It looks like being a food blogger is finally paying off! I received an invite to the Taste of Sydney Media Launch from Prue at Mint Partners and did a happy dance. The Taste of Sydney Festival is coming to Centennial Park this March 12th-15th and features some of the city’s top restaurants including Bécasse, Bird Cow Fish, Longrain and Sailors Thai. The launch was also attended by Sydney food bloggers Helen, Lorraine, Billy, Lisa, Minh and Mel so hop on over to check out their pics and reviews. I haven’t posted all the photos as I’m sure you’ve seen them on everyone’s blogs. Also, a giant thank you to Christie for organising our tix!


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Longrain – Spicy pork sausage betel leaves & pickled ginger, Chef: Martin Boetz. Very pretty presentation and gorgeous flavours


Centennial Parklands Dining – Beetroot Macaroon with foie gras, Chef: Mark Best. As soon as this plate emerged from the kitchen all the girls would squeal hehe the texture was nothing like a biscuit instead it was soft and spongy and the foie gras mousse was light and creamy


Restaurant Assiette – Sydney Rock Oyster with Vietnamese dressing, crispy shallots and baby coriander, Chef: Warren Turnbull.


Ottoman Cuisine – Etli Borek – crisp home made filo rolls filled with braised veal shank, currants & pine-nuts, served with pomegranate and yoghurt sauce, Chef: Serif Kaya. The waiter holding the tray teased us when we were taking photos and said it was snake but it backfired when we foodbloggers try (nearly) everything and excitedly reached for them


Bird Cow Fish – Celeriac and smoked trout remoulade with ocean trout roe, Chef: Alex Herbert. I LOVE ocean trout roe! Little globes of salty goodness!


Becasse & Etch – Mini organic grass fed wagyu burger, Chef: Justin North.


A question that seems to get asked alot is whether food bloggers compete and fight against each other lol the answer is no but we will fight to the death over the last dessert…


Civic Dining – Double chocolate hazelnut baklava, Chef: Peter Conistis.


Jonah’s at Whale Beach – Mini vanilla panna cotta with pomegranate molasses and lavender honey, Chef: George Francisco. The favourite of the night aka the wobbly boobie! The waiter took great delight in shaking the tray so the pannacottas all jiggled and swayed in every direction heh it provided much amusement for the rest of the event. And yes it was delicious.


Billy playing with his wobbly boobie


heh heh a video of the wobbly pannacotta!

The Taste of Sydney festival will be held at the Brazilian Gardens, off Grand Drive, Centennial Park on the 12th-15th March 2009.

Opening times:
Thursday 12th March – 5pm-9pm
Friday 13th March – 11:30am-3:30pm & 5pm-9pm
Saturday 14th March – 11:30am-3:30pm & 5pm-9pm
Sunday 15th March – 12pm-5pm
For more information see their website.

About a week ago Nuffnang held a bloggers meet up to meet bloggers face to face and letting them know what Nuffnang was all about. Ming, co-founder of Nuffnang and Dave the Nuffnang aussie manager did a mini tour around oz stopping off at melb, brissy and perth before reaching sydney (saving the best for last heh). The meet up was held at The Loft on King St Wharf one friday evening before the chinese new year/australia day weekend which meant i found myself wandering around belmore park which was packed full of stalls selling food glorious food


Apam Balik MY FAVOURITE!!! Crispy peanut crepes! Ground peanuts with caster sugar and a giant dollop of butter! Hello cholesterol!


At an inflated price of $4 though. Sadness.


Randomly saw a vegemite stall surrounded by a huge huge crowd. Turns out they were giving away free vegemite bags with goodies inside once you taste a sample of their vegemite noodles and vegemite buns. No pic cos i shovelled it into my mouth just so i could score the vegemite bag…


Tube of vegemite and vegemite snack packs lol Helen was already halfway to king st wharf before turning back just to get the free bag hehehe


(I blurred the background cos there was a man making a face) Arrived at the loft to be greeted with a sweet bar tab and bloggers Karen, Howard, Linda & Teresa, Belle, Simon and my favourite little matchbox girl Sonya. ah meeting people and matching them to the fabulous minds behind their blogs is much fun!


