El Rincon

El Rincon is a Spnaish place in Queen Victoria Market. It has been opened for a few months now and already they are starting to see customers in the late afternoon. Here most people love a drink and free tapas.

I had heard good things from Gastrology bloggers about them and so wanted to give them a go. And give them a go I did. The manager and the wait staff seemed very friendly to their customers so I recommend my readers give them a go. And they seemed to know Spanish cuisine.

Here I had their egg omelette with chorizo, mushrooms and olive bread. There was salami in this and they must have run out of chorizo. But at least the eggs were good and the olive bread was just divine. It was moist and not too hard to cut.

The mushrooms were good and they had a little dash of extra virgin olive oil in them. I love Olive oil as it is good for your health

And unlike what some other bloggers say about the food sizes, this was a huge plate for $15.

Rating: 15/20- I really don't know what Penguin eats and other bloggers were on about. I wish that I was invited to try their dinner service with wine.

I would have liked to have tried the Spanish sweets but seeing as I am doing Febfast I cannot have any sweets.

Snippet: Simply Spanish as part of restaurant week

Dimmi was doing restaurant week for two weeks and they have lots of specials going such as 50% off the total bill. Restaurant week is on every year and here the restaurants offer loads of specials during the week for people to try.

When I saw that Simply Spanish in the city had a special, I was keen to give it a go.

Here I ordered paella on a Wednesday night of roasted mushroom and truffle oil for $22. They do have a $25 paella special on Wednesday night and Thursday night they do tacos.

The truffle oil is greatly infused into the Paella and the paella takes a while to be made- about 20-30 mins to be exact and this time there is sorcrat in there. The mushrooms were good too.

This is a great paella for vegetarians. Do come to Simply Spanish's paella night.

The Black Bull and why it is the best in the west

The Black Bull has won many awards including the best restaurant by Dimmi. Why? Because it is simply the best in terms of good, hearty and simple food. Last year they won the best dessert in the Dessert Wars competition as part of the Tastes festival

RNIS went to this place during the Tastes of Central Geelong and we enjoyed a lovely three course meal for $22. Normally a three course meal is about $50-$70 or more in the city. We were invited by Dimmi for a second visit and did not have to pay.

This blog post is combined into two visits to make things easier for Zomato.

Like Simply Spanish they charge for bread. Unlike Simply Spanish they don't do paella for lunch, rather for dinner. During the second visit we tried their paella and found that there were some shells down the bottom. Also it was a little bit bland

We enjoyed the cheese fritters. These are very cheesy so if you are not fond of (or can't have cheese) then this is not the type of dish for you.

We also enjoyed their eggplant fritters ($8) which was nicely fried and the batter was not too thick. I didn't like the fact that they put all the sauce on top and not on a side plate where people can dip their chips into.

Their bread was fresh and the feta cheese and olives were amazing ($8) But I struggled to finish the olives and the feta. This is better shared between two people.

Now as Geelong is a seafood place we decided to have mussels for our main. It came in a tiny bowl and they were tiny by the way. The mussels were cooked but cold when they came to table. But the chowder was really nice.

Save the best til last! Their churros and chocolate was decadent and lovely. This is why they won the best dessert last year. Lets hope they can win again.

Rating: 13/20- good meal let down by the cold mussels and paella. I'd probably only be back for the tapas and maybe a cheeky glass of vinp

Simply Spanish QVM

As part of Bupa's best blog competition for 2015

Simply Spanish is in the market and as part of the brief (Bupa's best blog competition), RNIS was keen on trying this place. It had been open since last July and its the third one in the series.

It was a busy Tuesday lunchtime with the market goers. Luckily we booked a spot on Dimmi.

The female manager was lovely.

They have the $10 pan paella and I was keen on trying it. That and the the bread. The bread was $2 but it was the best bread ever. It was warm and moist and I liked it without the butter. In fact I loved the virgin Olive oil with the paprika hit to it. It was a subtle hint which was good for those that hate spices.

