Posts Tagged ‘Melbourne’
June 20, 2010 | 
Author Ezard
187 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
03 9639 6811
To celebrate mum’s birthday, we head off to Ezard for a perfect Modern Asian experience.
I’ve been to Ezard on a few occasions, and I had a perfect experience every time. The service was excellent, the food was fantastic, and this time there is no exception either. We went for a pre-theatre dinner option, a 4 course menu with tea and coffee for $65.
We were given an amuse bouche of kingfish tartare atopped with a beautiful puff and dill. Such simple and clean flavours- a great start to our evening.
Our first course was the steamed crab and ginger wonton dumpling with tom kha and finger lime
The delicate wonton is enhanced by the bold flavour of tom kha sauce. Weird but surprisingly perfect combination.
Crispy white polenta with sauteed mushrooms, peas, poached egg and soft herbs. The combination of texture is simply amazing. Soft feathery herbs with a perfectly poached quail egg matched with the crunchy polenta, oozing with a soft centre. Yummie!
Next up is the chinese style roast duck with green chilli and shallot sauce, stir fried garlic shoots, silk melon and coconut rice. Once again, an Asian dish with a twist- yet the combination worked surprisingly well. 
The duck was tender and seasoned with authentic Chinese flavours, yet the coconut rice and the crispy sweet potato made it a pretty and interesting dish. Yummy!
The dessert I wasn’t totally impressed though. Honeycrunch ice cream, toasted gingerbread and sugar swirl
I wish the dessert is a bit more Asian-y. It’s a bit too sweet and there’s some crispy burnt black disc in the bottom… it’s just a bit weird.
Overall I loved this place. I love how there’s a play in textures in virtually every dish and the falvour combination sounded weird but it actually works! I can’t wait to visit again! 
9/10
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Roman Block Party 2010
Giuseppe Arnaldo and Sons
Crown Casino
This is my second year in the Roman Block Party and I must say last years party was bigger and better. Yes, there were still fantastic food making their rounds, filling your belly till it protests. Yes, there are still hourly cocktails, making their rounds, unlimited sparkling and beer going around, or if you prefer, mineral water, but it just doesn’t feel the same.
Let’s talk about the food: The food is still good- there are a few “stations” lying around the restaurant. The token cured meat station is there, churning out beautifully sliced pieces of prosciutto and salamis. Last 
year’s cheese station became a “Roadside Pork roll” station, succulent pork served with their crispy skin with tomato pesto, basil pesto and chutney on a soft ciabatta roll. Yummmmmm
There are also freshly shucked oysters that’s so fresh that even I couldn’t resist having 4 (when normally I have half because I don’t like oysters). I think the oyster station packed up the fastest. God knows how many oysters those three guys shucked, but they packed up an hour and a half after they opened cos all the oysters are gone!
There were cheesy arancini balls, pork and veal balls from G.A.S, fresh tuna sashimi with freshly grated wasabi from Wasabi; dim sum, pork springrolls and spring onion pancake with crab meat from Flowerdrum; Wagyu beef burger, braised lamb w/ cauliflower and anchovies and a takeaway lamington dessert from Maze.
Maybe I was spoilt for choice last year, but I remembered having a lot more variety of food and more complicated food, the most memorable one last year being this taco thingy with Kingfish, tomato bits on top of this tomato consomme with liquid nitrate in it. Apparently you can drink it after the liquid nitrate dissolves- amazing, and certainly complicated; there were mushroom on mushroom foam, beef tartare with a tiny quail’s egg on top… looking at all the pics I had on last year’s Roman Block Party makes me drool- it was certainly the party of the year in 2009. This year, not so sure. 6/10
J-Pub Shogun
Shop 3, 233 Lonsdale St, Melbourne
03 9663 3996
Yeah look, whenever a supposedly “Jap” restaurant open in Australia, I become extremely skeptical. Are you sure it’s not some other Asian culture pretending to be open an “authentic” Japanese place and you end up getting Laksa noodle soup with your sushi set? So it took me a long time, I mean, a LONG time to get around to trying J-Pub Shogun.
