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Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Orsini (Camberwell) 07/10
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The Luke and Guy Show
Luke Mangan and Guy Grossi, two celebrity chef's in Australia, well Melbourne and Sydney anyway, put on a show and dinner at the Regent Plaza ballroom
on Friday and Saturday night last week. About 300 foodies and fans paid anything from $150 to $375 to watch some low level buffoonery while these two 'stars' lapped up the adulation of several admiring young women. They cooked each of the courses on stage before teams of waiters poured out of the kitchen
to lay their offerings before us. There was plenty of pre dinner finger food, with Pommery champagne, in the foyer, which was just as well as it was a long wait for the first course. This was a carpacchio of Kingfish overwhelmed by a sweet ginger, citrus (orange) dressing with radish, coriander and Flying fish roe.
Give me sashimi next time please. This was followed, some considerable time later, by a red leg lobster angnolotti,
with a barely detectable bit of lobster and no taste of it at all, accompanied by "passata", pecorino, fried basil, shallots. It looked good but the essential ingredient, a taste of lobster was AWOL. A slow cooked Hopkins River beef yearling eye fillet,
marinated then cooked in a vacuumed bag at 80 degrees for 40 minutes was terribly over cooked. You can do this at home Luke told us several times but who would want to. The smear of celeriac paste, hardly a teaspoon full, was thew best part of the dish. It came with a very ordinary feta salad. Finally the dessert called a St.Tropezian tart. I don't know how it got St. Tropez attached to its name. It was dry, heavy and desperately needed the quince and sauce Anglais.
Wines were supplied by Shelmerdine and were above average and water by Sanpellegrino. In my view it is close to criminal to buy bottled water in Melbourne where, I believe, the stuff that comes out of the tap is far superior, far cheaper and leaves a far smaller carbon footprint.
Kate Cebrano was supposed to provide entertainment. She managed one solo song and one with the company. In total the show was plebeian and the food was worse.
A final irritation was to find Luke's book on sale for $45 when two days before I paid $59 for the same thing at his gastropub!!! They say there's a sucker born every day, I've got May 27.
Score: 11.5/20
on Friday and Saturday night last week. About 300 foodies and fans paid anything from $150 to $375 to watch some low level buffoonery while these two 'stars' lapped up the adulation of several admiring young women. They cooked each of the courses on stage before teams of waiters poured out of the kitchen 
to lay their offerings before us. There was plenty of pre dinner finger food, with Pommery champagne, in the foyer, which was just as well as it was a long wait for the first course. This was a carpacchio of Kingfish overwhelmed by a sweet ginger, citrus (orange) dressing with radish, coriander and Flying fish roe. 
Give me sashimi next time please. This was followed, some considerable time later, by a red leg lobster angnolotti,
with a barely detectable bit of lobster and no taste of it at all, accompanied by "passata", pecorino, fried basil, shallots. It looked good but the essential ingredient, a taste of lobster was AWOL. A slow cooked Hopkins River beef yearling eye fillet, 
marinated then cooked in a vacuumed bag at 80 degrees for 40 minutes was terribly over cooked. You can do this at home Luke told us several times but who would want to. The smear of celeriac paste, hardly a teaspoon full, was thew best part of the dish. It came with a very ordinary feta salad. Finally the dessert called a St.Tropezian tart. I don't know how it got St. Tropez attached to its name. It was dry, heavy and desperately needed the quince and sauce Anglais.
Wines were supplied by Shelmerdine and were above average and water by Sanpellegrino. In my view it is close to criminal to buy bottled water in Melbourne where, I believe, the stuff that comes out of the tap is far superior, far cheaper and leaves a far smaller carbon footprint.
Kate Cebrano was supposed to provide entertainment. She managed one solo song and one with the company. In total the show was plebeian and the food was worse.
A final irritation was to find Luke's book on sale for $45 when two days before I paid $59 for the same thing at his gastropub!!! They say there's a sucker born every day, I've got May 27.
