The beer garden at the Weldborough Hotel

I first wrote about the Weldborough Hotel last year, when we stopped in for a drink one sunny afternoon. We made it back for lunch before our trip was over, and we were not disappointed.

S. ordered the BBQ Steak Sandwich with chips. This was served in a foccaccia bun along with bbq sauce, cheese, onions and lettuce. The steak was a beautiful tender cut of Scotch fillet, pounded thin and cooked just right (with a little bit of pink left in it). The lettuce was fresh and tasty while the onions were cooked until they were soft and sweet. All of this and the right amount of bbq sauce was layered together in the lightly toasted bun and served with some crisp, well cooked chips on the side. All in all, a great, simple lunch dish that combined a lot of different textures and flavours.

BBQ Steak Sandwich

I ordered the Italian Chicken, which was the Weldborough’s take on a chicken parmigiana sans the breadcrumbs, which was great for someone such as myself who shouldn’t be eating wheat.  This was a pan-seared chicken breast topped with smoked bacon and a flavoursome, herby tomato sauce, served with crisp chips and a fresh and colourful salad. Very appealing to look at, it was also very tasty to eat.

Italian Chicken

To finish, I ordered a piece of apricot cake with ice-cream. This was a lovely home-made cake that highlighted the sweet, seasonal apricots, one of my favourite fruits.

Apricot cake

The Weldborough Hotel source as much of their produce locally, mostly from Scottsdale but also Ringarooma, St Helens or Pyengana. Chicken and eggs are free-range and hormone free. This approach of using local and fresh produce pays big dividends. The menu at the Weldborough Hotel, while not extensive, is a classic pub menu that delivers delicious and satisfying meals that don’t disappoint, and we would definitely go back again.

A quick check of their website shows that a lot has been happening at the Weldborough Hotel over the past year. It seems their accommodation, including the campsite, is fully up and running, so if you’re cycling or walking in the area, this could be a good option. They’ve won a tourism award, they’re now featured in Lonely Planet’s Tasmanian travel guide, and they continue to win fans. We still are, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the Weldborough Hotel to others.

What we had:
Italian Chicken $19
BBQ Steak Sandwich and Chips $15
Apricot cake with ice-cream

All of this was, of course, enjoyed with some selections from the Weldborough’s fabulous micro-brew range.

The full menu for the Weldborough Hotel is available here.

We stumbled across Festivale by accident in 2010 when we went to the Launceston tourist information centre and saw a poster for it. ‘We like food, we like wine’ we thought, so why not go? So we went for the final day and had a ball.

Last year we started our holiday in Launceston so we could attend all three days of this wonderful festival that showcases Tasmanian food and drink, which is held at the beautiful and shady City Park each February.

Under the trees in City Park

Here are some of the highlights (well, my better photographs really!).

I’m going to start with dessert – the beautiful berry puddings from Summer Puddings of Tasmania were fully of fruity goodness and quite simply delicious.

Raspberry pannacotta

Strawberry tart

More surprising was their leatherwood honey pannacotta, which an amazing intensity and depth of flavour. Was it wrong to go back there twice that evening, and everyday subsequent? No it wasn’t.

Dickens Cider

Cider Rose from Dickens Cider was another great find. It is a cider blended with a Pinot Noir from Moores Hill. This cider is lightly carbonated, has very luscious red appearance and a subtle apple and citrus taste. Served chilled, it really is a refreshing drop on a hot day. Where can I get this in Melbourne? The answer it seems, its Swords, although they had sold out last time we dropped into their South Melbourne store!

Luscious cider rose

Below are some amazingly flavoursome goat’s cheeses from Tongola Goat Products, a small producer of artisan cheeses located near Cygnet. Tongola only produce four cheeses, three of which are pictured below: Billy, an aged, washed rind cheese with a strong flavour; Capri, a young fresh cheese and Curdly, a very fresh and curd cheese that despite its lightness leaves a pleasant, lingering after-taste.

