Monthly Archives: December 2013

Orana

 

I’ve hyped up this restaurant amongst my friends, mostly because I have an incredibly well connected barista. On top of that, I managed to stalk Heston Blumenthal as I’d been given a heads up that he was visiting, as well as having read an article by Terry Durack from his visit. All the big names! How could I not go? So I went!

I did some research before going, and discovered that the staff had previously worked at Magill Estate (which I was totally unaware of, having been an ignorant Sydney-sider who only pined for Quay and Rockpool), which apparently is an amazing restaurant. Much like Attica, the head chef forages, and the cuisine is indigenous Australian – and not witchetty grubs, mind you – but rather encompassing all of Australia’s history including the present, so there was some tasty beef and my favourite succulents.

Being only 3 weeks old and a tiny place to start off with (25 seats), it was interesting to talk to the staff, and that they were learning  as well, especially since they created a per-dish juice pairing (unlike Momofuku, which paired every second dish or thereabouts). So I would say this was even a new juice pairing concept!

Now that’s enough rambling and onto pretty pictures.

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Vue de Monde

I didn’t know too much about Melbourne (and still don’t know as much as I’d like) so trying to figure out which restaurant to book was a little tricky. The only place I had really wanted to go to was Cumulus Inc/Cumulus Up, so after thinking and taking a stab in the dark, I chose Vue de Monde.

It sits in the Rialto tower and gets a view of the city, though not really a pretty view or anything. What was exciting though, was this was probably the most fun and interactive degustations I’ve had, especially considering I had Momofuku not even two weeks prior.

These were pre-meal snacks on our “Stonehenge” table – smoked eel with white chocolate candy and caviar, salt and vinegar chips with macadamia butter, truffle marshmallows, and oysters. The table decorations were amazing as the rocks formed part of the service, and cutlery was placed on pretty pieces of wood. Apparently there is a tea pairing at this place, however we didn’t realise until after we had finished. That means a re-visit is necessary!
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Momofuku Seiōbo

I should try and visit a 3-hatted restaurant every year. It’s expensive but so worth it! This time it was a visit to Momofuku and its 13 course degustation. It’s the first time I’ve seen both “reduced” wine and juice pairings, which means I could enjoy some tailored drinks. I found their choice of music to be rather amusing, but hey, it worked if it was meant to be the essence of America… or something. Forgive me for not remembering the names and types of drinks paired with the food; I’m no master of memory… yet!

Smoked eel

Freeze-dried apple

What I also found quirky about this place was that they encouraged the use of hands with some of their dishes. The smoked eel roll was eaten with hands, and it was kind of like eel-mashed potato. I’m sure there’s a name for that: the smoked fish in potato combination. It was paired with apple and celery juice, and some kind of fizzy dry alcoholic liquid.

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