Little snippets from the Good Food and Wine Show 2011

Just thinking back to this show about food and wine makes me hungry (and thirsty, even after that slipper of port I just drank).  This year the Good Food and Wine Show was again held at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre and was attended by thousands of people, and even families.

Part of the large crowd at the Good Food and Wine Show

One of the main attractions (the celebrity theatre) included shows by Anna Gare, Gary Mehigan with George Calombaris, Matt Moran, and Manu Fieldel.  I went along to Manu's show.

Manu's opening short film setting things a little bit risque

Manu's show started out with a short film highlighting Manu's French heritage, his recent win on Dancing with the Stars and was completed with dancing girls.  At the end of the film, Manu arrived on a bike wearing his French outfit before changing into his chef uniform, not to mention being accompanied with lots of screaming women.

As always, Manu tries to entertain his audience.  Amongst Manu's chef talk and general chat about his life, Dancing with the stars, and his new cookbook, Manu's show was filled with lots of suggestive comments.  Bearded vs Brazilians for mussels, "it's all in the wrist" and moans during a session where Manu got a teenage boy to whip cream - the show was a bit risque and perhaps not completely appropriate with the diverse audience (and was met with mixed audience reactions from disapproval to laughs) but you could tell that Manu was trying to be playful and fun.

Amongst the entertainment and antics (including eating three apples that he was juggling), Manu prepared four portions of each of three courses: a mussel pie; a caramelised witlof wrapped in bacon and roasted with cheese and cream sauce; and a baked pear served with ice cream and cream.  Not to let good food go to waste, twelve (happy) women were invited to try one of the prepared courses and were also received cheek kisses from Manu.

Photo of Manu winning Dancing with the Stars

Manu's witlof main course dish

Gary comes and rides off with Manu's bike

Manu preparing his mussel dish (sans the need to spit out the mussel beards)

Manu with a teenage audience member helping to whip some cream for dessert

Other attractions included the Riedel bar and wine theatre, Barilla pasta demonstrations, a Malaysian cooking demonstration booth (with guest cook Alvin Quah), a Thermomix stand, and the countless food and wine tasting and demonstration booths set up to show us what's on offer and what we may have been missing out on.

Yum - you gotta love a duck!

Alvin Quah with a Malaysian cooking demonstration

So after another year of Good Food and Wine, let's wait to see if they can beat it next year.  Perhaps if the weather permits, they can hold it out in a nice park and make it more like a market stall and family fun day?

Harvest, North Fremantle

Harvest Fremantle reviews; Harvest North Fremantle; Harvest Restaurant review
My first dinner at Harvest was met with intense screaming.  Unfortunately they weren't screams of culinary ecstasy and definitely not the suggestive "YES! YES!" from the Clairol Herbal Essences girl.

Our party of five for the night turned up to Harvest for dinner and were seated next to a small wedding reception group.  Possibly due to Harvest's modest yet sufficient drinks menu (including a Pimms Pitcher - YES! YES!) a couple of their guests burst into a fight with one woman screaming and then a guy threatening to punch her.  Suffice to say at that point the wedding reception was clearly over.  Poor bride and groom.

Back to Harvest, from the outside the entrance looks quite unassuming and dimly lit.  Inside, the atmosphere at Harvest is cosy with a rustic atmosphere and dim warm lighting that felt quite intimate but also relatively casual.

Whilst Harvest does a la carte dining, when we made our booking we were informed that Harvest would only be serving a tasting menu / degustation on that (Saturday) night.  The six course tasting menu was priced at $80 per person or $120 with matching wine.

For a fine dining restaurant, our experience for the night was a mix of some great friendly service to parts where we had to repeatedly wave someone for service.  Overall though, we thought the service was fine for our table even with the at times slow service.

Amuse Bouche

This amuse bouche was an appetiser of a cheese and cream blended soup combined with truffle.  The soup was rich and creamy and had combined cheese and truffle flavours that glided all over the tastebuds.  The delicious hit on the palate was just enough to start the evening on a good note.

Green Gazpacho, liquid fetta, pickled zucchini, rockmelon

Maybe we just looked ravenous or something but when this course came out, the waiter rushed placing our plates down whilst saying there was “more” coming out.  Though our initial reaction to “more” was a bit of confusion, looking at the plate and noticing the lack of gazpacho I had an idea of what was to come.  So after all our plates were on the table, there was a bit of added excitement when the waiter came back with a pitcher of gazpacho finishing off each plate in front of us.

The gazpacho itself was chilled, had a watery consistency, and was light in flavour apart from having a large amount of salt that caught me off guard and reaching for my glass of water.   Balancing that out, all the other components on the dish seemed salt-restrained in comparison.

