Posts Tagged ‘lunch’
February 12, 2010 | 
Author Madame SouSou
231 Brunswick St, Fitzroy
03 9417 0400
It was a hot Saturday morning and I am starving. Sick and tired of the city eateries we have decided to venture out to Fitzroy to get our feed. I’ve my belly set on this establishment for quite some time now- finally!
Half a dozen fresh oysters were ordered for entrees ($18)- Hubby reckons that the oysters are just as fresh as the freshly shucked ones from Tassie, although it tasted slightly too salty.
We both felt like steaks today, so Hubby ordered a 500g T-bone $35 while I ordered the grill of the day ($24).
Hubby’s half a kilo monster arrived swimming in a bath of Parisian butter- very very rich but oh so tender. For a second I didn’t think he would be able to finish it, but he polished off every single bit. He was eyeing on the bone wondering whether he could eat it with his hands I am sure.
Mine was a thin slice of minute steak w/ bearnaise sauce served w/ pomme frites. This was also very tender and the tarragon in the Bearnaise complements well with the beef. One wonders why there was a lemon on both dishes at first. But after the seond and first bite we quickly understood why- the lemon is there to cut through the fat of these rich, buttery food! The steak was really tasty but I could only finish less than half of it before abandoning it for my hubby. Hubby ate the half of my half but that’s about it also!
We also ordered a side of roasted potatoes because we’ve forgotten all about the pomme frites which was actually as big as a normal side. Fear not- hubby comes to the rescue and ate all of the roasted potato, garlic and all. I like the pomme frites better than the roast potato- it wasn’t as oily and the roasted ones feels a bit too powdery.
Overall it was a great meal, but in hindsight maybe I should have ordered something else- will definitely have to try their legendary breakkie that everyone else is talking about next time! 7/10
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Sparrow’s Nest
95 Queen St, Melbourne
If you want to find a sanctuary in your busy work day, you should head to Sparrow’s Nest. For a while it was the best kept secret in Queen St, a small, unassuming shopfront with cute & cheerful potted flowers, it is becoming busier and busier every day. This is a little piece of haven, you can sit on the powder blue stools and eat Crabapple cupcakes while watching Rana and Sarah race around making hot chocolates with real melted chocolate bits, plating up fresh salads and pies on quaint old fashioned plates.
Sounded like your grandma’s kitchen? You will be surprised to see that the owners, Rana and Sarah are actually quite young. That being said, they definitely know what they are doing- from the well thought out decor to the quality of their food to the running the cafe themselves, they seemed to have it all worked out like a pro.
There are quite a few things I would recommend on their menu, and this is one of them- Shepherd’s pie with a side salad $6.9. Although it doesn’t seem as the pie has been made on premises, they have selected a supplier that made a mean pie. I, for one, don’t normally eat pies, associating it with footy games and pub meals, but this pie is fabulous. Nice crust, beautiful filling and the highlight was the chutney on the side, which has a tinge of ginger flavour in it which is surprisingly great with this pie. The salad was fresh and crisp, a healthy choice to complement the pie.
Other recommendations include the Gruyere and prosciutto croissant (but it is extremely filling so share it with a friend), the famous Crabapple cupcakes (I love Lemon Blossom the best!) and soy hot chocolate made with melted chocolate bits… YUMO!
Sparrow’s Nest also does a range of organic selection, just look at what’s on the blackboard- you’ll definitely find something you love in there! 8/10
T’Gallant
1385 Mornington Flinders Rd
Main Ridge Victoria 3928
03 5989 6565
T’Gallant is one of the popular wineries in Mornington Peninsula, they have nice food and wine, no wonder bookings are essential if you wanted to dine in the La Baracca Trattoria- apparently unless you have a booking, stop letting cars in at around lunch time because there are just so many people!
