melbourne

March 28, 2010

Collins Kitchen, Grand Hyatt: food bloggers dinner

Agnes bloggers banquet, cuisine, dinner, eating out, melbourne, mod aus, restaurant, suburb

Last MONTH (I cannot believe how behind I am!) I had the pleasure of attending a food bloggers dinner hosted by Nuffnang at Collins Kitchen, Grand Hyatt.

You can read other recaps of the dinner at:

Nuffnang
Food Rehab
Half Eaten
Hot or Not
The Gourmet Challenge
Addictive and consuming
I eat therefore I am
Iron Chef Shellie
EssJay Eats

We started with a tour of the kitchen, which might sound dull to non food lovers, but to a whole gaggle of food bloggers, a kitchen tour is a VERY EXCITING THING (yes, so exciting it deserves caps!). The kitchen is open to guests, so people eating at Collins Kitchen can go for a wander and watch the chefs at work at the five cooking stations – sushi, deli, wok, grill and patisserie.

We oohed and ahhed at the fresh ingredients on display, the sexy red meat cutting machine in the deli section, and all the super shiny clean surfaces. Whoever cleans that kitchen – please come and clean mine!

In the wok section, there were two turbo jet wok burners. When they turned on, they sounded like a jet taking off. I didn’t take a photo of them because I was transfixed with a serious case of lust over the burners – I WANT.

There was also a steaming station for fresh dim sum with artfully arranged steamer lids. I wonder who has the job of arranging items in the kitchen in an attractive way?

And now for some food pics! We started with a sushi/sashimi platter. It was all very fresh and good. The fresh wasabi was amazing.

And you can bet that I totally ninjaed the unagi – yum!

Next up was the antipasto platter with rockmelon, prosciutto, liverwurst, mini gherkins, deli meats, roasted vegetables, and tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella and basil. I didn’t try everything on this platter, but the liverwurst was fantastic, all smooth and rich.

The tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella and basil were also very good.

Next was a tomato, olive and basil foccacia, very so cheesey and soft. I restrained myself to only one piece because I knew there was lots more to come.

Moving along, we received a plate of Asian roast meats with roast pork, roast duck, soy sauce chicken and char siu. I only tried the crispy pork and char siu, but from other reports I should have tried the chicken as well! I thought the crispy pork and char siu weren’t bad, though the crispy pork could’ve been crispier.

There were sauces to go with the roast meats – plum sauce, chilli sauce and a ginger and spring onion one.

As well as a plate of Asian vegetables, which I didn’t eat because I was trying to keep some stomach space spare.

With the roast meats, there was also received a plate of fried rice. The rice was fine, and this is probably just me, but I would normally never eat fried rice with other dishes. To me, fried rice is a meal in itself. So I was kind of wanting plain rice with the roast meats….!

And now for the big guns…. this was the grainfed porterhouse steak, which had been aged for 30 days on the bone, and grilled to medium rare. This was some gorgeous steak, tender and full of flavour.

The steak was served with creamy, buttery, mashed potato, very tasty mushrooms, broccolini and a couple of sauces – a red wine reduction and bernaise.

And finally to end the savoury courses, there was also a mixed seafood platter with grilled scallops, salmon, tuna, Moreton Bay Bugs and large prawns. The sweet, plump scallops were a highlight, as were the Moreton Bay Bugs.

For dessert, a gorgeous looking dessert platter came out. On the platter was a banana millefeuille, chocolate fondant, and various flavours of ice cream – pistachio, passionfruit, strawberry and vanilla. The pastry in the millefeuille was particularly good, and I adored the pistachio the most out of all the ice cream flavours.

And on the other side was a rhubarb crumble with custard and peach melba. I actually thought the peach melba was a pannacotta until I dipped my spoon into it and found it very runny. No one seemed particularly enthused about the peach melba, poor little dessert! Too retro for us??

As you can see, there was a lot of food! The only part that was a bit disconcerting was jumping from one cuisine to another to another, but I realise that was so we experienced a cross selection of dishes on the menu. And I soon got over the cuisine changes once the plates of food were placed in front of me. 😉 It was fantastic to spend the night chatting to fellow food bloggers, so a big thanks to Nuffnang and the Grand Hyatt for the evening!

Disclosure: I dined courtesy of the Grand Hyatt and Nuffnang.

