The Press Club

Location: 72 Flinders Street, Melbourne 3000
Phone: (03) 9677 9677
Link: www.thepressclub.com.au
Cuisine: Greek

It's been another weekend of good old Melbourne feasting and where else to start but with the highlight?

The Press Club is probably George Calombaris' most well-known restaurant and it certainly lived up to expectations. The entrance is tucked away just inside the Ernst & Young building on Flinders Street, but once inside, you can't even tell. 

The interior is smart and elegant, with a nice calming ambience. A friendly waitress leads us to our table, takes our coats away and returns with a drinks menu. We're asked whether we'd like still or sparkling water, and after requesting tap, we're informed that is not available. Fair enough if that is the restaurant's protocol, but we later hear a waitress offering our neighbouring table if they would like tap, still or sparkling. Not impressed.

We order cocktails and scan the two options available for lunch: a kerasma (four course sharing menu) or the mini symposium (five course degustation of chef's choices). The Zeus dessert from MasterChef All Stars catches our eyes, and we're pretty much sold. The waitress returns with a wooden box to explain the menu and the specials for the day. With truffle season drawing to a close, it must be on the menu. The waitress opens the box to reveal a large ball of truffle, the aroma immediately wafts across the table.

We're left to ponder our menu choices but with the truffle smell still lingering, it's not hard to decide. We go for the symposium, and add in the truffle special as an extra course.

olive bread, white bread, anchovy butter

The bread arrives - small stacks of olive bread and white bread, with a quinelle of anchovy butter. The butter is to die for - smooth, rich and salty - and it melts into the warmed bread. A great starter, and when offered seconds, we accept without hesitation.

Artichoke - Jerusalem, celeriac, parsnip, smoked walnut, toursi onion, kalamata olive

We're impressed with our first course. From meat lovers like us, any dish that comprises simply of vegetables doesn't ordinarily appeal, but the number of techniques that have gone into the various components on this dish somehow win us over. 

The artichoke is sweet and tender from slow cooking, the onions have been made into a sweet caramelised sorbet, the celeriac is fresh and a little crunchy, and the parsnip is soft. The smoked walnut and olives scattered around the place draw the dish together. But the best part is the quinelle in the centre - subtle flavours of olive oil and grains that taste like cereal in a sorbet.

Swordfish - "Poseidon god of the sea", sea weeds & vegetables, ouzo mayoneza, pink fir

This is the first time I have knowingly eaten swordfish (hey, who knows what people put in 'fish' dishes these days?) and it's impressive. It's gently seared on the outside, and still rare in the centre. The fresh pieces of fish almost have a jelly-like consistency, but firm enough to hold its shape. The delicate flavours balance well with the crunchy savoury seaweed and shaved vegetables. The ouzo mayonnaise is sweet and ties the dish together.

Tasmanian truffle, marron, girolles, kritharaki

A foodie's heaven. After much anticipation, our truffle dish arrives. It's a risoni (Greek rice) based dish, with pieces of marron meat, a mushroom foam and generous slivers of truffle. When they said the special was to showcase the truffle, this certainly does the job. The risoni is cooked to al dente, plump from soaking in its cooking liquid, the marron pieces are sweet and tender, and the mushroom foam is creamy and intense in flavour. 

But the hero is the truffle which has been delicately sliced so thinly that it almost just melts in the mouth without being too overpowering. Truffle is the most amazing thing in the world, end of story.

Hapuka - Trahana, parsley, strawberry clams, maratho, kalamares, lahano

It's my first time eating hapuka and it is certainly an interesting experience. It is one of the firmer types of fish, with a texture that is almost crocodile like - overcooked fishy flavoured chicken. The foam on top is perhaps a little overkill in that it doesn't add much flavour or texture to the dish, but the crisp shavings of vegetables, and the green olive sauce give the dish the added flavour it needs.

