Because everyone deserves a treat: Cookie- Melbourne CBD (Review)

I'd like to be very clear. 

I'm a fan of Cookie. 

For one very simple reason: 

It's always fun. 

From the minute you climb the inner city ribbon-round-the-lift staircase and enter the non-descript door, there's just something so lively about the bar/restaurant space with it's noise, clamor and mural drenched walls. It's noisy, yes. But in a 'we're-the-life-of-the-party' kind of way. And when you ask to see the wine list and are presented with a veritable bible of a book, then you know you're in for a good night, and the noise level is understandable. 

There's also something really pleasing about the almost too casual service and the fun flirting of the bar staff. Let's face it, what girl doesn't like to batt her eyelashes when she places an order? And it's easy... once you've had dinner, you can just about roll from the restaurant to the bar on the other side of the partition continuing your conversation all the way. 

But Cookie didn't just win my heart for its obvious style and convenience. It backs it up with consistently good food. So they might not rotate the menu to maximise seasonality or to catch the latest trend, but it's a reliable Thai fusion feel with signature dishes that never fail to impress. 

This visit, I had a friend from Sydney in tow and as well as a Melbourne local, which brings up the proverbial 'you can please some of the people'- but on this occasion, we were 'all of the people' and we were all pleased.

Dishes are best shared and come in the small, medium, large variety priced from $8.50-$38.50 and it's easy enough to add dishes as you go. 

Being a fan of hands on puzzle style food, I couldn't wait to order the betel leaf salad with smoked fish, chicken and roasted coconut. Presented on a floral plate the glossy green leaves make an eye catching and sticky-finger fun starter. We tried spooning sedate little heaps of smokey fish into the leaf wrappings, but quickly abandoned such decorum in favour of stuffing the leaves to bursting point and shoveling them into our mouths before they lost their guts. 

The mushroom salad was a cool and slippery-slurpy dish to follow- with coriander kicks. And the Thai sausage certainly delivers a chili tasty treat- thank god for the side of cucumber to cool burning lips.

But let me tell you about the pork belly. 

Pork belly is a carnivorous delight in any language. 

However, when you deep fry it and then smother it in fragrant and coconut-creamy red curry, laced with fresh peppercorns and crunchy green beans, well, then you've taken decadent and upped the ante. There's a crunch in your mouth, followed by an explosion of melted fat and curry. 

We licked that bowl clean. 

Lady like as we are... We. Licked. It. Clean. And then licked it some more... just for good measure. 

Cookie has been on the winners list for sometime and with such a mix of fun, food, inexhaustible booze (of every kind) and inner city chic, it's gonna be there for a while longer yet. Just make sure you book for dinner, order enough of the pork belly to go round and opt for a non-school night- so you can take full advantage of the wine list. 

The verdict? Like I said; all of the people, all of the time. What a treat.

Name: Cookie

Address: First Floor Curtin House, 

252 Swanston Street Melbourne CBD

Phone: (03) 9663 7660

Open: 

Mon-Thurs & Sun: 12noon-2am

Fri & Sat: 12noon-3am

Nooks and crannies: Von Haus- Melbourne CBD (Review)

Don't blink, or you'll miss it. 

Yep you guessed it, it's another Melbourne bar hidey-hole and it's sure as hell one cosy little place.

Picture this; you're skipping down Crossley Street in Melbourne's alley-wayed CBD when you spy a nondescript door with a cheekily small and tantalising 'Von Haus' sign- in Melbourne, this is an open invitation to find out if the door leads to a bar/club/artists loft/warehouse/sale or (worst case scenario?), strippers. Either way, you simply have to take a peek- otherwise where's the fun?

You wander down the short corridor, and through another studiously blank door to the left, you find it... possibly Melbourne's smallest bar. 

Von Haus is pretty much a single room with a large communal table in the centre and few other perches for intimate tete-a-tete's scattered round the edges. 

