Terrific Takeout: Flinders Lane Our Coverage Sponsored by Fresh Origins
From the Roasted Barramundi, above, to the Avocado and Seaweed Salad, below, you will be delighted with all the new encounters you'll discover at Flinders Lane
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Owners Executive Chef Chris Rendell and Chris McPherson
We miss you in New York.
We have not been to Australia, but feel like we have because we know so many great people from there and now we're adding two Chris's to the mix. Lots of people we know from Ireland and the UK have also been to Australia, and we've seen many slideshows and are now pleased to formally kick off coverage of Australian food! We began with Flinders Lane, which is not only a spot in Melbourne: it's a fantastic little restaurant in the East Village that has been open since February 2014.
We asked them: what defines Australian food?
They said it's multicultural-styled through each dish, clean and fresh. Our own observation is that it's quite a lot like Irish and English food with definite Asian influences.
We began with the Avocado and Seaweed Salad: Snake Beans (which are longer than green beans from Southeast Asia-long as a snake and more hollow than a green bean, but with more snap. Our first time with a Snake Bean), Red Peppers, Sesame Soy Dressing and of course Seaweed. This is the first time we've featured Seaweed in a review we believe: Peachy's idea of exotic is normally burata served five different ways but we have been enlightened. This salad was fresh and delicious, and definitely the most imaginative one we've had in all of 2015. We liked it for a change!
Chris McPherson suggested a nice glass of Australian Riesling that delighted our palate, and you know who responded with enthusiasm. 40% of the wine served at Flinders Lane is of Australian origin, and this incarnation was ripe and fresh for spring.
We absolutely go crazy for scallops, and the Diver Caught Scallops are a must for your Flinders Lane visit. We were brought back to visions of Red Ferraris and Magnum PI with the macadamia nuts which arrive in the form of Macadamia-Chili relish. Good Water Farm Greens and Black seaweed join the party and specifically, the black seasweed is called Braised Hijiki. The quality of these scallops is tops and we were more than pleased with them.
Chris and Chris suggested Chicken San Choi Bau under the appetizer section for us to try as well. It's bean sprout, water chestnut, bamboo shoot and iceberg lettuce with chicken of course.
You put the mix in the lettuce and eat it kind of like you'd eat a taco:
Quite fun to try!
We'd try the Roasted Barramundi again for an entree! It's an Australian fish, and how fun is it to meet a fish you've never had before! We understand that Barramundi hails from the Northern Territory/Queensland, and we loved the quality of the fish so much we think it would be just as good without all the accessories. It rests on a bed of Tomato Kasundi which is an Indian relish that is nicely sweet, mussels including one pickled one on top, and pickled carrot salad.
What a refreshing visit! This is our first trip to Flinders Lane.
Flinders Lane is Terrific Takeout.
Aside from the scallops, we loved the Chocolate Raisin Bread and Butter Pudding the most!
Perfectly creative with delicious wild berry jam and Milo ice cream (Milo is malted powder- kind of like Qwik - you know the chocolate powder with the bunny!) you have to try this:
