Just Fine Food, Sorrento

Lunch yesterday (Sunday) was another pitstop along our Ocean Road drive in the Mornington Peninsula.  Just Fine Food in Sorrento was bustling and there was an available table outside.

Famous for their Vanilla Slices, I decided that I should try it.  However, a late lunch was the order of the afternoon and therefore my savoury tastebuds needed satisfying first and foremost.

Consisting of mainly sandwiches - focaccia, open (with warning that they are large), toasted etc. The choice was simply immense - if you want a sandwich that is! 

However, seeing as I had already had two huge slices of sourdough in the morning, I was pretty breaded out.  The problem was, there wasn't a huge choice of dishes without bread.  So, I ordered the 'Spinach quiche with salad'.  I'll have fatty buttery pastry instead?!

It came out piping warm and was lovingly light and egg custard like.  It wasn't salty and the pastry was delicious.  For $16 though, I thought it was a little on the pricey side.

My other two companions ordered the 'Ploughmans lunch' - a very substantial chunk of ham; a generous wedge of cheddar; fresh salad including gherkins and picked onions; and a chutney pickle. 

Unfortunately none of us could manage any Vanilla slice.   We were all so full and eating any more would have been far too glutinous for words.  I concluded that I should save my calories for another day.

Still, I believe their Vanilla slices are probably pretty good. But seeing as I didn't try one, I am just going by the faces of all the vanilla slice diners around us - who all seemed to gobble them up quickly.

The deli counters inside displayed lots of various enchanting delights from pork pies to cheeses to vegetarian fritatas.  I imagine Just Fine Food is a good place to stock up on goodies if you are having a picnic on the beach.  This place really does do what it says on the tin.

In terms of service, it wasn't the friendliest and I almost felt like I would be asking too much if I asked for extra hot water for my tea.  Although the young lad clearing tables seemed the most approachable and in my opinion, did a much better job than the rest.  The waitresses just looked too stressed out - the sea air obviously doesn't do much for them.

Just Fine Food

23 Ocean Road, Sorrento, VIC 3942

Tel:  +61 (0)3 5984 4666 

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Kookaburra Bar & Bistro, Halls Gap

I was on the road last week and stayed over in Halls Gap.  There isn't a huge choice of eateries in Halls Gap, so when I walked past this place and observed the menu, I thought "why not?".  There was a good choice of light meals, entrees and mains. 

It doesn't look like much from the street, and with a huge 'Beer on tap' banner hanging on the outside, one could be mistaken for thinking that this place was just a regular drinking hole.  How wrong could we have been?!

Four of us reserved a table for the evening and arrived in good time.  A friendly lady showed us to our table and a waiter came by with menu's for us all.

The menu has a good selection of meals to choose from including fish and kangaroo.  There's even a kid's menu as well.  Tonight there were a few specials and we decided to share an 'Asparagus timbale with spears'.  Put simply it was described as a melt in your mouth asparagas custard baked slowly and served with new season's asparagas spears and reduced cream and rosemary sauce. 

Well, as you can clearly see, the tips are actually green bean tips...not asparagas.  We think they must have run out of asparagas in the kitchen...Nevertheless, it was well presented and we didn't complain as it tasted absolutely devine. 

For mains, I chose the 'Blackened barramundi' - coated in Cajun spices which blacken when grilled.  It comes atop mashed potato with a couple of poached prawns in a fish stock, tomato, wine and cream sauce. 

It was simply devine.  The fish was cooked just right - still soft and flaky.  The sauce was deliciously tasty and the prawns added to the overall Cajun inspired dish.  A thoroughly enjoyable meal. 

Service was attentive and friendly; the food was delicious and the portions were generous.  A great place to come to if you are visiting Halls Gap.

Kookaburra Bar & Bistro
125-127 Grampians Rd, Halls Gap VIC 3381
Tel:  +61 (03) 5356 4222 

Lunch: Midday-3pm Sat & Sun
Dinner: 6pm onwards Tue-Sun


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Spoons, Port Fairy

This cute little town certainly boasts a few good eateries in The Age 2010 Good Food Guide.  There's the Merrijig Inn, The Hub, Portofino's, and The Stag. 

We started at The Hub, who politely told us that they were full but to perhaps try our luck at the Merrijig Inn or Portofino's.  Following their instructions, we all walked towards the wharf and eventually found the Merrijig.  Again, they told us that they were full.  So we decided that it was onto The Stag.  Again, this proved a fruitless task - it was closed tonight (being their one night off in the week). 