Wagyu - 24 hour oyster blade, helleniko kafe, celeriac, horta, heirloom carrot

On arrival, the dish looks a little like your usual steak and mash. Not so. It's no ordinary beef. The wagyu is so tender it cuts easily with a normal knife, and just melts in the mouth. The heirloom carrots are sweet and slightly caramelised, and the white emulsion on the side is slightly sweet and creamy. The grains on top again add an interesting texture to the dish.

Sokolata - A story of Zeus & his 8 mistresses with Michel Cluizel single original dark chocolate

All those who watched MasterChef All Stars would remember the Zeus dessert. It was slightly disappointing that this dish did not look like the one on the show (in particular, the chocolate bar representing Hera was not wrapped in edible gold), but it was nevertheless a beautiful end to the meal.

A large quinelle of 'chocolate clay' (sorbet) was surrounded by various textures and forms of chocolate - chocolate caramel, chocolate sorbet, chocolate cake, chocolate tuile, white chocolate nougat - and some freeze dried raspberries to add a sharp zingy contrast to the richness of the chocolate. The tuile was perfectly crisp, the chocolate clay was cold and refreshing, and the rest just fell into place. Definitely an indulgence.

The service was near impeccable. Aside from that misleading line about water (for which we were then charged $6 per person), the dishes were well timed and presented by passionate waiters and waitresses who ran us through was we were about to eat.

Overall Impression: 9/10

Sage Restaurant

Location: Gorman House Arts Centre, Braddon ACT 2612
Phone: (02) 6249 6050 
Link:  www.sagerestaurant.net.au
Cuisine: French, Modern Australian, Degustation

As a special farewell for a friend who was leaving the city, we headed to Sage for a last hurrah and some fine dining.

I'd heard lots of good things about Sage, so was definitely expecting great things. It possibly didn't help them that I'd just been to Vue de Monde a few days before.

Service on arrival was pleasant as the waiter offered to take out coats and made friendly small talk. Menus were laid out on the table with a selection from the already rather limited menu. My first disappointment for the night was that the two dishes I had set my eyes on from the online menu were not available. I'm not sure if it was due to the size of our group (~12 people), or whether it was standard, so we'll let that one slip.

We opted for the three course meal for $80, which included bread and amuse bouche.

house baked bread with artisan churned butter and sea salt

First up was a starter of house baked bread served with artisan churned butter and sea salt. The freshly baked bread was warm, crusty on the outside and soft and fluffy inside. The butter was smooth, rice and creamy, and salt was, well, salt. A nice start to the meal.

amuse bouche: mushroom miso consomme

Ahh, I love this kind of food. The amuse bouche came in the guise of a mushroom soup infused with miso, a tuile and some pieces of mushroom served on a piece of slate. The soup was rich and filled with mushroomy goodness, although a tad too salty. The tuile was crisp and acted a little like a crouton. Delicious!

After quite a long wait, our entrees were brought out.

pork ‘all sorts':slow cooked belly, braised cheek, choucroute, baby vegetables

I ordered the pork 'all sorts', which was essentially different cuts of pork cooked in different ways. The pork cheek was beautifully soft and tender, flaking when pulled at with the fork. It had a nice rich flavour which was balanced out with the sweetness of the choucroute (pickled cabbage). The baby vegies were cute and added some nice colours and 'crunch' to the dish. But the pork belly. What a total disappointment!

For me, pork belly is either braised or stewed to the point where the rind becomes soft and gelatinous, or it is roasted so that the crackling is crunchy and 'cracks' when cut with a knife. Yes, yes, MasterChef has taught me a lot...

This one? The meat was soft and tender, the fat was rendered, but the crackling was not the least big crunchy. It was soggy and a little chewy. To be honest, I would've gotten better roast pork from an Asian BBQ store (and there aren't that many of them around in Canberra).

The other entrees included a heirloom carrot dish, and a 'beetroot variations' dish that my friends raved about. 

honey peppered heirloom carrots:malt, yolk, ricotta, olive powder, brioche

beetroot variations: eucalyptus smoked trout, freeze dried mandarin, coriander

Again, another long wait before our mains were brought out, and this was where the service started going downhill. Whilst the gentleman waiter we'd had to start with remained polite and friendly all night, we had one waitress who looked like she clearly did not want to be there. I got a sense of a 'can't be bothered' attitude from her as she collected dishes after we finished each course.

