January 7, 2013 by farfromfamished

Bramble & Vine – 749 Nicholson St, Carlton North

I hold in high regard people that demonstrate an unbridled passion for something. It’s not that I’m not passionate about stuff. But this is passion at another level; turning it up to eleven in a Spinal Tap-esque kind of way. Where a person’s eyes glaze over when they’re talking to you and every word is spoken from the heart and you become so engaged listening to what they have to say and you’re envious because you want to be where they are.

This is Leila Donnan in a nutshell. Co-owner and Maître d of Carlton North’s Bramble & Vine. She’s passionate about her menu; locally sourced ingredients and almost everything made from scratch. She’s passionate about her simple, but sound and ultra inexpensive wine list – all selected by Leila. She’s even passionate about the Tasmanian bottled rain water we drank and the Australian-designed handmade Plumm water and wine glasses we drank from. Her passion and her gregariousness were infectious. It made you want to be there. And the food just made it better.

This place has existed for around 18 months now and I’ve only recently dined there. Very foolish of me as it was excellent and a relatively high 93% of people on urbanspoon tend to agree, but for some reason it’s just not as busy as it should be and I don’t know why. The building that houses Bramble & Vine is the fourth incarnation as I have known it over the last seven or so years. Previously it was home to pizza joint Bande à Part and prior to that it was Caffe Qui and before that a Lebanese restaurant.

Granted, this part of Nicholson St can be a bit hit and miss. Excluding the cafes and the most obvious places leading the way (like the brand spanking new St. Ali North and Pope Joan), you’ve got Bistro Flor a kilometre or so back towards the city, but that’s about it.

As for the food… look, it’s not three hat, or one or two for that matter. But it’s honest, tasty and satisfying bistro cooking by chef (and the other co-owner) Sarah-Jane Mahoney, who is equally as passionate (just not as outward in showing it) and that was reflected in practically every dish that graced our table.

Like the wine list, the menu is simple and has strong leanings towards Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influences. You can choose from three light bites (all $14), four entrees (all $18), four mains (all $33), four sides ($8), four desserts ($14) and (the self-proclaimed) Australia’s best cheese platter with one, two or three cheeses for $19, $24 or $29 respectively – served with lots of lovely house made accompaniments; lavosh, honey truffled walnuts, baked bread, pear mash and a strawberry, fig, pine nut salad. It sounded very promising but I didn’t get that far. Maybe next time.

We decided to share dishes and started with a Sardinian gorgonzola garlic pizza, complete with half a confit garlic bulb. This was a true garlic-lovers delight, with a bit of fun thrown in by having the pleasure of squeezing out perfectly sweet and soft garlic paste onto a thin, crispy pizza base with good hit of creaminess and sharpness from the gorgonzola and the zing of fresh thyme and rosemary.

Next up was a light, whipped beetroot puree, studded with bits of blue goats cheese, hazelnuts, za’atar yoghurt and just enough horseradish; providing a subtle presence that reminds you of how well horseradish and beetroot work together.

I have my doubts that the mountain bread was housemade. Not that it’s an issue, but there is already housemade pizza, bread and lavosh on offer with other dishes and perhaps an opportunity lost to reinforce Bramble & Vine’s philosophy.

For mains, neither of us could go past the red wine braised pork belly with toasted coriander and ginger relish, chard and parsnip in both creamy (pureed, but more like a skordalia) and crispy crunchy forms.

The pork was meltingly tender and its richness was met with sweetness from the puree, some punch from the relish and freshness from the perfectly cooked chard. Put simply, it was a well balanced, well thought out dish in both flavour and texture.

For the sides, we sampled the Kipfler potato ‘chips’ with thyme, rosemary and bush lime aioli and the wilted chard with lemon garlic tahini and pine nuts.

Whilst I’m not a massive fan of the waxy Kipfler, the generous bowl of spuds provided a variety of some crunchy, some sweet, some soft potatoes to the point where we found ourselves vying for the title of finding the ‘best’ chip.

We probably could have done without the wilted chard, as there was already chard served in the pork dish. My only criticism was the colour of the tahini, most likely made with black sesame seeds which resulted in a fairly unappealing grey blu-tack coloured blob.

We ended proceedings with an ode to the hot weather we’ve recently endured; a perfectly poached peach, lightly spiced with cinnamon, was filled with a rich marscapone flecked with vanilla, the nutty crunch from crushed bits of almond flavoured meringue – all sitting proudly on a subtle champagne granita. Again, another example of a dish that was well thought out in flavour, texture and this time around, temperature.

To drink, we polished off a couple of bottles of (slightly chilled) 2011 Calulu Park Pinot Noir ($36) from the Yarra Valley. The rest of the wine list is just as affordable and whilst it’s a relatively straight forward, with 12 wines on offer, BYO is also welcomed.

Bramble & Vine is a great local that would be welcomed in any of Melbourne’s inner-suburban main drags. Quality ingredients are being treated with great love and respect, resulting in some top dishes that are extremely affordable. More importanly, it’s being run by some very passionate people that are doing what they love. If I can, at the very least, try to be as equally passionate for my love of local food and do my part to get a few more locals (or even those not so local) in the door and possibly become regulars, then it’s a win / win for everyone.

Bramble & Vine
749 Nicholson St, Carlton North VIC
(03) 9388 1558
http://bramblevine.com.au/

Good For: Great local people making and serving great local food and wine to great local people, at very affordable prices

December 30, 2012 by farfromfamished

St. Ali North – 815 Nicholson St, Carlton North

The great north of the river versus the south of the river debate. Which is better? The generalisations are that the South is pretentious and the North is full of unwashed bohemian hippies, but don’t quote me on any of that.

When I moved to Melbourne in 2002 (cue Ministry of Sound Chillout Sessions 3), I started out south of the Yarra and being a newbie to this town, not only was I was oblivious to North versus South rivalry, I was also quite unaware of what the North had to offer. On the surface, I thought it was a dirty shithole full of full of unwashed bohemian hippies. I made the occasional trip to Brunswick St – with great disdain because it took, like, forever. And when I crossed the river again, between Richmond and South Yarra train stations, I felt at ease being back on terra firma. I enjoyed my little world in and around St Kilda; saying hello to the prostitutes whilst on my way for a walk along the Esplanade, beers at the Prince of Wales, the awesome delis on Carlisle St and I spent many a Friday night playing lots of pool at the Arcadia Hotel in South Yarra. Good times.

Once my Sister had moved to North Carlton and other friends were settling nearby in Collingwood, it was inevitable that I moved closer. I got as far as Richmond in 2004 and since then, I’ve progressively moved further north; spending the last 6 years in Carlton North, Fitzroy North, Thornbury and recently, back to Fitzroy North. I’ve also increasingly become more passionate and parochial about the north. It’s my life. It’s where relationships have been forged and failed, it’s where my kids were born and raised and it’s part of me. If an unknown rich relative bequests me a decent amount of cash for a house deposit, I’ll happily spend the rest of my life here. As for the south? I just think it’s pretentious.

Fortunately for me, as my deep-seated love for the north increased (as did my passion for all things food), the north became the biggest jewel in Melbourne’s culinary crown (southsiders may disagree), with Gertrude St becoming the new Brunswick St, then Smith St became the new Gertrude St, then pockets of places-to-be on St Georges Rd, High St in Northcote and Thornbury and the cool end of Lygon St.

Poor Nicholson Street missed a lot of it. Sure, there’s Pope Joan / The Bishop of Ostia and Milkwood, but they’re up the end past Brunswick Rd… and that’s East Brunswick, which is too cool for school anyway. Nicholson Village is the bit that roughly starts at one end around Reid / Richardson Sts and ends at Holden St / Brunswick Rd and for all it’s gems like Milawa Cheese, the two butchers, Artastic – for all your picture framing needs (gratuituous plug), it’s always been a little hit and miss for coffee and food.

Bramble & Vine is unfortunately not very well known, which is a damn shame because it’s great (review coming in the new year), other places like Birdie Num Nums were good, now are not so good. Then some guy from the, ugh, south had the temerity to expand on his ‘little’ cafe in South Melbourne and along came St. Ali North… BAM!

