Spice Temple

Location: Crown Complex, Southbank, Melbourne
Phone: (03) 8679 1888
Link: www.spicetemplemelbourne.com
Cuisine: Asian, Sichuan

It's become a bit of a rule that each time I make it back to Melbourne for a weekend, I have to go out to some 'fancy' restaurant. Possibly because of the lack thereof in Canberra.

I have a harddrive full of photos, but with dinner time fast approaching and craving some good old Sichuan food, I thought I might start with Neil Perry's Spice Temple at Crown, from my August trip.

Located in the Crown Complex, Spice Temple is the newest addition to Neil Perry's growing collection of restaurants. The restaurant was dimly lit and spacious, with dark polished wooden furniture and hints of oriental design.

First up, a nice refreshing mocktail.

Green Apple & Jasmine House Made Soda

This was no apple juice, the freshness and sweetness of the apple was balanced with clean flavours from the jasmine tea, and topped off with some crunchy slivers of pickled cucumber.

Just as well we had the drinks, because shortly after, things started spicing up. We selected two dishes from the small plates and one from the large, along with some rice.

Fried squid with whole five spice and dark chilli paste

The first of our small dishes, the fried squid was crispy and packed full of five-spice goodness. And if that wasn't enough, the chilli paste on the side added an even hotter, but slightly acidic kick. A brilliant dish.

Fried salt and pepper silken tofu with spicy coriander salad

This was the highlight of the meal for me. The golden fried silken tofu was crispy and well seasoned on the outside, soft and smooth on the inside. They managed to keep their shape throughout the cooking process, and was served on a bed of coriander salad, which was doused in a numbing chilli sauce. A big plate of this and a large bowl of rice, and I'd be a very happy person.

Cabbage and radish pickles

As a palate cleanser, we opted for some cabbage and radish pickles, which provided a nice break from the fiery heat of the other dishes. The pickles themselves were slightly spicy too, but not quite the numbing sensation that were the other dishes.

Hot, sweet, sour and numbing pork chilli, sugar, black vinegar and Sichuan peppercorn

Our 'large dish' selection turned out not to be as large relative to the small dishes that arrived earlier. But the flavours were just as big. The pork itself was crunchy (think KFC popcorn chicken when done properly) and the chilli, sugar, vinegar and peppercorn created an explosion of spicy, sweet and sour flavours that numbed the mouth. Heaven on a plate.

Caramel chocolate and peanut parfait

And who could pass up dessert to cool the palate and finish on a sweet note? Not us. Despite looking somewhat boring, the caramel chocolate and peanut parfait was sweet, sticky, goody and crunchy on the outside. A perfect end to a perfect meal.

Service was pleasant, food arrived in a fairly timely manner, and the menu is just bursting with flavours. If you enjoy spicy food, give this place a shot. You won't regret it.

Overall Impression: 9.5/10

Gordon Ramsay's Maze @ Crown Metropol

Location: Level 1, Crown Metropol, cnr Whiteman and Clarendon Streets, Southbank, VIC 3006

Phone: (03) 9292 8300 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (03) 9292 8300      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Link: www.gordonramsay.com/mazemelbourne

Cuisine: French, Modern Australian

After months of waiting, we finally secured a booking at Maze Melbourne and got to try it out.

Maze is located in the new part of Crown, where late night shopping really is late night shopping. We arrived and were shown to our seats. The dining area was dimly light, but the atmosphere was elegant and classy.

Complimentary warm bread with seaweed cream butter

I have never tasted better butter than this. The seaweed cream butter was smooth and rich, with a nice hint of seaweed infused in the butter. The bread was warm and crispy on the edges, soft in the centre. We were particularly pleased when they topped up the bread between courses!

Queensland mud crab, pressed watermelon, pickled ginger, rock melon sorbet

Dish of the day. Actually, probably one of the best dishes I have ever eaten. The whole dish was well-balanced and so so fresh! Pressed watermelon base was sweet and crunchy, the crab was fresh and mixed in with the pickled ginger and some greens. The rock melon sorbet was surprisingly soft and smooth. Who would've thought there would be so much fruit in what was supposed to be a savoury dish!

