495 Collins Street, Melbourne 3000

T:  +613 9614 7688
F:  +613 9614 7211
E:  enquiries@merchantov.com

Hours: Mon-Sat Lunch & Dinner. Closed Sunday.

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Merchant is the latest venture by Guy Grossi, adding to his empire which includes includes the fine dining institution Grossi Florentino, and adjoining Grill and  Cellar bar, and Mirka at Torlano. It is situated at the base of the newly revamped Rialto building, with a wooden boat outside to add to its Venetian theme.

Merchant is a casual restaurant - the staff are friendly and knowledgeable, and the decor colourful and unpretentious. Guy Grossi envisaged an osteria – as wiki defines where “the emphasis is generally placed on maintaining a steady clientele rather than on haute cuisine.” Osteria in Italian literally means a place where the owner “hosts” people.” And the night we dined – Guy Grossi himself was only two tables away from us, hosting his guests. It is Venetian themed – to celebrate the culture of his family.

The large open kitchen churns out items at amazing efficiency from the menu which is broken down into cichetti (small eats), pasta, risotto, meats, seafood, sides and desserts.

We begin with a Bellini – which are brought to our table, a champagne flute filled with a yummy peach puree – topped up with sparkling wine and then stirred gently at our table.

From the chicetti – we choose

Fòlpo saorio $15

The fòlpo saorio – tender slices of well marinated octopus.

Salumi $20

The mixed salumi – containing salami, prosciutto, and a couple others I can’t remember. These were nice enough, but the most impressive part was watching them being sliced to order from the large meat slicer sitting on the end of the bar.

Aranzini de zafferan $9

The aranzini de zafferan (saffron risotto balls) – were delicious. I can’t look at a menu with risotto balls and not order them. These did not disappoint, though admittedly I am very easy to please when it comes to risotto balls.

Patè de figà de anara $8

The patè de figà de anara (duck liver pate) was rich and creamy and not at all gamey. A reasonably generous serve, I really enjoyed this dish.

Spaghetti co le caparele $23

I asked our helpful waiter what he would order – and he strongly suggested we get the spaghetti co le caparele (spaghetti with clams). I wasn’t expecting much from this dish, but my god was it good. I can’t articulate how this dish was so good, but I guess my best way to describe it is simplicity at its finest. Perfectly cooked aldenti spaghetti, in such a light yet wonderful sauce of chopped tomatoes, herbs and olive oil. I’ve had so many dishes like this in the past (I’m a massive fan of pasta marinara and pasta with seafood), but this was the best I’ve had.

risoto moro $20

I had previously being mortified by squid ink, as I’m sure many have due to its unappetizing, dark, murky colour which seems to stain everything ugly. However a trip to Venice changed that, and having had a wonderful squid ink risotto there, I am a convert – although I do hate how it can leave squid ink particles  on your teeth and lips (yes had the awkward meal where I had been sitting there chatting happily, only to go to the bathroom much later to see squid ink all over lips and teeth). If it is not prepared well, or not fresh, squid ink can taste very fishy – but when done correctly, it has a wonderful fishy creaminess. This was a great specimen – and this risoto moro (squid ink risotto) was my favourite dish of the night.

Quaje a la diavola in piastra $20

Upon the recommendation of the waiter – we ordered the quaje a la diavola in piastra (grilled quail, chilli). It was flayed then grilled lightly and served with a quinelle of some form of parsley pesto. It was well cooked, and tasty enough, but it seemed to be lacking in something… When it comes to quail – I firmly believe that us Asians do it best.

For some sides, we also went the

Patate alla Veneziana $6

patate alla Veneziana (sautéed potatoes in garlic) and

Salata tridà $12

salata tridà (Venetian chopped salad).

These were both very nice – I can’t fault either of these, well cooked and great balance of flavours.

Despite Grossi’s fame, it seemed Merchant has had a relatively quiet opening with few people I’ve talked to even knowing of its existance. When I visited in December, the only post I could find of Merchant was Melbourne Culinary Journal‘s. The restaurant was busy but not full, and it was not hard to obtain a booking. Though Merchant has recently been reviewed in The Age’s Epicure (scoring 14/20), so I imagine it will quickly become more difficult to get a seat.

Jess’ Rating

Taste: 9. I have dreams of the squid ink risotto and clam spaghetti. Take me back.

Value: 9. Surpisngly cheap for the quality of the produce. Serves are not large, but that only means you can order and try more

Ambience: 9.

Service: 9. Our waiter was extremely friendly and attentive. Food comes amazingly quickly

Overall: 9. Merchant isn’t a dining experience that is defining new styles or setting new trends, it is what it sets out to be – an osteria - a casual dining experience. Good, simple food, done extremely well. I love this way of eating – small plates designed to share (I’m a variety is the spice of life kinda girl, and I love the communal aspect of dining too).  Can’t wait to go back and try the rest of the menu!

23 Bank Place, Melbourne

Phone 03 9670 1777

Hours: Mon-Fri: 7:30am til late
. Sat:           6:00pm til late

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Syracuse is a delightful little wine bar hidden away in an old Victorian building in Bank Place. It’s one of those places I’ve walked past a gazillion times without even noticing it. Despite google-mapping it before I got there, I still struggled to find it on my first visit.

I took the delightful M there for her birthday in July (yes, I am very slack with these posts), so forgive me if these items are no longer on their ever changing seasonal menu.

As you walk through the arched doorways in Bank Place, it feels as though you are transported to Europe. This small dining room is nothing short of grand, with soaring ceilings, pillars and arches. There are racks and racks of wine, which allude to the fact that this is a place which takes their wine seriously.