What was worse was when she brought out the veal for a friend, and somehow managed to spill sauce on my coat (perhaps it would have been a better idea to hand my coat in when we got there).  I didn't realise what had happened until a friend pointed it out to me. The waitress made one of the biggest mistakes in restaurant service - she failed to acknowledge it and pretended nothing happened, but clearly knew because she suddenly became very flustered, and her attitude only got worse after that.

Anyway, onto the mains...

lemon sole: potato crumble, cauliflower, parsley, capers, red wine jus

I don't often order fish when I'm out, partially because I've had too many experiences with overcooked fish fillets or fish with their bones left in, and also because I'm more a shellfish or meat fan. I was rather pleased with this dish - a generous serve of three fillets of perfectly cooked fresh sole with crumbles of potato and cauliflower scattered around it. The highlight of the dish was the yellow 'roll-up' - which tasted just like a mango roll-up only fruitier - that added a nice sweetness to the dish.

I couldn't quite work out where the red wine jus or lemon elements of the dish were. The sauce dolloped around the plate certainly did not taste like red wine (and were creamy and tangy, going well with the fish). What I missed most with the dish was the lemon. I felt like there could have been a much more intense lemon flavour, whether it be in some deconstructed form, or even as a wedge of lemon on the side. Without the lemon, the dish really relied heavily on the 'roll-up' for any variation in flavour.

muscovy duck: orange, carrot, pickled red cabbage, licorice

artichokes: textures of globe & jerusalem artichokes, hazelnut, kale, sherry

veal tenderloin: sweetbreads, forest mushrooms, sweet potato, soy & maple glaze

French peas - bacon, eschallot, cos lettuce

The peas were but one of the sides that we ordered for the table, along with the delightfully buttery Paris mash. These peas were fresh and had a fragrant aroma from the eschallot and smokiness from the bacon.

The waiting times were getting longer and longer. If I recall correctly, dessert took almost 45 minutes to be served - and this was after the waiters insisted we order our desserts when we ordered the entrees and mains. One would have thought that pre-ordering dessert would mean that it would come out faster, or at least in a reasonable amount of time.

electric citrus: pound cake, kalamansi curd, marshmallow, lemon sorbet

When it finally arrived, I was immediately impressed by the presentation and creativity inherent in the dish. Sage had finally redeemed it's 'fine dining' reputation through this one dish. The chef had certainly demonstrated 'electric citrus' - light and airy pound cake, sweet and juicy pieces of mandarin, strawberry and soft pilllowy marshmallows, quinelles of zingy lemon sorbet and a beautiful lemony foam that floated over the top of all the other ingredients.

The dessert was everything a dessert needed - textures, flavours, and aethetically pleasing.

chocovado: chocolate cremeux, hazelnut cocoa crumble, lemon gel, avocado cream

rhubarb & raspberry: quinoa crunch, creme brulee foam, rose petals

I have never been to a fine dining restaurant and been so disappointed with the service. The food was generally very good with some amazing dishes, and others that fell short of the mark. For $80, it was decent value for money.

Just don't go for the service.

Overall Impression: 7.5/10

Vue de Monde

Location: Level 55, Rialto Towers, 525 Collins Street, Melbourne

Phone: (03) 9691 3888

Link: www.vuedemonde.com.au

Cuisine: Modern Australian, Degustation

After talking about going to Vue de Monde for years, we finally made the much anticipated trip there today. So anticipated that two of us flew back from interstate just for the meal. 

This is undoubtedly the best of Shannon Bennett's restaurants (some may recognise the name from a recent MasterChef episode featuring a peach melba dessert). The restaurant recently moved into the top floor of the Rialto Towers, which could only add to its class and prestige.

The entrance is slightly set back from the other Collins Street entrances. We walk inside and a lady greets us at the counter. After checking our booking, she escorts us to a lift. Amusingly, the lift buttons only go up to level 54, but we don't need to push anything. The lady has already arranged for the lift to take us up.

