I have always enjoyed cooking and a few years ago I was given Luke Nguyen's book Songs of Sapa for Christmas. This was the start of an amazing food journey into asian cuisine that has turned into an obsession! I don't think the journey would have been so satisfying if I wasn't living in Melbourne. Once I started looking, I found a seemingly endless supply of inspiration. Initially I had been mostly confined to buying my ingredients at the Victoria Market which is definitely a wonderland of beautiful produce, however this soon progressed to other corners of Melbourne, like Footscray, Richmond and Springvale. One of the reasons for starting this blog was to share as many of my exciting discoveries as possible.
I am an unashamed fan of Melbourne. Yes it gets cold in winter but coming from Queensland I have to say that I prefer life with seasons than life without. Besides, the incredible stream of fantastic asian restaurants is worth a bit of cold weather in winter. Of course, no cooking obsession is complete without an eating obsession. I have had so many amazing and very authentic asian meals at Melbourne restaurants over the years, and many of them so so cheap that I am excited about returning to as many of them as possible so I can share the enjoyment that I get from eating such wonderful food, combined with my appreciation just how special a place I live in that such a fantastic variety of different cuisines are on offer.
Another obsession of mine is Pinot Noir. I particularly love Victorian Pinot Noir. You may have noticed that I am a bit patriotic about Melbourne and Victoria. When it comes to Pinot I especially like the funky variety, preferably something lighter to medium bodied. If I have to name a region I will go for Gippsland at the moment. I do love the Macedon Pinot too but Gippsland seems to have a special earthy funk that I haven't found anywhere else. This is not to say that I don't mind a bit of French Burgundy as well! It also helps that Pinot drinks so well with Asian food, particularly Vietnamese and Thai. So of course there will also be some sharing of my favourite Pinots. I don't have the greatest set of wine descriptors but I'll do my best.
I hope you enjoy our Melbourne food and wine adventures and if you feel like commenting I'd love to hear from you.
Andy
