Last year I ate at Le Provencal, and had the temerity to order.....wait for it...an eye fillet steak well done with peppered sauce.
I wrote about my meal, and thus started the most commented-on blog post on the Rita blogsite. 106 comments later......
So tonight I had a reprise - I ordered that identical meal - and once again it was bloody beautiful!
I make absolutely no apologies for ordering my steak the way I prefer it.
Someone in the comments last year made the point that French food is all about the sauces, and this was proven tonight. Everyone at my table of 5 had a dish or two which came accompanied by some kind of sauce. I tasted most of the entrees (priced at round the $22+ mark) and mains (priced at round the late $20's), and couldn't find one thing which, had I been preparing it myself, I could have improved on.
The French Onion Soup was magnificent; the mussels ditto; the Shoulder of Beef transported me to heaven; the Peppered Steak transported me back to earth. The flavours and blendings of wine, herbs, meat and vegetables nothing short of brilliant.
I had ice cream layered dessert with warm chocolate sauce ($12.50) - just perfect to finish off with.
The service from Julie, as ever, extremely competent. Poor woman has a lot to put up with when she accepts a booking from my friends. They always arrive at the restaurant, in their own terminology, PFO - which translates as "Pissed and Falling Over"! They then proceed to continue the evening with at least 3 more bottles of red - so you can imagine the state of them by the time we leave!
They are extremely, noisily, PFO, not to mention boring and repetitive, and making absolutely NO sense whatsoever! Julie cops this from many I'm sure, but these older guys must surely try her patience. Anyway, she handles them good-naturedly. As for Rita - well she TOLERATES her good friends, because that's what you do with friends who've been there for you through thick and thin over many years. When they've seen you grow from waif-like young flower-power mum to thickening, greying and way older middle-aged person, well, there's an amount of shared history which bouts of drunkeness absolve. So I am tolerant of my drunken friends. I love them. I hope they extract as much as they can out of these evenings before we all have strokes and spend our remaining 20 years on earth ga-ga in some nursing home!
Le Provencal is the place to go to indulge in a bout of beautiful food, great company (well, sort of...) and great service.
Friday, 9 May 2008
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6 comments:
Sounds like a ripper, Rita...great to hear.
Great, Rita. Love good onion soup.
Went to Kawasemi tonight: discovered they had a new menu.
Mussel soup great - bonito stock and yummy mussels.
Had a tofu, vegetable entree - steamed with a vinegar/lemon dipping sauce. Delicious, halo-like healthy and I want it for lunch every day.
Some friends ordered sukiyaki. Not table cooked but smelled divine and tasted better. Served in searing earthenware dishes that maintained the heat so the dip into egg worked. I want some of those dishes!
A couple of people ordered the seafood salad. Warm, looked delightful but they wouldn't give me any! Mussels, baby octopus ( absolutely minute!),salmon,prawns, etc. $18.00!*!
It was buzzing and cost $32.00 for 3 1/2 courses.
Amazing.
Kzee
Glad you enjoyed your steak again Rita. I haven't been to Le Provencal so must get myself along soon.
Looking for somewhere to go with my parents for a light lunch on Tuesday we ended up at Fish 349. After a week of gorging in Melbourne something light was in order so I steered away from the fried side of the menu and tried something different.
I ordered Grilled Trevalla served on a parmesan risotto cake with caramilized peppers. Bloody beautiful!!!
The fish was gorgeous with a slight licorice flavour and the peppers set it off to perfection. Mum had Crab and Prawn Risotto which I got to taste and this was also fantstic. Never again will I pass this place off as just another fish and chip shop. After tasting my dish, Hubby, who as usual had a fishermans basket thingy, can't wait to go back and have something else off the menu.
It was really good restaurant quality food.
Hi Kzee - hope you don't mind but we added your Kawasemi comment to my website comments on Kawasemi. Sounds like I need to return there to try the new menu.
Christina - I haven't been to Fish. Am looking for a venue for dinner out next Tues with an old friend. Fish sounds like it could fit the bill.
Can't wait to hear your Melb adventures. We must organise the meal at the Italian in Moonah I mentioned last week (forgotten the name!) so I can hear all about it.
My experience with Le Provencal was quite the opposite. They really seem to have a "if we can be bothered we will" attitude. It took me 2 years to talk my husband into going back after we made a reservation on their answering system -left our name and phone number just in case they were not able to accommodate us. As we didn't get a reply we turned up at 6.30pm and were told they didn't open until 7pm. We asked if we could possibly come in and enjoy our BYO wine until 7pm - we were told no that was not possible - come back at 7pm. Of course, we took our business elsewhere.Two years later we returned - the food was fantastic, however, the service was nothing short of faulty towers, and the restaurant was lit up like a Christmas Tree. When we enquired if they expected the restaurant to be busy tonight the reply from the young girl was "we could have been busier but we couldn't be bothered tonight" I expect she must have been related to the owners as no-one else would get away with such an attitude. By the way - does anyone know why Gusto is closing down - are they relocating?
Hey Rita,
If you go to Fish 349 let me know what you have. It really was lovely. I've never really looked at the other menu before, much to my shame. Usually when we go there I'm really in the mood for battered flathead or such. I've been a bit careful ordering trevalla lately too after some pretty dodgy offerings, even though it's my favourite. I couldn't fault my meal here at all. I was just so surprised at how good it was. Thats how I found it on the day anyway, as a wise lady I know always says. Hope it's as good for you too if you get there.
Can't say I'm very taken with the decor though. Not very cosy or intimate, especially when it's busy.
Looking forward to trying Mojo's tomorrow night and you know I'll report back.
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