Bread & Circus Wholefoods Canteen

Cafes and restaurants that serve traditional wholefoods properly prepared are few and far between in Sydney. Bread & Circus wholefoods canteen in Sydney's inner west, owned and operated by Amanda Bachara, stands out as a shining beacon in Sydney's wholefoods scene. Don't let the name fool you into thinking that it's bread-focused or that acrobatic shenanigans are afoot.

I lunched there with close friend and natropath Anthia Koullouros a couple of months ago and was thoroughly impressed. Anthia goes so far to say that this canteen offers "the best breakfasts in Sydney". High praise indeed from one of Australia's wholefood gurus.

The canteen shares a space with a local coffee shop in a huge light airy warehouse befitting of Alexandria. Long communal tables, mountains of fresh produce whenever you turn and gorgeous table centre pieces create a beautifully decorated fresh colourful space.

I interviewed Amanda about her food ethos for the canteen with my standard pesky questions:

Q. Do u use any industrialised vegetable oils in your store eg canola oil, vegetable oil, cottonseed, rice bran etc

A. only unrefined olive oil and organic butter used

Q. What is the provenance of the meat, eggs, dairy  and produce that you serve?

A.  The beef is grass fed from GRUB [Grass Roots Urban Butchery].

The  chicken is organic and free range.

The eggs are free range and biodynamic.

The milk is organic.

The yoghurt and ricotta are biodynamic. Other cheeses such as blue vein and parmesan are authentic and expensive and come from places that follow very traditional practices but not necessarily labelled as certified organic etc.

The  all juicing fruits, and most other fruits are organic.

The vegetables are about 50/50 organic/conventional.  I go for the best/cleanest tasting product. The best tomatoes I've tried aren't organic, so we use them.

Q. What are your desserts sweetened with? 

A. rapadura sugar , brown rice syrup, raw honey, demarara etc. No white sugar anywhere.

Q.  I note that there are grains in the menu (which all restaurants serve). Are any of your grains properly prepared eg sourdough bread, soaked, sprouted etc?

A. pancake grains are soaked and the oats and nuts for smoothies and porridge are soaked. We do not soak farro and other grains.

Q. How often does the menu change?

A. We make the menu up in the morning and start cooking it right away. Click here to see the daily menu. I ordered the large sharing plate of a mix of all of the salads with a side of grilled haloumi (I am Cypriot after all!)

To drink, Bread & Circus offers filtered (reverse osmosis) water, extensive range of exotic organic teas, dandy lattes, cold pressed juices and more recently coffee.

Opened in November 2011, Bread & Circus is open 7 days from 7am-4pm.

I highly recommend Bread & Circus for breakfast or lunch (from noon). Plus it's very kid friendly.

Contact Details: Shop 2, 21 Fountain Street, Alexandria. ph (02) 9698 2939. You can check it out or Like the canteen on Facebook here.

Have you been to Bread & Circus? What did you think?

Greek lamb souvalakia, plus why you should marinate meat

Nourishing casseroles and bone broths might be more than just winter staples for traditional wholefoodies like me, but variety in cooking styles is important for a host of reasons. One of my favourite foods is lamb souvalakia cooked on the BBQ, which harks back to my early childhood. So if you're at a loss as to what to do with diced lamb (or even beef) and want a quick easy meal that is sure to please everyone's palate (especially kids!), try this (and I apologise in advance for not having specific quantities- it's so basic you can't really go wrong- just trust your gut instinct!):

Ingredients:

• Wooden or metal skewers

• Lamb, diced

• Red capsicum

• Green capsicum (optional)

• Yellow capsicum (optional)

• Onions

• Zucchini, cut into 1 cm slices

• Cherry tomatoes

Marinade mixture:

• Red wine

• Coriander seeds

• Cumin

• Unrefined salt

• Pepper

Directions:

Place meat in a large glass container/baking dish. Add marinade ingredients to well coat the meat (the meat does not need to be submersed in the wine- just enough to coat it on all sides). Marinate meat for several hours or overnight.

Cut onions and capsicum into approx 3 cm squares. Thread the meat and vegetables onto the skewers alternating meat and vegetables in whatever combination you prefer. Quantities of vegetables will vary depending on quantity of meat and how many vegetables opposed to meat are placed on the skewers. I prefer the skewers to consist of approx 2/3 meat and 1/3 vegetables, or half meat and half vegetables.

BBQ on one side then turn over to cook the other side. Meat is done when it is still slightly pink in the center.

Serve with tzatziki (Greek yogurt cucumber dip).

Variations:

Souvalakia are typically made with lamb but you could substitute beef or chicken. Add any other vegetables you desire eg mushrooms.

Why marinating meat is important when BBQing or using high heat

When meat is cooked using high heat (eg BBQ or open flame) or dry cooking methods such as frying, grilling or smoking, certain compounds are produced including advanced glycation end products (AGEs), heterocyclic amines (HAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). These have been shown to cause inflammation (which is the root cause of all modern disease including cancer and cardiovascular disease). This applies to all meat, not just red meat. So while I love eating BBQ'd meat, I only eat it occasionally and recommend lower-heat cooking methods (eg casseroles, braises, stews, long slow roasts, or even raw meat) as more of the staple method of meat consumption. Research shows, however, that you can significantly reduce the formation of these  inflammation-causing compounds by using an acidic marinade (eg wine, apple cider vinegar, tomato puree). Studies show that marinating beef for 1 hour reduced AGE formation by over half and marinades can cut HA formation in meat by up to 90%. So marinating meat does more than just make meat taste great! For more information refer to this recent article by Chris Kresser.

