Friday on My Mind - new restaurants, a Salon Series, food tours and why I will always love restaurants.

Speaker A: Hey, everybody, this is Dani Valent, and you're listening to a special episode of Dirty Linen. This one we call Friday on My Mind, a solo episode where I talk about some of the things I have been thinking, possibly eating and drinking. Uh, I have been going to some great restaurants recently. Uh, it's so exciting that in a time when, you know, we hear a lot about the economy and, uh, various struggles, it is still wonderful to see the optimism and endeavor that is going into dining. So in my hometown of Melbourne, there are a couple of big openings that, you know, restaurant, uh, people that love restaurants seem to be talking about. But I just, I am one of those people. I love them. I feel so lucky that I have been going to these places. So, uh, most recently is the opening of Cote Basque, uh, a restaurant in a pretty storied site in the CBD of Melbourne. It's in Crossley street, uh, a site that used to be Beco restaurant for about 20 years. And before that it was the dining room for Pellegrini's, uh, the classic espresso bar, um, on Bourke street in the center of town. Um, so many people have a story there. My story of being in the Pellegrini's restaurant, uh, is I reckon I was maybe 17 or 18. It was the first experience I had of going to a restaurant with a friend and feeling like a grown up, um, somewhere. I've got like a Polaroid of myself, uh, sitting in the corner of the dining room. Ah, With a headband on and a cigarette. Um, yes, you could smoke in restaurants in those days. And I was pretty bad at smoking. Didn't do it for that long. But I felt like such a woman of the world sitting there. Um, yeah, probably eating some fettuccine Alfredo or something. Super sophisticated. Uh, Coat Basque is from Trader House, which is Andrew McConnell and Joe McGann's restaurant group. Um, they've recently announced they're taking over Stokehouse in St. Kilda as well. So, um, yeah, another I site. Um, yeah, look, as much as I love rest independent restaurants, you know, owner operator places, you just cannot deny the exquisite machine m of this restaurant. Uh, I just love all the little details. Some things that really stood out to me, uh, about Cote Basque are, of course, the seafood that's coming from the Wood Grill, so really leaning into the Basque country, um, not north eastern Spain and southwestern France, um, coastal regions with some beautiful, simple cooking. I love the sardines from Corner Inlet. I didn't even know that you that Corner Inlet was doing sardines so that was a real surprise to me. Corner Inlet is a beautiful part of Gippsland, Um, uh, to the east of Melbourne, where a, uh, small group of fishermen m catch fish using a gentle way of netting them. They're sort of hand fished. Uh, the species are chosen, uh, carefully, and if they don't want them, they put them back and they live to swim another day. Anyway, it's really lovely. I've been lucky enough to go on a boat down there. Um, but, yeah, sardines are a little bit of a passion of mine. And these simply grilled sardines with a wedge of lemon, beautifully seasoned. Yum. It was so good to be sitting there in this beautiful dining room. Timber paneling, leather lined bar, gorgeous artwork, terrazzo floor, all the beautiful people is what it felt like. Um, and just to be in the atmosphere was pretty special. Um, I also love the fact that they've got beeswax candles. So, uh, I'm definitely in my honey obsession era. And I think when you start thinking about farming and soil and pollination and production, you tend to get onto bees. Um, so, yeah, to have beautiful beeswax candles burning, um, probably a little bit too quickly for the practicalities of a busy restaurant. But anyway, hopefully they stick with it. And I also really loved the glassware. Like, it felt quite M Tavern style. It wasn't this fine crystal that you would imagine in a fancy restaurant. There was something really, ah, workaday about it, which I really loved. Like these sort of almost chunky tumblers, um, but a very beautiful wine list. Um, had a bottle of white from the Basque country. Um, and yeah, it was just a really great experience. Uh, the other restaurant in Melbourne that I've loved recently in the city, anyway, is Roma, uh, which is another restaurant from an experienced group, uh, this one led by Khan Christopoulos, uh, who also has, um, Lep and the European and Ciglo. Uh, yeah, Butcher's diner, a bunch of good places. Um, Roma is behind a church on the corner of Russell and Collins Street. So it's a big reveal. Uh, and then it's such a love letter to Rome, but it's such a Melbourne place as well. I love the experienced waiters, the iced fish drawer, the antipasto pedestal in the middle of the room. Yeah, just a restaurant that makes you feel good about life. Uh, if you've been listening to Dirty Linen over the last little while, you'll have heard a few episodes with Jenna Abruzzese from Addington Downs. Uh, Jenna is a chef turned lamb farmer. She also Works on um, Brooklyn's Free Range Pork Farm. And uh, Jenna and I did an event together. I mean really she did the event. I was just lucky enough to come along and emcee it. Uh, she cooked. She didn't have any lambs over winter so she cooked the pork from Brooklands where she works where she sort of schooled up on how to be regenerative farmer. Um, it was such a beautiful occasion. It was at Scrub Hill, uh, which is a old property where there's a bluestone church and there's a glass pavilion which is normally used for weddings. But we had a lunch there for about 40 people and it was a real honoring of the whole pig. And not only the whole pig but uh, different ages