Artichoke + Whitebait - Much more than expected!

At Monash Uni, Clayton campus - open to everyone.

(degusted 30/6/2011) EOFY Lunch!

3 1/2 stars.

I’ve walked past this café perhaps a hundred times, had a few sit-down business meetings over coffee here as well. I’ve always known their coffee to be some of the best on the Monash Uni Campus, and I knew Artichoke + Whitebait offered lunches and breakfasts, but until now, had never had the pleasure of giving it a go. After today’s experience, I’ll be going back, and will be encouraging anyone in the area or even those driving past to give it a shot. The young and vibrant staff are the perfect example of friendliness and good customer service, and while it's not exactly fine dining, it's entirely worthy of a good degusting..

Good friends and good food.

A good friend is someone willing to share a few plates of food with you - so I am truly blessed to share an office with a good friend. I ordered all the dishes I wanted to try, and shared them. The dishes are very generous, and while I’m a big eater, I think I would have been satisfied with any of the stand-alone lunch meals.

Bread and Olive oil.

The complementary bread and olive oil, with salt and pepper was standard fare – nothing exceptional, but all of totally acceptable quality. We started with the antipasto plate – prosciutto, artichoke, olives and octopus. Suspiciously though, none of the café’s namesake - whitebait – which would have been a nice touch. The items were good quality, good flavour, and I would have been happy to sit down to just these items alone (hint: roll the artichoke in a slice of prosciutto for a really yummy canapé!).

Antipasto - Olives, prosciutto, artichoke (no whitebait!?) and octopus.

Beetroot, bocconcini and walnut salad

Ordering the beetroot salad was a wildcard in my mind (beetroot, bocconcini and walnut) – I had no idea how this would be interpreted, bit it piqued my interest and I went with it. I should not have worried – the big chunks of sweet beetroot, generous pieces of bocconcini, and crunchy walnuts all combined to make this a hearty and solid meal - ideal as a stand-alone dish. (The photo does not do this salad justice).

A new addition to their menu, the Moroccan lamb on a bed of mash was the second item to be ordered. Wow. Uber-tender lamb, great tasting marinade/sauce, and cooked just right. With it came one of the creamiest of creamy mashes I’ve ever had – smooth as silk. If I had to order one item again it would be this one. A winner, and something for which to come back again*.

Moroccan Lamb and creamy mash. Standout dish.

Spaghetti w/ bacon, chilli and capsicum. Yum.

I ordered the spaghetti with bacon, chilli and capsicum – on the basis of three facts: (1) who doesn’t love bacon? (2) Chilli is awesome and (3) to see how the chef would handle a pasta dish. First impression was that there was a good amount of heat from the chilli – a pleasant surprise for myself and my Vietnamese friend who assumes that western cafés tend to err on the side of mundane to cater for the bland masses.. The saltiness of the bacon was offset by the sweetness of the capsicum – so a great balanced dish. The spaghetti was not over-cooked, perhaps just a fraction past al dente, but I don’t think it’s fair to compare a one-chef café’s spaghetti to that of a multi-hatted chef’s 5-star Melbourne restaurant (I’m comparing in my mind to a recent Grossi Florentino dish). To the ordinary punter (or student), this is a dish really well done – hearty and full of flavour punch thanks to the bacon and chilli. If you order your Nandos with the lemon & herb dressing, then this might be a touch too hot for you.

A look and a small bite of the chicken parma was all I sampled – the parma itself looked to be of good size, it was well cooked and on the small corner that I sampled, was crisp enough to make it worth a try. I guess that because the kitchen is so small there is no deep fryer, so there are no chips, just veggies. If you can overlook the lack of chips, the parma seems to be a reasonable option and good value - although I probably wont be trying it myself.

Chicken Parma with Veggies (no chips).

A few others on the table had some risotto, which looked average, and is not something I'd waste my time with either here or anywhere else - unless there's something really nice or unusual about it, like duck, truffle and chocolate, or something equally quirky to sucker me in.