The paella was ok, but lukewarm. It was huge and flavoursome and they used the right rice. It was also very filling. There was only two big mussels. I would have loved more. They were fresh and so was the calamari. But the sorcrat was there today.

The other diners dishes looked yummy and I wanted try but I had a very small appetite,

Rating: 14/20- lukewarm paella. I would happily try their tapas and maybe their masterclass.

They too should invite some other bloggers like Ming from Sweet and Sour and Gastrology.

Johnston st Fiesta

As part of Bupa's best blog competition for 2015.

This was a two day fiesta starting at 12pm and going until 9pm. It was to celebrate Spanish culture in Melbourne and hence all the Spanish students went to this. There were also some Asians and Australians as well.

There was limited parking in the surrounding streets and Brunswick street. Hence many people took the tram there. Both tram number 96 and 112 serviced the area.

Cannoli

Crème Brulee

Spanish BBQ

Some sort of Spanih drink that is not Sangaria

Apricots

Chocolate dipped strawberries

A jewellery stall

Pratas Bhravas (some sort of Spanish potato dish)

 

There was heaps and heaps of food there making me hungry. But I just had lunch so I was happy just to participate in the dancing. I was trying to do lots and lots of exercise and enjoying myself. At one end we learnt Cuban and the Salsa. It was so easy.


At the other end it was a concert featuring Bollywood and other types of dancing.

You don't need food and drink to enjoy yourself at the Festival. I was just happy dancing and seeing/patting lots of dogs.

Dancing and a good taste in music is all you need to enjoy yourself at this festival. And a good sense of rythym to dance the night away.

Simply Spanish

RNIS was invited by the owner Ilyas to attend the media launch and lunch.


There is a new Simply Spanish in the city at 555 Bourke st. This is near Southern Cross station.
Simply Spanish is a well known South Melbourne Market institution and now they have opened a second store in the city. This is great for the uni students and office workers alike. Here they have $14.50 paellas.

Chilli oil to which you can add to the paella

The chickpeas that they use

Bread and oils

They are open on Thursday and Friday nights for dinner and weekdays for lunch.

The bathrooms are outside and downstairs. They share with Pok Pok, Famished and another coffee place.

The staff are very attentive and are always happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Simply Spanish has been opened for a few months now. They are known for their paellas. A paella is a Spanish rice dish cooked outside in a big pot. For this they use the special Spanish paella rice.

Skewers

Other tapas

At the launch I tried jamon which a Spanish cured ham. That on a tiny piece of bread with fresh tomato sauce known as a pintos. It was salty and flavoursome.

Tomato sauce

Meat station

Oils and chilli

 I also tried some weird known mushroom dish.

There were potato tortillas for the vegetarians. The tortillas are made out of potato and egg and are usually served as a huge wedge. I had this at the lunch as well as the dinner.

Above is the goat cheese ball which I had at lunch

Empandas are snack sized pastries filled with savouries such as meat or veg. But this one was just meat and no veg.

And then I was invited to a Friday lunch at the same place.

The service was friendly and very attentive. The place wasn't busy when I came at 11:30am, but come 12:30pm it was really busy.

Entree: I had the same potato tortilla ($8.50 for a serve) and a little goats cheese ball ($4). I loved the sweetness of the caramelized onion at the bottom and it was nicely fried. 

The paella was nice, but the calamari was chewy and rubbery. It had been overcooked. The rice was a bit crunchy which is great for a paella.

Cooking paella on launch night

I loved the mussels in this though. They were easy to eat.

I also had the bread which was freshly baked and just juice.

Juice ($3.50 for a bottle)

Bread (normally $2.50 extra)

But on my way out I sampled some churros and they were yummy. I have to come back for dessert and the $10 churros. I was too full to try these.

Do come and visit for some fresh Spanish food in the city. Thank you Ilyas for inviting me.