Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

eG Foodblog: ChrisTaylor (2012) - On the south east side. Down south.


ChrisTaylor

Recommended Posts

A product akin to beef jerky. Name refers to strips of rump, basically, even tho' it's not necessarily made from that cut. Essentially, it's lean meat that is rubbed with spices (including coriander seeds) and then air-dried.

Chris Taylor

Host, eG Forums - ctaylor@egstaff.org

 

I've never met an animal I didn't enjoy with salt and pepper.

Melbourne
Harare, Victoria Falls and some places in between

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tonight's dinner: braaied peri peri chicken, boerwors and corn and the tomato salad from Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook.

tomato1.jpg

I sprinkled the tomatoes and red onion with salt (and, in the case of the tomatoes, black pepper too).

tomato2.jpg

The finished salad. The excess salt is washed off. Tomatoes and red onions tossed with basil leaves and a vinaigrette made with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.

braai1.jpg

The meat goes on the braai.

braai2.jpg

The corn is added, after a ~30 minute soak in cold water. I've never bothered to soak corn before BBQing it, but I've been told it moistens the end result some.

braai3-1.jpg

The cooked meat. Sorry about the shadows.

of1.jpg

of2.jpg

Time for an Old Fashioned.

Tomorrow: Monsieur Truffe chocolates, Queen Victoria Market, lunch (I'm tossing up MoVida Aqui, Kenzan @ GPO and Bistro Vue) and good Australian steak.

Edited by ChrisTaylor (log)

Chris Taylor

Host, eG Forums - ctaylor@egstaff.org

 

I've never met an animal I didn't enjoy with salt and pepper.

Melbourne
Harare, Victoria Falls and some places in between

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Enjoying the thread! Having lived in South Africa, (mieliepap and Boerewors and biltong- from wild animals)I found it cool to see the S.A. part! Braai vleis and all! We also visited Zimbabwe and Zambia- were you at the Boma Boma retaurant in Victoria falls area? Other than that, I feel dizzy by the huge and gigantic variety available shelves and shelves and then more-to the point of loss of senses.How on earth do you know what to pick up, to try and use? Trial and error? Experience from travels? Friends?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Chris ... you should show them Acland St, Degraves St, Lygon St, Sydney Rd, Malvern Rd, and Station St ... as well as all the markets (Prahran, QVM, Footscray, and Camberwell) ... :)

There is no love more sincere than the love of food - George Bernard Shaw
Link to comment
Share on other sites

braai2.jpg

The corn is added, after a ~30 minute soak in cold water. I've never bothered to soak corn before BBQing it, but I've been told it moistens the end result some.

I've never heard of soaking shucked corn like that. I have heard of soaking corn with the husks still on before BBQing so the husks don't burn so quickly when placed on the BBQ. Interesting.

Thanks for blogging!

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Enjoying the thread! Having lived in South Africa, (mieliepap and Boerewors and biltong- from wild animals)I found it cool to see the S.A. part! Braai vleis and all! We also visited Zimbabwe and Zambia- were you at the Boma Boma retaurant in Victoria falls area? Other than that, I feel dizzy by the huge and gigantic variety available shelves and shelves and then more-to the point of loss of senses.How on earth do you know what to pick up, to try and use? Trial and error? Experience from travels? Friends?

I went to the Boma at Victoria Falls, yes. I posted a travelogue about my (food-related) experiences there and elsewhere in the country.

Mostly, what I pick up I've heard about from other people--could be friends, could be the forum, could other food-related sources [cookbooks, magaine articles, websites. Boerwors caught my eye years ago because I saw a recipe thought them and figured, hey, a sausage with beef and pork and coriander? That sounds like something I want. Sometimes a product will just call to me from the shelf. 'Wild' olives? I know I want that.

And too, I tend to approach many food-related things with classic spectrum obsessiveness. When I found out I could go to a butcher or poultry store and order meats I'd never tried before--rabbit, hare, possum, muttonbird, pheasant, wallaby--it was pretty much an instant decision to not stop until I'd had everything. When I go to a restaurant, whether it's here (and it was the same when I went to Zimbabwe), you can bet I'm going to order the fillet of blesbok, the braised kudu, the braaied warthog steak. The rest of the menu ceases to exist.

"Single origin, organic, fair trade coffee"

You sure you aren't in Portland, OR?

