Week 4- Society

It was Pete's choice this week and after much deliberation and google map checking he decided we would try Society. It is an Italian restaurant at 23 Bourke St, Melbourne. Once again, very easy to get to, just hop on the tram across from my work and get dropped off literally across the road from the restaurant.
First impression was that it was nice and cosy. Soft lighting and Michael Buble playing in the background made it nice and relaxing. A waitress with a case of the hiccoughs showed us to a table near the window and gave us a wine list. We sat there for a while, a bit surprised that we hadn't got a menu. Eventually Pete got her attention and asked if they do in fact take orders for meals and could we have a menu. She seemed a bit put out, grabbed the wine list and the glasses! When she came back with our menus, we thanked her and said we would like to order wine as well, but we didnt know what type to get until we knew what we were eating.
Anyway, we decided what we'd like and thought we would just order separate meals this time, an entree, main and dessert, rather then a tasting menu and run the risk of missing the last train of the night and having to walk home!
She mentioned what the specials were and I settled on the pasta with prawns, scallops and broccollini and Pete had twice cooked duck in flaky pastry layers with dill orange coulis and poached celeriac. For our mains I chose, Pan seared pork rib-eye with apricot and pistachio glaze and apple cider jelly, while Pete opted for Blue eye-fillet (black angus and wagyu cross) (well-done) which had been grain fed for 400 days, porcini mash, glazed prunes and dolcetto jus. The waitress said the rib-eye didn't come with anything else and thought we might like to order a side dish, so we had a bowl of hand cut chips.
We were given a plate with some bread annd oil for dipping. I dont like just plain oil and so I was trying to get the balsamic vinegar that was at the bottom of the dish. I now think it wasnt vinegar at all, but the bowl had a black bottom. Needless to say I just had plain bread. Oh and there were olives too..very nice. At least I didn't get black drips on the tablecloth this time. You can take me anywhere!
We also chose a bottle of Chianti as we love to drink that when we can..and when in an Italian restaurant..drink italian!
Our poor waitress still had the hiccoughs, and after the initial hiccough (the service not the ones coming from her) we relaxed and had a lovely evening. The servings of the entrees were just right, they were both delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed them. I was more then happy with my prawns and scallops and the pasta was al-dente. Pete said his duck was very well cooked and even though it was plated up to look like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, without the leaning bit, it was all delicious.
We had waiters hovering around, ready to top up our wine and water glasses. I swear I only had one glass, although Pete reckons I drank 60% of the bottle..just because they kept filling it before I had a chance to actually finish it.
The mains were wonderful. Pete's steak was cooked to his liking, even slightly charred on the outside and the mash and everything else on the plate went down a treat. My rib-eye was basically two pork chops on a plate with apple sauce, but they were sooo yummy, although I did miss the crackle. The chips on the side hit the spot and we both finished them off easily.
After this we asked for the dessert menu and I chose the Chilled white chocolate cream served with peppered strawberries & a mint syrup. Pete saw that there was a Chef's daily assortment platter so he picked that.
Now, all the food was very quick coming out and we weren't waiting too long in between courses, in fact it was just the right length of time.
The desserts came and I found the strawberries really a bit peppery, but when i had them with a spoonful of the cream, they were delicious. Pete had quite a selection of desserts, which I tried most of them out, and the chocolate icecream with some kind of nut in it would have been my favorite. There was also some sorbet and even a strawberry dipped in white chocolate. Some pears, one that was poached in cranberry jus and also a piece of hazelnut almond nougat.

We were finished eating by just after 7pm. As the tram stop was right across the road, we didnt have to walk far and the tram was coming just as we were leaving. We made it to the station in time for the 7.25 train home and we were home by around 8.15pm

We really enjoyed the food, the service was very good and the atmosphere of this small restaurant was very relaxing. I would recommend it to anyone. One thing though, you might like to take a night light or torch with you as the lighting is that dim it was very hard for people arriving later to actually read the menus. The waiter had to hold a candle up so the people on the table next to us could see what they were ordering!

Total cost, including the bottle of chianti was $219

Week 3- Kri Kri

My choice again this week and I had been wanting to try Greek for a while so I found Kri Kri. The restaurant is at 39-41 Little Bourke St, Melbourne. We were able to make an early booking this time, so we went for 5.30pm.
We caught the tram opposite the station which took us right up Bourke Street and we got off just before Exhibition St and walked the short distance. Once again we were the only people there and the waiter seemed very friendly and showed us to a table. The restaurant was very relaxing and I felt very comfortable and ready to sample some real Greek cuisine.
We decided to give the Dinner Banquet a go, but we didn't want 2 of the courses, which were Calamari and Octopus, and the waiter said that was fine and we could substitute them with something else, so we asked for his suggestion and he said lamb cutlets and also a mushroom course.
We decided to have a bottle of wine this week and we chose Pinot Noir from New Zealand which was very nice.
The waiter first brought out some bread which was delicious and straight out of the oven, we were starving and tucked into that but thought we better save some room as the banquet had 12 courses including dessert and then coffee.

