Launching Movida Solera @ Movida Acqui

A few weekends ago I spent 3 hours at Movida Acqui eating a 10 course lunch and washing it down with 4 glasses of wine.  All the meals were cooked straight out of the new Movida Solera book and Frank and Richard were in attendance to tell us about their 5 week food adventure through Spain.  It was indeed a very decadent way to spend an afternoon.  

The meals were not only wonderful but they were also simple.  Occasionally it's nice to be able to flip through a cookbook and make a meal with ingredients that are already at home in the fridge.   

Dinner @ Hellenic Republic

It's no secret that Melbourne has great Greek food and according to B, it's better than the Greek food in Greece.


One of our favourites is Hellenic Republic.  Uncomplicated, home-style Greek cooking. The food is simple, authentic Greek - dips, salads, spit, seafood, saganaki.  If you're hungry, definitely head there for a yummy meal.  It is however very loud, like a typical Greek taverna with an open kitchen.


It's cheap(ish). It's cheerful. There's no weird stuff, no modern interpretations, definitely no evidence of fusion. 


My photos are blurry as they were taken in a hurry as B think it's embarrassing when I pull out my camera in public, ha!

Outfit for the evening (hair looks orange due to lighting, I promise it's not like that "in person")

• Scanlan & Theodore twill tunic.  If I wasn't so tall, this could work as a dress
• Sass & Bide Rats
• YSL booties
• SG necklace

Generous serving to dip and saganaki with peppered figs

The busy open kitchen and a crowd of very varied diners - families, couples, tourists...

Our cosy little corner window

Yummy dessert

Again, apologies for the poor photography, all done with one shot, on auto!  Bad!!

The Hidden Pizza Restaurant

The social networking world has been abuzz with news of Hidden Pizza. 

The trick is locate the restaurant "the way you would any business" (ie yellowpages etc).  You ring the number, place an order for one of their simple pizzas (nothing fancy unfortunately - margherita, vegie, prawn etc).  You are then SMS-ed the address and expected to turn up any time between 5.30pm and 10.30pm.

Being inquisitive as I am, I had to go check it out!

The "restaurant" is located off a laneway in Fitzroy and there are people and cameras everywhere, because hey, there's no such thing as a free lunch!  I still do not really know the purpose of it?  Is it market research?  Is it advertising for the yellow pages?  I do know that it won't be around forever, it's a pop up restaurant!

The line to get in at about 6.30pm was not too bad.  About 10 minutes... a disclaimer is signed that you're ok for them to photograph you - you place your order and you're led into the basement to wait for your pizza, with little stools around the room where you can sit and eat and sip on little jars of home made lemonade that they also provide complimentary. 

The whole room is made out of recycled materials and the walls are made from yellow pages books!

And the pizza was pretty good!

I didn't take my camera, so you will have to put up with my iphone photos which didn't work well in a dimly lit, crowded room.

The 15 or so minute line to get inside

The pot plants

Home made lemonade

Recycled light fixtures

Working hard (they field over 250 orders an hour)

Yellow pages = wall materials

All recycled

What's  happened to customer service in this world?

Next Saturday I am off to Canberra for all but 10 hours for the Masterpieces of Paris exhibit at NGA and really wanted to take High Tea at the exquisite Tea Room at the Hyatt - Canberra's only 5 star hotel. 

The great appeal of the Hyatt is that a person wanting to enjoy some of Canberra's many buildings and historic destinations can park at the hotel and have a pleasant afternoon exploring a range of attractions all within easy walking distance.  I'm looking forward to spending about an hour at the Old Parliament House which is just across the road. 

And that's where the trouble begins.

I rang yesterday, about 10 days before the trip to book for afternoon tea.  A gentleman answered the phone, and after I told him that I was in town for a few hours and had really been looking forward to dining there, all I got was "I'm sorry madam, we are very busy on the weekend, no room" and HE HUNG UP?

The whole tag of being-the-only-5-star-hotel-in-the-countries-capital-city must be getting to their head.  No offer of a wait list, no suggestions for alternative dining options at the hotel (and the website lists 4 other spots at the hotel alone).  So I took a deep breath and rang back and fortunately a different person took my call - she did what I expected from such an establishment - took my details down and told me she'd get back to me if a spot comes up, suggesting that as it's for only two, she's sure something will become available. 

Have you had any recent good or bad customer service experiences?  Maybe I was expecting too much...

Brisbane Culinary Adventures

Hello all!

Over the weekend I made a quick dash to Brisbane to spend some time with my parents.  I haven't seen them since January and was missing them a lot.  Even though we've lived apart for 3 years, it has not become any easier.

One thing we always do, is eat out when we're together!

We decided to go to Il Posto in Paddington for some yummy Italian.  The decore and menu are simple, the service always excellent and the food YUMMY!

I had the Duck Pasta a.k.a. pappardelle all’ anatra - duck & porcini mushroom ragu, fresh parsley, thyme...

And even though we always intend to have dessert with dinner, we make a bee line for Freestyle Tout.  Without a doubt the best and most generous desserts you will EVER have for under $15!  I'd say it's a dessert platter!  And the coffee is very good too - this coming from a picky coffee drinker. 

B and I are going up together for the long weekend next month, so lots of food again with mum, dad and lil bro (who only comes with us when B is in town, as he's "too cool" read: an 18 year old boy.

My creme brulee in the centre, served with an amazing vanilla ice cream and berry compote and a raspberry sorbet.

And that's mum's apple and raspberry crumble, vanilla custard, berry compote and more vanilla icecream.