FoodHax

Just before Christmas, I was treated to the most perfectly cooked steak I have ever eaten in my whole life at a restaurant called The Deanery. I know, steak is fairly subjective. However, my father has been a butcher for nearly forty years. Sans most of my teenage years where my ultimate rebellion against my parents was to become vegetarian and even vegan, I have grown up eating the best cuts of meat available.

I am in two minds about sharing my secret restaurants. On one hand, especially in this case where I have pretty much bragged to anyone who will listen about this fantastic steak, I love to share. On the other hand, and such is the dilemma when your favourite restaurant gets reviewed in a mainstream broadsheet’s food lift out, you don’t want the experience ruined by any old prole with enough savvy to “Google” or ask yahoo for an answer.

It was someone’s sweet someteenth birthday this weekend just gone, and I took them out for delicious steak to celebrate.

The Deanery change their menu fairly regularly (well, regularly enough that the menu had changed at least once since I had visited the month before), and I was a bit fretful that my beloved filet steak in red wine jus was noticeably absent.

Firstly, sourdough style bread with fruity olive oil and perfectly tartsweet balsamic vinegar.

(please excuse the lack of focus)
The shucked to order oysters dressed in lemon and olive oil are a divine gift from the ocean gods.

Calamari, though cooked to perfection, looked a little bit sad and soggy in person. They were quite photogenic though. And delicious.

Then, two T Bone steaks the size of your head. I could not finish mine. It was cooked to perfect medium, the flesh falling off the bone. Served with a side of potatoes.

The Deanery have an impressive wine cellar to accompany their menu, however we stuck with beer from their small selection of local and imports.
For a classy establishment we still managed to pay less than $150 for two people including drinks and tips. An amazing restaurant.

The Deanery:
13 Bligh Place
Melbourne VIC 3000
t: +61 3 9629 5599
www.thedeanery.com.au

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I’m not sorry about the pun!

This weekend I made POACHED EGGS. This is important because a) I haven’t attempted them since I was an apprentice a good 7 years ago, and b) up until a few weeks ago, I haven’t eaten runny eggs for a very, very long time. I’m talking over twenty years.

It all started when I was making a salad and I didn’t quite boil an egg for long enough, so it was still a bit runny inside. But, I ate it; and to my amazement there was no upset stomach, nor overwhelming “eggy” taste that usually turns me off! Then there were no holds barred! The next day there were soft boiled eggs, mushrooms, bacon and spinach for breakfast. A week later there were fried eggs, sunny side up (is there a better term for fried eggs not flipped? I don’t particularly like that phrase). Then, this weekend just past I attempted the poached eggs. I failed at my first two, the recipe I was using as a reference on Taste.com.au suggested to crack the eggs onto a plate first but I found that it completely destroyed the egg white as it entered the water. It could have been the eggs that I was using (it recommends to use the freshest eggs that you can) but I found cracking the eggs into rapid simmering water helped the egg whites to set better.

So, here’s what I did:

Bring a deep frypan full of water to a fast simmer.
Add a pinch of sea salt flakes and two teaspoons of lemon juice.
Slowly and carefully crack your eggs straight into the water. I did two at a time.
Simmer for 3-4 minutes.
Remove eggs from the water with a slotted spoon, hold over a sink or other surface to drain slightly.
Serve with hot buttered toast (Rye! It’s good!) and bacon. Enjoy!

See, you don’t need a Sunbeam Eggo after all!

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Christmas Lunch
Pork belly, turkey, ham and the usual vegetable accompaniments. Nothing that huge or exciting, but it was a wonderful day nontheless.

Delicious Cake
A fluffy marvel of epic rich chocolate proportions, as made by my nephew’s workmates.

Souvalaki and other BBQ delights at @kahlerisms’ NYE Toga Party
Not pictured: Beer Chicken, which was amazing. I am going to procure his recipe and publish it here at some stage.

Pictured: Your togate host, complete with home made fake plastic Camellia leaf laurel.

Eggy Breakfast
My first attempt at poached eggs. A delicious success!

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