Two Flat Whites in conjunction with our friends at Fremantle Press are giving three (3) lucky people the chance to win Emmanuel Mollois’ wonderful new cookbook titled Et Voila!

Emmanuel Mollois has cooked in some of the best restaurants in France and Melbourne and now owns Choux Café in Swanbourne; a small patisserie which was recently crowned ‘best in the west’ by the Sunday Times. He has just released his first cook book titled Et Voila! Chef Emmanuel Mollois will also appear alongside Master Chef Runner up Poh Ling Yeow in her new program Poh’s Kitchen which will air on ABC1 in February 2010.

Emmanuel tells of his new book, “Well, it’s great, easy-to-follow, beautiful pictures from Karin, truly a book everyone should have and use, ha ha! The book takes you through the basics of pastry making and then has recipes for the most popular French pastries. It covers croissants, éclairs, lemon tart, crème brulée, madeleines, and cherry clafoutis plus some of my own creations. To me, there are no ‘secret’ recipes. I want to make my knowledge and the knowledge of the talented chefs who came before me accessible to the home cook”.

Please email your name, postal address and where you heard about the competition to info {at} twoflatwhites(.)com for your chance to win!

Competition closes Sunday, 14th February 2010.

Click here to view our recent interview with Emmanuel Mollois

Emmanuel Mollois has cooked in some of the best restaurants in France and Melbourne and now owns Choux Café in Swanbourne; a small patisserie which was recently crowned ‘best in the west’ by the Sunday Times. He has just released his first cook book titled Et Voila! Chef Emmanuel Mollois will also appear alongside Master Chef Runner up Poh Ling Yeow in her new program Poh’s Kitchen which will air on ABC1 in February 2010.

Where did you grow up & where do you hang your hat?

I grew up in Vendee, a little town called St Hilaire de Riez on the West Coast. I usually leave my hats all around my house in Subiaco, Western Australia. I’ve got lots of them! My favourite hat is a World War 1 helmet that my brother gave me. When I’m not exploring obscure recipe books from earlier centuries, I’m reading about history. I collect lots of antiques and this particular hat is very rare and precious to me.

Tell us about your new book Et Voila!

Well, great, easy-to-follow, beautiful pictures from Karin, truly a book everyone should have and use, ha ha! The book takes you through the basics of pastry making and then has recipes for the most popular French pastries. It covers croissants, éclairs, lemon tart, crème brulée, madeleines, and cherry clafoutis plus some of my own creations. To me, there are no ‘secret’ recipes. I want to make my knowledge and the knowledge of the talented chefs who came before me accessible to the home cook.

Are you looking forward to appearing alongside Master Chef Runner up Poh Ling Yeow in her new program ‘Poh’s Kitchen’ on ABC 1 starting in February 2010? What can we expect?

You can expect a lot of me! You will see pastry, fish and sauce, all in my French style. But the main ingredient for the show is lots of laughter. Working with Poh is fun. She approaches food from a totally different background to me so when we get together we are always learning new things.

What and/or who inspired you to become a chef?

My Dad kind of pushed me into it, my dear uncle Fernand taught me his love for cooking, and I haven’t stopped since 1985! I originally wanted to be a cartoonist but, after a summer working with my uncle Fernand at his catering company, I started to like the idea of working with food. He was smart, he got me into the creative side – the decorative side of food – and this is what inspired me.

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A friend and I strolled down King Street Newtown recently and spotted Cicciolina Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria. From the moment you peer through its wide windows, this modern Italian restaurant has a real elegant feel, slightly at odds with its namesake. Italy’s most famous porn star Cicciolina flashed during a political speech and even offered herself to Osama Bin Laden!

The attentive service was simply superb. Our waitress was magnificent. As you turned your attentions around the restaurant you notice very simple décor, colours very easy on the eyes and dinner music setting the scene. Its show piece is a bar stacked to the rafters smack bang in the middle of the room with its old wooden Venetian style.

With a wide selection of traditional meals on offer, pastas, pizzas, seafood and risotto which all looked absolutely delicious and tasty, I began with the Crumbed Bocconcini; deep-fried crumbed bocconcini served with radicchio and a creamy gorgonzola sauce. This cheese is described by its Italian name which means small mouthfuls and that is exactly what you want to do while engulfing this mouth watering dish. For the main, I tried the Penne Boscaiolla sautéed bacon, mushrooms, and shallots in a white wine cream sauce which was equally as tantalizing.

The desserts from what I have heard are worth the wait, the menu offers Tiramisu, Gelato, Crème Brulee and much much more. There is an extensive wine list and they even make a mean cocktail; try the Toblarone, you will not be disappointed.

Cicciolina Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria is not just a restaurant, but a dining experience. I will be back very soon.

Article written by Liam Gibbs.

What: Cicciolina Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria
Where: 224 King Street, Newtown 2042
How: Ph: 02 9516 1166
When: Open 7 nights – 5:30pm till late

Tucked away on the top of Broadway Shopping Centre through the maze of international cuisines is a charming Japanese Restaurant Tomodachi.

Tomodachi is the Japanese word for friend. The restaurant boasts a warm atmosphere, a place where friends come together to share a meal and good times, happy together like the fusion of Japanese and Korean cuisine. The staff greet you with a smile, are attentive and help create the relaxed and welcoming vibe.

