L'Espresso

Cuisine: Australian

417 Sturt St 

Ballarat, VIC 3350
http://www.ballarat.com/lespresso.htm

Four of us decided to go up to Ballarat to visit our friend who's doing her placements there and having left Melbourne without breakfast we were all starving. We decided to go to L'Espresso as it had high Urbanspoon ratings and very close to where our friend lived. 

The place was bustling with locals. The line of CDs distributed along one side of the restaurant gives it a homely touch. What was The simple hanging lights were dim hence relying heavily on the natural lighting from the window, it was hard to view our food when it became cloudy. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our Cappucino ($3.90). It was fruity and smooth, further opening our appetite. One of our companion ordered a Mocha which came looking like a hot chocolate and as it tasted very much like on too. We each ordered a different dish and as I did not actually taste some of these myself, I will go by their enjoyability of their dish.

I ordered the Confit Duck Leg with white bean cassoulet and baby spring vegetables ($20) which looked neatly presented. The duck leg was a bit dry and lacking in flavour overall not leaving me in craving more. 

Prawn Pasta - Rustichella linguine with prawns, chilli, garlic, cherry tomato, rocket ($19.50) was apparently lacking in flavour as well. 

Open Focaccia with grilled eggplant, roasted peppers, Taggiasche olive pate and provolone ($14.50). I was told the eggplant was too salty and I personally felt the appearance was not appetitising.

 Open Steak Sandwich with caramelized onion, cornichons, tomato, watercress, Gruyere cheese and horseradish mayonnaise ($19.50) garnered a positive response from my friend stating the steak was nice and tender.

Braised Lamb neck with globe artichokes, broad beans, peas and toasted ciabatta ($20) was given a few shakes of salt of pepper here and there, just lacked a bit more seasoning.

Overall 
The coffee was great but the food did not leave us wanting an L'Espresso closer to home. It was hard to get the attention of a waiter to grab us some sugar for our coffee so we ended up getting it ourselves. In all, I would come back for the coffee but will probably scour around to see if Ballarat can offer something better. 

Food: 5/10

Service: 4/10

Cost: Reasonable

Overall Dining Experience: 5.5/10

RockSalt Modern Dining

Cuisine: Modern Australian
Shop 12, 20 Albert Avenue 
Broadbeach, QLD 4218
http://www.rocksaltmoderndining.com.au/ 

This 1 chef's hat restaurant was voted Best Contemporary Restaurant for South East Qld 2012 as well as their own Executive Chef and Owner, Matt Jefferson, winning Gold Coast Magazine's People's Choice Awards for Chef of the Year 2009, 2010 and 2011. This place has quite a few awards up their sleeves since opening in 2008.

Typically, we would not expect a restaurant of this calibre to be fully open facing the streets. It is a contrast to the more enclosed fine dining experience in Melbourne but it really works in their favour with the warm weather in Gold Coast, keeping it casual yet classy.

There was so much we wanted to try so we went for the 8 course degustation meal ($125pp or $200pp with matching wine) to allow us to try a variety of the chef's specialty. 

1. Pacific Oyster: Vietnamese dressing, pickled vegetables

We were wowed at the assortment of colours and beautiful presentation. The oyster was fresh and cooling however dressing lacked flavour. It sat on a bed of seaweed salad, propping the shell stably and adding another element to the plate. What we most adored about this dish was the colourful scatter of pickled vegetables complimenting each other perfectly. 

 2. An Exercise in Seasonal Spontaneity: A course decided by the chef at the time of ordering, spontaneous and fresh. 

This spontaneous dish consisted of prosciutto, scallop, lobster salad, Brazilian root tapioca (the small green balls) and pickled daikon slice showcasing the chef's creative flare. There were quite a few different flavours and textures in this dish. Every element was beautifully done however we were unable to appreciate the root tapioca.

 3. Pave of Tasmanian Salmon: Jerusalem artichoke puree, almond and caper polonaise, sauce cert, spanner crab croquette. 

Not only is the dish plated with care, the plate itself adds interest for the eyes. Crisp skin for both croquette and salmon with a complementing sweet puree. 

After the third course, we have used up all our cutlery and was presented with another 3 sets for the next ones to follow. Every piece of silverware was placed neatly and precisely which shows their care for detail. 

4. Slow Cooked Beef Cheek: Master stock, lemon perfumed parsnip skordalia, sprouts, radish, sea tangle and sweet ginger. 

The beef cheek was tender and topped with some seaweed salad ('sea tangle'), enochi mushrooms and onion, it balances the heaviness of the meat. The meat was however a bit too sweet for our palate's liking. 

Palate cleanser: Watermelon and citrus fruit ice

Although this wasn't an actual dish per se, we really enjoyed this palate cleanser. It had just the right blend of fruits and was very refreshing. It is also very cute that it was presented in a 'bent plastic cup' figured cup. 

 5. Rare Seared Venison: Juniper, smoked celeriac puree, bacon and granola, black trompette, shiraz jus

Another very interesting plate. Tender, bloody, just lovely. The addition of bacon felt very unusual to us as it didn't seem to match the the other ingredients. Who would have thought granola could be incorporated in a savoury dish like this, yet it added the perfect texture with the meat. 

 6. Epoisse: Melted, dehydrated tomato, apple balsamic, torn basic, pickled mustard seed

The male waiter we had for the night was very well informed, explaining to us the dishes in detail for every plate he brought out. This one, the epoisse (cheese) is aged in orange wine. It has a very strong taste resembling blue cheese. The tomato and citrus flavours help cut the strong taste. When the cheese was tasted with mustard seed, it brought out the strong cheesiness even more. 

