Eating Melbourne ethically

I don’t think I could ever be vegetarian; I like meat too much. That said, I don’t think that being a meat-eater justifies meat production methods that are cruel to animals.

I attempt to assuage my conscience by only buying free-range eggs and free-range chicken. Happily, free-range bacon and pork are easier to come by now too.

However, after reading the article in today’s Age on the ethics of foie gras, it has occurred to me that I really ought to put a bit more effort into ethical food choices when I eat out. 

I never order foie gras, but I never ask if the eggs are free-range before ordering eggs on toast.  I don’t order shark fin soup, but I never check whether the prosciutto or jamon comes from unhappy battery-farmed pigs.

I guess it’s easy to assume that the “good” restaurants would choose the best free-range produce, but it would be even better to know for sure.

Do you know of any restaurants that do make a conscious choice to use cruelty-free produce?

Would knowing that a restaurant offers free-range make you more likely to choose that restaurant over another?

November 24, 2009 | Kate | 6 Comments »

Coffee at Proud Mary, Collingwood

Proud Mary, 172 Oxford St (corner Stanley St), Collingwood
Breakfast and lunch 7 days. Cash only.

I’ve never seen so much hype in the twittoblogosphere as Proud Mary has had in the few weeks since it opened. (Probably this will be about the 17th blog post you’ve already read about it.)

So you’ll probably already know that Proud Mary is one of these new “third wave” coffee houses that roasts its own single-origin beans, blends its own house roasts, has a modified fridge to store the beans in, uses Oompa Loompas to grind each bean by hand, and offers coffee made every which way you can think of (including syphon, Clover and French press, as well as espresso of course).
(OK, so I made up the part about the Oompa Loompas.)

And if you know all this, you will have also heard about The Six-Group Synesso.

I’ve never seen (or read) so much drooling over a piece of machinery that wasn’t a Ferrari.
Anyway, while it’s certainly big and shiny, I don’t really get the excitement – maybe it’s a testosterone thing. Check out the hordes of boys gawking at all the equipment.
We visited at around 11.30am on a Saturday, and the place was packed – we had to stand and wait for a table for about 15 minutes. There’s no table service, you have to order up at the counter.
The coffees took another 15 minutes to arrive after we ordered (despite the awesome power of the Six-Group Synesso – I noted they weren’t using all six groups). So that’s a half-hour total wait time to get caffeine – though to be fair, they haven’t been open long.

With all this expensive single-origin shiny chrome whiz-bangery, I am expecting awesome coffee. I ordered a latte with their House Blend beans:

How was it? Well, pretty good – although I didn’t enjoy it as much as Outpost, or Seven Seeds. Generally I judge my coffee enjoyment on whether or not it’s so good I have to have a second cup (despite knowing I’ll be bouncing off the walls for the rest of the day). I didn’t need a second cup at Proud Mary.
That said, my brother the Coffee Nazi loved it, and plans to return. (Although it’s possible he just wants to go back to stroke the Synesso.)
Oh yeah – they have food too.
We just shared some fruit toast and a muffin – which were both pleasant. The hot dishes looked pretty good.
But let’s face it, you’re not coming to Proud Mary for the food. You’re coming to perve on the expensive coffee equipment. And if that’s what floats your boat, you’re going to love it here.
| Kate | Tags: | 8 Comments »

Breakfast at Outpost, South Yarra

Outpost is a new-ish venture by the coffee fiends at St Ali. It’s just near South Yarra station, and I decided to *gulp* CROSS THE RIVER for a visit on a Saturday morning.
Outpost, South Yarra

Unlike pretty much anywhere worth brunching on a Saturday morning northside, we were able to get a seat straight away. The cafe itself is tiny but they have plenty of sort-of-outdoor seating in the entrance to the building.

We ordered coffee straight away, and this arrived within five minutes. And may I say these are among the best coffees I’ve had in Melbourne.
Outpost, South Yarra Outpost, South Yarra

There’s no menus on the table; instead, the menu is scrawled on a long piece of brown paper stuck inside the window. There are only about four or five breakfast options. I chose the strawberries and melon with yoghurt and oats:
Outpost, South Yarra
The fruit was nice and fresh, but the yoghurt was very thick, almost paste-like; unsweetened, it was very intense and too sour for my liking. The oats were supposed to be toasted, but they were pretty much just like regular rolled oats as far as I could tell. I think I was expecting something a bit more granola-ish.

J. ordered the sourdough with avocado, buffalo mozzarella and Vegemite. It came out like an open grilled toastie:
Outpost, South Yarra
Weird combo, right? It actually tasted pretty good, although I am a big fan of Vegemite with breakfast. (Try it on your toast next time you have eggs on toast. YUM.) I would have liked to see the avocado sliced rather than all mushed up.

