Bushranger brunch! Gypsey & Musquito in Bridge Rd, Richmond

Gypsey & Musquito
382 Bridge Road, Richmond (map)
9939 9314
website
Breakfast and lunch, 7 days

'One of the more notorious bushrangers was an Aborigine from New South Wales called Musquito who had been employed as a stockman and later as a black tracker. In this latter role he had been instrumental in the capture of many bushrangers. In 1823 Musquito was transported to Van Diemen's Land for the murder of his wife, an event which was not a crime under Aboriginal law. He subsequently escaped and became a bushranger. With the aid of another Aboriginal named Black Jack he led a gang of Tasmanian Aborigines in raids against white settlers and storekeepers for about two years. He was responsible for at least two murders, including that of a storekeeper named William Holyoak at Grindstone on 15 November 1823.'

'Musquito made a friend of another bushranger, known as Gypsey. Gypsey's real name was George Shirley, the son of a wealthy English family. Distressed at the death of his bride giving birth to their daughter, Shirley had taken to bushranging. When Gypsey was captured and killed after he had opened fire on some troops, Musquito vowed to avenge his death. Musquito marked Gypsey's grave with a rough-hewn stone carved with the words 'Gypsey My Friend'. Musquito continued to deliver money to Gypsey's daughter Georgina until Musquito was captured in 1824 by another local Aborigine. When the death sentence was passed, Musquito replied: 'Hanging no bloody good for blackfellow …. Very good for whitefellow, he used to it'. Musquito was hanged in Hobart in 1825 alongside Black Jack.'

Sources: here and here.

Gypsey & Musquito may have been dead for 185 years, but their names live on thanks to a new cafe on Bridge Road, Richmond: a street where for every brunch hit (eg Bosisto's, RHCL) there are several misses. Gypsey & Musquito, however, is definitely a hit in my book. The fitout is cosy and homely, especially the upstairs dining room which features colonial furniture and lots of natural light.

In keeping with the name and upstairs decor, cafe owners Kirrily Stewart and Anna Ingle have given the menu a very Australian flavour, with almost all of the dishes including a native Australian ingredient. Forget about those awful 1990s tourist restaurants serving dodgy quandong pannacotta - here, the use of native ingredients is much savvier and the effect is far more organic and pleasant.


When I went there a few weekends ago with my gentleman friend, I braved the "breakkie skillet" ($16): a wee, cast-iron pan crammed with crispy bacon, tomato, field mushrooms, torn pieces of toast (that went slightly soggy from the juices of the other ingredients, like in a panzanella) and native riberry confit, topped with a crocodile sausage and a poached egg. Loved those tart little riberries! He had the potato and herb hash with crispy free range bacon, poached eggs and a luridly yellow lemon myrtle hollandaise ($14), and reported back favourably. The coffee (Five Senses on a Synesso) was also good, and if I'd still been hungry I'd've accompanied it with a moist-looking quince tea cake or lamington.


Oh, and there's free wifi, too. Add it to the list!

Union Dining opens on Swan Street Richmond just as I leave the suburb, dammit

Union Dining
272 Swan Street, Richmond (map)
9428 2988
website
Dinner Tuesdays-Saturdays (bar open from 5pm), lunch Fridays-Saturdays

It's only been a few weeks since I moved house and left my beloved 3121 postcode (hence the delay in writing blog posts), but one of the things about Richmond that I'll miss most — apart from my house, Der Raum, the Dimmeys clocktower, the Cherry Tree, Picture Search Video and the dilapidated Cremorne Gardens mural — is also one of the newest additions to the suburb.


Union Dining opened in early May, the baby of business partners Nicky Reimer (most recently cheffing at Melbourne Wine Room) and Adam Cash (you may remember him as the bespectacled restaurant manager taking excellent care of you at Cutler & Co). The food is provincial European with strong Northern Italian influences, the fitout is relaxed bistro, the service is warm and professional. It's located on Swan Street, east of the Dirty Swan and that string of Greek restaurants (the Union Dining site itself used to be a large Greek restaurant), and is exactly the kind of smart, classy restaurant that the culinarily-patchy area has needed.


