Desserts @ Interlude

Last night at the end of the special dinner at Interlude we were given this



As you can see on the label it is an Instant Chocolate and Coconut Pudding made by Interlude's Pastry Chef Pierre Roelofs.

The instructions are very simple - place the contents into pan



and whisk in 140mls of cold milk. Over a gentle heat, continue whisking until it reaches boiling point.

Pour into two small bowls and allow to set.



It's quite a rich dessert so it's more than enough for two to enjoy.

Event @ Interlude

Interlude has recently been holding a series of dinner and this one certainly got our attention:

Join Raymond and Robin for an eight course degustation with matched wines on Monday the 28th April.

Raymond has always been a proponent of molecular gastronomy and some of the techniques that Robin uses at Interlude.

It promises to be an amazing and inspiring night with unique food interpretations matched with wines selected by Interlude sommelier Jason Tozer.

With the opportunity to sample the menu from these two innovative chefs it's pretty obvious that we would be there.



While the dining room has great lighting for dining it is not really conducive for taking good photos of the food and as I'm not about to use flash or bring a tripod and the nikon d80 these rather dim photos will have to do.



To get things started we are offered a small bowl of beer flavoured nuts and these chips served with an aerated creamy malt vinegar sauce. The beer flavoured nuts certainly did live up to their name while the "salt and vinegar" chips were a playful way to awaken those tastebuds.

The first course is a dish from Interlude


Oliver our Twist
To drink: NV Manzanilla Sanlucar de barrameda, Delgato Zuleta

The jellied strand made from green olives runs diagonally along the plate and it's crossed at both ends by toasted breadcrumbs from olive bread. Shards of olive oil toffee are placed randomly along the length. There are dots of roasted red capsicum and hints of anchovy.

The second dish is from Ray



Scampi, roasted, Almond Tripe, Oil
To drink: 2006 Kremstal Riesling Salomon "Undhofkogl"

This is just the type of dish you expect from Ray - the flavours are clean and well-balanced and the dish is devoid of extranegeous elements. The texture of the almond tripe was quasi-gelatinous and provided a contrast to the scampi while highlighting its natural sweetness.

The third dish is from Interlude


Snail Trail
To drink: 2007 Mornington Peninsula Pinot Gris, Paradigm Hill

I wish the light was better in this photo so you could really appreciate the presentation.

There are three snails racing up the plate - their "trails" are representations of the traditional accompaniments. The snails themselves are wrapped in a mushroom puree and topped with a meringue snail shell.

The fourth dish is from Ray


Sous Vide Hapuka, Orange Zest, Green Crab May-Vin, Leeks, Hazelnuts
To drink: 2006 Bourgogne Chardonnay Paul Pillot

The consistency of the Hapuka itself was incredible - tender and gelatinous.

The fifth dish is also by Ray



Slow Cooked Pork Cheek, Pickled Apple, Cinnamon, Organic Earth
To drink: 2000 Alsace Gewurztraminer Reserve Trimbach

What looks like a cinnamon stick is actually rolled filo that is flavoured with ground cinnamon - the idea is break the stick over the pork.



The pork itself is as tender as butter and actually quite lean.

The sixth dish is from Interlude



Duck, Bacon, Foie Scramble, Short Stack
To drink: 2006 Langhe, Nebbiolo Marchesi di Gresy "Martinenga"

Another dish where I wish the light was better - there's a lot happening on the plate.

This is a new dish from Robin - the short stacks are those four small discs which are mousse like in consistency but do taste like pancake. The foie scramble looks a lot like scrambled eggs and it's served alongside cubes of roasted duck. There's quite a sweetness to the dish but the bacon comes into play providing a salty foil.

The seventh dish is by Ray



Molecule of Light
To drink: 2006 Moscato d'Asti, La Pinetta "Bricco Quaglia"

One bite of this and we were back in Italy eating this. There's the unmistakeable taste of smoked buffalo milk.

The eight dish is by Interlude



Total Eclipse
To drink: NV Seppelt Rutherglen Grand Muscat

This dish was a study of chocolate in various forms.

