Tag Archives: degustation

#duckfest at St Ali, squee!

Even though I’ve been to St Ali before and reviewed its delectable breakfast options before, it hasn’t been very long that they’ve been open for dinner. Understandably, the Melbourne food and coffee loving community was excited. St Ali are remarkably savvy – they’ve shown their support for the inaugural Eat Drink Blog conference in March this year, and at the time of writing this, I learnt that they are hosting a degustation with (alcoholic) mixmasters Der Raum.

Not too long ago, St Ali hosted another degustation dedicated to the duck and I got to attend. Upon welcome, diners were invited to browse the food blogger photography exhibition in St Ali East (you can find out more about it here at Tomato) and greeted with a glass of pinot gris. It was there that the first course of “duckfest” was also served – the humble Peking duck pancake. So often, I’ve had Peking duck pancakes and the pancakes have been unbalanced – too much hoisin, not fresh enough spring onion (which is a bitch to chew if not chopped up) and stodgy pancakes. Ugh. These were the most perfectly balanced ones I’d ever tried – the duck had the right amount of meat, skin and fat, the vegetable content provided a satisfying crunch to attest to its utmost freshness, and the pancake! Whisper-soft. Like eating air. Gush.

When we were ushered into St Ali proper so that the table dining experience could begin, it was communal seating. My partner and I were very fortunate to be seated opposite a Der Raum bartender and his partner – I cannot thank them enough for their patience as we photographed the dishes that were designed to be shared equally.

The first sit-down course on offer from duckfest masterminds St Ali head chef Benjamin Cooper and MuMu Grill head chef Craig Macindoe was the duck parfait with shiraz jelly and biodynamic rye bread.

 duck parfait with shiraz jelly

A lot of people on my table were put off by what is essentially pâté – but not me. Scrumptious. The shiraz jelly was the perfect contrast – wonderful texture, and not too sweet. Comparatively, more successful than Libertine’s similar such course at their Valentines’ Day dégustation.

Next up, duck consommé. Whenever I see the word ‘consommé’, I’m reminded of the scene in Tampopo when the middle-aged Japanese businessmen all order it at a fancy French restaurant. Duckfest’s consommé was served in a shot glass. I found it a little salty and a bit of an umami overload, but very warming. It seemed very Asiatic in flavour, and not just because of the spring onion.

 duck consomme

Literally and figuratively, we get to the real meat of the meal, beginning with the crispy duck breast with deconstructed XO sauce. I’m not entirely sure how a sauce can be classified as ‘deconstructed’, but I’m guessing perhaps this one had less ingredients? In any case, it whet my appetite for more duck. I may have demolished it gracelessly due to enthusiasm.

 crispy duck breast with xo sauce

The next offering was duck san choi bow (with shredded duck leg), accompanied with freshly shucked oysters and kim chi. Oh my. It was pretty hard to share this! The duck was so delicately flavoured, and so tender, and the kim chi very addictive. Regarding oysters – you will never hear me utter a complaint against them. This was a very well received dish, even though the duck had a similar flavour profile to the consommé: the latter being more concentrated. It’d be wonderful if this were a regular main – somewhere, anywhere. It has me a little enchanted.

 duck 'san choi bow'

Alas, all good things must pass…onto better things, the roast duck breast with wilted tatsoi, poached pear and sherry glaze. Again, I found it a smidgen too salty but oh, how succulent the breast was. What a tasty tease.

 roast duck breast

The last savoury course was much anticipated given it is often thought of as a grotesque gustatory offering – turducken. It sounds so junk-food indulgent due to the fact that it contains so much meat. However, in Tudor times, it was customary at feasts to ‘invent’ imaginary animals as a spectacle no doubt to impress guests. This meant constructing a beast made of the meat of several existing animals. The immediate popular culture reference that might come to mind is Heston Blumenthal’s recreation of the Tudor feast. If you search appropriately on YouTube, the relevant clips will come up. A slight digression. So, turducken: it has its origins in aristocratic dining…

 turducken

Accompanied by a gorgeous mixed leaf salad. There were also duck fat potatoes.

 mixed leaf salad

Our table seemed to have divided opinions on this dish, and it wasn’t gobbled up as enthusiastically as the other courses. It’s definitely a lot of meat to scoff down. I think I was just glad to have tried it. It wasn’t literally a turkey with a duck with a chicken inside of the duck, but rather a very refined meatloaf-terrine hybrid. We also had the added bonus of guinea fowl (keep up! turkey stuffed with duck, then stuffed with chicken, and lastly stuffed with guinea fowl). Quite the grotesque, fascinating culinary masterpiece.

