food
Everything Fine at LuMi Bar and Dining | Pyrmont
Dining at a restaurant that’s right on Sydney’s wharf and sampling a cuisine that’s Japanese with an Italian twist is something you cannot forget. At LuMi Bar and Dining you’ll be able to maximise the experience as it has a beautiful open kitchen to watch chefs delicately construct your dishes or you can you sip on a cocktail and watch the Sydney view.
Hello LuMi Bar & Dining!
For a weekend lunch, we opted for an 8 course plus snacks which absolutely works for people who’d prefer to seat at the wharf on a sunny day and have a long lunch. First up the snacks arrived at our table with a glass of sparkling NV Rustico prosecco.
Snacks
We kicked off with the zucchini pancake with generous sprinkles of grated parmesan. This tiny pancake of zucchini had me questioning how I was going to lift it up with my fat fingers as it looked very delicate. One sudden move and it could collapse!
Zucchini Pancake
It was quite an unusual snack but had a natural sweet taste to it. The parmesan cheese added an extra level of creaminess consistency, which I liked, a lot. Zucchini-haters will enjoy without them knowing this baby contains a vegetable in it.
Look at that delicate piece of zucchini pancake.
Next up, we were surprised to see the diced tuna wrapped in a thin crispy sweet potato cone. In some cases, tuna is not always a favorite option of mine but serve it like this and I’ll be hunting the chef down. A very satisfying snack that pleases all ages. The tuna was well seasoned and the sweet potato was paper thin. I already feel healthier devouring this and you would too.
Tuna with sweet potato cone
Chanwamushi is a delicate savory Japanese dish that’s simply steamed hot egg custard bathed in dashi, soy sauce and mirin.
Moreton Bay Bug Chanwamushi
At LuMi, the flavors are quite different yet it does keep its original texture as a silky-smooth tofu pudding yet with a hint of Italian. It contained moreton bay bug juice, yuzu dashi and shellfish oil. Not a bad way to blend the two cuisines together into one as it was pure harmonious flavors in a cup.
OH MAN! This chanwamushi was super silky.
We received the housemade rye & spelt brioche. I giggled at the brioche as it looked like one of the Queen’s Royal crown. The brioche was beautifully golden, soft and perfectly puffed outside.
Here comes the Royal Crown rye & spelt brioche.
We smothered the warm toasty bread with easily spreadable burnt butter mascarpone. Add those two combinations together and we’ve created CARB HEAVEN.
I’m telling you…you’re in CARB HEAVEN after having this.
Open kitchen where you can witness the Chefs plate their food art work.
To our next course the tomato & strawberry was fresh fermented strawberries with skinless baby tomatoes. The flavours are zesty and simple, topped off with garden herbs which gave a burst of freshness.
Camouflage, can you guess which one is the tomatoes and which one is the strawberries?
Talk about bugs and everyone will start screaming but when it comes to moreton bay bug, LuMi does a terrific dish that will let you forget about the name!
Moreton Bay Bug
The edible meat was certainly something I’ve never encountered as it was served semi raw but well-seasonally cooked in texture.
Best moreton bay bug dish I’ve had so far!
It certainly brought a strong district flavor to the table which made them a perfect ingredient to marry with the seaweed crisp circular shell and heavily powered with what appeared to be green tea was seaweed powder. GODDAMN IT!!! I want to order another hundred of these.
Just look at this green beauty!
Couldn’t help but order the Yuzushu Sour ($18) just because. A very light, not overly sour cocktail as it contained a mix of Cointreau and Yuzu infused Umeshu. My tongue could feel the delicate hints of yuzu and perfect acidity to refresh my palates for the next course.
Yuzushu Sour ($18)
Here comes some pasta action and we were greeted with four mushroom agnolotti. It was overwhelming to see an oversized plate holding four delicately handmade pasta dumplings as this dish made me feel like I was giant, haha.
