The Press Club Express Lunch

Melbourne Food and WIne Festival has come and gone. I stupidly booked flights to KL for work during the whole of the second week of the MFWF, which meant that I could only make it to one Express lunch. 

But if it was only going to be one, it might as well be a good one!

And as such, Caryn and I were lucky enough to get a spot at The Press Club when I called up only a few days before we went! Even better, we got to have a seat at the chef's table where we could perve on all the food as it was being prepared…

It was an absolute privilege to be able to watch the kitchen work, when still under the name of 'The Press Club'. As many probably already know, soon the current Press Club will close and be replaced by 'Gazi' and a 'new' Press Club will be opened as a different destination and concept. 

Express lunches are a simple concept during the MFWF. $40 for two courses, with a glass of wine and a cup of tea, with most restaurants offering two options for entree, main and dessert.

While deciding on which options to choose, we started with beautiful warm bread, the olive bread in particular was just gorgeous!

In the end, Caryn and I decided to share an entree, pick a main each and then pay an extra $10 so that we could have both desserts. I mean, it would be a shame to not get to try them both after all!

And so to start, a chicken kritharaki with corn foam. Kirtharaki is deceptive. It looked to be such a small portion, but it was incredibly filling! It kind of made me think of a richer chicken and corn soup, with comforting and homely flavours. The texture of the kritharaki was just beautiful, just the tiniest bit al dente. When the corn foam, which was just so sweet and abundant in flavour, but light, was mixed all in, it was just heaven. The only thing we were mildly sad to see was that there were only two bits of fried chicken sitting on top, but I suppose this dish was actually designed for one…

…as strange as it may seem, I think the starter definitely had my favourite flavours of the meal. If it was colder, I would comfortably eat bowls of the kritharaki, curling up in a quiet corner on the couch and a blanket. 

But it was hot this particular Friday and I was out in the public…so no kritharaki canoodling. Ah well. Next time!

For her main Caryn had the mastic braised beef with olive oil pomme puree. Mastic is a type of greek liquor, made with resin gathered from the mastic tree. It's usually quite strong, but fortunately for Caryn who had to go back to work upstairs, all the alcohol had burnt away by the time it reached the plate! 

The beef just fell apart beautiful, and had deep and rich flavours. Paired with a potato puree that was so smooth and so creamy, it was an incredibly well executed plate. 

I opted for the seared snapper with taramasalata and a heirloom tomato salad. Gosh, well cooked fish is just lovely. So buttery, yet golden and crisp on the exterior, with a healthy dollop of that fish roe spread all over the top just made for a well rounded flavour. The skinless tomatoes made for a nice change to the typical heirloom salad, and therefore didn't distract from the fish, which just soaked up their juiciness! 

Dessert had been tantalisingly waiting in front of us on the chef's table throughout the whole service and it was quite fun to watch the young apprentice put the final scoop of ice-cream on to each of the chocolate and salty caramel tarts.

Aww yeah, you heard me. Chocolate and salty caramel tart with vanilla ice-cream. Here was a glossy little bit of sexy, with the ice-cream neatly perched on effortlessly scattered chocolate and biscuit crumbs. What a temptress of a dessert. It did not fail to satisfy, with a rich cocoa flavour and a salty caramel that just took you somewhere else completely. Not too sweet, just thick and dense enough to be sexy, and a nice mix of textures with the soft tart and the crumble on the side. 

Love seeing vanilla bean dotted through the vanilla ice-cream too, really gives it that extra punch. 

We also tried The Press Club Greek mess, with ouzo, strawberry and sumac. It was beautiful, with elegant colours and a tweezer precision layout, but it just felt a little bit small. It was a little difficult to appreciate all the flavours in one bite as there was so little of everything, and quite a lot of components! The little meringues were just gorgeous in particular though. 

Caryn and I left The Press Club, reluctantly, with smiles and content bellies. I was surprised at how generous the main portions were and after this meal, only wish I had the opportunity (and the money) to visit for the full experience. Suppose will just have to hang out and see what happens to the space in the near future…

The Press Club

72 Flinders Street
Melbourne 3000

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B'stilla

Disclaimer: I was invited to have a complimentary meal with GRAM Magazine

You know that the Mexican wave must be over, when one of the co-owners of Mamasita has decided he's had one too many tacos and needs something new to play with. 

And so Jason Jones, along with Scott Cunliffe and Martin Finnigan, very quietly, opens a new Moroccan restaurant called B'stilla on Bray Street in South Yarra, just a stone throw away from Chapel Street, hidden behind the Jam Factory. 

