Allegro at the Westin (City)

After a fairly indifferent semi set menu smorgasbord lunch I had no great expectations for the a la carte menu. Happily I was so very wrong! This is a pleasant venue on the first floor overlooking Swanston and Collins St.
Uniformed waiters provide unobtrusive service with quiet efficiency. Best of all the food was very good. After some bread with Yarra Valley olive oil and excellent douka we started with entrees. paparadelles with prawns was a handsome and tasty serve, two large ravioli stuffed with rabbit were nice though not special and a strange interpretation of French onion soup, very caramelised, with a pile of shredded pork belly was extremely unusual. We tried several main courses. The braised and roasted lamb shank on a bed of polenta with baby vegetables was excellent
as was the steak - cooked as requested too!Th fillet of barramundi was a very nice size serve Duck salad could have been larger and we finished with a rich chocolate cake dessertComments: All in all a more than reasonable meal served in a very pleasant environment
Score:14 /20

Abla's Restaurant (Carlton)

Abla Ahmad started this restaurant almost 30 years ago at this site at 109 Elgin St. and for many years now it has been something of a mecca for Lebanese food. Indeed for the last eight years it has been awarded a hat by the AGF. With a pedigree like this expectations are high so I was sadly disenchanted last night to suffer through a 'banquet' of the worst food I can ever remember.
No matter that the food looked good it was almost uniformly disappointing.
It was unbalanced by excessive lemon, The meat dishes were all very over cooked and quite dried out, there was almost no cracked wheat in the tabbouleh, green olives were insufficiently pickled and bitter and even the signature chicken and rice dish lacked taste.

You can't see all that lemon
Eggplant lacked that smoky BBQ taste achieved at so many Lebanese cafe's, indeed it lacked taste altogether!

Rice and pine nuts wrapped in vine leaves again full of lemon

Thoroughly overcooked beans - quite tasty


Sausages as dry as wood chips

Chick pea balls
Another dry offering
Lemon flavoured chicken wings.
Tabbouleh
The famous chicken and rice dish - oh so ordinary
More dtied out meat!
Comments: I've been before but I won't be going again
Score: 12/20

CHATTER 6

A reader sent these remarks on to me. I wonder is this a common experience.

I went for my sons baptism at number 3 station pier upstairs last year. The views stunnning ...the venue stunning....the food was a huge disappointment. They encouraged us to go for a tasting 1 month prior to the event & they served huge portions to us, saying that these are the sizes you will get on the day. We were so happy. For instance their mushroom & watercress risotto was served to us as a main course size for our entree. My wife & I thought "Wow our family will be happy with that".Come the day & it was a 1/4 of the size. It was smaller than the size of a fist. The main course, eye fillet, was tough. And the kids dessert was better than the adults dessert.

A Small Quiz

Twenty two questions
Anyone who gets more than 16 right has got to have a prodigious memory.
Fourteen is an excellent effort and 12 very good

GOOD LUCK
Answers in a week or two

1. Where does this man work?
2. And this one?
3. Which restaurant serves this?
4. Outside which restaurant is this?
5. And where is this?
6. Three marks if you can tell wherethis menu is from.

7. What dish is this?
8. This is the entrance to ........?
9. Where was this pic taken?

10. Who is the bloke on the right?
11. Where is this?
12. And this?
13. Who is that fellow ?

14. Where is this?

15. And what is this?
16. Three more if you guess where this is
17. In what town is this?
18. And where is this?
19. Where is this?

10. And this?
21. Where is this grand staircase and chandelier?
22. Where is this?
23. Where do these people work?

Melbourne Cricket Club Wine and Food Society

Some 20 years ago this bastion of Melbourne society formed it's wine and food society. Since it takes around 25 years to become a member of the MCC and there is now a 15 year waiting list for the wine and food society the average age of attendees was considerable. Nevertheless they certainly enoyed the wine and the food.

The meal began in the Percy Beames bar with canapes- sticky pork belly on grated appleand watermelon, tomato and basil kebab with shots of whisky sour layered with white foam or La Vie Pinot Noir Chardonnay NV bubbly.
We then moved to the Long Room.

Generally closed to the public this great room with portraits of significant members of the MCC covering all available wall space, looks over one of the most magnificent sporting venues in the world - the Melbourne Cricket Ground or MCG, sometimes referred to simply as the G.

The round tables easily accommodated 10 and were covered in white linen cloths with appropriate crockery and glasses.

The first course was a small cup of warm Vichyssoise of oysters of which I could happily have had quite a lot more.

The next two courses, baked prawns on iceberg lettuce, lemon and spiked mayonnaiseand a sea food ceviche (that is raw sea food marinated in lemon or lime), flavoured with tomato and coriander were served with a dryish 2004 Palandri Reisling (The company, from the Margaret River area is now in receivership) and a 1998 Elderton Eden Valley Reisling which had passed its' use by date. Both these dishes were pleasant enough but quite undistinguished. Nor was the salad of crispy duck tossed with picked watercress, ginger and sesame dressing notable for anything but the very crisp duck confit which had been cooked for a long, long time.

A mystery wine, a NZ temparillo took only two questions to eliminate 16 of the 17 tables!
This and the aged beef filet on celeriac remoulade, served with roast potato and prune jam, which was brilliant with this dish,

were accompanied by a 2002 Cliff Edge Shiraz Mt. Langhi Ghiran and a 1999 Mount Chalambar Reserve Cab. Sav.
Jeni Port, Age journalist, then gave a short talk on the direction wine making had been taking in particular towards higher and higher alcohol content. The reason, because they can, has led to up to 18% alcohol in some reds but the public seem to be moving away from these wines.

Perhaps the most appealing thing on the menu was the combination of crumbled Stilton, walnuts, raisins and port syrup. this was a superb cheese dish with a Vasse Felix Margaret River 1995 Cab. Sav - outstanding.
After a Morrocan mint tea palate cleanser a dessert of passion fruit brulee accompanied by doused sponge and a passionfruit sorbet
was served with what we were told is the best Australian dessert wine - the 2000 De Bortoli Noble One Botrytis Semillon. This was followed with tea/coffee and more sweet stuff - black current lollies and jellies.
A great deal of thought went into the menu for this meal. It was quite ambitious to serve 170 guests and while most of the dishes were quite safe it was not possible to get the best out of the fillet which was far more cooked than I would have liked. In all the meal whilst very good was not outstanding.
It represents fantastic value for the members and I love to go to another one!
Score: 14.75/20