Restaurant Review: Café Bedda, Northcote, Melbourne

For dinner on my final night in Melbourne I headed out to the suburb of Northcote to catch up with some old colleagues at the Sicilian restaurant of Café Bedda. The restaurant was packed with regulars so it was a good job we'd booked a table.

My colleagues took delight in grilling me about my (non existent) love life and watching me squirm as my sister listened in to my answers. I was thankful when the waiter arrived to take our order!

We ordered a selection of starters to share. The zuchini fritters were coated in breadcrumbs and fried. They were well seasoned and had a great crunch.

Our plate of fried prawns that you eat whole (shell, head an all) was salty and crunch. I preferred to eat them on their own, rather than with the lemony mayonaise that they were served with.

The Salsicce we lovely small, rich, fennel sausages. They had a strong and gutsy flavour and could be fantastic in a pasta sauce. We also ordered the Badduzze di Melanzane (aubergine fritters in a sugo sauce) and warmed olives in garlic, but my dining companions were a bit too quick to get stuck in before I could take photos.


All of the starters were traditional Sicilian dishes and very enjoyable.

The Maccheroni Della Nonna is created from pasta handmade by the owners grandmother with eggs that my ex-colleague Kate sells to the restaurant from her small holding. How could I nor order it? I've no idea how nonna makes the long thin tubes of pasta. For me the ragu could have been a bit richer with more depth of flavour.

Ruth ordered the Conchigle con Carciofi an artichoke, egg, pecorino and parsley pasta. It came attractively served in an earthenware bowl.

For dessert I ordered the Cassata Siciliana, a Sicilian ice cream cake with layers of chocolate, amaretto & maraschino cherries. The boozy ice cream was a popular choice at the table.


It was a fun evening catching up with friends. It was good, not just Italian, but traditionally Sicilian food. For me the five different starters that we ordered were the highlights of the evening.



Full disclosure: Café Bedda is owned and run by a former colleague and her husband. I paid for dinner, she doesn't know I blog and she didn't ask me to write a review.

Café Bedda
242 High Street
Northcote 
3070, VIC

Restaurant Review: The Long Table, Red Hill

We were looking to treat ourselves with a nice meal out while we were staying in the Mornington Peninsula. We had romantic visions of dining in a vineyard, but couldn't find anywhere open on a Wednesday night during the tail end of winter.

Walking past the small shopping precinct near our holiday cottage in Red Hill we noticed The Long Table. It didn't look too much from the outside, but when I saw that it has recently been awarded a Chef's Hat I was sold. I didn't think we'd need a booking, but it was a good job we reserved a table as the place was packed on a Wednesday night.

The drinks menu is hyper-local. To start with I ordered an amber ale from the Red Hill Brewery, situated 800m up the road. A light and bright beer with plenty of flavour. The wine list is local too with nearly all tipples coming from Victoria and many from the Red Hill area.

Both and Andrew and I went for the Wednesday night special of two courses and a glass of wine for $35. The main course was a confit duck leg served with crispy cavelero nero, prune, potato puree and beans.

It was a small, but lovely, plate of food. I'm quite critical that duck in Australia tastes bland, but this duck leg had a lot of flavour. It tasted like the duck I've eaten back in the UK. The prune added a lovely sweetness. The potato puree and beans went well with the duck. I wasn't sure what the point of the cavelero nero was.

As the special offer didn't have a vegetarian option Ruth ordered the smoked potato gnocchi, babaganoush, blackened carrots, kale & gruyere. The gnocchi had been deep friend and reminded Ruth more of a potato croquet. There was nothing left by the end, so I guess she liked it!

The second course on the special menu was a goats cheese, cheesecake with rhubarb. The cheese cake was deconstructed with two quinnells of the cheesecake placed on top of a biscuit crumb. The cheesecake was rich and smooth, which contrasted nicely with the sharp rhubarb. I didn't detect a strong goats cheese flavour. The small meringue (to the left of the plate) didn't add anything for me.

