Travel Dixon Street to Kiroran Silk Road Uygur

There are at least three different  Uygur (or Uighur) restaurants at the northern end of Chinatown's Dixon Street, each similar but with slight differences in appearance and menu subtleties.

It was actually a tweet from Neil Perry that confirmed the name of the restaurant for me a few weeks after I'd eaten there, as the carpet wall hangings, red tablecloths and extreme yellow light were quite unforgettable.

Cucumber with Uygur garlic sauce from Kiroran Silk Road Uygur, Dixon Street, Haymarket

The group order for “20 lamb skewers, please” forced me to the salad and vegetable options pretty hastily, starting with the cucumber salad smothered with a Uygur garlic sauce. It was crunchy and refreshing in a garlicky way; the pungency of which didn't remain on the palate too long.

Braised eggplant with capsicum

There was unanimous agreement on the spicy eggplant dish with capsicum and onion, although it probably was not as healthy as the mere presence of a vegetable might imply.

Most likely deep fried before being smothered in a very mildly spicy brown sauce, the eggplant was comfortingly delicious. Steamed rice would have been perfect but the Turkish style bread more than sufficed as a carbohydrate side.

Chicken hot pot with hand-made noodles, potato and chilli

Faced with the decision of a small or large serve of the chicken hot pot, we thought just two vegetable dishes, in addition to the 20 skewers, between six people would have warranted the large hot pot.

As it turned out, the large was pretty big. The huge flying saucer of a dish was filled to the brim with bone-in chicken pieces, potato chunks and countless whole dried chillies. Submerged beneath the fiery red sauce were flat, thick handmade noodles of a most chewy, al dente texture.

The noodles softened as they soaked in the red chilli sauce, picking up all the flavour and chilli heat – of which there was plenty. The earlier cucumber salad played saviour to our burning tastebuds, as did the BYO wine (no corkage!).

Lamb skewers

But for the feature, and what we were really here for, 10 lamb skewers to a plate – one normal and the other spicy. After the catch-in-your-throat spice of the chicken, I decided to stick with the milder lamb skewer option which was generously covered in cumin and other spices.

Carefully removing the lamb from the not-too-sharp metal skewers, it was impressively tender with a bit of necessary fat and so much fantastic flavour. Any gaminess in the meat was hidden beneath the cloak of spices which itself was a marvel of flavours.

We managed to finish most everything on the table and get away at a very reasonable price per head. While I'm not sure I can tell the difference between Kiroran Silk Road Uygur and the other Uighur restaurants at the same end of Dixon Street, I can tell they're worth the travel, especially if it's good enough for Mr. Bourdain.

The White Hart: Drinks with a side of novelty

While I've been kind of oblivious living life south of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, parts of the north (that is, anything over the Bridge) have been blossoming with restaurants and bars that are actually worth the road toll over.

Neutral Bay is definitely a suburb on the rise, which is where I found myself one early evening at The White Hart; a British styled drinking house which was surprisingly busy for an early-in-the-week weeknight.

Summer Garden Martini at The White Hart, Grosvenor Street, Neutral Bay

I really just wanted a drink but I was convinced to have one of the more experiential cocktails that had just launched on the menu. The Summer Garden Martini incorporated a cocktail, both olfactory and auditory aspects, and a bit of hands-on gardening.

The props were admittedly adorable: the tiny shovel, rake, pot plant and dry ice filled watering can. I was to distribute the dry ice around my astroturf grass while regularly spritzing with a grass-scented spray as I drank. Post drink, there was an iPod tune to listen to, to really get into the whole summer garden scene.

Martini from the summer garden

There were still a few refinements to be made to the cocktail setup, including that of making sure the coupe-glassed cocktail could remain steadily upright on the astroturfed serving board.

The featured martini was essentially the UK Martini on the normal menu: Plymouth gin, fresh cucumber, elderflower cordial and apple juice - far from classic but very easy to drink. While spritzing grass frangrance, of course.