DINNER BANQUET # 1

$41.50 per person, minimum 2 persons

Mixed Dips Varied Dips

Dolmathes Vine Leaves wrapped with rice & herbs

Saganaki Grilled Kefalograviera cheese with lemon

Arnissia Paithakia Chargrilled lamb cutlets

Loukanika Grilled spicy Pork and orange Sausage

Yiganthes Lima Beans braised with tomato & onion

Keftethes Char-grilled Meatballs

Kotopoulo Scaras Char-grilled Chicken skewers

Patates Sto Fourno Oven baked Potatoes with lemon & oregano

Village Salata Greek salad

Baklava - Walnut-filled pastry fingers steeped in syrup

Coffee- Greek coffee and a latte

Now, there seems a lot to eat, but once again the servings weren't huge. We enjoyed every course, except Pete did not eat the mushroom one, although he did try it (good boy). The courses were very fast coming to the table and sometimes we had 4 of the courses on the table at one time. This meant we were not going to be very late leaving. The waiter as I said was friendly but didn't stop and explain what each course was and a few times we actually asked him. I enjoyed the food, but I think I was a little disappointed in that it tasted like every day food to me, and the fried cheese everyone had always raved about, just seemed like grilled cheese on toast without the toast.
We left there quite full and this time we had everything in our favour and just caught a tram which meant we got to the station to just catch our train, the 7.25 meaning we got home just before 8.30, which meant we were able to tape something we'd been wanting to watch.

Overall, very nice food, friendly staff, but maybe not authentic greek cuisine like I'd hoped for.

Total cost including the bottle of wine was $121.50

Week 2 - Verge

This week was Pete's choice and so he decided we would try Verge. The restaurant is described as a mecca of modern European cuisine that sees traditional techniques entwined with definite Japanese influences. It is at 1 Flinders Lane in Melbourne, so we caught the tram up Collins, right to Spring St, and then walked the short distance . Once again we were early, so we walked around that area, and saw there were quite a few other restaurants that are also listed in our book. When it got close to 6pm, we went inside Verge and sat down at a table in the bar and after telling the waiter we were waiting to have dinner, he brought some water over for us. A few minutes later, Ainsley, from the restaurant came down and showed us upstairs to our table. We were the only people there at this time, and we realise that because we make the bookings for 6, which is convenient for us as it is straight after work, that it is very early for other people, and have found that as we are leaving after dinner, that that is the time most people actually come to eat.
After we sat and Ainsley gave us the menus and wine list, we decided to try the tasting menu. This meant we get 5 courses of different foods to sample. They also call this the degustation menu, which means sample. We had to pick our courses from the menu, we also both had to have the same thing so we thought we'd pick 2 each and then we'd agree on the dessert course. So, I picked Kingfish Tiradito,crisp school prawns,fennel and coriander caviar. My second choice was rolled rabbit loin, braised leg quinoa,pickled apple,chestnuts,crisp carrot. Pete chose Lamb rump, pressed shoulder,parsnip,onion, roasted rice consomme. His second choice was Roast Dory, vegetable escabeche ,liquid black olive,basil powder. For dessert we agreed on Pistacchio and white chocolate parfait, citrus noodle,rhubarb,sesame meringue. The waitress said we made excellent choices, and once again we decided to leave the wine selection to her and so we had 2 glasses each. One red (chianti) and one white (traminer)
Firstly rolls were brought to the table, one white and one wholemeal and also some butter (unsalted) with a small container with salt (why not just make it salted butter!)
Our first course came out quite quickly and if someone could have taken a photo of our faces they would have been priceless, as the plate were huge and then there was this tiny little plated up creation in the middle. I do mean tiny, but it was very delicious, but definately only a sample. In fact, we enjoyed every course, except for the lamb as it was only cooked medium rare, so it was a bit undercooked for us and there was a bit of fat which made that our least favorite course. I dont remember having rabbit before, but I really enjoyed that course and the two fish courses were really nice.
The time between the courses was quite long, which was surprising as we basically could finish them in one mouthful. I think it took the chef longer to make the plates look 'pretty' then it did for us to eat them. Now, we had arrived at 6pm, and just before 8 we had to ask Ainslie if we could have our dessert fairly quickly as we had to make our train. She did get it out to us fast, and this was delicious, although once again very tiny. We paid the bill and almost flew out the door.
We missed the 8.25 train and the next one wasn't till 9.55, meaning we wouldn't get home till nearly 11pm.
We had so much time to kill obviously, so we ended up walking all the way down to Southern Cross station which took around 30 minutes.

