Rockpool Bar & Grill Melbourne

Crown Complex, Southbank
P: 03 8648 1900


When I looked at how many pictures I'd taken at Rockpool, I was a little surprised... But with three people, visiting twice (lucky, lucky, lucky us!), is it any wonder I had quite a few? So I've decided to combine a few pictures into one space... which I think I've done well enough, considering the only program I have to do that is Paint!!!



Clockwise from top left we have wagyu shin braised in red wine with gremolata and potato puree; 250g Cape Grim fillet dry aged 36 month old grass fed fillet with assorted condiments (the best of which I thought was the Bearnaise it came with); um... oh crap... I can't for the life of me remember which fish dish the next one was... maybe the seared crisp snapper?....; and finally the corned wagyu girello with slow cooked carrot (note: carrot, singular) and mustard sauce. I can say with absolute certainty that each dish was divine.


And, finally, here we have a mountain o' meat, with a li'l dish of mint jelly/sauce on the side (not in the pic). I should have written this stuff up weeks ago...


Sides from left to right are; mac and cheese; pumpkin and sweet potato with burnt butter and garlic butter; and potato and cabbage gratin. All three were incredibly good. For my money I loved the potato and cabbage gratin best, but that sure as hell doesn't detract from how good the others were. What's not shown here is the king prawn and nectarine salad. Very nice.


Mmm, and now desserts. On top is the orange crème caramel. Light and tasty. On the bottom are passionfruit marshmallows and caramel peanut chocolates. I can't believe how much passionfruit flavour was in those soft little cubes. It's making my mouth water even now, as I type. As for the caramel peanut chocolates - sinful. Little flakes of salt really got the taste buds popping. It was a rather rich dish, though, so I'd recommend sharing it with friends (I did try, but my companions were having too much fun with their own dishes).


Other desserts were fresh and poached summer fruits with mascarpone sabayon and lemon biscuits (top), and crème brûlée with prune and Armagnac (bottom). Bootifull.


I had hoped to find chocolate cake on the menu, but it wasn't. Instead, I tried the chocolate and caramel rice crackle cake. It was soooooooo good. Even while I was eating it, and feeling very full, I kept going back for just one more bite.

So yeah, Rockpool definitely lived up to the hype for me. Can't wait for my next trip!

Men of Cricket 2010 Calendar

While I'm blogging about non-food thingies, I thought I'd share with you my thoughts on this year's Men of Cricket Calendar.

This is a joint venture between Cricket Australia, Three Mobile and the McGrath Foundation. Proceeds go to the McGrath Foundation and their efforts to provide Breast Care Nurses for women suffering breast cancer. A damned fine cause, to my mind, and one I'm happy to support, among others, with regular donations.

My mum bought me the 2009 calendar for Christmas a year ago, and I have to say that it stayed February for a fair portion of the year (Mr Katich, I know we're both taken, but you can stop by my place ANY time for a li'l home cookin'... what? You dirty-minded people, I meant I'd make him dinner!).

Anyway, I digress. I bought a calendar each for my mum and myself for 2010, and I have to admit that, while I'm still happy to have it, I'm nowhere near as impressed with the offering this year.

For one, it's in black and white, which I'm sure is meant to be arty, but I prefer colour.

Secondly Messrs January-March all appear to have a hunchback.

Thirdly, I just liked the pictures and poses from last year more than the ones this year.

But hey, these guys are whipping off their shirts for charity, so good on 'em. My dear Mr Katich is still in the 2010 calendar. And this year's calendar won't stop me buying another couple in 2011, if it's done again.

A Cop Speeding? No, surely not!

I heard this story on the radio this morning: Victoria's Deputy Commissioner for Road Policing, Ken Lay, was caught speeding at 10km over the limit.

Whoa, get outta here, a member of the police force was speeding?! Holy cow, that's amazing, that's fantastic, that's.... not surprising at all.

Do you know the numer of times I've seen police cars travelling well over the speed limit? No lights or sirens, nothing. Oh, and not using their indicators. And straddling lanes. And running red lights. And a myriad other illegal actions. It's not just a Victorian thing either - a few years ago in Canberra I was travelling along Canberra Avenue, past Manuka, and a police car hammered past me going well over the 60kph speed limit, weaving through the traffic. Guess where I next saw them? KFC drive-through. Musta been REAL hungry.

So I'm not all that surprised that a policeman was speeding. That he was caught, and fined, and lost the points, now THAT I'm surprised at.

Pardon? Eh? Not sure I heard that right...

I'm a big fan of voting with my feet (or purse, as the case may be). So when Genesis Fitness unleashed a new campaign/ membership promotion, I voted with my purse and cancelled my membership. I also submitted a complaint to The Advertising Standards Bureau.

What promotion is it that has prompted all of this? The "Fat Ass Fighters" promotion. It shows a sweating pig wearing running shoes, sitting on a set of scales. It's not until you look closely at the bigger ad that you notice a slot in the pigs back - apparently it's meant to be a money box/piggy bank.

Genesis ran a promotion a couple of years ago along similar lines to this, using "arse" instead of "ass". Complaints to ASB about it were upheld. So why are they trying again?

What's my problem with the promo? It's not exactly positive encouragement. Calling me a "fat ass" isn't exactly making me feel all warm and fuzzy about the place. Yes, I'm above my healthy weight. Yes, I'm doing something about it. Calling me names, however, does not encourage me, nor does it make me feel inclined to continue giving over $80 of my hard-earned money each month.

But hey, there are those out there that will see no problem with this promo, and will probably even insult me themselves. To them I say "hey, insult me, say what you want, that's fine. You're entitled to your opinion. I'm not paying you to do it."

Why would I pay money to be offended?

Leftover Pizza... but not as you know it

This Christmas was unlike any other in my life. There is, however, always one constant: lots and LOTS of leftover roast meat. We're always trying to come up with ways of using it up. Mum and I weren't sure about this one, but it ended up working a treat.

You usually talk about leftover pizza being the pizza you didn't finish last night. This pizza wasn't pizza to begin with.

This morning I made corn fritters for breakfast and, with the batter I had left after making plenty of little ones, I made one big fritter, the size of the pan. Mum asked me what I was doing. I said we'd work out something. We did.

On Christmas Day we started lunch with some biscuits and dips. There was still some left.

Also on Christmas Day we had roasted turkey and ham. There was a LOT.

And it all had to be eaten, because we don't like waste.

So we took the big fritter, smeared some roasted capsicum dip on top, diced up some turkey and ham and threw that on with a smattering of grated cheese.

Surprisingly, it was quite tasty!