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August 24, 2009 | 
Author Piccalilly
Cnr Hampton Rd & Francis St
Battery Point, TAS
03 6224 9900
Piccalilly is a different way of dining- there”s a bunch of savoury and sweet dishes and you can choose 4, 5, 6, or 8 dishes in any combination you like. For the sweet tooth in you, you can even choose to have all desserts in one sitting! Mmmm actually that’s a thought!
We would love to try everything but unfortunately we have been eating ALLLL day so we chose the 4 plates for $84, including the amuse bouche & palate cleanser. The good thing about this is that we don’t all have to choose the same dish- we chose a few different things so we can try a bit of everything.
![IMG_2399 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_2399-640x480.JPG "IMG_2399 [640x480]")
The amuse bouche is a duck rillette with red capsicum gazpacho-the rillete is kinda like a pate but coarser. The flavour is quite intense, quite a lot of duck flavour, which is not to everyone’s taste.
![IMG_2400 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_2400-640x480.JPG "IMG_2400 [640x480]")
My first plate is the sashimi of yellowtail kingfish w/pickled cucumber and yuzu vinaigrette. The sashimi is not as fresh as I hoped, and the yuzu sauce is slightly too salty. The cauliflower puree helps balance the saltiness, but still, it wasn’t that fantastic.
![IMG_2402 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_2402-640x480.JPG "IMG_2402 [640x480]")
Hubby’s has chosen oysters as his first course, 8 pacific oysters, half au naturel, half with red wine and shallot vinegarette. Hubby loves oysters and said that the oysters are very fresh, although they are not much different from the best restaurants in Melbourne.
![IMG_2406 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_2406-640x480.JPG "IMG_2406 [640x480]")
I then have a slow cooked Boer goat neck with roasted parsnips and grape chutney. The goat was wrapped in chinese vegies, quite tender and flavoursome. The grape chutney and chinese vegies breakes up the richness of the goat, which was good because by that time I was a bit full already.
![IMG_2407 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_2407-640x480.JPG "IMG_2407 [640x480]")
Hubby decided to have crispy skinned duck leg w/celeriac puree, honey jus and liquorice salt- the duck leg is nothing special, yes the skin is crispy but the duck is quite tough.
![IMG_2409 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_2409-640x480-225x300.jpg "IMG_2409 [640x480]")
We then have a palate cleanser, right before our last savoury course, which is weird. Thie is a lemon tea icypole, quirkily presented in little satchet which you need to cut and suck- brings me back to the good old childhood days. Though this icypole tasted more cumquat than lemon tea, it’s actually quite refreshing.
![IMG_2412 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_2412-640x480.JPG "IMG_2412 [640x480]")
We both chose the Longford eye fillet w/ 15 month aged jamon, truffled egg yolk and piccalilly. The eye fillet is a perfectly cooked piece of tender meat, and there’s also a mushroom pie as accompliment. Not really a meat lover like hubby, I really love the mushroom pie and would consider that as the best bit of the dish (sorry eye fillet!). I don’t really like jamon so I can’t really rate it- I really felt that the jamon is only to make the plate look a bit prettier cos everything is salty enough that it doesn’t really need the jamon there.
![IMG_2415 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_2415-640x480.JPG "IMG_2415 [640x480]")
The sweet dishes came, and Hubby chose toasted citrus marshmallow with pink grapefruit curd and mandarin jelly. Hubby loved this dish which was actually quite funny because when I tasted the dish it has a very subtle goats cheese flavour in it and Hubby hated goat’s cheese! I thought I was dreaming, until I persisted and asked- there was definitely a hint of goats cheese- our friendly waitress explained, which helped round off the citrusy flavours. Hubby still love his dessert though.
![IMG_2417 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_2417-640x480.JPG "IMG_2417 [640x480]")
I actually really want to try their cheese, which looks really good on the other table, maybe if I had the opportunity of choosing 5 courses and have an emptier belly I would have. In saying that I did not regret my choice- chocolate fondant w/chocolate & orange ice cream & beetroot syrup. The chocolate fondant was excellent, I really love the touch of citrus flavour in the orange choc icecream. The beetroot adds a brilliant colour, and don’t be afriad of eating chocolate cake with beetroot- the beetroot flavour doesn’t overpower, rather, it compliments. Besides, you can then tell yourself you are actually eating something healthy- surely something with beetroot is good for you, right?
