My Mexican Cousin

It's all just a little bit confusing at My Mexican Cousin.  Perplexingly the food isn't Mexican at all.  Rather obscurely the name of the place does not refer to the cuisine being served, instead it is a nod to St Ali's most popular breakfast dish (St Ali owner, Salvatore Malatesta, is also involved in My Mexican Cousin).  To add to the bewilderment the food is in fact supposed to be Creole but then was lambasted by @BurgerMary for lacking authenticity and being an "adult version of a theme restaurant".  So what is it?

Inside My Mexican Cousin

My Mexican Cousin has done its best to turn this state of befuddlement into some positive publicity by cleverly enlisting Burger Mary as a consultant and revamping its menu.  When the restaurant hosted a Fringe Food Festival event on Creole food it seemed to be a signal that My Mexican Cousin was working through its issues (even if the owners had strangely decided to stick with the Mexican name).

Scallop ceviche

I went there for lunch with my friend Joyce who writes the brilliant Mel: Hot or Not.  The restaurant is part of the Melbourne Recital Hall building and is all shiny and new with dark wooden tables and chairs and a bright mural on wall which is an ode to Louisiana Hot Sauce.  At least the mural is not Mexican I suppose.

Candied bacon

Knowing that Creole food is a cuisine most Melburnians will be unfamiliar with the menu includes a long explanation of Creole cuisine and a "Creole-pedia" to explain the terms used.  My experience of Creole food is limited to a trip to Salvador in Brazil so the menu was certainly educational if nothing else.  Newly enlightened we ordered up Creole style starting with the praline bacon ($6), strips of bacon candied with brown sugar and pecan nuts.  On paper this sounded like the sort of thing I would love but in reality it was too dry and too much sugary bacon for two people.

Dirty rice

The scallop ceviche ($5.50) was also not what I expected.  Instead of thinly sliced scallops "cooked" in lime or lemon juice we were served two large scallops on a bed of pea purée.  They looked good and were a welcome antidote to the heavy emphasis on deep fried food on the rest of the menu but were a little strange.  Dirty rice ($12) a mixture of rice, ground pork and Creole seasoning was a tasty style of fried rice but was so dripping in oil that there was a big puddle at the bottom of the bowl once we finished eating.

The PoBoy

The one redeeming dish was the PoBoy ($17), juicy fat deep fried prawns sandwiched between crisp cos lettuce and a dense bun and dripping with mayonnaise and creole seasoning.  This was very much a conversation stopper and all we could manage was approving noises for the next couple of minutes as we ate our PoBoys.

Beignets

However, to add insult to injury the delicious sounding Louisiana dougnuts known as beignets ($12) were a little tough and tasted to me like they had not been deep fried to order.  Even the salted caramel dipping sauce they were served with could not make amends.    Continuing the theme, the coffee ($3.80) was on the bitter side.

Latte 

While I admire My Mexican Cousin for bringing a new type of cuisine to Melbourne and for avoiding the traditional theatre foyer type offerings at the moment the food is disappointing.  I would only return for a cheeky glass of wine at the bar and a PoBoy sandwich.

View Gourmet Chick Melbourne in a larger map 

Essentials
Details: My Mexican Cousin, Melbourne Recital Centre, Corner of Sturt Street and Southbank Boulevard, Southbank 3006 (Ph (03) 9686 3389) Mon 7-4, Tues - Fri 7 - late, Sat - Sun 8- late.
Damage: Reasonable.  Our bill came to $56 for two with just one coffee and no other drinks.
4/10

The Newmarket Hotel

For a pub that used to host schnitz and tits nights* the Newmarket Hotel has come a long way.  The venue has a touch of the trendys about it now with a modern but retro feeling fit out thanks to Six Degrees.  Concrete arches span the ceiling and there is the same indoor/outdoor feel as The Royal Saxon.

