La Banette, Glebe

It's the smell of butter and sugar that hits me first. The heady aroma of caramelised sugar, chocolate, freshly baked bread and buttery pastries soaks its way into every pore as I stand at the doorway, on the brink of dessert delirium.


La Banette

La Banette is easy to miss if you're walking down the other side of Glebe Point Road. Once you know it's there, however, it's hard to resist a detour. This rustic French bakery is bursting with delectable treats.

This is the second La Banette bakery by husband and wife team, Vince Luong and Uyen Le, adding to their Avalon original. The Glebe shopfront gave them the opportunity to custom design the premises, a mix of butter yellow walls and distressed wooden shelving in eggshell blue.


Sultana scrolls and crossiants


Fresh breads

We've tried several of their breads, with favourites so far including the raisin bread and the rye and caraway loaf.


Ratatouille pies

A set of swing doors separate the kitchen from the service area, and freshly baked pies are often left to cool on the front counter.

Dine-in area

Ratatouille quiche $4.50

Quiches, pies and pork and veal rolls are all $4.50-$5 each. If you want to eat in, you can grab a seat at one of the wooden benches, although eating with the provided plastic cutlery can be a bit fiddly.

Ratatouille pie is chock-full of chunky vegetables, and the quiche Lorraine is generous with cubes of ham sliced off the bone.

Beef and burgundy pie $5

I'm amazed by the amount of meat packed into my beef and burgundy pie, shreds of beef that flake apart easily, although it probably could have done with a little more gravy.


Creme caramel and mille-feuille

We're tried more desserts than I care to confess. I went for the giant almond biscuits featured in the first photo, crunchy with flaked almonds and slathered on the base with dark chocolate. Giant fluffy white meringues are folded over with flaked almonds too, the insides soft as marshmallow.

The tart shell holding the creme caramel makes for easy transportation, and the mille-feuille is a sigh of flaky pastry layers and smooth vanilla custard. One day we had an amazing coffee gateaux. The signature addition to most desserts is a garnish of green tea chocolate.

What's striking about this shop is the care and pride in every dessert, and the consideration given to how each one is placed on display. This isn't a manufactured attempt to create a stylised experience. It's all about the food, and the love put into each and every product.

We're slowly making our way through every dessert. I know we'll get there. Staff were very friendly about allowing photos, so here's just a taste of what's on offer:

Flourless hazelnut chocolate cakes

Green tea cake


Strawberry cake


Lemon tarts


Walnut tarts


Macaroons


Pastry display case


Mille-feuille, chocolate fig tarts and lemon meringue tarts




Chocolate and raspberry cake


Almond biscuits


Chocolate eclairs


Almond crossiants


Petit fours $12 a box


Creme caramel


Strawberry tarts and mixed fruit tarts


Customer samples


Lemon meringue tarts


Chocolate eclair




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La Banette Patisserie Boulangerie

18 Glebe Point Road, Glebe

Tel: +61 (02) 8095 9688

Opening hours:

Tues-Fri 7am–7pm
Sat-Sun 7am–5.30pm
Closed Monday

Also at:

28 Avalon Parade, Avalon
Tel: +61 (02) 9918 2948

Open Tuesday to Friday 7am-6pm, Saturday and Sunday 7am-5pm

Durban Dish, Baulkham Hills

Bunny chow

There were two things I knew I had to have on the menu at Durban Dish: bunny chow and chakalaka. How could anyone resist dishes with names like these?

It was the promise of South African food that led me to Baulkham Hills. This cosy family-run restaurant has been running for six years, but it's received minimal press or exposure. It was the perfect candidate for my monthly food and drink column in Time Out Sydney.

Eat this...

Bunny chow

WHAT IS IT?
Bunny chow ($9.90) is South Africa’s answer to fast food. It's a hollowed out loaf of soft white bread stuffed with curry, normally eaten with hands only.

WHERE DO I GET IT?
Durban Dish - a small eatery specialising in Durban-style Indian cuisine. Durban, in South Africa, has the largest population of Indians outside of India.


Durban Dish

WHAT’S IT LIKE?
Look for the South African flag in the window. Part-restaurant, part-shop, it dedicates half its floorspace to South African products for homesick ex-pats.


Bobotie $13.90

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I ORDER?
Bobotie ($13.90) is a thyme-scattered golden brown omelette over a bed or chicken or lamb mince baked with milk-soaked bread, nuts and dried fruits. The vetkoek ($2.30) is your excuse to have a donut with dinner - it's a deep-fried yeasted bun that's a cloud of fluffiness.