The service was very efficient and friendly and the restaurant had a buzzing atmosphere on a busy evening. If I am going to be critical our waitress could have spoken a bit louder as it was difficult to hear her at times, I'd prefer it if they gave you the food menus at the same time as the wine list (a bit hard to match food an wine otherwise) and it would have been nice to have had a bottle of water on the table.

Overall there was some very good food. Lots of technique and flavour which I think is well deserving of their newly awarded Chef's Hat.

The Long Table
159 Shoreham Rd
Red Hill South
  

Restaurant Review: Vegie Bar, Fitzroy, Melbourne

I've mentioned in my posts on Melbourne before that the city has style. For me the suburb of Fitzroy typifies the laid back and effortless chic like nowhere else, so I decided to take Ruth and Andrew there for dinner while we were in Melbourne.

A quick browse of Urban Spoon picked out Vegie Bar so we jumped on a tram and headed out. The huge venue was packed on a Thursday night, seemingly vegetarian food has never been so popular. We were sent to the courtyard out the back for a drink while waiting for our table.

The large menu is, obviously, vegetarian with plenty of vegan, raw food and gluten free options as well.

We ordered some dim sim to share as a starter. Not bad, just nothing special. I think they had probably used wonton wrappers for the dim sim and they were (ever so) slightly rubbery. The best thing about them was the dipping sauces. The soy and sesame oil blend was my favourite.

For my main I ordered the Duo. A chickpea and  potato & lentil curry served with a yogurt dip, roti and brown rice. The chickpea curry had a sweet, coconut based sauce which reminded me of butter chicken curries I have had before. The lentil and potato curry was flavoured with cumin and cinnamon. Both were good. The roti was little bit thick and brown rice a bit dry.

Ruth ordered the House Salad with spring rolls. Aside from the spring rolls I think this salad might have counted as 'raw food'. Healthy, certainly, fresh, definitely. However, I'm not sure a mound of raw vegetables would be my thing. There was only a very mild salad dressing. Go for it if you need your vitamins!

Vegi Bar was good fun. Efficient service, healthy food, large portions and amazing value at three mains plus the dim sim for $44 (we paid for drinks separately).

Vegie Bar
380 Brunswick St
Fitzroy
3065

Melbourne quick easts

On previous visits to Melbourne I've never been able to stumble upon the lane way gems that people so insistently tell me are there. So before my visit last week I decided to do a quick bit of research, print myself out a map and go in search of a decent couple of breakfasts and lunches.

First up was Hardware Societe. When I found the small café I was surprised by it's diminutive size. How can somewhere so small be creating such hype? In many ways this place is the perfect sterotype of the Australian café that we don't get in the UK. Compact, lots of staff, bright, share table, coffee focused and with it's own quirky style. I decided to go for the bircher museli which came with raspberries, poached pears, chopped macadamias and blueberries. A little bit different and a nice start to the day without being the best bircher I've ever had.

A while ago I remember reading about Earl Canteen which is conveniently located under my office block. It would almost have been wreckless not to visit for lunch. I went for the crisp skin free-range pork belly, apple, cabbage & fennel coleslaw, wilted silverbeet, baguette. It is as much of a mouthful to say as it was to eat. Everything about it was delicious from the pork crackling right through the coleslaw to the baguette. However, it was just a bit too hard to eat and at $13.50 for a sandwich a bit too expensive to turn me into a regular. I hate to sound boring, but in your work suit you want something easy to eat and that isn't going to leave you with greasy fingers.

Finally I had breakfast at Solarino. I hadn't heard of this place before, but it was a top rated breakfast spot on Urban Spoon located not too far from my hotel and office. I ordered the scrambled eggs, with maple glazed bacon and avocado on sourdough toast. The maple glazed bacon was wafer thin, crispy and had a great maple flaovur. The best bacon I've had since Revolver. Unfortunately I felt the bacon was both the dishes greatest strength and weakness, it dominated everything else. I found myself wanting something equally robust to balance the bacon. Perhaps a nice little tomato chutney? I found myself eating the various components separately to enjoy their individual flavours as together they didn't work.


