Category: Daylesford

Kazuki's

1/2/2014

We spent the Saturday night in Daylesford and Steve made a reservation at Kazuki's. The dining room offered cool respite during a very warm day and I loved the restaurant from the moment we stepped in. I loved the cool and airy decor, the mural on the wall, the pretty lampshades...

I also loved the story behind Kazuki's and its logo:

Mountain - Mt Fuji – Mt Franklin
Fish – Koi (Japanese carp) – Trout (Tuki rainbow trout)
Mist, cloud or water – connecting two countries
Water drops – The Southern Cross
Oak leaves – Kazuki’s family crést
Plum blossoms – Saori’s family crést
Bottom branch - Family (Kazuki, Saori & two children)
A man fishing at the top of Mt. F – Kazuki

Kazuki arrived in Daylesford a few years ago and he and his wife Saori set up Kazuki's which in its short life span has achieved its one hat award.

The food opened up with a tofu shot with dashi and a bread roll with black seaweed butter.

I loved the softness of the bread roll and the saltiness of the butter, reminiscent of Vegemite when spread on the bread.

I was offered another roll and I accepted but it never arrived. I was offered a roll three times by the three different wait staff and I accepted three times but said bread roll never materialised...but my plate was always there. They must have thought I ate a lot of rolls!

On a Saturday evening it's a fixed degustation menu with options to add some special courses. We decided to both go for an extra course of oysters and share the special luxury course of crab and shaved Spanish truffle.

Oysters four ways – abalone, shiso, tempura, gravadlax with oyster cream was beautifully presented and just delicious. We loved the different flavours and the stand out favourites were the tempura oyster which was salty and crunchy as well as the gravadlax with oyster cream which was a thick slice of delicious salmon, a creamy emulsion and then intensified by the actual oyster.

Beef tataki, anchovy, radish, potato, yuzu was our next course. The flavours were very clean and pure with the crunch of the fried potato strands. I think the anchovy was meant to season the beef but I didn't get much saltiness so a little more wouldn't have gone amiss.

The scallop ceviche, jalapeno, quinoa, coriander was breathtakingly delicious. The crunchy toastiness of the quinoa and the soft, sweet silkiness of the scallop, flavoured with a spike of jalapeno and the fragrance of coriander was just tongue tinglingly brilliant. Reminiscent of the wonder yellowtail sashimi with yuzu soy, coriander and jalapeno at Nobu, this little variation had an added textural dimension and more in depth sweetness from the scallop.

I was really looking forward to the Moreton Bay bug dumplings, sake emulsion, ponzu jelly, rainbow chard. The ponzu jelly melted into the emulsion darkening it and flavouring it. The dumpling filling was sweet and dense with a good bouncy texture and the wrappers were thin and pasta like not unlike the wonderful tortellini we had the night before at Grossi Florentino Upstairs.

The ultimate special dish we decided to share followed - Spanner crab omelette, sauce american, avruga, shaved Spanish black truffle. Whilst this was good, it didn't overwhelm me with deliciousness like previous courses. The sauce american was a bit thousand island dressing like so too rich to eat by itself so a puddle of it was left.

We continued on with the fish dishes and moved to snapper, brandade, scampi, confit pepper, caper berries. This was a move away from the Japanese inspired dishes and was almost Mediterranean. Bright flavours and fish that was cooked perfectly - it was delicious and we enjoyed the sweet and sunny flavours of the confit capsicum whi.ch was a backdrop to the delicate white fish flavour.

For the last of our savoury courses, we ended on such a high - pork belly, Asian vegetables, wombok and mint salad served with a BBQ pork bun each which we were advised to dip into the broth. Less Japanese and more Chinese - who cares as it was so good. The pork belly was like char siu and the pork buns were sweet and soft and so pillowy and delicious.

The richness and heaviness of the previous meat course was kissed away by a kanmi translated as bitesize sweetness which was a delicious sorbet served in a cute glass container. It was icy and sweet and just what was needed to cleanse the palate and prepare it for dessert.

Lemon verbena crème brûlée, cardamom, genji was dessert and I forgot to take a picture. I remember the creme brulee was good but I wasn't keen on the cardamom ice cream mainly because I'm not a fan of cardamom so it was never going to be a winner with me.

Dinner at Kazuki's was refreshing and we loved the clean flavours that came through each dish. It thoroughly deserves the acclaim it is receiving and I would definitely recommend people to try it.

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Mercato@Daylesford

24/4/2011

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Mercato is probably our favourite restaurant in Daylesford and the one we would return to should we re visit this town.

Funnily enough the B&B owners say it is better than the Lake House too. It's not better because it outranks in food; it's more about the overall experience but I'll get onto that as we progress.