Putting a coffee shop on the Capital City Trail on Park Street, just off the corner of Nicholson Street, was always going to work. I would imagine that many others (myself included) would have had that idea in the back of their heads at some point. Fortunately Sal Malatesta and Jesse Gerner did it and from my (so far) five visits, they have done it very well.

It’s not without it’s minor faults, but please bear in mind (that’s you, discerning urbanspoon reviewers) it’s been open for a little under a month and the reputation of its southside sibling has clearly preceded it. There was absolutely no way this place was going to get away with a soft opening, in December, during the festive season. I mean, people loved the concept of having the St Ali brand in their neck of the woods, some bastards stole their brand spanking new twin Synesso Hydro coffee machines, around $45,000 worth of kit!

I haven’t had enough visits to get all funky with St. Ali North’s range of coffee offerings, but all of the strong skinny flat whites, short blacks and short macchiatos have been consistently exemplary and I’ve become so addicted to adding a tiny bit of the panela organic cane sugar (an unrefined, caramelly sugar that does not detract from the flavour of the coffee), I was compelled to leave with half a kg under my arm after today’s visit.

As for the food, I will continue to work my way through the menu and vow to not have the same thing twice until I’ve exhausted this promise… however the burger will be sure to get a more frequent work out. The ‘St. Ali Royale’ ($16) is a Wagyu beef burger topped with aged cheddar, house bacon (just look for it hanging in it’s own shrine), Russian dressing and housemade pickles on the side. Anywhere that offers a burger from 7am deserves a medal; especially if it’s made by someone with the same last surname (Chris Hamburger, as opposed to Chris St. Ali Royale… I don’t know where he works. Or if he exists).

‘My Mexican Cousin’ ($21.50); a favourite on the South Melbourne St. Ali menu also features at North… fried sweet corn fritters with kasundi, halloumi, greens, tomato and poached eggs. I liked it, but overall the dish was a little on the dry side. My poached eggs were a tad over and perhaps some gooey-er yolks or the addition of some of their avocado mash would have provided some better balance.

Villa Verde free-range eggs come four ways - poached, scrambled, fried or 63’ 63° ($10.5o). You can add field mushrooms, haloumi or bean ragout for an extra $4 a pop. For $4.50, you can add either bacon, house-smoked salmon, morcilla or feta and avocado mash.

On another visit, trying to be a little bit healthy before Christmas, I stuck to poached eggs with bean ragout and avo mash. The avo was mash midly spiced and flecked with feta. The beans, whilst well flavoured, were a little tough, like when you salt the water when cooking any legumes. Overall though, it was great. I regret not getting the bacon though.

Poached eggs, bean ragout and avocado mash - Pic courtesy of Essjay

Other dishes tried by my various brekky partners include the house-baked fruit toast, with fruit conserve and labneh ($7.50) – it’s fruit toast, but damn good fruit toast – and Bircher muesli with mango, lychee and toasted nuts ($12.50) which is what Maximilian Bircher-Benner might have eaten when he went on holidays to Thailand.

A simple kid’s menu is also offered. For $8 you can choose from several dishes, like scrambled eggs with bacon or a cheese toastie with tomato sauce on the side.

Due to the design and the concrete floors, the decibel levels can get a little out of control, but you can live with it.

Welcome to the neighbourhood.

(Thanks to SJ from essjay eats for loaning me a couple of pics. You can read her take on St. Ali North here)

St. Ali North
815 Nicholson St (on the bike path on Park St), Carlton North VIC
(03) 9686 2990
http://www.stali.com.au/

Good For: Raising the bar on great food and great coffee in the North
Not Good For: Impatient people; you could wait a little bit for a table and people with sensitive ears (you could listen to your iPod)

November 29, 2012 by farfromfamished

Things to do in Mount Tambourine

If you could live somewhere solely for the abundance of produce and lifestyle, where would it be? Yarra Valley? Margaret River? Kangaroo Island? Tasmania?

I posed this question at lunch recently and although I was tossing up between Kangaroo Island and Tassie, ironically I was in a place that fits the bill nicely; Mount Tambourine on the Gold Coast.

Fear not, this is not turning into a travel blog. I know I haven’t blogged in quite a while, but Mount Tambourine is just so foodie-centric, so it made sense to pick out the foodie bits and share them.

I’ve been to Brisbane many times, but the Gold Coast hasn’t been all that far up my bucket list of ‘must see’ destinations, primarily because of this and this…

But after some light coercing from a good friend, who convinced me that I needed a weekend away from the hustle and bustle of Melbourne, I booked some flights.

Admittedly, I did know that there was far more to the Gold Coast than the sandy beaches of the Sunshine Coast, the high rise apartments and all of those fun parks that, according to my 5-year old, we just “have to go to” and I’d heard that there was some rainforest and a hinterland… whatever that is.

Mount Tambourine is no where near the guts of my perceived Gold Coast vision either, which was a good thing because my visit also (inadvertently) coincided with Schoolies and in no way did I want to be mistaken for one of these.

So, this place was largely on the hook for delivering a promise of good food and wine and it started well. Our first port of call was the MT Brewery, which formed part of a complex that incorporates Witches Chase Cheese and a Bistro and on the day (and irrelevant) a jewellery auction. It was encouraged to buy some cheese and a couple of small baguettes from the cheese shop and then buy some beer to drink with your cheeses at the brewery. We duly followed process and sampled some excellent, creamy blue and a goat’s chevre blended with kalamata tapanade.

MT Brewery make 6 or so beers and offer a tasting board of 4 beers for $10 or 5 beers for $12.50. The beers were full flavoured and of the ones we sampled, the Rainforest Lager, Black Cockatoo Lager (a porter-like beer), were the standouts.

My only gripe was the lack of attentiveness. Much of the revenue generated in and around Mount Tambourine is driven from tourism. MT Brewery only accepts cash, which is quite bizarre in this day and age. I had no cash, so I was asked to go and seek cash out from the cheese shop. The cheese shop advised that they did not provide cash out through EFTPOS and to use the ATM within the complex. The ATM was out of cash… a debacle. I eventually pleaded with the cheese shop to allow me to take cash out and as a result I bought a lovely bottle of caramelised red wine vinegar and some mustard fruits that I later notices were made for Aldi. Anyway, by the time I was cashed up, my already poured beers were a little warmer and a little flatter for the experience. It may sound a little trivial, but this is a tourism town.

Next on the list was sampling of the wares created by Tambourine Mountain Distillery. Alas, they guy on the website, possessing a strange resemblance to Santa Claus, was not there.

A $5 tasting fee is refunded upon purchase and for a fiver you can sample up to 5 different products ranging from liqueurs, schnapps, eaux de vie, vodkas, gins, grappa and so on.

We sampled lilly pilly gin, sloe gin, ginger vodka, passionfruit liqueur , choc-chilli liqueur and a couple of others… far more than five anyway and I bought a bottle of the ginger vodka on the premise that it would make an interesting bloody mary or something. It’s actually quite nice neat, straight out of the freezer. I hadn’t estimated consuming so much alcohol so early in the day, so I was getting a little sleepy. Lucky for me the next stop perked me up to no end.

The strange thing about Mount Tambourine is the European influence. Mount Tambourine is around 7 degrees cooler than the lower lands, so it’s safe to say that cooler conditions area little more conducive to the former European settlers. It’s still humid and tropical, but without the oppressive heat your may experience in other parts of Queensland.

With the European influence comes a few quirky shopfronts; forget to pack your wooden clogs? Done.

Drank too much schnapps and have a hankering for an elaborate $10,000 cuckoo clock with cool looking bears on it? They’ve got you sorted.

Hankering for some Polish stodge? Bingo.

Strangely enough, there aren’t too many places that showcase the overabundance of tropical fruits that are sold so cheaply at roadside stalls; avocados, mangoes, kiwi fruit and rhubarb are the main ones. Someone should open a Mexican place with an emphasis on good guacamole and tropical margaritas.

The real highlight was a 6-course degustation at Songbirds; a quiet and romantic (for others, probably) retreat nestled in amongst the extremely picturesque rainforest. The majorty of the dining ‘room’ is set in the open under a large weatherproof canopy. For the logistics of operating a fine dining restaurant, this is as close as you could get to literally being in the rainforest. I’d like to understand the rationale for deciding the canopy should be red. It’s not the most calming of colours and everything took on a not-too-easy-on-the-eyes pink hue, as you will see in some of the dessert pictures.

