Gary and Jane’s birthday party

Our friends Gary and Jane celebrated their birthdays (both in November) with a big party last Saturday. Gary is a chef, so he was aware that guests would expect something fancier than BBQ and chips. He recruited Angela, Deirdre and me to help him with the food. A long time ago we were planning to have taste tests weeks before the event, but in the end there was no time. He just gathered a few recipes and ideas and after a few tweaks the menu was set:

Plate 1

• Caprese salad (tomato, basil, marinated bocconcini)
• Mushroom bruschetta (Swiss browns, shiitake and porcini sautéed with onion, garlic, rosemary and Parmesan cheese, toasted pine nuts, dollop of mascarpone cheese)
• Chorizo/haloumi/spiced pear (chorizo fried with chili, pan-fried haloumi cheese, pear stewed with sugar and spices)
• Smoked salmon roulade (crepe filled with mascarpone cheese, garlic, lemon zest, dill, capers and smoked salmon, rolled and sliced)

Plate 2

• Asparagus frittata (crispy prosciutto on top)
• Japanese seared salmon (covered with nuta -miso, Japanese mayonnaise, dashi and sugar sauce- and toasted sesame seeds)
• Beef pesto salad (seared aged beef, sliced thin and mixed with baby rocket, carrots, capsicum, roasted beetroot and pesto)
• Spicy chickpea bruschetta (chickpeas marinated in olive oil, black olive paste, balsamic vinegar, garlic, rosemary and chili flakes)

Gary and I met at the Buddhist centre (were he and Jane live) around noon and started with the food prep. Angela and Deirdre got there after two and between the four of us had everything ready before five o’clock. Only a few things were left for finishing just before plating.

I went home and came back at seven. Gary had roasted some nuts flavoured with spices and put them on the bench for guests to snack on. The bowl in the photo was almost filled to the top a few minutes before I took the shot.

There was a wide range of chilled beer and wine available, plus wonderful mojitos prepared by Andrey (aka Mojito Man).

At 8:15 the house was half full so I turned on the oven to warm up the chorizo appetizers. I also warmed up the mushrooms and added the Parmesan. We started plating the first lot around 8:30.

Caprese, mushroom/Parmesan/rosemary/pine nut bruschetta, chorizo/haloumi/spiced pear, smoked salmon roulade.

The food disappeared faster than I thought and we soon started plating the second round. The only last minute prep that this plate required was searing the salmon, which I did while the girls plated the rest.

Asparagus frittata with crispy prosciutto, seared salmon with nuta (miso sauce) and sesame seeds, beef pesto salad, spicy chickpea bruschetta.

More people kept coming and we had to put together some plates with leftover bits from both lots. Luckily, the host had bought enough food for feeding a small town, so we just left everything on the bench for people to help themselves.

Wholemeal and seeds sourdough, white sourdough.

Seared eye fillet, grain mustard and Dijon mustard.

Chorizo.

Brie, marinated olives, Stilton, smoked salmon.

There was another blue cheese chunk (same size as the one in the photo) and the other 3/4 of the Brie round in the fridge, plus another loaf of white sourdough and heaps of olives. I wonder if there’s anything left.

But it was not all about the food. There was live music too! Our friend Patricia played with her reggae band, and although it’s not my type of music, I could tell people were having lots of fun.

Because it was an important landmark in our friends’ lives (round number birthdays), the cake had to be impressive. Jane’s mum took care of it and brought a massive profiterole tower cake from Paris Patisserie in Bondi.

Review: Zino

Yesterday my sister and I travelled to the “Outer” West (if the term exists) for her friend Alinda’s birthday. They both were in the same class in school, we lived in the same neighbourhood in our childhood and Alinda’s mum used to drive us to school. Now, more than 20 years later, we find ourselves still getting together for special occasions in the other side of the world.

Gladys and I caught the train to Liverpool Station. Alinda’s friend Anita picked us up and drove us to the restaurant in West Hoxton. We got lost in our way and arrived when everybody else was there, but they were cool about it.

