By Becca Johnstone

MUMU Grill

70-76 Alexander Street

Crows Nest

Cow, Pig, Rabbit. It sounds like the start of a Beatrix Potter tale, full of wilful optimism, polite adventures and probably a little girl named Fanny. Cow, Pig and Rabbit are probably the best of friends – in reality it turns out they are… on a plate at least! Last week Danny and I were lucky enough to attend the Cow, Pig, Rabbit dinner held at MUMU Grill in Crows Nest, hosted by MUMU, Alvin Quah and Denea Buckingham.

A little about our hosts…

Supplying the Cow we have MUMU Grill, Sydney’s only sustainable steakhouse, owned by Chef Craig Macindoe. It is also home to Sydney’s first Jamon Bar. Keen participants in the Slow Food Movement, MUMU believes in sustainable, seasonal and regional produce. Located in central Crows Nest, this relaxed and funky restaurant was our setting.

The Pig for the evening came from Alvin Quah. Most people will be familiar with Alvin from his efforts on the past season of Masterchef – and what great efforts they were! Life PMC (Post Masterchef) has seen Alvin launch his own website, Cinnamon Pig, featuring a blog and recipes. He has also been cooking at a number of great restaurants around Sydney, and even a couple of TV appearances on Keri-Anne and The Circle.

The night’s Rabbit was brought forth by Denea Buckingham, aka Jess Rabbit, Editor in Chief of Gourmet Rabbit magazine. A simply brilliant food magazine, written by industry pro’s for industry pro’s and Foodies alike. Denea brings together exploring, creating, foraging, sipping, discovering and munching in Gourmet Rabbit – a crash course in local gastronomy.

It was a delightful, warm Spring night and it kicked off with 18 month Jamon Serrano and a glass of Poverty Hill Riesling 2008 at the Jamon Bar. All wines were provided by United Cellars. The Jamon was passed around and Danny and I shared the exact same thought: the Italians do it better. Blasphemous? Possibly. But we had only weeks earlier experienced the best Prosciutto di Parma at the Italian Festival. It’s really just something that comes down to personal preference, and we prefer the pungency of prosciutto more. The Riesling had a bit of hype around it having been written up by Huon Hooke a week prior. It didn’t have much freshness on nose or palate, and not a lot of fruit either – if you like those keroseney type Rieslings than go for it!

We took our seats and after a brief introduction from our hosts, the first course arrived: a tasting plate of pork and rabbit rilletes with an orange and date chutney with beef knuckle onion rings. What I loved about the rilletes was it really tasted like rabbit – often I find that rich flavour can be overladen with too many herbs in rilletes, but this was well pronounced. And perfectly matched with the chutney. The beef knuckle onion rings were the highlight though – an absolute revelation! The knuckle had been slow cooked, then thinly sliced, fried and served with caramelised fried onions. It was sticky, meaty and absolutely delicious, Alvin aptly described it as meat popcorn. This was matched with the Paco and Lola Albarino 2009, a highly aromatic wine – lots of rich tropical fruitiness on the nose. It was actually quite mellow on the palate, not too sweet and no great length. It was a good match and a very pleasant drop indeed.

Next up was the white bean, dark ale and rabbit soup topped with crisp Guanciale (pig cheek). A dark, rich and all too enticing soup, again with that really strong taste of rabbit. It was super intense, which I really enjoyed, but for those that found it a bit strong, the white beans in the base balanced it out nicely. The crispy Guanciale was a great textural contrast and packed full of flavour – this was a truly hearty dish. This paired well with the Brown Magpie Pinot Noir 2006, which was my favourite wine of the night hands down. From Geelong, the wine had a wonderful savouriness, made more in the Burgundian style of Pinot. And as it sat in the glass a while, really opened up into a complex and enticing wine.

The fourth course was a wonderful blend of flavours and temperatures. We were served beef shin and rabbit ravioli, truffled mushroom wonton with tomato jelly. I really enjoyed this one, the tomato jelly stopped me mid-sentence to say “oh my God, this is delicious.” And what I loved most was the contrast of the sweet and cold tomato jelly against the earthy and warm ravioli and wonton. It was a really exciting course for the palate, both with bright and hearty flavours. This was served with the Lowe Preservative Free Merlot 2008. Unfortunately, I don’t feel this wine did this dish justice: it was just a little lacklustre. Admittedly, I’m not a Merlot drinker, and there was a certain mustiness to the wine I didn’t enjoy. But I had a little of the Pinot left, and enjoyed it immensely with this dish also!

Following this we had Alvin’s offering for the night: caramelised pork hoc with bok choy, chilli vinegar and black sesame rice. I think this one was definitely the crowd favourite – it certainly was ours!  It’s very similar to a Sailor’s Thai dish I’ve had before, but with a little more heat from the chilli. And the whole hoc was served, sort of pressed into this brick shape. It was sweet and sticky and completely naughty. I challenge anyone who doesn’t enjoy pork not to devour this dish greedily! The wine for this one was a Sanguine Tempranillo 2007 – a good match I felt. It had some nice fruit weight, but a few fine, drying tannins to clear the fattiness of the pork from your palate, encouraging more consumption!