The Hardware Societe
120 Hardware Lane
Melbourne
3000



Earl Canteen
500 Bourke Street (enter via Lt Bourke)
Melbourne
3000
 

Solario 
279 Little Collins St (it is just off Little Collins down a small lane way) 
Melbourne 
3000

Restaurant Review: Rice Queen, Fitzroy, Melbourne

On my last visit  to Melbourne I had dinner at the Panama Dining Room which was a very cool Melbourne venue. Just downstairs is the hip younger sister Rice Queen. I had a free evening on my visit to Melbourne last week so decided to go and check it out.

The double height room is funkily decorated. The painted walls look like enlarged floral wallpaper designs. Eclectic furniture fills the rest of the room which can roughly be broken into three areas: a dining section, sofas for hanging out and raised tables near the bar.

Along the front wall there is a stage which has a grand piano sitting on it. The night I was there a jazz trio started playing half way through the evening. A female singer with a smokey voice was accompanied by a double bass and someone tinkering on the grand. They provided a good backdrop to all of the groups that had popped in for dinner. I initially felt a bit conspicuous dining on my own (the perils of travelling for work), but soon relaxed into my surroundings.

The male staff all had buttoned up collars (no ties) and the girls were wearing aprons. I'm not sure what style they were going for, but somehow it all fitted together.

Rice Queen styles itself as an Oriental Diner. I'm not really sure what that means. The menu was pan-Asian with Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Malaysian, Taiwanese and Thai dishes on the menu, which I guess is the Oriental. It didn't have a particular 'Diner' feel though.

As a starter I ordered the Taiwanese beef and kimchi served with a star anise soy sauce. Oh wow. Don't be fooled by the dodgy dimly lit photo, this was surprisingly tasty. The thinly shaved beef, crunchy and sour pickles (it didn't taste like any kimchi I've had before) and slightly sweet soy sauce (I think it was more complex than simply soy and star anise) all went perfectly together.

Texturally you had soft beef with the crunchy pickles. On the taste front you had hot, sour, salty and a bit of sweetness. I was a big fan. So big in fact I'm putting it on my top eats page.

Unfortunately the Malaysian Kari Kambing curry that I had as a main course wasn't nearly as exciting. It just tasted a bit generic.

Rice Queen is a good example of a laid back, urban, edgy Melbourne venue. A good place to hang out with friends. I'd be interested to try more of the menu to find out if contained a series of outstanding dishes or sadly some more misses.

Level 2 / 231 Smith Street,
Fitzroy,
Melbourne

Sofitel Academy

I recently completed the second half of a five day training course down in Melbourne. As part of the preparation notes we were asked to take an item of personal value with us. Initially I was completely confused over what to take. When I arrived in Australia all I had with me was a suitcase full of clothes. I didn't think an old jumper would really cut it.

I was just about to call mum and ask her to send something over from home. However, I thought that if something was truly of personal significance I would have brought it with me. At this point I remembered that the only thing other than clothes in my suitcase when I arrived was my cookery knives. I thought meeting a bunch of strangers with a 20cm cooks knife might have been a bit confronting, so I settled on taking my knife bag instead.

When it was time for me to introduce my personal item, I talked about early cooking memories with my family, the cookery course I did after Uni, my random dinner with Jamie Oliver and about all the enjoyment food has brought me.

On the penultimate day of the course, when it was announced that we were going to be doing a team building event at the Sofitel Cookery Academy, everyone immediately wanted to be on my team. Oh no, what have I done! Perhaps I should have taken the jumper with a hole in it after all.

When we stepped into the kitchen all my nerves were gone and I was absolutely loving the experience! It was a real thrill to be in an industrial kitchen with all of the equipment and ingredients that it entails at our disposal.

We were divided into three teams to cook either the starter, main course or dessert. I was initially in the group cooking the starter, and elected head chef of my section. They played around with us a bit during the evening. Moving the teams around, but keeping the head chefs where they were. Then moving the head chefs but keeping the team members in their same position. I ended up on the main course with my original team.

By the end of the night I was famous for the 'onion incident'. When I arrived on the main course section I asked for more onions.  The first batch hadn't been thinly sliced and I didn't fancy huge lumps of onion in the sauce. The head chef of Sofitel liked my commitment to quality, but I think I might have offended a couple of people!

