Moroccan Soup Bar

Moroccan Soup Bar is notoriously difficult to get in to, with queues snaking out the door every nights they are open for only four hours (Tues - Sun 6pm - 10pm). My suggestion is to gather the troops and book for a table of six in advance, but make sure you are there on time, they get hella mad. Don't be expecting fancy pants service here, the popularity shows in the business and hopefully accidental inattentiveness of the wait staff. They will serve you with brisk curtness here, they don't have time for uncertainty or questions about the menu. But that's ok. We deal with it. 

The Banquet Menu for $28.0 per person is where it's at. I have heard there is a Verbal Menu and a freakin' cool take away menu where you bring your own boxes and they fill em up, but the Banquet has everything you need and then some. Dips like hummus and tzatszki and Moroccan style antipasti (sauteed eggplant, olives, spiced carrot and vegetable) make up the first course, served with pita flatbread and scooped up hungrily.

The next course is arguably the best course; multitudes of gorgeous small bowls filled to the brim with different dips, entrees and salads. 

Noone really goes through what is placed in front of you, but to be honest, it all looks delicious and tastes amazing. Look out for the beetroot and fried flatbread, and the baked potato with herbs.

What follows are the main dishes, packed full of flavour and consisting of a lot of carbs and lentils, chickpeas and nuts.

On paper it may not appeal, but trust me when I say you need to experience this vegetarian heaven.

The famous chickpea bake is a delicious mix of butter garlic chili yoghurt over chickpeas and almond slivers. It's amazing. You will probably have a lot of leftovers at this point, but remember they DO NOT give out take away boxes - it's all BYO and you shovel at the table.

Dessert consists of various fried doughs glazed with honey syrup; there's a crumbly pistachio baklava thrown in there for good measure, and a vegan tasting gluten free choc ball covered in coconut.

It ends with this tasty mint tea to refresh and cleanse your palate after the flavour onslaught.


TL;DR A damn good vego restaurant.
[Addit: some good news, the mastermind Helen Assafiri behind the Moroccan Soup Bar is set to open a new venue "Moroccan Soup Bar Deli-Cacy" in East Brunswick in late September. Huzzah!]

Bomba Downstairs

I definitely did not expect the warm and inviting atmosphere when I walked into Bomba - I thought it would be another loud, messy pub/bar type atmosphere where it would take aeons to be served a drink. I was very pleasantly wrong, the menu was tantalising and the bar staff helpful and friendly. 

And complimentary bread!

The Salmorejo with egg and smoked bacon ($5.5) is similar to the cold tomato Gazpacho, and this version had a nice sweet note combined with smoked salty bacon bits throughout. The overall taste was nice and tart, whilst being refreshing and cooling.

The Kingfish tartare with seaweed cracker & pickled cucumber ($16.5) was quite plain. I believe there was slightly too much curing in the citrus, and so the fish was not as fresh and sweet as I'd hoped. But the seaweed crackers were delicious! I don't believe this one was worth the price. 

Leek & manchego croqueta ($3.5) was nice and cheesy and tasty, whilst the Oxtail croqueta ($3.5) was dry and plain. 

I wasn't particularly fond of these Hervey Bay scallops with Serrano migas and lemon ($6.0 each) - I found them too salty, the scallop too dry and the crumble around it didn't add anything to the taste.

Quail with pistachio and buckwheat ($6.5) is a difficult bird to enjoy; there are a lot of bones and between them, very minimal meat. It's a big thing when a restaurant attempts quail. Bomba flavoured the bird really well, and I liked the pistachio and buckwheat on the outside, but not enough to go through the fiddly again.

These morsels on spanish corn meal toast were probably my favourites of the night. The Tortilla with paprika aioli on toast ($4.5) was amazing, the creamy spicy aioli (that usually covers patatas bravas) with the perfect mix of tasty cheese, egg and potato. Delicious. 

Next was the Tomato, Burrata & aged sherry vinegar toast + hand filleted Nassari anchovy ($4.5 + 2.5). The anchovy was delightfully salty, but small compared to the smooth layer of creamy boncconci cheese and salsa.

Finally, the Fried Mussel and walnut tarrator on toast ($5.0) which was great because 1.) fried and 2.) tarrator is like a nutty mayo.

The Charcoal grilled 5+ score Wagyu Rump Cap with mojo verde & horseradish ($26.0) took a while to get out but when it did, it was pretty smashing and well worth the wait. The horseradish was subtle and the rump cap was cooked really well, so it melted easily in your mouth. 

Onto the dessert. Fresh figs, goat curd foam and vanilla bean ice cream ($12.0) was an interesting dessert, mainly due to the strange tang of the goat curd foam. The vanilla ice cream was high quality and creamy, but because the figs were fresh and earthy the dish wasn't very cohesive, I would've liked the figs caramelised and sweeter aka the unhealthy option.

