Lunch at Money Order Office is a gloomy, macabre kind of dining experience.

The hidey-hole entrance is on Drivers Lane, off Little Bourke Street, and a set of stone steps descends into the dungeon (I mean restaurant) via an automatic door which opens on your approach with a creepy squeeeeak. I expected Lurch from the Addams Family to greet me rather than a smiling waitress.

I can only describe the décor as a glamorous haunted house – simultaneously plush and ghoulish. One side of the room is lined with intimate 4-person booths, leather couches abound and I seem to remember a claw-footed bathtub (with a skeleton?) the last time I visited years ago.

Given that the restaurant/bar is an underground cavern it’s not a venue that naturally comes to mind for lunch, particularly when the sun is shining bright. However, they offer a 3 course lunch for $35 which is good value in terms of filling your tummy but varies in quality. For dinner it turns into a tapas bar.

The menu has 3 options for entrees, 3 options for mains and 2 desserts and you can order each dish a la carte if you don’t fancy all three courses.

C and I chose a poached pear salad with wild rocket and valderon with lemon vinaigrette ($14) and the roast pumpkin and pomegranate salad with toasted almonds, goat’s cheese and pumpkin puree ($12). Neither of those dishes was particularly impressive and were more suited to being a side dish to a main meal than a course in itself.

My salad was as a pretty pedestrian combination with no hint of the advertised dressing.

C described the other dish as ‘pumpkin on pumpkin’ which would have benefited from a handful of the wild rocket from my plate for some colour and textural contrast.

I can never go past pork belly when it’s on the menu so I had twice cooked pork belly with jamon, savoy cabbage and cider foam ($18). The meat was tender but the skin was not at all crispy (though not chewy, thankfully). The cabbage was too soggy and overcooked for my liking and the cider foam was ignored after one exploratory mouthful – it was like eating cold, alcoholic shaving cream.

C fared better with her tempura monkfish ($16) which was lightly crusted and juicy inside and accompanied by saffron aioli but a slightly weedy watercress salad.

Things picked up with the last course. A large slice of chocolate truffle cake ($9) was a familiar and filling dessert with lots of chocolate and a thin biscuit base, while the vanilla and goats curd mousse ($9) was a standout, a dense mousse (like cheesecake filling) served inside a miniature preserving jar with some spiced orange and figs and crumbled nuts.

All in all, C and I agreed that Money Order Office didn’t offer a bad meal. Overall the food was ok and the service attentive and it was easy to get a table for lunch. But the experience wasn’t so good that we’d be tempted to return, even to try the tapas, or necessarily recommend it to others given the myriad of other, better options in close vicinity.

But if you’re a vampire, Goth or albino Money Order Office might be just your kind of restaurant.

Money Order Office , 2 Drivers Lane, Melbourne  +61 3 9639 3020

Tuesday – Friday 12pm-3pm
Bar: Tuesday – Saturday 5pm-late
Tapas: Tuesday- Thursday 6pm, Friday-Saturday 5:30pm

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Argos Loves Company is a cute-as-a-button cafe in the previously unpopular but now revived end of Brunswick Street.

I first noticed the cafe because of the brightly coloured wooden blocks lining the window sill. A peek inside elicited a little squeal of delight – a pretty pastel room complete with a vintage kitchen scale, biscuit tin and teapot collection, a shiny wooden bar-cum-cake cupboard and a large canvas picture of a gambolling pooch. It’s like your granny’s kitchen updated for the inner north.

The menu is equally quaint and homely rather than cutting edge – not a speck of quinoa to be found. There’s bread, muesli, fruit and eggs for the all day breakfast (eggs are RSPCA approved free range) and a variety of mixed nibbles and pressed sandwiches for lunch. I headed straight for the highlighted ‘famous’ Argos Egg, Bacon and Cheese toastie ($11).

I was surprised when I was given cutlery to eat a toasted sandwich but I understood why when it came out presented on its own wooden platter. I don’t know about it being famous but it’s certainly rave-worthy. Buttery crusty sourdough paired with two fried eggs, slices of honey-sweet free range Otway Ranges pork (free range really makes a difference to the flavour I find), melted swiss cheese and a smear of sweet sauce. This is kind of sandwich I wish I had the dedication to make at home and it was so delicious I wanted two.

However, I decided to save room for waffles ($10).You don’t often see waffles paired with whipped cream and maple syrup or ice cream and chocolate sauce on menus these days. It took me back to my teenage pancake-eating feasts at Pancake Parlour, which was the only place open late in Brisbane that I could go to when I was thirteen.

Three golden rounds arrive in a floral arrangement, each with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a squirt of chocolate sauce. While the combination was deliciously nostalgic, the actual waffles themselves were unlike any I’d ever had. More like a biscuit than a doughy baked good. Not bad, just different.

Sometimes a cafe doesn’t need to cook with trendy ingredients or be into third wave coffee to work. Argos Loves Company shines with personality and warmth and the food is comforting and familiar. Perfect for a wintery day.

For other cosy cafes on the revived end of Brunswick St, try Slowpoke Espresso and Newtown Social Club.

Argos Loves Company, 149 Brunswick St, Fitzroy +61 3 9417 7290

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I’ve been a fan of Next Wave Festival since I volunteered to man a Docklands shipping container/arts space for the festival years ago.

Well, Next Wave Festival 2012 opens next Saturday (19-27 May) and this year they’re running a bit of an experiment to help you discover a new way of experiencing an arts festival.

With a festival Day Pass you can spend a day with a series of works that explores a theme relevant to our contemporary world,  from gender politics to climate change, fantastic imaginary worlds to our ability to perceive the truth. The day starts with discussions the Breakfast Club, a discussion about how the world and art collide over breakfast at the Wheeler Centre, before setting off on an adventure experienced through visual art, performance, dance, live art and more – with plenty of stop-overs for food, drinks and discussion.

Tours are led by an informed art guide and audiences will be taken into Melbourne’s most interesting places, to view the some of Australia’s most interesting artists.

Plus each Day Pass holder will receive some cool goodies with their pass – a Crumpler Tuft water-resistant pouch, a myki filled with enough credit to get you around from show to show (then keep it and top it up for everyday use!) and discounts at the tastiest spots in North Melbourne to help you refuel between shows, such as Grigons & Orr, Toast, Old Melbourne Cafe, Sensible Sandwich and more.

Day Passes start are $20-$56 (plus booking fee) and there’s a different pass for each day of the festival.  You can also check out other Next Wave Festival events at http://www.nextwave.org.au

Giveaway! Thanks to Next Wave Festival I have a Double Day Pass for Tuesday 22 May…totally worth chucking a sickie for! To win all you have to do is a leave a comment below and the winner will be drawn next Friday 18 May. Good luck!

And the winner of the double pass to Melbourne Museum’s The Wonders of Ancient Mesopotamia is…Theresa! Your prize will be posted out to you.

So here’s my two bob on Two Bob.

The café is an airy, high-ceilinged transformation of a former bank (remnants of the secured bank vault are still there) based in leafy North Fitzroy/Clifton Hill. Inside it’s all white and blonde wood with a few dashes of greenery here and there. Very calming and Scandi-chic.

Two Bob is a daytime venue and their breakfast menu is something to behold. The kind of list of breakfast classics-with-a-twist which makes it impossible to choose…until you flip over to the reverse side of the menu and discover the equally tempting lunch menu.

Paralysed by indecision by the time the waitress arrived the five of us ended up with 2 x steak sandwiches, 1 x slow cooked baked beans and ham hock cassoulet, 1 x crumbed poached eggs and 1 x ocean trout. A balanced menu traverse between breakfast and lunch, filling and light, hot and cold.

My slow-cooked cassoulet arrived with hearty chunks of meat, a poached egg floating on top, a sprinkling of feta and coriander and a hunk of multigrain toast ($16.50). A solid dish and the kind that soothes you with its familiarity.

M said that his crumbed poached eggs ($16.50) were very slightly overcooked and he actually didn’t enjoy the crumb very much as the frying gave the eggs an oily coating that lingered on the tongue. However the grilled asparagus and floret of smoked salmon got a thumbs up (but really they aren’t ingredients you can stuff up).

The baked miso ocean trout came with a cold noodle salad, Asian coleslaw and a sweet-sour tamarind dressing ($18). Perfect as a lighter choice if you’re not feeling so hungry but J definitely got food envy (as did everyone) from the winning dish at our table, the steak sandwiches ($17.50).

Mainly because of the presence of fried onion rings – we all went ‘wow’ when we saw those! The black Angus steak was carefully grilled and combined with a traditional filling of cheese, tomato, rocket plus some sweet beetroot relish and dijonaise instead of mayonnaise. A two-hander of a sandwich full of smashing colours and textures.

