Restaurant Review: Maze by Gordon Ramsay

Location: Level 1, Crown Metropol Corner of Whiteman and Clarendon Streets
Phone: +61 (0)3 9292 8300
Link: http://www.gordonramsay.com/mazemelbourne/
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Overall Impression: 8.5/10

To read our review of our second visit to Maze, click here.

J and I decide to celebrate a meaningful milestone at Gordon Ramsay's Maze. Gordon Ramsay has always been one of the very few celebrity chefs that J has respect for (contra Jamie Oliver). Proof is in the pudding. He has been awarded a total of 12 Michelin Stars! To be honest, I didn't have very high expectations. I expected the food to be good but not fantastic... I expected hit and misses But I was in for a treat!Being familiar with the dining style at Maze, we opted for the 7 course degustation menu plus an additional dessert from the a la carte menu. delicious bread with seaweed butter and salt...Marinated beetroot with goats curd,cabernet sauvignon vinaigrette, toasted pine nutPan seared scallops, caramelised kelp,samphire, mussels, ChampagneSeared yellow fin tuna,white radish, yuzu, enoki mushrooms, black garlicMarlborough King Salmonhearts of palm, grapefruit, fresh almondsPan roasted snappercarrots and ginger, spanner crab tempura

Gisborne duck breastsweet corn, cracked wheat, cherries

Ox “tongue and cheek”,caper and raisin, carrots, horseradish pomme purée

Exotic fruit vacherin,passion fruit and banana sorbet

maze “lamington”, rosella jam

Hot chocolate fondant, Cherry yoghurt ice cream

Chocolate oozing out of the fondant

White chocolate coated raspberry ice cream

Everything was executed beautifully and was delicious! The theme appeared to be simple, to the point but perfectly done. Gordon Ramsay's philosophy of respecting the ingredients and produce was clear. Well balanced flavours and textures, beautifully presented.

The only dish we could fault was the dish: Pan seared scallops, caramelised kelp,samphire, mussels, Champagne. The scallops were not seasoned sufficiently and the foam it was served with had quite an overpowering chorophyll taste that we thought did nto match the flavour combinations for that particular dish.

A definite highlight dish was the Ox and Tongue cheek! It was absolutely delicious! Food wise, the standard and quality is equivalent to the 2-hat restaurants J and I have tried in the past. In our opinions, the nature of the service was the only reason they were awarded 1-hat instead of 2. I can see what they are trying to do with the service and personally, we both really liked it. They don't do the whole place your napkin on your lap or quickly fold your napkins nicely again the moment you leave the table to go to the restroom type thing. The service was prompt but very deliberately unobtrusive.

What a lovely dining experience. Very highly recommended.

Restaurant Review: The Court House

Location: The Court House, 86-90 Errol Street, North Melbourne
Link: http://www.thecourthouse.net.au/
Cuisine: Modern European After hearing so much about The Court House from wine-loving friends who had gone on and on to me about their extensive wine list and amazing food, I decided to go there. I thought this might be a good learning experience since my palette for wine is so unrefined, I am happy to drink out of a cask. I had a Pinot grigio simply because, the waitstaff told me it would match what I was having. The bread was freshly baked and arrived at our table. I love sourdough bread. This was delicious! We were told it came straight out of the oven.

Grilled Asparagus Salad with White Truffle Oil

A simple dish done well. The crunchy macadamia nuts worked very well with the rest of the dish and the beautiful aroma of white truffles permeated the dish. Very refreshing dish =)

Braised Globe Artichokes and Celeraic Velouté

It was sooo light! Creamy and yet not too heavy. Beautiful balance of flavours.

Confit Duck leg caramelised onion, pumpkin and thyme jus

This was far too salty for my liking. The duck skin was beautifully crisp and everything else was cooked quite well but as a whole, I wouldn't recommend this dish.

Pan Fried Atlantic Salmon Filletroasted Tuscan red onion, watercress, olive and caper salad

The fish was cooked to perfection. Crispy skin, beautifully tender inside. I've had bad experiences with Salmon where chefs have overcooked it but this was perfect. The roasted Tuscan red onion, watercress, olive and caper salad accompanied this dish harmoniously. Very pleasant.

Orange Cremé Caramel

Beautifully presented, and the taste certainly didn't dissapoint. The Cremé Caramel just melted in my mouth.

Overall Impression: 5.5/10

Extremely helpful staff. The staff had great knowledge on all the wines on offer. Gave us lots of advice on what would be appropriate for our meal. Excellent service - great attention to detail. Food was pleasant but quite average for a once hatted restaurant.

Note: This review was written in early 2010 and things may have changed since then. Please refer to comment below!

Restaurant Review: The Brasserie by Philippe Mouchel

Location: Riverside at Crown
Link: http://www.crowncasino.com/site/load/1146/the-brasserie-by-philippe-mouchel
Cuisine: French Bread to start off.

Entree: Calamari and prawn salad [$22.00] quick –seared, sweet cherry tomatoes, cucumber and basil

This was perfectly done. The calamari was chewy and delicious without being stringy at all. The texture was excellent and the prawns were very good as well.