Melbourne is a city of coffee drinkers, many of them very serious about their favourite source of caffeine (we're getting that way about tea, too, thanks to, er, T2). And, too, as you'll maybe pick up on at Queen Vic market, there's a bit of that greenorganichipster thing going on here. Mostly concentrated in little pockets on the city, aside from the odd cafe here or there. It's, er, not big out my way--Springvale and Dandenong and to a lesser extent Clayton (as much as it's home to Monash University's largest campus) are very different places to some of the inner suburbs. Too, Cumulus Inc (and Cutler & Co, for that matter), attracts a crowd that at least in part has the whole greenorganichipster feel about it. You'll possibly see a bit more of that side of Melbourne today, as I'm intending to visit Casa Iberica in Fitzroy and Monsieur Truffe in Brunswick East. I haven't shown a lot of that because as much as I like nice coffee and whatnot, that's not--and has never been--where I live.

Hey Chris ... you should show them Acland St, Degraves St, Lygon St, Sydney Rd, Malvern Rd, and Station St ... as well as all the markets (Prahran, QVM, Footscray, and Camberwell) ... :)

Looking at QV Market today and will maybe get the chance to hit Prahran market and Malvern road.

When annachan is settled and such in Melbourne we should use it as an excuse to have an eG dinner someplace.

Chris Taylor

Host, eG Forums - ctaylor@egstaff.org

 

I've never met an animal I didn't enjoy with salt and pepper.

Melbourne
Harare, Victoria Falls and some places in between

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Monsieur Truffe [Collingwood store]

Monsieur Truffe, which started out as a little stall at Prahran Market, is an interesting chocolate shop. Not interesting because it sells very nice chocolates, no--if I just wanted nice chocolates, I could buy maybe some Valrhona much closer to home--but because it's one of only a couple of chocolate shops in Australia that actually roasts cococa beans and, you know, actually makes--in the true sense of the word--its own chocolate. The roasting and whatnot isn't done at the Collingwood store, no. That all takes place at their (newer) store on Lygon Street in Brunswick East (which isn't too far away under normal circumstances, but isn't going to happen when I'm mostly travelling on foot in mid-30s heat).

monsieur1.jpg

monsieur2.jpg

A selection of chocolates. Monsieur Truffe sells large bars (pictured), sample-size bars and various gift packs (which you can pack yourself, if you want to, say, sample chocolate of x% made from beans harvested in a bunch of different countries, or if you maybe want a broad spectrum of chocolates starting at white and ending at, say, 90%). They also sell baked goods, filled truffles and a selection of other chocolates, but the focus--especially for takeaway customers--is very much on the plain-packaged bars. They sell cocoa powder and drinking chocolate. There are tables and chairs where you can sit and get, say, a chocolate croissant.

monsieur3.jpg

Baked goods including croissants and macarons, chocolate truffles, chocolate bars adulterated with various things (i.e. nuts) and samples of various new products ...

monsieur4.jpg

Such as these roasted hazelnuts.

Smith and Johnston Streets, Collingwood

Smith Street, Collingwood, used to be known for heroin and crime, but gentrification rolled through and the street--while still a bit grotty--is now known for bars, cafes and restaurants, ranging from cheap and cheerful Vietnamese places to vegan places populated by greenorganichipsters with a taste for organic ale and lentils.

smithstjosie1.jpg

smithstjosie2.jpg

Josie Bones, a restaurant/bar that specialises in two things, mainly: beer and offal. Two of the people behind this place were competitors on the first season of MasterChef Australia. I've yet to visit Josie--Collingwood is a bit of a pain for me to get to--but I own the book.

smithstorganic1.jpg

smithstorganic2.jpg

smithstorganic3.jpg

smithstorganic4.jpg

A random organic store I wandered past ... and then into, when I saw that they sold beer, cider and wine. Aside from the gaia-friendly booze, they sold all the usual stuff for an organic shop--expensive fruits and vegetables, a selection of oils and vinegars, nuts and lentils and cereals of various kinds, juices, coffees and teas, herbs and spices and other things with alleged medicinal qualities.

johnstonstbooze1.jpg

johnstonstbooze2.jpg

johnstonstbooze3.jpg

I turned down Johnston Street, destined for Fitzroy's famous Casa Iberica deli. Just before I hit Casa Iberica I ran into this place: a store specialising in awesome beer and wine and, to some extent, cider. They also sold a selection of whiskies, vodkas and other spirits, but I didn't pay too much attention to those offerings.

The beers and ciders were mostly Australian, but there were a few from other places: Belgium, France and the US to name a few. They stocked a lot of Australian beer and cider that's difficult to get elsewhere (you either need to go to a store like this, order online, go straight to the manufacturer or maybe try your luck at Sword's).

