Taste of Melbourne - Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton (Part II)

This was a funny display right in front of Circa, The Prince. Not too sure why it was there. I really wanted to try the Qual Kieve horseradish spiced coleslaw from them, but there was no room in my tummy!

Can you spot Philippe Mouchel from The Brasserie?



I would have liked to try the cured Tasmanian ocean trout, salad of kipler potato, but we had already dined on Verge's version of ocean trout



The artwork on the ceiling of this building is just so pretty... although Ms Tinymouse said that the thought of this building gives her stomach cramps (as Melb Uni uses this as one of their examination halls)




A blur shot at Jamie Oliver's fifteen... we didn't bother as there were too many people and Tobie Puttock (Head Chef) didn't make an appearance.



What the banner says is, The Press Club/ Hellenic Republic & Maha - all owned by George Colambaris



It was hard to spot George, as nearly all the male waiters/servers were bald like him



His kitchen area was huge... double the size of every other restaurant there



We tried the Spring Bay half shell scallops with tarama (a specialty of The Press Club)....

Not a fan.. but the scallop was beautiful... I should have gone for the lamb.. but the Boy doesn't it lamb.. all his fault!



The Court House



The place where I had my second last meal for the day...



The scallop and duck dishes



I tried the Confit duck baked in puff pastry, accompanied by a tomato fondue...

It was yummy, and not what I had expected... the tomato fondue was more like ketchup served on pie...

But the duck was lovely... nothing special though.. and I'm not sure if that was because I was stuffing myself...



We had 4 crowns left over.. so we bought a scoop of ice-cream (I swear I got excited the moment I saw Move 'n Pick)... we tried the VSOP flavour.. and that packed a punch, but the Boy went safe and we had chocolate... *sigh*

I fell in love with Move 'n Pick when I went to Europe last year... and I fell in love with the Ice Cream boy in Dresden Germany serving me ice cream... hot stuff.. *sigh*




More random pictures to come =)

Taste of Melbourne - Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton (Part I)

It was a glorious day... it wasn't cold.. which is a good thing in Melbourne. The Boy decided to take me to Taste of Melbourne. An event which has selections of the best restaurants, chefts and producers coming together.

Basically, a foodie's dream!!

We got there a tad early... 1 hour early... got our tickets (which were $30 each, cheaper if online $27.50).

So we decided to take a tour of the Melbourne Museum (we get free entry as we are members) and try to kill the 1 hour...

That shall have to be a different post, as this is too long already...

Came out 5 minutes to 12noon (time of when the doors open)... and there was a huge crowd!!!



Managed to finally get in, where they were handing out free copies of August 2009 Gourmet Traveller

As they were the main sponsors, that was a good thing =)



Now, the first thing we see upon entering is The Boathouse.

Owned by Gary Mehigan (one of the famed 3 judges of Australia's Masterchef).

There was a pack of people surrounding him wanting autographs and pictures.



I of course was no exception. I love that man on the show, and I told him just as much =)

He is sooooo nice in real life... exactly like how he is on screen!

He also scribbled on my copy of Gourmet.. which I will show on the last post



The menu board from The Boathouse



Clotted cream mousse with gingernut crumble... (we tried this and it was soooooo delicious, creamy and filling)



Beef, stout & onion pie floater



Falafel with sour frumenty yoghurt & coriander



Areas where people can go to sit and eat and drink and be merry....



More areas...



Next to Gary's booth, was Jacques Reymond



He's a much smaller sized figure but just as imposing as on tv...



He obliged me with a photograph



So I obliged by tasting some of his food... and we had Seared Hervey Bay scallops, Thay style Sher Wagyu beef, crispy Asian salad

The Boy ate all the wagyu, and I had the scallop with the greens... absolutely delicious.. (I can tell you, I'm definitely going to go to the restaurant)

The other dish in this picture is the Tempura of qual breast, tajine flavours, whipped Persian fetta



He also had a Martini of bittersweet chocolate, espresso jelly, bourbon vanilla chantilly... *heavenly sigh*



We then popped over next door to Verge (a restaurant I've been meaning to go, but have never gone)

They had a coffee cured ocean trout, roast cauliflower, buckwheat vinaigrette; Pressed duck leg, preserved mushrooms, smoked tofu, red miso soup; and Milk Chocolate delice, coconut & basil, salted caramel popcorn



We had the ocean trout... and it was soooo good... I admit I was curious about the whole "coffee cured" bit... I couldn't tell the difference though...