For dessert we each had a pick of the very moist carrot cake topped with a light cream cheese and walnut frosting ($5) which by itself, along with that steak sandwich, is worth returning to Two Bob.

While Two Bob is not pushing any major gastronomical boundaries it does what it does well, without fuss and pretence and with care in the use of ingredients and presentation.  I used to frequent the owners’ former cafe in Brisbane (Cirque) and Two Bob is definitely an extension of a winning formula.

For other great cafes in North Fitzroy, try Mitte and Mixed Business.

Two Bob, 270 Queens Pde, Fitzroy North +61 3 9482 5444

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You know how there are some restaurants which are your go-to destinations? The default choice for a first date, the default choice for a family gathering, the default choice for Sunday brunch?

Well, before I got married Bottega was my default location for introducing boyfriends to my parents for the first time! I knew that the Modern Italian restaurant would be reliably excellent with lots of menu options, the service was friendly and it wasn’t so loud that you couldn’t have a conversation yet not so quiet you felt like everyone was eavesdropping on you.

While Bottega has remained a consistent favourite even after marriage things have changed somewhat since my last visit - foremost being the fact that a new menu has arrived along with new head chef Gabriele Olivieri (who was previously the sous chef).

I was invited with some other food bloggers to try some of the signature dishes on their revamped express lunch, a la carte lunch and dinner menu.

First up, bruschetta with baccala mantecato and vincotto ($19). I really enjoyed the salt and sweet pairing of the fish and the vincotto reduction, but I didn’t particularly like the temperature at which it was served – stone cold. That’s the way it’s supposed to be done but I’m not partial to cold, cooked fish generally. Reminds me too much of schoolyard tuna sandwiches.

I have an unreasonable fear of offal but this char-grilled ox tongue with salsa verde, anchovy and croutons was my style of dish ($19). Shreds of meat fell away from my fork and the richness was cut through with the green tang of the salsa verde. Plus anything with anchovies gets my vote – hairier the better!

A curiously summery-like dish for the autumn season – zucchini flowers stuffed with buffalo ricotta and served with a  tomato and basil coulis and that sweet vincotto again ($22). I’d prefer the zucchini flowers battered to give the limp petals a bit of body in order to hold the filling inside, but otherwise the flavours worked well together.

Beef carpaccio has been on the Bottega menu since forever but now they’ve revamped it to a pretty floral clock of Vitello Tonnato ($21). The delicately braised pink veal was paired with some crunchy pickled celery heart and crispy capers and the traditional mayonnaise-like sauce.

Pasta is a speciality at Bottega and the two plates we tried were worthy of a return visit in themselves. Honestly, I’m still dreaming about these dishes!

The individually hand rolled strozzapreti (which translates to strangle the priest!) with seafood and prawn bisque ($26/$37) emanated a bouquet of heady seafood flavours and the twisted pasta held just the right amount of al dente resistance.

The folded parcels of roasted tomato and burrata agnolotti were served unusually with what was effectively a baba ganoush ($24/$32). The smokiness of the eggplant puree was an unexpectedly Middle Eastern touch to a very Italian combination of cheese, tomato and rocket and I’m going to steal this idea to use up the glut of eggplants I seem to be getting lately in my vege box delivery.

Out of the main dishes we tried the Western Plains pork belly, cooked sous vide then pan fried with a dash of peppered apple puree and a crisp square of crackling ($37). If you like pork belly, don’t look any further. The meat and fat melded into a single mouthful with a crust of herbs and spices to lend some body to the meat. The photo doesn’t do it justice as it just looks a bit brown, brown and brown.

Along with pasta another of the kitchen’s main focuses is on housemade sorbetti ($18 for a selection). We were tempted with pear, mango, vanilla and chestnut and peach, each scoop declaring its provenance with clean flavours of fruit and nuts.

My visit to Bottega reminded me why this restaurant has been in business for 10 years now. It delivers excellent food, service and apparently an accessible wine list aimed at diners, not sommeliers in sophisticated yet unpretentious surroundings. Buon appetito!

Bottega, 74 Bourke St, Melbourne +61 3 9654 2252
Mon – Wed: 12:00 pm-10:00 pm
Thu – Fri: 12:00 pm-11:00 pm
Sat: 5:30 pm-11:00 pm

I lived in London for years and although I liked to visit the British Museum regularly I think I saw about 1/1000th of their vast collection. So I was quite excited to hear that a slice of the museum’s Middle East artefact collection was coming to Melbourne for the Melbourne Museum‘s winter exhibition for 2012, The Wonders of Ancient Mesopotamia.

My knowledge of ancient history is sketchy and I had to dig back into my primary school projects to remember where Mesopotamia actually was. It’s a region that’s now better known as Iraq and it’s inspiring to learn something positive about the region instead of hearing constant news of war and turmoil. While it can be hard to relate our existence to lives lived in thousands of years ago, we owe a lot to  Mesopotamia – the birthplace of writing, mathematics, astronomy and timekeeping.

The exhibition is split into three sections each exploring a different ancient civilisation – Sumer, Assyria and Babylon. Given the distance between Australia and the UK I was expecting displays of little household items and shards of pottery urns, so I was most impressed with the massive carved stone tablets that have been shipped over for us.

For me the carved stonework was also the most interesting because Melbourne Museum had layered over multimedia video over some the works, bringing to life scenes of battle and explaining how stories unfolded in each part the sculpture.

For families who are visiting the exhibition there are small plaques to engage kids as part of the Family Trail. Gilgamesh, the legendary hero of Mesopotamia, guides kids with questions to ponder and things to look out for in the display cabinets.  I actually think Gilgamesh pointed out some interesting points for adults too!

There are also a few touch-and-feel activities and you can purchase a Kids Audio Guide ($7) for a more multi-modal experience, but overall I think they could have included more ways to engage kids given a lot of the displays were static and required reading explanatory plaques.

And finally, who could resist a fluffy lion from the gift shop!

Giveaway! Thanks to the Melbourne Museum I have a double pass to The Wonders of Ancient Mesopotamia to give away. All you have to do is leave a comment and the winner will be drawn next Friday 11 May. Good luck!

The Wonders of Ancient Mesopotamia, Melbourne Museum, 11 Nicholson Street, Carlton 13 11 02

Thank you to Melbourne Museum for inviting me to view the exhibition. 

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Who is Martha? And who is Ray? And why has a cafe set up shop in their house?

Martha Ray’s has transformed what seems like a wide corridor of a Victorian terrace house into a pared down cafe. There’s no sign, no hanging pictures and definitely no owls, bunnies or kitschy memorabilia adorning the white-washed walls. Furniture is an equally muted palate of warm timber and gun-metal steel.

With nothing about the place particularly eye-catching from the street front it’s easy to walk straight past. But Martha Ray’s equally pared back one-page menu is worth a stop.

For lunch they have exactly three sandwiches in addition to the all-day menu of exactly five dishes. I tried the braised pork belly with cabbage and apple slaw stuffed inside a baguette smeared with apple soubise, which is apparently a traditional French white onion sauce ($13).

Though I’ve not tried the meatball or chicken (vego artichoke on request) sandwiches I’m still going to award this pork belly roll the prize ribbon. At 1pm I snatched the last roll from under the nose of at least two other patrons who had been less quick and decisive with placing their orders. And I’m guessing the reason this sandwich sold out so quickly is because the pork was so meltingly tender that you basically could eat it without your dentures in. But better still the sandwich combines the meat with a few crisp shards of cracking, just enough to give each mouthful a snap, crackle and pop without jabbing your jaw with something sharp.

I also requested a half-serve of New England style corn chowder (full serve $11), a rib-sticking soup of sweet sauteed leeks, chunks of ladrons in a creamy potato and corn base. This will be a winner with the cold weather.

Other dishes on the menu include Casa Iberica black pudding, a breakfast roll on the go and fluffy omelettes spied at the next table. Coffee comes courtesy of Costa Noosa coffee while tea is from Storm in a Teacup.

Thanks for having me over Martha and Ray. I’ll be back – save me a pork belly roll please.

Martha Ray’s, 85 Brunswick St, Fitzroy
Mon – Fri:7:30 am-3:30 pm
Sat:8:00 am-3:30 pm

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It’s not often that you can return to the same place for lunch every day and eat something different.

That’s the joy of Mister Close, a cafe that changes its menu daily ‘because staying the same bores us’. Hear hear!

The cafe is actually quite hard to find due to its uninspiring shopping centre corridor location, but that just means that once you do find it (enter from Swanston Street) it’s a lovely oasis away from the CBD madness. That’s not to say that it’s not busy – in fact, there was a bit of a fight for tables during a weekday lunchtime as office workers and shoppers-on-the-go have discovered its charms. Fortunately tables turn quickly and they also do a steady trade in takeaway (in biodegradable containers, no less).

