Ichi Ni (St.Kilda) 09

Housed in an inside outside split level venue, a bit like an open hut with peculiar, though not unattractive, Japanese decor
around a large open central kitchen
at no.12 on the Esplanade. Ichi Ni offers its food in an environment dominated by an impressive level of noise making conversation difficult. It offers a wide range of dishes in the izakaya style.
Of this SunnyPages.jp tells us "Izakaya are restaurants that serve mostly Japanese food and various kinds of alcohol (everything from beer to sake and shouchuu). The main difference between izakaya and conventional restaurants is the variety of alcohol available at an izakaya, while the izakaya distinguishes itself from typical bars by the comparatively larger volume of foods it serves. You could say that izakaya resemble American “Bar-and-Grill”-style establishments. One of the best things about izakaya is that no matter how many times one visits one, there is always something else on the menu to enjoy so it's hard to get tired of the selection."
In keeping with that they are fully licenced and offer no BYO. We tried a variety of small dishes including Gyoza -five for $10 were of no distinction as was sea food tempura ($12).
I can do better myself. Miso soup ($3.5) served in the traditional bowl, without a spoon,

was totally ordinary. Rice, which we ordered to eat with these entrees ($4/small bowl) came to late. Grilled tofu was dry and hard

Pork belly, normally one of my favourite dishes, was an encouragement to vegetarianism, tuna sushi a prawn dish with a crispy coating
were equally unimpressive as was a skewer of scallops.($8)
A seafood don ($20) consisting of a skewer each of calamari, white fish and prawns served on rice with a miso soup was yet another disappointment.
The only things enjoyable about the meal were a lychee vodka and lime ($15) and an excellent Kisakura Pure saki ($12).
Price: Expensive if you are hungry
Comments: All dishes were served on coarse china and none had any sign of the delicacy I associate with fine Japanese food. Add that to the noise and for us this place has a returnability factor of zero.
Score:10 /20

The Court House (Berwick) 09

This upper class outer south eastern suburb only about 40 km from the Melbourne CBD seems, for no good reason, to have been over looked by the restaurant reviewers. Apart from the usual pizza and pasta shops there are several good places at which to eat including The Berwick Inn, Dante's, Clover Cottage which offers all you can eat at a very respectable smorgasbord and The Court House which boasts that it is number one in Berwick and I think it probably is.
It is housed in a National trust building, adjacent to its National Trust neighbour, formerly the Post Office both built in 1884 at No. 1 Gloucester Avenue.
The main dining room is the former court room. The witness stand and dock and the area occupied by the judge
remain intact in excellent condition. The room is illuminated by three impressive chandeliers, the whole creating a quite special atmosphere. Service was pleasant and informative for the meal that I had there courtesy of St John of God hospital.
For entree, described here as preliminaries I found the Lemon & pepper calamari
($14.5) deep fried calamari strips served with mixed leaf and cherry tomato salad with home made tartare sauce, a pleasant but uninspiring entree.
Bruschetta ($9.95)
warmed bread topped with tomato, red onion, basil and parmesan cheese with a drizzle of balsamic was, as promised, a simple, unpretentious dish.
Garlic Prawns ($15) was probably the pick of the entrees. Six prawn tails sauteed in a rich garlic, cream and white wine sauce served over turmeric rice looked excellent.
For mains, called Supreme Court here I had a Rack of lamb with herb crust ($32),
a four point rack served with mash, a warm tomato salad and beans. This might have been more interestingly seasoned and certainly a serrated edge knife would have been helpful but it was a very juicy piece of meat.
Barramundi, ($32)
A whole barramundi deep fried until crispy, served with bok choy on a a shredded Asian omelette of spring onion and Chinese sausage dressed with a fantastic zingy sauce (their description) was seriously disappointing. It looked great but had been cooked to death and was very dry and totally lacking in taste. Photo is as it was served. I would have preferred it served with the head of the fish toward me.
Not Guilty - Just Desserts were indeed just desserts. Sticky Date pudding ($13.95)
was a warm pudding served with their (not very) special caramel sauce and a scoop of English toffee ice cream was unexceptional.
Chocolate mousse mille feuille ($12-.5) described as layers of rich chocolate mousse and chantilly cream sandwiched between layers of flaky puff pastry served with shards of almond praline far from being a light and delicate dessert was an indifferent dessert. the pastry was heavy and the praline was rock hard, tooth fracturing quality toffee- inedible.