The final dish is by Interlude



Coconut Canyon
To drink: 1996 Vouray Modelleux, Dom Pichot


The final course are the petit fours



which you should always leave room for!

At the end of the night we were given a wax-sealed menu



and also a little something that we can eat later



To see how the Pudding turned out - look here.

There will be another dinner on Monday 26th May and if you missed this one then make sure you book early for what will be a brilliant night of stunning food and wine.

The details:

Interlude
211 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
Phone: 9415 7300

Open:
Lunch: Tuesday to Friday 12-3pm
Dinner: Monday to Saturday 6.30pm to late

web:
www.interlude.com.au

Dinner @ Maha

Having just mentioned Elle and Al, we're joining them for dinner at Maha. Our booking was for 8.30 and having arrived early we found a spot at the bar where we could enjoy our pre-dinner drinks.



It was a considerably more pleasant experience then our wait at Nobu and at 8.32 we were escorted to our table.

We'd pretty much decided before hand that we would be trying the Soufra menu which for $70 a head you get a selection of small cold dishes, small hot dishes, grilled meat and fish and dessert. You basically get what the kitchen decides but you can ask for certain dishes to be included. Dietary requirements and/or Allergies are also catered for.

The first course comes out on a large board



roasted red pepper and feta dip, deep fried school prawns, chicken liver mousse, sumac coated cauliflower



assorted marinated olives and lemon and saffron soup. This also came with a large plate of pita bread which was refilled during the course of the evening.

The second course



Ma'ahani sausages served with cumin roasted pumpkin



and ravyul malti - semolina and ricotta ravioli, toasted hazelnuts, cumin and tomato braise



Third course:



Vine leaf wrapped sardines stuffed with chermoula and served with a chickpea, tomato and mint sauce



Lemon and Coriander crushed potatoes and fattoush salad



and Rabbit Tagine

Sweets Course:



liquorice ice-cream, watermelon with rosewater cream, jallab jelly (in glass), chocolate coffee mousse (in cup)



turkish delight filled doughnuts, rice pudding



Orange blossom lemonade with pinenuts and mint



and lastly Baklava.

I think it's pretty obvious that you won't be going away hungry - the quality of the dishes are excellent and the service is pretty sharp too, something it shares with sister restaurant The Press Club. With a full restaurant and a lively buzz, it definitely has that winning formula.


The details:

Maha Bar and Grill
21 Bond Street, Melbourne

Phone: 9629 5900

Open:
Lunch: Monday to Friday - noon to 3pm
Dinner: Monday to Saturday - 6pm to 10.30pm
Supper: Thursday to Saturaday - 10.30pm to 3am

www.mahabg.com.au

Enoteca Sileno

We didn't just have coffee at the Enoteca - the cakes on offer were just too tempting.


Paalo had the Panettone Pudding - served warm there was no sharing of this one



and I had the Pistachio tart



which I wasn't going to share either! I don't know what I enjoyed more but those toffee pistachios were sinfully good.

The details:

Enoteca Sileno

920 Lygon Street, Carlton
corner of Lygon and Richardson Streets
Phone: 03 9389 7070

Open:
Monday: 8am - 4pm
Tuesday - Saturday: 8am - Late
Sunday: 9am - 5pm

web:
http://www.enoteca.com.au

Lunch @ La Luna

We've always had a good meal at La Luna so when I heard of a less than stellar dining experience from our regular dining companions Elle and Al, I was very disappointed. 

I'm at a loss to explain what happened but I think it is something that needs to be considered. Because one person has a good meal doesn't meal that everyone will and the reverse is also true. Posts like these and reviews from the revered "media" are only guides - a snapshot only for that particular meal. The quality of a restaurant shouldn't be based on one meal but on consistently putting out good meals.

Now I don't know if standards dropped because they were doing double sittings but I hope that isn't the case. It's far better to say you're booked and hope they will book for another night than to have customers vowing not to return after having a bad meal.

With that said, I shall return to today's meal

For starters



I have the Elk Sausages with Potato Aioli and Parsley salad - two chubby little sausage sit happily upon the potato aioli surrounded by a rich jus. The sausages were quite dense filled with a chunkier grind.






