Restaurant Review: Pilu, Freshwater

I've long been anticipating a visit to Pilu, nestling next to Freshwater beach in Sydney, with promises of spectacular views and exemplary Sardinian cooking. On Saturday night I finally got the chance to visit for Penne and Clint's leaving party.

The restaurant is situated in a lovely restored beach house with uninterrupted views of the beach. The staff were friendly and accommodating, not batting an eye lid at the fact we arrived half an hour early and offering a us a drink on the terrace while we waited for the others from our group to arrive.

Once seated we decided to go for the tasting menu, which as the menu states is designed for the whole table. Luckily we were all in agreement. Four of us also took the option to go for the accompanying wines with the tasting menu. When each dish was brought out the waiters explained a little bit about every plate, highlighting some of the key ingredients, flavours and cooking techniques. There was also an explanation of the matching wines and why they had been chosen to go with each particular dish. The team of waiting staff were clearly well trained and I've no doubt they've tasted everything on the menu.

The first dish was courgette flowers filled with ricotta, bottarga and pecorino; it was also the only disappointment of the evening. The first fritter I had was all courgette, with only the smallest flower and I was beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about. The second fritter was a large courgette flower with a healthy amount of the luscious filling. Dave reported having two courgettes sans flower and others at the table seemed to only have one courgette flower like me. It seemed a bizarre let down on an otherwise excellent evening of food.

The second course was the wonderfully delicate Spring Bay mussels, clams, tomatoes, fregola pasta and a sea water sauce. I couldn't resist casting aside my fork and spoon and using my fingers to eat the mussels which were perfectly cooked without a hint of toughness. The soup was the star of the dish for me with the white wine, sea water and olive oil coming together in perfect harmony.

The pasta course was next. Exquisitely shaped ravioli of potato, mint and nutmeg, with a fresh tomato sauce and percorino. How did they perfectly fold that oh so soft pasta? The nutmeg came through as the dominant, but not over powering flavour, and the fresh tomato sauce had a rich flavour full of summer. The pasta was one of my top three dishes of the evening.

The palate cleansing sorbet which came next, was also one of my top three dishes from the evening. The flavour of the granny smith apples really came through with a perfect balance of sharpness from the apple and sweetness of the sorbet. Palate cleansing heaven.

Our fifth course of the evening was snapper, prawn and sage wrapped in carta di musica and served on a red pepper sauce. Pan frying the fish inside the wafer thin carta di musica flat bread was a novel touch that added texture to the dish. Each parcel only contained half a prawn tail wrapped in a small piece of sage, I slightly wondered what the point was and felt the parcels could definitely have used more sage and potentially more prawn as well. The red pepper sauce was lovely, but a common complaint from me, I would have liked a bit more. I think I'm a sauce kinda guy.

Our final main course was the restaurant's signature dish of suckling pig. High expectations can often lead to disappointment and this dish just missed the mark for me. The crackling on the suckling pig was to die for, but the meat wasn't as tender or quite as flavoursome as I was expecting. The pig was served with two accompaniments. The first was an interesting mustard, rosemary and caper condiment which was slightly dominated by the mustard. The second was an apple and cinnamon sauce which was a little too sweet for me to be served with a main course.

For desert we had the most exquisite pannacotta with orange abbamele (a Sardinian honey reduction). The pannacotta had a perfect texture that dissolved in your mouth. The abbamele sauce added an extra dimension to the flavour, and a sweetness, without making the pannacotta too rich. The matching desert wine with orange and honey tones was the perfect accompaniment and best match of the evening. The pannacotta was the final of my three star dishes.

I sometimes doubt my own taste buds and don't think I can detect complex layers of flavours, but they were alive last night. I was really trying to savour each course and wasn't let down. The food at Pilu was fantastic. The atmosphere and service helped combine for an excellent evening. I'd put the food right up there with the meals I have had at Maze in New York and Le Manoir. If you go, and I think you should, make sure you ask for a table by the window.

Yes it was expensive, but worth every penny (or cent). The only real disappointment of the evening came when one of the waiters spilt some olive oil on the back of Brad's shirt as he was serving the homemade bread rolls at the start of the evening. It's one of those unfortunate mistakes that you can't do a lot about. However, in a place this classy I would have expected them to be a bit more apologetic and offer a gesture of recompense. Offer to pay for the dry cleaning? A free drink or course?

