Modern Australian Cuisine
Vue De Monde – Personality on a Plate – Round 2
The last time I had visited Vue De Monde I was crazy impressed to know that my belly could not eat the next morning. Maybe it was because we had devoured an entire degustation menu, who knows. I was so convinced this time round that I’d know the menu off by heart but I was entirely wrong.
The adventure begins
Flashbacks appeared when I walked into the restaurant and was welcomed with Melbourne’s CBD view, but this time the night sky. Photos don’t do this restaurant any justice!
That view
We were first greeted with the pumpkin and all. Simplicity was a key for this course. Texture was whipped to perfection like I was eating air with hidden gems of walnut pieces to bring you to the crunchy side of things. The dip had a creamy outcome with a whiff of Indian cuisine and a tinge of curry taste. It went pleasantly well with the bite-size house made naan bread.
Pumpkin and all
So this is what it feels like again using top notch fork and spoon. This was the only time I would appreciate and carefully use utensils as I was told by the waiter it costs hundreds and thousands of dollars. I did my Google research and yeah I can confirm I would need insurance if I ever snapped these babies…YIKES!
Them baller cutlery
For our second course we had turnips with fresh milk curd and emu which had a variation of Asian herbal flavours that was topped with a few petite pieces of chicken skin crisps. This dish had a heavy fragrant of turnips and blended so heavenly with the milk curd
Turnips with fresh milk curd and emu
The third dish had arrived in a raw manner that I thought we were eating beetroot but I was fooled by the looks and only discovered closely that the dish had charred seasonal greens and buried underneath raw squid with smoked chicken fat, and fermented Davidson plum as a intriguing sauce. It was fascinating munching on these strings of charred greens as it somehow reminded me eating those packets of Korean seaweed snacks and the noodle like squid played well with the plum dressing.
Raw squid with charred seasonal greens, smoked chicken fat, and fermented Davidson plum
Full speed ahead and VDM train brought us Western Australian marron. The three ingredients ran and swirl so well together, amplifying each other’s flavour of pine mushrooms, macadamia and glued so well with the tender piece of marron sure got my belly squealing for some more, I almost shouted out “ENCORE”.
Western Australian Marron with pine mushrooms and macadamia
Uncovered the Western Australian Marron with pine mushrooms and macadamia
The world is your oyster when our cleansing plate of moonlight flat rusty wire oyster with lemon myrtle had arrived. I was fueled by the tangy, sour and vinegar flavours on my taste buds.
Moonlight flat rusty wire oyster with lemon myrtle
One would weep just to touch the crusty curves of the beer and fennel bread as it was still warm, crunchy and brown. Sitting beside was a rolled up cultured butter that compliments so well with the bread. Ahhh….Breaking Bread.Haha.
Beer and fennel bread with cultured butter
Next up was the Mark Eather kingfish with spanner crab and beach herbs, which I personally wasn’t a fan of due the the acquired taste of the beach herbs that had overtaken the spanner crab. On a happy note I was amazed by the tiny froth bubbles surrounded the greens which seemed like this dish was living on the wild wild side.
Mark Eather Kingfish with spanner crab and beach herbs
By now you can almost hear my expandable dress burst it’s last stretch but the show must go on and we had the bright and beautiful Kohlrabi with Yarra Valley salmon roe and a mountain of marron coral. This was seasoned to savoury perfection and made good friends with the beer and fennel bread.
Kohlrabi with Yarra Valley salmon roe and marron coral
Close-up of Kohlrabi with Yarra Valley salmon roe and marron coral
My eyes fell instantly to the Davidson plum sorbet with sorrel and flowers. It sure was a promising delightful taste. Picking up my silver spoon, I spooned out a dollop of sweet, tangy plum sorbet which was bathed in liquid nitrogen. The pleasant smoothness of the sorbet blended perfectly with the bitter-sweet taste of sorrel and flowers.
Davidson plum sorbet with sorrel and flowers
A unique flavor experience was tasting the raw kangaroo with figs and muntari berries.It wasn’t a typical dish you’d have on the menu but an eye popping experience for your tastebuds. I felt the figs and muntari berries overpowered the chunky cube pieces of kangaroo meat, however it’s a taste you’ll need to try it yourself to explore.
