Aloft

Aloft. Out of the three restaurants I visited, this was my favourite experience. I can't really make a direct comparison with Franklin since I didn't have a dinner sitting there though, so now, Aloft was the one I enjoyed the most as a whole.I actually had some reservations (pun intended) about eating here simply because their style was Asian, and I have a tough time liking Asian food, but it's a hatted restaurant and had great views, and they had kitchen counter seats, so why not! I didn't need a view of the water, I needed a view of the chefs. However, the kitchen was limited to the banquet menu, though I didn't mind that too much. And what a surprise the kitchen was. As we were walking to be seated, I saw a super eye catching thing: fire.I got so excited that as soon as politely possible after being seated, I stood back up and started taking pictures of it. I must have looked so excited that the chef actually told me I could walk into the kitchen and take pictures. Wow, how nice! He even adjusted the flame intensity for us too, but it got pretty hot! That was so amazing, I couldn't believe he let us in!! Already a winner in my eyes!The lighting was great so I took heaps of pictures.It's always nice to see what a restaurant's bookshelf is like. They have Pier, the first restaurant book that I'd ever encountered and got me into fine dining!

Masterstock pig's ear + prickly ash

Okay, onto the food. First up, pig's ears. Oh my goodness. My last pig ear experience (not counting China where they do it they way I like by default) was at a Perth restaurant and it really wasn't nice because it was a single hard, crisp texture. However, these were crispy and flavour packed on the outside, and still crunchy-gelatinous on the inside, just the way I like it! They were seriously addictive!

Pacific steamed oyster , kimchi + sesame

Flirty Bay oysters make an appearance once again! But still, I couldn't make out the exact pronunciation of the word, so I still had no idea if it was Flirty or Floaty. I did try asking the all knowing Google, with various pronunciations that sided to Flirty, then to Floaty, but all I got were tips on how to flirt like crazy, or Flutes on eBay :(These were very good, but I didn't like them as much as I liked them au naturale. Probably just personal preference - nothing except maybe a dash of lemon!I had to make sure to take full advantage of my position at the counter by taking as many action shots as I can! Also, being so close, we had a great conversation about the swarming seagulls in the harbour. We commented that the seagulls were swarming, then one of the chefs said that it was unusual for them to be this close - usually they'd be flocking much further out in deeper water. Who knows, maybe they found some tasty stuff nearby.

Fig leaf + turmeric wafer, BBQ pork belly

Woot! Pork belly tacos! Well, that's what I kept calling them. Royal gala apples were shaved over the top of these, which added great flavour to the pork belly, and they were using a tool that looked like how crinkle cut potato chips are made! The turmeric wafer looked delicate and prone to shattering, but they were actually quite sturdy, which was great. The pork wasn't as soft as I like, so these were just okay.

Drunken chicken wing, buttermilk + avruga caviar

But this next dish. Woah, what a turnaround! A fried chicken wing! I honestly didn't think I'd get to eat fried chicken throughout my trip, especially as I couldn't do Belle's Hot Chicken's fried chicken and waffles since I was busy on the weekend, but lo and behold, fortune favours the... insane? This wasn't just any old fried chicken, it was fried in shaoxing wine, so it was tasty fried AND tasty drunk!!! I love drunken chicken, so this was a win win, then another win because that avruga caviar was super smokey and aromatic.These were eaten with hands (as were the tacos, oysters and pig ears), and we were given the magical towels that start off dry and tablet sized, then just add water and POOF! they turn into wet towelettes!!!Oh, by the way, does this slightly remind you of Rockpool 1989's kombu butter chicken wing? Maybe that's just me haha.LOOK AT THIS ADORABLE CHUNKY KNIFE THAT I DIDN'T EVEN USE FOR THE NEXT COURSE EVEN THOUGH I WAS SO EXCITED ABOUT THE CHUNKINESSBut first, another plate up shot, because I can.

Yellow fish curry + coconut pickled fennel

Fried fish!!! Tonight's fish was black trevally, and the curry sauce was really, really mild, so much so that I actually wished there was a teeny tiny bit of spice to it, but no matter. No burning is better than burning. I didn't like the pickled fennel only because it was a little too acidic for me. I would have been happy with just the fish curry since it was light enough.

Chargrilled koji beef, miso + eggplant

I was really, really full, and then this came out! A massive (not really massive, just looked that way because of how full I was) chunk of really incredibly tasty Cape Grim beef, with eggplant and miso mayonnaise. And topped with kale. There was a lot of eggplant, and I think I had to eat my friend's portion of eggplant cause she didn't like it, so I was really, really, bursting full at this point, but that beef. was. so. good. Wow. Yep, I definitely love Cape Grim Beef. The only time David Blackmore's wagyu has been better, is in Rockpool Bar & Grill Sydney's David Blackmore full blood wagyu burger. Every other time, a Cape Grim cut will do, it's that good. Absolutely loved this dish.