On reaching the top floor, we meet the rest of our party in the Lui Bar, and are then led to our table. The decor is simple and classy, the decor mostly wooden and lined with kangaroo skin and fur.

interior

We have a decent view from our table, although the dull greyness of Melbourne sky doesn't make it seem as impressive as it probably is.

the view from our table

The other view from our table is much more interesting. We're seated about 2 metres away from the open kitchen where the chefs do their final plating of dishes. It's like we're watching MasterChef live, but without the judges.

open kitchen

Everything in this restaurant is coordinated but different. We find a pile of rocks on our table - but they are no ordinary rocks! Removing the lid of one reveals salt flakes and ground pepper. Another is empty, for serving butter in later. The flat stones are used as bread plates, and the ones that look like piggy banks are knife holders for the meat dishes to come. 

these rocks aren't just there to look pretty

As we are seated, we are presented with a number of exquisite little dishes dubbed as 'snacks'.  These little appetisers were an exciting and light way to start the meal.

parsnip crisps with apple and chestnut sauce | celeriac, sunflower seeds

The parsnip crisps look just like packet chips, but are much more delicate and a little nuttier in flavour. The sauce provides a sweet and tangy contrast to the chips, but I would gladly eat the chips on their own.

The celeriac puree with sunflower seeds is served in small triangular filo parcels. Smooth and creamy, but nothing terribly exciting.

waiter making kangaroo rolls

One of things Vue seems particularly proud of is creating an experience that their customer's won't forget easily. The curing and rolling of the kangaroo slices is but just the beginning of the interactive dining experience we are about to enjoy. Interestingly, the waiter rolls up the slices with a pair of chopsticks.

salt cured kangaroo | oysters with lemon

This is the first time I've tasted kangaroo, and I'll admit I was a little hesitant about the idea. But as with most things, when you're at such a highly acclaimed restaurant as we are, you try everything. The kangaroo is very well cured and tastes very much like other cured meats. Neither overly gamey nor tough, it was actually quite nice to eat.

The oyster dish is essentially an oyster puree or dip, encased in a clear gelatin wrapper. The casing tastes like softened agar agar jelly, and the oyster puree is smooth and creamy.

   

smoked eel, white chocolate, caviar | duck crisps

What a contrast between these two snacks. The smoked eel was unanimously the best of the snacks - the  eel was smoky and not too tough, the caviar added a beautiful smoothness with the slight 'popping' texture. But the hero was the white chocolate, which gave each piece a sweetness that can only be likened to caramelisation but a thousand times better.

After a number of exciting snacks, the duck crisps are a little boring. The pieces are indeed crispy, but tastes dry and has to be eaten with the dip. Nothing overly special about this one. It's a little disappointing that the 'truffle marshmallow' which is on the menu and a number of earlier reviews, is not on the menu for our meal.

As we taste each of these, our waitress comes over to explain how the ordering works. For some reason the waitress has the idea that we are uneasy with ordering the degustation (which is a little confusing as none of us have mentioned anything of the sort). We ask about options and are basically persuaded to try the gastronomes degustation. The a la carte menu is not offered to us as a choice, or even mentioned. Something to note at this point is that there is a price difference of $100 between the a la carte, and the degustation (and one can only guess which one was more expensive).

We are, however, given the option of starting off with the degustation with the ability to stop it at any time and skip to dessert. With no real reason to say no, we order the gastronomes degustation and a bottle of German riesling to share.

And so begins one of the biggest meals of our lives..

pan seared scallops

For the first course, our waiter takes us to the beach, by placing a mound of sand on the plates in front of us, before eventually placing a scallop shell filled with two pan seared scallops, an emulsion of sorts and some herbs. The scallops are perfectly cooked, juicy, delicate and slightly crisp on the outside.

marron tail, tarragon butter, marron salt and marron tartare sandwich

The seafood theme is continued with a sweet succulent piece of marron tail, served with a quinelle of tarragon butter and marron salt, and a sandwich of marron tartare. The idea is to dip the marron into the butter, then into the marron salt. The marron is fresh and perfectly cooked. The butter is delightfully smooth and buttery, with a strong trace of tarragon. One of the best butters I've ever had (second only to the seaweed butter at Gordon Ramsay's Maze). The marron salt just balances out the combinations beautifully.

