11 Awards for 2011

As the end of 2011 approaches and new years' resolutions are being prepared to be broken, we can reflect on what was a superb year, particularly on the dining front.  There have been some incredible highs (as you can see below), some definite lows (read my Paco's Taco's / closure of Movida Terraza blog) and of course, an earth shattering Tokyo earthquake.  One of my good mates always gets really excited to watch any tv montage highlighting the best of the year that was, so I thought  I would give some awards for 2011 reflecting on the year that has passed:

1.  Best Winter Dish - Gnocchi Tricolore with oxtail ragout and parmesan (The Mess Hall)
This is the ideal winter dish - each colour gnocchi is a different flavour (e.g. red - red capsicum) and the rich deep flavoured ox tail ragout melts.  The Mess Hall has earned my respect over 2011, they managed to deal with a big group of hungry family members on what had to be one of their busiest nights of the year, their jenga like polenta chips are outstanding as are most of their other dishes.  Overall, one of my top 2011 picks and the best part is you generally don't have to wait an hour for a table. Honorable mention goes to the recently crowned dish of the year by The Age - Rotisserie Chicken at PM24 and a bowl of steaming salty Ramen from Ippudo in Tokyo (try Ramen Ya in Melbourne). 









2.  Best Summer Dish 2011 - Muoy Grande Paella (Movida Aqui)

There is nothing better than seeing the sun creep out behind the clouds and basking in the sunshine on the outdoor terrace at Movida Aqui with one hand on a Moritz beer and the other hand furiously scraping at the crunchy rice at the bottom of a big paella dish.  This is the perfect way to not be working on a Friday afternoon.  


3.  Best City Lunch Venue - The Old Chamber / Manchester Press
I really can't split these two places for a city lunch.  Both offer incredible coffee at locations that are just so Melbourne - The Old Chamber being an old bank on Collins street, Manchester Press being in an old building down a ubiquitous Melbourne lane.  The Old Chamber serves beautifully freshly made sandwiches, roti wraps and a wide array of incredible salads.  Manchester Press doesn't mess around - your choice of bagel served with generous helpings of either salmon, cream cheese and capers or pastrami or plenty of others. The highlight was the Coronation Chicken special served during the Royal Wedding earlier in the year.  

4.  Best Coffee - Sonido
This Colombian treasure in Gertrude street won me over, not just for its chilled rustic vibe and exceptional Arepas, but the coffee was out of this world (as was the hot chocolate).  I have certainly drunk my fair share of coffee over the course of 2011 and I put this well ahead of the usual suspects in the coffee stakes. See here for more. Honorable mentions go to Manchester Press and The Old Chamber.  And as a prediction, the newly opened Patricia in Little William Street will be the place in 2012.
5.  Best Steak - France Soir

I still haven't had a steak that beats it and until I do France-Soir will retain its mantle. Perfectly cooked, classic atmosphere and served with perfectly crisp Pomme Frites.  If anyone asks you for a steak at Squires, the response should be: "How about France-Soir?" See here for more.


6.  Best breakfast venue - Hardware Societe
I can't go past Hardware Societe in the city.  This place consistently makes excellent coffee and perfect inventive breakfasts. I most recently had Bircher muesli served with pistachio nuts, yoghurt and stewed fruit which was a great way to start the day.  Previously I've seen companions devour baked eggs with chorizo right before my eyes without breathing.  Note, really not a great place for a catch-up because you end up not talking due to the quality of the food! 


7.  Best High End Restaurant - Golden Fields
Andrew McConnell's Golden Fields in Fitzroy Street won my heart this year for doing great simple, natural and fresh food.  Sitting at the bar watching the chefs preparing such incredible food that really looks straight from the ground, field or water makes your mouth water.  An easy winner (although I didn't make it to Attica this year!). Honorable mentions go to Maha and Giusseppe Arnaldo & Sons.

8.  Best Dessert - Cannoli (Farmer's Arms, Daylesford)
Just look at the photo - nothing more to add.  See here for more about the Farmer's Arms. 

9.  Best home-cooked dish - My mum whipped up Moroccan Fish tagine with chermoula, preserved lemon and green olives in May and I'm still thinking about it in December - the tagine was layered with flavours, the sour acidity of the preserved lemon mixed with robust Moroccan spices meant a different and complementary flavour emanated from within each heaped spoonful.  I have to give a very seriously honourable mention to my lovely girlfriend's sister Talya who presented an incredible chocolate pavlova at a recent barbeque held at our place - yes, chocolate pav, it was like chocolate mousse but lighter, textured with the mereingue and just wow.  


10. Best Beer - Moo Brew Pilsner This is the perfect beer - don't need to say any more.  If you find it outside of Tasmania, let me know where I can get it! The Sardinian Birra Ichnusa is one of the great pale lagers and goes perfectly with the pizza served at I Carusi II on a hot night in St Kilda.  
11. Best Wine - Mayer Bloody Hill Pinot Noir - I tried this earlier in the year at Chin Chin and really haven't been able to ween myself off it since.  I drank it again at Gill's Diner and then picked up a couple of bottles recently and am still drinking it.  Reasonably priced, great flavour and most importantly, a name you can remember when you're looking through an extensive wine list! 
So thanks everyone for reading my blog over the course of 2011.  I am looking forward to continuing the journey (as we referred to the recent series of the Bachelorette in our household) through 2012.  Have a great break and see you next year!! 

