Explore Dream Discover
So now you know all about why champagne is such a popular celebration drink, maybe you’re thinking it’s time for a visit to the region where it all began? Most visitors base themselves in Epernay or the almost unpronounceable principle city of the region, Reims …
Only 40km south of Adelaide, the McLaren Vale wine region is a patchwork of vines planted on rolling hills, framed by ocean views. Grape vines were first planted in the area in 1838 and the Seaview and Hardy wineries were operating as early as 1850. …
Saison, Joshua Skene’s 3 Michelin Star, fire focused restaurant in San Francisco, is easily the most fun dining experience I’ve ever had in a fancy restaurant. What a treat to combine serious, sophisticated food with a vibe that was warm and irreverent. It was such a blast! I dined at Saison about three weeks before the 2018 announcements for the World’s 50 Best Restaurants were made. That night, Saison was number 37 and it has now dropped to number 46. With Atelier Crenn somewhat controversially dropping out of the list, it is now the only restaurant in San Francisco represented in the Top 100.
Located near the baseball stadium, the Relais and Chateaux restaurant is housed in a red brick warehouse which is pretty unassuming from the outside, with tinted windows masking the warmth of the room inside. As I walked in for the early seating at 6pm, I was immediately at ease. This was a welcoming, casual space – the website states there is no dress code, ‘come as you are’. Half the room is taken up by an enormous, entirely open kitchen. I was seated in a banquette style mini booth, near the small bar area. The styling consisted of rough timber pylons, exposed ceilings, lots of greenery, undressed tables, wood stacks and bunches of dried herbs hanging from the racks above the kitchen alongside copper pots and pans. It was quite noisy, with sounds from the kitchen and a very eclectic 1980s soundtrack pumping making it clear this was not a place where hushed, reverent tones were expected.
The $298USD (before tax and tip and booze…deep breath) multi course set menu meant I didn’t need to make any decisions except about what to drink. As the sommelier poured me a complimentary glass of champagne to start and handed me a hefty wine book, even that seemed a little overwhelming. So instead, I made the decision to just give the expert a modest budget and after a couple of questions, he said ‘leave it with me’! We started with a very reasonably priced half bottle of a 2014 Gitton Sancerre Les Belles Dames which was lively and citrus driven, a great food wine. Then, as we moved into the more meaty part of the meal, he poured me a glass of 2009 Copain Pinot Noir from California that cost almost as much as the half bottle – worth every penny and he still came in under budget!
The food philosophy of baseball cap wearing Joshua Skenes and Saison is very clear – taste is king. Everything revolves around fire and local products, nothing is imported or commercially available. Taste drives everything. Whilst there is plenty of complexity in achieving that taste, essentially the quality of the produce and the skill of cooking with fire is front and centre.
The meal started with make your own wraps consisting of a bowl of gorgeous salad greens and slices of raw Amberjack alongside a sticky chicken wing and pieces of pineapple that had been charred on the fire. No cutlery to be seen, you just used your fingers to make the wraps and eat them. It was a fun, fresh way to start and I will definitely be grilling pineapple when summer comes!
I then had my texture issues seriously challenged by the appearance of enormous pieces of orange uni, the edible part of a sea urchin served on top of buttery, grilled bread. And this was before I actually knew that uni is the sea urchin’s gonads…best to not think too deeply about this. I took a deep breath and hoped for the best, but the flavour overtook any texture issues I had been worried about. Wow – no wonder this is considered a signature dish at Saison! The bread had been soaked in a sauce made of stock, seaweed, brown butter and lemon and somehow that massive umami kick plus the sogginess of the bread meant that the texture of the uni was not as challenging as I feared. I definitely needed the hand towel to clean up after that one!
The fascination with fire continued when I was presented with a beet that had been roasted for three days in the coals at the back of the open-flame grill. The tableside theatre really went up a notch when a waiter poured liquefied bone marrow out of the centre of a cow femur bone into a pot of beet sauce! The result was an incredibly rich, viscous beet dish that melted in the mouth.
