Woodland House (Prahran) 12/2018

Since Jaques Reymond sold his eponomous restaurant, renamed Woodland House a few years ago we've reviewed it three times see https://1001dinners.blogspot.com/search?q=woodland+house  with moderate to high praise. 

Neither the venue nor the format of the meal has changed but the food does. Last week we enjoyed the eight course degustation menu. You could have five courses, if you wished.and fortunately they did not insist that everyone should have the same menu.

The meal began with a variety of small bites

Local scallops, fermented chanterelle

Mussel and foie gras

Jerusalem artichoke fetta, Kombu tart, salted egg yolk

and spiced duck tongue with bamboo salt. 

Here, perhaps the thought of the eating a duck's tongue might have disturbed some patrons. If it did they were missing a treat. Each of these tidbits was a delight  and that was only the first course. 
Next we were served wild garlic, poached calamari, seaweed butter,

a wonderful combinations of flavours and textures. Grilled scampi, white asparagus, saltbush where the only bad thing was this photo!

Brioche buns 

accompanied the Murray cod, green almond, smoked oyster 

which was prettily presented. 
King Island wallaby, miso broad bean, pepperberry

 was colourful but rather bland.
Glazed Peckin duck, beetroot, horseradish

turned out to be my dish of the day. The flavours suited my palate. The sweetness of the beetroot blended perfectly. Duck l'orange couldn't be as good as this for me.

The Sher Wagyu fillet (How does one spell that word?), ginger mustard leaf XO 

a distinct Waghu flavour and was super tender but I prefer other cuts with a much higher fat content. Next came the desserts. A roasted white chocolate sandwich in a basket of flowers that they reminded me of my childhood.

Blueberry granita, elderflower, buffalo milk

was the last dish before we were presented with too many petit four.

We drank a Bindi Heathcote 2016 shiraz which was quite pleasant
I have enjoyed some very good meals lately and this was one of the very best. 
Score 17.5/20

Woodhouse (Bendigo) 06/2018

Shown to a corner table near the central fire place this smoky and dim venue 

reminded me of The Pyjama Game "I know a dark secluded place, a place where no one knows your face" Of course it is not really that dark,

and not at all like a speakeasy.

but they have a wood fired grill that creates the atmosphere. It's a no frills sort of place.

The place is most noted for wood fired pizzas and steak, although they do have other dishes. They also offer 'Express Lunches' two or three course meals at set prices.
I had no hesitation in ordering the Sher family wagyu grade 9 steak tartare with cornichon, quail egg yolk and shaved manjimuk black truffle. 

It sat on bresaola and had some puffed wagyu tendon chips on top of it. If you can stand raw meat and more or less raw egg yolk this is an excellent dish. Full of flavour, gently spiced it was as good a dish as it could possibly be. 
There was a choice of air dried steaks, I'd passed them in their cabinet, 

as I came into the restaurant.
Top choice for me was the 600 day grain fed 280gm grade 8 waghu scotch fillet. ($62) served with Hasselback potato.
Cooked as requested,

It was meltingly tender, rich with fat through the muscle fibres and  with all the character and taste of top quality waghu. It came with a well made red wine jus, though I could have had a butter sauce, and a choice of mustards or a herb dressing. This snap does not do it justice.

I HAVE NEVER EATEN A BETTER STEAK THAN THIS. 

For dessert I had the wood roasted Harcourt Pink Lady apple, dulce de leche, cinnamon palmier, nutty crumble, caramel glass.

A pleasant finish to a fantastic meal.

 Score:17 /20

Vue de Monde Another View (Melbourne CBD) 11/2017

Of course I'm biased but so is everyone else. That gastronomic bible of culinary standards, The Age Good Food Guide, demoted VdM from three to two hats in their latest (2018) edition. How the mighty have fallen, or have they. 
As readers would know, in the past, I have had almost endless admiration for what Shannon has done for restaurant cooking in Australia. See http://1001dinners.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/vue-de-monde-melbourne-cbd-052015.html
https://1001dinners.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/vue-de-monde-melbourne-cbd-nye-2014.html and
http://1001dinners.blogspot.com.au/2009/11/vue-de-monde-melbourne-1109.html and many reviews between all these.
Through his restaurants, but particularly VdM he has been at the forefront of modern trends in cooking. Furthermore he has done it with style. He has trained chefs who, working with and for him, have continued to innovate in the tradition of local, fresh, organic foods. He is environmentally conscious - the water bottles 

and glasses

are made from used wine, and other bottles.

