Vamos

1st floor, 37 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne
Victoria
3000

Vamos is tucked away on the first floor of the top end of Bourke St, although it is reasonably well  signposted. We had a table overlooking the street, the fit out features plenty of wood and downlights in the fairly dark space.

We ordered a series of tapas dishes and the plates came out in ones and twos. The Patatas Bravas were first to arrive, a favourite of ours and these didn't disappoint.

We gave the scallop special a go and they were perfectly prepared.

The broccoli topped with walnuts and chilli wasn't a traditional eat with a tooth pick style tapas dish, but the caramelisation made it stand out.

The crisp skin and rich flavour of the salmon was well matched with a red pepper puree.

The stuffed eggplant was filled with huitlacoche (a Mexican truffle) and spinach then topped with salsa which was a winning combination.

The polenta chips finished things off nicely and left us well satisfied.

The service was good, with the plates arriving at a good pace. The bill came to $76.50 although we were on a dimmi deal giving 50% off food which is certainly worth grabbing if it comes up again!

Havana Bar, Wellington

32a-34 Wigan Street
Te Aro,
Wellington
6011

Eight of us descended on Havana Bar for dinner, arriving fairly early as they don't take bookings, after a drink outside on the deck area, we went inside to secure a table.

The dining area has a clear roof which provided plenty of light early in the evening, as you can see below that means as time went by the photo quality dropped.

There was a clear view into the kitchen from kitchen from our table, with the occaisional erruption of flames.

The menu consisted of a range of smallish dishes, and our waitress suggested we set a per head price and they would bring us a selection, which we agreed to. We had $40 per head meal.

The first dish was sautéed prawns in Kashmiri chilli and garlic which were good enough to mean some of us ate the shells.

The stuffed figs wrapped in pancetta tastes as good as they looked!

The lamb cutlets were gilled perfectly.

The aged beef fillet skewers with Café de Paris butter were so popular with a couple of the diners that thet ordered more for 'dessert'.

The pork belly was served with a fresh nectarine and coriander relish.

The multicoloured carrots with walnuts were beautifully prepared...

...as were the green beans, which were served with confit onions, toasted almonds and lemon butter.

The crushed gourmet potatoes were taken to another level with spring onion and honey.

I didn't find out which more conventional dessert was ordered, but they looked good.

The service was slick and friendly, and we had a great time sharing the various courses, without any arguments over who got what! For a large group it certainly was an enjoyable spot to dine.

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Spice Bazaar

79 Victoria Street
Seddon
Vic 3011

I'd walked past Spice Bazaar many times and sometimes seen classes in action, but hadn't got around to finding out more about it. A work related event provided the opportunity to find out more! Inside the kitchen area was modern and clean with two islands for prep and hobs and ovens against the back wall.At the front the tables were set...

We worked in groups of four filling up the two benches in the kitchen area. The first thing we worked on were the Spanish tortillas with an anchovy, capers and lemon zest filling.

Jill flipped the omelettes using a plate.

They were finished in the oven and formed part of the second course.

The entrée included Rhodes zucchini fritters with mint and wine marinated feta...

...Za'atar Spiced Lebanese Bread with a herbaceous, topping  imparting tangy and nutty flavours.

The final component of the first course were the home style nachos with classic toppings and served with a guacamole.

The main course featured a variety of salads including Piquillo with sweet smokey roasted capsicum fillets topped with  anchovy, red oinion, Spanish Sherry vinegar and extra virgin olive oil....

... a Spanish black olive, fennel and orange salad....

...and a Broccoli salad.

The centre piece of the mains were the veggie and chicken and chorizo paellas.

There were also Koftas.

To finish we prepared and ate pears poached in Moroccan spices, with citrus labne whip.

 I've let the photo's do the talking, as I'm not sure 'reviewing' food I'd help cook (when I didn't have the camera out) was really fair. The dishes were all flavoursome and the ingredients authentic and good quality. The business was originally focussed on spice production, but has now successfully been teaching for a couple of years. The hosts were enthusiastic and knowledgeable. It was different and enjoyable activity to participate in with colleagues and certainly and fun and educational way to spend an evening!

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