Rick Stein's Bannisters - Mollymook, South Coast NSW

The forte of the man is fish and his passion is for fish and various cooking styles, whether in South-east Asia, India, Spain or in his native England.  Rick Stein is a television, culinary and book personality and was appointed the official  food Ambassador for the federation of Malaysia. He can be chatty, offer embracing smiles, make interesting observations and does not mind getting into the elements to emphasise the uniqueness of a food ingredient or the beauty of a place.  I reckon I am fortunate that I live at the start of the New South Wales South Coast - and only two hours drive away from my home is where I can find one of Stein's culinary ventures in the South Seas, Bannisters Restaurant is located in Mollymook at the end of the aptly named Bannisters Hall Road, adjoining the Bannisters accommodation for guests who live a hideaway and over looking the rather captivating and sometimes calm Tasman Sea.

Passing by the village of Milton, with fine  restaurants like the Bacchus and the Tipsy Fig, you turn left at the first major set of lights if you are coming from the north.   Then you follow your heart down the road leading to the coast.  What can you expect - England in the bush, a haven of Aussie produce or an oasis of a culinary adventure?  May be it is all of these.  When I last visited, the skies were cloudy but it was  a summery Sunday, temperature wise.  I had perceptions of fine dining, serious but attentive waiters and expensive prices.  I must say Bannisters has friendly and cheerful staff, who are also well trained and bother to mention to you the details and nuances of their various dishes.  It is fine dining that greet you at a place that does not open every day, offers a healthy spectrum of a menu and dishes that are priced and judged in the eyes of the beholder and diner.  They had just closed for a hiatus after the breakfast session on this weekend drop by, so arriving too early for the strict 1230pm opening for lunch meant hanging out down stairs at the Pool Bar.  When lunch time officially arrived at the Bannisters, the crowd was mainly Anglo-Celtic, possibly British or Australian retirees.

The dining room has a view, as it is located on an upper level of the building, with Ulladulla Bay outside beckoning you to a rather relaxing outlook.   Rick Stein does believe in utilising local produce - and so here you can have your choice of the South Coast oysters, Cootamundra beef, Hervey Bay scallops, Eden mussels, Tasmanian salmon or salt water barramundi.   Attention to detail
in garnishings and niche ingredients can be illustrated by the use of tamarind, tarragon, brocollini, sugar snaps, Pilau rice, Parmesan and foie-gras.   Mollymook, the site of Bannisters, has a rather enchanting and clean long beach, a village-like community and an atmosphere of summer crowds and winter quiet.  I was not too impressed with the look, inside or outside, of the motel-like guest rooms.
The day spas were rather quiet that Sunday.

Lunch is served on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays - this can be important to know, for passer-by visitors who are not staying overnight.  I plan to try their breakfast. I am told that must haves are the Indonesian seafood curry cooked with squid, king prawns and the subtle Ling fish.   Standards like the lobster Thermidor , pan fried fish plus fish and shell fish soup are in the menu.  I chose the Bannisters fish pie, with a rather interesting crusty top and with yummy scallops, mushrooms, prawns and three types of fish ( snapper, salmon and barramundi) inside.  I wonder if you canobtain this dish back in the original Rick Stein restaurant in Padstow, Cornwall in merry old England, but perhaps not with the barramundi included.

I eyed the Madras curry at another table, served with Blue Eye Trevalla, but we did not ask how that went with the guests.

I absolutely adored and loved my entree choice of the grilled Hervey Bay scallops served on the shell - the best thing about this dish was the exquisite and light gravy juice, served with toasted hazelnut and coriander butter.   Perhaps my expectations had then been raised -  and after the  mains, we were rather full on in the stomach as well.  There is a selection of cheeses like the Saint Agur from Auvergne, the Buche Noir made with goat's milk from the Blue Mountains in New South Wales itself and the Farmhouse Cheddar from the United Kingdom.  I then had to make a moderate choice of an Affagato.   At the Pool Bar, I was told about the rather lively nights during the high tourist season, but I also realised how it can be so cosy on winter evenings as well for lovers and other couples.

