Minamishima
Well hello gorgeous. Apparently the only way to book the best sushi restaurant in Melbourne is over the phone, and a friend of mine had been commenting about how difficult it is to secure a reservation. Well, I haven't really failed yet, so I decided to give it a go. As to not overwhelm the person (or people?) on the other end of the line, I decided to wait a few minutes after office opening hours before calling.My first go? Busy signal.Second? Busy signal.So on, and so forth.Maybe my phone was broken. Maybe theirs was broken.I tried calling Tipo 00 just to see if it was me or them. Busy signal.I tried calling Tipo 00 again. They answered. I had a super awkward conversation about trying to book a table for one (see my post about it).Tried calling Minamishima again. Busy signal.1 hour 10 minutes later, after about 80 dial attempts, someone answered! Yay!I think at this point I was actually really nervous, because what do I say now? Hi I'd like to make a reservation? Luckily there wasn't any awkwardness and I probably sounded like a normal person. Finally done, table for one.Well, I thought it was for one. A couple of days before my reservation, I received my confirmation SMS, except that the text said that I was reserved for two. Um, no? But I hit confirm since I needed my table. Also, it was a Sunday that day so I wasn't even able to call to double check! Luckily I had a friend on call just in case I did somehow magically end up with a two seat reservation. However, it seems someone at the restaurant noticed this, and I received a call shortly after anyway to confirm it was only one person. Phew!Finally, the big day came. And of course, there must have been a cancelled or broken down tram, because I had to wait super long for the next one, and when it arrived, it was a single carriage, so everyone had to play sardines :(I made it within 15 minutes of being late for my booking, but it was okay, it looks like there were several chefs who were keeping track of everyone at different paces anyway, so I settled down and placed a drinks order and listened to the specials.
Woah, that was fast! I was already handed my first piece! Hokkaido scallop and seaweed. What a great little bite!Okay, now where was I. That's right, the specials. I had already overheard the person sitting next to me decline the one of the specials, so I kind of knew what to expect. Sooooo.... the specials were fugu, scampi with various toppings, and wagyu beef.Fugu!! Well, I thought about the chance of me dying a horrible death there and then, and decided, hey, why not, let's try fugu. So I said yes.I passed on the scampi because it was just scampi with toppings?And I was "bored" of wagyu beef. But more on the definition of "bored" in a later post (Kisume).
Junsai and edamame tofu. What a cute little starter! I love water plants, and these ones were great and gooey! The tofu was quite interesting. It felt more like a jelly made of agar agar than a tofu, but that's just me. Still very soft, and definitely had a soybean flavour to it!
And here's my drink. It was a mikan shiso soda, with a surprise maraschino cherry inside! I chose this one since I sampled my friend's yuzu soda yesterday.
Pretty water bottles!
So you know how I decided to pass on scampi with toppings? Well, yeah. I saw one being made, realised exactly what "various toppings" were, and asked for one of these! My goodness, what a treat! What a superstar lineup of scampi sashimi on a bed of crispy nori, topped with none other than: blue scampi caviar, daikon and bottargar, finger lime. I was advised to eat these from left to right, and having the finger lime last provided a really nice zesty freshness! I can't believe I initially turned this one down! Never again!
Alright, the main sushi course has started! First up, king dory. I think it was king dory, or something that sounded really similar. Quite nice, but I what I noticed here, is that I was comparing to the only other omakase I've had in Australia - Sokyo, and the one thing that's distinctly different is the rice. Here it's less vinegary, and a slightly different texture. I think I prefer Sokyo's rice.
Cobia. Yay, cobia! I've been wanting to try this fish ever since I saw Mr Niland do cobia bacon. It's quite a nice piece of fish! I would compare it with the likes of kingfish in terms of flavour and fattiness. 
Always gotta do the action shots these days :)
Calamari. Yeah, my opinion of squid hasn't changed. I still don't like it raw, lol.
Octopus, on the other hand, is delicious! This was served slightly marinated, and with a dab of wasabi. The wasabi was for the octopus only, the chef explained. Yummy!
I really liked this Queensland prawn with prawn powder. It was cooked and insanely sweet, and then the prawn powder on top gave it an extra flavour much like prawn crackers!
This one was described as the edge of flounder. Hey, I think I know what he was talking about because I had a whole flounder not that long ago! It is literally the edge of the flounder, but deboned, so that the flesh was so soft but still all intact.
Local tuna. I think he said local. That probably means it's yellowfin since they're found in South Australia.
Look, a blowtorch has appeared!
