Avocado reviewer competition

I have been involved in the food and wine industry for over 25 years and reviewing for the Good Food Guide since 1987.  Increasingly, members of the dining public are joining the pack of critics so I thought I’d share a few quick tips that I have picked up for reviewing restaurants over the years.

1. Like any good critical analysis a review should be honest, informed, impartial and as objective as possible.
2. Use your knowledge of cooking and ingredients to evaluate the dish. Has the correct method been used? Has it been cooked as indicated? Look at whether or not it matches what is on the menu and if the flavours are true.
3. Try not to be limited by personal preferences. Write a review in such a way that allows the reader to judge whether or not they would enjoy the restaurant being written about or not.
4. Look at the actual food as well as the big picture. Consider what is actually on the plate - how it tastes, looks and smells. Then look at the menu as a whole, its balance, interest and value, the wine list, service, comfort of seating and ambience.
5. Finally, go out with an enthusiastic attitude. Expect to find a great meal and don’t be looking for faults. When criticising, make it constructive.
6. A professional review is written after an anonymous visit and paying for the meal just like any customer. It is not something accepted gratis.

Now that I’ve shared my tips with you, I have the perfect opportunity for you to put them into practice. During the month of November Australian Avocados are giving you the chance to put restaurants around NSW and ACT at the mercy of your palate. Due to the extraordinary bumper crop of avocados coming through, participating restaurants will be featuring a very special avocado dish. To enter the competition all you have to do is order the dish, write up your review and post it to your personal blog, Yelp, Urbanspoon, or TripAdvisor and inform Avocados Australia of the location by the end of November.

Click here for more details on the competition.  

My friends at Bayside Lounge in Darling Harbour have devised a stunning dessert of Avocado Pannacotta with Avocado ice cream and Chilli marshmallow (pictured above) for their lunch menu. Head chef, Uwe, has been kind enough to share the recipe of his Avocado Pannacotta to impress your guests with an unconventional dessert at your next dinner party.

Avocado Pannacotta

5 gelatine leaves
750ml pure cream
125g castor sugar
1 split vanilla bean
150gm avocado puree
1 cup (250ml) milk

1. Soak gelatine in 2 cups of cold water for 5 minutes.
2. Bring cream, sugar and vanilla bean to the boil. Remove from heat and discard vanilla bean.
3. Squeeze out excess water from gelatine and whisk into warm cream mix until completely dissolved. Leave mix to come to room temperature.
4. Place avocado puree and milk in blender and puree until smooth.
5. Fold into cream mix gently as to not create air bubbles on the surface.
6. Pour into desired serving glass and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Best of luck! Lyndey x

World Chef Showcase at SCEC

For the month of October some of the best chefs from around the globe visited the sunny harbour of Sydney for the annual Crave International Food Festival. This year there was an emphasis on Italian cuisine, with Massimo Bottura, one of the highest ranking chefs in Italy, on top of the all-star line-up.

To begin the festival, the World Chef Showcase was held at Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre. The ultimate food-lovers’ weekend brought together some of the finest culinary talents for a weekend of presentations, cooking demonstrations, talks and tastings.  Over 2,500 dishes were served over the weekend.

Although I wasn’t able to make it, as the culinary ambassador for the Centre, it was wonderful to see them given the opportunity to hold this high profile event.

Some highlights included talks and cooking presentations by Massimo Bottura, Antonio Carluccio and Darren Purchese from Burch&Purchese Sweet Studio in Melbourne.

Find out what else is on for Crave International Food Festival at www.cravesydney.com.

Crave at SCEC this weekend

Crave Sydney International Food Festival run by The Sydney Morning Herald is here again!  This year their signature event, World Chef Showcase, will be held at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre.  A perfect location for such an event with its easy accessibility to all forms of transport and the professional team from The Centre working behind the scenes.

Festival Director Joanna Savill, an old friend,  has again done a great  job with her team.  The month of foodie fun includes signature events such as Night Noodle Markets, Showcase Dinners and cooking classes as well as Shoot the Chef photography exhibition and competition.

My friends at Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre are hosting the World Chef Showcase this weekend – Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 October.  Dubbed ‘the ultimate food-lovers’ weekend’, hand-picked domestic and international culinary talent come will together for a series of presentations, demonstrations and tastings.  Best of all it brings to town writers like Ruth Reichl , along with local luminaries in Talks and Thoughts, a new feature in the Showcase.

