Isabella's at Rochford Winery

Disclosure: I dined as a guest of Isabella's at Rochford Winery

It's truly a blessing to live in Melbourne. Great food, vibrant food scene, something always happening in town and fantastic wineries, simply an hour out of town. 

I realised it's so easy to forget though and I definitely don't get out to the Yarra Valley as often as I should, as I sat in the car as mum drove us out to Rochford Winery, soaking in the open fields and lush greens, showered in rain on this particularly overcast day. 

Upon arriving at Rochford, my mum comments that as a kid I used to come here a lot with the family, as my parents used to entertain guests here, when it was still Eyton on the Yarra. I have a terrible memory and don't remember a trace of it, but that's almost refreshing as we are seated in Isabella's for lunch, and I take in the beautiful views from the restaurant for the first time (kind of) which are filled with natural light. 

I love taking my mum out, as she's dead honest about anything she eats (so can be a good counterweight to me who's a little happy-go-lucky about everything) and because, she's my mum. What else is there to say? (And yes, I get that we look like each other alllll the time...)

Isabella's is offering a two or three course lunch, $55 and $65 respectfully, with a carefully curated collection of dishes to choose from head chef Ciaran Butler. 

We start off with some bubbles, as it's the only appropriate thing to do at a winery on a Saturday surely!

The bread came warm, a delight in winter, with a crunchy and flaky crust, meaning breadcrumbs all over the table is inevitable. The butter came light, sweet and creamy. 

Mum opted to start with the blue swimmer crab and potato cakes with a lemon aioli and watercress. Elegant in plating and in flavour. The crab cake was soft, sweet and delicate in flavour, the salty seaweed adding a nice punch of flavour that complemented the crab cake well. The lemon aioli provided a nice citrus hit too. 

Whilst I was initially excited for the Rochford classic chicken pate, a chicken liver pate with piccalilli, local walnuts and lavish, especially when it was first popped down in front of me, looking absolutely glorious, I was left a bit underwhelmed at the flavour. Perhaps lacking more alcohol, it wasn't particularly strong in flavour, and looked to be a bit aged and not as fresh as it could be. The piccalilli was very good though!

Rochford was busy that afternoon, with large groups moving in and out and the kitchen pumping out rather beautiful looking set meals. This meant it occasionally took a while to get drink top ups or the attention of the staff, but whenever they did tend to us, they were so delightful and friendly and never left us waiting for too long…I could only imagine the short temper I would get from having to deal with so many tourists and visitors on a weekend! 

For the second course, mum opted for the ricotta gnocchi with Coldstream brussel sprout leaves, heirloom beetroot, sage butter and aged parmesan. We both marvelled at the bright pink of the gnocchi (which almost matched mum's nail polish colour), not expecting it to have picked up the colour of the beetroot. We did find though that the gnocchi was a bit dense and heavy, not as light and fluffy as we would have liked, so mum ended up picking off all the vegetables, which were delicious in the sage butter, and left quite a bit of the gnocchi. 

My dish on the other hand, absolutely blew me away. The wild barramundi with winter clam chowder, smoked haddock, leeks and sweetcorn is an absolute stunner for flavour. The barrumundi was so sweet, and perfectly cooked, the thick and creamy clam chowder it sat in was rich with deliciously sweet clams, the flavour of the ocean permeating through. It was one of those dishes that I couldn't stop audibly commenting about, through oohs, aahs, mmhmms, and overall crooning comments. Mum was quick to get in her with her spoon to lap up the chowder as well. Possibly one of the best fish dishes I've had in recent memory and if I was ever in the area again, I would only be more than happy to pop in for this beautiful, beautiful dish. 

Although I had been eyeing off the tiramisu, which looked like it was being served in garden pots, mum and I opted instead to share the Royal Delice, a cherry and chocolate delice with freeze dried raspberries, frozen chocolate and vanilla sphere with griottine cherries. Wow. Simply gorgeous. The delice was smooth and surprisingly light, the richness of the chocolate counterbalanced with the tart cherries. Mum loved that this was sweet, but not particularly sugary and I was quite surprised to see her go for more than a couple of bites. 

Mum finished up with a latte, which she commented was very good (and believe me…she's very picky). 