Salvatore, Alinda’s husband, loves this restaurant. It’s called Zino and the chef/owner is Sicilian, almost from the same town where Salvatore is from. The place is located in the West Hoxton Shopping Centre, which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

The chef’s suggestions board gives a hint that the house’s speciality is grilled seafood. Lobster, fish and prawns dishes are more than 50% of the specials.

After catching up with our friends and sipping some excellent chilled white wine, the first bite arrived. It was a bruschetta on pizza base with fresh tomato, shallots, garlic, oregano, basil and olive oil. The classic topping is a winner every time but I prefer bruschetta on bread.

Then things got serious. The first mixed platters arrived, with grilled asparagus wrapped with prosciutto, grilled mushrooms and prawns, calamari fritti (battered and deep fried calamari rings), tartar sauce, roast eggplants, all on a bed of rocket and surrounded by lemon wedges. Everything was perfectly cooked and super tasty and disappeared in a matter of seconds.

The next platters to arrive had grilled seafood on them: giant king prawns, baby octopus and lobster. Once again, all seasoned and cooked to perfection.

Some of us thought dinner was coming to its end but there was more. The stars of the night arrived piled on big platters and surrounded by a thick spicy red sauce. We’re talking about mud crabs. Oh, yeah. They hid heaps of delicious juicy white flesh beneath their hard suits, which we cracked open with the appropriate tools. The mess of eating them was totally worth it.

Salvatore’s son Marcello asked dad if we could get some bread, which was perfect for soaking up the sauce.

After everybody was officially done with the crab cracking and sucking (there were enough leftovers for a doggy bag) we sang happy birthday to Alinda and Marcello (whose birthday is on Saturday).

Following the Italian tradition, some people had espresso and/or digestive liquors (limoncello, mandarin liquor, Frangelico) after the meal.

It was a great evening with lovely food and good company. I just wish I didn’t have to work today.

Zino
Shop 1 West Hoxton Shopping Centre
Corner of 15th Av & Edmonton Rd
West Hoxton NSW 2171
(02) 9606 9000
www.zinorestaurant.com

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Review: Sabbaba

Last Sunday night was takeaway night at the Buddhist centre. Again. We weren’t sure about what to get, we only knew it couldn’t be Thai again. The most popular option was Indian but in an attempt to save Alvaro from having to face his aversion to it, I suggested getting Turkish or Lebanese food with the excuse that it would be something new for the crowd (we gravitate between Thai, pizza or Indian).

My first thought was to go to The Sultan’s Table but then I remembered Sabbaba. Andrey and I walked there and asked the girl behind the counter what would she recommend for feeding 13 people. She suggested getting several plates with different fillings. Plates come with village salad, tabbouleh, babbaganoush, salsa, pickles, tahini, hummus, chickpeas, shredded red cabbage, and freshly baked pita. Falafel plates cost $15.90 and the meat/fish ones $16.90. We reckoned 8 would be enough, so I chose: falafel (x2), chicken shish, chicken shawarma, lamb shish, lamb kofta, beef shish and grilled fish.

If you’re after a combo, apart from the plates there’s the choice of pita pockets and bowls.

Other savoury options include bagels, sandwiches, foldovers, and borekas (pastries).

There’s also the signature falafel pocket, which I’m curious about and will have to come back for.

Salads and veggies are fresh and there’s a healthy variety.

Sabbaba is not only a cool casual place to eat in, but they also have great beers available (hello, Little Creatures).

And there are sweets. Tons of them. As in a diabetic’s nightmare.

We got back to the centre and put the plates on the kitchen bench. People were hungrier than what I thought (I had a hard time taking photos of whole plates) and the meat servings on each plate were quite small. The flavours were very good, though.

After dinner we had cakes for Gary’s birthday. His girlfriend Jane, who is a great baker, made a carrot cake and a banana-chocolate swirl cake. And we, pigs, ate them with vanilla ice cream.

Sabbaba
148 King Street
Newtown NSW 2042

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Review: Thai La Ong

Why would anyone walk 10 minutes to get Thai food for 20 people on a street where there’s at least one Thai restaurant per minute? Three words: bueno, bonito y barato (good, pretty and cheap). Well, maybe Thai La Ong is not a pretty restaurant but its food is indeed good and cheap. I’ve probably eaten there more times than in any other restaurant in Sydney and would recommend it to anyone.

