Foodies’ Diary: What’s For Dinner?

Hunt for Dinner
If you follow Duncan Garvey and his Springer Spaniel Pickles around the oak and hazelnut trees on Rosewood Trufferie in the Southern Highlands, there’s a good chance that you might find a great addition to any dinner – a truffle! The one he’s holding is about 150 grams, and they sell for about $3/gram (you do the math)! So $180/head is a pretty good price for a Sunday truffle hunt, which includes watching them weighed and washed before you sit down to a truffle lunch. Book quickly on (0409) 462 141 as this season’s last tour is on August 29th.
www.perigord.com.au

Istanbul Dinner
Take a cheap trip to Istanbul all in one evening with a one of a kind celebratory Turkish dinner at Efendy Restaurant. Chef Somer Sivrioglu will be cooking with Turkish cookbook author Deniz Gokturk (she makes decadent breads and pastries) on Thursday 19th August. You’ll be treated to a degustation type meal with hot and cold mezes, mains, platters of desserts and the chance to get personally autographed copies of the book they came from; all to a background of live Turkish music! It’s a bargain at $55/head; and a chance to eat the food of the only Turkish Chef involved in the Sydney International Food Festival!
www.efendy.com.au

Game Dinner
If you’re an adventurous cook, you’ve probably cooked kangaroo and venison, but do you know what to do with wild boar and guinea fowl? Get some tips at Urban Food Market’s Game Meatup™ dinner, held at Omertà on Tuesday 27th July. You’ll pay $95/head for six courses that include Venison Tartare with Quail Egg and Lemon, matched to Italian wines. If the menu’s not exciting enough, perhaps hearing they had to take possum off the menu due to threats from extremists will pique your interest? It certainly got mine, so book quickly and I’ll see you there!
www.urbanfoodmarket.com.au

Sake Dinner
A cup of warm sake is just the ticket to accompany a wintery Japanese meal, but do you know which one to choose? If not, here’s an opportunity to taste, talk and learn from sake master Toshi Maeda, while you enjoy six courses of modern Japanese cuisine by Raita Noda on Tuesday 10th or Wednesday 11th August. Ocean Room’s harbour side surroundings are not too shabby either, especially when you consider you’ll only be paying $125 a head for food and a handpicked selection of high-grade sake! Book on (02) 9252 9585.

Hi-Tech Dinner
Sydney’s young Asian trendsetters have already discovered this super chic George Street dining spot. It’s an izakaya or Japanese gastro-pub, and the $3.5 million dollar refit is definitely worth a gander. Dine in one of their twenty-four luxurious private rooms (or in high-walled booths) on two hundred menu items! Select your own combination of sushi, sashimi, shabu-shabu, kushiyaki and teppanyaki from a tableside touch screen menu (with photos)! If you’d like to know more, I have a review coming soon…
www.mizuya.com.au

Organically Catered Dinner
If you need some help on the catering front, Forte Catering & Events have just become the first catering company in Sydney to offer an exclusively organic menu.  Nothing impresses more than throwing a soiree with great food and a social conscience! These guys will up your ethical ante by using local suppliers (within a hundred mile radius) for most of their seasonal organic ingredients. Dishes like baked goats cheese pannacotta with roasted pears and red elk salad sound pretty yummy too!
www.fortecatering.com.au

Coeliacs to Dinner
If someone in your friend/family has Coeliac disease, or is intolerant to gluten for another reason, brush up on recipes and find suitable ingredients at the 2010 Gluten Free Expo on Friday 6th August and Saturday 7th August. There will be live cooking demonstrations from chefs including the popular Teresa Cutter from Channel 7’s Sunrise; a gluten-free café and of course lots of product samples. So you’ll be cooking gluten-free dinners in no time!
www.glutenfreeexpo.com.au