Awarded one hat in the Brisbane Good Food Guide for the last two years running, Songbirds could make a claim for a second, based on what we ate, drank and the overall experience.

Goat’s cheese with textures of beetroot, chardonnay-poached pear, tomato heart and walnut crumble was excellent, as was the roasted quail with charred baby leeks, mushrooms, chermoula, piccalilli pickles and some texture from some fried potato skins – nothing wasted.

The Wagyu beef cheek was succulent, slowly braised in masterstock on a base of parsnip skordalia, sprouts, enoki mushrooms, shallots and bits of seaweed.

A perfectly cooked lamb rump was delicious. So much so, I’d already started it and forgot to take a picture. The rump was poached in smoked Butter and thyme and a the soft spice from the accompanyingcumin and butternut puree worked well with the salty black olive coulis and simple grilled zucchini and sugar snap peas. A small, well made squid ink tortellini continaed a mixture of rosemary and sheep cheese. It was delicious, but not neccessarily with the other elements of the dish.

The final two courses were also on the mark, as was the fresh watermelon sorbet that preceded them; a simple wedge of goat’s cheese (the same that featured in the first course… not that I’m complaining) was drizzled in a pungent truffled honey and quenelle of confit shallot.

The last dish was the standout of the day; Tonka bean and muscovado rice pudding with Christmas pudding crumbs, white chocolate namelaka (a Japanese term for “creamy texture” – it’s more or less a ganache made with milk, emulsified, gelatin is added and finished with cream), burnt caramel ice cream and white chocolate brittle shards that contained lots of crunch and crackle. I’m probably the biggest hater of white chocolate, but I could have happily munched through more of this and hopefully Head Chef, Trent Dawson, is willing to part with his recipe!

All of this was a mere $110 or $160 when matched with some most excellent mid-priced and higher-end wines, fortifieds and even a refreshing lychee liqueur on ice with fresh lime, which accompanied our last course.

Mount Tambourine is an abolsute gem of a place that I definitely look forward to coming back to visit soon, although I don’t know if I will be able to get away with a trip to the Gold Coast again, without the kids and without a visit to the fun parks and the other places that the Gold Coast is unfortunately more famous for.

Songbirds
Tambourine Mountain Rd, North Tambourine QLD
(03) 5545 2563
http://www.songbirds.com.au/

Good For: A romantic getaway if you’re that way inclined, great food in a natural, picturesque setting… Ignore the low urbanspoon score, it’s excellent
Not Good For: People that are scared of snakes. I didn’t see any but they’re always talking about them. I did see a bush turkey though.

May 28, 2012 by farfromfamished

4Fourteen – 414 Bourke St, Surry Hills NSW

Another week, another interstate trip. I haven’t had too many overnight stays in Sydney of late and on the odd occasion where I have stayed overnight; I’ve taken the easy option of hotel room service. I was thinking of compiling a list of my favourite hotel club sandwiches. Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to detailing my findings, but I think that the Intercontinental in Sydney is winning. And they provide Beerenberg condiments.

So anyway, it was high time I ventured from the safety and comfort of my king sized bed with its six pillows and continue the pursuit of understanding why Sydney thinks its restaurants are better than Melbourne.

Last year, I chose Colin Fassnidge’s Four in Hand in an attempt to quash this theory and I was unsuccessful because it was so fucking awesome. Since then, I’ve ardently followed Colin’s entertaining tweets and have keenly waited for the opening of Colin’s latest venture – the opening of a standalone restaurant in close proximity to the other venues, 4Fourteen in Surry Hills.

Again I found myself dining alone as my dinner companion had to cancel at the last minute. This ended up not being a bad thing because the key feature of 4Fourteen is the massive bar that seats twelve patrons around the open kitchen. There was plenty to take in, so in hindsight I was glad that I didn’t have to suffer idle chit-chat (I’m kidding, Tat).

So what was there to observe? Firstly, seven chefs working at a feverish pace. Alas, there was no Gordon Ramsay-esque theatrics of swearing or throwing pots and pans to be witnessed. In fact, it was all very quiet and well oiled for a place that’s only been open for a few weeks. Colin and head chef, Carla Jones were working collaboratively at the pass, mingling with the two dishwashers and the servers that handed checks directly to chef for orders to be called. It seemed more like a team that had been together for a couple of years, not weeks.

The floor space is huge, with a loud, almost raucous (in a good way) atmosphere. It’s fun. It’s laidback. It’s comfortable. You feel like you want to be there for a good time and a long time. Amongst the large tables occupied by a fairly good looking 30-something after work crowd, there’s even more seating at the (other, alcohol) bar. I wish this placed existed at the end of my street.

The unfortunate side of sitting at the bar (nearest to the front door) was the occasional waft of cigarette smoke from the smokers outside each time the front door was opened. It could have been the wind that teamed up with the inclement weather outside. Nonetheless, it was a little off-putting.

The menu is a little confusing as it’s broken up into food categories of Fish, Meat, Salads & Starches and Pastry, as opposed to your run-of-the-mill courses. The only indication of whether you’re getting a dish that’s suitable for an entrée or a main is the price. It’s a bit confusing. Maybe that’s the point.

So, using price as my guide, I started with the Live Rottnest Island (WA) Scallop with crushed ginger, fennel and horseradish ($11.50). I wasn’t too sure whether ‘live’ meant it was served ‘alive’, which would have been a tad macabre or… I don’t know actually. Obviously it was a real scallop and it was alive at some point; hopefully earlier in the day. It was cooked to perfection though and the accompanying fennel and ginger purees complimented each other as opposed to one dominating the other. There no apparent detection of the horseradish at all. Second time this year. Perhaps it’s too early in the season. Some wilted warrigal provided some welcome colour and another element of texture.

As much as it was a very delicious scallop, I remained a little perturbed by the cost. It sure was a lot of flair and pomp for one solitary scallop… in the shell, served atop a bed of pebbles – all very pretty, but it was one scallop. Colin has since informed me that the scallops are flown in ‘live‘ from Rottnest Island, hence the cost and the live part. Quality aside, it left me wondering what I could have ordered instead for a few extra dollars and be a little more, I don’t know… fulfilled? The warm crab roll ($14.50) perhaps or the miso smoked salmon with lemon curd and fennel bread ($14.50). At least the bread roll from Iggy’s, served with a generous quenelle of butter ($2.50) was fulfilling enough (even though you have to pay for bread).

The next dish was the suckling pig ($32). Colin and his team sure know how to cook pigs to perfection and this was no exception. An ample serving of fine slices of (loin?) meat featured a thin, glassy crackling that could have been the best pork I have ever eaten. The rest of the plate was well balanced with a perfect supporting cast: texture from bits of light and crispy crackling, cauliflower, both in crisp florettes and a puree, a great splodge of pistachio pesto, another splodge (or two) of prune puree, fried sage leaves and the most delightful, unctuous jus I have ever tasted. I was mad at myself for not leaving any of the bread to mop this sauce up when I ran out of meat.

A small side dish of cabbage salad (coleslaw) featured the aforementioned cabbage, thinly sliced radish and just when you though there wasn’t enough pork, crunchy dried bits of pork, dressed with a vinaigrette.

To drink with the pork, I chose the Joseph 2011 d’Elena Pinot Grigio ($67) from Primo Estate.

For dessert, I couldn’t go past the signature dish, Bounty ($16); an artful deconstruction of the popular chocolate bar, coconut ice cream dusted in cocoa, crackle, chocolate mousse, shards of fresh coconut and more shards of what I think was a coconut white chocolate, oh and more cocoa dusted over the top. Heavenly and great with a wee glass of the Sánchez Romate Cardenal Cisneros Pedro Ximenez ($10).

As is the case with Four in Hand, a great selection of cheeses are on offer for $9 per cheese. On the night, there were a couple of Spanish hard cheeses, piccante goat’s cheese, some Dutch thing and the two cheeses I opted for, an oozy washed rind and some soft cheese. I can’t remember exactly what it was but it was a stinky truffled cheese that was fantastic. The cheeses were served with house made lavosh, a thick slice of Granny Smith apple, some smooth and silky apple puree and a scary looking rusty, chipped knife thing. Something you could use to chiv someone if you weren’t happy with your cheese. Fortunately I was.

