Taste of Melbourne 2010 - The Non-Definitive Eater's Guide

Taste of Melbourne was so much fun. Let me get that out first. It's come and gone for another year, but don't worry, it'll be back next year so you can go then. I tried to write a definitive guide, but there was just too much to see and eat, so I did the next best thing, wrote a non-definitive guide from the perspective of one glutinous eater's point of view. Hold on to your sporks, this post is SEMI-EPIC!!!!!!

So what restaurant do you want to go to for dinner? How about all of them. That's what Taste of Melbourne is about. Many of Melbourne's top restaurants serve three dishes that represent their restaurant, all in one location. You buy the dishes of your choice, priced between 8-12 crowns, where one crown equals one dollar. Throw in a lot of wonderful produce stalls and you have one excellent food festival. Armed with a camera and an empty stomach, I tackled Taste of Melbourne over two days, as an enthusiastic guest of Hot House Media and SBS Food.

Firstly, the obligatory shot of the Royal Exhibition building interior that every blogger has used. But how can you not use it, just look at how beautiful the whole building is. I met up with fellow bloggers April, Sarah, Sandra, Emily, Saskia, Penny and Claire on Opening Night. While waiting outside, we saw fire trucks and firemen everywhere, so we weren't even sure we would get in. So what do good food bloggers (or bad ones) do while waiting, we compared the size of our...cameras. Clear out your dirty thoughts. For the record, Emily definitely had the biggest...camera lens.



We went past the Chef's Table where a representative of Regal Salmon gave us a run down about their product. Regal Salmon are from New Zealand and specialize in environmentally sustainable salmon farming. We tried a Salmon Tartare with limoncello and a Salmon Mousse Cone. The tartare was an absolute highlight for me, so fresh. They gave us a pack of Smoked Salmon and Salmon Pastrami, and I can definitely vouch that they are both delicious. I had them with a small squeeze of lemon and reminded myself that not only was I eating delicious food, I was getting tonnes of good Omega-3 fatty acids which will keep my heart in good tick.


So after you've eaten some really beautiful salmon, what do you need, a stiff drink of course. It was off to Sensology 'Art of Cocktail Making' to produce our own special drinks. I loved putting on the apron and getting to shake up my own Grand Margarita (one shot each of Grand Marnier, lime, Tequila and 2 teaspoons of sugar). You shake everything together and serve it in a decorative glass with salt on the rim. Then all you do is sip, sip and sip. It was indeed sinfully good. I loved the hit of sea salt that just kept me going back for more.



The next stop in our Tour de Taste was at the Smeg VIP lounge. We watched a chef cook up some Wagyu tataki while tasting some fatty Grade 8 Wagyu in soy and mirin dressing. Being total food lovers, everyone also 'oohed' and 'ahhhed' over the Smeg fridges and thermally sealed ovens with those backlight knobs. How hot are they in a slightly sexually suggestive way?



So once again, we ate some food, so what do we do next? Go drink more alcohol of course. Off to the Mount Avoca stand to try out their wines. We were shown an 'alcopop' type wine in the Sauvignon Blanc wine which has more sugar, giving a sweet flavour with a low 6% alcohol concentration. A normal crisp Sauvignon Blanc is more my style, with their Shiraz being their top of the line wine.


As the pattern continues, off for more food. We swung by Bultarra Saltbush Lamb and ate tender free range lamb. The lamb actually feed on saltbush, giving a juicy and tender meat. Alberto's Delicacies was next and a real highlight. Owner, Rob, was super excited about food and really joyous. We tried endless dips, from pesto, to roasted capsicum, to my favourite of spinach and feta. Rob generously gave us a pack of his fettuccine and a tub of our favourite dip. Rob said that once we tried his pasta and sauces, we'll never want to eat other types. I did think that was a slight exaggeration, but OH.MY.GOODNESS, the pasta is freaking insanely good. All I did was boil it in water (no salt or oil as Rob instructed) and stirred in the sauce. It was so simple but absolute perfection. I've made myself hungry describing it.


Our last stop was at the Yarra Valley Regional Food Group. The wonderful Lorraine explained all the stores to us despite having a nasty cough. I tried nearly everything in the group, with yummy shortbread biscuits, smooth ice cream, fragrant kiwi and lavender jam.



Phew, that's a lot of food already, but continue holding on to those sporks, I'm only half way through the producers, let alone the restaurant dishes. I went back to Taste of Melbourne on Saturday and tried out some more things.

