No 35

No 35

Level 35, 25 Collins St, Melbourne

(Ph) 9653 7744

My birthday! =) I had been meaning to come try out No 35 for a while - it's got one of the best views in Melbourne, comparable to Vue de Monde =) And 50% off with my Accor card w00t! The decor is quite nice and classy here... all the tables here are against the window

with a beautiful view! =)

and in the middle of the room there's a bench top with lots of wines, sparkling waters, water etc etc

Complimentary bread with a really good olive oil and vinegarette!

We decided to get 2 entrees to share - this sounded really interesting, kinda reminds me of Son in Law Eggs =) (See Gingerboy, Chin Chin) Chorizo scotch egg, harissa and nigella seeds $10

It's like an egg wrapped in chorizo and deep fried, served with a super hot harissa sauce. Very interesting and delicious! (minus the harissa sauce =P) The yolk was still runny - I'm not sure what egg it is, it's too small to be a chicken egg but too big to be a quail egg... whatever it was super tasty =)

We also shared a Charcuterie platter $26 - david blackmore wagyu bresaola, hunters salami, terrine de campagne, chicken liver parfait

A bit of everything! Chacuterie is a fancy name for cured meats, as I learnt when we went to Cumulus. My favourite was the chicken liver parfait, was delicious with the toasted bread =) Its quite a rich flavour, would have been better if they were more generous with the toasted bread though! Lucky they refilled our complimentary breads =P The terrine was not as flavoursome, but went quite well with the jam and the cute little cured vegetables. The bresaola and the salami were quite ordinary, a little too salty for my liking but P really enjoyed it - he loves proscuitto-like things =P

For main, P wanted the Crispy pork hock with chilli caramel, green papaya, spring onion and roasted peanuts $36

Really reminds me of caramelised pork from both Chin Chin and Gingerboy. Super crispy indeed and the meat was so soft inside! Delicious with the slightly chilli caramel sauce =) I'm not really a fan of asian salads but P liked it, it's 'cause of the coriander... really don't like it =/

I wanted the Special of the day - grilled barramundi with a side of mushrooms, carrots, pumpkin, olives, feta and macadamia (or something like that)

This was not as tasty as the waiter made it sound. The barramundi was cooked to perfection but was quite bland. You're meant to eat it with the salad which was full of flavour but was a bit mushy, more macadamia nuts would have been nice =)

We were quite full by this stage so we just shared one dessert. We wanted something light and not too rich so we went for the Coconut tapioca with passionfruit sorbet, kaffir lime jelly and ginger granita $17

Interesting - kinda reminds me of the Snow Egg concept, hiding stuff inside - in this case the passionfruit sorbet, which was deliciously tangy. I wasn't a fan of the ginger granita, was too gingery to be put in a dessert, but the meringue was quite good with the tanginess of the sorbet inside. Asian flavours put in a Western dessert - fusion indeed. Not my type of dessert but given we wanted something light wasn't too bad.

Food~
8/10 - quite good overall, some familiar flavours but some unique ones too =)

Atmosphere~
5/5 - beautiful view and surroundings! if you can't afford to go to Vue de Monde for the view, it's just as good here =P

Service~
5/5 - very attentive waiters here, what do you expect at Sofitel? =)

Happy Birthday to me again! ^^

C.
xo