If some of the diners had trouble processing the idea of turducken, it was immediately forgotten when dessert came out: duck egg caramel served with fresh papaya and pineapple pieces which were meant to be dipped into the caramel. A lot of the diners around me found the duck egg too rich and unsurprisingly, too ‘ducky’. My main concern was whether or not I was still allergic to duck eggs! As a child in the Philippines, I enjoyed egg flans made from duck eggs, which were larger than chicken eggs. I loved it, but my body rebelled and broke out in itchy hives. It’s challenging, but I’ll be damned if I leave any dessert unfinished! We were instructed that the fresh fruit was meant to be dipped into the caramel, and I feel that this didn’t quite work. Papaya, when ripe, is very slippery, so perhaps it needed to be served slightly green. The caramel didn’t adhere to the fruit, so the serving suggestion was rendered unsuccessful. Perhaps, rather than chunks, the fruit could have been cut up a little thinner so that the suggested method of enjoying the dessert could be achieved? I realise this seems nitpicky, but I gave up in frustration and ate my fruit and caramel separately.

 duck egg caramel

There was an extremely tempting wine list for the evening, but due to driving duties (sob!), I only had a single glass of the Delta Pinot Noir 2008 from New Zealand. I have however included the complete wine list below, much thanks to Ben Cooper.

MuMu headman Craig Macindoe has provided heaps of wonderful infomation on his blog about the origins of his produce for the evening. Reading through it was most certainly illuminating.

Having paid $65 a head for dinner for the evening was ridiculously good value. There will be the more expensive Der Raum one this week and if you’re able to go, you should be in for an absolute treat.

St Ali on Urbanspoon

if I’m going to a swanky French restaurant, I might as well wear a dress

When I initially suggested to my better half that he wine and dine me at a French restaurant that was around the corner from where I used to live, I never actually dreamed I’d get to go. And on Valentines’ Day too. As the day came nearer, I felt I was betraying my supposed modern-(currently straight) girl lifestyle by being excited.

I had good cause to be excited. We would be dining at Libertine, in North Melbourne, and it was a six-course dégustation with matched wines. Quite possibly the most grown-up meal I was ever likely to have. Incidentally, I have been to a dégustation where each course was matched with a beer, but I know a little more about beer than I do wine, though I started my legal drinking career as a just-wine quaffer.

The waitress who welcomed us asked if we wanted an apéritif. Being a massive lush, how could I say no? I asked her for her recommendation and she suggested a few things, and I settled upon the Floc de Gascogne which is a pear armagnac. Delish!

Our very first course was the Hervey Bay scallops ceviche, tomato consommé & Yarra Valley salmon roe.

Hervey Bay scallops ceviche, tomato consommé & Yarra Valley salmon roe

Initially, I worried that the serving was too small. I probably say that because I gobbled my serve up much faster than my partner. This entrée was refreshing and palate cleansing. I wished I had more of the consommé – the idea of drinking a rather savoury liquid might initially seem foreign, but I could have had more. My partner was not as keen on it as I was. This was matched with a champagne – NV Vazart-Coquart Brut Reserve. We were dutifully informed that it was made from chardonnay grapes, is blanc on blanc which gives it its slightly acidic, clean, crisp finish. It initially tasted like white wine but then had a hint of savoury on the palate. My favourite wine of the dinner, and probably the best champagne I’ve ever had.

The second course was foie gras parfait with botrytis sémillon jelly & brioche. The foie gras was encased in blanched (in colour, not in method of preparation), whipped butter which offset its richness perfectly. I must confess that I didn’t think the sweetened jelly really worked with the pâté. It feels like terrible sacrilege to say that! However, it matched the glass of the 1996 Coteaux de la Biche Vouvray Moelleux ‘Collection’ from the Loire Valley, France very well. The wine was sweet and though the waiter told us this particular one is not affected by botrytis, further online investigation actually suggests the contrary. I felt it was actually pretty desserty and too sweet for my taste. I would have ideally preferred a wine more savoury and matched to the pâté. It would have been so easy to consume more of the pâté but again, Libertine were judicious with the serving size. A smidgen more and we would have been full, which is no good for the rest to come.

