tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-362938002024-03-08T15:23:53.527+11:00Totally Addicted To TasteAdskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.comBlogger166125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-75902909280271028442010-12-02T22:02:00.005+11:002010-12-03T06:56:21.032+11:00Three Bags Full<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5203/5226641007_61296036cc_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5203/5226641007_61296036cc_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="adr"> <span class="street-address">56 Nicholson St</span><br /> <span class="locality">Abbotsford</span>, 3067<br /> </span><a href="http://www.threebagsfullcafe.com/" class="url" target="_blank">www.threebagsfullcafe.com</a></span> </div><br />There's something about Three Bags Full that is just cool. Damn cool.<br />I thought at first that the flocks of people that come through the doors were only there because there wasn't any other decent cafe around Abbotsford. Whilst this is true, there's something more to TBF that at first I couldn't put my finger on. Then as I looked around the room and started to put all the pieces together.<br />There's the antique Tolix Chairs. Not the replicas that all the other cafes are using, but the real deal.. There's the bare globes dangling from the ceiling. There's the bright yellow highlights around the room. The old warehouse walls are garnished with artwork; rubbings of ladies undergarments. The big factory style windows brighten the room. Flowers on the tables bring a touch of elegance to the old factory room.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5162/5226640935_e52df1b570_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5162/5226640935_e52df1b570_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />A glance down at the other end of our communal table and we spied an ex-Masterchef contestant. Another look across to the constant flow of people coming through the door- early on a Monday morning and we spot local comedian Josh Thomas. It seems that even the local celebs think highly of this place.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5081/5227236374_7b7685b623_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5081/5227236374_7b7685b623_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I ordered the smashed peas, ricotta, tomato vinaigrette with poached egg on sourdough. What an awesome warm weather breakfast. Fresh peas on toast, with runny poached eggs on top. Very Cool!<br /><br /><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5121/5227236532_fa9a6e4f6b_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5121/5227236532_fa9a6e4f6b_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The coffee is sensational. It was strong on the morning we visited, but it's not too bitter and not too milky. There's not many coffees around town that I actually really like, but these guys make my favourite so far!<br /><br /><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5124/5227236106_c1dd02d83a_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5124/5227236106_c1dd02d83a_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The staff, some of which I recognise from the owners other cafe in Alphington - <a href="http://www.aptecafe.com.au/">APTE.</a><br />Despite the popularity of the cafe early on a Monday, staff are friendly and efficient, even somewhat bubbly! A hard one to pull off on a Monday!<br /><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5050/5227236286_9bec7b1092_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5050/5227236286_9bec7b1092_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />So, what is it about this place that makes it so cool? I think it's everything. They seem to have gotten all the little details 'just right.' From the food to the service, to the decor to the Hilltop Hoods being played on the speakers. Very cool. I can see why this place is always busy. If you have to wait for a table, trust me when I say it's worth the wait.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5205/5227236202_eb4d633cc0_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5205/5227236202_eb4d633cc0_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-90004097406057317342010-11-25T22:00:00.005+11:002010-11-26T07:30:52.702+11:00Purple Peanuts<div style="text-align: right;"><span class="adr"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="street-address">620 Collins St</span><br /><span class="locality">Melbourne</span>, 3000</span> <br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/5190566129_48fa144241_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 478px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/5190566129_48fa144241_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The Spencer St end of Collins st used to be completely void of any type of decent lunchtime eating spot, other than a couple of food courts which sold your standard 'lemon chicken' and 'tropical rice' dishes from a Bain Marie. These days it's a totally different part of town. There are creperies, fish n chip shops, fancy sandwich shops and now there is a Japanese place to tell your workmates about.<br /><br />Purple Peanuts recently opened in the shop that used to house Boost Juice. But apparently not a lot of people were all that keen on Boost down that end of the city and they seemed to much prefer to line up for the Krispy Kremes Doughnuts across the road. So Boost juice lasted about a year or so to make way for a few other asian food stores that didn't seem to do much trade.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4149/5190562967_4b9effba4c_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 478px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4149/5190562967_4b9effba4c_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />In it's most recent form, the store houses a top little Japaese joint - Purple Peanuts. It's primarily a take away place, but there are a few tables and chairs in case you would like to sit down and watch people lining up for their lunch. Purple peanuts seems to be following a very similar menu format to that of <a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=9&ved=0CFsQFjAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.melhotornot.com%2Fhot-don-don-swanston-st-melbourne%2F&rct=j&q=don%20don%20melbourne&ei=0MHuTNCCO4_CceaFwcYK&usg=AFQjCNFKMkfBFshPukJA6dbyc4ZxGVa0BQ&cad=rja">Don Don / Don Too</a>. Basically keeping it simple with only a few menu items like Chicken Teriyaki and Chicken Curry. Also keeping it cheap is a priority too.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4083/5190559595_4723d52ee3_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 478px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4083/5190559595_4723d52ee3_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />They also sell various forms of <a href="http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2038.html">Inari</a>, which all look delicious, different types of handrolls, as well as different types of <a href="http://tummyrumbles.com/2010/10/sushi-jin.html">Onigiri</a>. The Onigiri they sell here is different to the type I tried in Japan. It appears to be deep fried and look more like an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arancini">Arancini</a> ball than the Japanese Rice Ball that I'm used to. I was keen to try one of these, but they were sitting right out on the counter, just at mouth height, and I'm not a fan of food that has, possibly been sneezed on or coughed on by someone waiting in line, so I passed on those. This time, anyway.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4108/5191158782_df3c027bf7_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 478px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4108/5191158782_df3c027bf7_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I went with the Chicken Teriyaki option ($8.50) and I got it to take away. Back at my office I opened up my container and was pleasantly surprised. The chicken looked great. Although, it didn't appear to have those little charcoalie / crispy type bits that I love so much about the Don Don version. But the chicken was tender, the sauce was a little sweet like Teriyaki should be. The salad that you get with your meal is better than the salads you would get a Don Don. I love the sesame dressing they use on it here and the nicely cooked beans. You also get a decent portion of rice with your meal.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4108/5191165370_e0cc30c1d0_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 478px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4108/5191165370_e0cc30c1d0_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Unfortunately, my office has moved across to Docklands now, but Purple Peanuts is still just close enough to Docklands for me to wander over now and then, for some pretty awesome Japanese Lunch treats. Considering the line out the door yesterday when I walked past, it seems that I'm not the only one who is a fan!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=620+Collins+St+Melbourne,&sll=-25.335448,135.745076&sspn=36.917522,79.013672&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=620+Collins+St,+Melbourne+Victoria+3000&t=h&ll=-37.818506,144.954171&spn=0.004068,0.006866&z=17&iwloc=A&output=embed" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" height="480" width="640"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=620+Collins+St+Melbourne,&sll=-25.335448,135.745076&sspn=36.917522,79.013672&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=620+Collins+St,+Melbourne+Victoria+3000&t=h&ll=-37.818506,144.954171&spn=0.004068,0.006866&z=17&iwloc=A" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a></small>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-90943686548489160132010-11-24T22:23:00.005+11:002010-11-24T22:59:59.465+11:00VinTam's Bakery - Docklands Challenge<div style="text-align: right;"><span class="street-address" style="font-size:85%;">Shop 109, 111 Merchant St</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="adr" style="font-size:85%;"><span class="locality">Docklands</span> VIC</span><br /></div><span class="adr"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></span><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4133/5203475177_938849b009_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 478px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4133/5203475177_938849b009_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span class="adr"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="adr">My team at work has been moved from the CBD out to Docklands. So I've gone from having amazing lunch places around me to having mostly crappy cafes, that no self respecting food lover would ever purchase anything from. However, I am determined to find some good places to eat around Docklands and I'm sure there are lots of people out there who are keen to hear about some decent places too. So, I'm going to share with you any good places that I find.<br /><br />Some mates at the office had told me about a little Footscray Style Vietnamese Bakery, just around the corner from work. I wandered down today at lunchtime and discovered that they are a Pho joint!<br /><br /></span><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5127/5204072948_ab6947ec91_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 478px;" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5127/5204072948_ab6947ec91_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span class="adr"><br />I promptly ordered myself a bowl ($9) of Rare Beef Pho. I was very pleased to see that the big bowl was served with the traditional Thai Basil, Bean Shoots, Chilli and Lemon.<br />This Pho was as good as any you'd have in Footscrazy or Richmond. Only difference being that I didn't find the need to add any fish sauce. All of the ones in Richmond I find lacking any salt, so I need to add some fish sauce. Maybe these guys add a nice dash of MSG to brighten things up a bit!<br /><br />VinTam also sells Vietnamese Pork and Chicken Rolls for about $5 - $6. Definitely keen to get back there and check those out. Am so rapt that I can have Pho for lunch now. Couldn't get that where I was in the CBD, either! <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></span><br /><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com.au/maps?client=firefox-a&channel=s&hl=en&q=111+Merchant+St+Docklands+VIC&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=111+Merchant+St,+Docklands+Victoria+3008&gl=au&ei=5v3sTLf5GMqPcbTL8ZIP&oi=geocode_result&ved=0CBYQ8gEwAA&t=h&ll=-37.819607,144.944977&spn=0.004068,0.006866&z=17&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com.au/maps?client=firefox-a&channel=s&hl=en&q=111+Merchant+St+Docklands+VIC&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=111+Merchant+St,+Docklands+Victoria+3008&gl=au&ei=5v3sTLf5GMqPcbTL8ZIP&oi=geocode_result&ved=0CBYQ8gEwAA&t=h&ll=-37.819607,144.944977&spn=0.004068,0.006866&z=17&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small><br /><br /><br><br /><br /></div></div>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-39368917628305519322010-11-24T21:53:00.002+11:002010-11-24T22:16:27.103+11:00The Farm Cafe ( Collingwood Children's Farm )<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:85%;">18 St Heliers Street<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Abbotsford VIC 3067<br /><a href="http://farmcafe.com.au/">http://farmcafe.com.au/</a><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;">Nestled amongst the trees, animals and alongside one of Melbourne's busiest bike trails (capital city trail) is The Farm Cafe - just next to the reception of <a href="http://farm.org.au/">Collingwood Children's Farm</a>.<br />Looking out towards the chickens is this lovely little, mostly outdoor cafe. There's no table service, not much shelter if it's raining, but on a nice day, this awesome cafe is packed! Families stop off here before or after visiting the animals at the farm and bike riders stop off, for some breakky or lunch to fuel them on their travels.<br /><br />The menu reads as you would expect a menu to read at the Children's farm. Lots of Free Range, organic, Bio-Dynamic, Sustainable ingredients make up the delicious dishes that are on offer here.<br /><br />We visited on a Sunday morning about 9.30am and the place was already full of kids and their parents. Being outdoors though, the kids aren't too much of a drama as there's no walls for their yelling to bounce off.<br /><br />You order at the counter and take a number. Usually that's not so cool, but here it works well.