Cauliflower veloutte, lobster

From what I was told, the cauliflower veloutte was smooth and creamy, but not too heavy. The lobster, whilst nice, was not the star of the dish though (the key part being the veloutte).

Marinated pink fir potatoes, smoked eel, sour cream, blackened leeks, shaved foie gras

From reports, this was also quite nice.

Coral trout, chicken skin, trompette royal, fennel, lemon thyme consommé

This was the second most popular dish at our table - credit probably goes to MasterChef when a Maze chef and Jonathan had to make this dish for the Celebrity Chef Challenge. The trout was beautifully cooked - tender and lightly flavoured. The chicken skin added a really good texture and flavour to the fish as well. The consumme was amazing - not too strong, but there was a depth of flavour from the vegetables.

Roasted quail, black olive caramel, young spring onions, rocket

Hot chocolate and violet fondant, salted almond ice cream

The dessert looked amazing. A few of us were slightly disappointed as we didn't quite like the violet taste (a little too strong and odd for the dessert). The salted almond ice-cream was also quite odd and something you really don't expect in ice-cream. The fondant, however, was rich with gooey melted chocolate inside, and firm on the outside casing. The ice-cream went surprisingly well with the ultra-sweet fondant. Without the violet, I think I would have enjoyed it much much more.

Coconut and white chocolate pannacotta, mango and black olive caramel

Complimentary white chocolate coated strawberry ice-cream balls

These arrived with the bill - small balls of strawberry ice-cream coated in white chocolate. A nice way to end the evening!

Service: as expected from a top restaurant such as Maze. The waitress we had made sure we knew how the ordering operated and gave us suggestions (although we didn't really follow them).

Price: not as expensive as some of the other top restaurants, but the serving sizes aren't huge so you would be looking at ordering multiple courses. The smaller 'entree' style dishes are between $12 and $18,, the larger 'main' style dishes were mostly $22-$26.

Overall Impression: 9.5/10

Margo's

Location: Crown Casino, Southbank
Link: www.crowncasino.com.au/margos
Cuisine: Modern Australian


Veal shank
slow-cooked veal served with mashed potatoes and vegetables
This is the second time that I've had the Veal Shank and its as delicious as ever. My plate was licked clean. The veal was bursting with flavour and falling off the bone. The mash was deliciously buttery =) The only down side was the vegetables. They had simply been boiled and then tossed on the plate but I really didn't mind since the Veal and the mash was sooo good.



My friends had steak and said it was tender and cooked to perfection.

Overall Impression: 6/10

Great for a casual catch-up dinner! Service was pretty good. Waiters served us crusty white bread upon arrival with a smile. Food arrived promptly and was yummy =)

Atrium Bar

Location: Queensbridge Street entrance, Crown Casino, Southbank.
Link: http://www.crowncasino.com.au/atrium-bar
Cuisine: Bar

Was here during one of Atrium Bar's 'Unwind Fridays'.

From left: 'Mai Tai' and 'Basil Me Jack'

Both DELICIOUS. The 'Basil Me Jack' tasted like a very good mojito! YUM

Complimentary canapes...

This photo was taken after we had engulfed the steamed pork buns...

$8 Feature Cocktails

Cosmopolitan

Melon Sour

Summer Punch

Japanese Slipper

Pear and Hazelnut Martini

Grasshopper

Strawberry Sorbet

Brandy Alexander

Mai Tai

Fluffy Duck

Manhattan

Strawberry, Mango or melon Daiquiris

Mark Twain

Basil Me Jack

Overall Impression: 6.5/10

Location wise? Probably not the best. Its at one of the entrances to the casino...the one closest to the Atrium, to be exact. But this detail quickly fades into the background once you've sampled one of their $8 cocktails. Deliciously amazing! And they are VERY generous with the alcohol bit of the cocktail too. The complimentary canapes will surprise you (in a good way... Having said that, I did have low expectations). Live music on the baby grand piano wasn't too bad either ;)