Paalo has the Hand Cured Meat Plate, served with olives and pickled cherry and a generous basket of bread. The prosciutto was especially flavoursome.

For mains



I have the Five meat bolognaise (beef, veal, pork, chicken and prosciutto) with organic Nicola potato gnocchi and shaved truffled pecorino.

This is one the dishes that Elle had and she described her dish as gnocchi soup - overcooked gnocchi at the base of the plate with the sauce dumped over it.

The dish I had is the polar opposite - the gnocchi were perfect, tender but still with a little resistance. You couldn't really ask for any better. 



Paalo has the Grilled Bullboar Sausage, champ potato, onion and mustard jus. All very tasty and well presented.


for sides we have green beans with feta and yoghurt dressing

it might be interesting to compare the same dish from Elle's dining experience



We decide to skip dessert this time and head off to the Enoteca for a spot of shopping and a good coffee.

The details:

La Luna

320 Rathdowne Street, North Carlton

Phone: 9349 4888

Open:

Lunch: Tuesday to Friday - Noon - 3pm

Dinner: Tuesday to Sunday - 6pm - 10pm

Brunch: Saturday to Sunday - 11am - 3pm

web

www.lalunabistro.com.au

Dinner @ Attica

We're back at Attica to try out the special Tuesday night menu where new dishes are offered in a 5 course (plus cheese if desired) tasting menu. As the food is new, wine matches aren't offered but they are more than happy to help advise you.



To start, mushroom cream with roasted almonds - the almonds were especially morish as was the mushroom cream, it's a shame we were only ever offered one small slice of bread.

Once again our meal seemed to suffer from timing issues and we recieved our first course just after we finally got our pre-dinner drink - not that great of a problem as our drink suited the dish.


Prawn with Crispy Pastry - the prawns were wrapped in brik pastry and served with a spiced tomato sauce.



Salad of the Sea - sea foam crowns a salad of various sea vegetables along with crab and tuna. It was a little under seasoned and would have benefited with the presence of samphire.



Roast pork belly, cape gooseberries, verjus, mushroom

A good thick slice of pork belly though the cape gooseberries were a little on the too tart side.


Beef fillet, oxtail, celeriac, roasted beetroots

The beef was lovely and tender and still wonderfully pink, the slow cooked oxtail was at least equally as good as the beef.

According to the menu there is a cheese course if you desire. 3 cheeses are on offer and you can have one or as we did, all three.

Gruyere Alpage, Bleu de Basques, Tourée de L'aubier served with walnuts, Corella pear and pedro jiménez jelly

The jelly was just too strong in flavour to be enjoyed, it doesn't sound right but I can only describe it as being like concentrated alcohol.



warm chocolate mousse, banana in caramel, grapefruit fungi, orange salt

The grapefruit fungi which are those white frilly components that you can more easily see on the toasted brioche and near the banana are as our waiter told us, wood fungus soaked in grapefruit juice. The banana is cooked in caramel though it had an odd bitter taste to it. This dish didn't really hit the right notes for us, a bit too sour and bitter though the toasted brioche was very nice.

Once again there were misses in service - the timing of the first dish while we were still with a pre-dinner drink, our wine order not taken until we'd finished the first course, our glasses not being filled even when both were empty. There was also quite a long gap between two courses almost as if our order had been stuck behind a larger tables order. Perhaps more wait stuff are needed but it seemed that some spent a lot of time behind the counter drying/polishing cutlery and glasses which is something you don't want to see especially when you're sitting in front of empty glasses.

The details:

Attica
74 Glen Eira Road, Ripponlea
Phone: 9530 0111

Open:
Tuesday - Saturday: 3pm - late

Web:
www.attica.com.au

Lunch @ The Press Club

I was right to think Paalo was a bit jealous of my solo lunch at the Press Club so it's no real surprise that we've come here for Sunday Lunch.

The structure of Sunday lunch has change somewhat - you don't need to choose the number of courses anymore.

The meal begins with soup:


a hearty bowl of lentil and vegetable soup.

It is quickly followed by this large platter of assorted dishes



Clockwise from bottom right: Bastourma (air dried beef with "curry" spice notes - served warm), Marinated Olives, Red Capsicum Dip, Greek Salad, Pickled Cabbage.



