Boo in Australia - Sydney

Perhaps my best meal of all in Australia was the Italian dinner we had at A Tavola in Darlinghurst, just around the corner from our hotel. In fact, I would go so far as to say I had the best dessert of my life there.


Here it is, I'm working backwards because I can't mention this place without immediately raving about the cremino al cioccolato. Italian meringue topped chocolate mousse, with a layer of soft salted caramel. I was actually lost for words. Served in a little cup and saucer, god, I want it now!


Mains were brilliant too, I chose from the specials, parpadelle con ragu di agrello. Freshly made daily, the pasta was hanging up at the rear of the restaurant, where the kitchen is. Certainly the best pasta dish I've eaten in a restaurant, with a rich slow cooked lamb sauce, this place was such a gem and I need to find a restaurant in London which is up to this level of Italian cooking. Thomas' gnocci was, guess what? The best gnocci I've ever had, with peas and mushrooms.


We were lucky to get in without booking ahead, we were seated along the long communal table and the menu was explained to us in great detail. The wine advise was also spot on, we had a great Sicilian Nero D'avola, perfect with the ragu. Starters of burrata, with grapes and tomatoes, and carpaccio di manzo with beetroot and watercress we interesting combinations too. Served with a light and pillowy focaccia bread.

I can't rave about the place enough, Eugenio Maiale, you're a genius. Can you open a restaurant in London please? Seamlessly moving on to somebody who has....Bill Granger.


I've not been to Bill's in London yet, but I did hit up 1 of his 3 Sydney addresses. My lasting memory of the place is that it was overpriced and the service was crap. This is pretty much in the same vein as what I've read about the Notting Hill venue.


We visited on a Monday so, thankfully, didn't have to face a queue. There's a large communal table, a nice selection of magazines to read and an open kitchen. We kicked things off with lattes and stuck to the 'classic' Granger dishes, sweetcorn fritters, with an extra side of guacamole ($4.50, for that measly portion), and the ricotta hotcakes with banana and honeycomb butter.


Tbh, I'm not the biggest fan of sweet dishes for breakfast so the fritters were my preference of the 2 but I could certainly appreciate the lightness of the hotcakes. I'd love them as a seriously big dessert. The whole thing was a little soured due to the inattentive servers. We were seated by a guy who immediately left the building and about 20 minutes later, we had to go and find someone else to serve us. I'd read similar reports. This is why I've not rushed to try the London branch.

There are a multitude of appealing cafes and bars in the area where we stayed. A walk to Surrey Hills one day took us via the corner of Forbes and Burton Streets, where Forbes & Burton was abuzz. We nabbed the last available table for a lunch to fill up ahead of an afternoon of exploring.


Thomas' pulled pork sandwich with homemade brown sauce, coriander, mint, carrot and rocket was fantastic. Each ingredient detectable between the robust slices of sourdough. These are proper sandwiches.


I went for the croque monsieur with smoked leg ham, swiss gruyère and mustard béchamel. I developed a bit of a thing for a jazzed up toasted cheese while I was in Oz! We shared a side salad and a pot of earl grey and were all set for a day on our feet.

A Tavola
348 Victoria St
Darlinghurst
9/10



Bill's
433 Liverpool St
Darlinghurst
6/10



Forbes & Burton
252 Forbes St
Darlinghurst
7/10




Other highlights included drinks with iconic views at Opera Bar and at the top of the Shangri La hotel. The latter offers brilliant cocktails and a great system which pretty much guarantees you a seat at some point, no matter how busy things get. We only had to wait for around 20 minutes which flew by as we caught up with our friend Lex and Jane. I loved Sydney, despite the constant rain during the 3 days we were there. No beaches unfortunately, but plenty of great food and drink.

Blu Horizons Bar - The Shangri La
176 Cumberland St
The Rocks



Opera Bar
CBD

Boo in Australia - Dinner Highlights in Melbourne

I was in Melbourne for a total of 15 days and, within that time, I tried to cram in as much eating out as is physically possible without making yourself ill.

