Yarra Valley Grape Grazing 2014, by invitation by Bureaucrat

Earlier this week, I had the privilege to attend the media briefing for the return of Yarra Valley’s Grape Grazing in 2014.  After the devastating bush fires of Black Saturday, Grape Grazing has been on hiatus... until now.  

As with most city folk and suburbanites, I find it a bit difficult to know whether or not it’s appropriate to go visiting the areas that have been affected by the bush fires – acknowledging that those affected need time to work through what has happened to their families and communities and to re-build, but also wanting to visit and help out the local communities by contributing to the local economy.  With the reinstatement of Grape Grazing, this is a perfect opportunity to return to the area.

Mr Brightside, Caulfield South by Big Fil

Mr Brightside is a newish addition to the pantheon of great Melbourne cafes.




Located next to a park on the quiet boundary between Glen Huntly and Caulfield, only locals are likely to find it by accident but it’s well worth the trip to check it out.


First of all, it’s very light with large glass windows and a cute modern fit out. Popularity with the locals means that it does feel a little cramped but if you don’t like the noise and bustle there are always the seats outside across the road from the park.


Staff are friendly and obviously trying very hard although a couple did appear to be a bit inexperienced so that service did not go as smoothly as it might of.


What held it all together though was a guy who I assume was the manager, someone who obviously knew exactly what they were doing and managed to keep the ship afloat even when several tables were looking to place their orders at the same time.

The menu itself is interesting, with a couple of items from the regular menu we would have tried except for the intriguing list of daily specials. After taking our time I eventually settled on the stuffed pig, with purple potato bake, crème fraiche and poached egg. This looked very pretty on the plate, the potato was firm but tender (although a little lacking in flavour). The stuffed pigs (ear?) looked nothing like what we were expecting but was rich and full of flavour. And as goes without saying at a good Melbourne cafe my egg was perfectly poached so as when pierced revealed its liquid golden goodness.



Snooze also ordered from the specials menu, the baked beans and cheese jaffle, served with brisket, yoghurt, stuffed zucchini flowers and guacamole. Again a very pretty dish on the plate, the jaffle is much more delicate than you’d expect, the bread almost paper thin, and the zucchini flowers were nicely crispy fried. However given just how rich the dish was, and in particular the zucchini flowers, this is a good thing with Snooze struggling to finish it as it was.



By this stage we just had enough room for breakfast desserts. The range at the front counter is good if not necessarily the best around town and I eventually settled on a good looking strawberry tart. Good flavours and custard but could have used just a little more strawberry pieces and little less jelly.



Overall
Just a great local cafe trying to do something a little adventurous with its menu and generally succeeding. The lunch menu looked every bit as interesting as the breakfast menu, and the salads at the front counter looked deliciously fresh. Can’t believe this place is less than 10 minutes walk from me and it’s taken this long to try it out!

Verdict
Food – 8.5
Service – 7.5
Ambience – 7.5
Price – 7

Address
189A Booran Rd
Caulfield South 3126
Telephone: 9576 9588

Sapa Hills, Footscray by Big Fil

{Congratulations Big Fil - this is your 400th review!}

Sa Pa is an area in North West Vietnam, home to many of Vietnam’s ethnic minorities. The name has also been adopted by a comparatively upmarket Vietnamese restaurant in Footscray, somewhere with one wall decorated by a gorgeous panorama of a rice paddy located in what I assume is the hills of Sapa.

I know what you are thinking...upmarket, Footscray, must be a sell out to attract the Caucasian crowd. After all, a Vietnamese restaurant can only be any good if it comes decorated with mirrors on the walls and a cheap, causal and loud vibe right? Very wrong in this case, and while I can’t confirm whether it is always the case Snooze and myself were the only apparent non-locals amongst a group which include both families and friends indulging in an early Sunday lunch.

While the decor and service are different to most of the neighbours much of the menu is pretty typical Footscray, including pho, fried noodles and Vietnamese salads. It also includes a number of interesting but more expensive options, such as stir fried crabs and lobsters, and barramundi steam boats.


