The Land Down Under

The first place I ate off the plane was like a little clue that Sydney's food scene was a lot more advanced than I expected. I didn't check out the name of the breakfast café that morning and it didn’t matter. There were 15 more in a row just like it. Beautifully situated over Bronti Beach, a dozen café’s sported outdoor seating and chalkboard menus of the day's offerings filled with locally grown produce. The service was casual and the food was great. Menus written on chalkboards and based on availability were the just norm in Sydney. A simple cafe like that is revolutionary in the states. I found that good food and a good environment to accompany it was a standard in Sydney. The first thing I ordered was coffee.

My attempt at ordering something similar to a vanilla latte was extremely unsuccessful. The server and I conversed for about five minutes, four of which neither of us understood. So, “Flat white” is what we settled on and it was delicious. After that episode, I wasn’t about to order my usual Iced Venti Soy Caramel Macchiato with three extra shots anywhere else on that side of the planet. Nothing outside of a “Long Black” is more embarrassing to order. When I ventured out to get coffee the next day, I stopped into the first spot I saw. I ordered my flat white "to take." There was a credit card limit of $10. Easy, I thought- buy two coffees. I was only halfway there. I had to buy an entire meal just to get to the minimum. Not only did the coffee taste better, but it was a fraction of the price. After a few days I came to prefer a bean roaster, too. Single Origin sources their beans only from sustainable coffee bean farms and most of the time end up being farmer direct, fair-trade or organic. It's worth the shipping charge across the ocean to get it here.

I loved the incredible quality and variety of the fish in Sydney. I took a trip to the fish market one morning expecting just to browse. I know it sounds cliché, but I was instantly inspired. There was so much fish I'd never seen before- Barramundi and Morwong, and old familiars just more beautiful than I'd ever seen- Grouper, Snapper, and Tuna. This is what I'd guess heaven looks like. Before committing to one sea creature, I scoured every vendor and asked each

one 1,000 questions. Finally after sampling countless oysters and sweet slices of any raw fish I could get my hands on, I walked out with two whole fish, two dozen oysters and the simplest of accoutrement for the red snapper and pearl perch. It would be pretty hard to screw up a fish basically walked home from the water, but if anyone could do it- I could. I'd never cooked a whole fish before but I've hung around saute station enough to have a pretty good idea of what needed to be done. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of my first go at cooking whole fish but it turned out wonderfully. First, I chopped off the head and stuffed the body with some fennel, lemon, garlic and thyme. Next, I rubbed him with some olive oil, seasoned it and threw it in a ripping hot pan. After getting color on it, I threw it in the oven for a few minutes, pulled the fish out and basted it into perfection. Heaven indeed. I love finding an ingredient so perfect on its own that it only takes a little heat to make it come to life.

I ate at plenty a good place but since you guys are all in the states, it's pretty irrelevant to discuss them. The one place I will mention is Pier. We opted out of the degustation menu so that I could order one of everything off the menu- typical. Pier has consistently been awarded 3 hats for the past few years along with Best Seafood and Best Restaurant. Chef Greg Doyle has the reputation for putting out the most delicate, refined, and innovative seafood dishes and he absolutely lived up to that reputation. As far as fine dining goes, this was some of the best food and service I've ever had. Fine dining usually isn't my thing but when the food is that good, I'll sit at a white tablecloth any day.

Below are some pictures of the coolest butcher shop IN THE WORLD. Victor Churchill is a boutique butcher that carries everything from free-range chicken Blackmore Full Blood Wagyu.

I didn't buy any whole cuts but sampled almost all of their cured meats including the Air Dryed Wagyu, Kurobuta Cappicola, Lomo, and Lardo. I also munched on their Fromage de Tete and their Chicken Liver Pate and I can still confidently say I've never had better pate than the one we make at work. The wagyu wasoutstanding. It felt like beef that morphed into butter in my mouth. We do some great cured meats at work, but nothing like this. Imagine people tasting what you've made and saying, "This is the best ____ I've ever eaten," every single time. That's one hell of an achievement- you just have to figure out what you want to be the absolute best at. What they've done is taken something they are passionate about, learned to do it better than anyone else and turned it into a thriving business. I've probably discussed with all of you my idea of a boutique pasta shop at one time or another. I'd love to work at Victor Churchill for a year to see how they do a boutique butcher shop.

During the day you allow customers to watch you work, sell the product in the storefront and also offer ready to serve food. My idea includes a simple dinner service as well, but this butcher shop was a reminder that a passion can turn into a business- and my idea isn't that far fetched.

And, I harvested my very own oyster. It wasn't very good, but that was still pretty cool!