Tag Archives: Sydney chilli blog

Restaurant Review: Berowra Waters Inn

20 Jan

OK, so this isn’t a chilli related post. But whatever, it’s about food and I felt like writing about it.

For Pruey’s Christmas present I got her seaplane flights, and lunch at Berowra Waters Inn, on the Hawksbury River.

Berowra Waters is back in the hands of Tony Bilson, to some controversy, considering his unpaid creditors from previous ventures. Who cares, this is open, and it’s amazing.

I think the best way to review restaurants is by captioned photos (see below).

Visiting Berowra Waters by seaplane has to be one of the world’s greatest dining experiences. The whole package is faultless. The biggest issue with Berowra Waters Inn is that I am worried they will not have enough patronage to survive. We were there on a warm/overcast Saturday and there would have only been 10 other diners. Now it is true that there has been some disgustingly hot weather in Sydney lately, and there have been bushfire in the Hawksbury area, but this restaurant seriously needs more bums on seats.

I am calling out, all you Sydney arseholes, who pose around every weekend, have massive benders. Just forgo one bender and visit this place. I promise you will have the time of your life, and you will be helping to ensure others can continue to appreciate this amazing experience, into the future.

Pro’s: Seaplane view, food, wine, service, location, atmosphere

Con’s: No air con, expensive, lack of unusual wines matched to the food

Rating: 8.5/10

To book: http://www.berowrawatersinn.com or http://www.seaplanes.com.au

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Pruey and I about to board the plane.

The view of Sydney.

The view of Sydney.

The restaurant from the water.

The restaurant from the water.

Couple of glasses of Gosset Rose to kick off proceedings.

Couple of glasses of Gosset Rose, to kick off proceedings.

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Amuse-bouche (I fucking hate that word). Parsely macaroon with tuna tartare in middle was best. The eel thing at the bottom was amazing too and tasted like salmon dip.

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Foam and jelly cop a lot of flack from food writers, who love making huge statements, to drum up attention. Fuck those imbeciles. If something is good, it’s good. Foam and jelly in this dish is rad. This dish had a couple of plump oysters, hidden under a laying of jelly, beneath this foam. Probably best oysters I’ve ever had.

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Confit ocean trout, with smoked milk and wild rice, was incredible. I enjoyed the theatre of this dish, as the waiter poured consomme over it, the crisped skin on top sounded like rice bubbles crackling. The fish was just set and the textures of this dish were amazing!

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This was called ‘Vegetable Garden’. It was pretty much just that. Very nice, for vegetables. Bring on the meat!

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This was roasted duck with peach. It was matched with an awesome Pinot from Dexter in Vic. I love duck and this didn’t disappoint. It was nice watching the ducks swimming in the river, from the top of the food pyramid.

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This was the best dish. Slow cooked beef rib (40hrs @ 69C apparently) with potato terrine, truffle mash and cos. The beef was soft and unctuous; the terrine was crispy; and the truffle mash was unbelievable. It could have done without the cos.

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Cheese plate with cheddar and caramalised red onion sorbet. I like this but i much prefer your traditional cheese board with some fruit bread or something.

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Dessert was called ‘Tropicana’ and was a mixture of different techniques. It was nice and pretty. I forgot to take a photo of it, so here is a picture of the house churned butter (great current fad!) with volcanic salt, which I preferred to the dessert anyway. Fat bastard!

Product Review: Desert Pepper Habanero Salsa

18 Jan
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Shits on supermarket salsa.

Whilst on a chilli buying rampage – at Blackwattle Deli (Sydney Fishmarkets) – I picked up a jar of this salsa for $5 from a bargain bin!!!! What an absolute bargain. In hindsight I didn’t check the best before, but it didn’t make my guts any worse than they already are, so happy days.

The Desert Pepper website describes the salsa as:

“Sell your soul and steel your taste-buds for a red-hot descent into the fiery pit of flavor.  It’s an unholy alliance of tropical habaneros and molten jalapenos that’s hotter than Hades, and viciously delicious.  Feel the burn.  Because you know you’re a glutton for punishment, and this salsa will leave you begging for more.”

Their analysis of their own product is half right and half wrong. While the salsa did “steel my tastebuds” and is “viciously delicious”, it certainly does not deliver on its satanic promises of a “descent into the fiery pit”.

It is a very fruity and tomatoey salsa with lots of big fresh chunks of stuff. This is the perfect salsa to replace supermarket rubbish like Doritos or Old El Paso salsa.

There is enough heat there to be interesting but its nothing crazy.

Other than the lack of heat, I also thought the salsa wasn’t salty enough. This could play into its favour though when paired with mega salty foods like chips or tacos.

