Food Affair

I've been doing way too much eating & loving lately, and not enough writing! But boy have the adventures been fun and so I'm back to share the love...

Where do I begin? I've been on a few food adventures to some nice new places, and with the company of Hot Boy at home, I've been at the stove doing some cooking as well!

One of my fave new places is Big Rig diner! Serving up fresh fajitas, hot dogs, burgers and Jack Daniels chilli con carne till 3am, it was sure to get my attention right from the beginning! Sitting in the booths there makes you feel like you're in a real American diner. And the super fruity white sangia is way too easy to drink. Apart from the masses hanging out the front trying to get into Ruby Rabbit on a Saturday night, this place is super cool and all the cool cats seem to be hanging out there at the moment. It's the new hospitality slut joint on a Saturday night, which means the food must be good!

In my own kitchen, breakfast seems to be my forte... Hey, when you have a Hot Boy sleeping in your bed, it's enough reason to be celebrating with good food in the morning! My new signaure dish is toad-in-hole BLTs with home made onion jam. Goddamn, they are good! (Even if I do say so myself) and apparently Hot Boy seems to agree... cause he seems to keep coming back for more ;) Although this week I made home made pancakes with caramel bananas, bacon & maple syrup, and I have to say they were definitley a close contender in the signature race... But enough tooting on my own horn more food adventures await!...

The new restaurant Omerta in Darlinghurst was another foodgasm experience I enjoyed recently! We started off with some salted cod fritters, moved onto spiced salami with runny eggs, had some char grilled king prawns (look, you'll have to forgive my poor food descriptions here... there was Hot Boy sitting across from me who was wonderful to perve at while I was having a foodgasm - it was all too much to take in detailed food descriptions as well...) but the
highlight of my evening was definitely the pork belly with mustard fruits. Oh lordy... I wanted to take that stuff home, bathe in it, soak in it, purée it into a lotion and rub myself with it, then maybe lick it off myself slowly throughout the day... Ehem, excuse me... I tend to get slightly carried away... but this was food porn at it's best! Only it wasn't porn cause I could actually put it in my mouth... Yummm...

Wow... All this talk of food is making me hungry! Lucky I am on my way to see the family with some chicken soup I made last night with a fresh baguette and truffle butter... Mmmm... Hopefully mum has some good ole Filipino treats for me as well!

Peek-in-Duck!

Okay, so this post might be a little late, but nevertheless I had to write about it... Peking Duck at Good Luck in Enfield... Oh my, it was sooooo good. I've actually convinced my family to go there for my sister's birthday in a couple of weeks! So excited! Yay! You have to order the duck a day in advance, and believe me it is so worth it. If it wasn't such a pain in the arse to get to by public transport, I would definitely be there more often! The skin on the duck is amazing, and the house made pancakes are soooooo good. Other things on offer were the Kohl Rabi Salad, Masterstock Peanuts, Lamb Hot Pot... and my favourite ending... Toffee Apple Fritters... Yum! Don't even ask me to explain what the food was like. It was just yum. How can you try to explain what actually happens when you eat? For starters, I don't think I could do it justice... and secondly I wouldn't want to spoil the fun! I've been here before, and will definitely be back again. And the best thing? It's so affordable. That's what I love about finding those little golden gems in the suburbs - they're approachable, authentic, and there's no wank. Sometimes all we want is to go out and put something delicious in our mouths without the fandangle, and the hooha... If you want really good Peking Duck, then Good Luck is the place to be!

T.I.P. = To Insure Promptness

Whoever said that it's not customary to tip in Australia? Okay, so you don't tip at McDonalds. But if you think that dining out in Sydney doesn't require a form of gratuity, then you're living in the bloody dark ages. I'm sorry, but for someone who works in the service industry I know how much we put into our jobs. Unlike what some people think, we don't get paid $25 an hour... it's more like $16 an hour... and that's for the serious people who do this as their career - that's right down there on the poverty line. Yet we put our bodies and our souls into our work -we smile when people are being assholes, we let you change your order when we know the chef is going to yell at us, we pull you off when you wanna be a wanker, our knowledge of food and wine is pretty good if you would give us a minute... and we do all this whilst folding your napkin, pouring your wine and tucking in your chair afterwards. Know any one person who can keep 30 individuals, who all want different things, all in different moods... all happy at one time? That's what we do, every night. I'm not saying that we're geniuses... most of us aren't, we just do this because we love food, wine... and we love people. We are here to serve. We want to make your meal memorable and pleasant, so you don't have to think or worry. We truly do want you to walk out with a smile on your face. But please... we are not slaves. Please don't click your fingers at us, and maybe try to move your elbows off the table so we can fit your food there... or maybe a smile back every now and then would be nice too? Call me naive, but I think it's just common courtesy. To respect your fellow man, and to treat each other as humans. We all need to stop wanking each other off a bit, treat each other with a little more respect, show a little more GRATUITY, and everyone will be a little happier. Don't give me this 'Global Financial Crisis' bullshit... if you're really doing it tough, then you wouldn't be eating out in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I am a philanthropist. I am a lover of people and of humankind. And that is why I love my job. So please don't let me lose that faith in my fellow man. Service is always included... just not on the bill. As shallow as it might seem... that comes from you - in the form of a tip.

Another night at the whorehouse...

Dining out is an art. And, if you can liken fine art to porn, then working in a restaurant can be very much akin to working in a whorehouse. As any artist knows, giving the world art is giving the world your soul, and if people don't want to understand it or can't appreciate it, then they shouldn't be looking at it in the first place. Like porn. Like a restaurant. Like a whorehouse. In order to get the full experience of any of these things, you must be open mided, and aware of where you are and what you are doing. Because while you're getting off (in which ever of the above scenarios you choose), more than likely it's while someone else is getting rammed up the arse with a smile on their face. If you're looking for quick, cheap and easy, then there are plenty of magazines out there, or McDonalds, or the tranny trying to make a quick buck on Liverpool Street. But if you want an 'experience', then you must respect the artists who lube up every night to make your night a memorable one. And remember, leaving 'gratuity' doesn't mean just saying 'thanks'.