Blue Chillies

(degusted 24/9/2011)


You know that feeling you get when you find a restaurant that you think that you simply MUST come back to the same place the next day or at the latest next week?.. That excitement and anticipation of thinking about how you’ll try out all the rest of their dishes when you come back, and thinking of all the people you’ll be able to invite to come out to dinner with you to that place… Well, we got that feeling after eating here at Blue Chillies, on the iconic Brunswick Street in Fitzroy. Actually, it was more like that feeling had smacked us over the head, dunked us into the barrel of whisked happiness and rolled us in a crumb of satisfaction… Yeah, that was it, and we loved every minute of it.

In the past, when we’ve felt like Malaysian food, we have oft' popped into one of our favourites in Camberwell – Monk & Me – for a delicious feed, and it has served us remarkably well over the years. Steve says: “I’m a sucker for the simple stuff and tucking into a nice Beef Rending with some Roti is where I find my happy place”. Monk & Me have been the supplier of choice, but now we’ve got another vendor in the picture…

Beef Rendang at Blue Chillies. One of our favourite dishes.

Shocolate - Fitzroy

(degusted 24/9/11)

Chocolate, white choc macarons, ice-cream & chocolate sauce.
The matched wine at least made us feel a bit like grown-ups,
even if the sweeties made us feel like children again!

When you’re trying to balance healthy living, exercise, and a hobby that involves the food intake equivalent of a rugby league half-back, it is quite an indulgence to then add to the intake by means of a dessert degustation (a chocolate-based degustation, to be accurate). However, with the unending torrent of temptations that fly past every day - and the opportunity to save over 50% thanks to a scoopon to which we just couldn’t say no, well, we folded and found ourselves in possession of a voucher exchangeable for a sugar rush the likes of which the world had never seen… (well, perhaps not since Augustus Gloop fell rather unceremoniously into the chocolate river in Charlie’s Chocolate Factory)…

The day after our meal at Lucky Chan's (do you feel lucky, punk?) We moseyed on down to Shocolate in Fitzroy on a cold Saturday afternoon. It’s a beautiful looking shop – high ceilings, French-provincial styling we guess – a comfortable air about the place. We noticed the ‘no photographs’ sign on the display cabinet that housed their range of macarons and delicious-looking chocolate morsels. It’s a shame that photography was not appreciated, as the items on display made fantastic subjects – but we concede it would get a bit annoying having snap-happy passers-by popping in all day long to take a pic and not buy anything. In this regard, we respected their request… sort of ...(a couple of sneaky (read: poor quality) android phone snaps simply did not do the place or the food any justice - so we shall leave them out). Pictures of molded chocolate are not that interesting, anyway, and so for once the pictures are really not necessary (unlike our previous post on the dessert degustation at Cafe Rosamonde!).

First up was a tasting plate with 6 different chocolates – each with something unique. We were blown away by the Vegemite chocolate, which was remarkably good – even for one of us who hates vegemite alone. So good was the vegemite chocolate in fact, that the “usual favourite” of salted caramel was outshone.
There, we said it: Vegemite wins over caramel. Wow.

The white chocolate macarons were as macarons should be – crisp shell, chewy inside, flavoured nicely (and not just a mouthful of sugar). These were yum to be sure, and we ordered more of other flavours to take away – which were equally good.

A vanilla bean icecream with molten couverture chocolate (made with lots of cocoa butter) was the finale, and it was like being a kid all over again. We had allowed the ice-cream to melt slightly to that soft consistency that makes the flavours and creaminess shine through. Then, giggling with the sugar rush from the preceding items, and prodding at the ice-cream to make small craters with our spoons, we slowly poured the molten chocolate into the ice-cream.. Then, before it completely solidified we took a scoop and sunk back into the seat, enjoying the pleasure that ensued.  Ahhh... Chocolately vanillary bliss.

For a truly decadent afternoon delight, you can’t pass up the opportunity to stuff yourself with some fine chocolate, and quaff a matched wine.  Send an invitation by telegram to your pancreas well in advance though, because it will need to be working hard to deal with the sugar-high that ensues.



Rating:  Nom(x3) - Perfect for a chocolate fix!

Meh                      It’ll Do                   Nom(x3)                              Must go back!

Ask yourself a question: Do I feel Lucky, Chan?