First place I went to on Saturday was the Green and Black's stand. How can anyone resist the chocolate fountain? That's a rhetorical question as the answer is no one can resist it. Some of us even fantasize about bathing in it, not me of course, I'm just saying, some of us might. Everyone was buzzing around the fountain like bees to honey. I dipped the marshmallow into the chocolate fountain, and it was close-my-eyes-Matt-Preston-face delicious. I caught up with Sarah, who was at the Green and Black's stall, and she gave me some of the Butterscotch Choc Chip Cookies. It was divine. Don't worry, I'll be making them soon and blogging the recipe.



While we're talking about chocolates, I also tried some Sisko Chocolates, with their beautiful chocolate sculptures and looked at The Chocolate Master's intricate chocolate shoes.



With ice cream, the Ben and Jerry's ice cream was very good. I tried the Chocolate Fudge and The Caramel Crunch and both were so good, with a huge tub for two crowns. The Gundowring ice cream is also exquisite. I used to love their coconut flavour the most, but I'm thinking of switching allegiances to their new golden syrup flavour. Finally. The Pat and Stick's ice cream sandwich had caramelised biscuits filled with soft ice cream.



One of the most talked about stands was that of Dello Mano, which of course I had to try. Their brownies were indeed so rich and moreish. I love how they package it as well, really stands out and makes a great gift.


After all that sweet food, you need a nice drink. There was definitely a lot to try. I loved watching this guy juggle bottles of alcohol with such expertise. He was having so much fun and so was the crowd watching him. As for drinks, I tried a couple of cocktails made from Tuaca, which I had no idea what it is, but it was good. The Trumer Pils was an excellent beer, while the Lemon.Z limoncello was a bit too sweet for me. The Martini vermouth was more to my liking, with their flavoured vermouth being something I've never tried, and it was brilliant.



Finally, I got some nice calming blossoming tea from Tea Blossoms. The teas consists of flowers (such as marigold) encased in green tea leaves and wrapped and dried in such a way that when you put them into hot water, they open up like a flower, how artistic.


Ok, so we've gone through all the producers, now for some ultra fantastic restaurant dishes. First you reload your pockets with some crowns from one of these people in the hot pink shirts. Then you start running around sniffing at all the food and drooling. Below is what I ate this year.


One of the most delicious items at the festival was The Palace's Eye Fillet, Potato Mash, Sauce Bordelaise. The meat was so tender that it melted in your mouth, and the mash super smooth. The sauce, capers and horseradish all made the dish so good. The great taste and large serving size was probably what made this dish one of the most popular at the festival. The Palace's other dish, the Wagyu Burger, was also really good. The meat had a great flavour and a great texture. I loved the beetroot sliced extra thin and the bun had the right sweetness. Maze's Seared Hopkins River Beef, Shitake and Aged Soy Sauce sounded really good, but the three thin pieces of meat didn't have too much flavour and was gone before you knew it.



Stokehouse's Wagyu Beef Cigars, Artichoke Tapenade and Horseradish was partly to my liking. I loved the cigars, with the ultra crispy pastry giving way to rich strands of wagyu beef. However, I didn't really like the tapenade, as I thought the horseradish didn't work well with it. Koots Salle e Manger had a Seven Hour Braised Leg of Lamb with Mushroom and Potato Pave and Glazed Baby Carrots. The lamb was excellent I thought, and I did agree with April that it tasted a bit like a sausage roll. However, the pave wasn't that good and tasted a bit funny to me. Longrain served their Salted Western Plains Pork & Prawn Sweet Roll with Pickled Vegetables, which was a play on the traditional Vietnamese Banh Mi. It was so good, with the chilli giving it all a beautiful kick. My only complaint was that I wished there was more pork, as the pork was that good.



The Wallaby Tataki, Ginger, Soy, Horseradish from Charcoal Lane was one of the more exotic dishes. Of course I had to try it as I'd never eaten wallaby. I actually really loved the wallaby, as I thought it had a really great rich flavour, without being smelly. The texture was also great, not chewy at all. The flavours worked well, but could have been a bit less salty.


My favourite dish of the whole festival, and you must remember that I am a dessert fiend, was Stokehouse's The Bombe - strawberry sorbet, white chocolate parfait and toasted meringue. It was utterly melt in your mouth stuff with the strawberries really coming through. The European's Wild Rabbit Sausage Roll with Tomato Kassundi again had an great main component, but I didn't like the condiment. The sausage roll didn't really taste like rabbit, but was still good. The last dish I had was Sarti's Pistachio 'Panna Cotta', Caramel Salted Popcorn. It seems salted caramel is being used by every restaurant and the latest fad. The panna cotta was so creamy and I loved it. Penny said she thought it was too rich for her, but not for me, it was great. I didn't think it could be better, but when I ate it with the salted caramel popcorn, it really did take on another flavour altogether, even better.



