Sunday, July 17, 2011

MUMU Grill and Heart of Food Photography Class, Crows Nest

I’d luckily purchased my new DSLR just a week before I was due to attend a food photography course being run by Simon from the Heart of Food. The photos on Simon’s food blog are pretty drool worthy so I knew I was going to come away from the class with some tips and tricks on how to operate my new baby.


The class was a mix of food bloggers, a few food technology teachers, a chef and other food industry people. I think my jaw nearly hit the floor when some asked half way through the class what a food blog was? OMG – you mean you don’t read my blog? Heartbroken!

Simon did a sterling job teaching the class – especially as we sidetracked him by asking a million questions, telling anecdotes, and asking about things there were going to be talked about later on.  His teaching style is great, very casual and patient with no jargon to confuse us.


The course was being run at MUMU Grill in Crows Nest, a restaurant that had always interested me because a) it serves tapas b) it serves meat, and lots of it and c) it has a strong philosophy on sustainable produce. Not only that, their beef is all grass-fed which means no nasty feed lots associated with “grain-fed” beef. I try to eat free-range meat and eggs whenever I can (it’s mostly what we eat at home when we can get our hands on it but it’s not always possible when you live in the wild wild west – a place not exactly heaving with eco-butchers). When I eat in a restaurant like MUMU Grill I feel happy knowing that the meat I’m eating has had a happy life...for its entire life.


Learning about ISO, White Balance, Aperture, Shutter Speed, Rule of Thirds and Composition can sure make a girl hungry! The sight of the MUMU Grill staff marching in plates of food for our lunch was a welcome sight.

Of course there was no eating until a thousand photographs were taken of each dish which gave us a chance to test out the various rules and techniques we had just learnt. I set my dial to Manual, set my own aperture and shutter speed, but cheated by leaving the white balance on Auto as well as avoiding Manual Focus at all costs (I think my eyes are fully dodgy, so Manual Focus usually means fuzzy pictures no matter how clear they seem through he view finder). I took all of these photos using my new 35mm f/1.8 lens (that I bought brand new for $320), and set the Aperture to between f/1.8 - f/2.4 for most of the shots so I could get a really shallow depth of field (which means all the stuff in the background is soft and out of focus).

Lunch starts with the softest, fluffiest wood fired bread I’ve ever eaten which is served alongside a selection of dips. It was a pretty hard task to not to scoff all the bread and pile it high with the creamy bean dip, or slightly spicy capsicum dip.


Dainty little bowls of Sicilian Green Olives accompany wooden boards piled high Jamon Serrano.  The Jamon, which means Mountain Ham in Spanish, is sliced wafer thin after being salted, washed and dried for 18 months. The Jamon melts like butter in the mouth - so good!


The Szechuan Fried Prawns with Pickled Chilli and Soy was one of my favourite dishes of the day – even though by the time we got to eat the dish it was stone cold - probably as they had a slightly salty taste to them!


I’m such a bogan that I thought the Duck and Shitake Mushroom Empanadas were Curry Puffs – I’m quite the foodie aren’t I? Again these were stone cold by the time we ate them, but the flavours were still lovely. I’d like to go back to MUMU and try these babies whilst they are hot hot hot.


The first main of the lunch was the Organic Chicken with Maple Roasted Sweet Potato and Spinach – look at the charring on the chicken, lovely! The sweetness of the sweet potatoes was accentuated by the maple syrup and formed a nice outer crunchy crust.


What can I say about the Sirloin Tagliatta with Duck Fat Potatoes and Greens other than it was AMAZING! Now, I’m normally not a fan of meat that hasn’t been cooked to charcoal point (or beyond) so I was a bit hesitant to try this dish as I could see pink bits...and lots of them. But oh my, the beef was melt in the mouth soft, tender and so flavoursome. Cooking the potatoes in duck fat takes them to a whole new level – whoever came up with this concept deserves a Knighthood! I like that the restaurant popped some “token greens” on the plate to help alleviate any guilt by those who scoffed more than one tatter (which I didn't, just for the record).


The Cherry Tomato Salad with Feta Cheese was a light, simple accompaniment to the meaty mains. Enough said.


Class resumes for a while and we all get a chance to digest lunch before dessert rolls on in which means a chance to take more food photos.


The first dessert item to arrive is a simple fruit platter dusted with icing sugar.  The platter contains a selection of pear, pineapple, watermelon and a fancy orange segment to make it pretty as a picture.


