Bishop Sessa (Surry Hills)

Yes, I am back at Surry Hills but this time it is for dinner at Bishop Sessa. For some reason, none of my foodie friends whom I spoke to recently even knows of Bishop Sessa. I was very surprised by that.

Bishop Sessa is located at where Crown Street Assembly used to be, and where Tabou was. Even though this dinner occurred about a month ago, I still recall the wonderful meal we had there.

There was the option to have the 6 course degustation menu or a la carte. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, we collectively decided to have a la carte. Admittedly, the restaurant was very dimly lit and reading the menu was a challenge in itself. Fortunately I had my torchlight app from my phone which was put to good use that night. :)

Entrees
My entree was Scallop ceviche with cucumber, avocado and lemon and ginger sorbet. If I ate the beautifully and thinly sliced scallop, it would have tasted quite flat. But the sorbet was popping with the flavour of ginger and was a great companion for the scallop. Lovely dish! The sheet of rice paper roll served over the dish was so light and tasty.

NF had the Carpaccio of Glacier 51 Patagonian Toothfish, smoked clam, miso, apple and black olive. NF seemed to have enjoyed it and he commented on how smoky the clam was and the combination of flavours were good.

EF had the Heirloom beetroot and radish salad with smoked goat's cheese, pomegranate and walnuts. Even though I didn't taste the dish, I can already imagine the textures and flavours blending very well together. I have always loved having walnuts in a salad.

Mains
I had the Roasted Aylesbury duck breast, duck leg sausage roll, lentils, kale, carrot, orange and onion marmalade. Yummmmm..yummmm..yummm! Duck is one of my favourite meats and this dish did it for me. The duck leg sausage roll was divine. The duck meat in the sausage roll was full of flavour and melt-in-your-mouth tender. The duck breast was lovely but for me it was the sausage roll that caught my eye.

Baroque Bistro

Just as I feel that I have recovered from my oh so marvellous weekend in Melbourne, I am off to have lunch with my friend AK at the Baroque Bistro at The Rocks.

I haven't been here before so I was looking forward to dining here. Baroque Bistro is very well known for it's macarons, especially since macarons became a hot trend a couple of years ago. It is a lovely French bistro and being located in the historic Rocks is a plus!!

Imagine walking into a restaurant and the first thing you see is the open kitchen and rows and rows of macarons and gorgeous looking desserts! Well, that was what greeted me when I walked through the doors! It set a good feeling which carried through the course of our meal.

I really liked the decor, there is a massive wall to wall retro mirror at the far end of the bistro and copper pots hanging high up at one of the archways. I could see the Harbour Bridge if I peeked out the window nearest to where I was sitting. Lovely!

We ended up having a 3 course meal and for entree, I chose the rabbit and chicken terrine, spring vegetables, verjuice and fennel pollen. AK chose the Boudin of scallops, mussels, leeks, asparagus and mussel emulsion.

Boudin of scallops, mussels and mussel emulsion

Rabbit and chicken terrine

PM24

Wow! This is my second meal today on my first day in Melbourne, after a 1 year absence, and I must say I am suitably impressed at the standards of the food I have been lucky enough to have had.

Dinner tonight is at the renowned PM24, a French bistro and rotisserie located right in the heart of Melbourne's CBD. Chef Phillipe Mouchel has excelled in producing such fine modern French cuisine in Melbourne. Dinner was booked for 7pm and it was already full house when we arrived.

I loved the open kitchen, the buzzy and lively bistro ambience and seeing Chef Phillipe Mouchel checking very plate as it came through for final plating was impressive.

We had some lovely cocktails to kick off the evening. I had the Vive La Lychee cocktail and K had the Melonicious!

My lychee cocktail