After so much eating, it was obviously time to retire to the wonderful HSBC VIP Lounge. I was so fortunate that Lizzy from Hot House Media gave me passes to the lounge for both Thursday and Sunday. The pass gave you three free drinks, and I got into the Martini Cuvee and relaxed in that amazing lounge. It's not often that I get to go into VIP areas so I savoured every minute of it.



Wow, I'm done. I had such a great time running around sampling everything and tasting all the food from the restaurants. I have a few small suggestions that I think would improve Taste of Melbourne a bit:
* The entry fee of $30 at the door or $27.50 pre-purchased seems a bit expensive as you still need to pay for food after. The reduction of $2.50 for pre-purchasing doesn't seem worth it as the hassle of having to remember to bring your ticket is not covered by saving $2.50. Maybe make the pre-purchase ticket price $15.
* Make it so that you can buy small amounts of crowns, maybe 4 being the minimum. It's so annoying to have some leftover crowns.
* Change the position of some stalls so that alcohol related stores and food tables are not at narrow sections of walkways as that is where people tend to have to stand around and it creates massive bottle necks in traffic.
* Some restaurants were great in their food prep and had a lot ready on the tables to go. The Palace was probably one of the worst, with the food being popular and slow so that there were large queues.
* The sessions could go for a bit longer, maybe 5 hours instead of 4. For a hardcore food lover, 4 hours wasn't long enough to see everything.
* The chef's table is a great idea, but it wasn't continuously used so I thought it was a bit of a waste of space.
* Find a better supplier of sporks, as the sporks at this year's festival were like spoons that had been chewed on by a dog so that it had ragged edges.

Apart from these small issues, I think the event was really well organised and run. I will definitely be going back next year to sample more food. I hope you all enjoyed your Taste of Melbourne experience this year, or if you didn't go, mark it down for your calendar next year. I hope to see you then.

Special Thanks To:
*Lizzy Ee and Kathleen Orlowski from Hot House Media
*Aisha Hillary from SBS Food
*Sarah Kucera and Kim McMillan from Bang PR on behalf of Green and Black's
*Sarah Stokely from Nuffnang Australia

If after reading all that, you still have an appetite to read some more, here is a whole host of posts from other food bloggers about Taste of Melbourne 2010.
SBS Blog
My Food Trail
My Food Trail Part 2
Jeroxie
Iron Chef Shellie
Off The Spork
Kitchen Wench
...It Pleases Us
Melbourne Gastronome
MEL: Hot or Not
Travelling In My Mary Janes
The Chronicles of Ms I-Hua Part 1
The Chronicles of Ms I-Hua Part 2
The Chronicles of Ms I-Hua Part 3
Sweet Cherrie Pie
Green Gourmet Giraffe
Fragrant Food Fawning
A Few Of My Favourite Things

Aya Japanese - Part 2

1193 High St
Armadale, VIC 3143
Ph: (03) 9822 9571
Website: Aya Japanese

When my friend Adrian was coming down from Sydney for a weekend, Justin and myself decided to meet up with him for dinner at Aya Japanese. I had been to Aya Japanese previously and thought it was good value for money since you can use the Entertainment Book card. This still holds true, and although the food is still quite good, I don't rate it as highly as my first dining experience there.

The food at Aya is quite basic Japanese food. They have sashim and sushi, with most of the common fish used and done to a decent quality. I used to think it was better, with more variety, but this time, they only had three types of fish on the Deluxe Sushi and Sashimi platter, which I thought was a bit disappointing.

The Agedashi Tofu, which I thought was really good last time, was still quite good. The tofu still had a nice crunchy exterior and the sauce was still a good match. The Soft Shell Crab dish is very simple but done well. I like the crnuch they got on the coating, and the sauce served was a nice counter balance with the tartness. The side salad was really good too, with a good tangy sauce.

Finally, the Eye Fillet Steak with wasabi mash was again very good, without being being innovative. But you don't always have to be innovative to be tasty. The beef was nicely tender, with a good soft mash laced with a hit of wasabi and a good sauce.