Strolling on through the large glass doors, it dawns on me that I don't really know too much about Moroccan food and probably wouldn't be able to point you in the direction of a good Moroccan restaurant if you asked me. I'm quite impressed that somehow Jones has managed to find a cuisine, in the very diverse food culture in Melbourne, that does not have an upmarket version. Or at least in the inner suburbs and CBD. 

B'stilla has quite a welcome dining space, with warm woods and colours, gentle ambient light, a focus on communal and group tables and subtle, but appropriate Moroccan inspired details. I particularly loved one window with patterns on it, the shadows it cast in the later afternoon were just beautiful! 

The idea behind the menu is simply affordable sharing food and it certainly looks this way, with many items at around the $10 to $15 mark, with the most expensive dishes peaking at $28. 

We were a group of 5, the editors from GRAM and Bean Scene, Kenny (Consider the Sauce), Sofia (Poppet's Window) and myself. Rather than navigate through a menu, with lots of food and terminology we weren't familiar with, we left the menu decision in the hands of the chef, who fed us incredibly well!

To whet our palates, we started with an iced mint tea, sweet and refreshing, and a little amuse bouche (I suppose) of fresh dates, pumpkin puree and pumpkin seed cracker. Apparently presenting guests with dates is very traditional, and the general sweetness of this single bite certainly was an appetite stimulator! 

Warm grilled batbout (turmeric and oregano flat bread) was fluffy, and tangy, when spread with the lemon tomato jam. Was nice to have a bread that didn't threaten to be too filling before the rest of the meal arrived!

It was nice to also see the whitebait and school prawns mingling, both lightly battered and delightfully crunchy with a nice bit of meat as well. If we had had a bigger serve it would have been way too easy to just been picking on, and filling up on these all night!

The cocktail menu is fairly impressive, with some atypical combinations and ingredients, such as pomegranate. I loved that a lot of the spirits used were local, such as the 666 Vodka and West Winds gin. The pomegranate martini I had was particularly punchy and rather alcoholic, whilst Kenny's Bloody Marrakesh, a twist on the Bloody Mary with harissa and red wine, was surprisingly refreshing and quite delicious!

We naturally, had to eat the namesake of the restaurant, the B'stilla, which is a traditional moroccan meat pie made with squab. This version in Melbourne is made with pigeon, duck, almond, cinnamon, saffron and egg. 

Ah, just beautiful. Cute little pentagon packages, dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon, with ever thin brick pastry that just crunched and flaked away under a knife. Such a satisfying sound. The pastry itself kind of made me think of baklava, as it tasted a little honey-ish.  Overall, a dish that combined sweet and salty beautifully, there were just so many interesting flavour components here, the cinnamon, the rich and tender birds and some nuttiness, amongst others. One of the favourites of the night.

The confit chicken wings with pistachio yoghurt and pomegranate, was another sweet and savoury dish. It has an interesting effect on you, as it certainly satiates, but also whets the palate for something with more salt in it. Which comes later, don't worry! The chicken was just beautiful here as well. 

The avocado, beetroot, soft egg, radish and beet molasses salad was another sweet and playful dish. Loved the bright colours, the smoothness of the avocado and the crunch of the nuts. The beetroot pretty intense here. 

I found it quite interesting that the chef served us the dishes that he did. The couple of dishes above this paragraph all erred to the sweet side, which, as I mentioned, were satisfying but also made you want something more solid, more savoury and hearty. The next lot of dishes were all served at the same time, to satisfy that need!

The freekah salad with apple, celeriac, chard, green chilli and almond, whilst refreshing, also packed a bit of punch with that chilli! If you don't like spicy, maybe refrain from ordering this, but if you are partial to it, by all means! 

The lamb shoulder with ginger, cumquat, parsnip and sumac filled our immediate airspace with intense and addicting aromas. The lamb, with a slightly crunchy sear around the outside, fell apart just beautifully upon being forked and the sweetness of the cumquats was a nice balance to the earthiness of the parsnip, which both complimented the lamb very nicely. 

We were served two tangines, which are cooked in special conical earthenware pots, you'll know them if you saw them! The first was a mussels, fish, squid, spinach and charmoula tangine, which was quite herbaceous and a little more toned down compared to some of the bigger flavours in the other dishes. 

The second tangine was a fig, goat's cheese, chickpea and root vegetable one, it's deep and dark brown colour reminding me of curry, but it was much lighter, with an emphasis on spices rather than heat. I absolutely loved the addition of the fresh figs, which added just a touch of sweetness to lift the dish. 

