When I get run into the ground at my day job I try and get away for the weekend to relax and unwind and this weekend saw me wing it to Melbourne and land at the Sofitel. I've written before about my less than five-star experiences in Brisbane with the Accor owned company but the Melbourne version has a much better track record. The rooms are well fitted out, complete with dvd players, surround sound and an iPod connection controlled by the touch-screen remote next to the bed and then there is the club lounge which is in a world of it's own. How many hotels have a fireplace on the 35th floor?

On the nights I was there the lounge was mostly quiet, perfect for a book and a gin and tonic and enjoying the open bar and evening canapés or the sweeter petit fours of an evening with a hot chocolate. Some company would have been nice too.

Sofitel Melbourne Club Lounge

Breakfast is a hybrid buffet and à la carte, having scrambled eggs, bacon fruit and cereal on the bar and a slightly changing menu of a 'big breakfast', eggs benedict etc. I'd highly recommend the ricotta hotcakes.

Pine Nut and Honey Ricotta Hotcakes @ Sofitel Club Lounge, Melbourne

Those of you who know me, and those of you that finish reading this sentence know that I love coffee. Most of you even know that I like *ahem* a drink or two. So when I hit the Atrium Bar at the Sofitel Melbourne the night I landed I started to relax, To understand the atmosphere in this bar you need to appreciate the layout of the Sofitel Melbourne. Even though the reception is based on the lower floors the hotel itself does not start until the 35th floor, perched on top of an office tower. This is where you'll find the Atrium Bar and it's skylight another 15 floors above.

Atrium Bar @ Sofitel Melbourne

I went through a couple of drinks, starting with a fig and scotch martini that was nice except I'm not the biggest fan of scotch - the figs almost made up for it. I ended up with heaven in a glass with an espresso martini. Goddamn it was good, heck, it even had crema thick and frothy enough to hold up whole beans... It wasn't like any of the other espresso martini's I've had before, this had a dash of frangelico in it I think.

I think I've found a reason to dust off my own martini glasses.

Espresso Martini - Sofitel Melbourne

Tags:Sofitel, Melbourne, Martini, Coffee, Atrium Bar, Lounge, Club Lounge, Review

Wrapping up a day of good food I made a fast healthy meal from Dinner Tonight that I saw a while back, with my own addition of course. I had some great wholemeal sourdough in the cupboard left from breakfast so I thought some garlic toast would go well.

Fast Tortellini Soup with Chared Sourdough

Fast Tortellini Soup with Chared Sourdough - Serves 2
500g Packet of Fresh Tortellini (I used veal)
1L Box of Ready Made Beef Consommé
1 Bunch of Broccolini
2 Slices of Sourdough
1 Garlic Clove

Put the consommé into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Meanwhile, heat a grill pan.

When the consommé is boiling, add the tortellini and return to the boil. Drizzle the grill pan with some olive oil and place the slices of sourdough on the grill pan. Leave until thick black lines are formed on the bread. Turnover and repeat for the opposite side. When you turn the bread over, rub the hot side of the bread with half of the garlic clove.

By the time this is done the pasta should be about ready. Break up the broccolini into bite sized pieces and toss in the consommé.

The other side of the bread should be ready by now so take it off, slice in half and serve two pieces per person. Divide the soup, tortellini and broccolini between each person and serve.

Optional: If you've got larger soup bowls and want to add an extra bit of style to this dish, place the slices of bread under a griller/broiler topped with cheese until it's golden and bubbly. Float in the bowl when serving.

Tags:Soup, Pasta, Tortellini, Quick, Bread, Recipe

Following on from my breakfast today I went for a walk along King Street to do a bit of shopping for the house and to find something nice for lunch. At the opposite end of King Street to where I started from I saw the Macro Café. I've been meaning to check it out for a while and I finally walked through the door.

Macro Café, King Street, Newtown

Unsurprising for the neighborhood, the post-hippie generation feminist matriarchal vegan families seem to be flocking to this place in numbers as large as the uni-students taking advantage of the free wireless internet. If you can at all avoid it while queuing to place your order (no table service), don't stand behind one of the aforementioned feminist vegan matriarchs placing her order especially if they're heavily pregnant. Instead of picking something off the menu board that meets their stringent dietary requirements they seem to instead rattle off all of their dietary restrictions and the reasons why to the poor waitress trying to find something they can eat. 10 minutes later she settled a garden salad with a hard boiled egg. Obviously she's not a real vegan. I bet she doesn't even pocket-mulch. If I wasn't afraid of loosing my seat I'd have tried to sneak into the kitchen and slip some bacon into her food.

As far as what I ate, I settled a simple ham and cheese croissant and a pot of byron chai. $4.50 for the chai I could understand, but I was a little concerned at the $9.50 for the croissant! If it wasn't for the fact that I'd already queued and there weren't many more options for breakfast in the direction my travels were taking me I'd have probably left and found something else. WIth a bit of a surprise I ended up being presented with a substantial croissant with either emmental or jarlsberg cheese, good quality ham. tomato and baby spinach. It really was a meal in itself. I did think it odd that the menu board didn't mention it. Now I understand why it cost so much.