Our classic condensed milk ice cream, coffee + sable

And finally, dessert. My friend was happy this was an ice cream dish so she wanted one to herself. I was really full, so I didn't really care. What was hilarious is that we saw how the palm sugar curls were made - a couple of chefs took out these trays of palm sugar stuff and started scraping away at it with spoons! Madly scraping! My friend had pointed it out and as soon as I looked, I had that stupid happy face that I get when I'm really excited about seeing food being made, so much so that the chef noticed!So, when he had plated up our dessert and handed it to us, describing it, I asked, "is this meant to be shared?" at which point he said yes, so I asked if we could have one each pretty please, so he was happy to make another one. We must have looked like crazy dessert lovers! Yes, I did manage to eat all of mine. Dessert is a second stomach, after all! It was quite delicious and I loved the sweetness level of the palm sugar. Having the word sugar in it made me worry that it'd be too sweet, but it was actually really balanced with a deep, almost toffee/burnt caramel flavour. Then a hit of bitterness from the coffee syrup was really nice too.All in all, yes, Aloft was my favourite experience because the chefs were so friendly, also the view of the chefs, and because I enjoyed a good number of these dishes. If I came back, I would want the a-la carte menu so that I can order the pig's ears, natural oysters, chicken wing, but also I really wanted to try their dumplings because the dumplings looked absolutely amazing, and I'd not order the fish curry or the pork belly tacos. But as an Asian themed restaurant for someone who doesn't like Asian restaurants (Spice Temple being the exception), this place did really well.And that's my Hobart restaurant adventures done. I'm exhausted from all this writing!

Franklin

Yay, Franklin! While Franklin has always been on my Hobart list, my excitement grew recently after discovering that a chef I am aware of (but didn't actively stalk at the time) moved here and started working at the restaurant. I would have loved to come here at night for their full dining experience, but because I had far too many places to go and not enough time, I ended up shuffling this one to lunch simply because it was open for lunch while my other restaurants were dinner only. That bumped Templo right off this visit, but maybe next time....To start with, a house soda. It tasted kind of elderflowery to me, which was very cool. Not too fizzy, not too sweet, and very drinkable.Delicious bread and butter. I love how the butter was scraped on the side! I still find that Sepia's perfectly round butter was really weird to see (even though I said it was cool, because it was also cool); I like messy thing sometimes better than neat.What's even cooler? This was the shot down the bar towards the entrance - what you see in the background there is actually Pigeon Whole Bakers! How awesome!

Oyster

To start with, three oysters. Usually I get two for myself, but this is Tasmania, land of the best fresh produce you could ever get, so I treated myself to one more. When they were served, the waitress said that the oysters were from Flirty Bay, however, Flirty sounds a LOT like Floaty, especially if you moosh the vowels a little bit. So I literally had no idea what she said. I wasn't sure about asking again because I didn't want to come across as hard of hearing lol.These were probably the best oysters I've ever eaten. Yeah, better than the Wapengo ones from Embla. Before, my Tassie oysters of recent memory all came from "my local fish shop" and weren't that nice at all, to the point where I would avoid buying Tassie oysters, but the real deal is actually nigh unbeatable! I think also, SA oysters taste better than TAS oysters when in Perth simply because it's closer so there's less time lost in shipping?

House pancetta and cicely mustard

I had to try the house pancetta, mainly because I love cured meats and I also wanted to see how this compared with Embla's jambon. Sorry, the jambon still wins. But look at that fat! So good! I almost didn't want to add the mustard, but, the mustard did make it taste even better.And guess who is here!!! A super sneaky shot of Analiese Gregory!!!! I was pretty sure it was her, but I didn't want to seem like a creepy fangirl, so I kept my distance. Also, because I wasn't absolutely sure, just mostly sure, I would have felt awkward if it wasn't actually her. I managed to confirm by overhearing the waitress as someone else came into the restaurant looking for her.

Chicken liver parfait, pickled cherries and yeast crisps

Alright, now the real deal of the restaurant. Chicken liver parfait. Yes. Look at that. Isn't it so picture perfect? And I love those wafer thin parfait receptacles! This was my first time eating pickled cherries and they were nice, and offset the richness of the parfait really well! Also, I deliberately held back on eating my bread too quickly to be able to mop up leftover parfait :)

Raw littlewood lamb with anchovy and horseradish

Raw lamb with anchovies and horseradish. I feel like I've eaten so many new things while here! My first time eating lamb tartare, and it was absolutely delicious! I loved the presentation of this one too!

Crispy potato with brown butter and salted caramel

However, it was dessert that really took the cake. It was described as crispy potato with brown butter and salted caramel. Oh my goodness. The waiter recommended it and said that if I couldn't eat it, he would. Too bad, I wanted to try this anyway since this is the first time I've seen potato in a dessert dish. Oooooh yeah. Those potato slices were so thin and crispy and the natural savouriness of it worked!The brown butter was soooooo good and it was just the right texture too, but the real winner, the thing that made this dish so godly, was that salted caramel. You think other salted caramels are good? Wait till you try this one. It's like, if Werther's Original was taken to the highest level possible by the most talented chefs in the world, this is what you get. Something you can't stop eating because when mixed with the potato and butter cream, was just. Amazing. Wow. Oh yeah. Come here for this. Lots of this. Yesssss.And some pictures of the restaurant because I like their decor and setup. I would have loved to come here for dinner simply because they make use of their oven and that's when all their meats come out (according to their website, their oven can actually fit a whole cow in there!).Yep, I definitely like this place!

