meatball & wine

Melbourne has gone crazy over Meatball & Wine. I don't know what it is - the novelty of spherical food, the fact that there's wine involved, or that we love sexual innuendo?

There is almost always a line out the front of this eatery on Flinders Lane, it is of the tribe of those places that don't take bookings. Melbournians have a codependent relationship with these glamazon restaurants. At the same time as we roll our eyes and bitch about it, we line up, teeth chattering in the cold, for a coveted table. Then tell our friends about it the next day as if retelling a victory and enabling the process.

The get up is glamorous industrial with exposed brick and too-loud music, the patrons are all young professionals mulling over which job to jump into next and the fact that this food is paleo-friendly.

The concept is pretty simple. You choose from meat or vegetarian balls and "something to rest your balls on" (love it).  I didn't go for the vegetarian option but have been told by many people that the pumpkin one is really very good. The flavours are great and make this formerly humble staple cool in an ironic kind of way.

Pork balls with sage, fennel and orange on Italian beans.

Fish balls with dill and lemon on "something veg".

They have sliders too, consisting of balls in a small bun. V cute.

Beef sliders - mini brioche buns with balls and sauce.

Even the dessert is ball shaped. Chocolate and vanilla ice cream sandwiched between macaron shells. By this stage we soporifically stuffed so I really have to get back to you on how enjoyable they were, but as a concept they were perfect. 

MB&W is a place where diners don't just go for the food but the Melbourne experience of it all - the waiting, the wine, the feeling of good company and a vague reminder of New York.

Meatball & Wine
135 Flinders Lane
Melbourne
9654 7545

yamato japanese

It's a blisteringly hot day. Then, one of those warm still nights in the city. Summer vibrated in the air as 1405 and I decide to go on an adventure in Chinatown. We walked past familiar places like Dae Jang Geum and Spicy Fish and opted to turn down a cobblestone street, past EuroTrash where one of our friends had his 21st. It feels like decades ago and we realize this is because we have since graduated from uni and become useful members of society. As much I love my work, there is an accompanying feeling of numbness and sameness to the days - if work life feels like stupor, uni life feels like a remembered dream.

At the end of the street is a teeny tiny restaurant flanked by the noisiest air conditioners this side of China. There are pieces of paper stuck on the inside of the window, it reminds me of preschoolers and their finger paintings, proud parents. We squeeze inside to find 40 people seated in a space for about 20. We fold ourselves into a side table. It is stiflingly hot and everyone has ordered bottles of beer, beaded with moisture. Despite everything the charm of this place is immediately apparent, cutesy paper hearts abound and there are mismatched mini-kites blu-tacked to the walls.

We try not to overdo it, but sometimes habit gets the better of us and we still end up eating like marathon runners on a day where really all one needs is a cold beverage and a lie down.

Sushi sashimi combination.

Yose Nabe - seafood, tofu and vegetables in a miso base.

Everything was yum and fresh, service was fantastic considering that in this weather all I would want to do is swat at people who constantly ask me for water. We will be back when the air con works properly and it's a little cooler.

Yamato Japanese
28 Corrs Lane
Melbourne
9663 1706

bohemian bar & restaurant

Many moons ago my beautiful girlfriends and I fancied ourselves as the SATC bunch (before the movies came out and made all the fans feel silly and has-been), languidly sipping cocktails and exchanging hilarious raunchy stories about men and their foibles. This was in the baby years of the 2000's, when we first started uni, barely over 20, no disposable income to speak of and still living at home. Back then, we thought everything was cool. We can only look back now and appreciate how naff our imitations were. The only thing that we had in common with those characters was a genuine care for each other and what we (I think rightly) deemed real friendship. Many moons later now I can appreciate the gravity of what I guess SATC and others of its ilk inspired in me, a kind of link between glamour and the secret lives of girlfriends. This is why, whenever I go out with my female friends, it always makes me feel more grown up in a different way to marriage.

Bohemian Bar and Restaurant was the setting for a girly catch-up with Q, a close friend with a full to bursting busy life. Located along South Wharf, we took a table outside where the air was cicada song warm and we could catch a breeze off the water.

The food was Spanish-inspired and fabulous with drinks and someone with a story.

Patatas bravas: potato cylinders, spiced tomato and aioli

I have a soft spot for potato and really liked these despite the fact that they are little over salted. We were tapping the salt off the sides. Other than that the little pocket at the top for tomato and aioli were perfect.

Gambas al ajillo: garlic prawns with paprika

These prawns were nicely cooked but a little plain. More chilli and garlic needed. I think prawns can be so much more exciting than this "boiled" look. Waiter said this was a most popular dish.

A green salad  with pomegranate and prettiness

We also had a seafood paella (no photo) which was yum but a little small for the two of us. I would recommend ordering one each if you're looking for restaurant portions.

Bunuelos de chocolate: chocolate filled doughnut balls, confit cumquat

Q's official Facebook account of the night was "Melbourne on summer nights. Best friends. Long stories of things you used to only read about. Home." I would whole heartedly agree.

