PCL

Nice work on the snags gfron1. Syrah... i think mushy peas could be a Kiwi thing... it was an aussie/kiwi party after all... RE: Fosters.... piss out of a tap/can/bottle

Ahhh, I'm no Northener, I am formerly of Collingwood, Abbotsford and the City, and before that Richmond and East Malvern and most recently of Elwood, although I am currently an ex-pat in Asia as of 2 weeks ago. In short, no, I don't know much about Chinese food that side of town that you're talking about. I honestly don't know of many Chinese people living out that way either, but then again, Shinboners might know more as he used to live up that way. RE: Dumplings at Camy et al... I find that they are the ones that do me in the most, but then again they are the only things I eat if I'm ever there at all. RE: Pig... definitely a big event only thing, and it will feed say 15 people or so quite happily with other stuff on offer. Really good fun and for no extra charge, they'll even chop it up and re-assemble it with head and feet and tail to resemble a spatchcocked piglet. Yum!

This is simple, not too complex, and works nicely. brown up a mirepoix of celery, carrot and onion in a butter/olive oil blend add a tablespoon of tomato paste add beef or veal stock just cover in a separate pan, brown off the oxtail chunks, then pop them into the pot with the veg add bayleaf, rosemary, whatever herbs you have lying about add more stock to cover the lot, maybe an inch over the oxtails simmer for a couple of hours, skimming now and then to get rid of scum and fat, or better still, cover and cook in the oven slowly for a few hours.

Thanks Shiewie... I'm spending quite a bit of time in KL these days, might be fun to do a class on days off etc. Where is her house???

Oriental Inn on Carrington St in Box Hill does fantastic roast meats and also home style dishes (Cantonese style) for a reasonable price. They also do an awesome whole roasted suckling pig for around $280 per pig, but you need to book in advance and pay a deposit. Takeaway only for the pig. Spicy Fish is in Lt Bourke, and it's okay, nothing spectacular in my opinion, but the hot stuff is quite good. Overall, it fails to move me. They are rude and sometimes downright dismissive. Red Ant, a little ways up, between Russell and Exhibition is pretty good. It's actually off Lt Bourke, in the lane opposite Shark Fin House. The spicy beef hot pot is actually quite Szechuan in character, and in case I haven't ranted about this before, Melbourne needs a good Hunan/Szechuan injection. Now, I've been a fan of Camy and the Shanghai Noodle House in the past, but the older I get, the less tolerant of MSG I've become. Now, I avoid those restaurants.

Dave, you and I must have the same friends!! I ended up at Grappa's at Jardine House for the Italy v Croatia game with the chef, Gianni and Carlo from Isola. Yes, The Steakhouse definitely kicks Mortons. I snuck in there last night for a 'smaller' steak, and man, the prices are similar and for the repeat performance, I should have trundled over back to the Intercon. Now, IMHO, the Mak's Noodles in Causeway Bay has definitely lowered it's standards. Another nice find has been the Super Star Seafood restaurant in TST, near Prat Avenue. Ever been there? I had yum cha there on Friday, and had their signature pan fried scallop. Humongous critters, from god knows where, should have asked, but didn't. Quality yum cha, good service, in fact, very good service, must go back for dinner.

Melissa, the link doesn't seem to work....