The wine list is extensive, and well thought-out, with a good mix of new and old world wines. We ordered a bottle of Domaine Wachu Gruner Vetliner – an Austrian wine varietal that I am a huge fan of.

The menu consists of some wine snacks, some sharing plates and only a few mains, all chosen undoubtedly with an emphasis on food that may be enjoyed and enhanced by wine.

We begin with

A spanner crab remoulade, which consists of delicate pieces of spanner crab with a tart creamy sauce, topped with a boiled egg. A nice refreshing way to begin our meal.

Next was the pig’s head, which was one of the specials of the night. I had images of chunks from the head (hey – I’ve never had pig’s head before..!), but in fact it seemed like little morsels of fried almost creamy meat. I’m not sure how it was prepared, but they were yummy, and if you hadn’t have told me it was pigs head, I would have been none the wiser. These worked well with the little fried quail eggs they were served with.

We also had mussels which were cooked with chorizo – adding a nice smokey spice to the dish. The sauce was promptly soaked up with the bread.

Overall we had a great night, I love this little bar – good food, good wine, how can anyone complain.

I have since revisited, however I only had pitiful photos from my phone camera, but the experience was just as good.

Jess’ Rating

Taste: 8. Food is very rustic, prepared well.

Value: 8.

Ambience: 9.

Service: 7.5.

Overall: 8. A hidden gem in Melbourne. I rate it.

For other reviews, check out petit-miamx, Mel: Hot or not, I’m so hungreeeee and spatula spoon and saturday.

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197b Middleborough Road
Box Hill South

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Although there is an extensive menu at Simon’s Peiking Duck restaurant – patrons come for one thing.

The duck banquet.

The Peking duck banquet consists of a whole roast duck – which, as described on the website is prepared

“at least a day in advance. First air is pumped into the duck body to stretch and loosen the skin, then boiled after is repeatedly spread over the duck, before carefully drying the duck. The duck is then roasted in a hot oven for a period of time until the meat is becomes tender and the skin crispy.”

We dined on a Monday night, and a full restaurant was emptying out and turning around for another full second sitting. No surprise, given he was recently reviewed in The Age’s Epicure, and the word was spreading around Melbourne that Simon Lay – the famed Peking Duck Nazi, was back. Simon had set up and made Old Kingdom an institution but sold it three years ago and whilst they kept the Peking duck banquet, it had gone steadily downhill, as reviewed earlier.

Much like the system at Old Kingdom, when I called to make the booking, Simon barked the questions

“How many people”

8.

“6 o’clock or 8 o’clock?”

Can I have 7 o’clock?

“No. Two seatings. 6 o’clock or 8 o’clock”

Ok.. 8 please.

“How many duck?”

umm.. how many do I need?

“For 8 people.. usually… around 3. <chuckle> Though some like to have 4.”

This duck is served in a three part banquet -

The first course with the peking duck skin, served with 15 pieces of home made pancakes, spring onion, cucumbers and a special plum-hoison sauce.

The second course takes the duck meat, which stirfried with either bean-shoots or noodles. Without noodles, the banquet is $55 per duck, with noodles, the banquet is $63 per duck. You can have the choice of hand-made noodles, rice noodles, egg noodles, or hor fun noodles.

The third and final course uses the duck bones to make a soup with bean curd.

I had ordered three ducks, to the dismay of my friends, who insisted we needed at least one duck for two.

I sighed, and said I would ask Simon if there was extra duck, my friends were convinced they had to make spare ducks.

He chuckled, and said “only if you smile at me”.

What a charmer. I gave him my biggest smile so my friends wouldn’t bitch (even though I did ask them several times how many duck and no one said anything until we got there!!) and four duck it was.

I asked if this was too many, and Simon laughed and said “The table before you, four people three duck.”

Enough said.

Simon

Before our duck began to arrive, we could see ducks being carved around the restaurant, and devoured by each and every table. There were a few token other dishes, but everyone was here for the duck.

Our duck came, its skin glistening..

whole peking duck, about to be turned into three dishes

Simon himself carved our first duck, expertly and deftly cutting slices of skin, finishing the duck in a matter of minutes.. a real joy to watch.

Simon carving our duck

The slices were piled high onto a plate and presented to our table..

peking duck skin

peking duck skin, duck 2

A plate of 15 pancakes were presented, as well as 15 lengths of cucumber and 15 slices of spring onion.

Simon began by throwing some pancakes at our plates (which he missed, but was close!), and began by assembling my wrap -

“Spring onion, cucuumber at quarter past three! Duck, then sauce, now fold! “Six o’clock, Nine o’clock, three o’clock!”

resulting in a perfectly wrapped Peking duck wrap. The pancakes were delicately thin, yet surprisingly springy being able to hold the contents without tearing. These are the best duck wraps I’ve ever had. We eagerly bit into our wraps, which made a wonderful ‘crunch’  as our teeth bit through the crispy skin, releasing the juices and oiliness.

Divine.

Simon, the King, is back.

We devoured the skins of our four ducks, they were just simply amazing.

For the stirfry – Simon suggested we do two with vegies, and two with noodles. He suggested we get the crispy noodles – which served Canton style which was deep fried noodles, shiitake mushrooms and gravy.

stirfry duck meat with bean shoots

stirfry duck meat with crispy noodles

I preferred the noodles, but my friends preferred the stir fry, but they were both delicious, and despite the fact that we were stuffed, we managed to finish these.

Simon also suggested we order a vegetable  and he said he’d bring us something we’ve never tried before.

"vegetable you never try before"

Out came a mixture of asparagus, eggplant, okra stir fried in a spicy shrimp paste.

