a simple "tentempié"

This year my lunch breaks seem to be much shorter than ever before. Luckily this does't happen everyday, but I find it's still a little bit of a problem, which requires an urgent solution. 


So, obviously this is not a proper luch, but it's more than a tapa, at least from the intellectual side of things. In Spain I would call it a "tentempié", which could perhaps be translated like "something that allows you to keep standing up".

Yesterday the easiest option was a cold left over mix of fish stock, together with some hybrid formula between what could have been a soup or a "gazpacho", but clearly with different ingredients. And all of it combined with fresh rye caraway sourdough, plus a very nice glass of 2009 Yarra Yering chardonnay.

jamaican tunes & italian appetite

A pair of exceptional starters to be shared stole the Italian after-show supper we accidentally ended up having, together with the Ronphen gang after an unusual  concert at the "Famous Spiegeltent", right on Hyde Park.

Mozzarella with red grapes was the most for me the most exciting part of this late festival-mood dinner.

Beef carpaccio with watercress and beetroot was beautiful, but I'd say their carpaccio concept was far away from what I know when that name is being used.

Lynne tried the pasta with mushrooms and peas, which she adores.

My choice, one more time, was the pappardelle al osso bucco. It was very tasty, and the pasta felt really fresh, but maybe too filling for that time of the evening.

sunday brekkie

It is always nice to wake up on Sunday and start the day with a traditional breakfast, or as I can often hear around here "brekkie", where all the required flavours and ingredients are in place.

No thinking required, isn't that perfect? This simple fact provides a genuine sense of sublime easiness and comfort. The right tea, the right bread, ideal jams, perfect butter...it's all there, waiting for you.

Our lotus suffered a considerable overnight transformation. Some sort of expansion in a quite spacious way: more density, more colour and more shape.

Fruit, fruit and more fruit to fibre up the system. Cherries, grapes and plums were our, almost, monotonic selection of the day.

spain in pain vs Ben in heaBen

Some of you may remember that plane on the photograph. It was a sunny early morning of September and Lynne was seating in it, ready to fly to Madrid, while the Ronphens were waiting to board another aircraft like this one heading to Barcelona. Well, those days are over. Today Spanair has closed the shop, which means that thousands of passengers who had bought a ticket with them, won't be flying. And the worst part is that I happen to be one of them.

Adding this unfortunate incident to the level of unemployment in the Spanish Kingdom, which according to the dreadful paper La Coz de Galicia has reached the generous figure of 5.273.600 workers, make Spain a fascinating empire of pain. I'm sure the aztecs were fully aware of that pain a few centuries ago, and now the regular Spaniard knows it, too. As Mr. Kravitz said in one of his early songs, "what goes around, comes around". Viva Españañoña!

These are the frequent occasions when I am really glad I am thousands of miles away from such a depressing and retarded place. And in order to celebrate this crucial reality, we were well prepared: a bottle of Larmandier-Bernier "Tradition" plus another bottle of 2005 Best's pinot meunier were ready for us.

In the early afternoon, while waking on Victoria street, I saw a bunch of lotus which at the time looked like onions, but later on they provided a colourful touch to our dinner celebration.

australia day vs chinese new year

Multicultural stimulation could be a way to describe this week, which also had some sort of multiseasonal tone. On Wednesday we were meeting the Ronphen gang for a show at the SOH, and right at that time it felt like a proper flood was about to develop. Luckily it was a false alarm, but traffic was still crazy.

I still can't understand how so many good restaurants in town close their kitchen by 10pm, but I guess the locals are either early eaters or don't mind having pizza for dinner after that time. Neither option works for me.

The Ronphens came with the brilliant idea of going to Chinatown, where we started with nothing but a captivating bottle of Gosset Brut Grande Reserve.

summer brunching

A low tied Bronte marked the start of another summer weekend in Syd City. The water temperature was the best of the year, so far, and since most of the morning was cloudy, we didn't have to deal with heavy traffic in the water.

Just the right amount of prep for such a staggering brunch session; Lynne's devoted work was mind blowing, once again. Cooking seems to be some sort of liberating exercise for her, where sublimation reaches a full meaning.

Phenomenal Fenn came over to join us for this casual celebration of summer, which started with a sweet delicious experiment, constructed by Lynne's weekend creative forces. Oatmeal pancakes with blackberries, home made orange jam and fresh mango was a colossal winner!

Beautiful tomatoes with small mozzarella balls, under a nice local extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing.

Fabulous "jamoncito ibérico de bellota" (acorn fed Iberic ham) also made it to the menu: sweaty, finely sliced and with the right amount of fat; it melted in the mouth, just the way I expect it to be.

