Amici Trattoria

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

Amici Trattoria is a candlelit cozy restaurant serving Italian fare.  We went there for dinner on a Saturday night and it made for a great evening out - the staff were friendly, meal came quickly and food did not disappoint.

As an appetizer we ordered an antipasto plate to share and a few loaves of garlic bread.  The antipasto plate had an assortment of nibblies:  salami, olives, preserved veggies and pickles, a few solid wedges of parmesan and meatball.  The garlic bread, or rather rustic bread with garlic butter was a nice accompaniment to the antipasto.  Continue reading...

Matteo's (Revisit)

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

To celebrate a milestone birthday recently, I made a booking at Matteo's for their Lazy Sunday Lunch.  Having been previously wowed at Matteo's , I knew it was a pretty safe bet to host my birthday lunch there.  It did not disappoint.  The service was attentive, the menu creative and even the kid's menu showed care and attention - in fact we begged scraps off Kiddo's meal, it looked so enticing.

The Lazy Lunch Menu is $79 per head, $109 per head with a glass of wine matched with each course.  As we were not big drinkers, we opted for the $79 option and ordered wines and drinks separately.  It was indeed a lazy lunch as we were very well fed and rolled on home for a nanna nap.

The entree consisted of four tastes to share:

Peking duck rillettes wrapped in a spring onion crepe

Panko crumbed goat's cheese

Scorched Mooloolaba cobia sashimi, shisho-ponzo dressing

Spicy veal, wombok and salted beef bresaola rolls

These little morsels looked so beautiful, particularly the Peking duck rillettes with the sliver of lotus roots on top.  The cobia sashimi was a stand out.  So light and delicate but smokey at the same time.

Course two, we had a choice of the following:

Spanner crab wonton ravioli, Asian coleslaw with bean shoots and choko, tom kha galangal sauce

Saikyo-yaki miso baked black cod fillet, broad beans, heirloom carrots, taramasalata

I had the baked cod which was juicily cooked and flavoursome.

Course three were meat mains and we had a choice of the two below.  I ordered the pork hock below.  It was melt in the mouth glory.  The surrounds were pretty yum too, eg the cabbage and cauliflower.

Roasted Golden Plains pork hock roulade, cider braised cabbage, macerated prunes, cauliflower, garlic cream, ginger wine glaze

Pan seared spatchcock chicken, grilled baby corn, pumpkin, sugar snap peas, Balinese yellow curry sauce

Desserts was a feast in itself as well.  We each had a tasting plate with three wee desserts.  For those of us on a low sugar lifestyle (me), Matteo's kindly accommodated by swapping the sweet desserts for a sumptuous cheese platter.  My cheese platter was quite the envy of the sugar fiends.  The Gods must have been smiling down on us as we were also very lucky to have an extra sticky date pudding thrown in!

Chocolate pudding, run and raising ice cream, passionfruit trifle with red velvet cake and pineapple

Cheese platter with all the trimmings - the walnut bread was delightfully warm!

It's my lucky day - on the house warm sticky date puddings

A cuppa to wash it all down with

The kid's menu was no less spectacular.  Kiddo chose the following from the Gen Dine menu.  As mentioned earlier, all the adults begged for a little taste of each.

Calamari

Steak with onion rings

Chocolate pudding and icecream

So there you go!  It was a feast in the literal sense of the word.  It was a very memorable birthday lunch for me and my guests.

The deets:

Matteo's
533 Brunswick St,
NTH FITZROY  VIC 3068
ph: 9481 1177

Matteo's

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

My dear friends V & A were joined in holy matrimony a few weekends ago.  The ceremony was touching and humorously reflected their personalities and the food at the reception was ah-may-zing!  I count myself blessed to have friends who love their food because it guarantees good eating in their company.

The reception dinner was held at Matteo's in North Fitzroy which dabbles in a bit of Italian-Asian fusion.  I am generally wary of fusion cuisines but the folks at Matteo's somehow marry these diametrically opposite food cultures up and create exquisite plates to remember.

