One of the most memorable moments of that visit was our maitre d’ – a pretty, petite blonde with a perma-half smile and the kind of vacant look in her eyes that reminded me of Barbie.  We had walked up to her and told her about our booking, which she responded to by turning away without saying a word and walking off.  Feeling a little bewildered and unsure whether she was leading us to our table or we were meant to wait by the door, we followed her tentatively into the dining room some distance behind, feeling a bit like naughty children who had entered a room they weren’t meant to enter.  It wasn’t until she reached an empty table for 2 and turned back to us with her Mona Lisa wannabe expression that we realised that she was actually leading us to our table.  Silly us, expecting her to be able to speak!

Our most recent visit had a more promising start – both women who greeted us by the door were actually capable of proper smiles and, uh, speaking like adults.  But then our experience went downhill.  It went downhill very quickly.  It improved slightly during the course of our meal, but the tone of the evening was set and the mood never really lifted.

Due to the nature of this post, I have divided the below into 2 separate sections: service and food.  If you’re not interested in hearing about the less than stellar service we experienced, you can skip straight to the food section.

The service

I’ve said before that M and I like to bring our own wine to restaurants.  Obviously, we wouldn’t do it if the restaurant didn’t have a BYO policy.  In the old Botanical, they had a quasi-BYO policy where you were able to purchase a bottle at their instore bottle shop and consume that bottle at their restaurant for a corkage fee.  Prior to our recent visit, we had checked out The Bot’s webpage to determine whether that policy still applied.  We found this on their website (emphasis added):

‘Adjacent to the restaurant is the popular Wine Store.  Overlooking the gardens on Domain Road and offering a delicious menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the Wine Store has quickly become a meeting point for walkers, business meetings and friends wanting to catch up over a glass of wine or meal.  A boutique selection of wines is available for purchase, to take away or enjoy in the Wine Store or dining room.‘

Now, tell me if you disagree, but isn’t it pretty clear from the above that you can buy a bottle of wine from their bottle shop and bring it to the restaurant (a.k.a. the ‘dining room’)?  Maybe you think it’s not 100% clear and would confirm at the restaurant, just in case.  That’s exactly what M did – after we were seated at the restaurant, M walked to the maitre d’ to confirm that they still allowed BYO for purchases from the bottle shop.  She confirmed.  M then went to purchase a bottle of wine from the bottle shop, told the staff member who was processing his payment that he would be drinking the wine at the restaurant and was charged $15 corkage.

M returned to our table about 10 minutes later, already irritated by how long the wine purchasing process took (apparently the girl serving in the bottle shop was, uh, less than competent and had started to serve another customer even though she was in the middle of processing M’s payment).  Then it went pear-shaped.  Our waitress, who had been fine earlier, looked at our bottle of wine and said (rather sharply) that we can’t BYO.  We explained that we had bought it from their inhouse bottle shop, to which she replied that ‘we don’t do that here’ and that their BYO policy only applied for their wine store cafe.  Quite understandably, M was getting pretty p’d off that his time had been wasted by being told different things by different people, so M said something about the other 2 girls being ‘useless’ and wasting his time for telling him that it was okay to BYO, to which the waitress responded in a mocking tone: ‘they’re useless?  They’re useless?‘.  She then went on to lecture (in a rather condescending tone that definitely implied that we were in the wrong) that he should’ve asked the service staff about the BYO situation and that if we had wanted wine, we should’ve looked at the wine list and they would bring us what we wanted.

I was sitting in shocked silence from observing this exchange as M made the point to the waitress that he had previously confirmed with 2 other staff members that what he did would be acceptable.  M got up to bring the wine back to the bottle store to get a refund, but the waitress started repeatedly telling him, in an annoyed tone, that ‘we’ll fix it’ and took the wine.  By then, M had had enough of the conversation and her attitude and told her to ‘go away and open the wine’.  This didn’t sit too well with her and made her double back and rather aggressively ask him what he said.  M repeated what he said and the waitress responded by telling him (still with aggression) to calm down.  Needless to say, that was not the best start to the evening.