Collins Kitchen, Grand Hyatt
123 Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: (03) 9657 1234

March 24, 2010

Beer DeLuxe: Shinobi Japanese Secret Beer Garden

Agnes cuisine, japanese, melbourne, suburb

Shinobi Japanese beer garden at Beer DeLuxe

In support of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, Beer DeLuxe at Fed Square have set up a Japanese “secret” beer garden with a special menu and beers imported from Japan.

When I received an email inviting me to check it out, I was sold at Japanese beer garden. I took Alastair along with me to have a look, and we walked in from the Flinders Street entrance. The outdoor area facing Flinders Street has been modified with a structure of bamboo screens and a noren curtain. Past the curtain, is a courtyard, with an outdoor bar to one side and tables and chairs on the other. It made me wonder where the secret part came in.

We met up with Janis from Beer DeLuxe, who took us on a quick walk around. It turns out that apart from the entrance and the outside bar, there was a small part hidden off to one side, behind white Japanese curtains – ahh I got the secret part then! We were told that it was modelled on a Japanese tea garden, and it was much quieter than the rest of the bar.

I particularly liked the lanterns hanging up in the area, which were surrounded by hand folded paper cranes. Cute!

After our little tour, it was time for food. Quentin, the chef, came out and we had an enjoyable discussion about the menu and the simplicity and flavours of Japanese food, and the importance of presentation. A big thanks to Quentin for taking time out from his evening to chat to us.

This was the gyu tataki – very lightly seared eye fillet with citrus ponzu dressing and a small smattering of Japanese chilli flakes. The quality of the meat was evident – there was nothing to hide behind in this dish. The meat was very rare, very tender and delicious. I could have eaten buckets of this!

We tried the gyuniku negimaki, which were thin slices of grilled eye fillet wrapped around spring onions in teriyaki sauce. I loved the crunch of the spring onions with the meat.

Another item I really liked were the skewers of grilled salmon coated with a mixture of teriyaki and yakitori sauce. The salmon was good, perfectly cooked, with the subtle sauce not masking the flavour of the fish. Behind the salmon we had some crunchy seaweed salad.

We also tried the karaage, little tender and moist pieces of fried chicken which had been marinated with soy, garlic and ginger and then deep fried. You can’t go wrong with fried chicken, no you can’t.

We had the opportunity to taste a couple of the beers available as part of the Japanese beer garden. One was the Temple Soba ale, which is made with toasted buckwheat! Did you know that Australia is apparently the third largest producer of buckwheat? The buckwheat gave the beer an interesting nutty aroma. We also tried the Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale, which I seem to recall being told that it was made with rice (someone correct me if I’m wrong!). This was particularly interesting, ever so slightly fruity and very drinkable.

Not that we got sick of beer, but if we had, we could have moved on to these Japanese soft drinks. Alastair loves these because the bottles use marbles as a plug – such a gimmick (but I must admit it’s very cool).

Alternatively, we could have hit the cocktail list. One we tried was the Ginger Ninja, which was made with jasmine tea infused with 42Below Vodka, sake, cucumber and ginger beer. This was very sweet – possibly a bit too sweet – although I did like the cucumber that came through at the end.

Speaking of sweet, when we were chatting to Quentin, he recommended dessert – which turned out to be mochi ice cream.

Have I mentioned how much I love mochi before? My mochi love also extends to mochi ice cream, which is a small ball of ice cream surrounded by a thin layer of chewy mochi. (You can also buy these at Asian grocery stores around the city.)

As we were eating the mochi ice cream, one of the staff members folded an origami flower. Isn’t it gorgeous? I was so impressed that I had to take it home and it’s now sitting on my book shelf.

And finally, just before we left, Alastair and I both chose a fortune paper. As we were leaving we tied our fortunes on to the robes hanging by the entrance. I can’t recall what my fortune said now, but hopefully it said something about a long life filled with love, good food and many more trips back to Japan. 😉

It’s a shame that the structure is being taken down at the end of March, but I’m glad I got to see it and try some of the food and beer. A huge thanks to Janis for taking time out from her evening to show us around and chat with us.

Disclosure: Our food and drinks were courtesy of Beer DeLuxe.

Shinobi Japanese Secret Beer Garden at Beer DeLuxe
Federation Square,
Cnr Swanston & Flinders Street,
Melbourne.
Times & Dates: 12 noon – 11:45pm, daily until Sunday, 28 March 2010.
Telephone: 03 9663 0166

October 8, 2009

Horoki: lunch

Agnes cuisine, eating out, japanese, lunch, melbourne, suburb

Note: This is a scheduled post. Alastair and I are still in Japan and will be off to HK in the next couple of days!

