Chelsea Farms Oyster Bar

This was my first trip out to Washington, and what else can I say but that I am in love with this gorgeous state and its friendly people. 

I mean, how can you not fall in love with gorgeous weather and views like this? 

Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge

And the fresh, fresh food. The Pacific Northwest sure has a lot going for it. Perhaps that's why the people I encountered all seemed to be in such great spirits.

Perhaps I can say something else: I wish I had stayed longer. I was in the state only overnight, and so much too short of a visit there. And just one dinner. But what a dinner it was.

Given my body clock was still on Central Time when I arrived in Olympia in search of dinner, I needed to find some place that was open relatively early. Google/Yelp pointed me in the direction of Chelsea Farms Oyster Bar and I was not disappointed. 

Situated in a building shared with a few other food providers and a distillery, the restaurant is modern, bright and inviting, and somewhat dominated by a large bar. Given I was dining alone, of course I settled myself there.

The range of lush-sounding cocktails looked amazing, but I settled on a mocktail and was pretty happy with my choice. 

Marionberry Soda

Homemade Marionberry soda. Refreshing, tart, and the perfect kick to liven up the taste buds. Which were soon more than happy to delve into a few oysters.

Oysters

I'm in the Pacific Northwest. How could I not have oysters? I was lucky enough to catch the happy hour menu, and these fresh, plump, neighborhood oysters set me back only $2 a gulp. Not bad at all. 

The other items on the happy hour menu were a more complex, but equally inviting. 

Pig Ear Tacos

I can't say no to pig ear. Never. Especially after spending what felt like all night tracking down a bar that served oreja de cerdo in Barcelona, I wasn't going to turn down pig ear tacos when I wasn't expecting them. They were meaty, and chewy, and gelatinous, and offset beautifully by the cabbage slaw and salsa. Certainly not your traditional tacos, but I'm not complaining. 

I ended up having 3 tacos. A girl's got to eat!

 

Clam Chowder

Continuing the seafood theme, I tried the clam chowder, for which the restaurant is famous for. There is a more than generous number of clams, all tied together with potatoes and a rich pork belly broth.  No heavy masking from loads of cream in this dish. Not much else you could ask for out of a clam chowder. 

While I lamented the limited time I had to explore Olympia, Washington, I'm pretty pleased with where I ended up. Comfortable modern atmosphere, with great waitstaff and most importantly, brilliant seafood on offer, I couldn't be happier with my meal. And will make plans to return to Washington in the not too distant future. 

Chelsea Farms Oyster Bar
222 Capitol Way N, Olympia, WA 98501

Tue - Thu 11am - 10pm ; Fri - Sat 10am - 11pm; Sun 10am - 9pm

Doretta Tavern & Raw Bar

I rarely have much to write about regarding the restaurants I try while on work trips. Usually it's much to late in the evening for many places to be open that are also within walking distance of wherever I happen to be staying that night. Add in the amount of travel time and 75% of my meals turn out to be either be from the hotel restaurant or somewhere in an airport.

Luckily, during a recent whirlwind trip to Boston (I was there for 18 hours), there was a decent Greek/Mediterranean restaurant just on the other side of the road from the hotel. I headed out for dinner around 9 pm at night and was looking for something cosy and comforting. Doretta fit the bill, even though the restaurant is located in an area of equally expensive restaurants (one glance at the shops on the street would would tell you that)

I have yet to try many Greek restaurants in the US, even after almost 4 years here, but the cuisine is just as mouth-watering as I remembered.  The food was full-flavoured and wonderful, and the serving sizes were generous.

To start, there was a tangy mushroom appetizer on the house.

Mushroom Appetizer

While I like mushrooms, I don't exactly love them. That said, the sourness of the vinegar added a fresh kick to the earthiness of the thinly sliced, lightly sauteed mushrooms and I polished off the dish.

The star of the evening was however the lamb main.