Here are some of the best meals I had whilst there.

Chin Chin was the talk of the town back in October (still is evidently) and our friends Jamie and Tori recommended that we definitely make time to try it. It was a big deal to whittle down a shortlist in a city where there are so many quality eateries.


I'm so pleased that we made it here, having perused a few blogger reviews beforehand, I had a firm idea of what I wanted to try. The beef massaman curry was the biggest hit of the night, such a rich creamy sauce with plenty of succulent beef. Other treats included the pork roll ups and the son in law eggs, which I had never heard of before, they're deep fried and served in a sticky sauce with fresh chillis.


We also tried some snacks in the bar downstairs whilst waiting for our table (no reservations, obviously) and I distinctly remember the roti wraps being wonderful. Drinks were good, there's a fine selection of cocktails and the only problem you might have with the place is the wait. We were a group of 6 but even on a Monday evening we were told it would be a 2 hour wait. In actuality it was more like 45 minutes. And the food was well worth it.

I was fortunately informed by Melbourne friends in the know, that Lygon Street in Carlton, whilst having the reputation as the place to find the best Italian anything, is best avoided if you're looking for a good meal. We ventured just slightly north to 1 of Dan's favourite places, D.O.C pizza and mozzarella bar.


We had to wait for about 30 minutes, again no reservations are taken, but considering the size of the place (small), we were seated pretty quickly. I had one of the specials, fig, gorgonzola, buffalo mozzarella and proscuitto. It was incredible. It's the 2nd best pizza I've eaten (2nd only to a Tuscan pizza I had years ago on holiday), amazing topping combination and a brilliant crust.


We shared 2 dessert pizzas, this one, white chocolate and strawberry and a nutella calzone. I was speechless they were so good. Side salads were simple but hit the mark and I really wish I had gone back for the mozzarella tasting board. Next time perhaps.

We explored the St Kilda area of the city one day, it was very windy so we drove there, sat on the beach for about 10 minutes, took some pictures, decided it was too chilly and went to find Golden Fields, the real reason I was there!


We were there at around 4pm, only one other table was occupied so I couldn't comment on the atmos but the food was incredible. We started with this steak tartare which was served with large slices of veggies to scoop it up with and some really fragrant lemony basil. It was fresh yet creamy due to the egg yolk, and quite pretty too.


Next up were the new england lobster roll which was fantastic, but a bit of a rip off for $15 for a miniscule bun containing crayfish masquerading as lobster. The kewpie sauce and the bread were so good that I didn't care. The pork dumplings were totally outshone by the chilli vinegar they were served with but I loved everything we ate here.


The final dish we shared was the twice cooked duck served with steamed buns. I like that the portions were fairly small, then you can try more things. I wanted more but as it was late I didn't want to overdo it as we were dining at MoVida Aqui later that day.


Perhaps my most eagerly anticipated Melbourne restaurant, I had ridiculously high hope for this meal. To be honest, I wasn't blown away, I didn't try any flavours that I'd not had before, with the possible exception of the tomato sorbet with the anchovy toasts pictured above. They were pretty good.


Everything was yum, but nothing blew me away. There's a slightly commercial air to this the 3rd MoVida restaurant in Melbourne, the word 'Movida' is everywhere. Highlights of the meal for me were the braised beef with polenta and the scallops with salty ham and creamed potato. Nice to look at too, little towers served in their shells. We had some lovely oysters too. I really wish we'd tried the smaller branch on Hosier Lane and I think we are so truly spoiled with amazing Spanish food here in London that sadly MoVida didn't impress.


Anyway, here's some of the incredible graffiti I saw on Hosier Lane, I still love you Melbourne! They even paint the wheelie bins. That's dedication. Just behind me when I took this picture, was a wedding party having their professional snaps taken with this backdrop.