Kitchen Workshop

Location: Ground Floor, Clarendon Street Entrance, Crown
Link: http://www.crowncasino.com.au/kitchen-workshop
Cuisine: International

I hate buffets. But due to several factors including undue influence, I went to Kitchen Workshop last night. There was a pretty decent selection of mains and entrees like roast, lots of random deep fried things, beef bourginon, calamari, fish, roasts, antipastos, salads, pasta, biriyani rice, an interactive teppanyaki station (where you get to choose what you want in your stir-fry). I was waiting in line at the teppanyaki station and saw them pour a ridiculous amount of oil on and chickened out, quickly leaving my position. My friends tried it though and they said there were nice flavours but nothing to shout about. There was also a generous selection of desserts (that included a chocolate fountain).

The mango pudding in particular was a winner. Simple and pleasant.

Overall Impression: 5/10
Delivers everything it promises but goes no further. Great value for money. An all you can eat dinner that cost us 23.50AUD per head. Relaxed ambience. Helpful staff.

Bistro Guillaume

Location: The Riverside at Crown

Link: www.bistroguillaume.com.au

Cuisine: French

I was recently surprised with a 5 course degustation at Bistro Guillaume. I had high expectations when it came to the dining experience since I had been told it was the perfect place to take a date because the venue shouted romance and the food was to die for.

bread

Freshly shucked oysters with shallots and red wine vinegar

This was my FIRST fresh oyster experience. I have only ever had baked oysters and I've always been afraid to try them raw but was very ready to take up the challenge. There were very good flavours. The red wine vinefar and the lemon juice really took away the 'fishy-ness' of the taste and the shallots made soft textures of the oysters more prominent. By the time I had finished the second oyster, I found myself enjoying the dish. Its true, oysters really do taste like the sea. Having said that, this is not something I would order again.. at any restaurant. Oysters just aren't my thing.

Sashimi of Hiramasa kingfish, parsnip puree and pommes allumettes

This was so beautiful and fresh. The flavours were subtle but this emphasised the freshness of the sashimi. The parsnip puree was delicate and mousse-like in texture. The pommes allumettes (in English, this can be directly translated to 'matchstick potatoes') went beautifully with the dish because it was crispy and brittle, in contrast to the other elements of the dish. They did not taste like your every day chips. Very refined, just the right amount of saltiness. Overall this dish had beautifully subtle and fresh flavours.

Pan seared Suzuki Mollaway, fricassee of squid, cockles, prosciutto, shellfish and parsley buillon

This dish was slightly dissappointing. Don't get me wrong, everything was cooked to perfection and it was a good dish but after the sashimi, this was a slight let down. There didn't seem to be enough prosciutto to go around - as the dish tasted its best when everything was eaten together, this definitely made a difference.

Beef tenderloin on a bed of Paris mash, braised shallots and merlot sauce

My taste buds got a shock when I took a bite out of this. The flavours were soooo strong. The merlot sauce was the real deal - rich and bold. Half way through the steak, I realised the flavours I had initially thought were strong had mellowed down and everything tasted balanced and lovely. The acid from the merlot sauce balanced nicely with the creamy mashed potatoes and the braised shallots had a nice tangyness to it. And as would be expected, the steak was cook to perfection. Pink inside, flavours seared, meat incredibly tender.

ith regards to my sudden change in opinion of the course, my dinner date suggested that this may be due to the fact that the previous courses we had been served had very subtle flavours and as a result, the flavours of this course had been heightened. But if this course had been consumed at the start, my taste buds would not have been in such shock.

Bistro Guillaume may have benefited from introducing palette cleansers between the courses?

Fondant au chocolat, soft ganache in the middle, glace a l'orange

Did I just die and go to heaven?

What is this?