George Dore, a part owner of the property, told me the history of the place and the problems of council restrictions and access that they have to deal with. National Trust buildings certainly have plenty of problems but the Court House is is a wonderful venue, and I expect it to continue to punish or reward its clients, depending on their menu selection.Score: 13.75/20

Hooked (Windsor) 09

Those fliers that appear so frequently in my letterbox offering handyman services, carpet cleaning, cut price pizzas free home delivery for orders over $x free drink with presentation of this card and similar must work or they wouldn't keep on offering them. Hooked at 172 Chapel St came up with with a couple of offers and their claim to offer the best seafood etc was quite appealing so I took myself off there. Despite the flattering reviews posted on their windows the place is tired to the point of exhaustion.
It is terribly in need of a total makeover. It offers eat in or take away. They have a massive communal table, seats about 14, with a selection of magazines, and a few small tables including a couple on the footpath. A pile of dull looking cutlery in a crude box on the table,
uncomfortable chairs and dull decor encourage the take away option.
Their most popular meal is battered or grilled Blue Grenadier with Bok choy and hand cut chips or sticky rice. ($9.90) so that's what I had, the batter and the rice.
They offer a variety of other fish and calamari. The batter was crisp and cooked through but a bit thicker than I would have liked inside of it two rather small moist and tasty fillets rested on a mound of sticky rice which had been cooked until it had congealed into a homogenous mass. Unrecognizable as rice.
They have a frig. full of soft drinks and another labelled Booze but no tea or coffee and another small deficiency, no toilet!
Hooked I am not.
Score: 12 /20

Streetsmart

Help needed to support Streetsmart charities

In a world with big budgets and high overheads, Streetsmart http://www.streetsmartaustralia.org/restaurantevent is one of those charities that helps the small and local, roping in cafes and restaurants to support often forgotten frugal local causes.

On Monday 9th November its 2009, running until Christmas Streetsmart’s campaign kicks off. The idea is that diners leave an extra $2 for Streetsmart, which distributes the funds to local homeless-related charities, the kind that only really need a few thousand dollars.

It isn’t a big charity but it is worthy and important because it works at the hyperlocal level (and you can find participants on a Google map here, paste this into your browser, http://www.streetsmartaustralia.org/findrestaurant )

What can you do to help?

Have a look at http://twitter.com/StreetSmartAust on Twitter or join its Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5985883876 page for updates on events.

If you are a diner and you have a choice of where to have a coffee or eat, choose a Streetsmart supporter and help by donating $2, that’s 2 lousy dollars. Nothing really.

If you have a blog (any blog, it doesn’t have to be about food) or you Twitter,you can help by promoting Streetsmart and pass on the messag to blogger and Twitter friends who may like to help. This is a great time for social media to show its solidarity whle old fashioned media are in flux and haven’t in many cases the resources to help right now.

Cafe Latte (Toorak) 09

Looking at a selection of reviews on the net it is apparent that Cafe Latte polarizes its clients.The lovers and haters seem to be about evenly split. Regardless it always seems to be pretty busy.
Just in case you forget where you are (or where you borrowed it from) they have their name emblazoned on the glassware
and crockery but that does nothing to detract from the food.
An entree of spinach pasta filled with fresh ricotta in a lemon butter sauce with sage and almond slivers
did not quite sing to me, the lemon being a bit too prominent, but it was quite pleasant as was a main of crispy skin salmon,
although a little over cooked for my liking.
The braised lamb rump was an real gold medal dish.
Simple. in a perfectly lamb matched jus, not too concentrated , on a bed of spring vegetables, it was tender and mouth wateringly tasty. A perfectly blended dish.
A pannacota surrounded by sliced strawberries was an honest dessert.Service was enthusiastic and informed about the food but not so much about the wines which are reasonably prices.
Score 14/20

Unsolicited but Interesting

About a week ago i got this email and had a look at the sites. Cheese lovers might find them of some interest - I did!

dnnutt@aol.com
to qwerty


A good story

GK Chesterton: “The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.”

