Man bites shark:Next time you order fish and chips, you might like to ask what kind of fish is lurking under the batter. If the answer is “shark” or “flake”, change your order. If you’re offered shark-fin soup in a Chinese restaurant, say no thanks. It might come as a surprise to know that there are 201 species of shark on the Shark Foundation’s endangered species list. We need sharks. They’re the planet’s most powerful predator and have been for 400 million years and they have a crucial role to play in ocean ecology, yet we’re now on the edge of wiping them out. Why? Well, shark-fin soup is one reason. When the fin is taken off, the rest of the shark is chucked away. Shark fins can fetch up to US $400 a kilogram based on the erroneous belief they’re an aphrodisiac. Not true. As a matter of fact, the concentration of mercury in the fin may contribute to impotence. Hah. What can you do? For a start, go and see Sharkwater, a remarkable film by Rob Stewart that tells the story of the endangered sharks. It will be released on May 5. In the meantime, go to www.sharkwater.com for a preview and some information on sharks.
Man raises tuna:Another fish story, perhaps with a happier ending. The Japanese have been working on it since 1948 at Kinki University — raising tuna from the egg, that is. If there’s one fish worse off than the shark, it’s tuna. Both southern and northern bluefin tuna are waiting, as one commentator said, in the anteroom of extinction. So the idea of not just “ranching” tuna — herding young fish and raising them in a pen — but actually breeding them as we do with other animals may hold out some hope for the future of the species. May. The northern bluefin tuna bred in Japan is branded Kendai and is being sent in small quantities (five fish weekly) to restaurants in New York such as Megu, Gramercy Tavern and Per Se, where chefs have reported its flavour to be “excellent”. At US $60 a pound (about half a kilogram), it’d want to be. Australian seafood entrepreneur John Susman concurs with the good raps. He tried some in Japan recently and it was, as he puts it in Australian English, “f@#$ing delicious”.
But it appears we’re onto it already. Down at Port Lincoln in South Australia, Cleanseas, the company that first ranched tuna in Australia, has also begun a program of breeding with the even more expensive and endangered southern bluefin. Cleanseas lifts ranched 10-year-old breeding stock by helicopter to a giant breeding pool, where their 1500km journey from the Great Southern Ocean to the Eastern Pacific is replicated, after which they breed. The first program was only six weeks ago, so we have to wait for the results. Good news or bad? It depends, says Giselle Firme, the Marine and Fisheries Conservation Officer at the National Conservation Council. “One of the problems is genetic diversity,” said Giselle. “If they’re using local fish, that’s good. And it also depends on what are they eating.
If it’s by catch (fish left over from targeted catches), that’s good — fish meal … not so good.” She conceded that, if they’re using proper safeguards, it would take pressure off the wild fishery. We’ll keep an eye on progress.
Top Drops:I went to an event a couple of weeks ago organised by Penfolds to debut the release of new vintages of their Luxury & Icon Wines — in other words, to have a sip of some wines that I personally can’t afford. What did we try? There was the 2003 Grange whose price, we were told, would be “set by the market”. A quick Google shows the market has spoken: between $462 and $495 a bottle. What was it like? I know this is heresy, but I’ve never been much of Grange lover — but it was a very pleasant drop. Would I pay $500 a bottle for it? No.
At a vertical tasting (meaning lots of different vintages) I went to a few years ago, my preference was for the 1982 which, at the time, was seen as one of the worst years. Now? Well, that guru of the grape, American wine writer Robert Parker, gushes: “One of my favourite vintages of Grange to actually drink at present is the 1982. The wine is gorgeously opulent and impossible to resist.” That’ll also set you back around $500 a bottle.
