Claypot, St Kilda

Source: www.yourrestaurants.com.au

I’m not a huge fan of seafood, as some of you may know. But that hasn’t stopped me from going to Claypot in St Kilda again and again, and again. It’s just so yummy!! I love it! I’ve never sat in the courtyard area but I love the front of house area where you get the street light shining in and it feels like a cozy little area.

We usually get a mix of seafood on a huge platter to share… the flavours are just amazing. Be careful, don’t sit next to someone who’s sloppy and order some delicious entrees while you wait for your platter.

Last but not least, if you’re happy to wait then get there at after 6:30pm. If you’re not, best bet is to get there at 6pm. If it’s sunny, get there early and get a seat in the courtyard.

Source: www.yourrestaurants.com.au

Claypot Seafood Restaurant
213 Barkly St
St Kilda 3182 VIC
03 9534 1282

Oyster Little Bourke

I should be all over the Food and Wine Festival this year, but I'm not. I found out that it was on through a colleague who wanted to organise a Lunch Express $30 deal. We took advantage of the Lunch Express one Friday at Oyster Little Bourke and were not disappointed.

For $30, you get a choice of two courses, a glass of Mandala Semillon or Pinot Noir, tea or coffee. There was a great variety of dishes, and we took awhile to decide on our final section. There were a great variety of dishes from the set menu, and we took awhile to decide on our final order. Between us, we had half a dozen fresh oysters with a shallot and lemon sauce, salmon gravax with grilled vegetables and rocket leaves. For mains, we had the grilled butterfish, minute steak with crumpled pea and a interesting red wine sauce, and grilled pork cutlet.

My oysters were fresh but rather small, the steak was more well-done than the medium and saltier than I would have liked. None the less, I finished everything! My colleagues ate his grilled pork cutlet rather quickly, so I am guessing that it tasted as good as it looked.

One dining partner was Vegetarian and they were able to offer a few nice choices, gnocchi and risotto. The gnocchi dish got the nod of approval.

I have to get more organised next year if it leads to meals as enjoyable as this!

Oyster Little Bourke

35 Little Bourke Street

Melbourne

9650 0988

A week in the life of ....

These few weeks have been hectic. After our holiday in Hanoi in February, we really needed to catch up with our friends. I realised that I don't really talk about what I eat on a weekly basis... Let's give it a try and see if it is interesting for you or not.

Here is a brief of where we've been in the last week:

Monday: Lunch was a sashi don from Don-Don on Swanston Street. For dinner, I made a beef stew using Harumi Kurihara : Harumi's Japanese Home Cooking cook book. It was a little bit salty, so I think I will cut down on the soya sauce a little.

Tuesday: Lunch was at Groove Train, Melbourne Central. My colleague recommended the smoke salmon salad there, and indeed it was fantastic. Roasted potatoes in a smoke salmon salad - yum!! For last minute dinner out, we were recommended to go to Olive Tree Bistro in South Melbourne for steak. It's near Tempura Hajime. We cheekily went to Hajime to see whether there were any spots before heading to Olive Tree. No luck... The steaks at Olive Tree were not bad... 400g steaks!!! .

Wednesday: Lunch was at Tokio, in the city. Love their ebi-don! For dinner, we ate at home, not very healthy but had roast chicken drumstick, Vietnamese style stir fried mung beans with onion, bean sprout, and mince pork, with fluffy rice. Made a mojito but didn't have soda or lemonade so substituted it with white wine... hehehe

Thursday: Lunch was at A1 Cafe on Russell Street, one of my favourite Chinese cafe. I had the lemongrass chicken and pork on rice. Delicious! For dinner, I had a work function at Centro Ristorante, South Melbourne. It was nice to catch up with my colleagues socially. I had the fish of the day, which was grilled ocean trout. That was followed by banana souffle. I liked to banana souffle better than my main.

Friday: I usually have home-made dumpling in my fridge when we don't want to eat out... So Friday night dinner was simple, boiled pork and shrimp dumpling and edamame with a little twist - sprinkling of sesame seed, dried sea weed and sea salt ... Best edamame so far is from Fuji Mart.

Saturday: Lunch was at Aka Tombo Sushi Bar in Prahran. My sister ordered the Sushi & Sashimi Bento, and I had the Tempura Bento. Aka Tombo can do no wrong :) I think next time I really want to try the special bentos that you have to pre-order... For dinner, my sister was kind enough to cook for me. We bought mussells and other ingrediants from Prahran and she cooked a lovely batch of steamed mussells with a chili coconut tom yum sauce to go with it. She's got magic hands :) I made rosemary and garlic roast potatoes to go with it (following Stephanie Alexander : The Cook's Companion recipe) and some roast corn corbs. Why I made rosemary potatoes for an Asian dish, I don't know. *Sigh*

Sunday: I love the weekend, don't you. Yummy food all day long.... We had yum cha at David's, Prahran. The tea there is really nice. We had the Jasmine and Pu-Er tea. Sometimes the dumpling can be over steamed... but the atmosphere there is just so inspiring. After that my cousin bought a roll for his sister at Amici Bakery Cafe (-love their breakfasts) while I went to look at a few houses around the area before heading off to a baby's 1st birthday. H was very cute and endearing.

