eating out

October 21, 2008

Cumulus Inc: Ladies who Lunch

Agnes cuisine, eating out, ladies who lunch, lunch, melbourne, mod aus, suburb

Several weeks ago, Lisa and I headed to Cumulus Inc for lunch. I am quite behind with posts so I won’t tell you exactly how many weeks ago! We arrived around 12.15pm, and while it was already packed by this time, we managed to snag two seats at the bar. Lisa and I are not very tall, and I often have comfort issues with high stools, but these felt fine and we were okay perched on the stools during our meal.

On one wall of the restaurant are shoe lasts that double as coat hooks. I wonder who designed the installation – probably not someone as short as Lisa and me. When I went to hang up our coats, the lowest hook was taken, and I could only just reach the next lowest one.

After an initial look at the menu, we received some help from one of the staff, who guided us in our ordering. We started with the kitchen’s selection of charcuterie ($21). It was bought to us by a waiter who announced, “I come bearing a plate of meat.”

“You certainly know how to charm,” I replied.

On the plate was a piece of pheasant terrine with spiced prunes, wagyu bresaola with fresh horseradish, proscuitto and… what’s that fourth thing? The memory is weak… The only thing that I didn’t like on the plate was the spiced prunes (when normally I like prunes). I found the flavour of them a tad strange with the terrine.

Next we had the baked gnocchi with tallegio and white truffle oil ($15). This was served piping hot, with the big fluffy gnocchi covered in the rich cheese. I loved this!

We were advised to go for a second lighter option, as the gnocchi was quite heavy (although, truthfully, it was so delicious that I would have had no problem finishing it by myself!). Our second dish was the cracked wheat and freekeh salad with barberries and preserved lemon, toasted almonds, shredded parsley and labneh ($12). This was delightfully nutty and fresh.

And over coffees, we had 2 madelines with lemon curd ($2.50 each). Lisa and I debated on the correct pronunciation of “madeline” (mad-e-lean? mad-e-line?) and ended up saying it incorrectly anyway. The madelines are freshly made to order, so they took a little time to arrive, but the wait was well worth it. They were warm, dusted with icing sugar, and filled with lemon curd and were a sweet little ending to our meal.

After such a lovely lunch, I very regretfully headed back to work. It’s fortunate I don’t have lunches like this every day – I would never get any work done in the afternoon!

Cumulus Inc
45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
(03) 9650 1445

September 27, 2008

A series of brunches: Auction Rooms, Orange and Café Plum (closed)

Agnes breakfast/brunch, cafe, eating out, north melbourne, suburb, windsor

Auction Rooms
103-107 Errol Street, North Melbourne
Phone: 9326 7749

Claire highly recommended Auction Rooms, so a couple of weekends ago we went there for brunch. It’s a large, impressive space, all wooden beams, eclecticness and hipsters, and was very busy and bustling when we arrived.

After a look at the brief menu, I decided on the chorizo open sanga – a panfried chorizo with roasted red capsicum, mushroom paste and apple sauce on toasted sourdough with rocket salad ($13). I would’ve liked to have had a spicier chorizo, but I was happy with my brunch. The apple chunks were interesting – at first I couldn’t figure out what they were. I thought they may have been pineapple due to the sweetness and appearance, but they also tasted very gingery.

Bro had the beans with bacon – Italian slow cooked baked beans, sage, basil, and rosemary infused olive oil served with sourdough toast ($11 without bacon, $13.50 with bacon).

And Alastair had the opening bid – poached eggs, roasted cherry tomatoes, bacon and spinach on sourdough toast ($15).

Coffees were very, very good. I don’t have sugar in mine, but nevertheless I adored the little soup cans on the table that the sugar sat in. Bro was a bit grossed out at them (the cans did look a little rusty around the top…) but they were very, very cute and totally fit the aesthetic of the place.

Orange
124-126 Chapel St, Windsor
Phone: 9529 1644

A few weekends ago, Alastair and I made an unusual trip south of the river to have brunch with a friend in Windsor. We do tend to stick to our part of town – not because we’re north of the river snobs – the truth is that we’re just lazy!

