planning for NZ...

So.. sadly I have been unable to update my blog because the food scene has just been dismal...
after having tried all worthwhile food establishments in Shepparton, I have been left with nothing to blog about! It has been many sad days...

Thankfully I am off to NZ next week... I have been planning touristy things to do... Top of my list isn't the Lord of the Rings tour or checking out the volcanoes or even looking for Sheep!
All I want to do is delve into the delicacies that New Zealand has to offer, I want to indulge in fine Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs, delve into fresh seafood and salivate over tender lamb...

This is what I am truly looking forward too...

Photos courtesy of FISH and Clooney...

Bellbrae Harvest - a splendour of local produce

Looking for a restaurant the celebrated local harvest, we stumbled upon Bellbrae Harvest (thank goodness for the AGFG).

This restaurant is about 20 minutes inland from Torquay, off the main road where the darkness feels so heavy you can feel it cloaked over you. There are no lights along the dirt road and googlemaps seems to cut out at the critical point, where to turn next... But finally we made it! A little mudbrick house next to a pond, you are welcomed by fairy lights and the sounds of frogs "rib-biting" away.

Bellbrae Harvest opened 3 years ago and has won 2 Golden Plate awards, for their creative use of molecular cuisine intertwined with seasonal, fresh local produce.

The drinks menu encapsulates the local craft breweries and wineries and our host Dave is excellent at describing their flavours to us.

While we are perusing the menu we are served freshly baked bread with olive oil (grown down the road) and in-house dukkah. I am already salivating at the thought of what the rest of the meal will be like.

Ocean trout sashimi bathed in apple vodka with flying wasabi roe, picked ginger, yoghurt spheres and locally grown winter leaves. (I think there is also a modern prawn cracker there too)

The sashimi had fresh and clean texture in contrast to the crunchy prawn cracker.

The wasabi roe and yoghurt sphere had a gentle taste and didn't draw away from the trout.

Portarlington mussles steamed in champagne and cream with leeks and dried red pepper

Perfectly cooked mussels with slightly crunchy leek. 

A rich dish with strong, bitterness from the red pepper and paprika. A dish not for everyone, but still enjoyable.

12 hour cured duck breast, rhubarb and Drysdale fetta puddings

chorizo croquettes and zucchini ribbons

Seriously, FEAST your eyes on this!

The winning dish of the evening. It still makes me salivate and feel so warm and cozy just thinking of this. This dish is well balanced, flavoursome and a truly interesting experience to eat.

The duck breast is tender and juicy, lined with crispy, duck skin. The croquettes are the smoothest, mash potato cased in a crunchy exterior that I have ever had. It was like pure silk in your mouth.

To balance out the strong flavours of the duck and croquettes, they are accompanied by these cute little rhubarb cylinders that are soft and jelly like with the salty cheese inside.

Pan fried local snapper with pearl barley, potato and 

lemon myrtle 'risotto' cuttlefish and freeze dried garlic chips

Again, perfectly seared snapper with soft yet resilient barley. An interesting take on risotto.

Sourcream cheesecake with sous-vide strawberries, black olive sherbet, al dente tapioca

and Anglesea lavender praline

This is a dish that stimulates your senses - the beauty of the crystalline praline that sits above the bed of cheesecake, the gentle smell of lavender with each bite and chewy tapioca is contrasted with the soft cream cheese and sweet and pungent sous-vide strawberries.

Salted caramel creme brûlée, black sesame and cherry sponge and liquified popcorn bubbles

This photo and dish seems so plain and simple.

But in fact it was a winning dessert.

The salted creme brûlée was everything I expected, sweet, salty and creamy!!

But... the popcorn bubbles was light and frothy and truly tasted like hot popcorn

this is followed by the cherry sponge cake with plays with your mind... the texture is kind of like what i would imagine soft popcorn to be like...

Bellbrae Harvest has topped the list of best restaurants I have been too!

Worth the drive in the dark, worth travelling to Torquay and worth every cent!

Great Ocean Road (that takes you to a world full of indulgence)

Visiting the 4 Apostles (nee 12 Apostles) was a beautiful moment, reminding myself that this world still some some natural beauty left. It is incredible what nature can create.

Other incredible wonders of nature, is the celebrated produce of the Great Ocean Road.

The winding roads between Lorne to Apollo Bay to Princetown, I was lucky to take in the fresh air with scents of spring wattle and see a lot of what Australia is proud to produce.

Otway beef, Apostle whey cheese, Apollo Bay fishing co-cop, craft breweries and berry farms...