With just the two of us we decided on one of the entrees and two mains to share. Rather than the usual spring rolls or rice paper rolls Snooze had taken a shine to the vine wrapped beef rolls. A very good choice in the case, the beef moist and full of meaty flavours, the leaves nice rather than the occasional slightly bitter flavour you sometimes get.


Somewhat surprisingly, to me anyway, Snooze has taken a fancy to one of my favourite styles of fried rice, with chicken and salty fish. This is often a much stronger tasting style of rice than many diners may be used to and likely not to everyone’s taste. The version here packed a fair salty flavour punch and I thought it was very good, Snooze thought it the dish of the day.


Our third dish was off the chef's specials, the soft shell crab. Not surprisingly I liked this more than Snooze. I chose it because it is one of my all-time favourite dishes, both for the taste and texture. On the other hand Snooze does not especially like it, too many overly oily versions I suspect. Consequently while I enjoyed this she was a little indifferent. The crab itself was nicely crunchy and reasonably meaty, although the amount of onion served with the crab was probably unnecessary.

Overall
If you are in Footscray and are looking for an easy introduction to Vietnamese Food, or if more familiar but looking for somewhere just a little nicer to eat, you’ve found it.

Verdict
Food – 8
Service – 7.5
Ambience – 7.5
Price – 7

Address
112 Hopkins Street
Footscray VIC 3011
Tel: (03) 9687 5729

 

Issus, Melbourne CBD by Bureaucrat

Regular readers will know that when it comes to reviewing breakfast menus that that's in the domain of Big Fil and Snooze.  I much rather start my weekends with a long sleep-in before stumbling out of bed for lunch.

However, one such weekend the Lawyer and I found ourselves in the city by 10am.  Strolling around the city, I wanted to have breakfast in a lane way.  It's rare that I'm awake early enough for breakfast so I wanted it to be a real Melbourne experience by having brekky in a lane way.  

Issus is located in Centre Place.  It was already bustling with lots of people (almost full capacity) tucking into big plates of yummy food, cups of coffee and, for those who had a big night out, lots of freshly squeezed juices to atone for the night before.  It was squishy and there was lively buzz in the air.  A friendly waiter found us a table.

Although I knew what I wanted (it was one of the specials that was listed on the blackboards), I was really tempted to order from the standard breakfast dishes on the menu.  For drinkies, the Lawyer got the Italian hot chocolate which he loved.  Thick and chocolatey and not too sugary.  I got a pot of chai-in-a-teabag.  While pretty to look at, it ain't real chai.  For me, chai has to be brewed with rice milk (or, at the very least, soy milk).

Fortunately the food was fantab.  My special was indeed special: pan fried chorizo, crispy potatoes, fresh mint, fried eggs w tomato relish.  Everything about this was scrumptious.  The spicy, smoky chorizo (with excess oil blotted), the incredibly tender potatoes with perfectly crispy outer, the runny fried eggs that gave the dish a lovely gooeyness to it and the chunky tomato relish gave a strong kick of sweetly savoury flavour to everything.  The only quibble is the missing fresh mint.  It said fresh mint on the menu but none was there - instead, dried powdered mint seem to have replaced it.  I can't say the dried mint added to, or detracted from, the dish.  I practically licked the plate clean.  

While I licked my plate clean, the Lawyer had finger licking goodness for his dish.  A pulled pork bun w spicy guacamole, bbq sauce served with chunky chips and chipotle mayo.  A fairly reasonable amount of very tender pork and thick schmeer of guac and squirt of bbq sauce.  Initially, the Lawyer thought the burger was a bit small but it turned out to be a good size and hit the spot.  The smokey flavours went down a treat, especially with the chunky chips which were served in a cute deep fryer basket.

Overall

Okay, so we didn't exactly order typical breakfast items but it was definitely one of the better breakfasts/brunchy meals that we've ever had.  My only recommendation is that they serve some proper chai.  Service was friendly and prompt and we love the vibe of just being in a lane way on a sunny weekend morning.

