Hunter and Barrel, Eastland Ringwood

Amid the swanky decor, good food awaits. We ordered the Hunter's Feast ($39 pp) at Hunter and Barrel which came with two pieces of pork belly with spicy sauce, roasted chicken, a piece of beef rump steak skewer and a piece of Wagyu beef sausage on a platter, thick cut chips, flat bread and salad. 

The meats were cooked to perfection. The chicken melted away in my mouth, the pork belly was crispy but the star was the beef which was tender, juicy and medium rare. The Wagyu sausage meat was tinted a strange red colour and was too salty but other than that, all the other meats tasted very delicious and was well cooked.

I would describe this place as a casual steak house but there are enough options on the menu for people who prefer something lighter, like a burger, salad or even a vegetarian burger.

Overall, we were quite impressed by the decor and the quality of the food. Delicious!

Barolo, Camberwell

The first thing that occurred to me when we entered this new restaurant is how familiar the location is. It turns out that we have been to this location before but that was when it was a Greek restaurant. Now, it is an Italian restaurant run by different owners. 

We ordered the antipasto plate, spaghetti marinara, beef and shiraz ragu and a coffee and baileys with ice cream. 

Beef and Shiraz Ragu with Mash

Spaghetti Marinara

Antipasto plate

Coffee and Baileys with Icecream

The beef was a real comfort food. I can totally imagine myself with a big bowl of this stuff, in front of the television in pyjamas, scoffing down mouthfuls of this while watching Sex and the City. 

I found the texture of the spaghetti very similar to half cooked Chinese wheat noodles. It was thick, felt a little uncooked and was not what I liked to eat. 

The best dish was the dessert. It came with a shot of strong coffee and baileys, both of which are to be poured into the martini glass containing two scoops of ice cream. The mixture then turns to be gooey, delicious coffee bailey sundae. Personally I think anything with coffee and Baileys is a winning combination. 

Sunset

The month of September has been quite eventful thus far. In the same weekend, we received two groups of overseas visitors which necessitated a flurry of cleaning activity within the house. Gaz transferred all his items that had accumulated in the spare room into temporary storage. Meanwhile, I was busy running around looking for gifts for these visitors. It was just crazy...

I don't want to sound like we haven't been cleaning the house for the last 2 years but there are things in the house that normally get micro cleaned in everyday cleaning such as the windows, ceilings, kitchen cabinets, and the garden. 

We enjoyed our guests visits and hopefully helped make their visit more memorable. It was nice having a clean and presentable house also.