The decor of this place makes me a bit hesitant and I tried straining my ears to see if they spoke Japanese. Sadly, I couldn’t hear a word they say between strains of English old school music. I am beginning to worry and hubby had the guts to order oyster. Come on! When pretend Japanese restaurant does seafood badly, it does it BAD.
But you know what? Hubby told me that the oysters were AWESOME. It’s one of the freshest he has eaten in Australia. Even Tasmania can’t compare. Amazing. Well, I guess I should never judge the book by itself cover huh?
We had sashimi next, I think it’s the build up of anticipation and expectation after the oysters, because we expect the freshest sashimi, but it disappointed us a bit. I mean, it’s still good, but it’s not awesome. I guess Shoya has trained me to expect the freshest you can get in Australia.
Another pleasant surprise! I ordered Unagi Rice which is a main, but on the pic it doesn’t look that big. Yes it wasn’t big when it comes out, but it’s nicely stacked like, erm, bad description here, a big Mac. You’ve got a layer of unagi topped with seaweed on rice, with
another layer of unagi on rice…mmmm yum, not bad, not bad at all. It’s actually quite filling also, and I guess for a Japanese Izakaya it’s the right size cos you get to try other yummie dishes too.
Ohhh can you see the cocktail in the background in this pic? It’s really yummie! I almost ordered another one but given that it’s mid-week on a school night I shouldn’t really be drinking. Sadly I can’t remember the name but it’s called Kiwi something.
Hubby ordered chilli chicken with a potato nest thing. Secretly I reckon he ordered the chicken because of the potato nest, not because he likes chicken at all. And I must admit, the potato nest IS a highlight. I kept “accidentally” breaking bits of it and putting it in my mouth. Opppsss.
Well what am I supposed to do? The potato nest is finely shredded potato mess deep fried to crispy perfection, well seasoned and so so so moorish. The chilli chicken itself is quite nice, but I wouldn’t say it’s great. It tasted like chinese stir fry chilli chicken with capsicum. Hubby likes it though. Probably because of the potato nest.
Now, this is a Izakaya Yakitori bar, so of course we needed to try their yakitori. I finally figure out why I was a bit hesitant about this restaurant! It’s a yakitori bar, but it was not smokey, there weren’t any drool-worthy aromas wafting through the doors. All in all it’s a pretty sterile environment for a yakitori bar. I suspect that the are using smokeless grill. Hrm, not too sure about this whole smokless thing. How would the yakitori rate then?
As I suspected, it wasn’t as great as the traditional yakitori. We ordered a prawn and scallop yakitori and it was pitiful, there’s no flavour whatsoever. Disappointing. The beef rolled in enoki mushroom is slightly better, but it was tiny. The chicken wing though, is much better, it actually has the smokey yakitori flavour- YUM. I would definitely order the chicken wings again, just not the other two.
Overall, it’s a bit of a hit and miss. Not 100% sure whether I’d go back, but I think I am willing to give them another chance- in a few months time. 6/10
Della Nonna
QV Square,
Cnr Swanston and Lonsdale St
03 9654 4880
Della Nonna is fast becoming one of our favorite neighborhood joint- we’ve tried quite a number of their pizzas now and with their pasta, I just can’t get enough of the Tortelli di granceola: Home made pasta filled with fresh blue swimmer crab meat in a light crab bisque and chive sauce ($18/$25) , but really the Papparedelle di Castagne con ragu di anitra – home-made chestnut flour pappardelle with braised duck, porcini mushrooms and sage ($18/$26) could have been my favorite too. Actually, I am happy to try all pastas in their menu- nom nom nom.
This is one yummie pizza- Capo $20 with tender grass-fed porterhouse, awesome melted mozzarella pearls, fluffy thin crusted pizza *drools* I want I want I want!!!!!!