Raw Kangaroo with figs and muntari berries
Just its aroma won me over was the sizzling wallaby snag and how can I not include the part where a chef comes out to greet us and cooks right on our table with a transferrable hot stone pot. We’re big fans of a good sausage (no sexual jokes intended ;P) but have you tried a wallaby snag before?
Wallaby snag with wattleseed damper and condiments
Wattleseed damper being cooked
After all the condiments had arrived at our table and the snags and damper were cooked, we had the opportunity to get our hands dirty and participate in DIY snag roll. And if you’re wondering do we get to eat it? The answer is YESSSSS!!!!
Wallaby snag with wattleseed damper and condiments
It’s hard to dislike this Aussie fusion snag because well…I’m a sucker for theatrical presentation. I was quite intrigued with the flavours of the sausage and the damper bread.
The finished result of a Wallaby snag with wattleseed damper
It wasn’t long the waitress returned to our table and greeted us with a very sharp knife to let us know the next course was about to arrive. Hmmmmm I wonder what do need this knife for?…
Have you seen this knife holder before?
Most desirable meat dish was the David Blackmore wagyu striploin. Each pain-steakingly selected ingredient contributed to the greatness of the dish. Wagyu melted in my mouth even before I could chew and the marron coral and cabbage puree had me salivating.
David Blackmore wagyu striploin with marron coral and cabbage
And oh did I mention during the entire degustation we had this spectacular 180 degree view of Melbourne CBD. Nothing special…haha.
Melbourne’s CBD Night View
What a way to start the dessert course was the moment a clay pot bursting with flames comes arriving at our table and I knew we’d be served with entertainment. I’ve got my fun goggle cap, have you?
Roasted marshmallows
You just could not go wrong with eating the roasted marshmallow with frozen pear hidden in the center. It tasted naturally sweet and matched so well with the warm fluffy marshmallow cover. The only sticky situation I had was it easily fell apart, but overall I was pleased with the flavours, it was pear-fect.
Roasted marshmallow
A tantalizing treat was the tea tree, mandarian, and desert limes. You cannot go wrong with something tangy towards the end of the degustation as it loosens up the bloated feeling I got after having a non-stop fulfilling meal.
Tea tree, mandarian, and desert limes
In between my desserts I got distracted by another roasted marshmallows but this time filled with cho cho choooc…you guessed it CHOCOLATE.
Roasted marshmallows filled with chocolate
The squiggly chocolate pieces were easy to crack into with my front teeth and the squishy soaked lime sponge cake had a refreshing taste, texture and fragrant of all things citrus.
Tea tree, mandarian, and desert limes
A chocolate treat guaranteed to make any chocolate lover beg for was the chocolate soufflé. You just can’t go wrong with chocolate especially if you are eating it in front of an amazing Melbourne view.
Chocolate soufflé
Couldn’t contain my excitement when the lamington and gumnuts had arrived. Oh I have missed my petite fours and there was no way on Earth I’d share this with anyone else besides me, myself and I. Each velvety bite of the lamington reveals chocolate mousse swirled with fresh raspberry compote.
Lamington and Gumnuts
It was a superb finish with the gumnuts as it was served frozen and it had a powerful minty flavour that was refreshing with every bite. This reminded me of an eclipse after every meal but a classier way to have it. Haha.
Gumnuts
Vud De Monde Lights
For the second time in a row the real star for the evening was when I was being farewelled with a paper bag of goodies called “For the next day”. I couldn’t contain my childish excitement when the waitress tried to explain what she’d be handing out to me at the very end. There’s a reason why this bag is called that because after we had exited the restaurant, we waddled back to the hotel in 9 inch heels. The bag contained freshly tea leaves, two fun-size croissants and muselli, which are all housemade from Vue De Monde.
Overall this was my second visit and again Vue De Monde is a very sophisticated theatrical fine dining restaurant with a sweet little price tag between $250 -$300 per person. Surprisingly this restaurant never ever ever fails to bore me and made me feel like a kid in an adult body. I have yet to visit other similar restaurants like VDM, but in the meantime I’d say it’s still my favourite fine dining place to eat in Melbourne.