Inside the Newmarket - featuring Greedy Diva's cardigan

The food on offer is just as trend driven as the space featuring "SoCal" cuisine.  It's a pretentious label but it covers a range of good stuff - soft tacos, Catalan flat breads and Latin cured meats.  Luckily I was lunching at the Newmarket Hotel with Carly who writes the excellent Greedy Diva and who has an appetite as big as mine so we managed to try a fair portion of the menu.

Corn on the cob

To start, corn on the cob cooked on the BBQ and slathered with chili and cheese.  I could have done with more chili and more cheese but the corn did have a great smoky taste.  Do not order this if you are on a date or with people you are trying to impress as eating it is not a pretty sight (Greedy Diva excluded - she managed it quite daintily).

Prawn tacos

The soft tacos are also not ideal first date fodder as they are as messy as they are delicious.  We had them two ways, firstly with cubes of crisp, glistening pork sweetened with diced pineapple ($16) and then with fresh prawns and crunchy slaw ($16).

Pork tacos

Continuing on the pork theme we could not resist ordering the pork ribs ($36) after seeing them served at a neighbouring table.  The ribs were sticky with BBQ sauce and were so comically big that they almost looked like some form of dinosaur bones.  The accompanying salad was sweet and refreshing and just what was needed to cut through the sweet, rich ribs.

Pork ribs

Our waitress suggested we needed another salad and recommended the Mexican chopped salad ($12).  To be honest, the salad accompanying the ribs was enough and this mix of iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes and cactus was drowned in its cheese dressing.  It would have been quite filling if that was all we were having for lunch but was overkill with the ribs, tacos and corn.

Mexican chopped salad

The drinking at the Newmarket Hotel is every bit as enthusiastic as the dining.  There are jugs of cocktails on offer and wines are divided into house, table and "fine" and served by the carafe.  The 2011 Semillon Sauvignon from Margaret River was crisp and elegant.

Often I feel sad at the gentrification of pubs.   When an old fashioned boozer is revamped into a gleaming gastro pub a little something inside me often dies.  However I have no such qualms about the new look Newmarket hotel.  Farewell schnitz and tits and hola SoCal!

View Larger Map 

Essentials
Details: The Newmarket Hotel, 34 Inkerman Street, St Kilda  (Ph +61 3 9537 1777)  Open midday - 1am.
Damage: Pricey.
8/10

*For my overseas readers - a schnitz and tits night is fairly self explanatory.  The bartenders are female and topless and schnitzel is served.  Classy hey? 

Lorne (Gourmet Chick on the Great Ocean Road)

Happy Australia Day!  Like most of Australia I relocated to the beach for the Christmas to New Year period and my beach of choice is Lorne.  I swam in the surf, laid on the beach, plowed through my Christmas books and watched far too much cricket (thanks to MTV).  MTV and I cooked up lots of BBQs but we also reacquainted ourselves with favourite Lorne cafes and restaurants while discovering a few new places as well.  

Surf life boats coming in at Lorne

Skip on over here for my tips for Broadsheet on what to eat, what to do and where to stay in Lorne.

Guide to eating in Hong Kong (Gourmet Chick in Hong Kong)

Happy Chinese New Year! In celebration of the Year of the Dragon I've compiled this post on where to eat in Hong Kong (that's not dim sum).  My friend Terry refers to Hong Kong as "urban paradise".  He's right and the city is a special type of paradise for those that love their food.  I've already shared my tips for the quintessential Hong Kong dim sum experience so here is my guide to where else to eat from Michelin star restaurants to hidden suburban haunts.

Wet markets in the back streets of Hong Kong

1.  Tim's Kitchen
Theoretically a private kitchen Tim's Kitchen is for all apparent purposes a restaurant and a Michelin starred one at that.  Apparently some of the best dishes need to be ordered ahead but we were suitably wowed anyway by the on menu options of the pork and chicken.  Tim’s Kitchen lacks in atmosphere and has a stilted formality to it but it was the best meal we ate in Hong Kong that wasn't yum cha.