Chin Chin
125 Flinders Lane
CBD
6/10



D.O.C Pizza and Mozarella Bar
295 Drummond St
Carlton
8.5/10



Golden Fields
157 Fitzroy St
St Kilda
8/10



MoVida Aqui
500 Bourke St (Level 1)
CBD
6/10



Thanks to Thomas for his patience, for eating through illness and for not getting too annoyed by my ever growing list of restaurants to drag him along to, both home and away x

Boo in Australia - Melbourne Breakfast/ Brunch (CBD)

My favourite brunch of all the places we tried in Melbourne has to be the meal we had at Seven Seeds, sister restaurant of De Clieu, and technically in the Carlton neighbourhood, but located on the edge very close to the CBD.


I found it hard to pick from the menu as everything sounded so good but ultimately went for the ham and cheese toastie with pickles on trusty old Dench Bakers bread. The sharp cheddar was brilliant, nice smokey ham and tomato chutney, one of the greatest sandwiches I've ever had. The coffee here is amazing too.


Dan and Megs had the breakfast bun and homemade beans, corn bread and avocado respectively. Thomas had the BBQ pulled pork with slaw in a brioche bun. Everything looked and sounded amazing. I loved the place.


The other central business district located brunch venue we tried was the much loved Cumulus Inc. I'll start with what I liked, we were seated at the bar overlooking the kitchen where the chefs were busy either cooking the breakfast dishes or prepping. I love watching what they're all doing, there was a particularly daunting amount of pretty courgettes in a box with a young female chef working her way through them, peeling and slicing. Cute. The place has an excited buzz about it and staff were nice. We didn't love the food though sadly.

I had the house smoked salmon, asparagus, sorrel and 65/65 egg. Expensive at $17, the egg was great, cooked for 65 minutes at 65 degrees, a really oozy yolk and the salmon was nice with a subtle smokiness, and the thickness was nice. The bread was a bit meh (not Dench!) and I found the lack of choice on the menu disappointing. There were only 5 savoury breakfast dishes and I'm not a fan of sweet breakfasts.


Thomas' baked eggs looked nice, presented in the cast iron skillet but he found them just ok. So in all we weren't impressed in the place, having had high hopes. I think perhaps the mistake was coming for breakfast not lunch or dinner. Like most places in Melbourne, decent coffee though.


Slightly dubious inclusion to this post is Earl Canteen. You totally could have brunch here but it's really a grab and go sandwich place and come lunchtime the masses from the offices of the CBD flock here.

I arrived after a particularly intense power Christmas shopping session, desperately in need of some food and water at around 4:30pm. I feared they would be closed but fortunately for me they were setting up for the following day already and they had only sold out of one sandwich, not the pork, the one I had come for, yay!


The list of available sandwiches is drool inspiring but I had read great things of the pork belly and hell, when pork belly is available who's going for anything else!? This usually comes in baguette but they had run out of baguette so they substituted ciabatta which didn't hold up to the job particularly well. The pork, particularly the crackling was sensational and I loved the crunch and the tang of the fennel and cabbage slaw. The addition of grated apple gave the whole thing a sweetness and more texture so I was just a teeny bit upset about the bread situation but everything else more than made up for it. I'd love this place to be my lunch local.


Seven Seeds
114 Berkeley St
9/10




Cumulus
45 Flinders Lane
6/10



Earl Canteen
500 Bourke St
7/10



This wraps up the Melbourne brunch posts, stay tuned for more Oz eats in the coming weeks,including Sydney.

Boo in Australia - Melbourne Breakfast/ Brunch (Fitzroy)

One of the things which greatly appealed to me during the planning of my trip to Oz was the idea of having a glut of breakfast options in Melbourne along the lines of Lantana and Caravan here in London. And the coffee, I was promised amazing coffee and Melbourne certainly does not disappoint on that front.


Being based in Fitzroy North for the duration of our stay in the city, Dench Bakers was my firm favourite in the area. Approximately 1 hour after landing, I was camped here, enjoying a latte and avocado and danish feta on sourdough with a large chunk of lemon and a sprinkling of chives. So simple and soooooo good. Dench are bread suppliers to many other Melbourne restaurants.


