What I'm watching right now: Films for Foodies

Those hoping for a new food TV will be disappointed; there's no new reality TV reigning in my house. Instead it seems it is the season for food film to take the crown. The unfortunate reality is that good human stories of life, love and the senses are not for Hollywood, but support your local independent cinema and seek out these gems. These are all uplifting and heart warming cinema outings.

The Hundred Foot Journey

Helen Mirren stars as the cranky Michelin starred restaurateur faced with the changing times when an Indian family moves into her classical French village and starts a food revolution. Some good laughs and touching moments as family, friendship and the rules of classical cuisine are explored. 

Chef

Jon Favreau's very personal movie project returns him to his Indie roots but show the loyalty he's gained with a stellar cast including John Leguizamo, Sofia Vergara, Dustin Hoffman and Scarlett Johansson. A touching father and son tale with a sidebar of social media blundering hilarity. Do yourself a favour and take the time to listen to Favreau's interview on The Nerdist where he talks at length about how and why he chose to make this low budget film after box office success with the likes of Iron Man.

Le Chef

Jean Reno stars in this quintessentially French film about a 3 Michelin Star chef lost in a post Molecular Gastronomy world. Michael Youn is positively hilarious as the bumbling but lovable Chef with a heart of gold who just needs to keep a job for more than one day. Foodies will recognise some nose thumbing at the likes of Wylie Dufresne, Ferran Adria, Heston Blumenthal and Paul Bocuse. In French with Subtitles.

The Search for General Tso

As a foreigner living in the US American Chinese is... confusing at best, mostly fusion dishes created in East or West Coast kitchens. General Tso's Chicken is one such dish that is synonymous with takeout Chinese food in the US but relatively unknown outside America. This documentary explores the American obsession with a dish that confuses the Chinese. In English with some subtitled interviews in Chinese.

A Tale of Samurai Cooking - A true love story (Bushi no kondate)

Japanese themes of family, loyalty, honour and obsession are explored in this mild but delightful story of a woman with an amazing palette who marries into a family of retainer chefs during Edo Japan. Aya Ueto is delightful as the mild mannered Oharu and Toshiyuki Nishida stars as the warm and fatherly head of clan. The Japanese food ideal of deep local knowledge is explored through Kaga specialties. In Japanese with Subtitles.

What I'm watching right now...

Living in the US is the first time I've had cable TV for any extended period and lets face it my TV is almost perpetually tuned to the Food Network, the Cooking Channel or the Travel Channel. Recently we also discovered that we have seemingly endless 'on demand' options meaning I can search for new shows on my tablet and send them directly to my TV rather than having to chance on advertisements for new shows.

Easy Chinese

Ching-He Huang is a UK raised Chinese chef who makes for a chipper and charismatic host. Each episode of Easy Chinese picks a theme of Chinese cuisine - sweets, celebration food, dumplings and explores eateries famous for each dish. The majority of the show focuses on recipes inspired by her outings rather than the restaurants so this is a show for the chef not the consumer. I love her take on authentic Asian food and for the Asian newbie her recipes are simple and delicious. I was thoroughly amused to see her as confused by American style Chinese food as I was on first contact. If you enjoy Ching-He's style then check out her other how Restaurant Redemption which is a Restaurant Impossible style makeover show for Asian Takeaway joints.

Top Chef

 Well you knew this though right? Top Chef just seems to get better and better with every season. High quality chefs are put to challenging tasks creating new dishes, new restaurants and highlighting their own style. The guests and judges are the creme de la creme of the food world - Tom Colicchio, Wolfgang Puck, Anthony Bourdain, Eric Ripert, David Chang, Daniel Boulud to name but a few. This is the pinnacle of television for those who take their food seriously. Season 11 has been fantastic with some excellent new challenges focused on Creole cuisine in New Orleans.

Man vs Food Nation

Man vs Food is not for the feint hearted; host Adam Richman visits restaurants around the Americas the offer food challenges. In the first three seasons "Man vs Food" Adam himself performed each and every one of the challenges; sometimes he won, sometimes food won. If you despise food wastage or American fast food I suggest you avoid, however it's like watching a delicious car crash. The only problem is that Adam is a wonderful host, and as time went on you could see the impact that the constant gluttony had on his health. Presumably his doctors intervened because now we have Man vs Food Nation; the format is the same, Adam visits local eateries and then a food challenge ensues. The only difference is that now fans of the show perform the challenges and you don't have to watch the same person suffer week after week. Other than the unbelievable challenges Adam visits some wonderful "mom & pop" restaurants all over America that are worth checking out.

