Lunch at the Rose & Crown in Guildford.

It was Kate's birthday today and we were going to this old English hotel/restuarant/bar for lunch, I think it dates back to 1841, which is old for here. It was a lovely little place with a great outside seating/dining area and a really cool and unique cellar that had original furnishings in it. 

Hubby ordered off the Specials, Beef and Guinness Pie and I ordered off the regular one going with prawns.

The pie was lovely, both the pastry and the filling and there was even a real jus (as chef Stu pointed out), though perhaps there could have been some more meat in the pie the men said! The mashed peas were brilliant, I loved it and have never had them before! How simple. Chef Stu said that if you blitz up some thawed frozen peas with a little mint, mayo and lemon it makes a great accompaniment for fish, so now I really want to try that too!

My dish was just what I was looking for, some prawns, with enough nice sauce to go over the rice. You find sprouts as decoration all the time over here and I love munching on them!

We rounded things off with a Devonshire Tea, which is tea with scones with jam and cream, what more could you ask for!?

Tomorrow holds the start of another road trip, up the West coast this time, 10 days in search of some sun and sea creatures! I don't have any expectations of fine dining up there though I am keen to sample some freshly caught fish! I am also, in a weird way, looking forward to being back from that trip and here for a while so that I can cook again! Looking forward to making pork belly at last, and maybe that mushy pea dip for fish.

Dinner at The Meat & Wine Co. in Melbourne.

We had some mixed dining experiences in Melbourne though the ones on the less than fine scale were purely our fault for being in the wrong area or for expecting decent food out of a place that obviously wasn't going to pull through on it. The place we went to on the last night more than made up for anything that was below par!

Having walked along the Yarra River in Southbank checking out the menus outside all the restuarants we decided on dinner here. Luckily for us we were there at 5:30pm and they seated us at a table that they needed back at 7:30pm because by 6pm it was packed to the gunnels and stayed that way ever since! I imagine you generally need a reservation in order to get a table, and this was a Tues night!

There were cow hides on the wall and drum music playing on the system, the menu was leather bound, the drinks menu was one of the biggest I've seen, this place was obviously what it's name suggests. The first few pages detailed the cows they get their meat from, the farms they are reared on, the lifestyle they have, the grain they are fed, for how long, the grade of marbling on the meat, etc etc. I was still on a steak high from Bojangles in Warrnambool and decided I was going to order something else. Hubby found Kangaroo on the menu and was sold, I went with lamb ribs, something I have never had before. We got a side of veg to share because this was mainly a meat and potato menu.

The Kangaroo was marinated in the house marinade which I couldn't quite break down. Definitely sweet, maybe winey? Whatever it was did the trick of tenderising the meat wonderfully and made it less 'gamey' tasting. It was cooked medium rare, maybe even rare and was melt in your mouth. After a less than delightful experience the first time we ate Kangaroo when we cooked it at home a couple of weeks ago I am glad I gave it another shot as this was superb. It came with a pumpkin and sweet potato mash, sweet potato chips and a black cherry and wine jus. I don't like pumpkin so the side did nothing for me though I am sure it was as fine as the rest of it!

This is what half a rack of lamb ribs looks like, I can't imagine what the full rack would have been like! The ribs were marinated in lemon, herbs and mustard and managed to be as tender as if they were slow cooked yet still pink in places with some caramelised areas, what an amazing finish! I was thoroughly impressed with the ribs. This is the place to go if you have any passion for meat or wine, what a great culinary experience. 

Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne.

This was one of he highlights of the trip, my husband and I couldn't wait to get to the market and see all the wonderful foods and try most of them! The food section was very well arranged, all grid like with each kiosk sectioned off and windows into the fridges and displays. My husband loved this because in most markets he says he is afraid of knocking over stuff on open tables!

We did a lap of it to see it all and sampled some smoked salmon stuffed with cream cheese and proscuitto and then went back around when we had decided what we wanted to eat for lunch.

We filled a container with some smoked trout pate, some spicy hummus and some spinach and nut dip then got a couple of stuffed olives with semi dry tomato and blue cheese. Hubby had a cream cheese stuffed mini bell pepper. We had finally decided on some olive bread to go with it. We found an empty table and sat down to enjoy it all! We tried a few other things and then before we knew it after all the wondering around the other sheds of meats and fish and fresh produce and clothes etc the market was closing! Had we been there for a few more days and had those days not been a Mon or a Wed when it is actually closed we would have spent more time here! We also debated whether we should have rented an apartment with a kitchen so that we could have actually bought some of the meat and fish and veggies and cheeses etc and cooked meals with them instead of being in a hotel. That being said, had that been the case we would have then felt a tad guilty going out for dinners instead of cooking and we wanted to try a few places in Melbourne. We both feel we would like to visit Melbourne again and the market will be high up on the list of things to do!