There were other wines presented on the night, my favourite being the 2004 Penfolds St Henri Shiraz, which tipped the scale at a paltry $90 a bottle. It’s a big, brooding, dark and spicy monster that I would have loved to share with a slow-roasted shoulder of lamb littered with garlic. My least favourite was the 2005 Yattarna Chardonnay ($130), which my untrained palate felt was flabby and thin. But then I’m not much of a Chardonnay hound. Do any of you buy wines at these prices? I certainly can’t afford it. My plumber collects Grange, but doesn’t drink it. He sells it at auction after sitting on it for a couple of years. I don’t know. Wine is for drinking, I reckon. Some years ago, I went to a Penfolds function and present was Don Ditter, the second winemaker to make Grange after its creator, Max Schubert. Someone asked him what he was drinking. “Koonunga Hill,” he said (the Shiraz Cabernet now selling at around $15 a bottle by the dozen), but, he added, “I do lay it down for a few years.” There’s a lesson there for us poor folk.
The Sublime: Also this last month I ate at Marque (355 Crown Street Surry Hills 9332 2225) where, for a few dollars less than the price of a bottle of Penfolds 2005 RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz ($145 as opposed to $160 for the wine), you can sample an eight-course degustation of chef Mark Best’s innovative but still very edible food. Mark has fun with the food in the way of the modern chef — for example, the splendid risotto of calamari with Yamba prawns where the “risotto” is little cubes of calamari, but without losing sight of the flavour. That was the standout dish for me; that and the gorgeous sauternes custard with caramel. I’m a great fan of this chef who quietly goes about his business of cooking without taking part in the cult of personality which, to my mind, is a bit of a scourge in today’s restaurant scene. Not that it started yesterday.
Skipping the early bits, you could probably say it all started with nouvelle cuisine in the very early 1970s. This meant that instead of merely churning out classic dishes according to the book (Escoffier, Careme), chefs began to create their own dishes. Now they were more than technicians — they were artists. They were creating and plating the food according to their own whims and desires. And then along came the telly and the first chef to don a clean white coat and stand in front of the cameras was Paul Bocuse. Portly Paul was soon replaced by Muscly Marco Pierre White and now we’ve come full circle to ghastly Gordon Ramsay with a delightful detour along the way with the Two Fat Ladies.
But some chefs stick to the kitchen. Mr Best is one such. And I highly recommend his restaurant when you want to splash out for a Flash Eat. (It’s degustation only on Saturday night, but during the week entrees are $28, mains $48.) | | And the gorblimey:First came those little black olives wrongly called Spanish (they mostly come from California), which are processed by being cured in caustic soda (it’s quick, but it rips out the taste) and then dyed black. Anyone who serves those olives a) has no taste or b) hasn’t ever tasted them. Could it get worse? You bet. At the other end of the quadrangular plate were four portion-control patties of a well-known brand of margarine. Now, I have nothing against anybody silly enough to eat margarine in the privacy of their own home (oh, all right, I do), but to have them served to you in a Portuguese restaurant left the four of us at the table dumbfounded. Portuguese is one of the gutsiest cuisines on the planet, all garlic and gobs of meat and big bowls of surf and turf. As my friend Lynelle Scott-Aitken writes in her Lonely Planet World Food book about Portugal, the Portuguese eat “with gusto. The best of Portuguese food is prepared with simple cooking methods and strongly reflects its region and proud past.” Which region did those olives come from? And the margarine? We should have left but didn’t. The service was charming, but the food, rather than being bad, was stripped of any gusto. The bacalhau à bras, a fry-up of bacalhau, potatoes, garlic and eggs, was the only bacalhau dish I have ever eaten that needed extra salt. My espetada — barbecued meat on a sword — was plain boring. The meat had been cooked too slowly and was under-seasoned. I very rarely write about bad restaurants but this place, Divino, in Petersham, needs to be pointed out for two reasons. One, I reckon they’re capable of doing better. And two, they’re giving Portuguese food a bad name.