Lunch specials are just $6 and there’s a wide variety of choices. This time we got takeaway for dinner, which was a bit more expensive but not that much. We ate as usual (as if the world would end tomorrow) and still had leftovers. The dish selection included massaman curry, green curry, pad Thai, pad see ew, chicken satay, and chicken cashew nut, plus steamed rice and crunchy prawn crackers as sides.

There were dishes that I didn’t get to try (a curry with prawns, for example) because I was too stuffed when I realised they were there.

Thai La Ong has two shops on the same block. Shop # 2 is a few meters closer to where we usually come from so that’s the one we always go to, but I’ve heard from loyal customers that there’s no difference in quality.

Thai La Ong
89 King Street
Newtown NSW 2042
(02) 9550 5866

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The Twinkie Diet

The new diet everybody is talking about is the Twinkie Diet. Forget about Atkins, The Zone, ketogenic diets, Paleo diets and the like. This one seems to really work… Not! For those of you unfamiliar with this “diet”, it was really an experiment that a Professor of Nutrition in the US carried on for two months to prove the point that if you reduce the energy that goes in your body (calories from food) it won’t matter what you eat because you’ll burn those calories anyway.

Energy in – energy out = balance (weight gain, weight loss or no difference)

The guy didn’t survive on Twinkies alone, a sample menu for one day included also other junk snacks (and junk food disguised as health food, such as Kellogg’s stuff), coffee, baby carrots, multivitamins, protein shakes, etc. But the fact that people named it “the Twinkie Diet” gives you an idea of the popularity of those “cakes” in the States, which are also mentioned by Michael Pollan several times in his books as an example of the triumph of food science in transforming cheap ingredients into nutritionally void and highly addictive foodlike products.

By the way, I haven’t seen Twinkies in Australia but there was (or is) a similar product in Perú called “Gansito” (little goose). I loved them when I was a kid but now that I remember the taste (yes, I can still remember tastes from my childhood) it was completely chemical and extremely sweet.

Back to the experiment, this Professor’s weight and body mass index dropped, his LDL (bad cholesterol) and tryclycerides levels decreased and his HDL (good cholesterol) increased. He said he was feeling and sleeping better than before the experiment. This whole thing reminds me of the guy who lost heaps of weight by eating Subway sandwiches only (plus a daily walking routine). Among the lots of diets I tried when I was a teenager, the worst was the Fats Diet. I could eat any dairy food, meat and smallgood I wanted, but no starchy carbs or sugar (including that from fruit). I lost weight but my liver got sick. Fortunately, switching back to my usual eating habits (which were not very healthy at the time) solved the problem.

So, really, you do have to analyse the results in context. It’d be wonderful to say that eating junk food makes you thinner and healthier. But the truth is that health (including a good body composition) is dependant on so many things (lifestyle, for example) and the consequences of what you put in your body now may not manifest until when it’s too late. Stay away from processed stuff, get your body moving and enjoy a long, healthy life.

Review: Cafe Sofia (2)

Saturday afternoon, Erskineville Road. I had done hill sprints early in the morning, been grocery-shopping at the busy Flemington Markets after travelling more than one hour by train and bus thanks to track works, and gone to two house inspections with Bonnie, Andrey and Max (we only checked out one of the houses because the agent for the second one didn’t have the correct key). I was hot, tired and hungry. We needed to have lunch and were torn between Erko’s options; the boys wanted pub food (yes, they were after the beers), we wanted cafe food. We won (which was fair considering that we were the ones inspecting properties) and chose Cafe Sofia, a trusted spot for me after a great breakfast I had there months ago.

The boys were disappointed with our choice. When prompted by the owner to check out the specials on the blackboard Bonnie told Andrey: “look, there’s sirloin steak!”, and he replied with a sad tone in his voice “what’s the point of having steak without beer”. They decided to have breakfast meals instead, eggs Benedict for both, with ham for Andrey and with smoked salmon for Max. Both came with a small serving of salad on the side (mixed leaves, sliced cucumber, red onion and dressing).

