Many years ago I visited New Zealand and had a Paura fritter in a Wellington Fish and Chip Shop I have never forgotten that taste. Oh to have one again. However I am a Pescatorian and love Oysters, preferably freshly shucked. But there are those times when you over cater. After our recent Oyster night at Side Gate HQ we had a few dozen spare– Josef purchased 80 dozen wooooooah!! Ocean Made Robert Street Collingwood go see them they are amazing, if you can’t see your dream fish in the pristine shop they have it out back. Thats another story! Warning freeze your oysters only if in great condition. Our motto : When in doubt chuck it out. Serve with...
Its the time of year again where Ande and Josef head off looking for their winter treasure, the truffle! Look out for the forthcoming truffle event in Collingwood that will excite your taste pallet with booth wine and truffles for the tasting! Oak Hill Truffle Hunting Nestled in the historic goldfield town of Gordon just 1 hour out of Melbourne CBD, lies “Oak Hill Truffles”. We got a chance to visit a beautiful patch of farm land and home of Truffle farm owners Merylee and Ian. The central highlands region are ideally suited for the production of winter truffles from mid-June to the end of August with warm summers, cold winters and plenty of frosts! We were welcomed into...
Ande is the SA connection to Side Gate. Proudly a new Australian stemming from Austria, she grew up in wonderful Adelaide. After a number of careers including teaching Primary School, being a Flight Attendant and experiencing a world full of travel and life experiences she connected with Josef and his 3 beautiful daughters in Melbourne. Some years later with the addition of two new Orbach girls the family moved to Clare SA for a country escape. Ande started a weekly street Market 'Andy's Market', was LOTE German teacher at St Joseph's School and later became the Restauranter at Clarevale. Some 4 years on the move back to Victoria was a initiated by Josef's desire to launch his first wine label...
What a huge foodies weekend: making salami on Saturday & Truffle hunting on Sunday! Both first time experiences for Josef & Ande. DAY 1 – SALAMI MAKING: The weekend started at Joe & Silvana’s East Brunswick house to learn how the Italians make Salami & fresh sausages. With 40 kgs of quality shoulder pork, female pig of course, we started mincing and preparing four kinds of Salami. The spicy red chilli and roasted paprika paste and the mild fennel seed with white wine & cracked pepper were my two favourites. It was a great team effort with Joe, Linas, Tommy & Paul mincing, filling the various flavoured salamis. Silvanna and the all girl power team weighed and tagged each...