The cafe fitout features wood panels, piles of National Geographic magazines, globes and chalkboard walls. Why? It’s the story behind the cafe – Mr Close was the geography teacher of the two owners who met in Year 8 of Trinity Grammar School and like Mr Close they want to take their customers on a journey around the world with their food.

Mister Close opens for breakfast with an interesting selection of eggy, bready and grainy things before seguing at 10:30am into a lunch menu of salad, soup, sandwiches and hot dishes.

Being a cold wintery day we gravitated towards the hot food. R chose the fragrant Indian masala lentils with potato and peas which came served with some charred flat bread and a ramekin of yoghurt and declared it ‘exactly what she felt like’ ($15.50).

E also loved her crusty seeded loaf sandwiching poached chicken, avocado, brie and rocket ($12) and said that it was a marked improvement of the terrible ham and cheese toasties for which she was sometimes forced to pay $9 at her office food court.

My chicken, bacon, mushroom pie was full of meaty filling though a little heavy-handed on the pastry for my liking ($15.50). Maybe the traditional English pork-pie style pastry would have been less dry with the accompanying sour cream (which I didn’t touch as I don’t like sour cream)?

For dessert we shared the prettiest sweet I could find in the cabinet – a crusty on the inside, gooey on the inside hazelnut meringue capped off with a swirl of cream cheese icing ($5).

Coffee comes courtesy of Campos beans and they obviously take their coffee seriously, just look at that scientific contraption!

All in all R, E and I were most delighted with our experience at Mister Close. Somewhere in the centre of town that services reasonably priced, tasty food in cute surroundings deserves all their success.

Mister Close, Shop 13 Midtown Plaza, 246 Bourke St, Melbourne +61 3 9654 7778
Monday-Friday 7am to 4pm
Sat 9am to 4pm
CLOSED SUNDAY

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Sometimes a simple lunch is all I need. Somewhere quiet for me to sit with a drink, something wheat-based to satisfy afternoon hunger pangs and a touch of sweetness at the end.

Creperie Le Triskel is a cute café serving traditional Brittany crepes in Hardware Lane. The outside tables are framed by falling Autumn leaves while the inside décor is a-jumble in a cosy kind of way, with small wooden tables and a windowside bench / makeshift French library with what looks like traveller’s hand-me-downs.

The café is staffed by cheery students who have laughing rambling conversations in French and French music plays in the background. Squint and you can almost imagine yourself in a student café in the cobblestoned Marais.

The menu is divided between galettes, buckwheat pancakes with savoury toppings, then crepes, wheat pancakes with sweet fillings. Actually there are also baguettes and sandwiches but my suggestion is when in a creperie, eat crepes.

The crepes are freshly made, meaning the Swiss Gruyere in my La Korikan galette had transformed into a cheesy molten lava in amongst the mushrooms, spinach and bechamel wrapped in the thin crepe ($11). It came with a neat side salad – fresh leaves dressed with olive oil and two slices of baguette.

I followed that with a French chestnut paste crepe ($4.50) which had a slightly thicker and chewier texture that I preferred.

While I stuck to tap water the drinks list includes French sirops (cordial), pear cider and wine as well as ‘le bol cafe au lait’ – a milky latte served in a bowl just like in France.

If Creperie Le Triskel doesn’t give you enough of Gallic hit, try the pastel sugar palace called La Belle Miette next door which sells the most French of sweets, macarons.

For more crepes in the CBD, try Roule Galette and Harajuku Crepes.

Creperie Le Triskel, 32 Hardware Lane, Melbourne +61 4 6640 6404

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I may be a food snob about some things. But when a gourmet hot dog joint opens around the corner, who am I to turn my nose up at a sausage in a bun?

Phat Brats in one of the slew of ‘dude food’ places that have opened up in Melbourne recently and as its name suggests it specialises in sausages. Not piggy-pink BBQ snags but locally made spicy chorizo, lamb and rosemary and chilli dogs for discerning hot dog eaters.

The interior is fairly spartan and functional – a counter where you place your order, an open flame grill for the sizzling snags and wipe-down tables and wood-topped stools.

Out of their nine specialty sausages I’ve had the wagyu beef ($7.90), cheesy smoked kransky ($8.90) and pork and sage ($8.90).

The beef sausage was fat and juicy, served in a soft brioche-like bun (comes in classic or seeded) with a zigzag of tomato sauce and mild mustard. Simple and satisfying, you couldn’t ask for anything more.

I enjoyed the melted cheese squirting out of my kransky but was a bit bemused by the German potato salad and dill pickles sitting atop the bread roll, rather than as I expected, on the side. The whole construction made the meal messier than necessary and in the end I just scraped the salad aside to eat afterwards.

My favourite so far has been the pork and sage teamed with the sweetness of braised apple and red cabbage, some crunchy shaved fennel and aioli. It even came with crackling bits (though they weren’t crunchy at all).

I highly recommend completing your meal with possibly the best fries I’ve had in Melbourne ($3 as a side, $5 whole serve). I don’t know what they do with their potatoes and beer batter but they are the closest thing I’ve had to Heston Blumenthal’s triple-cooked chips in a fast food joint! Just note that they are not as good takeaway, though still very moreish with home made seasoning. You can get the fries with cheese or as chilli fries but I say why gild the lily? I don’t think you even need to dip them in gravy, tomato sauce, bbq sauce or aioli (extra 80c).

For more excellent fast food in the area, try Huxtaburger.

Phat Brats, 320 Brunswick St, Fitzroy +61 3 9384 1303

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In a recent article in the New York Times, a journo went in search of a fun Melbourne weekend for $100.

The author noted that while I am privileged to live the most livable city in the world, Melbourne is also one of the world’s most expensive cities  (Japan, Switzerland, then Australia rank highly. Gulp.).

Which is why it’s always good to be able to spot a bargain in this town. And in the article the writer noted that we have some great bargains when it comes to food.

While there’s always the option of cheap Vietnamese and eating sandwiches perched on a milk crate from a laneway cafe, you can also dine at high-end restaurants for a more wallet-friendly price if you know where to look.

For instance, at Maurice Esposito’s eponymous seafood restaurant you can enjoy two lunch courses for $30 when main courses are easily pushing $30+. So one weekday afternoon Gourmet Chick and I set off past the grungy end of Johnston Street towards leafy Carlton and pushed open the door to the elegant, white linen-ed restaurant for a lunch date.

Unlike many lunch set menus, the ‘Loaves and Fishes’ lunch deal allows you to choose two dishes from the full menu, though serving sizes are smaller than the normal a la carte plates. Also while Esposito is predominantly a (sustainable) seafood restaurant, there are non-seafood dishes for those not tempted by the fruits of the sea. But when in Rome…

To start, a red wine poached duck egg, house-made brioche, pancetta, crushed white beans and peas (normally $23). It was artfully presented and the molten egg yolk provided a silken contrast to the crispy pancetta.

The mud crab fritter was a bit of a throwback to early noughties dining, with a foamy almond soup and a swirl of sweet corn custard surrounding large scoops of juicy crab meat and garnished with baby shizo leaves  ($26). While the crab was fresh and delicately flavoured it was marred by my prejudice against the foam – in this case a lukewarm, sudsy froth tasting faintly of nothing.

We also tried the spaghettini of the sea, a flavoursome pasta marinara (with prawns only as part of the Loaves & Fishes offer). However, given the other dishes’ painstaking presentation we were somewhat taken aback by the careless toss of pasta and the prawns slopped onto the plate.

All in all, I was happy to sit in lovely surroundings and enjoy a fine-dining experience for $30. But over four dishes I found the food to be variable, with taste and presentation veering in the scale from ok to excellent – this doesn’t encourage me to return to Esposito for a meal at non-bargain prices.

On a final note, the one aspect that was consistent was the welcoming attitude of the maitre d’ for whom nothing was too much trouble – rearranging furniture, making menu suggestions, making sure he wasn’t disturbing us mid-conversation and working promptly and efficiently. A consummate service professional.

To enjoy a cheap lunch at other fine-dining restaurants, try Shoya, No. 35 or Taxi Dining Room or

Esposito, 162 Elgin St, Carlton +61 3 9347 9838

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La Belle Miette is an adorable French patisserie that looks like it just dropped out of the set of Sofia Coppola’s movie Marie Antoinette.

The shop is beautiful to behold, a tiny jewel box awash with candy pastels, embossed and beribboned packaging in the windows and fine china cups (my quick snapshot doesn’t do it justice). You can almost expect court ladies in huge silk dresses to come swishing down the brick path of Hardware Lane to their favourite tea salon.

La Belle Miette specialise in macarons and the counter holds a rainbow of them, ranging in traditional flavours such as chocolate to more avant-garde ingredients such as cherry blossom and sake. They are $2.50 each but I recommend buying 6, 12, 18 or more, just so you can take your macarons out of the shop tucked neatly into the most delightfully Baroque gift boxes. Plus once you try one you’ll want more!

