Seeing as Neil has so eloquently described the bloggers dinner at Jamon Sushi, I thought that I would simply add some photos of the food we had that night. The only other thing that I will say is that A. loves the passion that Charles demonstrates and that I wish I had been able to stay for the soba course.
Wow, I was at Prahran Market on the weekend and heard some fantastic news from the owner of my favourite chocolate store – Monsieur Truffe.
Thibaullt’s stall in the centre of the fruit & veg section is oft-visited and much-lauded by bloggers. The great news for all Monsieur Truffe fans (and for those who have yet to try his truffles – what are you waiting for?) is that a Monsieur Truffe store will be opening on Smith Street in Collingwood. He has started advertising for staff on his blog and the opening is expected to take place sometime in August. The store will stock all the current favourites but will also double as a cafe that serves pastries and host chocolate & wine tasting evenings.
Another chocolate store also opened five weeks ago on Toorak Road near the corner of Chapel St – Ganache Chocolate. It’s reminiscent of Koko Black in its decor and has similar chocolate blocks studded with various fruit & nuts. We didn’t try any chocolates but did pick up a pan au chocolat to go. Their pastries are made by the chef from Le Petit Gateau on Lt Collins St and this version has a raspberry puree smear under the chocolate. Pretty good.
Update: According to Ed’s “Ed lines” in the Herald Sun (29 April 2008), Arno Backes is the man behind Ganache Chocolates – no wonder the similarity to Koko Black then given that he was the second master chocolatier there…
Disappointed to miss out on yet another blogger meet-up , I ensured that our weekend included a food-related adventure by dragging A away from a Saturday sleep-in to the Docklands Farmers Market at the Waterfront City Piazza, Docklands.
Apparently the opening, held last week, was pretty disastrous due to the windy weather but even the pleasant morning we had on Saturday didn’t attract a larger crowd. The market was so well attended that there could have been tumbleweed rolling across the concourse!
I have not seen most of these stalls at the other markets around Melbourne before. We discovered one that sold the most delicious lamingtons – traditional and a passionfruit.
We also picked up some ingredients for dinner. A. cooked the King Island steak to perfection while I made a salad of rocket, white peaches, prosciutto and Berrys Creek Oak Blue cheese.
We also picked up bread from two different stalls – Amici and Matisse – and an amazingly moist and tasty carrot cake.
Well, this market doesn’t appear to have reached the radars of Dockland residents yet but hopefully it soon will. It’s great to have a farmers market in the city area although, in my opinion, locating it in Southbank would guarantee more success.
Thanks for all your well wishes! EJ, A & I are all doing well (despite the lack of sleep) and are settling into this new phase in our lives.
I haven’t had much of a chance to cook or bake – for obvious reasons – but my darling mother has been keeping us fed with some delicious and nutritious meals. Food that I haven’t had since getting married and moving out! I wish I had taken photos to show you but there hasn’t even been time to do that!
We moved just prior to EJ’s birth so I thought I would share a snapshot of life outside our apartment
On our way home from Bright a couple of weekends ago, we stopped at Seymour to fill up. As we were finishing up at the service station, a ute laden with fresh farm produce pulled up next to us. How could we resist the temptation of purchasing the just-picked fruit that was on its way to the market?
We bought peaches, nectarines, plums, grapes…then A. spotted the green & black figs in a corner. The farmer told him that the figs would be a little more expensive than the stone fruit – $6.00/kg. What with places around Melbourne CBD sell figs at $20-25/kg, this is a bargain!
My search for a fresh fig recipe led me to a Brigitte Hafner recipe which I would love to submit for the The Mini Pie Revolution, however having misplaced the cable for downloading photos from my camera I am late, late, late for this event.
I’ll share the photos and recipe with you anyway. The pies, baked in mini tart pans, look and taste great especially with a dollop of King Island cream (or the vanilla bean yoghurt for those watching their waist) or good vanilla icecream.
100g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
70g almond meal
200g plain flour
pinch of salt
1. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the egg and yolk. Mix well.
