Matteo’s Restaurant – North Fitzroy – Melbourne – Victoria – Australia – October 2017

Tags

Australia, Brunswick Street, Friends, Italian food, Italian restaurant, Matteos, North Fitzroy, Victoria

Lunch whilst in Melbourne

A really good friend of mine (one of my besties) lives in Timor Leste, so on one of her return trips home to Australia we decided to meet in Melbourne for a long weekend.  I hadn’t seen Sandy for some time so I was very much looking forward to seeing her.  Jane and I departed Canberra on the Friday at lunch time and we both used our frequent flyer points to upgrade to Business class – very nice!  We started off with a glass of wine each in the Lounge.Jane chose Matteo’s, an Italian restaurant after some searching on the internet and booked for lunch on the Sunday – its located in Fitzroy, a suburb about a ten minutes taxi ride from the centre of the city and in a very popular street that is known by most people who visit Melbourne (Brunswick Street) and there we met another good friend who lives in Melbourne.The restaurant had a good feel from the outside and was really lovely inside with white linen tablecloths, great artwork and two fabulous waiters.The menu is extensive and the restaurant also has a Lazy Sunday Lunch Menu for meat and fish eaters and for a little more $, comes with a glass of wine accompanying each course which is what my friends had and there is also the Chef Buddha Lo’s Spring Vegan Tasting Menu which as soon as I looked at I wanted.  The vegan tasting menu comprised small dishes served over five courses.  My first dish was a sweetcorn soup and I must say does not look all that great in my photo, but it was so tasty.Second course was tempura zucchini flowers with a cashew ‘cheese’, tandoori-spiced beetroot, toasted nuts, seeds and grains. This was also very good and the cashew cheese was excellent.Next was stir-fried asparagus spears, Otway shiitake mushrooms, steamed ho fun rice noodles and hoisin sauce.  At this stage I was very full but knew I had two more courses coming…My final main course was Miso-baked eggplant filled with bean curd and cauliflower couscous along with kohlrabi and a warm rice vinaigrette.  I just love eggplant but must say this dish was not to my liking – I didn’t like the miso baked eggplant unfortunately. And probably because I was full I didn’t eat much.The girls started off with 4 tastes…oyster ‘Kilpatrick’, tempura zucchini flower with goats’ feta, BBQ pork doughnut and a Queen scallop with XO condiment accompanied by a 2016 Serafino ‘Bellissimo’ Fiano from South Australia.

Their next course was a choice between a Bonito mackerel with asparagus, charred onion and a vichyssoise sauce accompanied by a glass of 2016 Port Philip Estate Pinot Gris from Victoria OR  a seafood tortellini with Otway shiitake mushrooms and a miso consommé;  accompanied by a 2015 Lawson’s Dry Hills Gewurtraminer from New Zealand.  The girls chose the seafood tortellini dish.Their next course was a quail ballotine roasted with streaky bacon with Chinese sausage, cauliflower puree and steamed leeks, red wilton and quail jus accompanied by a 2015 Clos Leon Bordeaux Merlot from France OR a pan roasted Flinders Island lamb fillet with a master stock lamb belly, grilled cucumber, watercress, wild garlic and a sansho pepper sauce and wine for this course was a 2014 Red Edge Degree shiraz from Victoria.  Sandy and Jane ordered different dishes for this course.Then it came time for dessert; mine was a passionfruit-lemon sorbet and coconut gelato with candy yuzu peel and  a coconut ‘milk’ mousse – it looked fabulous on the plate and was very nice but I was still a bit too full to eat it all.The girls were served a plate of three small desserts each; warm caramelised apple tart with macadamia praline, strawberries and cream and a vanilla bean ice-cream with blackcurrant sorbet and their final glass of wine was a 2014 Richards Muscat DBV from the Southern Rhone Valley in France.We were the last to leave the restaurant having arrived at 1pm and finally departing at 4.45pm…there was just so much to eat, so much to drink and so much to catch up on…what a fabulous afternoon.  We were all so full we decided to walk back into the city – only about a forty-minute walk but most enjoyable.

 

 

Italian food – Melbourne – Victoria – Australia – May 2017

Tags

Australia, Becco Restaurant, Il Nostro Posto Restaurant, Italian food, Melbourne, Victoria

Italian Food in Melbourne

A few months ago my friend Jane and I went to Melbourne for a long weekend [I have previously posted on our visit to the theatre and a French restaurant] where we went to a lovely Italian restaurant I had previously been to.  Melbourne is known for its fabulous restaurants and Becco didn’t let us down.  The restaurant is located in one of Melbourne’s lovely cobblestone streets and its interior has dim lighting in the evening making it rather difficult to take photos on my phone.Jane ordered an entree of ceviche which was marinated in fresh lime juice with sliced onions and vegetables and a light cream and pesto sauce .  She said this was absolutely delicious.