We ended up having other wait staff serve us that night, but it was difficult to enjoy the evening after the unpleasantness of the earlier incident.  I must admit, I’m not the world’s most tolerant person.  However, I don’t think it’s too much to ask to expect service staff to be polite.  Being polite is not difficult.  You do not need to be brainy or experienced to be polite.  Being rude, especially in the service industry, is inexcusable.  I’ve had difficult clients before, but I would never dream of being, and have never been, rude in response.  Have there been moments in the past when I’ve wanted to give someone a piece of my mind?  You bet.  But I held my tongue.  Being rude is unprofessional and I wouldn’t be doing my job properly if I responded in such a way.  Therefore, I expect the same in return when the shoe’s on the other foot.

Which was why our experience at the Botanical was so poor.  Firstly, we had done what reasonable people would have done with regards to the BYO situation – we had checked their website beforehand and then checked with the staff when we got there that what we were about to do was within their policy.  However, not only was the information we were given by the restaurant incorrect, we were then reprimanded by another staff member for acting on that information.  There was no apology for the misinformation and no apology for the time we had wasted by acting on that misinformation.  Instead, we were made to feel that it was our fault.  Is it our fault that the website is incorrect?  Or that at least 2 other staff members were wrong about the restaurant’s policy?  I don’t think the customer is always right, but on this occasion we were not wrong and, to add salt to a wound, were treated as if we were.

I must add that the other staff who served us after this initial incident were fine – pleasant and professional.  If anything, it was almost as if they were putting in a bit more effort to ensure that we didn’t leave the restaurant completely disgruntled.

The food

The food, I’m happy to say, was much more enjoyable than the service we experienced.

Asian steak tartare with fresh wasabi, pine nut, egg and shredded apple.

Pork belly.

I started with the wagyu tartare, whereas M went with the pork belly.  The tartare was prepared in an Asian style and tasted nothing like your traditional steak tartare.  Just a personal preference, but I prefer the traditional French steak tartare – the flavours in this one were a bit strange for my liking and the dish was overwhelmed by the abundance of the shredded apple (by the way, the dish actually came out looking a lot prettier than in the photo – the photo was taken after all the ingredients were combined on the plate).  M’s pork belly dish, on the other hand, was divine.  Perfectly cooked and delicious.

White miso grilled house smoked king salmon.

Fish (barramundi, I think), calamari and snow pea shoots.

M and I both chose fish for our mains.  M was most impressed by his piece of king salmon, with its crispy skin, delicate, smoky flavour and lovely firm texture.  The other elements on the plate were pretty to look at, but they didn’t necessarily complement the star attraction and made the dish a bit too busy.  My fish dish was a beautiful combination of flavours, although I did find the green-ness of the snow pea shoots slightly overwhelming and the shoots looked a little overgrown on the plate.

Deconstructed apple pie.

We finished off dinner with the deconstructed apple pie, which was basically the ingredients of an apple pie layered into a martini glass.  I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but this dessert didn’t quite do it for me.  It was enjoyable enough… but just a bit ‘whatever’.  Maybe it’s the expectation that comes with calling something ‘deconstructed’ – you expect something innovative… something a bit outside the box.  The Botanical’s version was more like an apple trifle, which is something I wouldn’t usually order cos it’s just so… plain.  I know, I know, an apple pie isn’t exactly a sexy dessert either, but at least you can see the skill and care required to bake a decent apple pie.  A trifle?  Don’t you just heap stuff on top of each other in a container?

The food at The Botanical certainly didn’t disappoint and, based on the food alone, it would ordinarily be a restaurant that M and I would return to and recommend to our friends.  However, our ‘run in’ with the first waitress tarnished our experience to the extent that we refuse to spend another dollar there*.  There are so many great restaurants in Melbourne with excellent food and service, so why return to a place that treated us like naughty school children?