The service here was efficient, but we got our communication mixed up a little. We had asked for all the dishes to come out at once, and they agreed. However, when the tofu and soft shell crabs came out, we kept waiting for the rest of the food as we wanted to eat our diesh with rice. They seemed to not bring anything else out so eventually I asked what was happening. The waiter informed me that since there wasn't enough room on the table, they weren't bringing out any more food until we finished. So due to this stalemate, we had sat there for a good 15 minutes. I could see the funny side of it, but they could have let us know so we didn't just keep waiting. Aside from that, service was ok.

The ambience in the restaurant is quite relaxed but disjointed. The tables along the bar are all separated by partitions so you feel a bit separated, but at the same time it affords you some privacy. I'm not a fan of these high walled partitions in a restaurant as it really makes the restaurant feel cold, but others may prefer it.

Overall, I would still go back to Aya for some nice simple Japanese food. I don't rate it as highly as I used to, but still think it's good value for money for what food you get.

Overall Rating: 13/20, Food is simple and quite good. Good value for money.

Scores: 1-9: Unacceptable, don't bother. 10-11: Just OK,some shortcomings. 12: Fair. 13: Getting there. 14: Recommended. 15: Good. 16: Really good. 17: Truly excellent. 18: An outstanding experience. 19-20:Approaching perfection, Victoria's best.

Photography Friday #5 - Out Of My Depth

Following from my previous Photography Friday #4 - Plants Alive, today I bring you "Out Of My Depth". I've tried to use the depth of field in each photo to give a different, and hopefully moody, feel to the photo. I like the blurred objects that is in the background of each photo, giving context to the photo while also retaining some mystery due to the fuzziness.

Giveaway - 24 Blocks of Green and Black's Dark Chocolate

COMPETITION CLOSED

No matter how I look at it, 24 blocks of Green and Black's 70% cocoa solids dark chocolate is a lot of enjoyment waiting to happen. Green and Black's is a fairly new brand, concentrating on producing high quality organic chocolates. From their website, it states

At Green & Black’s, we make and sell premium organic chocolate. We use fine organic ingredients and these are ethically sourced. This perfect balance between taste and principles is what we stand for and why we pay a premium for all our organic ingredients."

As part of the Taste of Melbourne festival where Green and Black's have a stand, Kim McMillan and Sarah Kucera from BangPR sent me some chocolates to give to you.

The Prize
All 24 blocks of Green and Black's Dark Chocolate all for your greedy self. Just look at the all the glorious chocolate you get below.




To Enter The Competition
1. Leave a comment on this post answering

"What would you do with the 24 blocks of Green and Black's dark chocolates?"

2. Make sure I can contact you through your blog site, Twitter account or send me an email with your comment to ieatblog[at]yahoo[dot]com.

3. Competition closes on Sunday 29th August 8PM AEST. The best answer will be picked by myself and declared the winner. I shall contact the winner to get postage details.

EDIT: 4. Forgot to write that entries are open to Australia residents only. I don't want customs to come after me for sending food overseas.

Sample Answer
I'd melt all 24 blocks of chocolate Heston style and make my own Willy Wonka chocolate waterfall.

Disclaimer: Congratulations. If you are able to read this, you are way too observant, a computer geek and in with a better chance of winning. In true Willy Wonka style, I've embedded some fine print into this competition. If you use the word "organic" in your answer, you will be given preference should two answers be equally impressive. As for the legal jargon, I hereby do not take any responsibility for individuals who wilfully burn their tongues from licking the molten velvety chocolate waterfall streams should they choose to use their chocolate in that manner. Now start thinking of fun ways to use the chocolates.

AND THE WINNER IS: Thank you all so much for entering the competition. I actually made a mistake and wrote the competition closes on Sunday 29th September when I meant August, so I've let the last two answers be entered.

Secondly for those who noticed the small font at the bottom, in true Wonka style, this is what it wrote.

Disclaimer: Congratulations. If you are able to read this, you are way too observant, a computer geek and in with a better chance of winning. In true Willy Wonka style, I've embedded some fine print into this competition. If you use the word "organic" in your answer, you will be given preference should two answers be equally impressive. As for the legal jargon, I hereby do not take any responsibility for individuals who wilfully burn their tongues from licking the molten velvety chocolate waterfall streams should they choose to use their chocolate in that manner. Now start thinking of fun ways to use the chocolates.

Some of you noticed and put the word organic into your responses, good stuff.

Well, so to the winner. There were some great responses, from the naughty, to the nice, to the innovative, to the funny and finally the evil.