No don't worry, this bluefin toro wasn't blowtorched!
This one was though. Both versions were tasty, though I can't quite remember which I liked better. Probably the not-seared one.
The smoked bonito was a real treat!
But this was more interesting. Mackerel and a type of seaweed. Quite nice textures on this one.
Sea eel in a cute rectangular form! While it tasted good, I didn't find this one too special.
But lo and behold, this was the showstopper tonight. When I saw the red plate come out, I figured, that must be my fugu!! So I started taking lots and lots of pictures.
If I've previously said that a food was overkill, well, it's just been superseded. This was simply insanity. So many tiny different toppings went onto this, and then out came the microplane and the whole thing was smothered in foie gras! The fugu itself, I couldn't tell was fugu, because I didn't get any tingling. I'm also still alive, and the person sitting next to me asked how it was. I told them, if I'm still alive in half an hour, I'm sure I'm good to go. The texture was a little crisp and chewy, but lean. This was in contrast to the foie gras which was rich, smooth and melt in the mouth.
Yay, salmon roe and rice! I actually laughed a little on the inside when I saw this, because I've actually been planning to make this during Christmas! But too bad, my restaurants beat me to it! A simple delicious dish.It was about here that the waitress said that it was the end of the savoury courses, and asked if I wanted to have anything else from the sushi counter. The guy sitting next to me had ordered two more cobia, and I was thinking of either that or the scampi, but I decided to be sensible and not overeat or overspend (lol), and didn't go with any extra pieces. Hooray for self control!
And the little tamagoyaki to finish the night. This one was cute and had their name stamped on it! I'd say the texture of this is similar to that of Sokyo.
A light broth made of snow crab, and in it was a little spanner crab "marshmallow" as I call it. Basically, spanner crab and egg white mixed together to be like a light and fluffy version of a fish ball. And a chrysanthemum leaf. Nice and clean!
And to finish the night off, chocolate. Green tea, genmaicha, and houjicha flavoured. They were really smooth and enjoyable, and were an accurate representation of the tea! It was simple and it worked. I finished the night pretty full, but not nearly as roly-poly as my Tipo 00 experience.My verdict? It felt like walking into a real, classy sushi bar. It felt more "real" than Sokyo's omakase (but would never compare the two directly since the atmospheres are too different). This place had the right decor, setup and just overall feeling. My favourite special was that of the scampi, because the scampi was so sweet and I have a love for all three toppings. The cobia was the biggest surprise since I had no idea what to expect, and had a really good flavour and texture. I can see why the guy next to me really liked it, because it was my favourite piece of fish too! If I had to re-order a piece? The QLD prawn.The fugu was great to try once, but honestly, I don't think I would recognise it if I ate it again. It's definitely something that I would recommend getting, it's not as scary as I thought it was, and I said to the guy next to me, yes, I would order this again. I think I would. It has some strong competition though, I would always choose (and recommend) the scampi over the fugu simply because I like how it tasted a lot more (and scampi caviar! Bottarga! Finger lime!). Who cares about the wagyu, the best I've had was at Waku Ghin!What I also found funny, was that even though I was 15 minutes late, I actually kept pace with some of the diners who'd started earlier. They had a lot more drinks in between, whereas I had the single one and a lot of water. So even though I was taking pictures of everything as I went, I didn't actually spend a longer time as a result, which I thought was pretty cool, since social media is the death of dining times these days.The experience was totally worth it, especially as the base cost of this meal was less than $200. If you can't get to a high end sushiya in Japan, this is the next best thing.
Supernormal
Can you believe that I also have not posted about Supernormal?? I remember really, really wanting to go here, and braved the queues for it. Then, my first experience was ordinary. But on this revisit (because my friend wanted to try it), I really liked it! I figure what I ordered must have been more to my taste, which has a huge impact when the cuisine type is Asian since I'm so picky about it.
Pickled veg. Cause Asian pickles are amazing and addictive. My favourite were the mushrooms. The radish were great. Well, so was the cabbage, but the cabbage had white pepper in it so it was too spicy for me!
The downside to recently buying my own tobiko is that it's not so special anymore. Nonetheless, I still ordered the caviar crackers. So many tasty poppy things! A cute treat, but I felt like instead of being a special treat, this was an everyday item for me. Oops, my spoilt side is showing again....