Lucky Chan @ Crown Casino
(degusted 23/9/2011 )

Wagyu rolls - a standout -
but at $50 a plate don't fill up on these.
See below for more...

We had planned to do some cooking ourselves over at the Wooga Korean grill on Victoria street, but we found out – at 6pm on a Friday - that it was fully booked. So instead, we had to quickly find something else to satisfy our spicy cravings, on one of the busiest nights... At the recommendation of our dining friends, we decided to give Lucky Chan’s a run for our money (of which we had plenty, just as well), and they had a table available!

Lucky Chan’s used to be located on the corner of the Crown Casino near Jeff’s shed for some time, but recently moved to a more central position along in the Casino complex – still river side.. With a number of lack-lustre reviews on the ‘old’ location, we wondered if the move to the new digs would change anything…

As we have previously mentioned (and careful readers will recall) we don’t normally pay much attention to the prices of foods – instead letting the ‘vibe’ of the place and the quality of the food dictate whether we enjoyed it or not. Here we did sneak a peek at some prices, and we were amazed at some of the asking prices. The prices may be fair compared to the likes of the premium dining destinations at Crown (for example, the nearby Nobu, Silks, or Koko’s), but it’s an apples and oranges case – you can’t just directly compare them. Chan’s is listed as one of the “casual” dining places in the Crown website, and one would expect prices to reflect that distinction. Relatively small servings put the sting into the tail of these prices, which are at the high end of normal, if not perhaps more than most people would expect to pay for a meal. Looking at other blogs and reviews, it seems that the peeps definitely consider these prices too high. From our perspective, all we can say is that when we ignored the price-tag, we thought some of the food was top-notch..   But not everything was good.

The Robert Burns Hotel - Spanish food vs Scottish Poet

(degusted 19/9/2011)

Outside the RBH - Smith St. by night

"An unassumingly-named pub with Spanish food is a good twist, and serving tapas in a bar is a sensible pairing against which few would argue. As long as the quality and consistency of food stays high, this face-lifted Spaniard with the name of a Scottish poet might just do alright".

If you were to be asked –off the top of your head - what Spanish names come immediately to mind? What do you come up with –
Antonio Banderas…sure. 
Penelope Cruz… ahh yes. 
Salvador Dali… oh yeah, that “melted clock” bloke. 
Robert Burns? Excuse me – who was that last one?

The name associates more with a Scottish poet than with a tapas bar - perhaps that's why it took considerably longer for us to register that the Robert Burns Hotel (RBH) specialises in Spanish fare. Fear not, however, for if ever there was
a match made in that figment of peoples' imagination they call Heaven, it must be the serving of tapas and the (responsible) service of alcohol at the same location. And so it goes, from this day forth, the Robert Burns Hotel will, to us, now be duly known as the Spanish tapas pub on Smith street, in Collingwood, 'till death or cirrhosis do they part. We hope it will be a long and loving relationship.

Quick Bite: A tasty little gem in the crown

Where can you get a bowl of chow for under 6 bucks? Actually, perhaps we should re-word that:

Where can you get a tasty and enjoyable bowl of chow for under 6 bucks and not be disappointed?

By complete chance, we stumbled across this offering at the East to West eatery, inside the Crown casino complex. Nothing special.

This blog post is NOT about the eatery itself, but just one dish it offers.

Here they had on offer a simple seafood salad with shrimp, calamari, pipis and octopus, mixed through a salad with wombok, capsicum, celery, carrot and vermicelli. Not to forget the mild sweet chilli kick, and some peanuts, and fried shallots for crunch and taste. Is that some wood-ear mushroom in there too? Think it might be.

And then there’s that price tag to make fast food outlets blush – at $5.95 there’s no need to battle your way through the food court crowds – if you've dragged yourself away from the Baccarat tables long enough to realise you're hungry – grab one of these little rippers... 

Just don't get caught out paying $15 for a pint of your favourite amber fluid!

On cloud nine at Kumo Izakaya

(degusted 27/8/2011)

It was only a couple of months ago that we went to IzakayaDen, in Melbourne's CBD, and there we found a haven for Japanese tapas that did three things for us – (i) reinforced the fact that we love living in a diverse foodie's paradise such as Melbourne; (ii) gave us beautiful memories of our all to short time visiting Japan, and (iii) left us up on cloud nine for quite some days afterwards. We were pleased and intrigued therefore when we heard Kumo Izakaya – a Japanese "tapas" style sake bar - was opening its doors out in East Brunswick, and we had been looking for a good excuse to try it out. 

