Eating Melbourne

Yes, I know, I haven’t posted in forever. No, I wasn’t being lazy, I was totally eating stuff. In Spain. It was RESEARCH.

I had two weeks over there, including Barcelona, Seville, Granada and San Sebastian. I ate my bodyweight in jamon, and drank so much Rioja that my liver threatened a walkout.  I managed to get by with my three beginner’s-classes-worth of Spanish, plus my trusty Lonely Planet phrasebook (although still managed some spectacular faux-pas, such as ordering toast with “donkey” instead of butter).

How was the food? Well, pretty good, and VERY cheap compared to Melbourne. But not mind-blowing. Mostly it was pretty rustic, and actually that was when it was at its best – a simple plate of the best jamon, some crusty bread, and a big bowl of hot pimientos de Padrón.

Enough talking. LET’S GET TO THE FOOD PORN.

Barcelona:

Where I saw some markets that crap all over the Queen Vic; spent 20 euro on a “famous” roast chicken dish that turned out to be pretty much the same as the hot chicken place in Clifton Hill; and discovered that pig’s trotters, for all their nose-to-tail foodie chic, are pretty much just fat and skin. Oh, and ate a lot of fried little fishies.

Seville & Granada:

Seville: where we managed to eat three meals a day, despite nobody speaking any English (which is fair enough, it is Spain after all) and there being no menu in half the tapas bars. There was a lot of pointing at other people’s food. Oh, and there are chips with EVERYTHING. I also ate caracoles (snails), which are far more disturbing-looking than the French escargot. They had little faces and antennae. I kept waiting for one of them to yell “UNFAIR TO SNAILS!!” like Gus from Mr Squiggle.

Granada: where they have free tapas. Yep, you order a beer, they bring you food. Our favourite place was Bodega Castaneda.

San Sebastian:

Where I found my happy place. It’s like Paris, only smaller and cuter, and by the sea. Oh, and cheaper. We ate pintxos (Basque for tapas) pretty much every night; everyone recommended me to go to La Cuchara de San Telmo, which I liked but wasn’t blown away by. We had an amazing three-course lunch at Kaskazuri – spectacular food, wine and coffee included, for 24 euro a head. Unbelievable.

Does anyone have a recipe for tarta de queso? I don’t like cheesecake, but I loooooved the light gooey Spanish version – particularly at La Viña.

RIGHT. Let’s clear this bloody drafts folder, shall we?

Way back in February, as you may recall, I spent a week in the South Island of NZ. I ate everything in Queenstown, and while I did not drink everything in Central Otago, I gave it a fair crack.

A bit of background: Central Otago is all about the pinot noir, baby – in fact it makes up 85% of vineyard plantings. It’s the most southerly wine-growing region in the world, and apparently has a climate very similar to Burgundy in France. (You can read more about the region at the Central Otago Winegrowers Association website, if you’re so inclined.)

Day 1: Bannockburn

We tasted some excellent single vineyard pinot noirs at Felton Road, and snickered at the saucily-named Nipple Hill Pinot Noir at Olssens, before heading to Mt Difficulty for tastings and rather a tasty lunch. Finished up the day with some rather magnificent pinot gris at Bald Hills.

Day 2: Gibbston Valley

The Gibbston Valley area of Central Otago is only 15 minutes or so out of Queenstown, so we managed to fit in quite a few tastings. Started with Waitiri Creek, whose tasting room is a very cute little chapel, but whose cellar door staff weren’t particularly friendly and charged a tasting fee. Moved on to Peregrine, whose winery is rather spectacular, and some jolly good pinot gris and pinot noir too – I particularly liked the limited release Karearea Pinot Noir.

Lunch was at Brennan Wines, where they offer a nifty little picnic hamper full of cheeses, meats, crackers and fruit, which you can take into the gardens with a glass of wine. And play a bit of petanque, if you are so inclined.

But no rest for the wicked! On to Gibbston Valley Wines, which seemed to me to be all about the merchandising. How many ways can they part the punters with their money? There’s a cheesery, and an icecream shop, and a wine cave where you can pay for tours, and wine “flights” which all cost moolah, and the gift shop, and the restaurant… bleah.  We did a vertical tasting of their pinot noir over four vintages, and it was interesting, but to be honest I found the wine quite pricey for the quality, in comparison to others we’d tasted.