Restaurant Express

Restaurant Express is a reality competition show recently added to the Food Network lineup. Each week contestant spin up a pop up restaurant and compete for business; as if each episode was it's own Top Chef Restaurant Wars. The host is Robert Irvine whose grumpy but caring style I love from Restaurant Impossible. The first season was a monumental success and I hope to see more of this show in future.

Giada At Home

Giada de Laurentiis is an Italian born chef with a casual easy presentation style. Giada at Home focuses on authentic family style Italian and Sicilian recipes. Many are simple enough for the new cook and the food is very family friendly if you're looking to feed a clan. I love that Giada uses 'real' ingredients - plenty of good quality oils, flours, meats and full fat cheese. Now if only I could work out how she stays so slim on this diet I'd be happy.

What I'm watching right now...

I watch a lot of food television; in fact with 500 odd channels all I seem to do is default back to the Food Network and Travel Channel. If like many people I know your'e in a country without Food Network or just don't watch live broadcast TV to know what's on then you might find my current TV roundup of interest. Don't worry I still watch Top Chef and I miss the Australian MasterChef like the blazes but these are the 'new finds' and American classics I love.

Restaurant Impossible

I am simply shocked I had not heard of this show until I moved to the US. Robert Irving is like a slightly more lovable Gordon Ramsay. Unlike the US edition of Kitchen Nightmares which focuses on family meltdowns and drama drama drama Restaurant Impossible works on the fundamentals of food businesses. Good food, health code compliance, dish budgeting and service management all feature. Irving with his gruff manliness and delightful sledgehammer wielding ways don't hurt either. I love this show so much I watched 6 Seasons back to back.

The Layover

Anthony Bourdain highlights whirlwind foodie adventures in hot commuter locations like Singapore, Atlanta and Los Angeles. Places you get stuck with no time, no idea what's going on and a 6am airport deadline. As a regular traveller and a Bourdain fan this is perfect content and less derivative than Bourdain's other current TV shows.

Restaurant Stakeout

Gruff but successful business men seems to be the formula America loves but this show is a watchable and somewhat terrifying look into food businesses. The premise is a "when the cats away" scenario where the owner of a business calls in the restauranteur host to identify problematic staff and processes. Armed with many hidden cameras and a series of mystery diners presenting 'challenges' like allergies, forgotten wallets and dropped orders they identify thieves, gamblers, drinkers and shitty servers time and time again. Watch for the episodes where someone is running another business from the owner's restaurant.

Food Network Star

Famous for being the reality competition show that launched the stellar career of Guy Fieri Food Network Star is not a cooking competition per se but a media personality search akin to Idol or X Factor. They're looking for someone who can host a TV show, not necessarily someone who is an amazing foodie. Be ready for some cringe inducing camera tests and the occasional fame hunter.  That being said it's a great insight into the behind the scene creation of a great TV host and you get to see some interesting food along the way.

Eat Street

The gourmet food truck revolution is one that I welcome with open arms. Eat Street is a 'best pick of the litter' guide to awesome trucks from all over the US. They take real small business owners and walk through great recipes and snacks.

Diners, Drive ins and Dives

So you do get a little sick of it on repeat day in and day out but the format is very watchable, Fieri is charismatic and enthusiastic and the food is down home comfort delicious. There's nothing high faluting here but if you like sandwiches, dumplings and great diner food this is very upbeat feel good foodie TV. They also have a great food map for finding locations throughout the US.

Shows to avoid

There is a lot of food TV out there and that means there's a lot of bad food TV. Sometimes bad shows happen to good people. Here are the runts of the litter.