Tongola goat cheeses

The classic dishes of pan seared scallops in Pernod and cream, and ‘very tart’ lemon tart with King Island Cream from The Old Cable Station were divine!

Lemon tart

Do I want to go and stay at there after eating these dishes? Hell yes! I still think about those delicious scallops quite often…

Scallops in Pernod & cream

And if you thought Bruny Island Cheese was all about cheese? Think again!

Yummy Bruny Island Ice Cream

A delicious German-style meal of pork bratwurst, potato salad and sauerkraut from the Fingal Valley.

Fingal Valley Bratwurst

And there were fantastic wines, wines, everywhere! The representation of Tasmanian wineries at Festivale is outstanding. Some of those we tried last year included:
Pipers Brook
Stoney Rise
Holm Oak Vineyards
Bay of Fires
Goaty Hill Wines
Clover Hill: who this year will be popping the cork on some of the sparkling they provided for the Danish Royal Wedding.
Josef Chromy: we took a ‘master-class’ with one of the winemakers from Josef Chromy. It was informative and a lot of fun. This year Festivale is offering a range of master-classes.
Barringwood Park: A new discovery for us, producing outstanding wines near Cradle Mountain, in particular their Mill Block Pinot Noir.
Moores Hill: who we discovered in 2010 and have been in love with ever since. Lovely wines and lovely people. Their rose, riesling and pinot gris are particular favourites of ours.

Spring Vale Winery

The meat from  Landfell Farm Fresh, who won the best food stall at the 2011 Festivale and farm beautiful free-range lamb and beef on the banks of the Tamar River, was wonderfully flavoursome.

Delicious lamb from Landfell Farm Fresh

However Festivale is not just about food – there’s also entertainment.

There was silly entertainment:

And there was musical entertainment:

All set in the beautiful City Park:

In past years there has been a special section named ‘Paddock to Plate’, which showcases new producers. We’ve found some wonderful products there, including Kindred organics quinoa, fabulous red organic red currant jam, and a wonderful wasabi ‘dressing’, which was simply leaves and stems that had been steeped in a liquid (made by a wasabi farmer from his by-product, as the market is for wasabi roots) – delicious on top of our home-made oyako-don. I wish I could find some of this in Melbourne. One more producer I want to highlight, who wasn’t part of ‘Paddock to Plate and are more established, is Ashbolt. Some of what they make includes elderflower and elderberry cordials (I call them ‘cordials for adults”), the latter of which makes a great hot winter drink. I am a bit fan of elderflower drinks, which I find refreshingly light and easy to drink in summer. I highly recommend you try Ashbolt’s if you can.

What I really enjoy about Festivale is its friendly atmosphere and that it’s really focussed on the producers and their produce. You get to meet the producers, talk to them and sample their fabulous wares! (I’ve never been to the Melbourne Good Food & Wine Festival, which would be a point of comparison, but having looked at programs for it over the past few years and never really being tempted to go, I’d hazard a guess and say the Melbourne event was focussed more on restaurants and ‘celebrity’ aspect of the industry. Let me know if I’m wrong in my assessment though!).

The 2012 Festivale starts next week, from 10-12 February. If you’re thinking about going – go! You will have a great time.

Ruffy Produce Store

We found this little gem when Michael Ryan from The Provenance suggested we stop in there for lunch on our way back to Melbourne, returning from our Beechworth weekend.

Our first visit there was in July. On a cold Sunday afternoon the presence of old bicycles out the front and the promise of an open fire gleaned from the smoking chimney beckoned us in. On our second visit in November, warmers days saw all the garden tables outside filled with friends and families enjoying lunch.

The Ruffy Produce Store has a focus on sourcing local produce from in and around the Strathbogie Ranges. In store and on your plate you are likely to find Tatura Butter, Yea Cheeses, locally butchered meat and smallgoods, stone fruit from Alexandra, bread from Euroa, their own range of chutneys and preserves and wine from local vineyards, such as Maygars Hill. Quite simply it delivers, what Stickifingers referred to in her blog on the Stanley Hotel, as “local regional produce, artisan goods, friendly service and simple convivial surrounds”.

