Launch Event @ Hellenic Republic for George Calombaris' new book GREEK

I was invited to the official launch of George Calombaris' new book GREEK last Thursday night.

The usually busy restaurant was packed to the rafters with George's family, friends and colleagues (Gary! Masterchef Family!).    

The foreword of the book was written by none other than Heston Blumental, who made a lovely and funny speech about their friendship.  I didn't get to meet him but it was pretty cool listening to him talk. 

George made a thanking his family and friends. He has remained super busy since Masterchef wrapped for the year and it's so nice to see how down to Earth he is despite his maga stardom these days.

A highlight was an amazing wall designed by the wonderfully talented Alexis Petsinis.  The brightly coloured mural was meticulously decorated with lemons, oranges, meringues, pistachios, and musk sticks, and was a whimsical montage of some of the key ingredients used in the new cook book.  Kudos to the effort that would've taken to put this beautiful creation together!

Of course it would not be an event at Hellenic Republic without some awesome food.  We had the opportunity to munch on some marvelous treats during the event.  My favourite is still the "Jimmy's Dimmies"!

As for the book, GREEK gives you some of George's best Greek recipe to be made at home, and he is proud of his heritage and the input that he's had from his family and friends over the years.  As with all of his other cookbooks, the photos are colourful and instructions easy to follow.  I love the super eye-catching yellow of the cover on this one!

Disclaimer : Eat.Play.Shop. attended the book launch for GREEK by invitation of Made Establishment and Hellenic Republic.  Opinions are my own.

David Tsirekas Dinner @ Hellenic Republic Kew

26 Cotham Rd, Kew ph  (03)  9207 7477

I was very fortunate to be invited to the special David Tsirekas event a Hellenic Republic Kew a few weeks back.  The Hellenic Republic restaurants are a favourite of mine, since I love the inventive twists to Greek food they come up with, and they are a very kid-friendly group of eateries in general.  

The room was packed to the rafters with guests.  After everyone was seated, a curtain pulled back to reveal an open kitchen, where George Calombaris, David Tsirekas, Travis McAuley (executive chef, Hellenic Republic), Arron Lynch (head chef Hellenic Republic) and Alex Xinis (head chef, Hellenic Kew) worked their magic preparing dishes under the fascinated eyes of their captive dinning audience.  

David (of Perama and Xanthi) from Sydney is a friend of George Calombaris and their easy camaraderie was sweet and clearly reflected their respect for each other's skills, and the opportunity to hear David's tales of his experiences was both heartwarming and fascinating. 

I was expecting a 4 course dinner, but in fact it was a 4 part dinner with 13 different dishes, each one created by one of the chefs.  The dishes were wonderful fusion dishes merging Greek origins with interesting new elements, some with surprising combinations, some with a touch of whimsy, but all with great thought and amazing execution.

Mezethes

We started with David's Tarama churros, latholemono, a savoury churro, a fabulous Greek take on the Spanish "donut".

The Smoked bone marrow, beetroot, feta, horseradish by George was probably my favourite dish of the night.  I love marrow, but this dish took it to the next level with its amazing flavour as well as it's pretty-as-a-picture presentation.  The chefs joked about the amount of work it took to clean and prepare the marrow and bones, and I am sure it's absolutely no joke!

The Ouzo cured ocean trout, Jerusalem artichoke, cucumber by Arron Lynch  was another beautifully presented dish.  I don't love ouzo but what it does for the trout is pretty awesome.

The Sheftalies, tahini yoghurt, caper leaves by Travis was more of what I usually expect of Greek food.  The meat was perfectly cooked and the yoghurt gave it the tang that elevated this dish to sensational.

The kefalograviera saganaki by Alex Xinis was a wonderful version of the traditional dish.  I love, love, love those caramelised grapes!

Psari

We watched the chefs dish up the Seafood kokoretsi, skordalia by David Tsirekas with fascination.  In essence a seafood filled roll with a crispy pastry, the crunchy outer shell contrasted wonderfully with the delicious and luscious seafood it encapsulated.

George Calombaris' Tartare of tuna with all its frills, prawn crackers was a fun dish clearly coming from the cheeky side of the chef.  The individual components of the tartare was served up separately with a bag of prawn crackers, and once mixed you eat it in the cracker.  It got all the guests at our table talking and giggling like kids.

I loved Alex Xinis' Melitzanosalata - I love eggplant in general, and the dish really showcased the fabulous versatility in texture and tastes you get get with the humble eggplant.

Kreatika

Each of the dishes were shared by 4 of us at the table, but by this stage I was honestly wondering how I would be able to finish all the food that were to come.  The duck and quince by David Tsirekas made it easy for me to "exercise"..... my ability to stretch my stomach to accommodate more food!  The sweet and tangy sauce perfectly balanced the duck meat that had been cooked to perfection.

The wagyu tongue and flat iron kalamaki by Tavis McAuley was grilled nicely and full of flavour, not your average meat on a skewer!

And then came Arron Lynch's Lahanosalata.  I am a big kid and I never liked Brussels sprouts, but these were so delicious that I have been ordering sprouts more and more when I go out (next step is learning how to cook it so that it's THIS flavoursome!)  The salad could easily be eaten as a meal itself.

Glyka

No meal is complete without sweets for me!  David's Touloumba, warm rosewater custard, honeyed walnuts was a traditional and comforting dessert with a lovely custard....

