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Loquat

26/1/2014

We went to Loquat during a two night camping trip in Sorrento. Lucky for us Loquat was across the road from our campsite so after a hard day at the beach, lying in the sun, we were ready for dinner.

The exterior of Loquat is a little ramshackle road side, but inside it has a modern bistro fell and the private dining room which is out in the courtyard, lit up with fairy lights is delightful. Our table was in the middle of the dining room and we had a good view of the other diners.

Beetroot Carpaccio, Toasted Peacans, Cauliflower & Goats Cheese Pannacotta, Rocket Oil
Terrine – Pork, Chicken, Green Peppercorns, Cornicons, Caperberries, Brioche, Loquat & Apricot Chutney

I had the terrine and Steve went with the beetroot. The terrine was meaty and densely packed. The brioche was golden and crumbly and the cornichons provided a welcome tang to cut through the heaviness and richness of the meat. Definitely tasty but also definitely a stomach filler.

The beetroot was much lighter than the terrine as would be expected and the panna cotta flavoursome and creamy. The flavour combination is classic really sweetened by the pecans.

Eye Fillet Beef Potato & Spinach Fondant, Bacon & Sage Terrine, Garlic & Parsley Butter
Linguine with Prawns, Calamari, Scallops, Salmon, Tomato, White Wine, Hint of Chilli

I thoroughly enjoyed the linguine. I would have liked bit more chilli I think but the pasta and seafood were well cooked and the whole dish was delicious.

Steve enjoyed the eye fillet which was cooked well and the bacon and sage terrine was delicious and so very different to the terrine I had at the beginning of the meal. Both worked but this terrine was much lighter.

Date & Macadamia Pudding, Vanilla Icecream, Butterscotch sauce, Caramel Glass
Crème Catalan - Citrus & Cinnamon, Creamed Rice Icecream, Honey Snap Wafer

Desserts were good too. The creme Catalan was like a creme brulee really. The honey snap wafer was delicious and toffee like with hint of burnt sugar. The unusual creamed rice ice cream was like vanilla ice cream with chewy bits from the rice. Not offensive but not so great that I'm clamouring after it.

Loquat is a great local restaurant - family friendly and good for a date. We enjoyed our dinner there and would definitely recommend.

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Three Palms

25/1/2014

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The weekend after my birthday was a public holiday weekend with the Monday off from work so Steve and I headed to Sorrento, a small beach town on the Mornington Peninsula to camp for two nights. We headed there on the Saturday, pitched the tent and lazed around until dinner time at Three Palms.

Three Palms is a fun place to dine in a group with many small shared dishes to choose from; Asian, Mexican, Middle Eastern...and it's all fresh and pretty yummy. With it being a long weekend, it was very busy and whilst we had to wait between courses a bit, it was still an enjoyable evening.

YELLOW FIN TUNA CEVICHE Peruvian style with Catalan tomato bread
SNAPPER FILLETS Yellow curry, Asian salad and sticky rice
CHIPOTLE CHILI CHICKEN QUESADILLA with sweet corn salsa
CONFIT DUCK SALAD with Persian feta and crushed kipfler
MILLIONAIRE MEXICAN SHREDDED BEEF with tequila & beer mop sauce
ROASTED BEETROOTS with goats cheese dried rocket and tomato oil
CHURROS and chocolate sauce
STRAWBERRY AND APPLE crumble and vanilla ice cream

We enjoyed a feast from all over the World starting off in Peru and finishing with the homeliness of fruit crumble and ice cream. I particularly enjoyed the confit duck salad with the waxy bite sized Kipfler potatoes and the whole dish was reminiscent of a French bistro.

The snapper fillets were very flavoursome as was the quesadilla. The churros were warm and light. I found the chocolate sauce a bit strange - I think it was laced with some liqueur that I didn't enjoy but I ate the churros without the sauce and they were fluffy enough to not need the sauce.

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Paringa Estate

29/9/2013

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Sunday lunch on Mornington Peninsula and we decided to try Paringa. It was a beautiful sunny day and we arrived a little early for our table but were made to feel welcome and enjoyed some wine tasting before being shown to our table. The view out of the window was so picturesque.

There were options on the menu that appealed and it was hard whittling it down but we got there.

