Taste of Melbourne 2011

These last few weeks have been hectic!! But, in between busy days at work, there is always time for enjoyment of food!!! So... here is what my food buddy and I ate at the TASTE OF MELBOURNE!!!!

Arriving there, we quickly buy our crowns and run through the crowd to the closest food stall like we were in a race! In reality...we were just very very very very very very HUNGRY People!!!! We arrive at St. Katherines and buy...

Turkish lamb dumplings with garlic yoghurt, sumac and dried mint

&

KFC "St Katherine's fried chicken"

The food was tasty, however, I enjoyed the chicken more than the dumplings (which were more like tortellini). St Katherine's is the latest restaurant owned by The Press Club group. The chefs are George Calombaris and Shane Delia. Both bold and successful, it makes me feel that to become a celebrity chef, the trend is to shave your head and know how to cook. (Adam D'Sylva is another one). hehehe

So, our taste buds are wanting more food!! We make our way to the next restaurant stall The European!!

Western Plains pork parcel

Regal King Salmon fishcake tartare

The Pork was the best dish we ate on the day! It was this pork belly that was wrapped in a thin layer of brik pastry and the flavour was balanced out with the apple salad. YUM YUM YUM!!! I want more just thinking about it right now!! The fishcake was good, but a tad dry. I love dining at the European also, the restaurant serves great food!

Cheese platter from That's Amore

That's Amore is a cheese company who makes fresh beautiful cheeses! CODA is proud to use their fresh products made by Georgio the owner. He has a wide range of cheeses made with the freshest milk and some items on the platter above include ricotta, diavoletti (little devils), buffalo mozzarella. DELICIOUS!!! They also have a store called La Latteria on 104 Elgin St Carlton. If you want more information on cheese descriptions please go to their website on www.lalatteria.com.au 

Olive fried octopus, aioli, steamed eggplant and pickled free range eggs

Prawn and pork plums with '1000 year old' egg and pickled ginger

The Botantical produced these items as well as a wagyu beef burger. There was a massive line up for the wagyu beef burger..and knowing me..I had to be different and decided to try something different, so I got the other 2 (not as popular) items. These dishes were yummy!! Especially the octopus! Tasty salad with great flavours and very fresh! the plums were very average on the other hand. It was tasty and yummy, but nothing outstanding.

Cured Regal Kind Salmon with pickled daikon, lime and vanilla cucumber

This dish was interesting. I enjoyed it. The flavours were fresh and very tasty. The Millswyn brings flavours from Scandinavia and France in South Yarra.  

We had to do a little stop over for some sweets becuase I was starting to get full. I think this stall was called Miny Mots..or something, Reminds me of Tiny tots who sold the same thing a few years back. Mini balls of ice cream and sorbet, I chose the caramel popcorn flavour and and lime sorbet. YUM!

Seared scallops, green chilli aioli, almond and celeriac remoulade

Rhubarb, violet and rose geranium Eton mess

After walking through the bottom level and top level, we made our way back down to the bottom level to choose the last meal we were to eat at this year's TASTE OF MELBOURNE! We went to the Stokehouse! Eating the last of our savouries and back to sweet, I enjoyed the fresh rhubarb sorbet slide down my throat. Fresh crunchy meringue textures with fragrance of violets and hints of rose, it was a great end to this dining experience.

Xx