• The Taste - Trying to turn The Voice format into a Food competition based on what amounts to an amuse bouche. Embarrassingly bad.
• Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell - This woman is like a train wreck. Her voice, her hair, her food. It's like Phyllis Diller the Food Star.
• Chopped - This show just seems pointless to me. They run an entire food competition end to end in 1 hour, meaning you have no opportunity to care about the contestants.
• Unique Eats - You know I *want* to love this show about unique food and boutique eateries but the reviews are scripted by the stores themselves and then read by Cooking show hosts. Painful in its delivery.
• Sandwich King - The premise is simple and awesome. Find, make and eat great sammiches. I love sammiches! Unfortunately the hosts speaking style makes me want to eat my own face.
• Mystery Diners - This wants to be Restaurant Stakeout but the host is clueless and the 'mystery diners' are 4th rate actors that stand out like a sore thumb. 

Comics for food lovers

It's Comic Con this weekend, so this is a great time to talk about comics for food lovers. First of all let's start with the fact that Anthony Bourdain food writer and television personality extraordinaire has released a graphic novel Get Jiro! G4 did a great interview with him about the book and how the project came into being.

Video Games - E3 2012

Of course Japan has a comic book for just about everything and as a food loving nation there are many options for great food oriented manga. Here are some of my favourites.


Yakitate!! Japan follows Azuma Kazuma a sort of 'bread genius' who's intent on finding a bread suitable for the Japanese palette and making Japan as famous for bread as France or Germany.

Azuma enters competitions looking to gain a job at the main branch of the Pantasia bread chain, a prestigious job with Iron Chef style battles. Along the way he makes some friends, invents amazing recipes and solves family problems for the Pantasia owners. Watch out for the recipe on how to make bread in a rice cooker.

Oishinbo is probably my favourite comic of all time. It follows Tozai Shimbun a food writer for a Japanese newspaper searching for the Ultimate Meal. The comic focusses on different types and regions of food in Japan, each episode talks about how to find the most amazing ingredients for a dish, or how to improve a dish that doesn't hit the mark. It goes into huge depth on how to prepare foods including filetting fish, polishing rice and how best to store live animals prior to cooking.

For the Japanese food lover this goes into extreme detail on regional specialties, seasonal foods and unusual delicacies in Japanese cuisine. My only sadness is that you can currently only buy 6 collected 'best of' books rather than the 120 or so books that were released in Japanese. There's also an anime TV series based on the manga. I cannot recommend this book enough.


If you're thinking that the title of Iron Wok Jan invokes thoughts of Iron Chef you'd be right, though the Japanese title is Tetsunobe no Jan I assume the translaters were trying to carry on the Iron Chef obsession in America.

The comic follows Akiyama Jan an arrogant young chef with an excellent command of the Chinese cuisine. He heads to Gonbanchou a family owned Chinese restaurant in Ginza to show off his skills. Rivalries and cooking competitions follow of course!




Gokudo Meshi is 'gangster food' a story of a group of gangsters and criminals put away in South Naniwa prison who are obsessed with food. Each year they battle it out for the prized parts of the new years meal by telling stories of the best food they ever ate. Like many great food manga sadly there is no English translation for sale in print however one can easily find copies on Scanlation sites, armed with an eBook reader this presents no problems for keeping up with your favourite food manga. Gokudo Meshi was turned into the live action Japanese movie Sukiyaki in 2011.


Hungry for more? Check out Wikipedia's list of Cooking Anime and Manga for more.

Review: Gordon Ramsay at The London, Los Angeles

As a foodie one can't help but be curious about the ventures of celebrity chefs and so it was that I found myself in Los Angeles and took a detour to the restaurant at The London whose executive chef is none other than Gordon Ramsay.

With a laundry list of food television shows and a history littered with Michelin stars one might expect a lot of things from a restaurant owned by such a man but I'll say that I was sorely disappointed with this venture and thinks Mister Ramsay is better suited to consulting on restaurants than designing them.

To be fair we found ourselves in Los Angeles during Restaurant week and so rather than the tasting menu we were hoping for we were instead treated to an economy 'taster' menu with very limited choices for each course.  The restaurant was accordingly packed to the gills with curious foodies and one very obvious table of wealthy regulars who were given the luxury of ordering off menu. I wonder that had we been able to order the normal menu at reflective prices we wouldn't have been so disappointed and the packed restaurant can't have helped the service. It's a shame because as someone who isn't afraid of a hefty dinner bill particularly when travelling I wonder that I wasn't left with a tainted image of the venue.