This one is well worth the buy, especially if you can get it for 5 bucks!!!

Heat Rating – 2/10

Taste Rating – 7.5/10

Ring Sting – 0/10

Pros – Fresh, fruity

Cons – Lack of heat, not salty enough

Price – $5

Purchased from – Blackwattle Deli at the Sydney Fishmarkets

Product Review: Mad Dog 357 – 357,000 Scoville Hot Sauce

15 Jan
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Yuck!

This sauce tastes like shit. But – fuck me – she strong!

I’d heard about this bad boy being hot, so I bought a little bottle to try. I only went for the small size as I knew this sauce contained extract, which can lead to unpleasant taste.

I took the thermonuclear vessel into work, to enjoy with my meat and veg. Turned out I was working with my buddy – Kilby (as featured in previous Tassie posts). He is a brave man and despite having a relatively limited exposure to extreme heat, he decided to join me in a world of burn!

We probably ingested about a teaspoon each with our food, and we were both in trouble. Firstly it tastes like arse crack. A very fake, bitter, chemical flavour that overwhelms whatever you put it with. The heat is immediate and intense. A very sharp and even heat. Somehow I got some in my throat and it made me gag.

This sauce is not recommended for anyone. It’s hot and doesn’t taste good. I can name some sauces equally as hot that taste nice, so don’t bother with this one.

Despite the sweat and tears, we had a ball. Below are some photos that document the fun we had.

Heat Rating – 8.5/10

Taste Rating – 1/10

Ring Sting – 7.5/10

Pros – Very hot

Cons – Use of extract, bad flavour

Price – $10

Purchased from – http://www.chilemojo.com.au

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Disclaimer on bottle. Neglects to inform the consumer about the taste of bum.

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Rest of disclaimer.

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Kilby drawing in the big ones!

A Progress Report

13 Jan
Nice hot cup of tea. Lovely

Nice hot cup of tea. Lovely

I thought I’d make a post today about my progress towards my goal of becoming a chilli-master.

When I first started writing about eating hot food, it was with the intention of increasing my heat tolerance. I have since discovered a whole world andof chilli!

My tolerance for chilli increased rapidly initially, and I have now got to the stage where pretty hot food, doesn’t worry my mouth. However, this week I have hit what I call the chilli wall. I was testing a super hot sauce and afterwards I experienced intense gut ache. This lasted for a couple of hours. I rested from chilli that night. I got back on it the next day, but experienced the same pain, with sauces I would normally laugh at. So yesterday I had a very easy chill day (only seriously hot meal was 2 habanero’s in my omelet). Now I feel ready to keep pushing the limits!

Initially I was concerned about ring sting. I have come to believe that tolerance to ring sting increases just as rapidly as the mouth tolerance. We could test this theory by forming a human caterpillar and rating the arse-to-mouth heat experience.

Once you start looking, there is a whole world of chilli products out there. For instance: today I consumed a chilli tea from T2. It was  a delicious fruity tea that had a lovely hint of heat on the lips and throat. I can highly recommend this.

What I have really noticed with chilli is that it brings people together. Everyone is familiar with it, and as such can relate with one another’s experiences. I love seeing how interested (and bewildered) people are to hear about my endeavors. Equally I love hearing about their chilli experiences. I have been given gifts of sauces, fresh chilli and dried chilli, from many people I know, and have given chilli to others around me. I love seeing peoples willingness to try something hot. I think it says a lot about a person if they are willing to try something new, even though they know it will cause them pain.

I have a huge stockpile of chilli’s and sauce to get stuck into. So stay tuned for more posts about this wonderful fruit!

P.S. This post is way too prim and proper, so here is a link to the definition of chiligasm:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chiligasm

Product Review: Boomslang Ghost Pepper Sauce

11 Jan
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The Boomslang! pictured here in it’s native habitat – my desk at work.

Santa you fucking prick! You slid this sauce into my limp stocking and have caused me days of excruciating toilet time ever since.

The Boomslang is a South African tree snake known for it’s large size and deadly venom. The name suits perfectly. Consuming this sauce is like suckling directly on the fang of one of those slimy bastards.

The heat comes from one of my favs – The Ghost Pepper – with some help from extract to take the heat to the next level.

Hot sauces tend to come in small bottles, which means I go through them quickly. Even though this is in the standard 147ml bottle, I am definitely not going through it quickly. A mere tablespoon is enough to leave me drooling and tripping out. I leave this sauce in my drawer at work and amuse my colleagues with fits of sweat and snot.

The flavour is good – smokey and deep. However, due to the use of extract and level of heat you don’t get much of a chance to taste this one.

