melbourne

>China Bar

~ maireaddoyle ~ Leave a comment

>It was Chinese New Year and an acquaintance’s thirtieth birthday: what better opportunity to try another cheap and cheerful Chinatown eatery. China Bar came recommended by a few people. There are three branches, two in the city and one in Box Hill. We met up with the others at the Russell Street branch, right beside the entertainment stage where Chinese dancers, gymnasts, singers and performers entertained the hundreds of Melburnians who had braved the forty-degree heat to celebrate New Year in style.

China Bar is pretty small. It probably holds about fifty diners when full. Full roasted chickens and ducks are displayed proudly in the window, and above the counter a selection of dishes are displayed in full photographic glory.

We sat down the back with six others at the formica table, and helped ourselves to extra glasses for our BYO wine. Hunger, and the sheer beewilderment of the number of dishes on offer, made choosing an impossibility. Others picked my first choices – Mongolian beef, belly pork, choice of two roasts – and I was reluctant to order the same dish twice for the table. For the first time in my life, I sent the waitress away with no order from me after everybody else had chosen. Finally, somebody suggested that I limit my choice to the Specialities section, and I finally opted for satay beef.

We shared rice, noodles and stir-fried vegetables along with our own personally-chosen dishes. Everything was enormous and delicious.

We thought nothing could have detracted from our evening, until one creepy-crawly was detected on the wall near our table. In the course of the evening four baby cockroaches were seen emerging from the air-conditioning vent on the opposite wall, and making their way over to our table. They were dispatched with the aid of roll-up newspapers, but not before one almost made it into my hair, and one onto the table itself.

Now, a week later, the memory of the delicious food is fading as quickly as the memory of the cockroaches is growing. Despite the amazing food, I’m not sure if I will eat there again.

Arintjis

~ maireaddoyle ~ Leave a comment

>French chef Jacques Reymond has lived and worked in Melbourne for almost 25 years. His eponymous restaurant in Windsor is one of the top restaurants in the city. A few years ago he opened a new, more casual restaurant in the city’s Federation Square, Arintji.

We ate there on a weeknight, and the place was full of after-work functions, birthday dinners, couples and small groups of friends. I arrived first and ordered a glass of Jacques Reymond Selection shiraz, from the Victorian Pyrenees.

The decor is modern and low-key, and you can see clearly into the open-plan kitchen. The menu is described as pan-national or modern Australian in the reviews I have read, but there is a distinct Asian slant to most dishes. Orlando started with croquettes of chorizo, spanish hard cheese and potato aioli and my starter was a warm salad of green beans, olives and feta (alright, these dishes are more Mediterranean but keep reading). Both dishes were very small but perfectly balanced in terms of taste and texture. So far, so good.

The main courses were a mixture of delight and disappointment. My stir fry of pork, shiitake mushrooms, kim chi, water chestnuts and rice drops was divine: a generous bowlful of dark and delicious goodness. Orlando’s roast duck noodle salad with ginger, sesame and soy was so small he called the waiter back to enquire whether he had been given a starter portion by mistake. The waiter explained to Orlando that the dish he had ordered as a main was actually from the starters list, and that the noodle salad was the correct size. It was gone in a few delicious mouthfuls – and I had to give him some of my stir fry to keep him from wasting away.
Later we checked the menu online and Orlando’s tiny dish was actually listed in the “Mains” section. Admittedly it was one of the cheaper dishes, but at $15 it was neither value for money nor a genuine attempt to satisfy a normal human’s hunger pangs.
Lee’s scotch fillet was perfectly cooked and amply proportioned, as was Daniel’s pork cutlet with piquillo pepper and grape couscous.

The evening ended with three of us satisfied by both the quality and quantity of what we had been served, and one slightly hungry individual who was left wanting more.

Cafe Barcelona

~ maireaddoyle ~ Leave a comment

>It was the St. Kilda Festival this weekend. We popped in to BarCelona on Fitzroy Street early on Sunday evening to excape the crowds, the heat and the hurricane-force wind that had caught us in a dried-grass-storm… and got ripped off.

