Friday night comes round and Steve and I decide to get off the tram a little bit earlier and wine and graze our way home. After a drink and some charcuterie at Marion we find ourselves outside newly opened Amarillo and decide to give it a whirl.

We are shown to a great corner table even though we initially say we just want a drink. We're then tempted by the menu and the charry smells coming from the kitchen behind. The tables are mostly full and there's a pleasant laid back kind of buzz to the place.

The small menu does tempt us so we start off with some Spanish charcuterie which comes with some bread and pickled vegetables. They meat is salty and spicy and the pickles wonderfully fresh, zingy and crunchy. We also have the anchovy on toast which is bite sized with delicious salty anchovy and capers, some zingy pickled onion and fresh parsley to clean the plate from that intense briny saltiness.

The charred broccoli and stracciatella is exactly what we need as our next dish and goes down well.

We definitely enjoyed our sojourn at Amarillo. The food was good, the service personal and warm. It should become a neighbourhood gem and we'd certainly like to see it go that way. Show me the way to Amarillo!

So Hammer and Tong is no more and in its place is Nomada offering breakfast tapas. The layout is the same but it seems brighter and calmer. We secured two seats at the bar and service took a while but we got there in the end.

Offering a wide range of beverages and 'breakfast tapas', the menu can be a little daunting in terms of thinking what goes with what and how many dishes should we order. There are different sized plates costing $5, $9, $15 and $19. There are also some sweet dishes thrown in amongst the menu items too.

Don't worry about it or think too hard; just order what you fancy. We ended up ordering in two rounds and the couple next to us in three. The food comes out pretty quickly so just start with a few dishes and then add a few, throw in a drink or two and you'll come away pretty happy!
 
Our first order was for about 6 or so items. Actually we ordered two toasties, the one we got being the boquerones and the one that didn't materialise which was the jamon but we had enough to go on so didn't mind too much. The food was delicious so we ordered a second round of three dishes.

• Coal blistered tomatoes, sherry, herbs and manchego
• Chorizo with chilli powder
• Seasonal mushrooms and pickled celery
• Nomada bacon with potato sauce and mushroom powder
• Quail eggs with cumin salt
• Blue Eye croquetas with fennel emulsion
• Boquerones and Mahon toastie
• Jamon Serrano, cured yolk, fresh curd and pear
• Flinders saltgrass lamb on the coals, tomato, yoghurt, eggplant, garlic puree and chilli

We loved the bacon which were two thick cut bacon steaks and were quite mellow compared to the spicy chorizo so both pork but different. Yum! The quail eggs were creamy and rich. Loved the anchovies and Mahon cheese in a toastie; cheesy and umami and crispy and golden. Croquetas were plump and golden brown with a creamy tasty filling. Not one dish was a bad dish. There was oodles of respect for the ingredients and they came together like a symphony in spite of us just ordering haphazardly. Out of confusion came delight!

I also enjoyed the strawberry lemonade and the tea we had was also well made. 

Whilst we initially found the service a little offhand, it improved and we were rewarded with friendly smiles by the end.

We have found a new neighbourhood favourite. Nomada, yesmada!

Saturday lunchtime and we found ourselves at a local that we'd been meaning to try for a while. So the Robert Burns Hotel seems so un-Spanish but the tapas menu is so very Spanish downed to the little tinned good available to snack on.

We decided to share some croquetas, a meat board, goats cheese and mushroom salad and the seafood stew.

Everything arrived pretty quickly and we enjoyed the homely but genuine and authentic Spanish flavours that were traditional and delicious. The croquetas were piping hot stuff with cheesy and jamon goodness and so crispy on the outside. The little pearls of cheese were intense of flavour and the mushroom goodness counteracted that along with the sparky sherry vinaigrette of the salad dressing.

The stew came at the end of the meal and it was super tasty broth with lovely, floury chunks of potato, clams, mussels, prawns and a delicate fish fillet. A lovely deep red colour with pink from the seafood, white fish and yellow potato. So appetising too look at with the terra cotta colours of Spain or a Spanish sunset. I'd have loved some bread to dunk but we managed without. The calamari in there was overcooked but the other ingredients were delighfully delicious.