Too amazing. I doubt words will do it justice, but I'm going to try anyway. The beautifully hard and thin chocolate casing, snaps as my spoon breaks through it with a soft 'crack!', revealing the softest and smoothest chocolate ganache and a crumbly biscuit base. I make sure some of that delicious looking vanilla ice cream goes on the top of my spoon and I run my spoon full of sin over the orange glaze. Result: AMAZING =)

The balance of flavours? Perfect. The chocolate case was dark (just enough of cocoa bitterness) balanced with the acidity of the orange glaze, which went perfectly with the creamyness of the icecream and soft chocolate ganache. Oh, and the chocolate they used was Varlhona chocolate!

Petit fours

Really? This is what you serve us after that amazing dessert? Average. Very average.

skinny cuppucino

Overall Impression:8/10

The waitstaff could not be faulted for lack of effort but they lacked the refinery that one would expect. Apart from that, service was prompt and polite. Lovely ambience (not as romantic as I had imagined but still nice). Very very good dining experience.

Nobu

Location: Riverside at Crown
Link: www.noburestaurants.com/melbourne
Cuisine: Modern Japanese

Decided to check out Aperitivo Fridays at Nobu's bar! We had lots of sake, cocktails and plum wine and this came with complimentary tapas.

Edamame to start!

Whitefish Sashimi with dried miso and sushi

Everything you would expect. Whitefish sashimi had a bit of an Assam Laksa flavour to it which I really liked.

Beef Toban Yaki (on skewers)

Black cod with miso (on spoons)

The black cod with miso was amazing. Great balance of flavours: salty yet sweet, crisp skin, soft flesh, just a hint of sourness. Mmmmm

The beef toban yaki was delicious. Very tender. Strong flavours that I couldn't quite make out. It may have been some soy sauce? Meat was soft and tender. Cooked to perfection.

Hokusetsu Onigoroshi Devil Killer (Cold)

Tasted quite dry and clean. VERY strong.

Ambience

Overall Impression: 7/10
Worthwhile if you're planning to have drinks anyway since the drinks are pretty pricey. Lovely ambience and great service.

Mesh

This review proudly brought to you by...Helen Lee

Location: Ground Floor, Crown Promenade Hotel

Link: www.crowncasino.com.au/dining/venue/1160/mesh

Cuisine: Modern Australian

• A seafood buffet consisting mainly of oysters and prawns with some sort of fish and squid salad

• This was accompanied by the usual salads and sauces (a thousand island and seafood cocktail)
• Dips and bruschetta (sic) were also a part of the buffet. They were eatable although the corn chips provided were too salty and would cause a heart attack to anyone who had a lot of it

• A main meal was also included with choice of lamb, chicken, fish , porterhouse steak and roast beef which was also accompanied with a choice of sauce
• Lamb: cooked nicely with the a bit of a pinkish tinge, however it was lacking in sauce and we had to ask for more which took a while so the meal went a little bit cold

• Porterhouse: according to reports, dry and not recommended although the mash on the side was very nice

• Chicken: according to reports, also dry and not recommended also

• Each person was also permitted to three drinks of their choice although limited to beer, wine and soft drink. They were a bit stringent on these choices, as I asked for tea and it was not allowed.

• Dessert buffet included a variety of small cakes (mango cheesecake, orange cake), jelly, mousse, Portuguese tarts, and ice-cream. Only the mango cheesecake was worth recommending.

• Cheese Platter: brie, blue and cheddar

~Atmosphere~

• There were quite a few birthday celebrations on the night which made it slightly loud and the place was packed
• Although a bit loud at times, we could still converse with each other.
• The only negative aspect of the crowd was that, at times, patrons had to queue up for the seafood buffet

~Service~

• Good overall
• Raman (sic) was our waiter, and informed us of the main meals and was kind when one of our party was eager in filling out the drinks sheet
• When the wait staff saw we had finished dishes, they did take them away, so this aspect of the service was good.
• But the second batch of drinks that we ordered did take a while to be served (approximately a thirty minute wait)
• The service was also quite slow on the extra mushroom sauce we ordered, and we had to remind them of our order a second time.

~Price~

• $42.00 per person
• For a seafood buffet, this is quite good value, because one only has to eat two dozen oysters and a main to roughly break even, and the cost included drinks and dessert
• Would return for a special occasion or large gathering

Overall Impression: 8/10