And indeed, I had never had this before, and I found it really yummy as I love asparagus, eggplant, okra and chilli.

To finish, the soup arrived, with thick chunks of soft tofu.

duck bone soup with bean curd

We all went home, stuffed, happy and pretty tipsy. Corkage is only $2/head. Bargain.

The night was perfect. The duck was amazing, and Simon was good fun throughout the night, coming around and joking with us all night. He even drank some wine with us, which he drank out of his tea-cup.

The only downfall of this place is its location – there isn’t really any form of public transport, which can be a problem if you consume too much Pinot with your duck.

Jess’ Rating

Taste: 9. Best Peking Duck I’ve had. Stirfry and noodle were amazing, soup was ok. I’d be interested to try the other dishes, though that takes away stomach room for the ducks.

Value: 9.5. Great value, we were completely stuffed, and corkage is an absolute steal for only $2.

Authenticity: 9

Ambience: 9.5

Service: 10. Simon is such a charmer. We all love Simon.

Overall: 9.5. Amazing experience, we all loved it.

The king is back.

For other rave reviews – check out ichigo shortcake and the moving beast.

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505 City Rd
South Melbourne 3205

(03) 9699 6410

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Hours: Mon-Sun Lunch 12pm-3pm
Dinner 6-10pm

The Palace is not the kind of place you stumble into… I often drive up and down Bay Street to go to Thomas Dux green grocers, and although I knew roughly where I should be expecting to find it, it still took me a couple of times driving past to spot the Palace.

Basically, it’s on City Road, South Melbourne just before it turns into Bay Street, Port Melbourne. Even though I’ve now been there twice, I still need to keep my eyes peeled for it so I don’t drive past it.

Drive towards the bay, look left, and it’s just after a petrol station, in a blue double story period building.

Inside, there is a pub with the standard bar, but behind it a small, but warm dining room with white linen table cloths. The first time I went, we were seated in the dining room, which was very comfortable. The second time, we were seated just outside the dining room which wasn’t as comfortable, sort of in a dark  space between the bar and the dining room.

The wine list is approachable and reasonably priced with some pretty good quality drops. There is a selection of around 8 entrees priced around the $20 mark, around 5 mains around the $35 mark, a choice of 5 steaks and three main dishes to share, with a few changing daily specials. The best way to the describe the cuisine would be Modern Australian I guess.. though it is heavily influenced by other cultures such as Italian, or Chinese. Though, I guess that probably is the meaning of Australian cuisine – dishes with inspiration from the best from other cultures to highlight great quality produce. We’re lucky to be Aussies.

Anyways, I digress.

The only entree I tried on the two separate visits I had was the steak tartare.

Steak tartare $20

I have this horrible habit of staring at other peoples dishes shamelessly. During my first visit to the Palace, I noticed that half the tables seemed to be ordering the tartare. Thus, I vowed to order it second time round, however, when I arrived I was devastated to see it was no longer on the menu. My pout turned into a massive grin when the waiter said that the kitchen could make the dish for us.

The steak tartare is chunky tender minced eye fillet mixed with herbs and topped by a quail yolk. This is mixed up, and eaten on mini toasts with your choice of the perfectly quinelled condiments which I believe are minced gherkins, white anchovies, capers, shallots and Dijon mustard. A small bottle of Tabasco accompanied so spice could be added if required. The steak was wondrously soft and the condiments went well to highlight the flavour of the meat.

I’m a big believer of variety is the spice of life, but after my first visit, I had to order the next dish a second time around.

The Chateaubriand.

chateaubriand - in all it's glory

chateaubriand - plated up

The photos really don’t do this dish justice. I fell in lust at first sight, and in love at first bite.

The Chateaubriand consists of 500g (yes, half a kilo, this is why it’s for 2) of tender steak, cooked to order served on top of a bed of brussel sprouts and pancetta lardons, crowned with onion rings and served with bordelaise sauce. Accompanying is potato mash and rocket and parmesan salad.

This dish is as close to perfect as I’ve come in a long time. The steak is wonderful. I’m not the type to order steak unless we’re at a steak restaurant, but i would say this is one of the best steaks I’ve had. Juicy, tender, the accompanying sauce wonderful. My dining companions all claimed they didn’t like brussel sprouts, but I argued that they just hadn’t had well cooked sprouts. A taste of these buttery, perfectly cooked sprouts quickly changed their minds (the fat pancetta lardons accompanying also may have helped sway them). The mash was perfectly smooth and simply divine. And onion rings. Really. Palace – you had me at onion rings. These certainly did not disappoint.

At $42 a head, an absolute bargain, especially considering the quality of the meat and the fact it comes with two sides. It reminds me of a similar dish of a hanger steak for two to share that the Station Hotel in Footscray do, but I prefer this one. Though the one at the Station Hotel is fricken amazing also.

Sadly, I must admit that I went to the Palace a few months ago and I can’t remember the exact components of the next couple of dishes we tried.

jewfish - served with a stew of mussels and prawns

The jewfish was well cooked, the seafood was quite fresh. The dish was good, but not exceptional. I did enjoy it though.

confit duck leg, served on a bed of lentils

I really liked this dish, I am a massive fan of duck though, but it was well cooked and the lentil stew was a great accompaniment.

Excuse the blurriness of the photos of the desserts, I was losing the steadiness of my hands as I increasingly consumed the wonderful wine (who can resist Bass Philip Pinot Noir?!?!)

hot chocolate fondant with cookies and cream - $17

Crème brûlée with almond biscotti - $15

eton mess

The desserts were nice but not amazing. The fondant was wonderfully chocolately, and seeing the chocolate ooze from the pudding is visually orgasmic. The brulee was well flavoured, and the eton mess was a compliment from the kitchen (which I suspect was because we spent a lot of money on wine).

