imbue. Dessert Edition

Disclosure: I was invited to dine as a guest

I’ve always prided myself on knowing a little bit of everything, but I absolutely love meeting and getting to know people who are passionate and know everything about something. Fortunately being interested in food and all that good stuff leads me to meeting these kinds of people.

With Melbourne’s rich coffee culture, although almost everyone I know can geek out over coffee and be a connoisseur in their own right, I don’t have that many people to really get excited about tea over. Until I met Cheryl. 

Engineer by day, tea fanatic all her life and now a certified tea master as well. She’s taken that passion to start a her own additional business (because she’s clearly not busy enough already), Flag & Spear Tea Hunters, where she educates both the consumer and the industry about everything tea, and especially single origin tea. Definitely wished I could have been at her cupping session with Nieuw Amsterdam where they were matching tea and spirits (how fun would that be?!)

In order to get her tea master certification, she had assignments which included matching tea with food. While chatting to her good friend Rebekah one night, with a flair for cooking (and a boutique catering business, In the Art of Entertaining), Cheryl asked if Rebekah would help create a menu around some teas and whilst doing homework, came up with the idea of not just doing it theoretically, but making it reality. 

I unfortunately missed the first imbue. event, where canapés were matched with tea, but at least I made it to the second one, imbue: Dessert Edition. Tea. Dessert. Two of my favourite things? What’s absolutely not to love?

Held at The Assembly Rooms, Cheryl and Rebekah pulled out all stops to create an absolutely stunning setting.

We were greeted with tall flutes filled with a lovely bubbly beverage. But lo and behold, when Cheryl says she’s out to challenge our perception of tea, she’s doing it very well! There was no champagne or sparkling wine to be had, instead we were drinking a stunning Indonesian Silver Needles tea, that was cold brewed and lightly carbonated. A little trick or treat, but what a treat this was. So light, delicate and floral, I was immediately taken by the beautiful jasmine flower aroma and definitely tilted my glass for more when the bottles came around!

Our first nibble for the session was a board of Langres washed-rind cheese, tamari roasted Brazil nuts and cold smoked Croation pork neck, paired with a stunning Honey Oolong tea from Taiwan. Although I loved the tea in itself, which was floral yet comforting with toasty notes, it was fascinating having it with the food as well, the tamari roasted nuts accentuating the toasty flavours. The Langres washed-rind cheese is one of the most delicious things ever as well.

Although I usually love comforting and rich desserts, I do like it when my decisions are prescribed for me, as I otherwise would not usually choose to try things like the botanical gelee with lemongrass, coriander, ginger and edible flowers. Wow. Stunning and absolutely fascinating in flavours, the ginger and coriander really giving a huge punch of flavour; like South East Asia on a plate. However, pair it with the Woojeon green tea from Korea, with flavours like wet spinach and fresh cut grass through it, and it takes the aggressive edge off the coriander and makes the dish even more aromatic. 

The malted pannacotta with mango, apricot, spiced sticky red rice and coconut is one of my favourite dishes. So cute, the mango and apricot panacea is kind of ‘the tea’ and the cubed sticky red rice coated in coconut is the cube of ‘sugar’. Together, it’s a very modern take on familiar South East Asian flavours again, mango sticky rice anyone? This dish was paired with a Himalayan Snow Bud white tea from Nepal. It’s an incredibly rare tea, grown 2200m above sea level at one of the highest tea estates in the world. 

Since you don’t get many insects at that altitude, there are no pesticides used in the tea, so the resulting tea is very pure, with beautiful treacle, honeysuckle and melon flavours through it. Sweet, floral but with a little zestier end. Loved this tea. 

A fennel and mint chai granita, made with the Original Chai Co’s chai, is something I want a bigger serve of, all through summer. I forget that fennel does work so well with chai, and gives it a cooling affect, rather than a warm and toasty one like traditional Masala chai does. 

