Peruvian Brunch: Gourmet Safari with Maeve O'Meara

Maeve O'Meara's Gourmet Safari is about the food experiences you just can't get anywhere else.  Take her Peruvian Brunch, it's an experience you won't be able to find yourself - this experience was at a home of gracious hosts Carmen and Luis Almenara.

Gourmet Safari with Maeve O'Meara

Courtesy of SBS, I had the great pleasure of joining a group of excited foodies on a special Gourmet Safari hosted by SBS tv presenter and author, the wonderful Maeve O'Meara.  She took us on a enchanting multicultural food adventure around Sydney.

I jumped at the chance of the food adventure, but as one of our group remarked during the day, the experience really was all about meeting the wonderful people who run these great restaurants and stores and hearing their stories.


These special people had such wonderful hospitality and vitality of spirit and I'm going to devote a post on each of them.

People like master coffee roaster George Sabados from GS Roasting, who's infected me (again) with a love of coffee... more.

Gracie and her crew at Paesanella in Marrickville who make fresh ricotta and wonderful Italian cheeses: mozzarella, stracchino, marscapone and scarmoza each day... more.

Quiet but glorious Fernando Ramos, master of the pasteis nata (Portuguese custard tarts), he hand makes around 1,000 tarts a day sometimes... more.

Human dymamo Giuseppe Ranieri and his parents at the Aladin's cave of wonderful continental goods including olive oil, aged parmesan, panettone and my new favourite cheese, Vento Estate... more.

We finished our tour at Al Aseel Restaurant in Surry Hills, according to Maeve it's the "best Lebanese restaurant in town... fresh, authentic and addictive... more.

Gourmet Safari Adventure, 12th October 2010 Itinerary
Gourmet Safari: GS Roasting
Gourmet Safari: Paesanella
Gourmet Safari: La Patisserie
Gourmet Safari: Ranieri Deli
Gourmet Safari: Al Aseel Lebanese Restaurant

Gourmet Safari is run by tv personality and author, Maeve O'Meara.  There are safaris in Sydney, Margaret River, Kangaroo Island as well as overseas including Vietnam Safari and Greek Island Safari.

Noodlies sydney food blog's Sydney Gourmet Safari was courtesy of SBS.

Gourmet Safari: Ranieri Deli, Five Dock

Arriving at Ranieri Deli in Five Dock we were greeted by Giuseppe and his parents Peter and Sarina with a spread of cold meats, cheeses, bread to sample.  The bread with a drizzle of oil was amazing as was the belissimo cheese, truffle cheese, we had it all.

Giuseppe even cooked up, there and then a simple fettucini using fresh herbs from his garden (above).  It was simple, fast and only took minutes - the fettucini itself already had wonderful flavour and aroma even before cooking.

Two highlights, of many, for me was the stunning red bresaola (above), air-dried salted beef, aged for a few months until it becomes hard and a dark red.  Sliced thinly they have sensational flavour and stunning colour.

Vento d'estate (summer breeze) was brought out from the back.  It looked plain enough, apart from the grass on it, but we were assured this was something special.  Sliced or is it chipped into small slivers we all got to sample it.  I'm no cheese specialist but it was smooth and with strong flavour, similar to blue vein but half the intensity.  It was truly wonderful.

Noodlies food blog was very impressed.

Gourmet Safari Adventure, 12th October 2010 Itinerary
Gourmet Safari: GS Roasting
Gourmet Safari: Paesanella
Gourmet Safari: La Patisserie
Gourmet Safari: Ranieri Deli
Gourmet Safari: Al Aseel Lebanese Restaurant

Gourmet Safari is run by tv personality and author, Maeve O'Meara.  There are safaris in Sydney, Margaret River, Kangaroo Island as well as overseas including Vietnam Safari and Greek Island Safari.

Noodlies sydney food blog's Sydney Gourmet Safari was courtesy of SBS.

Gourmet Safari: La Patisserie, Petersham

 

How can you go to a portuguese pastry shop and not have pasteis nata, more commonly known as portuguese custard tart.  Owner and master of the pasteis nata, Fernando Ramos showed us around, we even got to make some.

Apparently the oven has to be super hot to lightly burn the top and the best tarts have seven pastry layers.  When busy, Fernando makes as much as 1,000 tarts each couple of hours.

He also treated us to a whole world of other gorgeous sweet delights which were layed out for us to sample. Cinamon tarts cooked in ceramic round moulds, lemon tarts and an intriguing pastry that's square with icing sugar on top (above), it's made with light fluffy pastry and a white pumpkin jam filling.

They were all delicious... writing a Sydney food blog has never been more rewarding.

Gourmet Safari Adventure, 12th October 2010 Itinerary
Gourmet Safari: GS Roasting
Gourmet Safari: Paesanella
Gourmet Safari: La Patisserie
Gourmet Safari: Ranieri Deli
Gourmet Safari: Al Aseel Lebanese Restaurant

Gourmet Safari is run by tv personality and author, Maeve O'Meara.  There are safaris in Sydney, Margaret River, Kangaroo Island as well as overseas including Vietnam Safari and Greek Island Safari.

Noodlies sydney food blog's Sydney Gourmet Safari was courtesy of SBS.

Gourmet Safari: Paesanella, Marrickville

Paesanella is a small factory in the back street of Marrickville that make an amazing range of cheese including ricotta and wonderful italian cheeses like mozzarella, stracchino, marscapone and more - they're made fresh every day.  Paesanella supplies to Simon Johnson, Harris Farm and other fine food stores.

We were lucky enough to get a behind the scene tour of this immaculately clean cheese manufacturer.

At the end of the tour Gracie and her team gave us the opportunity to sample so many wonderful types of cheeses including mozzarela (above), burrata: bocconcini shell and curd and fresco: buffalo milk mozzarella!  Apparently bufallo milk is better because it is both high in protein and low in cholesterol.

Gourmet Safari Adventure, 12th October 2010 Itinerary
Gourmet Safari: GS Roasting
Gourmet Safari: Paesanella
Gourmet Safari: La Patisserie
Gourmet Safari: Ranieri Deli
Gourmet Safari: Al Aseel Lebanese Restaurant

Gourmet Safari is run by tv personality and author, Maeve O'Meara.  There are safaris in Sydney, Margaret River, Kangaroo Island as well as overseas including Vietnam Safari and Greek Island Safari.

Noodlies sydney food blog's Sydney Gourmet Safari was courtesy of SBS.

Gourmet Safari: GS Roasting, Marrickville

First stop on our Gourmet Safari with Maeve O'Meara was GS Roasting in Marrickville where George Sabados, master coffee roaster and owner made us each a cup of coffee.

He talked about his love of coffee and the challenges of working in the coffee industry, which was fascinating.  George gave us tips on making the best cup of coffee including selecting a grinder, stove top coffee maker, even how to pour hot water into a coffee plunger.

The wonderfully fresh, aromatic and tasty coffee went amazingly well with the gourmet shortbread biscuits and Greek baklava.

Gourmet Safari Adventure, 12th October 2010 Itinerary
Gourmet Safari: GS Roasting
Gourmet Safari: Paesanella
Gourmet Safari: La Patisserie
Gourmet Safari: Ranieri Deli
Gourmet Safari: Al Aseel Lebanese Restaurant

Gourmet Safari is run by tv personality and author, Maeve O'Meara.  There are safaris in Sydney, Margaret River, Kangaroo Island as well as overseas including Vietnam Safari and Greek Island Safari.

Noodlies sydney food blog's Sydney Gourmet Safari was courtesy of SBS.