Lamb shoulder with loukaniko, lentils, turnip, and kumquat

The lamb was juicy, and melt-off-your-fork tender. The loukaniko (a Greek sausage) was brightly flavoured with hints of orange peel and fennel seeds and all kinds of wonderful herbs and seeds. Lentils are always a little boring to me, but these soaked up the lamb juices wonderfully. What do you say about turnips? I'm not sure, but the kumquats added an unexpected but refreshing tang. Overall, it was a satisfying dish, with plenty of flavours and variety, and most importantly, superbly cooked lamb. Heaven.

The service here was great (attentive but not pushy), and there were quite a number of parties here just catching up over glasses of wine and small plates of food. The price tag was relatively steep ($32 for the lamb main) but given the location, it's understandable. 

I had a great time, and know where I'm going to eat next time I do a fly-in/fly-out of Boston. 

Doretta Tavern & Raw Bar

79 Park The Garden, MA 

Mon-Sun 5pm - 1am 

Lake Chalet Seafood Bar & Grill

It feels like every week I'm in another place, and something always gets in the way of blog posts. So after trips to Australia, Brazil, the UK and a semi-permanent move to Illinois, I'm finally getting around to blogging about a celebratory Sunday brunch in April. Yes, four months ago.

Given the new circumstances as well, there's likely to be a bunch more cooking rather than restaurant reviews appearing in the blog which is both good (hooray practical) and bad (less impressive food). Without further ado though, let's recap a fun meal at the Lake Chalet Seafood Bar & Grill in sunny Oakland, CA.

Firstly, what a location right by/on Lake Merritt. No photos unfortunately, but ask for a table by the window for full effect. When we arrived for our reservation, we were promptly seated in a quiet two person table along one side of the restaurant, and settled in with a glass of sparkling while we peruse the menu.

On to the food. As the name suggests, there's a focus on seafood dishes. There are also non-seafood options for those that prefer steak, pasta, burgers or chicken.

Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs

Before getting into the taste of these, can I just say I love the presentation. I'm not sure I've ever seen seaweed as a purely decorative accent and even though the deviled eggs had nothing to do with the sea, it was still a fun dish to have arrive at the table. The eggs themselves were nothing to rave about although I did like the 'pop' of the roe. A restaurant meal is about taste and presentation, so this comes dish out about even.

Local Rock Cod Ceviche Verde

The cerviche was a much more interesting starter. With green herbs, shaved radish & cucumber, avocado, jalapeno and a bucket load of lime, this definitely delivered a kick of flavour. Unfortunately, the textures clashed and the tortillas were a little dry, so this dish still wasn't a winner.

The mains were fortunately an improvement on the starters.

Organic Chicken with Spring Asparagus & Truffles

I love truffles, so that probably biases my judgement of this dish but luxury ingredients aside, I thought this was a good dish; the chicken was tender and slightly sweet, and the asparagus was crisp and fresh. A great interpretation of spring in my opinion. Such a pity that spring was so long ago, and autumn is slowly creeping up.

Pan Roasted King Salmon

The salmon with clams had both good and bad; the shellfish-based broth was well flavoured, with an enjoyable kick of curry chilli, but the salmon was unfortunately dry. Once again, it was a decent dish, but nothing spectacular.

Bread Pudding with Lemon Sorbet

To end on a sweet note, we shared a bread pudding with lemon sorbet; a mix of indulgence and refreshment and which was definitely satisfying. Something to replicate at home perhaps?

Overall we had an enjoyable meal; the atmosphere was lively with beautiful views, with great service, but the food was only average. Nothing great, and nothing terrible. So if you're just after a fun meal at a reasonable price without caring too much about top-tier dishes, then the Lake Chalet is a decent option.

Lake Chalet Seafood Bar & Grill

, Oakland

Mon-Thu 11am-10pm, Fri 11am-11pm, Sat 10am-11pm, Sun 10am-10pm

Bistro Gitan

It's somewhat strange posting about a restaurant on the other side of the world when you haven't been there for a few months. That's what happens we're you're super slack about keeping up with reviews, so I'm probably the only one amused by this.