The starter was freshly made gnocchi with a sun dried tomato, spinach and pine nut sauce.

The main course (which no one took a photo of) was roast fillet of beef, pumpkin and potato rosti, spinach and the infamous caramelised onion sauce.

The dessert was a sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream.

At the end of the night the head chef was asked to nominate the best cook of the evening an there was a certain amount of pride when he nominated me. It was definitely my highlight of the entire course!

The cookery event was a surprise so I didn't have my camera with me. The above photos are dodgy iPhone shots courtesy of Peter.

Melbourne food round up

"How very Melbourne" was the comment made by my friend David as we were slipping out of the Panama dining room. I'd have to agree.

Melbourne has a different vibe to Sydney. In the city centre you have the laneways decorated with artistic graffiti, shoes hanging from telephone wires and cool independent cafes. Out in the suburbs there are grungy pubs and converted warehouses with peeling paint. Managing to be effortlessly cool and home to hip-young-things out for the evening.

Long may it continue. I fear that as the city develops, big business might muscle in and push out all of the independent places which are the life blood of Melbourne's chic scene.

Last week I spent three days down in Melbourne. Here's a quick recap of some of the places that I ate.

Maze by Gordon Ramsay

The latest outpost of Gordon Ramsay's Maze empire is located at the Crown casino. It was my first visit to the Melbourne restaurant, but my second time at the Maze empire having visited the NY restaurant back in 2008.

We went for the seven course chef's menu. As you'd expect the food was all very good, but I don't think it attained the heights you'd expect from a Gordon Ramsay meal. There wasn't a innovative or wow factor dish, just seven solid performers. The food wasn't served on warm plates and the service could have been better. Must try harder.

The Panama Dining Room, Collingwood
"How very Melbourne", indeed.

Part of being effortless and cool means you don't have a sign above the door, so we initially got lost. When we finally found the anonymous grey door and ventured inside, graffiti scrawled on the wall pointed us up  to the third floor. Amazing floor to ceiling widows, a snooker table, sofas and a dining area created a welcoming and laid back atmosphere.

They had a massive, imported and local, beer selection and decent wine list. The service was a little hap-hazard, but the rabbit and leek cottage pie I had was very tasty.

Somewhere to take friends when in Melbourne. You can look like one of the cool kids and nonchalantly say, "I've heard of this place in Collingwood I thought we could try".

A couple on the floor below is Queen Rice, which looked like a similar venu serving Asian food at slightly lower prices.

Proud Mary
I visited Proud Mary back in March and decided to head back there for breakfast one morning. The food lived up to the same high standards and was a great way to start the morning.

Pacific House
My training course was in Richmond, aka little Vietnam. One lunchtime a few of us headed to Pacific House for duck and BBQ pork belly. Worth a visit if you are in the area, but don't trek half way across town.

Melbourne Round Up

I've been to Melbourne quite a few times now, but I still managed to see and do a some new things on my recent trip with mum and dad. I hadn't noticed how interesting Melbourne's architecture was before now. If you look up in the CBD there are a lot of old buildings mixed in with the new. A hotch potch that works surprisingly well. I also visited a few new lane ways and showed mum and dad some of the famous graffiti.

On the restaurant front I tried the trendy Movida for the first time. Unfortunately I was hit with a double whammy of a headache and the world's darkest table so I couldn't take any decent photos. I do remember the food being good though. They have a number of innovative dishes on the menu and aren't afraid to tackle some interesting cuts and meats.

Bored of eating in the city, one night we jumped on the Number 1 tram to Albert Park. We took a random punt and had dinner at the Mediterraneo Charcoal Grill. It is an interesting suburb, that is easy to get to and has a few good looking restaurants. Birichino Bar e Ristorante looked like an interesting option just round the corner. An Italian restaurant which has a seasonal menu changing every fortnight. Unfortunately they were fully booked and we couldn't get a table. Albert Park is a definitely worth remembering as an option next time you are in Melbourne.

Melbourne visit: Fitzroy

On the Saturday night of my recent visit to Melbourne to watch the Grand Prix I took part in the Lidster ritual of visiting the Fitzroy pub Labour in Vain for a drink.