My short mac came with a little jug of extra milk. How cute!

Whenever I see items on a brunch menu that’s a bit different to eggs on toast, I tend to gravitate towards them. Which is how I ended up with a grilled kipper with horseradish butter, with a poached egg on sour dough toast ($15). It was a touch salty, and I thought it was a bit expensive, but apart from that I was pleased with it. The watercress was lemony and great with the kipper.

Alastair had the omelette with corn, coriander, chilli, and guacamole ($13.50). I’m sure he didn’t care, but I was pleased to see that it was a proper omelette (I don’t like open faced omelettes and don’t consider them worthy of stomach space).

Cafe Plum
193 Flemington Rd, North Melbourne 3051
Ph: (03) 9329 8867

And of course, it wouldn’t be a good brunch post without a couple of brunches at our favourite café!

During a visit several weeks ago, there was a new item on the specials board – black sticky rice with caramelised banana, surrounded by a pool of coconut milk. Alastair ordered this for brunch, and a damn good choice it was! Sweet and fragrant with chewy glutinous texture, it’s not the kind of thing that I would ever think to have for brunch, but it was delicious.

I had a roti wrap filled with scrambled eggs, potatoes and bacon. Yuuuummm… the roti was crispy and jam packed with filling.

And Bro had a HUGE serve of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, and a bit of chilli oil/sauce on top.

On a different occasion, we arrived at Cafe Plum a bit later than usual, so we all ordered lunch. Bro had herby chicken meat balls with linguine ($16.50).

And Alastair and I had shepherd’s pie with a rocket salad ($15.90). Underneath the creamy mashed potato were chunks of tender meat and vege in a tasty sauce. The rocket was good too – just the right amount of peppery bitterness.

Previous visits to Cafe Plum can be found here.

September 14, 2008

Arcadia Gastronomique

Agnes ascot vale, cuisine, dinner, eating out, french, restaurant, suburb

Oh, my friends. On Wednesday I was struck down with the lergy that has been plaguing my office and I have been ILL. I’ve spent a couple of days in a snotty, feverish haze and even today I’m still leaving masses of used tissues in my wake. My head has been so foggy that thinking has been difficult and my taste buds have gone on strike. This Friday I spent on the couch watching a crappy chick flick (the most taxing thing that my poor overheated brain could take), but on a previous Friday, Alastair and I went out to dinner.

We went to Arcadia Gastronomique, located on Union Road in Ascot Vale. Arcadia is small but nicely fitted out, with the lower walls a dark wood panel, highlighted by a deep emerald green on the top. It felt very calm and serene – lovely for a quiet dinner for two.

We shared a starter of middle eastern spiced tiger prawns, served sizzling with garlic ($15) and some bread ($6.50). The prawns had some lovely flavour from the spices, but was let down because of a lack of salt (it didn’t taste like there was any, to be honest). As there wasn’t any salt on the table it wasn’t easily rectified. Anyhoo, it wasn’t that big a deal and fortunately our mains didn’t have seasoning issues.

After the prawns, Alastair and I both had seafood mains. We obviously hadn’t thought about our food choices very carefully!

I had the ragout of mixed seafood braised in a sauvignon velouté with soft herbs, served in a case of puff pastry ($25). Pretty good. Creamy seafood, crispy puff pastry… Yum.

Alastair had the seafood linguini, which came with wild olives, spinach, prawns, calamari, shellfish, and mussels tossed in a lemon olive oil emulsion ($24). It was rather good – the fresh pasta was toothsome and the whole thing was tied together with the tangy oil.

And for dessert, we shared the flourless chocolate slice, with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream ($9.90). It was served warm and was a slice of chocolatety goodness.

Reasonable prices, and a nice setting made for a good evening out. I can’t wait for my sense of taste to return so I can enjoy eating again!