Are these the best macarons in Melbourne? Hard to say – but they are very, very good. We tried a range of six and found them to be admirably consistent in quality. Biscuits with the most delicate eggshell surface and a moist (but not sticky) interior, a consistent rise with even ’feet’ at the base, no air pockets inside and a balanced proportion of biscuit to ganache in every bite. Our picks were the French Earl Grey (presumably fragranced with the Mariages Freres tea which they serve on site), the punchy salted caramel and classically elegant pistachio.

One more reason to visit La Belle Miette? I applaud anyone who forgoes corporate life to follow their passion and La Belle Miette is the joint work of yet another ex-lawyer getting out of the rat race. There seems to be a quite a trend of that happening (such as Helados Jauja, Famish’d and St Ali)!

Where are your favourite macarons in Melbourne?

La Belle Miette, 30 Hardware Lane, Melbourne

Mon – Thu:10:00 am-6:00 pm
Fri:10:00 am-9:00 pm
Sat:10:00 am-5:00 pm
Sun:11:00 am-4:00 pm

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This is a post about the competition between a reigning champ vs the newcomer.

Madame K’s Vegetarian is a new vegetarian restaurant in Fitzroy with an Asian bent (Asian being anything from the Indian subcontinent to the Japanese archipelago). Unfortunately, it is situated almost across the road from Vegie Bar, a long-time Fitzroy favourite which is also a vegetarian restaurant with a strong Asian flavour.

Everyone likes to support the underdog. So even though Vegie Bar was spilling out customers onto its footpath tables, we entered the empty Madame K’s for lunch to give them a chance.

The decor was quite lovely – dark wood furniture, a few porcelain and wooden knick knacks and a beautiful modern interpretation of a typically Chinese wallpaper. I was also enamoured of the large lights built from Thai basket fishing traps.

After standing uncertainly at the door for a bit we walked inside tentatively going ‘hello? hello? hello?’ until I spotted someone in the back of the kitchen. ‘Are you open?’ I said and instead of looking overjoyed at having a customer I received a sullen affirmative. Hmmm. Maybe I was interrupting her napkin-folding duties.

A and I perused the menu on starters, soups, salads and main meals and after waiting for a bit the waitress returned to take our order – Madame K’s pancakes ($11.90), Steamed wontons ($6.90) from the entrée menu and a Thai mushroom and eggplant salad ($14.90).

The food was all presented well but fell flat in terms of taste. The pancakes were ok, thin wheaten wraps encasing mock soy duck with a drizzle of sweet sauce. The wontons were full of juicy mushrooms but encased in a too-thick skin and the morsels were lifted only by the kick of chilli in the soy sauce.

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A described the salad as a bunch of chopped raw vegetables doused with that commercial sweet chilli sauce you see everywhere.

Undeterred by our lacklustre choices and frankly, still hungry, I went to find the waitress (since she seemed to have no conception of table service) and ordered a black sticky rice dessert with coconut ice cream and lychees ($10.90). Again, full marks for presentation but nothing special when it came to taste. The sticky rice possibly wasn’t glutinous enough but I quite liked the grainy texture.

While I try not to make direct comparisons when writing reviews it can’t be helped in this case. Madame K’s competitor is right across the road and it serves tastier, cheaper food in livelier surroundings. Reigning champ 1, newcomer 0.

Reliable vegetarian food blog Where’s the Beef seems to have had a better time, so maybe they chose better? For other vegetarian food options in Fitzroy, try Yong Green Food.

Madame K’s Vegetarian, 367 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy +61 3 9415 6909
Seven days 12pm-10pm (closed between 4pm-5pm)

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If you’re looking for a break from the bustle of Sydney Road, take a turn into Albion Street and look out for Jellystone, a cafe that’s taken over a heritage-listed bluestone house.

Just inside the gate is the front courtyard with shaded tables then push open the narrow door to admire the counter filled with loads of homemade goodies. Further inside is a cosy rabbit warren of small and shared tables dotted with parents, students and workmates finding their nooks by the open fireplace or peeping from behind beautiful leadlight windows.

The breakfast and lunch menus are extensive and reasonably priced and will make decision-making even more difficult given the additional premade offerings in the front counter. I chose the Middle Eastern eggs ($16) – two creamy-yolked poached eggs atop sourdough, rocket, sweet beetroot relish and with a healthy handful of crunchy and very spicy dukkah. I’m guessing that I unknowingly chose the most popular dish on the menu (for good reason) as the waitress gave me a knowing ‘a-ha’ when I placed my order.

For dessert the lemon and pistachio cake is a must-try. A very moist cake generously studded with nuts and topped with a praline of crystallised sugar and more pistachios, it’s a delicious bargain at $5.50.

The coffee is from Atomica and should be excellent given that Jellystone is owned by Atomica‘s former head barista.

For other excellent lunch eats in Brunswick, try Lux Foundry and Tom Phat.

Jellystone Cafe, 179 Albion St, Brunswick +61 3 9386 7750

Monday to Friday 7am-4pm; Saturday, Sunday 8.30am-4pm

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Simon’s Peiking Duck is one of those suburban food destinations that draws inner-city types out of their cobblestone alleyways and power-steering down the freeway.

Many of them have followed Simon Lay from his kitchen at Old Kingdom in Collingwood out to the lower reaches of Box Hill, all in the hope of finding the most perfect Peking Duck in Melbourne.

You will need to book a table (there are two sittings, 6pm and 8pm) and order your duck at least a day in advance, with my recommendation being a duck between 2-3 people. We had half a duck each and were very full in the end…but not so full we couldn’t be tempted by some retro Anglo-Chinese desserts.

When you arrive don’t bother looking at the menu in great detail – there’s Choice A ($55) or Choice B ($63). Both of them involve duck with pancakes and duck stir-fried, but my recommendation is to go with Choice B, which gives you a choice of noodles for the stir-fry and a duck soup to finish. For just over $30 a head and BYO corkage of $2 per person it’s a bargain.

Simon is a showman of the hyperactive Japanese game-show host variety. He first announces his bow-tied presence to us by throwing paper-thin pancakes at our waiting plates.

He then instructs ’3 o’clock, spring onion, cucumber, meat, sauce, 6 o’clock, 9′oclock’ as he shows us the precise method of folding the duck meat and various accoutrements into neat packages.

At the centre of the restaurant he wields a knife and deftly carves duck for show (the rest are carved in the kitchen, they sell around 80 ducks a night), flirting outrageously with me while I take photos, telling me I look like a Chinese movie star etc etc.

The Peking Duck is certainly excellent. A thin crisp skin, not too much fat hiding underneath, juicy meat and home-made tissue-thin pancakes so unlike the floury store-bought varieties. I could just keep eating those pancakes all night.

However, the duck needed been divided to other courses. We had deliciously slick handmade noodles with shredded duck, shiitake mushrooms and what I presume to be a healthy dose of MSG given our duck-meat breath and slightly tickly throats the next morning.

The soup that traditionally ends the meal I have never been a fan of in any establishment, so I can’t comment on whether Simon’s version is worth an extra bowl or not.

Dessert is rarely the strong suit of a Chinese restaurant but we couldn’t go past deep-fried ice-cream and a phallic banana split. They were of average quality and really we could have done without the calories.

While the duck is excellent at Simon’s Peiking Duck, be aware that it is not a great venue for a romantic date. The stark lighting is unflattering, the atmosphere is noisy and festive, you’ll need to suck at duck bones with oily fingers and payment is cash only, potentially leaving you red-faced as you split the bill with your date when you discover you didn’t bring enough cash with you.

But if you’re after duck that’s finger lickin’ good, head out to Box Hill.

Simon’s Peiking Duck, 197b Middleborough Rd, Box Hill South +61 3 9898 5944
Tues-Fri Noon-2.30pm 
Sun-Thur 5-10.30pm
Fri, Sat 5-11.30pm 

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As Jetsetting Joyce one of my claims to fame is that I have visited Rome five times. I love the city and have a few favourite (eating) haunts, one of which is Lo Zozzone. Down a secluded alleyway, it’s a local panini and pizza bar staffed by a bunch of Filipono Italians. You get a ticket, pay 3 euros and get to pick 3 ingredients for your giant panini. They slice all of their proscuitto, mortadella and other cold cuts on the spot and the mozzarella is delicious.

So when I heard about Fugazza I was hoping that it would be my Lo Zozzone in Melbourne. Fugazza also serves Italian style sandwiches in a bustling lane off Little Collins Street and I had read good reports about the quality of their foccacias.