Every time we go past Smith and Daughters, no matter what time of day it is always pumping so unsurprisingly during a Saturday Fitzroy wandering, I wasn't surprised Steve wanted to try. I'm always skeptical about vegetarian restaurants but felt I had nothing to lose.

We take a seat and I have a mixed fruit juice which is sweet and delicious. Steve has some sort of smoothie made with berries, almond milk and I think coconut. It's all a bit weird for me with hints of cocoa in it but then he finds my juice too intense so each to their own. We also had tea which was nice and strong, just like we like it. Melbourne cafes may offer the best coffee but they often fail with tea. This was a winning brew.

We decide to go with their two omelette options and share them. They arrive quickly, cutely presented in a cast iron pan,

Baked Spanish omelette - Potato, mushroom, chorizo and sweet peppers topped with saffron sofrito and served with toasted bread

Baked Mexican omelette - Potato, chargrilled peppers, grilled sweetcorn and mushroom topped with tomatillo salsa and avocado served with warm corn tortillas

We don't realise until after that Smith and Daughters is completely dairy free and veggie so the chorizo has to be non meat but it doesn't stop us from enjoying this. The omelettes are fluffy with an almost scrambled egg texture. The flavourse are good although I don't stumble on much potato in either omelette. Maybe Steve ate it all...

Anyway, all pleasant enough. I think I'm game enough to go back for dinner. I'm not sure about returning for breakfast though because as much as I didn't realise the chorizo was veggie, I definitely know there was no bacon on the menu!

Another place that has been on the "to try" list for a long time. Stef and I decided to catch up over tapas. We arrived on a hot evening just after 6pm and sat at the corner of a table towards the back. Plenty of room to hang jackets and bags and a good viewing point to watch everyone else.

The reception was warm and friendly. Drinks order was taken quickly, specials ran through and an order placed. All very efficient and done with a smile.

We started off with some croquetes with jamon and cheese and these crispy golden balls were lipsmackingly good. We followed this up with a specials dish of eggplant relish on toasted bread. The waitress mentioned anchovy and we bothe love that salty little fish so opted for it. It was tasty and the eggplant relish sweet and jammy but a little light on the anchovy.


The Yelllowtail Kingfish pancetta with lemon oil was delightful. With the texture of air dried fish, the thick slices were fragrant with lemon  and had that cured salty after taste that pancetta leaves in the mouth.

We had the mussels from the specials menu but unfortunately we didn't enjoy them. tehy looked good in the sizzling pan but the mussels and the sauce were very pungent. The mussels were incredibly fishy. I don't doubt they were fresh but perhaps just a very intense species?  Either way, not our bag.

What was very much our bad were the grilled Northern king prawns with chilli salt that were sweet and fresh and oh so tasty with the chargrill BBQ thing going on.

The mushrooms with garlic cream were also good and there were a lot of them. Pork, morcilla, apple and lemon crumbs was a very rich dish reminiscent of cassoulet.

We ended things with the blood orange crema and burnt orange caramel that we shared. Citrussy, toffee, burnt sugary flavours softened by a silky cream. It's an intense dessert, far from light but a real power punch of a dessert.

Overall, I enjoyed the Bar Lourinha experience. Casa Ciuccio (sister restaurant) is my preferred but the feel at Bar Lourinha is less sit down meal and more convivial...casual even. I like it as a post work option....relaxed, buzzy, warm and welcoming.

Saturday night came round and Steve said we should go out somewhere enjoyable. He suggested trying Moon Under Water but I wanted to go somewhere where I knew I would feel comfortable and enjoy and I suggested revisiting Casa Ciuccio to which he happily agreed.

I called on the Friday to make the reservation for the next day and was pleased that they could accommodate us later at 8:30pm onwards which suited us. I requested our favourite table 29 next to the pass in the kitchen.

Upon arrival it was still very busy and sadly 29 wasn't available. We had another great little table though in the front dining room tucked away in the corner where we could sit at 90 degrees to each other.

Just like last time we were well looked after and appreciated the guidance regarding what to order.

