Ginseng at the Hellenic Club September 5th 2018

Present: John, Karen, Megan, Jim

Duck pancakes: Very nice and crispy, duck was moist and tender

Prawns with chilli jam: was so-so, the enoki mshrooms were nice but the chilli jam sauce was disappointing, couldn't really taste it:

Empress chicken, was lovely, the sauce was nice

Sizzling garlic seafood: not impressed, couldn't taste the butter garlic

4 seasons beans: we like this, it was everyone's favourite.

The service was really BAD.  The place was not full, but once we had got our food, they basically forgot about us, we couldn't get their attention so we didn't have dessert.

Sage Restaurant Civic 8 August 2018

 
 
















Fabulous meal at Sage as per usual.  No big write up because it was a special birthday meal, but we had the degustation and as always Sage never disappoints.

Chinatown Restaurant Weston 18 July 2018

Lanterne Rooms Campbell 4 July 2018

 

 

 

Present were all of us except Andrew who is still AWOL.  This time in the Philippines instead of Ballarat.  We miss you Andrew.  So there was John (birthday boy), Jim, Karen, Ron, Kim, Megan.

 

Lantern Room is one of our favourites for our special dinners, held only for birthdays and Christmas. It didn't quite live up to expectations this time but probably because our expectations were exceptionally high.  It was still pretty good.

 

We had the degustation ($99 ex wine, except Jim had the accompanying wine, the soak that he is).  First off was the winner for the night.  A little mouthful of crisp crunchy light pastry filled with a smoked salmon and refreshing salad with wasabi.  Just gorgeous.

 

Next off was their signature dish, Prawns with mango and apple salad, done to perfection as always.  the flavours were just right, done in a rich sauce, reminiscent of a satay sauce but much more delicate. 

 

The next course was scallop and something dumplings in a bisque which had a mixed reception in the group.  Some really liked them, delicate flavoured dumplings complemented by a strong seafood broth. Others thought that the bisque was too strong and salty and that the bean shoots on top didn't add anything to it.  The use of Chinese soup spoons proved a bit frustrating in trying to scoop up the last of the broth and we refrained from licking the bowl.

 

The Patagonian tooth fish was quite nice.  The waiter said it was extremely expensive fish and while it was a delicate white fish, we couldn't really work out why you would pay lots extra for it.  It was flakey and delicate, with tomatoes and greens and capers, but the rich butter sauce with a touch of wasabi was the really winner.  Plus the rice cake.  Again the frustration was in scooping up the rest of the sauce.

 

The lamp rolls were okay, nice, delicious, didn't blow us away.  I found them chewy and the ubiquitous bean sprouts didn't add anything to the dish, they seemed to be an afterthought.

 

The confit of salmon was lovely, delicately cooked with a fabulous mushroom and bean accompaniment.

 

And the pork was sweet, tasty with a crispy outer skin with a flavour a bit like tomato paste.  Some liked this, some didn't, thought it was a bit tough.  Oh well.

 

And the dessert was very sweet but very yum also,

 

We liked all the dishes, the ingredients were fresh.  The place was pretty much full when we arrived at 7pm, and pretty much empty by the time we left just after 9pm.  It was a bit noisy but not overly so.  It didn't quite have the wow factor that we've experienced before but maybe that's because our expectations were too high?

 

Rubicon Restaurant Griffith 20 June 2018

 

 

 

Diners:

Karen, Jim, Ron, John and Kim

 5  Course – Degustation: design your own menu.

 Amuse Bouche:

Seafood mousseline – light and delicious

 Tasting Dishes:

Zucchini flowers, feta macadamia stuffing, pico de gallo – delicious great blend of flavours and the almonds and tomato (pico de gallo) combination helped with the richness of the cheese stuffing

Scallop, confit chicken, Serrano crisp, apple, calvados – very fresh scallop cooked perfectly, tender chicken complemented by the slightly sour apple (cut into very small cubes) – interesting and delicious flavours

Roasted pork belly, apple ketchup, fino currants, celeriac remoularde, boudin noir, crackling – succulent flavoursome and rich tasting cube of pork – this was one of our favourite dishes

 Chargrilled beef rib eye, roasted garlic field mushroom, asparagus, heirloom carrot, jus and sauce béarnaise – lovely chargrilled piece of beef, the mushroom had a rich distinctive flavour.  The jus and the béarnaise sauce were delicious with the beef.

Desserts: We were allowed to choose any dessert from the menu.

Honey and spiced rum panna cotta, drunken fig, glass biscuit, buckwheat, fig and ginger ice-cream – rich and creamy panna cotta, delicious small figs were complemented by the nutty and just crunchy enough buckwheat grains. The ice-cream had a strong ginger flavour which complemented the richness of the panna cotta.  This was one of our favourite dishes.

Caramelised apple tart, vanilla sable, butterscotch, crème fraiche sorbet – lovely generous wedge of almost translucent caramelised apple served on a very thin tart base.  Delicious butterscotch sauce. Sorbet was creamy.  This was one of our favourite dishes.

Kahlua chocolate mousse, chocolate tuile cigar, orange, goats milk sorbet – the chocolate guru in our group said that this dessert was OK.

Ambience: top marks for ambiance - warm, cosy and quiet (no wooden floors, no large glass windows, no loud music, not crowded or noisy).

 

Mezzalira Civic 30 May 2018

 

Diners:

Ron, Andrew, Megan, Jim, Karen and Kim

Primi:

Capesante Saltate – seared sea scallops, smoked eel, artichoke and pea velutatta – sweet pea puree was delicious with the salty scallops.  We liked the smoky flavour of the eel.

Pasta E Risotto:

Tortellini di Zucca – buffalo milk ricotta, pumpkin and leek tortellini with burnt sage butter – lovely combination of pumpkin and ricotta, the pasta was al dente and all worked well with the burnt sage butter and crisp sage leaves (though some got more sage than others)

Pappardelle – smoked duck breast, porcini mushroom and Pinot Grigio – generous serve of pasta and nice flavours (but our favourite was the tortellini)

Piatti Principali:

Tagliata di Manzo – salt and pepper crusted Rangers Valley Fillet of Beef “Tagliata”, potato and pancetta gratinata, salsa verde, horseradish cream – very tender beef complimented by the bitterness of the salsa verde and the creamy texture of the horseradish cream.  We liked the potato and pancetta gratinata very much!

Dessert:Caramelised Lemon curd tart with tea infused  citrus fruit compote and marscapone sorbetto – delicious lemon tart, very generous serve.  Beautiful with the fruit compote which had sour and citrus flavours (mandarin, limes, ruby grapefruit)

Accompaniments:Focaccia with rosemary, salt and olive oil

The restaurant was a bit noisy, but not too much.  Service was good.  Voted by all as the best meals we've had for ages.