Licensed, Bannisters offers an impressive variety of wines by the glass or bottle, with carefully made options from estates and vineyards in Europe and Australia.   Parking is rather liberal on the rough and ready ground near the ocean, as those near the resident rooms themselves can be limited in space.   Some people think this place can be too inaccessible, or just a place to visit only once.   Others may make it a regular stop along the way on the road trip to somewhere else.   It is  place to de-stress.  There are no heliport pads to fly in or piers for boats to  navigate to, only land access  - and a vehicle is essential.

Bannisters at Mollymook, NSW South Coast, is around a three hour drive south from the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  It is about two hours by road south of Wollongong and 45 minutes north of Batemans Bay (or over  two hours from Canberra).

Home Cooking - Balgownie, NSW

 

 

Brewing, slow cooking or just getting the flavours from different ingredients to mix and match. The unmistakable aroma of soups is pleasant to wake up to in the early mornings, when the work is already done overnight. Above, groundnuts, dried red dates and wolf berry are used to enhance a soup. 

 

 

 

I fancy the combination of cut asparagus, fresh prawns, chicken strips and vermicelli - stir fry them in a wok and you get an easy snack which can be eaten anytime, anywhere, at home or for outdoor picnics.  Recently I have fallen in obsession with Kipfler potatoes, first encountered on a  trip to Orange, NSW.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's rewarding to emphasise on healthy and carefully chosen produce, cuts and variety. Above, the scene before the cooking at home - from upper left, clockwise, ocean prawns on the shell; chicken drum sticks; USA cherries; chicken strips; and lamb cubes.  Below, pluck able garnishing from growing pots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Curries come in so many combinations, flavours and styles. I love a mid-strong curry, with not too much overwhelming coconut cream and with fluffy textured braised potato cuts. Colour is important and so is the texture of the gravy.  It is also important to carefully choose the right type of steamed rice.

 

 

 

 

 

Sydney's Broadway - Another Malaysian Food Trail

There are now more than a few cafes and restaurants providing the roti canai and murtabak in Sydney CBD. In India and South-east Asia, they first emerged as handy and viable backpacker food to the throngs of Western visitors from the seventies to the nineties. They are delicate, airy and appetising to fill up any one's hunger pangs. The roti can be eaten plain, or dipped in light vegetarian, dhall bean or meat curry gravy. Above, the serving at the Mamak Village cafe along Glebe Point Road near the junction with Broadway.

I was especially taken with the anchovy-based condiment above at Mamak Village.

My accompanying mates who live nearby in this precinct have so much choice and variety of food that they may not have been as enthusiastic as me for this mamak cuisine.

Above, a balcony with a view upstairs at Mamak Village in Glebe, reminding me of a comparable scenery from the Lee & Me Cafe along Crown Street in Wollongong CBD. Below, an authentic tasting teh tarik, to accompany the meal.

Below, the lobak spring rolls, in a unique version originating from my home island of Penang in Malaysia. I found the accompanying condiment different - instead of just a hot and sweet chili sauce found in Penang coffee shops, Mamak Village prepared their own mix. The lobak was a bit over the top in saltiness that day.

Malacca Straits Restaurant (above) , inside the Quadrant Building at 66 Mountain Street, Broadway, is best accessed from George Street, opposite the branch of the Notre Dame University. We saw a neighbouring table order what looked like succulent chicken-on-the-skin for Hainan chicken rice and a serving of the murtabak. They also have available the Penang kapitan curry, Thai crying tiger (marinated BBQ beef fillet served with hot chili sauce) and the curry fishhead (AUD 20 per piece). As our visit was only meant as for an arvo tea time snack, we chose their stated signature dish - Kuala Lumpur styled curry laksa. (below)

To an ex-Penangite like me, the soup was tasty but smacked of salted fish flavours, but it did have a strong and appreciated spicy and herbal sensation as one took it with the chicken slices, deep fried tofu squares and sliced vegetables.

To round up the evening in Sydney CBD, but this time beyond Broadway, another set of mates joined me at World Square's Malaysian Indian outlet, situated along a passageway that shouts out "Eat Drink Enjoy Share" if you are coming from inside the open air plaza.