Mushroom Agnolotti
Each agnolotti was thin and smooth holding a warm liquid center filled with a pool of manchego and a hint of truffle oil. Now it made perfect sense why the portion size was served as is. All four parcels delivered an incredible fantasy of pure delicate mushrooms with a surface of creaminess that tastes a gazillion times better than it looks, no offence.
Look how adorable is the mushroom agnolotti.
By now my body was asking for stomach expansion but the show must go on. For our last savory dish, we were served a piece of lamb that was nicely cooked as the meat would effortlessly part with not having to use much weight on the fork. There was an exquisite level of juiciness in the lamb and full of flavor that paired well with carrot mash.
Lamb
Don’t need no explanation for the kakigori as it magically looked pretty in pink on a plate. This was no ordinary simple shaved ice as it contained plum kakigori with basil, vinegar custard and lime sherbet. One of most interesting palate cleanser I’ve tasted. It was tangy and a burst of aromatic citrus in my mouth with a punch of vinegar, surprisingly a wow factor and an excellent way to semi end it.
You had me at plum kakigori.
To wrap up our tasting menu the salted geranium that included salted geranium ice cream, black currant reduction and a violet mousse was phenomenal. It was sugar-crusted but not to overwhelming and the violet mousse and black currant provided a touch of sweetness with the slight bitterness from the salted geranium. Very enjoyable dessert as I had the opportunity to play with my food by karate cracking the top shell with my spoon.
Salted Geranium
After 3 hours to get through our small tasting menu all I can say is it’s worth every calorie to visit LuMi Bar and Dining, but it does come with a $120 per person price tag, however you get to eat at one of Sydney’s wharf and see a stunning view. I’d say it’s a one of the greatest ways to spend your money on! I hope this becomes a permanent part of my weekend lineup. Okay…maybe I’ll just keep dreaming, haha.
Exquisite View at LuMi Bar and Dining
This meal was independently paid for.
Photos by Vanny Tang
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Vue De Monde – Personality on a Plate – Round 2
The last time I had visited Vue De Monde I was crazy impressed to know that my belly could not eat the next morning. Maybe it was because we had devoured an entire degustation menu, who knows. I was so convinced this time round that I’d know the menu off by heart but I was entirely wrong.
The adventure begins
Flashbacks appeared when I walked into the restaurant and was welcomed with Melbourne’s CBD view, but this time the night sky. Photos don’t do this restaurant any justice!
That view
We were first greeted with the pumpkin and all. Simplicity was a key for this course. Texture was whipped to perfection like I was eating air with hidden gems of walnut pieces to bring you to the crunchy side of things. The dip had a creamy outcome with a whiff of Indian cuisine and a tinge of curry taste. It went pleasantly well with the bite-size house made naan bread.
Pumpkin and all
So this is what it feels like again using top notch fork and spoon. This was the only time I would appreciate and carefully use utensils as I was told by the waiter it costs hundreds and thousands of dollars. I did my Google research and yeah I can confirm I would need insurance if I ever snapped these babies…YIKES!
Them baller cutlery
For our second course we had turnips with fresh milk curd and emu which had a variation of Asian herbal flavours that was topped with a few petite pieces of chicken skin crisps. This dish had a heavy fragrant of turnips and blended so heavenly with the milk curd
Turnips with fresh milk curd and emu
The third dish had arrived in a raw manner that I thought we were eating beetroot but I was fooled by the looks and only discovered closely that the dish had charred seasonal greens and buried underneath raw squid with smoked chicken fat, and fermented Davidson plum as a intriguing sauce. It was fascinating munching on these strings of charred greens as it somehow reminded me eating those packets of Korean seaweed snacks and the noodle like squid played well with the plum dressing.
Raw squid with charred seasonal greens, smoked chicken fat, and fermented Davidson plum
Full speed ahead and VDM train brought us Western Australian marron. The three ingredients ran and swirl so well together, amplifying each other’s flavour of pine mushrooms, macadamia and glued so well with the tender piece of marron sure got my belly squealing for some more, I almost shouted out “ENCORE”.