I had no idea what a Turron Parfait ($10.0) was, so I thought this dessert was going to be boring and plain but WOW. It blew me away. It was a heavy creamy cold parfait (almost like a dense block of cream ice-cream), but sweet and covered with crunchy balls of sweetness. I dug it, a lot. A fantastic finish to the meal.

TL;DR A nice spanish fiesta with a relaxed romantic atmosphere

Cutler & Co.

A beautiful night at Cutler & Co will set you back $130 per person plus a $100 service charge. It's expensive, but it feels so right. To celebrate a special occasion here will definitely be remembered by all members of the party. Cutler is a set out in a few different ways, a bar-style seating arrangement around an open plan kitchen preparation area, and a more intimate traditional dining room out the back. The decor is minimalist, but very clean.

Free bread! The best part was the delicious puree relish that came with it, pinenuts tomato and capsicum. And yes, the weird mushroom cup shaped bread was the tastiest.

The entree was a very simple looking dish, an anchovy pastry served with salsa verde. The pastry stick on its own was very salty but was dampened with the salsa verde (which was very delicious on its own).

The first course of the night was Tuna tartare, fromage blanc & bottarga. The tuna was beautiful and fresh, and the smoked cheese was light but full of flavour due to the addition of bottarga, a smoked salty pressed fish roe. The fried kale brought a nice salty crunch, along with the fried crisps which added to the texture element of the dish.

Heirloom tomato, silken tofu & black garlic. This was a surprising vegetarian portion of the menu, a light refreshing salad featurnig perfectly smooth tofu and an asian inspired salty kick from the black garlic (fish sauce). The herbs and flowers went really surprisingly well, and remained unobtrusive throughout the dish. If vegetarian food were like this 100% of the time, I could be a vego fo' sho'. 

White cut chicken, corn custard, scallop & watercress. The scallops in this dish were perfectly seared with a salty crust, they went really well with the corn custard which wasn't as sweet as expected, which was nice. The chicken was served cold which was interesting, so there was a good contrast between hot and cold. A nice introduction to things to come. 

Flounder, brown butter & pickled onion. I love fish dishes and this was no exception, the flounder was cooked and smoked to perfection. The sauce was incredibly buttery with a touch of lemon, and could've made any dish significantly better by existing. The pickled onion had a very big pickle kick but it was best dish so far.

Dry aged lamb saddle, confit belly & fermented carrot. Lovely, creamy, fatty meat hunks which melted in the mouth. The carrot was quite sour but was balanced by the spicy garlic cream. I enjoyed the surprise parcel of pastry square which was with pulled pork. 

The palate cleanser was a focus on peach. Fresh quartered peaches, with peach sorbet and almond cream foam presented in a tiny glass jar. I loved the lightness of the foam. The cleanser was not overly sickly sweet but just right, and they really nailed the essence of peach in the sorbet, it tasted almost identical to the real thing. 

Melon, cucumber & buttermilk ice cream. I can't say dessert was my favourite, which has been a theme throughout my fine dining experiences. 

The ice cream was understandably sour given it's buttermilk, and though the melon was sweet, the whole dish confused me. Together the elements tasted fine, and the dish did improve with each bite, however I definitely would not order this as a stand-alone dessert. It's almost like they were moving toward savoury again, and so didn't really give me the satisfaction of closing the meal appropriately with sweets. 

Luckily it was Earl Grey Marshmallows to the rescue - soft and pillowy, light and dissolved in your mouth. Pretty good.

TL;DR A very nice experience with very refined delicate food.

Vapiano

Vapiano has developed an incredibly interesting ordering concept for their good quality Italian food. Diners are given a card resembling a credit card, which is used to track your order throughout each station (pasta, pizza, drinks, dessert). Their claim to fame is freshly made pasta and pizza bases, so you can either wait for your dish to be prepared fresh in front of you, or are given a buzzer to return when it's ready. The card is then presented at the end of your meal, and you pay for the food you have consumed. It is a perfect way to split bills in a large group, or a nice way to enjoy a meal at your own leisure without feeling pressured by table service.

There is a lot of space in this upstairs food court style restaurant, and the weekday night we attended didn't really require a booking to be honest.

Antipasti

The Caprese: Fresh ciabatta, creamy buffalo mozzarella, ripe sliced tomatoes + basil ($12.9) was quite delicious and an excellent starter, the mozzarella was smooth and tasty combined with the basil and tomatoes, especially with the tangy vinaigrette sauce drizzled across each slice.

