Not long after my some what disappointing degustation at Pod Food, I found myself back there for the a la carte menu for a friend’s birthday. I noticed some familiar menu items from the degustation and decided to steer clear from those to avoid disappointment.
Snacks~
Sour dough bread with fennel seed butter (4 pieces $6.00). After wildly enjoying the bread and the butter previously, I lavishly order two serves for the table. I realised it is a different bread to my previous experience but I still enjoyed the seedy crusty exterior of the bread (does sour dough come with grains throughout the bread?). I found the cut of the bread really thick and you would think who would complain about getting more bread, but it made it really hard to chew and threw the butter to bread ratio way off. We definitely did not need two serves especially when they were cut so thick.
That is one thick slice of bread!
That is one thick slice of bread!Kimchi pork hock toasty (2 pieces $10.00). Yes more bread, we didn’t really think this through. Nothing really special, the toasty didn’t have a melty ‘glue’ to really hold everything together which made it a little floppy to eat. The kimchi wasn’t over whelming and went really nice with the pork hock.
Salmon croquettes, sesame mayonnaise (4 pieces $10.00). Not an overly fishy centre and extremely crunchy without being oily. These were thoroughly enjoyed.
3 courses $70.00 per person
Entrees~
Soft egg, poached chicken, soba noodles, pickled cucumber, wild rice. Without telling my friends that I had something similar during the degustation and I didn’t like it, they ordered this dish and it looked very different to when we had it. Alas, all three of them left a nearly full bowl as they found the dish very bland and unappealing.
Hiramasa kingfish tartare, nectarine, radish, rice crisp. TimmyC really enjoyed this from the degustation and happily ordered it again. It didn’t look as pretty as the first time we had had it but TimmyC thought it tasted even better than before.
Java pepper beef carpaccio, parmesan, caramelised onion, portobello mushroom. The beef was paired perfectly with the saltiness of the parmesan, sweetness of the onion and the earthiness of the mushroom. Great flavour pairings made for a delicious start to the meal.
Mains~
Chargrilled pork neck, pumpkin, Pialligo smokehouse bacon, baby gem lettuce.This wasn’t my main but I liked the succulent pork neck and the crispy bacon. I think the idea of serving pumpkin is long ribbons is visually stunning and provides a different texture.
Duck breast, sweet potato gallette, fennel, plum, mustard. I really enjoyed my duck breast as the fat was cooked nicely giving a great juicy skin but I found the gallette a little dry and didn’t finish it.
Smoked ricotta and potato “canneloni”, pepitas, peas, parmesan.
Dessert~
Lemongrass panna cotta, grape, burnt butter crumb, verjus jelly. There might have been mosquitoes in my dessert, but I didn’t get bitten nearly as badly as last time because we were seated inside. The panna cotta had a beautiful wobble to it and a nice subtle lemongrass flavour. I thought the skinless grapes added an extra sweetness to the dish while also providing another dimension of texture.
Coconut parfait, caramel popcorn, gingerbread, banana. A nice light refreshing dessert.
Pistachio brownie, local berries, puffed spelt, yoghurt .
The service was attentive as usual and I found my experience with the food to be a little inconsistent but overall much better than the degustation. Phew, it might have just been a bad night during my previous visit.
TALES OF A CONFECTIONIST 