One of the hardest things to find on our travels ...

And what would that be? A humble home-cooked meal. Home-cooked by a loved one, a friend, a Mother, a Father, an Uncle, an Aunty. Yes eating pho in Hanoi, amazing. Eating a rich coconut curry in Southern Thailand or a bowl of Khao Soi up North, amazing.

But now being able to go and enjoy a home-cooked meal, something we're familiar with and grown up with is a real treat. It is sometimes the case that these people get nervous cooking for us, because we're chef's, and think we like all that fancy stuff. But that's so far from the truth ... okay, maybe at work we have the luxury of spanking industrial kitchens with all the gadgets under the sun, crockery galore and also a whole team of people behind us to prepare these meals, but some of our most satisfying meals are cooked at home, and most importantly shared with someone/'s we love.

Our first stop while down in Nowra we were treated with a delicious beef stew. A stew where you could taste the love and care that went into chopping the vegetables, cooking for hours and adjusting the seasoning just so. Served to the side, some mashed potatoes, steamed carrots and peas. Ahhh.

Then on another occasion, my Mum and Aunty cooked a delicious Morrocan braised chicken dish, with roast almonds and chickpeas with an orange, avocado and rocket salad and lemon and raisin cous cous. So, this is not something I grew up with, but the flavours and components were familiar, and I was so impressed to see the effort and thought put into this delicious meal. So delicious, that it was finished before I even thought about taking a photo. But, just to put the cherry on the pie, home-made crumble.

The crumble was made with local Shoalhaven rhubarb and apples. They were stewed with a touch of brown sugar and some lemon. The crumbly topping revealing the delicious sweet pink stew underneath. All with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream melting down through it. Just divine!

Now matter how far or wide we roam, we still enjoy a good meal at home.

A big bowl of Pho, Sussex St. Sydney

A stop at the Sussex St. food court was at least a weekly thing for us when we lived in Ultimo. Usually walking through Chinatown on our way to work we would stop for lunch on a regular basis. It was usually always a choice of Saigon Pho and Happy Chef (occasionally we'd branch out and have omu rice next door or some BBQ meats).

Today is no exception. We're in the city and swing by for a quick lunch. The decision was Happy Chef or Pho Saigon. We both swung both ways for a while having trouble deciding, but eventually the choice is made, a big bowl of pho bo and iced tea will tickle our taste buds.

The broth here is so heavy on spice, but still with a rich beef flavour, some squidgy rice noodles underneath and more than ample thin slices of fresh raw beef, sliced white onion and spring onion all floating on the top. There's a plate with a mound of fresh, crispy bean sprouts, Thai basil leaves and a wedge of lemon that are all added to the soup. A little of the chilli vinegar mix just enhances all the flavours.




A big cup of icy cold ice tea and this is one mean lunch for under 10 bucks! And it's a nice side trip when Vietnams not on this itinerary.



Pho Saigon
Sussex St Food Centre
Level 1, Shop F6
401-403 Sussex Street,
Haymarket Chinatown, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9212 5387

A night out in Sydney, sleeping all day and breakfast in bed ...

Our one night out on the town while in Sydney started with dinner at fine diner, est. This is where I spent some time working before we left Sydney nearly 4 years ago. It's a 3 hat restaurant on the first floor of the Establishment hotel on George St. The dining room is something else, and stepping back into it after nearly 2 years it still almost takes your breath away. We made a late booking for this Saturday night and start with a glass of champagne at the bar whilst waiting for our table. It was a great dinner, Peter Doyle's food the epitome of Modern Australian cuisine, with beautiful, clean flavors. (Sorry no photo's, we knew we were going out afterwards and didn't want to lug around the camera). It's Jen we're meeting up with tonight, she actually finishes work before we're even onto desserts, so we invite her to join us for cheese and dessert. We chew a bit of fat, eat some tasty sweets and then off we go.

To keep in with the theme, it's another Merivale establishment, Chinese Laundry, which is the next stop. We wait in line, pass through the clipboard natzi's, pay our $ and we're in. It's pretty busy, the 2 separate rooms competing with each other as we walk in, but we're drawn to the main room. We spend the night swaying between the 2, but settle in the main room just before 2am for Mark Dynamix closing set. All is good until the dance floor breaks out into 3 simutanious fights. Egh, this I have not missed about Sydney. There was blood, broken glass and plenty of ruptured egos, but there worst thing was the music just stopped, the lights came on, and the place was cleared. Gosh! Now it's 2:30am, we're ready to party and we need to try and find a cab, and somewhere to go. Of course we end up at Kings X. After trying a few places, most of which closed at 3 anyway, we end up at Candys apartment. We then arrive back at the Hilton around 5:30am and can almost see the sun bursting out. Ouch! Thanks to the Hilton's black out screens we manage to get a great sleep. We woke up about 2pm and didn't feel like going far, definately no further than phone by the side of the bed to dial room service.