<br /><br />Em orders the 'Goat's Toast'. Sourdough toast, beetroot relish, baby spinach & avocado<br />topped with marinated goats cheese $15 or with a poached egg $16.50. The beetroot relish was something out of the ordinary and pretty amazing. Goat's Cheese and eggs seem to just live in harmony together - well in my opinion anyway. Em also ordered bacon to go with her breakky, since it all sounded a little too healthy! She loved the breakky.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5202/5203988442_f05afecfcb_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5202/5203988442_f05afecfcb_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I ordered the Slow Cooked Beans, in a tomato & fennel seed sauce with marinated fetta & fresh herbs served with sourdough toast $10.50 with a poached egg $12. These beans were really good. Not quite as good as the first ones I had at <a href="http://totallyaddictedtotaste.blogspot.com/2010/08/fenix.html">Fenix</a>, but they were up there. It was quite a big serve too, I couldn't even finish it.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4145/5203390033_9e1d44b295_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4145/5203390033_9e1d44b295_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />So, if it's a nice day and you feel like a little venure down to The Farm Cafe, you'll be very happy with the food and you'll even be happier with the view. You wouldn't even know that you were about 4km to Melbourne's CBD.<br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com.au/maps?client=firefox-a&channel=s&hl=en&q=18+St+Heliers+Street+Abbotsford&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=18+St+Heliers+Street,+Abbotsford+Victoria+3067&gl=au&ei=d_PsTPG-Fs_XcaK8iPEO&oi=geocode_result&ved=0CB0Q8gEwAA&t=h&ll=-37.801646,145.00258&spn=0.016276,0.027466&z=15&iwloc=A&output=embed" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" height="480" width="640"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com.au/maps?client=firefox-a&channel=s&hl=en&q=18+St+Heliers+Street+Abbotsford&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=18+St+Heliers+Street,+Abbotsford+Victoria+3067&gl=au&ei=d_PsTPG-Fs_XcaK8iPEO&oi=geocode_result&ved=0CB0Q8gEwAA&t=h&ll=-37.801646,145.00258&spn=0.016276,0.027466&z=15&iwloc=A&source=embed" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a></small><br /><br /><br /></div></div>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-49727230256022664532010-11-22T07:27:00.004+11:002010-11-24T21:44:09.929+11:00Jim's Greek Tavern<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size:85%;">32 Johnston St, Collingwood, Vic</span></span><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></div><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span>So, where do you go in Melbourne if you want the best Greek food around? The famous Jim's Greek Tavern of course!<br />Well, that statement would have been true about 20 years ago. But these days Jim's Greek Tavern is far from the best Greek Food in Melbourne. In recent years with the addition of restaurants like George Colambares' traditional Hellenic Republic and the more modern Press Club, the standards have been raised.<br />When people go to restaurants like Tetsuya's, Vue De Monde, Quay, etc, you spend quite a bit of money. But it's all ok, because it's "an experience." Well if you want an experience, Jim's is one of those. I can't say it will be one that you will cherish forever, but it will be an experience.<br />If you've never been to Jim's, it's decor is still very much from the early 80's with apparently very little being done to it since then. The only difference to the staff from back then is less hair and what's left is a little more grey.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4130/5203386177_75775a5556_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4130/5203386177_75775a5556_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The staff bounce around like they're at their only daughter's wedding night. It would be good if that energy went into checking on their customers though.<br />Don't expect a menu when you arrive at Jim's. We got a "what would you like?" and our response was, "what have you got?" So, basically the waiter tells you what's being served that evening - there's a few choices when it comes to the type of fish and how you would like your meat cooked. It all sounds great! Be warned though, there are no visible prices anywhere and Jim's isn't all that cheap! You feel a bit stingy asking what the price of each item is, when it is offered to you, so you just go with the flow.<br /><br />We started with the Saganaki. This came out far too quickly to be prepared especially for us, so it had been sitting there for at least a few minutes before it was bought to our table. You could tell because the cheese was rubbery and stodgy - the was saganaki goes if it isn't served straight from the heat. Lemon juice helps to reduce the richness of the cheese.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5086/5203982302_858bb57056_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5086/5203982302_858bb57056_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Next was some dips, which when you walk in, you can see come from a big bain marie style cooler on the counter. You would find better dips in the fridge at the supermarket to be honest. The bread however that is homemade, is pretty awesome. Nothing like fresh home made bread to soak up all those oils and juices!<br /><br /><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5050/5203983514_c9b5027e3b_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5050/5203983514_c9b5027e3b_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Next up were scallops. These were actually delicious. They weren't all that much to look at and look like they are way over cooked, but they tasted nothing of the sort. They were tender, zesty with some lemon and really, really good with the bread! Definitely the highlight.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4125/5203414765_8db5f1a982_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4125/5203414765_8db5f1a982_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Next was the whiting. I chose the whiting out of the choices that we were offered, because whiting for some reason screams Greek to me. Not sure what it is. Maybe it's the fishermen that I used to see down at the Warmies when I was a kid, pulling the whiting in. The fish was excellent, minimal bones, not overcooked. However one piece of whiting for $32 was an absolute joke. We didn't realise the price until the bill came at the end. I saw whiting the next day for $5kg at vic market. The fish had just been seared in a pan.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5206/5203985924_8e8a5e6989_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5206/5203985924_8e8a5e6989_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Lastly came the lamb. You would think after cooking lamb for more than 20 years at this same restaurant to so many happy punters, you would think that these guys would have perfected it! Guess what? Not even close. The lamb was almost cold when it came to us. It was dry, dry, dry. And although it wasn't chewy, it was verging on unpleasant to eat. You needed a drink to help wash it down. Which wasn't helped by me having to ask the waiter 3 times for the coke that I ordered. The lamb doesn't even come with any type of garlic sauce or anything like that to help ease the dryness.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4154/5203987270_d5008bdb4f_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4154/5203987270_d5008bdb4f_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Overall, Jim's was a massive disappointment. The service is half arsed, the food is definitely not up to Melbourne's standard. If I was looking for greek food in the future, I'd definitely look elsewhere. The one thing that seems crazy though, is that this place is chockas! There wasn't a spare seat in the house and from my understanding it's like that on most weekends. No idea why, but they must have ordered different food to me. Or maybe it's the atmosphere that reminds them of home... if home has vomit on the stairs leading to the toilet.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/5204013464_792bc8f8b7_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/5204013464_792bc8f8b7_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=32+Johnston+Street,+Collingwood,+Victoria&sll=-37.796831,144.975908&sspn=0.008478,0.01929&gl=au&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=32+Johnston+St,+Collingwood+Victoria+3066&t=h&ll=-37.7989,144.9858&spn=0.016277,0.027466&z=15&iwloc=A&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=32+Johnston+Street,+Collingwood,+Victoria&sll=-37.796831,144.975908&sspn=0.008478,0.01929&gl=au&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=32+Johnston+St,+Collingwood+Victoria+3066&t=h&ll=-37.7989,144.9858&spn=0.016277,0.027466&z=15&iwloc=A" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small><br /><br /><br>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-51558671745681597462010-11-15T14:53:00.005+11:002010-11-16T23:00:32.629+11:00Coin Laundry<div align="right"><span style="font-size:85%;">61 A Armadale StreetArmadale, 3143<br /><br /></span></div><a href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1318/5177097379_bff4833208_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 478px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1318/5177097379_bff4833208_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div> </div><br /><div>"Do you have a dollar, do you have a dollar for me?" - sung Lisa Mitchell in her song Coin Laundry. Well Lisa, I'm sorry, but if you need to scab a dollar from one of the punters at the fairly new Coin Laundry Cafe in Armadale, then you're probably eating out in the wrong area. </div><br /><div>The customers at Coin Laundry, don't appear to be hard up for a dollar. That's probably because their modelling careers have taken off. The same could be said for the staff that work here too. The 2 male baristas look like something off the cover of Men's Health Magazine. While one of the female waitresses could easily be Australia's next 'it' girl. You would think that it would be hard to relax in a place like this, without worrying if you had a hair out of place or left some latte froth on your top lip. However, that's not the case. </div><br /><div>Coin Laundry is suprisingly relaxed and laid back. The staff, despite their insane good looks, are very friendly and professional too. The room is sun-filled with massive windows looking out onto the swanky Armadale terraces. I reckon I can barely afford breakfast here, let alone one of those houses. But again, that's not the case! Breakfast is reasonably priced, which is why I guess the well to do, penny pinching locals love this place so much. </div><br /><div>The menu doesn't go out of it's way to be different though, with everything on there sounding tasty, but very middle of the road. Considering the amount of amazing cafes in Melbourne at the moment, I was suprised to see a cafe of this calibre serving your standard poached eggs with bacon and rocket on top.<br /><br /></div><a href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1255/5177076569_f7fc94cb15_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 478px;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1255/5177076569_f7fc94cb15_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div>I ordered the Grilled Champagne Ham with Fontina Cheese on thick cut Noisette Sourdough with Roasted Roma Tomato and Torn Basil ($11.50) plus I ordered a poached egg on top ($3). </div><br /><div>The <a href="http://maps.google.com.au/maps/place?hl=en&safe=images&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=noisette+port+melbourne&fb=1&gl=au&hq=noisette&hnear=Port+Melbourne+VIC&cid=7913316492946258053">Noisette</a> bread was excellent as is everything I've tried of their's (especially their Olive Bread!). The fontina cheese looked a bit odd, kind of spread on the bread, looking a little like cream cheese. The poached egg, was perfectly poached and the tomato was nicely roasted. However the skin was left on. No big deal, but it would be nicer if they went to the effort of removing the skin. It was pretty tasty, but it's one of those things that you sit there and look at and go "I could have just made this at home and not driven all the way to Armadale." Which is exactly what I said.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1286/5177676214_0c354141c2_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 478px;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1286/5177676214_0c354141c2_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Em ordered the Scrambled eggs with Bacon, Smashed Acovado and Rocket ($unk). Again, your standard cafe fare. Em noted that it was decent, but the scrambled eggs didn't have much flavour to them. However, I must point out that since I introduced Em to Bill's Scrambled Eggs in Sydney, nothing has quite met their standard. The 'smashed' Avocado has some lemon through it and maybe a bit of olive oil, which gave it's slightly runnier consistancy.<br /></div><div>Em has a theory, that the better looking the barista, the better the coffee. Coin Laundry was apparently keeping up with this theory. Coin Laundry's coffee according to Em was pretty darn good! Their tea menu was fairly disappointing however, with only your stock standard Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Chai and Green. I wish cafes would show as much interest in the teas that they sell, as the coffee that they sell. </div><br /><div>Overall, I reckon Coin Laundry would be a top local choice if you lived nearby. The staff are friendly and efficient, the food is decent, but it's not somewhere that I personally would be racing across town to re-visit. I think there are much more interesting options that I will be visiting before heading back there. </div><br /><br><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=coin+laundry+cafe+armadale&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hl=en&hq=coin+laundry+cafe&hnear=Armadale+Victoria&t=h&cid=1107779219148871383&ll=-37.859777,145.018888&spn=0.016264,0.027466&z=15&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=coin+laundry+cafe+armadale&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hl=en&hq=coin+laundry+cafe&hnear=Armadale+Victoria&t=h&cid=1107779219148871383&ll=-37.859777,145.018888&spn=0.016264,0.027466&z=15&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-84716060560233771622010-09-27T21:29:00.006+10:002010-09-27T22:13:14.764+10:00DIY - Proud Mary's Potato Hash, Egg, Bacon, Spinach and Bagna CaudaI found this recipe in Jamie Oliver's most recent issue of his <a href="http://www.jamieoliver.com/magazine/">magazine</a>. He paid a visit to <a href="http://jeroxie.com/addiction/proud-mary">Proud Mary</a> and proclaimed that it served the best coffee he had ever tried - period!