Fugazza is a passion project for Simon Michelangeli, a Melburnian with Italian roots who couldn’t find the kind of bread and espresso he enjoyed in Tuscany when he returned home. Simon was very friendly on my visit, helping me choose between the sausage and pork sandwich (the answer = half of each!) while still working the tills and clearing tables in his tiny establishment. Nice to see an owner who’s passionate about his business and not too lofty to do some grunt work.

The Fugazza menu is easy to navigate – there are four focaccia fillings plus one special and you can opt to pair it with some of Nonno Michelangeli’s Tuscan vegetable and bean soup or salad. Drinks come in the form of their own roasted blend of Italian coffee and Italian soft-drinks.

The key to the food is the bread, which is a light sourdough which has been baked especially for Fugazza  in Melbourne using Simon’s recipe, which took 6 months of experimentation and development. It comes baked with a thin crunchy exterior under the featherlight dough, the polar opposite to foccacias squashed into a brick by a sandwich press.

Out of the fillings I tried I highly recommend the melting slow cooked porchetta with roasted pumpkin, as I found the pork sausage, stracchino cheese, caramelised onion and parsely combo a little bland. The broccoli and basil salad was a wholesome side with lots of crunchy greenery.

To finish off your lunch, particularly in cool weather, I recommend the thick Barbagliata hot chocolate from Italian company Moretto. It’s the kind of drink you have to eat with a spoon and the thick sweet concoction will warm you from inside out.

On Saturdays Fugazza can now be found at Melbourne Flea, a new weekly market in Docklands. Look out for their restored 1970s Millard truck serving the same excellent sandwiches, soups and salads.

For other excellent sandwiches in the CBD, try N. Lee Bakery, Little Mule and Waffle On.

Fugazza, Shop 5A, 31 Equitable Place, Melbourne +61 402 125 286
Mon to Fri 7am–3pm

Happy Easter!

If you were observing Lent you are probably celebrating the end of the 40 days with some feasting today. While I’m not religious I am interested in the rituals and traditions of Lent, so I recently attended a demonstration class at The Essential Ingredient with Joseph Abboud, the chef/owner of contemporary Middle Eastern restaurant, Rumi, entitled ‘Rumi’s 40 days of Lent’.

Rumi has been on my to-eat list for a while but my weak excuse for not getting there so far is that it only opens evenings, when my outings are somewhat restricted by a young baby. But after attending Joseph’s class I have renewed vigour for getting myself out to try his take on Turkish, Lebanese and Persian cuisine.

Before attending the class I also had a preconceived notion that demonstration classes were a bit of a waste of time when there were so many chefs I could watch on TV. Now I know the difference is like watching a music concert on a screen and attending the gig. The experience is much more satisfactory in real life and what I didn’t realise is that you actually get to taste the food being demonstrated as well! I thought you just sat around watching an upside-down mirror and taking notes.

Anyway, this demonstration class was themed as a Lentan feast. Over the course of 2.5 hours Joseph and his assistant demonstrated five traditional Lebanese dishes typical of the more restrained meals eaten during Lent – lots of vegetables, mostly vegan fare. If this is fasting, then I’m all for it!

Eggplant M’nazleh. Cubes of deep-fried eggplant folded though a slow-cooked tomato, onion, chilli, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg sauce. As a variation Joseph also sliced the eggplants and deep-fried them until very dark, which I preferred.

Deep fried cauliflower florets (meant to look very dark brown) with caramelised onions, currants and pine nuts. This dish has been on the menu at Rumi since day one and is a delicious way to serve a very underrated vegetable.

Baked fish with homemade tahini and toasted almonds, pine nuts and walnuts. Joseph buys his nuts and other Mediterranean ingredients from Miramar Nut Shop (313 Lygon St, Brunswick +61 3 9387-6805), Basfoods (419 Victoria St Brunswick +61 3 9381 1444) while his olive oil is locally made by Pitruzello Estate (25 Deverall Rd Sunbury +61 3 5428 3055).

Green beans braised with onion and garlic. The kind of dish that his mum would leave on the stove before going to church and it’d be ready when she returned. I’ve never eaten braised beans before and was surprised to find that grey, soggy looking beans can be very appetising!

Ma’mool – date filled biscuits to celebrate Easter and the end of Lent. Date paste is not a traditional filling and Joseph’s approach to cooking is not to change the traditional recipe unless it tastes better or improves the original.

And finally, the decorated eggs that you saw at the top of this post. These look like wood-turned eggs and the trick is to knot the egg inside a stocking with a parsley leaf then put the egg into a pot of onion skins (red or brown) to dye the outer shell. The flavour inside isn’t affected and the parsley leaf creates a delicate stencil pattern.

If all the chat and tasting about food isn’t enough to get you to a cooking class, as an attendee of a class you get a 6% discount off your purchases at The Essential Ingredient. While drooling over the shelves of delectable goodies I ended up raiding their discount shelves of biscuits, spice mixes, panettone and cycling home with a Himalayan salt brick :–)

The Essential Ingredient runs a cooking class schedule throughout the year of local and international chefs that would make your mouth water. Check out the schedule here and book early.

Rumi’s 40 Days of Lent with Joseph Abboud, The Essential Ingredient, Prahran Market, Elizabeth St, South Yarra +61 3 9827 9047

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For a pre-Easter treat Gourmet Chick and I cycled down to South Yarra dressed in ladylike garb to partake in an afternoon tea at Burch and Purchese. Though really we should have worn  our Mad Hats as the afternoon was definitely a trip to Wonderland.

In the pink and brown confection of a store you will find chocolates and desserts unlike anything that you’ve seen before – each one a work of art combining unexpected ingredients with a dusting of magic (cue popping candy), all presented in the most delectable displays. One of everything please!

For special occasions Burch and Purchese offer the most exclusive afternoon tea event in town. One table of four people max, one session on Saturdays and Sundays only. The afternoon tea is held in a separate area between the kitchen and the dessert cabinet and is bounded by an awe-inspiring ‘inspiration wall’ – floor-to-ceiling laboratory jars of neatly labelled ingredients. Science meets sweetness indeed.

The event styling is Willy Wonka-esque down to the finest detail, such as the cutlery mat, a pillow of sugar syrup filled with dessert ingredients from cinnamon sticks to Turkish delight.

The $95 experience includes a behind the scenes tour of the Sweet Studio, an afternoon tea menu with tea and mineral water with morsels based around the traditional high tea fancies of sandwiches, scones and pastries - but what you get on the day is up to the chef’s whim. Be prepared to be surprised and delighted.

To start, a choice to T2 teas served in hot pink china cups and saucers. I highly recommend the French Earl Grey and the Chai (though skip the honey and milk, you’ll be ingesting enough dairy and sugar).

I won’t bore you with lists of ingredients and just let the photos speak for themselves. First up, an artful ‘gin and tonic’ refresher with marshmallows, grapefruit, dehydrated fruit and honeycomb.

Although Burch and Purchese are famous for their desserts they still offer some savoury food as part of the afternoon tea. The perfect little chicken sandwich, a deconstructed egg and watercress sandwich and a tomato, basil and olive ‘salad’. The sugared basil leaf and little orbs of olive infused gel were particularly remarkable.

Watch magic happen before your eyes! For ‘scones and jam’ Mr Magician aka Darren Purchese made tiramisu icecream using liquid nitrogen and coupled it with a coffee ‘scone’ crumble and coffee syrup.

A bit of a break while we wait for the final desserts. Time for a backstage tour!

The purpose built chocolate spraying  room. These are where your magical Easter eggs are finished. Very Jackson Pollock.

And now the finale! A two-tiered glass shelf with the B&P version of an opera slice with white chocolate, coffee and a very strong aniseed flavour, a black forest eclair and a tube of their best-selling (and my favourite) chocolate and mandarin cake.

Then the bottom tier – their best-selling coconut, ginger, passionfruit and mint cake.

Banana caramel and chocolate – classic combination done with a twist.

Strawberry, raspberry and coconut, which may be coming off the menu in the future so get in quick!

Apparently no one has every finished the whole afternoon tea set and even two food bloggers were defeated by the number of dishes. I was feeling quite dizzy towards the end! But I’m proud to say apparently I have gotten the furthest of anyone they’ve had in yet :–)

However, not content to go home with a box of leftovers, I also bought some of their unmissable gold bars of salted caramel dipped in dark chocolate and gold dust and the quinoa and orange malted sprinkle. RM scoffed the former when I wasn’t looking (argh!) and the latter went onto my breakfast the next morning – vanilla poached quinces and yoghurt. Makes it look so fancy!

Before you get too excited, the afternoon tea is no longer available (they are completing bookings that have already been made in May) as they are concentrating on launching an evening dessert bar opening sometime in mid/late April. So there is still something to get excited about!

For other amazing dessert in Melbourne, try LuxBite and Pierre Roelofs at Cafe Rosamond.