That excuse came in the way of a city excursion (and we encourage you all to try it) – starting somewhere for breakfast (in our case, Demitri's Feast), taking in random and as yet unexplored parts of your home city all day long (who knew the "Docklands shopping precint" was a real thing!?), and randomly end up somewhere for dinner. 

Deguster N was unaware that Kumo Izakaya had been Deguster S's  target all day long...

At first impressions, Kumo's facade is a stand-out for a couple of reasons. First it is a large, somewhat imposing modernist 'cube' that juts out and is certainly unique in this Lygon streetscape (NB: it's NOT in the Carlton end of Lygon st), and the other is that the hard and sharp lines of this cube contrast to the soft and lofty impression that a "cloud" (kumo) would normally be thought to have. Push through the oversized door and you're welcomed by the friendly staff and enter the large wareshouse-esque space. Despite the size of the space, some nice 'cozy' nooks can be found – get a booth along the south wall, sit along the moody bar on the north side, or get upstairs to float above it all. Whatever you do, you'll soon be on your own little cloud of food ecstasy (or woozy from all the sake – whatever is your preference)....

Something spicy this way comes - Spice Bar, Mooloolaba (QLD)

(degusted 10/8/11)

Spice Bar –  Mooloolaba (Sunshine Coast, QLD)

Edamame

Just a block back from the Mooloolaba esplanade, you really could be in any town, anywhere. First avenue runs behind some of the bigger apartment complexes that shoot tourist accommodation skyward in this little part of paradise. As a result, there is a distinct lack of views - or even perspective – when afoot on this little thoroughfare. For tourists looking for something hip and happening with views to that magnificent Mooloolaba beach, Spice bar's location, therefore, might be a bit of a buzz kill. Not that it's a bad location per se; it's just not in the best location for capitalising on the beach that is less than 100 metres away. If you’re disappointed that you can’t dine with a view – then the good news is, that's where the disappointment stops.

Demitri's Feast (Cafe) - Kali'mera Baclava!

(degusted  27th August, 2011)

Baclava French Toast

Like many things these days, stumbling upon stand-out items when tweeting or surfing the interwebs is one of the best parts of living in a techno-filled world. Our attention was drawn to
Demintri's Feast where, through the magic of bits and bytes, we were presented with critical information: they do a Baclava french toast. The concept is simple but we're suckers for simple things done in different ways or in new combinations, so this had us sitting up all googly-eyed and alert like a startled pair of meer-cats.
In the way that Adrian Cronour (Robbin Williams' character) called out in "Gooooood morning Vietnaaaam", Demitri's Feast had us hollering in a similar fashion in anticipation - "Kali'mera Baclavaaaaaaa!!" on the drive out to Richmond. (Kali'mera = good morning, if our all-too brief stint in Santorini served us even remotely well).


On paper, this place looks the goods. A neat little cafe serving up a range of breakfast items with a distinctively Greek influence; neat.
Smack-bang in the middle of the Richmond action on Swan Street makes it easy to find and easy to get to; double neat.
Reports from several reviews were that the staff were uber-friendly; hat-trick.

Well behaved Beans? The Good Bean Espresso Bar, (Sunshine Coast QLD)

degusted 10/8/11 – for espresso and ristretto.... and a BYO pie :)

Their coffees are good, and the atmosphere is what I look for in a cute local dealer – a rustic bare minimum, but somewhere to sit, chat or read the paper over a good cuppa.

 

Surprise surprise... The older and more weathered half of The Degusters likes a good coffee occasionally. Especially when on holidays.

There is an amazingly short supply of good cafes around the Mooloolaba area that we could find... Sure, there are plenty of breakfast/lunch eateries that also do coffee, but it seemed few places just focus on coffee. Very unlike Melbourne in that respect (perhaps it was just us - perhaps some locals could steer us in a better direction??).

Speaking to the friendly barista here at The Good Bean Espresso bar, I was told that the Sunshine Coast is perhaps around 5 years behind Melbourne's coffee and cafe trends. I reckon that might be about right, but I also think this gap will close as more and more southerners move north chasing the sun, and once more locals and visitors start to get behind the independent "caffiene dealers" and gain the confidence to take their patronage further from the currently popular "Gloria Bucks" and "Star Jeans" -style franchises.

