Academy Kitchen & Bar

Located on Bridge Road, Academy Kitchen is in the fast growing section past Church Street. It is headed up by Will Manning (impressive Chef Hat CV including The Botanical)

Melbourne Glutton and I decided to spend our Saturday night here. We weren't sure what to expect as Academy is not fine dining the same way that Botanical was, but Will's background is fine dining, either way we were both very excited. There was quite a few things on the menu that excited us but it was hard to choose so we decided to leave it up to them to feed us.

To start we got Oysters natural with mignonette. The oyster was fresh and creamy, we only got 2. I think I could have eaten half a dozen by myself.

Salt and Pepper Calamari came after. This came with orange, fennel and chilli mayonnaise. It was golden yellow. I liked the citrus pairing with the chilli mayo, it was refreshing yet creamy.

Next starter was Duck and Truffle Parfait. With chutney and toasted brioche, it was devine. I love all things fatty and bad for me. This hit that spot, the smooth buttery parfait with the brioche was so good, we asked for extra brioche so no parfait went to waste.

For pasta we got Goats Cheese Tortellini. It was served with ratatouille and tomato foam. The fresh made pasta was perfectly cooked and ratatouille balanced out the goat cheese to give a well rounded mouthful.

Mains we got Pan Roasted Snapper served with dragoncello, fried potatoes and green tomato salad. The snapper was crisp on the outside and juicy on the inside. The fried potatoes were a guilty pleasure too.

Dessert was Tiramisundae. This was made up of coffee mascarpone, marsala soaked sponge and chocolate sorbet. It was decadent and full of rich coffee aromas. If I wasn't so full, I would have finished the whole thing on my own.

Other dessert we shared was Ricotta terrine. It came with lemon mousse, figs and pistachios. Personally I am not a big fig fan so I was biased and went towards the tiramisundae more. MG enjoyed it so between the 2 of us, we made sure we have a good balance amount of dessert in our belly.

Overall I was very happy I got this invite. The food was better than I anticipated and I can't wait to take D back to try more things on the menu.

Zero 95

As a belated celebration for my win of Menulog's People's Champ win, I took my family to Zero95. Sis has been talking about this place for awhile. She called it one of the best pizzas she has tasted, so naturally I was keen to try it. So with Mum, D, Sis, H and I we made our way to Doncaster East to sink our teeth into some delicious carbs.

To start we got a few entrees to share. Calamari was was dressed in salt and pepper and aioli to dip. I found the calamari to be slightly bland, it could have used a bit of salt and pepper. Other than that, it was fried well, nice crispy coating.

Hand cut chips with tomato sauce and aioli was our other starter. The chips were fluffy and thick. Went nicely with the sauce and got us ready for all the mains to come.

First pizza was the Dolce E Salato, this had pineapple, ham, fior de latte and honey mustard dressing. This was on a thin base and a modern version of the "Hawaiian Pizza" I loved the honey mustard dressing on it, but there was a bit too much dressing as the pizza got very soggy very quickly, it there was 10% less dressing, I think it would have been perfect.

Second pizza was the Stromboli, with bits of eggplant, ricotta, ham, tomato, basil and parmigiano. The 2 cheese combination was interesting, and the eggplant wasn't too oily. I quite enjoyed this pizza, it worked well on the thin base.

First pasta was Gnocchi Al Ragu. This was a rich meat sauce with meatballs and homemade gnocchi., it was very hearty and filling. So glad we shared this one, otherwise I wouldn't have had room for dessert.

Second pasta was Linguine Allo Sccoglio. This was a mixed seafood, tomato based pasta. A generous assortment of mussels, prawns and fish.

We really didn't have space for dessert but Sis was insistent and H said he would hoover whatever was left... with that mind I ordered the Mini Pizza Doughnuts, This was small pizza dough deep fried and topped with nutella, vanilla gelato and nuts. It was the guilty way to end dinner.

Overall 14.5/20 It is a great local diner, it definitely lifts the standard in 'local pizza'  shops of the area. Family friendly, staff was cheerful and the place was buzzing. Food was good quality at a local price.

