La Belle Miette, Melbourne - macaron goodness

There's no doubt Melbourne, and most of the world, loves macarons. Macarons, not to be confused with macaroons, have now become the centre of the confectionery scene, making appearances on menus of many great cafes and restaurants and there are even macaron making competitions. So what's so good about this ultra sweet ganache sandwiched between two layers of chewy cookies? A lot, that is if you like sweets.

I'm not a huge fan of ultra sweet things and I do admit, I don't like all the macarons I eat. It's best consumed with a cup of tea or unsugared coffee so the sweetness can be spread out. However, I have tried a few macarons that I have taken a liking to. I loved the macarons we had at Hardware Societe and the ones at LuxBite were nice as well. However, after my recent visit to Hardware Societe, I found out they don't sell macarons anymore. I was a bit disappointed at the fact but my world didn't come tumbling down as we headed to La Belle Miette nearby for a good macaron fix.

Some people say La Belle Miette sells the best macarons in Melbourne. I wouldn't disagree. Upon entering the store, I noticed the cute pastel colours and chic decor which seemed quite fitting of this French confectionery. The store is tiny and there were only 2 tables in sight. They primarily sell macarons with I believe just tea, so don't expect to order anything else when you go there. In fact, most of their business is takeaway macarons and La Belle Miette also source macarons to many cafes around Melbourne.

Beautiful boxes lined their counters and you can get macarons either in the free paper box like I did above, or you can get them in a $3 box like my friend Racheese did, which is more sturdy and more presentable (below) and holds 6 macarons. There is also a $4 box which holds 12 macarons and other options for more special gifts.

The flavours I got were as follows (from left to right):

- Hazelnut Belle Miette
- Mariage Freres Earl Grey Chocolate
- Pimm's & Pomegranate
- Pink Grapefruit
- Cherry Blossom & Sake
- ‘Bastille’ – Moet et Chandon and Blackcurrant

My favourite was the earl grey as it had a subtle tea fragrance mixed together with the sweet outer shell which crumbled in my mouth. I loved the texture of the macarons. It wasn't as chewy as some places and was quite airy and light.

However, I did find the pomegranate and grapefruit macarons lacked flavour. I was expecting a strong fruity hit but instead I was hit more with the sweetness. Hazelnut was not bad either as it had rich hazelnut flavoured ganache in the middle.

Teppanyaki Inn, Collins St Melbourne - the oldest teppanyaki restaurant in Australia

I'm an avid lover of 'fun' meals where cooking or serving food involves more active participation from customers (such as hotpot or Korean bbq where it's mostly DIY) or a meal where we get to watch some sort of 'show' in front of us. The latter can be said for teppanyaki restaurants as talented chefs cook up a storm right in front of you. For those of you who don't know what teppanyaki is, teppan is the Japanese word for an iron plate and teppanyaki is naturally the type of cuisine cooked on top of iron plates. Some teppanyaki restaurants actually throw food at you where you're meant to catch it with your bowl, or if more daring, with your mouth. This type of participation can often lead to dirty shirts or burnt lips and is a rare occurrence nowadays.

I recently visited Teppanyaki Inn on Collins St, Melbourne after recommendations from an ex-colleague who is also Japanese. It was a very nice find albeit not being the cheapest meal out there, but we did get a lot of good value ingredients such as good grade beef and scallops. Situated at 182 Collins St, it didn't have much street frontage so it wasn't the easiest place to find. Once inside, I was in awe of the high ceiling and almost warehouse like feeling which is a good design for this type of cuisine (smoke and fumes from the hot plate needs ventilation). The restaurant was quite dark except for the lights on top of each teppan and created a very nice atmosphere. According to their website, Teppanyaki Inn was established in 1975 and was the earliest teppanyaki style eatery in the whole of Australia. That's certainly something to be proud of!

We were served with the usual sauces but this time, a waitress actually poured fresh sauce into the bowls. I liked that extra personal touch compared to the usual pre-poured bowls brought out from the kitchen. A thing to be careful of though, if you don't order a main meal, you will be charged an additional $10 for the sauces.

Waitress pouring sesame sauce

The sauces usually come in soy based and sesame based. You can dip the ingredients in whichever sauce you like, but I find meat goes better in the soy based sauce and seafood is better in the sesame sauce. That's just my preference though.

Dipping sauces - sesame and soy based

In between the sauces was complimentary pickled cucumber and wakame (seaweed) which was very refreshing. It made me salivate and wanting more!

