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Dalmatino

4/11/2013

The night before Melbourne Cup Day, Steve and I decided it would be nice to go out for dinner and so he reserved a table at Dalmatino in Port Melbourne.

When we walked into the restaurant, I immediately felt that it was a comfortable and relaxed place to dine; kind of elegant bistro style. I liked the dark woods and intimacy of the dining room. Our welcome was warm ish but certainly efficient and that's how I'd describe the service. We were looked after by three staff members - a forthright, efficient lady but who was also personal in her approach when we spoke to her, a softer spoken waitress who was probably the junior team member and another gentleman who had a similar style to the efficient lady.

The menu was described as for sharing and it certainly had a strong Croatian and Eastern European bias to it. We decided to share every course and go with things we liked the sound of. Having said that, it was hard to choose. There were lots of delicious sounding goodies and a couple of specials too.

We started off with the traditional bean, corn and prosciutto soup. Our efficient waitress informed us she'd get the chef to divide the soup into two servings for us to make things easier so points for taking control and organisation.

The soup was delicious - saltiness from the ham and then some sweetness from the corn and heartiness from the beans. Deliciously wholesome.

Next up came our meat course and we enjoyed:

House made gourmet skinless Croatian sausages served with capsicum, eggplant relish and kajmak cheese
House made potato dumplings with rich beef ragu

Oh wow. Firstly the ragu and potato dumplings which were like bigger pieces of gnocchi. They were so pillowy soft yet heartwarmingly heavy at the same time. The beef ragu was so tasty with chunks of beef meat and a savoury satisfying flavour.

The sausages had a great chargrill flavour and had a meatiness to them that wasn't too dense and heavy. I liked the capsicum relish (not sure where the eggplant was) and the kajmak cheese was like a yoghurty / sour cream dip. Two great meat dishes.

We should have finished things here but I guess we didn't know how big the dishes were.

Next up came the traditional Dalmatian fish stew with soft polenta accompanied by fresh green beans and tomato tossed with almonds. It was beautifully presented in an earthenware dish with plump mussels, queen scallops, chunks of fish, delicate prawns in this amazing fish broth / bisque.

The soft polenta was in a ball in the middle of the dish. I have to admit the polenta wasn't my favourite part of the dish and my personal thoughts would be a few braised potatoes would have been a nicer starch as an accompaniment or crusty bread. Our waitress did bring us some extra bread which was delicious soaked in the broth. I think if I wasn't so full I'd have drank every drop of that elixir.

The green beans were a delicious fresh accompaniment to the stew.

Neither of us had room for dessert in spite of Steve declaring that he wanted it! Next time hopefully now that we know how filling and big the portion sizes are. It was great to see that the restaurant was busy on the Monday night and that some of the clientele spoke in what I assumed was Croatian. I can imagine that if we lived in Port Melbourne, this would be a great neighbourhood restaurant to frequent regularly.

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Ciao Cielo

9/8/2013

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Friday always seems so far away when I'm blogging on a Sunday or at work on a Monday but then it gathers speed and momentum and all of a sudden, the weekend has landed! Steve booked Ciao Cielo in Port Melbourne and we ventured into this twinkly and romantic neighbourhood bistro. White tablecloths and candlelight provides an atmosphere that feels special and elegant. Service is attentive and the feel is intimate.

I chose to start with the smoked fish and potato chowder which was on the specials and Steve went with spaghetti bolognese. I enjoyed the thick and comforting chowder and Steve enjoyed the meaty spaghetti which was spiced with cinammon and other flavours giving it an intensity and twist away from the usual midweek dinner version! Later on another couple came and sat at the table next to us and she exclaimed that she came back especially for the spaghetti bolognese as it was the most amazing one she'd ever had! I'm not sure it was that good but each to their own!

It's the season for quail and I'm a lover of the little bird so went with the BBQ Vincotto glazed quails, pomegranate, macadamia nut, grape, & frigola salad. Prebsentation was a little try hard with a perfect garden of salad and grapes placed with precision. I enjoyed the quail and the sweetness of the glaze and promegranate - quite a classic combination that was executed decently.

Steve enjoyed the Hopkins River Grain Fed eye fillet with rosemary polenta croquettes, oak lettuce and Spanish onion salad and red wine jus. This looked more appetising than the quail I thought and the croquettes looked so appealing all golden and crispy. The steak was great - flavoursome and tender. The salad was dressed well and the leaves were fresh and vibrant. The croquettes tasted as good as they looked. Three were very generous and I think we didn't manage to get through all of them.