Eggs Benedict with ham ($13.50)

Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon ($13.50)

Andrey said he preferred the eggs Benedict at Vargabar.

Bonnie ordered bacon and eggs, which came with two slightly burnt slices of toasted bread, butter, sautéed mushrooms and roasted tomatoes.

Bacon and eggs ($10.50)

I had the biggest and less breakfasty meal: a marinated veg, tapenade and cheese Turkish melt from the specials and a garden salad. It arrived when everybody else was more than halfway done but my hunger made me finish not long after them. The veggies in the sandwich were roasted capsicum, eggplant and tomatoes (which I love but shouldn’t eat because they aggravate joint inflammation and gastritis). As expected, the flavours matched well with the tapenade. There was a small serving of salad on my dish, too. The big salad had the same ingredients plus irregular slices of tomato (as if they were cut by a kid or a person who didn’t care about food presentation) and roasted capsicum. I liked my lunch but didn’t find it as good as the breakfast I had in my first visit to the cafe.

Marinated veg, tapenade and cheese Turkish melt ($6)

Garden salad ($7)

Bonnie decided she needed something sweet to counteract the extreme saltiness in her dish. She went to the counter to get a coffee and came back with two slices of mulberry and blueberry “flan” (they called it that way but it was actually a clafoutis) to share, which we had spotted when ordering lunch. It covered the sweetness requirement but the dough was too dry and average tasting.

Mulberry and blueberry flan ($3.50)

When a waitress arrived with the iced coffee with soy milk Bonnie had ordered, she realised that it was not actually what she wanted (basically a soy latte with ice). The waitress offer to return the coffee and get the right one but Max saved her the hassle and took it, while Bonnie went back to the counter to place another order.

Iced coffee with soy milk ($5.50)

Iced coffee with soy milk and no ice cream

We asked the boys to leave us alone to discuss about the house we had inspected and I felt like I “needed” some coffee. With ice cream. And chocolate. I had just had a completely unacceptable meal (bread, nightshades and dessert) and rounded it off with caffeine, sugar and ice cream. Well, at least I know where my fat and aches come from.

Iced coffee ($5.50)

Cafe Sofia
7 Swanson St
Erskineville NSW 2043
(02) 9519 1565

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Strategies for surviving the holiday season with minimal damage

Image: Filomena Scalise / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

With the holiday season almost here it makes sense for us mesomorphs and endomorphs to start thinking about how to get to the 2nd of January with minimal damage. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, you should have paid attention to your science teacher in school. I mean, the ectomorph/mesomorph/endomorph classification has been around for decades (in fact, it’s older than me). But still, if you know but have forgotten, simply put: ectomorphs are people who have a hard time gaining weight, endomorphs are people who gain weight pretty much just by breathing and mesomorphs are people in between. That means that for mesos and endos, holiday season is a nightmare because it’s very likely that we fall off track and gain some weight and/or body fat.

I’m not a nutritionist (although I hope to become one in a hopefully near future) but I did study nutrition at cooking school and spend a lot of time reading about the topic. There is great advice out there but you gotta take it with a grain of salt. Nowadays almost every health/nutrition/fitness claim is backed up by scientific research, which can be flawed. Research is often sponsored by companies that want scientists making positive claims about the products they sell. Even if a study is completely independent, science often looks at isolated components of a whole and that doesn’t compare to our “real” lives. So what often guides me towards a worthwhile piece of advice is common sense. I ask myself it the person giving the advice is a good example of whatever they’re talking about. You wouldn’t buy facial products from a person with pimples, would you? I also check out references from that person: do they have support from known and respectable people or organisations? Finally, if practical, I test on me. I think we’re all grown ups and we can figure out what works for us and what doesn’t, because even if somebody claims that cause X will lead you to result Y, we’re all different and we might get different results.

It’s pretty clear by now that this post is not like my usual ones. It’s more like a small contribution to people like me who don’t want a negative effect on their bodies by the end of the year. And it’s also for me. It’s a fact that you learn more by teaching than by receiving a lesson. So this is my way of pushing the theory a bit more deeply into my brain to make it work in auto-pilot. I’ve compiled these tips over the years from a number of sources (John Berardi and the Precision Nutrition team, Alwyn Cosgrove, Craig Ballantyne, Marion Nestle, Michael Pollan, among others). And again, even when they work for me they may not work for you, but you can give them a shot.

