Ladies Who Lunch: charcuterie dinner at Comme

Comme
7 Alfred Place, Melbourne (map)
9631 4000


I attended a dinner the other week in honour of the lovely Miss T, soon-to-be-lawyer and sometime Melbourne Gastronome hand model.


She'd chosen Comme as our dining venue. I must confess that I had some doubts beforehand, given that my previous Comme experiences had been confined to fighting my way through crowds of investment wankers from 101 Collins at the Comme bar on a Friday night (shudder). But I'm pleased to report that the restaurant is really rather lovely, and does some damn nice charcuterie.

We placed our order of dishes to share, but at the last minute I interjected and ordered us some little crostini as well, with spiced eggplant and minted yoghurt ($2 each). To think that two years ago I hated mint!! I must have been mad. Needless to say, these little morsels were scrumptious.


One of the specials was a rabbit and prune rillette with caper berries and cornichons. I'd pricked my ears up when our rather dishy waiter mentioned it, and luckily the girls were all down with the whole rabbit thing. The rillette was still rather rough and chunky, but lovely and rich. The tart cornichons and caper berries were a great match.


Also very very good was the kurobuta capocollo with manchego, quince paste and pickled chillies ($14, 40g). From the neck of the pig rather than the leg (the latter used for prosciutto), capocollo is one of my favourite cuts of charcuterie. Luckily my nonno makes one for our family every year!


Also ridiculously good in its simplicity and quality was the salad of mozzarella di bufala and fresh figs ($16). Don't you just LOVE fig season?


I liked the tempura of zucchini flowers, goats cheese and Provencal relish ($5.50 each) but they were perhaps a tad boring (I know, this sounds strange coming from the gal who once said that if she had to plan her last meal on earth then zucchini flowers stuffed with goats cheese would be the entree). I think in this case the tempura batter was a bit too thick for my liking.


The only dish that I was actively disappointed in was another special of poached baccalà, served with roasted red peppers and deep fried oysters. Being the good Italian girl that I am I usually love baccalà, but this one didn't have much flavour, and the deep fried oysters seemed plonked on the dish as an afterthought.


However all was forgiven when the Spanish mackeral arrived at our table, served with smokily seared witlof and a sinful Sauternes beurre blanc ($17 - we got two of them for the four of us). I don't order white fish that often but I'm very glad B suggested we get it.


We didn't order any other mains or meats, just ordered some sides of runner beans with hazelnut butter ($8, dee-licious) and Russet Burbank potatoes roasted in wagyu fat and rosemary salt (also $8). Allow me to drool Homer Simpson style when I tell you - and this may sound like an insult, but I mean it as a compliment - that these roast potatoes tasted like the most delicious posh potato cake the world has ever seen!


None of us could resist the dessert menu when it was passed around. The guest of honour Miss T selected and enjoyed the pannacotta of summer berries and champagne granita ($15).


I'd looked up the menu on Comme's website the week before our visit and had announced to the LWL that I'd simply HAVE to order the chocolate, almond and salted caramel delice, served with milk chocolate malted ice cream ($15). And oh my it was good. Rich as all hell (practically fudge, and with a runny salted caramel centre!) and highly recommended.

Oh, and it seems that (along with manchego) salted caramel is totally the new black. Not only was it present in two scandalously good offerings at the recent food blogger banquet, I had it last week at Cutler & Co as well (review coming very soon!). Four times in one week! Perhaps we're seeing an Australian trickle-down effect of its increasing trendiness in the US, especially since Obama professed it was his favourite candy? Whatever the reason, I adore it and am thrilled to find it popping up more often.


Partly because the delice sounded incredibly rich just from the description, and partly because the fresh figs in the salad had been so lovely, I suggested to B that we go half-half on two desserts rather than have one each... so we shared the delice and the millefeuille of figs, honey and mascarpone ($14). I think I enjoyed the millefeuille even more than the delice, if that's possible - just look at that delicious stalactite of honey! Again the freshness of the fruit really cut through the dish, and the pastry (which can so often be a let-down) was excellent.


Very keen to head back there in a few months to hopefully try new dishes. You were right Jack, their charcuterie was fantastic!

Quickie lunch at Recorded Music Salon

Recorded Music Salon
Level 1, 11 Collins Street, Melbourne (map)
9650 3821


Miss F was in town from London for a few weeks! It happened to be her birthday while she was here, so a group of us met up for lunch on the special day. Because the rest of us all work full time in the city it had to be a quickie - F selected Recorded Music Salon as the venue. I'd never been before, but knew of it as a bar that best-friend-K used to frequent when she used to work up at Parliament.

