25 Aug

Dish is part of the Royce Hotel, but it's presentation and menu is a step up from typical hotel restaurants (including the fine-dining prices). The button mushroom soup with white truffle oil was hearty, creamy and flavoursome. Also ordered was the spaghettini with tiger prawns, crab, garlic, chilli & olive oil. [gallery type="rectangular" ids="6166,6167"] I ordered the chargrilled spatchcock with truffled soft polenta, king oyster mushrooms and jus gras and had no complaints. The delicate spatchcock meat went well with the polenta and the jus gras complimented rather than competed with...

21:08 / Dish / Food / Melbourne Surrounds / Modern Australian / Restaurants
23 Aug

Occupying a whole section of the Crown Entertainment Complex are all three of Neil Perry's Melbourne restaurants, one of which is Rockpool Bar & Grill.David Blackmore owns the only Mishima bull outside of Japan and a few times a year, Rockpool serves up some of this rare beef. I knew the mishima burger was available earlier this month but it seemed to have disappeared from the menu a week before I came. I planned to go and try the full-blood wagyu anyway, but to my joy, I found...

00:00 / Burgers / Food / Modern Australian / Restaurants / Rockpool Bar & Grill / Southbank / Steakhouse
14 Jul

So it's truffle festival time in Melbourne and I decided to check out one of the more accessible truffle food items available: the truffle toastie. Because I was unable to attend the market at Caulfield Racecourse and try it there, I chose to sample St Ali's offering. $18 bought me a toastie with Gruyere and shavings of truffle. (Good Food listed the toastie as being $15 - maybe it was a typo?) It arrived pretty quickly and was accompanied by a mound of tasty salad. With great anticipation I...

11:50 / Cafe / Food / Modern Australian / South Melbourne / St Ali
07 Jul

Filled with simple, clean and homely decor, The Grain Store is serviced by quite a large and busy kitchen. At the time of my visit, there weren't many sandwiches and sweets available near the counter yet, but as I was waiting for my food to arrive I watched as freshly baked goods made their way to the front. My breakfast of choice was the smoked salmon omelette & truffle crème fraiche, sweet winter fennel, chipotle romesco salsa, rye crostini and crispy quinoa. The omelette arrived on the table quite...

10:56 / Food / Melbourne CBD / Modern Australian / Restaurants / The Grain Store
20 Jun

Top Paddock was a much bigger cafe than I was anticipating. It was high-ceilinged and light-filled with a mix of both small and communal tables. We got there at around 12:40 and it was bustling with customers, but we got a table for two straight away. I ordered the gin and lime cured ocean trout fillet with pickled baby beetroot, potato galette, poached eggs, leaves, goats curd and toast. All the different ingredients were done very well. The combination of flavours was generally good; I wasn't too sure...

13:28 / Cafe / Food / Modern Australian / Richmond / Top Paddock
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