Verge Restaurant

1 Flinders Lane, Melbourne 3000.P +613 9639 9500 F +613 9639 9555E info@vergerestaurant.com.au

I have been wanting to visit Verge for quite a while now, even more so since it featured in the recent The Age, Good Food Guide. So, what better time to visit a nice restaurant than for some one's birthday and that's just what we did for Rach's Birthday on Saturday night. We booked a week in advance, and managed to get the last table in the place for Saturday night - a table for 2.
When you walk into Verge, you walk through the bar area downstairs to the pass area outside the kitchen. This is where the waiters take you to your table upstairs. Upstairs, Verge looks like a modern warehouse apartment conversion, with an exposed concrete roof and a view looking out over Fitzroy Gardens. It's quite a small space, with many tables squeezed into the space. We were directed to the area at the back of the restaurant near the Waiter's Bar. Next to us was another table of two people and another table of about 10 people. Normally I wouldn't even bother mentioning these tables, but they come into play later on... trust me.
The menu at Verge is predominately Japanese, mixed with influences from other parts of the world, Italian and French being the obvious ones.
To start, we ordered the Zensai moriawase - Assorted Japanese hors d'oeuvres ($13.50 p.h.). This was a plate of various tastes, some interesting, some nice, some not so nice. I really liked the interestingly shaped Scallop Tempura, as well as the Beef Tartare, which was as red as could be. One that didn't quite hit the spot was the Soy Panna Cotta with Jelly on top. It had tiny little mushrooms (shitake I think) set in the Jelly, which was quite cool, but there was very little taste to the Panna Cotta, but for some reason it was very hard to swallow, this was the only one I couldn't finish - and I'm usually one for trying new things!


As we were working through the tasting plate, we were distracted by a commotion on the table next to us. There was a man on the previously mentioned table of 10, who had lost the plot and was literally yelling abuse at the waiters over the fact that the entree he was given, wasn't what he thought it was. This continued on for quite sometime and got to the point where half of his own table was so embarrassed by him, they actually left the restaurant. Then the couple dining on the table behind us, stood up and explained to the guy that he had wrecked their night and left also. We were contemplating leaving also, but because it was Rach's Birthday and that fact that we had basically just got there, we thought we'd stick it out, while the rude guy still went on and on. We thought about asking for a different table, but as it was a full house, there was nowhere to go.
Now, if this was my restaurant and I had someone going off at a table in a particularly smallish room, I'd do something about either calming the guy down, so the rest of the patrons could enjoy the night, or getting the nutter to leave. The waiters did neither and left the guy to go off and left us to sit there and listen to him.
Our mains arrived after a bit of an expected wait (due to the commotion, I assumed there would be a wait.) I ordered the Tea smoked duck breast, gobo choucroute, braised figs ($34.50) and Rach ordered the Roast lamb rack, neck canneloni, pea and purslane (34.50)


Apart from the fact that no longer did I feel like eating nor enjoying my night due to the psycho sitting next to us... my meal really wasn't that great. The duck was dry and overcooked (don't let the pink in the middle of the pieces fool you in the photo), the prosciutto it was served with was also dried out. The figs however were the saviour of the dish and once I'd run out of figs to eat the meat with, I couldn't eat anymore... it was just too dry.
Rach's meal did look very interesting and she did think it was very tasty. The lamb rack was tender and the sauce was delicious. The 'neck cannelloni' was an interesting addition to a somewhat Japanese influenced menu. (Psycho next to us is still rabbiting on about something...)
Now I come to the next disappointment of my evening. About 3 days before we were to eat at Verge, I called up and spoke a guy and asked if they could do something nice for Rach's birthday. Now, I know that this is a bit of extra effort for a restaurant to go to, but I was giving them notice. I was told they they could do a nice little dessert plate with 'Happy Birthday Rach' written on it. I said 'perfect!!'