Service on the night was extremely friendly, efficient and knowledgeable.

I have to say that again, in my vain attempt to quash the Melbourne-is-heaps-better-than-Sydney-restaurant-scene theory isn’t gaining much traction. However, if Colin is considering opening another venture in the near future; please kindly consider opening it in Melbourne (preferably on the northern side of the city… around North Fitzroy, Northcote, Thornbury… somewhere around there. Thanks.)

4Fourteen
414 Bourke St, Surry Hills NSW
(03) 9331 5399
http://www.4fourteen.com.au/

Good For: Oinkingly good pig in a fantastic atmosphere
Not Good For: A quiet, romantic first date. Actually, that’s not true. I probably would go here.

May 10, 2012 by farfromfamished

COS Restaurant – 18 Leigh St, Adelaide

As an ex-pat Adelaidian, I have unrestricted license to bag South Australia for its idiosyncrasies and in total contradiction, I can easily defend my hometown to my heart’s content – particularly when football’s being discussed.

Most people are aware of the ongoing rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney or Sydney and Brisbane, but there’s also somewhat of a rivalry between Melbourne and Adelaide. Actually, it’s probably more apt to describe this as a fairly one-sided rivalry and most of Melbourne probably aren’t all that aware of it. If they are, they’re pretty coy about it…

“What’s that? Oh, it’s nothing. It’s probably Adelaide whinging that we’ve stolen something from them again”.

The Grand Prix hurt South Australian’s pretty hard. It’s still talked about like someone lost a close relative.

Fresh produce is a different story though. As much as I love Victoria and the ease in accessing seasonal, fresh produce, in my opinion SA reigns supreme in this neck of the woods. For mine, Adelaide’s Central Markets crap all over the Queen Victoria Market in quality, range and price. Then there’s the wine. Enough said.

When it comes to the restaurant scene though, Adelaide and SA has a bit of work to do. Other than reading a few things in national publications or indeed quality publications, like South Australia’s Sumptuous Magazine, there’s not much around to know what’s going on. Unless you have friends that are into that sort of thing. Most of mine aren’t. Review sites like Urbanspoon and other social medium (particularly Twitter) aren’t as widely utilised in Adelaide, as they seem to be in Melbourne or Sydney.

COS is a bistro-style restaurant in Adelaide that I’ve gone back to a number of times. It’s located in a side street called Leigh St, which links Currie St with the infamous Hindley St). In fact, with the number of restaurants that seem to be popping up in Leigh St, it’s starting to remind me of Hardware Lane, sans touts.

I reckon over the last four or five years, I’ve been there half a dozen times and I have recommended it at least another half a dozen or so people. The prices are reasonable; at least for a Melbourne person visiting Adelaide and it rates a sound 76% on Urbanspoon. Unfortunately it lacks the verbatim from punters, telling others about there experience. It seems more of the ‘in-vogue’ places are getting all of the review traffic and as COS is not offering Mexican street food or pintxos, which used to be known as tapas, albeit served on a toothpick (mum used to do that with Coon cheese cubes with cocktail onions. Little did she know she was ahead of her time), there aren’t many people writing on their experience.

COS have a plethora of oyster choices, featuring (no surprises) South Australian Pacific Oysters. You can have them natural, with lemon, lime and Tabasco syrup or an Asian lime, chilli and coriander, as a Bloody Mary shooter or perhaps their take on Kilpatrick, with speck and ‘killer’ sauce. Pardon the pun, but the world’s your (ahem) oyster.

On a recent visit, as much as I wanted some oysters, earlier in the day. I wasn’t feeling too oystery in the evening, which was a real shame. So, what to choose? I guess it’s hard to classify COS’ menu, other than bistro and a conduit to showcase local, fresh produce. It’s a little bit Mediterranean; chilli salt whitebait with lime aioli ($12.50) or braised, spiced meatballs with grana padano ($15.00) or you could go down the Central / South American route with ceviche of fish of the day with a ruby grapefruit, cucumber, radish, avocado, heirloom tomato and jalapeno salad ($16.50).

However, my dining companions and I settled on something to share after we’d demolished the warmed, house-made bread, dipped in a big bowl of fruity olive oil – the COS charcuterie plate, which featured a selection of finely sliced, air-dried bresola (the star of the plate), prosciutto, sopressa and pan fried chorizo with locally made pickles (cucumbers and mushrooms) and a stack of grilled sourdough ($12.50 per head). No complaints here, with the exception of who would eat the last piece of sopressa and sourdough.

For mains, the menu again sticks to the Mediterranean theme, with a bit of South America thrown in. The Suffolk milk fed lamb is served two ways; a prosciutto and rosemary saddle, a braised and pressed forequarter with accompanying fondant potatoes, seasonal mushrooms and beets, celeriac puree and a rosemary pangrattato ($35) or perhaps marinated chimmichurri gulf prawns, served with gazpacho salsa, avocado, lime and coriander salad ($32).

One of my dining companions settled on the roast ballotine of Barossa farm chicken, stuffed with roast garlic and a vegetable sofrito, red pepper and dried tomato fondant sauce, chorizo, purple garlic, gremolata and a polenta disc ($34). For the other two of us, it was about steak. One of my companions opted for the 300g grain-fed Coorong Angus scotch fillet, dry aged for 21 days ($40.50) and I went for what I think is the king of texture, a 300g grain-fed Coorong Angus entrecote, which was also dry aged for 21 days ($39.50). All steaks come with a choice of fat cut chips, truffle scented mash, duck fat roasted kipflers or hand cut fries and a choice of red wine jus, house-made mustards, green peppercorn jus, café de Paris butter, gorgonzola brandy butter or sauce béarnaise.

The steaks do require sides if you need something else other than starch (or more starch) and there is a good selection, from rocket leaf salad with pear and a balsamic glaze ($7.50), ceasar salad ($9), mixed heirloom tomato salad with olives, fetta and baby basil ($12.50) and several more to choose from. We settled on some reasonably healthy seasonal greens (Brussels sprouts, spinach and broccoli) with roasted almond & herb butter ($9).

I am happy to declare that this is probably the best steak I have had in a couple of years… well flavoured, great texture and perfectly cooked to order (medium rare). The let down was the red wine jus. It was the right consistency, but it simply lacked flavour. The “hand cut fries” were also disappointing. As much as they were probably hand cut, they were more like soggy, clumpy strings. It was good to see a small mound of seasonal freshly grated horseradish on the plate, but it lacked punch. The condiment winner by a mile was the house-made mustard. It was hot, a little tangy and had a wetter consistency than a mass-produced mustard. If they sold this by the jar, I would buy nothing else ever again.

My dining partner’s fat cut chips were what I should have ordered. They were fat cut chips, as advertised. My other dining partner’s roast ballotine of chicken featured two generous slabs of moist chook, perfectly seasoned. The accompanying bits and sauces worked well and the red pepper and dried tomato fondant sauce was stunning, flavoursome and colourful.

To drink, we were happy to relieve COS of a bottle of 2010 Atlas ‘Section 32’ Cabernet / Malbec ($50) from the Clare Valley.

Service on the night started well but slowly went south as the night progressed. After our mains were served, we struggled to receive any service and as a last resort (waiting at least 15 minutes with visibly empty glasses), we had to top up our own wine glasses. We could have also been convinced to crack open another bottle of Section 32, had the staff afforded us the opportunity. But it didn’t happen, which is their loss I guess. Our table was simply cleared of everything and robotically, dessert menus were plonked on the table.

If I lived in Adelaide and had the opportunity to take interstate or overseas guests out for a casual dinner and give them a good idea of what South Australian produce is all about; without the fuss and exorbitant cost, I’d take them to COS (if I knew the service was going to be OK). At the very least, this is one thing Victoria can’t take away from South Australia.

COS Restaurant
18 Leigh St, Adelaide
(08) 8231 7611
http://justcos.com.au/asp/home.aspx

Good For: Showcasing South Australia’s fine, fresh produce… That’ll teach them bloody Victorians!

Not Good For: Fries, jus and consistent service. Minor infractions.