Verdict

Food - 8

Ambiance - 7

Service - 7.5

Price – 7.5

Address

Issus

8-10 Centre Place 

Melbourne 3000

Telephone: 9663 8844

Third Wave Cafe, Prahran (by invitation) by Bureaucrat

When Greg the manager of the Third Wave Cafe contacted us to try out their new-ish outpost in Prahran (the original TWC is located in Port Melbourne), I was intrigued.  Not only because of the eclectic menu that has dishes that aren't as common (think Russian and Paleo dishes) but also because of their chef, Ryo Kitahara, a protégé of Iron Chef Sakai (for those who watch Iron Chef, he’s the one in red holding the nashi pear). With an invitation like that, I just had to check out Third Wave Cafe.

Situated on Cato Street in Prahran, Third Wave Cafe is a haven from the hustle and bustle of nearby Chapel Street and Prahran Market. Inside, it’s a spacious rectangular outfit with lots of natural light streaming through.

Hipsters and young families seem very at home and happy having their leisurely brunch and coffee fix. During the course of our meal, I couldn’t help but wonder how the gym junkies from across the street were feeling as they exercised and watched us eat this yummy food.


From top clockwise: sour cream, potato salad, syrniki, blintzes and blueberry jam.

Having perused the extensive menu, I ordered the Russian sampler platter for the two of us to share. First impressions were good. A big plate of lovely golden, pan fried goodies, with a waft of savoury aromas wafting from the dishes. This vision of Russian delights was even more tempting with (to borrow a term) lots of wok hei coming from the plate. This is going be good!

The blintzes were my favourite. These thin buckwheat blintzes were stuffed with a piping hot filling – one with a mixed mince (pork and chicken) and root veg, and the other with mushrooms and cheese. I’ve only ever had blintzes in the pancake form, so these stuffed blintzes were a delight. Greg advised that for the true Russian experience, that we had to add sour cream to everything on the dish. This added a bit of richness to the blintzes. I could easily eat a whole plate of these. Warm, filling and just so moreish. Without the sour cream, the stuffed blintzes (especially the meat one) is very reminiscent of the pan rolls that you get at Indian restaurants but without the curry flavours.

The syrniki are round ricotta pancakes that can be eaten sweet or savoury. This was Beaker’s favourite. Although it was slightly dense in texture it was also lighter than I thought it’d be – kinda of like a buttermilk pancake on steroids. We ate this with the cute pot of organic blueberry jam and more sour cream.

As with the blintzes, the potato salad was unlike (and much better!) the other run-of-the-mill potato salads that I've eaten in the past. Despite it being a starchy dish, it was quite light and not at all stodgy. Tender cubes of potato mixed with dill, boiled egg, pea and carrots, and nicely seasoned. The dressing, I suspect, was made from sour cream, however, it was still light and not excessively rich as potato salads can sometimes be.


The sampler also has pelmeni - Russian dumplings with a meat filling. While they look like Asian style dumplings, they are smaller in size - almost bite size - and according to Greg, when compared to Asian dumplings, they may seem a bit bland. To compensate for this, the pelmenis are eaten with, you guessed it, sour cream to add flavour. The dumplings has a quite a thick wrapper and a small amount of meat inside, and it's firmer in texture. I didn't mind these - it was different and had a homely style to it.


While I was full from the main dish, Beaker was still a bit peckish. In particular, she had spied the raspberry and mascapone brioche panini. A lovely golden toasted brioche, with perfect grill marks was brought to our table. While it had a lovely, fragrant raspberry jam on the inside, we were both hoping that it would include some fresh raspberries. Definitely, this is a dish best shared - it's sweet, it's buttery and it's creamy. I especially liked the crisp crust of the toasted brioche and the light-as-air texture.


Beaker and I both got a pot of tea each – green tea for Beaker and earl grey for me.


Towards the end of the meal, while I continued with my earl grey tea, Beaker enjoyed the brioche with a cup of beautifully made decaf.

Verdict
Food - 8
Ambiance - 7
Service - 7.5*
Price – 7.5*
* Scores are notional as we were guests of Third Wave Cafe.

Overall
A nice cafe with an interesting and varied menu. While we only tried a few dishes, I feel fairly sure to say that Third Wave Cafe is a solid performer - and clearly a favourite among locals. The food is well made and there is attention to detail and in the execution of the dishes. I also really like the warm and casual vibe that the place has - it's like going over to a friend's home who wants you to enjoy yourself and eat some great food. The friendly staff add to this vibe when they welcome you into the cafe.