In any case, during my whirlwind trip back to Melbourne, I ended up at Bistro Gitan with M and a few of his friends for dinner. 

Bistro Gitan

The menu is fairly seafood heavy, which I always enjoy as I pretty much terrified of cooking any seafood other than mussels. Seeing as we were a relatively large group, the waitress suggested we order an assortment of shared entrees to start. We're not the most decisive of people, so it was a pretty good idea. 

Sardines

I love the salty flavour of sardines and these were quite wonderfully salty and oily. Unfortunately, I found the bread overly crunchy, and perhaps a tad stale which spoiled the experience.  

Cheese-Filled Croquettes

Cheese-Filled Croquettes

One downside of letting an establishment decide what to eat from a food blogger perspective it's doubly-hard to remember what you've been served without seeing a menu. Nevertheless, the croquettes were cheesy as you'd expect, with a relatively light coating of batter for that bit of crunch. I could down more than just one of these fairly easily.   

Tasmanian bush pepperberries liver parfait with pickles and toast

This dish suffered from the same bread annoyances as the first, but at least the liver parfait was smooth and flavoursome, with the pepperberries adding a slight bite into the mix. A little extra butter goes a long way into adding some additional dimension to this too.  

Squid

The squid was a decent appetiser, although hardly memorable. Next please.

Prawn Cocktail with Grapefruit and Avocado Salad

Next please didn't exactly result in fireworks unfortunately. The prawn was coated in too-sticky, too-sweet sauce, masking the delicate sweetness of the prawns and there wasn't much to say about the presentation.

At least the restaurant itself was nice enough to look at. 

Bistro Gitan

On to the mains. Around the table, there was a selection of mains chosen primarily based on degree of hunger.

Ocean Trout

On the lighter end of the scale, there was the delicate ocean trout dish made heavier with a liberal dose of butter. This was deemed delicious by many. 

Porterhouse Char-Grilled

Bistro Gitan does a decent steak, although the lack of any greens on the plate made it look unappetising. Unless you are just craving a giant hunk of meat in which case it was very attractive. The salsa was a nice balance point, but the ratio of salsa to steak was certainly on the low end.

Dessert was a fun affair.

Donuts with Jam and Cream

Not that you can really go wrong with donuts. Almost everyone learns to love donuts from a young age and these were sweet, deep fried, yet airy in the middle.  

Some ice-cream to offset some of the oiliness.

Tranche Napolitaine

What got us to order this dessert was the promise of five flavours of ice cream and sorbet. The sorbets were light and refreshing, and the ice-creams were smooth and rich. A great combination I'd love to order a tub of from an ice-cream shop (to share of course).

To finish off the meal, a requisite dish of petit fours.

Petit Fours

Nice enough, but nothing spectacular.

Which is what I can say about Bistro Gitan in general. The food was decent, the service was friendly and efficient and it was a fun night in good company, but nothing was memorable. There really needs to be one knock-out item on the menu, and there simply wasn't. It's a shame because all the right elements are to there, but as show business says, there's no X-Factor. Still, for a nice-enough night out with excellent service, Bistro Gitan is a sensible pick. 

Bistro Gitan

Mon 5pm-late, Tue-Fri noon-late, Sat 5pm-late

The Atlantic

After a whirlwind work trip overseas, and arriving into work after a flight landing at 930 am, the last thing I felt like doing was to go out for dinner. However, my mother was in town (a rare occurrence as she lives interstate) so there was really no choice. 

As I'd planned to take her to The Atlantic last time she was here and didn't get around to it due to cancelled flights and short time-frames, it was a fairly easy decision to make a booking at The Atlantic for the Friday night. 

The Atlantic

I dragged M along too as I'd missed him while overseas. And he likes seafood...a lot. Lucky for him, the philosophy at The Atlantic is 'Ocean to Plate' so the menu is predominantly seafood. Starting with half a dozen Coffin Bay oysters seemed like the perfect start. 

