Trocadero - Southbank - Melbourne - review

The moment I heard of this restaurant and peeped at their menu I was chomping at the bit to make a visit and fill my belly.

Trocadero is situated within the Art Center at Hammer Hall. Perfectly positioned on the banks of the Yarra facing the iconic Flinders street station and federation sqaure. With your meal you also get a view. The decor is relaxed but polished with a dark, neutral colour theme. The staff are dressed in t-shirts but the patrons were a mix of casual and dressy. Trocadero sites itself as a bar-slash-brasserie, practically open all day with quick-bites for the pre-theatre crowd.

We arrived on a gloriously sunny Thursday evening and ordered the following:

The evening started with a bag of complimentary bread which Mr.M devoured.

Berkshire pork cacciatore and venison calbrese salami - $15

cooked potatoes, truffle aioli, pecorino $11

I ordered this as my entree. The potatoes were probably a touch overdone for me, and I was hoping for more of a truffle or cheese flavour, they were surprisingly mild. Mr.M on the other hand, ADORED them - but he is a 'potato chip' fiend.

zucchini risotto with black truffle

This was a special, and I regret not ordering the onion risotto instead. The consistency was a touch watery for me, and with the zucchini as the main flavour component it was all rather bland. Even the generous shavings of truffle didn't help punch up the flavour.

beef, chipotle pepper and quinoa sausage, chickpea fries, harissa $28

Mr.M asked our waitress what she thought was their best main dish, and this is what she suggested. At first Mr.M was a little hesitant to order sausages and fries, but after he tried some he changed his mind. The chips were delicious although Mr.M hoped there had been more. The sausages were so incredibly juicy that Mr.M exclaimed they should come with a warning  in case someone pierce it and be squirted in the face. It was a touch spicy but overall Mr.M enjoyed it.

caramel cooked cream, pear, popcorn crumble, chocolate $17

The chatter about this dish was assaulting me from all sides - so needless to say my expectations were quite high. It looked scrumptious and very generous, I tend to find some desserts tiny so was incredibly pleased with the portion serve. However, I barely finished half. As many have said, it is decadently rich. As someone who is sadly dairy-intolerant, the cooked cream part was just too much for me to handle. What I loved most about this dish though was the popcorn crumble in its salty deliciousness and the sticky caramel - caramel popcorn is a favourite of mine, and this dessert was what caramel popcorn would be if it reached enlightenment   Despite the fact that my body wouldn't allow me to eat it all, I would order it again and perhaps eat more topping, less cooked cream. It truly was delicious.

chocolate pudding, milk toffee ice cream $17

Mr.M ordered this was and incredibly happy with it. The chocolate fondant had a glorious ooze and exquisite cocoa richness. Desserts were definitely the stars of our evening.

The staff were friendly and the food was wonderful. We will definitely be returning.

Nobu - Southbank - review

Name: Nobu

Address: 6 Whiteman St
Southbank VIC 3006
(03) 9292 7879

Food: Japanese

Average price: $7.50-$30, desserts $8.50-$15.

Complimentary: Nothing.

We ordered:

Edamame - $6.50

Nice, some beans were a little soft and wrinkled but otherwise a decent standard dish.

Yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno - $9

R loved this and had didn't want to share it.

Beef fillet tataki, with onion ponzu and garlic chips -$23

Fresh, clean flavours - R liked it


Miso

I thought it tasted a little hammy, I asked and it was made with fish broth.

Bento Box - $45

 
Good serving size. In it there was.

Sashimi salad with matsuhisa dressing

Baby tiger prawn tempura with ponzu
R exlamimed upon first bite, 'oh man, these are awesome'.

Black cod with miso

R said it didn't taste fishy at all, just really awesome and packed full of flavour.

oshitashi
vegegtable spicy garlic with rice
assorted sushi
miso soup

Seasonal vegetables with spicy garlic sauce - $15

Surprisingly not very spicy or garlicy - it lacked flavour and some veggies were undercooked and the rice was gluggy.


Zucchini tempura - $2

Nice but pretty standard.


Caramel parfait with candied peanuts, chocolate sponge and miso mousse - $17

Nice salty caramel taste, with a green tea shortbread? The chocolate sponge was a little too spongy (almost like those foam squares in gymnast pits) but it had good cocoa flavour.
I didn't like the acidic fruity sorbet on the top, for it it just didn't match up with the creamy, salty and sweet flavours. Overall I thought it was nice but could be improved.

