oz: food+drink.

and thus begins the 1st australia post (there may only be one in the end, but just in case...):
we ate like royalty in oz- enough that the jeans i wore to travel there were noticeably more snug on the flight back. when i put them on, i actually had a moment of fear that i'd have to run out and buy new pants before going to the airport...
but before we talk food, lemme mention our visit to the kamberra winery- delightful. before we got to oz, we talked about touring wine country, but of course, didn't have time. we had a little time while in canberra, and saw that this one was walking distance from the house, so with relatively low expectations (it wasn't one we'd heard/read of), we decided to check it out.
we got there the 1st time and were told we'd missed it (11am daily tour) and left sadly. we ventured back the following morning, only to be told there was no tour happening, but we could do a tasting, and we were already there, so, free drinks!
the fabulous laurie turmbull took excellent care of us, and confided we weren't missing much since the tour's only really interesting during harvest, which it currently wasn't.
the fabulous laurie turmbull- who is apparently (according to a coworker) too fabulous for his own good, and describes himself as the male equivalent of elle mcpherson (and yes, he's been told that in many countries "laurie" is strictly a girls' name, and replies, "fuck that")- did a beautiful job of explaining the company's 2 lines (which we tasted all of): "meeting place" are their drink-now wines, since "canberra" is the aboriginal word for "meeting place" (hence, the aussie capital, canberra) while the "kamberra" wines are the ones you buy to sit on before enjoying (not literally, unless you're planning the kind of enjoyment that involves leaving the bottle corked and sealed for insertion). they have some lovely (and affordable) stuff, which we brought back with us- good gewurtzaminer, amazing botrytis semillion, and the best port we've ever had, bar none- although i just noticed that my 3 favourites aren't actually on the site i provided the link to, and now remember the fabulous laurie turmbull saying that the ones i loved could only be bought there, @ the winery...sorry. but their other wines were also good- as someone who likes few chardonnays, i was pleasantly surprised by theirs, and enjoyed being introduced to their viognier as well.
the fabulous laurie turmbull made our tasting a good time with good company, and, of course, very good wine.

and now, i'd like to mention a minor item, that brought me much joy nonetheless: we had sushi for lunch @ a highly recommended spot that was amazingly good, especially considering that it was in a shopping-plaza-foodcourt. the oonagi was so good that it transported me to fine japanese dining. but the silly little thrill was that since it's a foodcourt where you take your tray to a table and there's no "service" once $ is exchanged, they give you soy sauce and wasabi packets with your sushi. but these are no ordinary soy sauce packets like you get in the usa- these were little plastic 3d fish with red screwcaps at the tips of their mouths, filled with soy sauce. lemme tell you, those little fish-containers were the cutest, and they were firm plastic, not the kind used in usa-soy-packs that flattens- these tiny fish hold their fishy shape. so i'm the petard (thank you mr.shakespeare) who had to bring back 2 50-cent-sized-fishes of soy sauce. that's the kinda touch that removes the word "foodcourt" from the memory.
the other excellent meals we ate were in sydney, @ zaaffran, quay, and aria. we also had very good food @ melbourne's hairy canary and i highly recommend it. but i must rave about zaaffran- being partly raised on indian food, i have high expectations and am easily disappointed, because i'm spoiled. but zaaffran was edible heaven, from my taj mahal cocktail to the rose+cardamom creme brulee dessert. the food was exquisite and rich, but not too heavy (seafood sampler, seafood curry, murgh makhani- the linked menu's a beautiful thing) and, as a pleasant side note, the zaaffran homepage actually shows the table we sat @ and its wonderful view.
quay, in sydney harbor's circular quay was our 1st meal there. we were warned of the expense and encouraged to discover how worth it the experience would be. and it was. unbelievable: suckling pig braised pressed, then roasted...slow cooked glenroth squab breasts...flight of dessert wines- i was so drunk when we dragged our bellies back to hotel (n.b.- the "entree" is the starter on aussie menus).
aria was our last dinner in sydney, and it was also an incredible dining experience- double cooked bangalow sweet pork belly, oysters, pan seared pork loin, rolled saddle of lamb, aged beef fillet, mango+raspberry souffle...
i originally planned to describe the bevy of wondrous flavours, but find that i do not have the vocabulary, and if you know me, you know that's quite an achievement, for anything to render me incapable of description- hence the links to menus that will speak for themselves.
we won't discuss how much was spent on all this delectable food+wine (i would say more about the wine but we tried something different @ every opportunity, and in 3weeks, that's a lotta fuckin' wine!), but if you ever there, i strongly suggest that you try as many of the restaurants mentioned here as your $ permits. and if you can only do one, zaaffran is the natural choice if you like indian food, and quay and aria could be interchangeable if necessary. hairy canary in melbourne is a funky breakfast/lunch/drinks place, and is thus very affordable.
one last note before i wrap this too-long post: service in oz is the worst. it's not a tipping culture, and waitstaff earn $15+/hour, so there's no motivation for them to provide service. the only places we had good service were hairy canary and quay, but @ the other places we ate, the food more than compensated for the lack. just be prepared to spend some time waiting around for everything, and trust that i took the poor service into account when i raved about these restaurants, which should reinforce how good the food was...
more later.
walk good. eat like you gonna die tomorrow.