Fitzroy is an interesting area. Crowded, edgy and full of attractive people out on a Saturday night. I couldn't quite decide if it is effortless shabby-chic or a manufactured look. I have a feeling that the laid back vibe is disappearing with every trendy new bar that opens.

Clint and I both agreed that we've never had a good meal in Fitzroy. After a couple of drinks we were wondering up and down Brunswick St looking for something to eat. We felt very uninspired until we saw the functionally named Lamb on Brunswick spit roasting lamb over charcoal. It looked so good that we couldn't resist. Smokey and tender lamb, with salad and garlic sauce. It was possibly the cheapest and best thing we ate all weekend.

Melbourne Grand Prix, 2010

I had a great weekend at the F1 in Melbourne. There is a lot more to the Grand Prix event than just watching the cars go round the track. Two of my highlights were the driver autograph pen near the entrance to the paddock where I fluked the above photo of Jenson while he was signing autographs. I also enjoyed the charge down the main straight at the end of the race and being able to snap some of the cars being taken apart in the garage.

I took my new camera down to Melbourne. The first thing you realise is that at a race track there are a lot fences. I mean a lot; and in some places there are double fences which plays havoc with trying to take photos! I've uploaded some of my photos, F1 people are here and my highlights are here.

Restaurant Review: Proud Mary, Melbourne

PROUD MARY: Best coffee ive ever had in my life period! MELBOURNE ausi 172 Oxford St (corner Stanley St), Collingwood Breakfast DAMN GOOD TOO!

Jamie Oliver, Twitter

When Jamie Oliver tweets something like this just days before I'm due to go to Melbourne, a visit to Proud Mary became a must.

As friends will know I don't really do hot drinks, but star worship led me to order a coffee. First thing to note was that the coffee wasn't hot, only warm. This rather suited me, but didn't go down well with other customers. Not drinking coffee I can't really comment on the quality, but it was Clint's considered opinion that this wasn't the world's best coffee. In fact it didn't come anywhere close.

I had the sweetcorn fritters for breakfast. Quite often I find that sweetcorn fritters can be dry, which wasn't an accusation that could be thrown here. The moistness seemed to be coming form a healthy amount of olive oil. I made a note olive oil, but not oily. The fritters came with avocado, a basil and chive dressing and bacon. I really enjoyed the fritters, one of the best breakfasts I've had in a while.

Clint ordered the potato hash. It was more of a potato gratin than hash, which came topped with spinach, bacon and a poached egg. On the side was an anchovy and cream sauce. When I tasted the hash, the anchovy sauce packed a real punch. You'd only want a small amount of the sauce with each mouthful. I think it might have been a bit too over powering for me, however, Clint left a clean plate so I'm not sure if he'd agree with me.

A good breakfast and it was interesting to visit Collingwood for the first time. However, I think they got in a special barista to serve Jamie O.

F1 Grand Prix in Melbourne

I'm heading down to Melbourne for the Grand Prix this weekend, and then staying there for a few days to work next week. I've got a new camera and Williams F1 shirt especially for the event. Very excited.

With help from my friend Clint, I made the above video after last year's GP. Initially I had it uploaded onto Vimeo (where?) and in the last 12 months it has only had 100 views. In a little experiment I uploaded the video onto YouTube the other day and it has already has 76 hits. People will watch anything.....

A quick trip to Melbourne

I have just been to Melbourne with work for three days. Nothing too exciting to report as I spent most of my time in the office. I didn't even find any particularly good places to have dinner. Must try harder next time.

I was staying at the Crown Towers hotel which was very nice. The rooms were stylish and had everything you could want including, most importantly, a comfortable bed. The gym and pool were plush, although I hadn't thought to take my swimmers. I don't stay in many hotels, but the Crown is second on my list after the Mandarin Oriental in Tokyo as the best place I've stayed.