Coffin Bay Oysters

Fresh and with a silky texture, these were delicious. Quality makes all the difference when you're eating things raw and while these weren't the most stunning ones I've had, they were pretty darn good. 

We had a hard time deciding which entrees we wanted but finally settled on some non-fish dishes as we intended to order fish for mains. 

Wood Fire Grilled Calamari with Wilted Cucumber, Harissa, Dukkah, Coriander

Tempura Soft Shell Crab with Jalapeno, Ponzu 

I did say non-fish, not non-seafood after all. The Middle-Eastern inspired calamari was lightly cooked with the cucumber providing a nice fresh contrast. It could have perhaps done with a touch more flavour, but it was good never the less.

The crab was fried goodness with sweet crab meat, a crispy salty exterior and jalapenos providing a soft spicy hit. 

So while the entrees were good, one of the mains we ordered was arguably the star of the night. The Atlantic have two types of fish dishes on offer: on the bone and off the bone. On the bone dishes consist of whole fish either wood fired, roasted, or steamed. Off the bone dishes are more complex and are closer to your 'typical' restaurant dishes with fillets of fish. 

Wood-fired Tiger Flathead 

I can't feasibly wood-fire anything at home, so wood-fired Tiger Flathead from Lakes Entrance was my pick. Barramundi, Snapper, John Dory, Flounder and King George Whiting at all available if they take your fancy instead. 

The very fresh flathead had firm flesh that was lightly seasoned. You can't ask for much more than that as it's perfect just the way it is. While one main dish was simple, the other main dish was complex and mouth-watering-ly astonishing.

Olive Oil ConfitOra King Salmon with Soya Bean Ragout, Radish, Pickled Ginger and Carrot Salad, Blood  Orange Reduction, Coriander Oil

The olive oil salmon dish (as seen on Masterchef no less) was an absolute stunner. Salmon that melting on the tongue and carried the faintest hint of olive oil on top of a delicate salad. I have to start poaching some salmon in olive oil myself! Never-mind the cost of good quality fish and olive oil. 

Of course, one can't live off seafood alone, so we added a few other accompaniments. The sides we ordered were of good quality but couldn't compare to the mains.

Cos Lettuce Salad of Avocado, Shaved Egg, Pine Nuts, Yoghurt and Mint Dressing

Thrice Cooked Russet Potatoes with Rosemary, Garlic, Sea Salt

I do wonder if seafood + dessert constitutes an entire meal though. I'd certainly have been happy with that. The theme of great quality food was maintained by the dessert options we had. 

Another Masterchef dish made an appearance

Marco Pierre White’s Valrhona Chocolate Tart with Prune and Armagnac Ice Cream 

How could you see that on a menu and not order it. Rich with dark chocolate, the small slice of this dessert was more than enough to satisfy the three of us. The taste was strong, the the tart itself was far from cloying and was instead sinfully luxurious yet light. The ice cream cut through the chocolate well to refresh the palate. 

While our second dessert was good, but not quite good enough. 

Peach Melba Cheesecake Trifle of Raspberries, Cream Cheese Ice Cream, Almond Cookies, Cheesecake Foam

Ok, it was more than just good, with an interesting contrast in textures and flavours. It just wasn't even close to matching the quality of the tart. High expectations were set after all.

I can't believe it took me this long to get to The Atlantic. The food is simply spectacular, especially if you order the salmon. The prices are reasonable for Southbank, but quality more than justifies the cost. Service is fast and efficient, but the atmosphere can feel overly busy at times. We saw Donovan Cook looking seriously from docket to dish to docket to dish though, so that helped make for a perfect night.

The Atlantic

Crown Entertainment Complex,

Mon-Sun 12pm-3pm, 6pm-11pm

Republica St Kilda Beach

There are some places I find hard to make up my mind about as there are so many factors into what makes a restaurant good. Atmosphere, service and of course the food all weigh pretty heavily, but for me, there's always the question of "Did I have fun?". Sure, that's not the most precise and critical factor in a review, but it's still a pretty important one for me.