For entree I had a mushroom and mozzarella puff with tarragon and persillade dressing $16-this is not their best dish- the puffs were fried to crisp, too brown for my liking. It doesn’t really have any mushroom or mozzarella flavour- funnily enough, this reminds me of the taro puffs I have in Yum Cha!
Gnocchi Fritti $26 is a spinach and ricotta gnocchi w. braised duck & mustard fruit. I have never tasted a spinach and ricotta gnocchi before, but I quite like it. The gnocchi is quite firm and has a lovely texture. It goes really well with the braised duck which is quite tender and has a slight sticky sweetness to it. Yummo!
Here are some of the other food I sampled: Chicken pie $31 – slow braised chicken pie with pinot gris, champignon, bacon and broccolini. I only tried a bit of it and I honestly only remembered the pastry cos it was just so good. The pastry is nicely cooked, beautifully flakey and buttery… yummmm
I also couldn’t resist having a bit of the Patate Arrosto $9- roasted crash-hot potatos w/crisp rosemary & lemon- mmmmmm- if only Froggy was here, she would be salivating over this dish! We left it for at least 10 mins before digging in because we were concentrating on our mains, but when we eat it it’s still crash hot and still extremely yummy! Pillows of crispy skinned potatoes, inside is soft, hot and infused with rosemary and salty goodness.
I was EXTREMELY full by this stage but dessert is calling. Once again I rationalised that I have 2 tummies- a savoury one and a sweet one, so surely I would be able to fit in some dessert! Tiramisu and I decided to share a yummie dessert, although I felt like chocolate, I knew in my heart I just can’t fit it in, with or without sharing. So it’s good that Tiramisu decided on a tart tartin- I’ve never heard of one before until Masterchef and was extremely keen to try it 
We ordered a Quince and honey Tart Tartin w/ cinnamon icecream $12- Mmmmm…great choice- when we cut into our Tart Tartin made a crispy noise, and then we saw a river of golden honey drizzling down the plate. It was THE highlight of the meal- the tart was not too sweet, the pastry was perfect and the quince balances the richness of the tart. Very Very nice- I would love to try and make tart tartin one day- Mmmmmmm
Overall the service is fantastic, the food was great, the only bad thing is that the food is slightly expensive- but to finish on a high note it’s well worth it. 8.5/10
Beetroot
123 Hardware St, Melbourne
(03) 9600 0695
Dark chocolate w/Persian fairy floss
Beetroot used to be my favourite spot for breakkie, however the last two times I went for breakkie and lunch, I was slightly disappointed. The service is the friendly usual- the boisterous owner greeted me heartily with a bottle of water. There are lemon ricotta muffin that tempted me- unfortunately unforgivable erro
r made me wonder whether go back again… but then again, the food is just so tempting and the atmosphere so cosy, it’s hard to stay away.
Well, let’s go to breakkie first. In my point of view, breakfast takes the medal here- it changes seasonally, and it always have something interesting, museli with fresh fruit which comes with a teeny tiny jar of milk, porridge with poached pear and cinnamon and of course, the usual favourites.
Dark chocolate w/Persian fairy floss is the irresistable choice, especially
when you can choose between dark, milk and white chocolate. As usual I chose the soy dark chocolate- a dash of hot soy milk melts the dark chocolate bits, but it doesn’t melt entirely, so you need to stir it a bit 
The hot chocolate is not too sweet, but the fairy floss makes up for the sweetness.
Timing-wise, it took them a long long time for the food to come out, at both lunch and beakkie. We had the blueberry pancake with berry compote $12, it looks pretty enough, but the pancake seemed to be premade and then microwaved (Tigerlily and I BOTH heard the microwave beeping), and it wasn’t even hot, which was quite disappointing- and why would it take so long (20mins) if it’s a microwaved pancake?!
The poached eggs with salmon and avocado ($13.5) was much much better, the eggs were perfectly poached, hollandaise sauce is creamy and just the right portion, avoca
do and salmon dances a perfect harmony with each other.