Afternoon tea, Burch and Purchese Sweet Studio, 647 Chapel St, South Yarra +61 3 9827 7060

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Pei Modern is a two-faced affair.

The old post office has been gutted and transformed into a Mark Best (Marque), Peter Bartholomew and David Mackintosh (MoVida) project.  On stage right is the fine-dining area which is very relaxed in its outlook – no starched tablecloths, no gilded chandeliers. On the other side is a café/bar offering the excellent food and service you’d expect from a fine dining experience.

The restaurant’s homage to famous architect I.M. Pei is not that he designed the transformation but he in fact worked on the Collins Place building in which  Pei Modern now stands.

We decided to eschew the $30+ main courses for our workday lunch and headed towards curved wooden arches of the cafe area. The café splits the menu into a few bites, three or four medium sized, a similar number of larger, main course-style dishes and cheese/desserts. It’s mix-and-match dining – you can choose a few small dishes, or one main meal or share a bunch of different dishes.

At the cafe we were welcomed warmly by a waiter who explained the philosophy of the menu, answered questions about various dishes and gave his recommendations from the blackboard options. I was most impressed with the time he spent with us while we dithered this way and that with our choices.

When the real lunch hour rush started and the tables started filling up I noticed that his standard of service didn’t waiver. I overheard him patiently explaining the menu again and again with enthusiasm. His commitment to providing consistently high quality service was noted by everyone at my table and on that sole basis I’d recommend Pei Modern.

Not that the food isn’t also consistently excellent.

From the small dishes we had the brandade croquettes ($8 for 4), pillowy bites of salted cod, potato and herbs lightly deep-fried with a light crunchy shell. As you’d expect from a MoVida relation,  Pei Modern made excellent croquettes – the mixture was loosely packed and not dense with just mashed potato. Our other choice from the bite-sized dishes was the cuca sardines with tomato jam ($6). To be plain, sardines on toast done really well, with a hunk of fresh flaky fish on a smear of concentrated summer tomatoes, offset by a hemisphere of tart green tomato.

For mains our waiter highly recommended the lamp chop with pumpkin ($24) so we tried the large slab of meat on the bone, cooked to pink, accompanied with several large rustic slices of roast pumpkin. Not very photogenic but simple and honest fare.

We also had Bullhorn peppers with mozzarella and majoram ($13), a riff on the classic Caprese salad with soft cheese, very sweet roasted peppers and a pretty sprinkling of herbs. The prettiest salad I’ve ever seen!

The highlight was the rabbit risotto with radicchio ($21), a large bowl of plump, perfectly cooked rice mixed with braised shreds of rabbit meat, topped with crunchy purple leaves and finished with the distinct sweetness of maple syrup (mixed with balsamic vinegar). That hint of sweetness in every few bites was just enough to counter the acquired taste of the sharp bite of radicchio.

The menu changes daily, even several times daily, depending on what fresh produce the chefs have on hand. I noticed that ingredients from Thursday night’s menu such as the roast rabbit, radicchio and peppers appeared in the Friday lunch menu sp what I ate may not necessarily be there tomorrow! Which is all the more reason to keep returning.

For dessert make your selection from some of the sweet nibbles on domed display at the bar. A finger of caramel, chocolate and shortbread with a salty golden dust ($3) and a crumbly pear frangipane tart ($7) and you’ll be set for sweets.

Their website is still a bit skimpy with menu details but as a guide for the fine-dining menu you’re looking at $14-18 for entrees (I hear the almond gazpacho with blue swimmer crab is unmissable), $28-$35 mains except for the dry aged porterhouse and $15 desserts.

For a review on Pei Modern’s fine-dining dinner options, check out The Chronicles of Ms I-Hua.

Pei Modern, 45 Collins St, Melbourne +61 3 9654 8545
Mon – Sun: 7:30 am – 1:00 am

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How is it possible for The SuperCool to be so…well, cool?

The mobile emporium has just landed in the loading dock of the fantastic Great Dane furniture store (a great use of unused space if I’ve ever heard one). The curated collection of homewares, stationery, furnishings, accessories and general design-goodness has basically brought to life all of my favourite things in one spot. More vintage objects than I have room for in my house!

Vintage suitcases! Tick.

I have an addiction to vintage typewriters.

Lots of different sized and shaped wooden crates, containers, shelves and racks, including my favourite one for stationery/milk bottles.

Cute kids toys, including a cardboard kitchen and cards and puzzles.

I want to add to my collection of blackboard signs.

And finally, a wooden 70s something-or-rather for $40. Maybe a small umbrella stand? Magazine rack? Fancy stubby holder? It’s unclear what it actually is but I’m using it as a wine rack for now. What do you think?

Get in quick as every item is limited edition or one-offs and The SuperCool will only be at the Great Dane Loading Dock until Sunday 20 May.

The SuperCool, Great Dane Loading Dock, Corner of Napier St & Johnston Sts, Fitzroy

Thu,Fri, Sat 10am-4pm

Sun 11am-4pm

Closed Easter and 19-22 April

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Lux Foundry is one of the friendliest establishments I’ve been to recently and I can’t rave about it enough.

The cafe is housed in a heritage listed building, an old stove foundry, and the decor has retained some of the rugged industrial elements while updating the look with enamel pendant lamps and classic Thonet chairs.

Inside the building gasp-inducing cathedral ceilings give lots of light to the brushed concrete and exposed brick factory floor while the huge outdoor area in front means no fighting for seats and lots of space for kids to roam when the weather is warm.

Besides your usual hip cafe crowd you’d expect in Brunswick the place draws cyclists, pram-pushing parents and dog owners all in need of a drink and some food. I found the staff to be welcoming and accommodating for all – the kind of place where you feel like they’d know your name if you were a regular.

A and I converged onto the cafe with kids and bikes in tow and on a weekday lunch hour it was like a pram convention. After a bit of faffing by us and patience from the waitress we finally ordered lunch – an Asian shredded chicken salad, cabbage, snow peas, peanuts with chilli, lime and sesame oil dressing ($16.50) and an egg and bacon La Madre panini with tomato relish ($10.50).

My salad was a fresh and crunchy affair, full of exuberant health with a kick of chilli to liven things up. A’s breakfast panini was fairly stock standard though good quality ingredients equals a sandwich that’s better than average.

For dessert I trawled the glass cakes cabinet indecisively before one of the staff came to help me. His advice was to go for the berry coconut slice ($4) as it was his favourite – and my advice is to do the same! Indulge in a layers of sugar with your Genovese coffee ($3.50) or the creamy and fragrant LUX Chai Latte ($3.70).

The folks at Lux Foundry are so nice that they even let another business take up shop in their courtyard on Fridays! The Gumbo Kitchen food truck parks there every Friday night, serving gumbo, po’ boys and other Louisiana inspired food. Yet another reason to visit.

Lux Foundry, 21 Hope St, Brunswick +61 3 9387 8075

Mon-Fri 7.30 am -4.00 pm 
Sat-Sun 8.00 am – 5.00pm

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I am not a fan of Mark Rothko.

However, there is a Rothko print hanging in my loungeroom because RM is a fan of Rothko. Which is also how we came to be in the audience for Red, Melbourne Theatre Company‘s production of the Tony award winning play by John Logan with Colin Friels starring as Rothko.

The construct is simple – the set is fixed as Rothko’s Manhattan studio in the 1950s and the play is a two-hander between Mark Rothko and his hapless young assistant. The dialogue (as there’s not much in the way of action) takes place against the work-in-progress backdrops of one of the most famous modern art commissions, murals for the Seagram’s Four Season’s restaurant.

Rothko is famous and rich and concerned with becoming an irrelevant old-timer in the face of Pop Art knocking Abstract Expressionism off the art pedestal. The characters discuss, yell and fight about art vs commercialism, how art should speak to viewers, Rothko’s disdain for the buyers of his art vs him ambition and the horrors of natural light. Rothko fans will be familiar with these views from his book The  Artist’s Reality.

Colin Friels and André de Vanny do an excellent job with the ideas-rich text. There’s no real plot, other than the progress of these of the Seagram landscapes, so it requires concentration from the actors and the audience to make sense of the flitting from one concept to another. That’s not to say that there is no structure – it’s a very tightly written piece which fits a lot of provocative thoughts into 90 minutes (no interval).

We all know how this story ends. Rothko decides to reject the Seagram’s commission and to protect the paintings. And I’ve seen some of these paintings in their monumental glory, lit as Rothko intended them – in a dark, somber environment, not hung in a noisy, moneyed restaurant. It’s the only piece of Rothko’s art that I actually like – and watching Red is an enjoyable way to somewhat understand the mind of this famous artist.

For more photos from the production check out MTC’s Flickr stream.