From the evening's event of trying to get into a restaurant, it almost felt like being in a Nativity play; "sorry, no room at the restaurant tonight".

The four of us decided to wearily walk back into the main street and passed a little cafe style restaurant with white linen covered tables and a few diners inside.  All famished and hungry, I stepped inside to ask if they had a table available for four.  The waitress asked me to hold on whilst she had quick look around and pointed to a lovely table in the front room.  Hoorah!  We were going to get a meal tonight...

The table had already been set up with linen napkins, silver cutlery and wine glasses.  It was as though we were meant to have this table. 

The waitress wasted no time in presenting us all with a menu each.  The choices looked good and being extremely hungry tonight, my eyes went straight for the 'Eye fillet on pea and wine risotto with wilted spinach and a red wine jus'. 

Whilst our mains were being prepared, we decided to start off by sharing some warmed olives.  They were certainly yummy and we polished them all off pretty quickly. 

Unfortunately, our mains seemed to be taking rather long to come out.  So long in fact, my companions had polished off a bottle of wine and were onto their second.  However, seeing as we had been turned away from so many other restaurants beforehand, a long wait for our food didn't seem too much of a hardship considering.

Nevertheless, after a good forty-five minutes (just as our patience was being tested), our meals arrived.  OK, so they looked good, but boy, they could have hurried them up...

My eye fillet looked so good.  Like a pig on steroids, I grabbed my cutlery and literally started wolfing it down.  The steak was beautifully cooked to medium, the risotto was velvety smooth and creamy, and the combination of spinach and red wine jus made it oh so delectable.  I've never had steak and risotto together before, but I think I will have to try it when I get back to my kitchen at home.

One of my companions had the belly pork with potato and balsamic reduction.  Again, it was very well presented and very well received. 

The waitresses are polite, friendly and attentive.  Spoons is a great little cosy cafe which turns out excellently presented evening meals that are truly good enough to rival the more established restaurants. 

Despite the long wait for our food, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this place - with warning of course.  We even went back for breakfast and fortunately we didn't have to wait long for our scrambled eggs and coffee. 

Thus, I can safely say that this was a great stumble-upon find.  A simply gorgeous little gem in Port Fairy.

Spoons Cafe
42 Sackville Street, Port Fairy, VIC
Tel: +61 (0)3 5568 3452

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The Bay Leaf Cafe, Apollo Bay

Having stayed overnight at Apollo Bay along The Great Ocean Road, breakfast the next morning led me to The Bay Leaf Cafe.  The girls were busy behind the coffee counter and asked us to take a table and they'd be over with menus.

This place is small, but light and airy.  With colourful paintings by a local artist hung on the walls, (each one for sale), and a glass cookie jar filled with yummy chocolate covered cookies sitting next to the coffee machine, it felt all cosy and homely.

The breakfast menu included all the familiar eggs, bacon, sausages, muesli, yoghurt, fruit and so on.  Feeling like something substantial this morning, I went for poached eggs with bacon and a side of spinach.

A hearty plate piled high with the eggs, crispy bacon and wilted spinach arrived in good time.  The bacon was, I have to say, probably the best grilled bacon that I have had since being in Australia.  It was crispy in all the right places and not greasy at all.  The spinach had been wilted to perfection and the poached eggs were superb.  It was a truly fantastic breakfast!

A great little family run cafe with hearty, wholesome and well cooked food.  They certainly take pride in what they churn out.  And with the amount of people that kept coming in for breakfast, they certainly do a good trade in feeding the masses.

The Bay Leaf Cafe

131 Great Ocean Road, Apollo Bay, VIC 3233

Tel:  +61 (0)3 5237 6470 

Dec-Jun: Mon-Sun 6am-9pm

Jul-Nov: Mon-Sun 8am-2:30pm

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Basso Cafe, CBD, Melbourne

So exciting, my first entry for 2010!  Happy New Year to all my blog readers.  I am so looking forward to trying out some new places this year and telling you all about them. 

Having had a week or so off during the Christmas and New Year, I am now getting back into eating out again.  And today, I was off out for lunch...

Love thin crust pizza?  Looking for a good lunch option for under $10?  Then look no further than Basso.  For under $10, or $9.80 to be precise, you can pick up two square slices of pizza AND a glass of wine or a soft drink.  Now that is a bargain in my book!!