Some Honourable Mentions
Deevaa: for saying she would eat them, simplicity at its best,
Tom: for pimping his chocolates to make one massive organic chocolate,
Agent0: for making chocolate part of his election policies,
Tony: for moving his wedding forward to use the chocolates, that's love,
Emma: for spreading layers of thick peanut butter between two blocks, now you gotta respect such indulgence.

But it came down to two answers for me. *Drumroll duh duh duh dum*

Runner Up is: Hannah, for her devilish plan to test out her housemate by secretly putting the chocolates under her bed and pretending they weren't hers.

Winner
And the winner is: Wynne, for the utter simplicity and fun of creating a chocolate domino effect. Now that is truly in the Wonka fun spirit. Congratulations Wynne. I'll send you an email.

Thank you all for entering. I hope to have more giveaways in the future. Please continue to enjoy reading this blog.

Parisian Patisserie Boulangerie

19 Keilor Rd
North Essendon, VIC, 3040
Ph: (03) 9379 3815


I've recently gone to Paris for a holiday, and my three favourite things to eat were croissants, almond croissants and macarons. In the seven days that I was in Paris, I ate about 40 croissants and 30 macarons. When I was invited to Parisian Patisserie Boulangerie where their signature item was an almond croissant, I was 90% excited and 10% wary. I was thinking that I had surely tasted the best croissants possible in Paris, but I'm glad to report that a classic can be redone and still taste just as good.

Parisian Patisserie Boulangerie is located in North Essendon. It's a quaint little space and decorated in a very chic black and white decor. I love the simplicity and elegance of the place, with little touches here and there that make you smile. I couldn't help eyeing off the Pierre Herme book on the shelf and wanting to secretly take it without anyone knowing. The black and white photos of Paris were lovely and brought back so many memories of how much I loved Paris. Fresh flowers, little trinkets and ornate lighting fixtures complete both the front and back room.



Neil McKenzie, owner and head chef at Parisian, took some time out of his extremely busy day to chat with my cousin Allan and I for over an hour. We found out that Neil and wife Majella moved to Paris for 9 months, where Neil studied at Le Cordon Bleu for 6 of those months. During that time, Neil went to "every patisserie in Paris" and ate as many croissants as he could. Upon eating all those croissants, he decided to come back to Australia and perfect his own almond croissant, which he has clearly done. I asked Neil if he has plans to expand, as the business seems to be thriving. He said he's thinking of options, but he doesn't want to lose quality control over his products. Hence, mass production is currently not an option until he finds a suitable way. This is a shame for those of us living in the South Eastern 'burbs as we can't readily try Neil's amazing pastries. However, just as we were chatting, a regular patron, Steve, walks in and joins us. I love how everyone knows Neil and are like his friends. Steve starting semi joking about how he has some great ideas for Neil on how to expand. Steve himself is in the retail industry.


Just when I think it can't possibly get any more communal, Neil's wife Majella and daughter Octavia come back from acrobatics class. Octavia produdly shows us the blue ribbon that she has won for acrobatics. She was so adorable and wanted to tell us everything, from how daddy lets her bake when the shops closed, to her favourite pub (the one around the corner, for food of course), to all the shops in Bendigo. We chat with Majella about Bendigo as Allan is going there for a six week internship at the hospital. Apparently steer clear of the markets and head to the main street for some lovely food and coffee.

We all chat on and on about the fact that Neil doesn't hang around other chefs that much and is a "real bogan", loving to spend time with his family and his V8s and boats in his off time. He also recalls that he wanted to be a chef from a very early age, maybe to stop himself from starving as his adopted mum was a terrible cook, except for her beautiful Sunday roast. After reuniting with her natural mum, Neil discovers that his grandmother was a cake maker, so maybe he picked up the genes from her. We discuss more and more topics like how we would both love to meet Pierre Herme, why his macarons are the best, how Neil doesn't mind being known to his patrons and the public, how he likes to use fresh ingredients and that he loves my blog. Oh wait, ok I made that last bit up. But after talking to Neil for on an hour, I felt like I knew so much about him and his vision for his bakery. I can see why his patrons such as Steve, follow him to wherever he opens his bakery.


