richmond oysters

last night, k and i decided that we felt like pho. unfortunately footscray was too far to sample the pho that all our friends have been raving about, and we couldn’t agree on the right place to go to on victoria street. i’m partial to pho dzung, but there aren’t any fresh rice paper rolls there and k prefers tran tran but i always leave with that horrible loaded-up-with-msg feeling and i vetoed that suggestion immediately.

we swapped cuisines, considering ichi ni (no guarantee of a table), izakaya chuji (didn’t want to drive into the city) before going down mellie’s recent visits at tummyrumbles, taking turns to veto locations. FINALLY we decided to give richmond oysters (437-443 church street, richmond 03 9428 5121) a shot. i got a booking pretty easily and when we arrived the place was only half full anyway.

after umming and aah-ing over the choices we decided to start off with some oysters. being a seafood restaurant it was slightly disconcerting that the oysters were done 7 or 8 ways, but only 2 of which didn’t involve the oysters actually being cooked. also, although i’m sure we could have requested for it, there wasn’t the real natural option without anything on top on the menu. both of us feel that kilpatrick is an abomination, and really the only way we’ll have cooked oysters is if it’s in oh chien (an oyster omelette that i fully intend to take pictures of during my upcoming KL trip, so stay tuned if you have no idea what this is!).

Anyway, we went for a dozen naturals, half done with a ginger, lime and chilli vinaigrette and the other half with a dill aioli.

positive – oysters were undeniably fresh, crunchy and perfect. wouldn’t have settled for anything less from an oyster bar though.

negative – the accompaniments. you can tell for yourself that there was wayyy too much on there for starters. the aioli was heavy and we both ended up scooping about 90% of it off before eating the oysters and it was still too much. but what really got me was the chilli, lime and ginger vinaigrette, which tasted like sugar syrup mixed in with sweet chilli. totally not the light lime juice with cut chilli and slivers of ginger mix i thought it would be. it really ruined the dish.

k went for the clam chowder…

a good serving of large prawns and huge mussels, but the chowder itself was quite average. k did finish it though which was pretty impressive in itself, the serving was huge!

we also shared an entree platter for two.

now THESE oysters were so much better! a strong dollop of tabasco and a squeeze of lemon is all you need really. the mussels were pretty good too, as was the battered calamari although we couldn’t have too much of it. while we would have preferred the whitebait batter to have some more flavour the whitebait itself was good dunked in tabasco and lemon.

unfortunately, the same can’t be said about the singular prawn and scallops. one, if you’re going to specify that the entree platter must be shared between 2 people, how exactly do you propose we split the prawn??? and two, you’re a seafood restaurant. if nothing else, you should know how to cook your produce. the scallops were overdone which was a major letdown.

we’d actually had our dessert (panna cotta) picked out before we ordered but after the average meal we had we decided against it for fear of getting something you could find in the dairy section of your supermarket.

salix @ willow creek, mornington peninsula

a couple of weeks back i headed down to mornington peninsula for the first time and while the wineries don’t hold a candle to margaret river’s, our lunch at salix (willow creek vineyard, 166 balnarring road, merricks north 03 5989 7448) was pretty damn impressive.

when we asked for a table the waiter informed us that they were working off a 2 course set meal for $50, where you chose either an entree and main or main and dessert. this style of dining doesn’t really work well for me and k, because ideally you’d share an entree and dessert with your partner and be able to enjoy what is essentially a 3 course meal. however the day that k and i choose entrees and desserts that match each other’s picks is the day cows start producing chocolate milk. this time was no different and so we both ordered an entree and a main each. we were treated to some lovely plump olives and freshly baked bread rolls while we waited.

apologies for not taking a picture of my own entree, trout done two ways. there was a beautiful, slightly spicy crispy confit cake with white gazpacho as well as a Woodbridge smoked trout with a herb salad. perfection. but wait til you see k’s seared scallops with jerusalem artichokes, ruby grapefruit & ginger dressing and watercress.all photos stolen from PT’s camera, thanks!

don’t you just want to pop a juicy scallop in your mouth??? i definitely do! and because i was a bit slack and didn’t manage to take a shot of my own entree i’ll show you another close up of those amazing scallops…

argh. i just ate dinner and i’m still hungry.

the only thing i’d change about the dish was the ginger dressing, which i found slightly overpowering. but you don’t need anything to accompany those scallops anyway.

k ordered a rare chargrilled eye fillet, pommes Anna (a sliced potato cake concoction), duck liver pate and jus.

i went for the rabbit two ways as well (pretty clear i go for variety!). the first was a roasted saddle and leg rillette with a wild weed and fetta parcel, cauliflower puree and game jus.