Otherwise, appraoch this passageway from Liverpool Street, with an entrance along the road between the Meriton Serviced Apartments and Zozo. To our disappointment, the resident Nepali fresh roti maker had alreday retired by the time we arrived, and we had to make do with two curry choices served with steamed white rice - mine was tamarind flavoured hard boiled egg curry (unusual) and red chicken curry. (above). Their rotis are worth a try - and you can watch them make it right in front of you. The Mirchis Indian outlet across the passageway does not make such fresh roti pancakes.

After all that spicy food on this Malaysian food trail, I would recommend a hearty fresh mixed fruit juice pack from Three Beans Cafe at the Broadway Shopping Centre. (above) This place epitomises the benefits of location, location, location. It is at the confluence of different market groups with regular purchasing patronage - university students, CBD residents, the twenty to thrity something yuppies and frequenters from outside exploring nearby Chinatown, Surry Hills and Newtown.

Home Made Curries

My delight after a busy day is to dabble in curry cooking. I simply savour the mixing of different spices like cumin, cinnamon bark, star anise, cardamom, fenugreek, coriander seeds, cloves, galangal and more.

When stirred on a hot wok with simmering cooking oil and pounded / blended garlic and ginger, this first step to the making of home made curries gets all my senses going and exciting combinations of flavours both come to mind and transform into reality in front of my eyes.

I cannot wait to taste the curry with basmati rice (above).

Whether to have the meat fillets or on the skin (as above) is perhaps more of what you have grown up with.

Most of my Aussie mates prefer no skin, but my South-east Asian friends relish the different taste when skin is still intact. The colour of the gravy captures the eye's imagination and gets the taste buds going even before you get to eat.

My recently cooked salmon fish curry (above).

To finish up the creative cooking process, you have a choice - Thai kaffir lime leaves, Indian curry leaves or simply understated bay leaves all offer an extra garnishing and flavour to your curry. I love my tomatoes when I especially cook fish and prawn curries, but they do have an added zing even with meat, except not with lamb or beef. Believe it it or not, I also add powdery potatoes to my curries.

Above, a south Indian inspired version of prawn curry.

Singapore - Muthu's Curry

Muthu's Curry can be found in the Serangoon district, Singapore's Little India.

At the entrance, one comes across a floral arrangement made in the style of Tamil Nadu.

The restaurant is already full of diners by the time my group of mates and I arrive for the second session seating.

The place reminds me of an Italian eatery in Australia, except that the fare on offer comes from another place, another time. The spices and condiments, that ruled the Indian ocean trade routes from Arabian ports to South-east Asian villages, have finally culminated in a culinary experience that requires all the senses to fully delve into. The palate is stimulated by the texture and consistency of various curry gravies. The ears are tingled by the wave of social chatter induced by good food. The eyes already anticipate what will go into the stomach, even before any food is partaken. Our nimble fingers exert their dexterity across food enhanced in taste sensations by being served on fresh banana leaf  "plates". The nose lingers with the aroma of things coming out from the earthen ovens. Hmmn, there is even a drinks area like in a pub, where revellers gather to muse on good times, all smiling as they hold their drinks.

Fish head curry (above), originally confined to South-east Asian ports, married south Indian

cooking practices with the Chinese penchant for seafood, plunked down in the heady cosmopolitan times of colonial rule and lingers as one of the most tasty fusion dishes along the Equator. The dish is savoury and spicy, with creamy gravy essential to bathing a carefully chosen succulent fish head of an adequate size.

The okras are only coincidental to the main requirement to suck curry-flushed fish eye balls or fin innards.

My top preferences that evening, apart from the curry fish head, were the eye-catching tandoori chicken (above) and the delectable prawns (below).

The right selection of steamed white rice is critical to accompany such dishes - be they basmati or jasmine rice. That evening, I could have been eating these in Sri Lanka, Chennai, Penang, Malacca or Kucing, but in Singapore it was air-conditioned comfort combined with business efficiency and papadums. We also tackled the naan breads. best to soak up any excess gravy from the various dishes. To provide a balance against the heaty stuff, we were provided with the yogurt-like raita and ice cold honey lemon drinks. Then we continued on with squid and lamb shanks, each with its different and signature taste of curry....