LUNCH. WELL. This is interesting. I felt like something warm and hearty, so I chose the celery and bacon soup $7.5. It was just what I needed,
as MC would probably say, “a nice, simple cafe style food”. While I am taking another bite, I thought the bacon felt really, REALLY chewy. I chewed a bit more and had to discreetly spit it out- it was a half chopped up rubberband. BIG MISTAKE. Aaaarrrggggghhhh…!
Pannacotta had a vegetarian lasagne and THAT was really good too! Pity about the soup! Everyone else had nice meals!
Other lunch selection includes vegetarian quiche, a giant sausage roll and salad selection. Most mains comes with garden salad also, which is very fresh.
It just frustrates me in the two seperate occasions I managed to find something wrong with Beetroot, especially when I’ve been a couple of times and it had been fine! Maybe I’ve gotta go there again to check them out again….I really want that lemon ricotta muffin… 4/10
Food Board
Cafe Alcaston
2 Collins St, Melbourne
03 9650 9387
Angie took me to Cafe Alcaston for lunch a few days ago- bookings is essential because this cozy little place is full by 12:30. Angie told me that when she walked from the station every day she can smell this beautiful aroma wafting through the vents of this cafe and she finally tried this place last month, and have been coming here regularly since.
Caesar salad
Angie ordered Caesar salad $14.95- she told me that this is the best, she just can’t stop eating this. She’s right, it is the best caesar. First of all, it’s HUGE. The chicken breast on top is very tender and flavoursome, the egg is perfectly poached and the croutons are lightly brushed with butter and garlic. The sauce is light and it’s not drowning the cos lettuce at all, just lightly cover each and every leaf.
My rigatoni w/tomato, pesto and rocket $14.95, unfortunately is less stellar. First of all, what I like about this is the rocket- I love rocket and it’s great to have a bit of vegies in the pasta. The sauce wasn’t too bad either, but some of the rigatoni is a bit hard on the edges and some are a bit on the mushy side. This is certainly not one of those traditionally Italian dish, tomato sauce with green pesto is a tad bit quirky.
Yummy shortbread
We had to run back to work but I couldn’t resist buying this shortbread for my team before I leave. This raspberry and almond shortbread is delightful. I almost ate both of them cos it was so good!
Overall the place was cosy, the service is good, the food is a bit of a hit and miss but I know where I’ll go if I crave for a caesar salad and baked goods! Yummm!
Bistro Vue
430 Little Collins St, Melbourne
03 9691 3838
I have been looking forward to Bistro Vue for AGES, just because it’s so damn exxy to eat there any other time. I am so glad that we tried this today- we had a fantastic time and some very yummy food and wine.
We couldn’t help but select 3 courses again, which although yummy, was quite foolish. French food is very rich and having three courses of rich food equals lots of fat, jelly belly 
Anyhoo, enough about my jelly belly. I selected a glass of 2005 Dalzotto Barbera King Valley, Victoria. I normally don’t like red wine, but this one was fabulous. It’s very easy to drink… yummmm I want more :p
For our entree we have a beautiful tomato tart- layers and layers of light pastry topped with tomato, fetta, micro sprouts and balsamic vinegar. It was soooo good but so filling already!
The mains arrived- slow cooked chicken on a bed of buttery, creamy mashed potato, dotted with skinless cherry tomatoes and mushrooms. Once again, this is fantastic- each ingredient is so flavoursome and yet everything went to well together. I couldn’t finish it though- I was full from the tomato tart 
We had a beautiful (but once again very rich) Vanilla Bavarois served with poached fruits. Bavarois is like panna cotta, but much thicker and richer. It tasted nice with the poached fruit (although the strawberry looked somewhat dead ) but I doubt if I can stomach it on its own.