Tofu cheesecake with green tea crumble, berry compote and tuile - $17

warm chocolate satandagi filled with pistachio and chocolate ganache in a Japanese bun and served with caramelised pistachios, berry coulis and almond ice cream - $18.50

This was OK. The chocolate centre was sweet with a nice pistachio tone but the buns were a little too bready and bland. The coulis was nice. Wouldn't order this again though.

Cost: $260 for four people for lunch.

Service: OK.

Atmosphere: Close quarters and some hustle and bustle. The restaurant is located within the glitzy Crown complex. Once inside the restaurant you are given a tradition Japanese welcome (Irasshaimase!) before being shown to your table. The restaurant was fairly empty when we went for lunch, so we asked to be moved to another table away from the windows where the sun was shining rather harshly on us. We were moved to a table that was around a pillar with a padded bench that went along all four sides which was nice when there were no other people beside you. Later on though I found the lack of space and proximity to the other patrons rather intrusive, at one stage the lady on my left went to grab her bag and accidentally grabbed mine. This also made the noise factor quite loud once it begins to fill up.
Decor wise the restaurant is a mix of dark browns with gold and deep red accents.

Parking: Ample - there's underground paid parking in the Crown complex, street parking or other paid parking lots.

Website: http://www.noburestaurants.com/melbourne/experience/introduction/

Hours: Mon-Fri noon-3pm, Mon-Sat 6pm-10.30pm

Would I return: Maybe.

The Brasserie by Philippe Mouchel - Southbank - Crown

Name: The Brasserie by Philippe Mouchel
Crown Casino Complex
8 Whiteman St
Southbank 3006 VIC

Phone: (03) 9292 7808

Food: French
Average price: Entree: $17.50-$22, Mains: $25-$39, Dessert: $16.50-$18.50, Set menu: 3 courses, $75

Complimentary: Bread with olive oil and dukkah.


The bread was so tough that I had to get my husband to tear it in half for me lest I elbow the person next to me with the force it would have taken to rip it apart. As a result it was fairly chewy, the lovely oil and the flavoursome dukkah made it a little more enjoyable though.

We ordered dinner:

Entree: King salmon gravlax - $20.00
dill and yuzu mayonnaise, egg condiment, toasted sourdough


This was one dimensional in flavour for Ryan, all he got was salmon and more salmon, the mayonnaise and egg condiment weren't enough to cut through the oily, fishy salmon.

Vegetable confit/tempura - $16.80
eggplant, zucchini, capsicum, tomato, free-range egg


I barely ate a mouthful of this. The vegetables tasted like any marinated vegetables you can buy from your supermarket deli, but with less flavour. This whole dish was cold, included the poached egg, which I found bizarre and unappetising. The tempura veggies were unseasoned, cold, greasy and a touch soggy.

Mains: Humpty Doo barramundi - $35.45
asparagus and broad bean nage


This was boring for me. Some of the asparagus were really ragged in their shaved form and the broad beans were black/brown in colour, I am not familiar with cooked broad beans, but I was expecting green beans, so I chose not to eat them. For some reason I thought the nage would be thicker, but it was water thin, and it didn't add anything to the dish. The fish was cooked well, slightly on the raw-er side, but overall it lacked dimension and flavour.

Porterhouse (280gr) - $35.45
pan-fried served with French fries


The chips were good, Ryan had his steak served with a herbed butter. Ryan thought this was actually rather bland, and the meat a little chewy, he didn't eat much.

Dessert: French crêpe filled with lemon curd and raspberry - $15.90
with lemon sorbet


Aside from the fact it was practically cold when brought out, Ryan enjoyed this somewhat. For me however, the raspberry filling tasted a little too artificial, like raspberry powder and icing sugar.

Chocolate and caramel tart with passionfruit - $15.90


It took me until halfway through the tart to realise that the bottom of it was caramel - the caramel and chocolate ganache were the same texture. The chocolate was dark and just pure chocolate, whilst the caramel had a slight bitterness to it, but not one bit of the chewy, stringiness I love. The shell was a touch dry. It was served with some passionfruit, caramel splodges and a passion fruit whipped cream, which tasted like a passionfruit whipped cream, surprisingly the cream didn't go so well with the tart. Overall it was OK, but nothing memorable.

Cost: $153 - for 2 entrees, 2 mains and 2 desserts.

