Coal Cellar and Grill Adelaide

July 13, 2016 ~ danib@eatmystreet.net

Coal Cellar and Grill Adelaide

I was invited to dine at Coal Cellar and Grill in Adelaide as part of the Tasting Australia 2016 Festival. It was the closing dinner for what had been an excellent food bloggers conference and the jinks were high, with so many enthusiastic foodies all joining together for dinner. The gorgeous Coal Cellar and Grill in Adelaide delivered on our high expectations with an impressive tasting menu that showcased the best of what South Australia has to offer.

Coal Cellar and Grill in Adelaide is set within the Hilton hotel in the heart of Adelaide. Chef Daniel Fleming, who trained under former Hilton Adelaide chefs Cheong Liew and Simon Bryant (of “The Cook and The Chef” fame- we are not worthy) has designed his menu around great local produce cooked on the grill, and an amazing 3000plus bottles wine list. We were able to chat with him at the end of the night and he shared his enthusiasm and love of hospitality and good food.

Now to the food. We were having a tasting menu which meant we were able to sample a a lot of small dish from the Coal Cellar and Grill menu. There were 5 starters, 5 main, 3 side dishes and 5 desserts to taste, all of it delicious.Some of the highlights of them menu for me would be the Sangria marinated watermelon, feta, apple and pistachio crumble for entree.

The whole baby barramundi with fennel and lemon myrtle as a main. The very creamy and I assume, very naughty Confit garlic mash, truffle butter and chives as a side dish. Although as a veggie lover I also adored the perfectly cooked asparagus with hollandaise.

The “Bombe Australiana” and the liquorice ice cream for dessert. The menu had an interesting focus on native Australian ingredients and SA produce brought together under the watchful eye of a creative team in the kitchen. I enjoyed every mouthful.

I have travelled to a lot of different places and Hotel dining is not always successful. Here at Coal Cellar and Grill a lot of energy and investment has gone into creating a great restaurant that will lure local Adelaidians in search of well priced, excellent food, as well as feeding their many hotel guests. With an interesting menu, extensive wine list and beautiful fit-out I think they have succeeded on both these fronts.

Happy Eating.

Dani xx

Coal Cellar and Grill Adelaide

Address: 233 Victoria Square, Adelaide SA 5000
Phone:(08) 8237 0697
Hours: 6:30am–10pm Monday to Sunday

coalcellarandgrill.com.au

You can read more about the Tasting Australia Words to Go Festival.

Brunch with Poh at Jam Face cafe in Adelaide.

The faces of Adelaide Central Market.

Words to Go 2016 food bloggers conference summary.

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Eat’aliano by Pino

June 5, 2016 ~ danib@eatmystreet.net ~ 1 Comment

Eat’aliano by Pino

There is nothing more perfect than beautiful Italian food on a cold Wintery night, so last week I was very excited to be invited to the opening of Eat’aliano by Pino. I painted my nails and put my high heels on and headed out for some beautiful Italian food.

Eat’aliano by Pino is a newly opened Italian restaurant in High Street Windsor serving traditional Italian antipasti, pizza, pasta, salad and desserts all accompanied by a killer drinks list.

The opening night was busy and buzzing. There were two talented little DJ’s and even a celebrity or two to keep me impressed in between bites of food. The pizza was cooked in a cranking hot wood fired stove which produces an excellent chewy but crunchy base (the perfect combo). The lovely Suppli all romana, Breosola and other assorted antipasto items on the Eat’aliano menu were also delicious and I am told that the Nutella Pizza was sweet, gooey perfection.

The restaurant has had a modern, chic fit-out tempered beautifully by warm Italian touches such as an open kitchen with a stunning white-tiled wood-fired pizza oven, a bespoke drinks area and a display of cured meats.

I had a great night at the opening of this great little Italian gem of a restaurant and I can’t wait to go back.

Happy Eating.

Dani xx

The details

Eat’aliano by Pino

122 High St, Windsor

Phone: 03 8592 6979

Opening Hours.

www.eatalianobypino.com.au

Eat My Street is a website dedicated to good food for the good life in Melbourne and beyond. We post recipes, reviews and more.

