Dinner @ Eleonore's Restaurant

We've managed to skip town for just a night and are enjoying the country air at Chateau Yering. We also get to indulge with a degustation dinner!



The evening begins with an amuse


lightly seared, herb rolled tuna loin served with crisp tofu sheet shard



stuffed calamari tube served with wakame and abalone salad


Seared Coral Trout, white asparagus, broad beans, artichoke, zucchini flower


Tataki of Wagyu, wasabi Panna cotta, crisp sushi, black bean vinaigrette, beer air


Roasted Yarra Valley Quail, foie gras farce, truffled linguini, sauce périgord


slow cooked rump of spring lamb, jerusalem artichoke and rosemary galette, pear and mint custard, roast garlic and mascarpone purée


lemon curd tart


iced banana terrine, caramelised honey ganache, banana cake, honey-roasted macadamias, caramel ice-cream

The details:

Eleonore's Restaurant at Chateau Yering
42 Melba Highway, Yering
Phone: +61 3 9237 3333

Open:
Dinner - every evening from 6.30pm
Lunch - Saturday and Sunday from 12pm - 3pm

Web
Eleonore's Restaurant

Dinner @ Bistro Vue

If I wasn't in need of a drink before heading out to Bistro Vue, I certainly was by the time we arrived. What should have been a 20 minute trip, turned into a 45 minute shocker. I have not seen traffic as bad as this for a long time.

Glasses of Gardet Brut proved an ideal way to wash away those traffic woes and a great match for this trio of oysters


Clair de Lune


Rusty Wire - is a generic name given to the "best on the day" oysters


Angasi - our native flat oyster

We selected the 2004 Coldstream Hills Reserve Cabernet Blend to enjoy with the rest of our meal.

For starters:



French Onion Soup with Beer, topped with Gruyere

Sometimes French Onion soup can be a touch too hearty, this had a lot of flavour but somehow managed not to give you that bloated feeling. It does come out piping hot!




Slow cooked Duck Eggs with cepe puree and pancetta grissini

Underneath the yolk sits a silky cepe puree - the eggs have been slow cooked for I think 2 hours at 60°C leaving them wonderfully runny. There's a lovely drizzle of white truffle oil over the pancetta wrapped grissini. Every now and again you get hit with that lovely white truffle flavour.

For mains:


Plat du Jour for Friday: Pied de Cochon - Pigs trotter

Paalo does have a weakness for pig trotter - this comes out as a tight roll but just falls apart in a wonderously gelatinous "mess". It comes with mashed potatoes and a simple leaf salad.



Chargrilled Wagyu served with Goose Fat fried Pommes Frites

You do have a choice of sauces, pepper, béarnaise, diane - I decided on the Béarnaise. I also got to taste some of the Bistro Vue Truffle Mustard which is beyond delicious. It was so good we bought a jar!

The wagyu was superb - it ranks up there as one of the best.

For dessert:


Tarte tatin aux pommes

Paalo just finds it impossible to go past it.




Red berries with honey jelly, warm white chocolate mousse and raspberry praline

I enjoy one of the one newer desserts - at the bottom of the glass are an assortment of macerated red berries, interspersed by small cubes of honey jelly. Above it, served as a thick white band is the warm white chocolate mousse. The glass is crowned with a disc of what I'd call raspberry flavoured toffee.


The details:

Bistro Vue
430 Little Collins Street
Entrance via New Chancery Laneway

Phone: 9691 3838

Open:
Monday-Saturday: 11am until Late

web

Lunch @ Les Boucheries Parisiennes

We've returned for a relaxing Sunday lunch.



While the full menu isn't available - you still do have a lot of choice. There's the express lunch menu, regular lunch menu as well as the specialty menu and if you can't find something you like there, then there's something wrong with you.

We decide to pick our way through the specialty menu and create our own mini degustation



We start with a couple of Oysters with salmon roe and pink grapefruit sorbet



and follow them with half a dozen Escargots de Bourgogne

There are three types of sausages available - Merguez, Toulouse and Duck & Pistachio



We select the Toulouse Sausage, freshly cut pork with white wine, garlic & cabbage. A rather adorable coil served in a lovely Chasseur cast iron skillet. It is accompanied by pommes frittes and mustards of your choice.

For our main dishes:


I have the Duck a l'orange



while Paalo has the Lamb Navarin

We decide to share a dessert -



it's very hard to go past the Mango Pannacotta with pineapple salsa and Pineapple donuts


The details:

Les Boucheries Parisiennes
268 Toorak Road, South Yarra

Phone: (03) 8256 1636

Open:
Lunch - Tuesday to Sunday: 12pm to 2.30pm
Dinner - Tuesday to Saturday: 6pm to late

Web:
www.lesboucheries.com.au

Lunch @ Enoteca Vino Bar

With Christmas coming, it's time to stock up on some Italian goodies at Enoteca Sileno and while we are here, we might as well grab some lunch at the Vino Bar!