1. Avoid
   You will read everywhere that the key to keep your body composition under control is to avoid empty calories (beverages other than water and unsweetened tea/infusions, sweets, etc) and, in general, the overload of calories that happen this time of the year. I go a step further and say: avoid the circumstances that put those foods in front of your face. If you’re like me, it’s hard for you to refrain yourself from eating/drinking something if it’s right in front of you. It talks to you and calls your name, and that is hard to resist. One of the greatest pieces of advice on this topic is to toss all processed foods from your home. If they’re not available, you won’t eat them, and if you’re lazy enough you won’t bother in going to get some and will stick to healthy foods. So the trick is to avoid situations in which you know there will be snacks and drinks, in my case that would be Thursday nights after meditating with friends and Friday afternoons in the office.

   

   Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

2. Prioritise and choose
   Of course we can’t spend our lives avoiding social situations. I mean, we could but that probably wouldn’t be so psychologically healthy. What to do, then? Prioritise the events you have during the week and choose just one or two. For example, I’m going tomorrow to Metallica’s show (I’m not a huge fan anymore but they didn’t go to South America when I was younger so I’ve never heard them live). I know I’m gonna have to eat something there and chances are that it’s not gonna be healthy. Then my sister and I will have lunch with Latin American friends on Sunday. That means lots of food (at least, homemade). So this week I decided to skip drinks after meditation on Thursday, and drinks after work and dinner out on Friday. I think the key here is planning, and that’s easy if you’re fully aware of your schedule.

3. Stop making excuses
   We humans are big on excuses. We have one or many perfect excuses for everything that means a little extra work. I think it’s fine to excuse ourselves from eating a bit of unhealthy food in events we can’t avoid, but come on. The fact that the end of the year is around the corner is not an excuse to skip workouts. Or to stuff yourself with whatever sweets you can get your hands on. Anything is a good enough excuse for being unhealthy.

4. Think before you act
   This advice applies to many things in life, but now I’ll focus on food. Before eating or drinking something take a few moments to think about it. Most of the times we eat without even being hungry. If you’re not hungry enough for eating an apple or a cup of steamed broccoli, then maybe you aren’t hungry after all, right? If you think that approach is a bit too extreme try this other one: is what you’re planning to eat something you absolutely love? If not, better save those calories for later. Also think of everything you do and eat in terms of an aid or an obstacle in relation to your goals.

   

   Image: Daniel St.Pierre / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

5. Know what you want
   Speaking of goals, I think most people don’t know what theirs are. They clearly have goals, because there’s an intention in everything they do, but they just don’t know them. For some people is good to have proper goals (that is, clear, achievable and measurable), for some is better to focus on the process instead of the goal (for example: to do some kind of exercise every day and eat healthily 90% of the time, instead of to drop 10 pounds by next Friday). Whichever approach you choose, make sure it’s clear for you and remind yourself from time to time.

   

   Image: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

6. Get enough water and sleep
   Water and sleep are two of the best weapons you can use against many things: hangover, headache, stress, the flu, lack of energy, etc. Plus, you’ll save money (think of the hundreds of dollars people spend on drugs, supplements, energy drinks, coffee, etc) and will help you with point # 1 (by drinking enough water you’ll avoid ingesting empty calories and by focusing on getting enough sleep you’ll avoid staying late for drinks and nibbles).

   

   Image: Andy Newson / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

7. Choose and use the carrot or the stick
   Am I the only one who gets a sexual connotation from that phrase? Maybe it’s just a language thing. Anyways, some people respond better to the carrot (motivation) and others better to the stick (punishment). Know what you like and use it. Here’s an example: you’re in Norton St Grocer surrounded by panettones of all sorts (gianduia included). If you’re a carrot kind of person, remember a nice comment you have received about your physique and refrain from buying one. If you’re a stick kind of person, remember that sad feeling you get every time you look at your bloated belly after eating too many carbs.

