Melbourne eats: ShanDong Mama

We ducked into a typical Chinatown shopping arcade for a late lunch last trip to find what's been branded some of the best dumplings in Melbourne.

Already in its early life ShanDong Mama - a low-key north-eastern Chinese eatery - is making waves with a lust-worthy dumpling menu and a sort-of modern Chinese-esque fitout.

Pan fried dumplings at Shandong Mama, Bourke Street, Melbourne

The restaurant seems to open right through from lunch to dinner service so our late lunching hour was no issue, even if it was staff meal time in the mostly empty restaurant.

The huge menu caters to any appetite or whim for north-eastern Chinese food, which is seafood-heavy with ShanDong being a coastal province in China.

Pickled cabbage and jellyfish salad

We started with a small appetiser salad of crisp, lightly pickled, raw Chinese cabbage shreds with strips of jellyfish. The latter is a rehydrated textural delight (but not for all) dressed in sesame oil which pleasantly took on tartness from the pickled cabbage.

It was a fantastic appetiser, full of flavours and textures, enhanced with a dab of the chilli oil condiment at the table.

Hot and sour soup

ShanDong Mama’s rendition of hot and sour soup is a definitely a sour one and not all too hot. Juliennes of carrot, bamboo shoot, woodear fungus and silky tofu were found in the depths of the cup-style bowl; the thick soup being a comforting lead into dumplings.

Pan fried fish dumplings

I knew right away I wanted the fish dumplings which have become a bit of a signature dish for ShanDong Mama, along with their unique pork and dill dumplings.

Given the option, I will almost always go for pan fried dumplings ahead of boiled ones and it was just reward when the thin, just chewy wrappers arrived blistery golden brown with crunch.

The wrappers encased a mousse-y mackerel filling redolent with coriander, ginger and other goodness and without any fishiness, while the open ends helped some of the intense heat escape the dumpling.

Spicy chicken noodles

Dumplings go hand in hand with noodles but even then, the massive bowl of the spicy chicken noodles was a surprise.

Completely covered in a decidedly non-spicy gravy of boneless chicken pieces, capsicum, onion and other vegetables, the huge coils of thin white noodles would have been enough to feed at least two without anything else to eat.

Spicy chicken noodles

The noodles weren’t all that chewy to start and softened more as they soaked up most of the soupy gravy towards the seeming never-end of the large bowl.

ShanDong Mama's dumplings are certainly in that upper echelon and I'll be very keen to return to try other varieties on my next visit to Melbourne. More Melbourne eats posts to come.

Secret Foodies Truffle Hunt celebrates season start

If you haven't already seen it all over current restaurant menus and chefs' Instagram feeds yet, it's truffle season in Australia.

The valuable fungus tuber melanosporum is harvested from underground near the roots of oak and hazel trees in the winter seasons, which means the first picks of the season are now out and about.

Perigord truffles in jars at Secret Foodies Truffle Hunt held at Kitchen by Mike,
Dunning Avenue, Rosebery

Australian truffles were showcased at the recent Secret Foodies Truffle Hunt producers event, co-hosted by Pepe Saya and held in Rosebery's Kitchen by Mike.

Unlike Ms. Darlinghurst's usual Secret Foodie events where diners don't know where or what they're dining on until a few hours before the event, the Truffle Hunt was a less covert, cocktail-style event with food stations and their respective producers dotted around the canteen-style restaurant.

A 19 gram truffle

And so Perigord Truffles' Duncan Garvey and crew were on hand, showing off jars filled with their first-pick-of-the-season truffles from Tasmania.

There were plenty of long sniffs from the jar, with the truffles also on sale for $2 per gram. Garvey's tip for storing truffles had to do with taking a few slugs out of a full vodka bottle, inserting the truffle into the bottle and freezing the entire thing. Truffle vodka, anyone?

Yarra Valley salmon caviar with crème fraiche

The night kicked off with a range of organic and biodynamic wines from Mudgee's Lowe Wines, including a delightfully berry-sweet sparkling merlot.

The warehouse/industrial space filled quickly with chatter, wining and devouring of delicacies like Yarra Valley salmon caviar, served simply and prettily atop luscious Pepe Saya crème fraiche.