So, when it came to dessert time, we were definately sick of the psycho next to us and really wanted to leave. Rach wanted to leave too, but I had to convince her to stay for my special sup rise. The waiters bought over a dessert menu... so I wasn't sure how this whole thing was going to work, but I thought they would have it sussed. We ordered one dessert to share; Millefeuille of cherry and pistachio, Maracaibo chocolate sorbet ($15.50). I was hoping to get away from the table to maybe remind the guys about the 'special' dessert, but was unable to without Rachel seeing me speak to the waiters.
When the dessert arrived, it was just your plain old Millefeuille with no writing on the plate or anything!! Like I said, it's a bit of extra effort on the restaurant's behalf, but I was prepared to pay and if they didnt want to do it, they could have told me. When I called to request it, they knew they were going to be busy that night.


Overall we had a very average night. My dinner wasn't that special, we had to put up with the Psycho next to me going nuts at his family and waiters and the disappointment of the birthday treat not arriving.
It would have been nice if the waiters could have apologised regarding the guy next to us. I know it's not their fault, but when you're paying lots of money for a nice meal, you want your environment to be pleasant and I'm sure it is most nights, but unfortunately, we dined on the wrong night. The service was pleasant enough, but they could have went the extra mile for us to make up for the unpleasantness, but it wasn't mentioned once, not even when we were leaving. The waiters knew it was an issue though, because every time they walked past us or away from the psycho guy, they would make a disgruntled face at us.
I'm sure the food must be good most nights, because it's a 2 chef hatted restaurant... why did it have to all go pear shaped on a special night for us?

Mare Blue

Mare Blue, 367 Brunswick St, Fitzroy. 8415 0898

Wandering down Brunswick St on the weekend, I was surprised to see a new restaurant had popped up, an Italian one as well. The place is called Mare Blue. The opening page on their menu says that they want to change the way that a lot of people view Italian Food. Apparently it's not all about the pizza and pasta dishes, so they're here to show us the diversity of Italian Food.
It was almost 3pm and we hadn't had lunch yet, so we thought that we'd give the place a go. We noticed that there were 3 lunch specials available- Bolognese, Veal Saltimbocca and Fish of the day with wine sauce. All are served with a Salad and a glass of Vino or Soft Drink.
I ordered the Fish of the Day, which turned out to be Salmon steaks, while Rach ordered the Veal.



The Salmon was quite nice, cooked all the way through, none of this 'pink in the middle' business for these guys. It could have been cooked a little less, but it was OK. As for the White Wine sauce, it may have been cooked in the sauce, but they forgot to actually serve the fish with any. I'm not sure if this was on purpose or not. Don't get me wrong though, the fish was very nice, albeit, slightly over cooked and lacking sauce.
The Salad, was very Italian and very fresh. I did like the fact that they serve the salad with a bottle of Olive Oil and Balsamic, so you can add extra dressing if you like. I liked.


Rach's Saltimbocca was a completely different story, there was lots of sauce which was full of fresh tomato, the veal was perfectly cooked and overall it's was fantastic! I tasted the Veal and loved it. I think it's something you'd find straight out of the Silver Spoon cookbook. Very authentic.


The staff here are lovely, the chef himself bought our meals out, to help the waitress carry everything. Afterwards, the staff were very eager to make sure we enjoyed our meals.
The prices here are very reasonable, especially for Brunswick St, where almost everywhere seems to be overpriced.
I'm looking forward to returning to Mare Blue, to check out what else they have on offer. Overall not a bad start for a brand new restaurant.

Bill Granger's Coconut Pancakes with Passionfruit Syrup and Banana

Since it was Rach's Birthday on the weekend, I thought I'd make her breakfast in bed. I came across this recipe for Bill Granger's Coconut Pancakes and thought it was great birthday breakfast food. They take a little bit more effort and have a few more ingredients than your standard pancakes, but are well worth the effort. Rach was very impressed and the pancakes were much more of a success than our dinner at Verge!

(recipe sourced from http://www.foodreference.com)

Makes 18

215 g (1 3/4 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon caster (superfine) sugar

65 g (3/4 cup) desiccated coconut

a pinch of salt

4 eggs, separated

250 ml (1 cup) milk

250 ml (1 cup) coconut milk

50 g (1 3/4 oz) unsalted butter, melted

butter, for greasing the pan

6 bananas, sliced in half lengthways

passionfruit syrup (below)

Preheat the oven to 120°C (250°F/Gas 1).