8. Cook more
   Even if that means eating out more and having less material for your foodie blog. If you cook more (aim to weekdays, at least) chances are you’ll eat healthier food unless you are like that lady in Jamie Oliver’s show that deep-fried everything. I mentioned weekdays because I know for most of us is harder to cook on weekends when you get to hang out with friends and family, and relax a bit with a “cheat meal”. As Michael Pollan puts it in his Food Rules: seconds and sweets only on days that start with “s”. Also, when invited to an event, offer to bring something, cook it yourself and try to make it healthy.

I’d like to close this post with a great quote I read in Alwyn Cosgrove’s blog long time ago: “It’s not what you eat from Christmas to New Years, it’s what you eat between New Year’s and Christmas that counts.”

Review: Sideways Deli Cafe & Fernandes Patisserie

My sister is back from Perú. A month passed by at turbo speed, one day we were dropping her at the airport and the next we were picking her up.

It was Sunday morning. A taxi took us to Dulwich Hill, where she lives. We stayed for a while in her apartment, while she told us about the family and all the delicious food she had eaten. Interestingly, she didn’t gain as much weight as I did in my last visit (yes, I’m jealous). She also gave us some gifts from our families (heaps of lúcuma powder, yay!). Then she had a shower and we decided to go out for brunch.

We were torn between two cafes: Sideways Deli and Last Drop. The sky didn’t look promising so we chose the closest one: Last Drop. On our way we passed by Fernandes Patisserie, I couldn’t help it and suggested getting a quick bite to sample their stuff. Gladys received a phone call so she stayed outside the shop, Alvaro and I got in and, as it often happens, were attracted by the same sweets. There were no labels in the display so we just pointed out what we wanted: one Portuguese custard tart or pastéi de nata and one (I think) baked custard. They were simply divine (although not “lite” at all).

Unfortunately, Last Drop was closed (we thought it was maybe because of the road works that were going on at the time). In part I’m glad it was, because Sideways Deli ended up being a terrific choice. Despite its location, away from the suburb’s commercial area, the cafe was packed.

After a short wait we were given the option of a table inside or one outside that had just became vacant. Because it was not raining, we chose to eat outside. After checking the menu and the specials blackboard through the window we made up our minds.

No surprises with Alvaro’s choice: he wanted one of the featured risotti, the one with goat’s curd, asparagus and mushrooms. The waitress who took our order wasn’t sure if they had goat’s curd because they had run out the day before and were offering feta cheese instead. She checked with the kitchen and yes, they had goat’s curd. Excellent customer service detail, most places just exchange the ingredients with no notice. Alvaro also ordered a beetroot, apple, carrot & ginger juice (you can mix and match whichever ingredients you want). Gladys ordered the goat cheese and pumpkin tart and I the Gypsy Ham panino and a bowl of salad.

The juice was very nice, it had the right balance of ingredients. You’d think that is hard to screw up a veggie and fruit juice but believe me, I’ve tasted some nasty ones.

Beetroot, apple, carrot & ginger juice

The risotto was just ok. It needed more salt and the rice lacked creaminess. But once salted it was nice.

Goat’s curd, asparagus & mushroom risotto ($17.90, if memory serves)

Gladys’ tart was a different story. It was simply perfect. Plus, the portion was generous and the fresh mixed salad was not made of leftover salad leaves (yeah, I still remember the vegetarian tart I had at Townhouse).

Goat cheese and pumpkin tart with mixed salad ($15.50)

My panino was fantastic, too. The flavours matched perfectly, the bread was warm and crunchy. The mixed salad (leaves, tomatoes, feta cheese, roasted capsicum and the delicious honey mustard dressing) was tasty and big enough to share with Alvaro.

Gypsy Ham panino – bocconcini, semi-dried tomatoes, baby spinach and seeded mustard ($9.30)

Mixed salad – bowl of mixed salad with homemade honey mustard dressing ($8.90)

We were absolutely stuffed but still needed some caffeine (well, Gladys needed it more than I after a 24-hour trip). She had a regular latte (she usually orders a weak one to avoid getting migraines but she wanted to stay alert to switch back to Sydney time) and I my usual soy cappuccino (when will cafes offer non-lactose milk?). Both coffees came with a tiny bear biscuit and were really good, with a great taste and well textured milk.

