Hellenic Republic, East Brunswick

I went through my photo archives and realised with horror that I had forgotten to blog about one of the most memorable meals I had at Hellenic Republic earlier this year. As part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in March, there had been a Home By The Sea degustation dinner at Hellenic Republic that I had enjoyed immensely. At $95 with almost free flow wine and ouzo pairing, how was it possible not to jump on the bandwagon?! The only thing I was sad about was that I had left it too late to take a tram, and had to drive - meaning I had to ration the alcohol.

George Calombaris is pretty well-known for his appearances on tv as a MasterChef judge, but I didn't quite have high expectations of the dinner after eating at Mama Baba, his somewhat schizophrenic (or bipolar?) Greek/Italian restaurant in South Yarra which closed early this year - it reopened shortly after as Le Grand Cirque, which soon closed after it was revealed that GC's group ran into money trouble.

But back to Hellenic Republic, which is a restaurant I sincerely hope will stay open for much much longer, because they deserve to succeed if they can maintain consistency and quality.  Once we got in, seeing the menu got us all excited.

  

The chargrilled octopus that we started with was superb. I have no idea how they managed to get it so tender, and it was cooked to perfection with a smoky flavour.

The fava - split pea dip with some truffle oil and capers. Such a cheap trick to use truffle oil, which sad to say, I lapped up and thoroughly enjoyed. I was trying to go slow on the bread so it wouldn't fill me up too much, and I blame premature fullness on the fava.

Barrel aged feta with herbs and olive oil which was so, so good and tasty.

Olives, which left me most upset about my inability to drink too much.

The dudes at the kitchen keeping their calm under pressure, churning it all out for a full house.

Sardines with peppers and vinegar

Pickled vegetables

Battered whitebait - so sinful and irresistible

With aioli. This was amazing with the wine.

Greek salad with yet more feta

Eggplant and zucchini chips

Egg pasta with mussels, saffron and mullet roe

I wasn't too sure about the mullet roe, which I felt was a bit fishy, and the mussels were slightly underdone for me, but this was a small blip in an otherwise perfect meal. I also agree that it could have been amazing to someone else

And the ouzo, which arrived at the table looking clear

And turned cloudy once water was added. How that worked, I have no clue.

The mains arrived shortly after. The grilled calamari was pretty much perfect, with the right balance of chargrilled flavours and chewiness without getting too burnt.

Stuffed tomatoes

Veggies tossed with olive oil and salt, amazing with lemon drizzled on top. So simple yet so good.

Grilled fish and prawns served with skordalia

Desserts came - watermelon with feta, rosewater, mint and almonds

Kataifi pastry with custard, ice cream, sour cherries and pistachio. All in, a fantastic meal where it was impossible to walk straight after finishing - not sure whether it was because of the quantity of food or alcohol!

Truffle Takeover at Chiara Restaurant - Truffle Melbourne Festival

The husband and I found out about the Melbourne Truffle Festival quite by accident; we were sitting at Market Lane Coffee one morning and came across the flyer. After a schedule check and quick phone call, we were happily booked in for a truffle degustation dinner with wine pairing at one of the new restaurants in the Docklands. The part that got us really excited was having Guy Grossi prepare some of the courses at the dinner. 

It was at a restaurant we'd never even heard of, but appeared decent according to Urbanspoon ratings. Chiara had opened only the month before and was helmed by someone who formerly worked at the Fat Duck. 

The registration process was pretty easy - we gave them our names and were ushered to the bar for canapes and prosecco to start the evening. I couldn't get a clear shot of this initially - it was a cone of bottarga cream with truffle shavings and chives. 

The other canape was pork cracking with spiced pear, an egg yolk and truffle shavings. 

We felt, like, too cool hanging out by the bar sipping our flutes of bubbly. Definitely not something we're used to, but we tried our best to look the part. 

Pretty tasty prosecco.

Finally a better shot of the cones

They were pretty generous with the food, and the bubbly

The menu, which we had seen online. But seeing it in the flesh got us really excited 

And the best surprise ever - when we got to our tables, we found out that each diner got to go one with ONE TRUFFLE EACH. It was like, walking into a candy store and realising the back door opened directly to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. The truffle farm dude told us the best way to use them would be for scrambled eggs. I tried it, and it was amazing - that's a story for another post. 

The first main course was a slow cooked egg with mushrooms and a duck liver parfait. With lots of truffle shavings! This was paired with a crisp Clare Valley Arneis which we had never heard of before, but which matched the dish perfectly. 

It was a nice way to start the meal, although I found the liver taste slightly overwhelming. 

The next dish, by Guy Grossi, was the standout dish for me. Comprising of veal sweetbread, marron, smoky potato and sugo grasso, it was an incredibly enjoyable dish with so many different textures and flavours coming together in one dish. I loved how the smoky mash worked with the sweetbread. And the marron was super fresh. Interestingly, it was paired with a Yarra Valley Rose. 

A closer look. I couldn't get enough of this dish. 

The next dish was a ravioli with veal, sage and butter. I thought this was slightly too dryl and could have worked with a traditional sage and butter sauce, although the intention could have been not to have a sauce at all. The standout part of this dish, however, was the wine. 

Possibly the singular most important wine discovery of our year in Australia, just slightly ahead of the Gerwurtztraminer and the Blaufrankisch. It was a simply incredible and versatile wine. 

So good that we begged for more. 

Then came the main course of a 72 hour rib, with bone marrow pudding and poached quince, matched with a nero d'avola. 

The aromas from the bone marrow pudding were incredible 

The short rib was melt-in-the-mouth tender. 

Grossi came out to say a few words midway

Then there was a palate cleanser of sweetened truffle cheese with iced mandarin soda. 

It was so odd to have a mixture of savoury and sweet citrus flavour, with truffle in between. Surprisingly, it worked. 

The dessert was banana caramel with chocolate honeycomb and truffle ice cream. 

Serious truffle overload by now. 

Ending off with petit fours, which were chocolate truffles. 

At $190 for everything, including matched wines and a take home truffle, I dare say we thought we got a pretty good deal.