THE LOOP - CAMPOS, WATCHES & CHARCOAL CHICKEN

Campos Coffee
193 Missenden Rd
Newtown NSW 2042
Ph : (02) 9516 3361

La Patisserie
45 New Canterbury Rd
Petersham NSW 2049
Ph : (02) 9569 1107

Petersham Charcoal Chicken
98 New Canterbury Rd
Petersham NSW 2049
Ph : (02) 9560 2369


18 July 2009

Three of the Sydney Tarts, one for the first time, did what is known as “The Loop” on this sunny Winter’s day. This Loop consists of visiting three places : Campos Coffee in Newtown for an Affogato, followed by a trip to Jo the watchmaker in Enmore, and ending up at Petersham Charcoal Chicken for a chicken burger and chips.

The two foot soldiers were picked up by chauffeur ENT at Central Station and headed off to Campos, where we ordered two Affogatos and one Hot Chocolate. Since it was a watch related trip, tableshots were obviously in order.

Left : Omega Dynamic
Right : Panerai PAM48

ENT was not wearing a watch, as he was hopeful of picking up one of his watches from watchmaker Jo at our next stop.

Unfortunately, his IWC was not ready yet....

Some of the horological tools for sale at Jo’s :

A watchmaker hard at work :



Jo and one of the Tarts looking at cases.

After a lot of watch chat, another customer arrived so we headed off to Petersham. As it was still too early (i.e. before noon) for Petersham Charcoal Chicken to open for lunch, we had a pit stop at La Patisserie, due to Sweet Belem being closed (holiday?).

Two Pastéis de Nata and one Queijada (Ricotta) Tart.

After some sorties into surrounding shops, we headed in for some charcoal chicken. The Loop regulars were salivating at the prospect, and in particular craving the Peri Peri sauce.

The other two went for their beloved chicken burgers with chips and I went for the Beef Steak Roll with cheese and chips.

Had I know that the cheese would be plastic cheese I’d not have answered in the affirmative to the offer of said cheese but slathered with Peri Peri (we consumed quite an extraordinary amount of it, and I regret not buying a small container to take away afterwards), it was pretty tasty and the serving of chips generous for all of us.

Groaning under the weight of unfinished chips, we left, satiated.

Rise
23 Craigend St
Darlinghurst
NSW 2010

02 9357 1755




Rise came highly recommended from a close friend, and as they were having a sale in celebration of their 4th birthday, I thought it was a good opportunity to try out their Omakase Degustation menu. This would be the first time for both A and myself having degustation, and as such, we didn't really have any sort of expectations. We arrived around about 10 minutes after the booking time of 6pm. No thanks to my complete and utter lack of navigation skills. Even though I had with me the iphone, and the GPS was running. I shall speak no more of this embarassment. We almost walked past it...

But I digress... it's about the food isn't it?

Rise is a smallish restaurant, and as such, the seating were a bit cramped. It had a traditional wooden floor board meaning we'd experience a minor earthquake everytime someone heavier than 30kg walks by. This also caused many a blurred photos. The young couple in the seating next to us were also taking photos of the food as they arrive, so we felt a little better about snapping photos. Of course, to make things more challenging, Rise offered up mood lighting (read: candle light) just so that my photos will either be blurred, or very noisy. (Next time I go to a restaurant with mood lighting I'm taking my mini tripod...)

The first course was the ocean trout marinated with gochujang miso and porched quail egg. I think they mean poached. Mine had fallen apart while A's remained in the cylindrical shape. This was a disappointment as a first dish. I mean, the food still tasted fine, but the presentation is just as important, as we have all learnt from watching Masterchef. It's not a great way to make a first impression. My quail egg was a little more well done than 'poached' but nevertheless, the trout was fresh, chewy, and the miso was excellent.

The potato cream soup with prawn tempura and tofu was a great fusion of Western and Japanese dishes. The tofu is in the style of agedashi tofu, but it's placed in the middle of a creamy and sweet potato soup. Juxtaposed with the crunchy prawn tempura it was an excellent blend of contrasting texture and culture. They were smart enough not to dip the prawn in the soup, so it didn't become soggy. Just brilliant!


Sashimi of the day followed, and I believe we had kingfish, ocean trout and oyster. The kingfish was definitely the one. They came in little shot glasses with the corresponding sauce. All I had to do was dip and eat. Mmmmm....


Next up was the seasonal plate, which was a bit of a mix bag and offered up some fairly pedestrian South East Asian dishes. The rice paper rolls and fish cake were nothing to write home about. Or blog about, for that matter, but the egg flan, mushroom and miso red curry sauce was very surprising! I was literally in three countries at the same time. The flavours mixed well with each other, none overpowering each other and had just the right balance. This completely puts to shame everything else on the plate.