Haha. Oh, Supernormal. Just like the gyoza, these school prawns come out as one fried clump :) The great thing is, it's not actually overly oily, so the clumpiness isn't an issue except for random bits of prawn breaking off rather than eating them whole, one at a time. I can't remember where it was, but just before these were served I had a momentary panic because I thought this was the place where I had been served overly oily fried school prawns. But after eating these, I breathed a sigh of relief cause these were fantastic, and the pickled vegetables underneath complimented the prawns really well.
Oh look at this fancy dish! This was the seafood and shellfish platter, and there are some gorgeous things as you can see. The little blob right at the back? That's right, it's blue scampi caviar. I saw a lot of blue caviar this trip. Almost to the point of normalcy... which means my exposure to fine dining and rare ingredients has once again taken another step up. I don't think I'll ever be normal!The waitress mentioned that there was only one bug served on this plate, and asked if we were happy to order an additional bug. I said yes, but where's the bug? I think the ingredients on this platter change depending on availablity, and I say that because there were three prawn sashimi inside each abalone shell. Wow those were gorgeous prawns, very sweet tasting. The reason I think these were the extra order, is because the redness was similar to what was trending on my feed - ama ebi. Scarlet prawns were in season and being sold, so these must have been it, because they were really, really good. So good that my usual favourite of scallop and scampi caviar tasted ordinary in comparison!My and my expensive taste....
I forgot that the epic pork katsu sandwich was a limited lunch special. I remember really, really wanting this, but never getting it, and now, I finally tried it! Yessss this was sooooo good, it was so much jucier and tender than what I had in Japan! This was also a massive serving! I also can't believe how popular it was, the table next to us must have come in maybe 20 minutes after us, and they weren't offered this because it had already sold out! They found out the hard way, because they asked us what we had, and I said the pork sandwich, but when they asked the waitress, they got the bad news that there weren't anymore. I felt so lucky to have had this!So, I was definitely more impressed and satisfied with the food this time around than my first visit. I probably wouldn't come back though, since I'm not a big fan of Asian food, but at least I feel comfortable recommending it again!
Embla
Embla and Bar Liberty were both restaurants that I really wanted to go to (though I guess they're more wine bars, but that's a minor technicality since they serve up delicious grub), and about equal on my piority list. In the end, I made my decision via the restaurants' proximity to my location at a set time. As a result, Embla it was, since Bar Liberty appears to be out in Fitzroy.It was a win/win to make a short notice decision because they're walk-in only (my favourite type of restauant), and it was a Monday, which meant it was guaranteed to be less busy. We were seated at the kitchen counter, so away we ordered!
These are Wapengo oysters. I'm pretty sure it was our waitstaff who said that he wasn't usually a fan of Sydney rock oysters, but that these were really, really good. I wasn't a fan of Sydney rock oysters either, but I gave these a go. Oh yes. I am now a fan of Sydney rock oysters! These were superbly sweet and briny, they were so good! I found that on this trip, I really developed an appreciation for oysters that I traditionally didn't like. It also helps that these aren't just generic oysters from an area; it's been narrowed down even further, sort of like how single origin coffee became single estate coffee. Knowing that little bit more goes a long way! These were so enjoyable that we actually ordered a second round!
You could say that at a wine bar, the wine is a little bit obligatory, but it's also because this little Burgundy caught my eye - it's a Anne-Sophie Dubois "Paso Doble" 2015. Considering I just danced the paso, I had to get it, plus it's my second favourite varietal. The gentleness of this was a bit of a surprise only because I've been having super tannic (though equally light bodied) nebbiolos in the past, so this was like drinking really smooth, fruity stuff. Loved it! And I was sensible and only had half the glass.
What's this funny flat blob thing? Apparently one of their signature dishes. Snapper carpaccio with fermented red peppers. Look at how thin those snapper slices are! How impressive! And the pepper sauce was great, it wasn't spicy - more like capsicum.
Look, broad beans! I love broad beans! These pickled mussels were delicious because they weren't overly pickled, there was still a lot of natural flavour. The addition of wild rocket and elderflower made it a great and interesting dish. Haven't seen it done before and it totally works!
Mr Cannubi noix de jambon. Oooh, you gorgeous fatty thing. This was flavour packed but not overly salty, the fat was so melty while the meat carried great flavour! My goodness! Every time I order a charcuterie item, this is what I hope to get every time - I have a very specific flavour preference for cured meats that's more often a miss than a hit (though a miss is still tasty, just not my dream flavour), so this really stood out, so much so that I said it was my favourite, and the waiter laughed because it was the one dish that they didn't have to cook. Oops! Though... I can still say they have very good taste for putting it on their menu, right???Gosh it was so gorgeous.
