V-Rating: VVVV
Where: Cnr Campbell Pde & Hall St, Bondi Beach
When: Saturday 10 February 2007
Tel: (02) 9365 4422
Price: It’s rude to contemplate such a matter, let alone ask.

It is my pleasure and honour to have the role of presenting a ‘review’ of the wedding of Kate and Andy. Having been tasked with this role some weeks in advance of the wedding, I was forewarned and forearmed. I would do a stellar job, I had decided! What better occasion to make my first foray into the exciting world of food photography! I would make this the first post in which I would include photos of the food I was reviewing, like Kate does. So I took my camera, and took numerous pictures of each entrée, main and dessert. (I admit to forgetting to photograph the side dishes.)

Unfortunately (and after such a build up there had to be an “unfortunately”) I am a luddite and still very much a WordPress novice. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get the photos to work: they either appeared so massive that you could not see the whole image on the screen at once, or so small as to require the viewer to squint and use a magnifiying glass. So you’ll just have to be satisfied by my descriptions. (Unless and until I email Kate the photos I took…)

This failed experiment in food photography in part explains the more-than-three-week delay in getting this review on the site, so that now Kate and Andy have both been on their honeymoon, returned, and been back at work for a week in the time it has taken me to post this review. That delay is also partly explained by my tendency, as Kate would no doubt be aware, to leave half-written reviews in the draft section of the admin part of this blog for weeks on end…

(Sorry Kate and Andy! Better late than never!!)

And so it was that, after having witnessed a beautiful ceremony on the balcony of Ravesi’s, overlooking a sun-drenched Bondi Beach, after having taken the opportunity to catch up with several mutual friends I share with Kate and Andy, after having made cooing noises over some truly adorable small children, and after having had a couple of glasses of champagne (as one does at a wedding), I sat at my table with my friends around the beautiful floral arrangement (by Andy, I understand) in a glass vase (by Ikea, I understand) and examined the menu.

As my friend the lovely Jess and I sat salivating over the delicious sounding menu, we simply couldn’t make our mind up over which of the entrées sounded the more delicious: the fresh figs with goat’s cheese, walnuts and balsamic glaze, or the red peppers stuffed with feta cheese and herbs, with rocket and parmesan salad. I don’t know which of us it was that suggested that, rather than deciding between the two of us who would have which dish, we should “go halves” in both (and likewise for mains and dessert), but I’d like to claim the credit for it because it was an excellent idea.

Embarrassing confession of a sometimes food blogger: I have never eaten a fresh (raw) fig before. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect: I love the dried varieties, and fig jam, but raw figs are a curious fruit when you’re not familiar with them. They kind of look like they should be cooked. I mean, I did know they can be eaten raw - I wasn’t that I was thinking “you can’t eat raw figs!”. (In fact what I was thinking of was the scene in which Halle Berry rather unattractively spits part of a fig into Pierce Brosnan’s mouth in the stupidest James Bond movie ever.) Now, I am glad to say that thought is banished from my mind. The figs were simply delicious. Mouth-watering is a term that is overused, not to mention slightly gross, but the fig, cheese and walnut combination was truly enough to get your salivary glands flowing.

The stuffed peppers were gorgeous: the tartness of the peppers was set off by the feta and the peppery rocket. They reminded me of the stuffed peppers I buy at the deli, and to which I have to confess an (expensive) addiction. But these ones were so much better: not least because of the parmesan, which added a bite to the combination of flavours and gave some real tang to this dish. Why have just one type of cheese when you can have two, I say?

For main, the two options were pumpkin, pistachio and ricotta ravioli served in a roasted butter squash pumpkin, or roasted vegetable lasagne layered with sweet peppers, eggplant and spinach. I am not an exceptionally attentive reader, especially at a wedding where there are people to talk to and wine to drink, so even having read the menu I still managed to be surprised when the pumpkin-filled ravioli came out served in a little pumpkin. I have to take Ravesi’s to task here: I believe it was actually a golden nugget pumpkin, not a butter squash pumpkin. Tsk tsk! (I am probably showing my lack of pumpkin expertise here: feel free to tell me in the comments if those two types of pumpkin are in fact one and the same, and I will eat humble (pumpkin) pie.) I must confess to loving the idea of pumpkin containing ravioli containing pumpkin. But why stop there? The golden nugget pumpkin could have been wrapped in a mammoth ravioli pasta shell, which could then have been served inside a much bigger pumpkin. Then you could have pumpkin containing ravioli containing pumpkin containing ravioli containing pumpkin. After all, Andy and Kate have demonstrated a fondness for stuffing big pumpkins! But enough self-referential humour. The pasta was delectable, and the cooked pumpkin with it was a nice touch (given that the filling of ravioli can so often be disappointingly small, it was nice to be able to add to the pumpkin filling with some extra pumpkin).

Sadly I didn’t get to try much of the roasted vegetable lasagne. Jess had by this stage disappeared to talk to some other people, and didn’t realise her dinner was waiting for her and getting cold. Tempted though I was just to tuck in and eat half her main course (as per our arrangement), I thought I should probably leave it untouched for when she returned to the table. And by the time she did return I had devoured most of my own dish, leaving me feel like I couldn’t very well scoff down a good part of hers too. Still, from what I did taste, it was a very nice lasagne.

But as good as the mains were, I cannot review this wedding without mentioning the side dishes. More specifically, the mashed potato. I don’t know if Kate and Andy necessarily want their wedding to be strongly associated with mashed spuds, but this mash was simply the best mashed potato that I have ever tasted. Seriously. Previously whenever I have seen mashed potato available on a menu as a side I have thought to myself, why would you get mash when you can have wedges/fries/some other deep-fried potato product. But now I stand corrected: mashed potato can make a meal. If you think I am gushing or being facetious (moi?), then I assure you I am not. And I certainly don’t mean to take away from my praise of the other menu items (did I mention that the figs were mouth-watering?). I simply did not know before how tasty, morish and divine mashed potato can be. Thank you, Ravesi’s, for showing me the error of my ways.

Desserts were a green tea crème brûlée with apple sorbet and caramelised pineapple, or a chocolate and macadamia pound(ster) cake with cinnamon mascarpone and coffee cardamom ice cream. Faced with these two options, I didn’t know which I would prefer. But by this stage of the evening most people were full, not to mention a little tipsy, and also were occupied by talking to other guests at other tables. So I was able to help myself to both! The crème brûlée really was green: a little disconcerting at first, but lovely-tasting and perfect with the apple sorbet. I must confess I didn’t notice the caramelised pineapple: perhaps I didn’t get that far (I too was feeling quite full by this point). What I ate of the pound cake was soft, crumbly and scrumptious. Unfortunately I didn’t get all the way through that dessert either: I think I dashed off to boogie along to “Drop It Like It’s Hot”. (Yo.)

All in all, it was a refreshing change to have a set menu event at which I could eat everything on the menu. Yay for vegetarian weddings! I’m also informed by Jackie that those with special dietary requirements were very well taken care of. But more than that, the food was universally delicious. So kudos to the happy couple for organising, and to Ravesi’s for delivering the goods! My thanks to Kate and Andy for having me at their delightful wedding, and for asking me to review this event (did I do ok?!), and my congratulations and best wishes to them.

- AC

(I see that I’ve just been pipped at the post by the reviewer of the Bodhi yum cha brunch! Rats! Not that it’s a race or anything…)

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