Good Food and Wine Show 2013 - FIJI Water Blogging Team

This year, I was really excited about the Good Food and Wine Show for two reasons. Firstly, I got to meet Maggie Beer about the show and was knew that she would be there. I was secretly hoping I'd bump into her and get to chat with her some more. Secondly, I was invited to join the FIJI Water blogging team to cover the show as their roaming reporter. Ok, I made the roaming reporter part up as I've always wanted to be one of those roaming reporters at events who stick their noses into everything and survey the mood of the crowd. Anyway, I stuck my nose everywhere and tried to gauge how people were feeling. Most people looked to be enjoying themselves, or enjoyed themselves a bit too much already after trying out all the wines at the numerous stands.

This year's Good Food and Wine Show was even bigger than previous years, if that was possible. I have attended previous years, 2012, 2011 and 2009, missing out on 2010 when I was overseas on holidays. This year's show follows a similar format to previous years, with some additions to improve it. One addition that people have loved is Cheese Alley, and it's even bigger and better this year. The other new addition that I'm sure is going to be a big hit is the Fisher and Paykel YUM Kitchen, where people got hands on experience to cook some dishes. The kitchen looked amazing and the people taking the classes looked to be really enjoying themselves.

As usual, the show was full of so many things to see. The Celebrity Theatre was as usual really popular, with lots of people sitting in on various sessions to listen to their favourite food celebrities talk about different food topics, such as the Maggie Beer session I witnessed. Everyone absolutely loved her and she had the crowd in the palm of her hands with her charm. This year though, a new addition is Michelle Bridges, of The Biggest Loser fame, to discuss healthier aspects about food. I love Michelle as she is not only extremely fit, she also seems like a really determined person and I admire people like that. I guess with everything, you need a balance. So you can eat some of Maggie Beer's butter and verjuice roast chicken sometimes, but you should also eat some roast Winter vegetables on quinoa as that can be really tasty too when done right. As our nation is getting fatter and more and more people are becoming obsess with our sedentary lifestyle, we need to be more conscious about what we eat and drink as having a balanced diet is the key to staying healthy. There is no way you can exercise enough to negate the effects of eating 6 pieces of KFC with a tub of ice cream afterwards.

With the introduction of Michelle Bridges to the line up, the Good Food and Wine Show are acknowledging that the health aspect is very important too and they are now catering for that. There were a number of stalls that were focused on healthy food options, amongst them FIJI Water. As we all know water is essential to our survival and well being. I'm hardcore about drinking lots of water everyday and even though I know there's no definitive scientific evidence to say we need 2 litres of water a day, I use it as a guide to keep myself hydrated as I feel much better when I do drink more water. Whenever I drink less than about a litre of water a day, I feel really awful. Whether it's physiological or psychological, I don't know, but I do know I can prevent that terrible feeling by just drinking lots of water. I drink a mix of tap water and bottled water, depending on what's available and what I want at the time. I like the taste of bottled water actually and it feels really refreshing. I drink FIJI water sometimes and the water itself tastes good and I really like the unique design of the bottle. As the name suggests, the water is from FIJI, in a place called the Yaqara Vaelly of Viti Levu. An underground acquifier houses the water that's used for the FIJI bottle water.

As part of the FIJI blogging team, I sniffed my way around all the stalls and below is a few of my favourite photos from the show. There was a mixture of healthy food, and some a bit less healthy. But you know, life is about balance, and you can have some unhealthy things in moderation. I also got to visit the VIP lounge, which was really pretty and I enjoyed a glass of wine in there and some canapes.

If you're going to the show this year, here are some tips for you.
1. Get in line early for the free Celebrity Theatre sessions.
2. The Nespresso class is free and worth doing.
3. The Barilla pasta class says it was $15 but today I just walked in. Do it anyway if it does cost $15.
4. Cheese alley is a must.
5. Get the $3 wine glass to taste all the wines. Don't get smashed, as it's a really bad look.
6. Violet chocolate from ChocoMe, get onto it. Violet is so underrated.
7. Salami Shack, hello cured meats.
8. Passionfruit curd from Unforgettable Products, mmmmm.
9. Samples, samples, samples.