<br /><br />I've eaten this breakfast many, many times at the very popular Proud Mary cafe in Collingwood. I particularly love their Bagna Cauda sauce, which they serve with the perfectly cooked eggs and crunchy, yet soft potato hash. The sauce isn't as salty as you might think. The anchovies just provide the perfect seasoning with a bit of that lovely anchovy fishyness. Boiling the 8 garlic cloves in milk, also somewhat tones down the garlic flavour.<br /><br />The trick to this breakky is all about timing. You'll need to have about 4 or 5 pans on the go at the same time, so if you enjoy a bit of pressure before breakfast on a weekend, this is a fun one to have a go at! Pity I can't make coffee at home as good as the one Jamie had at Proud Mary!<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4084/5029051307_c7279a147b_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4084/5029051307_c7279a147b_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Serves 4<br /><br />*4 Desiree Potatoes, peeled and halves<br />*1/4 Bunch chives, finely chopped, plus extra to serve<br />*About 50g of Butter, melted, plus 30g extra for the spinach<br />*12 Rashers of Streaky Bacon<br />4 Handfuls of Baby Spinach<br />4 Eggs<br /><br />Bagna Cauda<br />8 Garlic Cloves<br />150ml Milk<br />25g Anchovies in a little oil<br />50ml single cream<br />1 small sprig of rosemary<br /><br />1 Boil the potatoes in salted water until almost cooked, then drain, steam dry and set aside to cool. Do not overcook - you'll be grating the potatoes and want to grate into strands, not collapse. When the potatoes are cold, frate on the thick side of a box grater, Place in a mixing bowl and combine with the chives, then season well. Shape the mixture into 4 patties.<br /><br />2 Get a pan of water on the boil, ready to poach your eggs. Place the potato cakes into a hot frying pan or grill plate. Flatted them down, spoon over a little melted butter and cook for 3 - 5 minutes, until crisp and golden underneath. Flip and shape into flat squares.<br /><br />3 For the bagna cauda, simmer the garlic in 100ml of milk for about 5 minutes until soft, then remove with a slotted spoon, discarding the milk. Blend the anchovies, garlic, cream and 50ml of milk with a hand blender until smooth. Transfer to a pan then simmer the sauce with the rosemary until it thickens very slightly, keep warm.<br /><br />4 Cook the bacon to your liking in another pan, wilt the spinach with the 30g butter and some black pepper. Poach your eggs.<br /><br />5 To serve, place a potato hash on each plate. Top with a poached egg, then bacon and spinach. Drizzle generously with the hot bagna cauda.Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-17677339889327681592010-09-22T22:45:00.003+10:002010-09-23T22:18:32.080+10:00Written On Tea, Sandy Bay, TasmaniaNearly every Friday night here in Melbourne, Em and I head off to our favourite asian restaurant in Victoria St, Richmond. Since we were on holidays in Hobart, we obviously weren't going to be able to pop down to Victoria St. So our little <a href="http://gourmettraveller.com.au/australian-gourmet-traveller-2011-restaurant-awards.htm">Gourmet Traveller 2011 Australian Restaurant Guide</a> came in handy once again.<br /><br />We headed back to Sandy Bay, about 20 meters from another restaurant we visited earlier in the trip <a href="http://totallyaddictedtotaste.blogspot.com/2010/09/choga-sandy-bay-tasmania.html">Shoga</a>. The place was called Written On Tea. It was a strange little place, half of it in one room seemed like a really nice, swanky bar or restaurant and the other room, seemed like one of the cheaper unrenovated take away places on Victoria St, Richmond. Despite us making a booking, we were still seated in the dodgier looking, colder room at the front. On the positive side, at least we were getting a real Victoria St experience, in Tasmania!<br /><br />We started with the Pan Fried Pork Dumplings. They were sticky little Gyoza type parcels, however somewhere along the line, somebody forgot to pan fry our pan-fried dumplings. They were as good as any I'd had in Melbourne - minus the lack of pan frying.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4130/5014100927_88ce5d724e_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4130/5014100927_88ce5d724e_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;">These little dumplings that we had next were very similar to the Shao-long Bao that you get at <a href="http://totallyaddictedtotaste.blogspot.com/2010/04/hu-tong-dumplings.html">Hu-Tong in Melbourne. </a></span>In fact, they could have been Shao-long Bao, because they had that little bit of broth in the bottom that burns your whole face when you bite into them and they explode!<br />They weren't quite up to the standard of Hu-Tong, but they were definately up there. After eating all the Gyoza type dumplings it was a bit of a struggle getting through these!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4103/5014708720_a1911147d6_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4103/5014708720_a1911147d6_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Finally we ordered some Duck with Basil and steamed rice. This was probably some of the best duck I've ever eaten. It was really delicious. The duck was lovely and tender. However, the basil wasn't what I was expecting. It was Italian style Basil, rather than Thai style Basil - which I found to be a bit odd, but seemed to work ok. Maybe they just read the recipe wrong? A tasty dish all the same.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4086/5014101169_8d2cf3ed73_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4086/5014101169_8d2cf3ed73_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The service left a lot to be desired, whilst most of the staff were friendly enough, they definitely weren't attentive and I had to get up to go to the counter to ask if I could order our food.<br />The room we were seated in was pretty cold, because the front door kept being opened for people coming in to get take away. We would have preferred to have been seated in the nicer room, especially since we'd make a booking. At one stage one of the waitresses came to us and said "ok, your table is ready now", so we thought we were getting moved to the good room. But the boss lady told the waitress off and we were told that the waitress made a mistake.<br /><br />The food overall was above average and would fit in very nicely in Melbourne's China town. The prices were very reasonable and if you're after a cheap night out and aren't concerned about sitting in a not so sexy restaurant, then Written On Tea is a top spot.<br /><iframe width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&q=6%2F236+Sandy+Bay+Road,+Sandy+Bay&gl=au&hnear=6%2F236+Sandy+Bay+Rd,+Sandy+Bay+Tasmania+7005&ei=IUWbTJ-jJIPKcduy7e8J&ved=0CBUQnwIwAA&hq=&t=h&ll=-42.895444,147.328441&spn=0.007546,0.013733&z=16&iwloc=A&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&q=6%2F236+Sandy+Bay+Road,+Sandy+Bay&gl=au&hnear=6%2F236+Sandy+Bay+Rd,+Sandy+Bay+Tasmania+7005&ei=IUWbTJ-jJIPKcduy7e8J&ved=0CBUQnwIwAA&hq=&t=h&ll=-42.895444,147.328441&spn=0.007546,0.013733&z=16&iwloc=A&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-91138987383957165492010-09-22T21:53:00.004+10:002010-09-22T22:27:11.520+10:00Choga, Sandy Bay, Tasmania<div style="text-align: right;">1/4 Russell Crs, Sandy Bay, Tasmania (03) 6224 4570<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4142/5014016521_672041b4a3_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4142/5014016521_672041b4a3_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>This was my first introduction to Korean food and I’d have to say that I was a fan! We’d heard that Choga do the best Bibimbap in Tasmania. By just looking at the tiny restaurant from the inside or outside, you probably wouldn’t believe that.<span style=""> </span>But then again, how much competition around Hobart can they really have? <p class="MsoNormal">It was a freezing cold day outside, so a Bibimbap was definitely called for. If you’ve never had Bibimbap before, I found it to be I guess like a Korean Special Fried Rice. It’s sizzling rice in a piping hot bowl.<span style=""> </span>Common toppings according to Wikipedia are cucumber, zucchini, daikon, mushrooms, spinach, soybean sprouts or tofu.<span style=""> </span>There will usually be some kind of meat on there too like beef, chicken or seafood.<span style=""> </span>The other usual topping is either a fried egg or a raw egg yolk.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4103/5014628248_9396999082_z.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4103/5014628248_9396999082_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal">When the dish is served to you, it literally comes out sizzling.<span style=""> </span>I mixed up my rice and toppings which basically left it looking just like the Special Fried Rice that most Australians would be used to. It was the perfect lunch to have, while it was freezing cold outside. It wasn’t too much warmer inside, so it was great to have a warming meal. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">When you get to the bottom of the bowl, the rice that has been sizzling on the bottom of the bowl is golden and crispy and adds to the many textures already in the dish. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Since I’d never had Bibimbap before, I don’t really have anything to compare it to, but it was very, very tasty and I’d definitely head back to Choga if I was in town again and in the mood for some Bibimbap.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Hobart,+1%2F4+Russell+Crescent,+Sandy+Bay,+Tasmania&sll=-24.367114,135.703125&sspn=37.490785,79.013672&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=1%2F4+Russell+Crescent,+Sandy+Bay+Tasmania+7005&t=h&ll=-42.895586,147.328978&spn=0.030182,0.054932&z=14&iwloc=A&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=Hobart,+1%2F4+Russell+Crescent,+Sandy+Bay,+Tasmania&sll=-24.367114,135.703125&sspn=37.490785,79.013672&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=1%2F4+Russell+Crescent,+Sandy+Bay+Tasmania+7005&t=h&ll=-42.895586,147.328978&spn=0.030182,0.054932&z=14&iwloc=A" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-87018398521348144692010-08-23T20:28:00.004+10:002010-08-30T22:32:28.065+10:00Maedaya<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:85%;">400 Bridge Road, Richmond, VIC<br />Phone (03) </span>9428 3918<br /><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4919684922_f853656515_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4919684922_f853656515_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />After a recent trip to Japan, I couldn't get enough Japanese food. When we got back, I was making it at home, every single night. I was making it at home, rather than going out to a restaurant, because I knew that whatever I made would be more authentic than most of the Japanese you could get in a lot of the restaurants around town. I also didn't want bad Japanese food to taint my amazing memories of the beautiful food we ate in Japan.<br />So, before venturing out to any Japanese restaurants, I did a lot of asking around to find out where I could find the most authentic, best quality Japanese fare in town. There were lots of suggestions, but one name kept popping up. Maedaya.<br /><br />Like Japan, the staff are extremely polite and friendly, always serving us with a smile. The best bit is, that just like Japan, all the staff start yelling out welcomes in Japanese as soon as you walk in the front door.<br /><br />The mixed grill we ordered firstly consisted of 5 different skewers, each with different sauces and toppings. Some really excellent tastes here. However, the main thing I noticed was that the grill didnt seem to be as hot as the Yakitori bars would use in Japan. So the skewers didn't really have that smokey / charcoal flavour that gives it that extra depth. Delicious all the same.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4094/4919084579_14702fd4d2_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4094/4919084579_14702fd4d2_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Next up was chicken meatballs on skewers, again with different flavoured toppings.<br />I didn't loves these meatballs. The toppings were all very interesting, but the meatballs themselves had an odd powdery texture, which I wasn't a fan of. They weren't horrible by any means, but I probably wouldn't order them again.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4138/4919084669_5d3e7be497_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4138/4919084669_5d3e7be497_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Unagi! That's Japanese for Eel, of course! One of my favourites from Japan. Coated in that kind of sweet Teriyaki style sauce - excellent!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4100/4919084879_0bdf6ba7f9_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4100/4919084879_0bdf6ba7f9_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Next we ordered the Gyoza. Everyone loves a good Gyoza. These little dumplings which have been steamed and then pan fried, so that they have a crispy and also chewy texture. The Gyoza were excellent, however could have done with some more seasoning in the filling itself. I think most places seem to rely on the Soy sauce that you will add yourself as a seasoning.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4120/4919683868_b9bea0df75_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4120/4919683868_b9bea0df75_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>One of my best eating experiences in Japan was eating authentic Okonomiyaki in Hiroshima. Whilst this Okonomiyaki, was cooked in a different style, I was still pretty impressed. It looked more like the ones you see in the crappy Bain Maries in shopping centre food courts. However, the taste and texture wouldn't compare. It was fantastic. That Japanese mayonnaise always makes anything taste better, anyway!