Movida was next up...



Frank Camorra was there signing and selling his book... and he looks really scary in real life... ahahah...as oppose to being still in a picture in his cook books



Silks was doing a sad lonely business



My fave place in the world, Nobu... Tadashi Takahashi (head chef) saw me snapping, and he posed for me... after that he winked! ahahahah...



Since we've had the other two dishes, we decided to go with the Pork Belly with Spicy Miso...

Best pork belly dish ever.. so smooth and tender... it melted in my mouth!



More pictures to come!!

Hutong Dumpling Bar - Melbourne

Ms Tinymouse asked if we wanted to go to Hutong? To which I replied, "What or Where on earth is Hutong?"

"It's right in front of Flower Drum."

To which I replied, "Isn't it that Korean place? Or that pub?"



Turns out Hutong, is a dumpling bar and apparently it's famed for it's fresh dumpling.

And it was right in front of Flower Drum right next to the Korean restaurant and the Pub (funny how I never paid any notice to it). I'm not a big dumpling fan and always kick up a fuss when the Boy suggests Shanghai dumplings... (and I only end up going for the La Mien)



Even with a booking, we were made to wait for a while. I found it a tad rude that the people who came in after me, were approached first (I find that sort of service rude).



(Apologies for the initial dark pictures, the Boy was frowning at my flash)

We started the dumpling ball rolling with the Prawn and Pork dumpling (steamed). It was normal, nothing fantastic... although I do have to admit, the skin was really fresh and soft...



Fried Shanghai noodles - again nothing to shout about. I've had better noodles in cheaper establishments ... but that's not to say that this was bad, just nothing special.



Xiao Long Bao - this was actually quite delicious, as I mentioned before, I'm not a huge dumpling fan and even when in Hong Kong, I refused to try XLB from Crystal Jade (silly I know, being a foodie)...

I had to try one... and it was quite yummy... the broth in the dumpling was really nice and tasty...

Ms Tinymouse kept assuring me that I did not have to "try" so that there would be more for her... lols

Much groaking was involved as well...



Pan Fried Pork Dumplings - an interesting version of it... we kept mentioning that it looked like Dumplings served on Apung (a type of light fluffy pastry found in Malaysia)... it was really crispy... but.. interesting



We also ordered chilli cuttlefish... very nicely done... not overcooked and the cuttlefish was soft and tender



We finished off with another round of Shanghai Noodles and Wan Tan's in Chilli Oil



Fun outing... good ambiance... fresh food... what more could we ask for?

Favourite words of the day? Husk (the word that started it all) and igloo... ahaha

Went on to Old Town Kopitiam for a good round of Ipoh White Coffee, bubur cha cha (mediocre) and Ice Kacang (interesting)

Ooh oh... and HAPPY BIRTHDAY BFF of mine!!! We have entered the perilous late 20's... and it's scary...


Overall Food Rating: 7/10
Restaurant ambiance: 8/10
Value for money: 7/10


Address:
14-16 Market Lane
Melbourne 3000

Phone: (03) 9650 8128

Fun House

Ahh.. this was meant to be up last week .. but a bit of this and a bit of that.. this concert post ended up here...

This is my 2nd Pink Concert.. and I hope I get to go to many more... absolutely the best!!

Went a bit late and only caught Evermore midway through... and apparently I knew more of their songs, than originally thought...



This group of family caught my attention =)



Waiting and waiting and waiting... Day 16 of her Melbourne run of the Funhouse Tour



She flew in (literally)... to a magnificent start

Check out those abs!!!



And that ass!!



It was hard to catch a good shot of her, as she was moving around so much... but it was awesome!!



Costume Change!



Another costume change and a slow blue version of Family Potrait.. which I loved



This time round, she actually played a bit more on her guitar and remembered all the words!!




Must be the fact that she's had this concert for 2 months... hard to get it wrong I suppose.



Close up shot



Pink doing her death defying trapeze act (okay, it wasn't so death defying, but it was still pretty cool!)



Costume change again!



Jacket off, and an added feather bottom... singing to FunHouse



Sang her little heart out!



Crazy stage dancer's and rocker chicks performing circus acts...



It was a spectacular night, worth every penny and a testament to what concerts should be!!