Casa Iberica

casaiberica1.jpg

casaiberica2.jpg

casaiberica3.jpg

casaiberica4.jpg

casaiberica5.jpg

casaiberica6.jpg

casaiberica7.jpg

casaiberica8.jpg

Located in Fitzroy is Casa Iberica, a deli that specialises in products from Spain, Portugal and Latin America. You can buy chorzio and morcilla and imported ham. You can buy anchovies, both salted and canned, and other preserved seafood products. Most of the deli-type stuff can be had elsewhere--the same brands of canned beans and extra virgin olive oil and vinegar and paprika are avaliable all over the place, including sometimes in supermarkets--but there are a few things you'd have a hard time finding anywhere else in Melbourne, such as a wide range of dried chillies from Mexico (at very reasonable prices when compared to, say, the spice shop in Carlton), fresh corn tortillas (the supermarkets only sell the flour-based kind), cans of corn smut (I was tempted but didn't cave--spending a bit of money at that beer and wine shop probably discouraged me), some interesting sauces (I saw a couple made from Amazonian chillies and whatnot) and other assorted goods (industrial-sized cans of tomatillos and several kinds of pre-made mole). They also sell a limited selection of kitchenware. Before MoVida and MasterChef came along, you'd have to visit a shop like this--and there are very few of them around--to buy a paella pan and bomba rice.

Queen Victoria Market

There are a few markets around the inner 'burbs--South Melbourne, Footscray and Prahran are all a short drive/tram ride/train trip/bus journey from the CBD and all have a different focus. Prahran Market is all about expensive but very good quality produce, as it's in a wealthy area. Want the best salmon steaks, the best racks of lamb, the best mangoes? Go there. Just be prepared to pay through the nose for the privledge of eating well. Stalls at the Footscray market, however, tend to compete with each other based on price rather than quality. A lot of them cater to the area's high population of Vietnamese people (and other migrant groups).

Queen Victoria Market has a little bit of everything, I think. Many stalls sell the same thing as their neighbours and compete on price rather than quality, but there are also a few stalls that treat money as if its no object and offer very good quality produce (or totally organic/free-range/natural/vegan, if that's your idea of good). There aren't really any stalls that cater to the Asian market as well as, say, Dandenong or Footscray markets do. The few 'ethnic' stalls at Queen Vic cater to Europeans--Greeks, Italians and, to a lesser extent, the French and Spanish.

Incidentally, if you're a tourist in Melbourne, you'll probably come here. It's worth the trip. If you're staying a hotel but feel tempted (and why not?) by the steaks, seafood, 'roo or whatever, you can always buy your meat and tram it down to some public BBQs--there are a few along the banks of the Yarra (just don't touch or even look to closely at the water)--and cook yourself some dinner.

There's African shop, the photo of which I lost. Sells mostly ready-meals--beans in sauce, meat and beans in sauce, etc--as well as a few other, often very expensive, products, including biltong, droewors and mealie meal. I think this shop has gone down hill. When I first stumbled upon it maybe three or four years ago, there was a Nigerian guy at the helm. He sometimes sold ostrich biltong (it was expensive but very good and, because it was ostrich, worth the obscene asking price) and large dried fish (a very West African ingredient). He was a decent bloke, too. Shame.

qvbakery.jpg

qvbakery2.jpg

One of a couple of bakeries in the market. This one does a bit of everything. There's another that focused mostly on Middle Eastern stuff (bagels, pide and whatnot) and yet another that sells pies and cakes. The bakeries form a significant and attractive portion of ready-to-eat food at the market. There's a couple of food court-type places that I've never bothered with, a couple of cafes, a chicken shop or two and, finally, a couple of places actually worth bothering with: one that sells very cheap, very good Middle Eastern wraps and the Melbourne Bratwurst place, as featured on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. The bratwurst--I recommend the hot bratwurst with French mustard, saeurkraut and grated cheese in a roll--is worth experiencing at least once. It's good.

qvcaffeine1.jpg

qvcaffeine2.jpg

A cafe that also sells a very large variety of coffees and teas.

