Simon's Peiking Duck

 

Simon Lay has been described as rude and arrogant and named the “Duck Nazi”, but our experience was quite a bit different.  He is a perfectionist, without doubt, in the preparation of Peking Duck and his antics in the dining room are fun.  If you want the best Peking Duck in Melbourne, but don’t have a sense of humour, don’t go.  Simon’s stock-in-trade is perfectly prepared and inelegantly served roasted duck – the standard 3-course menu is Peking Duck served in pancakes, then a noodle dish with the ‘white’ meat from the duck and the last is a clear soup prepared from the residue of the duck.  All three courses are delicious and the choice of soft noodles with the second course was a wise one – they are scrumptious.

Simon’s Peiking Duck Restaurant is in Middleborough Rd, Box Hill Sth and we decided the day before when talking to friends, to try it out.  Bookings are essential as the ducks are prepared well in advance and the place is very popular, but we were fortunate to get a table.  You also need to order the number of ducks required, but 2 ducks for a table of 4 people is quite sufficient.  The dining room is very noisy and meals are served in shifts, so the tables turn over at least once during the evening, with a 6pm and 8pm sitting.  Lots of tables are occupied by chinese families which usually indicates that the food is authentic.  The staff are attentive without being overly professional and Simon, himself, serves the duck with the pancakes, flipping the pancakes across the table to land on plates at each setting.  He then proceeds to show diners how to fold the duck and vegetables into the pancake.  He is quite a character!  And the duck is superb!

The restaurant is fully licensed or BYO and we shared a couple of bottles of delightful local pinot noir, which went beautifully with the food.  One bottle was from the Yarra Valley and the other from the Mornington Peninsula, both extremely enjoyable in their own way, but somewhat different in character.  One thing to remember when dining here is don’t bring the credit card – this is a cash-only experience, but don’t expect to be spending heaps either, because each duck is only $55 and we ate 2 ducks for our table – very economical.  Corkage is very reasonable and ‘deluxe’ noodles adds a few dollars, but this is one dining experience which we’ll repeat, perhaps often.

Jacques Reymond

For many years, our small group of Uni students, come professionals and now retirees, have joined together on the first weekend in December, to catch up and enjoy each other’s company.  We invariably choose one of the ‘better’ restaurants in Melbourne which have included Attica, Vue de Monde, Stokehouse, Sails on the Bay, Pure South, Circa, The European and Jacques Reymond.  This year it was back to the latter for a re-visit experience and what a great experience it was.

Our group of eight has aged gracefully, has travelled widely, has lived well but fairly wisely and is (individually) quite active and relatively fit and healthy.  But we love our food and we enjoy a great bottle of wine.  So the choice of Jacques Reymond was quite logical.

The venue is still just as wonderful as always and the staff are attentive, knowledgeable and personable.  Jacques invariably visits towards the end of the evening and is a fantastic host and a superb Chef.

Most of us chose the degustation menu because it is such a chore choosing from the extensive ‘carte’ menu and choosing the correct wine for the course is somewhat daunting from such an incredible cellar.  Ocean Trout, Moreton Bay Bugs and John Dory, each in their element  with incredible tastes and textures, were the first three courses followed by the meat courses of Wallaby, Venison, Pekin Duck and Veal fillet with some of the most intense tastes of additions such as lamb dumplings, spanner crab and Tasmanian wasabi and lard potatoes.  And the desserts are something else again!  The whole experience is amazing, which is why we return to places like this.  Most of the wines were perfect matches to the course, although we were less than enthused over one of the NZ offerings, particularly coming immediately after a superb Alsace riesling.

The reasons for ‘Jacques Reymond’ restaurant to remain at or near the top of the list, are many and varied, but the return visits of many people, us included, are a testament to the professionalism, the incredible menu, the extensive cellar and the great ‘vibe’ of the Willams Rd mansion. 

Congratulations to the kitchen staff, Jacques and the front of house staff, for the great experience.

Knitting in the colder months

Knitting season is almost done, although Jules is still working on a couple of pieces.  She invariably has three or four pieces going at a time and regularly works on pieces with her cousin, Michelle.  Michelle makes some fantastic pieces although she works more in quilting, than knitting.
See - http://thequiltedtortoise.blogspot.com.au

During the winter, Jules has knitted socks for grandkids and hubby, jumpers for hubby, step-daughter and daughter-in-law, scarves for the above and a beautiful Colour Affection shawl for a girlfriend in England, for her birthday. 

But the piece de resistance - Christmas Puddings for her students in English classes at Swinburne.  These are little gems and look just like the real thing - quite amazing!

Bistro Thierry

A visit to Bistro Thierry with friends Jessica and Keith was a highlight of an exceptionally busy week.  The two course lunch menu is exceptionally good with quite a few mouth-watering choices and a relatively inexpensive price, although we invariably seem to add sides and extras to come away with a bill somewhat more than expected.  The Caesar Salad and Salad Nicoise which we enjoyed for entree were both excellent and the 'Poisson' - a fillet of rockling - juicy and sweet, on a seared spinach base, was exceptional.  Staff are attentive and the place was buzzing at lunch on Friday.  We enjoyed catching up again with our friends and look forward to many more good times in great company.

Earlier in the week, Wozzy Jnr and Shev moved house and are now settling in to their 'forever house' - the grand-kids are ecstatic with their new enlarged backyard to play in and a court position with lots of other kids to interact with.  Some painting will be required because the previous owners thought that feature walls on every surface was a great idea and a new dishwasher was required on day two as the original was inoperable and smelled as though something had died in it.  However, they have taken a significant step and we wish them much happiness in their new surroundings.

