Melbourne, VIC
What is love? Love is wanting
nothing more but to see that special person at the end of a hard day. Love is
sharing a wonderful meal with someone who means the world to you. Love is going
out of your way to make your one and only happy. In short, love is an impromptu
dinner at Horoki with my most
favourite person in the world, after days and days of work that never seemed to
end.
I’ve
been itching to go to Horoki for years – way before my food blogging days.
However back in the days of being 15, paying $40 or so each for a meal seemed
astronomical, and entirely out of my budget.
The long bar
and the round, yellow light fixtures like wheels of cheese were nothing new to
me, having combed through each and every review of Horoki for the last 4 years.
It is however, a little less busy than I had expected it to be, with only a
handful of people enjoying an intimate meal, or a solitary drink and nibble at
the bar.
Garlic Bread ($5) |
Chris flipped
through the menu, looking increasingly grim, before demanding that we order the
Garlic Bread ($5). The sticks
of buttered and herbed bread that came out in an adorably crooked bowl had
Chris nodding his head in appreciation.
Daikon Salad with Sashimi ($15.5) |
I’ve heard
magical things about the Daikon Salad
with Sashimi ($15.5), and when it came out I did have to admit it
looked pretty... pretty. The selection of sashimi was a bit hit and miss, with
succulent cuts of kingfish and salmon, but watery scallops and barely thawed
tuna. The vegetable component of the salad was flawless though, a great mixture
of fresh, crisp flavours in a nutty sesame soy dressing.
Horoki Original Pasta with Spicy Cod Roe Butter ($15.5) |
“Yes, that’s
definitely the best one”, nodded our waitress with approval as I ordered the Horoki Original Pasta with Spicy Cod Roe
Butter ($15.5). And whilst the first bite didn’t blow me away, the
distinctive flavour of creamy sauce with the subtle, briny pop of cod roe grew
on me with alarming speed. I found
myself fighting for each forkful with Chris until, regrettably, it was all
gone.
Sliced Roasted Pork ($14.8) |
Faced with a
menu that turned him into Mr Skeptic, Chris had insisted that we order a dish
off the ‘meat’ page. His choice of Sliced
Roasted Pork ($14.8) was a lot less generous than the other dishes so
far, and whilst the pork was tender in a sweet and sticky sauce, the
accompanying vegetables were limp and flavourless.
Tuna Carpaccio ($15.8) |
I had been
looking forward to trying what’s arguably Horoki’s signature dish – the Tuna Carpaccio ($15.8). That
desire diminished a little after the tuna in the daikon salad, and I had
fervently hoped that they used a different batch of tuna for the carpaccio. They
didn’t, and the tuna was still dense and tasting of the freezer. On a regular
day I might have appreciated the bizarre but strangely right combination of
parmigiano, raw tuna, soy, and mayonnaise, but it was impossible given the
state of the fish.
Horoki is a
lovely little Japanese tapas bar with a French slant, but I feel as if it’s a
little past its prime. The menu is quite hit and miss, and I don’t think it’s
changed at all in the last few years. It’s unique, certainly, but I’m not sure how I keen I’d be to come back for anything other than the spicy cod roe butter
pasta.
Rating: 12.5/20 – japanese pasta.
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Melbourne Supper Club
Level 1/161 Spring St
Melbourne, VIC
Melbourne, VIC
The Melbourne Supper Club is an iconic and most likely the
classiest member of Melbourne’s bar scene. It’s stuffed full of saggy leather
couches, and the large window at one end affords a priceless view of the
Parliament building.
Being more a place for nibbles than
for a meal, the menu fits neatly on an A4 page. The wine list on the other hand
is leather bound, 70 pages long, and has its own table of contents.
Creme Brulee ($11.5) |
But we were here for dessert, and
whilst the apparently amazing sticky date pudding called, we ultimately settled
on our favourite – Creme Brulee
($11.5). This was done well, with a thick and eggy custard hidden by a layer of
toffee that straddled the perfect line between burnt and... not burnt. It was
just slightly bitter but still full of crunchy, sugary goodness.
Melbourne Supper Club is so lovely,
there is no doubt I’ll be a frequent visitor from now on. Some people may call
it elitist and whilst it is snooty to a certain extent, our waiter that night
was nothing but charming and accommodating. I loved how no one was rushed to
leave; we stayed around for a long time after we had finished eating, and
instead of asking if we would like the bill, the waiter simply topped up our
water and let us be. But be careful – while you may very likely spend a fortune
here, they only take cash, so make sure you have plenty on hand.
Rating: 15/20 – supperoonies.
wow. would love to visit Melbourne Supper club one day. I have to agree that I didn't like Horoki a lot even though I had the bento. check out my blog post at http://newintstudents.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/horoki-casual-dining-bar.html
ReplyDeleteMelbourne supper club is definitely a place to me, it's so cosy and relaxed there, and the menu had sausage rolls! It's such a shame about horoki because I've been wanting to go, and salivating over it, since forever. Good thing melbourne has many more good eats!
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