Plus (handmade) mooncake season returns to a long-standing Northbridge Asian grocer.
First there was The Isol(Asian) Cookbook: a self-published lockdown project clapping back at the (so-called) “homestyle” Chinese cooking that was flooding social media at the time.
Then came Chinese-Ish, a cookbook that picked up where Isol(Asian) left off. (At the same time, it also picked up a prestigious James Beard award).
For her next trick, Singaporean-born Rosheen Kaul – former head chef at Melbourne’s Etta as well as a Good Food contributor – is unscrewing the lid on the wide world of condiments.
Introducing Secret Sauce ($39.99, Murdoch Books): an ode to the many sauces of Asia and the ways that they can enrich mealtimes and, by extension, your life.
The revelry kicks off in the afternoon with drinks followed by typically renegade Italo-influenced cooking along the lines of carbonara crostino and Anthony Bourdain-inspired mortadella panini.
Once the tables have all been cleared, the lights go down and the volume goes up as DJs from both camps take to the decks to keep the party and dancefloor heaving until late.
Tickets are $100 and include a drink on arrival, snacks and all the dance floor action your knees and feet can handle. Get them online.
Handmade mooncakes are back at Lotus
With this year’s mooncake festival happening on October 6, mooncake fans have just over a month to drop into Northbridge’s Lotus Vegetarian Grocer to purchase some of Alex Yong’s outstanding handmade mooncakes.
Dense yet also surprisingly featherweight, they’re a wondrous seasonal treat that, with the exception of the mooncakes filled with salted egg yolk, also happen to be vegan.
A beloved osteria (temporarily) goes BYO
Although Post is housed within the soigne State Buildings precinct, its repertoire of polished and comforting Italian cooking gives this contemporary osteria a warm, familiar quality.
Throughout September, team Post is leaning into this homely spirit and letting guests BYO special bottles to enjoy at the dinner – or lunch – table alongside vitello tonnato, pasta and other Post signatures.
BYO is $35 per bottle (750ml bottles of wine only) and only available on Wednesdays. Bookings are recommended.
Bourbon, barbecues and bakeries
Big Don’s Bakery? Mary Street Smoked Meats? The decidedly NSFW-sounding BDSM MSB-style?
You could spin a team-up between Big Don’s Smoked Meats and Mary Street Bakery in many ways, yet the easiest descriptor to reach for would probably be “unmissable.”
Just in time for Father’s Day, team Mary Street is turning Big Don’s popular pecan pie into a limited-edition brioche doughnut piped with Bourbon-spiked pecan pie filling and salted crème pâtissier, then glazed with maple syrup – also doctored with Bourbon – and crushed pecans.
The doughnut will be available as a till special at Big Don’s this Saturday (September 6) as well as at Mary Street Bakery from September 6 to 12. Four-packs of the doughnut can also be ordered online.
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Max Veenhuyzen is a journalist and photographer who has been writing about food, drink and travel for national and international publications for more than 20 years. He reviews restaurants for the Good Food Guide.
