Transported by Melbourne's Taxi Restaurant

I often notice that whenever I mention to people that I am going to Melbourne, a common reaction is to see them suddenly lick their lips, make the “o” face and a comment that goes something like this “ Oh you are going to LOVE the food”. I am ashamed to admit that I don’t know the city too well. My reason is that being a self confessed Europhile, I have been closed minded and had little interest in exploring the food delights of my own country until now.. Blame it on the wisdom of years or on the fact that I truly did not appreciate Australia until I lived overseas for 8 years and experienced homesickness for the first time in my life. Yes I reached a point in Canada when the ache of home was so wretched that I was reduced to picking up the phone and calling the Qantas reservation desk just so I could hear the theme song... “ I still call Australia home”...

So it was with a new found sense of humility and excitement that I began my preparation for exploring some of the best food that Melbourne has to offer. My quest into where I might experience a truly dazzling food adventure always starts in the same way. I speak to everyone I know that has visited the place I am travelling to. Then I read all the reviews I can find on the place. These include articles in Gourmet Traveller, Delicious Magazine and Condé Nast. I am also known to harass other travellers on the plane and gather their insights based on first-hand experience.

Taxi Dining Room (http://www.transporthotel.com.au) is described as one of Melbourne’s finest restaurants. Just to be sure, I checked with some of the locals who confirmed that it is a great place to eat and assured me that I would not be disappointed. I had a Victorian friend accompany me on my adventure. He had been there before. Given that he is handsome and flying solo, I kind of figured that it had probably been a popular date spot of his guaranteed to impress. At least, I thought, if the food sucks I can feast my eyes on him and drown any disillusions in a glass of good, red wine.

The restaurant is spectacular to look at and gave me the feeling of being in an ultra modern airport terminal with great orbs of light and gold providing the perfect muted lighting for a romantic evening. We started the meal with a glass of cava, a Spanish sparkling wine with just the right amount of bubble and giggle. We decided to share an entreé of grilled quail on a bed of endive and caramelised walnuts with a sakura plum dressing. I always experience a bit of a guilty moment when I order quail. Not because I don’t adore the succulent flavour of the meat which is stronger in flavour than chicken being situated closer to the bone... but because the quail always looks so fragile and helpless on the plate. As an Italian, quail is a staple of ours, so I was curious to see how this Japanese fusion style of cooking would stack up. The dish was beautifully plated. The flavours worked perfectly, the quail was crispy and delicious, the nuttiness of the toasted walnut combined with fresh tartness of the endive was a perfect marriage and just a hint of plum provided a burst of sweetness.

For our mains we ordered the pork loin on a bed of wilted spinach and roasted sweet potatoes in a ponzu dressing. We also had a whole spatchcock marinated in Shaoxing wine. Shaoxing wine is a Chinese rice wine which tastes kind of like sherry. The main meals did not live up to expectation. My pork was dry and the blend of flavours made me feel queasy. The spatchcock arrived fried and my friend and I agreed it tasted a bit like Kentucky fried chicken, only less oily. Yet, as disappointing as these dishes were it is amazing how the great conversation, tinkle of laughter and $145 bottle of Spanish Tempranillo made us forget.

My friend is a big dessert guy. You wouldn’t think so if you met him. Blonde hair, blue-eyes, 6”1 and 105kg of rock-hard muscle. As he ordered the lemon soufflé with green-tea ice cream I had an image of him smothered in chocolate.. don’t ask me why.. The dessert was heaven. Light and fluffy the soufflé barely hinted of lemon and the citrus custard underneath was a sensual find. We closed our eyes and savoured the feeling of the creaminess against our tongues.

We ended the evening on Taxi’s rooftop in Federation Square looking out over panoramic views of Melbourne’s iconic MCG, Government House, Southbank and, The Arts Centre – a spectacular finale for a fabulous evening.

What Taxi didn’t deliver in consistently good tasting food, it made up for in attentive service, groovy ambiance and a memorable setting. Even though he didn’t admit it, I can see why my gorgeous guest had previously chosen this destination as a romantic place to set the mood. Taxi is a little on the pricey side but is great date spot and has my vote.