May 1, 2012 by farfromfamished

North by Northwest: Cutler & Co’s Seaonal and Regional Produce Dinner

Getting to visit Cutler & Co has been a task. It’s not like I haven’t wanted to go there either. Firstly, there’s the gift voucher I received for my birthday last October that I still haven’t used (even though I have been assured it will still be honoured… and I will use it in the next couple of months. Promise).

Then there was my recent week’s stay in hospital, where from my window at St Vincent’s, I was compelled to gaze upon Cutler & Co’s facade whilst miserably consuming hospital food. There was a glimmer of hope when, after a few opportunistic tweets, I was to receive a ‘care package’ of tasty appetisers. But then I was discharged and my hopes were duly shattered.

Third time lucky came in the form of a phone call late last week from Essjay, asking if I would like to join her and Ed for dinner at Cutler & Co to celebrate Autumnal fare:

Me: When is it?
Essjay: Monday
Me: F*ckit! It’s my daughter’s fifth birthday. I can’t go [sobs hysterically]

Well that’s how I remembered the conversation. Crestfallen, I told Kate when I got home and surprisingly, she said I’d be mad not to go. She was sure that our daughter wouldn’t be too scarred for life. I wasn’t too sure, but who am I to argue with one’s better half? So I called Essjay back and it was game on.

I was extremely interested in celebrating seasonal and local produce from a particular region. I guess if we all lived on farms or had more time in our lives… or at least the inclination, I am sure we’d all be eating fresh, seasonal produce and enjoying things when they should be enjoyed – in their prime. Thanks to microchip technology and the like, we get stuff all year round these days, regardless of whether it’s any good or not. Gone are the days where you only could get asparagus when there was an ‘r’ in the month… or is that yabbies? I can’t remember. The point is most of us do not care enough to do too much about it.

Fortunately, Andrew McConnell and the team at Cutler & Co do care and last night was the first of a series of seasonal feasts that showcase the food and wine of regional Victoria. Their plan, as Mother Nature moves us into each new season, is to focus on a different part of Victoria and create a menu that highlights the freshest produce available for that region.

Last night’s ‘North by Northwest’ dinner focussed on the produce available in Autumn from Northern Victoria in the form of a five-course degustation, matched with local wines.

Proceedings opened with an amuse bouche of some simple, house-cured Manzanilla olives paired with a 2011 Galli Estate ‘Artigiano’ Pinot Grigio from Sunbury. The flavoursome and meaty olives were a great accompaniment to the clean, crisp and fruity wine.

Our first course combined cured and lightly smoked rainbow trout (from Wilhelmina, near god-forsaken Murrindindi, where I hate camping) with the mild, fresh herb of chickweed, a sharper citrus hit from some sorrel, texture and crunch from the smoky, almost bacon-like rye seeds, tangy crunch from pickled onion and cucumber and a fine quenelle of mustard cream. The 2010 Williams Crossing (by Curly Flat) Chardonnay from the Macedon Ranges complimented the citrus from the sorrel and still allowed the mild smokiness of the trout to come through.

Next up was a densely pressed pheasant terrine; three blocks garnished with bitter leaves, a sweet reduction, spiced almond crumb and topped with Cutler & Co’s signature foie gras cigar. As much as I tried to save my cigar to the very end to be enjoyed on its own, in a corner, by myself, I did the right thing and tried it with the terrine. With the exception of the most awesomely light and crunchy cigar filled with creamy, rich foie gras, the terrine was probably my least favourite dish of the night. By all means it was pleasant pheasant, but nothing remarkable to truly distinguish it as pheasant. It was just lost. Maybe it was just lost on me.

As for the wine, the 2010 Vinero ‘South Gisborne’ Pinot Noir, made by Cutler & Co’s Sommelier, Liam O’Brien, was an absolute cracker. Smooth, fruity with lots of cherry flavour. It was a perfect match.

My favourite dish of the night was the Sher Wagyu scotch, served with hay-baked carrots, watercress puree and char grilled garlic shoots. This was some of the most meltingly tender beef I have ever, ever eaten. Someone made the comment that it absolutely trounced Blackmore Wagyu and I tend to agree. The meat was perfectly cooked to a blushing rare to medium rare and lightly anointed with a delicious jus.

The char grilled garlic shoots and watercress puree provided different levels of freshness to counteract the richness of the Wagyu. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the sweet roasted hay-baked carrot, but I would honestly need a non-hay baked carrot to determine the difference the hay made as I failed to detect and flavours imparted by the hay. No surprises in the well matched limited release 2008 Heathcote Estate ‘Block A’ Shiraz. Ballsy, but not overly tannic… it was on the fruitier side, which is my preference.

The penultimate dish was the Holy Goat ‘La Luna’, served with poached quince and flaxseed lavosh. We were fortunate to be drinking a ‘project wine’; a 2009 Chalmers Passisto Malvasia/Picolit from the Murray Darling region. There was mild concern at the table as to how this sweet, but not too sweet wine would pair with the creamy, almost nutty and tangy goat’s chevre. It worked a treat and more so that the quince flavours were picked up in the wine. My favourite wine of the night (slightly pipping Liam’s Pinot).

Our last dish was a warming, rich pear and suet pudding with chestnut ice cream. The quenelle of ice cream could have been bigger, but that’s just me being greedy (it was adequately proportioned to the pudding). The pudding was light, not overly sweet, nutty from the chestnuts and a sign that winter will soon be on its way. The accompanying Harcourt Valley’s Bress ‘Bon Bon’ Cider aptly accentuated the pear in the dessert and was well balanced between the acidity cutting through the richness of the dessert, and its sweetness with neither the cider nor dessert dominating the other.

The night was a great celebration of produce at its prime, presented in the best possible way by one of Australia’s best chefs. If last night was anything to go by, I will look forward to seeing what the following seasons and regions bring to Cutler & Co’s table.

[farfromfamished dined as a guest of Cutler & Co]

April 2, 2012 by farfromfamished

O’Connell’s Hotel – Cnr Coventry and Montague Streets, South Melbourne

There have been a few conversations over the weeks that we should commence revisiting all of the places that we’ve visited over the last six year’s worth of our semi-regular lunches. Upon throwing around some names of places we’ve been over the years, we realised it was remiss of us to overlook O’Connell’s (and The Montague, so that’s probably slated for next time).

South Melbourne and its immediate environs are littered with pubs that are seeped in history. Some choose to celebrate the pub’s rich past through preserving some of the old charm through new renovations. Others, like O’Connell’s, simply haven’t changed much therefore the old charm naturally still exists (as do the odd mix of pictures in the front dining room). This is not a criticism either (albeit, the jury’s out on the pictures though); it’s a comfortable pub and if I lived in South Melbourne, I’d probably choose to drink here. It’s a bonus that their kitchen is pretty decent as well.

It was reasonably busy on the day we visited. A good sign. Another good sign was our pre-entrée course of Oysters would also be fulfilled. Half a dozen each of freshly shucked Coffin Bay oysters ($3 each) were duly ordered with a bottle of crisp and refreshing 2011 Shaw & Smith Sauvignon Blanc ($50). The oysters lived up to expectation; they were freshly shucked and served simply with a lemon cheek. Also, rather than dealing with annoying rock salt which invariably goes everywhere, the oyster shells sat atop some very stiff, salty meringue. My only (personal) gripe was that the adductor muscle was still attached to the shell but I understand this to be a French thing to prove it’s from the actual shell the oyster’s presented in. Ah, you learn something every day…

Warmed baguette and unsalted butter were happily replenished several times upon our request.

Five entrées preceded five mains, plus a number of different cuts of steak that are cooked on the wood grill and a handful of specials. There is also a ‘pub favourites’ menu on offer with a further seven dishes, featuring some pub classics; a pie, a burger, schnitzel and so on.

For entrée, one of our party opted for the ceviche of Hervey Bay scallops with preserved watermelon, avocado, corn and curry vinaigrette ($19) and two of us ordered the Spencer Gulf king prawns with ox tongue sausage, capers, garlic, lemon and brioche ($19.50).

Upon arrival of the entrées, there was some conjecture and disappointment of the alleged accuracy in pluralising the word ‘scallops’ versus what was served. The scallops had been served shaved and the serving was scant to say the least. In fact, quite the contrary to the three plump, generously sizes prawns that adorned our plates. This feedback was constructively passed on to the kitchen. As for the scallop dish itself, it featured the most amazing preserved watermelon, which was meaty in texture and intense in flavour.

