RESTAURANT & WINES

Alrighty. *cracks knuckles*.

Every few months, I go out for dinner with some friends who I used to work with. We've all done our stint in hospitality and we all enjoy our food and wine a lot. We always go to one of the most underrated restaurants in Melbourne. It's called Wildflower and it's in Canterbury. This restaurant has the most phenomenal food, and best of all, it's BYO, with very reasonable corkage ($4.50/head), so we all stock up on interesting booze and take it along.

To eat we all had the 8 course degustation which consisted of:

1- a cauliflower soup: fucking awesome. Creamy and savory. Quite rich, but a really nice start.

2 - Oysters with spring onion and tempura seasoned calamari. Totally unique take on oysters, I've never had them like this before. This was the highlight for sure.

3 - Scallops on a pork ravioli. Pretty nice, rich and gamey. Good winter flavours.

4 - Quail - Three styles of quail ranging from wings to salad. With red wine and truffle emulsion and mushroom puree. This was pretty awesome too.

5 - Lamb in a baked Parmesan shell with coriander. Again, awesome winter flavours, very rich but really good. Had like a burgundy sauce.

6 - Lemon granata - Really really potent lemon, good palate cleanser. Bit too sour for my liking.

7 - Rare eye fillet on top of cauliflower and smoked bacon patie type thing. This would have mad an amazing main course. Combination of bacon and cauli was rad.

8 - Desert tasting plate: passion fruit panacotta, blueberry pudding, creme brulee, chocolate torte and several sorbets and ice creams. Sweetened condensed milk ice cream was mine from the start and was delightful, pudding and brulee were also fucking good.

The service was friendly and informative, the setting is relaxed yet stylish and the prices are reasonable considering the quality of the food. Great place to go for a low-key yet classy night out.

Definitely going back.

WINES:

1. Gosset Grande Reserve NV Champagne: One of my favorites. Persistently fine bead. Creamy, awesomely rounded balance between citrus and dry yeasty finish. Straw in colour, fresh, inviting nose. 90%

2. 1990 Trimbach Gewurtztraminer: Wow! What a nose! Purchased on auction for $50 this had the most amazing bouquet of pot-purri and perfume. Aged nicely, light gold in colour, flavours were subtle, with a long musky finish and good spice. I could wear this stuff as cologne. 93%

3. 1999 Penfold's Yattarna Chardonnay: Really pretty stunning chardonnay. Smooth, silky impressions of stone fruit, melon, American oak and butteryness. Coconut on the nose. Impressive. 90%

4. 2002 Felton Road Pinot Noir: strong smell of raspberry and wild mushrooms. Similar on the palate with ripe plums. This got dominated by the food but it held up pretty well. Good earthy finish and great fruit. If it played cricket it'd be a solid all rounder. Could probably do with another 5 years. 89%

5. 1996 Penfold's Bin 389 Cab Shiraz. Big rich nose with American Oak and black currents. Velvety tannin structure, but lacking the fruit to really impress. Typical, ripe Australian red. 87%

6. 2003 Chateau Coutet Sauternes: boiled lollies and confectionery nose. Honeydew, apricots and syrupy on the palate. Typical sauternes with kerosene finish, not too sweet, nicely balanced and approachable. 88%

I'm full, drunk and very tired.

Adieu!