And it's lovely- right from it's distressed paint-peeling walls to it's wooden floorboards. The artfully cluttered open-kitchen view and shelves of wine and preserves create the feeling of a European lounge-room at dinner time, don't mind if we stumble on in.

Daily cakes and hunks of bread line the rustic counter with stacks of produce boxes underneath. Flowers perch on the mantle of the period fireplace and a chalkboard menu proclaims wines on offer by the glass.

There's a low humming buzz of muted conversation and a certain amount of arty-intelligence hangs in the air. Soak it up, soak it in. It's a lovely addition to a tin plate of cheese that might be organic Roquefort or farmhouse aged cheddar. Von Haus is open for breakfast and lunch, but it's the snacks and small plates from 2pm that lured us in. 

Try Sicilian anchovies with bitey fresh radish and fennel, or smokey trout and pear salad spiked with fragrant mint. 

If it's too hard to choose between nuts roasted with lavender and thyme, or goats curd and pickled peppers, then take a step back from decisions and order a Haus selection to see what rolls your way.  

But really, when you're squirreled away in a circa 1800's nook, with your Collazi Chianti and contemplating the kitchen splash-back made of wartime shaving mirrors, there's something quite comforting about the uncomplicated offer of bread and butter with honey or jam. 

It's cozy. It's simple. 

And a little bit like having wine with nursery tea. *Sigh* 

So let the mist snake on down the alley-way, snuggle on in to your selected spot and drift away on a European dream of Von Haus... 

Name: Von Haus

Address: 1a Crossley Street, Melbourne CBD

Phone: (03) 9662 2756

Tapas-tastic: MoVida Next Door- Melbourne CBD (Review)

Don't be confused. MoVida Next Door is not MoVida. Rather it is (as the name suggests) next door to the original MoVida in the brightly graffiti clad alley of Hosier lane in Melbourne's CBD. It's MoVida's little sister, baby brother or more casual counterpart. Of course, they may not be the same place, but they run on essentially the same fuel- chef Frank Camorra's exquisite tapas dishes, great location and atmosphere, and a glass or two of sherry in the mix.  

The joy of MoVida Next Door is that you don't have to book weeks in advance for your Spanish themed taste odyssey, rather with a no booking policy it's a walk-in diners paradise, as long as you pick your times right.

I've learned the hard way that if you're really hungry and not prepared for a wait, 7.30pm on a Saturday night is not a good time to try your luck. 7.30pm on Tuesday however saw room for two at the bar and 6pm on a Friday once got us a prime corner table peering out to the lane way- very nice.

But despite the hit'n'miss seating, it's always worth checking out, because if you do get in, it's one of those happy surprises that makes the rest of your evening.

The menu is not huge, but don't forget to look above the bar for the chalkboard of specials- I forgot to last time and missed out on the prettiest baramundi dish with beetroot crisps you have ever seen. 

Paper-thin disks of dusky pink rings in varying shades... thankfully the friendly guy next to us was more than happy for me to peer at it, and even noted that it was just as tasty as it looked. *sigh*

We settled instead for the celebrated Anchoa Con Mato: crumbed and pan-fried fresh white anchovy on house-made curd, with a perfect combination of crunch and cream. It's tiny, but perfectly crafted silk and salt. The calamari and artichoke dishes were exquisite with their soft and crackly textures respectively, but the anchovy is a tough act to follow.

Pincho Moruno, Moorish lamb skewer cooked on charcoal, holds its own however. Long, thin and smokey, it's hard not to pick up the empty plate to lick up the left over meaty juices. I very nearly did.

But it's desserts that really get my juices going here. 

Churros done well are a thing of beauty I know, but this time we skipped the Spanish doughnuts in favour of Torta De Aciete; an olive oil crisp the size of a side plate, topped with a nipple of vanilla ice-cream floating on a fluffy pool Pedro Ximenez (sherry) foam. 

It sounds a bit porny. 

It was more than a bit sexy. 

We loved every mouthful of creamy delight followed by the jarring snap of the fennel studded olive oil crisp.

We wanted more. 