I’ve since learned the process to get your common garden variety watermelon to this stage from Chef, Paul Cooper. Needless to say, when I have a free weekend, I’ll give it a go. It’s more than worth it for the end result. The avocado, corn and curry flavours worked well with the other elements, although (no surprises) they were a little too dominating in the absence of some more scallop.

The prawns, to me, were ever so marginally overdone. However, the accompanying flavours and textures were extremely well balanced; crunch from the brioche croutons, a strong meaty flavour and texture from the ox tongue combined with some desired acidity from the lemon and capers in the butter-based sauce that brought the whole dish together.

For mains, we each agreed to select a different dish to sample as much as we could on the menu. My dining partners respectively went for the slow cooked pork shoulder with ragout of summer beans, gala apples and cider sauce ($33) and the (Farmer Joe’s) baby goat with pumpkin puree, smoked yoghurt, pumpkin seeds and spiced goat sauce ($34).

I chose the roasted duck breast with confit duck leg sausage, spinach compote, plum puree and roasted onions ($34). From all reports, my dining partner’s dishes were quite sound; the pork was meltingly tender and the crackling shard was good enough not to share with anyone else. The accompanying cider sauce had a good balance of sweet and tart to counteract the richness of the pig. Farmer Joe’s baby goat must have had a good life. The meat was sweet and tender and the smoky flavour and sourness from the yoghurt was perfectly in tune with the spiced jus. There’s no denying that O’Connell’s kitchen knows a thing or two about balancing flavours. A dainty pithivier, filled with more goat meat, also featured on the plate.

My duck breast could be best described as amply bosomed. The skin was crisp and the meat had been well-rendered to leave just skin and meat. I would have preferred the meat a shade underdone than it was served, but that’s just personal preference. I would have also loved a good dredging of the accompanying just, but that’s just greed. The confit duck leg sausage provided some extra richness. Although we could have gotten away with no side dishes (all $9), we chose the sautéed green beans with bacon, almonds and brown butter. All beans… no, wait… all green vegetables should be served like this. Other sides are the usual suspects; Fries, mash and a salad option.

For dessert, we did exactly the opposite of our main selection. We all ordered the same thing; Melbourne city rooftop honey iced nougat with port poached pear, chocolate mousse and crystallized pumpkin seeds ($15). Although I could have gone for alternatives, like the sticky date pudding with English toffee sauce and treacle nut brittle ice cream ($15) or the bitter sweet chocolate tart with macerated cherries, cherry cream, candied bacon and orange ($15). Mmm… candied bacon; totally underutilised. We asked to try some separately and we were duly rewarded. My preferred version of a petit four.

To quickly digress, for the uninitiated, Melbourne City Rooftop Honey are Beekeepers that are bringing bees back to the city and the suburbs of Melbourne. The organisation ‘re-houses’ swarms of honey bee colonies into specified hived around inner-Melbourne. The output, of course, is honey made practically on your door step (or rooftop, as the case may be), which you can also buy on-line here. Please check out this very worthy project.

The honey was the star in our parfait-like nougat, closely followed by the support act in the form of a small quenelle of decadent chocolate mousse… any more mousse and it would have dominated. Another example of perfect balance in both flavours and texture; soft pear / crunchy sugared pumpkin seeds / icy nougat / silky mousse.

We rounded out proceedings with our usual road test of the cheese board, which was pretty solid in terms of generosity. Three cheeses at 50 grams per cheese ($28) were served with lavosh, quince paste, fresh pear and some of the most interesting dried grapes that almost tasted like dried apricot. The cheeses on offer were a French double brie, Manchego and a Gorgonzola.

With our mains and desserts, we drank the 2008 Craiglee Shiraz ($96). O’Connell’s wine list is extensive and covers both ends of the price spectrum very well.

Overall, O’Connell’s is providing some honest, (in parts) inventive and of course, tasty food at a price point that is smack bang where it should be for the experience and surrounds. The staff know their stuff and are attentive… even to accommodate requests like sampling some candied bacon. In the kitchen, Paul Cooper and his team, including Kiwi Stacy Thompson, are doing the right thing by the people of South Melbourne.

O’Connell’s Centenary Hotel
Cnr Coventry and Montague Streets, South Melbourne
(03) 9699 9600
www.oconnells.com.au

Good For: A great example of a true ‘Gastropub’ experience in Melbourne… even though I hate that term

Not Good For: Being a little too miserly with their scallops. But all is forgiven (hey, I didn’t order it)

February 15, 2012 by farfromfamished

Malt – 28 Market St, Brisbane

Wow. It’s been a while. It’s not like I haven’t been out / trying to save for a house / been to some places that aren’t worth blogging about / been to some places that I’ve already blogged about / too busy with my paying job to find time to blog / forgotten what I ate anyway.

All of the above is true.

Fortunately, I have recently eaten somewhere notable / remembered what I had / found some spare time to share my experience. The only problem is that it’s in Brisbane, not Melbourne.

Brisbane’s food scene is fair, but it’s expensive – this is not Sydney. Alarmingly, it’s the starters that attract prices that push through the $30 barrier, even in many Bistros… Ouch!

Speaking of Bistros, there is a lack of decent mid-priced places that serve reasonable food at moderate prices – this is also an opinion that is shared by friends that live in Brisbane. If cafés, SSS BBQ Barns and Pubs or Steakhouses aren’t your scene and iconic well-knowns like E’cco or the siblings of the more expensive southern state establishements, like Aria or Stokehouse are out of your league, then you really need to roll up your sleeves and do some research to find something that gives you some value.

Fortunately, Malt fits the bill nicely.

Malt is housed within an iconic inner-city building called Wenley House, which was built in 1865 as Queensland’s first public market. Inside, the integrity of respectfully maintaining the building’s past has been achieved by retaining the exposed brick, original timber flooring and double-hung windows. This is combined with modern fittings and fixtures throughout; in either the 20-seat private dining room located in the cellar, the ground floor bar for a causal pre-dinner or post-work beverage or in the attic, where the main restaurant is located. It’s comfortable.

Firstly, to the bar. A good number of sparkling, whites and reds by the glass are offered, as well as an array of cocktails and spirits. The range of bottled beers and ciders are plentiful and there are also a couple of beers on tap (Peroni, Blue Tongue Lager) and a cider. If you can’t find something here to whet your whistle, then you’re just too damn picky.

One floor up, the attic dining room is extremely spacious, with a generous amount of space between tables, in addition to a full-sized grand piano (sans-Pianist on the night we were there. which to me was a bonus). Your more entrepreneurial restaurateur could argue that is a profitable space being wasted. But the space already accommodates up to 90 diners (without at all detracting from the intimate atmosphere) and it’s quite welcoming to not have to play a game of elbows with your table neighbour.

Freshly baked sourdough, with some balsamic and olive oil arrived promptly. Even better, it was complimentary.

Going back to my initial gripe on inflated entrée costs, the entrées at Malt are at a far more respectable $18-$22 price point and the menu itself is an excellent example of a seasonal summer fare and flavours, with dishes such as a Salad of Mooloolaba Spanner Crab with ruby grapefruit, witlof, cucumber and salmon pearls ($22) or crispy ricotta-filled zucchini flowers with rustic bread, heirloom tomatoes and local olives ($20). My choice; the ham hock terrine with shaved foie gras ($18) was light, not overly rich and packed with flavour. The toasted sourdough and condiments of sauce gribiche, poached quail’s egg and a micro herb and fennel salad were spot on as far as accompaniments go.

Coffin Bay oysters, served two ways were also on the menu, served natural ($18/$34) or Malt’s version of Kilpatrick ($22/$40), where the oyster is deep-fried in a beignet batter and served with Malt’s house-made Kilpatrick sauce, a.k.a Malt Sauce. Initially, I saw this as an absolute indictment to fresh oysters, let alone those from the South Australian waters of Coffin Bay. However, one of my dining partners ‘just happened’ to order them and I ‘just happened’ to try one and I am very happy to declare that Malt are onto a winner. The thin, crispy exterior gave way to another thin, but softer dough texture underneath, followed by an oyster that has lost almost none of its freshness. The Malt Sauce was lip-smackingly delicious; shards of crisp bacon sat within a well balanced tangy and slightly smoky sauce, which was thoughtfully served on the side too, so it doesn’t make the beignet batter soggy. Apparently, they also use this sauce on their steak sandwiches, which form part of Malt’s bar menu. I know where I’m heading for lunch next time I’m in town.