Vetkoek $2.30

Wor and pap $20.90
Boerewors served with pap (putu) maize porridge and chakalaka spicy baked beans

ANYTHING FOR VEGETARIANS?
Chilli Bites are made from a packet mix but are a popular street snack in South Africa. They're small balls of deep-fried chickpea flour, spinach and spices that are best dipped in chilli sauce.


Chilli bites $5.50





Braised pumpkin $12.50
Pumpkin braised in onions, dried chilli and mustard seeds

WHAT’S IN THE SHOP?
Upright freezers are filled with bags of different samosas, lamb curry pies and boerewors sausages. You can also stock up on biltong beef jerky, Tennis biscuits and Zar Mate, the South African version of Vegemite.


South African shop


Frozen samosas


Ouma condensed milk flavoured rusks


Tennis biscuits


Biltong


Zar Mate South African Vegemite/Marmite and Braai Sout barbecue sauce


South African sweets


Durban Dish dining room (total seating is 26)


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Durban Dish

1/6 Old Northern Road, Baulkham Hills, Sydney

Tel: +61 (02) 9639 3872

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Thursday 12pm-9pm

Friday to Saturday 12pm-10pm

This article appears in the April 2011 issue of Time Out Sydney in my monthly Food & Drink column Eat This!  

More Time Out Sydney reviews:
ATL Marantha, Kensington (Indonesian fried chicken with edible bones)
Balkan Oven, Rockdale (Macedonian burek)
Hijazi's Falafel, Arncliffe (Lebanese breakfast)
Island Dreams Cafe, Lakemba (Christmas Islands cuisine)
La Paula, Fairfield (Chilean empanadas, lomitos and sweets)
Sea Sweet, Parramatta (Lebanese sweet kashta cheese burger)
Sizzling Fillo, Lidcombe (Filipino pork hock crackling)
Tehran, Granville (Persian cuisine)
Tuong Lai, Cabramatta (Vietnamese sugar cane prawns)

Stitch Bar, Sydney

Stitch Bar is all about fun. It's there at the entrance, from the spools of thread in the window to the Singer sewing machine propping open the door.

The basement bar is one of the city's smallest, and it feels like half of Sydney is already here, cocktails in hand and chattering up a storm.


Stitch Bar

All the action is happening around the bar, a vision of gleaming bottles framed by sewing machine covers hanging overhead. The cocktail list is huge with 28 concoctions on the menu, priced between $17 and $21.50.



The boys behind the bar are a frenzy of activity, shaking those cocktail shakers like their lives depended on it.

We've come for the bar menu of course, and are dismayed to find that even at 6pm, every table is taken. There's no waiting list, a waitress tells us, so we're forced to hover around the dining area until we eventually pounce on a departing table. You can make reservations for tables if you call in advance - we're definitely doing that the next time we visit.

Hand cut chunks $10

Hand cut crispy potatoes with roasted garlic and rosemary sea salt

The dining area is a haphazard collection of stools, chairs and tables with booth seating along one wall. A couple of barrels pass for tables in one section, and we spy a large table with tea lights cosily tucked into a wall recess in the back corner. Beneath the entrance stairs is the stockroom, a locked cage of wine bottles with a pint-sized entrance that forces bar star to bend themselves in half just to enter.

Burgers and hot dogs make up the bulk of the menu, all priced to give you minimal change from $20. Lime-roasted nuts (pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts and sour cherries) and plates of dip with grilled sourdough cost $14 each, but we stick with the hand cut crisp potatoes to start us off instead.

The potatoes arrive quickly, blistering hot and piled until overflowing in a small metal mixing bowl. Only the smallest pieces are super crunchy, but the whole roasted garlic cloves are a treat, and we peel off their papery skins to get at the caramelised pod inside.

Mack ducky dog with curly fries $19

Duck, orange and pistachio sausage with foie gras de canard and truffle sauce

Between the five of us, we manage to cover most of the hot dog options. Suze only has (crazy) eyes for the Mack Ducky Dog - it was the promise of foie gras that did it.

The Flyn'n Hawaiian with curly fries $17

Chicken and rocket sausage with pineapple, bacon and honey mustard

The hot dogs come out on paper-lined metal plates, the sausages lightly charred from the grill. The sausages are meaty and not too greasy, and the buns are soft but substantial - not the squishy kind you get from the supermarket, but proper baked ones with a faintly sweet crust.

