Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2012

The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival has been going on for 2 weeks and I'm one happy participant to experience a few things they had to offer.

Monday 5th March

Crawl and Bite. CODA was a part of this program and we had 6 lots of 40 people come in in the space of 4 hours. We fed the groups crispy pork with vietnamese coleslaw, crispy prawn betel leaves with soy vinegar and duck curry in paper noodle boxes. I was too busy to even take pictures. It was a very fun night though!!!

Friday 9th March

It was a great afternoon in Melbourne and what better way to spend the sunset evening than to watch a free foodie movie at Federation Square. The movie was Jiro dreams of sushi. It was awesome. More like a document and now just thinking of it..I'm craving sushi. haha

But before the movie started, I went to have a few snacks at GO GO BAR!!

Indonesian roti beef

These little parcels were tasty. They came with lightly pickled cucumber and sliced banana chillis

Pork Slider

Although the pork was kinda too salty, the texture of the bun and creaminess of the mayo was nice. 

Pickled papaya salad

The salad was very strong with the pickling liquid but it did cut the saltiness from the pork slider.

With a half filled stomach, I was off to see the movie. And the night ended with a friend from work and I at Moomba on 2 amazingly crazy rides. YAY!!!

Sunday 11th March

Two girlfriends and I dined at Number 8 for lunch. They had guest stars Thierry Marx and Stephane Bour from France cooking their own menu and it was such a beautiful day for this event!! We started off with...

Cucumber pate, sturgeon caviar and Granny Smith apple

This was amazing. Fresh and yummy, my palate was waking up to the dishes about to come. I'm salivating now just reminiscing about the dish.  

Sea bream - Japanese style

My friend who couldn't have the veal had this dish. Beautifully presented, the dressing was a light sweet soy with a radish parcel in the side and daikon salad on top.

Veal and truffle

The veal was rolled with truffle and cooked all the way. Steamed orange and purple carrots with lightly shaved truffle garnish the veal. The potato was also layered with truffle and cut into nice cubes and the little blob on the plate was an intense truffle flavour. The waiter pours the veal jus at the table. Delicious.

Passionfruit, coconut and transparent milk chocolate

This dish was truly beautiful to look at. The textures were wonderful and it was mousse on tempered chocolate, kataifi nest with passionfruit chocolate mousse. YUMMY!!!

Petit Fours Fresh Vegetables

These mini chocolate cups were filled with pineapple cubes and were garnished with rocquette leaves and beetroot shoots.

Our 3 course menu ended there, however we wanted more!!!  

Smoked pineapple and raspberries

Raspberry marshmallow, smoked pineapple with raspberry macaron bottom, raspberry gel and smoked pineapple sorbet. This came out with the waiter pulling the glass off the smoked pineapple. The smell was very smoky. He then poured lemonade into the glass and we smelt smoky lemonade which we drank between mouthfuls of our dessert. It was lovely, but I really liked the chocolate one!

Caramelised pear, spiced white chocolate ice cream, ginger bread crumble, salted caramel, almond meringues

This was part of the Number 8 menu, but this was all my friend wanted. Simple flavours for what we are used to. It was delicious!!

They were setting up for Stephane Bour's Afternoon High Tea, so we had to scat. Catching up on all the gossip, we continued to our next outlet in the SUN!!! 

We went to Greenhouse by Joost which is an awesome eco bar just appearing along the Queensbridge Road along the river. They have herbs growing out of recycled tins. We even drank out of jars and recycled beer bottles.

Even the toilets were in these containers, and if you flush, you can wash your hand at the same time. Interesting.

Cheese platter at Pure South

Feeling like a little nibble we moved along down the river to Southbank. All the restaurants were filling up fast, and finally we found a nice outside table to accommodate us and we could catch the sun setting..slowly. Kind river triple cream brie, Bruny Island C2 and Pyengana cheddar. Delicious Australian cheese paired with crackers, fruit bread, fresh and pickled fruits and paste. It was a great way to end the adventure.

The festival is still going until tomorrow. There is a Thai festival at Federation Square and a Sweets exhibition at Immigration Museum. I can't wait!! 

Catch you next time!!

Xx