48H Pizza & Gnocchi Bar

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Recently Davin and I were invited by the lovely owners of 48H, Fabio and Michele, to a complimentary Italian culinary experience. They proudly claim to be Melbourne’s first ever pizza and gnocchi bar and so we were quite excited to check it out.

Although this was a sponsored dinner, we reminded ourselves that we had to be honest with our thoughts on our experience. And of course we wanted to share this experience with you too!

Upon arrival, we were greeted warmly by Fabio, who shook both of our hands and welcomed us inside. The restaurant itself was lovely, with the rustic brick walls, wooden tables and a touch of modern lighting. It wasn’t too big of a restaurant so it gave you that cozy feel which we immediately liked.

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Fabio gave us their menu and took his time talking us through all their dishes. He provided some recommendations then asked us if we were interested in trying anything in particular or if we were happy for them to decide on the dishes they wanted to serve us. We were more than happy for them to run with it as we were open to anything and everything!

He started off by pouring us some bubbles, their NV Prosecco ‘Tasi’ DOC imported from Veneto, Italy. Now I don’t normally drink sparkling white wine but this was exceptional. It was crisp and refreshing and actually went very well with the meal. They were very generous throughout the whole night with the pouring.

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The first dish served was the salmon marinated for 48 hours and served with butter, black salt and herbs. It came with fresh, warm homemade bread. It was a lovely a dish and the olive oil that the salmon was marinated in was smooth and luscious, you could have plenty of it! The salmon portions was presented in a cute jar and was also very generous.

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Next up was their potato activated charcoal gnocchi in gorgonzola (blue vein cheese) sauce, radicchio and vin cotto. Oh my gosh this dish was amazing! Those that know me know that I love all cheeses especially blue cheese. This sauce was made to perfection. You could really taste the blue vein but at the same time it was not too intrusive. The charcoal black gnocchi was also so soft, light and fluffy. It did not feel heavy at all and you could eat lots of it!

Fabio explained that all their gnocchi is made with gluten free flour which makes them lighter and easier to digest. You could really taste and feel this when you’re eating it. The only thing I would have to say is that the presentation could probably have been a bit better. But I cannot fault the dish.

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We were then served one of their pizzas – the Lipari which consisted of Sicilian cherry tomato sauce, prawns, caper berries and organic oregano. Again this was an amazing dish and Davin’s favourite. The lightness and sweetness of the cherry tomato sauce combined with the perfectly cooked prawns and the thin and light pizza crust was a match made in heaven.

The pizza dough is where their 48H ethos comes in because they make sure that the dough is leavened for at least 48 hours to ensure that the pizza is light and aromatic. Again, you could really taste this.

Finally dessert was a twist of the traditional panna cotta where just the fatty part of the milk was used to create the dish. With the addition of blood orange syrup for sweetness, it made it a very interesting dessert.

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Throughout the meal, Michele who is the chef, also often came out to happily talk with us about his dishes and the fresh produce he uses to maintain the high quality of the food. You can tell that both Michele and Fabio are so very passionate about their food.

Even though we expected the great service they provided because after all, we were invited, we did quietly observe around the restaurant and saw that they were also treating their customers around us with just as much care and respect. They seemed to be attentive, chatty and warm and welcoming to everyone which was a good sign.

Overall, it was an amazing experience. We really enjoyed Fabio and Michele’s hospitality and would definitely recommend 48h to others. Although the presentation of the dishes is probably not up to the level of other high quality restaurants, the food itself was top quality, fresh and tasty. So if you’re ever in the mood for some Italian, do check them out!

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48H Pizza & Gnocchi Bar
Approx $40 AUD per person
Website: www.48h.com.au
Address: 373 Malvern Rd, South Yarra VIC 3141
Phone:+61 3 9824 2573

48H Pizza & Gnocchi Bar Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Jimmy and the Wolf Head East

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Helen and I were invited to a ‘Beergustation’ dinner at Orient East. This event was named Jimmy and the Wolf Head East. The event consists of an eight course dinner with beer pairings from two breweries, Wolf of the Willows & Brewcult. Their marketing team emailed us and asked if we wanted to come. Even though we’re not huge beer drinkers, we were happy to attend!

(Note: this event was not sponsored, so we did have to pay $65 per person just like everyone else).

Orient East is attached to a hotel. Now restaurants attached to flashy hotels are quite a big thing in Asia and Europe. They are seen as more prestigious and generally offer decent food. Unfortunately in Australia, restaurants attached to nice hotels don’t seem to have the same stigma. We were eager to see if Orient East fell into this same category.

We got there and I must say things weren’t off to a good start at all. They didn’t have our booking! How they can offer us an invitation but not even have our names on the booking is mind boggling. Later they told us that they outsource their marketing to a third party company so there must have been some communication breakdown. All is forgiven as everyone makes mistakes and they did provide good service.

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When we were finally settled, we waited a few more minutes for others to join us in the event and we were off! There was a sheet of all the dishes and beers for the night. The menu looked very appetizing indeed and we were mildly excited. I won’t go through all the courses in detail as I don’t want to bore you, however I will make a mention of some of the dishes we really enjoyed.

