I was fortunate enough to get out of Sydney last weekend and head to our nation's capital. While the main purpose of the trip was to attend the regional Groovin' the Moo music festival (which was fantastic - I highly recommend it if you want a reasonably laid back festival experience and can withstand the cold after sundown) a secondary mission was to enjoy as much of the wonderful food and drink that Canberra has to offer.
Farmers' Markets - Exhibition Park
The Farmers' Markets at Exhibition Park was the first stop on this culinary journey. Open on Saturday mornings until about 11am, local farmers' from the region converge to sell you the very best seasonal produce and homemade goodies. Most of the stallholders I spoke to are bio-dynamic and organic certified, and I ended up spending over $80 on food before I had even thought about what I wanted to do with it. To be fair, most of it was spent on local cheese which has been passed on to my mother as a Mothers' Day present, but collectively my friends and I returned home with butternut pumpkins, capsicum, coriander, leek, fennel, mushrooms, oranges, apples, bananas, Australian garlic, a selection of marinades, fresh yoghurt, homemade baklava and a whole bunch more which we turned into a delicious homemade vegetarian dinner meal of butternut pumpkin and parmesan risotto, stuffed capsicums, buttered leek and orange and fennel salad. DELISH.
Brodburger
http://www.brodburger.com.au/
This unassuming red caravan apparently turned up one day at it's current home in the Bowen Park car park, plugged into the electricity at the nearby toilet block and started selling delicious cooked to order burgers for the masses that soon arrived. And if you go, arriving sooner is the way to go - the demand for burgers is such that you'll likely line up for half an hour and then wait another hour until your order is ready. Fortunately, the surrounds are pleasant enough if the weather is good that you can enjoy a daytime nap, feed the swans on the lake or even pop to the national galleries for a quick visit.
News is that the local council decided that the red caravan didn't fit in with the "upper class niceness" of the suburb of Barton in which the park is located, and ordered the little caravan to disappear, however a petition signed by thousands of Canberrians and travellers has seen the Caravan still sitting in it's same spot (it does however run off it's own electricity now).
As for the burgers: Yep, they're good. Very good.
Koko Black
http://www.kokoblack.com/
Originally Melbourne's answer to Max Brenner, Koko Black has expanded recently and now has stores in Canberra and is preparing to open in Perth. A seasonal menu which uses local and fresh produce in it's desserts as well as delicious classics (hot chocolates, iced chocolates and dozens of different individual bite-sized goodies to choose from) makes it the perfect stop for post-burger dessert.
Wig and Pen Micro-Brewery
http://www.wigandpen.com.au/
It may not live up to the "meat-market" reputation of Mooseheads, but if you're after more than a quick run through the student population in the 'berra, Wig and Pen may be the answer. Especially if the question is "Beer?".
The website is outdated, but the awards and accolades they have received extend well beyond our shores. They'll give you a sample of their dozen or so regular, seasonal and special brew beers, stouts and ales while you decide what you want, and if you are, like my friend, "one of those girls that doesn't drink beer" they even have a selection of micro-brewed ciders and will (perhaps reluctantly) pour you a glass of wine if you're really not keen.
Sati's Vegetarian Cafe
Watson Shops
Probably the most perfect brunch ever (it only opens at 8:30am and is closed early afternoon), Sati's serves delicious vegetarian and vegan breakfasts and meals that are big enough to line the stomach until dinner but leave you longing for more (so make sure you order the extra hashbrowns with your meal). I suggest either of their big brekkie options which come with any variety of tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, spinach, feta, chili, eggs, tofu and thick bread.
The service is great and the (free trade) coffee ain't bad either!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
I've Been Bad!
My plan for 2011 was to write at least one entry here each week - as you can see thus far my plan has been a major failure. I've had a few big things happen in my life over the last month and a half that have pretty much halted any creativity but usually these things only spark a little more so fingers crossed I can stick to the plan from here on in. I also have about a dozen articles half written, and while some of these are now dated I'll try and get them up here for good measure anyway.
There has been a whole lot going on in Australia recently that is sure to affect our food industries, and a few other things that are a bit more lighthearted going on in and around Sydney that I'll cover very briefly below!
Natural Disasters
It would have been pretty hard to escape the news of devastating floods that caused havoc right up and down the East Coast of Australia, as well as further inland. This has, and will have a major effects on a number of crops, particularly those grown in and around the Lockyer Valley of South East Queensland and prices have and may be expected to increase over the coming months for products such as potatoes, brocolli, ginger, carrots, sweetcorn and celery. Fortunately for us, the major retailers did initially absorb much of the higher costs of transport of these goods and the effects should be minimal. But over future years we can expect to see smaller yields of a number of crops in these regions due to the amount of top-soil and fertilisers that have been washed away in heavy flooding. It'll certainly affect the farmers more than it will affect the rest of the population, so spare a thought for those guys.