Place the flour, baking powder, sugar, desiccated coconut and salt in a bowl and stir to combine. Place the egg yolks, milk and coconut milk into another bowl and whisk to combine.

Add the milk mixture and butter to the dry ingredients and mix lightly with a metal spoon until just combined.

Place the egg whites in a clean, dry stainless steel bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form.

Using a large metal spoon, fold the egg whites through the batter in two batches.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and brush a small portion of butter over the base.

For each pancake, drop 3 tablespoons of batter into the pan.

Avoid overcrowding the pan with pancakes.

Cook for 2 minutes on one side, turn and cook for another minute.

Transfer to a plate and keep warm in the oven while you make the remaining pancakes.

Serve the pancakes in stacks of three with the banana and passionfruit syrup.

PASSIONFRUIT SYRUP

115 g (1/2 cup) caster (superfine) sugar

60 g (1/4 cup) passionfruit pulp

Combine the sugar, passionfruit pulp and 125 ml (1/2 cup) water in a small saucepan over a medium heat and bring to the boil, skimming any scum from the surface.

Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Yarra Valley Ice Cream

So, we all know I'm obsessed with the Yarra Valley. "Why don't you just move there" I hear you all say. Well, unfortunately, I'm not here to tell you that that's what I'm doing. I'm here to talk up Yarra Valley Ice-Cream! If you haven't tried it before, try to get your hands on some. I know that you can get it from a few places around the Yarra Valley; Harvest Cafe-Healesville, Ripe-Sassafrass, Yarra Valley Dairy-Yering. I'm not sure who stocks it in Melbourne, but it's definately worth tracking down! It's not cheap, usually around $6 for a little noodle box type tub that serves one. Here I'm eating the Tiramisu flavour which is my favourite so far. The chocolate is actually from the amazing Chocolate makers at Kennedy and Wilson. I'm not sure of what other flavours there are, but they always use locally sourced flavours and the ice cream is made with free range eggs. Get your hands on some!

Pear, Pomegranate and Walnut Salad with Yarra Valley Persian Fetta

This is my twist on the old classic Pear and Walnut Salad, which, don’t get me wrong, is great, but I thought I’d try it with 2 of my favourite ingredients; Pomegranates and the deliciously creamy Yarra Valley Persian Fetta. This cheese is so smooth, it’s almost like silk, it’s marinated in various herbs and is one of my most favourite products from my beloved Yarra Valley. Give this salad a shot, it’s fantastic!

Ingredients:

1 cup of Walnut Kernals
Juice and Seeds of 1 Pomegranate
½ a Garlic Clove
Zest of 1 Lemon
125ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
300g Rocket
2 Ripe Pears (not too soft)
150g Yarra Valley Persian Fetta or similar

Put the Walnuts, Olive Oil, Garlic, Sea Salt, Grated Lemon Zest into a blender, which will form part of the dressing for your salad.
Toss the rocket in some of your pomegranate juice and a dash of olive oil.
Core your pears and slice them thinly, a v-slicer helps with this, if your knife skills aren’t up to scratch.
Arrange the pear on a plate with your Rocket.
Crumble the Fetta in and around the Rocket and sprinkle your Pomegranate seeds over the salad.
Drizzle your Walnut dressing over the salad and you’re ready to enjoy! Nice!

Easy Banana Bread

Everyone loves, fresh, warm bread in the morning, but I’m a little more partial to a sweeter type of breakfast bread. Here’s a recipe for the most moist, perfectly sweetened Banana Bread that you will find. All you need to make sure this recipe works is some really ripe bananas that you have forgotten about for a few days, so that they’re practically black. Apparently you can help speed up the ripening process by placing the bananas into a brown paper bag, in a dark cupboard, give it a go.

Spread your warm baked bread simply with some butter and maybe even some honey drizzled over the top. Yum!!

Ingredients:

90g Softened Butter
115g Caster Sugar
2 eggs
1 Teaspoon of Natural Vanilla Extract or a fresh Vanilla Bean
2 Cups of Plain Flour
2 Tspns of Baking Powder
2 Largish, Very Ripe Bananas
Zest of an Orange or a Lemon
1 Small Handful of finely chopped Walnuts (optional)


Method:

Preheat oven to 180c
Place all of your ingredients into a food processor, except the Walnuts (if adding).
Blend until a smooth batter forms.
Place batter into a 8 x 16 baking tin.
Bake for an hour, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Spread your warm baked bread simply with some butter and maybe even some honey drizzled over the top. Yum!!

