La Luna and Flying High

La Luna Bistro320 Rathdowns StreetCarlton North, (03) 9349 4888

Recently Daz celebrated his 28th birthday. Hes always looking for a thrill, he absolutely loves flying and would probably order steak at any given chance, so I decided to get him something that he would never forget, an acrobatic flying session and dinner at La Luna. I thought about getting him steak to eat inside the plane but thought that the pilot might get a little distracted, who knows he may have wanted one for himself!

The dinner almost didn't happen. After his 40 minute gut flipping, intense and sweaty flying escapade, he felt so sick that we almost called the dinner off, the actual flying didn't make him sick so much, it was the straight but long drive back from Traralgong that made his head woozy. Luckily a quick snooze and a dose of medication.....downed with a ginger beer set him straight and we set off for meat.

We started the meal with a few oysters. Nothing better than chewing into that fresh meaty flesh to get all the stomach juices flowing.

Next we had House made cured meats, on this night it was Prosciutto, with poached pear, extra virgin olive oil & crispy croutons. The meat was nice and fresh. V1 had never had good quality prosciutto before and by the end of this dish I suspect she will no longer be buying her cured ham from the Coles deli.

Also for entree we shared a Double baked cheese soufflé with garlic croutons. This was so good. The souffle was so light, you could even see the beautiful big air pockets withing the souffle. I make my own version of this, but mine comes no where near the caliber of this dish. It was delicious, unsurprisingly it disappeared very quickly.

For mains the boys went for the meat. Surprise surprise. La Luna prides themselves on aging their meat on premises, and only have a few cuts available on each night. On this particular night the boys got a scotch fillet, Char-grilled with a creamy buttery mash and pepperonata. I asked the waiter if it was possible to bring Daz's plate with a sprig of parsley on top....considering it was his birthday he should get a dish with a little more effort right? The chefs were so sweet that they actually put the parsley on his steak, class all the way. The boys both jumped into their steaks and all you could hear were moans of enjoyment. So I'm guessing that they liked their steaks.

When I was looking at the menu at home I had decided that I would get the Crackling wrapped loin of roast pork, mash, cabbage, apple salad, red wine jus. When it came to ordering, ALL the girls wanted this dish, so being me AND a food blogger I changed my mind and ordered something else......BIG MISTAKE!! The pork was fantastic. The crackling was so crispy, the apple salad was tart and complimentary to the pork. I don't know weather I was dreaming, but when I had a taste, the pork tasted like it had been marinated it lemon zest, it added such a nice undertone. I think I will try that myself at home. Everyone felt so sorry for me that I had changed my mind that they all gave me a bite from their plate. I think all those small bites combined equaled a whole pork dish in itself. Maybe I should try that more often and get a free meal by just eating a small amount from everyones plate.

As a side we ordered some Sautéed kipfler potatoes, garlic & parsley. They were really nice, however I think everyone was too distracted by their main dishes. The potatoes ended up hanging around until dessert. We tried to convince the waitress that we were going to eat them, but sadly I think more than half remained in the bowl.

I got the john dory fillets with a vegetable salad. I enjoyed the dish, not so much for the actual fish, but the vegetable salad was really good. The squash was cooked so tenderly, but still had a firm bite. I could have happily had an entire plate of that salad. Although the dish was very good, it was still no pork!!

Dessert!! Oh dessert was SOOOO good. I thoroughly recommend going for their cakes if you are having a birthday at La Luna. Cakeage costs $4.50 per person, or $70 for a cake of your choice that they make on premises. I went with the second choice, for 2 reasons really. 1) less fuss if they handle the whole cake thing and 2) it would probably cost me $70 for a cake in the first place PLUS cakeage. I went with a Bombe Alaska, everyone loves a little danger and who doesn't like ice cream? The cake was delicious!! The outside was so fluffy and marshmallowy, followed by a thin layer of vanilla sponge, then a rich creamy ice cream dotted with crunchy toffee. The birthday boy loved it, and so did all the guests, so it was a win win situation. The staff at La Luna were fantastic, they cut the remaining cake into portions, and each of the guests got some to take home. Once again another great touch.

On the night our group was extremely loud, and dare I say a little obnoxious - mainly me!! But the staff were fantastic, I really can not rave about them enough. I've seen some bad reviews concerning La Luna, but I think the old saying "you gotta try it for yourself" is totally true here. I'll be back for sure, probably to order the pork and a Bombe alaska to myself.