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)

The Thornbury Local, Melbourne - 14 January 2012

I had such high hopes when I herd Bender bar were expanding upstairs and offering food. It is our localiest local - staggering distance, literally - but hadn't eaten there yet as the menu seemed, well, underwhelming.
And that really is the word to describe the dining experience - underwhelming. Nothing actively wrong, just passively below par.

The dining room is great: love the vintage radio/tv/film theme, love the miniature Madame Brussels balcony space. I really felt like I could settle in for the evening.

It is the menu that is uninspiring. Usually at a new venue I want to try everything, but here I was struggling to find anything I felt like eating. The vegetarian selection is very limited (and I think given the neighbourhood they are missing a trick here).

Anyway, I was pleased to hear that the Chicken Schnitzel was free range (selling point, perhaps it should be on the menu?) so I ordered that. My sweetheart went with the eggplant parmagiana.

Now the schnitzel was nicely crumbed and came with a few rounds of melted cheese on top (bocconcini?) but that's all it was: crumbed chicken. Limited flavour, little interesting about it. It was served with fried rosemary potatoes (best part of the meal) and a 'salad'. I say 'salad' as I don't class a pile of rocket (I thought we had got over this obsession) with a couple of cherry tomato halves on top, salad. Even if it has a swipe of caramelised balsamic and a shaving of parmigiano.

The eggplant parmagiana was robust, with a good italian tomato sauce. It was served with polenta wedges that were cold (!! that's just wrong) and the same 'salad'.

Then after our meals, whilst we were finishing our wine we were given the bread for the table (ok, so an oversight, I am sure it was meant to come earlier). And it was good bread.  

Prices are good (but not good enough to make up for the disappointment).

I often find myself wondering why businesses make particular decisions. Case in point - why did the Thornbury local go for Italian, when there is already a plethora of pizza and Italian places within spitting distance (pizza faro, for the love of pizza). Obviously they know their clientele better than I, but I would have thought that they were aiming for the groovy bar set that like live music (same as downstairs) and middle of the road Italian food doesn't deliver that.


Food  -                    5
Drinks list -            7
Service -                 6
Ambiance -             8
Value for money-   8

Ladro, Gertrude St, Melbourne - 13 January 2012

Nice to finally get an opportunity to come here and a perfect opportunity at that: Friday night pizza with the girls after a jug of cocktails!

We all started with a little taste teaser of half a chargrilled fig with prosciutto, goats curd and balsamic - you can order individual pieces. Great combination, beautiful produce. Only criticism was that there wasn't much evidence of chargrilling and that would have added a bit more to the flavour.

Of course we shared pizza next. But how to choose? We each picked out top 3 and the most popular two were ordered. We ended up with a Porcini, mushroom and tallegio and a Leeks, pea and gorgonzola. Complemented with a 'with the lot' salad of every leaf under the sun, simply dressed.

The mushroom was simply that, oodles of mushroomy flavour, a little more tallegio wouldn't have gone astray. But the winner was the leek and peas. Bloody fantastic. Braised leeks, nestled in melted gorgonzola all topped with mouth-poppingly fresh peas. Spectacular.

And the salad was everything it should be - crisp, well-dressed, interesting mix that went well with pizza. As did the bottle of Nero D'Avola.

We were seated in the 'courtyard' which was really quite pleasant, but not much of a courtyard in that it is almost entirely closed. But we were quite glad of the patio heaters - it was a remarkably cold January evening.

Bebida, Smith St, Melbourne - 11 January 2012

Funky little place - has that Melbourne Smith St groove thang - good coffee, nice tapas, OK wine.
Great spot for a casual quoff and nosh.

Over a glass (or two...) my sweetheart and I enjoyed:

• patatas bravas (unlike some they actually had a little bit of bravery about them - ie chili - though could do with a little more bravery), 
• haloumi (the zatar makes and interesting and welcome twist on this tapas regular), 
• vegetable tempura (crunchy and tasty - acceptable, but a bit dull) and 
• tortilla (still good, but probably the weakest dish tasted). 