Twenty20 Cricket: Australia bt West Indies

Last night I went to see the Twenty20 international between Australia and the West Indies. As a game of cricket it was a bit disappointing with the WIndies being absolutely demolished. However, as a spectacle Twenty20 cricket is a lot of fun. There was crowd participation with shirt giveaways before the game and an impossibly hard catching competition between the innings. Rock music is belted out between balls and fireworks are let off every time a six is hit or a wicket taken. The short format of the game encourages a bit more explosive action than you'd expect to see in a Test Match. People are there to have fun and are encouraged to enjoy themselves.

I was a bit surprised how the Aussie crowd barracked one of their own players. Harris was fielding just in front of us didn't quite get to a very difficult catching chance on the boundary. The next over a he fumbled the ball and let it past him for four. For the rest of the match he was ruthlessly hounded by a section of the crowd near us. Nothing like getting behind your own players!

I'd definitely go again, but would hope to see a more competitive game.

Restaurant Review: Clipper Cafe, Glebe

Glebe High Road is filled with cafes, restaurants and takeaways. If I'm being honest most of them don't look that appealing, and my visit to Saigon Saigon last year was a disappointment. (The Spot and Pudding Shop are exceptions for a tasty snack on the run.)

Last weekend I had breakfast at the Clipper Cafe which I'd walked past without noticing several times before. Inside all the tables were filled and there was a washed out (almost beach comber style?) vibe going on. They seem to have a bicycle theme, with retro peddlers hanging on the wall. To me the word clipper has a tea association, so I'm not sure where the bicycles come from...

I ordered the poached eggs on toasted ciabatta with prosciutto and tomatoes. It was a tasty combination with the eggs oozing over everything else. Not advertised on the menu, there was a sauce smeared on the ciabatta. I couldn't quite worked out what exactly it was, but it was the star that brought everything together. Not as peppery as brown sauce or smokey as barbecue sauce it was somewhere in the middle. The only disappointment for me was that the salad on the side hadn't been dressed.

Shakespearemate had the baked eggs with sausages in a tomato sauce. We think that the eggs had been poached before the dish was assembled and put into the oven to bake quickly. I didn't taste the baked eggs, but it look good without being anything special. Also ferociously hot and likely to burn your tongue.

You can read a more eloquent review of The Clipper Cafe on a new blog I've just discovered, The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry.

Nikon D3000 unboxing

Last weekend I bought myself a Nikon D3000 with the vibration reduction (VR) twin lens kit.

The D3000 is Nikon's entry level DSLR in their current range. Prompted by Clint and Mike here is an unboxing of the camera.

First thing to note is that when you buy the twin lens kit you actually get two boxes and not one. It's a nice feeling when you see a price sticker on the box with a price over $200 more than you paid. Nothing remarkable about the boxes.

The D3000 from the front. A good looking camera, it fits into the Nikon family styling. Feels lighter and more compact in the hand than most DSLRs (which is what I was looking for). Has a good quality build feel, where rival entry level DSLRs can feel a bit cheap.

Body from the top.

Very little fuss on the back of the camera. There is a 3'' colour screen (it doesn't pivot). This camera is marketed for it's simplicity and the Guide feature has been added to help people new to the DSLR market.

You get a VR 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6G and a VR 55-200mm 4-5.6G lens with the twin kit.

Other items included in the box are a quick start guide, manual, warranties, cable connector to your computer, charger and I received two batteries. I think only one battery is standard, so I got a bonus!

First impressions of the camera are really good. It is heavier then the film SLR it is replacing, but comparatively light and compact for a DSLR. Has a good in the hand feel. I am looking forward to taking photos with it!

Cooking: Ice cream cake

I saw the recipe for an ice cream cake in a magazine recently and thought it looked so cool that I'd have to go if it a go. I've never seen anything like it in the UK before. Little did I know that the ice cream cake was ubiquitous at five year old children's parties in the late 70's and early 80's here in Oz. There were some sickly sweet memories to overcome.

This recipe is bordering on almost not cooking it's so simple and I think that you could mess around with the recipe as much as you wanted. It was absolutely delicious and went down very well. All childhood memories were successfully banished.

Here is what I did...

First step is to make a basic sponge cake:
225g Butter
1 cup (or 225g) Sugar
4 eggs
1 cup (or 225g) Flour
Baking powder

- Heat your oven to 180 degrees
- Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
- Add an egg and mix in, followed up a little bit of the flour and baking powder. Repeat until all of the eggs and flour are combined.
- Bake in 20cm round cake tin for 25mins.
- Take out of the oven and cool.