Absinthe snakes in edible soil

During or after the martini, there was also the matter of gardening to attend to with my miniature equipment. Amid the completely edible soil (of chocolate and several other elements) were "snakes" of sweet absinthe jellies which would be cut up for consumption with the shovel.

The rake came in very handy for afterwards, cleaning out the "soil" from the strands of grass. There was something a little zen garden about it all, as well as childhood playtime and ridiculous novelty, recommended only for those that have a good relationship with the playful child within.

Popcorn with parmesan salt

The White Hart is also on the free popcorn bandwagon with tiny bowls of pre-popped stuff served with a paremsan cheese salt. With a popcorn fiend like me around, the small bowls really don't cut it and we ended up with several refills.

Peppered smoked daiquiri

A little closer to mixologist Grant Collins' work at Zeta Bar was the 'Smoked, Washed & Baked' section of the menu. The Peppered Smoked Daiquiri was a picture of elegance with the grilled, caramelised lime wedge adding some character.

House cedar-smoked rum was the featured booze, shaken with peppercorn syrup and citrus for a very innovative take on the classic daiquiri. The spicy overtones of pepper might be a bit much for some, but I found this cocktail delighful.

Flagon O'mead

A few bowls of popcorn and some gardening had given me the courage to try The White Hart's mead; an in-house created honey wine, served almost Viking-style in a wooden tankard. One sniff should turn off lightweight drinkers as the alcoholic smell is anything but subtle.

There was definitely a noticeable honey flavour beneath the slightly citrusy alcoholic kick, although I probably wouldn't order it again. The trouble was that served in a beer stein-like vessel, I found I was drinking it more like an ale rather than the wine it was.

White Hart Bloody Mary

The British theme continued with the Bloody Mary cocktail involving Belvedere vodka, a dash of port, hot English mustard within the Bloody Mary mix and a Guinness emulsion that darkened the bottom of the glass. It was unlike any other Bloody Mary I've tasted before, mostly in a weird way.

Truffle arancini

There's nothing like a few drinks to get the deep-fried food cravings going, so we picked a few nibbles from the bar snack menu, which I believe Italian chef Danny Russo consults on. The golden panko-crumbed aranicini balls looked the goods, but were let down by dry, cheesy innards scented with truffle oil.

Sweet potato chips with aioli

Much better were the sweet potato chips which were the crunchiest rendition I've ever come across, helped by what looks like a light batter or flour coating. These crunchy surfaced chips retained their soft, sweet innards and were as well matched with aioli as their potato cousins.

While there is the option of proper meals in The White Hart restaurant, we took our leave before the mead kicked in too much and threatened drinkers with falling off the bar stools.

As a drinking hole for the locals, I can definitely see the appeal of The White Hart while for Bridge-crossers, the rather unique novelty of some of the drinks is well worth the Bridge toll at least once.

Swimming with the big fish: Sydney Seafood School with Giovanni Pilu

I don't cook much seafood except fish fillets or prawns. Prawns don't scare me, perhaps as I've been exposed to peeling prawns from a young age. Or perhaps it's that their eyes are more comical than scary.

On the other hand, whole fish are definitely intimidating in the kitchen, so it was a great opportunity to allay some of these fears at the Sydney Seafood School at the Sydney Fish Markets.

Giovanni Pilu from Pilu at Freshwater for Sydney Seafood School,
Sydney Fish Markets, Pyrmont

While the majority of the Sydney Fish Markets look a little run-down, the 2009- refurbished Sydney Seafood School is a designer's delight. All classes at the Sydney Seafood School start with a demonstration in the slick, lecture-theatre styled auditorium.

I'd chosen the four-hour class with Giovanni Pilu, of Pilu at Freshwater and a soon-to-be cookbook author. Specialising in Sardinian fare, Pilu was at pains to highlight that 'Italian' as a cuisine is too broad a categorisation given the significant regional differences in food across the country.

For example, even on the island of Sardinia, coastal cuisine focuses on the abundant seafood harvest while inland cooking is based on pork, lamb, wild game, sheep's cheese and fregola.