Dier Makr

Dier Makr. What a funny name. I didn't even know of its existence even though it's a one hatted restaurant in Hobart.  I had my eye on so many other restaurants and had already got my reservations and lists together, when one of my baristas told me I had to go here.I usually don't actually do something unless more than one person says the same thing except on rare occasion, and this time I thought, why not. These guys have good taste so I'll try it out! And that resulted in me reshuffling Franklin from dinner to lunch to accommodate for this place.I only did a very small amount of research for this, just enough to check if it was a nice restaurant or not (I still didn't realise it was hatted), and what intrigued me the most was the menu. I like succint menus and prefer ones with the main ingredients and processes described, so this very "simple" sounding menu wasn't enough to trigger my imagination since I wasn't used to the style. But the reviews were all good, so I left it at that. Let's give it a go!This place is fairly small (20 seats?) and has really cute decor. Two things I noticed were one: those wine glasses had really nice stems. Super thin, I don't think as thin as Zaltos, but they got close. I really liked the stems! How do I know this? Because this is a hipster restaurant, so I went and ordered an orange wine. But because wine glasses are tall, and because I still don't know how to take photos, I didn't get a good shot.And two, if you choose the tap water, it comes in a fish shaped jug. But not just that, it's a glurgle jug! Basically, it gluggs a little bit before the pour, then it goes, glug glug glug if there's enough water to go back down after the pour! The way I described it probably makes no sense; it's basically a jug that makes noises as water is poured. Maybe google it.

Beet that root

First up, the beetroot dish. What cute little morsels! This was eaten with hands, and it was a slice of what appeared to be raw pickled beetroot and curd on the inside. A failsafe tasty thing!

Lettuce, oyster

Oh, this was cool. I've never seen this before. Half a lettuce with oyster and oyster cream, and crunchy bits. See, I thought maybe we would get just raw oysters and something interesting with the lettuce, but it was actually the other way around! Having the oysters lightly grilled was really nice, and they were really good oysters! My friend doesn't eat oysters so I had more piled on top of my plate, so I was happy.I actually really liked that the descriptions of each dish were listed as they are, because now I realised that I had no idea what to expect! This is a new adventure!

Beef

On the menu, it did describe the beef as raw I guess. I would have thought they'd just put beef. Maybe because raw beef freaks some people out if they don't know beforehand? It didn't matter to me, and this was really, really good. Again, really flavoursome beef. It must be the Cape Grim stuff because the cows from there are just so tasty! It was lined with sour cream and topped with sansho leaf, I think. Really good stuff!

Uh, apple

Isn't this so cute! These were tiny and adorable. Apple roses that were bound in "apple leather" (like rollups?), and apple puree inside. This didn't just taste like apple though. There were varying textures and acidity levels within these bite sized treats, so it felt like I was tasting all parts of the apple, but separately! A simple looking, but complex palate cleanser.

Really wide beans

When the waiter gave us this dish, she said that the chef described this as "peas and friends" - how cute! I seem to really love vegetable dishes now. I can't remember exactly when it all changed, but the headlines that Yellow made was probably a good starting point. Anyway, broad beans! Yay! And peas! The creaminess of that burrata too. I think it was burrata. It was super creamy, and tasted like the inside of a burrata. Oh yeah. Also, my friend was convinced that the crunchy bits were fried chicken skin, but I thought that this might be a vegetarian dish. Turns out she was right, the waiter confirmed that it was indeed chicken!

Fushies

I'll admit, I have no idea because I didn't ask what "blue eye' was. I assumed it was cod, but what if there's a different fish that also has blue eye in its name??? So I will always have to describe this as just "blue eye" as a result. Sigh. I really should do better next time. Self chiding aside, this fish was really tasty! And what made it tastier was the pil pil sauce! That stuff was really addictive! The fried celeriac on the side was nice too, but I don't really like celeriac much so I was kind of wishing it wasn't there, even though it's the tastiest celeriac I've tried.

I scream

And dessert is served. Fig leaf ice cream with peach and macadamia. That's a cool biscuity thing on top, though it hid the rest of the dish. There was a lovely fig gel surprise underneath the ice cream that I totally loved! Again, because it was described as fig leaf, I didn't expect it to be the ice cream component of the dish. I love it when I guess wrongly!It was a very quick, short and light dinner. I love that there were some really unexpected combinations (that lettuce and oyster dish was brain-bending!!!) along with classics (beetroot, beef). It was a really reasonably priced restaurant, but I felt like there maybe wasn't enough food. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't hungry after it, but I did think that I could eat a lot more, and the Vue de Monde joke of walking out and eating a burger seriously crossed my mind (but a small tasty burger, I couldn't have eaten a large tasty burger). I couldn't be exactly sure if I was hungry or not simply because the last three days in Melbourne, I'd been absolutely stuffing myself to the brim so I was worried about my metabolism being in overdrive too. Luckily, I didn't actually get hungry and I didn't wake up particularly hungrier than usual the next day, so the serving size here was fine. It was just me being panicky, especially in contrast to Tipo 00's $69 chef's menu where I actually didn't finish one of the dishes.Overall it's a great place and super causal, but, a little too hipster for me, if such a thing is possible. I'd need to come here with someone classier and more hipster than me to be able to feel at home here. The food and the people were great though, so nothing to fault there. The waiter was super friendly and when I told her why I'd chosen this restaurant, she guessed correctly which barista recommended the place! So yeah, very nice, surprising dishes, but I felt a little out of place.Also, you definitely have to look at the receipt here. Why? Because the chefs receive the order names slightly differently than what's on the board, and it's a fun read :)