This place is located just inside 'The Georges Building' on Little Collins (on the East side of Swanston Street).  Recommended by a friend for a cheap lunch option, I decided it was too good an opportunity to miss. 

Walking inside The Georges building, my friend led me past the ground floor tables and chairs of the Basso cafe and towards some steps just off to the right hand side.  To the left at the bottom of the stairs, we were faced with a slightly robust looking statue of a round faced lady wearing an old-fashioned Victorian style chefs hat holding a chalkboard prompting diners to, 'Take a voucher for your free drink'.

After picking up a voucher, we proceeded to the long counter lined with large rectangular trays of pizza after pizza.  Here, they serve traditional neopolitan style pizza's which are freshly baked on a daily basis.  The selection is huge and they all looked utterly enticing. 

The chalkboard on the wall lists a choice of different pasta with an array of sauces, risottos, salads and mains including t-bone steak and parmigiana.  The choice really is immense.

Having chosen our pizzas, we gave our order to the guy behind the counter who gave us each a piece of paper with the number '21' written on it and our chosen pizza slices.  We went to pay at the end of the counter, picked up our free drink and proceeded to our designated table - number twenty-one.  All we had to do now was to wait for our heated up pizzas to be brought to us.

My friend went for a slice of 'Meatlovers' (on the left below) and a 'Feta and spinach'.  Both of which looked good. 

I chose the 'Volcano' which is topped with capsicum, olives and chilli; and the 'Calabrese', which is topped with mild calabrese salami and olives.  The 'Volcano' was surprisingly rather spicy, more so than I expected it to be actually.  So if you can't take spicy, then I would avoid this one on that basis.  The 'Calabrese' was scrumptious with delicious slices of salami and black olives.  It served as a nice non-spicy follow on to the Volcano slice. 

Basso is a great place for an 'express lunch' for under $10 and other great Italian options too.  It was pretty noisy during this busy work day lunchtime between midday to one-thirty, so if you want a more serene lunch hour, I'd recommending getting here after one o'clock or before midday for an early lunch. 

Basso Cafe
The Georges Building, 195 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
Tel:  +61 (0)3 9650 0077 

Mon-Thurs: 7:30am-5pm
Fri: 7:30am-8pm
Sat & Sun: 8am-4pm

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Mr Tulk, CBD, Melbourne

On the North-Western corner of the grand Victorian building that houses the State Library of Victoria sits Mr Tulk.  This licensed espresso cafe feels all light and airy apart from the rapturous sounds of chatter emanating from the informal dining room.

To the left of the entrance is a large counter that does takeaway coffees and food, affectionately referred to as 'Tulk Junior'.  And to the right is the sit down dining area known as 'Mr Tulk'.  With a large central wooden communal table in the middle, there is strategically placed seating around the edge of the room.  Not forgetting the outside seating as well, this place is often overspilling with patrons. 

Inside Mr Tulk is a large board listing wines and beers.  They also have a specials chalkboard for wines.   

There is also a 'specials' menu for food which changes all the time I am told.  My friend and I decided to share the 'Asparagas with labna, poached egg and bastourma'.  Bastourma being an air-dried cured meat, hailing from Turkey and the Middle East.  We also chose the smoked salmon bruschetta with capers and dill.

The waiter went off with our order and proceeded to take away the menu's as well.  We couldn't help but notice how all the Mr Tulk staff were men and the women were behind the counter in the Junior Tulk part.  Not sure if this is done on purpose or it was just a coincidence...

Still,  we received our two dishes.  The poached egg with the bastourma and asparagus was done to perfection.  The labna (yoghurt cheese) was sitting right under the poached egg.  The dish was executed and presented so well.  I wish that there had been more of it...

The smoked salmon bruschetta was also perfectly executed.  The ingredients were fresh and tasty.  The ciabatta was toasted just right.  Again, I wish there had been two pieces instead of just the one!

We both finished off with coffees.  The coffees of which I have to say were excellent - strong and hot, just how I like it. 

I give this place gold stars all round for the food.  I will however say that our first waiter was rather unfriendly.  Perhaps he was having a bad day...although not an excuse to be unfriendly, especially when working as a service waiter.  The others however, (of which we had a different one each time bringing us out the food and drinks) were pleasant enough. 

Still, I would come back here again and I might even try it on a Friday evening with some friends after work or for brunch on a Saturday.

Mr Tulk

328 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Tel: +6 1(03) 8660 5700

Mon-Thu: 7am-5pm
Fri: 7am-9pm
Sat: 9am-4pm

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