On my first visit with Melbourne J, we ordered the porchetta tonnato with rocket ($17.50), a great porcine twist on the usual poached veal, and the terrine de maison ($16), which from memory was pork & pickled tongue and came with wonderfully agrodolce pickled Dutch carrots. Tick and tick.


Another UD appetiser I love is the one I had on my visit with Sydney J, the bresaola with slow roasted eggplant relish ($16).


Sydney J went retro, ordering the humungous "prawns on the grill" with roast garlic and saffron butter ($15). As messy and date-inappropriate as they are delicious. The only starter I wasn't wild about was the steak tartare ($19), which is done in the Piedmont style with horseradish and lashings of pecorino, parsley and celery. Much milder in style than the usual affair with raw egg, onions, capers and seasoning.


While Melbourne J worked his way through an eye fillet I was rapt by my main course: soft soft soft white polenta with juicy chargrilled quail and oh-so-rich pine mushrooms ($20/$29).


At my urging, Sydney J ordered the abbacchio of goat with braised peppers and Manzanilla olives ($33), a dish of Nicky's that I'd loved when I had it a few months earlier at the MFWF Long Lunch held by Sommeliers Australia. It's understandably something of a signature dish for Union Dining, and the meat falls apart upon the slightest nudge from your fork. While he had the goat I enjoyed the pappardelle with rabbit ragu, green olives and ricotta saltata ($19/$26), a fine dish that made me horribly homesick for Northern Italy. Fingers crossed I can get back there to visit family next year.


Melbourne J, ever the Melbourne Gastronome hand model, pictured with a platter of Ossau Iraty and mustard fruits ($12). In addition to cheeses, Union Dining offers a selection of ice cream/sorbet coupes and desserts (if I'd ordered dessert I totally would've dived headfirst into the pot roasted quince with almonds and anglaise).


I also wanted to mention that Union Dining is going to be the venue for the next [TOYS] Collective Melbourne dinner event. Its title (Issue #6: Stars & Stripes) is appropriate given the date on which it's being held (4th of July). The dinner will feature chefs Nicky Riemer (Union Dining), Aaron Turner (Loam), John Paul Twomey (Cutler & Co), Daniel Wilson (Huxtable), Yen Yee & Bernard Chu (Luxbite) and Andrea Riess (Chez Dre), plus 'Trink Tank' (Der Raum's new, experimental arm). A few tickets ($160 per head plus booking fee) are still available: more info can be found here and here.

I really loved the last TOYS event I went to at Embrasse: read all about it here.

The best phố on Victoria Street: Pho Chu The

Pho Chu The
270 Victoria Street, Richmond (map)
9427 7749


Ten days ago I caught up with my ladies K and J for some midweek phố, and instead of going to one of our regular haunts Thanh Nga Nine or Co Do, I suggested we give Pho Chu The a try. I hadn't been there for a few years, but I remembered it being pretty good. J looked up the address online and joked to us that it was the half empty restaurant that she takes guys to when she doesn't want to be seen with them, like the Chinese restaurant in an old episode of Sex and the City.

Whether or not Pho Chu The was the venue where J was clandesdining, it certainly wasn't half empty: on a Wednesday night there was a queue of about ten people out the door. The decor is strictly no frills and the service is brusque and swift, with food coming out within about two minutes of ordering. My kind of fast food!


Mystifyingly, the restaurant was overrun by the skinny jeans brigade... I guess they're all here because the phố is so damn good.


$8.50 a bowl, and the restaurant serves nothing but beef, chicken and vegetable phố and spring rolls. One bowl of the phở bò with rare beef was enough for me to declare Pho Chu The my new favourite phở joint on Victoria Street. The magic is in the broth.

Have you tried Der Raum's Summer 2011 cocktails yet?

I ask because they're really rather special.

Der Raum
438 Church Street, Richmond (map)
9428 0055
website


Pictured from left to right: Ben Shewry (an instant classic!), Death in the Afternoon and, from the new menu, PB & J.
Every three months those clever alcohol alchemists at Der Raum create a new cocktail menu (though classics such as the Pharmacy, the Latin Threesome and the El Moroccan Blazer are still available). One hot Saturday a few weeks ago b-f-K and I had a dinner reservation that wasn't until 9pm, so we decided we'd meet up a few hours earlier and work our way through the five new Der Raum cocktails while we waited.


