Those who regularly read glutton & nuts will be well aware of our love for unusual and creative dishes... the more inventive something is, the more we're tempted by it.
Mostly, we tend to find these foods in only the most original of restaurants – those with chefs who take pride in shocking and surprising their diners.
Recently we’ve been searching for cookbooks that suit these creative needs at home; after all, we can’t always being dining out at unusual restaurants… as much as we try! So, as we hunt for the most inventive cookbooks on the market, we’ll post our findings on here… we may even try to recreate a few dishes ourselves and and put our money where our mouth is...
To begin with however, we’re starting small. Literally.
Small Food, by Brigid Kennedy is a celebration of canapés. If you’ve ever bumped into glutton & nuts at an event which serves fascinatingly creative canapés, then you’ll know exactly what this means to us: everything.
The opening line from Brigit’s Kennedy’s Small Food is: ‘One of the greatest pleasures in life is food; another is celebration’ which, at that, we’re sold.
Dishes such as gazpacho aspic with mustard ice cream take the jelly-and-ice-cream tradition and turn it completely on its head. Not only is this dish twisting sweet into savoury but it’s doing it in such a way, that (incredibly) it doesn’t lose its party-food touch. The result is something completely unforgettable.
Then there’s mango and passionfruit butter… great if you’re already a fan of things like banana on toast, while on the more filling side of things there's rabbit pie (definitely not to be missed!)
If you’re heading to an event and trying to come up with finger food that’s creative then Small Food is perfect. As Brigid Kennedy is also a very successful events organiser, it covers almost every possible circumstance you can think of: from the normal celebrations like Christmas and summer barbecues, to seasonal events, retro food and even ‘baby naming day’ food…
When I was a child I remember going to a friend’s birthday party and spending virtually all of my time standing motionless with my eyes fixated on a Barbie cake which stood beautifully in the middle of the table.
She looked so real, so authentic, so much better than just a normal Barbie… I mean you could eat her for God’s sake!
Fast-forward 20 years (or so…) and I’m in the same situation. Except this time, I have no interest in Barbie (well, not that I would admit) and I’m in a rather lavish restaurant in Sydney, so must remain civilised…
Now, I swear that in the 20 years post Barbie-cake-infatuation, I have never seen a cake which has even come close to being as pristine or as perfectly executed as that Barbie was… and I sure have been looking.
That was of course, until recently, when the record was broken with the older girls’ dream item: The classic Chanel handbag.
Yes. 20 years later, I’m standing motionless with my eyes fixated on a classic Chanel handbag cake… which, is so authentically like the real thing, if I saw it on a shelf in a bakery I would most probably try and sling it over my shoulder.
What’s even more amazing that the lady who made it does not (yet) do this for a profession…
If passion makes you good at what you do, then this is the most passionate cake I’ve ever seen, let alone tasted…
Oh, and as for the taste... well, there’s only one word really: Rich (in all the best ways!)
For more info email gluttonandnuts@gmail.com
car·pet·bag [kahr-pit-bag] noun: A travelling bag made of carpet, commonly from an oriental rug...
i.e – not something you would uncontrollably drool over when spotted on the menu of one of Sydney’s top restaurants.
However, it’s CERTAINLY something glutton & nuts would order. Curiosity after all did kill the cat… and if we’re willing to chow-down on a nasty old oriental sac then we may actually be coming closer to death than we think…
While wondering if we’re soon to be reporting on weaving patterns and thread counts while simultaneously picking cotton from our teeth, we’re informed that a carpet bag is actually a uniquely Australian dish and has nothing to do with travelling holdalls whatsoever.
And much to our surprise what Australia loses in the ‘naming of top dishes’ field, they gain in the flavour and creativity of the actual dish itself.
This creation gained popularity in the 50s and is actually a fillet steak (served standing quite tall) stuffed with crab meat & tarragon butter. The idea is that the fish (doesn’t necessarily have to be crab) permeates the meat of the steak and the juices of both blend together to create a combo with much more of intense flavour than you would associate with Surf and Turf. In fact, simply speaking, a carpet bag is like taking the Surf and hiding it inside the Turf.
It’s certainly more interesting to eat than its Surf and Turf cousin as you have to cut right the way through the steak to discover what lies inside...
Now, we’re not going to give away where we tried this dish - we can’t reveal all of our secrets* but we’ll definitely be going back for more. The terrible naming of this dish is directionally proportional to how good it tastes, which should give you some indication of why we’ll be returning.
*Ok, ok, you can email us if you really want to know…
gluttonandnuts@gmail.com
Usually, the average steak menu has me at hello. A steak menu with an F1 Wagyu has me without any pleasantries at all… and a steak menu with Wagyu Carpaccio could slap me in the face, insult my family and tell me to never speak to it again, and I’ll still order it, tell everyone just how delicious it is, and secretly crave more.Which, is exactly what I’m doing right now…The Wagyu Carpaccio at The Park Hyatt’s Escher-like restaurant, Radii in Melbourne, is just that: delicious.I could have had this dish thrown at me and I’d still be smiling.Served with the tiniest portion of French onion soup, this starter (at $32) is an expensive one, but well, well worth it. The five finely cut slices of wagyu may disappear in all of 3 seconds but the taste, the texture, the density and the fat content blend together so well, that once tasted it’s incredibly hard to forget. The flavour has a really light fattyness to it and even though the steak is so finely cut, it's still almost chewy. The French Onion Soup (although extraordinary in its own right) was completely overlooked on this occasion (well, for the 3 seconds that the carpaccio lasted at least).The one big con of this dish is that it disappears too quickly...If you’re a foodie with self control, it’s perfect. However, ifyou’re a gluttonous so-and-so who ravishes their food, you’ll have it digested before the plate hits the table. You'll then kick yourself and pass filthy looks to everyone else you see who orders it.Still, the kicking and the hatred for your follow diners is well worth it.Park Hyatt Melbourne1 Parliament Square, off Parliament PlaceMelbourne VIC 3002(03) 9224 1234
Those who regularly read glutton & nuts will be well aware of our love for unusual and creative dishes... the more inventive something is, the more we're tempted by it.
