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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The Age Good Food Guide Awards 2011

The hats and assorted trinkets have been given out and the Good Food Guide continues with its tradition of bewildering results.

"Vittoria Coffee" Restaurant of the Year
Royal Mail Hotel

"Emirates" Chef of the Year
Ben Shewry (Attica)

"Plumm Wine Glasses" Best New Restaurant
Izakaya Den

Country Wine List of the Year
Provenance

Best New Country Restaurant of the Year
Loam

"Navman" Country Restaurant of the Year
Tea Rooms of Yarck

"Epicure" Professional Excellence Award
Paul Wilson

"Dan Murphy's" BYO Restaurant of the Year
Scopri

"Champagne Louis Roederer" Sommelier of the Year
David Lawler (Rockpool)

Best Short Wine List
City Wine Shop

"Brown Brothers" Wine List of the Year
Rockpool

"The Age" Young Chef of the Year
Michael Fox (Cecconi's Cantina)

"Millei Superior" Dish of the Year
Loam - Suckling Pig

Diner's Choice Award
Vue de Monde

Service Excellence Award
Simon Denton (Verge)

Donlevy Fitzpatrick Award
Boire

Onto the precious headwear:

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Lunch @ Magic City

After a hiatus of a couple of years, this is our second visit to Magic City in a matter of weeks - the first is unblogged as we didn't take any photos but the food certainly made us want to return.

magic city© by Haalo

Kappaya Abbotsford Convent

Wedged between Lentil as Anything and Convent Bakery, Kappaya is a place that you can easily miss. I've known for a while it was there but up until today I hadn't purposefully gone looking for it.

Kappaya© by Haalo

Friday, August 27, 2010

Taste of Melbourne 2010

The 3rd Taste of Melbourne is currently on and once again it's proved difficult to decide whether or not to go.

We went to the first Taste event and left feeling that it was better than we had thought it would be but still not enough to convert us to the event. Last year, we skipped it - too much emphasis on Masterchef and way too much PR involvement - it seemed every blogger and their dog got a ticket which coincided with what seemed to be a plethora of gushing blog posts about the event. This year, we frankly lost count at the number of different PR offers for us to attend - all of which we declined or ignored. We firmly believe that unless you are willing to delve into your own pocket, then you should not be writing or tweeting about it.

Our main reason for attending this year was due to Embrasse and the fact that they would be offering a horse meat dish. Unfortunately, food terrorists decided to issue death threats towards the chef and his family and so this dish was withdrawn from both Taste of Melbourne and the restaurant.

With horse off the menu, we once again shifted towards not going but then the pop-ups entered the equation and in particular the presence of Comida Bebe caught our attention, we made our final decision to attend.

taste of melbourne© by Haalo

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Dinner @ Vue de Monde

Five years ago we started this site with dinner on the chef's table at Vue de Monde so we're very much completing the circle by returned to that same spot for this anniversary.

It's been a time of reflection and while there has been lots of changes in the food blogging scene, I can't say that all of it has been positive but tonight I'd rather focus on what matters, enjoying a great meal.

Vue de Monde© by Haalo

Monday, August 23, 2010

Der Raum @ Church Street Enoteca

It's the start of our very special week - tomorrow is our anniversary dinner at Vue de Monde and tonight is a collaborative dinner by Der Raum and Church Street Enoteca.

These two venues are virtually stone throwing distance apart and surprisingly for all our visits to CSE we haven't ever ventured down the road to Der Raum - there's always been that intention to go but the opportunity just never presented itself...that is until now.

As we waited for people to arrive, we were offered the first of the evenings drinks called Herbie Hancock. Basically it was a champagne cocktail - a mix of Grappa, Sage Sugar, Peychaud Bitters, Champagne and something called Herbal "Fog". The fog was a dry ice concoction infused with herbs and was used to great visual effect to top our flutes.

With this we enjoyed the canapé - a scallop on the half shell, served on a fennel puree and topped with a tomato and white anchovy compote.

First Course:

Church Street Enoteca© by Haalo

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Lunch @ Fenix Restaurant

If you've followed this site you'll know that we had a soft spot for Fenix and were quite sad to see it close back in 2009. It reopened this year, remodelled and renewed and pitched firmly at the Ma$terchef crowd.
Fenix Restaurant© by Haalo

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Dinner @ Maze Grill

We're returning to Maze Grill and this time we've been joined by fellow eators, Al and Elle.

maze grill© by Haalo

Sunday, August 08, 2010

Lunch @ Cafe Vue at 401

We've been saying for a while that we should go to Cafe Vue at 401 for their Menu du Jour especially as we've enjoyed the offerings at Heide and as finding ourselves in the area, we decided to pop in for a leisurely lunch.

Starters:

Bistro Vue at 401© by Haalo

Saturday, August 07, 2010

Lunch @ Il Bacaro

Il Bacaro is one of the those places where as soon as we take our first bite, we wonder why it's taken so long to return and that's especially the case when your first bite is this:

Il Bacaro© by Haalo