I had to come up with a little more then Lucky strike cigarettes and alcohol for a Madmen dinner I had been asked to organise for the girls of mylittleparis. I had done a similar style event last year at the Cha cha but this one was a lot more fun as it was a more intimate event which meant I had time to add my own little signature touches.
Tags: 60s, beef wellington, cheesecake, dinner, lucky strike, madmen, mylittleparis.com, theme
‘Finger food’ : deconstructed eclairs – raspberry and vanilla pastry cream with eclair choux pastry fingers which had to be worn in order to be dipped into the cream, created for the vernissage of an exhibition at the Slott gallery in June this year.
Tags: Art, finger food, food design, Paris, Photography, Slott, vernissage
Homemade special brew - Ask first © 2010 R Khooks. Rachel Khoo. All rights reserved.
Once upon a time there were two Brit girls who met in Paris over muffin making at an adorable cookbook store. They soon found out that they had many things in common: a pâtisserie diplome from Le Cordon Bleu, the love for food and lots of fun.
They had many adventures in Paris and beyond. But the day came when Frankie departed to a far away land called Australia. Rachel was very sad that her fun loving foodie partner in crime was leaving but was determined that no matter how many thousands of miles away Frankie was, she would make sure they would continue to have more edible adventures.
So Frankie left for the land of Oz in September. On a cold wet Autumn night in Paris Rachel discovered her golden ticket (in form of a special Malaysian Airline deal) away from the greyness of Paris. Very excited about going to the land of kangaroos and barbecues she sent Frankie an electronic mail and that’s how they both decided to tell an edible immigration tale in Sydney.
Many Australian history and culinary books, skype calls, emails and photos later Rachel arrived in Sydney. And this is the tale they told:
Edible immigration menu
1. Shaken and shipped to shore
Hibiscus and ginger Bundaberg rum cocktail.
2. First encounter with native grub
Goat’s curd and macadamia nut grubs on dehydrated date leaves.
3. A fling with fish before flame
Kingfish tartare served with finger limes.
4. Desperately seeking sea cucumber, serving sotong satay instead
Coconut and lemongrass rice and spicy Asian peanut caramel cake with baby octopus satay and cucumber.
5. Cuppa tea with dundee
Homemade special brew served with marinated crocodile sticks.
6. Bushbride’s ration pudding with Granny Smith’s pickle
Duck pudding with granny smith puree and pickles accompanied with damper bread.
7. Easy as peasy pie
Downunder puff pastry base with slow cooked vegemite lamb, pea purée, mushroom caramel and warrigal greens.
8. Fosters-free lager and lemon sorbet
9. The great dessert debate
Pavlova with fresh cream, strawberry jelly , lemon curd and passionfruit.
10. Freshly spun edible wool
Coffee candy floss.
Each of the dishes were based on facts that they had discovered while doing research. Here are some:
1. Rum was the number one drink with the 1st settlers and convicts. It was even used as a currency.
2. Similar in taste to almonds, the witchetty grub was originally eaten either raw or cooked in hot ashes by aboriginies.
3. Despite being one of the richest fishing grounds in the world, meat was still favoured by the first European settlers due to it’s association with the high life back home.
4. As early as the 16th century indigenous North Western Australians traded sea cucumber with Chinese traders making it Australia’s first export item.
5. The first settlers clung to their British roots becoming the world’s heaviest tea drinkers.
6.1. One of the world’s most successful apple varieties was thanks to Granny Smith who arrived in New South Wales in 1838. She tipped some rotten crab apples into her orchard and from there the variety we know today blossomed.
6.2. Not until the Second World War or perhaps a little earlier was the pie mentioned as a national dish. Vegemite, another national favourite, was first advertised as nourishing for the whole family. Except for one irony, the spread that epitomised `family goodness`was made from brewery waste.
7. In 1864 the cookery book “Australian Aristologist” quotes a medical opinion on the “Danger of the meat pie”. Not leaving a hole in the crust traps the poisonous gases.
8. It was Baron Liebig in 1842 who discovered that Bavarian brewed beers did not turn sour on contact with air like other Australian beers. The German name was “Lager -bier” (the German word lager means to store) hence the name of Australia’s most popular alcoholic drink.