Foie gras parfait with botrytis sémillon jelly & brioche

By the end of these subtle, tantalising entreés, my appetite was whetted for more substantial fare. Spoilt me got my wish.

rose veal rack & sauce Périgueux featuring winter Périgord truffles

If the plate is looking a little bare, don’t be alarmed: alongside the Rose veal rack & sauce Périgueux featuring winter Périgord truffles, was a hearty ratatouille.

baked ratatouille

Full disclosure: I am not a big fan of squash as a vegetable, and ratatouille had it in spades. However, I ate it with gusto on this occasion. The rustic, aromatic herb and garlic breadcrumb crust made the vegetables a treat. We were informed that Rose veal is slightly older than standard veal and is put to pasture. It is also from Warrnambool. Someone from the kitchen would come and lovingly dole out portions of the meat and selected vegies, then another would give us veal jus and the ratatouille in a separate pot that we could help ourselves to. The wine selected to accompany this course was the 2001 Château Tour Haut Moulin, Haut Médoc, Bordeaux, France. So moreish! I was crestfallen that I missed out on an extra glass of it because my partner was slower (or more polite) in his wine guzzling than me.

Unusually for me, the main was my favourite out of the savoury courses. I’ve had veal only once before and it was extremely disappointing, but Libertine have turned me around to its appeal. I’ll never be able to become a vegetarian again, honestly.

At this stage of the meal, it was time for a palate cleanser, an espresso cup with white chocolate vermouth sorbet. I can’t quite commit to an opinion about these two flavours together. Definitely interesting, but it didn’t quite knock me out of its chair.

white chocolate vermouth sorbet

No such trouble for the next dessert of warm Heidi raclette feuilleté with apple purée – easily my favoured out of the sweet courses. You’ve got apple purée, Swiss gruyère, crushed hazelnuts, and those tender green shoots are sunflower shoots! The waiter did not hesitate to find this out for me. They are very savoury and more flavoursome than watercress and even alfalfa. But in honesty, I am a base creature – melted, pungest cheese with a slightly tart fruit? Hell yes! Alcohol-wise, it was accompanied by Henriques & Henriques ‘Finest Medium Dry’ 5 year old Madeira which is sweet, and somewhat like sherry.

Hello, my beauty…

warm Heidi raclette feuilleté with apple purée

The indulgent dégustation was coming to a close in the form of figs ‘reworked’ in the following ways: crème brûlée with fig compote as topping (part of me feels that it’s not a true brûlée without the burnt sugar taste); fig-flavoured cream; fig on pastry with thyme (would have loved more thyme); hard caramel encasing fig ice cream. With this we were served the 2007 Delas Freres Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, from the Rhône Valley, France. It didn’t smell overly sweet but rather slightly acidic and a little bit sour. Not quite what I was expecting.

assiette de figues pour deux

At the very end of the sumptuous dinner, we were given petits fours, and had a choice of either coffee (which partner had) or tea. I elected to have Darjeeling tea. I was hoping for the offer of a digestif, but none was made.

To give an indication of just how much I loved dining at Libertine, not long after I decided to get together some foodie friends and food bloggers to take advantage of their suckling pig feast (they require a minimum of ten people to book for said feast). They recently had a Wednesday special where they would offer bouillabaisse, but I wasn’t able to dine there to sample it. French cuisine is not something I have considered much, but my visit here has piqued my interest and cannot wait to return. It’s not somewhere I could personally afford to dine at regularly, but that just makes it more of a treat. A bientôt, Libertine!

Libertine on Urbanspoon

greedy, greedy eyes

Anyone who’s ever been dragged along as a child to the smorgasbord eateries of ol’, such as Smorgy’s and Sizzlers, would be familiar with the gleam of greed that flashes over the eyes of patrons as they survey the masses of all-you-can-eat food heaped on so many bain-maries. It’s a glutton’s paradise. And while this buffet-style of dining is certainly great value for money, especially those on a family budget, it’s fair to say that the quality of the fare often leaves one wanting and reaching for the over-priced drinks. After all, it’s fry-and-serve, mass production.