Western Australian Marron with pine mushrooms and macadamia
Uncovered the Western Australian Marron with pine mushrooms and macadamia
The world is your oyster when our cleansing plate of moonlight flat rusty wire oyster with lemon myrtle had arrived. I was fueled by the tangy, sour and vinegar flavours on my taste buds.
Moonlight flat rusty wire oyster with lemon myrtle
One would weep just to touch the crusty curves of the beer and fennel bread as it was still warm, crunchy and brown. Sitting beside was a rolled up cultured butter that compliments so well with the bread. Ahhh….Breaking Bread.Haha.
Beer and fennel bread with cultured butter
Next up was the Mark Eather kingfish with spanner crab and beach herbs, which I personally wasn’t a fan of due the the acquired taste of the beach herbs that had overtaken the spanner crab. On a happy note I was amazed by the tiny froth bubbles surrounded the greens which seemed like this dish was living on the wild wild side.
Mark Eather Kingfish with spanner crab and beach herbs
By now you can almost hear my expandable dress burst it’s last stretch but the show must go on and we had the bright and beautiful Kohlrabi with Yarra Valley salmon roe and a mountain of marron coral. This was seasoned to savoury perfection and made good friends with the beer and fennel bread.
Kohlrabi with Yarra Valley salmon roe and marron coral
Close-up of Kohlrabi with Yarra Valley salmon roe and marron coral
My eyes fell instantly to the Davidson plum sorbet with sorrel and flowers. It sure was a promising delightful taste. Picking up my silver spoon, I spooned out a dollop of sweet, tangy plum sorbet which was bathed in liquid nitrogen. The pleasant smoothness of the sorbet blended perfectly with the bitter-sweet taste of sorrel and flowers.
Davidson plum sorbet with sorrel and flowers
A unique flavor experience was tasting the raw kangaroo with figs and muntari berries.It wasn’t a typical dish you’d have on the menu but an eye popping experience for your tastebuds. I felt the figs and muntari berries overpowered the chunky cube pieces of kangaroo meat, however it’s a taste you’ll need to try it yourself to explore.
Raw Kangaroo with figs and muntari berries
Just its aroma won me over was the sizzling wallaby snag and how can I not include the part where a chef comes out to greet us and cooks right on our table with a transferrable hot stone pot. We’re big fans of a good sausage (no sexual jokes intended ;P) but have you tried a wallaby snag before?
Wallaby snag with wattleseed damper and condiments
Wattleseed damper being cooked
After all the condiments had arrived at our table and the snags and damper were cooked, we had the opportunity to get our hands dirty and participate in DIY snag roll. And if you’re wondering do we get to eat it? The answer is YESSSSS!!!!
Wallaby snag with wattleseed damper and condiments
It’s hard to dislike this Aussie fusion snag because well…I’m a sucker for theatrical presentation. I was quite intrigued with the flavours of the sausage and the damper bread.
The finished result of a Wallaby snag with wattleseed damper
It wasn’t long the waitress returned to our table and greeted us with a very sharp knife to let us know the next course was about to arrive. Hmmmmm I wonder what do need this knife for?…
Have you seen this knife holder before?
Most desirable meat dish was the David Blackmore wagyu striploin. Each pain-steakingly selected ingredient contributed to the greatness of the dish. Wagyu melted in my mouth even before I could chew and the marron coral and cabbage puree had me salivating.
David Blackmore wagyu striploin with marron coral and cabbage
And oh did I mention during the entire degustation we had this spectacular 180 degree view of Melbourne CBD. Nothing special…haha.
Melbourne’s CBD Night View
What a way to start the dessert course was the moment a clay pot bursting with flames comes arriving at our table and I knew we’d be served with entertainment. I’ve got my fun goggle cap, have you?
Roasted marshmallows
You just could not go wrong with eating the roasted marshmallow with frozen pear hidden in the center. It tasted naturally sweet and matched so well with the warm fluffy marshmallow cover. The only sticky situation I had was it easily fell apart, but overall I was pleased with the flavours, it was pear-fect.