9. The pavlova is said to have been invented in Perth’s Esplanade Hotel in 1935 after the famous Russian ballet dancer. However the New Zealanders claim that a chef in a hotel in Wellington, created the dish when Pavlova visited there in 1926 on her world tour
10. With 1 million sheep recorded in 1830 (jumped from 100,000 in 1820) the wool industry was Australia’s biggest export, worth roughly 2 million dollars.
Special thank you to Howard Trang from eatshowandtell for the photos.
Check out a great write up on SBS.com and here.
Tags: downunder, eatshowandtell.com, Edible Immigration tales, Francesca Unsworth, Howard Trang, pop up dinners, Sydney, trend, underground dining
Breakfast at K.L. airport: Soft boiled eggs, Kaya toast and Tee tarik
Sky chefs loading food onto Malaysian airlines plane
The journey began with a Eurostar train from Paris to London followed by a 12 hour flight from Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur where I had to strip off all my winter layers (tights, jumpers, jacket, scarf, gloves, woolly socks…) as Malaysian heat is like being in an enormous Sauna. Enough time in Kuala Lumpur to enjoy some Won Ton Mee, one of my favourite dishes. Quick breakfast of soft boiled eggs, Kaya (coconut jam) toast and teh tarik before boarding another 8 hour flight to Sydney. Food on the flights consisted of a curry option for dinner, lunch and breakfast. That’s Malaysian airlines for you.
8 hours later touchdown in Sydney where it was pleasantly hot but thankfully without the stickiness. It was straight in a cab to Edible Immigration Tales Headquarters. No time for jetlag as there was plenty to discuss, prepare and organise. My fellow foodie partner in crime, Frankie and I had been working on this project since November when I had booked my flight. Menu ideas, press and marketing campaign, bookings and other bits ‘n bops had been done via emails, skype calls, photos and waving things at our tiny web cams. So it was good to be able to sit down and discuss things face to face
The following 5 days were a mad rush of running around, cooking, shopping, organising, sticking…. basically turning an apartment into a restaurant. I got stuck into writing all the menus, tea labels and edible immigration facts by hand with a pot of ink and quill which took me a good half a day to do. Needless to say by the end of it I had hand cramps and my fingers were stained black from the ink. I did manage to get out and visit Sam the butcher, the local organic shop and the supermarket.
Wrapping up the damper bread - Ask first © 2010 R khooks. Rachel Khoo. All rights reserved.
Last minute testing/cooking would kick off once Frankie had come back from her day job (still don’t know how she managed to do both). We then roped in the whole family with Frankie’s parents picking up various groceries, chairs and running other errands. Frankie’s sister helping out on the night and Frankie’s boyfriend putting up with having a restaurant in his home three nights running. BIG thank you!
On the day of the first event it was an early start as Frankie and I were pretty excited about checking out the Sydney Morning Herald to see what they had written about us. We were relieved to see that it wasn’t an exposé about the “illegal” underground dining scene 
Things started to come together when I saw the table set up. We had collected plenty of jars, tins and bottles for the table setting. Naturally they were all scrubbed meticulously before hand. I nipped to the beach to pick up some sand and shells to make little glass candle lanterns.
Handwritten menu with a list of things to do - Photo: Howard Trang eatshowandtell.com
My attempt of sketching out the dishes - Photo: Howard Trang eatshowandtell.com
A wall with sketches of all dishes/courses, guestlist and rundown for the night were hungup in the kitchen. Followed by more cooking. Cutlery and glasses polished. Nice soap and candles in the bathroom. Quick tidy in the kitchen. Then a last minute shower and some warpaint (make up). A last run through of the menu. The aprons were tied on, candles lit and Australian music mix put on and a BIG deep breath before we opened the door to the first guests…to be continued
Tags: behind the scenes, cultural eating, food design, pop up, sydney happenings, trends, underground dining
There were no sausages on this menu which explored the East/West divide in Germany. Fellow foodie Caroline Hobkinson and I got cooking in her amazing Berlin kitchen. Dishing up two different menus (one East, one West). Each representing their relevant culinary history. Guests on arrival were assigned their sides for the nights. They bartered, they smuggled and some sneekily stole from the opposite side to get a taster of the forbidden food.
Tags: berlin, food design, the wall, underground
