About
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Phone: 03 9819 2200 Mobile: 0418 576 108 Email: info@canvasrestaurant.com.au |
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Moor to the point A man from mahgreb mesmerises Bob HartClick here to download the whole story |
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FEB 08
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The Serve - This Week: Romantic 4/5 Canvas Restaurant and BarLevel 1, 302-320 Burwood Road, Hawthorn, 9819 2200 Licensed AE DC MC V Eftpos Monday to Friday, noon-2.30pm; Monday to Saturday, 6pm-10.30pm Entrees: $16-$26; mains: $28-$36; desserts: $14; banquet: $60-$70. When you enter a restaurant for a romantic meal, there are a few things you don't want to see. A group of big blokes singing football songs is a no-no. Also not so good are harried waiters who greet you with the delight a camper saves for a mozzie. A vista of deep-fried glop is unpromising too. Much better is the Canvas experience: flocked wallpaper and gauzy curtains at the entrance lead to a dining room - and a waiter - with chic, smooth, grown-up appeal. Handsome cutlery and glassware gleam on well-spaced, linen-draped, candle-lit tables. Chefs flutter in a heat haze in an open kitchen from which great spicy and floral drifts emanate: cinnamon, cumin, rosewater. The rear of the restaurant is a curved glass wall with a view to the deck, where chirpy young things enjoy pomegranate cocktails, merguez lamb pizza and seafood paella. Behind them, over yonder, a church steeple strains towards the heavens. If you are hoping for a certain question to be popped, you may like to ensure your interrogator is seated with these inspiring spires in view. Canvas has been here since 2006; late last year, the restaurant's Algerian-born chef, Pierre Khodja, stripped his menu of its French-Mediterranean leanings and amped up the flavours of northern Africa. Good move. Khodja's "shared table" banquet menu is a good way to experience the chermoula, za'atar, couscous and preserved lemon that permeate this cuisine. After all, decisions are for the dour. Romance is all about being swept along on a dizzying wave. The food is sensual, enhanced by a satisfyingly tactile range of terracotta serving dishes. Cinnamon-dusted scallops are a sexy standout: the crustaceans are presented on succulent raisin jam spiked with pomegranate molasses. Also terrrific is the lamb tagine with love-me-tender meat, dried prunes and apricots, fresh apple, plus a splash of rosewater for that last-minute boudoir wink. Snapper tagine is fresh and feisty cooked with chermoula (a paste of garlic, salt, cumin, paprika, harissa, parsley and coriander) and clams. Like much of the food here, the spice hit is a gentle, balanced nudge rather than a full-throttle whack. A judicious approach is also evident in the salads. Shaved fennel lolls with vinaigrette, chilli and olives in one room-temperature assembly. In another, roasted green capsicum snuggles up with garlic, red onion and preserved lemon. Both dishes are a perfect lingering smooch, a simple testament to less-is-more loveliness. The classic bistilla is a pigeon pie but that wouldn't fly in Hawthorn. Here, there's a choice of chicken or seafood. The seafood pastry includes prawns, scallops and milk-and-cinnamon poached flathead, wrapped up in filo with chermoula and herbs. After it's baked, it's dusted with icing sugar, cinnamon and cayenne pepper. It's the best fish pie I've ever attacked. Desserts range from decadent (pine nut tart, ginger creme brulee) to disarmingly simple (watermelon cubes tumbled with mint and rosewater). The only jarring note in this symphony of an evening was when the waiter's between-course crumb-scraping led to an abstract expressionist smearing of spilt sauce across our table. I note one other romance-dampening snag: the food is so moreish that diners are likely to leave uncomfortably replete. It may be a case of, "Not tonight darling, I'm completely couscoused". |
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DEC 09
