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. 

Sister of Soul, St Kilda

We ate at Sister of Soul on Acland Street, St Kilda recently and immediately had to share this restaurant with each and everyone I come across. This vegetarian restaurant has a large and varied mix of dishes including burgers, pasta, curries all of which are made from fresh vegetarian ingredients. 

We were impressed when we saw the menu, and how busy the restaurant was compared to the others on the strip. Fortunately we did not have to wait long at all for our food to arrive even though the restaurant was packed. 

Gaz ordered the Zen burger - panko crumbed eggplant, salad and kewpie mayo. The dish came with fries and mayo. Even though the burger was vegetarian, thanks for the eggplant slice I could believe I was eating a chicken schnitzel burger. It was crunchy, fragrant, and very fresh and healthy. 

I ordered the gnocchi in napoli sauce with roast pumpkin, basil oil and almond feta. I love the almond feta - it was absolutely delicious! It tasted like real feta, but without the bloating effect that came with consuming dairy products for me. The gnocchi melted in my mouth, and the roast pumpkin pieces added a firm texture to the dish.

For meat lovers, it is difficult to substitute meat in a vegetarian dish and that is why the popularity of mock meats in chinese vegetarian dishes. These mock meats can be tofu 'fish', 'chicken' and so on but they are usually made from gluten and deep fried prior to steaming, braising etc so apart from consuming unnecessary amounts of gluten, it will also increase one's intake of oil as well.

The two dishes above demonstrate that plant based ingredients and the way they are cooked e.g. roast pumpkin with a bit of firm texture, almond feta, panko crumbed thick slab of eggplant make convincing and healthy meat substitutes.

Kobe Jones, South Wharf

Luckily our second visit to Kobe Jones was a reasonable success... Our first visit years ago flopped flat on its face even though a reservation was made in advance. It left us angry and hungry, vowing never to return. 

Fast forward years later, lured by a limited time half priced dining promotion, we returned. This time, they did not forget our reservation but I have to deduct some points for the seating arrangement. The seating was arranged in such a way that we were seated at right angles instead of seated opposite each other at the table. My seat faced the wall. How romantic for a dinner date!!

We ordered the Kobe's 10 Set Menu ($79 per person) which consists of Endamame beans, Seafood Poke, Hot Mushroom Salad, Volcano Roll, Prawn and Vegetable Tempura, Chicken Yakitori, Crab Slider, Beef Tenderloin Amiyaki, Miso soup and Green Tea Icecream. 

Mushrooms with pine nuts

The Hot Mushroom Salad was our favourite. It was filled with umami goodness, buttery smooth, and packs an extra crunch from the pine nuts scattered across the top of the dish. We wished we had some kind of rice, or carb to sop up the leftover sauce, it was so good!

California roll with scallops

Poke

The Hawaiian Poke of salmon cubes was also delicious. It was light, had a good mouthfeel aided by crispy fried noodle bits, and salmon caviar. 

The same cannot be said for the Volcano Roll... although it was described as oven baked scallops layered on a crab salad avocado roll, with special cream sauce, we struggled to find the scallops! What scallops we could find were in little pieces. In contrast, there was a plentiful amount of rich cream sauce. It was cloying, and we had a difficult time digesting the rest of the meal because of it.

Soft shell crab slider

Chicken teriyaki skewers

Vege and prawn tempura

The chicken teriyaki skewers were well cooked and had a wonderful aroma of perfectly grilled meat. Intersected between baby leeks, the chicken was very tasty and juicy.

But... the tempura was a big letdown. The batter was neither crispy nor light. It was gluggy and soaked with oil. This dish was... not good to say the least.

Nothing notable about the soft shell crab sliders except that the soft shell crabs were beautifully fried - crispy, not a hint of frozen or fishy smell.

Tenderloin Amiyaki

Green tea ice cream

After the consumption of multiple high cholestorol, cloying dairy products and oil during the meal, we were quite full by this time. So when the Tenderloin Amiyaki arrived, we were already looking incredulously at each other wondering how we would fare.

But the juicy and well cooked tenderloin cooed to us to finish it up, and finish with a gusto we did!

The restaurant staff gave us a long break before serving us the final course of the Set Menu, during which time we willed the food to go down and stay down. When the two scoops of green tea ice cream came, it was a welcome refreshment.

The Green Tea Icecream tasted surprisingly different, perhaps it was made from soy milk rather than cow's milk because it was not as creamy or rich as what normal ice cream would taste. It was a little icy, but we did not mind it.

If you expect a light Japanese meal, Kobe Jones is not the place for you. It is a fusion Japanese restaurant and their style is in the strong and heavy flavours mixed with Japanese food. It can be overwhelming but good different when eaten in moderation.

Beware of the 15% weekend surcharge though... it added $23 to our bill which is quite a hefty charge. That said, the house was full on the day we were there so obviously people did not mind the charge at all!