Gamberi e Spinaci

Prawns, onions, cherry tomatoes, cream with basil pesto + Parmesan tossed with fresh spinach ($20.9). A nice dish, especially with the freshly grated parmesan, though there weren't a lot of prawns present in the large serving. 

Bolognese

The Italian style beef and pork, onions, carrots, cherry tomatoes in homemade tomato sauce ($17.9) was quite a nice bolognese; definitely was not overly wet and saucy, but the meat was fresh and the ratio between ingredients to spaghetti was adequate to ensure you didn't run out of either.

This dessert, the White Chocolate Cheesecake ($5.9) is enough to ensure I return to Vapiano. A huge jar filled with very rich, very sweet layers consisting of the cookie crumble base, the thick white chocolate cheescake centre and the honeycomb crumble topping drizzled with salted caramel. It was incredibly decadent and you may need two people to finish it.

The Panna Cotta ($5.9) was definitely not as exciting as the White Chocolate Cheesecake, though it was smooth and consistent in texture, there wasn't a lot of wow factor that came into this one.


TL;DR Very cool concept with the swipe cards and open dining hall style eating area.

Gazi

The other lovechild of George Calombaris, Gazi is the newer-more-stylish-less-expensive-simpler-street-food younger sister to the old Press Club (where a main would go for about $50, or, your left arm). I immediately love the decor, which takes you to the streets of Greece, terracotta pots are placed on the ceilings in a lazy wave, and the superstitious "Evil Eye" or μάτι (mati) which features heavily through the deor.

Ares Cocktail

Looks like a Bloody Mary, is heartier version of the Mary; coined "The Bloody George". There was a lot of herbs and spices in this one, and very tangy compared to the Mary. 

Gazi Dips and bread; three for $19.0

These dips were amazing. Creamy and smooth, whilst bursting with flavour. My only complaint is how tiny the serves were, definitely slightly too pricy.

Miso Melitzanosalata: eggplant dip with miso paste

Taramosalata, prawn crackers

Beetroot, oregano, feta

Konos Kalamari

Seared local calamari, pinenuts, greek dressed vegetables, babaganoush ($16.5) was a good introduction into what was to come. The calamari was tender, and not overly chewy, with the pinenuts and babaganoush adding an earthy base to the dish. 

Cheese

Let's face it, the caption of Ethnika Vromika (Hellenic Dirty Food) is what drove me to try the traditional fried cheese dish of Saganaki, kumquat glyko ($14.5). It didn't dissapoint. The thick melted cheese coupled with the sweet kumquat syrup was indulgent.

Wood Fire Spit

Pork belly, white beans, apple skordalia, walnut dressing ($34.0) was a no brainer to order - tender whirls of wrapped pork soaked in a beautiful sweet sauce, surrounded by filling beans to make it a real main. I enjoyed the crispy skin shell immensely. 

Souvlakakia (Small Souvas)

Crab

Deep fried Soft shell, mint, coriander, honey, mayo ($12.0) souvlaki with the signature Jimmy Grants stuffing of shoestring fries. Genius. There was just enough oil soaking through the brown paper wraps to remind us why these are the greatest cures for hangovers. Next time I would choose a souva with more meat though, the deep fried crab didn't have enough meat on it. 

Roasted Beetroot Salad, pearl barley, hommus, red onion ($12.5) was a nice salad dish - I am a big fan of beetroot, although to be honest, it's a bit of an empty taste, if not overly sweet - which may be why I like it so much. There was nothing out of the ordinary about this salad, it wasn't dressed in much, but the flavours were there, especially with the hommus. 

Creme Kataifi

Brulee, rosewater, pistachio, kataifi, honey syrup ($12.5) is the first dessert, in the form of a Greek-style crème brûlée, with the crystallised sugar shard top layer being omitted for a straight silken custard-textured dessert. It was definitely made more interesting with the honey syrup and kataifi noodle net, but I prefer traditional brûlées more. 

Acropolis Now

The Acropolis Now, strawberry mousse, coffee soil, strawberries ($12.5) was a very picturesque dessert, paying homage to the ruins of Athens. However the flavours were not very exciting. The strawberry mousse was considerably firm, and didn't quite melt in your mouth, and while the soil looked like soil, it was too dry and hard to meld well with the mousse. 

Finally the most traditional Greek dessert of all, the famous Loukamathes, salted caramel, peanut praline ($10.5). Probably the best dessert of all three, simply because you can't really go wrong with pastry (carbs) and salted caramel (sugar). It was enjoyable, served piping hot, but became very sweet very quickly. Not a dessert to tackle on your own, unless you are about to see the Diabetes Specialist soon. 

TL;DR A nice jaunt into what Greece has to offer
[Protip: if you want to upstyle, go to Press Club, and down style, Jimmy Grants]