Mexican standoff: OK, amigos, let me lay my cards on the table where you can all see them. I am no fan of` that style of cooking (let’s not use the word cuisine) called Tex-Mex, whose signature dish is something called chilli con carne. If there is any doubt about what the Mexicans think about chilli, the Diccionario de Mejicanismos defines chilli con carne as: “Detestable food passing itself off as Mexican, sold in the US from Texas to New York.” Now I have had many fights with the editors and other reviewers about my negative attitude, especially when it comes to a place which originally opened in Newtown (175 King Street) and which is now spreading fast all over Sydney. I am referring to Guzman y Gomez, and you’ll now find them in Bondi Junction (1A Bronte Road) and this month in Kings Cross (82 Darlinghurst Road). Although I haven’t been to Mexico, I have had real and delicious Mexican food, cooked in Sydney by famed Mexican cook Susana Palazuelos (Mexico the Beautiful) – the meal she cooked for the promotion of the film Like Water for Chocolate was sublime.
That said, many staffers and reviewers at Sydney Eats, including many whose palates I respect, love the tacos, quesadillas and other stuff served at G&G. Me, I don’t get it. I’ve been accused of being “too old” to enjoy it. Why has age got anything to do with not liking mushy beans? It probably tastes better after 20 or so Jagerbombs. But I’m big enough to admit I might have caught them on a bad night – I’ll try again. When they open in the Cross. Stay tuned. 
The year ahead: If we’re late with this month’s column it’s because we’ve been putting the 2008 edition to bed – and isn’t it a top year for eating out? We don’t remember seeing so many fine restaurants in the $$ (entree and main under $45) … well … ever. It’s the strongest category in the 2008 book and good news for Sydney eaters. It was hard to pick this year’s Bent Fork winner – we had to eat out every night for a week. It’s a tough job – etcetera. Watch for the new edition in the first week of September. Pakistani fine dining: The following report from Sydney Eats reviewer and South Asian food expert Paul Van Reyk tells us about a great find in Auburn: “I usually expect that somewhere my Paki taxi-driving mates send me to as their latest must-eat spot will be, well, a plastic tablecloth above a cafeteria. I’d heard that Bundhu Khan (121 Auburn Road, Ph 9749 1000) was kitted out in all-import but had no idea it was zhoosh kit. None of your faux handicraft and ancient travel posters. Nope, it’s all mood lighting, grey chiselled stone interior, woven-backed chairs, tablecloths (plural) and toilets I can recommend. “Even those signature items of any Paki restaurant – autographed cricket bats and plasma screens – are transformed, the one into trophies mounted in glass cases, the other like wall-inset fishtanks aglow with the flamboyant creatures of Bollywood and Star TV. “Thank (deity of choice) the kitchen keeps up the tradition of ethnic restaurants – aromatic, muggy, shambolic and turning out really terrific food that’s flavourful, complex, each dish distinctly spiced from a menu that doesn’t read just like the top 10 curry hits with English footy fans. Where else are you going to find reshmi kabab, sizzling cigarillos of minced chicken and almond accompanied by the cooling menthol of a mint chutney; paneer karahi in which fresh tomato, diced capsicum and green herbs perfectly complement the sharp cheese; and crunchy kernels of corn chaat with a blissfully restrained tamarind sauce. “Bundhu Khan not only has ratcheted up the dining experience in Auburn, but it’s also cranked up the whole South Asian thang several notches.”
Thanks, Paul.
| | Gidday, New York: Well blow me down and throw another barby at the bloody shrimp, but would you believe, according to America Online (go to http://cityguide.aol.com/newyork and search in restaurants), there are six Australian restaurants or bars serving food in New York and that’s without counting the awful Outback Steakhouse chain? They range from Eight Mile Creek, which seems like a pretty good operation, to The Wombat, where the chef is a Swedish-born Pom … dodgy. Most seem to think we live on pies. But there’s another one opening soon that sounds like the real thing. Chef Roland Graham is about to swing open the doors of The Australian in Midtown Manhattan (20 West 38th between 5th and 6th Avenues, Ph +1-917-774-6486), a stroll, he tells us, from Macy’s and Grand Central. Roland will be cooking Mod Oz with the difference that he, unlike most Australian chefs, will add to the European/Asian mix items of native produce supplied by Vic Cherikoff. He sent us samples from the menus he’s working up. There’s a black king tiger prawn dish that includes riberry chilli glaze and Buderim ginger, and a sausage roll that will have Tasmanian pepperberry ground over it. And on the eggs benedict a Vegemite balsamic splash. Hmmm. Could be worth dropping in for a cold one if you’re on the island. 
Political dining: One point of interest noted in this year’s batch of reviews was the number of restaurants making political statements. Perhaps most controversially at Sydney Xiang in Burwood (177 Burwood Road, Ph 9715 6998) as well as Chairman’ Mao’s favourite twice-cooked pork with beancurd on the menu, the Great Helmsman himself confronts you hanging from the wall as you enter. And in Dulwich Hill, the Pakistani restaurant Jinnah (476 Marrickville Road 9572 6833) is named after owner Chaudry M Javed’s hero, Mohammed Jinnah, the first Governor-General of the newly created Dominion of Pakistan. At Woodlands in Liverpool, a portrait of Ghandi is hung with reverence and at Morris’ Egyptian, owner and long-term member of and candidate for the Liberal Party hangs photographs of himself with various party personages on his walls. It got us to thinking. What would be served at a Howard-themed restaurant? Poll shorthorn steak overcooked over a white picket fence fire? Slow-roasted Indian doctor? Would the waiters apologise for bad food or service? And what about a Rudd restaurant? Humble pie would be up there – and the rest of the menu would probably be a thinly disguised copy of the menu from Howard’s Hideaway, right down to the Tasmanian old-growth forest woodfired parrot. What a night: You might remember last month I wrote about el Circo, which I described as a night of “crazy food and wonderful wine and jugglers, acrobats, cabaret artists”. Well, I went to the first night and I got it almost right. It was a crazy night, remarkable entertainment and interesting food, but the wine list – well, it could be better. But who cares when you have a night that I’d describe as the best fun I’ve had with my clothes on for a long time. It starts with a gorgeous blonde in a body stocking writhing around in an outsized champagne glass and ended with host and animateur Marc Kuzma singing while a lithe young Asian boy did a cloud dance. Turned out he was the chef. Along the way there were fabulous rap and tap dancers, magicians, acrobats. I took my 19-year-old daughter and she enjoyed it as much as I did – and is she hard to please! The food was interesting, the best dish the goat cheese icecream with prosciutto and a savoury tomato sauce. One dish goes beyond foam to present aromatised air trapped in a balloon. Your hostess, Verushka Darlink, pricks the balloon and you’re supposed the smell the air rushing out. Mine, which was supposed to be truffle, smelled of rubber. I told Verushka I loved the smell of rubber in the evening. But I’m not complaining, I’m urging you to ring and book. They can do it for $90 a head all up because the performers believe in it. Every Friday night 8915 1899 or go to www.elcirco.com.au. At Slide Lounge 41 Oxford Street |
