if by chance you were wandering down clarendon street last weekend or sucking back on a smooth latte and heard echoes of kenny loggins or remnants of berlin… and were wondering where the beautful sounds were emanating from or just thought you had been transported back to 1984… or dandenong… well you can stop wondering now… we were in fact playing the soundtrack from…
…and rather loudly i must admit in our inaugral soundtrack saturdays…
on a rather balmy day on the machine we came to the decision that some big 80′s power ballads were in order and they dont get much bigger than top gun… it in fact it got so shteamy (dunno if it was the air guitaring with group handles or the steam eminating from angelinas ears when those first rather loud chords came through the speakers on ‘danger zone’) that there were definate thoughts of whipping off the shirts and busting into the budgie smugglers for a bit of volleyball iceman style…
but upon realising that i looked less like the above and more like the current version of val those thoughts subsided very quickly…
after angelina’s innitial reaction we were allowed to leave it on and even had several comments from customers on the wonderful selection of tunes… so successful in fact that it got an even louder run at ali east the next day…and given the success of top gun we will now be playing a new soundtrack every saturday… and thoughts are already running wild as to what the next installment could be… i would love suggestions… however for tomorrow i am quite partial to… funnily enough another piece of classic val kilmer cinema…
… or it could just be top gun again ;)… because you just take my breath away…
haven’t ventured down sensory lab way too much of late… but paid them a visit last week and the otto caught my eye… always wanted to see this thing in action… so i asked the lovely crew down there to give me a demonstration and as is often the case with me what started with a simple demonstration ended up being so much more…
aided by my lovely assistant nicholas ‘adriana xenides’ tarren we ran some of our (generally) lovely rwandan karengera through it…
the painstakingly slow extraction…
now what i have always been curious with this thing… is its milk steaming capabilities… nick steaming some of his finest for me…
this was my attempt at pouring otto milk into a slayer shot… it felt like milk that had been steamed on an automatic saeco machine but it was surprisingly easy to pour…
then came pouring otto milk into otto coffee… however this time i felt like pouring into the massive metal cup that comes with it… bad idea… once it was only about half full it got so heavy that i had to put it on the bench to finish the pour… seriously felt as though i snapped my wrist…
and the coffee… well lets just say that im happy with my aeropress as my home brewer of choice…
ok so the blog has been as bare as a brazilian sunbaking on a fifth day perth wicket recently… havent had much to report of late (and by the looks of most of my fellow coffee and bullshit bloggers im not the only one)…. mind you i have been dining out alot in recent times… and while i am not a food critic (contrary to a popular belief held by some) i think if you visit a place 5 times in a month (yes i am now the newly crowned mayor of cumulus) you can make a couple of small observations and recommendations… i have been here thrice for brekky and and twice for lunch…
breakfast wise- a definate highlight is the bircher with grated granny smith apple…
a favourite amongst those in my line of work… a very stripped back, back to basics rendition and quite possibly my favourite in melbourne… and while i only had a small taste… the famous 65/65 egg is sensational… so creamy and rich and if i liked smoked salmon i would be as an unattainable mayor here as steve is at the casino…
a la carte wise you cannot go past…
the slow cooked octopus with aioli… not only my favourite entree but visually my favourite dish…
crispy school prawns with chilli and garlic… i think i have found my new ultimate drunk food… would love to watch the footy with a few beers and some of these succulant little bastards…
they also offer a rather extensive selection of cured meats which tickles my fancy much more than the selection of oysters… the wagyu bresaola with horseradish is intimidatingly good… so good in fact we only got a photo in time before i snagged the last piece…
the cracked wheat salad…
the crumbed pigs tail with snails and watercress… along with the octopus and the prawns the best thing here… you could tell that this wasnt good for you but i just wanted more and more…
seriously good nosh and given recent service issues ive had at longrain the last two times ive been there (ha lets face it they’ve always been fairly full of themselves), cumulus is probably my favourite fare in melbourne…
well what a day it was on saturday… after battling through a take away rush comparable to that of a souvlaki stand at a south melbourne soccer match … it was time for this… didnt get any pics of the actual storm as i was too busy making coffee and looking at a particularly attractive girl on table 7 (who did give me a smile on her way out…)…
after the hail and subsided… we discovered that out green been storage area had flooded and we had to move it all…
benny cooper modelling the ’2010 wet chef’ collection…
luckily for the 20 mins me and al were dragged away from the machine… the super sub ai was paying a visit and happily jumped on… even though she could barely see into her milk jug…
afterwards with all roads home esentially flooded and trams cancelled… there was nothing for it but to walk home…
the whole of sth melbourne strewn with fallen leaves…
the city rd river… we had to walk thru this…
