A Tassie Ethos of eating and drinking

Posted by Jan

We were just a little bit tired when we checked into our hotel in Hobart but I couldn't quite contain my excitement for our dinner booking. A short walk away from the hotel we spotted a little signboard signalling our destination - Ethos Eat Drink.

Hidden down a little laneway, Ethos Eat Drink, Elizabeth Street, Hobart

We wandered down the brick-tunnelled corridor and were pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful, genuinely rustic venue amid a vegetable garden. Showing some serious Tasmanian heritage, the Ethos dining space was constructed in the 1820s and its surrounds all date back way beyond the 'rustic chic' trend.

Rich with Hobart history, the restaurant retains strong links to its past with story-filled bits and pieces all around the venue, while it is very strongly linked to the Hobart of today with its focus on locally-grown produce.

Homegrown herbs and vegetables

Ethos offers set menus for dinner sittings, made up of whatever is in season and arrives in small batches at the restaurant on the day.

I opted for the eight course as opposed to the six once I learnt that the extra dishes were going to be charcuterie and cheese. I am, after all, a meat and cheese type of girl.

Jacob's Ladder Amber Ale and gin with house tonic water

We skipped the matching wines in favour of our usual: for him, a local beer in Jacob's Ladder Amber Ale from Van Dieman Brewing and a gin and tonic for me. A novel surprise was that Ethos make their own tonic water, bringing that Tassie touch to a simple G&T.

Jerusalem artichoke chips and crème fraîche

As an appetiser we first received Jerusalem artichoke chips stuck into a blob of crème fraîche. The curled, skin-on chips were thinly sliced and great with a light crunch.

Jerusalem artichokes are typically winter vegetables that I don't often cook as they are such small knobbly creatures and require patience, but I'm glad to have learnt a simple and delicious new way of cooking them.

Fermented apple, apple and miso puree

The next dish of fermented and fresh apple with miso purée and both herbs and vegetables from Ethos' own garden was a mouthful of sweetness, saltiness, crunch and softness.

As we were to discover, each dish at Ethos was made using just a few ingredients, together on a plate in a way that still allowed each flavour to shine.

Confit shallot, leek custard and fermented strawberry

The rather curious dish of leek custard with confit shallots and fermented strawberry was almost too pretty to eat.

I'm usually wary of shallots as I find they can overpower flavours but the whole dish was delicate and yet another example of multiple flavours and textures all in one mouthful.

House made charcuterie

When the shared charcuterie board arrived I was in food heaven, and missed most of the waiter's descriptions.

I know that the terrine was moist and beautifully seasoned and that the rilettes were just the right texture of tender, but it was the cured meat that stole the show. I couldn't quite figure out what cut of porky goodness it was but the excellent proportion of fat to meat made each bite just right.

Dover mussels, dry aged sausage, pickled red cabbage and baby carrots

Ethos' version of a surf and turf was probably my favourite shared dish of the night. I really appreciated the thoughtfulness of pairing simple vegetables of potatoes, carrots and tangy pickled red cabbage with smoky mussels and a salty, spiced sausage.

The flavours of each ingredient could either stand by itself or be eaten together in a wondrous land and sea combination.

Ox tongue, beetroot puree, rapini, pickled onions and cauliflower

While for some there's something about tongue that's just a bit like chewing a tongue, I adored the ox tongue dish and probably ate more than my fair share.

This was my first experience eating rapini raw, which has a slightly bitter taste as with most green leaf vegetables.

Slow cooked pork, broth, kale, spring onion, leek and pickled kohlrabi

Most other diners had started earlier than us so I'd seen bowls of the slow cooked pork arrive at their tables and smelt its earthy scent. This dish could have been my favourite but I found the pork just a bit dry. I did however slurp up all my broth and eat all my vegies.

The problem with multi-course menus is that I tend to overeat on the earlier dishes so by the time the mains/proteins arrive, I'm just too full to eat them. I also blame the bread.

Cheese course

More bread showed up as an accompaniment to the soft goat's cheese, served with a sweet fruit paste and preserved cherries to mellow the saltiness of the creamy, white cheese.

