HOT: Cecconi’s Flinders Lane Restaurant and Cellar Bar, 61 Flinders Ln, Melbourne

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Jetsetting Joyce

Cecconi’s Flinders Lane is a much-awarded Italian restaurant stalwart in Melbourne and their recent revamp in décor drips of old school glamour with a capital G.

My memories of Cecconi’s was as a place of celebratory feasting with friends, romantic tete-a-tetes and even a wedding.

I was invited to sample their new seasonal menu and it appears that the relaunch has not changed Cecconi’s approach. It’s still a fine dining establishment which knows how to deliver a complete experience in food, service and ambience.

Tottering down the basement steps your first view is of the quiet, well-ordered open plan kitchen centre stage. As well as being practical, the hanging copper pots and pans lent a warm glow to the surroundings and touches of copper were echoed in some of the other décor such as the wall lights.

Near the stylish bar there’s a subtle nod to the Cecconi’s heritage with the framed portraits of family members hanging on the back wall.

I was also particularly taken by the huge dome pendant lamps with a delicately ornate etchings on the porcelain inner. Overall the look is sharp and polished – a place to impress.

To start we were offered some smart canapés – melting San Daniele prosciutto twisted around long grissini and mushroom arancini with garlicky aoili to name a few.

Then, the first course – a heady truffle and parmesan risotto. A creamy, earthy dish lifted to decadence by the extravagant amount of freshly shaved black truffle spiking the plate.

Cecconi's

Second course was Chatham Island Blue Cod, confit tomato, fennel, fried zucchini flower from the owner’s garden and a drizzle of aged balsamic. The fish was perfectly pan-fried with a slight hint of crispness on the outer edges, which meant that I would have preferred the zucchini flower to be more lightly battered as I felt overall that the textural balance was on the dry side.

Cecconi's

The dish of the night was twice cooked duck and the most luxurious sweet potato puree. Who knows how much cream or butter was whisked into that puree but it was like eating marshmallow. The duck was perfectly cooked, simultaneously juice and crispy.

Cecconi's

Dessert was a jar of caramel pannacotta layered with broken wild fig cake and macadamia ice cream. I felt that serving the pannacotta in a jar diminished its impact somewhat as the other ingredients dominated the palate before your spoon hit the bottom. Nevertheless, an artful twist on an Italian classic.

Cecconi's

Based on my dinner it seems that Cecconi’s will be continuing on with what it does best – fine dining without stuffiness, Italian food without fussiness and a place that’s sure to impress your parents, your friends or your date.

Cecconi’s Flinders Lane Restaurant and Cellar Bar, 61 Flinders Ln, Melbourne

Monday – Friday 12:00pm-12:00am

Saturday 5:30pm-12:00am

HOT: Vue De Monde, Level 55, Rialto, 525 Collins St, Melbourne

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Jetsetting Joyce

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I feel that everything that needs to be said about three-hat Vue de Monde has already been said.

So instead of describing at length each of the ten courses of the degustation at one of Australia’s best restaurants (and having to take notes during my lunch), today I’m going to leave you with a photo essay of what the full Vue de Monde experience looks like.

First off, the view at 55 floors.

The restaurant itself is quite casual for a fine-dining establishment. They use quietly expensive crockery, furniture and artwork in the space but it’s not in any way intimidating. Plus the staff are professional and friendly without being snooty. Sometimes the kitchen staff present the dishes they have made, complete in aprons and clogs, which I think is a particularly lovely touch.

One of Vue de Monde‘s signature cocktails is their version of the Old Fashioned, using Leatherwood honey. An Old Fashioned may have become a bit of cliche with the advent of Mad Men, but when it comes served with a huge ball of ice (so it doesn’t melt as quickly) in a cut crystal tumbler then you know it’s high end. Just be aware it costs $25!

The restaurant has a whole ‘classy cave man’ theme happening which means the tables are covered in kangaroo hide, some of the chairs have (faux?) fur backs and food is sometimes presented on rocks and sticks which brings to mind scenes of a Neanderthal bonfire. It may be considered gimmicky but I don’t mind of a bit of theatre when it’s backed up by incredible attention to detail in the food.

First up on the rocks – carrot (some poor sod had to fashion these to look like twigs?), smoked eel, white chocolate and caviar, salt cured wallaby and Truffle marshmallow (not pictured).

Vue De Monde, Level 55, Rialto, 525 Collins St, Melbourne
King prawn (including the crispy head), seaweed salted duck yolk and some wasabi snow spooned over the top at the last moment.

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Melbourne onion soup – the liquid was siphoned through a coffee filter and poured over roasted and pickled onions.

A perfect sous vide marron, sweetbread, lamb floss.

The butter for the bread arrives with almost ridiculous ceremony – spooned out from a huge tub of imported Beurre Echire.

Duck yolk, pear circlets, truffle and crispy saltbush leaves.

An interactive palate cleanser of wood sorrel doused in cloudy liquid nitrogen and crushed to a powder with your pestle. A spoon of cucumber sorbet was then added on top.

A juicy fillet of barramundi with nettle puree and young garlic.

Flinders Island lamb, olive, Australian anchovies, mustard

Blackmore Wagyu, smoked bone marrow, saltbush

After seven savoury courses you can choose to have three desserts or an assortment of cheeses, bread and jams plus two desserts. The wooden cheese trolley is a large structure which is quite a sight to behold.

My alternative dessert was of buttermilk, malt cream, hay.

Rhubarb, white chocolate, coffee

A Vue de Monde classic – the most perfect chocolate soufflé I’ve ever had in terms of consistency of texture. This shows off the kitchen’s classic French techniques to perfection.

If you make a booking for the first lunch sitting at midday then be aware that you’ll need to vacate your table for the second sitting at 2:30pm. The transition is impressively smooth and well-organised – there’s no unceremonious shunting you out the door but instead they set you up at the bar (with a glorious window view) to enjoy your selection of petit-fours at your leisure.

The petit fours were all ‘Australiana’ inspired – miniature chocolate mousse lamingtons, chocolate pippi shells, bourbon jellies shaped like two-up coins and eucalyptus ice cream balls.

And to extend your Vue de Monde experience you go home with a goodie bag of brioche, honey, tea, cookies and granola for the morning after!

Vue de Monde offers some of the most inventive and decadent dining in Australia. At $250 a head for the ten course degustation it is certainly a special occasion restaurant – but if you appreciate artistry in food and wine in stunning surroundings then save your pennies and book ahead.

HOT: High Tea at the Library, Cowen Gallery, State Library, 328 Swanston St, Melbourne

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Jetsetting Joyce

The State Library of Victoria is not a place you often associate with afternoon tea (more like invigilators saying ‘no food or drink in the library please’) so I was really interested to discover that they are holding high teas in the Red Rotunda of the Cowen Gallery. Never knew that the State Library had galleries? Neither did I.

The Red Rotunda is one of the function rooms that you can hire at the State Library. For the State Library High Tea the library’s caterers CNK Food Design had set up round tables and chairs in the centre of the ornate room as old beardy men in the 19th century paintings and plaster busts stared down at you. Together with the parquetry floors and high dome it was quite a regal setting to be sipping tea and nibbling cakes but the shared table format meant that there’s a lot of chatting with strangers (if you wanted to) so the atmosphere was friendly and relaxed.