My Big Day Out

Hugo's occupies a strategic corner of the Manly ferry wharf in Sydney's northern beaches.

Incoming ferry passengers disembarking from Circular Quay in Sydney CBD pass by its verandahs, lined with dark wooden tables, fresh aromatic pizzas and bay views.  On the evening I was there with mates,

a rather hot sticky Sunday had turned into passing showers after a blow-up of ocean breezes and the coming in of clouds.  Hugo's was chock-a-block, granted that this was a holiday weekend for New Year's and we could see other lines of people outside queuing to catch the boats back to the city centre.  There was no room at the inn, so to speak, and my group had to take dinner at the wood fired pizza outlet across the road.  We had kangaroo, vegetarian and prawn laden pizzas, amongst other flavours, and I also could not help tasting the potato and bacon version meant for youngsters Ash and Cait.

For me, Hugo's was the final stop on a busy adventure out, that started with passing by this uniquely named cafe along Victoria Avenue  in Chatswood, NSW - Hello Happy (image above).   It was a bakery cafe outlet, but the name of the business suggests targeting a market with demographics of teenagers, Japanese and HongKongers.  Chatswood remains one of my fav chillout and shopping destinations in the greater Sydney area - and my easy quick lunch combo there often consists of an  entree of KFC wicked wings, followed by a mains of Malaysian, and topped up by a cool cup of iced smoked tea from ChaTime.

My reliable carriage (above)  takes a well deserved rest in a Baulkham Hills home. I had accompanied a visiting aunt, her daughter and son-in-law to Castle Towers to partake Thai food at the Red Spoon.

As one entered this restaurant located at the piazza of this shopping centre in Sydney's north-west, I felt as if I was on a tropical holiday resort and specifically at its music lounge lobby.  Jazzy and easy listening music was being played.   We had eyed the barramundi listed on the menu, but it was not available that day.  So for mains, we settled for cinnamon roast pork belly (recommended), a lamb shank Massaman curry (a bit sweet for my palate) and banana flower salad graced with grilled prawns.

Our entrees (above) at the Red Spoon - pandan leaf flavoured barbecued chicken (left) and a dish that combined soft shell crab with salads.

I just love the set up (above image) of glass containers that hold the various exotic seeds and nuts, accompanied by snugly packaged choc products from Max Brenner.

I had some time to kill between appointments,so I dropped by the bookshops in Darlinghurst.

I was delighted coming across this wall mural that depicted cheerfulness trying to encourage a boy pre-occupied and self-obsessed with his problems.  Change the boy depicted in the mural to an adult, and I surely have come across various instances of such a scenario playing out on Sydney CBD streets.

Below, the lamb shank Massaman curry from the Red Spoon Thai restaurant.

A Feast For Ben Butcher

Benjamin Michael Butcher was born on 1 July this year.A month later, the immediate family, joined by other relatives and friends, celebrated this occasion by gathering at the residence of one of Ben's grand-uncles. The must-have food for such joyous occasions is the red tortoise, or the ang ku in Fujian dialect (above image), which symbolises celebration, promise and longevity. The outer shape of this Straits Chinese delicacy has a mould that represents a round tortoise - and inside is a yellow bean mix you may recognise, once you bite into it.

Above: the savoury yam cake, garnished with fresh shallot rings, chili bits and deep fried garlic. It is best eaten with a chili sauce.

Below: Singapore styled chicken curry, with potatoes and kick, from one of Ben's grandmothers.

Below: More variety of sweet dessert time cakes.

Like during an Orthodox Christmas, hard boiled eggs are made with coloured shells to signify fertility in southern Chinese practice, adopted by immigrants to South-east Asia and beyond. These eggs are not consumed plain, they are accompanied by vinegar-soaked ginger condiments. (above)

Vinegar is also a main ingredient to marinate pork with fatty layers (below), a much yearned traditional Cantonese dish that does not get made much these days because of its cholesterol and health effects.

I found this delicious dark soy sauced stir fried noodles (above) at this party for Ben. Made famous by street vendors in the Chinatown heart of the Malaysian capital city of Kuala Lumpur, I first encountered this as a university student and actually ate it beside a stinking open drain - and despite that fact, I can recall it was truly tasty.