Finally, Chard Farm. Make sure your skipper is sober for this one as it’s quite a hairy drive up a narrow road that’ll have you tumbling down a ravine if your steering is, ahem, under the influence.  Fortunately I was the designated booze hag, with J as the skipper, so I was the only one tasting here! Alas, none of the wines really floated my boat.

Day 3: Rippon (Wanaka)

Actually this was the very first winery we did, as we drove back to Queenstown from Franz Josef Glacier on the west coast via Wanaka.

I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say that Rippon, on the banks of Lake Wanaka, may well have the most spectacularly beautiful vineyards in the world. And it’s not just a pretty face – the riesling is to die for, the pinot noir is spectacular, and the gewurztraminer is pretty delicious too.

Ahhh… fun times. Get yourselves to Central Otago, kids. Tell ‘em Kate sent ya.

God, I’m getting really behind in my posts! Must catch up before the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival starts, otherwise fuhgeddaboutit.

Anyway it was a month ago now that J and I spent a week in New Zealand, eating and drinking our way around Queenstown and Central Otago. We had a glorious time, thanks to dozens of recs from the Twitterverse and the blogosphere – we did our best to try everywhere that was recommended, which means that I’m going to have to split this up over a few posts. So I’ll get started.

Queenstown is the adventure capital of NZ. Personally I think that jumping off bridges with your feet tied to a big rubber band is a bit mental, so I spent most of my time nomming my way through the dozens of bars, restaurants and cafes. 

Fergburger, 42 Shotover St, Queenstown. www.fergburger.com

Burger joint that attracts a cult-like devotion from snowboarders, drunken revellers, Asian bus tourists and European backpackers alike. I can see why: they’re really goddamn good burgers. And the place is just so cool. Grill’d, eat your heart out. Be prepared to wait in line – all their burgers are cooked to order, and the place is packed around the clock. I recommend the Morning Glory breakfast burger – bacon, avocado, egg, salad and tarragon mayo – for those mornings when you feel a little seedy from too much pinot noir. Which happens a lot in Queenstown.

Amisfield Winery, 10 Lake Hayes Rd, Queenstown. www.amisfield.co.nz

Amisfield is about 10 minutes drive out of the main part of Queenstown, on the way to Arrowtown. (Which means that unfortunately someone has to volunteer to be the designated driver.) Their bistro is only open for lunch, and has a la carte options, but really you have to go with the "Trust the Chef" menu. It’s NZ$70 a head for a glass of the Amisfield NV sparkling, six shared courses and dessert.

Yes, it did all taste as good as it looks. Spectacular value IMO, particularly as NZ$70 works out to only about AU$54. They also offer a good wine tasting option that allows you to try a few of their wines with your meal and still be able to drive home: you can choose three 50ml glasses for about NZ$10-15 if I remember rightly.

The Cow, Cow Lane, Queenstown.

The Cow boasts having an unchanged menu since they opened in 1976. You can kind of tell – the pizzas are a bit daggy. They’re like the pizzas I remember eating in Launceston when I was a kid in the 80s. Lots of toppings, lots of cheese. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, every now and again.

Motogrill, 62 Shotover St, Queenstown.

Michael from My Aching Head recommended Motogrill to me as one of the best places for coffee in Queenstown, and I think he’s right – certainly it was the best I had during my week in NZ. I went the first time for coffee, and then again later in the week for breakfast:

The french toast was fantastic. Evil, but fantastic. The scrambled eggs were pretty good too.

(Take note though – in this part of NZ, if you ask for a “latte”, you will get a coffee in a giant cup, not a small glass. I think Motogrill uses a double shot of espresso for theirs, so it’s still regular strength.)

Botswana Butchery, 17 Marine Parade, Queenstown.

Botswana Butchery was recommended to me by a few people, and turns out it is probably the trendiest restaurant in Queenstown – be sure to book if you want to have dinner here. We rocked up at about 8.30pm on a Friday night with no booking, and they had no tables; we were offered a seat at the bar, which we took, but the bar is quite high and not really suitable for knife-and-fork eating (not ideal considering their main specialty is grilled meat).