Once the cake has cooled you and assemble the ice cream cake:
One basic sponge (see above)
Two punnets of blackberries
150g bar of dark chocolate roughly chopped
Handful of toasted almonds
1.25 litres of vanilla ice cream

- Slice the cake through the middle so that you have two rounds. If you cake has a doomed top, slice that off so both rounds are flat.
- Line your 20cm cake tin with glad wrap (cling film) leaving plenty overhanging round the edges.
- Place one of your rounds of cake in the bottom of lined cake tin.
- In a mixing bowl place your ice cream. Take one punnet of blackberries, cut them in half and add to the bowl. Add half of your chocolate to the bowl as well. Mix with a wooden spoon until everything is combined.
- Spread half of your ice cream mixture over the cake in base of your tin.
- Put the second cake round into the tin and then top with the remaining ice cream.
- Put the cake bake in the freezer for 2/3 hours.

When it is time to serve the cake get it out of the freezer and remove from the tin onto a serving plate. Cover with the second punnet of blackberries, reserved chocolate pieces and toasted almonds. Leave to defrost slightly for 5-10mins before slicing.


I had some desicated coconut lying around so added that to my cake mixture. For the cake topping you could add whatever you wanted. How about mixing up the berries? Using a flavoured ice cream? Mixing in some smarties instead of the chocolate?

That Face at the Belvoir Theatre

Last night I went to see That Face at the Belvoir Theatre in Surry Hills. Much like the last play I saw at the Fitzroy Theatre, That Face is a small cast, gritty and intense emotional roller coaster. It is the debut play written by Polly Stenham an English playwright who is only 22 (and was 19 when she wrote the play)!

The play revolves around a dysfunctional family consisting of the mother Martha, who's in a downward spiral of depression, drinking and prescription drugs. Her son Henry who dropped out of school to try and look after his mother, sister Mia who's in the process of getting herself expelled from boarding school and the re-married father who rushes back from Hong Kong.

The play started a little slowly and I wondered if we were in for a painful evening, but got into it's stride pretty quickly. It took a while to work out the relationships between the main characters. The dynamic between Martha and her son Henry is particularly strange, at one point I thought the relationship might be incestuous. However, you were soon part of the emotional rollercoaster, perhaps not gripped, but definitely intrigued.

My favourite character of the evening was Henry, played by Kenji Fitzgerald. I thought it looked about 17/18yrs old (but thanks to the internet have just discovered he is 22). For someone so young (still comparatively young) he displayed and enormous range of powerful and believable emotions.

The set was very sparse, with the main prop being a double bed. It was a perfectly staged mess, that got ever more destroyed throughout the course of the show as shredded clothes and sketch books get thrown around. How the back stage crew manage to re-produce it every evening the mind only boggles.

When the play was first shown in England it was apparently divided into two acts. However, last night there was no interval which I think was probably a good thing. I am not sure the play could have recovered from a break in the intensity.

I noticed three theatre critics sitting in the crowd taking notes. I'm going to keep an eye out for their reviews in the weekend papers and as I'd like to know how their thoughts correspond to mine.

Restaurant Review: Devonshire Thai, Surry Hills

Last night I went for dinner at Devonshire Thai in Surry Hills. We were looking for a quick and cheap eat before seeing That Face at the nearby Belvoir Theatre.

From the outside the restaurant doesn't look anything special, a run of the mill Thai (they seem to be everywhere in Sydney) with large doors and windows opening onto the street. There seemed to be far too many staff for the number of tables buzzing around.

The menu was pretty broad with a two pages of stir fries, curries, rice dishes, noodles and salads. All of my favourites were there including som tum papaya salad, larb and pad thai. The only thing missing was the crispy pork from my local street stall in Bangkok.

Dave and I shared a duck curry and pork larb (a minced pork salad). I really liked the flavour of the dishes, you could tell that they had been made by a Thai chef. The larb had a lovely balance of heat from the chili, kick from the lemongrass, sourness from the lime and hints of fish sauce. It really was rather good.

Then what took the food up another level for me was how they had tried to integrate some local Australian ingredients into the, otherwise authentic, Thai food. The duck curry had a couple of hidden grapes and strawberry halves in it. Before trying them my initial reaction was sceptical, but they went really well. The textures are complimentary and they gave a little bust of sweetness to the dish. The larb had a couple of olives in it, the salty tang worked. To me this shows a restaurant that is thinking about the food and doing something imaginative.