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The French Saloon Melbourne

April 10, 2016 ~ danib@eatmystreet.net

The French Saloon

It is a long and complicated story that will probably never be told but I was this close to moving to Paris last year.

That dream has now been postponed and instead I find myself on a Friday night, eating in a gorgeous little French restaurant in the worlds most liveable city, Melbourne.

The French Saloon is the latest restaurant to open under the direction of Ian Curley: Chef extraordinaire and food empire building Godfather of the Melbourne dining scene.

Chef Todd Moses has come across from Supernormal to cook perfect, simple, French bistro style meals under the direction of executive Chef Ian Curley. When I say simple, I mean French simple, meaning excellent, well-chosen ingredients and dishes made with skill and precision in a classic way. Simple, but definitely not simple, if you know what I mean.

The A La Carte menu is divided into “to begin” “to continue” “steak” “mains” “sides” “cheese” and “dessert.” With all that choice what is a girl to do but agree to receive direction from her charming and helpful French waiter. I was very keen to save myself for cheese and dessert courses so we went straight to the mains.

John Dory with cauliflower puree was perfection on a plate with great balance between beautiful flavours; creamy cauliflower puree, soft subtle fish with a gently seared crust, and a gently acidic sauce to drown it all in.

My partner ordered the Steak Frites with Roquefort butter and he was equally smitten with the flavours on his plate.

We shared a side of the specials menu which was slippery jack mushrooms with artichoke two ways. This was a very decadent, creamy and delicious dish that we both enjoyed.

Then we moved onto the cheese course which was served with a little jar of honey and its honeycomb from a local rooftop beekeeper. This honey carried a lot of flavour and was a delicious accompaniment to the three styles of cheese we chose of the menu.

For dessert we were moved to the beautiful zinc bar that stretches its way down one side of the room. I am told that this fabulous bar was imported directly from France and it was certainly a great juxtaposition to the red timber pitched room and simplicity of the rustic timber floors and white painted window frames of the rest of the room. Tres chic.

Creme brûlée with chocolate Madeleine.

The John Dory and Artichoke side dish both take equal honours as my favourite dish of the year so far.

Service was excellent and did not really miss a beat with our gorgeous and knowledgeable waiter charming us from the moment we arrived.

Visit the French Saloon for intimate, old-school dining in a gorgeous setting with food that will make you forget you are not far from home.

Happy Eating.

Dani xx

The French Saloon

First Floor 380-384 Little Bourke Street (Via, Hardware Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone:(03) 9600 2142

Chin Chin

April 11, 2014 ~ eatmystreet ~ 2 Comments

I recently celebrated my 14 year wedding anniversary. To celebrate I headed into the city with my husband (I am thinking of trademarking that….. a noun to describe the man I am married to beside “other half” “himself” “MOTH”. I’ll let you know how I get on.) We in turn went to Chin Chin and ate dinner with two complete strangers (125 Flinders Lane, Melbourne).

Excuse me, how rude am I? They are not strangers, one of them was a backpacker out visiting Australia from Spain and the other was a young man who grew up in Melbourne with his sister before she moved to the Country, got divorced and then hooked up with the before mentioned back packer. I don’t know their names or anything because we were never formally introduced but we sat SO CLOSE TO EACH OTHER in the restaurant that I heard every word they uttered. If I were being precise (don’t worry I won’t make a habit of it) I would say that the young spanish gentleman was sitting closer to my husband than I was. At one stage they even offered to share their food with us. Wish I was brave enough to have pretended I did not realise he was joking…..

This is my prevailing memory of Chin Chin. Dinner with three dudes.

Now let me get to the food.

It was delicious, as befits the restaurant’s “hot as right now” status. Chin Chin’s has been hot right now for a while and I am desperately hoping that someone else will come along and steal their thunder so maybe they can concentrate on other things like separating their tables appropriately. How about Dutch food Melbourne? A restaurant in the shape of a clog in the forecourt at Fed Square. Croquette’s anyone? Lasagne with peaches in it? Oliebollen?

Hang on, shame on me for joking, Olibollen are actually delicious. Try them!