Prosciutto sliced from the bone

I could have stood beside the leg of prosciutto all night as it was being sliced by hand; the lush, fatty texture just about perfect with the home-made bread and a liberal spread of Pepe Saya's cultured butter for good measure.

The crowds and food on the table

There was also a huge cake of truffle butter; a collaboration between Pepe Saya's butter and Garvey's Perigord truffles which was truly and divinely luxurious spread thick on a piece of bread. Indeed, I think it'd be feasible to even eat the truffle butter by the teaspoon, such is its intoxicating aroma.

Pierre Issa of Pepe Saya butter and John Susman of Fisheads
serving up Kinkawooka mussels

Seafood industry legend John Susman was behind the counter with Pepe Saya's Pierre Issa, dishing out plates of Kinkawooka mussels cooked with Pepe Saya butter, as well as bowls with creamy dollops of polenta with truffle.

Shaving truffles onto polenta

The generosity of the truffle shavings on the polenta didn't go unnoticed which along with grated parmesan cheese, really pepped up the soft, filling polenta.

Truffle polenta and Kinkawooka mussels cooked in Pepe Saya butter

Served with the always soft and sea-sweet Kinkawooka mussels, it was quite the hearty meal. I had to restrain myself from more polenta/mussels/prosciutto/ bread and butter as the Dessertmakers' dessert spreads covering an entire table had tempted since the beginning of the night.

Warm dessert options by Dessertmakers

Huge platters of bread and butter pudding festooned with sultanas and apple crumble garnished with fresh walnuts waited patiently as truffle hunters did the savoury rounds.

Dessertmakers' bread and butter pudding

I was enamoured with the soft, warm bread and butter pudding, made with Pepe Saya butter, of course (Dessertmakers and Pepe Saya share the same Tempe factory).

The subtle sweetness and creaminess, not to mention the carb-loading factor, make this a winner in winter with thick yoghurt or a bit of ice cream.

Truffled rice pudding

On theme was Dessertmakers' truffled rice pudding, a warm and creamy spoonful of soft rice speckled with truffle gratings. The truffle flavour was subtle beneath the sweetness, but definitely present in this ideal winter dessert.

(From left) Ms Darlinghurst from Secret Foodies, Maya from Kinkawooka Mussels, John Susman from Fisheads, Pierre Issa from Pepe Saya, Merna Taouk from Dessertmakers and Duncan Garvey from Perigord Truffles 

Towards the end of the night Ms Darlinghurst got the producers out front for a question-and-answer session, including questions from the audience.

Aside from the producers' intimate knowledge of everything we'd sampled and consumed that night, it was easy to see their passion and dedication for their respective specialties which really does seem to make their produce taste better.

The crowds for Secret Foodies Truffle Hunt at Kitchen by Mike

Going by the satisfied faces in the crowd, it looked like the Secret Foodies Truffle Hunt was a successful hunt, boding well for the Australian season for diners and restaurateurs alike.

Food, booze and shoes attended the Secret Foodies Truffle Hunt as a guest.

The Lobo Plantation: Sugar, spice and all things rum

Sydney CBD's newest small bar – The Lobo Plantation – opened its lovely, arched doorways just last week, joining what’s becoming a hub of new small bars on Clarence and Kent Streets, just south of King Street.

The Lobo Plantation, Clarence Street, Sydney

The Lobo Plantation is definitely my kind of place, and it’ll be yours too if you like themed bars, Caribbean hospitality and eats, and great drinks. Oh, and rum.

Located in a former basement hairdresser on Clarence Street across from seminal hidden CBD bar The Baxter Inn, The Lobo Plantation is a rum drinker’s haven with over different 150 bottles on offer, most of them Caribbean rums uncommon on Australian shores.

Entry doors

I'm a little in love with the entry foyer just past the iron gates before the white-painted doors, which is a bit like a transition space for drinkers entering off the CBD street into mid-20th century good times in the Caribbean.

Step down the winding staircase into the atmospheric, jovial space and The Lobo Plantation's dedication to the rum is clear, lining several shelves of the back bar.

Seats at the bar

Seating at the long, wide bar is ideal for bartender and cocktail watching; otherwise there are small tables, small group lounges and a red leather Chesterfield-style banquette that spans the width of the venue where larger groups can congregate and imbibe.

