It may not be haute cuisine but food-trend forecasters say it's the future
There's a widely held theory among food-trend forecasters that crickets are the way of the eating future.
Indeed, in Rome last month, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation presented a 200-page report that suggested bugs could help ward off global starvation. They're cheap, accessible and offer high-quality nutrition. And, what do you know, insects have started appearing on Sydney menus.
El Topo Restaurant in Bondi Junction. Pork Tacos.
At that most trend-forward of restaurants, Surry Hills's Billy Kwong, celebrity chef Kylie Kwong has brought in a dish described as "Cantonese-style fried rice with roasted meal worms, crushed wood 'roaches' and dried scallop, chilli and cricket sauce".
And at Bondi Junction's El Topo, is something called "chaplines" - roast crickets with chilli, garlic and lime ($7).
El Topo Restaurant in Bondi Junction. Lamb and Beans.
"So, what are the crickets like?" we ask our waitress as we survey the menu at this atmospheric Mexican. "Hm," she says. "They're ok."
We admire her honesty and order them anyway. They arrive in a small stoneware bowl, 50 or so little grasshoppers, dry fried and coated with chilli and lime zest. They're ok. They don't repulse us, but taste rather like, well, dead grasshoppers.
After an initial crunch and burst of chilli, what's left in the mouth is a bit like crispy dust. It's not unlike eating whole school prawns with the meat taken out. I'm not keen to do it again.
El Topo Restaurant in Bondi Junction.
The crickets at El Topo are perhaps a gimmick but even accounting for the gross-out factor, they are a good gimmick. They show some thought and understanding of what's happening in the world. And thankfully there's much more to El Topo than crickets. It is, in fact, a fun, happening place in the most unexpected of locations.
Tucked inside the Eastern Hotel, which exists somehow within the confines of Westfield Bondi Junction (the mall has been built around the pub), El Topo is arguably the best of the many Mexican restaurants to open in Sydney of late.
The menu has been done - as most local Mexican menus seem to be - not by a Mexican but by a well-trained chef in Matthew Fitzgerald (pictured, left), whose background includes stints at Bathers' Pavilion and The Bentley.
El Topo Restaurant in Bondi Junction. Zucchini flower quesadilla
Fitzgerald has put together a menu that reads fresh and authentic, with plenty of Mexican flavours matched with fashionable ingredients. See this in dishes such as a zucchini flower quesadilla ($15), an interesting take on a traditional quesadilla (two tortillas joined with melted cheese - the Mexican version of a cheese toastie).
Here, queso oaxaqueno (Mexican cheese similar to mozzarella) holds together tortillas that also conceal a chunky sauce vierge (herb sauce), with the zucchini flowers sprinkled on top.
Tacos ($6 each) come in two varieties, either guallio chilli pork with roasted pineapple and coriander; or braised beef tongue with mole coloradito (a sauce with hints of cumin) and pickled cucumber. They are good; the flavours robust and smoky, the soft-shell tacos top quality.
Bondi restaurant El Topo chef Matt Fitzgerald.
The food is mostly designed to share, so order dishes like lamb rump in a pinto bean stew ($25), a hearty dish of sliced pink-cooked lamb with robust beans made lively from mulato chilli adobo.
Chipotle chargrilled prawns ($18), meanwhile, arrive unshelled with the smoky sauce smeared over the shells. They are tricky to eat but the flavours are there.
There's more of interest to experiment with. Try Hawkesbury calamari with ink sauce, pickled corn, almonds and kale ($16) or braised black turtle beans with queso franco (a soft cheese, $5).
El Topo Restaurant in Bondi Junction. Crickets.
Guava parfait with corn sponge ($15) to finish offers an interesting play on textures and flavours. The margaritas ($14) are cold, strong and in the pocket. Have one made on either tequila or mezcal (smoked tequila) or try a Mexican beer like a Pacifico Clara ($9) or Argentinian wine.
A very pretty fit-out that includes hand-painted Oaxaca tiles, and Mexicana paintings, completes a cool package.
El Topo is casual but fun, and a step up from some of the average faux-Mexican places that have opened lately. Hop into it.
Source: The Sunday Telegraph, 30 June 2013