qvbutcher1.jpg

qvbutcher2.jpg

qvbutcher3.jpg

qvbutcher4.jpg

qvbutcher5.jpg

qvbutcher6.jpg

qvbutcher7.jpg

qvbutcher8.jpg

qvbutcher9.jpg

qvbutcher10.jpg

qvafrican.jpg

Butchers and poultry stores. Some, as you can see, compete on price (there's one, even, that sells huge trays of insanely cheap, but surprisingly not terrible, meat in large quantities) whereas others focus on quality. I've never got around to checking out the expensive organic place. My favourite is the one just down the way from the organic place, actually: it sells lamb and goat, but its main focus is great steak. You can get wagyu, Black Angus (very popular in Australia at the moment--even McDonald's and Four-n-Twenty pies use the stuff), Cape Grim, Riverine and other examples of premium Australian beef. Having worked through the selection when I was at the University of Melbourne and trammed past the market twice a week, every week to pick up dinner, I'd say without a doubt that the Cape Grim--the one grass fed option--is the best. The steaks are cut to order, meaning you can ask for a nice roastable piece or some thin sandwich steaks or pretty much anything in between. The butchers are very good at eyeballing what 300 grams of rib eye looks like.

qvchocolate.jpg

The Queen Vic branch of Koko Black, a very popular chain of chocolate shops. For a while there--and it's still on-going, I guess--stores that sold decent chocolate and let you sit down for a hot chocolate/coffee/whatever were very, very, very popular in Melbourne. Koko Black and its rivals, including the Lindt Cafe and Max Brenner (which, amusingly, often attracts leftist/socialist/anti-Israel protests) made/make a killing.

qvdeli1.jpg

qvdeli2.jpg

qvdeli3.jpg

The deli section. Most of the delis sell pretty much the same selection of products, altho' there are three or four that specialise in one line of products or anything.

qvfrench1.jpg

qvfrench2.jpg

The French place is a good example. It sells a wide variety of cheeses, terrines, rillettes and other goods, including tins of foie gras.

qvpolish1.jpg

There's also a Polish deli.

qvhoney.jpg

A stall that specialises in honey.

qveggs1.jpg

qveggs2.jpg

The egg place.

qvseafood1.jpg

qvseafood2.jpg

qvseafood3.jpg

qvseafood4.jpg

qvseafood5.jpg

qvseafood6.jpg

qvseafood7.jpg

qvseafood8.jpg

Some seafood vendors. Things that might jump out at you:

  • yabbies: these are a (very nice, by the way--I suggest buying some of them for your BBQ on the Yarra) kind of freshwater crayfish
  • the large, salt water crayfish: what passes for 'lobster' down here
  • bugs, either from either Moreton bay or Balmain bay, are the things that look a bit like small lobsters, I guess: they taste similar, too

qvswords1.jpg

Swords, a stall that specialises in beer, cider and wine. Again, the focus is on smaller producers, imports and unusual beers.

qvveg1.jpg

qvveg2.jpg

My favourite vegetable shop--expensive, yes, but not as expensive as some of the organic places just down the way. This stall has a little bit of everything (it's only small) but tends to have an interesting selection of tomatoes, mushrooms and fruit (you'll sometimes find, say, Buddha's Hand or Australian truffles for sale).

qvveg3.jpg

qvveg4.jpg

qvveg5.jpg

qvveg6.jpg

qvveg7.jpg

Kenzan @ GPO

It seemed like a good day for sushi, so I headed to the GPO branch of much-loved and long-standing Japanese restaurant Kenzan. The mothership is locaed on the other side of the CBD. Their GPO branch is smaller and targetted at people looking for a quick but good lunch--either takeaway or sit-in--during their break at work.

kenzan1.jpg

A reasonable and 'free' miso soup.

kenzan2.jpg

The main-sized sushi selection. They offered to give me nothing but salmon, but I prefer variety.

The sushi was nice. Perhaps not as nice as what's served at the sushi bar in the mothership, but well worth the $23 asking price. It's made to order, by the way (altho' if you're in a hurry, you can grab a little plastic tub of the pre-made stuff to takeaway).

GPO

gpochocolate1.jpg

gpochocolate2.jpg

A chocolate stall in the GPO. The GPO, by the way, was once Melbourne's main post office but is now an expensive shopping centre.

David Jones Food Hall

foodhall1.jpg

foodhall2.jpg

foodhall3.jpg

foodhall4.jpg

foodhall5.jpg

foodhall6.jpg

foodhall7.jpg

foodhall8.jpg

foodhall9.jpg

foodhall10.jpg

foodhall11.jpg

foodhall12.jpg

foodhall13.jpg

foodhall14.jpg

foodhall15.jpg

foodhall16.jpg

The grocery section of an upmarket department store. Some nice, and sometimes interesting, products ... with prices to match.