Overall, as usual there was so much to see at the show. There's something there for everyone. There were many interesting things and I really loved Cheese Alley as I'm developing a taste for all sorts of cheeses now. My highlight of Friday's session was seeing Maggie at the Celebrity Theatre. I was waving at her like mad, but so were 500 other people so she didn't see me unfortunately. My secret wish that she would spot me in the audience didn't come true, but her class was still excellent. Normally, if I wasn't going away on holidays, I'd come back on the Sunday afternoon session. A good tip for you, come on the last day to pick up some awesome bargains as the stalls try to sell off everything. I picked up these amazing caneles one year for 50 cents each when they're normally $3.50. I love delicious food, and it's even better when it's a bargain. Till next year's show, eat up.

This is a sponsored post from FIJI Water and I attended courtesy of FIJI Water.

Lavazza A Modo Mio at Melbourne International Coffee Expo

There are a number of things that I like the smell of, but don’t want to taste. Firecrackers, roasting woodchips, Krispy Kreme donuts and coffee. All these things smell so intoxicating, and until recently, I wouldn’t want to taste any of them. However, I can now strike coffee off that list. I’m a tea drinker, but for the past year, I’ve slowly been getting into coffee. Previously I used to drink coffee very rarely, maybe after a dinner or at breakfast in a café. Now, I’ve become a 3-4 cups a week drinker of coffee. Whereas I used to find the taste of coffee very bitter and unpleasant, I now find coffee to be smooth and full of flavour. This was the same with chocolate. Once upon a time I was a Cadbury’s milk chocolate eater. There’s nothing wrong with milk chocolate but nowadays I find it rather awful and won’t touch it. My taste buds have migrated to dark chocolates, with their smooth, buttery texture and wonderful flavour profiles. I’m currently sitting at about 70% cocoa solid chocolates and still find the 80-90% chocolate too bitter for my liking but I’m experimenting. With my coffee intake, I still favour single shots with milk in it, no sugar, so I still get the flavour but in a weaker hit. Having been deciding whether to buy a coffee machine (a Nespresso), it was fortunate that I was invited to the Lavazza A Modo Mio class at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo, as I got to learn about how to use the machine properly, and take one home to use. How lucky is that.

At the Lavazza A Modo Mio class, I learnt that A Modo Mio means “My Way”, which instantly made me think of Frank Sinatra of course. Or if you’re a youngster, you might think of Usher. However, in this case, the “My Way” refers to how you want your coffee. The Lavazza capsule coffee machines are called A Modo Mio because of the flexibility of how you can enjoy your coffee. The machines come in many forms, but their basic premise is they take a coffee capsule and do the rest of the work to give you a perfect cup of coffee every time. There are 8 coffee blends, made using Arabica and Robusta beans in different combinations and roasting methods. I cannot remember any of the names as they’re rather long and complicated. Instead I just use the colours as a guide. I like the light brown one, which is a medium flavoured blend, and the purple one, which is really smooth.

To use the machine, it’s as simple as putting a capsule into the machine and pressing a button. You then wait 30 seconds or so and out comes this rich, fragrant espresso coffee. I was pleasantly surprised how nice the coffee is. Of course it won’t taste like something that comes out of a $50,000 machine made by a barista, but for something so convenient and relatively inexpensive, it’s a good result that I’m very happy with. The machine I got also has this automatic milk frother. You just put the milk into the jug and it does the steaming and stirring all for you. Then, you pour the milk for either a latte or cappuccino into your espresso or espresso lungo (a more diluted espresso). The maintenance of the machine is really simple. You need to occasionally clean out the water jug, and if the coffee dispensing or milk frother tips get clogged, just clean them out with hot water. Every few days when the drip tray fills up, you just tip it all out into the sink.

Price wise, I believe the machines are about $200-$300 and the capsules work out to be between 50 cents to 80 cents depending on the flavour. I was informed that there’s 7.5 grams of coffee in each capsule, which according to Google is 0.5 grams more than the European Standards for defining a cup of coffee. The capsules themselves contain a quadruple layer of foil so aren’t that easy to accidentally rip. When you put it into the machine, it punctures 16 holes in the capsule, which allows the water to flow through. These capsules are unique to the machine and you can’t use another brand.

Here’s a video showing how you make a cup of coffee. It really is this easy as I have timed myself and in under 5 minutes I have a cup of cappuccino ready while my soft boiled eggs are cooking in my Aldi egg cooker.


