OS Kitchen: Hampton

Rachel Turner — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:41:42 +0000

Until about 18 months ago John and I often said "what we really need on Hampton Street (our local shopping / eating strip in Hampton) is a great restaurant". This soon stopped when OS Kitchen opened at the end of our road. It quickly became popular and it was a while before we managed to book a table. Once we had been there for dinner we quickly understood why it was so busy and have been the biggest fans and regular customers ever since. Alastair has made OS Kitchen a place that not only locals want to go to but, also people from further afield as well. His passion for food and wine and the service you get from not only Alastair but all the staff is outstanding. The food is amazing and so is the atmosphere, so it is no surprise that we would go down there so regularly. We sometimes just drop in for a wine and plate of the mouth watering cured meats when we are out for a walk with Bob. The menu changes every few months, which I was quite unhappy about the first time round as their Pork belly was to die for. I am pleased to say it has just come back on the menu, a different version, but just as good as ever. 12 months ago they did a foraged mushroom degustation dinner which we thought sounded interesting and went along to. From memory the mushroom foragers had been tracked down through Twitter and were all from Victoria. The food and the wines that accompanied each dish were outstanding and we got plenty of great information about the mushrooms and wine along the way. We missed out on the duck degustation dinner a few weeks ago and so when the foraged mushroom dinner was announced I booked table for 4 straight away. When we arrived we were given a beautiful glass of bubbles and a bowl of the raw mushrooms to look at and touch to see what we were eating. When Alastair started talking about the mushrooms we took a look in our bowl only to find one was half eaten. John had to quickly confess he had been trying them!!! The menu was amazing and the food so good that I had eaten a number of my dishes before I remembered I was going to take a picture to go with my blog post!! We dined on: Beetroot cured kingfish, pickled asian mushrooms and wasabi sorbet Foraged mushrooms on toast, truffled pecorino Confit chicken leg, mushrooms provencal, garlic emulsion Jerusalem artichoke risotto, pine mushrooms, braised beef cheek, fresh horseradish Autumnal forest floor There was much debate on our table as to what the Autumnal forest floor would be and I was convinced that it would be berries with some mushroom shavings. How wrong could I be. It was one of the best desserts ever: Crème anglaise topped with a layer of frozen chocolate crunch and honeycomb, with a beautiful handmade marshmallow mushroom and flowers on the top. How was I supposed to pick that!!! If you want a restaurant with friendly service, fantastic wines amazing food and great atmosphere, OS Kitchen should definitely be put on your list of places to eta. Let us know if you have eaten at any great restaurants lately that you can recommend to us. Happy eating Rachel

Newmarket Hotel, St Kilda

Eternal Ingredients — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 23:48:04 +0000

I have driven past the Newmarket Hotel in St Kilda many times and I have now been there for dinner twice in less than 2 weeks! This in itself tells you the food is amazing and so is the service, so I want to share my experience with you. The Newmarket Hotel has been open for 18 months and Paul Wilson's Latin American food is stunning. It was a lovely, balmy Melbourne evening, so we met our friends in the outside bar for cocktails, which is always a great way to start the evening. I can definitely recommend both the Patos Locos (Tequila, earl grey and cucumber aperitif, watermelon, coriander, lime and cracked pepper) and the Tito Puente (white rum, ginger beer, basil, chilli, lime and passionfruit). No I didn't drink them both! While sipping our cocktails we were able to check out the food being served to other outdoor tables and also ask a few questions of the busy staff, as they were running backwards and forwards. We all made an instant decision that we would have to have the tamarind glazed Berkshire pork hock with fragrant green mole, which they serve as sung choi bao. The dining area was buzzing with activity and chatter from everyone and the service we received was outstanding. The food is all designed to share so we quickly selected a few dishes, ensuring we left enough room for dessert (yes, definitely worth leaving a little space). We had the soft tacos with prawns, lamb rib picadillo burrito, wood BBQ chorizo sausage, wood roasted chicken and the tamarind glazed Berkshire pork hock. Everything was mouth watering, but we all agreed the tacos and the wood roasted chicken were the stand out dishes. Having planned ahead and left enough room, we moved to dessert. Visiting just the week prior, I knew there was no way I was leaving without the Latin style chocolate pot with dulce de leche and the chocolate and banana cazuela with salted caramel and almonds. The cazuela is definitely one of the best desserts I have ever had and no matter how full you think you are, I guarantee you will manage to fit it in! www.newmarkethotel.com.au

Eternal Ingredients » Restaurants

OS Kitchen: Hampton

Newmarket Hotel, St Kilda