Bits and pieces of Clayton

Some photos I took on the very short walk from the train station to the supermarket.

clayton1.jpg

clayton2.jpg

The view from the Dandenong-bound side of train station: a few Indian restaurants, a (shit) bakery and a couple of Indian grocers, including large India at Home.

clayton3.jpg

A very popular but shit Indian restaurant. There's one exactly like it pretty much exactly across the street. The shame of it is that that the place that used to be here, Sarawan, offered very nice curries for a very reasonable price.

clayton4.jpg

India at Home's most serious competition--there are a lot of other Indian grocers in the area, but Sarawan and India at Home are by far the largest. As with IaH, Sarawan doesn't just sell food (spices, a limited selection of fresh vegetables, large sacks of rice, beans, canned goods, frozen goods): it also sells music, movies, religious trinkets (little statues of gods and whatnot), cosmetics and haircare products.

clayton5.jpg

One of a couple of Japanese restaurants in the area. Very cheap and ... not bad. Not great, either, but for $9 the 'Jyu Jyu box', which contains rice, three gyoza and some teriyaki chicken isn't a bad meal. At the very least, it beats most of what's locally avaliable.

clayton6.jpg

Used to be part of the Sarawan empire (they had the grocer, the afore-mentioned restaurant, this place and a butchery around the corner). Sells Indian food and pizzas, some of which are Indian-themed (i.e. there's a goat mince pizza jacked with spices).

clayton7.jpg

A small Greek shop that sells a very large range of nuts, beans, dried fruit, grains, tea, coffee and lentils. Also stocks canned goods, spices, biscuits and other pre-packaged sweet things and a few small selection of Greek cheeses (small as in maybe 2-4 different kinds).

clayton8.jpg

The afore-mentioned butcher, a Korean cake shop, an Indonesian restaurant, a Korean restaurant.

clayton9.jpg

A selection of kangaroo products sold in one of Clayton's two Coles supermarkets. Two supermarkets from the same chain are kept apart by no more than a carpark (one of them used to part of the chain's 'cheap' label, Bi-Lo, but the company rebranded all of it's Bi-Los to Coles, so they were left with two stores and, presumably, decided that was a better situation than vacating one, which would allow the competition to move in).

The haul

monsieur.jpg

Two gift packs from Monsieur Truffe--one for myself, one for my father.

collingwood.jpg

Smoked paprika from Casa Iberica and a bottle each of beer, cider and wine from the organic shop.

beerandcider.jpg

Beers and ciders from the beer and wine place in Collingwood. Saison Dupont, incidentally, is one of my favourite beers. Henry of Harcourt produces excellent cider: I've yet to try their perry or 'last apple', but the Duck & Bull is my favourite cider of all time, standing up nicely even to expensive French ciders.

qvmarket.jpg

Some of the products I purchased at the Queen Vic. A little can of foie gras, some raspberry beer and finger limes (the plan is to use them in a gin and tonic). Not pictured: Black Russian tomatoes, Swiss brown mushrooms, a bread roll and 300 grams worth of Cape Grim porterhouse.

Edited by ChrisTaylor (log)

Chris Taylor

Host, eG Forums - ctaylor@egstaff.org

 

I've never met an animal I didn't enjoy with salt and pepper.

Melbourne
Harare, Victoria Falls and some places in between

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was in the city today ... just got home! Sounds as if we almost crossed paths ;) And yes it would be good to meet up with annachan and a few others for an eG dinner somewhere. I am going to Cutler & Co tonight for my 40th birthday :(

Edited by Keith_W (log)
There is no love more sincere than the love of food - George Bernard Shaw
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You should have a nice meal and birthday there. When I went (same thing happened, annoyingly, with the Royal Mail in Dunkeld) I was far too sick to enjoy any of it, but got the impression it was very good. Degustation with matching wines, I hope. >_>

Chris Taylor

Host, eG Forums - ctaylor@egstaff.org

 

I've never met an animal I didn't enjoy with salt and pepper.

Melbourne
Harare, Victoria Falls and some places in between

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So much information!

I got a few questions:

*How does Monsieur Truffle's chocolate compare to Koko Black and Max Brenner (not a fan of either)?

*Casa Iberica - does it have Jamon Iberico de Ballote? If not, have you seen it for sale anywhere?

*What is South Melbourne Market like as compare to the others (Queen Victoria, Prahan)? Any other markets worth checking out?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

anna, I think Casa Iberica has Serrano, and not the real stuff. I have seen Iberico in Jones the Grocer (Chadstone and Doncaster), Simon Johnson, and in a few posh butchers, e.g. Peter Bouchier of Toorak.

South Melbourne market also focuses on quality. It is slightly downmarket compared to Prahran, but you can buy almost the same things there. It has a very good Polish butcher - which is reason enough for me to make the trip.

Other markets worth checking out - Footscray and Springvale (Vietnamese and Asian produce).