Sitting and observing, there seems to already be the beginnings of a niche following at this little coffee shop – which is pretty much a hop step and jump off the beach, behind the Mooloolaba surf club. I heard one local say that his mates recommended he pick himself up a ristretto, but that he wanted it in a cappucino... Cudos to him for trying something different (a shame to have diluted the product into milky boringness, though each to his own).

The shorty was good, as was the ristretto. Both were worthy of a second, and if I had discovered this place earlier I would have gone back a few more times. The difference in flavour between the espresso and ristretto was marginal, and I think most people probably would not pick the difference (unless comparing side by side).  I do wonder how they manage their grinder settings with an open-plan shop and the potential for ever-changing ambient humidity..

My fingers are crossed that next time I'm in the area this place will still be open, still pulling good shots, and keeping itself a year or two ahead of the local coffee scene - both as a destination for caffiene addicts, but also to build just this sort of relaxed cafe culture in the area.

Sang's Thai restaurant - Sunshine Coast, QLD

(degusted  9th Aug, 2011)

Moreton Bay Bugs, stir-fried with chilli and basil.

We enjoyed dining at Sang's Thai restaurant – and although we flag a few technicalities with their dishes, most punters probably won't realise (or care) about these minor issues in dishes that are otherwise quite tasty and overall pretty good. The fact that the place was over half full on a Tuesday night, and many of those were obviously locals on repeat-visits, speaks volumes about the success of this place, and suggests they've got their dishes well sorted for local tastes. Who are we to argue with that!?

After a long relaxing lunch at Kings Beach we were not really that hungry, so before our dinner we took advantage of the many kilometers of beautiful walking tracks and amazing beaches that are what make this area on the Sunshine Coast such a drawcard for visitors. With a tenth of a marathon completed, we searched for a restaurant offering something to pique our interest, and Urbanspoon revealed Sang's Thai restaurant as one that had a swag of good reviews and plenty of "likes". Consider that a decision made – thanks, urbanspoon.

Having recently moved into its current location on a prominent corner shop site, Sang's dining room has a nice mellow feel – dark chocolates and browns set up an intimate and rustic feel – while still looking modern and chic with the polished concrete floors. The patterned tablecloths were nice enough even though they were in fact vinyl – usually a tacky addition – but in this case, the covers were nice enough and were not detrimental to the feel of the place.

Service was friendly and prompt, even though a large table had arrived at a similar time – we were not forgotten, which was nice.

For starters, we had the Fish cakes and Yellow pancake – the latter could be described as being similar to a vienamese Bun Xeo (crispy pancake), although a lot heavier and denser and more oily. This yellow pancake did not actually look very yellow, except for the oil that came out of it – the best part was the filling, which included bean sprouts and chicken pieces. One of The Degusters liked them more than the other, mainly the combination of crisp outside and chewyness inside. Being so oily, however, they really needed a sharp dressing to cut through, however the sesame and soy dressing supplied gave a big mouthful of sesame oil, and just added to the slick in the mouth.

Crispy "yellow pancake"

 The fish-cakes were enjoyed by us both, and were full of a fresh and bitey kaffir lime-leaf flavour, and a chilli hint that came through after swallowing. The crunchy peanuts gave the otherwise soft cakes some good textural dimension, but the sweet chilli sauce seemed to have been from a bottle (we didn't ask). Regardless, this was the preferred starter out of the two we tried.

Fish Cakes

The dish to which other online reviewers have given good reviews is the Moreton Bay Bug dish, which can be had either in a Penang Curry or stir-fried with chilli and basil. Did someone say chilli? Bring on the stir-fried version for us, thanks!

Moreton Bay Bugs, stir-fried with chilli and basil.

This dish presents well, and who wouldn't love those bugs?! The bug meat was beautiful – cooked well and tasted great; there were 3 bug halves in the dish.

Although the flavours that were in the dish were quite nice, it didn't really live up to the label of 'chilli'. Sure, there was a slight hint of hotness, but nothing like a good chilli hit we were hoping for. We're guessing it was tailored for local palettes which might have found this level of chilli quite hot enough for them.. We recommend asking for extra chilli on this dish.