Anyway, given that our bar perch was right under the barman’s nose, I didn’t take pictures of the food. Sorry kids. None of it was that spectacular looking anyway – one steak looks much like any other, does it not? – but I do have to tell you that the french onion soup was ORGASMIC. Oh. My. God. Have never tasted one like it; I emailed the chef to beg for the recipe, but so far no response. Dammit. Looks like I’m going to have to make a trans-Tasman soup run.

The rest of the food was pretty good, but not a patch on the soup, frankly. Quite an older crowd here; I think all the other under-40s must have been at Fergburger.

Wine Tastes, 14 Beach St, Queenstown. http://www.winetastes.co.nz/

Wine Tastes is something of a cross between a wine bar and a bottle shop, specialising in Central Otago wines and offering 80 wines on tasting using Enomatic wine serving systems. You get a card that acts as your “bar tab”, and then you just pick the wine you want to try and swipe your card for a 25ml, 75ml or 150ml glass. It’s about NZ$2-5 per 25ml taste, depending on the wine.

I love the idea of this – 80 wines on tap! Sounds like wine lovers’ nirvana, right?

So why wasn’t it fun??  We did a few tastes each, but then looked at each other and said “let’s get the hell out of here”. We both found it really depressing. I don’t even really know why; I suspect that somehow the whole swipe-your-card, automated process takes all the romance out of it.  So we promptly skedaddled off to a bar that was more our style…

Eichardt’s, Marine Parade, Queenstown. http://www.eichardtshotel.co.nz/ Eichardt’s Private Hotel is right on the waterfront, and has a rather lovely bar with a view of the lake.  They make a mean negroni. (They also have a tapas menu but we didn’t eat there.)

Whew! I think that’s about it for Queenstown. Stay tuned for boozy adventures on the Central Otago wine trail…

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!

Appetiser – cured wagyu with pear and jelly:

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

My entree – scallops, truffled leek puree, mushroom vinaigrette

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

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

Sides – potatoes and asparagus

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

My dessert – house sorbets (pineapple and melon)

I was born and bred in Launceston and my dad still lives there, so I go down for a visit several times a year.

Given that Launceston is a smallish town of about 68 000, the eating options are surprisingly good. Fine dining establishments Fee & Me and Stillwater have won a number of national awards between them, and I’ve had excellent meals at both. On this trip though, we visited:

Mud Bar & Restaurant – http://www.mudbar.com.au/
This is a great spot on a sunny day, down in the Seaport district by the river. They serve drinks and a light snack menu all day, with more substantial meals at lunch and dinner. Our lunch there was enjoyable – particularly the Taste Plate – but the service can be laid-back to the point of somnambulance. We had to get up and go find our waiter when we wanted to order coffee!
Mud Taste Plate – delicious!

Grilled quail

Crumbed veal

Black Cow Bistro – http://www.blackcowbistro.com.au/
Same owners as Stillwater, and set up in the old butcher’s shop where the sadly-defunct Luck’s used to be. As you can probably guess from the name, the menu revolves around beef, but in more of a Rockpool sort of way than a steakhouse. After our massive lunch at Mud, we weren’t super hungry so shared the venison with sides of grilled field mushrooms and lemony broccoli with almonds. The venison was cooked absolutely perfectly, not the least bit tough, and had a delicious flavour. Service here was very professional.

Blue Cafe Bar - 2-4 Invermay Rd, Invermay ph (03) 6334 3133
When I last visited Blue Cafe Bar, it was pretty abysmal – service was shocking and the food only passable. I’m happy to say this time it was a lot better. You still can’t be in too much of a hurry – you will get your coffee, eventually – but the food is good. We had breakfast here with my dad and his partner, and all the meals were pretty good.
Dad had the “big breakfast”, which wasn’t that big, but nice ingredients and well cooked:

L had eggs with pancetta, asparagus and hollandaise:

J had the vanilla rice porridge:

and I had the polenta fruit loaf which came with honeycomb and fig jam:

Not bad for 24 hours in Tasmania. Oh and we also stopped by the Tasmanian Gourmet Sauce Company on the way back to the airport, and spent far too much money on jam. They have the best raspberry jam ever (so I got the huge 1kg jar).