Some fine eating was to had at the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival. A nice meal at the Society and some lunches. But they were hard to find!
One of my favorite things about the festival is the opportunity to have a great meal cooked by an international chef. I remember one fantastic dinner by a Spanish guest of the festival at the new Hilton down by the Polly Woodside a couple of years back. Something to savor and remember. I still have the menu. Similar opportunities were hard to find this year, which was disappointing. I am not sure whether that was because there were not many on offer, or just that I couldn’t find them.
I went to one early on, although I am not sure how connected it was to the MF&WF. It was described as Hot New York Chef hits Society Restaurant and as Hosted by acclaimed wine journalist Mike Bennie and Paul DiMattina. The chef in question was Brad McDonald from Colonie NYC. He has also worked at Noma and at Per Se.
Four of us went and had a great meal, four course a la carte from a limited, but very interesting menu, accompanied by great wines recommended by Mike. Dishes of the night, neither of which, to my great regret, were ordered by me, were Shrimp and grits, and Beef tenderloin tartar. Both had a little bit of Noma about them (or so we thought – never having been to Noma!)
And we had a couple of great wines, especially a T’Gallant Arneis that was produced an old fashioned way, buried in the bottle (or barrel) in the earth for part of the time. Sounded interesting, was expensive, must be good – and it was! Different and delicious. And Mike, who was lovely, recommended a Moscato to have with dessert which was just right. A lovely meal.
And I had a few lunches, though these were impossible to find on the festival website. I had to ring up the information line – a big fail for any website worth it’s salt. I didn’t know they were called Restaurant Express. I found first by accident on my way to the Theatre of Ideas, dropping into Blue Chillies at the top (city) end of Brunswick Street. It is a great little Malaysian restaurant. Fantastic duck rendang, lovely service, good wine. I do recommend.
I took a couple of friends to Gingerboy. I loved the nuanced, delicate but flavoursome, dishes but my (male) colleague thought the flavours were far too delicate and the serves too small. We were agreed that the service left a bit to be desired – maybe they were under pressure, though the place wasn’t full. I and two girlfriends had a great meal at Sarti. We all loved each course, which were all very interesting and all delicious. And very lovely service. I was disappointed with the choices available at another lunch at PM21 where I have really enjoyed the food previously. A nice entree of terrine and a nice lemon tart for dessert but so- so in between.
Overall I was disappointed in the eating options on offer at the festival. The cheap lunches have been great in previous years, giving a sense of occasion around the city as people wait outside to enter their chosen restaurant for an early lunch, and then again when the second service is about to start. But this year not one of the restaurants I went to was anywhere near full and there was no buzz in the air at all.
Oh well, there’s always next time!
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