Once again we were slightly early for our table and expected to wait in the bar but we were shown to our window table instead.

Our waitress was lovely; very personable and friendly. She recognised as being from teh North of England and it turns out she is from Manchester but has been in Australia for ten years now and has no trace of UK accent any more.

The one blip in the service is we asked to speak to a sommelier for some wine guidance to go with the degustation menu and no one appeared or wanted to speak to us so we made our own choice and told our waitress who apologised profusely but it as hardly her fault. Anyway our choice of wine was out of stock so she returned with a different bottle that was more expensive but sold to us at the lower price so all was good with the world. It was a bit strange to replace what we ordered, a riesling with a chardonnay but admittedly the chardonnay did go very well with the first few courses.

The amuse bouche, we felt was a bold choice as it was a raw oyster with salmon caviar and a red onion salsa. Rich, salty and reminiscent of the sea with a chewable consistency unlike the cheap watery oysters that sometimes appear on menus.

Next up was seared fillet of ‘Tuki’ trout on a fennel and leek risotto with sautéed spinach and a beurre noisette. I don't like fennel but this was good. Really good piece of fish with a light and tasty risotto. Very similar to the food at our favourite restaurant back home, Artisan. In fact as the courses came in, that familiarity resonated so perhaps this association explains why Mercato is our favourite in Daylesford.

Steve's favourite dish of the weekend came next; roasted fillet of pork on a cauliflower puree with seared Bass Strait scallops, caramelised apple cider glaze & baby herbs. The pork was tender and juicy and the sweetness of the apple running through was really refreshing.

One of my favourite dishes followed the pork; seared quail on a warm salad of ‘Istra’ bacon lardons, shallots, chestnuts, endive and finished with a raspberry vinegar jus. We were given little finger bowls so a sure sign to get stuck in with our hands. The quail was just so tasty and gnawing all the meat off those little bones was a delight. The sharpness of the raspberry vinegar made the whole dish taste a lot less rich and filling.

As the photos appear side by side, it strikes me how alike the dishes look in colours and textures. However flavours of each dish were individual and memorable in their own right.
Seared fillet of kangaroo with sautéed cavolo nero, roasted parsnip, cocotte potatoes and a red wine ju reminded us of the gamey taste of meats in South Africa. We've had kangaroo whilst in Australia but this dish was far superior. The meat was tender and soft and as a non parsnip eater I managed two bits as the sweetness of the root vegetable was a nice complementary flavour.

The final meat course was roasted loin of central highlands venison of truffle infused polenta and wilted rocket. Again meat of an excellent quality with some good flavoursome accompaniments - a classic combination that never goes out of fashion.

Pre dessert palate cleanser was refreshing green apple sorbet then Steve had baked apple crumble with almonds, local honey, currants and a spiced rhubarb sorbet and I opted for the kaffir lime infused crème brulee and crisp almond bread. My creme brulee had the perfect consistency with not egginess or scrambled egg effect beneath the sugar top. The sugar had that great snap effect as the surface was cracked with the teaspoon.

Dessert was probably the course that wasn't as great as the others. Passable but not wonderful.

We loved the vibe of Mercato; cosy and like someone's living room much like Artisan back home but on a much bigger scale. We loved the service there; friendly and efficient with smiles a plenty and the food was the type of food we enjoy. Good quality ingredients cooked well with respect and love.

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Koukla at Frangos & Frangos

24/4/2011

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A table was reserved for us for lunch as part of our pre booked spa day and this was great as it was very busy and we say many people not succeed in securing a table. In spite of having a table though the food took a long time to get to us but this was probably due to the sheer volume of people.

The antipasto plate came with our spa package but if we had ordered I think we'd have felt it was over priced. It was tasty with warm flatbread, some meats, cheese, olives and piece of tortilla but there wasn't all that much of it. So we ordered a pizza to share and some shoestring fries and had to wait a good half an hour before it arrived.

The pizza had a great crispy base and the toppings good. Very enjoyable for lunch bit also quite pricey at over $20. Shoestring fries were a little anaemic looking ie white not golden and not very crispy but the accompanying lemon mayo was tasty. Service was busy but not stressed out like Perfect Drop the night before. The waitstaff team, although under pressure, still seemed to be having a good time.

If I could swap this wait staff with the guys at Perfect Drop, we'd have had an excellent time at Perfect Drop as food would have been great and service warmer than it was.

I wouldn't be desperate to go back to Frangos & Frangos and fight to get a dinner reservation but as a lunch option it wasn't bad. I'd probably prefer Breakfast and Beer though in all honesty.