After this course, we had a very long wait before our dessert courses were served. The wait seemed just too long... But the after seeing the first dessert we can definetely overlook it!

 7. Callebaute Milk Chocolate Creameux: Peanut butter powder, chocolate soil, hazelnut dust, Frangelico jelly, brown bead ice cream

This was definitely our favourite dish of the night. Chocolate cookie crumbs, the smooth, richness of the chocolate ice cream and the squishy jelly and nuts. Everything together was was like heaven in our mouth. 

 8. Strawberries and Cream 2013: Madagascan vanilla and rose parfait, textures of strawberry, dust, cloud, leather, thyme powder and rose mastic

After our favourite dish of the night, we ended with our least favourite dish. A few rose water gummy candies tasted strongly of rose. Leather strawberry fruit reminded me of the dried fruit roll up snacks we used to have when younger. Strawberry cloud was a light and fluffy as the name would suggest. This plate had flavours of rose and strawberries in different textures that I can imagine we would have liked if we enjoyed rose flavoured delicacies.  

This was a very light flavour after the chocolate. Our preference would have been to have the lighter dessert first and end in the rich chocolate. But we can understand the reason why the menu was done this way as the strawberries and cream is a good palate cleanser. 

Overall

The service was impeccable with the gentleman, however the waitress of the night lacked in terms of food knowledge and ignored the sound of broken glassware on another table. We would have rated the service higher if not for the inconsistency between the two waiters as our waters were always filled and asked if we wanted anything else when we finished our wines. The food was beautifully presented with unique plates showing the chef's creativity. Downside to the night was that we were not holding our stomachs after 8 courses however the degustation meal was a memorable experience that we enjoyed.

Food: 7.5/10
Service: 7.5/10 
Cost: Higher Priced
Overall dining experience: 8/10

Black Coffee Lyrics

Cuisine: Tapas 

3131 Surfers Paradise Blvd Shop 41 Centre Arcade 

Surfers Paradise,QLD 4217
www.blackcoffeelyrics.com.au 

Food: 6.5/10
Service: 5/10 
Cost: Reasonable
Overall dining experience: 5.5/10

Checkout from our apartment was at 10am, so we decided not to make breakfast for our last day and indulge in some brunch. We had long ago decided upon Black Coffee Lyrics as our brunch destination due to their impressive feat of placing #1 on Urbanspoon for Gold Coast Restaurants and conveniently this month started opening for lunch during the week.

Nestled upstairs in Centre Arcade, we arrived around 10:30 to realise they weren’t open until 12pm on the Friday. Slightly disappointed we went to kill time until opening hour.

At 12 we arrived and quickly got seated outside. We started off with our much needed coffees that the restaurant personally roasts. My cappucinno ($4) was oddly bitter as there was not a strong coffee taste. Michael’s latte ($4) again did not taste of coffee but very milky. The only thing we can commend about their coffee is the well done smooth froth and coffee art.

We ordered their lunch specials tapas board - 2 medium ($25) to get some variety and a single dish as we worried the portion would be big. We chose the yellowfin tuna and pork belly for the tapas board and the Hens egg separate. We should have realised that the place specialising in tapas, the quantity would not be substantial. 

Yellowfin tuna ($19) – Mooloolaba yellowfin tuna marinated in house –soy miran dressing with white miso eggplant puree, crab meat, daikon, shiso, spring onions and bonito flakes 

The tuna was very fresh with a sweet puree and texturised 'salad' mixture on the top adding a delicate touch. Although, I myself felt that the combination was to good proportion, Michael felt the puree sauce was too overpowering that it detracted from the fresh fish; to each their own. 

Pork belly ($16) – 5  hour slow cooked pork belly served with house made kimchi, seared scallop on a pear chutney and pear reduction

What tastes like glorified chinese pork belly, the skin was crisp and meat tender. Served on top of a bed of kimchi and broadbeans, the 'kimchi' was just pickled cabbage. It did not have the red punch of colour nor flavourful spices that usually associated with the term 'kimchi'.  The scallop on the side (apologies the scallop was not photographed at this angle) was nicely seared and sweet. The dash of sauce too salty and overpowering on its own but coupled with the pork belly it creates a harmonious touch.

Hens egg  ($15)– 1 hour slow cooked free range egg, on a wild rice cake, pickled bamboo, daikon and shitake mushrooms with miso glaze and sprinkled herbs (or with tempe) 

We decided to try this dish as we wondered how a '1 hour slow cooked' egg was different to the typical methods of cooking an egg. Much to our disappoint, the egg was just like a very runny poached egg. And as Michael and I both come from an Asian household, the ingredients in this dish did not impress. The bamboo shoots likely came from a can purchased from an Asian grocer, the shitake mushroom was very salty and rice ball had no flavour. When attempted in eating all the elements together the mixture of flavours was an improvement and the mint and parsley added a nice touch. 

Overall  

It is hard to tell if the place is a coffee shop, restaurant or bar. We were disappointed that their menu was not what we had expected (fault in our part due to lack of research) as we expected typical brunch plates such as eggs benedict and so forth. I believe the weekend would be different as they do have their own separate breakfast menu however I will not be ordering coffee there again. 

It seems this would be a better place for dinner or drinks rather than lunch as they have a large assortment of beer, wine and cocktails and the interior decoration makes you feel you have been whisked away to a Melbourne laneway; very chill and relaxed.