France or Greece? Or is it Australia?

Amnesty Week Post -written 14th January 2009

Lets stop and smell the Australian culinary 'roses' for a moment...

And reflect on how lucky we are in Melbourne, and Australia, in general.

We have richly diverse cultural backgrounds that has given us an incredible choice of dining options, something that I never give much thought to until I am overseas on holiday and eating the same food everyday.
I do like to eat like a local on holiday, so when in France it's the quaint bistros that get my patronage, in Vietnam the brightly flavoured salads are frequent features, in Hong Kong it was roast goose and in Macau the 'portuguese' custard tarts.

But in Melbourne it could be anything, and that's what must be so exciting and confusing for visitors, there is not one strong theme that I'd call Melbourne or Australian food.

As you may know, if you have read here before, I'm not the type to mince my words and get confused about food, Australian food does have a style of its own, its just that until you have spent some time here, it's kind of hard to get your head around.

I was trying to explain this to some English tourists on the weekend, "Australian food is about freshness; European in the originating idea but with Asian flavour twists and ingredients. We still love comfort style food from the 'motherland' but will tweak it", (who hasn't eaten curried tuna mornay served with a side of fried rice from the local Chinese takeaway - ok in the 90's maybe - but now you are getting the drift).

The point I am making is that our food, the stuff we cook at home is varied, and we are not afraid to mix tradition with modern and throw caution into the wind but the really beautiful thing is that you can also go the other way. You can experience pure examples of what it is like dining in another country without travelling there, which is what I have done recently at Hellenic Republic and France Soir.

Not quite Greece; Hellenic Republic, Brunswick East
I'd had a glimpse of the food late last year and have been killing to get in and try George Calambaris' agapi packed food.

Firstly a warning, Hellenic Republic is frantically busy, but for all you people that like to plan your meals you can book (of which I am incredibly surprised at considering the prices), so I would advise this, unless you are prepared to smile and hope for the best, as a walk in.

The menu is intimidatingly huge, with more than 20 'piata' small plates plus a selection of cheeses and meats. Then there is also more than a dozen grill options such as meats, fish, shellfish and vegetables, some composed dishes such as Moussaka and then also desserts.

Despite this the dishes are very clear about what they are, citing a Greek name and then a English descriptor but for me, ita ll a bit too much like hard work, sifting through, tossing up this combo with that, oh but what if I forgot about this, is it balanced, and most importantly will I have dish envy as they fly past to other tables.

So. We settled on the first of the 'trapezi' menus, a set menu offering a selection from the menu. Some vegetables, dip, seafood and meat with fruit for dessert. The second menu option also included a dessert course.
I knew the food looked good, I could trust it would taste good, yet the value question was the one I wasn't sure about. Well rest assured we walked out two hours later stuffed to the gills; feed watered and relaxed with loud but fun Greek music.
Just like a Greek holiday, yet not nearly as far (well it is a fair way to Brunswick East from St Kilda!)

Not quite France; France Soir, South Yarra
I think I have dined in less interesting bistros in France, France Soir is one of those places that just has me hopping. Moving between the tables as we sit I resist the strange urge to say "merci", yet I can't resist a glass of chilled Lillet Blanc.
Glancing across the menu I don't really need to look as I already know what I will see, typical, down the line classic french bistro fair -just what the doctor ordered! With what has to be Melbourne's cheapest shucked to order oysters, if they are in season I can't go past them, if not -like on my recent visit- the lambs brains or steak tartare become contenders. Even maybe the salade Nicoise.
Conversation is always lean upon arrival at France Soir, as the encyclopedic wine list requires a heavy time investment from PDC but that's fine as I sit back and watch the comings and goings of the humming dining room.
The service is always a bit of a game for me, its just not the same at France Soir if our waiter is not at least a little bit detached from us; somewhat charming, perhaps flirtatious, a little more distracted and gossipy with the other waiters. I nearly expect to see them smoking in the bar as I experienced in Lyon a few years back. Never too busy for a cigarette or a gossip with the other waiters.

Don't let the GFC hold back your foodie travel plans, both of these restaurants offer amazing value and an experience you would have to otherwise travel the globe for.
Lucky us huh!

The Saint Marcellin I had on the train...

I was thinking about the last post and remembered that I took a bit of a tongue in cheek image of our lunch on the fast train from Paris to Lyon. All the bits were brought from a morning Parisian market (except for the 1/2 bottle of Beaujoulais, of which PDC brought back very proudly when he went looking for a bottle of water! Only in France I can assume...?)
The pot the cheese is in is the same one that was in my previous post that we brought home, but the key thing from this image is the sticker that I was looking for. It clearly is labelled 'lait cru' - raw milk, this was the remarkably rich and luscious St Marcellin and yes definitely superior to the pasteurised product available in Australia. One consistent factor is through, the incredibly ripe state of which we enjoyed it, the knife wasn't required just a crusty bit of baguette as a spoon and a quick tongue to stop it dripping everywhere.
Jack

St-Marcellin

This is one of my favourite cheeses, perhaps because of the amazing disc of it that PDC and I ate for lunch on the fast train between Paris and Lyon.

