South Indian-style lime pickle

a few limes, cut into pieces
a hefty splash sesame oil
mustard seeds
curry leaves
ground chilli
chilli flakes (or whole chillies)

Fry oil with spices and pour over chopped limes. Combine well and leave, covered, in a bowl for a week, mixing up every day.

Pack into sterilised jars, packing down well to extract juices to cover. Leave in jars in the sun for a few months before eating. I can't leave it for long before I start picking at it but the idea is to leave it long enough for the skins to go soft.

St Kilda: The Prince of Egypt

In town for the Melbourne Masterclass recently with the other intrepid foodies amusedbouche.blogspot.com we stumbled across new restaurant The Prince of Egypt over the road from our hotel. Having eaten around Cairo quite a bit I like to consider myself fairly au fait with Egyptian food. In fact, one of my favourite restaurants in the world is in Cairo (Abu el-Sid, Zamalek). I was keen to introduce les pals to moulakhia, Egypt's national dish. You can buy dried and frozen moulakhia in many Middle Eastern shops, and the odd Middle Eastern grocer will get you some from his mother-in-law's garden if you ask nicely. The Prince's version was made with frozen moulakhia. So what is it? It's soup the texture of snot, to put it impolitely. Similar to okra, moulakhia slightly thickens and makes viscous, liquid. Egyptians make a chicken stock, add garlic and moulakhia and often lemon juice. The Prince's version is not as tangy as I like it, but a good version nonetheless, even if it's not quite everyone's cup of tea.

The kindly folk at The Prince of Egypt arranged to feed us a range of dishes for price per head: just the way we like to eat. I don't really rate the eggplant and hommus that much (best hommus ever I award to Al-Dhiaffah Al-Iraqi http://www.yourrestaurants.com.au/guide/?action=venue&venue_url=aldhiaffah_aliraqi), I found them too strong in jarred garlic and not tangy enough, respectively. The highlight of the meal was a slow-cooked lamb and okra dish - unctuous and intensely savoury. One of our party had chosen Blue Nun for us to drink. At least we can say we've tried it now.

Go for the moulakhia (if only to experience it once in your life), the grilled meats, and slow-cooked dishes. Great value.

L'Abbat - an ode to offal

For some, nothing was more pleasing than the thought of a meal celebrating the forgotten bits. For others, they worried they'd bitten off more than they could get down. From a menu of stretched chicken skin, 'cured' patiently with a hair dryer, to a fridge of unctuous left-overs this dinner was satisfying in more ways than one, but particularly for those that worried their food fears would be overwhelming: because they were most pleasantly surprised...

Murder in Sicily
Fresh tomato juice with lime, fresh bay leaves, Campari and vodka, finished with spiced dried blood and Tabasco Chipotle

Devilled Kidney à la Amber
Diced lamb’s kidney fried in seasoned butter and a splash of Worcestershire sauce, served on white egg
Terredora Coda de Volpi IGT 2007

A Bone to Pick
Roasted veal bones with a veal jus and Bombardier English stout reduction.
De Bortoli Yarra Valley Pinot Noir Rosé 2008

Cop an Earful
French-style crispy pig’s ear salad
Tyrell’s Lost Block Semillon 2007

Callos a la Madrilena
Slow-cooked tripe with chorizo and black pudding, finished over brazier
Huntington Estate Mudgee 'Home Bottling' Shiraz 2001 - From Magnum

The Suet Canal
Sussex Pond Pud of fresh beef suet and whole lemons and lime with fresh muscatels
Baileys of Glenrowan Founders Muscat
Sanchez Romate Pedro Ximénez ‘Cardenal Cisneros’ Sherry

Dem Bones
Pear marshmallows
Espresso

Eating Auckland: Another few days

Back in Auckland with the proviso to be more cautious with the budget I sought out another couple of restaurants to tick off. I'd previously avoided visiting Soul Bar as 1. the name sounded naff and 2. the location on the viaduct reminded me way too much of Darling Harbour. Happily the restaurant was a pleasant surprise and the harbourside location breezy and full of life. An entree of buffalo mozzarella, various tomatoes and basil was summery, pretty and full of flavour - even if the giant croutons had to be violently crushed up to be comfortable chewable.

