Fico

I visited a bunch of restaurants and wine bars during my hobart visit, including a fantastic dinner at Sonny where I had a lovely conversation with two other solo diners, but Fico was the only one I had booked in advance since it seemed interesting. It was fantastic!

The best thing about going to a restaurant and seeing an oyster fork, but no oysters on the menu? It means oysters are on the menu! Most of the oysters in restaurants these days are from Boomer Bay, whereas last time it was all from Flirty Bay, how interesting! Tassie oysters are so delicious!

Carrot gazpacho - it was so creamy but apparently doesn't have any cream in it! Was it really all made from carrots? Because that's incredible!

This funny looking plate was a super tasty fig leaf oil, balsamic vinegar and sea salt dip for some tasty bread! How is it that this tasted so good? That balsamic vinegar was fantastic!

My favourite dish of the night flavour and texture wise, tuna and heirloom tomatoes with horseradish cream and dashi. That tuna was amazing, and apparently there was a tomatillo in the tomato mix too! The horseradish cream was quite potent, not too bad though! Some nose fuzziness but not enough to disrupt my enjoyment of the dish.

Fico has European influences and a baby sister pasta bar, so it's no surprise there's pasta on the menu - tagliolini with calamari. I think my opinion that Lulu La Delizia makes the best pasta hasn't changed, but this was quite nice!

Haha ok this dish was awesome. It's listed as flathead royale, but they've made it so it looks like a creme caramel! The texture and flavour were so good, this was my other favourite dish! The texture of the flathead mousse was like that of a steamed egg tart or silken tofu - nice, soft and creamy, and the soy based sauce went so well with it!

Of course I said yes to adding 5g of truffle for $20 onto the duck agnolotti! I am so illiterate when it comes to Italian food that I was expecting duck on the outside rather than duck on the inside of a pasta!

Yes, venison time! Venison backstrap, venison mince en croute, and some beetroot and olive garnishes. Venison is a pest here so it's always great to see it on the menu. That pastry was done really well!

This funky looking dessert was mandarin sorbet, milk gelato, and sabayon. They even poured the sabayon tableside so it slowly blobbed downwards. When I tasted it, all elements together tasted better than each individual part, and it looks like I'm on the same page as the staff, because that's what the waiter said too! I love food that tastes different as a whole compared to the individual parts!

Lastly, a cute little choux! Filled with praline and grand marnier, what a great way to finish dinner!

Overall this was a very nice place, I'm so glad I booked it! The service was so professional, I hadn't fine dined in so long that it was super refreshing! Oh yeah, the drinks - I had two drinks, a cold pressed sour cherry juice which was lovely and tart, and then also a very fragrant raspberry kombucha. Oh, the decor is excellent too, including a hacksaw on one of the walls haha!

Since I probably won't be making posts about the other places I ate at, I wanted to mention here that Hobart has some great non alcoholic options, even at the wine bars! It's so great to see, it means I don't feel out of place regardless of what kind of eatery I'm at!

Hobart coffee adventures

Went to Hobart for work for a week, which was the perfect opportunity to explore the city and see how the specialty coffee scene has evolved since my last visit in 2017!

A lot of cafes don't open until 7 or 7:30AM so my choices on weekdays were quite limited, but I still I found some nice ones! Staple Coffee was one I kept returning to; their bagels and croissants are really tasty (and cheap?! A coffee and bagel/croissant was only around the $12 mark!).

Bloom coffee and bites is cute too! However I had a pretty strict morning schedule, and while they advertised being open at 7AM, I wasn't able to revisit because they opened a few minutes after 7 so I kept returning to Staple!

I revisited Villicia, and they still use Ona coffee!

Pigeon Whole Bakers now has an espresso machine and seems to have gotten more famous in the last few years! Their pastries are still as tasty as ever, and their filter coffee quality is still good! I even bought heaps of merch this time haha!

Lastly, Somewhere Coffee Bar! This one is a nice place, and has heaps of coffee on offer. This is probably the prime specialty coffee shop in Hobart now, and they're about 3 years old I think. I visited this one on the weekend so I had plenty of time to chat (and they're open till 5 on Saturdays!) - sampled some coffee from Good Life coffee roasters from Finland, as well as some Leaves Coffee from Japan. Oh, and they had Wood & Co roasted for Audrey coffee in Hobart - a cafe that is probably only really accessible by car so it wasn't on my to do list this trip.

One of the most interesting things while chatting was watching the barista make breakfast, which was a couple of slices of toast dipped in olive oil, salt and pepper. It's rare to see baristas making breakfasts for themselves so this was cool to watch!

