Eat Like Ushi

Driving back from Phillip Island on Australia Day Sunday was a hot and bothering affair. Whilst Rafa Nadal was losing to the coolest bandwagon player in town, Wawrinka, a late night dinner was happening at Cocoro (why they decided not to spell it Kokoro I'll never know). I'd long been wanting to go here. Since Anada on Gertrude St replaced one of my favourite small Japanese restaurants, Wabi Sabi Salon had been a reasonable local replacement. But Cocoro had it's own brand of followers and even though I'd walked past dozens of times, I'd never ventured in. Perhaps it was because I don't tend to try places which are cafes attached to shops as such.

Cocoro is definitely more a restaurant first and a place for displaying and showcasing Japanese pottery second. Shelves on the walls are lined with pottery product you can buy and each dish comes out handmade wares that attract its own fair amount of attention.

Besides food and pottery, Cocoro is also proud of its organic green tea. On a hot evening, iced green tea seemed like a good idea but I wouldn't recommend it. A lot of the flavour is lost in the coldness. Organic Black Honey Green Tea Latte on the other hand was smooth and quite sweet, and was served in an inspiring shaped mug.

- Grilled Sake & Soy Sauce Oysters - the oysters were quite small and heavily cooked. They had some strong soy saltiness that was fine, but also reminded me why I only really eat oysters raw;
- Takoyaki - nicely cooked with a more distinct soft nut-like texture different to the usual smooth paste inside. There was a tiny single sucker of octopus inside and a nice heaving of bonito for flavour. The wasabi in the mayonnaise wasn't detectable;
- Crab Sushi - excellent sushi rice wrapped in nori and topped with a smooth blend of mild crab meat. I actually liked the rice and nori more than the crab topping;
- Japanese-style Deep Fried Atlantic Salmon in garlic/ginger/soy/sake marinade - thin slices of smoothly crumbed salmon topped with mayonnaise. A healthier version of kara age I'm thinking.

Overall the food was good and satisfying but nothing I'd say that was outstanding or great. There is a lot of items on the menu, so everyone's Japanese taste can be covered here.

Next time I would order Natural Ponzu Oysters, Aburi Sashimi (although I rarely get sushi/sashimi from restaurants these days), and probably try something staple like Agedashi Tofu or the Beef & Tofu Stew. I'd also leave room for the dessert Green Tea Parfait, which I have high hopes for given their green tea tendencies and the quality of the green tea latte.

I've never been overly impressed with Japanese food in Melbourne. It's one of those things - once to have it in Japan, the quality and price difference is hard to stomach sometimes. Melbourne has a few decent ones of course - Shira Nui has nigiri omakase, Shoya has a nice set menu, Yokoyama has shiromi sushi, Izakaya Den has stylish grit, Koko has atmosphere, Yu-u I still haven't managed to get a second reservation to try - all have very high prices. Chuji is probably the only reasonably cheap one. Nonetheless Bone Daddies has kept my cravings along the lines of ramen, something I'm yet to find a good tonkotsu version here yet. Reading about the new places online, the ramen ones all have mediocre ratings. But light at the end seemed to be a relatively recent (2012) soba venture - something I've walked past in the week prior to eating there and haven't taken notice.

They pride themselves on homemade handmade soba with a buckwheat mill visible in the dining area. The staff are Japanese (adding authenticity) although given the raucous goodbyes, I now would somewhat expect the missing "irasshaimase" to be added.

They have a nice selection of sake and umeshu, including some cocktails. Like everywhere else, it is reasonably expensive but the umeshu range (my choice of Japanese drink poison) is better than I've seen anywhere in the western world.

- Agedashi Tofu - firm tofu, daikon, bonito shavings, spring onion in a strong salty dashi. Delicious;
- Kingfish Salada - tender sashimi slices with mixed salad and ponzu dressing;
- Takoyaki - good doughy texture but I hoped for more tako on the inside;
- Tempura Soba - a beautiful dashi-based miso soup, slightly chewy soba and some nice light prawn & vegetable tempura on the side (thank goodness not served dunked in the soup);
- Sake Pudding - creamy, sweet topped with yuzu citrus. Nice way to balance the meal at the end.

