Bayviews Restaurant and Lounge Bar (Burnie NW Tasmania) 08/2017

After a taste of a couple of entrees I was keen to come back for their 9 course degustation menu and was lucky to find someone to join me. I wrote about the venue on a previous blog and will not repeat that here.

I doubt there is anything like this between here and Melbourne and if there is it would not be as adventurous.

Here’s the menu, which is preceded by some small chef’s offerings

A small arancini ball of chicken and chorizo
Amuse bouche

The oyster was particularly tasty
Citrus, coriander seed pepper dusted Southern calamari, romesco sauce, roasted peanut, coriander, thai basil, bean shoots, nim jam dressing.

Perhaps a bit over complicated, nevertheless the elements melded well and it was very pleasing with it's great variety of tastes and textures.
Pan roasted Bannoch farm quail, celeriac and radish remoulade, sweet corn veloute,crispy chorizo, parsley oil.

A super dish. I could eat this everyday!
Wild mushroom risotto truffle oil, charred red peppers, spring onion oil

The truffle taste, and their special odour, got lost somewhere between the kitchen and the table.
Pan roasted Macquarrie Harbour Atlantic salmon, fragrant yellow coconut curry  sauce, crispy local cuttlefish, roasted pumpkin, lime leaf yoghurt, red mizuna, fresh herbs

I guess it's my fault I forgot to mention that I like my salmon just barely cooked. This was just a little over cooked for my taste which made it a bit ordinary instead of being an exquisite dish.. Once again it was a dish made more complicated than it needed to be to get the best from the salmon.
Sous vide poached chicken breast in Masterstock, sesame lemongrass broth, pickled ginger, organic noodles, pickled diacon, and fresh herb salad.

Sous vide is great for fish, interesting for red meat but really adds nothing to chicken breast. Indeed it is less moist and tasty than a good roast chicken. the accompaniments, without the chicken, made a very good broth. 
Sorbet tamarind ice cream, A super little palette cleanser.

Tasmanian Midlands venison shoulder slow cooked in red wine, juniper and pepperberries, braised red cabbage, roasted and pickled beetroot, white onion puree and water chestnuts.

This meat could have been cooked forever and I think it would still have been stringy. It was about as good as it could be cooked that way. I think it would have been better if it was just seared on the BBQ. There was no taste of venison left. The pickled beetroot and the puree made the dish.
Pre dessert

Kaffir lime pannacotta, lemon thyme jelly milk chocolate, rice crisps, wattle seed tuile.

Totally delicious!
Peanut praline semi freddo, caramel, almond crumb, chocolate mousse, flaked almonds, mocha soil.

A fitting end to a pretty good meal.

This menu was $130/person with matched wines for a further $45. At a good Melbourne restaurant it would be double or more and wines considerably more.

The menu is extremely extensive, perhaps with an excessive number of ingredients for many of the dishes, some of which were sometimes totally lost. or so subtle that their contribution to the dish was unrecognisable.

For all that I loved the variety. The quality of the produce was unquestionably excellent, presentation was attractive and the dishes were never boring.

It’s also a lot to eat so if you have that menu start early.

The matched wines would have left me dangerous to drive home and not at my best for work the next day so I settled for a glass of Josef Chomry Chardonnay and later a McLaren Vale Shiraz having tried and not cared for a Relbia Estate Pinot Noir.
Score:16.25 /20

Amaru (Armadale - Melbourne) 03/2017

Names are more than just designations. They often have meaning. They may be strong and give their possesor strength, or the converse. Wikipedia tells us that In the mythology of Andean civilizations of South America, the amaro, amaru (quechua) or katari (aymara) is a mythical serpent or dragon. In Inca mythology, the amaru is a huge double-headed serpent that dwells underground.

Kabalarian philosophy is more appealing. It attributes all sorts of characteristics to people as a result of their names, for example:
The name of Amaru gives you a very inquisitive, restless, seeking nature.
You feel impelled by intense desires that you cannot comprehend or satisfy.
You have had the desire to accomplish something outstanding and to do something very worthwhile for humanity, especially early in your life.
 You resent obstacles, delays, and restrictions.
This name gives you ambition, high ideals, and much creative ability, but the intense dynamic nature is too often spent in feelings and in moods, rather than in constructive action.
This name has given you an appreciation for refinement, and the better things in life such as art, music, and literature.
and a few other mostly nice things.
Anyway Amaru is a comfortable restaurant. Decor is pleasant 

with the soft lighting reflected off the ceiling. There is a bar opposite the kitchen with four seats referred to as the chef's table.