So although there were a couple of things that didn't quite hit the mark at Rochford, on the whole I was pleased with the experience we had. I provided my feedback earlier to Rochford, so hopefully the pate's looking fresher whenever you happen to visit! If you're here to get in and out quickly, I might not recommend it, but if you're keen for a lazy afternoon, to sit around and chat or lazily gaze out the window and take in the scenery, Rochford might be a good spot for you. There's also the cafe with simpler fare, but really, I know you want that Royal Delice… 

Isabella's at Rochford

878 - 880 Maroondah Highway

Coldstream 3770

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Nieuw Amsterdam

If I'm about to head off for a trip for a while, and Brad is not coming with me, I always use it as an excuse to go hit up more places and schedule in a few extra meals together…as I'm kind of saving him money since I won't be around…right?

Before this trip to Asia, I insisted he come meet me in the city after work one night to check out Nieuw Amsterdam. 

I had popped into this New York inspired space, which had taken over an old Irish pub and given it a fresh and slick new face, on the day of it's opening for Christmas drinks with work, but didn't try the food.

What regret I had, as I started seeing the pictures of other people's meals there pop up through the social media channels, which more often than not left me drooling over my screens. 

Spread out over two levels, we opted to sit upstairs, where the light was bright and inviting (and more suitable for food photos), with lots of art deco hints in the decor. The descent downstairs was very reminiscent to me of New York, where a lot of funky bars and interesting spaces were often below ground level. 

As we deliberated the menu, which defines itself as 'New American', with it's roots in American culture and taking flavours and inspirations from the immigrant population, we nibbled on a small log of house made New York sourdough. 

The sourdough is cooked in a combi oven, which introduces steam and humidity to the process, which results in a tanned and crunchy outside that contrasts nicely with how soft the inside is. There's a delightful butteriness in this dense bread, that leaves the fingers mildly oily.

The concept of chicken and waffles, ever popular in the states, continues to baffle me, and although I had wanted to try it on my trip last year, in the midst of eating everything else, I had forgotten! However, Nieuw Amsterdam's take on this classic is not to be missed, as it's updated with pate and terrine stacked on mini waffles, and finished off with a sliver of crispy chicken skin and a drop of orange caramel.

Divinity. 

I've always been a sucker of chicken pate, and here Nieuw Amsterdam have taken that love to a new height with a play on texture and the richness in flavour. The real highlight for me, was the tiny bit of chicken skin at the top, that audibly crunched amongst the softness in the mouth, and the orange caramel, unexpected, but so delightful. 

Grits fritters with a variety of sweetcorn and heirloom beetroots is pure comfort, the grits reminding me of gnocchi, with it's round shape and fluffy and light texture. The flavours on a whole made me think of Mexico, corn, bright flavours and all that cheese. Mmhmm!

On the side, I couldn't resist a serve of Dutch potato fries with spiced garlic mayo. I'm not entirely sure what makes these Dutch, but I know that these were delicious. I tend to usually be more of a fan of skinny and crunchy, but I was definitely wooed over with these generously cut, finger thick fries with a nice dark colour. 

Our last savoury was the Southern style pork bely chops, completed with sauerkraut, apple sauce and crackling. Who can ever really dislike crackling now? Certainly not I, as I dived in and happily snap, crackle, crunched my way through the lot!

The sauerkraut had a variety of flavours going on, a bit of aniseed, and a nice chilli kick, all of which didn't overshadow the lovely sweetness that's always present. I found the pork to maybe be a touch dry, but lop on the apple sauce and chew on a bit of fat and it all balanced out quite nicely texturally and was full of flavour. 

Even before our dishes were cleared, I put in my order for dessert, and quite promptly, I found the Nieuw chocolate bar, with banana and tonka bean ice-cream placed in front of me. 

With the ice-cream just at the precipice between holding it's shape and melting, it was just perfect with the smooth chocolate bar that put up no resistance or tension against my spoon as I scooped some up. Rich, and dark, matched as well with the caramelised bananas? Mmhmm. 

We're only just a little over two months into the new year, but I can't believe how impressed I've been with some of the newcomers onto the Melbourne dining scene. Nieuw Amsterdam fills in a nice little space where they're dishing up amazing food, with some of the friendliest service, at prices that really don't hurt the pocket much, that you might also be able to indulge in late into the night. One might expect the hospitality crowd to become regular patrons as the bar closes up around 3am Sunday through to Thursday and 5am for the early birds on Friday and Saturday. 

So why are you still here? Hurry up and go get some (slightly schmancy) chicken and waffles in you!

Nieuw Amsterdam 

106-112 Hardware Street

Melbourne