Internationals include food writer and cookbook queen Tessa Kiros, restaurant reviewer  Nick Lander, and Christina Tosi from Momofuku Milk Bar. Locally, our Italian chefs star along with some personal favourites:

Mark Best from Marque presenting in the Thoroughly Modern Masters section. I’ve eaten in Mark’s three hat restaurant Marque, in Sydney’s Surry Hills, many  times and love everything from his quiet determination to his impressive and innovative yet grounded food.  

Colin Fassnidge from The Four in Hand and 4Fourteen is joining The Luck of the Irish section.  Following my Irish odyssey also known as television series, Lyndey Milan’s Taste of Ireland (soon to be screened), I share an affinity with Colin’s Irish roots and food.  I recently enjoyed a leisurely lunch at his newish 4Fourteen in Surry Hills.  From the stuffed pig tail to the Irish breakfast and mixed grain salad – all sublime.  As it says on the Crave website ‘stand by to go the whole hog’!

On the sweet side, you can’t go past  Darren Purchese, one of our most original, exciting and talented pastry chefs. The sweets, desserts and cakes that he creates at his bespoke Melbourne studio are works of edible art.

The details
09:30am-5:00pm Saturday 6 & Sunday 7 October
Parkside level 1, Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour
Click here for more information

Unconventional Evening Award

Last November I had great fun MC ing the “Unconventional Evening” held at the Sydney Convention Centre. This fantastic event highlighted the Centre’s innovation and creativity.

Great news last week to learn that this spectacular event has been recognised internationally  with the highly prestigious International Special Events Society (ISES)  Esprit Award. The award, announced in Dallas in the United States at the beginning of August, is an outstanding achievement.

The team took inspiration for the event from a painting from the Centre’s Australian art collection by renowned artist Tim Storrier titled, Point to Point (pictured). The centre’s team did a wonderful job in transforming the stunning Bayside Terrace, looking out over the glittering harbour, into an astounding interpretation of the artwork with a massive projection of Storrier’s artworks surrounded by hundreds of tiered candles.

The event succeeded in demonstrating the Centre’s passion for excellence and talents. A succession of amazing dishes, delivered by Executive Chef Uwe Habermehl, highlighted the finest of local produce and was, of course, accompanied by fine local wine from all over New South Wales. During the evening I interviewed various leaders in the food and wine industry including Bruce Tyrrell from Tyrrell’s wines and Sam Hayes of Mirrool Creek Lamb. Several renowned artists were in attendance including Colin Lanceley, Michael Johnson and of course, the inimitable Tim Storrier himself.

The award is well-deserved recognition of the Centre’s contribution to the industry through continuous world class delivery of events and service.

An excellent way to celebrate the Sydney Convention Centre’s 25^th birthday in outstanding events for the year 2013!

See highlights of the evening here  and photos here.

New Winter menu at Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre

My good mate, the ever-talented Executive Chef [pictured above] at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Uwe Habermehl, has created a sensational seasonal menu for chilly months. All the dishes focus on utilising top quality produce from local, New South Wales suppliers.  From Orange, Mandagery Creek Venison is a name that particularly resonated with me.  The  owners Tim and Sophie Hansen are good friends and I’ve been able to visit and see the beautiful deer they rear which is free-range, pasture-fed as well as antibiotic, stimulant and growth hormone free. The richly coloured meat is lean with a subtle, delicate flavour.

Similarly, Uwe has cleverly incorporated many indigenous ingredients – from Wattleseed to Kangaroo – by giving them a modern twist.  Old favourites have also been given a makeover – Caramelised apple tarte tatin is paired with liquorice and white chocolate ice-cream.

The Centre take food and wine matching very seriously. Master Sommelier, William Wilson has hand-picked several stunning wines to complement Uwe’s winter menu, including the bold Hope Estate Shiraz from the Hunter Valley.

Master Sommelier William Wilson with me

The Sydney Exhibition and Convention Centre is host to a huge array of events – Motor Show, Good Food and Wine Show, gala dinners, school formals, graduations, corporate conferences – the list goes on. Such diversity offers a significant hurdle for the catering team; who must be able to switch tempos, menus and styles with alacrity. Therefore, I thought it was important for me to bring to attention the latest example of Uwe and his team’s talent – his delicious Winter seasonal menu, which I highly recommend you taste.

For more information visit the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre website.

High Tea in the Globe Bar, Observatory Hotel

When you think of afternoon tea, a world of dainty sandwich fingers, squares of soft-crumbed cake and fruit-jewelled tarts is unleashed. This meal, neatly sandwiched (pardon the pun) between lunch and supper, is normally overlooked on the grounds of over-indulgence and extravagance. The Duchess of Bedford is credited with inventing the afternoon tea, and if portraits of her are accurate, this should come as no surprise. In fairness, the traditional gap between lunch and dinner is purported to have yawned for around eight hours, thereby warranting an afternoon pit-stop. However, I very much doubt that anyone from that time would recognise either the foods or the size that a modern afternoon tea has bloomed to. Not that I’m complaining.