Steve and I swapped plates halfway so we could enjoy both the dishes and we also shared a bowl of great shoestring fries that were crispy and salty. Perfect bistro fries!

Dessert time and I went with the churros and was advised to go half dark choc and half white so not one to flout advise I went with it and it was so good. When the dark chocolate became a bit too bitter I'd swap to the creamy sweet milky white chocolate and when that became to sugary and sweet I'd get the bitter hit from the dark. Oh the delights of choice!

Steve's choice was a honey and almond semi freddo with a persimon carpaccio and it certainly was fancy. He enjoyed the sweetness and lightness of it.

Ciao Cielo is a lovely neighbourhood restaurant and I can imagine if we lived in Port Melbourne it would be a favourite. I loved the twinkliness and the intimacy of it. Definitely a romantic date place.

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Komeyui

8/2/2013

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Friday night and we wanted to tick another restaurant off the bucket list. I'd chosen Komeyui in Port Melbourne and was looking forward to turning Japanese.

The restaurant is light and airy and I enjoyed the quiet and understated welcome. None of this shouting out of "Irasshaimase" that is frankly quite embarrassing.

We were seated at the sushi bar and we like this kind of seating as it gives us something to watch and talk about. We also had the selection of beers on display in front of us so Steve had a visual menu to choose from.

The sushi chef obviously noticed we had been seated a while and had received no menus so he organised that for us with a smile and an apologetic bow of the head. It hadn't been too long so we didn't mind too much.

The complimentary appetiser of tuna mayonnaise and seaweed came topped with a goji berry.

It was exactly what was described - creamy tuna, crunch and saltiness of seaweed and then a sweetness from the berry.

We started off with DUCK BREAST KOMEYUI STYLE - Thinly sliced and delicately cooked duck breast with soy-based red wine sauce and potato chips. Again exactly how it was described. Thick slices of duck, still slightly pink rested atop a crunch potato chip. Good pure flavour of the duck came through, salt form the potato chip and little toastiness from a pine nut that was atop the duck. A good bite size morsel.

Next came WAGYU TATAKI - Seared very briefly over a hot flame, briefly marinated in salt and sugar. Again true to description. The slices of beef were thicker than other beef tataki we've had and I enjoyed the more robust serving which again was clean in flavour and not overpowered by garlic chips and soy sauce. I like the fusion tataki I've had at Nobu and Sake but I also appreciated the pared back simplicity of this version.

KOMEYUI SHUMAI - “KOMEYUI” style steamed dumpling containing lean chicken mince and glutinous rice. These sounded intriguing so we thought we would give them a go. They came out quite cute looking all fluffy and white and were delicious. I felt like this is what a Japanese grandmother would make in the country for her little grandchildren!

I love Chawan Mushi (steamed egg) so I had to try the Komeyui version. The egg was silky smooth but I was a little underwhelmed and felt that I'd had better versions. The scallop in it was slightly rubbery and I never got to the prawn, chicken or gingko nut so either Steve had all of those or we missed them. This wasn't a bad version; there was nothing wrong about it but I just felt the flavours weren't there.

Rather than overindulge with lots of sushi rolls and too much rice we decided to share the 18 piece sashimi set. Next time we'll go with the rolls - the spicy tuna and the soft shell crab ones looked amazing.

This sashimi set was wonderful - salmon, tuna, lumberjack, dory, whiting, scallop and prawn. Everything was squeaky fresh and presentation was really pretty.

Our main courses were the BERKSHIRE PORK KAKUNI - Japanese braised Berkshire pork dish which literally means “square simmered”, 10-hours slow cooking to achieve the melt-in-mouth tenderness and the MISO MARINATED BLACK COD “Saikyo-yaki" Kyoto traditional dish, Char-grilled miso marinated cod.

The Pork Kakuni came with a savoury gravy and topped with crunchy toasted rice. The meat was tender and it was lovely with rice. Again it was very homely. The black cod had hints of the Nobu version. It didn't have the sweet dipping sauce and it wasn't as moist. Again it's like the home made version - slightly drier but still flavoursome.

