Australia now produces some fantastic craft beers. Magical Xmas Unicorn by Bridge Road Brewers must get a mention as it was reminiscent of a lovely cream soda so was moreish on a hot day.....until i saw the ABV was 7.3 and so i had to stop drinking it!
The Moorilla Winery at MONA, Hobart was another highlight. Great variety of wines including a 'White Cloth' wine which was a combination of 4 different partially fermented grapes mixed together and then further fermented to give a really lovely unique flavour. Will be looking out for this type of mix and see if it can be sourced over here.
So onto the top 5 foods of the trip, in no particular order:
1. Wallaby with Lardons & Pea Puree - The Source Restaurant, Museum of Old & New Art (MONA), Hobart, Tasmania
Starting off with a great Aussie meat, wallaby has a less subtle flavour than beef but this cut was tender and slowly braised in a stew like gravy with floating peas, carrots and salty lardons. There was then a line of pea puree to dab on each piece of meat, almost like an additional sauce. A wintry type dish but served light for the summer.
I can still remember how good this dish tasted which is surely the sign of good cooking. It tasted like the meat had been slow cooking for days, let alone hours, as each grain of meat fell apart as you cut into it and then the warming chilli sauce, made with chocolate, smacked you round the face with ultimate flavour.
As the sauce was so rich, the rice was a welcome vehicle to take the edge off but still perked your tastebuds with the hint of chilli.
As surf and turfs go, this was mighty fine. It was part of a tasting platter which sometimes means being overcooked or not seasoned well but this features in the top 5 as it was faultless. Medium rare eye fillet steak which was juicy and full of flavour. The prawns were as big as my hand, grilled simply with garlic but there was an extra black garlic aioli piled on the plate which went so well with both steak and prawns alike.
Another shout out has to go to the Truffled Parmesan chips that came with this although aren't photographed.
Scallops are one of my favourite seafoods but i had never had them accompanied by sweetcorn. I'm now going to make it my mission to find restaurants that do this as they're just great. Piling a scallop on your fork with a spread of the sweetcorn and then bacony crumbles on top is blooming fantastic.
This may seem a bit of a boring choice but often simple dishes are the best. Scrambled eggs can be a bit hit and miss but these were just how i like them and i adore smoked salmon. The addition of spinach and hollandaise wasn't quite expected as it wasn't described on the menu but i liked the result and converted it into a smoked salmon, scrambled eggs royale benedict! Really nice brekkie and the view helped!
A brief but varied round up of the culinary delights from Down Under. Thanks for reading!
© Ali Twidale. All Rights Reserved on text and photographs