Roasted marshmallow
A tantalizing treat was the tea tree, mandarian, and desert limes. You cannot go wrong with something tangy towards the end of the degustation as it loosens up the bloated feeling I got after having a non-stop fulfilling meal.
Tea tree, mandarian, and desert limes
In between my desserts I got distracted by another roasted marshmallows but this time filled with cho cho choooc…you guessed it CHOCOLATE.
Roasted marshmallows filled with chocolate
The squiggly chocolate pieces were easy to crack into with my front teeth and the squishy soaked lime sponge cake had a refreshing taste, texture and fragrant of all things citrus.
Tea tree, mandarian, and desert limes
A chocolate treat guaranteed to make any chocolate lover beg for was the chocolate soufflé. You just can’t go wrong with chocolate especially if you are eating it in front of an amazing Melbourne view.
Chocolate soufflé
Couldn’t contain my excitement when the lamington and gumnuts had arrived. Oh I have missed my petite fours and there was no way on Earth I’d share this with anyone else besides me, myself and I. Each velvety bite of the lamington reveals chocolate mousse swirled with fresh raspberry compote.
Lamington and Gumnuts
It was a superb finish with the gumnuts as it was served frozen and it had a powerful minty flavour that was refreshing with every bite. This reminded me of an eclipse after every meal but a classier way to have it. Haha.
Gumnuts
Vud De Monde Lights
For the second time in a row the real star for the evening was when I was being farewelled with a paper bag of goodies called “For the next day”. I couldn’t contain my childish excitement when the waitress tried to explain what she’d be handing out to me at the very end. There’s a reason why this bag is called that because after we had exited the restaurant, we waddled back to the hotel in 9 inch heels. The bag contained freshly tea leaves, two fun-size croissants and muselli, which are all housemade from Vue De Monde.
Overall this was my second visit and again Vue De Monde is a very sophisticated theatrical fine dining restaurant with a sweet little price tag between $250 -$300 per person. Surprisingly this restaurant never ever ever fails to bore me and made me feel like a kid in an adult body. I have yet to visit other similar restaurants like VDM, but in the meantime I’d say it’s still my favourite fine dining place to eat in Melbourne.
“For the next day”
Photos by Vanny Tang
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Bring on Sashimi and Sushi Busshari, Potts Point
HEY Foodie Friends! It’s been a while since my last post and I’m slowly coming back to planet Earth. Forgive me, but ERMAHGERD winter is here. Since I’m slowly returning to the eating world I thought it was time to visit Busshari in Potts Point that is minutes away from Kings Cross Station. As I entered the restaurant I look around and it’s dark with a few dim lights, but that didn’t matter because I easily spotted the bar seating, YIPPEE!
Is your belly excited or what for some Japanese food?!
What? There’s sashimi and sushi at Busshari?
Busshari Bar Seating
We started with the chef’s selection sashimi plate ($34) that includes ocean trout, tuna, scallops, kingfish and fabulously decorated with red kombu and seaweed. Undoubtedly fresh! What a way to start dinner.
Chef’s Selection Sashimi Plate ($34)
Was it really necessary to take another photo of the fresh sashimi plate? YES IT WAS! My favourite was the ocean trout and tuna which had an utterly decadent texture to it and had us fighting over the last piece with our wooden chopsticks.
Liking the side view?
There was an impressive looking sake menu and well I had to order one for the team. Teehee. We tried spotting a waitress with our sake bottle, but instead she brings a selection of handmade sake cups to our area first and excitingly informs us to choose a cup. I took a gamble and embarrassed myself by singing eeny meeny miny moe. Look below what I picked…
Which sake cup shall I choose?
The Tengumai sake ($17) had the perfect sweet balance and matched incredibly well with sashimi and the sushi plate. Just a tip: If you order sake’s lukewarm/hot in winter they’re usually the ones where you instantly feel the alcohol going around to your head (like you might with vodka). After two shots of sake it did its job making my world spin.
