From one baby visit last night to another today – Pat and I met up with Connie and Michael and their little tike Matthew for brunch. It was actually a goodbye brunch as Connie and Michael are soon heading off back to Australia to set up house 🙁

One of the prime considerations when you’re meeting people for a meal and you have a baby is that you need a place which is baby friendly. Del Aziz in Swiss Cottage is certainly that if the number of babies in the joint was anything to go by! I’ve never actually been to a Del Aziz but I really enjoyed the atmosphere at the Swiss Cottage venue. Large, airy and spacious – and very relaxed. Food isn’t too bad either!

Less than a year ago The Icecreamist had a short stint in Selfridges touting their boutique and edgy ice cream. More recently they have opened up permanent establishments in Covent Garden – and by establishments I mean literally two stores about one street away from each other. This I find a very odd business decision! When we visited The Icecreamist in Maiden Lane today it wasn’t very crowded … in fact we were the only customers … so I do wonder how it will get on.

Admittedly the ice cream combinations they offer are quite unique – but the price point is staggeringly expensive. Perhaps the cool factor will help with business.

Thanks to my bro for these pics

Update: 25 February I just heard that The Icecreamists are currently in the press for selling ice cream made from human breast milk!

If there is one venue where you are guaranteed a great and delicious feed it is at Caro and Nate’s dinner table. Honestly Caro really spoils me with her home cooking – tonight it was a gorgeous oven-baked whole fish followed by a delicious pie.

Both so very good!

Today was a day of feasting which started with a giant meal at Princess Gardens with Nate and Caro. In fact, I was so stuffed and full from my meal that when I left to meet Rehana I actually got confused with the correct tube stop I was meeting her at! Eventually I made my way to the correct one and had to hustle to get to our session in time – the plus to that was that I at least burnt off some of my meal from Princess Gardens. Heh heh.

For my leaving do one of the gift I was given was a Cocktails and Cupcakes course with The Cocoa Box. Rehana was also good enough to buy a voucher for herself so she could keep my company. Surprisingly when we got to the venue many of the people doing the course were couples! I guess heaps of guys buy it for their partner thinking it’s a nice romantic gift.

I wasn’t sure how the course would operate – we only had an hour and a half. Turns out the Cocktails were pre-mixed in jugs (kind of like Sangria) and only one glass was given out at the start, and the Cupcakes came pre-baked. Basically the cupcake making part was us simply decorating the cupcakes – even the sugar craft and cream toppings was pre-made. But this didn’t end up being too bad a thing as it meant we could just get on with making our cupcakes pretty.

The room we were in was severely crowded. I felt they could have offered a few less places or at least tried to book a bigger room so it would be less crowded. The class was also a little disorganised – like not being systematic in ensuring everyone had their drink and not having enough supplies on the table for everyone – guess there is a fine balance.

What they taught us was not too bad though. We learnt some sugar craft skills (like how to make bows and various other shapes) and piping skills (like how to make roses). And of course we also walked away with our six decorated cupcakes. Rehana and I had an enjoyable afternoon and because of the way the course was run spent much of it swapping gossip.

The finished products:

Rehana’s

Mine

I’ve been meaning to go to Zilli Fish for a long time but never quite seemed to make it there so when Jenny suggested it for our dinner tonight I was very happy. We decided to try their set menu deal – which was actually pretty good value since it actually took things from the a la carte menu rather than having separate special dishes. Of course it was limited by choice but had enough options to make both of us happy.

For starters I decided on the Deep Fried Paprika Whitebait with Lemon & Tartar Sauce and Jenny opted for the Pork & Prawn Dim Sum Pan Fried and served with Asian Dressing

For mains neither of us could go past the grilled sea bass on a bed of mash.

Food was lovely and fresh, atmosphere was vibrant, and service wasn’t overboard or underwhelming. I’d be happy to visit Zilli Fish again.

I chose Urbane for a restaurant experience as I was looking for something a little edgy, a little different, and something taking advantage of the local produce. In Urbane I’d say that pretty much ticked the boxes. That’s not to say the food was extra special or unique – but it was well presented, .

Unfortunately I didn’t note down what we were actually eating! But there were things like foie gras, jellies, heaps of herbs/flower type garnishings, black squid ink, fresh veg, fresh seafood, ice cream with savoury dishes, crispy pork belly made an appearance (yay), a cheese sorbet with dessert … I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

If there was one thing that was disappointing at Urbane it was the service. It was fairly responsive at the start but really died away at the end … and it was a long wait between some of the courses. Sure give us time to enjoy it – but not too long!

