Kenzan (Melbourne) 09

Nestled in the middle of a standard Paris end office building is Kenzan; established, unobtrusive and perhaps a venue frequently overlooked by most passers-by as too expensive compared to the food court it shoulders or incompatible for their rushed lunch hour trade or too close to commercial based home to bother a dinner venture. Wrong.

Kenzan has been at 55 Collins for a long time and has grown with the scores of workers, Sofitel guests and random blow-ins that surround it. Whilst still aspiring to be of fine dining status – Kenzan works to appease the lunchtime worker and Kino cinema crowd with a traditional sushi bar style dining area; with morsels cut to order, and also an impressively fast lunch style menu which in my mind can only be the penultimate middle ground of an uncompromisingly tasty meal met with equal office style timing constraints. Though the fast but very gratifying lunch was sampled this visit, previous occasions have found an interesting dinner menu including dishes and delicacies still rare to the Melbourne palette.

Due to the surprise nature of this visit I was not adequately armed so a phone-camera had to suffice, and suffice it failed, dismally.

The mixed tempura main with miso and rice ($18) was second only to the gods of Tempura Hajime with flavoursome and nearly blot paper-free delivery of hot and tasty morsel.
The lunch special (one of several mixed options); bento style delivering ($35) of Shitake mushroom salad, prawn and crab Japanese dumpling (though steamed, unlike gyoza), crumbed prawn and scallop with ponzu sauce, salmon & tuna sashimi and chicken teryiaki and rice was exceptional. Each dish delivered a distinct strong positive too long to juxtapose that will be remembered long after any criticism. Basically it was a bento box you could get anywhere, but done well; Very well. And with excess. I’d pay $38 for it again irrespective of my frequent and slightly more convenient visits to Ishikaya on Bourke St for a $15 lunch special.

We were treated with the bipolar luxury of a private dining room whereby one feels special and dines in relative intimacy with their guests in their false-floored authentic tables to suit fat westerners, but at the price of missing out on the general ambiance of the restaurant; pronounced further when there is just 2 in said private dining room (not complaining at all as it was lovely).
I don’t want to score this out of 20 as it will naturally be disparate with Sandra and Elliot’s evaluations and not a fair basis of comparison, so I will say that to a foodie wanting a great lunch for a decent but not bargain basement price this is a win. If you want to be blown over with nouveau creative inspiration then lunch here is not for you unless you seek the glory of seriously fresh fish. Either way there is good food to be had, you can quibble over the prices and value c.f other venues in the area. But I still like it, a lot.

This review provide by N.M.

Cafe Vue at Heide (Heidelberg) 11/09

The Café at Heide Gallery of Modern Art has become the latest extension to Shannon Bennetts growing restaurant empire. Rumour has it that he will be taking over at the Rialto soon too! We visited the current exhibition of Cubist Art in Australia and stopped for lunch at Café Vue at Heide. It was pleasing to be greeted by some of the senior staff who had looked after us so well and so often at Vue de Monde. Brian Lloyd, formerly manager at Vue de Monde is now manager here and Mark Briggs, former head chef there is in charge in the kitchen The café is an inside/outside space, very open with 3 sided walls of glass and umbrella shaded outside tables.
Tables are smallish and fairly close but not uncomfortably so It was packed with diners of all ages. There is a limited lunch menu, slightly expanded for dinner. A two course ($35) or thee course ($45) lunch, served Tuesday to Sunday, is on offer with a small range of wines by the glass at reasonable prices. We tried both entrées and both mains on offer, a couple of side dishes and a mango soufflé dessert. Goats cheese gnocchi with baby beetroot salad was excellent

