Pinbone degustation

From the first time I read about Pinbone, I wanted to go there to eat the breakfast corn with fregola dish. Then a few months ago I somehow got the idea that it should be a celebration dinner after exams finish – and what a great instinct it was. The chef’s selection (small for $65, large for $85) is a fantastic way to try a range of dishes, and I relished the opportunity to try a “small” vegetarian selection (which turned out to be a lot of food).

  Snacks

The mushroom popper was the vegetarian alternative to the chicken popper. It looked so simple – a butter lettuce leaf, some shredded carrot, a fried mushroom, a bit of sauce – but the flavours just explode in the mouth. The miso & corn grugere was like a savoury profiterole with an interesting interplay of the most unlikely flavours. Smoky, cheesy thing was absolutely the perfect snack, a little jacket potato filled with heavenly smoky cheese.

Avocado with olive tapenade

This was a simple dish, a row of avocado slices topped with a green olive tapenade and some sort of herby leaf I didn’t recognise. The whole thing tasted light green.

Roasted carrots with macadamia puree

These impossibly cute tiny carrots were well caramelised and perfectly sweet. It was well paired with a rich earthy macadamia puree, which was so good we licked the rest off the plate.

 Asparagus, toasted sesame

The asparagus was char grilled with a strong smoky flavour, then rolled in a mix of black & white sesame seeds, again an interesting combination. 

 Tofu with heirloom tomato salad  

This felt inspired by agedashi tofu with a light crispy batter and a soft, almost gelatinous interior. The baby heirloom tomatoes were intense bursts of tomato flavours, leading one to ask – where do you source such amazing tomatoes!!

 Mushroom, kale, red cabbage, sichuan pepper

The flavours and textural contrasts in this dish were quite intense – a mix of wild mushrooms, shredded red cabbage and torn up bitter kale. If anything, it was over seasoned and less soy sauce would have allowed the mushrooms to sing more. 

 Raw zucchini, lemon, pecorino

I’m not a huge fan of raw things, but this was just awesome. Such a simple dish with grated zucchini perfectly seasoned and balanced with a hint of lemon, resting under a blanket of fine pecorino. I could have eaten a whole plate of this.

 Roasted eggplant, caramelised yoghurt, leeks

This was probably my favourite dish of the night. The eggplant was deeply roasted, velvety smooth and full of smoky flavour. The accompaniments of braised baby leeks and thick caramelised yoghurt with an almost pungent flavour were simply perfect. 

 Pumpkin, pepitas, silverbeet

Again a very simple but well executed dish. The toasted pepitas lifted this dish to another level. 

 Pasta special with taleggio, cavolo nero and edamame

I was told a few times (but still forgot) what this actual pasta was called – it is like gnocchi but made from whole wheat flour and has a much firmer texture. It is also pressed from a wooden board to create the ridges. It arrived at our table slightly stuck together – the cheese had melted and held everything together in one clump. A little mix though and this dish really sang with the hearty pasta, strong (stinky) flavours from the cheese and the sweetness of edamame. Who would have thought edamame would be a tasty addition to pasta?

Blueberry granita, white pepper parfait & pinenut brittle

We were groaning by this stage but dessert beckoned. This was a huge plate that looked somewhat like a mess when it was set at our table, but we quickly fell in love. The three elements of this dish are quite intriguing – the blueberry granita was so clean tasting that at times it resembled ice (except much softer), yet it balanced perfectly the rich creaminess of the parfait, and the pinenut brittle gave bursts of crunch and sweetness. Altogether the flavours dance in the mouth, and though we were totally stuffed, we managed to finish this entire plate.

Overall Pinbone was a lovely experience. The atmosphere is fine dining but relaxed enough for a weekday dinner, and the staff were quite friendly and helpful. The food is well designed, well prepared and had interesting variety for a vegetarian. The degustation is amazing value and I am surprised it is not more popular! 

Dreams: a train ride to a parallel world, and a strange breakfast

A train ride to a parallel world

This dream starts with an awareness that I am going to catch a train.

