Eat. @ Albert Street Food and Wine

382 Sydney Rd, Brunswick 3056 ph (03) 8354 6600

I am very fortunate to have made some really great friends from Mini Me's kinder group, and even though it's been a few years since kinder, we still try to get out to dinner at least once a school term.  For our recent gathering we dined at Albert St Food and Wine, as suggested by my friend Tepid Duck.  (That's right, no kids and no Hubby!) This gem of a restaurant, overseen by executive chef Philipa Sibley, boasts a great menu utilising excellent quality local produce, a wide ranging wine list, and a store which sells some of their favourite products as well as their own creations. 

The restaurant was buzzing with diners when we arrived at 7pm on a Tuesday evening.  The atmosphere was classy yet casual.  The lighting was dim, which added to the ambiance, even though it was of course not so good for my picture taking, as you can see.  It made for the start of a lovely evening.

The other girls shared a carafe of their wine ($35) while non-drinker little ol' me asked for something non-alcoholic.  Our waitress was great and organised a ginger beer mocktail with the the bartender (a virgin mojito I think?) for me which was a great drink.   In fact I had two!

We had decided to share, and therefore have the opportunity to try a whole lot of dishes that night.  While waiting we munched on some of their lovely bread and dip.

We started off with the Grilled Haloumi and pickled zucchini ($14).  This was delicious, the haloumi was beautifully textured and less salty than what I'm used to.  We all agreed that the pickled zucchini was a great addition to the haloumi, and you can actually buy jars of this in the "store" section of the restaurant.

The next dish was Olives & bocconcini, pesto Genovese and ciabatta ($14).  I used to have an intense dislike for olives when I was younger but somehow my palate did a 180 when I was pregnant with Bubs.  I loved the saltiness of the olives and the silky smoothness of the little bocconcini.

The Smoked salmon rillettes, avocado & cucumber salad, rye toast ($19) was an interesting contrast of cruchy bread with the delicate shredded fish.

From the grill we tried the Smoked sardines on grilled bread, capers, currants, pinenuts ($15).  The lovely bitey sardines on crunchy bread was a great combination.  A squirt of lemon juice brought extra freshness.

The Pizza Bianca – garlic, rosemary, parmesan, ($14) was beautiful in its simplicity. 

My favourite savoury dish of the night however, was the Spanner Crab Risotto, with pine mushrooms and chestnuts. ($26)  Risottos can often taste very similar even with different ingredients but this one was flavoursome and distinct.  I think I could've eaten the whole plate! (I probably had more than my fair share, sorry girls!)

We were surprisingly full by this time but could not go past the wonderful desserts.  Originally we were going to order 2 to share, but ended up with 3 as they all sounded so tempting!  First up a slice of Meyer Lemon Tart ($14).  An excellent lemon tart, with thin crust (just the way I like) and a smooth lemon curd filling.

The Poire Belle Hélène is traditionally a dessert made from a poached pear, served with chocolate syrup and  vanilla ice-cream.  Albert St's version ($17) delivered a twist in the form of a chocolate fondant with a flowing center.  Oh the indulgence!  It was gorgeous.

My favourite dessert of the night was the Quince, ginger breadcrumbs, and preserved lemon ice cream ($16).  Oh I loved everything about this! Having never tried preserved lemon in ice-cream before, this was a refreshing experience.  The crunchy bits of gingerbread left me wanting more!

I had a fab dinner at Albert St Food and Wine.  Lovely company, great staff, fabulous food and atmosphere.  A wonderful place for a catch up and I'm envious of the locals!  I wouldn't take young children here, but I think older children would quite enjoy the experience, and I saw a family with a couple of children aged about 10 who looked to have had a lovely dinner.  We ended the meal with a browse of the goodies in the store.  I will definitely have to bring Hubby back since he missed out!

Eat.Play.Shop. says - Simple, lovely, fresh dishes using local produce in a trendy restaurant, with goodies to shop for afterwards.  What's not to like? 

Sweet & Sticky Event @ Brunetti Carlton (Melbourne Food & Wine Festival)

March is a fabulous month for the food and wine lovers of Melbourne, as it's the annual Melbourne Food and Wine Festival (MFWF).  It is truly amazing how many restaurants, providores and producers are involved in this event, pulling out all the tricks in their bags to showcase their goodies.  Masterclasses, Pop-Up bars and express lunches are just some of the events that are on offer this year, which runs from March 2nd to 21st.  With 3 kids it is difficult for us to attend many of these excellent opportunities to challenge our taste buds, but when an opportunity came up for us to attend the Sweet & Sticky Event hosted by Buller Wines at Brunetti in Carlton, Hubby graciously looked after the kids while I attended with my soon-to-be-sister-in-law.  

The chocolate fondue on arrival!

And what a cool event to attend!  In essence it is a wine and chocolate tasting masterclass, with experts "walking" us through 8 aged fortified wines matched with 8 delectable hand-made chocolates/desserts.  Buller Wines is a fourth generation family winery in Rutherglen, Victoria, and Richard, Mica, Susan and Angela host the informative evening in a casual and relaxed setting.  Those who know me (or have followed my blog) will know of my lack of experience and tolerance for any significant amount of alcohol, but even for such a novice as myself, the evening was very interesting and easy to follow.   

Richard Buller is a well travelled and extremely knowledgeable Winemaker, who is a fountain of information with his extensive  experience in wine including "having grown up drinking it all his life".  Mica Benito is a passionate Chocolatier who has been in the industry for 13 years.  She hand-makes all the chocolates and ice-creams that are matched with the wines on the evening and has taken my chocolate appreciation to another level.

Richard talking us through the wine-tasting.

I quite enjoyed the sweetness of the wines, my favourite being the Vintage Port.  Despite knowing I had 5 more wines to taste I finished this one off!  It was also paired with my favourite chocolate, which is the 70% Dark Chocolate from Ecuador.  Mica's other creations ranged from oh-so-smooth vanilla caramels, to truffles and chocolate with liqueur laced fillings, but something about this combination really hit the spot for me.

One of the highlights for me was experiencing the Rare Tokay poured over hand-made vanilla bean ice-cream.  A very grown up treat for sure!

There are still 2 more sessions of the Sweet & Sticky Event during this year's Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.  Tickets are $65 per person and includes all the wines and chocolates during the tasting, as well as a chocolate fondue on arrival, and some savoury treats during the break (to help me soak up some of my poor alcohol tolerance!)  I had a great time trying all the wines and chocolates with my (nearly!) sis-in-law.  Hopefully as the kids get older, getting baby-sitting will get easier and Hubby can come along next year!

Tickets to the event can be purchased from here.

Check out Buller Wines on their website.

And of course Brunetti Cafe's webpage - I found out they're moving back to the their original site, which is where Borders used to be!

And finally if you're wondering what it's like taking kids to Brunetti, here's my previous post on Brunetti @ Myer

Disclaimer - My guest and I attended the Sweet & Sticky Even compliment of Brunetti Cafe