We enjoyed a few of the small bite size tapas such as the tuna gallega, anchovy montadio, mussels and an anchovy, cucumber, fennel, cornichon skewer. I love these little canapes. It's like being at a party!

Then we shared the fish special which was a delicious piece of beautifully grilled snapper with a lemon dressing and fresh peas. I loved the sour lemon with the white fish and the sweet peas. We also shared the morcilla special which came on a bed of sweet and sour onions and capsicums and a deep fried egg. Complete contrast to the fish in that this was pure dense richness. Our final dish was another special which was a pork loin fillet with eel butter and purple cabbage. The meat was so tender and the flavours so special.

Our desserts were the 'marinated' watermelon milk pudding and the chocolate bunuelos with hazelnut sauce. The watermelon milk pudding was like runny panna cotta with some cinammon spice flavours coming through. I loved the chocolate bunuelos - light and fluffy pancake batter in a croquette shape and not overly sweet or chocolatey. Perfect for me and I didn't think I'd get through all 4 but I managed 3 easily and donated 1 to Steve. Now that I think back....maybe I could have managed 4!

Another great evening at Casa Ciuccio, If we lived closer, we'd be there all the time!

I took up a very kind invitation to attend the launch of Bomba and I was very excited to see what it would be like as I was a huge fan The Aylesbury. So on a warm Tuesday evening, my friend and colleague, Natalie and I saw the working day end with a nice glass of vino at the rooftop bar. Wonderful way to unwind.

After a fortifying glass or two we headed downstairs for some food and were given the option of a romantic table for two or to make some friends and being the friendly girls we are we thought it would be fun to share the larger table...only the friends didn't show up....not for a while anyway!

Our waitress was so friendly; she made up for the lack of other people wanting to sit with us! And she helped guide us through the menu choices whilst keeping our wine glasses topped up.

• Mojama (air dried tuna) 20gm 
• Fisk’s wessex saddleback pickled pork belly 30gm  
• Hervey Bay scallop with Serrano, lemon & bread
• Charcoal grilled lamb t-bone
• Quail with pistachio & buckwheat
• Tomato, burrata & aged sherry vinegar toast with hand filleted Nassari anchovy
• Tuna tartare and seaweed crackers
• Shark Bay king prawn pil pil
• Queso
• Goat’s curd sorbet with rhubarb & pistachio

Our feast was tapastastic! And I was impressed by the reasonable prices. So the things that stood out for us...

The little montadidos with the anchovy is memorable, Basically a teeny bruschetta thing that we shared so it ended up being a bite each and it was salty and tomatoey and then creamy with the mozzarella with some toasty tones throughout from the bread. Definitely a reason to return and to try the others in this section.

The scallop was delicious - sweet scallop, salty bacon, toasty buttery crumbs and then a little lemon. How can you go wrong? Tuna tartare is worth a mention - chunky cubed tuna on a salty cracker - yum. Lamb was tender.

We went on and shared a generous platter of cheese. We finally got some friends and they shared our communal table and actually helped us with our leftover cheese! We finished up with the goat's curd sorbet which Natalie wanted to try and I think it's more a palatte cleanser than a dessert. There's got to be more satisfying desserts but all the more reason to return!

Bomba deserves to be da bomb! It's exciting, vibrant and on trend with it's feasting and sharing vibe and with one eye on the wallet too. There is nothing to not love about Bomba. Every one needs Bomba in their lives!

Our anniversary is on 25th September which falls between weekends and this means that we need to celebrate both sides of the occasion!

We'd had a drink at Cantina della Casa next door a couple of weeks ago and decided that we liked the look of Casa Ciuccio hence booked in. We were seated right next to the pass in the kitchen and enjoyed the theatre and the activity.

The kitchen is obviously a professional one but then there's this dresser on the wall full of knick knacks like painted plates and other crockery giving it a homely feel.

We found the welcome warm and friendly and felt really well looked after over the course of the night both by kitchen crew and wait staff. Louise, head chef and on her last day (sad face) ran a fun but effective service and she also spent some time discussing the menu with us too. We enjoyed her interaction with us and her way of team leading.