It must be said though at $44USD for 3 courses this was a real bargain for a food tourist on a limited budget and if your budget is more limited than my own this would make an excellent way to see champagne dining on a beer budget.

The hotel itself has been recently renovated and is very classy if you subscribe to the Trump ideal of white marble and shiney gold fittings as far as the eye can see.

To start with we were whistled away to a bar to wait for our seating and enjoyed a snack and a cocktail while boggling at the Size 0 starlet wannabes being bought $30 cocktails by men twice their age. For people watching there are few better places than posh restaurants in LA, though I pity the dates purchasing food for their darlings that I can only imagine they pushed around their plate to stay fitting in their dresses.

Charred octopus salad, pee wee potatoes, celery hearts and parmesan

Endive Salad with Candied Walnuts, Baked Goats Cheese

Very unfortunately for me there was a runaway insect in my greens, leaving me to worry heftily about the washing of the ingredients. To add insult to injury it took far too long to get the attention of a server to replace my dish and their attitude as they did was less than ideal. Perhaps diners use this as an excuse to have items taken off the bill but frankly I found this incident alone very jarring. To make matters worse they took some time to replace my dish forcing my partner to eat alone while we waited for another. Very disappointing.

Braised American Wagyu Beef Brisket, grain mustard, eggplant and mizuna

Points given for failing to use the American misnomer "Kobe beef" but otherwise a fairly standard beef dish and nothing exciting.

Roasted Organic Chicken Breast with Sweet Corn Succotash

This at least felt new and interesting to me because of the American splash of succotash, but I do feel let down when I am forced to order a chicken dish in a fine dining restaurant; but there were only 3 choices of mains and the other was a vegetarian risotto which appealed even less.

Valhrona Chocolate Fondant with Salted Caramel

Again this was a well executed dessert but hardly an inspired menu choice, I felt this could have been ordered in any quality restaurant the world over.

Lemon Raspberry Millefeuille

Now this was an item I could admire, smooth lemon custard and fresh ripe raspberries with the usual plate dotting that is all the rage at the moment. 

Coffee and Macarons at additional cost

The Macarons were okay, but I'll take a Zumbo Macaron over these items any day. Again I would have been happier with a higher cost and better service, these take aways were $14USD on top of my meal whereas diners at the likes of Craft are afforded free delights to take home. 

All in all I feel like eating at a Ramsay restaurant was a required part of my foodie career but I think I'll stick to watching him on television. 

Gordon Ramsay at The London, West Hollywood

http://www.thelondonwesthollywood.com

Formal dining

Book well in advance through Open Table 

Great for people watching

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The Equality Dinner at Quay Restaurant, Sydney

With marriage equality and Quay desserts hot on TV this evening it seems to be a fitting time to showcase The Equality Dinner that I attended at Quay Restaurant as part of the Sydney LGBT Mardi Gras festival. Gender and sexual equity is a huge part of my ethical landscape and as a member of my company's LGBT support group I was lucky enough to attend this Black Tie event complete with divine dishes and inspiring speakers. 

As well as an important event to discuss Marriage Equality in Australia it happened to be at the Iconic Quay Restaurant. For those not acquainted Quay is one of the most prestigious and well celebrated restaurants in Sydney. Currently home to Sydney's Chef of the Year Peter Gilmore, holder of 3 SMH Hats and recently celebrated in San Pellegrino's list of the 50 Best Restaurants in the world. Imagine my delight at a dinner at this notoriously difficult to book venue!

While we hear wonderful speeches by the likes of equality advocates Mia Freedman and Dr Kerryn Phelps we were served a series of dishes far elevated from the usual "chicken or beef" so lets take some time to review the deliciousness.

Sashimi of Hiramasa Kingfish, horseradish cream, smoked eel tapioca, horseradish cream, cherry bell radishes, nasturtiums.

Loin of Riverina Lamb with artichoke emulsion, fennel, leek, confit tomato and Arbequina olives.

Roasted Mulloway, stone ground semolina, heirloom carrots, buckwheat, farro and brown butter. 

