Once inside and out of the elements, we did a run around of all the supplier stalls and tasting areas. There were some great new products here, as well as the standard (but amazing) Yarra Valley Dairy, Ben and Jerrys icecream, and Green & Blacks chocolate to name a few. After more than filling up on our fair share of tastes from these stalls, we hit the restaurants.
First stop was Mr Wolf/Melbourne Wine Room, and the European. At Mr Wolf we met the lovely Karen Martini, who gave me some great career advice! Not that I was biased after that, but her dish of vitello tonato was definitely the best one we ate all night. The duck tortellini from the European had a very tasty sauce, however the pasta was a little dry and rubbery which was a let down.
After that we hit up Koots Salle a Manger for some 7 hour braised leg of lamb with baby carrots. This was very tasty, however not quite what I was expecting. The lamb had been cooked until it was amazingly tender, however it appeared to have then been shredded and put back together with some very finely diced veg.
Finally Mezzo Bar and Grill provided us with a pork cheek with white polenta and a masala sauce (probably the second best dish - sorry, no pic).
We also checked out Matt Wilkinson giving a presentation on salmon cooking, which was interesting, but hardly mind blowing.
We also checked out Matt Wilkinson giving a presentation on salmon cooking, which was interesting, but hardly mind blowing.
Pictured below is the Ben and Jerry's Ice cream combi van. On the other side was a stall where they were giving out very generous tastes of four of their amazing flavours - from memory a cookies and cream, double choc, vanilla and one more which escapes me. We hit this area a couple of times throughout the night!
We also spied a range of great looking Smeg fridges. As cool as they look, I'm not really sure how they would go in our house.
On the night we picked up a great All-clad frypan for the special show price of $50! As you can see below, they are at least $100 on amazon.com and well over $150 in the shops here.
On the night we picked up a great All-clad frypan for the special show price of $50! As you can see below, they are at least $100 on amazon.com and well over $150 in the shops here.
All in all it was a great night, and gave us the chance to sample the wares of some of Melbourne's finest restaurants and Victoria's greatest suppliers. Looking forward to see the lineup for next year. Click here to be taken to a page where you can sign up for a Taste of Melbourne newsletter.
