Gorging for a month...

After a bit of a work induced blogging hiatus I thought it would be fun to reminisce about the month of eating that has led me to hitting the gym almost every day and subsisting on Lite'n Easy for a few weeks; desperate measures to avoid buying new jeans and to get ready for an upcoming northern hemisphere summer visit.

Meatmother

I ducked into Meatmother in Richmond with my Kansas City barbecue obsessed father and barbecue novice BF to check out what the 'cue in Richmond was like. From a Melbourne perspective it was decent but I probably wouldn't repeat visit if it were located in the US (to be fair i have only been to top notch barbecue restaurants in KC and Austin and my dad regularly smokes me low and slow ribs of amazingness). If only Aaron Franklin would set up shop in Melbourne.

Pork ribs with a side of BBQ beans

Brisket with slaw 

Beef short rib with mac and cheese

Highlights: the bacon old fashioned, the fun bartender, the sides, the short rib and the pork ribs
Avoid: the brisket if you've ever been to Texas and eaten barbecue - it is nicely cooked beef but missing a smokiness

Work lunch @PM24

My team at work went for a celebratory lunch at PM24 after a major deadline.

The three course set menu was good value. I had the pork terrine, the rotisserie chicken and the pear and almond tart (and a fair amount of wine...). The chicken was the highlight.

Gravlax

Rotisserie chicken

Almond and pear tart

Pork terrine

I personally think that there are regional restaurants that are doing more exciting and consistent food that probably deserve more hats than PM24.

Spring St Grocer

I've been in to Spring St Grocer a few times since it opened (so many times for the gelati when the gelateria opened last year). Since the grocer/deli/cheesemonger section opened, I've found that their interesting array sandwiches make an excellent addition to my work lunch options (prices ranging from $10 for a more basic sandwich to $16 for one with foie gras). They started out with a menu of over 20 sandwiches but are curating them down to a few less. Usually I would be unhappy about that, but in this case it will help reduce that feeling of being overwhelmed by choice. 

Pastrami on rye

 Spring St Grocer's take home pasta sauces are also worth a look if you're feeling lazy - absolutely delicious.

EARL Canteen

After hearing that EARL would be opening a second outpost in Collins Place I developed an insurmountable craving for pork belly that could only be cured by a long trek down to the legal district for a sandwich meal aka crackling delivery device. EARL's pork belly has long been one of my favourite sandwiches in Melbourne. 

Mildura Brewery Pub and Stefano's Bakery Cafe

On a recent whirlwind work consultation trip to Mildura we ducked into Mildura Brewery for a decent pub lunch. I ordered the rump steak thinking it would be the smaller of the three steaks on offer, but ended up with one of the largest steaks ever seen in Australia. It was huge. It was also very flavoursome, properly aged, and well cooked.

Giant steak

We also had a lovely breakfast at Stefano's cafe with passable coffee. Both are worth a visit if you find yourself in Mildura.

Poached eggs with mushrooms, goats curd and hollandaise

Industry Beans

A good friend of mine, who rarely gets excited about eating out, recently sent me an excited text about the food at Industry Beans. I'm glad I took her recommendation and trawled the back streets of Fitzroy to drop in for a weekend 'brunch' (at around 3pm). 

The coffee is exceptional and the kitchen is keeping up by delivering innovative dishes that tie in with the coffee. I really enjoyed the cold drip 'caviar' with the French toast. 

French toast

Deep fried poached eggs

Chat potatoes

Chicago: All that... food 1

On my recent trip to the US I stopped for a few days in Chicago to visit my College roommate and check out what Chicago had to offer. Chicago has an abundance of good restaurants and an innovative dining scene. It’s also home to some of the top restaurants in the USA if not the world (Alinea, Next etc.). Unfortunately my quest to get tickets to Next Restaurant was unsuccessful thanks to a lack of understanding and a billing system that doesn’t accept foreign credit cards (tsk tsk it’s 2011 get with the program). Instead I had to ‘settle’ with going to a few different restaurants to sample the variety available in Chicago.  

The French Market

Before lunching at Blackbird KC and I wondered around admiring the red brick buildings. We wandered into Chicago’s French market to admire the baked goods and see what kind of produce was available...

Macarons

Pastries

Blackbird

 

Blackbird is the flagship of the James Beard Award winning chef, Paul Kahan, a Chicago born and bred culinary master. Its fit out is very modern and light filled with non-offensive white façade and white/grey and dark wood interior. Despite the modern touches, the main dining room is charming, no doubt assisted by the sunshine streaming in from outside (lunch visit) to warm diners accompanied by extremely competent staff that one would expect at a michelin starred restaurant. 

Upon entering the well oiled machine that is blackbird, KC and I were made extremely welcome by our server. We chose the extremely good value $22 (plus tax & gratuity) three course prix fixe.

We began our meal with brilliant cocktails ($12). Blackberry Betty: a sophisticated short cocktail combining Plymouth Gin, crème de violette, basil, blackberry and lime.

Blackbird Orange: a sweet, sour and caramelised concoction of Moon Mountain Coastal Citrus vodka, Punt e Mes vermouth, orange marmalade and ginger beer. 

 Very good sourdough with cultured butter.

An entrée of chilled vichyssoise with parmesan gourgeres (croutons) and ginger cream was poured at the table and deliciously creamy.

The other entrée of charred baby sepia (cuttlefish) with green tomatoes, blueberries, chamomile almonds and cynar was beautifully presented and an interesting combination of flavours and textures.

A main of roasted chicken and sausage with lime onions, tamarind and smoked cucumbers was also impeccably presented. The roast chicken was deliciously succulent and well accompanied by the cubes of tamarind and smoked cucumber; however the sausage was quite dry.

The wood grilled sturgeon with chantarelles, kohlrabi, plums, thai poppy jam and brown butter fish sauce was good, the only discordant note for me was the poppy jam.

For dessert my highlight was the vanilla parfait with blackberries, saffron honey and milk meringue. The milk meringue was extremely light and combined wonderfully with the berries, honey and parfait.

The milk chocolate mousse with grilled corn and silk, frozen peaches (sorbet) and mesquite was also delicious. The slightly off beat flavour combinations corn, chocolate, peach and mesquite worked well for me but scared KC a bit.

Rating: highly recommended 

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