Miso Eggplant, yum yum.
Deluxe Sashimi (had to have this).
Jewfish.
Tofu cheesecake was so naughty.
Someone mentioned ‘Sushi’ yesterday morning… despite a slightly foggy head from drinking the night before I had Sushi on the brain all day and by dinner time I couldn’t resist. Nana and I hit Masuya again. So good.
We sat at the bar overlooking the kitchen. So so so awesome to see them make the food we were served. No timers, no watches, constant taste testing, very impressive.
Steamed Bun. David Chang’s signature dish, believe the hype, it’s really that good.
Slow cooked (for 8hrs) Pork served AFTER dessert!
It was Christina’s B’day last week, to celebrate I took her to David Chang’s Momofuku at The Star. Reservations have to be made online, 10 days in advance. If you’re 15 minutes late to the restaurant they take your table away. If you cancel your booking on the night they take $175. All of this pre-booking stuff had me in two minds. 1) It’s probably how they roll in NYC, 2) It’s all a little bit pretentious and silly!
We were there early, and managed to walk past the restaurant twice. It’s so dark and subtle from the outside and inside (no signage) that we had to ask for directions (the lady who helped us stated that many people have a hard time finding it!). On walking in we were greeted by a chongy Chinese man wearing what looked like Chinese Pyjamas. Funny looking guy! I liked him. We sat at the bar and had a pre-dinner drink. Living Color’s “Cult of Personality” came blasting on the stereo. Impressive!
Looking around there’s a massive kitchen, and bar seating, and only very few small square tables on the floor, spaced quite far apart from each other.
We were sat at the bar, with an amazing view of the kitchen. Nearly every chef had tattoos. Momofuku serves up a 15 course degustation menu. I appreciated almost all 15 dishes but thought it was way too much food and found myself struggling after the 10th dish!
Strangely they served up slow cooked pork after dessert. No cutlery either so you had to use your hands to eat it. I asked the head chef (seen on the far right of the kitchen picture above) “What’s the deal with pork after dessert?!” and he was happy to have a chat and give us a few insights. Basically David was serving dinner to staff and staff family and friends one night, dinner was over but he had this gorgeous slow cooked pork ready to go, and David being David he thought he’d just serve it up in any case and it just stuck from there.
His steamed bun was as good as everyone makes it out to be. It’s basically like a peking duck pancake in flavour, and by the time the last little bit disappears in your mouth you want more. The menu is more diverse than you might think. Heavy rock music was belting all night, apparently some customers hate it, and ask to have the volume turned down. Personally I loved it! The attitude of the place let’s Chang’s personality shine through. I had to complement the head chef by saying I wasn’t expecting anything amazing, if anything I was bracing myself for something a little “fake” but ultimately I really enjoyed discovering the food, the atmosphere and I thought it was far from fake.
Arguably the best pork and fennel sausages money can buy.
Amazingly there was no queue when we first got there, we even got a table inside, but as we left the queue was massive.
I’ve chowed down on awesome Bourke Street Bakery goods before, but I’ve never actually bought anything form the original Bourke Street Bakery on Bourke Street in Surry Hills. Now I have :)
Salt and Pepper Calamari + a Dozen AAA Grade Sydney Rock Oysters. So good!
And to bring home: Such a lovely cut of Tuna.
And Salmon!
Fresh, healthy, so awesome.
Cheese! Nanami and I caught the same early flight out as Damien, my Aus Infront partner.
Nana and I on the plane, ready to go.
We scored a newer Qantas plane with personal screens. I selected The Pirelli Calendar Saga and was shocked that they didn’t edit out any of the tits and ass! Bit embarrassing and there were kids sitting behind us so I quickly changed channels.
Goodbye Sydney!
Aus Infront crew (Damien, myself and Zann). We headed straight to Lamington Drive to hook up with Zann and find out what our agenda was for the day.
There’s always something awesome on show at Lamington Drive.
Jeremy’s whippet.
And his mate :)
Zann had set up a temp office @ JW, he was in the Matrix working on the new Aus Infront web site (set to launch mid May).
