Daily Detours to Help Expand Your Palate

This is a good activity to keep in mind at all times, but especially when you’re feeling a little adventurous. Shake up your Monday night and drop by Ester in Chippendale for a treat. You can act like a hardcore foodie and order the “blood sausage sanga”, straight up, without even looking at the menu. What you’ll get is a sausage made from minced pork belly, rice, nuts and pig’s blood, set on a simple piece of white bread. It’s arguably a much better version of the humble sausage sandwich — delicious, rich and indulgent. If you’re in the mood, and have some extra money to spend, buckle down and tuck in to Ester’s set menu — ten inventive courses (dried kanagaroo and crispy saltbush is another option) for $82.

Image: @ahazelton_ via Instagram.

The temptation with a lot of Australian Italian food is to go way over the top with ingredients. Not so at Buffalo Dining Club, where the ingredients in the classic Cacio e Pepe are as follows: cheese, pasta, end of list. Perfecto. “Cacio e pepe” translates to “cheese and pepper” in central Italian dialects. The Buffalo Dining version of this classic pasta dish involves salt, pepper, olive oil and parsley chucked into a massive, hollowed-out wheel of pecorino. The pasta is then tossed around in the tasty mess, creating a dish that’s simple and delicious. Instead of picking up a jar of Woolies bolognese sauce on the way home, step out and get the authentic stuff.

Image: Kimberly Low.

To the uninitiated, the shop at El Jannah‘s flagship store appears unassuming, like any other takeaway joint around. But you obviously haven’t had the pleasure of licking their famed garlic sauce from your fingers. El Jannah has been slaking the hunger of western Sydney locals for nearly twenty years, steadily busting out quick, cheap and tasty food. The jewel in the crown though is some incredible charcoal chicken. Cooked to perfection with a healthy dose of garlic sauce on the side, that chook is more than worth the trip to get amongst those El Jannah poultry delights.

slImage: @kerensurja / Instagram.

While the battle rages over the impact of lockouts on live music in Sydney, the Metro Theatre continues to churn out gigs. At this stalwart, you’ll catch rock, metal, indie and alternative acts from Australia and overseas. Jeff Buckley played there in 1995, and in 1996 You Am I sold out seven shows in a row. See if you can get some last minute tickets and head to the Metro for a boogie. Once you’ve worked up an appetite, wander over to Chinatown for a feast at Golden Century Seafood Restaurant. Another spot helping to prop up Sydney’s late-night economy, it’s one of the few eateries that serve food until the sun comes up. Go with a bunch of mates, and spend several glorious late night hours scoffing the banquet menu.

Image: @ianieongxx via Instagram.

Jugemu and shimbashi are two very different styles of Japanese cooking, the former focusing on grilling, while the latter primarily involves soft, soba noodles. Rather than get suckered into a soft shell versus hard-shell style debate, Jugemu and Shimbashi threw their hands up and said, “why don’t we have both?” The restaurant is split in two, with the teppanyaki grill side modelled on a modern, flashy venue, whereas the noodle side is more traditional in its decor. Either way, the food is incredible. After dinner, head down to the Pickled Possum for some weirdly good times. This lower north shore institution holds karaoke on Friday nights, so get ready to belt out some Aerosmith in front of a whole bunch of people.

Image: @jess.xv.v / Instagram.

Spend a Saturday getting your hands dirty, or rather, floury. Pasta Emilia, which moved from its original home in Bronte to Surry Hills in 2012, is not just a restaurant, but a cooking school as well. With local, organic ingredients at your fingertips, you’ll learn how to make pasta the traditional way. That includes creating the best flour mix, fashioning it into dough and stretching it into sheets. Alessandro Grisendi, who’s been making pasta by hand for fifteen years, will teach you how to make all kinds of pasta, from ravioli and cappelletti, to linguine and strozzapreti. And when your work is done, you’ll sit down to a hearty lunch, including pasta, a veggie salad and glass of organic wine.

If you’re after authentic dumplings, you go to Haymarket. And similarly, if you want real, bona fide Vietnamese food, you head to Cabramatta. The suburb has the largest concentration of Vietnamese in the state, and thus also has some of the best Vietnamese food in the state, making a trip to Cabra well worth it. The footpaths on John Street are lined with shops hawking fundamental ingredients for the cuisine, alongside a slew of restaurants that specialise in a particular dish, or simply Vietnamese cuisine as a whole. No need to hunt down reviews, just head down, pick a spot and hope for the best. It usually works out.

Image: @tom_cyh / Instagram.

Personalise your next adventure via The Playmaker, driven by Mazda3.