Figs with Prosciutto, Basil and Buffalo Mozzarella

Here’s an easy one for you, which is a great summer classic. I put this together in our little cabin, whilst holidaying in Wilson’s Prom for a few days. It only takes a few ingredients to make these fantastic little gems of goodness. The one thing that I have to stress is to make sure your ingredients are the freshest you can get. Remember, the fresher the ingredients, the better the end product!

Ingredients:

6 Ripe Black Figs, cut into quarters.
24 Basil Leaves, washed and dryed
12 slices of Prosciutto, sliced in half, lengthways
1 Ball of fresh Mozzarella (Buffalo is best, if you can get it), torn apart into 24 similar sized pieces
Sea Salt, Black Pepper and Extra Virgin Olive Oil to serve

Method:

Lay a Prosciutto half flat on the bench.
At one end, place a basil leaf, a piece of fig and some mozzarella.
Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper
Roll your piece of prociutto around the cheese, basil and fig.
Place on a plate and drizzle with some olive oil to serve.

Papaya (Sydney)

Shop 7, 307 Military Rd, Cremorne. Phone (02) 9953 8992

Coming back from Sydney city, back to Cremorne one warm evening, our attention was caught by a bustling restaurant, just off Military Rd, Papaya. It's large bi-fold windows were open, allowing the pungent aromas of delicious Thai food to waft down the street. Once we smelt the spicy goodness, we had to check it out. The place was packed and we didn't have a booking so we thought we would miss out, but as soon as we stepped inside, the lovely, smiling waitress said 'table for two?' and showed us straight to what I think was the last table left in the house.

The restaurant is decked out in both traditional and modern decor. The roof is slatted with planks of wood, which reminded me very much of the black bamboo roof at Gingerboy in Melbourne. The most eye catching piece though at the very modern Chandeliers which have been purchased from the very posh design store down the road.

The menu and food at Papaya isn't just your standard 'local Thai' dishes, it's a bit more modern than that and the dishes are all thoughtfully and creatively presented. There are so many great choices on the menu, that we seemed to spend forever trying to decide on what to order.

First up we decided on the Prawn Cakes, which were served with a sweet chilli sauce. The cakes were perfectly cooked, golden and crunchy on the outside and just cooked prawn meat on the inside, delicious!

Next up we ordered a couple of mains to share. Pad Thai was the first served. It came on a big plate, wrapped in a big, crunchy omelette. On the side was lemon, little piles of sugar, peanuts and chilli, with some bean shoots. I thought this was a great way to present the old favourite, Pad Thai. The extras on the side made it possible to adjust the flavours to your own taste. We really loved this dish, it was great!

The next main was Red Duck Curry with Lychees, served in a hollowed out pineapple half. The curry was quite spicy, but the Lychees helped tame down the stronger flavours as did the juice that must have been seeping into the curry from the pineapple half. The duck was perfectly cooked and had a perfectly soft texture.

We loved Papaya, so much that we went back for a second time before we left Sydney. As far as price goes, for Thai food, it's not cheap, but for really good quality fresh food, that's really tasty, it's not expensive. Mains were about $18 and entrees about $8.

The service was fantastic both times we visited, the girls were always smiling and always made sure our water was kept topped up - even when they were rushed off their feet!

Papaya is definitely worth checking out if your near Cremorne, it's damn good Thai food, and that's saying something coming from me, especially since I've been doing the Ezard Challenge, I'd like to think I know what I'm talking about!

Waqu (Sydney)

32 Falcon St Crows Nest NSW 2065, Phone (02) 9906 7736

On our last night in Sydney we were planning on heading out to a posh restaurant like Aria or Rockpool, but since most of the restaurants we had visited so far we had found on www.eatability.com.au, we thought that we would try another place from there. Especially since most of the ratings were spot on so far and the places were very good value. The place we found was Waqu, a Japanese place in Crow's Nest (just across the harbour on the North Side of the Bridge). Eatability users had rated it very highly, especially their 5 course tasting menu for $39.
The first thing we noticed when we walked into Waqu, was that a majority of the people eating there were Japanese. I always think it's a good sign when people from the home country of a restaurant choose to eat there.