Roasted, honey glazed quail was served alone on a plate with only a hand towel for company. Fortunately, I had just about finished the half bottle of Sancerre before I embarked on the experience of picking up a quail wing and gnawing on it at a three Michelin Star restaurant!
After choosing my own steak knife from a selection presented at the table (I had done that the night before at Atelier Crenn so I was really getting the hang of it), a roasted fillet of perfectly pink antelope was finished off by the waiter searing it on coals on a mini grill tableside and served with a southern style biscuit, dusted with chilli. Oh and house-made honey butter that made me keep eating the biscuit long after I should have stopped. Broth made from the antelope bones and topped with a sage leaf followed as the last savoury course. That was my first time eating antelope and it was tender and lean, similar to venison but perhaps a little sweeter.
The service was genuinely delightful. Equally adept with as much tableside service proficiency required as Atelier Crenn, but at Saison it was done with humour and a refreshing lack of ernestness. It’s possible a special effort was made because I was dining solo, but several wait staff engaged me in conversation over the course of the night about the food, the wine, where I was from and what I was doing in San Fran. I never felt like I was dining solo for long!
The friendliness seemed to seep into the whole atmosphere of the room. The sommelier had taken me on a tour of the open kitchen after I simply asked if it was ok for me to take a photo, a waiter from Adelaide wanted to know where I had eaten in his home town and we chatted about Hentley Farm, the couple at the table next to me struck up a conversation – she was an Aussie and he was Texan. The night had taken on a distinctly Aussie vibe in our little bar section of the restaurant and the presence of Ben Shewry, owner and head chef of Attica (which jumped from number 32 to number 20 in the 2018 World’s 50 Best list) sitting a couple of metres away at the bar just sealed the deal! It was really cool to watch such an accomplished chef be so excited about the food, taking photos and posting them to Instagram just like me!
The sommelier, who couldn’t possibly confirm or deny that was Ben Shewry sitting at the bar, then took my night to a whole new level by bringing out a bottle of 2002 Château d’Yguem Sauternes. He thought I might like a glass, on him. I know Sauternes dessert wines are exceptional, so this was a big deal. But it was only upon further research I found out this particular wine is widely regarded as the best Botrytis Semillon in the world. It retails for about $250 for a 375ml bottle and it was like drinking liquid toffee. That’s a pretty damn generous gesture and I’m almost certain it’s because I was a solo diner who was clearly enjoying herself to the max!
The three desserts of caramel sundae, wild strawberries and an orange buttermilk creamsicle (a mix of ice cream and sorbet) served inside a hollowed out orange were all delicious from memory! But by that stage, I was just way too in the moment and happy and yes, a tiny bit tipsy, to take any detailed notes to share with you here – my notes page on my phone finishes with “Antelope Broth”!
With a little dutch courage on board, I made a point of speaking to Ben and Josh as they were chatting at the bar. I dined at Attica in 2013 with my friends Matt and Lauren. We had booked dinner to celebrate mine and Lauren’s birthday and the week after we made our booking, Attica was named for the first time in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants List at number 21, the highest new entry. Attica was my first taste of a world class restaurant, my first time eating perfectly executed conceptual food. It was a nice moment of synchronicity to now be eating at Saison with Ben as a fellow diner. They were both very gracious, Ben taking the time to say goodbye as he left a bit later. After shaking Dominique Crenn’s hand the night before, I was basically in chef fan girl heaven!
