Fee Fi Pho Yum...

... I smell the blood of an uncooked eye fillet of beef! Inspired by my impending trip to Vietnam and at the same time pressured to lose my winter food baby, I've turned to Weight Watchers fragrant beef and rice noodle soup as my saviour. And thank the Lord - it's a winner. Never having cooked with fresh lemon grass before (awww newbie), my trusted boyfriend, who has a wealth of tv cooking show knowledge, showed me how to bruise the flavour out of it. The recipe and ingredients were incredibly simple, especially as the beef required no cooking - the raw beef was placed on top at the end and, effectively, poached in the soup. This was a delicious, fresh, super slurpy and healthy dish, which I highly recommend. Bring on Vietnam! 

http://www.weightwatchers.com.au/util/prt/recipe.aspx?Type=1&RecipeID=137031 

More Than We Bargained For At Kotaraya

The family and I went to Kotaraya in St Kilda to celebrate my sister's birthday, and incidentally, a Geelong victory in the AFL (yes, a slight delay has occured in the blogging). Our mood was abundant, and the food and service at Kotaraya allowed it to remain that way throughout the evening. Mum had bought coupons and as there was no limit to the number of coupons per booking we were able to use three between the six of us. The vouchers entitled us to a mixed entree, two mains, two desserts and a bottle of wine between two people. We decided to share all the meals, which was a great move as there were so many delicious options available. The service was prompt and friendly and before no time our entrees arrived. The skewers were delectable and no sooner had they arrived, we'd devoured them! One by one our mains arrived, each looking even better than the dish before (which was pretty impressive as they all looked delicious). Most of the dishes were really tasty (with particular mention going to the coconut butter prawns and sizzling Szechuan beef), but we found the nyonya chicken a little dry. The dessert options were simple - mixed berries and ice cream, but with the amount of food we'd inhaled, it was a nice finish to the meal. I'd go back for a nice, casual meal, and hopefully with a coupon in hand!

Mixed plate entree

(l-r) Singapore Style Chilli King Prawns and Special Thai Fish

Nyonya Chicken

(l-r) Sambal King Prawns and Sizzling Szechuan Beef

Coconut Butter King Prawns

Taste Of Melbourne Festival

The Taste of Melbourne festival was a fabulous affair and a total sensory overload. From the minute we stepped through the doors of the Royal Exhibition Building with our fellow foodies, the senses were in overdrive. The building had been transformed into a market of vendors, bars and mini-restaurants. Unsure of where to start, we headed to the bar (a good a place as any!). We were given menu card's on entry, and sipping on Rekorderlig we highlighted some of the dishes we were interested in trying. As it turns out it would have been simpler to cross off the one's we weren't interested in.. We started with the carpaccio of farmed Barramundi with peas, mint and wasabi sorbet from Esposito & St Peter's. The fish was lovely and delicate and the flavours were really light so it was a nice dish to start with. 

We had a delightful dalliance with French cuisine from Libertine & Le Traiteur. Their coq au vin was juicy and delicious, and I could've happily had another serve.

We were lucky enough to be passing by the Jindi cheese tasting section at the right time and got to sample five of their cheeses with accompanying wines from Mad Dog winery. The Triple Cream Brie is my new favourite cheese - so creamy with a beautiful lingering flavour.

Next up we headed to the Stokehouse for their seared scallops with green chilli aioli and almond and celeriac remoulade. The flavours were nice but as with most of the dishes we tried, the scallops were quite cold as they'd been sitting for ages.

My favourite dish of the night was from an Italian restaurant, Mezzo - wagyu meatballs with couscous and ricotta. Their meatballs were so flavoursome and it didn't even matter they were a little cold, and the raisins added a beautiful sweetness. I will definitely be heading back to Mezzo for those meatballs!

George Calombaris's new restaurant St. Katherine's was a huge hit - it was the only place we had to line up for AND the only restaurant that served fresh, hot dishes. Their signature dish, St Katherine's fried chicken (KFC) was really punchy and served in a super cute colourful KFC bucket.

We finished the night with a couple of cocktails from Longrain Bar (which had a great party vibe) and pistachio panna cotta with caramel salted popcorn from Sarti. The lovely salty and sweet combination worked really well.

All in all it was a fantastic night and the food was really interesting and varied. I'm already looking forward to Taste of Melbourne 2012!