Tengumai Sake ($17)
I felt comfortable staring at the chef’s selection sushi plate ($34), it was hot property between two hungry food lovers. I try the unagi that’s freshwater eel broiled with a sweet brush of teriyaki sauce and tamagoyaki as well as uni nigiri and they were wonderful. The textures made me crazy that I didn’t want to share so what else to do but to continue to eat….
Chef’s Selection Sushi Plate ($34)
This has got to be the LARGEST tamagoyaki I’ve ever had as I found it hilarious that it looked like a Japanese surf board and it’s edible. It looked so LOOOOOOOOONG that I compared it with my iPhone, almost the same height. It was tasty nonetheless.
My Tamagoyaki looked like a surf board. HAHA!
We applaud when the plate of sushi roll rainbow ($17) arrives. Usually normal people would eat the sushi but I had to do investigate each sliced sushi piece. Rainbow rolls are awesome in my world because you get a nice variety of fish, and they’re colourful and I love colours. There was a mix of ingredients including tuna, salmon, yellowtail and prawn.
Sushi Roll Rainbow ($17)
Turns out I was lucky enough to eat three quarters of this dish. These babies didn’t disappoint and had a tasty inside of avocado, cucumber and crabstick. I loved the fragrance of the rice as it was well put together with the other ingredients.
It’s ALL mine!
Fasten your seat belts because the soft shell crab karaage ($18) was FREAKEN INSANCE and finger-licking good. There was good chemistry with me and those crabs. It did look double battered, but looks can be deceiving my friends. It didn’t take much to make my happy with this dish and certainly wasn’t willing to share. I take the biggest piece that I could find and it was light and crisp. It almost felt as if each piece was hollow inside but had a strong flavour of the crab. A very exciting dish to order if you HEART FRIED STUFF.
Soft Shell Crab Karaage ($18)
Well when there’s fried food on the table one has to order Asahi beer on tap ($9.50) just to balance the flavours…
Asahi beer on tap ($9.50)
We genuinely liked the wagyu beef sizzling tobanyaki ($33), however for the wrong reason. After a friendly start with the wagyu beef sizzling in a clay pot with extremely hot charcoal we waited for a few minutes before we dived our chopsticks in. To my surprise the meat was kinda bland and lacked that wagyu melt in the mouth texture, but it was overall juicy. Some pieces were a tad chewy and whilst others were somewhat tender. It’s quite a popular pick for the locals as it looks fun, so do give it a go and maybe you’d get lucky with the flavour and texture of the meat. Make sure to ask for a bowl of rice ($4) to accompany those juicy pieces of wagyu or at least turn that boring plain rice into something meaty.
Wagyu Beef Sizzling Tobanyaki ($33)
I had high levels of affection with the mixed sizzling vegetables including corn, asparagus, mushroom and a piece of carrot carved into the shape of a flower. Something about vegetables being sizzled on a hot clay pot taste so much more awesome that I required a guard to make sure none of these pieces gets stolen from me while I went for a toilet break.
Top view of the wagyu at its best!
We struggled eating the last two pieces of wagyu and it was a real shame that it wasn’t the highlight of this dish, instead the mixed fresh veggies were. We had to make sure we didn’t get the wrong dish and had asked the waitress to clarify if this was the the wagyu beef we ordered. She confirmed this was the dish and informed us it was the wagyu shoulder. For some gut feeling I didn’t want to believe it. But hey I ate all my vegetables at the end of the day and most of the meat. How can one complain when meat is sizzling right in front of you…
Woooo this pot comes with hot charcoal inside and a flame…
Handmade plates made by the Chef himself, Nobuyuki Ito.
Our very last dish had to end with the dessert platter ($15) and I went way to emotional with choosing three part desserts. Living in my own little bubble the pumpkin mousse brulee made me feel like Cinderella who lost her shoe at midnight, but instead I just got fat. Teehee. The brulee was reasonably smooth and had a tiny bit of raw pumpkin flavour. Next the sesame tart was crazy intense with a good solid crunchiness to it and it was pretty generous with the sesame seeds as you can see. For the black sesame ice-cream it was undoubtedly rich and smooth and I just wanted to slab a few tablespoons onto the tart but I was too late. AND if you are a Washoku Lovers member you get a scoop of green tea ice-cream for FREE. All you need to do is just flash that card of yours to the staff. How easy was that?!