I chose to open with the Wallaby Tail, Fillet, Consommé, Salt Roasted Celeriac, Wild Onion. Presented so prettily and the consomme was poured at the table, the little flowers reminded me of edelweiss and actually the whole dish was very clean tasting much like the impression pretty little edelweiss flowers give. And it's unusual that a meat as gamey as wallaby can be so clean but this was expertly done. At first I thought the dish was on the sweet side but then the salt roasted celeriac added the needed salty hit and balanced the sweet consomme. Delicious.

Steve chose the Red Gate Quail, Confit Hen’s Yolk, Morcilla Crumble. I got to try a mouthful of this and it was delicious. The description didn't mention the crispy bacon. Oh, salty bacon, egg, black pudding and tasty quail - what a flavour combination that just has to work and it did.

My main course was Roast Duck, Wild Green Strawberries, Fennel, Parsnip, Kale. I'm not a fan of fennel or parsnip but upon discussion with our very perky waitress, she informed me it was a parsnip puree and I don't mind a puree. I just don't like chunks of parsnip and the fennel is thinly sliced and again I don't take offensive if it's a delicate touch.

The dish is pretty with dark, almost black fried kale, green tinged with blush thinly sliced strawberries covering the thick slices of duck breast. The sweetness from the parsnip complement the duck and then the fruity strawberry note cuts through the richness. Definitely a winner.

Steve went with the Flinders Island Milk Fed Lamb, Jerusalem Artichoke and Baby Vegetables. A more classic dish but still a winner. The lamb was well cooked and the different cuts provided textural notes and flavours.

We had originally opted just for the Brussel sprouts but after seeing another table enjoy some potatoes we couldn't resist ordering a portion.

Caramelised Brussel sprouts, Aioli, Jamon Crumb really made the best out of the humble sprout. Perfectly charred and then seasoned with jamon, these were crunchy and far from soggy and so attractive to look at all green and toasty.

The Kipfler potatoes, Mustard, Sage weren't quite the crispy roast potatoes we thought we saw that prompted us to order because although beautifully golden they're more solid than crispy and crunchy. However they were super fluffy and the potatoes themselves had a great flavour to them that they were delicious too.

We ordered dessert thinking that they would arrive quite quickly especially as we had to be back in Melbourne by mid afternoon but there seemed to be a delay and they took ages. The waitress recognised this and took them off the bill which was a welcome gesture.

Steve had the simply entitle Honey, Pine Nuts and it turned out to be a honey cake with a quennelle of ice cream and pine nuts. The cake was warm, moist and buttery and combined with the cool ice cream and then the crunch of the nuts was a delight.

I went with the Yogurt Panna Cotta, Pistachio, Poached Rhubarb, Apple & Sorrel Granita and it came prettily presented in a glass. And I think there was so much more in that glass than that list. There was certainly something citrussy and toasty, sweet, biscuity chunks and crunchy brandy snap like bits. This is a dessert right up my street. I love the cool creaminess of the panna cotta and then all the fruity blasts of flavour finished off with a sweet almost toffee like notes from the biscuit crumbs. Oh how I wish I had more than 2 minutes to enjoy this. Instead I pretty much inhaled it all and it tasted so good that inhalation was easy!

I would heartily recommend Paringa in spite of the dessert delay as the issue was absolved with the goodwill gesture and the quality of the food is really special. Hard to choose between here and Ten Minutes By Tractor....

Paringa Estate Winery & Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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Ten Minutes by Tractor

25/3/2012

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I really wanted Ten Minutes by Tractor to impress. Steve and I were bringing my parent and sister here during their trip to visit us and I was really keen to find a special place for Sunday lunch that we would all enjoy. I wanted it to showcase some wonderful produce, challenge their tastebuds a little beyond the more traditional and conservative tasts and yet still be comfortingly familiar.

The menu appealed to us all and entree dishes varied between the 5 of us with my dad, sister and I all going for the risotto.

Pan roasted quail, Mock Orchard pears, pea puree, pata negra
Asparagus, Red Hill goat's cheese, pickled pumpkin, macadamias, freekah
Risotto with scallops, squid, whiting with grilled watermelon

Mum's quail dish was probably the best although the other dishes were good too. The quail was just so soft and flavoursome the tastes going deeper with the pata negra and then the sweet pea and pear combo lightening up the salty sensations.