The room is tastefully decorated, but with minimal Japanese influence. A lot of Japanese restaurants are covered in Japanese writing, figures, posters, but Waqu seems to have avoided travelling down that road.

I have listed the 5 course tasting menu below and included the pictures of what we ate. There's actually 6 courses if you include the Broccoli Soup Starter.

Cold Soup broccoli cream soup



Course 1 (assorted entree) deep fried soft shell crab taco beef tataki, ponzu jelly and frying fish roe dressing, chargrilled eel fillet and eggplant, yuzu pepper, roasted garlic aioli tartar


Course 2 (sashimi plate) chef's daily selection of sashimi plate


Course 3 (entree) oven baked cod fillet with "saikyo" miso sauce or roasted duck fillet, raspberry sauce or tempura fried prawns, vegetables and 'yuba' tofu sheet


Course 4 (main) salt black pepper angus beef steak, creamy mashed potato or roasted whole quail, tamari ginger sauce or deep fried soy marinated chicken, 'shiso' leaf salsa dressing


Course 5 (dessert) white sesame cream brulee or green tea mousse with green tea ice cream

I'm not going to review each dish for you, but I can tell you that the whole experience was amazing. We loved each dish in it's own way. None of the flavours were over powering, especially considering we were eating strong flavours such as Eel and Creme Brulee made from Sesame Seeds. The sushi was so fresh, you would think it was just killed out the back! My favourite was the deep fried soft shell crab taco beef tataki, ponzu jelly and 'frying' fish roe dressing. I'd never had soft shell crab before - apparently it's a type of crab that shed's it's shell, and when it does, they're ripe for the eating. I read that you usually buy these frozen. The tastes and textures in this little taster were amazing, so fresh and crunchy. It really was like eating a little Japanese Taco! The Angus beef was great too. The sauce wasn't too strong, allowing you to enjoy the full taste and soft texture of the meat.

If you're in Sydney, I definitely recommend paying a visit to Waqu- the quality of food and service that you get for $39 is fantastic and located so close to the city, it's easy to get to. I loved it and will definitely return on my next visit!

Holiday in Sydney

I'm back! After a much needed holiday in Sydney, I've returned for some more blogging action! Whilst in Sydney, we were lucky enough to stay in Cremorne, which is on the very posh Lower North Shore, just down the road from little Johnny Howard in Kirribilli. We did lots of eating out in Sydney and ate some really good, interesting food while we were there. I'd always heard that Sydney was a really expensive place to eat out, but most places we ate out at were quite reasonably priced. Sure you have your places like Aria, who's prices are some of the most expensive I've seen, but there are some good local food places, which are very reasonably priced.

Near where we were saying was Military Road, which runs through Cremorne, Mosman and Neutral Bay. Along this strip there are plenty of restaurants worth checking out. We used www.eatability.com.au to find some recommended places to eat. Sydney-siders seem to use this site a lot more than us Melbournians do. It came in very handy indeed.

We also paid a visit to the Sydney Fish Markets. I've always wanted to check out this place, I've heard so many good things about it, like how big it is, how much good seafood there is there, but it really wasn't anything special. It definately wasn't cheap, that's for sure. Queen Victoria Market has just as much variety and is probably cheaper. It was worth a look though. It was also pretty cool to eat lunch there, down by the water, with the fresh ingredients used from the stalls.

I visited a few nice little restaurants and a couple of not so good restaurants. I've taken lots of photos too, so I'll put up some reviews on these places, so if you're visiting Sydney, you can have a couple ideas on where to go.

Trout Fishing at Marysville Trout and Salmon Farm

Last Sunday while visiting the Yarra Valley (yes, again!) we thought that it would be cool to visit the Marysville Trout and Salmon Farm for a spot of fishing. After paying our $3.50 entry fee, we were originally planning on catching a Salmon. The salmon was $18kg, which doesn't sound too bad, but the guy who worked there told us that you could catch a salmon anywhere from 1kg - 4kg. We kind of feared the thought of catching a 4kg salmon, which would have cost almost $80, so we headed for the Trout ponds instead, where the fish were $11kg and significantly smaller. Now, you'd think that catching a fish at a farm would be really easy, but it actually took us 2 hours to catch a fish. If you're worried about having to kill the fish yourself, the guys there will actually kill it for you and then clean it.


