Electrolux 'Whet your Appetite' dinner

Disclaimer: I was invited to dine complimentary at the 'Whet your Appetite' dinner

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to a little Victorian showcase dinner of some of the 'Appetite for Excellence' competition finalists, a national competition that has been running since 2005, sponsored by Electrolux, that seeks the best of the young talent in the hospitality industry. 

At the dinner we attended, we were wined and dined by the Young Chef and Young Waiter finalists for this year. It was an absolutely wonderful night, as we had the opportunity to talk to the finalists as well and find out personal thoughts about the competition and of course, feel the love and dedication for their craft. All of them are under 30 and when you think about it, to get to where they are, it's quite an accomplishment. Kind of makes me wonder what the heck I'm doing with my life honestly! This is especially when you think about the old French way with years and years of apprenticeships, with not many chefs reaching their prime until they are at least in their late thirties or even forties. 

Our night started with peasant sourdough, made by Michael Demagistris, from the Sorrento Golf Club, served with cultured butter…and pork fat. Oh yeah baby. 

I really have to say, this is really one of the tastiest breads I think I may have ever tasted. It was served warm, and had this beautiful, toasty and crunchy texture, filled to the brim with seeds, it really was beautifully hearty. Topped with that pork fat? It was absolute heaven. Screw diets, more pork fat I say!

Our first course was created by Jake Nicolson, from Circa, The Prince, who was actually the young chef National winner in 2008. He really started us off with a bang, presenting us with a generously sized rice paper mud crab and prawn roll with a peanut satay sauce. Bam! That satay sauce really woke you up and got the palate ticking, with a great spicy kick. However it didn't overwhelm the sweetness of the crab and prawn within the roll. Really an awesome (and quite pretty) start. 

Damien Byrne and Pierre-Etienne Geoffrey

The courses were paired with wines by Damien Byrne from Lot 7, the Young Waiter finalist with a sommelier background. I think it's wonderful that not just the chefs, but waiters are also recognised for their skill and dedication to their craft. It's certainly easy to be in awe and drop praise onto chefs for their tangible goodies, but waiting is definitely something that I think can be taken for granted. Along with Damien, we were also served by Pierre-Etienne Geoffrey, from Jacques Reymond and Simon Spicer, from Pei Modern, who actually served me the last time I was there! 

To go with our rice paper roll, we had a delicate and delightful glass of 2005 Kreglinger Vintage Brut from Tasmania. 

Jake Nicolson

As I mentioned earlier, it was really lovely to be able to have the chefs and waiters to sit with us, tuck into a little of their own food and have a chit chat. Talking with Jake, it was fascinating to hear about what the competition involved, and the opportunities they received, the produce tour that they get to go on sounds wonderful! And apparently the world final includes cooking on a yacht…! 

Kah-Wai Lo

For our main course, two of this year's finalists got to flex their culinary muscles. First, a sumptuous classic Chinese emperors pork by Kah-Wai Lo from Hare and Grace. This dish was clearly close to Kah-Wai's heart, with lots of family influences to be found. His father actually provided the family master stock to make the pork, and he used his mother's recipe to make the chilli on the side (which was totally delicious). I loved his enthusiasim, telling us about how his father called him into the kitchen one day, when he was 12 or so, to flip an omelette and after that he knew he was going to be a chef. So wonderful to know what you want to do so early on in your life!

We all ooh and aah-ed as his pork hit the table. I was in awe of how big the pork crackling on the top was! Served with mushrooms and some ever so fluffy steamed mantou on the side, there was plenty to like here! 

With this course we drank the 2006 Yalumba Lyndoch Shiraz, from the Barossa in South Australia. Lovely and full bodied, but still quite fruity!

Our other main by Michael Demagistris (he told us he was hoping to make one more dish, but didn't want to upstage the others!), was a confit duck with celeriac mash with cracked wheat, baby beetroots and deep fried cavalo nero. Whilst Kah-Wai's pork was a hearty family style dish, Michael went the other way and made a beautiful and rather artistic looking dish. 

With little (but rich) sauce shots (not actually designed to be shot down though, although we were all wondering if we should initially...) on the side, it was again, a beautifully crafted dish. The duck was just so moist and lovely. It's really quite an amazing experience to have a meal put together by so many exceptional chefs, each dish really has it's own personality! We drank the 2009 Vincent Giradin Bourgogne, from Burgundy. 

To end on a sweet note, Michael Fox, from Henry and the Fox, treated us to a dessert of gingerbread cake, caramelised banana, coffee ice-cream and dark chocolate sauce. 

Sigh. I really do hate to play favourites…but I do love dessert. Intensely aromatic, the gingerbread cake was gorgeously moist and dense. I personally think cake components tend to get a bit upstaged in desserts like these, with so many elements, but here, the cake really as the hero and everything else accompanied it just so beautifully. Whilst everyone else was just taking small nibbles…I quite happily dug into as much as I could…without looking too much like a pig! With dessert, we sipped on the De Bortoli Black Nobel from New South Wales, yum!