Skip many years later and that same gleam of greed is still there. But this time, and with some luck, the look has become tempered by superior dining experiences: Asian banquets, Greek feasts, yumcha sessions and degustation menus.

It was this voracious look that remained on my face from the moment fellow EDS staffers, Tris and Gem, suggested we try MoVida’s Degustation Dinner Menu (for the purpose of research, of course) right up until the moment I was polishing off the last delicious morsel of Spanish feed.

Currently, MoVida Bar de Tapas holds prime position on Urbanspoon’s list of Best Melbourne Restaurants – you’ll find it equally listed amongst the top in many other foodie sites – and with good reason. The food is simply amazing. Imagine all those childhood memories of sweet homely cooking, sprinkled with the virginal excitement of trying something completely new, wrapped in a delectable cocoon that comes from an orgasmic dining experience. Serve on a plate.

The strength of MoVida lies in its tapas – small dishes that are served and best eaten shared – and this is where their degus is perfect. A 10-course menu, the tapas are chosen by the chef and varies each evening. Aside from dietary habits and food allergy concerns, the choices of dishes are entirely within the whim of the people who make them. It’s a gamble, but one that has delicious pay-off, just like what happened on the night we went.

Our first round of courses consisted of anchovy served on crouton with tomato sorbet, fine slices of jamon (Spanish ham) and leek and mahon fried croquettes. The anchovies were an absolute standout; the sorbet was a complete but wonderful surprise. Everyone commented on the delicate balance between the earthy saltiness of the fish and the sweet, almost popping texture of the sorbet. I couldn’t shove it down quick enough, but apparently such things should be savoured slowly. Pfft.

 

Anchoa
Anchoa – hand filleted Cantabrian artisan anchovy on crouton with smoked tomato sorbet

 

Jamon
Jamon – Iberico imported organic Spanish Jabugo jamon. Fully acorn fed, 3 years naturally cured.

 

Second lot of servings included roasted scallop with jamon and potato foam, slices of mackerel served with gazpacho sorbet and smoked piquillo pepper. Again, the dishes pleased but my personal favourite was the scallop; such bursts of flavour from the foam. The peppers were handy for picking between the dishes.

 

Viera
Viera – roasted Spring Bay scallop with jamon and potato foam

 

For the third and final courses of dishes, we were served something a little more substantial: seared pieces of rabbit leg on pureed spinach, braised beef cheeks with cauliflower mash and a side of sautéed chickpeas. The trio worked well together with tastes complementing each dish, though I found the tartness of the cauliflower mash overwhelmed the moreish flavour of the beef.

 

Conejo
Conejo – Andalucian sweet sour farmed rabbit legs with almonds on a bed of pureed spinach served with roasted French mushrooms

 

Carillera
Carillera y Garbanzos – slowly braised beef cheek in Pedro Ximenez on cauliflower puree, served with a side of sauteed spinach with chickpeas & spices

 

But the best dish of all was most definitely the Cecina: air-cured thinly slices of wagyu beef, served with white truffle foam and a poached egg. Upon arriving at the table, it was met with collective oohs followed by ahhs as the wait staff demonstrated how the dish was to be served: break the egg yolk, swirl the foam and mix the beef for a mouth-watering display of white-red-yellow colours. Eaten with generous helpings of pan (bread) and you can see why this dish was awarded 2007 ‘Dish of the Year’ by The Age Food Guide.

 

Cecina
Cecina – air cured wagyu beef thinly sliced with a truffle foam and poached egg; MoVida’s signature award-winning dish

 

Look, some people might consider gleams of greed – and plate licking – to be undesirable traits and usually they’d be right, but with places like MoVida, these aren’t only acceptable but most truly deserved.

MoVida Bar de Tapas is located on 1 Hosier Lane, Melbourne. There’s also MoVida Next Door (1 Hosier Lane) and the recently opened Movida Aqui and Terraza (Level 1, 500 Bourke Street). Ph (03) 9663 3038. Bookings essential.

For more photos, visit my Flick page.

 

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