We’ve been to the Ruffy Produce Store twice now. Here’s some of what we’ve enjoyed on those two occasions.

From our first visit back in July, when we arrived very late in the afternoon not knowing if there would be anything left for us to eat- a spinach, leek, onion & cheese tart, served with roasted vegetables with basil pesto and mixed greens. Being winter, the roast vegetables were an added bonus. I greatly enjoyed this simple, well-made tart.

Spinach, leek, onion and cheese tart

And for dessert – a luscious lemon tart served with double cream.

Lemon Tart

On our second visit we chose to share the generous grazing platter. This featured Locheilan Cheshire style cheese, Yea chevre, ham prepared by the butcher in Euroa, Istra prosciutto, Ruffy rhubarb chutney, beetroot chutney and fennel pickles (warning – these are addictive and they sell them in catering size containers), Eildon Hill olives, Chapman olive oil, smoked almonds, eggplant, hoummos, asparagus and Euroa Bakery bread. With an abundance of contrasting tastes and textures, this platter was immensely satisfying. We accompanied it with the recommended wine, the Goombargona Sangiovese.

Produce Platter

Amongst the many things I like about the Ruffy Produce Store is their approach to desserts. There is no dessert menu as such – the menu tells you that ‘dessert is a visual affair, please wander up to the counter to order’. That is, the counter that is heaving with an array of sweet treats to tempt you.

The dessert counter

On our most recent visit, a tower of almond flecked meringues was sitting on the counter. The inner seven year old in me called “so, so pretty…”. I succumbed. Served with cream and a tangy, sweet rhubarb compote, this turned an old childhood favourite into a luscious adult dessert.

Meringue with rhubarb compote and cream

Ever the apple-fan, S. chose the spiced apple crumble cake with poached pears. This moist cake reminded me of a tea-cake and made the most of the season’s end of apples and pears. The cakes and pastries are very good here. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I seem to recall a conversation with one of the owners about a Scottish pastry chef…

Apple crumble cake

Open on weekends and public holidays for breakfast and lunch (8am-6pm) and Friday nights for wood-fired pizzas, the Ruffy Produce Store has become a favourite with us – we are telling absolutely everybody how good it is and recommending that they go there. If you do, book. It gets surprisingly busy.

Some of what we’ve had:
Spinach, leek, onion & cheese tart with salad $17.00
Ruffy puffy sausage roll with salad & tomato chutney $12.50
Produce platter for two $42.00
Glass of Goombargona sangiovese $9.50

Ruffy Produce Store
26 Nolans Road
Ruffy
(03) 5790 4387

It was.

Sitting under the steps that lead up to the Wheeler Centre, The Moat, which only opened last week, is a stunningly good cafe in a wonderful setting. Tucked away from the street, in the ‘moat’ of the State Library, it is a wonderful oasis of good food and drink, away from the hustle and bustle of the CBD.

The Kitchen Garden

When I was a child one of my grandmothers made, what seemed to me at the time an incredibly exotic, prawn dip. It consisted of cream cheese, prawns, finely diced celery, small prawns, a little paprika and caraway seeds. Looking back, I think it was the caraway seeds that gave it its edge and made it seem exotic to my seven-year old palate.

Now its 2011 and I’m a lot older than seven. And when I saw potted prawns on the menu I knew immediately that I would have them. Childhood food memories are a very powerful force!

This entrée consisted of prawns set in butter with shaved fennel. Some may baulk at the amount of butter but don’t – infused with the lemon zest, fennel seeds and shaved fennel it was at once fresh and creamy, a perfect foil for plump prawns that ‘popped’ with freshness as you bit into them.