as was the char grilled sardines with citrus, olive oil emulsion and salted cod.
I am reluctant to order fresh sardines as they are often over powering but these retained the characteristic sardine taste without dominating the dish. The roasted ocean trout with sorrel sauce was delicately prepared
although the sorrel sauce was hard to recognize, taste wise. The rotisserie Wagyu beef served with garlic snails
– that should really have been snail, as there was only one, was a tasty piece of meat though not marked by the large amount of fat in the meat of the higher grades. It lay on a bed of potato mousse line which was so good we ordered a side plate of it ($6). Made with Exon potatos and a ratio of 3 or 4 parts butter to one part potato it had superb rich taste and wonderful creamy texture. A side dish of crunchy over cooked pommes frites ($8)
did not add much to the meal. We finished with a mango soufflé with yoghurt sorbet
which looked good and tasted good but the egg had broken down producing a course rough texture. There are hints of Vue de Monde in the decor
like the potted herbs but it is very much a cafe with it's own very pleasing character. They also have $15 lunch boxes and a range of very attractive pastries. I accidentally dented the chocolate tart!

If you’re going to Heide I’d definitely make time for a meal at Café Vue

Score: 13.5/20

Vue de Monde (Melbourne) 11/09

Before anything else I want to say that it is a mystery as to how this computer varies font sizes. Despite fiddling around nothing seems to make it consistent for which I apologise. On the preview it looks consistent but not so when published!

The chefs 10 course menu at VdM has been an unfailing triumph for us over the last decade or more and last week was no exception. Dish after dish from the exceptional amuse bouche to the lemon souffle was a joy to the palate and the eye. As always, although there have been some staff changes the service was impeccable. Part way through the meal when I mentioned that we had particularly enjoyed a lobster dish Gareth, who was looking after us, arranged for an extra dish a marron on a rock which I will speak about after the photo of it.This is what we were served.
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AMUSE BOUCHE

Confit egg with white asparagus and wood sorrel.

Cooked at 62 degrees for 12 minutes, the egg white separated and replaced at the base of the shell, served with Panku (bread crumbs), a lightly battered asparagus and a tarragon emulsion. Like a variation of a coddled egg the crunchy bread crumbs and tarragon emulsion added an extra dimension to the endless appealing ways that eggs can be served. This was an exquisite start for the meal.

DÉCLINAISON D’ASPERGES

Asparagus textures

2000 Moët & Chandon Cuvée Dom Pérignon Champagne Épernay, France

An unusual presentation of a variety of cuts of asparagus with a light warm mayonnaise finished with an asparagus juice. A fine, multi textured gently flavoured dish.

RISOTTO AUX TRUFFES D’ALBA

Classically inspired white truffle risotto

NV Barbadillo Oloroso Dulce 30yo Jerez, Spain

This risotto, cooked to perfection was enormously enhanced by the white truffles which had been harvested only 36 hours ago and retained superb taste, texture and aroma - to die for!

PAIN PERDU ACCOMPAGNÉ DE FOIE GRAS

French toast, green apple purée and foie gras with eight spice and jamón Joselito ibérico

2007 François Chidaine Montlouis ‘Les Tuffeaux’ Loire Valley, France

Another outstanding dish, the 'Pain perdu' a sweet French toast topped with a great Iberica jambon matched and contrasted with the puree and the eight spice for added flavour.
MERLAN ET BASIL BALLOTINE

Whiting and basil ballotine, tomato infusion and mozzarella noodle

2007 Adegas Valmiñor ‘Davila’ Galicia, Spain

Served with a tomato stock infused through herbs in a Cona coffee percolator this is a dish of balanced gentle flavours eaten slowly to enjoy all its variation.

ÉCREVISSE RÔTIE

Roasted marron with bisque glaze and radish served on hot river stone

1998 Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru 'La Moutonne' Burgundy, France

The marron sat on a bed of marron mousse and was accompanied by dollops of homogenized sea urchin which, while retaining the distinct flavour of the sea urchin, were not over whelming. The rock, from the Yarra river bed near Heidi Gallery, had been thoroughly sterilized by being roasted at high temperature before being accepted for table service. The baby turnips, also from the Heidi gardens were a crisp delight and the lightly cooked marron as good as it gets.