Latte

Soy cappuccino

It seems I have found two excuses to visit my sister more frequently.

Fernandes Patisserie
516 Marrickville Rd
Dulwich Hill NSW 2203
(02) 9568 2114

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Sideways Deli Cafe
37 Constitution Rd
Dulwich Hill NSW 2203
(02) 9560 1425
www.sidewaysdelicafe.com.au

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Review: Dean’s Diner

s and brought it to the Sando. The serving was big, the chips were good and cheap ($3.50). We were convinced.

Another day my sister and I found ourselves hungry in Erskineville after a party and all kitchens were closed. Except for Dean’s, of course. We bought burgers and took them to the Sando to enjoy with schooners of Whale Ale. What a treat.

As I said before, the shop looks dodgy, perhaps because everything in it must have been there for several decades (except the food, I hope!). But I’m certainly not judging it fairly. Takeaway sandwich shops in my hometown are hundreds of times dodgier and there was a time when me and the band used to eat in one of those establishments once a week, usually between the sound check and the gig.

Back to Dean’s, the sign outside tells us a bit about its age: it says “milk bar”, a term not used that much these days.

The place looks pretty vintage (I’d say from the 60s) and probably the most modern piece of decoration is the AC/DC clock by the cold drinks displays.

The menu on the wall offers a wide range of burgers from which I have only tried the plain and the Greek ones. The options include:

• McDean Burger (meat, onion & sauce) $5.50
• Plain Burger (meat, lettuce, tomato, onion & sauce) $6.00
• Aloha Burger (meat, pineapple, lettuce, tomato, onion & sauce) $6.50
• Burger with the Lot (meat, bacon, egg, cheese, pineapple, beetroot, lettuce, tomato, onion & sauce) $9.00
• Cheese Burger (meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion & sauce) $6.50
• Deans Double Cheese Burger (meat, lettuce, tomato, onion, two slices of cheese & sauce) $7.00
• Chicken Burger (grilled chicken breast, lettuce, tomato, onion & sauce) $7.50
• Egg Burger (meat, egg, lettuce, tomato, onion & sauce) $6.50
• Bacon Burger (meat, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion & sauce) $7.00
• King St Burger (meat, bacon, egg, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion & sauce) $8.00
• The Greek Burger (meat, haloumi, lettuce, tomato, onion, tzaziki [sic]) $8.50
• Chicken Schnitzel Burger/Wrap (lettuce & mayo) $7.50

If you don’t feel like having a burger, you can get a wrap, roll, kebab or sandwich:

• BLT Wrap (bacon, lettuce, tomato & mayo) $7.00
• Souvlaki / Kebab, lamb or chicken (lettuce, tomato, onion, hummus or tzaziki [sic]) single $7.50 double $9.00
• Bacon & Egg Roll $6.50 With a regular coffee $9.00
• Steak Sandwich (lettuce, tomato, onion & sauce) $7.50

The vegos have a few options too:

• Haloumi Wrap (haloumi, lettuce, tomato, onion, hummus or tzaziki [sic]) $7.50
• Falafel Wrap (falafel, lettuce, tomato, onion, hummus or tzaziki [sic]) $7.50
• Grilled Vegie [sic] Wrap (grilled vegies [sic], lettuce, tomato, onion, hummus or tzaziki [sic]) $6.50

With your burger you can get extra cheese for 50c, small chips for $3.50 and a can of soft drink or water for $2. You can also get an additional beef patty for $3. There are some items in the menu for which you can order extra haloumi for $1.50.

Two weeks ago Alvaro and I had a Greek burger with chips there. It was tasty and big enough for feeding both of us (we had shared a salad some hours ago).

There is a hot display with fried stuff that honestly I don’t plan on trying: spring rolls, hash browns, potato scallops, devil chicken wings, cheese & spinach things (?!), chicken & corn rolls, cornjacks, chicken schnitzel, veggie cakes.

