The Mill House

Disclosure: I was invited to dine as a guest of the restaurant

When someone says ‘basement bar’, I certainly don’t think of an elegant, lush space, with lots of wood and plush leather booths. Yet that’s what the Mill House has somehow managed to do, and believe me, I had been here for a gig prior to it’s reinterpretation as the Mill House…and it’s quite a change from barren concrete walls and sticky floors.

Like the space, when someone says ‘bar food’, I don’t necessarily expect what Caryn and I were served the night we visited. Snuggled up into our booth, we were ready for finger food, easy to pop into the mouth nibbles and perhaps a bit heavier on the fried side. Dinner at the Mill House was anything but.

Chef Agustin Ortega at the helm is no slouch, with previous experience working at fine dining restaurants, he brings that fine dining finesse, along with the flavours of what he describes as ‘New Latin Cuisine’ which combines European techniques, with a latin twist (Peruvian specifically, since that is where he is from). HIs dishes are executed beautifully, full of flavour, and a little bit of fun. 

Although the menu is usually designed to share, for this tasting we’re given individual portions…so your meal might look a little different to mine!

But first! Drinks. We start with a raspberry and mint white sangria with raspberry schnapps, which is both beautiful, sweet and very refreshing. Also surprisingly potent, at least for me, I think I only manage one glass; however Caryn knocks through a couple more…perhaps my tolerance has just gotten that bad recently…

To start, corn croquettes with squid ink aioli, a little bit of corn puree and popcorn as well. Stunning, just stunning. The corn croquettes are sweet, but rich and creamy; perfectly fried on the outside. The squid ink aioli might not be optimal date food (black teeth anyone?), but it is delicious, and a little somethings salty and rich to balance out the sweetness of the corn puree.

The king fish ceviche with pisco syrup and green onion is citrus, vibrant and with a bit of a kick! The cured salmon was also a very elegantly plated dish, that was very refreshing. Quite nice to have lighter and brighter options while drinking and not just fried!

To make sure we were full, a serve of lamb shoulder with blue potatoes, textures of onion - pickled onion, onion puree and charred spring onion, fried shallots, pickled pumpkins and red wine jus showed up in front of us. Gorgeous dish, warm, hearty, full of texture and very filling. The lamb was so tender. 

Between savoury and sweet, Caryn and I squeezed in another cocktail round. And man, did we pick well. 

I got the ‘Mill House Meringue’ with Mount Gay rum, Licor 43, house made lemon curd, Sours passion fruit syrup and meringue. Oh man. Talk about a dessert in a cocktail, it was literally like drinking a lemon meringue pie. Sweet, but not overly, with the lovely citrus kick from the lemon curd. The rum kind of hides in there…so this is a dangerous little (or not so little?) cocktail.

Caryn got the ‘Stories from the sea, The Kraken vs White Whale’. A mouthful. I know. And also an eyeful! Kraken black spiced rum, maple syrup, cinnamon syrup and a whole bottle of Murray’s Whale Ale turned around and tipped into the glass. It’s pretty epic. Basically a cocktail with beer as it’s mixer, and before you ask, you drink it through the straw and the beer keeps seeping in. Surprisingly for being all booze, this is rich, and delicious; let’s just say the maple syrup really comes through. 

And as if I didn’t have enough lemon curd goodness, dessert was a deconstructed lemon curd, with poached pear and walnut crumble. Again, not too sweet, and I simply loved the bright citrus curd flavour. Delish!

Although Caryn and I had some absolutely beautiful dishes at The Mill House, it was good to see that there were some comfortable bar favourites, sweet potato chips, chicken ribs and a good looking selection of pizzas (we saw some other tables order them and they looked delicious). There’s definitely something for everyone here; that’s all good too. 

The Mill House

277-279 Flinders Lane

Melbourne 3000

 

La Chinesca

Disclosure: I was invited to dine as a guest of the restaurant

Slipping off Russel Street on to a dark and quiet laneway, through an unsuspecting door and down a set of stairs; in Melbourne you would probably expect to be met with loud music, slightly sticky floors and the firm vibrations of the bass bouncing off the walls. 