“For the next day”
Photos by Vanny Tang
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Appointment with ARIA, Sydney
In Sydney I believe the perfect lunch is including a spectacular view. So I did a little research and TA DA I was on my way to ARIA. For lunch I believe Matt Moran and his team has created very elegant dishes to match the atmosphere. One thing I already liked about this restaurant is the fact it’s a set price menu for example $46 for one course, $74 for two course and $89 for three courses. Off course I went all out and decided to choose THREE COURSE!
An intense and fruity little appetiser of fresh fig purée tart hits the table first, tasting sweet and gorgeously presented. There was a distinctively sharp taste of goat’s curd and my taste buds on the tongue could also detect the buttery flavour coming from the tart shell itself. I loved the crumbly biscuit from the tart base, it almost had a pie crust texture, ALMOST.
Goat’s Curd and Fig Purée tart
Soon after our delicious start, a lovely waiter walks to our table and offers a selection of the highest quality breads matched with seaweed and original butter. I opted for a warm thick slice of sourdough containing walnuts. Let me tell you I felt 100% guilty enjoying the whole slice of sourdough alone with a few smears of seaweed butter. The edges of the bread was indeed solid like a rock and as for the the spongy middle section it offered a tangy taste that can vary form barely perceptible to slightly sour. As for the seaweed butter, MY GOODNESS I have never encountered such a meeting like this before. It’s not your classic butter you have at home, it’s TOP NOTCH BUTTER that delivers a divine sweet yet salty, mellow flavour that is absolutely delicious with any selection of breads you prefer.
Sour Dough matched with Seaweed and Original Butter
By now we were starting to suffer the effects of butter madness and we had to quickly forget about it and move onto our first course. These beautiful shelled pacific oysters was disturbingly presented well like a little “nihon teien” translate to Japanese-style garden with the ice plants looking similar to moss garden, oysters looking similar to rocks and the blackberries reminded me of bushes. The raw oysters were meaty, strong flavoured and had a silky fresh plumpness to it. That oyster juice with the blend of the other ingredients on the plate was precious and tasted insanely good that it was unacceptable to rinse it off.
Shelled Pacific Oysters
Another option from the first course also included the pressed rabbit and chorizo terrine with romesco sauce and a piece of focaccia. This dish was absolutely interesting because rabbits are not usually on the menu so fancy lunch indeed. The terrine had a summer theme to it with the colours and garnish. I was impressed by the texture as it provided a jello feel to it with the added chunks of meat and spice from the chorizo which left a meaty package into my mouth.
Pressed Rabbit and Chorizo Terrine
Side view is always better 😛
For the FRIED focaccia it left me speechless!!! It was nice, soft and crispy in the first bite that I couldn’t control myself having the whole darn thing. OH DEAR! I don’t think I can stick to “sharing is caring”. Teehee.
Have you tried Deep Fried Focaccia before?
I was lucky enough to catch a steamed bass grouper on my plate with spanner crab, Coorong pipis and smoked dulse. The snow white fillet was incredibly smooth with large flakes and it was tender, moist and had a mild flavour to it. The texture and consistency are similar to a swordfish. The creamy dressing and fish complimented each other because I had a cheeky grin after devouring this.
Steamed Bass Grouper
Another main dish you MUST order is ARIA’s roasted holmbrae duck breasts with golden beetroots, elderflower and chamomile. I went BALLISTIC having my very first bite. I went cray cray when the duck vanished into thin air. At the time of the disappearance of the duck I wished I could be a super slower eater because that duck was DUCKING GOOD, excuse the language.
Roasted Holmbrae Duck
What made it extremely a highlighting dish was not only the rich, strong flavour of the duck and the elderflower and not so the chamomile but it was the glossy golden layer atop of the duck which appeared to be a long strip sugar coat. It had a crackle noise and sounded like a wonderful orchestra.
Just can’t stop sharing inwards shot.
Very lucky to sit window seat and it’s Sydney Harbour Bridge, well half of it.