Hot dishes follow



Simple grilled garfish fillets



deep fried school prawns with a spicy honey and almond dressing



and tomato stuffed with dill rice

Our final savoury dishes consist of


a large cast iron pan of Spit-roasted Lamb with Potatoes


and simple roasted Chicken pieces.

Dessert is served with a nod to the quantity of food that preceeds it - it comes packaged in a take away box!



Inside the box we had, honey soaked Greek donuts, chocolate semolina slice and baklava.

If you are looking for a decadent Sunday lunch that won't break the bank, then it's very hard to go past this feast from The Press Club.

The details:

The Press Club Restaurant and Bar
72 Flinders Street
Melbourne
Phone: 03 9677 9677

Open:
Lunch: Monday - Friday and Sunday
Dinner: Monday - Sunday

web
www.thepressclub.com.au

Dinner @ Church Street Enoteca

I should begin with a postscript to our previous dining experience. Last time we made mention of the Prosecco and that it wasn't to our liking. There was good reason for that as it turned out that a batch of the Prosecco was "off" so to speak. We tried it tonight and it was like night and day - this one was alive and fresh and we'd happily drink it in the future. So I think the lesson is that if you think something isn't right with a wine then you should say something about it.

We begin with a treat, compliments of the kitchen and I must admit we both were considering having this as our starter



Deep fried zucchini Flowers stuffed with marinated Persian feta and coated in a potato and rice flour batter - served with hazelnuts, watercress and 30yo balsamic vinegar

The batter was perfect - crisp but oh-so-light, the stuffing at the cusp between solid and liquid. It was good the stamens were removed, it's bothersome but well worth it.

Onto starters:


I chose the plate of Prosciutto and Salami - assorted prosciutto (local and Italian) served with salami made in-house along with grissini and slices of rye toast. To the side a small dish of truffled potato salad.


Paalo chose the Sauté of Autumn Mushrooms served with a crisp fried egg, parsley puree and parmesan cream.

The egg was coated in grated parmesan and fried - I must try that at home!

For mains:



I have the Farmed Gippsland Rabbit which consists of discs of rabbit leg meat sausages and thick slices of the prosciutto covered loin. It is served with a cannellini bean puree and a rabbits favourite veg, carrot.

The sauce served with this was utterly morish which is a common feature of all the sauces we've had here.



Paalo has the Green Mountain Veal Rib served with a velvety parsnip puree and sautéed cavolo nero. Horseradish, speck and truffle finish the dish.

Instead of dessert we pick something a bit lighter - a selection of housemade biscuits and torrone



The torrone was very stick and soft with a heady flavour of honey - delicious. The assorted biscuits were equally satisfying.

The details:
Church Street Enoteca
527 Church Street, Richmond

Phone: 9428 7898

Restaurant Open:
Lunch: Monday-Friday 12-3pm
Dinner: Monday-Saturday 6pm to late

Web:
www.churchstenoteca.com.au

Lunch @ The Press Club

My appointment wound up just after 12 and as I was in the city I decided to treat myself to a post-birthday lunch. As I was in the "paris-end" of Collins street I took advantage of this position and popped over to the Press Club.


bread, Kolympari Olive Oil and volcanic black salt

At lunch they offer an X-press lunch special which consists of either 2 or 3 courses of your choice from the a la carte menu as well as any specials that might be on offer. There is also a four course Lunch Kerasma.



I started with one of the specials - scallops on the half-shell



they are topped with skordalia and placed under the grill with a light dusting of breadcrumbs. Underneath is an braised onion and nut mixture.

I know it's sacrilege but usually I'm not a fan of scallop roe, however in this dish even the roe was delicious.


Braised Beef Stifado, kalamata olive crumble and a watercress and orange salad



They serve this with a knife but it's totally unnecessary - the beef just fell apart with the touch of a fork. A hearty dish perfect for autumn and winter.

Now I really didn't need dessert but I couldn't go pass this



the intriguingly titled, Hellenic Trifle 2008.

