The Fourth Village

I’d been looking forward to today since the lunch was organised a few weeks ago.  Today I finally had the opportunity to meet for the first time, Celia from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.  The blogging world has ‘connected’ us and we arranged to physically meet for lunch at The Fourth Village in Mosman.

The Fourth Village runs between Vista Street and Myaghah Road in Mosman and is a deli/produce shop set out market-style down the Vista Street end and a licensed restaurant and bar down the Myahgah Road end.

I was standing in the designated spot waiting to be allocated to a table when behind me I felt the presence of others and turned around to see a woman standing there and I immediately knew she had to be Celia.  Although we had never met we greeted each other like we were long lost friends with hugs and kisses.

We were shown to our table and I immediately found out Celia is not only wonderful but incredibly generous.  She had with her a bag that she gave me as a gift and it contained freshly laid eggs from her suburban ‘farm’…

And perennial leeks from her garden for me to plant in my absent-but-about-to-be-created garden, a bag of Fair Trade dark callebaut chocolate and some homemade dark chocolates containing slithered almonds tossed in icing sugar and Kirsch then roasted, coated in dark chocolate and formed into clusters.   And they’re now all gone!

We sat down at a table and three times the waiter asked us if we were ready to order but each time we had to tell the heavily accented Itailian we still hadn’t looked at the menu because we just had so much to talk about we’d forgotten about our hunger.  Eventually we got around to ordering and Celia had the shoestring calamari and zucchini fritti with aioli that was presented on a wooden board …

And sadly, I couldn’t tell you what Celia thought of this dish because we were so busy talking about our lives we forgot to talk about the food.  I can tell you that she did eat everything on that wooden board.

I ordered the Roast Pork Belly on music paper bread with marinated apple and mixed salad…

And I had never had music paper bread before!  The porchetta was wonderful and full of the flavour of fennel seeds and it was beautifully complimented with slices of marinated apple.  Unlike Celia, I at least managed to leave one tiny salad leaf on my plate.

We read through the dessert menu and although there were interesting and tempting options like Zuppa Inglese, Tiramisu and a Cheese Plate, we both chose sorbets where you could have two flavours for $7.00.  Celia had Raspberry and Blood Orange…

While I had Raspberry and Mango and again, we left nothing for anyone hungry in the kitchen.

The two hours I spent with Celia went by all too quickly.  We both agreed we must do it all again and very soon.  Celia is my first blogging acquaintance to become not only a virtual friend but now a ‘real’ friend.  This is a bonus that I never expected when I ventured into the blogging world.

If you don’t know Celia, do take the time to check out her wonderful blog that showcases her amazing cooking skills and her efforts to live sustainably in an inner-city suburb of Sydney.  Celia created a wonderful series on her blog, ‘In My Kitchen’ that many other bloggers have enjoyed participating in including me, Lorraine from Not Quite Nigella and Claire from Claire K Creations.  It’s a really fun post to do and Celia invites you to participate, just link your post back to her blog.

Thanks Celia for a really lovely day xx

Have you ever arranged to meet up with a virtual friend?

The Fourth Village is open for breakfast and lunch  seven days a week and dinner, Wednesday through Saturday.  The providore is open seven days a week.

Address:  5A Vista Street, Mosman

Ph:  9960 7168

Want to keep in touch?  Join the fun on the Hotly Spiced facebook page!