Melbourne Getaway Part 2

Our second day in Melbourne found us wandering the streets looking around and window shopping before we went to The Flower Drum for lunch.

Over the years we have seen The Flower Drum mentioned many times in foodie magazines. It was finally time to try it. Set in a laneway between Little Bourke and Bourke Streets an elegant foyer/reception area

Red carpet anchors the room with cream walls decorated with paintings depicting the Chinese dance “Flower Drum” and also hung with beautiful wood carvings. Dark woods are in abundance with the dining room divided in half by a mini “pavilion”.

After a look through the extensive wine list we ordered a half bottle of Rockford Basket Press Shiraz.

I have to say service was a standout. While we are used to the excellent service in Chinese restaurants in Sydney and Hong Kong, the service at Flower Drum really kicked it up a notch or three. A lot of tour dishes were bought to a service table placed next to our table and served to us from there.

For entrees, I ordered the Peking duck rolls while Vikki went with the Quail sang choi bao. Both were fantastic. While we have had duck, chicken and pork in sang choi bao before Vikki thought the use of quail was amazing. 

For main course I ordered the simply prepared but tasty wok fried barramundi with seasoned soy.

Vikki ordered the crispy skin chicken with lemon and spicy salt. Our meals were accompanied by wok tossed greens and special fried rice.

Desserts were fantastic and not too heavy. I ordered the Banana Fritters w/Ice Cream (lightly battered banana pieces) with maple syrup and Rickett’s Point organic vanilla ice-cream).

Vikki ordered the Peking Toffee Apple (lightly battered apple covered in molten toffee) served with Rickett’s Point organic cinnamon ice-cream). Each piece of battered apple was dipped and coated in the toffee and then plunged in to a bowl of iced water to harden the toffee and then plated. The waiters then “pulled” the remaining toffee in to threads for garnish.

After a fantastic lunch it was time to go back to the hotel and relax. Again lunch was so filling we skipped dinner and had a glass of wine and snacks in the lounge of the hotel.

Melbourne Getaway Part 1

Early March saw us with an interesting proposition. I needed to go to Melbourne to pick up a watch and Vikki had days off that made it possible for her to come down and join me. For Vikki it had been over 30 years between visits to Melbourne. 

We stayed at The Hilton South Wharf, not right in the city but the walk along the Yarra River is very nice, even with a chill breeze blowing. We had a great view of the city and river from our suite, which was quite magical in the evening as we were lucky to have a full moon.

After checking in, it was time to show Vikki around the South Bank area. We headed over to Crown Casino and walked past Nobu, No. 8 by John Lawson, Spice Temple, Rockpool Bar and Grill and many more restaurants . As I never went to Guillaume at Bennelong before it closed, we decided to head in to Guillaume Brahimi’s Melbourne restaurant, Bistro Guillaume.

A very bright lime green door marks the entrance to a room that is the epitome of a classic French bistro. Marble, brass, bentwood chairs and lightshades that reminded Vikki of the puffy skirts she used to wear in the 1980’s.

As it was a lovely day, we sat out on the verandah which has views of the river and city. While we decided on what to eat we ordered a glass of Perrier Jouet Champagne. A nice mini loaf of Pain d’Epi, (a variant of a baguette, shaped like a head of wheat) was also bought out for us. Lovely chewy crust and soft inside.

Bistro Guillaume has several options for lunch from a la carte to two set price options. We chose the 3 courses for $65, which covered most of the items on the a la carte menu, with the exemption being the chateau briand. 

We also ordered a bottle of Domaines Manoncourt Chateau La Fleur Pourret 2005, from Saint Emilion. A very nice drop considering we don’t often enjoy merlot or merlot dominant blends.

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For entrée I had one of my favourites, steak tartare which was served with pommes gaufrettes and a petite salad.

Vikki had the chicken liver pate with pear relish and cornichons. 

On our visit the fish of the day was one of my favourites, John Dory. This was simply pan fried and finished with a beurre noisette, capers and lemon, simple but full of flavour.

Vikki ordered the Berkshire pork belly served with pickled cabbage and apple salad,  A small mound of pommes puree was topped with the pickled cabbage, then the pork belly which was topped with the apple salad. 

Of course pommes frites were also ordered and came nicely presented in a copper bucket. 

As we chose the three course option Vikki ordered the profiteroles filled with fresh vanilla ice cream and smothered in chocolate sauce. Three profiteroles seemed to be too much for Vikki as she tried to palm one off to me. I ordered the cheese selection which was brought out on a BIG wooden board and then served on to a smaller service board which had the bread and garnishes on it.

We were well and truly full but really happy to have chosen Bistro Guillaume for our lunch. We were so full in fact that all thought of going to Nobu for dinner got pushed out the window and we had some snacks in the executive lounge and watching the sun set over Melbourne.

Stay tuned for Part 2: lunch at The Flower Drum….

Milton Park Summer Getaway

In January we headed back to Milton Park for Vikki's birthday weekend. Leaving a hot sticky Sydney morning behind we were surprised at how much cooler it was in Bowral. After a good drive from Sydney, we checked in to our room, this time a garden view room complete with fireplace (which came in handy later in the day).