The fish that we caught weighed 1kg, so we were off home to cook up our freshly caught Trout.I found quite a simple recipe in a Jamie Oliver book, which was basically lemon thyme bashed up in a mortar and pestle with some good olive oil and then rubbed all over the inside and outside of the fish. We also put some lemon and more thyme sprigs inside the fish's cavity.


We cut some thick slices of lemon and poked some bay leaves inside the lemons. I then laid the fish on top of the lemons keeping it off the tray so the fish would cook from underneath and also take on some of the lemon flavoured steam. I also parboiled some potatoes, sliced them up and then browned them in a pan with some salt and olive oil.

Throw in some nice, fresh rocket, dressed with some more lemon and olive oil and you've got just about the freshest dinner you could want and nothing could be more satisfying that knowing you caught it yourself. I'd never really had much trout before, but it was delicious, so soft and melting apart in your mouth. Not too many bones to pick out and the ones that were there were quite large.

Banana Fritters

Who doesn't love Banana Fritters!? I love them, I could eat them everyday! The crunchy battered shell, surrounding the soft, warm, sugary banana, drizzled with golden syrup and resting in the slowly melting vanilla ice cream! I love it.


Since I just bought a deep fryer, I thought I'd give my all time favourite a go. My first attempt was one from Ben and Curtis' Surfing The Menu book. This batter was made of coconut milk, which turned out quite tough and really crunchy... too crunchy. Nothing like the ones I remember eating in Footscray when I was a little kid.
My next attempt was using a beer batter. The batter was literally a cup of flour and enough beer to make a slightly thick batter. Apparently it's best to stir the batter with chop sticks and leave some lumps in there.
This batter turned out perfectly, (as you can see pictured) it was thin, it was crunchy (not too crunchy), and in case you've never had beer batter before - it tastes nothing like beer. The fizzyness of the beer helps keep it light and make it crunchy.
You could make these in a wok or saucepan if you don't have a deep fryer. Give them a shot - I love them! Just like the lady used to make in the vietnamese shop when I was little!

The Napier Hotel, Fitzroy

It’s amazing how many restaurants around Fitzroy are closed on a Sunday evening! After discovering that all my favorites were closed, I thought I would try one of the famous ‘Bogan Burgers’ at The Napier Hotel. I pulled up a seat outside on a lovely Sunday arvo and hung out with The Napier’s Cricket Team who were also seated outside.
When my burger arrived, I was amazed at the amount of food on my plate- Salad, Crispy Potato Wedges and a HUGE burger in a Turkish bread bun. There was no way I was going to be able to eat this burger in one piece, so I had to cut in half. Once I cut it open, I discovered that the Bogan Burger is in fact exactly that. A total Bogan Burger. Inside is a Chicken Schnitzel, a piece of steak, a potato cake, fried eggs and more salad. WOW!
I didn’t know that that’s what a Bogan Burger actually consisted of, before ordering. How was I going to finish this? Well, I didn’t. Not only because it was huge, but because I was the worst burger I’d ever eaten! Every mouthful was a mouthful of grease!
The potato cake really didn’t work in there and the cheap chicken schnitzel had absorbed every piece of oil it was cooked in. I think I ate about half of it, mainly because I’d spent $16 on the burger, I felt I had to at least try to eat some of it. But I left feeling physically sick. I have to say, it’s one of the worst eating experiences I’ve had in this town. That will teach me not to try and eat out in Fitzroy on a Sunday!

Brandy Snaps with Vanilla Cream, Strawberries and Chocolate

This little dessert is pretty impressive for the amount of effort that goes into it.

Buy some store bought Brandy Snaps. Whip some cream with sugar and a vanilla bean to taste.

Remove the green leaves from some strawberries and cut them in half.