As usual we begin with some items from the assaggini menu



At the front - Il Mongettino peperoncino ripieno e fritto (Crumbed Mongettino Chilli Peppers stuffed with anchovies and capers) - In the middle - Crocchette di Melanzane e mozzarella affumicata con salsa di pomodorini (Eggplant and smoked mozzarella croquette with roasted cherry tomato sauce) - at the back - Baccala mantecato all'olio extra vergine d'oliva su polenta alla griglia (Salted cod and Caroli Extra Virgin Olive Oil mousse on grilled polenta disc)


A better view of the Baccala mantecato


Vitello Tonnato con mele saltate, sedano giovane e capperi - Poached veal with sauteed apple, young celery leaves and capers served with tuna emulsion

This is probably one of the best vitello tonnato we've enjoyed - the veal was incredibly tender, almost like pate in consistency.

For mains:


Lonza di vitello in padella con verza brasata, insalata di carciofi e salsa ai porcini - Pan roasted veal loin with braised Savoy cabbage, artichoke salad and porcini sauce

Paalo throughly enjoyed his wonderfully tender veal - you could cut it with a butter knife.


Agnolotti di antra della casa su creama al porri con pinoli tostati, porri fritti e olio tartufato - House made duck agnolotti on a bed of creamed leek with toasted pine nuts, crispy leeks and white truffle oil

A really lovely dish, the agnolotti were surprisingly light showing a deft touch to the pasta making. The truffle oil would teasingly waft up between mouthfuls.



we couldn't go past ordering a side of peas and pancetta!

For desserts we decided on try a couple of cakes


Panettone pudding - Paalo has enjoyed this before and can't seem to go past it!



I opted for something different - semolina cake topped with red wine poached pears


The details:

Enoteca Vino Bar

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

Dinner @ Koots

We seem to be in a re-visiting mood and tonight we're off to Koots.

There's a caviar special on at the moment and well, while we're enjoying some lovely glasses of 1999 Pol Roger why not indulge...


The jar of Petrossian Alverta Caviar is served with its traditional accompaniments - absolutely fantastic chive blinis, sour cream, finely diced red onion, finely diced egg yolk and finely diced egg white



For our starter we decide to share the house platter - La terre, La mer et Le jardin. It's a selection of starters from "the earth, the sea and the garden", you'll find that some of these are offered as full sized entrees


On the top right we have assorted olives, a fantastic duck liver parfait, freshly shucked south australian oysters with salmon roe, rounds of seared tuna, a tomato salsa served with french sausages. There's also a few slices of hiramasa kingfish ceviche that you can't see in the photo. In the center, tempura zucchini flowers sitting atop a salad of roasted beetroot and goats curd.


For mains:


Paalo is intrigued by the Frenchified veal "burger" caillette style served with Pommes Maxim, crispy pancetta and spicy tomato syrup.

The Pommes Maxim is that wafer thin strap laying across the top of the burger - it almost looks like toffee.


I order the Tuna Tartare with confit tomato and white anchovy tart and served with smoked capsicum cream.

On the plate are two good sized domes of tuna tartare, one topped with a quails egg, very nicely flavoured with a fine dice of capers, gherkins and onions. The white anchovies are a great foil to the richly flavours of the confit tomatoes.

As we've shared most of the dishes tonight, dessert is no different


The Dessert Platter consists of - from bottom left and moving clockwise: Ille Flottantes with creme anglaise and pistachio, rectangle of chocolate sorbet, lime sorbet, fresh strawberry salad with almond crumble and cylinder of strawberry sorbet, creme brulee and in the center, strawberry shortcake.

The details:
Koots
479 Glenferrie Road
Kooyong
Phone: 9822 3809

Open:
Lunch: Tuesday - Friday
Dinner: Tuesday - Saturday
web:
www.koots.com.au

Dinner @ The Grand

There aren't a lot of places open for Sunday dinner - fortunately though, The Grand in Richmond is and considering we haven't been there for a long time, it's about time for a re-visit.

For starters:


Paalo chooses this spicy Sicilian sausage, served with haloumi and grilled breads. The sausage contains a bit of a kick.



I order the pasta of the day which is Pappardelle served with a ragu.

For mains:


Paalo has the Lamb Rack, served with slow-roasted capsicums and a tomato and bread salad




I have the roasted duck served with a semolina gnoccho and an orange and juniper berry sauce

Onto desserts:



Paalo once again orders the Italian doughnuts filled with pistachio ice cream and served with oranges



while I opt for the Tartufo - chocolate and hazelnut ice-creams with a good drizzle of Vecchio Amaro

The details:

The Grand
335 Burnley Street, Richmond
Phone: 9429 2530

Open:
7 days, noon-3pm and 6pm-10pm

web:
www.grandrichmond.com.au