Although the other desserts were great so far, I couldn’t help but be excited for the black forest cup, with chocolate, cherry and hazelnut, and it definitely delivered. Rebekah had actually planned this menu many, many months ago, and was supposed to originally run in February when cherry season was still abundant. But once the change in date occurred, she quickly went and bought the remaining best of season and preserved them all…just for this event! The cherries were beautiful, slightly alcoholic and juicy, gorgeously complimenting a delectably and insanely rich chocolate cake and ganache. Heaven. 

This was paired with a Da Hong Pao oolong tea from China (our biggest tea producer in the world, unsurprisingly), that was lovely and rich, with chocolate, mahogany, toast and date flavours. There’s a great story that goes with this tea, that the mother of an emperor was cured of an illness with this tea, so to show his thanks, the emperor sent big red robes (Da Hong Pao in Chinese funnily enough) to clothe the tea bushes. Apparently 6 of those original bushes still survive today…although our tea was not from one of those bushes (otherwise the event would have been much more expensive!) 

To finish, a very delicate plate of petite fours, all with a different tea flavouring. A hojicha cheesecake, meringue kisses with Matcha ganache and my absolute favourite, the genmaicha marshmallow which just hit you with those big roasted rice flavours and had me desperate for more. Nearly paid another table for some more. Really!

Although none of teas previously had been served with milk, for our last tea, Cheryl gave us the option, with the Kenilworth Estate BOP black tea from Sri Lanka. After all the delicate and aromatic teas, this was very hearty, yet sweet, with malty notes and went very well with milk. 

What I really loved about the event, is how much care and thought Rebekah and Cheryl put into the whole afternoon. I’ve done dessert degustations where I’ve felt deliriously sick afterwards, but starting with a savoury nibble, and switching between light and refreshing dishes to richer and sweeter, meant that I thoroughly enjoyed myself, didn’t die from a sugar rush and felt very satiated and content by the time I left. I also loved all the story telling from the girls, and learning the stories behind the teas, and also their ideas. 

Cheryl and Rebekah are full of ideas, there’s been speculation of a breakfast and tea degustation (which I will surely be the first to sign up for) and there's a roast and tea match at Porcelain Tea Parlour coming up on July the 3rd! Make sure to check out the Flag & Spear website to keep up to date with everything that’s happening…you’ll probably bump into me at the next do! 

O.My

When Brad’s parents first decided to move from their place in Glen Waverly, out to Gembrook (past Belgrave, the end of a train line to give some perspective), which meant that Brad would also be moving out that way, Brad and I were…well let’s say we weren’t over enthused. 

However, now that we have been in this situation for over a year, it’s actually worked out better than we could have thought. Fortunately Brad doesn’t mind the 1 hour drive, and since he has flexible hours, can usually miss the worst of the traffic, and I live close to the university that he works at. 

It also surprised me, how much I enjoyed going out to Gembrook, and escaping the city just for a night or two. How accessible it was, and what a great base it made, for exploring some of the regional wine country and restaurants out east. 

I mean, I otherwise may have never (or well not never, but it wouldn’t have been as high priority on my list) made it to O.My restaurant in Beaconsfield. It was only 20 minutes away from Brad’s place. Perfect.

So I scheduled us in for lunch on a surprisingly warm Saturday in October, I’m not sure why (well other than the fact hat season had just passed and there were given one prestigiouss chef’s hat), but who needs a reason? 

Although the sun was harsh and bright outside, inside O.My, it’s dusky and cool, with dim lights, dark walls and rich little details. There’s an immedate relaxed sense of hush, where you automatically drop your voice, but still giggle at each other’s jokes. 

I love that the restaurant is run by three brothers, and the fact that for being relatively young, that they have such vision. It can’t have been easy to decide to set up in Beaconsfield, but at the same time, it’s an incredibly smart move, low rent, more resources to go to produce and being inventive and creative, and delivering it to customers at incredibly reasonable prices. Love it (sorry, work brain kicking in here).

Degustation menus are the go here, and we opt for the 4 course degustation (only available at lunch time). You really get so much more than 4 courses though. 