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4097/4919684112_e64c744896_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4097/4919684112_e64c744896_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4140/4919684184_127c38977e_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4140/4919684184_127c38977e_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4122/4919684274_fdcaefa4e0_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4122/4919684274_fdcaefa4e0_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Even though we were stuffed beyond belief by this point, we ordered a dessert each. Here is the Mochi Ice cream. Basically a ball of ice cream which has been wrapped in Mochi dough and frozen, with a strawberry sauce drizzled over the top. So good. So Japan! I'd never seen Mochi until I went to Japan and this is the first time I'd seen it in Australia. Admittedly, I hadn't been looking.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4919085473_b2173d978a_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4919085473_b2173d978a_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4122/4919085369_491935663b_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4122/4919085369_491935663b_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Lastly was our Green Tea pudding with Black Sesame Ice Cream. Despite the unattractive colours of both the pudding and ice cream, this dessert was my favourite dish of the night. The pudding had that slight green tea taste and wasn't too heavy or sickly sweet - even though it looked like it might be. The Black sesame ice cream was the perfect accompaniment. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4919684624_30948fa006_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4919684624_30948fa006_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>While not many places outside of Japan would ever compare to the experiences you have when you are actually over there, I'd say that Maedaya is the closest I've had to an authentic Japanese restaurant experience here in Melbourne. I'm sure there are plenty more. What are your favourites??<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4097/4919085787_5236f578e8_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4097/4919085787_5236f578e8_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4919684922_f853656515_o.jpg"><br /></a>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-10532232413812501722010-08-18T21:31:00.004+10:002010-08-18T22:24:43.950+10:00Cumulus Inc, Breakfast<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:85%;">45 Flinders Ln, Melbourne Vic<br />(03) 9650 1445</span></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/4903706707_ee095200cb_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/4903706707_ee095200cb_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Apparently everyone loves <a href="www.cumulusinc.com.au">Cumulus Inc</a>. I'd never been, so I thought I'd check it out for breakfast. The morning was one of Melbourne's coldest, windiest and wettest days we've had this year. For that reason, I thought we'd be a shoe in to get a table without a wait. Especially early on a Saturday morning. <br /><br />At Cumulus Inc, it seemingly doesn't matter what the weather is like or what day it is. People will flock here, because it's meant to be 'that' good!<br />We waited about 20 minutes for a table, in the corner which is reserved for the waiting cattle. Cumulus is a big industrial room, with beautiful warehouse style windows looking out onto Flinders Lane.<br /><br />We ordered the Ham and Cheese Toastie with relish and avocado ($14). I can't remember the fancy name of the cheese or the windswept location where the pig lived that the ham came from or which trendy bakery the bread came from. But as tasty as the toastie was, it was small. Not really what you'd expect for $14. You'd definitely need two to fill you up.<br /><br />I'm sure the Lunches and Dinners here are better value, since the place is so popular. With so many breakfast places in Melbourne though, there's no room for places that don't provide value for money, because there are so many that do.Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-39908861089686650592010-08-04T21:04:00.006+10:002010-08-18T22:35:19.492+10:00Fenix<div>Gary Mehigan, Masterchef's seemingly cuddly, father-like figure has two restaurants to his name. Initially there was <a href="http://totallyaddictedtotaste.blogspot.com/2007/03/fenix.html">Fenix</a>, which he part owned with Molecular Gastronomy wizard - <a href="http://www.lifestylechannel.com.au/food/ray-capaldi.aspx">Raymond Capaldi</a>. Then came <a href="http://www.theboat-house.com.au/">The Boat-House</a> in Maribyrnong. A very family orientated restaurant, down by the river. Unfortunately, Gary and Raymond decided to part ways, which left Fenix at a bit of a loss, since Capaldi was a crucial element of what Fenix was famous for. After Capaldi's departure, for a number of years Fenix only ran as a functions centre. But then this year on Masterchef, we saw Gary wearing his chef whites, with the Fenix logo on the chest. Did this mean the re-opening of Fenix as a restaurant? Indeed it did!<br /><div>Fenix in it's original form was loved as a cafe, just as much as it was as a restaurant. Locals would head to Fenix on a Saturday and Sunday morning and sit outside by the yarra, amongst the trees and enjoy some english style brunch.<br />I decided to surprise Em with a visit to Fenix, as she was a big Gary Mehigan fan whilst Masterchef was on television. She had never been to Fenix before and she definately didn't know that it had been re-opened.<br />We arrived at 9.30am on a wintery Melbourne Saturday morning to discover the only place to park in the vicinity is the Fenix carpark, which is part of the Victoria Gardens complex. This costs $5 for the whole day. This wasn't ideal.<br />At the restaurant, all of the table were free, except one. I asked the Barista behind the counter if we could just sit anywhere. He asked if we had a reservation. "umm, no, do we need one?" considering almost every single table was free, I would hope not. Someone came out from a back room and seated us at a lovely table near the window. The table cloths are crisp and white, the napkins are a natural brown and the chairs are Hans Wegner Wishbone style. The waitress is friendly, yet, like our surroundings, very, very formal. Not what I'm used to at a Saturday morning breakfast. When one of the waiters came by to top up our water (I think he was the manager) he spotted a group of people turning up at the restaurant. The people had prams and a couple of dogs. The (possible) manager muttered to us "great, my two favourite things dogs and babies!" Ok, I get the humour - but not very professional - especially considering that now I'm sitting here typing exactly what he said.<br /><br />I ordered the Homemade Baked Beans, with smoked chorizo, farmhouse cheddar and baked free range egg ($16). I've eaten lots of baked beans around town and these by far were my standout favourites! Everything about them was perfect. The tomato sauce has a slight sweetness to it, which was perfect with the absolute best chorizo I have ever eaten. The chorizo was spicy and smokey. I tried to find out from the waitress where they source their chorizo, but she wasn't giving away any secrets. Served with the beans were two perfectly poached eggs and two pieces of toast. Pay attention now, because this matters later. </div><br /><div></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4142/4863123296_30e034f1db_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4142/4863123296_30e034f1db_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div><br />Em ordered the Eggs Flornetine. A simple breakfast, but she said it was some of the best eggs she's had in ages. Considering that we go out most weekends for breakfast, that's definately a compliment. The hollandaise sauce also appeared to be perfect and Em said that it didn't leave her tummy with that sickly feeling that Hollandaise sauce can sometimes give you. </div><br /><div></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4862502813_880940f93b_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4862502813_880940f93b_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div><br />So good was our breakfast at Fenix, that we recommended it to some good friends of ours. They were keen to try and we were keen to go back, so we went back the very next Sunday.<br />The next week, the atmosphere was the same - a little too highbrow for a Sunday morning if you ask me. It seems however, that not everything was the same in the kitchen at Fenix.<br /><br />I again ordered those fantastic Baked Beans. Only this time it was like they spilt the sugar into the sauce. It was sweet, sickly sweet. It was almost so sweet that you could call it a dessert! Not cool. Also, it seems that despite the price remaining the same as last week ($16), this week, I only got one poached egg and one piece of toast! Now, forgive me if I'm wrong, but I do recall the judges on Masterchef rabbiting on about consistency in the kitchen.<br /><br />One of our friends ordered the Fenix Breakfast (Grilled bacon, oven baked roma tomato, homemade hash brown, gourmet sausage choice of scrambled or poached eggs - $20). The sausage was cut open only to discover it was very undercooked on the inside. We had to send the sausage back to the kitchen to be cooked further.<br /><br />The most shocking part of breakfast was yet to come. Em wasn't feeling too good, so she chose to only order toast with Jam, which wasn't on the menu. The kitchen was only too happy to accommodate. However, when it came time for us to pay the bill, we checked the cost of the 2 pieces of toast with jam. It came to $10! Yes, you heard correctly, $10!! I can buy 3 loaves of amazing Babka bread for that price.<br /><br />So, the first week we visited we had one of the best breakfasts we've had in ages - perfectly executed. And then, the next week, the complete opposite. Undercooked, over sweetened and overpriced food! It's amazing how a bad experience can completely outweigh even the best of experiences - like the one we had the previous week. So much so, that I won't be hurrying back to Fenix again for breakfast any time soon. And given that dinners are not cheap either, I'll probably avoid those in fear of inconsistent food.<br /><br />Oh, and if you don't want to pay $5, we discovered that you can park across victoria st in one of the office building car parks for free. They are closed on the weekend, so there's nobody around to get upset that you're parking in their spot. </div></div>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-86465943732234354242010-07-27T21:05:00.006+10:002010-07-29T23:17:30.926+10:00Satiate, Bangalow<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.ate.net.au">www.ate.net.au </a><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:85%;">33 Byron St, Bangalow 2479 - ph. <strong style="font-weight: normal;">02 6687 1010<br /><br /><br /></strong></span><div style="text-align: left;">Last year when I was in Byron Bay, I'd heard about a restaurant, just down the road in Bangalow, called Satiate. I'd heard that the chef at Satiate was trained by the famous Australian / Japanese chef <a href="http://www.tetsuyas.com/">Tetsuya Wakuda</a>. Unfortunately, last time I was there, I'd ran out of time and didn't get a chance to make it to Satiate.<br />So, this year, Satiate was on the top of our list of places to eat and boy were we glad that we found the time to visit!<br />We visited right in the middle of Winter, on our way home from Japan. It seems that everything in and around Byron - including Bangalow slows down during the cooler months. Probably something to do with the fact that there are very few tourists around at that time of the year. Satiate itself was only open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights during Winter. We thought because it was only open for a few nights a week we would have trouble securing a booking, when calling only the day before. But lucky for us, we scored a table on the Thursday night!<br />We arrived to a very, very quiet downstairs restaurant, from my understanding the downstairs restaurant is more of a casual affair than upstairs. Downstairs is named Ate, whereas upstairs is named Satiate, which is the slightly more posh part of the restaurant.<br />Our waitress showed us upstairs to the restaurant. As we walked up the stairs, the chef (he was literally the only person in the kitchen - no kitchen hands or anything that we saw) said G'day to us. We were seated at our table and realised we had the whole restaurant to ourselves. Whilst I've never encountered that situation before and it was slightly unusual, it did infact feel very luxurious to have the whole room just to ourselves.<br />The menu on offer was a 5 course tasting menu for $65. That sounded like fantastic value if you ask me.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4132/4834303350_8548d40947_b.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4132/4834303350_8548d40947_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>To start was an item not listed on the menu. I can't remember the fish that was in there, but I'm pretty sure it might have been kingfish. An awesome little start to our dinner. Crispy won-ton like cones filled with tasty raw fish. There was something <a href="http://totallyaddictedtotaste.blogspot.com/2009/08/pier-sydney.html">very familiar</a> about this little dish. I couldn't put my finger on it at the time.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4150/4834303496_77c4f6c317_b.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4150/4834303496_77c4f6c317_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Cured ocean trout and prawn with Horseradish emulsion, seaweed sand, cucumber and trout roe.<br /></span></div><br />An amazingly vibrant, fresh dish. It looks all a bit of a mess on the plate, but at the same time had a certain prettiness about it. I loved the slightly spicy horseradish foam, but wasn't such a fan of the 'seaweed sand' as there was still quite a few chunky bits in it, which we couldn't eat. Great dish overall though.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4105/4834303766_a1eed83367_b.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4105/4834303766_a1eed83367_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Queensland Spanner Crab, Buckwheat and Shell Fish Stock</span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">A lovely little dish, kind of like a risotto, but made with Buckwheat. Full of serious flavour and an interesting texture of the grains, especially when you're so used to the texture of risotto. Something I'd definately be keen to try making at home.<br /></div></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4152/4833694531_b09ca507e4_b.