A Few of My Favourite Things !

This is a lesson in not relying on my memory! We had dinner at Bala Da Dhaba a few weeks back but, of course, I didn’t get around to posting until now. The problem is that I cannot remember the names of all our dishes.

Well, we started off with the samosas, which resemble a little tribe sitting cross-legged around a campfire. They were described as ‘spicy’ on the menu but I could have handled quite a bit more spiciness. Some beautifully tender and moist chicken tikka followed.

\

I haven’t been a fan of paneer in the past but we tried this one and I really enjoyed it more than I havd expected to. I suppose it was because the curry was tasty and the paneer absorbed this flavour.

The waiter recommended the special Punjabi fish masala (it had a really long name and if we could repeat it, he would have given it to us free). One of my favourites for the night – all sour and tangy, I’m salivating just thinking about it now.

I think the final dish was lamb something. Maybe someone can identify it?

All in all, a better dining experience than what we have had in the past. We’re not usually big fans of Indian food but the fish would have me going back. On second thoughts, I would probable get takeaway though because it took me at least a week to air my clothes out after that night!

Well, the Chinatown part of Russell Street seems to coming good these days! A new restaurant has just openend up a couple of doors down from Noodle Kingdom where we have been getting our fix of Traditional Lanzhou Beef Noodle Soup every couple of weeks – sometimes the noodles and sometimes the soup alone.

The new place is simply named ‘Wonton House’ after the chef’s specialty so that’s what we ordered. The Hong Kong-style congee was also highly recommended. We chose the traditional pork and century egg version but there is quite an extensive list of around 12 or 15 choices.

What can we say? Excellent golden wonton dumplings floating in a tasty chicken stock. The congee was smooth, warm and comforting and they didn’t skimp on the good bits.

We celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary yesterday with dinner at Comme Kitchen. Getting there 20 minutes early, we started off with drinks at the very noisy, echoey bar filled with snappily dressed young men. A sparkling and a cocktail in hand, we ordered the salt cod croquettes which only took 5 minutes before arriving. A squeeze of lemon and we cut into the crisp golden exterior to reveal the soft creamy cod and mash. Great to have with our drinks while chatting at the bar. Most groups ordered the french fries with aioli, which looked and smelled so tempting that we wanted to reach over to fork some up while heads had turned away.

Later, seated in the relaxed and smallish dining room (about 12 tables), we started with one of their specials and one off the a la carte. The vongole, crab broth, chorizo, sherry and parsley is a lovely, warming dish although I found it on the salty side (A. didn’t mind at all!). My entree however was one of the best dishes I’ve had in some time – roasted quail with 12 year old balsamic, grapes and steamed king edward potatoes. The waiter description was “…quail with 12 year old balsamic grapes…” but somehow I found it difficult to believe that the grapes were that old. Perfectly cooked quail and amazing flavour!

We selected both mains from the specials board – pan-roasted blue eye with artichoke veloute, broad beans and baby fennel and the wagyu rump with truffle mash, slippery jack & pine mushrooms – and a mixed leaf salad, apple cider dressing and toasted hazelnuts. The fish and its accompaniments were wonderful, as were the truffle mash and mushies. Would it be a terrible thing for me to admit that I’m not really into wagyu though? We’ve tried wagyu in a few different places and time and again have commented that it’s too rich and ‘meaty’ in flavour. i feel awful saying this seeing as wagyu is meant to be top of the range, but give us Black Angus anyday.

To finish, the warm quince and almond tart with vanilla ice cream. The pastry chef was kind enough to accommodate A’s request for ‘Happy Anniversary’ to be piped in chocolate across the edge, a much appreciated gesture. My spoon went to the icecream first and to my surprise, it wasn’t vanilla but honey! Did someone confuse one for the other or did they run out of the vanilla? Well, it didn’t matter to us because it was great and we were tempted to ask for more (cheeky grin!)

Highly recommended and I cannot wait to return!