Melbourne 2017, the post I never got to make

I can't believe it. Finally, a Melbourne trip that I'm going to write up properly. It must be Christmas! Or shortly thereafter. It also took a lot of planning and a 4 day weekend to get to this stage, so here goes nothing! A blog about my second favourite city in Australia.My trip to Melbourne starts on the plane. I have a thing for flying full service, and here is my lovely meal to show for my money.Okay, it's the worst aeroplane meal I've had in a while. Those scrambled eggs weren't nice after a while, and the potato gems tasted like they'd been thawed then kind of warmed up. Ick. The sausage thing was okay though, so I ate all of that, and the tomato.It's also been forever since I've had a fruit yoghurt. Real mango bits? How do they not go off? Is it dried mango that's been put in yoghurt???I actually had a purpose in Melbourne other than just food and coffee. I was off to do some dancing, and my dance partner had taken a different flight. I had to wait for him, we went to our hotel, then, with precious little time to spare, I dashed off, and got to my favourite ceiling-chair cafe with 8 minutes to spare. Oh, chairs. You're so lovely.And look, I finally got a window seat! Yay! This place is usually packed out the doors, but going at closing time has its benefits. Next time, I  would love to just chill here and stare out the window.Even though I wasn't supposed to be consuming coffee, the opportunity was too good to pass up. So it was espresso and flat white for me. Both were delicious, and the espresso was tasting super yummy!A tinselly shot of BBB :)The next day, I decided that I'd go to Operator 25. I actually had a whole schedule set up of which cafe to go when, but I was never very good at following instructions, even my own. So I did everything in my own order. Their batch brew was okay, but not terribly exciting.I didn't really want a sweet breakfast, but it sounded interesting, so I went with the tapiocoa pudding with fruit and matcha coconut cream. That cream was really yummy! And I loved that there was some freeze dried fruit in here too! However my body wasn't used to the time difference yet, so it was difficult to muster up the appetite to eat it there and then. I hate adjusting to new timezones, but I know that food and sleep are the two most important things to assist with time shifting.The next day would be action packed, so I picked up some donuts for breakfast, since I'd need to be up horrendously early and had to be well fed at the same time. I also treated myself to this adorable star donut at Shortstop, which was eggnog flavoured!Swung by Hisense Arena to watch my friends. Yep, this was what I'd be doing on the weekend. How exciting! And nerve wracking!My Friday, Saturday and Sunday were blocked out, so there's not much of my own adventures over these three days except for a cheeky lunch at Cumulus Inc on the Friday, since it was my least busy day.Had a bit of spare time on the Sunday morning, so I went to cafe that I managed to spot while walking near the arena - Fifty Acres! They served up a tasty Duke's coffee.Their breakfast was delicious too! These weren't just any old scotch eggs, these were chorizo scotch eggs, and that made them the most delicious version I've eaten yet! My dance partner chose the pumpkin pancakes, which were amazing too.Then, with dancing over, it was time to move out and start hitting my cafes and restaurants hard.Lune. The best croissants in Australia. I love their little sign and the fact that they're tucked away in a garage in some out of the way street. Luckily, there's no queue on a Monday morning, compared to the massive queue I had to endure when I last visited on a Saturday.Behold the might and glory of the traditional croissant!!While the godliness of the traditional croissant was obligatory, it was the ice cream sandwich that I was after. Ice cream for breakfast, I love myself! A kouign amann cut in half, chocolate sauce and a perfectly shaped hazelnut gelato. The price tag of $15 was pretty hefty, but it was so delicious, especially as I've not had a kouign amann before, and the hazelnut gelato was so amazing! Yes! I'm so happy I got their special!Now to visit my other old favourite - Patricia. I managed to get a cool shot of something other than their windowsill and plants! I called this one Sunshine in a Coffee Cup.Okay, so I took a picture of the plants and window sill anyway. Mostly because the flowers had dropped into the sugar bowl. I also joined a great discussion about the Rowsaan spoons that they serve. About a year back, I had one of my Sydney baristas ask me about the spoons, so I took a picture, and then looked into it a little bit since he said that they cost $190 each. I thought it was a typo because I thought I'd seen them for $90 on their website, but no, today the barista confirmed they were indeed $190. Ouchies! What kind of a cafe can afford to stock $200 spoons?!?! Haha.I knew, then forgot, then remembered that Shannon Bennett now has a Benny Burger. I've tried Neil Perry's burgers, so it was time to see what Vue de Monde's executive chef's vision was. Also, I remember ages ago there being a joke about eating at the restaurant and then being left hungry so that people bought burgers at McDonald's shortly after.I hadn't done any research into the joint, but apparently they still had specials running! It was half price burgers for a good while, but when I got there, they were doing free chips and drink with every burger purchase. Nice! I wanted to try their chips! I didn't need the drink so I helped myself to the tap water.I chose the Cheesy Burns, which was their cheeseburger. Yep, it was cheap and tasty, just how I like it. The sauce in this one was really nice, and my conclusion is that it was on par with the likes of Burger Project and Shake Shack. What did intrigue me though, was that apparently they used wagyu in their burgers? But to be honest my favourite beef patty still come from Burger Project's Cape Grim beef. That stuff is just too good.The picture makes the cafe self explanatory! A lot of baristas talk highly of Everyday Coffee, so I had to pay a visit. I had a Kenya Kiamabara PB, which had loads of blackberry