The restaurant has one of the freshest and expansive sushi trains, so if you are after a quick meal before your film, it caters for you. The kitchen is an open plan, you are able to watch the chefs create there masterpieces. The aroma of the spices and sounds of the sizzling hotplates adds to the buzz. The décor is bright, simple yet elegant with dashes of red and white, wooden tables, wooden benches and Japanese style decorations.

The menu offers something for everyone. The Teriyaki Chicken was cooked to perfection, a little crunchy on the outside and succulent on the inside, while the sauce made my tastebuds stand to attention like an army of samurai warriors going into battle. On offer are traditional Japanese pancakes, all the regular Japanese delights and to top of the meal, why not try the rice wine or my favourite; the sweet and fruity plum wine.

Tomodachi offers wonderful film deals with the local cinema, caters for the romantic couple, family, group party or a quick bite. So why not drop by before your next shopping adventure or flick.

Broadway
Level two, food court
Shop 220, 2 Bay Street
Broadway Shopping Centre NSW 2007
Ph: 02 9281 6000

Rhodes
Shop 74, 1 Rider Boulevard
Rhodes NSW 2138
(Rhodes Waterside Shopping Centre)
Ph: 02 9736 1764

Article written by Liam Gibbs

By dining at participating StreetSmart restaurants between the 9th November to 24th December 2009 you can help change someone’s life. A voluntary $2 donation will be added to your table’s bill. It’s a simple, effective way to support small grassroots projects for the homeless.

StreetSmart is a unique bridge between the community and small, grassroots agencies that assist people experiencing homelessness. They support critical services and emergency aid as well as projects that promote social inclusion, empowerment and sustainable change for people who are homeless. When money is raised from the public through they’re fundraising events, 100 per cent of donations are distributed in the form of grants. To date they have raised and distributed over $830,000 to 188 grassroots projects.

So what are you waiting for? Go online to find out which restaurants are supporting this wonderful cause & you can also donate online right here.

Who would have thought that cocktails have birthdays? No kidding! World Cocktail Day is celebrated every May 18th and a long-week of celebration is done in various bars worldwide held around May 6th until the 18th.

To have a signature cocktail is classy – no really. To walk into a bar boasting some seriously top-shelf nectar and be able to order a cocktail off the top of your head is a sign of someone who’s got it going on. James Bond, for example, is a martini man (shaken not stirred). Sex & The City’s Carrie Bradshaw is a fan of the Cosmopolitan and That ’70s Show’s Kitty Forman wouldn’t be the woman she is without a Manhattan (or three … bah, who’s counting).

Below are the top 10 classic cocktails you should commit to memory and name-drop over the bar. It’s a very character-building experience … especially in front of all your cocktail-bamboozled friends.

1. Cosmopolitan
2 Martini
3. Manhattan
4. Japanese Slipper
5. B-52 (Long)
6. Brandy Alexander
7. Grasshopper
8. Harvey Wallbanger (Long)
9. Tom Collins
10. Margarita

The Danks Street Festival 2009 will be bigger and better than ever with a brand new Live Green Kitchen featuring sustainable cooking demonstrations from leading chefs.

Hosted by gastronomic guru Lyndey Milan, the Live Green Kitchen will feature 45-minute lessons on how to reduce your environmental footprint through the food you buy, cook and eat, by 2009 Festival Ambassador Jared Ingersoll (Waterloo’s own Danks Street Depot), Kylie Kwong (Billy Kwong), Alex Herbert (Bird Cow Fish), Dave Campbell (The Book Kitchen) and Ashley Hughes (Alio Restaurant).

The Danks Street Festival 2009 will also feature the new “Handmade” market, selling handcrafts, sweet treats and more to support local artists and charities; a children’s “Arty Pants” craft workshop area, and a festival bar. Fresh food will once again be offered, with the return of the Hawkesbury Harvest fresh produce market and a variety of local and organic gourmet food vendors. The popular PYD Designers Market on the corner of Young and Phillip Streets will showcase furniture, accessories and homewares from up and coming designers.

The Danks Street Festival is part of Art & About, Sydney’s biggest public art festival. Free community buses will run from Redfern train station every 15 minutes.

What: Danks Street Festival 2009
When: Sunday 25th October 2009
Time: 11.00am to 4.00pm
Where: Danks and Young Streets, Waterloo

The Sydney International Food Festival is for food lovers. Replacing the well-loved Good Food Month, it will see the best chefs from Australia and around the world bringing their fare to Sydney in a range of tempting ways – from fine dining experiences to street festivals and night markets.

The Festival brings old favourites like Hats Off Dinners, Let’s Do Lunch and the Night Noodle Markets back to the city and the culinary diversity of the city’s suburbs and regional NSW will be showcased by a huge new program of community festivals across Sydney and NSW.

The Sydney International Food Festival is on now and runs up until the 31^st October 2009. Find out more right here.

The 2009 Shoot the Chef winners have been announced. The criteria was simple, photographers were asked to ’shoot a chef’. It could have been a three hat chef, the local take-away cook around the corner, or perhaps their favourite or most interesting home cook.

Entries were open in two categories, professional and student. In each category, the first prize included a trip to Europe of their choice to visit one of 15 European culinary capitals including London, Paris, Milan, Moscow and Dublin.

The winner of the Professional category was Jonathan May, for his shot Dinner for two with Manu. The winner of the student category was Sophie Schirmer for her photograph titled Murder My Sweet. You can check out all the images right here.

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