episyd
-
Posts
61 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by episyd
-
-
If you are looking for a scrumptious macademia nut dessert here is one from a oz chef that is easy and tastes superb
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/06/1081222460613.html
-
If you are going down to the Cinque terre we found that restaurants in general were pretty average dishing out generally safe touristy type seafood plates. The two exceptions we found were slightly off the beaten track. One ot Cornelgia which is the least visited town of the 5 (because it's on a high cliff rather than down at sealevel withg a beautiful harbour.
The name of the restaurant was "Osteria a Cantina de Mananan". Only holds about 10 tables run by a lovely husband and wife team who cook honest, local food that is incredibly fresh. They have no printed menu as dishes change on a daily basis based on what's available at the markets etc. I had rabbit and it was suberb as was the black-ink pasta (mermaid tresses?) with pippis, clams and mussels. A review was published in the wine spectator at the following site which has a whole article on the cinqu terre.
http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Main/Fea...197,168,00.html
The other restaurant was in Levanto which is not part of the cinque( a pity) but is the next stop on the railway towards Positano - a sort of "chabby-chic" resort town that probably has seen better days - but all the better for it i think.
The restaurant is solely seafood and is operated by the same person who owns the best wine shop on the Ligurian coast for tuscan wines. it is called : Osteria Tumelin. I ordered the fish of the day and loved how thery brought out on a huge platter of about 10 different types of whole fresh fish and you decided which one you wanted. The seafood pasta dishes were also superb. You can find more out about it at www.tumelin.com
have a great holiday.
Cheers
Paul
-
Back from the week in southern Tassie.
Highlights - wonderful walking in the Mt fields National Park about 45 minutes from Hobart up the Derwent valley and wine tasting around the Huon and Coal River valleys.
Had a very good meal at a restaurant as part of the Coal River Vineyard and an up and own meal at Lickerish in Nth Hobart - outlined below.
Went to the deli Waurthaus just off Salamanca and was blown away by the variety and quality of the produce - really worth a visit.
Coal Valley Vineyard restaurant.
We popped in early one morning to check it out and looked great so booked for lunch. We weren’t disappointed. The chef was recently the sous chef at Pipers Brook and Strathlyn on the Tamar and was clearly enjoying having his own place.
Entrees we had were:
Tribunna scallops – pan fried with pureed cauliflower, cotechini sausage and chive oil. The nuttiness of the cauliflower puree worked beautifully with the scallops and the spiciness of the thin sausage.
Sliced and poached , milk-fed veal layered with tuna aioli and caper paste on a bed of rocket. An excellent take-off of the classic veal tonnata.
We shared a platter for main meal consisting of:
Poached scallops on a beetroot compote, veal and pear salad with salsa agresto, trout rilletes with a caper paste, white gazpacho shooters and pork sausage on pickled onion.
Now the wines – CVV I think only make 2 wines a riesling and a pinot noir on a 1.5 hectare vineyard that is in the process of doubling in size. Had a glass of each:
2003 Riesling ($21 a bottle)
Slightly confectionery nose, talc and lime as well. Palate has good structure but not a great deal of fruit depth. Average
2001 Pinot Noir (highest pointed wine in 2001 class at 2003 Tasmanian Wine Show)
Mid red – no browning. Lovely complex, spicy nose. Palate not quite as good as the nose –lacks the fruit complexity and depth of flavour of the panorama for example. However, lovely long finish – something a lot of Tasmanian pinots are chronically deficit in. Too expensive though at $40 a bottle.
Last night in Hobart ate at Lickerish (North Hobart)
A warm friendly restaurant , quite casual but with serious food pretensions. On a Tuesday night all tables full, which suggests a good cook. Baltic pine timber floors, with whimsical collection of teapots at the entrance and random collection of mirrors and other objectd’art give it a sort of chabby chic feeling.
Food is an eclectic mixture of Spanish tapas , Asian/French fusion and straight out French/oz food.
Can BYO at $10 a bottle but why bother when there are over 14 wines by the glass and bottled wines such as 1999 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon at $77 a bottle!
Started with a couple of tapas
Spring Bay scallops on half shells grilled with black rice vinegar and ginger juice dressing. Yum – love ginger with scallops.
Fried eggplant with toasted walnuts and a pomegranite dressing – the eggplant and walnuts were a match made in heaven.
Had a glass of 2001 No Regrets Pinot Noir $8 a glass (Glaziers Bay – Huon Valley
This wine is from the superb Elsewhere vineyard which the owners use to own and until their new vineyard comes into production they utilize some of the grapes off theor iod vineyard).