The steamed scallop and green tea noodle with ginger shallot sauce was apparently one of their signature dish. Now, if it's so signature, wouldn't you want the customer to taste more? right? I know I would... but I guess this is the whole point of the degustation menu. It's really just a taster, and if you like it, you can come back for more and pay more. This dish was done in one mouthful. And yes, I can 'taste' why it's their signature dish. It's that good. But... what's with the one mouthful???


Ahhh... the main course, the chicken confit, shiitake mushroom, potatoes and bamboo shoot with hoisin sause. This is another dish that is mainly Western, with some Asian leanings. The chicken was nicely cooked, soft and juicy. It was served with one bowl of rice. That's right. One bowl between 2 people. I mean, I know it's a tasting menu and everything, but we did get 2 servings of everything else. Having said that, I don't think I've tasted rice that's cooked better. This was rice perfection. For someone who really really doesn’t like eating rice as is... I'd be happy eating bowl after bowl of this. Yes I know, it's a lot of carb...


Dessert was pretty darn good too. Again, it's another Western/Asian fusion, but mind you, all of their fusion dishes have been very harmonious. More than I can say about the people...


Overall impression? I think it's very good value at the sale rate. The Tue, Wed and Sun $45 "special" price is probably as much as I would pay for it though. Would I come back? A slight hesitant yes. Either their pricing or their serving will need to be improved.

And since this is as much a watch blog as it is a food blog, my companion watch for the night is the Omega DeVille Co-Axial Chronograph. This is the first Co-axial chronograph that Omega made, and the advantage of having a co-axial escapement is that there is much less wear and tear and as the contact points are greatly reduced, there is less oiling required and it would keep better time over a longer period. The Co-axial escapement was designed by the watchmaker George Daniel and he had tried to sell this escapement to the likes of Rolex and Patek Phillippe, before Omega took the gamble and funded it for mass production. It is exclusive to Omega.

Gumshara

Ramen Gumshara
Eating World
Harbour Plaza
Dixon Court
25-29 Dixon St
Haymarket
NSW 2000

Closed : Mondays


22 July 2009

I love "Chronic" Ramen .

I am a Gumshara Tonkotsu Ramen junkie. It was twice a week in the beginning but nowadays it seems to be just once a week. The soup is very porky and dense and not for the faint of heart, but you can ask the Tonkotsu master to make your broth less salty etc. If I am in the vicinity of Haymarket during lunchtime I always seem to end up at Gumshara.

As I previously blogged, it takes seven days to make the stock, which consists of only three ingredients – bones, water, and soy. They use a truly astonishing 120kg of pork bones every day. The denseness of the soup fluctuates a little; at its most intense it is almost like gravy.

Today was the day of my weekly fix.

There are only so many photos one can take of the same thing, and I’d been dying to see the tonkotsu soup pot which the Gumshara Tonkotsu ramen master is constantly stirring behind the curtains so I asked him if I could one day take some photos of him at work in the kitchen. He kindly assented and said that I could go in any time.

Now?

Sure!

Boxes of pork.

More pork.


Packets of ramen.


Bench with the various condiments and additions and the area in which each bowl of ramen is put together.


Baskets of ramen being cooked.



The famous Tonkotsu soup. Full of pork & collagen goodness.



Ramen master Hiro's assistant.


And finally, Gumshara Tonkotsu master Mori..

 

An unexpected surprise was meeting Helen of Grab Your Fork there.

[AP]

NOT BREAD ALONE & COUNTER BURGER

(aka “Ryo’s Noodles is closed”)

Not Bread Alone
Shop 2
376 Pacific Highway
(Cnr of Hume St)
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Ph: (02) 9966 9788

The Counter Custom Built Burgers
118 Willoughby Road
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Australia
Ph : (02) 9436 2700


17 July 2009

We were meant to be having lunch at Ryo's, @antiquebookshop and I, only it didn’t turn out that way, as Ryo’s is closed until sometime next week (I think it was 22 July). It already being quite late in the lunch hour (2.15pm), and Antique Bookshop being more pressed for time than he had anticipated, we headed off down the road to Not Bread Alone instead.

Having ordered, it was naturally time for we Tarts to get some tableshots of whatever happened to be on our wrists that day.