The service was exceptional both times I went. Questions were answered thoughtfully and knowledgeably. I often put myself in the hands of the wait staff, and I hate nothing more than when asking for a recommendation, receiving a response like “I dunno… what do you like,” or worse yet “I don’t know, I haven’t tried them.” There was none of this here, the staff were happy to guide us in our decisions and were very attentive and friendly throughout.

The Age Good Food Guide rates it 14/20.

Jess’ Ratings

Taste: 9. I think the food is amazing. Each dish is full of well balanced flavours.

Value: 9. For the price you pay, you’ll be hard-pressed to find similar quality. Food is surprisingly well priced for the quality and quantity you get.

Service: 9. Hard to fault.

Atmosphere: 8. The dining room is wonderful. The side part next to the bar is a bit dingy.

Overall: 9. Love this lace. Can’t stop raving about how much I love it. Can’t wait to go back. Best of all, only a 5 minute bike ride from home.

Gastropubs. Win.

Lunch:  Mon-Fri  from 12 noon

Dinner: Mon-Sat from 6.00pm

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Located on the corner of Elgin and Drummond Streets lies Esposito, the restaurant by Maurie Esposito. Esposito brings us ‘seafood dining’ with a strong focus on sustainable, yet the freshest, highest quality produce, with an Italian flair.

With entrees priced between $21-26, and mains $26-$42, this place is not inexpensive. However, Esposito have a weeknight special Loaves and Fishes menu – $35 for 2 courses with a glass of wine. Available Monday to Thursday lunch and dinner. This sounded too good to be true, so we had to go for it..

We began with an amuse;

amuse-bouche

A light seaweed salad, served with toasted sesame, a delightful way to whet the appetite.

For entrees T had;

Mud Crab Tortellini in a leek and crustacean broth

This dish was perfect. Big call, but it was incredible. The hand-rolled pasta was perfectly cooked al dente, filled with fresh mud crab in a rich, warming broth. Although this was T’s dish, I ended up eating most of it.

Mud crab, avocado & green apple salad, young spinach and spinach essence

Unfortunately my entree was not as nice. The idea of this dish sounded good on paper, but in execution there was an excess of ‘greenery’. It was over-powering in a ‘grassy’ sort of flavour.

Onto mains; I had the

John Dory Fillets with calamari ragout with artichokes, watercress and lemon

John Dory Fillets and calamari ragout

The fish fillets were perfectly cooked and well seasoned. The calamari ragout was well restrained in flavour and a great accompaniment to the fish.

Fillets of King George Whiting grilled or in beer batter, thin chips and house made tartare

At $42 on the a la carte menu, this is the most expensive item on the menu. T was curious as to how you could make fish & chips (which is essentially what this dish is) special. My god, Esposito nailed it. This is the best fish and chips I’ve ever had. Bar none. The fish was perfectly cooked, melt in your mouth tender. The house made tartare was also great. Again, I would say this dish is perfect. I cannot imagine how this dish could be better.

Note – I am a terrible blogger, I visited months ago so the menu has changed since.

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Jess’ Ratings

Taste: 9 – high points T’s dishes, didn’t enjoy my entree though

Value: 10. With the glass of wine that accompanied the meal, $35 each for 2 courses made this meal good value. cheap. Good value is an understatement. With the quality of the produce cooked the way it was, it was really a bargain.  I believe the serves are slightly smaller in the loaves and fishes menu – and although we were not stuffed, we were perfectly satisfied.

Ambience: 9.5. Fine dining at its best. White linen table cloths, ambient background music, and just the perfect amount of mood-lighting, accentuated by the candle light on each table. A warm greeting from the staff, accompanied most importantly with a smile makes you feel instantly welcome.

Service: 9.5. Exceptional, the staff made us feel comfortable and at home.

Overall: 9.5. Wonderful.

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Esposito has also opened a new restaurant St Peter’s in Melbourne Place at the old Canary Club with a similar menu, which I have recently visited and loved. Review to come soon.

Here is but a smattering of the places I visited in Sydney that I feel like writing about.

Ryo’s

 

 

This is a guest post by Jillian Liew, who will hopefully soon be joining our ranks as a regular contributor. The post was originally published at her personal blog. You can also follow Jillian on Twitter.

Not like the folks at Cutler need any more publicity and recognition but being awarded the Best Restaurant of the Year in the 2011 Australian Gourmet Traveller Awards and Two Hats by The Age Good Food Guide 2011 are totes more than reason enough for you to make your way there and soon.

My dining partner, A (who runs The MSG) and I made a booking for Cutler’s Sunday lunch special where Andrew McConnell and the talented kitchen staff plan and prepare the day’s menu with a focus on fresh ingredients sourced from the local farmers. The idea is to come in, dine with us, and enjoy a long leisurely lunch with good food and company. The menu consisted of several appetisers and entrees to share, which has been set by the kitchen, followed by your choice of main and dessert. And all that for just $69 pp, which is very reasonable.

We were promptly seated by our host in the dining room area that was decorated with gorgeous light fixtures and some palm trees around as well. I actually quite like the palm trees even though I thought it was a bit off with the rest of the decor but I digress. I ordered an aperol with blood orange drink to start the day off light while A went with a coffee. The waitress explained how the Sunday lunch menu worked and I was suitably impressed and excited with the way things looked and started already.

We started off with fresh Coffin Bay oysters to get our appetites going. It wasn’t the best nor biggest oyster I’ve had (PS: Tasmanian oysters FTW!) but it was a decent palate cleanser.

