On a nice Sunday night whilst having a stroll in
jess's new hood and having a look for some no fuss good take away when I walked past a sign Which grabbed my attention "
entre tapas y vinos"
^note: Not the
actuall sign but it looks the same forgot to take pic
and thought to myself "gee I like all those things" so I turn my now perked up eyes towards the menu at the front and read such delights as "goats cheese lollipops" "quail in soy glaze" lots of things with truffle,
jamon and
foie gras so now my attention has been gained(which with A.D.D is no easy feat) I also notice how low the prices are compared to other tapas bars in the higher end scale. It all seems to be good be true at this point and start casting doubt as the place is
completely empty despite quite a packed street. The only people I can see is a small group of 3 out the front and just as my fear begins to take control I'm
comforted in the fact it's a face I have seen a few times before then
Jess whispers in my ear that's it's one of the chefs from
vue de monde and my appetite steadily starts building up again. We take our seats at the front so we catch watch all the lovely St
kilda bogans walk past. It's a very relaxed atmosphere even if we are now the only people in here. The decor is nice wooden tables and seats, no white
linen here, also has a cool piece of street art of a bull fighter.
Once we have
relaxed ourselves under the heaters we get given our menus and start deciding on what we want, we decided on goats cheese lollipops($7 for 2)
The quail in soy glaze with spring onion and asparagus and the scallops with
foie gras,
jamon,truffle and artichoke foam for now.We get two anchovies to start our appetite and boy they very salty but still nice.Next up we had goats cheese lollipops and they were so nice and delicate the first thing you notice is the toasted almond aroma. Once eaten, the goats cheese just melts in your mouth, it's a similar texture and Taste to a soft
chevre but has a more earthy flavour to it and I'm assured it's Spanish not french
One of the nice little touches with the free bread was the truffle butter it came with ,we actually had finely grated chunks of truffle spun through the rich butter.It's little things like this that make this place special.
Next was served was theLovely quail($7)it was in two parts the leg and the delicate juicy breast it was cooked in a soy glaze and served with
caramelised spring onion and some asparagus.It was cooked perfectly so juicy and tender and not the least bit dry. The spring onion gives the dish a little of sweetness and the sauce was delightful it wasn't a stock standard soy glaze it had huge flavour.I could eat this again and again when quail is done right its always "yeah that was decent" but this really did go above beyond for me and re establish my love for quail.
Next up was the scallops(
Japanese jumbo scallop,crispy
Spanish ham,
foie gras,black truffle and artichoke foam $15 for 2 units) pan seared(i presume) and slightly
caramelised but once again not overcooked just perfect . The dish had great texture and a real balancing act of flavours which work so well(scallops and pork are just meant to be) when you bite into the
crispiness of the ham is then struck with the
earthiness of the fresh truffle then the slight
creaminess of the
foie and once you reach the scallop its still soft with the slightly
caramelised edge and then soft smooth center its like foodie wanker heaven.
Then we had my favourite piece of meat The pork belly(
cripsy pork belly served with apple to chef taste and
perigordini sauce $14 for a decent serve too) Now i just have to say i am biased when it comes to pork belly and think all pork belly is amazing. Having said that this baby is a stand out from the rest its good simple flavours and
isnt over spiced,
herbed or anything that could make it bad for that matter. The dish the meat just speaks for itself its juicy and creamy fat and just melts in your mouth and the crackling is to die for its that crispy sharp crunch that you long for in a crackling its over salted,soft and oily its just perfect clean tasting crunchy crackling.Also might point out this dish was also
accompied by a cider i have never had or seen before and it just packed a punch full of flavour and was utterly moreish with each sip.
When then followed this all off with some
jamón ibérico($20) served with
crispy bread that was rubbed in with tomato and garlic but i also kept putting truffle butter on it too,come to think of it i think i just put the truffle butter on everything i had just for the hell of it.
All and all this is a great place with a amazing chef that has created a gem in a otherwise boring little strips of places i wouldnt normally visit. I cant highly recomend this place enough it really is a star. P.s if this is all a little wack looking im sorry i did this on my iphone my laptop is being a piece of shit and if i did this on my ps3 it would take forever.
I have recently been snacking,eating & drinking all Over the place in a panicked food frenzy as we all know it's the end of the world soon yes? yes? Damn it don't disagree with me I'm
