Showing posts with label cheese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cheese. Show all posts

Thursday, October 31, 2024

[Travel Tasmania] Bruny Island - Half Day Exploration in Sniffing Out the Elusive local Whisky, Slurping Up Fresh Oysters, Enjoying Cheeses with Craft Beer and Honeylicious Treat

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We set off leisurely close to 9am to catch the ferry to Bruny Island. Lucky us as the wait for the ferry was relatively short. Hmm, there's a washroom near the smallish cafe at the ferry wait area but be quick as not to miss the queue! Hence got the e-ticket earlier and one just drives up to the queue. Need to show the e-ticket at the gantry. The ferry to Bruny Island was smaller than the one to Queenscliff.

Shermaine looking on with curiosity

peace at sea

Frankly speaking, I didn't do any research on Bruny Island on the places to visit except to view Chonnyday YT video on what they did there. Hehe.

So I went with the flow and first stop once we reached there, was Bruny Island House of Whisky. Can't imagine we start drinking this early in the morning, but here we were. At 10am. Haha.


Bruny Island House of Whisky


let's visit!


cosy classy environment

drinks of choice

feel free to look around

wine is available too

which tasting menu to choose?

We wandered freely on-premise and staff was friendly but not intrusive. Ask your questions and he will share with you freely. As we were the only visitors that early in the morning, he greeted us with a smile and offered us adequate time to decide on what we would like to do at the shop.

Eventually, we decided on the AUD55 tasting set for 3 selected whisky.

3 selection - White Label Sherry, Spellbound Wauss Harbour Bourbon Cask, Overeem Bourbon


Staff was more than happy to share his knowledge if you're interested. Being a whisky noob, I asked him if there's any particular sequence in enjoying the whisky flight. He shared his thoughts and seemed like it is pretty much up to individual preferences.

I learnt alot from the staff that day. He shared snippets on the 4 of the oldest distilleries in Tasmania, the whisky that they produced. He even voluntarily brought out bottles stored high up on the shelves for me to take a look.  

Well known distilleries in Tasmania includes Hellyer's Road, Lark, Sullivan's Cove, Overeem, Old Kempton. 

March 2021 release edition - sold out

raw, unfinished product before becoming whisky

there's some interesting stories here



Loved the time spent at this first spot and hearing all the stories from the staff there. Very interesting and educational. Thank you! 

We left for the next destination once the next group of visitors arrived.



Bruny Island House of Whisky

Address: 360 Lennon Rd, North Bruny TAS 7150, Australia

Websitehttp://www.tasmanianhouseofwhisky.com.au/

Business Hours:

Daily 10 am–5 pm








Get Shucked



It wasn't a good idea to drink on fairly empty tummies, so off we went to the next spot to fill up our tummies. It was pretty nearby so we reached within minutes.

strolling in


the question was not on which to get, but how many



Yes, one of the must do at Bruny Island? Eating oysters. The place was comfortably spacious as it was less busy that day. We went up to the counter, placed our orders and brought back drinks or prepacked stuffs to our table while staff prepped the oysters.

We only got a dozen natural, and half a dozen Kilpatrick. Am going to enjoy mine with a glass of Chardonnay. 

Natural Oysters (12) @AUD29


Devil's Corner Chardonnay @AUD10


The fresh oysters were plump, not too briny and tasted good. Plus, I was hungry. 

closer view



The Kilpatrick version needed quite some time before it arrives. An additional 15-20 minutes if not wrong. There's a sign to inform visitors on their menu pertaining to the longer time required for cooked food. So not an issue. Meanwhile, we placed additional order for fries to try try.

view from our table

Oyster Kilpatrick @AUD19


Oyster Kilpatrick has bacon and worchestershire sauce. Served piping hot, so be careful! While it was tasty, the oysters had shriveled up from the baking. Give me more of the natural ones! No, we didn't get more as we will be visiting the cheese and breadshop after strolling around.


have a  bite


Tracy went all ninja and bought a tub of chili lime salmon pate. Foie gras pate, liver pate, pork pate and for the first time, having salmon pate.



scoop it and try it


What were we going to eat the salmon pate with? Aint got no bread with us. Then, aha! Just use the fries to scoop it up. It was good. Super good!

The chips were in the form of shoestring fries style and tasted good on its own. Salted of course and served hot. It was an elevated experience to have the chips with salmon pate. Yummy!

Chips @AUD8



Get Shucked


Address: Lease 204, 1735 Bruny Island Main Road, Great Bay, North Bruny TAS 7150, Australia
Business Hours:

Daily: 9:30 am–4:30 pm








Bruny Island Cheese Company


Ok, it was now closer to lunch time. Wait, what... after all the whisky, oysters and it was only noon? Keke, we're fast!

car parked and in the mood for some cheese, beer and bread


The place has dining tables on-premise and visitors could see which table or section they would like to be seated, go inside the cheese shop to place order and there's a bar counter to order up some beer or ginger ale. Adjacent to this area, was the cottage/area where they make the cheeses.






One could get small taste of the cheeses first, order ala-carte or order to dine-in, or do all of the above!

Beer Paddle (bottom to top) - Farm Ale, Cloudy Bay Pale Ale, Oxymoron, Whey Stout


The Farm Ale, Cloudy Bay Pale Ale were both refreshing and thirst quenching. Oxymoron was interesting but after some months had passed, I can't really remember how it tasted. But somehow I ended up with the entire glass of whey stout since Ivan preferred the more refreshing ones. Strong flavours yet with hint of sweetness.

cheese, bread platter with added wallaby meat


The cheeses served for the platter, if I still remember correctly were C2, George and O.D.O. Loved the bread though the crumbs would be everywhere. For cheeses, all were nice. O.D.O (One Day Old) was soft and pliant to spread on the bread. Topped it with wallaby meat which, hmm does sound exotic. No funky taste and just lean meat. 

wallaby meat



I love C2 as it had a stronger taste initially but after a while, both George and C2 tasted pretty similar.

