Photo of the week: cocktails @ Lui Bar‏

Whenever I have a friend in from out of town and we decide to do drinks one of my favourite places to take them is Lui Bar attached to Vue de Monde in the Rialto.

Pictured is a Vodka Pour Over. A generous helping of Grey Goose poured over ice and finely ground high-altitude coffee before being filtered at the table. A lovely way to end the day or start the night! At $24, it's never going to be the cheapest cocktail in town, but let's be honest you're paying for the amazing view.

Quick Review: Dessert and Coffee @ Meatballs & Sons‏

Many places have now hopped on the Meatballs bandwagon, and I feel we may be nearing the end of the trend, so it was with some trepidation that I went to Meatballs & Sons on Brunswick Street. However it was late and I needed a coffee to help decompress after a late flight.

Intending to only get a take away cup with a friend the grim weather outside persuaded us to stay in for it and also to get some dessert. In hindsight I'm really glad we did. I had a fresh baked chocolate brownie with blueberry sauce and chantilly cream.

It was wonderful, the bittersweet chocolate of the brownie was perfectly offset by the tart blueberries and the rich sweetness of the flavoured cream. My coffee was also excellent. As you'll know about me by now I am all about good crema and my cup at Meatballs had it in spades. So on the whole, recommended. I can't speak to their dinner but if it is anything like the dessert you will leave happy.

Tapas and cocktails @ Ba'get, Argus Building Melbourne

A couple of weeks ago we were invited to a special sitting at Ba'get in the Argus Building (my future home once I can scrape the pennies together) for a preview of their new tapas and cocktail menu.

So I had been to Ba'get once before, and enjoyed a reasonable Bahn Mi and a delicious pastry for lunch. I was unaware that they had been planning an expansion into evening tapas and cocktails, however I was pleasantly surprised to be invited to attend a preview dinner to eat through their new menu. And you know what? I thoroughly enjoyed the unique tapas and cocktails Ba'get have on offer.

The menu contained the following:
- Battered and fried white bait with herb aoli;
- Build-your-own rice paper rolls with char siew pork that had been sous vided before being grilled;
- Deep fried chicken wings with coleslaw and chilli-vinegar dipping sauce;
- Fried calamari with siracha mayo;
- Pork and taro spring rolls with herbs and lettuce for wrapping;
- Chicken and pork salad with prawn cracker 'bowls';
- Fried prawn trumpets with herbs and siracha mayo;
- Five spiced sweet potato fries; and
- Grilled meat balls with salad.

Accompanying the tapas were two kinds of cocktails a Vietnamese take on a Mojito with rum, Vietnamese mint and coriander, and an absolutely delicious gin, ginger and chilli concoction that was sweet, fizzy and fiery all at once. I thoroughly enjoyed these and think that for the price ($10) you would almost make a detour past Ba'get just for these even if you didn't feel like a snack to go with them.

Working my way through the menu was exciting and tasty.

The white bait were crisp and nicely spiced and didn't have too much of that overpowering 'fishy' flavour that I generally associate with white bait. However they certainly weren't my favourite of the dishes.

The build-your-own rice paper rolls were a fun experience. A cool little gadget was brought to our table that allowed you to wet the rice paper roll and then get it onto your plate prior to assembly. I think Baget would do a roaring trade if they started selling those for $15 a pop. The pork was really nice, lean and chary as anything. Our host explained that it had been sous-vided prior to being grilled, and although I cant verify whether this had any appreciable effect on it versus non sous-vided pork, it sure was delicious.

The deep fried chicken wings that came next were apparently made to the old family recipe of our host's mother and were one of my favourites for the evening. The batter was light and crisp and the flavour was intense. I am a big buffalo wings guy and these were right up there with some of the best hot wings I've had, with the key advantage of not being soaked in a thick chili sauce.

The fried calamari was as advertised, fried calamari. It was nice and clearly quite fresh, however it wasn't particularly 'Vietnamese'. It would make a good bar snack with a beer or cocktail though.