Score: 11.5/20
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Palace Hotel (South Melbourne) 07/2010
Palace is a name that invites entertaining superlatives headlines relating to royalty and things regal.Fit for a king and so on. Well you'll just have to go and see. The home of Luke Mangan's latest venture this refurbished gastropub serves "modern urban Australian food, whatever that means. The hotel is a peculiar curved shape with frontages on both City Rd and Pickles St. One passes the bar to enter the restaurant which was close to full on the Wednesday night we attended. The place was buzzing with diners in active, though bearably noisy, conversation. It occupies an odd shaped room, suitably decorated with several prints from Blackman's Alice in Wonderland series, depicting himself and his wife. Around two long wall there is soft cushioned seating facing bare wooden tables set with good cutlery and white linen napkins. In all a very good atmosphere. The waitress who served us was extremely well informed about the menu and the specials, of which there were quite a few.
Sandra started with a half a dozen oysters Kilpatrick ($20) followed by mushroom soup which was rich and creamy with lots of button mushrooms. The taste was unusually strong and I felt it might have been augmented with porchini powder. It was a very good soup. I had the crab omelette ($21)
which looked great topped with a mini Asian salad and miso mustard broth (are those enoki mushrooms really Asian?) but it was thoroughly over cooked making it a bit leathery. The crab flavour was quite fine but distinct and and I'd have it again. I had a second entree off the specials list. This was an salmon filled angelotti
with grilled prawns, tomato and asparagus. An outstanding bisque with superb prawn flavour arrived at the table after I'd eaten half the angelotti which only made it so much better. Passing my hand over a candle to pick up the sauce boat I promptly spilt half of it on the table. The staff cleaned the whole mess up very graciously. I had another excellent main course, a huge serve of fillet
on a truffle mash with cavallo nero. This was everything you would want from a fillet, extremely tender with gentle flavour. I don't think it is usual to get quite as big a serve as I had. Perhaps it was their last piece. Sandra had the duck a la orange. This lovely breast and leg were a bit light on orange
but we're extremely tender. It also came with a pleasant shiraz merlot blend glass of wine. To finish we had the dessert platter for two.
Strawberries and cream, a rich hot chocolate fondant, a chocolate covered ice cream and an extremely fine creme brulle with almond biscotti. A very good meal and better than the average restaurant by far. A tribute to both Luke Mangan and his chef, who likes to be known as MJ.One thing really annoyed me. I bought Mangans latest book, cover price US$35 for a rather extravagant $59 only to find it on sale for $45 at his RAW dinner with Guy Grossi at the Regent two days later! We hope to have more to say about that event very soon.
Score 14.75/20
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Comme Kitchen (Melbourne) 06/2010
This is a very popular restaurant with aspirations that are not quite realized. First impressions as we waited for our table that we had been assured would be ready and we would not have to wait if we were punctual, is of a large, rather bare, area adjacent to a bar.
The staff all all young attractive, courteous and knowledgeable about the food. On the other hand they were also a little disorganized, offered sparkling or still water but did not mention wine or cocktails, and took quite a while when, finally, we asked for some wine.
The menu, which is called 'Comme La Cuisine', nods to the French at several places with an assortment of French terms scattered through it for example Plat du (sic) jour, grilled lemon and jus gras and creamed parsley 'en croute'. It's a limited menu with six entrees, six mains and six side dishes. No vegetarian mains but there was an onion soup and a braised artichoke dish that, perhaps could have been served as a main. We started with six Burgundy snails,
braised in Chardonnay stuffed with garlic, parsley and Pernod butter. ($16) As they arrived the aroma of herbs and garlic was mouth watering. Indeed the sauce was rich in flavour and after the snails were gone we continued to soak up the buttery sauce with bread until it was all gone. I don't know if these snails could have been cut in half but they surely were the smallest snails I have ever eaten. Other entrees were not very tempting. Seared scallops, braised leeks, milk infusion and Avruga caviar ($25) might have been interesting and had the chiken liver and foie gras pate ($16) been a duck liver pate I would have had that - I never spoil a meal thinking about cholesterol!
Mains were two fish dishes, one salmon, one barramundi, one venison, one rabbit, one duck and one steak (Angus rump, an odd choice if you are going to have only one beef dish.) Prices ranged from $35 to $42. Sandra had the roast Aylesbury duck breast and croustillant of leg with beetroot creamed Savoy cabbage and Madeira sauce. ($38).
The verdict very nice presentation. Lacked any 'wow' factor. My roasted Western Plains rabbit loin stuffed with apple and Dijon mustard, Lyonnaise salad, soft boiled quail eggs (and blood pudding, not mentioned on the menu)
was really excellent. The rabbit was tender and moist there were no dominating flavours just a gentle, delicate combination that I would not be surprised to get at leading restaurants anywhere. A pear soufflewith cream fraiche ended a reasonable meal.