Address
Third Wave Cafe
30 Cato Street
Prahran
Telephone: 9510 2991

 

David Jones Slider Bar, by Bureaucrat

Following my 'Talk and Taste' session on Pommery champagne at David Jones, I headed outside and round the corner to Union Lane where David Jones was having a pop-up slider bar.

Every Friday night in November, you can treat yourself to a juicy lamb or waygu beef burger from Peter Bouchier butchers.

In this atmospheric lane way, a production line of chefs are preparing some of the tastiest burgers that you'll ever eat.  It's all very Melbourne - a tucked-away lane way, graffiti on the walls, incredible wafts of meat being cooked...with pumping beats and booze on offer, to boot.

As a post-tipple snack, the Lawyer and I shared a lamb burger - spring lamb, pickled radish, wild rocket, mint mayo on a brioche bun.

Initially I was worried of how rare the lamb was.  This was a bit too pink for my liking.  However, I put my faith in the fact that it would taste okay (and I'd be okay afterwards) because a) it was David Jones, and b) the lamb was from Peter Bouchier.  And how glad I was that I did!  Meltingly tender lamb - no hint of gaminess or rawness - simply seasoned with salt and pepper.  It was a nice thick, juicy patty.  The crisp, pepperiness of the sliced radish and rocket gave it a nice contrast to the tender lamb.  The minty, creamy mayo and the buttery but light brioche added a lovely richness to the burger.  So incredibly moreish this was that we polished off the burger within a minute!

Verdict

Food - 10

Ambiance - 7

Service - 7

Price – 10

Overall

A very delectable burger!  A reasonable size, incredible, fresh and top quality ingredients means that this burger is a steal at $10.  If it wasn't for the fact that we had dinner plans, we'd definitely would have gone back in line to order a burger each!  There's two more Fridays this month... better get in quick before you're too late.

Address

David Jones Slider Bar

Union Lane

Melbourne CBD

'Talk and Taste' sessions at David Jones, by invitation, by Bureaucrat

As part of the Good Food Month, David Jones is holding a range of 'Talk and Taste' sessions at its Foodhall in the city.  The sessions are  intimate food seminars, cooking classes, tastings and demonstrations and is taking place all through November.

I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the session 'Pop and Pommery - a champagne journey'.  Inge from Vranken Pommery took us through a delightful journey into the history of Pommery and how this elegant, bubbly and pale gold elixir is made.

Gumbo Kitchen and Taco Truck Dos, Melbourne CBD by Bureaucrat

Despite having established themselves as part of the Melbourne food scene, I haven't eaten from a food truck before.  I've seen them around and usually there's a long queue that prevents me from lining up for my chance to try out their tucker.

So when several food trucks set up shop in Melbourne Central shopping center recently, we headed down early hoping for a tasty lunch.  We got there super early because we wanted to make sure that nothing on the menu had run out.  Having inspected the menus of the two food trucks, the guys all decided to try Gumbo Kitchen while I went for Taco Truck Dos.

At Gumbo Kitchen, there were four options on offer - three po boys and the Dom.

Mr P went for the Dom - slow cooked beef - with fries and gherkin.  Not the prettiest presentation.  Of the guys, Mr P seemed the most ambivalent about the food.  The beef was tender and there was lots of chips.

Three of the guys went for beef debris (a different slow cooked beef) and the pulled pork po boys. As he couldn't decide which one he wanted to try more, Mr A, rather impressively, ordered one of each. While they all thought the po boys were okay, none of them thought they were anything special.  Mr C thought the sauce that was served with the beef was very gluggy and not very appetizing texture.  

Mr A thought that the sauce, especially for the pulled pork, was quite sugary and he wasn't sure how authentic that was.  He was expecting something a bit more smokey and more mellow in sweetness.  Also, Mr A had got the impression that the pulled pork po boy came with a piece of crackling.  However, none of us recalled that being on the menu.  Lastly, he also thought both po boys were a bit salty.

Mr G went for the deep fried catfish po boy.  We had to wait a bit for this as it had to be cooked. Although Mr G liked the catfish he didn't think it was worth the price.