Overall a good experience, something different in Melbourne and something to hit the healthier noodle craving. Perhaps they'll branch out to tonkotsu ramen soon...

Next time I would order any of the soba dishes as well as the agedashi tofu (although if you get the hot soup soba, you might find the flavours of both too similar - but it's worth it). Everything else is optional.

One of the great foods in Germany (if not the only range) are large serves of roasted meats. Some people swear by sausages (of which I'd tend to say German isn't the best) but I think universally non-vegetarians agree that they can at least cook meat.

Harmonie German Club houses the Knuckles German Restaurant, which (surprise surprise) specialises in a roasted pork knuckle. Someone in the party has to have a club membership otherwise pay a $5 member fee (valid for 2 years) to attend.

- Salt & Pepper Prawns - medium-sized deveined prawns in a light batter. Batter and prawn meat both lacked some crispiness but flavour was ok;
- Schweine Haxe (roasted pork knuckle served with mashed potato, sauerkraut & gravy) - a rather large bone-in knuckle with soft gelatinous flesh and beyond-crispy skin. Worked well with the gravy or English mustard for my own preference. Mash was adequate as was sauerkraut;
- Semmel Knodel (Bavarian dumplings) - two dense doughy dumplings in gravy. Ok for carbohydrates but I've never been a fan of the Eastern European dumpling balls;
- Rot Kraut (red cabbage) - like the sauerkraut, a tangy intermission for the meat.

People only seem to come here for beer and pork knuckle. You can share a knuckle between two, but even skinny Aussie girls were having a whole one to themselves.

Next time I would order the Pork Knuckle. If you wanted an alternative (or were sharing), I'd be curious about the Wiener Schnitzel.

I haven't quite gotten used to the cafe culture in Canberra yet. It's quite well known that they lag behind Melbourne (and probably most cuisines). I'm almost afraid to order soy chai lattes for the fear of getting an over-syrupped and cinnamon concoction.

- Chahan (vego wrap, crisp sushi rice cake, avocado, beetroot, spanish onion, sesame dressing, mixed leaves, nori dusties) - essentially a large sushi wrap with some flavoursome sushi rice that had a crunchy crispy edge to it (oven or grill maybe?). Surprisingly plain and good;
- Foghorn Leghorn (free-range half Moroccan barbecue chicken, de-boned with seasoned wedges, herbed sour cream) - deep flavoured chicken with Middle-Eastern flair and decent juicy meat with some excellent spiced wedges although I wasn't a fan of the dill sour cream.

These were washed down with some typical freshly squeezed OJ and a banana brekkie smoothie, which tasty pretty heavy on vanilla ice-cream. The iced cafe that other people ordered looked delectable served in a large beer mug.

There's a lot of good looking food options here. Maybe I'll even try the chai latte next time. It's overall a bit expensive, but that's my welcome to Canberra.

Next time I would order the iced mocha or chai latte and try the Mekong burger or Nipper (fish & chips).

Canberra dining - a conundrum. A small city with a lot of expendable income, where very few people voluntarily come to. Consequently food is expensive no matter what you look for and no matter how cheaply it may be found elsewhere in Australia.

Even the online ratings are a little difficult to judge - you're always not quite sure what taste people have (if any) and when the discrepancy between a chain store in Canberra and other states differ in rating by 30-40% (ie. Canberrans rate it much higher), it makes you wonder...

In any case, it's uncommon that a reputed source such as the Good Food Guide (mostly known to me from The Age in Melbourne) gets finer dining completely wrong. I'm sure there are instances where (like Michelin) the name of the restauranteur has to be catered for more than the quality of food. I wouldn't think there are that many major toes in Canberra to step on.

Eightysix opened less than a year ago. Funnily enough it rated #3 in the Good Food Guide to Canberra for 2013 and landed itself a 73% Urbanspoon rating. Conundrum. Reading the comments, a few seem to relate to inappropriate tactile tactics from staff toward female patrons. It sounds strange. I think I'm safe.

