Embrasse: MFWF express lunch (closed)
Wouldn’t it be good to be able to tap into a collective memory? Then you would always have access to important details, and it wouldn’t be a problem if your mind was crowded with useless things like the lyrics to “Deep deep trouble” even though you haven’t heard that song for 15 years. (Oh, is that just me? And yes, I do know the words. I can totally bust it out at any time. HELP I CAN’T FORGET IT.)
Fortunately, I have friends who help me remember things. When I eat out I sometimes can’t recall all the details and will message whoever I ate with: “Hey, do you remember what was in that dish?”
After our lunch at Embrasse, Thanh and I had the following conversation.
“What was the fish again?”
“Ummmm. I can’t remember.”
“It was silver something, wasn’t it?”
“Oh! It was silver dory!”
Food bloggers hive mind win. With our memories combined, we are… one normal person!
As part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, many restaurants are holding express lunches, where for $35 you receive two courses and a glass of wine. It’s a excellent way to check out a restaurant at a fraction of the normal price. I had been keen to check out Embrasse for a while, so muscled in on a booking with Thanh, Kat and Thanh’s workmate and wife.
All the restaurants have a limited menu for the express lunches, and for Embrasse, there were two options for each course.
Alastair and I both decided to have an entree and a main for our two courses. His choice was the squid cooked in red wine, parsley, zucchini and family, lemon, bergamot oil. The squid had been slow cooked in the wine and was tender and beautifully presented.
When we were making our choices, I knew that Alastair wouldn’t be going anywhere near the black pudding, so my choice was decided. I didn’t look further at the menu description – black pudding croquette, garden peas, dried bay leaf oil, pickled beetroot. Which is why I was dismayed to see all the ugly peas on my plate. Waaah. You know all know by now my dislike for peas but I sucked it up. Well, sort of. I ate around the bloody things, though I did eat the pea puree.
Okay, enough pea hating. The croquette was lovely – super crunchy with a meaty, savoury centre. The beetroot really helped to cut through some of the meaty richness.
For mains, Alastair had the fish of the day poached in a brown butter, burnt onion, chive, carrot cooked under a pile of mud, grapes, cucumber, cauliflower custard. As mentioned earlier, the food bloggers’ hive mind determined the fish was silver dory. I tried a small piece of his fish. It was tender and perfectly cooked, and despite the menu description of having been poached in brown butter, it wasn’t greasy or super buttery.
My choice was the roasted corn feed chicken, eggs, stone fruits, their own rooftop honey, baked onion. The chicken was a succulent piece of meat – seemingly simple, but so well cooked. I presume the egg was in the very creamy sauce, which worked really well with the sweetness of the dollop of honey and the small baked onion.
We didn’t order dessert, but I snapped a photo of Thanh’s coconut mousse, frangipane, passion fruit, corn, orange blossom (the other option was cheese). He said it was very light and fluffy, and it disappeared into his stomach very quickly.
We finished with coffee and far too soon it was time to leave.
Obviously the purpose of the express lunch is to give a little taste of what the restaurant can offer. Even though the menu was very limited I enjoyed our lunch and it made me keen to try out their normal menu someday.
Express lunch success!
For more on Embrasse, read Kat’s account of our lunch at Spatula, Spoon and Saturday.
And for more on Embrasse’s express lunch this year, see Brunch addict.
View Off the spork in a larger map
Embrasse
312 Drummond Street
Carlton
Phone: 03 9347 3312
Web: embrasserestaurant.com.au
Hannah
March 14, 2012 @ 2:12 pm
Apart from the fact that the dessert looks a little like fairy unicorn poo topped with barnacles, I’m in.
Seriously, I need to move to Melbourne just so I can be your pea-eater at all these events.
P.S. 777 9972. My Californian phone number from when I was 3-6 years old.
P.P.S. All that is gold does not glitter / Not all those who wander are lost / The old that is strong does not wither / Deep roots are not reached by the frost. Aragorn’s poem from LOTR.
P.P.P.S Pretty much every Disney lyric.
Pointless brains are the best.
Agnes
March 18, 2012 @ 9:45 pm
I think unicorn poo would be rainbow coloured, don’t you?
OMG GUESS WHAT??? Express lunch this weekend – FRICKEN PEAS with my main. AGAIN.
Hah, I also know lots of lyrics. But mostly only when I hear the song playing. Deep deep trouble I can recite straight away. It won’t leave me!
Yasmeen @ Wandering Spice
March 15, 2012 @ 4:17 pm
What a stunning account of your time there – everything is plated so beautifully! We just went to the French Cafe at the Greenhouse, where half of the menu was made by Nicolas Poelaert. It was sensational, so I imagine the regular fare at Embrasse is equally so.
The mousse looks divine, to start…
Agnes
March 18, 2012 @ 9:46 pm
Oooh French Cafe sounds good!
EatPlayShop
March 15, 2012 @ 8:25 pm
“Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun”
I will *unfortunately* forever what does into a Big Mac! (Yikes, showing my age!)
I’ve heard that the Embrasse express lunch is one of THE best during this year’s Festival! Love your photos as always!
Agnes
March 18, 2012 @ 9:54 pm
Haha!
Embrasse was good.. but not the best express lunch I went to. That’s coming up π
Kimba's Kitchen
March 16, 2012 @ 9:28 am
Hahahahahaa collective memory, I like that!
Usually I take a picture of the menu that kinda helps. One time I actually asked the waitress to write down details of a dish on a piece of napkin!! :p
Agnes
March 18, 2012 @ 9:55 pm
I take a picture of the menu too, but you know how some menus don’t have all the detail? Ah so annoying! Hah, I can just imagine a waitress having to write on a napkin for you. π
Winston
March 17, 2012 @ 12:35 pm
Aihhh… Reading your post is making me realise how much I’m missing out on this year’s event. Just haven’t been able to find a weekend to go darn! At least you guys had a great time anyway. Drooling over your food stories is good enough of a consolation for me ;ppp
Agnes
March 18, 2012 @ 9:56 pm
Awww! You’ll definitely have to do some next year – it’s a really good way of trying out restaurants. π
Libby
March 17, 2012 @ 3:52 pm
Embrasse is one of the very few places I know that cook chicken extremely well – love it! Beautiful photos, too π
Agnes
March 18, 2012 @ 9:57 pm
Aww thanks π Yes, the chicken was cooked incredibly well.
msihua
March 19, 2012 @ 8:40 pm
Man I love their chicken… I’ve had it twice now on both my slow Long Sunday Lunch here.. I’m not sure how I’d cope with having an express meal at Embrasse!!!
Agnes
April 8, 2012 @ 4:16 pm
Yes I’ve heard good things about their chicken. Must try it one day.
Thanh
April 7, 2012 @ 7:53 pm
Hello, I’m 5 of 9. You will be assimilated. Beam me up Scotty.
Agnes
April 8, 2012 @ 4:13 pm
I’m not geeky enough to understand the reference… :p