The pork and taro spring rolls were an interesting choice. Taro is a sweet-potato like substance that makes it way into a lot of Asian dishes, and it went very nicely with the pork. I am not sure how many of those I could eat in a row however, They were quite rich and there wasn't enough chili in them to cut through that richness. Perhaps they would work well for a big group where everyone had just one.

The chicken and pork salad was a nice touch, it was light and refreshing and the idea of making it easy to share out between friends gy giving you extra large prawn crackers to use as edible 'bowls' was a pretty cool twist. It had a great herby/citrusy/chili twist too it which I enjoyed as well.

The prawn trumpets which came next were ok. They had lots of nice prawn in them, however I think by that point I was a little over fried spring roll type dishes. Had at the start of a meal, I think you would be very satisfied with them.

Finally came the grilled meat balls. These were probably my favourite dish of the night. They were caramalised on the outside with a sweet sauce that gave a crisp toffee-apple-esque hard shell on the outside that shattered as you bit through to reach the wonderfully spiced and fresh pork on the inside. Along with some salad and herbs to be wrapped up in lettuce leaves and a hoysin and chili dipping sauce these were fantastic. I would highly recommend getting a plate to yourself if you go as they will fly off the plate if you are sharing with friends.

To the public each of the tapas and the cocktails will be $10 and are great value at the price.

Dinner @ Mr Shabu Shabu, Canberra

Came here for a catch up dinner with my friend S. I had actually never had Japanese hotpot (shabu shabu) before and this place had decent reviews so I was keen to give it a try. Being located adjacent to the campus, this place is quite popular with ANU students. The prices here are also pretty student friendly, with a meal costing between $12-$16 per person. Something worth noting is that the owners/runners aren't Japanese, but that's not a big deal for me as long as the food is good.


While S opted for the teriyaki chicken, I went for a the beef shabu shabu. I also really felt like some noodles (let's be honest, when don't I feel like noodles?) so I also went for an extra bowl of udon noodles for $2.
The bowl of noodles was very big for the price but I must say the noodles did taste very sour--which is usually indicative of them being not very fresh (to put it nicely). However, the shabu shabu itself was much nicer. The beef was very fresh and nice quality--very nicely marbled and the type of meat you expect to get at a good Korean BBQ or hotpot. The broth was tasty and flavoursome and I enjoyed the little sides (some wakame seaweed and a spring roll) too. I would've loved some more veggies (chinese cabbage, pumpkin and shiitake mushrooms) but I think for $14 (including rice) it's pretty good value, especially for Canberra.

Dinner @ Mugen Ramen

Ramen is one of those things, when you want it, you want it, and you want it to be good.

So I am pleased to announce that discerning ramen fans now have one more excellent options among Melbourne's noodle houses to add to the list of ramen places that actually deliver the goods.

Mugen looks like it belongs in Gibson's sprawl-era Chiba, all glass and pre-weathered concrete in the above ground bar, and neon lights and dark wood panels in the dining room two flights down below street level.

The place oozes cool, down to the manga toons on the menus, and I started to wonder if the food could live up to the hype that they were trying to build. The answer is yes, it absolutely did.

I ordered the Miso Ramen (Miso and Dashi based broth, house made Ramen noodles, slow cooked chashu pork, bean shoots, pork mince and corn) and my dining companion has the Hiyashi Ramen (Cold Ramen noodles on a fresh green salad with finely sliced omelette, slow cooked pork and sesame soy dressing). We also split a Tsukune (Grilled chicken skewers made from chicken thigh and soft chicken bones, drizzled in Teriyaki sauce and with a fresh egg yolk as a dip).