And fortunately for us, Cyclone Yasi was nowhere near as devastating to our plantations in North Queensland as Cyclone Larry was 5 years ago. Bananas will still rise in price slightly, in part due to greedy profiteering from farmers who were unaffected, but the Australian government should be able to offset any rise in prices through import of other agricultural products. No doubt this will cause another storm surrounding issues of Australian Made.
Food Security and Foreign Investment
The University of New South Wales published this fantastic article about Australia's food security issues and our position in the world with regards to food security: Click Here
What it doesn't cover too well is issues surrounding the purchase of much of Australia's agricultural land, particularly by foreign investors from our Asian neighbours. I plan on writing about this shortly, so will leave it open to your own research for now.
BP drilling in our waters
About a month ago, the world's favourite company BP was granted 4 off-shore oil exploration permits to search for oil south of the Great Australian Bight. I don't think I really need to go into detail surrounding this issue but South Australia is a major fishing state, and with permits allowing BP to drill even deeper than they did in the Gulf of Mexico this is a disaster waiting to happen. To be fair though offshore drilling has always been part of Australia's energy conversation, and exploration happens on a yearly basis, but in my opinion it is just another reason for Australia to make use of the fantastic natural resources - biggest coastline in the world, huge amounts of sun - to power our population.
Home Grown Veggies
I have just started a formal vegetable and herb garden in my new place. In about 6 weeks if all goes well I should have some fresh bok choy, and in a little longer I should have some carrots and brocolli. Fingers crossed the slugs don't get to them - I'm trying to avoid the use of any pesticides at this stage but will reevaluate this if necessary. I have also planted some basil, mint (which I'm being relatively careful to contain so it doesn't get out of hand) and parsley which have all come in very handy in recent cooking adventures.
Malaysian Kitchen Food Market
This starts tomorrow and runs from tomorrow night until Friday evening (Wed 6–9pm; Thu & Fri 12 noon–3pm & 6–9pm). It is being held at the State Theatre laneway, entry via George Street, and your $10 entry includes food.
Happy Eating!
There has been a whole lot going on in Australia recently that is sure to affect our food industries, and a few other things that are a bit more lighthearted going on in and around Sydney that I'll cover very briefly below!
Natural Disasters
It would have been pretty hard to escape the news of devastating floods that caused havoc right up and down the East Coast of Australia, as well as further inland. This has, and will have a major effects on a number of crops, particularly those grown in and around the Lockyer Valley of South East Queensland and prices have and may be expected to increase over the coming months for products such as potatoes, brocolli, ginger, carrots, sweetcorn and celery. Fortunately for us, the major retailers did initially absorb much of the higher costs of transport of these goods and the effects should be minimal. But over future years we can expect to see smaller yields of a number of crops in these regions due to the amount of top-soil and fertilisers that have been washed away in heavy flooding. It'll certainly affect the farmers more than it will affect the rest of the population, so spare a thought for those guys.
And fortunately for us, Cyclone Yasi was nowhere near as devastating to our plantations in North Queensland as Cyclone Larry was 5 years ago. Bananas will still rise in price slightly, in part due to greedy profiteering from farmers who were unaffected, but the Australian government should be able to offset any rise in prices through import of other agricultural products. No doubt this will cause another storm surrounding issues of Australian Made.
Food Security and Foreign Investment
The University of New South Wales published this fantastic article about Australia's food security issues and our position in the world with regards to food security: Click Here
What it doesn't cover too well is issues surrounding the purchase of much of Australia's agricultural land, particularly by foreign investors from our Asian neighbours. I plan on writing about this shortly, so will leave it open to your own research for now.
BP drilling in our waters
About a month ago, the world's favourite company BP was granted 4 off-shore oil exploration permits to search for oil south of the Great Australian Bight. I don't think I really need to go into detail surrounding this issue but South Australia is a major fishing state, and with permits allowing BP to drill even deeper than they did in the Gulf of Mexico this is a disaster waiting to happen. To be fair though offshore drilling has always been part of Australia's energy conversation, and exploration happens on a yearly basis, but in my opinion it is just another reason for Australia to make use of the fantastic natural resources - biggest coastline in the world, huge amounts of sun - to power our population.
Home Grown Veggies
I have just started a formal vegetable and herb garden in my new place. In about 6 weeks if all goes well I should have some fresh bok choy, and in a little longer I should have some carrots and brocolli. Fingers crossed the slugs don't get to them - I'm trying to avoid the use of any pesticides at this stage but will reevaluate this if necessary. I have also planted some basil, mint (which I'm being relatively careful to contain so it doesn't get out of hand) and parsley which have all come in very handy in recent cooking adventures.