But like good girls, we decided to quit while we were ahead.     

And the drinks? The wine list often has me batting my eyelids and asking the waiters for advice; I just don't read Spanish and with food this good, I'm not about to take a stab in the dark. Helpfully the waiters know their stuff and this time I ended up with a glass of crisp verdhello that met all my needs without overshadowing the food. Good call from the waiter, so make the most of their knowledge and skill.  

From the roof tile light shades, to the fresh seafood on display in the bar and the 'edge of laneway cool'- MoVida Next Door might not be MoVida, but it doesn't have to be. Sure it's next door, but it absolutly stands alone.  

   

Name: MoVida Next Door

Address: 1 Hosier Lane, Melbourne CBD, 3000

Phone: (03) 9663 3038

Open: Tues-Sat, 5pm- till late

Closed: Sun-Mon

Collected: Bar Lourinha- Melbourne CBD (Review)

The first time my mum came to visit Melbourne she said to me 'no-one ever throws anything out here do they? They just gather it together and decorate the walls with it'.

We were sitting at the polished wood counter at tiny Bar Lourinha, in Little Collins street. Looking at the walls crammed with paraphernalia from all era's and locations, I could see what she meant... the copper jelly moulds looked remarkably like some that my gran used to have... and the cabinet of souvenir teaspoons brought back childhood memories and thoughts of garage sales. There are horse shoes, portraits, ornamental deer heads and a huge string of chili's. From fans to fancy green wallpaper, the cosy space is chock-full of trinkets, bits & bobs. 

It's got a 'collector's' feel to it- each individual item intriguing and distinctive, but working in with the display around it. 

And the same can be said for the collection of dishes on offer. 

Sharing-plates are the MO here, each dish distinctive and spectacular, but like the curious collection on the walls, they also work well in combination. 

At a glance the menu does not appear to be huge, but the list of specials just about doubles what's on offer- and it's impressive every time the waiter manages to roll off a stream of them with hardly a glance at his notes. 

From wagyu 'carne cruda' to grilled king prawn with chili salt and lime, you'll be glad of the chance to share the little Spanish inspired dishes and taste as much as you can. Most items can be ordered by the half serve if you really don't want to share... but it's so much more fun when you pass it all around. 

Unless it's the lambs brains special. Then you'll be fighting to wipe the plate clean. The little fritatta arrives in it's own pan topped with thyme spiked aioli and laced throughout with shallot, all buttery goo and creamy, silky joy. It's an offal lovers delight, and smeared onto the accompanying hunk of hearty brown bread, it's a dish to dream viscous dreams about.

If you opt for the churros and dulce de leche dessert, be warned that when Spanish-doughnuts and chocolate sauce are this good, you might try to drink the left over sauce straight out of the dish. And Blanca's alfajores? Think shortbread, but not as you know it- filled with lemony caramel and dusted with coconut, they're little bombs of bright and sticky delight. Thank Blanca for sharing the recipe with chef Matt McConnell.   

Apart from lunch bookings and special dinners in the private 'chapel' room, it's first in best dressed here. So be prepared to have a short wait at the bar on a busy night. Thankfully the wine list is long, so any wait at the bar can be great fun. With a glass of sherry,friendly chatty staff and a chill soundtrack gently pulsing in the background, you might even be grateful for the extra chance to appreciate the walls of thing-a-me-jigs. 

It gave me a chance to ask about the terracotta 'half pig's'- apparently they are used for serving flaming chorizo sausage for Tuesday's 'Chorizo Diablo' lunches. Eh, who'd have guessed it?  

With a regularly changing menu and it's tucked away collectors feel, Bar Lourinha is great fun for a wine filled, friendly sharing meal- just don't make up your mind until you've heard all the specials!

Name: Bar Lourinha

Address: 37 Little Collins Street, Melbourne

Phone: (03) 9663 7890  

Open

Mon-Wed: 12noon-11pm

Thurs-Fri: 12noon-1am 

Sat: 4pm-1am