My overall impression of Artichoke & Whitebait is of a small café that has tailored its menu to its strengths – meaning it can reliably pump out good quality, and value-for money dishes consistently. The chef, Chandra (I believe that’s his name), is doing an amazing job – getting out our group’s 15 covers simultaneously, and handling orders from the other 20 or so in the dining area. He works behind a glass spash-back so you can see him in action, and watch the occasional flambé go up in style! I hope the management realises his value and holds on to him.

If you’re in the area, traveling past or just looking for something to eat around Clayton at lunchtime, I would suggest coming into Monash Uni for a bite to eat here – it is open to the public, and there are usually plenty of paid (meter) parking (see the Campus map I put together here).

NB: Not Licensed.

Espresso was good and solid, nice crema, full bodied. The barista’s seem to know what they are doing.

* My experience of this lamb was exceptionally good. Another friend reported that in one visit she had a much saltier version, but the next time she tried it, it was back to perfection. Perhaps the chef had a bad day?

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

 Done and Degusted @ Artichoke + Whitebait:

-Antipasto plate (4 items)

-Moroccan Lamb on creamy mash

-Beetroot, bocconcini and walnut salad

-Spaghetti with bacon, chilli and capsicum

-Chicken Parma

-espresso

(+complimentary smiles)

 

artichoke + whitebait  Tel: 03 9905 3174

Grnd Floor, Building 10 - Centre Campus Monash Uni Clayton, VIC 3168

E-Mail: artichokeandwhitebait@gmail.com

Open time: Monday to Friday 7am-6pm

The Pub at Crown - Crown Casino (underwhelming :-/ )

Underwhelming Dinner at The Pub @ Crown

(degusted 24th June, 2011)

Summary: If you’re stuck for a meal you could do worse than ordering a few of the good starters here at Pub at Crown, but there are so many better pubs in Melbourne (within walking distance) that you really should get your pub-grub elsewhere.

Normally I would avoid eating at these “mass produced meal places” that obviously bank on the captive audience of casino patrons, rather than having to compete "out in the street" with others on levels of quality and service. However, as a result of hunger, circumstance, and since I'd had a couple of "not bad" meals here way back when (I was perhaps a decade younger), I was not completely against dipping my proverbial toe into this water(ing hole) for another try.

Starters - It’s a shame we didn’t just eat the starters and leave it at that.

Seafood Chowder -
Really yummy, hearty soup for a cold winter's night.

Seafood chowder was really enjoyable- full of flavour, seasoned well (perhaps a little on the liberal side with the salt, but good to my taste), and contained a several recognisable ocean-dwelling species (good to see). Nice bread to dip into the soup made this a dish I would actually have again.

The other starter degusted was the seafood tasting plate, which was advertised on the menu as oysters, prawns, smoked salmon, green-lip mussels and marinated octopus, (but sans explanation from the waiter, was delivered to the table with Moreton Bay Bugs in lieu of the mussels and octopus). Prawns juicy, oysters fresh, salmon moist, and a full bug (cut down the middle) that was tender and well cooked. Accompanied by pesto-coated toasted bread, this starter was unexpectedly good, albeit not as advertised.

Seafood Tasting plate - All good here.
Note the photographer got in a little too late to catch all the oysters intact.. :)

Mains. A pub cannot be forgiven if it can’t get the basics right.

Grilled Calamari Salad

Grilled calamari salad – served up a fair serve of calamari on this dish, cooked right, nice and tender. In fact, credit where credit is due - the chef got the calamari cooked just right. Now, normally I would simply expect everything to be cooked ‘just right’, but considering my chicken parma quality (see below), I think (unfortunately) the quality of the calamari was the exception, rather than the rule.  

And now to what should be a pub staple - Chicken Parma. It wasn’t cheap, so one would expect something half decent. Let me preface my review by saying that in my humble opinion, the cardinal sins for cooking and presenting a parma are:

-Cooking a soggy schnitzel, and

-Placing the chicken on top of the pile of accompanying chips..

Chips started life as potatoes, living underground before liberation and conversion to chips. Please Mr(s) Chef, Let them be free, don’t hide them under a Parma, especially not a soggy one... Booo!! Hissss!! 