Prior to our first course, we were surprised with a couple of snacks to kick start the palate. As we were in Spring, I was thrilled to see gorgeously green spears of fresh asparagus, washed in chilli oil and honey. Oh I loved these. Touch of a crunch, a kick of chilli but with the sweetness of the honey quickly washing in. 

Duck leg jerky with raspberry and beetroot dipping sauce is as delicious as you could imagine it being. These aren’t thin slices, loved how chunky these were!

And to wrap up, a mini bouquet of green herbs which were bright and vibrant, perhaps a little tough to chew, but definitely woke up the palate! 

Our first proper course was a spring salad with black garlic oil. I was surprised with the earthiness of this dish, as it initially looks light and airy, but there was a unexpected richness and depth with the black garlic oil beneath. Much ‘meatier’ than it appears.

Whilst Brad got to enjoy their beautiful white rye sourdough, made with a 3.5 year old culture that’s baked on site with a sumptuous ball of butter, I got the gluten free option of potato chips with garlic aioli. Oh my gosh, delicious. Devoured in about half a second obviously.

The following course was pork neck, roasted for 24 hours, with apple tapenade, pork stock and fresh sliced apple. This dish definitely spoke of Spring, the crisp sweetness of the ever so thin apples offsetting the richness of the pork neck, which was delightfully tender. 

Our next meaty main was definitely a filling one, lamb ragu, with cured and smoked lamb back strap and a garlic puree was rich and delightfully hearty. I felt it might have been a touch of a heavy dish the warm day that it was, it’s just so comforting, but who’s to complain really?

In between savouries and sweets, a beautifully plated dish of ox tail mousse with ox tail sheets. Shut the door. Just eat this. Or give it all to me. 

At O.My, the traditional cheese course is given a bit of a turn on it’s head, they make their own vegan cheeses, with hazelnut, cashews and pistachios. It was a bit of an adventure into textures and flavour…as we had no idea what to expect as we tried each one. It’s quite refreshing and definitely not quite as rich as a usual cheese course, especially with the sweetness of the fruit (dried figs, yum!). 

I’ll be honest, dessert challenged me a bit, or perhaps just one element of it. The chocolate, milk sorbet, dried blood orange and mixed citrus were all fine; however, it was the burning lavender incense that certainly caught me off guard a little. It smelt great, and looked great in front of us, as the incense wafted under our noses. But eating the lavender itself? 

Once you blew it out and chomped on it, let’s just say the lavender flavour was pretty darned intense, but the surprising thing is that later on there’s a spiciness that creeps up the back of palate. It’s also pretty tough to chew on! It’s interesting, but not a flavour I would go hunting for on a regular basis!

The other components of the dessert were beautifully done though, the sorbet’s texture in particular was incredible, dreamily creamy. 

The whole experience is capped off with a couple of petit four (which I promptly forgot to photograph), including a salted caramel fudge, and touched lemon marshmallow. 

Past the food, which is delightful, curious and thoughtful, the whole experience of dining at O.My is just delightful. Chayse, the youngest of the three brothers, made us feel comfortable and very much at home, telling us all about the sneaky nibbles he tries to get in the kitchen when I wax lyrical about pretty much everything as we eat it with the warmest smile. 

There’s definitely been a lot of thought to the whole process, and the experience the customer gets; as we leave, we’re given a slice of the sourdough to take home, and a piece of honeycomb for gluten intolerant little ol’ me (which doesn’t get very far on the trip back home). 

If you’re looking for something different, look out past the city, and take a lazy ride out east for one of the understatedly best dining experiences you’re likely to have in Victoria. I’m dying to see what an 8 course degustation looks like next time…

O.My

23 Woods St

Beaconsfield 3807

 

Temporary Dining with Chateau Marmot

Twitter is such a wonderful thing. I have tried explaining it to my parents, which is hopeless with my mum as she's not particularly technology literate, and my dad just can't grasp the idea in his head, although it often seems he's actually chained to his computer. How have you guys tried to explain twitter to non-users? Would love some ideas!