Last night Lana and I dined at Aria. No, not the well-known Sydney Aria, arguably one of Australia’s top restaurants, but the Brisbane outpost. Still, with the same co-owners (Matt Moran and Peter Sullivan) I was expecting something pretty special. The location couldn’t have been more perfect – at Eagle Street Pier and right on the river we had a beautiful view out to the Story Bridge, and as the evening fell it was nice to have the lights of the City switch on to give the Brisbane River and entirely new perspective.

After deciding that we would go for the tasting menu we were started on our journey with a chilled potato and leek soup. I’m not that keen on soups which are cold but I guess I could understanding serving it on a warm summer’s day. Kind of refreshing too I guess in getting our palette’s cleansed.

First course on our tasting menu was a seared loin and tartare of tuna with soy braised crispy pork, pear and daikon salad and ponzu dressing. Very fresh tuna and the citrus flavour of the ponzu dressing lifted the dish nicely, the crisp of the pork gave a nice texture to the dish.

The second course of shaved jamón ibérico with tomato, dried olives, and toasted brioche didn’t really thrill me – but it was never going to with two items I don’t appeal to me – the jamon and the olives. Tomato and brioche were pretty good though.

The scallops up next were divine. Pan fried and served with sautéed cuttlefish, witlof and radish salad and sauce nero – I wanted the scallops to last the whole meal. Yum. Not sure about the weird jelly that was served with it …

We were building up nicely now only to be disappointed by an over seasoned peking duck consommé with duck dumpling and Asian mushroom. On its own the dumpling was nice, soft and flavourful but the consommé was so overpowering that neither of could finish our dishes. A crime!

The next two meat dishes were an improvement on the duck consommé. Confit Bangalow Sweet Pork belly, fresh figs, spice walnut with apple and crackling salad was very simple in its presentation but lovely going down. Though let’s be honest, unless you do your pork belly and crackling seriously wrong, its not often that I would say this kind of dish would disappointment. I love pig!

Aged fillet with onion puree, sautéed mushrooms and red wine sauce was well cooked. Beef was very tender and the onion puree was nice. Its just a shame that we both started to feel really full at this stage and it was almost too rich for us. Didn’t stop me finishing it though …

A palette cleanser (pineapple granita with a creme fraiche foam) …

… and then we were on to the final course of the night – Dessert! A simple berry consommé with a berry salad and mascarpone sorbet. A really fresh dessert showcasing the availability of the fresh fruit available in Queensland. I loved the mascarpone sorbet.

At Aria coffee and Petit Fours form part of the tasting menu to round out your meal and as a surprise they give you a parting gift of macaroons.

I kind of have mixed feelings about my experience at Aria. Food was above average and certainly well presented though not (consistently) the most amazing I have had. Probably a little disappointing that there wasn’t anything in the food that was unique or adventurous. Service was a bit mixed. Fairly good early on but as the restaurant slowly started to fill up got progressively less responsive (I had to ask for my water to be topped up a couple of times.) Additionally they over-charged us! But I should have checked the credit card slip I guess … and they were good today in arranging the refund pretty quickly (after I called them.) On the other hand as a plus they weren’t rushing us to get us out of the restaurant and they chased us down a the end of the night to give us our macaroons.

Overall a pleasant experience.

Taking my food obsession to Australia I dragged Stephen along to Vue Du Monde, one of Melbourne’s top restaurants and arguably one of Australia’s finest restaurants. I don’t think Stephen has yet quite experienced the whole over the top fine dining scenes that I have recently fallen into – and I wasn’t sure how prepared he was to be adventurous with our dining – but I was he enjoyed himself tonight and was happy to eat nearly everything only side stepping the very strong blue cheese at the end of our meal.

The best thing about Vue Du Monde – it was literally around the corner from our hotel so we could roll our bodies easily home … ha! I think it is set to move soon though to top of the Rialto Towers (55 floors!), which would have been a pretty cool venue with views over all of Melbourne.

The dining area is fairly intimate at Vue Du Monde – but the space is broken up by walls and decorations and other bits and pieces which help to form smaller spaces so as to not feel like you’re in one vast dining room. The kitchen is wide open to the interested diners complete with a mirror sitting on top so that you can see what the chefs are preparing at the moment. We were happy to be seated at a table which was pretty much facing the kitchen (with a couple of tables in between) and also happy to see the man himself, Shannon Bennett make an appearance later on in the evening.

Décor in general was interesting featuring bare (but giant) light bulbs hanging next to wine glasses filled with greenery and the china was a mixture of modern and old and mis-matching glasses. So, from all this what would the food be like! Well, it was quite complex but simple at the same time. Making use over many fine and rich ingredients it felt like quite a balanced but challenging meal. I was hard-pressed to write down everything that was going on in our dishes. We were later emailed a copy of the menu later which was quite a nice touch.