This Funghi misti e tartufo $19, is a miracle in itself. Hubby loathes, I mean, LOATHES cooked mushrooms. This, however, is not your average off-the-shelf canned mushie pizza. This is fresh mixed wild mushies, with truffle oil and an abundance of those yummie mozzarella. Hubby reluctantly tasted a bit when I offered, and then stole 2 more pieces off me and shoved it in his gob! HUMPHHHHHH!!!
Now if you think, fantastic, great pizza and pasta, cool! You ain’t heard nuthing yet- their dessert… oh their DESSERT!
Tiramisuuuuu $12- trust me, it’s worth every dollar. Savour every bite people, this is really really yumgasmic tiramisu. Good strong expresso, bittersweet chocolate dust and a huge generous serving. Nom nom nom…
9/10! Yum Yum Yum!
<a href=”http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1484781/restaurant/CBD/Della-Nonna-QV-Melbourne”><img alt=”Della Nonna QV on Urbanspoon” src=”http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1484781/minilink.gif” style=”border:none;width:130px;height:36px” /></a>
Roule Galette- French Creperie
Scott Alley,off 241 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
(03) 9639 0307
This is my favourite crepe place 
And this, is Anne-So with chocolate, icecream and lots and lots of yummie, crunchy flaked almonds. Mmmm… I just ate it half an hour ago but I am craving it again. I can’t really put a finger to it. Maybe it’s the beautiful dark chocolate that they use or the beautiful 3 scoops of icecream or just the taste of the crepes…. or maybe everything…
I know I’ve blogged Roule Galette before, but to justify it I have only blog the savoury galettes, but not the sweet crepes that they have! 
Hubby also highly recommended the Yeti (banana, icecream and chocolate). YUMO! 9/10
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
Hardware Societe
120 Hardware St, Melbourne
03 9078 5992
First of all I would like to thank Tummyrumbles for introducing me to this cheery little place between Lonsdale and Little Lonsdale St. Splashes of yellow brightens up the place, and rows of baguettes, puddings and tarts made me drool.
My poor breakkie buddy Pannacotta have been dragged here one early, too early morning, and ordered 2 coffees at once. A big Illy fan, she was pleasantly surprised by the smoothness of the brand Hardware Societe used, which is called Supreme- must have certainly been supreme cos Panacotta soon ordered another one! Of course it doesn’t hurt that there was this morsel of mini bomboloni sitting prettily on the side plate. Pannacotta was nice enough to let me have one and it was soft, not very sweet and extremely yummie. I secretly wondered if I could grab the bowl full of these mini-bombolini which is just sitting on the benchtop and do a runner…
I would highly recommend their hot chocolate too-it’s a yummie big jug of melted good quality chocolate- YUMO!
For breakkie I ordered the boiled eggs with 3 soldiers $12- oh it’s just some old boiled eggs with measly soldiers- NOT! It was such a beautifully presented feast for breakfast for such a small price.
I am always a little wary of soft boiled eggs, at times they are way too runny, and other times it has this weird aftertaste to it. Well, not the ones in here- the eggs are fresh and it has just the right firmness to it.
The 3 soldiers are just exquisite- From right to left soldiers: salmon roe, jamon and frittata. The salmon roe was a fresh little burst of saltiness and sweetness; jamon is dressed with a fig syrup (I think) and it was beautiful. The frittata- what can I say? The egg and potato combo may be a bit chunky on a slice of baguette but it was so yummy that I don’t care.
On another occasion in their Saturday Brunch, I had yummie scrambled eggs with a smoked salmon noisette baguette. I still like the boiled eggs the best, but this is really awesome too!
Hubby had a Bircher Museli with Berries, stone fruit and nuts like pistachios- everything was so fresh, it tasted really good on the first bite, however, it tasted really sour the more you eat it! It would have been nicer if it was sweeter.
I would love to try Hardware Societe’s Lunch menu but sadly I work too far away for that. Fingers crossed that Saturday brunch would eventually have some of their awesome sounding lunch menu items for me to try!! 9/10!
DOC
295 Drummond St, Carlton
(03) 9347 2998
Friends came down from Brissy for some tennis action and of course, I had to force them to experience the Melbourne food scene. Disappointingly the foodie tour was a near disaster, with ice cold chicken curry in Old Town Kopitan Mamak & crappy crepes in Dessert House, which almost ruined my reputation as a foodie.