flavour! I took my time to sip away at this, watching the other two people in my view working away at laptops.That night was dinner at Embla, which has its own post. Even though the waiter had recommended that we go eat gelato from Spring Street Grocer, I did promise my friend that we'd go to the creperie. I changed my order this time, usually I get lemon sugar, but I figured, change is good, so I opted for chestnut paste this time. Quite nice, though a bit sweet for my palate (but it wasn't overly sweet).Aah, Proud Mary. I can't help but come here since I know their food is as good as their coffee. I didn't get a good shot of my espresso, and I only had the one coffee, since I had plans to geek out at Aunty Peg's instead.I also wanted the blue swimmer crab omelette for breakfast, but apparently the crabs that came in weren't right so they didn't have it available that day. The waiter did recommend the salmon pate and devilled egg instead, so I said yes! What a colourful looking and tasty breakfast!Ooooh I got here during a geisha party! Woohoo! There were three geishas on offer today, and I learned (by asking) that what happens is that Aunty Pegs gets a 2 week showcase, before rotating it onwards to Proud Mary. That's how it works! So I will always get a different coffee unless I clip the wrong Sunday + Monday visit haha. I had already tried Bambito Estate and Hacienda La Esmeralda, so this time, I chose Elida Estate. It was very very bright and fruity as an espresso, and when it cooled down as filter, it was so floral and delicious!The baristas here are always so knowledgeable and chatty, and were describing the estate as being part of a natural reserve, and that it was very picturesque with its rolling mists, since it was so high up. It makes me want to visit!Yes, I finally ate a Butterbing! This was at Aucuma cafe, where one of my barista friends was working, so I popped in and said hi. We walked around South Melbourne, but I didn't realise the markets were closed, but that was okay since we were happy to walk back into the city. When I talked about Spring Street Grocer, it turns out that she loved it too and also spoke highly of the pistachio ice cream! So of course, now I had to go get one.Well, after Minamishima, that is. There was no way I was going to enter a super sushi place without an empty stomach!While there was definitely enough food at Minamishima and I was full, I had to get gelato. If two people both recommended it, then it must be good. And they weren't wrong. The gelato here is kept under the metal lid things, just like Chicho back in Perth. And when the scoops came out - pistachio at the bottom, and white chocolate, yuzu, blackberry on top. Both flavours were amazing! The yuzu and blackberry were very prominent, and the pistachio one tasted exactly like pistachio! Yep, I'm glad I tried it!Next morning, I took my friend back to Brother Baba Budan since she tried to go before, and it was packed. We were early and it was quiet, but there were still enough people that the only seat we got was at the counter, staring at the machine. I decided that it was close enough to Christmas that I would treat myself to this lovely fruit mince pie!The picture of my piccolo came out horribly, so no post of that one.Look at this place. How sleek! I was told this was the best place to go by both the Aunty Peg's barista as well as my barista friend. It's a super white, minimalistic space with a roaster at the back! They also have a cute looking snack called kolache, which is basically stuff in buns. I tried the herbed omelette one and it was quite nice!As always, I went for the spo milk filter trio. All three were great. The Rwandan Kivu belt was what they had on filter, and the tasting notes were blueberries and blackcurrants. Those flavours definitely stood out, but I felt that it was at the expense of acidity, because I didn't get a lot of that. The espresso was Ethiopia Adado, which was nice, but not as tasty as the filter. Then the flat white for prettiness!It's a great little cafe and I'd love to visit here again and try more of their coffees!Finally, I visited 8 Bit, which is a little burger joint in the city. I always find this place so cute looking, and my friend was eating one of these the day before and it smelled so good, so I had to get a hot dog too - I was starving, wanted something small and tasty, but wouldn't weigh me down as I was about to enjoy the most epic meal I've had in a while.Then at night, I had a blast at Kisume. Oh yeah. That place was awesome, and I walked out feeling like a superstar.The superstar feeling carried on to the next day, when my time in Melbourne was finally up. Because of my recent mass of travelling (especially premium economy to Japan!), I managed to get some lounge passes. So I figured, I may as well use them since I won't maintain my status when it expires.The Virgin lounge in Melbourne is pretty cool, and has its own little express customs area so that you don't have to go back out and line up again with all the "commoners". What was really caught my attention after scanning the buffet tables, was the 1 press pancake maker! There were a couple of these machines. All you had to do was press the GO button, and it would start making pancakes inside. There was even a little progress bar that showed you what stage readiness your two pancakes were at, and then when done, out they popped from the side! It was so entertaining!I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to eat, so I just piled on some blueberries, maple syrup and cream. But I also grabbed a sausage, some ham, and a boiled egg. On the same plate. Because sweet and savoury together is cool. Or something. Not too bad considering it was free! Also, while I was initially bewildered, I quickly realised that most of the people here were business people, so everything could be left unattended so that they could get food and drinks. Cool, it was nice not having to drag around my luggage just to get my breakfast!The view from the lounge is pretty cool too. I didn't realise it at the time, but that was actually my plane!Keeping those windows squeaky clean :DBye bye Melbourne, I love you! But only almost as much as Sydney.Onwards we go!!!