Service was a bit hit and miss; it took ages before they took our food order, as they thought we already ordered (although how they thought this I don’t know, as there was only one waiter at the time). I ordered a second coffee after the food, and it didn’t come, until the waiter checked 10 minutes later to see if I got it and then chased it up.

Really Outpost is all about the coffee, which is, as I mentioned earlier, spectacularly good. I don’t think I’d bother going out of my way for the food, but I’d definitely cross the river again for one of their lattes.

Outpost on Urbanspoon

November 20, 2009 | Kate | Tags: | 4 Comments »

Dinner at Pipers of Penola, Coonawarra SA

Pipers of Penola, 58 Riddoch Street Penola, SA

Early in November I visited Coonawarra and Penola in SA for a couple of winery events: an open garden at St Marys Wines, and the official opening (complete with ribbon-cutting by Julia Gillard) of the Raidis Estate cellar door.  Both very fun events - and also both very good excuses to make a weekend of it, including a visit to Pipers of Penola.

I will disclaim at this point that Simon and Erika Bowen, the proprietors of Pipers, are friends of friends, so this won’t be a full critique – merely an exercise in food porn. Enjoy!

Pipers of Penola

Pipers of PenolaPipers of PenolaPipers of Penola

Pipers of Penola

Appetiser – cured wagyu with pear and jelly:
Pipers of Penola

J’s entree – sweetbreads, cauliflower puree, asparagus, crumbed egg
Pipers of Penola

My entree – scallops, truffled leek puree, mushroom vinaigrette
Pipers of Penola

J’s main course – oak smoked sirloin of Mayura Station wagyu, duck liver parfait, duxelles, potato puree and jus
Pipers of Penola

My main course – roasted duck breast, pomme anna, white Jerusalem artichoke puree, shitake mushrooms, truffle dressing
Pipers of Penola

Sides – potatoes and asparagus
Pipers of Penola Pipers of Penola

J’s dessert – Milawa King River Gold, toasted pain d’epice and star anise macerated oranges
Pipers of Penola

My dessert – house sorbets (pineapple and melon)
Pipers of Penola

Pipers of Penola

November 17, 2009 | Kate | Tags: | 3 Comments »

Sugadeaux Cupcake Tasting

Being a food blogger is by and large a labour of love, not to mention an expensive hobby. That said, every now again it has its perks, such as getting invited to fun stuff like the recent cupcake tasting by Sugadeaux Cupcakes, at the Martin St Cafe and Providore in Brighton.

The gorgeous Jess from Sugadeaux had cooked up eight new flavours, and invited a bunch of foodies from Twitter and the blogosphere to road test them. Cupcakes for dinner! YAY!

Without further ado, let us commence the cupcake porn.

Raspberry and white chocolate – a vanilla cake with white chocolate chunks, raspberry frosting:
Sugadeaux Cupcakes

Strawberry shortcake – vanilla cake with strawberry puree frosting:
Sugadeaux Cupcakes

Toffee apple – caramel cupcake (tasted like sticky date pudding) with green apple frosting and red toffee bits:
Sugadeaux Cupcakes

Caramel popcorn – my favourite! Butter flavoured frosting (think butter-flavoured microwave popcorn) and caramel popcorn pieces on a caramel cupcake:
Sugadeaux Cupcakes

Licorice – ooh a close second to the caramel popcorn – vanilla cake with a delicious licorice frosting – tasted sort of like a licorice allsort:
Sugadeaux Cupcakes

Milo – vanilla cake (to represent the glass of milk) with Milo mixed into the vanilla frosting, and then a crunchy coating of Milo:
Sugadeaux Cupcakes

Chocolate Crackle – a light chocolate cake with a scoop of buttercream frosting with bits of Crunch chocolate mixed in:
Sugadeaux Cupcakes

Toblerone – oh boy, this was intense. Chocolate mud cake with nougat bits mixed through, topped with a big scoop of evil choc frosting and a piece of chocolate covered nougat:
Sugadeaux Cupcakes

Before you ask: no, I did not eat eight whole cupcakes. We divided each one into quarters and shared it between four people. It was still a whole lotta cupcake though, so kids, don’t try this at home. (I was so wired after the sugar high that I had some VERY weird dreams that night.)

Big thanks to Jess for a very fun night! Shout-outs to the lovely bloggers and tweeps I met on the night – Penny from Addictive & Consuming, Jane from Deep Dish Dreams, Claire from Melbourne Gastronome and Leticia from Sweet Libertine Cakes.

November 1, 2009 | Kate | 8 Comments »