13-16 November 2014 – Albert Park

Taste of Melbourne is happening again! This will be my 3rd year that I will be attending, and to be honest I’m not sick of it – there’s so much to see, eat and drink. The good thing is that each year’s offerings are different and you get the chance to sample the restaurants top dishes.

Last year’s preview dinner was at The Smith, however this year I went on a first class flight experience and previewed a total of three restaurants out of the fifteen restaurants that will be on offer at Taste of Melbourne. The restaurants previewed were: Brooks Restaurant & Bar, Lucy Liu and Mamasita. Full list of all the restaurants, ticket details and how to score a double pass (i have two on offer) will be available at the bottom of the page!

Brooks Restaurant & Bar

Address: Basement 115-117 Collins St, Melbourne 3000
Phone: 03 9001 8755
Website: http://www.brooksofmelbourne.com
Facebook: here
Twitter: @brooksmelbourne
Instagram:here

We started the night off with a glass of Paul Louis French Apertive-style sparkling. The sparkly was very welcome as it was a very hot day. I love the light, fruity taste of this sparkling – very easy to drink.

Brooks Restaurant & Bar, is located at the basement of the old historic Austral House building which was designed by Melbourne architect Nahum Barnet in the 1890s.

I love the simple yet stylish design of the restaurant with the white walls and the globe terrariums hanging off the ceiling.

I love this window display close to the entrance. It may look a little gruesome with the chickens hanging by their necks, but I find it rather interesting.

Once all the bloggers arrived, they took us to our table. I love the gorgeous centrepiece made out of fresh produce and flowers!

Once we were all settled, we were offered a glass of The Wanderer 2012 Shiraz from the Yarra Valley. A well balanced wine with floral and spice notes.

We were offered a choice of sour dough or honey & spelt bread. I chose the honey & spelt bread. A light fluffy bread with hints of honey.

Head chef Nicolas Poelaert, trained by Michel Bras (owner of three michelin star restaurant – Restaurant Bras) came over to have a chat with us and introduced the dishes that we were going to preview that night – which of course will be available at the Taste of Melbourne.

Our first dish for the night was Sher Wagyu rib coated in charcoal vegetable puree, vinegar and topped with crispy golden onion flakes.

This dish was ABSOLUTELY amazing – tender, melt in your mouth wagyu rib. The moment you take a bite of the wagyu rib, the vinegar will hit your mouth for a brief moment before the sweetness of the charcoal puree takes over in your mouth. A flavour explosion/dance party in the mouth! I also love the addition of crispy onion flakes that adds a textural element to the dish. A definite MUST have at Taste of Melbourne.

The next glass of wine we were offered was a 2010 Chateau Lourpiac Gaudiet, Loupiac, Bordeaux, France. It’s a 80% Semillon, 20% Sauvignon Blanc. This drink is well paired with the next dish that we were about to have – Cauliflower Ice-cream with Caramel.

The first sip of the wine gave me the feeling of drinking lemonade (how dangerous!), but after a while, I was able to taste notes of apricot, passion fruit and honey. Very light and easy to drink!

Our final dish at Brooks Restaurant is delectable cauliflower ice-cream with caramel drizzled on top.

A light yet creamy ice-cream with roasted cauliflower taste. It’s not overwhelming as I thought it would be – a rather subtle taste, but enough for you to taste the roasted cauliflower taste. The lightly drizzled caramel completes and adds extra depth to the dish.

Wow – what an experience at Brooks Restaurant & Bar – both dishes are definitely worth trying – nothing something you would eat on an everyday basis!