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4152/4833694531_b09ca507e4_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Queensland Scallops with Bangalow Pork, Kahlrabi Puree and roasted Quinoa</span> </span></div><br />Wow. Perfectly cooked scallops slightly raw in the middle. Slow cooked, pulled pork, simply delicious. Amazing winter flavours.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/4834303986_47dc7a4a63_b.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/4834303986_47dc7a4a63_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Brined Bangalow Duck, Pickled Baby Vegetables, Organic Garlic, Soil<br /></span></div><br />I'd never eaten Brined Duck before, but this meat was definately the highlight of the meal. Lovely pink duck meat, which was deliciously tangy. I really loved it. The 'soil' was a kind of biscuity ingredient, that had been crumbled. The pickled vegetables were beautiful, however the spring onion, was a little unpleasant to eat. A beautifully presented dish.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/4833694821_0f77e1cc5e_b.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/4833694821_0f77e1cc5e_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Cheese Course<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Unfortunately, I can't remember exactly what the cheese course consisted of. It wasn't actually part of the tasting menu and it mentioned it was an additional fee. Another bonus course, just like the first one. Win! I do remember that the dish was delicious. Two types of cheese with honey. Yum!</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4130/4833694899_8577629445_b.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4130/4833694899_8577629445_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Hot Valrhona Chocolate Bubble, Hazlenut Croquette, Onion Crumbs<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;" >Like a freeform chocolate mousse set on the plate. The chocolate bubble, was rich, dark and so good. The crispy biscuit was a great contrast to the fluffy chocolate. It never fails to surprise me how many savory ingredients go with good dark chocolate. It seems that onion flavour is no exception. The onion crumbs were mild in onion flavour and while it sounds weird - they actually did work well in the dish. </span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4131/4834304400_eef9a0916d_b.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4131/4834304400_eef9a0916d_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Petit Fours</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">With tea or coffee you get these lovely little cakes ($6). A perfect end to an amazing meal. </span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">We were so impressed with everything about Satiate. The food was outstanding, our waitress was absolutely fantastic. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I can't help compare our dinner to one we had at <a href="http://totallyaddictedtotaste.blogspot.com/2009/08/pier-sydney.html">Pier in Sydney</a> the year before. The food seemed quite similar. However, Satiate was much better value and the food was probably just as good, if not better than Pier. It's definately less stuck up and the staff are up for a chat.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">And to top it all off, they use Aesop hand products in the bathrooms. My favourite!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">By the end of our meal, there was only one other couple in the restaurant. It makes you think if it's worth them even opening on a Thursday night in Winter. I'm so glad they did though. </span></span> <span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><strong style="font-weight: normal;"></strong></span></div>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-63468318780892047082010-05-24T12:35:00.003+10:002010-05-24T13:07:07.024+10:00Birdie Num Nums<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:78%;">745 Nicholson Street, Carlton North, Vic<br /></span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4041/4634317312_f91e2bc57f_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4041/4634317312_f91e2bc57f_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Birdie Num Nums has been around for a while now, but I've never actually heard a great deal about it. Now I know why. BNNs is located in Carlton North, just across the road from the Empress Hotel. There's not too many cafe's around the area that I know of, so I expect this joint to be pumping! As you can tell by the photo above, it's definitely not the case. Very strange for an inner city cafe at 10am on a lovely Saturday morning.<br /><br />The cafe itself, is beautiful. From what I understand it was an old butcher shop, converted into a cafe. There's still lots of old fittings in the room and it's quite a nice setup. I'd be happy with it if it was mine.<br /><br />It's a pity that the food at BNNs isn't as appealing as the cafe itself. While<a href="http://www.birdienumnums.com.au/menu.html"> the menu</a> reads really well and the food sounds appetising, unfortunately, it just doesn't deliver and neither does the below average service.<br /><br />The disappointment began when we all ordered coffees and they all arrived pretty much cold. I think they either forgot to heat the milk or they had just left them sitting too long before sending them over to our table. Either way, we sent them back and asked for hot coffees. Funnily enough, the coffees we got second time around were just as cold. Hopefully the food to come would be better. We waiting about 30 minutes from the time we ordered for our food to arrive.<br /><br />I ordered the Baked Beans with Chorizo ($?). These arrived at my table almost stone cold. Considering we were about 4 meters from the kitchen, the food should be piping hot! The actually baked beans were really, really tasty and sweet and my poached egg on top was only slightly overcooked. It's a shame they just couldn't get it out to me hot.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4064/4634301502_2f08291ddd_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4064/4634301502_2f08291ddd_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />As good as my breakfast was, despite the fact that it was cold - the other 3 people I was with weren't so lucky. Firstly, everybody's poached eggs were solidly cooked to the point where they were powdery. Everybody's food was luke-warm. Everybody's toast was either burnt or had patches of charcoal on it.<br /><br />The eggs on the Eggs Royale ($14) were cooked solidly.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/4634301646_bc443bc877_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/4634301646_bc443bc877_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The eggs in the Egyptian eggs ($15) were also seriously overcooked.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/4634301838_6c6244dedc_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/4634301838_6c6244dedc_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The eggs in the big breakfast ($16) were, guess what? You got it, overcooked!<br />Also, the roast tomato in the big breakfast, I doubt was even roasted. Roast tomato should be soft and broken down and cooked until it's sweet. These were panfried roast tomatoes. Lazy.<br />And even more unforgivable than cold meals or overcooked eggs, was the fact that they were serving store bought hash browns! Do people still do that these days? How hard is it to grate some potatoes and make your own?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/4633704057_8751950d8c_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/4633704057_8751950d8c_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />We called one of the waitresses over to complain about the eggs and the fact that they were overcooked. Her response was "oh....." and then walked off into the kitchen. When she came back, she asked "would you like anything else?"<br />Was she serious?? You couldn't get eggs right, you couldn't get coffee right, you couldn't get tomatoes or hash browns right and now you want us to order something else? Get real.<br /><br />Birdie Num Nums is not somewhere I'd be heading back to in a hurry. It's a shame really, because the place has the potential to have people lining up to get in there on the weekends. This could be the perfect local hangout for Carlton North people, but instead, I'm sure they'd rather head up to Brunswick or into Fitzroy North, just down the road for some hot coffee and perfectly cooked eggs.Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-57621551480551346382010-05-20T19:12:00.003+10:002010-05-20T21:16:21.688+10:00Mamasita<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3407/4623979878_8134f35ebc_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3407/4623979878_8134f35ebc_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3379/4623979278_05540c7d0b_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3379/4623979278_05540c7d0b_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Mexican is definately not one of my favourite types of food, infact I've eaten it once before at a restaurant that shall remain nameless in Richmond. Which from my understanding was until this year, the best in Mexican food that Melbourne had to offer. When I went to the Richmond Mexican nameless restaurant, we were served, boring, tasteless, overpriced crap, that didn't inspire me to ever eat Mexican again!<br />That was until I'd heard about a place that had recently opened in Melbourne's CBD, that was apparently going to blow my mind and completely change the way I thought about Mexican food. Introducing Mamasita!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/4623979374_a55e5b0bb0_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/4623979374_a55e5b0bb0_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Mamasita is a brand new Mexican restaurant that was opened at the Spring St end of Collins St in February this year. The room is on the first floor and is NOISY!! We arrived and the place was full. They don't take bookings, so first come, first served. We had to wait at the bar for about 15 minutes, but soon after that we got a table. We found it almost impossible to talk between the two of us - even across the little table - that's how loud it is. You are also seated almost shoulder to shoulder with the people at the table next to you, which is kind of annoying and intimate in completely the wrong way. When there are those brief moments of quietness in the room, you can hear everything the people next to you are talking about.<br />So, Mamasita is going to blow my mind, hey? Let's see how we go.<br /><br />We took recommendations from our waitress as we knew next to nothing about Mexican food. So we ordered a series of different soft shell tacos, meats and stew type dishes.<br /><br />We started off with some tacos. The AlPastor. Pulled pork, pineapple, white onion and coriander ($14 for 3). The meat in these was dry! The only saviour was the pineapple, which added some moisture to the dish. The dryness of the soft taco 'shell' didn't help the overall dryness along at all.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3323/4623979598_25e4c1349b_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3323/4623979598_25e4c1349b_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Next was de Cordero ($14 for 3). This was lamb with Pulled Lamb with shallots and basically a salsa verde. These ones didn't have much taste on their own and the lamb was very boring, however add the Mexican Salsa Verde and you've got yourself a tasty taco!<br /><br />Next we tried a Qaesadilla. Basically two soft shell taco fried flat with some filling between. We went with the 'de Pollo' ($14). Again, nothing exciting here. The chicken was infact so lacking in taste or moisture that we seriously considered sending it back. We didn't though. We thought we'd see how our final two dishes were.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/4623979528_85e9e6e677_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/4623979528_85e9e6e677_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Our mains that we ordered were Chicken Mole ($18) - apparently one of the most popular dishes in Mexico, so our waitress tells us. As you can see by the photo, it looks boring and it's about as interesting as it tasted. There was a hint of chilli in there, but that was it.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4623979664_07667e2125_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4623979664_07667e2125_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Finally we ordered the Chipotle Glazed Pork Ribs ($18), with a side of Papas ($7).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3391/4623979754_db20bbb239_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3391/4623979754_db20bbb239_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4024/4623979826_3755256a62_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4024/4623979826_3755256a62_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I'm not even going to begin to tell you how disappointing this meal was. It did not blow my mind. The only thing that did, was the hot chilli sauce on the table! The meats were dry, the sauces were boring. I seriously don't know what the hype is about. But hey, maybe it's just me. When we were leaving, there was literally a line going all the way down the stairs and out the door. So, maybe this is a case of it being all about the public hype. Or maybe I was just there on a bad night. Or maybe, I really just don't like Mexican food - no matter how good it is.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3342/4623979442_dc8833a927_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3342/4623979442_dc8833a927_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-68815667430988988612010-04-28T20:29:00.003+10:002010-04-28T20:44:00.077+10:00Breakfast Gnocchi<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3121/4559685161_4320ab122d_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3121/4559685161_4320ab122d_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />After our amazing <a href="http://alturl.com/ivsa">Quail with Gnocchi dinner</a> the night before, we had enough Gnocchi left to make another meal. So, I decided to use the leftover Gnocchi for breakfast.<br />This one is simple, simple simple. Just think of Gnocchi for breakfast like a little fluffy Italian Hash Brown.<br /><br />I simply roasted some vine ripened tomatoes until they were soft.<br />Fried up some free range bacon and then the Gnocchi in the same pan.