Food, incorrect bills and dogs with shoes…

So with my friend bernie staying in the western suburbs for a while it was decided that she needed to experience some of the more cultured areas west of the bridge. So Laine organised dinner for her, Oscar and myself (and Tahlia of course!!) at a little place in Yarraville called the Cornershop.

Very rustic setup – old style school  bench for a seat, big wooden tables and a high roof. Big windows letting in lots of the setting sun on a gorgeous Melbourne night – disappointingly this sunset was shining straight into my eyes. “Don’t worry it doesn’t take long to set at this time of day” was the comment from the waitress. No worries Love, just allow me 20 or so minutes to recover from my temporary blindness before I can begin to read the menu.

About this point it was decided Oscar and I needed to get some cash out from the local hole in the wall. While we were getting our money what did we see, but a dog walking past with black shoes on its feet!! I kid you not! I am not sure if they were wetsuit type material or what, but it had shoes on.

So while we were gone Laine had basically decided the menu, which all appeared very organic and fancy (and no Coke at this restaurant!). The selected dishes to share for the evening were:

Olives and Turkish bread

Meatballs

Sauteed Kipfler Potatoes

Calamari Salad

Lamb Chops

Roast Duck Salad

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

As I don’t eat olives I can’t really give a review but everyone else raved about them, so I guess that’s a thumbs up. The meatballs were full of flavour – I could’ve eaten half a dozen of the things they were that good! Size wise they were about as big as a golf ball with a napolitana style sauce (which tasted almost as if from a jar) and rocket. This place loves rocket!! The potatoes came at the same time and were basically cut into think circles and appeared to be more shallow fried than sauteed, but hey, they’s just me and I liked them anyway, so I won’t complain.

The calamari salad and lamb chops arrived next. The calamari was very tender and quite nice, although fairly hidden amongst a plate of you guessed it, rocket! The lamb seemed a little dry to me, but was served with a nice tzatziki dip.

About this point the bill arrived – with double the amount of drinks we had ordered, and including the 2 meals that were yet to appear on our table. We thought this odd and pointed out the incorrect drinks. That set straight I then asked as to why the bill had arrived so soon given we were still waiting on 2 dishes – and hadn’t even considered dessert yet!! Apparently there was a mixup and the waitress thought we had asked for it.

Sorted and out came the duck, followed not long after by the chicken. The duck salad was very nice – i am sure there was plenty of rocket in there again but disguised amongst the spring onion and bits of chilli. It was a nice salad although, again, the duck seemed a bit dry. The dryness of the lamb and duck was outweighed by the moistness of the massive piece of chicken that arrived on the table. Almost the size of a dinner plate and encrusted with parmesan and bread crumbs, this was my highlight of the night! Mouth watering, soft chicken mixed with crunchy parmesan – the flavour of the cheese not overpowering but the perfect balance.

We then order some coffees – rumours had been floating around the table that this place made good, nay, great coffee – and some cinnamon donuts with chocolate sauce. The donuts (shouldn’t that be doughnuts in Oz?) along with 2 coffees and Lorraine’s tea. Strangely missing was my coffee – but I gave them a few minutes grace, a good coffee takes time. After noticing nothing happening at the coffee machine, I again questioned the waitress to which my coffee arrived quite quickly after that. the donuts were cooked just how I like, crunchy on the outside and nice and soft inside with a chocolate sauce that was not overly rich but thick enough that I could pick that little ball of dough up in my hand and smear the chocolate off my plate. YUM!!! And after the wait for the coffee, I gotta admit, it was very good!!

So now, it is time for bed – I feel like I haven’t stopped all day. Tomorrow night I am off to a friends for dinner, should be a great night.

Oh and today my gorgeous little girl rolled over for the first time by herself!! YAY!!! 🙂

Bistro Guillaume @ Crown – Melbourne

Two weeks ago I was fortunate enough to dine out at this amazing new restaurant from chef Guillaume Brahimi located in Melbourne Crown complex. Brahimi comes with a big reputation – working for Joel Robuchon at the 3 Michelin star, Jamin in Paris. After this he moved to Australia and was head chef at several Sydney restaurants, finally opening his own, Guillaume at Bennelong, at Sydney’s famed Opera House. Six years later he opened his Melbourne restaurant.

Positioned in between Nobu and Rockpool, this two storey restaurant is wonderfully set out. I didn’t get a chance to make it to the bar downstairs, but if it is anything like the upstairs, then the spiral staircase will lead to a wonderful surround.

