Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival 2018, Auburn

To anyone in Sydney who misses Japan or would like to get a sneak peak of what Japan springtime is like, you’re in luck! Experience the beauty of Hanami out in Sydney’s Western suburbs. The Auburn Botanic Gardens hosts a yearly Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival event at its Japanese Gardens area. The event runs for 2 weeks and it has already started last Friday, 17th of August 2018. 

Expect Japanese themed gardens with ponds, tori gates and most importantly beautiful blooming sakura (cherry blossoms). There are events throughout the day like Cosplay Catwalk, a Hello Kitty makeover bar and Sumo wrestling matches. There is a lot of oishii food also available on the weekend sessions!! You’ll find stalls that sell traditional Japanese dishes like takoyaki, okonomiyaki and taiyaki at the Food Village area. Then there is also fusion cuisine stalls and trucks like Japanese inspired gelato desserts from Gelato Messina, Japanese themed baos from Tsuru, Sakura themed burger from Mate Burger truck and more. Speaking about Mate Burger truck, our collaboration burger, the MR Ramen Burger is back this Saturday, 25 August 2018.

Here are some photos from the event:

O-NO-GIRI gelato (Green tea & pistachio mousse dipped in rice bubbles and chocolate)

Aunty Tomsu's cheesecake gelato

Sakura burger by Mate Burger 

MR Ramen Burger

Taiyaki filled with vanilla custard

This weekend Saturday 25th to Sunday 26th of August will be your last chance to take part in the festivities. You can pre-purchase your tickets via the Cumberland Council website. Click here.

Address:

Auburn Botanic Gardens

Chisholm Rd and Chiswick Rd

Auburn NSW 2144

Cherry Blossom Festival hours:

9am to 5pm

The Thievery - Glebe, Sydney

I say this time and time again that our city is so lucky to have such a great diverse food scene. Sydney is home to many restaurants that specialises in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine. Glebe alone has many amazing options. If you haven’t been to Thievery, then you need to hit them up!

Many of y’all know that Julian Cincotta is the genius behind the food at Butter Surry Hills and Parramatta. But did you guys know that he is also Thievery’s executive chef? Thievery is a modern interpretation and accumulation of Middle Eastern cuisine and a dash of some Mediterranean flavours. You can also see influences of Julian’s time in the early days of Nomad. The space also has a moody and hip contemporary Middle Eastern vibe. There are tables for two and communal tables on first and second floor. They even have a lovely balcony space.

First and foremost, y’all need to try their burnt butter hummus ($12)! Apparently, using butter in hummus is a common thing in Nothern Lebanon. It should be a common thing in Sydney too in my opinion! Lebanese bread dipped in the caramelised flavour of the butter with paprika in that fluffy hummus was heavenly.

Their Lebanese Fried Chicken or LFC ($16) is off the hook fam! The perfectly cooked juicy chicken fillets covered in beautiful rippled crispy spiced coating with sweet notes were delicious. It came with a sweet and salty black garlic sauce.

Their BBQ King Prawn ($16) is absolutely beautiful. Grilled giant prawns with beurre blanc, za’atar and calvisius oscietra royal caviar.

It’s currently truffle season and there’s a separate truffle menu available. If you like the sound of or have tried their burnt butter hummus, you will want to get your hands on their truffle hummus. Traditional hummus drizzled with truffle butter goodness and fresh Western Australia (WA) Manjumup truffles.

The Aphrodite Haloumi is grilled haloumi drizzled with honey, macadamia dukkah, freshly shaved truffles. It had those salty and sweet flavours that deliciously offset each other with sweet earthy and nutty notes from the dukkah and truffles.

Both food and service at Thievery is top notch. I’m already looking forward to my next visit. Also, just a heads up that Thievery will be doing a Middle Eastern Style Yum Cha from the 7th of August 2018 to the 1st of September 2018.  Check out their website and social media accounts for more details.

Thievery
91 Glebe Point Road
Glebe NSW
Contact: 02 8283 1329

Hours:
Brunch Saturdays: 12.00pm to 3:00pm

Tuesday -Thursday 6pm to 11pm
Friday 6pm to 12 midnight
Saturday 6pm to 12 midnight

Lumi Bar and Dining, Pyrmont - Sydney

If you were to ask Sydneysiders a list of the best restaurants in Sydney, chances are Lumi Bar and Dining will get mentioned a lot. This is not surprising for a restaurant with an award-winning executive chef, Federico Zanellato (ex Noma, Attica and Ormeggio at The Spit). Federico’s fascination with fusing Italian and Japanese cuisine is the core of his establishment.

  

Lumi is one of the embodiments of the perfect Sydney dining experience and setting in my opinion. From its iconic Pyrmont waterfront setting to its sleek glass-walled spacious mid-century Italian interior design and the sublime Japanese/Italian fusion cuisine. This visit was from a few months ago with my homies Kerby and Chocolatesuze during a Saturday lunch session. There are numerous excellent reviews out there about Lumi. So, I want to approach this one as more of an appreciation post rather than a review. Lumi has a seasonal approach to their menu so some of the dishes we’ve had may or may not be available. The 10 ten-course degustation costs $150.

Disclaimer: On our visit, the kitchen brought out some extra dishes on the house.

The rye and spelt brioche was more soft and flavoursome than your usual brioche. It’s quite addictive so be careful not to over indulge on the bread before having all the other dishes.

The lovely yellow fin tuna dish was served in cute cones that tasted like delicate high-end Doritos cheese supreme nacho chips. That’s not a bad thing because Doritos is the best! Haha but seriously, these were amazing.

Rye crackers with zucchini and parmesan.

The uni is served as a nigiri boat. The umami from the uni and nori is balanced out by the creamy components of the dish.

The kangaroo tart was also fantastic! A blend of kangaroo and buttery bone marrow topped with sweet nutty fried leek in a perfect savoury tart pastry.

The chawanmushi is Federico’s take on a classic Japanese egg custard dish with Australian sea blight and shellfish oil.

The semi dried tomatoes with strawberry and olive oil is a nice delicate combo of light umami, sweet, fruity and bitter flavours.

The tooth fish with shiitake mushrooms, miso and Japanese turnip was oustanding. It’s a dish that showcases a lot of umami and a perfectly cooked fish.

Black caviar nigiri boat

The Moreton bay bug tart was next level in texture and taste. It was creamy Moreton bay bug in a seaweed pastry and topped with sea lettuce powder.

Don’t judge the pocket rocket Mushroom Agnolotti! These tiny little morsels are packed with a lot of flavour. Pieces perfect pasta filled with mushroom, truffle oil and manchego.

Tagliolini with calamari and 'nduja

The roast duck at Lumi is the most premium tasting duck I’ve ever had to date. The process to make the duck took around 4 weeks. The spices used, the flavour, caramelisation on the skin and texture was absolutely beautiful. We had the duck meat on its own and in a rice pot dish with star anise, mandarin peel and topped with shichimi togarashi. The combo of shichimi togarashi and the duck works so well.

One of the most refreshing desserts I’ve has is Lumi’s plum kakigori. Their take on this classic shaved ice Japanese treat contained basil, lime sherbet, plum and vinegar custard. Along with the fluffiest shaved came a super balanced citrus, sweet, sour and fruity flavours.

Salted geranium: An outstanding dessert that contains meringue, violet mousse, blackcurrant reduction and salted cherries.

Lumi Bar and Dining
56 Pirrama Road
Pyrmont NSW
http://www.lumidining.com/contact

Hours:
Lunch - Friday to Sunday from 12pm
Dinner – Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday from 6.30pm
Friday and Saturday from 6pm