 After settling in and freshening up, we headed down to The Orangery for lunch.

The Orangery was quite busy on this occasion with several groups indulging in champagne afternoon teas. We ordered the Testut Petit Chablis that we had on our last visit and settled down to peruse the menu. 

We decided to just have mains so we could save some room of ra three course dinner. I had the Cape Grim Angus eye fillet of beef, spinach, fondant potato, café de Paris butter and jus.

Vikki chose the the chicken stuffed with couscous, wrapped in jamon and served with one of her favourite salads, roquette, pear and parmesan. Very delicious all round!

After lunch we took a stroll through the beautiful gardens. There are many species of trees bought in from Europe and some are not even found in local botanical gardens. It was a nice change to see the garden with its full summer greenery. Made a nice change from the bareness of winter on our last visit.

After our stroll we returned to our room for a quick nap before we headed back down to Hordern’s for dinner. We pre ordered our wine earlier and were able to have our bottle of Petaluma 1998 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, decanted and ready for us at the table when we arrived. We did however start with a glass of champagne. An amuse bouche of brandade was bought out to us while we decided on what we would like for dinner.

For entree I had seared scallops, pea puree black pudding and red wine reduction I enjoyed very much.

Vikki is a sucker for any kind of twice cooked soufflé that involves cheese. The soufflé on this visit was made with goat cheese and gruyere two of her favourite cheeses.

For my main course, I chose the Victorian venison, parsnip puree and cassis jus. While I prefer my meats medium, in this instance I enjoyed it being slightly rarer. And of course a bowl of chunky pommes frites went well with it too.

Confit duck is something Vikki will choose 90% of the time she sees it on a menu,especially when truffles and puy lentils are involved. Her main was confit duck, Puy lentils with some spinach and truffle oil tossed through and a jus made from reduced duck stock.

For dessert I chose the cheese platter which had 3 cheeses, local honey, dried and fresh fruits and house made lavosh.

Vikki said she has gone off chocolate a little, but the four textures of chocolate sounded interesting to her so she decided to have it as her birthday cake.

After another delicious meal we headed back to our room for a nightcap of Saltram No. 1, 2005 vintage which we enjoyed by the fire.

A Touch of Luxury

Recently Vikki had a Saturday night off work so we decided to have a night in the city. After checking in to our room at the Hilton, we wandered around town looking at some stores we haven’t been in to together for a while.

Soon enough it was time for lunch and as we were in Martin Place, Intermezzo caught our eye. I have been several times for business lunches but this was Vikki’s first time.

After perusing the menu and wine list we ordered 2 glasses of Prosecco and shared beef carpaccio for entrée.

We both had pasta for our mains, I chose linguine with Western Australian Scampi, fresh vine ripened cherry tomatoes and chilli. 

Vikki opted for an entree sized pasta of house made pappardelle with trio of mushrooms, fresh ricotta and black truffle. Vikki said it was truly delicious, she likes a bit of truffle (ok, I admit she likes more than a bit of truffle). The fresh ricotta was amazing ( I snuck a bit when she wasn’t looking).

We then decided that as it was a special day that we would have some cannoli filled with sweet ricotta.

After lunch it was off to the shops again and then a quick rest at the hotel.  After easing our feet a little, we headed down to the executive lounge for a pre dinner cocktail and nibbles. Lovely fresh prawns and a few hot snacks got us fired back up again and ready to go out again.

Surprisingly the temperature had cooled a little so we headed for a whisky at The Baxter Inn. Located in a dark seedy laneway off Clarence Street and down a set of stairs, the Baxter Inn is like stepping back in time to the 1920’s. The Baxter Inn features a list of around 360 whiskies from all around the world. We decided on Bowmore Legend, as I had tried it on previous visit and enjoyed it. Armed with a bowl of pretzels we sat down to enjoy our whisky and people watch.

After our drink we headed out in to the night again and with no destination in mind we ambled down George Street and found ourselves in the Rocks. Walking past the former premises of Rockpool, I lamented the fact that we never went there while it was open. Imagine my surprise when Vikki told me they were open but had moved to the Burns Philp Building in Bridge Street. That made us head back south for a walk past.

After looking at the menu and noticing they had a bar menu we headed in.  

After sitting down and perusing the wine list we ordered two glasses of champagne. We only felt like a little bite to eat so decided on some caviar and blinis. After a bit of upselling from the very helpful waiter, we decided to try the Yasa caviar. Vikki is not really in to caviar normally, but she found this was sensational. 

Our waiter had given us the story of the brand and then told us how the brand representative showed them how to eat the caviar by placing a little on your hand to warm it up and then straight in to your mouth. We tried it and were pleasantly surprised at the difference in flavour as compared to having it cold. 

Yasa caviar is farmed in specially built aquaculture tanks and produced from Siberian sturgeon in the UAE, Yasa has the worlds largest and most technologically advanced aquaculture farms. Not only do they process the roe for caviar but the fish is also processed for the culinary market.

After our caviar and champagne it was time to head back to the Hilton and end our day with a night cap of a nice Bourdeaux from Cahteau Cantemerle.

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