Potted prawns

Our second entrée was the Mount Leira cured lamb with chickpea puree. It was turning into a walk down memory lane for me, as this dish reminded of the pickled lamb another grandmother used to serve on hot summer days.

Cured lamb

The lamb was thinly sliced, beautifully tender and neither too salty or too spicy to let the flavour of the lamb come through. The squeeze of the lemon cheek added a hint of zingy freshness. The olive bread and chickpeas added additional flavour and made this a really filling dish. It’s so unusual to find lamb as a cured or preserved meat these days, so this was a really good reminder of how good it is and makes me wonder why we don’t see more of this on menus or in delicatessens.

Meatballs

I’m a big fan of meatballs and these were a sterling effort. The four meatballs were generous and plump, sitting in a light Napoli sauce that we mopped up with bread.

The highlight of our meal was the quinoa salad, with which we also ordered the optional cumin poached free-range chicken. A medley of quinoa, tomato, cucumber, red onion, mint and coriander, dressed with a honey dressing and topped with bee pollen, this was a salad of substance. The bee pollen provided a lovely floral fragrance, the honey a sweetness that did not overwhelm the freshness of the herbs. The use of quinoa was restrained, making for a satisfying yet light meal. It was, for me, one of the best salads I have eaten all year. I highly recommend it.

Quinoa salad with poached chicken

The reviews I found of The Moat suggest that the food is Mediterranean however, I found it to be modern retro – food of the 70s given a modern interpretation. Perhaps it was just the dishes we choose on the day. That said, we absolutely loved it. The food, the attentive and friendly service and being able to sit outside protected from the traffic of Little Lonsdale Street, we really enjoyed our meal at The Moat. The menu has enough options to keep it interesting, and there are some good vegetarian choices.

Things were running extremely well there when we visited, for a restaurant that is still in its first week of operation. Apparently it’s taken the owners 13 months to get to this point. I hope they are successful. This is a really great cafe.

What we had:
Potted Prawns $15
Cured lamb $16
Meatballs $18
Quinoa Salad with poached chicken $18

The Moat
176 Little Lonsdale Street
Melbourne
9094-7820

Like many Victorian country towns, Beechworth was built on the back of a gold-rush. The architecture of the town reflects Victorian sensibilities, albeit on a smaller scale than places such as Ballarat or Bendigo. Beautiful nonetheless. Among this grandeur, The Provenance Restaurant is located in the chambers of what was once the Bank of Australasia.

Vegetables, puffed rice and congee sauce

On Saturday evening, with great excitement, we sat down to our six course degustation menu with matching wines, starting with the pickled, cooked and raw vegetables,  puffed rice and congee. The interest in this dish was created by the array of textures present: the pop of the puffed rice, the softness of the congee and the crunch of the pickled vegetables. I loved the look of this dish, which had a brightness and hinted at the coming of spring. I chose to match this dish with sake instead of wine, ‘Choujya Kimkame Ca 70′. This was quite a memorable sake, earthy, almost mushroom-like taste and exceptionally smooth.

Roasted broccoli

Our next course was the roasted broccoli, white bean puree, confit garlic, lemon, anchovy custard and bacon. This dish was a sophisticated interpretation of the classic pairing of broccoli with a salty partner, given added depth by the white bean puree. It was light and satisfying.

Braised and grilled octopus salad

Our third course of braised and grilled octopus, red wine, aioli, potato, fennel and preserved lemon salad had more of a mediterranean influence. The octopus was soft and tender, with citrus highlights provided by the preserved lemon.

Slow cooked pork belly

The slow cooked pork belly, soy milk and miso broth, daikon, mushrooms and black oil is, for me the stand-out dish of the evening. The pork was meltingly tender, the soy milk and miso broth both sublime and comforting, something that would be prepared on a cold winter’s day. The mushrooms provided an earthiness and the daikon a bit of ‘tooth’ against the soft pork. With its combination of flavours and textures and visual impressiveness, this dish truly reminded me of cuisine we had experienced in Japan.