The recently rennovated and reopened, much beloved to Auckland restaurant Meredith's proved to include soils and the like, however in a fairly unpretentious manner. Unfortunately I was comatose on a handful of cold and flu tablets and had the impression of coasting through the dinner. Thank goodness for camera phones because I can safely then recommend the Rimu Grove Pinot Noir - don't ask the year because the quality of the photo is not that good... suffice to say it was a bit of a wild pinot with a little brett and a lotta character. What with the bottle of pinot and the handful of pills little else is particularly clear, except that I would not like to dine in Meredith's the middle of winter (as you need to dash outside to go to the loo) but other than that it's a restaurant I'd go back to. We also had the interesting experience of sitting next to a plastered couple who broke up and made up in the space of the evening - though according to staff they do that every weekend there.

Eating Auckland: a week away

What are the best restaurants in Auckland? I guess everyone has an opinion. I for one want to eat at restaurants that I can’t eat at elsewhere: when I go away I like to discover a unique way of eating that’s particular to the region. I’ve always associated New Zealand with seafood, fritters and fruits, but that’s just my take. In much the same way that Sydney has a certain ‘Sydney style’ I was keen to discover if Auckland had one too.

SAILS My companions for dinner number one were probably ruing sticking up their hands to join me as they trudged up a deserted highway in the dark, in the mud, towards a restaurant that we weren’t entirely sure would be open. Our hopes were lit and dashed when we stumbled upon the garish Swashbuckler restaurant (though I’ve heard the food is actually quite good) only to be pointed further up into the mist and told it was still a bit of a trudge away. We approached from the dark side, and nearly didn’t make it at all as we negotiated a deserted carpark and worried that the weather was coming in. I’m glad we did keep going however because when we were finally welcomed into the restaurant’s bosom it was as a reward for our toils. Particularly striking in the restaurant are the beautiful zigzagging paper chandeliers, the same as those found in Wildfire (Circular Quay, Sydney). As it was a cool winter night we couldn’t appreciate the sea of bobbing boats behind the glass but I reckon it would be quite delightful on a sunny day. Standouts on the menu were the succulent braised lamb neck with beetroot and tiny lamb cutlets, and a gorgeous plum ice cream served on the dessert platter which reminded me in the best way possible of tinned dark plums at my parents’ dinner parties. In the quest to sample as many New Zealand sauvignon blancs as possible, the Sails wine list yielded two that were particularly enjoyable: Craggy Range Te Muna 2007 and Pegasus Bay 2007. A cheese that I’ll also be seeking out next time I get across the ditch will be Kahurangi Single Cream Blue – heaven.

DINE Peter Gordon is something of a New Zealand hero and one who champions fusion food. However, despite the hype, and despite the restaurant’s location in the SkyCity Grand Hotel, the restaurant and food struck me as upper-end bistro rather than fine dining. That’s not a bad thing though and I think it compliments the food, which is robust and vibrant, rather than fussy or elegant. We were convinced by the familiar and engaging waiter to put ourselves in his hands for the degustation with matching wines and the end impression was that this was food better suited to eating as a meal rather than as a trouping of small dishes – quite simply because the serving sizes were huge for degustation and the food, once again, bistro-style and came looking like slightly under-sized meals rather than small, contained courses. Similarly the wine matched was poured in a very generous manner. I’ve a hazy recollection that a riesling and the following pinot noir were very, very good. I just wish I’d remembered their names.

FRENCH CAFÉ I’d avoided booking The French Café because I’d worried that this wasn’t going to be a unique restaurant to Auckland, but that it would be of a certain French style that is reproduced somewhat around the world, or at least would be similar to certain European restaurants in Sydney. I was wrong. The restaurant began to help me flesh out my impressions of New Zealand dining. For one, it’s generous. The chef’s degustation was extremely good value and each serving was similarly generous in size – perhaps too generous as I was rolled out at the end of the meal and couldn’t finish the last few courses: mon Dieu! Despite a long day myself and dining companion’s moods lifted as we were lulled into enjoying the patter of courses. My companion, The Cocktail Queen, gave the restaurant’s Moulin Rouge the thumbs up, and subsequent wine service was attentive but not pushy and delightfully warm and knowledgeable. A stand out dish was the prawn cocktail of tomato sorbet, prawn jelly, prawns, avocado and seafood dressing in a fine glass bowl rimmed with lemon salt. Another was the sublime beetroot, onion and fig tart topped with a cushion of goats cheese and a single star of borage: the low, comfortable lighting made the photo hard for you to discern, however hopefully conveys the beautiful attention to presentation. This is excellent presentation in my book: at once inventive and understated. I quite understand how The French Café won the awards it has. There were few dishes that missed (a cigar of foie gras was a little overwhelmed with caramel and apple), and many more that both surprised and delighted.