<br />Poach an egg to pop on top of it all and plate it up! Too easy!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3193/4559685235_467d1eecc1_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3193/4559685235_467d1eecc1_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-65038755143375175032010-04-28T19:54:00.003+10:002010-04-28T20:23:07.237+10:00Pan-fried Quail with Gnocchi, Roast Pumpkin, Brown Butter and Sage - Masterchef Australia Recipe<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4560314802_d88a1b5bc7_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4560314802_d88a1b5bc7_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Yep, it's that time of the year again, where I yell at the TV on a nightly basis. You guessed it, Masterchef is back on our screens. It's the show that I love to hate. <a href="http://totallyaddictedtotaste.blogspot.com/2009/05/masterchef-australia-audition-dish.html"> I did apply for Masterchef last year</a>, but failed to impress the executive producers. Apparently I wasn't enthusiastic enough about wanting to win. I think the real problem was that I didn't <a href="http://www.thevine.com.au/resources/imgblog/059bd461-2e2f-44ec-9f9d-a3558b4f9c20.jpg">cry</a> in my audition or mention the word 'cancer.' Unfortunately, I couldn't apply this year, because I had other commitments during the filming period. So, instead, I like to play Masterchef at home.<br />After watching the episode the other night where Matt Moran challenged a whole bunch of contestants to cooking the Gnocchi and Quail dish, I thought I'd have to give it a go. It looked seriously fantastic on the show, so I thought I'd treat Em to a special dinner and whip it up for her on the weekend, whilst she was at work.<br /><br />The recipe is relatively easy as far as skill level goes, but it is a bit time consuming to get everything ready for 'service.'<br />I'd never boned a Quail before, which is half the reason why I wanted to make the dish, to see if I could do it. It's actually not that hard. With a nice, sharp boning knife, you can cut out the spinal cord and rib cage quite easily. It's a little fiddly, but after two or three, you start to get the hang of it.<br /><br />The finished dish, really is as tasty as it looks and definitely worth a go!<br /><br />The recipe makes enough for two or maybe three people for a main. I allowed for 1.5 quails per person.<br /><br />The recipe below is from the <a href="http://www.masterchef.com.au/pan-fried-quail-with-gnocchi-roast-pumpkin-brown-butter-and-sage%20.htm">Masterchef website</a><br /><br />½ butternut pumpkin<br /><p><strong></strong>750g royal blue potatoes, roasted<br />75g plain flour<br />1 egg yolk<br />salt and pepper<br />extra virgin olive oil for tossing<br /><strong><br /></strong>1 large quail, each.<br /></p> <strong></strong>quail, boned<br />30ml vegetable oil<br />salt and pepper<br />30g salted butter, diced<br />20ml olive oil<br />10g pecorino, grated<br />20g unsalted butter<br />chervil, to garnish<br />100g blanched pumpkin<br />½ bunch sage, leaves (reserved for garnish)<br />gnocchi <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/4560314636_087326f2cb_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/4560314636_087326f2cb_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><h3>Method </h3> <p><strong>Step 1: Prepare pumpkin</strong><br />Peel and deseed the butternut pumpkin and then dice into 1cm cubes. Blanch in salted, boiling water for approximately 3 minutes, refresh in ice water and then drain. </p><p> </p> <p><strong>Step 2: Prepare gnocchi</strong><br />To prepare the gnocchi, scrape out the inside of the potatoes. Mash the potato and then pass through a sieve. Combine the flour, egg and salt with the potato and work into dough. Roll the dough in a sausage shape (approximately 2cm in diameter). Cut the dough into 2cm wide discs. Add the gnocchi to salted, boiling water. Cook until the gnocchi rises to the surface and then scoop out and refresh in iced water. Drain the gnocchi and then toss with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. </p> <p><strong><br />Step 3: De-bone quail</strong><br />To prepare the quail, trim winglets at the second joint. Using a boning knife, slice along the top of the neck; carefully fold back the neck skin, without tearing it, to reveal the top of the breast meat. Slice around the 'wishbone' and remove it. Insert a cook’s knife in the tail-end of the quail up to the neck and carefully cut along both sides of the back bone. Trim off the excess neck skin. Using the boning knife, carefully cut between the rib cage and breast meat, leaving the breast fillets, winglets and legs intact. Trim any excess fat and skin.</p> <p><strong><br />Step 4: Cook and serve </strong><br />Season the quail with salt and pepper. Heat the 20ml olive oil in a fry pan and when hot add the quail skin side down. Cook on a medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown then turn over. Add in the butter then when it begins to turn to a nutty brown baste the quail for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the quail from the pan and leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving. (Please note: quail should be served pink). </p><br />Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan and then add in the pumpkin and seasoning. Cook until the pumpkin is caramelised and then remove. In the same pan, add in the gnocchi and caramelise until golden. Season to taste. Stir in diced butter until it starts to turn into a nutty brown colour. Add in the sage and remove from the heat.<br /><br />To serve, cut the quail in half and arrange on a plate with the gnocchi and pumpkin. Drizzle over the nutty butter and then garnish with the sage leaves, freshly grated pecorino and chervil.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3108/4560314726_38450bcbb5_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3108/4560314726_38450bcbb5_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-30169514062397812672010-04-25T11:46:00.004+10:002010-04-25T12:20:35.406+10:00Duchess Of Spotswood<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:85%;">87 Hudsons Rd, Spotswood Ph 03 9391 6016<br />Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/duchesscafe">@duchesscafe</a><br /></span></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/4549148257_55f91940a8_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/4549148257_55f91940a8_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Finally, the Western Suburbs has a cafe worth crossing the Westgate for! Duchess of Spotswood has been opened for a few months now in the main drag of Spotswood, on Hudson Rd. There's not too many other places along there worth visiting, other than <a href="http://totallyaddictedtotaste.blogspot.com/2010/01/mies-spotswood.html">Mies</a> for their great coffee, which is just next door to the Duchess. The two actually opened at very much the same time, which I'm sure was a bit of a shock to the owners of both Mies and Duchess.<br />This was the third time that we'd visited the Duchess. The first time that we visited, they had just opened and didn't have a full time chef or full menu as yet. The next time we visited, the chef had only just begun and they were just getting into the swing of things. Lots of potential to be seen!<br />So, this weekend was our 3rd visit to the Duchess and it was our best visit yet!<br /><br />The first time we visited, the lovely, lovely owner was chatting to us about them getting the place together and where they sourced their equipment and furnishings. The communal table at the front of the room is actually from an old Dance Hall in Yarraville. A story that makes the beautiful recycled wood table, that much more special. She also told us a story about driving all the way out to Daylesford way to pick up their amazing butcher's block, which sits in the middle of the room as their newpaper table. Duchess, is beautifully fitted out with lots of vintage pieces and some new ones that fit in perfectly with the old ones. I absolutely LOVE their yellow oven in the kitchen!<br /><br />Something I love about Duchess is that they really dig seasonal ingredients and their menu really reflects that. For instance, the special of the day was fresh, <a href="http://twitpic.com/1h7aqx">foraged mushrooms from Mt Macedon</a>. Knowing that these little beauties have only come into season not too long ago, I was keen to give these a go - fingers crossed that whoever picked them, didn't accidentally throw in a few 'magic' mushrooms for a laugh. Lucky for me they hadn't. All they had picked was damn fine, super tasty, fresh mushies. The mushies came served with bacon, a poached egg, delicious toast and an amazing little cheesy white sauce, which I think was semolina? ($15) Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to the name of the sauce, but it was great to spread on the toast and then top with the mushies, bacon and egg! I highly recommend getting down there to check out this breakky, while it's on the specials list!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2717/4549148497_771ca05058_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2717/4549148497_771ca05058_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Em ordered the 'simple' breakky, which consisted of Heirloom tomatoes, which due to our extended run of warm weather are still available. The tomatoes are served with goats cheese and a poached egg if you choose. These tomatoes were absolutely delightful. Full of flavour, brilliant colour and perfectly matched with the goats cheese. Such a good way to start the day.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4003/4549784696_b6e08be238_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4003/4549784696_b6e08be238_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I'm sure you're going to hear lots more about Duchess soon, especially as more and more people realise that they have an amazing cafe right in the backyard. But even if it's not in your backyard, it's definitely worth a trip across the bridge.Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-59080406693823990172010-04-23T19:58:00.006+10:002010-04-24T14:33:44.266+10:00Hu Tong Dumplings<div style="text-align: right; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>14-16 Market Lane, Melbourne, Phone 03 9650 8128</em><br /></span></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4040/4544905555_016f27d521_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4040/4544905555_016f27d521_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">It seems that Melbourne is dumpling crazy at the moment. Who can blame us? Who isn't a fan of those steamed little balls of seafood and meat wrapped in those sticky little skins?<br />I'd only had dumplings a could of times before - once at the <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/news/restaurant-reviews/shanghai-dumpling-restaurant/2006/07/14/1152637856379.html">Shanghai Dumpling House</a> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">in Tattersall's Lane. I have nothing but bad memories of that place. Everything there seemed so dirty and all the Dumplings tasted the same. Not a good initiation into the world of Dumplings!<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4031/4544905399_6b19f575f9_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4031/4544905399_6b19f575f9_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Other than that, my dumpling repertoire consisted only of Dumplings eaten whilst at Yum Cha. Some amazing dumplings are to be had at Yum Cha places around town. But I'd heard that Hu Tong was the best of them all. Only problem was that there were rumours that the service there was some of the worst that exists in Melbourne and that the staff are apparently rude and unfriendly. Considering some of the <a href="http://tummyrumbles.com/2009/01/hu-tong-dumpling-bar.html">reviews that I've read </a><a href="http://tummyrumbles.com/2009/01/hu-tong-dumpling-bar.html"><br /></a>rate Hu Tong very highly, I'd decided that it was worth trying despite the poor service rumours.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4023/4544905763_60e11594e0_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4023/4544905763_60e11594e0_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />So, during the week, I decided to tag along with Em' and 11 of her workmates for an evening of chilli and dumplings at Hu Tong.<br />The place is fairly new and very modern. It's very clean - nothing like the Shanghai Dumpling joint down the road. The ground floor is more of a casual dining area, where you can actually sit and watch the dumpling masters at work in the kitchen behind a big window. It's pretty cool to watch how they make the dumplings and how fast they are. We were seated upstairs on the third floor, which consists of huge tables with Lazy Susans in the middle.<br /><br />Now I'm not going to even try to pretend that I remember or know any of the names of the dishes or dumplings that we were served. Although using <a href="http://tummyrumbles.com/2009/01/hu-tong-dumpling-bar.html">www.tummyrumbles.com</a> i can tell you that my favourite of the dumplings were the Shao-Long Bao, which are the dumplings that are filled with meat and a little bit of stock on the bottom, which is what gives them that soggy appearance. I did learn the hard way though, that the soup in these things are HOT when they arrive and will mostly burst when you're eating them all over yourself.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/4545538892_f21034bb8c_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/4545538892_f21034bb8c_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />One of Em's friend's knew what the menu was all about, so we let her do the ordering. She ordered SO much food, that we literally couldn't fit anymore on the table. I was actually cringing at the thought of how much all this food was going to cost.<br /><br />Some of the highlights of the meal were obviously - all of the dumplings. I know now why Hu Tong is widely spoken about and why people from interstate come here to try their amazing dumplings. I was a massive fan of the Prawn and Chive dumplings, also.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4009/4545538942_62c0293b13_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4009/4545538942_62c0293b13_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">We also tried a whole bunch of other dishes that I never actually did find out what they were called. Some of them were great - including the simple fried rice. The raspberry red pork belly was deliciously tender too.