MoVida (Melbourne)

By St

I've had this one up my sleeve for a while waiting for the new Masterchef season. Last season was a phenomena  and even though they are bringing more culinary big wigs onto the show this year and going to more countries (and oh yeah, blowing ch10's budget), the contestants haven't wooed me yet. Why the Masterchef talk (esp since many working in the food industry a la apprentices detest the show)? Last season, the only person to win an immunity pin was Marion, and it was against MoVida's chef, Frank Camorra. (Photo from: http://www.masterchef.com.au/masterchef-2010-episode-recaps.htm#). Ever since the show, I wanted to try the cornets but we were too full (damn paella) for dessert this time round.

George, Marion & Frank Camorra of MoVida (Masterchef Season 2, 2010)

 

Bocadillo de Calamares (calamari sandwich with Basque guindilla & mayonnaise) $6.50

Bomba (potato bomb filled will chorizo) $4

Grilled scallops with salmorejo, fried almonds & cauliflower $21.50

Pancetta con morcilla (confit pork belly, morcilla & poached blood plums) $23.50

Gambas a la sidra (prawns cooked in terracotta with garlic & cider) $22.50

Paella de Marisco (bomba rice cooked in seafood & saffron) $60/$95

The best dish of the night goes to... the calamari sandwich! Just so tasty, that mayonnaise sauce with the calamari is to die for. Biggest disappointment were the prawns which were very average and  overpriced. The pork belly was great and very filling (enough to share between 4) and the boys loved the crusty and juicy paella. 

There are several MoVida in Melbourne now, the original being the one in Hoiser Lane with the iconic graffiti walls outside, same one where Marion had her Masterchef celebrity challenge. It's a very small place with bookings for up to 6 peopler only.  You can try your luck at 'MoVida Next Door', literally  next door which doesn't take reservations. We went to MoVida Aqui which fits more and easier to book! Some really really fantastic tapas, some so-so and it can get pricey but would come here again.

Wok rating /5:

MoVida Aqui

Lv 1, 500 Bourke St

Melbourne

03 9663 3038

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HuTong Dumpling Bar (Melbourne)

By St

Don't bother fronting up to HuTong Dumpling Bar on a friday night without a booking. It's packed and you will find yourself wandering Chinatown to find a good eat (I'm guessing that was the fate of the 2 tourists who were turned away).

Once inside, it looks deceptively small until we were seated up on the third and highest floor. It's interior impressed me with it's dark Chinese-inspired furniture and amber lights illuminating the moody brick walls. I thought HuTong was one of the small and dirty eateries that produce good dumplings but I was wrong about the dirty bit- it's clean and polished with good service and I wished we were seated on the other side of the room with powers to unleash those bamboo curtains for our own little partay!

Red radiance and screen mechanics

Onto the food...

Xiao long bao $11.80

Wontons in Sichuan chilli sauce $8.80

Steamed eggplant with scallops hotpot ~$18

Crispy fragrant duck $25.80

It might look like enough food for 3 but we ordered an extra dish before the duck came out (hence you might notice the doggy bag below). Here was how the votes turned out:

 

2-1 to chilli Sichuan wontons! That was the dish of the night. Despite the xiao long bao (soup dumplings) being the signature dish, both the dumplings and wontons arrived lukewarm and the dumplings were slightly soggy and to be honest, mediocre. They do no compare with Din Tai Fung in Sydney http://wokyoutalkingabout.blogspot.com/2010/11/din-tai-fung-sydney-cbd.html . The wontons were saved by the tasty Sichuan sauce that you just want to scoop up and dip everything with it. Talitha and I added extra chilli satay to it to really give it that explosion in the mouth.

The steamed eggplants are always a delight but the scallops were so-so. I would order and try the eggplants with pork mince next time. Timmy's fav was the crispy duck (don't ask me what was 'fragrant' about it).

Unofficially named the best dumpling place in Melbourne, I disagree with this a bit seeing as the non-dumpling dishes were trumps. Maybe we will get a fresh and hot set of dumplings next time to change my mind. Despite this, everything else was enjoyable.