Arcadia Gastronomique
152 Union Road,
Ascot Vale
Phone : 03 9375 2751

September 5, 2008

Tonik

Agnes cuisine, dinner, eating out, kensington, pub grub, restaurant, suburb

The other weekend we headed to Tonik with our regular dining pals, Benisa (Ben + Lisa) plus Nathan. Tonik is a bar located in Kensington Village, which does some rather good food. It feels very cosy inside, with couches and an open fire place on one side of the room and tables on the other. At the back is the bar, along with a staircase that leads upstairs where more tables are located.

We started with the Tonik Tasting Plate – “a selection of delicately prepared morsels designed to share” ($12.50 per person with a minimum of 2 people). Menu descriptions makes me chortle sometimes! Anyhoo, sometimes when I order a “tasting plate” I get disappointed because what comes out is mostly dips and bread. This wasn’t the case with this one! I was quite impressed by what we received. There were two little cups of a curried lentil soup, two beef skewers, polenta chips, calamari, roasted mushrooms, pita bread and tzatziki. The calamari, polenta chips and mushrooms were particularly good.

For mains, Ben and I both had the potato gnocchi covered in a creamy blue cheese and broccoli sauce finished with rocket and toasted walnuts ($17.90). I’ve been in a gnocchi mood lately – and the gnocchi at Tonik were pretty good. It was a mild blue cheese sauce, creamy and rather tasty. But I got a bit tired of the rocket after a while, it was fairly bitter and I had loads!

Alastair had the other gnocchi option – the pork and veal meatballs, cooked in a spicy tomato ragout ($17.90). It’s hard to go wrong with meatballs in a tomato sauce!

Lisa had the chicken mushroom, leek & juniper berry ‘pot pie’ with sour cream flaky pastry and iceberg salad ($21.00). Lisa’s meal was massive – almost bigger than her!

After our meals, Alastair and I shared a dessert. I know how much he loves sticky date pudding, so that’s what we had, a big slab of it sitting in butterscotch sauce ($10.50). I let him eat most of it.

Benisa shared the self saucing chocolate pudding laced with brandy and accompanied with ice cream and fresh cream ($10.50). It looked super pleasingly gooey inside.

During the week, Tonik does some bargain dinners. On Mondays there’s $6 pizzas, and Wednesdays is steak and a beer for $12. I can recommend the steak and beer evening – it’s a good, inexpensive way of celebrating the middle of the working week.

Tonik
524 Macaulay Road
Kensington
Phone: (03) 9376 9928

September 2, 2008

Montezuma’s

Agnes cuisine, dinner, eating out, mexican, restaurant, richmond, suburb

A couple of weeks ago, through the power of the internets, a high school friend of Alastair’s got in contact. Alastair hadn’t seen or spoken to this person for over ten years, but when we found out he was visiting Melbourne, we caught up with him over dinner.

He picked Montezumas on Bridge Road so we headed there for some probably not very authentic Mexican food.

After looking at the menu, I opted for something I’d never eaten before – the Mole Pablano ($18.95). The menu said that it was a centuries old chicken dish which was invented by nuns of Puebla for the Bishop’s visit. It was served with a spicy-ish sauce that contained 32 herbs and spices, rice, and coconut covered banana and pineapple.

When it arrived the fruit had me stumped. I wasn’t sure about how to eat it – was I supposed to eat the banana and pineapple with the chicken? Should I keep the fruit separate and eat it after finishing the savoury stuff? Was it wrong for me to be confused? Was it obvious? Do I have enough questions in this paragraph? I don’t think so? Back to the food – I tried some of the chicken with the banana and pineapple, but ended up leaving the fruit behind and eating it afterwards. I have no idea what a good mole pablano should taste like, but I enjoyed it. The meat was tender, and the sauce was rich and smooth, with a hint of heat.

Alastair had the Gringo ($19.95) a platter with a beef enchilada, beef burrito and rice. It’s a bit hard to tell from this photo, but it was a massive serve.

Bro had one of the combination platters ($17.95), which came with chilli con carne, chicken taco, chicken and sour cream enchilada and rice.