Kuro Kisume - The Table

There's classy, then there's classy. Want the ultimate exclusive experience? It doesn't get more on-the-surface-looks-so-pretentious-and-foodie-exclusive than this. But let me tell you now, it's the friendliest, silliest, laughter filled and delicious eating experiences you can get.I remember when trying to make a booking here, I thought that I only had 30 days in advance and that they were open 7 days a week. But I was specifically after The Table, which is a 12-seater room. Thank goodness I re-read the page a kazillion times, to notice that The Table has a 45 days in advance booking and that I could do it online. Phew, no more battling the phone! I got lucky that I was also bringing a friend along to this wild ride!We were a bit early, which was a good thing, since these things have synchronised start times. So we chilled at the bar for a bit and chose mocktails (I think it was the sakura one, which involved a rosewater aroma spray right at the end, but I failed to take a nice picture of it), before we were taken into the room.It was a small turnout tonight, which kind of surprised me - I thought these things were highly sought after and fully booked all the time, but we were a table of 8 tonight, out of a maximum possible of 12. Interesting. Our chef greeted us and apologised for his unhandsome look of sunburnt face, and then checked that we definitely didn't have any dietary requirements. Sure, we'd all be game enough to eat kangaroo balls and monkey brains if required... right???There was a quick Q&A around the room so that he could find out where we were from and why we were here, and for me it was interesting to hear it too, because I wondered if I could pick out what kind of foodie everyone is. Turns out I'm no good at it haha.He also made mention that unlike omakase restaurants, which were mainly sushi focused, and usually sourced Japanese ingredients, his aim was to use as many Australian ingredients as possible. I like the way he thinks, I love it when local produce gets showcased!

Spanner crab, udon dashi gelee, freeze dried apple

Look at that. Isn't it beautiful? He first showed us the shell of the spanner crab, and asked if we knew what it was. I really didn't want to draw attention to myself and I had no idea if he was asking rhetorically or actually looking for audience participation, so I stayed quiet haha. Also I didn't want to come across like a know-it-all, because that's sometimes how I feel since I love to play the game of "recognise that ingredient!"This was super tasty and it was like having solid crab broth! By solid I mean jelly, which is close enough. The flavours on this carried so much depth for a crab wrapped in dashi jelly thing! I could eat this solid soup for days on end!

Oyster with wagyu shaving, tobiko, finger lime

Finger lime makes an appearance again! I love that stuff! I felt the beef was a little overkill since I have a strong preference for natural oysters. But also this was served in a most interesting bowl, it was rocks stuck together inside a glass bubble plate thing.Oh yeah, the uni shell came out. I'm in for some good stuff.

Uni, roasted cauliflower foam, truffle

I secretly call this one the uni-corn, because there was corn puree at the bottom, then sea urchin, then covered in a cauliflower foam before being covered in shaved truffle. I love the flavour of roasted caufliower! And then the briny creaminess of the sea urchin hit, and that sweetness then carried into the corn. How delicious!Also, no, we couldn't eat the shell. Apparently some people have tried, so he has to give that warning every time!It might have also been around this time that the chef recognised one of the guests here - apparently a return customer? But he wasn't very sure for now...I spotted this little thing appear on the table, but I didn't actually realise what it was. I just thought it was cute, which is why I took a picture of it.Then this came out. BUT OF COURSE! It's an onion soup syphon soup like the one I had at Vue de Monde except it's got bonito flakes in it!!! Yeah?!?!?! I got really excited about this one and I felt like I wanted the whole world to know that I love syphons and immediately recognised what it was, but I also kept my mouth shut and let the chef explain instead.I felt a little bad because I was thinking, hey, I've seen a restaurant do this 3 years ago, so I know what's going to happen. But I had to remember that not everyone has seen it done before (especially as a soup), and you know what, it was a good thing that I continued to listen to the chef, because that's when I learned a little bit more. I had always thought that the heat causes the water to boil, and that's why it goes up into the top chamber, before cooling back down. However, apparently what actually happens is that their air expands as it's heated in the bottom chamber, and it's the expansion of the air that pushes all the liquid to the top. Is that why no boiling chips are needed? Lol, my days of high school science still kicks in every now and again, because I remember always wondering, if we had to put boiling chips in our round flasks to stop large bubbles bursting out of the glass, how come syphons never needed one? Maybe the bead chain did that? Either way, I have no clue, so now I will run around with both water boiling and air expansion in my head every time I see one of these :)

Siphon broth of bonito and storm clam, smoked eel

Oh look who it is. Storm clams make another appearance! This time in broth form. I liked the clams when I had them at Cumulus Inc better, but the broth in here was really yummy! It's what I aim for when I make seafood broths, but I can't seem to get the flavour as light and clear. I also found it amusing that there were zucchini balls in here. I wonder why there are zucchini balls in here?Ok everyone, what colour is the sky? Blue, but then we all started joking about it, red at sunset, grey if you're a Londoner, etc. And apparently there was one guy who got really serious and started describing it as colourless and that it was simply refracting light which is why we see it the colour we do....Too bad I already realised why he asked, possibly because I saw him hiding a very special caviar-looking tin behind his back while he was talking. Oh yeah. Imagine holding something like this in your hand!!! Wow!! He explained that tobiko was coloured and rather ordinary, but that this, this was real colour. Completely natural. Too bad I already knew this, having read some of Mr. Niland's description of tasting it. Ok yeah, I talk a lot about Mr. Niland lol.He was showing this around the table, so I took a picture and said that his hand would now be famous, haha!I also decided, you know what, I know how much a Perth retailer sold this for. So I'll see if restaurants get a better deal on it. I asked cheekily, how much does a tin like that cost him? The answer? $140 a tin. Which means they don't get a discount. They pay the same price as I would have. Ouch, that's the real deal when it comes to premium product! So now I know!