The Tskune arrived first and it was both beautifully flavoured and had an amazing texture. The 'soft bones' on the menu are small chips of chicken cartilage boiled and boiled and boiled until they reach a texture that is both crunchy and delicate all at the same time. They were mixed up with a perfectly spiced mince of chicken and then grilled to chary perfection. The addition of one perfectly formed (and utterly whiteless) egg yolk as a dip was sublime, the texture and subtle egg flavour perfectly glazed the skewers and really elevated the dish.

Then came the Ramen. And what Ramen it was! The noodles were absolutely perfect, chewy and fresh. The broth was both delicately flavoured and like nothing that I have had with Ramen before. It was a really good mix of sweet and salt and umami, and offset everything else perfectly. Only one downside was the minced pork, it wasn't bad, it just didn't really add anything. Nonetheless, the Miso Ramen comes highly recommended.

My dining companion also loved his Hiyashi Ramen and said that it was the perfect Ramen dish for summer.

There aren't many seats in Mugen, so get there early to make sure you are filling one of them ASAP.

On a ramen related note, SCN have been invited to the soft opening of a new ramen restaurant in the Melbourne CBD. Stayed tuned for the review at the end of this month. In even more exciting news, we found out very recently that we will be eating at the most coveted table in town next Saturday. Don't want to give too much away, but most of you can probably guess...

Photo of the week: dessert @ The Girl with the Gris Gris, Melbourne

Chocolate and walnut bread and butter pudding with brandy cream sauce at The Girl with the Gris Gris.

Dinner at  Gris Gris wasn't the raging Cajun sensation I was hoping for, at least until dessert arrived. 

Rich (but not too sweet), dense (but not too dry), bursting with flavour and doused in the most amazing boozy sauce, the bread and butter pudding makes a trip to Market lane well worth the trek.

Sadly they don't do coffee to go with it, however a nice glass of good Bourbon would really suit the dish and TGWTGG has cool Bourbons aplenty.

Coffee and dessert @ Dex2Rose Nitrogen Gelato

So Nitrogen Gelato is the new cupcake store, it's clearly a fad, 90% of the places won't last the distance, but there are the occasional points of interest that make you see why it became a trend in the first place.

I think Dex2Rose is one of those places. I really liked it and I think it may have what it takes to make it, provided they can attract customers to their slightly oddball location.

I was first introduced to the brand when an earnest young man shoved a sampler pot of Walnut-Maple-Vanilla into my hand as I was walking back from the Australian Open. Some weeks later, out with my friend D, I needed a late night hit of coffee and sugar and the memory of Dex2Rose surfaced in my mind.

I had the 'Lazy Dinner' (sage, burnt butter and vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce) and D had the Pink Flamingo (moscato and peach gelato with coconut cream). We also both ordered one of their iced filter coffees.

The Lazy Dinner was AMAZING. It is the nicest ice-cream that I have had anywhere in Australia for a very long time. The sweet/savoury combination of the sage, burnt butter, rich vanilla and the bittersweet caramel was just perfect. The staff told me the owner comes up with all of the flavors, and so a massive shout out to someone who has a great talent for creating taste sensations.

D said that the gelato component of the Pink Flamingo was amazing, but that the coconut cream worked against it. He was still however very impressed and wolfed his down.

We both loved our coffees. They came in this amazing little brown glass bottle and the flavour was perfect. Not a hint of bitterness (which is so so rare for iced filter coffee) and just the perfect beans for the job (light and tangy, but not too acidic).

Seriously, take the time to duck down the side alley off Little Bourke where Dex2Rose have their HQ, you will not be disappointed.

Coffee and Dessert @ DOC Espresso, Lygon Street

Lygon Street is basically a theme park. It thrives off the fact that large numbers of people perceive it to be an accurate simulacrum of some dining district in Rome and that somehow, because of that, it is a classy place to go. So they dress up in their Armarni Exchange jeans, put on their best fake Gucci glasses and arrive to have overpriced rubbish at Brunetti, listen to idiots rev out their mid-90's Ferraris and bask in their own 'culture'. I was as guilty of this as anyone until R pointed out to me that the whole place was more Eastern European sleaze than it was high renaissance glory, and that the pushy touts out the front of every restaurant are about as authentically Italian as a McCafe Cappuccino. I have now repented.