Main: Gold band snapper [$37.50] pan-fried, eringi mushroom, crushed potatoes

Main: Beef tenderloin (200gr) with braised wagyu ox cheek, parisienne mash [$40.00]

This was seriously one of the best steaks I have ever had. The wagyu ox cheek quite literally melted in my mouth. I'm not a big wagyu fan but having it sandwiched between two very solid (I'm not sure how else to describe it?) cuts of meat were just divine. The beef tenderloin was cooked to perfection. Medium, the way I love it =)

Side Dish: Oven-roasted vegetables Provençale [$8.00]

This was just so-so. Just tasted like veggies baked in cheese. Really, not very exciting. But then again, it *is* a side dish and it served that very purpose.

Dessert: The brasserie’s dessert tasting plate [$17.00 per person]

We couldn't decide on what to order and everything on the dessert menu looked very very good so we decided to go with the dessert tasting plate. Everything was quite good but it wasn't spectacularly good. The best thing on the plate was definitely the nougat. I've never had nougat in ice-cream form before and this was delicious! Not sure what its called... but it was divine!

Overall Impression: 6/10

Extremely good service. Relaxed and romantic ambience. Remember to book though, I was there on a Saturday night and it was a full house.
 

Restaurant Review: The Press Club (Bar)

Location: 72 Flinders Street
Phone: +613 9677 9677
Link: http://www.thepressclub.com.au/
Cuisine: Greek

I have a not so secret crush on George Calomboris. I find his passion for food and fine dining adorable and his role in MasterChef very clever. So, I was very excited to finally dine at The Press Club, his 2 hat baby. Lovely ambience

Greek Soda!

My dining companion had just returned from Santorini, Greece and said it was the exact same sodas that had there =) Nice touch, George! ;)

Entree: Mezethes board

Entree: Half shell scallops, garlic skordalia

This was AMAZING. The flavours were perfectly balanced. The best scallops I have ever had. I've never been a huge scallop fan until NOW. The saltiness of the garlic skordalia was just perfect and the raisins (or what tasted like raisins) added just a touch of sweetness to the very fresh scallops. The scallop was beautifully tender and cooked to perfection. And the after taste was a salty creamy feeling that lingered on my pallette.

Main: Chicken rotisserie, white bean skordalia, lemon potatoes, marouli salad

The chicken was incredibly tender. But then again, they hadn't used chicken breast or anything, so I guess its not so incredible that the texture was such. This dish burst with rich and wonderful flavours. I really liked the lemon potatoes. Perfectly seasoned and brought a nice citrus-y element to the dish.

Main: Fish of the day, properly garnished 'Greek style' Our fish of the day was atlantic salmon.

Dessert: Baklava

Traditional baklava. To the point. A traditional dish done well. Wasn't as good as the entree and the main which was slightly dissapointing but it was still pleasant.

Bar Area

Overall Impression: 7.5/10

Great dining experience. Wonderful food. Staff clearly had good knowledge of the wines on offer and definitely helped us match the wine we ordered to our food etc but there was an air of arrogance in the service which I didn't appreciate. The service was prompt (although they did forget to fold my napkin when I went to the ladies at one stage...:P). Apart from that, highly recommended!

Restaurant Review: Taxi Dining Room

Location: Federation Square, Corner Flinders and Swanston Streets, Melbourne
Phone: +613 9654 8808
Link: http://www.transporthotel.com.au/
Cuisine: Contemporary, Fusion
Overall Impression:7.5/10

I have always been a little sceptical about places that offer 'fusion' cuisine. What does that even mean? Is it sort of like running out of hokkien noodles for your stir-fry and substituting it with spaghetti, hoping everything will work out? Luckily, at Taxi, it all came together for me and I'm beginning to understand the whole Fusion theme. My lovely dining date, J, was recently offered an amazing job and since Taxi Dining had been, for a very long time, on his Restaurants-to-try List, we took this opportunity to celebrate with some fine dining there.

Fairbank Sutton Grange Winery, Syrah '05

Brandade filled zucchini flowers tempura with green papaya salad 

C'est parfait! It could not have been better. The balance of flavours was just right. The tempura batter was light, crisp, had just the right amount of saltiness and was not greasy in the slightest. The zucchini flowers were beautifully sweet and juicy. What I suspect to be Japanese tartare, that accompanied the dish brought an element of tanginess to the dish. The creamy brandade filling was delicious and added emphasis to the crunchy tempura batter. The green papaya salad was extremely refreshing and made the dish remind me of good times under the warm Summer sun.