Red, Melbourne Theatre Company, Sumner Theatre, 140 Southbank Blvd, Southbank
Season Dates 26 March to 5 May 2012

A Caterpillar’s Dream is a glass-fronted cafe that looks out onto a supermarket carpark while the interior design is pretty non-descript standard-issue cafe style. The menu states that their dream is ‘[to] transform successfully like most caterpillars do, [so] we will see more butterflies soaring in the sky, and the whole world will become better…’ Huh?

Diving into the items on the menu it was clear that they lacked focus other than serving a whole lot of dishes under the overarching branch of ‘vegetarian’. It was the United Nations of dining out – the roll call included Japanese, Italian, Indian, Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysian and French.

A little overwhelmed, Kish and I decided to stock to one page – the All Day Dining options. From there we selected the Veggie Thai Spicy Duck ($8.90), Veggie Peking Duck Wrap ($10.90), Homemade shallow fried dumplings ($7.90).

Out of those three options the dumplings were the best. A row of small neat dumplings arrived filled with carrot, cabbage, minced soya and ginger with a sticky teriyaki sauce. They were filling without being heavy and were nicely pan-fried on the base for crunch.

The spicy duck was also quite good, with a crispy batter covering slices of mock meat. The sauce was definitely not spicy though and I can’t say that there was anything particularly Thai about any of the flavours. I just happen to like mock duck.

The Peking Duck Wrap was not what I was expecting – little pancakes with mock duck inside, like how normal Peking Duck is served. It is actually more like a mock duck souvlaki and I can’t say that there was anything particularly Chinese, Pekingnese or duck-like about the whole dish.

Still a little hungry, we decided to go with a Veggie Chicken Satay Wrap ($7.95), which I think was a pre-made takeaway offerings in the glass cabinet. As you can see, it was a huge fistful of salad ingredients with nary a bit of fake chicken in sight. Not so great.

Desserts are housemade and I highly recommend the lemon meringue tart – a crumbly biscuit casing with smooth lemon curd and a marshmallow topping.

While A Caterpillar’s Dream is not an amazing dining out experience it does provide a lot of choice for vegetarians, a rarity, and out of the all the dishes we tried from the vast menu we did well 50/50 of the time, with the dessert the highlight.

However, based on our visit, it’s not somewhere I would return again, especially given the array of other dining out options around Kew Junction.

For other vegetarian-only restaurants, try Las Vegan and Englightened Cuisine.

A Caterpillar’s Dream, Shop 4 26 Princess St, Kew +61 3 9939 6133

Tuesday ~ Thursday: 8:30am~4:00pm

Friday ~ Saturday: 8:30am ~ 4:00pm / 5:30pm~9:00pm

Sunday : 9:00am~4:00pm

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As far as food trends go, food trucks are almost passe in Melbourne these days.

So yes, while Grub Food Van has a kitchen inside a van, it’s a food truck which stays put and thus has some advantages over its competitors.

Specifically, staying in one spot means that it’s been able to put down roots. Literally. Walk past the carpeted dirt patch and there’s a whole kitchen garden sprouting in what is effectively a big back shed slash greenhouse.

And it’s awesome! Tomatoes, squash, herbs, lettuces, flowers, bizarre garden ornaments, ping-pong, fountains and a resident pooch – it’s like your favourite neighbour’s backyard which you can go and visit at any time (and where you’ll be served food and drinks) but you don’t have to do any of the maintenance. The undercover area means that you can hide away from the elements as the weather starts getting cooler.

The van itself is a beauty too, a bullet-shiny steel Airstream from the 60s.

The food is easy and straightforward as obviously the kitchen is restricted in size and stove power. Breakfast is toast, muesli, eggs while lunch is sandwiches. Cakes and pastries come from various sources including Noisette and Babka and coffee is from 5 Senses. When the sun goes down they service beer, wine, cider and cocktails.

I chose one of the open sandwich options written on the front of the fridge ($10) – smoked trout, dill creme fraiche, rocket and rye. It was a substantial breakfast with just-picked super-fresh peppery rocket for a green kickstart to the day.

RM chose the rillettes with toast ($10) and some ice tea ($4). He quite enjoyed it but I had a taste and didn’t fancy the wet, bland shredded meat compared to my dish. But I’m not a fan of cold potted meats in general so it’s just my prejudice. More bread would have been appreciated too.

C and J had the same thing – a tear-hard-with-your-teeth baguette filled with shaved, ham and avocado. Not particularly unique but tasty nonetheless.

On our visit on a Saturday morning the food and coffee orders arrived slowly despite us being one of three tables. We weren’t too bothered but the staff are a bit lackadaisical, so if you’re in a hurry it’s perhaps not for you. The food is simple and good for taste buds just waking up in the morning but the best part of the whole operation is the setting.

Grub Food Van, 87-89 Moor St, Fitzroy +61 3 9419 8991
Tue-Sun 7am-10pm, though subject to change depending on the weather

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Kat from Spatula Spoon and Saturday has been hassling me for months about visiting Leo’s Fine Foods. She described it as ‘Simon Johnson at supermarket prices’ where you could stock up on gourmet products in a place that was still affordable enough to do your weekly shop.

Leo’s is effectively two supermarkets housed in one shiny building. They stock the kind of brands you’d expect to see at the major supermarkets – Arnotts biscuits, Weetbix, Omo washing powder etc and then there’s a large section of imported products brought in mainly from the Mediterranean. That means a dried pasta and olive oil range rivaled only by Mediterranean Wholesalers, for example. It’s actually quite overwhelming unless you know exactly what brand you’re looking for.

Leo’s not only imports products for retail but is also wholesale importer, which means that it can buy at mass volume and pass on the lower prices to the consumer. That means you can shop there for your gourmet products while still buying staples like milk, bread and (French) cheese.

If, like me, you’re a bit relaxed about ‘Used by’ and ‘Best by’ dates and aim to be frugal with your grocery budget, then I highly recommend raiding the discount fridge section! It’s not very posh to be digging through a jumble of random orange-stickered items but the results of the foraging are definitely posh. I bought almost due date and perfectly fine King Island Vanilla Bean yoghurt for $2 as well as useful freezer standbys like Yarra Valley Dairy lasagna (serves 3-4) for $22, fresh gnocchi (serves 2) for $5 and Maria’s Pasta vegetarian lasagna for $5.

If anyone else has tips as to what to buy from Leo’s and the as to the best times of day to go for discounted meat and freezer/fridge items please let me know! Now that I know the kind of bargains available I will be making a regular trip whenever I visit Kew.

Leo’s Fine Food and Wine, 26 Princess St, Kew

7 days 7am – 10pm

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It’s the last week of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and if you haven’t already make sure you make a booking for Restaurant Express, where you can partake in a great value lunch with some of Melbourne’s (and regional Victoria’s) top restaurants.

Gourmet Chick and I whittled down our shortlist to the $35 2 course lunch at La Luna Bistro. It’s an informal neighbourhood restaurant serving modern Australian dishes with a Mediterranean/British bent and at its helm is chef/owner Adrian Richardson (from TV fame) who we found watering the kitchen garden built on the nature strip outside the restaurant.

He was very friendly when we asked about the plants there (herbs, tomatoes, lettuces) and invited us to borrow a pair of scissors to snip from the large bay tree after our meal. In fact, he said that anyone was welcome to harvest from the garden from any time since it’s built on community land – though he’d prefer it if you didn’t rip out a whole plant :–)

Adrian’s food philosophy is very much about local, seasonal ingredients and buying from small producers. It is especially famous for its meat (the pig is the restaurant mascot it seems) so if you’re vegetarian then you will be limited in choice.

The restaurant is smallish on the inside so if the weather’s nice I highly recommend spreading out on one of the half dozen outdoor tables on the pavement. The clean, unflashy decor is extended to the functional napery – tea towels! Great idea.

On the Restaurant Express lunch menu there are three entrees, three mains and three desserts (two sweets and one cheese). Gourmet Chick and I decided to share two entrees and mains as the desserts of creme brulee and chocolate pudding, while delicious-sounding, were fairly commonplace.

To start, house-cured Wessex Saddleback House made pancetta with sweet pickled peppers. These rare breed pigs produce the silkiest perfumed cured meats thanks to a large fat seam in their flesh. La Luna  has a menu section devoted to charcuterie so make sure you try some of their cured meats, great with a small helping of pickles to cut through the fattiness.

Lambs tongue croquettes with a pool of artichoke aioli. The balls were more potato than tongue (probably a good thing, I’m a bit squeamish about offal) and lightly fried for a hint of crunch.

Despite the unseasonably balmy weather we ordered two very wintery dishes. Firstly, a rich melting braised beef rib with a tomato and pepper reduction. My favourite element was the crunchy corn salsa for textural contrast and a bit of freshness instead of the usual expected side dish of mash.