Complimentary pickled cucumber and wakame (seaweed)

We went as a group of 11 and we all ordered the teppanyaki special dinner set for $59pp with the Tasmanian tenderloin beef. It's a common occurrence for teppanyaki chefs to combine two tables worth of food onto the one trolley to save space, since usually two hot plates are right next to each other. This trolley looked like way too much food even for 11 of us.

I was surprised though that two chefs actually came to cook for us because all the other tables only had one chef. I guess we had one of the largest groups that night. They worked very hard, especially the one who's further away in the photo. He was cooking away nonstop for us the whole night.

The first thing to appear on the hot plate was potatoes, although they didn't end up on our plates till a bit later as they took longer to cook. I love potatoes in any shape and form so this was a good start to the meal for me. They had been cooked for long enough to have a slightly crispy outer layer and a gooey soft and very hot middle.

Potatoes

Next up was mushrooms which is another favourite of mine. It's hard to get mushrooms wrong!

Mushrooms

One of the highlights during a teppanyaki meal is watching the chefs cook and cut the prawns. The fast clinking of the knife and spatula make them look so professional.

Prawns

The prawn heads are removed and flattened then cooked until so crunchy you can eat the whole thing, although it might not be the thing for everyone.

Separated prawn head and prawn meat

The scallops also had to be commended. They were juicy and cooked to perfection. I didn't even need to dip it in sauce to enjoy its natural flavours.

Prawns and scallops

A wedge of lemon was provided for the seafood along with a lemon squeezer. I had never seen this in a restaurant before and was a bit intrigued. I wonder where I'd be able to buy one for home.

After the seafood, we were ready for the main star of the night. Beef! The chef was so fast that I couldn't take a photo of the whole beef before he cut it up but when he noticed my frantic look, he was very nice and held the beef in place for me until I was done.

Tasmanian tenderloin beef

I loved the smell and sound of the beef scorching on the hot plate, although by the time we had to eat the beef, I was already getting a little full.

The beef also came with cooked garlic which might not be so good for the breathe but is fantastic together with the beef.

Tenderloin beef with garlic

A teppanyaki meal wouldn't be complete without freshly cooked veggies and nothing can be better than my two favourites - baby spinach and bean shoots. The spinach was as expected, refreshing, healthy and tasty. As we had just eaten a lot of beef, spinach was good to wash it all down and clean my palate.

Baby spinach

The bean shoots were lined up in a long row and divided into small equal portions for each person using a knife.

bean shoots

Bistro Vue, Melbourne CBD

As I've never been to France before, my idea of a beautiful traditional French restaurant in France would be fresh flowers, velvety chairs, vintage furniture, hot men with sexy French accents, a wide variety of French wines and of course, delicious French dishes that come in small but intricate portions. This description seems to fit Melbourne's very own Bistro Vue very well. The waitstaff all happened to be female during our visit this time, however, my very first visit to Bistro Vue certainly met the aforementioned criteria.

Bistro Vue sets themselves apart from the rest by not only producing outstanding French cuisine but also focusing on the restaurant interior. I love their chairs and tables which seem perfect for a little French restaurant out in the country with green hills outside and oh I can almost see Manu Feildel riding past on his little bicycle wearing a barrette and blue stripy shirt (this is exactly what he did at the Good Food and Wine Show not long ago). I even love their flowery plates and the big antique looking drawer next to the kitchen. I love everything about this place. Everything screamed France to even someone like me who has never been before.

Don't let the small bar at the front of the house fool you. It might not look like they have many drinks on offer but you'll be surprised once you enter the back room. I didn't even know there was another room at the back, which is actually bigger than the front, until Yuye informed me.

Enough of gawking at the interior deco and on with the food I hear you say. The food, in my opinion, matched if not exceeded the level of superiority of the atmosphere. As usual, we were given bread with butter. The difference with Bistro Vue's bread and butter though was the beautiful layout of the creamy butter with carefully sprinkled salt and pepper on a little square stone. Even though I had been to Bistro Vue before, seeing the butter still made me smile.

Yuye thought the bread was made from buckwheat because of the harder and more fibrous texture (correct me if I'm wrong) and each person got their own little stick to enjoy with the butter. Although a little too hard for my liking, I have sensitive gums which break easily from hard bread, it tasted beautiful and was very fitting of the restaurant style.

I ordered an orange juice to go with my meal as I thought it was a tad early for alcohol. Yuye just ordered boring San Pellegrino mineral water. My orange juice was a bit small and mediocre for $6.50, I'd have preferred the orange juice at Three Bags Full for sure but it was still refreshing.