knee deep and fucking cold… i slipped and dropped my shoes in at this point…
lucky i had paige with me… she was my little threat detector as i made her walk in front of me to feel out for the curbs that we couldnt see…
this is pretty fuckin cool as well… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuA6eBWpxnc … shot half a block from my house and just down the road from bbb… lol do take not of the two bins floating past at about the 30 sec mark…
3… cant give allister the distinction of that title…
haven’t had a coffee thursday for a while due to my time on the island and work commitments since… started at 4.30 for the soccer…
what a start to the day it was as well… 2 goals in the last ten minutes to win 2-1… dont be alarmed if you saw someone on the 21st floor of a building in the city jumping up and down on his bed in their jocks at 6.30 in the morning it was just me going (as dizzee would say)… bonkers…
after a bit more soccer and some catch up sleep i rose at about midday and headed out to collingwood for some brekky… proud marys it was… have only been the once… back in its infancy… and it got an overwhelming meh from me… the service was lacklustre… the coffee was alrite but not spectacular… and i didnt have a chance to eat…
different story this time though… to begin with theyve changed it to all table service which is nice… so after sitting down ordered a shorty… a brazilian monte alegre… we had this at work a couple of weeks ago… a nice shot… nice and sweet with some funky fruits… not your typical brazilian which was nice… bumped into nick in there as well (a fellow st. alian…)
and he got a shorty as well… interesting that he got a guatamalen… neither of us specified what coffee we wanted… this was kinda cool… i also had a syphon… ethiopian sidamo… again another one weve had at ali… very different method of brewing here and what i got was something that was closer to a clover than what im used to syphon wise… considering that there is a clover sitting right next to their syphon bar it struck me as an odd way of doing things… it was nice though… strawberrys… although it did go missing for a cpl of minutes after it had been made… then the dude behind the bar asked me how it was… and it had to be hunted down… dunno what happened… but it seems there are still a few issues service wise as it took a while to have our food order taken as well… worth the wait though… not often do i feel like a steak sandwich for brekky… but it was 12.30 so i thought why not… i kid you not this was the greatest steak sandwich ive ever eaten… melt in your mouth steak… served with rocket, relish and horse radish… everything just dissolved in your mouth together… it was so good we came fucking close to oredering a second…
so after a very satisfying brekky it was off to the austin hospital to go and visit a couple of retarted mates partaking in some medical tresting for three weeks… five grand theyre getting though… however cant go outside for 3 weeks… a few twitchy lookin blokes in there… exposed themselves to a few too many of these things i reckon… this took much longer than i had anticipated so i didnt actually get to have another coffee for the day… mind you today (friday) had some yirgacheffe from market lane out the back… decided to put it through the syphoon… it was only two days old but this was probably the best yirg ive had…
had the oppurtunity to dine at st. ali on thursday nite… as it was owz and ma’s last nite in melbourne for a while i thought we should do something a little nicer than the dodgy ol vietnamese noodle house on swantston street… havent been out for a nice dinner in a bloody long time and have been missing it… and it doesnt come much nicer than ben cooper (ex nobu/ longrain/gingerboy) and luke fleisner (ex pino’s trattoria/rhyll tavern) cooking for you… so after a few days and much hassling from luke here it is… my review of dinner @ ali… otherwise know as atlis…
so after navigating traffic and then a quick hundred meter sprint in the rain we arrived at ali… a mere couple of hours after i had just left the joint… off the bat let me say that the food is amazing… if you havent eaten bens food before than you are really missing something… as these are going to mainly positive recollections… ill get the negatives out of the way first… not really negatives but more teething problems that im sure will get sorted out with time… firstly while the service is friendly… it got a little suffocating at times… think there may have been one too many working on the nite as the staff didnt seem have much else to do but check on how we were… regularly… although they were extremely helpful with menu selections… menu wise the only quam i had was that i found it to be a little confusing… after being told how the food is designed to be shared i was a little puzzled as to how we were going to share a 500g angus steak or a coconut soup for that matter (which had been recommended as a highlight and one thing along with the pork belly that i wanted to try but simply couldnt because just like you cant make friends with salad you cannot share a soup)… finally and this is a very minor issue… i wasnt a fan of the neck ties… dunno whose idea this was but they look a little cheap…
now on to the food…
after about twenty minutes of deciding what we going to have we settled on starters of seared scallops for mum and dad and i went for the tempura battered asian mushroom with soy dipping sauce and wasabi mayonnaise… the shroom was light and fluffy and the rich mayonnaise a perfect acompainment… you’ll have to excuse the quality of the pictures… it was bloody dark in there…
up next we had a green mango salad with snake beans, cherry tomatoes, asian herbs and a tamarind dressing… light, zesty with a nice amount of spice… refreshed the palate nicely after the wasabi mayonnaise…