Service was excellent at all times tonight – as fitting in a restaurant such as this every person service our food new everything about it. Often the servers were chefs from the kitchen. Water was constantly topped up. If there was any fault at all it was that the staff were mainly men! But I won’t hold that against them …

But, on to the main reason we were at Vue Du Monde … the food!

Our amuse bouche was a very delicately toffeed smoked eel with caviar. We were instructed to eat it with our hands – presumably you were supposed to throw it all in. The contrast of the sweet with the smokiness of the eel was appealing in this dish.

Next up were a trio of dishes consisting of: Blue fin tuna with sake balls and an Oyster emulsion of bone marrow on edible sand.

And on a separate plate was the apple taste of mint clear cellophane dumpling of buttermilk. Or something llike that. When we first saw the dumpling we weren’t sure what we were looking at as the dumpling was so transparent. Really cute.

We were then served our bread which were sour dough flavoured by beer and fennel. Unusual but I guess beer is kind of like a yeast!

Our first official starter was a fresh Whiting and Summer vegetables. The whole dish didn’t have the most intense flavours in the world but it was very pretty.

One of my favourite dishes of the night was our next one of was the Marron on a Hot river stone, Spanner crab sandwich, and Brown butter emulsion. Another dish to eat with the hands – was disappointed when I got through so quickly. The brown butter emulsion was amazing. Good texture came from the crispy crab sandwhich.

A chef from the kitchen came out to finish off our next dish which was an incredibly rich Fried Duck Egg, ,Lamb Sweetbreads, Puree of White Asparagus and Truffle. The truffle was the chef’s final touch as he shaved it over our dishes at our table. We were told that the duck has been slowly cooked at the exact temperature (something like 63 degrees for 37 mnutes?)

Pushing the boat in something a little different was our next dish which served almost as a palette cleanser although it would be insulting to call it that. Goats cheese served as frozen snow courtesy of a little bit of liquid nitrogen, with a pea puree, warm peas and bacon stir fried with shallots and a Rye bread crouton. The cold and hot mixed well and again another favorite dish.

Then we got our official palette cleanser of Cucumber sorbet, elderflower granita, frozen lime.

There were a couple of themes emerging tonight including the fact the chef must like smoked items! Our next course was a Beetroot and Smoked bone marrow – Paper thin sliced beetroot, carabi, beetroot logs and smoked bone marrow sauce. Not sure I was loving this one so much as I’d loved the other dishes – it was very well smoked is all I can say so good thing the beetroot was there to offset the smokiness.

Taking a couple of ingredients which are readily available in Australia was our next dish of Kangaroo, Macadamia, Cabbage, and Blackberry. You can’t really make out the kangaroo but trust me is in there! Only neg was the little bit of grit in Stephen’s lettuce that took away from the dish a bit.

Continuing on with the meat theme we had our next course served over two plates. The two plates I’m sure wasn’t entirely necessary but probably a way to keep the flavours separated. Wagyu beef cheek (divine) and a Radish salad. The beef cheek had been slowly braised for over 16 hours so was incredibly tender and melt in our mouths.

That was sadly the finale of our savoury courses. Well, unless you count the next course of cheese! A Blue Sapphire and an Old Telegraph cheddar for Stephen, both served with fried rye bread and stewed plum.

Check out this toothpick holder thing. I’m sure we weren’t the first guests to be totally enthralled by it. When the waiter brought it out he had the cheekiest look on his face like he couldn’t wait to see us play with the thing.

But speaking of fun. How much fun were our desserts! First up we had a Frozen lolly with popping candy and the Smoking House lemonade cutely served in a medicine bottle.

Then we had a very colourful Pavlova with thin slivers of cucumber, strawberries, cubed pineapple, mango sorbet, crispy meringue, soft meringue, some dried dry fruit (sliced paper thin and totally crispy) and one other fruit which remains unidentified.

The whole meal was wrapped up by a Chocolate Souffle. Incredibly moist and delicate it came with a test tube stabbed into the centre. The vanilla crème anglais was then poured into the middle to fuse with the soft melted chocolate mousse in the centre. Nice performance piece.

Well, that wasn’t quite the end of the meal with some amusing petit fours including:

Lemon jujubes and Mini Lamingtons and Toasted Rose Marshmallows on a stone

And the cutest cigar box which contained … Pineapple Licorice!

And as if Vue Du Monde hadn’t already given us enough we even got breakfast to go! Breakfast included a mini loaf of bread, biscuits, muesli and even a herbal. Shannon Bennett we had an awesome time!