Ding* that'll be the door. And there the trolley get's wheeled in. The table is set with our antipasto and dip plates with condiments and water. Then we're shown the little hot box under the table with our hot meals. Tres cool.



The dip plates holds 4 little ramekins of dips, a taziki yoghurt and cucumber dip, a roasted pepper dip, hummus and guacamole. There's some marinated olives in the centre and ample toasted pita chips.



Assortment of antipasto items is certainly an assortment. There's everything from prosciutto to gruyere, cippolini to artichoke and some grisini and toasted Turkish bread to mop it all up.



Patiently waiting in the hot box this whole time Buffalo wings with potato wedges and some mini burgers. The wings were nice and juicy, but none of the Buffalo kick we were after.



3 mini burgers are served on a delicious, super dark, crusty roll. The bread was really nice, and the 3 meats, grilled chicken breast, lamb patty and grilled beef all tasty, just thought it was a bit boring that each one has the same lettuce, tomato slice and mayonnaise accompaniments.



It was so nice to have food delivered right to our bed, almost as nice as those block out blinds allowing us to sleep the whole day away ...

飲茶 Yum Cha at Kam Fook, Bondi

It's amazing that we can be spoilt with an array of incredible foods at our fingertips, but it is those simple pleasures that Kim and I miss most. 

Sunday yum cha is one we always reminisce about, wherever in the world we are. Sunday yum cha brings back memories of laughter, fun and eating with friends. (This one time, at Zilver with Jess and Stu, one of the little trolleys caught FIRE! it was insane, firefighters, evacuation and all. Good times!) We've enjoyed dim sum aboard on our travels, but do always look forward to being back in Sydney. Maybe it's a bit of nostalgia, or maybe Sydney does yum cha really well. 



We're over at Westfield Bondi before a big days shopping to stock up on the essentials, so what better to fill our belly's with tea and tasty treats. Up on the top floor of the massive shopping mall is Kamfook.  We arrive early, thankfully, so there's no wait today. We're seated and get straight to it. Our first visitor, a very smiley dumpling lady which we gleefully take from her, prawn, spinach and scallop, sui mai and steamed bbq pork buns. With a lick of chilli and a pot of tea we're off ....



The gai lan lady has kind of set up shop beside our table. We nod for a bunch. Mmm, fresh green vegetables. Then we spot the BBQ lady and give her a nod. Within moments she's by our side. It's duck that's on the cards today, but she apologizes as there's none left on her trolley, but assures us she'll be back. Indeed she was, moments later with a plate of glistening BBQ duck glazed with a touch of sauce and a few roast peanuts. Yum!



We get a little impatient waiting for the fried rice noodle trolley, as we spotted it over the other side of the room when we arrived and it hasn't managed to move to far ... so we put our order in with one of the young guys and he delivers it back to us. A plate of fresh rice noodles, with dried shrimp and spring onion, fried until crispy. Then there's the sauce, oh the sauce. A duo of a peanut paste and hoi sin.



Lastly we share a plate of pork pies. A delicious flaky pastry encasing a bbq pork filling, glazed with egg and topped with a few sesame seeds.



Now with full, content stomachs we're ready for shopping!

Shop 6010, Level 6
Westfield Shopping Centre
1oo Oxford Street
Bondi Junction, Sydney, Australia
Tel: 02-93869889

Bistro CBD, Sydney

It's Thursday afternoon and we swing by the stylish CBD hotel for a quick lunch.  We're headed for Bistro CBD, located on the first floor of this CBD hotel which is part of the Merivale empire. Bistro CBD has been awarded one chef's hat from the SMH for a few years running.