I'm a sucker for burrata, so I ordered this dish, even though the waiter recommended dropping this for whatever else I was pondering over. I should have listened to him. The burrata was great, but the onions didn't work. The onions were nice, but the flavour clashed with the cheese. They should probably serve it without the onions.
Yeeeaaah pippies!!! In butter. Wow drenched in butter. Loads of butter, so much butter. These were so tasty and there totally wasn't enough bread to soak up the sauce, so we gladly accepted more bread.
I remembered that my brother made this awesome shell arrangement back when we had pippies at Firedoor, so I tried to do it here! So pretty! Except the waiter then asked me to put the shells in the dedicated shell bowl haha.
And lastly, Cherries, Cherries, Cherries. I knew I wanted this one as soon as I looked at the menu. This was fresh cherries, macerated cherries, and cherry ice cream made with cherry pits! Wow! The texture of the ice cream was subtly grainy, in a pleasant way, because you knew that all of the cherry had been used. The size of this was pretty small, but it was so gorgeous, that again, it reminded me a lot of Firedoor, for their Iced Vovo dessert. I didn't mind that it was small, it was a tiny powerhouse of flavour and awesomeness, which meant it was a fleeting but lasting memory. I will love this dish forever and ever! I'm so glad I came here!Overall I loved this place, very friendly staff and really tasty food. I was so happy with it that I tipped, I dunno, I just find that when I am really happy I start tipping so that restaurants can use the extra money to thrive (I say this a lot because I love restaurants and all the hard work that all the staff put in). He thanked us for our generosity and then asked if we were having a second dessert, when I said I wanted the crepe store, he recommended that we also go to Spring Street Grocer for their pistachio gelato. How cool! I love getting recommendations!Definitely a place I would go back to.
Cumulus Inc
Can you believe I've not made a Cumulus Inc post before this? Even though it's my favourite accessible restaurant in Melbourne? Wow. I guess I finally found the time to do so, though yes, at the expense of some other stuff. I'm meant to be doing more food prep at the moment, but I know that if I don't get all these posts out before the new year, they're going to get forgotten like all the other times that I've gone to Melbourne and never posted about it. So I'm trying really, really hard!
A tiny little beef tartare on a thin crunchy toast thing. Delicious!
While I usually take the oyster option, today's special was too good to pass up. These were Cloudy Bay clams, lightly steamed and dressed with sea urchin emulsion. They were really pricey at $12 per clam, but totally worth it - the clams were huge and it was a great change from oysters! A rare find that was absolutely delicious!
While this was not super interesting, it was their special - Meatsmith Christmas ham, so I took it. Since I'm writing this after my holiday, I can say that while it was nice, it wasn't as tasty as the Fat Pig Farm ham that I bought. But now I know!
FISH SPECIAL!!! WHOLE FLOUNDER IN HERB BUTTER!! WITH SALTBUSH!Woah. I still have a very strong memory of being very impressed with the flathead special the very first time I visited this place, so I keep ordering the fish here. It's actually a whole flounder! The only reason why I say that is because at Embla, the whole flounder came headless.... The herb butter wasn't as good as whatever garnish the flathead had ages ago, but it was still nice, and I love saltbush.I was really full at this point - I took my dance partner to this place and ordered enough food for 1.5 people, but I ended up eating about 1.3 people's worth... I made him eat some of the flounder though. I was also trying to do the skillful thing of taking the top half off, and then removing the bone in one piece. What I didn't expect, was a belly full of roe! Wow, lucky lady, both she and I! Though mainly me, because I got to enjoy it. My dance partner was all like, "just flip it upside down" but of course, for the show of finesse, and Asian tradition says that filleting then removing the bone whole is the only way to do it. Even the waitress complimented me afterwards haha!While I knew that adult flounder have both eyes on the top of their head, their cheeks are still on the sides, so top and bottom. My dance partner thought I was eating the eyeball! No, I don't like eyeballs unless Mr. Niland does them.
