Collins Kitchen

Collins Kitchen

123 Collins Street

Melbourne 9653 4831

You've probably seen it around on other Melbourne food blog sites, recently a whole bunch of food bloggers were invited to The Grand Hyatt to check out Collins Kitchen, courtesy of the guys from Nuffnang. I'm a little bit of a food blogging novice, even though I've been doing this for a year - its still a shock and surprise to me that I get to do something so awesome and meet some incredible people. So for most of the night I was pretty awe struck.

First up Jason, the head chef, took us on a walking tour of their brand spanking new kitchen. Oh what I would give to have a play around the place. I have no actual cooking talent - but for an hour or so I could feel like a real chef. Here are a couple of happy snaps I took.

Selection of fresh produce with some great fresh wasabi from Tasmania.

The chef preparing some grated wasabi

Its the three Musketeer crabs, one for all and all for claw!!

Hand operated meat slicer, for a cool $10,000 I can get one for my home kitchen

There's been some fantastic posts so far (check out the list at the bottom of this post), with some even more fantastic photography. So I'll keep the details to a minimum and concentrate on the dishes that I really enjoyed. The guys in the kitchen really put on an awesome spread for us, here are the dishes we tried.

Selection of sushi and sashimi, with freshly grated wasabi. Nothing more to say other than fantastic fresh wasabi, straight from Tasmania.

Focaccia; tomato buffalo mozzarella, basil and olives. Oh yum!! Being a good little Italian girl....anything doughy and smattered in tomato and cheese is a winner for me. Loved it. It wasn't overly fancy, just simple and satisfying. The cheese was still hot when I dug in and for a moment I was sitting at the table all by myself, despite being surrounded by people. Oh how the simple things in life make me so happy.

Antipasto plate; Air dried Wagyu, San Daniele Prosciutto and rockmelon, grilled veggies, pickles, liverwurst terrine or pate, tomatoes topped with buffalo mozzarella and basil. Stand out for me was the air dried Wagyu, it was silky, beefy and not too dry.

Grilled meats: Soy chicken, roast duck, crispy pork belly and char siu. The crispy pork was a stand out for me, but I'm a sucker for some fat topped with crispy skin.

Grilled seafood: Scallops, salmon, prawns, tuna and Moreton Bay bugs or Balmain bugs. The scallops were so good, they looked like fat little pocket of joy, slightly grilled surface with a soft and yielding inside. I would have gladly had a full plate of them. There was also a massive plate of grain fed beef which I managed to forget to take a photo of, along with a side of spectacular sauteed mushrooms and creamy mash potatoes.

Dessert: Banana Millefeuille, Peach Melba, Rhubarb with an accompanying pot of creme anglaise, 4 different types of sorbets - strawberry, pistachio, passionfruit and vanilla, melty gooey Chocolate Fondant. By far my favourite plate of food on the night. I'm easily swayed by sweet stuff, so I'm slightly bias. There were a couple of stand outs, the passionfruit sorbet knocked my socks off. I love ice cream/sorbet/gelato that tastes of the fruit it promises, and boy did it deliver. Tart and punchy, perfect summer ice cream. The Banana millefeuille, up until that night I had only ever tried vanilla, so it was a new experience for me. I really enjoyed the banana puree through the luscious cream. It was great. And the best of all, the chocolate fondant. Oh it was divine, the center was runny and hot, there was a generous amount of chocolate ice cream on top and it was great. I just wish that I had finished my meal on that chocolate fondant and not taken another bite.

All in all it was a great night. It was wonderful to be invited to something like this and I need to say a big thank you to the Grand Hyatt, the team at Collins Kitchen and of course the guys from Nuffnang.

David and Sarah @ Nuffnang - review here

Shellie @ Iron Chef Shellie - review here

Penny @ Addictive & Consuming - review here

Joyce @ Jetsetting Joyce - review here and here

Adrian @ Food Rehab - review here

Thanh @ I Eat Therefore I Am - review here

Billy @ Half Eaten - review here

Mellie and Dan @ Tummy Rumbles

Suzanne @ EssJay Eats - review here

Neil @ At My Table

Agnes @ Off the Spork

Sarah @ Sarah Cooks