The space is nice. Open kitchen with bar seating, rows of wine, a picture of MPW on the door in the kitchen and even outdoor area for warmer evenings. Our host leads offers the bar seating experience and identifies us as "86 virgins" (sounds like a dream waiting in heaven) before explaining the menu written across the restaurant wall. It's different and fun. People wander around to read the menu.

- Sous Vide Corn with Lime & Coriander - 75C for 45mins then charred and topped with grated cheese and salt crystals. Beautifully cooked and flavoursome. It was resting on a few salt crystals that made the occasional bite salty;
- Steak Tartare with Prawn Crackers - diced (not minced) steak mixed with a sauce of tabasco/wasabi/English mustard, topped with raw egg, onion, chives, salt and pepper. An unusual take on tartare with diced beef chunks eaten on prawn crackers. The taste of the sauce was also stronger than the usual relatively plain French-style. Not bad, just different;
- NZ Bream with lemon & green beans - 57C for 14min in olive oil, topped with salt crystals, pepper, blanched green beans, spring onion, parsley & lemon rind. Soft white fish that pulled apart easily but still kept some firm texture. The outside flesh tasted a little too salty though;
- Charcoal Chicken & Buttermilk Slaw - chicken legs sous vide 67C for 2hours with a long-list marinade of maple syrup, cumin/cinnamon/chilliother spices, and a cabbage/carrot slaw with walnuts, capers. Excellent juicy chicken with a savoury and slightly chilli/sweet edge. Skin wasn't crispy which would be my only other preference. It was topped with salt crystals which probably wasn't necessary;
- Caramel Popcorn Sundae - salted caramel icecream, salted caramel sauce, crispy caramel pieces, salty popcorn and a cone. Gorgeous icecream in a fun dessert. A little too much salt crystals on the bottom.

The food was very well cooked and presented with good portion control. My only recurring theme criticism would be the heavy handed addition of salt (maybe this is a local preference?). At the start of the meal we were given a small dish of salt crystals for our own use. Each of the dishes had full salt crystals sprinkled on top which made each a little over salty (except probably the tartare where it is necessary).

Service was really excellent. Two female hosts spoke to us briefly through the night to see how things were. Two young male chefs preparing food in front of us provided some slapstick entertainment as well as genuine interest in informing about the food and cooking methods. They also gave us extra prawn crackers and ice-cream cone without us asking. A few groups of (attractive) young females weren't getting any additional attention or unwanted advances. Overall a good experience.

Next time I would order some corn and the Charcoal Chicken again. Black Pig (jamon, figs, peaches) looked like a great sharing starter and the whole Lamb Shoulder to share looked heavenly if you had 4-6 people.

07-2015

It has been a long time in between trips to eightysix. I remember the great food last time with a little too much salt. I was keen to see what had changed in that time.

The first thing I noticed was the menu is now also in paper form as well as on the back blackboard. I suppose too many people complained about having to arch their necks and backs to see what was on offer. Unfortunately didn't get any photos so it'll just have to remain in imagination.

- Duck bun with hoisin sauce $8ea - very thin open bun with a small amount of duck meat. Tasted nice but too expensive for the portion;
- Steak tartare with prawn crackers $24 - seemed much more plain than last time reading about it. The diced beef was mixed with a raw egg to top the prawn crackers. Simple and tasty;
- Calamari agnolotti with angel hair chilli $34 - 4 deep fried parcels with crispy outsides and a pretty non-distinctive inside. The topping with angel hair chilli made it special but still too expensive for the offering;
- Black chicken with slaw $40 - an excellent two marylands of beautifully cooked chicken with a thick marinade coating the skin. Served with slaw;
- Beef cheek with potato mash $35 - a perfectly delicate sous-vide cheek with gelatin and flavour. Outstanding.

The $66 lamb shoulder and an interesting spaghetti with "lots of truffles" $50 await me for next time. I was really glad to see the salt has reduced but the flavours remain great. Very impressed.