The roast duck can also be ordered in either of two ways – as a red curry or stir-fried. We went with the curry version to get a variety of tastes. Hats off to the chef for including lychees in the red curry (our favourite ingredient when we make these sorts of dishes ourselves), but the duck was slightly over-done – the thicker cut pieces were better than the thinner pieces, so we expect the duck was cooked right after the roasting, but continued to cook in the curry – and was therefore a little bit past perfect. It was not tough or dry, however, and tasted really nice nonetheless.

Roast duck in red curry. Thumbs-up from us for the inclusion of lychees.

We would recommend this place to others, with some points to remember: ask for extra chilli if you like it; note that it's BYO, and a small steamed rice is probably enough for two.

Rating:  Nom(x1) - yummy for sure, hits the target market well.

Meh                      It’ll Do                   Nom(x3)                              Must go back!

Done and Degusted @ Sang's Thai

Fish cakes

Yellow pancakes

Moreton Bay Bugs, stir fried with chilli and basil

Sliced roasted duck breast in red curry

Saltwater at Kings (Sunshine Coast, QLD)

(degusted 9th Aug, 2011)

What a great place to catch up with friends!

You cannot beat this location – right on Kings Beach, Caloundra – quite literally a hop, step and a jump onto (or off from) the sand. Saltwater cafe has a number of outdoor tables and chairs which catch the morning sun, but some of that sun gets blocked by high-rise apartments in the early afternoon. Parking is always difficult on the beachfront, but on our visit at noon (winter, mid-week) we had plenty of spaces to choose from, immediately adjacent to the cafe.

Thank goodness...

It's a pleasant spot to be, for sure. Our local friend mentioned that the cafe supplies blankets for the cold days, so everyone can be toasty warm even if one (un)dresses to show off their latest body art or sculpted abs... A word of warning for the likes of Tony Abbott or Vladimir Putin if they are thinking of coming here:  "No dick togs allowed".

 

The menu boasts a good list of breakfasts, and a comprehensive set of “starters” (around $20, and unless you’re Hulk Hogan, probably big enough to suffice as a main) and mains (around $30). We went for a few of the starters rather than a single main – so as to get a range of tastes.  The espresso was good, and came with an unexpected little treat – a small chocolate mini-mud cake. 

We love little unexpected espresso bonuses.

Good coffee. Good sweet bonus treats!!

The Japanese crumbed calamari was an obvious choice for us – mention Japan, calamari, bonito and wasabi aoli in one menu item description, and we were already sold... you had us at 'Japanese'.. These tasted as good as they looked - the sesame and mild wasabi flavours lifted this from "just another calamari" into something a bit more special.

Japanese crumbed calamari. Sesame and Wasabi complements the food well.

Next we degusted the Greek Lamb 'salad' with baby beets, goats cheese, olives and others. This was a good, hearty lamb salad with plenty of flavour, and the lamb was lovely and tender. The sweet beets are such a good accompaniment to offset and balance out the strong olives and goats cheese. Delicious.

Greek-style Lamb salad.

The third dish we ordered was the almond-crumbed brains, with sweet potato, parmesan and prosciutto. When ordering this one, even the waitress was unsure about the brains. 

You are what you eat, right? So with fingers crossed (that it would make us smarter and not turn us into gooey grey blobs floating in cerebrospinal fluid), we tucked into the golden-crusted brains. Verdict: in a word – AMAZING.   

 Brains have never been on our "top-foods" list (at least not until this point), but these little beauties changed that. Not having tried brain dishes elsewhere, we can't definitively say whether this place does to lambs brains what TDK cassettes used to do to your system – amazing things – or whether brains are intrinsically good. All we can say is that we would order these again, and recommend others to do the same!

Almond crumbed brains on sweet potato, topped with prosciutto. Incredibly good - A must-try.

For dessert we degusted through two dishes: first, an Ooey Gooey chocolate fondant – which was everything the name promised and more. Cutting into the cake 'shell' with the spoon set free a seductive molten chocolate river... Oh yeah...  Bring a spare insulin pen for this one. The other dessert was a white cholocate creme brulee – rich and creamy, it was delicious. Served with some biscuits and strawberry 'salsa'. Unfortunately, the biscuits looked as though they were courtesy of the local IGA - a bit cheap looking, and probably not even necessary on the plate.

Ooey Gooey chocolate pudding (fondant), with vanilla bean icecream

White Chocolate creme brulee (hidden under the strawberry slices)

All up, we lunched from midday through to mid-afternoon, enjoying the atmosphere, the company and the food. Soaking up the sun, and washing it all down with a bottle of bubbly and a few good short blacks - now THIS is what winter lunches on the Sunshine Coast should be all about.