I've written before about how much I love my local cocktail bar and their fancy, inventive but perfectly balanced liquid creations. Der Raum is the first bar in Australia to use a rotary evaporator, an elaborate distillation device whose vacuum system lowers the pressure and the boiling point of liquid over several hours (as used to great effect with food at Attica). The rotovap is a recently acquired toy that Matt and others have been using to distill various elements for the new cocktails.

The palate-cleansing drink served on arrival was the 'Chamomile Chroming', a sous vide infusion of French vermouth and chamomile emitting wisps of dry ice vapour. When I popped in for a drink two nights ago with the lovely H, the drink on arrival came in a ridiculously skinny glass and was infused with rooibos tea.


The first of the Summer 2011 cocktails is the 'Gomashio Kanpai' ($22), made with sesame spirit, lime, cucumber juice, bittersweet orange oil and a hint of ginger, salt and pepper to fill out the palate. It's served with a stick of cucumber pressed with gomashio (a Japanese condiment made from sesame seeds and black salt). It is refreshing and salty and ENTIRELY delicious - probably my favourite on the menu.


The second cocktail (with a price of $20) has one of the longer cocktail names I've heard in recent memory:
'No blossoms and no moon,
and he is drinking sake
all alone'

(!)

For simplicity's sake, it gets shortened to No Blossoms. Perhaps it's best if I just let Der Raum explain the origins of this one: "While the name may be the work of Haiku master, Matsuo Bashō, the most famous poet of the Edo period, the drink itself is the work of our friend and former Der Raum alumni, Joel Fraser, a self proclaimed Bashō of the bar."

It's made with sake, French vermouth, pressed citrus and orange blossom, and a lemon verbena distillate is sprayed over the top just prior to serving. I was less enamored of this one due to my dislike of lemon verbena, even in trace amounts (to me it always tastes like an aromatherapy candle).


We both loved the 'PB & J' ($25) though. It's made with Makers Mark, crème de framboise, strawberry vermouth and sparkling rosé. Into the jam jar containing the liquid is poured the pinenut fog (made with liquid nitrogen). The lid of the jar is then closed to allow the flavoured fog to infuse the drink for a while. I love the flavour fog cocktails at Der Raum - last summer's Mel Tormé-inspired 'Velvet Fog' was my all-time favourite.


The penultimate cocktail was the 'Life on Mars?' ($25). I love that the cocktail named after my favourite Bowie song is written properly (with a question mark), and that the menu exhorts guests to raise a glass to "my mother, my dog, and clowns"!

I completely geeked out over this cocktail - the contrasting textures (neither of which are liquids) and temperatures reminded me strongly of the Snow Crab at Attica. The base is an icy, crunchy liquid nitrogen granita made with Matusalem Platino white rum, capsicum, lime and agave. The crunchy texture is quite extraordinary. On top of that is a luscious, gooey cocoa butter and soy emulsion, heated sous vide and served warm (similar to the '+/- Piña Colada' they were doing last year) . It's finished off with a sprinkling of minuscule flowers and Sichuan pepper.


And last of all, the 'Tzatziki Sour' ($22): "a summer tribute to Richmond's Greek heritage". It's made with muddled cucumber, mint, lemon, a spoon of yoghurt, Martin Miller's and absinthe. I approached this drink frankly dubious about the yoghurt factor, but it turned out to be much lighter and less viscous than I'd anticipated (and I loved the oodles of mint). Miller's and cucumber go so well together.


I've booked my ticket to go along to Reinterpreting Dessert, the dessert and cocktail degustation Der Raum will be doing with Burch and Purchese at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. During MFWF, Der Raum are also hosting a Bar Food, Not As You Know It evening with Ryan Flaherty, the chef recently returned from stints at Fat Duck and El Bulli. If you're quick you may still be able to book tickets!

