Entertaining Kathleen in humble old Melbourne-town was not just yet done – she was suffering a good deal thanks to the cold and it came up in conversation that a bowl of ramen was just the thing to help. Initially, Ramen Ya was mentioned, but I recalled that I Eat Therefore I Am and Tummyrumbles had mentioned DonToo, the more elegant sibling of DonDon on Swanston Street.
But first, some drinks. A serve of sake will set you back $3.50.
Don’t want cheap alcohol (they have beer too)? Then go for some green tea.
Because K had never had ramen before, I recommended she get the kura ramen – first one on the menu. Chashu, nori squares and crisp vegies. Oh, and the egg! It was brown with a nice soggy yolk, just like I’ve seen on some of the Japanese ramen blogs I read!
Tristan had the chashu ramen which is kura plus more slices of chashu. It looks very similar to the above, so I won’t post a picture. I opted for a seafood soup based one – the asari ramen. Yep, pippis and bean sprouts galore.
We were all given the choice of thin or thick noodles and all went with thin which I’d actually recommend against. I prefer thick noodles to soak up my soup.
What a wonderful quick dinner. Time to head back into the Melbourne chill and secure a seat for the one MIFF film I got to see. Hope we don’t have to line up for seats!
Heidelberg in Melbourne in the late nineteenth century had quite the burgeoning art scene. The Museum of Modern Art at Heide in Bulleen is one such place you can still visit that exists as testament to the area’s past and also to showcase contemporary art. I am ashamed to admit that one gorgeous Sunday, it took a visit from a dear interstate guest Kathleen for me to revisit. I’d been about a decade ago to see some Picasso etchings. We were joined by Rob and C, both of whom are originally from Perth and more frequent visitors to Heide despite not living quite as near as I do.
Bad, bad me.
So five of us decided to lunch at the adjacent Cafe Vue before entering the gallery. Mel, who is practically a sister to Tris was on duty and rushed out for a quick hug and greet before we were seated.
All of us chose items from the menu du jour, except C who went with the scrumptious lunchbox of the day.
For just $15, a serve of cassoulet, beetroot panzanella salad, chicken sausage roll with bois boudran, and pistachio and white chocolate eclair could be yours on the day. Doesn’t it all look appetising and wonderfully presented? It’s like a grown-up box of (culinary) surprises!
From the menu du jour you can have your choice of two courses for $35 or three courses for $45. The day that we lunched there were two each for entrées, mains and dessert. There was also a selection of sides if you wished to bulk up your meal.
Kathleen and I had the same entrée – the bresaola with parmesan mousse and horseradish grissini. Oh wow. Flavoursome cured meat with mouthfuls of sometimes fiery mousse, cheese, rocket and grissini – simple yet so satisfying. It was presented on a wooden board. I reckon this should be a permanent item.
Rob and Tris had the very unusual snail spring rolls with green curry sauce. I thought the spring rolls would be wimpy but they were the size of cigars. Yup, the green curry sauce comes in a cute jar. If you’re a bit wary of trying snails in true French style, then this is definitely a fine introduction – they’re not too ‘snaily’ (killing it in the wordsmith department today, eh?).
Menu du jour continues! The lads selected the same main – the confit pork cheek, bubble and squeak with calvados jus. I got a taste and it was heavenly though the pork crackling was a little chewy as R noted.
Us gals got the shellfish cassoulet with fillet of roasted sea bream. The cassoulet was okay, but the bream and pesto was extraordinary. The cassoulet had nothing whatsoever wrong with it, I think I just prefer mine with duck and sausages and partially blame wonder-woman extraordinaire Tammi’s at her place not so long ago!
While C nibbled on her pistachio and white chocolate eclair with the grass green icing, Kathleen splashed out and got dessert, again from the special menu. She chose the deconstructed blood orange tart.
Excellent company, wonderful food and an afternoon to check out the Carol Jerrems photography exhibition – just the perfect Sunday. I’ll be back more often.
I hadn’t been out of the house in two weeks except to go to the doctor so the chance to have breakfast out was indeed most welcome. I suggested Liar, Liar given it was in the area and has a reputation as a coffee house. Excuse the blurriness of the photo below, it was taken ‘discreetly’ whilst we were waiting to be seated.
I was pretty freaking famished and ordered the ‘big fat liar’ breakfast – eggs done the way you like with mushrooms, bacon, tomatoes, sausages, spinach and tomato relish. Probably the first time I’d had a full meal instead of the various tasteless things you have to have when you’re bedridden-sick. So bloody good. The mushrooms had a little oil and rosemary drizzled on them. I should have asked what sort of sausages they use as they’re very special.
Instead of having tea with breakfast, I opted to try a Tanzanian coffee through the Clover. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but it was far too subtle…either it’s not to my taste or it wasn’t as good as it could be. It reminded me a bit of bad coffee-drinking days. Perhaps I need to give it another shot? I needed something a little more robust.
Tris got the ‘pigs might fly’ breakfast – twice cooked pork hock, melted aged cheddar, rocket and seeded mustard on sourdough. You can pay a little extra for a fried egg too. I nearly chose this too! Doesn’t it look scrumptious?
He also ordered coffee – a humble latte. Yes, I did just put the photo in ’cause it was awful purty…
I’ll be campaigning heavily for this place to become the ‘pre-growler fill’ haunt. There’s plenty of delicious sounding breakfast options (as well as lunch) and look forward to exploring the coffee choices available.
Ooh yes, and the growler. As well as picking up a stash of stout and porter (bottled), the beer on tap for growlers was the Brewdog Zeitgeist. Very, very sessionable and went down all too easily. The growler was drained in two days and that was with exercising restraint! A quick consult to ratebeer.com informed me that this is a schwartzbier – a nice dark beer with very little hop flavour and roast malt characteristics. See the growler and beer below.
No wonder I loved the Zeitgeist so much – it’s the same style as the Rogue Dirtoir which was heavenly. It could be just the name but yes, there is a hint of dirt aroma there! Think freshly turned warm dirt in your garden. If stout and even porter is just a bit too ‘heavy’ for you, I’d recommend dark lager as your ‘gateway’ beer.