Did I mention the parma was soggy? – And the meat component was thin.. It had that  're-heated from frozen in the microwave' taste & texture for which nobody should be expected to pay twenty-odd dollars. It did take up a fair amount of plate real-estate (see the photo compared to a $20 note), but I would have preferred quality over quantity in this case, and for the simple parma to have failed so miserably reinforces my resolve never to eat in a casino-run eatery, unless it’s 6AM and I feel like a 3-course meal and Maccas is closed for some reason…

The disappointing Chicken Parma... Unfortunately, quantity over quality here.
Big enough to feed a family of 4, but I reckon they'd all be complaining...

A glimmer of hope?
The seafood tasting plate was the saving grace, and combined with the respectable effort of the hearty seafood chowder, gave me enough motivation to actually write this blog post (although the very average service and lack of explanation regarding the tasting plate content substitutions should not be forgiven). The quality of the seafood items really contrasted with the lack-lustre ‘pub meal’ Parma, and suggests to me there may be several cooks out back, not all of whom are actually any good... I was half-expecting to be asked to vote Red team or Blue team*, so amateur was the parma effort…

Ranking:  - Meh.  

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

  If you’re stuck for a meal you could do worse than ordering a few of the good starters here, but there are so many better pubs in Melbourne (within walking distance) that you really probably should get your pub-grub elsewhere.

Done and Degusted @  Pub at Crown

Seafood Chowder

Seafood Tasting plate (w/ bugs instead of mussels and octopus)

Grilled Calamari Salad

Chicken Parma w/ chips and veg

 

* Red team Vs Blue team is a pop-cultural reference to ‘team challenges’ given to competitors on the amateur cooking television ‘reality show’, MasterChef Australia.  

Grossi Florentino - Restaurant

(degusted 3rd June, 2011)

At Grossi’s I was completely satisfied, was comfortable, I felt ‘at home’, had a great sampling of fine food, and most importantly, I went home happy.

 

Off to a good start..

The change in the demeanor of the front of house staff was palpable when I said we had a booking for the restaurant (rather than just coming in for the bar or grill). “Oh yes, excellent sir”, and we were promptly and ever-so politely led upstairs to the glamorous Italian dining room. The wood panelling, dreamy murals and old-world charm of the restaurant made me feel warm and cosy – terrific for a cold Melbourne night. Some might call it “romantic” if that is your thing...

The first thing I noticed with the wait staff and service was of more down-to-earth approach, especially compared to the service I got at (for example) Vue de Monde, and even at Jaques Reymond. I felt a lot more relaxed here at Grossi’s – because of the way the waiters interacted with us; I don’t know exactly why or what they specifically did differently (because the service was still 1^st class), but I just felt really comfortable here. Perhaps it was the occasional words of Italian (spoken unpretentiously and in good spirit), or the homely feel of the complimentary breads, with oil, butter and olives on the table. Nice.

Degustation? Yes, and more!

The degustation menu reads like a list of Mediterranean favourites - Octopus, artichokes, calamari, Ox tail agnolotti – the list goes on. One item not on the 8-course list was the much blogged about “Suckling lamb with roasted capsicum”– so we ordered that in addition to the standard list, and it slotted into the line-up really well. (Good service here - the waitress was really helpful with this - and would have happily let us substitute this Lamb dish for one of the other dishes, but since we wanted to add it in; she arranged for an appropriately sized serve for us to share).

Without going into too much detail about each and every of the nine courses, let me summarise (more detail below).  My overall impression was of a number of traditional dishes – all done really well – with a few interesting bits and pieces. There was nothing remarkable or flashy in terms of revolutionary ideas about these dishes – there was no fancy “foam” or “coffee soil” or other extravagances of this ilk, just good, solid morsels for tasting. Some might think these dishes are a bit too heavy for a degustation – and if I was eating this on a hot summer’s night I would agree – however I really enjoyed this tasting on this occasion.  Important to note that I felt quite full when I left, and it takes a fair feed for me to be full!