The glassware for wine is superb and enhances the pleasure of its contents. Has it all slipped down hill while competitors have improved so much that he has been left behind? We had to come back to see for ourselves.
The venue is superb. Wait staff are abundant, and unfailingly courteous and helpful and service is well paced. We were fortunate to have the Chef's table, with a clear view of the team plating dishes, 

and as usual, chose the Chef's Tasting Menu.
It began with an eggplant with eucalyptus, wattle seed pollen dip 

and emu jerky. 

The girls preferred not to eat emu and were offered salt and vinegar chips.
The presentation was attractive for this gentle start to the meal.
Raw Flinders Island lamb with spring peas, finger lime and lemon myrtle came next.

For whatever reason one doesn't think of serving up raw lamb. This was totally delicious.
Paperback smoked green asparagus from Jonella farm with seaweed and

Rusty wire oyster and salted riberries 

was a great way to enjoy oysters.
Port Philip Bay scallops with blue lip mussels, spring shoots and flowers showed these mussels at their very best.

Full of taste with none of the toughness I normally associate with them, in  a taste of the sea soupy sauce, and who doesn't love scallops.
Schultz dairy milk curd with broad beans, rosella flowers and lilly (sic) pilies.

This was a rather plain vegetarian dish, beautifully presented but, for me, without much character.
Mudcrab with pickled kohlrabi, marigold and squid ink and tarragon emulsion.

This comes in the form of a sea food sausage on a BBQ so you can make your own sea food hot dog. Back on track. I'm impressed with what Chef Justin James has done with kohlrabi, including his kohlrabi fettucini.
Damper but not damper.

Bread is dangerous. It's so moorish that I have to be careful not to eat too much of it so as to be able to enjoy the meal. This flat bread and a slightly sweet bread wrapped around a stick, presented on a bed of coals, reminiscent of a boy scout campfire,  was an innovative change and not too filling.
Kingfish with smoked koji, sea herbs and dessert lime.

One of my favourite fish, raw or cooked it did not disappoint.
One of VdM's signature palate rejuvenators followed. Davidson plum sorbet with celery and apple which was frozen with liquid nitrogen at the table and crushed with a wooden pestle before the sorbet was added.
 Leatherwood honey aged duck with cabbage and muntari beans

was absolutely superb.
David Blackmore's grade nine ribeye with buttermilk, horseradish and fermented truffles

was another superlative dish although I didn't feel the truffles added much to it.
As always they have a great trolley of cheese.

before the sweet dishes.
Two flavours of marshmellows roasted at the table was a bit of fun 

before their invariably perfect chocolate souffle.

Mango with ginger sorbet and finger lime.

looked good but was disappointing because the mango was not quite ripe.
I was offered a replacement but had really had enough to eat by now.
The final offering was Lamingtons/Gumnuts/Watermelon and Four Pillars Gin.

This was far from an alcohol free meal.
Someone mentioned that it was our anniversary 

and we were given a very nice bottle of champagne at the start of the meal.

After that we enjoyed a 2015 Bindi VdM (Pinot Noir) Macedon Ranges,
a 2012 Ngeringa Atlas (Voignier), Adelaide Hills,
a 2016 Massolino (Moscato), Moscto d'Asti and a 
1999 Chateau Suduirant 1er Cru (Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc) Sauterne.
My nephew 

and his wife 

took us to this meal and they thoroughly enjoyed it too.
This was not the best meal I have eaten, even some of our meals here have been distinctly superior, as some of the references above to reviews going back to 2009 show, soon after we started this blog, but it was an extremely good meal in a great venue with excellent service, certainly in the top rank of Melbourne restaurants. Does it deserve to be demoted by The Age Good Food Guide?  I don't think so.
Sometimes you can be too successful.
Score: 17.25/20