For months, I have stared at the display, baulking at the high prices but finally succumbed to temptation, bit the bullet, dug up my book of cliches and bought me some pastries from Pattison’s.
Clockwise from left, Lemon Meringue Tart, Napoleon and the Almond Pear Tart.
Verdict? Good, if rather pricey. The three items above plus a Risotto pie ran me close to $20. Yes. Madness! The Napoleon I dissected first and I had to since it was rather massive. I ate it in a layers but it was good, very nice and clean pastry cream and great puff pastry and icing sweetness. I’d be great with a smaller slice overall, not as high and at 2/3 the price. The Almond Pear Tart was good too. The nice rounded sweetness of the frangipane filling went well with the pear and the shortcrust encasing it all fell apart in a lovely way. The Lemon Meringue Tart was probably my fave though, a good acidic, lemony hit in the custard calmed by a super soft meringue. The only peeve I had was the damn sticker. I mean. There’s glue and shit on it. At least they stuck/slotted it onto a lemon slice. Still, a touch disconcerting given how much I have to put out for everything.
The Risotto pie was alright as well, pretty tasty if unspectacular. I’d also previously had their savory meat pies and some assorted croissants. Overall, I’d say everything pretty much tastes quite good, close to great but I’m really not sure the price is at all justified.
Last minute gig, booked four tickets for Tujiko Noriko, who was performing at the Sydney Opera House. I caught wind after glancing through the Sydney Morning Herald online. They labelled her Japan’s answer to Bjork. I sorta disagree but whatever. I kinda liked her music and didn’t want to go alone, so I asked some people along. Fortunately for me, the $20 student tickets helped a bundle as well as the fact that it was at the Opera House, where I hadn’t actually explored all that much.
Braving the cold and mild drizzle, we made the march from Circular Quay. Stopped over at Operabar for a few drinks where a rather gruff and serious dude checked our ids before we got into some rum n cokes. We finish up our drinks and walk over, huddling amongst a rather random crowd that had its fair share of kooky (read unattractive) girls. My friend’s dreams of meeting his kawaii future Japanese wife evaporates into thin air. We get inside and are greeted by a fat, bald dude who is playing some inexplicable shit. Its all nice stuff, some I’d heard before, from Nitin Sawhney to Cornelius and shit. The problem was behind the decks. He somehow managed to gargle that into a messy, putrid mass of insidious noise. God, when is this shit gonna start?
Finally, a frail looking little Japanese lady steps onto the stage, which was sparsely decorated with a MacBook Pro and a mixer on a table, a mic stand and a single amp. She starts clicking around and suddenly a wave of sound comes through the sound system. Its rather incoherent and resembled what had passed before way too close for comfort. I apologise profusely to my snoring friends for dragging them down.
Then she starts singing. Its cute, pretty and the music gets a whole lot more melodious. Then I hear what I think is a song I remember. I step to the beat in my seat, feeling gently caressed and rather relaxed. Its all very inoffensive and polite. Really calming. So much so, my friend next to me dozes off not long after proclaiming one track sounded pretty good. I don’t blame him. Tujiko san just pretty much sings into the mic as she operates her laptop. Occasionally, she stroked her hair or her skirt sorta moved as she said very cute arigatos but that was pretty much it. I guess she’d be way more interesting if there was a band or something. The music’s fine and all but there’s not really anything to see.
That is, until, this creepy dude starts swaying his arms very visibly as he’s propped into a ball 2 feet from the singer. He then proceeds to lie down and contort himself into various positions as his hands interpret the music into a hypnotic dance, his body lit up by the ultraviolet light cast upon his white tee. At one point, the distraction grows when he suddenly leaps up and runs to the side, dancing merrily, lost in a trance. He then makes a request out loud, which is accepted, before proclaiming to the audience they ought to learn some Japanese. Guy is awesome, keeps swaying and shit throughout, until the end, where he tries to propose to her or something but gets rebuffed. Everyone laughs.
I dunno if its sad that the highlight of the show was a creepy dude but at least something silly happened. Otherwise, I’d have a coupla cross friends on my back. Kudos Mr. Weirdo.