Fresh fig, fig puree, sorrel sorbet, chocolate shortbread, rhubarb syrup and buckwheat

No one was surprised that I barely ate the dessert of figs with sorrel sorbet, but I wasn't too sure about the chocolate shortbread which was just a bit too hard. The sorrel sorbet was a pleasant palate cleanser and tasted as green as it looked.

Bottle chandelier in the dining room

We were pretty much the last diners in the place when we finished but not once did we feel rushed. I did feel bad though and forgot to take a picture of the Tasmania's oldest plumbed toilet (circa 1900, viewed through a glass wall) on our way out.

I like and admire that Ethos uses traditional methods of fermenting, pickling and curing in the food they serve. Ethos is a great representation of the movement by chefs to serve seasonal local produce in a simple, less fussy way - and in a completely, through and through Tassie ethos.

Good times collective #11: Melbourne must-eats

Even as a not-so-common visitor to Melbourne these days, there are places and dishes that are almost quintessentially Melbourne from a Sydney perspective, as I'm sure there are the other way around - though perhaps less so with various restaurants and trends capturing stomachs in both states.

Fried eggs with jamon, figs and potato tortilla from Hardware Societe, Hardware Street, Melbourne

The hype around CBD laneway cafe Hardware Societe doesn't seem to have died down at all, if my last two visits to Melbourne are anything to go by.

Always turned off by the usual breakfast queues, I was pleasantly surprised on a Thursday morning with no queue but still a jam-packed venue including a shared communal table.

Fried eggs with jamon, figs and potato tortilla from Hardware Societe

Breakfast at Hardware Societe is no light affair. With Spanish and French influences throughout the menu, breakfast is a little more glam than your standard cafe breakfast and quite irresistibly so.

Spanish jamon cured ham and a wedge of potato tortilla made an appearance alongside in-season fresh figs and a scattering of pumpkin seeds in a gorgeous spin on breakfast eggs and toast that was as gourmet as it was filling.

Herb roasted mushrooms with twice cooked gruyere de comte souffle from Hardware Societe

Even more rich was the vegetarian dish of buttery, herb roasted mushrooms atop seeded toast, with watercress and two fluffy cheese "souffles" finished with a herbed creme fraiche; certainly one of the richest, and ultimately deliciously filling vegetarian meals I've had to date.

Bills burger from Huxtaburger, Fulham Place, Melbourne

There's yet to be a burger joint in Sydney with the name and following of Huxtaburger in Melbourne, which has three venues throughout Melbourne and avid, die-hard fans. The CBD outlet, hidden in a laneway and backing out into a food court, is licensed and with indoor and outdoor seating.

It's a more of a scoff-and-dash venue, which is fine by the hungry devourers of the all-Aussie Bills burger featuring a fried egg and bacon with the juicy beef pattie, and beetroot and a pineapple ring in addition to lettuce and tomato - a burger doesn't get much more Australian than that.

Rudy burger with chipotle fries from Huxtaburger

After a holiday standard breakfast; that is, a relatively huge one, I could only manage a kids-size burger. And large fries but only because they were of the nostalgic crinkle-cut variety, tossed in a lightly spiced chipotle seasoning.

The cute Rudy burger on a shiny mini burger bun with a beef pattie, lettuce and tomato was a classic burger with both tomato sauce and mayonnaise. For a proper meat hit, though, go the full size.

Tam Tam ramen from Fukuryu Ramen, Corrs Lane, Melbourne

Melbourne's a little behind Sydney on the ramen game - while we can virtually turn any corner in the city and inner suburbs and find a great ramen joint (post coming next week on the new, second Ippudo in the Central Park complex, Broadway), it's not quite as easy in Melbourne.

Fukuryu Ramen is located up a couple flights of stairs in an aged laneway building, but once you're up there, it's like any other brightly-lit fast food restaurant. Order at the front and get a neat little tracker, rather than a buzzer, that alerts waistaff to your seating location once your food is ready for table delivery.