Michael Fox has actually gone on to be the national runner up of Appetite for Excellence…so congrats, go Victoria! 

All in, an absolutely wonderful evening, and why wouldn't it be, when we got fed so well! I actually discovered that the dessert Michael put up is actually on the menu at Henry and the Fox…mmhmm…!

To find out more about the competition, be sure to check out the Electrolux Appetite for Excellence website, and support our young chefs and waiters by popping by their work places and saying hi...except for Michael Demagistris, the Sorrento Golf Club is private or something...anyone feel like gate crashing with me for crumbled pork fat on peasant sourdough...? 

Victorian Young Chef 2012 Finalists

- Kah-Wai Lo - Hare and Grace -

- Michael Demagistris - Sorrento Golf Club - 

- Michael Fox - Henry and the Fox - 

Victorian Young Waiter 2012 Finalists 

- Damien Byrne - Lot 7 -

- Pierre-Etienne Geoffrey - Jacques Reymond - 

- Simon Spicer - Pei Modern - 

Thailand - Monkeys, ruins, crickets

Monkeys, ruins and crickets. All in one day. How did we manage this? Read on to find out!

While planning our trip in Asia, I had heard Ayutthaya (about a 2 hour drive out from Bangkok) to be a great little day trip out of Bangkok. It also helps that the ruins were UNESCO World Heritage Site listed in 1991. There's just something sexy about attractions with that title slapped on them huh? 

Of course, the whole time I was planning the trip, I kept telling Brad to look into things he wanted to do. He never really came back to me with anything he was interested in…until of course we were in Bangkok and so I had to see what I could arrange last minute. Boys! 

Frankly I was a little surprised when he told me he wanted to see…monkeys. Really Brad? 

So we borrowed my family friend's driver and car again (who had better directions this time) to make a trip out to Lop Buri and Ayutthaya in one day. Lop Buri is about a three and a half hour drive out of town and is famous for two shrines, Phra Prang Sam Yot and Phra Kaan Shrine, in the heart of town where…well…there are truckloads of monkeys, or more accurately, macaques. 

And well. Yeah. That's exactly what we saw. 

It was pretty intense though, I was not expecting so many! There must have been hundreds between the two shrines, and they even spilled out on to the street, just hanging out around construction sites and climbing on electric wires! On a whole the ones by the newer shrine (Phra Kaan Shrine) are pretty friendly, though they get a bit crazy when they see food! I loved watching the babies and their mothers, and also the monkeys running around the little well/pond/pool and falling into it. What a life hey?

The monkeys got pretty friendly with Brad and I, at one point I think Brad had about four just hanging out on his head and shoulders. If they are freaking you out though, the locals are pretty efficient at shooing them off. Can you see the second monkey attempting to scale Brad's leg there? It was a touch inconvenient for me as my pants were fairly loose, and the monkeys liked to grab on to them to climb up on me...which meant I was running around with monkeys on my head and trying to hold my pants up at the same time. It's a good look. Fortunately Brad's not quite as snap happy as I am so there is no evidence...

Over at Phra Prang Sam Yot, just across the road, the monkeys were a little more mischievous, some stole our tickets out of my back pocket, whilst another went for Brad's glasses…and very nearly succeeded! 

Doesn't this group look like a monkey version of the Lion King? Love the big hairy daddy! 

We also popped by King Narai's palace in Lop Buri, which was built in 1677. It's actually surprisingly well done, it's on a huge plot of land, with many building ruins and a lot of signs telling you what each of the buildings were used for. There were even elephant stables. Elephant stables! The museum on the grounds is also very well done, neatly organised with lots of information about the history. It's fascinating to see how open minded King Narai was at the time, they were apparently incredibly tolerant of people having other religions and sent many diplomatic missions to countries as far as France and England. Or so they say anyway. 

After that, it was on to Ayutthaya. The Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Historical Park, is massive. I would highly recommend getting bicycles to cycle around, especially in the heat of the day. We walked from temple to temple…and well, it was tiring work!

We popped in first to Viharn Phra Mongkol Bopit, which houses one of the largest bronze buddhas in Thailand. It's a gorgeously restored building, as always just dripping in gold and vividly bright colours.

Next was Wat Phra Si Sanphet, the largest temple in Ayutthaya, but probably better known for it's row of restored chedis. There's not much of the temple left, since it was burned down by the Burmese, but the chedis, to me, are just glorious. I love that they have been left bare and have a stonewashed look to them. It just shows how beautiful the Thai architecture and styling is at the core, without all the elaborate decorations and gold leaf that they tend to be a bit generous with. 

One thing I find a bit eerie with all these ruins, was that a lot of the Buddha statues were sitting around headless. You gotta admit, it's kinda creepy.