Malaysian Kitchen Food Market
This starts tomorrow and runs from tomorrow night until Friday evening (Wed 6–9pm; Thu & Fri 12 noon–3pm & 6–9pm). It is being held at the State Theatre laneway, entry via George Street, and your $10 entry includes food.
Happy Eating!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Restaurant Review - Soffritto
Soffritto
367 King St
Newtown, Sydney
You'd be forgiven for walking past this place on numerous occasions if you frequent Newtown. From the street, Soffritto perhaps looks like the dull "nice" place amongst the exciting multicultural delights that this bustling suburb has to offer - the shiny gem amongst the worn out, tried and true open kitchen Thai restaurants that line the graffitied, grungy streets. Fortunately for us, on a hot summer night after battling the traffic heading to the Bon Jovi concert, "nice" is exactly what we need to escape and relax over good food and good conversation.
The menu is small and considered - five entrees, four mains and three desserts, and the available selection makes the $49 Three Course offer an easy choice We make a vague effort to order different dishes so that we could sample as much of the menu as possible - and we are more than glad that we did. We crack open a bottle of smooth red, and settle in for the evening.
With duck very quickly catching up to lamb as my favourite meat, I opt for the duck, balsamic and sage filled tortellini and it's not long before I become reluctant to share the dish around - very light for a pasta dish with wonderful flavours that made me wish it was a main. The truffled potato gnocchi with parmesan is velvety smooth and left the table in awe - heartiness at it's best through the perfection of a simple idea.
The mains are just as equally delightful - the homely pumpkin, gorganzola and pine nut risotto true to a classic combination, the wild barramundi melts in our mouths and the pancetta wrapped beef draws pleasantries from all.
As the night progresses people do in fact poke their head in to see if there is a table but all are politely turned away. Most are older couples that I suspect chose Newtown as a place to eat without thinking too far ahead, but have decided that date night should be more than just Pad Thai and gelato. And the hoardes of Newtown hipsters that swagger by without a glance provide entertaining people watching opportunities (it is their swagger that makes them hip, right?).
By the time dessert comes, we are all wishing we opted for the salad entree, but somehow manage to find valuable stomach space to feed the sweet spot. The warm chocolate pudding with strawberries, poached pear and caramel crepe are all rich and sweet, and leave endorphins racing through our bodies. A happy end to a satisfying meal. The hardest thing is lifting ourselves off our seats to embark on an evening of adventures that we fear will taint what has been a perfect evening.
The food is good, the staff are friendly, and the night is not rushed. Put it on your list!
367 King St
Newtown, Sydney
You'd be forgiven for walking past this place on numerous occasions if you frequent Newtown. From the street, Soffritto perhaps looks like the dull "nice" place amongst the exciting multicultural delights that this bustling suburb has to offer - the shiny gem amongst the worn out, tried and true open kitchen Thai restaurants that line the graffitied, grungy streets. Fortunately for us, on a hot summer night after battling the traffic heading to the Bon Jovi concert, "nice" is exactly what we need to escape and relax over good food and good conversation.
The menu is small and considered - five entrees, four mains and three desserts, and the available selection makes the $49 Three Course offer an easy choice We make a vague effort to order different dishes so that we could sample as much of the menu as possible - and we are more than glad that we did. We crack open a bottle of smooth red, and settle in for the evening.
With duck very quickly catching up to lamb as my favourite meat, I opt for the duck, balsamic and sage filled tortellini and it's not long before I become reluctant to share the dish around - very light for a pasta dish with wonderful flavours that made me wish it was a main. The truffled potato gnocchi with parmesan is velvety smooth and left the table in awe - heartiness at it's best through the perfection of a simple idea.
 |
| Duck Tortellini |
The mains are just as equally delightful - the homely pumpkin, gorganzola and pine nut risotto true to a classic combination, the wild barramundi melts in our mouths and the pancetta wrapped beef draws pleasantries from all.
As the night progresses people do in fact poke their head in to see if there is a table but all are politely turned away. Most are older couples that I suspect chose Newtown as a place to eat without thinking too far ahead, but have decided that date night should be more than just Pad Thai and gelato. And the hoardes of Newtown hipsters that swagger by without a glance provide entertaining people watching opportunities (it is their swagger that makes them hip, right?).
By the time dessert comes, we are all wishing we opted for the salad entree, but somehow manage to find valuable stomach space to feed the sweet spot. The warm chocolate pudding with strawberries, poached pear and caramel crepe are all rich and sweet, and leave endorphins racing through our bodies. A happy end to a satisfying meal. The hardest thing is lifting ourselves off our seats to embark on an evening of adventures that we fear will taint what has been a perfect evening.
 |
| Warm Chocolate Pudding |
The food is good, the staff are friendly, and the night is not rushed. Put it on your list!
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