At my old job, JC (a colleague) and I would tally up favours that we would do for each other. We would mark up the favours on a whiteboard, and from the beginning I was waaaaaaaaaay out in front.

JC offered to take me to lunch before I left work. I’m sure it was a way to equalise the favours board but I never say no to a lunch!

We went to Horoki. During lunchtime, they do a lunch platter for $13.90. You choose rice or bread, and then you pick three items off a list of about ten items. For an extra $2 you can also have a bowl of miso soup.

I choose….

The tuna and tofu salad – discs of lovely soft tofu, flaked tuna and salad. I loved the dressing on top – a sweetish, nutty, sesame sauce.

The mini scotch fillet steak with onion sauce. Some tender beef and a bit of green!

And the salmon and spinach croquettes – deep fried mashed potato with salmon and spinach.

I think it’s a great value lunch. Even though the servings of the three items are small, it’s just the right amount for lunch. Everything is tasty and beautifully presented.

Read about a previous visit to Horoki here

Horoki
19 Liverpool St
Melbourne 3000
Phone: 9663 2227

October 2, 2009

Horoki: Dinner

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

Note: This is a scheduled post, Alastair and I are currently eating our way through Japan!

A couple of weeks ago, Alastair and I had dinner with Maria and Daz at Horoki. We ordered several dishes to share.

The first item out was a sashimi and daikon salad. The salad consisted of finely shredded daikon, salad, shredded seaweed, cherry tomatoes, fish roe and soy based dressing. Around the sides of the salad was several pieces of sashimi. The salad was great – crispy, salty, and fresh. I particularly loved the bursts of salty flavour that the seaweed provided.

Next was octopus in garlic butter. This was served with bread – perfect for soaking up all that garlicky buttery goodness!

We ordered four stuffed chicken wings (styled by Maria!). The wings had been deboned and stuffed with leeks (?) and… I forget what else! I do remember that they were juicy and delicious.

This isn’t something that I normally would have ordered, but I’m glad that Maria and Daz did! This is the Teriyaki chicken pizza. The thin crispy base was topped with cheese, teriyaki chicken, seaweed and spring onions.

We ordered two serves of the soft shell crab. Goodness knows what has happened with the photo! The soft shell crab had been battered, deep fried and was served with a lemon mayonnaise. We knew when we ordered that we would enjoy it – hence the two serves – and it met our expectations. Yum.

And last came the roast duck and eggplant – slices of roast duck laid out on slices of eggplant and in a dark plumish(?) type sauce.

I really like the food at Horoki and thoroughly enjoyed dinner.

Read about a previous visit to Horoki here

Horoki
19 Liverpool St
Melbourne 3000
Phone: 9663 2227

June 25, 2009

Gills Diner: Ladies who lunch

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

It’s been a long time between Ladies Lunches. Last month I caught up with my friend Emily for a spontaneous lunch. We met at Journal Canteen, but unfortunately it was chock-a-block when we arrived, so we wandered up to Gills Diner instead.

And what a good idea that was! We had a wonderful lunch.

(Excuse the exceptionally shit phone camera pics. Just try and think of the strange blurry, smudgy parts as “artistic”.)

I had one of the specials – a very wintery dish of braised ox tail and mashed potato. I must’ve zoned out when the waiter was describing the dish to me because I thought he said ox tail and grilled cheek. But I’m pretty sure that grilled reddish thing was tongue. Either way, it was very good – all tender meat and dark, savoury sauce.

Em and I shared dessert: lemon delicious pudding with vanilla ice cream. We were warned that it would take 15 minutes to make – and oh boy was it worth the wait. The pudding was divine! The top was a delicate lemon sponge, and underneath the sponge was a tangy lemon sauce. The ice cream was also delicious and flecked with vanilla seeds. We savoured dessert right to the last spoonful and I had a touch of regret that we hadn’t ordered one each!

See a previous visit to Gills Diner here.

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

May 16, 2009

Work lunches: Mrs Parma’s

Agnes cuisine, eating out, lunch, melbourne, pub grub, restaurant, suburb, work lunch

Oh hai! I’ve been very quiet on the food blogging front. If you’ve guessed it’s because I haven’t been doing much cooking since mum and dad arrived – you would be correct!