Overall, I really love the Lavazza A Modo Mio machine. It’s really easy to use and produces a quality of coffee that I’m happy with. I think if you’re a hardcore coffee drinker, this is not for you. You probably won’t be considering this anyway. Otherwise if you’re a general coffee lover or new to coffee like me, this machine is perfect. Obviously, there will be obvious comparisons to the Nespresso machines. As I’ve never used a Nespresso before, I can’t do a direct comparison, but I’m sure they’re just as easy to use and also produce a good result. It’s just down to you trying them out and seeing which one you like more. While the Lavazza machine may not be the original, it doesn’t mean that it will be inferior. In fact, the engineers have probably seen some of the issues and corrected them. Look how Apple were the innovators, but nowadays Samsung has possibly superseded them in the smart phone stakes. As long as your product makes the experience easier for the user, that is what matters. So while Nespresso has George Clooney, Lavazza does have 110 years of coffee experience behind them. It makes for more choice for the consumer, which is a good thing. I’ll drink to that…my A Modo Mio cappuccino.

I attended the Lavazza coffee class and received a Lavazza A Modo Mio machine courtesy of Lavazza.

Barmah Park Vineyard and Cafe

I've started to have an addiction, an addiction to op shopping. It's the disease where you feel a rush going through other people's junk that they've donated. The quest is to find some piece of "treasure" at a great price. For me, the treasures are all food related, in the form of plates, cutlery and various props that I can use for my food photography. Luckily my addiction is shared by my fellow food bloggers Az, Maz and Haz. So, we go on these road trips where the goal is to find lots of treasures at many op shops. Obviously, there's always heaps of food involved on the trip too and we try to find new places to eat at. Our current favourite destination is Mornington Peninsula as there are lots of nice op shops and vintage shops to pick up our treasures. On the most recent trip, in between our op shopping and llama spotting, we were invited to try out Barmah Park Vineyard and Cafe for lunch.

Barmah Park Vineyard and Cafe is a cute little place, where they sell their wines and have a cafe for food and to drink their wines. We started our meal with some wine tasting, trying out the various Barmah Park wines, including Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. We settled on our drinks and while the girls got red wines, I went with a nice refreshing Pinot Gris.

For lunch, of course we all agreed to share the food so we could try everything. We started with a meze plate to share. The plate consisted of salmon on a savoury scone, grilled vegetables, chorizo, a vegetable tart, crumbed calamari, cured meats, salad and some bread. Most items were quite nice. I wouldn't say anything stood out as being amazing but one item did stand out as being very strange. The crumbed calamari was actually tender, but the crumb matched with the sauce was really not nice. It was super salty and then the sauce was really sweet. I didn't find the combination pleasant at all.

Next up, the Roast Pork Belly with Scallops was really delicious. Crispy pieces of fatty pork belly crunched and oozed in my mouth. I love pork belly and this one was done well. The scallops were also fresh and went well with the pork. The obligatory apple slaw accompanied the dish and gave it some lightness.

As mussels are my current obsession, I convinced the others to eat it despite the usual "we can order mussels anywhere", to which my constant reply is "but I want mussels now". The flavour of the dish was quite nice, but the mussels themselves weren't super amazing like I've had elsewhere in the Mornington Peninsula. They just didn't have the super sweet sea flavour that some mussels possess. I forgot what variety these were but maybe all the different varieties taste different.

We tried three other dishes that were hit and miss. As we didn't know the meze contained the calamari, we ordered it again. Obviously it was the same dish and I didn't like it again. The wedges were much better. Crispy and soft inside with sour cream and sweet chili dip. Lastly, a pumpkin gnocchi in a tomato based sauce was delicious. The gnocchi was soft and had great flavour and I loved it.

Despite being full, I was tempted by the sound of the apple strudel, so convinced everyone to have dessert. I didn't need to do too much convincing when Michele suggested we also try a sticky date pudding. The apple strudel in custard was beautiful. The pastry was flaky and the filling perfectly spiced and soft. The custard just finished the dish perfectly. I thought this would be the highlight but once I tried the sticky date pudding, I was speechless. I never order sticky date puddings because they're always crazy sweet and rather ordinary. But I can't recommend this sticky date pudding enough. It was so amazing, with a perfect texture and the most amazing butterscotch sauce.

