The Hungry (Greedy) Hippo: Melbourne Eats

We've been suddenly hit with a wave of nostalgia thinking about our years in Melbourne - that's 6 each for the husband and me. So to feed it, I decided to post some photos that were taken before I started this blog. The restaurants still exist, but some have moved and/or opened up new branches. So I won't bother giving the addresses, which can be easily found through an internet search.

Vue de Monde - this was easily the best meal of our lives, at that point in time. The husband had just passed his exams, and thankfully we had made bookings some weeks before that in anticipation of it being a celebratory rather than consolatory meal.

This was the amuse bouche

Course 1 was soy-infused abalone with a combination of watermelon and I can't remember what else.

Course 2 was risotto with truffles

Course 3: foie gras. The husband wasn't a foie gras fan to start with, but ate up every cube.

This was a palate cleanser of hibiscus verjus, put in a centrifuge and cooled to below zero degrees C.

I think this was chicken - no idea why we ordered this!

And the beef, done 3 different ways, was the last course.

This was a chocolate dessert - it was a brilliant ending to a wonderful meal. We wanted to go back in 2011 but couldn't score reservations at their new Rialto outfit.

The sashimi platter at Ibuki, which was a restaurant operating out of an East Bentleigh garage of the family running the business. You get a group of 10, and each pays $60 for a 6-7 course dinner. I think they've opened a proper restaurant in the city since.

My favourite vineyard restaurant in the world - Yering Station, down at Yarra Valley. We had lunch with another couple, and polished off 2 bottles of wine between us. The husband and I normally can't drink much but we did really well that day.

My tenderloin at the Yering

I've been a fan of Pacific House ever since my uni days. The crab with ginger noodles is probably my favourite crab+carbo dish. It's noodles cooked al dente immersed in a lovely fragrant ginger, chive and spring onion sauce. It's the best crab noodles ever.

The roast duck is also a must-eat.

We had tried, unsuccessfully, to get a seat at Movida during our visits back in 2007 and 2008. This time, we went at 4pm to make sure that we scored seats, and were well rewarded for our kiasuness. We also got a few tapas to try.

This was a chicken crostini thing

Some olive thingy

Chocolate churros - the husband loved it

We didn't eat out all the time. With great fresh produce in the markets, it would be a pity not to cook. I did a roast beef one night, with spinach leaves, mashed potatoes and pumpkin soup.