Gorski & Jones - Smith St, 26 February 2012

The specifications for the evening's dining were: Italian, not to pricey and quintessentially Melbourne. Gorski & Jones delivered.

Three of us shared an antipasto plate - a lovely, teasing way to start a meal, lots of little yummy things to nibble on. It included sardines, anchovies, artichokes, asparagus, frittata and some zucchini & eggplant baked thing with ricotta and of course came with bread.

For the main event, the girls had the spaghettini with seafood, entree-sized. Portion was a good size, lovely fresh seafood (vongole, mussels, salmon and prawns) in garlic, chilli oil (with a reasonable kick). My 'significant other' had tortellini filled with chicken livers and served with fresh tomatoes which was just delish.
We had a very simple salad on the side of crunchiest iceberg (only the white parts) with a mustard dressing. I'm not usually a big fan of lots of mustard seeds, but these were crushed and matched the sweetness of the lettuce beautifully.

All finished off with a rather nice bottle of red.

Without a reservation on a Saturday night we were lucky to get in, well, we didn't quite get in - table outside on Smith street. Next time there is a pasta craving might have to return and enjoy the inside, real italian diner vibe.


Food  -                    8
Drinks list -            8 (good knowledge of wine list and offered a sample before decision)
Service -                 8 (especially as we were outside)
Ambiance -             6 (but we were outside on Smith street, so... but the inside looks lovely!)
Value for money -   8

Red Spice Road - 17 January 2012

I knew it would be too much food, and it was, and of course I ate far more than I should have, but it is just so darned yummy.

Dinner with the brother-in-law's family, $65 banquet and waaay  too much wine....

The betel leaves - spectacular as always
Scallop - lovely and fresh and really sweet
Lamb ribs - big flavour, meaty, great chilli jam.

The chicken salad was pleasant, but just too subtle to be accompanied by pork belly (wow-ee!!)  after the power punch of the starters.
The pork belly was rather fantastic; I could just have had the juice and died happy. Of course, a bit fatty and too salty, but that is why you eat pork belly...

The remaining courses were good, but just a bit forgettable about the first two courses, so I am not going to even discuss them.

I'd advise not getting the banquet, it's a ridiculous amount of food. But do order the 3 appetisers and the pork belly...


Food  -                    8
Drinks list -            7 (though they didn't seem to have a dedicated somelier, unusual for the price point)
Service -                 7
Ambiance -             6 (I'm getting old - too noisy!)
Value for money-   7



$65 banquet:

Betel Leaf Topped with Smoked Chicken, Lemongrass, Coriander & Kaffir Lime
Grilled Scallop with Sticky Duck Relish & Cucumber
Twice Cooked Lamb Ribs with Chilli Jam

Chicken, Asian Celery, Green Tomato, Coriander, Green Chilli & Lime Salad
Pork Belly with Apple Slaw, Chilli Caramel & Black Vinegar

Barramundi Green Curry with Eggplant & Snake Beans
Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks with Mushrooms & Hot ‘n Sour Salad

Passionfruit Cream with Peanut Praline, Puffed Wild Rice & Coconut Ice

Gumbo Kitchen - Croxton, 4 February 2012

Gumbo, gumbo....

Sitting on the grass in the sunshine, cider in one hand, controlling the dog with the other (cos the food smells great) with a bunch of other (much younger, well, except for Rod Quantock..) hispters. Groovy (yeh, showing my age...) tunes and blankets and lots of fixies.

We intended to just have entree before going home for dinner, but even sharing a Dom between three of us was dinner enough (well, except for the dog, but she's always hungry).

Good chips, great chipotle sauce, the beef debris certainly adds to the savouriness and heartiness, but is probably overkill - speshly for a girl spiralling towards vegetarianism.

Unfortunately, they had sold out of shrimp po boys by the time we got to the end of the queue..So we will just have to track down gumbo, gumbo again sometime soon.

and of course we finished with lemon ice box pie - sweet, sour and fat, three of my favourites... Yum!

And I'm only eating lettuce tomorrow.....

Food  -                    7
Drinks list -            4 (not licensed, which is OK as long as you remember to BYO...)
Service -                 8
Ambiance -             8 (but of course it depends on where they park...
Value for money-   6 (seemed a bit expensive for what it was)