We start off ordering some of the small bites which are actually kept in a glass counter in the front bar except for the anchovy montadito which is made fresh in the kitchen.

Anchovy montadito - a finger sandwich of toasted bread soaked in olive oil with an anchovy filling. It was a salty, tasty opener and I can imagine great with a sherry or dry white wine. It's not the best anchovy morsel I've had but it was still pretty tasty.

Hervey Bay scallop with chorizo was a delicious plump scallop served cold with a warm chorizo relish that was sweet and with a hint of smoke. Yum!

Chorizo croquettes continued the chorizo rush and these little torpedos of crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside croquettes were a delight along with the pungent garlicky mayo they rested on. I thought they gave the Jalapeno and Cheese Croquettes from Huxtable a good run for their money but didn't quite take the crown. I think it's because the Huxtable ones leave this lingering heat so it's etched in the memory for longer.

We then share a bigger plate which was a special of Albacore tuna cured on a bed of Himalayan salt with apple, hazelnuts, chillies. Oh this was an explosion of all good things. Thick, meaty fish seasoned well with some chilli heat and a tang of apple and then a toastiness of nuts. Oh this was sensational. Bring me more please.

Pickled cauliflower with broccolini and chilli and garlic cut through the salty flavours of the previous dishes and lightened the tones of richness.

We also enjoyed the grilled snapper agro dolce. Beautifully cooked fillets of fish with a hint of char and then sweetened with the agro dolce which is this blend of currants and pine nuts and sweet spices that enhance the sweetness of the fresh fish. Light, bright and heartwarmingly good.

Our meat choice was the peppered Wagyu brisket and we did umm and aah between this and the peri peri baby chicken or the quail with pomegranate. The beef came with a generous serve of roasted chat potatoes.

The brisket was so tender it just flaked yet was still juicy and the peppery crust provided some texture contrast, It came with mustard but Louise also gave us a couple of bottle of housemade hot sauce which I loved with the beef. Steve loved the beef but then braised meat is really his thing. I liked it but I think I would have preferred the chicken or quail more. I did love the roasted chats too.

We took a break, carried on being entertained by the kitchen crew and watched them compile their order lists and job lists for the next people. Steve enjoyed another glass of wine as our shared bottle of 2008 Curly Flat pinot noir was empty. I went with a special digestif cocktail based on an Amaro Montenegro but with a raspberry twist. It was sharp and fruity with a creamy egg white top and was delicious.

Our choice of desserts were the dulce de leche cream pot and peanut praline and the
baked sour cherries, vanilla mascarpone and almonds. I had the dulce de leche which was basically a creamy, caramelly panna cotta topped with crunchy nutty praline and shards of amber like rock sugar. Surprisingly it wasn't cloyingly sweet which was great and whilst I thought I wouldn't get through it all, a break half way meant that it did eventually all disappear! Steve loved the cherry dessert with the cream - lots of sour cherries, almondy soft sponge and then creaminess from the mascarpone.

Casa Ciuccio was a hit for us. We loved being seated at table 29. Service was attentive and passionate and the food delicious and nourishing for the soul. I am looking forward to returning already.

Spanish Saturday and Steve suggested trying the Bohemian at South Wharf prior to some holiday shopping.

I liked the decor of the place with its retro European posters, velvet curtains, bistro feel and we chose from the lunch menu and concentrated on trying different tapas.

I was a little baffled by the order our food came out but that didn't stop it from tasting good. The chorizo came out first with a blob of creamy mayo. Dense and savoury with a paprika piquancy it was sliced thickly so wasn't overly dry which sometimes it can be. Definitely enjoyable.

Char grilled asparagus with truffle hollandaise and crispy jamon came next. The asparagus was slighly over cooked so slightly softer than al dente but the truffle hollandaise and salty jamon were great flavour enhancers and magicked this humble asparagus dish into a decadent luxury.

Patatas bravas were a little bit of a surprise. Four bite sized cylinders of potato, slightly bevelled inside to house a spicy tomato salsa and a dollop of sour cream. Crispy, spicy, then cool and refreshing these were delicious. So much so we had to order another portion! Expensive really considering there were only four bites per serve but just really tasty.