The meal overall was quite good. Some items were very nice and some weren't. I'd recommend to skip the meze platter as that was quite generic stuff and to order various dishes instead so you can taste the food style of the chef. The desserts were super amazing so don't forget to order that. If that sticky date pudding is on the menu, get it.

I dined courtesy of Michele and Barmah Park.

My Breakfast Date with Maggie Beer for Good Food and Wine Show 2013

So, I went on a breakfast date with Maggie Beer recently. It was an awesome date. Ok, so maybe 10 other people were also on this mass group date, but that ruins my story. So in my reality, it was just Maggie and I. So let me tell you how this date came to be. I first met Maggie ten years ago.....haha. Ok I'm kidding. I was invited by the Good Food and Wine Show organisers to meet Maggie for breakfast at the The Olsen Hotel, as Maggie is one of the stars of this year's Good Food and Wine Show in Melbourne.

There are a few food celebrities that I truly love, Heston (scientific food genius), Sue Perkins (a thinking man's crush), Poh (my darling), Shannon (awesome chef who's food I've got to taste) and Maggie (the nicest food celebrity ever). I really feel in love with Maggie on her show called The Cook and the Chef with Simon Bryant. She seemed like such an enthusiastic, kind, funny and loveable person. As it turns out, she is all those things and more. Maggie was so nice to everyone and had such interesting stories to share. Her candid honesty really endeared me to her and her passion for good produce really came through. Her passion for verjuice and fresh Barossa produce is famous, but her dis-passion (made up word) for Sauvignon Blanc, cigarette smoke and perfume was something I didn't know previously. She told us some hilarious stories about supposedly being caught eating at a Hungry Jacks (not true) and how utterly upset she was. She also told us about how she tries to stop everyone drinking Sauvignon Blanc as there are so many better wines. It's amazing how she was able to talk to everyone and make everyone feel included and special. That comes from being genuine I think. While Maggie won't remember me, I will remember my meeting with her as that's how we should all aim to act and be, passionate, kind and willing to have a laugh.

Of course I had to get a photo with Maggie and thanks to Sabrina for helping to take the photo. I think my laugh is not as big as Maggie's or when I met Poh, but I was just as happy.

If you want to see Maggie, you can find her at this year's Good Food and Wine show. She will be holding some hands on cooking demos for the public. A million other things will also be happening at the show but try to catch Maggie if you can. Below are the details of the show.

What: Good Food and Wine Show
When: Melbourne June 7-10
How Much: Tickets $33 for Adults
Where: Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre
2 Clarendon St, South Melbourne

As part of my date with Maggie, I also got to stay at the Olsen Hotel. The hotel is really beautiful and the views are great. The amenities are fantastic and I loved the high water pressure in the shower (a much often neglected item). I got room service for dinner and ate at Spoonbill for breakfast. Some items were very good (chicken taco, burger, corn fritters) while some lacked in flavour a bit (fish taco, paella). There was an amazing pool with a glass bottom that I didn't get the change to swim in. I'm definitely swimming in it next time I stay there. Overall, it was a great event and I loved it. I hope my path crosses with Maggie again in the future.

I stayed and dined courtesy of The Olsen Hotel.

Bosch Cook Off with Ian Curley

Now we're cooking with gas.

That's a common saying you hear all the time, and it is very true. In the literal sense, you do need gas to cook your food, but technology is slowly changing. I was invited by Bosch Home Appliances to attend their cooking with chef Ian Curley at their Experience Centre. I'm an engineer by profession and really love appliances and technology so I was excited to attend. Also, knowing Ian Curley is one of the country's best chefs, I knew we'd be treated to some good food too.

Firstly, let me start with the experience centre. If you're into household appliances, in particular kitchen appliances, it's like heaven. All the latest and greatest appliances, shiny and enticing. I loved the in-built coffee machine. So sexy. There are also ovens, cooktop, fridges and rangehoods.

After the intro, we all split into groups to cook various dishes, using a different piece of equipment. Let me tempt you with the Paella that Kim, April and I cooked. Doesn't it look amazing? Yes? Well, all the credit goes to our chef who helped us and to Kim, who did all the work. April was pregnant so she sat down while I went about sampling food and having a drink. I didn't want to ruin the food with my bad cooking ya know haha. Anyway, our dish turned out really good, with the rice cooked just right and lots of sweet sweet seafood. We used an induction cooktop and it worked really well. The speed is very fast as there is direct heat transfer. One issue that we did have is if you splash water on it by accident, it stops as it loses the contact with the pan. You can wipe it off and the unit will start up again. It is super sexy to have induction cooktops as the slick black glass does make your kitchen look super streamline. The bosch staff did say that induction tops aren't the best for Asian cooking as you don't get that strong flame to give it that "wok breath" that Asian stir fries tend to require.