Overall I think there's still some inconsistency with how filter coffee/batch brew tastes, as if it's still developing. I am pretty sure my palate was on point but a lot of the coffees lacked acidity/brightness. There was something else lacking (though sweetness was often prominent in the brews), such as body? I'm not too sure. But I am no coffee expert and I didn't have time to chat to confirm; but Pigeon Whole Baker's batch brew was the same as always so I wonder what it was!

It's great to see so many more coffee shops now!

Tora Sushi

Over the past few years, I've really only been visiting the same places over again. Same cafes, on rotation.

I decided it was high time I branch out and try a few new things, and so far, my food and coffee discoveries have been great!

Then I noticed Tora Sushi had opened, a place with signage I had noticed while visiting Abacus coffee, but not open yet, until I read about it again in the news a couple of weeks ago. I am fairly certain that this is the first omakase sushi restaurant in Perth (Nobu notwithstanding?), and it feels very much like the omakase boom vibe that Sydney has right now. Which actually made me a little nervous - is omakase so ubiquitous these days, is it even an "experience" to chase anymore?

The price point was also "low" at $150 per person for food. I think these days the cost of an omakase sits roughly at the $250 mark on the east coast for some really high quality and luxurious ingredients. I don't think $150 is bad, but I was curious about how the menu would be constructed based on the price. It was also supposedly booked out for 2 months straight, but in a moment of serendipity I managed to find an empty spot one day while randomly checking their website, so here we go!

I booked at 6PM timeslot, and still carrying some shame from being (unavoidably) late to my Minamishima booking all those years ago (because of a tram breakdown), I made an effort to be slightly early. If I remember correctly, at Minamishima, they track each diner separately so each person starts as soon as they arrive, but at Waku Ghin it may have been a synchronised start. Alas, one of the guests was running super late! The staff were pretty confident we would still be able to complete the meal even though we would be starting 15-20 minutes late.

Here's the first dish - Coffin Bay oyster with kombu and finger lime. During the introduction, the staff explained that for now, they were showcasing a wide range of dishes, and would fine tune them as the seasons changed. That was good, I like getting an idea of a restaurant's culinary range!

Hokkaido scallops with jerusalem artichoke chips! Ah I don't miss the days of attempting to make my own chips! I love the crispness of the chips against the softness of the scallops!

Yes, it's chawan mushi time! I love any restaurant that features a chawan mushi, and this one tasted great! Great texture too. I think it was a clam broth chawan mushi, but what was interesting about it was that inside was a piece of chicken. I was totally used to and expecting prawn, crab, or other type of seafood, so seeing the chicken was unexpected. It still tasted good, but I was starting to see where the $150 price tag comes from!

Before serving the sashimi course, the chef showed the tray of fresh fish fillets to everyone. I didn't take a photo of it and I wondered almost immediately if the chef was expecting me to take a picture, which may have been why he displayed it? I almost felt bad, but then the people next to me did take pictures. Sorry, it's just that I've taken so many photos of sushi and fish that I guess I wanted to try and not be too intrusive. I've even mostly streamlined my camera plus phone snaps to take as little time as possible.

Anyway, this was really yummy! Tuna, kingfish, and goldband snapper. I love white fish where I can actually feel the sinew (am I weird for that?), so the snapper was actually my favourite bit! I love that chew! I also ate the seaweed garnish because it's so hard to get that kind of seaweed!

Here's something interesting - the wasabi, I discovered, was not hot at all! I could pile it on and not get any kind of burn or nose fuzz. I didn't really think much of it, except that I did want some of that burn that never came.

Here we go with some nigiri! They space out the nigiri throughout the meal, which was quite interesting! The selection was small and simple, and definitely from local fish - again, reflective of the price point. Red emperor, and tuna.

The chef made a special mention that this tuna was aged for two days, which was interesting to note! It was definitely much more tender than the sashimi version.

Here I learned more about why the wasabi didn't pack the punch I expected! The nigiri was made without a dab of wasabi under the fish. Instead, the chef asked if I wanted wasabi on top of the fish. Turns out, he himself doesn't like the spiciness from wasabi so he checks in with everyone and adds accordingly!

Look at this cute little teapot! This was a lovely warming soup, and the format here actually resembles what I had at Komeyui! I really love soup "intermissions" though I guess these are actually so good that I shouldn't really call them intermissions. It was a bit awkward to dig out the food inside the teapot so I asked before I did it, but apparently that's the intention!

Wagyu nigiri time! This time with a yuzu kosho topping.

