Italy - Figline Valdarno - Osteria de' Giusti

My mother and father had visited Bordeaux followed by a driving trip around Tuscany with some friends back in 2009, which believe me, was a trip to be envied.

My parents have these randomly amazing memories and my mum was adamant that she was going to take Tim and I to two of the places that they ate at in Tuscany. Even if she couldn't remember the names of either places, which meant we had absolutely no address, just vague location memories to base off from.

The first of these places, was fortunately very easy to find. My mum recalled it being right next to the motorway.

We turned off the A1 at the Incisa exit, and straight away my parents saw the restaurant. Mum freaked out, dad got excited and we all excitedly trundled on in.

It was called Osteria de' Giusti, an osteria originally being a place that would serve wine and simple food, although now the emphasis has shifted to the focus being on food, although in true Italian style, the menus are usual local and short.

I loved that even right off the motorway, the Osteria had a gorgeous little garden. Removes you from the fact that you've just been on the road for four hours...

Inside was just gorgeous, absolutely rustic, nary a white wall in sight. It was just warm and cosy, kind of like what you think a tavern might feel like, if dressed up a little anyway. I fell in love with the yellow tablecloth. It just adds a punch of colour and warmth doesn't it?

My father meant to order the Carpineto Chianti Classica Reserva, but we accidentally got this instead. For 12 euros, who was complaining too much? It was nice, but definitely not as good as the Reserva (which we had at a later date) Carpineto is a Tuscan wine, quite well known in the states and was only a 20 minute drive from where we stayed. We actually passed by the winery one day, but it was closed as it was close to dinner time. Oh well.

We were given complimentary bread to start off with, warm and fluffy, generously seasoned with olive oil, it was definitely a very comforting way to start the evening.

I can't remember exactly what this all is, I know that this was our entree, with different toppings on fried polenta (which was so yummy!). I think one was tomatoes, one eggplant and one meat based one. Whilst tasty, not the thing that stood out to me the most that night.

Mum and dad's pasta with truffles. You could smell this guy a mile away. Creamy, yet not drowning in it, the pasta was also cooked to absolute perfection. It was indeed quite creamy, but so simple and straight forward, it didn't feel gluggy at all. This is how the Italians do it!

Now.

This.

Whilst it looks like a pile of purple mush, which is the strangest colour for a risotto, well, it's pretty much the best risotto I've ever had in my life.

I don't say these things lightly.

I remember being even slightly apprehensive even when it was first placed in front of us, as mum and dad's pasta smelt and looked more enticing initially. But oh my goodness, one bite changed all that. This was a raddichio risotto, although I've forgotten what cheese it was served with.

The raddichio was torn through it and with the absolutely perfectly cooked rice, the crunch of the raddichio (yes it was still crunchy!) gave it almost a wild rice texture, which I absolutely love. It had a bit of nuttiness to it that I liked as well and the cheese gave it that rich edge as it melted through the rice, which was also, incredibly comforting and made it exceptionally moreish. I severely lack words to describe how much I love this. I keep saying I'm going to try and replicate it but I haven't gotten around to it yet...

Serious knives for serious meat....What my mum had wanted to bring Tim and I here for, was the steak Florentine, that she keeps raving about. I'm so bummed I forgot to take a picture of the raw steak that was shown to us, because it was a behemoth in raw form, bone and all!

Oh hi there meat! Lots...of meat....1.6 kilograms of meat to be exact. After a pasta, risotto and entrees, I was at a loss on how we were going to finish this.

And then I remembered my brother was with us. Haha.

When we were actually ordering, after reviewing our order, our waitress kept gesturing to us and looking at us funny, thinking that we hadn't ordered enough food. We assured her we would be fine for the time being. Can you imagine if we had ordered more?!

The steak Florentine was cooked a lovely medium rare, deliciously pink in there! The meat was also tender and oh so succulent. I personally quite liked the more charred edges and juicy insides. Although I pity that I couldn't enjoy this more as I was so full, I may have managed two or three slices of meat before admitting defeat. A poor effort I know, but I had filled up on risotto already!

