Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2009, Part IV: Fifteen Melbourne

One reason why I woke up this morning was plain and simple—I have reservations today at Fifteen Melbourne. Yes! At 11:30am, I’m not hungry at all. The french toast I ate was still sitting in my stomach but, of course, I won’t miss this reservation for the world. I know that there are still a lot of fine dining restaurants out there waiting for me to try (and write about, hehe), so what’s so exciting about Fifteen Melbourne. While I was in Manila, I always watch out for the cooking shows on the Discovery Travel and Living channel. One of the usual ones that I watch are the shows from Jamie Oliver. Jamie Oliver is a British chef who opened his first Fifteen in London. He is popularly known as the Naked Chef, whizzing and cooking up meals for the British household. His most recent pursuit is the Ministry of Food, where he teaches people to cook simple food and encourage them to “pass it on”. Well, that’s partly the reason why I want to try his food. I believe that going there and actually trying out his dishes will “entitle” me to relate my experience to my little cousins. Yes, they watch cooking shows with me. Whenever I watch cooking shows, one of my cousins will ask me, “Is this person a chef?” At a young age, she would already know the importance of a person teaching people to cook on TV, should actually have some kind of education. And at age 6-7, they already know who Jamie Oliver is. They also know what Fifteen is. Yes, it is his restaurant. And I get to try it while I’m here in Melbourne.

At 11:30am, I was actually expecting to be alone. But to my surprise, there were already a party of 8-10 sitting there. I realized that my seat was the perfect spot. I got the full view of the open kitchen. Yes, jackpot. Watching the chefs cook was actually like watching TV. I can hear the chef shouting out the orders to the stations—slicing, sizzling, “chef”-ing away. After placing my order, I let my eyes wander. Aside from the fact that the restaurant is on the basement, it is practically divided into 4 parts – the bar (to my right), a white dining area, a black dining area (to my left), and the open kitchen. My seat was at the white dining area, with mocha-colored wooden chairs, small plants living inside crystal balls, and big tomato tins as pots for small plants. I wasn’t able to walk to the black dining area, this, after all, is not a museum. The bar is colourful and lined with wine bottles and some of their merchandise. It also has a long (I’m guessing, metal) table and square, plastic stools. Now, on to the food…

Entrée – Fifteen’s fantastic salad with mandarin oranges, prosciutto and gremolata

OK. Where to start? Hmm…I tried the prosciutto with gremolata first, salty and smoky. I’m not a prosciutto fan and I’m used to prosciutto with avocado or melon. But mandarin oranges? Yes, for me, it’s a hit. I took a bit of a prosciutto, a juicy, sweet mandarin orange triangle, and a piece of rocket leaf. Who’s complaining? Note that the mandarin orange has to be sweet, though. I wouldn’t want to eat something sour with prosciutto. The salad was simple—olive oil and pepper. That’s it. It was well coated and crisp. No wonder they were put along side each other, I reckon you are supposed to eat them that way. This dish can be easily replicated at home. Except that you have to buy the gremolata, maybe. Or substitute it for Thai-inspired chutney.

Main – Hand-pulled Tagliarini with Beef Ragout

Shredded beef ragout in tomato sauce with fresh tagliarini. Now, I’m not familiar with tagliarini, at all. It’s pasta but what kind? Was it supposed to be round or flat? Long or short? With semolina or white flour? It was everything in between but the texture of the pasta was good. Not soggy, not mouldy, not too salty. For fresh pasta, it got character and just that right bite. Jamie Oliver went to Italy to learn how to make good, fresh pasta and taught his students well. It did not disappoint. The beef ragout, however, was a different story. There was ginger, then ginger…I don’t know why I kept tasting ginger in the ragout, I hoped that it wasn’t that overpowering. Yes, there were green leaves, but what is it, actually? I can’t tell. All I tasted was ginger. I even ignored the tomato base at one point. I was looking for a more traditional touch to the ragout. But then, it was a matter of personal taste. Another thing that I want to point out is, ok, this may seem odd, but the pasta was not on the center of the plate. I can see one side of the plate swimming with olive oil and parmesan. Maybe the chef was left-handed?

Dessert – Lemon curd tart with vanilla crème fraiche

It felt like biting into a lemon but texture was creamy and smooth. It was good with the crème fraiche, though. I wish they put more on to the plate. Crust was a touch dry, more butter, perhaps? I’ve never had lemon pie or tart before, so having it for the first time in Fifteen sets the bar pretty high for my next one.

One more thing before I end my review. Lately, I’m not sure why, I always had “these” experiences with servers. After my main, my (female) server asked me how was the food. It went something like this:

Server: “How was the food? Did you enjoy it?”

Me: “Yes, it was delicious.”

Server: “Excellent.”

Me: “May I ask what was on top of the prosciutto?” (The correct answer was gremolata)

Server: “Sorry, today is my first day. You can ask your server.”

Me: “Uh, ok.” (but aren’t you my server?)

Fine dining restaurant, not so well-oriented server. Even if you’re new, you should have pulled it off. Also confused maybe on what a server means?