Yakimono time! This was actually unexpected for me - grilled rankin cod with maple miso. When I first saw it, I thought, it must be some kind of miso toothfish dish, cause that's what everyone does. The rankin cod comes in significantly cheaper, but I reckon it was a very good choice, I really enjoyed the texture of the cod, and the sweetness from the maple made it quite unique too! Now I want to try making my own maple miso foods!

Ah yes the big wagyu beef dish! I'm sorry - when I was eating this I was reminiscing about the steak I had at Chaco Bar instead of this. Komeyui's beef dish was also a standout that stopped me from fully appreciating this dish. Nothing on Tora, it's just, I've been extremely spoilt with beef. I was even giggling on the inside at myself because I was the only person who ate the beef first and then moved onto the lotus chips and salad - everyone else left the beef for last. Pyschologically, they valued the beef more so saved it, where as I ate it first? My own mind is fascinating.

The end of a meal usually ends with a tamogoyaki or a temaki, here it's temaki! A great combo of tuna, uni, and ikura!

And of course, dessert. This two toned matcha panna cotta was really cute! And I'm so glad they added mochi balls because I love mochi!

Overall this place satisfies my omakase cravings, so any time I want to eat Japanese art, I have a place now instead of always pining for my next Sydney trip and how to get into Sokyo. It's close, and it's relatively affordable. I am definitely keen to go back and see how the menu changes over the seasons!

Melbourne 2023

Carried on from my Sydney 2023 post (finally making some time in between drawings!), my first stop in Melbourne is almost always Brother Baba Budan. Having a 5PM closing time is handy!

Cumulus Inc is also generally my first meal stop! It's a bit different from what I remember in terms of opening times; it seems to not be open for breakfast these days? That's ok, I understand. Not sure if they're still doing half serves either but I managed to eat all the food I ordered! It was too late for lunch, too early for dinner. Some oysters, the tuna tartar, a cucumber salad which looked super interesting. And some mussels escabeche, because their seafood is always done so well, and this was no exception! Also managed to fit in a strawberry panna cotta!

Even though I was mostly full, I wanted to try one of the chinatown shops, just for something small, so that I wouldn't be starving at night. I liked the look of a shop called Crazy Wings, and I only learned later that apparently they had a fire recently! I also didn't realise I went in on a day when there was a buy one get one free on exactly the skewer I ordered, so I ended up with more food than I was expecting. Some really tasty chicken bits here! Wings, probably giblets, thigh, and some other things! The seasoning was a tad spicy so I had to chug the "plum juice", which turned out to be prune juice, which was also delicious. The chicken feet were also spicy but I really wanted chicken wings, and I was so full I had to take most of the feet back to my hotel.

There was a person next to me who also got skewers and this massive plate of fried rice that looked so good. This was funny because she got asked a few questions about the fried rice she was eating, and then some people also asked me for recommendations! What should I do? Should I say this is my first time and I have no idea what I'm doing? But I gathered enough from what the other person was saying that I managed to say similar things and then also give my own opinion! Definitely a place I'd want to eat at again!

The next morning I was off hunting for onigiri. 279 Victoria St is a musubi shop that came up on my feed a long time ago, and then my brother also visited recently and said it was really good. So, here I am! I wanted to not overcaffeinate so I went for a houjicha, even though they had an interesting line up of coffees. And oh my goodness, that is one delicious rice ball! Saba shio kombu is so good! I also saw kuzu mochi on the menu, so I had to have that too - though I was expecting arrowroot powder, and a triangular cut mochi - I am still haunted by the memory of that one time in Japan I didn't buy kuzu mochi after enquiring about it because it wasn't what I wanted at the time??? But I really need to know what kuzu mochi is like! And what I got looked more like warabi mochi, but it tasted so good! I love warabi mochi, so I was super happy!

I was a bit awkward and tried to ask about their kuzu mochi after I ate, hoping to find out how it was made. The chef came out and brought out an allergens booklet, but I tried to clarify and wanted to know more about the ingredients, and she mentioned tapioca starch, and so I want to try making warabi mochi with tapioca starch at some point! My only previous experience was using what I believe was sweet potato powder, which also turned out really well, but I guess everyone mostly uses tapioca starch so I want to try too!

Tarts anon also came up on my radar, so I had to try that. The agony of choice though! I needed the original custard tart, but also another flavour, so I think this was a white peach one, and then also a savoury one, which had chorizo in it, and all three were so good! Why do I want to eat so much food all the time! I love it when food tastes good and also has such a technically perfect structure and presentation!

And I managed to hang out with a friend and his dog! Isn't Tofu so cute???

I had some time to kill before dinner, so I figured, hey why not visit Melbourne Zoo!