Put some of the cream on the Brandy Snaps, then top with some strawberries, the a bit more cream on top. Get some chocolate, I used some left over Cadbury from Xmas and grate over the top. Garnish with a mint leaf and you've got a great dessert which literally takes 5 minutes to put together!

Steamed Oysters in Soy Dressing with Spring Onions and Toasted Sesame Oil

I've never actually eaten an Oyster before. I had one once at The Beach restaurant in Albert Park. It was an uncooked Oyster, a rather large uncooked Oyster. The idea of Oysters back then kind of scared me, especially raw ones, but I'd heard good things, so I thought I'd give it a go. In my mouth it went, the slimy little beast. All I could think of was a mouth full of snot, disgusting I know, which is why I couldn't swallow it. As much as I tried, I just couldn't get it down, even with water. I ended up taking the Oyster out of my mouth and hiding it under some greens on my plate.


Today, I decided to pay a visit to the good people down at Sea Bounty Mussels on Gem Pier, in Williamstown for some of their Tip Top Mussels. But unfortunately, by the time I got there, they were completely sold out of their Mussels! Oh no! What would I do? I noticed that they also had freshly shucked Oysters for sale ($10 a doz) as well. So, even after my previously weak effort at consuming this apparent delicacy, I was determined to give them another go. So, off home I went with a dozen ice packed Mussels for my dinner. It's quite possible I could be going hungry tonight!


On my way home, I remembered the wonderfully fresh looking Oysters on the cover of Ezard's new book 'Lotus', so I thought I'd give those a go. Now these Oysters are actually steamed and not raw, I know I'm kind of cheating, but I'll start off slowly and lead up to the raw Oysters.

This recipe really is quite simple, it basically consists of a basic Soy dressing which includes light soy, ginger, chilli, mirin, rice wine vinegar, garlic and sugar.

The Oysters are steamed for a couple of minutes, then you drizzle them with the dressing, and garnish with some chopped coriander and spring onions. You then drizzle over some smoking hot sesame oil.. be careful, it will sizzle and spit!

After being a little hesitant at first to try these little fellas, I managed to work up the courage. Their texture I thought was like a big juicy mussel and their flavours more subtle. I have to say I liked it! The Oysters from Sea Bounty I imagine to be perfect specimens, just like their Mussels always are. You can literally taste the freshness in the Oysters! The dressing and the smoking hot oil drizzled over the top, brings out the delicate flavours of the Oysters. There. I'm over my Oyster fear and I enjoyed conquering my fear. If you're like me, a bit hesitant at trying Oysters, this is a good recipe and I'd recommend getting them from somewhere like Sea Bounty, just because you KNOW they will be as fresh as you're likely to get them anywhere in Melbourne. Next... raw mussels!!

Campion and Curtis' Tiramisu Cake

I'm not a huge fan of baking, simply because I'm not that great at it, which is why you rarely see any baked goodies on my blog. I usually try and get away with making sweets that stay well away from the oven and never need to rise! I'm hoping to one day get better at baking, but until then, I'm going to stick with goodies like this Tiramisu Cake, out of Campion and Curtis' book, 'Food with Friends.'

This is seriously one of these easiest cakes you could make. It's cheap to make, takes no time at all and best of all, requires no baking! I saw that Vicious Ange also had a go at this cake ,so I thought I'd steal the recipe off her for you enjoy, thanks Ange!

Tiramisu Cake

200g dark chocolate chopped into chunks (Lindt 70% works well)

3 medium eggs, seperated

60 ml (1/4 cup) marsala

250 g mascarpone

150 g Italian sponge fingers

100 ml strong coffee

cocoa powder

cream to serve

22cm springform cake tin

Put chocolate in a heatproof bowl & set over saucepan of simmering water until melted. Beat egg yolks with marsala until pale & creamy.

Add mascarpone to beaten yolks & beat until smooth.

Add melted chocolate to mix & stir until well combined. Whip egg whites until stiff, fold into the mix.

Line springform tin with greaseproof paper. Lay half the spnge fingers in the bottom of the cake tin & drizzle with half the coffee. Pour the mascarpone mix into cake tin.

Top with remaining biscuits & drizzle with remaining coffe. Cover with glad wrap & refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight until set.To serve, remove cake carefully, dust with cocoa powder & serve with cream.