Amici Trattoria

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

Amici Trattoria is a candlelit cozy restaurant serving Italian fare.  We went there for dinner on a Saturday night and it made for a great evening out - the staff were friendly, meal came quickly and food did not disappoint.

As an appetizer we ordered an antipasto plate to share and a few loaves of garlic bread.  The antipasto plate had an assortment of nibblies:  salami, olives, preserved veggies and pickles, a few solid wedges of parmesan and meatball.  The garlic bread, or rather rustic bread with garlic butter was a nice accompaniment to the antipasto.  Continue reading...

Matteo's (Revisit)

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

To celebrate a milestone birthday recently, I made a booking at Matteo's for their Lazy Sunday Lunch.  Having been previously wowed at Matteo's , I knew it was a pretty safe bet to host my birthday lunch there.  It did not disappoint.  The service was attentive, the menu creative and even the kid's menu showed care and attention - in fact we begged scraps off Kiddo's meal, it looked so enticing.

The Lazy Lunch Menu is $79 per head, $109 per head with a glass of wine matched with each course.  As we were not big drinkers, we opted for the $79 option and ordered wines and drinks separately.  It was indeed a lazy lunch as we were very well fed and rolled on home for a nanna nap.

The entree consisted of four tastes to share:

Peking duck rillettes wrapped in a spring onion crepe

Panko crumbed goat's cheese

Scorched Mooloolaba cobia sashimi, shisho-ponzo dressing

Spicy veal, wombok and salted beef bresaola rolls

These little morsels looked so beautiful, particularly the Peking duck rillettes with the sliver of lotus roots on top.  The cobia sashimi was a stand out.  So light and delicate but smokey at the same time.

Course two, we had a choice of the following:

Spanner crab wonton ravioli, Asian coleslaw with bean shoots and choko, tom kha galangal sauce

Saikyo-yaki miso baked black cod fillet, broad beans, heirloom carrots, taramasalata

I had the baked cod which was juicily cooked and flavoursome.

Course three were meat mains and we had a choice of the two below.  I ordered the pork hock below.  It was melt in the mouth glory.  The surrounds were pretty yum too, eg the cabbage and cauliflower.

Roasted Golden Plains pork hock roulade, cider braised cabbage, macerated prunes, cauliflower, garlic cream, ginger wine glaze

Pan seared spatchcock chicken, grilled baby corn, pumpkin, sugar snap peas, Balinese yellow curry sauce

Desserts was a feast in itself as well.  We each had a tasting plate with three wee desserts.  For those of us on a low sugar lifestyle (me), Matteo's kindly accommodated by swapping the sweet desserts for a sumptuous cheese platter.  My cheese platter was quite the envy of the sugar fiends.  The Gods must have been smiling down on us as we were also very lucky to have an extra sticky date pudding thrown in!

Chocolate pudding, run and raising ice cream, passionfruit trifle with red velvet cake and pineapple

Cheese platter with all the trimmings - the walnut bread was delightfully warm!

It's my lucky day - on the house warm sticky date puddings

A cuppa to wash it all down with

The kid's menu was no less spectacular.  Kiddo chose the following from the Gen Dine menu.  As mentioned earlier, all the adults begged for a little taste of each.

Calamari

Steak with onion rings

Chocolate pudding and icecream

So there you go!  It was a feast in the literal sense of the word.  It was a very memorable birthday lunch for me and my guests.

The deets:

Matteo's
533 Brunswick St,
NTH FITZROY  VIC 3068
ph: 9481 1177

The Wharf Hotel

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

Spring has sprung! It's the perfect time of the year to enjoy the best of waterfront and al fresco dining Melbourne has to offer.  I was very fortunate to be invited by Clemence Harvey to dine at one of the World Trade Centre (WTC) Wharf's waterside restaurants as part of their launch of their new Spring Express Lunch menus.  Out of the participating restaurants (Man Mo, Kobe Jones, Byblos and Wharf Hotel), I opted for the express lunch at the Wharf Hotel as I have never been there before.  The express lunch menu are designed for the quickie weekday lunch but in a much nicer setting that your average office break out area.  And in my case, a much better tasting lunch than what I usually pack in my lunch box!

Wharf side view

The staff were very friendly and the food came promptly as promised.  I was in and out in less than an hour.  The Wharf Hotel offer a choice of five items on the express lunch menu which come with a drink.

The waitress advised that their pizzas are a popular item, so whilst I generally don't order pizza when dining out (as I like to think I make a pretty mean wood fire oven pizza myself), I decided to give their's a go.  I ordered the salmon, tomato and chilli pizza.  It was a very generous size serve and I could not finish it.  It came with some serious cheese on top.

Salmon, tomato and chilli pizza

Seriously cheesy

The crust was very light and crispy and not at all greasy.  For a salmon pizza the taste wasn't overwhelmingly fishy, which was a good thing.  As I'm a bit of a fussy pizza critic, this pizza more than past muster.

I washed it down with a cup of tea which I ordered in lieu of the glass of wine or soft drink which came with the express lunch.

I was also provided with the dessert menu.  But as I could not even finish my pizza, there was no way I could fit in the dessert.

I'll leave you with a few pics of the surrounds.  As I said, a way better ambience than the average office break out area.  Indeed there were quite a few office folks grabbing a bite.

The WTC Wharfside restaurants are definitely a good lunch option for those working in the city - beats sitting down in a food court for sure.