Orange juice - $6.50

Even for lunch, we decided to order three courses each. Come on! It's a French restaurant, you have got to order entree and dessert. I was also very hungry. When I'm hungry, I order a lot. The good thing was, the portions were small enough to not make me bloated. Yuye ordered a house smoked salmon with toasted brioche for $23. It was nothing short of exquisite. The salmon mousse in the middle was silky smooth and had a rich but pleasant smoked salmon flavour. A little too salty to have by itself but absolutely heavenly with the brioche and side ingredients. The complementing ingredients included chopped onions, lime pulp, chives, capers and shallots and of course, the plate was lined with beautiful pieces of smoked salmon.

House smoked salmon with toasted brioche - $23

You also get a big piece of lemon wrapped in a gauze cloth to prevent pips from falling in your dish. Very smart. The extra lemon juice added the zing that was needed to bring out all the flavours and tone down the saltiness.

I ordered steak tartare for $18. Compared to Yuye's awesome smoked salmon, it wasn't completely up there but still a very delightful dish. I personally love anything sour, especially the kind provided by sour cornichons (French for gherkins). The steak tartare is juicy, flavourful and fresh. It was ground up together with what I believe to be cornichons, onions and chives. The crispy potatoes chips were beautiful. It was crunchy, light and interesting.

Steak Tartare - $18

Heirloom & Pancake Dessert House, Melbourne CBD

I'm usually very kind to restaurants I visit, the word 'dislike' isn't something I'd say easily. However, my visit to Heirloom on Bourke St a few weeks ago resulted in an experience that couldn't be described any other way. Sad, but true.

After receiving recommendations from friends, I was sceptical but keen to try this place out. As the brainchild of two talented chefs (Shigeo Nonaka from Shoya and Kyle Doody who has worked in Jacques Reymond and Gills Diner), one would expect a bit more from what we received.

We were nicely tucked away in a little secluded area in front of the sushi bar where we could enjoy fragrant yakitori being cooked. It definitely wasn't the seating or the atmosphere, I liked those.

It also wasn't the service. The waiter and waitress came around to our table consistently throughout the night, topped up our water and provided entertainment in the form of fresh wasabi grating. That was probably the most enjoyable part of the night for me.

Three free starters were provided for each of us. This included (from left to right) edamame, marinated fish (salmon perhaps) and takowasa (squid marinated in a fragrant strong wasabi sauce). Although the takowasa was a bit too strong for me, in no way did I dislike these cute little starters.

The yakitori was tasty and not too expensive. For $3 each, you get one skewer with 3 pieces of tender chicken and negi in between, grilled on the charcoal grill just next to the sushi bar. So it wasn't the yakitori (by the way, we only had one skewer each).

Sushi Ten, Melbourne CBD

Sushi Ten has always been one of my favourite Japanese restaurants and budget eateries around Melbourne. I remember back in the university days when I used to travel all the way from Parkville to Sushi Ten (located in Port Phillip Arcade near Flinders St) and line up outside just to satisfy my cravings for their mix don (combination of tuna and salmon with condiments on top of rice). Sushi Ten opens its doors at 12pm and usually there will be a line of people waiting outside. During peak hour (between 12pm and 2pm), free seats are scarce and many a time I've shared tables with strangers. It was already 3pm when I took the photos below so that's why the restaurant was reasonably empty. They only open for lunch (although lunch ends fairly late - around 4-4:30pm I believe) and are not open for dinner or on weekends.

Sushi Ten is a family owned business and the owners/chefs are always behind the kitchen counter working away. The one thing I always wondered about is how the waiters knew who ordered which dish. No name is taken, no table number is given and if you walk around the corner they can't even see where you sit. When the store is completely full (including sharing tables with others), the waiters are still able to walk straight up to me with my delicious mix don without even a slight glance in other patrons' directions. This is even the case when a different waiter brings out my meal to the person who actually took the order. I wonder what their secret is…maybe there's hidden cameras. O_O

The only menu available is what's written on the wall and you pay before you eat when you order your meal at the counter. Tea is free but requires self service - tea cups are on a table by the second door and if the tea is running out in the thermos, you can ask the waiter for a filled one. I guess that's how they cut costs to bring such good value food. :)

I always order the mix don when I'm here, although their other dishes are pretty good too. I find the mix don to be the best value and has just the right combination of ingredients to suit my tastes. It consists of raw tuna, salmon, marinated and cooked salmon, tobiko (flying fish roe, a large amount of it too), cucumber, avocado, nori (Japanese seaweed) and the usual ginger and wasabi. The generous amount of tuna and salmon are unevenly cut into thick and large pieces which I like because it's chewy and well, very satisfying when you can shove big pieces of it into your mouth. The rice is warm and if you eat slowly, the bottom of the fish will get slightly cooked. When I first tried this dish, I thought it was weird to have warm rice and slightly cooked fish because it's not what's done elsewhere. However, after so many meals here, I've really come to like my rice warm. The combination somehow gives it a homey feel. :)