Republica St Kilda Beach

That's why I'm confused about Republica - I'm not sure if I had fun here. Sure the views were good, the service was fine and the atmosphere was decent, the food was mostly good, but I came out feeling like I could have had a lot more fun here.

Republica St Kilda Beach

Sitting on one of those chairs with a glass of red wine in hand would have been fun I'm guessing. I'm getting sidetracked though, you're here for a review of the restaurant, not my musings as such. The rest of my 6-person party were running late, but I was content to sit with a glass of juice and watch as service started up. 

Republica St Kilda Beach

It wasn't too long before people started showing up to enjoy the beautiful setting sun, or the company of their dinner companions as it would seem. The menu is nice and short, with a entrees to suit most tastes, mains covering major meat dishes with a few vegetarian ones, simple pizzas and a few easy to make desserts. We wanted to try a bit of everything though, and so ordered entrees and desserts to share, as well as our own mains. 

Kicking off the party though were 10 freshly chucked oysters. These were pretty good, and definitely good value at a specials price of $2 each. To me though, these were the highlight of the meal but I'm well aware not everyone enjoys the taste or texture of oysters.

Oysters

We also ordered a $25 seafood tasting plate to share that featured 3 dishes of the chef's selection. 

Seafood Tasting Plate

The scallops were wonderful, and the serving size was fairly generous with enough for each of us. The tuna tartare and the crab cakes were uninspiring though being bland in flavour and texture. By now, the restaurant had filled up and conversation became difficult in the open dining room.

The mains arrived quickly enough much to our delight. When I went to post the following photo up, I had trouble figuring out what had been ordered. Fish?

  

Grilled Pork Chop with Caramelised Peachs, Fennel and Puffed Crackle

Well, no. After trying to restart my brain, I figured out it was the pork dish: a grilled pork chop, caramelised peaches, fennel and puffed crackle. The first thing noted when the dish arrived was the serving size - they were definitely generous here. The pork chop was tender but perhaps needed a bit more flavour. An accompanying sauce would have enlivened the dish and I personally would have preferred apple over peach (boring I know).

If we thought the pork chop was large, the chicken maryland was huge. It's a function of economics I realise, but they certainly want to feed people at Republica. 

BBQ Chicken Leg with Creamed Potato, Kale and Salsa Rossa

BBQ chicken leg, creamed potato, kale and salsa rossa - a combination that can't go wrong so needless to say this dish was pretty good. Filling too. 

I ordered the barramundi on the menu but how could I not seeing as fish or steak are usually my picks. It didn't feel like a steak night. 

Roasted Barramundi with Salt Cod Croquette, Piperade and Asparagus

I guess I'm fickle like that. I was fairly happy with my choice - the barramundi was tender and fresh, the asparagus was deliciously crisp, although the croquette was slightly odd in taste. 

Nowhere near as odd in taste as the risotto though.

Risotto of Wagyu Beef Shin, Hazelnuts and Orange

I've had plenty of risottos in my time and this has to have been the worst. There was a distressingly meager amount of beef, and the orange syrup added imparted a sickly taste and feel to the dish. A disaster in my opinion, and everyone else who tried the dish. 

The desserts that were plated were fairly attractive, but I'd lost my appetite by then (blame the risotto).

Rhubarb and Strawberry Brulee with Jam Doughnuts

Chocolate Walnut Brownie with Orange Ice Cream

Salted Caramel Parfait with Chocolate Ice Cream

Pre-made and mass produced, I like a little more effort to go into my desserts. Not that these weren't passable, but I just wanted more "fun" in the desserts. I'm probably asking too much. 

Perhaps one poor dish really can spoil and experience even though the rest of the food at Republica was generally good. The service was friendly and efficient, the views are spectacular, and the price is reasonable enough, but overall, I felt like it could have been better. Maybe I'll just stay away from ordering the risotto and I'll come out happy.

Republica St Kilda Beach

St Kilda Sea Baths, 10-

Mon-Fri 1130am-10pm, Sat-Sun 9am-11pm