The pieces of liquid fetta were cleverly encased in little packets of a very light transparent coating making the liquid fetta look like little shiny droplets of gnocchi.  Taste-wise, the mild fetta gave the gazpacho a nice cheese flavour (perhaps like putting cheese with tomato in a fancy way).

Rounding out this dish the pickled zucchini added some zest, whilst the rockmelon sorbet was smooth and subtle in flavour with its mild sweetness balancing out the dish.

Venison, cauliflower, baby sun rose, pain d’epices salad

I was looking forward to this dish; however it didn’t quite wow me as much as I was hoping.

The centrepiece of the dish, a small piece of venison was cooked medium rare – though not quite melt in your mouth.  This tender piece of venison was a good “appetiser” for some more red meat to come.

Complementing the otherwise simple venison, the cauliflower puree was rich with cream and butter, and ultra-smooth.  Finishing off this dish was some raw baby sun rose that tasted like eating a raw leaf (which didn’t do much for me other than add a bit of colour to the plate), and crisp pain d’epices.

Margaret River Wagyu Rump, bread sauce, garden greens, veal tongue

There were two options for mains – fish or beef.  The fish option was described as a crispy skin fish with mussel broth, wilted cos, and rouille.  However I couldn’t get past the beef which was a Margaret River Wagyu Rump with bread sauce, garden greens and veal tongue.

The wagyu rump was cooked medium rare – we weren’t offered a choice, however I wouldn’t have argued with medium rare.  Despite being (an undisclosed grade of) wagyu, the rump was not as tender as say my preferred cuts of rib eye or tenderloin.  Still, the rump was cooked excellently, tender for a rump though not quite melt in your mouth, and the rump was full flavoured.  Accompanying the steak, creamy herb butter melted around the steak adding nice flavour and moisture.

The bread sauce had a strong beer flavour running through it that complemented the big meaty taste and texture of the rump steak – though personally I preferred the flavours of the herb butter and the beer taste running through what seemed a bit like soggy beer flavoured bread didn’t do much for me.

One other thing I have to say about this dish is I am not really a fan of tongue so unfortunately most of the veal tongue was left behind on my plate with other people on our table following suit.

Watermelon sorbet

After the main course, this watermelon sorbet helped cleanse the palate.  Rather than big flavours of bold sweetness or acidity, this sorbet had a subtle watermelon taste with only a mild sweetness.  It was still refreshing, but without a big aftertaste.

Fourme D’ambert , pear, quince

This French blue cheese was blended with cream to make its flavours subtler.  The result was unsurprisingly like cream cheese, light and creamy, melting in the mouth like creamy brie.  The blue cheese taste was definitely dulled down (in a good way), but was still prominent enough to make a few people on our table stop at one small mouthful.

Accompanying the cheese were the always complementing pear and quince flavours, as well as garlic crumbs which whilst I thought was interesting went very well with the cheese and especially its blue creamy cheese taste.

Chocolate pudding, dehydrated chocolate mousse, oloroso jubes

A welcome rich and creamy dessert, the chocolate pudding was a silky smooth pudding that melted in the mouth effortlessly.  Together with the texturally contrasting but still richly flavoured dehydrated and hard chocolate mousse this dessert ended the meal on a big chocolate punch line.

The oloroso jubes were like strong sherry flavoured jellies coated in nut like crumbs that met the rich chocolate flavour, whilst ginger beer powder added a tangy zest.

In summary, Harvest has a rustic feel and the chef innovates and presents his fine-dining-style creations that in ways seem to match the rustic feel.  Personally, I enjoyed sampling the different tasting dishes even though for a tasting menu none of the courses quite got me on the verge of my own "YES! YES!".

Points to note:  Book in advance for Friday and Saturday nights, and note that like us you may be limited to the degustation menu only on some nights.

If you’re vegetarian, Harvest does cater for you with their degustation, however expect that the courses may just be the menu course sans meat.  For example, the venison course above was served by removing the venison and adding more of the other ingredients to the dish.

Go for:  A rustic type of fine dining with food to match.

Harvest

1 Harvest Road

NORTH FREMANTLE WA 6159

(08) 9336 1831

http://www.harvestrestaurant.net.au

Trading Hours

Tuesday to Saturday – 6pm till late

Friday to Sunday – 8am till late

Winners of the Good Food and Wine Show Tickets

Congratulations to the winners of the Good Food and Wine Show (Perth) Tickets - Skye Melvin and Yee Gan.

Please email your postal address by Sunday the 3rd of July to theaussiebite[at]gmail[dot]com and your prizes will be posted to you [after confirmation of ID]. 

Thank you to everyone who entered the competition!

Good Food and Wine Show 2011 (and your chance to WIN a Double Pass!)