Voila: www.tastingtoeternity.com. This book is a poetic view of 30 of the best loved French cheeses with an additional two odes to cheese. Recipes, wine pairing, three short stories and an educational section complete the book.

From a hectic life in New York City to the peace and glories of the French countryside lead me to be the co-founder of www.fromages.com. Ten years later with the words of Pierre Androuet hammering on my brain:

“Cheese is the soul of the soil. It is the purest and most romantic link between humans and the earth.”

I took pen and paper; many reams later with the midnight oil burning Tasting to Eternity was born and self published.

I believe cheese and wine lovers should be told about this publication.

Enjoy.

Tokyo Sushi (Richmond) 09

It was lunchtime and a vacant parking place conveniently appeared almost opposite Richmond Hill Larder (RHL). As I crossed the road I was attracted to a packed Japanese take away or eat in eatery- not really a café or a restaurant, although they have about half a dozen small tables and a couple more on the footpath. A glass fronted counter was packed with sushi.

This, the graphic pictures of their dishes,
and the appearance of a staff member of RHL getting takeaway convinced me to go no further. Starting with Gyoza,
six king size specimens with dipping sauce and a little chopped tomato, for $6 they represent good value for volume but the crisp pastry and filling were very average

Sushi Don ($9.5)
was a large bowl of rice covered with a mass of lettuce, mushroom, carrot, seaweed, beef and other unidentifiable ingredients. It was quite tasty, filling and distinctly Japanese ‘cuisine bourgeois’ filling and fairly priced.

Japanese fast food, cash only, good for a casual hungry diner at 60 Bridge Rd.

Score 12.5/20

Mitsuno (Malvern) 09

I have been wanting to visit this well regarded Japanese restaurant at 16 Glenferrie Rd for some time and am only sorry that I only got to trying a couple of dishes. Seating about 40 it's a simply furnished pleasant well lit venue. (despite this dark picure). A couple of blackboards offer the days specials and a selection of saki and beers.

Eating solo I knew what to do this time. I ordered a cold semi dry saki,
a bargain for $8 for about 300ml, picked up a book, Curiosi-tea, which is a fascinating collection of stories and information about tea, and settled back for a relaxed meal.

With the advice of the proprietor I started with a platter of sashimi ($18).

Decorated with thin strands of daikon, thin slices of radish some slices of lemon, there were three slices of five sea foods. The centre of the plate as occupied with Tuna surrounded by Blue Eye, salmon, scallop and kingfish. They came with a knob of wasabi and a saucer of soy sauce. This was a fine dish each fish with its own texture and taste however, without detracting from it, I have have had better. The scallop was perfect as was the Blue Eye but I have had finer examples of the salmon and kingfish.

I followed this with a special rare cooked marinated grade 9 Wahgu topside on a bed of sweet potato mash with a light sweet soy sauce ($18).

This was totally delicious. An excellent combination of well matched fine tastes with the varied textured steak.

I finished the meal with a panacota with chili strawberry sauce ($9.5). The panacotta was disappointing, it could have come off the shelf at Coles, and the chili was undetectable in the otherwise tasty sauce.
Comments: Although till some way off perfect I thoroughly enjoyed this meal.

Score:14 /20

Mr Wolf (St.Kilda) 09

I'm not used to dining alone. It's a little uncomfortable at first. I've got a few weeks to get used to it. Listening to conversations nearby, trying to look at ease, staring at the walls, the menu, the passers by, whatever.
Unfortunately it is not delicacy that prevents me reporting the conversations I heard - they just weren't interesting. Unfortunately neither was the food. Mr.W occupies two large shop fronts and seats about 50 on not very comfortable chairs at very plain bare tables. Dimly lit it was near full on the night I was there. Never the less service was prompt, friendly and informative.
They have antipasti, a heap of fancy pizza's and a few not pizza dishes including some pasta and a few desserts. There are a small range of wines and a larger range of cocktails available. I opted for a Spanish red ($10) and the 'wet dish' the days special- lamb shanks yep there really were two good sized shanks.