(How has it been? It has been fan-fricken-tastic. I haven’t been this spoilt since… well, since the last time they came for a visit!)

So even though I haven’t been cooking I thought I’d put up a little post about a lunch I had with colleagues recently.

We used to have a weekly Friday lunch club at work. One person in particular had the duty of organising the Friday lunches, and when he left the weekly lunches stopped. Not too long ago, we found a volunteer happy to take over the lunch organising duties, and the inaugural Friday Lunch Club 2.0 was held at Mrs Parma’s.

While there are a few other options on the menu, if you don’t like parmas, this is not the place for you! Mrs Parma’s is all about parmas and beer. The website states that it is Melbourne’s first and only bar/bistro that specialises in parmagianas and Victorian micro brewery beers.

With the parmas, first you choose a base: chicken, veal or eggplant. Next, you choose a topping. You could go the original route (ham, Napoli and cheese) or go for something a bit different like the Greek (olive, onion, tomato & feta salsa) or pumpkin (roasted pumpkin, feta cheese and caramelised onions).

I choose a Mexican chicken parma, topped with tomato salsa, sour cream, guacamole and jalapenos – I can’t resist jalapenos and sour cream! Chips and salad were bought out in separate bowls to share amongst the table. Reading other reviews online, I see that you can ask for a top up of chips for no extra charge.

And the verdict? It was pretty good. The chicken was moist, and not too oily, and I enjoyed it with the jalapenos and sour cream. While it wasn’t the best parma out there, and definitely not one to win over a parma purist, I enjoyed it. I thought it was good that the chips and salad were shared amongst the table, as the parmas were so large that we didn’t finish the sides off anyway. It was a good Friday lunch club choice!

Mum and dad are off home next weekend (gulp), so I’ll be getting back into the cooking grove shortly. Think I’ll be starting off Soup Sundays again!

Mrs Parma’s
25 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne Victoria
Phone : (03) 9639 2269

February 18, 2009

Maha: siblings who lunch

Agnes cuisine, eating out, lunch, melbourne, middle eastern, siblings who dine/lunch, suburb

On the Friday before Australia Day, Bro took the day off, so we organised to have lunch in the city. Rather than going for cheap Asian again (like the other lunches we’d had recently), we went down to Maha Bar & Grill.

After looking at the rather awkwardly sized lunch menu we decided to go for a soufra (banquet). There are 3 options available – two courses for $35, three courses for $40 and four courses for $45. We decided that we didn’t want dessert and choose the two course option.

Not too long after we had ordered, the first course came out on a wooden board. On the board there was a selection of mezze: marinated olives, char grilled eggplant, warm and crunchy runner beans, rather good hummus, cucumber topped with harissa and a feta-ish cheese, a carrot salad, and pita bread.

Everything was really tasty, and I particularly liked the cucumber – it was a great way of serving a mostly disinteresting vegetable! Almost everything can be jazzed up with spiciness and cheese!

We didn’t wait long for the second course, which also came out on a wooden board. On the board was butterfish with pinenuts and pomegranante seeds, fattoush, chargrilled lamb mince balls with heirloom tomatoes, capscium dip, cous cous with raisins, and more pita bread.

The smokey, garlicky lamb balls were nicely spiced, charred on the outside, and served quite raw in the middle – the capscium dip complimented them well. I enjoyed the heirloom tomatoes, and since Bro doesn’t like raw tomatoes I got to eat them all!

The butterfish (at the back) was also very good, perfectly cooked and juicy.

Bro and I both really, really enjoyed our lunch. The amount of food was just right and, more importantly, delicious. At lunch it’s particularly good value – at dinner it’s a bit more expensive. Judging by the meal we had though, I’m sure it would still be worth it!

Maha Bar & Grill
21 Bond Street, Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9629 5900

January 14, 2009

Kaneda Japanese Restaurant: Siblings who lunch

Agnes cheap eats, cuisine, eating out, japanese, lunch, melbourne, restaurant, siblings who dine/lunch, suburb

I had my four wisdom teeth out yesterday afternoon. The procedure went fine – it was under a general anaesthetic, so I went to sleep and when I woke up I had four less teeth! In fact, the hardest part was having to fast with no eating after 8am or drinking after 10am. Particularly not drinking – it was HOT yesterday. I must admit that I was naughty and took a few tiny sips of water to wet my mouth after 10am.