Rating:  Nom (x3) - Go back if you get the chance!

Meh                      It’ll Do                   Nom(x3)                              Must go back!

Done and Degusted @ Saltwater at Kings Beach

-Japanese crumbed calamari

-Greek Lamb 'salad' with baby beets, goats cheese, olives and others

-Almond-crumbed brains, with sweet potato, parmesan and prosciutto

-Ooey-Gooey Chocolate pudding with vanilla bean icecream, and cinnamon marscapone

-White chocolate Creme Brulee with shortbread and strawberry salsa.

-Espresso (and bonus choccies!)

You might also like our other Sunshine Coast posts:
 Buderim Tavern,   Chopping Block Cafe in Buderim,   Reserve Restaurant and Cellar in Maleny

Or if cafe style food is your thing, in Victoria:  Main St Cafe, Mordialloc;   Degani's cafe in Eltham

Khe Sanh Seafood - (Springvale, VIC)

(degusted 24th August, 2011)

We stumbled across information about this little out-of-the way Vietnamese-Chinese inspired restaurant, but never followed up on it until it popped up on our radar while we were scanning Urbanspoon. It's in Springvale south, in a small shopping plaza.

I guess you can say a ‘perfect storm’ brewed up - through a combination of laziness, a craving for chilli and seafood, and a cold winter's night – together this all conspired to force us to head out mid-week on a school night. Tut tut!! Also, one of The Degusters has a not-so-secret penchant for singing Cold Chisel songs while driving (Saturday afternoons), and knows that 'the last plane out of Sydney is almost gone'. With that in mind, this restaurant was a must-try.. ;)

First impressions were of a fresh and clean dining area (thanks to a recent renovation)– and this was a pleasant contrast to our pre-conceptions of the place (based on their website). There are some nice big tables, it was kid-friendly, and there’s an outdoor area for the socially rejected (smokers). Service was excellent.

Fresh and modern dining room. Pleasantly unexpected.

In true gluttonous style, we had two serves of the famed calamari – one serve was done with salt and chilli, and the other Hong-Kong style. The calamari was everything you could want (soft, tender, tasty), and none of the bad things (not oily, not chewy). This would be an ideal bar-food and if you come here with a table full of mates, be sure to order a few of these plates. At around $10 for a generous serve, you'd be wise to order up big!!  The chilli was not really that hot however, and it was more of a salt and pepper calamari – the HK style was similar, with mild fried garlic, sugar, salt, and fried onion in the flavoursome crumbs on top. Both had a nice little spicy salsa with chilli, capsicum and spring onion.

Fried Calamari - both serving styles looked similar - this one is HK style (the crumbs on top).
At around $10 a plate, you can't miss this!

We tried the hot and sour soup, which had a great flavour – it was not overly 'sour', it was more spicy and slightly tangy. With tofu, BBQ pork, corn, egg and bamboo this was hearty and tasty. A surprise, actually.

Surprisingly good Hot and Sour soup.

One of the mains we degusted was the coconut king prawns. This was unlike anything else we've tried from any Chinese or Viet menus. We had expected the coconut would be dessicated and in bigger pieces, but in fact the crumb looked more like sand (thankfully though, it did not have any sort of gritty texture that a mouthful of St Kilda beach’s finest would typically provide). Flavours were quite delicate, the whole dish surprisingly light. Prawns were big and juicy with a nice pop when bitten. They were very more-ish, and while we wanted to love them, there was something about this dish that held us back –perhaps it was the want for more crunch, or more complexity of flavours and textures...  Granted, you could pair this with a plate of vegetables to get that variation, so this should not be a cause for complaint.

Coconut King Prawns. Looked like sand, but was soft and coconutty.

  (It seemed that shredded carrot and parsley was the standard garnish)

Fresh whole steamed Barramundi.

We wanted to try some fresh offerings, and while there were some large crabs in the tanks, we went for a steamed whole barramundi – fresh from the water to the plate. We didn’t have to wait long, as catching fish around here is like scooping fish from a tank… Actually, this is literally the case. The fish was done well, but the sauce was very sweet. The soy and ginger were the flavours we liked, but there was probably a bit much palm sugar in there. Apart from the sweetness, all other flavours were good, with shallots, ginger and coriander for good measure.