As for Neil's pastries, especially the almond croissant, Neil said that he uses fresh almonds and a heavier brioche base to give that required flavour and texture. He said that he had to sacrifie that lighter airier texture to have something that will hold the centre almond cream better. And oh, my, goodness, that almond croissant is heaven. The beautiful buttery pastry, the fragrant almond filling, and the crunch of the almonds sprinkled on top and the edges of the croissant. I can seriously eat 5 of those. The apricot brioche was similary amazing, with that apricot flavour really coming through. Lastly, we ate the pizza brioche, which was again so tasty. Neil was explaining that it this and that ingredient and Octavia kept cutting in asking what pesto was, what prosciutto was while all the time licking the snow sugar (sguar that doesn't melt so you get that nice frosted effect on pastries) off her custard donut. I think that she is a spitting image of Jessie from Toy Story 3 with the huge eyes and red hair, so cute. What do you think?




Neil took us on a tour of the tiny kitchen in which everything was cooked. I was so surprised as my home kitchen is bigger. And to think they pump out all those wonderful pastries from that kitchen. We deeply inhaled the beautiful aromas of sugar, butter and yeast before getting out of the chefs way. As Allan and I were leaving, we went to buy some almond croissants and other pastries to take home, but they were ALL GONE. In the hour and a half that we had been sitting there, so many patrons had come in and bought the store clean. Booo. I wanted to buy four almond croissants, strawberry tart, lemon tart, apricot brioche etc. The only things left were some macarons, and the waiter kindly gave us some to take home after seeing our sad faces. The macarons lasted as far as two steps outside the shop, where I inhaled the pistachio one (quite good) and Allan ate the Rose, Lemon and Hazelnut (all pretty good he informs me).


We had a fantastic time at Parisian and only wished that we lived closer so could go more often. Neil, Majella and Octavia were a delight to get to know and the pastries were stunningly delicious.

EDIT: I asked my cousin Allan to guest blog occasionally and he decided to start on this post, so below is his opinions of Parisian.

About Me
A 24 year old Melbourne-born food lover, who’s always hungry and is therefore always seeking to eat! Has a rather Asian palate, but has a growing zeal for all ‘walks of food’. Please excuse my conversational style, msn-influenced and sometimes analytical expression. I’ll try my best to write with convention, be decipherable, and hopefully shed a little light from a different slant. And, many thanks to Thanh for inviting me to be a guest blogger on I Eat Therefore I Am.

Parisian Patisserie – indulging my butter senses!

Croissants d'amande (almond) – had a slightly crispy shell with a divine light texture. It is a little different from your average flaky croissant, err-ing slightly on cake-like, just heavy enough to keep the almonds from sagging in like a biscuit. The subtle aromas of unsalted butter (sourced locally of course) and beloved custard filling were marvellous – tis heaven!!!

Brioches d'abricot et d'amande (apricot) – had an almost airy bouyancy about it. Made with heaps of butter & eggs, with a little apricot tart'ness – I had one bite after the next, all the while Neil & Thanh were conversing away. I just couldn’t help myself: Eat first, talk later!

Brioche savoury pizza - a savoury brioche, to my surprise a delight on the tastebuds. The base had the fluffy brioche texture, contrasted by an explosion of flavours from the savoury pesto and prosciutto.

Macarons (lemon, pistachio, rose water, hazelnut) – fantastic flavours, slightly chewy middle with a delicately crunchy shell.

It was a pleasure speaking with Neil, Majella & Octavia - they were incredibly welcoming. My only regret was not being able to sink my teeth into every piece of pastry, and bathing my tastebuds in its awesome’ness (great English, haha). P.S. I did take photos, but maybe save them for next time, one set for one place is enough. Though I must say, one can never salivate too much over delicious food.

Food: 17.5/20 will definitely be back for more!!
Service: super welcoming & unpretentious.

Thanks to Eugiena Pratley from Harvey Publicity for the invite and to Neil, Majella and Octavia for entertaining and feeding Allan and myself.

For even more photos and detailed reviews of the pastries, see my fellow Melbournian food bloggers posts below.
Iron Chef Shellie
Jeroxie
Off The Spork
Eating Melbourne

Photography Friday #4 - Plants Alive

Following from my previous Photography Friday #3 - Delicious Laneways, today I bring you "Plants Alive". When you look closely, plants are so interesting, with various colours, textures and composition. The smell component cannot be passed on via photos, but I hope that I've captured the essence of the plants so that you can imagine the smell yourself.

Heston's Feast - Season 2 Episode 1 Chocolate Factory Feast

I love Heston's Feast. The first season was insanely good already and my work mate and I discussed and dissected every dish. I was expecting a lot from this second series, and I was definitely rewarded. Episode 1 was based on Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory and boy was it good. I was smiling throughout the whole show.

I've decided to catalogue the recipes as they're pure genuis in terms of the technique and probably the flavours as far as I can tell from watching the celebrities eat them.