* I can’t say for sure that we’ll never return to the Botanical as there may be circumstances in the future (eg a work function, a friend’s party, etc) that means we may have to return.  But as for spending our own moolah there?  Forgeddaboutit.

However, there are a few places that I return to more frequently than others – Orita’s is one of them.  M and I came across Orita’s by chance quite a few years ago – we were around the Hawthorn area and trying to find a nice-ish place for dinner at the last minute.  Flipping through the Entertainment Book, we noticed Orita’s – a Japanese fusion restaurant with a decently priced menu that was just a short drive away.  Since then, it’s become our go-to Japanese restaurant if we felt like something not-too-casual, but not-too-extravagant, with BYO.

Not much has changed at Orita’s over the years – the dining room has maintained the same, warm, minimalist decor, the service has remained efficient and polite and the menu is pretty much unchanged.  Some might call it uninspired, but the standard has certainly been maintained and I quite like being able to order all my favourites each time.

To start off the meal, there is a complimentary amuse bouche – a dollop of creamy, Japanese potato salad on a crisp prawn cracker.  Simple, yet delightful.

M and I never fail to order the Orita’s appetiser platter for 4 – for $66, you get an assortment of tasty morsels that look as good as they taste: slices of salmon and tuna sashimi, fish cakes on skewers, prawn springs roll, cooked salmon and tuna maki rolls, cured salmon with carrot sauce and wonderful, melt-in-your-mouth cubes of stewed beef.

Because we order the large appetiser platter, we end up sharing a main.  Our favourite?  The duck saikyoyaki – tender slices of duckling breast drizzled with miso sauce and accompanied by seasonal vegetables.  We also order the garlic fried rice, which goes beautifully with the duck and is more than enough food for the 2 of us.

Our wine on the night: the 2006 Pierro chardonnay.  An oh-so-lovely wine from the Margaret River and one of my favourite chardonnays.

We don’t usually order dessert at Orita’s – we’ve always found the selection unexciting, the portions not very large and the prices not cheap.  Although, to be fair, what they do offer is actually very nice for what it is.  So if $13 – $15 for 2 baby scoops of green tea ice cream or a smallish slice of chocolate mousse cake is what you’re after, then you won’t be disappointed.

Orita’s is the kind of place where I’ll keep returning for my favourites – I know exactly what I’ll order and I know my expectations will be met each time.  I suspect that it’s the type of restaurant where one’s experience might differ depending on the dishes one orders.  My recommendation?  Order the appetiser platter – even if you don’t love everything on it, I’m sure there’ll be something on there that would please your palate.

Then a few days ago, I had the urge again.  I was thinking, maybe green tea macarons?  They have been my most successful macarons to date and I was keen to relive that glory!  I was all set to make green tea macarons when I had a sudden change of heart – I wanted salted caramel.  Salty sweet, gooey caramel…

Following the recipe from Laduree’s ‘Sucre‘ book, I quickly whipped up a batch…  To my relief, they turned out great!  So much so that I felt the need to share pics of them with the world!

I’d overmixed the caramel filling just slightly, so you can see that some of the butter and the caramel had split.  However, that didn’t really affect the taste or texture and could’ve been easily rectified by melting the mixture down again… I just couldn’t be bothered cos they tasted yummo just the way they were!

Thank you, macaron gods!  : )

When I was in Hong Kong recently, I did a bit of research on places that serve a buffet brunch on weekends for my rendezvous with Mr B.  I was tossing up between Hullett House in Tsimsy and Zuma at the Landmark.  Mr B, being an Island boy, picked Zuma.

I arrived at our table on the terrace and waited for Mr B.  The buffet at Zuma included unlimited Perrier-Jouet champagne, so I ordered a glass… and waited… and then ordered another glass while I waited some more.  Finally, Mr B arrived, apologising profusedly and explaining that he had overslept as he had been working till 4 am.  Sure, sure… now, less talking and more feasting!