However, there is a glimmer of the real Italy in the Lygon wasteland - DOC.

Both of the DOC outlets, the Pizzeria and Mozzarella bar and DOC espresso make excellent food with great Italian service.

I went with my friend J to Doc Espresso for a late night coffee and sweet treat. We were not disappointed.

I had a long black with a Nutella Pannacotta and J had a latte with a Goats Cheese Tiramisu.

My coffee was excellent, from the roast to the expression to the funky little cup and saucer set up. I really enjoyed it and it was the perfect nightime pick-me-up. J really liked his latte and the pattern in the foam had all the continental flair you might expect.

My Pannacotta was smooth and richly flavoured. You could taste the rich choc-hazelnut of the Nutella as well as the quality of the other ingredients. The crunch of toasted pine nuts sprinkled on top was also a nice touch.

J's Tiramisu was interesting and I am keen to try a full one. The single mouthful I had was rich and tangy, with a deep choc-coffee flavour permeating the delicate sponge at its heart. I'm not sure that I'd go for making a Tiramisu with Goat's Cheese myself, but it was an interesting deviation from the norm.

If you find yourself, by some strange misfortune, on Lygon Street in the near future, do yourself a favour and head to one of the DOCs, you won't be disappointed.

Coffee @ Snow Pony, Balwyn

I have wanted to try the coffee at Snow Pony for quite some time. It gets quite high praise for its hot drinks and pastries so I thought I would stop by for a quick morning coffee.

So, it was OK I guess, not amazing.

First, the coffee. There isn't a photo because it wasn't worth it - there was no crema and so it just looked like a black puddle. Crema is one of my favourite parts of the coffee experience, and a long black without any suggests that the crew manning the coffee machine was just too overworked. Not to mention it took ages to arrive, although I guess the place was pretty full.The flavour was up there though, so I would definitely like to check it out again sometime.

Or at least I would have, but for the pastry. So, I get that in cafe math, a pastry is automatically $4.50+. That's fine. It should cost more than my coffee. However, when it is the size of a postage stamp and tastes like... nothing, that's just criminal.

Anyway, if I happen to be passing by I might stop for another coffee. Otherwise, no dice.

A king's ransom of food @ Brim CC, Melbourne

I had heard amazing things about Brim CC and was not disappointed.

I went to their hole-in-the-wall place down Little Collins on a warm summer night with a hankering for a nice Japanese Curry.

I ordered the Beef Curry Set (Vegetarian Japanese Curry on Organic Black and White Rice with an Organic Beef Rissole, Pumpkin Soup and Vege sticks with garlic-miso dip.

Brim use only organic produce and products in all of their food, and the flavours really came through.

Starting with the 'Vege Sticks and Dip' side - the veges had been cut earlier in the day (leaving the cucumber to go a bit soft) but otherwise the quality was amazing and the taste was great. The dip was a stand out, a perfect combination of the salty-spice of miso with the rich flavour of roast garlic.

Next, the soup. Thick and flavoursome, the soup was a very nice addition to what was already a serious spread of food. The soup could have been a lunch in its own right (provided you ahd some bread or rice with it) and indeed Brim is known for soups at lunch.

Finally, the Curry. Spicy and fresh, with plenty of beautifully cooked vegetables on a bed of really cool mixed grain rice. The rissole was grilled, and tasted much like the 'hamburg' steak that you occasionally find at Japanese places that echo some of the neo-weird of their cultural inspiration. I probably would choose the vegetarian curry in the future - not because the beef wasn't nice enough, but just because no sane person could eat as much as arrived in front of me, and all for a very reasonable price.

I would definitely be back - in particular to try their deserts, which look amazing!