I am currently doing a spell in HK and foodwise, it's always fun as I'm sure you'll all agree, well, most of you anyway. The usual suspects have been fantastic, such as Mak's Noodles (wonton's, sui kau, etc). But what's been tweaking the radar has been the quality of some recent Continental + North American places. Isola, an Italian restaurant at IFC Mall 2, opposite the Hong Kong airport express station was a revelation. Managed by the chap who used to run Grissini's over at the Hyatt Harbour View, the Chef hails from Calabria, but let's not hold that against him! We did not consult a menu, opting to confer with Carlo the manager. To start, a spaghetti with black truffles and bottarga. Simple and fulfilling. Secondo for me was a whole baked farmed sea bass, flown in from Italy I was told. I'll need to check on recent Italian marine agricultural activities. For my tastes, the food came as close to what I used to eat while living in Italy. Then last night, I ate at The Steakhouse, at the Intercontinental in Tsim Tsa Tsui, now occupying what was the Regent/Four Seasons with the dynamite view across Victoria Harbour from every F&B outlet. An old school salad bar experience to start with, with plates filled with fresh lettuces and garnishes ranging from the whole Caesar works to exotic items like grilled pineapple, shavings of black truffle, and even beetroot for us ex-pat Aussies. The steaks? Superlative. Tender slabs of prime beef from the US, and for an Aussie, it's high praise indeed to say such things about US beef. But it was good. No need to describe them. The cost was high, but then again, most good experiences in HK are, foodwise anyway. There are threads here talking about HK food, especially the pinned thread above, but I just thought I'd try to move talk away from food courts and chain restaurants and try to ellicit whether people have been doing the fine dining scene in the little tenacious territory. Any takers?

Interesting observation about food shops in Sydney's Chinatown. I'm in Hong Kong at the moment, kind of Chinese food'ed out... check out the Chinese forum soon for some observations of HK dining if interested.

Ah, the Goose is back. Welcome back and scroll up to my very first post about VdM. And it's not personal, just calling it as I see it. I couldn't give two hoots what the journalistic politics are, at the end of the day it's what's on the plate and how one feels about it. I'd like to encourage some introspection and rational critical debate as opposed to emotional and personal reactions.

I started a thread on eating in the outdoors a while back, might be fun to link to it here for reference.... CLICK

Great links Ben and Vic. For the record, we don't have shrimp in Australia, they're too small to chuck on the barbie. We have prawns.

A few nights ago, a friend made the following: roast rump of beef, then dumped a can of chopped tomatoes and half a bottle of passatta into the pan, then cooked spaghetti in the 'sauce' direct before baking the lot, carving the meat, then serving the spag and sauce on the side. Apparently it's an old family favourite... going back years.... hence retro... You get the Heinz spaghetti thing happening but it's homemade and it's all good... must try cooking the pasta in the sauce like that soon!!!

Recent drinkings: Main Ridge Estate, 2004, Full Acre and Half Acre Pinot Noirs. These are the two releases of Pinot Noir from the Whites at Main Ridge Estate, the first commercial vineyard in the Mornington Peninsula. Nat White makes supremely cool wines in the Burgundian vein of style and character. I've been a big fan for years, working through a case a year. I've banged on about Farr and Kooyong, but for me, this is the shit, the real thing, what does it the most for me. Like, I love Farr's work, and over the weekend, the Kooyong Reserve was tasted next to the Main Ridges, and Nat White always comes up on top for me. Notes: The Acre - fresh berries on the nose, straight from the pour, a robust bouquet after a few minutes in the glass. "Silky" on the front palate, rich stewed fruit and just a little earthy, not 'gamey', but earthy, held together by fine yet serious tannins, flowing smoothly to the rear of the mouth, flavours popping and developing during the initial finish. Take a good minute or so before the next sip!! Half Acre - plums and a hint of gentle oak on the nose, light cooked fruits lifting over the velvet tide of a more pronounced earthiness. a 'bigger' wine than the Acre, but not brash or bold... holds it own on the finish, and reminds me of some fine burgundies while still being itself. Playful and for me, totally tops!! Will go just fine with the mandatory duck, and even a decent ribeye cooked over coals. SENSATIONAL STUFF.

To discount an entire review, or anything, based on one point alone seems a bit harsh, or from some points of view, even a little callous. Now, I've eaten at VdM for various reasons, about 5 times now. Only two of those times came close to being memorable. Twice I was disappointed, bitterly even on one occasion which happened to be my birthday. I've banged on about consistency before, and I'll beat that drum again. Sometimes I can't help but feel that some are inclined to like a place no matter what either because of what they are supposed to like, or feel obliged to simply because of what they're spending.