To prove my point, here is what we had:

Soft boiled duck egg coated with yuzu curd, organic quinoa salad with avocado, hazelnuts, Myrtleford ricotta and preserved lemon

We got to pick out our own entree and main from a selection.  For entree I could not resist the duck egg.  In general, I love a good boiled egg - it's simple but perfect at the same time.  The accompanying quinoa was complex and interesting with crunchy nuts and creamy avocado and the zing of the preserved lemon.  Yum!

Japanese seafood plate

P ordered the Japanese seafood plate which looked like works of art.  My photography does not do this justice (the room was romantically lit = dim,  which did made it difficult for a hack like me to take a decent shot).  The trio consisted of:  Hiramasa kingfish sashimi, shrimp remoulade with kaffir lime and lemongrass;  tempura Balmain bug tail, wakame seaweed salad and teriyaki glazed smoked eel, coddled egg and potato salad with kewpie mayo.

Crisp skin Cone Bay barramundi, jasmine rice congee with scallop & freekah, finger fennel & mustard green

Being Asian, I am partial to a bit of congee so this was my selection of mains.  The congee tasted of the sea. with chunks of scallops throughout.  I would go so far to say that the congee rivalled my mum's.   The barramundi was nicely cooked ie the flesh still held together.  Sometimes when barras are badly cooked (eg when I cook it) the flesh tends to fall apart.

Seared wagyu beef skirt steak, tamarind beef sauce, panko-crumbed tomato-sambal eggplant, braised snake beans, bell pepper piperade

This was P's mains choice.  He was still reminiscing about the wagyu a week later.  The mains came with sides.  If veggies tasted this good all the time, I would happily be a vegetarian.

tatsoi salad with nashi pear and daikon, dried wasabi peas, wasabi mayonnaise

Fried royal blue potatoes, sesame and furikake salt

The dessert was our own tasting plate with three small tastes:

Five spiced quince & pistachio frangipane tartlet

Coconut milk panna-cotta with plum wine jelly

Warm, dark chocolate fondant pudding

It was a beautiful evening celebrating a beautiful couple *sniff*

After such a lovely experience, I have decided to have my birthday dinner at Matteo's! So hopefully  more pics to come later on this year.



Until next time...

Merchant

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

The Rialto is one of the iconic buildings in Melbourne and Guy Rossi's Merchant is situated right as you enter.  It is an Italian restaurant with a Venetian slant as evident by the life sized gondola greeting you before the front entrance.

In an environment which potentially could be viewed as 'posh', it is surprisingly casual.  It had a warm ambience and guests are encouraged to take a texta and graffiti the walls. We sat in a rustic little booth. There were plenty of young kids running around on a Friday night. So maybe this is pseudo-casual or nouveau-posh.  The prices were definitely in the fine dining arena.  See menu here.  The service was impeccable as one would expect in place like this.  Continue reading...

Gelato Messina

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

Just how good is the ice cream at Messina's?

Good enough to brave a chilly and wet 10 degree C day and rug up kiddo in her winter woollies specifically to go eat the cold stuff.  Winter you see, has not dampened Messina's business.  We were not the only ones swaddled in jackets bravely eating ice cream whilst it hailed outside.  

We ordered for kiddo, the choc mint on a waffle cone:

The ice cream had a beautiful texture and smooth creaminess which even kiddo appreciated.  

For the adults we ordered the lychee martini (yum without being too alcoholic) and blood orange gelato.  Both were very smooth on the palate and not at all crystally for a sorbet.  

There were heaps of amazing combo flavours such as:  salted caramel and white chocolate;  pannacotta with fig jam and amaretti biscuit;  pear and rhubarb, just to name a few of the  more interesting ones.  

Plenty of flavours to explore plus a specials board in case you get bored with their standard flavours - this is a place to go come hail or shine for ice cream. 

Until next time...

Pizza Porn #1 - Experimenting with pizza toppings

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

This will hopefully be the first of many Pizza Porn posts within the WFT?! (What's For Tea?!) section.  Here is a little YouTube clip of five slightly outside of the box toppings I recently made.

