It’s so long since we’ve been to the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival! But we finally managed it. We were told on the evening that this dinner sold out in 12 minutes, so presumably we were lucky to do so. It’s lovely having Estelle within walking distance up High Street. Restaurants go up and down and we were here on New Years Eve and had a lovely meal. So expectations were high.
Here is the menu which awaited at our place setting. Including Estelle’s war welcome to the team from the three Michelin star restaurant, Odette in Singapore.
Along with this lovely introduction to Julien Royer, the owner, creator of Odette, as he tells us her, named after his grand-mère.
We had also opted for the wine pairings and were given a lost of those we enjoyed with the meal.
So we started with the Grand Cru Champagne Bouzy which was said to be especially suitable for the kangaroo that was part of this plate of four Snacks. We were advised to eat them in anti-clockwise order the tart on the bottom right hand corner, so we did: Onion tart, licorice, coffee; Kohlrabi dumpling, shrimp oscietra caviar; Crumpet, Yarra Valley Caviar salmon roe, horseradish; Kangaroo, cured egg yolk, black rice. So pretty, so tasty. I loved all but the kohlrabi which I have yet to find edible in any form!
After the snacks our two chefs appeared to give a brief welcome. Scott Picket mine host and guest Julien Royer. Hearing from the chefs is as aspect of these meals that make them memorable.
Our first full dish was one of the highlights of the night. It came from Odette – Heirloom beetroot composition. The accompanying description of salt baked beetroot, stracciatella, honey seems to wilfully understate the complexity and range of flavours involved. We were told to start eating from the bottom. Which meant the first mouthful was a beetroot sorbet! the small light purple things are actually beetroot flavoured meringues. Amazing!
The next dish came from Estelle and was another highlight. Aquina Murray Cod, with leeks, seaweed, sauce Meuniere. So delicate, so tasty. Accompanied by a glass of 2019 Syrahmi ‘La Bise ‘ Marsanne Roussanne from Heathcote. A wine we will look out for.
Next came another dish from Odette. Dry Aged Great Ocean Road Duck with kumquat, turnip, burnt eggplant. Waiters came to the table and showed us the whole roasted duck before it was cut. The Michelin way perhaps. I loved this, although another guest at our table thought the skin was not crisp enough! Accompanied by a glass of 2019 Piano Piano ‘Sophie’s Block’ Chardonnay from Beechworth, a wine we’ve had before and which is very good. Worth looking out for.
As you can see from the photos, the night was getting darker – and my hand getting less steady. Also I was getting full so could only manage half of this next dish from Estelle. Westholme Wagyu Porterhouse with fermented truffle, pine. It was delicious but very rich. The meatworkers I used to work with all believed porterhouse was the most flavoursome of steaks. With it we had a very fine 2018 Lyons Will Pinot Noir from the Macedon Ranges. Very dark and full flavoured for a pinot.
The chefs came back for a little Q&A with the CEO of the Food & Wine Festival. Here’s Julien Royer, who was really delightful. His English was perfect. We were told Odette is a very small restaurant. He talked about his grand-mère who taught him how to cook. Scott Picket talked about a memorable meal cooked by Julien that he had experienced in Singapore some years ago. They both thanked their teams and everyone involved in presenting the meal. And we progressed to dessert, both by Odette. This first was really a palate cleanser and not very sweet – delicious. Described simply as Rhubarb & Yoghurt but I suspect more complicated than that. ACcompanied by a 2015 Chateau Raymond Lafon Sauternes Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc from Bordeaux.
This was followed by a completely delicious and indulgent sweet called ‘Exotic’ Island of vanilla, passionfruit, kaffir lime. Creamy and very citrusy. A perfect end to a very fine meal.
Except it wasn’t quite the end – there were Petit Fours to come: Banana miso fudge, Rum and vanilla canele, Macadamia praline tartlet. I could only manage a small bite of each.
We did not avail ourselves of coffee or tea which was on offer. But we did pop into Buck Mulligan’s Whiskey Bar as we walked home. Always a nice way to finish a rich meal. We tried Irishman and Writers Tears whiskey. I liked the name of the latter but we both liked the taste of Irishman better!
As my daughter noted on my Instagram post the blurriness of this photo is perhaps correlated with the amount of liquor consumed during the evening. Be that as it may we had a lovely night. Melbourne is a great place to live!
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