Possibly the best after midnight food whilst out and about (which usually also involves recovering or an intermission from a big night of spirits) is the souvlaki. It could well be the best in the world out of all I've tried. From Istanbul's islak burger, Adelaide's Ab(ortion), dimsum in Hong Kong, various doner/shawarma from Europe/Middle East, they all have in common the same heavy rich flavour and the regret of indigestion in the morning. I even tried a few specialty types in Turkey, including one comprised of lamb brain, tongue and cheek (sogus kebab) in Izmir. I've been around.

Nonetheless, like all good things, they seem a fantastic idea at the time. Looking for one good enough to eat during normal hours and sober is the best test.

London certainly lacked a souvlaki. Outside of Greece, kebabs are Turkish-inspired and I certainly had my local favourite known simply as Best Kebabs in Whitechapel and a more upmarket one in Elephant & Castle that served as stomach lining prior to Ministry of Sound. Even in Greece itself, the gyros (yiros) uses pork or chicken. My favourite of all-time still has to be the pork at Bairaktaris in Athens, a place I nearly left the airport during a 2.5 hour break just to get. The authentic souvlaki in Greece use pork and chips in a wrap, which is a far cry from the Melbourne ones I was introduced to in 1998.

I was impressed to see a specialty souvlaki shop opening in Collingwood but none other than George. I hoped it would be better than the last one I remember by Anthony Koutoufides, which reportedly didn't use a spit.

- steamed Jimmy Dimmy - fat soft versions of siu mai, simple tasty and moist;
- chips, garlic oil, feta, oregano - the same winning formula from Gazi with the feta adding an uplifting richness to the chips;
- Mr Papadopoulos souvlaki (lamb, mustard aioli, chips, onions, parsley) - delicate chunks of lamb with basic flavour, although lacking the crisp intense flavour hits I'm used to. More refined, horses for courses;
- The Patris souvlaki (prawns, attiki honey, mayo, cucumber, mint, coriander) - wasn't really a fan. Flavours were ok, but I suppose I'm looking for something stronger in a souvlaki.

Some people say the sizes are not the same inflated size as other places in Melbourne. It's a good thing - one of these with a few little side shares is enough for a person. It isn't open until late so it would be unlikely you'd be drunk stumbling in here (unlike Stalactites), but it serves a more gourmet one. If you want big size and heavy flavour, I'd go somewhere else.

Next time I'd order Mr Papadopoulos and a side of chips. I'd be tempted to try the Nonna Maria (chicken) to see what kind of flavour the gyros has. If you haven't been to Hellenic Republic or haven't made it yourself, try the Grain Salad.

05-2015

It's been a long 16 months since my first and only visit to Jimmy Grants. After a few drinks in the city, I was actually in the mood for Messina, however after seeing the 50 person queue, my hunger changed to settle on a souvlaki and chips.

Vaguely recalling my only being moderately impressed the first time, I ordered another Mr Papadopoulus and chips. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe my tastes have changed, but these were fantastic. The souvlaki had once again super tender morsels of lamb, without the crispy parts still, but with excellent succulence and rich not-overly-salty taste. The chips were fresh, crisp and zingy with feta.

I'll remember this time more than the first and be back.

In my absence, the Melbourne addition to the first world's street food revolution is souvlaki. It comes as no surprise that George Calombaris led the way with Gazi (focus on Greek street food) and Jimmy Grant's (focus specifically on souvlaki).

My cravings for Stalactites lamb gyro souvlaki was put on hold as I made a booking for Gazi as venue for a long overdue catchup.

I didn't take any photos that evening (which is a shame) and in a way it was telling that the food took backseat to the conversation and catchup. This could mean the conversation was all encompassing, but also the food was not particularly special.

For ease, the Doing It Greek Style 10-dish sharing menu was selected. It was a lot of food.