Offered in regular or large size (adults aren't allowed to order the kid's size - I tried), the mildly spicy, red-hued 'Tam Tam' ramen featured chasuhu roast pork slices and nori seaweed sheets propped up against the side of the bowl, as well as half a googy-yolked egg and pork mince through the soup. The broth had a fantastic smoky umami-ness that strongly encouraged one to finish the entire bowl of soup.

Miso ramen from Fukuryu Ramen

There wasn't quite the same depth of flavour in the miso ramen which had a chicken and fish based broth. It came with toppings of buttered corn, shallots, nori, chashu, egg and oddly, also some of the minced pork at the bottom of the bowl. While it was decently rich with miso, it wasn't the best miso ramen I've ever had and not nearly as good as my neighbouring bowl.

Sweet potato fries with Vietnamese spicy chilli mayonnaise from Lord of the Fries, Flinders Street, Melbourne

I'm actually yet to visit the Lord of the Fries outlet in Sydney, but happily divert to the store near Flinders Street station every time for a hit of fried potatoes - or in this instance, sweet potato.

Darkly fried, the sweet potato chips alternate between crunchy and soggy, enriched with the 'Vietnamese' sauce - a lightly spiced mayonnaise.

Ninjabread martini, Section 8, Tattersalls Lane

An outdoor, converted shipping container bar pumping with music in a Chinatown lane is quite the concept and Section 8 seems to pull it off effortlessly. Downstairs from other nearby bars, I assume the noise isn't an issue - how un-Sydney - and while sangria jugs and beers seemed the popular choice, I was completely and somewhat unexpectedly delighted with my Ninjabread martini.

Vanilla vodka featured with a touch of cream in the shaken cocktail that seemed to lack a real ginger hit, but it was the gingerbread crumb rim that won me over in the decidedly 'yum' cocktail.

Jia zhang noodles from Camy Shanghai Dumpling, Tattersalls Lane, Melbourne

After a drink or two, the allure of cheap dumplings and noodles nearby in Tattersalls Lane is hard to resist. The well-priced menu and brusque service go hand in hand, and there's even an all-you-can-eat option for the seriously hungry.

The meaty, saucy jia zhang wheat noodles are fabulous for booze-soaking, and general eating too. The generous bowl of dry noodles is topped with a fine pork mince and finely chopped other ingredients in the Asian bolognaise-like sauce, with Chinese greenery on the side.

Pan fried pork dumplings from Camy Shanghai Dumplings

The crisp bottomed pan-fried dumplings are also people-pleasers, with a unique situation where the dumpling wrapper is just as good as the juicy, porky filling. With vinegar sauce and a touch of chilli, these are the kinds of dumplings that I could just eat forever, for the rest of time.

Hot and sour soup from Camy Shanghai Dumpling

The generosity of serving sizes continued with the hot and sour soup, served searingly hot and thick, jam-packed with tofu, bamboo shoots and other goodies in a well balanced vinegary and chilli soup base.

Xiao long bao from Camy Shanghai Dumpling

The only disappointment at Camy Shanghai Dumpling were the xiao long bao soup dumplings which were quite terrible and even worse than the frozen, steam-at-home varieties. Cooked in a too-small bamboo steamer, the dumpling skins ripped and lost what little soup they held while the filling flavour was so mediocre that even vinegar and soy sauces couldn't help.

I always feel like I need a salad week or two after an eating and drinking weekend in Melbourne, but it's all about the balance and the good times afterall.



 

 

Postcards from Rome - part III: Roscioli

Posted by Jan

In Rome, Roscioli Deli and Restaurant is probably the most well known example of a combined salumeria or deli and restaurant/wine bar style of venue where the products for sale in the deli are also used in the restaurant.

It's packed with Italian products - wine, cheese, salumi, pantry items - but not to the exclusion of quality produce from other parts of Europe.

Cheeses in the cabinet at Roscioli Deli and Restaurant, Rome, Italy

In for dinner, I had the best seat in the house: in between the racks of wine and next to the cheese display. One look at the menu and I knew that I would need much looser pants - this was my Disneyland and it was going to be a dinner of all my all-time favourites.

