Fab Food and Great Friends

Fab Food and great friend's

Before the new chapter begins in our life we have been trying to save as much as we can but also catch up with all our friends as the next few months will be hectic. Its not long before our little Burrito enters the world and we need to care for her, but that's part of Kim's story.
 Last month our friends took us out for dinner for Kim's Birthday and we went to a beautiful restaurant called Rosetta. Its an Italian restaurant in the city and it was amazing, I have never had chips and crab that tastes so fab.

 

 

We have not done Fine Dining since Narisawa last august and it was great to do it again. The deserts are fantastic We had the chocolate, peanut and coconut semi-freddo. I would go back for potato and the desserts.
   
That following Sunday we did YumCha with a group of close friends. We have been to about 10 different YumCha places and this one is my favourite as it does the chicken feet so well. Its called Crown palace. The chicken feet have so much flavor. It has a variety of dishes and they are always hot. We also ordered the crispy crab claw balls and they are superb, tender and juicy. If you like Tofu fa you should go to the early session as it had sold out by the second session.

 

 

 

Have you had chicken feet?
Kind E-gards
Dale

Monk Vegan Degustation

Monk Vegan Degustation

We have been going to Monk Bodhi Dharma for a few years and have also been to the Friday dinners but we have never done the Degustation at the Cafe' or a Vegan degustation. It you have never been here it is a bit hard to find as it is hidden in an alleyway. 

It is a very small rustic sort of cafe and has an amazing selection of coffees and teas.

We had no idea to expect so it was going to be an interesting night. We ordered the Strawberry and rock melon Smoothie with Maple Syrup. Is was sweet and creamy and very filling.

The first thing we had was a palate cleanser, it was a tomato , cucumber and spiced water. I don't like tomato juice so i did not really like it but it was interesting to say the least.

The next dish we had was a  Tarator and it had Coconut yoghurt with cucumber and pineapple.

  

I don't eat much yoghurt but it was a nice mix, it was sweet and a bit tart with some crunchiness.

The next dish was the Quinoa Cake, it had quinoa , dill butter and tomato.

It was very crunchy and buttery, the flavours were amazing and completely different.

We then had green olives with artichokes with a thyme mayonnaise.

  

The mayonnaise helped change the flavour of the olives so it was not as salty.

The next dish was my favourite Watermelon and Feta. It had watermelon, sharp feta and freeze dried raspberries.

I would have never thought it would have worked as well as it did. It was sweet and crunchy yet smooth and salty, it was AMAZING.

The next dish was chilli , macadamia and mango.

It was not a hot chilli but had a little bit of spice, the macadamia paste gave it structure and the mango gave it a fresh taste.

Most of the courses had bit smallish so the next course was quite big. We got a Persian Stew and it had  vegetables, persian lime, barberries, rice and salad.

I mixed the rice in the stew and it was cooked to perfection. The potatoes fell apart as you ate them. The rice was soft and fluffy with a little bit of crunchiness. It was heavy from the potatoes.

The next dish was also a favourite, the sweet potato stack. 

So it had sweet potato on the top and the bottom like a sandwich with a almond chevre. Almond chavre is cultured almond paste and used to replace goats cheese. The flavours worked so well together and i could go vegan if i had food like this. I was starting to get full and that does not happen very easy with degustations.

The next dish was melon caviar.

I just ate it in one bite and it was sweet from the melon and chewy. The flower gave it a slight bitter taste afterwards.

The first dessert was the Space Library 

The reason they called it space library was because they love the movie Interstellar and it refers to a scene? Anyway it was layered sponge with fruit , berries, vanilla. It was sweet and i would never had expected it to vegan.

The last dish we had was a deconstructed snickers bar.

It had chocolate, peanuts and caramel. It was sickly sweet, crunchy and if you were still hungry this would fill you up. The menu said there was a Mignardises but we did not get one, maybe they ran out?

It did not matter as we ate so much and was amazing value for money.

We loved it all and we will do it again.

They are doing another one on Valentines day and if there is space DO IT..seriously.
Thanks for reading.
Kind E-gards
Dale Stewart

Woodland House

Woodland House

Over the last few years Kim and I have been to a few degustations, we have been to Nobu in the Crown Casino and in Hollywood, vue de monde,  Eau De' Vie  and a few others. It was our 2nd Year Anniversary on Saturday night and i wanted to do something special. Last year we did not celebrate because we went to America instead. This year we celebrated by going to Wood Land House.
As you walk up the stairs to this mansion you ring the bell and they open the door, well everyone else did i just opened it and the guy looked really confused. They took us to our seats.
We had a choice of a five course or a eight course. Degustations never really fill me up so i ordered the eight course.

As a starter they gave us Purple Congo Potato crisps. The crisp was very crunchy and light, a little bit salty but interesting at the same time.

The second course was Foie gras with kiwi and a hint of chilli. It was fried so as you ate it, it exploded in your mouth. I guess thats what i like about degustations you get to try different foods cooked different ways.

The next dish was Smoked oyster, abalone with compressed cucumber and samphire. Samphire  is a coastal species with white flowers that grow in the United Kingdom.

 We got given bread, they had two choices of fresh brown bread and a scroll. Over the evening i ended up eating four of each because i was really hungry.

The third dish was Tamarind glazed kingfish, wood ear and preserved grape. Wood ear is a edible fungus that is used commonly used in Asian cooking.

The fourth dish was Rock flathead with lemon verbena and mustard. Lemon verbena is a small shrub had adds a flavour of lemon when used in cooking. It was a nice twist to fish without adding actual lemon.

We had two  surprise dishes, the first one was spanner crab with coconut and bamboo salt. It was quite refreshing with the coconut. 

The second surprise dish was Wallaby with a special cracker, I have had kangaroo but never wallaby so it was a nice surprise.

The fifth was the standout and my absolute favourite dish, i took a photo of the menu but i did not read it so i was not expecting this. Quail, golden beetroot, duck tongue and purslane. Purslane is considered a weed in the United states but it added to food because it has a salty taste. The quail was cooked perfectly and so was the duck tongue. Duck tongue is hard to cook as it is small and can get rubbery very quickly. Most times i have had it, it is just fried so it is crispy. 

The sixth dish was Poached and roasted veal, asparagus and pickled kohlrabi. Kohlrabi is a type of cabbage.

The seventh dish was Venison, candied buddhas hand and juniper. I thought it was a carrot but i was mistaken because it tasted different. The venison was cooked well.

The eighth dish was Wood roasted corn with butter ice cream and chocolate.  It all worked together so well and tasted amazing.

We also had Yarra Valley berries wild fennel and a vanilla slice type thing.

The last treat was nuts covered in chocolate.

 It was a really nice evening and lovely way to spend our two year anniversary.

Kind E-Gards

Dale Stewart