You don't know what you know till you know it. ~ Review.

What do I realise when something fails on me? I realise that I know so little about so much. In a culinary sense there is so much I do not know, but I knew that.

So what to do...

Keep exploring, keep learning? Yep...
Discovery is what I had in mind when my partner and I were resolute in deciding that another degustation in as many weeks was a good idea, not from a fiscal point of view - but for research! It is well known Auge Restaurant on Grote St. has earned it's stripes, these stripes fill a wall with A3 sized awards right to the edges. It was not so well known that they were attempting to match food and wine in a seven course degustation focused solely on Truffles from Manjimup Western Australia. Did you know they grow truffles in WA? The spine of this Restaurant is supported by the far reaching ribs of Italian fare and all the good things that go with it, i.e. wine, passion, wine, cheese and of course passion. But you knew that... The interior of this restaurant is smooth and the well tuned staff operate even smoother, and of course the big colonic water feature up the guts of the place. Running late and struggling to find a park is not a good way to start an evening, 'suffer the consequences' I parked illegally and was estimating the damage bill to be stuck to my wiper!! 'Stuff'em!' We were odd one's out in a venue devoting a night to one ingredient and all the publicity it could harness from it, suited and sparkling we made our way through the also suited and sparkling but significantly older and richer crowd. A few salient locals were present, some with cred. - some with influence, neither with both. Thankfully I did not know who they were, I know when I'm not in the loop. Can the less notable afford this? Yes it was reasonable, perhaps not with a parking fine on top. BUT we enjoy this, don't we?

Prosecco and canapes to start on our arrival were textural and fresh. In the right position of the room you can take full toll of the friendly staff roving the guests, canape ofter canape can be yours - You knew this. Seated and greeted with little flair and some nice humility by owner Terry, wine intro by sommelier James Erskine was descriptive and passionate. My understanding of truffles are growing, I do know that the flavour is best when utilised fresh. Were we prepared for that much fresh truffle or was there new ground for us to tread? First entree of sorts was a truffle custard served in an empty boiled egg with brioche soldiers and some crisp pancetta. A fun dish inspired by those wintry mornings in woolen footy jumpers spent watching cartoon connection with foul mouthed puppets. I was warming to the sensibility of this chef, I was hoping for more fun dishes matched with smart booze. I made some notes so I could cross check those flavours with a far more learned taster... See these notes on the attached picture...Second dish was a carpaccio of venison with a mustard dressing slightly infused with truffle which did not dominate the dish which was a good thing I think. Maybe if the dish was less balanced and more overpowering I would know what it didn't need. I knew that much. Third, the first of the mains was a lobster ravioli in a fennel brodo, a thin soup with zingy flavour. Very little truffle to chalk up on the score card but I could not foresee how truffle could add too a fabulous dish, it seemed more of an idea that Chef wanted to put on a menu - put some truffle in their somewhere and it makes the cut. The glass of Arneis did not rock my boat, but it is not a wine that I would choose drink. I can gather how people would love it. It reminds me of a poorly made wine of other varieties, but I don't know that for sure... Fourth dish was the real acid test of the menu, a pigeon breast from the same farm as the venison in the Adelaide Hills, served with stuffed zampone, foie gras, truffled potato and pickled cavolo nero. What is zampone or cavolo nero? I still don't know after eating it? But this dish was only disappointing in the aspect of the almost raw pigeon, the rest of the dish was beautiful. Foie Gras has to be tried to be understood with the texture of whipped butter and the nutty sweetness that you would get from a sweet nut. The wine that was served with this dish did live up to the exaltation Mr Erskine gave it, it was new to me. A big bold Italian wine with some real quality and finesse.



The last of the more intricate dishes was the poached apple and rosemary pannetone with truffled gelato. My confidence in the kitchen had slipped slightly since the first entree, it was brought back strongly with this first sweet dish with Italian influence. Chef's (not only Italian) worth their weight should nail a gelato and this was positively brilliant! With a truffle-ee warmness to the back palate like an IV in the back of the neck and the refreshing sweetness of well made gelato. James Erskine said in front of a near full house that he would be judged by the choice of wine served with the gelato, I offered support to his braveness but did not feel it did justice to the dish. His reason was that it would cut through the milky sweetness and refresh us. Perhaps - I don't know that it did, that I was sure about. The finale of the nights meal was a cheese and grilled speck, with mache and truffled hazelnuts. The sweet mix of nuts, cheese and pig (truffles inc.) was a quality blend of fine produce. The chef restored my confidence in him but it took all night. Some advice would be to utilise his strong Italian base and keep the fun, avoid finicky dishes with little bang. That pigeon would have been a real hassle to prep and it bombed.