Not being very familiar with Italian wines, I asked our waitress to use her discretion and she did not fail me all night. Glass after glass of different types of wines, with names I could not pronounce much less spell.

Arancini

We were served a little dish of complimentary arancini balls to get the night started, signalling the start of a deliciously memorable meal. There was also a small dish of marinated olives for us to nibble on.

La Burrata di Pisignano con Caviale

Being our last night in Rome, we spoilt ourselves with an indulgent starter of burrata cream-filled mozzarella cheese, served split open with caviar on top.

The burrata in Italy is so different from what is available in Australia. It was so soft, heavenly rich and unctuous with the cream and cheese curds pairing perfectly with the soft, salty fish eggs.

Italy vs Spain: Prosciutto and jamon

Given my professed love for cured meats, I could not pass up the opportunity to compare some of the best of what Italy could produce against my beloved jamon iberico from Spain.

Roscioli's idea of this world title match was to serve the Italian culatello of Zibello DOP, aged 36 months, against the Spanish Pate Negra Sanchez Romero "5 Jota", aged 42 months.

I am probably biased but I still prefer the Spanish jamon because it was just a little bit sweeter and I like the nutty taste that comes through at the end.

La Carbonara

My mission was to find the best carbonara in Rome. The carbonara sauce at Roscioli is made with Paolo Parisi eggs, which have an almost cult-like following and are used by all the great restaurants of Italy.

Together with crispy guanciale cured pork jowl and good, strong Roman pecorino, this simple dish of spaghetti with lashings of cheese was simply sublime. Best in Rome? Some say so.

La Matriciana o Amatriciana

The Amatriciana could be seen as a tomato based version of the carbonara with the use of guanciale and pecorino romana minus the egg.

Despite a misconception that fresh pasta is best, I believe that the Romans have the right idea with using dried rigatoni pasta when making this classic dish. I liked the chewy texture of good quality, dried pasta cooked al dente.

Sugar cookies with chocolate dip

Full after two luxurious pasta courses, the lovely waitress was  understanding and gave us some time to gather ourselves before quietly slipping cookies in front of us as a little reminder that dessert was yet to come. I thought it was such a lovely idea to provide a dark chocolate sauce for dipping the cookies into.

Mimolette Classica 12 Mesi

I decided to go for a couple of cheeses as my dessert course instead of a sweet. I asked the waitress to pick her favourite hard cheese  for me to try and she surprised me by choosing a lovely French Mimolette. 

Aged for about 12 months this hard cheese was a lovely orange hue with a taste that reminded me of parmesan but with an added nutty flavour.

Erborinato con Marasche e Petali di Rose

The best thing about Roscioli is that everything in the deli can be ordered. Being rather fond of blue cheeses, I couldn't help but be intrigued by the erborinato in the cheese cabinet next to me.

The crust of this beautiful goat's milk blue cheese was covered with rose petals and cherries, giving it a lovely deep pink-purple hue as it ages. The scent of the rose petals lightly perfumed this mild blue cheese and made it such a pretty cheese for dessert. 

Cannoli

On the other side of the table it was the simple cannoli for dessert. Not surprisingly, I couldn't help myself and just had to have a bite. The simple ricotta filling was light and fluffy but it was the candied fruit peel that packed punches of flavour within the crumbly pastry.

Roscioli felt like all my dreams had come true in one space. Wine, cheese and salumi - all in one spot. I can think of no other way I would have liked to end my trip to Italy other than a belly full of good food and wine. But sometimes, it's not always the best policy to save the best for last.

Sustainable dining at Močan & Green Grout (Canberra)

Posted by Hendy

Combine bike making, coffee and honest, humble cooking and you've got something close to Močan & Green Grout in Canberra.

Part café, part Goodspeed Bicycle Co, Močan & Green Grout is well known in our nation's capital for its sustainable, innovative cooking using fresh local ingredients from the surrounding ACT area and southern NSW.