It was studded with candied cumquats, orange custard, orange granita and soaked sponge finger biscuits. Even though I couldn't finish it I was very glad to have tasted it.

Served with coffee was this

candied slices of quince.

Service as always was extremely professional and more than matched the quality of the food.

The details:
The Press Club Restaurant and Bar
72 Flinders Street
Melbourne
Phone: 03 9677 9677

Open:
Lunch: Monday - Friday and Sunday
Dinner: Monday - Sunday

web
www.thepressclub.com.au

Dinner @ Vue de Monde

It's my birthday so we've gone to Vue de Monde to celebrate the occasion. Tonight we'll be having a "best of" comprised of some of the more popular dishes from the past.

Once again, due to the lack the light, the photos are not the best - if you want to see what the food looks head over to the Vue de Monde website and check out the photo gallery there.

The amuse was pea and jamon soup with jamon tartare served with a confit quail yolk on a lettuce raft.


Salade de Jicama et Ormeaux
Jicama, braised abalone and spanner crab with yuzu noodles and Sterling caviar
To drink: 2006 Cantele Fiano Salento, Puglia, Italy



Risotto aux Champignons
Classically inspired cep and king brown mushroom risotto
To drink: 1956 Château Corella Rivesaltes, Eastern Pyrenees, France

The risotto was as good as always but the wine was a knockout.


Bouillabaisse "en cinq minutes" et tartare d'ecrevisse


5 minute bouillabaisse, tartare of crayfish, buffalo milk skin, finished wih aromatic herbs and a touch of theatre
To drink: 2006 Emmerich Knoll Grüner Veltliner Federspiel Loibner, Wachau, Austria

This is the bouillabaisse that is made at the table using a Cona Vacuum Coffee Percolator.


Foie Gras Poêlé
Foie gras, pan seared, served with roast peach and Sauternes emulsion
To drink: 2002 Klien Constantia Vin de Constance Constancia, South Africa

Because we enjoyed the Chateau Corella so much we ended up having another glass to see how it would hold up with this foie gras dish. While it matched well with the foie gras it wasn't as complete a match the wine intended for the dish but was provided us with quite an interesting lesson in wine & food matching.





Kingfish Poêlé
Kingfish fingers crusted with potato scales and served with broccoli couscous and a broccoli cannelloni, currant purée and a curried brown chicken jus
To drink: 2005 Matassa Curvée Nougé Vin de Pays, Côtes Catalanes, France



Boudin D'Écrevisse Grillé
Grilled boudin of crayfish, glazed with beurre Café du Paris, sauce Amériaine and blood orange
To drink: 2003 Au Bon Climat Chardonnay Nuits-Blaches Au Bouge, Santa Maria Valley, California USA



Consommé froid à la Tomate
Delicate tomato consommé with gazpacho jelly






Lapin Rôti et Sauce au Vin Rouge


Roast rabbit with bone marrow, crispy shallots and red wine jus smoked at the table
To drink: 2005 Château Pierre Bise Anjou Villages Sure Spilite, Loire Valley, France

A piece of vegetable coal sits under the dome and infuses its smoke into the dish - once the dome is removed you can crumble the coal and use it to season the dish.





Agneau "satay"
White Rocks Lamb (WA) served four ways, spiced with a staty peanut butter with a honey and bay leaf jelly
To drink: 2003 Zenato Amarone della Valpolicella DOC, Veneto, Italy


Fromage
Whipped Ironstone Gouda Sandwich with Pistachio Cracker and crispy bacon
To drink: Gonzalez Byass 30 year old Amontillado VORS, Del Duque, Spain

We didn't take a photo but Lollypops came next to refresh our palate.


Soufflé à la Pistache
Triple Sec custard served with a pistachio soufflé on top
To drink: 2007 Santa Rita Moscatel Late Harvest, Valle del Limari, Chile


Petits-Fours








The details:

Vue de Monde
Normanby Chambers
430 Little Collins Street
Melbourne
Phone: 03 9691 3888

Open:
Lunch: Tuesday - Friday Bookings:12.00pm-2.00pm
Dinner: Tuesday - Saturday Bookings:6.30pm-9.30pm

Lunch @ Enoteca Sileno

After a busy week and with another one coming, it's good to take some time out to enjoy a leisurely Sunday lunch at Enoteca Sileno.

