Sydney really does host some amazing events.  I feel blessed to live in such an artistic and culturally diverse city.  Opera may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but let me take your mind away from whatever preconceptions you may have.  All operas are not created equally.

The opera of choice for this year’s Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour is Carmen.

Ariya Sawadivong (Fraquita), Milijana Nikolic (Carmen) & Tania Ferris (Mercedes) in HOSH – Carmen 2013. Photo by James Morgan

Carmen is a tragic love story set in Seville.  A naive solider, Don Jose falls in love with the fiery and beautiful gypsy Carmen.  Don Jose abandons his childhood sweetheart for the lusty Carmen who them dumps like a lead balloon for a glamorous toreador.  Love, lust, betrayal and death, accompany this with vibrant colours, catchy music, amazing voices, entertaining choreography and fireworks, who could ask for more?  Oh wait, there is more.  You get to watch this all from the historic Fleet Steps in the Sydney Royal Botanic Garden overlooking the Sydney Harbour Bridge and iconic Opera House. Read more →

Share

It was only after returning back to Sydney that I discovered that a little restaurant Dad and I stumbled across in Nihonbashi, was in fact, ‘world famous’ for their tempura.  The main flagship restaurant is, as the name states, located in Ginza.  We had come across their Nihonbashi branch which is one of eight dotted around Tokyo.

It was the last day of a very quick business trip to Tokyo, and the morning has been shopping for my usual stash of supplies to take home with me.  Dad had joined me on the shopping spree and has since decided against doing that in future.  Arms laden with bags we call in to a building of restaurants near where we were staying in Nihonbashi.  On level 3 we eventually find somewhere to eat we both agreed on. Read more →

Share

Since my parents, waved farewell to Sydney and moved to live on the Gold Coast I spend quite a bit of time up here each year.  It also happens that two girlfriends I have known since school have made the GC their home as well.  Besides having quality time with my parents on each visit, it has become mandatory that I have a girly dinner out with my friends Ms S and Ms K.

We sit there for hours chatting, it starts as soon as we lay eyes on each other and I pity the poor wait staff that usually have to come back two or three times to take our orders.  We are generally the last ones to leave the restaurant.  Then the ritual of hugs, kisses and goodbyes usually takes place at least two times in the car park.  Our dinners are the perfect example of three good friends, defragging about life and enjoying good food and each others’ company, a perfect combination.

I am back up on the Gold Coast and I realise that I have yet to write about any of the restaurants that we have visited together.  I actually feel quite bad about this, as they both know about Belly Rumbles.  A restaurant is picked that they think I will like (we generally try something new).  Ms S and Ms K sit patiently while I take photos, they know about ‘the rules’ when dining out with a food blogger, God bless them.  They are forgiving when I am rude and quickly make notes on my iPhone.  These two woman are truly wonderful about my restaurant antics, but yet, I am to write about one of our dinners. Read more →

Share

‘Let’s grab a cab’, a unison cry from our group of five, simple words and a simple action.  Not as easy as we initially thought, Adelaide doesn’t seem to be the cab numbers there are in Sydney.  With hands flapping, the odd taxi we saw, were either not going to stop, heading the wrong direction or had passengers already.

To make matters worse, there were five of us, two cabs were needed.  Eventually the whole of party was in one cab or the other speeding in the direction of Pearl’s Diner.

Pearl’s Diner is a small fixed restaurant of Burger Theory (food truck) and Le Waffle (wholesale waffle business), and is attached to their commercial kitchen.  How did they come up with the name Pearl’s Diner?  Pearl is the pet name of the Burger Theory truck.

Pearl’s is located in Felixstow, which seems to be in the heart of Adelaide suburbia.  We were wondering if we had the right address as we are heading down a house lined street that could of been right at home in Sydney’s Baulkham Hills or even Padstow.  Just when we thought we were completely off course a group shops set on a corner appear.  Our anxiety was put to rest when we saw her, yes, there she was, Pearl’s Diner. We made it, the other taxi did, as well as the sixth member of our dining party. Read more →

Share

You may have seen Instagram photos and tweets from me over the last weekend tagged #edb2012.  I tried not to kill your twitter streams with being over enthusiastic, if I did, I really am sorry.  For my followers that aren’t food bloggers, and there are a few of you, Eat Drink Blog 2012 is the annual Australian Food Bloggers Conference.

I was one of the lucky 80 food bloggers that descended on Adelaide like locust ready to devour wonderful produce, drink amazing wines, connect with fellow bloggers, share ideas and learn.

What a full packed weekend!  Discovering some Adelaide eating gems with a few fellow food bloggers.  Exploring Adelaide’s Central Market.  There was a trip to the Barossa.  An incredible delegates dinner at the Adelaide Hilton.  Finished off with a full day of sharing and learning with other like minded people. Read more →

Share

A late start to meetings had us meeting up with the Fuminator for an early lunch in Ginza before our working day started.  Actually the Fuminator’s day had well and truly started earlier that day back in the office.  Moi, on the other hand, spent the morning traipsing around Ginza shopping.  I looked at it as my duty to inject monies in to the Japanese post tsunami economy. Read more →

Share

Have you ever eaten Kamameshi?  I haven’t seen it on a Japanese menu or seen a restaurant that specialises in this dish in Sydney.

Kamameshi literally translates as ‘kettle rice’, a very popular Japanese dish which is prepared and served in a small pot.  The closest dish it reminds me of is Korean bibimbap.

It is a rice dish topped with selected ingredients that are cooked and served in a pot called ‘kama’ and in this circumstance ‘meshi’ means rice.  The ingredients are cooked in stock, in the pot, which creates taste congruity between rice and toppings.  It is my understanding that this dish originated during the big Kanto earthquake in 1923.  Apparently a restaurant owner cooked up a dish of mixed rice for those affected by the earthquake. Read more →

Share

MOS Burger (Mountain Ocean Sun) is a Japanese fast food franchise.  In Japan it ranks second to McDonalds.  The first store to open in Japan was back in 1972.  The company has a focus on fresh and healthy food served with a smile.

You may find it a little strange, being the foodie that I am, but on past visits to Japan I have never visited MOS Burger.  Let’s face facts, I generally only have a few days and in that short space I have a hard enough time getting my fix of yakitori, soba, katsu and sashimi, just to name a few.  I have nothing against burgers, but when in Japan there is just so much more to eat. Read more →

Share

It’s raining, humidity is high and traffic is at its after work peak hour best in Tokyo.  We are in a taxi racing to get to the Four Seasons Hotel at Chinzan-so before dark.  The big boss, Boots, has rung the Fuminator to see where we are.  Boots has planned a very special evening for us which involves getting there before dark.

We are greeted by our Japanese colleagues as soon as we get out of the taxi.  Handshakes, hugs and hellos are exchanged before our group is whisked off to the Chinzan-so gardens by two yakata clad ladies.  Boots was anxious about us arriving before dark, the plan is for a pleasant stroll through the gardens to our dinner destination, located at the bottom of the gardens.

One of the truly beautiful pleasures of Tokyo are the gardens.  For those that only spend a couple of days here you are faced with building upon building, a concrete desert.  There are the well known gardens on every tourists’ agenda, but it is the little known ones that are pure magic.  I find nothing more magical than discovering a small pocket of well manicured and maintained garden amongst the concrete hustle and bustle that is Tokyo. Read more →

Share