Lickable Wallpaper
Heston started with the lickable wallpaper, which was always one of my favourite elements from the Charlie and The Chocolate Factory book. I was wondering how Heston would do this, and the way he did it in the end was pretty good.

Dish Composition
*Prawn cocktail sauce dried, and then separated into oil and solids using centrifugal force.
*Prawn flock made from the prawn cocktail oil mixed with tapioca, sushi nokio and prawn crisp flavouring.
*Prawn solid mixed with glucose and pectin to make sticky base on wallpaper
*Flock stuck over base through stencil.
*Glue made from apple sauce.

Final Dish
Wallpaper with lickable prawn cocktail, pineapple, tomoato soup and sausage.


Magic Mushroom
The magic mushroom was to give the guests the sensation of eating something totally "magical" without the hallucinogenic effect. Heston went to Italy to source some special Caesar mushrooms and outbid the locals for some.

Dish Composition
*Bottom layer of Caesar mushroom puree.
*Stock of mushroom, madeira, herbs, blended with veg broth, frozen and melted through muslin. Smoked water added to stock. Add gelatine and heat. Mushroom consommé is made. Fridgeds until jelly. Add over Caesar mushroom puree.
*Sherry and Madeira cream.
*Painted enoki mushroom with red food colouring and white chocolate dots.
*Dry ice placed under moss and woodland mushroom scent poured over.
*Leaves made from caremelised puff pastry.

Final Dish
Dish of mushroom with woodland mushroom, leaves and woodland scent.


Duck a l'orange
This part was hilarious, where Heston tried to "smoke bomb" his duck with orange flavour by literally putting a bomb inside a duck with orange flavouring. How cool would that be to try. The final product was a trickery of the mind.

Dish Composition
*Mousse made of duck liver, red and white port, brandy, madeira and thyme. Casing of concetrated orange juice, glucose, essential oil orange, gelatine.
*Duck breast cut into round discs brushed with concentrated duck sauce rolled in chop dry orange zest. Celeriac slices rolled in black truffle
*Duck skin based with oil, cut into crisp shape, sachet salt and orange zest. Woodchip smoke passed through orange oil.
*Sauces frozen slightly.

Final Dish
Duck Pastilles, Chocolate Orange, Smokey Duck Crisps, Lollies in Dispenser


Chocolate Waterfall
I think everyone that's ever read Charlie and The Chocolate Factory has fantasized about swimming in the chocolate waterfall. You can't quite swim in Heston's waterfall but it sure is beautiful.

Dish Composition
*Chocolate, wine, cherry and passionfruit puree mixed with liquid nitrogen to give chocolate dirt.
*Distilled “magic” chocolate water.
*Chocolate bar with cherry chocolate and kirsch, spray with chocolate, add to thin slice of shortbread biscuit with a layer of cherry compote.
*Dried corn starch with indentation, add kirsch syrup, dust with more starch, leave to dry, covered in gold leaf

Final Dish
Waterfall with flowing chocolate, giant lollipops, edible rocks, chocolate bar, golden ticket and chocolate water.


As you can see from this episode, Heston's Feast is pure fun, pure imagination and pure genius. I loved this first episode and can't wait for the next one.

Chef Interview - Mirella Wellingham of Esposito at Taste of Melbourne

Mirella Wellingham, head chef at one hat restaurant Esposito, will be at this year’s Taste of Melbourne festival. Mirella spoke with me about her food influences, working in a male dominated industry, her secret love of late night toasties and the most memorable dish she’s eaten.



Mirella, like most successful chefs, knew from an extremely young age (Grade 5 to be exact) what she wanted to do. She remebers when one day in the car, her dad turned around and asked her “What do you want to do?” Mirella’s response was immediate “I want to be a chef.” Luckily, as Mirella noted, she has been able to pursue that one career and not deviate away from it.

Mirella’s passion for food was obtained from a very common place for food lovers, her family. She was brought into a family with food always around, her father making boutique chocolates and later her mum making biscuits to sell. Coming from an Italian and Portugese background, her dishes obviously reflect some of that heritage. She will integrate into her food elements that she has experienced travelling in Portugal and growing up, her favourite food being that made by her nonna and mum. One of her most memorable dishes was something her friends cooked for her in Portugal, a dish that contained pork cooked off with paprika and spices, with fried potatoes, pippies and coriander. This is the type of food that Mirella herself likes to cook, more down to Earth. She can understand why some people enjoy molecular gastronomy, but for herself personally, that’s not her style. Asked what her signature dish is, she has quite a long think before replying that she is still working on her menu. However, one dish that she currently has on the menu and likes is a calamari cannelloni, where the calamari is the cannelloni, with a stuffing of prawn farce, a dolcetto glaze and served with wood eared mushrooms and horseradish foam.