The arrival of the Dessert Platter gets our full attention - wow what a spectacle.  The Dessert Platter has a selection of three of MUMU's desserts: the Chocolate Mole Tarte with Hazelnut Gelato, a Brown Sugar Pavlova topped with fresh Pineapple and Passionfruit sauce; and, a Ginger Bread and Vanilla Ricotta Sandwich with Poached Peach and Spiced Vanilla Syrup.  My only complaint with dessert is that there was only two platters to share between the group - I could have quite happily polished off a platter all to myself...or at least had full possession of the Ginger Bread and Vanilla Ricotta Sandwich.


MUMU Grill is at 70 Alexander Street, Crows Nest.  You'll find them on the corner of Alexander Street and Ernest Place.

Mumu Grill on Urbanspoon

28 comments:

  1. sounds like a excellent class! Mumu's have been on my list of places to go - will have to visit soon! great pics btw!

    ReplyDelete
  2. this is why i love Prime Lenses... welcome to the evil world that is, digital photography... there WANTS will never end now... haha...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh wow look at all the amazing food. And most importantly, Mel, what beautiful photos! I have been following your blog for a year now and look at you, you've come such a long way. Love all the food shots! Glad you had so much fun and learnt so much. I wish I could've taken the class too :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great photos Mel!!! I love the Mumu Grill I went there for my birthday and I still fondly remember the meal!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. It looks like you learnt so much already. Those photos of the cows are fantastic. The food at Mumu Grill is fab, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for coming to the class. Glad you enjoyed everything.

    I can see some of the tips already being put to good use. Loving the composition of the cow silhouette & tomato salad shots.

    ReplyDelete
  7. you were on then north shore...I've wanted to go there for ages. A friend from high school's big brother owns/runs and it looks awesome

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, sounds like a great class! I'm envious, I want to pick up a 35mm soon too!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Awesome photos! They look great. I went to this class with Billy before I got my DSLR and have forgotten everything. I think I need a refresher course.

    Congrats on your new camera purchase. Very exciting! I found there is such a massive difference in the quality of photos from a point and shoot and a DSLR. Have fun playing with your new toy.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Congratulations!! Your photo's look excellent.

    I love the bread shot because there is such a narrow depth of field and the bread to the front of the picture is completely focused, well done.

    Oh and the food look very yummy too :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Great photos! I'm curious about how the food we ate tastes when hot, too :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hehe I love that cow photo!
    Always fun eating with you! My favourite was the sirloin and duck fat potatoes too!

    ReplyDelete
  13. love the photos!

    DSLR .. i want one!!

    Happy photoing :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Beautiful photos! Theory being employed into practice =D And, yes, Mumu has some great meat, including Serrano ham. (P.S. There is no shame in loving curry puffs!)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Great photos! That fruit platter does make a very pretty picture =) And empanadas, curry puffs - they're almost the same thing at the end of the day ;)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Some great shots of some gorgeous food!

    ReplyDelete
  17. gr8 photos it looks like u came away from the class with epic photo skills :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. What a great class! I def need to go to one of these :)
    The food looks awesome too. We went to "Duckfest" there last year and it was fab!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I've been wanting to come here for ages too, and I wanted to come for the class as well but couldn't make it. The food looks delish, and the composition of the shots are great.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I've been waiting for these.
    Looks fantastic. Love the shots, and there was obviously good lighting involved there.

    Care to share any tips or will I have to wait for the next course round?

    ReplyDelete
  21. bwahahhaha! love the cow! and i see improved photos already! they are so pretty :D u can get even better with practice :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. yummy food and drool creating photos too!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Fantastic shots Mel! I especially love your shots of the tin cow outside, the chicken, and the final dessert pic! It was a fun day :D

    ReplyDelete
  24. sounds like a great class and Simon is such a lovely guy with lots of patience and knowledge to share. great to have some yummy food at the same time. hope it didn't get too cold though :-)

    ReplyDelete
  25. wow, beautiful photos, and delicious food.....

    ReplyDelete
  26. I remember doing Billy's class and love the prawns as well. I wanna do another revisit!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Loving the shot with the bread, great work! :)

    ReplyDelete
  28. Great photos again Mel (sorry, reading back to front). I cannot wait to attend the 6th August class, the food looks scrumptious!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for leaving your comment!

You Might Also Like:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Free Blog Template by June Lily