That was all for last week.... this week also promises lots of yummy food, good company and good wines.

Have a great week!

Overdue

I can’t believe it’s nearly 3 months since I blogged. Apologises, I have been travelling quite a bit since December. We went on our annual Hong Kong, Taipei and Shenzhen tour to see my family and play some golf at Mission Hill in Shenzhen. It’s always good but it’s always a struggle to not get sick. And this year was no different. On New Years Eve, the overeating took its toll……. Here are some photos from that trip.

Taipei Ximending where my relatives lives

Local inexpensive Japanese place with relatives

This place started out as a hawker stand which has now taken over 2 restaurant spaces. Something like this:



We went to the most north place in Taiwan

To see the Empress’ Head

It was freezing!

Then sat down for some local fresh seafood

We added a bit of art to the trip, visiting Ju Ming’s Museum

In the end, we actually had a lot of fun there

Then Ivy took us to a gorgeous beach house right on the beach for some supper before we headed back to Taipei

The next day on New Years eve, we went to a local Ximending sushi place with our grandparents

Then all you can eat Yakiniku and Hot Pot for dinner (my downfall)

It was the last time that 101 was going to host the New Years fireworks, so it was quite a significant event. Can you believe we got such a great spot for the Taipei 101 New Year Countdown celebrations! Hubby got to see MayDay live.

We had a fantastic supply of sangria, snacks and soft drink to last us the 3 hours to countdown. We were very popular with the people around us because we brought our own mat which was big enough to let other people sit as well. In the end, I think we had about 13 people on the mat.

“People Mountain People Sea”

One of the best countdowns I’ve seen

Who loves Taiwan – we do!

Mad traffic afterwards

Middle Brighton Baths

Last Friday our dear friends took us to a lovely restaurant on the bay. Middle Brighton Baths is situated on the water, overlooking the sea baths of Brighton. We didn't see anyone swimming but we did catch the sun setting over the horizon. It is absolutely breath-taking.

MBB is really a great location to enjoy the sun, a view of the sea but be safe from the elements. From the look of the menu, the food was decidedly Modern Australian. We asked for the dessert menu in advance so that we can decide how much mains and entrees we should have if something entices us from that. M ordered two entrees for us to share, one was the delicious duck liver pate and melba toast and I think daily special.

Our friends had the large entrees of stuffed artichoke flowers etc. M & I got the Grilled tuna with steamed prawn and bokchoy dumpling, tamarind broth, sesame, and the Eye fillet of beef with potato and porcini lasagne, roast onion and balsamic jus butter as our mains, with side dishes of fries and seared spinach , pine nuts, sultanas and white balsamic to share. Then we had the petit brulees and churros with chocolate sauce. Our friends had the Baked peach croustada, stone fruit gratin and sweet basil ice-cream and Sticky date soufflé with caramel sauce and ginger ice cream. Theirs looked delicious as well.

All in all a satisfying meal over entertaining conversation. Service could have been better - I never like to strain for attention. However, I would definitely go back for the view.There is a café downstairs which we were told serves a nice breakfast / brunch. It is also on this year's Entertainment Card.

Middle Brighton Baths

251 The Esplanade

Brighton

03 9539 7000

SOS

A few weeks back, after watching an early session of "Thank You for Smoking" at Melbourne Central, we decided to try the mysterious SOS restaurant. It is the strangest place to have a restaurant, opposite Tomotachi and near the La Trobe and Swanston Street elevators. The first time that I came across the secret entrance, it reminded me of a Japanese karaoke lounge bar.

Entering from a black sliding door, you are immediately in a short doorway that reminded me of a marble forest. I can't remember whether there were bird recording overhead. But they might as well have had. Then you enter a colour dining area with bar on the left side and long benches on the other.

I read on Melbourne Citysearch that they specialise in organic seafood and vegetables. But they don't serve meat. I forgot to tell M that, otherwise he would not have entered. Everything on the menu, sounded delicious. As I had a large box of popcorn, I wasn't too hungry so I went for the Carpaccio and tartare of Australian salmon with black olive sauce citrus fruit and basil, while M had Scampi with wild mushroom ragu and fregola. We ordered a side of Spinach, turnip tops and chicory sautéed with muscatels and pine nuts - which was absolutely delicious! Topping it off, we had the Chocolate and lemon Pannacotta - interesting combination.

The service was attentative and friendly, which made the whole dining experience relaxing. I still don't like the bench sharing concept, especially not for fine dining. Would I go again, yes I would but could I drag M to go with me again there - probably not. Any takers?!!

22/03/07 Update: SOS has changed its concept and new chef is Riccardo Momesso.

SOS
Level 3Melbourne Central

211 La Trobe Street

Melbourne
03 9654 0808