Eastern Australia

By Andrew Zimmern on May 12, 2009 12:00 AM | Permalink | 8 Comments

Sydney is an incredible city, and yes, deserving of all the accolades it's received over the years. It is clean, modern and supports an incredible arts scene. Its coast line is ringed with beach after spectacular beach, all within a 10 or 20 minute drive of downtown. The restaurant life is world class. The markets are beyond compare-literally- with shelves and tables groaning under the weight of some of the world's finest meats, seafood, fruits, vegetables, dairy and wine. The people are friendly and warm, and despite some of the wrinkles we had getting to know folks outside of the big city, in Sydney, everyone wants to be your friend. Neil Perry wanted to be mine, and that was a dream come true.

Neil led me on a tour through the Sydney Fish Market to find the best seafood that Neil could use for his innovative and rockstar tasty menu. He cooked for me at Rockpool, one of his many restaurants. The market which has been around since 1945 is the largest market of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and is the world's second largest seafood market in terms of variety outside of Japan (Tsukiji Market). It is located in Blackwattle Bay on the foreshore of Sydney Harbor, where there is a real working fishing port, a wholesale fish market, a fresh food retail market, food and beverage outlets, and a seafood cooking school. Everyday this particular fish market auctions off over 100 species of fish, and annually, the market trades tens of thousands of tons of seafood. Neil grabbed a basket and filled it with:

• Morton Bay Bugs (the animal resembles the back half of a lobster. Essentially it is a walking lobster tail with eyes. It is sweet and succulent and found along the entire coast of the northern half of Australia.)
• Balmain Bug (A type of slipper lobster found in all warm oceans and seas. They are closely related to spiny lobsters and furry lobsters.)
• Barramundi
• Flatheads (an incredible mild firm white fleshed fish that Neil used in his amazing Firewater signature dish)
• Mud Crabs

You can take all your bushtucker (country food) and all your Mod Oz (contemporary innovative big city food that over uses bushtucker in the extreme) and wrap it in a ball and toss it in the Harbour. I could eat Neil's food at Rockpool all day long.

Now, while Sydney offers some exceptional establishments for fine dining I ate at Tetsuya Wakuda's on an off night and had the meal of my life! Food freaks s can also sink their teeth into basic, inexpensive Aussie treats. Drunk tourists all head to the gates of the Woolloomooloo Naval Yard where they can visit Harry's Café de Wheels that was established during the depression selling sausages, floaters and other traditional street fare. I went during the day and stuffed myself silly. I also went out to Bondi Beach and went on a surfing lesson with Big Wave Dave, the king of the Aussie surf hounds. He is also an expert bikini chaser and even clued me in on the way surfers signal to each other that there are hotties on the shoreline so they show off appropriately. After exhausting myself in the ocean, we headed to a local snack bar for :

• Fish and Chips
• Chiko Roll (an Australian snack inspired by the Chinese egg roll and spring rolls designed to be eaten with one hand. Consists of boned mutton, celery, cabbage, barley, rice, carrot, and spices in a tube of egg, flour, and dough, which is then deep-fried.)

Everything tastes better after you crawl out of the ocean.

A word about Australia's national food and cultural icon-vegemite. Located in the Fisherman's Bend, between Sydney and Melbourne sits the Vegemite Factory. Everyone Down Under wishes they lived next door. It's a dark brown, savory food paste made from yeast extract, and is used mainly as a spread on sandwiches, toast and crackers, as well as a filling in local pastries like "cheesymite scroll." It's made from brewers' yeast extract, a by-product of the beer making. The taste may be described as salty, slightly bitter, malty, beef bouillon-ish or rotted vegetable barf. But even though it is a fairly simple food, Australians all have their own way of spreading vegemite. I love the stuff. It's fantastic spread thick on crusty buttered bread with sliced tomatoes.

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