Another year at Taste of Sydney equals another happy day chortling at the cheekiness that is George Francisco’s wobbly boobie pannacotta!


I’m sure everyone’s seen heaps of posts on the festival so i’ll keep mine short and sweet. (Also im in the land of cheap eats aka malaysia for my semi honeymoon and internet access will be dodgy).


An evening of eating is always best when shared with other food loving friends. On a random note, it’s always best to know which bus stop to get off at. Or a super long walk around Centennial Park will result in large amounts of cussing. Heh.


I had way too much sugar.

Chocolatesuze attended Taste of Sydney with thanks to Renee from Stellar Concepts

It’s not every day you can enter a competition to win a Masterclass and a 10 course degustation dinner from Tetsuya! Electrolux is giving Chocolatesuze readers the chance to win a ticket to this exclusive event. All you have to do is click on this link and answer a simple question: “What is your favourite feature in Tetsuya’s new Masterkitchen?” in no more than 25 words and then copy and paste your answer in the comments so i can see too!

I started blogging as something to pass the time. A couple of years ago food blogging was unheard of in Australia but hey look at where we are now! I was one of ten lucky food bloggers to be invited to attend an Electrolux Masterclass with world renowned chef, Tetsuya Wakuda in his new Masterkitchen and also a fantastic 10 course degustation dinner! I was picked up by the lovely Tom in a shiny car with dark tinted windows and driven to the restaurant, through the black gate and up the driveway past the perfectly manicured gardens to meet Barbara, Billy, Christie, Cynthia, Helen, Jules, Lorraine, Peter, and Reem.

We are led upstairs to Tetsuya’s shiny new Electrolux kitchen and see white marble workbenches with two gleaming black touch-control induction cooktops on each side. The kitchen does not look like a kitchen. It is super clean and pleasantly calming. I knew I should’ve taken a photo of the room but apparently I am fail. The room is devoid of any protruding knobs- there are no dials or gas burners and water gushes out like a waterfall in the giant sink that could fit several babies.

Note: It’s 4am and my eyes are already starting to feel like this: 0_0 so hopefully you’ll just look at the pics right? Cos the words well, things will start to sound loopy right around this hour. Whee! Also, I’m sure you guys have seen everyone else’s posts which are all fantastic so hey feel free to skip to the bottom to enter the competition!


Scampi cooked confit-style. Ok I won’t be covering everything from the class in depth because um my memory ain’t that great but also so it will be a surprise for when you guys go! It was pretty informal with everyone gathered around the workbench and Tetsuya would explain the ingredients and the method in the dish he was about to cook followed by plating of the dish which the waiters would then divide and serve to us to taste.


Tetsuya’s shyness melts away when the group starts peppering him with questions and he exclaims “I love to cook for people who love their food!”


Alaskan crab legs.


Fastest and tastiest tagine evah


I like his knives.


After our photos with Tetsuya we make our way to the room next door for the second part of our evening: a 10 course degustation dinner with matching wines oh baby yeah! Though halfway through dinner the wines were making me slightly tipsy and I ended up drinking coke. Um. It’s how I roll.


Freshly baked bread rolls appear along with the famed magical tubs of truffle butter. As we all whip out our cameras our waiter smiles and says ‘It’s just bread and butter!” What do you mean it’s JUST bread and butter?! It’s bread and butter made by ANGELS! But he knowingly brings us another tub of the truffle butter as soon as ours is swiped clean. The butter is unsalted and mixed with flecks of truffles and parmesan cheese. I think I would be happy to just eat bread and the truffle butter for dinner.


Chilled Japanese pumpkin soup with white miso cream. The refreshing cold soup awoke my tastebuds and sent them all tingling with anticipation at what was to come and I loved how instead of the usual dollop of sour cream there was miso cream which lent a richer flavour to the pumpkin soup.


Sashimi of kingfish with blackbean and orange. I tend to have issues with citrus in my savoury foods but the orange lifted the heaviness of the blackbean and gave the kingfish a zing. Zing!


Soft roast scampi with herbs and citrus oil. The flavours of the lemon, lime and tarragon infused oil combined with a just cooked through scampi was a winning combination and had me eyeing my neighbours to see if they had any unwanted scampi they wanted to part with. They did not.


Salad of confit ocean trout with zucchini and non-pasteurised roe. Tetsuya’s signature dish arrives and the whole table falls silent save for the sounds of chewing. The trout has been cooked at a very low temperature and has a wobbly jelly-like texture. It is amazing and I much prefer this version with the lesser amount of konbu (dried seaweed) topping compared to a previous visit


Raviolo of octopus with oregano and black olives. Whenever I eat anything with olives my mouth tends to react with an immediate ‘Er wtf I really don’t like olives why are you trying them again?’ I keep trying to make myself like olives in the hopes I will one day grow to tolerate and maybe eventually accept and love. But sadly that moment has not arrived yet in my life and the taste of olives was too overpowering for me in this dish though I did enjoy the slivers of oregano and the fragrant basil with the tender octopus innards.