Wagyu flat iron steak and short cooked short rib

Our last savoury dish of the evening was the grass-fed wagyu flat-iron steak, slow cooked short rib, grilled spring onions, smoked tofu dressing and konbu no tsukudani. This was another excellent dish, drawing on classic Japanese flavours and techniques. The beef rib had a depth of flavour that I hadn’t experienced before. The combination of tender beef and smoked tofu dressing had us crying out ‘more please’! I particularly liked the inclusion of the grilled spring onions, which reminded me of their paring with meat on yakitori in Japan.

Pineapple curd, roasted pineapple and chrysanthemum jelly

Our final dish of the evening was the pineapple curd, roasted pineapple, pickled mandarins, almonds and chrysanthemum jelly. This colourful dish was the perfect way to end the meal, with the fruit cleansing the palate and the curd and fragrant jelly providing a slight richness that rounded the dish off. This dish, with its multiple elements, combination of textures and sophisticated preparation techniques highlighted Michael Ryan’s impressive skills.

We thoroughly enjoyed our degustation meal at The Provenance. Each dish provided an array of sensory delights, and the Japanese influences transported us back to a beloved country. It’s an experience I highly recommend and one I wouldn’t hesitate to try again. Our accommodation was superb too. Our room was spacious, well-appointed, warm (even on a cold winter’s night in Beechworth) and had a very comfortable King size bed, and a very large spa, which was a great way to relax and unwind. If you’re looking for a little luxury, an amazing dining experience and a weekend away, this is the place to go.

For some other perspectives see these reviews: Ms I Hua, Out of My Kitchen, Where’s the Beef and Eat, Drink, Stagger

What we had: Degustation meal with matched wines $140pp (there is also a vegetarian degustation available).

The Provenance
86 Ford Street
Beechworth
5728 1786

Walking down Ford Street, we passed the entrance to the Old Coach House, which is now the home of Bridge Road Brewers and went in for lunch and to try out some of their speciality beers.

Bridge Road Brewers

Having had a delicious but filling cooked breakfast from The Provenance, which was where we were staying for the weekend, we opted to sit outside in sun for a light lunch, sharing a prawn pizza and enjoying a glass of Beechworth Pale Ale with our meal (although inside the brewery was warm and cozy, with seating available in front of the open fire-place).

I am a big fan of thin crust pizzas and this one didn’t disappoint. It was lovely and crisp (apparently beer is used in the dough) and generously topped with tomatoes, Meredith goat’s cheese feta and prawns, with a pleasing heat from the chilli. The pizza was complemented by the aromatic crispness of the pale ale we had chosen to accompany our meal.

Prawn pizza and a refreshing beer

I really enjoyed our quick visit to Bridge Road Brewers and hope to have another opportunity to go there. We only really had a small taste of what they have to offer. If it had have been a bit later in the afternoon, and if I wasn’t still so full from breakfast, I would have liked to try the tasting paddle, which gives you the opportunity to try small glasses of the speciality beers available. There is a wide range of pizzas to try, in addition to a snack menu featuring home-made pretzels, locally sourced almonds, ploughman’s plates and pasta. Again, there was an emphasis on locally sourced produce which I really liked.

Some other reviews to consider: Gastrology and Eat, Drink, Stagger.

What we had:
Large pizza prawn (to share) $20

Bridge Road Brewers
Old Coach House Brewers Lane
Ford Street
Beechworth, Victoria
03 5728 2703

So on a Friday evening in late July we made the trip from Beechworth up the winding road to the township of Stanley, unaware of its picturesqueness due to the dank darkness that enveloped us as we drove along. Twitter conversations beforehand with co-owner Annemarie Harris and sous-chef Tim Witherow saw us greeted like friends when we arrived. It was a lovely start to a very enjoyable evening.