All up, Italy was already delivering amazing things. Our meal was also amazingly priced, for 4 people, our bill came to around 88 euro. EIGHTY EIGHT EURO. For 4 people, bread, entree, 2 carbohydrate dishes and 1.6 kilograms of meat. I am absolutely flabbergasted at how they manage to do it. To not only provide such reasonable prices, but for such amazing produce that has been fabulously cooked. Whilst Melbourne may be one of the best cities to live in...Tuscany was shaping up to be one of the best places to eat in.

After our fabulous meal, we then proceeded to drive into the Tuscan hills and get perfectly lost in the dark as we tried to locate our hotel. At least we had warm full tummies.

Osteria de' Giusti

Piazza Amendola, 2

Loc. I Ciliegi (exit A1 INCISA)

Regello (FI)

055 8635753

Speakeasy Kitchen Bar

In the 1920s in the US, when the manufacture and transport of alcohol was made illegal, during the Prohibition, the term "speakeasy" arose from the manner that patrons would order alcohol. The bartenders would tell them to be quiet and "speak easy". Or so is one of the theories.

Essentially? A "speakeasy" is (or was) an establishment that illegally sells alcoholic beverages.

In more modern times, New York, in particular, went through a phase (whether they're still in to it or not is another question) where they tried to replicate this concept, albeit more so to be exclusive and only spread by word of mouth, than to stay secret from the law, with unmarked, unlit doors and nary a trace of marketing or visual presence anywhere.

In essence really Melbourne's bars are a lot like this already, usually through a random little door, unmarked by anything, yet Melbournians just somehow seem to stay in the know…I have a great story of Ben and myself wandering around Little Lonsdale for about half an hour trying to find Troika one night...

I veer off course from why I got on the topic though.

Speakeasy Kitchen Bar just opened on Chapel Street. I had passed by it a few weeks ago when it was still under construction and excitedly gestured at it to Brad and got into a flush of excitement. It left my mind after though, but fortunately, Teegz, who lives in the area came across it and tweeted about it excitedly, which led me to being excited, which led to brunch the next day. I'm that easy to persuade. And also that easily excitable (Brad loves to remind me).

It's funny they should call themselves 'Speakeasy' when they clearly have a liquor license and look very legal, but I suppose to be fair, I haven't heard much in ways on twitter or other sources of this place opening up...

From the cosy and chic wooden and glass entrance, where there is a very fun little outdoor area which I think will be a hoot with smoking coffee drinkers, Brad and I were led through. The front is very deceptive, as there is quite a lot of seating space out back! Several tables for two dotted along the walls, a communal table, then a further outdoor but fenced-off-from-the-elements outdoor area and then, clearly in anticipation for summer, yet even more outdoor seating, which was unoccupied and quite wet on this rainy Sunday.

Speakeasy has an easy going, chic vibe to it, it was very clean and very tidy, but avoided being clinical with lovely woods, pretty light fixtures, dark table tops and gorgeous little flower arrangements on the table.

And oh my god. At the back, natural light from skylights (is that what they're called?) in the roof. Loved. Loved so much. I wanted to take pictures all day there. Although we had the option of a table for two on the wall, I immediately migrated over to the communal table, to our waiter's surprise.

Have to wonder what the girls were talking about over there...

The container the sugar was kept in is so cute, it's a little faux cast iron pot!

We were asked if we wanted drinks straight away when we sat down, I went for a chai latte with soy milk. I don't tend to stick to soy or regular milk, it just depends on my mood on the day and what comes out of my mouth first (this is funnily how I often make my decisions when I go out for meals if I'm tossing up between options...). The flavour was lovely, I should find out what soy milk they use as it was particularly tasty with the chai and not too sweet. I did find however, the milk was surprisingly hotter than most places I've come across, and due to this, the milk was not quite as velvety as it could be. I only complain about the hotness really, because I tend to be the type of person who gulps their hot drinks down and don't tend to delicate sip them like I know my mum likes to do. I've never understood how people make one coffee last for an hour...

Besides this though, I really enjoyed the flavour and ended up having two (although my second one they used regular milk, oh well!).

Brad got a latte, obviously, they use Dukes coffee here, which is quite exciting as I haven't seen many other places that carry it. I think Brad's latte milk looked better than mine, so I suppose the issue with my chai latte milk might have just been...the chai!

The breakfast menu is very straight forward and limited. It's quite refreshing. I like seeing a place that picks things they can do well and not try and please absolutely everyone. I did get a squiz at the lunch menu though and it is quite a bit more extensive....definitely plan to come back and check it out!