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/4544905933_ec6d294484_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/4544905933_ec6d294484_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />If you're not into hot and spicy food, then be very weary of what you're ordering, because some of the dishes here are incredibly hot and spicy (it is a Sichuan inspired restaurant, after all).<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4009/4544906391_c9b5c2d033_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4009/4544906391_c9b5c2d033_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Oh, and those rude staff that I've heard so much about were completely non-existent. From the time that we walked in the door and were welcomed by the doorman, we were completely looked after. Everyone was always smiling and happy to accommodate requests. There was always a waiter close by to call on if needed and they were all very pleasant. My only gripe is that because so much of the food is spicy, you would think that they would leave bottles of water on the table for you. But they don't, even when we asked. So, instead, we had to keep calling them over, asking them to fill up our tiny little tea cups for us.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4057/4545539060_b05e5fe941_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4057/4545539060_b05e5fe941_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">At the end of a long night of eating, I had to practically roll down the stairs, because I couldn't walk from being so full! The meal ended up costing only $30p.h, which I thought was amazing, considering the amount of food that we'd consumed and the amount of food that was left over. They did let people take doggy bags home if they wanted. </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4051/4544906291_b4b4b4b8f1_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4051/4544906291_b4b4b4b8f1_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4028/4545539160_49b586e4f3_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4028/4545539160_49b586e4f3_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-33080663512162685782010-04-21T20:45:00.003+10:002010-04-21T22:06:56.279+10:00The Hardware Societe<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >120 Hardware Lane, Melbourne, 03 9078 5992</span><br /><br /></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2764/4540531858_269313b3c5_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2764/4540531858_269313b3c5_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I go out for breakfast most weekends, sometimes even twice. Living in Fitzroy, I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by amazing places to have breakfast. Yet, somehow, other than eating a McMuffin at McChucks, I've never actually ventured into the city on the weekend for a proper breakfast.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4015/4539898381_b12db285fd_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4015/4539898381_b12db285fd_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />My first venture into the world of CBD breakfasts was last weekend at The Hardware Societe. I'd heard about this place simply from the <a href="http://twitter.com/#search?q=hardware%20societe">constant chatter</a> about it from fellow Twitter peeps. The guys from Hardware Societe are also <a href="http://twitter.com/hardwaresociete">Twitterers themselves</a>. <br /><br />The Hardware Societe sits amongst many other restaurants on the famous Hardware Lane strip that like to talk the talk, but cannot walk the walk. Refreshingly, The Hardware Societe can not only walk the walk, but they tap dance all over the faces of those other 'wannabe' restaurants along Hardware Lane!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2797/4539898223_138fcb7bea_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2797/4539898223_138fcb7bea_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The cafe is decked out with lots of Yellow, which I'm a huge fan of. If you saw my bedroom, you'd see what I mean! I'm very jealous of their bright yellow bare bulb lights. Despite being a little overused these days, the replica Eames chairs they have chosen are always a safe bet for looks and comfort.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/4540532306_9a82e064d4_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/4540532306_9a82e064d4_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Now, I'm not a coffee drinker, so I was very excited to see my favourite tea in prime position on the tea menu - French Earl Grey. Not enough cafes put interesting teas on their menu, so it's great to see here! Also, they use Tea Cosies on their tea pots! Em' will go to a cafe JUST because they use Tea Cosies. Very cool.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4022/4539897733_3c47b521f6_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4022/4539897733_3c47b521f6_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />A quick look at the breakfast menu and you know that The Hardware Societe isn't your standard Bacon and poached eggs breakfast place. The menu is interesting, seasonal, different, which makes it very, very difficult to make a decision as to what to order.<br /><br />What caught both my eye and Em's were our childhood favourite - Boiled eggs with Soldiers. Whilst you might find eggs with soldiers on many a cafe menu, none that I've ever seen have been served like this!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2767/4540532160_480b68a2e8_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2767/4540532160_480b68a2e8_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Each of the three toasts served with the boiled eggs have their own delicious little topping.<br />First was White Asparagus with Blue Cheese. Awesome! Everybody knows egg goes perfectly with asparagus and the Blue cheese was the perfect little seasoning to go with it.<br />Second was Salmon Tartare with little baby capers.<br />Third from memory was Roasted Tomato with crispy Pancetta. The tomato was deliciously sweet and the Pancetta perfectly salty. Wow.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2756/4540532052_50a6bd3e2f_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2756/4540532052_50a6bd3e2f_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Eating this baby is a bit of a challenge - well for me anyway. I wasn't exactly sure where to even start with this one. I went with taking the top off the perfectly soft boiled eggs with my knife and scooping out the insides of the eggs and adding them to the tops of the little toasted soldiers.<br />A little messy, but lots and lots of fun! It bought back lots of childhood memories of eggs and soldiers. At least this time most of it ended up in my mouth and not thrown across the table at my little sister when I was a kid!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/4539898031_824f9767bd_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/4539898031_824f9767bd_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />This is by far the most interesting, imaginative and fun breakfast I've had in ages. I'm looking forward to heading into the city on weekends for many more breakfasts at The Hardware Societe. Hopefully I can get down there at lunchtime during the work week also, because reading their tweets, the lunches sound absolutely amazing! How many lunch places in the city have snails as a special? If you haven't been to The Hardware Societe, you should definately check it out - it's a refreshing change to all of the warehouse-esque cafes of Fitzroy and Collingwood, etc.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4015/4539898381_b12db285fd_o.jpg"><br /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2756/4540532660_1c9c4dc77d_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2756/4540532660_1c9c4dc77d_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-36060562866340381482010-04-11T11:33:00.004+10:002010-04-11T13:06:05.453+10:00Best Ever Italian Meatballs with Simple Tomato Sauce<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2084/4509734780_9b06b406ec_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2084/4509734780_9b06b406ec_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2084/4509734780_9b06b406ec_o.jpg"><br /></a><br />Ok, I'm sure all of you Italians would argue that these aren't the best Meatballs ever at all. I'm sure you're going to tell me that the ones that your Nonna makes are a million times better. Well, this time I'm putting my foot down. I can honestly say that I have never eaten meatballs as good as these and if you have a better recipe, I would love to hear from you and I promise I'll give it a go to compare.<br />Since the <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/food/">SBS food website</a> is focusing on Italian food over the next few weeks and I am their 'featured foodie' for that time - I thought I'd share with you this amazing recipe. It's really very easy - it doesn't take hours of simmering away on the stove and can be ready in just over an hour or so. This is perfect food for the coming cooler months!<br /><br />185 ml Olive Oil<br />1 Onion<br />100g Pine Nuts<br />3 Garlic Cloves<br />40g Parsley<br />5g Rosemary<br />2 Teaspoons of Fennel Seeds<br />55g fresh or dried breadcrumbs (I used Panko)<br />300g Ricotta<br />40g Parmesan Cheese<br />Zest of 1 Large Lemon<br />1 Free Range Egg<br />500 Mince Free Range Pork (you can use beef or a mixture of both if you prefer)<br /><br />Sauce 2 x 400g tins of whole peeled tomatoes<br />125ml Red Wine (I've used white many times when that's all I've had in the cupboard)<br /><br />Heat half of the olive oil in a saucepan and cook the onion and pine nuts until onion is soft and the pine nuts are light golden brown. Add the garlic and rosemary and cook for a few minutes more - making sure you don't overcook the pine nuts. They won't taste very nice if they're burnt.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2028/4509092339_c939f79962_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2028/4509092339_c939f79962_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Place the parsley, crushed fennel seeds, breadcrumbs, ricotta, Parmesan, lemon zest and egg in a bowl and add the mince. Add the cooled onion and pine nuts, season with salt and pepper and mix briefly until all of the ingredients are combined. Test for seasoning by frying one small meatball and tasting for flavour. Leave the mixture to rest in the fridge for at least 30 mins. This will help the meatballs hold their shape whilst cooking.<br /><br />To make the meatballs, roll about 50g of mixture into a ball about the size of a golf ball and then flatten slightly to make it easier to cook both sides. 50g may seem like quite a big meatball, but I assure you that it's the perfect size. At this point you could put on your water for your pasta - to get it boiling.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2180/4509093215_8e0037b522_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2180/4509093215_8e0037b522_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Heat the remaining olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the meatballs until golden brown on both sides. You will probably need to cook these in a couple of batches to avoid overcrowding the frying pan - which will lower the heat of your frypan - make them take longer to cook and harder to turn over. A non-stick frypan is best to use for this recipe as the meatballs can easily stick on a regular pan. Once browned on both sides, remove the meatballs from the pan. Don't worry about cooking them through - we'll do this later. By just searing them each side for some colour and texture, you will keep the meatballs moist inside.<br /><br />To make the sauce, you just need to pour your wine into a clean frying pan or wide saucepan and simmer it for a few minutes - just to remove that strong alcohol taste. Then you can add your tins of tomatoes. Simmer this sauce for about 10 minutes. The tomatoes which were whole, should start to break down. You can help this along by using your wooden spoon.<br /><br />It's at this point that you can put on your pasta, as it should only take about 10 minutes to cook.<br /><br />Gently place the meatballs into the pan, sitting in the tomato sauce. Place a lid over the top and simmer for 10 mins. Give the pan a little gentle shake every so often, just to make sure that the sauce or the meatballs haven't stuck to the bottom, as this will cause them to burn. You want the sauce to be on a gentle simmer.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2397/4509734588_62662ef37c_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2397/4509734588_62662ef37c_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Your pasta should be ready after 10 mins, as should your meatballs. Drain the pasta - I like to use <a href="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:vkfz_FvfTStaTM:http://www.bioallegro.com/images/maccheroni%2520calabresi.jpg">Calabresi </a>pasta, but you could really use whatever pasta you like.<br /><br />The pine nuts give the meatballs a bit of texture, while the ricotta keeps the balls soft. The lemon is really nice in there - as is the fennel, which really goes well with the pork (if you're using it). I often like to add even more parmesan for a really cheesy meatball.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2084/4509734780_9b06b406ec_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2084/4509734780_9b06b406ec_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-23093513113418064912010-04-10T10:04:00.003+10:002010-04-10T12:49:36.284+10:00Hellenic Republic<div style="text-align: right;"> <div class="left contact"> <div class="pheads"><span style="font-size:78%;">434 LYGON STREET BRUNSWICK EAST, VICTORIA 3057</span><br /><br /></div> </div></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2349/4506299669_4531e98b9e_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2349/4506299669_4531e98b9e_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I've been to Hellenic Republic a couple of times before - for breakfast. It's safe to <a href="http://totallyaddictedtotaste.blogspot.com/2009/07/hellenic-republic.html">say they didn't win me over</a>. However, I still hadn't been for dinner or lunch, so this week I thought I'd give it a go.