Močan & Green Grout, Marcus Clarke Street, Newacton South, Canberra

Outside the venue they also grow a selection of their own herbs and vegetables which through an evening's service you would hear the chef calling for, with wait staff heading out to collect herbs as fresh as can be.

The open café space is tucked behind a series of wooden shelves which double as a separator to the front shop area. 

Pieces of art on shelves

Inside, the clever interior evokes a warm, rustic and cosy feeling with seats by the open kitchen or along the exposed wooden wall and wooden shelves where small pieces of unique Australian artworks are displayed. 

In for dinner, the friendly wait staff explained the menu of shared dishes - with a mere 13 items on the menu, it was all about the ingredients. 

Buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, olive dust

Our first shared dish was a modern riff on classic insalata caprese; a fresh kickstart to the meal. I have always loved colourful medleys of heirloom tomatoes; bright, plump and adding a level of depth to dishes.

The colourful orange, red and green tomato segments were striking among the basil leaves, while the creamy buffalo mozzarella was pleasant with the dehydrated and broken olive dust and baby capers adding plenty of saltiness.

Bone marrow, mushrooms, lemon verbena, black garlic

Seeing bone marrow on any menu is always exciting although this dish was more a celebration of fungi with shiitake mushrooms, Slippery Jacks and a porcini mushroom powder.

The Slippery Jack mushroom is local to Canberra and only grows in wet conditions. Interestingly, the Slipper Jacks were served with their skin peeled to reveal its insides, giving them an abalone-like texture without the coarse outer layer.

The mushrooms were served with an impossibly thin layer of bone marrow, held together the lemon verbena oil and slightly charred to give it a crusty texture with a hint of acidity. The delicate and reserved presentation of the bone marrow actually worked, reducing the often heavy, artery-clogging taste that comes with scraping cooked marrow from a bone.

Boxgum Grazing pork belly, green paw paw, prawn floss

Our third shared dish featured free range pork from Boxgum Grazing; a farm near Young in southern NSW.

Presented in quite a rustic fashion, there were all kinds of wonderful textures and surprises on the plate with the roasted pork belly, including miniature coriander springs plucked from the herb garden outside, black sesame seeds, pork floss and saffron threads.

Boxgum Grazing pork belly, green paw paw, prawn floss

The garnishes brought a strong Asian flavour to the dish while the saffron overpowered the dish ever so slightly. However, the lime worked well to break through the fattiness of the deliciously layered pork belly.

Osso bucco, jerusalem artichoke, potato foam

The wait staff-recommended chef's special of osso bucco was beautifully tender, having been slow cooked then flash fried. Roasted Jerusalem artichoke added crunch and saltiness to the somewhat gentle-flavoured osso bucco, while the potato foam was creamy with the added crunch of fried onion bits. 

These three elements were accompanied by mini carrots, celeriac, thyme, sage and caramelised orange; some of which were sourced from the outside herb and vegetable garden. This was a great winter's night's dish and was my favourite of the night.

Eden Snapper, zucchini, corn

Our final shared savoury dish was the Eden snapper atop a sweet mix of creamed corn and corn kernels. The thin fillet of golden-surfaced Eden snapper was moist while the skin retained a great crispness, served alongside zucchini flower petals and grilled zucchini slices.

Clafoutis, Blueberries, Mascarpone

There were two dessert options and we settled for the clafoutis - my first ever. A French baked soufflé, this rendition starred blueberries, light and fluffy mascarpone, and dried rose petals, served warm in a small cast iron pan.

Clafoutis, Blueberries, Mascarpone

The aroma of the berries, rose petals and custard filling combined was intoxicatingly lovely. The soft, pillowy custard filling was balanced against the slightly tangy mascarpone, while the rose petals were surprisingly quite chewy although added sweetness and much prettiness to the dessert.

Macchiato

Močan & Green Grout Kitchen

Močan & Green is without a doubt a sustainability champion in the heart of Canberra.  As well as working with regional sustainable growers, their compostable kitchen waste is utilised on the neighbourhood's community garden. On top of that, their rotating seasonal and innovative menu and support for local producers are attributes for all other venues to aspire to on the sustainable dining front.