Turns out that RMS also does a rather nice sideline in lunches. The birthday girl chose the salad of roasted baby beetroot, baby spinach and goats cheese, with Attiki honey dressing ($16). Housemate DJ and I both pinched a forkful each - nice and fresh, liked the sweetness of the dressing with the beetroot.


B-f-K had told me I had to try one of the pizze, so I had the one with field mushrooms, basil pesto and St Agur blue cheese ($13) (and Miss A ordered it too). Another great flavour combo (note to self: got to buy me some of that St Agur blue), but the oil from the pesto together with the fat of the cheese made it just a bit TOO sinful for my liking.


Loved the look of DJ's wild mushroom ragù with grilled polenta, truffle oil and shaved parmesan ($16), as well as the cute little glazed terracotta bowl it was served in.


A had a toasted ciabatta with jamón, red pepper relish, manchego and baby cos lettuce ($12.50) - also a winner. Is it me, or is manchego cheese EVERYWHERE these days? It's the new black.


Anyway, Recorded Music Salon makes for a great little lunch venue - if only it were at my (boring, legal) end of town instead of the Paris End. Still, I'm pretty stoked at the news in the latest Espresso about a very, very, VERY welcome addition to the legal district dining scene: apparently another Movida may be moving in a mere block away from my office, behind the Supreme Court building... *fingers crossed*

St Ali: specialty coffee cupping with Slightly Intense Thirty-Something Metrosexuals

St Ali
12-18 Yarra Place, South Melbourne (map)
9686 2900


A few weeks ago I decided to give South Melbourne Market a visit, and found myself wandering around the suburb wondering where I should grab a quick bite of lunch. A flick of the Twitter (I'm here, if you're into that sort of thing) and within moments Jack had suggested St Ali. Of course! I'd been meaning to go there for ages.


Of course you all know that St Ali is famous for its coffee. I'd heard mixed reports on the food but let me tell you that the salad ($14.50) I had of roast eggplant, caramelised walnuts and goats cheese, served with a pomegranate dressing and warmed flat bread, was bloody wonderful (so much so that it inspired me to make my own warm salad the following night with pieces of cumin/sumac coated lamb, spinach leaves, marinated strips of capsicum, goats cheese and pine nuts - I'd hunted all around the market for caramelised walnuts, but to no avail). Damn tasty!


St Ali has a casually bright 'n breezy, open workshop sort of feel to it, which is unsurprising given all the coffee gadgetry, roasters and sacks of beans on display.

In the latest Cheap Eats guide "coffeehouses" has been added as a category in the index, along with "creperies", "chinese" etc. The listed coffeehouses are Auction Rooms, Dibella Coffee Roasting Warehouse, Liar Liar and St Ali. Given the growing interest in good coffee, I'll be interested to see if there are any more listed in next year's edition.


"But Claire, what about the Slightly Intense Thirty-Something Metrosexuals?" I hear you ask. Well a nice foodie PR lady invited me to attend a specialty coffee cupping evening at St Ali, hosted last week by St Ali and Melbourne Coffee Merchants and featuring a presentation by Stephen Hurst and followed by a cupping session.

Stephen Hurst is the founder of Mercanta, a London-based specialty coffee company. He explained the history of Mercanta, the coffee market over the last 30 years and the Cup of Excellence, an annual competition to find the very very best coffees in the world (click on the link and read about it, it's an interesting concept). In discussing his work and fielding questions, he spoke with unaffected ease and clearly evident passion. Stephen was also happy to chat for quite some time with three Melbourne food bloggers (Jack and Sarah were there too) about blogs and how the internet is shaping wider coffee appreciation and the coffee industry as a whole.


Apart from the three of us, the crowd appeared to be made up mostly of coffee industry types. As the preparations for the cupping began I was feeling pretty out of my depth given my minimal coffee knowledge, but luckily my friend Andrew from Auction Rooms was also there, and he kindly offered to guide me through the cupping. I observed to him that there was definitely a coffee industry type: slightly intense thirty-something metrosexuals, if the rest of the crowd was anything to go by. Not that I have anything against slightly intense thirty-something metrosexuals.