Pilu demonstrates cleaning of raw cuttlefish

Pilu practices seasonality in his cooking and restaurant menus, and implored the full auditorium: "Please don't buy imported fruit and vegetables." Australia produces enough fruit and vegetables for 180 million people, he says, and that no asparagus is better than out-of-season asparagus imported all the way from Peru, for example.

Pilu demonstrated three separate dishes that we would be cooking in groups of six afterwards. His multi-tasking and ways with cuttlefish and gnocchi made everything look a breeze, but the class seemed to know better as they studiously read the provided recipes, took notes and closely watched the large television screens above the demo kitchen.

Pilu demonstrates making potato gnocchi

The impressive ease in which Pilu makes gnocchetti, or small gnocchi, even helps me forget my own tortuous experience years ago, although his kipfler potatoes were baked and ready to go (compared to my boiled and waterlogged potatoes).

After approximately two hours of our very own, live, in-person cooking show, we could see and smell the end results. But to taste, we'd have to make our own lunch in the class kitchen next door.

Sydney Seafood School class kitchens

The kitchens for the classes are Fisher and Paykel island setups that include the stovetop, oven, fridge, sink and storage space - indeed, small apartments might well look into this setup.

All the ingredients and utensils were at our disposal, as too help where needed from Sydney Seafood School assistants. This is how cooking should be. Better yet, everything but the Global knives could be dumped into big containers for someone else to wash.

With six people per bench, my group split the three dishes among three couples - and I'd landed the big fish, quite literally.

Snapper

The snapper we received for the main course was longer than your standard size plastic chopping board and heavy too. As possibly my first whole fish to be cooked in the kitchen, it was big one to remember.

The monster snapper was already cleaned and scaled while Pilu recommends not washing fish in water but wiping it clean, inside and out, with paper towels so as not to potentially lose flavour into the washing water.

Fresh snapper should have perky, not sunken eyes; firm pink flesh; and a pleasant sea smell and our specimen certainly complied. For ease of cooking and subsequent eating, Pilu tells us to take off the gills and excess tail; where gardening scissors come in very handy or in our case, a massive cleaver for trimming the tail.

The snapper - scored and salted

Another cute tip Pilu gives us is that for presentation, the fish's stomach should face oneself while the head should be facing left, "otherwise it's upside down".

To cook, we scored the large snapper several times down to the bone (on one side only in this case) and generously patted the skin with salt flakes, which helps achieve a crispy skin.

Grilling the snapper on the stovetop

The snapper gets the stovetop grill treatment ahead of 25 minutes in the oven with juices, and flipping the scored side over is definitely the hardest part. After a good ten minutes we could see that the flesh in the centre was still raw pink, but ripe for some flavours to be introduced.

Snapper scattered with garlic and green olives

The flavours - as per one of Pilu's restaurant dishes - were Vernaccia (a dry Italian white wine that could be substituted with Vermentino or any other dry white), gorgeously meaty Sardinian Bosane olives, garlic and fish stock which was thankfully pre-made ahead of the class.

Twenty-five minutes in a hot oven with lots of basting with juices would have this snapper ready for lunch, with resting time as per a piece of meat. A sauce was to be made out of the fish's cooking juices, chopped parsley ("not the curly stuff, please," says Pilu) and butter.

Cleaning cuttlefish

Meanwhile, everything else was happening at the same time, including the incredibly messy and finicky job of cleaning cuttlefish. I think most groups battled with burst ink sacs as blackened, slippery fingers tried to remove the cuttlebone, skin and membranes.

Even Pilu's kitchen staff were opposed to having this cephalopod on the menu, which while cheaper than squid, is labour- and time-intensive to prepare.

Once cleaned, the white slices were cooked for all of a minute in a pot of boiling water flavoured with lemon, cloves, bay leaves, pepper, tomatoes and salt. The just cooked cuttlefish was to join a salad of pine mushrooms from Oberon, fennel and Pilu's very own Australian-produced bottarga cured mullet roe.

Baked kipfler potatoes going through the ricer

On yet another corner of the kitchen island, gnocchi was on the go. Pilu had made it look way too easy, although the team effort wasn't too much off his demonstration. Pilu likes to use kipflers although Desiree potatoes can be substituted.