- 3 dips + flat bread - tzatziki, taramosalata (fish roe) with prawn crackers, miso melitzanosalata (eggplant, miso);
- Saganaki, honey, sesame, lemon - delicious fried cheese with a good amount of saltiness, elasticity and a tiny bit of crunch;
- Soft Shell Crab Souvlakakia (mint, coriander, honey, mayonnaise) - very nice soft fried crab;
Duck Souvlakakia (chips, parsley, onion, pear, mustard mayo) - very very crispy strips of duck meat with unmistakable duck flavour, but lacking the succulence the meat usually deserves;
- Wood-Fire Grill Swordfish - sadly was well cooked through and a bit dry;
- Wood-Fire Spit Pork Belly (white beans, apple skordalia) - moist soft chunks of belly meat that I couldn't stop helping myself to;
- Chips of Tiganites Patates (oregano, garlic oil, feta) - reasonably crispy chunky chips, good seasoning, and the feta lifts it to another level of silky unhealthiness;
- Acropolis Now (stawberry mousse, coffee and mastic) - very sweet strawberry dessert;
- Loukomathes (honey nutella, crushed hazelnuts) - excellent warm doughnut balls crispy smothered in honey.

There are two dishes I can't recall - one was probably a street food starter and the other was a salad. I was a bit disappointed there wasn't any lamb, not even available as a souvlakakia.

What I will gripe about is the service. A friend had previously warned me they had several different waiters and a degree of neglect overall. Our experience was again, having 4-5 different servers - I don't tend to mind this much, but when there is no communication between them and every 5 minutes a different waiter comes to ask us how everything is, it starts to really get annoying.

Next time I would order the a la carte instead of tasting menu. I'd be quite happy to eat the Saganaki, Pork Belly and Loukomathes again. I'd be willing to give the Crab and Duck Souvlakakias another try with more of my mind's focus, but am also tempted by the rumours about the Beef Brisket one. Off the dishes not yet tried, the most enticingly worded are Crispy Lamb Brains, Wood-Fire Grill Lamb Cutlets and what would likely be the piece de resistance, the Koondrook Braise of Kid Goat for 2.

After returning from London, one of my most missed foods for either late night (post-alcohol) snacking or a really lazy unhealthy dinner at home was the fried chicken from Royal PFC 2 in Whitechapel. Needless to say KFC never stacked up against it (although the opposition from the KFC backers was strong).

Combining this with what appears to be Melbourne's arrival of Korean food, I ended up at 10pm going to Gami. I thought it was a new place arriving in my absence, but was told it had been around at least since 2011. Who knew?

In traditional Korean meal fashion, a few freebies were thrown to start off as drink snacks - Calbee prawn crackers and some pickled cubes of white radish. I didn't realise these would soon be used to offset the chicken.

- Half Chicken with Spicy Sauce - a large half of fried chicken cut into palm sized pieces and smothered in a thick, red, burning chilli sauce. It brought tears to my eyes and a sting to my tongue, but only a little too hot for enjoyment. It didn't stop it from being finished by 2 of us;
- Chicken pieces (wings) - original fried chicken drumsticks and wings with a nice crunchy batter.

Both came with a cabbage salad with mayonnaise to appease the heat. The chicken was well cooked, not dry, but not particularly moist either. It hit a spot and I would go back if I was craving it, although probably not too far out of my way. The Gami house lager was the first beer I've finished voluntarily (maybe the heat numbed and burnt my tongue enough to tolerate the lighter beer taste),

Next time I would order the fried chicken either sweet chilli or sweet soy garlic sauce to try the different versions. I like the meat on these larger pieces better than the wings, and the wings don't come with the sauce options. There are other light meals listed, but why would you get them at this place?

10-2014

A recent (month long) craving for fried chicken brought me back to Gami. Reading through my last entry (one of the great things about having a food journal) guided me into ordering a whole fried chicken - half sweet chilli and half sweet soy garlic sauce. The sweet soy garlic sauce is a milder flavour, light on garlic that is rather pleasant. The sweet chilli is a milder form of the spicy sauce with a very minor amount of burn. Both are good and recommended. Funnily enough I preferred the soy garlic sauce on the night I ate it, and the sweet chilli on the subsequent two nights after microwaving. Odd. 

Once again the cabbage salad was simple enough to break up the chicken taste and I particularly liked the pickled radish cubes too. Takeaway took 20-30mins, so I'd advise to phone order in advance if you have enough forward planning skills.