Croissant from Macro Café

I tried to make croissants from scratch many moons ago and even though they tasted okay, they were a right pain in the arse and I vowed never to make one again. I might give it another go some time but no. Real hand made croissants can easily take a professional days to make, mine took four days and another two days to clean the kitchen! There are plenty of rumors as to the origin of croissants, including Polish bakers hearing the early morning tunneling of Turkish soldiers whom alerted the local authorities and ambushed the Turks. To honor the victory in the battle, the bakers supposedly made croissants in the shape of the crescent moon on the Turkish flag. All this in the 700's, nearly a thousand years before the earliest reference to puff pastry! They are more likely a French variation of a Viennese pastry. I'd still rather cross an armed Turkish soldier than cross the feminist vegan to ask her to hurry up and order.

Tags:Restaurant, Cake, Croissant, Newtown, Review

Sometimes, the simplest things are often the best. Sitting back in a comfy chair in the sun, a good cup of tea at hand, good toast & jam, something interesting to read and some good music. Specifically, Bitton Gourmet's Strawberry and Vanilla jam; made with real vanilla it's a nice change to standard strawberry and would go great over ice cream too. I'm not sure if it was meant to be this runny or the batch I got my jar from just didn't quite have the best mix of under-rip fruit to add the needed pectin to set, but either way - it was still good. Get a jar. Now.

Bitton Gourmet's Strawberry Vanilla Jam

Oh, and the muisic, The Tellers' More

Tags:Bread, Breakfast, Jam, Bitton, Tea

After a week of having moved into my new house I still haven't gotten to the supermarket to stock up on the essentials, like food. Sure I've got four boxes full of food that I bought with me, but twelve types of vinegars some dried peas and some cannelloni a meal does not make. So, I took the plunge and went for a walk up to King Street, straight past the supermarket and into a café. Grub and Tucker to be precise. It's in the site where Circul8 used to be, now renovated with an awkward 2" raised area to one side of the dining room, complete with a little wire fence around it. The oversized furniture and plants that lean into the walkways in this space aren't helping either. I eventually get to a seat with a view out the window with out making an absolute arse of myself and sit down.

Eventually I get a menu, eventually the waitress comes back to take my order, eventually I get my drinks, eventually I get my food. Saying that though, if I'd gotten the braised beef cheek ($18.50) that I ordered any faster I might have had to send it back. To a chef that has a large menu full of relatively quick dishes, like the asian inspired duck salad that I almost went for, having a couple of slow food items can really throw you. If you slow cook something and hold it in a perpetual state of almost finished like you have to in a restaurant - heating it and getting it on a plate too fast will cease the meat, make it tough ruining hours worth of braising.

Braised Beef Cheek from Grub & Tucker, Newtown

If you haven't had beef cheek but like lamb shanks, I'd suggest giving it a try. Like shanks, cheek is a very well used muscle group so it's hard and tough and needs long slow cooking to make it tender and even more than a shank, you get that wonderful gelatinous mouth feel that just means winter for any self respecting carnivore. This dish was served on a bed of potato purée, sliced green beans and broccoli, unfortunately the greens were a little over done and even with the flourish of fresh parsley over the top it still lacked both the freshness and the body you'd expect for a dish that's obviously meant to warm you from the inside. The beef cheek itself was excellent mind, but the jus lacked body, a handful of black peppercorns in the jus while it was simmering would have fixed it.

On the plus side, a walk down King Street on a Saturday night is really what this neighbourhood is all about. Instead of having to deal with drunks and drug addicts along Oxford Street, I found street performers and artists and a happy active crowd of onlookers enjoying the spectacle. Best of all, I met the group of artists that put together Oh Really Magazine, picked up a piece of their artwork (free with a donation!) and commissioned them to do some work for me. I love Newotwn.

Oh Really Pig

Tags:Restaurant, Newtown, Beef, Beef Cheek, Review

I've just moved house which is a traumatic and difficult experience at the best of times - this time though I had a really bad flu while I was packing and bronchitis while I was moving. Nasty stuff. Worst of all, my new fridge doesn't fit in the kitchen! Although it makes a lovely talking point in the dining room! If anyone knows someone that's looking for a brand new Iridium Stainless-steel Fisher and Paykle water/ice-making fridge, get in touch, it's only two months old!

Fisher and Paykle 519L Fridge for Sale

I' like to say it was entirely due to the fact I was sick, but unfortunately, this is how I usually pack to move house, turning my kitchen draws upside down over a box, taping it up and dealing with the mess at the other end. Just watch out for the steak-knives!

Box of cutlery and utensils from my last house move

Tags:Moving