Larder

We wanted to escape the dreary weather in Melbourne and decided on a short drive to Daylesford to try something new. The weather was perfect and there were lots of people who had the same idea as us. Larder in Daylesford serves up your typical breakfast fare as well as some interesting menu items showcasing local produce. We ordered from the sharing menu and had:

Larder tasting plate (AU$29) - featuring Chef's selection of house made produce: chicken and pork terrine, chicken liver and sherry parfait, Gorgonzola mousse, cured Ocean Trout, smoked Trout mousse, roast fennel and cannelloni bean dip with fresh baked ciabatta. Generous tasting board with plenty of sliced bread. Our favourites were the chicken liver parfait and Gorgonzola mousse.  The smoked trout mousse was a little too light in flavour. A good way to try what is on offer.

Thick cut fries (AU$9) - hand cut from locally farmed pot

atoes with rosemary salt and mayo. Creamy and fluffy potatoes done well. Very chunky and more towards wedges which we like.

Hush puppies (AU$9) - Southern American style fries cheese and herb balls with bbq sauce and mayo. Delicious fluffy, pillowy balls with a soufflé like texture. Good on its own and it had a nice cheesy flavour. The bbq sauce tasted like it was spiked with alcohol and was certainly an interesting sauce.

Service: :star :star :star :star :star
Quality of food: :star :star :star :star
Value for money: :star :star :star :star ½

Type of venue: Breakfast,  Modern,  Coffee

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 57A Vincent Street, Daylesford VIC 3460

Pepper Cafe

A very popular cafe in Flemington. Having frequented quite a few establishments in Flemington, Pepper was next on the list. Had only been there previously for coffee and it is always packed. We enjoyed our brunch and are looking forward to going back. We had:

The hygienic breakfast - fried eggs, with bacon, potato gratin, slow roasted tomato, button mushroom, baked beans, chorizo sausage and sourdough. Delicious. Perfectly fried eggs and deliciously rich potato gratin make this quite a standout among 'big breakfasts'.

Baked eggs - pork and fennel sausage and vegetable casserole with toasted birdseed sourdough. Eggs were perfectly cooked with the yolk still runny. Only negative is that the casserole could be a little thicker in consistency.

Service: :star :star :star :star :star
Quality of food: :star :star :star :star ½
Value for money: :star :star :star :star ½

Type of venue: Breakfast, Modern, Coffee

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 44 Pin Oak Cre,  Flemington VIC 3031

Patbingsoo

What a delightful find in South Melbourne. This place certainly holds its own when compared to the many good Korean restaurants in Melbourne. This was our first visit and we cannot wait to go back. We had:

Galbi beef rib bibimbap - marinated beef short rib, sautéed zucchini, kimchi, kale, bean shoots, toasted seaweed on Korean rice. It was a modern looking bibimbap, everything worked well together and the short rib was tender and delicious.

Korean fried chicken - chicken pieces coated and crisped with spicy sauce and daikon kimchi. Mixture of chicken ribs and wingettes. Very well cooked but wish there was more sauce and the batter was a little heavy. Still, a good sharing dish.

Green tea bingsoo- soft rice cake on sweet red bean with green tea snowflake. The snow ice machine is excellent as the texture throughout the bingsoo was good. Light green tea flavour mixed with the homemade red bean lifted this humble dessert.

Raspberry kombucha - a raw fermented chilled tea, full of natural probiotics and immune boosting benefits. Interesting drink, slightly tangy not unlike an apple vinegar drink with a slight effervescence.

Service: :star :star :star :star :star:

Quality of food: :star :star :star :star ½
Value for money: :star :star :star :star 

Type of venue: Modern Korean

Worth a return visit? Yes. 

Address: 128 York Street, South Melbourne VIC 3205

Supernormal

A very popular modern Asian restaurant so do come prepared for the long wait for a table. Dishes are perfect for sharing and the staff are very attentive. 

We ordered:

Smoked beef, mustard leaf, clam mayonnaise - loved the flavour combination and it was very much like beef tartare done really well. Wish there was more!

New England lobster roll - interesting to try but probably won't order it again. We love lobster but in a buttery roll, the flavour of the lobster was a little lost and certainly the price was a little steep.

White cut chicken, cold noodles, sesame, peanuts and chilli oil - perfectly poached chicken, this was moist and delicious with the peanuts and chilli oil.

John Dory, mussels, wakame, celery and ponzu - a few school prawns tossed in, the seaweed flavour was quite nice and the fish nicely cooked though we did not think it went well with the rice and salad as recommended by the waitress.

Peanut butter parfait, salted caramel and soft chocolate - sweet with hints of saltiness equals a perfect way to end the night. Deliciously smooth. In our humble opinion,  we think this may be the best in Melbourne!

Service: :star :star :star :star :star
Quality of food: :star :star :star :star
Value for money: :star :star :star :star

Type of venue: Modern, Japanese,  Chinese, Asian

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 180 Flinders Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000

Saint Crispin

We had heard mixed reviews about Saint Crispin and despite the big "hoo haa" we managed to get a table for the 6pm dinner service that very same day.

Saint Crispin is the result of chefs Scott Pickett (The Estelle) and Joe Grbac (formerly of the Press Club). Being a two-hatted restaurant in Melbourne, we had high expectation of this place. Who wouldn't be? Everything was plated beautifully, like pieces of art and almost too beautiful to eat. Did the flavours go well together? We're not so sure and were left questioning some of the chefs' decisions. We ordered:

Snap, crackle and pop - Deep fried pork crackling! Saint Crispin did a good job on this. Tasty seasoning salt and crunchy.

Kangaroo loin, mastic, native plum and Warrigal greens - We love tartare and have no problem eating raw meat. However, there wasn't a mention on the menu that it's actually a tartare. In saying that, the kangaroo was tasty and the favourite dish of the night.

Courgette flowers with blue swimmer crab mousse- This dish had no textural elements to it. The mousse was quite nice and had an Asian(Thai) influence to it but the flowers were soggy and left more to be desired.

Crispy buttermilk chicken, 63 degree pullet egg, cos and popcorn - The chicken was tasteless and a little dry, and definitely not crispy. The egg was interesting but we were left thinking it was more of a breakfast dish than fine dining.

John Dory, octopus, black venere rice and South Australian olives - The fish was cooked well and the flavours went really well together. We just wish the portions were bigger for the mains. It looked like an entree.

Strawberry, sumac, longan and caramelised white chocolate - Goat curd being a very strong flavour on this dish should have been mentioned on the menu rather then finding out when it's placed in front of you. Certainly not a favourite of the night.

Ossau Iraty, Pyrenees, France, pumpkin, mustard fruit and rye - It shouldn't be a dessert; more fitting as an entree as the sweet elements of the dish were not detectable. The flavours did not go well together and as much as we love a cheese course, this was awful.

All in all, we wanted to love it but we were left with a feeling of disappointment. The meal(3 course options each) was very reasonably priced but would rather be charged more for more decent portions and for more thought to go into the flavour combinations. Some hits and misses for sure.

Service: :star :star :star
Quality of food: :star :star :star
Value for money: :star :star :star :star

Type of venue: Modern

Worth a return visit? No.

Address: 300 Smith Street,  Collingwood VIC 3066