Kura, Haymarket

Isn't it funny how for x number of years you can walk past a noodle shop without ever seeing it enter your field of vision. When you do finally notice, you stare at the menu, you peer inside curiously, you make plans to eat there, and finally you head for a table, you have a great meal, and you wonder how you could've ever been so blind.Kura is my case in point. It's located on one of the busiest

Sydney Food & Wine Fair

If there's one thing that Sydney does well at, it's eating outdoors. Good food outdoors.All the necessary factors were in play for the annual Sydney Food & Wine Fair, one of the final events for Good Food Month. The sun was out, the skies were a glorious blue, and the crowds were flocking and ready to eat.Over 70 food stalls and more than 30 wine and drink stalls lined the grassy verges of

Spring on a plate

I'm not a big fan of nachos (too much melted cheese goo everywhere for my liking) but I do appreciate crunchy nibbles topped or dipped with tasty goodness.Feeling peckish the other day I conducted a random search of the kitchen for something, you know, yummy. The last remaining Lebanese bread round was becoming rapidly dry and crusty. An abandoned wedge of goats cheese bleated in the fridge, and

Wagamama, Sydney

I still remember the first time I ever ate at Wagamama. It was in Dublin of all places, and after a relentless fortnight of fish and chips, seafood chowder, pub roasts and haggis around England, Scotland and Ireland we were dying for a re-acquaintance with Asian.Chopsticks were pined after like a long lost lover, invoking dreams of graceful wooden limbs and the delicate transferral of tasty

New York on a Fork

That's right. Yours truly is heading for the Big Apple.I fly into JFK in early December and depart a month later.Here's where you come in.Let me know your tips or favourite haunts in New York. I'm looking for cheap eats, pretzel stands, best bagels, pastry paradises, green markets, delicious delicatessens, gourmet grocers etc etc.The more it epitomises New York the more I want it. But I also want

Golden Century, Haymarket

There is something uniquely comforting about the atmosphere within a Chinese restaurant. The clang of chopsticks echoing inside ceramic bowls, the musical chatter of Chinese mingled with English, the rush rush of waiters with plastic bags holding writhing live fish, and the fussing of Grandmas over children as they impatiently escape, scampering up to fish tanks with pointing fingers and giggles

Billingsgate Fish Bistro, Randwick

EDIT July 2006: Matthew Kemp and Lela Radojkovic have closed Billingsgate Fish Bistro and re-opened the premises as Two Rooms, a European-inspired restaurant.There's little doubt that Matthew Kemp is red hot at the moment. Exploding across our TV screens in the recent SBS doco Heat in the Kitchen, Matthew may be notorious for his fiery temper (threatening to sack his maitre'd if she wasn't his

Faheem Fast Food, Enmore

It's Saturday night. You've got tickets to The Merchants of Bollywood. It's their final Sydney performance. You have to have Indian for dinner.Faheem Fast Food, only a short stroll from the Enmore Theatre, has long been a favourite with theatre patrons for a pre- or post- show eat. It's fast, no-fuss and endearingly cheap. And its late night patronage by Pakistani taxi drivers provides the

Janani, Homebush

Gluttony loves company.

So when Saffron recently initiated me into the joy that is Janani, I instantly knew that I'd be back. With workmates.

At work I organise a foodie group (huh, is that a surprise?) which has expanded to friends, colleagues and ex-workmates. The idea is to explore a new restaurant, cuisine or suburb and share our collective knowledge of Sydney's dining secrets. Janani

Musashi Dining Bar, Sydney

I've always meant to try Musashi. Every time I've walked past its modern clean-lined Japanese interior, it's been consistently packed with lunchtime diners. It's a little off the general ant trail though, so when pondering a potential lunchtime destination, I'd inevitably forget about it--until the next time I happened to walk past and doh! the palm would smack the forehead in frustration.Finally

Oscillate Wildly, Newtown

I've waxed lyrical about Oscillate Wildly before, and on this, my third visit, the palate and eyes were still bedazzled.Oscillate Wildly is phenomenally popular, and with good reason. Where else in the inner-city can you dine on three imaginative breathtakingly delicious courses for a paltry $45? Its popularity is not helped by its tiny dining room which only seats about thirty--if you want to

Bite me

The latest September round-up of Omnivoribus Australis is up! Head over to The Food Palate to check out what Australian and New Zealand foodbloggers have been eating, cooking and getting up to over the past month.And guess who's her second featured foodblogger? None other than... yours truly. Yup, I face the tough questions from Saffron this month.Pack your appetite and head on over...