Dessert Platter (3 Choice- $15)
It was entertaining to see Chef Nobuyuki Ito show off his knife skills as well as plating each dish during the night with freshly cut sashimi and hand-making sushi right in front of us. I can see why Busshari is so popular at Potts Point as they recently celebrated their 9th Year Anniversary. I loved the bar seating area, the food was pretty up there, however very sad the wagyu wasn’t as great as I imagined. I do have plans to revisit this place again soon and try the rest of the sake menu.
Concentration is key at Busshari when it comes to making seafood sashimi salad.
Photos by Vanny Tang
Disclaimer: Nessy Eater plus guest attended Busshari, thanks SD Marketing Global and Washoku Lovers.
Some meals in this post were independently paid for.
Opinions are however, Nessy Eater’s own.
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Public Dining Room- Balmoral Beach
Nothing beats a waterfront view on lovely sunny day. I drove to Balmoral Beach one weekday and dined at Public Dining Room. Considering it’s location and view we scored ourselves a spectacular window-side table facing the beach. This was a pretty good deal if you don’t mind me rubbing it in. Teehee. I noticed some people brushed off the sand on their feet and waked in to the restaurant. Talk about casual beach feel that makes me feel right at home already. There is one thing you shouldn’t expect at this restaurant and that’s fish and chips. Public Dining Room is not only popular for its location but also their presentation in their fancy meals.
Fancy lunch time
Public Dining Room
I always get excited when FREE rye sourdough arrives at our table. With a thick square of creamy super soft butter and a little bowl of sea salt for the table to share.
Complimentary slice of soft rye bread
Those fat juicy seared scallops ($26) were so fresh that they could have still swam. Teehee. They were seriously tender and lovingly plated with the crisp jamon serrano, pea puree and goats curd. Take one mouthful and you’d be quickly convinced to have another. For the delicate pea puree it wasn’t overwhelmingly rich and was a perfect match with the paper thin salty jamon serrano.
Fat juicy scallops come to Mama!
It took us a while to nibble through the duck terrine ($22) with house made fig chutney, watercress and foie gras. The generous slices of crostini was very helpful to balance out the overwhelming flavour of the terrine and added a crisp texture. I found this dish to be a very interesting presentation and reminded me of a forest. Mother nature was calling me to eat this forest!
What the duck? It’s Terrine.
Mocktail ($10) arrives looking all fabulous and coral pink. With a mix of pineapple, apple, cranberry and a squeeze of fresh lime. I think the lemon does lift and lighten the beverage.
Mocktail ($10)
A unique flavor experience was the fried zucchini flowers ($24) that came fresh from the fryer with stuffed ricotta, parmesan, papillon roquefort that was deliciously gooey and soft. The celeriac and cabbage remoulade with the sprinkles of pangrattato was equally impressive and seasoned to perfection.
Fried zucchini flowers ($24)
Crispy Pork belly ($26) was my favourite dish, the porky skin was so crisp that they were quickly munched down for an extreme hit of pork flavour. To accompany the meat we had generous dollops of apple sauce. Slices of apple, strands of savoy cabbage and woodland sorrel to decorate made this dish look super healthy. Close enough!
Pork calling!
Bursting with intense flavours and alluring aromas was the Tasmanian pasture fed eye fillet ($46) – The most tender of all steaks must be paired well with the massive pieces of king brown mushroom, roasted globe artichoke, mustard cress and a drizzle of brown onion jus. I could taste the long-lasting flavours of the eye fillet and mushrooms. The steak was lightly greased and it was all so very good.
I’m eyeing on you fillet.
Do I need to mention to you how tender the steak was? That thick juicy piece of meat may as well have been made out of butter. Hmmm medium rare is just the way I like it.