Ian cooked up some John Dory fillet using a standard gas flame burner and the fish were really good. Perfectly cooked with a really crispy skin. Served with a cauliflower puree and braised witlof, it was a great starting dish.

The best dish of the night for me was the Crab Linguini Pasta. The flavours were amazing. There weren't many ingredients but somehow the flavour was just so good. The pasta was made in a Bosch machine and then cooked over a gas burner. The pasta really had a great bite to it and it did look easy to make, but it helps to have a master chef helping out.

The Bosch ovens were used to make the Beef Wellingtons that we had. The ovens came in so many different configurations it'll take you 30 minutes to learn about them all. And learn I did as I'm really intrigued about them. The most interesting ones were the self cleaning pyrolytic ovens. Apparently they go up to 500C and burn off all the oils and you just have to wipe them down. That sounds good in theory but I need to see it before I convinced. The standard oven we used to bake the Beef Wellingtons worked well and the meat was nicely cooked with the brioche outer well cooked.

The last dish was a Trifle using a polenta cake cooked in the ovens. There was also ricotta and olive oil added. It sounds really weird but did taste good.

It was a really fun night and we got to try out a few Bosch appliances to cook and eat some delicious food. Overall I liked the appliances and do think they look great in any kitchen. Price wise, they do cost a bit more than your average brand I believe. It's worth checking out the Experience Centre if you're interested in anything as all the appliances work there and you can try them out yourself and ask the consultants any questions you have.

I attended the Bosch Cook Off courtesy of Bosch.

Vue de Monde - Part 4 Rialto Towers, Sensational

I love Vue de Monde. If you've ever spoken to me about food before, chances are you've heard me rave about how Vue de Monde is my favourite restaurant in Melbourne and that I *loveeeeee* Shannon Bennett, in a manly sort of way of course. As with my previous reviews, this review was really hard to write, not because my dining experience was bad, but because it was so good I just didn't know how to describe it all. As it is, this review just sat in my draft folder half written for the longest time until I actually forgot about it. It wasn't only when I was sorting out my photos that I saw the Vue de Monde photos, which reminded me of this review. So, here I present my review of my degustation meal at Vue de Monde, almost 16 months ago. Oops. I'm sure the menu itself has changed but I'm definite the quality will remain and that you can draw a good sense of how the restaurant is from my review still.

I've been to Vue de Monde a few times before, at the old Little Collins street location and you can read about the experiences via the links for my first, second and third visit.

As you will know, there's not much choice in the menu at Vue de Monde. You go in knowing that you will have the small or large degustation and leave it up to the chefs to create a meal and experience for you. Obviously, if you have allergies, they will tailor your meal. Below is a sample of the menu, in abbreviated form of what we had that night. There are so many ingredients in Shannon's menu that I couldn't recall them all, even when I wrote it down.

Vue de Monde Menu

* Appetisers
- Smoked eel with caviar
- Celeriac parcels
- Apple gel
- Venison rolls

* Savouries
- Crab salad with strawberry sauce and green strawberry meringue
- Mushrooms with walnut puree broth
- Marron with khalrahbi and caviar
- Duck egg with lamb sweetbreads, white truffle, onion rings and celeriac puree
- Stewed rabbit with asparagus, burnt butter tarragon sauce
- Snapper with prawn, bone marrow, chicken glaze and beet tuile
- Wagyu tenderloin with turnips done two ways

* Palette cleanser
- Liquid nitrogen cucumber sorbet with herbs and flowers

* Desserts
- Cheese platter served with fig jam, peach jam, onion jam, pear gel, rhubarb gel
- Lemon meringue with ice cream and white chocolate pastry
- Tonka bean chocolate souffle

* Petit fours
- Golden gay time
- Mousses lamingtons
- Eucalyptus jellies
- Mint marshmallows