The final savoury course was a simple offering that truly let the quality of the ingredients sing. Slow roast grass fed Sirloin with duck fat potatoes, asparagus and bone marrow sauce. The King Island beef was melt in the mouth tender and had a flavour like no other I’ve tried at steakhouses across Sydney, and it’s no wonder you normally have to take out a mortgage to buy a few steaks. The asparagus was as it should be peak of season – sweet and perfectly cooked, I love it still a bit crunchy.  The duck fat potatoes and rich bone marrow sauce rounded out the dish. It had the feeling of French bistro, but the quality and sophistication of fine dining. It was served family style, dropped in the centre of our tabe, and I honestly thought a dish of that calibre should have been served individually – but I’m knit-picking. The wine it paired with was an unconventional one – the Gemtree ‘The Phantom’ Petit Verdot 2008. It was by no means a bad wine, but I question why it was matched with the dish. As Danny said “why couldn’t we get a hearty Barossa Shiraz?” Touche good Sir.

For desert we were served cardamom poached fruits with sheep’s milk Labna alongside the Delatite Late Harvest Riesling 2009. A delicious combination and a favourite of mine. The poached fruits were rich with spice, cardamom, cinnamon, star anise and I found myself rather greedily digging out as many peaches as I could find. The Labna was rich and creamy and helped carry the sweet, fruity and spicy flavours around the mouth. The Delatite Riesling was a good match – but it needed all elements on the spoon to really do it justice. Otherwise it was just that pinch too dry on it’s own. It was a perfect end to the meal – not too heavy and really celebrating what’s in season.

All in all it was a wonderful night at MUMU, filled with tasty offerings from three very talented people. It also made me very keen to come back and sample MUMU’s actual menu. A huge thankyou to Craig, Denea and Alvin for a great night out!

These chappies are all on Twitter as well! Denea @GourmetRabbit, Alvin @cinnamonalvin and Craig @Chefmumu. Don’t forget to look us up while you’re there @bonvivantblog.

Fat Horses by Becca

An odd name for a dish, I know, but I’m afraid I don’t have a Thai translation! This recipe has come from an old book on my mother’s infinite shelf – a book on traditional Thai side dishes by Sue Ashworth. At a first glance it looks a bit tragic and 80’s, but on closer inspection has some very tasty and very authentic dishes in it. Fat Horses are delicious steamed and/or baked crab, pork and chicken cakes. And while they aren’t the prettiest things on the planet, they sure are tasty! The coconut milk makes them quite sweet and decadent, but they are well balanced with fish sauce. They are pictured below with my Sort-Of Som Tam, and are a perfect accompaniment to it – the luscious creaminess of the Fat Horses counter the spice and zestiness of the salad wonderfully. A plate of Som Tam and Fat Horses and a glass of Pinot Gris and I’m in heaven!

Makes 6 ramekins worth (6 entrees or 3 mains)

• 2 tbsp coconut cream
• 125g pork mince
• 125g chicken mince
• 125g crab meat (fresh picked is obviously awesome, but pre-picked or tinned will work fine too)
• 2 eggs
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1-2 tbsp fish sauce (to taste)
• 4 spring onions, chopped
• 1 tbsp each of chopped coriander roots and leaves
• 1 tbsp palm sugar
• Salt and pepper
• Oil or butter for greasing

Place the pork, chicken and crab meat into a food processor and pulse to combine.

Add the coconut cream, eggs, garlic, fish sauce, coriander roots and leaves, spring onions, palm sugar and a pinch of salt and pepper. Pulse this to combine – but not too long, only 15 seconds or so, not overworking mixture. If you do, the proteins will firm too quickly when cooking and you will end up with rocks instead of moist cakes.

Grease 6 ramekins with a little oil or butter. Spoon the mixture in to the ramekins, levelling the surface.

TO STEAM: Place them in a steamer over gently boiling water and cook until set – about 30 minutes.

TO BAKE: Cook in a water-bath, placing the ramekins in a baking dish and filling with water until it reaches half way up the side of the ramekins. Cook in a 180degree oven for approximately 40 minutes. If they start to colour on the top too quickly, just cover with some foil.

Turn out the cakes from the ramekins and serve with steamed rice, Sort-Of Som Tam and Spy Valley Pinot Gris!

Spy Valley Marlborough Pinot Gris 2009 by Danny Ryan

This has just rolled over to the 2010 vintage but this one is still commercially available and is well worth a go, especially if you are looking for a restaurant quality Pinot Gris for about $20-$25 retail. New Zealand Pinot Gris does not have the best reputation especially down the cheaper end of Bottle Shop racks. It can often be overcropped which will result in a wine that can be weak, watery and even bland. The best example should be with a straw/gold colour and should be aromatic and with a complex viscous mouthfeel. This is now gold in colour almost like apple juice. The nose on this shows classic pinot gris characters and is all pear, green apple and melon. This is fully flavoured and robust. Not sweet but with good fruit weight that provides  to it giving us a perfectly well balanced wine to drink with the best of Becca’s dishes. Enjoy! 