k didn’t end up eating his duck liver pate so it became a fantastic accompaniment for the weed and fetta parcel! i am so developing a taste for liver pate at the moment. the saddle was okay but the rillette actually went better with the cauliflower and jus.

while i slightly regret not being able to sample the chocolate and turkish delight mousse (!!!) with balnarring moscato jelly and honey pastry (!!!!!) i think that the trout and scallop entrees pretty much made up for it. but if you can finish it, a third course sets you back another $15.

chez olivier, prahran

yowza! i know it’s been ages since i’ve posted something up, work has just been absolutely mental. the food pics have been piling up, i just haven’t had the chance to write anything. but after my first experience with french cuisine in melbourne i felt it was probably time to get back on the blog-wagon.

it was a friend’s birthday and he took us to his favourite french restaurant, chez olivier for a feast (121 greville street, prahran 03 9525 2273). not having had french food for a bloody long time i was really looking forward to the meal. we walked in through the tiny entrance to a chorus of bonsoir! from the waitstaff and was promptly led to a table upstairs.

i had taken a year’s worth of french classes at uni, and 2 weeks after graduating i had promptly forgotten about 90% of my training. i was happy though to remember the standard greetings and food descriptions. the menu was quite extensive and it took me a while, but as soon as i saw steak tartare on the list of entries i decided i had to try chez olivier’s version and that struck all the meat off my main course option list.

we ended up sharing the eye fillet steak tartare, escargots and the assiete de charcuterie.

although clearly a bit messy, the escargots were yummy and garlicky. not everyone’s cup of tea and i don’t think i could have eaten the whole entree, but one was just right.

this wasn’t much to look at either, but the steak tartare really hit the spot! it was full of flavour that exploded in your mouth.  although i really don’t think 4 slices of toasted french loaf was anywhere near enough for the amount of meat we had! no big drama though, we had an endless supply of fresh bread on the table so we just ended up using that instead.

i didn’t try anything except the pate which was AWESOME. i’ve grown to like liver pate and while the aftertaste takes a little while to get used to, each mouthful made me want more and more!

onto the mains. after all the meat we started off with i decided to go with the poisson du jour… a kingfish with mushrooms and bearnaise.

the mushroom mix and bearnaise were beautiful, but unfortunately as i got to the end of my kingfish i was disappointed to find that it was slightly undercooked.

after the slightly underwhelming main course i really hoped that we would end on a better note with dessert. and luckily that was the case!

k went straight for the orange and cointreau creme brulee, a huge serving that was torched at the table to the boys’ delight.

i had a mouthful of the wonderfully smooth creme, which k proclaimed to be the best he’d ever had.

a girlfriend ordered the self saucing chocolate fondant, which was the hugest i had ever seen!

i could only have a mouthful as it was so rich, but the next time i turned to look at the dish it was all gone so clearly it wasn’t TOO rich. the chocolate was bitter which i loved but that may not be to everyone’s liking.

after being hooked on masterchef we decided to give the tarte tartin a shot. i would have preferred the apples to be a little more firm but it was still quite good.

i hadn’t had crepes suzette for ages, so i decided to go with that.and i was happy i did! the orangey syrup went down a treat with the thin pancakes and little blobs of vanilla ice cream.

all in all i thought that the entrees were the clear highlight of the meal and while my main wasn’t up to par yesterday i would definitely give chez olivier another shot. in fact, i jumped on the website a few minutes ago and just realised that the company has a l’epicerie around the corner from where i live. excellent, our next local spot to try!

nudels n wraps, glen waverley

i’m always up for hawker food, and was craving it last sunday. so we trekked out to nudels n wraps (264 blackburn road, glen waverley 03 9886 7699) for lunch. k’s mum said that this place served the best char kuay teow she’d had for a while, so i was keen to see what the fuss was about.

we rang ahead and the person who answered informed us that the place would be closing at 2.30pm so we hightailed it out there to get our order in before it closed. we arrived just after two and immediately ordered the char kuay teow and k’s typical singapore fried noodles. it was only after we had ordered that i noticed the specials board, proudly proclaiming a nasi lemak dish with curry kapitan, sambal squid and the normal trimmings. INSTANT food envy. and my dish hadn’t even arrived yet!

we were starving so we went ahead and ordered a side serve of roti and curry which was pretty good (nothing in comparison to what you get back in kl, of course)

my char kuay teow came shortly after…

first gripe – no lap cheong (chinese sausage)! there is absolutely no way you can call a char kuay teow great if there’s no lap cheong, doesn’t matter how good it tastes. second gripe – i asked for it to be extra spicy, but i didn’t even have to take a sip of water. third gripe – i went up to the counter to ask for some pickled green chillis, and the polite aunty who was working had no problem giving me some. to be precise, 4 small slices.