Montezuma’s was fairly cheap and cheerful. It was an unassuming place, with large serves, and a casual atmosphere – good for a low key catch up. It was just a shame it was a school night, it would’ve been fun to kick back with beer or margaritas!

Montezuma’s
464 Bridge Road, Richmond
Tel: 03 9429 7133

August 27, 2008

Nudel Bar and Society: Ladies who Lunch

Agnes cuisine, eating out, italian, ladies who lunch, lunch, melbourne, suburb

This is a double edition of ladies who lunch – I had the pleasure of having two lunches with two friends in the same week.

Jo and I went to Nudel Bar for a long over due catch up. It was a cold, wintry day, and I felt like something warm and soupy. So I ordered the Tom Yum soup ($19.80) – it was packed with egg noodles, a slurpable, spicy, sour broth, and lots of seafood (mussels and squid).

It was a very large serve, and if I hadn’t eaten all of it I would’ve been tempted by dessert. There was a chocolate cake that the waiter described in persuasive detail that sounded wonderful.

Nudel Bar
76 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9662 9100

The next day I met up with Emily and her daughter, Audrey, for a lunch at Society. It was much posher inside than it appeared from the outside (all the yellow outside threw me off), but they were okay with a pram being pushed through the restaurant.

We were given bread and oil, along with the tastiest olives I’ve eaten in ages. I had a baby on my lap at the time, so I didn’t manage to take photos.

Society do an express lunch during lunch time – for $20 you get a plate of food (from a shortened menu), a glass of wine and a coffee. Good value!

I opted for something off the main menu – a small serving of potato gnocchi with slow-cooked beef ragu & fresh shaved black truffle ($18 / $28). The little gnocchi were light and the sauce was rich and plate lickingly good.

Emily had something off the Express menu – a pear and blue cheese salad. You can see Audrey’s hand (on the right) picking up a piece of blue cheese. It appears that kid has good taste already!

Two lovely lunches with two lovely ladies in one week – it was a rare treat and very much enjoyed.

Society Restaurant
23 Bourke St, Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9639 2544

August 22, 2008

Dai Duong

Agnes chinese, cuisine, dumpling/yum cha, eating out, footscray, lunch, restaurant, suburb

On the Sunday of my Bro’s birthday weekend, we went to yum cha. He woke up feeling a bit nauseous (hung over), but when I suggested that we reschedule yum cha, he bravely said that he would eat through the pain.

What a trooper!

When it comes to yum cha, we used to go to Golf Leaf in Sunshine. One day, on a whim, we tried Dai Duong because it was closer to home. Not only is it closer, but the restaurant is huge, so there’s no problem getting a table. Food comes out incredibly quickly, particularly if you get there early, and within five minutes of sitting down, our table is normally full of dim sum.

These photos aren’t actually from our last visit, but we usually eat the same things whenever we have yum cha anyway.

Chicken feet/fung jiao is my Bro’s favourite. We always get two, one basket for him, and one for everyone else.

The prawn dumplings/har gow are pretty good.

Pork dumplings/sui mai – steamed dumplings with a pork filling in a wonton skin. Actually, I don’t know why I always get these. I don’t like them that much, and I could use the stomach space for other things!

Probably my favourite (apart from the egg tarts) – lou mai gai/chicken and sticky rice wrapped in a lotus leaf.

Deep fried goodness! These taro dumplings / wu gok have a wrapper made from mashed taro, and a savoury filling (pork and other assorted ingredients) inside. I really enjoy the crispy, flakey outside.

Another one of my Bro’s favourites – deep fried crescent dumplins / ham sui gok. These have a similar filling to the taro dumplings, but the wrapper is made with glutinous rice.

Shrimp rice noodle rolls/cheong fun. I’m surprised to see that we got the shrimp ones for a change. I think they didn’t have the beef (which I prefer).

Dessert tofu / dou fu fa – the tofu is pretty silky, but I thought that the sugar syrup could use a little more sweetness and ginger.

