I am certainly thankful that I do live in Australia, as opposed to say, America. I am gluten intolerant, so whilst not a full blown allergy, it does get a bit inconvenient. Although I try to avoid it in most cases, I don't turn down slightly crumbed things, a bit of cake and on the very odd occasion a bit of pizza (as my previous adventures have probably shown).
It is however, very nice to come across a place where I can eat everything guilt free. And in a quiet little street, not too far from the CBD, I have found such a place.
Brad and I ventured out to Carlton North, to visit Black Ruby. There's a little store that my mum and I often visit on Rathdowne st, so we have driven past this adorable looking cafe/restaurant a multitude of times, but of course, it's just finding the time to get my feet in through the door.
Fun fact, for the longest time my mum thought this place was called the Black Pearl, so when I tried to google it once, it was absolutely impossible to find!
I apologise in advance. I forgot my camera. I walked through the door and groaned when I realised this. So I do vow to return with Nikon in hand one of these days.
Whilst we probably didn't need to make a booking on a quiet Thursday night, we did anyway and were given a beautiful table right by the window, sitting perpendicular to each other.
Black Ruby is quite sweet inside, spacious, yet cosy, with a number of tables strategically placed throughout that didn't make you feel alienated, but certainly gave you your own space. I noticed a number of single diners who popped in with a book or notepad, leaned back against their chair and very contently sipped at a glass of wine. I've always thought it's a pretty good sign when a restaurant has single diners coming in.
So absolutely everything on Black Ruby's menu is gluten free. Everything. Except the beer, that is according to the waitress. Which kind of makes me wonder why they have to have a little symbol to indicate that a menu item is gluten free...since they could just say everything is instead of putting it next to every single thing.
At any rate, I was quite excited, normally when I eat out, I do keep in mind, well, my waistline and tend to err towards seafood dishes and lots of veggies. But ah! It was so tempting to just get every pasta dish on the menu!
We started our meal with a Cabernet Sauvignon, nothing spectacular, but enough to get me into a bit of a giggling fit later on in the night, which was quite a bit embarrassing.
To share, we started with an entree of scallops with a fish roe omelette. Despite the unappealing nature of the picture (again, I'm sorry, I do what I can with an iPhone!), this was so lovely. The scallops were cooked to perfection and were really light. The omelette was also very tasty and incredibly fluffy, I didn't even realise initially on sight that it was the omelette! It was twisted into a shape that, in the dark, resembled a bit more of a danish frankly. Not that, that's a bad thing, I just found it intriguing. The fish roe providing a delicate saltiness to it.
The same dishes again, caught both of our eye's, so it worked out well, with him getting one of the options and me getting the other! So I decided Brad could have the pork, served on a potato and apple roesti and...I can't quite remember what was on top....you'll have to go to find out yourself! It was all delicious (this is going to be a trend tonight...) though! The pork was incredibly tender, but wasn't too fatty and went beautifully with the roesti. The sweetness of the apples came through quite gorgeously.
Oh. But what did I get? I got the fettuccine. With, wait for it, pumpkin, another veggie and....blue cheese. Oh yes, that is a good ol' dollop of blue cheese on the top there. The plate came to me hot to the touch, the dish steaming away happily. I wielded my fork and mixed in all that beautiful blue cheese in until it had lost all shape and infused all it's rich creamy flavour amongst the pasta.
Warning for those who don't like blue cheese? Definitely don't get this. The blue cheese is incredibly strong and very, very rich. It was a cold night and my hips and thighs were absolutely loving it. The fettuccine was cooked gorgeously as well, although I would not have minded it slightly more al dente. But that's just if something I needed to find something to nitpick on!
I'm definitely quite excited to make more trips here, I decided I was too full for dessert (and also just quietly, I knew mum had baked some brownies at home...) so I would love to come back to try their offerings. And maybe see what they do during breakfast or lunch.
Heck I just want an excuse to come back to have that tart or ravioli I saw on the entrees...