We should have known when we asked for a jug of water as soon as we sat down, and were told we couldn’t have one. Large bottles of still or sparking water only today. We opted for the sangria, and were charged $28 compared to the standard menu price of $24.

Strangely, as soon as our two companions had ordered their food, the waitress disappeared so quickly that our calls for her to return went unnoticed. I wonder what she thought we two were going to eat?

Our companions ordered a platter of antipasto-type food for two at $20, and it was measly. The calamari, mussels, chicken wings, beef skewers and leak and parmesan croquetas were perfectly fine in fairness, but the food came out in dribs and drabs, and even our attempts to be given cutlery and napkins went unheard.

At $96 for four people, it was not value for money. And I’m sure it’s illegal to refuse to serve tap water, regardless of whether you charge for it or not?

I’ve eaten at BarCelona before, and enjoyed it, but I won’t be returning.

gourmet city

~ maireaddoyle ~ Leave a comment

We have a date tonight with Lee and her boyfriend. Easy – two serious food-lovers in a city full to bursting with amazing places to eat.

So why did it take us over two days to finalise the venue?

Melbourne is a foodies’ paradise. Both Lee and I started obsessively looking for places in the central business district we’d like to visit. We traded possible lists, avoiding seafood (they ate last night) or Italian (my WeightWatchers meeting is tomorrow). We couldn’t come to a landing.

After the first day, we both started making phone calls to get tables at some places we fancied. Lee called Melbourne Supper Club: full. Then she tried Movida: also full. What’s going on in Melbourne on a Tuesday evening?

By mid-afternoon today we were four hours from meeting up, and miles from agreeing where. We were browsing Miettas and the Age Epicure sites for inspiration. It was a bit like being brought to the best shoe shop in the world with no notice, and told to pick one pair of shoes: impossible without serious soul-searching.

In the end I called it. I booked a table for four at Arintji, Jacques Reymond’s place at Federation Square. Lee phoned expressing relief that somebody had decided on something.

Kid in a candy store…

Il Solito Posto

~ maireaddoyle ~ Leave a comment

>A pre-Christmas dinner with work friends took us to one my new favourite restaurants in Melbourne.
Il Solito Posto is tucked away in a basement down a side alley off the Paris end of Collins Street. It could have been a businessman’s realm but managed not to be. Small groups in suits sat eating in casual surroundings on the upper level, but the real treat was further down the stairs into the basement proper.
From our corner table we could see everything. One wall was lined with shelves full of wine. The clientele was a mix of after-work diners, couples and slightly noisier groups of friends.
Alan and Jeanette our waiters were the ultimate in Melbourne hospitality: unobtrusive, but friendly and professional, they guided us through the menu, wine list and specials as if we were regulars.
The menu was not too lengthy, with something for everybody. Classic antipasti, an excellent well-chosen list of pasta and risotto dishes, and main courses ranging from rib-eye steak to snapper.
I chose the sea urchin for a starter from the specials list. Two spiky specimens arrived, each sitting on a bed of salt, the meat sitting atop a scoop or two of chopped onion, chilli and ginger in a light vinaigrette dressing. It was ultra-fresh and tasted of the sea. Divine.
For the main course I chose the fillet steak, roasted medium-rare and served on a bed of mashed potato. Every mouthful was a treat; the steak was perfectly cooked.
The wine list was superb: dozens of wines grouped by grape, ranging from under $50 to almost four figures. We chose a Chianti Classico (when in Rome…) from the lower end of the price scale, which complemented our food perfectly.
I could not resist the dessert menu (unusual for me) and chose a tiramisu. The girls helped me out with their coffee spoons. Like a good Italian restaurant, they had it just right. Not too boozy, not too runny, not too big.
Il Solito Posto translates as “the usual place” and I can guarantee that this little place will become one of my regular haunts in the city. Whether for a quick after-work bite in the bar or a perfect Italian dinner downstairs, it won’t let you down.