We had been to one of the local markets that morning and purchased the cheese in the cute little glazed terracotta pot in the image above (we had to pay an additional Euro for the privilege of the pot, but how could we not?).

Since we have been back to normal in Melbourne, I noticed a few key cheese focused stores selling these beautifully ripe St-Marcellins in little plastic moulds, but they are so much more exciting when you have your very own St-Marcellin ceramic pot! A bit wanky, I know but when you don't need a knife to eat it, just crusty bread as it is softer than yoghurt, the little ceramic pot comes into its own.

What is it?
St-Marcellin - White mould, cows milk cheese from the French region, Dauphine, east of Lyon. The cheese is often eaten, quite ripe and creamy, the small surface areas allows for quick ripening and development of the creamy internal texture. In France we ate the local usual, unpasteurised version, but unfortunately in Australia is just a pasteurised version that the government allows us to buy. Not having tasted the pasteurised and unpasteurised side by-side I think my memory may be a little swayed due to holiday fun, but my experience in France seemed richer and more luscious.
Jack

Tagged - 7 Things about me

I'd never been "tagged" before, until last week, when I was tagged twice.
Christie at Pigeon Pair and Duncan at Syrup and Tang have tagged me with quite similar rules to the tag, 7/8 things that "you didn't know about me".
So here goes:

1. When I was recently in France and Spain, for my first time, I didn't enter even one museum, art gallery or church, there was far to much eating to be done, no time for cultural visits. I did go to the Louvre, considered going inside, yet decided to check out the cool bar across the road.

2. I did Year 10 work experience in a kitchen. I had wanted to be a pastry chef, until my career planner at school told me pastry chefs start really early in the morning... well that solved that, cooking wasn't for me! I often think, that I should have trained as a chef, yet would I still love food as much, possibly not, there are a lot of chefs out there that don't love their jobs.

3. I ONLY go to the gym so I can eat whatever I want and often come up with some great work food ideas while pounding away on the crosstrainer.

4. I hate shopping at the supermarket, and would always rather to spend double the time at a market or a great shopping strip where I can go to the butcher, the fishmonger, the fruit and vegie man, the baker and where ever else looks desirable. It often sends PDC crazy that I can 'just look' in a butcher or at a fruit shop, even with no intention of a purchase.

5. Occasionally, I have to shop at a supermarket, due to the hours I work. I love to stand in the long queues and look at what people have in their baskets as they go by. Perhaps it's the food snob in me but I internally giggle at the silly people with the apple pie and the low fat custard, or the people with the old looking 'fresh' vegetables and diet coke.

6. Very few people that actually know me, know about this blog. I don't like to talk about it with restaurant friends, it just gets too politically tricky. Anyway this community have very little knowledge about the world of food blogs, so the ones that have worked it out (my full name is listed on my profile) get full points for savviness when it comes to local blogs.

7. When I worked making food look pretty all day, as a photographic food stylist, I had virtually no appetite, touching, manipulating and thinking about it all day. People would say, wow you must get so hungry doing that work, no way, it's not real food, it's painted, preened and glued in scary ways.

8. Apart from some seasonally long hours, I think I have the best job in the world for me. It's still feels funny being paid as 'the food expert', as my boss likes to say when he can't remember my official title (Menu Concept Designer), but that also brings other stresses like having my lunch scrutinised by the office as they walk past, wondering what the food nerd eats! Feels like I am in the supermarket and the roles are reversed!

Jack

NB So who do I tag in return, ... ?!!?

Some beautiful food photos from France and Spain

Hope you enjoy some of these beautiful food related photos from my recent trip.

Striped heirloom tomatoes from a Paris market.

I've titled this 'blushing salad', one of the 15 courses I ate at Mugaritz a few weeks ago. It was a pretty little herb and blossom salad on top of a emmentel cheese broth. As I gently moved the leaves to begin eating, the baby vegetables hiding underneath, namely the beetroot moved and tinted the broth this pretty colour. (All the Mugaritz experience to come)

These picture perfect ceps were just sitting on the bar in San Sebastian, Spain.

Fruit jellies in Lyon, France.

This one is for PDC, I think we took more photos of this hill than at the Louvre.

Some jamon with prices in Euros at the La Boqueria market, Barcelona.

Pimms in London...

Wild Strawberries at Cal Pep, Barcelona, just before they were put in the bottom of one of the 'foams'.

Perhaps not a beautiful photo, but a beautiful dish at Gandarias, San Sebastian, Spain. The leg of a suckling pig that was roasted until the skin was crispy and the flesh soft and falling from the bone. Simple delicious food.

Hope you enjoyed them.

