Food Safari Book Launch at Spice I Am – Darlinghurst, Sydney NSW
SBS Food Safari Recipe Book by Maeve O'meara
“You don’t buy cookbooks to read them,” once my friend said. At first I didn’t really know what she meant, because I never owned one. I was one of those person who think cookbooks are a waste of money because they just look pretty and you probably will never cook a dish out from the recipes in the cookbooks. On the other hand, I do collect photographers books; I just like to look at the photos and admire them. I guess is the same theory for cookbooks, you just have to drool over the pretty pictures of delicious food, isn’t that enough?
Slowly, a small section in the kitchen cupboard is now my cookbooks corner. My collection is still very shabby and don’t own any cookbooks by famous chefs or anything like that, but mostly just cheap useful cookbooks out of the bargain bin. (Yes, I am that cheap) But my two new acquired cookbooks I bought from overseas are Momofuku by David Chang, and COCO: 10 World-leading Masters choose 100 Contemporary Chefs and they are brilliant. Shameless to say, I am addicted!
I was lucky to be invited to the SBS Food Safari Book launch at Spice I am in Darlinghurst and get to find out more about the process behind the book and all the insights how the book was born. Helen from Grab Your Fork and Karen from Citrus and Candy were also at the book launch.
This is a food blog, so let’s talk about the food at the launch… as you do. There are lots of crowd pleasing canapes floating around and the first one I tried is tapioca balls stuffed with pork, peanuts and water chestnuts. A good combination of texture, balanced well with the chewy starchy tapioca skin and the peanut and water chestnut fillings. It is a little bit sweet and salty at the same time.
Clockwise L to R: Tetsuya Wakuda embraces Maeve O'Meara and congratulates her at the book launch; the cook book packed with a kaleidoscope of recipes from many regions and background; Maeve and Tetsuya pose for the cameras; Azuma is also one of the top chefs in the book
Most of the guests at the book launch are either part of the cookbook, or the book publishers. The top chefs including Tetsuya Wakuda, Peter Kuravita from Flying Fish, Kimitaka Azuma, Chui Lee Lok from Claude’s were there at the launch. Guy Grossi flew in from Melbourne to be the emcee of the night. But the star who stole the show tonight of course is no one but Food Safari TV host, Maeve O’meara herself. And guess what, there will be a new Food Safari show on SBS soon called Food Safari Italy and Guy Grossi will teamed up with Maeve to be on a Italian food trail. Keep an eye out.
The deep fried prawn spring rolls are a delightful crunch. The succulent prawns are having an Egyptian treatment, mummified in a spring roll sheet then deep fried to golden brown. It works rather well as the whole prawn cooked through evenly. A dash of sweet chilli sauce and bite size pineapples on the side to enhance the flavour further. I heart mummified prawn spring rolls!
The only canape that is not sweet and packs quite a hot punch is these spicy chicken and prawns balls. It ticks all the hot and spiciness boxes of a Thai dish should have but I found the deep fried skin is a little tough and hard to chew. It is flavorsome nevertheless and goes well with a glass of refreshing white.
We got a chance to sneak into the kitchen to snap some photos of the canapes at the end of the launch and chatted with one of the chefs about how they prepared this rice noodles rolled with vegetables. The freshly steamed rice noodle is dyed using the blue pea flower (AKA butterfly pea flower) which is also commonly used in Malaysia to make nyonya kuih. Definitely a better option than using food coloring I guess.
Lastly and is also my favorite, is the deep fried prawns in dessicated coconut. The golden brown prawns is nicely coated with fragrant dessicated coconut, a sweet caramelised condensed milk or brown sugar is also unmistakenly lingering on the tongue.
I had a quick flip through of the SBS cook book and it looks like a perfect gift and ready to be christened with sauces this festive season. The Food Safari cookbook retails for $55 and is available from Dymocks and the SBS shop. (Last time I saw them on the bookshelves at Dymocks are only $49.90)
A Table For Two attended this event courtesy of SBS, thanks for Aisha Hillary for organising it.
Spice I Am Restaurant 296-300 Victoria St, Darlinghurst Tel: +61 (02) 9332 2445 Lunch: Thursday-Sunday 11.30am-3.00pm Dinner: 7 days 6.00pm-10.30pm
A Table For Two (ATFT) is Billy Law's food blog that features best eats in Sydney and around the world with drool-worthy food photography to salivate your appetite. I also throw in a smidgen of my food and travel photography for good measure. Billy Law also happened to be a contestant on MasterChef Australia 2011. 
Food Safari is a very interesting programme.. didn’t know they had a book, so thanks for sharing!
Nice blogging
Ladybird
.-= Ladybird´s last blog ..Pizza Birra, Surry Hills =-.
the book just came out, I had a quick flip through, it looks really good inside.
Great pics of the event Billy! I’ve always loved the Food Safari program on SBS…and I think Maeve is a champion. I hear you about the cookbook collection!
.-= Peter G´s last blog ..FoodBuzz Blogger Festival Dinner-San Francisco =-.
I agree, Maeve has definitely bring the culinary from around the world onto our doorsteps with that food safari show.
Great gig. well done and well photographed. so was the food as good as the Wentworth St Spice I Am? The Victoria St one didn’t get the best review I remember when it came out in Good Living. By the looks of it the food looks pretty sensational
.-= Simon Food Favourites´s last blog ..The Heart of Food Pot Luck Birthday Picnic: Centennial Park (22 Nov 2009) =-.
I havent been to the one at Wentworth St for yoinks! I need to go back and try it again then will let u know how difference they are.
mmm i could really do with some more of those prawn canapes right about now. loved both versions and the rice noodle rolls were such a pretty shade of blue too.
.-= Helen (grabyourfork)´s last blog ..Adriano Zumbo, Manu Feildel and Somage Fine Foods afternoon tea at L’etoile =-.
yes yes, i want those prawns… maybe i shall try to make them one day.
mmm the pictures of the canapes look good enough to eat ^^
lol… some are pretty tasty I must admit.
Judging by the pics- I agree with the fav being the deep fried prawns! Dang they look good. I think I hear them calling out to me! LOL
.-= Adrian @ Food Rehab´s last blog ..In Your Hood: It’s not Andrew’s Hamburgers, it’s mine! Albert Park- Part One =-.
hehehehee…. I so want to eat more but feel embarrassed to keep going back for it…. now i regret, I should have just take a few!
Great photos! Deep fried prawns in dessicated coconut looks and sounds delicious. So do the spicy chicken and prawn balls! And the …. never mind.
.-= joey@FoodiePop´s last blog ..Food Review: Etch by Becasse – Sydney =-.
hehe, I think you should do a run to Spice I am, and give it a good try!
Love the photos and food – Can’t wait for the new Food Safari!
.-= Anita´s last blog ..Scones =-.
yeah me too! Looking forward to it.
All those canapes look really nice. Makes me want to go back to Spice I Am sometime for some food.
Looks like it would have been an interesting event.
the canapes are not too bad actually. I want to go to the one on Wentworth St, I think we should organise a nite out.
Wow, what a great wrap up. Now, I’ve been to a book launch before (actually went to the official launch of Matt Preston’s book in Brisbane at Aria last week), but this certainly looks over the top!
I would imagine Matt Preston’s book launch would be a hoot!
Sorry I missed you at this function. I work at SBS during the day, but couldn’t make it on the night!
.-= Thang´s last blog ..Air Laos Lunch: 19 November 2009 =-.
Oh? Shame we didn’t know each other until now. Would have loved to say hi. Hopefully get to meet at any future event!