But La Chinesca is a surprise. Yes it’s a bit dark, and yes it’s stripped back, a bit edgy, with a mix of brick and concrete walls, but fortunately the floors aren’t sticky…yet. There’s also a definite sense of luxury, with lovely leather booths, a plush sitting nook up on the wall and Laurent Perrier lining the shelves of the bar. 

I’m definitely okay with this.

La Chinesca is somewhere I never got around to for the longest time, as before, they were toting a Chinese and Mexican fusion menu, and although I like both cuisines perfectly fine, I was a bit sceptical of the two together. 

However, they’ve decided to do an overhaul of the menu and play to chef Daniel Salcedo’s real strengths, who not only helped make a seriously good argument for South American cuisine in Carlton with Piqueos, but is a native of Lima himself. 

But first, let me briefly tell you, the cocktails are wicked. Wicked. Wicked. I rarely do cocktails anymore, having fully embraced my love of gin (and less calories in my alcohol habits), but goddamn. I wanted to have everything on that cocktail menu! I loved the Jungle Gin with choc chai gin (I KNOW!), Pimms, lemonade and mint. Although the chai and chocolate didn’t come through too strongly, the otherwise very refreshing cocktail did have a nice little bit of depth. 

Although we did stay on the Laurent Perrier for a while as well, do ask for wine recommendations. I don’t quite remember what I had (oh, that’s the alcohol talking…), but there were one or two glasses of Spanish or South American wine that was just fascinating, and delicious. 

But ah. We’re here for the food too. And although the Mexi-nese had some not so favourable reviews floating around, don’t worry, La Chinesca has gotten serious and Daniel Salcedo is only giving us flavour. 

The Cebiche de Carretilla Limeno, local white fish, squid, lime, red onion, corn, lettuce and chilli was a snappy way to get right to our palates. With a nice dash of heat, and plenty of zing and zest, this is not a mild dish by any means to start! Very fresh. Loving it. 

Grilled scallops were a perfect mouthful, only just cooked through, the way it should be. 

Where Daniel is really doing some good work though, is the Los Anticuchos, also known as the Peruvian Grill. From chicken, to beef heart (I managed to convince everyone to get into it!), all of the proteins are marinated in panca chilli, potato’s and buttered corn (swoon). All of the meat is still beautifully juicy and tender, with a lovely char, and a touch of spiciness. Was very hard not to ask for more.

And then there were the hand cut chips. With mayo and ranchero sauce. Golden, short, crispy, crunchy. Again was quite difficult not to just mow through them… They really could do with slightly bigger portions of these now don’t you think? Or maybe that’s just the glutton in me talking…

Everything that was brought out to us smelt simply amazing, and I was honestly surprised at the quality of the food that was coming out, since it might be quite easy just to label La Chinesca as a bar. Take this beautiful short rib, tender and smoky. 

To finish we got to have the ‘King Kong’, fig jam with Manjar Blanco, purple corn candy floss and shortbread. Oh man. I was freaking out over how short the shortbread is. You touched it and it crumbled, on the tongue it just dissolved into air almost. It was amazing, with the richness of the jam wedged between, and the sweet, but not overly, candy floss to add another flavour profile. 

By this point, the little basement had gotten pretty loud, as gorgeous salsa dancers got the floor into the mood, with a live band and a whole lot of fun. Although I used to go to live local band gigs with Brad since he was in a band before, live Latin music is so much more fun. 

La Chinesca has honestly surprised me, in the best way possible, and although I haven’t popped back yet, I certainly think it’d make a great spot for a quick drink, which could lead into a much longer night, with a whole lot of King Kong’s! I definitely left a little bit more stumbly than I expected to be on a Thursday night…

La Chinesca

Harley House Basement

71 Collins Street

Melbourne 3000 

Piqueos

Disclosure: I was invited to dine as a guest at Piqueos

I'm embarrassed. 