I would describe Komeyui as very pure and traditional homestyle Japanese and this style actually isn't all that common. Restaurants like Nobu, Sake, Izakaya Den, Wabi Sabi all seem to like to do modern Japanese and elevate dishes from their humble beginnings. Komeyui stays true to those and therefore is refreshingly honest and likeable in its approach. I'd like to return and try the rolls, tempura, quail and those deliciously fluffy snowballs of shumai.

Komeyui Japanese Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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The Graham

14/7/2012

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A Saturday lunch and Steve decided we should try The Graham in Port Melbourne. Given the wind a rain a hearty gastro pub was just what we needed.

I liked the decor of the white walls, high ceilings and general feel of the place. Our waiter was friendly and we were seated in a small dining room with three or four other small tables and one bigger one. It's nice to fill a small room as it creates a bit more of an ambience rather than a few tables in a large space.

We started off with some oysters that came with a pickled mushroom and some caviar and a dressing that I can't remember. I do remember thoroughly enjoying these though and wishing there were more!

We also enjoyed some chicken potsticker dumplings which were generously sized. I loved the thick casing. Some people prefer a thin dumpling wrap but I love carbs so I liked the almost pasta like denseness of these. I also enjoyed the seaweed salad they came on.

For our main courses we struggled to decide what to have so opted for two that we both liked and said we'd swap plates halfway through!

We went with:

Char-grilled wagyu porterhouse, potato & thyme confit, bone marrow jus
Chestnut honey glazed duck, rainbow chard, baby turnips & honey jus
Maple glazed brussel sprouts and bacon

Both dishes were very well cooked. The Wagyu porterhouse was soft and silky and the bone marrow jus deeply savoury. I wasn't too convinced by the smear of garlic cream that the mushroom was in and found it a bit overpowering so left that.

The duck was flavoursome and tasty with little blobs of something sweet to enhance the duck meat. And the brussel sprouts were just bitter enough to cut through all the richness whilst still remained decadent as the wonderful buttery and bacon flavours came through.

The Graham is a great gastro pub with good service, pleasant surroundings and efficient and capable wait staff. Prices err on the expensive side but I guess when everything is so good it has to. The wine list is impressive too and sadly we couldn't take advantage of it as we had evening plans and I still had champagne cobwebs in my head from the night before.

I would recommend the Graham for sure as somewhere to go for something classical and straightforward where the food is honest and tasty and when reliability is important.

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Sloaney Pony

2/7/2011

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The Sloaney Pony was the chosen place for a gathering of colleagues / friends from Steve's work and the WHAGS (wives, husand and girl/guyfriends). The restaurant was surprisingly quiet for a Saturday evening; almost empty which would have been a dampener on the whole ambience thing but we were greeted and taken through to a private dining room which meant we could make our own noise and atmosphere!

The dining room was was lit by candlelight, bedecked in the hip black flocked wallpaper (printed rather than actual velour) with darkwood flooring, a fireplace (unlit) at one end of the room and a gong set upon a wooden dresser at the other. Thirteen of us were seated round a large rectangular table.

Our waitress was attentive and being a Scot fitted in with our mix of Americans, Europeans, Brits and the one Australian. The room was very warm when we arrived and we asked to have the fan turned down and our waitress was very happy to do so but did tell us that the temperature can fluctuate so if it got too cold she'd turn it back on.

The wine order was soon placed but first two white wine choices were sold out but third time lucky and soon it was time to chink glasses.

Starters were ordered and the most popular choice was calamari. I had the tea smoked duck with a green salad and mandarin segments which was delicious. The sweet citrus mandarin was a great acidic contract to the fatty and rich duck. Steve had a spinach and feta quiche which he said was okay.

Main course wise; steak proved a popular choice and there were clean plates all round. Steve went for braised lambshank which came with mashed potato and seared spinach. I went with the spiced rack of lamb with accompaniments of tzatziki, garlic bread, cous cous and a spiced jus. The menu said it came with hummous but there was no sign of it. The lamb was pretty good; the spicing was very subtle but the tzatsiki and garlic bread were very flavoursome.

There weren't many dessert choices - maybe two and a cheese plate and no one wanted one anyway so we let the chit chat continue until we were ready to leave.

The company was very pleasant, the evening was fun, the food was decent (perhaps slightly underwhelming) but we enjoyed our first venture into Port Melbourne.

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Dalmatino

Ciao Cielo

Komeyui

The Graham

Sloaney Pony

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