Mid red with slight orange rim. Dark morello cherry , sour cherry nose with hint of oak spiciness. Light to medium weight palate with a soft finish. Lacks a bit of complexity and structure. If you have any its ready to drink. The effect of rain just before vintage is all too obvious. Not a patch on the 2000 but nevertheless a nice quaffing pinot.
Main course
Slow cooked beef shin with Sichuan flavours on asian greens with steamed ginger and spring onion buns.
Duck breast with pink-eye potatoes roasted in duck fat, rocket salad, cherry and cumquat pickle.
Both were competently made meals but lacked finesse. Too rich and too much without enough contrasts to lift the meal. If I see another plate of rocket used as a bed for the main ingredient I’ll scream!
Drank a bottle of Winstead 2001 Pinot Noir ($44) One of my favorite Tasmanian wines made at Bagdad about 15 kilometres north of Hobart, off 10 year old pinot vines - the vineyard itself only has 2000 pinot vines and 2000 riesling vines on 1.5 hectares.
Rich vibrant mid red with no browning. High tone cherry, earthy foresty nose. Only just medium weight palate but with long finish and nice red fruits . An excellent 2001.
For dessert, they has run out of the chocolate/coffee panacotta but in its place they were able to whip up a:
Orange panacotta with candied cumquats, pistachio glaze syrup.
An absolute highlight – the intensity of the orange citrus jelly sitting on top of the panacotta was superb as was the cumquat/pistachio glaze. As a bit of trivia and to show how remarkable home made a lot of Tasmanian produce was the cumquats had actually come out of Peter Gees (ABC sports commentator fame) backyard. He had even supplied the restaurant with oregano a couple of weeks earlier when there was a shortage.
With the dessert 1997 Chateau Filhot – Barsac sauternes ($18 a glass)
Probably the boo boo of the night. I remembered that 1997 was an excellent year in Sauternes and while I knew Filhot was a 2nd grand cru, I remember a couple of decades earlier I had really liked their 1976 so thought it was worth risking.
Pale yellow, limely, lemon with little botrytis (grrrr), even a bit of anise on the nose. Slightly broad palate, lacked richness and bite with little sweetness . A disappointment.
That’s it for our week in southern Tassie. Went on a wonderful 6 hour walk along the tarn shelf with myriad small lakes (tarns) from the last ice age in the Mt. Fiels national Park about an hour up the Derwent from Hobart. Can thoroughly recommend
-
If I had a choice of those 3 then Wanganui would win by a mile - why would anyone want to go to Invercargill - bleak , cold, wet. It's only redeeming features are its pretty near Milford Sound and lovely Stewart island an hour or so closer to the Antarctic. And greymouth!! The name conjors up perfectly the place.
Bail out of Invercargil and gets some relative warmth and sunshine up North.
Cheers
from an oz who goes to NZ often.
Cheers
paul
-
A drive up through Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park towards Palm Beach is a wonderful and stunning drive. Good place for lunch and even stay overnight is Cottage Inn which Niall discusses in another thread. here is the website for it - the photos give you some idea how beautiful the stretch of water is up there.
http://www.bestrestaurants.com.au/booking/..._rest.asp?id=81
Regarding Canberra - there are some excellent restaurants, plus wineries nearby. There is actually quite a lot to see in Canberra and hopefully the autumn colors may have commenced. The National Gallery and Australian National Museum are both worth an extended visit.
My advice is if you wish to go to Canberra - about 3 hours non-stop drive south of Sydney is to travel via the Southern highlands thru the towns of Moss Vale, Mittagong, Bundanoon - again stunning scenery and nice places for morning teas etc. After Canberra why not travel across to the South Coast and motor up the coast - again some of the most stunning ocean scenery in NSW and there are lots of small beach towns to stay very cheaply.
Once you have locked up what you want to do can give some more suggestions on places to eat/stay etc.
Cheers
paul
-
Hi Truffles
If I was taking an o/seas family on a day trip or overnight from sydney, I would not hesitate in going to the Blue Mountains - and I'm a wine buff and love the Hunter
The Blue Mountains is about 2-3 hours out of Sydney and is a World Heritage area - something the Hunter never will be. There are fabulous views, magnificent walks and excellent restaurants. The Hunter is not much of a place for children - have to trudge along with parent to various wineries etc.- you could though include Newcastle forr the kids and go surfing - excellent beached there.