Firstly, let me start with the setting. Level 55 on the Rialto building is sensational. The view, as expected, would be the premium view of all Melbourne restaurants. Depending on the time of year that you dine in, you will either see the skies change from light to dark and witness an amazing sunset, or be given the amazing Melbourne night lights. I was fortunate enough to watch the heavens transition through the full gamut of colour and light. It was indeed an awesome sight through the floor to ceiling glass windows. The room is very light and bright as you would expect and tables set fairly far apart so you feel like you're dining privately, but yet still part of the whole space. This is something that Vue de Monde has always done well, even at their previous location which I've remarked on in my previous posts. We were seated near the kitchen in a semi enclosed space as there were 5 of us. We had an excellent view of the kitchen team at work and also of the full dining room. I felt the restaurant had a great ambiance that was quite boisterous actually, but still you could hear your dining companions.

The much talked about table settings are spectacular, from the kangaroo leather tables to the comfortable chairs and place settings. Even small touches like the stones on the table or the beautiful water glasses just exude elegance and opulence. If you're going to say that it's not "value for money" and "excessive and over the top", I don't think this place is for you. Yes, it is definitely never going to be "value for money" in the sense of getting lots of food, but we all have different definitions of value. For me, I think it's a great indulgence to occasionally be able to enjoy such meals, as they leave an everlasting memory that 25 burgers just won't do. I personally loved the whole rich feel of the restaurant, and for one night at least, I felt like I was king of the world up there.

The food is immaculate in technique and execution and plating. Nothing about any dish could be faulted from those perspective. Yes, you probably won't love every dish, but I doubt that would happen at any restaurant. However, the whole meal works together and provides more than the sum of it's parts. I liked every dish and absolutely loved some. I don't think there was anything that I didn't like.

Right from the beginning, the appetisers were a delight that really tickled the senses. Brought out on an assortment of rocks and plates, they were playful yet tasted amazing. I loved the smoked eel, so smooth and with a hit of salty caviar. The venison was another highlight for me, so rich in flavour.

With the savouries, there were some surprises that really got me. I absolutely loved the mushroom dish. The walnut puree was heavenly and made that dish really pop. Something seemingly so simple but the flavours were so clear and I loved it. The marron dish, one I've loved before, was still amazing. A perfectly cooked marron, this time served with khalrahbi just oozed the flavours of the sea and was one of three stand out dishes of the night for me. I really liked the rabbit and snapper dishes and again so many complex flavours on those items. The next stand out dish was the wagyu tenderloin. The beef was so soft and had such great flavours, served with turnips done in such amazing ways. I couldn't get over how good the turnips tasted.

After all the savouries, there was some theatre as the liquid nitrogen came out. We each got given a mortar with some herbs and flavours in it. The liquid nitrogen was poured on them and we crushed up the herbs, which wafted their aromas straight to you. Next up, one single scoop of cucumber sorbet was placed into the dish. OH. MY. GOODNESS. It was like an awakening of your senses. Every single flavour just popped in my mouth and I loved it so much.

With the desserts, again there was some more theatre. A massive cheese cart was wheeled to the table and the waiter helped you choose a selection of cheeses depending on what you like. There were so many amazing cheeses that we tried and they tasted so good with the different jams and gels. The two actual desserts served were excellent and faultless, with the tonka bean souffle so rich and beautiful.

Just when you think the night is over, out comes the petit fours that would knock the socks off anyone. Re-invented old skool desserts in miniature form are a pure delight. The Golden Gay Time and Lamington re-invention are pure genius.

To the service, well in my own personal opinion, it is perfect. The staff are warm, knowledgeable and still maintain some humour. We had a great laugh with some of the waiters, with any request fulfilled quickly and the most professionalism anywhere in Melbourne. The chefs also came around to explain some dishes and even Shannon himself came around twice to serve us. Of course I got a photo, and may have also been speechless and uttered the words "I love you Shannon". Never imagined myself to be star struck and such a groupie, but there you go. The man is one of my food idols.

The night was totally enjoyable and I loved almost every aspect of it. My one small complaint, and it's just a small one as I had come from work and was rather tired, was that the meal went on a bit too long. We started at 7pm and it didn't finish till 1am. I love long meals but I think even this one went about 1 hour too long. By that time we were all starting to yawn and having a hard time to stay awake. Apart from that, it was an utterly amazing meal that I still rate as the best in Melbourne.

