Nomada

How do you define breakfast? Or brunch for that matter? 

To keep it at it’s simplest, it’s the meal we eat in the morning - so what is that? 

Being in Melbourne, we are so blessed to have so many options available to us. Standard eggs and toast, if that’s all you want, pho if you feel like going Asian, and the ever growing cafe scene continues to push what we can eat at the beginning of our day. Glass cloches and scallops anyone? 

So why not tapas? 

Trust the - actually a Spaniard on the inside - Jesse Gerner (of Bomba, Andada and Green Park) to bring that idea to life, with Jesse McTavish (ex-The Kettle Black), Michael Burr, Greg McFarland and Shane Barrett. 

Housed in Hammer and Tong’s previous home, the team have teased in textures through the interiors, giving it a warm and homely feel. I particularly love the wooly throws over the back of the banquettes and the slate coloured slats on the counter, contrasted against the terracotta tile. 

The menu is broken up into price categories, with a $5, $9, $15 and $19 column - or a $35 per person chef’s menu if you just can’t decide what to put together. However, being the planner and control freak that I am, I have to DIY my menu as always. 

After a bit of consultation with the waitstaff, we opt for four $5 items, one $9 item and one $15 item, although there are so many other combinations you could easily do!

Coffees (and chais) first though! At Nomada they’re using Grounded Pleasures chai, which I had never had before. The star anise in this chai blend is intense. It’s definitely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but I didn’t mind having something a little different. 

Food comes out pretty quickly after, and our table fills up with plates and colours, and I just love the visual spectacle of the whole affair. 

My cutlery (or maybe I just went at it with my fingers) quickly go to grab a Blue Eye croqueta with fennel emulsion. What else can you expect but just a beautiful creamy and rich mouthful, encased in a crispy golden crust? I’m so down for this being a breakfast item on a regular basis (but maybe not so much my hips).

The coal blistered tomatoes with sherry, herbs and manchego, finely grated over the top so it’s melting onto the hot tomatoes are sweet and juicy little mouthfuls. And so moreish. 

I’m crazy for the house cured sardines, with a nice little tang to them. Chorizo with chill powder are dense, and with a good little kick to them and playing Russian roulette with blistered Padron peppers is always good fun. We were told that this season they seemed to be particularly and more regularly hot - but Brad and I seemed to have lucked out and not been gotten a super hot one!

To round it all out - we got the cured ocean trout with fennel salad and beetroot, sweet, silky in texture and just gorgeously done. I was actually surprised as well with how generous the serving was and how full I was after all our food. 

One thing that had been on my mind when we were ordering, was how much this would all add up - or how much more we would need to spend compared to a usual brunch for the tapas experience. 

To my surprise, our bill only came to around $60, maybe $10 more than we might usually spend for a dish each and a coffee and I think for the quality and quantity of food, it’s pretty good value. 

I also have the great fortune of being invited to check out a range of their day and night offering. I’d say in the evening, it’s compulsory to get a glass (or three) of Casa Mariol, the Spanish vermouth that the Bomba/Anada team import from Spain, which is available as both a white and dark vermouth (both very good). 

I’m not sure why I didn’t order the clacked egg on burnt hay when I went for brunch with Brad, but my goodness - it’s delicious. Especially when there’s truffle involved. 

Although they do brunch really well, the guys really show they can work that dinner protein gorgeously, with pan seared quail with saltbush, market fish with prawn bisque, buttermilk and nettle and the most tender piece of lamb loin I’ve had. 

So, whether you feel like tapas for breakfast or dinner, in true Melbourne style, there’s an option for you, in the shape of Nomada. 

Nomada

412 Brunswick Street

Fitzroy 3065

 

Sweet Salt - Bomba Goes to Spain - Son in Law

Disclosure: I was invited to dine as a guest at the following venues 

Sweet Salt

296 High Street

Northcote 

 

When you get an invite from a fish and chip shop claiming to have made the perfect f*cking chip…you make sure you’re attending. 

Located on High Street in Northcote, conveniently across the road from the Northcote Social Club (so easy enough to stumble to after a few too many beers), it’s not at all what you expect.