This was followed by cracked wheat salad, labne and barberries. This starter was rather surprising as I’ve never had cracked wheat before and it reminded me of barley and risotto combined together to make this delightfully light and refreshing dish. We promptly finished this and I would definitely go back for more if I remember the name of this dish in future.

Next was the wood-grilled prawns and celeriac remoulade in a tangy mayo dressing. The prawns was quite good and went well with the salad on the bottom.

The next dish brought out was carrots, walnut cream and shanklish. (PS: I knew you’d want to know what shanklish was.) I really enjoyed this one even though when it arrived at our table, my first thought was, “Eh? Carrots?!?” But when I tasted it, I went, “Mmm, carrots. And yummy yammy paste thing.” The “yammy paste” was actually walnut cream once I managed to get the proper menu names off A. The carrots were beautiful and had a lovely bite, which paired well with the walnut cream and shanklish. The shanklish was peppery and threw me off a bit but I really liked the combination. A hates carrots but had a try because you simply had to, so I had to take it upon myself to finish the dish. Tried as I might, I couldn’t but it remains one of my favourite of the lunch.

By this time, our stomachs were about ready to implode from too much food too early in the day with two more entrees, mains and desserts yet to arrive. A typically Australian breakie choice at most brunch eateries; avocado and spring onions on grilled bread arrived, following that a terrine of pork with a mustard fruit puree. The avo toast was nothing that remarkable but the next time I make it at home, I’m going to add some coriander on it fer shure. A thought that the terrine lacked flavour and tasted bland but with the marmalade, I thought it was good and was texturally fine, just not as awesome as I wanted this terrine to be.

We were given an interval between entrees and mains, which I am so grateful for, and A even more taking a short smoke break. A chose the pork belly and I the duck leg.

The corned duck leg was meltingly tender and crispy breaded skin on the outside which complemented the purple broccoli and creamed leeks. I would have preferred for the leeks to be cooked a little more because it was too toothsome for my liking but paired with the soft duck meat, the dish would have been a textural mess of mush on mush, so I won’t complain too much.

A thought the pork belly was good but the skin a tad less crispy than we liked pork belly skin to be. The cavolo nero and pearl barley were good garnishes to the plate.

Desserts arrived momentarily where I was about ready to fall into a food coma. A chose the Meyer lemon curd, rhubarb and blood orange granita. I decided to go for the Tomme D’Abondance cheese served with apple chutney, which was a slightly better choice because I very nearly went with the chocolate cake and chestnut ice-cream.

The granita was refreshing and a great finish to such a rich meal. I loved the cheese paired with apple chutney and maybe a little mustard seeds eaten with crisp crackers. Not the lightest end to a meal but certainly one of the more memorable ones.

To surmise, I will definitely be making my way back here again for their ala carte dishes at the bar for a different dining experience. I have to say that on a Sunday, the place was full on packed out by 1pm with likewise diners as ourselves who just wanted a relaxing day out. After this meal, I can see why Cutler & Co. are doing remarkably well. With almost perfectly executed dishes, delicious flavours with complementary textures, pleasant service and host, and awesome company, you’ll walk away from this restaurant happily satiated.

Taste: 9/10 – I loved almost every one of the dishes save for a few nitpicks of one or two components of an individual dish. The tastes and textures are unique and allowed me to explore new foods, which I hadn’t tried before this. Definitely would love to return here for their degustation dinner if I can get a booking at maybe some time next year. (Tip: Their weekend dinners are completely booked out til December 2010.)

Ambience: 9/10 – Very casual but keeping in with the fine-dining vibe, I love the restaurant’s design and look of everything. I managed to sneak a peek into their kitchen as we exited and noticed a stuffed duck tacked onto the kitchen wall. A quirky WIN in my book.

Service: 9/10 – The host and wait staff were very pleasant and good-natured with us. The waitress took care to explain the menu and how things ran for the Sunday lunch. The host was attentive but not too overly so that we felt that we were preyed upon

Value: 9/10 – I thought it was great value for the number and variety of dishes we had as I was ready to bust open at the seams of my dress at the end of the meal and go into food coma. The Sunday lunch menu is a more relaxed and more affordable way of getting a taste of what Cutler has to offer. I liken it to crack as I really, really want to return for their degustation dinner after this gastronomical lunch affair.

Overall: 9/10 – Almost perfect execution and excellent service and food. I am tempted to round it up to a 10 but nothing in life is perfect unless you’re eating at El Bulli or The Fat Duck, which both are still a long stretch to call perfect though everyone tries.

In Winter, I had thoroughly enjoyed Melbourne Food and Wine’s Put Victoria on your table Roast Collection festival, so when I was excited when I saw that to wave good bye to the winter blues, Melbourne Food and Wine was putting on a Spring Graze festival.

Full listing of events.

The event that most appealed to me was the Saturday Lazy Grazing at the Commoner.

“Join us at The Commoner for Lazy Grazing in September in the form of plates of beautiful seasonal Victorian produce to share with people you like.
Celebrate Spring and the best that Victoria has to offer. It has been an awfully long winter… Why don’t you say goodbye to it in style….”

When Lunch every Saturday in September.

Cost $55.00 Food cost per head

I had been to the Commoner a couple of years ago and had been extremely impressed. I’m not sure why it took me so long to go back, because my memories of the place were of fantastic food  and  exceptional service.

We nestled into the small but very homely little cafe. I love the way the place is fitted out, with exposed brick, heavy wooden tables and random yet thoughtful trinkets and tools adorning the walls and shelves.