Like The Baxter Inn, general manager Jared Merlino (ex ivy Pool) explains that The Lobo Plantation does not take bookings at all; large groups just have to get there early – and damn early on Friday evenings if their first week of trade is anything to go by.

Raised seating section

I've not been so smitten by a thoroughly, all-out, themed venue like this since Mr Wong. As the menu explains, the bar is named after Julio Lobo, a wealthy Cuban sugar trader from the mid-20th century.

There’s a lovable, hedonistic feel as the venue is decked out as if it were his private refuge: boldly colourful with Caribbean influences and worldly touches of aged, shabby opulence, representing his collections from travels around the globe.

The relevance is all things rum – a spirit made from sugarcane by-products or juice, then typically aged in oak barrels.

Plan-Ting cocktail

The long-winded cocktail list is a good starting point for rum newbies, with the likes of the strong but easy-drinking Plan-Ting cocktail mixing ting, a Jamaican soft drink, with Plantation Over Proof (OP) rum and lime.

Another soft drink plus rum cocktail combination is the Shore to Shore cocktail, featuring American root beer with Havana 3 rum and Angostura bitters, also served tall with lime.

Almost all drinks are served in faceted crystal glassware, including water and rum (neat, on the rocks or otherwise).

But not the coupe-glassed Millionaire cocktail of Appleton VX rum, house-made Lobo liqueur, sloe gin and grenadine which is served with a sour, fruity log rolled up in a miniature bank note print and pegged to the edge of the glass

Table and banquette seating

From the back bar of rums, we sampled the most uncommon Cor Cor Green Okinawan Rum from the southern Japanese island; a remarkably dry white rum with a smoky kicker at the end of each sip.

At the extreme other end of the spectrum was the Gosling's Black Seal; a dark rum with sweet caramel and vanilla tones that made it easy enough to drink neat.

Baked cheese balls with guava dipping sauce

For a small bar there’s a fairly decent menu of nibbles in addition to the complimentary fried plantain chips; best had when generously tossed in their jerk spice mix.

The food offerings are actually done by Darlinghurst's Food Society, reducing the pressures imposed on the small kitchen and allowing The Lobo Plantation team to focus purely on the drinks and the experience.

The well-priced baked cheese balls are served with the most wondrous sweet guava dipping sauce that goes deliciously with the gluten free, lightly cheesy balls.

Pork crackling rolled in spice, black pepper, garlic and vinegar side

The steamed, dried and fried chicharrón style pork rind has been seen increasingly around town, but the vinegar dipping sauce was a surprise pairing, cutting through the oil and fat of the naughty but tasty snack.

Just don't let the crackling dip in the liquid for too long, lest the crunchy, airy pork skin goes soggy.

Tamales en Cazuela

I've had one prior experience with tamales and never wanted to return. For The Lobo Plantation's tamales alone, I'll return to the bar time and time again.

They are amazing little packages of varied ingredients and flavours, possibly healthy too. Wet but crumbly polenta (not masa harina as is traditional), corn and pulled pork are steamed within a neat corn husk sheet.

The package is then topped with soft black beans and a beautifully fresh, chopped salsa of cucumber, tomato, coriander and chilli with a bit of kick in the latter. A tomato-ey sauce brings it all together with every mouthful of soft polenta highlighted by at least one of the salsa ingredients.

Flan

Although The Lobo Plantation isn't really a proper dinner destination, they round out the menu with two dessert choices. The flan is an eggy baked custard infused with Cuban rum, and it's plain spectacular.

It's doused in a caramel sauce that has the perfect edge of burnt toffee notes while the hint of coconut flavour I detected in the firm custard was just divine.

The archway on Clarence Street

I think there's a lot of capacity for more themed bars in Sydney, and with The Barber Shop on York Street (by ex Merivale group bars manager Mikey Enright) and Papa Gedes on Kent Street due to open soon, it looks like these city streets, which become awfully quiet after work hours, are set for some enlivening.

In the meantime I'm more than happy to work through the cocktail and rum menus at The Lobo Plantation, where it's sugar, rum and all things nice.