Bohemian Bar and Restaurant
35 Dukes Walk
South Wharf
9682 0566

the little ox

1405 and I held our wedding reception in St Kilda. We went there this morning to pick up things we left at the venue including our guest book which my Dad bought for us from China. I kid you not it looks like something Confucius used if he was a pimp in the 1970's. It is A3 size, red velvet with gold Chinese writing and red glossy pages. On the drive back we realized we were starving and were delighted to drive past a small cafe that looked like they had exactly the kind of food we were looking for.

We loves flowers.

The Little Ox looks like it's in a place where an old milk bar used to be but has been fully renovated and decked out in modern art and Scandinavian wood tones. It seems like an established local favourite, people come in, nod to the staff and they are rewarded with their favourite coffee, done their way.

We ordered the specials which, while we were reading the guestbook, forgot to record down. So basically it was an egg brunchy dish and a pulled pork sammich.

Poached egg with sausage on corn bread with beetroot relish.

Pulled pork sandwich with iceberg lettuce, tomato and kumara crisps.

We liked it, also we love their cute little name. We also love love our friends and family, and especially my Dad.

The Little Ox
452 New Street

Brighton

9596 6577

pei modern

Continuing our yoga adventures in the city we ate breakfast last week at Pei Modern after hearing it won New Restaurant of the Year in 2012 - how the judges would pick the winner in a town like Melbourne boggles the mind.

We totally bought into the hype and kind of got let down. 

Poached eggs with sardines on marinaded capsicum.

The sardines were kind of sad and limp and the bread, although toasted, wasn't warm. The whole dish could fit into my palm, really. 

Poached egg with smoked salmon and potato rosti.

1405's egg wasn't very impressively poached, and again wasn't warm enough. Maybe it was just an off morning. To be fair, breakfast definitely wasn't its focus (I think we saw a total of 3.5 other patrons from 7.15am to 8.30am). The location is very convenient and means we can attend in a suit after work and not feel like tools. Based on the glowing reviews from our friends, we may be back to try dinner.

Pei Modern

45 Collins Street

Melbourne

9654 8545

things I have learned to cook

My mother is a master consummate cook. She is famous in our little community and every person I've brought to dinner has liked me a little more for it. Her food reduces full grown Chinese men to tears (fact: Chinese men don't cry) and will end every argument over anything.

So, predictably, I cannot cook.

Compounded by the fact that 1405 and I both work late, when we do end up cooking it is an extraordinary event. Here is a selection of our budding attempts, would love to hear about your magic foolproof meals!

Vegetarian lasagne with bechamel sauce.

Japanese chicken curry with carrots and potato.

Ratatouille.

Garlic and tomato fried mussels.

Caprese salad.

Roasted beetroot and green bean salad with cheese.

mess hall breakfast

We got married! We're back from our honeymoon! And doing all kinds of married stuff. For example, in a brave effort to normalise our waistlines (we're not fat, just cuddly) we have decided, in true married fashion, to take yoga classes together. Not just any normal yoga class though - goddamn 6.15am yoga classes in the city which require us to get up at the hour of 5 and 15 and roll in to do the following postures:

BADASS HEADSTAND!
Image taken from http://theia-fitgoddess.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/i-did-headstand-in-yoga-last-night.html

BOSS SHOULDER STAND!!

Yes, it is as hard as it looks. Especially for someone like me who was FAT AS as a kid (scroll down to the bottom of this post for illustration) so during the formative years I never learned how to do handstands on the oval. In the words of the thespian Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys 2, "Shit just got real." Maybe if we get really good we'll post photos of ourselves doing it!

So we've started to have breakfast regularly in the city. Smiley face.

We found Mess Hall on Bourke Street with cool morning music and decent food. The chai is very good. The sparse (and tense) morning corporate breakfast crowd kills our yoga buzz a little, but if you have suggestions as to where to avoid suit-wearers on a weekday in the city, we're happy to receive your non-existent recommendations.

The sweet options are yummy and surprisingly filling.

Blueberry and ricotta pancakes with maple syrup. Don't be deceived by the pretty berry topping, this is a man's dish. Would feed my whole family, really.

Homemade granola with poached rhubarb and yoghurt

The eggs are gooood. But as 1405's "I have never eaten so much egg in my life until I met you" suggests, I like eggs, most ways.

Poached asparagus with scrambled eggs and shaved parmigiano

One morning they didn't poach eggs. From the waitress' tone it sounded like the chef went on a poaching strike so we got scrambled eggs in a hollandaise dish - it was nice but I was eyeing everyone else's poached eggs as we were leaving. Maybe the chef caved in to the tense suits.

Hollandaise eggs with ham, spinach, hollandaise and dukkah on a sweet bun. Usually with poached eggs.

We have told too many people that we're doing a yoga thing this year to stop going now. I imagine when we're done (although one can never be done with yoga...) with these city classes Mess Hall memories will be forever linked to the sheer sweaty terror of being upside down, in a good way.

The Mess Hall
51 Bourke Street
Melbourne
9654 6800