Thank god there was DOC.
In desperate need of sugar hit, the five of us ordered the five desserts on the menu to share. Sweet goats cheese tiramisu $9.5 was a creamy and spongy with a subtle hint of coffee. I was a bit hesitant about the goats cheese bit but to be honest, I couldn’t actually taste it, which is fine with me. Would also love it to have a bit more of the coffee flavour but it was pretty good.
Coppa Gelato $9.5- huge scoops of lemon, pistachios and expresso gelato presented in a silver glass. It was SO SO yummie! If we had to choose the best flavour I would say the espresso gelato is the best, but the lemon came a close second. The best thing is these gelato are not overly sweet but full of flavour- I could probably eat all the lemon and espresso gelato by myself
.
By this time we are actually worried that we couldn’t finish the rest of the dessert-but next came the beautiful Nutella w/ calzoncino w/ vanilla bean icecream $9.5 and all our worries flew out of the window. Where do I even start with this? It’s just a beautiful, beautiful calzone oozing with Nutella. Enough said.
Then came the Panettone $11.5. We wouldn’t normally pick this dessert given that it’s mostly fruit (instead of chocolate) but we aim to try everything (for the readers, of course) so there it is. Oh, how wrong were we to be a bit hesistant on this! It tasted like a freshly baked sweet bread – simply dotted with raisins, the highlight of it was actually the Montepulciano jam in the middle, which gave it a subtle sour plumy flavour. That with the buffalo icecream was sublime.
The sweet pizza w/ Belgian white chocolate, strawberries & vanilla bean icecream $9.5 was least of my favourite. Belgian or not, white chocolate is not really chocolate and the sweetness overpowered the beautiful strawberries and icecream. Thank goodness the pizza base was slightly savoury to balance it out, but this dessert honestly pushed us over the edge into a sugar coma and we were eyeing enviously at the savoury pizzas instead.
I am now looking forward to our next visit to try out their savoury pizzas! 8/10
Punch Lane
43 Little Bourke St, Melbourne
03 9639 4944
Punch Lane is a little gem that has been recommended by the Good Food Guide, just a stones’ throw away from my place. One day, I finally dragged hubby out of the house to this cosy little place for a relaxing dinner.
Apparently, this place is pretty much booked out on a Thursday night so we were seated in a dark cosy shared table in the corner. Thankfully, the restuarant wasn’t as full as they initially predicted so we pretty much had a table to ourselves.
3 cheeses kataifi balls w/ mint yoghurt & pomergrante molasses ($14.50) is fantastic. A dish of little crispy balls with a gooey centre, it is a delightful surprise with a tangy sour flavour from the pomergrante and a slight minty flavour from the yoghurt. Highly recommended 
this dish with the contrasts in textures and flavours.
Normally I am a bit wary of chorizo- it’s normally too rich and salty for me. Fortunately, Punch Lane’s Chorizo ($15.50) is cooked with onions and capsicum. The natural sweetness of the cooked onions complements greatly with the chorizo making it a fantastic comfort food.
Hubby chose the Grilled Rib eye w/ oxtail sauce $39 and I was not happy- I made rib eye for him the night before! Why was he eating rib eye AGAIN? A bite of his rib eye soon proved why-very tender, this rib eye had a wonderful char grilled flavour with a beautiful thick sauce- yum.
I ordered a seared scallop w/ confit cherry tomato, crispy pancetta and pea puree $36.5. It was a delight to the eye as well as the tastebuds, with beautifully presented gems of fresh scallops, dotted with pearls of nice, firm peas. The two thin, crispy pancetta adds a tinge of saltiness to the scallop without overpowering the flavours. Perfect.