Twice baked cheese souffle

Part of me wants to just simply write about our dinner – Go, go, go – go there now! Hurry up and get yourself there! Because I don’t think I can adequately capture through words just how good our meal was and how excited I was by the prominence given to local produce. But I will try and convey to you how delicious our meal was. Service was taken care of by Shane Harris and with his knowledgable guidance I choose the twice baked Milawa Ceridwen & Montagne du Jura souffle, S. the seared peppered venison with mascarpone reale.

Speechless is how this souffle left me. I just wanted to sit there in silence and slowly savour each mouthful of this deeply satisfying dish. The souffle base was light yet held itself against the intensity of the cheese sauce, which reflected the earthiness of the Milawa Ceridwen and nuttiness of the Montagne du Jura used to make it.

Quite frankly, Stanley Pub had me at this first dish, within which the skill and talent of the kitchen staff were apparent. I wouldn’t have needed to try any other dishes to confidently proclaim that this is a place you must visit.

Seared peppered venison

The seared peppered venison with mascarpone veal was both delicious and visually spectacular. Atop burgundy discs of rich, seared peppered venison sat a colourful riot of petals, micro herbs and generous drizzles of the mascarpone reale, which provided a creamy contrast to the heat of the peppered meat.

Mushroom ragout

For my main I ordered the mushroom ragout served with toasted brioche and creme fraiche. I was slightly hesitant about ordering this dish, wondering if the mushrooms would deliver the comfort I was craving that evening. I was not disappointed. The locally sourced mix of mushrooms in the ragout were flavoursome and rich, and the creme fraiche provided a complementary tang.

Lamb rump

The lamb rump, potatoes dauphinoise, leeks a la grecque, peas  was a ‘showstopper’: the lamb was cooked perfectly, succulent and tender. The savoury richness of the sauce was well balanced by the ‘crunch’ of the potatoes, the ‘pop’ of the peas and the sweetness of the carrots and leeks. ‘Magnificent’ was the verdict from S.

Salad of bitter greens, chevre & walnut

For our side dish we ordered the salad of bitter greens, Milawa chevre and Stanley walnuts, which was a perfect balance of contrasting textures and flavours: crunch & softness, sweetness & bitterness. This was a seriously delicious salad with enough guts to be a stand alone meal. The highlight for me was the freshness of the local walnuts, providing a sweet nutty taste that I haven’t experienced for many years and a reminder to use freshly cracked nuts whenever possible in my cooking.

Apple tart tartine

For dessert S. had the Stanley apple tarte tartin topped with Gundowring French vanilla ice-cream. This was a locavore take on the classic dessert of tarte tartin made with apples from Snowline Farms up the road (we visited their roadside store the next day and S, apple connoisseur that he is, bought many different varieties of apples to try), served with the local Gundowring vanilla ice cream and beautifully presented as you can see. The apple slices were delicious (with that sweet tartness that good apples have), offsetting the buttery pastry of the tarte.

Chestnut and chocolate pudding

My dessert was a triple whammy of chocolate: chocolate and chestnut pudding, bitter chocolate brownie and chocolate ice-cream. It tasted like a good chocolate pudding should – sweet but not cloyingly so, with a hint of bitterness still apparent. Coupled with a class of the locally produced luscious Pennyweight Gold, a sweet wine fortified with brandy, it was the perfect ending to a sumptuous meal.

Or was it?

A surprise dessert!

Totally unexpected, sous-chef Tim Witherow presented us with a second dessert each of the Burnt Ironbark honey bavarois, blood orange and almond sable!

Totally satiated, we left the Stanley Pub with a glow in our heart vowing to return again, and soon. With fabulous food, welcoming and superb service in a gorgeous location, we only wish the Stanley Pub was a little bit closer to home.

The Stanley Hotel
6-12 Myrtleford-Stanley Road
Stanley
5728-6502

New jobs for both S. and I means that our spare time is even more limited. I am increasingly turning to simple, quick and tasty recipes and returning to old favourites that I know don’t take too long to pull together. This recipe for a simple red lentil soup is one that I’ve made for many years now. It comes from ‘The Bean Book’, a vegetarian classic by Rose Elliot, which I first encountered when a colleague brought in her battered copy purchased during her time in the UK in the early 1980s, for me to look at. I loved the book, which thankfully has been reprinted a couple of times and is still available.