It doesn’t feel like you’re at a restaurant or cafe, it feels more like you’ve entered into someone’s home.

The waitress began by asking us if there was anything we didn’t eat – to which we all shook our heads.

One of the many reasons I love these friends – we all love our food and we’re not picky.

We started with a lovely bottle of French wine – a  2009 Bernard Defaix, Petit Chablis which was recommended to us by the waitress. It went down surprisingly well considering we had all been out for A’s birthday the night before and we were all somewhat a little worse for wear.

The first course -

Boccerones - Sicilian white anchovies with sweet pepper, aioli and parsley

These were delightful. After we had all shaken our heads to our lack of dietary requirements, M exclaimed that she didn’t eat anchovies. I normally would say I don’t eat anchovies either, as I hate the fishy salty flavour of standard anchovies.

These however, were not your regular anchovies – they lacked that yukky unappetising fishiness, rather – they were really light and delicious. It was complimented well with the aioli and the perfectly roasted sliver of capsicum. A simple, yet perfectly executed dish – a nice refreshing way to began our meal.

house bread

The house bread was toasted and very moreish and came served with olive oil and toasted sesame.

smoked cod dip, mount zero olives, roasted spring vegetables

Our second course – the smoked cod dip was wonderful, and the spring vegetables which included baby carrots, spring onion, asparagus and red onion were perfectly executed.

To quote A “Who would have thought that carrots could taste so good”.

Onto our next course – the house black pudding.

Black pudding is one of those things that can be hit or miss. Being a sausage made out of blood it is very easy for this dish to be overpowering. Black pudding is something I very rarely order because it can often have a very strong ‘iron-y’ flavour to it, though I am always game to try it, particularly at great eateries because when done well it can be fantastic as it was at Attica.

This specimen certainly did not disappoint – lightly pan-fried to perfection to produce a crisp crust encasing insides which had a wonderfully smooth texture – so smooth it seemed almost like pate.  This paired well to the tortilla, which despite being potato based was not heavy at all.

Pan fried semolina gnocchi, fresh peas, broad beans, goats curd

The next course was probably my favourite – the  gnocchi was delicious, again pan-fried to create a perfect crust,  and resting above a cloud of light fluffy goats curve and sprinkled with fresh peas and broad beans.

The goats curd was neither heavy nor stinky, but light and delicious, and my god were the peas good. I’ve always enjoyed peas – but so rarely eat fresh peas (I’m not sure why!). They had the perfect texture, and just ‘popped’ in your mouth when you ate them. When I was a child I loved peas, particularly the peas in snow-peas, but I hated the pod they rested in, so much to my father’s horror I would suck the peas out, then put the pod back. Thankfully I’m a little older and a little less picky now. The broadbeans were also delicious – I thought I hated broadbeans! but I think I just hate dried broadbeans which are salty and yuck.

roast lamb served with house yogurt

And onto our main course – and another bottle of wine – the 2008 Pennyweight Shiraz from Beechworth.

I’m not a huge fan of lamb, so when I have a lamb I enjoy I’m always impressed.

This one was amazing, perfectly cooked to pink perfection, but the ribs were the star. Seriously, so so good. The house yogurt perfectly complimented the lamb, which was also served with a spicy harissa which gave a wonderful kick and roast jeruselum articles cooked with rosemary.

jeruselum artichoke, harissa

tangerine tart

Our final dish – we each received individual tangerine tarts which consisted of pieces of tangerine resting on custard encased in perfect pastry. And by perfect, I mean perfect. This is the best tart pastry I have ever had, it was thin and wonderfully crispy, such that we could hit the pastry with the back of our spoons and it would crack! And it tasted amazing – not overly sweet, but simply perfect. The custard was light and smooth and whilst I didn’t love it, everyone else in our party loved it.

chocolate coated candied grapefruit

To finish off, we were given a few pieces of candied grapefruit which had been covered in dark chocolate.

A wonderful meal, we all left very satisfied and extremely pleased. Excellent value for only $55, it was the perfect way to spend a lazy Saturday.

On the bill – our meals were listed as “Feed me.”

I love this concept of letting the restaurant take the reigns and just being fed. I was recently called a control freak by one of my friends – maybe sometimes I am a bit bossy when it comes to where and what we eat – though I do love giving restaurants free-reign to just “feed me”. Provided the restaurant is deserving .

The commoner do something similar for Sunday dinner I believe – I can’t wait to try it!

.

Jess’ Ratings

Taste: 8.5. Food was delicious.

Value: 8.5. You’d be hard-pressed getting the quality of the food for what we did for $55. Events like these at restaurants are generally great value.

Service: 9.0. Personable, but not in your face. Nothing to fault.

Atmosphere: 9.0. Great little dining room, like I said earlier, it really felt like you were in someone’s home.

Overall: 9.0. Love it. I’ll make sure I won’t leave it another two years before I return.

122 Johnston Street, Fitzroy

Phone: 03 9415 6876

web

Hours: Wed-Fri Dinner 6:00pm-Late
Sat-Sun  Lunch 12:00pm- 3:00pm
Dinner 6:00pm- Late

A certain tweet and a certain blog post, both from Singapore, crossed the Pacific last night and made some waves in the food blogging community on both sides of the (much bigger) pond. Here’s the lowdown from my colleague in the Lion City, written in the form of an open letter to the blogger who’s, allegedly, reprehensible actions may bring the art of food blogging into disrepute:

Dear B,

It has come to my attention that you had visited a certain restaurant today for their Sunday Champagne Brunch in the Joo Chiat vicinity today with 3 dining companions. The brunch would have cost S$68++ per person. You had informed the restaurant that you were a food blogger and assumed that by telling them so, the bill for all 4 of you would be waived.