I wasn’t that hungry so only ordered a main dish of rigatoni pasta with a rich tomato and basil sauce…it was very good, unlike my photos.Jane then had the veal dish which was topped with sauted spinach with a white wine reduction.One other Italian restaurant I have been to in Melbourne is Il Nostro Posto; a beautiful converted 19th century warehouse.  I went to this restaurant when I was working in our office in Melbourne and as our group was large we were seated in the cellar area downstairs – a reasonable size room with two large tables, wood panelling on the walls and one original stone wall – just lovely!

It’s a Sicilian themed restaurant whose speciality is seafood and most of my colleagues ordered a dish with some sort of seafood apart from one young girl I work with in Canberra who ordered a tomato based penne pasta.I wanted to eat and drink relatively healthy being a weeknight, so had my obligatory sparkling mineral water but no wine on this evening and an entree of mixed roasted vegetables in a napoli sauce with lightly toasted bread and olive oil.  The dish was delicious and I only ate one small piece of bread…a good evening for me health wise.Another signature dish of the restaurant is the seafood pie; guazzetto in crosta, linguine pasta tossed with fresh seafood and chilli then topped with a lid of pizza dough and baked in the oven.

Melbourne has so many wonderful restaurants; a great city to visit and being only an hour plane ride from Canberra I shall be visiting again next month.

 

 

 

 

 

Agostinis Restaurant – Canberra – Australian Capital Territory – Australia – May 2017

Tags

ACT, Agostinis Restaurant, Australia, canberra, Italian food

Dinner with a friend from London

A friend of mine has a posting to London and recently returned to Canberra for a short visit.  I wanted to catch up with her so we decided to go out to dinner (of course with my other friend Jane) at a restaurant that is attached to one of the lovely hotels.

This Italian restaurant has a casual and comfortable feel with a predominantly pink palette throughout.  It’s good for families and larger groups rather than intimate dining.  On the evening we went there was a large group next to us so it was a little difficult to hear our conversation.

It has a pretty extensive menu and everything is made in-house, from the ice cream to the the pizza dough which is great.

And then there’s the pizza oven – the largest in Canberra. It fits fourteen pizzas at a time and even rotates to make the best use of the heat.  

(source: http://www.goodfood.com.au)

The kitchen is open, meaning both the pizza oven and the chefs preparing the evening’s meals are on full display which I do like to see.

I ordered the Cavolo salad which is an Italian coleslaw dish with finely shredded green cabbage and a garlic, lemon and mint vinaigrette.  It was really nice – refreshing really and as I was having a very healthy night I didn’t order anything else and ordered a bottle of sparkling water to enjoy whilst my friends shared a bottle of white wine.Jane ordered the parmesan and thyme crusted veal cutlet which was served served with a fennel and cabbage salad.  She loved it!My London friend ordered a pizza with a topping of prawns, cherry tomatoes, chilli, parsley, mozzarella and lemon.  She loved it too – nice and fresh with a good base.The restaurant does have a very good selection of wines and a specialty behind the bar is the range of Italian-made wines on tap.  Might need to try one next time. 

A nice evening with friends but I think I might try a few of the other restaurants in town before I return.

 

 

Weekend in Melbourne – Victoria – Australia – March 2017

Tags

Australia, French dining, Italian food, Melbourne, Shen Yun

Theatre and a long weekend away

My friend Jane, who you know I regularly travel interstate with knows I love all things China, so told me about a Chinese dance troupe that was visiting Australia.  Without either of us checking out anything about it on the internet, I said ‘let’s go’.  We arranged to spend a long weekend in Melbourne which is about an hour in the plane from Canberra and we organised tickets, flights and accommodation only to find out that the dance troupe was coming to Canberra…ah well we both love Melbourne so decided to still go – lots of eating and shopping to be done anyway!

The dance troupe is called Shen Yun Performing Arts and was formed in New York.  It performs classical Chinese dance and as it’s website says ‘was founded in 2006 by practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline with the mission of reviving the essence of 5000 years of Chinese culture, which it states to have been nearly destroyed by the Chinese Communist Party’.

(source: internet images)

It was an interesting event I must say – lovely dancing but a little bit political which neither of us expected.