The French poodle $17

Toulouse style sausage, red wine and garlic with Tarago River Gippsland brie, pickled pear and dijon mustard

Wild pig dog with curly fries $17

Wild boar sausage with spiced apple, rum-soaked currants and creamy slaw

I'd gone for the wild boar sausage, livened by a generous trail of coleslaw although I can't detect much alcohol in the rum-soaked currants.

BLT with curly fries $19

Beef burger with smokey chillies, bacon, lettuce, vine-ripened tomatoes, mayonnaise, mustard, dill pickles and cheese

Richard's BLT burger is forgotten initially, but we chase it up and it arrives after another five minute wait. It's a squat but chunky burger, speared together with a pickle-topped skewer. The other burgers on offer include the cheeky-sounding Big Bird turkey burger ($19) as well as pork, vegetable and lamb (all $16). The burrito ($16) comes with chorizo and crispy potatoes.

Curly fries

Our only quibble was that our curly fries all arrived stone cold, and tasted heavy on the tongue with congealed oil. They weren't particularly crunchy either but the heavy dusting of chilli powder was a surprise.

Ash St Cellar

Chocolate and date tart (tart of the day) $14

We're celebrating Richard's birthday so we move on in search of dessert. A quick scout around the dessert menus in the area leads us to Ash St Cellar. I saw the crazy eyes in Richard when he spotted the chocolate and dart tart on display in the window.

The laneway in the middle of the Ivy complex is buzzing. It's a balmy evening and there are plenty of happy people dining al fresco at Ash St Cellar and Felix bistro. Staff are happy for us to dine in for dessert, although we end up at an outdoor table, right next to the door that leads down to the bathrooms.

The chocolate and dart tart is gorgeously glossy with a super rich filling that is a balance of dark chocolate chocolate and cream. The tart shell is short and crisp and though the double cream is tempting, we don't end up eating much of it as the tart isn't overly sweet. 



Vanilla creme brulee with Pedro Ximenez sherry prunes $14

We also share the vanilla creme brulee, covered in a thick rink of toffee that is deliciously bitter. Beneath the silky layer of custard is a muddle of sherry-soaked prunes, delicious on their own, but I find it interferes too much with the languid texture of the custard. The inclusion of prunes also seems to echo the dates in our chocolate tart, an odd repetition given these are the only two desserts available on the menu.

But who's complaining? We finished every last bit of it. And how can you beat a night with friends, cocktails, hot dogs and dessert.


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Stitch Bar

61 York Street, Sydney

Tel: +61 (02) 9299 2719

Opening hours:

Monday to Saturday 4pm-12am

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Ash St Cellar

1 Ash St, Sydney

Tel: +61 (02) 9240 3000

Opening hours:

Monday to Friday 12pm-late

Quay Restaurant, Sydney

Peter Gilmore, Executive Chef, Quay

The whole point of restaurants, says Peter Gilmore, is to eat things you wouldn't bother making at home. He gestures at his mise en place, components of which take several hours, and says he would never make the dishes he makes at Quay at home. "Not unless I had a full kitchen team!" he says with a laugh.



It's my first time dining at Quay, and as I stride toward the entrance, I can't help but smile at the sight of the Sydney Harbour Bridge - even as a born-and-bred Sydneysider, her regal presence never fails to impress.



Quay basks in a prime vantage point between two of Sydney's great icons, the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. The dining room is swish without being too stuffy, and large glass windows let in plenty of natural light.


Peter Gilmore plating up pink turnips and baby radishes

I'd been invited to attend a Masterclass with Peter Gilmore, a newly appointed partner with Electrolux. We make our way upstairs to the private dining area - popular with weddings - and after a glass of champagne with canapes with take our seats around a specially built demonstration area.

Peter is calm, gentle and laid-back in demeanour, happy to laugh at his own mistakes and taking care to thank his assisting chef with every task. He's not a small man (but who trusts a skinny chef anyway), and his fingers are light and nimble when he plates each dish.


Native fresh water marron

The first dish he demonstrates uses fresh water marron. Live marron are frozen and then poached quickly before being sealed in a plastic bag with clarified butter. The package is then steamed for three minutes until just cooked.

The marron is nestled between two delicate trails of baby radishes, pink turnips, garlic flowers and red garnet leaves. Dabs of jamon de bellota cream are made by infusing half a litre of cream with twenty slices of jamon de bellota - made from pigs fed on acorns - and then thickened slightly with agar agar.