I think one should read all reviews, to get both sides of the story. VdM does polarise diners, and Mr Lethlean is a major figure but then again he is only one voice, although a loud one at that. I think judge for yourself is the way to go. So what 18/20... I don't agree with half the stuff that's reviewed and look carefully at what people are reviewing. Mr Lethlean spent a lot of time talking about the linen and tableware. I spent a lot of time there wondering how the hell I'm gonna get full... For the record, I check both sides of every coin before I flip it.

Welcome to eG, must make your way over to the Aussie boards and provide some much needed Brisbane based focus to the discussion there! Anyhow, back to the topic... I think tournedos rossini are pretty cool and they are making a comeback. Problem is that decent foie gras in /australia is hard to source.

Just to chime in again on the use of sugar: I don't think it's exclusive to Shanghainese cooking, but rather, is common to most Chinese cooking when soy sauce is used, which is like, 99% of the time. The sugar provides a harmonising element to the salt in the soy sauce, and we're not talking about noticeable quantities. Just a pinch of sugar to every say, 2 TBSP of soy.... um actually, I just do it by eye and have a taste now and then...

And, i did go off the omakase to order some agedashi tofu and gyu tan shioyaki as well... i love those two dishes, and being the Chinaman that I am, I need something hot to go with the sushi/sashimi and no, the sake doesn't count But to add another question to the mix: Does anyone know why some garnishes don't turn up on regular sushi/sashimi orders and only seem to turn up in omakasa? Like, the spring onion clump on some fishes... the use of sauce and marinades, like with the tuna, which was OISHI!... why why why? I don't think I can do regular sushi again after two very successful omakase's. The result of this will be that I won't do it very often, because, yes, it costs!!! For the record, I had 20 pieces of handcrafted gems last night.

Roo tail soup... superb... start like an oxtail soup, then load in the garlic and shallots... bloody tasty

nice work J. I love festive family dinners. So much food, and you can share. For al dente pasta, try the following: - Florentino Cellar Bar, check the board for daily pasta specials - Il Nostro Barretto, GPO lane, menu changes weekly, and usually one stand out pasta a week, with two selections to pick from

Domo arigato Kris! Now this is freaky, because I posted this yesterday and where did I find myself for dinner?? Back at the sushi bar, staring down the edge of the knife slicing through fish. The selection was fairly similar to last week, but like you said, seasonality!! Highlights: Big eye tuna, a variant of the venerable blue fin, marinated for 10 mins in a thick soy/sesame mix. Secret recipe of the chef's. Lightly grilled cod roe... "Good with sake" Amaebi rolled in roe... "Also good with sake" Salmon belly with spring onion and ginger... lightly seared Swordfish... scored and brushed with Unagi sauce... Marinated baby squid... "Very good with sake" Amaebi sushi... love this, totally absolutely love it... Only the Tuscans come close with their raw scampi, still twitching...

so if you were diligent with collecting recipes from the sunday age, you wouldn't need to buy the book then huh? i mean, would be easy just to add a foreword/intro/conclusion and then design a cover and reprint all the recipes and then sell it huh?

Last week, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I decided to throw caution to the wind and let the sushi chef at the Melbourne stalwart establishment, Kenzan, do his magic. A friend of mine is now working there too, as second sushi chef, and i thought it would be good to show some support. In an after-work beer induced stupor, we ordered some more beer, some sake, and then asked for the omakase experience. I was skeptical, as the sushi platters at Kenzan have always been fresh, good, but never exciting or new. After 3 hours of non-stop sushi, piece by piece placed in front of us as they came off the chef's hands... I was converted. It was a religious experience to have cuts of fish never usually seen, sushi matched to sake, and condiments not usually present. The question is, how frequently do Japanese people do this, as in rock up and leave themselves at the mercy of the chef? Does one always get something new? Like uni and roe? Or amaebi mixed with cod roe? Why? How? Doesn't matter, it's all good!!

Thanks J. report back after the weekend! And welcome to eG!!