We begin with a selection of Assaggini to share


Special of the day: Tuna three ways - sashimi, tuna bresaola and poached

The tuna bresaola had one of the more amazing textures we've experienced, it was almost pate like in the way the meat just seemed to dissolve in your mouth.



at the back are some meat filled Ascolana style olives that have been crumbed and fried.



cured duck breast with balsamic


calamari and vegetable fritters


Onto mains:


I have Saffron Gnocchi with a prawn and tomato based sauce - the gnocchi are excellent, tender but not mushy and full of potato flavour.



Paalo has the Lamb special - a generous portion of braised lamb on the bone and it is served with a mushroom risotto.



for a side we order the seared broccolini with chilli and garlic.

To drink with our meal - we've ordered a bottle of 1998 Moris Morellino di Scansano Riserva




We follow with a piece of Taleggio to see us through the end of our wine




For dessert:


Paalo has the white chocolate zabaglione


and I decide to repeat myself and have the panettone semifreddo - I enjoyed it so much last time I just had to have it again.

The details:

Enoteca Sileno

920 Lygon Street, Carlton
corner of Lygon and Richardson Streets
Phone: 03 9389 7070

Open:
Monday: 8am - 4pm
Tuesday - Saturday: 8am - Late
Sunday: 9am - 5pm

web:
http://www.enoteca.com.au

Lunch @ The Argo

You'd think finding some place nice to go for lunch on a Saturday would be easy. Wanting to try something new we initially tried calling Restaurant 312 but surprisingly found that at 11am they weren't answering their phone even though they are supposed to be open at 12. As we were on the road so to speak, I decided to use the mobile to check out their website to clarify their opening times - how annoying was it to discover that I couldn't access the site without installing flash!

As a side, now that I'm home and able to check the site, I would make sure I would never hire commedia to design anything remotely functional.

We eventually did find someplace to go and that was The Argo.



We quite like these quite dining rooms but it's as bad as that for the restaurant - two private rooms are booked with functions leaving us with the luxury of the room to ourselves.

For starters:


Paalo's choice: poached egg, mushroom fricassee, parsley and pickled black truffle ($18.50)

These were some of the best mushrooms we've ever tasted - you definately needed bread to soak up the wonderful pan juices.



My Choice: cured beef fillet, celeriac remoulade, watercress puree ($21.50)

A sugar influenced cure is used to "cook" a rather narrow eye fillet, the meat changing colour from a deep dark brown around the outer edge to a bright red core. It's very tender and slightly sweet and works well with the faintly acidic mustard seed dressing.

For mains:


My Choice: rolled roast rabbit, date and almond couscous, smoked paprika ($29.50)

To the left are three discs of the stuffed rabbit - it has been stuffed with a chicken based filling that is almost mousse like in consistency. On the date and almond couscous are 4 roasted ribs of rabbit.

A thoroughly enjoyable dish.


Paalo's Choice: roast duck breast, duck neck sausage, foie gras ($32.50)



Sliced duck breast - nicely pink inside




Duck neck sausage on a bed of braised puy lentils



Frisee salad with potato and duck kidney and to the right, seared Foie gras with paprika


Side: green beans and sheep milk fetta ($8.50)



Cheese ($18.50)

Finally desserts -


My choice: Orange and Almond Sponge, Moscato Syrup, Candied zest ($13.50)

The moscato syrup is served separately and it's up to you to decide how much to use - the sponge is as light as could be with distinct flavours of orange and almond.



Paalo's choice: pear strudel, gingerbread, almond sabayon ($14.50)

Paalo ordered this because he just loved the sound of the almond sabayon and it was as good as he had imagined - that the strudel and the gingerbread were also delicious was a bonus.


We have in the past heard good things about The Argo and for our first visit we can certainly see why. The service is friendly and efficient and the food is honest - good produce, good flavours and consistently good over the meal. It certainly deserves a revisit.