Last week, I took a colleague (herself English, so she should know!) to a full-blown high tea at the Observatory Hotel. We felt like the Duchess of Bedford as soon as we walked through the entrance hall; it gleamed with the cool marble tiles, smooth swooping banisters and glinting chandeliers. After wafting his way between the perfectly laid tables and crisply folded newspapers, we were greeted by a smiling waiter who settled us into comfortable bachelor-green leather armchairs with the exciting prospect of champagne. A sign of good things to come.

Neat triangles of crustless bread filled with a variety of egg mayonnaise, ham and cheese, smoked salmon and, of course, cucumber were arranged neatly on the lowest tier of our china cake stand. Our eyes swiftly climbed up to the next level of our cakey pyramid: the scone layer, featuring four freshly baked miniature scones accompanied by dinky jars of clotted cream and strawberry jam which emanated a sweet, summery fragrance. More often than not hotel scones are claggy, insipid and fridge-cold, so it made these - sweet, raisin studded and misted with a haze of icing sugar - irresistible. The menu goes on, with miniature ramekins of crème brulee, cones of chocolate mousse, powder-pink macarons and fruit tarts. Not all of it was as fresh as the scones as tiny squares of cheesecake tasted of fridge,  but overall the glorious array of afternoon treats  didn’t just plug the hole between lunch and dinner, but substituted both.

It couldn’t be called afternoon tea without at least a pot of freshly-brewed foliage. The Observatory boasts an impressive list; from the familiar Ceylon, Darjeeling and Lapsang Souchong, to the more intriguing and exotic Dragon Eyes Jasmine, Warm Spice and Sencha First Flush. Served in mismatching teapots, each prettily patterned, was a welcome change the customary institution-white was.

It’s a shame that afternoon tea isn’t more popular. In this era of carrot-crunching health professionals advising to eat five (albeit small) meals per day, perhaps it will make a comeback, and the Observatory Hotel would be a spectacular place to return to when the time comes.

The details
Observatory Hotel
89-113 Kent Street, The Rocks, Sydney NSW 2000
Click here for high tea bookings

Guest post: work experience with Lyndey Milan

For the past few days we've been lucky to welcome Alice Henderson to our office.  As well as recipe development, testing and writing, I took Alice to Mornings on Channel this morning.  Alice has written a delightful account of the day.  Over to you Alice.

Bouncing out of bed this morning pre-sunrise, I couldn’t wait for another day in the food industry with Lyndey Milan. Brainstorming, recipe developing and testing (and tasting) aside for the day I headed straight to Channel 9 to observe a cooking segment on Mornings by Lyndey.

Armed with the recipe (not only read but memorised), an eye wide open for a celebrity-sighting, and a growing excitement to stand behind the scenes for the 4-6 minute segment, I knew it was going to be a great morning. Through the main gate and past the reception desk to meet Lyndey in hair and makeup, it was then time to prepare the bench that would be wheeled onto stage in the final advertisement break before the segment.

The produce for today’s recipe was just outstanding; award-winning produce from the Sydney Royal Wine, Dairy and Fine Food shows (sydneyroyal.com.au). Fresh egg tagliatelle, Coolangatta Estate Semillon, Pacific Reef Fisheries tiger prawns, Tathra Sydney rock oysters and Brasserie bread to name a few. Yes, this was truly a medal-winning seafood pasta dish. Eager to help however I could, I got stuck into peeling the 2012 Champion winning cooked prawns to be tossed through the pasta before serving. Once all was set up and checked, it was time to head into the studio. Standing behind the cameramen looking at the set before me, Sonia Kruger and David Campbell well at home on stage, it was quite amazing to see how a live television show is produced. With a final check of equipment and implements, the cooking began.

 Medal winning seafood pasta

A master of the kitchen, Lyndey chopped, stirred and in minutes produced an absolutely-can’t-wait-to-try-that seafood pasta that smelt so delicious I was mentally working out which night next week I could cook it at home for dinner. All done and dusted, the bench was whisked back out of the studio for clearing and cleaning. After a sip of double-winning Semillon, a spoonful of pasta, and a photograph of the final dish we were ready to head back to the office. Having watched Lyndey on my television at home for several years it was such a thrill to stand in the studio this morning, soaking up every second of the experience.

Alice Henderson, food writer and trained chef, on work experience

Click here for the recipe on my main site.