Devonshire Thai met our needs exactly, a quick, cheap and tasty eat that got us to the theatre 15mins before the start of the play. The bill was very reasonable, even considering some of the table were drinking beer. A great local for those who live in the area.

Government House

Back in August last year I visited Government House, run by the Historic Houses Trust, after a good reports from my sister's visit. The house was formerly the official residence of the Governor of New South Wales. It is no longer an official residence, but is still used for official functions meaning that it is only open to visitors at the weekend.

I walked to Government House through Hyde Park and noticed that a lot of the trees have graffiti carved into the bark which I thought was very cool (although it might not be good for the tree).

Visits inside Government House are by a free guided tour only. Our guide was pretty informative telling us about some of the history and current uses of the house. We were shown round some of the state rooms on the ground floor.

I have to be honest and say that I can't remember the tour perfectly being so long ago. There were some nice furnishings and interesting stories relating to various bits of furniture e.g. a sofa purchased especially for the Queen to sit on during one visit. It isn't an enormous building so there are only about five rooms in the tour.

There is a manicured garden which offers a unique angle of the Opera house that is well worth the visit.

I took the below photo of some of the stonework on the outside. I rather like it.

An experiment in Black and White

Back in August I got out my film SLR and shot my first ever roll of black and white. I'm pretty pleased with how some of the photos turned out. You can see the photos by clicking the champagnes bottles above (or here).

The pictures are mostly of Brad and Chel's wedding and my trip to Government House (on which they'll be more soon).

A quick trip to Melbourne

I have just been to Melbourne with work for three days. Nothing too exciting to report as I spent most of my time in the office. I didn't even find any particularly good places to have dinner. Must try harder next time.

I was staying at the Crown Towers hotel which was very nice. The rooms were stylish and had everything you could want including, most importantly, a comfortable bed. The gym and pool were plush, although I hadn't thought to take my swimmers. I don't stay in many hotels, but the Crown is second on my list after the Mandarin Oriental in Tokyo as the best place I've stayed.

Dangerously there is a casino in the Crown complex. The photo above is of Jay and I on a roulette table in Las Vegas back in 2008. We were betting on the numbers in the fortune cookies we received at dinner. The numbers worked that night and I've had that scrap of paper in my wallet ever since. I am pleased to report that the fortune cookie still has it's magic and I more than doubled my in the Crown. Thankfully I don't get any buzz out of gambling and can't imagine finding it addictive.

Restaurant Review: Sugarcane, Sydney

On Friday night I went for dinner with a couple of friends to Sugarcane in Surry Hills. I thought the menu was interesting. Firstly, there are only three dishes that could be classified as starters and two deserts, sandwiching a long list of main courses. Secondly, it's a pan South East Asian mix, which can often lead to disappointment as a restaurant over-reaches beyond their speciality. I'm pleased to report there was no let down on this score at Sugarcane.

We shared three dishes, which arrived one after the other. Perfect for sharing and a good job as you wouldn't have fit more than one of the large plates on our table at any one time.

Our first dish was salt and pepper squid. Large pieces of fried squid with a moorish dipping sauce. I think there is limited excitement with salt and pepper squid regardless of how well it's done. We probably should have gone for something a bit more adventurous.

Next we had our star dish of the evening, crispy pork hock with stir fried vegetables. The pork was crispy and tender at the same time, which I always think it s feat to achieve. The sauce was delicious with perfectly balanced layers of garlic, ginger, fish sauce and chili coming through (plus flavours I couldn't identify).

Our last dish was a prawn stir fry. There was a generous helping of large butterflied prawns in the stir fry. However, the accompany vegetables and sauce was pretty similar to the pork hock. Bad ordering from us ordering two similar dishes or a lack of imagination from the kitchen?

The restaurant was only half full when we arrived, but by the time we left there was a queue forming outside. The open plan interior and large doors onto the street made for a good vibe and breezy atmosphere. When the bill arrived we faced a morale dilemma as our bottle of wine was missing. We did the honourable thing and pointed out the mistake.

I enjoyed Sugarcane, but I don't think I'll be rushing to go back. The food was good, but not exceptional. I've read a few reviews saying what good value the restaurant is, I thought it was mid-range to a little expensive.