Simun Dragicevich is the man behind the stove, a friend of ours from my time at est. and we're actually popping in to say 'Hi' to him as well. Unfortunately (for us) he's back home in New Zealand for his birthday. We take a nice quiet seat in the corner and browse the menu. We remembered seeing something about set lunches on offer at CBD on the Merivale website (which I'm looking at now, and they are indeed offering the 'Fixed rate feast' of 3 courses for $40) but we don't see this anywhere on the menu and weren't verbally notified of any such thing, so just decide to go al a carte. I have trouble selecting my appetizer as there's a few things I like the sound of. I start with King salmon with spiced melon and ginger. There's 2 generous slices of salmon that are crusted with fresh herbs and resting on a nice avocado and lemon mix, with some spiced melon slices and fried ginger off to one side. I have trouble trying to work out what has been done to the salmon ... it didn't appear smoked, but was slightly cooked, perhaps sous vide. The flavors are all nice, it's just nothing exciting.



Kim chooses a classic, Jamón Serrano with Manchego, fresh figs, witlof and escarole. There's 3 slices of Manchego, a few slices of Jamon draped delicately, a black fig cut in 1/4's and a escarole and witlof salad. An extra slice of sourdough is in order, and I do manage to get a pick. All beautiful ingredients, and a classic combination.



With the trouble I had choosing which appetizer to order, and no main taking my fancy, course #2 for me is another appetizer. I settled on the seared scallops with cured duck breast, celeriac puree with fennel and watercress salad. I see a bit of Peter Doyle in the plating of this dish. The scallops were okay (I guess after now being spoilt with Hokkaido Diver scallops nothing really compares) the cured duck breast, celeriac puree and little salad were a nice combination though.



A big hunk of beef! That was what Kim was after. We both really miss just having a good steak. That's one thing we haven't got to indulge in since being in Japan. As wagyu is the standard breed of cattle, the beef is just so rich, that no one would sit down and eat more that 60 or 80g at one time. It's another classic, simple bistro pairing of grilled fillet of Angus beef with jerusalem artichokes, green shallots and red wine jus. I know it's lunch time, they're super busy and want to churn through the guests, but the steak wasn't even rested. We would have been more than happy to wait an extra 10 minutes while the meat was rested. With a combination this simple and classic, it needs to be executed perfectly, and it was not. To boot, the side order of fries that got sent to our table were horribly undercooked, so we sent them back. It was terribly disappointing to see that the bowl of fries, that was already seasoned with salt, was thrown back into the fryer for a few minutes before being returned to us. The result, a horribly oily, semi crisp shoestring chip. Eew.



With the way lunch was going, we didn't decide to stay for cheese and dessert, which we had full intentions of doing.

Simun's pressence was definately missed in the kitchen on this paticular visit, as his passion and enthusiasm shines through his food, usually elevating these classic bistro staples to something sublime.

Uliveto Cafe, Sydney

Ah, Sydney does do a cafe very well.  As we were both sitting in Uliveto browsing the menu with the sun pelting down into the courtyard and plenty of beautiful people sipping their lattes and reading the paper I realise this is one thing I miss about Sydney.  Kim and I both living in this neighborhood when we were in Sydney, and working above at Hugo's Lounge (when it was still a restaurant) Uliveto was a regular stop of ours.



It's nice to see some of the classics are still featured on the menu.  But the space has expanded!  They've done a great job at keeping the cafe feel with the courtyard, but there's a nice little indoor space and a much bigger kitchen.  We both spot Walter hanging around and talking to regulars, but also see him jump into the kitchen when they're getting slammed and pump out some dishes, before getting right back to chatting away.



Our drinks arrive promptly.  I have a delicious carrot, apple and ginger juice.  Freshly squeezed and oh-so vibrant.  Kim has a mango smoothie, full of ripe fruit and not too sweet.



I order a bowl of Austrian salad.  There's a few plump tomato chunks and a mountain of grated carrot heavily dressed (I guess that was the Austrian part?) with some mixed greens sitting on top.



To accompany this I choose a mini-roll.  It arrives on a little crispy sourdough bun (definitely from Infinity) and there's rocket, prosciutto, roasted corn relish, dried tomato and goats cheese.  I'm very happy!



Kim has a panini that has great thick slices of lamb sausage, some grilled zucchini, sweet onion relish, rocket and lashings of dijon mustard.  The bread is a big fluffy Turkish fella and the generous fillings make this an all round good sanga.



As we're paying, a jar of Dutch Speculaas draws me in.  



I often enjoyed Specalaas as a kid, with the whole Dutch family and all, so can't resist 2 to-go.  We don't even make it to the end of Bayswater Rd before we're both munching away at this heavily cinnamon spiced, crumbly, sweet goodness.  



Uliveto Cafe
33 Bayswater Rd
Kings Cross, Sydney