Brad essentially ordered the big breakfast, with your choice of poached or fried eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, sausage and bacon it was quite a comforting looking pile. Surprisingly neat too. Look at how fresh and lovely it is, steam still rising!

The eggs were poached perfectly, with oozy yolky centres, just the way I personally like them. I nibbled on the mushrooms which were insanely delicious, a bit of rosemary or something, but they were so well seasoned. The sausage was surprisingly light, which I really liked, not too oily and didn't taste too heavily of meat, there was some nice spices in it instead that came through a lot more predominantly.

Honestly, I think it's one of the better big breakfast type dishes I've come across, at least aesthetically, as I mentioned, and also not too oily and quite wholesome. I'm not even put off by the fact there's no greens or other colours at all! (I generally like a little more colour palette variation)

I went with the pumpkin and feta frittata served with tomato chutney. I usually expect my frittata's to come to me as a wedge, this was almost more like a baked omelette, but you know what? I ain't complaining in the slightest. What my dish lacked in size and presence that Brad's had, mine was absolutely freaking delicious.

The eggs were creamy and fluffy, filled with little diced pieces of pumpkin, which still had some firmness to them, they weren't cooked to mush. The feta was perfect with the egg, enhancing the creaminess and I loved how it matched with the sweet tomato chutney. Savoury but sweet all together. This was absolutely my kind of breakfast and I would come back for this dish if it's served like this anytime of the day.

Brad approves as well! So much perfect light, I was getting all caught up in how his eyes caught the light. Was quite funny as I was snapping away at Brad and getting him to look this way and that, he commented on how it should feel more awkward for him, but he's so used to me sticking my camera in his face it doesn't really bother him at all these days. Terrible girlfriend aren't I?

I'm honestly very reluctant to share this post (and I'm probably breaking some Speakeasy rule), but at the same time, quite excited to. I'm not looking forward to this place getting better known and to have it potentially be very busy and hard to get a table at! But alas, as I have mentioned, Melbournians seem to be notoriously good at finding out and getting on to new things quite quickly, so regardless, it will probably happen.

So my first impressions are, great fit out, moving away from the industrial look of most of Melbourne cafes and reminding me more of Huxtable or something similar, the aesthetics just speak to me. And oh my gosh, that natural light in the back room. I die for it! They have food that is presented gorgeously, is well cooked and fresh. Coffees came out a tiny bit slow, but it's a Sunday, what would I be in a rush for?

I'm sure we'll be back soon....

Speakeasy Kitchen Bar

359 Chapel Street, South Yarra
South Yarra, 3141

Cutler and Co.

How does one start? When everyone else has covered it and it's already well known and well loved for it's creative, yet always fresh and tasty experiences. That's right. Not meals, experiences.

We all know the one. Cutler & Co, the reincarnation of an old metal work factory, camouflaged into the 'I could care less' hipster attitude of Gertrude St. What is with 2 hat restaurants being all randomly hidden, in odd locations, that are not always the most convenient places to get to?

Brad and I had established sometime ago that we would visit Cutler and Co as my birthday treat (because I always kept talking about it...). My birthday has long since come and gone, but during the actual period both Brad and I were a little tight on the financial side of things, so we pushed the inevitable date back until a more suitable period.

And we also both weren't used to having to make a booking way in advance either! We had tried the week before, on a weekend, on a weekday, early and late, but I eventually called up, asked for a date two weeks in advance and was told I could come in at 6pm, but that we would have to leave by 8.

I asked if 2 hours was enough for the degustation and I was assured that it would be…although when I shared this news with Bryan on our dinner date at Hako the week before...he looked at me in a concerned way, before telling me the last time he was there his meal dragged on for four hours or so....hmmmmmm.

On the night, Brad and I arrived about 20 minutes to 6, to make sure we could maximise whatever time we would be permitted. We were politely greeted and sat in the bar area with a drinks menu that we pored over, as the floorstaff were still having their pre-dinner meeting or briefing. I found it quite impressive, could've used more of those back when I was waitressing...

We decided not to order drinks until we were seated at our table and promptly at 6pm, we were guided to our seats. I got the cushioned bench (as always). I love getting in before other people and being able to snap pictures of interiors without worrying about people thinking I might be taking pictures of them...(hasn't happened yet, but I hypothesize).