I also tried their veggie breakfast, (why don't I eat always spinach for breakfast?) and many of their sweets as dessert at our pre Xmas feast at Jamie and Tori's were from Dench. Some friends have heard reports of snotty service but I always found them to be more than pleasant and we never had to wait for a table. Dench - I miss you.


Perhaps our second most frequented brunch venue throughout the stay was Arcadia on Gertrude Street. They don't seem to have a website but Gertrude street is home to many small independent clothing/music/art type shops and is also where the Melbourne branch of Books for Cooks can be found. The above Arcadia eggs was lovely, I always marvel at the beauty of a perfectly poached egg having seen many failed attempts both at home and when eating out.


The Mexican eggs were fantastic, scrambled eggs with tomato, avocado and coriander on sourdough. They also have a bewildering array of lunch salads, sandwiches and sweets, though I never had lunch here, my visits were always early, whilst the lunch display were being assembled. Nice coffee and muffins too.

Just 2 doors down from Arcadia lives De Clieu, another real favourite of mine and many others, it can be tricky to get a table at weekends. On our 2nd day here we met Rob and Olly for brunch and were still completely jet lagged so I neglected to take any pictures. I had the Breakfast De Clieu, a board with boiled egg, smoked ham, gruyere, tarragon mustard butter and baguette with a selection of jams. Everyone else on the table had the Brunch De Clieu, a fried egg with pureed cauliflower and mushrooms with truffle oil, veal jus, bacon and sourdough. They all raved.


Other popular dishes include a pork neck roti and a Reuben's special. Everything on the menu sounds lovely actually and I returned to try more but it was too late in the day and they had stopped serving food (at 3pm daily). Still in time for a great latte though!

De Clieu is the newest opening from the team behind Seven Seeds and Brother Baba Budan, both in Melbourne's CBD, see my next post for my thoughts on Seven Seeds.


Also very close to where we were based, with Megan and Dan was Jorg. We went here on day 3 of our trip, the sun was shining and we had a lot of travelling ahead of us to look forward to. The food was not of the standard to which, by day 3, we had become accustomed! Megs and I both had baked eggs, mine with tomato, peppers and cannelini beans, the other option with puy lentils and feta. I was disappointed that the yolks were hard and, as always with baked eggs + greed, we burned our tongues. Other dishes were on the small side and with Dench just around the corner, I can see why we were the only diners on a Sunday morning.


Across the road from Jorg sits the Tin Pot Cafe. They are a slightly cheaper option (most breakfast dishes will cost around $20, around £15 when we were there, and Dench increase prices by 10% on a Sunday??!)

The above bacon with scrambled eggs was okay, I had an english muffin topped with poached eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach, yay. Good coffee but a distinctly average breakfast by Melbourne standards. They open evenings too which many do not and the menu read very well, friends concurred that they had heard good things of the dinner dishes.


Rounding up the Fitzroy selection is Atomica Cafe. I was hungover and in need of serious sustenance so I ordered the veggie breakfast with extra corn fritter and an iced latte (it was a scorcher and we walked there). The smoked tomato was a revelation and this was just what I needed to prepare me for the pub crawl ahead of us.

I hope you can see that breakfast and coffee is something the Aussies really take pride in and do well. It's one of my absolute favourite things about Melbourne and the average quality is far superior compared to the standard greasy fry up available here. Unfortunately for us Brits, the Australian dollar is very strong at the moment so you'll need to take plenty of money, but it really was worth every penny for me.

Dench Bakers
109 Scotchmer St
9/10



Arcadia
193 Gertrude St (Fitzroy border Collingwood)
7/10



De Clieu
187 Gertrude St
8/10



Jorg
203 St Georges Rd
5/10



Tin Pot Cafe
248 St Georges Rd
6/10



Atomica
268 Brunswick St
7/10