Taste of Melbourne 2010

Seeing the wonderful culinary experience we had last year at Taste of Melbourne, we decided to go back this year. It seems like the food last year was much better. These were what we had:

Organic slow braised pork cheek, white polenta, raisins and marsala sauce from Mezzo Bar & Grill $8. Pork cheek was quite stringy, but I liked the creamy texture of the polenta.


Oyster tempura with local condiments, dressing and dipping sauces from Esposito. Ermm.... what local condiments?? I think I like the oyster tempura Gaz makes better! $10 for one.



Esposito's Italian skewer of seafood with seasonal produce. A compilation of salmon, onion, pork, and other seasonal vegetables, chargrilled and wrapped in a flaky bread pastry, a typical Sardinian taste. That was the official description on the menu but.... what flaky bread?? It was more like papadums!

I also didn't like the salmon, it was quite fishy. $12

Seven hour braised leg of lamb with a mushroom and potato pave and glazed baby carrots from Koots $12. The leg of lamb was quite good, and the pave was very mushroomy. This was probably one of the best paid dishes we had that night.

Free entree sponsored by Tassal salmon, served during an interview with the executive chef from Stokehouse during a Chef's Table session. As we walked into the Exhibition Hall, wafts of fishy smell reached our nostrils. Not surprising since Tassal was one of the major sponsors of the show.

We wanted to get a wagyu burger from The Palace but Gaz was turned off by the loooong queue for it. When we queued up for real the second time round, it was sold out. So we got a Salted western plains pork & prawn sweet roll with pickled vegetables from Longrain $10.

The crackling was nice and crispy, but there wasn't much pork nor prawn. I think I can get a better roll from the local Vietnamese shop. Though it wouldn't be labeled as gourmet, at least it would have more flavour and filling!

Calabrian prawn sausage, pickled cucumber salad from Sarti $8. This one was quite good, we enjoyed it. The prawn sausage is similar to what the local Chinese r'ant does when one orders kai lan fried with prawn cakes.


And the winner dish of the night was.... free! Barilla's creamy canneloni, so good we went for thirds. There was Ben & Jerry's ice cream for free too, and I just loved their chocolate flavour. Made with dark chocolate it was rich and delicious!

I probably would not be going to any of the restaurants whose food we had sampled that night, just because none of the dishes really jumped out. Moreover, I don't feel they were really worth the price we would have paid if we had gone to the restaurant and ordered as mains.