Simple Simon met a pieman

Going to a fair

Says Simple Simon to the pieman

Let me taste your wares

Says the pieman to Simple Simon

Indeed I not have any

Simon has got the right idea of tasting some delicious pie! Fortunately I remembered to bring some cash up to Cowan because to drive all the way and not get pie would be plain torture! Once again, the pie of Pie In The Sky has lured us with its’ awesome tasty force. So a quick 40mins later Here Comes the Food

Beef, Bacon & Cheese; Lamb Satay

Pupu‘s beef, bacon and cheese was a good combination of tender beef chunks and salty specks of bacon. There was only a small layer of cheese on top which could be improved on like if they injected cheese throughout the whole pie XD. I am still raving on about all their lambs pies so I decided to give the lamb satay a go. It did have good tender chunks of lamb but the sauce was not really satay enough in my opinion. The pastry, as usual, was beautifully flaky and crispy on top and soft around the sides and bottom.

Lamb, Honey & Rosemary; Chicken & Corn

My all-time favourite PITS pie is the lamb, honey and rosemary ^^! Deliciousness with each bite as the slight sticky and sweet honey contrasts beautifully with the fresh, aromatic rosemary. Each chunk of tender lamb oozes these two flavours and it makes you just go “mmmmmmmmm” with delight. The chicken and corn was pretty decent with sweet bursts of corn along with pieces of chicken but did not give the same impact as the lamb for me.

Blueberry; Apple and Rhubarb

I absolutely adore these cute little dessert pies with a decent sugar coating, buttery and crumbly pastry and gooey filling but they need to be served warm! It would have been good to be able to heat them up like what this Penguin did hee hee but I wouldn’t be able to wait that long to take them home first! The apple and rhubarb was a new one and it was very good with a great mixture of apples and rhubarb.

Chips

Seph also got a plate of chips to share. The thin fingers of golden goodness were freshly fried with a nice big crunch accompanying each bite. They do look like Maccas fries though don’t they?

Delicious pie with a great view and warm rays of sunshine… ahhh pure bliss ^^!

Can you spot the Pies in the Sky ? hee hee

Previous PIT Stops:

Pie in the Sky (PITStop) – Cowan, Sydney (2)

Pie in the Sky (PIT Stop) – Cowan, Sydney

Pie in the Sky

1296 Pacific Hwy

Cowan NSW 2081

Ph: (02) 9985 7018

Open 7 days

Monday to Friday 9am-5pm

Saturday to Sunday 8am-5pm
FFichiban

To be honest, I had not planned on doing any of the Let’s do Lunch during this SIFF period but when I laid my eyes on THIS, I think my heart actually skipped a beat. This “7 Deadly Sins” was my kind of meal because as I was reading about it, I could feel my left atrioventricular valve slamming shut. After wiping up the drool, a booking was made promptly afterwards.

When we reached the 2^nd level of the hotel at Star City I felt a strong Spanish theme from the restaurant. Obviously from the big hunky bull statue and the ceiling of red capes, similar to the ones matadors used.

We were greeted quite friendly by the man attending the desk but he quickly turned very defensive as there had been a problem with our booking. I had booked through the number on the SIFF site and made an 11:30am reservation but the restaurant did not open until noon (Note: Book through the number on their actual site to avoid any hassle). We had no problem waiting half an hour, if anything a little bit disappointed the lady I booked with did not tell me or contact me, but kept trying to justify that it was not his fault and was beginning to be slightly rude so that was a bad first impression.

We did get another good look at the “Shoot the Chef” photos during our wait and rest in some comfy seats

A 30min wait until being seated and another 30min wait as the kitchen started with their first LDLs of the day. It was a long wait especially since we could hear sounds of deep frying bread but it was worth it Here Comes the Food

At first I was wondering, “My that is a big plate for just a spoon” but then I realized it was the bread plate hee hee silly me -__-; I also had to take an obligatory shot of the cute cow on the butter

As soon as the food came all the bad service was forgiven starting with the warm and crusty sourdough. Fresh and warm just the way I like it, especially butter just melts as you spread it on ^^!

Seven deadly sins: Mixed grill of black pudding, duck-fat-fried bread, quail egg, wagyu sausage, bacon, duck hash and devilled kidneys ($35)

I was pleasantly surprised to see a green smear of pea puree with the 7 deadly sins (which probably resulted in too many complaints haha). Each component of this dish contributed to the meal with its own unique flavor or texture. I found that they all harmonized very well with each other, probably because everything either had blobs of fat or fried in fat.

It may be called Seven Deadly Sins but I only spy the one sin…. Just seven times

The pea puree was a good cutter through the grease and fat and added an enticing creaminess to the dish. The bacon was a good salty hit as well as tender to the bite. The black pudding was not as strong as the ones I am used to but it was filled with blobs of fat that pop flavor throughout the mouth. The wagyu sausages were the least impressive of them all but was still very tasty. The duck-fat-fried bread was delightfully sinful with the fat oozing flavor with each crunch of the big crouton. The quail egg and duck hash were done very well as well and made a good break for when you ran out of puree as there was only lean duck meat. The devilled kidneys were actually devilled liver as mentioned by Minh [http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2009/10/21/siff-lets-do-lunch-seans-kitchen/]. There wasn’t the strong liver taste and the texture was very refreshing for liver which I enjoyed immensely.

Although we had a frosty start here, the food and atmosphere was brilliant and so was the service after we had been seated. Gluttony sure tastes good…

SIFF 2009:

Sugar Hit #3 2009 – Sheraton on the Park

Sugar Hit #2 – glass brasserie, Hilton Sydney

Sugar Hit #1 2009 – Azuma Kushiyaki

Sean’s Kitchen

StarCity Casino, Level 1, 80 Pyrmont Street
Pyrmont, NSW 2009
Ph: (02) 9657 8767

http://www.seanskitchen.com.au/

FFichiban

I thought we might start a segment on Foodie Bloopers on my cooking mishaps with poorly drawn pictures just for funsies (otherwise it would just be just me displaying my not so great baking prowess hehehe).  This one happened earlier this week.

I found a lovely recipe for lemon poppy seed cake from taste.com.au for an evening of baking.  Everything was going wonderfully – with pin point  measurements and oven ready to go at the right temperature.   But then came the time to check if the cake was cooked through…

At about 40 minutes (the recommended time) I pulled the tray out to put the skewer in (please refer to picture):

Due to my poor judgement of my unusual heman strength and speed of my baking arm had + the forces of physics (which I can’t particularly explain) the pan decided to go the other way…

So the pan then decided to follow one of Murphy’s Laws (so that it makes my day even better ) and decided to land top first at the bottom of my oven ><

So lesson learned – don’t pull out the oven tray out too fast with your baking arm or stick the pan to the bottom of the oven tray… whichever – works for you   But on upside the cake still tasted amazing! Even the stuff stuck to the bottom of the oven hahahahaha

Referenced taste.com.au recipe: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/6848/lemon+poppy+seed+drizzle+cake

Note: It was an excellent cake but I think it needed more lemon zest and juice for a stronger lemony flavour, even with the added drizzle.

Bon Appetit!

Cupcake ^^