I’ve been
very busy lately since I have family visiting me from overseas. Trying to
juggle keeping them entertained with work is difficult and added to that, my
boyf (Chris) has his aunt and uncle visiting as well!
It’s been a
busy month and will continue to be a busy month when another group come to
visit next Thursday but it’s always lovely to see my cousins after such a long
time.
I recently
had 5 days off work due to the Melbourne cup public holiday (actually I took
Friday off). On Friday, Chris and I went with his mum, her friends and his aunt
and uncle to William Angliss for lunch. My brother and his girlf were on
another table (Sorry to crash your date hehe)
William
Angliss is a school specialising in culinary and hospitality. For their final
year student chefs, they have a special restaurant – Angliss restaurant where
they host various events. Occasionally, they’ll have themed buffets cooked by
the students and attended to by their hospitality students. Everything is
presented like an actual restaurant; it even has a bar connected. Wasn’t a fan
of the buffet last time we went, everything seemed a little overcooked.
On Friday,
they had their last Great Chefs at Angliss Program. This program attracts many
big names in the cooking world (all of whom have their own famous restaurant in
Melbourne) and gets their top chefs to lead and teach the students how to cook
their specialty dishes. Lunch has 3 courses with wines for each course and
dinner is 4 courses with wines to accompany. I was so excited!
We booked
for the Friday lunch session – the head chef was Tony Twitchett from the famous
Taxi restaurant in Melbourne’s Federation Square and wines sponsored from
Tahbilk winery.
We began
with a fresh bun with butter, the bun was so well made and very fresh. The
outside was a little crispy and the inside was super soft. I love fresh bread!
This was
then followed with our entrée, Smoked brook trout, horseradish cream, capers
and salmon roe. Omgoodness, this was delicious! I’m usually not a fan of fish
but I literally ate everything off the plate! It was that good. This course was
paired with a Rosanne-Marsanne-Viognier, which is a white wine and our
favourite wine for the afternoon.
The staffs
there were so well trained, so soon as something is empty, they’ll take it away
or fill it up for you. We also ordered a lemon lime bitters because Chris had
to drive that day and wasn’t allowed to drink too much. The great thing about
this place is that all drinks are included in the $50pp cost. So cheap!
The main was
a crispy Szechuan duck, pumpkin daikon salad and 3 spice caramel sauce paired
with a Grenache-Shiraz-Mourvedre red wine. The duck was melt-in-your-mouth
delicious, it was really well cooked and the sauce was divine! The pumpkin
salad added a good touch to it and helped to cleanse your palette so the sauce
is not too overwhelming. Chris said this dish was very well put together.
We were all
looking forward to the dessert wine – since the majority of our table likes our
wines sweeter and usually dessert wines are sweeter but it let us down. The
wine they paired with the dessert was a Tahbilk Chardonnay Pinot Noir which was
nothing close to sweet. The dessert however, was not a letdown. We had a
Myrtleford buttermilk, champagne rhubarb and strawberry foam. Presentation was
beautiful and taste was just as beautiful!
Definitely will
come back to Great Chefs at Angliss 2014, Chris and I already have two chefs in
mind (Taxi chef – Tony Twitchett been one of them) so when the schedule comes
out in February 2014, we’ll be rushing to book those two sessions.
Angliss Restaurant
550
Little Lonsdale Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Tony Twitchett’s restaurant:
Taxi Dining Room
Level
1, Transport Hotel, Federation Square/Flinders Walk,
Melbourne
VIC 3000