Half a crispy chicken (HKD$180) had moist, tender flesh and golden, crackling skin however it was in the porky part of the menu that Tim’s Kitchen really impressed.  Stewed eggplant (HKD$60) was topped with minced, slightly charred pork creating a brilliant textural contrast and fantastic flavour combination.

Crispy chicken at Tim's Kitchen

The palpable statement making dish was the honey glazed barbecue pork (HKD$88) a hunk of glazed pork complete with crisp, shiny crackling and tender, pink meat.  It went straight for the jugular with big, bold and unforgettable flavours.   Like the setting the wine list at Tim’s Kitchen is no nonsense with a short selection, we ordered one of the cheaper bottles, a reasonably priced Chateau Les Reuilles (HKD$180).   Tim’s Kitchen is a restaurant where the focus is firmly on the food but oh, what great food it is.

Essentials
Details: Tim's Kitchen, Shop A and 1/F, 84-90, Bonham Strand, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Ph: (852) 2543 5919
Damage:  Reasonable.  Our bill for three with wine came to HKD$695 ($89/£57).
9/10

The open kitchen at Cafe Grey Deluxe is raised above the diners

2.  Cafe Grey Deluxe
Cafe Grey Deluxe is a place to take people to impress them and to be impressed yourself.  It has the most spectacular views of any restaurant in Hong Kong with a truly magical panorama of skyscrapers and lights twinkling at night across the harbour.  The restaurant itself also shimmers and sparkles with lots of glossy, modern surfaces and is dominated by the theatre of a raised open kitchen.

Cafe Grey Deluxe is all about fine dining which is unstitched and relaxed.  There was textural fun to be had with the starter of foie gras two ways, seared and in a rich roulade on top of salt baked beets and doused with cranberry vinigarette.

Foie gras two ways at Cafe Grey Deluxe

Of the mains, the half roast chicken restored my faith in the dish with its crisp skin and juicy meat paired with roasted vegetables and a rich tarragon jus.  It was simple but great food, in contrast to the salmon "Amandine", a decent fillet of salmon which was overpowered by the accompanying bitter caramelized endives and capers.  In this case, less would have been more.

The triumphant part of the meal was dessert, the rich smell of the bitter chocolate soufflé hits you first before you delve into the fluffy soufflé to discover sticky berries hidden at the bottom.  It was both decadent and delicious.  The wine list at Cafe Grey Deluxe sits comfortably beside the spotlight hogging food, encompassing over 300 labels.  I particularly enjoyed the subtlety and minerality of the Limoux Chardonnay.

Bitter chocolate soufflé at Cafe Grey Deluxe

The prices are steep at Cafe Grey Deluxe (views like that don’t come cheaply) but if you can’t afford a meal there it is still worth popping in to the bar for one of the excellent cocktails such as the Hong Kong High Ball (HKD$120).

Gourmet Chick was a guest of Cafe Grey Deluxe.

Essentials
Details: Cafe Grey Deluxe, 49/F, Upper House, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong (Ph 2918 1838).
Damage: Budget Breaking.  However on this occasion I did not pay.
8/10

Our squirming crabs ready to be cooked at Under the Bridge Spicy Crab

3.  Under the Bridge Spicy Crab
There are several under the bridge spicy crab restaurants in a row so you have to make sure you get the right one.  The drawcard here is the truly enormous crabs which are cooked with chilli and crunchy, deep fried garlic.  We also loved the clams fried with chilli and bean sauce ($HKD60), the deep fried squid and the special rice ($HKD68).  For a full pictorial run down of the menu see Follow me Foodie's review.  Great for big groups and for a noisy meal with lots of beers but make sure you check what the market price of the crab is before ordering two (we didn't!) as I have a feeling they took advantage of the lack of clarity on price, charging us HKD$600 for each crab.  Still, it was worth it.