O.D.O and pickles

George


C2


One question though, do you or do you not eat the cheese rind?


The relishes were interesting as well. There's one that tasted like pickles that one usually eat with porridge. One that tasted a tad like curry. Very interesting to jazz up the experience.


Bruny Island Cheese Company


Address: 1807 Bruny Island Main Rd, Great Bay TAS 7150, Australia
Business Hours:
Daily: 10 am–4 pm








Let's go walk walk and do some sightseeing after this.





Bruny Island Lighthouse

zoom-in view


wild chooks


Going to the public washroom at the place near the lighthouse was an adventure on its own. The toilet was connected to a seemingly endless hole into the ground. Going back into the nature.




Bruny Island Honey






Didn't have much time as we have a ferry to catch to go back to Hobart. So, grabbed a small tub of ice-cream to try. It was lovely. The shop has a house-dog and he came to sit beside us.

leatherwood honey ice-cream @AUD6

peekaboo


All in all, it was a fruitful trip enjoyed with beautiful people. Thank you Tracy, Hence, Ivan and Shermaine for being in this journey!


Bruny Island Honey


Address: 2184 Bruny Island Main Rd, Great Bay TAS 7150, Australia
Business Hours:
Daily: 9 am–4:30 pm





Monday, July 13, 2020

THE MAST' of Mozzarella & Co @ 182 Cecil Street

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Was looking for a brunch place when Hence suggested to try this place. Italian food for brunch? Well, why not? The Mast' hails from Rome, Italy and specializes in freshly made mozzarella.

The Mast' is located near Amoy Street Food Centre and the taxi couldn't find the exact drop-off point so, it was a curbside alight that's right in front of the entrance to the restaurant. Sweet.

inside the restaurant
counter view

The interior is spacious with comfortable vibe. For our group of 5, we shared two starters, three mains and two dessert over a bottle of wine. We ate, conversed over food and drinks for almost 3 hours. Happiness.

what would be our aperitif of choice?

Ivan picked the wine, and food orders were mainly left to Tracy and Hence. Everything was on-point.

Caparzo Toscana Sangiovese 2018 @$65++

The dark berried red wine was very drinkable, sweet and with a spiced finish. It was one juicy drink that's low in tannin. Yums!

lovely red

Let's not drink on an empty stomach, shall we? On to the appetisers! First up, the mushroom crostini. It has sauteed mushrooms, stracciatella and truffle. Was curious so, did a look up on a the definition of stracciatella. It is from mozarella strings, mixed with cream for a soft creamy texture. Imagine crispy toast, laid with abundance of this creamy white cheese and topped with sauteed earthy flavourful shrooms and drizzled with some truffle oil. A good starter that excites!

Crostini E Funghi (vegetarian) @$20++

Ready for more, so let's move on to their signature burrata. Small fist sized burrata, drizzled with olive oil, and served with rocket leaves, tomato slices and parma ham. Am no expert of cheese, and burrata doesn't really have any flavour to it, in my honest opinion. The texture was soft and creamy as befitting of fresh cheeses. Tracy said that the burrata seemed smaller than the other time when they tried it.

Burrata pomodoro e proscuitto crudo @$30++


And, we need to have our quotient of meat and on the menu, there's one item each for beef, chicken and fish (excluding the burger option). So we got ourselves a 300gm grain fed ribeye done medium rare. Everyone loved the veal jus, and the accompanying cherry tomatoes, baby potatoes and asparagus. The beef was a good chew and paired well with the Sangiovese.

300g Grain-Fed Ribeye @$42++

Now, having had our fill of meat, let's try on some carbs. What's Italian dining, if we didn't get ourselves a plate of pasta?

Rigatoni Carbonara @$25++

the secret is in the bacon

It is rare to see rigatoni for carbonara. Al-dente as expected and not very saucy. Someone asked in IG, like how is this a carbonara? Well, if the Chef wants to call it a carbonara, whom am I to disagree? I enjoyed this version of the pasta as it has a stronger flavour due to the chopped bacon that's the main contributor to the flavour game here. Most importantly, is to eat it while it is hot.

And, we thought we did well to end it there. But nooOOoo... we have not tried the pizza! So, ended up with a large Funghi pizza. Didn't expect to see bacon slices on the shrooms pizza as topping, but there it was and no complaints though! The pizza was pleasant and a good filler if you needed more carbs. Non-greasy and with a good cheese pull.

Funghi Pizza @$27++

look at the pull!

Now, we are full and about to have our last sip of the wine. But, could we really leave without trying any of their dessert? Take a guess.

Zuccuto Amarena @$12++
Tiramisu @$12++

Yeah, we ended up with two dessert to end the meal. Hmm, the Zuccuto Amarena is for cherry lovers. I didn't like it because it tasted like cough syrup (all artificial cherry will taste like cough syrup to me). I reckoned it tasted like a cherry flavoured ice-cream cake.

The tiramisu had the classic flavour, with not too strong of the coffee taste. The sweetness was rather pronounced.

All in all, it was a good meal to share with friends. Service was friendly and non-intrusive. One thing to note is that they don't serve complimentary water here, so guests will have to opt for sparkling or still if they want to. We had a large sparkling for $7++.

Expect to spend about $40 to $60 per pax.

THE MAST' of Mozzarella & Co

Address: 182 Cecil St, #01-05/08 Frasers Tower, Singapore 069547
Websitehttps://themast.com.sg/
Contact: 6513 8010
Business Hours:
Mon-Sat: 12pm to 9pm
Closed on Sundays

 
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