Food is Fashion at Westfield Sydney

Adding weight to the theory that the current obsession for all things food is a fashionable trend, Westfield Sydney – that epic homage to both fashion and food on the end of Pitt Street Mall and Market Street – is presenting a free photographic exhibition that features fashion style of real shoppers with signature dishes from the restaurants in Westfield Sydney.

Happy :ab for Food is Fashion photographic exhibition at Westfield Sydney,
Pitt Street, Sydney

Launched earlier this week at Cloudy Bay Fish Co. and on until Thursday, 15 August 2013, the ‘Food is Fashion’ exhibition was curated by fashion blogger Nicole Cooper of confidentliar.com who talked about the great fusion between food and fashion.

Din Tai Fung for Food is Fashion exhibition

The photos and styling were done by food stylist and food photography duo, Janet Mitchell and Tanya Zouev, with the photos currently on show across the food Level 5 at Westfield Sydney.

Sydney Tower Dining for Food is Fashion exhibition

The photographs highlight intricate connections between food and fashion; ranging from colours, textures, cuts and overall presentation.

Jones the Grocer for Food is Fashion exhibition

"It was an incredibly creative process where we took the fashion ‘look’ and then carefully crafted the most popular dishes to match. We paired a classic dish of mango sticky rice from Chat Thai with a vintage yellow shift dress, and a beef tartare with edible flowers from Cara & Co was teamed with a digital floral print dress," said Zouev.

Reuben & Moore for Food is Fashion exhibition

The ‘Food is Fashion’ collection showcases pairings from Chat Thai, Xanthi, Cloudy Bay Fish Co., Via Del Corso, Ragu Pasta and Wine Bar, Victoria Room Tea Salon, Reuben & Moore, Chinta Ria … Mood For Love, Ippudo, Snag Stand, Jones the Grocer, Din Tai Fung, Cara & Co, Sushi Hon, Happy Lab and Sydney Tower Dining.

Sushi Hon for Food is Fashion exhibition

For some of the photos, there’s a bit of a stretch of the imagination required whereas others, like my favourite one featuring Sushi Hon tuna and salmon sashimi, seem to capture the colour, texture, cut and draping of the outfit/dish completely perfectly.

Ragu Pasta & Wine Bar for Food is Fashion exhibition

As part exhibition, Westfield Sydney shoppers have the chance to win one of four ultimate dining experiences in the centre by taking a picture of their favourite dish on Instagram, tagging it with #foodisfashion.

For more 'Food is Fashion', keep an eye out for my next post on Cara & Co winter menu.

Lunchtime holiday at Cloudy Bay Fish Co.

At this time of the year it hard to get away from thoughts of holidays (especially when an overseas jaunt is involved), but even if it’s just summery (fingers crossed) and you’ve got a few days off in the summer months. Summer means relaxation, beach and seafood, among other things – imagine you could have that during a weekday lunch.

Cloudy Bay Fish Co. at Level 5, Westfield Sydney

Or at least the essence of that. And that’s truly what lunch at John Susman’s Cloudy Bay Fish Co. at Westfield Sydney was – summer holidays in my lunch break.

I reminisce to childhood weekends where post beach or other summery outdoors adventure with the family, we would return home with a kilo of cooked prawns; fresh, crusty bread rolls, an avocado and a couple of lemons for DIY prawn rolls.

Prawn cocktail baguette with potato crisps on the side

And while I can’t really do that during the week, Cloudy Bay Fish Co.’s prawn cocktail roll takes me right back. Well, aside from the swish Westfield Sydney food court interiors.

A fresh baked baguette (by Justin North as reported here) is more soft and chewy rather than crunchy as expected, which made cutting it a little difficult. The roll has a few salad leaves and dressed Spencer Gulf wild king prawns – eight at count – in a sauce more like mayonnaise than pink-ish cocktail sauce.

Spencer Gulf wild king prawn cocktail

The prawns are cooked to the point of just, retaining a fresh softness and opaque flesh that’s delightful to bite into. They’re well seasoned, just slightly creamy in the dressing, tarted up with a squeeze of lemon.

The roll is served with a handful of house-made potato crisps, which are not quite as crunchy as Kettle but at least obviously potato (as opposed to some packet crisps). They add a great contrasting crispness to the overall meal, although they’re just a bit too oily in flavour. To complete the meal, there was also half a soft-ish dill pickle which was just as sweet as it was sour.

Poached kingfish baguette with potato crisps (left) and pickle (right)

We also had the poached kingfish on a roll, with the same salad and sides. The hiramasa kingfish, also from the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, was as expected, less bold in flavour but topped with chopped parsley and a mayonnaise squiggle.

Poached kingfish with mayonnaise

The white flesh was quite firm and mostly subtle and almost a little meaty, nice with an extra squeeze of lemon juice and so many miles away from the idea of a tinned tuna sandwich.

I’m keen to try out the tuna salad or roasted salmon next, and the fish cakes from the hot section – but only if I can get over my current obsession for the prawn roll. Now, thanks to Cloudy Bay Fish Co., we can all go on a summer holiday.