We also had cauliflower with pine nut paste, ras el hanout and herbs, which was probably my favourite side. The charred cauliflower and the paste just married together. Married! Need to do this combination in a pasta sometime I think…

The smokey eggplant with crispy garlic, sesame and coriander was also well received all around, smooth, sweet and smokey (obviously), with a flavour that lingered in the roof of your mouth for quite a while afterwards. 

We kept dessert a simple sharing affair, trialling out all 4 options. 

Whilst initially excited by the ice-cream and sorbet selection, which were pumpkin seed, fig leaf (both ice-creams) and lemon verbena sorbet, I was a little disappointed in the flavour department. Whilst perfectly pleasant, it was not particularly exciting.

Fortunately though, all the other desserts were! 

The fig, yoghurt and lime splice was playful and refreshing, with zingy and bright flavours. I loved the flavoured granita!

There's always got to be one chocolate dessert, and B'stilla's did not fail to impress with star anise, creme fraiche and sesame. The dollops of chocolate were smooth and creamy, without being overly rich, just quietly curling up into the spoon when scooped up and refusing to move, which meant it just had to go straight into one's mouth. Anti-double-dippers stay away! I loved the addition of star anise, not overwhelming, but just adding a brightness of flavour that didn't overwhelm. With a little coffee jelly and a bit of crunch, there was a lot going on, but it was simple enough to enjoy. 

And finally, but of course not least, the rosewater flan with dates and walnut nougatine was an easy favourite around the table. Normally I tend to run away from desserts with rosewater, as it can be pretty overpowering and sometimes just taste like grandma, to be frank. However, none of that here, with a wobbly but dense caramel flan, sitting on top of something sticky, and also caramel to give it that extra punch of sweetness. The walnut nougatine is ingenious, as the occasional crunch is so addictive, you just want more!

Naughty, but so elegant, just a beautifully executed dessert. 

All in all, we had an absolutely amazing night, where we were well looked after by charming staff, who took us through all the dishes and were more than happy to answer all our questions, since none of us were particularly familiar with the food. 

The flavours in the food were generally all on point and very distinctive, with a heavy emphasis on the sweet and savoury mix and ensuring that it's well balanced. At B'stilla there is also a big focus on using local produce, beers and wines, as well as being as green as possible in general, with the interior of the restaurant being carbon-offset. 

So, new cuisine, vibrant flavours, a good conscience, charming and cheery service, at a price point that shouldn't hurt the wallet too much, what are you waiting for? 

B'stilla

30B Bray Street

South Yarra 3141

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Sneak peeks and fun times!

In an attempt to catch up on my backlog, I've lumped an event, a few launches and a couple of other small fun things in this one post! Whoohoo, hop on the Hungree Express!

Candied Bakery

81A Hudsons Road

Spotswood

On Australia day a couple of friends invited my friend Mini and I to their local in Werribee, to have a few brews, play some boardgames and catch up, as I hadn't seen them in probably half a year. 

Since we were making the trek to the west, the only suitable thing to do was make a pitstop at the minimal and bright Candied Bakery in Spotswood. Whimsical, but completely unpretentious their desserts and baked goods are classic Australian with a twist of American influence. 

The main affair for me, even before we had had lunch was the soft serve, which happened to be Milo this day (was kind of hoping for peanut butter and jelly). It was so smooth, with a little milo crunch on top, and I quaffed down far too quickly. Mmhmm.

Pawn and Co. 

Disclaimer: I was invited to attend this launch 

402 Chapel Street

South Yarra

Few of my favourite things. Food. Photography. Mantique shows. I'm a bit odd like that. When Brad comes over on a Wednesday night (or whichever night they've moved the shows on to), I sit us down on the couch and tune into 7Maaaaateeeeeeee to laugh at the antics of the guys on American Pickers or be amazed at how much random movie memorabilia is sold on Hollywood Treasures. Love that stuff.

So I was quite excited when I was invited to the launch of Pawn and Co. on Chapel Street in South Yarra. The concept, drink our alcohol and buy all our shit. Well, they probably have a more eloquent way of saying it, but that's essentially it!

Everything in the bar can be bought, from the random antiques like a giant scale, or the taxidermined albino kangaroo (a real conversation starter for sure) to the hand rails (made out of walking sticks) and apparently, the  bar staff's clothes! Could make for an interesting hens night…? 

