The Way It Should Be
Yesterday nekomancy , harlzen and I went to Mundaring to attend the Mundaring Truffle Festival.
Sweet bejeebus. It was good.
After the slight disappointment the week before that was the Good Food and Wine Show, yesterday turned out to be an orgasmic culinary experience. Despite an early start (including the obligatory morning wake-up call for nekomancy ), we arrived at the Artisan Bakery opposite Little Caesar's just before 9am. This was a bakery that harlzen and I had enjoyed muchly when we were on the way to York earlier this year. In anticipation of many gourmet delights, we settled on just having a pie each. Except, as the Chinese would say, my eyes were bigger than my stomach. nekomancy and I ended up with a country pie each (steak, mushrooms and vegetables) which is much bigger than a normal pie (I swear, it didn't look so big in the display cabinet!) But the size didn't stop us from gobbling it all up, as well as some dessert. :P
We started walking around at 9.30am - this weekend also being the regular monthly Mundaring Markets, so there was plenty to see. Lots of local crafts and knick knacks. We attended the first talk of the day, which was by Kingsley Sullivan, who is the founder of New Norcia Bakeries and a vocal advocate for artisan bread. This beats celebrity chefs any day, I'd say. For one thing, it was informative (learnt all about starters and what sourdough is/isn't) and peppered with personalised examples. In the end, there was also a taste test of the bread from New Norcia Bakeries and the starters. I think part of the charm is that it was a relatively small group (about 30) so questions could be asked at any time, making the speaker seem approachable. There was also none of the sense that we should respect his 'celebrity' credentials (if any).
After this, we went to the food piazza... and OMG, OMG, OMG! What can I say? The Wine and Truffle Co. pretty much treated this event as their opportunity to flog their wares, but they weren't obnoxious about it. There were many opportunities to try their wines and other truffle produce. At the end of the day, the three of us shared a bottle of their shiraz and was nicely chilled by the events of the day - not to mention the food! Ok, food, where to start?
The Loose Box, Don Hancey Catering, Mondo's and The Wine and Truffle Co. each had big stalls selling food. I think this was what disappointed me about the Good Food and Wine Show - that there were no opportunities to taste food that wasn't from the celebrity chefs. At Mundaring, what we got were inexpensive samples from these stalls. They also didn't not stint on quality. Here's a run down of what we had (I may have missed out some...):
1. Mushroom soup with truffle cream - mmmmm, beautifully mushroomy.
2. Potatoes, chorizo, mushrooms and truffle oil - interesting dish that I daresay can be replicated at home. Cooked on a huge pan, it was a slightly moist mix that used the starch from the potato to get the right consistency so that everything gelled together.
3. Pate de foie - pork pate with truffle, gherkins and a serve of baguette.
4. Brie filled with truffle - decent slice too!
5. Vichyssoise - pureed leek and potatoe soup with truffle oil. The creaminess no doubt brought out by the amount of cream, but hey, I wasn't complaining!
6. Truffle risotto - not my favourite. I guess I'm not used to crunchy risotto.
After some hearty nibbling, we attended a talk on Euro cheese. When I walked it, my eyes just about bugged out. On the table were over a dozen cheeses and something told me, we'd be doing a bit of taste testing this afternoon. I wasn't wrong. The talk itself was interesting enough, and I discovered that there was no difference between brie and camembert in Australia (just a matter of size, as camembert cannot exceed 250g). At the end, however, we converged on the table like a murder of crows..... and the presenter pretty much encouraged us to help ourselves! There was a Windsor Red, Kerrygold Square, a white tuffle truffle infused one (I could die from this... the flavour was magnificient!), parmigiano-reggiano, brie, an Irish cheese, several goats cheese... the list goes on. There must have been at least $3,000 worth of cheeses for tasting. We were also given a little cheese knife each. Ultimately, I don't think any of these cheeses could have been put back on sale, so I guess everyone was just enthusiastic they could try so many different types that they may not normally have the opportunity to.
The many stalls were also quite fun to poke around in. Most of them were selling jams and chutneys. The York Olive Oil company was there too. I really like this when we bought a 2 litre bottle the last time we were there.
I certainly think that something like this won't be replicated any time soon at the big food exhibitions, so I was really glad to have had the opportunity to go this year.
I certainly had a lot of rich foods yesterday, but it was soooo very pleasurable! And the fact is that all the food we tried were below $10 per serve. In fact, there was very little that cost more than that, so we felt that was really worth while. I know that having tried Loose Box, harlzen really wants to visit the restaurant now. So do I!