Have a look at this site on the Blue Mountains and see what you think.
I've also included a discount accommodation site which might be of some use which shows hotels, BB's etc. in places around Sydney which you can go for a week-end.
http://www.wotif.com/WotsCool.jsp?category=73&refId=1723
If you decide on the Blue Mountains happy to provide further info on restaurants etc - as I am sure Niall will.
Cheers
Paul - Sydney
-
-
Wine Paring
in Wine
I'm with Caremma - not just cos i'm from oz and love shiraz
We have many 'surf and turf" type mixes down here and find that a meduim to full body shiraz from Mclaren vale or barossa works a treat. Part of the reason is that the more "fruit" rather than savoury/tannic structure of rhone shiraz (which I also love" and relatively lower and softer tannin levels work so well with seafood and game.
Actually I like the idea of kangarro and crab and might even give it a go.
Cheers
Paul
-
Where are you staying?
We don't want to be sending you from one side of sydney to the other as well as sightseeing etc.
Just quickly
** agree with Niall re Buon Ricardo for Italian - forget Norton St Leichardt
**agree with Milarty re Pier at Rose Bay for seafood - actually think this would be a lovely place to take your sydbneysider currently working in ACT. It's located on a pier (wharf) out into Sydney harbour and on a Sat or Sunday with all the boats on the harbour it would be superb - her's the current menu and there is a couple of photos of the restaurant http://www.pierrestaurant.com.au/menu02.html .
Unfortunatley the Boathouse's view is pretty ordinary overlooking either a public high school, industrial wharves/cement producer and fish market and a dirty big bridge which you either love or hate - but the fish is excellent
** Big blow out meal showing off the best of australian cooking, but not at a restaurant with a lovely view etc. I don't think you can pass up either Tetsuya or Claudes. Both have been discussed on a number of other oz posts.
Hope that's some help.
Cheers
PaulV
-
Hi Roger and other tasmanian enthusiasts,
Off to Hobart and parts south for a week on a cheap Virginblue flight from Sydney next month. Any suggestions on interesting restaurants/cafe.
I heard that Mit Zitrone has died and wondered where all the foodies now go.
Noticed in the Sat. SMH that Lickerish a cafe in North Hobart got a good rap - dishes such as beef shin braised in an asian masterstock - anyone heard of it?
What about the restaurant at Meadowbankwinery at Cambridge - also heard the restaurant at Home Hill at Huon is pretty good.
Cheers
Paul
-
Go with the chianti for whites - the vinnum burgundy glass is much too big for aromatic whites - but agree its wonderful for pinots
Cheers
PaulV
-
Casey
Just wondering what Pinots you ended up with for the tasting? How did it go?
Cheers
Paul
-
Just to add some more variety another option would be to add a southern hemishere pinot.
While I'm from oz I wouldn't pick a oz pinot but rather either New Zealand pinot from say, Martinborough or Otago. Names like Felton Road, Cloudy Bay, Ati Rangi, Neudof etc. are excellent and probably closest to a traditional french pinot from burgundy you can get from down here.
Just a suggestion
Cheers
Episyd
-
Have to support a number of posters here. The Lot /Dordogne[we stayed for a couple of weeks near Figeac which is about an hour upstream on the Lot from cahors- superb sat market, nice sized town etc.], languedoc, provence.
What about a month in each of these regions plus a month in Paris? We also stayed in gites and would thoroughly recommend it. All organised from australia online
-
Yep, Longrain is still going strong and pushing out excellent thai
Cheers
Paul
-
Hi Chris
In Sydney at the moment Tabou is great.....the foods excellent and they do a 3-course lunch for around A$30 which is great value.
If froggy-bistro stuff is your thing Becasse in Surry Hills and Balzac in Randwick are fantastic also Bistro Lulu in Paddington.
For superb views and food, Quay [opposite the Opera House on Circular quay] is awesome, Icebergs [ stunning view of Bondi beach from the south end]is the hottest place in town and after a meal there last week it thoroughly deserves its reputation - you must book and it isessential to have a pre-dinner drink in the "look-at-me" bar before dinner.
Here's a great list of the best and most exciting restaurants in Sydney from a review in the The Age early this month
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/12/...0127334401.html
Good luck and don't forget to write up your trip.