But back to what I wanted to talk about, so I saw on Twitter that there would a few nights of 'Tempoary Dining' at Storm in a Teacup, by Chateau Marmot. Ooh? My interest was piqued since I had always wanted to check out Storm in a Teacup, so a flurry of clicking and reading and trying to figure out who would willingly go with me ensued. I mean 5 courses for $60? Too good a deal to pass up!

Initially only two nights were offered, but fortunately, seats then came up for a third night, Tuesday night. Bryan doesn't work Tuesdays, it was a done deal!

But what is Chateau Marmot? According to their website: "Chateau Marmot is all about bringing the creativity and excitement of fine dining to an unexpected location near you, minus the stuffy atmosphere. Starch should be on potatoes, not table cloths."

They do have a point. 

And so Bryan and I found ourselves in a little corner of Storm in a Teacup, an adorable, brightly coloured and quirky space, neatly sitting only twenty plus excited eaters, ready to be fed by Miles Dupree. Miles is an Australian born chef, originally from Sydney, who was last working in the UK. I could list his credentials, but I'm sure you just want to see the food. 

Sea bream ceviche with finger lime, a light and zesty (although not sour) way to start our meal, awakening the palate. Packed with many little components, a freshness of mint, springy fish, crunch of cucumber, it was exciting and well balanced. 

Second course, keeping in the Southern American feel, creamed corn croquette with an avocado salsa and jalapeno sauce. Bryan and I both loved this warm, sweet, tangy and creamy dish. The flavours were well rounded and incredibly wholesome, the jalapeno sauce adding a nice warmth in the back of the throat (kind of wanted to bottle it and take it home with me!)

From South America, to Japanese inspired flavours! Glazed eel coated in amaranth with an apple salad and nori smear. This was surprisingly playful! I loved the crunchy amaranth, which was kind of reminiscent of popping candy when chewed on. It was also again a very balanced dish, with the crispness of the apple cutting through the richness and sweetness of the eel, which also had a bit of smokiness to it. 

Long before this dish hit our table, we were smelling it as it wafted out of the makeshift kitchen in the middle of the store. Just intoxicating! Crispy duck leg with a strawberry salad, almond cream and liquorice soil. Whilst the glossy duck wasn't particularly crunchy, I didn't mind at all, as it was simply unctuous, tender and so deliciously cooked. Oh the fat left in it just made me roll over in a blob of happiness. It was a curious dish all the same, the punchy and bright strawberries making it really jammy and almost dessert like. I also very much appreciated that the liquorice soil wasn't too strong and just gave a nice little edge to it. It was a slightly challenging dish conceptually, as it was quite a bit sweeter than one would expect for a main, and Bryan kept commenting that it was more like dessert, but for me, I still found it all delicious. 

A brief reprieve before dessert with a sample of some of the beautiful tea Storm in a Teacup has. We were treated to a lovely green tea from Southern China (I didn't catch the name properly), which was lovely full and rounded in flavour. Gorgeously aromatic. Look forward to coming back and trying more!

And finally dessert, rhubarb, jasmine and blueberry verrine. Whilst we were very well informed as to what all the little components was in it specifically…well, Bryan and I were too consumed with trying to figure out how to take photos. Which didn't really come out anyway. Oh well! There was a creme anglaise somewhere in there, there were chunky crunchy bits, sweet, plump and perfectly in season blueberries with rich rhubarb. Loved the hint of jasmine in there for a little something special. 

Although the whole experience was a little bit on the slow side (almost 3 hours for 5 dishes!), the food was beautifully executed and well thought out. Flavours were exciting and unique, as promised and unlike anything I've had in Melbourne yet. As we both had early mornings, I regretfully had to miss out on the cheese course (an additional course) but will certainly be keeping a keen eye out for potential future installments....!

Chateau Marmot 

Storm in a Teacup

48A Smith Street

Collingwood