Fish Market supposedly only serves sustainable seafood and as I was craving ocean flavours, this seemed the logical choice to try for lunch. There is a cheap lunch menu but the a la carte selections sound much more inviting.

Complementary bread had a wonderful crust to start things off.

- Fish Market Prawn Cocktail - recommended to me over the lobster cocktail. Small prawns and cocktail sauce were average, but the large boiled prawn sitting atop was deliciously sweet and I wanted more;
- Fish Pie (haddock, Loch Var salmon & prawns) - pie filling ingredients cooked perfectly with a hint of dill. Crunchy prawns, soft delicate salmon, meaty haddock all with their individual tastes and textures.

There are plenty more options on the menu I will go back for.

Next time I would order some new things to try - Lobster Bisque, Sea Bass Ceviche, White Wine Mussels, Fish & Chips or Crustacea in the Shell (whelks, winkles, shrimps). 

It seemed a bit unusual that there would be availability of a respected two-chef hat restaurant for a Friday night when booking only a few hours earlier. I suppose it is because Matteo's is not a new place, it isn't in the middle of the city, and doesn't follow any current food trend. Additionally the name suggests an Italian focus, but in fact it is a very Japanese-inspired menu.

The clientele is very western european with many Greeks and Italians. Given that the restaurant is in Brunswick, that probably shouldn't be so unexpected.

Given it was our first trip here, we opted for the degustation menu with the addition of some oyster shooters (which is only listed on the lunch menu for some reason). The 10 servings of the set are presented as 4 courses of 2-3 each, which is a more casual way rather than continuous procession of waiting staff and plate/cutlery clearing.

- Oyster Shooters (with mirin & sake) - same base as the benchmark from Ezard. No chilli or wasabi in this version, but still the strong sweet mirin followed by a lovely salty oyster flavour. Much cheaper too at $3.50 each.
- Hiramasa Kingfish Sashimi (with prawn remoulade, shiso sauce) - nicely textured sashimi slices with a tangy yuzu sauce;
- Citrus-cured Ocean Trout Tataki (with lattice chips, creme fraiche, Yarra Valley salmon roe) - almost a biscuit sandwich of salmon slices with some roe that I couldn't taste. Nothing special;
- Teriyaki-glazed Smoked Eel (with potato & egg roulade, bonito mayonnaise) - strange dish of potato salad and eel wrapped in nori. The eel was thicker than the delicate Japanese unagi I expected and did not have the sweet thick brown sauce;
- Steamed Scallop Dim Sum (with roasted parsnip, yuzu-witlof sauce) - sweet juicy scallop dumpling with a tart citrus sauce. Delicious;
- Tempura Zucchini Flower (with fetta, watermelon, radish, coriander & peanut salad, tamarind vinaigrette) - excellent fetta-filled tempura on a lovely combination salad mixing sweet and sour, soft and crunchy;
- Chinese-roasted Five-spiced Duck Breast (with Tokyo turnip fondant, Yakiniku barbecue sauce) - beautifully rare duck with wonderful flavour;
- Seared Wagyu Beef Sirloin (with spinach fondue, kimchi-capsicum piperade, miso-shiraz sauce) - small cube of medium rare beef with some visible marbling and good texture. I think wagyu should not be served with sauce as the beef flavour wasn't discernible through it;
- Vanilla Bean Bavarois (with summer berries, macaroons, strawberry sorbet) - vanilla ice-cream, cold fresh fruit, sweet marshmallows (which they said were macaroons), and meringue pieces moddled together. Refreshing and lovely;
- Roasted Yellow Peach Tarte Tatin (with raspberry & almond frangipane) - outstanding soft sweet peaches in a circular moist and slightly crispy pastry. Enjoyed every bite;
- Poached Meringue with White Chocolate-Nougat Parfait - very heavy and sickly, too much for me.

Next time I would order the degustation menu for the first time. The degustation dishes sounded a lot more interesting in words than the a la carte menu. Many dishes were delicious and well executed, without any one demanding a return just for it. Overall a very good meal.