The cooked crab at Under the Bridge Spicy Crab - amazing

Essentials
Details: Under the Bridge, Shop B, G/F, 401-403 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong (Ph: 2834 6818)
Damage: Pricey.
8/10

4.  Posto Pubblico
This Hong Kong restaurant is based on a New York osteria has a cool buzzy feel to it thanks to its Soho location and simple decor of exposed brick walls and bare tables.  The mantra here is local and organic with a menu that is constantly changing to reflect the seasons.  The best dishes were the starters to share of the creamiest burrata I have ever tasted.  Served as a salad with slices of fresh tomato the burrata  was home made and literally weeped onto my plate.

The lighting was moody at Posto Pubblico so my photos are awful.  Instead this is the view from Hotel LFK where we stayed. 

I am also still dreaming about the huge softball sized veal meatball with its dense, tightly packed meat and oh-so-fresh chunky tomato sauce.  My main of ravioli (HKD$145) stuffed with pork, veal and beef and doused in a creamy gorgonzola sauce was technically very good but overwhelmingly rich and so did not live up to the heady heights of the starters.


Essentials
Details: Posto Pubblico, 28 Elgin Street  Central, Hong Kong, Ph 2577 7160
Damage: Pricey.
7/10

5.  Nagomi
There is a certain level of obsession with Japanese food in Hong Kong and so the city boasts some great Japanese restaurants.  Out in Happy Valley (and conveniently located for a feed before a night at the Wednesday night races) Nagomi is a cheap and cheerful little Japanese restaurant which rewards careful ordering.

California rolls at Nagomi

The menu reads like a straightforward collection of Japanese dishes rather than a venture into the unknown but the food is simple and well executed.  The stand out dishes worth seeking out on the menu were the spicy tuna rolls (HKD$58) and the eel rice box (HKD$130) with its silky smooth eel.  The sashimi was spankingly fresh, a thick tranche of glistening pale pink and pearly white fish, while edamame beans (HKD$25) were crisp and covered in chunks of crunchy sea salt.  There is little wow factor at Nagomi but what it does, it does well.

Essentials
Details: Nagomi, Flat C, Yee Fung Building, 1 Village Road, Happy Valley, Hong Kong (Ph 2838 3848)
Damage: Reasonable
6/10

My map of Hong Kong

View Gourmet Chick Hong Kong in a larger map 

Gourmet Travel Tips

• Cathay Pacific flies to Hong Kong from Australia from $1150 return and from London British Airways flies there from London from £569 return.
• We stayed at Hotel LFK which is bang in the middle of Hong Kong’s party hub, the Lang Kwai Fong area.  Our deluxe suite was huge and stocked with everything you could ever want from a bath and rain shower stocked with Molton Brown goodies to free wifi and an in room coffee maker.  The room rate also includes cocktails each night in LFK’s glamorous "Restaurant slash bar" Azure and the views over the city skyline are stupendous.  Details: Hotel LFK, 33 Wyndham Street, Lang Kwai Fong, Hong Kong (Ph +852 3518 9688 ) Rooms start from HKD$2,998/£245/$379) a night. 

Our room at Hotel LFK

• The must do activities in Hong Kong are to catch a tram up to the top of the Peak to check out the skyline, a night out at the Happy Valley races on Wednesdays and of course shopping, shopping and more shopping.
• For something different catch a ferry over to Lantau and do a hike, we hiked the Lantau peak and then caught the cable car back.  We also did a day trip to Macau which I would avoid as it is a pretty soulless place and the immigration queues on the weekends are horrendous.
• For researching a trip to Hong Kong I found E-Ting, Tom Eats Jen Cooks, Hollow Legs and Mr Noodles very helpful thanks also to our Hong Kong friends, hosts and tour guides Jac, Mossy, Nick and Fabian.

Mama Baba

You heard it here first, there is no Sunday surcharge at George Calombrais' new restaurant Mama Baba.  The pasta restaurant opened on Friday and I was eagerly there on Sunday for lunch with my friend Joyce who writes the excellent Melbourne Hot or Not, along with Tim, Joyce and Tim's adorable baby and MTV.