On Sundays and public holidays, Zuma offers a Japanese buffet for HK$550 (plus 10% service charge) per person.  Also included in the price are free flowing champagne, a choice of main dish (some with a surcharge), a dessert platter and unlimited wine and sake!

The buffet was fantastic – several kinds of sashimi and sushi, beef tataki, oysters, salmon with salmon roe, seared tuna slices, soft shell crab rolls, yakitori and various little hot bites.  It was oh-so-fresh and oh-so-tasty.

I chose the tempura as my main, but had to leave half of it untouched as I was way too full by that point.  We finished off with the dessert plate, which we washed down with a carafe (or 3) of sake…

For some reason, Mr B decided that it was time to move on to another place for… an afternoon tea dessert buffet.  WTF?!  We’d just gorged ourselves senseless and he wanted more food?!  I followed him, but wisely declined to indulge further.  Not so wise was my decision to order a martini whilst I watched Mr B stuff his face with cake.  Champagne + sake + martini + foot massage ≠ good idea.

I was really impressed with Zuma.  The restaurant was airy and modern and the food was really good quality.  Combined with the free flowing Perrier-Jouet, it was also one of those rare buffets where I actually got my value!

My post on Noir is long overdue… M and I visited Noir a few months ago and I’ve been so slack that I didn’t even get around to downloading the photos I took until recently.  Anyway, let’s begin…

Back in the BYO-day...

I can’t remember exactly when I first heard about Noir.  I think I might’ve read a little article about it somewhere which said it was a new favourite amongst the Richmond locals.  Then I read a bigger article that raved about this place, which was followed by my friend, J, mentioning several times that he wanted to pay Noir a visit.  Even M was keen to try Noir, no doubt swayed partly by their (now redundant) BYO policy.

Although intrigued by their surprise tasting menu, we opted to order a la carte.  We started with a couple of Pacific oysters with Champagne granita.  The oysters were perfectly sweet and plump and went beautifully with the refreshing granita.  Great start!

This was followed by a couple of entrees that were simply superb.  It appears that their menu has changed slightly since, but our entrees were probably 2 of the more memorable dishes we’ve had all year.

Scallop, cauliflower, truffle.

Kingfish carpaccio, blood orange...

I ordered the scallops, which were juicy and its flavour well balanced with the mildness of the cauliflower puree and the delicate flavour of shaved truffle.  I must apologise, because I can’t remember exactly what M ordered (sigh, this is why I should do write ups sooner, rather than later!), except that it was a white fish (I think kingfish) carpaccio with blood orange and simply spectacular.  M couldn’t stop raving about this dish!

For my main, I decided to go a second entree-sized dish and went with the pork belly, whereas M went with the lamb.  In short, I thought my dish didn’t quite work.  The pork belly was dry and the pork, prawns and peas kind of sat on the plate as individual elements and just didn’t do it for me.  I must admit, I was slightly disappointed after having had my expectations lifted from the fabulous entrees.  M was happy with his main, which had the lamb cooked to a lovely pink, but wasn’t wowed by this dish like he was by his entree.

Pork belly, prawns, peas.

Lamb

But we didn’t finish our meal underwhelmed.  For dessert, we shared the salted toffee cheesecake and… oh, my!  Despite what its title would suggest, it was neither too rich nor too sweet and I can almost taste it again from just looking at the photo – the smooth banana ice cream, the delicate balance of salty sweetness, the crisp apple slices and the stewed winter fruits.  So, sooo good.

Salted toffee cheesecake.

We’d brought along the 2006 Dexter pinot noir to dinner, which had aged beautifully (but still had a few more years to go) and absolutely yummo.  I’ve said before that I love Mornington Peninsula pinot noir and that Stonier is one of my favourites.  Well, Tod Dexter, the man behind Dexter wines, spent a decade making wines at Stonier, so it’s not that surprising that I’m a bit of a fan of the Dexter pinot.  Oh, and Tod Dexter was also super nice both times when I met him!