2. Incorporate almond meal, flour and salt to form a dough. Gently knead to form a smooth ball but be careful not to overwork the dough.
3. Divide into 4 portions, wrap and refrigerate for 30 min
4. Roll out each portoin of dough to 5mm thickness and line the bottom of the tart tin. Prick the base and freeze for 30 min
5. Blind bake for 12-15 min at 180C, then cool
Filling:
1.5 cups cream
zest of 1/4 orange
1 bay leaf
1 egg
1. Bring the first 3 ingredientsto a boil then simmer for 5min until reduced by 1/2
2. Remove from heat and add 2 tbs brown sugar. Allow to cool.
3. Whisk in 1 large egg.
Tart:
1. Line the pastry base with fresh figs.
2. Pour over cream mixture
3. Bake for 25 min at 175C
4. Cool and serve!
Lau’s Family Kitchen is run like a yum cha restaurant – two sittings per night at 6pm and 8pm. The noise levels are much like a yum cha restaurant too but the service is infinitely more attentive. In fact, if you have been to Flower Drum you will not be surprised by the wait staff to table ratio and they really seem to care about how you are finding the meal.
We started our night off with a few of their entrees. The steamed vegetable wontons with seasonal vegetables were passable but the wonton skin should have been thinner and less chewy. The fried eggplant filled with taro paste more than made up for the sub-par wontons however. You won’t find lamb springrolls on many chinese menus and I, for one, can understand why. It reminded us more of a Middle Eastern pastry like sambousek.
Our mains were served like a banquet, dishes coming out one after another. The steamed snapper was my pick of the night. Divinely tender and light, no bones to deal with – ahhhh! This was accompanied by the stir-fried seasonal vegetables consisting of snowpeas, cloud ear mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, bok choy…fresh and crisp. Many chinese restaurants tend to overcook the vegetables and use too much oil but Lau’s version was perfect.
I was getting pretty full by this stage but there was still the panfried Patagonian Toothfish and Sweet Vinegared Pork Loin. The slow-growing Patagonian Toothfish (aka Chilean Seabass) is prone to being overfished so the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) closely manages commercial fishing to ensure its sustainability. Aside from wanting to support the protection of endangered species, this fish is tasty enough that we wouldn’t want it to disappear altogether.
We expected the pork loin to be more like a braised dish but it was more like a stir-fry served with a gravy. Too salty for my tastebuds but A. thought it was pretty good.
A huge thumbs up from us for this place. Unbeatable service, lovingly cooked food that is fresh and light, no signs of cornflour thickened sauces here – make your booking now 
We stopped for breakfast at Cafe Andiamo on our way home from a long walk along the Yarra River this morning. An order for poached eggs on toast was placed with our waiter but what came out could have passed for hard boiled…
A. says that cafes which cannot cook eggs shouldn’t be serving breakfast. I suspect that Jamie would agree wholeheartedly.
Cafe Andiamo
36 Degraves St
Melbourne 3000 VIC
Phone: (03) 9650 8060
It’s true that Saltimbocca is sometimes also written as Saltinbocca. But the way this is written, it looks like they are just going to sprinkle some salt in your mouth, ‘Roman-stye’ of course!
Salt in your mouth or jumps in the mouth, your choice!
The scene between A and myself as we are walking down Elizabeth Street towards Flinders Street Station:
A: “So how was your day?”
Me: “Busy. I’ve been working on the catering and merchandising for the office launch”
A: “I was going over the invitation list for the launch and wondered if we should send an invitation to S. & H. What do you think?”
Me: “That sounds like a good idea but I’m not sure…..BEARD PAPA!” (stopping dead in my tracks)
I didn’t quite scream those words out but I definitely said it loudly enough for A. to freeze in his tracks and wonder who was about to attack us.
Anyway, the news is that Beard Papa has opened it’s first Victoria store on Elizabeth Street, near the Flinder Street corner. It’s just a shop front actually so it’s more difficult to hear their “IRASHAIMASE!” greeting.
Get there and get one (or twelve)!