Overall, I really love Piccalilly’s service, it’s really personable and the waitresses are well informed and excited about the food. The food is sadly a bit of a hit and miss, I do admire the chef’s adventurous experiementation though. The atmosphere is quite strange- a restaurant playing pop music and the dining room had a office-like divider near the doorway. There’s a lot of room for improvement but continue the enthusiasm and adventurous spirit and Piccalilly will do no wrong. 6.5/10
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Port Villa Market
Lini Highway, Port Villa, Vanuatu
In this entry I’ve taken you to Vanuatu, to sample local cuisine- Lap Lap at the Port Villa Market. Lap lap (on the bottom left hand corner) is a traditional Vanuatu dish like pudding, and the stall owner tells me they are made with ripe and unriped banana, all mashed together and cooked in Island cabbage. The island cabbage actually tasted a bit like lotus leaves, and that flavour is evident throughout the whole lap lap… it’s slightly sweet but other than that, quite tasteless.
The chicken curry is good, better than some of the ones I had in Melbourne and the rice is like the ones I cooked at home, one of the best out of the ones I ate in Vanuatu, and we ate all of our other meals in restaurants or hotels.
I reckon the dish is a bit of a rip off, 450vatu is not expensive (AUD5.80), but some other local paid about 380vatu for their dishes, and I am secretly thinking that he was paying for a whole table of 4. -_- I was too excited this time, but next time, I am definitely checking the prices first! From the tourist guide I read afterwards, 150vatu (AUD1.8) would be the approximate price of the laplap. 
11 Waratah Pl
Melbourne 3000
03 96392633
When I first heard about Crystal Jade opening, I thought it was just those run-of-the-mill restaurant/cafes in Chinatown. So when T.T told me that they have mini-melon soup I am slightly intrigued.
The whole restaurant looks like a normal chinese restaurant, with a weird disinfectant smell, tanks of seafood swimming around, waiting to be eaten. That’s where the similarity stopped. With a menu like baked lobster with duck pate, it seemed to have a slight inclination to some sort of French influence there. Mmmm… weird. Anyway we decided to order normal chinese food.
Now this is interesting- Service. It felt as if they are trying to replicate Flower Drum, or other high-class Western restaurant. Since I work in the service industry, I have a few comments about this. That is, if they really wanted to have first class service.
*ahem* Service, in restaurant, should be attentive but not intrusive. Crystal Jade has been extremely attentive to the point of intrusiveness:-
1) 3 or 4 waiters hung around us
2) Pouring more tea for us every time we took one sip
3) Changing our plates 5 times for that one dish of crab (normally waiters change plates once)
4) Swooping down to clear our plates the moment we put down our chopsticks (of course, politely asking whether we’ve finished first).
There should be one dedicated waiter to the table:-
This means that if I had asked one waiter not to take my melon soup away cos I haven’t finished, I then don’t need to repeat myself 50 billion times to different waiters asking me the same question.
However, in saying this, this is a chinese restuarant, which is not extremely exxy, the service is very good. One of the manager is attentive enough to swap my utensils over to the left hand side because she noticed that I am left handed, a-la Flower Drum. They folded my napkin nicely when I went to the toilet. Everytime they put down a dish, they said “enjoy”. Then again, I doubt if there service is sustainable when the floor gets busy, by the time we had to leave, we actually have to lift our hand to pour tea for ourselves. Not happy 
There are also very different things in the menu, such as bird’s nest egg tart, deep fried Durian with icecream (instead of deep fried banana), fish maw with sea cucumber goose feet, Buddha jump over wall (ok, I don’t know what this is called >.<), there are also options to add this taro vol au vent with some dishes, which is just a deep fried ring of taro- yummmiiiieeee, but I couldn’t try it cos Hubby doesn’t like taro
I would rate this restaurant 5.5/10 because of this food is a bit of a hit and miss, and a miss on such an exxy dish deserves lots of points reduction!
Cafe Vue
430 Little Collins St
I reckon there must be something in the potato that makes it taste so good 
My Vue Lunch Box came ($15). Vue’s lunch box changes every month and they’ve just changed the menu on the website as I was writing this so there’s no way I could find out again what I had. But I’ll have a go:
Rare beef roll: This is soooo good- the bread is baked on premises every day, it is soooo fresh and sooo tasty. The rare beef is very tender, the whole thing almost melts in your mouth.
Tuna Risoni w/peas: Normally I really don’t like Tuna nor peas, so I was a bit skeptical when this is in my lunch box. However, this is no can tuna and this is also no frozen peas. This dish (or paper cup) is very simple but very yummie- this is the only way to get little kids to eat peas I reckon!
Pear & Chocolate mousse: Now this is a little blob of heaven. The mousse is just so so so extra smooth- the chocolate is really yummie, a bit on the sweet side but it balances out with the pear.
We also had a witlof, orange, fennel and radicchio salad. Everything here is so simple, so fresh and so tasty. Also recommended is their raspberry Macaroon- yummieee
I can’t wait to try their next lunch box
Normanby Chambers
(03) 9691 3899
Unfortunately this deep fried morsel is not a morsel of deep fried goodness. It’s oily, and it’s really really salty. Booo
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This is actually quite noice. I dunno what yuzu is, but the salad is very fresh. YUM.