A lot has been written about how eye-wateringly expensive Saison is (for a little while, the set menu was priced at $398 per person, but has since dropped to $298). With tax, compulsory gratuity and drinks (even with my very modest budget of $70) my experience at Saison came in at $474USD. That’s $641 Australian dollars. Easily the most expensive meal I’ve ever had. By a long way. By comparison, Reale in Italy, also a 3 Michelin Star restaurant and number 36 on the World’s 50 Best (up from number 43 when I visited last year – yay), came in at $450AUD for the 11 course menu with matched wines. It’s a huge difference – you could also get a room for the night in the gorgeous 16th century monastery at Reale with your leftover change. I’m a bit embarrassed even writing about the cost; it’s hard to justify even when you love food as much as I do. All I can tell you is that I had to look up my credit card statement, only 2 months since I ate there, to check exactly how much it was. I’ve already forgotten the cost, but as I’ve been writing this, I can still feel the texture of that uni and I when I typed the words ‘house-made honey butter’ I could actually taste the sweetness of that smooth, addictive stuff. And, it wasn’t just a great meal, it was a really fun night out which can’t always be said for fine dining. Worth it? Maybe not for some, but just take a look at my face below and you’ll know it was for me!
Beaune is one of those places that just charms your socks off. Gorgeous medieval buildings, cobblestone streets, French accents and every second shop sells wine or food! Especially at night, I felt like I was walking around in one of my favourite movies, Midnight in …
There are a few wine regions that make up California Wine Country, but Napa and Sonoma are the big ticket areas. The Sonoma and Napa Valleys are about 1.5 hours north of San Francisco and are separated by the Mayacamas Mountains. Napa is the glitzy, …
Rome takes a little while to fall in love with. At least it did for me. But once you do, it’s going to be a long term affair. Having now returned to Rome twice in the last two years, I know this trip won’t be my last to the Eternal City.
Rome is a city to be walked. I say that about most places. But the wonder of Rome for me is getting lost in its backstreets. Turning a corner and finding yourself standing in front of a 2000 year old building or walking on streets where the men and women who built society (as we understand it in developed Western worlds) also walked.
Rather than cover the basics (because of course you must go to the Vatican and its museums and the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon and so it goes on) here are a few suggestions for those of you Repeating Rome.
There is a never ending list of attractions and sights and things to do in Rome. If you are that way inclined, you can easily fill up your days and trip after trip with these. For me, Rome is about the little moments of awe. Getting totally lost and rounding a corner to find the Pantheon. Filling your water bottle up at a fountain that is 1500 years old. Walking around the Forum and seeing the literal layers of history (some of the excavated buildings have doors half way up them because that’s the elevation the city was at when the building was erected). It’s also a big, busy, loud and frankly intimidating city sometimes. That’s partly why I get such joy from taking it slowly there. For me, it’s in the slow moments, with the bustle fading into the background, that I find the Rome I love and will continue to return to.
Before I had resigned, before I had booked flights, before I had even actually decided I was going to do any of that, I booked an Airbnb in Marino for the Sagra dell’Uva. I read an article about food and wine festivals in Italy and …
I nearly skipped Ljubljana. I have been avoiding capital cities and Ljubljana really wasn’t on my radar. This is one of those examples where a bit of flex in your itinerary is a very good thing! After a last minute decision to do a hike …
It seemed fitting that I spend my first unemployed Monday doing something that was a big part of me deciding to become unemployed… eating and drinking!
Tipo 00 has been on my “must do” list for far, far too long. I’m embarrassed as a proud Melbournian that yesterday was my first visit. And now I totally regret I didn’t get there sooner and return often because everyone was right – it’s fantastic.
My friend Nicole and I settled in for a long lunch – we have both recently finished work so we were quite delighted about the concept of a long, boozy lunch on a Monday! We started, as we often do, with a glass of NV Borgo Molino ‘Extra Dry’ Prosecco, sitting up at the counter with a great view of the open kitchen. The bar seating is a great option for all those Ones out there – I arrived before Nic and felt really at home sitting up there surrounded by the buzz.