Petit Fours 

White Nectarine Fool, Moscato d'Asti Grania and White Nectarine Ice Cream

Quay's Seven Texture Chocolate Cake

For those who are fans of foodie television you may recognise this dessert as the recent 'pressure test' menu item featured on the 2012 season of MasterChef Australia

For extra fun a number of charity auctions and raffles were held throughout the evening and as a ticket buyer I walked off with a number of beautiful Becker Minty luxury goods for my trouble.

Quay Restaurant

http://www.quay.com.au/

Formal dining

Expect to book several weeks in advance

Though this was an event ticket without menu prices please expect to pay $300+ per head for food and wine

Upper Level

Overseas Passenger Terminal

5 Hickson Road

The Rocks NSW 2000

Phone: +61 2 9251 5600 

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Review: WichCraft, Rockefeller Plaza (GE Building) New York City USA

Now if there are two things I love in the world it's television and sammiches. There's something just oh so satisfying about a really good sandwich. So when I found out some time ago that Tom Colicchio the celebrity chef and judge on TV's Top Chef had a sandwich restaurant I knew I definitely had to go there.



There are a few WichCraft locations in New York City, including a really beautiful looking one in Bryant Park but it was a little cold for out door eating!



Instead we went to the location under the 30 Rock building which was warm but not overly crowded.



Boylan Soft drinks $2.95USD

I became a little obsessed with these old fashioned soft drinks. They're one of the few drinks you can buy in the US that's sweetened with cane sugar rather than corn syrup. The diet drinks are equally as good. Tips to the Black Cherry flavours which I love and are impossible to find in Australia.



Grilled Gruyere $5.95USD

When it comes to sandwiches as comfort food it's hard to go past a grilled cheese toastie; especially when it's filled with melted Swiss cheese and caramelised onion. Just perfect on a cold winter's day.



Meatloaf Sandwich $9.50USD

This is no small snack, it's a hot sandwich on heavy ciabatta with a thick slice of meatloaf, good quality cheddar, bacon and fresh tomato relish.



Goat Cheese Sandwich $8.95USD

You don't always want a heavy hot sandwich though, particularly after gorging on heavy American food. This sandwich came on a high quality multigrain bread with goat cheese, avocado, celery, walnut pesto and watercress... kind of like a little waldorf salad on a sammich. Om nom nom!

WichCraft is a great upmarket take away food, with fresh light salad options and warmer more filling mini meals. It's not really out of the world amazing food, but in a world seemingly devoid of lighter cafe and bistro food options it was definitely a welcome sight. The food is constant quality, the breads are fantastic which seems a rarity in the US where grain other than corn appears to be very expensive. There were also sides like salad and soup available, hot drinks, imported Asian bottled tea and a number of juices. For the discerning parent there were any number of healthy kid friendly options on the menu. For the fan there's also a cookbook available in store.

Not amazing, but definitely recommended, especially if you can't look another meal with fries in the face.

WichCraft Rockefeller Centre

http://wichcraftnyc.com/
1 Rockefeller Plaza
At 49th street
Concourse Level

No reservations, casual dining
Takeaway available

What a nightmare!

This weekend's planned trip to finally have a taste of Ryo's Noodles was somewhat hampered by car troubles on the part of my dining companion so I consoled myself with a marathon of Kitchen Nightmares USA Season 2.

I've never been as much of a fan of the US version of this show, though on an otherwise empty Saturday afternoon it's certainly entertaining enough for me to have sat through several episodes. The original UK version focussed primarily on what Ramsay seems to believe are fundamental issues with the British restaurant industry; processed foods, poor quality meats, lack of sourcing local suppliers, line cook shortcuts and a lack of relevant marketing ploys. This makes for excellent foodie tv; we see local regional specials, a variety of ways to sell food to niche markets and a genuine change of attitude of chefs and restauranteurs lacking insight or allowing arrogance to rule the business; every episode has a different focus.