A brief word on cost..
For the 8-course degustation, you’ll get a fiver change out of $200 per person, and you need another $75 each for the matched wines to be provided. Ordering additional courses (as we did) will add the menu price of the item, in our case around $40. With drinks and extras, expect to easily drop half a grand on a full degustation for two (there are shorter, 5-course options to fit smaller budgets). For most, that sort of expenditure will only be on very special occasions, and for many it might be a once in a lifetime experience. If you’re looking for somewhere to be blown away by a whole new food experience (and you’re only going to do it once, and the quantity of food does not bother you) then for me, that happened at Vue De Monde. At Grossi’s though, I was completely satisfied, was comfortable and felt ‘at home’, had a great sampling of fine food, and most importantly I went home happy.

Let the tasting begin!

First up, Fremantle octopus – this was a nice light start – who doesn’t love seafood!?
Next, Local globe artichokes. The artichokes were the dish I looked forward to the least, but which surprised me the most. These were really tasty, with the mint and pumpkin the flavours were nicely balanced too.
The Calamari with baccalà pea filling came next - another seafood dish – exquisitely cooked, and the first mouthful induced that “roll your eyes into the back of your head with enjoyment” reaction and you wished there was a bigger serving..
Ox tail filled agnolotti, vegetables, rich ox tail broth.
The agnolotti were truly al dente (as you would expect), and I would have loved to sit down to a huge plate of these morsels. The broth was key here - indeed rich, but also very clear and not salty. With similar flavours as the agnolotti contents, it held the whole dish together in terms of flavour intensity – the agnolotti alone would otherwise have been a bit bland.

Pigeon two ways - roasted breast, and leg ravioli

Pigeon two ways: roasted breast, and leg ravioli. It’s the fiddly little birds that often taste the best. Provided with finger-washing bowl and lemon to encourage us to get in there and use the fingers. The sweet beetroot flavour was really nice in this dish.

Suckling Lamb with roast capsicum. Was very glad to have ordered this dish. It would be a cracker of a “comfort food” dish to try and replicate at home. In this case, the rich lamb was stewed so that it was almost falling apart – and the capsicum (served separately but simultaneously so you could adjust the ratios as needed!) provided the level of sweetness and change of texture needed lift to the dish. Service was impeccable, with the waiter expertly and patiently using a pair of spoons to deliver equal portions to each of our plates from the small serving bowl.

Wagyu rump dish.
Pickled veal tongue hiding under the exquisite rump..

Slow cooked Wagyu rump cap, pickled veal tongue, shallot and potato “saltate”, fennel and rosemary praline, salsa verde. The wagyu rump was tender and delicious – absolute perfection in terms of colouring and cooking – uniformly seared around the outside, and an admirable level of consistency of colour across the span of each slice of beef. Hiding under the super-tender Wagyu was a small piece of (relatively) much firmer veal tongue. It’s an interesting addition and I loved the fact it was in there (purely from a degusting point of view), but for me it was excessive; I could happily have gone without it, or probably would have been more impressed had the two meats been presented separately in different, contrasting styles (eg: the soft rump with a firm accompaniment, and the firmer tongue with a soft accompaniment – Yin & Yang style). But hey, I just eat the stuff - I’ll leave the food ideas and preparation to the chefs who already have multiple hats..

The humble menu item of “cheese and grapes” to me sounded like I’d be getting a small platter of the aforementioned ingredients. How wrong I was. This was truly a completely unexpected and complex dish of what I can only describe as a kind of stew of skinned grapes – it looked and tasted much better than this vague description. It was like an iron chef’s re-interpretation of a cheese and grape platter. After the pleasantly surprising artichoke dish, this was a real surprise.
 
Valrhona chocolate soufflé, malt ice cream and chocolate sauce.  Okay – I’d go back for this. So puffy, light, delicate. It was not by any means rich, but with the chocolate sauce on the side, you can wind up the “chocolatelyness” if you prefer (and I did). A good cocoa flavour, light intensity and not too sweet: just as well because a thick and rich desert after this long degustation would have been excessive. I don’t know if it’s snobbery or whether the Valrhona chocolate really is much better than other similar offerings – however the thought of getting chocolate imported from France (Hermitage area) for this dish made the soufflé experience feel extra special: if it was a placebo effect, let it be so!

