Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Two very similar restaurants

We visited 5 different wineries in Yarra valley with Mr T's sister. We had lunch at giant steps/ innonencent bystander at the recommendation of someone from one of the wineries. There we enjoyed having views of the kitchen, Aesop handwash and hand cream in the bathroom and yummy food including free amazing sourdough bread with sea salt and olive oil to dip it in. Will certainly dine there again and next time I won't be driving so I can sample more wines.

When we later arrived at fifteen I noticed a lot of similarities: Aesop products in the bathroom, bread with olive oil and sea salt, and views of the kitchen. Even the food tasted similar. I was pleasantly surprised with how well fifteen accommodated us two vegans. When we booked we advised them well in advance which might have helped. They veganised some of the vegetarian meals and even the meat based antipasto. We had mushroom based bruschetta, mushroom risotto and vegan antipasto which included zucchini flowers that Mr T was impressed with and fennel and rocket salad. The fennel and rocket salad had me rethinking my hate of green salads which is huge breakthrough for me but it could just be that it's been a while since I've tried a good rocket salad. The mushroom based bruschetta was my fav and I'm not even a fan of mushrooms. Perhaps because I entered the place with such low expectations but I really enjoyed the meal and was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't as pricey as I thought. Cocktails were the average price of $15, entrees were around $17 which is a bit much but not too bad for the sort of restaurant that it was and the service was very good.

Sadly I don't have any pictures of the meals, but I do have a pic from one of the wineries (Coldstream hills):




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