"And what is cupping?", I hear some of you ask. Matt from Perth blog Abstract Gourmet gave the following explanation (reprinted with gracious permission here):

Cupping is the traditional method for breaking down the flavour profiles of brewed coffee. You roast a bunch of coffee to a certain level (generally lighter than for espresso), grind it to a specific coarseness, and then let it steep in hot water (not boiling) for a set period of time. Then breaking through the crust of grinds on the top and inhaling deeply the aromas of the brew, and drawing out as much detail as you can about the nose, before slurping it as you would if you were tasting wine. Aerating the coffee across your palate and assessing the acidity, body, and length of finish etc.


It was a blind tasting - two cups each of ten different kinds of coffee. I think it was four minutes after the hot water was added (a timer was involved) that we were encouraged to break the crusts that had formed on top. Andy showed me how to do it, inhaling the aroma as one pushed the flotsam away with a spoon and scooped it out of the cup.

Then we all started slowly circling the table in a clockwise direction, taking a spoonful of each coffee and slurping it up violently so that the coffee became oxygenated at the moment it hit the palate (as a young winemaking student years ago I learned in Sensory Studies that this intake of oxygen opens up the flavour compounds in the liquid and lets you experience the flavour more fully). Although I tried, I couldn't slurp as loudly as the SITSMs.



I'm afraid I didn't take any tasting notes, but these are the coffees we cupped (thanks to Jack for emailing me the list):
1. Siberia (El Salvador)
2. Kalosi (Sulawesi)
3. Harrar (Ethiopia)
4. Gethumbwini (Kenya)
5. El Limoncillo (Nicaragua)
6. La Perla (Guatemala)
7. La Fany 100% Bourbon (also El Salvador)
8. Takengon (Aceh)
9. Cachoeira da Grama 100% Yellow Canario (Brazil)
10. El Bosque (also Guatemala)


I was particularly taken with the blueberry flavour of the Harrar and the "brightness" of the Kenyan (thanks to Andy for supplying me with the proper vocab). Having done so many wine tastings in my time, it was fascinating for me to attend the coffee equivalent, and to gain a little insight into the world of specialty coffees. I paid the price though - because nobody at our table was spitting I too swallowed every sip of coffee, so came home absolutely bouncing off the walls. DJ had a good laugh at my over-caffeinated expense but it was no laughing matter: I didn't get to sleep until about 4:30am!


Update (18/9/9): You can read about St Ali's new South Yarra outpost here.

Food Blogger Banquet

On Saturday I trotted along to the food blogger get-together organised by Duncan, Sarah and Thanh in the back courtyard at The Commoner in Fitzroy.

I had originally been thinking of bringing a couscous salad, but at the last minute decided to make little buttery passionfruit biscuits instead. There was a tense moment on Saturday morning where I had to run back to rescue the shopping bag containing the passionfruits from where I'd left it on the tram (oh, and last-minute HIGHWAY BLOODY ROBBERY at Coles, $2 per passionfruit, grrrrrrr), but I managed to whip 'em up in time to get to The Commoner by 2pm. I think they're pretty damn tasty myself (it's the icing that does it) - if you're interested, the recipe is in the Women's Weekly Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits.


I see from my Google Reader that Sarah and Jess have already covered the event far better than I can, given my sleepy state and paucity of photos, but for what it's worth, here were some of my highlights:

Ed somehow finagled a fabulous collection of cheeses donated to the food bloggers by the Big Cheese himself, Will Studd. Outrageous lashings of cheese, topped with smashed fresh figs supplied from Joel's tree were happily consumed, and leftovers were brought home. I also really liked the Flammkuchen prepared by Sarah and Sandra and cooked in The Commoner's wood-fired oven.


Melbourne's Macaron Maestro Duncan somehow managed to outdo his previous contributions to food blogger gatherings, this time bringing THREE fantastic flavours of macarons. I think my favourite was the subtle cinnamon and peach, followed closely by the violet, then the chocolate/passionfruit. Check out the edible sparkles!




I also loved these individually wrapped salted caramels made by Asti. There were heaps of these so we each grabbed a small handful at the end - they made great movie munchies this afternoon at the French Film Festival.


And speaking of salted caramel, it would indeed be remiss of me to not mention the SENSATIONAL salted caramel and dark chocolate tart prepared by Jess. It pains me to say that I don't have a photo of it on my camera, but let me just say it was so good that I forewent other sweets so that I could have another slice of the tart. That's how good it was. The recipe is here and I intend to attempt it next time I host a halfway fancy dinner party.

It was lovely to see lots of familiar faces from previous gatherings and to meet some newbies. The resulting cheese/sugar coma was totally worth it. A big thanks to D, S and T for organising and to The Commoner for hosting us!