Places I wish that I had the time to see all, but only lucky to visit a few.

Apostle Whey Cheese

Not far from the Apostles we found Apostle Whey Cheese. A "cheesery" (?) owned and run by a couple and a friend who hand make all of their cheeses. There are dairy cows behind the cheese factory, and I'm guessing they might have a hand in these cheeses! 

We are greeted by a lovely, friendly woman who loves her cheese. We try about 10 different types of cheese from brie to havarti to fetta... all designed by owners and learn it takes upto 15 hours on "Cheese making day" to develop these fine, full bodied beauties. 

We went with the chill and garlic fetta and made it into spaghetti al olio! Beautiful!

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Further down the road, we stopped in Colac to find a light bite. We found the Trocadeo cafe.

Not much is open on a Sunday afternoon and we definitely weren't expecting... 

BACLAVA HEAVEN!! There was an entire glass cabinet filled with Balaclava and other arab sweets... maaannn... how can you resist this?

 3 for $5 (bargain!) Pistacchio baclava

Regular baclava

Not sure, but looks good!

Other sweets that filled the glass cabinets... seriously, this is where you score a quality sugar hit!

Oh... and this is what I ordered after snapping out of baclava heaven...

~$8 Cheese and Spinach triangle - served with rice, potato, salad and beans with a mouth watering, olive and vinegar dressing. 

Perfectly seasoned so it literally makes your mouth water as it hits your tongue!

I was expecting it to be processed and oily. But far from my expectations. It was fresh and was made from unprocessed ingredients. Not bad Colac...

stay tuned for part 2...

Olivehouse

It's a beautiful, sunny day in Shepparton and today I am going to try out one of the only restaurants, I am yet to try... The Olivehouse

A federation style house, converted into a restaurant that sits on a fifty acres of olive trees.

This place is just outside of Shepparton, so it stands alone, looking majestic and inviting.

I walk into a open dining area that looks out into an olive grove, to my left there is olive-related wares, olive oil infused with a variety of flavours, soaps and local wines. 

For lunch dining, we are seated outside in a separate, smaller area that has french doors that open out onto the balcony. Chinese style lanterns hang from the ceiling and give the room a cozy feel.

Crusty bread, olive oil + balsamic vinegar and olives ~$7pp

This olive oil is gentle in flavour, but the olives pack bighty punch.

 Seared calamari with orange dressing on a bed of rocket $17.50

Perfectly cooked calamari accompanied with zingy and sweet dressing. As this was a main, I would have liked a carb with this just for filling and crunch...  I was watching the other dishes come out tho, they all looked delicious! Might have the crab meat risotto next time!!

Frangelico gateau $9.50

A chocolatey-hazelnut dessert for those who still have lots of room in their tummy!

I suppose this would be considered a modern take on a gateau, there are layers of chocolate-hazelnut cake with almond sponge that is quite bouncy! This dessert involves lots of chewing and crunching, even a little tongue manipulation with the sponge.

The flavours are good, but this dessert is filling and I would have preferred the sponge to a little softer to balance out the hard nuts.

Overall, I was happy with the experience of the Olivehouse and might choose something different next time!! 

Feeding mum

Since moving away from home, my palate has certainly matured from the young girl who thought my Uncle's Chinese restaurant was as interesting as it got! This Sydney trip, I wanted to show mum around, by taking her to some delicious places to eat and showing off my sister's (the true chef in the family) skills in Jamie's kitchen.

The Fox Hole - Erskine Street, Sydney

Wandering around the city streets, like usual my stomach is telling me it's breakfast time, we pop into one of the first places we see. A quaint, little cafe/pub that holds a couple of tables and chairs and looks like this place would be great for after work drinks.

Probably not the best place for breaking the fast, but my stomach wasn't listening to me at that point.

Stove cooked porridge $7

Warm, thick wholesome goodness to start the day with some caramelised brown sugar

Sadly lacking in liquid to solid ratio, that left me wishing I had asked for much more milk!

This was ok, but think I might come back for their dumpling lunch!

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Back to Jamie's Italian

The hype for this place remains massive, the line is long and feels like you are lining up to get into a club, or I imagine this is what it could be like in some fine, New York restaurants.

There is a buzz when you walk in, people fill tables everywhere, you can hear the kitchen staff bashing away at pots and pans... the place is just alive.

We are seated by our friendly waitress, who serves us some bread and olive oil. 

I'm sure the mamma's of the village in Italy would be happy with this, the bread has a thin, crunchy crust and soft fluffy inside which slightly softens when you dip into the amazing olive oil. 