There are salads sitting in a cold display along some rice pudding. I haven’t tried the salads and I have my reservations about eating food from a display without knowing when it has been prepared. The prices are good, though: $4 for the small, $5.50 for the medium and $7 for the large.

It’s not all about the burgers and the chips (and wedges), there are some seafood items on the menu, but I haven’t seen anybody ordering them and I don’t want to be the first in testing the freshness of the products.

Dean’s Diner
385 King Street
Newtown NSW 2042

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Norton Street Italian Festa

Sunday lunchtime, beautiful day, blue sky, sun, warm weather, Norton Street Italian Festa in Leichhardt. What else could you ask for? Well, maybe a public holiday on Monday, but the end of the Crave festival was good enough.

I met Bonnie and Rubi (her charming dog) on the corner of Marion and Norton Streets, on one end of the festival, right in front of the stage. A lady was singing a song in Italian, which I always thought was originally written in Spanish. There were lots of people (mainly families) and lots of food. As usual, we walked all the way to the end to see what was on offer.

There were stalls selling “convenient” festival food: sausage rolls, piadinas, etc. Some of them not quite Italian (bacon and egg rolls, for example), but others very traditional, like the porchetta (suckling pig) panini.

Of course there was pasta, gnocchi, lasagna, pizza, calzone, risotti… All freshly made and very tempting.

On the sweet side, there were several stalls selling nougat and gingerbread. I had no idea they were traditional sweets in Italy.

And yes! There were cannoli, baba, zuccherati, etc. The kind of sweets that make me want to say “one of each, please”, even if my heart goes crazy after having just one of them.

And it wouldn’t have been a proper Italian festival without Nutella. There were Italian doughnuts with Nutella fondue, Nutella ravioli with Bayley’s foam, Nutella pizzas with roasted hazelnuts and other chocolate spreads (other brand, various ingredients, equally addictive).

I don’t know if the folks in Common Ground Bakery are Italian or not, but their stuff looked really good.

The usual unrelated stalls popped in the festa too: seafood paella and Dutch pancakes. I was surprised not to see a Turkish gozleme stall (or maybe I missed it?).

More unrelated but not that bad: candied nuts and fairy floss. I guess you have to keep the kids interested, huh? As a side note, the candied nuts girls had placed “nutty facts” on their stall that had as main character Mr Peanut, who, as we all know, is not a nut, but a legume.

It was super hot, so most of the “fresh stuff” stalls had big queues: sno-cones, lemonade (2 stalls), orange juice, and ice cream. There was a stall selling watermelon besides the cannoli, which I suspect were the main business of the stallholders. Very clever, I must say.

There was coffee too, but no wine or beer.

Bonnie was hungover from her birthday party and wasn’t sure about what to eat until she saw the perfect meal: chips on a stick. Completely non-Italian, but exactly what she needed.

Her second course were two servings of chicken skewers from Vanilla Room ($2 each), which she shared with Rubi.

I wanted pasta but also dessert. It would have been too many carbs if I had the two, so I had an octopus salad and two briscioli (risotto balls) from Fernando’s Pasta. The salad was ok, the baby octopus were a bit oily but tender and I found the sweet chilli sauce was a very strange choice for dressing that salad. The briscioli were nice, but I prefer arancini.

Octopus salad with sweet chilli sauce from Fernando’s Pasta ($9)

Briscioli (risotto balls) from Fernando’s Pasta ($2 each)

It was not all about the food. There were stalls selling clothes, pillows, toys, etc. There was a playground for the kids and traditional Italian music. Very charming.

I bought a couple of sweets for bringing back home: a Portuguese tart and my beloved ricotta cannolo.

Portuguese tart & ricotta cannolo from Mezzapica ($3 each)

Bonnie suggested having a beer and I agreed. The weather was just perfect for that. But we didn’t find the right place (outdoor sitting, pet friendly), so we settled with gelato. I had a small cup with fruits of the forest and pistachio, she had a cone with panna cotta and hazelnut. Italian gelato in Leichhardt on a sunny Sunday afternoon was indeed very close to perfection.

Fruits of the forest & pistachio gelato ($5)