Michelin & the Street: Zurich

ZURICH You’re definitely in Switzerland when your first evening catching up with friends involves fondue and schnapps. The nature of fondue means schnapps is necessary: to burn a ‘Norman hole’ through all the congealing cheese in your stomach, and it works very well I think. Also makes for interesting English-Swiss conversation! So that was fondue number one, a hearty meal on top of the heart-stopper we’d had earlier in a beer hall.

The beer hall we stumbled into after pouring off our overnight train was no steins-on –the-wall-and-cowbells piece, but a serious den for alcoholics. I think we were on the verge of being chucked out when we asked for mineral water rather than beer, and opted to share a heaving plate of rosti, cheese and bacon, rather than attempt one each. Good move. This was the kind of food that either kills you or makes you stronger. We redeemed ourselves only a little with the waitress (who looked like she carried a rolling pin behind her apron for use on the hall’s patrons) when we ordered our coffee topped up with bitter herbal liquor – no name for it, it was ‘house’. Though we were in one of the richest cities in Europe, we’d stumbled on the bottom-end’s pub.

Cheese is of course synonymous with Switzerland. Especially the big wheels of ‘Swiss’ cheese in all its holey glory. There are many surprises however for anyone willing to try something other than emmental or gruyère. A Swiss meal other than fondue that celebrates the cheese board is boiled potatoes (kept warm in a special padded bag unique to that purpose) served with a selection of cheeses and salads. I adored the Rostiger Ritter (‘rusty knight’) cheese, and not just for its name as it has great smooth texture flecked with tartaric crystals. Also L’Etivaz is a remarkable cheese, named after our good Swiss friend’s ancestral village. Apparently it’s made the way gruyère was 100 years ago, only from the milk of cows on summer pasture and made by hand by our friend’s grandparents. Similar to gruyère it’s creamier and subtler. Another I particularly enjoyed was the white cheese bärlauch, which is soft and flavoured with a centre of wild garlic – quite pronounced and quite delicious, especially smeared on warm potatoes.

And then there’s the charcuterie. As we poked around Swiss sites, at every opportunity a very hospitable friend of our friends would duck into an aromatic shop only to emerge with yet another of his favourite sausages for us to try. Paired with beer, local wine, local schnapps, crisps or whatever, invariably the Swiss Army Knife would come out of his pocket and slice and dice as soon as we sat down for a break amidst our wanders.

Michelin & the Street: Berlin

BERLIN Too much currywurst, is simply too much currywurst. And I don’t get it. Previous to landing in this awesome city we’d had this late-night dish built up as Berlin’s answer to the kebab so we thought we’d do our duty and eat it as often as possible, in our search for the city’s finest. Nup, I’m not convinced. It’s a plate of chopped up bratwurst (usually pretty withered too as these are train station fayre) doused in tomato sauce and curry powder. Now I’ll admit that the first currywurst we had was probably the best – from outside Gesundbrunnen underground station. There was a queue (it was lunchtime) and the bratwurst was bursting from its natural skin. However, subsequent sausages were dry in the mouth or with chewy artificial casings so I left Berlin not too concerned that I’d have to stick to kebabs after the pub in Sydney.

Of course the beer was fun to taste and the Rieslings were too, however what I really fell in love with was herbal liquors and liqueurs. Shots of Kuemmerling are sold in packs of twelve tiny green glass bottles in the supermarkets and are supposed to be good for digestion. They are actually very convenient for slipping a few in your handbag before going out to bars where the drinks are bound to be a bit pricey. We stayed with a friend whose extremely cool band mates caught us drinking Kuemmerlings in the kitchen and were very amused as they’re what German oomas drink. However, we suspect we may have kicked off a little revival of the drink – at least amongst the indie kids scene, because Kuemmerlings are cheap, powerful and quite easy to drink. They might even be good digestifs as well.