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The French Milk Bar, Brunswick

Paul

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17 March 2015

The French Milk Bar Brunswick is a slice of France that’s opened up just off Lygon Street. The City Lane has had an eye on this place ever since the outdoor signage and covered-up windows indicated that something was happening on the site several months ago. As you’d expect, we were keen on seeing if it was worth the wait.

Owners Anthony Humphries and Lisa Malaspina have been inspired by classic French cuisine and technique and are aiming to bring real French food to the people of Melbourne. French food in Melbourne tends to mean fine dining and Humphries and Malaspina want to change this perception of French food by serving accessible, tasty, rustic food – think of the French bouchon, with its focus on simple food and a convivial atmosphere.

The menu is broadly split into 3 sections – light meals, main meals and desserts. It’s not a fixed menu and will change on a regular basis to take advantage of fresh, seasonal produce. Almost everything on the menu is prepared on site, from scratch. Think of food like smoked sausages, rillette, terrine, confit duck and coq au vin – which all appear on the small, focused menu. There is also bread and a rotating range of cakes and pastries on offer at the counter, either to eat in or take away.

On the topic of bread, we were brought a few slices with some butter while waiting for the dishes we ordered to arrive. The bread was springy, moist and very tasty – in fact by the time our food arrived we had already polished off the bread – thankfully we were offered more!

Coffee ($4.00)

Coffee was perfectly acceptable. Not an overly complex blend, but tasty and something that would satisfy most.

Charcuterie Plate ($25.00)

The signature charcuterie plate featured pate, terrine, rillettes, duck prosciutto and black pudding served with crostini, a preserve and olive tapeade. Everything on this plate tasted amazing. The pate was smooth and velvety and duck prosciutto, which is something we haven’t seen before, was full flavoured and fatty, in a very good way. If you want a good sample of some of the things that are being produced at the French Milk Bar, this is the dish to order. Also be aware that this is definitely one to share.

Classic Marseilles Fish Soup ($19.00)

This was a classic Bouillabaisse with, in true Marseilles style, a side serving of rouille which, for those who aren’t aware, is a garlic saffron mayonnaise served with the soup on olive oil toasted bread. This was a very flavoursome dish – it had a strong fishy smell which thankfully did not translate to the taste, which was very well balanced with the Provencal herbs in the soup base – fennel, saffron, thyme and bay.

One of the many delicacies available at the counter – an olive, anchovy and onion tart.

As well as the food that is prepared during the day, the French Milk Bar also offers a range of products to purchase and take home, including preserves, sauces and infused vinaigrettes.

We spoke to Humphries and Malaspina about their plans for the French Milk Bar and there are some exciting developments in the works. They unfortunately had to put their plans on selling house cured meats and charcuterie in the same vein as a deli on hold due to local council red tape (the impressive fridge you see behind the counter – that was supposed to have a variety of meats in it). In the immediate future there are plans to open later for dinner and, once their liquor license is approved, to serve alcohol.

We were really impressed by the French Milk Bar and are happy to report without reservation that it was worth the wait. It’s the first venture from Humphries and Malaspina, and their passion for the project is very evident. The food is great, the atmosphere welcoming and the future plans exciting.

When we were last in France, we were impressed by the direction of cooking in the country, with venues such as le Comptoir de Realis and Les Cocottes (you can read about them here) eschewing the stuffiness and rules of French fine dining to serve simple French food with the occasional modern and innovative twist – the type of food that French people actually eat at home with some added zhoosh. The French Milk Bar is the first place we’ve eaten at in Australia that’s brought us right back to those Paris dining experiences. Nous sommes impressionnés!

The French Milk Bar

153 Weston Street
Brunswick
Victoria 3056
Australia

Telephone: (03) 9079 6496
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://thefrenchmilkbar.com.au/

Open
Wed – Sat: 11:00am to 7:00pm
Sun: 11:00am to 6:00pm

Earth Hour “Planet To Plate” Cookbook Launch

Paul

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16 March 2015

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Planet To Plate: The Earth Hour Cookbook has been released in the lead up to Earth Hour on 28 March 2015 and features a collection of 52 recipes from some of Australia’s biggest names in food. The City Lane was invited to attend the launch at Guy Grossi’s Ombra Salumi Bar and, having a keen interest in the conservation and sustainability issues surrounding food, we were keen to learn more about Planet To Plate.

Read through Planet To Plate and you’ll find yourself learning a lot more than just how to cook some great dishes. What makes Planet To Plate unique is that there is a big focus on Australian farmers and the impact of global warming on their farms and the availability of fresh, locally produced food. Featured ingredients for several of the recipes are focused on, and the effect of global warming on production of those ingredients explored.

For those who see climate change as an abstract topic that’s covered on the news sometimes, Planet To Plate really brings home the reality of its impact on people by linking it to something we are all familiar with – the food we eat.