The most time-consuming part for home cooking would be baking the potatoes - a good hour at least to cook them to complete softness. They're best through the ricer still hot, though I seem to remember painful hours with a fork to mash my boiled potatoes years ago.

Rolling long strips of the gnocchi dough

Pilu's recipe uses minimal type 00 flour, one egg, grated pecorino cheese and nutmeg to end up with soft, still fluffy sausages of the potato dough. The gnocchi is made by feel rather than strict recipe instructions, so the small amount of flour needs to be added gradually and not necessarily all of it.

Kipfler potato gnocchi

Chopping them up into small gnocchetti, one could spend the necessary hours rolling each dumpling over a fork for grooves across the gnocchi (it holds the accompanying sauce better), although I'm sure most sane people cooking for six people or more wouldn't really bother.

The gnocchi are cooked in salted boiling water, where it's apparently an Italian habit to use 10 grams of salt per litre of water to cook pasta. Some of the starchy water from cooking pasta can be added to the sauce for more flavour and natural thickening.

Cooking smoky pancetta

The sauce for the gnocchi was pure luxe, starting with batons of smoky pancetta from Pino's Dolce Vita. Although normal pancetta or guanciale cured pork jowl could be used also, the smoky stuff was Pilu's top choice.

The smells coming from the pans of pancetta cooking in olive oil were sublime and the exact aroma that would get mouths watering on command.

Spanner crab and smoky pancetta

To finish the decadent sauce we added prawn stock and the cheat's version of raw Queensland spanner crab meat from a packet (frozen, thawed and likely shell-free but not guaranteed).

Pilu called the combination of surf and turf "nearly a perfect marriage", finished off with a textural contrast of crumbled carta di musica Sardinian flatbread over the hopefully fluffy gnocchi.

Sydney Seafood School dining room

With the cooking done and someone else doing the cleaning, the groups moved to the gorgeously styled dining room to taste the spoils of all our hard work.

Featuring a panoramic image of Blackwattle Bay and the most stunning, nautical-inspired light features, we dined like happy chefs.

Kipfler potato gnocchi, spanner crab and smoky pancetta

With a fair hit of dried chilli, the gnocchi was sensational. Not the fluffiest gnocchi I've ever had but up there, the luxurious sauce starred. The pancetta was an explosion of flavour in every mouthful while the prawn stock contributed an underlying sweetness with plenty of depth, propping up the subtle crab flesh.

Cuttlefish, fennel, pine mushrooms and bottarga salad

Dressed simply with lemon, oil, salt, pepper and a final sprinkle of bottarga, the salad was a refreshing combination that really let the cuttlefish shine. Perfectly tender, and with some chew to the thicker-than-squid flesh, the cuttlefish and fennel washed away the thoughts of black-stained hands with ease.

Snapper with Vernaccia, green olives and parsley

The undeniable piece de resistance of snapper had the most incredible aromas when unveiled. With resting time, the entire huge fish was cooked to perfection and came away from the bone with ease.

A hunk of almost bone-free fish, olive cheeks, cooked garlic, the buttery parsley sauce and bread for mopping up juices - perfection.

(Note this was Pilu's demonstration snapper - we hoed into our fish with much excitement and demolished half of it before I remembered a photo. His looked just slightly better than ours). A fish this size also meant there was plenty of leftovers for another glorious meal.

Sydney Seafood School - a fabulous cooking and dining experience

Our three-course shared lunch was complemented with Sardinian wine and ended with tea and coffee. We left with Sydney Seafood School-branded insulated carry bags which will be perfect for future Fish Markets purchases.

And I think I can safely say, having swum with the big fish at Sydney Seafood School, I'm confident of attempting my own huge snapper at home for a seriously classy and impressive meal.

Sydney Seafood School classes run throughout the year at the Sydney Fish Markets. See more photos at my Facebook page. See Sydney Fish Markets Easter opening hours here.

Food, booze and shoes attended Giovanni Pilu's cooking class as a guest, with thanks to Sydney Seafood School and Inner West Live.