<br /><br />I called up during the day to make a booking for that night (a Thursday) but was told there were no tables available until 8:45pm. So, with that, I sent a message out to the Twitterverse, asking for alternate restaurant suggestions. A fellow Twitter person suggested that I just drop into Hellenic without a booking, in the hope that they could squeeze me in. So, that's just what we did. We arrived at 6:30pm and the place was choccas already. However, the waiter told us we could sit anywhere at the bar that we liked. Happy days! I don't have a problem with sitting at the bar - as long as it's comfortable. Usually it's away from the noisy people on the floor - so we were happy with that. The added bonus to our bar seats were that we could watch the barman and the kitchen operate, which is more entertaining to me than listening to other people's conversations on the main floor.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2778/4506296843_7deac52645_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2778/4506296843_7deac52645_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />We started off with some Greek Mixed Olives (local and Hellenic) $8.50<br />The small olives were particularly tasty with a good texture. Some of the larger olives were a bit on the soft side, which I'm not such a fan of. I prefer the firmer olives.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2058/4506295435_8916bd5e17_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2058/4506295435_8916bd5e17_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Next was our kind of main courses, which at Hellenic are all made for sharing. They consisted of a plate of mixed meats, of which we chose the chicken and the lamb ($24.50). The chicken was tender and delicious - even better with lemon drizzled over the top. I'd heard much about the lamb and about how delicious, tender and juicy it is, but unfortunately, I was a little disappointed. It definately wasn't juicy and was even a little dry. I fear we may have been served a bit that had been going around on the spit for some time. The actual taste of the lamb was great though. One thing that was missing from the meat was some type of sauce. we got no aioli, no tzatziki ($8.50 extra) or anything like that to dip it in, which probably made the 'dryness' a little worse.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2769/4506295825_8b849b4c5a_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2769/4506295825_8b849b4c5a_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>With the meat we ordered the most delicious little salad! Cypriot ancient grain salad, raisins and yoghurt ($10). The salad was garnished with tiny little pomegranate capsules, that perfectly topped off the salad. This salad went really well with the meat.<br /><br />We also ordered the Tiganites patates - hand cut potatoes cooked in olive oil, oregano ($8.50)- these are the most delicious chips I've ever eaten. Unfortunately, they didn't arrive to us until they were just warm, but they were delicious all the same.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4506296151_e8a84f3548_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4506296151_e8a84f3548_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />With our dinner we had the warm pita bread ($4.50)<br /><br />The best part of the meal was yet to come - dessert!<br /><br />For dessert, I ordered Rothakina - vanilla saffron roasted peaches, Greek yoghurt ($13). These were simply amazing - probably one of the most excellent desserts I have had in ages! I love fruit in dessert and this was so simple. But it was so tasty. I haven't had a good peach dessert all summer, so it looks like I had one just in time - before they go out of season.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4506935098_ba8a5bea84_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4506935098_ba8a5bea84_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Em ordered the Bougatsa - semolina custard, filo pastry ($12). In Em's own words 'this is like the best Vanilla Slice I've ever tasted!" And it was. The custard was thick and smooth - the pastry thin and crispy with a hint of Cinammon dusting.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4506935098_ba8a5bea84_o.jpg"><br /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2782/4506297817_55168c329a_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2782/4506297817_55168c329a_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2739/4506298849_0b0a0b60ef_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2739/4506298849_0b0a0b60ef_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Our food arrived very, very quickly, despite them being really, really busy. Which seems strange considering some of the food came out - not so hot. Despite that, we had an excellent evening, the staff were particularly polite and friendly. Would I go back? Yes, I probably would. Their dinners are far better than their breakfasts. However, if I had the choice, I would most definately choose The Press Club, over Hellenic Republic.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2344/4506937240_b1253ed27a_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2344/4506937240_b1253ed27a_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/4506300075_2ccce1bc8b_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/4506300075_2ccce1bc8b_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2106/4506938378_5bb1880e27_o.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 480px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2106/4506938378_5bb1880e27_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-2382554324404994102010-01-08T18:32:00.005+11:002010-01-12T18:52:48.646+11:00Cookbook Challenge, Week 6 - Donna Hay Magazine's Sage and Prosciutto Corn Cakes<div><br /><div><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2725/4256298168_2f61a1ca23_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 640px; height: 427px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2725/4256298168_2f61a1ca23_o.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4012/4247761870_6baeabdcc9_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 640px; height: 427px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4012/4247761870_6baeabdcc9_o.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div><div><div><br /><div>Ok... so it's a few weeks after christmas now, and I'm once again running really behind in my Cookbook Challenge posts, but I'm determined to catch up again! Hopefully now that the silly season is behind me, I'll be able to find some more time to get back to things like blogging!!<br /><br />So, this week's recipe isn't so much from a cookbook as such, it's from the December/Jan 2010 Issue of the Donna Hay Magazine. Considering I have way more food magazines than I do cookbooks, I reckon they are fair game in the cookbook challenge.<br /><br />This christmas was at my sister's house and everything was already done, so there was no real need for me to make anything for xmas lunch. But since I had to make something for the challenge, I made these corn cakes anyway.<br /><br />Now before you go wondering "where is the corn in that recipe." Polenta is actually made from corn. The recipe calls for instant polenta, but I could only find real polenta that I had to cook for 20 minutes, stirring over the stove. This still works out ok, you just need to be aware when you're adding the wet ingredients like the sour cream, that you don't put too much in, otherwise it could become runny. The instant polenta would normally soak up some of the moisture from the batter. So, I cooked my Polenta and added it already cooked to the mix. It worked out just fine.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/4255535855_aa3517fc71_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 640px; height: 427px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/4255535855_aa3517fc71_o.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4015/4256298074_825812f3cb_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 640px; height: 427px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4015/4256298074_825812f3cb_o.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The sour cream in these little cakes makes the whole thing pretty rich, so they are good accompaniment to a turkey or something like that. Just be really careful that you grease the muffin tins quite well and leave the cooked cakes to rest for a while, because I found they tended to stick quite a bit. A flat knife helped to get them out in one piece - however quite a few still seemed to break apart.<br /><br />Ingredients:<br />1 cup of instant Polenta<br />1/2 cup of plain flour<br />1 tsp baking powder<br />1/4 tsp bicarb soda<br />2 tablespoons of chopped sage<br />sea salt and black pepper<br />1 1/2 cups sour cream<br />2 eggs<br />12 sage leaves, extra and 12 slices of prosciutto<br /><br />Preheat the oven to 180c<br />Place the polenta, flour. baking powder, bicarb soda, sage, salt, pepper, cream and eggs in abowl and mix well to combine.<br />Place extra sage in the bases of 12 lightly greased 1/2 cup capacity 125ml muffin tins. Line each tin with proscutto and fill with polenta mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked. Turn out to serve. Makes 12.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4061/4255535921_8d94f34e48_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 640px; height: 427px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4061/4255535921_8d94f34e48_o.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div></div><br /><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4256298258_e73d184e91_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 640px; height: 427px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4256298258_e73d184e91_o.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-89991702432487918922010-01-05T22:48:00.003+11:002010-01-05T23:00:52.205+11:00Mies, Spotswood<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2526/4247103809_fbf8e34eb8_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2526/4247103809_fbf8e34eb8_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Spotswood. There was a movie named after it once. There's a Science museum there. There's a train station. There's the beginning of the westgate bridge. Then there's Mies. The hippest little spot in Spotswood.<br />A small cafe on Hudson Rd, just off Williamstown Rd, which has popped up quite recently. Somewhere for the local residents to go, other than <a href="http://totallyaddictedtotaste.blogspot.com/2009/08/nosh-newport.html">Nosh in Newport</a>. This is a good thing.<br />The fitout is sparse, there's a communal table, but no kitchen as such. There's only a very small breakfast / lunch menu, with eats like muesli and toasties. Pretty good toasties too I must add.<br />Personally I think the guys could do a bit more in the way of food. If they checked out places like Amsterdam St Cafe in Richmond, they would see what could be done without an actual kitchen.<br />That said though, Mies is definately worth a visit if you're in the area and after a cup of good coffee and basic breakky, but if you're after a substantial breakfast/brunch probably best to head elsewhere.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4247878486_9b5bf703d3_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4247878486_9b5bf703d3_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36293800.post-6560522460362338182010-01-05T21:41:00.003+11:002010-01-05T22:22:32.199+11:00Cookbook Challenge, Week 5 - Hellenic Republic's Homemade Yoghurt and Berries<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2492/4247761196_816f320e43_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 427px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2492/4247761196_816f320e43_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2714/4246986593_e8b11148d8_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 427px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2714/4246986593_e8b11148d8_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />This weeks challenge was Greek. So, when looking to a cookbook for Greek recipes - who else do you turn to other than the one, the only, masterchef - George Calombaris?<br />I thought about making things like Souvlaki, Pan Fried Halloumi, Spanikopita, but I decided to go with something a little different, a little homely and something I've been wanted to attempt for years. More than anything, I just wanted to see if this would actually work!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4024/4247761288_5202e9d0ea_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 427px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4024/4247761288_5202e9d0ea_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />My recipe this week is from Georgie's book - Greek Cooking from the Hellenic Heart. It's Homemade Yoghurt with Berries. Now, despite the title, this yoghurt isn't actually homemade from scratch. You actually have to purchase a tub of natural yoghurt with live cultures.<br />You basically mix milk with the tub of yoghurt and overnight the cultures change the milk into yoghurt.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4024/4246986869_1a81455afa_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 427px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4024/4246986869_1a81455afa_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The yoghurt doesn't set as thick as the original yoghurt, it's slightly runnier, but it really does turn into yoghurt! It tastes pretty delicious! I used organic milk to make this, which hopefully created a better final result.<br />I topped the yoghurt with summer fruits and berries with yoghurt and chopped pistachios. If I had my own cafe, a version of this would definately be on the summer menu!<br /><br />Recipe - Serves 4<br />Ingredients:<br /><br />800ml Full Cream Milk<br />1 Tablespoon Honey<br />Pinch Salt<br />1 Cup of Plain Greek style yoghurt with live cultures<br />Mixed Berries<br />Extra Honey<br /><br />1. Bring Milk to the boil, simmer for 2 minutes and then leave to cool to blood temp (37c)<br />2. Whisk in honey, salt and yoghurt, then strain into sterilised glass jars and cover with cling film and leave to sit at room temperature for 12 hours.<br />3. Serve with mixed berries of your choice and drizzle with honey.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2718/4247761016_110096f1f5_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 427px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2718/4247761016_110096f1f5_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/4247761480_1d851bfa54_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 427px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/4247761480_1d851bfa54_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Adskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01369613293742260040noreply@blogger.com3