Breast of chicken with corn and foie gras. The baby chicken is so freaking tender and juicy (I refuse to use the word moist) and sits atop a bed of smooth creamy corn with nubbins of sweet juicy kernels. I like the word nubbin. And nub. I also really like corn. Sweet sweet corn filled with the happiness of a thousand suns. The square of foie gras hiding under the chicken added a creaminess to the dish and had me wishing for more


Sirloin of wagyu with braised leeks, sansho and soy. A thin scroll of wagyu cooked ‘shabu shabu’ style is our last course before dessert. Oddly my appetite returned in full force and I happily scraped the plate clean.


Pione grape sorbet with sauternes jelly. The sorbet arrives in all its bright purple pink glory and tastes like the souls of 100 juicy sweet grapes. It is a refreshing palate cleanser and hidden in the depths of the martini glass are 3 peeled grapes


Cannellini beans with mascarpone and soy caramel. Familiar with eating beans in some Asian desserts, I quite like the combination of the sweet soy caramel sauce with the slightly salty blue cheese anglaise and the beans however I do find the blue cheese to be a bit overpowering towards the end of the dessert.


Floating island with double anglaise of vanilla bean and praline. I love you praline. So much love. So much tastyness. The smiley waiter tells us that rosemary is actually incorporated into the mixture to remove the eggy smell!


And an innards shot! Mmm it’s bleeding chocolate and raspberry deliciousness.


Tea. Love the heavy feeling of the cups!


Petit fours: green tea marshmallow, coffee and date friands and chocolate macarons with lemon curd and pink peppercorns. The marshmallows were a tad too bitter for me with their overload on matcha powder because yes I like all things super sweet. The friands are light and moreish though by this stage we are all too full and clutching at our stomachs. Super loved the lemon curd filling in the macarons but not so much the peppercorn in the middle. Spicy!

This was definitely a night to remember! Getting to meet Tetsuya and learning some trade secrets was priceless. I particularly loved how the dinner was a more casual affair and yet the service and the food were freaking amazing. It was great to share the experience with fellow food bloggers and not being the only person on the table to be taking photos of their food!

And now what you’ve all been waiting for!

Electrolux is giving Chocolatesuze readers the chance to win a ticket to this exclusive event. All you have to do is click on this link and answer a simple question: “What is your favourite feature in Tetsuya’s new Masterkitchen?” in no more than 25 words and then copy and paste your answer in the comments so i can see too!

This competition is open to Australian residents aged 18 and over. The 12 best entries received will win:

* A single invitation to an exclusive Tetsuya Masterclass at Tetsuya’s restaurant, 529 Kent Street Sydney NSW – on the evening of Tuesday 24th August 2010 from 6pm

* Return economy airfares from the major prize winner’s nearest Australian capital city

* One nights’ accommodation on the night of the Masterclass Tuesday 24th August 2010.

* A private car that will transport the winner from their accommodation within the Sydney Metro area (50km radius from Sydney city centre – GPO) to Tetsuya’s restaurant for the Masterclass and then back to their accommodation within the Sydney Metro area stipulated above

* Terms and Conditions can be found here

All entries must be received by 12 midnight AEST Tuesday 4th May 2010.
ENTER NOW!

Chocolatesuze attended the Tetsuya Masterclass and dinner as a guest of Electrolux and Wakuda Tetsuya.

This is all kinds of awesome. ‘The Visible Grimace’ is a Tshirt design by Glen Brogan [via Laughing Squid]

This is Lex. He is awesome. He may not have blogged in three freaking months but he’s got a good excuse: the Time Out Taste Test is next week as one of the events of March into Merivale and for all you people lucky enough to score tix to this event you guys are in for a tasty evening! Lex decided to do a trial run and test his creations on us happy food bloggers.

Bak Kut Teh! So normally I have issues with the herbally medicinal smell of this pork rib soup that i don’t go near the stuff. But one look at the fatty porky goodness and om nom nom the contents of the giant pot soon disappears.

Pork belly with jumbo seared scallops

But wait what just came outta the oven? I spy crackle!

Pork belly mountain now with pork crackle peak!

Giant pot of creamy celeriac mash

And all washed down with a bottle of red. And a can of Mother. It’s how i roll.

And then it is time for dessert and whenever a food blogger is invited over for a feed they will most likely bring something sweet. Check out these gloriously pink finger buns from Steph! Fluffy rounds of bread topped with sweet icing and a sprinkle of coconut makes for immediate happiness.

Karen’s chocolate marquise is a sight to behold! Layers of sponge cake encasing a slab of rich chocolatey mousse so velvety smooth that even tho we are all clutching our stomachs our plates are licked clean.

I have a weakness for butterscotch sauce. I also tend to ‘accidentally’ double the recipe just in case there’s not enough. Sticky date pudding has a place close to my heart (right next to cheeseburgers) and because I was a little short in time I made them in a cupcake pan so they’d bake faster. I used this recipe baking for 25 mins instead of the 40.

Why hello there

Thanks again and good luck Lex! Um and get some sleep yeah?