There is no love more sincere than the love of food - George Bernard Shaw
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The demon rum

wine.jpg

My wine collection. It's mostly made up of French and Australian reds, plus a few Italians, South Africans, Spanish, New Zealanders, Americans and Argentines for good measure. Most were in the $20-30AUD price range, which down here, at least, can buy some reasonable plonk. Most were purchased from either Dan Murphy's or Nick's, a wine and spirits retailer that's well worth checking out if you're in either Doncaster or Armadale.

The three standing bottles are an organic shiraz I bought earlier today, some Penfolds 'Bluestone' port and a sparkling shiraz. Most notable bottle is, I guess, the '03 St Henri, which I'll probably be opening up on Thursday. The goal of the collection isn't to put everything away for a long time, altho' there are a handful of bottles I'm hoping to keep for 10+ years. Basically I decided that I wanted a collection that covered as many varietals as possible as I wanted to try new things.

spirits.jpg

Spirits, liqueurs and such.

Minis: Appleton Estate 8, Sullivan's Cove Double Cask (rum and bourbon), Patron Silver, Midori, St Germain, Jameson

Whiskies: Canadian Club, Maker's Mark, Woodford Reserve, Wild Turkey Rye, Bushmills 10, Hellyer's Road Original (Pinot Noir finish), Smith's Angaston 8

Rums: Mount Gay Eclipse, Green Island

Brandy: Martell VSOP, Grand Marnier

Gin: Hendrick's, Tanqueray

Other: Pernod, Amaretto, Galliano Vanilla, Americano Rosso, Green Chartreuse, Campari, Espolon Reposado, Absolut, Chambord, Cointreau, Kahlua, Maraschino

Etc: rose water, orange blossom water, Angostura bitters, bullshit grenadine

Not pictured: sweet red vermouth, tonic water, soda water

whisky1.jpg

whisky2.jpg

whisky3.jpg

Single malt scotch.

Aberlour a'Bunadh (batch 28)

AnCnoc 12

Ardbeg 17 (ind. bottling)

Ardbeg Uigadail

Auchentoshan Valinch

Bowmore 18 (ind. bottling)

Coal Ila 11 (ind. bottling)

Coal Ila 28 (ind. bottling)

Glenfarclas 15

Glenfiddich 12

Glenfiddich 21 Gran Reserva

Glenmorangie Nectar D'Or

Lagavulin 16

Laphroaig 18 (ind. bottling)

Talisker 10

Talisker Distiller's Edition (1996)

Literature

books1.jpg

books2.jpg

books3.jpg

books4.jpg

books5.jpg

books6.jpg

books7.jpg

The book collection. Not pictured are some recent purchases/gifts still on their way to Australia:

Marque - Marque Best

Eleven Madison Park - Daniel Humm

MoVida Cocina - Frank Camorra

Joy of Mixology - Gary Regan

Wine Bible - Karen McNeil

Serious Barbecue - Adam Perry Lang

Nobu Vegetarian - Nobu Matsuhisa

On the matter of finger limes ...

lime-1.jpg

Here's what a finger lime looks like when you cut it open.

gin.jpg

Here's what it looks like when you dump the 'caviar' into a glass, muddle it up some (so the little balls don't just float on the surface of the drink) and then proceed to make a gin and tonic in the same glass.

Steak and etcs

steak1.jpg

Following the Hawksmoor at Home way of seasoning: black pepper at a 50:50 blend of regular salt and smoked salt.

steak2.jpg

steak3.jpg

On the BBQ.

mushrooms.jpg

Meanwhile ...

steak4.jpg

Rare. A bit more smoked salt and pepper, too, at this point.

meal.jpg

Incidentally, rare grass fed steak and foie gras pate go together really, really, really well. The lazy man's tournedos rossini.

Chris Taylor

Host, eG Forums - ctaylor@egstaff.org

 

I've never met an animal I didn't enjoy with salt and pepper.

Melbourne
Harare, Victoria Falls and some places in between

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So much information!

I got a few questions:

*How does Monsieur Truffle's chocolate compare to Koko Black and Max Brenner (not a fan of either)?

*Casa Iberica - does it have Jamon Iberico de Ballote? If not, have you seen it for sale anywhere?

*What is South Melbourne Market like as compare to the others (Queen Victoria, Prahan)? Any other markets worth checking out?

