Cool beans!

July 29th, 2010

For the past few months we’ve been enjoying the smooth taste of Detour coffee beans supplied by our good friend Steve who runs Detour Expresso Bar on William St in the city. Keeping with the restaurant’s desire to be eco-friendly the coffee is Organic Rainforest Alliance Certified. These excellent beans make the journey from the city to the beach, and are then made into the perfect coffee by Tom our resident expert barista.

This week we’ve been experimenting with a 6 hour roast lamb dish to warm the cockles of your heart. The lamb leg is rubbed with a salt, pepper, paprika and olive oil mixture then slow roasted with onion, garlic, thyme, white wine and tomato puree for 6 hours until it is wonderfully tender and full of flavour. Viva the slow food movement!

Our degustation menus continue to delight, which makes us happy because we think it is the ultimate dining experience, and the best way for us to give our guests a taste of lots of our dishes. For those who are unfamiliar with the degustation it is a foodies alternative to the general 3 course meal. At Angel we offer an 8 course degustation where you can taste and savour many of the dishes offered on our menu. The meal generally lasts 2 hours and is great for parties or large bookings as you can really settle in and take it easy while enjoying the relaxed atmosphere and viewing our art exhibition which changes monthly. We also have a wine match option with carefully selected wines for each meal or alternatively you could select a drink from our fully licensed bar.

Live music with Ziggy keeps the good vibes rolling with his well known covers and original tunes every Sunday from 11am.

Well we can smell the lamb cooking and think we might just have to go sample a little bit - just to make sure it’s ok.

See you soon, the Angel team.

Slow cooked comfort food

May 18th, 2010

Long, slow braises, roasts, and poaching.

That’s all I can think of at the moment as I look at the dreary weather outside.

This week will be osso bucco with roasted autumn vegetables.

Next week I might put on the Moroccan lamb tagine, or slow braised duck leg, or pork neck poached in master stock…

I have to stop now, and run down to the butcher to find something to cook today.

So if you’re feeling cold and miserable come into Angel and try something comforting and hearty.

Thanks, Alex.

Autumn in the Northern Beaches

April 28th, 2010

What stunning weather we are having.

I know I go on about the weather a bit but when you have a day like today it really makes you appreciate being alive.

A nice long walk today and a swim at Freshwater beach (the water temperature is starting to drop just a little but is still magnificent). Some tasty treats for lunch. How good does that sound!

My delicious lunch whilst gazing at the beach was suitable inspiration for tomorrow evenings seafood degustation menu. A call to our seafood supplier and a trip to the fish markets tomorrow morning will round out all the ideas I need.

Apparently the tuna are running off Sydney now so some sashimi grade fillet will be featuring. The Tasmanian pacific oysters are in very good condition now too.

Our current art exhibition has been very successful.

Directions 3 is Douglas Chick, Jodie Read and Marg Waugh. Here is a few examples of their work. The exhibition runs until Sunday 9th May so feel free to come in and have a look.

jodie-read-3img_750311

Jodie Read

Douglas Chick art exhibition www.angelrestaurant.com.au

Douglas Chick

Marg Waugh

Marg Waugh

Lastly we have a new musician on Sundays - Ziggy. He plays from 11am most Sundays when his hectic schedule permits. Come check him out sometime.

Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Thanks, Alex.

Summer wrap-up

February 26th, 2010

Hi all. Summer is nearly done and it turned out pretty well I think.

Humid February and some insane rain but some nice blue skies amongst that too.

We have had our best summer yet at Angel with plenty of small functions to keep us busy.

Lot’s of interesting specials, particularly seafood, live mud crabs etc keeps the kitchen inspired!

Of course we have to sample all the specials - just to make sure they are up to scratch!

Degustations continue to be popular. It really is the most interesting way to dine - in my humble opinion.

Well that’s about it folks, lot’s of good food (mostly seafood) and not much bad to comment upon.

I hope you are all settling in to the new year ok and hope to see you soon.

Cheers, Alex.

Summer = sun, sand, food, wine and art

January 23rd, 2010

Well is summer is properly here now. It took it’s time!

Things are ticking along nicely at Angel.

We are busy without being crazy, I’m very happy with the standard of service and food that we are giving, and the art we have is great!

Can’t really complain!

We are looking for more quality artists, however.

We had a long list of artists lined up but now we need some more.

Email info@angelrestaurant.com.au

Angel restaurant art exhibition - Stphan Marshall turnoffnthofbiloelaburnetthwy

Angel restaurant art exhibition - Stphan Marshall turnoffnthofbiloelaburnetthwy

January 13th, 2010

Happy New Year!

Hi everyone and welcome to a new decade!

I hope everone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year, with lots of holidays and rest and fun.

Our upcoming artist is Stephan Marshall.

Please see the website for examples of his work.