Drinking a Ben Shewry at Der Raum

Der Raum
438 Church Street, Richmond (map)
9428 0055


The Melbourne food nerd in me just about died of happiness when I opened the brand new 2010 Spring Collection cocktail menu at Der Raum on Monday night and saw that they're currently serving a cocktail named after Attica wunderchef (and recent recipient of The Age Good Food Guide 2011 Chef of the Year award) Ben Shewry.

Love it.


It's made with chilled umeshu, absinthe and fresh basil, which is fed into a bulbous beaker glass containing a thick stick of ice. The beaker is itself placed inside a big gobstopper jar containing rosemary and star anise which, having been attacked by a handy blowtorch, are charred and smoking.

The jar is then closed and the contents of the jar are given a few moments to smoke the contents of the beaker, in a method that echoes Shewry's famous dish of smoked trout broth with crackling, basil seeds and fresh smoke.


And the taste? I'm not usually much of a fan of aniseed flavours, but I just loved it tempered with the sweet plum from the umeshu and the freshness of the basil. And loved that hint of smoke characters too!


A few guys and gals from the Attica team were in on Monday night, to taste the cocktail.

My cocktail companion, the lovely H, chose a different cocktail called Sausage Fingers. It contained CHIPOTLE AND MANGO TEQUILA, pressed lemon and agave, and tasted smoky and fresh and sweet and spicy all at once. Der Raum cocktails are not cheap (these two were $22 each) but boy oh boy do we love them.


It was a Monday night and we'd promised each other we'd stop at one cocktail. But I'm keen as mustard to get back there ASAP to try the Midnight in Sicily: Averna, Campari, blood orange and Strega mist. Be still my beating heart!

Martini Masterclass at Der Raum

Der Raum
438 Church Street, Richmond (map)
9428 0055


This week I went along to the Martini Masterclass at everyone's favourite molecular cocktail bar, Der Raum. To accompany me I requested the presence of the charming J and his camera: many thanks to J for allowing me to use his photos in this post. As you can see, his lens is far, far, FAR superior to mine (I've learnt from bitter past experience that my camera and Der Raum just don't like each other)... I'm thinking that from now on I'll have to ask J to join me each time I'm dining in a dimly-lit restaurant. Either that or I'll just steal his camera.

The masterclass was conducted by Tanqueray brand ambassador Greg Sanderson (looking very suave in the photo below), with the Der Raum team assisting. We learned about the evolution of the martini, and tasted four variations (plus a taste of a fifth that Greg snuck into us). The class was excellent value at $60 a head ($45 for MTS members).


We arrived at 8pm, after a stomach-lining, booze-free dinner around the corner. Upon arrival we were given a palate-cleansing Chamomile Chroming: a sous vide infusion of French vermouth and chamomile, with delicate wisps of dry ice vapour sighing their way out of the little bottle (marked 'Poison') in which it is served.


The first cocktail, prepared by Luke from Der Raum, was the Chuncho Martini (named after the Peruvian Amargo Chuncho bitters included in its ingredients). The Chuncho Martini also used Tanqueray, Lillet Blanc and Marlborough syrup (a simple syrup made using Sauvignon Blanc instead of water). The grape used as a garnish had been carbonated (J dubbed it the 'Han Solo Grape', har har) using Lillet Blanc, so biting into it produced a crazy fizzy sensation on the tongue. We both LOVED this martini.


Then Greg took the reins and talked to us about the origins of the martini, generally regarded to be the Martinez cocktail. Various legends have sprung up regarding the Martinez origin story, most involving the Bay Area mining town of the same name.

Thank you to Greg for allowing me to reprint his Martinez recipe:
- 30ml Tanqueray
- 60ml Sweet Vermouth
- Dash Sugar Syrup
- Dash of Maraschino Liqueur
- Dash of Boker's Bitters (Angostura as a substitute)
- Stirred, into a chilled martini glass, large lemon twist garnish

It was at this point in the evening that the class got interactive: audience members were invited to come behind the Der Raum bar to mix up cocktails ourselves (with helpful tips from the staff). Nice! Here's the Martinez that J prepared.


For the third martini - the vodka martini - it was my turn to go behind the Der Raum bar and play bartender. After explaining (for the benefit of those who didn't know) what a dry martini is, Greg discussed various methods of getting the vermouth into a martini.