This was not to be the case, as highlighted to you by the management. Further, I understand that upon being informed by the staff that out of goodwill, the restaurant would waive the costs of the meal for your partner and yourself. However, the costs of the two other diners had still to be borne by your dining companions. Upon hearing so, I put it to you that you threw your credit card at the cashier, while you glared at the staff who handled your bill.  This was quoted from the operations manager of the restaurant and thus may be skewed.

The management of the restaurant in question was, in my opinion, more than kind enough to sign off the bill of both yourself and your 1 dining partner as goodwill.

Let it be known that most of us food bloggers (yours truly included) simply cannot condone your acts today.

Dated 22nd August 2010
Glenn
Author
HungryEpicurean.com

Indeed, we cannot condone such acts and let me be perfectly clear. Food blogging has risen in prominence in recent years. As we have become more widely read we have also become more influential, we have been picked up by PR companies and restaurants alike as they jump on the new media bandwagon to promote their establishments. And that’s fine, that’s ok, that’s market-driven capitalism, ladies and gentlemen, and we love it. BUT you food bloggers will know that we are constantly attacked by certain other members of the hospitality establishment – be they prominent journalists or restaurateurs – for being random hacks who (often) don’t have any experience in either hospitality or journalism and are just contributing noise to an already noisy internet.

I vigorously defend food bloggers and food blogging against these charges, as do many others, because the food scene is about democracy, demand and supply. The food scene is, first and foremost, for the common punter and if we food bloggers are representative of the common punter, with our underdeveloped palates and our quirky use of the English language, then we are the best ambassadors for said food scene. So if a food blogger didn’t have a good experience at your restaurant, or didn’t understand the finely honed, complex, nuanced dishes that were presented due to his membership of the boorish, unwashed masses that normally frequent your hell-hole, and the food blogger pans it and influences public opinion… well too bad. Make sure your customers have a better experience next time and don’t complain, you grade A ass-tard.

BUT what does bring food blogging into disrepute is not bad writing (and there’s a lot of it, and it hurts me) and it’s not supposedly untrained palates being let loose on an unsuspecting kitchen, it’s the alleged actions of the food blogger mentioned above. Food bloggers, you are not entitled to goddamn free meals! You are not entitled to anything, in fact! How a food blogger could have the gall to actually walk into a restaurant and demand free food just because he sits behind a laptop and churns out (poorly written, simplistic) reviews of restaurants is totally beyond me.

I would never even announce that I’m a food blogger at a restaurant. The whole point of being able to write an objective review is that you should be served as would any member of the general public. We’ve talked about how restaurants probably realise that we’re food bloggers once they see DSLRs and pads with pens, and that’s a tough one to get around, but at the very least don’t waltz up to the maitre’d and say “I’m a food blogger, bitches, now give me and my friends free food and handjobs or I will pan your restaurant to smithereens, muahahahaha!” Seriously.

So, unlike my colleague at Hungry Epicurian, I am not going to be so cautious as to not name names. The allegations are being levelled at one Brad, from Lady Iron Chef. Now I will say as something of a disclaimer, these are just allegations, I have not seen any evidence of course, and I will straight out inform you that this is hearsay. Brad did tweet that he was at brunch at the restaurant at the time, so those facts do match up… But this isn’t about Brad, this is about what THOU SHALT NOT DO AS A FOOD BLOGGER. I for one would like to see a post on LIC clarifying Brad’s position, or at the very least some tweets. The allegations have not as yet been acknowledged.

So that’s it from me and back to reviewing, folks, and remember. Those bloggers that do engage in this kind of activity are a minority. The rest of us aren’t doing this for free food, limelight or anything else. We do it because we love food and we love to write about our experiences and share them with the rest of you. Please don’t let a few bad apples spoil the bunch.

PS. Hey Brad, you should probably fix the horrendous spelling error in your blog header. “Past-time” doesn’t mean anything. #JustSayin

UPDATE: The news has now hit Yahoo! Singapore. See what I mean about disrepute? H/T to HungryEpicurian once again:

A young food blogger who demanded that he and his three companions be given free meals at an upscale restaurant in the Joo Chiat area has sparked a huge furore online.

The group of four had walked into Private Affairs, a small but exclusive eatery in Joo Chiat, for its Sunday champagne brunch promotion that costs S$68++ per person.

The blogger in question, Brad Lau, who runs a food blog called Ladyironchef, had informed the management on Friday that he would be coming down to review the Sunday Brunch promotion.

On the day itself, he and his partner came down at about 130pm, followed by his two other companions, each of whom came down half an hour apart.

The four of them had brunch until 430pm, even when the restaurant’s official brunch hours was from 1130 am to 330pm. Brad and his partner also enjoyed two glasses of champagne each.

When presented with the final bill of $435, the blogger initially refused to pay and repeatedly told the restaurant’s chef, “I never pay for food in any restaurant.”

The restaurant eventually offered to waive off the cost of the meal for him and his partner as well as the cost of the champagne out of goodwill, thus lowering the bill to $159.

Still upset but finally relenting to pay, the blogger then threw his credit card onto the bar counter in front of the cashier before storming out.

Note: Yahoo! Singapore has confirmed the incident with the restaurant’s management, click on that link above to see their statements. So one side of the story is confirmed, will be interesting to see if Brad posts with his side, whatever that side may be.

UPDATE 2: Lady Iron Chef’s website appears to be down. DDoS error? (h/t to Billy from Half-Eaten) Or has the website been taken down?

UPDATE 3: The website now states that “This account has been suspended”.