Baby Pizza & Cafe

Baby Pizza is part of the Chin Chin and Kong family. The eccentric cafe is located in Richmond right opposite Top Paddock. It ticks off all the boxes for cool, hip, funky setting with creative and good food. Baby Pizza has been open for awhile but it always got me curious as to why it didn't receive the same hype as it's sister stores, Chin Chin and Kong. I read reviews and it all rated the place to be average but I prefer to try things myself so I ventured there for dinner with D.

We got there around  8.45pm on a Saturday night so we got a table without any issues.

We decided not to eat ourselves silly (for once) and just got 2 pizza and a salad to share. 

First pizza was the malanzine, this had eggplant, buffalo mozzarella, basil, cherry roma tomatoes and chilli served with a fior de latte cheese. The pizza base was nice and thin and had just the right amount of topping to not have the base too soggy.

Second pizza was the polpette which was a meatballs pizza. It also came with san marzano tomatoes, chilli, basil and pecorino. The intensity of the pecorino was good match to the meatballs. 

As a side we got the cavolo e pieselli salad which came with cabbage, peas, chilli, raddish and parmesan. This was a huge salad, it was quite and relied on the parmesan for taste, I found there wasn't enough on it but once we asked for more, it was perfect. It was lovely and refreshing, went well with the pizza to balance out all the heaviness. 

Instead of a dessert I opted for their granita drink of the day which was apple. Light and refreshing. D went with a tomato juice mix.

Overall 16/20 I think it hits the right spots for me. The menu has a wide range of selection and good choices with your non conventional traditional Italian menu. I am looking forward to going back and trying more things on the menu.


 

A Tavola - Bondi

When in Sydney with J, one thing is always a must and that is eating somewhere nice. Since we were around the Bondi area during the day, A Tavola was only a short car ride away. It is a beautiful cosy restaurant located on Hall Street in Bondi.

Once we sat down our waiter was attentive and went through the menu with me, dish by dish and then went on to understand what drinks I like before he made a recommendation. Then was quick to serve us their house made focaccia while we waited.

J and I were both hungry so we decided on entrees, main and side to share.

The first entree was culatello with melons and rocket. I loved the saltiness in the cured meat balanced with the sweetness of the melons and the slight bitterness in the rocket

Second entree was squid ink scallops. This was served with cucumber, apple and witlof. It was light starter and a creative play on different textures and flavours

As my main I was feeling quite famished when I was ordering so I choose a heavier pasta. I got the pappadelle ragu. This was done with waygu beef shin, red wine, tomato and horseraddish. The sauce was hearty and the fresh pasta gave the perfect amount of bite.

J got the seafood pasta. it came with a generous amounts of mussel, pipis, fish, prawns and calamari. It was served on a tomato base sauce. The produce was fresh and each mouthful, reminded you of the beach.

To balance out, we got a side salad of red cabbage . It came with raisins, walnuts and dressed in balsamic. It was a very generous serve so I would recommend people to share. It was a fresh crisp salad. Perfect to go with all the carbs.

We didn't get dessert, because we had initially planned to get some gelato from Messina next door, but we finished dinner too late and never got there.

Over 17/20 I really enjoyed the food here. It does a beautiful refined Italian experience. All dishes I tried had great harmonized flavour and it's a place I would visit again, next time I'm in Bondi.

Nero Group

Recently D and I had a catch up with Mr Lego, Stacky, Princess D and Pasta. Mr Lego suggested Nero Group on Lygon in Carlton and seeing I haven't headed out that way in awhile, it made the perfect reason for me to drive there. Italian food and good friends, I really couldn't think of a reason to say no.

Nero is located on Lygon St, opposite the park. On a beautiful sunny day, it's the perfect spot to get a bite, chat with friends and just watch the world go by.

Since none of us were particularly hungry, we decided to skip entrees and just get a bunch of mains to share. Princess D, Mr Lego and I had all eyed the squid ink risotto on the menu, so we ordered 2 portions to share along with other things.