JUS AU VERJUS

Liquid verjus at - 8°C

Prepared at the table the addition of this super cooled verjus resulted in the formation of a little iceberg in the glass. A favourite at Vue for good reason.

PORC AUX SAVEURS DE LA TERRE

Western plains pork with flavours of earth

2007 Kanonkop Pinotage Simonsberg, South Africa

A rack, in this case one small pork chop, a piece of loin, like belly but not as fatty, and pork neck were a fine trio with a slice of crisp bacon and cep mushroom powder added to this dish completed with an excellent sauce.

AGNEAU RÔTI ET RIS D’agneau

Poached loin and rillette of lamb with Pedro Ximenez reduction

2002 Raymond Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve ‘Rutherford’ Napa Valley, United States of America

If the previous dish was excellent, and it was, this was even better. It might have been called lamb three ways with a rillette flanked by a delicate piece of loin and some sweetbreads. Tender and juicy, with a collar of potato it was a carnivores delight.

FROMAGE

Le Napoleon, almond toast, fennel and cherry salad, cherry ‘pâte de fruit’

2008 Albino Rocca Moscato d’Asti Piedmont, Italy

A firm tasty cheese enhanced by the cherry jelly.

ENTREMET SUCRÉ

This was a total surprise. you open the carton and this is what you see.

Egg shells filled with super rich flavoured mousses and foams. A dessert for the taste conscious not the health conscious. I loved it.

Lemon meringue soufflé

1993 Domaine Disznókó Tokaji Aszú’5 Puttonyos’ Takaj, Hungary

Although there were still a variety of petit fours to come with tea or coffe we made this magnificent lemon souffle our last dessert. As with the rest of the meal this was beyond criticism with a disinct, but not overwhelming lemony taste and perfect texture for the souffle.

There were a few tiny imperfections. It always irritates me when I put a piece of cutlery on the edge of a plate and it slides down into the centre of the plate, specially if it has soup in it!
To some extent taking matched wines, presuming some person with superior taste and judgment will chose wines that will not only match the food you are eating but also your taste is high risk and almost certain to fail to please at times. On the two occasions where the wines did not satisfy the response was an instantaneous offer of a replacement. The timing of the delivery of the wines was often well before the food arrived thus it was almost finished before it could be enjoyed with the dish which it was matched.

The distinguishing features of meals at VdM are the use of the finest ingredients prepared with imagination and finesse to express the flavours of the foods in balanced combination. Dishes are presented like art on a plate by staff who go out of their way to please their clients. Seasoning is discreet. It is rare to find one flavour dominating a dish

Score:19 /20

Cafe Vue (South Yarra) 11/09

Of all the cafes in Melbourne none stand out with the style displayed at Cafe Vue at 401 St.Kilda Rd. There are a few outside tables which give no hint of the interior with its clean open appearance, modern furniture and several striking features including a large round table partly surrounded by a white wood creation like half a bird cage, referred to here as the Queens corset because of its shape. In front of the kitchenthere is an antique looking refurbished rotisserie. Toilets are unusual too,in deep red with braille to assist the blind to chose the correct door although it's little help after that!

The breakfast menu is very limited 'thugh they have a great range of small cakes and patisseries. When a shrivelled baguette with some dry ham ($8) and a croque monsieur consisting of a couple of slices of toast and a bit of ham ($6) accompanied by a pot of the most watery tea arrived my heart sank. There was a bottle of home made tomato sauce in the little box with the salt, pepper, paper serviettes and cutlery but it didn't help much.

This disastrous beginning was saved when Matt, the personable manager, came over and spent some time discussing our feedback, a waitress brought two more tea bags, and we tried a couple of other things. A chicken and porcini mushroom pie resting on a fine pea puree in a perfectly reduced sauce ($11)was excellent, despite the fact that I could see the mushrooms but not taste them. An escargot pastry was worthy of a French patisserie, crisp on the outside, soft and moist inside it was so good that we will go back again just for that.

They still to have some teething problems but they certainly have the potential to be outstanding. A unique space.

Score: 13/20

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