Cutler and Co. is beautiful, especially when it's dark, what I imagine could come across as harder, modern, metallic surfaces, in this light they darken and soften, which is emphasized by the almost alien-esque light fixtures, oddly soft and organically shaped. They kind of make me think of jellyfish. Except they are made of meshy taffeta and are hanging off the ceiling. The somber tones I think contribute to the 'formal but informal' atmosphere.

Brad had just gotten new glasses with a new prescription and kept commenting on how it looked like the walls were 'coming in', as he was adjusting to them. He also spent a lot of the night staring off into space due to this...

It was clear to me that if we were at Culter & Co, that we would just have to have the degustation.

So we did.

We started our night by sharing a 500mL bottle of Aspall Suffolk Cyder (why the y?). I don't remember it vividly, but we both did enjoy it very much. Not too sweet.

Waitresses came around holding a plate with two types of bread on it, I can't remember what the other was, but we both opted for the sourdough. They weren't as warm as I would expect, but with a nice firm crust and chewy, hearty middles. Bit of work to get into it, but that's a good sourdough for you right?

Our degustation started with a slew of appetizers coming to the table all at once, so that it was filled with a marvellous mix of colours. Unfortunately my 50mm lens doesn't let me capture that all at once, so I'm just going to take it bit by bit.

I loved how the oysters kind of looked like hearts. Or is that just me imagining things? Whilst small, they were incredibly lovely in texture, just so smooth. With a squeeze of lemon, it was perfect.

I think these were baby French radishes with a bit of sour cream on the side. So cute although not very flavoursome. I didn't quite understand what the sour cream was supposed to add to it as well, it was quite difficult to get it on the little things!

Smoked trout on a crouton, one each, two bites, happy tastebuds. It's as simple as that really. Whilst it had a nice flavour, it was only a small precursor to the yumminess of the other dishes that were to come....

A plate of yummy olives, I really enjoyed the variety and especially enjoyed the little ones which had more flavour to them i my opinion. Following that, a small bowl of roasted pumpkin seeds. Brad went nuts over the seeds and completely demolished the bowl of them, while I went to town on the olives.

I swooned, I sighed, I died. I couldn't stop gaping over how pretty the cured kingfish, octopus, avocado and pickled cucumber was. It was almost looking at a little pond, with lilypads and other such lovely greenery creeping all around it. There was a sprinkling of what I think are bonito flakes over it, which just gave such a rich full flavour to the fresh and crisp kingfish. Oh it was such a beautiful mix...then combined with the octopus which was nice and chewy and provided some play in texture, which is then again played upon with the addition of the creamy avocado dollops. They were perfect for smearing over the paper-thin-crisp cucumber, each mouthful was a delight, slightly different with all the textures and flavours. I was quite impressed that we were given such thick and big pieces of kingfish as well, who says degustations are all about tiny meals here?

Can you tell this was probably my favourite dish? I absolutely loved this and kept comparing everything to it all night...

Our next course was a jerusalem artichoke and leek soup, with Hervey Bay scallops, apples and chestnuts. The plate is put down in front of you with just dry ingredients first, then as the artichoke and leek soup is poured out, your olfactory system is just flooded with the most gorgeous aromatic smell. It smelt so hearty, so rich. It was just a delight.

I loved turning this plate around and analyzing it from all angles. This pretty picture was the spiced heirloom carrots, eggplant, shanklish, pistachio and radish. I thought it was just the cutest little pile, with some of the carrots looking like they were even coming out of the plate, and I loved the squiggle at the ends of the carrot, the sprinkling of the shanklish and pistachio delicately around, almost looking like soil. The prettiest kind of course.

Sadly though, although the flavours were nice, with some nice strong hints of curry and spices, this dish wasn't a star stand out to me. Whilst I appreciate the earthiness of the dish, the carrots were quite naturally sweet and cooked so that they were still fairly firm, it didn't make me 'ooh' and 'aah' as much as I would have liked. Maybe a little too grounded for me. But really, I am just looking for things to nitpick on here and we still both cleaned this up.