boo.

k’s singaporean fried noodles looked a bit bland…

so i didn’t bother trying any. mind you, i might have if i had been given more green chillis!

while this trip was a bit of a disappointment i do think i need to go back and try some of their other offerings. perhaps we were just unlucky with these two, they do have a wide range of traditional hawker food on offer – curry laksa, assam laksa, har mee, rojak and so on – so i don’t think i should condemn them to my not-worth-the-trip list just yet.

benihana, surfers paradise

we spent the easter long weekend up on the gold coast with some friends and decided to give benihana (marriott surfers paradise resort & spa, 158 ferny ave surfers paradise 4217, 07 5592 9770) a go. benihana is a chain of japanese teppanyaki restaurants originating from america that specialises in ‘theatrically prepared’ meals. and theatrically prepared they were.

since there was 10 of us, we were able to have a teppan and chef to ourselves. after being served with some miso soup, ginger and mustard dipping sauces and salad, he started off with some zucchini and onion rings.

theatrically, of course, creating a little onion volcano that spouted steam.

veggies served, Jeffrey then proceeded to a pop a little egg tower in front of us while little prawns and some chicken were being grilled.

turns out that the little prawns were for flicking at us. while the boys attempted to catch the prawns in their mouths, Jeffrey kindly took pity on the girls and popped our prawns on our plates. happy to say only two prawns landed on the floor!

Jeffrey then added some chopped vegetables to the teppan, before popping the mix and chicken on top of some cooked rice.

the three eggs were cracked – theatrically – and prepped for a whole lotta flicking.

personally i think a bit more egg landed on the floor than was necessary.

but we had fun anyway

after adding a bucketload of garlic butter (hey, the more the better!) and some seasoning, the fried rice was ready. one of our friends was celebrating her birthday on easter sunday and when we said as much Jeffrey made a little fried rice heart  and wrote a greeting backwards in salt. cue applause.

and man, this was the BEST DAMN FRIED RICE I’D EVER TASTED. oh what i wouldn’t give for more garlic butter fried rice right now. and i’ve just finished a plateful of steak and veggies. sigh.

a serve of king prawns and squid was  up next. nothing fancy with these ingredients, just some garlic butter, lemon juice and seasoning. no flicking either, thank god. this was followed by some salmon steaks, cooked the same way.

the picture above shows the salmon steaks medium rare, which is perhaps the way i would have liked it served. i found the well done portion a bit too dry, but that was just me. pn the other hand, the scallops were oh so juicy… and huge!

Jeffrey finished off soon after…

and we were left to work our way through the mound of seafood. toward the end of it i was absolutely stuffed, but it was definitely worth the money. benihana isn’t a place you would frequent regularly, but it is definitely worth a try.

i do wonder though if benihana cover the cost of drycleaning an item of clothing soiled by a flicked prawn? or do they put it back on you for not being able to catch it in your mouth in the first place. :p

hutong dumpling bar, again

after mellie from tummyrumbles commented on my previous huTong post about the chilli chicken wings, i couldn’t wait for a chance to go back and try it. it was time for a catchup with Trish and Michelle so i told them i’d make a lunchtime reservation.

it was quiet when i arrived, but by the time the girls got there it was starting to fill up. they left the ordering to me, and i started rattling off the dishes that i had ordered previously with the addition of the chicken wings.

that is, until the waiter interrupted me and said “dish number 1, 2, 3, and 4 are not available.”

which were the siew loong bau, panfried dumplings and pork as well as prawn dumplings. he then relented and told us we could have the siew loong bau “but it would take half an hour.”

for chrissakes.

YOU CALL YOURSELF A DUMPLING BAR???????

distinctly put out, i continued ordering but the meal was already somewhat spoilt before it even arrived. the waiter did try to recommend the siew mai but dude. if i wanted siew mai i would be having dimsum. i came to your restaurant because i wanted DUMPLINGS.

and then about 15 minutes later the siew loong bau arrived. sigh. still bloody good though. the other dishes i had tried during my previous visit were pretty good as well.

i thought the chilli chicken wings were pretty tasty, the only thing was having to look quite uncouth chomping on the bone in public. but i was in good company, so oh well.

we ended up spending about $25 a head which i thought was pretty reasonable, and food arrives quite quickly (when they are actually available, that is.) the service, while inaccurate and frustrating, is nevertheless polite as well, and best of all the place is clean. so i’m still going to head back, but if they dare to tell me they don’t have dumplings or siew loong bau again i will damn them to hell.

