Happy 2013! After spending the first 3 weeks detoxing from the silly season, the arrival of my parents and sister meant another round of good food and wine.
On the first evening of their arrival, we dined at Portello Rosso, one of my favourite Spanish restaurants in Melbourne.
We enjoyed marinated octopus with pimentos (salted peppers). I didn’t take a photo of every dish as we ordered the usual dishes such as roasted pork belly, empanadas, smoked duck bresola, air dried yellow fin tuna, all of which have featured on my blog at some point.
To ensure Sue Mae would walk away happy, we couldn’t pass up on dessert. We ordered a chocolate orange cake and a plate of churros.
The next evening, I left work early and headed to Rod Laver arena to catch Novak Jokovich and David Ferrer in the semi finals of the Australian Open.
Unfortunately it was a very uneventful match.
Thankfully the semi finals on the next day between Andy Murray and Roger Federer was much more exciting.
I had the day off so I was able to join my parents, Janice and Mike for dim sum before heading to the game.
On Australia day, we headed to the Big Day out, hoping to catch the Killers and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
We arrived early enough to listen to Band of Horses, Vampire Weekend and the Alabama Shakes.
While we were able to hear the Killers and the Peppers well, we struggled to see them. There were just too many people around that were taller than us.
I woke up the next morning with a sprained ankle. Don’t ask me how! I was careful not to jump or dance around. Who would have thought standing around for over 3 hours could give you a bad ankle. It was nice to have my parents around to fuss over me.
On Sunday, we headed to Josie Bones in Collingwood. Josie Bones is the brainchild of ex masterchef contestant Chris Badenoch.
When he was on Masterchef, he said that he wanted to open a restaurant that offered all types of pork dishes and a wide selection of beer. He stayed true to his intentions.
Jeannie joined us for lunch. She had just recently come back from KL.
We ordered chargrilled squid with squid ink aioli
We tried the pigs trotter stuffed with black pudding and lentils vinaigrette, with maple glazed chicken ribs.
I couldn’t wait to try the Kingfish ceviche with goat chorizo and avocado salsa.
I’m always a fan of sliders and these pork belly sliders did not disappoint!
We ordered two serves of pork spare ribs with red miso and lager barbecue sauce.
Jeannie, Janice and Mike certainly were happy campers.
We continued the over indulgent and highly fulfilling eating day with dinner at Noir, a French inspired restaurant in Richmond. I’ve heard rave reviews about it for a long time and finally decided to try it.
The Atlantic gin seared salmon really set the standard. It was fantastic.
My favourite had to be the beef tartare. I will come back to this restaurant for this alone.
The heirloom beetroot salad was also one of my favourite dishes.
My mum and dad had the duck for their mains. It tasted as good as it looks and they were certainly pleased with the portion sizes.
My cute carnivorous sister went for the steak! She can’t go pass up on a tender medium rare steak.
I chose the Atlantic scallops with cuttlefish risotto. The flavours went so well together.
Sue Mae had seared and confit salmon with a lobster tortellini. Delicious! I can’t wait to go back there again.
Monday was our Australia day bank holiday and we kicked it off with a much simpler meal. Vietnamese beef ball noodles on Victoria street in Richmond.
Afterwards we headed to the DFO for some retail therapy before meeting up with Mae & Jo for dinner at Oriental Spoon.
On the last day of their trip, I took the morning off and we tried out South Yarra’s Pacific BBQ house. The roast duck, soya chicken and roast pork were delicious however even with the four of us eating, we still had two large plates of leftovers.
memoirs of a Chan 