As the offerings at Gumbo Kitchen was all a bit meaty and bready, I decided to get some gluten-free tacos at Taco Truck Dos.

As with the GK menu, I was a bit surprised at how pricey the tacos were - given that this is meant to be street food.  For $12 you get two tacos.  On this day, there were three options (two meat and one veggie).  I got the prawn taco w coleslaw, mayo and salsa, and the beef taco (rib eye) w chilli tamarind salsa, spiced pepitas.  For an extra $3 you can get corn chips and guacamole on the side.  I didn't as for the extras, but was given some complementary corn chips.  Two large, plump and juicy prawns that were cooked fresh on the spot.  A very light batter fried into a lovely golden colour.  Very morish with the paper thin corn tortillas.  The finely shredded slaw and mayo gave it a fresh crunchiness.  Very delectable.  

The beef taco was also very nice.  Flavoursome small pieces of beef that were tender and juicy.  The small pieces of beef meant it was easy to eat the taco.  A slight chilli kick from the salsa.  I was disappointed with the small size of the tacos.

Verdict - Gumbo Kitchen
Food - 6.5
Ambiance - 6.5
Service - 7
Price – 6

Verdict - Taco Truck Dos
Food - 8
Ambiance - 6.5
Service - 7
Price – 6

Overall
A slight mix of views here ranging from 'ehhh...' to 'meh' to unimpressed.

All the guys said that the food at GK generally tasted okay but didn't think it was worth the price and they wouldn't go back.  See also Big Fil's review of GK back in Jan 2012.

I thought the tacos were very tasty but it's quite steep for $6 each (having said that, it's much cheaper for the same thing when compared with Touche Hombre).  While the guys were, more or less, full from their meals, I was still quite hungry.  Unless you're wanting a snack, I don't think it'd be cost-efficient to have a full meal just from TTD.

Address
Gumbo Kitchen
295 Smith St
Fitzroy, VIC 3065
Telephone: 0411 037 652

Taco Truck Dos
15 Keele St
Collingwood 3066
Telephone: 8060 6664

Riversdale Thai, Camberwell by Bureaucrat

Riversdale Thai is located on Riversdale Road in Camberwell, with a tram track alongside it, a bus stop in front of it, and a train line next to it. Having found myself in that part of town one chilly night, I had wandered in for a spot of takeaway. The decor what you’d expect of a suburban restaurant in this area – smart and neat with plenty of Thai-style furnishings.  Despite getting there just before 6pm on a weekday, there was already a table of diners. 

While I do enjoy Thai food, the fact that I’m bit a of a chilli wimp means that I tend to order dishes that aren’t loaded with chillies.  Thank god for pad Thai!  Pad Thai is a stir fried rice noodle dish that was invented as part of a noodle competition in Thailand during the 1930s.  So the story goes, the government wanted to reduce domestic consumption of their rice exports (presumably because they were getting a better price on the export market) and was trying to get people to eat more noodles instead.  Pad Thai became so popular that it's become a quasi-national dish.  I like this story, but am a bit puzzled by it since it requires rice to make rice noodles.

Anyhoo, the noodles here were good and reasonable.  The noodles were reasonably plentiful, good savoury-sour/tart flavour from the soy and tamarind-based sauce, lots of tiny nuggets of firm tofu and beanshoots, and a sprinkling of toasted peanuts.  My minor quibbles are that I would have liked a bit more chicken and more eggs in the dish.

Our other dish was Pad Khing w beef, which is a veggie and beef stir fry with ginger.  A nice mix of seasonal veg that were lightly cooked so that they stayed crisp and crunchy, lots of thinly sliced ginger gave the dish a mellow warmth, but it wasn’t as zingy as you’d expect it to be.  There was more beef in this dish than chicken in the pad Thai. 

We got a large serve of rice to go with it.

Verdict

Food - 7

Ambiance - 7

Service - 7

Price – 6.5

Overall

A reasonable suburban Thai restaurant.  The food is reasonable, the service is reasonable and the price is fairly reasonable (I would have liked the serves to be a wee bigger for the price).  

Address

Riversdale Thai

655 Riversdale Road
Camberwell 3124
Telephone: 9077 7782