Meat plank $13.50 pp

Pecorino and chilli jam, crunchy beetroot + carrot salad, (mouthwatering) buffalo cheese and cured meats (includes WAGYU) with caper berries!

Osso bucco Milanese $26 

Lamb that falls off the bone (like music to our tastebuds), that has been cooked overnight with tomato, saffron and other herbs. Served on a bed of white silky polenta.

This is a beautiful comfort dish, however I feel it lacks a texture dimension.

Tuscan Wild Boar Sausages $22.50 

An interestingly flavoured meat, not quite gamey like venison but more meaty than meat? Sausages were a little on the dry side, but was saved by the moist minty lentils and tomato salsa.

Affogato

Kasoundi Eggs $14.50 - satisfying my hunger and healthiness cravings

Starrrvation to the maximum, I'm dying for some brekkie...

Another friend has come to visit me from Sydney, where else can I take her to show off some of Melbourne's delights?

Hardware lane is a nice change. This lane reminds me of Chinatown in Sydney, where the restaurants line the street and have spruikers standing out the front, trying to coax you in...
We took the approach of "lets go to the place with most people"... well i guess its not hard to look busy in these lane ways, there isn't very much room to start with.

Anywho, we ended up at Affogato!
A little cafe that seriously looks like you walked into Carol Brady's extended kitchen.
Above the 70's wallpaper, the shelves are decorated with little ornaments, bits and pieces salvaged from St Vinnies and give this place some character!!

Everything on the breakfast menu is delicious looking, you are filled with food envy everywhere you look. The menu services the health conscious (the mid 50's couple next to us were discussing how to lower their cholesterol levels...) and the manly, man looking for a good wholesome feed. Props to the menu for providing decent gluten free options too!

I ordered the Kasoundi eggs - corn and zucchini fritters topped with avocado, perfectly poached eggs and kasoundi relish (mmm mustardy, chilli sweet goodness)... it usually comes with bacon but i thought i would opt for tomato!! Mmm.. hit me with some lycopene (antioxidants!).

I think this place is great, but lacks quality customer service. Our first waitress was bubbly, friendly and helpful. The second waitress gave me a blank look of confusion when I asked for a juice we were waiting for (despite our meals having already come out). Our food then came out after about half an hr, despite others who were seated after us receiving their meals first.

Overall, the food outweighs the customer service so I am definitely going to give this place another go...

I'm interested what others think, maybe the waitress was just hungover and just having one of those saturday mornings...

Noble Monks

Homemade toasted granola with rhubarb compote and poached pears

Bargain $7! I think it was missing the greek style yoghurt which would have definitely hit the spot!

Coffee is amazing! But of course it would be, pretty sure its supplied by the best in town!!

In regional country towns you can be lucky to get just a good Thai restaurant.

Shepparton is lucky to to boast a few good cafes and restaurants, but sadly the variety is limited.

So when something new comes to town, we're on it like bees to honey.

Noble Monks is locally owned and brings a Melbourne-like vibe to town.

Within the last week I have had the luxury of being able to go for brunch, dinner and drinks.

The walls are bare, red brick with a bike, moose head and a couple of posters that line the walls.

The ceilings are high, and there is a tree in the centre of one of the tables. (yes thats right, a real, live tree, the concept is good, but can be impractical when trying to talk across the table).

Apart from the bar stools and benches, there are some comfy recliners to chill out for Friday night drinks and black leather couches to sit around and share finger food.

Service is pub style, order at the bar kinda thing. Meals are fairly cheap, around the $15-25 mark and a fairly good range of beer, wine and spirits.

Overall, I was fairly impressed with the food. Finally portion sizes that are appropriate.

You don't feel overfull, just right.

Flavours are good and food is cooked just right.

I think this place is still finding its niche, "Am I a bar, Am I a tapas bar, Am I for brunch..."

Definitely worth the visit and worth waiting to find out what type of establishment this place finds itself.

Dead Man Espresso

Finally... the weekend has arrived and this girl needs to debrief, unwind and just forget the week just gone. What better way to start the day with the most important and favourite meal of the day!

Time to meet...

Dead Man Espresso

A little cafe in the back streets of South Melbourne (and i think potentially around the corner from an up class brothel? But that story is for another time).

This place is packed out, inside, outside and on the street. (So definitely book!)

The verandah has bar stools and a couple of little stainless steel tables, under scrumptiously warm heaters!

The coffee is a mixture of african blends and looks like it is changed regularly.