So even though I was full... there's always room for dessert. This super light green apple sorbet with sheep's milk yoghurt and meringue totally hit the spot. It was light enough that I didn't feel like I was stuffing myself further.I always love coming to Cumulus Inc, it really is my favourite all rounder restaurant. I love it so much.Edit: I found my original visit''s photos already uploaded for this blog. So here it finally is: https://www.raining-chaos.net/blog/?p=4170
Tipo 00
My first impression of Tipo 00? Rather strange. They have a great and far-reaching reputation as an amazing Italian restaurant that everyone loves, so it went to the top of my list very quickly. However, I wasn't able to get a table last year. I tried a walk-in on a Friday night for 2 people (lol, so you can already guess what happened) and was told the wait exceeded two hours, so they didn't put us on the waiting list. They were slightly abrupt about it in my eyes, and that's why I found it odd that time. Probably not really that abrupt, but rather, just plain speaking.Fast forward and I attempted to call to make a booking for one person on a Thursday night this year, and they told me that I should be able to walk-in for it rather than place a reservation for me. I've not been declined a 1 person reservation before, though, I've also never done it over the phone (though I was about to shortly for Minamishima), so I found that odd. Maybe they were afraid of holding a single spot since 2+ diners were far more common? Perhaps also they didn't want a potential no show? I figure that they preferred the "security" of a 2+ person booking, which is why they recommended the walk-in.Anyway, so finally the time came for me to see if I could get a table here. I actually forgot that they weren't located on Flinders Lane; I had just had some coffee at BBB during closing time, and then wasted 30mins before attempting to find the restaurant. It turns out they're right next door to the cafe! So I walked all the way back, and made my enquiry at 6pm. Already the place was full, and for me to get a table for one, would be a one hour wait. Sure, I was happy to wait. I just couldn't believe they filled up so quickly! No other city seems to have a full house by 6pm. So, I put down my name and number, then took a walk. At 6:30, I got my call. Yay, a table was available! So I teleported back and finally got my seat.
What a nice view. It was raining outside, since the week of flooding had just subsided. I was hungry, but had no idea what I wanted. Lucky there was a chef's menu, so I left my meal in their hands.
Bread with ricotta and basil oil. A nice starter, but I was careful to eat the bread slowly since I knew more food was coming. That ricotta was pretty good, but I think I still miss the really nice smelling olive oil from Rosetta.
An arancini ball! How cute! But I still don't like rice. I guess it's something that will stick with me for the rest of my life.There was actually a couple sitting on the other side of my corner, and they mentioned that when they chose the chef's menu, they were given the ox tongue. That was cool, I think they weren't thrilled by it but I would have loved it! Alas, no tongue for me. Instead I got other goodies.
House cured ocean trout with black garlic and broad beans. Yeah this was so yummy! The trout was very melt in the mouth and I love broad beans! The garlic was lovely and I had to suffer through garlic breath that night... but it was worth it!
White asparagus!!! And there was a little green asparagus behind it. Not only was this pretty, but it also tasted really good and had a great aroma of truffle oil!
And everyone's favourite, the squid ink pasta with squid, roe and bottarga! Wow, the textures of squid and pasta were distinctly different here, whereas I think at Rosetta they were more similar. The pasta here was "just cooked" al dente, so a little harder than what I was expecting, but still cooked. This was tasty, though, to be really, really honest... I think I liked the double sided clam pasta I got at Lulu La Delizia more. In fact, I was so surprised that my little local Perth restaurant could actually make such strong headlines and be on par with a top Melbourne pasta bar! I think I just liked the bolder flavours and the ever so marginally more cooked, but definitely still al dente texture better at Lulu's.
Help, carb overload! Rabbit gnocchi with olives. That's a huge serve! So generous! I honestly couldn't finish this one because it felt like a full sized meal in itself; I had to look around to confirm that this was actually a smaller version for the chef's menu. Wow! The rabbit was so incredibly tender. Also seemed to have a bit more fat on it, to the point where I was seriously wondering if it was actually chicken (since I have previously cooked rabbit and it tasted like chicken lol).
Wow, and then two desserts came out at once! Woah. I had a new couple sitting across from me now, and the guy said I looked like I might not be able to eat the chocolate dessert... nope, it was all for me! The first was a honey panna cotta with watermelon, which was deliciously wobbly. It was light, and I really liked it, but as soon as I moved onto the tipomisu, I realised that the chocolate dessert was way tastier. I was so full, but the more I ate it, the faster I ate it! It was creamy, chocolatey, coffee, and salted caramelly! It was so good!!! While I thought I had gotten over trying out tiramisus at Italian restaurant, this one's proved me wrong.The service during my meal was great, and the staff were all really friendly - so were the customers! It was interesting the difference between being not a customer and being a customer, I felt that the restaurant had changed completely once you were seated. There was a lot of food given, and leaving several pieces of gnocchi behind was a good choice. Since it'd been a long time since I've had to eat like a true monster on holidays, my tummy was sore from all that food! It was so enjoyable though!