Speakers on the night included acclaimed Melbourne chef Guy Grossi, WWF Australia CEO Dermot O’Gorman, climate scientist David Karoly from The University of Melbourne and Masterchef Australia 2013 winner Emma Dean. Each had some great insights of relevance to the topic of food, agriculture and climate change.

Chefs whose recipes appear in Planet To Plate include Matt Preston, Neil Perry, Luke Mangan, Kylie Kwong, Guy Grossi, Darren Robertson, Colin Fassnidge, James Viles, Jill Dupleix, Miguel Maestre, Margaret Fulton, Dan Hong and Sarah Wilson just to name a few. It really does feature a whose who of Australia’s culinary talent and the recipes in the book focus on seasonal, fresh produce covering starters, mains and desserts.

If you were wondering what we ate at the launch, we were kept suitably fed with a range of antipasto dishes from the Ombra kitchen.

Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007 to raise awareness of the effects of climate change, with over 2,200 businesses and over 2 million people taking part. In 2015, it will be held in over 7,000 cities in 162 countries, with approximately 1.5 billion people expected to take part. The City Lane thinks that Earth Hour is a great initiative and we wholly support its growth both as an event, and into other avenues such as Planet To Plate. If you’re interested in learning more about the effect of climate change on the food that you eat, Planet To Plate is well worth your time.

If you’re interested in getting a copy (RRP $49.99 (inclusive of shipping)), check out the official website here. Earth Hour is a not-for-profit organisation and all proceeds from the sale of Planet To Plate go towards supporting Earth Hour’s work with schools, small business and community groups.

Yoghurt Buttermilk Panna Cotta: Recipe

Paul

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15 March 2015

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The City Lane attended the Myer Autumn Fashion Lunch last week (you can read about it here) and we were very impressed by the 3 course menu designed by Nicky Riemer from Richmond’s Union Dining. The dessert, a yoghurt buttermilk panna cotta topped with fresh raspberries was a highlight and we were lucky enough to get our hands on the recipe to give readers the opportunity to recreate the dish at home.

Preparation Time: 25 minutes / Setting Time: 2-3 hours / Serves 10

Ingredients

3 gold gelatine leaves
750ml plain yoghurt
195g caster sugar
225ml sour cream
70ml buttermilk

Method

Soak the gelatine in cold water until soft, strain well and squeeze out any excess liquid.
Lightly whisk the yoghurt to ensure it is free of lumps.
Put 200ml of the yoghurt into a small saucepan with the sugar and warm very gently until the sugar is dissolved. Do not allow it to boil.
Warm the soft gelatine leaves in 15ml of very hot (but not boiling) water until they are completely melted. Pour the melted gelatine slowly into the warm yoghurt and sugar mix.
Whisk together the rest of the yoghurt with the sour cream and buttermilk in a large bowl. Slowly pour in the hot yoghurt and gelatine mix.
Pour the combined mixture into glass dishes on trays (10 x 100 ml) and place in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours until set.

Notes

The recipe above provides a versatile base. In summer fresh berries top the panna cotta wonderfully but as the seasons change, feel free to mix and match the toppings – for example a candied orange and chocolate crumb in the winter.

Good Beer Week Gala Showcase 2015: Event

Paul

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14 March 2015

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The Good Beer Week Gala Showcase was an event held on 13 and 15 March 2015 at, for the first time, the Fitzroy Town Hall. The purpose of the Good Beer Week Gala Showcase is, as the name suggests, to showcase craft beers new and old from 23 of Australia’s independent breweries as well as launching the programme for Good Beer Week in May.

One of the most impressive breweries at this year’s showcase was Boatrocker who, for the 3rd year in a row, took out the Time Out People’s Choice Award for best beer of the event. It was the 2014 Ramjet barrel-aged imperial stout that won the award but we were actually more impressed by one of their other brews which launched at the showcase – the Banshee, a barley wine aged in new world whisky barrels (ex Pedro Ximenez).

Boatrocker’s “Miss Pinky” a low ABV Raspberry Berliner Weiss was also very tasty with undertones of sherbet and, obviously, raspberry.

All of the breweries showcasing beers had great brews on offer but, along with Boatrocker, stand-outs for us were beers from new brewery Hawkers (owned by Joseph Abboud of Rumi/Moor’s Head fame and Mazen Hajjar, from Lebanon’s 961 Beer), old favourites from Kaiju and the “as good as the first time we tried it” Barrique O’Karma from Feral Brewing. It was also great to see beers from newcomers Swell Brewing from McLaren Vale and Blackman’s Brewery from Torquay.

It wasn’t just great beer that was on offer at the showcase, with tasty food being served up from the Beatbox Kitchen and Hammer & Tong food trucks during the Friday session.

