Experiences | For Food's Sake – A Sydney Food Blog | Page 3

My second day (or should I say second morning) in Melbourne town was probably the greatest day of my life, or for any food blogger/photographer for that matter. Anyone that knows me, knows that I’m a sucker for sweets or deserts, so after hearing so much about Doughboys Doughnuts and seeing all their social media I decided to track them down. Located in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD, Doughboys is situated inside of The Mercat Cross Hotel on Queen street, just opposite the famous Queen Victoria Markets. The inside of the Mercat itself is quite retro and grungy so Doughboys definitely fits in with the American style barbecue that is also there as well. Before I got to Doughboys I assumed that it would be quite a large area and would be packed with people but as me and mum waddled up the stairs thinking about these delicious doughnuts we were about to devour we were surprised to see literally no one there except for the lady behind the counter. They didn’t lie when they said …

Did someone say Cheese & Truffle Toasties??? To launch into talking about food without providing context is something I generally don’t do.  However, on this occasion I do so in order to ingrain into the minds of our readers one absolute stand out item on the winter menu at The Oaks Hotel’s Cabin Fever bar..The Toastie.  Now.. on to the context. The Oaks Hotel, a stalwart establishment of Sydney’s Neutral Bay, has recently transformed their front bar to create an inviting ambience resembling an aspen-style ski lodge.  Myself and fellow FFS bloggers, Bianca and Alex, were lucky enough to have been invited to attend the launch party of this unique pop-up bar.  We were suitably impressed by the well thought out details with the use of wooden clad walls, fireplace and various ski equipment carefully placed around the bar to give it a real cabin feel. The Canadian Club was flowing that evening and we sipped on a delightful drink, known as a Ginger Spritz, containing CC, ginger ale and lemon – a refreshing combination that went down a little too easy! Having been tempted by the sound of Celebrity Chef, Danny Russo’s, specially …

As the terms slowly go by, the assignments and briefs get harder and harder, and while I love a good challenge, this assignment was right up my alley and got me very excited!! For those that don’t know, I’m currently in my second year, studying a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communications majoring in photography at Raffles College of Design and Commerce. The assessment brief for the first assignment of this term was to create 1 finished image as either; – a front cover of an exotic/creative food magazine, titled “Nosh“. – an enticing and descriptive imagery of fresh produce and ingredients that promote local growers and quality Australian produce as a double page editorial with article. I decided to go for the front cover! So here is how I went about researching, and going about the shoot for those that are interested! For my front cover food shoot for ‘Nosh Magazine’ I decided to go with the idea of getting a cake from Black Star Pastry in Newtown. Originally I was going to get …

We were lucky this past March/April to have three French relatives visit, having family all around the world; we are blessed to have these usually short but sweet visits. Between all the family members we did the usual Sydney touristy things. Blue Mountains, Hunter Valley, the city, Harbour boat tours, walks around Manly and Bondi. As well as some really special experiences – Madama Butterfly on the harbour (in the rain), yum cha (not a regular undertaking for our French cousins) and a fabulous dinner at Via Napoli. All made special by the family attending.     Madre, Vanessa and I were set to take our cousins to the Fish Markets, an icon in the Sydney Fish Mongering industry. They had not experienced anything quite like it, France obviously, is home to delicious artisan cheeses/ breads/ charcuteries/ sweets…the list goes on really. Mum and I were told by our cousin Christine, that the seafood was exceptionally cheaper than in France. Walking through the bustling markets at lunchtime on a Friday, you get swept up in …

Meat Free Week. Whether it was my post USA meat purging but reading a magazine one day I flipped past a one page advertisement for this years ‘Meat Free Week’. Never before had I seriously considered a diet completely devoid of meat, chicken and fish for a determined amount of time. Until now…. Meat Free Week launched officially in 2013 after receiving a $15,000 grant through the 2012 Voiceless grant program. My nominated charity for the week long challenge was ‘Voiceless’ the animal protection institute. Meat Free’s indicated aim is: “Meat Free Week is a national campaign dedicated to raising awareness of how much meat Australians eat and the impact eating too much has on your health, both individually and as a nation. It also intends to directly spotlight the negative effects over consumption of meat has on the environment and the impact it has on the welfare of animals.” Growing up in a traditional Italian household, a week without some sort of animal protein is virtually unheard of. Don’t even get me started on …

Yesterday was a Monday unlike ever before! The reason being my fiancé and I were fortunate to have been able to meet and have lunch with one of our culinary idols..Mr Jamie Oliver!  There were more photos taken of the man himself rather than the food we dined on but none the less I thought this was an experience worth sharing! When we got invited to attend the lunch, my fiancé and I were both very excited being such “Jamie fans”.  As the hour drew closer , I found myself feeling somewhat nervous and increasingly concerned about what questions to ask Jamie.  As many of his fans will know, Jamie draws much of his inspiration for his cooking from Italy, having being mentored by Italian chefs such as Antonio Carluccio and Genaro Contaldo. I thought this would be a great link for me with the Italian background and all and I firmly fixed one question in my head to ask him..” what is your favourite place in Italy?”  Seems like a simple, straightforward question..well not …

  This March, 24th-30th, I am taking part in Meat Free Week, meaning (to state the obvious) for 7 days I will not be eating any meat, chicken, general poultry and fish products. This will be the greatest amount of time I have forgone any meat products and as a cheeseburger loving, meatball eating carnivore I expect it to be quite the challenge. Money raised will be going to Voiceless, the Animal protection institute. A non for profit organisation raising awareness of animals suffering in factory farms across Australia. I’ll be doing a post early next week about my experience. Bianca V.B.A