Monday 7 June 2021

IDES - Collingwood

As part of our sister birthday celebrations, I took Quynh to IDES this year to celebrate her 25th birthday (back in March). Upon arriving we already encountered our first mishap, we had forgotten to make a reservation. As a 36-seater fine dining restaurant who require reservations months in advance, it was by some miracle they managed to fit us in. Thank-you IDES!!! 

We were seated outside which honestly did not detract from the experience and bonus points for amazing natural lighting! The birthday girl had the matching wine menu to pair with the tasting menu for an additional $80.

March 2021 Menu

We were given some bubbly for Quynh's birthday and had absolutely zero idea that the centrepiece was actually our first course. Upon the lifting the lid due to curiosity we realised that it was our first course of the night. The Maple Tart with cashew nuts and blue cheese was beautifully dainty and a delicious bite of food. 


So pretty!


Avocado Nori Wrap. The pops of fingerlime worked so well with these flavours.  

Soft 










Quail Egg with pork broth. The yuzu on the egg gave it a citrusy flavour and the broth was so clean and refreshing. 

Black Mussel with parsley & nigella seeds.

Cross section of the mussell!

Sweetbreads with fennell mustard. Veal sweetbread that was surprisingly yummy! Always mind over matter...

Sesame Sourdough with peanut butter. This replaced the traditional bread and butter you get an fine dining places. I am not the biggest peanut butter fan but it was very smilky smooth.

Rock Oyster with salami vinagrette. So beautifully savoury. This was an extra course for an additional $8 pp.

So pretty when served all together

Salt Baked Abalone with miso. Lovely chunks of abalone in a creamy sauce. This was an extra course for an additional $15 pp.

Smoked Scallop with tomato & endive. Such a dainty dish and the sweet scallops paired perfectly with the slightly bitter endive.

Steamed Marron with shitake & nori. Always fun to eat marron and it was paired with creamed corn on shiitake which was delish. 

Barbequed Pork Loin with braised pepitas. Nice crunch.

We got moved inside for dessert which was great timing as it was getting dark outside. The ambience was great inside with pretty decent lighting. We started our dessert courses with Australia with dark chocolate & pineapple. Always a fan of the snow ice.

Vanilla Toffee with quandong. 

Of course we had to get The Black Box with blueberries & elderflower. This was an extra course for an additional $25 pp. Made famous by Peter Gunn on Masterchef, it was honestly so surreal seeing it in front of us. The tiny steel hammer was honestly so cute. It was super fun and interactive getting to smash the Black Box and it was like a box of goodies inside. The components literally melted in my mouth and the tempered chocolate had such a great snap to it.

Absolutely gorgeous

Birthday treat! What a sweet way to end the night.

Just wanted to thank IDES again for being so accommodating and making this birthday dinner one to remember. The food was amazing and our waitstaff were patient and knowledgable. The paired drinks were great. It was so lovely to see how bustling the restaurant was. The total bill came up to $425 (for 2 peole) which is on the pricier side of degustation courses in Melbourne.

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