Maedaya Sake & Grill: gem of an izakaya in deepest darkest Richmond

Maedaya Sake & Grill
400 Bridge Road, Richmond (map)
9428 3918


A most welcome addition to Bridge Road last year was Maedaya Sake & Grill, an izakaya just a few doors down from the Curry Club. I'd been meaning to go for ages, but only got around to it a few weeks ago - I'd tried twice before but it was always full!


It's a cosy little venue. I love the look of the place, the exposed ropes pointing upwards make me feel like I'm inside the hull of a big, delicious ship (see great photos of the empty interior here).


As the name suggests, owner Toshi Maeda has an extensive sake collection (over 60 kinds!) for you to try. The menu features a large map of Japan indicating where all the different sake come from. We had a tasting: for $11 we sampled generous servings of Hatsumago, Echigo and Sonno.


As a free starter, they brought out what is known as the Maedaya "Dippin' mate": five dipping sauces of the day. Upon request, you're brought a larger container of your selected favourite, also free. The sauces on the day we went were mustard soy, fukujinzuke, curry mayo, balsamic and sukiyaki.


The thing at Maedaya that thrilled me the most was the charcoal grill and the skewers cooked upon it. There were tons of different skewers to choose from, ranging from $2 per skewer for kawa (chicken skin) to $6 per skewer for unagi, plus everything in between.


For $3.50 per skewer, asparagus covered by grilled pork belly. Magnificent. They're also offered as vegetarian options (just asparagus, or shiitake, or nasu dengaku, or tofu, or mochi). Having been cooked at such a high temperature, the skewers are deliciously charred.


For $2.40 each, tsukune of minced chicken balls, with nine different toppings to choose from (we chose wasabi mayo and garlic chips). Other meats/seafood available on skewers include chicken, pork belly, squid, bacon and quail egg, king prawn and scallops. Run, don't walk, for these skewers!


The gyoza ($6) and panfried tofu "steak" in teriyaki sauce ($11) were top notch... again with the smokiness.


Birdie wanted the teriyaki chicken ($14). We also ordered a cold soba salad ($9) which came with a plum soy dressing.


Oddly enough, the wagyu steak ($19) was the only dish we were disappointed with: slightly tough and bland. The okonomiyaki ($10), however, was brill.


And how could we go past black sesame ice cream ($5) to finish?!


A wonderful little find - but be sure to book in advance, if fills up quickly!

Pizza e cinema

I Carusi II
231 Barkly Street, St Kilda (map)
9593 6033

Went to the movies with Mum and Dad last weekend, down at the Astor. Before the movie we decided to grab a quick bite down at I Carusi II, the St Kilda sequel pizzeria to East Brunswick's I Carusi. I've been to both versions of I Carusi, and never had a dud pizza.


I almost ALWAYS order the Funghi Porcini pizza at I Carusi, but this time I was determined to try something different. The Zucchini pizza caught my eye: tomato, mozzarella, zucchini, mint and chilli ($16, but I paid the extra $2 to upgrade to mozzarella di bufala - money well spent, in my opinion). I was curious to see how the slightly unusual choice of mint would work... and folks, it rocked. The chilli was powerful but the mint gave the pizza a fantastic lift. You must try this pizza!


Mamma prefers pizze bianche, so she ordered the Broccoli pizza ($16.50 in bianco, with mozzarella, broccoli, lemon, chilli and parmigiano). It was fairly similar to mine (again it was pretty damn chillied, but the lemon kept it fresh).


Dad had the Speciale pizza ($17), with tomato, mozzarella, soppressa, roasted peppers, artichokes and olives. Another good 'un. These guys know how to make proper Italian pizze.


Then it was back up the road to the Astor. The Astor is one of my very favourite places in Melbourne and has been since I was 14, coming along to see double features on a school night. They're showing the Rear Window/Vertigo double again in a few months, yay! Rear Window is my favourite Hitchcock film and as for Vertigo, well, I'm such a Hitchcock geek that when I went to San Francisco I completed my own little Vertigo pilgrimage of many of the filming locations... :)

Just being in the Astor lobby makes me happy.


And this is Marzipan, the Astor cat. She's 15, so was just a kitten when I first started visiting the Astor. It's always nice to see her sitting in the lobby or on one of the couches upstairs, and I remember being MOST chuffed when she once elected to sit on my lap during a midnight screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Back in the day when she was a little more spry, she liked running along the parapet at the front of the balcony during a movie, startling the front row. She freaked everyone out last year when she went missing, but happily she showed up again two weeks later!