The squid ink risotto was served with seared scallops and fresh calamari. The scallops were beautifully seared and the calamari was finished with lime for a light zesty flavour. This was a good dish in general but I found it lacking in flavour or just more saltiness. By the time I added salt it was fine, but I find it disappointing when I need to reach for salt, I am a firm believer that when a dish is served to the table, the flavours should be all there and only a small group of people who like their food salty should reach for the salt. I know I am normally not one of those people, so that to me indicated it was a bit bland, though Stacky and Mr Lego disagreed with me. This one might be one of those dishes you need to try and form an opinion on your own.

The other pasta we got was the taggliatelle which came with wild boar ragu and mushrooms. The tagliatelle was cooked to the perfect al dente. This was not the usual tomato base ragu but a more refined and stewed boar ragu. The meat was soft and just fell apart, it wasn't as heavy as I had imagined. It was a pleaseant surprise and plenty of meat on the plate.

First pizza we got to share was the valentia. Tomato, mushroom, fior de latter (buffalo mozzarella), proscuitto, rocket and parmesan. This pizza has everything I like in a pizza, done on a thin base and with just the right quantity of topping. I made sure I got seconds.

Second pizza was the contadina, this came with pork sausage, cherry tomato, spinach and fior de latte. This was a light and tasty pizza, created with simple toppings. The bite size bits of pork sausage worked well to create a proportional intensity of taste. Cherry tomato and spinach give that small element of freshness; and the cheeses just tie it all together.

On top of the mains, Stacky and I also ordered a side of the handout chips with rosemary.

Overall 14.5/20 I walked out happy and content. The pizzas were good and I would happily go back for a revisit. It was good to see squid ink on the menu, besides the lack of salt it was very enjoyable.

Gradi - Crown

After many months of travelling, I finally got a chance to have dinner with my family to celebrate the Menulog Blogger award win. Gradi is the new kid in town at Crown, so I thought it would be a perfect way to treat my family,  since grandma rarely agrees to go to Italian for dinner, Gradi was a perfect candidate.  Gradi took out the gong for world's best pizza award in 2014, so I really wanted mum and grandma to try it.


To start, sis got the bruschetta to share; it came with 4 servings. The bruschetta came with generous amounts of tomato covered in oregano and garlic olive oil. It would have been ideal if the waiter advised us that it came with a serving of 4, since there was 5 of us and it was the only starter we got.

For mains, we ordered a few things to share so we could try everything. 

Given their margarita is the award winning pizza, it was a "must order". This came on a very thin tomato pizza base with the classic ingredients: Napoli sauce, buffalo mozzarella and basil. You need to eat the pizza fast if you don't want it soggy, because the base is very thin, it doesn't take long for the moisture in the paste to soak through and leave you with a soggy pizza. The pizza as a whole was very light, and unlike your typical pizzas it did not feel heavy and you could easily eat an entire pizza and not feel uncomfortably full.

The other pizza we got to share was parmigiana. This came with parmesan, eggplant and basil. Like the margarita, the pizza base was very thin but because it didn't have a big layer of tomato paste like the margarita, it wasn't as soggy. Grandma really liked this one, it was very soft and even the crust was light and airy. There was just the right amount of topping and perfect flavour.

For the pastas we went for another classic, bolognese with fettuccine. This was served in a thick, almost creamy meat sauce. It was rich and hearty, but I was disappointed in the way the pasta was cooked. A lot of the fettuccine was still stuck together, when I pulled it apart I could still see the flour on the pasta.

Next pasta was the tagliolini allo scoglio. This was basically tagliolini, with a seafood assortment of scallops, prawns, clams and mussels in a light napoli base.The seafood was fresh and the sauce wasn't too overpowering.

Third pasta was the pappardelle fungi. Variety of dry porcini, shitake, oyster and shimeji mushrooms in what tasted and looked like a butter sauce (but the menu read napoli sauce). The pasta was very firm and just too hard for my liking. The mushroom sauce was interesting as it played on the different textures of the various mushrooms.