For my Vodka Martini (made with Ciroc Vodka), we coated the pitcher with vermouth, stirred it, then poured it out and added the vodka. Very dry. The olives as a garnish were skewered on a pipette filled with vermouth, so that the drinker could make the martini less dry by adding more vermouth if he or she chose to do so. Ay caramba, this martini was strong.


We also learned about the key botanicals used in gin: juniper berries, coriander seeds, chamomile flowers, licorice root, angelica root and citrus fruits such as grapefruit and bitter orange.


The extra martini we sampled was a Montgomery Martini made with Tanqueray 10 in a 15:1 ratio of gin to vermouth.


The final cocktail was a James Bond Vesper Martini. Greg read aloud the Ian Fleming passage from 'Casino Royale' in which the recipe is revealed:
"A dry martini," he said. "One. In a deep champagne goblet."
"Oui, monsieur."
"Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?"
"Certainly, monsieur." The barman seemed pleased with the idea.

Kina Lillet has been unavailable since the 1960s (alas, when Daniel Craig orders it in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, it's an anachronism), so we had Lillet Blanc instead. The vodka was Smirnoff Black.


Greg brought along a number of martini accoutrements, including this curious little martini scale.


The class ended, but we stuck around chatting to fellow class participants. The Der Raum boys started making regular cocktails for those who (unfathomably) were still up for more alcohol. I spotted Josh making Der Raum favourite, the El Moroccan Blazer: a Hennessey, Cognac and sweet port concoction that involves flamed lime and pineapple, caramelised with a blowtorch in a miniature skillet.



Luke presented a Tanqueray 10 martini the way they are prepared at Der Raum: chilled with clouds of witch's-brew liquid nitrogen. The theatre of the Nitro Martini is always a crowd-pleaser!


Eeeeevil. But delicious.


My favourite line of the night was Greg's praise of the Der Raum team: "Coming to Der Raum and just ordering a vodka, lime and soda would be like going to Vue de Monde and just ordering a cheeseburger." :-)

Single origin coffee and tasty toasties in Cremorne

Espresso 3121
Rear 96 Balmain St, Richmond (map)
(aka just down the lane from cnr Balmain St & Walnut St, Cremorne)
9025 7620
Open Mon-Fri 7am-4pm
Closed weekends :(


I've whinged about it before, but one of the few downsides of living in Cremorne is that many of the great little cafes dotting the light industrial suburb are only open from Monday to Friday, which means that Monday to Friday city workers like me never get to visit them.

I wrote about one such cafe, Volley, about 18 months ago (back in those dark days when my beloved local, the nearby Cherry Tree, was closed on Sundays and didn't stock Coldstream Cider). At the time I thought Volley was nice but not particularly memorable. One name change, menu revamp and substantial renovation later, this cafe is looking a whole lot more interesting.


Volley is now called Espresso 3121 (a name my housemate dislikes but I like). I love the redesign of the counter and seating area, with the front section raised a few steps to make the most of the east facing window and the morning sun. The venue can also be hired for private functions.


The shiny concrete floors, hanging lights, exposed brickwork and mounted bike racks reminded me a bit of Seven Seeds, but Espresso 3121 is decidedly more gritty and rough around the edges, less polished and SWPL.


The coffee machine is a La Marzocco and the beans are Veneziano, with a changing single origin on offer (when I went, it was from El Salvador). As well as selling beans, Espresso 3121 also offers a barista training and consultation service. I liked the lengthy coffee menu on the blackboard below.


There is a simple lunch menu (which sadly I may never have the opportunity to sample). Breakfast-wise, there is bircher muesli, Dench croissants and a variety of Dench organic breads for toast (jams, avocado and Vegemite, Nutella etc) and open grilled toasties.


The morning I visited en route to work, I ordered the grilled toastie with Otway leg ham, seeded mustard, tomato, tasty cheese, sea salt and cracked pepper ($7) and was most impressed. Quality ingredients.


C'mon, Espresso 3121, please open for breakfasts on Saturdays! Pretty pretty please?