All in all, a great event in a space that suited the convivial atmosphere of the occasion well. All we can say now, is bring on the 250 plus events over the 9 days that make up Good Beer Week in May!

Myer Autumn Fashion Lunch: Event

Paul

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13 March 2015

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With autumn now upon us, a new season of fashion is entering stores around the country and The City Lane was invited to Flemington to attend the Myer Autumn Fashion Lunch. If you’re wondering “since when has The City Lane covered fashion?” well the answer is that generally we don’t, however the Myer Autumn Fashion Lunch was about more than just fashion – the 3 course menu was in fact designed by chef Nicky Riemer, of Richmond’s Union Dining.

Reimer’s menu was inspired by the relationship between fashion and food, and highlighted local Victorian produce, using a colour palette reflective of the fashion that was featured on the catwalk during the event.

To start was a medley of autumn vegetables from the Yarra Valley, whipped goat curd, spiced pear and dukka. This was matched with a Matua Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. The dish was very tasty and was a real mixture of textures with sweet, sour and salty elements at play.

For the mains, guests were treated to one of two dishes that were served as part of an alternate drop. The first was slow baked Plains Paddock lamb, fregola, almonds, feta, sumac. This dish shouted autumn from the rooftops from the moment it appeared on the table and tasted brilliant. It was paired with Wolf Blass Gold Label Adelaide Hills Chardonnay.

The alternate main was Portland snapper with agro dolce tomatoes, Portarlington mussels and green goddess sauce. A really tasty dish that impressed us with the sweet avocado based green goddess sauce, a clever throwback to another era of dining. The wine match for this dish was the Wolf Blass Private Release Barossa Shiraz.

To wrap up the meal was this delicious yoghurt and raspberry panna cotta topped with raspberries and a crumble. The start of autumn is when we see the final flourish of berries for the season and, combined with the crumb this panna cotta provided a link between the end of summer and the start of autumn. It was very tasty and matched with Yellowglen Vintage Perle Rose.

For those of you who like to get involved in the kitchen, we were lucky enough to get our hands on Nicky’s recipe which you can find here.

No write up about a fashion event would be complete without talking about the fashion itself and while the team at The City Lane aren’t the kind of people who spend their time perusing the fashion pages let’s be honest – you don’t have to be a fashion buff to appreciate good style.

On the ladies front we were impressed by Lisa Ho’s classic “L Lisa Ho” collection and by johnny’s bending of the autumn fashion rules with the use of bold and bright colours. For the guys, M.J. Bale’s floral patterns and checked shirts impressed as offering something different than the usual suits we’re accustomed too.

Arbory Bar & Eatery, Melbourne CBD

Paul

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12 March 2015

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Arbory Bar & Eatery Melbourne is the newest venture from the team at HQ Group and is located in the space formerly occupied by the Flinders Street station portion of the Sandridge rail line, which has been sitting idle since it was decommissioned in 1987. The City Lane was invited to the launch event and we were keen to check out the space and the food and drink on offer. It’s been 4 years in the making, and the view of the Yarra is unquestionably brilliant, but is everything else just as good?

At one end of the 150 metre long bar, which connects the Princes Bridge and Southbank footbridge, was a table that was serving a variety of charcuterie, in line with the philosophy of good quality accessible food.

Of special mention has to be the delicious ham which was being carved to order at the end of the table.

There are a variety of local and foreign craft beers on offer at Arbory. Nothing too fancy or outrageous, but a solid selection of crowd pleasing favourites from Brooklyn Brewery, Mountain Goat, Stone & Wood and Mornington Brewery to name just a few. A decent selection of wines, spirits and cocktails are also on offer, including a white and a red wine on tap from DOC wines.

It’s going to be hard to resist popping in for a drink when alighting from a train at Flinders Street station and seeing people having fun on the other side of the fence.

As mentioned earlier, the food on offer at Arbory is high quality and accessible. During the event guests were treated to a variety of samples from the main menu. the cheesy toasts with steak tartare and mayo in the foreground of the picture below were one of the highlights of the night – basically they tasted like a really good mini burger.

Other samples from the menu included artichokes with mozzarella, arancini, fish burgers and oysters. All very much in line with the desire to serve up food that’s accessible and of good quality.

On the full menu that chef Nicholas Bennett (ex Fatto) has put together, diners can expect, in addition to full sized versions of the sample dishes that were brought out at the launch, things such as double cheeseburgers, salted caramel sundaes and prawn and clam spaghetti.

The space, which was designed by architects Jackson Clements Burrow & Associates really works well in the context of the area. There are so many parts of Melbourne that are sitting unused that are prime for things such as this and we loved seeing the 150 meter long stretch of land being brought back to life.

We were really impressed by what HQ group have done with Arbory Bar & Eatery and would happily return again. With such a convenient location, and a nice focused selection of drinks and food, this might be sooner rather than later.