More textural contrast in the second main course from the roasted walnuts garnishing house-made bull boar sausages, atop some silky aioli and with a sprinkling of chives.

All in all I was impressed by the quality of the food and the service at La Luna Bistro and it’s heartening to see a true ‘paddock to plate’ philosophy at work with the kitchen popping out to the street to harvest some of their ingredients. The dishes are not particularly challenging but familiar comfort food done well is the perfect formula for this local bistro.

La Luna Bistro, 320 Rathdowne St, Carlton North +61 3 9349 4888

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The Peony Pavilion is an intricate classical Ming Dynasty tale about love lost and found and the story of The Peony Pavilion has now been brought to the dance stage by National Ballet of China. They are performing exclusively in Australia with National Ballet of China Symphony Orchestra for five performances only at the Arts Centre Melbourne.  Thanks to the Arts Centre I was invited to attend the opening night.<

I had previously seen the National Ballet of China perform in Melbourne and was most impressed by the company’s technique, lyricism and flow, as well as their sumptuous costumes and sets (considering they were travelling from China). This production is no different.

I think two factors make the ballets from the China different from the productions from Western ballet companies, despite Chinese ballet companies evolving their style from Russian ballet traditions.

After a full buffet lunch put on by the Langham, it was back to work (well, as much as sitting down and eating and listening was work) with Dan Hunter, the chef at the Royal Mail.

I’ve raved about my dinner at the Royal Mail before and the kitchen presents food that’s all about provenance, seasonality and highlighting the flavours of the ingredients. That’s not to say there’s not a lot of technique involved.

Most of the dishes at the Royal Maill incorporate some ingredient from their kitchen garden. The kitchen garden is partly a passion project for Dan but also a simple case of practicalities – Dunkeld is almost 3 hours away from Melbourne and thus 3 hours away from a really good regular fruit and vegetable market. Harvesting from the garden also helps to keep food costs down!

Dan’s approach to food is about respecting the produce, giving diners a sense of place when they come to the restaurant and highlighting the food’s connection with the environment. In his view great cooking doesn’t begin in the kitchen but starts with forging a relationship with small scale producers such as Diggers Club (heritage seeds), Grampians Pure  Sheep Dairy (sheep’s milk and milk products), Mount Zero (olives) and harvesting local and native ingredients with the help and knowledge of Brambuk Cultural Centre. When the produce gets to the kitchen he creates dishes with the intention of highlighting one or two great products.

We received three tastings during Dan’s demonstration: tomato on toast, handmade sheep’s ricotta; rare breed pancetta, candied radish, rocket; and eel and bone marrow, eggplant, pickled vegetables. You can watch a video on the journey of these dishes from the producers to the plate below.

Royal Mail Hotel: The journey of a dish from Sarah-Jane Woulahan on Vimeo.

All the dishes burst with fresh flavours – a meaty tomato, sharp chive flowers, the different aniseed hints from different basil leaves, sweet grassy ricotta, melt-in-the-mouth Wessex Saddleback pancetta, peppery rocket and the rich umami of eel flavours.

Dan’s food is so good that they are invariably copied or highly influence dishes by other chefs. Dan’s view on ‘imitation being the sincerest form of flattery’ – who cares? Just get on with it. If people are copying dishes then you’ve already gone past that dish if you’re aiming to be in front. Which he is.

My second session of my day at the Langham Melbourne Chef Masterclasses was with Chicago-born Rosio Sanchez, pastry chef at the San Pellegrino’s world number 1 restaurant, Noma.

To say that I was excited was an understatement. I don’t foresee any possibility of flying 24+ hours to Copenhagen any time soon so to have Rosio come to my doorstep with some of her desserts was a dream come true.

Rosio’s session was entitled Sweetness & Light and she was very much that – a very nice lady who clearly loved a challenge in the kitchen. She has worked for two of the most spectacular restaurants in the world – New York’s groundbreaking wd-50 with Alex Stupak and now Noma. With the former employer she has honed her technique and at her current restaurant she has gained a respect for local, seasonal produce. Rene Redzepi (a humble Birkenstock-shod helper throughout her demonstration!) describes her palate as one of the best he’s ever encountered.

On the menu with Rosio were two tastings – Potato and Plums and Gammel Dansk Bitters. The first was a potato mash used as an icecream base and sweetened with the plum kernel to a marzipan/almond flavour. It was so sweet it was almost like the fake almond essence you sometimes taste in cakes – amazing! It was paired with a prune compote (a natural jam from rehydrated plums) with plum juice, plum syrup and plum sauce. Together the most unlikely of pairings turned into one delicious dessert.

The second dessert was also an icecream, this time made with a herbal and rather medicinal tasting form of bitters from Denmark. The disc of Gammel Dansk ice cream hid some crispy milk and milk crumbs (neither of which were particular crispy in the tasting) and a dill sauce. It looks like mashed potato and pesto – and it’s not!

Some of the things I learnt about Rosio:

• She started her cooking career baking at home. She would bake at night so that the family wouldn’t see a mess while she was working and they could wake up with a ‘ta-dah’ look what Rosio made this morning! She still makes her mom’s favourite banana bread for her mom.
• She adds salt into all her desserts. That includes the banana bread.
• She’s currently working on a rhubarb dessert for Noma and is likely to pair it with brown cheese. If you’ve never tried brown cheese, it is a particularly funky-smelling Norwegian specialty. Rosio is thinking of turning the brown cheese into a ganache.
• Potato and plums is her favourite dessert on the menu at the moment because she was initially so resistant to the idea of making a dessert from potato. The meat marrow petit fours is another one of her favourite dessert items.
• Her philosophy with creating desserts is always to have something familiar on the plate, especially if you’ve just eaten a challenging meal. Either a familiar ingredient used in an unusual way or an unfamiliar ingredient that’s technically interesting.

Someone please buy me an around-the-world airplane ticket!

After day of eating, drinking, talking and listening to some of the world’s most interesting and talked-about chefs from overseas and Australia, all I want to do is jump on a plane and feast.

The 7.5 hour program of the Langham Melbourne Chef Masterclasses is a marathon assault on the senses and I’m still trying to wrap my head around so many ideas and thoughts and philosophies and recipes. But here’s the first of a multi-part post on four amazing chefs.

My day started with Korean-American chef Corey Lee, ex-chef de cuisine of Thomas Keller’s 3 Michelin star The French Laundry and 18 months into owning and cooking at his 2 Michelin star fine-dining establishment Benu. With Benu (which is Egyptian for Phoenix and a name chosen for its not-immediately-apparent ethnic origin) Corey explores and reinterprets Asian techniques, ingredients and histories.

His presentation started with a video giving us a glimpse into the workings of his 64 seater restaurant – lots of chefs, tweezering with surgical precision, a reminder at the pass to ‘SMILE’ –  before getting down to work with his sous chef.

His demonstration menu consisted of two dishes simply listing their main ingredients – anchovy, peanuts, lily bulb, pickles and pine nut glutinous rice cakes with black truffle and pine needle honey. These short descriptions belie the complexity of the recipes and techniques.

This little savoury spoonful contains anchovy gelee, lily bulb puree, pickles of various vegetables and garnished with caramelised anchovies, red chilli curls, coriander and raw lily bulbs.

The second sweeter dish would appear about midway through the tasting menu and was a very glutinous rice cake with a hint of fresh, green honey macerated in pine needles from the forests of the Sierra Nevada.

Some thoughts from Corey:

• He wanted to serve a dumpling in his menu because stuffing something into dough is something universal in all food cultures. He settled on a xiao long bao as it is extremely technical but at Benu he uses lean pork and foie gras as the filling and a precisely 18g thin yeast dough as the wrapping.
• Wine pairings were difficult with the menu given the Asian flavour profiles and because his tasting menu can be around 16-18 courses he decided not to match a wine with every course. The menu allows beer, tea and non-alcoholic drink pairings as well.
• He worked at The French Laundry for 9 years and from that experience gained technical expertise, a way of setting up a back of house system and mostly admired the way Thomas managed to get the best out of people and his generosity.
• He feels less pressure being the head of Benu than as the head chef at The French Laundry because with his own restaurant he’s not responsible for the reputation and kitchen of another person.
• From the beginning he wanted to put Shark Fin Soup on his menu because he wanted to tap into its reference point as a dish eaten to mark a celebratory, special occasion. His fake shark fin was the result of working with a science lab in San Diego to replicate the texture and flavour of this now-banned ingredient.
• Tips for young chef – learn to work cleanly, quietly, quickly and be creative – in that order.

Despite his impressive CV and the hype about his restaurant, Corey seemed to be quite a relaxed and self-effacing (single) guy. The kind of chef that if you asked nicely you might be able to visit his kitchen. Oh – and if you want to book at Benu, they open for bookings 2 months ahead.