After our dinner at Brooks Restaurant & Bar, we walked over to our next destination:

Lucy Liu Kitchen & Bar

Address: 23 Oliver Lane, Melbourne 3000
Phone: 03 9639 5777
Website: http://www.lucylius.com.au
Facebook: here
Twitter: @LucyLiu_Melb
Instagram: here

No…. this restaurant isn’t owned by Hollywood actress Lucy Liu, but by the same people behind The Smith Prahran Restaurant & Bar (Which I visited last year for Taste of Melbourne) Michael Lambie, chef and co-owner, has an impressive resume – having worked for Marco Pierre White in London at a 2 Michelin starred – Harvey for nearly 4 years! He has also worked as Executive Chef at St Kilda’s Stokehouse, set up his own restaurant Circa The Prince, Taxi Dining Room, Lamaros, The Smith and now Lucy Liu Kitchen & Bar. With such impressive history, you will be guaranteed of nothing less than an amazing foodie experience.

Lucy Liu Kitchen & Bar is located on the cobble footpath of Oliver Lane opposite to Bowery to Williamsburg Cafe. You really cannot miss this restaurant as the signage is bright red, and the entrance is illuminated with red lights!

Upon arrival we were introduced to Zac Cribbes, Head Chef and partner at Lucy Liu.

Zac Cribbes has worked with Michael Lambie at Taxi Dining room for 5 years before working at Port Phillip Estate in Mornington Peninsula, before joining Michael Lambie again at The Smith, and now Lucy Liu Kitchen & Bar.

Zac gave us a rundown of the dishes that we were going to experience that night and also talked about the holographic table mats that’s apparently the talking piece at the table!

After the introduction we were left to mingle with each other, drink some red wine, before tucking into a few dishes that almost brought us food bloggers into food-coma state! (Don’t worry, we managed to roll ourselves to Mamasita to have another 5-6 dishes before ending the night!)

If you have ever been to any of Michael Lambie’s restaurants, you will realise that the experience at Lucy Liu is quite different to his usual fine dining and gastro-fare rather it’s a  modern, electic pan-Asian experience.

To start our journey at Lucy Liu, we were offered fresh oysters served with red nam jim and papaya salad.

The oysters were very fresh and was good to have on its own, however the slightly spicy, and tangy concoction of nam jim took it to the next level, prompting us to have a few each.

The next dish was the papaya salad made out of green papaya, beans, tomato, dried shrimp, hot chilli and topped with crushed peanuts. A flavour explosion but well balanced, that makes you go back for more.

Following our Papaya Salad, we were introduced to the next dish – Porterhouse Wagyu with a grade 7 on the wagyu marble scale. For comparison purposes, 9 is the highest marble grade in Australia, while 12 is highest in Japan.

Zac told us that wagyu with marble grade of 9 is almost like eating butter!

When the waitress brought out the dishes, we all thought that we would be sharing the plate of porterhouse wagyu steak, however we were given a plate each! This was served with yakiniku dipping sauce (typically made out of Japanese soy sauce, mirin, sake, garlic, fruit juice and sesame seed), and hot mustard horseradish.

The porterhouse wagyu was cooked medium raw.

You can’t really see the marbling of the wagyu in the first two pictures, but if you look closer in the third photo you will see the marbling of the meat. It made the wagyu so tender – melt-in-your mouth type wagyu meat.

The porterhouse wagyu went perfectly with the light and slightly tangy yakiniku sauce, but honestly it was perfect on its own. It was also came with a quenelle of hot creamy mustard horseradish. This offered the wagyu a light kick in flavour, again, I would have happily eaten the wagyu on its own.

As we were all quite full, we each had a very small spoonful of rice and coleslaw to go with the wagyu. The coleslaw was made with fresh sour green apple, carrots, purple cabbage. I love the creaminess of the coleslaw as well as the tang from the sour green apples.

I’ve been wanting to try out Lucy Liu since the opening, but never gotten around to it. So was pleasantly surprised when I was told that I was going to preview Lucy Liu that night!

Lucy Liu has a very casual, laid back vibe and amazing pan-asian food to offer. I will definitely be visiting their stand at Taste of Melbourne and visit the restaurant to try out the menu!

By the time I finished the second meal at Lucy Liu, I was pretty much full, but I still had a third meal to attend to at Mamasita!