Steve's asparagus dish was extremely generous with almost a dozen stems of asparagus, a huge mound of freekah and massive dollops of goat's cheese. Great complimenting flavours.

Risotto was tasty and beautifully presented, The seafood was fresh and fragrant and the chef had also considered texture as we experienced a variety of sensations from the chewy to the flaky to the crispy to the juicy.

Main courses continued to be a hit. Again beautifully presented and absolutely delicious. Steve's lamb course came with a variety of home grown veggies adding a Summery touch to the heavier meat. Fish dishes were vibrant and fresh.

Snapper with peach and tomato fondue, prawns, crushed potato, asparagus, verjus beurre blanc
Roasted Cape Grim eye fillet, wild watercress, onion and olive compote, heirloom carrots and red wine jus
Fine herb roasted rack of lamb, 1333 vegetables, rosemary and mint jube, green olive jus

We enjoyed side dishes of roasted kiplfler potatoes and an organic beetroot, Mock Orchard apples, Red Hill goat's cheese. The beetroot was pale pink in colour and so sweet and the green beans added a grassy flavour to the sweet beet.

Michel Cluizel chocolate ganache, poached cherries, honey espuma, coconut ice cream
Raspberry panna cotta, rhubarb compote, almond cake, white chocolate parfait, sabayon
Rice pudding, apricot compote, caramelised rice puffs, sable, cashmere sorbet

The desserts were decadent and the winner was probably the raspberry dish which I-Lin and I shared. Just so many dimensions to it and all very scrumptious. Steve enjoyed the rice pudding and the chocolate and cherry combo was also polished off with aplomb.

We were also served petit fours but by this stage I was full. The others enjoyed them and declared them good.

We were looked after well by our waiter. He did a really good job. We had a lovely corner table with a picturesque view of the vines.

This is a place that is a little bit special. It's not so formal that it's off putting but it does feel like it's not an every day restaurant and deserves an occasion. It's expensive but I do believe it's worth it as it does offer that little bit extra.

Ten Minutes by Tractor fulfilled everything I wanted it to. My family appreciated the beautifully presented plates of food and the visual pleasure was backed up firmly by tasty fresh produce and impressive culinary skill.

I'd love to return and enjoy the degustation menu. There were some exciting contraptions and plates of food coming out the kitchen.

Ten Minutes by Tractor Wine Co. Cellar Door & Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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D.O.C Mornington

12/2/2011

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A day trip to Mornington meant lunch at D.O.C. Steve and I had walked past and enjoyed browsing in the deli that we knew we had to have a meal there next time we were in the area so we decided to show Charis the delights of Mornington.

So we'd been looking forward to returning to Mornington and in particular to trying D.O.C and then upon entering we were greeted by the notice "Please Wait to be Amazed" so expectations were high!

The waiter pointed us to a long shared table and we took our seats. It was pretty cramped so when the people next to us left we spread out a bit which I don't think they were enamoured with but I felt our comfort was more of a priority. There were lots of spare places for other new customers so it wasn't like we were preventing others from dining there.

There are many reviews on Urbanspoon that talk about poor service and I can see why such reviews have emerged. Service is a little offhand and there is definitely a lack of attentiveness. We had to wait a long time for the second glass of wine and when we enquired after it the response was not exactly friendly.

Foodwise we ordered the mozzarella degustazione which consisted of scamorza (smoked mozzarella), an Australian fior de latte and a buffalo mozzarella. The scamorza had been warmed through and had melted. It was delicious with a hint of chilli running through it. Absolutely amazing. The bread and oil that came with it were also yummy and the small spinach and rocket side salads were fresh and tasty.

We had two pizzas; Speck with Provolone chese, mushrooms, thyme and prosciutto and Cornutto with tomato, mozzarella, spicy salami and peppers. Both were delicious. The bases were crispy and didn't taste greasy. The balance of toppings were good and we thoroughly enjoyed them. The Speck one had no tomato and I think for one person to eat a whole one it would be too rich as the tomato provides a nice tang that cuts through the richness.

We loved the food at D.O.C and I can imagine craving the scamorza and the pizzas again. The service is a little offhand for sure and if that could be revised then it would be a place to eat that's super hard to beat.

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Loquat

Three Palms

Paringa Estate

Ten Minutes by Tractor

D.O.C Mornington

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