Our last stop was Wat Ratchaburana, which was a good 20 minute walk away. Again, just a fascinating ruin to be in, the land which they are all on, is always huge, it's impressive to think how they would have put it together back in the day. I also thought the undressed brick had a lot of character to it. 

By this point, we were both tired and hungry, and so we hurried over to the closest restaurant (there aren't many around) which was named, in bright yellow banners, 'One Love'. ONE LOVEEEE, ONE LIFEEEEE……(ahem.)

Frankly, the food was unremarkable. Some of the oddest looking prawn cakes I had seen in Thailand yet and we had green, kinda soggy spring rolls. GREEN!

But that's okay, as after getting back to the hotel, and having a nap, we hurried back out to Pantaree restaurant to indulge in pad thai, som tam and Thai iced tea (I actually managed to have at least one a day). Aaaah. 

After that, we made our way to Patpong, as Brad was curious to see what the scene was like. Oh my god. What was I thinking?! THE red light district in Bangkok, lined with go-go bars, where you can get dancers and sex shows, which are infamous for being disgusting and rather degrading. Brad and I made a pretty fast loop around the place, with me being the one having to fend off people asking "Sex show? Sex show? Sex show?" Why me?! Surely Brad is the white guy who looks like he'd have money…

We also walked around the sois in Nana, also well known for pick-up bars and where you can view the curious side of tourism in Bangkok. Lots of older, middle age white guys and young, skimpily dressed Thai women. Put two and two together hey? Brad and I actually got a drink in one of these sorts of bars, where the two mingled and drank, and were both a little paranoid that we would be approached when we separated briefly to get a drink! Fortunately nothing happened though….

On our way back from the BTS skytrain to our hotel, we came across a lady selling just insects. Like, just insects. Grubs, crickets, caterpillars…she had it. We nearly walked away, but figured it wasn't too often we got to eat creepy crawlies…so crickets it was! 

They were surprisingly tasty, with a salty soy dressing on the crispy, deep fried crickets. It was almost like eating crisps, as they were so crunchy! The only annoying thing was when the slightly serrated cricket legs would get caught on the roof of your mouth…just a little bit irritating. But I would totally recommend trying them…they are supposed to full of protein and healthy for you! 

Lowlands

Thornbury is quite a bit closer to me than I expected, a simple 15 minute drive and I found myself ducking into Lowlands warm and gentle light, quietly pulsing on a grey and rainy Melbourne day. 

Lowlands is an unassuming little cafe. Tucked away near the corner of Dundas and High, you might just miss the number 923 while walking by. It's so snugly hidden away!

I met Bryan and Jo inside, who had (in typical blogger behaviour), gotten a window seat. It's a rather sparsely decorated, but charming interior. Old weatherboards meet clean unadorned white walls and plants dotted around. 

If you step out back you might find a gnome or two in the backyard. I found it rather felt like a secret afternoon tea meeting grounds, it would be bewitchingly lovely to sit out here on a sunny and warm afternoon…especially with all the green surrounds!

Bryan and Jo got their usual coffee fix…

…whilst for me it is always chai. Although my teapot was a tiny bit leaky…! It was still a nice chai though, maybe a little weak, but nothing a little honey can't fix….

For Jo, it was a toasted sourdough 'Sarmy' with haloumi, house made homes and a tomato medley. Ah! So simple, but so elegant! I just loved how eye-catching the tomatoes were! Jo really enjoyed mix and commented on how tasty the haloumi was. 

In contrast Bryan's baked eggs looked rich and hearty, with the chorizo just tantalising the nose with their promise of meaty, oily goodness. Although a little bit different to the usual, Bryan's baked eggs came came with creamy leek and fennel, which of course, smelt beautiful as well. It's such a comforting scent when the mercury drops a bit hmm?

My dish on the other hand, kind of looked like someone had had a massive party and forgotten to clean up the confetti! 

I couldn't go past the two poached eggs with grilled corn off the cob, smokey chorizo and a lime and paprika mayo. I think this is why I just love the colour yellow, the dots of corn really just make the dish look so lively to me! I found this combination was really lovely, it wasn't too heavy with too much protein, the corn added some sweetness and the flavoured mayo was an interesting little twist. 

Brunch with Bryan, as always, is never complete now without a little sweet of course and this time we indulged in some French toast, with vanilla bean whipped ricotta, pistachios and a sour cherry compote. I just love the vibrantly green microherbs on this for decoration, it makes it look like a (very bright) forest floor or something! Can you tell I'm a sucker for colour in my dishes…? 

Yeah, we loved it, no surprise there, the compote and the ricotta weren't too sweet and the pistachios added such a lovely crunch. 

Looking at these photos of these dishes just fill me with joy. There's just such a simplicity in presentation at Lowlands, humble, but incredibly delicious. I did notice though that seating space is quite limited…could get a bit squishy on those weekends….!

Lowlands

923 High Street

Thornbury 3071

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