I Don't Eat, I Devour

Headed by Nelly Robinson (ex numerous London Michelin-starred venues), Nel is an intimate fine dining restaurant that caters to my cold dead heart: no children under 12 allowed, smart-casual dress code. The food is a heavenly marriage between fresh seasonal produce and a showcase of culinary skills to manipulate textures and flavours. The Boss, $22 You can always tell the quality of an establishment from the details. Look. At. That. Ice Cube. I am not a fan of vodka so I have no idea what possessed me to order it, but no regrets. Nel has somehow made vodka (my least favourite spirit of all time) develop a depth akin to an old fashioned by pairing it with maple, chocolate bitters and cherry syrup.  Apple & elderflower mocktail, $10 For my darling mother (who is the definition of 'lightweight'), I ordered a crisp, tart, refreshing mocktail that completely changed my mind about mocktails - I wasn't a fan, now I absolutely am.  Lettuce, sorrel This a

Part I: Useless Preamble Before I begin, allow me to tell you a story about an encounter I had with a certain Personal Development, Health and Physical Education teacher. For the 'health' component of this fancily-titled class, we had to learn about maintaining a healthy weight. For the exam, we were given a diagram, and asked to fill in the blanks with 'food intake' and 'exercise'. I demonstrate below: Now, anyone with even the most basic knowledge of physics would put 'exercise' at the bottom of the see-saw, which would suggest it is weightier and therefore larger, right? Oh no. Not our PE department. I was told I got the question wrong, and when I tried to explain to my teacher how our world operates, she looked at me blankly and said, 'but it says so on my marking sheet'. That, incidentally, is also the response I got as to why they deemed a point on a graph exactly halfway between 50 and 55 to be 51. So that's the kind of

We're so lucky in Sydney because our vibrant migrant culture means we have pockets of areas where you step off the train and could almost believe you're in a different country. Cabramatta is such a place. Yes, it took 2 hours on the train for us just to get there, but the amazing food we got was worth it. What's Cabramatta best known for? Vietnamese food, of course. Pho Tau Bay lunch One of the oldest and most famous pho eateries in Sydney is Pho Tau Bay. Established in 1980, Pho Tau Bay boasts a 'secret recipe' for its delicious pho broth. Large Special beef pho, $20 The special beef pho comes with the lot: rare beef, beef briskets, beef balls, tendon and tripe (that's cow's stomach y'all). I am normally a rare beef-only gal, but since we're at Pho Tau Bay, we decided to go for the whole hog. Just in case you're interested in what tripe tastes like, it actually doesn't have much of a taste - certainly not gamey or strange in a

This is the best meal I have ever had, full stop. Big claim? Perhaps. Do I verily believe it is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Absolutely. Setting aside its tongue-in-cheek and slightly repulsive name, Gastro Park is an award-winning fine diner headed by Grant King of Masterchef fame. Of course, this post will feature his signature dish, the liquefied gnocchi. But let's start with a tipple.  Blossoms, $20 Gastro Park has four signature cocktails, and all of them are extremely tempting. The most intriguing, however, is Blossoms. It is a concoction of gin, elderflower, cointreau and blood orange silk, topped with edible flowers. What is blood orange silk, you ask? I have no idea, but it has the texture of its name: a light yet silky layer perching precariously on top of a refreshing cocktail; more substantial than foam yet lighter than cream. Blossoms has that amazing acidity where you feel refreshed, yet your cheeks do not pucker.  Negron

Haven? More like heaven. But haven also works, I guess. My point is, Haven is definitely one of the most delicious, creative and reasonably-priced cafe-restaurants in Sydney; not to mention their killer coffees, which they tailor, as their name suggests, with a substantial amount of joy. I am proud to say I discovered Haven back when it first opened, and the owner still had the time and energy to come chat to the patrons. In a short couple of years, Haven has truly taken off - now, Haven is so popular that there is always a line to get in. Green tea and red bean egg waffle, $16.50 The egg waffle has become of the staple items at Haven. What is impressive is that Haven continously comes up with new flavours, but the two staple flavours which has not left the menu since the egg waffles have been introduced are the kimchi waffle (which I reviewed here: http://idonteatidevour.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/haven-tailoring-coffee-joyously.html) and the green tea waffle (pictured). Egg

Yulli's introduction on Google kind of makes you want to poke your eyes out: 'creative vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dishes, plus craft beers, served in a quirky dining room'. When I see description like this, half of me wants to say 'hell no', while the other half absolutely longs to try it out. Given last week was vegan week, the longing, pining half won. (read about my unsuccessful attempt to be virtuous at http://idonteatidevour.blogspot.com.au/2017/04/amber-tries-veganism.html ) Mixed chips of lotus root, sweet potato, taro and beetroot served w/ aioli, hot salsa and rosemary salt, $12.50  Although this dish is technically not vegan because of the presence of aioli, a vegan can still have it. Lightly battered tempura-style, the very first dish proves my point in my vegan post about how being vegan or vegetarian doesn't automatically make you healthy: this dish is pretty salty and oily. Was it good? Absolutely. I like that Yulli's has take

Poke bowl is the new health food trend of 2017. A traditional Hawaiian seafood preparation, poke bowls have clear Japanese influences and showcase beautiful, thickly-cut fish chunks. Regular poke bowl with Salmon, $12 The idea at Poku is similar to other places which offer poke bowls (such as health food chain About Life), and it's brilliant in its simplicity: Choose a protein (raw fish such as king fish, salmon and tuna, or go vegan / vegetarian with sweet potato cubes) Choose a base (at Poku the choice is between bamboo rice, sweet potato noodles, zucchini noodles and kale; I have seen barley and quinoa elsewhere) Choose toppings (vegetables, herbs, spices) Add a sauce Optional 'premium' extras such as avocado, fish roe, green mango etc and voila, you have yourself a poke bowl.  The one item on Poku's menu which was previously unfamiliar to me was bamboo rice - what on earth is that?! A bit of googling tells me that it's the seeds of bamboo fl