The next dish Peter demonstrates is his butter poached quail breast, which is rapidly becoming another one of his signature dishes. Peter uses Coturnix quail, also known as Japanese quail, that is slightly bigger in size and gamier in flavour. The quail is poached in salted quail stock, effectively brining the meat and tenderising it in the processs, before being finished off in butter so the flesh is still pink.

Peter prefers to serve his quail at medium as cooking it through can often make it dry. Initially, he says, diners often sent the quail back to the kitchen presuming it was still raw, but he says he is slowly making inroads.


Butter poached Coturnix quail breast

The quail is presented in a beautifully designed plate, a sexy undulation that leads to an off-centre depression. At the base of the dish is a mousse made from morels and ethical foie gras, obtained from geese that are allowed to eat as much as they please, and harvested just after the geese gorge themselves in preparation for winter.

The quail breast is glazed with a thick quail jus, resting on a tumble of puffed quinoa and chopped walnuts fried in clarified butter. On top is a spoonful of pumpernickel pudding made from sprouted rye that is garnished with flakes of milk skin.

To make the milk skin, Peter's team boils milk in a square pan, then uses a sheet of greaseproof paper to lift off the layer of milk skin on top. The milk skin is dried under heat lamps and then broken into shards. Peter admits that the presence of milk skin on the menu always freaks people out and prompts several questions by curious diners.



We proceed to the dining table for our five-course degustation with matching wines. At the head of the table we can make out the Opera House, surrounding by the twinkling lights of Sydney Harbour.

Smoked eel and egg white pearl, sashimi hiramasa kingfish, pickled kohlrabi, octopus, nasturiums and white dashi jelly

paired with 2008 Petaluma 'Hanlin Hill' Riesling, Eden Valley

Our first course is the smoked eel and egg white pearl, an exquisitely plated dish that I'm reluctant to destroy. The golden orbs of white dashi jelly are the most fascinating wonders to behold, soft and wobbly with microscopic leaves suspended within.


Native fresh water marron, rose salt, organic pink turnips, jamon de bellota cream, oloroso caramel and society garlic flowers
paired with Natural Selection Theory Pear Cider, Coromandel Valley

We move onto the native fresh water marron: plump, sweet and deliciously buttery. The turnips and radishes add a contrasting crunch and the jamon de bellota cream is silky and rich.


Butter poached Coturnix quail breast, pumpernickel, morel and ethical foie gras pudding, walnuts, quinoa, truffle custard and milk skin
paired with 2008 Terravin Pinot Noir, Marlborough, New Zealand

Butter poached Coturnix quail breast is a little tricky to cut in the confines of the plate but its texture is soft and tender. I love the puffed quinoa the most, like the tiniest crunchiest rice bubbles you could imagine.


Peter Gilmore chatting with guests

Berkshire pig jowl, maltose crackling, prunes and cauliflower cream perfumed with prune kernel oil

paired with 2009 William Downie Petit Manseng, King Valley, Victoria

Peter returns to the dining room briefly to explain the next dish, the Berkshire pork jowl. We're encouraged to pause and smell the dish first, and we obediently oblige, relishing its wafting aromas of pig fat and caramel.

The pork jowl is taken from the pigs cheek and is decadently fatty. Because there is too much fat to render the skin to crackling, Peter uses a crackling made from maltose instead, melting it over the pork with a blowtorch in a similar fashion to his famous snow egg.

There's a delicious-sounding crack as our knives pierce the "crackling" and the unctuous pairs well with the sticky poached prune and cauliflower cream.

Preserved wild cherries, coconut cream, chuao chocolate crumble, cherry juice and chocolate sorbet

paired with Claude Courtois de Mistrelle, Sologne

We finish with the chocolate and wild cherry dessert, a dish I'd seen Peter demonstrate at the World Chef Showcase last year. It's a textural playground of rich chocolate sorbet, smooth coconut cream, and a yin-yang rubble of chocolate soil and shards of milk biscuit.

Peter's nature-based cooking is manipulated cleverly with technology yet still looks organic on the plate. A memorable evening with dishes that stand testament to its number 27 ranking in the World's Top 50 Restaurants.

Grab Your Fork attended the Peter Gilmore masterclass and dinner as a guest of Electrolux.




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Quay

Upper level, Overseas Passenger Terminal 5

Hickson Road, Circular Quay West, The Rocks, Sydney

Tel: +61 (02) 9251 5600

Opening hours:

Lunch Tuesday to Friday 12pm-2.30pm

Dinner Monday to Saturday 6pm-10pm

Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Quay, Sydney (Nov 2011)

Peter Gilmore at the World Chef Showcase 2010