Eye-eye Captain Fillet.
Would you believe this is the view from our table? The atmosphere was so peaceful and relaxing at the same time. It felt like a get-away. If you enjoy this view then I totes recommend you to ask the staff to be seated next to the window.
What a Beach! Balmoral Beach
You’ll die and go to heaven with every bite of the Valrhona chocolate textures ($19). Decadently rich in chocolate with the bitterness of dark chocolate, the texture remains deliciously light and creamy. It’s the type of dessert you savour slowly with a glass of cold milk or tea or coffee as the intensity of chocolatey madness slowly builds on your palate.
You deserve this Valrhona chocolate textures ($19)
Meet and greet this chocolate bar with your fork. The crushed hazelnut pieces were incredibly tasty along with the smooth chocolate sensation. I’m GUILTY of eating this.
So many pretty textures in this Valrhona chocolate
If you’re looking for a tasty fruity dessert, try this sensational Mango and lychee bombe alaska ($18). The toasted meringue was heavily contained with a coconut crumble base and secured by green mango droplets . This beautiful merinague tastes as great as it looks, so fluffy and airy. I give this a gold medal for presentation of because if you look closely, you’d see it’s handcrafted with swirls.
Mango and lychee bombe alaska ($18)
I’m sure my teeth were hurting from all the sugar goodness, especially this was our second dessert, but that didn’t stop me from devouring this precious dessert. My teeth felt so spoilt with the hidden ice-cream in the center. Each bite delights with sweet mango…hmmm refreshing. I am so pumped to have another bombe alaska right now.
With a lovely view and heart-warming service, Public Dining Room is a real highlight for a fancy lunch and or romantic dinner. If you’re super eager to check out the beach make sure you bring swimmers along because I heard it’s great to visit on a perfect Sydney beach day.
You’re the BOMBE!
Photos by Vanny Tang
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Porking it with SunPork Fresh Foods at STUDIO Sydney Tower
Pork is such a magical meat that repeatedly satisfies most households across Australia. So the question that has been repeated most evenings is “What’s for dinner?”…With the help of SunPork Fresh Foods that is a Queensland based company aims to provide a tasty, healthy and convenient products to put that question to bed, once and for all.
Seriously fresh food ingredients
It was an exciting evening as Executive Chef Ashley Hughes cooked for 30 guests, including Sydney food media writers and bloggers. When SunPork Fresh Foods had a vision to take pork to new heights, they literally did, with an intimate media dinner at STUDIO Sydney Tower.
STUDIO Sydney Tower view
I had to take a few deep deep breaths when I saw the prawn toast. It’s super tasty with pork belly rashers in Korean BBQ Sauce to the prawn mix. It’s hard not to miss the oven baked slices of almond because it was heavily covered with it. The combination of prawn and pork belly rashers sure makes a great couple.
Prawn Toast
Another amazing canapé was the Moroccan beef pastille which showcase how crazy delicious the shredded beef with some classic Moroccan spices and sweetness is added then encased in some brik pastry. The pastry was lightly baked till it became crispy and let me tell you the texture was paper thin. To garnish it was served with a dollop of minted yoghurt. Oh I wouldn’t mind having some now…
Moroccan Beef Pastille
Next up the Mushroom arancini arrives looking dangerously delicious. It was my responsibility to grab one of these yummy suckers. It’s a true classic Italian dish that delivers shredded chicken, yes SHREDDED not minced. The chicken was folded through a couple of toss and turns in the risotto mix, then baptised with parmesan, parsley then rolled into bite size balls, crumbed and DEEP FRIED.
Mushroom Arancini
Chilling before we put our forks on some porks.
WOAH! Gorgeous table setting
Sunset view from STUDIO Sydney Tower
And the #hashtags begins!
This apple has Nessy Eater’s name on it!
Start off with a cube of focaccia bread.
The sung choi bao that consists of shredded pork with ginger, garlic, onion, water chestnuts and bean sprouts was calling my name and while the piece was not as massive as I imagined, however it was decent in flavour. The slabs of tender pork was in there but it just so happened to be hiding in the witlof.