Potato rosti with poached egg, avocado and smoked salmon ~$17

A twist on your brekkie hash brown, this fried baby has got the goodness of potato and i think some chives too! The drizzle of pesto just ties it all together! 

It was the perfect size to fill me up and satisfied!

Pretty soy cap - so creamy and velvety. What I wish all cappuccino's should be...

Definitely worth coming back at lunch, for a beer and some more rustic food!

Tea rooms to alley ways to Taiwanese...

Hopetoun Tea Room - Where ladies do tea in absolute pleasure and indulgence.

You can find this gem in the Block Arcade on Collins street.

I was just walking past and stopped, mesmerised in baked good beauty. 

The variety of baked foods felt like you were looking into Willy Wonka's cousin's baked good factory!

The line was too long, but I think I will definitely be looking to lunch here with the ladies!

 

Bourke Street laneway 

 In Sydney we would call this an 'alleyway' where you would find the homeless, drug dealers or those looking for some lovin'

Melbourne on the other hand actually utilise these spaces for the good of man kind!

Cute little pictures around the place - very japanese style

Some examples "Paul Frank... is not your friend"

"Make love, not babies"

Peko Peko

Crispy chicken box!!! (ok you almost need to say this in a Japanese accent.. it's sooo good)

Rice is alright, your typical fried rice. But hello crispy chicken (hit me with the asian accent!)

This stuff is delicious! I taste chinese 5 spice, garlic, perhaps coriander with corn flour, pepper and deep fried!! Man the Colonel has got some competition.

The rest of the menu seems fairly average, a good mix of Chinese and Japanese style dishes, price is moderate $8-10 for a main meal.

Doing Melbourne like a tourist - Part 2

Googling, city searching, timeout , three-thousand and good food guiding it, I found Heirloom.

A modern Japanese Izakaya and sake bar (aka place to drink and eat). It is a fusion between traditional Japanese and French cuisine. I was drawn to this place because the foodlooked remarkable, however when I arrived, ambience is what truly lacked. The ceilings were high, it was cold and it felt that we were the only ones dining, even tho the majority of tables were filled.

Green tea ice-cream with soy sauce macaroon - (yes thats right folks, soy sauce flavour!) This was the most exciting flavour I have come across. It was sweet, but in a starchy kinda way. The biscuit was a little dry but you hardly notice because the flavour just takes over!

Last day in Melbourne, time to soak up some cultural-ness.

But first stop, brekkie.

Wandering the streets of Melbourne, just before the rain hit we found Caboose Canteen.

A little rustic cafe with a hint of modernism on Swanston st, right next to Brunettis (Perfect for dessert afterwards if it was another time of the day).

The coffee is not too bad, a little on the bitter side but seeing as it is fair trade coffee, it kinda makes you feel good that you are supporting the good guys of food!

The menu here is seasonal, so you know that the ingredients will be fresh and not over priced for something that doesn't grow this time of year. 

Grilled corn fritters with spicy tomato chutney and avocado salsa - Perfect portion size, well cooked, it didn't have that squishy, doughy taste that some corn fritters can have. The tomato chutney was definitely made in house, and all in combination together it was scrumptious way to star the day. But if you are a bit on the sensitive side to spice, be wary of the salsa!

$ Price - was about $15.00

Ganache chocolate macaroons - My love affair for macaroons continues...

Lavender, Green tea, raspberry, cappuccino, lemon and pistachio.

I think I have found my new favourite macaroon place. Although they macaroons are less uniform in size, the fillings are just devine. You really can taste the flavour, the filling is very moist and lives up the texture of ganache - thick and creamy. 

$ Price - $15.50 for 6 (about average price)

Doing Melbourne like a tourist... part 1

Showing off Melbourne to my friend from Sydney, I wanted to showcase some of my favourites.

Where better to start than Degraves Espresso?

I fell in love with this place one cold afternoon, looking for a quick bite. I was thoroughly satisfied with their super delicious french toast with strawberries and maple syrup! Finally a truly sweet french toast, none of that bacon business!

This place doesn't need a website, it is blogged about like crazy because food lovers know that Degraves Espresso is a must!

This time I thought I should branch out and try something new...

Green Eggs and Smoked salmon on sourdough - a twist on an old favourite. 

Decent serving of salmon with scrambled eggs with ?coriander/parsley and a dash of chilli

Mmm and that sourdough... give me more carbs!!! 

Breakfast bruschetta with extra chorizo - a bitey branchy meal, with a perfectly poached egg

Again, really generous serve of chorizo