#throwbackthursday gastropub edition: The Park Hotel

Now you wouldn't think Werribee would be the most obvious location for a nice gastropub but such is the case with the Park Hotel. I've said this before: M is generally reluctant to go out west and Werribee is about as far west as you get in the Melbourne metro area.

Nonetheless, both he and I were pleasantly surprised by the quality offered at the Park Hotel. There were plenty of young people and students there as it was trivia night and the demographics weren't exactly what we had expected for a pub in Werribee. The food was really quite good, especially the pork belly which was very well cooked, perfectly rendered and soft with very crispy skin which the chef had done a great job at flattening, making the skin evenly crispy without it being puffy. The flavour was also excellent. For $12 for three very generous pieces of pork belly, it was ridiculously good value. The corn and bean salsa it sat atop, however, was less spectacular and we barely touched it after devouring the pork. The sliders were OK; the meat was sandwiched between my mortal burger enemy: brioche buns. The beef filling was not terrible but not super flavoursome either.

All in all, if we're ever in the area we would definitely come back and try some of their other dishes and maybe even try our hand at besting the locals at trivia.

Lunch @ The Cupping Room, Canberra

A couple of colleagues and I came here for as a pseudo farewell to me since I was leaving the team for another, but mostly it was just an elaborate excuse to eat out for lunch.

I chose TCR as the venue after some pretty glowing recommendations from friends and colleagues. Initially when we were requesting a table at the packed venue, the service was a little dismissive and abrupt. However, as our time there wore on, the service definitely improved and they were perfectly lovely and attentive in the end.

Being a glutton, I went for the steak sandwich because I felt like something substantial and couldn't go past 'comes with fries' (I know, I know). The thing arrived presented in a pretty typical fashion for these sorts of places: on a wooden board. What caught my eye immediately though was the little dish of sauce which came with it. Although red, it was definitely not ketchup and upon tasting it, it was a thousand times better. It was slightly peppery and subtly garlicky with a definitely overtone of cumin. I want to say it was a nice romesco?

The sandwich itself was pretty good--the quality of the bread definitely helped its cause. It was a sourdough which I don't always enjoy in sandwiches but this one was lovely and supple instead of the sometimes dry and tough sourdough you get in sandwiches. The steak could have been better--it definitely needed more charriness and I personally could have done with a bit more flavour in the meat and a cheese other than the cheddar used.

I also got one of their salted caramel popcorn 'King Shakes' which at first was absolutely delicious but towards the end was getting very sickly and sweet. Thank god I only got the half portion, they were kind enough to split one shake into two glasses for me and one my colleagues.

Overall I was pretty satisfied and given how much I've disliked 90% of the brunch places I've been to, this is one of the better ones. I've also heard that TCR do an excellent coffee but alas, I rarely touch the stuff.

Photo of the week: fish and chips @ Sea Salt, Degraves St Melbourne

We used to love coming here, definitely some of the best fish and chips in the city and great value, too. For under $20 you could get a 'For Two Pack' which was a very generous portion of fish, chips, a potato cake, nice salad and some tartare and lemon. In the picture above we added (because we're greedy) crab sticks and a dim sim but the meal is definitely big enough on its own.

The fish and other goodies are always well fried and golden, the chips are lovely and crispy but fluffy on the inside and you can help yourself to various condiments and the all important chicken salt. I've also tried the sushi and can say that it's definitely decent and very cheap if you get it in the evening after they mark it down. The service is also friendly and warm.

However, prices have gone up a bit late, the For Two Pack is now $24.90, which although still decently priced, is a big jump. It would also be remiss of me not to mention that the last time we ate here, both M and I felt ill afterwards. It may have been an anomaly and the seafood certainly tasted fine (the most likely candidate for the cause was probably the tartare as anything mayonaise-y that's not refrigerated properly can turn very quickly) but we both felt quite unwell after eating here. The previous times we had eaten there wasn't a problem. Since that last time though, we've played it safe and gone elsewhere for our fnc fix, our favourite in the city being Somethin' Fishy.