New Farm Food Stories

Scrumptious Reads

August 13, 2012 by New Farm Food Stories, posted in Food Culture

With the maturing of the food culture in Brisbane, the timing could not be better to open a bookshop specialising in books about food. Julie Tjiandra and Reyna Portillo have spotted the opportunity and opened Scrumptious Reads in the new precinct on the corner of James and Robertson Streets.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Scrumptious Reads

The shop opened just over three weeks ago and the owners are still sourcing specialist stock from overseas and building up the collection. Julie talks about the shop as an extension to her own library. ‘I read and collect old books,’ she said, ‘particularly books about food, including the history of food, food science and food and travel.’ As well as a beautiful collection of cooking books, the shop has reference books on food and books on specialist topics such as tea and wine.

As expected, a few chefs have made their way through the door, but the majority of customers are curious browsers looking through the collection.

Julie and Reyna intend to make Scrumptious Reads a centre for food culture. They are working with experts in different fields and are developing a calendar of events with appreciation classes and information evenings.

If you are after a classic cookbook or want to deepen you understanding in one area of food, Scrumptious Reads meets those needs. And like all bookshops, there is the chance for the serendipitous moment when you find exactly the book you need, even though you didn’t realise it before you walked in the door.

Scrumptious Reads

Shop 5 and 6, 19 James Street

Fortitude Valley Qld 4006

Phone: 07 38710199

http://www.scrumptiousreads.com

Happy Little Dumplings Cheer Up James Street

August 12, 2012 by New Farm Food Stories, posted in Reviews

One of the few frustrations of yum cha is waiting for the trolley to make its way across the restaurant, only to watch it run out of steamed dumplings just as it reaches your table. For those too impatient to wait, they can join the fast moving queue at Happy Little Dumplings. Despite the lunch time rush, the staff were polite and upbeat in wrangling the many and complex orders.

James Street is the second shop of this mini-franchise which started with a stall at the markets and then opened in Oxford Street, Bulimba. The yum cha menu has gourmet, vegetarian and seafood dumplings to choose from, as well as steamed buns and Vietnamese rice paper rolls. They are slowly increasing the choice with Asian salad and gluten free dumplings on the way.

Because I don’t like to miss out, I ordered a serve of Vietnamese rice paper rolls as well as two types of dumplings. The marinated chicken rolls ($7.50 for two) were huge and filled with lots of fresh ingredients such as carrot, lettuce and herbs. A serving of two would be plenty for lunch. Next, the prawn and coriander Har Gow ($2.50 each). They were gelatinous and subtly flavoured little parcels with a generous amount of prawns. The Chinese Chilli Duck Dumpling ($2.00 each) had a great chilli hit, offset by just a touch of sweetness.

Happy Little Dumplings is open seven days a week, and when I was there, a constant stream of people arrived for a quick takeaway or sit down lunch. The food is fresh, carefully made and well priced. The rituals of yum cha restaurants are pleasant. A big table, sharing lots of plates, washed down by endless cups of jasmine tea. But if you want the dumplings without the ritual, head to Happy Little Dumplings and join the queue.

Address: Shop 10, 65 James Street, Fortitude Valley

Phone: (07) 3854 0741

Hours: 10am to 4pm – seven days a week

Spanakopita – Newstead’s Alpha Slice

August 5, 2012August 5, 2012 by New Farm Food Stories, posted in Reviews

The value of doing one thing well can never be over-rated. The latest enterprise of the Bellas family, Spanakopita, in Newstead follows this principle. They do pie, Greek pie. The kitchen is in a glassed in area at the back and when you walk in there is always something warm waiting to be eaten.

Spanakopita is a modern space set up as a bakery and cafe. They cook a range of both savoury and sweet pies, as well as other Greek treats such as yoghurt cake and chocolate and fig baklava. Whole pies ($30) can be ordered for functions and parties and slices available for takeaway or to eat in the cafe.

Slices are generous ($8) and as well as spanakopita, there is prasokolokithopita (leek, roasted pumpkin and garlic) and an agginarotiropita (artichoke and feta). The pastry is crunchier than shop bought filo and nicely browned. The flavours of the fillings are robust with the spanakopita filled out by wild weeds as well as spinach and feta.

From the sweet menu I tried the galaktoboureko ($4.50), the Greek citrus custard tart. Sitting in a light, sugar syrup, the custard was perfectly set with subtle undertones of vanilla and citrus. Not at all heavy, and a very different experience from the sweet, soggy Greek pastries I was used to.

Spanakopita is a simple formula, perfectly executed. It provides high quality Greek pies that expand the repertoire of the normal Aussie Greek experience and the owners have designed the perfect space in which to do this. The cafe is modern and bright, with the added advantage of the Bellas trademark modern art on the walls. I have been there a number of times and am always surprised there is not a queue lining up for a slice. It is the sort of place that once you have tried their food, you will be looking for a reason to drop by and pick up another slice.