Anyway, back to Noir…  Unfortnately, I think the restaurant is now fully licensed and no longer does BYO.  Fortunately, when we had a peek at their wine list, we found the wines on offer to be relatively interesting and reasonably priced.

Noir serves up fine dining in a non-stuffy environment and the experience is made all the more enjoyable by its friendly, efficient and knowledgeable service staff.  The food has more hits than misses and is definitely worth returning for…. even if it’s no longer BYO!

I’ve never been to Argentina, or anywhere in South America, so I had no knowledge or appreciation of the Argentinians’ ice cream making prowess.  P explained how she came across Helados Jauja while travelling through Argentina last year, fell in love with their ice creams, spent time with the family behind the business to learn their craft and decided to bring it all to Melbourne.  I’d never heard of Helados Jauja (and had trouble pronouncing it), but after a quick Google, I discovered that according to Lonely Planet ‘[m]any say it’s the best in the country’ – sounds promising!

254 Lygon Street, Carlton.

That was about 7 months ago…  Fast forward to today and Helados Jauja is the latest addition to Lygon Street!  Congrats P!

The great thing about their ice cream is that it’s all created from scratch at the shop, made the old fashioned way and using ingredients you’d expect to go into a truly homemade ice cream.  So if you’re like me, who has thought about making her own ice cream but really can’t be bothered, or you just like yummy ice cream (which is also me!), then this is the place for you.

Strawberries & cream (left) and vanilla (right).

In addition to the standard flavours (y’know, chocolate, lemon, strawberry…), P has created a number of unique flavours – for example, ‘soursop with fresh mint leaves’ (tastes kinda like a custard apple mojito) and ‘yoghurt with almond and cranberries’ (one of my faves!).  Because the ice creams are made from natural ingredients, some of the flavours only make a brief appearance while the relevant product is in season – I’m told that the current batch of blood orange sorbet (fabulously refreshing with an extra kick from the blood orange zest) will be the last for awhile.  Oh, and apparently a durian ice cream will make its debut next week – as a durian lover, I find this news more than a little exciting!

In addition to ice creams, they also sell chocolates and dulce de leche, a creamy caramel.

Leaving aside the fact that P’s behind all this, I can honestly say that I’m a true fan of Helados Jauja.  I love how the colours and flavours are completely natural and the fact that the person creating them is absolutely passionate about what she produces.  To me, ice cream isn’t a necessity, but an indulgence.  So if I’m going to indulge, I want the good stuff.  And for a sweet treat, a homemade ice cream is about as good as it gets.

Inside Helados Jauja.

We recently headed out for a not-too-formal, but not-too-casual, dinner at Paris Go.  If you’ve read enough entries on my blog, you would know that I love most things French.  M had suggested going to Paris Go quite a few times before we finally made our first visit a couple of years ago.  It was BYO and in the Entertainment Book, so on paper, M gave it a big tick.  I was more reluctant – going to a place called ‘Paris Go’ didn’t really appeal to me.  As I’ve said before, I do (shamefully) judge a restaurant by its name…

Oysters three ways - au naturel, with garlic butter and mornay.

Paris Go does crowd-pleasing French bistrot fare – the food is unadventurous, but solid, and the service is charmingly French.  We started with the oysters done three ways.  M didn’t used to be a fan of these slippery molluscs, but he’s finally come around.  The Paris Go oysters were standard, but delicious.

For entrees, we ordered the mixed platter and the French onion soup.  The platter was generously sized and the French onion soup was exactly the way it should be – creamy, caramelised onions in a rich, slightly salty, soup topped with a large crouton and grilled greyere cheese.  Calorific, but very tasty.

Mixed entree platter - duck terrine, chicken liver pate, cured ocean trout.

French onion soup.

For our mains, M went with the duck and I ordered a second entree of the King George whiting dumplings.  Our wine for the night was a Cape Mentelle Walcliffe Shiraz 2004.  I really enjoy lighter style shirazes that don’t punch me in my mouth and that are more friendly with food than the big, bold, Barossa shirazes.  What a shame Cape Mentelle doesn’t do the Walcliffe anymore!