Left - Daniel JeanRichard Bressel chronograph
Right – Panerai PAM 250 “Daylight”

The DJR Bressel has a Dubois-Depraz 2020 module riveted onto a refinished ETA 2824-2 movement. As this blog is a food & watch blog, for those who don’t know and who wish to, a “télémètre” scale measures the distance between (in this case a watch wearer) based on the speed of sound. That is, the distance between a wearer and an object that generates a visible signal and a loud noise such as an electrical storm. I’ve never actually used it and to be honest am not entirely sure how to...

The PAM250 “Daylight” is named after the Sylvester Stallone film of the same name. Stallone purchased his first Panerai in Rome whilst filming “Daylight”, and there are some good screenshots of him wearing the watch here, as well as other “Panerai moments” in the movies. He liked the Panerai that he purchased so much that he had the company make 200 more of them (“Slytech”) with his signature on the back, which he handed out as gifts.

Having a watch named after a Stallone film is either a plus or a minus, depending on your own personal preferences, but the watch itself has to a large extent transcended its naming origins. Stallone has joked about Panerais being “perfect for people over 45 years old”, because of the ease of reading the time on large watches.

The brand of “Daniel Jeanrichard”, now simply JeanRichard, is named after the man considered as the father of the Jura watchmakers. It is believed that the then fifteen year old Daniel, a blacksmith’s apprentice, was given the opportunity to see his very first watch. It was a broken timepiece brought back from England by a horse dealer. Daniel studied and mended it, then made a copy. One year later, he created his very own watch, the first ever manufactured in the region.

PAM250 Wearing Person chose the Not Bread Alone Club Sandwich ($10.50).

which consisted of “chicken, avocado, bacon, mixed leaf [sic], cucumber, Spanish onion on Turkish”, whilst DJR Wearing Person chose the Salt & Pepper Squid with mixed leaf salad and lemon aioli ($17.90 for main size).

The club sandwich was suitably satisfactory to its eater, but the Salt & Pepper Squid was actually a bit on the salty side, even for S&P squid. This saltiness lead to a somewhat regrettable decision.

The decision was that I really needed something sweet.

Perhaps the Apple Pie milkshake that I’d seen on NotQuiteNigella would be the perfect neutraliser?

Why just have a milkshake, I thought? I should have something else, given that I was there, after all.....

Mini Cheeseburgers ($11) – Plate of four topped with Cheddar, Red Onions, Pickles and Red relish.

Mistake.

Total mistake.

Couldn’t finish Apple Pie shake, which was like trying to drink (or rather spoon) crushed up apple pie, ice cream and perhaps a token ml or two of milk.

Couldn’t finish the miniburgers, which I had actually assumed were going to be small two-bite sized ones.

Dinner that night = nothing.

Glenmore Hotel
96 Cumberland St
The Rocks
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph : (02) 9247 4794

The Glenmore isn’t one of my favourite places in Sydney. In fact it doesn’t even rank as a place I’d choose to go to of my own volition, but the view from the rooftop is undeniably one of the best pub views in Sydney. Plaintive pleas of “well it might rain, perhaps we should pick another location?” had fallen on the proverbial, and so off I went on this overcast day down to The Rocks.

Meeting at noon, everyone else seemed content to drink and chat, but not eat. I started getting restless and inevitably, was the first to go and order. One’s order is identified by one’s “Pole Number”, in our case, 30. Said “pole” is attached to the umbrella and the table.

I went for the Steak Sandwich, listed as $16.50 but in reality $17 because of the Sunday surcharge.


Described as “Char grilled Sirloin with onion, beetroot, rocket, tomato, aged Cheddar & BBQ sauce on toasted sourdough bread with crinkle cut fries”, it was relatively decent pub fare, though they were a tad stingy on the chips.

Other items ordered :

Salt & Pepper Squid ($15.50)

which did not rate highly in either the taste or quantity stakes.

Roast of the day (Pork) with vegetables

which disappointed the three people who ordered this dish because of the lack of crackling and the texture of the skin.

Fish and Chips ($15.50)

Bangers & Mash ($15.50)

Grilled country style lamb & Rosemary sausages, potato mash, homemade mushy peas and onion gravy” and which for some reason didn’t incur a Sunday surcharge and which was probably the most successful of all the items ordered.

For some reason no-one seemed satisfied stomach wise with their food and fuelled by alcohol and increasingly ridiculous conversation.....

......there were then “rounds” of Sunday surchargeless chips ordered to accompany each new bottle of wine....at the time I left we were onto round 4 of the chips (and asking for gravy instead of tomato sauce). Here are rounds 1 and 2 –

[AP]

Mamak
15 Goulburn Street
Haymarket
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph : (02) 9211 1668


One of my major barriers with regards to visiting Mamak has been the queues. The queues are, quite simply, ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous at the Chat Thai ones, which are so bad that I have yet to actually try it. I can’t get it around my head that in order to get in without having to queue, I’d have to go to Chat Thai at maybe 5pm for dinner.