It's that time of the year again.  The Good Food and Wine Show is just around the corner and I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

Last year, we saw the likes of Manu Fieldel, Matt Moran, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris take to the Celebrity Stage for live performances, including the preparation of a few dishes that selected audience members got to sample.  There are also wine, coffee, and cheese appreciation sessions that I’m sure will appeal almost as much.  On the less formal side, food and food related stalls are abundant, as well as food samples, a dining area, and you can even buy books and get them autographed.  For a bit more on last year’s show, you can look at my blog post here or go to their website at http://www.goodfoodshow.com.au/.

For a couple of lucky readers, I have two free double passes to giveaway.  For your chance to win one of these, "like" The Aussie Bite’s facebook page and then “like” the Good Food and Wine Show post, and/or email us with "Good Food and Wine Show" in the header and 2 lucky winners will be randomly chosen based on entries from each category.  Entries close June 17th and winners will be announced by June the 20th, so be sure to check back to see if you have won (and claim your prize).  Tickets will be posted to the winners.

The Good Food and Wine Show is being held in Perth over the 15^th to 17^th of July, with the following sessions:

Friday 15th: 10am - 5pm

Friday 15^th (after dark): 6pm - 9.30pm

Saturday 16th: 10am - 6pm

Sunday 17th: 10am - 5pm

Five Bar, Mount Lawley

Five Bar Mount Lawley; Five Bar reviews
One fine and sunny Perth afternoon I found myself walking along the Beaufort Street cafe strip - as many of you know this is home to many cafes, restaurants and bars.  In one of those aimless strolls, I found myself in front of Five Bar and immediately thought "five what?" - Five pints of beer, five glasses of wine, or even five courses of food.  Enticing choices I know, so I went in anyway.

You may have already heard people recommending Five Bar, either for its eclectic interior, casual and cool atmosphere, or even the tapas style selection of dishes on offer.  Regardless of what people remember it for, Five Bar is one of those new boutique style bars that offers a gourmet selection of bar type foods to complement those lazy afternoon or cozy night drinks.

Lamps set across a backdrop of wallpaper

The interior of Five is a collection of styles.  The classic wallpaper, and art deco lamps and sofas help create a nice unique environment to have a casual drink or meal.  These furnishings were set amongst other parts of a warehouse pub-like interior which seemed to detract a bit from the stylish parts but as it seemed to separate the bar into distinct areas, overall I still enjoyed the atmosphere.

Comfy, classy sofa

Although Five is classified as a bar, with a full bar selection and beers on tap, Five has a good selection of tapas style dishes and a few "pub" mains (including a gourmet steak sandwich) and desserts.  Whilst the menu is written on a big blackboard on the wall, the quality of the offerings complement the stylish surrounds.

Duck and chicken rillettes - $14.50

The duck and chicken rillettes were served cold, well flavoured and tender from the cooking process.  Despite rillettes typically being slowly cooked with salt and fat, the duck and chicken rillettes were mild on the salt and didn't seem excessively fatty/oily.  However, even though the rillettes weren't bursting of salt and fat, the rillettes tasted like they had been infused with a nice subtle flavour that still allowed the natural flavours to come out.

The rillettes were served with light toasted garlic bread style baguette slices, and a blackberry and orange preserve or jam.  The texture of the broken up duck and chicken meat, which was soft and tender in the mouth, made an excellent and easy to apply topping to the bread.  The combination of the balanced duck and chicken rillettes with garlic bread was enhanced with the sweetness of the preserve.

Rare roasted beef open sandwich - $14.50

Roast beef sandwiches can be simple meals.  Five Bar takes this classic sandwich and turns it into something more without overdoing it.

The thinly sliced rare roasted beef was tender as far as sandwich style roast beef goes.  On the sandwich's salad side of things, a nice red cabbage homemade coleslaw was creamy and wasn't strong as to overpower the beef.  However, perhaps the part which I thought brought the sandwich together for me was the mustard grain and horseradish cream that was light but still noticeable on the palate and matched the roasted beef sandwich as you would expect.  Rounding out the sandwich was a dash of chives, and sliced gherkin that was subtle in pickle (and a slightly bitter) flavour.  A gourmet tapas style "roast beef sandwich".

Dark chocolate pot - $13

This “pot”, which looked like a jar that formerly contained something off the supermarket shelf, was filled with a sweet chocolate mousse based dessert.  The mousse was a very smooth typical mousse, balanced in a good level of sweetness and chocolate flavour so that it was a decadent chocolate dessert that melted smoothly and consistently in the mouth .  Topped with sugared pistachios, lightly sweetened and soft macerated strawberries and mint that were refreshing, the overall mousse was rich, and indulgent.

