Green Palace Vegetarian Restaurant, Newtown

Green Palace is one of many, many Thai restaurants on Newtown’s King St strip. However, it stands out from others because of three things: it’s vegan, it’s cheap, and it’s really REALLY delicious. I know, it surprised me too!

Al Carbón @ La Lupita Pop-Up Restaurant, Canterbury

In general, I’m not into pop-ups, food trucks and other trendy things. However, I do love good food, and am always willing to try something new. So when I heard that the home of the famed Al Carbón food truck was just up the road from me in Canterbury, and that it was (occasionally) home to a pop-up restaurant called La Lupita, I was intrigued to try it.

In The Spotlight: Beef Cheeks + Recipe: Beef Cheeks Mole Poblano

This week, I have been mostly eating beef cheeks.

Like the humble lamb shank, and osso buco before that, beef cheeks have suddenly experienced a revival. They’ve leapt onto the plates of diners who are paying top dollar for what was once considered an offcut.

Feature dish: The Eathouse Diner’s beef cheeks

The Eathouse Diner, Redfern

Earlier this week we returned to The Eathouse Diner in Redfern, where our very fantastic and talented friend Kieran Day is a chef. The menu is dominated by American-style offerings such as delicious southern fried spatchcock with creamed corn and “slaw”, truffle mac ‘n’ cheese with taleggio, cheddar and grana padano (as good as it sounds) and the beautifully simple okra fritters with tomato and lime salsa.

Booth St Bistro, Annandale

With so many great value weeknight restaurant specials around this winter, Thursday night dinners with my mum are getting more fancy by the week. Tonight we popped down to Booth St Bistro, just a few blocks from her place.

Spaghetti Pollanaise – a recipe inspired by Michael Pollan

Recently, we saw Michael Pollan talk at the Opera House. He was awesome.

The things he spoke of were not new to me. Ideas about eating locally grown produce; not eating too many refined “white” foods; avoiding foods so artificial that our grandmothers wouldn’t recognise them as food… But there was one line which stuck with me above all others:

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).

Hartsyard, Newtown

The space which was once The Gourmet Viking has been transformed into the most exciting restaurant Enmore Road has seen for a long time. Husband and wife team Gregory Llewellyn (chef) and Naomi Hart (front of house) have worked hard to create their ‘seed and feed’ style eatery, complete with greenhouse for herbs and flowers, benches made from rescued extinct Tasmanian timber, and carbonated water on tap.

Bò Kho (Vietnamese lemongrass beef stew)

I made this recently as the main course at a dinner party, although I’m told that in Vietnam it is usually eaten as a breakfast dish. I’d happily eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner, it’s so good. As with most stews it improves overnight so it’s best to start it the day before for maximum flavour and tenderness.

Hideaway, Dulwich Hill

I love a good, local, family-run restaurant, and Hideaway is a perfect example.

They call the cuisine ‘international tapas’, a variety of dishes offered in two sizes (tapas/main) and designed to share. It’s a great way to eat and suited our group of four beautifully: we simply ordered a tapas size of (almost) every dish! I always think tapas-style is a great idea for a simple/family-run restaurant, as dishes come out in any order and there’s no waiting for everyone else’s to arrive.