Tea and coffee is also included, but alas! They don’t have soy hot chocolate (only full milk chocolate). But cafe vue had soy! Why can’t they just go next door and grab some soy . So I got peppermint tea. This was served with canale, which looks a bit burnt But I loved the inside bit, which is moist and yummy but the others didn’t like it much
Service was fantastic and I would certainly give this place a 8.5/10
Normanby Chambers
Did I tell you that I’ve made it my personal mission to try the Cafe Vue lunchbox ($15) every month? Well, here is this month’s yummie selection:
Starter Pork pie with pea velouté
Very very yummie, esp the pea veloute, which just makes the pork pie just that little bit more unique. Cafe Vue could have just use their tomato sauce with it, which will still be brilliant being Vue, but pea just made this unhealthy pie seemed so much healthier
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Very fresh, lots of yummie tomato, the olives made it slightly saltier than it needed to be but nevertheless, very yummie.
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Is a very simple thick toasted bread with a tomato pesto in one layer, and a basil pesto in the other. Simple but very yummie.
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Sweet Fig and almond madeleine
This, is what Pannacotta would have called, pièce de résistance- This madeleine is just so yummie (and buttery!), and when you bite in to the middle, this fig jam just oozes out- not too sweet- just right.
As much as this made me just oh-so-excited, I am a bit put off by their service. They are great people when they are not busy, but when busy, the waiteress became snappy little devils who can’t wait to get you outta here. Thank goodness the cute little lunchbox cheered me up immensely and the rude service just flew out of the window in the first bite. 8/10
Fifteen
115 Collins St (enter through George Parade)
Melbourne
1300 799 415
We haven’t been to Fifteen before and therefore was so excited that they are doing Restaurant Express ($35 for two courses and wine) for Melbourne Food & Wine festival.
I chose to have the Entree and Mains- Tuscan Ribollita Soup with bread, cannellini beans and chard (e) and Hand rolled Taglialrini with braised beef shin ragu, orange and rosemary gremolata (m). I also selected a glass of Fifteen’s own Rose as my accompanying wine.
We also got complimentary coffee, teas and soy hot chocolate (mine)- but unfortunately the coffee didn’t taste that great according to Shoe Queen.
Service-wise, our waiter is polite but slightly withdrawn. The refilling of water is scarce and so is the yummie bread that was only offered once. We had to ask for more and the waiter seemed surprised that we wanted more bread. 6/10
You’ve got to be in this cafe before the 12:30 lunch time rush, or else you will be waiting a longggg time for a table. I ordered a seafood pasta to die for $14.5 and it is certainly to die for. The seafood is simply so fresh (except one mussel, which is ever slightly not-so-fresh), there is so much seafood for a $14 meal- calamari, prawns, mussell and scallops. The pasta was also very very good and the sauce was beautiful.
There’s also a display of cakes and muffins baked in house. Whilst I am extremely tempted to try something sweet I have to restrain myself
Ohhh & another update:
I went to try the sweet stuff a few days ago- Raspberry & Chocolate Fudgeeeeee- it was sooooo good! Apologies for the really bad pic- I was so excited to try it and share it that I cut it already and ate some before taking a pic- but let me tell you it’s really good- it’s crispy on the outside, the chocolate is not too sweet and it has raspberries bits all over- yummie!
30 Block Place
Whippet ordered a spinach & ricotta gnocchi with fresh tomato & basil pesto-unfortunately she doesn’t actually like tomato sauce and this is not just fresh tomato but a huge blop of tomato paste! She had to scrape all the tomatoes paste off her gnocchi- although she did say it was still really yummie.
I felt like something meaty on that day, so I ordered Pappardelle with Lamb Meatballs. I didn’t like the crispy sweet potato much, but Whippet seemed to like it so she was happy to eat all of mine . Otherwise the pasta was fantastic- just what I needed on that day- just enough sauce, the right amount of meatballs and yummie chewy pasta It’s not the best best best pasta dish in the world, but I’ll still give it a 7/10
The service was on the slow side, but overall it’s not too bad!