FoodieChat

Kicking off a very long 3 days of various birthday celebrations - and the highlight - was this calzone from La Grotta in Haberfield.  Being another of Sydney’s “Little Italies”, Haberfield’s Ramsay Street is lined with delis, pizza shops, bakeries, and bread and pasta suppliers, so the competition is tough.  I actually wanted to try La Disfida, (which was said by Luciana of Cucina Italiana to be her favourite over rival Napoli Im Bocca), but alas it was closed.  So then Dolcissimo looked quite packed, but also didn’t seem to have more than pasta and pizza on offer, we walked to next door La Grotta, which seemed alot quieter but had a more diverse menu.  GREAT choice, because not only was the service an outstanding differentiator from its Haberfield cousins, but this calzone was wood fired perfection.  The waiters had no problem whatsover turning any of the other pizzas on the menu into the calzone, so I chose the Special, with ham, salami, mushrooms, olives (and hold the pineapple).  This gigantic crescent arrived which was bigger than the plate - crust was risen to perfection, and cooked the way I like it - crunchy as it can be without burning.  It was not oily at all, and well I could have stopped eating after 4 slices, but hey since I’m there…. let the pants loose. It was $19.90 which is around the same as all the other shops in the area - but go there also for the outstanding attentive service that really aims to please in a really genuine way.  The place is also HUGE, so also consider it for functions!

La Grotta 104 Ramsay Street Haberfield (02) 9799 0100

I finally got to try this Sydney icon Italian Restaurant idyllically located a stone’s throw from Russell Crowe’s apartment on Cowper Wharf Road (a.k.a. the finger wharf) in Woolloomooloo (bonus points if you can spell it without looking!).  It’s a Sydney institution and a highly sought after booking - evidenced by the hoards of good looking people dining there at the same time as us.   (Former) owner Alan Jones cruised in halfway through our meal somewhat unnoticed - I’m afraid he’s going to take a back seat to the food.  I had the scallops for my entree - four plump scallops, seared and served on a bed of white asparagus puree, with fennel and blood oranges scattered across, drizzled with a Campari and blood orange dressing.  The wagyu carpaccio with truffle dressing, baby capers and rocket looked a work of art too good to eat - wafer thin slicse of tender beef spread over the plate with maximum visual appeal. 

I have learned my lesson not to do entree and main with pasta as my entree, so I had an entree sized pasta as my main in order to fit in dessert. Again my favourite scallops spaghettini, spanner crab meat, lemon in a sauce of shellfish tomato brodo.  Personally I would have preferred a sauce that was either more saucy or more dressing like. This was in between like a broth, which certainly was tasty though!  I didn’t try the duck breast stuffed with apple, walnuts and wrapped in proscuitto came also with the leg - fall off the bone meat, in a rich jus on a bed of sauteed red cabbage.

I can’t decide what was the highlight - my entree or my dessert!  I couldn’t go past the warm Valrohna chocolate pudding with honey comb ice cream - a cakey crust that oozed the liquid gold - into the other gold - the shards of honeycomb and the (slightly melted) scoop of honey comb ice cream - amazing. Not good for the diet, cholesterol, blood sugar or any other health indicator!

The rustic looking rhubarb crumble tart was served on its own with your waiter dramatically drizzling the syrup on top to finish - well neither of us could finish our desserts due to their huge servings, but contentedly sat back to enjoy the people watching which comes for free.

 Otto Ristorante, Area 8, 6 Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo

www.otto.net.au

My friend Annie highly recommends this restaurant and I have been wanting to try it for ages.  A quick check of restaurant review websites came back with surprisingly mostly good reports - and I am pleased to add my own to them!  It’s on the main street at Victoria Road, on the corner, and the ambience would be romantic and cosy - well that is, if we weren’t banished to the neon-lit, cold back tables near the kitchen!   Danny the host came and apologised that it was because we’re young and not whingy that he had to give the better tables in the heated front section to the oldies… not that we were given a choice, and we had also booked too!  Suspiciously, later tables were also escorted to the front when challenging the back tables!  Anyway - now to the food. Great value!! We had the garlic prawns ($17) - fresh king prawns in a thick sauce of tomatoes, basil, white wine and plenty of garlic.  I was upset that I wasn’t told that the pastas are in fact HUGE and main sized - so I ended up having the equivalent of two mains and therefore missed out on dessert! But hey. I’m not one to criticise value for money.  

The penne with calamari was a huge serve - tangy with capers, cubed potatoes and tender calamari strips - sssoooooo filling at $19 - warning: do not order pastas as entrees unless you are sharing!!

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One pot cooking for 15 friends? Go for a paella. I must admit I’ve always been scared off because a) it uses saffron - so expensive and how do you use it b) seafood - and lots of it - how do you time it correctly and c) well it’s kinda exotic.  Well thanks to a SunRice recipe and also Donna Hay, I’ve come up with a hybrid of the two recipes that seemed to please the crowd I had over.  I served it with sangria too - as long as there’s red wine, vodka, chopped fruit - the variations are up to you!

Ingredients (for 15)

• 2 cups arborio rice
• a pinch of saffron, soaked in 2 tblspoons hot water
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 chorizo sausages
• 1 squid tube
• 1 sliced red capsicum
• half kg of uncooked prawns
• 500g chicken meat
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 300g piece of fish fillet (I used barramundi)
• 1 tablespoon smokey paprika
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

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I’ve got to admit I was just a tiny bit skeptical that a place that offered Spanish and pizza and pasta would be authentic. Besides, all the Spanish restaurants are meant to be on Liverpool Street, not down near Chinatown. Anyway, it was a hen’s night and I had no choice.  I’m pleased to report that in addition to the best Chinese food in Sydney, Haymarket (a.k.a Chinatown) also offers exceptional Spanish food.   The restaurant catered really well to large groups - which comprised almost half the place on a busy Saturday night.  We opted for the $32 tapas menu, which included all your favourites (except where was the calamari?) 

The food came very quickly in succession such that we were clearing room in between quick forkfuls of food.  First off the rank was a salad with crumbled feta, marinated roast capsicum and lettuce.  Then came my favourite off all time - Chorizo a la Plancha (grilled Spanish sausage). Oh dear. Only in looking at this close up shot did I see the fatty bits - but blindly eating, it was DIVINE. Crispy and tasty and plenty of it.

Next came the Patatas Bravas (fried potato with garlic mayonnaise and spicy tomato salsa). Unfortunately, I had only one cube of potato as that gross white substance had touched every other piece. I was told that they were delicious though, despite my prejudice.  Oh well, bring on the Champinones al Ajillo - garlic mushrooms - and don’t plan on having a pash afterwards.  They were very tasty and moist, and not overcooked either.

The garlic pizza came, with tomato dressing. Crispy crust and a good thickness, which would indicate that these guys could do a great pizza too.  But my attention quickly diverted to the sevillanas (prawns in spicy tomato). They came bubbling to the table - slightly dangerous, but so so fresh, and a great chilli bite at the end (too spicy for some on my table though).  There were 8 per serve.

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