Incredibly embarrassed that prior to this visit, I had not taken the time to visit Piqueos, a little gem in the Rathdowne Village, bringing the flavours of Argentina and Peru to Melbourne. 

Set up by Shuan Burke and Dave Mills, with co-owners Paul Goodard and lisa Prince, 'Piqueos' is not just a random name, but actually is a tidbit of food or tapas, usually designed for a single person. 

The space is dark and intimate, with brick walls and touches of copper detailing. There's a healthy mix of counter and table seating, and before long Piqueos is filled to the brim with bums on seats. 

Piqueos offers to feed us with a selection of their best (and a request from my end for their morcilla), and we naturally accept. 

I'm delighted that we start the night with popcorn instead of bread. But it's not just any popcorn, it's cooked in pork fat and dusted in paprika, making it terribly moreish with a healthy spicy kick at the back of the throat. 

The Tiradito was the first of the piqueos that we sampled, modest slices of milky white kingfish with puffed quinoa and a touch of passionfruit. Such a bright and cheerful bite, with the  tender kingfish, surprisingly crunchy quinoa and strong but not overwhelming sweetness and tartness from the passionfruit. A lot going on in just a few bites.

The Pulpo, char grilled octopus with kipfler and olive tapenade was also a play on textures and thoughtful flavours. I was surprised that the olive tapenade was as subtle and light as it was, not overwhelming the gentle flavour of the octopus. 

When I saw the morcilla on the menu, i knew I had to order it, and I was not disappointed when a whole sausage was presented to us. Yum. It wasn't spicy, like some morcilla's or black puddings I've had, and I found the fat was well distributed throughout, rather than in globs like it sometimes can be. Although there was no spicy kick, it was incredibly delicious, the sweet roasted capsicum complementing it nicely. 

A delicate roasted beetroot salad with jerusalem artichoke and mild goats curd, made for a vegetable reprieve before the big guns were brought out. 

Say hello to the Churrasco, 350grams of grain fed sirloin with Piqueos's absolutely delicious chimmichurri. In my notes, I've literally typed "That char is like woah". Because seriously? It's awesome. Falling off the bone, a delicious and tender piece of meat, that's not overly fatty. I really enjoyed how herbaceous the chimmichurri made the meat, cutting through a bit of the richness. 

And let's talk about these hand cut potato chips with huancaina salsa with olive salt. I'm convinced the chips are cooked in pork fat (probably should have asked), as they are themselves moreish treats, super crisp on the outside, just the way I like them. But that huancaina sauce? There's salads, cheese and condensed milk in that smooth sucker of a sauce. Just woah. It's everything your nutritionist will tell you not to eat, but everything that your taste buds want!

Having destroyed the plate of chips, I wasn't sure if we could fit dessert in…but then it arrives on the table and the second stomach kicks into gear. 

The alfajor, a soft cookie with dulce de leche and coconut was lovely. The cookie was short, crumbling into the smooth and rich dulce de leche. Just beautiful.

My favourite out of the two desserts (by a close margin though) would have been the suspiro limeno, a soft Italian meringue sitting on top of a cold serve of dulce de leche and plum pisco.

Just look at that Italian meringue! Beautiful, couldn't get over the smooth and velvety texture. The plum pisco added a little bit of quirk to the sweetness, a little tart, a little alcoholic. It's terribly easy to fill up on this dessert in a flash!

By the end of the meal, I was well and truly in love. Wooed by the comforting but not overtly rich flavours of Peruvian and Argentinian food. Piqueos is truly a little treasure, sharing their love of these cuisines, with quality produce, and a smile on their faces. I hope to pop by one of their special dinners, where they focus on a particular region in South America over several courses. A Chile dinner, focussing on the wines is coming up soon on the 29th, and an Argentinian dinner in August…oh the options….

Piqueos

298 Rathdowne Street

Carlton North 3054

View Larger Map