A new market:If you live out Rouse Hill way, check out the Hawkesbury Harvest Farmers Market at the very pleasing new Lend Lease development, the Rouse Hill Town Centre. It’s a purpose-built market in the forecourt of the Town Centre running at the moment once a month (the fourth Saturday) and attracting more than 50 stallholders including many local farmers and producers. It’s by far the best-looking market in Sydney and with Hawkesbury Harvest running it, it’s sure to be a success — and a proper farmers’ market (run by and for the farmers). The Town Centre is an interesting development — the shopping mall of the future. It’s single-storeyed, open to the elements and has residential mixed in with the commercial. I really hate shopping malls, but felt comfortable with this one. Check out the details at www.hawkesburyharvest.com.au
Heavenly Carol: Went to the launch of a book by one of our reviewers this past month, Heavenly Fragrance by Carol Selva Rajah (Periplus $45). It is a Distillation of Carol’s incredible knowledge of cooking with South East Asian herbs, fruits, spices and seasonings, and I’ll review it properly on this site very soon. The launch was held at Bent Fork winner Chinta Ria Temple of Love and famed South Australian chef Cheong Liew flew up for the occasion. Our Carol is much admired and, if ever you get a chance to eat her food, grab it. Her beef rendang is the best. Primo Italiano: Where was Sydney’s first Little Italy? This excerpt from my book Beppi A life in three courses (Murdoch Books) tells you: “That part of Sydney from Yurong Street, east to Palmer Street was Sydney’s first Little Italy. Number 71-73 Stanley Street was home to the first known Italians in the area, Luciano and Maria Rizzi, who lived there from 1903 and set up a macaroni factory there in 1911. In 1952, it became La Veneziana — that name can still be seen, set in brass and terrazzo, on the doorstep of what was until recently Pello. In 1914, Vince Lopez who is, despite the name, an Italian from the Aeolian Islands, opened a fruit shop at 82 Stanley Street, a business which, in the hands of another Lopez, Felice, lasted until his death in the 1950s. In 1928, George Famosa began a café that is today The Arch café and No Names restaurant at 81 Stanley Street, and in 1933 Bartolomeo Callose established a pasta factory on the corner of Palmer and Burton Streets.”
Curiously enough, it was where Beppi Polese opened Beppi’s (cnr Yurong & Stanley Streets East Sydney 9360 4558) in 1956 — without even knowing the history. Even more curious, it was where his father had lived in Australia in 1929. In honour of this little piece of Australian migrant history, the City of Sydney has initiated Primo Italiano, which turns Stanley Street into a piazza for the day on Sunday May 25. There’ll be pizza, panini, pasta, gelato and vino. And we hope it’s as joyful as that street eating scene from the brilliant Fellini Roma — if you haven’t seen it, get it on DVD. And see you at Primo Italiano.
And a long lunch: It’s become a lower Hunter tradition, the Lovedale Long Lunch, with the first one held 1994 — there are even some still alive who attended. It’s a doddle. You go to Lovedale, you buy a plate ($20) and a glass ($4) and you swan around eating and drinking. There are seven wineries taking part and they all vie with each other to cook up the best contribution. To get all the details, go to www.lovedalelonlunch.com.au
The long lunch not only lives, it rocks. May 17 and 18, 10am–4pm
Sunnybrae back after short break: George Biron is a bastard. First, he writes well about food. Second, he cooks like an angel. And third, he closed Sunnybrae (Cape Otway Road, Birregurra (03) 5326 2276), his wonderful restaurant in the Victorian countryside (on the way to Colac) for seven years. But it opened again on May 11 and I thoroughly recommend it. You can read all about the restaurant, George’s food pieces and his garden on his blog at www.sunnybraerestaurantandcookingschool.blogspot.com
I’ll be there as soon as I can.
Vote 1 Mum:The Food Media Club is an organisation of food professionals – very few of whom are actually in the media – who like to have a big shindig every couple of years and hand each other Awards. Disclosure: I’m a member, I’ve won some. But this year they had a really good idea. To ask you, dear reader, non-member of the FMC and not a food professional to vote for the best food communicator in the country from a list that incudes: Margaret Fulton, Stephanie Alexander, Lyndey Milan, Maggie Beer, and others including – Your Mother. If you want to vote, go to www.foodmediaclub.com.au and click on Australian Food Media Awards then People’s Choice Award and – I’m not going to tell you how to vote (Your Mum!). Voting closes 31 July 2008. .
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