Chocolate Souffle, malt ice-cream and Valrhona chocolate sauce

I only had one, not four.

A choice of petit fours included macarons, nougat, or chocolate brownie. Nice enough to have with my espresso, but I was full by this stage, and really did not need it.

Drinks

A browse through the wine list is impressive, and makes the wine-matched option for the degustation appear to be a good value option. With drink-drive laws however, we didn’t go for the matched wines (but would recommend it, on paper it looks good).

Espresso – was good, as you would expect from an Italian restaurant and café in Melbourne. Perhaps a fraction watery for my taste, but I’m not the average coffee drinker (like it strong and syrupy). Affogato was promptly delivered with the ice-cream and espresso kept separate for maintenance of ice-cream integrity and the pleasure of personal pouring.. Nice.

Beer – I had Guy Grossi’s own brand of beer, which unfortunately I cannot recall its full details. Suffice to say that it was good – not too overpowering (so I think it was an Ale). Perhaps the Grossi’s will read this blog and let me know!?

Rating: NomNomNom!

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

Done and Degusted @ Grossi Florentino

-Fremantle octopus, young vegetable “giardiniera”, goat’s cheese croquette, Ortiz anchovies

-Local globe artichokes, Lemon, garlic, mint, Parmesan, slow cooked, pumpkin “caponata” & pumpkin jus

-Calamari, baccalà pea filling, lemon, marjoram, pea shoots, onion cream

-Ox tail filled agnolotti, Vegetables, rich ox tail broth 

-Glenloth pigeon, roasted breast, spinach puree, marsala, cardamom and liquorice powder, beetroot, couscous

-“Suckling lamb with roasted capsicum” (additional item purchased separately, but incorporated into the degustation)

-Slow cooked Wagyu rump cap,  pickled veal tongue, shallot and potato “saltate”, fennel and rosemary praline, salsa verde

-Cheese and grapes

-Valrhona chocolate soufflé, malt ice cream and chocolate sauce

-Espresso and Affogato

-Petits Fours (nougat and chocolate brownie)

Izakaya Den, Melbourne

(degusted 11th June 2011)

“Seek and you shall find”. 

“Good things come to those who wait”. 

“Izakaya Den is my new favourite Japanese restaurant”..

These might be three commonly uttered phrases for people trying Izakaya Den for the first time.

Before the first attempt to eat here, we read that it was difficult to find – like every good eatery, café or nightspot in Melbourne. How hard could it be? On Russell street, it’s not as obscure as some others in dimly lit, poorly sign-posted laneways that Melbourne is renowned for… but that didn’t stop us getting completely stumped. 

Street view from Google - Izakaya Den is
in through the door with the black ">"

Seek and You Shall Find.  In the basement of the building on the corner of Russell and Little Collins, across the road from Jimmy’s Brewhouse, Izakaya Den has virtually no street presence, and even less when you arrive late on Sunday night, when they are well and truly closed…  Grrr…  So we went back the next Saturday night at around 8PM, and joined the queue of knowing punters who were more than happy to wait their turn. 

Good things come to those who wait. While I’m trying not to spoil the plot early, it is worth saying that the age-old adage is correct, or perhaps a little of an understatement, for it was not just good things, but - in the case of Izakaya Den - awesome things that came to those who waited. Waiting with a number of others in the heated entrance hall downstairs from the street level, it felt like we were waiting to get into a trendy club rather than a restaurant.. Drinks were served to those in line – making the wait so much more bearable. Twenty minutes later we were in, reviewing the menu, then 10 minutes later we were seated at the very long bar which – depending on where you sit – overlooks either the bar or the kitchen staff working swiftly and efficiently (the view of food preparation serves as great inspiration if you’re not sure what you feel like).

Seated at the bar..

Allow me to preface my description of the food by saying that it had been exactly 12 months since I was in Japan and fell in love with the flavours, the food and the people. So it was with much joy that I re-discovered a local eatery that took me back to that time and place… I recall posting an FB update in between courses which read along the lines of “Reminiscing at Izakaya Den… Ahhh Japan, I’ve missed you”.