Jack

The taste of summer

The cold weather, has reminded me of these beautiful strawberries I ate in Marseilles, France.
They were sold in the pretty little wooden box with pale blue trim and wrapped in paper in the store. The were probably the best strawberries I have ever eaten, so ripe that the fragrance was intoxicating and that the stalks pulled away from the flesh in your lips.
Bring on summer!
Jack

Lou Pescadou

After more than a week of city and town life, as fantastic as it has been, (back posts to come -featuring the amazing food we have been experiencing!) craving the sun and the beach, we headed along the French coast from Marseilles down towards the Spanish boarder and closer to our next major destination Barcelona.

Following a day on the most amazing black pebble beach, we headed out of dinner, intrigued by what Lonely Planet referred to as a restaurant that had been serving the same menu since 1965! Gosh they must be good at it by now... so we headed into Lou Pescadou, also partially intrigued since it was 15€ (about $27 AUD) per person set menu for 5 courses, VERY cheap compared to what we had been eating.

Essentially, for people like me that only possess school French (and in my case supplemented by a decent dose of food and wine French), the menu was a simple version of fish bisque to start served with crotons, raw garlic to rub and grated gruyere cheese. We were given a large pot to help out serves from. Like magic the raw garlic was grating straight onto the croutons that we where then to throw into the soup. Unfortunately from the stench of our skin the next morning we went a bit crazy with this.After the soup we were served some mussels that had been steamed with what I suspected was some wine and Provencal flavours; local herbs, tomato, garlic and some white zucchini and capsicum.

Next was a huge cast iron pot of a house made pork pâté, that we were given a knife and left again to help our selves, it was incredibly rich with what I’m sure is every type of offal imaginable.After the pâté we were offered a beef or fish course. The fish was a lightly floured and pan fried plate size flat fish, perhaps like a sole? Served simply with a wedge of lemon.The final sweet course was a slice of what when I was a kid, I’d call Neapolitan ice cream. The quality was very basic but it was served with a generous glug of some type of local liqueur, as if we needed it by this stage, as the only beverage options at Lou Pescadou was carafes of wine; local white or rose, served by the litre carafe... Well what more can I say than, one was not quite enough but two was a little foolishly holiday spirited! Especially for PDCs head the next morning hehehe
Though the food was basic, it was delicious, interesting and obviously had a strong local following from being squeezed between locals at long tables running the length of the dining room, all night.
The value and sense of generosity was outstanding, the wine was burdenly cheap at 5€ a litre, and the staff where smiley, what more can you ask for?

Jack

Clafoutis as it should be

Just had to share this image of a market snack the other day, while we were in Lyon.

Clafoutis is a traditional 'pudding' for lack of a better term, it is served in a modern Australian sense with any type of fruit and a cake-style batter poured over the top and baked.

In the traditional sense, as pictured it is black cherries, stones in as they impart their own level of flavour intensity, and the batter is a very basic crepe or pancake batter.

The pictured clafoutis was amazingly texturual with the soft, seasonally beautiful black cherries, the firm yet slightly savoury batter and the seeds to be spat out as you go...

Jack

Laduree, Minums, Les Deux Magots, L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

What a day!!!
No touristy sites yet appart from the food ones.
Laduree; macaroons to die for, in a selection of seasonal/daily flavours. Think crunchy outer and heavenly soft centres that nearly fall apart once bitten; blueberry, cherry and raspberry were the picks.

Minums; next door to the famed, Maxims. It was the little brother of Maxims, and very similar to France Soir on Toorak Road. We sat at a gorgeous old bistro table at the front and drank Cote Du Rhone rouge by the carafe and ate the clichés... very cheesey gratinated onion soup, a rich bisque soup with rouille, steak tartare and fries -listed as pomme allumettes - straw potatoes, and I had a green salad on the side, missing my greens!

Dinner at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon
You know you have a successful restaurant when you can tell a late walkin table -we arrived at 10pm, that if they come back at 11.30 you may have something for them... and then they come back... and then happlily waited until midnight to be seated! But we had to go to this restaurant based on SO many recommendations from friends
*** -images and details to come

**More to come (I am trying to type on a French keyboard...very slowly)**
Jack

Paris at last

Well here I am, at last in Paris.
After a long flight; Melbourne, Hong Kong, London and then Paris, and down one bag... we have arrived. Feeling like a easy bistro meal and a decent nights sleep, it was lucky Gabby could not we could get us a reservation at L'Ami Jean until 10pm or we would have missed it!
Arriving slightly late we did not realise what we were getting ourselves in for...
**More to come**
Jack

We are off!

Just a quick post to say we are off on our wining and dining adventures in France, Spain and London. Be back on home soil in 3 weeks, but don't stop visiting I will be posting some very interesting restaurants while away.
Tonight before the late flight so get us in the mood we are dining at Comme with its French and Spain cuisine, have dined there before and loved the gourgeous fresh flavours and flexible plate sizes.
Bye for now...
Jack