This would probably have had to have been my second favourite dish in the degustation. The poached chicken with foie gras parfait, sprouts, quinoa and prune played to every one of your sense. Who ever thought poached chicken could be so amazingly tender?! I honestly would never have guessed I think, some smokey element in it played off the crunch and brightness in the sprouts and quinoa. Oh and that foie gras....oh the foie gras! So rich, but yet so complimentary and not overwhelming. I think what still tickled me the most about this was the play on textures, there was so much soft and tender, but directly juxtaposed with so much crunchy, I know it's a bit lame, but it was literally, a party in my mouth!

My mouth must have dropped when I saw this in front of us. Um. It's kinda huge guys. I'm kind of getting full here. Roast kurobuta pork rack with morcilla (or black pudding), sweet and sour shallots and almond. I was honestly surprised at the generous portion that was given to us...considering we were 5 courses in already (lumping the appetizers all as one course). The meat was to die for, although the portion we received was quite lean looking, it was so sweet and tender. My knife just went through it as if it was slightly firm butter. And just as well as it wasn't too fatty as it was so moreish, I would have been completely stuffed afterwards!

My only complaint? More black pudding please!

Oops. Was happily tucking into it and forgot to take a picture. Durandal with pickled beetroot. Best thing ever. Loved this. Even though we were only provided with a few thin slices of the cheese, it was so amazingly fulfilling in taste, kind of bitey but kind of creamy (if that even makes sense), every bite of it really filled up your mouth. I wanted more. A lot more. Almost to the point where I would have run into the kitchen and stolen it home.

But I would never want to be black listed at any of Andrew McConnell's restaurants, so I just made do with what was given to me. The beetroot was a nice interjection to tone down the richness of the cheese and add a sweet note.

Ah, so funny story with these pictures (sort of, heart breaking at the time). We were presented with these absolutely beautiful palate cleansers, mini mandarin sorbets in wee cones, which were salted and light and crisp. The mandarin sorbet was just beautiful as well, sweet but tart enough to do it's job. They were such a whimsical addition amidst everything else.

However, when it came out...my Nikon D90 refused to take pictures. The display started to flash all weird error codes and no matter what I did to it, eject the battery, take the lens out, turn it on and off, it refused to co-operate.

I must have looked absolutely crestfallen as I was shitting myself and whining over how gorgeous and adorable the mini ice-cream cones were. Heart broken!

Then for some reason, my camera decided to work after we had each taken a bite in to it...hence a half eaten photo.

And then again, when the next course came out, it shat itself when I tried to take a picture of the plate in it's completeness, but came back to life after we had taken a few bites of it. Talk about having a mind of it's own. So pardon the iPhone pictures in the sea of pretty.

Dessert was a curious mix of violet ice cream, chocolate ganache and sour cherry sauce that was smeared along the bottom. Again just to look at, there were so many textures, and quite an interesting colour palette for dessert. Purple ice-cream? What a novelty!

I personally really liked the violet ice-cream, it was so delicate and floral, although everytime I scooped up a bite of it and when to eat it, I ended up inhaling the 'sand' it was sitting on, sending it right to the back of my throat! It's probably not very sexy to see me not learn my lesson and continue to cough and hack every time it happened, fortunately Brad and I have been going out for over a year...

I enjoyed the chocolate, it's chocolate, what's not to enjoy, and it went quite well with the violet, being slightly warmer and denser than the ice-cream so creating an interesting blend between the two. However, I did find the sour cherry overwhelmed the light violet ice-cream. And the sponge didn't really do a whole lot for me....could have just gone for more ice-cream and sand really...

I'm a visual orientated person and quite a tactile person, so I found Cutler and Co played right to my senses perfectly. I thought the food was all delicious and it was so much fun, playing and exploring all the different flavours and textures that came with each dish (I don't even want to count how many times I've probably mentioned texture in this post...).

Service the whole night was impeccable, I feel they've really achieved their aim of providing quite formal and attentive food in a relaxed manner, there was barely any noticeable up-selling and we weren't interrupted too often and left to our own devices most of the night. I am also certainly glad they didn't keep to their word of us needing to leave by 8pm! We didn't end up leaving until sometime past 9:30....

But Brad and I left feeling very happy, with me a little bubble of excitement still talking about that first kingfish dish....

Cutler & Co.

57 Gertrude St

Fitzroy