Masterchef judges would have no difficulty finding faults, both with the service and the food, but they were fairly minor. The clientellle were very young and mostly considerate in regard to noise but if the voices were quiet the music replaced it!
A little way to get to the top bracket in our estimation
Score: 14/20
The staff all all young attractive, courteous and knowledgeable about the food. On the other hand they were also a little disorganized, offered sparkling or still water but did not mention wine or cocktails, and took quite a while when, finally, we asked for some wine.
The menu, which is called 'Comme La Cuisine', nods to the French at several places with an assortment of French terms scattered through it for example Plat du (sic) jour, grilled lemon and jus gras and creamed parsley 'en croute'. It's a limited menu with six entrees, six mains and six side dishes. No vegetarian mains but there was an onion soup and a braised artichoke dish that, perhaps could have been served as a main. We started with six Burgundy snails,
braised in Chardonnay stuffed with garlic, parsley and Pernod butter. ($16) As they arrived the aroma of herbs and garlic was mouth watering. Indeed the sauce was rich in flavour and after the snails were gone we continued to soak up the buttery sauce with bread until it was all gone. I don't know if these snails could have been cut in half but they surely were the smallest snails I have ever eaten. Other entrees were not very tempting. Seared scallops, braised leeks, milk infusion and Avruga caviar ($25) might have been interesting and had the chiken liver and foie gras pate ($16) been a duck liver pate I would have had that - I never spoil a meal thinking about cholesterol!Mains were two fish dishes, one salmon, one barramundi, one venison, one rabbit, one duck and one steak (Angus rump, an odd choice if you are going to have only one beef dish.) Prices ranged from $35 to $42. Sandra had the roast Aylesbury duck breast and croustillant of leg with beetroot creamed Savoy cabbage and Madeira sauce. ($38).
The verdict very nice presentation. Lacked any 'wow' factor. My roasted Western Plains rabbit loin stuffed with apple and Dijon mustard, Lyonnaise salad, soft boiled quail eggs (and blood pudding, not mentioned on the menu) 
was really excellent. The rabbit was tender and moist there were no dominating flavours just a gentle, delicate combination that I would not be surprised to get at leading restaurants anywhere. A pear soufflewith cream fraiche ended a reasonable meal.
Masterchef judges would have no difficulty finding faults, both with the service and the food, but they were fairly minor. The clientellle were very young and mostly considerate in regard to noise but if the voices were quiet the music replaced it!A little way to get to the top bracket in our estimation
Score: 14/20
Monday, June 28, 2010
My Flame (Caulfield) 06/2010
Unfortunately My Flame is about to flicker out to be replaced with a Thai restaurant. The decor was dull, with a few indifferent indigenous art works
and a basin for the orthodox 
but the food was lovely and the service enthusiastic. As the best Kosher restaurant around the Melbourne suburbs this is a pity. We had a very satisfying dinner there last Sunday. They put on a $55/head Moroccan influenced set menu that I’d be happy with at any of the starred restaurants in the AGF. Flavours were delicate, interesting and blended well with the main ingredient. There was plenty to eat too. Here are some pic’s of the dishes.
Lentil soup
A fish patty
Sea bass
A Moroccan palate cleanser
Shaslik
and dessert.Score 14.5/20
Canvas (East Hawthorn) 06/2010
As soon as we opened the door to the staircase leading up to this first floor restaurant we were hit by a wave of noise and it was only a quarter past seven! Whilst, no doubt, this meant that everyone was having fun I considered it a very mixed sign. I need not have worried. It is quite noisy but we managed to hear and talk comfortably through the night.
and Sardine fritters with tomato and chermoula.There were also a variety of side dishes including taboule, Algerian salad, spiced potato and mint
and several more dishes that are all gently and tastefully spiced giving balance without offense. A meal prepared by a talented chef that everyone can find plenty to please with both vegetarian and meat dishes aplenty
Finally the dessert. This was quite nice, very sweet and quite an Arabic/Nth African collection but after this huge meal I could have done without it!
Here's the menu, off their web site.
