Today it’s a year.  23rd March 2020.  Lockdown. A date forever etched in our minds and the day we literally had two options – fall apart or redirect.

I am so lucky to have taken the latter option and here we are, still feeling positive about our business and having survived the bumps so far.

Personally the biggest challenge (besides the stress, but that’s what champagne is for) has been the inability to travel. Have you been dreaming of far away places too?

Wanderlust has become a way of life and we are constantly seeking to find new ways to cure our insatiable craving for a culture fix and new adventure. Where would we go?  What would we eat? How do we fill the jet setting void?

Let’s keep the daydream alive and take a virtual foodie journey around the world together, without even leaving the city! We’re dreaming of 6 destinations, some on our wish list and some that are very familiar. Travel along with us.

We’re choosing to stop firstly in Sri Lanka, a country that’s long been on our list of places we want to go.

A predominantly Buddhist country, Sri Lanka is apparently best known for two things – gems and tea. However it’s some of the local food we’d like to explore here, namely a hopper. These delicious crispy, cupped pancakes are a staple and come in many forms (we like the sound of an egg hopper). We dream of sitting in a local restaurant at the foot of the mountains covered in tea plantations eating a fabulous coconut fish curry and a hopper freshly made by a handsome Sri Lankan dressed in his chef’s whites!

We can’t get there just now but you can enjoy a hopper here in Sydney at Colombo Social or create your own version at home and enjoy it with a curry using our Chilli Garlic Masala.

From Sri Lanka we head to Israel, another destination on our travel bucket list. Here, once we have visited the vibrant food markets of Tel Aviv, we can’t go past dining out on a traditional shakshuka.  Literally meaning “a mixture”, this dish is a fabulous spicy, vegetarian blend of tomatoes, onions and spices topped with eggs. We will be devouring it with plenty of freshly made flat bread on a beach in this ancient city while listening to the subtle tapping of the Israeli beach bats.

In the meantime, we can enjoy a superb Shakshuka and other Israeli dishes at Kepos Street Kitchen This is an easy dish to try at home – use our Bitton Spicy Tomato Sauce as the base! 

From here we move on to a cooler part of the world– Denmark. We’re dreaming of exploring stylish Copenhagen, a city we haven’t travelled to before. We want to walk for hours along streets laden with bicycles, design houses and historic buildings. We are going to sit in a little café on a cobblestoned street, people watching as we tuck into some Smørrebrød – an open sandwich, usually buttered rye bread, topped with a colourful array of cold meat, smoked fish, pickled or fresh vegetables and condiments.

Find these colourful Danish sandwiches at Ma Dane Danish Street Food but we are going to make one at home topped with tuna, egg and a spoonful of our Black Olive Tapenade.

Time to visit somewhere more familiar and we are heading to South Africa – specifically Cape Town which we have travelled to regularly since we were married there 1997. A true foodie destination, here we are going to surround ourselves with family, sit on the beach promenade, eat fresh mussels cooked in front of us in large clay pots on an open fire and listen to a local musician strumming his guitar. We will look out at the crystal blue Atlantic waters and sing along.

Feast on some great South African Indian food in Sydney at Masala Theory Or take home a bottle of our Chilli Oil, the ultimate cooking oil for this cuisine.

Next we are heading to one of our favourite holiday destinations, especially in terms of food – Greece. We enjoyed one of our best family holidays here in 2019 and this time we will head back to Athens, wander through the ruins of the Parthenon then stop in a local restaurant and eat chargrilled sardines, Greek salad and souvlaki. We are definitely going to enjoy it with a very cold glass of rosé.

Dine out on some fabulous Greek food at The Apollo or make your own Greek salad at home (a favourite in our house) using our Lemon Dressing which has all the favourite flavours of Greek food including lemon and a good quality olive oil.

Saving the best until last, our final stop is of course … Paris, France. This is the city outside of Sydney that we know the best. We simply cannot wanderlust without dreaming of being in this beautiful city, sitting in a sidewalk café, gazing out into the streets of St Germain devouring a steak tartare and a glass of Chablis. We will look out beyond the lampposts to the silhouette of the Eiffel Tower, elegantly protruding from the clouds.

Enjoy one of our French regional wine dinners coming up at Bitton (starting in June) and let us transport you to France for a night. Take home a jar of our Tarragon and White Wine Mustard to recreate your own classic French meal at home.

Thanks for traveling with us, lets all spend some time planning our next holiday, getting something ticked off your bucket list when the world opens its borders again!