Comme Kitchen

+61 3 9631 4000

The City of Yarra has forced the closure of Wildflour, reports this week’s Espresso section in Epicure, as the premise had permission to operate as a cafe but not a bakery. Pardon my ignorance, but WHAT is the difference?!

One of a handful of artisanal bakers in Melbourne, Wildflour had set tongues wagging about how good their bread was. I found out about them during a visit to Simon Johnson’s Fitzroy store where they were serving it to taste olive oils with. The bread impressed us so much that we had to ask the source. Unfortunately, we may never actually get to try their other baked goods if they don’t find a place soon. Call Tony Rees on 0404 729 458 if you can help.

I’d better hotfoot it down to Noisette in case the local council decide to close that down too…

I think I laksa you too. I’m talking about the new Allen Woo venture located right opposite Horoki and down the alley from Longrain.

We had started with a few after-work Pisco Sours and a Caipirinha at The Mill then needed to grab a bite somewhere. We settled on the newly opened restaurant on its second night – if we could get in. Surprisingly, they were barely half full at 8:00pm and we were seated at a table immediately.

The decor is very, very sparse…so much so that you could hardly term it as decor – basic table and chairs on a concrete floor with a famous Chinese poem painted on by the Taiwanese chef, a lick of red paint on the walls and pillars – that was it. Cold and draughty so bring a jacket, especially if you are wearing a dress.

We ordered and asked for all the food to come out together but the service was fairly slow given the small number of diners. I supposed it was only their second night though. We started with the Ipoh Laksa (made with hor fun noodles) with slices of char siu, chicken and prawns. Deliciously coconutty soup that had a decent kick.

Next, the ‘popular’ dry chicken curry on bright yellow hokkien noodles which turned out to not be as hot as the laksa although we were given a chilli warning by the waiter. A little like a rendang but slightly too salty.

Oddly, the oyster shooters came out after the noodle dishes tasting a little ‘fishy’ although the dressing was okay. Not our favourite.

My pick of the night was the calamari, cucumber noodle and jelly fish salad. Quite a tiny bowl of salad but it had a lovely smokiness with the calamari cooked to perfection.

We enquired about dessert only to be told that there was only one on the menu tonight, dumplings in a ginger soup. Fortunately, a certain food critic was seated at the table next to us and we managed to overhear the waiter describe three desserts to them including the black sticky rice and kueh dadar.

Although not something that I would normally order, the sticky black rice was fantastic and worth ordering again.

We joked that they may be serving the ‘Ron & Sue’ version (you have to frequent Asian grovcery stores to understand this one) but fortunately the kueh dadar came out warm, straight from the pan. They didn’t have the usual green crepe skins and they were sitting in a puddle of cognac sauce – very unusual indeed and suitable for the very sweet-toothed.

The prices were quite decent with our meal totaling $56. I’ll give them a couple of weeks to settle in before coming back armed with a warm jacket.

Laksa Me

Shop 1, Liverpool St

Melbourne 3000

Update: John Leathlean reviewed this place in the Epicure, The Age on 29 May 2007.

Finally, the bakery that we have been eagerly awaiting since reading about it some months ago opened last Friday. It’s hidden in a laneway (as with everything good in Melbourne) off the section of Little Collins St between Queen & Elizabeth St. They had a soft opening with the cafe and are planning to expand into the back section with a casual-style restaurant later on.

At the moment, there is a selection of baguette sandwiches, pies and salads to choose from for lunch, or you can take one of their sourdough loaves away. We went with a chicken cooked in white wine pie and it was to-die-for.

Sweet pastries are also available, and one of the best spots to have your coffee, in my opinion, is the standing bar.

I’m waiting for them to go full steam ahead and keeping my fingers crossed that there will be many more varieties of bread in the future. In the meantime though, I couldn’t resist purchasing one of their chocolate and fruit loaves (price varies depending on size). I nibbled on this all the way back to the office. I mean, it’s carbs and chocolate all-in-one!

I went past the recently expanded Haighs store in the Block Arcade yesterday afternoon, thinking that I would pick up some of their solid milk chocolate eggs. There was a long line in front of both registers, quite a few empty shelves and no milk eggs. Guess I was a little too late.