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Breakfast and Beer

23/4/2011

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After a hefty breakfast at Balconies B&B, lunch was a lighter affair. We walked into Breakfast and Beer, found a corner spot at the large sharing table and strapped ourselves in for the afternoon.

They have a wide range of beers and ciders and very helpful staff. Steve made his way through several different types and we accompanied the drinking with some food. Steve had some saganaki with pickled carrots and salad. It was a thick slab that was chewy and salty but not excessively so. I went for the corn fritters with rocket and bacon and an avocado salsa. The fritters were fluffy and the accompaniments added the salty and fresh flavour hit required to lift the fritters.

We witnessed people come and go from the table and some ate, others just had coffee and all were treated with the same friendliness. I'd love it if this place was closer. I think that although we are spoilt for choice for places to eat and drink in Melbourne, there isn't a place that feels like a "local" where the staff stay longer than 6 months and get to know you and Breakfast and Beer feels like such a place even if it is in a tourist location.

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Perfect Drop

23/4/2011

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Perfect Drop came recommended by the B&B owners and I'd also read about it in The Age Good Food Guide. It looked pretty when we walked past it in the daytime. The menu on a clipboard hung on the door knob was mouthwateringly appealing so we were very pleased we managed to get a booking on the Saturday night we were in Daylesford.

We arrived early for our table with the intention of having a drink beforehand. It was busy and the wait staff seemed a bit frazzled. Anyway a short wait later, someone came to talk to us and she couldn't seem to find our booking on the two pieces of paper covered in handwriting they use to log bookings. I explained we'd booked on the Friday afternoon so she gestured to one of the pieces of paper and indicated if indeed we had booked then it should be there so I looked down and found my name and number but it had been scribbled out. She disappears and says she'll let us know what's going on.

Well we order some drinks at the bar ourselves and wait. The waitress that saw us returns but not to speak to us and we see her wandering around lots looking somewhat stressed which doesn't really help us relax. Anyway 15 minutes after our reservation time we're shown to a table close to the kitchen in a little nook along with a large table of people.

Our waitress comes to take our drinks order and she is a little brisk. We ask for some smoked almonds as we decide and our brisk but efficient waitress gets these to us quickly.

We enquire about the tasting menu and she pretty much barks at us and says we're too late as it takes 2 hours but it's not really our fault we're late. Anyway she says she'll ask the kitchen and looks up into the kitchen and must have had a mouthed conversation with someone as she then says to us that we can have it if we want. We decide against it and opt for some startters and mains instead.

We started with a roasted beetroot salad with hazelnut dukkah and fetta which was very enjoyable. We also shared some eel and leek fritters with a sweet and sour sauce which was actyually some watered down Thai sweet chilli sauce with some chopped up spring onion in it. The fritters were a little mushy but Thai sweet chilli sauce makes all things taste good so we polished them off.

Main courses were a honey glaxed lamb neck with a tomato risotto made of orzo pasta a venison plate with venison schnitzel, sausage, green beans, potatoes and caramelised shallots and jus. Both dishes were lipsmackingly flavoursome. I love the orzo risotto with the tomatoe broth. The lamb was sweet and tender too. The venison was tasty. I'm not a huge fan of venison sausages as I find them too lean and dry and these were similar but they were only small so I ate it anyway. Steve liked the sausage. The accompaniments to the venison were yummy especially the caramelised shallots.

We cannot fault the food. It's wholesome and tasty and rustic and great for sharing. The brisk service meant that we didn't really want to linger though and we actually didn't bother with dessert and headed home. If service had been friendlier and warmer I think we'd have had a second bottle of wine and dessert but we just didn't feel welcome enough to stay any longer.

The final staff encounter was when our bill came and there were some starred items. The waitress informed us that there had been a few mistakes but they'd been rectified so it was correct now - it was not really an explanation or an apology - more of a don't ask any further questions, just pay it as it's right kind of instruction and if we are quibbling they probably overcharged by $2 but for the sake of £2 I wasn't going to argue and have to stay there longer!

Loved the food but we were happy to leave and walk home which is a shame really but I guess so long as they're as busy as they are and people return for the food then they don't really have to make people feel too welcome!

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Lake House

22/4/2011

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The Lake House in Daylesford has a great reputation and has two hats so was been on our bucket list. Originally I though about staying there and having a spa session there but then felt that I didn't want so spend all our hand earned moolah in one establishment so I found some alternate accommodation, which we were really happy with, and a different spa which was also a good choice.

We were early for our table and would have been happy to sit at the bar for a drink but a warm and friendly hostess was happy to show us to our table. The good service started from the moment we set foot in the place to the moment we left.

