Copper Pot - Seddon

A couple months ago when restrictions lifted (mid-June), we pounced on the opportunity to dine out somewhere fancy-ish, I guess, for Julie's birthday. To be honest, we wanted an excuse to glam it up a bit and eat delicious food that was meticulously prepared for us, not that there is anything wrong with good old-fashioned home cooking. After a couple stressful days of scrambling to get a Friday dinner reservation, we were successfully booked in with Copper Pot Seddon. I was actually pretty happy for the hospo industry that people were flocking to dine out again and filling up their tables.

A Road Trip to France 

It seems like they may have a different menu every couple months. When we went in mid-June, we got to experience A Road Trip to France. 5 French style set courses for $70.

First course!

We started with the Jerusalem Artichoke soup, black truffle, Parmesan doughnuts. We were given an option for extra truffle shavings for an additional $5 per person but since the other 2 girls had never had truffle before, we decided to go against it. Regrettably I should have opted for this but the truffle sprinkled over still provided that lovely earthy tone you can only get from truffles. We all agreed the consistency of the soup was fantastic and paired well with the crunchy artichoke. The Parmesan doughnuts were similar to chinese doughnuts that you eat with congee. This dish was surprisingly very generous in serving for an appetiser course.

2nd Course!

Garlic Foccacia

Next was the Charcuterie, Chicken parfait, pork & duck rillette, salami and pickles. This came with a garlic foccacia which was hands down the stand alone winner of this course. The bread was the perfect level of garlicky and warm. Look at how glorious it is! I really could have done with another piece, let's be real. The charcuterie board itself was a bit of a mixed bag. My favorite component was the chicken parfait whereas was not a big fan of the pork and duck rillette. You best believe I loaded up the parfait on the bread for every bite.

3rd Course!

Following that we had the Marseille style fish stew, fennel, rouille. This wasn't exactly a stew I was expecting and more-so a concentrated broth chock full of seafood. The briny and sweet flavours of the mussels paired well with the anise-like fennel. Cat and Julie aren't big mussel fans and gave me theirs so I was not complaining at all. A bit of crusty bread would have been the perfect vessel to round it off.

4th Course!

Our final savoury course was the Duck, beetroot, rhubarb, star anise, Somerset vegetables. The cook on the duck was beautiful, where it was not too fatty as well. The combination of the duck and beetroot was a winner. The Somerset salad was the perfect accompaniment to this dish with the creamy pops of goat's cheese and walnuts.

Dessert time!

To finish the meal we had a Chocolate fondant, vanilla cream, raspberry dish. Cat enjoyed it immensely and despite me not being a chocolate fan, it was a good way to end the meal. I felt that for the amount of rich cake that was provided a little bit more cream and raspberries would have balanced it all out perfectly.

Aperol Spritz Time

               

Overall, we had a great time at Copper Pot Seddon. Their cocktails definitely hit the spot. The layout was open plan and bathroom was beautifully designed. When we dined it was COVID safe and the booking process was easygoing. The food itself was delicious and it is exciting to know their menu is ever changing. They are currently still open for takeaway and their menu looks stellar.

Taste: 7.5
Service: 8/10
Value for Money: 8/10
Presentation:7.5

Happy Birthday Gurlllll

                 

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Mercer's - Eltham

Birthday celebration at Mercers last year. This is their Spring menu which is most likely not valid anymore since I am posting this literally at the end of Summer so I'm sure their Autumn menu will be amazing! I got the matching wines menu which I highly recommend, really good pairings to the food.

Bread & Butter: Enough Said

Cute pumpkin soup shots

Beetroot and goat's cheese carpaccio: FRESSH

Malaysian Dancing Prawns: Delish and full of flavour

Japanese beef tartare with wasabi sorbet

Tandoori quail with fried potato boreks: these boreks thooooo, little crispy nuggets of goodness

Spiced glazed duck 

Porterhouse with textures of onion

Le Grand Dessert for two

What an enjoyable meal. What made it even more amazing was the personable touch this restaurant had with their great service. It was fine dining but really intimate and cosy and we had the absolute pleasure of chatting to the owner and head chef, Steve Mercer.

Grossi Florentino (Upstairs) - CBD

For my 25th birthday in September, Quynh took me Grossi Florentino. Hailed as a fine dining institution in Melbourne, we were more than excited to dine here. We got the 6pm reservation and was ushered in upstairs We got the Gran Tour ($180) which was their 6 dish degustation.  