And finally, yum cha isn’t over until I’ve had an egg tart. It doesn’t matter how full I am, I can always fit at least one in!

The prices are fairly standard and range from $4.20 – $6.20 for a standard to a deluxe dish.

Dai Duong Restaurant
Shop 5/ 64 Hopkins St
Footscray
Phone: (03) 9689 9899

August 19, 2008

Gills Diner

Agnes cuisine, dinner, eating out, italian, melbourne, restaurant, suburb

Groin grabbingly good! – Ben

To continue the celebration of my Bro’s birthday weekend, we headed to Gills Diner last Saturday night with a few of his friends. The quote above is from our pal, Ben, who requested that I post it on my blog sometime. He is a very articulate man indeed.

Gills Diner is a warehousish space which has been described as part school room. I got the school vibe while there, probably due to the wooden chairs, wooden tables, and school style heaters. Unlike school however, Gills is hippity, hip, hip.

The menu is on a large blackboard on the back wall. It’s cooler and funkier than having a paper menu, but a bit problematic if you have bad eyes (like me). We were seated just far away for it to become difficult to read after a glass (or two or three) of wine.

We were advised not to order a main and a starter each, so we got four starters to share between the nine of us.

The first one was the farmhouse terrine with chutney ($15). It was delicious, but I’m glad that we were sharing. It was a rather large slice!

We also had a plate of antipasto ($22). On the plate was little fried fish (anchovies? whitebait?), pickled vegetables, bread with pate, slices of a rolled up chicken thing with stuff in the middle, and fried cheese. Crumbed, deep fried cheese! Crispy but gooey, it was the best thing on the plate just due to the fact that it was fried cheese.

And we got two plates of one of the specials – chorizo and calamari. It was pretty simple, but good.

Bro had the roasted quail with saffron gnocchi ($25). All those peas looked a bit scary but it was a good dish.

Alastair had the rabbit saddle, prosciutto rolled and stuffed with walnuts and dates on chickpea stew ($33).

And I had the risotto with porcini and forest mushrooms and tallegio ($23). Oh, yum. I tried four other mains (we rotated our plates so we could have a taste of what everyone was eating!) and I thought that I had ordered the best dish. I was happy when it made its way back to me! The mushrooms gave the risotto an earthy flavour, and the rice had the right amount of “bite”. The buttery tallegio was delicious, particularly where it had melted into the risotto.

And finally, Lisa and I had to have dessert. We had been eyeing up the churros with chocolate ($10) the whole night. Unfortunately, for me, it turned out to be a disappointment. There was no mention of it on the menu, but the chocolate was flavoured with orange. Ew!! Personally, I think that chocolate and orange should stay as far away from each other as possible. Down to chocolate and orange! I couldn’t even eat the churros on their own, because they didn’t taste right without chocolate on them. Boo. Fortunately, Alastair doesn’t have choc/orange issues, so he happily finished off the churros, despite being “too full for dessert”.

Even though I had my issue with the churros and chocolate, we had a really good night. I enjoyed the food and atmosphere and would happily go back. Maybe no churros next time though!

Gills Diner
Gills Alley (rear of 360 Little Collins St)
Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9670 7214

August 11, 2008

Blush Foodroom (closed) – Happy Birthday, Bro!

Agnes cuisine, dinner, eating out, kensington, mod aus, restaurant, siblings who dine/lunch, suburb

It was Bro’s birthday on Friday – 08/08. How lovely that the Olympics were scheduled especially to celebrate his birthday!

On Friday night, we went to Blush Foodroom to kick off the eating weekend. Blush is located on a corner, in a cottage that was once a milk bar. Nowadays, it’s a split-level restaurant that also does a busy trade during weekend brunch time.

You may notice a strange blue twinge in my photos – it’s from a blue light that was outside the window.

Alastair and I started off with the pork belly – twice cooked, served on a ginger and apple puree, with sesame seeds, spring onion and snow pea salad ($16.90). The pork belly was lovely and tender – initially I thought it was a tad salty, but it was just right when eaten with a bit of apple puree. The best part was the piece of crackling – like a salty pork chip! Yum!