Sometimes the use of good ingredients can lift a recipe from good to amazing. I’ve made this lentil soup many times however, this time I used the cultured salted butter from the Myrtleford Butter Factory. The tang of the cultured butter coupled with the lemon juice lifted it to a new level – it was simply delicious. Try it – I’m sure this will become your favourite lentil soup recipe!

Lentil soup

Cookbook: The Bean Book
Author: Rose Elliot
Recipe: Simple lentil soup

Ingredients:
1 large onion (I substituted some celery and capsicum to make it fructan intolerance friendly)
25g butter
1 large garlic clove, crushed
125g/heaping 1/4 cup of split red lentils
900ml water or stock
1 tbls lemon juice
salt
pepper

Method:
Peel and chop the onion, then fry it in a large saucepan for approx. 5 minutes.

Add the garlic and lentils and stir for a minute, then pour in the stock or water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes or so until the lentils are cooked. Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

Let the soup cool and then blend it using a food processor or blender stick.

The soup is now ready to eat, simply reheat it. Serves 4 people.

The butter and garlic are essential to the flavour, and you can, as I did, play around with the flavours. I omitted the onion and replaced it with celery and capsicum.

You can see what everyone else did for this challenge here.

I’m not going to dwell on the back story of the restaurant – that’s been done to death elsewhere. I’m launching straight into a discussion of the damned fine food.

Being our first visit we opted for the $66 ‘Feed Me’ menu. For this, you receive seven dishes selected by your waiter. This proved to be exceptional value given the quality and quantity of food. Be prepared and skip a meal if you think you’d like this option.

Kingfish Sashimi

Even though we first ate at Chin Chin a couple of months ago, I still recall the citrus tanginess of the Kingfish Sashimi quite vividly. This without a doubt was one of my favourite dishes, featuring small segments of lime and thai basil leaves scattered over very fresh kingfish sashimi, drizzled with coconut cream to provide a sweet and smooth counterpoint. I’ve used the word ‘zangy’ before and I’ll use it again. This dish was zangy. It was the perfect way to start our meal, enlivening our palates and awakening our senses.

Spicy corn & coriander fritters

The spicy corn and coriander fritters served with lettuce and chilli jam were, to my mind, a little underwhelming. I expected more of a flavour explosion from these little fried balls. What was very good though was the chilli jam, which had a rich depth of flavour and a heat that wasn’t overwhelming.

Spicy eggnet rolls

We quite enjoyed Chin Chin’s take of eggnet rolls. These were filled with spanner crab and chilli jam and wrapped in a ‘coconutty’ eggnet casing, giving them a little crunch. ‘Very tasty’ was the verdict from S.

Steamed spanner crab & chicken salad

The steamed spanner crab and chicken salad was tossed through with ruby red grapefruit, coconut and herbs, and a something similar to a nuoc nam dressing. This salad was light and fresh, with the herbs providing a burst of flavour with each mouthful eaten. It would be a perfect salad to eat on a warm day, accompanied by a beer.

Beef Massaman Curry

I really liked the Massaman curry, which featured Hopkins River beef brisket, pink fur apple potatoes and shallots. This was rich without being over hot and somewhat on the sweet side, which I quite liked. Some reviews have mentioned that they found the beef-to-vegetable ratio to be a bit out on this dish however, we found it to be spot on the day we had it.

Crispy skinned mandarin duck

By the fifth dish in our meal I was ready to burst and really should have stopped eating then and there. However, our ever-attentive waitress must have read my mind and discerned my love of duck because she announced the next dish would be the crispy skinned mandarin duck. Somehow I found the ability to eat more.  This was a succulent piece of braised duck covered in a mandarin glaze, which cut through the richness of the meat, that we sprinkled with salt and squeezed lemon juice over. It was delicious, if rich, dish, which next time I wouldn’t leave until the end of the meal. It deserves to be upfront. Along with the Kingfish sashimi one of my favourite dishes of the day.