We settled in at a table for two and decided we were going to do it properly by having the Chef’s Menu for $65 per person and a bottle of 2013 Mamete Prevostini ‘Botenero’ Nebbiolo. Our warm and casual, but efficient, waitress explained that we could let her know if we had any particular requests for the selection of starters, pasta and dolce and she would let the chef know. That was a really nice touch, not really a ‘choose your own’ chef’s menu, but definitely open to ideas! We put our wish list in of sardines, snapper spaghettini and I mentioned my ‘not allergic, but really just not that into eggplant’ thing.
To start there was rosemary focaccia, cut from a massive slab of it that sits on the marble kitchen pass ready to be portioned, accompanied by fresh ricotta. Salty, crumbly goodness. Tomato arrancini were old school balls of comfort. Crispy and golden on the outside, with a still bitey, smooth tomato rice mix inside. The sardines made us very happy we will be in Greece in a few weeks and will be eating like this – fresh, simple seafood that stands on its own beautifully, although the baccala and pesto were also welcome.
Then came the ox tongue. This is what I love about Chef’s Menus. Almost every time I order this way, I will end up trying something I would never order off the menu and, more often than not, that results in the discovery of something new that I love. The ox tongue was served warm, shaved very delicately with balsamic vinegar and pink peppercorns. It was silky, but firm enough to bite without texture issues reminding you what you were in fact eating! I’m not sure I would make it my new go to entrée order, but I really enjoyed it. And I like the feeling of being pushed out of my eating comfort zone.
I was so excited about the main event, the pasta. I would eat pasta every day if the side effects wouldn’t require a whole new wardrobe – I love it. The spaghettini came with a silky, generous saffron, fennel and butter sauce and had small fillet of snapper, with golden crispy skin to break up through the pasta. Sunshine on a grey Melbourne day. I rarely order gnocchi, it can so often be cloying and heavy. Not here. Pillows of potato gnocchi were smothered in a rich, wintery, tomato ragu with chunks of breaking apart, slow cooked beef and some wilted spinach for good measure. It came out with lashings of pecorni on top. Joy, pure joy. All it needed was an open fire and a decent storm outside.
A well-timed break followed to get our dessert stomachs ready. And then we proceeded to eat what my non-dessert-loving friend decided on the spot is the best dessert she’s ever eaten. For the last 8 years, the deconstructed Snickers at Taxi held that honour. Its rein was over. The Tipomisu was also a deconstruction concept – a hollowed out brownie, filled with a marscapone mix and topped with a lid of dark chocolate. But that sauce. Poured on hot at the table, it was caramel, espresso, chocolate and salt and somehow was not too sweet. The salt and coffee and dark chocolate ensured what could have been oversweet, sickliness was instead dessert perfection. Even if you don’t normally do dessert, do this. The pannacotta was also delicious, but frankly, there was no way it could compete with the Tipomisu!
As the busy city worker lunch rush died off and the crowd thinned out, people walked in off the street and managed to get a table without a booking from about 2.30pm. The tables surrounding us were taken by a young Italian pair who had only two days in Melbourne and two men speaking Italian who occasionally broke into English in broad Australian accents. We know this because the Italians spoke to one of the men, complimented him on his Italian and asked for a recommendation of where to go next for a drink. He recommended Siglo, we concurred. Another pair came in wearing beanies, hoodies and tracksuit pants – the staff didn’t bat an eyelid. I really enjoyed the fact we were sitting at a restaurant that came in at number 7 on the Australian Financial Review’s Top 100 restaurants list, but you could have a bowl of pasta and a glass of wine for not much over $30 if you wanted and it was accessible enough people can still walk in and get a meal without a booking (granted, it was a Monday lunchtime, but still)! Two and a half hours later, we left Tipo 00 as massive fans, certain to be repeat diners, although we probably won`t be in tracksuit pants!
So, you’ve been brave enough to head out into the world (or the next suburb), with just your own excellent self for company. Firstly, good call! There’s no need to wait for someone else to show up to start exploring. But what about eating out? If you’re …