....whilst the "Magnamopolous" - Greek yoghurt ice cream, caramelia, mastic, fruit was another one of George's marvellously fun creations, a tilt of the hat to Australia's favourite Magnum, with a slap of Greek pride and a wonderful tangy twist with the use of frozen yoghurt and fruit.

The dinner costs diners $95 per head for the night, and even though I was there by invitation, we all agreed that for that amount of high quality food and free flowing drinks and ouzo, the meal was definitely value for money.  My kidlets love George's cook book for kids and I bought a signed copy to surprise them in the morning.  They ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the photos of the food I had and I had to promise to bring them back soon for another meal, and of course they were jealous of my photo with George, haha.

Filming for Masterchef had just concluded and we were all amazed at the amount of energy George has, as he had a packed international schedule on top of organising this top notch dinner.  I will have to organise to come with Hubby the next time as I have no doubt he would enjoy a similar great night out. 

Disclaimer : Eat.Play.Shop. attended the David Tsirekas dinner by invitation of Made Establishment and Hellenic Kew.  Opinions are my own.

Shop. and Eat. @ Emporium Melbourne (Part 2)

287 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne CBD 3000
Website for latest news : http://www.emporiummelbourne.com.au/
Check out Part 1 of this post here.

The Mykids Emporium opened last weekend on the 4th floor of the Emporium Melbourne.  Myers has moved its toys and children's wear department, as well as Men's Casual Wear and Luggage departments into this large open space.  It reminded me a little bit of the toy department back in the day when I was little, and I would have to "patiently" go through each level of the department store with my parents until we hit the top floor of the old Myer Store where the toy department was located! 

 It's just an escalator ride up from the food court on Level 3.

The big difference of course is that there are now so many different and varied toys available!  Myer has set up little play areas throughout the level to let children have some hands on fun with some of the toys.  To the delight of my children this meant that they got to spend quite a bit of time checking out all the toys!  My afternoon was full of exclamations from my very excitable trio of kids.

"Here's Emmet!"

"And Wyldstyle!"

And a duplo wall that entertained Bubs for ages.  You'd think we don't have any duplo at home.......

I was quite impressed with the model of Luna Park made with Lego.

Iron Man was there striking a pose.

Thomas and Percy were there.  Thomas had about 15 kids hanging off him so I took a picture of quiet little Percy. The Thomas toys have always been a massive draw for Bubs and this was no exception.

There were a couple of Little Tikes playhouses as well as their infamous little cars to entertain the toddlers. These were bolted to the ground when we were there, which is not a bad idea as I can't help envisioning the possible motor vehicle accidents and subsequent TAC claims.

Rainbow Dash was there.

And so was Lalaloopsy and a massive wall of all its different curly hair and detachable body bits incarnations. (At this angle all you can see are the Monster High dolls though, of which I am not a huge fan)

And next to that was a big screen TV (with a couch, which I took unabashed advantage of to have a rest) showing an endless loop of the latest Barbie movies.

There's also one of the biggest selection of Playmobil sets I have seen in Melbourne. I love Playmobil!

To my delight I found that Fisher Price has remade some of its classic toys. You're probably thinking that I know way too much about toys.  I'm sure Hubby often thinks that I buy toys for my own excitement rather than for the kids!  (I'm no Will Farrell but seriously hands off my minifig display case!)

We spent most of the afternoon here and by the time we left we were too lazy to walk far for dinner, and ended up having a bit of an "international buffet" of sorts by getting different dishes from the various vendors in the food court.   

We ordered some Parmasen Truffled Fries from Charlie & Co. Burgers.  ($4.9)  We had loved them and couldn't get enough when we tried them at the Sydney Westfield foodcourt (they serve a bigger bowl there for $8).  We've had these a couple of times here since they've opened but have found that somehow these seem less "truffle-y" and "parmasen-y" than the ones from the North.  Hopefully this will improve with time!

Hubby had the Bonezilla from Jimmy Grants ($9), as we hadn't tried that on our previous visit to their Fitzroy Store. 

Happy to report that this was just as awesome as the other ones!

And I acutally preferred their Chips with garlic oil, feta and oregano ($7).  

The kids wanted spaghetti and pizza so we ordered from Bar Napoli which has opened up in the same area, and the chef there cooks to order.

Thumbs up for the chef!

The Spaghetti Bolognaise ($12) was very pleasant.  Hubby felt it could probably do with a little bit more salt but the kids didn't mind and gobbled it all up, loving the generous amount of cheese on top.

The Margherita Pizza ($12) was very tasty in its simplicity, as it should.

As if Greek and Italian weren't enough, I had a hankering for sushi, probably because I had spotted the sushi train going around at Sushi Hon.  

By the time I got there the train had finished, so I got a sushi platter ($12) which helped me fulfill my hankering for aburi salmon, although it probably would've tasted even nicer fresh!

Macaron Monster had been asking for milk teas from Chatime everytime we've been out.  My last Chatime Milktea was way too sweet so this time we had them with 50% less sugar and 50% less ice and they turned out perfectly refreshing!

Earlier on in the day we had popped down to Tutti Frutti for some frozen yoghurt as they had an opening special with 50% off then normal price of $2.60/100g.  We tried the green apple, coconut and the salted caramel flavours which were all quite pleasant.

I of course added lots of pearls (they had pomegranate ones!) and some coconut jelly, and quite liked the little bits of mochi as a topping.

I'm looking forward to our next visit to the Emporium as more shops open over the next few months!