Harbourside Shopping Centre

Darling Harbour

There is something bizarre about parking your car in a multi-level car park, walking through the blaring halogen lights of a Mirvac shopping centre, past souvenir stores and odd boutiques, to get to an actual ‘sit-down’ restaurant. It just feels like you should be queuing for popcorn and choc-tops, instead of behemoth steaks and dinosaur ribs. But I figured, ‘It’s Hurricane’s! It’s gotta be worth the hype.’ I have been to the Bondi restaurant a few times, and had some not too shabby takeaway from there as well, so when Hurricane’s Darling Harbour was picked for our next ‘Dinner Club’, I was keen.

We arrived at 7:30 to a throng of people waiting outside (at least 30 I’d say) – I do find it odd that you have to queue to get in, even with a booking (doesn’t that defeat the purpose of making said booking?). We had a 10 minute wait for our table, which was ok, we were a party of 18, arrangements had to be made. The smell of chargrilled meats and barbecue sauce was all too enticing, not to mention the impressive array of interesting spirits behind the bar! We were fine to wait, and take in what was about to happen.

We were seated on the balcony, with a not too shabby view of Darling Harbour. All 18 of us eyed the 14 or so chairs that were set up, and knew we were in for a squishy night. Seats were added, an extra table was promised, drinks were served and menus studied. The table never came, the drinks did their job and the menu excited! As I decided between more ribs than I’ve ever eaten in my life, or a steak the size of my face, I supped a gorgeous concoction that under-promised and over-delivered: The Rose Blossom Martini. A combination of vanilla vodka, Pimms, rosewater and a splash of red grapefruit juice, it was simply delicious. It is definitely one I will be making when the summer months roll around. But I am a complete sucker for anything with rosewater – the fact that it was Martini strength was merely a bonus.

The menu features all your classic steaks, in various sizes. From the baby sized 200g short cut steak, to the 350g rib eye… all the way to The Goliath: 1 kilogram of T-bone steak in all it’s calorific glory! Hurricane’s are known for their ribs, in pork, beef and lamb (full or half racks) and that seemed to be the most popular order of the night. Though a few of our party were game for a couple of the combos: short cut steak and a half rack of ribs, or half a chicken (no joke) and a half rack of ribs. The menu also features a selection of burgers (which, based on past visits, I can more than vouch for), lamb cutlets, a few seafood items and even fewer vegetarian options. They also offer boerewors as a shout out to the chain’s South African heritage. 

Rump is my absolute favourite cut for a really good steak, so I went with the 350g option with pepper sauce and a baked potato. As mammoth plates of meat and carbs rained down on our table I must say I noticed the absence of anything green. I’m by no means a girl that cries without salad, but I honestly missed it. And I feel that if you’re forking out anywhere between $30-$56 for a steak, a complimentary bowl of vegies or salad wouldn’t go astray. It was cheeky enough asking for us to fork out for sauce on our steak, but charging $17 for a mixed salad is a little nuts I think.

But the evening was not about vegies. My rump arrived, with a pot of sauce, a foil adorned potato that wouldn’t have fit in my sizeable handbag and a pot of sour cream that must have had a Napoleonic complex.  My Queensland beef was ordered rare, but came more on the medium rare side of things. This made me glad I’d requested it rare in the first place, which isn’t something I expect to be saying at an upmarket grill. It was a beautiful piece of rump though, very tender and the sauce was that perfect balance of peppery heat and soothing creaminess. One thing I didn’t enjoy though was the marinade on the steak. I’ve had this problem at other South African inspired steak houses as well, so it’s my fault, I should have said something. All their steaks come pre-marinated in a sweet, almost barbecue style glaze. I find that detracts from the real flavour of the meat and certainly doesn’t pair well with your optional sauce. But hey-ho, it was enjoyable nonetheless. I ate about a third of my perfectly fluffy baked potato and then had to call it a night. My dining colleague did offer me one of his lamb ribs though – how could a girl say no? And it was simply delicious! Talk about massive food envy.

The wine list was actually pretty impressive, though ridiculously over-priced (but what else is new?).  It wasn’t a ‘wine’ evening though, and I was on to a winner with my martinis. After 2 hours of battling with our inner carnivore, the bibs came off, the fingers were licked and the bill was settled. Boys left men, women left…well, men too.

All in all I think Hurricane’s is a good night out. The service was decent, especially given our large group (well, except for the forgotten extra table). The food is what it is – MEAT! I don’t know if I’d be ordering a steak from them again, but the ribs and burgers are out of this world. The décor is inner city chic, with funky fire features dotted around the place. And while the location is convenient and central, I just don’t think it has the same vibe as the flagship in Bondi. There’s something magical about walking out on to Roscoe Street, the smell of the Pacific Ocean and the knowledge that the Bondi Hotel is only feet away. But give Hurricanes a go, it’s certainly an experience.

Overall rating: 3/5 

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