The mains were a true case of diner’s envy (for me, anyway). The sous-vide Grimaud duck breast was served with a fresh, glazed black fig, brown onion and a white bean and confit duck salad ($38). This was exhibit ‘A’ in food envy evidence.

Exhibit ‘B’ was the Bangalow pork tenderloin and jowl with carrot puree, coffee dust, pine nuts and onion rings ($36). It also came with some contrasting pickled baby vegetables to counteract the richness of the jowl and jus. It was cruel and unfair that I was tempted into trying this dish. The coffee was an interesting addition, providing some bitterness up front, which worked well with the sweetness of the sauce and the pork tenderloin. The jowl was fatty, unctuous and just… fuck it was good.

My dish, the Bouillabaisse of Morton Bay Bugs, local prawns, scallops and squid ($39) was aromatic, with the slight aniseed flavour from the Pernod and the presence of saffron was detectable, but not overpowering. The seafood was fresher than fresh. However, some of the stars of the dish were quite underdone. The scallops looked as though they were relying on the residual heat from the broth to cook through, which didn’t happen and one was practically raw. Nor did the bug meat come as cleanly out of the shell as it should have. The remaining seafood was cooked well.

The sides on offer ($8/$9) were a good mix of five or six dishes, containing some of the usual suspects (creamed potato, fries with aioli) and some more adventurous numbers (snow peas, beans and garlic shoots with butter and preserved lemon). To be perfectly honest (and also earlier confirmed by one of the wait staff), the portion sizes of the dishes are quite generous, including the garnishes and accompaniments, so they’re probably not needed. Another example of where Malt sets itself apart from its peers in terms of value.

Desserts (all $15) were again at the same high level of quality in flavour and execution as the preceding courses. The fine apple tart with brandy snap and cinnamon ice cream lived up to it’s name and it’s owner, who didn’t look as through she could get close to finishing it (it was a generous portion), daintily ploughed through the whole thing.

The chocolate brownie with salted caramel, peanut brittle and Malt (a little unsure as to whether it was malt in flavour or Malt in brand, like the sauce) ice cream was my kind of dessert and it was reported as delicious and duly polished off. I don’t know where these girls put it to be quite honest. Alas, I just shared some cheese with a couple of others.

As for the cheeses (my make or break dish of any restaurant) , there were four to choose from; three Australian, one imported. We selected the Brie and the Washed Rind, as well as a French Roquefort, which were served with house made lavosh, oat cookies, toasted fruit loaf, quince paste and fresh pear. At $30 for 45 grams per cheese and from a cheese to biscuit ratio (the last morsel of cheese was scraped up with the very last biscuit), the three of us that shared this all seemed very satisfied.

To drink, we selected the 2010 Ocean Eight Pinot Gris from the Mornington Peninsula ($64) and the 2008 Tscharke ‘The Curse’ Zinfandel from the Barossa ($74). Both excellent value, with fairly moderate mark-ups.

Service was extremely attentive and the two young ladies that looked after us for the night were very knowledgeable on both the menu and the components of the dishes, as well as the wine list.

Brisbane needs more places like this. A comfortable environment, a menu that will cater to most, well executed dishes, dedicated staff and of course, good value for money. It’s good to be back.

Malt
28 Market St, Brisbane
(07) 3236 4855
http://www.maltdining.com.au

Good For: Meeting a much needed gap in the Brisbane market

Not Good For: Other restaurants in Brisbane, that declare they are a Bistro, but charge at least 25%-30-% more than Malt

November 28, 2011 by farfromfamished

Robert Burns Hotel – 376 Smith St, Collingwood

To me, the Robert Burns Hotel was just another one of those pubs on Smith Street that you went past all of the time, never thinking twice of going in there. For one, it’s in the heart of ‘secondsville’… one of the numerous inner-city pockets of Melbourne that consists of wall-to-wall outlet stores (sporting attire is the attraction in this neck of the woods, if you didn’t know).

Subsequently, teems of buses filled with outer-suburbs bogans and weekender provincial folk meander from store to store with a glazed look on their face until they find their bargain of the day – 30% off a three-pack of tube socks that they didn’t really need.

I would have gladly continued to ignore this part of Smith Street (unless I needed discounted tube socks). However good friends of ours whom, up until a few months ago were Collingwood residents, had the low-down on some of the better places in the neighbourhood. As we were well overdue for a catch up, they selected the Robert Burns Hotel as our lunch venue.

Inside, the Robert Burns Hotel is a strange mix of two vastly different countries; a Spanish restaurant inside a pub that bears the name of Scotland’s most favourite son and poet. This is further emphasised by the garish tartan carpet, that in places continues up the wall like it’s trying to escape. It’s cosy and comfortable. As my friends tell me, the venue has recently had a bit of a make over.

As some of us had young children in tow, we were of course unfashionably early (by only a few minutes) and the doors were only being unlocked as we arrived. Our Spanish-accented waiter escorted us to our table and was quick to dispense some water… a great start? Alas, no. The service was awfully slow and haphazard, and that’s an understatement.

To further complicate things (which wasn’t really all that complicated), friends had to leave by 2pm as they had a flight to catch, so they asked if they could order immediately even though we were waiting on a couple of other guests. So, our friend’s drinks orders were taken and duly received, whereas the rest of us were left wondering. Then again, our friend’s food orders were taken and although we were also ready to order, we were again left wondering. There wasn’t even the opportunity to grab the waiter’s attention because as soon as he had taken our friend’s order, he was off again in the blink of an eye without even bothering to see if anyone else at the table was perhaps a little bit thirsty or hungry. We eventually took control of our thirst and decided to order our drinks from the bar.

And it wasn’t as though our initial waiter was the only staff member on the floor. There were others – all easily identifiable as they all wore the same short-sleeved checked shirts, rushing around doing… actually I don’t know what they were doing, other than not waiting on our table. It was hardly busy at ten minutes past midday on a Sunday and there was only one other couple that had taken a table. Although to the staff’s credit, they were at least quite friendly and attentive… when they were present.

As for food, there’s a separate front bar menu that lists a selection of tapas (all $6.50) served in the traditional cazuelita; the terracotta dish synonymous with Spanish morsels. Although I didn’t get to try some of these dishes on offer: Costillas De Cerdo (Pork ribs in a tangy sauce), Albóndigas con sepia (Beef meat balls with cuttlefish and green peas) or Chorizos a la sidra (Slow cooked chorizo in cider with green apples), I would like to come back to sample a couple of dishes over a glass or two of Tempranillo or Fino Sherry… Muy bien! Mi español es muy malo!

The more extensive restaurant menu generously caters for your serious carnivores and although there are a number of dishes for your token vegetarian (there’s always one), I thought there would have been more vegetable dishes on offer. Yes, the main meat dishes are accompanied by a handful of rocket and shallot salad, but this is more of a garnish than a salad and the only other green vegetable on offer as a choice of three side dishes were some char-grilled asparagus spears. The other two dishes were a choice of hand cut fries or chips in another form; roasted chat potatoes – all reasonably priced for a fiver.

Once our orders were finally taken, we tried the Croquetas del mar (mussel and prawn croquettes) – $9.90, an array of the various grilled meats on offer, which at $50 for two people highlighted that the Robert Burns, with all its service foibles, is actually quite reasonably priced.

Our one year old had already eaten her way through a paper napkin and a slice of baguette we’d successfully foraged from the bread board near the kitchen pass (we’d asked for a couple of slices to suppress our daughter’s hunger and keep her occupied, but – no surprises here – they came out around 10 minutes after our food had arrived). In any case, everything came out at once, which was a bit of a pain trying to find enough room on the table accommodate everything we’d all ordered.

The croquettes were moorish; five crunchy cylinders were filled with chunky pieces of prawn and mussel, lightly bound with a smooth, rich roux mixture. The accompanying garlic aioli was nice enough, but it was a bit rich-on-rich, if you know what I mean. I would have preferred a contrasting condiment spiked with something to cut through the richness. My daughter, not content with just paper and bread, knocked off two of them effortlessly. She is, to date, a pleasure to take out for a meal, unlike our four year old, who refused to go because there was no playground attached.