Scampi sashimi, nori puree, scampi roe

And this is how it was served. In a massively shiny golden-on-the-inside bowl. Oh yeah. But guess what... when I saw the ingredients being piled on, I realised something. THIS WAS THE EXACT SAME THING I HAD YESTERDAY AT MINAMISHIMA LOL. Excatly the same ingredients, but done in slightly different ways. The nori here was a paste rather than crisps, and the daikon was presented in a more pretty manner here. Apart from that, there was still finger line, and bottarga. Cool stuff. It's as if I wished really, really, really really hard that I really, really, really wanted this one again, and my wish came true!!!Given that the ingredients were the same, they were also equal in taste, so I was super happy. I absolutely couldn't believe my good fortune that somehow, I ate the most gorgeous dish twice, in two nights!The chef was kind of looking around expectantly at this stage, and then when no one talked (because we were all too busy enjoying our food), he announced that usually at this stage, more likely the girls, would ask where the bowls were obtained from. That's when we all joked that these were IKEA bowls. I couldn't actually remember where any of the servingware came from since I am not interested in that stuff, but it was something that was talked about in a lot of the dishes.Oooh, a smokey dome! I actually got a funny video of this but I don't have time to figure out how to convert and embed; the chef presented each one to us, but for mine, since I was filming, he made sure to stick his pinky out like a proper snob, and then swirled the glass round as he lifted it.

Grilled green lip abalone, charred eggplant, caviar

The smokiness was amazing and lingering here. I think it was applewood that was used to smoke this? The very question made me think back to Firedoor, where specific woods are used for specific food. While the abalone was nice, it was the eggplant that was the real flavour bomb here! So delicious!Watch out, tweezers in action! This smelled great while being made, and of course my eyes went straight to the broad beans. Just 3 on every dish, and I was so eager to eat them!!!

John dory katsu, spring garden

Look that those flowers so delicately and lovingly scattered upon the crispy fried fish. You wanna know the secret to edible flower arrangements? Flower bae, that's what. Salt bae was so 2017 :P even though it's still 2017. This was more fish than I was expecting, but it was perfectly cooked and I was really loving that crust!

Spring vegetable terrine

I was happily chatting to my friend and probably off in my own little head-world when this dish came out, but when I finally paid attention and looked at it, my face was just like OH WOW OMG WHAT IS THAT BEAUTIFUL PRETTY THING. Even the chef laughed because he says that people usually have my kind of reaction when this dish came out!My goodness. That knifework. It's no superfine dice, but this still requires so much precision. All the chefs who prep this have to be within 1mm of each other and the standard measurement of I think 12 or 15mm or something, for this dish to come together. Even then, each different vegetable is pickled and prepared differently too, before it all comes together. Man, that's some insane stuff. I would love to try this one day, but it's infinitely more daunting than trying to just finely chop onions as a show of skill.The chef also said that this was affectionately known as the V13. Too bad I didn't actually count all the vegetables though, I would have loved to, had I thought about it in the moment! I got as far as baby corn, pumpkin, zucchini, pink beetroot, there was probably a carrot, a yellow beetroot or yellow carrot, and other things. I can't remember what the green paste was, but I guessed correctly that those were elderflowers!What a tasty pickle dish!

Double toro sushi

This might be a kaiseki restaurant, but it can do sushi if it wants to! There was something curious about this though, and the chef told us to try and guess what was underneath the sushi, because it wasn't rice. One of the other people at the table tried to lift the entire plate to angle it to the light to try and get a visual on it, so I tried the same. Then I looked at it, then I tried to bite it on its own, then I just put the whole thing in my mouth.Apparently no one could guess what this was, but I felt it was a little like fish ball. What did it end up being? Well, hopefully you get served this to find out for yourself!Now, out comes the binchotan! This is super special pure charcoal which can burn really, really hot.OH YEAH LOOK AT THAT LEVEL OF SIZZLE OH MAAANWhat happens when a binchotan and wagyu beef kiss? Smokey, fatty, flavoursome deliciousness.

Aburi wagyu, sushi, chopped toro

And how it looks when it's all structured and plated up. This time, yes, there was sushi rice inside the beef. Then it was topped with toro, and it was a very decadent treat! What I loved the most about this was the lingering smokiness from the binchotan, I felt that it made all the difference when it came to making this piece unique from any other place where I might end up trying this again.It was funny though, because the wagyu slices looked so similar to that of Waku Ghin, and even after cooking, I couldn't stop thinking that this would be perfect if it was just the beef with some fresh wasabi... that dish was just too good....Oh. Oh, I get a claypot. Filled with morels. Oh my goodness, morels!!!! This was like what I would get at Den?!?!?! I was so excited!! This is kaiseki!

Morel mushroom rice

And there it is. The rice and roe to beat Minamishima's rice and roe. I was so happy with this dish, because it was what I really wanted to see, along with the Den salad, when I went to Japan, but couldn't because the restaurant was closed during my visit. This was amazing, the flavour was great, and while the roe was nice, I really didn't mind if it wasn't there.Did you know that this isn't just Yarra Valley hand milked salmon caviar? I mean yeah, I buy this for home, and everyone ("everyone" being Minamishima) uses it at restaurants, but the chef explained that this was the first harvest. So that means it's the one in the special little tins. The first harvest is important because it's when the eggs have the thinnest shells, so they are softer. Good to know!He also went on to explain how these were milked (too bad I already knew), but again, what was really fascinating and kept my attention here was that he explained how this was different from places like Japan. If the salmon isn't hand milked, then it's likely the salmon had its belly cut open and the eggs removed. So the poor salmon would probably be dead and hopefully, a really tasty dinner. That bit was enlightening and made me once again, appreciate that knowing where your food comes from and how it's prepared is a very important part of eating.