I will let the pictures do the talking, but my favourites were the Tuna Tataki, the steamed fish with miso mustard, Duck and leek “kushi Yaki”, and to finish the deserts of black sesame brulee with dehydrated orange, and the Tofu mousse.

I expected more heat from the grilled "chilli" peppers, which were in fact quite sweet but beautifully balanced by the charredness, the bonito flakes and saltiness of the soy. The Wagyu was okay, nothing spectacular, but in no way disappointing – same for the sweet corn kaki-age which was perfectly done and apparently something for which Izakaya Den receives numerous glowing reviews, but it’s not something I would sing and dance about. You should try all these items because they are great, but in comparison to the other menu items, there are much better things to try, in my opinion.. Take for example the steamed fish and the exquisite mustard and miso sauce; pure perfection, especially when enjoyed with the subtle flavours of the special black fried rice. The tuna tataki was a delight and rivalled a similar dish that we’ve had at Nobu – proving that simple is beautiful.  On simplicity, the Miso soup with clams sounds underwhelming but perhaps that is the secret – no pretentions, it was just delicious – so much so that I didn’t even manage to get a snap of this dish until it was all but too late…

Too late to get a picture of the miso soup with clams before it was degusted...

Watching the chefs do their thing over on the char grill was mouth-watering, and it is always nice to watch the raw turn into the cooked, and then be promptly presented to you. Such was the case with the Duck and Leek kushi yaki; that perfect blend of char grill on the outside but moist and tender all the way through. I would love to be able to find a recipe for this (and try to do it justice) on the trusty old BBQ at home.

Duck and leek skewers

Admittedly we did this degusting in two waves- the first set of dishes our choice (we thought we did well choosing), and the second round was at the recommendation of the waiter. The waiter was spot-on with his suggestions, with not one being a dud… but then, I’m guessing you’d be safe with anything you ordered from this menu (which apparently does change from time to time).

Tofu mousse, Black sesame brulee. Winners for simplicity,
flavour balance and end-of dinner satisfaction!

Izakaya Den is my new favourite place. Sure is. That’s what I said at the end of the savoury courses, so impressed was I. And then the desserts were delivered to us in the delicate but efficient Japanese style, and took everything up to a new level. Who knew that black sesame + brulee = a new type of nirvana, or that tofu + Yuzu (citrus) + brown sugar = the best use for tofu that you may never have known about before, but wished you always did. Vegans are probably scoffing at me right now, but for someone who is primarily an obligate carnivore, a tofu mousse dessert is radically cool. The best way I can describe it is to say that it’s like a soft cheesecake without the base. Mildly sweet, it was an absolutely delicious way to end the meal, and this Tofu mousse, Yuzu and brown sugar must be on your ‘to try’ list!

Rating:  Must go back!

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

Done and Degusted @ Izakaya Den…

Grilled Chilli Peppers with bonito and soy

Sweet corn ‘kaki-age’

Miso soup with Clams
Pork Belly Char Siu

Spicy Tuna Tataki

Wagyu Tataki

Special fried black rice
Steamed ocean trout fillet with miso mustard

Duck and leek “kushi Yaki”

Black sesame Brulee with dehydrated orange

Tofu Mousse, Yuzu and brown sugar

Grilled Chilli Peppers with bonito and soy. A great bunch of balanced flavours, but I expected something a bit hotter
(more chilli).

Sweet corn ‘kaki-age’. Crunchy, sweet, a little chewy.
Excellently done, but not my all-time favourite..

Pork Belly Char Siu. So tender, slippery, tasty.

Spicy Tuna Tataki (awesome) and Wagyu Tataki.

Special fried black rice - delicious, mild flavours.

Steamed ocean trout fillet with miso mustard. The Hero of the night....

PS:

I washed all this fine food down with a Hitachino (white ale).  At $25 a bottle, you might think it’s a bit steep, but the flavours were spot-on, it reinforced my trip down memory lane to Japan, and for a long-neck it is competitive with some of the imported stubbies and wines. Who orders a long-neck these days?? Well I do, and it was perfectly acceptable in this place – mainly because of the cute logo.

Hitachino long neck proved to be a great accompaniment.