As part of a large and vibrant food community in Melbourne, Mirella does meet up with other chefs for social events. Most of her friends, as she sheepishly said, are chefs, due to the fact that they work similar hours, can understand the hard work and have worked together before. Mirella works a whopping 65-80 hours a week, and says “you get used to it. It is hard, for sure. But I think everything is hard to a degree. So if it wasn’t mentally, it’s physically. It doesn’t matter what job you’re doing, I think it’s difficult.” Asked if the long hours has something to do with the industry being male dominated, Mirella agrees, saying that you do need stamina to put in all that effort all the time. Kids also factor into the picture, as the time when most women want to have children is also when they need to make it as a chef. For herself, she knows that’s how the industry operates and has always operated, and is happy to play by those rules. As for having to act a certain way, she states that “in the end, if you’re true to yourself, you’ll end up dealing with problems or issues or things in the way that you need to deal with them. Sometimes if you’re not aggressive, then there’ll be people that might walk all over you. That’s where you’ll need to pick how you talk and tone without going out of control.” Her own style in the kitchen is to be calm. She likes to have a joke and some fun, but always maintaining the trait of working hard. That’s how she’s been taught, and what she teaches her chefs.

When I ask about celebrity chefs and whether she gets envious of other chef’s foods, we both have a laugh. Firstly, Mirella feels that you don’t need to be a celebrity chef to run a successful business, but it definitely helps. “It is important for people to feel like they’re welcome, like they already know something about the establishment.” There are so many restaurants out there that you need to keep up with the game. And speaking of all the other restaurants, did she ever get food envy over some brilliant dish that another chef has done. She laughed and said “Always. And that’s sometimes where inspiration comes from. That people do something amazing and you might like the colour or you might like the flowers or the product that they’re using and you want to source that product and you’ll do it in your own way.” She’s constantly striving to improve herself, to “just to keep growing, keep doing really good food.” Hopefully, when her parents finally come down from Wangaratta and try out her food at Esposito, they too will thoroughly enjoy and notice the improvement in her food.

I asked Mirella some quick questions to conclude the interview. She definitely prefers seafood (over meat), sweet (over savoury), red (over white), dinner (over lunch), coffee (over tea), still (over sparkling) chocolate (over strawberry) and comedy (over drama). The two choices that she clarified was that she likes cook books over DVDs, but DVDs for general relaxation. Also, she doesn’t like either McDonalds or KFC, instead her guilty pleasure is late night toasties.

At Taste of Melbourne, Mirella personally won’t be there, but Maurice Esposito will be. The restaurant is presenting some amazing sounding dishes, so be sure to check it out. It was a pleasure to meet Mirella and to hear from a female’s point of view in a very male dominated industry. Mirella’s warmth, passion and calm nature really shone through. I think these traits will hold her in good stead and will take her far in the food industry.

Taste of Melbourne dishes

1.Spiedini – Italian skewers of king salmon with pork and pinenut sausage

2.Tempura oysters with dressing

3.Hot date tart made of lemon shortcrust pastry, date compote cooked in spice, orange juice, port and an almond frangipane

Thanks to Lizzy Ee of Hot House Media for helping to arrange the interview.

JJ's Express

84 Koornang Rd
Carnegie VIC 3163
Ph: (03) 9568 3935

J.J Express is a small restaurant that serves both Japanese and Chinese food. They have a counter with many bain-maries that serve pre-cooked Chinese foods such as sweet and sour pork, beef black bean and fried noodles.


They also serve food cooked to order. Items like fired kway teow, noodle soups, Japanese bento boxes and curry laksas are paid for at the counter and then brought to you at your table. The food is generally ok, a bit too salty generally for my liking. I go there to always have the Seafood Curry Laksa, which I think is pretty good. I'm no laksa expert as I rarely eat them, but my work mate tells me this is one of the best as he eats a lot of curry laksas. This laksa is rich with coconut milk, has a slight kick of chilli, noodles still have some bounce and a good mixture of seafood.


Top: Seafood Curry Laksa
Bottom from left: Chicken Laksa, Stir Fried Chicken Cashew, Ma-Po Tofu, Fried Pork with Egg Noodles