Moving onto DESSERTS but the only problem for us was deciding on which one to fulfil our dessert stomach’s cravings. Being indecisive our helpful waiter suggested the very popular mango and passionfruit soufflé. After a 20 minute wait ta-da the soufflé appears at our table looking all seductive with a scoop of roasted rice ice-cream and dusted icing. Look at that signature height of the soufflé, it was unbelievably 4-5cms tall. The dessert is served hot and oozing with goodness.
Mango and Passionfruit Soufflé
DEATH BY CHOCOLATE was the valrhona chocolate ganache– It was certainly eye catching to the point it could be displayed at a art gallery or maybe a museum. It was a very sophisticated dessert with cherries, cherry sorbet, warm chocolate doughnuts and hazelnut. I was seriously and I mean SERIOUSLY HYPNOTISED by the many many looks of this dessert.
Valrhona Chocolate Ganache
From a side angle it feels like this must be a new dessert. The valrhona chocolate ganache was super rich and smooth to the point I could just lick the extras on the plate. Cherries and cherry sorbet married so well together that their wasn’t a hint of sourness. As for the chocolate doughnuts and hazelnut I lost my sh!ts. Teehee.
It’s too pretty to eat this!!! BUT Oh well…nom nom nom
Smashed the dessert into pieces… 😀
WAIT there’s MORE DESSERT!!! What…more dessert? YES MORE DESSERT. Does this get any better?!?!
By now I felt like I was about to give birth to a food baby. The waiter walks straight towards our table with this gorgeously presented petit fours that I couldn’t decline such an opportunity to stuff my face with sweets. They were only a bite-size…
Complimentary Petit Fours (Normally $9.50 with tea or coffee)
Just one more bite…
After an indulgent lunch you may want to act like a tourist and take a glimpse of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. It would be wrong not to walk around.
Needed to stretch my legs after a luxury lunch experience at ARIA.
ARIA is certainly a luxurious lunch and so it does require you to put a side some time for you to really enjoy it. For $89 for 3 course I certainly loved each dish as I can really see the effort they put in with presentation and flavour. Goodness I can’t stop thinking about the dessert. Make sure when you book to request for WINDOW SEAT, you won’t be disappointed. Overall I give this place a two thumbs up. I look forward to returning and testing their degustation at night.
See you again ARIA’s.
Photos by Vanny Tang
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Porking it with SunPork Fresh Foods at STUDIO Sydney Tower
Pork is such a magical meat that repeatedly satisfies most households across Australia. So the question that has been repeated most evenings is “What’s for dinner?”…With the help of SunPork Fresh Foods that is a Queensland based company aims to provide a tasty, healthy and convenient products to put that question to bed, once and for all.
Seriously fresh food ingredients
It was an exciting evening as Executive Chef Ashley Hughes cooked for 30 guests, including Sydney food media writers and bloggers. When SunPork Fresh Foods had a vision to take pork to new heights, they literally did, with an intimate media dinner at STUDIO Sydney Tower.
STUDIO Sydney Tower view
I had to take a few deep deep breaths when I saw the prawn toast. It’s super tasty with pork belly rashers in Korean BBQ Sauce to the prawn mix. It’s hard not to miss the oven baked slices of almond because it was heavily covered with it. The combination of prawn and pork belly rashers sure makes a great couple.
Prawn Toast
Another amazing canapé was the Moroccan beef pastille which showcase how crazy delicious the shredded beef with some classic Moroccan spices and sweetness is added then encased in some brik pastry. The pastry was lightly baked till it became crispy and let me tell you the texture was paper thin. To garnish it was served with a dollop of minted yoghurt. Oh I wouldn’t mind having some now…
Moroccan Beef Pastille
Next up the Mushroom arancini arrives looking dangerously delicious. It was my responsibility to grab one of these yummy suckers. It’s a true classic Italian dish that delivers shredded chicken, yes SHREDDED not minced. The chicken was folded through a couple of toss and turns in the risotto mix, then baptised with parmesan, parsley then rolled into bite size balls, crumbed and DEEP FRIED.
