Australia's Tasting Menus

So what is the magic of tasting menus?

Two words.

Food.

Wine.

OK fine. Four words.

Amazing food.

Awesome wine.

While I could talk at length of the wonderful Asian food selections available in Melbourne that has turned my lack of anticipation of our 3-month Asian trip in 2017 on a dime, one of the truly self-indulging spoiling self-love I can do for myself is a proper wine and food tasting menu of chef's choice. 

No food decisions.

No wine pairing decisions.

Getting to see art, and eat it too.

Just sit down, and enjoy.

Two restaurants especially stand out for the Melbourne scene. 

Hell of the North

Cured ocean trout with a riesling. Good start.
Bacon wrapped rabbit .... ok, you have me at bacon ...
Blue eyed cod with pea foam. Pea foam? Yes. 

Lamb shoulder with shiraz. Meh. So does everybody else.

Mental capacity diminishing by this time, so we'll boil it down to cheese and crackers.

Chocolate. REALLY GOOD chocolate. With fortified wine. 

Taxi, please.

Extremely reasonably priced; more so than I would have expected for what we got, definitely a huge thank you to the colleague who referenced us to Hell of the North, although I will always remain curious where in the world that name came from, especially being just about as far south as possible.

Next Stop.

Punch Lane

Tuna sashimi with watermelon. SUPER spicy, making the watermelon perfect.

Pate. Sure, but the wine? Gruner Veltliner is definitely a new and awesome varietal!

Barramundi. New local fish to try! The beet root and vermouth a major plus.

Lamb with cab. OK folks. You like the lamb with the heavy reds. Got it.

OK. Dessert. Awesome. Don't know what it was, especially by that time, but it was GOOD!

Walking home.

I adored Punch Lane from the start because its name was Punch Lane. How awesome is that? Also, the bartender knew.his.wines. Watching him was simply fun and educational, and while this was my first tasting menu there, it had not been my first visit to the well-stocked wine bar :)

Thank you Melbourne!