Tea Rooms at Yarck - 7 December 08

Liz, Zoe, Hugh & Gaby

When planning for our end of year PDS meeting we consulted the constitution - The Age Good Food Guide. In our browsing we started looking at the country restaurants and thought that instead of a Posh Dinner meeting we could have an Extravagant Lunch instead. Well, we did and it was amazing. The two hour drive up to the Tea Rooms at Yarck was absolutely completely worth it.

While we could have ordered a la carte we instead went with the Chef's suggestion of antipasto, pasta, a slow cooked dish, and dessert but put a special request in for the slow cooked baby goat as it sounded so interesting. The food just kept coming and coming and was amazing. I'd been thinking that our first meal together at Toofeys was the best but I think that the Tea Rooms at Yarck have surpassed all the other meals that we've eaten. The whole thing got us reminiscing and we started to list the various meals that we've had over time and this blog was created from that list.

Below is the complete list of what we ate over the 3.5 hours that we were there.

Taster - we each had a piece

• asparagus tart

Antipasto - we shared the following dishes which were served with bread

• Tuna carpaccio with celeriac
• Crumbed sardines
• Calamari salad
• Mussels with parsley and garlic breadcrumbs
• Roasted peppers
• Broccoli with onions and capers
• Eggplant parmagiana

Pasta (we ended up with two pasta courses each!)

• Single ravioli filled with broad beans, goat fetta and peccorino, with butter and borage flowers
• Duck and mushroom fettucine
  

Slow cooked dish - shared
(By this stage we were really looking for something fresh to counter all the beautifully rich food that we had been enjoying up to that point and, with brilliant timing, a green salad was delivered.)

• Slow cooked baby goat (kid!) with carrot, fennel and celery
• Roast rosemary potatoes
  

Dessert - shared over coffee

• Passionfruit icecream
• Vanilla and chocolate meringues
• Tiramisu
• Strawberries
• Chocolate and hazelnut torte
• Creme caramel
• Almond biscotti
• Panforte and ...
• even more meringue.
  

It was just amazing!

Gingerboy - 16 August 08

Peter, Liz, Zoe & Gaby

After much scheduling and rescheduling Liz, Zoe and I fixed on August 16 for dinner at Gingerboy - a place that we'd be discussing going to for some time. Only a few days before the dinner Peter emailed to say that he had to come back to Australia for visa reasons. It was brilliant timing to reconvene the original members of the PDS.

The most memorable thing we ate were the Son in Law eggs which are very soft boiled eggs (the yolk was completely runny) that were then deep fried and meant to be eaten whole. It was actually quite daunting to put a whole egg in your mouth and Liz took a bite and we understood why it's best to try and eat the whole egg at once. :)

The desserts were all interesting - green tea pannacotta - but I think my favourite thing was the corn cakes. Just so yum!

100 Mile Cafe - 6 March 08

Zoe, Peter, Gerry & Gaby

We managed to eat at 100 Mile Cafe this time but Liz couldn't make it. We did hear about Gerry's recent visit to the US with a quite crazy woman though. 100 Mile Cafe has since closed down.

100 Mile Cafe (sort of) - 13 December 07

Liz, Zoe & Gaby

We planned an end of year Posh Dinner Society meeting at the 100 Mile Cafe (all food sourced within 100 miles of the restaurant) and while we made it to the restaurant the restaurant didn't quite deliver. Unfortunately there was a problem with the gas in the whole of Melbourne Central so the restaurant could only cook food from the wood fired oven. We ended up eating at Tomodachi for Japanese.

The Rose Hotel - 18 August 07

Zoe, Peter, Liz, Gaby & ...
Simon, Gerry, & ? & ?

I'm not sure that we're not missing one of our meetings since November 06 ... anyway we convened again when Peter came back to Australia in August 07. As with any short trip back there were lots of people for him to catch up with so the Posh Dinner Society decided to hold an open meeting and we had a few extras join us.

Zoe and I made sure that we got the red mullet again and it was still the best fish there.

Pearl - 21 November 06

Zoe, Peter & Gaby

Peter was back in Australia for a visit and our next Posh Dinner Society meeting was held in Richmond at Pearl.

Apart from recognising a few familiar faces from our time at the Student Union we had a great night! Peter (?) had a DIY duck curry and I had a caramelised asian fish. It was plated upright like it was still swimming. We also had the novelty of eating coconut ice - and old favourite from primary school fetes - for dessert.

Toofeys - 18 July 06

Zoe, Peter & Gaby

In late July/August Peter departed for San Francisco and before he left we had one last hurrah. We went back to Toofey's where it all began the year before.

From memory I had a fillet of some description with the most beautiful beurre blanc. The sides at Toofey's were great (particularly the mushrooms and the green beans). I think that we finished of our dinner with a fabulously light and airy blueberry souffle.

The Rose Hotel - June 06

Peter, Zoe, Gaby & Liz

The Posh Dinner Society welcomed a new member, Liz, with our journey to Port Melbourne for a fabulously modern take on delicious greek food at The Rose Hotel in Bay St.

The moussaka was unrecognisable but absolutely delicious and who can go past saganaki but Zoe and I are in agreement though that the red mullet was just the best.

Choi's - April 06

Zoe, Peter & Gaby

Peter and I were astonished when Zoe told us that she'd never eaten Peking Duck. We felt that for her birthday that we should remedy that with a trip to one of Melbourne's premier providers of Peking Duck, Choi's in Hawthorn.

The plans were made, the date set - then her colleagues beat us to the punch introducing her to peking duck in the week before we were scheduled to go. That didn't stop us going ahead and enjoying ourselves none the less.

On this rainy night we continued the asian theme after dinner when we met up with some of Zoe's friends at the bar Manchuria.

Madame Sousou - November/December 05

Zoe, Peter & Gaby

Madame Sousou is in Fitzroy, on Brunswick St, and is mainly French. It is my birthday in November and our dinner was partly for this and partly as a pre-Christmas / end-of-year celebration.

I don't have strong memories of the food here (eaten two years ago) except for cool tomato jellies.

Mecca Bah - August 05

Zoe, Peter & Gaby

Our second Posh Dinner adventure was to the plate sharing deliciousness of Mecca Bah. We think that we went in August but it may have been later.

I hadn't eaten much middle eastern food prior to this - except for kebabs - and Mecca Bah really shows how interesting and varied it can be. I'm now the proud owner of Greg Malouf's two most recent cook/travel/coffee table books - Saha and Turquoise. I love Turquoise in particular after I spent a short time travelling in Turkey eating fabulous food.

Toofeys - June 05

Zoe, Peter & Gaby

The Posh Dinner Society began after Zoe mentioned that she'd been to Toofey's for lunch with her grandma and mum for her birthday. Peter and I were just a little bit jealous and we all agreed to go there for our next special occasion which we agreed would be Peter's birthday in June.

Toofey's is now closed and has been replaced by Esposito, which we are yet to try out. It was consistently revieweed as one of the best seafood restaurants in Melbourne and after eating the spaghetti marinara I can attest to that.

As our first posh dinner adventure together it was fantastic and for a long time I wondered whether we would ever surpass it but I think that we have finally - Tea Rooms at Yarck in December 08.