Mushroom Arancini
Chilling before we put our forks on some porks.
WOAH! Gorgeous table setting
Sunset view from STUDIO Sydney Tower
And the #hashtags begins!
This apple has Nessy Eater’s name on it!
Start off with a cube of focaccia bread.
The sung choi bao that consists of shredded pork with ginger, garlic, onion, water chestnuts and bean sprouts was calling my name and while the piece was not as massive as I imagined, however it was decent in flavour. The slabs of tender pork was in there but it just so happened to be hiding in the witlof.
Sung choi bao
Pairing oh so heavenly well with the sung choi bao was the crispy Asian salad with an Earth shattering crackle encasing and tucked underneath super juicy and tender porky flesh. Crispy crackling skin was succulent and we could tell it was carefully cooked well. Just look closely at the inward shot of that skin…hmmmm..hmmm. Yep there’s tossed salad of pickled carrot, coriander, cucumber and a Thai Nam Jim dressing buried underneath that FAT piece of meat. There was a little spice in flavour for this babe and sure won my tastebuds with that kick to this dish.
Crispy Asian Salad with Pork Belly
Another glimpse of Sydney, isn’t it beautiful?
Some tastyness can be traced in the orecchiette that contains pork belly rashers, fresh peas, basil and mint. HOLY MOLY! It was satisfying to the point I had to get my focaccia bread and scrape off the creamy sauce from the bowl. This was truly well put together and the herbs were so fresh it waffled across the other side of the room.
Pork Belly Rashers
Most freaking amazing dish was the organic porcini mushroom risotto. It took me a few moments to stop inhaling that truffle and I can confirm I had a few awkward stares at the table as if I was high on something…teehee. Besides the prized truffle the Earthy porcini mushrooms and shredded pork was truly decadent with the creamy traditional risotto.
Organic porcini mushroom risotto
After a short discussion about the SunPork’s super meat feast there comes the slow cooked pork belly. My body was so use to being used by pork belly and I have no problem with that whatsoever. The serving of the slow cooked pork belly was served with spiced carrot puree, roasted Dutch carrots, apple gel and kale chip. Such a simple dish that I can properly give it a crack at it. The acidity of the apple did help cut the acidity of the slow cooked pork and woohoo to the crispy kale chip, you nailed it.
Slow Cooked Pork Belly
For our final savoury dish we were introduced with the sweet and spicy BBQ pork ribs with potato bake and a wedge of chargrilled lemon. I couldn’t keep this off my mind because of that smokey flavour. It was surprisingly delicious and Sydney Tower Head Chef Ashley Hughes even admitted that “the smokey flavour from the ribs didn’t come from him, it’s purely from SunPork products“. This homely-stylish dish was served with a sophisticated potato bake that contains layers of thinly sliced potato, parmesan cheese, caramelised onion and a herbed cream.
BBQ pork ribs
Finally we got to see Sydney Tower Head Chef Ashley Hughes in person and he gives us an insight of what he thought about SunPork Fresh Foods products. Chef Hughes mentioned he took his inspiration from some of his favourite pork meals and the products are easy to use because all the slow cooking, the marinating have already been done.
Sydney Tower Head Chef Ashley Hughes talks with SunPork Fresh Foods Marketing Manager Mary-Jane Knudsen.
And moving on to dessert we each devoured our mini lemon tarts that included gourmet lemon filling in a round soft biscuit-pastry shell. Indeed super refreshing with that hint of zestiness and looks pretty darn good.
Mini lemon tarts
We couldn’t just leave with one dessert in our second stomach and so chocolate truffles makes the first move on us with that oh oH OH so fine chocolate coating. As I bite into that chocolate case a gush of creamy ganache centre flows out like a river. Can you imagine that ganache? 😛
Chocolate truffles
With society having less time to spend in the kitchen these days, SunPork Fresh Foods have done all the hard work by providing products like shredded meat range, to ribs and all-time favourite, pork belly into pre-prepared meals that help hit with time poor and health conscious people. As SunPork Fresh Foods Marketing Manager Mary-Jane Knudsen said “These pre-prepared ranges are dispelling some of those myths and showing people how easy pork is to cook and enjoy”.