It is however, very nice to come across a place where I can eat everything guilt free. And in a quiet little street, not too far from the CBD, I have found such a place.
Brad and I ventured out to Carlton North, to visit Black Ruby. There's a little store that my mum and I often visit on Rathdowne st, so we have driven past this adorable looking cafe/restaurant a multitude of times, but of course, it's just finding the time to get my feet in through the door.
Fun fact, for the longest time my mum thought this place was called the Black Pearl, so when I tried to google it once, it was absolutely impossible to find!
I apologise in advance. I forgot my camera. I walked through the door and groaned when I realised this. So I do vow to return with Nikon in hand one of these days.
Whilst we probably didn't need to make a booking on a quiet Thursday night, we did anyway and were given a beautiful table right by the window, sitting perpendicular to each other.
Black Ruby is quite sweet inside, spacious, yet cosy, with a number of tables strategically placed throughout that didn't make you feel alienated, but certainly gave you your own space. I noticed a number of single diners who popped in with a book or notepad, leaned back against their chair and very contently sipped at a glass of wine. I've always thought it's a pretty good sign when a restaurant has single diners coming in.
So absolutely everything on Black Ruby's menu is gluten free. Everything. Except the beer, that is according to the waitress. Which kind of makes me wonder why they have to have a little symbol to indicate that a menu item is gluten free...since they could just say everything is instead of putting it next to every single thing.
At any rate, I was quite excited, normally when I eat out, I do keep in mind, well, my waistline and tend to err towards seafood dishes and lots of veggies. But ah! It was so tempting to just get every pasta dish on the menu!
We started our meal with a Cabernet Sauvignon, nothing spectacular, but enough to get me into a bit of a giggling fit later on in the night, which was quite a bit embarrassing.
To share, we started with an entree of scallops with a fish roe omelette. Despite the unappealing nature of the picture (again, I'm sorry, I do what I can with an iPhone!), this was so lovely. The scallops were cooked to perfection and were really light. The omelette was also very tasty and incredibly fluffy, I didn't even realise initially on sight that it was the omelette! It was twisted into a shape that, in the dark, resembled a bit more of a danish frankly. Not that, that's a bad thing, I just found it intriguing. The fish roe providing a delicate saltiness to it.
The same dishes again, caught both of our eye's, so it worked out well, with him getting one of the options and me getting the other! So I decided Brad could have the pork, served on a potato and apple roesti and...I can't quite remember what was on top....you'll have to go to find out yourself! It was all delicious (this is going to be a trend tonight...) though! The pork was incredibly tender, but wasn't too fatty and went beautifully with the roesti. The sweetness of the apples came through quite gorgeously.
Oh. But what did I get? I got the fettuccine. With, wait for it, pumpkin, another veggie and....blue cheese. Oh yes, that is a good ol' dollop of blue cheese on the top there. The plate came to me hot to the touch, the dish steaming away happily. I wielded my fork and mixed in all that beautiful blue cheese in until it had lost all shape and infused all it's rich creamy flavour amongst the pasta.
Warning for those who don't like blue cheese? Definitely don't get this. The blue cheese is incredibly strong and very, very rich. It was a cold night and my hips and thighs were absolutely loving it. The fettuccine was cooked gorgeously as well, although I would not have minded it slightly more al dente. But that's just if something I needed to find something to nitpick on!
I'm definitely quite excited to make more trips here, I decided I was too full for dessert (and also just quietly, I knew mum had baked some brownies at home...) so I would love to come back to try their offerings. And maybe see what they do during breakfast or lunch.
Heck I just want an excuse to come back to have that tart or ravioli I saw on the entrees...
Black Ruby
344 Rathdowne St
Carlton North, 3054
If you'd like to make a booking, I'd suggest going to yourRestaurants and using dimmi there!
344 Rathdowne St
Carlton North, 3054
If you'd like to make a booking, I'd suggest going to yourRestaurants and using dimmi there!
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