The marron tartare sandwich draws the entire dish together. The crispbread holding the marron is light and crunchy, whilst the tartare has a wonderful lightness and freshness to cut through the richness of the butter.

And none of the butter is wasted because the next dish to arrive is the bread.

bread served in kangaroo pouch with French butter

Bread is bread, and this bread is nothing to rave about. Two types of bread are served - a crusty sourdough like bread, and some smaller sesame seed based dinner rolls. The bread is warm, and our waiter then brings out a wooden bucket of butter (imported from France) which he expertly quinelles and sets out on one of the stones. The butter is rich and smooth, but my preference lies with the tarragon butter.

The next course is more like a science experiment than a meal - pumpkin soup made through cona infusion!

cona infused pumpkin soup 

Our waiter brings out a strange contraption made up of conical flasks filled with ingredients. As mugs of pumpkin, sour cream and herbs are set out in front of us, the waiter quickly works the machine, typically used for making coffee, and infuses a broth with an intense pumpkin and aromatic flavour. Once boiled, the infused liquid is poured over the ingredients in each mug.

Mix, and the cream combines with the liquid to form a soup. The soup is a little creamy, with a strong deep flavour. A little more cream or even some pureed pumpkin would have made the soup a little creamier though.

Soup finished, it's time for breakfast.

fried duck egg, lamb sweetbread toasted bread,
pickled onion, onion jus, shaved truffle

Eggs on toast? Soldiers? How about the fine dining version? A fried duck egg is surrounded with an onion jus, and served with pieces of lamb sweetbread, toasted sourdough, pickled onion. At the last minute, a waiter liberally grates fresh black truffle all over the egg. Ahh, truffle goodness.

Break into the egg and the rich yellow yolk runs amok, mixing into the onion jus and making a nice runny mixture to dip the sourdough into. The lamb sweetbreads have an odd chewiness to them, but it's still relatively tender to eat, and there is a subtle sweetness. The onions are sweet and provide the needed 'crunch' to the dish.

More molecular gastronomy arrives in the form of micro herbs served in a mortar. A waiter brings out liquid nitrogen and pours it over the herbs. We are instructed to pound the now-frozen herbs into a crumbly powder before a quinelle of cucumber sorbet is slipped on top.

cucumber sorbet with crushed herbs

This palate cleanser looks rather simple and sounds a little bland, but the sorbet is surprisingly fresh and sweet, reminding me of muddled cucumber in cocktails. It's almost good enough to be a dessert on its own.

barramundi, smoked bone marrow

We are brought back to seafood with some slices of barramundi fillets, with have been pan fried and served with smoked bone marrow. Aside from the caramelised crispy edge, the fish is probably one of the blander dishes on the menu. The fish is well cooked, but we keep looking for the 'wow factor', but don't seem to find it. It's not like the other dishes.

pigeon, carrot, clove, orange

Our waitress had said that game was on the menu, and game there was. Confit pigeon thigh and breast sit surrounded by some chopped carrots. An orange and clove flavoured reduction is poured over the pigeon after it is placed in front of us. The pigeon is amazingly tender and flavoursome. The carrots are a little undercooked. The hero of this dish is the intense sweetness and strong aromatics in the orange reduction - a very pleasant way to cut through some of the richness from the confit.

pigeon nest

Served at the same time is a pigeon nest - pieces of pigeon meat served in a little potato nest. It's an interesting combination of textures and flavours and adds a nice crunch to the other pigeon dish.

Our last savoury dish again arrives in components, with the terrine and beetroot on the plate, and the raw pieces of wagyu on a little portable barbecue, which the waiter cooks on skewers. Once the meat is cooked, the waiter places a slice on each of our plates, before drizzling it with a sweet beetroot sauce.

wagyu terrine, barbecued waygu fillet, beetroot

The beef is cooked rare (one of the few occasions where I have eaten something cooked less than medium) so it is amazingly tender and juicy. 

