Review – Page 8 – Abstract Gourmet

Sol. Oils aint oils.

I love olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil that is. I use it in virtually every dish I make. I marinade with it, I fry with it, I make into sauces, and I’d probably drink the stuff too if I had to.

So when I was sent a request a while back to try out some Njoi olive oil, and to say what I thought of it, I said yeah, sure ! Free stuff works for me… (whilst premising the acceptance with the clause that it would not necessarily be an endorsement, but a fully disclosed review of a product I’d been given). So that was all good, and Andrew (aka oil man), sent me 3 bottles of Njoi extra virgin olive oil.

The package turned up and I had:

1 bottle of regional New England
1 bottle of regional Greater Southwest
1 bottle of Njoi blue (a non region specific blend).

The first bottle I tried was the New England. It was a lovely light bodied oil with a peppery finish (pretty much what it says on the bottle), and went really well with the toasted turkish bread I was dipping into it. I would have loved to try more of it, but a minor mishap while I was packing up to move house meant that I smashed the bottle all over the kitchen tiles. I can confirm it makes a really great tile buffer though.

The next one I tried was the Greater Southwest (which is pretty large area when you take into account that it extends down from New Norcia all the way to Denmark) was less impressive in my book. It’s still got a nice smooth finish to it, and is perhaps more balanced than the New England, but lacks the finess that premium olive oil needs to stand out from the crowd. I did a mini experiment with some blind tasting of this oil, and the olive oil I use for cooking on a daily basis, Beaming Hill, using Sharon and Dan as guinea pigs. I asked the highly specific question of “which one tastes better”. Dan picked the Beaming Hill, while Sharon picked the Njoi. Inconclusive of course, but it shows that there was not a clear distinction between this wine and what is a cheaper extra virgin olive oil.

The Njoi Blue blend is one that I have tried in the past and really liked. It was actually one of the first premium olive oils I tried a few years ago, when I ran into the Njoi stall at the Perth Food & Wine Festival. It’s a nice medium bodied oil and is great for marinading and bbqing.

And so to the reviewing part of the post. Is this good olive oil ? Absolutely. Would I buy it on a regular basis ? Possibly. I am rarely frugal when it comes to spending money on quality food, but I go through so much olive oil, that I really do need something a bit cheaper for everyday use. This oil is great for special uses like dipping and sauces, and the odd salad. But I think I need something that can cater for the masses without breaking my bank balance.

If you’d like to try some of this oil, feel free to check out Andrews store where he can give you a good deal.

Red Knot – 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon (A wine post)

Well after being graciously linked up by Beau on his great wine blog, I thought it was about time I put some effort into writing about some of the wine I drink.

So here is the first effort… A lovely looking bottle of South Australian Cabernet Sauvignon that jumped off the shelf at me while on a mission to retrieve cumin seeds, buffalo mozzarella, and limonata from “Re-store” in Leederville.

It’s from a region of South Australia called Fleurieu, which i’d never heard of, and i really liked the label. Plus I’ve been drinking mainly Shiraz/Grenache/Mouverdre blends recently, so I thought it was time to get back to some of the more robust/in your face/full bodied wines that Australia has become famous for.

According to the wine maker, it should be something like this:

Vintage Note:
Dry conditions throughout the year lowered crop yields and produced concentrated and small berry fruit. Perfect ripening conditions from verasion to harvest resulted in wines of incredible flavor and color.

Tasting Note:
Deep Red. Cassis aromas complex with hints of mint and truffle and enhanced with roasted coffee bean and vanilla American and French oak. A full bodied wine with ripe blackberry fruit and a firm tannin structure. Toasty oak enhances the sweet fruit and lingers enticingly.

Source:
Davey Family Vineyard, McLaren Vale
Hindmarsh Valley, Southern Fleurieu

Blend:
100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Bottling:
pH: 3.49
TA: 6.60
ALC: 13.80%

My take on the wine would be definitely a full fruit flavour. Lots of cherry/blackberry flavours hit you in face as soon as you take that first sip, and linger until you’re ready for the next. It’s definitely full bodied. Not the kind of wine that you can drink nonchalantly… It’s big flavoured and makes you sit up and take notice. The subtle nuances and flavours of the wine are lost on me I must admit, and being an avid coffee drinker/roaster, I didn’t pick up on the roasted coffee flavour as desribed in the wine makers notes. I would agree that the sweetness of the wine lingers though… theres not the oaky aftertaste that much of the heavily wooded wines seems to carry with them.