As the new Mamak promised to be double the size, I figured that logically, if I arrived at 6pm, give or take a few minutes, I’d not have to wait, would I?

HA! As was the case with GrabYourFork who blogged about her own experience of the new Mamak on the day prior, there were still queues. Even arriving at about 6.05pm meant that we were 5th in line. Sure I thought, fifth is okay. Shouldn’t take long at all.

In fact it didn’t, barely more than a few minutes, as it seemed that the restaurant wasn’t entirely full, they were just dripfeeding the final few tables inside, perhaps for the kitchen’s sake?

The new place looks bright, shiny, clean and with greater roti making capacity.

Roti Canai ($5)

The self described “original roti”. Served with two curry dips and spicy sambal sauce, tearing off bits with my hand and dunking into the sauce is a pleasure that I realise I have deprived myself of for too long.

Immediate success did not come for the Kangkung Belacan ($13). This dish of stir fried water spinach (also called “ong choi”) with chillis and shrimp paste is one of my favourite vegetable dishes. I love the crunch of water spinach and the salt and chilli kick.

This was Attempt the First :

.....and this the Attempt the Second

The first one was also cold when it arrived....There was more sauce in the one that was turned back to the kitchen but the second one was freshly cooked and quite different. I didn’t eat any of the first plate, but the second one, apart from looking a lot better, tasted perfectly fine, though perhaps a bit chilli for some palates.

The next dish was Kari ayam ($15), a classic chicken curry cooked with freshly ground spices and chunky potatoes.

For a number of years now I have been “off” chicken. I can’t identify why, but I just started to not really like the taste of it. I’d eat it maybe once or twice a year, usually in the form of chicken wings. It is only this year that I’ve tried to go back to chicken, which is why I “agreed” to the Kari ayam. It won lots of points from the Mamak Novice, who likes a bit of bone in their chicken curry. I really enjoyed the curry, and due to it not being finished on the night, continued to enjoy the leftovers with “fa guen” versions of mantou.

At this point the ½ doz Beef Satay ($8) still had not arrived. In fact the satay orders for the surrounding five tables were still outstanding; they either had all their other dishes on the table already or in two cases, had actually finished their meals bar that one dish. There were several reminders to the waiters from all the tables concerned but it was a long wait before all the tables were served. I have no idea whether there were teething problems with the new kitchen or what the reasons were for the delay but the satay, served with the ever more-ish peanut sauce, were as good as I remembered.

I reall love the Mamak satays. They are perhaps slightly more sweetish than some would like but they suit my tastes. Worth the wait? The surrounding tables seemed happy with theirs despite the wait.

[AP]

PATRIA WATCHES - OMEGA SIBLING?

Patria is a Latin word cognate with the Greek πατρίς (patris), both of which derive from the word for "father", or “fatherland”.

The watch brand Patria is commonly mentioned in the same breath as the brands of Brandt, Gurzelen, Labrador, Regina and Helvetia, all of whom are seen as “sister brands” of Omega.

Earlier this year I received this Patria as a gift.

Unfortunately, I don’t really have a horological book collection, so I have been somewhat limited in my primary and secondary material searches. What this has lead me to so far is puzzlement.

The puzzlement is about the actual Patria brand itself. There appear to be two schools of thought.

The first is that along with the brands mentioned above i.e. Brandt, Gurzelen, Labrador, Regina, Helvetia, it is a sibling of Omega in the sense that these brands are early manifestations of the brand as we know it today.

The second school of thought that I came across, with reference to Pritchard’s “Swiss Timepiece Makers” was that Patria was known in 1920 as “E.Matthey & Ed.Mathey-Grau, Patria Watch Co., Bienne). Omega Watch Co., New York, was listed in 1924 and 1925 as importing the brands Sada, Himalaya, Patria, Omega, Regina, Champ, Ethic, and Meric. According to this information, Patria was imported by Omega between 1910 and 1924 but Patria itself was not as a separate company until 1924.

I admit to having been rather restricted in my research to date, especially as I do not have a copy of that monumental Omega : A Journey Through Time, but I am interested in knowing a bit more about the brand. Coincidentally, another one of the Tarts also has a vintage Patria, which she was also given as a gift, but I haven’t yet had the opportunity to photoraph it.

If anyone has any knowledge of these “minor” Omega brands, I’d love to learn some more about them.

[AP]