of course transporting oneself to the culinary landscape of melbourne we have come to expect good food. yes fine fare. we are not ashamed to admit we are big time foodies. little sista a chef and myself a hobby baker have learnt and developed our exemplary culinary skills from the school of good cooking aka queen lovie herself and we have many a testimonial to prove it. ( just try market st cafe and you will know what i mean) but alas it seemed like someone had let the culinary black cats out in melbourne too. do i name the establishment? perhaps not but gluten free gnocchi strike one. unless it is an absolute dietary requirement advertising gluten free flour as the staple of your gnocchi in my books is merely a marketing ploy. really the gnocchi should have been advertised as pellets. and when the special is blueberry with walnuts and goats cheese well sucked in to us, we should have known better. but it was melbourne and i was open to the possibility of some culinary genius only to be served up a dirty dish with rubber scallops, crab meat and chickpeas peppered with caviar. sorry but my inkling of possible culinary genius was really culinary garbage. and to think i had eaten nothing all day in preparation for my feast! big drats! and that folks made me incredibly nervous because flight to food, was the same going to be said of the footy?
ps...i ate the almond croissant when i got home.
however all was forgiven when we were finally able to crack the chin chin waiting list. four times and i hadn't been able to get a table. being tactical we decided to go for lunch instead and were not disappointed one little bit. its reputation is well deserved. the service is informative but casual. our waiter john very helpful in making recommendations from the menu. the tables are close, close enough to chat to your culinary neighbours. we met three different couples by the time we had stretched out our lunch long enough to leave and walk to etihad stadium from flinders lane. highlight for me was the sashimi kingfish, absolutely exquisite. highlight for my dining companions were the two young men who seemed to take a liking to mature ladies, hee,hee. all was delish, delish, delish. even sago which normally would not appeal to me was transformed into a lush dessert, sweetness delivered with an A+. i recommend a dining experience here for your culinary to do list, it is worth the effort but lunch is probably easier to crack than dinner as chin chin does not take bookings.
and if our lunch wasn't good enough what was to follow was even better. an awesome win by the power who set it up in the first quarter with a huge blitz to leave the roos boundless and us feeling a little closer to optimistic that stranger things could yet prevail. a good win and the thread of finals hope still intact. a celebratory drink with friends later in a city bar finished off a rather pleasant day before heading home to the Victorian branch of the lady army headquarters. thankyou hostess with the mostest!
another culinary find awaited us the following day as we made our way into town via the train minus our victorian arm of the lady army who was given a pass out. rock, paper scissors in liverpool street was recommended by a friend and it also did not disappoint. small but cosy one would be advised to book for lunch but luck was on our side. we perused the menu and took up the offer of 5 dishes for two at 59 bucks. a refreshing coconut water in a fat glass jar with fresh lime was the perfect tonic. home made prawn dumplings, duck salad, kingfish ceviche, asian greens with mushrooms and thai fried chicken left us more than satisfied. absolutely delicious, service friendly, unpretentious and another one to add to your culinary bucket list when visiting melbourne. lunch was followed by visiting the edgar degas exhibition at the NGV with my buddy pascoe who entertained us with details of her bunnings coffee date. yes viewers he is now off her list and just as well i say. (she should have been checking out the tool section instead for a replacement, ba ha ha ha ha). the degas exhibition was fabulous. his pastels, paintings and sculptures combined to showcase his versatility and diversity of subject matter....horses, nudes and dancers. if you get a chance to go i recommend it, you don't have to be a pretentious arty to enjoy and appreciate it.
until round 18 bon appetit viewers... may your team serve you an appetising dish as long as they are not playing against mine!!!FFFand F XXX
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