The US show does what America seems to like doing to its food; packages it, processes it and makes it predictable. For some things a formula is comforting and induces reliability, in this case it takes the fundamental flavour of the show and dulls it to the point of lacking palatability. Menu reimagining, supplier changes and food quality are still present but completely dominated by an engineered focus on food hygeine standards, front of house makeovers and personal problems, personal problems, personal problems. If I want to watch interpersonal dramas I'll tune into chat shows, I don't want it interfering in my food television, and really I don't care about a father/son relationship as much as I care about the food they create. At times the drama is escalated to the point of embarrassment, and Ramsay seems to present himself as a charicature of his own personality, much of the earnestness we see of him in the F Word and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares is completely lost to this overbearing boogie man of US TV.

The show's Wikipedia entry includes the following quote from a critic that I can do nothing but wholly agree with:

"Whereas the British Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares is fundamentally a food show — it has interesting things to show you about how a restaurant runs and a kitchen works, the wonders of local markets and what you can make from them if you're Gordon Ramsay or willing to follow his instructions — the Fox edition emphasizes mishap, argument and emotional breakdown almost to the exclusion of cuisine" - Robert Lloyd

I know our American counterparts have far more sensitive ears and polite language than our brash Aussie selves however I have to say the constant *BEEP* of the censorship is madenning. One could comment that Gordon Ramsay could tone down his language for the American show however a leopard does not change its spots and I can't say that I find the concept likely. In Australia and the UK there are different laws governing watershed programming as well as shows aired on cable networks that allow parental controls and accordingly this kind of censorship is unnecessary however it is obvious that the censorship of the American version is included in editing rather than at airing as it is intact when I have seen the show on Free to Air in Australia. Intriguingly Hell's Kitchen, Ramsay's US reality competition show, does not suffer the same fate despite being produced for the same US network; one can view it on Australian TV with expletives intact.

During the recent "Food Fight" week on Channel 4 in the UK a number of food related specials were created including a special episode from Ramsay called the Great British Nightmare, in addition to a new Jamie Oliver special and more.

Rant in E Minor - The Raw Food Overture

At our house we've become a little obsessed with Top Chef, competition reality TV is somewhat of a shameful indulgeance of ours, add in an endless array of food ideas and inspiring dishes and we're sold. One thing that I don't understand though is some of their obsessions. Marcel from Season 2 seemed positively obsessed with foams and while they're somewhat novel and can add texture to a dish they have no part on top of a fruit tart, or hidden behind the falsely applied "molecular gastronomy" tag. Recently I've seen no less than 8 variations on a Napolean from starters to mains to shockingly dessert. Of all these though the trend that annoys me the most is their current obsession with raw food, which seems to be a current favourite among American foodies.

Australia in the 1990s came to grips with the fact that we're a lot closer to Asia than our European forebears are happy about. Today the trend continues; Starbucks Coffee houses shut down all over Australia while Easy Way Taiwanese Tea stores continued to thrive, Da Niang opened it's first restaurant in the West in Ultimo, Din Tai Fung did with Taiwanese flare what they had done with stoic Chinese efficiency and Tetsuya's continues to dominate the Australian food scene year after year. Unsurprisingly then sushi has gone from a delicacy, to a novelty, to every day eating, to takeaway food bought from the airport, 7/11 and corner outlets manned by a constant influx of foreign students. We've seen raw seafood in every form with mouth watering traditional sashimi, modern Australian and bringing raw tuna into just about every fusion dish there is. I've seen wide eyed Japanese and lip smacking locals consume a veritable ocean of freshly carved raw animals at the fish market and so putting a garnish on it and calling it avante garde smacks of lack of imagination to me.

This week's "Superbowl Sunday" episode of Top Chef main challenge of 12 dishes contained 1 crawfish crudo, 1 raw miso salmon and 2 prawn ceviches for a full 1/3 of the dishes available. Additionally there are some food choices with this trend that make me think they understand fashion more than food, crudo of scallop with vichyssoise? I have all my teeth, I'd like to use them thanks. Not to mention the warm rock shrimp ceviche and raw ahi tuna in Mexican (not to mention my childish snickering at the mention of fish tacos) just leaves in mind food left in the fishing bucket on a hot day. Leave the raw food where it belongs people and stop trying to force the fashion onto other foods.

Perusing the Chophouse menu this week I note that they have brought some of this American raw "proteins" obession with them a carpaccio, a ceviche and a tartare all appear on the starters menu, add in an oyster dish and a serving of cured meat and I wonder that they're actually cooking anything in that restaurant at all.