All in all I’d say it’s a great wine, not too complex, but a very enjoyable drink.

I’m also loving my new Reidel ‘O’ series, stemless glassware. I’ve broken many a wine glass stem in my time (I think my record is three in one night), and so these are a breath of fresh air. They also look great, and feel great in the hand, and are just the right shape for swirling and bringing out all those luscious red wine aromas… Now if my uncultured nose could only work out what some of them are, i’d be laughing :)

Duende

Well Sharon and I just got back from visiting Duende. It’s located in a funky spot in Leederville, and boasts an extensive wine list and a bevy of tasty bite sized dishes on the predominantly tapas menu.

I’ve been to Duende a few times now, and this return trip was mainly to refresh my memory on how great the place is, in readiness for writing a stunning review. But after getting back, I’m left with a somewhat dissatisfied feeling in my mouth/stomach/wallet.

Duende’s style is trendy tapas. Not cheap $5 potato balls, or spicy meatballs that you might find in a cheap tapas bar… more along the lines of intricate dishes made with specialty ingredients often sourced from overseas (like jamon serrano and manchego cheese).

My memories of this place are sublime tasting dishes full of flavour and paired with a huge selection of local and international (Spanish and French mainly) wines. This trip however, i found myself looking at the menu and wondering how a dish of potato, chorizo, mint, and olive oil, served in a dish the size of a peanut bowl, can be worth $14… Sure it was tasty… but was it worth it ? I am far from one to skimp on prices, but when I feel like im not getting value for money it tends to grate pretty quickly.

Then looking at the wine list and seeing out of total of a hundred or more wines… there was only a handful available by the glass.

I was really trying to find things to like, but it seemed like it just wasn’t the right night. We had a selection of different wait staff, who varied between forgetful, cheeky, and patronisingly friendly. The wait staff there generally have a bit more character and spunk than your regular restaurant, but tonight instead of seeming refreshing or funny, it just came across as irritating. You can joke and muck around all you like if you remember my order and bring me decent food… if not… don’t even bother.

So what did we order:

Organic Bread
Jamon Serrano
Potato, Chorizo, and Mint salad
Sweet Corn and Manchego balls
Some kind of avacado salad
Skewered King Prawns in garlic butter (i think)

Having ordered the sweet corn and manchego balls before, i clearly remember them being light and airy and melting in your mouth as you bit into them. This time they would be more accurately described as salty cheese balls, dry and floury. Far from the experience I’ve had in the past.

So after finishing our dishes and waiting another 15 minutes for someone to come back and take our dessert order, we thought it best to end the night there and then.

I would really love to go back and describe the first experience I had dining at Duende. Being continually delighted as dish after dish of simple, elegant, and above all delicious food came out… but alas, this was not that night.

I still think it’s a great place, but perhaps not the golden child of my memories.

As always, do try it yourself… having too high of an expectation may well have been a factor in my overall level of satisfaction.

Duende
662 Newcastle St
Leederville 6007
(08) 9228 0123 (booking advised, no byo)

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The Prophet

No, im not referring to myself… (bom! bom!). The Prophet is a great little Lebanese restaurant in Victoria Park that i used to frequent when i lived in area.

The Prophet is a nice cosy restaurant near the Balmoral Hotel in Victoria Park, it’s run by a cool old guy called Jihad who makes his own garlic dipping sauce from a secret recipe. You get a bowl of it along with some flat bread and pickled beetroot (i think, it could be anything?) free with every meal… it’s a really tasty way to start… the garlic dip is strangely moreish and tastes best when you dip the pickled beetroot into it and then wrap this little package with the flat bread.

In terms of the menu itself, there’s a whole range of traditional Lebanese foods, and some more western oriented ones. For the die hards there is a Lamb Kibbeh (raw minced meat in a ball with wheat and spices), and for the light weights, theres the Shish Tawook (garlic chicken shish kebabs). Most meals are served with chips and a tangy salad (kind of similar to a Greek salad, but without feta and olives). There is also a few other lamb dishes, and a ‘hot’ fish dish, basically a whole fish with scarily hot chillli sauce over it.

There is no wine list as it’s completely byo, but if i recall correctly they dont charge for corkage. The meals aren’t what you’d call fine dining…they’re simply presented but quite filling (especially when you’ve eaten a stack of flat bread to start with), and are really cheap. Most meals range from $14 – $20. I think last time i went the bill for two of us came to $28, very low in my book, and for what you get, amazing value.