Despite many of the other reviews of this place, it was clear that ordering at the bar was the expectation, but the friendly staff offered table service when they were nearby. The place has vibe, but also intimacy.
I also like the fact that some people were having breakfast while most of us were enjoying a late lunch (on a Wednesday).

Will try to return to enjoy some of the live music one evening.

Casablabla, Adelaide - 30 December 2011

Hot sunny afternoon, sitting in the shade in a great little court yard in Leigh Street, drinking a few glasses of rose.
Service not great, food acceptable. We had a tasting plate - plenty of food, bit dull (been there, had that), but still very edible.

Would definitely go again, particularly if I was looking for a pleasant spot to sit and drink (which all too often I am!).

Strangely the chairs are all chained down, so you can't move them. Decor a bit confused - I think it is meant to be morrocan, but is also has touches of Bali and India...but that's kinda OK.

10 years ago I thought Leigh Street was becoming more and more interesting, but like all of Adelaide it still hasn't changed much.

Red Poles Gallery, McLaren Vale, SA - 28 December 2011

Well, I know I am hardly an independent reviewer, being a sibling to the chef, but I always love coming here.

The food is always interesting and great tasting and the venue is just wonderful. On a sunny day, it is just a delight to sit in the garden and nibble on tasty treats.

We started with bread and dukkah (both house made of course). The bread was great, chewy, full of flavour, just like a real french baguette, and I loved the sumac with the dukkah; it provided a great shot of lemony flavour with all the spices.

Chef sent out a little starter of the goat rack (apparently there wasn't enough left for a full serve). Beautifully cooked, lovely and tender, great flavour. I think I almost prefer it to lamb - less fatty. And the dauphine potato...divine!

For mains I had the zucchini and pancetta rotolo, with marron and zucchini flowers. Great seasonal produce - I adore zucchini flowers. Beautiful marron. And such a pretty plate.

My paramour had the gnocchi - great tasty gnocchi (as always) no gluey-ness. Lovely assortment of veg creating flavour.

Mother had the rabbit jalousie - like a rabbit pasty, with a caper berry leaf tabouli. I am not a big fan of caper berries, but the leaves are really quite nice. And the rabbit was melty, succulent and really yummy.

But the star of the meal on this visit, was the unexpected dessert. Brother chef sent out Ouzo soused mango with licorice icecream and lemon ice. I would never have ordered this (I like, but don't love licorice and ouzo) but it was amazing. The licorice icecream was inky black and wonderfully smooth. It had a delicate licorice flavour, not overpowering, which was enhanced by the lemon ice and the baby basil leaves scattered on top.  Unexpected, surprising and very delicious.

And as always, there was attentive service, an opportunity to window shop and play ball with Archie.

The Brasserie, Adelaide Hilton - 1 January 2012

On New Year's Day in Adelaide we didn't have a lot choice, but the Brasserie was a very pleasant way to spend the evening. 

I loved the detailed information on the produce, where the meat came from, whether it was organic, free-range, had a name, etc... But, there was only 1 vegetarian entree and 1 main. 

When a restaurant is trying to be a a bit more ethical, surely they would try a bit harder to offer meat-free? It's the easiest way to be more ethical. As an almost vegetarian, I find with a really good veggie meal, you don't notice the absence of meat. And the twice cooked beetroot and goat's cheese souffle was was certainly an example - fantastically yummy. 

We had fish and chips and venison for mains. The F&C were good, lovely fish, great chips, but perhaps a bit pedestrian? The venison was beautifully cooked. The shallot "tarte tatin" (though not upside down!! and made with puff, so I can't see why it should be could a tatin) went well, as did the salad. Although the figs were waaaaay to sweet to accompany. The caramalised shallots were sweet enough. 

The menu finishes with a nice sounding array of desserts, but I never have room for pudding these days. But wait, they offered 'bite-sized' desserts. What a winner - except they are not bite-sized, but more about 30 bites-sized, enough for two people to comfortably share.

Here I am complaining that an $8 yummy dessert (mandarin and strawberry sorbet with a shortbread) is too large! Can't please some!

Well, actually you can. I was pleased to find a decent restaurant in Adelaide, that was open when all others were shut, that had a pleasant but casual atmosphere and with pretty good food. I would certainly go back again, might even take the mother next time - now that would be a test.