Deign to Dig a Pony

So The Devine Ms M and I visited a local haunt of tapas trove, Digapony in Yarraville yesterday for a late lunch.

Given the wide choice of plates on offer, we opted for the 8 course tasting menu, which judging by the noisy larger tables around us, was a popular choice.

We first had a smoked salmon cone, caramelised onion croquettes and a cute brown paper bag of cauliflower popcorn. The design and flavour of the “popcorn” was reminiscent of the now defunct Sharing House at Docklands. The small florets coated lightly and deep fried, slightly crisp on the outside but soft and cooked through in the middle.

The smoked salmon was delicate and was accompanied by a creamy but delicate sauce which lightened the dish and was refreshing, and the crispy, shattering cone added a good textural contrast. I did notice the cone left my fingers slightly greasy. And as Ms M pointed out the cone could’ve done with some lemon to add a zing and lift the dish a bit more.

The croquette was one of my favourites, the filling very soft and with a beautiful deep sweet richness of caramelised onion, almost like French onion soup in fried form. The batter also wasn’t too thick so that the crisp exterior yielded easily to reveal the gooey deliciousness within.

Next came the beetroot salad. Probably the worst dish of the lot. The homemade cheese curd did have some flavour but the beetroot had very little. It also wasn’t seasoned properly and the beetroot jelly left me with a lingering sweet taste on my palate, somewhat unpleasant for a savoury dish.

Oh, but the confit ocean trout. Absolutely beautiful. The soft mouth meltingly tender trout with lovely flavour, well seasoned and accomapnied by new season asparagus spears. Ms M’s fsvourite. It did come with an “almond gazpacho” which we were puzzled by as it tasted more like hummus and was neither soupy nor contained tomato or capsicum, far as we could tell.

The poached chicken and crispy legs came next. The poached breast was absolutely as tender and juicy a piece of chicken as I’ve ever had. I suspect sous vide. And the luscious garlic cream sauce just took it to a new level. But the legs were disappointingly dry, overly salty and not really crispy. The leeks were also tough on the outside with only sweet insides being visible once you pressed more firmly within.

And we’ve journeyed to dessert. The blood orange cake was dense, sweet and tasty, with my favourite accompaniment being the candied rind. The ice cream and jellies were also tasty, with the orange segments providing some refreshment. The churros on the other hand weren’t quite as pillowy soft as you would like and the chocolate sauce was a major disappointment. It tasted only faintly of cocoa and I suspected was nothing more than melted cheap milk chocolate, certainly none of the luscious decadence of a rich dark chocolate ganache.

So bit of a mixed bag from diapony. Some of the dishes were slow to be served and table often not cleared quickly enough. But my Pimms cup certainly was refreshing.

So bottoms up & keep living long & loving food!

Food.             3/5

Service          3/5

Decor.           4/5

Location.     4/5

TB overall percentage: 70% needs to work harder!

Quick brekkie stack

So I’ve decided to share some of my lazy recipes…mostly stumbled upon by accident and honed for maximum taste with minimum effort.

I thought I’d start with one that I stumbled on not a few months ago.

Having only recently moved out, I’m lucky enough now to live quite close to work. So I’ve been trying to eat properly in the mornings rather than my usual “eat in the car” approach or the even less sexy “bowl of muesli in front of computer screen at work” gig.

So my favourite atm is certainly the hash brown, smoked salmon and egg combo. You’ve probably seen a fancier version of this at the latest hyped up eatery. Mine is pretty simple

1) heat up a frozen hashbrown in a pan (or as I do not like cleaning up, on a focaccia machine. You’ll soon find that most of my best lay-z man work is done on the focaccia machine, so easy to clean and nothing ever sticks) Generally frozen hasbrowns are better than the deli ones which have been thawed and fall apart more easily.
– Heat hashbrown until nice and golden crispy on both sides (that tempting sizzling sound will let you know it’s done)

2) unwrap some store bought smoked salmon (Quick economy tip: if you’re trying to save a few, go for the deli salmon at your local Big 2 in preference to the pre-packaged type. These usually are bit pricier because of the packaging whereas the deli will buy in bulk. Just compare the dollars per kilo at the bottom of the price tags next time you’re in the shops

3) cook an egg- I generally either do them on the focaccia machine (less washing) or get a small pan really hot and crack a couple of eggs into it. No oil. I find any oil makes the egg too oily which when combined with the naturally oily salmon is too much. So just dry fry, which if you have the right pan/focaccia doowhacky, will be a breeze. Cook the egg until the whites are just set but the yolk is still runny.

Then just stack and enjoy. Best to put the smoked salmon on the hashbrown and then egg on top, otherwise if you put the salmon on top, it cools the egg too much.

If you can be bothered, some lightly sautéed spinach on the side doesn’t go astray either.

When you bite into it, the egg yolk should almost make for a nice gooey yellow sauce that drips over everything. The hash brown provides great opposing texture, crunchy outside and soft and steamy inside. The smoked salmon slightly salty and smoky flavour. So much taste pretty much no energy at all.

Of course, you could be fancy and make your own hashbrown, smoke your own salmon and rear your own chickens for that farm fresh egg…but seriously life’s too short and I’d rather sit back with my brekkie stack and enjoy a good ep of the Big Bang Theory.

Happy eating, and live long and love food! xx