Sunday lunch at The Nut Tree Inn

The boyfriend loves a good freebie. Actually, that’s a lie – he likes any old freebie. He once entered an online competition 3 times to win a Mars football; he doesn’t play football and they sat in the bottom of the cupboard for a year, along with all the mini bottles of shampoo and conditioner that he pockets when he stays in a hotel, until he realised he could get a few quid for them on ebay and sold them (the footballs, not the toiletries, which are still there despite my attempts to shift them).

I had thought that nine months working for a company who not only provides free breakfast, lunch and dinner, but free snacks, 20 per cent free time to spend on whatever he likes, free booze on Friday afternoons plus stock options and big bonuses would have cured him of this obsession, but a fortnight ago we went for a weekend away in rural Oxfordshire and what do you think was the first thing he did when we got to the hotel room? Yep, that’s right; checked the cupboards and bathroom to see what he could loot.

Another of the many perks of his job is that he has two memberships for the National Trust. This is a blessing and a curse.  Don’t get me wrong, I like visiting nice country estates and gardens every now and then, but I do not want  to visit every National Trust property within 100km of London simply because I can do so for free. On the other hand, a trip in the car to a country estate inevitably means pub lunch and, as it turns out, the home counties are choc-a-bloc with great places to eat.

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Orto have been there

Updated on Sunday, May 1, 2011 at 7:55PM by Vix

Updated on Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 12:02PM by Vix

One of the things that sucks about living on the other side of the world from your home town is that you miss some fairly momentous occasions. My regular readers may remember that I missed my sister’s 21^st birthday last year; this made me very sad, but it provided a good excuse to splurge on an extravagant meal for two at Tetsuya’s. Then in March I missed my Aunt Sally’s 60^th birthday hosted by my parents – the first ever gathering of the extended family from the NZ side in Sydney. And now I have been sent photos (along with rave reviews) from the opening night of my sister’s boyfriend’s new restaurant, Orto Trading Co.

Chris Low (some of you will have come to know him as the Windang King), Anne Cooper and Louise Hunt were the team behind Baffi & Mo cafe in Redfern; Anne and Louise were the co-owners, Chris the chef. They sold up last year and took Chris with them.

Turns out the folks that brought us Baffi & Mo, mustachioed cafe at the vanguard of the Redfern rush, also have green thumbs. Orto translates from Italian as 'kitchen garden' and the new bright and airy space in Surry is decked with sprouting bottles, tin pails of potted herbs and garden tools that hang above the kitchen pass. (Cleo Braithwaite)

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Fernandez and Leluu supper club

Updated on Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 12:30PM by Vix

The boyfriend doesn’t take well to surprises. He had been in a strange mood all day. I had put it down to a silly squabble we had had in the morning, but it turns out that he was anxious. I should have taken the hints; he had been desperately trying to gather more information on where I was taking him that evening.

I wasn’t letting on much, but he had managed to ascertain the following: 

• It was not The Streets concert in Brixton (disappointing)
• We were heading East
• There would be food involved
• He could wear trainers (he didn’t)
• He needn’t wear a shirt (he did)

But it wasn’t enough. When I stopped the cab a mile too far down the road without explanation it all became too much.

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Tetsuya's restaurant; a special occasion

On 10th November 2010 one of my favourite people in the whole wide world turned 21. Sadly, as I live on the other side of the world I missed the big day and the big party thrown in her honour a few days later. So I wanted to do something special to make it up. That special something was Tetsuya’s.

“Tetsuya's cuisine is unique, based on the Japanese philosophy of natural seasonal flavours, enhanced by classic French technique and the freshest possible ingredients.” It has long been considered among Australia’s top restaurants. It has won numerous awards, including restaurant of the year almost every year since 1992 from various sources,  best Australasian restaurant on six occasions, and a place on the world’s 50 best restaurant list since 2002, coming fourth in 2005 and fifth in 2006 and 2007. Until this year Tetsuya’s had retained three chef’s hats, the highest rating in the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide (akin to three Michelin stars). I was disappointed to learn that it had lost a hat in the year I finally decided to go, but my friend Dash put a positive spin on it: “It will be even better; they’ve given him a kick up the bum."

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David disappoints

“Why haven’t you written a blog about the Thai restaurant I took you to yet?” the boyfriend asked me as we were driving home from a more satisfying dining experience last Sunday.

“Umm... because the photos didn’t come out very well.”

“But you took loads (not true, he just gets very embarrassed about it). You must have got a few good ones.”

“It was really dark in there and the flash makes the food look unappetising and colourless.”

“So a fairly accurate representation then.”

“What do you mean?”

“I just didn’t think it was that great, that’s all. I liked the trout salad and the relish thing you wrote about, but overall it was nothing special and, to be honest, I felt a bit ripped off at the end of it.”

And so it came about that I was able to admit the real reason why I had not written about our experience.

The restaurant in question was Nahm, David Thompson’s Michelin starred restaurant in Mayfair. I have long been a fan of Thompson’s book, Thai Food, and more recently, Thai Street Food, but had never been to one of his restaurants. I told myself afterwards that perhaps my expectations had been too high, but now I am not so sure.

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