A few weeks ago, I was invited along to the launch of
YumTable. It's a new free iPhone app that offers last-minute restaurant deals and bookings via iPhone, and searches for nearby restaurants based on your location - no need for advance planning, pre-paying for coupons, or whipping out vouchers. For the launch of the app, we had a relaxed dinner at St. Jude's Cellars, and met the founders of YumTable Niv Novak and Craig Winkler.
(Craig was also the creator of MYOB - which I thought was super-cool because I once studied bookkeeping, hehe.)
St. Jude's Cellars
389-391 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy 3065
Ph: (03) 9419-7411
Website |
| Ever since my Barossa-trip, I love checking out wine selections! |
The launch was split up over 2 nights, and included a mix of bloggers and other media.
Joyce and
Thanh attended a separate dinner the night before, (and had a different menu!), so head on over to their blogs to check out the food.
I hadn't been to St. Jude's in ages (2 and a half years ago, in fact), and the menu seems quite different from the
last time I visited. We enjoyed a set menu, served family style in the centre of the table.
 |
| Charcuterie and chef's selected appetisers |
I love a good charcuterie board, and this one had a lot of lovely and unusual different tastes. My favourite was the freshly cracked walnuts wrapped in double smoked bacon with apple - not something I would have thought to try before, but they were delicious!
 |
| Salad of butternut pumpkin with Urban Honey labna, lemon, pickled chilli and red lentils |
The labna in this dish was smeared across the plate, under the pumpkin. Totally a "Sarah" dish - I'll have to try recreating this at home!
 |
| Chopped salad with capers, radishes and celery |
 |
| Brandade with aioli, boiled egg, steamed leeks and olive tapanade croutons |
Mmm... just look at those perfectly boiled eggs! I actually think this dish would make a good breakfast or brunch dish, if you can handle strong flavours in the morning.
 |
| Hazeldine chicken with a tuscan cabbage mash, bitter salad and roasted figs |
The chicken was fabulous, very tender and moist, sitting atop a very creamy, buttery mash. I like to think that the addition of Tuscan cabbage made it healthier. *Ahem*.
 |
| Smoky eggplant |
I enjoyed the eggplant, but it was incredibly, incredibly smoky, so perhaps a bit confronting if you weren't expecting the smoky hit.
 |
| Prime Plains Paddock Lamb with tomato, white wine, Meredith Ash Chevre and zucchini |
The lamb dish was my favourite of the night - I loved the chunky slices of rare lamb and the intensely flavoured jus!
 |
| Nashi pear, quinoa, green chilli and hazelnuts |
The quinoa salad was, again, a "must try at home" dish. I don't eat a lot of salads, but I do love the chunky meal-in-a-bowl type!
We also got to have a play with the app that night. Despite being quite new, there were quite a few good restaurants who'd already signed up to the app: St Jude's Cellars (duh) and Flower Drum are both on board! Having looked at the app over the subsequent few weeks, there always seems to be a good range of specials from a variety of restaurants: things like "25% off the total bill", discount cocktails, complimentary glass of wine and so on. The restaurants themselves seem to be mainly casual dining (
Groove Train, Richmond's
Public House,
Ghurkas Prahran), as well as some cafes and bars.
 |
| Yeah! I haz iPad2! |
We finished off the night with a lovely plum and frangipane tart, served with a vanilla-flecked custard.
 |
| Ruby Plum Frangipane tart |
Many thanks to Craig, Niv and the team from Spark Communications for a delicious, fun and informative evening!
A few weeks ago, I was invited along to the launch of
YumTable. It's a new free iPhone app that offers last-minute restaurant deals and bookings via iPhone, and searches for nearby restaurants based on your location - no need for advance planning, pre-paying for coupons, or whipping out vouchers. For the launch of the app, we had a relaxed dinner at St. Jude's Cellars, and met the founders of YumTable Niv Novak and Craig Winkler.
(Craig was also the creator of MYOB - which I thought was super-cool because I once studied bookkeeping, hehe.)
St. Jude's Cellars
389-391 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy 3065
Ph: (03) 9419-7411
Website |
| Ever since my Barossa-trip, I love checking out wine selections! |
The launch was split up over 2 nights, and included a mix of bloggers and other media.
Joyce and
Thanh attended a separate dinner the night before, (and had a different menu!), so head on over to their blogs to check out the food.
I hadn't been to St. Jude's in ages (2 and a half years ago, in fact), and the menu seems quite different from the
last time I visited. We enjoyed a set menu, served family style in the centre of the table.
|
| Charcuterie and chef's selected appetisers |
I love a good charcuterie board, and this one had a lot of lovely and unusual different tastes. My favourite was the freshly cracked walnuts wrapped in double smoked bacon with apple - not something I would have thought to try before, but they were delicious!
|
| Salad of butternut pumpkin with Urban Honey labna, lemon, pickled chilli and red lentils |
The labna in this dish was smeared across the plate, under the pumpkin. Totally a "Sarah" dish - I'll have to try recreating this at home!
|
| Chopped salad with capers, radishes and celery |
|
| Brandade with aioli, boiled egg, steamed leeks and olive tapanade croutons |
Mmm... just look at those perfectly boiled eggs! I actually think this dish would make a good breakfast or brunch dish, if you can handle strong flavours in the morning.
|
| Hazeldine chicken with a tuscan cabbage mash, bitter salad and roasted figs |
The chicken was fabulous, very tender and moist, sitting atop a very creamy, buttery mash. I like to think that the addition of Tuscan cabbage made it healthier. *Ahem*.
|
| Smoky eggplant |
I enjoyed the eggplant, but it was incredibly, incredibly smoky, so perhaps a bit confronting if you weren't expecting the smoky hit.
|
| Prime Plains Paddock Lamb with tomato, white wine, Meredith Ash Chevre and zucchini |
The lamb dish was my favourite of the night - I loved the chunky slices of rare lamb and the intensely flavoured jus!
|
| Nashi pear, quinoa, green chilli and hazelnuts |
The quinoa salad was, again, a "must try at home" dish. I don't eat a lot of salads, but I do love the chunky meal-in-a-bowl type!
We also got to have a play with the app that night. Despite being quite new, there were quite a few good restaurants who'd already signed up to the app: St Jude's Cellars (duh) and Flower Drum are both on board! Having looked at the app over the subsequent few weeks, there always seems to be a good range of specials from a variety of restaurants: things like "25% off the total bill", discount cocktails, complimentary glass of wine and so on. The restaurants themselves seem to be mainly casual dining (
Groove Train, Richmond's
Public House,
Ghurkas Prahran), as well as some cafes and bars.
|
| Yeah! I haz iPad2! |
We finished off the night with a lovely plum and frangipane tart, served with a vanilla-flecked custard.
|
| Ruby Plum Frangipane tart |
Many thanks to Craig, Niv and the team from Spark Communications for a delicious, fun and informative evening!
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