The terrine is average, it has some odd flavours we couldn't place, but it tasted much better when eaten with the apple (or pear?) puree that was in the centre of the plate.

Definitely would have preferred more of the barbecued wagyu instead of the terrine.

Savoury dishes over, the waitress brought over the cheese trolley to transition us from savouries into desserts.

assortment of cheeses | assortment of bread

(from top) rhubarb, apple, quince | figs, caramelised onion, pear

After getting an indication of preferences for types of cheese, we're given a selection of five cheeses (two goat's cheeses, a cheddar, a camembert and a washed rind). It would have been nicer to be given a brief run through all the available cheeses and then choosing our own, but the waitress seemed to set the pace and direction so we feel obliged to go with the flow. 

Usually a fan of cheese, most of these actually don't appeal to me. The goat's cheeses and the washed rind are too intense for my liking, and the cheddar, whilst sharp, doesn't have as much complexity in its flavour as I was hoping. The camembert is my favourite - smooth, creamy and not too overpowering. 

We're presented with three types of bread and a variety of jams and condiments to accompany the cheese. There's a beetroot loaf, sourdough and some thin slices of raisin toast. The beetroot loaf has an interestingly pleasant subtle flavour, but didn't taste like beetroot. The raisin toast is thinly and crispy, working well with the softer cheeses. The sourdough is, well, sourdough. The condiments were a nice sweet chewy contrast to the bread and cheeses. 

To bring us into dessert, we're presented with an 'interlude' of what the waiters dub 'beer and nuts'.

'beer and nuts' - passionfruit and licorice 'beer' with coconut sorbet

It is essentially a fizzy passionfruit and licorice soda-like drink served with small balls of coconut sorbet. A brilliantly cool and refreshing way to tantalise our tastebuds for dessert.

First of the desserts is a deconstructed Monte Carlo biscuit.

deconstructed Monte Carlo biscuit with raspberries and cream

Totally love this dish. Shards of toffee balance atop fresh raspberries bursting with juicy sweetness and cream. It has everything it needs - sweet, sour, creamy smoothness and crunch.

chocolate souffle

Last course, and we're presented with a rather large chocolate souffle. A waiter slips in a scoop of chocolate mousse at the last minute. We are a little underwhelmed by this dessert. The souffle is soft and fluffy and has puffed up and risen out of the cup well. However, I found that the souffle left an eggy flavour in my mouth - possibly from being in the oven for too long (but desserts are my forte so it could be due to any number of reasons). The mousse is smooth and rich, and is seemingly wasted melting and dissolving into a eggy souffle base.

A small platter of petit fours wraps up the meal.

petit fours

The platter has some lamingtons, eucalyptus flavoured sorbet balls, shards of chocolate and musk, and wooden board with some odd gelatinous jelly coins. The lamington is soft and fluffy, coconutty on the outside, and light and airy inside. The sorbet like balls are cold and rather pleasant to eat, however the rest of the platter is doesn't seem to blend in well.

But wait, it doesn't just end there. On leaving, we are presented with some goodies to take home, or what they call 'for the morning after'. A small loaf of brioche, a packet of granola, some rose petal and fruit tea, a mini jar of Heide honey, and some small chocolate biscuits.

Vue de Monde is not just about the brilliant food. They seem to pride themselves in providing their customers with a pleasant and entertaining dining experience, complete with all the theatrics a restaurant of this calibre and sophistication can get away with.

Everything ran like clockwork - dishes were brought out in a nice slow pace suitable for a late Sunday lunch, and the waiters worked around each other to construct the dishes that were finished at our table. We loved the theatrics, and the way the waiters engaged with us, explaining each dish and throwing in the odd joke or so.

And what a view to end the day with?

Vue de Monde is certainly an experience worth trying out at least once in your life.

Overall Impression: 9.5/10