Good for what ails you @ The Aylesbury

We are onto a good thing in this city - it seems like every couple of days you hear about a new place opening, each more exciting than the next.  What is really interesting is that we are seeing the proliferation of "sister" restaurants - where a big name restaurant leverages off the name of their flagship eatery and uses it to open a sibling.  This has been successfully done by top end players Vue De Monde with Bisto Vue (and others) Movida with Movida Aqui, to name but just a couple.

But now we are moving into the next phase of this era, where some of the less famous (but certainly not less deserving of praise), are taking the plunge and opening up sibling ventures.

One of those recent ventures is The Aylesbury in the theatre district of the CBD - younger sister to Gertrude Street's Anada.  Just like any sequel, I would have thought that there would a risk of failure, but parents Jesse and Vanessa Gerner have done a superb job with this place.

The venue is divided into a downstairs dining room / bar and an upstairs bar with a beautiful view of the CBD skyline. The food here is sophisticated, generous and overall exceptional - I like that the menu offers a great selection and that the waiter was more than keen to talk us through the items on offer. The highlight was the steak tartare served with quail egg (pictured above) - the meat was beautifully spiced and salty.

Almost equally as good was the "Hoggart" (which is lamb between 1 and 2 years old) served with a hearty aubergine puree.  On the sides, the highlight (although not for those looking to loose some pre-summer kg's) was roasted potatoes in duck fat, which was balanced nicely by a light salad with radicchio and green beans.

One of the best parts of this The Aylesbury is that despite not having a "no bookings" policy, we walked straight in and were seated straight away.  For those waiting 2.5 hours outside Chin Chin or balancing on the stairs at Mamasita for 45 minutes, it's time to look beyond to other locales.

Swapping a bear for a donkey @ Paco's Tacos (Vale Movida Terraza)

Like a big black grizzly bear, Movida Terraza used to hibernate during the bleak Winter Melbourne months.  It was mainly our collective sadness when Terraza closed that we knew that unlike the bear, we would have to grind through the long dark miserable season without respite, until Spring.  Until Spring.  You can hear people in Melbourne whispering it in the CBD laneways - October, when you buy your races' suit, when you start to lash on suncream on weekends (or regret that you didn't), when the beautiful people seem to come out of the shadows in Melbourne.  You aren't from Melbourne if you don't look forward to this time.  

At the tail-end of winter, I had a ritual - each Monday morning I would trudge up the 30 steps to Movida Terraza, hoping that the Winter hibernation would end for another year.  Because I knew that when the Terraza re-opened, Spring had truly sprung.  But this year, unfortunately, the bear stayed in its cave (yellow cage) and we were presented with a donkey, Paco's Tacos.

When I went up the stairs this morning, I knew there was trouble when the former pastry chef (previously responsible for beautiful Portugese Tarts, Almond Croissants and spongy fresh bread) was extolling the virtues of the new 'Taqeria"('taco shop') as I clocked Movida head chef Frank Camorra in the background.  My former regular barista and the ever-reliable, friendly Terraza team vanished like victims in a Ciudad Juarez drug cartel abduction.  This was bad news, and even with my limited Spanish, I could tell the worst was yet to come.  

With a crew of co-workers, we went back up the stairs come lunch time on a sunny Spring Melbourne day.  What was previously a beautiful open area spotted with tables and umbrellas had been butchered by a UFC style canary yellow steel cage ("to stop the rain" I was told).  Do people really want to sit in a cage?  Melbourne isn't exactly Seattle when it comes to rain so personally I would have taken the risk and left the place as it was.

More importantly, let's talk about the food.  There is a range of tacos (duck, carne asada/beef, camarones/prawn, pork, pescado/fish, etc) which will each set you back $6 a pop. Corn was $6 and nachos $10.  This puts Paco's on the same pay-scale as Mamasitas.  Let me not mince words - Mamasita rips this place to shredded beef.  In fact, for $10 you can go to MadMex and get more food that will taste better.  Served in cheap red plastic baskets (the same as MadMex or worse), the carne asada taco is passable and the pescado is average at best.  The worst are the tacos themselves - they were not soft enough and tore apart when lifted.

 I've been to the Baja California part in the west of Mexico and for $2 or even less you can get 3 fish tacos which are brimming with flavour, and that is made by an old Mexican lady serving it from a trolley - not by 2 chefs with an industrial kitchen!  In the Mission district of San Fransisco all the way down to Ocean Beach in San Diego, you can do so much better for so much less.

In terms of the other offerings, the Chicharones were pretty much inedible laced with chopped chilli and some indecipherable mince looking sauce (I'm no expert but I've tried these in Colombia and this version was insipid), the Nachos were juvenile and heaving under the weight of sour cream and the corn was like Mamasita's variety but not as good.  I'd be willing to risk Taco Bill in a Collins Street basement before going back. Positives? None, except the company.  If you see Matt Lane in the Paris end this week, he will surely be smiling

So Melbourne, if you think that you can be duped into believing that a bear can be swapped for a donkey right before your eyes, then you will be the one happily spending $18 for lunch on a handful of tasteless tacos.  If not, at 1pm on a weekday in the Melbourne CBD when pondering your next lunch venue, you'll be wishing you can get a fresh Bocadillo from the old Movida Terraza served with a mountain of goodies like olives, proscuitto, grilled eggplant, cheese, tomato and spinach with one of Melbourne's best coffees, all for only $12.