Served with pumpkin, parsnip, carrot and potato and bread to mop up the heavy rich sauce it's a man size meal. The meat was falling off the bone tender, the vegetables thoroughly stewed. It is a good solid farmers dinner, honest and unpretentious - just like home cooking.

They provide special meals for the 'bambini' and also supply crayons and paper.
Incidently, Mr.W is one of very few restaurants to appear in both the Age Good Food Guide and Cheapeats. Too bad it's not in the Entertainment book!
To be fair to them I will have to at least try one of their much admired thin crust pizzas but for now-

Score: 12.75/20
Cut into four ("Cut it into four I don't thnk I could eat eight" Yogi Bera) this is the Diavolo ($18.5 takeaway) olives, cheese, anchovy, tomato, chili ever so slightly burnt on one edge it's a nice pizza but not good enough to change my opinion.

Nuevo 37 (Melbourne Sth Wharf) 09

Melbourne has a very sophisticated restaurant clientele. It requires more than the backing of a celebrity chef for a restaurant to remain popular and there are too many venues of every kind to make a place successful unless it has other qualities. Novelty alone will not do. Position is important. Atmosphere very significant. Specially important are the food and to some extent the perceived value.

Isolated from the main restaurant areas in the Hilton at South Wharf Nuevo 37 has either to cater for passing trade who visit the nearby Convention Centre or to become a destination restaurant for the locals. The very high ceiling room with a cathedral feeling is impressive, not that I'm expecting a religious experience. Wood lined there are large windows looking to the west with a pleasing light as the sun sets.
Spanish Michelin starred chef Ramon Freixa has designed the menu with the help of Phillipe Perrey and intends, I'm told, to fly over from Spain four times a year.
Regardless of the imprint on the food it will certainly impact on his carbon footprint.
Entering the foyer of the hotel one is faced with very large wall decoration made from pot scourers in several colours. More novelty is promised at the restaurant.
The staff, under the direction of assistant maitre d/sommellieur Josh Fraser, have the difficult task of presenting and explaining quite complicated dishes to guests who are frequently intent on their conversations. The food does not stand alone. It needs to be described if one is to have a clue about what is on the plate.
After a bowl of mixed olives and a Spanish version of a bruschetta,
a slightly crisp slice of grilled bread with bits of ham Doubtless they would call it 'jambon' on top we had a pleasant consomme, tomato I think,
with some codfish which could just as well have been prawn, lobster or calamari. Pleasant enough but not very special.
The first dish was called ''white with a black point'', ($27.5)
a central piece of very salty rather coarse cod was surrounded by a totally tasteless benign textured pillar of homogenized set cauliflower, a smear of garlic paste, a liquid almond gel and a second near tasteless gel and caramelized black garlic which we were advised to eat last for it's special flavour. Hardly a mesmerizing experience. we did come for dinner not some unconnected stroll through a variety of textures and unimpressive tastes. I found no logic to the dish Perhaps a more explicit interpretation of these flavours and there relationship to Freixa's Catalonian background might have helped, or perhaps not.
The next course was another weird one - both fish and fowl. ($39.5)
A breast and leg of spatchcock in escabeche, a Moreton Bay bug and a little vegetable mix with a skin of green rice for edible decoration.
We finished with a rather pleasing chocolate cake called
Chocolate 2009.2. ($20)
I found this a profoundly disappointing meal. It was quite expensive coming to $145/ head which included four glasses of wine - a Spanish bubbly, Segura Viudas, a Manzanilla, a Conde de Valdemar Temparanilla red (2004) and a Hidalgo "Triano" Pedro Ximenez super sweet sherry.
I was a little surprised to see that their web site www.nuevo37.com.au fails to mention Phillipe Perrey who, I gather is actually in charge of the day to day cooking.
Score:12.5 /20