Foodies’ Diary: Five Fast Eats
Image: The Victoria Room is frequented by ladies who love to wine and dine. Each weekend they get approximately five hundred women just for their High Tea! Smart thinking has seen them add Sole Saviours ($25) (roll-up ballet flats) to their growing range of merchandise.
Sore Feet Eat
The Victoria Room is frequented by ladies who love to wine and dine. Each weekend they get approximately five hundred women just for their High Tea! Smart thinking has seen them add Sole Saviours ($25) (roll-up ballet flats) to their growing range of merchandise. It’s easy to imagine that their well dressed, heel-loving ladies will enjoy this product – particularly at 2am on a Saturday. Keep your eyes peeled for the April release of their upcoming high tea recipe book, ‘High Tea at The Victoria Room’. With it you’ll be well-equipped to host your own High Tea à la The Victoria Room at home!
www.thevictoriaroom.com
Help Others Eat
Nearly a thousand people donated their lunch money to Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion last Friday. Instead of buying sandwiches and pies, participants dined on pan-fried fish with salsa in the Martin Place Amphitheatre, standing in solidarity with the poorest members of our global community who eat fish and rice every day. According to Caritas Australia CEO Jack de Groot, events like Fish Friday “strengthen Australia’s capacity to engage with communities affected by abject poverty”. Celebrity chefs from Doyles, Aqua Dining, Nick’s Seafood, Garfish and Coast were among the draw-cards, helping to raise over $4400.
www.caritas.org.au
Traditional Eat
The arrival of sushi chef Michiaki Miyazaki (who received his culinary training from a two Michelin starred restaurant in Kyoto, Japan) has developed the sushi and sashimi menu at Surry Hills fusion restaurant Monkey Magic. Owner/Chef Hidetoshi calls it a “gentle evolution rather than revolution.” Whatever you call it; their new traditional sushi looks amazing, and seems a great introduction to some unique Japanese products! It’s made up of salmon and salmon belly with grated daikon and ponzu sauce; snapper with shiso leaves and plum paste; kingfish with cucumber and moromi miso (a sweet miso with grains in it) and prawn with yuzu kosho (green citrus zest and green chilli) mayonnaise.
www.monkeymagic.com.au
Global Eat
Chef Sean Connolly has had an epiphany, deciding that: “Multiculturalism really defines contemporary Australian cuisine.” Using a range of global ingredients he has rethought his own style of cooking; and relaunched the menu at Astral Restaurant. Expect to see ingredients like Japanese Yuzu Fruit and Asian tapioca pearls peppered throughout his new menu, which includes a beautiful “less is more” Raw Plate of tuna, ocean trout, scallop, oyster and sea urchin sashimi with soy mirin jelly, tuna dust and a yuzu emulsion. Even the classic Aussie Surf’n’Turf gets remastered as Kurobuta pork belly with prawn cannelloni, carrot and star anise puree and a caper berry and sage butter. With two courses at $85, three at $105, it sounds like it might be worth a gander!
www.astralrestaurant.com.au
Bargain Eat
Finally if you’re counting your coffers in the wake of the global financial crisis, Alio has a good value offer running on Mondays and Tuesdays. Enjoy two courses of fresh, clean Italian cuisine served up with a glass of wine for just $45. Head Chef Ashley Hughes’ special menu includes soft, pillowy hand-made potato gnocchi; twice-cooked pork belly with cotechino and salsa verde; and a Caprese salad dressed with 25 year old balsamic vinegar.
www.alio.com.au