Until next time...

Nieuw Amsterdam

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I had a very civilised mid-week lunch with my sister and kiddo at Nieuw Amsterdam.  To cut to the chase, the BBQ meat plate was nothing short of glorious.  It was $24 and came with a meat of choice (we chose the pork chop), coleslaw, pickle, bread and potato salad.  The pork chop was moist and ever so tender, it was reminiscent of a slow cooked piece of meat.  It was drizzled with a slightly sweet BBQ sauce.  The okra in the pickles were also an unexpected but nice touch.

The BBQ Meat plate

To supplement the meat plate we also ordered the eggplant sandwich ($17).  This sounded a bit bland on paper but in life, it was a sizeable sandwich and delicious too.  Stacked with mozzarella, fresh tomato and served with steakhouse chips and Srirachi mayo.  Kiddo was particularly taken to the rocket salad.  It was the first greens I have seen her voluntarily eat for weeks.

A huge eggplant sandwich - split 3 ways

A close up

All in all, Nieuw Amsterdam does not disappoint on the food front.  It also had lovely bar-like ambience.  I can understand why it is such a popular haunt.  

Until next time...

Cafe Paradiso

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I was at Cafe Paradiso with a couple of parents from Kiddo's school.  It's opposite the Rivoli Theatre at Camberwell Junction so in all respects a popular eating joint in prime locale.

I was a bit disappointed with the service.  Being a week night, it wasn't all that busy but we waited an eternity for the drinks to be poured.  One of the parents ended up walking to the counter and asking what the specials were before coming back to the table to recite it back to us as our waitress had gone AWOL.

My disappointment with the service was eclipsed by my disappointment with the food.  I ordered a wagyu burger.  Sounded good in theory.  However it was strangely gritty with each bite.  Try as I may, I could not identify the source of the grit.  I hoped to God it was sand on the lettuce but deep down, part of me was afraid that the grit is from the burger meat itself.  I was operating in denial and ate the burger on auto-pilot. The fries themselves were extremely salty and for once in my life, I did not finish my beloved pomme frites.

A suspiciously gritty wagyu burger

 A few quick pics of what the others had ordered:

Haloumi salad

Risotto

Soup of the day

In short, Cafe Paradiso - I will not be going back.



Until next time...

Treasury Deli & Cafe

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I'll keep this text lite and let the amazing salads at Treasury Deli & Cafe do all the talking.  Treasury Cafe is situated within the Department of Treasury and Finance.  It is open to the public and has a spacious al fresco area over looking city greenery.  Their salads are officially, da bombe.  Continue reading...

Miss Frank - Revisit

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

Miss Frank is a short stroll from home and it's a handy place to have around the corner for catch up with friends as it does decent coffee and filling brunches/lunches.  Please see here for previous Miss Frank's post.

For brunch today I ordered the Schnitz Panini and it did not disappoint.  The lemony crumbed chicken breast came with a refreshing fennel slaw.  It was pleasingly jaw dislocatingly huge ($17.50)

And the thick cut chips that came with were seasoned with sea salt and yummy aioli.

My friend M and her little D, shared the Big Breakfast ($19).  It too came in a generous serve with the eggs separate (due to D's egg allergy).  It was a heaping helping of spinach, thick cut bacon, Italian sausage, toast and two sunny side ups.

The above was washed down with coffees and a freshly squeezed OJ for little D.

Whilst the muffins and sweets looked ever so tempting, I had absolutely no tummy real estate left after that ginormous panini.  So for next time...

Shizuku Ramen

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I was the lucky plus one guest for lunch at Shizuku which is a modern take on a traditional ramen restaurant.  By modern take I mean, they had many creative spins on typical noodle house fare.  For instance, we ordered a cha su souvlaki which was all that you would expect of a Greek souvlaki (wrap, lettuce, salad elements like leek and cucumber) but with the Japanese roast pork interior and with an Asiatic bent of chilli mayo and sichimi sauce.  It was absolutely delicious and as an entree, a great starter to share.  It tasted very similar to a Peking duck pancake eg roasted meat, slightly sweet sauce, egg pancake....mmm....

Cha Su Souvlaki

To further demonstrate their creativity, the green tea came with a little nibble on the side.  These were savoury popcorn.  It tasted like they have been lightly sprayed with soy sauce or similar.

For mains we both ordered the ramen...for how could we not as this was their specialty?  There were many creative versions of ramen.  Of note was the ramen burger.  But being a ramen traditionalist, I decided to try their kimchi ramen.  I loved the juicy slices of pork with just the right amount of fatty to lean meat ratio.  The egg was wonderfully boiled, just setting on being gooey.  The kimchi itself wasn't the fiery hot type so very enjoyable to eat.  The soup was hearty and comforting.  Apparently the broth has been boiled for at least 10 hours to get the concentrated flavours.  The noodles had a nice bite to them which was in a whole different league to 2 min noodles.

Kimchi ramen

My friend ordered the Shoyu ramen.  The broth for this one was mind blowing.  It was tasted very complex.  I suspect a variety of meats were used to create the broth.  The broth of the Shoyu tasted like a labour of love.

Shoyu ramen

The interior of Shizuku was all about glossy black walls and statement lighting.  It had great ambience.  It is situated on the same strip of Victoria St as the pho shops and offers an alternative to the usual noodle shops.  

Until next time...