It's Italian and Greek fare at Mama Baba - this is the "Parma" 

Calombrais has been hitting the headlines lately for complaining about paying Sunday rates to staff without charging diners a Sunday surcharge.  One of his arguments against paying the rates was the cost of the $45,000 pasta extruder he bought for Mama Baba.  Funnily enough, as soon as you walk in to the restaurant, tucked away in a South Yarra back street, the gleaming pasta extruder is front and centre.  I was glad to see Calombrais does still have chefs, they were all there working in full view in the large open kitchen that runs along one side of the entire space.  I didn't ask them what they were getting paid for their Sunday efforts.

The infamous pasta extruder

Mama Baba is housed in a warehouse style basement with soaring ceilings, polished concrete floors and long communal wooden tables.  The space is sparse and minimalist.  Paper placemats also serve as menus and ceramic beakers as water glasses.  

Mama Baba has a warehouse feel

The menu at Mama Baba is divided into a Greek and Italian section which draw on the influences of Calombrais's Greek Mother and part Italian Father.  It's very much a family affair listing dishes like salicce made by "Mr Tricarico" who is apparently Calombrais' Father in law.  Whether Greek or Italian, the main affair is the pasta.  It is made fresh each day from 00 flour in the pasta extruder which cost the same as a full time Nonna on Sunday rates.

Scallops

To start there are "snacks" which are easy to share.  Arancini filled with bolognese and mashed potato ($7.50) were deep fried nuggets of comfort food.  Plump scallops ($3.50 each) grilled and served on the shell were topped with creamy garlic skordalia and golden crisp fried breadcrumbs.  The parma ($7.50) was a bite sized version of the classic pub fare - a tiny panini filled with chicken and jamon and laced with tomato sauce.

Mama Baba's version of spaghetti carbonara 

It has to be said the pasta is excellent, of the soft, silky egg-yellow type.   The best we tried was the tortellini ($23) which was stuffed with saganaki and served with prawns, slow roasted tomatoes and feta.  I also liked Mama Baba's take on a carbonara ($27) which was constructed at the table from egg, slithers of crispy maple pork, pumpkin parmesan and a saffron broth.

Prawn and saganaki tortellini

However gnudi ($24) was dull despite the "sounds good on paper" accompaniments of burnt butter, walnuts and honey and the huge ravioli ($27) filled with beef and bone marrow were overwhelming.  The wasabi which accompanied the ravioli was not quite the weird addition we expected and was actually too tame to add much kick.

"Chopped" salad ($7.50) 

Desserts were a nostalgic treat in the form of reworked childhood favourites.  The Mama Baba interpretation of a Ferrero Rocher ($9.50) was a hazelnut confection filled with dark oozing chocolate while Calombrais' take on a rum baba, called a "Mum Baba" ($9.50) featured boozy slices of sponge.

The Mum Baba

My tip though is to ignore the dessert trolley and instead go straight for the homemade ice-cream ($8 for two scoops) the vanilla splice was rich and flecked with vanilla bean seeds while the milo and milk and the crunchy peanut butter and salt flavour were both dude food delights.  The cones were filled with chocolate at the bottom Cornetto style.

Home made ice-cream

Mama Baba serves up Italian and Greek food but not as you know it.  It offers a very modern take on  some comfort food classics.  Despite a few exceptions it mostly works and the desserts in particular offer good old fashioned eating pleasure.  At the moment eating them on a Sunday comes at no extra cost.  

View Gourmet Chick Melbourne in a larger map 

Essentials
Details:  Mama Baba, 21 Daly St, South Yarra 3141(Ph +61 3 9207 7421) Mon - Thurs and Sat 5pm - Late, Fri and Sun 12pm - Late.
Damage: Reasonable.  Our bill for four came to $205 with one beer each.
7/10

How to make Peri Peri Chicken

Hot weather calls for hot food and the sunshine at the moment made me crave Peri Peri chicken.  The secret to the chicken is in the marinade which is chock full of tiny red peri peri chillies, garlic and lashings of red wine vinegar which keeps the chicken tender and moist.  The recipe is Portugese and I have happy memories of gnawing at a drumstick doused in fiery peri peri sauce at Bonjardim restaurant in Lisbon.  Bonjardim cooks its chicken on a huge rotisserie but since I (sadly) do not have one of those at home I made do with the BBQ.