Fantastic way to end the SunPork Fresh Foods event was looking at this spectacular Sydney view.
Photos by Vanny Tang
Disclaimer: Nessy Eater attended as a guest thanks to KDPR. Opinions are however, Nessy Eater’s own.
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AOC Dinner at Wildfire Sydney Churrasco
Wildfire is believed to be a fine dining adventure with their custom-made grills and ironbark wood fire ovens for their commitment to contemporary modern Australian dishes, also by fusing traditional influences and tastes.
Besides a culinary, amazing fine dining experience, Wildfire is situated amongst other waterfront restaurants in Sydney’s Overseas Passenger Terminal with unsurpassable views including the magnificent Harbour Bridge and majestic Opera House. It was a pity I didn’t get the chance to take photos to share with you readers, but it was an incredible delight to witness the views in person. Many thanks to AOC and its team for the invitation to their launch of new touch monitor releases and dinner at Wildfire on Halloween day. It was rise of the computer geeks as I observed their geek-like traits to resonate with the new technological releases.
Moving on from the stereotypical geeky fashion, we began our Wildfire set menu with housemade Dark Rye and Light Sourdough supplying a plate of Wild Mushroom Mascarpone, Extra Virgin Olive oil & butter. I personally enjoyed spreading air-whipped mushroom mascarpone onto my warm fluffy freshly baked sourdough- It was devilishly good!
Next a selection of meat, seafood and vegetarian tapas to share was highly enjoyable.
Deep fried Potato balls
Sliced King Fish
Grilled Fresh Prawns in basil dressing
Curry Puffs
Mushrooms
With the Fire roasted fresh market seafood purchased daily at the Sydney Fish Markets, these seafood pieces are powered in Sichuan seasoned flour then pampered with black beans, garlic, chilli, coriander and lime.
Fire Roasted Prawns
Snapper, preserved lemon, dill oil
Seasonal Green Salad
We managed to get our forks on all the Fire roasted meat mains including lamb, chicken, beef, chorizo and pork with dry rub seasonings, herbs , brines, spice marinades and glazes served with handmade sauces including salsas, seasonal vegetables and potatoes.
Chorizo
Lamb
Beef
Chicken
Pork
Beans
Funny this is called Potatoes
Handmade Sauces
Throughout the entire evening waiters were making sure our wine glasses and my Cloudy Apple juice were always full to the top.
Cloudy Apple juice
Now for the sweet course- the Wildfire Assorted Dessert to share were all delectable and entails a combination of dark chocolate, hazelnut and coffee goodness, chocolaty mousse and sticky salted caramel custard in a shortbread pastry, garnished with a delicate layer of white chocolate and dried raspberry pieces.
Hooray Dessert Time!
Our chocolate-coated Tiramisu will tempt your tastebuds with chocolate biscuit crumb with a thick layer of coffee flavoured mascarpone then coated on top, rich level of smooth dark chocolate and gold foil to decorate. A very sophisticated dessert, oozing with chocolate and coffee goodness.
Tiramisu
For the Coffee Mousse – A sensational dessert you’ll never forget! This dreamy, creamy hazelnut treat always delights with airy hazelnut mousse in the middle, thin rectangular slices of milk chocolate on each side, chocolaty cookie to add an extra crunch at the bottom. To complete sprinkled crushed dark chocolate pieces.
Coffee Mousse Cake
Salted Caramel tart – A sweet and savoury masterpiece that intertwines the salted caramel flavour and smooth custard smooth texture. A buttery, flaky shortbread crust that crumbles just as you bite into it.
Salted Caramel tart
You’ll love Wildfire’s breathtaking views and professional services but most importantly their fire roasted seafood and meat dishes deliver impeccable tastes that tempt your tastebuds for more. You won’t be disappointed with a sensational selection of their desserts that always pleases.
Photos by Vanny Tang
Disclaimer: Nessy Eater attended as a guest of Wildfire Sydney for sponsorship of the event (opportunity provided by AOC ). Opinions are however, Nessy Eater’s own.
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