I was initially a bit concerned as I was worried that since it was Asian fusion and a beer event, that they would tailor the food more towards Caucasians. The fact that they served ox tongue as the second course definitely proved otherwise whilst also earning my respect. This is a very brave dish to serve, and shows that they are willing to venture out to what most would consider ‘the norm’. It certainly tasted better than it looked. The ox tongue was soft and succulent, flavours were spot on. I haven’t had some good ox tongue in a while, this dish was well executed. Other stand out dishes include the golden sand chicken wings and the lamb ribs.

P1020401Ox tongue with miso mushroom and black pepper praline

P1020433Lamb ribs – Szechuan rub and 5-spice shaobing biscuit

They certainly left the best dish to last though! The dessert was a doughnut with salted duck egg yolk custard. We saw this on the menu and was thinking to ourselves that the ingredients sound like a recipe for disaster. After we took our first bite, Helen and I just looked at each other with our eyes wide open! This could possibly be one of the best desserts we’ve ever had. It’s funny cause we’ve eaten at numerous hatted and Michelin star restaurants overseas, but we were blown away by this dessert because it’s seriously right up there. It had a tinge of saltiness and wasn’t overly sweet at all. It had a golden crispy outer layer and piping hot egg custard oozing out from the inside. My only regret was that the waitress said that all these dishes were a one off for this special event, therefore I am saddened by the fact that I will never get to eat this dessert again. I really wanted to take mum here to try it too.

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Beers were spectacular. These craft beers are certainly different from the mainstream stuff. Hearing the guys from Brewcult talk about each of their beers so passionately was a great experience. They explained what tastes to look for and even serving temperatures. Even though we are both primarily wine and whiskey drinkers, we really enjoyed the beers. They were also extremely generous with the portions.

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If any of you guys were wanting to taste some nice Asian fusion food, I’d highly recommend Orient East. Even though you won’t get to order the same dishes we had for this event, I’m sure they’ll produce high quality foods for their normal dinner seatings. Alternatively keep an eye out for their next food event and we may even see you there!

Orient East
Approx $40 AUD per person
Website: http://www.orienteast.com.au/
Address: 348 St Kilda Road, Melbourne VIC 3004
Phone:+61 3 9685 2900

Orient East Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Tommy Ruff Fish Bar

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Finding a good fish and chips joint can be hard especially if you’re looking for something different and not the usual deep fried stuff that most offer. However we were recently pleasantly surprised when we came across a place that not only avoided frying all their produce, but cooked and presented it more naturally with almost a certain respect.

Tommy Ruff, located in Elsternwick (there is also one in Mordialloc) is owned by John Stamoulis and Helen Stamoulis who has been specialising in gourmet fish and chips for quite a while. Just to give you a bit of background, John’s father, Ipocrates Stamoulis was born on the island of Samos, in the Aegean sea and after migrating to Australia in the 1950s he worked in the seafood industry and then took ownership of his first fish and chips shop in 1969. Inspired by his father, John decided to enter the fish and chips business himself but with a gourmet twist and emphasis on displaying the beautiful produce he has to offer. He has since changed the traditional fish and chips view to a focus on flavour, health and quality produce.

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The restaurant itself has a modern, casual and bright beach, fun feel to it with sea decorations wherever possible from fishing nets and fishing rods scattered along the walls, to newspaper clippings made into wallpaper – even the water jug was a large ceramic fish with its mouth as the opening for water!

Continuing with the nautical theme, the menus are available on the table and are blue themed, offering quite a variety of different seafood dishes to choose from. Having been a few times now we have tried a number of dishes so lets talk about them!

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We have had the seafood chowder a couple of times now as a starter which consists of fish, prawns and mussels with warmly toasted bread for dipping. It also has a potato like consistency offering it a bit of thickness expected in a chowder. It is quite a large serving but quite hearty and tasty so you’ll easily gobble it all up!

Tommy’s tacos (fish or prawns), which come with Mexican salsa and slaw is also very nice with fresh tasting ingredients and also good for a starter. We have also ordered the vinaigrette oysters which I thoroughly enjoyed – their special vinaigrette sauce has the perfect tang and gets you ready for the mains!

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I highly recommend the Chef’s seafood platter if you’re not sure what to order because the huge platter offers a bit of everything for a first timer. It includes the Tommy’s tacos, oysters, about 3 different grilled fishes, prawns, scallops, calamari and chips. The seafood is mostly grilled and not fried which is what we love about it and the produce is fresh! It is also not over flavoured with too much seasoning or sauces, allowing you to really taste the natural freshness of the seafood. However it is definitely not plain tasting either so I think the flavours have been balanced well.

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I was also a big fan of the salmon burger which consisted of a lovely grilled salmon fillet with salad, lemon and dill sauce. With such simple, fresh ingredients, allowing the combination of natural flavours, it was a really enjoyable burger! I can’t also forget to mention the chips as they were of real high quality, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

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If you’re not too hungry for the seafood platter, you can also order one of their many grilled fish combos with chips and salad or rice and salad.

