new addition to Gertrude st, Cutler & Co

This is a new addition to Gertrude street, found between Nicholson and Brunswick street. 

We walked past the restaurant twice before realising we were standing in front of it. The signboard wasn't very apparent, or maybe it didn't catch our attention standing amidst some unique boutiques. 

having made a very last minute reservation, our table was only booked for us from 6-8pm. we went there at 6pm, and we were the first customer of the night.

We ordered the "entrees selection ($28) where you get a selection of entrees at smaller serving. here are the entrees. 

                                                              pimientos de padrón ($9)

'Os Pimientos de Padrón, uns pican e outros non' - Galican for 'Padrón peppers, some are hot and some are not'.
The most famous produce of Padrón, which are small green peppers from the capsicum family. They are served fried with olive oil and salt. Most taste sweet and mild, though some are particularly hot and spicy.

wood grilled quail

Spread on a smear of parnsip and vanilla purée (!), upon which were heaped fresh figs, leaves, pomegranate seeds, the portions of quail and a curious little pastry cigar.

        salad 

Mackerel

we finished most of the courses by 8 . we were then moved to the bar table and enjoyed dessert and coffee there. 

water chestnut icecream

boy o boy, what an pleasing imprompty dinner plan we had for the night. I'm still drooling over the wood grilled quail, that i think was the highlight of the night. It was divinely tasty..

corica apple strudel

This is indeed my favourite food in Perth. it's so awesome that I actually get friends to bring it over to Melbourne when they fly from Perth. 

two weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be given one. the following pictures should speak for themselves. 

if you ever visit Perth, dont forget Corica .. 

Fog

Fog is a very nice restaurant down Greville street, just off Chapel street. during the day, I love spending my time walking around Greville street, It's one of those places where I know i could not get much shopping done, but I just love to be in the artsy fartsy atmosphere.

anyway, Fog was recommended to me by a friend who insisted that they have the best dessert in town. Having spent the last 3 years of my Melbourne life having dessert in Greco, I was absolutely ready for a change of venue.

Fog is definitely a heart-melter. I had a hard time choosing my dessert , and was deciding to choose two of out of the three short-listed one. 1) mexican chocolate molten cake, 2) passionfruit and chocolate chip souffle 3) Creme Brulee .. 

at last, we decided to go for all three.. 

reviews as such.

1) creme brulee-- was so so..

2) passionfruit and chocolate chip souffle --- it was a bit disappointing. perhaps I was looking for a more chocolatey flavour. 

3) mexican chocolate molten cake- this was absolutely wonderful. it was made of 80-85% melted dark chocolate. and the ice cream served with it complimented the flavour really well. this dish was priced at $18 each. it's pricey, but the dessert is definitely worth the money.. 

service and atmosphere is worth 5 star. it's good as a girls night out venue, as it has big dining area, long bar table and a little open air area. What more , It's located right next to Boutique.. 

Fog 

142 Greville street 

Prahran

Kenzan @ GPO

Kenzan is located down Postal lane at GPO. This is a great spot for a quick but quality japanese lunch.however that said, this place is rather pack during lunch time. Kenzan is famous for it's hand rolled sushi.Each sushi is carefully wrapped with the rice and seaweed separated by a plastic sheet, to ensure that seaweed is crispy at the time of eating.  

I had unadon yesterday. it's simple but very satisfying. I didn't manage to take any photos of the dishes, as I was too hungry by the time the food arrived.

Kenzan 

@ GPO. 

open monday till saturday

Tom Phat, Brunswick

I've seen this place, Tom phat , on review a lot of times.but never gotten around to go there, because , as the name suggested, I''m not really a big fan of fusion thai and western food.I mean in the description it said, omelette served with chinese sausage is one of their most popular dishes. I mean how awkward does that sound... nevertheless.. 

So when A asked me to pick a place for lunch, I went thru my " brunch secrets " melbourne pocket guide, and came across Tom Phat again!!  I pulled the card out and thought, yeah why not give it a try since it was only a short 8 minutes drive away from my place. 

to my pleasant delight, the place looks very sheek and nice, with wooden furniture emblazoned the place ( to be honest, I have a thing for woody furnitures. it gives a place it's masculinity, yet homey and clean touch) . and not only that, I waited for A for an hour. i didn't realise I waited for him for that long, because they had lounge- music on. So i was just sitting there chilling out , and as usual read my newspaper while waiting!! it's pretty atmospheric, especially for someone like me who just finished exams, and couldn't be bothered doing anything else apart from chilling out. 

anyway back to the food, 

This is their top dish of the year, and it was voted 2007 Tom phat's best dish in the cheap food guide. it's roti & omelette. and yes roti, is indeed roti canai served with free-range egg omelette, with bacons, mushroom. this dish was $10.90 

anyway, it was the other dish i was trying to show in this photo, but i dug in to quick, and ate it before i took a photo. ( pardon me , can't really blame someone who hasn't had anything to eat for the last 12 hours.. )I had big breakfast: nice big portion of 2 poached eggs served on top of toasts, baked tomatoes, mushrooms, rockets.. and did i miss out anything.. hmm.. This was $14.90. 

anyway , i'm very impressed with the photo quality. they were taken using my phone!! lol:P) 

Tom Phat 

184 Sydney road,Brunswick

Shira Nui

I heard of this place from a friend,B ,who visited Melbourne a while ago. As he was only here for a visit, he didn't remember the exact location quite well. and all that I could gather from him was how great the food was.

So, when L invited me for his birthday dinner last week, I went ecstatic when he mentioned that we were going to Shira nui. cos it sounded exactly like what B pronounced!

Shiranui is located 30mins out of the city in a suburb called Glen Waverley. Glen Waverley is not new to any Melbournians arounds. as it's famous for its cafe strip which opens till late.and some of the asian restaurants there are pretty good too. 

Shira nui won a one hat award last year, and is famous for its omakase menu. Omakase means the chef will dip into his impressive sushi repertoire to feed you. and all that he requires is for you to tell him that you're full. It's especially good for someone like me, because i'm always pretty indecisive when it comes to food. 

so we had 8 dishes altogether that night... 

tuna belly sushi : apparently considered as the wagyu part of fish.    

                                                               salmon sushi 

beef sushi 

'

mackerel under white sea weed 

 ark- shell clam sushi 

                tempura sushi  

and well, as you could see, I did not label the last two. I didn't quite remember what they were but one of them was king fish! the bill came up to $366.00 for four people.

Shira-nui

247 Spring vale road

Glen waverley. 

Westin hotel balcony

If ever you're in the city one day and not knowing where to go when the sun is shining brightly outside. 

May i kindly suggest Westin hotel's balcony? It's the best chill out place you can ever have in the city. The balcony opens to a view of Collin street, Swanston street. On top of all,They have quite an exensive list of drinks on the menu too!! 

Westin hotel

Swanston Street.