I recommend this sauce for serious chiliheads who are more interested in being a hero (me!), than enjoying flavours.

Heat Rating – 8/10

Taste Rating – 5.5/10

Ring Sting – 7/10

Pros: South Africa theme, hot as the devil’s fart

Cons: Use of extract

Price – present

Purchased from – Christmas stocking, however I know you can get this on from http://www.chilemojo.com.au

Tassie Christmas: The Taste

6 Jan

I hadn’t been to The Taste for a few years due to previous experiences of shit food and no seats. I had heard that these issues had been fixed so I linked up with Pilby, Daf and Mad Dog for a Taste power session.

We had an absolute ball trying different beer and getting maggot. I also ate the hottest thing I’ve had so far!

I went to The Taste for a second time with Pruey and the family, for a more civilised experience.

Both attendances were bloody fantastic! I will be there again next year for sure!

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The crew. Note the size of the cup tower in Pilby’s hand. I’m being pretty sensible at this stage. As a side note the Moo Brews were the highlight beer and reasonable at $7.5 a schooner.

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Here I am with my first hot dish. It was some sort of thai beef salad from the legends at Vanidols. I had heard their duck curry was a bum stinger so I went to them for that. Allas they weren’t serving it at The Taste so I requested their hottest dish, with specific instructions for it not to be the watered down rubbish for bogans, I wanted it hot like they have it! It was bloody tasty and bloody hot.

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After the beef salad I took my empty plate back to Vanidols as a trophy to my chilli powers. I told them it wasn’t hot enough and I wanted the hottest thing they had ever made (this seemed like a sick idea, probably as a result of the beers consumed in the foreground). They made me a small beef curry, the size of my hand, and loaded that bad boy with chilli flakes. It was hot. hottest thing I had ever eaten at that stage. It sent me sideways, as Prue can attest, after my behaviour when she picked me up 🙂 I blame it on the chilli and not the alcohol.

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Here’s me being being a good boy with Pruey on my second visit. I ate some chilli mussels but they weren’t very hot. I had some Ethiopian curry but that wasn’t hot either. Basically nothing hot this night except Prue 😉

Tassie Christmas: The Chilli

3 Jan

I’m from Tasmania (probably why I’m such an idiot). So for Christmas I thought it best to go and visit the family and get into the Christmas cheer. Oh, and also go hard on the chilli!!!

Tassie isn’t the greatest place to have a chilli related experience. Due to the cool climate, chilli’s aren’t a great crop in Tassie. Despite this I managed to acquire some intense sauces and meals.

I thought the best way to summarise my Tassie experience would be photos with captions. I’ll split the 10 day trip into 3 posts.

I’ll give these sauces a full review in the near future.

Enjoy…….dickheads

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The Chilli Factory – Devil’s Delirium: I got this sauce from Mundy & Sons butchers in Hobart. Fuck it’s hot. I thought this was a fitting purchase being in the land of the devil. Mad Dog looks pretty pleased with himself, note that this photo was taken before he ate the sauce!

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I had a kick-arse brekky at Pump House and requested some Tabasco, they brought me this – much better than Tabasco! Still not very hot but great on their baked eggs with chorizo.

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Johnny M cooked Mad Dog and I a beautiful feast up at the lakes. We tried our best to ruin it with the Boomslang sauce (pictured on the table). Despite the head exploding and arse bursting heat of the sauce, the meal was epic!

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I was stoked to find a chilli chocolate within a mix from Norman and Dan! Unfortunately this is a gimmick. It had a nice fruity flavour, but no discernable heat.

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My uncle Doozie had this bad boy on offer for Christmas day. She hot! A very delicious sauce from an Aussie manufacturer.

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Christmas eve dinner at Pruey’s. Note the nearly empty jar of Devil’s Delirium next to my thumbs up. We went super hard on that sauce.

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This is why the Devil’s Delirium was nearly empty in the previous photo. Fresh baked bread at Mad Dog’s shack, fucking coated in molten lava. This fucked us hard. Good times, good times.

Product Review: The Chilli Factory – Turbo Supercharge Extreme Hot Habanero Paste

30 Dec
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The Old Boy – Johnny P – with an appropriate look of intrigue and fear on his face.

Fuck yeah another cracking Aussie sauce!

This one came as a gift from my mate Drew and was previously mention in my review of Queenie’s restaurant.

Holy chili gods! What an anus puckeringly good sauce!

The heat in this is derived from habaneros who make up a staggering amount of the sauce volume – yiewwww! Lots of sauces get their heat from chili extracts, which means they can pretty much be as hot as you want to make them. The downside of extracts is that they have an artificial chemical taste. For this reason chiliheads much prefer naturally heated sauces.