Wok rating /5:

HuTong Dumpling Bar

14-16 Market Lane (off Bourke St)

Melbourne

03 9650 8128

For a 'proper' review, you can also check out what Matt Preston had to say: http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/epicure/much-ado-about-dumplings/2009/09/25/1253813603716.html

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Matteo’s (Melbourne)

North Fitzroy

Retro-review from February 2010 by St 

Situated in North Fitzroy, Matteo’s looks inconspicuous alone on Brunswick St. Having taken the bus to get here and walking pass residential houses, I expected to see a string of restaurants but it was just a quiet restaurant and a fish and chips shop across the road. I thought to myself, could Timmy have chosen to celebrate an anniversary with fish and chips? If so, damn we are overdressed!

Being a Monday night, there was only a table of three dining. What caught my attention were the voluminous teal drapes, decorative wallpaper and large lights casting a warm glow to the spacious room. This transformed the restaurant from unassuming to elegance and tres romantic.

Matteo’s started off with an European menu but has definitely evolved with strong Asian fusion, in particularly Japanese.

We started off with the seafood plate consisting of : Hiramasa kingfish, prawn remoulade,  ‘shiso’ Japanese basil sauce; Petuna ocean trout tataki, yuzu miso sauce, Yarra Valley salmon roe; Teriyaki glazed smoked eel on rice crusted tofu, pickled plum and bonito mayonnaise. Everything was fresh with the sauces complimenting each fish perfectly.

Japanese seafood trio of kingfish, ocean trout and smoked eel $24

Being who we are, we had to try the baked Asian pie. Consisting of minced chicken, pork belly, shiitake & eggplant and crushed wasabi peas It was tasty (yummy pork belly) and had a distinct Asian flavor to it, similar to those char siu pork pies you would find in an Asian bakery. Having said that, I would give this a miss next time and go to Harry’s for pies- there’s probably more appealing starters than this on the menu.
 

Baked Asian pie $22

Listed as a side, the tatsoi salad was freaking out-of-this-world! This to me was the stand-out of the night. I might not remember the other dishes well but the flavours in this dish were powerful. The freshness of the nashi pear combined with the hot hot hot wasabi mayonnaise was addictive. I can usually take chilli but I had to take the wasabi mayonnaise in small doses. I should have stopped and spared my nose and throat but it was too good.

Tatsoi salad $8

For the mains I had the suckling pig with green bean salad with peanut satay and tonkatsu bbq sauce. Timmy had the seared wagyu beef, asparagus glazed with oyster sauce, potato mash with caramelized onion and black bean sauce. Great job as you would expect from a restaurant of Matteo’s calibre. My favs here were the accompanied sides of potato mash and caramelized onion and peanut satay beans. 

Chinese style Western Plains suckling pig $42

Seared wagyu beef sirloin $44

Other notable mains we would have loved to have tried if only we had more stomachs were: the five spices roast duck breast and the Balmain bug tails with king prawns and sea scallops shredded in Asian coleslaw.

All night the waiter was top class and very professional. A special thanks goes to the man himself, Matteo Pignatelli, who responded within hours on a Friday night when I emailed for the summer menu as I had forgotten the descriptions to give his dishes justice. You won’t be finding the Matteo’s menu online as it changes with each season.

I didn’t know it when I was dining there, but I am no way surprised that Matteo’s is a 2-hat restaurant. I always have trouble recalling the restaurant’s name but here’s some advice- think of Parra eels player Feleti Mateo. (However this advice might make you unattainably crave for the tatsoi salad when you’re stuck in Sydney watching Friday night footy.)

Classy place to dine out or take your fussy friend who only eats salad cos the Tatsoi salad is breath-taking. Wokking rating/5:      

Matteo’s restaurant
533 Brunswick St 
North Fitzroy
03 9481 1177

Cumulus Inc. (Melbourne)

Melbourne

Retro-review from February 2010 by St

What better way to kick start this blog by a trip down memory lane and in the foodie capital of Australia- Melbourne.