Couple this fun concept with tasty cocktails, a nice view above Chapel Street and an assortment of sliders and meatballs and you have a fun and chilled out place for a drink and a nibble. The pork, fennel and apple patty slider was a winner in my books, the Jamaican chicken and banana meatball not so much my thing…although Tegan did like it! 

The Wise Tapas Bar and Restaurant

Disclaimer: I was invited to attend this launch 

173 High Street

Prahran

Literary quotes, tapas and alcohol. Where do you get all this? At The Wise Tapas Bar and Restaurant, on High Street, just around the corner from Chapel. 

It was a cosy and intimate space, it kind of felt like a romantic library, with dark woods, big leather armchairs and a smattering of books casually lying around the place. Quirks in the decor like quotes on the ceiling from a range of sources made for fun conversation starters. 

Caryn and I rocked up to the launch early, so perched ourselves in the optimum people viewing spot, where we were shortly joined by Allan and Ricky, who all enthusiastically tucked into the tapas samplings that came out from around the corner. Score perfect spot?

Tapas was the star here, with all the favourites covered, with some interesting and perhaps less common additions. 

Manchego and jamon made me soft at the knees, whilst I loved the one spoonful of gorgeously bright paella and the rich lamb moussaka (which seems more Greek than Spanish to me) was incredibly moreish. It was a pity some of the dishes came out a touch cold, but that happens when you're serving up a big crowd. 

I think in the evenings The Wise could be a lovely spot to have a quiet drink with a date, or perhaps just somewhere to lounge back and have a moment with that intoxicating new book of yours…

Acland Street Cantina 

Disclaimer: I was invited to attend this launch 

2 Acland Street

St Kilda

It seems that The Prince in St Kilda has been having quite the makeover lately, with the big brother upstairs getting a fresher, modern take and downstairs (where the wine store was) getting turned on it's head to become a Mexican joint, where one can dine on Mexican goodies or buy home to enjoy in the comfort of your own home. 

The place is darned big. You wouldn't guess when you first walk in, where there are some dining spaces, a little shop area and a bar, but stroll on down the hallway and say hello to the much bigger bar space, which is dark and rather sexy. 

Whilst we happily drank coronas, Spanish pinot grigios and fun and fruity margaritas, the kitchen pumped out sweet lamb empanadas, topped with figs, ceviche with a kick, soft shell fried fish tacos which were so tasty and the most wickedly cheesy quesadillas you may ever come across. Suckers were like half a cm thick with cheese. 

Whilst we didn't get to try a huge variety of food, I am keen to come back and try more! I absolutely in particular loved their soft, gluten free, taco shells, only thing is they are a bit out of the way for me…sigh…St Kilda!

Red Emperor

3 Southgate Avenue
Southbank

Red Emperor has been a family favourite for as long as I can remember. Therefore, it saddened me greatly when I learnt that they were moving, sure, they were still in the same location and moving down one floor, but there was something rather iconic and special about those large windows that overlooked Flinders Street Station. 

Now located one level down, Red Emperor is now a much more intimate space, it's a touch stifling for me, but that's because I intensely missed those high ceilings! To it's credit, the acoustics are well done, and the interior is still quite slick and sexy. 

The most important thing though, is that the food is still all awesome. Still classic and beautifully executed. Mum and my favourite is still the twice cooked quail, as finger-licking good as ever...!

MFWF: Chan's Dumpling Festival

Disclaimer: I  received complimentary passes to this event

When one thinks Guiness World Record, one is usually thinking of strong muscly men lifting stuff, more piercings than you could poke a stick at and other such bizarre human interests. 

But yum cha? Whoever thinks of doing a world record with yum cha? And in Australia of all places?

Well Chan's Yum Cha did and boy was it an event! Chan's Dumpling Festival was held during the Melbourne Food and Wine festival in the Treasury gardens, the challenge was to gather more than 500 people to have two courses at dim sum, at around the same time. 

On the perfectly warm and sunny weekend it was, the event lived up to it's name! It was incredibly lively, with lion dances, Chinese massage and wu shu demonstrations, despite a slightly long wait between courses, there was always something to be watching or doing! 

The lunch consisted of prawn har gow, sesame prawn toast, ginger prawns, shitake dumplings, pork buns and deep fried banana fritters, all from Chan's Yum Cha range, which you can actually buy at the supermarkets. It was a real feast, and surprisingly fairly tasty, especially considering how many people they had to serve and the fact that it would have had to be mass cooked in a separate kitchen and shuttled to the site! 

Was the record beaten? More like smashed! With 771 people present, and around 750 people officially counted. Not a bad effort hey?