Eat Street May 28th 2013 - Best Food Event of the Year, Go Go Go

So I hear you want to attend the best food event of the year as well as help out children's charities. Look no further, Eat Street is that event. In it's 13th year, the annual event has helped raised over $1 million dollars to so many different children's charities. This year, the charity is again Red Kite, a charity aimed at providing support to children with cancer. All proceeds from Eat Street will be going to Red Kite.

The details of this year's Eat Street are below.
What: Eat Street
When: Tuesday, 28th May, 2013 at 6pm.
Where: Sofitel Melbourne On Collins, 25 Collins Street, Melbourne
Tickets: $160 per person
Bookings: Ph (03) 9653 0000, or email: h1902-co01@sofitel.com

I've been fortunate enough to be invited to attend in both 2012 and 2011 and it's my favourite and best food event of the year. Think of the best buffet you've ever had, then multiply that by 50. Because 50 of Melbourne's top restaurants are there to serve you food and it's a culinary feast. Also, if you're a bit of a chef groupie like me, you'll be able to talk to and get pics with all the chefs. Lastly, while you feast on amazing food, you know that you've also helped a really good cause. So what's not to like. I highly recommend you attend and I'll be seeing you there. I'm the one holding a camera and glass of wine in one hand and a dish of food in the other. Come and say hi, I'd love to meet anyone who reads this blog.

Ayatana - Modern Thai Food

Ayatana, which means the senses, is what the restaurant tries to create and present to the customer according to their menu. The restaurant is modern Thai food, which means it can encompass many things. I'm not someone who insists foods need to stick to the traditional flavours and I like when people re-invent things and it works. So I went to Ayatana excited to try out something different yet grounded in Thai flavours.

The restaurant is located on Chapel Street, but in Windsor, so not at the busy end where people cruise their cars up and down the streets. The restaurant is a very cosy place, seating about 30-40 people. The room is setup nicely and looks very elegant with fairly dim lighting. As usual, I'll say that I'm not a fan of dimly lit restaurants, but this place was on the borderline ok for me as I could still see people's faces. The ambiance was rather boisterous, which was unexpected. The noise levels got quite high and we were all happily chatting away.

I went along with my friends and we decided to sample a selection of dishes as we all enjoy trying new things. For entrees, we sampled Roast Pork Belly, Beef Tacos, Crispy Soft Shell Crab and Tempure Prawns. As you can see, the styles are quite diverse, but all the dishes have flavours grounded in Thai flavours. The roast pork belly was good, with a tender belly, crispy skin and a nice sweet/salty sauce. The beef tacos did not work for me. The star anise flavours were far too dominant and the dish was too salty. The crispy soft shell crab had a good flavour and the batter was crispy, but we all felt that we couldn't quite taste the crab flavour anymore. Lastly, the tempura prawns are really good. A crispy batter covers some juicy prawns in again a sweet and salty sauce.

For the mains, the Crispy Barramundi again had great flavours, but the fish was a bit lost in the dish. The slices of fish could have been thicker so that the middle parts were not touched by the sauce and could be tasted more. A lighter pad thai with vegetables was very good and a papaya salad was really refreshing and zingy.

The two best dishes were the Red Curry Duck and the Seafood Tom Yum. The curry was nice and rich and smooth, with spicy hits and flavoursome duck. It went beautifully over rice. The highlight dish was the seafood tom yum. It wasn't a soup but more some seafood with a sauce. The seafood tasted great and the sauce was excellent. Again I loved the sauce over steamed rice.

For desserts, we tried the Boiled Banana, Sticky Rice, Ice Cream and Tapioca Pearls. The boiled banana was surprisingly not very good. I think it may be that the bananas weren't ripe as the flavour was quite strange. The sticky rice was really good, with a sweet egg custard and coconut. The ice cream consisted of two flavours. The vanilla was rich and creamy and the fig, pistachio and honey was good too. Lastly, the tapioca pearls with corn and coconut was excellent with the flavours combining well.

Overall, the food was mostly good. I wouldn't say the food was that Modern as in most of the flavours were quite traditional and I've tasted before. Some items need some tweaking so that they can be improved but mostly the flavours were good. The service was efficient and friendly and I good overall. On the cost side, I think the meal would be slightly on the expensive side, but if you feel like eating in South Yarra, this is an option worth considering.

My guests and I dined courtesy of Ayatana.