Today (Sunday) saw us with another very early rise and trip into the city for the 'Sussan Classic' 10km run which saw Jules take a couple of minutes off her previous best time and cross the finish line with a smile which could have been mistaken for a grimace!

Tilt head to right to see Jules crossing the line!

Haven't figured out how to tilt photos within the blog - was OK on screen & in the folder.

Happy Birthday, Lynne

Happy Birthday Lynne

She hates surprises, so her husband decided it would be a good idea to organise one for a special “0” birthday!

Last Friday saw 8 of us head to Daylesford to celebrate our friend’s Big 0 birthday.  3 of the couples met before lunch & the girls took the birthday babe for some pampering, then we joined them in the early afternoon for a late lunch at Jimmy’s Bar.  We shared a tasting plate of local sausages, pate & cheese, just perfect.

Our accommodation was within walking distance of everything, so we parked the cars out the front & didn’t move them until it was time to leave.  We stayed at Lake Daylesford Country House,  a French provincial style house with 4 lovely bedrooms & importantly, 4 ensuites!  It was well equipped with everything we needed and plenty of room to lounge around both inside and outside in the beautiful gardens.

The birthday dinner on the first night was at Lake House.  All agreed that the quality & presentation of the food was fantastic, although there was some wincing when we got the bill – those good wines don’t come cheap! Anyway, it was certainly a delicious & worthwhile experience.

After a slow start the next morning, we went to Cliffy’s for breakfast, a rather eclectic place, with a small menu and limited coffee options (no skinny!) but the food was good, so we were happy.  We wandered back into town, and the boys took off to sample a joint called Breakfast & Beer, whilst the girls gave the local shops a thorough going-over.  We finally met up back at the house mid afternoon, where newspapers were perused, snoozes were enjoyed and some even took more exercise!

As we had all taken quite a few bottles of wine to share, it was decided that we would stay home & eat fish & chips on Saturday night, and it helped the bank balances too.  The local chippery served up great fish & chips & hamburgers, and we had another enjoyable evening of “shooting the breeze”.

All good things must come to an end, and Sunday morning saw us packing up, before an excellent farewell breakfast at Bad Habits Cafe in The Convent.  Again, great food and coffee saw everyone satisfied for the journey home.

I think the birthday girl enjoyed her surprise, and we definitely enjoyed celebrating with her and the rest of the bunch.

Birthday girl Lynne with Phil

Lake Daylesford Country House

Birthday party at Lake House.

Melbourne Marathon

Whilst it's not in our usual line of posts, I wanted to share a little of the pleasure (?) generated by Jules' participation in the 10km section of the Melbourne Marathon, completed last Sunday.  I have been extremely proud of her dedication in the lead-up to the event, suffering many difficult training runs, particularly in the early days and regularly coming home exhausted.  Some of the runs have been in quite hilly areas, including Metung, and have really tested her.  A couple of nasty falls didn't help either.  However, she is nothing if not determined and last Sunday morning, we set off at 6am for a 7.30 start at the MCG.  I dropped her and friend Rosemary off in Swan St and tried to find somewhere to park the car, eventually settling for a parking station in Flinders Lane.

A little after 8am, the first of the 10k runners started to trickle into the 'G and the trickle became a flood.  There were some 9000 runners in the 10k event with a total of 30,000 runners in all sections including a half marathon and a full marathon.  Eventually, after just over 1 hour and six minutes the Princess crossed the line and whilst she didn't have a big smile on her face, she was certainly pleased with her run and her time.  And so she should be!  Then, to top it all off, The Age on Monday published a photo of runners returning to the 'G precinct with Jules right in the middle, pounding the pavement.  Go Jules!

Crossing the Finish Line

After the run.

Enzo a disappointment!

Having dined at Enzo (local restaurant in Mt. Waverley) many times in the last 20 years, we considered it a safe bet for a local birthday dinner for a friend.  Last time we were there, there were a couple of new faces amongst the staff, but the food has always been great and the wine list quite good and not over-priced.  The same Italian family has run the restaurant for many years and the staff have always been friendly and attentive if a little eccentric at times, with a dress-code of waistcoats and black pants.

Not any more!  The dining room was almost empty, with only 4 other tables occupied and the staff of only 2 were unfamiliar and not as attentive as we were accustomed to - not slack, but given the lack of numbers, certainly not readily available.  Drinks service was sporadic, the initial pre-dinner drinks for the males delivered before the ladies even got to order their wines.  Then, the food!  The entree pork belly was under-cooked with the rind floppy and not-at-all crisp. The fatty sub-skin layer was almost cold, so the meat appeared to have been pre-cooked and instead of being put under the griller to heat and crisp, it may have been microwaved, but barely.  Five small pieces on a bed of rocket!!!  The scallops were watery and tasteless and didn't even show any hint of the sea, so have been frozen, washed and  probably microwaved - very poor.

The eye fillet was a lovely piece of meat so the butcher had certainly performed, but it was poorly presented with the bacon barely cooked and the fennel it was served with was again watery and tasteless - I love fennel so was looking forward to this aniseed taste hit.  The lamb shanks were described as satisfying.  The girls both ordered veal scallopini and described it as ordinary, with too much mashed potato.  Desserts ordered were Creme Brulee and Tiramisu and both were less than satisfying - "can do better than that at home"!

So, apart from the company, which was most enjoyable, the dinner at Enzo's was a major disappointment and we won't be bothering again.  The chef has a lot to learn and the (apparently new) management need to address the slide into oblivion.  It will be only the less discerning who will enjoy an evening there.