In Feb 2011, I went on a Portuguese Gourmet Food Safari Tour in Petersham with
www.gourmetsafaris.com.au. It was a culturally and food rich, meeting great local influencers within the Sydney-side Portuguese food scene. Great value and delicious food throughout the tour as well! We started our tour (after a coffee of course) by visiting a bakery to sample over 7 varieties of portuguese sweets including the very special Portuguese custard tarts.
We even learnt how the 'true' tarts are made. Unfortunately, not something we can try at home, given the oven requirements. This chef is the man who brought Portuguese custard tarts to Australia !
This is the famous bakery - I will be back !
After visiting and sampling food from 5 different shops (deli, grocery stores, brazilian cuisine, etc), we returned for a 4 course meal. Fantastic!
The pipis clam dish was my favourite. So full of flavour !
In April, I then went to a Turkish Food Safari in Auburn. These two lovely landies, turkish daughter and mother, shared their culture and their food wisdom. Here they are showing us how to make a proper turkish coffee.
These are dried eggplant -- dried veggies are often used in Turkish cuisine.
Savoury biscuits are very popular at cafes with coffee or turkish apple tea.
This flatbread is made very uniquely on the walls of the oven.
Mmm, tasty ! And only $2.50 for 3.
More of the savoury biscuits.
There are the sweet treats... many will know the baklava on the right.
Next a deli - where we get to sample (and buy) Turkish sausage. Packed with spices (spicy or mild variations available) - and very cost effective, at $6 per sausage.
And we stopped at the original Turkish delight store - this was the family that introduced turkish delight to Australians and is one of the big Turkish success stories as they sell their popular treats across Australia.
They had all sorts of tasty varieties to try. Craig and Nicole were some lovely folk I met who came in from Canberra just to do this tour.
At the grocery store, our guide showed us how to make tasty baba ganoush and paprika dip.
We also got to try delicious turkish 'fairy floss/cotton candy'. The best I ever had.
Apple tea and other treats.
Lots of colourful dips - carrot, beetroot, cucumber and baba ganoush.
Burnt pudding - how cool. Must go back to try this!
A 3 course meal plus sour cherry sorbet and pistachio nougat for desert.