Today I’m not feeling too bad. The inside of my mouth is swollen and is a touch uncomfortable. The discomfort is not bad enough for me to take painkillers yet, although I do have some on hand if this changes. I also made soup to get me through the next few days – pumpkin, and beef and vegetable. Soup is okay, but I can’t wait until I can eat normal food again!

Before my surgery, Bro and I had another lunch together. I felt like cheap Asian food again, and we went into the Mid City Arcade on Bourke Street and came across Kaneda Japanese restaurant.

They had a good selection of bento boxes on the menu, so we both selected one.

I had the Unagi Tempura Set, which came with the unagi tempura, sashimi, fried chicken, a spring roll, green salad, miso soup and rice ($13.50). You can’t really go wrong with something deep fried – certainly not with me – and the unagi was great! The batter looks a bit darker than you normally see, but it was still nice and light. And it had that yummy unagi fattiness… mhmmmm….

Bro had the assorted sushi and salmon sashimi set, which came with salmon sashimi, assorted sushi, fried chicken, spring roll, green salad, miso soup and rice ($13.50).

With all the deep fried items it wasn’t a particularly healthy lunch, but it was quick, casual and a reasonable price.

Kaneda Japanese Restaurant
Shop 6
Mid City Arcade
200 Bourke Street
Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9663 8802

January 8, 2009

Japanese ITO Noodle Cafe: Siblings who lunch

Agnes cheap eats, cuisine, eating out, japanese, lunch, melbourne, restaurant, siblings who dine/lunch, suburb

Bro had a day off recently, and came into the city to have lunch with me. We went to ITO Japanese Café on Bourke Street. When we entered I found that the restaurant was somewhat like the Tardis – it seemed much larger on the inside than the exterior suggested!

I choose an item that was on a specials sheet – the steak don set. The set came with miso soup, salad, a side dish and wafu steak on rice ($14.80). Good stuff.

The side dish was strange however – it tasted like it was soaked in tea or like pickled plums. I couldn’t quite place it, but it was oddness. Fortunately everything else hit the spot.

It was a stinking hot day, so I also had a green tea smoothie ($4.80). It was cool and refreshing, with that slight green tea bitterness.

Bro had the Nabeyaki udon which came with prawn, chicken and a raw egg in a hot pot ($12.50). He was sold by the raw egg!

After he finished his meal, Bro then proceeded to demolish everything that was edible on the table – the remainder of my salad, rice, pickles, AND the orange slice on my drink. I do believe he was hungry!

Japanese ITO Noodle Cafe
122 Bourke Street,
Melbourne
Phone 9663 2788

November 23, 2008

Trunk: Ladies who Lunch

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

Lisa came into the city recently and we had a leisurely Friday lunch. We headed down to Trunk, situated in a lovely red brick building that used to be a synagogue. Upon entering, we found there were two menu options – the bar menu, and the dining room menu. Lisa and I had a quick look at both menus and decided that we would eat in the dining room. Some of the options on the bar menu did look tempting though!

We started with salt cod green chilli fritters ($13). They normally come with three fritters, but the waiter wisely asked us if we would like four. Ummm, yes please! They were very nice – a crispy shell and salty, fishy middle.

We then shared two small serves of pasta. This one was the fresh pappardelle with a rabbit and pancetta ragu and green olives ($22/$27.50). The pasta was lovely and toothsome in the way that fresh pasta is, and the rabbit was savoury and tender.

We also shared the saffron gnocchi with cauliflower, gorgonzola and walnuts ($19/$25). The gnocchi was pretty good, with just a touch of gorgonzola. The cauliflower was nicely soft and sweet and the walnuts added a bit of crunch (despite my non-love for walnuts). While the pappardelle was good, I think we both preferred the gnocchi.

For dessert we shared a honey semifreddo with a chocolate Florentine wafer ($13.50). Definitely one for honey lovers, as it had that unmistakeable honey flavour, it was delicious but rather rich. I was very glad that we were sharing!

We finished off with coffees and received a little morsel to have with them.

Sadly, Lisa has now returned to full time work and there’ll be no more lazy weekday lunches for the two of us for a while (I know, how inconsiderate of her!). At least they ended on a good note – we really enjoyed our lunch. Perhaps after work one day we’ll return to sample the pizzas on the bar menu!

Trunk
275 Exhibition Street, Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9663 7994

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