urban odds & ends

During the jam making session with my friend Lisa I finally prepared this traditional australian dessert. It was about time! I don't know why, but back in december in Australia I didn't had the chance to try it but now, with 5 egg whites waiting in the fridge (leftovers from ice cream making ;) ) I jumped right into the adventure.

Pavolva with Strawberries serves 4




5 egg whites
200g sugar
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp starch
250ml heavy cream
250g strawberries, cleaned and sliced

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350F). In a greaseless bowl whisk the egg whites until they begin to thicken. Now add small amounts of sugar while stirring constantly until the sugar is incorporated and the egg whites form stiff peaks. It's perfect if you can turn the bowl around and the egg whites stay in it ;) Add starch and vinegar and whisk for a few seconds. This mass is called meringue should have a silky gloss. Spread the mass onto a greased baking tray - it should be around 3cm thick with a roughly round shape and an even top. Slip it into the oven and decrease immediately the temperature from 180°C (350F) to 100°C (200F). After an hour the meringue has hardened outside with a fluffy inside. For cooling down the pavlova just open the oven door and allow to cool until it has room temperature. Whip the cream and spread carefully on top of the meringue. At least mount the strawberries on top.

My serving tip is to place the pavlova in the middle of your table, give everyone a fork and dig right into "Mount Pavlova"! :)

Kind of Food: Chinese / Thai
Price: Mains between 25 - 40 AUD
Points on the NOM-Scale: *** (1/2 *)

Back in january, we spent our last days of our visit in Australia in Sydney. So we celebrated the last 4 days with plenty of good food. We spent our first evening at Longrain. Located in the artsy quarter Surry Hills, Longrain is placed in a 110-year old converted warehouse featuring a bar and a dining area. We only spent the evening in the restaurant, but the cocktails first of all their stick drink with muddled fresh fruit, vodka and ice are known to be pretty decent.

German chef Martin Boetz serves southern chinese and thai inspired food in a place with a puristic and industrial interior left by the old warehouse, but not cold in atmosphere rather warming accompanied by 
thoughtful and kind waiters. It was no problem arriving there without reservation as they take only reservations for lunch and the private dining room. There are three communal wooden dinig tables with at least 20 seats each "encouraging asian-style banquet dinig". Usually I don't like being seated with people I don't know, but as part of the Longrain experience I gave it a go and I must admit that even if two ladies were seated right in front of us it was really nice. Longrain is a place known for sharing food with your group mates so that you can experience all four different tastes hot, sour, salty and sweet in different combinations.

We had Caramelised pork hock with five spices & chilli and Red curry of grass fed beef with green peppercorns & thai basil both served with steamed jasmin rice. We chose wine recommended by the waitress, which was a good choice nicely accompanying our food.

The meals were really good, I think it was actually the best asian food I've ever eaten. I liked the pork hock more than the red curry, the combination of the sweet pork with the hot and sour vinegar was a really welcoming sweet and sour combination. The meat was perfectly done inside and nice crisp outside. The curry was really delicious too, but the pork hock left a pretty stunning impression. Since some restaurants aren't able to cook rice properly the jasmin rice was cooked well with a good bite.

I definitely recommend a visit at Longrain and I hope more asian inspired restaurants like this will open in germany soon. The prices in Longrain are reasonably but not an everyday meal. I really liked the interior with the clear design and the service. If I lived in Sydney, I would visit Longrain often.
And for the Melbournians: since 2005 Longrain Melbourne is located in central CBD.

Longrain Bar & Restaurant

Sydney

85 Commonwealth St
Surry Hills NSW 2010
(02) 9280 2888

Melbourne

44 Little Bourke St
VIC 3000
(03) 9671 3151