Mamasita

Address: Level 1/11 Collins St, Melbourne 3000
Phone: 03 9650 6600
Website: http://www.mamasita.com.au
Facebook: here
Twitter: @MamasitaMelb
Instagram: here

If you follow the Melbourne dining scene, Mamasita doesn’t need an introduction. But for those who are new to Melbourne, Mamasita first opened its door in 2010. Back then and even now, there’s lines to get into this ultra hip Mexican food establishment.

I’ll be honest, my first experience back in 2012 was a bad experience, so when I visited Mamasita during the preview night, I took everything with precaution and observed my surroundings, as it was after all a media preview, so service may not be true to its usual service. Having said that, I left the night feeling satisfied and my perception of Mamasita has changed. The head chef of Mamasita has since changed to Andrew Logan. Andrew Logan is known for his work at The Botanical, Halfmoon Hotel, The Newmarket Hotel and now Mamasita.

Unfortunately we did not get to meet Andrew, however we spoke to a very knowledgable female chef (sorry didn’t get her name), and she came out to explain each of our dishes.

To start off our third and final meal at Mamasita, we were offered a Mamasita margarita. As Jenny @Confessions of a Little Piggy and I were driving that night, we both opted for a Cucumber and Orange juice.

Our first dish was Mamasita’s famed Elotes Callejeros. 

For those who are unfamiliar with the dish, it’s pretty much sweet corn cobs thats been coated with a spice mix of paprika, cumin seeds, toasted pepitas and chargrilled. Once chargrilled it’s coated liberally with their chipotle mayonnaise, rolled in grated goats cheese and sprinkled with more of the spice mix. It’s then served with a wedge of lime.

For those who are interested in making it at home, there’s an official Mamasita recipe here.

Although I was 7/8th full, I happily ate the elotes callejeros. The sweetness of the corn cobs, along with the creamy chipotle mayo and spice mix made it very delectable and I swear I could have asked for another one even though i was THAT full.

Next up, we had some fun! So lucky and fortunate to have the experience of making fresh tortilla!

Due to the number of tacos they go through the night, Mamasita has their Tortilla freshly made by their Tortilla supplier, however that night they specifically sourced Tortilla dough and a Tortilla press for us bloggers to make! It was so easy to make! Our tortilla was then used to make our tacos later.

To press the tortilla, you pretty much squash the dough ball down slightly with both of your palms. Once done, place a piece of baking paper down onto the tortilla press, followed by the squashed dough ball and another piece of baking paper, before pressing the down with the tortilla press. We were told that if we flip it over and press it again, it would turn out better – and it did :)

Our second dish was a Zucchini braised molotes – something that I’ve never heard or tried before.

Molotes is a dish made out of fillings that is wrapped with corn masa and fried. It’s is quite similar to a croquette.

The version at Mamasita is made with a zucchini filling and then served with cheese and corn smut.

I was told that corn smut is actually a corn fungus and considered as a Mexican delicacy. What does it taste like? Like mushroom-like (after all it is part of the fungus family), woody and earthy taste.

The molotes itself was fried until golden crisp and when you bite into it, it has a delicate soft zucchini filling. Very interesting mexican dish!

Not yet! Two more dishes to go! I hope you are sympathising with me right now!

At this point, I could only stomach a bite from each of the next two dishes! Very wasteful and I felt bad leaving the two dishes 3/4 untouched, but my stomach felt like it was going to explode!

The second last dish for the night was camarones tamale with arbol salsa.

This dish is made out of corn masa, corn and mixed herbs, which is then steamed with corn husk and then served with arbol salsa.

I won’t form a full opinion on this dish as I only had a bite out of it, but the tamale was a soft, starchy and had sweetness from the corn. It doesn’t have much taste as it is meant to be eaten with the spicy arbol salsa!

Finally, the last dish of the night (hooray for my poor stomach!), were two tacos with two types of filling.

A de Puerco taco and de Pescado taco. Both tacos were made out of the tortilla that we had pressed earlier.

The de Puerco taco were filled with tender pieces of Al-Pastor styled pork jowl, spicy apple and white cabbage.Although I only took a bite out of the taco, the pieces of pork jowl were divine. So tender!