UPDATE 4: Brad has now replied with a full post and explanation on his blog. It’s lengthy and seems to still go down once in a while. I won’t reproduce it here because I’d have to pretty much quote the whole thing in full plus pictures, but the gist of it is, that he had been invited by the restaurant to attend a “tasting” which he sees as fundamentally different to visiting as a usual punter. Moreover, he was told that he could bring a friend and both their meals would be on the house. Brad wanted to bring three friends, had notified the PR rep for the restaurant that he was doing so but did not get a response. The rest is, as they say, history.

I don’t really understand this PR-invited food tasting culture in Singapore personally. As I said above, I believe that in order to properly review an experience at a restaurant it’s important to be incognito, much as one of the general public would be, so as not to receive special service and special perks. In my opinion, that leads to a “you scratch my back, I scratch yours” arrangement that destroys the objectivity of food blogging and reviewing. But whatevs. In any case, I think it was somewhat presumptuous of him to assume he could just bring along as many people as he wanted. Moreover, it was something of a professionalism fail by the PR company to not even dignify him with a response. Can this be attributed to that aspect of Chinese culture known as ‘saving face’? Would it be normal to, instead of saying ‘no’ and thus the person making the request losing face, to just ignore and hope that they get the message? I’m not sure, maybe someone can comment.

I’m sure Brad and everyone else will be happy to see this sordid affair behind them. Brad and the restaurant both got some publicity, both were maligned for a while and I’m sure no one will even remember what this was in a month. However, the focus behind this post was to start a discussion about food blogging and where we should draw lines in terms of ethics. I hope I’ve done that.

Update 5: Yahoo! Singapore has posted a fresh one reporting on Brad’s response, this might be a good avenue for those of you who still can’t get access to his blog.

Although he did not clarify at the time if he and his partner would be expected to pay, he wrote, ”This was an invitation to a food-tasting session. There is no hard and fast rule stating a plus one for a food tasting. However, having attended previous food tastings before, I assumed that the meal would be, at the very least, on the house for myself and one dining partner.”

Tucked away in Flinders lane, this warehouse restauraunt has very much a minimalistic fit-out, with exposed concrete and dim ‘moodlighting.’ It works though, and although noise invariably echoes in warehouse fit-outs, the tables are well spaced enough that you can still hold a conversation with your dining companions.

Tick.

I hate having to yell to hold a conversation over dinner.

The menu consists of a few stalwart items on the regular menu, which is complimented by a rotating seasonal special menu.

Tick.

I love the emphasis on using seasonal produce.

The wine list is limited, with about 30 bottles on offer. The list wasn’t cheap, but they were reasonable mark-ups for a restaurant. We chose one the ’06 Huia Pinot Noir from  Marlborough $64. This wasn’t anything to shout about, but wasn’t bad.

From the winter special menu, we chose;

blue swimmer crab meat and tobiko with shiso leaf wrap (1p) 5

This was pretty average. Well presented, and nice you could wrap it in the shiso leaf, but the crab meat was uninspired and could have been fresher. The tobiko balls were a nice addition, as they ‘popped’ in your mouth.

rare yellow fin tuna w yuzu spice 18.5

The flavours were good, however, the tuna had been cooked a little too much, so it wasn’t quite rare.. leaving the dish a little tough rather than tender and soft. The citrus yuzu spice was nice, and the tobiko roe worked nicely with the dish.

o ka san's special baked pork belly 14.5

This dish was excellent value – a few slices of thick, tender pork belly cooked on a bed of enoki mushrooms. Baking in the bag left this dish tender and moist, capturing the flavours.

oven baked harvey bay scallops w nasu and ponzu sauce 15.5

These scallop were ok, but nothing spectacular. They were quite small and uninspired for the price.

From the regular menu we also had,

This dish is fine, but no better than what you can get at any other Japanese restauraunt. The tofu pieces are perhaps a tad small.

gyoza fried pastry stuffed with minced meat, cabbage with hint of garlic 12.5

The gyoza, again, are fine, but did not wow me, and again pricey at 4 for $12.50

omakase sushi head chef's selection of sushi e 28.5

In order from the front; grilled eel, oyster, squid, (some sort of fish – I forget what type), king fish, tuna.

The grilled eel was nice, probably the best of the 6. The rest were all nice, but again, but none of it was exceptional. Presentation was nice, but at $28.50, this equates to $4.75 per piece. Poor value.

beef steak char-grilled aged eye fillet steak with a thick garlic teryiaki sauce $35.5

This (and the pork belly) were the stand-out dishes. Thick slices of beef, cooked blue (to order). The teriyaki sauce was delicious, the beef a great cut. Even though I was well and truly stuffed by this stage, I still ate it. Couldn’t let it go to waste.

This was served with a side of

soba and potato salad with the beef

This was delicious, the soba and potato salad topped with a creamy-sesame dressing.

Jess’ Ratings

Taste: 7.0. None of the food was bad, but much of it was not much better than what you can get at many other Japanese restaurants, which are often substantially more inexpensive. The beef and pork belly were to die for.

Value: 6.0. Overpriced.  Good use of seasonal ingredients, but serves were too small for the prices.

Service: 7. Polite.

Authenticity: 7.0. Head Chef Masahiro Horie and his wife make a great team presenting well cooked a  traditional Japanese food with a modern twist.

Atmosphere: 7.5. Although they could have crammed much more tables in, they have obviously put a lot of thought into spacing the tables adequately. Love the fit-out, very intimate.

Overall: 7. I like Hako. I really do. I just find they charge too much for what they are, especially when there are so many other good places out there, such as Izakaya den. Having said that, I have been a few years ago, and their lunch menu is quite well priced.