The meat selection consisted of a couple of lamb cutlets, the two forelegs of a cute bunny rabbit, some slices of white sausage (and sadly not the Morcilla blood sausage which was available on the menu in other dishes) and some sliced sirloin. We asked if we could have a sample of each of the sauces on offer; aioli, mojo rojo and chimichurri, which was do-able but not without the waiter telling us he should be able to accommodate this request without the kitchen wanting to kill him (?). I think he was trying to be humorous.

The meats were pretty much grilled to perfection and all well seasoned. The lamb was bang on, still retaining a pink hue on the inside. The rabbit was well coloured on the outside and moist on the inside. The sausage was OK, if not a bit too salty. The sirloin was a little on the tough side, with most of the slices just bordering on medium heading towards medium well; a little over for my liking. The accompanying sauces brought the meats to life with the piquant mojo rojo being declared the winner over the second placed chimichurri. Along with a couple of the aforementioned sides (asparagus and hand cut fries), this was more than enough for two (and a half) people.

Our other friends were more than happy with their choices. The eye fillet ($22) and four-point lamb rack ($27) were cooked accurately to order and was again a fair dose of protein for the price. There are five paella dishes to choose from that vary from $20 to $24 per person (min. 2 people). I would have gladly ordered the Paella negra con aioli (squid ink, with cuttlefish and scallops served with aioli) if there was a like-minded dining partner, but there wasn’t. Although I did get to sample some Paella de marisco (seafood: prawns, calamari, mussels and clams) which was spot on.

This is a pub, so there are plenty of beers on tap – in bottles, pots or pints and although the wine list is fairly extensive (and exclusively Spanish), it’s quite restrictive in its offerings of wines by the glass and is quite pricey.

Desserts are the usual Spanish suspects, including the ubiquitous churros with chocolate sauce ($9.90), a selection of Spanish cheeses that most probably include Manchego and quince paste ($13.90) and a crème caramel ($9.90). Unfortunately we were far too full of meat to consider something sweet… and I’d left the nappies in the car, so it was probably as good a time as any to leave our share of the bill on the table and go and change the baby, via the Nike outlet store for some much-needed tube socks.

So, in weighing everything up about the Robert Burns Hotel, if you are more than prepared to put up with some extremely chaotic service (which upon reading other reviews you can pretty much guarantee), you can look forward to some quite reasonable, affordable and simplistic, yet tasty Spanish fare in a fun and relaxing setting.

Hasta luego!

Robert Burns Hotel
376 Smith St, Collingwood
(03) 9417 2233
http://www.robertburnshotel.com.au

Good For: Reasonable and basic Spanish fare without the flare (and associated cost) of MoVida, Añada, etc.

Not Good For: Knowing that Manuel (Fawlty Towers) has grand children that also ended up in the service industry… albeit in in Melbourne

November 4, 2011 by farfromfamished

The Bottom End – 579 Little Collins St, Melbourne

Buying lunch at work can be placed into three categories. At one end of the scale, there’s lunch on the run (i.e. takeaway) and at the other end you’ve got the substantial restaurant meal where it’s unlikey that you’ll be heading back to work in any fit state. Somewhere in between there’s a need for a cheap and cheerful lunch – like a pub meal; something that’s a little more than a bowl of noodles and throw in a cheeky pot or two or a glass of wine with a few work mates… a.k.a. the perfect Friday lunch. And of course, it needs to be in close proximity so you’re spending more of your lunch break in the venue as opposed to walking to and from it.

The Spencer St & Collins St part of the CBD (aptly referred to by twoMunch as the “Baghdad end of Collins St”) lacks these in-betweeners. You can only go to Saint & Rogue so many times for a quick feed and a drink, or God forbid, The Exchange Hotel.

I generally only go as far up Little Collins St as Hugo’s for my coffee, so I rarely notice much else going on. Although I knew that the dodgy former Irish Pub on Little Collins St was being renovated into something, however until I read a burger review last week on The Burger Adventure, I had no idea that we were being rewarded with an alternative lunch venue.

The Bottom End is a pub, disco and diner all rolled into one. Recently opening for lunch on Fridays, its apparent popularity has seen it extend its lunch trade to Wednesdays and Thursdays as well. The distinct, gothic black exterior houses an interior which can be roughly described as a hotchpotch of retro American diner, medieval, baroque and 70’s kitsch, amongst other things – but it all seems to work and you feel quite comfortable once you adjust to your surroundings.

There’s a solid selection of beers on tap (Coopers Pale and Sparkling, Carlton, Stella), a couple of ciders and a good range of bottled brews to satisfy most. Wines are split into three categories; cheap ($25 / bottle), reasonable ($35 / bottle) and good ($45 / bottle) with a red, white, rose and sparkling offered in each category. In the unlikely event that P-Diddy turns up, there’s a 2004 Cristal available for $450.

There are also many classic cocktails and a bunch of not-so-classic cocktails, like the Australian Martini (vodka, Cointreau rinse, vegemite smear, coon cheese, pickled onion) and Rave Juice (Agwa, energy drink and a glow stick in a bag). Needless to say everything is done with a massive dose of good humour, even the gents’ toilets – but I’ll leave that surprise for you to see for yourself.

So, onto the food. The menu is American Diner: quick out of the kitchen, lots of fun, not the healthiest of fare, but great to share and more importantly goes well with the aforementioned booze. I was intrigued by the ‘famous’ Mac ‘n’ Cheese balls with garlic aioli ($10), so they were duly ordered as an appetiser. They were probably as good as deep fried balls of macaroni and cheese were ever going to be; six bite-sized morsels, a few flecks of bacon in the mac’n'cheese mix. It was probably a little on the bland side – a creamy centre served with a creamy aioli. A dipping sauce with some contrasting bite probably would have served better.

For the more substantial part of our meal, it was the Bottom End Cheesey Bacon Burger ($16) for the majority of us and a lone Philly Cheese Steak ($16) for the minority. Other choices included NYC Buffalo wings with blue cheese sauce, a hot mortadella roll, an Italian hot dog with all the trimmings and a New Orleans classic Po’boy, featuring prawn, chorizo and egg – all served with seasoned crinkle-cut fries and all $16.

The burgers arrived quicker than you could say “well, honk my hooters” and we were presented with some burgers of tower-esque proportion where width gave way to height; a precursor that this was going to be a messy, pain the arse of a thing to eat. And it was, but it was also delicious.

Inside a homemade brioche bun, a juicy (bordering on too juicy) beef patty mingled with some smoky bacon, two kinds of cheese (gruyere and smoked Dutch). Lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle also made a cameo. Oh and there was a dab of The Bottom End’s ‘special sauce’, which I think was the same sauce served with the accompanying crinkle-cut fries… ‘fry sauce’ – a mayo with a bit of ketchup and a tart, vinegary finish – I’m thinking pickle juice.

The Philly Cheese Steak featured a white hero roll stuffed with chopped scotch fillet, green capsicum, fried onions and provolone cheese whiz; an American processed cheese spread which is the cheese served with an authentic Philly Cheese Steak. The recipient, who has eaten the real thing in the U.S., declared it a damn fine reproduction.

The crinkle-cut fries were of your frozen variety. I wasn’t expecting hand cut chips and I didn’t really care that much as I was struggling with just finishing the burger.

Look, this stuff is definitely not first date food. You will get a little untidy trying to eat it and you will go through five or six napkins in the process. But you will also have fun with a few workmates over lunch and a couple of beers. And if you’re one of those people that can’t find the time to get away to do something like this every now and again, then perhaps you need to tap your boss on the shoulder and suggest some time out for a bit of team building… and better yet, you know a great place where you can do this.

The Bottom End
579 Little Collins St, Melbourne
(03) 9629 3001
www.thebottomend.com.au

Good For: A quick bite to eat at lunch with your workmates, post-work boozing and ‘poof doof’ on Saturdays, apparently
Not Good For: The health-conscious… although there is a Waldorf Salad on the menu

farfromfamished.com

Just another Melbourne food blogger…

Category Archives: Restaurant Review