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Masterchef - Pierre Khodja There's an air of excitement at Canvas restaurant in Hawthorn. It's as though the place has been on cruise control but all of a sudden the turbocharge has kicked in. And all because chef Pierre Khodja has decided to focus on his native North African cuisine. "It's what I've always wanted to do," says Khodja, who was born in Algeria before moving to Marseilles, France, when he was 7. "It's my background and my passion. And now I'm confident our customers are ready for it."Khodja came to Canvas from the Albert Street Restaurant in Mornington; before that he'd been working in London with some of the best French chefs in Europe. He'd been preparing high-quality French-Mediterranean food with a Moroccan twist at the Hawthorn restaurant since it opened two years ago. But after numerous requests for more Moroccan he decided to orient the menu exclusively towards North African and Moroccan cuisine. Plenty of herbs and lemon feature alongside spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg. Butter and cream don't get a look in. And the crowds love it. "It's very simple food but with a lot of clean, fresh flavour," he says. -- DAVID SUTHERLAND Pierre's snapper tagine with potatoes and chermoula This dish is traditionally cooked in a tagine but any ceramic or terracotta baking dish will work as well. INGREDIENTS For the chermoula: 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped 1/2 tsp sea salt 3 tbsp parsley, roughly chopped 3 tbsp coriander, roughly chopped 2 tsp paprika 2 tsp cumin, ground ? tbsp harissa* or chilli paste 1 tbsp lemon juice 3 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp water For the tagine: 500g whole snapper 500g potato, peeled and sliced 300g ripe tomatoes, sliced and marinated in chermoula (above) 1 green capsicum, cut into strips 2 tbsp tomato paste 200ml water 1/2 tsp sea salt black pepper to taste 1/2 tsp castor sugar 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp parsley, chopped 1 tbsp coriander, chopped 1 tbsp lemon juice METHOD For the chermoula: Pound garlic in a mortar and pestle with the sea salt to form a paste, then add all other ingredients, and pound together until combined into a paste. For the tagine: Preheat oven to 200C. Remove tomatoes from chermoula marinade and rub chermoula paste into both sides of the fish and marinate for 30 minutes. Oil the tagine, then lay the potatoes on the base and place the marinated fish on top. Spread marinated tomatoes and the capsicum strips over the fish, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix tomato paste with water, sea salt, black pepper, sugar and olive oil and pour over the fish. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and coriander, cover tagine with foil and bake for 50 minutes. Remove foil and rest for five minutes. Just before serving add lemon juice and serve with green salad. Serves 4 * Harissa paste is available at most good providores. |
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The Age, Larissa Dubecki www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/epicure/restaurant-review/canvas/2009/06/22/1245522779505.html |
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Moroccan Mint Tea Mint tea is an integral part of the North African culture and the first sign of welcome at any social level.Never served in a cup – always in a small Moroccan tea glass. Legend says the higher the servant can lift the teapot to pour the tea into the glass, the better it is for the class, reputation and good taste of the host. Mint tea is always made with Chinese green tea (the best is gunpowder green tea). Here is Pierre's recipe for traditional Moroccan mint tea 2 tbspns Chinese gunpowder green tea leaves 1 good handful / small bunch of fresh mint leaves 4-5 tspns caster sugar (depending on desired sweetness) 4 cups boiling water 1 tspn Orange Blossom water Method Boil water and pour into the clean Morrocan tea pot. Leave boiling water in the tea pot to heat it while you prepare the tea. Empty the tea pot, then add the green tea, pour boiling water back into the pot to cover the tea. Swirl it around then tip water out, leaving the seeped tea leaves in the bottom of the pot (this helps remove some of the bitterness of the tea). Refill the pot (up to the start of the spout) with hot water to re-cover the tea. Add the sugar to the pot and stir with a long spoon (until desired sweetness is achieved) Rinse the fresh mint leaves under running water and shake them to remove excess water. Twist the mint leaves in your hands before putting them in the tea pot. Make sure the mint leaves are fully immersed in the tea. Stir everything inside the teapot with a long spoon Leave to brew and settle for 5 minutes. Don't brew too long as the tea will become dark and bitter. Don't pour too early or the tea will not have settled and will be cloudy. When ready, pour one glass of tea then return the liquid back into the pot. This allows a better mix of ingredients. Pour the tea into tea glasses, raising the tea pot as you pour to aerate the tea and allow it to become fragrant. Enjoy! |
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