The menu is wonderful and can been viewed on the restaurant’s website and I went for the French Onion Soup as entree and the Chargrilled Kingfish (which doesn’t actually appear on the website menu). The soup was superb. Lots of onion and the soup was a wonderful consistancy, just a little stickiness that you get with French Onion but not overly rich. The Kingfish was cooked to perfection, and was served with what was almost a tomato salsa. Without any of the sauce, the fish was a little flavourless, and the accompaniment was a little overpowering when mixed. The lamb special that Lorraine had on the other hand was perfect. Tender, melt in your mouth braised lamb. Superb!!

If only I could remember what I had for dinner. All I know is that it was good – and involved chocolate – just for something different!!

 

Overall, I found the experience fantastic. Afterall, a place such as this isn’t just a night out to dinner, you are paying for the reputation and the experience of the whole event. The surroundings were classy and even though the restaurant was full, it never appeared loud in there.

 

Food – 7.5/10 – If only the Kingfish wasn’t so overpowered by the sauce that went with it.

Kobe Jones – Docklands, Melbourne

Situated just down from “New Quay” at Docklands is Kobe Jones’ Melbourne restaurant. Set on the 2nd floor with views back towards the CBD/Telstra Dome, and all the way around towards Port Melbourne and the Bolte Bridge this was the location of another wintry night out in Melbourne.

With the temperature lucky to be cracking about 5 degrees, we managed, luckily to find a car park close by. For those that have ventured down to Docklands, you will know how difficult this can be, made even moreso by the fact that the Day of the Diocese event was happening at Telstra Dome (and here was I thinking this to be the perfect location for dinner given the footy was at the MCG!). Being someone who has only been to this part of town once or twice before it wasn’t easy to find the restaurant (signage is quite lacking until you reach the water side of the buildings along Docklands Drive).

Once upstairs we were greeted by a candlelit restaurant that was only about 10% full. We were shown to our window seat and began to peruse the menu. Almost everything on there sounds like it would be worth a try, however, we managed to “contain” ourselves and ordered the Green Tea Salmon, Chicken Kara Age and the Kobe Beef.

All the meals arrived in very good time (although given the amount of people in the place, it wasn’t a surprise). What was a surprise was that the Kobe Beef is a dish you cook yourself. Served up with a VERY hot granite stone, you cook the meat pieces to your liking, along with some salt and peppers and some sauces. Described as “even better than Wagyu”, I was a little disappointed with the quality of the beef. It was a little chewy, but otherwise, very nice.

The Chicken Kara Age on the other hand was amazing! Fried chicken with teriyaki sauce, I couldn’t stop myself…in fact, when it came time to order another dish, I was wanting another one of these!! The Green Tea Salmon was quite good too. It had a very nice flavour to it, without the green tea flavour being too powerful. The wasabi mash though, wasn’t very spicy.

Once we got through these 3 dishes, it was time for more food (just one more) and after hoping for more chicken, we decided to try another dish, the Island Style Ahi Special – pan seared Tuna with a nori sesame crust. Essentially a sashimi dish if you ask me. Very lightly seared, with diced tomato, pepper and avocado and a wasabi dressing. The tuna just melted in your mouth, although at times the wasabi dressing was a little overpowering.

Next up was dessert!! I tried the Yokan. While I had no idea what the description meant, it had the word chocolate in it, and I was intent on giving it a try. It was almost like a cheescake, and I am still not even sure what it was, but it was very rich and very tasty!! Definitely a must try.

 

Once we got through the dessert it was time to head back out into the cold Melbourne night and head for home, another very good Melbourne restaurant ticked off the list. The setting was very nice, and the food was very good, was it worth the cost of the meals (you can view a menu and pricing on the website)? I am not sure about that, maybe if this was located in the CBD or Southbank then definitely. However, being at Docklands, there isn’t really anything else to do, which makes it very difficult to get a good meal and a show.

I think this is what lets this restaurant down, the location. I think if the City of Melbourne, or whoever is responsible for this part of town gets their act together and gets a little more in the area other than Telstra Dome and restaurants, then maybe it will be a good place to go. If I was Kobe Jones, I would be looking to get into an area like Crown/Southbank, or even, the top end of Collins/Little Collins St. Then this restaurant would be perfect.

 

Anyway, if you happen to find yourself in Docklands, and looking for a place to eat, or even a Japanese restaurant that isn’t “full-on” Japanese, then this is certainly a very good place to eat.

7/10 – Thanks to the out of the way location (otherwise it probably would’ve been an 8).

 

 

A trip to Sydney this week for work, and hopefully a chance to eat out at least once. Otherwise, you will just get my review of the Marriott’s room service menu and breakfast, and the pleasures of dealing with 100s of 1000s of Catholics invading Australia’s busiest city for World Youth Day.