We started with a scallop with black bean and spiced carrot as our amuse bouche. The salty tang of the black beans was good with the sweet scallop and then a cinammony puree was the final soft note.

The next dish was a crab and pickled green tomato crostin with a smoked tomato broth. The crostini was fine but not memorable but the tomato broth was very unusual. The smokiness is trapped in the little shot glass and as soon as the lid is removed this tobacco like fragrance comes out immediately and hits the nose. The broth is sweet and like pure tomato water but no pulp. It's light and refreshing with an intense deep tomato flavour. The broth itself is very memorable and one of the highlights of the degustation.

Next came an eel dish wrapped in bacon with heirloom beets and mustard creme fraiche. Eel and bacon is a good combo and although I wasn't taken with the mustard creme fraiche when I read the dish, in reality it lifted the flavours of the eel and bacon.

Quail was up next and I love quail; quail tempura beneath the ribbon salad and shiitake chawan mushi with a blob of wasabi mayo. Once again, when I read the description the wasabi mayo didn't appeal but it was a real flavour enhancer. The tempura was moist and tasty and so meaty. The batter was very thin and almost indistinguishable so not really very tempura like. At the time I loved it but I was spoilt by another quail dish later in the weekend that was on the bone and I think I prefer quail on the bone. The chawan mushi (savoury egg custard) with the chewy shiitake mushrooms was a delight though; all soft and savoury with a Chinese mushroom hit. Great flavour combo.

We moved onto more meat dishes and we were served free roaming chicken, foie gras and wild mushrooms. The chicken was breaded and there was also a rolled and stuffed ballotine. In retrospect, serving this after quail is a bit strange as it's small bird followed by slightly bigger bird. The ballotine was tasty enough but the accompanying mushrooms were a bit too mushy. I had high hopes for earthy mushrooms with a lingering foie gras flavour but really this was just sloppy slime and sadly reminiscent of the contents of a sneeze.

Soon cheered up by the next course though; pastured beef, roast fillet, poached tongue, silverside and oxtail agnolotti. The beef fillet was cooked really well and topped with some crispy breadcrumbs that didn't go soggy with moisture and juiciness of the meat which was great. The silverside was like a non salty bacon lardon and the shaved tongue was a little too much like tongue for my liking but Steve really enjoyed it. The little agnolotti (ravioli) went well with the little green (parsley I think) salsa verde which provided a little lift to the rich flavours of the dish. Along with the beef came a small cup of bouillon and a brioche bun with buttered marrow. The bouillon was delicious - all meaty and dark and the brioche bun very rich and decadent oozing with meaty grease but very tasty.

Pre dessert came next and all those rich meaty flavours were chased away and replaced by a refreshing plum and yoghurt posset. Steve had the lemon and licorice which consisted of lemon curd and licorice ice cream. I had the chocolate tastes; mousse, ice cream, white chocolate jelly and some early violet granita which tasted just like Parma Violets.

The sommelier at Lake House is worthy of a mention as he was professional, friendly and very good. He helped us decide on the two bottles of wine we had and poured me a hefty measure of a sherry to go with my dessert. It was a very dark sherry and resembled balsamic vinegar and after swilling it round the glass, it demonstrated some hefty "legs". I asked him how alcoholic it was and he just smiled a wry smile and said "strong" and boy was it! It didn't taste that strong - like Christmas cake in a glass - but one deep whiff of it makes the eyes water! I stand testament to that.

Petit fours consisted of some Turkish delight, spiced toffee popcorn, salted chocolate truffle, shortbread and a choc mint macaron and in spite of everything we'd eaten, we managed to polish these off too!

We had a lovely evening at the Lake House. There was no mind blowing dish but certainly some memorable flavour combos. The dishes were light enough that after so many courses we didn't feel uncomfortably bloated. In addition we felt that the service was excellent. All the wait staff were attentive and friendly which made for a very pleasant evening. The sommelier even came to us as we were enjoying tea and petit fours to say thahe was finishing up for the evening and wanted to wish us well and an enjoyable weekend.

Having spent the weekend in Daylesford, we learnt that many locals don't like the Lake House and that there are people who have dined there that find it arrogant and over priced. We think that the mark up on some of the wines is high and we don't deny the food is pricey but it's not a rip off and I think the good service accounts for that too.

We've been to one other two hat restaurant, Ezard and think that it is superior to the Lake House but the Lake House does deserve recognition for a good atmosphere, attentive service, strong food dishes with an element of innovation thrown in too and if that recognition comes in the form of two hats then I'm not going to argue against it.

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Kazuki's

Mercato@Daylesford

Koukla at Frangos & Frangos

Breakfast and Beer

Perfect Drop

Lake House

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