fun in the kitchen – lamb chops & cous cous

i’m a big fan of cous cous, especially when it’s made with nice cold chunks of tomato, red onion and cucumber. k doesn’t like cucumber and tomato though so i haven’t bothered trying it til now, but it’s high time he got used to perfectly decent ingredients! i decided to ease him into the dish though, you’ll see what i mean in a sec.

i marinated some lamb chops in a mixture of lea & perrins, lemon pepper and sundried tomato seeded mustard before letting it sit overnight. whacked it into a 180 degree oven for about 35-40 minutes and that was that.

i bought a packet of ainsley harriott’s cous cous. i can’t remember the flavour but it was green, and had lime and coriander in it. popped the dried cous cous in a bowl…

and topped it off with some freshly boiled water. without doing anything else (not even stirring!) this is what it looked like after 5 minutes…

i used a fork to stir the cous cous around and that was that. i have no idea why i haven’t tried this earlier! i served the cous cous with some sour cream and dill along with the lamb chops.

as you can see i didn’t add anything else to the cous cous, it tasted bloody good for a packet mixture but it will definitely benefit from some onions and cucumber at least. oh well, step by step!

fun in the kitchen – chicken, carrot and leek casserole

after my slightly disappointing chicken casserole from timothy’s fine foods, i decided to make my own version. of course, someone out there might try this recipe and decide that it needs even further flavouring, so really my casserole ingredients is a reflection of my taste buds and may not actually be everyone’s cup of tea!

ok enough rambling. i browned some chicken pieces (thighs, wings and drumsticks)…

before setting them aside. i then fried a bulb’s worth of garlic cloves, 2 leeks and a sliced carrot.

once the leeks and carrot had softened i stirred in some plain flour before adding some chicken stock, bay leaves, dried herbs (i used parsley and oregano), lots of lea & perrins and cracked pepper.

once everything was mixed in well i popped the chicken back in along with some oyster mushrooms, covered the pot and simmered the dish for about 2 hours on the tiniest flame.

i chucked some garlic bread in the oven at the end and tucked in to a perfect cold night’s dinner. for my tastebuds anyway

the $10 takeaway challenge – misht, elsternwick

on day 4 of my takeaway challenge, i was pleasantly surprised to discover that a new indian restaurant had opened on my local street. misht (245 glenhuntly road, elsternwick 03 9528 6008) was empty when i arrived, but it was about 5.45pm so i decided to give it a whack anyway. i love mixing different curries and cleaning the gravy up with a biryani or some garlic naan, but seeing as it was just me i couldn’t really order much of a variety. so i decided to go with the vegetable biryani.

good news? there was a complimentary serve of raita (cucumber and yoghurt) which went well with the biryani and the rice itself was really tasty. bad news? this was my fault but i thought that a vegetable biryani was biryani accompanied by a veggie curry which i was really looking forward to. the raita helped but nothing beats some rice smothered in a nice spicy curry and i ended up not being able to finish the meal.

i’m definitely going to head back though, might do a good range of curries that i can’t wait to try. the lone staff member that was there when i ordered my takeaway was pleasant and chatty, so i do hope that business picks up for them soon.

pie in the sky, olinda

brenda has been telling me about pie in the sky (43 olinda-monbulk road, olinda 03 9751 2128) for a while now, but the one and only time i visited mt dandenong was with dad last year and we only headed to miss marples tea room, which apparently is in a different direction entirely.

over last weekend brenda headed up to pie in the sky and brought me back 4 pastries to my surprise and delight. i headed out to get some fetta, cucumber and salad leaves to make a side salad, and tucked in to the first flavour…

a tandoori chicken pie.

the pie filling was surprisingly spicy, which i didn’t expect and the pastry was deliciously flaky. i ended up eating the filling first, greedily saving the crust for last.

i demolished the remaining three pies for lunch over the next couple of days so no photos. the rendang was also spicy, but the meat was a touch dry. it might have been something to do with me leaving the pie in the fridge instead of freezing it though.

brenda also got me a standard bacon pie (good with lots of tomato sauce) and a cheese pie, which i initially imagined to be filled with a white cheesy sauce or something similar. (imagine a blue cheese or mozzarella pie!!!) but no dice, it was a standard meat pie with a thin layer of cheese. again, good with lots of tomato sauce.

next time i have to take someone up on a trip i’m definitely heading to pie in the sky to check the whole range of flavours, the pies i had were certainly worth another try.