In the moments where my mouth could concentrate, I thoroughly enjoyed the corn and zucchini fritters with chilli jam. My husband ordered the Massaman curry because he always does. It was almost perfect. The meat was pre roasted and sticky and melty all at once. The onion and potatoes were also pre roasted and then they had gone all gooey in the massaman sauce. It was sweet and rich and probably had enough saturated fat in it to keep a whole family of walrus’ warm through winter. As always I benefited from his lack of interest in the health properties of a meal when ordering. I also ordered the Chin Chin pork roll ups ($18) and a chicken/ coconut salad. It was all very tasty and the highlight would be those fritters. Service was rushed and all of our food was brought out at once. I assume the line snaking out the door had something to do with this.

I really wanted to love Chin Chin’s and I thought I would. I had been turned back from the door before because the line was too long, I mean what is not to love about that level of popularity. All the cool kids seem to love it, the bloggers have gone mad for it. But frankly, it gave me the irrits.

I have been to LOTS of restaurants where it is all about the food and I am happy to ignore the decor and service (nearly every single dumpling house for instance). This was not one of them, nor were the prices reflective of this style of dining. This restaurant was reported to have ambience, je ne sais quois, X factor etc etc. But all I got from it was delicious food and a head ache.

Here’s a photo to distract us from my grumpiness (and I’m not even that old…..)

By the way, I think backpacker-guy (BG) and grew-up-in-the-city-but-sister-moved-to-the-country-guy(GUITCBSMTTCG) had a nice dinner. BG seemed to pass all the tests set for him by GUITCBSMTTCG (that is definitely too long). They enjoyed their meal.

It was just a pity that considering their proximity, I was not brave enough to sample their food. Maybe next time.

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Cafe Revival Berwick.

March 13, 2014October 17, 2015 ~ eatmystreet

I have to make two disclaimers before I review Cafe Revival in Berwick.

1. If the Sun is shining on my back and there is a cool breeze in the air and a beautiful view, I am pretty happy.

2. I am easily impressed by shiny red coffee machines that are reminiscent of Italian racing cars.

Now we have that out of the way I can say that I really enjoyed my coffee at Cafe Revival today.

I have already mentioned in a previous post that Berwick is really at its beautiful best at this time of year and so it was today. I popped into Cafe Revival for a quick coffee stop and scored the best seat in the house, right outside the cafe on the footpath. In the sun. Facing down a lovely tree lined street. With Berwick’s busy, sometimes noisy main street behind me and out of sight. There was a big red shiny coffee machine taking up most of the front window of the cafe that opens out onto the street for ease of ordering. So yes, I was happy even before I ordered.

My skinny flat white was delicious. You know that moment when you have your first sip of a coffee and sometimes, just sometimes, it is so perfect in flavour and temperature and construction that you do a little sigh? Well, that was me. Today’s coffee was excellent. They use Segadredo beans which is not a coffee that I am familiar with but I really enjoyed it today. The intensity was just right and (shock, horror) my flat white was not actually just a latte in a different cup. It was a flat white. Bravo!

I have heard mixed reviews of Cafe Revival Berwick and also my previous experiences here were nothing worth writing about. The food here does not always have people excited. I didn’t eat anything today with that in mind.

Another thing worthy of note, there were a lot of suits here. Suits ordering at the widow, suits getting take away, female suits, male suits, suits of every size and colour (nah, that is an exaggeration, they were all grey or black). I remember this from my previous visits too. So I think we can conclude that the Berwick suits like to drink here.

A note to those of you with children. I had the special privilege of drinking coffee without my two year old attachment today. If he was with me I would have gone elsewhere. This is a small, narrow cafe and the footpath is right near a road. Coffee-ing with children could be done here but is probably not worth the effort, in my opinion.

Plus it is harder to stare serenely at the beautiful tree’s that line Gloucester Avenue if you have a toddler with you. And the suits might give your children “that” stare. Thus some of the magic would be lost.

Overall a lovely place for a coffee, on the right day in the right seat with the right companions.

Maybe one day I might even get a chance to drive the shiny red racing….. I mean coffee machine.

The details:

My coffee was $3.70.

The address is 18 Gloucester Ave, Berwick.