Feeling decidedly adventurous as the night goes by, I decided to share a Pashka ($13.50) with hubby. Pashka is a Russian dessert of sweeten ricotta, almond, chocolate and candied lemon with poached pear in a cherry sauce. Whilst these ingredients seemed to be common when used seperately, it proved to be a bit out of comfort zone for hubby. It is certainly a bit of an aquired taste as the two blobs tasted more like cream than ricotta and the cherry sauce is a bit weird with the poached pear. I found that it actually comes together beautifully, if you just combine all the individual flavours in one mouthful. The chocolate/ almound flavours satisfy the sweet tooth in me, while the cherry, pear and lemon made this otherwise heavy dessert refreshing.
If you like good quality, simple food with great flavours, this is the place for you. 8/10
No. 35
Sofitel Melbourne
Lvl 35/55 Collins St, Melbourne
03 9653 7744
![IMG_3329 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/IMG_3329-640x480.JPG "IMG_3329 [640x480]")
In the dizzying heights of the 35th Floor of Sofitel Melbourne, a trio is playing cheerful Christmas tunes while diners feast on tables laden with food and drank bottomless wine. We watched for about 5 mins, waiting to be seated so we too, can start our feast. Alas, our maitre’d is nowhere to be seen. When he finally arrived and seated us, no one actually offered us anything to drink until we requested. Not a very good first impression but the waiters were nonetheless very friendly and prompt when we asked- once or twice.
![IMG_3330 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/IMG_3330-640x480.JPG "IMG_3330 [640x480]")
Food-wise, there wasn’t a huge number of selection for a $90 per head “sumptous brunch” we were promised from the website. One thing I would certainly recommend is the Lobster and prawn bisque, paired with their freshly baked bread. The bisque is creamy and seafoody without a horrible fishiness. Whilst there are no lobster bits in it, it’s a nice surprise to have this in a buffet menu. Hubby and I had two each!![IMG_3333 [640x480]](../wp-content/uploads/2009/12/IMG_3333-640x480-300x225.jpg "IMG_3333 [640x480]")
Other than the lobster bisque, there are only the usual suspects, such as oysters- I am not game enough to try buffet oysters, which are normally not as fresh. Hubby said that they are alright for buffet standard.
My entree recommendations would be the beef salad, deliciously and generously covered in sesame seed oil, and eaten with some crunchy crackers- Addictive! There’s also seared tuna with a Japanese seaweed salad- now this is very rare in the middle, so for non-sashimi lover, it might not be the greatest choice. ![IMG_3335 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/IMG_3335-640x4801.JPG "IMG_3335 [640x480]")
I quite like the haloumi with grilled vegies also, but what you really don’t want to try are any of the noodle salad and sushis- it’s quite dry.
Onto the mains, I would actually not recommend any thing from there. There were only 8 or so mains to choose from, 3 of which are steamed vegies, roasted vegies and some potato. I overheard a patron quietly asking his wife, “Is that all there is for mains?” Well, no not really, if you count the roast section, which features completely inedible tough beef or overcooked bland salmon wrapped in wombok and puff pastry.
Anyway, enough of the roast section, lemme bitch about the mains:
![IMG_3334 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/IMG_3334-640x480.JPG "IMG_3334 [640x480]")
Asian noodles with soy sauce, oyster sauce, honey, chilli- I don’t understand why people would consider throwing all these sauces together would mean that it’s Asian. Without the balance of flavours it’s just stuff jumbled up together.
Fish baked with herbs and mussel sauce- the fish is much too overcooked, the mussels are fine.
Ravioli with roasted vegetables- it’s fairly tasteless urgggghhh.
Chicken rolled with mushroom and truffles actually taste good, but sadly it’s once again way too overcooked so it’s quite tough.
![IMG_3336 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/IMG_3336-640x480.JPG "IMG_3336 [640x480]")
We moved onto desserts after the disappointing mains- the dessert isn’t too bad, but it’s not special. Mandarin Creme Brulee tastes great, but it’s a bit overcooked. The berry champagne jelly shot is really yummy, but the flourless chocolate cake is disgusting. I’ve also tried the raspberry and apple crumble and it’s really watery.
Let’s just say I wouldn’t be much of a hurry to go back to No. 35 again.