The week in brief: 12 March – 18 March
This week: MFWF express lunches, cocktails, and yum cha.
On Monday it was Labour Day in Melbourne, so we took the opportunity to do another Melbourne Food & Wine Festival express lunch with the usual eating crew.
After an annoyingly indecisive email chain, we eventually decided on No. 35 in the Sofitel. This is the view from the restaurant – not too shabby, huh?
The food was also rather good. This pork croquette was my entree.
Alastair had the lamb shoulder for his main. My main (the fish) isn’t pictured, because it’s not as pretty as Alastair’s.
We both had dessert (I know!). Mine was the coconut, pickled pineapple, lime tapioca and granita, which was really good.
I was pleasantly surprised by the food there. I hadn’t been expecting much. Service was terribly slow at the end though.
After lunch at No. 35 we rested for a couple of hours (actually, I think I may have made us go for a run) before heading out to Brunetti for their Sweet and Sticky event (disclosure – we were invited).
All the tables were already laid out when we arrived. OMG. It was a pretty full on sugary filled evening.
Over several hours, the winemaker from Buller Wines and the Brunetti chocolatier talked us through the eight pairings of fortified wines and chocolates (actually, seven chocolates and one ice cream). I found it quite an interesting event – not everything matched well to my palate, but some did work really well together.
Blog post to come, but check out Eat Play Shop‘s post, who I ended up sitting next to. She figured out who I was when she saw me post on Instagram – hehee.
Wednesday night saw me catch up with Mazzie at Der Raum for Cocktails envelop the senses. More details next week – I’ve already written it up. 🙂
Yesterday, I met up with Haz and Gazman for another express lunch, this time at Matteo’s. This was the best express lunch so far. Everything was delicious and all the portion sizes were very generous. Pictured here is Haz’s entree of salmon, kingfish and tuna tartare.
For dessert, they had a mini tasting plate which consisted of a berry tartlet, chocolate fondant, and nougat parfait (which didn’t really make it into the photo…).
Despite the lack of photos, particularly of the mains (they didn’t look pretty enough to post yet), it was a really good lunch. It was a shame that we couldn’t linger, but we had to leave so they could set up for the next sitting.
And finally, today I went to yum cha at Tao Tao House with Bro and his gf. We ate so much. After we got the bill, I added up all the dishes – we ate fifteen dishes between the three of us. Erm…
What did we eat? Lots of dumplings, chicken feet, tripe, more dumplings. I liked the tripe, but they didn’t have the awesome tendon that I really loved the first time. Disappointment.
We even had (several) desserts. Like the mango pancakes. And custard buns.
And of course, we had an egg tart before we left. 🙂 Check out my previous post on Tao Tao House here.
Notice the lack of cooking this week? Yep, the only cooking I did was today – when I made a big batch of bolognaise sauce for birthday lasagne next week. Oh yes, it’s birthday lasagne time again! Hooray!
Also – the competition to win a signed copy of Bill Granger’s latest cookbook will close next Saturday. Gotta be in it to win it. 🙂
EatPlayShop
March 19, 2012 @ 12:25 am
Hehe, so cool to have met you, via my instagram feed no less! Took me a while to recover from all the sweet and sticky goodness! Looks like you’ve had a fab week with all the interesting meals, looking forward to pics of your birthday lasagne next week!
Agnes
April 4, 2012 @ 9:18 pm
It was lovely to meet you – next time we won’t need instagram to recognise each other 😀
April
March 19, 2012 @ 1:16 pm
I love that I already know what goes on in your week from stalking you on Instagram *freaky stalkerish eyes* MUAHAHA
Ok, I have to say I’m joking for the sake of everyone else who is reading so they don’t think I’m a psycho. You already know I’m joking don’t you? Hehehe
Agnes
April 4, 2012 @ 9:19 pm
Yeah… okay… *backs aways slowly*……. 😉
msihua
March 19, 2012 @ 8:44 pm
I love how I get a mention every week Dastardly! I’M SPECHIALLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *heart shaped hands*
And Raz: YOU are a psycho and I know you weren’t joking, but *shhhhhhhh* I’ll keep your stalker tendencies a secret 😛
Agnes
April 4, 2012 @ 9:19 pm
You get a mention every week because you’re AWESOME. Dastardly Duo 4evah!!11!!11
Thanh
April 7, 2012 @ 7:55 pm
15 yum cha dishes between 3, OMG, you’re out of control. Another 100 pushups.
Agnes
April 8, 2012 @ 4:13 pm
I know. Hellooooo Fat Town.