Sung choi bao
Pairing oh so heavenly well with the sung choi bao was the crispy Asian salad with an Earth shattering crackle encasing and tucked underneath super juicy and tender porky flesh. Crispy crackling skin was succulent and we could tell it was carefully cooked well. Just look closely at the inward shot of that skin…hmmmm..hmmm. Yep there’s tossed salad of pickled carrot, coriander, cucumber and a Thai Nam Jim dressing buried underneath that FAT piece of meat. There was a little spice in flavour for this babe and sure won my tastebuds with that kick to this dish.
Crispy Asian Salad with Pork Belly
Another glimpse of Sydney, isn’t it beautiful?
Some tastyness can be traced in the orecchiette that contains pork belly rashers, fresh peas, basil and mint. HOLY MOLY! It was satisfying to the point I had to get my focaccia bread and scrape off the creamy sauce from the bowl. This was truly well put together and the herbs were so fresh it waffled across the other side of the room.
Pork Belly Rashers
Most freaking amazing dish was the organic porcini mushroom risotto. It took me a few moments to stop inhaling that truffle and I can confirm I had a few awkward stares at the table as if I was high on something…teehee. Besides the prized truffle the Earthy porcini mushrooms and shredded pork was truly decadent with the creamy traditional risotto.
Organic porcini mushroom risotto
After a short discussion about the SunPork’s super meat feast there comes the slow cooked pork belly. My body was so use to being used by pork belly and I have no problem with that whatsoever. The serving of the slow cooked pork belly was served with spiced carrot puree, roasted Dutch carrots, apple gel and kale chip. Such a simple dish that I can properly give it a crack at it. The acidity of the apple did help cut the acidity of the slow cooked pork and woohoo to the crispy kale chip, you nailed it.
Slow Cooked Pork Belly
For our final savoury dish we were introduced with the sweet and spicy BBQ pork ribs with potato bake and a wedge of chargrilled lemon. I couldn’t keep this off my mind because of that smokey flavour. It was surprisingly delicious and Sydney Tower Head Chef Ashley Hughes even admitted that “the smokey flavour from the ribs didn’t come from him, it’s purely from SunPork products“. This homely-stylish dish was served with a sophisticated potato bake that contains layers of thinly sliced potato, parmesan cheese, caramelised onion and a herbed cream.
BBQ pork ribs
Finally we got to see Sydney Tower Head Chef Ashley Hughes in person and he gives us an insight of what he thought about SunPork Fresh Foods products. Chef Hughes mentioned he took his inspiration from some of his favourite pork meals and the products are easy to use because all the slow cooking, the marinating have already been done.
Sydney Tower Head Chef Ashley Hughes talks with SunPork Fresh Foods Marketing Manager Mary-Jane Knudsen.
And moving on to dessert we each devoured our mini lemon tarts that included gourmet lemon filling in a round soft biscuit-pastry shell. Indeed super refreshing with that hint of zestiness and looks pretty darn good.
Mini lemon tarts
We couldn’t just leave with one dessert in our second stomach and so chocolate truffles makes the first move on us with that oh oH OH so fine chocolate coating. As I bite into that chocolate case a gush of creamy ganache centre flows out like a river. Can you imagine that ganache? 😛
Chocolate truffles
With society having less time to spend in the kitchen these days, SunPork Fresh Foods have done all the hard work by providing products like shredded meat range, to ribs and all-time favourite, pork belly into pre-prepared meals that help hit with time poor and health conscious people. As SunPork Fresh Foods Marketing Manager Mary-Jane Knudsen said “These pre-prepared ranges are dispelling some of those myths and showing people how easy pork is to cook and enjoy”.
Fantastic way to end the SunPork Fresh Foods event was looking at this spectacular Sydney view.
Photos by Vanny Tang
Disclaimer: Nessy Eater attended as a guest thanks to KDPR. Opinions are however, Nessy Eater’s own.
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