The de Pescado taco were filled with crispy pieces of market fish, red onion salsa, lime, achiote and chipotle mayo. Again, I took a bite out of this taco – the fish pieces were crispy and moist in the inside, and the salsa, lime, achiote & chipotle mayo complimented the fish well!

Definitely a different experience to what I had the first time. I found the dishes I had were unique and interesting – it has allowed me to delve a bit deeper into the Mexican cuisine, and also given me another opportunity to try out Mamasita! Will have to visit again on another occasion when it’s not invite base.

So that concluded our Taste of Melbourne preview night – Three restaurants, 11 dishes. I was in a deep food coma state by the time I arrived home.

 

Taste of Melbourne General Information

Opening Times:

Thursday 13th November: Lunch: Closed | Dinner: 5.30PM – 9.30PM

Friday 14th November: Lunch: 12.00pm – 4.00pm | Dinner: 5.30PM – 10.00PM

Saturday 15th November: Lunch: 12.00pm – 4.00pm | Dinner: 5.30PM – 10.00PM

Sunday 16th November: Lunch: 12.00pm – 5.00pm

Location:

Pelican Lawn, Albert Park – right beside Carousel off Aughtie Drive

How to get there:

Tram: 3, 3a, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67, 72, 96, 112.

Bus: 216, 219, 220, 246, 606, 600, 922, 923.

Driving: Limited parking available.

Taxi: Drop off at Carousel cafe

Ticket details:

General Entry - Advance Price: $25.49, Door Price: $30.59

Childrens Ticket (6-17 years) – Advance Price: $15.29 , Door Price: $18.35

Family Ticket (2 Adults + 2 Children): Advance Price + Door Price: $81.56

Other tickets available including:

Silver Crown Ticket, Gold Crown TicketPlatinum Pass,

Gala Night Platinum Pass, Group tickets available. Prices & info here 

Festival Currency:

Crowns are the official currency for Taste of Melbourne for purchases of food and drink.

1 Crown = 1 Dollar, Each dish is worth between 6-12 crowns.

For stalls, you can pay in cash, debit or credit for products you wish to purchase.
Crowns can be purchased online or Crown sellers that roam around.

This year Taste of Melbourne is offering refunds on unspent Crowns on the Crown Card. You can go to a designated point to receive a full refund on any unspent Crowns.

Note: Each Crown Card is charged an initial $1 bond which is refundable when you return the card at the end of your visit. This is their initiative to reduce their carbon footprint.

Featured Restaurants:

B’Stilla, Brooks Restaurant & Bar, Burch & Purchese, Gladioli, Huxtable, Huxtaburger, Lucy Liu Kitchen & Bar, Mamasita, Movida, Nieuw Amsterdam, Pope Joan, Sake Restaurant & Bar,Smith Prahran Restaurant & Bar, Tulip & Uncle.

 

2 x Double Passes to Taste of Melbourne Giveaway

How to Win:

1.  Subscribe to this blog using the subscription form on the right sidebar.
2. Read the blog post and name one dish from each of the three restaurants I visited during the Taste of Melbourne Preview night in the comments below.
3. You must include your email address or some form of contact so that I can send you your tickets :)
4. One entry per person.
5. Entry strictly closes on 6th November 2013, 11.59PM AEST.
6. Winner will receive their single double pass by post to attend Taste of Melbourne for any of the sessions specified above.
7. Competition is open to anyone within Australia, but they must find their own way to Taste of Melbourne.
8. Tickets cannot be exchanged for cash.
9. Winners will be chosen via Random Generator and will be announced via Facebook.

Disclaimer: Peach was invited as a guest of Brooks Restaurant & Bar, Lucy Liu Kitchen & Bar, Mamasita and Hot House Media to preview the restaurants that will be at Taste of Melbourne. All opinions and views on views on www.peach-water.com are honest and purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the product.

The post Taste of Melbourne 2014 + 2 Double Passes to Taste of Melbourne Giveaway appeared first on Melbourne Food Blog.