I see that my companion for the journey is T, one of the SRMOs that I worked with previously. We are walking along a road lined by old tall houses that look like the Dutch houses lining the canals of Amsterdam. The time is early evening, and the light is gentle but steadily fading.

We come to an unmarked entrance to a train station and look at the noticeboards but it's not clear which platform our train is on. We already have tickets in our pockets, so we ride on the first escalator down, which then leads to another and another and another. It seems like the escalators are never ending, and the train station must be at the centre of the earth. As we descend the air feels increasingly stale, and the atmosphere becomes somewhat claustrophobic.

Finally we come to the bottom of the escalators and emerge onto a platform. There are dozens of platforms stretching as far as we can see, but we cannot see any sign showing which platform we are actually standing on. 

All around us are crowds of people, carrying all sorts of luggage from fancy suitcases to big rice sacks. T and I discuss where to go for a while, and we decide that we must need to catch a train to the correct platform. At that moment an ancient looking train pulls up - it has only two carriages so we assume that must be the inter-platform train.

Inside the carriage it is almost completely dark. The overwhelming smell of humans, animals and excrement hits us like a wave. So many people are packed into the carriage that I lose T immediately, and I scramble amongst the people trying to find her, but it is so dark I cannot make out any faces. I think suddenly that we must be on a third class carriage in India, and so we must be going somewhere in India?

The train stops at several places but the mass of humanity prevents me from seeing what platform it is. I get the ticket out of my pocket and struggle to read it in the dark. The price is "134,00R" and the platform on it is 17, but still there's no way for me to tell where that might be.

I stumble off the train at a random stop and stand, blinking in a completely different type of light. T is not here, and the platform is almost completely deserted. I walk up and down the platform looking for her, but I see only a few solo travellers and a family with several small children. I realise that perhaps the train has gone and T has already gone on the train thinking I might be on it. I sit down on a bench and contemplate what to do next.

Suddenly, Elsie comes up to me and says what are you doing here? I am elated to see her and ask what she is doing here. She grabs my hand and says - let's take a photo together, so we can remember we were here! I tell her that I am looking for my friend and ask her if she has seen anyone that looks like her. She ignores me and asks an old lady nearby to take a photo of us.

We are standing under a dull lamppost, emitting a weak pool of orange light. The photo is snapped and we thank the old lady. Elsie looks at the photo and exclaims look!

In the photo Elsie and I are standing amidst a lush green field, which stretches as far as we can see. I struggle to put together the reality of the train station and the photograph of the beautiful field.

Then the alarm wakes me, and the dream is no more.


A strange breakfast
This dream starts in my living room. The time is early morning, perhaps around 7am. A few friends are lazing around on the couches and another few are seated at the round glass dining table. As far as I can see, it is really my living room from real life.

I have forgotten the topic of discussion at the beginning, but we soon start talking about breakfast. I open the fridge and there are random bits of food stuffed inside. I take out a box of leftover noodles, then some cold rice and pickles, then bread. People rise from their random places of lounging and take food to eat. I open the weet-bix and take the muesli out of the cupboard. The halwa and honey are liberally spread on toast.

I look over at my friends and everyone is nibbling on something except for CC. She sits on the chair closest to the fridge, legs crossed, a vacant expression on her face.

What would you like to eat? I ask her.
I don't know, she replies.

I open the fridge again and inside there is almost nothing left. There is an onion in the vegetable crisper, an assortment of sauces, and a single ruby grapefruit on the top shelf. I take out the grapefruit and inspect it - it is an excellent specimen with an exuberant skin and a deep fragrant smell. I hand it to her and she hands it back without saying anything.

I start to peel the grapefruit and cut it into segments on a plate. Then suddenly she says - don't you know? I have an eating disorder where I cannot take big bites of anything.

I look down at the segments and think for a moment whether she is saying they are too large to eat. 

She says, more emphatically, C has the same eating disorder, you know, what do you think she is going to eat now?

Then I wake up.