Duck.

King George whiting dumplings in a prawn sauce.

To finish off, M and I shared the apple pie, which was simply a layer of puff pastry topped with slices of baked apple and vanilla ice cream.

Apple pie.

I feel like I don’t have much to say about this meal, not because I didn’t enjoy our dinner, but more because everything was just so solid (which, in this case, is a good thing).  While it may not have been the most exciting or inventive food, the dishes were all well prepared and met expectations.  I mean, I don’t go to a little French bistrot expecting to be dazzled by the modern flavour combinations or fancy culinary tricks.  All I want are the standard French classics – all that lovely comfort food that leaves me feeling warm and satisfied.  And on that, Paris Go certainly delivered.

Something that I don’t recall having experienced before is sampling the fresh seafood along the Sai Kung waterfront.  So, one mild Wednesday evening before our trip to Beijing, K and I parked ourselves at an outdoor table at Chuen Kee Seafood and ordered our dinner from the tanks of live seafood out the front of the restaurant.

Seafood street.

What's for dinner?

Here’s the deal – you walk up to the tanks, point to something that tickles your fancy, ask one of the rubber-booted staff for the market price, tell them how many/much you want and then they pluck the chosen creature(s) out of the tank and take it out the back in a thick, black (execution style) plastic bag.  You then return to your table, where the waiter comes up to you and asks how you would like your dishes prepared – there is an additional cost for preparing the fresh seafood which is separate to the market price.

K was a bit of an old hand at all of this and insisted that we ordered the razor clams and have them steamed with garlic and soy sauce and topped with vermicelli.  I had no idea what razor clams were – they looked a little strange in the tank, kind of like short, fat bamboo pieces. Anyway, I was happy to go with the flow.   

My new discovery - razor clams.

And when they arrived, I had a foodie moment.  Oh.  My.  God.  They tasted like nothing I’ve ever tasted before – so sweet, so fresh and so wonderfully chewy, but still tender.  Unlike the regular clams that only have itsy-bitsy pieces of meat, the razor clam meat was substantial enough for a satisfying mouthful.  It was heaven.  Seriously, I couldn’t stop thinking about this dish.  I was in Sydney last week and found some (no longer living) Scottish razor clams at the Sydney Fish Market and steamed them in the same way.  They were pretty good, but not in the same league as the ones we had in Sai Kung.  Still, beggars can’t be choosers.  I’m gonna have to try and hunt these down in Melbourne… dead or alive!

Deep fried bug tossed in salt, pepper and chilli.

Clams cooked in black bean sauce.

For our other dishes, we went with a couple of favourites, bugs and clams, rather than the more exotic looking creatures in the tanks.  The bugs were deliciously deep fried in a spicy salt mix.  The clams were also good, but a little more pedestrian.  The bill for 2 came to just under HK$1,000, with me taking away a doggy bag for 2 leftover bugs (which I had for breakfast the next morning!).

Ohhh, it was a great meal!  Methinks Sai Kung will join my list of ‘must revisit’ next time I’m back in Honkers…

With the extra time on my hands, my first instinct was to travel.  There are 2 places that have been on my wishlist for awhile now – the Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors.  I’ve been to China before and, although it’s not my favourite place in the world, have always held a quiet fascination with this country.  I love its rich history and fabulous food, am amazed by the diversity, and find its evolving place on the world stage ever so fascinating.  So with all the time to do as I please, I decided to head north.  Basing myself in Hong Kong, I made short trips to Beijing and Xi’an.

Beijing and the Great Wall at Mutianyu

I headed up to Beijing with my dear old friend, K.  K and I have travelled together before – to Thailand about a decade ago and then to Italy a couple of years later.  K hadn’t planned on going to Beijing, but the prospect of my fabulous company obviously convinced her otherwise!