Pat had one of the specials – pea and ham soup served with a dijon crouton. I have a wee issue with peas (I don’t like them) so I didn’t have a taste.

For mains, I had the Moroccan braised veal shanks on saffron mash, roasted baby root vegetables and served with a red peppercorn sauce ($31.90). Wow, this was huge! I found the meat very tender, but lacking in flavour. I would’ve liked a bit more oomph, particularly for something that was “Moroccan braised”. At least the mash was smooth and creamy.

Pat and Alastair had the herb and garlic crusted lamb rump with dauphinois potatoes, orange and thyme braised fennel and crispy prosciutto served with a port wine jus ($31.90).

And then, dessert. We all had separate ones (must have been feeling greedy that night). Alastair had the sticky date pudding ($13.50). The Boys decided that sticky date pudding is the best dessert – I don’t know if I agree with that assertion. I think creme brulee might be a winner for me. But Alastair’s sticky date pudding looked pretty good, particularly with the slowly melting ice cream….

Bro had the cheesecake ($11.90) – on the menu it was raspberry and vanilla, but he was advised that it was unavailable and it was substituted with a Bailey’s version instead. It came with coffee bean syrup and caramelised banana.

I had a chocolate and macadamia nut mousse with strawberry sauce and white chocolate ice cream ($12.90). The mousse was rich and smooth and I even enjoyed the ice cream, despite my general dislike of white chocolate. I also loved the crunchy chopped macadamia on top of the mousse too.

We spent the rest of the weekend eating. Stay tuned for more birthday eating adventures!

Blush Foodroom
43 Epsom Rd
Kensington 3031 VIC
Phone: (03) 9376 1222

August 2, 2008

Fräus Crêpes & Chocolat

Agnes breakfast/brunch, cafe, eating out, north melbourne, suburb

On a chilly Sunday, Alastair and I headed out for brunch and came across Fräus. Fräus specialises in chocolate and crepes – both good things!

It was busy when we walked in, and as all the inside tables were taken, we were given the option of sitting in the back courtyard. It was FREEZING outside, but we were persuaded by their offer to turn on the outside heaters.

So we headed out the back, strategically choosing a table as close to the gas patio heaters as possible! True to their word, a staff member followed soon after to switch on the heat. Unfortunately he had a bit of trouble lighting the heaters, so we sat in the cold for ten minutes while he tried to figure it out.

When we first sat down out the back, I was slightly concerned that we would be forgotten about, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that service was very prompt and attentive. All the staff were lovely by the way – very sweet and charming. It was all very endearing.

There’s about 20 different varieties of hot chocolate on the menu, and as it was so cold, I ordered a dark hot chocolate ($4.00 for a cup, $4.50 for a mug). Stupidly (greedily?) I asked for a mug. I should’ve just had a cup. The hot chocolate was soooooo thick, like eating a warm chocolate pudding. It was delicious and decadent, but there was no way I was going to be able to finish it. I think I gave myself a chocolate headache trying!

For his meal, Alastair had the salmon benedict galette ($15). It had two eggs, smoked salmon, and baby spinach in a thin buckwheat crepe with hollandaise sauce on the side.

After examining all the savoury options, I decided on the kransky galette ($12.50) – kransky sausage, mushrooms, tomato, onions and cheese in a thin crepe with tomato sauce on the side.

The night before we had spent the evening with friends drinking wine (brandy may have also made an appearance). I wasn’t hung over, but I was craving something unhealthy and fatty and this was perfect. The kransky was so tasty. Yuuuuuum.

I had optimistically mentioned to Alastair that we could have a sweet crepe after our meals. But I found that my galette was very filling, and combined with the hot chocolate, there was no room in my stomach for anything else. Oh well! Guess we’ll have to return in the future to try one.

Fräus Crêpes & Chocolat
345 Victoria Street
North Melbourne VIC 3051
AUSTRALIA

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