It was 8 on a saturday night and Timmy and I found ourselves at a netcafe trying to find a place to eat. The places he had in mind were all booked out or beyond the cbd which we weren’t too keen for. This included Cutler & Co. from Andrew McConnell, twice The Age Food Guide Chef of the Year. Luckily in Timmy’s food-driven mind, he knew that McConnell had another joint, Cumulus Inc, so to google maps we searched.

We thought we went the wrong direction up Flinders Lane. Thank goodness we passed Cecconi’s (one of Becc & Nate’s fav) and so we persevered on and a few metres away was Cumulus Inc.

The place was packed and looked tres chic with its clusters of light balls hanging from the ceiling. Good thing they had additional sitting at the bar and  an open kitchen counter. It didn’t matter that we just rocked up as they don’t take bookings for small groups. We sat on the side trying to suppress our olfactory and sight senses as it was now 9 pm and I needed to eat pronto! We were going to give it 30 minutes and then Timmy had permission to carry my limp starved body out to Maccas but at 9:20 the waiter showed us to seats up at the bar!!

So many wonderful dishes on the menu but here is what we ordered:

An oyster for Timmy. While he enjoyed the good oyster I was happy nibbling on the complimentary bread/ I’m- going-to-save-myself-so-I-can-pig-out-at-what’s-to-come. 

Moulting bay oyster $3.50

Next were the prawns sautéed with garlic and chilli. It was not what I was expecting but I think I ignored the word ‘crispy’. I was looking forward to some fresh cooked prawns with chilli flavour like in Vietnamese prawn salads or Singaporean chilli crab but on a much smaller scale. Obviously my scales were way off. The dish reminded me of my mum’s bag of small dry prawns she would fry for dinner when she hadn’t gone shopping. The chilli and garlic flavour was mild and didn’t really hit it for me. With hunger we dug into the prawns hoping with a new one, we would grow to like this dish. Let’s just say, at the end of the night, we still had a few prawns left.

Crispy school prawns sautéed with garlic and chilli $14

What a spectacle the next dish was- octopus columns with aioli and olive and other fancy colours borrowed from the tomato, basil and green chilli. Tasted as good as they looked.

Slow cooked octopus with with aioli, dehydrated olive $10

Maybe because we were having dinner after 9 that my head started playing tricks with me and decided to order fish for my main as I usually prefer more meaty stuff. The fish was swimming in a glorious curry sauce made from coconut cream, cardamom pods, curry leaves, garlic, ginger, chilli and butter. Creamy without being heavy or thick, with my last mullet piece, I swept the plate clean.
 

Red mullet with spiced tomato, grilled prawns, coriander and mint $36

Timmy had the 200g of medium rare chargrilled veal backstrap. Extremely tender to eat, and went well with the mayonnaise based anchovy dressing and shallots glazed in red wine and chicken stock.
 

Grilled veal backstrap, green bean salad, anchovy dressing and glazed shallots $34

*Special mention to Zoe from Cumulus Inc. for sharing her knowledge on our two mains.

Adding to the hip and coolness of the place are the amenities. One word-Aesop. Yep, they even have swanky bathrooms with Aesop soap. Just cooool.

I definitely want to come back to try more on the menu. Looking back, although we were satisfied, we could have ordered more but Crown casino was waiting for us that night. Timmy is still lamenting that there was only two of us because he wanted to try the whole slow roast lamb shoulder which is for four to share ($69). Timmy and I don’t drink much but they have a great wine list including brands unique to boutiques. Also I hear their breakfast is deleesh!

I couldn’t help but ask our friendly waiter/bartender one question: So what is Cumulus named after? I didn’t give him time to answer before I said: Like cells around a woman’s egg, an oocyte? Being an IVF scientist, I was pretty pleased with myself for knowing this- I’m sure the other diners didn’t have a clue. However the waiter’s look of confusion mixed with “you’re strange” did make me think twice. In fact, cumulus refers to clustered or lined clouds, hence the vertical balls of light hanging off the restaurant’s ceiling. Ohh. I see now.
 

Clouds or oocyte cells?

Prawns were a let down but everything else was effortlessly swell. Must come back for the lamb shoulder. Wokking rating/5:    

Cumulus Inc.
45 Flinders Ln
Melbourne
03 9650 1445