I'm not a fan of Koko Black or Max Brenner either, but in my limited experience with their products (I've only had a couple of his chocolates before and haven't opened my sample pack yet) I like Monsieur Truffe. A lot. Until the place became well-known thanks to food blogs and such, they didn't seem to give a shit about the cafe aspect of the mothership store (and the Brunswick place didn't exist at that time)--it was all about the chocolate. And to me, that's a good sign. There are lots of cafes in Melbourne--a few of them very good, even--so it's not like we really need another one.

I didn't see a particularly interesting selection of jamon when I was there. A lot of the meat products they make themselves. You could try a few of the delis in Carlton (I'm thinking of a place on Lygon Street, just down the way from the Brunetti mothership) or basically everywhere Keith_W suggested.

I've been to South Melbourne market only once and even then, it was a very brief trip--I had limited time and it was looking for something specific, so I ignored everything else about the place.

All of the markets I've been to--Queen Vic, Footscray, Springvale, Prahran, South Melbourne, Dandenong, Springvale--are worth the trip at least once, I think. They all have their strengths and--and maybe this isn't the correct term at all--weaknesses. Prahran, Dandenong and Footscray markets in particular are surrounded by lots of interesting places to eat or shop, ranging from The Essential Ingredient in Prahran to some of those shops (and a few I skimmed over) in Dandenong.

I've yet to check out Camberwell's market but I've heard good things.

Chris Taylor

Host, eG Forums - ctaylor@egstaff.org

 

I've never met an animal I didn't enjoy with salt and pepper.

Melbourne
Harare, Victoria Falls and some places in between

Link to comment
Share on other sites

perry.jpg

Henry of Harcourt's Perry. I haven't had this before: I've only had their Original and Duck & Bull ciders, the latter being me favourite cider. These are ciders (and perries) made fairly close to home, by the way--Harcourt is a town maybe 90 minutes drive (which, in Australian terms, isn't much at all) from the Melbourne CBD. It's known for apples. A couple of small-but-decent cider places do their thing out there--Henry's, obviously, and Bress (which also makes wine and, of course, has a Bresse chicken as its logo).

Cider is very popular in Australia at the moment, altho' the style of cider that's popular is very different to what Henry makes. Think very sweet drinks that may or may not taste a little bit like sweet apples or pears. Some of it's made locally, some of it's imported from Scandanavia. The Duck & Bull is a fairly dry, cloudy cider and is, pretty much, everything I like in a cider. Most of the French (and a lot of the English, such as the Weston's range) cider that's sold at Dan Murphy's is drier than big sellers such as 5 Seeds, Rekorderlig and Strongbow.

The perry is nice, by the way.

Tomorrow's plan of attack? It's going to be warm, although not as warm as today (about ten degrees cooler), so I reckon I'm going to be BBQing again. This time, however, I'm going to buy some seafood from Oakleigh. A mixture of things that look good is the plan--could be shellfish, could be prawns, could be garfish, could be a whole trout. While I'm there I guess I'll wander around the market and a few of the food-related places (cake shops, butchers, nut and bean places, etc). Oakleigh, unlike Clayton, has remained very, very, very Greek.

Lunch will be at PM24, a recently-opened and well-regarded French bistro in the CBD. And too, given I'll be in the CBD and have already knocked over a couple of the big destinations--Queen Vic and the Food Hall--I might show you a bit more of the city itself.

Edited by ChrisTaylor (log)

Chris Taylor

Host, eG Forums - ctaylor@egstaff.org

 

I've never met an animal I didn't enjoy with salt and pepper.

Melbourne
Harare, Victoria Falls and some places in between

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Monsieur Truffe

P1240001.jpg

Tasting a small piece of each bar at the moment.

In case the labels are difficult to read, there's white (36%, no origin statement), milk (38%, Venezulean cocoa), milk (40%, Ghanian cocoa), milk (42%, Ecuadorian cocoa), milk (49%, Venezulean cocoa) and dark (52%, no origin statement). My father's sample box has a different selection.

All of the chocolates are nice. I don't eat enough chocolate to be able to offer serious, detailed tasting notes, but ...

  • in the white 36% I can taste the cocoa, which is nice--in fact, this is by far the best white chocolate I've ever had
  • the four different milk chocolates are all very good--my favourite being, by a narrow margin, the 49% from Venezuela--not surprising, tho' as I tend to enjoy chocolate that sits at that ~50% mark
  • least favourite is the 'dark'--the single origin stuff is much better. Truffe sort of focuses on single origin chocolate and I understand that chocolate from Ghana is different to chocolate from Ecuador or wherever else, but I kind of expected a blend of cocoa from all those places to still be good. And it is ... if you compare it to, say, a bar of Lindt or whatever, but it's easily the weakest bar in the box
  • next time I'd like to get, say, the 49% Ghanian, Venezuelan and Ecuadorian, just so I could make a direct comparison between the three points of origin (I don't know if Truffe gets cocoa from anywhere else)
  • there's a piece of paper in the box that mentions 'like coffee [and] wine, the natural flavours will depend on the type of tree, the quality of soil and the know-how of the chocolate maker.' They offer chocolate appreciation classes in-store.