Pizza One - Onion confit, mushroom, thyme, almonds, haloumi, mozzarella, cheddar

Pizza Two - Passata, sweet potato, salami, haloumi, chilli flakes

Pizza Three - Onion confit, avocado, egg, balsami vinegar, mozzarella, cheddar

Pizza Four - Passata, fresh tomatoes, fried anchovies, mint, mozzarella, cheddar

Pizza Five - Onion confit, chilli flakes, jalapenos, mozzarella, cheddar

I particularly loved the Pizza One - the crunchy earthy almonds went really well with the juicy mushrooms and salty haloumi.  Also loved the fried anchovies in Pizza Four - it's a bit Chinois.  Would love to hear of you favourite topping combos.

For an awesome dough recipe which is easy to handle, light and crispy to eat, go here.  

Until next time,

Nom Seeker, Glutt

WFT?! (What's For Tea): Wood Fire Oven Pizzas. Easy Dough Recipe

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

With the recent good weather, we have been firing up the wood fire oven for a bit pizza making.



 Having literally ploughed through and tried dozens of dough recipes, I have utlimately settled on this particular pizza dough recipe which is a hybrid of several.  It is nice and elastic without being too chewy or sticky.  It rolls out a dream and the texture is crispy yet can withstand the weight of lots of toppings.

This dough recipe makes enough for twelve 30cm pizzas.  I also freeze balls of these ready to defrost and use at a later date.

Ingredients:

• 1.40kg of strong high protein plain flour (I use the Lighthouse brand) plus extra for dusting
• 3 cups of lukewarm water
• 1.5 tablespoon of dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon of raw sugar
• pinch or two of salt
• 3.5 tablespoon of olive oil
• semolina for dusting

Method:

• Place dry yeast and sugar into a bowl with the lukewarm water.  Leave to stand for a 5 - 10 minutes until the yeast is all frothy.  Once frothy, mix the olive oil in.  
• In a large mixing bowl, add the wet yeast mixture with the flour and salt.  Use your hands to amalgamate the ingredients.  Tip out onto a dusted work surface (I use semolina to dust the work surface) to knead into a large ball.  As this is quite a large batch of dough, I split this into 3 batches to knead.  
• Place dough into a clean mixing bowl and cover with a damp tea towel to proof.  I leave mine overnight or for a few hours.  
• After proofing, punch down and knead into balls the size of how you ultimately want your pizzas to be.  You can freeze them at this stage in zip lock bags or use straight away.  

Here's my favourite pizza topping:  baby octopus, prawns, smoked salmon, roast potato. ham with thyme and spring onions.  On a passata base (tinned tomatoes pureed with cloves of garlic and oregano) with a four cheese blend (Romano, cheddar, mozarella and parmesan).  

I love making my own pizzas as it is so much more healthier than from a pizza shop and I can really customise it to my heart's content.  

My fav toppings

My baby going into the fire

For some inspiration on pizza toppings go here.

Until next time,
Nom Seeker, Glutt

The Lab Nitrogen Gelato

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

The experience at The Lab Nitrogen Gelato is a cross between sitting in a Year 10 chemistry class and watching street theatre.

Nitrogen gelato for the uninitiated, is when an ice-cream is created there and then for you. Liquid nitrogen is used to immediately freeze the ice cream ingredients.  The Lab, plays up on it's mad scientist type setting.  The customer service staff where white lab coats and goggles.  Beakers and funnels hold all the ice cream constituents.  There is considerable showmanship with the making of the ice cream with clouds of liquid nitrogen wafting all over the place.  It's a gimmick and I'm embracing it.  

I ordered a macha green tea ice cream with red bean puree topping for $6.  They only have 6 flavours at a time to choose from but having said that some of the flavours can come gluten free.  As far as ice creams go, it was one of the nicer green tea ice creams I've had.  I just wished it came with more red bean puree.



The deets:

Location:
The Lab Nitrogen Gelato
188 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC
Ph 03 9077 3354

Costs:
$6 per ice cream

Ambience:
Street side al fresco seating available.

Nom Again:
Why not?  Good place to take the kids on school holidays.



Until next time,
Nom Seeker, Glutt