Having worked up an appetite from exploring the zoo, I then headed to Komeyui for a delicious dining experience! It was a place that was on my list for a while, but Minamishima had taken precedence on my last visit, so finally this place made it to the top of my list!

And a cheeky crepe! I love the Petite Creperie! A classic lemon and sugar!

Wow, what a downpour! I was travelling super light so I didn't pack any rain boots, just regular boots that were okay for heavy rain but not super storms! I was absolutely drenched and my boots were wet for days after this! But I will trek through anything for food, and successfully made it to Hector's Deli for a beef sandwich. It was super comforting to eat!

The show had to go on, and luckily, the thunderstorm cleared up for the rest of the day.

The next coffee adventure was the most interesting one for this trip, my barista recommended that I go to the Zest Coffee tasting studio, and while the website seemed to indicate it required a booking, I decided to try my luck as a walk in. Ah, it's not a cafe! It's literally a "studio"! They do classes, sensory flights, etc here, and yes, it really is best to pre-book! But since it was a terrible and gloomy day, it was empty, so I managed to sit down and choose a tasting experience.

There are some wild price points here! The cheapest flight was $35, the mid range being $50, and ninetyplus costing $75. For three coffees. I actually didn't mind which set I tried, and after talking to the barista/owner, we settled on the Granja Paraiso 92 tasting (which was the $50 one). I'd had a Granja Paraiso 92 before at Blacklist, but this was a set of three different varietals which underwent the same processing method (thermoshock!). It was so good! The coffees were experimental and full of flavour, orange bourbon was my favourite varietal! I would have loved to have tried the sudan rume varietal too, but they were out. But that's ok, I was definitely very happy with my experience! We talked a lot about the coffee, he even had a book with photos about the farm visit they had. We then went on to talk about where I'd seen Zest coffee in other states, which was pretty fun!

Definitely a good visit, next time, I'll have to take a trip to Manta Ray coffee roasters!

Oh no. Zest Coffee Tasting Studio is near Collingwood, I kind of had to pass through it on the way back, oh no....

And so I ended up back at Proud Mary, only because I was too caffeinated to go to Aunty Peg's! I'm so silly like that. I got my short mac, because the east coast can do a proper mac (none of this Perth topped up stuff!), and the food was very welcome after so much coffee, this small prawn roll was good!

Hey it's Fluffy Torpedo! I had the strangest feeling I saw this place last time I was in Melbourne, but I don't think that's possible because it didn't exist??? I am not too sure. But this place is great for all of the crazy flavours it has! Think vegemite white chocolate! That's the scoop on top! I couldn't decide what other interesting flavour I wanted. I was going to go with a fruity/berry (maybe aeroplane jelly?) type but after tasting it and finding that it tasted pretty much like what I expected, I decided that the most interesting flavour to have was actually the liquorice, and wow, it was GOOD. I'm not exactly a liquorice superfan, so it did become a bit too much towards the end, but it was definitely amazing. Would recommend!!!

I don't remember what I had for dinner that night, but I am pretty sure it was trashy because I didn't want to spend too much money, and, I wanted to try different things. Somehow, that ended up being a Hot Star fried chicken, because the ones in Perth got rebranded, and my brother said that the Melbourne Hot Star was better than Sydney's. It's interesting because the fried chicken is coated in what feels like tapioca starch? It had a nice sweetness and chew!

And the morning before my fly out - a cute little cafe in the city called Hikari! This was a pretty good shokupan and the coffee was so good! It was a Glitch coffee so I couldn't resist - the barista was apologising for how long it would take to make my coffee due to their staffing levels, but it was totally okay! I felt bad that they were apologising so much.

Other noteworthy things from the trip that weren't pictured - right around the corner from Hikari, are Bakemono Bakers and Little Rogue - both are very good! Bakemono is extremely amazing; Lune is the whole "you have to try it at least once" but Bakemono is for people in the know. Little Rogue also does nice coffee, but what place doesn't!

It was such a great adventure!

Lemon!!!

Yay!!! I didn't know if I would get a lemon, but I got a lemon!!!

And it was super juicy! I really wasn't sure if it was going to be good at all; it was green for so long and it looked like it was struggling to grow. I also had no idea if I was giving it enough water or nutrients (though the pidgeys did give a little bit of a helping hand with their poop contributing to this tasty lemon???), but it turned out really nice!

It wasn't quite as orangey as I was expecting this meyer lemon to be, but it had a nice thin skin, and wasn't too sour - I ate the whole thing in one go! It had a short sweet kick at the end, it'd be nice for it to have a longer sweet finish but overall I'm really happy with it!

Now will it grow another one???