The Hill Eatery - restaurant review

I've eaten at The Hill Eatery in North Bondi about half a dozen times since it opened mid 2012 and have been impressed each time. I'd describe the food as traditional wholesome Mediterranean fare. Source and processing: What I find refreshing is that this is one of the very few restaurants in Sydney that expresses an interest in the source and processing of their food (and not just taste and presentation). As stated on their menu:

"Our produce is sourced in an ethical manner with a strong emphasis on farm to plate. We are believers in knowing the provenance of our food we serve to you in order to understand how it was reared or grown and treated between the farm and your plate. "

I LOVE that they only use olive oil in their cooking to the exclusion of vegetable oils other than the duck fat potatoes which, most regrettably, are cooked in a combination of duck fat and vegetable oil  (why they don't just use duck fat to cook the potatoes remains one of life's greatest mysteries as well as tragedies...). If there are deep-fried food on their menu (which was the case over winter) these will be cooked in vegetable oils so avoid those.

I also LOVE that the meats are from locally sourced farms where the animals are grass-fed (as opposed to grain-fed) and hence more nutritional, ethical and sustainable.

I was told that the fresh produce is locally sourced and in substance is grown according to organic principles (eg unsprayed) even if not technically certified organic.

What's currently on the menu: The menu changes seasonally. Tonight we ordered a selection of the small share plates (a la Spanish tapas style)  including lamb kofta, mushrooms wrapped in jamon iberico, grilled chorizo, grazing plate (of anchovies, gherkins, brazilian peppers, olives and sourdough bread), whole grilled prawns with sauce, heirloom carrots with labne cheese (priced at $9-14 each). The salad of broccoli, garden peas, spinach with mint and parmesan is my favourite side ($12). The pasta is made on the premises. Currently there are share plates for 2 people of seafood paella ($45) or roast whole lamb rump ($45). The big plates include Black Angus beef fillet  ($33), slow cooked Berkshire pork belly ($33) and lentil and kefalograviera moussaka with Greek salad ($24). Gluten-free and dairy-free options are specifically noted on the menu. There is a seafood section of  bowl of prawns ($24), grilled whiting with fennel salad ($26) and grilled salmon ($26). (Side note- virtually all salmon sold in Australian restaurants is farmed so I avoid this as an option due to what farmed salmon are fed and the appalling conditions in which they live).

I've never ordered the dessert but currently on the menu is a dark chocoalte tart with salted caramel, peanuts and vanilla gelato ($12), passionfruit posset with coconut tapioca and mango icecream ($12) and seasonal fruit popsicle on a stick (dairy-free) ($8).

I've been more impressed with the Hill's dinner menu than their brunch menu (the latter being a little too grain-heavy for me but there's still a few non-grain breakfast/lunch options for people like).

Taste: The food is always delicious. In particular the small plates and the main of slow cooked Berkshire pork belly never disappoint. A mate, Randall, said "that was one of the best meals I've ever had!" (and from a Melbournian, this stands for A LOT!)

Meal portions:  fair to smallish. If you're an athlete or super hungry this might not be the place to dine, but for the average wholefoodie like me the size of the meals is nothing to complain about.

Price: On the whole I think the Hill is fair value for what you get. Tonight's bill came to $153 for 4 people including alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks,  so $38 per person - which I think is pretty good value. Another time it came to $50 per head - 'tho that time a lot more alcohol was consumed :-)

Wine: all Australian wines are either organic or bio-dynamic. Tonight I had a couple glasses of the savingnon blanc which was delightful.

Atmosphere: It's got a earthy Bondi feel - sophisticated yet casual, warm and cosy, yet light and breezy. Rustic floor boards, poppies in tin pots, Turkish kilms on walls, dark wood panelling, tables inside and outside on pavement.

Bookings: On Friday nights it's jammed packed with a throng of Eastern suburbs beauties and unless you have a booking you might be relegated to eating at the bar which is not necessarily a bad option. On weeknights and at 6pm it's quiet which can be a good option if dining with kids.  If North Bondi Italian down the road is full (as it often is) this is a great Plan B. No bookings required for weekday lunches. Just walk in.

Staff: super friendly (even if half the time they need to check back with the chef if you're pesky enough like me to ask questions about the menu). Not super attentive but, hey, I have to remind myself that I now live in Sydney and not Melbourne ;-)

Address: Shop 5, 39 Campbell Pde, North Bondi

Contact details: ph 9130 2200. www.thehilleatery.com

Opening hours:  Monday- Friday from 12 noon for lunch. Weekends open from 8am for breakfast. Dinner 6-10pm.

Have you eaten at The Hill Eatery? What did you think? If you go, let me know what you think.