Dangerously there is a casino in the Crown complex. The photo above is of Jay and I on a roulette table in Las Vegas back in 2008. We were betting on the numbers in the fortune cookies we received at dinner. The numbers worked that night and I've had that scrap of paper in my wallet ever since. I am pleased to report that the fortune cookie still has it's magic and I more than doubled my in the Crown. Thankfully I don't get any buzz out of gambling and can't imagine finding it addictive.

Melbourne GP Montage

(Click the above photo to see the video)

With an enormous amount of help from Clint, I have made a little video montage of the Melbourne Grand Prix weekend.

I hope you enjoy!

Melbourne Food Scene

Melbourne has a buzzing food scene and cafe culture. We spent two very pleasant evenings in the districts of Carlton and Fitzroy during the Grand Prix weekend.

Melbourne also has what is reputed to be Australia's best food market, the Queen Victoria Market. Personally for me that is a tight call with the excellent Adelaide Central Market. Quibbles aside they are both excellent.


Caffe e Torta
For breakfast one morning we went to Cafe e Torta in the Royal Arcade. Despite the Italian name the decor had a French flair. The food was typical Australian cafe culture (fresh and simple ingredients) with a pan-European influence.

The dish that intrigued me the most was Clint's poached eggs on avocado and toasted Turkish flat bread. A lovely looking brunch dish. I have since attempted to re-create the dish at home. Unfortunately my avocado wasn't ripe enough. A good excuse for a second go!

Red Chilli
For dinner on the Saturday night we went to the Thai restaurant, Red Chili in Fitzroy.

It is the first time that I have eaten Thai food since leaving Thailand and it wasn't too bad. We had a pretty authentic pork laab and red chicken curry. The stir fried vegetables were less authentic, but I have found this is often the case as local vegetables differ from country to country.

I was pleased that I managed to speak exclusively Thai to the waiter and we got exactly what we ordered. Always a positive sign! For the first time outside Thailand my Thai wasn't remarked upon, it usually draws some form of reaction. Polite compliments, at best, or raised eyebrows.

There seemed to be some form of chili conspiracy going on in Brunswick St. In addition to Red Chili, there was a Blue Chillies restaurant and a third restaurant with chili in the name that I can no longer remember. Tremendously useless fact for you.


Labour in Vain
We had a pleasant candlelit drink in Labour in Vain during Earth Hour.


Pen and Clint have visited the pub on all of their previous visits to Melbourne. I can see why. It is a very welcoming and atmospheric pub featuring some of Melbourne's famous graffiti.

They used to brew their own beer, but have stopped since Pen and Clint's last visit. I was more than happy to settle for a Coopers Pale Ale followed by a Mountain Goat.

Melbourne GP: Friday Free Practice

Despite the ever improving times in the simulator Sir Frank didn't give me the nod for a drive this weekend, so I spent the day in the stands with my friend and fellow F1 fan, Clint.

The Australians really go for their motor sports in a big way. All tram rides around the city are free if you have an F1 ticket and even though it was "only" Friday free practice there were fly pasts from Army Helicopters, the Australian Red Arrows and Air Force fighter jets. I'm looking to see how they up their game for race day!

With the rule book almost completely re-written for this season it has made predicting the form rather difficult. Here are my impressions from day one of the season:

Williams - the car looks to be reasonably stable and balanced through the corners, but didn't appear to be overly quick. However, Rosberg topped the testing time for both sessions. Would love to think he could continue the perfect weekend, unfortunately I think it is unlikely.

Brawn GP - the car looks quick and very bolted to the road, I don't think they were show boating during the tests. Barichello looks a bit faster than Button.

Toyota - similar to the Brawn, the car looks very good through the corners and easy to drive.

Ferrari - best of the cars without the controversial new diffuser. Kimi looks smooth and like he isn't having to put in too much effort at the wheel. Masa was more low key.

Renault and BMW - had very uneventful test sessions. I was expecting both teams to be a bit nearer the front. It will be interesting to see if they up their game for tomorrow.

Red Bull and STR - they were pounding round the track, but at the same time remained under the radar. I don't think they will be challenging for the front of the grid this weekend.

Force India - the car seems to be a real handful. They definitely look the slowest team.

I am in the grandstand on turns 9 & 10 at the back of the circuit. Look out for me on TV!