I organised an Airbnb two bedroom/two bathroom apartment and I travelled on the Friday afternoon and immediately left the apartment to go shopping as Melbourne is known for its great shops.  After a while I was tired from carrying too many shopping bags so stopped at a lovely cobblestone street for something to eat and drink and do some people watching.

I ordered my usual; a glass of wine and glass of sparkling mineral water along with a bowl of fresh tomato and basil pasta…delicious!

Before Jane arrived around 8pm, I caught up with a Melbourne based friend at a lovely little pub around the corner from where I was staying followed by a quick dinner at one of the five star hotels. I forgot to take photos!

The next day Jane went out early to the fresh food markets (I think I have told you she is a ‘foodie’) and she enjoyed some oysters and fresh fruit.  I stayed in the apartment as was feeling a little unwell from a recent cold, then we both went for a walk around the city to find the theatre where the dance troupe was performing.  By this time it was after midday and both of us were a little hungry [I was ravenous].  We decided we needed to eat something delicious for lunch but not knowing the city we didn’t really know where to go.  Then a wonderful surprise – across the road from the theatre we saw a gorgeous little French bistro ‘BISTROT d’ORSAY’…what a fabulous find.

The interior is evocative of a typical Paris bistro with dark wood panelling and soft lighting and a towering vintage French poster adorning the dining room.  The menu has  French bistro classics such as bouillabaisse and crème brûlée and also Mediterranean style dishes.

Jane ordered a bottle of French wine which we started drinking whilst waiting for our meals and snacked on some thick fresh bread.

This was such a lovely restaurant we didn’t want to leave and I think it had something to do with a very charming [and very handsome] waiter who had that beautiful French accent [and told us he was from Paris].  After perusing the menu for some time, I decided on the risotto with rich mushroom ragu which I really enjoyed and even the chef was happy to make it without cheese for me (very kind).

Jane ordered the bouillabaisse; Marseilles’ famous soup of prawns, scallops, fish and mussels in a saffron, tomato, fennel broth with crouton and rouille.  She couldn’t stop talking about how incredible this dish was.

And of course the obligatory pommes frites [which I have now learnt from the very handsome waiter, are ‘fries’ in French]…sounds much more eloquent than ordering ‘fries’ or ‘chips’.

Then it was time to head over to the show followed by dinner at a lovely little Italian restaurant that I had been to previously [post to follow].

 

Enzo’s Cucina Restaurant – Campbelltown – New South Wales – Australia – April 2017

Tags

Australia, Campbelltown, dinner with family and friends, Enzo's Cucina Restaurant, Italian food, New South Wales

Dinner with family over Easter

Over the Easter period I went up to Sydney to visit my family and chose a local restaurant for dinner and invited my best friend from school who I hadn’t seen for some time.  We have been friends for over forty-three years and really enjoy catching up whenever possible – she is an amazing girl (or woman now I guess).  This was the same restaurant I had booked for a surprise birthday party for my dad four years ago but now it’s been fully refurbished and is really lovely inside.  We had a very early dinner so were lucky there was only about three or four full tables when we arrived..completely full when we left.

The walls have been re-plastered with some of the bricks visible and there are framed prints around the walls with movie stars such as Sophia Loren eating pasta.

The menu is extensive with lots of vegetarian choices. I chose the Gnocchi al Pomodoro; potato dumplings pan tossed with basil, oregano and tomatoes –  such a tasty dish and really filling; so unfortunately I could only eat half.

My dad ordered a Barramundi fillet which was served with fried olives, tomato and basil oil on potato mash.  A huge dish but he managed to eat it all and loved it.

My brother ordered the Vitello all a Griglia; grilled veal with fresh herbs and a lemon dressing with roasted garlic potato mash while my nephew Braydon had the Calamari Fritti; lightly crumbed squid rings served with mayonnaise and lemon.  Great meals I was told and everything eaten.

My school friend Deb ordered a grilled chicken salad. I didn’t bother taking a photograph of this dish as it was just a huge bowl with salad and the chicken was at the bottom.  I did however take some photos of our desserts.  Wow!!  I had the tiny doughnuts with ice-cream and Braydon ordered the Nutella covered crepes.  Again too many doughnuts for me to finish but I definitely tried my best to eat them all.  I just love doughnuts and these were great.

My brother finished off with a hot chocolate in a fancy jar with a little sponge biscuit.

We had such a good night and it was great to see the restaurant refurbished and of course that extensive menu is just excellent.

