So today Kamy and I made our way to Fifteen melbourne to sample what is known to the rest of the world as Jamie Oliver’s cutting edge cuisine. Like i have mentioned in my last post, i wasn’t expecting much. At least i tried not to. From looking at his recipes and his cook shows on the telly i often question myself:- Is it possible for food that simple to be that good? He must just be overrated lah! Well i was about to find out.
Kamy’s exact directions on the phone this morning were:- “Ti, its the lane just a little bit after Hermes.” Like most popular restaurants here in Melbourne, Fifteen is tucked away in one of the swanky-slightly-snobbish lanes of Collins Street. Upon reaching the establishment, i saw Tobie Puttock (‘the hot young chef’) and a few other familiar faces working in the kitchen. I say familiar because i’ve been following the Fifteen series for a while now. But i played “too cool for school” and walked to our tables pretending i hadn’t seen anything hahaha. There wasn’t anything new about the decor. The velvet coloured walls straight away reminded us of Twelve in Kiulap and i was half expecting a filipino waitress to serve us with overfried and overpriced calamari rings that tastes like ONION rings.My thoughts were distrupted by a lady who handed us the lunch menu. I scanned through the menu and realised that we weren’t exactly spoilt for choice. There were a few selections of salads probably about 3 kinds of pastas and 5 kinds of Mains. Mains costs a little bit under $40, pastas and entrees were a little bit under $20 -Usually the case with restaurants that bares the same concept. Kamy settled for the Stracci. And me not trusting their pastas for their simple ingredients, i went for the plate of flounder with grilled asparagus and zuchinni. There was a long wait for the food and while waiting,we were served with the usual variety of breads on wooden boards .Nothing special ofcourse, unless its your first encounter with a SASABAN.Had the waitress not be as friendly and if Tobie hadn’t been around for me to check him out i would’ve been out the door in two seconds.
*a half arsed photo of fifteen.
Our food came half an hour later. When you’re hungry half an hour feels like a lifetime. I picked up my fork and had a mouthful of flounder and my tastebuds were flyinggg everyyyywhereee. I tried Kamy’s Stracci and it was fabulous!! Rich in flavour. Proving me the otherwise. My flounder was okay but i wanted what KAMY was having. Every mouthful that we had came with long satisfying MmMmmMMms loud enough to make the people next to us turn around and stare. But i couldn’t care less. I was in a trance. The food was gone in a matter of minutes and with food this good it worked up my enthusiasm for dessert.
We had a few options for dessert. I chose the Panacotta and Kamy went for their Dark Chocolate tart of some sort. The place was clearing up as it was almost 3pm so the desserts came almost right away. The flounder and the Stacci left me with high hopes and that was crushed when i did not know what to make out of my Panacotta. The portion was small and it felt as if i was eating funsize Twix. The panacotta got my tastebuds confused. My tastebuds were still partying from the fish and i felt forced to say that the pancotta was nice when in reality, to me it tasted BIASA SAJA. The texture of the Panacotta was fine but i thought the vanilla beans tasted a little bit too strong almost alcohol like. Kamy’s chocolate on the other hand was to me, OKAY too. Not exactly orgasmic..but OKAY nothing beats the white chocolate custard from Chocolate Buddha. (Whoever invented this word OKAY is a genius. lol. )
All in all, my Fifteen Melbourne experience was alright. Truthfully, the Pancotta said it all:- I liked it. and I didn’t. Bits of it were okay the rest could do with a little bit of improvement. I think they could be slightly more generous with their portions and they should just leave the patrons with the wooden board of bread instead of just going around with it (come on lah! live a little!). However,today’s culinary expeirence have taught me that food with simple ingredients could also be as delicious – even if its only pasta huhu and Jamie Oliver is not overrated.
You have got to be prepared to spend at least $50 on lunch. $10 extra for sparkling mineral water. lol. But its well worth it. I’m giving the FISH a 6/10 , Kamy’s Stacci an 8/10 .. and 5/10 for the dessert and a 10 out of 10 for Tobie’s curls. huhuhu. Oh After paying the bill the waitress did offered to find Tobie for me so that i could take a picture with him but he wasn’t around. cheh. Next time Tobie..i well get you next time. *evil laugh*
Oh. I didn’t take pictures of the place cause we were too malu. We were playing “too cool for school?” remember? hahaha. Thanks Kamy. Next time again!!!!
kiss me.
PS: FERRERO ROCHER SALE AT BIG W. GO NOW!! $6 a BOX!!