As always, check it out for yourself :)

The Prophet
907 Albany Highway
East Victoria Park, 6101
Tel: (08) 9361 1101

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Alt Heidelberg

Alt Heidelberg is on Beaufort St in North Perth, basically diagonally across from the Brisbane Hotel on the corner of Beaufort and Brisbane Streets.

It’s (suprisingly enough) a German restaurant, and apparently has quite a bit of history to it. The owners are a German husband and wife couple who moved to Perth quite a while ago and started it as a way of furthering their love of cooking, and filling the void of quality German restuarants in our fair city…

This is another place that i’ve driven past hundreds of times, and finally curiosity got the better of me. So one night after a work social function Sharon and I decided to stop in here for a late dinner. The place looks like a German pub (or what i imagine one might look like after reading Asterix & Obelix go to Germany)…with low ceilings, nice wrought iron lamps and light fittings and candles on all the tables.

The waitress was a friendly German girl who looked at me weird when i asked for “the most German thing” on the menu… But then suggested the ham shank on mashed potato for me and a beef olived sausage type thing with cabbage for Sharon. Must say the Germans love their meat… well at least pork anyway. When my meal arrived it looked essentially like half a pig slow cooked and then fried to make the skin crispy… served on a bed of mash potato… There was no pretense of other vegetables… and i was too hungry (and partially drunk) at that stage, so didn’t bother ordering any. Sharons meal looked like about 15 types of meat wrapped in other meat…and stuffed with meat… It was tasty for about three mouthfull’s, but then meat fatigue set in, and it was all over. Let’s just say that meat got the better of me that night… i never thought it would happen, nor that i would admit it… but sometimes there’s just too much meat on the plate. Perhaps if i hadn’t had to chew through a substantial amount of grisel to get to the meat it would have been a more rewarding experience, but i didn’t really have it in me… so i chalked it all down to experience and bid the owner adieu (or its equivant in German).

In it’s defence, this is a really nice quaint little restaurant. It obviously has a following or it wouldn’t have been around for as long as it has, and while we there it was full of a big mixture of people. The table next to us looked like a group of backpackers from an array of different countries… which gave way to one of my favourite people watching passtimes of seeing people who don’t speak English natively try and communicate in English with other people who don’t English natively either… comedy gold… but then love finds a way in the end.

Alt Heidelberg
283 Beaufort Street
Perth
Phone: (08) 9227 0988

Lava Stone Grill

I’m trying to catch up on the reviews to some of the places i’ve eaten recently… So here’s another one.

Lava Stone Grill is on Walcott St in Mt Lawley, it’s a funky looking place in a refurbished house… it looks pretty small from the front, but actually has two really big rooms inside.

Sharon and I had driven past this place all the time on the way in and out of the city or to Mt Lawley, and so one lazy week night we decided to try it on a whim and see what it was all about.

The concept is basically that they bring out these special hot “lava” stones… that have been in the oven for a while and are bloody hot (don’t touch them!). You then order your meat and/or vegetables, which are brought out to you raw, with an assortment of sauces. You then put your meat onto the stone and it literally cooks in front of you. When the meat or veges are done to your liking you cut bits off, or transfer it to another small plate, add the sauces and away you go.

I ordered the mixed grill which comes with fillets of beef, pork, & lamb and a chicken tenderloin…and is served with a pepper and brandy sauce, maple syrup, and a whisky and ginger sauce… which were really tasty sauces.

I’d have to say it’s a novel concept, but i thought it was pretty pricey… most of the meals are in the order of $25-$30… which is not extravagently expensive…but when im cooking the food myself i’d expect it to be cheaper. I also found the practicality of cooking and eating from the stone didn’t really add up to the novelty… My food ended up getting overcooked after a while and it was hard not to burn yourself on the stone every now and then while leaning over to pick up your glass etc.

That’s not to say it wasn’t a good meal, i did enjoy it, and the meat was excellent quality. I guess i’ll just put it in the nice to try once basket, but not the type of place i’d go to regularly. On another positive note, the wait staff were all really friendly, almost to the point of being quite casual, but then this is Perth :)

Anyway… Give it a try and make up your own mind.

Lava Stonegrill
155 Walcott St Mt Lawley, Western Australia, 6050
(08) 9328 6669

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Ozomatli

Just a quick note to say that Ozomatli are perhaps the greatest live band ever. I am also the proud new owner of Ulises’s guitar pick… I’m not sure if that makes me sad or not…

p.s – Sorry this is not food related… if its any consolation i did eat before the show… but out of shame i will not say which fast food ‘restaurant’ it was :(