Address: 32A Chester Street, Newstead

Phone: 385 24130

Hours: Open for breakfast and lunch Weds-Fri 8am to 6pm; Sat 8am to 4pm; Sun 8am to 2pm.

Ten Food Questions….The Cheapskate Date

August 4, 2012 by New Farm Food Stories, posted in 10 Food Questions

Food for you is what? Adventure
What was your favourite food/meal as a child? My mother’s corned beef.
What did you have for dinner last night? A disappointing Indonesian meal.
Favourite restaurant? Anise
Do you grow food, and if so, what? Tomatoes, herbs and rhubarb.
Local hidden gem? Still looking
Your favourite food shop? New Farm Deli.
What do you hope never to eat again? The disappointing Indonesian meal I had last night.
How often do you cook? Every night.
Most used cookbook? The internet.

The Cheapskate Date goes to… Ruen Place

August 1, 2012 by New Farm Food Stories, posted in Reviews

The Cheapskate Date likes to watch his pennies when he eats out around the neighbourhood but he combines that with high standards. I am more tolerant of deficiencies at the lower end of the market but together we continue to search for the holy grail – cheap, tasty, well presented cuisine.

This search brought us to the doors of Ruen Place in Commercial Road, Teneriffe last Friday night. We walked in to be hit by fumes of chilli and deep frying coming from the open kitchen in the corner of the restaurant. This explained why the folding door at the front of the restaurant was left open to the cold air.

The restaurant, seating about 30, was three quarters full and there were a steady stream of locals coming by to pick up Friday night takeaway. While the Cheapskate Date checked the napery and turned over the plates to check provenance, I checked out the menu. It covered the usual Thai range – soups, curries, stir fries and noodle dishes. The Date spent so much time feeling the weight of the tablecloth and raising a eyebrow at the paper napkin, the long suffering waitress stopped by three times before he was ready to order.

For entree we ordered the fish cakes and a Tom Yum soup with chicken. The fish cakes ($6.50) were slightly overcooked but the eye-dabbing chilli sauce compensated. The Tom Yum ($7.50) didn’t hit that hot, salty, sour balance with an over-enthusiastic flavouring of fish sauce. For mains we shared a Thai Beef Salad ($13.90) and a Duck Curry Penang ($13.90). The Duck Curry was flavoursome with slices of pumpkin adding to the mellow flavour but the Beef Salad was the most disappointing dish of the evening. Again the hot, sour salty dressing was way out of balance with too much fish sauce and combined with the acrid taste of the oil used for frying the food left an unpleasant aftertaste.

Thai food is all about balance and that doesn’t cost anything to achieve. The basics are in place for Ruen Place to be a good, local Thai restaurant but to achieve that they will need to take more care with presenting the flavours which are the hallmark of Thai cuisine.

Glass Not Half Full

July 23, 2012July 25, 2012 by New Farm Food Stories, posted in Food Innovation

When I go out for dinner I like a glass of wine. Or a glass and a half to be precise. Yet in Brisbane it is very hard to find restaurants happy to serve a half glass of wine. For me, the advantages are clear why the half glass should feature on all good wine lists.

For the restaurateur it adds to the average wine spend, and for for diners, a glass and a half is a comfortable amount to drink and remain under the limit. It also allows you to try different wines and to match your wine to your course. I like to have a full glass of wine when I arrive and then order a half glass to match my main course.

New Farm Food operatives eat out often and always ask the question ‘can I have a half glass of wine?’. The recent strike rate is not good. So in the spirit of accentuating the positive, New Farm Food Stories initial Glass Half Full Award goes to – The Continental Cafe.

They’re French, they have a loyal clientele and they serve a half glass.

The campaign to embed the half glass starts today. Next time you are dining out, ask the question and begin to implant the idea in the minds of more restaurants. To kick along the campaign from next week we will start to name some of the refusniks. And please, send through your nominations for the Glass Half Full Award.

Tom Harvie – 10 Food Questions

July 20, 2012July 20, 2012 by New Farm Food Stories, posted in 10 Food Questions

Food for you is what? Meditation
What was your favourite food or meal as a child? Crumbed steak and mashed potato
What did you have for dinner last night? Fillet steak with steamed corn and broccoli
Favourite restaurant? Sakura in Highgate Hill
Do you grow food and if so what? No
A local hidden gem? Pennissi’s at Woolloongabba
Favourite food shop? Balaclava Street shops
What do you hope to never eat again? Kidney
How often do you cook? Every morning and every night.
Most used cookbook? Poppa Rossi’s Italian

Double Shot, Double Happiness

July 16, 2012July 16, 2012 by New Farm Food Stories, posted in Reviews

Two things make me happy – carefully prepared food and high quality ingredients. Double Shot owners Michael DeLaurence and Ross Skinner bring this ethos and more to their new cafe in Oxlade Drive, New Farm. Opened in March 2012, Michael and Ross transformed a small coffee stop into a 35 seat cafe serving breakfast and lunch six days a week.