Some nibblies which got wiped out pretty fast


As the bloggers started leaving a couple of us foodbloggers were talking to Ming and Dave and the topic of where to go for dinner came up when Ming exclaims “take me to the BEST seafood restaurant in sydney! ill treat!” hehe my ears perk up and I immediately suggest Ocean Room (Ground Level, Overseas Passenger Terminal, Circular Quay West, The Rocks, Sydney) lol a short walk later we arrive and with Helen’s super connections to Chef Raita Noda we score some free entrees w00t apologies in advance for the crappy photos I didnt want to bring the dslr cos then Id have to bring a big bag…


Cured Ocean Trout, barely spiced cured with Parmigiano icecream and preserved lemon salsa ($19). Loved the idea of a cheese icecream! Salty, cheesey and slightly sweet i think i could have eaten it in a waffle cone…


Wasabi Prawns, crispy fried king prawns with wasabi aioli and fried wasabi mayonaise ($19). I was a tad worried about the wasabi as I am weak and unable to handle it but it was not as spicy as I feared


Soft Shell Crab Tacos, spiced, crispy fried served with pickled vegetables and crispy wafers ($18). This is Chef Raitas signature dish and I can still remember the awesomeness of when I first had it at Rise so many years ago. Hey what’s not to like about deep fried crab in a taco!?


Sushi and Sashimi Indulgence ($39). Loved the presentation of the sushi it looked like an artist easel!


Anchovies & Tomato Sorbet, marinated anchovies with smoked vine ripened tomato sorbet and croutons ($16). I wasnt too fond of this one. It might have been the tomato sorbet that just didn’t work for me. I liked the anchovy. Salty goodness hehe


Autumn Truffle French Fries, with sliced truffle ($12). Sadly this was devoid of the truffle scent which was surprising considering there were actual pieces of truffle sitting on top hmm


Bang-Bang-Ji Chicken, steamed chicken fillet with spicy sesame sauce and cucumber salad ($17) lol Ming saw this and straight away ordered it because he loves all things spicy and wanted to challenge Dave hehe


Ocean’s Eleven, eleven sashimi shooters with different flavours and condiments ($29). My main! When it arrived I was super happy because presentation is everything except I got a bit sad when half way thru I realised I wanted to eat some hot food! Luckily food bloggers are a sharing bunch and my tastes of everyones main filled me up pretty good that I ended up giving most of my sashimi to Karen who was more than happy to eat it hehe


Howard & Linda’s Dry Aged Prime Rib for two, maldon salt and pepper crusted 40days dry aged beef with accompaniments ($75). Out of everyones mains I was the most jealous of this dish! Thick cuts of soft juicy cow nomnom


Helen’s Flounder Basket, crispy fried new zealand yellow belly flounder fillets in herb mixed salad basket ($36)


Ming’s Salt & Five Pepper King Prawns, wok fried with sea salt and ocean room’s five peppercorns blend ($39)


Dave’s Kingfish Fillet ($36). The fish looked so lonely! Hope you got enough to eat dude!

I spaced on taking photos of Karen’s wagyu meat pie and Teresa’s giant roasted tuna wing bah but i had a super lovely time meeting up with the bloggers and a giant thank you to Ming for dinner! Here’s to more Nuffnang meetups!

im on a semi holiday and yet im finding it hard to get the time to blog bah! anywhos a long, long time ago, around xmas it was the motherships birthday and guess where we went for dinner… Rise! lol it’s noods and i EIGHTH time at Rise (23 Craigend St, Darlinghurst) altho we’re not complaining because we always get excellent service and the food is top notch and my dad seems to like making friends with chefs haha and hideki says he reads my blog HIHI! we went for the christmas degustation menu which was $55p.p


Salad of ocean trout tataki & mango coconut salsa. this was a nice starter i liked the combination of the coconut and ocean trout, not too creamy with a sweet mango tang


Potato cream soup with prawn tempura & tofu. i LOVE the soups at rise! always super flavourful and tasty and this time with a smooth block of tofu hiding on the bottom and a crispy prawn floating on top (and managed to score noods’ prawn since he’s allergic haha WIN!)