Final main was the grigliata mista di pesce del giorno (mixed grilled fish of the day). The mixed seafood platter consisted of prawns, scallops and calamari. It was grilled well and a good amount of seasoning on top, with the scallops seared to perfection. A good squeeze of lemon on top, and it became summery and fit for the current Melbourne season. Simple and full respect to the produce, I liked the simplicity of this dish.

For dessert, my grandma gave up because she was too full, decided she needed a walk and ditched us. Since it was just sis and I who wanted dessert, we ordered a chocolate pudding to share. This was a molten chocolate pudding with a side of ice cream. The pudding was hard on the outside, and surprisingly softer than I anticipated on the inside. The side of ice cream to cut through the richness of the pudding would have been a perfect balance, but sadly the ice cream was so frozen we could barely spoon it out. It was obvious from the frozen condensation on the side of the ice cream cup, it was pre-scooped and frozen, which would explain why the ice cream was so hard.

Overall I found it difficult to score this place. The food wasn't bad but the service was just horrible. For a night that I had intended to be a special celebration with my family, resulted in me feeling like bad dining experience tarnished by the poor service. If not for the service, I would have given them 14.5/20. I understand the place is new and staff is still new to the environment but it was the attitude of the staff that annoyed me more than anything. After taking the service into account I rate them 11.5/20. All I can say is, it was a very disappointing dining experience.

If you want to hear my vent see below, otherwise this concludes my review.











A couple of instances took place during this dinner that I need to mention. I am not normally one to make a fuss and go to extensive details in my review about service but I left the restaurant so infuriated, I just have to voice it. 

First issue: the place was full of wait staff but it was extremely difficult to get their attention, and when we finally got the attention of one of the waiters, it was pretty clear he wasn't assigned to our table, so he passed the message to another person, then another to another, before it got to our initial wait staff. Oh, and this was just to give us more water and the jug was literally in front of the first wait staff we spoke to and the jug was NEXT to our table. For the entire night our waitress was far from attentive and borderline smug, it came across as quite rude to us. I didn't want to ruin a night out with my grandma so I kept it in the whole time and still tried to be as friendly as I could.

Second issue: we added on a side of potatoes a few minutes after we placed our order. Then when we were about 75% into our meal, it still had not arrived. I flagged down our waitress (who was assigned to our table) and she explained it wasn't added in earlier by the waiter who took the side potato order,  and she will tell the kitchen to make it now, as we were so far into our meal already we told her not to worry about and leave it off. Then when our bill came, the potatoes were there. 

Last instance was the dessert ordeal. On the menu it said white chocolate heart on the description of the chocolate pudding, so when it came and it was nowhere in sight I was curious, I asked our waitress and she explained it meant a small dollop of white chocolate inside the molten dark chocolate. We told her it wasn't there because we did smash it open to look for it. She said it may have been mixed in with the dark chocolate so we couldn't see it. A bit later when my sister and I had already dug into our dessert, another waiter came over and spoke to us to check if everything was ok, it was clear that our waitress relayed our concerns to someone and he was sent over to check on us. We asked him the same question of where was the white chocolate heart or maybe it was just the menu's creative way to explaining something. He admitted he didn't know the answer and went to the kitchen to check. He then returned to explain the whole dollop of white chocolate in the centre of the pudding. I must say this was the FIRST time the entire night that we had a wait staff that was attentive and gave us genuine service. (If I had been served by Jordon the entire night I think I would have walked out very happy and thinking about the next time I would revisit.) Then when we finally asked for the bill, our waitress came over and explained to us she gave us a 10% discount off the dessert, because the white chocolate heart wasn't present.  When I took my bill over to the counter to pay, the blonde girl who was supposed to be a manager could not even crack a smile when processing my payment and didn't even ask 'how my night was', as you normally would at most other places.

Jamie's Italian - Brisbane

Jamie's Italian is the new kid on the Brisbane restaurant scene. With much hype and anticipation, Jamie's opened it's doors to the Brisbane crowd this November. Being a loyal fan of Jamie's Italian in Sydney, I just had to try it.