Arbory Bar & Eatery

Flinders Walk
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia

Telephone: (03) 9621 2260
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://arbory.com.au/

Open
Sun – Sat: 7:30am to late

S01E02 – Season 1, Episode 2

Chris

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12 March 2015

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PODCAST | In this episode we talk about Heineken ‘it’s Dutch for water’ beer and it’s association with James Bond, Paul discovering the ever-expanding range of XXXX beer in Brisbane, and the carb-filled joy Jeff found from the macaroni and cheese burger at The Park Hotel in Werribee. We also ponder if it’s possible to make a beer that can actually have all the right hallmarks of a taco, and the ‘get out of jail free’ card aspects of a making a ‘wild’ beer.

Featured Beers: Taco by Two Birds Brewing, Mr Mistoffelees by Moon Dog Brewing.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Top 5 Must Try Dishes At Taste Of Sydney 2015

Paul

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11 March 2015

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Taste of Sydney starts today and runs for 4 days at Centennial Park. The City Lane got to take a sneak peak at some of the dishes that will be offer during the event and picked out what, in our opinion, are the 5 must try dishes.

Biota Dining (Dipped Lamb Caramel Buns)

Pork belly is hugely popular, and for good reason, but for some reason lamb belly hasn’t really caught on in the same way. Those who haven’t tried lamb belly are missing out as it’s an absolutely divine thing to eat and, with Biota Dining dipping it in a hot caramel glaze inside a soft bun, things just got a whole lot tastier. Cost = 10 Crowns.

Efendy (Ordek)

Burek, borek, byurek, pita, zelnik. No matter what you call it, this baked and filled filo pastry delicacy of the nations that formed part of the Ottoman empire is one of the most delicious things that there is to eat on this planet. Efendy has gotten creative with their signature dish for this year’s Taste of Sydney and have incorporated duck, almond, fig and burnt cinnamon into their version of burek. Cost = 12 Crowns.

Porteno (BBQ’d Porchetta)

It’s not the cheapest of dishes at Taste of Sydney, but could very well be the best. Barbecued porchetta with chilli, fennel, silverbeet & truffle pecorino. At its heart its a simple dish and one that promises to let the finely balanced individual ingredients be the stars. Cost = 20 Crowns.

Movida (Leche Merengada)

Melbourne institution Movida has been kicking some serious goals since opening their Sydney outpost and their Taste of Sydney dessert has grabbed our attention. Recently there’s been a trend towards high quality, innovative flavour soft serve ice-cream and Movida’s citrus and cinnamon soft serve ice-cream with fennel & olive oil pastry sounds like it’s going to be a real winner. Cost = 6 Crowns.

Jonah’s (Milk Chocolate & Raspberry Ganache)

Another dessert, this one’s only available on the Saturday. It’s hard to improve on the classic combination of chocolate and raspberry, but we’re intrigued by Jonah’s inclusion of sweet corn custard and salted caramel popcorn to the mix. Will the extra flavours hurt of enhance the ganache? There’s only one way to find out. Cost = 6 Crowns.

What are the dishes that you’re most existed about trying at Taste of Sydney this year and, if you’ve already been, what was your highlight? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

Taste Of Sydney

When: Thursday 12 March 2015 to Sunday 15 March 2015

Tickets: On sale from through Ticketek Australia

Where: Centennial Park, Sydney

Farmers’ Market At The University of Melbourne

Paul

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10 March 2015

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We’re big fans of farmers’ markets at The City Lane and were excited to find out that there’s a new mid-week farmer’s market at the University of Melbourne.

Running every Wednesday for the next 3 months, the Farmers’ Market at the University of Melbourne will allow those who can’t make the weekend farmers’ markets a chance to source a range of produce from local producers, as well as afford people the opportunity to talk with those who involved at the source.

The event is being run with the help of the Carlton Connect Initiative, which aims to unite people who are, amongst other things, passionate about sustainability and new ideas.

You can find out more, including a full list of the stallholders you can expect to find over at the official site.

Farmers’ Market At The University Of Melbourne

When: Every Wednesday from 5 March 2015 to 28 May 2015, 11:00am to 3:00pm

Entry: Free

Where: Union Lawn, Melbourne University, Parkville Campus

Butter Fried Cod With Hash Brown & Pea Pesto: Recipe

Paul

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9 March 2015

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Thanks to the efforts of chefs like Noma’s René Redzepi, Nordic food has really started to grab the world’s attention in recent years. Recently, The City Lane spoke with Swedish journalist and food stylist Alexandra Vikström (you can read the interview here) and she was kind enough to share with us her recipe for butter fried cod with hash brown and pea pesto. Swedish simplicity at its best.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes / Cooking Time: 20 minutes / Serves 4