Palm sugar icecream

Our final dish (oh, you thought we finished at the duck? Oh, no, no!) was the Palm sugar ice-cream sundae with salted honeycomb and lime syrup. An on-trend flavour combination of sugar and salt, with a tang of citrus to cut through and cleanse the palate. Just as we started.

Overwhelmingly, we had a great dining experience at Chin Chin. The food was extremely good, the service attentive without making us feel like we had to rush our meal, and we didn’t have to wait for a table (We dined at lunch). If you need further reasons to dine at Chin Chin here’s one for you – it’s a day ending in ‘Y’, let’s go to Chin Chin! It’s that damned good.

There’s a lot of reviews out there, these are just some: Essjay Eats, It Pleases Us, Eat, Drink & Stagger, Half-eaten and Where’s the Beef?

What we had:
Feed Me menu $66pp

Chin Chin
125 Flinders Lane
Melbourne
8663-2000

On offer the evening we went were chicken, fish or potato tacos, at $6 each or $12 for a plate of two that comes with some additional fried corn chips. We seemed to get a couple of extra tortillas thrown in.

The tacos are actually a soft tortilla, which I like. The grilled, lightly spiced chicken tacos were served with corn, and the fish taco is served as a fish goujon with red-cabbage coleslaw and lime mayonnaise. Available at the counter is a selection of hot sauces you can add to taste. If you opt for a taco other than the fish, you can have yourself a gluten-free meal.

While it’s evident that the tacos are made to order from fresh ingredients, I was underwhelmed by this meal. It lacked that little bit of pizzaz that would have made me go ‘wow’ and return. My experience overseas seems to have created certain expectations. Melbourne just doesn’t seem to be able to come up with great Mexican food (and yes, I have been to Mamasitas and was similarly underwhelmed).

Adding to my disappointment was the long wait time for our food to be ready, which was well over 30 minutes. On a cold and dark night, this is not a pleasant experience, especially when you are hungry, however hip it may be. Quite frankly, we could have gone to Con’s Take-Away on the corner of Victoria Street and Melville Road for a hamburger with the lot (made with a home-made patty), chips and potato cakes. This would have represented much better value as it would have cost less and been ready sooner.

Given all this, I’m not sure how sustainable the business model of this kind of food truck is. At the moment Beatbox Kitchen and Taco Truck are the innovators in mobile food that is something other than doughnuts, hot chips, hot dogs and ice-cream. But what will happen with the advent of competition, that may bring better food prepared more quickly? Or when people simply get sick of sitting or standing around for 30 minutes plus for what is essentially a form of take-away food?

The whole hype over mobile food trucks is quite perplexing to me. It’s made even more irritating by the uncritical pronouncements of some food bloggers that we need more of this type of thing, or newspaper articles that fail to situate this new turn in mobile food/ temporary food-stalls (‘pop-ups’) in the history of such things, or acknowledge that mobile food trucks also exist to serve other markets, such as industrial estates or communities with limited access to fresh food. As a counter to this, I recommend reading Phil Lees’ recently posted critical analysis of the mobile food truck phenomenon. It’s well worth a read.

For other reviews of Taco Truck check out Hookturns, That Jess Ho, Where’s the Beef?, Dave plus Food (According to Dave I don’t deserve to eat. Thankfully he mentions nothing about having an opinion), and Eat Drink Stagger.

If you really want some kick-arse fish tacos, Bill Grainger has a great recipe, which I’ve made several times and recommend.

If you are keen to try out Taco Truck, follow them on twitter for location updates: @tacotruckmelb

Con’s Super Deli & Take-Away
49 Melville Road
West Brunswick
9387-4342