next up were the mains the first two to arrive were benny’s version of bacon and eggs… pork belly with son in law egg… and spicy green curry with corncakes…
the pork belly… served with a son in law egg and a red pepper and eggplant relish… ben is famously a pork belly fan and is famous for it (nearly as famous as the roadkill he pretends is a haircut set upon his head)… i think every menu ive seen of his has included it in some form… also the son in law eggs which i have had at gingerboy before… possibly my favourite thing there (served by themselves- and you eat the whole thing at once…) and they didnt disapoint here… could almost warrant being a starter just by themselves… while maybe a little heavy handed on the relish (ill blame this on lukeys big muscles possibly getting the better of him with the relish spoon) this was a sensation and arguably the best dish of the nite…
the fiery green curry… consisting of apple, eggplant, corncake, thai basil and sweet green bell pepper… when they say fiery they mean it… this was a sensational tone of hot… i love my heat and this didnt disapoint… had my lips tingling until the goats cheese ice cream later in the nite… the corncakes were the perfect addition and soaked up the sauce beautifully… almost made the absence of meat unnoticeable… along with the pork belly… best dish of the nite…
after a couple of beers and a couple of glasses of wine… and being joined by salvatore himself… really is the host this man and showed hospitality us italians are famous for… was having dinner but took the time to come over and say a hello and have a quick chat… anyways the moment had arrived… the ‘marquee’ dish… grilled kingfish heads with shachimi, ponsu, fresh lemon and shiso cress… on first inspection i thought it may have been a little to ‘fishy’ for me… but once i got into it, cracking open the head and discovering all the little morsels of sweet meat this is a treat and actually kind of fun seeing what you can find in there… the ponsu caramalises on the skin as well making it almost toffee like… i wasnt brave enough to eat the eyes though much to bennys disapointment… i dont know if i would order this every time i eat here… but it certainly is an interesting dish and although not to everyones taste (owz wasnt a massive fan) it definatley needs to be tried at least once… also check out the plate it was served on… awesome…
finally there was nothing else for it but to have a spot of dessert… apple wontons with goats cheese ice cream… awesome way to finish the nite… the goats cheese is a gem… although a pain in the ass during the day as it sits next to and looks exactly the same as the vanilla ice cream… so if youve copped and interesting tasting iced coffee before… the ice cream isnt funky we’ve just whacked the ol goats cheese in there…
a great nite… so come down to ali for some dinner… especially this thursday as ill be making a guest appearance on the machines and should be a lot of fun…
had the day off on tuesday… so before i hit the roof for a bit of sun… i thought that i had better go and have a coffee or two… auction rooms has always been one of my personal favourites… personally i have good memories of the place and it has always felt more than a cafe to me… the food has always been nice and the coffee up there with the best… but in the last couple of months and particularly while i was on holidays its gotten a bit of an upgrade so much so that a cpl of people have said to me that it is probably the best coffee in melbourne at the moment… so i thought it was time for me to check out this new reputation for myself…
… firstly they have installed a new sunesso hydra to replace the lm that had been there since the rooms’ inception back in early 2008…
…they have also moved their main red bolognese roaster down to nearby glass street and have replace it with a couple of sample roasters… very impressive looking little units…
started off with a couple of shortys made by jake the homo himself…
the first… absolutely amazing… big, juicy and fruity… best coffee id had in a long time… so good in fact i got him to whip me up a second…
jake said he bumped up the temp slightly for this one… and to tell you the truth it was a bit flat… there were none of the massive fruits of the first… it did have more body though… it wasnt a bad coffee just nothing that exciting going on in the cup… i told him this… i dont know if he changed it or not though…
then i asked for a latte… and then got promptly told that i wasnt getting a latte because then i would somehow be a deuche… so unless you want an emo with an excessive fringe thinking poorly of you and your ‘common’ coffee tastes… dont order a latte from him… so i got a flat white instead (single shot magic in other places but a.r use the 160 mL cups for their caps and flattys)… then i said i didnt want a tulip but the other smart ass was on the machine as well by this stage… so she poured me a tulip… a rather nice tulip though… a very nice coffee as well…
food wise went for my old favourite… the counter bid… although a slightly revised version… back in the day it consisted of soft ricotta, avocado and chilli on sourdough with poached eggs optional… now it comes without the ricotta, but with roasted tomatoes and some kind of pesto… after jake fucked up my order i got this with a cpl of poachys and some sparagus on the side… pretty tasty… not quite as good as the old version and the sparry was a bit overcooked but apart from that and jakes poor attitude it was a very enjoyable morning down at the rooms…
** i am very good friends with the aforementioned people… so the above comments should be taken with a grain of salt… just like most of the shit that comes outta my mouth…