Service: Great. The first dish, as mentioned before, was out in a flash, as were the subsequent dishes. The wait staff were also prompt in taking orders, clearing plates and giving us the bill.

Atmosphere: Lively. Having a restaurant in Crown means being packed. The seats were well spaced however, and we were in the top section which is separated from the main floor that has doors that open onto the boulevard outside, and therefore is much noisier than the upstairs room. I really loved the Christmas ornament-esque decoration on the table and the booth was comfortable. The seats are a little long and I found myself having to lean over to talk to my husband.


Parking: Crown has three huge car parks, we went on a Saturday night however and the first two car parks were full, with the third already filled to the fifth level.

Website: http://www.thebrasserieatcrown.com.au/Content.aspx?topicID=688

Hours: Daily noon-3pm, 6pm-11pm

Would I return: No - it isn't worth going to Crown for.

Bistro Guillaume - Southbank

Name: Bistro Guillaume

Address: 8 Whiteman St
Southbank 3006 VIC
Phone: (03) 9693 3888

Food: French
Average price: Entree - $22, Mains - $35, Desserts - $18.
Complimentary: 1 baguette slice for each person with a disk of butter for 3 people that had a sprinkling of fleur de sel (?salt).

We ordered:
Entree: Traditional Onion soup - $16.


Dad and I ordered this and both of us didn't like it. Perhaps it is because we are used to Australianised onion soups we found the dish overly sweet with a weird deepness, perhaps a gravy or sauce? I didn't much like the texture either; I only had a few spoonfuls.

Freshly shucked oysters with shallots and red wine vinegar - $3.50 each.


Anthie ordered these, and Ryan who had never had an oyster before, absolutely loved these.

Chicken & duck liver parfait with pear, ginger chutney & toasted sourdough - $25.
Doris ordered this and cleaned the plate.

Hunter Valley snails with beurre persile - $21 per 1/2 dozen.

Ryan and his dad ordered these and ate them all.

Mains: Berkshire pork cutlet with pommes croquettes and sauce charcutiere - $40.
Ryan absolutely loved the pommes croquettes, and thought the pork was good too.

Duck confit - $38.

Doris had this and liked it.

Bistro Guillaume Fish & Chips - whole whiting with Pont- Neuf and beurre maitre d'hotel - $45.

This looks quite impressive, Louis enjoyed it.

John Dory with pea puree, asparagus - $39.
The fish was seared and salted, which contrasted well to the heavy sweetness of the pea puree and crispness of the asparugus. It was quite nice but got a bit boring.

Risotto with field mushrooms & Reggiano parmesan - $25.
Anthie and dad ordered this, and although the consistency and flavours were nice, it was oversalted.

Desserts: Chocolate Marquise with pistachio ice cream - $20.
Doris and Anthie ordered this and absolutely loved it. The chocolate marquise was like velvet. It also had a raspberry reduction.

Trio of ice creams - $18.

Louis ordered this - it was a trio of chocolate, pistachio and vanilla ice creams.
Poire Belle Helene - $18.
I shared this with Ryan, which was a mistake as it is definitely not enough for two. It is a poached pear, with vanilla bean ice cream and a dark chocolate sauce - classic combination. We didn't get much of the sauce though as everyone else of the table poured it over their own desserts.

Cost: $448 - 6 entrees, 6 mains, 4 desserts - unfortunately there is a ridiculous 10% surcharge on Sundays and Public Holidays.

Service: Great. We didn' really notice the waiters (most of whom had french accents). Our water was topped, our plates cleared without interruption. They were also quite knowledgable about the menu.

Atmosphere: The restaurant is located within the Crown Complex so it feels quite luxurious and upmarket. The interior is gorgeous, large billowing fabric lights take center stage to an otherwise muted colour scheme. Unfortunately the chairs are a little uncomfortable.

It was fairly empty, but there was little noise also. At one instance a light bulb exploded and shattered over a diners seat, who luckliy had taken a bathroom break when it happened, the waiters quickly cleaned it up and replaced her chair by the time she had returned.

Parking: Normally ample as it is within the Crown Complex which has an abundance of parking, unfortunately for us today it was full but we parked in another parking complex in Southbank.

Website: www.bistroguillaume.com.au

Hours: Sat-Sun 8am-11.30am
daily noon-11pm

Would I return: No. I didn't think the food was anything special considering the great reviews.