Better Than Sex - House Restaurant

Someone once told glutton and nuts that if we thought food could be better than sex, then we weren't doing it right. Well, we reckon they're not eating the right food...

House Resaurant in Surry Hills is one of those places you show up to with 'the jury still out' expectaton-wise. It's got a slightly unusual licensing rule (drinks are to be ordered from the bar nextdoor only) and it's quite open to Elizabeth Street's speeding traffic. However, even with these things in mind, House will knock you for six - twofold.

Firstly, by completely blowing these undecided expectations away (this is more than just 'Thai food' - this is north-eastern street Thai, so good it'll make you want to go and live on the streets of Thailand!).Secondly, and quite literally, it will blow your tastebuds away. The food is hot. Seriously. Even the salads have a massive kick... and at one point we were definitely crying.

However, what glutton and nuts is more interested in, of course, is the most unusual and quite surprising thing on the menu - or the 'special dessert menu' to be precise. Now, we don't throw this around too often - but we had what was possibly the best dessert we're yet to taste in Sydney. Yes, from a small north-eastern street Thai on Elizabeth Street - it took us by surprise too - but without a doubt this dessert would hold its own (more than) against any of Sydney's best restaurants.

It was aptly named 'Better than Sex' and comes with a bit of a shy giggle from the waitress. The name hooked us in and the sheer size and look of it sold us. This dessert is big enough for two (but you definitely won't want to share!) It's lightly fried brioche, with green tea ice cream, caramel sauce completely saturating the dish and some runny chocolate thrown in to boot. The most gluttonous and delicious dessert we are yet to find in this city - and read early posts - this includes Quay Bar's guava egg!

The challenge is on... but we think this one will be hard to beat.

And if you're still undecided - it's called 'BETTER than SEX' - you HAVE to try it!

House

202 Elizebeth Street

Surry Hills

02 9280 0364

Small Food: A book made for glutton & nuts

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…