This sauce has an amazing fruity flavour, almost banana-ery. It is a nice globby consistency and went so well with the pulled pork sanga, I first tried it with.

Watch out though, this one is pretty hot. The heat doesn’t linger too long though but it gets on you lips so please watch where you put you mouth after eating this one 😉

Can’t wait to try more sauces from The Chilli Factory, this is only their 4th hottest or something!

Heat Rating – 6/10

Taste Rating – 7.5/10

Ring Sting – 3/10

Pros: No extract, flavour, Aussie co.

Cons: Small container, no funny labeling 😦

Price – Dunno got as a gift

Purchased from – Gift from legend Drew but he got it from The Chilli Factory’s stall at The Rocks Market. Also they are online: http://www.thechillifactory.com.au

Restaurant Review: Queenie's – Surry Hills

20 Dec

On Wednesday night we assembled the core candle crew – PJ, Drew, Pruey, Clay and myself – and hit up Queenie’s, above The Forresters, in Surry Hills. This is a newish, Jamaican themed restaurant, done in the increasingly popular ‘authentic’ sort of decor. This is all good as long as it works, and in this case it does. It has a cosy but cruisy sort of vibe.

Drew, having learned of my Chili exploits was kind enough to bring me a pot of The Chilli Factory’s Turbo Supercharge Extreme Hot Habanero Paste, as a Christmas present. Hell yeah!!!!

This is Drew - legend!

This is Drew – legend!

Queenie’s is amazingly hipster as evidenced by the waitress showing side bra, and a guy sitting across from me in a Danzig cut-off shirt (I like this as long as it’s not an ironic gesture).

I had to attend the bathroom upon arrival, due to pre-loading (that’s what the kids are doing these days isn’t it?) on some Moo Brews and Mumm. It’s a bloody unisex bathroom! This sucks on a number of levels, but I’m sure in a pub-restaurant, it sucks worse for the girls sharing with us! I had to wait for a stall, and as the girl came out we made eye contact, and had a moment of understanding about what she had just been doing, and what I was about to do – awkward! No fucking paper towel either, so shit.

Back to the table and straight into some Red Stripes Jamaican Lager. A nice, flavourless, quaffable beer. Other beers consumed were Moritz and Palma Cristal. Pretty much the same description. The only beer we didn’t have was Dos Equis. Pretty lean and flavourless beer menu but it went well with the food and vibe, so whatever.

Weirdo drinking Red Stripe

Weirdo drinking Red Stripe

We started with some bbq corn that came coated in coconut and a spicy mayo. Great little dish, even if I was left picking my teeth. The sweet corn couple with the smokey bbq and fatty coconut was a hit.

Don't know whats more appetising - The Corn or The Clay?

Don’t know whats more appetising – The Corn or The Clay?

Also for starters we had the fried plantain (like an unripe banana). This was also a ripper dish especially dipped in the creamy aioli. My photo of this was too shit to post.

They had some chili sauces on the table but these weren’t very hot so I cracked the habanero sauce, Drew gave me. BOOM! Great sauce. Hot as anything I’ve had, and made by an Aussie company (full review in the next few days).

Drew's generous gift - Hot Sauce!!!

Drew’s generous gift – Hot Sauce!!!

Onto mains and I couldn’t go past the pork neck feast recommended for 3-4 people. I got PJ and Pruey on board for this. It came out and I immediately knew I’d made a mistake. Too small. Prue hardly ate any and PJ and I shared the rest, but it definitely does not deserve the title of a ‘feast’. I reckon I could have easily eaten this whole thing myself. It was amazing though, and cheap at $35. It came with buttered rolls, sweet potato fries (kick arse) and slaw (fresh and tasty). I loaded up my rolls with some of Drew’s hot sauce, a slab of pig neck and some slaw. There were no bones in the neck, the only bone was in my pants. This dish is awesome and perfect with some really hot sauce.

Shit picture of the 'feast'

Shit picture of the “feast”

PJ demonstrating how to eat pork neck

PJ demonstrating how to eat pork neck

For dessert we went up to Crown St to get an ice-cream from Gelato Messina. There was a line coming out the shop and down the street! Fuck that. I’m not a huge cold dessert fan so in my opinion no ice-cream is worth lining up for, especially with all the pencil neck hipsters.

Dickheads

Dickheads at Messina Gelato

Pros: Cheap, tasty, pork neck!

Cons: Unisex toilets, hipsters, not enough hot sauce options

Rating: 6.5/10

Web: http://www.forresters.com.au/queenies/

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First World Chili Problems

20 Dec

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