Total cost including wine was $206

Overall, we enjoyed tasting the different foods, although we were disappointed with the size of the meals, as we were definately not full when we left there. Not somewhere I would go back to again, but the waitress was extremely friendly and very helpful and the courses were all explained to us in detail as they were brought out. I have to say though, it took them longer to describe what the course consisted of then it took us to eat them.

Week 1- Allegro

We had decided that we would take it in turns of choosing the restaurant to go to and the first week was my pick. We want to try as many as we can from the gold section of our 'entertainment guide' Allegro is situated at 205 Collins St, Melbourne. Pete met me after work and we took the tram up Collins Street and only had to walk across the road from the tramstop. We were fairly early as I had booked the table for 6pm and as I finished work at 5, and we didn't have to wait long for a tram, we had heaps of time to kill. Pete walked me up to see where the restaurant 'Fifteen' is. He had gone there for lunch a few months back with his work. After doing this, we still had time so thought we'd go and sit down and grab a coffee. Allegro is on the 1st floor of the Westin Hotel, and as we went in the front doors of the hotel we noticed they had a bar/coffee lounge so we thought we might sit there and get our coffee and wait till 6. We walked to the bar and a dressed up waiter met us and showed us to a table and then gave us menus. We looked through them because all we wanted was a flat white, and all they had in the way of coffee was espresso, so we gave up on the idea of coffee and went to another section of the ground floor and sat till it was time to head up to the restaurant. I must admit I was a bit wary of the restaurants that are in the gold section of our guide, as they are all referred to as fine dining. The finest dining I had ever been to was the clean tables in McDonalds...haha just kidding, but nonetheless I was wondering what it would be like. We were met by a friendly waitress who took us to our table, near the window that overlooked Collins St. She then placed our serviettes on our laps and gave us our food and wine menus, and also asked if we'd like some iced water. She left and we had a look over the menus and decided on which main we wanted and also dessert. We thought three courses might be too much. We did however order 2 side dishes. One was truffle cauliflower mornay gratin and the other was tempura sweet potato with wasabi mayonnaise. For our mains, Pete chose blue cheese crusted veal loin with champ potatoes, beer battered onion rings and port syrup
and I had panseared fillet of barramundi served on a fricassee of brussel sprouts, bacon and mussels with a verjuice nage. We had a waitress by this stage called Jean, and she was very helpful, especially when we put the choice of wine in her hands. As I was having fish she suggested a Madfish Chardonnay and as Pete had Veal, she suggested a Madfish Cabernet Sauvignon. After she took our orders, we had some bread and oil/seeds/balsamic vinegar brought to the table, which were very welcome as we were quite hungry. Who ever decides on these lovely crispy white tablecloths needs to rethink it, especially when some clumsy people will inevitably splash a bit of black dressing onto the abovementioned tablecloths. Yeah, right! take me anywhere :)
We didnt have to wait long at all until the mains arrived. And when we saw the size of them we were glad that we had ordered the side dishes, but when they arrived however, they were huge, but delicious. I especially liked the tempura sweet potatos, which really were like very delicately battered potato cakes, and the mayonnaise was just creamy enough to compliment them perfectly. The mains were both plated up high in layers, so there was plenty of room around the plates to load up with the sides. What we are trying to do is taste different things and the flavours of all the things on the plate were really delicious and we both enjoyed them immensely.
When it came to ordering dessert, we thought we'd try a tasting plate. This meant we got 3 different desserts to try,. These were, cappuccino cheesecake with baileys irish cream custard sauce ,also, warm lemon and rosemary pudding with double cream and raspberry compote, and finally chocolate & hazelnut dacquoise with mango salsa . These were all very yummy, and although the servings weren't huge, we were very full when we left.

The meal, including wine and a tip cost $160.

We left there around 7.20pm, meaning we just missed the 7.25 train home. Finally grabbed that coffee at a kiosk at the station and caught the 8.25 train , arriving home at around 9.15.

We both enjoyed the evening and our selection of food and new tastes. The service was very efficient and we would highly recommend it.

How it All Began

Pete and I decided that when we were finally working our dream hours at our respective workplaces, that we would endeavour to try out a new restaurant and have new tasting experiences every Wednesday night. We chose that night as this is basically our "Friday". We now only work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday every week. I know, you must all be thinking, 'wow, arent' they lucky?', and yes, we are, but after all these years of working so hard (me), it was about time we got to relax (Pete). So, this leads me to our new blog which will be updated weekly after our latest culinary experience. I will try and keep the language simple, which is what I would have liked these restaurants to have done, because I find it really hard sometimes to work out what some of these words in menus mean. After all, who knew that tartare of beef was actually raw beef? I thought it was something in the vein of tartare sauce, so I would have expected a sweet and sour dish...but no! Pete and I found out the hard way when we were in Switzerland and ordered that for dinner one night. If meat was not meant to be cooked, then why did man create the frypan?!