Good bread was a requirement, given this outstanding combination of eatable goods.

After an introductory glass of cava we went straight to a pinot noir space, which even worked quite well with the diverse "pallette" of chocolate we got the day before in Woollahra, driving back from the beach. One from New Zeland, a 2008 Rippon "Emma's Block", and an Aussie 2009 "Farrside" by Farr. I was hoping to have an estate Pyramid Valley, but that will certainly happen next week.

Out of seven captivating varieties, Black Truffle, Stumptown Coffee, Maine Sea Salt, Brooklyn Blend, Serrano Pepper, La Red de Guaconejo, and Cocoa Nibs, this last one was Lynne's favourite. Mine was the first one; anything truffle I am usually crazy about.

blue bones

A completely unplanned meal came through during my recent excursion to Pyrmont's fish market last Tuesday.

It was the first time I got garfish down under; quite a peculiar pointy swimmer.

Garlic, amazing Australian extra virgin olive oil, four minutes on the barbie, continental parsley on top, and dinner was ready.

A great 2007 Pedralonga Barrica albariño, from the tiny location of Godos (Pontevedra province), was an ideal choice. The labels they use on the bottles can hardly be any better, so full of meaningful simplicity.

Blue bones are a quite fascinating feature while eating this beautiful fish. The meat is compact, very tasty and I'd say very manageable for even non-fish eaters.

Our dessert was a shy prolongation of the xmas spirit, but only for a few more minutes: "polvorones" (almond, cinamon and sugar are the base of these dusty figures), "turrón de yema" (a semi-solid paste of almond, egg yolk and sugar) plus an earl grey tea Kakawa chocolate.

a single origin shot

A great coffee revival took place yesterday morning on Reservoir St. At the same place which, according to super Danish chef Redzepi, does an exceptional espresso, as he twitted last July while he was in town.

I am more of a latte customer, but the highlight of this first visit of the year was a serious ricotta-pesto-strawberry-crunchy fruit bread meal, which was my most exciting breakfast of the month, so far.

Cold drips were inevitable, considering we are in the middle of the summer, and this week the temperatures seem to be going up.

For sure this is one of our places to start the day fully energized.

t-bone storm

A beautiful Sunday was followed by a quite spectacular evening, where lightnings became our first class entertainment.

It is perhaps hard to believe that same day we had a great swim, followed by a great dinner on the balcony organized around a solid and tasty t-bone.

A fabulous Moroccan inspired eggplant salad/sauce with tomatoes, tons of garlic and parsley was beyond delicious.

Another 2010 Jamsheed Silvan syrah from the fascinating Yarra Valley joined our dinner, one more time, and a quite phenomenal impression, again.

The meat was cooked to perfection, with a beautiful stripe motive on the outside.

More garlic with a bunch of tasty green asparagus balanced the whole molecular collision of nutrients and intense flavours. 

A successful experimental dessert, passion fruit souffle, closed this magical night of continuous thunders and lightnings, which made Syd City really feel like Sin City.

heaven's "tocinillo"

Lugo is one of those ugly small cities you can often find in "modern" Spain. An  undeveloped notion of "progress" combined with useless architects plus the juicy cuts local politicians got for decades from those horrendous developments, have literally ruined not only the landscape of these now kind of inhabitable towns, but even the old charm of their downtowns.

The city hall is an interesting exception, which unfortunately has nothing to do with the actual city lack of elegance. Anyway, the reason for my recent trip to Lugo was revisiting a restaurant where my grandfather used to take my mother when she was a little girl. I think it has been close to ten years since last time I was there.

The beginning of this was the so typical "polbo a feira" (market style octopus). Served on a wooden plate, just like in the street markets, it has to come with a potato, so the olive oil together with the "pimentón" and octopus juice compose a spectacular flavour.

"Boquerones" (marinated anchovies) came at the same time, as a complimentary little bite; basically an easy "tapa" to ignite our digestive protocols. 

A 2007 bottle of Matarromera, from Balbuena de Duero, was a nice companion, especially for the following meat dishes: "perdiz" (partridge) and "ternera" (beef).

The bird came with a ton of onions. Afterwards it was time for what we know as "chuletón" (t-bone), ideal for those days when I feel the urgency of having meat.

The end of each meal at Verruga was always "tocinillo de cielo" (heaven's little lard, is the literal translation), a childhood highlight. As expected, our dessert was a very dense one -quite full of egg yalk and sugar-, so a small amount is more than enough, before it becomes a too rich experience. It does require reserving room for it.