In summary, Five Bar offers a bar experience with gourmet bar food.  The mostly larger than tapas meal selections seem to be well thought and executed.

Points to note:  Five Bar is a bar and not a restaurant.  In addition to the staple alcoholic liquid meals, it serves mostly tapas style dishes as well as a few "pub" style dishes.  Though there some tables inside, when it's busy you may find yourself standing.

Go for:  A drink or two.  However, you get some good food selections to go with them.

Five Bar

560 Beaufort Street

Mount Lawley WA 6050

Trading Hours

Monday to Saturday - 11am to 12am

Sunday - 11am to 10pm

Iku Sushi, Perth

Iku Sushi Perth; Iku Sushi Perth review

With so many sushi places in the city to choose from ranging from super fresh and traditional sushi through to quick pre-made lunch sushi, it's sometimes hard to differentiate sushi except in quality or variety of product.  This is where Iku Sushi has gone out and done something different with the Cheeseburger and Chicken cheeseburger sushi (see below).

Iku Sushi recently opened its doors in the new 140 William Street complex at the underground train station in Perth.  The decor at Iku Sushi is quite hip for a lunch bar type of venue.  Filled with lots of colour, and modern looking Japanese inspired decorations Iku Sushi looks like a place to go and see what the fuss is all about.  They've definitely created a hip looking lunch bar.

Menu-wise, Iku Sushi has offerings ranging from machine wrapped sushi through to rice meals and noodles.  All these are served in quite fitting (to match the interior) colourful and catchy packaging.

Chicken Cheeseburger Sushi - $7.50

In my opinion the best tasting meal of our visit, the waiter claimed this as their specialty (well, the "cheeseburger" types of sushi which is the beef version of this sushi).

Take a standard sushi roll with chicken and cheese filling (to make it a chicken cheeseburger), then coat it in batter and deep fry it.  Then serve it with some creamy (chilli) spicy mayonnaise.  A sushi that differentiates Iku Sushi from many other sushi places, it's just unfortunate that it was a relatively healthy sushi differentiated by deep frying it.  It was relatively tasty though for lunch bar sushi.

The batter was relatively light and quite crispy, and overall in some of the sushi pieces where the cheese melted the sushi tasted how I would expect chicken and cheese to be in sushi.  Interestingly, they battered the sushi in portions of two such that they could be cut in half, giving it one flat side covered in batter whilst the other side looked like sushi.  This maximised the taste and texture of lightly crunchy batter.

Overall, for me this was worthy of a try but whether you like to have your sushi battered and deep fried will be a personal choice.

Spicy Chicken Ramen - $9.95

Coming served in what looked like a colourful supermarket-cup-noodle container, I'm not really sure what to say about this ramen.  V.K. ordered this and described it as having a milky soup and didn't enjoy it.  I tried a bit of the lightly spicy soup and it was very simple in flavour and lacking the depth and flavour that you get at specialist ramen restaurants.

The serving size was small by many ramen standards (although also a few dollars or so cheaper) and the noodles and chicken were also quite ordinary.  The vertical nature of the container also made it a little difficult to eat the ramen like a normal ramen meal.

I guess they don't specialise in ramen.

Chicken Katsu Curry (medium) - $8.95

E.G. ordered this meal sized curry chicken katsu which was served with rice, spring rolls and salad.

Though this was called a chicken katsu, Iku Sushi covered the chicken in a type of thin coating of what seemed more like fine batter than breadcrumbs and lacked crunch and flavour.  For those of you that don't know, Japanese Panko is what is normally used to crumb katsu and when used right gives a good crumb coating and a nice crunch.  The result was that the chicken katsu was  quite ordinary and plain.  Also, the texture of the chicken itself was very smooth that made E.G. and I think that it looked and tasted like processed chicken.  Odd.

E.G. described the spring rolls (and indeed the meal) as pretty average.  The spring rolls were like a mini entree to the dish, loosely packed vegetables in mini rolls and deep fried.

In summary, Iku Sushi breaks with tradition and offers their own take on simple Japanese dishes served in colourful and catchy disposable packaging.  Though innovation is definitely welcome, I can't say that I enjoyed the experience as many dishes didn't appeal to me - even comparing against the traditional versions.  A shame since the concept seems quite unique.

Points to note:  Iku Sushi is a bit like a funky lunch bar with sushi and hot meals.  The food is not traditional Japanese so might appeal to people looking for something a bit different.

Go for:  A different fusion-Japanese food experience.

Iku Sushi
140 William Street
PERTH WA 6000
(08) 9322 6008

Trading Hours
Monday to Thursday - 7:30am to 7pm
Friday - 7:30am to 9pm
Saturday and Sunday - 11am to 5:30pm