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!

Full Tummy

Although I've been to a few fantastic restaurant, I have not been able to review them here as I've just been swamped at work. Well I think I'm just not used to working so hard, having been in semi-retirement for 6 months.... It shows.. and I envy the younger people around me... *sigh*....

Instead of full reviews, I thought I would blog a little about the notably ones that I've been to lately:

Da Noi

Oh my gosh, what great food.... Although we didn't go for the degustation, which is a menu of 4 dishes, we really enjoyed our roast pork loin and perfectly grilled pork chop. I had the pork chop, so I can tell you in detail, how juicy it is and so full of flavour. It's not a good idea to go early as they were still preparing the menu and preparing some of the slow-cook dishes when we arrived at 6pm. We had to, as we didn't make a booking... We had lovely entrees as well, I had a kingfish carppachio and antipasto. Absolutely tasty. It's charming how they write out the menu by hand everyday... It's like eating at someone's house... someone who cooks well.... I think there are a lot of regulars there as many come through the door and are greeted by their first name... Nice personal touch. Definitely worth going again. Maybe next time I will be brave enough to try the degustation menu :P

Da Noi

95 Toorak Road

South Yarra

03 9866 5975

J-Cafe

The days that this place is open is erratic and I am absolutely madden by it. But finally we went there when it was opened and loved it. They have this fantastic original dish called Mentaigo udon (in soup)... Some of you may know that I absolutely adore mentaigo.. and of course I had to order this.... Mentaigo in soup taste very milky... and it's an interesting taste with udon... like having udon in savoury milk tea...weird but it's actually really nice! They also have the "sushi burger" which is only available there. It's basically rice paddies with your choice of filling, i.e. tempura, beef paddy, deep fried fish, chicken fillet, teriyaki chicken, crab croquette, grilled beef (Yakiniku), spicy tuna, and the list goes on.... The dinner set is good value, at around $20. I ate too much, yet again, need to cut down.. or I'm not going to fit into my suits anymore....

J-Cafe

167 Exhibition Street

Melbourne

03 9650 9877

Have been copying successfully Murasaki's miso pork hot pot....it is unbelievable how miso can go so well with pork! Delicious!

Have I blogged this already?? I will leave it here for now.. I will hopefully blog more before we leave for our belated honeymoon....

A Blessing in Disguise

What a wonderful restaurant! Michael had said that the few times that he went in the past the experience was great. But not being a huge fan of Italian fine dining, I was a bit skeptical. We organized Cafe Di Stasio early Tuesday night for a catch up with our dear friend, who was down from Sydney, and before our James Morrison show.

As it turned out, James Morrison’s concert was cancelled. So it was a blessing in disguise because I would rather spend time with my friend than see James Morrison…

The bow-tied white jacket clad waiters were attentative, enthusiastic and knowledgeable. The specials were extensive and recited with pride by the waiters. The wine list was expensive :P In the end, we settled for a French Island Vineyards Pinot Gris ($56!!) – light, citrus, and slightly bitter. Should have ordered the Medhurst Rose, which would have been brilliant.

We settled for the following selection

A dozen of natural oysters with wedges of lemon to share
Mixed Salad with chargrilled seafood

Chargrilled Eye fillet with truffle oil and a roasted tomato
Pasta of the Day – Angel Hair with pesto and scallops
Roasted Lamb Loin…
Rocket salad with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

Muscat Liqueur Tart
White Chocolate and Tart
Loose Leave Plunger Peppermint Tea

Such a cozy place to catch up with your friends and the service is impeccable. Everything was delicious, that is rare for Michael and I that we enjoy everything. The dishes were served as described in the menu – straight forward, no nonsense and nothing decorative. Even the tarts were served on big white plates with neither droplets of chocolate sauce nor dollops of cream. The eye fillets were sliced and sufficient for me, but for grown men, maybe not. And so it was for the meals… I think this is a restaurant that you will be able to have three-courses - no problems.

Our tarts were fabulous. I have read that the crepes with the fresh strawberries are meant to be fantastic but I wasn’t sure whether it would be too much… oh well next time!


Cafe Di Stasio
31A Fitzroy Street
St Kilda
(03) 9525 3999

Da Noi

Yesterday night after a big dinner at Pacific House in South Yarra, we went to Da Noi down the road. We drove and didn’t really have to as it wasn’t that far. Such a nice little Italian restaurant.

I’ve heard good things about their Sardinian dishes but have never been. Apparently, it is up to the chef what you eat but they do enquire about your dietary preferences.

At least, last night we got to try some of the desserts there. We ordered a tasting menu that turned out to be one of the three menu desserts except for the biscotti.

First time I had Grappa as well… it smelled like Muscat but definitely didn’t taste like Muscat. It was beautiful though… a bit strong at around 45% alcohol but nice grapy after taste.

Back to the dessert, the meringue was lovely, and the mint and chocolate tart was balanced and delicious.

Da Noi
95 Toorak Road, South Yarra VIC 3141
03 9866 5975

Pizza Napoli

I wanted to write a entry about Pizza Napoli, my local pizza and pasta joint because I am never disappointed each time I go there. When I crave pizza or pasta when I am at home, this is the place that I go. And guess what.... having found their website, I realised that it is the very first pizza restaurant in Australia, 37 years ago. The owners and the chef are still the same. I'm really impressed by their website as well! Who would have thought that my local Pizza place has such history!

My usual, their minestrone soup is fantastic.... they give you lots and lots of fresh parmasean as well. I love their calzone and their special pizza. I know I should try other things too... will do and let you know.

Pizza Napoli
122 Russell Street
Melbourne
03 9654 7127

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

Best risotto in town - Tutto Bene...

If you haven't been you must go!!!
Great atmosphere and great location on the Art Precine of Southbank,
part of the new Langham Hotel. I had the Al Presidente risotto..
absolutely fabulous! Dying to go back again!

Tutto Bene
M28 Midlevel Southgate
Southbank
Tel:03 9696 3334