Our menu for the night

Bellini and a strong ass cocktail

Oyster, horseradish, kolralbi

Close-up shot

Our first dish was the oyster, horseradish and kolralbi. It tasted very fresh and briny but perhaps I would've loved a little more acidity in the form of pickled kolralbi. Nonetheless a good start to the meal. It came with some unexpected sides as well.

Russian potato salad

Beautifully presented was the Russian potato salad served in a Cornetto. Such lovely contrasting textures but needed a touch of salt.

Capsicum Crisp & Chicken Sandwiches

There was also a Capsicum crisp which housed artichoke, cucumber and almonds paired with a dainty chicken sandwich. The creamy chicken was scrumptious against the dainty thin wafer holding it together. 

There was also a blob of a dish which was poached veal in a tuna emulsion. This was incredibly flavoursome.

Quite a spread!

We love our bread, we love our butter

Ahh bread and butter. Our favourite course. Always. The sourdough bread was delightfully warm and the smooth silky cured butter was dusted with sage rosemary dust. Did we we have 2 servings of this? Yeah obviously.

White Asparagus & Prosciuto

With our next course, we were given the option to substitute a dish for one of the specials. Such a good option because that means more variety, yay. I got the White Asparagus, Prosciutto and Greens in white sauce. The asparagus were soooo soft and all the flavours worked. I felt that it was a really understated dish that allowed each ingredient to shine. 

Kingfish

Quynh got the Kingfish, Apple, Sorrel, Row, Goat Curd. This was very pretty but quite a small serving compared to mine. The generous sorrel gave the entire dish very herbaceous undertones.

King Prawn

Next was the King Prawn, Banana Shallot, Pantelleria Capers, Pancetta. The prawns were plump and joocy. I really like that crusting. Also no semi-allergic reaction, scorrrrrre.

Straight-up Parmesan

The servers were just casually wheeling around a chunk of parmesan which we could snack on if we preferred. Hell yes! The chunky slices were drizzled with a balsamic reduction. So simple but oh so great. 

Spanner Crab Taglierini

Oh My Goodness. This was the Taglierini di Riso Venere, Spanner Crab, Bottarga. Simply amazing and easily my favourite dish of the night.  The crab was so sweet and plentiful and the flavours were just spot on. Honestly, so good. 

Duck and porcini ravioli

Surprise course that wasn't on the menu! Duck and porcini ravioli with pear. Little bite sized pockets of flavour. i loved how earthy it was. 

Wagyu Rump Cap

Our last main course was the Wagyu Rump Cap, Bitto, Kalette, Mustard Fruit, Bone Marrow. Today I learned that Bitto is an Italian DOP (Denominazione di Origine Protetta) cheese produced in the Valtelline valley in Lombardy. On the day, it was just a cheesy sauce The meat itself was tender and had a nice bite to it. Bone marrow is decadent as always. 

Chocolate Souffle

For dessert we had Chocolate Souffle, Hazelnut, Grains of Paradise. The ice cream had flecks of Szechuan pepper throughout it from what I remember and it gave it such an interesting spicy kick. The souffle itself was super fluffy.

Yay for lil birthday treats. Chocolate bites that well tasted exactly like chocolate. 

Overall, we had a pleasant time at Grossi. The food was quite nice with some really standout dishes. They gave us a nice goodie bag of coffee beans. I really wanted to touch on the service that we encountered. I had scoured the reviews on Grossi before we went and the one common theme I read about was their exceptional service. I don't expect fancy schmancy stuff but if this is what they are known for then I had high hopes Don't get me wrong, we definitely had friendly and very professional servers but there were some things that were odd. It was just small details like not offering to take my jacket, not wheeling the cheese over to us until we got curious and enquired about it or some servers not even cracking a smile when talking to us. Didn't seem the case with other nearby tables. I have noticed this trend with some fine dining restaurants, where because we aren't interested in their wine list or perhaps younger than their usual clientele, that we are not given the same attentiveness as everybody else. It is just a bit disappointing. But whatever, I am glad I have ticked Grossi off my fine dining list. On to the next! 

Taste: 7.5/10

Presentation: 7/10 

Service: 5/10

Value for Money: 7/10