The details

The Argo
64 Argo Street, South Yarra

Phone: 9867 3344

Open:
Lunch: Wednesday - Sunday
Dinner: Tuesday - Saturday

web:
www.theargo.com.au

Dinner @ Attica

There's been a lot written about Ben Shrewy's food and in the past year the restaurant was awarded two hats from the Good Food Guide and "best new talent" from Gourmet Traveller, so it's about time we got to taste it for ourselves - for us that means the tasting menu!


cauliflower cheese, blood plum, clove oil
To drink: Pierre Peters Blanc de Blancs NV

We are both of the opinion that this should really have been offered as an amuse rather than a course of the degustation.

Visually it's an attractive dish - underneath the pieces of sautéed cauliflower lay a ribbon of soft goat cheese. The clove oil flavour was missing in my dish and in Paalo's, there was a hint of it in the last bite.



red and white radish, kingfish, hand picked spanner crab, grapefruit, tarragon



To drink: 2005 Castro Martin Albarino

This was a terrific dish although the timing from the kitchen is a bit off - that is one of the recurrent issues of the night, the pacing seemed erratic, with courses appearing anywhere from 5 minutes to 40 minutes apart.

Placed on the base are wide strips of red and white radish topped with cubes of cured kingfish and fresh crabmeat, puffed wild rice, caviar, the tiniest dice of grapefruit and picked tarragon leaves.


smoked trout broth, sorrel oil, crackling, fresh smoke
To drink: 2006 Crawford River Young Vines Riesling

This arrives at the table without the broth and under a smoke filled dome - as the dome is removed you get that lovely aroma of hickory wafting up.

At the bottom of the bowl is the powdered form of sorrel oil, cubes of salmon and pork crackling the other elements.

Suspended in the smoked trout broth are basil seeds and as the broth is poured the sorrel powder is reconstituted to form tiny green droplets of sorrel oil that float on the surface. The pork crackling then begins to "snap crackle and pop" on contact with the liquid. Not only a treat for the eyes and the nose but one for the ears as well.


quail breast, handmade chorizo, pickled melons, sorrel, walnut paste
To drink: 2006 Santa Barbara Le Vaglie Verdicchio

One of the best pieces of quail I've eaten. Underneath the quail breast are two wafer thin slices of their chorizo.


poached harpuka, smoked mussel butter, stems, leaves and roots of vegetables, grilled baby squid
To drink: 2006 William Fevre Petit Chablis

Lovely to look at and no complaints about the quality of the ingredients or technique but I don't think it's on the same level as a few of the other dishes we've eaten tonight.


slow cooked pork, confit turnips, black pudding, apple
To drink: 2005 Domaine des Sénéchaux Chateauneuf du Pape

Top left of the plate are slices of slow cooked pork topped with black pudding and they sit upon a smear of cauliflower puree - at the right, is the shredded pork. This is quite a substantial dish but well worth savouring as the flavours just work.


sauternes custard with plum bits and pieces
To drink: 2006 Marcarini Moscato d'Asti

It would have been nicer if the gap between this course and the previous one had been longer but that doesn't detract from what is a most divine offering.

Perched on the top of the glass, acting as a lid, is a circle of thin toffee. Underneath a airy cloud of plum essence almost hiding the plum compote that sits atop the ultra silky custard. Heaven in a glass.


pineapple in caramel, licorice, coconut, lime

The pineapple has been cooked in a caramel and it sits to the right of the plate amongst a scattering of licorice spheres and a quenelle of licorice ice-cream. The foam topping it looks quite innocuous but it is pure lime. To the left, coconut cream topped with sugared rose petal.



To drink: Chambers Muscadelle Tokay


Petit Fours: Jellies

Generally speaking, the wine matches were brilliant, they did their job in offering complimentary and contrasting flavours to enhance the dining experience. The food was good to very good but on the night we dined, the timing was off. Service was professional.

For reference - on Saturday nights, only the tasting menu is available and is $110 without wine and $185 with wine per person. The a la carte menu is available on the other days.

The details:

Attica
74 Glen Eira Road, Ripponlea
Phone: 9530 0111

Open:
Tuesday - Saturday: 3pm - late

Web:
www.attica.com.au