of pig. So the sows, um, that have had all their little piggies, um, that aren't really honoured as a meat animal at the end of their breed days. Um, yeah, so Jenna did honor them and uh, yes, it was just a really special menu. Now Jenna and I are ah, hoping to do an event every quarter. So we've just announced. Well actually I haven't announced it to anyone. You're the first. Uh, we just um, put on sale our ah, next event which is going to be at Old Macaroni Factory in Hepburn Springs. So I'll put a link to uh, this event. So this is going to be using some of the Brooklyn's pork again but also jet as lamb. And our idea is that we're going to bring uh, you podcast listeners, um, our communities along on the journey to perhaps even pick out the actual lamb to um. Yeah, to watch it grow and then to eat it. Is that chicken fronting? Um, I don't know. I'm definitely thinking uh, I want to know the meat that I'm eating and to know it this well, maybe that's a lot but I want to put myself on that journey and just feel the reality of eating meat. You know, uh, I was at Cote Basque last night, it was my friend's birthday. Had a really beautiful night and then um, I got home and I was messaging back and forth with Jenna and she just had the most intense day or couple of days of lambing with all this incredible. Just the realities of farming, you know, like uh, some lambs that had died in utero. The really confronting reality of getting them out of this ewe that she's. That she knows and just that, that the ewe trusting her and Alex, her uh, midwife, luckily and. And wife M. So Jenna's actual wife and a midwife by Trade. Just looking after this yu in this really, um, perilous situation. And then at the same time as all that drama's going on, there's another, um, another ewe having her lambs, and they're just, you know, suckling happily on the straw. Just. This is such a. We're in such a big world and everything's happening at once, and it can be really overwhelming. But I really try to find the beauty in it all and the possibility. And I really see restaurants as one of those places of beauty and possibility. And I think I have really been feeling that recently. Uh, yeah, just feeling the poignancy of everything. Um, yeah, I wouldn't be writing about food if it didn't mean this much to me. I think this is why it keeps me fascinated and has done so for a couple of decades. And I know I'm not going to fall out of love with it because. Because everything can happen with food. What else? Okay, I started a substack this week. Um, people keep asking me, have you got a mailing list? Have you got a mailing list? So I finally resurrected my old mailing list and put it in a new place, and now people can sign up to hear about all the events that I'm doing. So, yes, my salon series with Jenna, uh, and my food tours. I've got a couple of food tours coming up. Um, they're sold out, but hopefully I can do more. They're in Chinatown. There's a dumpling tour and a multicultural Chinatown tour. I've got food tours coming up in Oakley as well. Um, again, this is, uh, the first time I'm mentioning those. But, uh, I've just been in Oakley today and gone to an amazing Greek bakery called Sweet Philosophy. I'll also be writing about, uh, Sweet Philosophy for the age Good food, um, because it just needs to be talked about a lot. So, um, a couple of people who came from Greece a decade ago, and they are making everything on site from ice cream cakes to biscuits to sweet and savory pastries. Uh, it is just, uh. Oh, uh, it's so exciting. I've actually got so many pastries in my kitchen, which I'm going to go and eat after I finish this podcast. Um, I love the pastry. The spanakopada pastry is that sort of, ah, thicker style of filo that really, you know, it's handmade and it's just got such great flavor. So, yeah, I'll put the link to my substack, uh, here, as well as a link to my event with Jenna and Um, yeah, hopefully we can chat over there as well as, um, be in touch here on the pod. Do you feel like spring is coming? Uh, I actually, I'm pretty fine with winter. I love my winter boots and I've got a whole bunch of scarves and gloves. Thanks, Annie, for giving me a bunch of woollens. Uh, but, yeah, I'm seeing the magnolias in bloom and the birds seem a little bit more active. Oh, goodness me. And I'm also scared about bird flu, but m. Yeah, I'm sending all my good vibes to the birds. Uh, when I went out the front of my house this morning, there was a bunch of sulphur crested cockatoos on the ground. They'd found this particular seed that just sprung, um, on a tree outside. They were so cute and busy with their, uh, snacks. I, um, just hung out with them for a while. Anyway, I feel like spring is coming, uh, means that people are going to be eating outside more and, uh, the restaurants will hopefully be a bit busier because I know, you know, it can be really tough through winter. Uh, anyone that is working in hospitality, thank you so much. I really love what you do. Uh, I really appreciate it. And to the farmers who make it all possible, I'm so grateful to you as well. Yeah. This is what has been on my mind this Friday. Friday, uh, looking forward to hanging out with you next week on the pod. Um, thank you for listening. Eat well, be merry. This is Dirty Linen and I'm Dani Valent. We air the issues that the hospitality industry finds hard to talk about, hearing from different people with unique perspectives. We want to hear from you as well. If you have something that needs to be said about a topic, get in touch so we can include your perspective. Contact us@ah.dirtylineeepintheweeds uh.com or hit us up on insta. Dirtylinenpodcast. We can't wait to hear from you. This is a deep in the weeds production.