Food Bloggers' Secret Dinner @ Fix St James

Sometimes I realise I am very lucky. When I consider all the wonderful things that have come about thanks to this blog; all the amazing food and wonderful people that I have met, it makes me want to give my blog a cuddle. I felt especially lucky when Karen offered me an extra spot at the Food Bloggers' Secret Dinner which was being held as part of the Sydney International Food Festival. I was more than happy to accompany her, and was quite excited to be in the fairly unique position as a blogger who had been to the first secret dinner and had the opportunity to compare the differences.

Lili in the kitchen

My mobile phone went off at 4pm on the dot. I eagerly opened the message, and to my delight discovered that the secret location of the dinner was Fix St James. For me, one of the most enjoyable parts of the secret dinner experience is the mystery surrounding the menu and the location, and I was extra excited this time to find out where it was, since I had heard so many great things about Fix St James. That evening, we arrived at the restaurant a little late and out of breath, but it was okay since everyone was chatting with drinks and others were still making their way in the door. The space was immediately appealing to me, not too big or small, warm and inviting with great little decorative touches.

I want the clocks!

The menu for the night is still a mystery and we can see that they are printed out on the tables, but hidden under napkins, away from prying eyes. I love it! For our 4 course meal it was $65 pp and $40 for matching wines chosen by Fix St James owner Stuart Knox. Most people brought their own bottles of wine to share, but those who chose the matching wines were incredibly pleased. Not long after we are seated, Fouad comes out to introduce our chefs for the night, himself, Trish and Lili. We hear a little about our first dish, which is a mix plate of entrees that they had all contributed towards. We even had custom-made ceramic plates by one of their friends who was also at the dinner, which were absolutely gorgeous and we all wanted to keep for ourselves.

First up I tried the pickled octopus which Trish had made. I've had some very chewy pickled octopus before, but this was just the right texture and tangy with a sprinkling of parsley on top. Then I was eagerly cutting my way into Fouad's croqueta, inspired by the ones he had tried at Movida in Melbourne. I couldn't resist getting a food porn shot of the gooey cheesy innards.

Jamon and manchego croqueta

Oh gosh I'm a sucker for croquettes.

Cheese and tomato jam tart

Lili's tarts were divine. Flaky and buttery tart shells filled with creamy Persian feta and the most amazing tomato jam I've ever tasted. I can't wait for the recipe post Lili! I wish I could have had more!

The beakers of water appealed to my geek side

Tea smoked ocean trout with picked Uralba beetroot

The next course was another dish of Lili's, a tea smoked trout with cucumber, coriander and organic beetroots from her father's farm. It was perfectly cooked; moist slivers of ocean trout with that distinct smoky flavour and aroma that greeted us as soon as the dishes were placed on the table. The wonderfully earthy flavour of the organic beetroot and the cool cucumber and coriander were perfect to balance out the smoky tea flavour of the fish.

Confit duck with moghrabbiyeh, chorizo and caraway

The serving sizes were spot on up until this point, so I was still salivating at the smell of this dish when it came out. Fouad had given us a huuuge piece of confit duck (cured duck cooked in its own fat, for those who have never tried it before) sitting on a bed of moghrabbiyeh, chickpeas and chorizo with a lovely rich sauce. I was so excited to see moghrabbiyeh (pearl couscous) on the menu again, last time I loved it so much that I went out and bought a huge bag of it for myself to cook at home. It was a very different dish to the first dinner, but just as filling! The duck was packed full of flavour, I love confit duck so I was very happy. And I scooped up every single bit of moghrabbiyeh that I could find on my plate.

Strawberry and agave sorbet with avocado mousse

I was starting to feel pretty full at this point, but I always have my emergency dessert stomach on standby! I totally loved the sound of the first dessert, a little creation of Fouads before the main dessert, a fresh strawberry sorbet with avocado mousse and cream. I've had avocado served in sweets before, so I knew it worked but others seemed a little apprehensive. But it was SO good, and everyone was a little bit blown away by it. The strawberry sorbet was perfection, the flavour of strawberry was so intense and perfectly sweetened with agave syrup, a sugar substitute extracted from cactus. I honestly wouldn't have known it wasn't sugar if you didn't tell me. The avocado mousse was lovely, light and creamy, I was scraping my cup it get every bit of this.

Raw honey mousse with paxamathia crumble and orange syrup

Trish's dessert was a large plate of raw honey mousse with paxamathia (a Greek aniseed biscotti) crumble and a drizzle of orange syrup. The mousse was light and fluffy with the subtle flavour of honey, it was like eating a honey cloud. I loved the crunchy aniseed crumbs beneath it, it wasn't too strongly flavoured and was really nice when you got a bit that was drowning in that gorgeous orange syrup. Unfortunately by this point I had reached my bursting level and couldn't only manage about half of this, which made me feel a little guilty!

It was time for us to roll ourselves home, our stomachs full but very happy with all that delicious food. But it's not just the food that draws me in for the secret dinners, it's the whole experience. Oh, and if you're wondering how it compared to the first one, I think it definitely gets the big thumbs up from me. It seemed a bit slicker and smoother since it wasn't their first time, but still had the same great spirit and spark. Many thanks to Fouad, Lili and Trish for their awesome effort putting this together and doing such a fantastic job on the night, and to Stuart Knox for lending his wonderful space at Fix St James for the night, I will definitely have to go back on a regular night to try his menu. And a big thank you to Karen for bringing me along!

Food Bloggers' Secret Dinner
Fouad Kassab - www.thefoodblog.com
Trish Lathourakis - www.forque.com.au
Lili Roby - www.pikeletandpie.com

Fix St James
111 Elizabeth Street
Sydney NSW 2000
(02) 9232 2767

Monday - Friday for Breakfast and Lunch
Tuesday - Friday for Dinner (6pm - 10pm)