I wandered over to the slightly less hectic Koko Black shop. They are selling Easter Bunnies starting at $35, so if you really want a treat…

Thanks to Matt for getting my photo editor back on track too!

I think we have just had some of the best noodles in town!

At Noodle Kingdom, of which there are two branches, they make all the noodles in-house. If you visit the one on Russell St, you can watch the chef ‘hand-pulling’ the noodles to order, dunking them in the rapidly boiling water to cook just before serving. We also saw some traditional noodle pieces getting made, the chef pinching the dough off and flicking them straight into the vat of water.

A. and I pored over the menu for some time trying to decide what to order. As always, the spicy minced pork noodles looked tempting but with the help of the waitress we decided to try the spicy pork and vegetable stirfried noodles and the traditional lanzhou beef soup noodles for something different.

The stirfried noodles were beautifully done – perfectly al dente, full of wok-flavour and erring on the dry rather than oily side. There were onions and capsicum pieces resting alongside the pork, all flavoured with chilli oil. You could tell the noodles were handmade, without that perfect equal thickness of each strand. This made our meal even more enjoyable because of the difference in texture.

The soup noodles were also quite exceptional. The beef stock was even more flavoursome than Vietnamese pho stock and the roast beef sufficiently salty to satisfy A’s tastebuds. The beef to noodle ratio would be a little higher but we’re going to use the leftover noodles for another dish later on in the week.

Two thumbs up from me!!!

Noodle Kingdom

175 Russell St, Melbourne 3000
(03) 9654 2828

51 Main St, Box Hill 3128
(03) 9899 3133

There are so many events on this weekend that one hardly knows how to spend one’s time – the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, the Antipodes Festival, the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show, the 12th FINA World Championships. As much as I love the latter two, I couldn’t go past the International Flour Festival that took place this weekend as part of the food festival.

The YUZU catering company does some really inventive and tasty food. We had the seafood okonomiyaki to kick off our afternoon and a side dish of sun balls (behind the prawns), which are like arancini with an asian kick – rice, shitakes, sesame seeds.

Next up, a ‘Paesan’ pizza from Pizza Farro who specialise in spelt pizza bases which are lighter in texture and great for wheat-intolerant pizza lovers.

I have never been a big fan of Mexican food but assumed that I hadn’t tried any authentic yet. Los Amates claims to be ‘the place where Mexicans come to eat’ however their Sopes didn’t do much to win me over. The handmade case is slightly sour in flavour and the refried bean, salsa and cheese topping tasteless. Is it just that my tastebuds are not tuned into Mexican food or is there a place someone can recommend me that would awaken them?

Alaysa Turkish Restaurant had a yummy looking stand filled with boreks and thick fluffy-based pizzas.

I had been craving naan and curry for some weeks now so it was fortuitous that Tandoori Den Camberwell was there. We shared a combination platter which had a scoop of each curry (butter chicken, dhall, vegetable, beef vindaloo), 2 samosas, rice and a piece of naan. Butter chicken is still my favourite but their beef vindaloo was up there too.

AMES had a stand that was selling curries and stews the like of which I had never come across. Unfortunately, we had had our fill and couldn’t try all these out

It was a great day overall but I can’t understand why there was pretty much only one stall representing each cuisine when Melbourne has some of the most amazing restaurants around. If it’s okay to have several bread stalls, then why not two or three Japanese food stands or more than one stall making roti. Surely there would not be too much overlap? Maybe that’s something to consider for next year…

On Saturday morning, we wandered across Carlton Gardens to Brunswick St in search of some coffee. that’s how we stumbled upon Mario’s, which we now know is a bit of an institution having been on Brunswick St for over 20 years.

The french toast was made with a multigrain bread, which gave it an unusual crunch, and served with real maple syrup. We also had bacon on the side to off-set the sweetness of the maple syrup.

The prices are really reasonable here and they do a fantastic cofffee.

Mario’s Cafe: 303 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 3065