These seem more appropriate for Amaru though I doubt they played a part in the choice of the name. 
They have a degustation menu of five courses and two desserts preceded by some inventive amuse bouche.
Everything was unusual, even the pumpkin seed butter. (I think that's what it was.)

Activated Nuts and Seeds / Pickled Vegetables Emulsion

The emulsion disappeared very very quickly. It was delicious.
Onion /Garfish / Smoked Sheep's Yogurt.

Amaru's version of dumplings

Lightly Smoked Duck Ham

These were about a centimetre in diameter. They had the texture of bacon with the taste of duck.
Yellow Fin Tuna / Sweet Ginger / Trout Pearls / Cured Melon Juice

Otway Shitake / Green Onion Oil / Chawanmushi

Mud Crab / Native Cherry / Dessert Lime / Frozen Peanut

Everyone at the table especially liked this dish 
Smoked Prawn / Caramelized Yoghurt / Yeast Oil / Begonia Leaves

This was really fantastic, I've never had a better prepared prawn.
Dry Aged Kangaroo / Raw Liquorice / Blackberries

Dirty Potato

Jonella corn / Frozen Peach / Sunflower Seeds / Verbena
I seem to have missed this pic! Strawberries / Buckwheat / Buffalo Mozzarella / Olive Oil

Passionfruit

Digestive Biscuit

Grass Fed Beef Caramel

Beverages are fairly expensive. I had a sake which was served at room temperature in a wine glass.

It's very difficult to describe a meal like this. It's very unusual, the cooking is unique in terms of the combinations of ingredients and flavours. Presentation is also unusual, the crockery is mostly very plain and could be more appealing.
It suits the adventurous. It's unlikely that many people would like every dish, although I did enjoy nearly all of them. 
Score: 17/20

Vue de Monde - Why go Again? (CBD Melbourne) 02/2017

So here's the menu and the dishes, 

Sunday 5th. February 2017

Chefs Tasting menu

Quail egg and rocket

Summer vegetable pickles with brown butter and tarragon vinaigrette

Ume plum, kumato, parmesan snow

Flinders Island wallaby with rock melon and fennel

Mussels with sorrel and apple,
 Mooloolaba saucer scallops with nashi pear and lime
Rusty wire oysters with lemon myrtle

Beer and fennel bread with cultured butter was served through the meal
Kohlrabi noodles with salmon pearls, yes truffles too.

Western Australian marron with almond and lemon verbena

Marron snag sizzle with seaweed mustard and onions

Onion jam

Mustard

One with the lot! 

Dried zucchini flowers with pickled & charred stems, powdered vinegar, crème fraise and leatherwood honey

Red hair kangaroo served raw with native fruit pickles and spicy spring greens

This was served with thin sheets of 'bread' cooked at the table.

If you think you don't like kangaroo this is a dish that might change your mind!
Striped black Grouper with baby cucumber, sea grapes and kombu oil

Davidson plum sorbet with sorrel and flowers

The flowers are frozen and crushed at the table.
Flinders Island milk-fed lamb with macadamia nut and sour onions

David Blackmore wagyu tenderloin with carrot heart and leek ash

and more.

Trolley of cheese

Gumnuts

Barbequed mango with ginger and lime

Chocolate soufflé with 

crème anglaise

Lamington

We also drank some wine!
NV Ruinart Rosé, Reims, Champagne, France
Also 2014 Joh Jos Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Gold Kapsel Auslese (Riesling), Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Germany

2015 Bindi Vue de Monde (Pinot Noir), Macedon Ranges, Australia- not the whole bottle of course and 2013 Ca' d'Gal Vigna Vecchia Moscato d'Asti DOCG, Piedmont, Italy.

What is there to say about this meal.
Firstly, not a bad thing. Everything was excellent. 
The venue is of course unmatched in Melbourne.
The service is close to impeccable. There was an occasional problem with understanding accents but explanations were readily repeated.
The food was beyond criticism. A few dishes were finished at the table, usually with sauces but sometimes unexpectedly with truffles.
Although this is a large menu it was quite well balanced.
Vue has a new head chef, Nobu, who created the red hair kangaroo served raw with native fruit pickles and spicy spring greens which was served for the first time that day. He also visited us and discussed some culinary matters.
All that is fine but for the price we could have had 50 pizza's or 100 hamburgers or donated to whoever so is it reasonable to go to Vue de Monde? This is a philosophical question but for us, 
in a word yes. We would rather have one incredible meal than x number of hamburgers.
It's an experience with unique qualities - a feast for all the senses but, in the end, it's a personal decision.
Perhaps a sneak preview here might help you make up your mind. 
Comments: It's not possible to get much better

Score:19/20