Cheers
Paul , Sydney
-
Tough question - it is liking asking a woman to describe the difference between a clitoral or vaginal orgasm...
ha ha ha , great answer but as a male not quite sure it really answers the question
Cheers
Paul
-
Hi all
Just after some advice on restaurants/bistros in Sydney, preferably inner city, that BYO and provide good value, honest food to have with a wine offline I am organising.
While I am from sydney , unfortunately I live in an epicurean and byo desert on the north shore
All help gratefully accepted.
Cheers
paul
-
Loufood
I've been hanging out for a week now waiting and waiting to hear how your first days went - I'm a nervous wreck
Please, please give us an update.Paul
-
Excellent list of restaurants given and would only add Bathers Pavillon on Balmoral beach - not a surf beach but one inside Sydney harbour.
Things to do: ferry ride to Manly walk along the corso to Manly beach and have a surf - much prettier than Bondi though I am sure you will have to pop down and have a look at it - make sure you take the cliff walk from the south end of bondi Beach to Tamarama or Coogee Beach - one of the great walks in Sydney.
Walk/promenade along the quay to the Opera House and the Botanical gardens just after dusk - beautiful soft light on the shells of the Opera House - I think there is even an open air movie theatre running during late december/early January in the gardens right on Sydney harbour.
catch a bus to watsons' Bay (just inside South Head), have a beer at the local pub on the harbour and then buy some takeaway fish and chips, sit in the park and watch the yachts and ferries plying the harbour - absolutely stunning.
Normally I'd say that ypou must take a day trip to the Blue Mountains - however because of the drought there is every possibility that there may be a bush fire raging up there - it's al;so pretty hot up there in mid summer.
Walk to the top of the harbour bridge and make sure you are on or next to the harbour close to the quay or the harbour bridge to see the fireworks display on new year's eve.
There's heaps more to do - or not to do - just sunbake and surf at the numerous beaches and think of everyone back home freezing!!
Cheers
Paul from syd
-
2000 was a good to very good vintage in Coonawarra. There was some rain but the smaller makers seemed to have made a better fist of it, presumably because they could get all their wine off before the rain.
Here is a tasting note on the wine from James Halliday
James Halliday Jul 21 2002 Rating: 91 out of 100
Medium red-purple; the moderately intense but quite aromatic bouquet has a mix of blackberry, blackcurrant and earth, the medium-bodied palate presenting equally pristine cabernet varietal character on the mid palate, then soft, fine tannins to close."
Sounds like it has the balance to drink nicely now. If you see any Wynns Black label Coonawarra cabernet it should be seriously a lot cheaper and about ther same quality.
Regards from Sydney, Oz
-
My wife and I spent a very enjoyable 5 days in the cinque (vernazza) in late May this year.
Loved the walking - you must go on the high tracks above the towns and not just the over -run touristy tracks which keep to lower climes.
Restaurants in general were pretty average dishing out generally safe touristy type seafood plates. The two exceptions we found were slightly off the beaten track. One ot Cornelgia which is the least visited town of the 5 (because it's on a high cliff rather than down at sealevel withg a beautiful harbour.
The name of the restaurant was "Osteria a Cantina de Mananan". Only holds about 10 tables run by a lovely husband and wife team who cook honest, local food that is incredibly fresh. They have no printed menu as dishes change on a daily basis based on what's available at the markets etc. I had rabbit and it was suberb as was the black-ink pasta (mermaid tresses?) with pippis, clams and mussels. A review was published in the wine spectator at the following site which has a whole article on the cinqu terre.
http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Main/Fea...197,168,00.html
The other restaurant was in Levanto which is not part of the cinque( a pity) but is the next stop on the railway towards Positano - a sort of "chabby-chique" resort town that probably has seen better days - but all the better for it i think.
The restaurant is solely seafood and is operated by the same person who owns the best wine shop on the Ligurian coast for tuscan wines. it is called : Osteria Tumelin. I ordered the fish of the day and loved how thery brought out on a huge platter of about 10 different types of whole fresh fish and you decided which one you wanted. The seafood pasta dishes were also superb. You can find more out about it at www.tumelin.com
have a great holiday.
Cheers
Paul
Wine Blog
in Wine
Posted · Edited by episyd (log)
Yep , here in Australia the screw - cap already is industry standard for all whites and all early drinking reds. The top producers - even of red wines expected to reach theri peak for at least 10 years are also now bottling with screwcaps. Often the demand is as much from wine buyers who have paid big bucks for some nice red just to find its corked!
There is some discussion of the need for a reduction in the sulphur levels when bottling reds otherwise many can have problems with reduction.
Cheers
Paul