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

Panama Dining Room and Bar

(degusted 7th July, 2011)
 

Overall I was impressed with the food quality, also from the service from the waitress. There are lots of good cheeses available here, both in the cooked dishes and also available as menu items in their own right.

A nice mix of old, character-filled
furnishings added to the atmosphere.

Panama sounded good from the few reviews (and menu) that I had read before going – in particular the atmosphere - there was talk of an upstairs warehouse style space with huge windows and lovely views. With heightened expectations, we managed to find this restaurant and bar after entering through a small doorway off Smith Street and up two flights of eerily dodgy and deserted looking stairs. Pushing through the doors at the top of the stairs and turning left to see the bar area, this place really is impressive. The huge arched windows give views out to the city on one side, and down to Smith street and the Dandenongs in the far distance.

We were seated in the restaurant and told that the kitchen did not open until 6pm – fair enough – we were there at 5:45, so enough time to read the menu and enjoy an aperitif or two.

Perfect for waiting for the kitchen to open..

Skipping the mains tonight.

This whole night out was based around getting into Cafe Rosamond's Thursday night dessert degustation (see our other post for this one), which meant that we were here at Panama as a token effort to at least have some savory for the evening. So instead of filling up too much on mains, we wanted to degust a number of dishes and looked to the list of starters and entrees as the source of these.

I had a short-list of things I wanted to try before I had even walked in, but the waitress advised of the specials and one was too good to pass up – the marinated goat in pastry.

The gruyere cheese puffs were pretty average to look at- but at 5 bucks for a serve of 2, you don’t expect anything too flash, nor should you judge a book by its cover. The humble looking, but crispy shell of these fritters yielded easily to the challenge with fork, revealing a gooey, custard-like interior of molten gruyere; around 3 mouthfuls of golden delight. Wow, this was a really mild cheese flavour, more emphasis I should place on the silky, even fluffy, texture of this fritter's filling. My cholesterol-conscious doctor would hate to hear me say it, but I would happily order these again (and recommend others to give them a try).  The salty cod and mashed potato croquettes were nice, with quite a mild flavour (certainly no fishy smell); these would make excellent canapes or an ideal beer drinking accompaniment.   

Cod croquettes, and only half captured to the left are the Gruyere fritters.

Stuffed Zucchini Flowers - very cheesy flavour,
broken up well by the candied walnuts.

The zucchini flowers were stuffed with a 3-cheese mixture of ricotta, parmesan and gorganzola. Accompanied by a walnut salad (where the walnuts were incorporated into a nice salty caramel), the strong cheese flavour - which for me was a little intense for my liking- was balanced out by that sweet and salty caramel. The walnut crunch gave a good textural element. A well thought out dish, and cheese lovers would probably enjoy it much more than I did.

The “special” entrée de jour was the braised.goat in pastry, with a smoked tomato puree. The goat was very tender, easily pulled apart and melting in the mouth. That smoky puree was amazing- really intense smoke flavour but not so strong as to taste burnt- so good it elicited dual "oh wow!"s from the degusters. Awesome, I could eat these all day long... Yummm.

(They could even be the best re-interpretation of the humble pie and sauce, if panama were to market it and keep it on the menu.. although if it were a pie I think it could do with a little more gravy or moisture in the filling.).

 Although not on the permanent menu it does give some idea of the quality of the kitchen output, and for me, it was the winner.

The Braised goat in pastry. An amazing smoked tomato puree.. What a dish!!

Beetroot Tart - was overwhelmingly more a Sheeps cheese tart.

My next item that I had been really looking forward to tasting was the Baby beetroot tart with sheep's cheese, cumquat and pistachio crumble. In my mind's eye I had imagined a rustic, mainly beetroot-filled tart, however the actual dish was more fancy looking (and I think it photographed quite well).. When we cut into the tart it became apparent that the beetroot was playing second-fiddle to the cheese, which oozed – molten lava style - out of the cut tart. The tart was overwhelmingly dominated by the flavour of the sheep's cheese – which for me was too strong, but for others who love a good smelly cheese* this may be an absolute delight. The sweetness of the beetroot and the cumquat helped to cut through the cheese flavour, and made it tolerable. I thought the tart base was a bit too crumbly for my liking, too. Overall, if you love a strongly flavoured cheese, you could give this a go, but I would not have it again.

 

The two final dishes were a bit more substantial (considering they were in fact entrees). The quail 'cigars' had some beautifully cooked and tasty pieces of quail (watch out for remaining bones – we were warned by the waitress and found one small leg bone). I really loved the Mt Vikos feta cube that was wrapped in a vine leaf. When taking a little bit of everything on the plate into a single mouthful – the quail cigar, fig, and feta – all combined to give a really nice flavour balance and mouth feel. Very enjoyable.

Quail Cigars, with feta and macerated figs.

In terms of presentation on the plate, you've gotta love the look of this dish of King prawns.

The prawns were marinated in chermoula (a lovely marinade made up of a mixture of various herbs and spices, including cumin, tumeric, paprika and others - a neat recipe is here on Poh's Kitchen). The prawns came served with “caviar lentils” - I can only define them as being slightly seafood flavoured lentils that look like caviar from a distance (but their flavour and texture could never compare to the actual item). That said, I prefer the texture of the lentils as used in this dish. Again, when mixing all elements together - especially with the smoked yoghurt dressing – this whole dish gave some really good flavours and textures. 

Chermoula-marinated King Prawns with "caviar" lentils. The Smoked yoghurt was delicious.

Overall: I was impressed with the food quality, also from the service from the waitress (who was amused by our photography of, and lots of questions about, the food – she even bode farewell to us referring to us as the 'documentarians'). There are lots of good cheeses available here, both in the cooked dishes and also available as menu items in their own right – for me I can take it or leave it but for others this would be a major positive selling point.

Planning a party? This place might be a really cool venue – good potential from the kitchen, and a great space with great views to keep you connected to the real world passing by outside.

* jovially, how do some people enjoy cheese that tastes like dirty socks?... Oh well, each to their own.

Rating:  Nom(x3)  (especially if you like cheese)

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

Done and Degusted @ Panama Dining Room and Bar

Gruyere cheese fritters

Salt Cod and potato croquettes

Cheese-stuffed zucchini flowers

Goat in Pasty (special item)

Beetroot and sheep cheese tart

Quail cigars with feta and macerated fig.

King prawns with smoked yoghurt

..& great, friendly service.

DRINKS:

I had the Napoleone & Co Pear Cider - Very nice, and worth it's own review (Check it out!)

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.