Passion Rating★★★★★

Food:★★★☆☆

Service:★★★★☆

Ambiance:★★★★★

Overall:★★★★☆

Malaysian Food with a More-ish ‘Tude

It is not often I would admit to having a truly divine moment with Asian food. It’s not that I am not a lover of Asian cuisine; it is just that when I think about going out for a meal, Asian food is not usually synonymous with a potentially life-changing culinary experience for me. That is until I went to Singapore and tried the delights of Perankan cooking also known as Nonya cuisine. I was 10 years old when my Dutch-Norwegian father took us all on a one month’s jaunt around South East Asia. He is a clever business guy and negotiated the trip instead of money as payment for a large business deal he had brought to a successful close. That was the first time I had ever been to Singapore.

This spectacular tasting food is the result of blending Chinese ingredients and wok cooking techniques with spices used by the Malay community. The food is tangy, aromatic, spicy and herbal. The style of cooking has an interesting past. It was brought to Singapore by the Perankans - descendants of early Chinese migrants who settled in Penang, Malacca and Singapore, inter-marrying with local Malays. Malay dishes that tickle the taste-buds to another level include satay- marinated meat like chicken or beef, which are skewered onto bamboo sticks and grilled over hot charcoals; Beef Rendang - hot, dry spiced coconut beef and of course the infamous Laksa - thick rice noodles served in a tangy fish soup. Fresh garnishing of shredded cucumber, lettuce, pineapple, onion and fragrant mint leaves finishes the dish.

Ria Authentic Malaysian Food is a recent entrant to the west end’s already hopping restaurant and bar scene. It holds a monopoly in the Leederville precinct with no noteworthy rivals anywhere for about 10kms. Perth is not known for its great Malaysian restaurants so it was with eager anticipation and slight trepidation that I booked myself a table and invited my good Brazilian buddy for a quick bite after work. Do you know any Brazilians? Believe it or not Malaysians and Brazilians have quite a lot in common -their love of family and their ‘tude towards food. The Brazilian and Malays’ attitudes toward food are an expression of a warm and open people to whom feeding and sharing food is the basis of hospitality. Like Malaysian cooking which blends together the best of Malaysia, India, China and even Portugal, Brazilian cuisine today is a seamless fusion of the three émigré cultures of Portugal, Africa and native Brazil that interweave in a unique and totally "Brazilian" style of cooking.

Wine at Ria is BYO but they are also fully licensed. The service could best be described as perfunctory and efficient. No effort was made to explain the menu and to find out the specials I had to walk over to the chalkboard and read them out to my Brazilian friend who had forgotten to bring his glasses. The décor at Ria is a bit of a schizophrenic experience. The interior is quite modern with flashes of steel, white and black designer chairs. This contrasts awkwardly against the waiting staff, garbed in traditional Malay outfits which has you asking yourself whether the meal is going to taste as confused as the ambiance feels. Ria is open Tuesday through Saturday for dinner. It is a bit hard to get a reservation and you can only call after 4pm on the days that it is open.

We decided against an entrée of “sticky pork nibbles” as my lovely Brazilian pal told me in his sultry South American accent that he wasn’t particularly “ungry”. Have you ever noticed how there are some accents that make even reading the phone book sound sexy? Well the Brazilian accent is one of those. His accent consoled my deflation at not being able to indulge but then I got real - did I really want to be sucking on bones in front of my latin friend and be trying to pick the meat out from my teeth? Probably not (however, I have made a secret pact with myself to go back another time to try them). For mains we decided to share a few signature dishes that the restaurant was known for – Malaccan Lamb Semur, Nonya Chicken Curry, Kangkong (also known as water spinach) with sambal and steamed jasmine rice. The food was addictive. The serving sizes were generous and despite our ambitious attempts to hoover everything on the table, my dear friend ended up accepting the waitress’ offer to take home the remnants of our feast in a “doggy bag”. He looked quite embarrassed, they must not have that custom in Brazil. I guess you can’t take the tackiness out of a cultural tradition no matter how good the food is! Truly an easy thing to overlook given that the food at Ria was so good it left us hanging for more.

Passion Rating★★★★★

Food:★★★★★

Service:★★★☆☆

Ambiance:★★☆☆☆

Overall:★★★★☆