Khe Sanh seafood restaurant seems to have everything you could want, and we will probably head back there to try out a number of (non-seafood) items, including the lobster and the crispy skin chicken that we’ve read some good reviews about.  The menu covers a real variety of dishes –  many of which you won't find elsewhere. Like jelly fish and pork hock, or wasabi duck feet with jellyfish. There's game, too – like venison and crocodile, then there's all the usual suspects – beef, chicken, poultry. A range of hot-pots (including sea cucumber, abalone, and others) round off the varied menu.

A good enjoyable meal can be had here, although our fathers would probably complain about the cost (for asian meals in Springvale).

Rating:  Nom(x1)

Meh                      It’ll Do                   Nom(x3)                              Must go back!
 

Done and Degusted @ Khe Sanh Seafood

Salt and Chilli Calamari

Hong-Kong style Calamari

Hot and Sour Soup

Coconut King Prawns

Whole steamed Barramundi with soy and ginger sauce

Attica - 5 stars, 3 hats, one great degustation

(Degusted 27th July 2011)

Resaurant of the year for 2012 according to The Age's good food guide, and voted the 53^rd best restaurant in the WORLD in the San Pelligrino "top 50" restaurants list, Attica has picked up an additional hat this year to bring its total hat count to three (a "hat-trick"??).  Ben Shewry's Attica is therefore one of Melbourne's most desirable degusting destinations - at least, that's what the critics are saying. In Victoria, only Jaques Reymonde, Vue de Monde and the Royal Mail Hotel have been assigned an equivalent number of hats by The AGFG this year (2011). The Degusters have not yet tried the Royal Mail, but have degusted at Jaques' and Vue, and a several of the double-hatted eateries. So with those 2 and 3 hat benchmarks in mind, we were off to Attica to see what all the fuss was about.

   

Attica is in inner suburban Ripponlea – and the Glen Eira roadscape has an early 1900's charm. Easy to find and park, its a nice change from the hidden gems in Melbourne's CBD. On entering, the first thing we noticed was the central bar, with most of the dining area tucked behind the bar – not obvious from a peek through the front glass. The atmosphere and the vibe was relaxed – nothing stuffy or pretentious.

Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale.
This one's at home in a classy glass.

We were always going to try the full degustation menu, the question remained as to whether or not we'd wine match it. Erring on the side of 'wowser' and adhering to the 0.05 drink-drive laws, we went without the wine. The wine list looked awesome though, and next visit will be better planned – sans car.

Kicking off with a Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale (Tadcaster, England) – this was really like a warm blanket on a cold night. Smoothe, full bodied, soft and round in the mouth – what a nice beer! So dark but smoothe and relatively mild flavoured, it was very respectfully sipped from a wine glass, where it really did look the part.

The Amuse bouche was Crystal Bay Prawns with a Jerusalem artichoke reduction; the prawns were translucent, almost ghost-like, and this little mouthful was light and delicate. This is not a "dish" but a "morsel" – and one must appreciate this for what it is. We noticed other diners raise their plucked eyebrows in surprise upon receipt of their (95% empty) bowl..

Amuse Bouche - crystal bay prawns

The first actual course was an unusual and 'showy' piece of work – the Snow Crab. Hiding under the horseraddish snow was an interesting mix of barberrys, puffed rice, granita, salmon roe and crab. There was a coconutty taste too. While it was not something that we'd go back to order again, it was certainly an interesting experience, and there's no question it showed off  the great techniques that the chefs posess. For the theatre of the dish and novelty of it all, full marks. For the eating, well, we could take it or leave it.

Snow Crab

After this snow crab – for us – the dishes seemed to get better and better, and a developing theme became apparent...

Next up was the dish of marron. These West Australian "freshwater crays" are like miniature cray fish with less saltiness and a sweeter flesh. There was a nice prosciutto glaze to marry everything together, and the poached leek had a magical creamyness due to the egg emulsion that was inlaid neatly into the central valley of the leek stem. Such a great touch and attention to detail.

