Red Violin Bar

What: The Red Violin Bar and Lounge
Where: Lvl 1, 123 Bourke St, Melbourne (opposite the Target Centre)



After we finished our rather large amount of pizza at Basso Cafe, we randomly strolled around the CBD and almost tripped over this bar, The Red Violin. It's such a fancy looking place we thought that it would be very pricey, but no, it was actually rather reasonable.


I tried their signature cocktail, a Red Violin, which was very unique. It tasted almost like liquid Turkish Delight! Heavenly, and only $16.

The Red Violin is a great bad right in the middle of the CBD and right in front of the Bourke St trams line to it's easy to get home afterwards... I'd definitely visit this place again.

Oh, before I forget, just remember to take cash with you as they don't have card access. That includes EFTPOS.

Basso Cafe - All you can eat pizza for $10!

What: Basso Cafe (http://www.bassocafe.com/)

Where: 195 Lt Collins St, Melbourne

My friend and I found this great place by accident about a week ago and love it! They have started an "All you can eat" pizza night on Friday nights for only $10 and it even includes a beer or glass of wine!

I think it's due to the fact that Basso Cafe gets VERY busy on Fridays during lunch so by 6pm they have a lot of pizza still available. Instead of the usual $4.80 per slice you can have as much as you want... The pizza comes in quite a good range with classics like "Supreme" and "Ham & Pineapple" to others such as "Roast potatoes with rosemary".

So, next time you're in the city on a Friday evening and stuck for a place to eat, check out Basso Cafe...

Crispy skin duck with shitake mushrooms on pasta with truffle, parmesan and sage butter sauce

I love cooking :) I thought for my first addition to the blog I'd write about what I cooked up on Tuesday night on a whim.

I had a couple of duck breasts in the fridge so I decided to make something a little fancy. Here's the recipe for all those that wanna try this at home.

Ingredients:

• 2 duck breast, skin on


• Enough oil to shallow fry the duck in a deep frypan (don't use olive oil for this)


• 8 Fresh shitake mushrooms


• 1 Small bunch of fresh sage leaves


• 150g butter


• 250g (half a packet) of spaghetti or whatever pasta you prefer.


• 2 tblsp truffle infused olive oil. Check the food links on where you can find this in Melbourne.


• Grated Parmesan cheese to taste.

Method:

• Slice the shitake mushrooms and place to one side.


• Put the duck breasts in a steamer and steam for around 12 minutes (Don't over cook!)


• While the duck is cooking, put the pasta in some boiling water and boil for about 15 minutes. Drain when done and place back in the saucepan and take it off the heat.


• When the duck has steamed for 12 minutes, heat some oil in a deep frypan until it's VERY hot and place the duck breasts skin down in the oil. Be careful, the oil might spit and burn you. Use long tongs...


• Spoon the hot oil over the duck and continue this for about 3-5 minutes until the skin looks a cripsy dark brown.


• When the duck looks crispy enough, remove it from the oil and place on some paper towel to drain.


• In a small saucepan, bring the butter and a little oil to a bubbling simmer and add the sage. Stir until the sage turns dark green and becomes crispy.


• Take the butter off the heat and add the mushrooms to the butter. Stir them in well.


• Pour the butter sauce onto the pasta, add the truffle infused olive oil and mix well.


• Sprinkle the grated Parmesan cheese over the pasta and mix it in.


• Slice the duck breast and place on top of the pasta.


• Serve with a good red wine of your choice.

Well, there you have it :) I hope that if anyone tries this it works out as well as it did for me... YUMMY!!!

The food we love

This will be the place where I'll post my experiences with restaurants around Australia and sometimes overseas when I travel.

Also, if I come across any yummy recipes I'll post them here as well :)