Michael and Ross come from a background of high end dining, most recently Dish in Byron Bay which they sold two years ago. Before that they ran Utopia in Bangalow and from 1994 to 2003 well known gourmet retreat Taylor’s Country House at Byron Bay. This experience is evident in the professionalism in which they manage the kitchen and front of house at Double Shot.

Explaining their new venture, Michael said, ‘We made a deliberate choice to go from high end to small, neighbourhood and community minded.’ Already they have built a loyal customer base with many locals coming in a couple of times a day, and others dropping by to pick up some of Michael’s pastries and desserts to take home. In many ways the menu is tailored to the space. ‘We reorganised this tiny space to make it workable and the menu is oriented to the facilities. We wanted to do little with the food and the better quality the easier this is,’ Michael said.

All of the food is made in-house by Michael with a menu that is high on flavour and quality. Dishes are produce driven and deftly put together. For breakfast there is a range of home made croissant, Danish and muffins (4.50) as well Turkish toasties with fillings such as mushrooms, provolone, spinach and fried egg ($8.50). For a more substantial breakfast there is poached, fried or scrambled egg with bacon and tomato (14.50), a Croque Madam with a poached egg and onion marmalade ($14.50), and for the adventurous, Indonesian sticky black rice with banana and coconut milk.

For lunch, diners can choose from a range of gourmet sandwiches ($10.50), salads such as Thai Chicken Salad ($16.50) and an asparagus, harlequin tomatoes, basil and buffalo mozzarella salad ($14.50). There is also a deli board filled with delights such as prosciutto, fennel seed and garlic salami, olives, roast peppers and eggplant, chick pea puree and buffalo mozzarella with warm baguette ($18.50). For those with room left, there is the array of Michael’s home made tarts and pastries, Rocky Road or shortbread. The coffee is Abrisca.

Double Shot is a local community cafe with all of the quality and flavours of high end dining. Double happiness indeed.

Double Shot

Address: 125 Oxlade Drive, New Farm

Phone: (07) 3358 6556

Hours: Breakfast and lunch Tuesday to Sunday.

Food Innovation – the Demi Degustation

July 13, 2012July 14, 2012 by New Farm Food Stories, posted in Food Innovation

My friend Bronwyn is a woman of a thousand ideas. Here is one of them.

The Demi Degustation

Degustation menus are increasingly popular with more and more restaurants. They allow the restaurant to showcase their best dishes, and for the diner, it is an opportunity to increase their food and wine knowledge through the matching recommended by the restaurant. The downside is that degustation menus are often quite expensive and the amount of food can be overwhelming.

Enter the demi degustation (or DD). The principles of the demi degustation menu are the same but on a smaller scale. The menu would be the equivalent of a two and a half course meal spread over four smaller courses and matched with four half glasses of wine. The DD has many advantages:

tourists would find it easy to order and to be educated about Australian food and wine
it allows younger diners to become knowledgeable about food and wine without the social awkwardness of not knowing how to order
diners will know at the start of the evening how much their dinner will cost and it allows diners of all budgets to experience degustation, not just the high end of the market
wine knowledge and consumption is increased as diners get the chance to expand their experience by trying new matches such as dessert wine.

The DD is perfectly suited for food tourism areas such as the Barossa Valley. It would allow visitors to experience the best of the district. In the long term, participating restaurants could have a DD symbol on their door to alert patrons to the availability of the Demi Degustation.

If you would like to support the Demi Degustation, please talk to local restaurateurs about the idea and let us get some momentum behind this innovative idea..

10 Food Questions – Bronwyn Fadden

July 13, 2012March 13, 2013 by New Farm Food Stories, posted in 10 Food Questions

Food for you is what? Comfort.
What was your favourite food or meal as a child? Chicken.
What did you have for dinner last night? Fresh snapper and roast vegetables.
Your favourite restaurant? Sakura at Highgate Hill.
Do you grow food, if so, what? Cherry tomatoes, citrus, pomegranates, herbs and passionfruit.
A local hidden gem? The Hellenic Club at West End.
Your favourite Food Shop? The Green Grocer.
What do you hope never to eat again? Dates.
How often do you cook? Regularly.
Your most used cookbook? The Cook’s Companion by Stephanie Alexander.