Fillet of Atlantic salmon with sorrel & King prawn salad, shellfish dressing

To be perfectly honest, my first impression of this dish was not very good. I saw the shallots and thought.. raw onion-y goodness? I think not. And to add salt to a wound, I noticed that the fish looked like it had been poached and the salmon skin had been removed. What was the idea behind this? Wouldn't the missing skin take away from what would have been a good contrast in textures? I.e. crisp salmon skin vs melt in your mouth flesh? I was quickly proven wrong. The beautiful purple shallots were not overpowering at all! I'm not sure what had been done to them, but they were just a touch of honey on my palette. They were still crisp and that contrasted beautifully with the creamy brandade and deliciously moist salmon flesh. The large sour-tasting sorrel with a hint of garlic oil garnish somehow reminded me of a lovely steamed fish dish I have had in Malaysia and it worked so well with the salmon. The dish tasted Asian... but not. And at that point, I sort of understood. The little purple shallots instead of the usual french onions (that would not have been as sweet and delicate), using coriander-like sorrel as garnish. It just worked. Delicious! Fusion? I like. The King prawn salad was pleasant but it was clear that the salmon was the star of the dish.

Crispy Szechwan duck with lime pickle, Vietnamese salad & sesame tamarind 

Everything about this dish was bold. The lime pickle was strong and flavoursome and the duck was heavily flavoured and the skin was crisp. Unfortunately the duck was overdone and therefore a bit dry.

Layered pannacotta with raspberry jelly & vanilla foam with almond crumble

The flavours were perfectly balanced. We ran our spoons right through, cutting through every layer before placing the layers into our mouths. First your taste buds are excited by a delightful hit of vanilla, that quickly disappears and then you start crunching into the sweet almond crumble which has just the right amount of saltiness and then the taste of fresh raspberries fill your palate. And when that disappears, what remains is a smooth pannacotta finish lingering on your palette.

'Giancarlo' Cuppucino by Grinders

The only thing I could fault them on is portion size. I want MORE...pretty please? Excellent food, very professional staff and what a great ambience - view of Flinders street station and the bustle of Southbank.

Restaurant Review: Cafe Di Stasio

Location: 31 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda
Phone: 03 9525 3999
Link: http://www.distasio.com.au/
Cuisine: Italian
Overall Impression: 8.5/10 J surprised me with dinner at the highly acclaimed, 2-hat establishment, Cafe Di Stasio! =)

I was very very excited to sample the dishes as I have only ever heard excellent reviews for this restaurant (apart from the occasional groans about the size of the bill).

Entrée: MOSCARDINI AFFOGATI

Baby octopus slow cooked in red wine and chillies The baby octopus was tender and busting in flavour. I've never had baby octopus served like this before and it was delicious. Entrée:CAPESANTE GRATINATO

Scallops oven baked in the shell with a gratinee of bread crumbs, parmesan and parsley I love scallops! And these were just beautiful and so fresh. Delicate balance of flavours that linger on your palate. I've eaten many scallops and have had many bad experiences but these were awesome. One of the best scallops I've ever had. Main: Wild Boar dish. I think it may have been Cinghiale in Umido

The flavours are rich and intense. Slow cooked to the point you can eat it with a spoon. What a great dish! Definitely one of the best highlights of the meal. It was a special for the day. This should definitely be on the a la carte menu.. PERMANENTLY! Main:SALTIMBOCCA CON GNOCCHI

Pan fried escalope of baby veal with prosciutto, fresh sage and semolina gnocchi The semolina gnocchi blew my socks off. It was al dante, chewy and soft in the middle. And went perfectly with the deliciously tender baby veal. The fresh sage and prosciutto made this well balanced. Again, everything was smacked full of flavour. Highly recommended. Sides: Rocket Salad Dessert Menu Dessert: Almond and Honey Tart

And what a great end to a beautiful meal. Lovely lovely dessert. Overall, I thought it was a particularly pleasant dining experience. The food is very homely. I know that this is a weird way to describe food… but it makes you feel warm and incredibly loved. But don't expect anything crazy and unexpected. Café Di Stasio sticks to the basics with dense and delicious flavours you recognise and executes each dish with perfection.

Event Review: Docklands Community Flood Relief Fundraiser [24 February 2011]

J and I had the opportunity to attend the Docklands Community Flood Relief Fundraiser on the 24th of February 2011. It was held at Watermark Bar. A bar located on The Promenade in Victoria Harbour. It started at 7 and finished at 10pm. There was such a buzz about the place, with an open bar and delightful canapés being served all night. To raise funds, there were silent auctions (pictured above) as well as public auctions. We all drank and talked all night, while enjoying the harbour views. Public auction booklet. Corey was up for auction! We were fortunate enough to have a photograph with him. Live entertainment: Headlined by the fabulous Bobby Valentine andthe popular Very Tall Show featuring TracyBartram, Geoff (Coxy) Cox and Wilbur Wilde. Corey "Homicide" Williams on auction! His bid got up to $170. Thank you, Watermark for a lovely evening.

Restaurant Review: The Point

Location: Aquatic Drive, Albert Park Lake
Phone: 03 9682 5566
Link: http://www.thepointalbertpark.com.au/
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Overall Score: 7.5/10 The Point is a wonderful place to celebrate a special occasion.

We were recently there for a friend's hens day and these guys are really seasoned with group functions. Everything went smoothly and seamlessly. We all enjoyed the food and the breathtaking views.