Beautiful, slick and airy interior fit-out, not too dissimilar from what you might find in a cafe, with the usual blue and white palette, but a surprise hit of pink as well. 

Talking to the owners, I learn everything is made in house, from the dimmies to the infamous chips. After being frustrated with middle men supplying half decent potatoes, they took matters into their own hands and source directly what they need, and then craft a damn good potato chip. 

Hard to say if it’s the perfect f*cking chip, but as a potato loving girl, I’ve got to say they were damn good. Absolutely golden, crisp (not too crunchy) and with that actual warm potato flavour, not just starch. Potato cakes totally killed it as well. 

Can’t go wrong with freshly shucked oysters, and I totally died over the plate of meaty snapper cheeks (which I don’t think are regularly on the menu, but oh my god they should be). I was also majorly impressed with their house-made steamed dimmies, one version made with spanner crab that I loved, and one version made with barramundi which Brad preferred. Regardless, they were actually full of flavour and tasted like seafood! 

Freshly made Taiyaki, a Japanese style dessert, with red bean in the middle, is also most definitely worth waiting for. I’ve heard that they’re planning to introduce more Taiyaki flavours, so looking forward to returning again soon!

Bomba Goes to Spain Lunch

103 Lonsdale Street

Melbourne

 

Jesse Gerne’s got a real good thing going. Once a year (if not twice), he and a handful of his staff from Bomba and Anada make their way to Spain on a smorgasbord of an adventure. Seriously, his stories make you jealous, at times squeamish (how about some bull’s testicles at 8am in the morning?) but most of all, mouth watering.

He returns from these adventure around Spain, and highlights the different areas in Spain visited, with a variety of lunches. 

This year, I had the pleasure of having a gastronomical tour through Andalusia, where the boy’s ate cuttlefish vagina’s (the direct translation into English!), at a bar run by a pair of deaf and mute brothers and drank enough sherry for a fleet (or at least that’s what it sounded like)! 

These lunches are usually $65 per person, and although it says it’s four courses, you get so much more than that!

From briny Wapengo oysters with sweet nettle vinaigrette, to just the most meaty and delicious Sardinas fritas (sardine fritters) with lemon. Sardines are totally underrated just for the record.

Thin slivers of pickled pork belly leave you licking your lips for more, while the montadito of huevos revueltos with morcilla proves you can totally have scrambled eggs for lunch on perfectly charred bread. 

Make sure you pull up your iPhone camera and get some selfie action going on to check your teeth after the cuttlefish and pipies in generous amounts of squid ink, and sigh with happiness over the Rabo de toro; ‘Fighting Bull’s Tail’ in oloroso and celeriac puree. If you’ve had their pork jowl in Pedro Ximenez, it has similarities to that for me. 

After a lazy 3 hours of eating, and convincing myself I have space for Pedro Ximenez ice-cream, torrija, sheep’s milk yoghurt and poached pear, Bomba’s ‘Goes to Spain’ lunches prove to be an enjoyable, filling and relaxing way to spend an afternoon. Keep your eyes peeled for the next one!

Son in Law

56 Johnston Street

Collingwood

 

Even though I do work in a business where we deal with a lot of hospitality operators, I don’t often talk about work. I’ve been quite fortunate that I can keep work and the blog separate, for the most part, but there are times like these when I’m quite happy to bring them together.

The crew who once operated Ayatana came to BrandWorks for a new brand, and a little help with the interiors. Tony, Petch and Joyce were amazing to work with, and it’s been simply thrilling to see their restaurant come to life. All the colour makes me so happy!

Son in Law is the newest Thai addition to Johnston Street, living where Bayte used to be, whipping up Thai favourites such as pad thai and their namesake, Son in Law eggs, but also throwing a little fusion into the mix with sliders and tacos…because why not? I attended the launch, but also visited for dinner with the BrandWorks team, where we ate and loved everything. 

Highlights included the sweet crunchy tamarind salad, those son in law eggs, the crispy barramundi fillets and crispy soft shell crab with tight prawns in a traditional Thai green curry. We ate in true family style…and man we were stuffed!