Sweet bejeebus. It was good.
After the slight disappointment the week before that was the Good Food and Wine Show, yesterday turned out to be an orgasmic culinary experience. Despite an early start (including the obligatory morning wake-up call for nekomancy ), we arrived at the Artisan Bakery opposite Little Caesar's just before 9am. This was a bakery that harlzen and I had enjoyed muchly when we were on the way to York earlier this year. In anticipation of many gourmet delights, we settled on just having a pie each. Except, as the Chinese would say, my eyes were bigger than my stomach. nekomancy and I ended up with a country pie each (steak, mushrooms and vegetables) which is much bigger than a normal pie (I swear, it didn't look so big in the display cabinet!) But the size didn't stop us from gobbling it all up, as well as some dessert. :P
We started walking around at 9.30am - this weekend also being the regular monthly Mundaring Markets, so there was plenty to see. Lots of local crafts and knick knacks. We attended the first talk of the day, which was by Kingsley Sullivan, who is the founder of New Norcia Bakeries and a vocal advocate for artisan bread. This beats celebrity chefs any day, I'd say. For one thing, it was informative (learnt all about starters and what sourdough is/isn't) and peppered with personalised examples. In the end, there was also a taste test of the bread from New Norcia Bakeries and the starters. I think part of the charm is that it was a relatively small group (about 30) so questions could be asked at any time, making the speaker seem approachable. There was also none of the sense that we should respect his 'celebrity' credentials (if any).
After this, we went to the food piazza... and OMG, OMG, OMG! What can I say? The Wine and Truffle Co. pretty much treated this event as their opportunity to flog their wares, but they weren't obnoxious about it. There were many opportunities to try their wines and other truffle produce. At the end of the day, the three of us shared a bottle of their shiraz and was nicely chilled by the events of the day - not to mention the food! Ok, food, where to start?
The Loose Box, Don Hancey Catering, Mondo's and The Wine and Truffle Co. each had big stalls selling food. I think this was what disappointed me about the Good Food and Wine Show - that there were no opportunities to taste food that wasn't from the celebrity chefs. At Mundaring, what we got were inexpensive samples from these stalls. They also didn't not stint on quality. Here's a run down of what we had (I may have missed out some...):
1. Mushroom soup with truffle cream - mmmmm, beautifully mushroomy.
2. Potatoes, chorizo, mushrooms and truffle oil - interesting dish that I daresay can be replicated at home. Cooked on a huge pan, it was a slightly moist mix that used the starch from the potato to get the right consistency so that everything gelled together.
3. Pate de foie - pork pate with truffle, gherkins and a serve of baguette.
4. Brie filled with truffle - decent slice too!
5. Vichyssoise - pureed leek and potatoe soup with truffle oil. The creaminess no doubt brought out by the amount of cream, but hey, I wasn't complaining!
6. Truffle risotto - not my favourite. I guess I'm not used to crunchy risotto.
After some hearty nibbling, we attended a talk on Euro cheese. When I walked it, my eyes just about bugged out. On the table were over a dozen cheeses and something told me, we'd be doing a bit of taste testing this afternoon. I wasn't wrong. The talk itself was interesting enough, and I discovered that there was no difference between brie and camembert in Australia (just a matter of size, as camembert cannot exceed 250g). At the end, however, we converged on the table like a murder of crows..... and the presenter pretty much encouraged us to help ourselves! There was a Windsor Red, Kerrygold Square, a white tuffle truffle infused one (I could die from this... the flavour was magnificient!), parmigiano-reggiano, brie, an Irish cheese, several goats cheese... the list goes on. There must have been at least $3,000 worth of cheeses for tasting. We were also given a little cheese knife each. Ultimately, I don't think any of these cheeses could have been put back on sale, so I guess everyone was just enthusiastic they could try so many different types that they may not normally have the opportunity to.
The many stalls were also quite fun to poke around in. Most of them were selling jams and chutneys. The York Olive Oil company was there too. I really like this when we bought a 2 litre bottle the last time we were there.
I certainly think that something like this won't be replicated any time soon at the big food exhibitions, so I was really glad to have had the opportunity to go this year.
I certainly had a lot of rich foods yesterday, but it was soooo very pleasurable! And the fact is that all the food we tried were below $10 per serve. In fact, there was very little that cost more than that, so we felt that was really worth while. I know that having tried Loose Box, harlzen really wants to visit the restaurant now. So do I!