Hu Tong Dumpling Bar (lunch), Melbourne CBD

Yuye and I went to Hu Tong for lunch the other day after dropping off our passports at the Chinese Consulate for visa applications. It was almost 2:30pm when we called to make the booking and we were told no bookings after 2pm and 3pm is when the kitchen closed. After hearing that, I drove like a maniac into the CBD (hoping there were no police around…) and just made it into the restaurant at 2:45pm. While we were gawking at the lunch menu, a number of customers walked in and were politely refused entry, this is when I laughed silently to myself thinking "lucky I made it" :D I am so evil.

The lunch menu consisted mainly of yumcha style dumplings and noodles. As we were both soooo hungry, we ended up ordering 3 sets of dumplings, xiao long bao and a noodle dish. I thought it would be too much food but it was just right. There is also a fishbowl like kitchen (just like China Red, also part of the Hu Tong empire as well as Din Tai Fung in Sydney) where patrons can watch the great chefs at work while they wait for their food.

We tried their money bag (石榴包 shi liu bao) at $6.80 for 3, and I must say, the first impression I had was 'gosh they're small'. Maybe because it was 3pm and these were steamed a long time ago but they looked shrunk, small and sad. Nevertheless, we ate them and they tasted good. The ingredients inside were diced snow peas, carrot, ham, mushroom and minced prawns. There were too many flavours inside that my tastebuds didn't quite know which one to focus on.

Earl Canteen, Melbourne CBD

I feel ashamed for calling myself a newbie foodie and yet tonight was the first time I dined at Earl Canteen (being one of the most talked about places in Melbourne and all). However, it's never too late, especially when it's Earl Canteen's first night doing dinner! Lucky enough for us (group of 5 people), we were able to snatch a table outside without making a booking. Unlucky enough for us as well, it was a cold and rainy Friday evening and being stupid as I am, I didn't really wear very much. I can't complain though because we had such a wonderful meal :). The staff were the most friendly of people and the food, well, I don't even have to say anything about that, let the photos speak for itself! So I shamelessly and happily added myself to the forever growing Earl Canteen blogger family, with in excess of 30 or so blog posts about the place right now, and counting.

Hidden behind the NAB building at 500 Bourke St, it took a little bit of effort to find (i'm a directionless chicken when it comes to finding places). The location is painfully close to my old work that it makes me want to go back there! :( Why didn't I eat here last year?! Oh wait, it was because I was hardly in the office.

It was very hard to decide which sandwich to go with since every one of them could make my mouth water. I settled for the new addition to the menu as recommended by the waiter - the Earl Luxe - with southern rock lobster, Yarra Valley salmon roe, watercress, beurre blanc and ciabatta bread. Lobsters are in season and is one of my favourite seafoods. With the added bonus of fresh salmon roe, I was in sandwich heaven. The tastes were subtle, not at all overpowered by the sauce or any of the ingredients in particular, but also unmistakably lobster in flavour. The bread was crunchy on the outside and soft inside, complimenting the rest of the ingredients very well. It also wasn't messy like the steak sandwich Daz got. Ah, I just wish Yuye didn't eat most of it when I asked if he wanted a try. >:( This sandwich was $27.50, about double the price of the rest but of course, it was lobster.

Three of my companions, including Yuye, got the famous pork belly sandwiches for $13.50 each. This sandwich consisted of a crispy skin Otway pork belly, apple, cabbage and fennel coleslaw and wilted silverbeet in baguette bread. The bread was a little tougher than mine but was still lovely. I adored, I mean ADORED the crispy skin of the pork. It lived up to the true meaning of crispy and beyond. The meat was tasty and juicy, although I would have preferred a bit of gravy to go with it (but that's just me).

Daz got the REAL steak sandwich for $13.50, with of course, real grilled skirt steak, caramelised onion, provolone, beetroot, tomato, cos and mustard in a focaccia bread. I didn't taste this but according to Daz, it was juicy and tasty with the steak cooked to medium rare. The whole time he was eating it, delicious and deep red beetroot juice was flowing out onto the plate. Wish I had asked for a piece to try! He didn't use the steak knife provided at all because the steak was tender enough to bite.

He also got a Holgate premium beer with the meal, which is proudly Australian made. Holgate Brewhouse is located in Woodend in the Macedon Ranges of Victoria, very close to the famous Hanging Rock which I will be blogging about at some stage, it's a beautiful place.