ChrisTaylor

I ended up cutting Aria and booking Sepia instead. The feedback, on here at least, has been pretty consistent. Urbanspoon reflects pretty much the same opinion, too. Thanks for the recommendation on that one.

Chris: reckon those fritters (which would no longer be fritters, I guess) would pan-fry okay?

Yeah, you could pick the fresh carrot. I don't think that can really be disputed unless you're cooking the shit out of your carrots. The organic thing, though? Like you, I doubt it. And of course we're assuming the carrots are of the same variety, equal freshness, etc, right?

Salt cod.

Chicken, sure. But a lot of organic stuff ... isn't it more about a lack of certain chemicals than anything to do with taste or even nutrition?

You can buy it in Melbourne. It's popular at fish and chip and chicken shops. So I guess it's Australia-wide.

King Island rump steak, herb and garlic potato wedges, spinach sauteed with chilli.

Going to give salt cod a shot. Have a piece soaking in the fridge. Not sure what I'll do with it: leaning towards the salt cod/potato thing detailed earlier in the thread. I think Bourdain has a recipe for it, even.

We have branches of the Longrain and Rockpool Bar & Grill empires in Melbourne, anyway. Can check them out whenever I want. Will note Otto down for future reference, tho'--that menu looks nice.

Wow. Thanks for the suggestions. My partner got a week off work so the current list is: Dinners: Becasse Guillaume @ Bennelong Quay Aria Four in Hand est Pier And lunch at: Marque Bentley (because of nickrey's thread, mostly) Pastry: Le Renaissance Adriano Zumbo I'll note those suggestions down, tho'. I'd like to make this a reasonably annual thing. The degustation at Sepia looks really nice. Cotton Duck is a probable lunch candidate.

Wow. That report on Bentley pushed me over the edge: I'll have to figure a way to fit it into a very full week of restaurants when I come up. I'd flipped through the book, too, so it was nice to hear the food was as good as it looked in the book.

Our dollar is doing well at the moment so it's pretty much a one-to-one exchange.

Wow. They look amazing. The mushroom dishes especially. In terms of wing marinades, tho', that one wasn't so good. It was okay but nothing special. I think the marinade from Larousse Gastronomique is better if you want something that enhances the flavour of the meat. If you're looking for a nice chilli flavour, tho', it's hard to go past marinating the wings in Tabasco with a bit of powdered chilli--not a hot variety, but a very aromatic one like Kashmiri. I'm trying a new marinade tonight.

Oh I'd be the first to say Ice Magic has a place in this thread.

Reading through this thread made me hungry for bread. What else can I do, aside from maybe damper, if I want instant bread gratification? Chapatis.

Have to be dodgy supermarket mystery bags, too. With a list of ingredients that says something like, 'Meat (45%) ...' And a white supermarket loaf. A $20/kilo organic Daylesford bull-boar sausage in a $6 sourdough just isn't right.

If you haven't been to Melbourne in a while you might've missed the opening of MoVida Aqui. I'd rate it above the mothership.

Do you turn the potatoes when they're in the oven? What kind of fat are you using? What kind of potatoes (waxy/floury)? What temperature? How long? I usually use Russets or Yukon Golds. Shaking the roasting tray maybe every 10-15 min Usually using olive oil or duck/chicken fat roasting usually between 425 and 500F never tried a convection oven though what is the effect of heating the fat first? Don't just shake the tray, but turn the potatoes. You want an even coating of hot grease all over them. And that temperature is too high, I reckon. In fact that's probably your problem. Roast at 170-180C.

Fair point re: Aria. Interesting what you say about Grossi. Booked in there for next month. Interesting what you say about Pearl. I'd read the glowing reviews and seen, of course, the two hats on the front door. Two hats that they'd had for pretty much a whole decade. Went in a large group. Food ranged from terrible to just okay. Some of the food arrived cold. Service was shocking. And they acknowledged this by providing the eight of us with a couple plates of petit fours. The whole experience felt like they didn't give a shit.

Marinated chicken wings. One of my favourite things in the world.

I was really excited when my booking was confirmed at Quay. Even tho' it's a while away and I was 99% sure I was going to get in, I was so happy to see their email. I've decided to push Tetsuya's, Flying Fish and Sake back to another time--maybe the year after, as I'm sure I can justify making this an annual trip, given I want to try a bunch of other places as well. Bentley. Rockpool. Berowra Waters. As for Aria, yeah, I've seen the menu ... but honestly, that's the sort of food I like. I'm excited as anything about Quay but I have a soft spot, a huge one, for menus like Aria's. It's probably why I enjoyed the hell out of La Luna and MoVida Aqui. But interesting what you say about Maze: I was really happy with the quality of food there and I ignored the general lack of innovation because everything tasted good. I do hope the service and atmosphere is superior at Aria, though. It's maze's service and atmosphere that would hold me back from returning. Incidentally, Keith, what would you rate as your picks of Melbourne? I'm slowly but surely working my way through the '11 Food Guide's hatted restaurants. Only struck two duds so far--Pearl was a shocker and Abla's was mediocre--but then again, I'm not that far into it. Embrasse is my favourite so far.

Contact us page: 1259 Bells Line Of Rd Kurrajong Heights NSW 2758

Do you turn the potatoes when they're in the oven? What kind of fat are you using? What kind of potatoes (waxy/floury)? What temperature? How long?

I'll be with my girlfriend at all of them. A friend or two may be coming to a couple of places. That restaurant you linked does look beautiful. Shame it's so far away. If we'd been driving to Sydney I'd be able to justify it based purely on that photo on the 'menu' page. I'm easily swayed. Yeah, I've heard that about Flying Fish. Maybe I'll save it (and Sake) for next time. Any cheap and cheerful places you can recommend for lunch?

As a general overview, I've been pricing up some degustation meals in Sydney and the most expensive would be $210 per head at Quay (Tetsuya's is the same price). That's not including matching wines. Maybe there are other, more expensive places. In Melbourne, the most expensive is Vue de Monde at $250 per head. I haven't heard of anything else in Australia that expensive. At the other end of the spectrum, you can get a few (either degustation or three course affairs) for around $100. Most degustations in Sydney and Melbourne sit somewhere between the two price points. For example, Aria is $160. Becasse: $130. Guillaume at Bennelong is $180. Those places that charge more than $200 per person for food alone are pretty rare. We're talking well-regarded restaurants here, of course. Places that win local awards such as hats in the Good Food Guide and earn respectable places in the Gourmet Traveller Top 100. If you're talking about regular, 'okay' places I've got no idea what Sydney's prices are like. Down here you'd pay anything from $15-40 per main. Matching wines is variable. For the premium wine matches at Quay, I think it's an extra $190 per head. When I want to Melbourne restaurant La Luna--a meat-centred bistro place--the degustation with matching wines set me back $120, I think it was. The food alone (six courses) would've been $85. That's the cheapest matching wines deal I can recall seeing. Wine matching is usually charged for the whole degustation (altho' Vue de Monde charge anywhere between $10 and $25 per course) but can range from, yeah, that up to the $190. Usually it seems to be about $100 extra, give or take. Individual bottles can range from, say, $50 to however much you want to pay. An individual glass can range from $8 to, yeah, $25 or so, depending on what you want and where you are. When I went to The Press Club, again in Melbourne, it was $295 for the special eight course New Year's Eve degustation--and that includes matching wines. Just for reference. If you're planning on coming to Melbourne as part of your trip I can point you in the direction of a few nice places.