A quick bite.

On Monday I was in need of a place where I could get a quick and tasty meal(we had about a hr spare) in the St Kilda area with Danielle recently after we ventured up to golden fields and then discovered it was sadly closed. Despite our disappointment we managed we to pick ourselves up and head a little bit down the road to the much hyped New Market Hotel. Sadly I haven’t had the best experience with hyped up Mexican inspired food in Melbourne so I was a little on the sceptical side. Lucky for us , it was awesome and rocked our socks off. The service was casual but still professional and the fit out was also very cool. The food reflected the vibe of the place, fun and casual with a bit charm and was a great example of some smart cooking. We didn’t have long so we could only order a few dishes.

We started with 

 Morcilla & chicharones bocadillos, sunny side quail eggs, piquillo peppers & crispy jamon $14

 Loved this combo of pork, pork and more pork, throw in a quail egg and between some bread you cant go wrong.mmm crackling 

Soft tacos with wood roasted bone marrow, chimichurri & ranchero style brisket $16

In a corny movie style moment, “you had me at bone marrow” this taco was my favourite of the 2. The rich bone marrow topped with a cleansing chimichurri and melt in your mouth brisket, wrap it in a taco shell, whats not to love

Soft shell crab tacos with guacamole, shaved fennel, spicy corn & tomatillo salsa $17

I go weak at the knees for soft shell crab and this is one example that had me crippled. Crispy crab banging guac and moreish sauce.

BBQ Corn on the cob with chilli & queso fresco $6 ea

 

A great little side some BBQ corn on the cob it was juicy sweet and a little spicy, maybe a little too spicy for danielle as she instantly turned a little red. Shes such a wuss. 

Well I can happily say that Newmarket hotel lives up to the hype and I will be returning to eat my way through the whole menu.

Mat.

Any other recommendations for mexican in Melbourne?
I have had a few banging tacos from The Table recently as well but more on that later

Entre,tapas y vinos

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.