Disclosure: I attended courtesy of Taste of Melbourne, B&P and Hothouse Media.
Hello and happy end of October! November is rolling in quickly.
November means (hopefully) – warmer weather, more sunlight and also Taste of Melbourne, which is returning to Albert Park on Thursday 14 November – Sunday 17 November. The other week I headed to Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio for a preview event.
Disclosure: My meal was courtesy of Claremont Tonic.
While Claremont Tonic might sound like a beverage or a skin care product, it’s actually the latest restaurant by Davis Yu and Maison Davis (the folks behind Touche Hombre and the Millswyn). It opened very recently in South Yarra, serving modern Asian food in a funky setting. And to be honest, once I learnt the kind of food it served – I thought I might dislike it.
One of the things I love about Melbourne are the markets. For someone who’s a bit of a food geek, I can happily wander around a market and amuse myself for a couple of hours. Poor Alastair has been dragged around many, many food markets during our travels.
Disclosure: I dined courtesy of Spoonbill and The Olsen hotel
I took art in my first year of high school, but quit when I realised that my drawing skills were limited to cartoon horses and cows. Funnily enough, doodles and cartoons won’t get you good grades in art – weird right? Despite my low artistic skills, when I received an invite to dine at Spoonbill restaurant along with an art tour of the Olsen Hotel, I was really interested in learning more about the artworks there.
Disclosure: I attended the class courtesy of Electrolux and Trupp Cooking School.
How did you learn how to cook? I’m sure that many people learnt from their parents, like I did. Most of my skills are from watching my parents cook and prepare food as I grew up. We never really talked about cooking, but because I was always in the kitchen and in their shop, I saw them do things and somehow it sunk in.
Without that base from observing my parents, I don’t think I’d be the cook I am today. It’s such a good way to learn – which is why I think cooking classes are great. So when I was invited to a cooking class at Trupp Cooking School late last year, I was very eager to attend.
Disclosure: We dined with Thanh, who is friends with the staff at Steer. The Chef put together a tasting menu for us. So – special treatment alert. However, we did pay for our meal.
This post is for all the beef lovers out there.
Steer opened just over a year ago, starting off as a steakhouse with a Brazilian influence. Since then, it has evolved into a New York steakhouse, obviously still with a focus on beef. Just after Christmas, Alastair and I had dinner there with Thanh, Michele, April and her hubby. With all our stomachs stretched from Chrissy, we were ready to eat ourselves some meat!
I love spicy food. And I like being prepared. So I prepared myself for Dainty Sichuan. I tied my hair up, wore short sleeves, and had extra packs of pocket tissues in my purse. Ready for some hot food, I met I-Hua, Allan, Celeste, Bryan, Injera, Anna and partners for a chilli date.
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Located in South Yarra, LuxBite opened late last year, and has been embraced by dessert loving bloggers (see below for the epic blog list!) and adorers of sugar, macarons and pretty cakes. Opened by Bernard Chu and Yen Yee, pastry chefs who have worked in restaurants like Rockpool Bar & Grill, Giuseppe Arnaldo & Sons and Comme Kitchen among others), the dessert café specialises in macarons, that pretty little biscuit that’s so hot right now. But they also do pretty good desserts… a lot of desserts… as you shall see!
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