Foodtourist

A little piece of Savigny-lès-Beaune makes it to Hobart and it isn’t wine. The handiwork (literally) of our friends @laylat.lay and Svante who also feed people at @le_soleil_savignylesbeaune. Merci beaucoup @kobi_ruz and @analiesegregory! These cups are a joy to hold and perfect for green tea.

The idea that you can pretty much add truffle to any dish as an option at @arurestaurant at the moment is not as far fetched as it sounds - we tried the theory with with this umami- rich buttered cabbage and it was a brilliant addition. Kingfish collar with orange kosho was textbook evidence that gelatinous textures are highly desirable. Potato impregnated with tomato curry finished with saltbush and herbs and his banh-mi inspired pate en croute are perfect examples of @genghiskhanh’s inventive flavour-forward cuisine. Last photo is wagyu tongue, and bone marrow ready to deconstruct then eat wrapped in betel leaves - more evidence that fusion is not a dirty word. Such a good meal with some of Melbourne’s best front of house service to go with it. Our wines are in very good hands.

A sunny day in winter is the perfect time to eat ice cream. The sun puts you in the mood and the temperature means it’s not a rush to finish it before it reverts to cream. And because there are no nasty additives and thickeners it will of course melt more quickly than its industrial impersonators. @piccolinagelateria is quite perfect. The ice cream is hidden below the counters in metal cylinders, adding an element of surprise to ordering that most modern gelaterias have removed and evoking memories of a period of child labour for one of us at Mr Booth’s corner store in Ulverstone in the 1960s (memories of the storage containers not the quality of the ice cream which came from a factory). There are cones, cups, house-made toppings, extraordinary cakes and ice cream sandwiches. This is the Collingwood shop but there are also shops in Hawthorn, St Kilda, Richmond and the CBD. Rather glorious and very distracting from work.

While this post isn’t particularly for the doubters who told us when we started importing natural wines in the late 2000s that it was just a fad we wouldn’t mind if some of them happened to read it! This photo of some empty bottles in the window at @ccmelbourne isn’t in the streets of some hipster inner-city suburb. It’s at the bottom of Swanston St, a few steps from Flinders St Station and the iconic Young and Jackson pub. In the arcade at the base of the very beautiful and equally iconic Nicholas Building it’s in the very centre of Melbourne, the last place you would expect to find a natural wine (and early morning coffee) bar. We’ve always loved the tradition of a few empty bottles in the window which send a signal of what’s inside. Some people argue it’s usually clickbait because those bottles are almost inevitably not available. For us, though, empty bottles or @micheltolmer posters are the natural wine equivalent of a mason’s handshake. You know you’ve found the right place when you see them. We like to think of curious visitors with an interest in natural wine exploring Melbourne, taking a peek inside this lovely arcade and then suddenly and unexpectedly seeing these bottles. What a thrill, especially if you are new to this city to stumble on them in such an unexpected precinct. Early in the morning, as well as coffee @ccmelbourne serves very good pastries from @austrobakery. Unfortunately we ate them before remembering we should have taken a photo!

Yes this was as delicious as it looks, the sweetness of most of it beautifully balanced by the rhubarb’s tartness. It was a rather glorious ending to an equally glorious night. The uniqueness of @hopestradio is thrilling. It’s a place filled with the sort of warmth and good feelings that only happen when somewhere is a labour of love. Actually in spite of the evidence (we did see @cookedwithjack working hard in the kitchen, as calm as the two women who made up the team) it’s hard to feel that this is really labour. It feels more like “let’s put all the things we like together - music, good food and natural wine - and turn it into a business so that our work will seem like play”. We could be wrong - there’s no doubt lots of paddling under the water for this vibrant, busy venue to operate so smoothly, but it feels more like a party full of friends than a restaurant. It’s a most unlikely wine list (one of the best in Melbourne for the sort of wine we like to drink) for such a loose venue but if you list wines you love and believe in and put knowledgeable people on the floor to explain it, then your customers will feel that love and it seems come along for the ride. We’re very grateful to have @hopestradio as a customer and especially for what they do trusting that their customers will be keen to embrace and learn about unfamiliar wines and grapes! And if there is still some @cantinagiardino Volpe Rosa on the wine list don’t miss it. It was a perfect food (and even colour) match with pretty much everything. Final comment - as loose as it looks on the lawn - if you reserve a table for dinner it’s actually a calm, relaxed experience and, if you are lucky, you can watch the kitchen team from your table.

A little bit of the moon from Pupillin in Hobart this Sunday. If you have a ticket to @bottletops_21 drop by and try a taste from these two magic magnums made by Renaud Bruyère and Adeline Houillon (oh and say hello to us too)! Impossibly rare, especially in magnums, it will be a pleasure to share them a little more widely than usual. We’re there for a good time not a long time - possibly only the first hour or until these disappear. That’s about as long as our aged feet will last. (And there’s nothing for sale - this is just for the pleasure of tasting.)