Score: 14.5/20
They offer an a la carte menu or a $75 banquet of dishes to share. We always like to have as much variety as possible so the banquet was the way we chose to go. It began with bread, ducka, a tomato tasting powder and olive oil followed by a small cup of Moroccan soup.
Thick and creamy in texture it was very rich with a light cumin flavour. The head chef, Pierre, was born in Algeria and trained in France and the French influence was evident in this soup. After a short pause, in quick succession, the main dishes were brought to the table. It took only a few moments for the table to be filled to overflowing as dish after dish and tagine 
after tagine 
arrived. A crisp, light pastry pie filled with moist chicken was delicately seasoned was the first course
after which there was no order as everything was on the table. Several fish dishes were the least impressive. Baked whole snapper filleted with preserved with lemon, paprika and olives did not appeal to me but the goat tagine with quince gruyere and Cinnamon Bourek
was superb, tender and tasty, accompanied by some marrow it was the best I've ever eaten. Not far behind were the lamb tagine with ginger, peas, broad beans and mint.
and Sardine fritters with tomato and chermoula.There were also a variety of side dishes including taboule, Algerian salad, spiced potato and mint 
and several more dishes that are all gently and tastefully spiced giving balance without offense. A meal prepared by a talented chef that everyone can find plenty to please with both vegetarian and meat dishes aplenty
Finally the dessert. This was quite nice, very sweet and quite an Arabic/Nth African collection but after this huge meal I could have done without it!
Here's the menu, off their web site.
| SHARED TABLE BANQUET $70 per person $75 per person includes dessert OR A LA CARTE STARTERS Freshly shucked oysters served natural or hot with chermoula and chickpeas $3.50 ea Moroccan seafood tagine GF $24 Sardine fritters with tomato and chermoula $22 Roast Quail with duck sausage and egg bourek $26 Slow cooked Pork with scallops, braised onions and saffron tagine GF $28 Smoked Ocean Trout with cracked wheat and raisin $24 Prawns with chickpeas, cuttlefish and coriander GF $28 MAIN COURSES Baked whole filleted Snapper with preserved lemon, paprika and olives $38 Lamb tagine with ginger, peas, broad beans and mint GF $34 Chicken tagine with chickpeas, cheese and herb dumplings $32 Goat with quince, gruyere and cinnamon bourek $36 John Dory and Prawn tagine with spiced sausage GF $38 Chicken Bastilla with moroccan salad and cinnamon $32 Rabbit and Seafood paella with cracked wheat and pancetta $38 Couscous Royale with lamb sauasge, chicken and braised lamb shoulder $36 Vegetable Couscous with raisin jam $28 SIDES AND SALADS Salad of grilled Capsicum with cumin, feta and cayenne pepper GF $10 Algerian salad with olives and anchovies GF $10 Baby Lettuce with cinnamon dressing GF $10 Roquette and cracked wheat tabouleh $10 Green Beans with tomatoes, feta and olives GF $10 Spiced potatoes and mint $10 Couscous with sultanas and ghee $10 | |
Monday, May 24, 2010
Dinners
We've been so busy we've hardly had time to eat at home and not had time to write up the pleasing, and the disappointing, experiences of the last month or so. We've revisited a lot of our former favourites with mixed feelings and been to a few new places that We have not yet written about. What follows is a compendium of meals. One meal at home, others at Innocent Bystander/Giant Steps, Belle Videre, Bacash, Jaques Reymond, Matteos, and MoMo Restaurant
Dinner at Home
Not the usual by any means.
Following an accidental meeting with Daman Shrivastav,
an accomplished Indian chef who teaches at Box Hill TAFE, we arranged to subsidize a dozen guests for an experimental Indian/French dinner.
After four dozen oysters and several rounds of canapes, with some lubricating champagne
we entered the dining room to eat.
In good restaurant tradition an amuse bouche was served first with a conventionally Indian fermented premium lager. Served by Daman's colleague, Manou,
who was somewhat better dressed than I was, each course came in good time. A rocket and ginger consomme with a dry Fino Sherry
was the first course. Unique, but not something I'd want to serve, a sort of gastronomic peculiarity.
Things became more interesting with a Tandoori duck liver pate, petit pappadum, shaved black truffle and micro salad.
Could it have been the 2008 Dopff Gewurtztraminer? I don't know BUT I could not really distinguish the tandoori taste in the pate and I could neither taste nor smell the truffles though I could see some little black specs. It looked good, it was rich and smooth and had a great feel in the mouth but it was not quite 'as advertised'.