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Once again, this is not very good. I mean, the bagel is fabulous, the parsley pesto is tasty- unfortunately the lamb is wayyyyy too gamey and the texture is weird.
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Sweet Raspberry éclair
This is really yummie, with fresh raspberry inside.
Overall, I expected better and have had better. I’ll give this lunch box 4/10 because Vue is supposed to be good!!
However, in case you get too disappointed, there are other stuff that’s really yummie @ Cafe Vue. E.g. Bocochini, basil and tomato baguette, Wagyu beef bagutte (pictured) etc etc. YUMMMM
Forget about Australia Open, Race Day, AFL finals- this two weeks should be declared public holidays so we can eat, eat and eat more.
I thought I might give you guys a preview of what I am going to devour in the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, so you can get incredibly jealous Wakakakakakakkaka!
(information from Melbourne Food and Wine Festival site)
Lunch Express
We are aiming to go to Bistro Vue as well as Fifteen.
A Culinary Journey through Europe
Crawl n Bite
You will visit three restaurants on your crawl guided by a staff member from your starting restaurant. But that’s not all. The after party and central meeting venue for all crawls is Canary Club, who will light up their venue with all things Spanish. All Crawl ‘n’ Bite ticket holders will receive a complimentary sangria while watching the live flamenco show and more…
Roman Block Party
The minute the place was built they thought what a great place for a party … like they needed an excuse.
Now they are hosting the ‘must be at’ party to celebrate the end of Melbourne Food & Wine Festival 2009 and have invited a few restaurant mates for a global mix of food, drink and music.
There’ll be cool snacks and bites prepared by Robert Marchetti, Neil Perry (Rockpool Bar & Grill), Shannon Bennett (Vue de monde) and Shinichi Maeda (Wasabi, Sunshine Coast, Queensland).
And cool drinks too, with professional drinkers Alex Marchetti (Icebergs Dining Room and Bar, Sydney) and Danielle Gjestland (Wasabi, Sunshine Coast, Queensland) presenting different cocktails every hour – with a few twists and turns, naturally.
Definitely the party of the year.
Murmur
1/17 Warburton Lane, Melbourne
This little treasure is hidden in one of the secret lanes in Melbourne-it’s sooo totally exclusive! It has a very cozy environment, lots of couches to relax and a plethora of cocktails to choose from.
Their cocktails are very strong and ranges from eighteen to twenty something dollars, it’s definately worth getting 1 drink or 2 and sip the evening away.
Zubrowka, French apple and peach liqueurs, passionfruit, apple & lime juices. Served in a martini glass. YUMGASMIC!
My favourite cocktail by far is the Mitch Martini. It’s very strong but it also has a very fruity taste, it’s just sweet enough to my liking- beautiful!
Ohhhhh and there’s a pizzeria below this bar- the pizza is yummie also
Breezes
Crown Casino
We ordered a lunch special $39.95, a 2 course lunch set including entree and main. We’ve 6 people and we shared 3 A Taste of Breezes for two entree. You basically select 4 of 7 items. GP & I got Spanner Crab Tian, shaved Lamb Ham w/ pickled leek, marinated scallops w/lime & grilled calamari. The spanner crab tian was beautiful, the crab is fresh and the sauce is yummie. I have never had lamb ham before but well it’s hammy with lamb flavour! LOL… very interesting. The scallops were cooked to perfection and very very fresh.
I wanted to be healthy so I decided to order a serve of Warm marinated scallops with Provencale salad & olive dressing. Well to be honest, the dish is called Warm marinated scallops AND prawns…, but what can I say? I am a scallop fan and I like changing the menu a bit just to confuse staff . Once again the scallops are very fresh, the presentation is beautiful, and surprisingly quite filling!
Samarco II
84 Horizon Drive, Park Village Shopping Centre, Middle Park
Nestled in a leafy suburbian shopping centre, ex-HK Hilton Chef Norman Chung is cooking up a storm. Trained in France and HK, he combines fresh ingredients with beautiful cooking.
And it has become one of my fav dessert of this trip.
The chef warned me that my souffle may collapse due to the different consistencies of the strawberry batter thing and the chocolate one, but it turned out perfect. Fresh bits of strawberries dotted 1/2 of the souffle, but be warned, if you don’t like your desserts too sweet, you might not want to order strawberries. I reckon strawberries and chocolate is OK though. This souffle is served with icecream rolled in mashed peanuts (yummm) and beautifully decorated w/ fruits. I give this place 8/10!
*Note: most of the dishes above required prior ordering, so please phone ahead 07 3279 7577*