I actually went 2 nights in a row with different work colleagues. I really wanted to try the selection in the menu and a single visit would just not cut it. For those who have not been to Jamie's before, it is a casual atmosphere that is fairly fast pace to help churn through the demands of the people waiting at it's doors most nights. It can get loud so I won't recommend you coming here if you are after a quiet romantic dinner. It has some rustic decor and a slightly 'homey' feel in a commercial sense. Enough about scenery, now let's get onto the food.

The antipesto planks is one of the signature dishes there. I went with the fried fish plank and shared it with Jar Jar. The plank had a section including, fritto misto, crispy salad, cured salmon, pecorino, salad, olives and smoked mackerel pate. The pate was beautiful, it was creamy and just perfect balance of texture and flavour. The cured salmon served with yuzo mayo was delicate yet refreshing. Jamie's planks never disappoint.

Jar Jar couldn't say no to the arancini on the menu so we also got that to share. Crunchy little balls of risotto with red chilli and mozzarella and served with a rich and slightly spicy red sauce.

The boys got the Truffle Tagliatelle and was nice enough to let me try some. This was a plate pasta served with a butter sauce laced with the magic of truffles, nutmeg and parmesan. It had a indulgent truffle flavours throughout the dish and this is the perfect dish for any truffle lover. It's simple and fully shows the flavour of the truffle.

The Jamaican got the Prawn Linguine which had garlic prawns, tomato, fennel, rocket and finished with a chilli stirred through. This is a good dish for anyone who prefers a light pasta and enjoys their garlic prawns. The tomato and chilli was a good way to keep the dish light and a difference from the typical creamy garlic prawn finishes.

Jar Jar got the Honeycomb Cannelloni three ways. This was cannelloni with the filling of eggplant and sun-dried tomato, ricotta and spinach or pumpkin. This was a hearty and filling dish. Great for those who can't decide what type of cannelloni filling they want or just want to try it all. I really liked the pumpkin one, it was a good sweet yet savoury balance.

One the first night I got the entree bolognese and a side of Primavera salad (to make myself feel less guilty about all the carbs). The bolognese was made up of a beef and pork ragu, then topped with crunchy bread crumbs and parmesan. This was hearty and hit the pasta craving spot. Though I won't recommend getting the entree size, you are are feeling hungry. It was definitely not enough for me, even with the salad as a side.

I can't say I loved the salad. I found it a bit bland but I guess it makes it a good balancing side side option.

On the second night I couldn't resist and just had to get the Blank Angel Spaghetti which was a squid ink pasta served with scallops, chilli, anchovies and capers. I made the mistake of also getting the polenta chips to share with Jar Jar. The pasta was beautifully al dente and the scallop was fresh and supple. The chilli and anchovies did a good job in giving it that bit of a kick.

The polenta chips were delicious. Fluffy on the inside and well seasoned with rosemary and sea salt on the outside. Sadly Jar Jar and I couldn't finish it because we over indulged in the pasta and arancini earlier in the meal. It was so good and we were so sad that we didn't clean up that bowl.

When dining with Jar Jar, if tiramisu is on the menu, it doesn't matter how full you are, it MUST be ordered. I shared a tiramisu and the epic brownie with Jar Jar. The tiramisu was home styled with an orange mascarpone.

The epic brownie was as the name suggest.... EPIC. Rich chocolate brownie with a warm fudge centre, then served with amaretto ice cream and caramel popcorn. It was all the things I love on one plate. It was heaven on the lips but not very kind to my hips. The ice cream cut through the richness of the chocolate and the popcorn was just that fun element on the plate that was good to eat.

Overall 17/20 I really enjoyed both my nights at Jamie's. On the second night with Jar Jar, we spent less than $100 between the 2 of us for a three course meal and practically had to be rolled out of the restaurant. I think it does well as a no frills Italian restaurant. Don't come expecting fine dining, because it is NOT that. It just the classics done well in a no frills manner. The prices are reasonable and you walk out happy.