plays more into our hands when eating out on a shoestring.