Fortunately my taste returned with the next dish, an assiette de fruit de mer. This wild barramundi roulade, seared prawns, confit of salmon, char grilled squid tubes with cumin and saffron infused beurre blanc missed out in only one , unfortunately common area.
The salmon was over cooked. Even The Hill Chardonnay could not correct for that, nor did it help me focus the camera.
An apple and sage palate cleanser before the main course went down well at this point. The main course was a trilogy of lamb: Braised in red wine jus, parcelled in marinated cabbage, pomegranite and labna and roasted, tikka style, with korma sauce served with pomme fondant filled with goat cheese mousseline, wilted spinach and buttered asparagus. A lot on one plate.
The Black Chook sparkling shiraz was an excellent accompniment to this multi-national dish which best summed up the spirit of the night.
A chocolate and orange souffle with chai ice cream was another winner. Chai makes a great ice cream. perhaps it was our oven that kept the souffle a little lower than it might have been.
The accompanying Stanton and Killeen muscat was very sweet. I loved it.
It is incredible that Daman made all this in our kitchen. He arrived about midday and left a little after 1.00 am and had the help of only one girl for the cooking. Everything was prepared on the spot and he brought it all except the champagne, oysters and chocolates and some cheeses. A remarkable achievement. The final cheese plate
with, would you believe it, Indian theme chocolates, (PG recommended!) found us very full. That must have been the reason no one was keen to touch the chocolate.
One more red - Turkey Flat a blend of Barossa shiraz, grenache and mourverde ended a night of eating and drinking which, if not for the wine, would be remembered for many years.
Score: Not markable but remarkable.
Following an accidental meeting with Daman Shrivastav,
an accomplished Indian chef who teaches at Box Hill TAFE, we arranged to subsidize a dozen guests for an experimental Indian/French dinner.After four dozen oysters and several rounds of canapes, with some lubricating champagne
we entered the dining room to eat.
In good restaurant tradition an amuse bouche was served first with a conventionally Indian fermented premium lager. Served by Daman's colleague, Manou,
who was somewhat better dressed than I was, each course came in good time. A rocket and ginger consomme with a dry Fino Sherry
was the first course. Unique, but not something I'd want to serve, a sort of gastronomic peculiarity.
Things became more interesting with a Tandoori duck liver pate, petit pappadum, shaved black truffle and micro salad.
Could it have been the 2008 Dopff Gewurtztraminer? I don't know BUT I could not really distinguish the tandoori taste in the pate and I could neither taste nor smell the truffles though I could see some little black specs. It looked good, it was rich and smooth and had a great feel in the mouth but it was not quite 'as advertised'.
Fortunately my taste returned with the next dish, an assiette de fruit de mer. This wild barramundi roulade, seared prawns, confit of salmon, char grilled squid tubes with cumin and saffron infused beurre blanc missed out in only one , unfortunately common area.
The salmon was over cooked. Even The Hill Chardonnay could not correct for that, nor did it help me focus the camera.
An apple and sage palate cleanser before the main course went down well at this point. The main course was a trilogy of lamb: Braised in red wine jus, parcelled in marinated cabbage, pomegranite and labna and roasted, tikka style, with korma sauce served with pomme fondant filled with goat cheese mousseline, wilted spinach and buttered asparagus. A lot on one plate.
The Black Chook sparkling shiraz was an excellent accompniment to this multi-national dish which best summed up the spirit of the night.A chocolate and orange souffle with chai ice cream was another winner. Chai makes a great ice cream. perhaps it was our oven that kept the souffle a little lower than it might have been.
The accompanying Stanton and Killeen muscat was very sweet. I loved it.It is incredible that Daman made all this in our kitchen. He arrived about midday and left a little after 1.00 am and had the help of only one girl for the cooking. Everything was prepared on the spot and he brought it all except the champagne, oysters and chocolates and some cheeses. A remarkable achievement. The final cheese plate
with, would you believe it, Indian theme chocolates, (PG recommended!) found us very full. That must have been the reason no one was keen to touch the chocolate.
One more red - Turkey Flat a blend of Barossa shiraz, grenache and mourverde ended a night of eating and drinking which, if not for the wine, would be remembered for many years.Score: Not markable but remarkable.
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