Ploy Thai, Haymarket

EDIT 9 AUG 2006: Ploy Thai has closed at this site.It's true. Once you discover GPS you wonder how you ever survived without it.No, not global positioning systems (although they are brilliant for navigating ). I mean green papaya salad, which is brilliant for salivating.Green papaya salad $7.50I don't know how it has taken me this long to discover green papaya salad. But I'm making up for lost

Good Food Month: Spring Picnic

As I woke up last Sunday morning, I was mighty relieved to see the sun shining. Perfect weather for the annual Good Food Month Spring Picnic.This was the first time I'd headed to the Spring Picnic, and after walking around most of Centennial Park, Saffron and I finally found the elusive Brazillian Fields (a site which doesn't exist on any of the park's onsite maps, please note, GFM organisers!).

Night Noodle Markets

Last Thursday Saffron and I and a handful of foodies headed to the Night Noodle Markets, one of the more popular events on the Good Food Month calendar.This year the markets moved location to the Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park, providing a pleasant piazza-like feel to the cool spring evening. The outdoor Art and About exhibition lining the Central Walkway was an easy pre-dinner bonus.However the

About Grab Your Fork

Grab Your Fork is written by Helen Yee, a born-and-bred Sydneysider who loves to eat. Even when she's eating, she's already planning her next meal.Her belief that food tastes better when it's shared with friends is one of the primary factors that prompted her to start this food blog. Sydney is blessed with not only great weather and fantastic beaches, but an abundance of seafood, a bounty of

Would the real AG please stand up

So it's true, I know. The question "Who exactly is AugustusGloop?" has never really been answered in a neat succinct "About" paragraph.It's not that I've been intentionally secretive--well okay, maybe a little--but then, scorpios tend to be a little private like that.But it's funny how a new hairstyle and wardrobe can instil you with renewed bravado. Besides, I've always felt a twang of guilt

Sydney Farmers Market

Lettuce seedlings for sale at the Sydney Farmers MarketThere is no doubt in my mind that good food is the new black.Goats cheese is the new Gucci; forget Chanel, try chanterelle; and a cluster of rhubarb poking out of your grocery basket is de rigeur baby, celery is like, so ten years ago.So it didn't surprise me that last Thursday's Sydney Farmers Market was so popular. Instead of descending

Pasta Shot, Newtown

Pasta Shot is shiny, bright, tangerine orange cheer. There's a rustic blackboard beckoning at the door with $5 specials...a gleaming new display cabinet servery...and cafe-style wooden chairs with funky artworks adorning the walls...There are salads and pastas in the bain marie...and a chicken and spinach pasta number in addition to the ubiquitous lasagna.Penne with chicken and spinach $7.50, and

EoMEoTE #11: Smoked Trout Salad with Soft-Set Egg

In accordance with this month's theme of 70s lyrics...Can you see the trout Fernando?I remember long ago when trout was smoked as well as thisThere was salad too FernandoAn orb of warming yolk just like a gently rising sunI can see the toast now bareBut soon to bathe in sticky egg of fun.I used the smoked trout I picked up from last week's Pyrmont Growers' Market. The flesh was firm, perfectly

Pyrmont Growers' Market

Pink Lady applesFirst Saturday of the month = Pyrmont Growers Market.The combination of Good Food Month endorsement, as well as the start of a sun-kissed long weekend, saw unprecedented crowds flock to the Markets this month. I've never seen it so busy before!Joanna Savill was on stage chatting to various vendors but we headed straight for the stalls instead.Had to stock up on my monthly

High Tea at the Swissotel, Sydney

High tea smorgasboard at the Swissotel, SydneyWhich girl doesn't get excited at the mere mention of the words, "high tea". It's not the thought of wearing big flowery hats, white gloves and tittering over neighbourhood gossip that gets the pulse racing. It's the mere thought of deciminalised dessert decadence that has every girl nodding excitedly as she clears the diary with unabated

The Reveal

Yes, Grab Your Fork has had a little makeover.After 16 months of blogging 320 posts, a new hair-do and wardrobe has long been overdue.I hope you like the latest tszuj. Far from being a confident website designer, the experience has certainly involved a steep learning curve (and more than a bit of hair-pulling)!Of course appearances are only skin-deep and I hope the content has always been what

Oaty Date Slice

The other week, Kelly was bemoaning an excess of porridge oats at the conclusion of winter. Anzac biscuits immediately come to mind, but then so does this recipe for Oaty Date Slice.

It's quick, it's dead-easy and it's terribly addictive.

The source? Try my Yr 7 home economics textbook. Sure it's full of hokey recipes for fruit skewers and celery boats, but the oaty date recipe is definitely a