And the last two dishes that came out were the cured meats - a selection of Spanish cured meats, served with toasted bread and tomato marmalade. I thought this would have come out first but it didn't! There was thickly sliced salamis, bresaola, prosciutto...the tomato marmalade wasn't the greatest - kind of like a sweet and sour sauce from a jar but the meats were good. As a meat plate it was certainly generous. My preference would be for some other different things maybe a terrine and / or some pickles like the charcuterie plate at Cumulus.

Grilled rabbit with globe artichokes and romesco sauce was our final dish and it was a great little rabbit course. Stuffed with boudin noir and on some mash it was elegant and delicious.

The Bohemian is a really pleasant place to dine. It's not easy to eat outdoors as it's in a bit of a wind tunnel but inside it's cosy but not too close together and has a charming vibe to it.

Saturday was date day and we'd decided to have tapas before heading to the Rooftop Cinema. I've been wanting to try Portello Rosso for ages. Steve had never heard of it but I had heard good things and had walked past a couple of times having been to the bar next door. I think I've tried to get in twice just on a Friday night and it was fully booked both times.

Anyway we secured an early table and were told we'd have to vacate by 20:15 which suited our timeframes. We were seated upstairs and we found the waiters to be quite introverted but still pleasant and friendly and most importantly offered a personal touch in their engagement. They also came u[ with some good food and wine recommendations.

Our tapas feast began with:

Tortilla – Spanish style frittata with onion jam
Charcuterie Plate – Selection of imported & house made salamis, jamon & charcuteria items with cornichons, Spanish caperberries and bread  
Boquerones – Marinated white anchovies over honeyed goats cheese with smoked paprika

We found even the small dishes which we were told to order two of if we both wanted to try were actually quite generous and large enough to share if a taster is all you want. The tortilla up there is for one and you can see quite easily divided into two.

The tortilla was light and fluffy with good flavour and different textures from the veggies. I used some of the onion jam to accompany the rabbit terrine on the charcuterie board. We enjoyed the jamon the most on the board although the terrine was yummy. The Serrano ham was so different to the two Iberico hams. And the two different ages of the Iberico is quite startling with the pricier and older version being understandably better. Slightly drier in texture and with a flavour that lasts longer in the mouth it was delicious.

I loved the anchovies as I like a meatier anchovy and enjoyed the creamy sweetness of the cheese against it. I would choose this over Movida's anchoa although Steve's fave is still the saltier Movida version.

Mejillons - Black shell mussels cooked in a smoky tomato sauce served with grilled garlic bread
Bandarilla - Spice rubbed lamb over smoky eggplant with a green tomato & chipotle Salsa
Crispy pork belly over almond & garlic puree

The mussels were plump and tasty and the smoky sauce perfect for bread dipping. The pork belly was flavoursome with crispy crackling and without the gelatinous fatty layer that sometimes comes with pork belly when it's not rendered down enough. This was like the Chinese version but meatier. The puree was a bit salty for me but it was all about the meat.

The only slight let down was probably the lamb skewers. The meat was a bit tough and sinewy and the flavour nothing all that memorable. I'm not sure the Morroccan spices rub (not necessarily Morroccan but tasted that way to me) went with the tangy smoky creamy eggplant mix.

We loved the flavours of the Asparagus barbequed with herb & garlic butter finished with shaved smoked cheddar but felt it was overdone slightly as it was a bit too soft in texture. We prefer our asparagus with a little crunch.

Our final dish was a chorizo, tomato and honey dish which was exactly what it was and by this time we were too full to appreciate it fully.

After a little break and as we finished the wine we decided to share the icecream terrine with almond praline.

Flavours in the terrine were salted caramel, a centre of raspberry and almond. Great flavours and we especially loved the tart fruitiness of the raspberry.

We thoroughly enjoyed our meal at Portello Rosso. We loved the old nod to its former use as a warehouse. We loved the friendly and homely charm whilst still being elegant. We loved the honesty of the place and the lack of pretention. And we also found it good value for money.