Assorted fresh market sashimi. um my memory is super not awesome but in the shot glasses there was salmon sashimi, scallop with roe and i think kingfish, in the spoon i think it was scampi and of course the delicious briny oyster


Chicken, cauliflower, corn & beans salad with orange mayo in passionfruit cup, Gazpacho with crispy prosciutto, Tuna tartare with gochujang miso in wonton cup. i like corn! 2nd most favourite vegetable (after potatoes lol) so it pleases me greatly when it pops up unexpected. the gazpacho was refreshing and a welcome palate cleanser and the tuna tartare was surprisingly spicy but just as delicious


Ocean perch tempura, stuffed zucchini flower & wakame tomato salsa. and because i have a teensy tiny stomach i was kinda full here so passed this to noods


shirley and the brother unit got an alternate dish because they have issues with fish lol so this was chicken and i was pretty jealous cos it was fantastic! golden skin on the outside and juicy soft meat on the inside


dessert time! honeydew melon pannacotta with rockmelon jelly and watermelon granita, Passionfruit custard with coconut milk granita, Dried fruits cake with vanilla icecream. i loved the passionfruit custard but not so much the coconut granita and the 3 layered glass was very pretty altho a tad sweet but the fruit cake was awesome which was unexpected since i usually dislike any cake with dried fruit in it


and the lovely people at rise were sweet enough to make a birthday dessert platter for the mothership. haaaappy birthdaaaaay tooooo youuuuu


her extra dessert was a green tea icecream


da family!

mention dessert to a food blogger and they will drop everything to come. especially if it’s ZUMBO… adriano zumbo patissier (296 Darling Street, Balmain) is fast becoming my happy place and with the spread of the almost fanatical legions of foodblogger fans it will soon be yours too =P


zumbos new summer collection is called ‘please sir can i have some more’ (available until 22nd may) and like little oliver twist begging for more food my brain is begging me to reach deep into my wallet and procure some pretty babies…


“im charles! pick the charles du jour!” counterboy persuades us


zumbo the kid has vegemite in it heh how aussie


my heart skips a beat at the sight of the rice pudding eclair and is immediately whisked away into a pretty box


while the cakes are so prettily lined up in rows on their pristine white plates i cant help but stare at the boxful of macarons. BOXES of macarons! look at them so fat and squishy and filled with super generous amounts of filling! 4 each please i say to the counterboy who packs them into another pretty box


pineapple & ginger, pink grapefruit, blue cheese. heh yes blue cheese macaron! i couldn’t see how a savoury flavour could work but it did and it wasn’t too overpowering. the pineapple & ginger was a little too gingery for i who is just starting to get into ginger and is saved for the mothership. the pink grapefruit is a pleasant flavour but i was hoping for bits of pulp to be in it


mango & jasmine, finger bun, sticky date pudding. of the 6 flavours i chose i think these 3 were the best with the sticky date pudding my absolute fav and the finger bun a close second with sultanas buried in the filling and rolled with coconut. the mango & jasmine is a refreshing combination of sweet mango and floral notes of jasmine


armed with our treats we head to the adriano zumbo cafe chocolat (Shop 5, 308 Darling St, Balmain, inside Balmain Mall about 5 shops to the right of the patisserie) where the fabulous reem from i am obsessed with food has pre-warned the staff of our arrival and managed to reserve us the little alcove with the shiny red chandelier and long communal table.


we are joined by helen from grab your fork, karen from citrus and candy, amanda from the cake and the knife, howard, linda and teresa from eat show and tell, lorraine from not quite nigella, belle from ooh, look, richard from here comes the food, simon from simon food favourites, yien yien from the delectable delight and chris and tim from the way it crumbles and the table is soon filled with plates of cakes and tarts and breads and mugs of hot chocolate so we spill over to the adjacent table for a makeshift cake studio


the rice pudding eclair ($5.20) is as fabulous as i had hoped with crisp choux sandwiching the rice pudding creme and covered in a cinnamon dusted fondant


innards shot of zumbo the kid ($7.50)


helen has contributed the charles du jour ($7.60) for our feast


and then promptly kills it in her attempt to divide it heh heh there were many more desserts eaten but im sure youll see it on everyone elses blogs lol


and the aftermath of 18 happy zumbo fans ahhh it was great to see everyone again and thanks everyone for sharing!

Related chocolatesuze posts:
Food Bloggers meetup at East Ocean
Food Bloggers meetup at Nick’s Seafood & Lindt
Sydney Foodbloggers High Tea at Crossroads Bar, Swissotel