February 15, 2010

La Luna and Flying High

La Luna Bistro
320 Rathdowns Street
Carlton North, (03) 9349 4888

birthday boy

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!

la Luna

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.

cow locations

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

oysters

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.

ham

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.

souffle

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.

steak

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.

pork

pork 2

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.

chat potatoes

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!!

fish

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.

bombe alaska slice2

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.

acrobatics

thumbs up

10 comments:

3 hungry tummies said...

What great presents he was getting! We recently had a really nice meal at La Luna, after seeing this post I think we'll be back sooner.
The pork dish does look so good, poor you haha!

Hannah said...

Oooh, that bombe alaska looks good! I made it once, ages ago, but it was so stressful with the freezing and the torching and the not-letting-it-melt-ing.... Much better to let the professionals do it, as you say! :)

Conor @ HoldtheBeef said...

Happy birthday Daz!!! What an awesome combination present, thank god his stomach recovered for the meal.

I feel so sorry for you about the pork, it looks goddamn incredible.

So funny asking for the parsley :D

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Sounds like everyone had a great time including the birthday boy! How nice of everyone to give you some of theirs too! :D

Arwen from Hoglet K said...

The bombe alaska sounds awesome, and the flying sounds exciting! You must tell us about your souffle!

April @ My Food Trail said...

Happy birthday to Daz!! What awesome presents you got him too! La Luna sounds great - it's on my list of places to visit since hubby adores steak/meat too!

Vee said...

I love a good piece of meat - steak AND pork. Actually I'm really glad you did this post because I've always wanted to visit La Luna after Adrian Richardson was on Masterchef, but there weren't many reviews online at all. Happy Birthday Daz!

Adrian @ Food Rehab said...

oooh, oysters!! During my Tassie trip, I ate so many of these babies freshly shucked. Me want more!

Sheryl said...

Happy Birthday Daz! You can never go wrong with taking your guy to a steak place for his bday. Ooh I've never tried a Bombe Alaska...sounds fun just saying it. I would just order it just so I could say it out loud haha but it does sound delicious too.

A cupcake or two said...

Oh look at the crackling on that pork. OMG delicious. So glad you made it to the dinner. The food looks amazing.