Jamie’s Italian Kitchen – Canberra – ACT – Australia – May 2016

Tags

ACT, Australia, canberra, Italian food, Jamie Oliver's restaurant, lunch

Eating Italian food at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant 

This year, I made a list of casual restaurants I would like to try in Canberra and Jamie’s Italian was one, so with two of my friends we met and tried the food at this franchise.

One friend and I sat at the bar enjoying a glass of wine while we waited for our other friend and when she arrived, we were seated at a little booth which was comfortable with a huge chandelier above us and an array of cured meats and hanging garlic above the kitchen area.

Our waitress allowed us to sample a couple of wines before we bought, as they were Italian and we had not tasted them before.

There are great small plates to share on the menu and whilst we wanted to eat them all, we decided on just one dish which was the crispy polenta chips – they were good!!

I ordered the margherita pizza for my main course and it was nice; a reasonable looking pizza with a tasty base and even though it was not the best I have ever had, it was still enjoyable.  There were many dishes to choose from for vegetarians but this day I felt like pizza as had seen one being delivered to another table and it looked pretty good.

My friends ordered the prawn linguine which consisted of fried garlic prawns with fennel, tomatoes, chilli, saffron, fish broth & lemon rocket and the squid and mussel spaghetti which had  flash-fried squid and mussels with octopus, capers, chilli, anchovies, tomatoes and white wine.  My friends both said they enjoyed their meals.

Food was ok and service very good, but I think I need to return to try an eggplant dish that I think has my name on it which has so many ingredients that make it sound really interesting (roasted eggplant with a ragù of lentils and tomatoes and smoked paprika with a garlicky yoghurt dressing, toasted pine nuts, lemon rocket and pomegranate).

Jamie’s has so many vegetarian dishes on its menu which all sound delicious including:

• pasta filled with roasted squash, ricotta and parmesan in a pumpkin, chilli and rosemary butter
• a tomato based pasta with garlic, basil, chillies, vegetarian pecorino and herb breadcrumbs
• pasta stuffed with zucchini and mint and
• a truffle risotto

 It’s always nice when a restaurant has so many options for vegetarians!!

Italian & Sons Restaurant – Canberra – ACT – Australia – June 2016

Tags

ACT, Australia, canberra, Italian & Sons restaruant, Italian food

An Italian restaurant in Canberra, a little overpriced!

Italian & Sons  is a very small restaurant in one of Canberra’s new restaurant districts.  It came highly recommended to me but was rather difficult to find as the shopfront is very small and the signage is barely visible.

The restaurant offers traditional Italian dishes and you can start with antipasti, followed by a range of organic cured meats made to strict Tuscan specifications. Then onto the main meals which include braised lamb, swimmer crab with ink linguine and roast pork alla Romana; all dishes served seasonally using Canberra’s  local and organic farmers which is wonderful.

(source: http://www.dimmi.com.au)

There are only a few vegetarian dishes on the menu and all of them contain cheese of some sort [goats/reggiano/pecorini/buffalo mozzarella or buffalo milk ricotta] and with me not eating cheese unless it contains non-animal rennet, I was left with very little choice.

It is quite a sweet little restaurant and on this occasion, I dined with two of my girl friends; one I met in Beijing and the other I work with.  We try and catch up four times a year but usually manage only two, probably due to work commitments and just being busy with life.

My friends started off with an entree of lightly fried calamari with a parsley salad and a tangy aioli which they shared.  I decided on only having a main dish as I really couldn’t find anything on the entree menu I could eat.

For my main meal, I ordered the chestnut pappadelle topped with a little house smoked buffalo milk ricotta and porcine and portobella mushrooms.  The pasta and sauce was good and I enjoyed the meal without eating the ricotta cheese.  I do love pappadelle pasta!!

My friends ordered the suckling lamb with tomato and red wine ragu and the potato gnocchi with wild rabbit, pino grigio and rosemary ragu with pecorini.  Both meals they said were very good.

We took a look at the dessert menu and there were lovely things to eat, for example handmade pastries, tiramisu, cannoli, panna cotta and gelato.  The three of us decided not to order anything as of course we were all trying to watch our weight. And whilst our meals were filling, I thought $30 for a bowl of pasta was rather overpriced!!

After we left, I walked back to my car and along the way I saw the cutest little possum eating some grass.  It’s funny to see one so close to the city (about 1 km away) and also funny he/she didn’t move when I walked past; actually didn’t seem the slightest bit interested in me at all.

The possum is a marsupial species native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi (and introduced to New Zealand and China). The name derives from their resemblance to the opossums of the Americas and are typically nocturnal. Although opossums are also marsupials, possums are more closely related to other Australian marsupials such as kangaroos. (Wikipedia)