WA marron with leek

Next up, the humble spud. To call this dish an 'ordinary potato' is like calling a pair of Monolo Blahniks a "humble pair of work shoes".  It was served up and had a bit of a classy look to it – for a potato, it was beautiful. These spuds are cooked  in a style that is reminiscent of pacific islanders' "traditional cooking" in earthen ovens – Polynesian Umu's or Fijian Lovo's – in this case, for 8 hours. The result is a succulent, soft texture that transcends all our previous understandings of potatoes. On a 'nest' of smoked goats cheese, dried tuna, and salt bush leaves, with some trendy ash of coffee and coconut – this potato was anything but plain. Plating was so neat and tidy, we could have stared at it for ages, but eating it was joyous.

Not-so-humble Potato. Delicious.

Pearl oyster meat and pork tail seems to be an odd combination, and we reckon something you'd never see together in nature. They worked remarkably well together on the plate, however. The pressed pork tail was fried to a crispy finish, but was so tender and tasty – like a really well done pork belly.  The jus was full of  the lovely flavour of shiitake mushrooms, giving a mild but earthy dimension.

Pearl Oyster meat and pressed pork tail.

The next dish was a real "cracker" – OK,  mainly because it looked a lot like a cracked egg.. With raw chestnuts, baked celeriac, pyengana and smoked egg yolk, this dish did amazing things. The chestnuts looked a bit like cross-sections of brains, all convoluted. There was crunchy, there was runny, there was a mix of it all here. The pleasure really was in the eating.

Smoked egg yolk, chestnuts and others

Smoked egg yolk, chestnuts and others - close up

Next for something a bit more 'beefy'. Whether being grass fed actually affects the flavour or texture of the beef tongue, I cannot be sure, but this tongue, thrice cooked (brined, smoked and baked) was – in a word – sublime. I would order this dish again in a heartbeat, without a second thought. When describing other,  really tender meat dishes, one often says it "melts in the mouth". On this occasion, "melting" does not capture the magic of this dish – no, we would say that this meat dissolved in the mouth. Okay, perhaps we're taking literary liberties – but the change of texture in the mouth was amazing – from a soft fleshy feel to almost a creamy consistency in the mouth. Added to the crispier house-made jerky, and a mulled wine sauce - this dish had all the textures you could want in a dish.

We were done with the savoury dishes and onto the sweets.

An apple dessert was presented next – a neat circle of  apple pieces, candied vine leaves and 'blobs' of green jelly-like material, which was actually a vanilla flavoured distilled avocado oil. This gooey green avocado oil jelly was really quite sweet – one of The Degusters was completely enamoured by it, the other - not so much. It could be a little too sweet for some, but that really is personal preference. Again, perfectly balanced with sour through to sweet flavours, and textures from gooey to crunchy and chewy. I never thought apples could be some yummy!

Winter apples - candied vine leaf, avocado oil - amazing.

The second dessert dish was – at first glance – a simple dish of mandarin. Add in honeydew honey,  have some mandarin that was pressed (marinated) in honeydew honey for 12 hrs, add in some  freeze-drying, distillation of the mandarin juice (where 8 litres of juice is reduced down to 500mL of beautifully flavoured concentrate), and add some reduced sweet-wine sauce for good measure.Eating reveals those complexities, and wow.

Mandarin, freeze-dried and fresh, with honeydew honey and distilled mandarin juice.

 

One of The Degusters had a bad run which tarnished the experience – a chipped plate and pips in the mandarin would not be deal-breakers anywhere else, and would normally be overlooked at less classy restaurants. At a triple-hatted, best in Australia and 53^rd best in the world however, you would think these types of food faux pas could not happen. But they did. 

 

This was the first time in a long time that we've had dessert that was predominantly fruit-based (that is, non-chocolate, non-icecream). So it was a nice finale to receive a "surprise" from the chef – a grown-up version of a 'creme egg'; beautiful chocolate filled with a salted caramel sauce. Served in what looked like a real nest and accompanied by some reading material to put it into context, this Pukeko's egg was a neat and fitting finale to a great degustation.

Rating:  Must go back!

Meh                      It’ll Do                   Nom(x3)                              Must go back!

Done and Degusted @ Attica

Crystal Bay Prawns

Snow Crab

Marron, Leek, Egg yolk

Potato – cooked in earthen oven

Pearl oyster meat

Chestnuts, baked celeriac, pyengana

Beef tounge, vanilla, Myrtus, Lettuce stems

Winter apples

Mandarin and honeydew honey

You might like to check out our other degustation posts: 
Reserve in Maleny, QLD,
Grossi Florentino's in Melbourne, VIC
A dessert degustation at Cafe Rosamond, VIC