The key to cooking chicken on the BBQ is to spatchcock it first.  I have included the instructions for spatchcocking below which is less daunting than it sounds.  There is a good YouTube video of how to do it which is also pretty helpful.  A coal BBQ like a Weber is best but I had to make do with a gas BBQ which I just turned down as low as possible.  Don't worry if the chicken gets blackened and burnt in places, that is the whole point of peri peri chicken and it will only add to the smoky fiery flavour.
  

Spatchcocking the chicken

Ingredients

15 peri peri chillies (also known as bird's eye chillies), deseeded
1 tbsp oregano (fresh if possible but you can also use dried)
1 tbsp thyme (fresh if possible but you can also use dried)
2 tbsps paprika
150ml red wine vinegar
100ml olive oil
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 a red onion, roughly chopped.
2 tbsps brown sugar
Salt
Chicken (free range if possible)

Blending the marinade

1.  To spatchcock your chicken use a sharp knife or poultry shears and cut off any excess fat around the cavity and neck.  Then slice through either side of the backbone of the chicken and remove.  Working from the cavity side, slice just halfway through along the breastbone so the chicken can be pushed open and butterflied out.  Prick the skin of the chicken with a fork which will help it absorb the marinade.

2.  To make the marinade put everything besides the chicken into your blender and whizz until smooth.  Pour half of the marinade over the chicken, massaging it in and leave it to happily absorb the marinade in the refrigerator for a couple of hours or overnight if possible.  Turn the chicken around in the marinade every now and then so it soaks it all up.

3.  When it comes to cooking the chicken if you are using a coal BBQ get the coals very hot then move them to the edges of the BBQ and put your chicken in the middle. If you are using a gas BBQ then keep the temperature as low as possible and close your BBQ lid if it has one while the chicken cooks.

4.  Use the remainder of the marinade (apart from one small cup) to baste the chicken by brushing it regularly with the marinade.  Cook until the chicken's skin is charred in places and the juices run clear if you skewer the chicken thigh.  This takes about 15-20 mins per side.

Trust me when I say the black bits are the good bits

Serve with salad and maybe some potatoes fried on the BBQ as well.  Put the cup of leftover marinade on the table with a brush for people who want even more peri peri action. 

So Frenchy So Chic

Baguettes, stinky cheese and macarons, these are a few of my favourite things.   I was able to indulge to my heart's content at the So Frenchy So Chic festival which was held at Werribee park on Sunday.  My friends Jules and Em organised a big group of us to attend and scored us a prime position near the stage staked out with numerous picnic rugs.

So Frenchy So Chic in the beautiful grounds of Werribee Park

It ended up being the most perfect blue sky day and we kicked back listening to Nouvelle Vague, Moriarty and Féfé and drinking copious amounts of wine.  There was croquet on the go, games of petanque and lots of French food and wine.

Toasted caramalised nuts for sale

The crepe store was doing a roaring trade along with Le Sausage the mobile sausage truck which tweets its location around Melbourne at @ILoveLeSausage.

Lots of love for Le Sausage

Lots of people had brought their own picnics but I think our neighbouring picnickers were quite envious when they saw our picnic baskets arrive which had been catered for by the Werribee mansion.  They were stuffed with brie filled baguettes, chunky terrine, blue cheese dressed salad, macarons and chocolate eclairs.

Macarons in our picnic basket

I have already decided I must return to So Frenchy So Chic next year as it was such a very French and very fabulous day.

The day was all a little much for some attendees

Essentials
Details: So Frenchy So Chic, Werribee Park.
Damage: Tickets were $74 which included a return bus from Southern Cross station to Werribee.
9/10