Outside the Forbidden City at dusk.

Hutong.

Of course we had the Peking duck!  We went to a couple of places – Da Dong and Quanjude.  I’ll do a proper post on them later – for now, here’s a hint of what we sampled at Da Dong.

Dinner at Da Dong.

And this should need no introduction:

It was simply exhilarating to hike along the Great Wall.  In a word: awesome.

Xi’an and the Terracotta Warriors

Next stop was Xi’an, which I visited with my sister.  There’s only 1 flight out of Hong Kong to Xi’an, flying China Southern.  It was my first Chinese airline experience, which was actually not too bad (except for the 1 hour delay each way – but hey, I’ve been through worse with other airlines).

Pit 1 - just amazing.

And they all look different - such incredible detail.

There weren’t any must-do’s on my list in Xi’an, other than a trip out to see the Terracotta Warriors, but Xi’an actually turned out to be rather interesting itself.  Incredibly polluted (even more so than Beijing), but very interesting.

Over 40 kgs of gold coins on display at the Shaanxi museum.

A bike ride along the City Wall. That grey stuff in the air rhymes with 'fog', but fog it's not.

A furry friend on a replica warrior.

We had some really interesting food in Xi’an, which was quite different to the other regional Chinese cuisines that I was used to.  Did you know that there’s quite a strong Muslim presence in Xi’an?  I sure didn’t and was surprised to see so many Chinese Muslims, but I really enjoyed the food in the Muslim Quarter!  I’ll also do proper posts of our foodie experiences in Xi’an a little later.

Anyway, I just wanted to get the blog ball rolling again.  Once I’ve sorted through all my photos, I’ll catch up on all the posts – local and not-so-local.  I’ve got quite a number of Melbourne posts that I still need to write, including Noir, Paris Go…

For M’s birthday recently, we went to see ‘Love Never Dies‘ (the not-quite sequel to The Phantom of the Opera) and then headed off to Daylesford for a long weekend.  Spa treatment?  Yep.  Dinner at Lake House?  Yep.  What else?  How ’bout a short trip to Kyneton to visit Annie Smithers?

Annie Smithers is located among the main strip of shops in Kyneton and on the ground floor of what appears to be an old property that has been gutted and completely refitted.  The decor is casual chic, with lots of light wood, exposed brick walls and a high ceiling.  The menu is relatively straight-forward – 4 entrees, 6 mains and 4 desserts, priced at $19.50, $36 and $16.50, respectively.

Sugar cured yellow fin tuna, pickled garden cauliflower, radish, aioli, toast.

M ordered the tuna entree to start.  The tuna was super fresh and had a wonderful, slightly sweet flavour from the curing process.  We weren’t big fans of the pickled cauliflower, but the other flavours and the textural differences worked very nicely together.

Chargrilled eye fillet, celeriac, swede, mache, green peppercorns.

Pan roasted kingfish fillet, garden leeks, beetroot, broccolini, romanesco, orange.

M’s main of eye fillet was expertly cooked to a medium pink and beautifully juicy and tender.  My kingfish fillet was pan seared to perfection, leaving one side delightfully crispy and the rest of the fish moist.  And what pretty colours on the plate – the colour of the beetroot puree reminds me of pinot noir!

Garden lime curd, shortcrust pastry, Italian meringue.

Thank goodness we saved room for dessert.  We had seen quite a few other diners order the lime tart, which looked good, but not spectacular.  After mulling over the list of desserts, we decided to follow the masses and ordered the tart.  Uh, hello?  Could this be the best lime tart ever?  Super thin shortcrust pastry, silky Italian meringue and smooth, tangy lime curd.  Best of all, it was warm.  Ahhhhhhhhh…  the perfect winter dessert that doesn’t make you feel like you’ve just gained 2 pounds.

Annie Smithers was definitely worth the side trip to Kyneton – you could really taste the freshness of the ingredients and is a great place for delicious, comfort food with that little something extra.