Minh Vietnamese, Dulwich Hill

Minh is our local Vietnamese joint. It’s closer than (but not quite as good as) the Viet places in Marrickville and makes for a decent low-key meal. Plus, they are licensed and BYO and serve a decent glass of house wine as well as a few old favourites by the bottle such as Oyster Bay sav blanc.

Pork and eggplant adobo

This is one of my absolute favourite comfort dishes. It’s perfect for when you have no fresh vegies, and are feeling unwell or tired, and need something warming and hearty. (Tick, tick and tick!) The ingredients might not sound exciting, but trust me, this dish is more than the sum of its parts! 

Hartsyard, Newtown – revisited

Since our first trip to Hartsyard on their opening night, we’ve been looking forward to going back and trying other dishes… and trying the duck again! This time we brought four others with us so that we could order just about everything on the menu.

Pumpkin and smoked pork soup with crispy sage leaves and chevre toast

It’s a mouthful I know, but the beauty of this dish is in the combination of all elements. The soup is sweet, clean and slightly smoky, the crispy sage adds earthiness, and the goats cheese toast provides a hit of salt as well as a contrasting texture.

Lamb shanks braised with pomegranate, balsamic, tomato and bay

I got some lovely lamb shanks at the Addison Road Markets today and was feeling indecisive about how to flavour them. Preserved lemon? Red wine and bay leaves? Lemongrass and star anise?

Dragon Den, Darlinghurst

I recently organised a birthday dinner for two of my loveliest friends at Dragon Den, near the Green Park Hotel in Darlinghurst. Planning a dinner for 20 odd people is not always easy, but the staff at Dragon Den were amongst the most helpful, accommodating and flexible I’ve encountered (along with Javed and the team at Delhi O’ Delhi).

Cornersmith, Marrickville

I recently said that Enmore is the new Newtown. It turns out, I was wrong… Marrickville is!

Relatively new to Marrickville is Cornersmith, which epitomises all the lovely aspects of the inner west cafe culture. They make their own sauces, cordial, jams, pickles, conserves, etc. using local produce sourced from friends and the general public. And honey from their own bees!

Eggplant and goats cheese involtini

These delicious little parcels make a perfect canape, or they can be baked with a peperonata sauce for a hearty vegetarian main. The recipe has also been featured in Oxfam’s new cookbook Stop Hunger Start Cooking. If you make it, post a picture on Twitter, tag it with #stophungerstartcooking, and you could win some delicious Oxfam prizes!

Ragù di salsiccia

For me, this is the perfect Sunday night dinner. I first tried it years ago when experimenting with different ways to use sausages in more interesting ways, and is loosely based on a River Cafe recipe for a quick sausage sauce. It has since become a firm favourite, and the perfect dish when all you have in the fridge is a few sausages. (Hey, it’s been a busy week!)

Da Vinci’s, Summer Hill

On Thursday nights, my mum and I have dinner together. We try to keep it local and inexpensive – the Entertainment Book vouchers come in handy! We recently realised that despite being so close to Summer Hill, we’d never been there for dinner. So we rocked on over to give Da Vinci’s a try.