Edited by ChrisTaylor (log)

Chris Taylor

Host, eG Forums - ctaylor@egstaff.org

 

I've never met an animal I didn't enjoy with salt and pepper.

Melbourne
Harare, Victoria Falls and some places in between

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chris,

I'm really enjoying this, it's always interesting to see your home town presented through someone else's eyes.

I also appreciate the distances you've travelled so far- for the benefit of overseas readers, Melbourne is a geographically HUGE city. While the suburbs that Chris has named may not mean much to anyone overseas, they're not at all close and you've really covered some distance in only a few day. Great job :-)

I've often wondered how (if?) your epic restaurant trip to Sydney has changed your outlook on food and eating out? I enjoyed your write-up a lot, and I've re-read it several times, and I'd love to hear your thoughts now that some time has passed. Was it just a fun week? Was it something more? Did eating 14 amazing meals in 7 days leave a more lasting insight? I'd really love to know...

-Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know: it's still in the post. The restaurant is incredible. I'm hoping there are recipes for the rabbit and duck egg dishes we had.

Only rabbit dish in there is young white rabbit with wakame, cashew and zucchini. The book also has a recipe for poached duck egg with salt and vinegar cabbage.

eta. I'd better add that each recipe in the book is somewhat conversational. He doesn't have the traditional ingredients, methods, etc. Also, he does not do substitutions: if he uses a pacojet, that is what is in the recipe; similarly, vacuuming fruit or vegetables to achieve a texture is written as if you have this machine. The foreword is by Rene Redzipi, which gives you some idea of the level of recipes included. This is a high-end cook's book.

Edited by nickrey (log)

Nick Reynolds, aka "nickrey"

"The Internet is full of false information." Plato
My eG Foodblog

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chris,

I'm really enjoying this, it's always interesting to see your home town presented through someone else's eyes.

I also appreciate the distances you've travelled so far- for the benefit of overseas readers, Melbourne is a geographically HUGE city. While the suburbs that Chris has named may not mean much to anyone overseas, they're not at all close and you've really covered some distance in only a few day. Great job :-)

I've often wondered how (if?) your epic restaurant trip to Sydney has changed your outlook on food and eating out? I enjoyed your write-up a lot, and I've re-read it several times, and I'd love to hear your thoughts now that some time has passed. Was it just a fun week? Was it something more? Did eating 14 amazing meals in 7 days leave a more lasting insight? I'd really love to know...

-Chris

I was thinking of this the other day, actually, when replying to annachan's thread. The answer is 'yes' and I'm somewhat surprised to hear/see myself say that. Why? Because it seems the standard in Sydney is slightly higher. Or let me rephrase that. Go to 10 restaurants in Melbourne and 10 restaurants in Sydney. There's a greater chance you'll have more awesome meals in Sydney than you will in Melbourne. There are truly great restaurants in Melbourne and I'm sure I've yet to experience some, but Marque, Bentley, Four in Hand and est. in particular are hard to beat. When I went to describe the quality of Jacques Reymond, Marque popped into my head as a point of reference. It's good, sure, but it's not Marque-level great. It hasn't ruined Victorian restaurants for me: it wasn't long after my trip to Sydney that I went to and really enjoyed Daylesford's Lake House.

I don't know: it's still in the post. The restaurant is incredible. I'm hoping there are recipes for the rabbit and duck egg dishes we had.

Only rabbit dish in there is young white rabbit with wakame, cashew and zucchini. The book also has a recipe for poached duck egg with salt and vinegar cabbage.

eta. I'd better add that each recipe in the book is somewhat conversational. He doesn't have the traditional ingredients, methods, etc. Also, he does not do substitutions: if he uses a pacojet, that is what is in the recipe; similarly, vacuuming fruit or vegetables to achieve a texture is written as if you have this machine. The foreword is by Rene Redzipi, which gives you some idea of the level of recipes included. This is a high-end cook's book.

The cashew and wakame recipe is indeed the rabbit in question.

Chris Taylor

Host, eG Forums - ctaylor@egstaff.org

 

I've never met an animal I didn't enjoy with salt and pepper.

Melbourne
Harare, Victoria Falls and some places in between

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...