His opening night is Wednesday the 13th January, 7 - 9pm. All are welcome.

As always our degustations seem to be going from strength to strength.

Now is a lovely time of year to enjoy a feast, either on a beautiful afternoon when the sun is shining and the breeze is coming off the sea, or in the balmy candelit evenings.

We have a new seafood connection and now can offer some very interesting items, like whole live Rockhampton mud crab, live spanner crab, whole reef fish, Alaskan king crab, South American slipper lobster, smoked tuna and more.

We will be offering various items as specials each week, but if there is something in particular you would like to try, give us a call and we will try to arrange it.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Thanks, Alex.

Optimism is in the air

October 23rd, 2009

Well if recent sales are anything to go by then the global financial crisis is over!

Hurrah!

We have had strong art sales recently and if there is one obvious barometer of consumer confidence then art is my choice!

Art is clearly a luxury item; (most) people will not die without it. Good food however is another thing. I for one cannot live without it!

We are putting on a new menu next week to celebrate this new-found confidence.

Most of the old favourites will remain but there will be some propitious newcomers for anyone who isn’t afraid to spend a few more dollars on a sumptuous meal.

See the menus for updates or the home page for awesome specials.

Our next artist should enjoy great fortune too.

Joel Coleman has some fantastic surf photograpy and we will be proud to display his works in November.

Well I’m feeling full of beans at the moment… beans… Lemon and chilli marinated squid with a Mediterranean bean salad. Gotta go!

Angel Restaurant

September 30th, 2009

Hi all, hope you are well! It’s starting to turn into a lovely spring ( if you ignore Martian dust storms and other oddities) and we have lots of tasty new dishes on the menus and specials boards.

The specials are now being updated as they happen on twitter.

You can follow this mini-blog hereĀ  http://twitter.com/angelrestaurant

Our current artist Katharina Goyer has some lovely watercolours. See the art page for more examples.

Angel restaurant - Katharina Goyer

http://angelrestaurant.com.au/art.htm

Our resident musician James Tindle is still playing and singing every Sunday, starting around eleven to entertain the brunch as well as lunch audience.

We are getting towards the end of the year so we have a lot of functions coming up.

We have a several different options for any function - be it a small private gathering for a birthday or a corporate or work christmas function.

Well the sun is shining outside, and there is a slight breeze coming from the beach. I think I need to get out there and enjoy it and get inspired for some more tasty menu items!

Spring is in the air

August 26th, 2009

It’s still a bit chilly at night but how beautiful are these Sydney days?

I have had a little taste of what is to come as I have just come back from a weeks holiday in Fiji, for a friends wedding.

Perfect sunny 30c days and mild at night.

Palm trees swaying in the breeze, perfect azure water, sunny smiles from the lovely Fijians.

All this and the island inspired food put me in mind of what we have coming.

I saw few nice menu ideas too - for instance Kokoda kingfish. Kingfish fillet diced and marinated in lime, chilli, red onion, coriander and coconut cream. The acidity of the lime juice “cooks” the fish. It’s incredibly tasty and refreshing. A perfect entree with a robust white or a lighter style beer.

Speaking of beer our beer degustation is going strong, with a few minor tweaks to make it even better. A new beer we have acquired is the Pigs Fly pale ale. It’s quite simply one of the best beers I have ever tasted, and matches perfectly with it’s namesake, the crisp pork belly.

We have had several very successful functions lately too. People seem to really enjoy our deck on a sunny Saturday or Sunday afternoon with a group of friends. We have even had a few corporate functions lately, which I suppose is because we can offer a little more value than the big city restaurants while everyone is being more careful with their spending.

Well I had better get to work and put those light and delicious new menu ideas into practice, come up with the Father’s day menu (Sunday 6th September), and try not to daydream too much about my next island holiday. Hmm, we passed New Caledonia on the way to Fiji, sounds nice…

A whale of a time.

July 15th, 2009

Hi all, hope you are all doing well, not suffering too much the winter chill!

I think I work in one of the best places in the world!

It’s got such a lovely outlook onto Freshwater beach and the ocean, and at this time of year we even get to see whales on their migratory run. Amazing!

A few of our surfing waitstaff have even been surfing with dolphins around Manly over the last few weeks.

We have put on yet more hearty winter fare to combat the cold, such as a traditional European dish which our Austrian manager Kat inspired. Slow-cooked beef ragout with bread dumplings. It’s serious comfort food which would hold you in good stead for a day working out in the fields.

Our resident musician, James Tindle continues to sing and strum up a storm on Sundays.

He has begun playing at 11am so our brunch crowd can enjoy his music too.

All our degustation menus continue to be very popular.

We have had some lovely functions and a wedding recently who chose a degustation option rather than the standard two or three course meal.

It seems to be a more interesting, social and interactive way to eat.

We hope to see you soon.

Take care, Alex.