Blackmore 9+ wagyu, shio koji, asparagus

This was the most ordinary dish for me, but has a few interesting stories with it.First of all, I was talking to my friend when I stopped mid-sentence, told her I would stop talking to her, and my head whipped around to immediately stare at the white asparagus that'd just come out. Apparently this was so sudden and must have looked so insensitive that the person sitting across from me (the chef was in the kitchen at that moment) burst out laughing! I couldn't help the way I acted! It's white asparagus!! How exciting!!!My friend said that she'd seen white asparagus before, and that's when the chef talked about how white and green asparagus are the same thing, the white ones are simply denied sunlight and the opportunity to photosynthesise.These were served raw, but marinated in shio koji. I was surprised at the flavour and softness of these, mainly because I'd tried cooking some myself not too long ago and the outer stem was tough, and most of the sweetness came from being boiled (I don't have a steamer). But in this case, it was tender, but also, the shio koji was really strong! It didn't detract from the asparagus at all though, and I think it probably changed the outside texture of the asparagus ever so slightly, maybe.Then there's the wasabi. Look at that dollop of real, freshly ground wasabi, to complement the beef. Oh yeah, that was sooooo good. Wagyu and wasabi are a match made in heaven!! It felt like Waku Ghin all over again!The chef had actually talked about the wasabi earlier in the meal, explaining that packet wasabi contained little to no wasabi, and that wasabi likes to grow in cold, cave-like places and take a year to mature, which is why it's so rare. Another interesting tidbit of information!Not only that, he also went on to describe the wagyu grades. He touched on the marble score, but mainly, he explained what full blood wagyu is, and that the stuff at regular shops were partial breeds, so if you want wagyu, you have to make sure it's purebred. Of course, in Adelaide I already researched this since I saw Sher wagyu being sold as full blood, and thus looked up the definition since David Blackmore was the only one I really knew.Throughout the meal, the chef's memory of the return customer also kept improving, and he recalled more and more moments of that previous visit, even outlining where one of his friends had sat and said that he didn't like cauliflower, but then really enjoyed the cauliflower and uni dish! And one of the other guys at the table was increasingly bemused that the chef was remembering more and more as the night went on.That was the last savoury dish.Hey look, it's dry ice! Woohoo!

Pineapple, lychee, and passionfruit tube

And when the smoke finally dissipated, here's what was left. Fruit tubes! Three flavours, encased in a glass tube. How do you eat these? Apparently you just take one and suck on it! Yellow side goes first, but apparently, if you want to be kinky (chef's own words), I guess you could suck from the orange side :P He said he created it this way because he thought that the traditional Japanese style of sweet palate cleanser in the form of fresh fruit just a tad too simple. Aw, I would have loved a slice of yubari melon! Haha.Since we were at the end of the table, we got to watch as everyone else ate these, and still I was nervous because I had no idea how much force to apply to get all the flavours in one go - but it was as self explanatory as the chef made it out to be. What a tasty flavour bomb! I loved the combination, and even though they went into your mouth pretty much all at once, the flavours were still very distinctive. How fun!

Journey from light to dark chocolate

And the final dish. Dessert. From this angle, I felt it kind of looked like a dinosaur head. We were supposed to eat this from light to dark, and it started with coconut and vanilla flavours and yuzu meringue, then moved onto dark chocolate and raspberry sauce at the end. Those shards were absolutely awesome, and there was a black sesame flavour in there too! A really nice end to the night!Well. This was something else. As a whole, it was a totally new experience for me, since I've never done kaiseki before. It was a lot of fun, with great company from both the chef and the other customers, and the food was also really good, especially as some came with a lot of background information! There were so many elements that I picked from all the other restaurants I've been to, which was cool, because they gave me comparison points, but more importantly, I got to see why each restaurant is different, and that made me love things even more!There was a part in the evening where there was a discussion with the couple sitting next to us, and how they'd visited Jiro's sushiya before. The couple described it as a completely different experience that was so fast, and Jiro watches you and expects you to eat the sushi straight away, and you couldn't stop at any point, so the girl was so full, but had to keep going to avoid showing disrespect! With that kind of description, it sounded like a very intimidating place to go to, and all of a sudden I don't think I want to visit haha!Finally, the chef asked us what our favourite dish was. As he went around the room, everyone said the wagyu beef (I think the sushi version), but by the time he came to me, I said something different. For me it was the mushroom rice, because of how much I wanted a real kaiseki experience, and because I had wanted it at Den, but was unable to get a reservation at the time. The mushroom rice dish was so homely and different from what I could usually get at Japanese restaurants, so I really loved it! And my friend said the vegetable terrine. Go us!Yep, I definitely want to come back here. But, I am suffering from ingredient fatigue (when I'm not surprised to see blue scampi caviar... where do I go from there?), so I would love to somehow get rid of that first, and rediscover the joys in things that are new to others. While Minamishima ranks higher, I find Kisume more fun. They're completely different restaurants so I wouldn't say one is better than the other, rather, I would suggest one based on the preferences of whoever's asking.One last thing... the cost of food alone for this place was $220 per person, but it felt like it was worth so much more. I reckon this was closer to a $300 dining experience, but since that price doesn't exist in Australia (thank goodness!), I guess if they can do with $220, then that's good. But the quality is way up there, and I'd be happy to pay more.Melbourne, I love you so.Japanese food, I love you too.I love food so much!