In retrospect I gleaned a lot from the experience, but it exposed so many more flaws in my own knowledge of food and its craft. I know this because I know a little more, and I see the unknown mountain rise up in front of me. Keep exploring and keep learning.

Giles

Spaghettini Tutto Mare, Recipe ~ Video.

Keep me in the dark...

Foodie [foo-dee] -noun Slang.

A person keenly interested in food, esp. in eating or cooking.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Foodie's everywhere operate on a diet of magazines, TV, Restaurants and selected events. They are the super consumer, a Foodie would look specifically for a more exclusive or rare ingredient over a satisfactory version with little coaxing required. The Foodie means to impress, to make jealousy rife amongst lesser types. But also to share - and spread knowledge about the good stuff... This is what I aim to do by exposing some of the best stores, deli's, bakeries, continental stores, mercato's, enoteca's and anything else worth mentioning.
So share and share alike - let me know (post a comment) of any uncut gems and I will seek them out.

Here begins the "Foo-dee FILES"

Keep up with the pace and you might even run into me at one of these locations!!

Giles

Pizza puzzle, review.

I have a friend who is tall, has sideburns and a cool blues man attitude, his birthday dinner was at Russells Pizza Bar on Saturday evening at Willunga. I really like the atmosphere of this rough and tumble venue, so I was keen to enjoy the evening with good friends. We were lucky enough to have some friends picking us up and driving us home, esky, jacket, keys, slap slap yep yep. Lets go... Our South Australian Department of Transport is still showing their complete lack of foresight in building an expressway that only goes one way at any one time. We are not as late as we thought, A South Rd usually clogged with all those kids in their Commadoors must be binge drinking in other areas? If you did not know where Russells' was and someone said its on the main street in Willunga you could end up knocking on a few front doors. You would eventually find the dimly lit cottage and shed three doors up from the Pub which comes in very handy especially in our case if you start the journey with 3 bottles of red and end it with none and not a drop down the billy goat! Two bottles remained foolishly on our kitchen table as all 5 of us walked straight past them, and the other bottle found the incline of our parking spot to much and into the gutter with a smash - 98' Coonawarra meets MacLaren Vale ditch water.... The pub has a small selection of reasonably priced quality booze over the bar, we cradled our purchase right back to the table at Russells. The starters had begun which are a hands on arrangement of greens, roast peppers, olives as well as bread, olive oil and some fresh dukkah.
There was rumour of keftedes (spiced meatballs) and they were completely snaffled up by the gaggle of girlfriends, who's opportunistic positions around the table meant optimum returns on effort. I snooped around the place and checked out the garden with aragula, fennel and other lettuce just about going to seed, but kept freshly producing by consistent picking. Pizza's had arrived and we were now in proper position to pick up possessions. Great crust, beautiful cheese - but far too much onion... This could be one of the risks in employing enthusiastic youths, standards can rapidly slip without a close discerning eye over those dishes which make Russells' what it is. Onion at high temp goes transluscent, undetectable by the sixteen year old eye. And the Mediterranean pizza is a wonderful concept, but when dukkah burns it goes extremely bitter and another sign that the chefs are under the pump! I would not have thought that you would cook dukkah, as it is all ready roasted to release the fragrant spice. We are all really enjoying ourselves in the back shed so small pizza puzzles slip to the side, if we were not in such and convivial environment and friends were not so jovial would the pizza stand up? NO.
Sapore Ristorante and Cafe Bar is on Payneham Rd. at Felixstow and it has one of the largest brick ovens I have seen used for cooking since eating at Mama Lisa's at Pt Elliot which sadly did not cook pizza in theirs. Sapore are proud to inform me that the oven does not stop unless on public holidays, it looks inspiring when loaded with pizzas of every traditional variety. I tried a Schiacatta Pomodora, pizza based with olive tepenade ontop is a fresh topping and it was so good I took the rest home and had it the day after - a good sign in my opinion. I was a little circumspect of the price of these dishes as a Cafe traditionally treads the fine line of quality and quantity, My darling had a Risotto Gamberoni with prawn, saffron, zuchinni, chilli and herbs fresh but not quite the aroma of Saffron that wows and stirs the soul. I chose better with a Linguine Tutto Mare (local seafood with fresh toms, chilli and herbs) it was clean and zingy enough to keep me interested and more fresh shellfish than I could want for. Well worth the money, when you think this place could feed you twice the amount of food Russell could with more overhead costs. Why is it that these venues survive? Sapore never shut? Russell is always shut? It is a puzzle.
Tell me if you think Russell's is the greatest thing since "Ancient Rome" or that it is just the atmosphere that keeps the fire warm? And if Maggie Beer would like to write a forward to my cook book I would let her...

Giles

Vue de Monde, Gastronome Menu. Review.

From The Scullery