We brought along more goodies for the Field Trip tote bags and the Jacky Winter Group team were quick to get cracking on getting the bags filled up.
The Music Issue – Desktop’s best issue yet (in my opinion). Find it at your local newsagent now.
We then headed direct to ACMI.
Zann and I in the theatre waiting for the tote bags to arrive.
All hands were on deck to offload 400+ tote bags.
Our Infront T’s (featuring our new logo) arrived too.
Nana and I hit up Degraves to grab some lunch. This Pizza from Lorca was perfect.
We then stayed off the main roads and went rummaging (best thing to do in Melbourne!) we came across a big bearded dude putting up photocopied signs on a door. He mentioned that Ferdydurke is a new bar (run by the guys at Section 8) opening up soon, the bar wasn’t ready but he invited us up to check it out (awesome right?!). Loved the decor, can’t wait to go back when it’s finished.
Bao hit to refuel us for more rummaging.
Later that night we braved the queue to dine at Mamasita’s.
Menu was in Mexican which made it a little hard to order, place was a bit pretentious but the food was alright.
DAY 2 – 7AM SHARP we were at ACMI setting up the theatre for Field Trip. First jon was to place all 400 tote bags on chairs!
Was more of a workout that we had imagined!
Next thing we knew it was 9AM and registration was open.
9.15AM and the theatre doors were opened.
The big screen above the stage.
Jeremy opened the show with some hilarious memes up on the big screen. This particular slide explained the process concept of Field Trip!
Charlotte’s been a massive help with Field Trip and being her Birthday, Jeremy got everyone to sing Happy Birthday for her (very sweet).
I found it near impossible to take shots of the presentations, but here’s a before and during shot of Illustrator Travis Price’s presentation to give you an idea of what the conference was all about.
Seeing everyone on stage creating artwork was too much for Nanami, who found it too hard to resist scribbling in her sketchpad.
Tin & Ed on the stage.
Jeremy wrapping up the event.
DAY 3 – The view from the Grand Hyatt.
We spotted a massive queue outside a tiny dumpling shop on Little Bourke St. so we decided to join in on the action.
The pan friend pork dumplings were awesome!
More rummaging led us to La Belle Miette, a shop that sold nothing but macarons (my favorite!).
Perfection!
Pistachio + Raspberry!
That night we hit St Kilda to dine at Cicciolina’s. There was a 2hr wait (!) but luckily they have a fantastic back bar and we ordered this amazing antipasto plate to tide us in until dinner (which was very late, but great!).
DAY 4 – On a tip from Desktop Magazine’s Editor Brendan McKnight, we hit Manchester Press for brunch.
We had to wait for a table, loved how they wrote our names on the brick outside.
Nanami’s coffee! So cute! Best coffee consumed on this trip, by far.
Happy Nana.
They’re known for their bagels. This one’s the Chorizo Bagel.
And this was the Salmon Bagel. The shop fit-out was awesome too. Lovely recycled feel was spot on.
We managed to squeeze in cocktails and a snack @ Chin Chin before heading to the airport.
Just got back (last night) from Field Trip Creative Conference in Melbourne. Happy to say it was a great success! Official shots from the event should be up soon. In the meantime you can check the tweets.
Bloody Marys were great.
Nanami had the burger.
I had the steak sandwich.
The newly renovated Imperial Hotel on Oxford St (across the road from the Paddington Reservoir Gardens) looks fantastic. Welcoming, stylish, warm, open, bright and comfy. A diverse crowd of all ages and walks of life. Chilled vibes, great food too.
The lads, busier catching up and having laughs than singing!
Love the Engrish!
Last night after the Aus Infront Apple Talk I somehow ended up at Lantern by Wagaya again! This time for the JDMyard Easter drinks. Didn’t drink much this time as I had to drive home but I couldn’t resist eating some sushi, sang a few tunes too of-course!
Quality Sake, done right.
New York strip steak…
…done right!
Baked fresh earlier in the morning… how could one resist!
Mercedes fan.
Seafood Platter for 2.
Glorious.
Be warned, the Doyles on the Beach hot and cold seafood platter for 2 @ Watsons Bay could very easily feed 4!