Overall, if you’re looking for something different from the usual fish and chips you are used to, do check out Tommy Ruff as they offer high quality seafood, presented very nicely. For the top quality produce and presentation, the prices are also very reasonable!

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Tommy Ruff Fish Bar
Approx $30 AUD per person
(does not include the Chef’s seafood platter for 2 which is $72)
Website: http://www.tommyruff.com.au/
Address: 1/3 Carre St, Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone:+61 3 9077 8815

Tommy Ruff Fish Bar Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Santorini, Greece

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When we first landed at Santorini airport and jumped into a taxi to head towards our hotel, we were starting to wonder if we had made the right choice with visiting this famous island. Our initial observations from the airport to the hotel was that the surroundings looked barren, dry and hilly. We were worried.

But after we settled into our lovely hotel and took a walk up the hilly roads to discover the white washed buildings overlooking the bluest of waters, our worries quickly disappeared. The scenery was not like the photos we had seen.. it was way better!

Santorini is probably the most famous and popular Greek island out of all the islands in the Aegean Sea and is about an hour’s flight from Athens. Our hotel was located in Fira and only a few minutes walking distance from the water. We found that getting around to all the recommended destinations was quite easy as they had regular buses that could take you all over the island. Getting from one end of the island to the other by bus only takes about one hour so we utilised the buses regularly to explore as much as we could over the few days we had. Oia, famous for their white washed buildings and blue roofs were just like out of a postcard.

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However let’s not forget to talk about the food. The seafood in Santorini was the freshest of the fresh and cooked so simply with just light flavours so that you can really taste the natural goodness of the produce. We had the most awesome seafood platter at Volcano Blue restaurant and the best fish soup we’ve had to date. In fact it was so good that we came back the next day to have more. The seafood platter had everything we could ask for and it was all simply grilled – none of that fried stuff! It came with a light lemon dipping sauce to accentuate the natural flavours and we thoroughly enjoyed it with some cocktails.

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We also went to Lucky’s Souvlakis which was a small shabby looking place on the outside but was so packed with people and buzzing inside, all enjoying their famous gyros and souvlakis while sitting on stools along their long counter. There’s probably only enough room for about 10 – 15 people inside but that didn’t stop people like us from pouring in! We enjoyed our pork gyros souvlakis with some chips and a nice cold beer.

The gyros was cooked in front of you on the rotisserie and their pita bread was warmly toasted giving you that crispy texture. With the addition of lettuce, onions, tomatoes and chips loaded inside the bread, you got that extra crunch and burst of flavours from the gyros and tzatziki.

Verdict? A pretty high quality and tasty souvlaki! It was also really cheap and so is a great place for a pit stop for a quick lunch or late night dinner! I also can’t forget to mention the lovely service we received from the friendly and warm staff. The family who worked there looked like they were truly enjoying what they were doing.

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Santorini are known for their beautiful beaches and boy were there many to choose from! Not only do they have the usual white beaches which are probably not so different back at home, but they are known for their famous Red beach and Black beaches which are coloured from the red and black volcanic pebbles.

And so we visited one of their black beaches, Perissa beach, about 15 km south of Fira and easily accessible by taking one of the buses, known for its black sand and the massive Mesa Vouno rock which rises high in the distance. It had an abundance of sun lounge chairs and straw umbrellas. We lazed around with our cocktails for a good few hours and took in the tranquility and crystalline water.

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But my absolute FAVOURITE beach and place in Santorini was the Red beach. The Red beach is probably the most famous and beautiful beaches in Santorini and is only a walk away from ancient ruins site of Akrotiri. This beach also makes you work a little harder before you see its beauty because you do have to walk along a rocky and steep path, up a cliff and back down again before you reach it. For someone as clumsy as myself, I was being extra careful not to slip and topple over!

When we got to the top and looking point of the cliff we were able to admire the stunning scenery of the beach. The beautiful red landscape of the volcanic rocks enclosed around this small and intimate beach was breathtaking. It gave us the motivation to keep walking so that we could get to our destination! As we gradually made our way down to the beach there were many sun lounges and umbrellas to choose from in which you pay a small fee to rent for the day.  We sunscreened up, dropped our belongings and jumped into the beautiful blue waters.

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Overall, I have to say that Santorini was probably one of my favourite places on this Europe trip and I would definitely revisit. Not only was the food amazing and the scenery was stunning, the people there were so lovely and warm. It was also one of those places where we didn’t have to rush around in a bustling city and we were about to take our time, relax and just soak up the atmosphere. The weather was definitely beyond warm, it was hot! But even more of an excuse to take a dip in their crystal blue waters.

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Restaurants

Volcano Blue
Website: volcanoblue.gr
Donkey street, Fira, Santorini, Greece
Phone: +30 2286 022850

Lucky’s Souvlakis
Dekigala, Fira 847 00, Greece