Union food and wine

Union Food and Wine is in Ascot Vale right outside of a tram line. Here they have been featured in the Entertainment book in the fine dining section. You can buy this book off Meld Magazine for $65.

The place is open and inviting and here you can relax by the fire with a good book or paper. The staff are friendly and I loved the waitress with the glasses- she was attentive and friendly to all her staff. She also loved drinking wine.

The fireplace

The front counter

At first I didn't really want to go to it because it seemed so expensive, but it actually turned out to be quite alright as they used local produce. I had been wanting to try this ever since they opened and I kept on passing it on my tramline. Their chocolate is from a company in Collingwood and it was divine.

I had their soft chocolate with salted caramel ice cream and pear gel ($14). This did not disappoint and the salted caramel worked really well with the soft chocolate which was a tad bit sweet on its own. Sweet tooths will like this dish very much. The broken crumble gave it a crunch.

The chocolate wafer also gave it another crunch. It also gave that dish the sweetness kick to it.

After seeing a lady's hot drink and the cute cup it came in I decided to finish off with a hot chocolate. This was really lovely and it warmed my heart. It really didn't need that marshmellow.

Rating: 16/20- me likes the dessert. I can't wait to try their chips and I hope they will some dinner events soon.

The tippler and co (partially an invite)

The Tippler and Co has been open for two and a half years now and they have been going strong. This was a last minute invite so I went alone. They wanted to promote their new wine range from Bendigo so they invited me and lots of others to try their wines and nibbles However I paid for the gnocchi which was $20.

Here there were ten wines on offer and people sampled many of them. Many people wanted more so they went downs stairs to the bar to order some more. And people also got very drunk. But not I. I was very happy to just try the prosecco and two versions of shiraz and food and leave it at that.

Shiraz

I remembered that time at St Hotel where we were not offered food. I thought that it would be the same here but I was wrong.

Although they are a small place, there is lots of seating inside. And inside is warm, cozy and inviting by the bar. The bartender was really friendly, not like St Hotel where they were a little bit overwhelmed at the party.

The prosecco was light and sweet and it worked well with the aged cheese and the oyster. I came late so all the cheese was gone. Almost all the wine had gone as there was just so many people. But I didn't mind as I wanted to try the gnocchi with the shiraz. And it was amazing.

The gnocchi was a little bit overcooked but I enjoyed the balsamic and pumpkin in there. Although it looked small it was moreish.

Moreover I enjoyed the croquette which worked well with the shiraz. The two puffs (one was meat and the other veg) would have worked well with a white wine or a beer.

Rating: 18/20- loved the gnocchi, wine and the free food.

It was a pity that dessert was not offered but I was too full anyway. And anyway I have to try and avoid sugary things if I can.